MATTRASSES. Cushions, mattrasses, and bed clothes stuffed with wool, are particularly liable to be impregnated with what is offensive and injurious, from persons who have experienced putrid and inflammatory fevers, and cannot therefore be too carefully cleaned, carded, and washed. It would also be proper frequently to fumigate them with vinegar or muriatic gas. If these articles be infested with insects, dissolve a pound and a half of alum, and as much cream of tartar, in three pints of boiling water. Mix this solution in three gallons of cold water, immerse the wool in it for several days, and then let it be washed and dried. This operation will prevent the insects from attacking it in future.
MEAD. Dissolve thirty pounds of honey in thirteen gallons of water; boil and skim it well. Then add of rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, and sweetbriar, about a handful altogether. Boil the whole for an hour, and put it into a tub, with two or three handfuls of ground malt. Stir it till it is about blood warm, then strain it through a cloth, and return it into the tub. Cut a toast, spread it over with good ale yeast, and put it into the tub. When the liquor has sufficiently fermented, put it into a cask. Take an ounce and a half each of cloves, mace, and nutmegs, and an ounce of sliced ginger. Bruise the spices; tie them up in a cloth, and hang it in the vessel, which must be stopped up close for use.—Another way. Put four or five pounds of honey into a gallon of boiling water, and let it continue to boil an hour and a half. Skim it quite clean, put in the rinds of three or four lemons, and two ounces of hops sewed up in a bag. When cold, put the liquor into a cask, stop it up close, and let it stand eight or nine months.
MEASLES. In general, all that is needful in the treatment of this complaint is to keep the body open by means of tamarinds, manna, or other gentle laxatives; and to supply the patient frequently with barley water, or linseed tea sweetened with honey. Bathe the feet in warm water; and if there be a disposition to vomit, it ought to be promoted by drinking a little camomile tea. If the disorder appear to strike inward, the danger may be averted by applying blisters to the arms and legs, and briskly rubbing the whole body with warm flannels.
MEAT. In all sorts of provisions, the best of the kind goes the farthest; it cuts out with most advantage, and affords most nourishment. Round of beef, fillet of veal, and leg of mutton, are joints that bear a higher price; but as they have more solid meat, they deserve the preference. Those joints however which are inferior, may be dressed as palatably; and being cheaper, they should be bought in turn; for when weighed with the prime pieces, it makes the price of these come lower. In loins of meat, the long pipe that runs by the bone should be taken out, as it is apt to taint; as also the kernels of beef. Rumps and edgebones of beef are often bruised by the blows which the drovers give the beasts, and the part that has been struck always taints; these joints therefore when bruised should not be purchased. And as great loss is often sustained by the spoiling of meat, after it is purchased, the best way to prevent this is to examine it well, wipe it every day, and put some pieces of charcoal over it. If meat is brought from a distance in warm weather, the butcher should be desired to cover it close, and bring it early in the morning, to prevent its being fly-blown.—All meat should be washed before it is dressed. If for boiling, the colour will be better for the soaking; but if for roasting, it should afterwards be dried. Particular care must be taken that the pot be well skimmed the moment it boils, otherwise the foulness will be dispersed over the meat. The more soups or broth are skimmed, the better and cleaner they will be. Boiled meat should first be well floured, and then put in while the water is cold. Meat boiled quick is sure to be hard; but care must be taken, that in boiling slow it does not stop, or the meat will be underdone. If the steam be kept in, the water will not be much reduced; but if this be desirable, the cover must be removed. As to the length of time required for roasting and boiling, the size of the joint must direct, as also the strength of the fire, and the nearness of the meat to it. In boiling, attention must be paid to the progress it makes, which should be regular and slow. For every pound of meat, a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes is generally allowed, according as persons choose to have it well or underdone. In preparing a joint for roasting, care must be taken not to run the spit through the best parts of the meat, and that no black stains appear upon it at the time of serving.
MEAT SAUCE. Put to a clean anchovy, a glass of port wine, a little strong broth, a sliced shalot, some nutmeg, and the juice of a Seville orange. Stew them together, and mix it with the gravy that runs from the meat.
MEAT SCREEN. This is a great saver of coals, and should be sufficiently large to guard what is roasting from currents of air. It should be placed on wheels, have a flat top, and not be less than about three feet and a half wide, with shelves in it, about one foot deep. It will then answer all the purposes of a large Dutch oven, a plate warmer, and a hot hearth. Some are made with a door behind, which is convenient; but the great heat to which they are exposed soon shrinks the materials, and the currents of air through the cracks cannot be prevented. Those without a door are therefore best.
MEDLEY PIE. Cut into small pieces some fat pork, or other meat underdone, and season it with salt and pepper. Cover the sides of the dish with common crust, put in a layer of sliced apples with a little sugar, then a layer of meat, and a layer of sliced onions, till the dish is full. Put a thick crust over it, and bake it in a slow oven. Currants or scalded gooseberries may be used instead of apples, and the onions omitted.
MELON FLUMMERY. Put plenty of bitter almonds into some stiff flummery, and make it of a pale green with spinach juice. When it becomes as thick as cream, wet the melon mould, and put the flummery into it. Put a pint of calf's foot jelly into a bason, and let it stand till the next day: then turn out the melon, and lay it in the midst of the bason of jelly. Fill up the bason with jelly beginning to set, and let it stand all night. Turn it out the next day, the same as for fruit in jelly: make a garland of flowers, and place it on the jelly.
MELON MANGOES. There is a particular sort for preserving, which must be carefully distinguished. Cut a square small piece out of one side, and through that take out the seeds, and mix with them mustard-seed and shred garlic. Stuff the melon as full as the space will allow, replace the square piece, and bind it up with fine packthread, boil a good quantity of vinegar, to allow for wasting, with peppercorns, salt, and ginger. Pour the liquor boiling hot over the mangoes four successive days; and on the last day put flour of mustard, and scraped horseradish into the vinegar just as it boils up. Observe that there is plenty of vinegar before it is stopped down, for pickles are soon spoiled if not well covered. Also the greater number of times that boiling vinegar is poured over them, the sooner they will be ready for eating. Mangoes should be pickled soon after they are gathered. Large cucumbers, called green turley, prepared as mangoes, are very excellent, and come sooner to table.
MELTED BUTTER. Though a very essential article for the table, it is seldom well prepared. Mix on a trencher, in the proportion of a tea-spoonful of flour to four ounces of the best butter. Put it into a saucepan, and two or three table-spoonfuls of hot water; boil it quick for a minute, and shake it all the time. Milk used instead of water, requires rather less butter, and looks whiter.