Wine, and Miscellaneous Drinks
Wine, and Miscellaneous Drinks.—Fruits intended for making wine must be perfectly ripe and sound, and gathered in dry weather. The most convenient sized cask is 10 gal. All utensils must always be scoured and scalded, and set out of doors to sweeten the day before being used. The tub in which the liquor is put to settle should have a tap within 3 in. of the bottom, so that the wine may be drawn, instead of poured off, without disturbing the lees or sediment; which must not on any account be put into the cask until it has been filtered well. The sieves and flannel strainers should be kept perfectly sweet, and exposed to the fresh air, and nothing of brass or copper used.
Never add the yeast for fermentation until the liquor is cool enough to receive it: 85° F. is about the proper temperature. Stir the liquor well occasionally, and cover the vessel close in cold weather. When liquor is working in a cask, it must be kept quite full to allow it to work out, or the wine will not be clear; keep a tile over the bung-hole that the froth may escape, or put the bung on lightly. Fermentation will be accelerated by mixing the yeast with 2 qt. of the liquor in a jar for 10 minutes, and then adding it to the whole quantity.
Wines made from raspberries, mulberries, elderberries, blackberries, and all such fruits as produce much sediment, should always be filtered through flannel bags into the cask, as this saves much trouble in fining and racking. Wines never “feed” on the lees, but, on the contrary, fret; and if not made strong, frequently go sour.
When the liquor is ready for putting into the cask, draw it off as long only as it runs clear; then filter the lees more than once, if necessary, and fill completely. Put any overplus into bottles, with a small quantity of brandy, as a reserve for filling up in future. When brandy is to be added, take out 3 qt. of the wine, pour in the spirit, and then fill up. Never add water to wines when casked; should there by accident be a deficiency of the liquor, add foreign wine mixed with brandy.
Racking off is best performed by drawing the wine off into a clean vessel as long as it runs perfectly clear, then put in a cork, and turn the lees out in a separate tub, and filter it well. Next return all that is bright into the same cask; add what is recommended, and stop it up again securely. This should be done in cool weather, or early in the morning.
When bottling take care that your bottles are clean and not specked, or they will leak; fill them so that the wine will just come in contact with the cork when driven home. Use the best corks, and dip each in some of the wine, or in brandy, which is better. Seal the corks of such white wines as require caution when ripe, with green wax to distinguish them, and fasten them with wire. All newly-made wines should be kept in cool, dry, dark cellars. When casks are emptied, stop all the holes to prevent their becoming musty or foul.
Bins are formed of brickwork, board, or iron. Place some fine dry sand over the bottom of each bin, and make it quite level. On this lay down 2 or 3 laths, so that the necks of the first layer of bottles may rest on them, and at the same time be quite level. They are usually placed in rows two deep, and in laying them down, be careful the shoulders of one row do not touch those of the opposite one, or they will break from the pressure. Be sure that the bottom rows are perfectly secure, as upon these depends the safety of the whole pile. Upon the first layers of bottles place a lath, to support the necks of those in the second row, the bottoms of which should rest on the laths placed over the necks of the first in the intervals between each bottle neck. Continue in this way until the piles are 3 or 4 ft. high.
All the bins that contain wine should be labelled, to specify the kind of wine and the date of their being bottled.
To cool wine, swathe the bottle or decanter in a wet bandage, and stand it in the full heat of the sun; when the bandage is nearly dry the wine will be found as cool as if iced.
Apple Wine.—Cut up 1 lb. of apples into quarters, add ½ lb. sugar, and then pour over them ½ gal. boiling water. Let it get cold, and then pulp the apples. Pour the fluid over the pulp, let it stand an hour, and then strain. This forms an agreeable drink, the acid of the apple blending with the sweet of the sugar pleasantly, so as to be grateful to a parched palate.
Apricot Wine.—Boil 10 gal. river water ½ hour, and set it to cool in a clean vessel. Cut 45 lb. ripe apricots into thick slices, and put them, with their juice, into the water, adding 25 lb. best loaf sugar, and stir them well; then cover the vessel closely, and let them steep until the day following. Boil the liquor and fruit together, stir in the whites of 8 eggs well beaten, and take off the scum as it rises. When the liquor is clear, and the fruit is reduced to a pulp, press, and strain it through a fine sieve, into a cooler, add the stones broken, and stir well. Spread good yeast on both sides of a toast, and when the liquor is at its proper warmth, work it well 2 days, and strain it through a jelly-bag into the cask, put on the bung lightly, and let it work over, keeping the cask full, and when it has done fermenting, add to it 2 qt. French brandy, and 2 oz. white sugar-candy. Then put in the bung, and secure it well, keep it 12 months, and then bottle it. It must remain in bottle a year or more, for it is a very rich wine, and will improve greatly by age.
Badminton.—(a) 1 bot. vin ordinaire, 2 bot. soda water, 1 small glass pale brandy; add lemon peel, sugar, and ice.
(b) 1 bot. light claret, 1 or 1½ glass sherry, 1 bot. soda water, crushed sugar to taste.
(c) Put the parings of half a cucumber in a cup with white sugar; pour on 1 bot. claret, and let stand ½ hour in ice; add 1 bot. soda water.
Balm Wine.—Into 8 gal. water put 20 lb. moist sugar; boil for 2 hours, skimming thoroughly; then pour into a tub to cool; place 2½ lb. balm tops, bruised, into a barrel with a little new yeast; when the liquor is cold, pour it on the balm; stir it well together, and let it stand 24 hours, stirring it frequently; then close it up tightly at first, and more securely after fermentation has quite ceased; when it has stood 2 months, bottle off, putting a lump of sugar into each bottle; cork down well, and keep in bottle at least a year.
Barley Water.—Wash the barley well, add a few strips of lemon-peel, very thin, and pour on the water boiling. The juice of the lemon should be squeezed in fresh just before it is served. Robinson’s patent barley is best (see p. [775]).
Beetroot Beer.—Having well cleansed and scraped the roots, removing the discoloured portion near the set of the leaves, cut them into pieces of an inch or so in thickness, fill the copper with them, and then put in as much water as will just cover them. Boil for about 5 hours, place them lightly in a wicker basket or sieve to drain, but do not put any pressure upon them. Then put the liquor back into the boiler, and to every 7 pails liquor put 3 lb. hops; boil together for 2 hours, and then strain through the sieve. When cool work it with yeast, the same as other beer. The scum which rises should be removed before casking. Beetroot may be substituted for malt if deprived of the greater part of its juice by pressure, then dried and treated in the same manner as the grain intended for brewing. The beer made from beetroot has been found perfectly wholesome and palatable, and little inferior to that prepared from malt.
Bilberry Wine.—The fruit should be picked on a very dry day, when it is quite ripe. The leaves and stalks must be carefully removed from the berries and the fruit, then weighed. To 4 gal. fruit allow either 6 gal. cold water or 3 gal. water and 3 of cider, and 10 lb. good moist sugar; let all these ingredients ferment in an open tub until working is over; then add ½ gal. brandy, a handful of lavender and rosemary leaves mixed, 2 oz. powdered ginger, and 2 oz. powdered tartar; let the liquor rest after this addition for 48 hours, then strain very carefully through a hair sieve into a perfectly clean cask, laying the bung lightly on the bung-hole until the working is quite over, and no hissing sound is heard; then close down quite tightly, and bottle off at the end of 3 months; keep 6-8 months in bottle before use.
Birch Wine.—(a) Take 11 gal. of the sap of a healthy birch tree, fresh as you can get it, boil it gently as long as any scum rises, which must be carefully taken off to avoid wasting it. Add to the clear liquor 25 lb. best loaf sugar, boil it again 20 minutes with the whites of 10 eggs beaten to a froth, and skim frequently until it is beautifully bright. Set it in a clean vessel to cool, and when at 96° F. put into it a toast well spread on both sides with thick fresh ale yeast, and keep it closely covered up, 6 or 7 days, stirring daily. Rinse a sweet 10 gal. cask with a pint of old raisin wine, filter the liquor into it, add the thin yellow rinds of 2 lemons and 3 Seville oranges, and 3 qt. French brandy, put in the bung, and secure it with paper and sand. Set it in a cool cellar, and bottle it in 2 years; fasten the corks down with wire, and seal with wax. A year later it will be in perfection.
