Chapter 28

Take a quarter of a pound of pistachio-nuts and blanch them; then beat them fine with rose-water; put them into a pint of cream; sweeten it, let it just boil, and put it into glasses.

_Raspberry Cream._

To one pint of cream put six ounces of jam, and pulp it through a sieve, adding the juice of a lemon; whisk it fast at the edge of your dish; lay the froth on the sieve, and add a little more of the juice. When no more froth will rise, put your cream into a dish or cups; heap the froth well on.

_Ratafia Cream._

Boil three or four laurel-leaves in one pint of cream, and strain it; when cold, add the yolks of three eggs beaten and strained; then sweeten it; put in it a very little brandy; scald it till thick, and keep stirring it all the time.

_Rice Cream._

Boil a quart of milk with a laurel-leaf; pour it on five dessert spoonfuls of ground rice; let it stand two hours; then put it into a saucepan, and boil it till it is tender, with rather less than a quarter of a pound of sugar. Beat the yolks of two eggs, and put them into it when it is almost cold; and then boil till it is as thick as a cream. When it is sent to table, put in a few ratafia biscuits.

_Runnet Whey Cream._

Turn new milk from the cow with runnet; press the whey from it; beat the curd in a mortar till it is quite smooth; then mix it with thick cream, and froth it with a froth-stick; add a little powdered sugar.

_Snow Cream._

Sweeten the whites of four eggs, add a pint of thick sweet cream and a good spoonful of brandy. Whisk this well together; take off the froth, and lay it upon a sieve; when all the froth that will rise is taken off, pour what has run through to the rest. Stir it over a slow fire, and let it just boil; fill your glasses about three parts full, and lay on the froth.

_Strawberry Cream._

Exactly the same as raspberry.

_Sweetmeat Cream._

Slice preserved peaches, apricots, or plums, into good cream, sweetening it with fine sugar, or the syrup in which they were preserved. Mix these well together, and put it into glasses.

_Whipt Cream, to put upon Cake._

Sweeten a pint of cream to your taste; grate in the peel of a lemon, and steep it some hours before you make use of your cream. Add the juice of two lemons; whip it together; and take off the top into a large piece of fine muslin, or gauze, laid within a sieve. Let this be done the night before it is to be used. In summer it may be done in the morning of the same day; but the whipt cream must be drained from the curd before it is put upon the cake.

_Cucumbers, to preserve green._

Take fine large green cucumbers; put them in salt and water till they are yellow; then green them over fresh salt and water in a little roch alum. Cover them close with abundance of vine leaves, changing the leaves as they become yellow. Put in some lemon-juice; and, when the cucumbers are of a fine green, take them off and scald them several times with hot water, or make a very thin syrup, changing it till the raw taste of the cucumbers is taken away. Then make a syrup thus: to a pound of cucumbers take one pound and a half of double-refined sugar; leave out the half pound to add to them when boiled up again; put lemon-peel, ginger cut in slices, white orris root, and any thing else you like to flavour with; boil it well; when cool, put it to the cucumbers, and let them remain a few days. Boil up the syrup with the remainder of the sugar; continue to heat the syrup till they look clear. Just before you take the syrup off, add lemon-juice to your taste.

_Cream Curd._

Boil a pint of cream, with a little mace, cinnamon, and rose-water, and, when as cool as new milk, put in half a spoonful of good runnet. When it turns, serve it up in the cream dish.

_Lemon Curd._

To a pint of cream, when it boils, put in the whites of six eggs, and one lemon and a half; stir it until it comes to a tender curd. Then put it into a holland bag, and let it drain till all the whey is out of it; beat the curd in a mortar with a little sugar; put it in a basin to form; about two or three hours before you use it, turn it out, and pour thick cream and sugar over it.

_Paris Curd._

Put a pint of cream on the fire, with the juice of one lemon, and the whites of six eggs; stir it till it becomes a curd. Hang it all night in a cloth to drain; then add to it two ounces of sweet almonds, with brandy and sugar to your taste. Mix it well in a mortar, and put it into shapes.

