PICKLED PIGEONS. Bone them, turn the inside out, and lard it. Season with a little salt and allspice in fine powder; then turn them again, and tie the neck and rump with thread. Put them into boiling water; when they have boiled a minute or two to make them plump, take them out and dry them well. Then put them boiling hot into the pickle, which must be made of equal quantities of white wine and white-wine vinegar, with white pepper and allspice, sliced ginger and nutmeg, and two or three bay leaves. When it boils up, put in the pigeons. If they are small, a quarter of an hour will do them; if large, twenty minutes. Then take them out, wipe them, and let them cool. When the pickle is cold, take the fat from it, and put them in again. Keep them in a stone jar, tied down with a bladder to keep out the air. Instead of larding, put into some a stuffing made of yolks of eggs boiled hard, and marrow in equal quantities, with sweet herbs, pepper, salt, and mace.
PICKLED PORK. The hams and shoulders being cut off, take for pickling the quantities proportioned to the middlings of a pretty large hog. Mix and pound fine, four ounces of salt petre, a pound of coarse sugar, an ounce of salprunel, and a little common salt. Sprinkle the pork with salt, drain it twenty four hours, and then rub it with the above mixture. Pack the pieces tight in a small deep tub, filling up the spaces with common salt. Place large pebbles on the pork, to prevent it from swimming in the pickle which the salt will produce. If kept from the air it will continue very fine for two years.
PICKLED ROSES. Take two pecks of damask rose buds, pick off the green part, and strew in the bottom of a jar a handful of large bay salt. Put in half the roses, and strew a little more bay salt upon them. Strip from the stalk a handful of knotted marjoram, a handful of lemon thyme, and as much common thyme. Take six pennyworth of benjamin, as much of storax, six orris roots, and a little suet; beat and bruise them all together, and mix them with the stripped herbs. Add twenty cloves, a grated nutmeg, the peel of two Seville oranges pared thin, and of one lemon shred fine. Mix them with the herbs and spices, strew all on the roses, and stir them once in two days till the jar is full. More sweets need not be added, but only roses, orange flowers, or single pinks.
PICKLED SALMON. After scaling and cleaning, split the salmon, and divide it into convenient pieces. Lay it in the kettle to fill the bottom, and as much water as will cover it. To three quarts add a pint of vinegar, a handful of salt, twelve bay-leaves, six blades of mace, and a quarter of an ounce of black pepper. When the salmon is boiled enough, drain and lay it on a clean cloth; then put more salmon into the kettle, and pour the liquor upon it, and so on till all is done. After this, if the pickle be not smartly flavoured with the vinegar and salt, add more, and boil it quick three quarters of an hour. When all is cold, pack the dish in a deep pot, well covered with the pickle, and kept from the air. The liquor must be drained from the fish, and occasionally boiled and skimmed.
PICKLED SAMPHIRE. Clear the branches of the samphire from the dead leaves, and lay them into a large jar, or small cask. Make a strong brine of white or bay salt, skim it clean while it is boiling, and when done let it cool. Take the samphire out of the water, and put it into a bottle with a broad mouth. Add some strong white-wine vinegar, and keep it well covered down.
PICKLED STURGEON. The following is an excellent imitation of pickled sturgeon. Take a fine large turkey, but not old; pick it very nicely, singe, and make it extremely clean. Bone and wash it, and tie it across and across with a piece of mat string washed clean. Put into a very nice tin saucepan a quart of water, a quart of vinegar, a quart of white wine, not sweet, and a large handful of salt. Boil and skim it well, and then boil the turkey. When done enough, tighten the strings, and lay upon it a dish with a weight of two pounds over it. Boil the liquor half an hour; and when both are cold, put the turkey into it. This will keep some months, and eats more delicately than sturgeon. Vinegar, oil, and sugar, are usually eaten with it. If more vinegar or salt should be wanted, add them when cold. Garnish with fennel.
PICKLED TONGUES. To prepare neats' tongues for boiling, cut off the roots, but leave a little of the kernel and fat. Sprinkle some salt, and let it drain from the slime till next day. Then for each tongue mix a large spoonful of common salt, the same of coarse sugar and about half as much of salt petre; rub it in well, and do so every day. In a week add another spoonful of salt. If rubbed every day, a tongue will be ready in a fortnight; but if only turned in the pickle daily, it will keep four or five weeks without being too salt. When tongues are to be dried, write the date on a parchment, and tie it on. Tongues may either be smoked, or dried plain. When a tongue is to be dressed, boil it five hours till it is quite tender. If done sooner, it is easily kept hot for the table. The longer it is kept after drying, the higher it will be; and if hard, it may require soaking three or four hours.—Another way. Clean and prepare as above; and for two tongues allow an ounce of salt petre, and an ounce of salprunella, and rub them in well. In two days after well rubbing, cover them with common salt, turn them every day for three weeks, then dey them, rub bran over, and smoke them. Keep them in a cool dry place, and in ten days they will be fit to eat.
PICKLED WALNUTS. When they will bear a pin to go into them, boil a brine of salt and water, strong enough to swim an egg, and skim it well. When the brine is quite cold, pour it on the walnuts, and let them soak for six days. Change the brine, and let them stand six more; then drain and put them into a jar, pouring over them a sufficient quantity of the best vinegar. Add plenty of black pepper, pimento, ginger, mace, cloves, mustard seed, and horseradish, all boiled together, but put on cold. To every hundred of walnuts put six spoonfuls of mustard seed, and two or three heads of garlic or shalot, but the latter is the mildest. The walnuts will be fit for use in about six months; but if closely covered, they will be good for several years: the air will soften them. The pickle will be equal to ketchup, when the walnuts are used.—Another way. Put the walnuts into a jar, cover them with the best vinegar cold, and let them stand four months. Then, pour off the pickle, and boil as much fresh vinegar as will cover the walnuts, adding to every three quarts of vinegar a quarter of a pound of the best mustard, a stick of horseradish sliced, half an ounce of black pepper, half an ounce of allspice, and a good handful of salt. Pour the whole boiling hot upon the walnuts, and cover them close: they will be fit for use in three or four months. Two ounces of garlic or shalot may be added, but must not be boiled in the vinegar. The pickle in which the walnuts stood the first four months, may be used as ketchup.
PICTURES. The following simple method of preventing flies from sitting on pictures, or any other furniture, is well experienced, and if generally adopted, would prevent much trouble and damage. Soak a large bunch of leeks five or six days in a pail of water, and wash the pictures with it, or any other piece of furniture. The flies will never come near any thing that is so washed.
PIE SAUCE. Mix some gravy with an anchovy, a sprig of sweet herbs, an onion, and a little mushroom liquor. Boil and thicken it with butter rolled in flour, add a little red wine, and pour the sauce into the pie. This serves for mutton, lamb, veal, or beef pies, when such an addition is required.