MACKEREL, Pickled.
Ingredients.—12 peppercorns, 2 bay-leaves, ½ pint of vinegar, 4 mackerel. Mode.—Boil the mackerel, and lay them in a dish; take half the liquor they were boiled in; add as much vinegar, peppercorns, and bay-leaves; boil for 10 minutes, and when cold, pour over the fish. Time.—½ hour. Average cost, 1s. 6d.
MACKEREL, Potted.
Ingredients.—Mackerel, a blade of mace, cayenne, salt, and 2 oz. or more butter, according to the quantity of mackerel. Mode.—Any remains of cooked mackerel may be potted as follows; pick it well from the bones, break it into very small pieces, and put into a stewpan with the butter, pounded mace, and other ingredients; warm it thoroughly, but do not let it boil; press it into potting pots and pour clarified butter over it.
MAIGRE SOUP (i.e., Soup without Meat).
Ingredients.—6 oz. butter, 6 onions sliced, 4 heads of celery, 2 lettuces, a small bunch of parsley, 2 handfuls of spinach, 3 pieces of bread-crust, 2 blades of mace, salt and pepper to taste, the yolks of 2 eggs, 3 teaspoonfuls of vinegar, 2 quarts of water. Mode.—Melt the butter in a stewpan, and put in the onions to stew gently for 3 or 4 minutes; then add the celery, spinach, lettuces, and parsley, cut small. Stir the ingredients well for 10 minutes. Now put in the water, bread, seasoning, and mace. Boil gently for 1½ hour, and, at the moment of serving, beat in the yolks of the eggs and the vinegar, but do not let it boil, or the eggs will curdle. Time.—2 hours. Average cost, 6d. per quart. Seasonable all the year. Sufficient for 8 persons.
MAIZE, Boiled.
Ingredients.—The ears of young and green Indian wheat; to every ½ gallon of water allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt. Mode.—This vegetable, which makes one of the most delicious dishes, brought to table, is unfortunately very rarely seen in Britain; and we wonder that, in the gardens of the wealthy, it is not invariably cultivated. Our sun, it is true, possesses hardly power sufficient to ripen maize; but, with well-prepared ground, and in a favourable position, it might be sufficiently advanced by the beginning of autumn to serve as a vegetable. The outside sheath being taken off and the waving fibres removed, let the ears be placed in boiling water, where they should remain for about 25 minutes (a longer time may be necessary for larger ears than ordinary); and, when sufficiently boiled and well drained, they may be sent to table whole, and with a piece of toast underneath them. Melted butter should be served with them. Time.—25 to 35 minutes. Average cost.—Seldom bought. Sufficient 1 ear for each person. Seasonable in autumn.
MALT WINE.
Ingredients.—5 gallons of water, 28 lbs. of sugar, 6 quarts of sweet-wort, 6 quarts of tun, 3 lbs. of raisins,; ½ lb. of candy, 1 pint of brandy. Mode.—Boil the sugar and water together for 10 minutes; skim it well, and put the liquor into a convenient-sized pan or tub. Allow it to cool; then mix it with the sweet-wort and tun. Let it stand for 3 days, then put it into a barrel; here it will work or ferment for another three days or more; then bung up the cask, and keep it undisturbed for 2 or 3 mouths. After this, add the raisins (whole), the candy, and brandy, and, in 6 months’ time, bottle the wine off. Those who do not brew, may procure the sweet-wort and tun from any brewer. Sweet-wort is the liquor that leaves the mash of malt before it is boiled with the hops; tun is the new beer after the whole of the brewing operation has been completed. Time.—To be boiled 10 minutes; to stand 3 days after mixing; to ferment 3 days; to remain in the cask 2 months before the raisins are added; bottle 6 months after. Seasonable.—Make this in March or October.