TWO WAYS OF PREPARING A CHICKEN.
Chicken panada.
Boil it till about three parts ready in a quart of water, take off the skin, cut the white meat off when cold, and put into a marble mortar; pound it to a paste with a little of the water it was boiled in, season with a little salt, a grate of nutmeg, and the least bit of lemonpeel. Boil gently for a few minutes to the consistency you like; it should be such as you can drink, though tolerably thick.
This conveys great nourishment in small compass.
Chicken broth.
Put the body and legs of the fowl that the panada was made of, taking off the skin and rump, into the water it was boiled in, with one blade of mace, one slice of onion, and ten white peppercorns. Simmer till the broth be of a pleasant flavour. If not water enough, add a little. Beat a quarter of an ounce of sweet almonds, with a teaspoonful of water, fine, boil it in the broth, strain, and when cold, remove the fat.
Shank jelly.
Soak twelve shanks of mutton four hours, then brush and scour them very clean. Lay them in a saucepan with three blades of mace, an onion, twenty Jamaica, and thirty or forty black peppers, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a crust of bread made very brown by toasting. Pour three quarts of water to them, and set them on a hot hearth close covered; let them simmer as gently as possible for five hours, then strain it off, and put it in a cold place.
This may have the addition of a pound of beef, if approved, for flavour.
Eel broth.
Clean half a pound of small eels, and set them on with three pints of water, some parsley, one slice of onion, a few peppercorns; let them simmer till the eels are broken, and the broth good. Add salt.
The above should make three half pints of broth.
Tench broth.
Make as above. They are both very nutritious, and light of digestion.
A quick made Broth.
Take a bone or two of a neck or loin of mutton, take off the fat and skin, set it on the fire in a small tin saucepan that has a cover, with three quarters of a pint of water, the meat being first beaten, and cut in thin bits; put a bit of thyme and parsley, and, if approved, a slice of onion. Let it boil very quick, skim it nicely; take off the cover, if likely to be too weak; else cover it. Half an hour is sufficient for the whole process.
Calf’s feet Broth.
Boil two feet in three quarts of water to half; strain and set it by. When to be used, take off the fat, put a large teacupful of the jelly into a saucepan, with half a glass of sweet wine, a little sugar and nutmeg, and heat it up till it be ready to boil, then take a little of it, and beat by degrees to the yelk of an egg, and adding a bit of butter, the size of a nutmeg, stir it altogether, but do not let it boil. Grate a bit of fresh lemonpeel into it.
Another.
Boil two calf’s feet, two ounces of veal, and two of beef, the bottom of a penny loaf, two or three blades of mace, half a nutmeg sliced, and a little salt, in three quarts of water, to three pints; strain, and take off the fat.
Panada; made in five minutes.
Set a little water on the fire with a glass of white wine, some sugar, and a scrape of nutmeg and lemonpeel; meanwhile grate some crumbs of bread. The moment the mixture boils up, keeping it still on the fire, put the crumbs in, and let it boil as fast as it can. When of a proper thickness just to drink, take it off.
Another.
As above, but instead of a glass of wine, put in a spoonful, a teaspoonful of rum, and a bit of butter; sugar as above.
This is a most pleasant mess.
Another.
Put to the water a bit of lemonpeel, mix the crumbs in, and when nearly boiled enough, put some lemon or orange syrup.
Observe to boil all the ingredients; for if any be added after, the panada will break, and not jelly.
Barleywater.
Boil an ounce of pearlbarley a few minutes to cleanse, then put on it a quart of water, simmer an hour; when half done, put into it a bit of fresh lemonpeel, and one bit of sugar. If likely to be too thick, you may put another quarter of a pint of water.
Common Barleywater.
Wash a handful of common barley, then simmer it gently in three pints of water with a bit of lemonpeel.
This is less apt to nauseate than pearlbarley; but the former is a very pleasant drink.
A very agreeable Drink.
Into a tumbler of fresh cold water pour a table spoonful of capillaire; and the same of good vinegar.
Lemon water; a delightful drink.
Put two slices of lemon thinly pared into a teapot, and a little bit of the peel, and a bit of sugar, or a large spoonful of capillaire; pour in a pint of boiling water, and stop close.
