Chapter I: Part 1

_THE COUNTRY HANDBOOKS—IV_

EDITED BY HARRY ROBERTS

_The Still-Room_

_The Still-Room_

_By Mrs. Charles Roundell and Harry Roberts_

_John Lane, The Bodley Head
London and New York MDCCCCIII_

WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LTD., LONDON AND BECCLES.

EDITOR’S NOTE

MRS. CHARLES ROUNDELL is responsible for the chapters dealing with the Pickling of Meat, Preserves, Refreshments at a Garden-Party, and Food for Invalids; as well as for certain recipes scattered through the book. These are distinguished by the initials “J. R.”

CONTENTS

_Page_
A PLEA FOR HOUSEWIFERY 1
BUTTER AND CREAM 9
CHEESE 16
PICKLING MEAT 23
FISH 31
EGGS 32
PICKLING VEGETABLES 33
CONDIMENTS AND SAUCES 40
PRESERVES 48
THE STORING OF FRUIT AND HERBS 57
THE BOTTLING OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES 63
THE DRYING OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES 67
HOME-BREWED BEER 71
CIDER 77
WINE-MAKING 80
THE DISTILLING OF WATERS AND CORDIALS 92
SOME OTHER CORDIALS AND BITTERS 112
DRINKS—OLD AND NEW 117
HINTS FOR REFRESHMENTS AT A GARDEN-PARTY OR PICNIC 128
ICE CREAMS 137
FOOD FOR INVALIDS 139
PERFUMES 145
SOME MISCELLANEOUS RECIPES 149
INDEX 153

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

A CORNISH STILLER OF HERBS _Frontispiece_
SYMBOLS OF DISTILLATION _Page_ 3
ALCHEMIST IN HIS LABORATORY ” 5
ALCHEMIST PERFORMING MYSTIC RITES ” 7
DIAPHRAGM CHURN ” 10
MELOTTE CREAM SEPARATOR _To face page_ 10
A SMALL BUTTER-WORKER _Page_ 11
MILK-STRAINER FOR USE WITH MUSLIN ” 13
DOUBLE PAN FOR DEVONSHIRE CREAM-RAISING ” 13
A SELF-SKIMMING PORCELAIN MILK-PAN ” 14
BUTTER-SCOOP ” 14
OLD DISTILLING FURNACES AND STILLS ” 35
DISTILLING OYLE OUT OF SEEDES ” 43
A FRUIT-ROOM ” 59
ORR’S FRUIT-STORING TRAYS _To face page_ 60
LEE’S STEAM FRUIT PRESERVING APPARATUS ” ” 62
RYLAND’S FRUIT BOTTLES _Page_ 64
LEE’S FRUIT BOTTLES AND BOILER _To face page_ 64
BARNETT AND FOSTER’S SPILE-DRAWER _Page_ 74
A GROUP OF DRINKING-GLASSES ” 82
A GROUP OF ANCIENT BOTTLES ” 83
A SIMPLE FRUIT-MILL ” 84
CORK-DRIVER ” 84
A GROUP OF MODERN BOTTLES ” 86
A WINE FILTER-BAG ” 88
BALNEUM MARIÆ ” 93
DISTILLING BY HEAT OF STEAM ” 93
SOME OLD DISTILLING VESSELS ” 95
DISTILLING BY HEAT OF FERMENTING MANURE ” 97
ALCHEMIST WITH HIS SERVANT ” 97
A 16TH-CENTURY STILL, WITH CONDENSER JACKET TO HELM OF STILL ” 99
“THE INSTRUMENT NAMED THE PELLICANE” ” 99
STILLS AT THE WORKS OF THE LONDON ESSENCE CO. _To face page_ 100
BALNEUM MARIÆ _Page_ 101
FURNACE WITH STILLS ” 101
STILL-ROOM OF THE LONDON ESSENCE CO. _To face page_ 102
FURNACE WITH STILLS _Page_ 103
PERSIAN ROSE-WATER SPRINKLER ” 104
A PERFORATED WATER-BATH ” 105
A PORTABLE COPPER STILL ” 105
OLD APPARATUS USED FOR CONDENSING THE DISTILLATE ” 107
“BEHOLDE HERE A MANNER OR FASHION OF BALNEO MARIÆ” ” 109
OLD VESSELS USED IN DISTILLING ” 110
TENDING THE FURNACE ” 110
BALNEUM MARIÆ ” 110
COPPER SPIRIT-MEASURE ” 115
COPPER FUNNEL ” 115
COFFEE ROASTER _To face page_ 120
BEER WARMER OR MULLER _Page_ 122
SOME OLD MORTARS ” 131
PERSIAN INCENSE BURNER ” 147

_The Still-Room_

“_The preparation of meats and bread and drinks, that they may be rightly handled, and in order to this intention, is of exceedingly great moment; howsomever it may seem a mechanical thing and savouring of the kitchen and buttery, yet it is of more consequence than those fables of gold and precious stones and the like._”—BACON.

_The STILL-ROOM_

A PLEA FOR HOUSEWIFERY

WE live in an age which may well be called the age of the purveyor; and, if we continue travelling along the road upon which we have entered, the time cannot be far distant when it will be held ridiculous to do anything at all for ourselves. To appreciate, to criticize, to display taste in selection—these are the hall-marks of to-day, and home is but another name for a private restaurant. Homes such as those in which Goldsmith and Dickens delighted are now calculated to bring a blush to the cheeks of the superior and the “artistic.” Of few of our fine ladies can it be said that “they are excellent Housewives, and as capable of descending to the kitchen with propriety as of acting in their exalted stations with dignity.”

