Chapter 6

Take a pennyworth of curds, mix them with a little cream, beat four eggs, put to them six ounces of clarified butter, a quarter of a pound of sugar, half a pound of currans well wash'd, and a little lemon-peel shred, a little nutmeg, a spoonful of rose-water or brandy, whether you please, and a little salt, mix altogether, and bake them in small petty pans.

192. CHEESE CAKES _without_ CURRANS.

Take five quarts of new milk, run it to a tender curd, then hang it in a cloth to drain, rub into them a pound of butter that is well washed in rose-water, put to it the yolks of seven or eight eggs, and two of the whites; season it with cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar.

193. _To make a_ CURD PUDDING.

Take three quarts of new milk, put to it a little erning, as much as will break it when it is scumm'd break it down with your hand, and when it is drained grind it with a mustard ball in a bowl, or beat it in a marble-mortar; then take half a pound of butter and six eggs, leaving out three of the whites; beat the eggs well, and put them into the curds and butter, grate in half a nutmeg, a little lemon-peel shred fine, and salt, sweeten it to your taste, beat them all together, and bake them in little petty-pans with fast bottoms; a quarter of an hour will bake them; you must butter the tins very well before you put them in; when you dish them up you must lay them the wrong side upwards on the dish, and stick them with either blanch'd almonds, candid orange, or citron cut in long bits, and grate a little loaf sugar over them.

194. _To make a_ SLIPCOAT CHEESE.

Take five quarts of new-milk, a quart of cream, and a quart of water, boil your water, then put your cream to it; when your milk is new-milk warm put in your erning, take your curd into the strainer, break it as little as you can, and let it drain, then put it into your vat, press it by degrees, and lay it in grass.

195. _To make_ CREAM CHEESE.

Take three quarts of new-milk, one quart of cream, and a spoonful of erning, put them together, let it stand till it come to the hardness of a strong jelly, then put it into the mould, shifting it often into dry cloths, lay the weight of three pounds upon it, and about two hours after you may lay six or seven pounds upon it; turn it often into dry cloths till night, then take the weight off, and let it lie in the mould without weight and cloth till morning, and when it is so dry that it doth not wet a cloth, keep it in greens till fit for use; if you please you may put a little salt into it.

196. _To make_ PIKE _eat like_ STURGEON.

Take the thick part of a large pike and scale it, set on two quarts of water to boil it in, put in a jill of vinegar, a large handful of salt, and when it boils put in your pike, but first bind it about with coarse inkle; when it is boiled you must not take off the inkle or baising, but let it be on all the time it is in eating; it must be kept in the same pickle it was boiled in, and if you think it be not strong enough you must add a little more salt and vinegar, so when it is cold put it upon your pike, and keep it for use; before you boil the pike take out the bone.

You may do scate the same way, and in my opinion it eats more like sturgeon.

197. _To Collar_ EELS.

Take the largest eels you can get, skin and split them down the belly, take out the bones, season them with a little mace, nutmeg and salt; begin at the tail and roll them up very tight, so bind them up in a little coarse inkle, boil it in salt and water, a few bay leaves, a little whole pepper, and a little alegar or vinegar; it will take an hour boiling, according as your roll is in bigness; when it is boiled you must tie it and hang it up whilst it be cold, then put it into the liquor that it was boiled in, and keep it for use.

If your eels be small you may robe two or three of them together.

198. _To Pot_ SMELTS.

Take the freshest and largest smelts you can get, wipe them very well with a clean cloth, take out the guts with a skewer, (but you must not take out the milt and roan) season them with a little mace, nutmeg and salt, so lie them in a flat pot; if you have two score you must lay over them five ounces of butter; lie over them a paper, and set them in a slow oven; if it be over hot it will burn them, and make them look black; an hour will bake them; when they are baked you must take them out and lay them on a dish to drain, and when they are drained you must put them in long pots about the length of your smelts; when you lay them in you must put betwixt every layer the same seasoning as you did before, to make them keep; when they are cold cover them over with clarified butter, so keep them for use.

199. _To Pickle_ SMELTS.

