Chapter M (15)

SOUPS. It has generally been considered as good economy to use the cheapest and most inferior kind of meat for broths and soups, and to boil it down till it is entirely destroyed, and hardly worth giving to the pigs. But this is a false frugality; and it is far better to buy good pieces of meat, and only stew them till they are tender enough to be eaten. Lean juicy beef, mutton, or veal, form the basis of good broth; and it is therefore advisable to procure those pieces which afford the richest succulence, and such as is fresh slain. Stale meat will make the broth grouty and bad tasted, and fat is not so well adapted to the purpose. The following herbs, roots, and seasonings, are proper for making and giving a relish to broths and soups, according as the taste may suit. Scotch barley, pearl barley, wheat flour, oatmeal, bread, raspings, peas, beans, rice, vermicelli, maccaroni, isinglass, potatoe mucilage, mushroom, or mushroom ketchup, champignons, parsnips, carrots, beet root, turnips, garlic, shalots, and onions. Sliced onions fried with butter and flour till they are browned, and then rubbed through a sieve, are excellent to heighten the colour and flavour of brown soups and sauces, and form the basis of most of the fine relishes furnished by the cook. The older and drier the onion, the stronger will be its flavour, and the quantity must be regulated accordingly. Leeks, cucumber, or burnet vinegar; celery, or celery seed pounded. The latter, though equally strong, does not impart the delicate sweetness of the fresh vegetable; and when used as a substitute, its flavour should be corrected by the addition of a bit of sugar. Cress seed, parsley, common thyme, lemon thyme, orange thyme, knotted marjoram, sage, mint, winter savoury, and basil. As fresh green basil is seldom to be procured, and its fine flavour is soon lost, the best way of preserving the extract is by pouring wine on the fresh leaves. Bay leaves, tomata, tarragon, chervil, burnet, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, mace, black pepper, white pepper, essence of anchovy, lemon peel, lemon juice, and Seville orange juice. The latter imparts a finer flavour than the lemon, and the acid is much milder. The above materials, with wine and mushroom ketchup, combined in various proportions, will make an endless variety of excellent broths and soups. The general fault of English soups seems to be the employment of an excess of spice, and too small a proportion of roots and herbs. This is especially the case with tavern soups, where cayenne and garlic are often used instead of black pepper and onion, for the purpose of obtaining a higher relish. Soups, which are intended to constitute the principal part of a meal, certainly ought not to be flavoured like sauces, which are only designed to give a relish to some particular dish. The principal art in composing a good rich soup, is so to proportion the several ingredients one to another, that no particular taste be stronger than the rest; but to produce such a fine harmonious relish, that the whole becomes delightful. In order to this, care must be taken that the roots and herbs be perfectly well cleaned, and that the water be proportioned to the quantity of meat, and other ingredients. In general a quart of water may be allowed to a pound of meat for soups; and half the quantity for gravies. If they stew gently, little more water need be put in at first, than is expected at the end; for when the pot is covered quite close, and the fire gentle, very little is wasted. Gentle stewing is incomparably the best; the meat is more tender, and the soup better flavoured. The cover of a soup kettle should fit very close, or the most essential parts of the broth will soon evaporate, as will also be the case with quick boiling. It is not merely the fibres of the meat that afford nourishment, but chiefly the juices they contain; and these are not only extracted but exhaled, if it be boiled fast in an open vessel. A succulent soup can never be made but in a well closed vessel, which preserves the nutritive parts by preventing their dissipation, yet the flavour is perhaps more wholesome by an exposure to the air. Place the soup kettle over a moderate fire, sufficient to make the water hot, without causing it to boil; for if the water boils immediately, it will not penetrate the meat, and cleanse it from the clotted blood and other matters, which ought to go off in scum. The meat will be hardened all over by violent heat, will shrink up as if it were scorched, and afford very little gravy. On the contrary, by keeping the water heating about half an hour without boiling, the meat swells, becomes tender, and its fibres are dilated. By this process, it yields a quantity of scum, which must be taken off as soon as it appears. After the meat has had a good infusion for half an hour, the fire may be improved to make the pot boil, and the vegetables be put in with a little salt. These will cause more scum to rise, which must be taken off immediately. Then cover the boiler very closely, and place it at a proper distance from the fire, where it is to boil very gently and equally, but not fast. Soups will generally take from three to six hours doing. The better way is to prepare them the evening before, as that will give more time to attend to the dinner the next day. When the soup is cold, the fat may much more easily and completely be removed; and when it is decanted, take care not to disturb the settlings at the bottom of the vessel, which are so fine that they will escape through a sieve. A tammis is the best strainer, the soup appears smoother and finer, and the cloth is easier cleaned than any sieve. If you strain it while it is hot, let the tammis or napkin be previously soaked in cold water; the coldness of the strainer will tend to coagulate the fat, and only suffer the pure broth to pass through. The full flavour of the ingredients can only be extracted by long and slow simmering, during which the boiler must be kept close covered, to prevent evaporation. Clear soups must be perfectly transparent, thickened soups about the consistence of cream; the latter will require nearly double the quantity of seasoning, but too much spice makes it unwholesome. To thicken and give body to soups and sauces, the following materials are used. Bread raspings, potatoe mucilage, isinglass, flour and butter, barley, rice, or oatmeal and water rubbed well together. Any of these are to be mixed gradually with the soup, till thoroughly incorporated, and it should afterwards have at least half an hour's gentle simmering. If it appears lumpy, it must be passed through a tammis or fine sieve. A piece of boiled beef pounded to a pulp, with a bit of butter and flour, and rubbed through a sieve, and gradually incorporated with the soup, will be found an excellent addition. If the soup is too thin or too weak, take off the cover of the boiler, and let it boil till some of the watery part of it has evaporated; or add some of the thickening materials before mentioned. When soups and gravies are kept from day to day, in hot weather, they should be warmed up every day, and put into fresh scalded pans or tureens, and placed in a cool cellar. In temperate weather, every other day may be sufficient.