SOUPS.
Giblet Soup.
Scald and clean three or four sets of goose or duck giblets; then set them on to stew with a scrag of mutton, or a pound of gravy beef, or bone of knuckle of veal, an oxtail, or some shankbones of mutton; three onions, a blade of mace, ten peppercorns, two cloves, a bunch of sweet herbs, and two quarts of water. Simmer till the gizzards are quite tender, which must be cut in three or four parts; then put in a little cream, a spoonful of flour rubbed smooth with it, and a spoonful of mushroom catsup; or two glasses of sherry or Madeira wine instead of cream, and some Cayenne.
Turnip Soup.
Stew down a knuckle of veal: strain, and let the broth stand still next day; take off the fat and sediment, and warm it, adding turnips cut in small dice: stew till they are tender: put a bit of pounded mace, white pepper, and salt. Before you serve, rub down half a spoonful of flour, with half a pint of cream, and boil with the soup: pour it on a roll in the tureen; but it should have soaked a little first in the soup, which should be as thick as middling cream.
Old Peas Soup.
Save the water of boiled pork or beef: if too salt, use only a part, and the other of plain water: or put some roast beef bones, or a ham or bacon bone to give a relish; or an anchovy or two. Set these on with some good whole or split peas, the smaller quantity of water at first the better: simmer till the peas will pulp through a colander; then set that, and some more of the liquor, besides what boiled the peas, some carrots, turnips, celery, and onion, or a leak or two, to stew till all be tender. Celery will take less time, and may be put in an hour before dinner. When ready, put fried bread in dice, dried mint rubbed small, pepper, and, if wanted, salt, in the tureen, and pour the soup upon them.
Green Peas Soup.
In shelling, divide the old from the young, and put the former, with a bit of butter, and a little water into a stewpan, and the old parts of lettuce, an onion or two, a little pepper and salt. Simmer till the peas will pulp through a colander; which when done, add to it some more water, and that which boiled the peas, the best parts of the lettuce, and the young peas, a handful of spinach cut small, pepper, and salt to taste. Stew till the vegetables are quite tender; and a few minutes before serving, throw in some green mint, cut fine.
Should the soup be too thin, a spoonful of rice flour, rubbed down with a bit of butter, and boiled with it, will give it consistence.
Note. If soup or gravy be too weak, the cover of the saucepan should be taken off, and the steam let out, boiling it very quick.
When there is plenty of vegetables, green peas soup needs no meat: but if approved, a pig’s foot, or a small bit of any sort, may be boiled with the old peas, and removed into the second process till the juices shall be obtained. Observe, three or four ounces of butter, will supply richness to a soup without meat, or make it higher with it.
Gravy Soup.
Wash a leg of beef, break the bone, and set it over the fire with five quarts of water, a large bunch of herbs, two onions, sliced and fried, but not burnt, a blade or two of mace, three cloves, twenty Jamaica peppers, and forty black. Simmer till the soup be as rich as you choose; then strain off the meat, which will be fit for the servants’ table. Next day take off the cake of fat, and that will warm with vegetables; or make a piecrust for the same. Have ready such vegetables as you choose to serve, cut in dice, carrot, and turnip, sliced, and simmer till tender. Celery should be stewed in it likewise; and before you serve, boil some vermicelli long enough to be tender, which it will be in fifteen minutes. Add a spoonful of soy, and one of mushroom catsup. Some people do not serve the vegetables, only boil for the flavour. A small roll should be made hot, and kept long enough in the saucepan to swell, and then be sent up in the tureen.
A rich White Soup.