Apple water.
Cut two large apples in slices, and pour a quart of boiling water on them; or on roasted apples.
Tamarinds, currants fresh or in jelly, or scalded currants, or cranberries, make excellent drinks; with a little sugar or not, as may be agreeable.
Raspberry Vinegarwater. See page [240].
This is one of the most delightful drinks that can be made.
Toast and Water.
Toast slowly a thin piece of bread till extremely brown and hard, but not the least black, then plunge it into a jug of cold water, and cover it over an hour before used.
Orangeade, or Lemonade.
Squeeze the juice; pour boiling water on a little of the peel, and cover close. Boil water and sugar to a thin syrup, and skim it. When all are cold, mix the juice, the infusion, and the syrup, with as much more water as will make a rich sherbet; strain through a jellybag. Or, squeeze the juice, and strain it, and add water and capillaire.
Orgeat.
Beat two ounces of almonds with a teaspoonful of orange flower water, and a bitter almond or two; then pour a quart of milk and water to the paste. Sweeten with sugar, or capillaire.
Another orgeat for company, page [239].
Milkporridge.
Make a fine gruel of half grits, long boiled; strain off; either add cold milk, or warm with milk as may be approved. Serve with toast.
French Milkporridge.
Stir some oatmeal and water together, let it stand to be clear, and pour off the latter: pour fresh upon it, stir it well, let it stand till next day; strain through a fine sieve, and boil the water, adding milk while doing. The proportion of water must be small.
This is much ordered, with toast, for the breakfast of weak persons abroad.
Caudle.
Make a fine smooth gruel of half grits; strain it when boiled well, stir it at times till cold. When to be used, add sugar, wine, and lemonpeel, with nutmeg. Some like a spoonful of brandy besides the wine.
Another Caudle.
Boil up half a pint of fine gruel, with a bit of butter the size of a large nutmeg, a large spoonful of brandy, the same of white wine, one of capillaire, a bit of lemonpeel and nutmeg.
Rice Caudle.
When the water boils, pour it into some grated rice mixed with a little cold water; when of a proper consistence add sugar, lemonpeel and cinnamon, and a glass of brandy to a quart. Boil all smooth.
Cold Caudle.
Boil a quart of spring water; when cold, add the yelk of an egg, the juice of a small lemon, six spoonfuls of sweet wine, sugar to your taste; and syrup of lemons one ounce.
A refreshing drink in a Fever.
Put a little tea sage, two sprigs of balm, and a little woodsorrel into a stone jug, having first washed and dried them; peel thin a small lemon, and clear from the white; slice it, and put a bit of the peel in, then pour in three points of boiling water, sweeten, and cover it close.
Another Drink.
Wash extremely well an ounce of pearlbarley; shift it twice, then put to it three pints of water, an ounce of sweet almonds beaten fine, and a bit of lemonpeel. Boil till you have a smooth liquor, then put in a little syrup of lemons and capillaire.
Another Drink.
Boil three pints of water with an ounce and a half of tamarinds, three ounces of currants, and two ounces of stoned raisins, till near a third be consumed. Strain it.
A most pleasant Drink.
Put a teacupful of cranberries into a cup of water, and mash them. In the mean time boil two quarters and a pint of water with one large spoonful of oatmeal, and a very large bit of lemonpeel: then add the cranberries, and as much fine Lisbon sugar as shall leave a smart flavour of the fruit; and a quarter of a pint of sherry or less, as may be proper; boil all for half an hour, and strain off.
Whey.
That of cheese is a very wholesome drink, especially when the cows are in fresh herbage.
White Wine whey.
Put half a pint of new milk on the fire; the moment it boils up, pour in as much sound raisin wine as will completely turn it, and it looks clear; let it boil up, then set the saucepan aside till the curd subsides, and do not stir it. Pour the whey off, and add to it half a pint of boiling water, and a bit of white sugar. Thus you will have a whey perfectly cleared of milky particles, and as weak as you choose to make it.
Vinegar and Lemon wheys.
Pour into boiling milk as above, and when clear, dilute with boiling water, and put a bit or two of sugar.
Eggwine.