(b) Boil 9 gal. healthy birch sap with 2 lb. clarified honey ½ hour, skimming it well. Beat 9 whites of eggs up with ½ oz. isinglass, dissolved in a cupful of cold water, and put in 20 lb. loaf sugar broken small. Mix this well with the liquor when cool, and boil it ½ hour longer, skimming and stirring until it is quite clear. Put it into a tub, and when milk warm stir well into it ¼ pint of strong yeast; let it work 3 days in the tub, then put it into your cask, add the rinds of 6 lemons and 2 lb. best raisins, and keep the bung out until the fermentation has ceased. Put to the wine a bottle of old Madeira and 1 qt. the best brandy; stop the cask up safely, and let it stand 6 months. Draw off the wine into a clean vessel as long as it runs clear, then filter the dregs through 3 folds of flannel, and put all back again into the same cask; fasten the bung in well, and put clay over it. In 6 months you may bottle it; seal and wire the corks to prevent accidents, for it is a lively wine, and should be kept in a cool cellar. When it has been bottled 6 months it will be fit for use.
Bishop.—Make several incisions in the rind of a lemon; stick cloves in the holes and roast the lemon at a slow fire. Put small but equal quantities of cinnamon, cloves, mace, and allspice into a saucepan, with ½ pint of water; let it boil until it is reduced one-half. Boil a bottle of port wine; burn a portion of the spirit out of it by applying a lighted paper to the saucepan. Put the roasted lemon and spice into the wine; stir it up well, and let it stand near the fire 10 minutes. Rub a few knobs of sugar to taste on the rind of a lemon, put the sugar into a bowl or jug, with the juice of half a lemon (not roasted), pour the wine into it, grate some nutmeg into it, sweeten it to your taste, and serve it up with the lemon and spice floating in it. Oranges are sometimes introduced instead of lemons.
Blackberry Wine.—Mix 45 qt. ripe blackberries, well picked and pressed, with 10 lb. good honey, and 26 lb. strong, bright, moist sugar; boil it with 12 gal. soft water and the whites of 12 eggs, well beaten, until it is reduced to 10 gal., skimming it until perfectly clear. Strain it into a tub, and let it stand until the next day, then pour it clear off the lees, and boil it again ¾ hour, adding the lees filtered twice, and 2 oz. isinglass dissolved in 1 qt. water. Skim well, and put in 2 oz. Jamaica pepper, cloves, and best ginger, all bruised, and tied loosely in a piece of muslin. Put into your cooler the thin rinds of 6 Seville oranges and 1 pint lemon juice; strain the liquor upon them, stir well, and when cool enough, work it with 1 pint fresh yeast stirred well into 1 gal. of the liquor. Cover it up close, and let it work 5 or 6 days, taking off the top scum and stirring twice daily; then strain, and filter it into the cask, put on the bung lightly, keep the cask well filled up, and when it has ceased fermenting, let a day elapse, and add 2 qt. French brandy, and 1½ oz. isinglass, dissolved in a little water, and mix with 1 gal. of the wine 10 minutes, 1 oz. bitter almonds blanched and slit, and 6 oz. sugar candy broken small. Stop up the bung, paste strong white paper over it, or coarse linen, and place plenty of sand over all, wetted a little. Keep it 2 years in a cool cellar, then bottle it; seal the corks, and keep in bottle 2 years; then use it. If allowed greater age, it will still improve.
Bucellas.—Press the pulp and juice out of 30 lb. Lisbon grapes, add 6 gal. cold soft water that has been well boiled; stir well, and covering the vessel close, let it stand 24 hours; add 30 lb. bright, strong, moist sugar, stir well until it is dissolved, and in 3 days more strain the liquor into your cask upon the thin rinds of 8 lemons and 1 oz. bitter almonds, blanched, and beaten with a spoonful of water in a stone mortar. When you have filled the cask, cover the bung-hole with a tile, and let the liquor work over; when it has ceased fermenting, pour in 3 pints French brandy and 4 oz. sugar candy, and stop it up for a year; then bottle it, seal the corks, and keep it 12 months.
Burgundy Cup.—(a) 1 bot. ordinary Burgundy, ½ gill ordinary brandy; 4 fresh black currant leaves or buds, steeped in the brandy 2 hours; sweeten with 1 oz. powdered sugar candy; when all well blended, strain the leaves; add bottle of aerated lemonade, and, just before serving, 1 lb. ice, in small lumps.
(b) Peel and juice of 2 lemons; 1 qt. seltzer water; 2 bot. Burgundy; sugar to taste; when well iced, draw out the peel and serve.
Buttered Jack.—Take a brass pan, put in ½ lb. lump sugar, 1 glass sherry, and 1 lb. fresh butter to melt; beat up 6 fresh eggs well with a little sherry, and having moderately cooled the pan with 2 bot. light dinner sherry, add the eggs while gently stirring, and place on the hob till quite hot, taking care not to let it boil; sweeten to taste. The pan must not be too hot when pouring in the eggs, or they will curdle.
Cardinal.—The same as Bishop. Substitute claret for port wine.
Chablis Cup.—(a) Dissolve 5 lumps sugar in 1 pint boiling water; add a little thin lemon peel; when cool, add wineglass of dry sherry, 1 bot. Chablis, and 1 lb. ice.
(b) Put 1 bot. Chablis and a liqueur glass of chartreuse, maraschino, or noyeau, into a jug embedded in ice; add a lump of ice; immediately before serving add a bottle of seltzer water.
Champagne Cup.—(a) 1 qt. bot. champagne, 2 bot. soda water, 1 liqueur glass of brandy or curaçao, 2 tablespoonfuls powdered sugar, 1 lb. pounded ice, and a sprig of green borage.
(b) 1 bot. champagne (iced); 1 gill Amontillado; liqueur glass of citronelle or maraschino; juice and paring of a Seville orange or lemon, rubbed on sugar; verbena and cucumber; sugar to taste; 1 bot. seltzer water.
(c) 1 bot. sparkling champagne (iced), 1 bot. soda water (iced), 2 oz. powdered loaf sugar, sprig of borage and balm, juice and thin peel of one lemon; pour the champagne on the lemon, sugar, and herbs; cover the vessel, which is in ice, till the sugar is dissolved; add the soda water.
Cherry Brandy.—(a) Take ripe black geans (Scotch wild cherries); pick off the stalks, and pick over the fruit as for a tart, but do not wash them. Half fill large wide-mouthed bottles with layers of fruit and pounded white sugar, weight for weight; fill up with good French brandy; cork well, and the longer it stands the finer it is. Bruise a few of the fruit, so as to crack the stones. It is useless to attempt to make good liqueurs with anything but French brandy, and that of the best. If you cannot procure black geans, use fine Morella cherries, each of which must be wiped and pricked with a bone stiletto or knitting needle. In this case the cherries are a good dessert dish.
(b) Get the largest Morella cherries, cut off half the stalk, pricking each cherry with a needle, and putting them into a wide-mouthed bottle. Add ¾ of the weight of the cherries in white candy sugar bruised, between the layers of the cherries, until full; add a gill of noyeau, and then fill up with French brandy; cork tight, and tie a bladder over the bottle.
(c) Having cut off half the stalks of some Morella cherries, put them very gently in and ¾ fill a wide-mouthed glass bottle that contains 1 qt. Add 4 oz. white sugar candy finely powdered, fill close up with the best brandy, adding one clove, 2 dr. dried Seville orange peel, and 1 dr. cinnamon. The three last ingredients to be taken out in 14 days; then fill up the vacant space with brandy, and cork carefully.
Cider.—Bottling.—Cider or perry, when bottled in hot weather, should be left a day or two uncorked, that it may get flat; but if too flat in the cask, and soon wanted for use, put into each bottle a small lump or two of sugar candy, or four or five raisins. Cider should be well corked and waxed, and the bottles put upright in a cool place.
Restoring Flavour.—(a) Cider, 1 hhd.; rum, weak flavoured, 2 gal.; alum, dissolved, 1 lb.; honey, or coarse sugar, 15 lb.; bitter almonds, ½ lb.; cloves, ½ lb. Mix, and after a few days fine it down with isinglass.
(b) To fine and improve the flavour of 1 hhd., take ½ oz. cochineal, 1 lb. alum, and 3 lb. sugar candy; bruise them all well in a mortar, and infuse them in 1 gal. good French brandy for a day or two; then mix the whole with the cider and stop it close for 5 or 6 months. After which, if fine, bottle it off.
Cider Cup.—(a) 1 bot. cider, 1 bot. soda water, 2 glasses sherry, powdered sugar, sprig of borage.
