The water should be fresh spring water, and should be used as soon as it boils. Water that has been boiled for any length of time is flat from the loss of its gases.
Coffee.
To have coffee to perfection it should be freshly roasted and ground, as coffee quickly loses its flavour. If this is not possible, use the best French coffee sold in tins. The water should be freshly boiled; the coffee itself should not be boiled, but only infused in the boiling water. Boiling disperses the aroma. It can, however, be made more economically if boiled, and therefore recipes are given for its preparation in this manner. Chicory is generally used with coffee in the proportion of two ounces of chicory to one pound of coffee.
Coffee (Soyer's method.)
- Ingredients—3 oz. of coffee.
- 1 pint of boiling water.
Method.—Put the coffee into a clean stewpan.
Stir over the fire until it smokes, but do not let it burn.
Then pour in the boiling water.
Cover close, and set by the side of the fire for ten minutes.
Strain through thick muslin.