We are nowadays far more willing to applaud and reward the woman who throws her “Letters”—real or imaginary—before the eyes of the bored and lazy world, than the one who is merely efficient in the sphere allotted to her sex by nature. An occasional grant, such as Stow records as being made by Henry VIII., would do much to remedy the position of the housewife. King Henry’s grant was of an estate in Leadenhall Street to “_Mistris Cornewallies, widdow, and her heires, in reward of Fine Puddings by her made_.”

(_From Baker’s “Jewell of Health,” 1576._)]

But suppers have gone out—not the midnight meals of the Strand and Piccadilly—cider has gone out, and home-cured hams, with home-brewed ale and home-stilled cordials, have gone the way of Mrs. Primrose’s gooseberry wine and Mr. Frank Churchill’s spruce beer.

Little economies are now as unfashionable as quiet generosity, hospitality, and comfort. If it is not beneath the dignity of a man to spend enjoyable hours of labour in laboratory or malthouse, in sick-ward or workshop, woman need not feel degraded by the apportionment to her of those duties which are more immediately bound up with the creation of happy and refreshing homes.

A private latch-key is no doubt part of the universal birthright, but it does not in itself afford a sufficient aim in life. To be able to discourse cleverly of Browning and Wagner is an accomplishment easily acquired, and affords pleasure to no one. To acquire a reputation for the excellence of our home-made gooseberry wine, of our home-baked bread, or of our home-brewed beer is much more difficult and much more worthy. There is more scope for the use of brains in housewifery than in almost any of the other careers open to women, and this possibly is why so many women are fighting shy of it. In housewifery there can be but little pretence, for no ignorance may remain hid. Bluff and a ready tongue or pen go a long way towards creating many a “brilliant reputation” in the “artistic” and vapid world which lives at clubs and restaurants, and runs societies for improving other people. But no bluff will ever avail in the presence of the food or drink in the preparation of which our skill has been employed. The products of housewifery speak for themselves; they are no empty expressions of sentiments which may be false or true.

(_From Baker’s “Jewell of Health,” 1576._)]

In no way, indeed, can affection be displayed with more subtle grace and delicacy than by the thoughtfulness of the housewife. The greatest of poets has no such instrument at his command. Not that women, in order to be efficient in their homes, need be ignorant of the events and thoughts which are in progress outside. Quite otherwise, they should be able to be the boon companions of men. But what I would urge is that they should take over as their share of the necessary work of mankind the management of that department which is immediately associated with domestic life. In this there is nothing degrading. For, after all, it is housewifery to which nearly all the arts and sciences bring their secrets. Home and comfort, food and drink—it will be a long time before we can get quite away from the need of these things. To introduce science and order into the domestic kingdom is a task worthy of the finest intellect; and that woman who by the use of brains organizes and systematizes her household work is she who can best front with a smiling face the difficulty of obtaining servants—which appears to be the great omnipresent trouble of Englishwomen.

(_From Baker’s “Jewell of Health,” 1576._)]

In his summary of the “inward and outward vertues which ought to be in a compleate woman,” Gervase Markham laid it down that she must be “of chast thought, stout courage, patient, untyred, watchfull, diligent, witty, pleasant, constant in friendship, full of good Neighbourhood, wise in discourse, but not frequent therein, sharpe and quicke of speech, but not bitter or talkative, secret in affaires, comfortable in her counsels, and generally skilfull in the worthy knowledges which doe belong to her Vocation.” Later he says that, of all these “outward and active knowledges,” “the first and most principall is a perfect skill and knowledge in Cookery, together with all the secrets belonging to the same, because it is a duty rarely belonging to a woman; and shee that is utterly ignorant therein, may not by the Lawes of strict Justice challenge the freedome of marriage, because indeede shee can then but performe halfe her vow; for she may love and obey, but shee cannot cherish, serve, and keepe him with that true duty which is ever expected.” The work that is most personal and nearest to our hand may be the most important and most valuable after all. It may also, as has been said, be the finest and most dignified if we approach it in the right spirit.

The chipping away of the gross and unessential, with the consequent liberation of the true and fine, is as noble a process in cookery as in sculpture. Yet how different is the attitude of even the humblest artist in words or marble or paint towards his material and his work from that of the average housewife towards the flavours and fragrances which she is privileged to elucidate and to blend. It is a ludicrous thing that women cry out for spheres in which to display their power. And all these centuries they have been entrusted with the practice of an art with almost boundless possibilities, yet scarcely any of them have proved capable of rising above the status of artisans in that craft. Equally, one looks in vain for the Roger Bacons, the Harveys, the Darwins, or the Hubers of the kitchen. The processes of cooking do not seem to inspire women with any of the wonder, religion, and scientific zeal such as almost every branch of labour has inspired in man. Mechanically and brainlessly the recipes of the cookery books are followed by myriads of women everywhere, so that the compounding of foods and drinks is usually as uninteresting a piece of drudgery as can be conceived. One may well pray for a reaction, if indeed the art of housewifery is not past praying for.