(b) 2 bot. sparkling cider, ½ gill curaçao, ½ gill brown brandy, ¼ lb. sugar; the juice, strained, and the peel of one lemon, rubbed on sugar; slice of cucumber; pour ½ pint boiling water on the sugar; when dissolved and cool, add the brandy, cucumber, liqueur, and juice; in a few minutes add the cider and 1 qt. shaven ice; use immediately.
(c) Grate into a cup some nutmeg and a little ginger; add a well-browned toast, a glass or two of sherry, sugar to taste; add a bottle of cider, poured on slowly. It may be drunk at once.
Claret Cup.—(a) 1 bot. claret, 1 bot. soda water, ½ lb. pounded ice, 4 tablespoonfuls powdered sugar, ¼ teaspoonful grated nutmeg, 1 liqueur glass maraschino, and a sprig of green borage.
(b) To 1 bot. ordinary claret add 1 bot. soda water, a glass of sherry or curaçao, the peel of a lemon cut very thin, powdered sugar according to taste. Let the whole remain an hour or two before serving, and then add some lumps of clear ice.
(c) To (b) add a few slices of cucumber, or some sprigs of borage instead of the cucumber.
(d) As (b), except the lemon peel, for which substitute, when in season, a pint of ripe raspberries or 4 or 5 peaches or nectarines, cut in slices.
(e) 2 bot. claret, 1 of sparkling champagne, wine glass of maraschino or citronelle; borage, balm, and sugar to the flavour required; ice well, and before serving add 2 bot. seltzer water.
(f) 2 bot. claret, 1 pint dry sherry, ½ gill brandy, 1 bot. champagne (iced); ½ gill noyeau; infuse some borage and balm leaves in the sherry; when sufficiently herbed, strain; add this to the claret, sweeten to taste, add the noyeau and spirit, ice up; just before serving, add 2 bot. iced potash water, 1 pint shaven ice, and the champagne; serve immediately.
(g) Peel one lemon fine, cover with pounded sugar, pour over a glass of sherry; add 1 bot. claret, sprig of verbena, and bottle of iced soda water.
Clary Wine.—Mix 9 gal. cold soft water with 6 lb. honey, 30 lb. best loaf sugar, and the whites of 12 eggs beaten to a froth; boil 1½ hour, skimming and stirring nearly the whole time. Put the liquor into a cooler, and add 14 qt. clary tops in flower; work it at the proper temperature with good fresh ale yeast, keeping it closely covered, and stirred well. Pick, stone, and cut in pieces, 14 lb. good Malaga raisins, pour on them 3 gal. lukewarm water, that has been well boiled; stir well, and let steep 5 days; then press the fruit in a hair bag, strain the liquor, and put it into a sweet 10 gal. cask; strain the liquor from the flowers, add to it the rinds of 10 lemons pared thin, and their juice strained, and put this into the cask, filling up, and keep it open 3 or 4 days, until the fermentation has entirely ceased. Then add 2 qt. French brandy, and stop it up for 3 months, after which rack it off into a clean vessel, filter the lees, and fill the same cask again, adding 6 oz. sugar candy bruised, and 1 oz. isinglass dissolved in 2 qt. of the wine. Stop it up securely, and keep it 18 months in a cool dry cellar; then bottle it, seal the corks, and in a year more it will be fit for use.
Coltsfoot Wine.—Boil 1 gal. water with 2½ lb. moist sugar and the beaten white of an egg, for ¾ hour; pour the boiling liquor on ¼ peck of fresh-gathered coltsfoot flowers and 1 lb. raisins stoned and cut small. Cover the vessel close, and let the ingredients infuse for 3 days, stirring thrice daily; then add a tablespoonful of yeast, keep it well mixed and covered close until it has worked freely; then strain into a cask upon ½ oz. best bruised ginger and the rind of half a Seville orange; let it remain open, covering the bung-hole with a tile until it has ceased fermenting; add a gill of French brandy, stop it up securely, and keep it for 12 months, then bottle it and use it 6 months later.
Corn Beer.—5 gal. water, 2 qt. molasses, 1 qt. sound corn. Put all into a keg and shake well; in a few days fermentation will have been brought on as nicely as with yeast. Keep it bunged tight. It may be flavoured with oil of lemon, &c. The corn will last five or six makings. If it gets too sour, add more molasses and water in the above proportions. This drink is cheap, healthy, and there is no better with yeast.
Cottage Beer.-½ pint good wheat bran, 3 handfuls hops, 2 tablespoons yeast, 10 gal. water, 2 qt. molasses. Boil bran and hops in the water until both sink to the bottom; strain through a hair sieve; when lukewarm put in the molasses and stir till it is melted. Put in a cask; bung up, and it will be ready for use in a few days.
Cowslip Syrup.—Take of fresh cowslip flowers, 12 oz.; boiling water, 1 pint: infuse for 24 hours, strain, and then add ½ lb. white sugar; boil it gently until it attains the consistence of a syrup. The cowslip was at one time very highly celebrated for its narcotic virtues; and cowslip water and infusion of cowslip have been much recommended. The infusion is made in the following manner: ½ oz. dried cowslip flowers, or 1 oz. fresh, must be put to stand in a close vessel with 1½ pints boiling water for ½ hour, when it may be drunk in the same manner as tea.
Cowslip Wine.—(a) To 2 gal. water add 2½ lb. powdered sugar; boil them ½ hour, and take off the scum as it rises; then pour it into a tub to cool with the rinds of 2 lemons; when cold add 4 qt. cowslip flowers to the liquor with the juice of 2 lemons. Let it stand in the tub 2 days, stirring it every 2 or 3 hours, and then put it in the barrel. Let it stand a month; bottle it, and put a lump of sugar into each bottle. It makes the best wine to have only the tops of the peeps.
(b) To 6 gal. water add 21 lb. lump sugar and the whites of 2 eggs; boil it (taking off the scum as it rises) till it clears itself, which will be in about ½ hour; when nearly cold add 24 qt. cowslips, the rinds of 2 lemons, and a spoonful of brewers’ yeast spread upon toast. Let it ferment for 3 days, stirring it twice or thrice a day, and then put it into a barrel, adding 1 pint of brandy, and cork it tight. When it has done fermenting, which will be in about 3 weeks, put into the cask a syrup made of 6 lemons and 1½ lb. sugar, which has stood till cold. Let it stand 4 months, when you may bottle it for use. Take out the rinds of the lemons before you put it into the cask.
Cream Mead.—A very agreeable drink may be prepared for convalescents as follows:—Dissolve 3 lb. white sugar in ½ gal. boiling water, and while cold add 3 oz. tartaric acid previously dissolved in 1 pint cold water. Now add the whites of 3 eggs well beaten; flavour to taste, and bottle. When it is to be used, stir in a few grains of soda bicarbonate, and a delicious effervescing drink is the result.
Currant Wine.—Gather the currants on a fine day, and, when they are fully ripe, pick them from the stalks, and squeeze out all the juice through a clean muslin bag. To 1 gal. juice put 2 of cold water, and 2 tablespoonfuls yeast. Let it work 2 days, then strain through a hair sieve, and, to 1 gal. liquor, add 3 lb. powdered sugar; stir all well together, put it into a clean cask, and to every gallon add 1 wineglassful brandy. Close the cask, and let it stand 3 months, then bottle.
Damson Wine.—Boil 10½ gal. pure river water with 32 lb. strong moist sugar, and the whites of 10 eggs well beaten, for ½ hour, skimming well; then add 32 qt. ripe prune damsons well picked from the stalks, and stoned, and boil them ½ hour longer, skimming and stirring, until the liquor is beautifully bright. Strain it off the fruit in a fine hair-sieve into your cooler, and when at the proper temperature, work it with fresh yeast, spread on a toast, 3 or 4 days. Then draw it off the sediment, put it into the cask, filter the lees, and fill up, letting it work out at the bung. When it has ceased hissing, put to it 1 qt. French brandy, and stop it up safely, pasting paper over the bung. Let it stand 6 months, then rack it off, filter the lees through flannel twice folded, and filling the cask again, add 1 oz. isinglass, dissolved in 2 qt. of the wine. Secure the bung well, and let it remain 2 years; then draw it off and bottle, sealing the corks. This being a rich wine should not be drunk until it has been bottled 2 years or more.
