CAYENNE VINEGAR, or Essence of Cayenne.
Ingredients.—½ oz. of cayenne pepper, ½ pint of strong spirit, or 1 pint of vinegar. Mode.—Put the vinegar, or spirit, into a bottle, with the above proportion of cayenne, and let it steep for a month, when strain off and bottle for use. This is excellent seasoning for soups or sauces, but must be used very sparingly.
CELERY.
CELERY, IN GLASS.
With a good heart, and nicely blanched, this vegetable is generally eaten raw, and is usually served with the cheese. Let the roots be washed free from dirt, all the decayed and outside leaves being cut off, preserving as much of the stalk as possible, and all specks or blemishes being carefully removed. Should the celery be large, divide it lengthwise into quarters, and place it, root downwards, in a celery-glass, which should be rather more than half filled with water. The top leaves may be curled, by shredding them in narrow strips with the point of a clean skewer, at a distance of about 4 inches from the top. Average cost, 2d. per head. Sufficient.—Allow 2 heads for 4 or 5 persons. Seasonable from October to April.
Note.—This vegetable is exceedingly useful for flavouring soups, sauces, &c., and makes a very nice addition to winter salad.
CELERY SAUCE, for Boiled Turkey, Poultry, &c.
Ingredients.—6 heads of celery, 1 pint of white stock, 2 blades of mace, 1 small bunch of savoury herbs; thickening of butter and flour, or arrowroot, ½ pint of cream, lemon-juice. Mode.—Boil the celery in salt and water until tender, and cut it into pieces 2 inches long. Put the stock into a stewpan with the mace and herbs, and let it simmer for ½ hour to extract their flavour. Then strain the liquor, add the celery, and a thickening of butter kneaded with flour, or, what is still better, with arrowroot; just before serving, put in the cream, boil it up, and squeeze in a little lemon-juice. If necessary, add a seasoning of salt and white pepper. Time.—25 minutes to boil the celery. Average cost, 1s. 3d. Sufficient, this quantity for a boiled turkey.
Note.—This sauce may be made brown by using gravy instead of white stock, and flavouring it with mushroom ketchup or Harvey’s sauce.