Boil in a small quantity of water a knuckle of Veal, and scrag of mutton, mace, white pepper, two or three onions, and sweet herbs, the day before you want the soup. Next day take off the fat, and put the jelly into a saucepan, with a quarter of a pound of sweet almonds blanched, and beaten to a paste in a mortar with a little water to prevent oiling, and put to it apiece of stale white bread, or crumb of a roll; a bit of cold veal, or white of chicken. Beat these all to a paste with the almond paste, and boil it a few minutes with a pint of raw thick cream, a bit of fresh lemonpeel, and half a blade of mace pounded; then add this thickening to the soup. Let it boil up and strain it into the tureen: if not salt enough, then put it in. If macaroni or vermicelli be served, they should be boiled in the soup, and the thickening be strained after being mixed with a part. A small rasped roll may be put in.
Instead of the cream thickening, as above, ground rice, and a little cream may be used.
A plainer White Soup.
Of a small knuckle of veal, two or three pints of soup may be made, with seasoning as before, and both served together, with the addition of a quarter of a pint of good milk.
An excellent Soup.
A scrag or knuckle of veal, slices of undressed gammon, onions, mace, and a small quantity of water, simmered till very strong, and lower it with a good beef broth made the day before, and stewed until the meat is done to rags. Add cream, vermicelli, almonds as before, and a roll.
Carrot Soup.
Put some beef bones, with four quarts of the liquor in which a leg of mutton or beef has been boiled, two large onions, one turnip, pepper and salt, into a saucepan, and stew for three hours. Have ready six large carrots, cut thin after they are scraped; strain the soup on them, and stew till soft enough to pulp through a hair sieve or coarse cloth: then boil the pulp with the soup; which is to be as thick as pea ssoup. Use two wooden spoons to rub the carrots through. Make the soup the day before it is to be used. Add Cayenne.
Onion Soup.
To the water that has boiled a leg or neck of mutton, put carrots, turnips, and, if you have one, a shankbone, and simmer till the juices are obtained. Strain it on six onions previously sliced, and fried a light brown; with which simmer it three hours. Skim it carefully, and serve it. Put into it a little roll or fried bread.
Vegetable Soup.
Pare and slice five or six cucumbers, the inside of as many cos lettuces, a sprig or two of mint, two or three onions, some pepper and salt, a pint and half of young peas, and a little parsley. Put these, with half a pound of fresh butter, into a saucepan to stew in their own liquor near a gentle fire half an hour; then pour two quarts of boiling water to the vegetables, and stew them two hours: rub down a little flour into a teacup of water; boil it with the rest fifteen or twenty minutes, and serve it.
Another Vegetable Soup.
Peel and slice six large onions, six potatoes, six carrots, and four turnips: fry them in half a pound of butter: pour on them four quarts of boiling water, and toast a crust of bread as brown and hard as possible, but do not burn it: put that, some celery, sweet herbs, white pepper and salt, to the above: stew gently four hours, strain through a coarse cloth: have ready sliced carrot, celery, and a little turnip, and add to your liking; and stew them tender in the soup. If approved, you may add an anchovy, and a spoonful of catsup.
Spinach Soup.
Shred two handfuls of spinach, a turnip, two onions, a head of celery, two carrots, and a little thyme and parsley. Put all into a stewpot, with, a bit of butter the size of a walnut, and a pint of broth, or the water in which meat has been boiled; stew till the vegetables are quite tender: work them through a coarse cloth or sieve with a spoon; then with the pulp of the vegetables, and liquor, a quart of fresh water, pepper and salt, boil all together. Have ready some suet dumplings, the size of a walnut, and before you put the soup into the tureen, put them into it. The suet must not be shred too fine; and take care that it is perfectly fresh.
Scotch Leek Soup.
Put the boiling of a leg of mutton into a stew pot, with a quantity of chopped leeks, and pepper and salt; simmer them an hour, then mix some oatmeal with a little cold water quite smooth, pour it into the soup, and setting it on a slow part of the fire, let it simmer gently; but take care that it does not burn to the bottom.
Hare Soup.