--It has been imagined that soups tend to relax the stomach; but so far from being prejudicial in this way, the moderate use of such kind of liquid food may rather be considered as salutary, and affording a good degree of nourishment. Soup of a good quality, if not eaten too hot, or in too great a quantity, is attended with great advantages, especially to those who drink but little. Warm fluids in the form of soup, unite with our juices much sooner and better, than those which are cold and raw. On this account, what is called Restorative Soup is the best food for those who are enfeebled by disease or dissipation, and for old people, whose teeth and digestive organs are impaired. After taking cold, or in nervous headachs, cholics, indigestions, and different kinds of cramps and spasms in the stomach, warm broth or soup is of excellent service. After intemperate eating, to give the stomach a holiday for a day or two, by a diet on mutton broth, is the best way to restore its tone. The stretching of any power to its utmost extent, weakens it; and if the stomach be obliged every day to do as much as it can, it will every day be able to do less. It is therefore a point of wisdom to be temperate in all things, frequently to indulge in soup diet, and occasionally in almost total abstinence, in order to preserve the stomach in its full tone and vigour.--Cheap soups for charitable purposes are best made of fat meat, well boiled with vegetables. Much unreasonable prejudice has prevailed on this subject, as if fat was unsuitable for such a purpose, when it is well known that the nutritious parts of animal and vegetable diet depend on the oil, jelly, mucilage, and sweetness which they contain. The farina of grain, and the seeds of vegetables, contain more of the nutritious and essential parts of the plant than any other, as is evident from the use of celery seed, the eighth part of an ounce of which will give more relish to a gallon of soup, than a large quantity of the root or stalk. On the same principle, the fat is the essence of meat, nearly so as the seeds of plants are of their respective species. To establish this fact, a simple experiment will be sufficient. Boil from two to four ounces of the lean part of butcher's meat in six quarts of water, till reduced to a gallon. Thicken it with oatmeal, and the result of the decoction will be found to be water gruel, or something like it. But dissolve the same quantity of the fat of meat in a gallon of water, thicken it over the fire with oatmeal, and the result will be a very pleasant broth, possessing the identical taste of the meat in a considerable degree, whether of beef or mutton. If some of the gelatinous parts of meat be added, the broth is then of a rich and nutritious quality, and can be made very cheap. For example: take from four to six ounces of barley, oatmeal two ounces, onions or leeks a small quantity; beef fat, suet, or drippings, from two to four ounces; celery seed half a spoonful, pepper and salt to give the soup a relish, and water sufficient to make a gallon. Boil the barley, previously washed, in six quarts of water, which when boiled sufficiently soft will be reduced to a gallon. It will be necessary to skim it clean in the course of the boiling, and to stir it well from the bottom of the boiler. The celery seed should be bruised, and added with the leeks and onions, towards the end of the process. The oatmeal is to be mixed in a little cold water, and put in about an hour before the soup is done. In the last place add the fat, melted before the fire, if not in a state of drippings, and season with pepper and salt. A few grains of cayenne would give the soup a higher relish. Wheat flour may be used instead of oatmeal, but in a smaller proportion. The addition of turnips, carrots, and cabbages, will be a considerable improvement. The intention of the oatmeal or flour is, by the mucilage they contain, assisted with barley broth, to unite the fat with the liquid, so as to form one uniform mass. Where the fat is suspended in the soup, and not seen floating on the top, by which it is rendered easier of digestion, and more readily convertible into good chyle, it is evident that it must be more palatable, as well as abundantly more nutritious. Some may think this kind of soup unwholesome, from the quantity of fat it contains; but a little reflection will shew the contrary. Suet puddings and dumplins are not unwholesome, neither are mutton drippings with potatoes or other vegetables. In short, fat is eaten daily by all ranks of people, in some way or other, in much larger quantities than is prescribed for soup. A labouring man would find no difficulty in eating as much suet at one meal, in a flour pudding, or as much drippings as is necessary for a gallon of soup, in a mass of potatoes or cabbages; while at the same time a quart of soup with a slice of bread, would be a very hearty meal. In no other way could meat drippings be applied to so good a purpose, as in the manufacture of a gallon of soup, sufficient to give a dinner to a whole family. The quantity of fat or drippings necessary for the soup is so small, that it may easily be spared from a joint of roast meat, while enough will remain for other purposes. When mutton dripping is made into soup, wheat flour is better than oatmeal; but the mucilage of potatoe is better still, requiring only one ounce to the gallon. When pork is roasted, peas should be used in preference to boiled barley, and the soup will