Beat an egg, mix with it a spoonful of cold water; set on the fire a glass of white wine, half a glass of water and sugar, and nutmeg. When it boils, pour a little of it to the egg by degrees, till the whole be in, stirring it well; then return the whole into the saucepan, put it on a gentle fire, stir it one way for not more than a minute; for if it boil, or the egg be stale, it will curdle. Serve with toast.
Eggwine may be made as above, without warming the egg, and it is then lighter on the stomach, though not so pleasant to the taste.
An egg broken into a cup of tea, or beaten and mixed with a bason of milk, makes a breakfast more supporting than tea.
An egg divided, and the yelk and white beaten separately, then mixed with a glass of wine, will afford two very wholesome draughts, and prove lighter than when taken together.
Eggs very little boiled or poached, taken in small quantity, convey much nourishment.
The following is a particularly soft and fine draught, to be taken the first and last thing, by those who are weak, and have a cough.
Beat a fresh laid egg, and mix it with a quarter of a pint of new milk warmed, a large spoonful of capillaire, the same of rosewater, and a little nutmeg scraped. Do not warm after the egg is put in.
Chocolate.
Those who use much of this article, will find the following mode of preparing both useful and economical.
Cut a cake of chocolate in very small bits; put a pint of water into the pot, and, when it boils, put in the above; mill it off the fire until quite melted, then on a gentle fire till it boil; pour it into a bason, and it will keep in a cool place eight or ten days, or more. When wanted put a spoonful or two into milk, boil it with sugar, and mill it well.
This, if not made thick, is a very good breakfast or supper.
To make Coffee.
Put two ounces of fresh ground coffee of the best quality into a coffeepot, and pour eight coffee cups of boiling water on it; let it boil six minutes, pour out a cupful two or three times, and return it again; then put two or three isinglass chips into it, and pour one large spoonful of boiling water on it; boil it five minutes more, and set the pot by the fire to keep hot for ten minutes, and you will have coffee, of a beautiful clearness.
Fine cream should always be served with coffee, and either pounded sugarcandy or fine Lisbon sugar.
If for foreigners, or those who like it extremely strong, make only eight dishes from three ounces. If not fresh roasted, lay it before a fire until perfectly hot and dry; or you may put the smallest bit of fresh butter into a preserving pan of a small size, and, when hot throw the coffee in it, and toss it about until it be freshened.
Coffee Milk.
Boil a dessert spoonful of ground coffee, in nearly a pint of milk, a quarter of an hour; then put into it a shaving or two of isinglass, and clear it. Let it boil a few minutes, and set it on the side of the fire to grow fine.
This is a very fine breakfast. It should be sweetened with real Lisbon sugar of a good quality.
Ground Rice Milk.
Boil one spoonful of ground rice, rubbed down smooth, with three half pints of milk, a bit of cinnamon, lemonpeel, and nutmeg. Sweeten when nearly done.
Tapioca jelly.
Choose the largest sort, pour cold water on to wash it two or three times, then soak it in fresh water five or six hours, and simmer it in the same until it become quite clear; then put lemonjuice, wine, and sugar. The peel should have been boiled in it. It thickens very much.
Sago.
To prevent the earthy taste, soak it in cold water an hour; pour that off, and wash it well; then add more, and simmer gently till the berries are clear, with lemonpeel and spice, if approved. Add wine and sugar, and boil all up together.
Sago Milk.
Cleanse as above, and boil it slowly and wholly with new milk. It swells so much that a small quantity will be sufficient for a quart, and when done it will be diminished to about a pint. It requires no sugar, or flavouring.
Arrowroot jelly.
Of this beware of having the wrong sort; for it has been counterfeited with bad effect.
Mix a large spoonful of the powder with, a teacup of cold water, by degrees, and quite smooth. Put rather more than a pint of water over the fire, with some white sugar, scraped nutmeg, and a spoonful and a half of brandy, or two. The moment it boils, pour the powder and water in, stirring it well; and when it boils up it is done.
This is a very useful thing in a house; and in the above mode a sick person may be supplied with a fine supporting meal in a few minutes.
This and the following are particularly good in bowel complaints.
A Flour Caudle.
Into five large spoonfuls of the purest water, rub smooth one dessertspoonful of fine flour. Set over the fire five spoonfuls of new milk, and put two bits of sugar into it; the moment it boils, pour into it, the flour and water, and stir it over a slow fire twenty minutes.