Take an old hare that is good for nothing else than soup, cut in pieces, and put it with a pound and a half of lean beef, two or three shankbones of mutton well cleaned, a slice of lean bacon or ham; an onion, and a bunch of sweet herbs: pour on it two quarts of boiling water: cover the jar, in which you put these, with bladder and paper, and set it in a kettle of water: simmer till the hare is stewed to pieces: strain off the liquor, and give it one boil, with an anchovy cut in pieces, and add a spoonful of soy, and a little Cayenne and salt. A few fine forcemeat balls, fried of a good brown, should be served in the tureen.
Scotch Mutton Broth.
Soak a neck of mutton in water for an hour: cut off the scrag, and put into a stewpot with two quarts of water: as soon as it boils, skim it well and simmer it an hour and a half; then take the best end of the mutton, cut it into pieces, two bones in each, and put as many as you think proper, having cut off some of the fat. Skim it the moment the fresh meat boils up, and every quarter of an hour. Have ready four or five carrots, the same of turnips, and three onions, all cut, but not small, and put in time enough to be quite tender; two large spoonfuls of Scotch barley, first wetted with cold water. The meat should stew three hours. Salt to taste, and serve all together. Twenty minutes before serving, put in some chopped parsley.
It is an excellent winter dish.
Soups under the articles of their respective Meats.
Oxcheek Soup. Hessian Soup. Mock turtle, page [49] to 52.
Ox rump Soup.
Two or three rumps of beef, will make it stronger than a much larger proportion of meat without; and form a very nourishing soup.
Make it like gravy soup, and give it what flavour or thickening you like.
Soup A-la-sap.
Boil half a pound of grated potatoes, one pound of beef sliced thin, one pint of grey peas, one onion, and three ounces of rice, in six pints of water to five; strain it through a colander, then pulp the peas to it, and turn it into a saucepan again, with two heads of celery sliced: stew it tender, adding pepper and salt; and when you serve, fried bread.
Crawfish or Prawn Soup.
Boil six whitings, and a large eel; or the latter, and half a thornback, being well cleaned, with as much water as will cover them. Skim clean, and put in whole pepper, mace, ginger, parsley, an onion, a little thyme, and three cloves. Boil to a mash. Pick fifty crawfish, or a hundred prawns, pound the shells, and a little roll, after having boiled them with a little water, vinegar, salt and herbs. Pour this liquor over the shells in a sieve, then pour the other soup, clear from the sediment; chop a lobster, and add to it, with a quart of good beef gravy. Add the tails of the crawfish or the prawns, and some flour and butter; and season as necessary.
Portable Soup. A very useful thing.
Boil one or two knuckles of veal, one or two shins of beef, and a pound or more of fine juicy beef, in as much water only as will cover them. When the bones are cracked, out of which take the marrow, put any sort of spice you like, and three large onions. When the meat is done to rags, strain it off, and put in a very cold place. When cold, take off the cake of fat (which will make crust for servants’ pies), put the soup into a double bottom tin saucepan, set it on a pretty quick fire, but do not let it burn. It must boil fast, and uncovered, and be stirred constantly for eight hours; Put into a pan, and let it stand in a cold place a day; then pour it into a round soup China dish, and set the dish into a stewpan of boiling water on a stove, and let it boil, and be occasionally stirred, till the soup become thick and ropy; then it is enough. Pour it into the little round part at the bottom of cups or basons to form cakes; and when cold, turn them out on flannel to dry, and wrap them in it. Keep them in tin canisters. When to be used, melt in boiling water: and if you wish the flavour of herbs or any thing else, boil it first, and having strained the water, melt the soup in it.
This is very convenient for a bason of soup or gravy in the country, or at sea, where fresh meat is not always at hand.
Clear Gravy.
Slice beef thin: broil a part of it, over a very clear quick fire, just enough to give colour to the gravy, but not to dress it: put that, and the raw into a very nicely tinned stewpan, with two onions, a clove, or two Jamaica and black peppers, and a bunch of sweet herbs: cover it with hot water; give it one boil, and skim it well two or three times: then cover it and simmer till quite strong.