be very superior in flavour to any that is made with the bones of meat, or combined with bacon. Fat pork is eaten daily in large quantities, in most of the counties of England; and in some parts, hog's lard is spread on bread instead of butter, besides the abundance of lard that is used by all ranks of people, in puddings, cakes, and pasties. Fat enters so much into the composition of our diet, that we could scarcely subsist without it; and the application of it to soups is only a different mode of using it, and certainly more frugal and economical than any other. It may readily be perceived how soups made from lean meat might be improved by the addition of a little fat, mixed up and incorporated with a mucilage of potatoes, of wheat flour, oatmeal, peas, and barley. But where a quantity of fat swims on the surface of the broth, made from a fat joint of meat, and it cannot from its superabundance be united with the liquid, by means of any mucilage, it had better be skimmed off, and preserved for future use; otherwise the soup will not be agreeable, for it is the due proportion of animal and vegetable substance that makes soup pleasant and wholesome. To make good soup of a leg of beef or an ox cheek, which is generally called stew, a pretty large quantity of the vegetable class ought to be added; and none seems better adapted than Scotch barley, by which double and treble the quantity of soup may be made from the same given weight of meat. One pint of well prepared leg of beef, or ox cheek soup, together with the fat, will make a gallon of good soup at the trifling expense of four-pence. In the same way soups may be made from the stew of beef, mutton, veal, or pork, choosing those parts where mucilage, jelly, and fat abound. Bacon is allowed to be a considerable improvement to the taste of veal, whether roasted or boiled; and it is the same in soup. When therefore veal broth is made for family use, two ounces of fat bacon should be added to every gallon, melted before the fire or in a fryingpan. The soup should then be thickened with flour, potatoe starch, and barley. The last article should seldom be omitted in any soup, it being so very cheap and pleasant, as well as wholesome and nutritious. Soup made of tripe is another cheap article. Boil a pound of well cleaned tripe in a gallon of barley broth, with onions and parsley, adding two ounces of bacon fat, with salt and pepper. This produces an extremely nutritious soup, from the gelatinous principle with which the tripe abounds. Cow heels, calves and sheep's feet, are also well adapted to the purpose. Excellent soups may be made from fried meat, where the fat and gravy are added to the boiled barley; and for that purpose, fat beef steaks, pork and mutton chops, should be preferred, as containing more of the nutritious principle. Towards the latter end of frying the steaks, add a little water to produce a gravy, which is to be put to the barley broth. A little flour should also be dredged in, which will take up all the fat left in the fryingpan. A quantity of onions should previously be shred, and fried with the fat, which gives the soup a fine flavour, with the addition of pepper, salt, and other seasoning. There would be no end to the variety of soups that might be made from a number of cheap articles differently combined; but perhaps the distribution of soup gratis does not answer so well as teaching people how to make it, and to improve their comforts at home. The time lost in waiting for the boon, and fetching it home, might by an industrious occupation, however poorly paid for labour, be turned to a better account than the mere obtaining of a quart of soup. But it unfortunately happens, that the best and cheapest method of making a nourishing soup, is least known to those who have most need of it. The labouring classes seldom purchase what are called the coarser pieces of meat, because they do not know how to dress them, but lay out their money in pieces for roasting, which are far less profitable, and more expensive in the purchase. To save time, trouble, and firing, these are generally sent to the oven to be baked, the nourishing parts are evaporated and dried up, the weight is diminished nearly one third, and what is purchased with a week's earnings is only sufficient for a day or two's consumption. If instead of this improvident proceeding, a cheap and wholesome soup were at least occasionally substituted, it would banish the still more pernicious custom of drinking tea two or three times a day, for want of something more supporting and substantial. In addition then to the directions already given, the following may be considered as one of the cheapest and easiest methods of making a wholesome soup, suited to a numerous family among the labouring classes. Put four ounces of Scotch barley washed clean, and four ounces of sliced onions, into five quarts of water. Boil it gently for one hour, and pour it into a pan. Put into a saucepan nearly two ounces of beef or mutton drippings, or melted suet, or two or three ounces of minced bacon; and when melted, stir into it four ounces of oatmeal. Rub these together into a paste, and if properly managed, the whole of the fat will combine with the barley broth, and not a particle, appear on the surface to offend the most delicate stomach. Now add the barley broth, at first a spoonful at a time, then the rest by degrees, stirring it well together till it boils. Put into a teacup a dram of finely pounded cress or celery seed, and a quarter of a dram of finely pounded cayenne, or a dram and a half of ground black pepper or allspice, and mix it up with a little of the soup. Put this seasoning into the whole quantity, stir up the soup thoroughly, let it simmer gently a quarter of an hour, and add a little salt. The flavour may be varied by doubling the portion of onions, or adding a clove of garlic or shalot, and leaving out the celery seed. Change of food is absolutely necessary, not only as a matter of pleasure and comfort, but also of health. It may likewise be much improved, if instead of water, it be made of the liquor that meat has been boiled in. This soup has the advantage of being very soon made, with no more fuel than is necessary to warm a room. Those who have not tasted it, cannot imagine what a savoury and satisfying meal is produced by the combination of these cheap and homely ingredients.

