Chapter XXIII: Front Matter (23)

Allow three pounds of brown sugar to each quart of vinegar. Bruise four ounces of stick cinnamon and two ounces of cloves; tie in a mustard bag and boil five minutes with the vinegar. Pour this over the pared and sliced rind and let it remain twenty-four hours. Drain off the liquid, reheat and pour over the rind again, and let it stand for twenty-four hours. Then boil all together for a short time, and put into jars.

Pickled nutmeg melons

Young musk or nutmeg melons, four tablespoonfuls of English mustard seed mixed with two tablespoonfuls of scraped horseradish, one teaspoonful of ground mace and nutmeg, two teaspoonfuls of chopped garlic, a little ginger, one dozen whole peppercorns; one-half tablespoonful of ground mustard to a pint of the mixture—allowing one tablespoonful of sugar to the same amount; one tablespoonful best salad oil to each pint of the mixture; one teaspoonful of celery seed. Cut a slit in the side of the melon and extract the seeds. If you can not get them out in this way cut a slender slit out, saving it to replace. Lay the melons in strong brine for three days. Drain off the brine and freshen in pure water for twenty-four hours. “Green” as you would cucumbers—that is, have a kettle lined with green vine leaves, and lay the melons evenly within it, scattering powdered alum over the layers. A piece of alum as large as a pigeon’s egg will be enough for a two-gallon kettleful. Fill with cold water; cover with vine leaves, three deep; put a close lid or inverted pan over all, and steam over a slow fire five or six hours, not allowing the water to boil. When the melons are a fine green remove the leaves and lay the melons in cold water until cold and firm. Fill with the stuffing; sew up the slit, or tie with pack thread. Pack in a deep stone jar and pour scalding vinegar over them. Repeat this process three times more at intervals of two days; then cover and set away in a cool, dry place. They will not be “ripe” under four months, but are very fine when they are. They will keep several years.

Pickled gherkins

Put the “prickly cucumbers” by the layer in a stone crock, strewing each layer thickly with salt; then pour in enough cold water to cover them. Lay a heavy plate on the top of all to keep them from floating. Leave the pickles in brine for a fortnight, frequently stirring them up from the bottom. Pick all over, rejecting such as are soft, and lay the firm ones in a kettle lined with grape leaves, sprinkling a generous pinch of alum over each layer of gherkins. Cover with cold water and three thicknesses of grape leaves over the surface of the water; put on a closely-fitting top and steam over a low fire for half a day. Drain the pickles and throw into cold water. Have ready a gallon of vinegar to which have been added eighteen allspice, three dozen cloves, three dozen black peppercorns, a dozen blades of mace, and a cup of sugar. Boil this vinegar for five minutes, then pack the cold gherkins in jars and fill the jars with the scalding vinegar.

Ripe cucumber pickle

Select rather small ripe cucumbers of uniform size. Steam them for three hours in a closely-covered preserving kettle, lining this and covering the cucumbers with vine leaves if you can procure these. To a kettleful of material allow two teaspoonfuls of powdered alum, scattering it over each layer of the cucumbers. Of water there should be only just enough to cover the vegetables. When the period of steaming is at an end drain off the water and throw the cucumbers into very cold water. Change this four times in four hours.

Weigh the cucumbers and allow for every pound of these a pound of sugar and a half-cupful of cold water. Heat these two together gradually, and when they are hot lay in the cucumbers. Let them simmer very slowly until tender; take them out and spread upon dishes while you add to the syrup on the stove a pint of vinegar for every pound of the rind, and to every eight pounds of it a tablespoonful, each, of ground cloves, cinnamon and mace.

Chow-chow

Prepare a mixture of string beans, tiny cucumbers, small onions (peeled), a cauliflower (cut into clusters) and green tomatoes (sliced). Add to these four small, long, red peppers, and arrange the vegetables in a wide-mouthed jar, alternating each layer of these with one of salt. When all are in cover with cold water, laying a board with a weight upon it on top of the contents of the jar to keep them from floating. Leave them thus for three days, drain the pickles, wash them with fresh water and let them lie in unsalted water for a day. Make a pickle vinegar by cooking together a gallon of vinegar, a teaspoonful, each, of celery seed, white mustard seed, whole cloves, whole mace and whole black peppers, and one of ground horseradish, two teaspoonfuls of turmeric, three tablespoonfuls of ground mustard, and a cupful and a half of brown sugar. Put over the fire in a preserving kettle, and, when it reaches a boil, drop in the pickles. Be careful that there are no decayed ones among them. After they have simmered five minutes take them out with a skimmer and put into a stone jar. Pour the vinegar over them, and let them stand for two days. Drain the vinegar off; put it back on the fire, add to it a tablespoonful of curry powder, and, when the vinegar is boiling, pour it over the pickles in the crock. When cold, put the pickles into small jars and seal. Ready for use in two or three weeks.

Red cabbage pickle

Quarter the cabbage and lay in a jar. Cover with salt and let it stand for twenty-four hours. Drain off the brine; wipe dry and cover with cold water for twelve hours. Bring two quarts of vinegar to the boil, spicing it, as you do so, with equal quantities of whole cloves, white peppers and blades of mace broken into tiny bits, a half cupful of sugar and two tablespoonfuls of celery seed. Pack the cabbage into a crock, and, after the vinegar and spices have boiled together for ten minutes, cover the cabbage with the scalding vinegar. Cover, and keep in a cool place. It must not be used under six weeks or two months.