To draw Gravy that will keep a week.
Cut thin lean beef: put it in a fryingpan without any butter: set it on a fire covered, but take care it does not burn: let it stay till all the gravy that comes out of the meat be dried up into it again; then put as much water as will cover the meat, and let that stew away. Then put to the meat a small quantity of water, herbs, onions, spice, a bit of lean ham: simmer till it is rich, then keep it in a cool place. Remove the fat only when going to be used.
A rich Gravy.
Cut beef in thin slices, according to the quantity wanted: slice onions thin, and flour both: fry them of a light pale brown, but on no account suffer them to go black: put them into a stewpan, and pouring boiling water on the browning in the fryingpan, boil it up, and pour on the meat. Put to it a bunch of parsley, thyme, savory, and a small bit of knotted marjorum, and the same of tarragon, some mace, Jamaica and black peppers, a clove or two, and a bit of ham or gammon. Simmer till you have all the juices of the meat; and be sure to skim the moment it boils, and frequently after. If for a hare, or stewed fish, anchovy should be added.
The shankbones of mutton are a great improvement to the richness of the gravy; being first well soaked, and scoured clean.
Note. Jelly gravy for cold pies should be brown or white, as the meat or fowl is. It must be drawn without frying, relished, and made quite clean, by running it through a flannel bag. To give it the consistence of jelly, shanks, or knuckle, or feet, should be boiled with the bones.
Jelly to cover cold Fish.
Clean a maid: put it with three quarts of water, an ounce and a half of isinglass, a bit of mace, lemonpeel, white peppers, a stick of horseradish, and a little ham or gammon. Stew, till on trying with a spoon you find that it jellies: then strain it off, and add to it the whites of five eggs, a glass of sherry wine, and the juice of a lemon; give it another boil, and pour it through a jellybag till quite transparent.
When cold, lay it over the fish with a spoon.
Cullis, or brown Sauce.
Lay as much lean veal over the bottom of a stewpan as will cover it an inch thick: then cover the veal with thin slices of undressed gammon, two or three onions, two or three bayleaves, some sweet herbs, two blades of mace, and three cloves. Cover the stewpan, and set it over a slow fire. When the juices come out, let the fire be a little quicker. When the meat is of a fine brown, fill the pan with good beef broth, boil and skim it, then simmer an hour: add a little water, mixed with as much flour as will make it properly thick; boil it half an hour, and strain it.
This will keep a week.
Veal Gravy.
Make as directed for the cullis, leaving out the spice, herbs, and flour. It should be drawn very slowly: and if for white dishes, do not let the meat brown.
Bechamel or White Sauce.
Cut lean veal in small slices, and the same quantity of lean bacon or ham: put them in a stewpan, with a good piece of butter, an onion, a blade of mace, a few mushroom buttons, a bit of thyme, and a bayleaf. Fry the whole over a very slow fire, but not to brown it: add flour to thicken; then put an equal quantity of good broth, and rich cream. Let it boil half an hour, stirring it all the time: strain it through a soup strainer.
N. B. Soups and gravies are far better by putting the meat at the bottom of the pan, and stewing it, and the herbs, roots, &c. with butter, than by adding the water to the meat at first; and the gravy that is drawn from the meat, should be nearly dried up before the water is put to it. Do not use the sediment of gravies, &c. that have stood to be cold. When onions are strong, boil a turnip with them, if for sauce, which will make them mild.
Sauce for Wild Fowl.
Simmer ten minutes a teacupful of port wine, the same of good meat gravy, a little shalot, a little pepper, salt, a grate of nutmeg, and a bit of mace: put a bit of butter and flour: give one boil, and pour through the birds; which in general are not stuffed as tame, but may be done so, if liked.
Another for the same, or Ducks.
Serve a rich gravy in the dish: cut the breast in slices, but do not take them off; cut a lemon, and put pepper and salt on it; then squeeze it on the breast, and pour a spoonful of gravy over before you help.