SOUP WITH CUCUMBERS. Pare and cut the cucumbers, then stew them with some good broth, and veal gravy to cover them. When done enough, heat the soup with the liquor they were stewed in, and season it with salt. Serve up the soup garnished with the cucumbers. These will be a proper garnish for almost any kind of soup.

SOUP A L' EAU. Put into a saucepan holding about three pints, a quarter of a cabbage, four carrots, two parsnips, six onions, and three or four turnips. Add a root of celery, a small root of parsley, some sorrel, a bunch of white beet leaves and chervil, and half a pint of peas tied in a piece of linen. Add water in proportion to the vegetables, and stew the whole for three hours. Strain off the broth, add some salt, heat it and serve it up, garnished with the vegetables.

SOUP GRAVY. Take some good juicy lean beef, free from sinews or other offal substance; or take the lean of a neck, or loin, or the fleshy part of a leg of mutton, or well-grown fowl, in the proportion of a pound of meat to a quart of water to beef, and rather less to mutton or fowl. Cut the meat in pieces, and let it stew very gently till the pure gravy is fairly drawn from the meat, without extracting the dregs. The time required for this will vary according to the quantity, the proper degree of heat being of course longer in penetrating the larger portion. From an hour and a half to three hours, at discretion, will allow sufficient time for any quantity that is likely to be wanted at once for soup, at least in private families. When done, strain the gravy through a hair sieve into an earthen pot, and let it stand till cold. Take off the fat, and pour the gravy clear from the sediment at the bottom.

SOUP MAIGRE. Melt half a pound of butter into a stewpan, shake it round, and throw in half a dozen sliced onions. Shake the pan well for two or three minutes, then put in five heads of celery, two handfuls of spinach, two cabbage lettuces cut small, and some parsley. Shake the pan well for ten minutes, put in two quarts of water, some crusts of bread, a tea-spoonful of beaten pepper, and three or four blades of mace. A handful of white beet leaves, cut small, may be added. Boil it gently an hour. Just before serving, beat in two yolks of eggs, and a large spoonful of vinegar.--Another. Flour and fry a quart of green peas, four sliced onions, the coarse stalks of celery, a carrot, a turnip, and a parsnip. Pour on three quarts of water, let it simmer till the whole will pulp through a sieve, and boil in it the best of the celery cut thin.--Another way. Take a bunch of celery washed clean and cut in pieces, a large handful of spinage, two cabbage lettuces, and some parsley; wash all very clean, and shred them small; then take a large clean stewpan, put in about half a pound of butter, and when it is quite hot, slice four large onions very thin, and put into your butter; stir them well about for two or three minutes; then put in the rest of your herbs; shake all well together for near twenty minutes, dust in some flour, and stir them together; pour in two quarts of boiling water; season with pepper, salt, and beaten mace: chip a handful of crust of bread, and put in; boil it half an hour, then beat up the yolks of three eggs in a spoonful of vinegar; pour it in, and stir it for two or three minutes; then send it to table.

SOUP WITH ONIONS. Blanch some small white onions in scalding water, peel off the first skin, and stew them in a little broth. When ready, lay them in a row round the edge of the dish intended for the soup. To keep them in their place, put a thin slip of bread rubbed with white of egg round the rim of the dish, and set the dish for a moment over a stove to fasten the bread. Slips of bread may be used in this manner to keep all kinds of garnishing to soups in their proper place.

SOUP A LA REINE. Blanch and beat very fine in a marble mortar, three quarters of a pound of sweet almonds, with the white part of a cold roasted fowl. Slice to these the crumb of four small rolls, and then strain to it three quarts of good veal gravy, boiled with a blade of mace. Simmer these all together for a quarter of an hour, then rub them through a tammis, season it with salt, give it a boil, and serve it up with a small tea-cupful of cream stirred into it, and the slices of crust cut off the rolls laid on the top.--Another way. Have ready a strong veal broth that is white, and clean scummed from all fat; blanch a pound of almonds, beat them in a mortar, with a little water, to prevent their oiling, and the yolks of four poached eggs, the lean part of the legs, and all the white part of a roasted fowl; pound all together, as fine as possible; then take three quarts of the veal broth, put it into a clean stew-pot, put your ingredients in, and mix them well together; chip in the crust of two French rolls well rasped; boil all together over a stove, or a clear fire. Take a French roll, cut a piece out of the top, and take out all the crumb: mince the white part of a roasted fowl very fine, season it with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and a little beaten mace; put in about an ounce of butter, and moisten it with two spoonfuls of your soup strained to it; set it over the stove to be thoroughly hot: cut some French roll in thin slices, and set them before the fire to crisp; then strain off your soup through a tammis or a lawn strainer, into another clean stew-pot; let it stew till it is as thick as cream; then have your dish ready; put in some of your crisp bread; fill your roll with your mince, and lay on the top as close as possible; put it into the middle of your dish, and pour a ladleful of your soup over it; put in your bread first, then pour in your soup, till your dish is full. Garnish with petty patties; or make a rim for your dish, and garnish with lemon raced. If you please, you may send a chicken boned in the middle, instead of your roll; or you may send it to table with only crisp bread.