Take the best and largest smelts you can get; gut, wash and wipe them, lie them in a flat pot, cover them with a little white wine vinegar, two or three blades of mace and a little pepper and salt; bake them in a slow oven, and keep them for use.

200. _To stew a_ PIKE.

Take a large pike, scale and clean it, season it in the belly with a little mace and salt; skewer it round, put it into a deep stew-pan, with a pint of small gravy and a pint of claret, two or thee blades of mace, set it over a stove with a slow fire, and cover it up close; when it is enough take part of the liquor, put to it two anchovies, a little lemon-peel shred fine, and thicken the sauce with flour and butter; before you lie the pike on the dish turn it with the back upwards, take off the skin, and serve it up. Garnish your dish with lemon and pickle.

201. SAUCE _for a_ PIKE.

Take a little of the liquor that comes from the pike when you take it out of the oven, put to it two or three anchovies, a little lemon-peel shred, a spoonful or two of white wine, or a little juice of lemon, which you please, put to it some butter and flour, make your sauce about the thickness of cream, put it into a bason or silver-boat, and set in your dish with your pike, you may lay round your pike any sort of fried fish, or broiled, if you have it; you may have the same sauce for a broiled pike, only add a little good gravy, a few shred capers, a little parsley, and a spoonful or two of oyster and cockle pickle if you have it.

202. _How to roast a_ PIKE _with a Pudding in the Belly_.

Take a large pike, scale and clean it, draw it at the gills.--_To make a pudding for the Pike_. Take a large handful of bread-crumbs, as much beef-suet shred fine, two eggs, a little pepper and salt, a little grated nutmeg, a little parsley, sweet-marjoram and lemon-peel shred fine; so mix altogether, put it into the belly of your pike, skewer it round and lie it in an earthen dish with a lump of butter over it, a little salt and flour, so set it in the oven; an hour will roast it.

203. _To dress a_ COD'S HEAD.

Take a cod's head, wash and clean it, take out the gills, cut it open, and make it to lie flat; (if you have no conveniency of boiling it you may do it in an oven, and it will be as well or better) put it into a copper-dish or earthen one, lie upon it a littler butter, salt, and flour, and when it is enough take off the skin.

SAUCE _for the_ COD'S HEAD.

Take a little white gravy, about a pint of oysters or cockles, a little shred lemon-peel, two or three spoonfuls of white wine, and about half a pound of butter thicken'd with flour, and put it into your boat or bason.

_Another_ SAUCE _for a_ COD'S HEAD.

Take a pint of good gravy, a lobster or crab, which you can get, dress and put it into your gravy with a little butter, juice of lemon, shred lemon-peel, and a few shrimps if you have them; thicken it with a little flour, and put it into your bason, set the oysters on one side of the dish and this on the other; lay round the head boiled whitings, or any fried fish; pour over the head a little melted butter. Garnish your dish with horse-radish, slices of lemon and pickles.

204. _To stew_ CARP _or_ TENCH.

Take your carp or tench and wash them, scale the carp but not the tench, when you have cleaned them wipe them with a cloth, and fry them in a frying pan with a little butter to harden the skin; before you put them into the stew-pan, put to them a little good gravy, the quantity will be according to the largeness of your fish, with a jill of claret, three or four anchovies at least, a little shred lemon-peel, a blade or two of mace, let all stew together, till your carp be enough, over a slow fire; when it is enough take part of the liquor, put to it half a pound of butter, and thicken it with a little flour; so serve them up. Garnish your dish with crisp parsley, slices of lemon and pickles.

If you have not the convenience of stewing them, you may broil them before a fire, only adding the same sauce.

205. _How to make_ SAUCE _for a boiled_ SALMON _or_ TURBOT.

Take a little mild white gravy, two or three anchovies, a spoonful of oyster or cockle pickle, a little shred lemon-peel, half a pound of butter, a little parsley and fennel shred small, and a little juice of lemon, but not too much, for fear it should take off the sweetness.

206. _To make_ SAUCE _for_ HADDOCK _or_ COD, _either broiled or boiled_.