Note. In cutting up any wild fowl, duck, goose, or turkey for a large party, if you cut the slices down from pinion to pinion, without making wings, there will be more prime pieces.
Sauce Robart for Rumps or Steaks.
Put into a saucepan a piece of butter the size of an egg: set it over the fire, and when browning, throw in a handful of sliced onions cut small: fry them brown, but do not let them burn: add half a spoonful of flour, shake the onions in it, give another fry, then put four spoonfuls of gravy, pepper, and salt, and boil gently ten minutes. Skim off the fat: add a teaspoonful of made mustard, a spoonful of vinegar, and half a lemon juice: boil, and pour round the steaks, which should be of a fine yellow brown, and garnished with fried parsley and lemon.
An Excellent Sauce for Carp or boiled Turkey.
Rub half a pound of butter with a teaspoonful of flour; put to it a little water, melt it, and add near a quarter of a pint of thick cream, and half an anchovy chopped fine, unwashed; set it over the fire, and as it boils up, add a large spoonful of real India soy. If that does not give it a fine colour, put a little more. Turn it into the sauce tureen, and put some salt, and half a lemon. Stir it well to prevent curdling.
Sauce for cold Fowl or Partridge.
Rub down in a mortar the yelks of two eggs boiled hard, an anchovy, two dessert spoonfuls of oil, a little shalot, and a teaspoonful of mustard, (all should be pounded before the oil be added) then strain it.
Vinagret for cold Fowl or Meat.
Chop fine mint, parsley, and shalot, and add salt, oil, and vinegar. It may be poured over, or sent in a boat.
Benton Sauce for hot or cold roast Beef.
Grate, or scrape very fine, horseradish, a little made mustard, some pounded white sugar, and four large spoonfuls of vinegar.
Serve in a saucer.
To melt Butter.
On a clean trencher, mix a little flour to a large piece of butter, in the proportion of a teaspoonful to a full quarter of a pound; then put into a saucepan, and pour on it two large spoonfuls of hot water; set it on the fire, and let it boil quick. You should stir it round one way, and serve it as soon as ready.
On the goodness of this depends the look and flavour of every sauce in which it is put.
Lobster Sauce.
Pound the spawn, and two anchovies: pour on two spoonfuls of gravy: strain it into some butter melted as above; then put in the meat of the lobster, give one boil, and add a squeeze of lemon.
Another way.
Leave out the anchovies and gravy, and do as above, with a little salt, and catsup, or not, as you like. Many prefer the flavour of the lobster and salt only.
Shrimp Sauce.
If not picked at home, pour a little water over to wash, and put them to butter melted thick and smooth: give them one boil, and add the juice of lemon.
Anchovy Sauce.
Chop one or two without washing: put to some flour and butter, and a little drop of water: stir it over the fire till it boil once or twice. When the anchovies are good, they will be dissolved; and the colour will be better than by the usual way.
Fish Sauce without Butter.
Simmer very gently a quarter of a pint of vinegar, half a pint of water (which must not be hard) with an onion, half a handful of horseradish, and the following spices lightly bruised: four cloves, two blades of mace, and half a teaspoonful of black pepper. When the onion is quite tender, chop it small with two anchovies: and set the whole on the fire to boil for a few minutes, with a spoonful of catsup. Mean time, have ready and well beaten the yelks of three fresh eggs: strain; mix in the liquor by degrees with them; and when well mixed, set the saucepan over a gentle fire, keeping a bason in one hand, into which toss the sauce to and fro, shaking the saucepan over the fire, that the eggs may not curdle. Do not boil, only let the sauce be hot enough to give the thickness of melted butter.
Lemon Sauce.
Cut thin slices of lemon into very small dice, and put into melted butter; give one boil, and pour over boiled fowls.
Liver Sauce.
Chop boiled liver of rabbits or fowls, and do as above, with a very little pepper and salt, and some parsley.
