Mix together half a pint of port wine, half a pint of strong vinegar, the juice and grated peel of two large lemons, a quarter of an ounce of cayenne, a dozen blades of mace, and a quarter of an ounce of powdered cochineal. Let it infuse a fortnight, stirring it several times a day. Then boil it ten minutes, strain it, and bottle it for use.
Eat it with any sort of fish or game. It will give a fine pink tinge to melted butter.
CATCHUPS.
LOBSTER CATCHUP.—
This catchup, warmed in melted butter, is an excellent substitute for fresh lobster sauce at seasons when the fish cannot be procured, as, if properly made, it will keep a year.
Take a fine lobster that weighs about three pounds. Put it into boiling water, and cook it thoroughly. When it is cold break it up, and extract all the flesh from the shell. Pound the red part or coral in a marble mortar, and when it is well bruised, add the white meat by degrees, and pound that also; seasoning it with a tea-spoonful of cayenne, and moistening it gradually with sherry wine. When it is beaten to a smooth paste, mix it well with the remainder of the bottle of sherry. Put it into wide-mouthed bottles, and on the top of each put a table-spoonful of sweet oil. Dip the corks in melted rosin, and secure them well by tying leather over them.
In using this catchup, allow four table-spoonfuls to a common-sized sauce-boat of melted butter. Put in the catchup at the last, and hold it over the fire just long enough to be thoroughly heated.
ANCHOVY CATCHUP.—
Bone two dozen anchovies, and then chop them. Put to them ten shalots, or very small onions, cut fine, and a handful of scraped horseradish, with a quarter of an ounce of mace. Add a lemon, cut into slices, twelve cloves, and twelve pepper-corns. Then mix together a pint of port, a pint of madeira, and a pint of anchovy liquor. Put the other ingredients into the liquid, and boil it slowly till reduced one-half. Then strain it, and when cold put it into small bottles, securing the corks with leather.