Fill little square bottles with an equal quantity of finely ground or pounded ginger, nutmeg, black pepper, allspice, cinnamon and cloves. Keep these corked tight, and when "kitchen pepper" is required, take the proper proportion of each, and mix them, with common salt. For white sauces, use white pepper, nutmeg, mace, lemon peel (dried), ginger and cayenne; pounded or grated, and kept in bottles.
Savoury Powder.
1 oz. of salt, ½ oz. mustard, ¼ oz. allspice, ¼ oz. ginger, ¼ oz. nutmeg, ½ oz. black pepper, ½ oz. lemon peel, and 2 drachms cayenne; grate and pound well together, pass the mixture through a fine sieve and bottle it.—Some leave out allspice and ginger, substituting mace and cloves.
Curry Powder.
Take 12 oz. of coriander seeds, 2 oz. cummin seeds, 1 oz. fenugreek seeds, 1 oz. ginger, 1 oz. black pepper, 4 oz. cayenne, and 2 oz. pale turmeric. Pound the whole and mix well together. Put these ingredients before the fire, stir and rub them frequently, till quite dry. Then set them by to get cold, rub through a hair sieve, and put them into a dry bottle, cork close, and keep in a dry place. A table-spoonful will make curry sufficient for one fowl.—Another: Take ¼ lb. coriander seed, 2½ oz. turmeric, 1 oz. cummin seed, ½ oz. black pepper, and cayenne to taste; then proceed in the same way.—Another: 2 oz. coriander seeds, ¼ lb. turmeric; of black pepper, flour of mustard, cayenne and ginger, each 1 oz.; of lesser cardamoms ½ oz., cummin seed ¼ oz., and fenugreek seeds ¼ oz.—Another: 4 oz. turmeric in powder, 4 oz. of coriander, 2 oz. carraway seeds in powder, 2 oz. fenugreek, and cayenne to taste.—Curry paste is very good, but it may be better to prepare curry powder at home; for different curries require different flavouring; as fish and veal require more acid than fowls, rabbit, &c., &c. The ingredients may be kept in bottles, and mixed when used.
Herbs.
As these cannot always be procured green, it is convenient to have them in the house, dried and prepared, each in the proper season. The common method is to dry them in the sun, but their flavour is better preserved, by being put into a cool oven, or the meat screen, before a moderate fire, taking care not to scorch them. They should be gathered when just ripe, on a dry day. Cleanse them from dirt and dust, cut off the roots, put them before the fire, and dry them quickly, rather than by degrees. Pick off the leaves, pound and sift them; put the powder into bottles, and keep these closely stopped.
Basil, from the middle of August, to the same time in September.
Winter and Summer Savory, July and August.
Knotted Marjoram, July.