BUTTER AND CREAM

AS a volume of the present series will be devoted to the subject of The Dairy, which is too large a subject to be treated usefully in a single chapter, I shall here merely record such facts and formulæ as may be of help to those who have a general knowledge of dairy work, and also offer a little advice of a practical kind to those who have to deal with dairying on the smallest scale. A larder or store-room should never be used for the storage of milk, as the conditions required are somewhat different, and also because, more than almost any other substance, milk absorbs and is spoilt by any strong smell such as many stores yield to the air about them. The milk-room should be cool, only moderately light, well ventilated and somewhat dry, and should, if possible, face the east or north. There must be no possibility of gas from drain or manure heap coming into contact with the milk at any stage, either in milking-yard or dairy. The floor should be of tiles or concrete, and the shelves should be of slate or stone. The room and all vessels used should be kept scrupulously clean. If a separator is used, the milk should be put through the machine as soon as possible after milking, as the milk should have a temperature of about 90° F. If the cream is to be separated by “setting,” the milk should be taken straight to the dairy as soon as possible after milking, and poured through a hair sieve or other strainer into shallow pans—about four to six inches deep. These should be kept at a temperature of between 46° and 56° F. In from twenty-four to thirty-six hours, according to the season (more quickly in summer), the cream is separated by a flat perforated skimmer, or the milk is drawn off by a syphon, or by the removal of a plug. If skimmed, the process is repeated twelve hours later, and occasionally a third time after a similar period has elapsed. If clotted cream be desired, the pans—about six to eight inches deep—of milk, having stood in the dairy for twenty-four hours, are heated over a furnace or in a water-bath to a temperature of 175° F., and then again restored to the dairy to cool. The cream is then skimmed off the milk by means of the skimmer. If the cream is to be made into butter, it must be “ripened,” but must not be allowed to become too sour. In summer, it must not be kept for more than two days, and in winter for not more than four days. It should be placed, as soon as separated, in an earthenware cream-holder, large enough to hold the entire cream to be used at a single churning. When adding the cream from subsequent skimmings, thoroughly stir the whole together. Keep the cream cool until twenty-four hours before churning, and add no fresh cream to the mixture within twelve hours of the churning in summer, or within twenty-four hours in winter. For the twenty-four hours previous to churning, the cream must be kept at a temperature of about 60° F. In summer, churn at a temperature of from 57° to 59° F., and in winter at from 59° to 63° F. The room, the churn, and the cream should all be of about the same temperature. The cream should be strained through straining muslin into the churn, and the latter should be not more than half full. Churn rather slowly for the first five minutes, and allow the gas to escape frequently, until no air rushes out when the vent is opened. Directly you hear the butter form or “break,” open the churn and see that it has come. It will resemble mustard seed. Add for each gallon of cream a quart of cold water, and slowly turn the churn for about half a minute. Draw off the butter-milk, add to the butter the same quantity of cold water as there was originally of cream, give the churn a few turns quickly, and then draw off the water. Repeat this process until the water comes away quite clear. Then take the butter out of the churn, place it on the worker, allow it to drain for quarter of an hour, and then work the whole mass together. Weigh it, and dredge over it from a quarter to three-quarters of an ounce of fine pure salt to the pound of butter, rolling it out and sprinkling the salt evenly and by degrees. Well roll it so as to mix the salt uniformly, and get rid of all the water, but do not overwork it. Place the butter in a cool place for six hours to harden before being made up. The hands should never touch the milk, cream, or butter at any stage; a thermometer should be used to measure the various temperatures of which knowledge is required; and the churn, worker, wooden hands, and other appliances should be prepared for use by first rinsing them with cold water, then scalding them with boiling water, rubbing them thoroughly with salt, and lastly rinsing them again with cold water.—_H. R._

_To pot Butter._—The great secret in potting butter so that it will keep is to extract from it every drop of superfluous milk. This should be done either by working the butter thoroughly with a pair of the wooden “hands,” or spatulas, used in all good dairies instead of the human hand, or by immersing the butter in hot water. In the latter case the milk will fall to the bottom, leaving the butter floating on the surface of the water. The butter should be packed in layers in an earthenware jar or crock, a little salt being sprinkled upon each layer. If this process is carefully carried out the butter will keep well. Another method is to make a pickle by pouring a quart of boiling water upon two pounds of salt, two ounces of loaf sugar, and one ounce of saltpetre. Let this stand till perfectly cold. Then put the butter into a jar, and keep it well covered with the pickle. Butter thus treated will keep sweet and firm throughout the hottest summer.

_Cream Curds._—To one quart of new milk add four eggs, beaten together, and a little salt. Put it in a covered earthenware jar, and set it in a pan of water over the fire. Do not stir it, but as soon as the milk cracks, lay it upon a sieve to drain. Put it upon a china dish in large spoonfuls.—_J. R._

CHEESE

IT is quite impossible here to give more than the merest outline of the steps taken in preparing the various sorts of cheese manufactured in this country. The processes will, moreover, be more fully described in a future volume of this series. Meanwhile, the reader may be advised to study the three pamphlets issued by the Royal Agricultural Society dealing with the practices of making Cheddar, Cheshire, and Stilton cheeses respectively. A brief summary may, however, be useful to those who can supplement this by a few actual observations of practical cheese-making by skilful operators.