SWEET PICKLES

In putting up sweet pickles bear in mind that the fruit of which they are made must be very thoroughly cooked. If this precaution is not taken fermentation may possibly set in and the contents of your jars will be spoiled. Under the head of sweet pickles may be included such relishes as spiced grapes and currants, as well as the larger fruits.

Pickled peaches

Choose firm, freestone peaches for pickling. Morris whites are good for this purpose. Peel the peaches, dropping them into cold water as you do so, to preserve the color. Drain and weigh the fruit, allowing to every three pounds of it a pound and a half of sugar (granulated) and a cupful of vinegar. Stick a whole clove into each peach and put the fruit and sugar in layers in a porcelain-lined preserving kettle. Put the vinegar on to boil in a separate saucepan with a cheese-cloth bag containing a tablespoonful, each, of mace, cinnamon and cloves. Boil this for five minutes, then remove the spice bag. Cook the sugar and peaches together for five minutes more, and add the vinegar. Boil until the fruit looks clear, and is tender, but not broken. Remove the fruit carefully with a skimmer and spread upon platters to cool while you boil the syrup for fifteen minutes longer, or until it is very thick. Pack the peaches in jars set in a pan of hot water; fill with boiling syrup, and seal.

Unpeeled pickled peaches

Rub the down from peaches of uniform size, using a coarse towel to do this. Prick each peach with a fork, weigh them, and put them into a preserving kettle with barely enough water to cover them. When the water is just short of the boil remove the peaches, and to the water in the kettle add sugar in the proportion of three pounds to every seven pounds of the fruit. Boil for fifteen minutes, skimming two or three times. For every seven pounds of the fruit put in three pints of vinegar, one tablespoonful, each, of ground cinnamon, mace and allspice, and one teaspoonful, each, of cloves and celery seed, all well mixed and tied up in tiny bags made of thin muslin. Let all cook together for ten minutes after they have come to a boil; put in the fruit and let it stew slowly until tender. Remove it from the syrup with a skimmer, spread it on plates to cool, and let the syrup boil until thick. Put the peaches into glass jars, pour in the syrup and seal.

Sweet cucumber pickles

Lay small cucumbers in brine for three days, then drain and lay in fresh water for a day. Line a kettle with grape leaves and arrange the cucumbers in it in layers, scattering a pinch of alum over each layer. Cover with cold water and three layers of leaves; fit a lid on the kettle and steam the pickles (without letting them boil) over a slow fire for six hours. Drain the cucumbers, throw into cold water, and when they are firm pack in jars. Fill the jars with boiling vinegar that has been seasoned with a cupful of sugar to each quart, eight whole cloves, eight black peppers, six allspice and six blades of mace. Seal the jars at once. They will be fit for use in three months.

Pickled plums

Wipe firm plums with a damp cloth and prick each in several places to prevent bursting. Allow the same quantity of sugar, vinegar and spices to each pound of fruit as in recipe for pickled peaches. Put each kind of spice in a cheese-cloth bag by itself and the sugar, vinegar and spices all on the fire to boil at the same time. When the syrup is hot add the plums and stew until tender. Remove the plums to the heated jars, take the spice bags from the syrup, and pour this into the jars.

Pickled crabapples (No. 1)

Do not peel the apples, but wipe each one carefully. Weigh, and allow four and a half pounds of sugar to seven pounds of apples. Put the sugar and fruit in the kettle and add just enough water to cover the lower layer of fruit. Bring slowly to a boil, and cook until the apples are clear and tender, but not broken. When they can be pierced with a stiff straw they are done. Have ready boiling a pint of vinegar that has been spiced with cinnamon, cloves and mace. (The cloves may be whole, the mace and cinnamon broken into bits, and all boiled in the vinegar for ten minutes.) Add the spiced vinegar to the boiling fruit five minutes before the apples are ready to take out. Remove the apples, spread on platters; boil the syrup and vinegar until thick; pack the apples in jars, and fill these to overflowing with the boiling liquid. Seal at once.

Pickled crabapples (No. 2)

Weigh and peel fourteen pounds of Siberian crabapples, and measure out a quart of vinegar and eight pounds of granulated sugar. Put the apples in a kettle with a pint of warm water and stew gently for ten minutes. Drain, remove the apples from the kettle, and then put them back in layers, strewing each layer with sugar. Bring to a boil. Have ready boiling the vinegar, into which has been stirred three tablespoonfuls of broken stick cinnamon and whole cloves, and a tablespoonful of ground mace. Pour this spiced vinegar over the apples and boil for five minutes. With a perforated skimmer remove the fruit, spread it on platters to cool, boil the syrup until thick, pack the apples in jars, and fill the jars with the boiling syrup. Seal immediately.

Pickled beets

Select nice red beets and boil until tender. Plunge each one separately into cold water, and with your hands give a little twist to strip off the skin. Cut lengthwise into strips. Place these, not too closely, in glass jars, leaving room that the liquor may surround each piece. To two quarts of vinegar add four pounds of brown sugar and one-half teaspoonful of alum, powdered. Let this boil. After skimming, add one teaspoonful, each, of cloves, allspice, mustard, a few peppercorns—all unground and tied in a bag. Boil again, adding a little cayenne and salt. Pour over the beets. Next day drain off the syrup, bring to a boil, pour over the beets again, then seal. This pickle will be of a rich red color and very delicious.

Spiced cranberries

These are good with roast duck or game. Wash a quart of cranberries and put them into a saucepan with a half cupful of cold water. Tie in a small cheese-cloth bag a dozen cloves, a dozen allspice, two sticks of cinnamon (broken) and several blades of mace. Put this bag into the cranberries and water, and stew all together until the fruit is broken to bits. Remove the spice bag, rub the berries through a colander, add two teacupfuls of brown sugar, stir over the fire until dissolved, and set away to get cold.

