The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families

by active 1823-1849 Mary Eaton

LEMON HONEYCOMB. Sweeten the juice of a lemon to your taste, and put it in the dish that you intend to serve it in. Mix the white of an egg well beaten, with a pint of rich cream, and a little sugar. Whisk it; and as the froth rises, put it on the lemon juice. Prepare it the day before it is to be used.

LEMON JUICE. In order to keep this article ready for use, the best way is to buy the fruit when it is cheap, and lay it two or three days in a cool place. If too unripe to squeeze immediately, cut the peel off some of them, and roll them under the hand, to make them part with the juice more freely. Others may be left unpared for grating, when the pulp is taken out, and they are dried. Squeeze the juice into a china bason, and strain it through some muslin which will not permit any of the pulp to pass. Having prepared some small phials, perfectly dry, fill them with the juice so near the top as only to admit half a tea-spoonful of sweet oil into each. Cork the bottles tight, and set them upright in a cool place. When the lemon juice is wanted, open only such a sized bottle as will be used in two or three days. Wind some clean cotton round a skewer, and dipping it in, the oil will be attracted; and when all of it is removed, the juice will be as fine as when first bottled. Hang the peels up to dry, and keep them from the dust.

LEMON MINCE PIES. Squeeze a large lemon, boil the outside till tender enough to beat to a mash. Add to it three large apples chopped, four ounces of suet, half a pound of washed currants, and four ounces of sugar. Put in the juice of a lemon, and candied fruit, as for other pies. Make a short crust, and fill the pattipans as usual.

LEMON PICKLE. Wipe six lemons, and cut each into eight pieces. Put on them a pound of salt, six large cloves of garlic, two ounces of horseradish sliced thin; likewise of cloves, mace, nutmeg, and cayenne, a quarter of an ounce of each, and two ounces of flour of mustard. To these add two quarts of vinegar, and boil it a quarter of an hour in a well-tinned saucepan; or, which is better, do it in a jar, placed in a kettle of boiling water, or set the jar on a hot hearth till done. Then set the jar by closely covered, stirring it daily for six weeks, and afterwards put the pickle into small bottles.

LEMON PUDDING. Beat the yolks of four eggs; add four ounces of white sugar, the rind of a lemon being rubbed with some lumps of it to take the essence. Then peel and beat it into a paste, with the juice of a large lemon, and mix all together with four or five ounces of warmed butter. Put a crust into a shallow dish, nick the edges, and put the above into it. When sent to table, turn the pudding out of the dish.

LEMON PUFFS. Beat and sift a pound and a quarter of double-refined sugar; grate the rind of two large lemons, and mix it well with the sugar. Then beat the whites of three new-laid eggs a great while; add them to the sugar and peel, and beat it together for an hour. Make it up into any shape, put it on paper laid on tin plates, and bake in a moderate oven. Oiling the paper will make it come off with ease, but it should not be removed till quite cold.

LEMON SAUCE. Cut thin slices of lemon into very small dice, and put them into melted butter. Give it one boil, and pour it over boiled fowls.

LEMON AND LIVER SAUCE. Pare off as thin as possible the rind of a lemon, or of a Seville orange, so as not to cut off any of the white with it. Then peel off all the white, and cut the lemon into slices, about as thick as two half crowns. Pick out the peps, and divide the slices into small squares. Prepare the liver as for Liver and Parsley Sauce, and add to it the slices of lemon, and a little of the peel finely minced. Warm up the sauce in melted butter, but do not let it boil.

LEMON SYRUP. Put a pint of fresh lemon juice to a pound and three quarters of lump sugar. Dissolve it by a gentle heat, skim it till the surface is quite clear, and add an ounce of lemon peel cut very thin. Let them simmer very gently for a few minutes, and run the syrup through a flannel. When cold, bottle and cork it closely, and keep it in a cool place.

LEMON WATER. A delightful drink may be made of two slices of lemon, thinly pared into a teapot, with a little sugar, or a large spoonful of capillaire. Pour in a pint of boiling water, and stop it close two hours.