A Rice Caudle.
Soak some Carolina rice in water an hour, strain it, and put two spoonfuls of the rice into a pint and a quarter of milk; simmer till it will pulp through a sieve, then put the pulp and milk into the saucepan, with a bruised clove and a bit of white sugar. Simmer ten minutes; if too thick, add a spoonful or two of milk, and serve with thin toast.
Gloucester jelly.
Take rice, sago, pearlbarley, hartshorn shavings and eringoroot, each an ounce; simmer with two pints of water to one, and strain it. When cold it will be a jelly; of which give, dissolved in wine, milk, or broth, in change with other nourishment.
Mulled wine.
Boil some spice in a little water till the flavour is gained, then add an equal quantity of port, some sugar and nutmeg; boil together, and serve with toast.
Asses’ Milk
Far surpasses any imitation of it that can be made. It should be milked into a glass that is kept warm by being in a bason of hot water.
The fixed air that it contains gives some people a pain in the stomach.
At first a teaspoonful of rum may be taken with it, but should only be put in the moment it is to be swallowed.
Artificial Asses’ Milk.
Boil together a quart of water, a quart of new milk, an ounce of white sugarcandy, half an ounce of eringoroot, and half an ounce of conserve of roses, till half be wasted.
This is astringent; therefore proportion the doses to the effect.
Another.
Mix two spoonfuls of boiling water, two of milk, and an egg well beaten; sweeten with pounded white sugarcandy.
This may be taken twice or thrice a day.
Another.
Boil two ounces of hartshorn shavings, two ounces of pearlbarley, two ounces of candied eringoroot, and one dozen of snails that have been bruised, in two quarts of water to one. Mix with an equal quantity of new milk, when taken, twice a day.
Buttermilk, with Bread or without.
It is most wholesome when sour, as being less likely to be heavy, but most agreeable when made of sweet cream.
Dr. Boerhaave’s sweet Buttermilk.
Take the milk from the cow into a small churn, of about six shillings price; in about ten minutes begin churning, and continue till the flakes of butter swim about pretty thick, and the milk is discharged of all the greasy particles, and appears thin and blue. Strain it through a sieve, and drink it as frequently as possible.
It should form the whole of the patient’s drink, and the food should be biscuit and rusks, in every way and sort; ripe and dried fruits of various kinds, when a decline is apprehended.
Baked and dried fruits, raisins in particular, make excellent suppers for invalids, with biscuit or common cake.
When the Stomach will not receive Meat.
On an extreme hot plate put two or three sippets of bread, and pour over them some gravy from beef, mutton, or veal, if there is no butter in the dish. Sprinkle a little salt over.
This is much lighter than meat, and conveys a great deal of nourishment in a small form.
Toast hard and dry a thin bit of bread, soak it in water, or port wine and water, take it out and sift a little sugar, and, if you like it, nutmeg.
Or pour boiling water over a captain’s biscuit, broken in pieces, and steam it down in a bason; when soft, add a little strong souchong tea, cream, and sugar, or wine, sugar, and nutmeg; or a teacupful of weak rum, or brandy and water, with sugar, just to give taste.
Saloop.
Boil a little water, with wine, lemonpeel, and sugar, together; then mix with a small quantity of the powder, previously rubbed smooth, with a little cold water; stir it all together, and boil it a few minutes.
I promised a few hints, to enable every family to assist the poor of their neighborhood at a very trivial expense; and these may be varied or amended at the discretion of the mistress.
Where cows are kept, a jug of skimmed milk is a valuable present.
When the oven is hot, a large pudding may be baked, and given to a sick or young family; and thus made, the trouble is little: into a deep coarse pan put half a pound of rice, four ounces of coarse sugar or treacle, two quarts of milk, and two ounces of dripping, set it cold into the oven. It will take a good while, but be an excellent solid food.
A very good meal may be bestowed in a thing called Brewis, which is thus made: cut a very thick upper crust of bread and put it into the pot where salt beef is boiling and near ready; it will attract some of the fat, and, when swelled out, will be no unpalatable dish to those who rarely taste meat.