_Currants, to bottle._

Gather your fruit perfectly dry, and not too ripe; cut each currant from the stalk separately, taking care not to bruise them; fill your bottles quite full, cork them lightly, set them in a boiler with cold water, and let them simmer a quarter of an hour, or according to the nature and ripeness of the fruit. By this process the fruit will sink; pour on as much boiling water as will cover the surface and exclude air. Should they mould, move it off when you use the fruit, and you will not find the fruit injured by it. Cork your bottles quickly, after you take them out of the water; tie a bladder over, and put them in a dry place. This method answers equally well for gooseberries, cherries, greengages, and damsons.

_Another way._

Gather the currants quite dry; clip them off the stalks; if they burst in pulling off they will not do. Fill some dry common quart bottles with them, rosin the corks well over, and then tie a bladder well soaked over the cork, and upon the leather; all this is absolutely necessary to keep the air out, and corks in; place the bottles, with the corks downwards, in a boiler of cold water, and stuff hay between them to keep them steady. Make a fire under them, and keep it up till the water boils; then rake it out immediately, and leave the bottles in the boiler till the water is quite cold. Put them into the cellar in any vessel that will keep them steadily packed, the necks always downward. When a bottle is opened, the currants must be used at once. The bottles will not be above half full when taken out of the boiler, and they must not be shaken more than can be avoided.

This process answers equally well for apricots, plums, and cherries.

_Currants or Barberries, to dry in bunches._

When the currants, or barberries, (which should be maiden barberries) are stoned and tied up in bunches, take to one pound of them a pound and a half of sugar. To each pound of sugar put half a pint of water; boil the syrup well, and put the fruit into it. Set it on the fire; let it just boil, and then take it off. Cover it close with white paper; let it stand till next day; then make it scalding hot, and let it stand two or three days, covered close with paper. Lay it in earthen plates; sprinkle over it fine sugar, put it on a stove to dry; lay it on sieves till one side is dry; then turn and sift sugar on it. When dry enough lay it between papers.

_Currants, to ice._

Take the largest and finest bunches of currants you can get; beat the white of an egg to a froth; dip them into it; lay them, so as not to touch, upon a sieve: sift double-refined sugar over them very thick, and let them dry in a stove or oven.

_White Currants, to preserve._

Take the largest white currants, but not the amber colour; strip them, and to two quarts of currants put a pint of water; boil them very fast, and run them through a jelly-bag to a pint of juice. Put a pound and half of sugar, and half a pound of stoned currants; set them on a brisk fire, and let them boil very fast till the currants are clear and jelly very well; then put them into glasses or pots, stirring them as they cool, to make them mix well. Paper them down when just cold.

_Red Currants, to preserve._

Mash the currants and strain them through a thin strainer; to a pint of juice take a pound and a half of sugar and six spoonfuls of water. Boil it up and skim it well. Put in half a pound of stoned currants; boil them as fast as you can, till the currants are clear and jelly well; then put them into pots or glasses, and, when cold, paper them as other sweetmeats. Stir all small fruits as they cool, to mix them with the jelly.

_Another way._

Take red and white currants; squeeze and drain them. Boil two pints of juice with three pounds of fine sugar: skim it; then put in a pound of stoned currants; let them boil fast till they jelly, and put them into bottles.

_Currant Jam._

To a pound of currants put three quarters of a pound of lump sugar. Put the fruit first into the preserving-pan, and place the sugar carefully in the middle, so as not to touch the pan. Let it boil gently on a clear fire for about half an hour. It must not be stirred. Skim the jelly carefully from the top, and add a quarter of a pound of fruit to what remains from the jelly; stir it well, and boil it thoroughly. The proportion of fruit added for the jam must always be one quarter. In making jelly or jam, it is an improvement to add to every five pounds of currants one pound of raisins.

_Currant Jam or Jelly._

Take two pounds of currants and half a pound of raspberries: to every pound of fruit add three quarters of a pound of good moist sugar. Simmer them slowly; skim the jam very nicely; when boiled to a sufficient consistency, put it into jars, and, when cold, cover with brandy paper.