In some ways, and by many connoisseurs, Stilton is considered the finest of English cheeses. The first step in its manufacture is the addition of Hansen’s (or other) rennet, at the rate of one drachm to four gallons, to the fresh-strained milk when the milk has a temperature of from 80° to 85° F., the making-room being kept at a temperature of about 60° F. The whole is well stirred in a vat for eight minutes. When, in an hour so, the milk has completely turned, and the curd is ready for cutting and ladling, straining cloths, from thirty-six to forty-five inches square, are placed in earthenware curd-sinks, rods being used to support the sides. The curd is then ladled out of the vat by means of a half-gallon ladle, and about three gallons of curd are placed in each straining cloth, the plugs of the curd-sinks being in position. When the curd has stood for an hour and a half, open the plugs, drain off the whey, replace the plugs, tie the straining cloths, and tighten them every two hours until night, drawing off the whey each time. Then empty the curd on to the curd-tray, and leave it all night. On the next morning draw off the whey, cut the curd into three-inch cubes, and leave it to drain for a couple of hours. The milk from the next milking is treated in like manner. On the afternoon of the second day the two curds are thoroughly mixed together, broken up to the size of large filberts, salted at the rate of an ounce to three and a half pounds of curd, and placed into cheese hoops placed on round pieces of wood covered with “cheese greys.” The hoops are put on the drainer, and turned every two hours during the first day by means of loose calico-covered discs over their top surfaces, similar to those which served as their basis. The temperature of the room whilst draining is going on must be about five decrees higher than that of the making-room. After the first day the cheeses are turned three times daily. In about a week the cheese can stand alone, and should be removed from the hoops, calico binders taking their place. The cheeses are still to be kept on the draining shelves, fresh binders being applied daily; the outside of the cheese being gently scraped with a table knife at each binding. As soon as a dry crust begins to form, the binders are to be removed. The cheeses are to be kept at a temperature of about 55° F., and given plenty of air. They require turning daily. In about a month the cheeses are to be placed in a dark store-room having a temperature of 60° to 65° F., and are to be turned and brushed daily. In about six months they are fit for the table.

In making Cheddar cheese, the night’s milk is placed in a vat, and left until the following morning, being kept fairly cool. If much cream has risen by the morning, this must be skimmed off, added to the morning’s milk, and well stirred. The morning’s milk must then be heated by the pan being placed in a vessel containing hot water until its temperature is raised to a point not far short of, but never exceeding, 95° F. The evening’s milk is then added to it, and the joint temperature brought to about 80° to 85° F. Rennet is added, as in the case of Stilton cheese. In about an hour, when the curd breaks readily and clearly, as if cut, the curd is to be cut by a long thin knife into two-inch cubes. In about five minutes the curd is to be further broken up for about fifty minutes by the “breaker” until the pieces are of the size of peas, the whey keeping green all the while. Allow the whey to drain and separate for five or ten minutes, when it should be partly baled or syphoned off, heated to 130° F., and returned so as to raise the total temperature to 90° to 95° F., the curd being well stirred during the return of the heated whey, which process should be gradual, extending over ten minutes or more. The whey should now rest above the hard and shotty curd, which sinks to the bottom of the vat. In about a quarter of an hour the whey is drawn off, the curd is cut up, and the pieces are piled in a mound. Keep it warm by covering it with cloths, and in a quarter of an hour again cut it into pieces, turn it, and arrange it afresh in a mound. It is again covered for half an hour, then removed to a cooler, cut into small pieces, and covered for another half an hour. This is often again and again repeated until the curd is ripe for grinding. The curd having been ground, pure salt at the rate of an ounce to three pounds should be carefully dredged over, and mixed into it. The curd should then be placed in the cloth-lined moulds, and subjected to the press for twelve hours. The cloth is then changed, the cheese turned, and again pressed for twenty-four hours. This is repeated for four days, when the cheese is finally removed from the mould, bandaged after the manner of Stilton, and kept in a temperature of 65° to 70° F. for six weeks, being turned daily the while, and then in a temperature of 60° to 65° F., when it is turned on alternate days for another six or eight weeks.

_Cream Cheese._—There are several soft cheeses well worth the attention of the small dairy owner. Simple cream cheese is the easiest of all, for one has only to take a quart of thick cream, put it with two drops of rennet into a napkin which has been freshly rinsed out in cold spring water, and sprinkle a little salt over it. Tie up the cream in the napkin as tightly as possible, and hang it up in the dairy. It may be eaten in twenty-four hours. The napkin must be changed at night, and again in the morning, for a fresh one wrung out in cold water. When the cream cheese comes out of the dining-room, it must be again tied up in a clean damp napkin and taken immediately to the dairy.

_Grewelthorp Cream Cheese_ is equally simple in its manufacture. Take one quart of new milk, and put it with a few drops of rennet in a warm place, where it must remain for twenty-four hours. Then put in a little salt, stir the milk well, tie it up in a cloth, and hang it up in the dairy to drain. If a richer cheese is required, add half a pint of cream to the new milk.

A number of soft cheeses may be made with the help of some tinned iron cylindrical moulds open at both ends. These moulds may be of various diameters and depths. Some loose squares of wood, some entire and others perforated, of various sizes, to serve as bottoms and tops of the moulds, must also be provided; and straw mats of the same size as the boards are also desirable. A good average size for the moulds is five inches in diameter, and four inches in depth. About two quarts of milk are required to make one cheese for this size mould.

_To make Camembert_, the rennet diluted with water is added to milk of a temperature of about 85° F., and the whole is stirred for three minutes. It is then covered for about four hours, until no curd adheres to the finger when placed on its surface. The curd is then ladled in slices into the moulds, each mould being placed on a straw mat, with a board below, resting on a sloping table. The full moulds are allowed to drain for about six hours in a temperature of 60° F. A clean mat and board are then placed at the top of the mould, the latter inverted, and the previous base removed and cleaned. Repeat this changing and inversing twice a day for two days. Then remove the cheeses from the moulds, sprinkle some salt on top and bottom, and stand them on straw or straw-mats in a temperature of about 50° to 55° F., a free current of air being carried through the drying-room. The cheeses require turning each morning and evening for another three days, then every morning for a week, and afterwards on alternate days. In about a fortnight, when the cheeses cease to stick to the hand when touched, they are put in a cool (about 50° F.), dark, slightly damp cellar to ripen for about another fortnight, being turned on alternate days.