A baked Soup.
Put a pound of any kind of meat cut in slices; two onions, two carrots, ditto; two ounces of rice, a pint of split peas, or whole ones if previously soaked, pepper and salt, into an earthen jug or pan, and pour one gallon of water. Cover it very close, and bake it with the bread.
The cook should be charged to save the boiling of every piece of meat, ham, tongue, &c. however salt: as it is easy to use only a part of that, and the rest of fresh water, and by the addition of more vegetables, the bones of the meat used in the family, the pieces of meat that come from table on the plates, and rice, Scotch barley or oatmeal, there will be some gallons of nutritious soup two or three times a week. The bits of meat should be only warmed in the soup, and remain whole; the bones, &c. boiled till they yield their nourishment. If the things are ready to put in the boiler as soon as the meat be served, it will save lighting fire and second cooking.
Turnips, carrots, leeks, potatoes, or any sort of vegetable that is at hand, should be used.
Should the soup be poor of meat, the long boiling of the bones and different vegetables, will afford better nourishment than the laborious poor can obtain; especially as they are rarely tolerable cooks, and have not fuel to do justice to what they buy. But in every family there is some superfluity; and if it be prepared with cleanliness and care, the benefit will be very great to the receiver, and the satisfaction no less to the giver.
I found, in the time of scarcity, ten or fifteen gallons of soup, could be dealt out weekly, at an expense not worth mentioning, though the vegetables were bought. If in the villages about London, abounding with opulent families, the quantity of ten gallons were made in ten gentlemen’s houses, there would be a hundred gallons of wholesome agreeable food given weekly for the supply of forty poor families, at the rate of two gallons and a half each.
What a relief to the labouring husband, instead of bread and cheese, to have a warm comfortable meal! To the sick, aged, and infant branches, how important an advantage.
It very rarely happens, that servants object to seconding the kindness of their superiors to the poor; but should the cook in any family think the adoption of this plan too troublesome, a gratuity at the end of the winter might repay her, if the love of her fellow creatures failed of doing it, a hundred fold. Did she readily enter into it, she would never wash away as useless the pease or grits of which soup or gruel had been made; broken potatoes, the green heads of celery, the necks and feet of fowls, and particularly the shanks of mutton, and various other articles, which in preparing dinner for the family are thrown aside.
Fish affords great nourishment, and that not by the part eaten only, but the bones, heads, and fins, which contain an isinglass. When the fish is served, let the cook put by some of the water, and stew in it the above, as likewise add the gravy that is in the dish, until she obtains all the goodness. If to be eaten by itself, when it makes a delightful broth, she should add a very small bit of onion, some pepper, and a little rice flour rubbed down smooth with it.
But strained it makes a delicious improvement to the meat soup, particularly for the sick; and when such are to be supplied, the milder parts of the spare bones and meat should be made for them, with little, if any of the liquor of the salt meats.
The fat should not be taken off the broth or soup, as the poor like it, and are nourished by it.
The following is an excellent Soup for the weakly.
Put two cowheels and a breast of mutton into a large pan, with four ounces of rice, one onion, twenty Jamaica peppers, and twenty black, a turnip, a carrot, and four gallons of water. Cover with brown paper, and bake.
Sago.
Put a teacupful of sago into a quart of water, and a bit of lemonpeel; when thickened, grate some ginger, and add half a pint of raisinwine, brown sugar, and two spoonfuls of Geneva. Boil all up together.
It is a most supporting thing for those whom disease has left very feeble.
Caudle for the Sick and Lying in.
Set three quarts of water on the fire, mix smooth as much oatmeal as will thicken the whole with a pint of cold water; when boiling, pour the latter in, and twenty Jamaica peppers in fine powder; boil to a good middling thickness, then add sugar, half a pint of well fermented table beer, and a glass of gin. Boil all.
This mess twice, and once or twice of broth, will be of incalculable service.
There is not a better occasion for charitable commiseration than when a person is sick. A bit of meat or pudding sent unexpectedly has often been the means of recalling long lost appetite.
Nor are the indigent alone the grateful receivers; for in the highest houses a real good sick-cook is rarely met with; and many who possess all the goods of fortune, have attributed the first return of health to some kitchen physic.