Dandelion Tea.—Pull up 6 or 8 dandelion roots, according to size, and cut off the leaves; well wash the roots and scrape off a little of the skin. Cut them up into small pieces and pour on 1 pint boiling water. Let them stand all night, then strain through muslin, and the tea is ready for use. It should be quite clear, and the colour of brown sherry. 1 wineglassful should be taken at a time. The decoction will not last good for more than 2-3 days, and therefore it must only be made in small quantities.
Egg Flip.—(a) Boil 3 qt. ale with a little nutmeg; beat 6 eggs and mix them with a little cold ale; then pour in some of the hot ale, and return it several times to prevent it curdling; stir it well, and add a piece of butter and a glass of brandy, with sugar, nutmeg, and ginger to taste. A few cloves are an improvement.
(b) Break 2 fresh eggs into a jug, to which add 4 teaspoonfuls sugar, a little grated nutmeg and ginger. Some put a little allspice. Beat the eggs, sugar, and spices well up with a fork. Place 1 qt. ale on the fire in a pan, and when warm pour a little of the ale into the jug, and again well beat the eggs, &c. Then pour all the ale out of the pan into the jug, and from the jug into the pan, backwards and forwards several times, until the whole is well mixed. Heat the ale again if not hot enough, and sweeten to taste. It is best drunk warm. A little rum may be added for those who like it, and more than 2 eggs put in a quart of ale if desirable—say 3 or 4. Care must be taken not to let the ale boil, or it will be spoiled.
(c) Beat 2 eggs with a little water and 1½-2 oz. sugar; add a little grated nutmeg or allspice or cloves. Boil 1 pint sound ale, and when boiling pour it on the eggs, stirring the mixture the while; pour it backwards and forwards, and if it does not become thick, put it on the fire, carefully stirring until it does so.
(d) The yolks of 8 eggs well beaten up, powdered sugar, and a grated nutmeg; extract the juice from the rind of a lemon by rubbing loaf sugar upon it; put the sugar, a piece of cinnamon, and 1 qt. strong beer into a saucepan, take it off the fire when boiling, pour into it 1 glass cold beer, or a glass of gin if agreeable; put it into a jug, and pour it gradually among the yolks of the eggs, &c., stirring all the time; add sugar if required. Pour the mixture as swiftly as possible from one vessel to the other till a white froth is obtained.
Elderberry Wine.—(a) Gather your elderberries when quite ripe, bake them in an oven prepared for bread, then strain the juice; for every quart of juice take 1 gal. water, and boil in it ½ lb. moist sugar for 1 hour, skimming it carefully, and adding more water to make up for the evaporation, so as to leave at the end 1 gal. syrup. When cool, add the juice, spread a toast thickly with yeast, put it in, and let it ferment for a week in an open vessel; then pour it into a cask, with 1 lb. raisins, and 1 oz. each sugar and allspice. Let it stand 3 months, strain and bottle, adding ½ pint brandy at the last moment.
(b) To 3 qt. of berries put 1 gal. water; boil the berries for 15 minutes, then strain; boil not quite 3 lb. of sugar to the gallon for 45 minutes; and then add some ginger and cloves according to taste.
Elder-flower Wine.—To 1 gal. water put 4 lb. white sugar, ½ pint elder flowers loosely packed, and one tablespoonful of yeast. Mix and put all in a barrel, stirring the whole every morning for a week; then stop it up close, and it will be ready to bottle in 6 weeks.
Ginger Beer.—(a) 1¼ lb. lump sugar, ¾ oz. ginger well pounded, the peel of 1 lemon cut very thin; put them into a pitcher, then add 11 pints boiling water; stir the whole, then cover it up. When cooled till only milk warm, put 2 spoonfuls of yeast on a piece of toast, hot from the fire; add the juice of the lemon. Let work 12 hours; strain through muslin and bottle. Will be fit to drink in 4 days.
(b) 2 lb. loaf sugar, 2 oz. bruised ginger, 1 lemon; put all together and pour 2 gal. boiling water on it; let stand one day, then strain, and put 2 spoonfuls of yeast to it; bottle.
(c) To 10 gal. water put 12 lb. sugar, 6 oz. bruised ginger (unbleached is the best). Boil 1 hour, put into a barrel with 1 oz. hops and 3 or 4 spoonfuls of yeast. Let stand 3 days; then close the barrel, putting in 1 oz. isinglass. In a week it is fit for use. Draw out in a jug and use as beer.
(d) The rinds of 3 lemons pared very thin, 1½ oz. cream of tartar, ¼ lb. ginger (bruised), 3½ lb. loaf sugar, 2½ gal. boiling water. Let all stand till milk warm; then add a dessertspoonful of yeast. Let remain all night, then strain off, and add ½ pint brandy. Bottle in very clean half-pint glass bottles, and tie down the corks. It will be ready for drinking in a week’s time. Lemon juice may be added, if desired.
(e) 18 gal. water, 24 lb. sugar, 24 lemons, whites of 18 eggs, 2 lb. ginger, 1 oz. isinglass, 3 tablespoonfuls yeast. Boil the water and sugar, add the whites of eggs; when coming to the boil, add the ginger; boil for ½ hour, then add the lemon peel and juice; boil for 10 minutes, strain into a tub, add the isinglass; when nearly cold, add the yeast; when done fermenting, close up. Let stand for a fortnight, then bottle.
(f) Put 4 lb. loaf sugar in a crock, also 6 lemons (sliced), 5 oz. cream of tartar, 4 oz. ground ginger, 24 cloves in a small bag; pour on the above 4 gal. boiling water; cover up close. When nearly cold, whisk in the whites of 3 eggs, then add 3 tablespoonful a good yeast on a slice of toast; ferment 24 hours, then strain and skim and bottle off. Lay the bottles on their sides for 24 hours.
(g) White sugar, 5 lb.; the juice and peel of 3 or 4 lemons; ginger (bruised), 5 oz.; Water, 4½ gal. Boil the ginger in 1 gal. of the water for ½ hour, with the peels of the lemon, then add the sugar, and lemon juice, with the remainder of the water at a boiling heat, and strain through a cloth; when cold, add the quarter of the white of an egg, beaten up with a small quantity of the liquid. Let the whole stand 4 days, and bottle. Will keep good many months.
(h) Crush 12 oz. best ginger, and put it in a large tub; boil 8 gal. water and pour thereon; add 5 lb. best white sugar, 1 oz. cream of tartar, and 1 oz. tartaric acid; stir the whole up with a stick till the sugar is dissolved; allow it to stand till milk warm, then add 1 gill brewers’ yeast; stir this in, let it stand for 12 hours, or until a scum forms on the top, then drain it off; clear by means of a tap about an inch from the bottom of the tub; whisk the white of an egg to a froth, and mix it with a teaspoonful of the essence of lemon; strain through a flannel cloth; bottle and tie down.
(i) 5 gal. water, ½ oz. tartaric acid, 4 lemons, sliced thin, 12 oz. ginger, ¾ oz. cream tartar, whites of 2 eggs, ½ oz. compressed yeast, 5 lb. sugar. Proceed as (h).
(j) 8 gal. boiling water, 5 lb. best white sugar, ½ oz. cream tartar, white of egg beaten to a froth, ½ lb. best ginger, 2 oz. tartaric acid, 1 teaspoonful essence lemon, 1 gill brewers’ yeast. Leave to work 24 hours before bottling.
Ginger Brandy.—1 lb. raisins, the rind of one lemon, and ¾ oz. bruised ginger. Steep them in 1 qt. best French brandy, strain, and add 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar.
Ginger Wine.—(a) Boil together 3 gal. water and 10 lb. loaf sugar; then turn it out to cool, except 1 qt., in which boil for ½ hour the thin rind of 3 large lemons and 1 Seville orange, with 4 oz. pounded ginger, and 4 oz. raisins; when nearly cold, mix all together, adding the juice of the orange and lemons, 1 oz. isinglass, and 2 tablespoonfuls yeast; put into a cask, and stir daily for 2 days, or till the fermentation ceases; then close, and leave for 6 weeks; rack carefully into a clean cask, and leave for another month; then bottle. If required to be strong, you must add (after the fermentation ceases) 1 bot. brandy.
(b) 4 gal. water, 7 lb. sugar, boil ½ hour, skimming frequently; when the liquor is cold, squeeze in the juice of 2 lemons; then boil the peels with 2 oz. white ginger in 3 pints water, 1 hour; when cold put all into the cask, with 1 gill finings and 3 lb. Malaga raisins; bung; let it stand 2 months, then bottle. March is considered the proper time to make it, and it would be better if you were to add a little brandy to each bottle.