Spiced grapes (No. 1)

Stem, pulp and seed the grapes, then weigh them. To five pounds of fruit allow two and a half pounds of granulated sugar and a teacupful of vinegar. Put all over the fire with two ounces, each, of stick cinnamon, broken into bits, and whole cloves. Boil until very thick. This will take about half an hour. The mixture should be so thick that the juice will not run. When this point is reached put the fruit into jelly glasses set in a pan of hot water. Cover the tops of the glasses with rounds of tissue paper and fasten on metal covers.

The wild or “fox” grape is good for spicing, when half-ripe. The grapes must always be firm, and not overripe.

Spiced currants

See preceding recipe.

Spiced grapes (No. 2)

Remove the skins from grapes, put the pulp over the fire and stew gently until it can be rubbed through a strainer that will not allow the seeds to pass. Weigh the pulp, and to every five pounds of this add a pint of cider vinegar, four pounds of brown sugar, three tablespoonfuls of ground cinnamon, and two of ground cloves. Stew all together until very thick. Pour into jelly glasses and cover with closely-fitting tops.

Spiced rhubarb

To two and a half pounds of rhubarb, washed and cut into inch bits, add a cupful of vinegar, two pounds of sugar and a tablespoonful, each, of cinnamon and cloves. Put all into a preserving kettle and boil steadily for half an hour. Put up in jelly glasses, as you would jelly.

Olive oil pickles

(Contributed)

Peel and slice fifteen large cucumbers and six onions. Salt down heavily and let them stand all night. In the morning drain; pour over them half a gallon of cider vinegar and let them stand four hours. Drain off the vinegar and heat with half a bottle of olive oil. Add some chopped red peppers and celery seed for seasoning and when thoroughly heated pour over the cucumbers and onions, put into glass jars and seal at once.

Sweet green tomato pickles

(Contributed)

Slice one peck of green tomatoes and two quarts of small white onions, and sprinkle over them a large cupful of salt. Let them stand over night in the brine. In the morning drain well and let them stand in cold water for a few minutes. Pour this water off and add enough vinegar to cover. Add two pounds of brown sugar, one-fourth of a pound of mustard seed and two tablespoonfuls each of allspice, whole cloves and stick cinnamon. Cook all together until the pickles are tender; put into jars and seal.

Pickled cauliflower

(Contributed)

Break the heads into small flowerlets, and boil ten or fifteen minutes in salt and water; take from the fire and drain carefully. When cold place in a jar, and pour over it hot vinegar in which have been scalded whole cloves, pepper, allspice and white mustard. Have the spices tied in a bag, and remove when well scalded. For each quart of hot vinegar add two tablespoonfuls of French mustard and half a cupful of white sugar. Be sure to cover the pickle with vinegar and keep covered closely.

Dill pickles

(Contributed)

Make a brine strong enough to bear an egg, then add half as much more water as you have brine. Wash the cucumbers in cold water, and into a stone jar put first a layer of cucumbers, then a layer of grape-leaves and a layer of dill, using leaves and stems. Continue in this way until the jar is full. Pour the brine over all and cover, first with a cloth, then with a plate, and put a weight on top of the plate. The cloth must be taken off and washed frequently as in making sauerkraut.

Peach mangoes

Halve firm, free-stone peaches when you have washed and wiped them to get rid of the “fur,” and remove the stones. Lay them in brine for two days and in fresh water for one. Stuff with a mixture of grated horseradish and mustard seed, adding a little celery seed. Tie the halves into shape with soft pack-thread; pack in a stone jar and pour spiced and sweetened vinegar over them. Cover closely. Scald the vinegar and cover the peaches with it again once a fortnight for two months. They will be fit to use in four months.

CATSUPS, ETCETERA

Catsups and spiced sauces are now so much used that the epicure feels they are an indispensable accompaniment to his roast or broiled meat, his bit of fish, or fowl, or dish of game. They may be prepared months beforehand and kept against the day of need. The same rule holds in the preparation of these relishes which we have quoted with regard to pickles. They must be cooked in a porcelain-lined vessel, or one of agate iron.

Chili sauce (No. 1)

Peel, and cut up together three dozen large tomatoes and a dozen onions. Chop into bits half a dozen green peppers and mix with the tomatoes and onions. Stir together a teacupful of brown sugar, five tablespoonfuls of salt, half a dozen teaspoonfuls, each, of powdered allspice, cloves and cinnamon, two teaspoonfuls of ground ginger, and a saltspoonful of paprika. Put these spices into three quarts of vinegar, add the vegetables, mix thoroughly, and cook steadily for two hours. When cold, bottle and seal.

Chili sauce (No. 2)

Peel and chop two dozen ripe tomatoes and six onions. Remove the seeds from two red peppers and chop the peppers fine; then stir them into the tomatoes and onions. Season all with a teacupful of granulated sugar, four tablespoonfuls of salt, three teaspoonfuls, each, of powdered allspice, cloves and cinnamon, and a teaspoonful of ground ginger. Pour over all two quarts of vinegar, and boil in a porcelain-lined kettle for two and a half hours. When cool, bottle and seal.