Take a little gravy, a few cockles, oysters or mushrooms, put to them a little of the gravy that comes from the fish, either broiled or boiled, it will do very well if you have no other gravy, a little catchup and a lump of butter; if you have neither oysters nor cockles you may put in an anchovy or two, and thicken with flour; you may put in a few shred capers, or a little mango, if you have it.

207. _To stew_ EELS.

Take your eels, case, clean and skewer them round, put them into a stew-pan with a little good gravy, a little claret to redden the gravy, a blade or two of mace, an anchovy, and a little lemon-peel; when they are enough thicken them with a little flour and butter. Garnish your dish with parsley.

208. _To pitch-cock_ EELS.

Take your eels, case and clean them, season them with nutmeg, pepper and salt, skewer them round, broil them before the fire, and baste them with a little butter; when they are almost enough strinkle them over with a little shred parsley, and make your sauce of a little gravy, butter, anchovy, and a little oyster pickle if you have it; don't pour the sauce over your eels, put it into a china bason, and set it in the middle of your dish.

Garnish with crisp parsley, and serve them up.

209. _To boil_ HERRINGS.

Take your herring, scale and wash them, take out the milt and roan, skewer them round, and tie them with a string or else they will come loose in the boiling and be spoil'd; set on a pretty broad stew-pan, with as much water as will cover them, put to it a little salt, lie in you herrings with the backs downwards boil with them the milt and roans to lie round them; they will boil in half a quarter of an hour over a slow fire; when they are boiled take them up with an egg slice, so turn them over and set them to drain. Make your sauce of a little gravy and butter, an anchovy and a little boiled parsley shred; put it into the bason, set it in the middle of the dish, lie the herrings round with their tails towards the bason, and lie the milts and roans between every herring. Garnish with crisp parsley and lemon; so serve them up.

210. _To fry_ HERRINGS.

Scale and wash your herrings clean, strew over them a little flour and salt; let your butter be very hot before you put your herrings into the pan, then shake them to keep them stirring, and fry them over a brisk fire; when they are fried cut off the heads and bruise them, put to them a jill of ale, (but the ale must not be bitter) add a little pepper and salt, a small onion or shalot, if you have them, and boil them altogether; when they are boiled, strain them, and put them into your sauce-pan again, thicken them with a little flour and butter, put it into a bason, and set it in the middle of your dish; fry the milts and roans together, and lay round your herrings. Garnish your dish with crisp parsley, and serve it up.

211. _To pickle_ HERRINGS.

Scale and clean your herrings, take out the milts and roans, and skewer them round, season them with a little pepper and salt, put them in a deep pot, cover them with alegar, put to them a little whole Jamaica pepper, and two or three bay leaves; bake them and keep them for use.

212. _To stew_ OYSTERS.

Take a score or two of oysters, according as you have occasion, put them into a small stew-pan, with a few bread-crumbs, a little water, shred mace and pepper, a lump of butter, and a spoonful of vinegar, (not to make it four) boil them altogether but not over much, if you do it makes them hard. Garnish with bread fippets, and serve them up.

213. _To fry_ OYSTERS.

Take a score or two of the largest oysters you can get, and the yolks of four or five eggs, beat them very well, put to them a little nutmeg, pepper and salt, a spoonful of fine flour, and a little raw parsley shred, so dip in your oysters, and fry them in butter a light brown.

They are very proper to lie about either stew'd oysters, or any other fish, or made dishes.

214. OYSTERS _in_ SCALLOP SHELLS.

Take half a dozen small scallop shells, lay in the bottom of every shell a lump of butter, a few bread crumbs, and then your oysters; laying over them again a few more bread crumbs, a little butter, and a little beat pepper, so set them to crisp, either in the oven or before the fire, and serve them up.

They are proper for either a side-dish or middle-dish.

215 _To keep_ HERRINGS _all the Year_.

Take fresh herrings, cut off their heads, open and wash them very clean, season them with salt, black pepper, and Jamaica pepper, put them into a pot, cover them with white wine vinegar and water, of each an equal quantity, and set them in a slow oven to bake; tie the pot up close and they will keep a year in the pickle.