(c) To 7 gal. water put 19 lb. sugar, and boil it for ½ hour, removing the scum as it rises; then take a small quantity of the liquor, and add to it 9 oz. best ginger bruised. Put it all together, and when nearly cold, chop 9 lb. raisins very small, and put them into a 9 gal. cask; slice 4 lemons into the cask, after taking out the seeds, and pour the liquor over them, with ½ pint fresh yeast. Leave it unstopped for 3 weeks, keeping it filled up, and in about 6 or 9 weeks it will be fit for bottling.
(d) To 37 qt. water add 1¼ lb. best white ginger, well bruised, 27 lb. sugar, loaf or moist, and the rinds of 12 lemons thinly pared; boil together 1 hour, taking off the scum as it rises in the copper. Strain off when cool, ferment it with 2 tablespoonfuls of yeast and let remain until next morning, then put it into the cask with the rinds and the juice of the lemons (observe to strain the juice first), the ginger, and 3 lb. good raisins broken open. Stir once a day for 10 days, then add 1 oz. isinglass. Care must be taken not to bung the cask quite close until the fermentation has ceased; bottle in 6 or 8 weeks, and use. The rinds of the lemons are to be boiled, but not the juice: that is to be put into the cask without having been boiled.
Gin Sling.—Take a large tumbler or silver tankard, put into it a liqueur glass of maraschino of noyeau or of plain syrup (made by dissolving in spring water as much pounded loaf sugar as it will possibly take up). Half fill the tankard with little blocks of ice, and put in a thin paring of the outer yellow skin of a lemon. Then add a sufficient quantity of unsweetened gin to suit the taste. Now empty into the tumbler the contents of a bottle of soda water, and stir well up with a tablespoon to amalgamate the whole. A sprig of borage with one blue flower may be added.
Gooseberry Wine.—(a) To 1 lb. gooseberries, when picked and bruised, put 1 qt. fresh cold spring water; let stand 3 days, stirring two or three times a day. To 1 gal. juice put 3 lb. loaf sugar in a barrel, and when it has done working, to every 20 qt. of liquor put 1 qt. brandy and a little isinglass. The gooseberries should be picked when they are just changing colour, and may be of any sort or kind. It should stand in the barrel 6 months. Taste frequently, and bottle when the sweetness is sufficiently gone off.
(b) To 10 gal. cold water take 10 gal. unripe large gooseberries, cut them in halves, and throw them into the water; let them lie 4 or 5 days, frequently stirring; strain off the liquor, and add 30 lb. white sugar; dissolve the sugar, strain the whole into a cask. It will probably remain in a state of fermentation for 2 months; when that has subsided, bottle.
Greengage Wine.—Take 40 qt. ripe greengage plums, stone them, and press the fruit in a tub; pour 10 gal. boiling water on, and let them lie till the following day. Boil them with the liquor and 25 lb. of good loaf sugar, ½ hour, skimming well, then add the whites of 8 eggs well beaten, and boil 20 minutes longer, skimming until the liquor is quite clear. Break the stones, put the shells and kernels into the cooler, strain the liquor through a sieve upon them hot, cover close, and when properly cooled, add a toast well covered with thick fresh yeast, and let it ferment 4 or 5 days, stirring it twice each day. Let it settle, take off the scum, and put the clear liquor into the cask, upon 6 oz. of white sugar candy, the thin rinds of 4 Seville oranges and 4 lemons, and 6 lb. of Smyrna raisins stoned and cut in pieces. Filter the lees and add them to the rest, filling the cask; put paper and a tile over the bung-hole, and let it work out. When fermentation has ceased, add 3 pints of French brandy, and stop it up securely for 12 months; then rack it off, filter the lees, and fill the cask again, adding 1 oz. of best isinglass dissolved, and 4 or 5 oz. of white sugar candy bruised. Secure the bung well.
Hop Beer.—4 lb. sugar, water q.s., 6 oz. hops, 4 oz. ginger, bruised. Boil the hops for 3 hours with 5 qt. water, then strain; add 5 more qt. water and the ginger; boil a little longer, again strain, add the sugar, and when lukewarm add 1 pint yeast. After 24 hours it will be ready for bottling.
Horehound Beer.—To make 6 gal., make an infusion of 1½ oz. quassia with a dozen sprigs of horehound; boil with part of this liquid 24 cayenne pods for 20 minutes, then add 6 fl. oz. lime juice and 1½ oz. licorice (dissolved in cold water); strain the mixture and put with it 6 gal. cold water, with 2 lb. brown sugar, colouring with burnt sugar; allow the whole to work 4 days. Now take 2 qt. of it, warm it rather warmer than new milk, mix with this 8 tablespoonfuls good brewers’ yeast, and stand in a warm place till in a brisk state of fermentation; mix it with the rest of the liquor, and in a few hours it will be all in full work. Give it a stir twice a day for the first two days to promote fermentation; keep it from contact with cold air for the following two days, and skim the top off as it gets yeasty. The beer must be now drawn off as clear as possible into a clean vessel by passing it through a filtering bag. Clean the tub well, and return the liquid to it, and add ½ dr. pure dissolved isinglass; stir the whole well together, and put a cloth over the tub, and also a lid on it, to exclude the air as much as possible; in 30 hours the beer may be bottled off. In summer this will be ripe and fit to drink in 8 days. A superior quality may be made by putting a small piece of sugar into each bottle just before corking.
Imperial Pop.—(a) 1 oz. cream of tartar, ¼ lb. lump sugar, the juice and peel of 1 lemon or less, according to taste. Pour over this 4 qt. of boiling water, and drink when cold.
(b) 1½ gal. boiling water, 1½ lb. best white sugar, 1 oz. best ginger, 1 oz. lemon juice. When cool, strain and ferment with 1 oz. yeast, and bottle.
Lawn Sleeve.—The same as Bishop. Substitute Madeira or sherry for port, with 3 glasses hot calves’-foot jelly.
Lemonade.—(a) Can be used in powders, and carried when out shooting, fishing, &c.: soda bicarbonate, 20 gr.; citric or tartaric acid, 15 gr.; sugar to taste—the sugar and soda in one glass, and the acid in another; mix.
(b) Take lemon juice, sugar, and water only. About 1 lemon to 1 pint water, adding the peel cut very thin, and sugar to the palate.
Lemon Beer.—1 lb. sugar, 1 lemon sliced, 1 teacupful yeast, 1 gal. boiling water, 1 oz. ginger, bruised. Let it stand 12 to 20 hours, after which it may be bottled.
Lemon Shrub.—The juice of 12 lemons, the thin rind of 2, 1 lb. sugar, the whites of 2 eggs well whisked, 1 pint water, ½ pint rum, and ½ pint brandy. Mix and strain.
Lemon Whey.—1 pint boiling milk, ½ pint lemon juice, sugar to taste. Mix and strain.
Linseed Tea.—Take 3 tablespoonfuls linseed, about 1 pint water, and boil for 10 minutes. Strain off the water, put in a jug with 2 lemons, cut in thin slices; put also some brown sugar. A wineglassful of wine is an improvement. This has been found most nourishing for invalids.
Loving Cup.—(a) ½ oz. cloves, allspice (whole), and cinnamon; mix them together with 1 pint water; boil till reduced to one-third, then strain it off. Add 2 bot. sherry, 2 Madeira, 1 port, 1 claret, the juice of 6 lemons, 1½ lb. loaf sugar, 2 nutmegs grated finely, 1 qt. water. Flavour with the spices according to taste. This is sufficient for 150 guests. Send round cold.
(b) Extract the juice from the peel of the lemon by rubbing sugar on it, cut 2 lemons into thin slices; add the rind of 1 lemon cut thin, ¼ lb. loaf sugar, and ½ pint brandy; put the whole into a large jug, mix it well together, and pour 1 qt. cold spring water upon it; grate a nutmeg into it, and add 1 pint Madeira, and 1 bot. cider; sweeten it to taste with capillaire or lump sugar; put (in summer) a handful of balm, and the same quantity of borage, in flower, into it, stalks downward; then put the jug containing the liquor into a tub of ice, and when it has remained there 1 hour it is fit for use. The balm and borage should be fresh gathered. In winter use ale instead of cider, omit ice, and drink warm.