_Gervais Cheese._—Messrs. Long and Morton, in their book “The Dairy,” give directions for preparing a Mignon or Gervais. This cheese is made of a mixture of cream and milk set at a temperature of 65° F. Six drops of Hansen’s rennet are sufficient for two and a half quarts of milk and one quart of cream. The curd is fit to cut in from six to eight hours, when it is removed into a cloth, in which it is allowed to drain until it is sufficiently solid and consistent to press.

Removed into a clean cloth, it is laid within a wooden frame with open sides, and pressed with a close-fitting follower of wood, heavy enough to cause the whey to drain away without any loss of cream. This pressure, with one or two manipulations, with the object of maintaining evenness of consistence, continues until the curd is as thick as an ice cream, when it is pressed into specially made paper-lined moulds. It may be eaten about three days later.

_To pot Cheese._—A pleasant form of potted food is made by pounding together in a mortar a pound of cheese, three ounces of quite fresh butter, and half a table-spoonful each of castor sugar and made mustard. This mixture should be packed in jars, covered with clarified butter, and securely covered. It should not be kept longer than a fortnight.

PICKLING MEAT

IN pickling or salting meat, it is better to let the fresh joint first hang for two or three days untouched. This will make the meat more tender. Before salting it, be careful to remove every pipe or kernel in the meat, and fill up all holes with salt. Do not attempt to pickle meat in very cold frosty weather, or in warm damp weather. It is a good plan to sprinkle the meat with water and then to hang it up for a few hours before salting it: this cleanses it from any blood, and makes the flavour more delicate.

A good brine, sufficient for twenty pounds of beef, is made by mixing together three pounds of salt, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, and two ounces of saltpetre. Boil these ingredients together for twenty minutes in two gallons of water, skimming off all scum. Let the liquid get quite cold before you pour it over the meat, and see that the joint is thoroughly covered with the brine. For a smaller piece of meat the quantities given for the brine can be easily reduced, following the same proportions carefully. The meat must be turned over every day, and well basted with the brine; and the salting pan or tub must be covered with a clean piece of tamis-cloth, or other porous woollen material. The meat will be ready for use in a fortnight.

In cooking pickled or salted meat, two things must be recollected. First, that, in order to make salted meat tender, it must be put into cold water when first placed on the fire. Secondly, that it is next to impossible to cook salted meat too slowly.

_Spiced Round of Beef._—Procure a round of beef weighing from thirty-five to forty pounds; remove the bone, and lay the beef in a stone pan. Well rub into the meat all over (not omitting the sides of the round as well as the top and bottom) a mixture made of four pounds of salt, two pounds of coarse brown sugar, a quarter of a pound of saltpetre, and two ounces of _sal prunella_ from the chemist. Turn the beef every day, and well rub into it the brine which it makes. Let it remain in pickle for one month. When ready for cooking, let the beef be closely bound into shape with coarse webbing. Lay it in a large kettle or pot, and cover the beef with broth as cold as it can be to remain liquid. Add plenty of rough vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, onions, and celery, all sliced. Dry in the oven a sufficient quantity of ginger, cloves, mace, and peppercorns to make two ounces of each when dried and pounded fine in a mortar. Add these to the beef. Bring the broth slowly to a very gentle boil, and then keep it simmering very gently for twelve hours, turning the beef over at the end of six hours. It must on no account be allowed to boil, or it will be hard and tasteless. Remove the kettle from the fire, but let the beef remain in it for two days, when it will have become perfectly cold and firm. Take off the webbing, and the beef will be ready for eating.

_Welsh Beef._—Rub two ounces of saltpetre into a round of beef; let it rest an hour, and then rub it with equal parts of pepper, salt, and allspice. Keep the beef in the brine which this will make for fifteen days, turning and rubbing it every day. Then put the beef into a large earthenware round pan, first coating the bottom of the pan with a layer of suet. Put another layer of suet over the top of the beef, and then cover the pan with a coarse paste of flour and water. Bake in a slow oven for eight hours, then pour off any gravy, and let the beef get cold before it is taken out of the pan.

_To make Sausages._—Sausages are generally put into the thoroughly cleaned skins of the intestine of the pig. But they are sometimes preferred without this covering. Take two pounds of fresh pork, using both fat and lean in equal proportions, but avoiding the coarse fat from the inside of the pig. Mince the pork as finely as possible, and then pass it twice through the mincing machine. Blanch and mince two dessert-spoonfuls of sage, add four ounces of freshly made bread-crumbs, and season with pepper and a dust of salt. Mix all thoroughly together, and keep the sausage-meat in a cool place. When wanted do not use skins, but form the sausage-meat into small round cakes three-quarters of an inch thick, flour them, and fry them in butter from ten to fifteen minutes, turning them often.

_To cook Sausages._—This recipe is for sausages which have been put into skins by the sausage machine. Plenty of time must be allowed for cooking the sausages, for if they are done too quickly the skins will burst. About ten minutes is enough over a low fire, the skins having been well pricked over first. The sausages are much better if they are first pricked, then put into hot water and brought slowly to the boil, simmered for five minutes, drained, and finally fried in bacon fat till they are brown. Serve round a pile of mashed potato, or shape the mashed potato into long ovals, fake them on a buttered baking-tin, and when very hot, lay the potato ovals on a hot dish, and put a sausage on each.