Chutney

Chop a white cabbage and eight onions. Pack in a crock with alternate layers of salt and let it stand twenty-four hours. Into a pint of vinegar stir a half-pound of brown sugar, a heaping teaspoonful, each, of tumeric, powdered alum, cinnamon, allspice, mace, black pepper, mustard and celery seed, and heat all to boiling. Pour this liquid over the cabbage and onions, and set aside for twenty-four hours longer. Now drain off the liquid, bring again to the boil, and pour it again over the pickle. Do this for three mornings; put liquor and vegetables together in the preserving kettle, boil for five minutes; set aside until cold, then pack in jars.

Piccalilli

Chop two fine large cabbages and a pint of onions, and mix. Pack down in a stone crock and stir in a handful of salt. Leave thus for twenty-four hours. Bring to a boil a quart of vinegar, into which have been stirred a pound of sugar and a tablespoonful, each, of the following ground spices—mustard, pepper, mace, allspice, celery seed, cinnamon and tumeric. Pour over the cabbage and onion, turn all into a preserving kettle and boil for ten minutes. When cold, pack in pint jars.

Grape catsup

Wash tart grapes, remove the stems and put the fruit into a kettle, with just enough water to prevent scorching. Stir often with a wooden spoon and cook until tender. Rub, a little at a time, through a fine colander. Reject the seeds and skins, and measure the pulp. To each quart and a pint of this add a pound of brown sugar, a cupful of white vinegar, a heaping teaspoonful, each, of ground cinnamon, allspice, mace, salt and white pepper, and a half teaspoonful of ground cloves. Boil long and steadily until the catsup is reduced to less than half the original quantity, and very thick. When cold, bottle, cork tightly and cover the corks with sealing wax.

Currant catsup

To four pounds of stemmed currants add two pounds of sugar, crush all together, and boil slowly until quite thick. Add one-quarter of a teaspoonful of salt, one-half pint of vinegar, one teaspoonful, each, of powdered allspice, mace and cinnamon. Boil up and bottle at once.

Mushroom catsup

Break into quarters firm, fresh mushrooms. Put a layer of the broken mushrooms into an earthen vessel and sprinkle with salt; then put in more mushrooms and more salt until all are used. Cover the vessel and set it on the cellar floor for three days, stirring the contents with a wooden spoon three times a day. At the end of this time, warm the mushrooms, mash them to a pulp, and strain through coarse netting, squeezing out all the juice. Boil this for ten minutes and measure. To every pint of the liquor allow a generous teaspoonful of whole peppers and allspice, a blade of mace, two slices of onion, a bay-leaf and a dash of paprika. Put liquor and spices over the fire, and boil until thick. Strain, cool and fill bottles with catsup. Seal tightly.

Tomato catsup

Slice a peck of unpeeled tomatoes with six white onions and boil together until so soft they can be rubbed through a colander. Now strain through a sieve and return to the fire with three bay-leaves, a tablespoonful, each, of powdered mace, pepper, cloves, sugar, salt, a half teaspoonful of paprika, and a tablespoonful of celery seed—this last tied up in a small cheese-cloth bag. Boil for nearly six hours, stirring frequently. Remove the bag of celery seed, and pour in a pint of vinegar. Bring again to a boil, and remove from the fire. When cold, bottle and seal.

Walnut catsup

Select walnuts but half-grown and into which a needle enters easily. Prick each clear through three times, pack in layers, strewing a handful of salt between the layers. Pour in cold water until the walnuts are covered, lay a heavy inverted saucer upon them to hold the walnuts under the brine, and keep them in it two weeks. Every day churn them with a wooden mallet to bruise and crack them into small bits. At the end of the fortnight turn off the brine, beat the nuts fine; cover them with boiling vinegar and add the reserved brine. Measure liquid and crushed nuts, and allow for each quart a teaspoonful, each, of onion juice and grated horseradish; two teaspoonfuls, each, of ground cloves and mace, and a tablespoonful, each, of ground ginger and black pepper. Boil steadily for two hours, run through a sieve, cool, bottle and seal.

Pepper vinegar

Break up half a dozen red peppers. Add three dozen black peppercorns and two tablespoonfuls of sugar to a quart of vinegar. Scald vinegar and sugar, and pour over the peppers. Put in a jar, steep eight hours, strain and bottle.

This is to be eaten with fish or raw oysters.

Mixed mustard

Into four tablespoonfuls of dry English mustard stir a tablespoonful of salad oil. When this is well rubbed in, add enough vinegar to make a smooth paste, a teaspoonful, each, of paprika, sugar and onion juice.

Beat hard until light, and bottle.

Home-made French mustard

Compound as directed in the preceding recipe, but have the vinegar scalding hot and when all the ingredients are beaten to a paste set this in a pan of boiling water; cover closely to keep in the strength and cook fifteen minutes. Make a large quantity at a time and put up in corked bottles or jars. It will improve with age.

THE HOME BREW

Tea (hot)

_First._ Never buy poor, cheap tea. It is the dearest in the end, in every sense of the word, being unwholesome, unpalatable and wasteful. One teaspoonful of good oolong, souchong, hyson or “bud” tea, will go farther than four of a mixture which, when brewed, tastes at the best, like boiled hay.

_Second._ Have the kettle boiling, and _freshly_ boiled. An hour’s simmer after the boil has once been reached, makes the water stale and flat.

_Third._ Draw off the tea within three minutes after the water is poured upon the dry leaves. After that, the boiling liquid extracts tannic acid in pernicious quantities and strength.

_Fourth._ Have the cups hot and fill with clear tea, adding sugar, or cream, or both afterwards, to suit the taste of each drinker.

Cold tea

Strain the liquid from the leaves within a few minutes after it is poured on. Set away until cold. Half-fill glasses with cracked ice; add a slice of peeled lemon, a squeeze of lemon juice (if desired) and granulated sugar to taste.