Mangold-wurzel Beer.—Wash the roots, scrape and pare them, cut them up as for sheep, fill the boiler with them and then pour as much water to them as it will hold. Let them boil about 6 hours, and then strain them through a basket, but do not press them. Measure the liquor back again into the boiler and to every 7 pails put 3 lb. hops, 6 lb. coarse brown sugar, and ½ lb. mustard-seed. Boil together for 2 hours, then strain through the brewing-sieve; when cool, work it with yeast the same as other beer. Before putting into the barrel the next day, skim off the dark-looking froth.
Marigold Wine.—Boil 25 lb. good loaf sugar and 4 lb. honey with 10 gal. soft water, and the whites of 8 eggs well beaten, 1 hour, skimming until quite clear; pour hot upon 3 pecks marigold flowers and 4 lb. good raisins, stoned and shredded, covering the vessel close. Next day stir the liquor continually 20 minutes, and let remain covered until the following morning. Then strain, and put into cask upon the rinds of 6 Seville oranges pared very thin, and 8 oz. sugar candy broken small, reserving 2 gal., which must be made nearly boiling hot, and stirred amongst the rest. Then work with 7 or 8 tablespoonfuls good fresh yeast, cover the bung-hole with a tile, and let it work over, filling it up every day as the liquor decreases. When it has ceased fermenting, put in 3 pints French brandy, and 1 oz. dissolved isinglass, and stop it up securely. It will be fine in 9 months, and fit to bottle, but will improve if kept longer. Let it remain in bottles well corked and sealed 12 months.
May Drink.—Put into a large glass mug or china bowl about 2 doz. black-currant leaves, a small handful of woodruff, and a quantity, according to taste, of pounded lump sugar and lemon juice; pour in 2 bot. hock or Moselle, never mind how common. Stir the whole occasionally for ½ hour, and serve.
Mead.—(a) Dissolve 1 oz. cream of tartar in 5 gal. boiling water; pour the solution off clear upon 20 lb. fine honey, boil them together and remove the scum as it rises. Towards the end of the boiling add 1 oz. fine hops; about 10 minutes afterwards put the liquor into a tub to cool; when reduced to the temperature of 70° or 80° F. (rather less than the warmth of new milk), according to the season, add a slice of bread toasted and smeared over with a little yeast. The liquor should now stand in a warm room, and be stirred occasionally. As soon as it begins to carry a head, it should be tunned, and the cask filled up, from time to time, from the reserve, till the fermentation has nearly subsided. It should now be bunged down, leaving a small peg-hole; in a few days this also may be closed, and in about 12 months the wine will be fit to bottle.
(b) 10 gal. water, 2 lemons, cut in slices, 2 gal. honey, a handful dried ginger root. Mix all together, and boil ½ hour, carefully skimming all the time. While boiling add 2 oz. hops. Remove from the fire, and while the liquid is lukewarm add a strong yeast, and put into a cask to work about 3 weeks, when it is fit for use.
(c) 1 gal. water, 3 lb. strained honey. Boil about ½ hour, adding to it ½ oz. hops; skim carefully, and drain the skimmings through a hair sieve, returning what runs through. Remove from the fire, and when the liquid is lukewarm stir into it ½ pint yeast, which is sufficient for 9 gal. mead. Put into a cask and let it work over, filling it up until fermentation subsides. Put a strong paper over the bung-hole. This mead may be flavoured with spices while boiling, and make a delicious summer drink.
Milk Lemonade.—Loaf sugar 1½ lb., dissolved in 1 qt. boiling water, with ½ pint lemon juice, and 1½ pint milk; this makes a capital summer beverage; ½ pint sherry added is a great improvement.
Milk Punch.—(a) Pare the rind off 12 lemons and 2 Seville oranges thinly; put them to steep in 6 pints rum, brandy, or whisky for 24 hours; then add 2 lb. refined sugar, 3 pints water, 2 nutmegs grated, and 1 pint lemon juice; stir it till the sugar is dissolved; then take 3 pints new milk, boiling hot, and pour on the ingredients; let stand 12 hours, closely covered; strain through a jelly-bag till quite clear; bottle.
(b) Pare 18 lemons very thin, infuse the peel in 1 qt. rum, and keep closely covered. The next day squeeze the juice of the 18 lemons over 4 lb. white sugar, and keep this also closely covered. The third day mix the above ingredients together, and add 3 qt. more rum (or 1 qt. rum and 2 qt. best cognac, which is preferred by some), and 5 qt. water that has been boiled, but is cold when added, also 2 qt. boiling milk; stir the whole mixture for about 10 minutes, cover close, and let it stand for about 3 hours, until quite cold; strain through a flannel bag 2 or 3 times, till quite clear. In bottling, care should be taken that the corks fit tight, and it will keep 3 or 4 years.
(c) The following is a celebrated Cambridge recipe for milk punch:—Beat up 4 new-laid eggs in the bowl in which you intend sending the punch to table; then add the following ingredients (recollecting always to put in the noyeau first), ½ pint noyeau, of rum, and of brandy, and then ½ pint noyeau, rum, and brandy mixed in equal proportions. Have 2 qt. milk boiling, to which add ½ teacup sugar, and then pour it on to the spirit, putting a little nutmeg grated on the top.
Molasses Beer.—1 lb. brown sugar, 1 oz. bruised ginger, 1 lb. molasses, ½ oz. hops. Boil for a few minutes with 3 qt. water; strain and add 5 qt. water and a spoonful of yeast; let this work all night, and bottle in the morning.
Moselle Cup.—(a) To 1 bot. still or sparkling Moselle add 1 bot. soda-water, 1 glass sherry or brandy, 4 or 5 thin slices of pineapple, the peel of half a lemon cut very thin, and powdered sugar according to taste; let the whole stand about 1 hour, and before serving add some lumps of clear ice.
(b) As (a), except the pineapple, for which substitute 1 pint fresh strawberries, or 3 or 4 peaches or nectarines.
(c) As (a), but add, instead of fruit, some sprigs of woodruff. Woodruff is a herb much used on the Rhine for making May drink, its peculiar flavour being most powerful in May; it is to be found in forests in many parts of England also.
(d) When neither fruit nor woodruff can be obtained, add, instead of sherry or brandy, a glass or two of milk punch or essence of punch, and a little more of the lemon peel.
Mulled Ale.—To 1 qt. strong ale add 1 large wineglass gin or whisky. Pour it into a clean saucepan, and put it on a brisk fire until it creams, adding at the same time brown sugar, grated ginger, and nutmeg to taste; add cold ale until the whole is lukewarm. Serve in a brown earthenware two-handled cup, adding a thick piece of toasted bread. The toasted bread is covered with brown sugar, and eaten with toasted cheese.
Nectar.—Citric acid, 1 dr.; potash bicarbonate, 1 scr.; White sugar, 1 oz. Fill a soda-water bottle nearly full of water; drop in the potash and sugar, and finally the crystals of citric acid. Quickly cork the bottle and shake. The crystals being dissolved, the nectar is fit for use.
Nettle Beer.—1 peck green nettles, 1 handful dandelion, 1 oz. ginger, 1 oz. yeast, 1 handful coltsfoot, 2 lb. brown sugar, 1 oz. cream tartar, 3 gal. boiling water. Infuse the herbs in the boiling water, and when cold strain the liquor. In it dissolve the cream of tartar and the sugar, adding the yeast and bruised ginger. Let the whole work about 12 hours, skim the liquor carefully, and put into champagne bottles. Close tightly with good corks softened in boiling water, and tie the corks down. After a few days the beer is ready for use.
Nettle Wine.—Boil 25 lb. best loaf sugar with 10 gal. river or rain water, and the whites of 8 eggs well beaten, 1 hour, skimming well; pour the hot liquor upon 5 pecks young tops of nettles previously bruised a little, and cover the vessel close with cloths. When at a proper temperature work it with 8 tablespoonfuls of good yeast, stirring well 3 days; then strain the liquor into the cask upon 8 oz. cream of tartar, 4 lb. Malaga raisins stoned, the rinds of 8 lemons pared very thin, and 6 oz. white sugar candy broken; leave out the bung, keeping the cask quite full until fermentation has ceased. Add 3 pints white French brandy, stop up the cask securely, and keep it in a cool cellar 10 months; bottle it, wire and seal the corks, and in 6 months it will be excellent.