_Ham._—Tastes vary much as to the best size of a ham; some people like a York ham weighing thirty or forty pounds, others prefer a foreign ham not exceeding a few pounds in weight. Monsieur de St. Simon, writing in 1721, said he could never forget the delicious flavour of the little Spanish hams he had once tasted near Burgos. The pigs which furnished these hams lived on the flesh of vipers, and in our own day the hams of the little black pigs of North Carolina, which feed on rattlesnakes, are esteemed an especial delicacy. The peculiar flavour of a Westphalian ham is due to the smoke of a fire of juniper branches over which the ham is hung for three weeks.

It was formerly the custom to put a thick coat of mortar over the inside of a cured ham to keep out the air, and to prevent the mildew, or “rust,” which damp is sure to cause. A better way is to cover the underneath portion of the ham (where the knife has been used), and also the knuckle-end of the bone, with a paste made of flour and water. This paste entirely prevents any “rusting,” or, in other words, the minute fungus caused by damp.

_To cure a Ham weighing from fifteen to eighteen pounds. Norfolk Recipe._—One pound of treacle, half a pound of coarse brown sugar, half a pound of bay-salt (_i.e._ sea-salt), one pound of common salt, one ounce of saltpetre, and two ounces of _sal prunella_ (_i.e._ saltpetre which has been fused, and is sold by chemists). Pound all these together as finely as possible, and rub the ham thoroughly with them. Lay the ham in a tub, covered with the pickle, and let it remain there for a month. It must be turned and basted with the pickle every other day. When taken out of the pickle, let the ham dry for a day or two, standing on end. Then brush it over with Crosse and Blackwell’s essence of smoke. This preparation gives to the ham all the flavour of the chimney-smoke in which hams used to be hung. [This recipe was given to me by a friend in whose family it has been used year by year during four generations.]

_Pickle for Bacon._—Weigh each flitch, and allow for every stone (a stone of meat weighs eight pounds) one pound of salt, two ounces of bay-salt, two ounces of saltpetre, and three ounces of coarse brown sugar. Sprinkle the flitches with salt, and drain them for twenty-four hours. Mix the salt, bay-salt, saltpetre, and sugar thoroughly together, and rub all well into the flitches, rubbing the ends as well as the sides. Do this every day for a month. Then hang up the flitches to dry, sewing a bag of coarse muslin over each. [Do not use paper, as it breaks in damp weather. Muslin is a far better protector from the flies, which are always more partial to salt meat than to any other.] The flitch, from the Old English word, is one side of the pig.

_To cure Pig’s Cheeks._—Do not use any saltpetre, but clear the two cheeks well, take out the bones, rub well with common salt, let the cheeks drain, and next day rub them again with salt, using a fresh supply. Then mix four ounces of salt with five ounces of coarse brown sugar, cover the cheeks with this mixture, and turn them every day. They will be sufficiently cured in twelve days. If saltpetre is used the cheeks will be hard.

_To boil a Ham._—The great point in boiling a ham is to boil it as slowly as possible. If a ham is small and rather fresh, it will need soaking in cold water for only eighteen hours before it is boiled; but as a rule a ham should be soaked for forty-eight hours, the water being changed three or even four times during that period. After the ham has been soaked, scrub it well with a dry, stiff brush, so as to remove all smoke and discoloration from the surface. Trim off any ragged or untidy parts, reserving them for the stock-pot. Now put the ham into a ham-kettle or a large pan, and cover it completely with cold water to the depth of one inch. Let the water heat as slowly as possible, so that it may be an hour and a half or two hours before it comes to the boil. It is a good rule to allow twenty-five minutes’ simmering to each pound of ham. Skim off all scum as it rises. When the liquor is perfectly clear put in one shallot, a stick of celery, two turnips, two or three onions, and three carrots, also add (in a muslin bag) a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme and of marjoram, some chopped lemon-peel, and twelve peppercorns. Cover the pan closely, reduce the heat under it, and let the ham simmer very gently for five hours. At the end of that time lift the ham out, peel off the outside skin, and trim it a little if this is needed. Brush the ham over with thin glaze, or cover it with raspings of bread, and set it in a slow oven to brown.

_To steam a Ham._—If the ham is quite small this is an excellent way of cooking it. As soon as the ham has been soaked, scrubbed, and trimmed, put it into the steamer over boiling water. Allow twenty-five minutes to every pound of ham, and keep the water under the steamer boiling hard. Either glaze the ham or cover with raspings.

_To pot Pounded Meat, Chicken, or Fish._—Cook the meat until it is very tender and easily separated from the bones. Mince it, and then pound it with a quarter of its weight of clarified butter, together with pepper and such other spices and herbs as are liked. Then fill the pots with the mixture, press it tightly, and cover with clarified butter.

FISH

_TO smoke Fish._—Having opened and cleaned the fish, place them in salt and saltpetre, eight parts to one, and leave them over the night. Then wipe them, and hang them in a row, by a stout wire passed through their eyes, over a sawdust fire for about twenty-four hours.

_To salt Fish._—Having opened and cleaned the fish, place them in strong brine for twenty hours. Drain them and place them in jars, with layers of salt between the several layers of fish. Securely cover the jars until the fish are wanted. Soak the fish for four hours in lukewarm water and dry before cooking.

_To pickle Fish._—Having opened and cleaned the fish and removed their heads, place them in a jar for twenty-four hours with layers of salt between the several layers of fish. Drain them, and boil them for two minutes with vinegar, onions, cloves, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Place them in jars, pour the liquid over them, and closely fasten down the covers.

_To pot Shrimps._—Boil some shrimps, and as soon as cold remove their shells. Mix with them a little mace, cayenne, salt, and pepper, and pack them tightly in the pots. Bake for about ten minutes in a slow oven, and when cold pour over them a quarter of an inch thickness of melted butter which is just beginning to set.