Breakfast coffee

Allow a cupful of freshly ground coffee to a quart of boiling water. Put the coffee into the strainer and add the boiling water by degrees, until it is all in. Pour off into a heated pitcher, and return this to the strainer. Repeat until the beverage is of the requisite strength, and pour into heated cups.

After-dinner coffee

Make as directed in last recipe, allowing, however, three cupfuls of boiling water to one of freshly ground coffee, and run three times through the filter.

Never pass cream with black coffee in after-dinner cups—“demi-tasses,” as the French, who taught us to drink it, call the dainty digestive agent.

To ask for cream in such a case is a gastronomic and social solecism.

Café au lait

Make strong black coffee and, while hot, add to it one-third as much scalding milk. Cover and set in boiling water until needed.

Iced coffee

Set aside _café au lait_ until cold. Fill tumblers half-full of cracked ice; sugar to taste, and pour in the coffee.

Chocolate

Heat two cupfuls of milk, and the same of water. Rub six tablespoonfuls of chocolate to a thin, smooth paste with cold water; pour the water gradually upon it; put into a saucepan and bring it quickly to a boil. Cook thus five minutes, pour in the milk and boil ten minutes longer. Sweeten to the taste of each drinker, and lay a tablespoonful of whipped cream upon the top.

If you would make the chocolate particularly good, heat a sillibub churn and beat the beverage _hard_ for five minutes; set in a vessel of boiling water on the range to get smoking hot; pour out, sweeten, and cap with whipped cream.

Cocoa

It is made in the same way.

Cocoa nibs or “shells”

Wet two ounces of cocoa shells with a little cold water, and stir them into a quart of boiling water. Boil steadily for an hour and a half; strain, stir in a quart of fresh milk, bring almost to the scalding point, and serve. Sweeten in the cups.

Mint punch (very fine)

Put into your punch-bowl a cupful of granulated sugar; add the juice of six lemons, and stir until the sugar melts. Put in three peeled lemons, sliced very thin, and leave in the ice until you are ready to use it. Add, then, a dozen sprays of green mint and a quart, at least, of pounded ice. Stir well for a minute, and pour from a height into it, two or three bottles of imported ginger ale.

Tea punch

Pour a quart of boiling water upon four teaspoonfuls of good tea. Cover, and leave it for five minutes. Strain off, and cool. Half-fill the punch-bowl with cracked ice, add a cupful of granulated sugar and the strained juice of four lemons. Pour the tea over these, and, as it goes to table, add a pint bottle of Apollinaris water. Strew a handful of mint sprays on the surface, and serve at once.

Strawberry punch

Pour two cupfuls of strained fresh strawberry juice upon a cupful (heaping) of granulated sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the juice of a lemon, and four cupfuls of cold water. Let it get very cold upon the ice; stir well and put into a punch-bowl. Just before serving, add a tablespoonful of maraschino, and half a cupful of fine, whole strawberries.

Cherry wine

Stem and wash ripe, sweet cherries, and with a wooden mallet crush to a pulp. Press out all the juice and to each quart of it, add a half-pound of granulated sugar and a cupful of water. Stir thoroughly, pour into a crock; cover this closely with a thickness of cheese-cloth, and let the wine ferment for a month. When the fermentation has ceased rack off and bottle.

Lemonade, or plain sherbet

Roll, peel carefully and slice thin six lemons. Put into a pitcher or bowl with alternate layers of granulated sugar, two teaspoonfuls for each lemon. Leave on the ice until you are ready to serve; then add a quart of iced water and a great lump of ice.

Lively lemonade

Make as directed in preceding recipe, but pour in at the last, a quart of chilled Apollinaris, instead of the iced water.

Raspberry vinegar

Mash the berries and, when reduced to a pulp, add enough vinegar to cover them. Set close by the stove for twelve hours, stirring often. Strain and press; add as many raspberries (mashed) to the vinegar as before; cover and leave in the kitchen or in the hot sun for six hours. Now strain, and measure the juice; add half as much water as you have juice, and stir into this five pounds of granulated sugar for every three pints of liquid. Bring slowly to a boil, let it boil up once, and strain. Bottle, cork and seal.

Blackberry vinegar

Make this by the recipe for raspberry vinegar, only putting in five and a half pounds of sugar to every three pints of the juice and water mixed.

Rhubarb wine

Boil the rhubarb in a double boiler, adding no water after you have washed it and cut it into bits. Press out all the juice and measure this. Add as much water as you have juice, sweeten to taste, and add a cup of brandy to a gallon of the liquid. Bottle and seal.

Grape juice

Stem six quarts of grapes and put them over the fire with one quart of water; bring slowly to a boil and strain. Return the juice to the fire, bring again to the boil, bottle and seal, while scalding-hot.

Cherry bounce

Beat to a pulp two pounds, each, of sweet and tart cherries, and mix together. The beating should be done with a heavy mallet that the stones may be crushed. Stir into the mashed fruit a pound and a quarter of granulated sugar; turn all into a stone crock, and stir in a quart of white whiskey. Leave thus for an hour; stir and pour into a demijohn. Cork and let it stand for a month, shaking hard each day; then let it alone for six weeks without shaking. Rack off, strain and bottle.

Wild cherry bounce

Bruise with a potato beetle five quarts of ripe, wild cherries, and stir into them four cupfuls of granulated sugar. Turn into a stone crock, cover, and set in the cellar for twenty-four hours. Now, add a quart and a cupful of brandy—stirring it in well. Let the mixture alone for six weeks—stirring every few days—before straining off the liquor through double cheese cloth. Bottle and seal. When ready for use, fill liquor glasses with crushed ice and pour the crimson cordial into them. It is an excellent tonic, and also good for a cough.