Oatmeal Drink.—Mix ½ lb. oatmeal with 5 gal. cold water, boil it for ½ hour, and strain it through a rather coarse gravy strainer; add brown sugar to taste while hot. It is very much improved by the addition of ½ oz. citric acid or 1 oz. tartaric acid. The thinly-cut rind of 2 or 3 lemons or oranges may be boiled in it; or a still cheaper flavouring is to add, before boiling, a bit of cinnamon stick or a few cloves. To be served cold.
Orange Wine.—The oranges must be perfectly ripe. Peel them and cut them in halves, crossways of the cells; squeeze into a tub. The press used must be so close that the seeds cannot pass into the must. Add 2 lb. white sugar to each gallon of sour orange juice, or 1 lb. each gallon of sweet orange juice, and 1 qt. water to each gallon of the mixed sugar and juice. Close fermentation is necessary. The resultant wine is amber-coloured, and tastes like dry hock, with the orange aroma. Vinegar can be made from the refuse, and extract from the peels.
Oxford Grace Cup.—Extract juice from peeling of a lemon, and cut the remainder into thin slices; put it into a jug or bowl, and pour on it 1½ pints strong beer, and a bottle of sherry; grate a nutmeg into it; sweeten it to taste; stir till the sugar is dissolved, and then add 3 or 4 slices bread toasted brown. Let stand 2 hours and strain off.
Oxford Mull.—Boil a small quantity of cinnamon, cloves, and mace in ½ pint water; pour into it a bottle of port wine, and when it is nearly boiling add 2 lemons thinly sliced; sweeten it to taste.
Oxford Punch.—Extract the juice from the rind of 3 lemons by rubbing loaf sugar on them; the peeling of 2 Seville oranges and 2 lemons cut very thin, the juice of 4 Seville oranges and 10 lemons, 6 glasses of calves’-foot jelly in a liquid state: put into a jug and stir well together. Pour 2 qt. boiling water on the mixture, cover the jug closely, and place it near the fire for ¼ hour, then strain the liquid through a sieve into a punch-bowl or jug, sweeten it with a bottle of capillaire, and add ½ pint white wine, 1 pint French brandy, 1 pint Jamaica rum, and 1 bot. orange shrub. The mixture to be stirred as the spirits are poured in. If not sufficiently sweet, add loaf sugar, gradually, in small quantities, or a spoonful of capillaire. To be served hot or cold.
Parsnip Wine.—May be made by infusing 5 or 6 lb. of the chopped stem in 1 gal. hot water till cold; strain, and add to each gallon of the infusion 3 or 4 lb. white sugar, 1 oz. cream of tartar, and about 2 to 5 per cent. brandy. When well made and strong, this wine is of rich and excellent quality, especially after fermentation.
Parting Cup.—Put 2 or 3 slices of very brown toast in a bowl; grate over the same a little nutmeg; then pour in 1 qt. ale (mild preferable), and ⅔ bot. sherry; sweeten with syrup, and (immediately before drinking) add 1 bot. soda water; a little clove or cinnamon may be added, if approved of.
Primrose Wine.—Pick the flowers of fresh-gathered primroses from the stalks, and put 3 pecks of them and 1 peck cowslip pips into a clean vessel; boil 30 lb. good loaf sugar with 2 oz. best ginger bruised, and 10 gal. of river or rain water, ¾ hour, skimming it well; then add the whites of 10 eggs well beaten, boiling and skimming until it is perfectly clear; pour this boiling hot upon the flowers, stir well 10 minutes, and cover the vessel up closely for 3 days, adding 6 lb. Smyrna raisins cut small, and stoned, the juice of 10 lemons, and their rinds pared off very thin; let them infuse, stirring well twice daily, and on the fourth day warm the liquor, and work it at the proper temperature with ½ pint good yeast; when it has fermented 3 days, strain well, and filter into the cask; cover the bung-hole with a tile, keep the cask full, and let it work out; when it has ceased fermenting, pour in 3 pints white French brandy and 1 oz. best isinglass dissolved in 1 qt. of the wine; stop up the cask, put sand on the bung, and keep it in a cool cellar 12 months; bottle it, and in 6 months more it will be ready.
Punch.—(a) Take the juice and thin rind of 1 lemon, juice of 2 sweet oranges, taking out the pips; pour on these 3 pints boiling water; add ½ lb. loaf sugar, and when the sugar is dissolved, add ½ pint old Jamaica rum, and ½ pint cognac. Let stand for 6 hours, and bottle.
(b) Rub ¼ lb. white lump sugar over 1 large lemon until it has absorbed all the yellow part of the skin; then put the sugar into your bowl, add the juice of the same lemon, and mix well together. Pour over them 1 pint boiling water, stirring well together; then add ½ pint rum, ½ pint brandy, and ½ teaspoonful nutmeg; again mix well together, and it is ready to serve. Great care should be taken that the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
(c) ½ pint rum, ½ pint brandy, ½ pint stout (made hot), 1 quartern of cloves, 1 quartern of shrub, 1 lemon sliced, and the juice of one, ¼ lb. loaf sugar, 1 qt. boiling water.
(d) 1 bot. rum, 1 of sherry, 1 pint brandy, the juice of 3 lemons and 3 Seville oranges, 1½ lb. lump sugar; rub the rinds of the lemon and oranges with some of the sugar; add 1 qt. new milk to these ingredients, not quite boiling. Let stand 24 hours covered close, strain through a jelly bag, and bottle close. It will keep many years.
Raisin Wine.—Pick the raisins from their stalks, and put them into a tub with 1 gal. spring water (which has been boiled and allowed to cool) to every 8 lb. fruit; stir it thoroughly every day, then strain it into a cask, and leave it until the fermentation has ceased; add a bottle of brandy, bung up the barrel tight, and leave it for 12 months. Then strain it again into a clean cask. It may be bottled after standing 2 years.
Rhenish Cup.—(a) Take with 1 bot. light hock about 1 doz. sprigs of woodruff, ¼ orange cut in small slices, and about 2 oz. powdered sugar. The herbs are to be removed after having been in the wine ½ hour or longer, according to taste. A bottle of sparkling wine, added to 4 or 5 bot. still hock, is a great improvement. A little ice is recommended.
(b) Instead of woodruff and orange, take to each bottle of hock about ½ pint highly flavoured strawberries. Sugar as above. The fruit to be taken with the wine after having been in it about 1 hour.
(c) Take some thin slices of pineapple instead of the strawberries.
(d) Take to each bottle of hock 2 highly flavoured peaches, peeled and cut in slices. Sugar as above.
Rhubarb Wine.—(a) The rhubarb must be quite ripe; to 1 gal. rain-water, boiling, cut 8 lb. rhubarb into thin slices, put into pan or tub, cover close with a thick cloth or blanket, and stir 3 times a day for a week; then strain through a cloth, and add 4 lb. loaf sugar, the juice of 2 lemons and the rind of 1. To fine it, take 1 oz. isinglass and 1 pint of the liquor, and melt it over the fire; be sure you do not add it to the rest of the liquor till quite cold; then cask it. When the fermentation is over, bung it down. Bottle in March, and the following June it will be fit for use.
(b) To every 5 lb. rhubarb stalks, when sliced and bruised, put 1 gal. cold spring water; let stand 3 days, stir 2 or 3 times every day, then press and strain through a sieve, and to 1 gal. liquor put 30½ lb. loaf sugar, stir it well, and when melted barrel it; when it has done working, bung it up close, first suspending a muslin bag with isinglass from the bung into the barrel (say 2 oz. for 15 gal). In 6 months bottle it and wire the bottles; let them stand up for the first month, then lay 4 or 5 down lengthwise for a week, and if none burst all may be laid down. Should a large quantity be made it must remain longer in cask.
(c) Take 18 lb. rhubarb, cut it into small pieces, put them with 20 gal. soft water in a copper, and boil till soft; then strain through a sieve, add 5 or 6 handfuls balm, fresh or dried. To 1 gal. liquor put 3 lb. lump sugar and ½ lb. Malaga raisins, chopped; when lukewarm, put it into the barrel, and in 3 weeks stop it down. In 6 months, bottle. It will be fit to use in 3 months, or it will keep 20 years. You may make it pink colour by adding 1 pint damson juice.
(d) In the absence of a press to extract the juice, the stalks are boiled in a common stove boiler, using 2 qt. water to a boilerful of stalks. The stalks are very juicy, and after boiling require no pressing; they are merely left to drain; to 1 gal. juice add 2 lb. sugar, and place in a barrel to ferment; after fermenting, it should be corked tight.