EGGS

_TO preserve Eggs._—Gather them quite fresh, thoroughly clean them, and place them in a covered vessel containing a 10 per cent. solution of sodium silicate (soluble glass). Eggs thus treated keep perfectly fresh for six months, or even longer.

PICKLING VEGETABLES

FOR pickling, the fruit, or leaves, or bulbs should be in perfect condition and thoroughly cleaned. Strong vinegar of good quality should be used, and the spices should be fresh and good. The mixing and heating of the vinegar is best performed in unglazed stoneware vessels; if these are unavailable, enamelled iron pans should be used. Pickling consists in preserving fruits or other vegetable products in spiced vinegar, the details of the process differing slightly according to the product to be pickled. To make the spiced vinegar, place in a stoneware or enamelled boiling-pan a quart of strong vinegar, from half an ounce to four ounces of black peppercorns, a couple of ounces of crushed ginger, and from two to eight ounces of mustard seed. Boil this mixture for four minutes. If liked, any or all of the following spices may be added to, and boiled with, the vinegar, in addition to those just named: from one to four blades of mace, from two to ten cloves, from four to eight allspice, and from two to eight grains of cayenne pepper.

_Implements._—Unglazed stone jars are of all vessels the most suitable for the containing of pickles, both by virtue of their chemical composition, and on account of their pleasant wholesome look. Glass bottles are next best for the purpose. In any case, the great thing to be remembered is that no metallic substance must be allowed to come into contact with the pickle or with the vinegar which is to be used. Wooden spoons alone should be used for mixing. For closing the mouths of the jars or bottles, corks should be employed, and further security from contact with the air should be ensured by covering the corked mouths with tinfoil, bladder, or parchment-paper. It is desirable that the vessels be furnished with mouths of smaller size than is usually the case, as the larger the mouth the greater the risk of contamination by exposure to the air.

(_From the title page of the first volume of Brunschwig’s “Liber de Arte Distillandi,” 1500._)]

_To pickle Red Cabbage._—Cut the cabbages into shreds, place them in a large jar with plenty of salt well intermingled. Leave them alone for two days, then pour off the liquid, dry the cabbage for a few hours in the air, pack it in the pickling jars to about an inch from the opening, and pour sufficient cold spiced vinegar to fill each jar completely, interspersing some of the spices among the cabbage. Cork and seal at once.

_To pickle Shallots._—Peel the shallots, and place them in a large jar with plenty of salt well intermingled. In two days pour off the liquid, and dry the shallots in the air for a few hours. Then pack them in the pickling jars, and pour boiling spiced vinegar to fill each jar completely, interspersing some of the spices among the shallots. Cork and seal whilst hot. If the vinegar be poured off in a week, reboiled, and returned to the jars, the pickle will keep much longer.

_To pickle Walnuts._—Take walnuts gathered about July, when still young and soft enough to be pierced by a pin, and place them in a large jar, with plenty of salt well interspersed and covering. In eight days pour off the liquid, and wipe and then dry the nuts in the air for a few hours. Pierce each walnut with a stout needle, place them in the pickling jars, and pour boiling spiced vinegar on them so as to fill the jars. Cover with corks, and each week for three weeks pour off the vinegar, reboil it, and fill up the jars with boiling spiced vinegar. Then finally cork and seal.

_To pickle Gherkins._—Place the gherkins in a large jar with plenty of salt over and among them. In six days pour off the liquid and add a little water to it, so that it may be a brine strong enough that an egg will float thereon. Boil this liquid and pour it over the gherkins. In twenty-four hours pour off the liquid, wipe and dry the gherkins in the air, place them in the pickling jars, and fill the latter with boiling spiced vinegar. Cork and seal. If the vinegar be poured off in a week, reboiled, and again placed in the jars, the pickle will keep much longer.

_To make a Green Tomato Pickle._—Take a gallon of green tomatoes and a quart of onions; slice them and cover them with salt. In twenty-four hours pour off the liquid, and slowly boil for about an hour the tomatoes and onions in a quart of spiced vinegar, to which a pound of sugar and a tea-spoonful of celery seed have been added. When tender, take the mixture off the fire, bottle, cork, and seal.

_To make a Ripe Tomato Pickle._—Substitute ripe tomatoes for the tomatoes and onions in the last recipe. Halve the quantity of vinegar, and omit the celery seed.

_To pickle Plums._—Prick four pounds of plums and place them in a fire-proof stoneware pan with two and a half pounds of sugar. Carefully bring to the boil, and add two-thirds of a pint of spiced vinegar. Boil for a few minutes, take out the plums, cool them, and place them in the pickle-jars. Boil up the liquid again, and pour it whilst boiling over the plums so as to fill the jars. Cork and seal at once.

_To pickle Samphire._—Gather samphire whilst it is green, about August, break it into sprigs, place in a jar, and add abundance of salt over and amongst the sprigs. In two days pour off the liquid, and dry the samphire for a few hours in the air. Pack it in jars, pour boiling unspiced vinegar over it so as to fill the jars, and boil in the oven until the samphire is green and crisp, and at once remove. Cork and seal.

_To make Nasturtium Pickle._—Place some green nasturtium seeds in a weak solution of salt for three days. Then soak them in cold water for twelve hours. Strain and place them in small jars, and pour boiling vinegar over them.