Homemade grape wine (No. 1)

Put the grapes, stems and all, into an open cask, and mash them. Cover your cask with cheese-cloth to prevent anything from falling in, as one crumb of bread will change the contents into vinegar. When the grapes have fermented, pass through a fruit press; turn the juice that has been extracted into a clean, close cask, and let it remain on its side for a month, when your wine will be ready to be bottled. By no means disturb the cask, or the wine will not be clear. Keep the wine in a dark, cool place, and lay the bottles containing it on their sides. When the grapes are fermenting, stir every day.

Grape wine (No. 2)

Crush out the juice of ripe grapes, after having picked them from the stems. A large quantity could be crushed in a cider press, but when only a few are to be used they can be mashed in a crock, or clean tub, with a potato beetle. Strain, then, through a bag, squeezing or pressing this so as to get all the juice possible. To each quart of the juice add half a pound of white sugar, and put away in a clean cask, or big jar to ferment. Cover the top, or the bung-hole, with a piece of netting. Let the juice and sugar ferment for three or four weeks, until it is clear and still. Pour it off the lees carefully, and bottle.

Matzoon

Take one and a half ounces of prepared matzoon, which you can get at drug stores, and one quart of fresh milk. Stir well and place in a pitcher at a temperature of from 70 to 90 degrees, for from nine to twelve hours, until it begins to thicken like junket; then beat it for ten minutes. Bottle in patent-stoppered bottles, and put on ice. Fresh matzoon may be made from that which you have prepared in this way. You have to buy but one bottle to start with. This quantity makes three bottles, not quite full, as it effervesces like koumiss.

Strawberry wine

Mash and strain six quarts of ripe strawberries. To every quart of juice add a quart of water and a pound of sugar. Stir well, and turn into a crock to ferment. When fermentation ceases, rack off carefully, bottle and seal.

Dandelion wine

Steep the dandelion flowers in boiling water for five minutes, and strain off the liquid, pressing the flowers hard. Sweeten to taste and add brandy in the proportion of a pint to every four gallons of liquid. Put in uncorked bottles and keep in a cool place until fermentation ceases. Draw off and rebottle.

Dandelion cordial

Four quarts of dandelion blossoms; four quarts of boiling water; four quarts of granulated sugar; three tablespoonfuls of compressed yeast; two lemons grated fine; one orange.

Let the blossoms and water stand together until lukewarm; mix and add the sugar, orange, lemons and yeast; strain, and put in a cold place for two days; then strain again. Put into a keg and let it work, without tight corking, until as clear as water.

Dandelion tea

Pour boiling water over the dandelion blossoms; let them stand at the side of the fire to steep, but not boil, for five minutes; then strain, pressing out all the juice. Sweeten to taste and drink very hot, or cold, in a glass filled with cracked ice.

Ginger beer

Boil six ounces of bruised ginger in six quarts of water for half an hour; then add five pounds of loaf sugar, a gill of lemon juice, a quarter-pound of honey, and seventeen quarts of cold water, and strain through a cloth. When it is cold put in an egg and two teaspoonfuls of essence of lemon. After standing three or four days it may be bottled.

Ginger wine

Four gallons of water and seven pounds of sugar. Boil half an hour, skimming well; let the liquor get cold. Then squeeze in the juice of two lemons. Have ready three pints of water in which the peel of two lemons and two ounces of white ginger root (pounded fine) have been boiled one hour and left to get cold. Mix with the syrup and add three pounds of halved Malaga raisins. Put all into a cask, shake well; close the cask and let it stand in the cellar for two months before racking it off and bottling it. A lump of unslaked lime as large as a pigeon’s egg put into the cask will prevent souring.

Mead

Beat to a stiff froth the whites of three eggs, and mix with six gallons of water, sixteen quarts of strained honey, and the yellow rind of two lemons, peeled very thin. Boil all together during three-quarters of an hour, skimming it well; put it into a tub and, when lukewarm, add three tablespoonfuls of the best fresh yeast. Cover, and leave it to ferment. When it has worked, transfer it to a barrel, with the lemon peel in the bottom. Let it stand six months, and bottle it.

Strawberry punch

Mash two quarts of strawberries to a pulp, pour over them three quarts of water and the juice of two lemons. Stand in a cool place for four hours, strain, and stir into the liquid a pound and a half of granulated sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, strain again, and set in a cold place until wanted. Serve in tumblers of crushed ice.

Sarsaparilla wine

To one gallon of water add one pound of sarsaparilla leaves and stems, two pounds of sugar, one-quarter of a pound of raisins, and one lemon. As the fruit contains a natural ferment, it will undergo that process spontaneously, without the use of yeast. Let it stand five days, strain and bottle. If you have not the herb, omit the sugar, and use in its place a gallon of sarsaparilla syrup.

* * * * *

(Purchase a “shaker” for compounding drinks in which cracked ice forms an important factor. This shaker consists simply of a thick glass tumbler, over which is turned, upside-down, a larger cup of tin. This cup fits tightly over the glass, and the contents of the tumbler may be vigorously shaken until thoroughly mixed and foamy.)

Iced orange juice

Make a syrup of a cupful of sugar and three-quarters of a cupful of water boiled together for ten minutes, then set aside until cold. Mix a half-pint of orange juice and a gill of lemon juice, and sweeten abundantly with the cold syrup. In sweetening this beverage, remember that the ice is still to be added, and that this, in melting, will dilute the syrup and thus render the drink more acid. Fill tumblers to the brim with finely-cracked ice and pour the orange mixture upon it. This is a refreshing beverage.