A very good Sauce, especially to hide the bad colour of Fowls.
Cut the livers, slices of lemon in dice, scalded parsley, and hard eggs: add salt, and mix with butter: boil up, and pour over the fowls.
Or for roast rabbit.
Egg Sauce.
Boil the eggs hard, and cut them in small pieces: then put them to melted butter.
Buttered Eggs.
Beat four or five eggs, yelk and white together: put a quarter of a pound of butter in a bason and then put that in boiling water; stir it till melted: then pour that butter and the eggs into a saucepan. Keep a bason in your hand: just hold the saucepan in the other over a slow part of the fire, shaking it one way; as it begins to warm, pour it into a bason, and back; then hold it again over the fire, stirring it constantly in the saucepan, and pouring it into the bason, more perfectly to mix the egg and butter, until they shall be hot without boiling.
Serve on toasted bread; or in a bason to eat with salt fish or red herrings.
Onion Sauce.
Peel, and boil onions tender: squeeze the water from them; then chop, and add butter that has been melted rich and smooth as before, but with a little good milk instead of water: boil up once, and serve for boiled rabbits, partridges, scrag, or knuckle of veal; or roast mutton.
Oyster Sauce.
Save the liquor in opening, and boil with the beards, a bit of mace, and lemonpeel. Mean time throw the oysters into cold water, and drain it off. Strain the liquor, and put it into a saucepan with them, and as much butter, mixed with a little milk, as will make sauce enough; a little flour being previously rubbed with it.
Set them over the fire, stir all the time; and when the butter has boiled once or twice, take them off, and keep the saucepan near, but not on the fire; for if done too much, the oysters will be hard. Squeeze a little lemonjuice, and serve.
If for company, a little cream is a great improvement. Observe the oysters will thin the sauce, and put butter accordingly.
Bread Sauce.
Boil a large onion, cut in four, with some black peppers, and milk, until the former be quite a pap. Pour the milk strained on grated white stale bread, and cover it. In an hour put it into a saucepan, with a good piece of butter, mixed with a little flour: boil the whole up together, and serve.
Some people like the bread pulped through a colander before the butter be added. A large spoonful of cream improves it.
Little Eggs for Pies or Turtles.
Boil three eggs hard: beat the yelks fine with the raw yelk of an egg; then make up the paste into small eggs, and throw them into a little boiling water to harden.
Fish Sauce A-la-Craster.
Thicken a quarter of a pound of butter with flour, and brown it; then put to it a pound of the best anchovies, cut small, six blades of pounded mace, ten cloves, forty black and Jamaica peppers, a few small onions, a faggot of sweet herbs; namely, savory, thyme, basil, and knotted marjorum; a little parsley, and sliced horseradish. On these pour half a pint of the best sherry wine, and a pint and a half of strong gravy: simmer all gently for twenty minutes; then strain it through a sieve, and bottle it for use: the way of which, is to boil some of it in the butter, as melting.
A very fine Fish Sauce.
Put into a very nice tin saucepan, a pint of fine port wine, one gill of mountain, half a pint of walnut catsup that is fine, twelve anchovies, and the liquor that belongs to them, one gill of walnut pickle, the rind and juice of a large lemon, four or five shalots, Cayenne to taste, three ounces of scraped horseradish, three blades of mace, and two teaspoonfuls of made mustard: boil gently, till the rawness go off, then put it in small bottles for use.
Cork very close, and seal the top.
Camp Vinegar.
Slice a large head of garlick, and put it into a widemouthed bottle, with half an ounce of Cayenne, two teaspoonfuls of real soy, two of walnut catsup, four anchovies chopped, a pint of vinegar, of cochineal enough to give the colour of lavender drops. Let it stand six weeks, then strain off quite clear, and keep in small bottles, sealed up.
Lemon Pickle.
