TURNIP TOPS. These are the shoots which come out in the spring from the old turnip roots, and are to be dressed in the same way as cabbage sprouts. They make very nice sweet greens, and are esteemed great purifiers of the blood and juices.
TURNPIKES. Mix together a quarter of a pound each of flour, butter, currants, and lump sugar powdered. Beat up four eggs with two of the whites, make the whole into a stiff paste, with the addition of a little lemon peel. Roll the paste out thin, and cut it into shapes with a wine glass. The addition of a few carraway seeds will be an improvement.
TURTLE. The morning that you intend to dress the turtle, fill a boiler or kettle with a quantity of water sufficient to scald the callapach and callapee, the fins, &c. and about nine o'clock hang up your turtle by the hind fins, cut off its head, and save the blood; then with a sharp pointed knife separate the callapach from the callapee (or the back from the belly part) down to the shoulders, so as to come at the entrails, which take out, and clean them, as you would those of any other animal, and throw them into a tub of clean water, taking great care not to break the gall, but cut it off the liver, and throw it away. Then separate each distinctly, and take the guts into another vessel, open them with a small penknife, from end to end, wash them clean, and draw them through a woollen cloth in warm water, to clear away the slime, and then put them into clean cold water till they are used, with the other part of the entrails, which must all be cut up small to be mixed in the baking dishes with the meat. This done, separate the back and belly pieces entirely, cutting away the four fins by the upper joint, which scald, peel off the loose skin, and cut them into small pieces, laying them by themselves, either in another vessel, or on the table, ready to be seasoned. Then cut off the meat from the belly part, and clean the back from the lungs, kidneys, &c. and that meat cut into pieces as small as a walnut, laying it likewise by itself. After this you are to scald the back and belly pieces, pulling off the shell from the back and the yellow skin from the belly; when all will be white and clean, and with the kitchen cleaver cut those up likewise into pieces about the bigness or breadth of a card. Put those pieces into clean cold water, wash them out, and place them in a heap on the table, so that each part may lie by itself. The meat, being thus prepared and laid separately for seasoning, mix two third parts of salt, or rather more, and one third part of Cayenne pepper, black pepper, and a spoonful of nutmeg and mace pounded fine, and mixed together; the quantity to be proportioned to the size of the turtle, so that in each dish there may be about three spoonfuls of seasoning to every twelve pounds of meat. Your meat being thus seasoned, get some sweet herbs, such as thyme, savoury, &c. let them be dried and rubbed fine, and having provided some deep dishes to bake it in, (which should be of the common brown ware) put in the coarsest parts of the meat at the bottom, with about a quarter of a pound of butter in each dish, and then some of each of the several parcels of meat, so that the dishes may be all alike, and have equal portions of the different parts of the turtle; and between each laying of the meat, strew a little of this mixture of sweet herbs. Fill your dishes within an inch and an half, or two inches of the top; boil the blood of the turtle, and put into it; then lay on forcemeat balls made of veal, or fowl, highly seasoned with the same seasoning as the turtle; put into each dish a gill of good Madeira wine, and as much water as it will conveniently hold; then break over it five or six eggs, to keep the meat from scorching at the top, and over that shake a small handful of shred parsley, to make it look green; which done, put your dishes into an oven made hot enough to bake bread, and in an hour and half, or two hours, (according to the size of the dishes) it will be sufficiently done. Send it to the table in the dishes in which it is baked, in order to keep it warm while it is eating.
TURTLE FINS. Put into a stewpan five large spoonfuls of brown sauce, with a bottle of port wine, and a quart of mushrooms. When the sauce boils, put in four fins; and after taking away all the small bones that are seen breaking through the skin, add a few sprigs of parsley, a bit of thyme, one bay leaf, and four cloves, and let it simmer one hour. Ten minutes before it is done, put in five dozen of button onions ready peeled, and see that it is properly salted.