Milk shake

Have ready some sugar syrup made according to the directions in the recipe for iced orange juice. Sweeten a half-pint of unskimmed milk with the syrup; flavor with a half teaspoonful of vanilla extract; turn into the glass of your shaker, and add enough crushed ice to fill the glass to the brim. Shake long and hard before pouring into a chilled tumbler.

Koumiss

Dissolve a third of a yeast-cake in a gill of warm milk and add two teaspoonfuls of granulated sugar. Have ready scalded a beer bottle with a patent fastener. If you have not this, use an ordinary bottle with a straight cork, and soak the cork for half an hour to swell it. Fill the bottle three-quarters full of fresh milk, heated until just blood-warm, and pour in the yeast-mixture. Shake hard for two minutes, and cork tightly. If you use an ordinary cork, cord or wire it down. Set the bottle in the warm kitchen for six hours, or until the contents begin to “work” and foam. Then set in the ice-chest until needed. As one yeast-cake will make three bottles of koumiss it is quite as easy to make that quantity at once as it is to prepare one bottle of the stimulating and nourishing beverage.

Blackberry cordial

(Contributed)

Warm and squeeze the berries; add to one pint of juice one pint of sugar, one-half ounce of powdered cinnamon, one-fourth ounce of mace, two teaspoonfuls of cloves. Boil all together for one-fourth of an hour; strain the syrup, and to each pint add a glass of French brandy. Two or three doses of a tablespoonful or less will check any slight diarrhea.

It will arrest dysentery if given in season, and is a pleasant and safe remedy.

Raspberry cordial

(Contributed)

Sweeten the berries a little sweeter than for table use, and let them stand over night. In the morning lay in a hair sieve over a bowl; let them remain until evening, so as to thoroughly drain; then put the juice into a thick flannel bag; let it drain over night, being careful not to squeeze it, as it takes out the brightness and clearness. Do all this in a cool cellar or it may sour. To two pints of juice add one pint of French brandy and sweeten to taste.

Toast water

(Contributed)

Toast a pint of bread crusts very brown; pour cold water over them, let them stand for an hour, strain, and add cream and sugar to taste. The nourishment in the bread is easily absorbed when taken in the liquid form.

Slippery-elm tea

(Contributed)

Pour one cupful of boiling water over one teaspoonful of slippery-elm bark. When cold, strain, and add lemon juice and sugar to taste. This is very soothing in case of inflammation of the mucous membrane of the throat.

Apple tea

(Contributed)

Roast two large sour apples and pour boiling water over them. When cold, pour off the water, strain, and sweeten to taste.

Flaxseed tea

(Contributed)

Pour a pint of boiling water over an ounce of flaxseed and a little licorice-root, and let it stand where it will keep warm but not cook, for four hours. Strain through a piece of linen and make fresh every day. This is an excellent drink for a fever patient who has a cough.

Flaxseed lemonade

(Contributed)

Over four tablespoonfuls of flaxseed pour one quart of boiling water and let it steep three hours. Strain, sweeten to taste, and add the juice of two lemons. If too thick, add more water. This is very soothing in colds.

Egg-nogg

(Contributed)

Beat until very light, the yolk of one egg and a teaspoonful of sugar; then add the white of the egg beaten to a stiff froth. Stir well together, pour into a glass, and add a teaspoonful of rum or brandy and as much milk as the glass will hold. It will give more nourishment if whipped cream is used instead of milk.

Serve with grated nutmeg over the top.

FORMAL BREAKFASTS AND LUNCHEONS

The social breakfast is becoming more and more of a function. Not the early morning breakfast, where the tempers of the eaters are not always under perfect control, but a later and more leisurely meal, to which guests are asked and where much the same laws of convention apply that are observed at a luncheon. In fact, the breakfast resembles a luncheon in most respects. Here, as at luncheon, the hardwood table is bare except for a handsome white square, and for doilies under the dishes and plates. The table is spread as for luncheon, the knives at the right, the edges turned towards the plate, the tumbler near the points of these, the spoon laid by the knife, the forks at the left, and beyond them the napkin, a piece of bread folded in it. At the left also stands the bread and butter plate.

At the breakfast, however, there is a little less formality than at the luncheon, as there are also fewer and less elaborate courses. For, although the breakfast is usually served at twelve or half after—only a little earlier than the ordinary mid-day meal—it is regarded as less conventional in nearly every respect.

Soup is not served at the formal breakfast any more than it would be at the family meal known by that name. The whole bill of fare is rather an amplification of the common breakfast than a variation from it. For that reason sweets are out of place to conclude it unless one wishes to introduce the English fashion of having a pot of marmalade and toast brought in to wind up the repast.