216. _To make artificial_ Sturgeon _another Way_.

Take out the bones of a turbot or britt, lay it in salt twenty four hours, boil it with good store of salt; make your pickle of white wine vinegar and three quarts of water, boil them, and put in a little vinegar in the boiling; don't boil it over much, if you do it will make it soft; when 'tis enough take it out till it be cold, put the same pickle to it, and keep it for use.

217. _To stew_ MUSHROOMS.

Take mushrooms, and clean them, the buttons you may wash, but the flaps you must pill both inside and out; when you have cleaned them, pick out the little ones for pickling, and cut the rest in pieces for stewing; wash them and put them into a little water, give them a boil and it will take off the faintness, so drain from them all the water, then put them into a pan with a lump of butter, a little shred mace, pepper and salt to your taste (putting them to a little water) hang them over a slow fire for half an hour, when they are enough thicken them with a little flour; serve them up with sippets.

218. _To make_ ALMOND PUFFS.

Take a pound of almonds blanch'd, and beat them with orange-flower water, then take a pound of sugar, and boil them almost to a candy height, put in your almonds and stir them on the fire, keep them stirring till they be stiff, then take them off the fire and stir them till they be cold; beat them a quarter of an hour in a mortar, putting to them a pound of sugar sifted, and a little lemon-peel grated, make it into a paste with the whites of three eggs, and beat it into a froth more or less as you think proper; bake them in an oven almost cold, and keep them for use.

219. _To pot_ MUSHROOMS.

Take the largest mushrooms, scrape and clean them, put them into your pan with a lump of butter, and a little salt, let then stew over a slow fire whilst they are enough, put to them a little mace and whole pepper, then dry them with a cloth, and put them down into a pot as close as you can, and as you lie them down strinkle in a little salt and mace, when they are cold cover them over with butter; when you use them toss them up with gravy, a few bread-crumbs and butter; do not make your pot over large, but rather put them into two pots; they will keep the better if you take the gravy from them when they are stewed.

They are good for fish-sauce, or any other whilst they are fresh.

220. _To fry_ TROUT, _or any other Sort of Fish_.

Take two or three eggs, more or less according as you have fish to fry, take the fish and cut it in thin slices, lie it upon a board, rub the eggs over it with a feather, and strow on a little flour and salt, fry it in fine drippings or butter, let the drippings be very hot before you put in the fish, but do not let it burn, if you do it will make the fish black; when the fish is in the pan, you may do the other side with the egg, and as you fry it lay it to drain before the fire till all be fried, then it is ready for use.

221. _To make_ SAUCE _for_ SALMON _or_ TURBOT.

Boil your turbot or salmon, and set it to drain; take the gravy that drains from the salmon or turbot, an anchovy or two, a little lemon-peel shred, a spoonful of catchup, and a little butter, thicken it with flour the thickness of cream, put to it a little shred parsley and fennel; but do not put in your parsley and fennel till you be just going to send it up, for it will take off the green.

The gravy of all sorts of fish is a great addition to your sauce, if the fish be sweet.

222. _To dress_ COD'S ZOONS.

Lie them in water all night, and then boil them, if they be salt shift them once in the boiling, when they are tender cut them in long pieces, dress them up with eggs as you do salt fish, take one or two of them and cut into square pieces, dip them in egg and fry them to lay round your dish.

It is proper to lie about any other dish.

223. _To make_ SOLOMON GUNDY _to eat in Lent_

Take five or six white herrings, lay them in water all night, boil them as soft as you would do for eating, and shift them in the boiling to take out the saltness; when they are boiled take the fish from the bone, and mind you don't break the bone in pieces, leaving on the head and tail; take the white part of the herrings, a quarter of a pound of anchovies, a large apple, a little onion shred fine, or shalot, and a little lemon-peel, shred them all together, and lie them over the bones on both sides, in the shape of a herring; then take off the peel of a lemon very very thin, and cut it in long bits, just as it will reach over the herrings; you must lie this peel over every herring pretty thick. Garnish your dish with a few pickled oysters, capers, and mushrooms, if you have any; so serve them up.