TURTLE SOUP. The best sized turtle is one from sixty to eighty pounds weight, which will make six or eight tureens of fine soup. Kill the turtle the evening before; tie a cord to the hind fins, and hang it up with the head downwards. Tie the fore fins by way of pinioning them, otherwise it would beat itself, and be troublesome to the executioner. Hold the head in the left hand, and with a sharp knife cut off the neck as near the head as possible. Lay the turtle on a block on the back shell, slip the knife between the breast and the edge of the back shell; and when the knife has been round, and the breast is detached from the back, pass the fingers underneath, and detach the breast from the fins, always keeping the edge of the knife on the side of the breast; otherwise if the gall be broken, the turtle will be spoiled. Cut the breast into four pieces, remove the entrails, beginning by the liver, and cut away the gall, to be out of danger at once. When the turtle is emptied, throw the heart, liver, kidneys, and lights, into a large tub of water. Cut away the fins to the root, as near to the back shell as possible; then cut the fins in the second joint, that the white meat may be separated from the green. Scrape the fat from the back shell by skimming it, and put it aside. Cut the back shell into four pieces. Set a large turbot pan on the fire, and when it boils dip a fin into it for a minute, then take it out and peel it very clean. When that is done, take another, and so on till all are done; then the head, next the shell and breast, piece by piece. Be careful to have the peel and shell entirely cleaned off, then put in the same pan some clean water, with the breast and back, the four fins, and the head. Let it boil till the bones will leave the meat, adding a large bundle of turtle herbs, four bay leaves, and some thyme. If two dishes are to be made of the fins, they must be removed when they have boiled one hour. Put into a small stewpan the liver, lights, heart, and kidneys, and the fat that was laid aside. Take some of the liquor that the other part was boiled in, cover the stewpan close, and let it boil gently for three hours. Clean the bones, breast, and back from the green fat, and cut it into pieces an inch long, and half an inch wide, but suffer none of it to be wasted. Put all these pieces on a dish, and set it by till the broth is ready. To prepare the broth, put on a large stockpot, and line the bottom of it with a pound and a half of lean ham, cut into slices. Cut into pieces a large leg of veal, except a pound of the fillet to be reserved for forcemeat; put the rest upon the ham, with all the white meat of the turtle, and a couple of old fowls. Put it on a smart fire, with two ladlefuls of rich broth, and reduce it to a glaze. When it begins to stick to the bottom, pour the liquor in which the turtle was boiled into the pot where the other part of the turtle has been boiled. Add to it a little more sweet herbs, twenty-four grains of allspice, six blades of mace, two large onions, four carrots, half an ounce of whole pepper, and some salt. Let it simmer for four hours, and then strain the broth through a cloth sieve. Put into it the green part of the turtle that has been cut in pieces and nicely cleaned, with two bottles of Madeira. When it has boiled a few minutes with the turtle, add the broth to it. Melt half a pound of butter in a stewpan, add four large spoonfuls of flour, stir it on the fire till of a fine brown colour, and pour some of the broth to it. Mix it well, and strain it through a hair sieve into the soup. Cut the liver, lights, heart, kidneys, and fat into small square pieces, and put them into the soup with half a tea-spoonful of cayenne, two of curry powder, and four table-spoonfuls of the essence of anchovies. Let it boil an hour and a half, carefully skimming off the fat. Pound the reserved veal in a marble mortar for the forcemeat, and rub it through a hair sieve, with as much of the udder as there is of meat from the leg of veal. Put some bread crumbs into a stewpan with milk enough to moisten it, adding a little chopped parsley and shalot. Dry it on the fire, rub it through a wire sieve, and when cold mix it all together, that every part may be equally blended. Boil six eggs hard, take the yolks and pound them with the other ingredients; season it with salt, cayenne, and a little curry powder. Add three raw eggs, mix all well together, and make the forcemeat into small balls the size of a pigeon's egg. Ten minutes before the soup is ready put in the forcemeat balls, and continue to skim the soup till it is taken off the fire. If the turtle weighs eighty pounds, it will require nearly three bottles of Madeira for the soup. When the turtle is dished, squeeze two lemons into each tureen. It is also very good with eggs boiled hard, and a dozen of the yolks put in each tureen. This is a highly fashionable soup, and such as is made in the royal kitchen; but it is difficult of digestion, and fit only for those who 'live to eat.' Foreigners in general are extremely fond of it; and at the Spanish dinner in 1808, eight hundred guests attended, and two thousand five hundred pounds weight of turtle were consumed.
TUSK. Lay the tusk in water the first thing in the morning; after it has lain three or four hours, scale and clean it very well; then shift the water, and let it lie till you want to dress it. If it is large, cut it down the back, and then across; if small, only down the back; put it into cold water, and let it boil gently for about twenty minutes. Send it to table in a napkin, with egg sauce, butter and mustard, and parsnips cut in slices, in a plate.
TWOPENNY. The malt beverage thus denominated, is not formed to keep, and therefore not likely to be brewed by any persons for their own consumption. The following proportions for one barrel, are inserted merely to add to general information in the art of brewing.
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Malt, a bushel and a half | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Hops, one pound | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Liquorice root, a pound and a half | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Capsicum, a quarter of an ounce | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Spanish liquorice, 2 ounces | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Treacle, five pounds | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| ———— | |||
| 0 | 13 | 11 | |
| ———— | |||
| £ | s. | d. | |
| One barrel of twopenny, paid for at the publican's, 128 quarts, at 4d. per quart | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Brewed at home, coals included | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| ———— | |||
| Clear gain, | 1 | 7 | 8 |
| ———— | |||
It is sufficient to observe respecting this liquor, that it requires no storing, being frequently brewed one week, and consumed the next. The quantity of capsicum in one barrel of twopenny, is as much as is commonly contained in two barrels of porter: this readily accounts for the preference given to it by the working classes, in cold winter mornings. Twopenny works remarkably quick, and must be carefully attended to, in the barrels.