Following this preamble are given a couple of menus that may serve as suggestions for the hostess who wishes to entertain at breakfast. It is an especially charming way of gathering one’s friends about one in the warm days when heavy dinners are out of the question and even late luncheons come at the hour when long sitting at meals is likely to be a weariness to the flesh. The summer breakfast may be served as early as eleven, or even as ten o’clock, while that of the late winter mornings may be held back until the noon hour:

BREAKFAST MENU. I

Fresh Strawberries
Tomato Omelet French Rolls
Broiled Chicken
French Fried Potatoes
Coffee in large cups
Grapefruit Salad Crackers Cream Cheese

BREAKFAST MENU. II

Iced Orange Juice
Poached Eggs with Asparagus Tips
Toast
Lamb Chops Green Peas English Muffins
Coffee in large cups
Cream Tomato Salad
Wafers Brie or Roquefort Cheese

Either of these menus may be adapted to any season. For example, if the breakfast be a spring or summer function, the strawberries may be served—large strawberries, unhulled, to be dipped in sugar and eaten with the fingers, in the fashion that we have imported from England. If the berries are not in season, however, the orange juice, made so cold as to be almost frappé, and served in small punch-glasses, may take their place. Either the berries or the orange juice should be on the table when the guests take their seats. Nothing else should be there then, except the regular furniture of the table, the glass or bowl of flowers in the center of the board, the piece of bread laid in the napkin and the butter ball or tiny print on the bread and butter plate. _Hors d’oeuvres_ are out of place on the breakfast table, unless you have radishes, which are decorative as well as appetizing.

When the fruit has been eaten and has gone, the omelet may come in. This should appear whole. A Spanish omelet, with the rich yellow of the eggs, the red of the tomatoes and the green of the peppers, is too pretty a thing to be cut before the guests have had a chance to see it in all its beauty. It may be passed to each guest, or, better still, served by the host or hostess. In putting down a plate in front of any one the waitress should approach on the right side, just as, when she is passing a dish from which the guest is to serve himself, she should offer it on the left. In the case of the eggs, which are usually prepared in individual dishes, she should put a plate in front of the guest, standing on his right side as she does so. A small doily may be laid under each nappy. The toast may be either dry or buttered. The rolls should have been put in the oven long enough to become heated.

For the third course of the meal rather large breakfast plates should be used, and these must be well heated. The chicken may be passed or carved on the table; the chops should be passed. So should be the potatoes and peas. The hostess should serve the coffee at this point, having the equipage in front of her at the head of the table as she would at a family breakfast. The cream and sugar may be passed that each guest may add the “trimmings” to his coffee to suit himself.

Either the grapefruit salad or the cream tomato salad is feasible at almost any time of year. With it are served the crackers and cheese—on the same plate. This concludes the meal, unless, as I have said, you wish to introduce the jam-pot and hot toast. But in most cases the guests will have had all they want by this time.

At a breakfast the guests may be both men and women—provided one is able to find enough disengaged men to make a fair sprinkling. The breakfast should not be too large a gathering. Not less than four, not more than eight, is a good rule.

At the luncheon, on the contrary, there may be any number that the table can accommodate, and men are usually barred. The luncheon differs from the breakfast, too, in being a more formal function. Never at a luncheon could a guest rise from the table to wait on herself or some one else, as may be done at a breakfast, without risking the proprieties of the occasion. The table is set in the same way, but the linen should be, if possible, more elaborate. More embroidery, or richer lace, is permissible on the cloth and center-piece, and color may be admitted more freely than at the breakfast. The flowers may be more and loftier, and at an elaborate luncheon a corsage bouquet for each guest, or at least a fine flower laid at each place is _en régle_. There may be place-cards also, and even favors, although these are by no means necessary, or in most cases, desirable. On the table, as well as the necessary plenishing, are small dishes of salted almonds, olives, radishes and bonbons. Wine may be served also, if one wishes it, and the glitter of the wine-glasses adds to the beauty of the table. If artificial light be preferred, there may be candles with colored shades that harmonize with the tint of the flowers, and the china should be as much in keeping with this chosen shade as possible. The luncheon, where only one color is prominent, is much more artistic than that where there is a confusion of hues.

The accompanying luncheon menus may, like those given for the breakfast, serve as suggestions to the hostess on the lookout for a harmonious bill of fare:

LUNCHEON MENU. I

Oyster Cocktails
Cream of Pea Soup Salmon Cutlets Duchesse Potatoes
Broiled Chicken
Green Peppers Stuffed with Rice
Lettuce Salad
Crackers Camembert Cheese
Orange Mousse Small Cakes
Coffee

LUNCHEON MENU. II

Fruit Frappé
Little Neck Clams Chicken Bouillon
Baked Bluefish
Broiled Tomatoes
Sweetbreads in Timbales
Stuffed Lamb Chops and Mushrooms
Green Peas
Cucumber Salad
Crackers Crême Gervais Cheese
Café Parfait
Coffee

The oyster cocktails or the fruit frappé should be on the table when the guests enter the room, the hostess leading the way with the guest of honor. No formal order is necessary in the entrance of the rest of the company. After this first course the plates are changed in the usual fashion, taking from the right and replacing from the same side. The soup is served in bouillon cups. In neither luncheon is anything carved on the table, although occasionally, when a crown of lamb or whole chickens are served, or even fillet of beef, the hostess carves. But she should not attempt this unless she has a very poor carver in the kitchen or is remarkably deft at it herself.

The table is not crumbed until after the salad course, and the work is always done with a napkin. The silver crumb-knife is altogether out of favor at present. At this stage, too, all the _hors d’oeuvres_ are removed except the bonbons. These are often taken into the drawing-room after the luncheon for the guests to nibble while they chat for the prescribed time before taking their departure. Often the coffee, too, is served in the drawing-room.

When wine is served at a ladies’ luncheon it is usually some light wine, like Sauterne. Only one wine is necessary, although occasionally sherry is offered with the fish. If a liquor is served afterwards it is generally crême de menthe, poured into tiny glasses, first filled to the brim with crushed ice. It is said to be an excellent digestive.

CONCERNING DINNER GIVING

The formal dinner is the most dignified function in the social calendar. Even a big luncheon is less stately, and, by comparison, breakfasts, afternoon teas and evening parties are mere child’s play.