224. SOLOMAN GUNDY _another Way_.

Take the white part of a turkey, or other fowl, if you have neither, take a little white veal and mince it pretty small; take a little hang beef or tongues, scrape them very fine, a few shred capers, and the yolks of four or five eggs shred small; take a delf dish and lie a delf plate in the dish with the wrong side up, so lie on your meat and other ingredients, all single in quarters, one to answer another; set in the middle a large lemon or mango, so lie round your dish anchovies in lumps, picked oysters or cockles, and a few pickled mushrooms, slices of lemon and capers; so serve it up.

This is proper for a side-dish either at noon or night.

225. _To make_ LEMON CHEESE CAKES.

Blanch half a pound of almonds, and beat them in a stone mortar very fine, with a little rose-water; put in eight eggs, leaving out five of the whites; take three quarters of a pound of sugar, and three quarters of a pound of melted butter, beat all together, then take three lemon-skins, boiled tender, the rind and all, beat them very well, and mix them with the rest, then put them into your paste.

You may make a lemon-pudding the same way, only add the juice of half a lemon: Before you set them in the oven, grate over them a little fine loaf sugar.

226. _To make white_ GINGER BREAD.

Take a little gum-dragon, lay it in rose-water all night, then take a pound of jordan almonds blanch'd with a little of the gum-water, a pound of double-refined sugar beat and sifted, an ounce of cinnamon beat with a little rose-water, work it into a paste and print it, then set it in a stove to dry.

227. _To make red_ GINGER BREAD.

Take a quart and a jill of red wine, a jill and a half of brandy, seven or eight manshets, according to the size the bread is, grate them, (the crust must be dried, beat and sifted) three pounds and a half of sugar beat and sifted, two ounces of cinnamon, and two ounces of ginger beat and sifted, a pound of almonds blanched and beat with rose-water, put the bread into the liquor by degrees, stirring it all the time, when the bread is all well mix'd take it off the fire; you must put the sugar, spices, and almonds into it, when it is cold print it; keep some of the spice to dust the prints with.

228. _To make a_ GREAT CAKE.

Take five pounds of fine flour, (let it be dried very well before the fire) and six pounds of currans well dress'd and rub'd in cloths after they are wash'd, set them in a sieve before the fire; you must weigh your currans after they are cleaned, then take three quarters of an ounce of mace, two large nutmegs beaten and mix'd amongst the flour, and pound of powder sugar, and pound of citron, and a pound of candid orange, (cut your citron and orange in pretty large pieces) and a pound of almonds cut in three or four pieces long way; then take sixteen eggs, leaving out half of the whites, beat your sugar and eggs for half an hour with a little salt; take three jills of cream, and three pounds and a half of butter, melt your butter with part of the cream for fear it should be too hot, put in between a jack and a jill of good brandy, a quart of light yeast, and the rest of the cream, mix all your liquors together about blood-warm, make a hole in the middle of your flour, and put in the liquids, cover it half an hour and let it stand to rise, then put in your currans and mix all together; butter your hoop, tie a paper three fold, and put it at the bottom in your hoop; just when they are ready to set in the oven, put the cake into your hoop at three times; when you have laid a little paste at the bottom, lay in part of your sweet-meats and almonds, then put in a little paste over them again, and the rest of your sweet-meats and almonds, and set it in a quick oven; two hours will bake it.

229. _To make_ ICEING _for this_ CAKE.

Take two pounds of double-refined sugar, beat it, and sift it through a fine sieve; put to it a spoonful of fine starch, a pennyworth of gum-arabic, beat them all well together; take the whites of four or five eggs, beat them well, and put to them a spoonful of rose-water, or orange-flower water, a spoonful of the juice of lemon, beat them with the whites of your eggs, and put in a little to your sugar till you wet it, then beat them for two hours whilst your cake is baking; if you make it over thin it will run; when you lie it on your cake you must lie it on with a knife; if you would have the iceing very thick, you must add a little more sugar; wipe off the loose currans before you put on the iceing, and put it into the oven to harden the iceing.

230. _To make a_ PLUMB CAKE.