Take the purple kind, stew till soft, take off the skin, mash it with butter and sweet herbs, grate bread over the top, and bake it till brown.
[CHAPTER X.]
OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT.
On Constructing and Heating an Oven.
The best ovens are usually made thus. After the arch is formed, four or five bushels of ashes are spread over it, and then a covering of charcoal over that, then another layer of bricks over all. The use of this is, that the ashes become heated, and the charcoal being a non-conductor, the heat is retained much longer. In such an oven, cake and pies can be baked after the bread is taken out, and then custards after them. Sometimes four bakings are done in succession.
The first time an oven is used, it should be heated the day previous for half a day, and the oven lid kept up after the fire is out, till heated for baking.
As there is so little discretion to be found in those who heat ovens, the housekeeper will save much trouble and mortification by this arrangement. Have oven wood prepared of sticks of equal size and length. Find, by trial, how many are required to heat the oven, and then require that just that number be used, and no more.
The fire must be made the back side of the oven, and the oven must be heated so hot as to allow it to be closed fifteen minutes after clearing, before the heat is reduced enough to use it. This is called soaking. If it is burnt down entirely to ashes, the oven may be used as soon as cleared.
How to know when an Oven is at the right Heat.
An experienced cook will know without rules. For a novice, the following rules are of some use in determining. If the black spots in the oven are not burnt off, it is not hot, as the bricks must all look red. If you sprinkle flour on the bottom, and it burns quickly, it is too hot.