Wipe six lemons: cut each into eight pieces: put on them a pound of salt, six large cloves of garlick, two ounces of horseradish, sliced thin; likewise of cloves, mace, nutmeg, and Cayenne, a quarter of an ounce each, and two ounces of flour of mustard; to these put two quarts of vinegar: boil a quarter of an hour in a well tinned saucepan, or which is better, do it in a strong jar, in a kettle of boiling water, or set the jar on the hot hearth till done. Set the jar by, and stir it daily for six weeks. Keep the jar close covered. Put into small bottles.
Shalot Vinegar.
Split six or eight shalots: put them into a quart bottle: fill it up with vinegar: stop it; and in a month it will be fit for use.
Essence of Anchovies.
Take a dozen of anchovies, chop them, and without the bone, but with some of their own liquor strained: add them to sixteen large spoonfuls of water: boil gently till dissolved, which will be in a few minutes. When cold, strain and bottle it.
Mushroom Catsup.
Take the largest broad mushrooms, break them into an earthen pan, strew salt over, and stir them now and then for three days. Then let them stand for twelve, till there is a thick scum over. Strain, and boil the liquor with Jamaica and black peppers, mace, ginger, a clove or two, and some mustardseed. When cold, bottle it, and tie a bladder over the cork. In three months boil it again with some fresh spice, and it will then keep a twelvemonth.
Mushroom Catsup, another way.
Take a stewpan full of the large flap mushrooms, that are not wormeaten, and the skins and fringe of those you have picked; throw a handful of salt among them, and set them by a slow fire. They will produce a great deal of liquor, which you must strain; and put to it four ounces of shalots, two cloves of garlick, a good deal of pepper, ginger, mace, cloves, and a few bayleaves. Boil and skim very well. When cold, cork close. In two months boil it up again, with a little fresh spice, and a stick of horseradish, and it will then keep the year; which mushroom catsup rarely does, if not boiled a second time.
Walnut Catsup of the finest sort.
Boil a gallon of the expressed juice of walnuts when they are tender, and skim it well: then put in two pounds of anchovies, bones and liquor, ditto of shalots, one ounce of cloves, ditto of mace, ditto of pepper, and one clove of garlick. Let all simmer till the shalots sink; then put the liquor into a pan till cold. Bottle, and divide the spice to each. Cork closely, and tie a bladder over.
It will keep twenty years, and is not good the first. Be very careful to express the juice at home; for it is rarely unadulterated, if bought.
Some people make liquor of the outside shell when the nut is ripe; but neither the flavour nor colour is then so fine.
Cockle Catsup.
Open the cockles: scald them in their own liquor: add a little water when the liquor settles, if you have not enough: strain through a cloth, then season with every savory spice; and if for brown sauce, add port wine, anchovies, and garlick; if for white, omit these, and put a glass of sherry wine, lemonjuice and peel, mace, nutmeg, and white pepper. If for brown, burn a bit of sugar for colouring.
It is better to have cockles enough, than to add water; and they are cheap.
Mushroom Powder.
Wash half a peck of large mushrooms while quite fresh, and free them from grit and dirt with flannel. Scrape out the black part clean, and do not use any that are wormeaten: put them into a stewpan over the fire without water, with two large onions, some cloves, a quarter of an ounce of mace, and two spoonfuls of white pepper, all in powder. Simmer and shake them till all the liquor be dried up, but be careful they do not burn. Lay them on tins or sieves in a slow oven, till they are dry enough to beat to powder; then put the powder in small bottles, corked and tied closely, and keep in a dry place.
A teaspoonful will give a very fine flavour to any soup or gravy, or any sauce; and it is to be added just before serving, and one boil given to it after it is put in.
To dry Mushrooms.
Wipe them clean; and of the large take out the brown, and peel off the skin. Lay them on paper to dry in a cool oven, and keep them in paper bags in a dry place. When used, simmer them in the gravy, and they will swell to near their former size. To simmer them in their own liquor till it dry up into them, shaking the pan, then drying on tin plates, is a good way, with spice or not, as above, before made into powder.