SOUP A-LA SAP. Boil half a pound of grated potatoes, a pound of beef sliced thin, a pint of grey peas, an onion, and three ounces of rice, in six pints of water till reduced to five. Strain it through a cullender, pulp the peas into it, and return it into the saucepan with two heads of sliced celery. Stew it tender, add pepper and salt, and serve it with fried bread.

SOUR BEER. If beer be brewed ever so well, much will depend on the management afterwards, to prevent its becoming sour or vapid. Different conveniences of cellarage will materially affect beer. If the cellar is bad, there should not be more than six weeks between brewing and brewing. Where beer is kept too long in a bad cellar, so as to be affected by the heat of the weather, it will putrefy, though ever so well bunged. Hops may prevent its turning sour, but will not keep it from becoming vapid. It should be well understood, that there is no certainty in keeping beer, if not brewed at the proper season. In winter there is a danger of wort getting too cold, so as to prevent the process of fermentation; and in the summer, of its not being cool enough, unless brewed in the dead of night. In temperate weather, at the spring or autumn, the spirit of the beer is retained, and it is thereby enabled to work the liquor clear; whereas in hot weather, the spirit quickly evaporates, leaving the wort vapid and flat, unable to work itself clear, but keeping continually on the fret, till totally spoiled. This is the obvious reason for the use of sugar, prepared for colour, because sugar will bear the heat better than malt; and when thoroughly prepared, possesses such a strong principle of heat in itself, as to bid defiance to the hottest temperature of the air, and to render its turning sour almost impossible. Clean casks are also essential to the preservation of good beer. To keep the casks sweet and in order, never allow them to remain open; but whenever the beer is drawn off, bung them up tight with the lees within them. In a good cellar they will never spoil. Should the casks get musty, the following method will remedy the evil. Soak them well for three or four days in cold water, then fill them full of boiling hot water; put in a lump or two of lime, shake it thoroughly till quite dissolved, let the casks stand about half an hour, then wash them out with cold water, and they will be clean and sweet. If still apprehensive of the beer getting flat or sour, put into a cask containing eighteen gallons, a pint of ground malt suspended in a bag, and close the bung perfectly. This will prevent the mischief, and the beer will improve during the whole time of drawing it. When beer has actually turned sour, put in some oyster shells, calcined to whiteness, or a little powdered chalk. Either of these will correct the acidity, and make it brisk and sparkling. Salt of tartar, or soda powder, put into the beer at the time of drinking it, will also destroy the acidity, and make it palatable.

SOUR KROUT. Take some full-grown hard cabbages of the closest texture, and cut them into slices about an inch thick, opening them a little, that they may receive the salt more effectually. Rub a good deal of salt amongst them, lay them into a large pan, and sprinkle more salt over them. Let them remain twenty-four hours, turning them over four or five times, that every part may be alike saturated. Next day put the cabbage into a tub or large jar, pressing it down well, and then pour over it a pickle made of a pint of salt to a quart of water. This pickle must be poured on boiling hot, and the cabbage entirely covered with it. Let it stand thus twenty-four hours longer, when it will have shrunk nearly a third. Then take the cabbage out, and put it into a fresh tub or jar, pressing it down well as before, and pour over it a pickle made as follows. To one quart of the salt and water pickle which had been used the day before, put three quarts of vinegar, four ounces of allspice, and two ounces of carraway seeds. This must be poured on cold, so as to cover the cabbage completely. Let it stand one day loosely covered, and then stop it down quite close.

SOUR SAUCE FOR FISH. Boil two blades of mace in a wine glass of water, and half as much sharp vinegar, for a quarter of an hour. Then take out the mace, and put in a quarter of a pound of butter, and the yolk of an egg well beaten. Shake these over the fire one way till the sauce is properly thickened, without suffering it to boil.

SOUSE FOR BRAWN. Boil a quarter of a pint of wheat bran, a sprig of bay, and a sprig of rosemary, in two gallons of water for half an hour, adding four ounces of salt. Strain it, and let it cool. This will do for pig's feet and ears, as well as brawn.

SOUSED STURGEONS. Draw and divide the fish down the back, and then into pieces. Put the fish into salt and water, clean it well, bind it with tape, and boil it very carefully in vinegar, salt, and water. When done lay it to cool, and pack it up close in the liquor it was boiled in.