(e) Cut up fruit into pieces, 2 in. long; to 1 gal. such add 1 gal. water and 3½ lb. loaf sugar. Fermentation will soon commence; stir up twice daily; when the pulp ceases to rise, wring out 1 qt. at a time in a piece of thin canvas; cork down in stone bottle or cask. Ease the cork for a minute twice daily the first week, as an after fret (fermentation) may occur. Good to drink in about 6 months. To please fancy you may add a little cut up dandelion root (fresh) or a handful of the leaves per gallon: but it must be all put together at commencement. Nearly all other fruits may be treated in the same way.
Sarsaparilla Beer.—Take of compound syrup of sarsaparilla 1 pint; good pale ale 7 pints; use no yeast.
Sham Champagne.—1 oz. tartaric acid, 1 oz. ginger root, 2½ gal. water, 1 good-sized lemon, 1½ lb. white sugar, 1 gill yeast. Slice lemon, bruise ginger, and mix all, except the yeast; boil the water and pour on, letting stand till cooled to blood heat. Add the yeast and stand in the sun one day. Bottle at night, tying the corks. In 2 days it may be used.
Sherry Cobbler.—Procure some clean ice, slice it on an ice plane, or pound it with a hammer, putting the ice into a linen or paper bag; then half fill a tumbler with it, and add 1 or 2 glasses sherry, ½ tablespoonful lemon juice, and 1 spoonful powdered white sugar, more or less according to palate. Imbibe through a straw.
Smoker’s Drink.—(a) In a large tumbler put a coffee-cup of hot (very strong) Mocha coffee, pure, a piece of sugar, according to taste (it ought not to be too sweet), a handsome dash of pure cognac; then fill up with pure cold water, and drink after stirring well up.
(b) Lemon and water, with or without sugar.
Spruce Beer.—(a) Take 10 gal. boiling water, 10 lb. sugar, 4 oz. essence of spruce, mix, and when nearly cold add ½ pint yeast. Next day bottle, and tie down as ginger beer.
(b) 2 oz. hops, 10 gal. water, 2 oz. chip sassafras. Boil ½ hour, strain and add 7 lb. brown sugar. 1 oz. essence of ginger, 1 oz. essence of spruce, ½ oz. ground pimento. Put into a cask, and cool; add 1½ pints of yeast; let stand 24 hours, and bottle.
Still Lemonade.—The juice of 3 lemons, the peel of 1, ¼ lb. lump sugar, and 1 qt. cold water. Mix, digest for 5 hours, and strain.
Sulphuric Orangeade.—3 oz. dilute sulphuric acid, 3 oz. concentrated compound infusion of orange peel, 12 oz. simple syrup, and 4 gal. boiled filtered water. A wineglassful of this mixture is taken as a draught in as much boiled and filtered water as may be agreeable.
Summer Drinks.—(a) Cold tea flavoured with sliced lemon and dashed with cognac. The tea should be properly made—not allowed to stand until it becomes rank, but boiling water should be poured on the leaves, allowed to stand 5 minutes, then poured into a jug with slices of lemon at the bottom. A wineglass of good brandy added when cool.
(b) Mix together 2 qt. best bottled cider—old, if possible—sweeten to taste, taking care that the sugar is perfectly melted. Add ½ nutmeg grated, a little powdered ginger, a glass of brandy, a glass of noyeau; cut a lemon into it in moderately thin slices, and let them remain there. Make it 2 hours before wanted, and stand in some ice.
(c) Sherry, 6 tablespoonfuls; brandy, 2 tablespoonfuls; sugar, 1½ oz.; 2 or 3 shreds of fresh lemon peel, cut very thin. This is the stock. It will be found convenient, when a quantity is required, to make a syrup of the sugar (1 oz. water to 2 oz. sugar), and to prepare the stock beforehand. The above quantity of stock should be added to 1 bot. claret and 1 bot. soda water. These should be kept in a cool place—a refrigerator, for instance—and only opened just before drinking. A lump of ice and a little borage are improvements; 2 bot. soda water instead of one can be used in summer.
(d) To 1½ pint good ale allow 1 bot. ginger beer. For this beverage the ginger beer must be in an effervescing state, and the beer not in the least turned or sour. Mix them together, and drink immediately.
(e) Get 3 pints water, 3 oz. tartaric acid, 3½ lb. lump sugar; mix and put to the fire to warm, not quite boil. While the above is getting hot, get the whites of 3 eggs and 4 teaspoonfuls wheaten flour, which well beat together, then mix by well stirring it with the water, acid, and sugar, then boil the whole 3 minutes. When cold, flavour with essence of lemon; bottle off. For use put a medium-sized spoonful of the liquor into a tumbler, fill up with water, and add a little soda carbonate; stir up and drink. A small quantity of brandy or sherry with the soda is a great improvement.
(f) Milk and whisky; quantity according to taste; the less spirit the better.
(g) Melt or dissolve by a gentle heat 1 oz. black currant jelly in ½ pint syrup; when cold add the same quantity of rum. In summer the above is best; for the winter months, do as follows: Pick fine dry black currants, put them into a stone jar, and then the jar into a saucepan of boiling water till the juice is extracted; strain, and to every pint add ½ lb. loaf sugar; give one boil and skim well; when cold add the same quantity of rum (or gin, if you prefer it), shake well, and bottle.
(h) 8 or 10 drops sulphuric acid added to a glass of water make a very wholesome subacid refreshing drink, having tonic properties, and well adapted to check the tendency to diarrhœa that exists during sultry weather.
(i) Mix 1 oz. essence of ginger and 1 oz. essence of cloves; put 20-30 drops into a tumbler of water. This renders even tepid water good.
Syllabubs.—(a) Put 1 pint beer and 1 pint cider into a punchbowl, grate in a small nutmeg, and sweeten it to your taste. Put the bowl under a cow and milk in about 3 pints milk; wash and pick some currants, make them plump before the fire, and strew them over the syllabub. (b) Take 1 qt. cream, 3 gills white wine, the juice of 1 lemon and of 2 Seville oranges, add sugar to taste, beat it well, and fill up your glasses as the froth, rises. (c) Take ¼ lb. loaf sugar in one piece, and rub on it 2 lemons till you have got all the essence out of the rinds, then pour over the sugar 1 gill white wine, and when it is dissolved add the juice of the lemons and 1 pint cream, whip it well, or mill it with a chocolate mill. (d) Take ½ pint cream, ½ pint white wine, and the juice of a lemon, sweeten it to your taste with white sugar, put in a piece of the paring of the lemon and some powdered cinnamon, beat it well, and as it rises take up the froth with a spoon and lay it on a sieve to drain; fill your glasses half full with wine, sweeten it, and fill up with the whisked cream. (e) Put into a china bowl 1 pint port wine and 1 pint sherry, sugar to taste, milk the bowl nearly full, cover it with clotted cream, grate nutmeg over it.
Toast and Water.—(a) Hold a small piece of bread before the fire until it is the colour of mahogany, but do not let it burn. Put it in a jug and pour boiling water upon it, cover it down close until cold. (b) The bread should be very slowly and thoroughly toasted, great care being taken to prevent its burning in the slightest degree; cold water should then be poured over it. It must stand some time before being used.
Wassail Bowl.—Put into a bowl ½ lb. Lisbon sugar; pour on it 1 pint warm beer; grate a nutmeg and some ginger into it; add 4 glasses sherry and 5 additional pints beer; stir well; sweeten to taste; let stand covered up 2 or 3 hours; then put 3 or 4 slices bread (cut thin and toasted brown) into it. Sometimes a couple or three slices of lemon, and a few lumps of loaf sugar rubbed in the peeling of a lemon, are introduced.
White Wine Negus.—Extract the juice from the peel of a lemon by rubbing loaf sugar on it, or cut the peel of a lemon very thin, and pound it in a mortar; cut 2 lemons into thin slices, add 4 glasses calves’-foot jelly in a liquid state, small quantities of cinnamon, mace, cloves, and allspice. Put the whole into a jug, pour 1 qt. boiling water upon it, cover the jug close, let stand ¼ hour, and then add 1 bot. boiling white wine; grate half a nutmeg into it, stir well together, sweeten to taste. In making port wine negus, omit the jelly. Negus is not confined to any particular sort of wine; if the jelly is omitted, it can be made with any or several sorts mixed together.
Wines, British.—There are many persons who would rather buy their drinks than have the trouble and expense of making them. Such will be glad to know that Beaufoy’s British wines and non-alcoholic drinks are to be recommended before all others.