_Some other Pickles._—Young pea pods, young French bean pods, cauliflower, unripe gooseberries, and umbels of elderberry flowers gathered before they expand, barberries (Mrs. Glasse recommends that a little sprig of boiled fennel be placed at the top of each jar before sealing), and sliced boiled beetroot, are pickled as directed for red cabbage.

Unripe, but fully grown radish pods, are pickled as directed for gherkins.

Onions and young mushrooms (which should be rubbed with salt but not peeled) are pickled as directed for shallots.

Small apples, pears, peaches, apricots, and damsons may be used to make sweet pickles as directed for plums. But apples, pears, peaches, and apricots require to be peeled before being pickled.

_To make Sauerkraut._—Take a dozen fine, hard-hearted, white cabbages, remove the outer leaves, and shred the hearts into small shreds. Place these shreds into a large tub, and over each layer sprinkle a little salt (about six pounds in all). Press the layers of cabbage firmly down, and, when the tub is full, sprinkle salt over the top of the heap of cabbage. On this place a piece of linen, and a wooden cover on the linen. Weigh down the cover by means of a large stone or other weight. The cover must accurately fit the tub, and slide down within the staves. The tub should then be placed in a warm room till fermentation has begun. Wash and replace the linen cover every fortnight. In three weeks the sauerkraut will be fit for use, though it will keep good for more than a year.

CONDIMENTS AND SAUCES

_MUSTARD._—The simplicity of its manufacture probably accounts for our persistence in serving in our mustard-pots the never-varying paste of mustard and water. Yet the infinite variety of flavours which may be introduced into our table mustards should sufficiently reward us for the little trouble entailed in mixing them. As all these made mustards contain spices or herbs which lose much of their aroma by exposure to the air, they should be put into jars and securely corked directly they are made. Ordinary mustard also soon loses its piquancy if left exposed to the air. It should therefore be kept in a properly closed bottle or jar. It is best to make small quantities of ordinary mustard frequently, almost daily, as required.

_To make Ordinary Mustard._—Take a bare table-spoonful of mustard, white and brown in equal parts, and mix therewith one tea-spoonful of salt, adding to the mixture, little by little, two table-spoonfuls of cold water, stirring the while. Continue stirring for a few minutes.

_Mustard with Horseradish._—Boil a table-spoonful of grated horseradish in half a tea-cupful of water for ten minutes, and allow to get cold. Then mix the mustard as in the last recipe, adding the horseradish and two table-spoonfuls of the water in which it has been boiled instead of the plain water.

_To make a simple French Mustard._—Proceed as in the last recipe, except that a minced shallot should be substituted for the horseradish, and that only the water, having been cleared by straining, is added to the mustard-flour. A tea-spoonful of good vinegar is to be added to the mixture and thoroughly incorporated.

_To make a Spiced Mustard (Recipe 1)._—Take a quarter of a pound of mustard-flour, pour over it three small tea-cupfuls of boiling vinegar, keep the mixture just below boiling-heat for about forty-five minutes, add a salt-spoonful of ground ginger, half a salt-spoonful of powdered cloves, and a salt-spoonful of grated nutmeg, and heat for five minutes longer.

_To make a Spiced Mustard (Recipe 2)._—Take a tumblerful of vinegar, and place therein two salt-spoonfuls of salt, a salt-spoonful of scraped horseradish, and half a salt-spoonful of powdered cloves. At the end of three days strain off the liquid and add a sufficiency of mustard-flour—about three ounces—to make a thick paste.

_To make a Spiced Mustard (Recipe 3)._—Mix together a tea-spoonful each of powdered mace, ground black pepper, powdered dill seeds, and powdered cinnamon, a slightly smaller quantity of powdered cloves, a table-spoonful of powdered tarragon leaves, and three pints of vinegar. Heat for an hour, strain, and then mix with about a pound of mustard-flour and a quarter of a pound of castor sugar to make a thick paste.

(_From Baker’s “Jewel of Health,” 1576._)]

_To make Frankfort Mustard._—Mix together a quarter of a pound of castor sugar, an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of powdered-cloves, and a pound of ground mustard—white and brown, in equal parts. Mix into a thick paste with wine vinegar.

_To make Jesuits’ Mustard._—Thoroughly mix ten sardines, a quarter of a pound of ground brown mustard, three-quarters of a pound of ground white mustard, and two hundred capers. Make into a paste with about a quart of boiling vinegar.

_To make Mustard as at Düsseldorf._—Take two earthenware pans, and place in each a quart of vinegar. In one place a quarter of an ounce of thyme leaves, and in the other place three minced onions. Let them stand for forty-eight hours. Bruise half a pound of white mustard seed and half a pound of black mustard seed, and put them in a pan with a tea-spoonful of powdered cloves, a tea-spoonful of powdered coriander, half a pound of salt, and the strained vinegar. Thoroughly mix. Add a little more vinegar if the mixture is too thick, or a little more mustard if it is too thin. Parsley, celery, or other herbs may be used instead of onions to flavour the vinegar.

_To make an Aromatic Mustard Powder._—In making a mixed powder of this kind, it is absolutely essential to success that each of the articles be thoroughly dry previous to being mixed. A good result is obtained by mixing a quarter of a pound of salt, a pound of mustard, half an ounce each of dried garlic, dried thyme, dried tarragon, and mixed spices—all finely powdered. The mixture should be stored in air-tight boxes or bottles.

_To make a Spiced Table Vinegar._—Mix in an earthenware pan two ounces of cloves, a quarter of an ounce of mace, and the same quantity each of orange blossoms and cassia bark. Pour a quart of heated strong vinegar over the spices, and let the mixture digest in a warm place for a week. Strain, filter through filter-paper, and bottle.