SOUSED TRIPE. Boil the tripe, but not quite tender; then put it into salt and water, which must be changed every day till it is all used. When the tripe is to be dressed, dip it into a batter of eggs and flour, and fry it of a good brown.

SOY. To make English soy, pound some walnuts when fit for pickling, in a marble mortar, very small. Squeeze them through a strainer, let the liquor stand to settle, and then pour off the fine. To every quart of liquor put a pound of anchovies, and two cloves of shalot. Boil it enough to make the scum rise, and clear it well. Add two ounces of Jamaica pepper, a quarter of an ounce of mace, and half a pint of vinegar. Boil it again, until the anchovies are dissolved and the shalot tender, and let it stand till the next day. Then pour off the fine, and bottle it for use. Strain the thick through a sieve, and put it by separately. When used for fish, put some of the soy to the usual anchovies and butter, or to plain butter.

SPANISH CARDOONS. Cut them three inches long, leaving out any that are hollow and green. Boil them in water half an hour, and then put them into warm water to pick them. Stew them with some broth, with a spoonful of flour mixed in it. Add salt, onions, roots, a bunch of sweet herbs, a dash of verjuice, and a little butter. When they are well done take them out, and put them into a good cullis, with a little broth. Boil them half an hour in this sauce to give them a flavour, and then serve them up. Let the sauce be neither too clear nor too thick, and of a fine light colour.

SPANISH FLUMMERY. Scald a quart of cream, with a little cinnamon or mace. Mix this gradually into half a pound of rice flour, and then stir it over a gentle fire till it acquires the thickness of jelly. Sweeten it to the taste, and pour it into cups or shapes. Turn it out when cold, and serve it up. Cream, wine, or preserves eat well with it, or it may be eaten alone as preferred. Oatmeal may be used instead of rice.

SPANISH FRITTERS. Cut the crumb of a French roll into square lengths, of the thickness of one's finger, nutmeg, sugar, pounded cinnamon, and an egg. When well soaked, fry the fritters of a nice brown; and serve with butter, wine, and sweet sauce.

SPANISH PUFFS. Boil a stick of cinnamon, a piece of lemon peel, and a little sugar, in three quarters of a pint of water for ten minutes. Let it cool, then add three eggs well beaten, and shake in three large spoonfuls of flour. Beat these well together, add three more eggs, and simmer the whole over the fire, till it thickens almost to a paste. Drop this with a tea-spoon into boiling lard, and fry these little puffs of a delicate light brown.

SPANISH SAUCE. Put some gravy into a saucepan with a glass of white wine, and the same of good broth. Add a bunch of parsley and chives, two cloves of garlic, half a bay leaf, a pinch of coriander seed, two cloves, a sliced onion, a carrot, half a parsnip, and two spoonfuls of salad oil. Stew these for two hours over a very slow fire. Skim off the fat, pass the sauce through a tammis, season it with pepper and salt, and use it with any thing as approved.

SPARERIB. Baste it with a very little butter and flour; and when done, sprinkle it with dried sage crumbled. Serve it with potatoes and apple sauce.

SPARROW. A mischievous destructive bird in corn-fields, and which should mostly be destroyed. It is observed, that were all the farmers in a neighbourhood to agree to their destruction, by offering rewards for their heads, their numbers might be lessened; and that were the practice general, surely the whole race might be extirpated. It is supposed that six-pence a dozen the first year, nine-pence the second, and a shilling the third year, would nearly reach their complete extirpation. To enforce which it should be considered how soon twelve sparrows destroy twelve penny-worth of wheat. In Kent, they use a species of trap, which is very effectual in taking them. It consists of a small wicker basket, resembling a fruit-sieve of the London markets, with a cover of the same material fitted to it, and formed on the principle of the fish-pot, and the vermin trap, into which the entrance is easy, but the return difficult. These traps, which are an ordinary article of sale in the markets of the district, are constituted of brown unpeeled oziers. The diameter about two feet; the depth nine inches; the cover is somewhat dishing, with a tunnel or inverted cone, in the centre, reaching to within an inch of the bottom of the basket; the aperture or entrance, formed by the points of the twigs, of which the tunnel is constructed, being about an inch and a half in diameter. And the usual bait is wheat scattered in the basket. The number caught at once, is frequently more than theory would suggest; the contentions of a few that have entered, seldom failing to bring others to the combat. These mischievous birds, however, soon grow too cunning to be taken in any sort of trap to any extent, which has a chance of extirpating and destroying the race; consequently some more effectual and certain plan, such as that suggested above, or some other, which is better and more fully adapted to the purpose, must be had recourse to in order to completely exterminate them, and prevent the injury they do annually to the farmer, in the destruction of his wheat and other crops. Though these are only small birds, they destroy vast quantities of grain, much more than has indeed been commonly supposed. It is stated to have been calculated to have amounted to a hundred sacks of wheat besides the oats and barley, in the course of only one season, in a township of no very great extent in the north-western part of the kingdom. Where rewards or sums of money are paid for the taking or destroying them, no advantages are gained, except where there are sufficiently ample and proper regulations entered into and enforced, the whole district, parish, or township, becomes partakers in the business. No languid or half measures will do any thing useful, or to the purpose, in this sort of undertaking. It is not improbable, but that these destructive birds might be greatly extirpated and thinned down in their numbers, by the use of some tasteless infusion of a strongly poisonous nature, either to the ears of the grain at the time of harvest, or to the naked grain in the winter season, when they are extremely eager for food, as they are constantly found to remain hovering about houses or other buildings, where the effects of such trials might easily be ascertained. If such a method should succeed, the whole race might readily, and with great facility and certainty, be exterminated.