Tie down with bladder, and keep in a dry place, or in paper.
Sugar Vinegar.
To every gallon of water, put two pounds of the very coarsest sugar: boil and skim thoroughly; then put one quart of cold water for every gallon of hot. When cool, put into it a toast spread with yeast. Stir it nine days; then barrel, and set it in a place where the sun will lie on it, with a bit of slate on the bunghole.
When sufficiently sour, it may be bottled: or may be used from the cask, with a wooden spigot and faucet.
Gooseberry Vinegar.
Boil spring water; and when cold, put to every three quarts, a quart of bruised ripe gooseberries in a large tub. Let them remain sixty hours, stirring often: then strain through a hair bag, and to each gallon of liquor add a pound of the coarsest sugar. Put it into a barrel, and a toast and yeast, cover the bunghole with a bit of slate, &c. as above. The greater quantity of sugar and fruit, the stronger the vinegar.
Wine Vinegar.
After making raisin wine, when the fruit has been strained, lay it on a heap to heat: then to every hundred weight put fifteen gallons of water. Set the cask, and put yeast, &c. as before.
As vinegar is so necessary an article in a family, and one on which so great a profit is made, a barrel or two might always be kept preparing, according to what suited. If the raisins of wine were ready, that kind might be made: if a great plenty of gooseberries made them cheap, that sort; or if neither, then the sugar vinegar, so that the cask may not be left empty, and grow musty.
Kitchen Pepper.
Mix in the finest powder, one ounce of ginger; of cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg, and Jamaica pepper, half an ounce of each; ten cloves, and six ounces of salt. Keep it in a bottle. It is an agreeable addition to any brown sauces or soups.
Spice in powder, kept in small bottles, close stopped, goes much further than when used whole. It must be dried before pounded; and should be done in quantities that may be wanted in three or four months. Nutmeg need not be done; but the others should be kept in separate bottles, with a little label on each.
Browning, to colour and flavour made dishes.
Beat to powder four ounces of doubly refined sugar: put it into a very nice iron fryingpan, with one ounce of fine fresh butter: mix it well over a clear fire, and when it begins to froth, hold it up higher. When of a very fine dark brown, pour in a small quantity of a pint of port wine; and the whole by very slow degrees, stirring all the time. Put to the above half an ounce of Jamaica, and the same of black pepper, six cloves of shalots peeled, three blades of mace bruised, three spoonfuls of mushroom, and the same of walnut catsup, some salt, and the finely pared rind of a lemon. Boil gently fifteen minutes; pour it into a bason till cold; take off the scum, and bottle for use.
To make Sprats taste like Anchovies.
Salt them well, and let the salt drain from them. In twenty four hours wipe them dry, but do not wash them. Mix four ounces of common salt, an ounce of bay salt, an ounce of saltpetre, a quarter of an ounce of sal prunel, and half a teaspoonful of cochineal, all in the finest powder. Sprinkle it among three quarts of the fish, and pack them in two stone jars. Keep in a cold place, fastened down with a bladder.
These are pleasant on bread and butter: but have the best for sauce.
To keep Anchovies when the liquor dries.
Pour on them beef brine.
To keep Capers.
Add fresh vinegar, that has been scalded, and become cold; and tie them close, to keep out the air.
To make Mustard.
Mix the best Durham flour of mustard by degrees, with boiling water, to a proper thickness, rubbing it perfectly smooth: add a little salt, and keep it in a small jar, close covered; and put only as much into the glass as will be used soon; which should be wiped daily round the edges.
Another way for immediate use.
Mix the mustard with new milk by degrees, to be quite smooth, and add a little raw cream. It is much softer this way, is not bitter, and will keep well.
The patent mustard is by many preferred, and it is perhaps as cheap, being always ready: and if the pots are returned, three pence is allowed for each.
A teaspoonful of sugar to half a pint of mustard, is a great improvement, and softens it.