SPASMS. An involuntary and painful contraction of the muscles may arise from various causes, and require different modes of treatment. But if no medical assistance be at hand, the application of volatile liniments to the part affected, a clyster with a little laudanum in it, or the warm bath, may be tried with advantage.

SPERMACETI OINTMENT. This is made of a quarter of a pint of fine salad oil, a quarter of a pound of white wax, and half an ounce of spermaceti, melted over a gentle fire, and kept stirring till the ointment is cold.

SPICES. As it regards health, spices are generally improper; but black pepper, ginger, and cayenne, may be esteemed the best. Nutmegs, cloves, mace, cinnamon, and allspice, are generally productive of indigestion and headach, in persons of a weakly habit.

SPIDERS. These industrious insects are generally loathed and destroyed, though they are extremely useful in reducing the quantity of flies, and serve as a very accurate barometer for the weather. When they are totally inactive, it is a certain sign that rain will shortly follow; but if they continue to spin during a shower, it indicates that the rain will soon be over, and that calm and fine weather will succeed. If the weather be about to change, and become wet or windy, the spider will make the supporters of his web very short; but if the threads be extended to an unusual length, the weather will continue serene for ten or twelve days, or more, according to the length of the threads which support the web. The red spider however is very injurious and destructive to different sorts of plants and fruit-trees, especially in forcing houses. It is found particularly so to those of the forced French bean, melon; peach, vine, cherry, currant, and some other kinds. The generation and production of this insect are greatly caused and promoted by the dry warm heat that is constantly kept up in the houses which contain these sorts of plants and trees, and there are many other circumstances which combine in bringing it forth. It is an insect which has no wings, and the female is oviparous. Several different methods have been attempted in order to the removal and destruction of it. Constant daily watering, or washing the trees, are said to have the power of subduing it, but in the execution of the work, care is always to be taken that every part of the leaves be wetted, otherwise the insects shelter and save themselves in the dry parts, and are preserved from the effects of the water. Moisture conveyed in some way or other is certainly found to be the most destructive, of any thing yet discovered, of these pernicious insects, as well as many others that infest hot-houses. Throwing weak lime-water in a plentiful manner on the under sides of the leaves, where these insects are commonly found, will, for the most part, soon destroy them. The following directions have been given for the destruction of this sort of spider, when it becomes injurious to melon plants; and the same may probably be found useful for those of the forced French bean, and some other similar kinds. In cases of dry weather, and with a dry heat, melon plants are very subject to be infested with the red spider; and the appearances of it may constantly be long noticed before the insects can be seen with the naked eye, by the leaves beginning to curl and crack in their middle parts. Whenever they are discovered to be in this state or condition, and there is fine warm sunny weather, the watering of them all over the leaves, both on the under and upper sides, is advised; a watering-pot, with a rose finely perforated with holes, or a garden-engine, which disperses the water in a fine dew-like manner, being employed for the purpose. The work should be performed about six o'clock in the morning, and the plants be shaded with mats about eight, if the sun shine with much power, shutting the frames down closely until about eleven; and then admitting a small quantity of fresh air, letting the mats remain until about three in the afternoon, when they should be wholly taken away. The shade which is thus afforded by the mats prevents the leaves of the plants from being scorched or otherwise injured by the action of the heat of the sun while they are in a wet cooled down state. Where a southerly breeze prevails, watering them again about three in the afternoon is recommended, shutting them up close as before, to keep the heat in, which causes a strong exhalation of the moisture, and is greatly destructive of the spiders. In all these waterings, the water is to be thrown as much and as finely as possible on the under sides of the leaves, where the insects mostly lodge; the vines or stems of the plants being gently turned in that intention, taking great care not to injure them, by which means the water is capable of being easily thrown over the whole of the under sides of the leaves, it being done in a gentle manner, in the modes already suggested, so as not to wash up the mouldy matters unto the plants: the lights and sides of the frames which contain the plants, should also, at the same time, have water plentifully thrown on and against them. When these waterings are finished, the vines or stems of the plants are to be carefully laid down again in their former positions. And if the day be sunny, the mats may be let remain, as already directed, until the leaves of the plants become perfectly dry, air being admitted according to the heat that may be present at the time. It is likewise further advised as a precautionary measure, that, before the frames and lights, which are to contain plants of this sort, are employed, they should be well washed, both inside and out, first with clean water, and then with a mixture of soap-suds and urine; a brush or woollen rag being made use of in the operation; as by this method the ova or eggs of the spiders or other insects that may have been deposited and lodged in or on them, in the preceding season, may be cleared away and destroyed. The exhalations of the water which has been thrown upon the plants, and the frames or boxes that contain them, may also be useful in killing these insects, in other cases by keeping them in a close state. These washings should never, however, be performed in cold frosty seasons; and the water made use of in such cases should always be of the rain or soft kind.

SPINACH. This vegetable requires to be carefully washed and picked. When that is done, throw it into a saucepan that will just hold it, sprinkle it with a little salt, and cover it close. Set the pan on the fire, and shake it well. When sufficiently done, beat up the spinach with some butter, but it must be sent to table pretty dry. It would look well, if pressed into a tin mould in the form of a large leaf, which is sold at the tin shops. A spoonful of cream is an improvement.

SPINACH CREAM. Beat the yolks of eight eggs with a whisk or a wooden spoon, sweeten it well, and add a stick of cinnamon, a pint of rich cream, and three quarters of a pint of new milk. Stir it well, and then add a quarter of a pint of spinach juice. Set it over a gentle stove, and stir it constantly one way, till it is as thick as a hasty pudding. Put into a custard dish some Naples biscuits, or preserved orange, in long slices, and pour the mixture over them. It is to be eaten cold, and is a dish either for supper, or for a second course.

SPINACH AND EGGS. The spinach must be well washed, then throw a small handful of salt into a saucepan of boiling water, before the spinach is put in, and press it down as it boils. When it becomes tender, press it well in a sieve or cullender. Break the eggs into cups, and put them into a stewpan of boiling water. When done, take them out with a slice, and lay them on the spinach. Send them to table with melted butter.

SPINACH PUDDING. Scald and chop some spinach very fine, four ounces of biscuit soaked in cream, the yolks of eight eggs beat up, a quarter of a pound of melted butter, a little salt and nutmeg, and sugar to your taste; beat up all together, and set it over the fire till it is stiff, but do not let it boil; cool it, and bake it in puff-paste; or you may butter a bason, and boil it.--Another. Boil a pint of cream, with some lemon-peel, a blade of mace, half a nutmeg cut in pieces; strain it off, and stir it till it is cold, then boil a good handful of young spinach tender; chop it very fine; beat up eight eggs, leave out four whites, add some fine sugar pounded, and a glass of sack; mix all well together, put it into the dish, with a puff-paste at the bottom, and lay on the top candied orange and lemon cut in thin slices. Half an hour, or a little better, will bake it.

SPINACH SOUP. Shred two handfuls of spinach, a turnip, two onions, a head of celery, two carrots, and a little parsley and thyme. Put all into a stewpot, with a bit of butter the size of a walnut, and a pint of good broth, or the liquor in which meat has been boiled. Stew till the vegetables are quite tender, and work them with a spoon through a coarse cloth or sieve. To the vegetable pulp and liquor, add a quart of fresh water, salt and pepper, and boil all together. Have ready some suet dumplins the size of a walnut, and put them into a tureen, before the soup is poured over. The suet must be quite fresh, and not shred too fine.

SPIRITS. Good pure spirits ought to be perfectly clear, pleasant, and strong, though not of a pungent odour, and somewhat of a vinous taste. To try the purity of spirits, or whether they have been diluted with water, see whether the liquor will burn away without leaving any mixture behind, by dipping in a piece of writing paper, and lighting it at the candle. As pure spirit is much lighter than water, put a hollow ivory ball into it: the deeper the ball sinks, the lighter the liquor, and consequently the more spirituous.

SPIRITS OF CLARY. Distil a peck of clary flowers in a cold still, and then another peck of flowers, adding to them the distilled liquor. Put to this a bottle of sack or sweet wine, and another peck of flowers, and put all together into a glass still. Let it distil on white sugar candy, with the addition of a little ambergris.

SPIRITS OF LAVENDER. Take fourteen pounds of lavender flowers, ten gallons and a half of rectified spirits of wine, and one gallon of water. Draw off ten gallons by a gentle fire, or which is much better, by a sand-bath heat. To convert this into the red liquid known by the name of compound lavender spirits, take of the above lavender spirits two gallons, of Hungary water one gallon, cinnamon and nutmegs three ounces each, and of red saunders one ounce. Digest the whole for three days in a gentle heat, and then filtre it for use. Some add saffron, musk, and ambergris, of each half a scruple; but these are now generally omitted.

SPIRITS OF SAFFRON. Pick eight ounces of English saffron very clean, cut it fine, and steep it twenty-four hours in a gallon of the best white wine. Put it into an alembic with three gallons of water, draw it off gently so long as the saffron tastes, and sweeten it with white sugar candy. Dissolve the candy in some of the weaker extract, after the stronger part is drawn off, by setting it on the fire, and then mix the whole together.

SPITS. Roasting spits require to be kept bright and clean, and should be scoured with nothing but sand and water. If they are wiped clean, as soon as the meat is drawn from them, and while they are hot, a very little cleaning will be necessary. A very useful kind of spit is sold at the ironmongers, which sustains the meat without the necessity of passing it through, which is much to be preferred.