_Black or red Currant Jelly._

Strip the fruit when full ripe; put it into a stone jar; put the jar, tied over with white paper, into a saucepan of cold water, and stew it to boiling on the stove. Strain off the liquor, and to every pint of red currants weigh out a pound of loaf-sugar, if black, three quarters of a pound; mix the fruit and the sugar in lumps, and let it rest till the sugar is nearly dissolved. Then put it in a preserving-pan, and simmer and skim it till it is quite clear. When it will jelly on a plate, it is done, and may be put in pots.

_Currant Juice._

Take currants, and squeeze the juice out of them; have some very dry quart bottles, and hold in each a couple of burning matches. Cork them up, to keep the smoke confined in them for a few hours, till the juice is put in them. Fill them to the neck with the currant juice; then scald them in a copper or pot with hay between. The water must be cold when the bottles are put in: let them have one boil.

_Another way._

Boil a pint of currant juice with half a pint of clarified sugar; skim it; add a little lemon to taste, and mix with a quart of seed.

_Currant Paste._

Mash red and white currants; strain them through a linen bag; break in as much of the strained currants as will make the juice thick enough of seeds; add some gooseberries boiled in water. Boil the whole till it jellies; let it stand to cool; then put a pound of sugar to every pint, and scald it.

_Custard._ No. 1.

One quart of cream, twelve eggs, the whites of four, the rind of one lemon, boiled in the cream, with a small quantity of nutmeg, and a bay-leaf, bitter and sweet almonds one ounce each, a little ratafia and orange-flower water; sweeten to your taste. The cream must be quite cold before the eggs are added. When mixed, it must just be made to boil, and then fill your cups.

_Custard._ No. 2.

Take one pint of cream, boil in it a few laurel-leaves, a stick of cinnamon, and the rind of a lemon; when nearly cold, add the yolks of seven eggs, well beaten, and six ounces of lump sugar; let it nearly boil; keep stirring it all the while, and till nearly cold, and add a little brandy.

_Custard._ No. 3.

A quart of cream, and the yolks of nine eggs, sugared to your taste; if eggs are scarce, take seven and three whites; it must not quite boil, or it will curdle; keep it stirred all the time over a slow fire. When it is nearly cold, add three table-spoonfuls of ratafia; stir till cold, otherwise it will turn. It is best without any white of eggs.

_Custard._ No. 4.

Take a pint of cream; blanch a few sweet almonds, and beat them fine; sweeten to your palate. Beat up the yolks of five eggs, stir all together, one way, over the fire, till it is thick. Add laurel-leaves, bitter almonds, or ratafia, to give it a flavour; then put it into cups.

_Custard._ No. 5.

Make some rice, nicely boiled, into a good wall round your trifle dish; strew the rice over with pink comfits; then pour good custard into the rice frame, and stripe it across with pink and blue comfits alternately.

_Almond Custard._

Blanch and pound fine, with half a gill of rose-water, six ounces of sweet and half an ounce of bitter almonds; boil a pint of milk; sweeten it with two ounces and a half of sugar; rub the almonds through a sieve, with a pint of cream; strain the milk to the yolks of eight eggs, well beaten--three whites if thought necessary--stir it over a fire till of a good thickness; when off the fire, stir it till nearly cold to prevent its curdling.

_To bottle Damsons._

Take ripe fruit; wipe them dry, and pick off the stalks; fill your bottles with them. The bottles must be very clean and dry. Put the corks lightly into them, to keep out the steam when simmering: then set them up to the necks in cold water, and let them simmer a quarter of an hour, but not boil, or the fruit will crack. Take them out, and let them stand all night. Next day, cork them tight, rosin the corks, and keep them in a dry place.

_Damsons, to dry._

Pick out the finest damsons, and wipe them clean. To every pound of fruit take half a pound of sugar; wet the damsons with water; and put them into the sugar with the insides downward. Set them on the fire till the sugar is melted; let them lie in the sugar till it has thoroughly penetrated them, heating them once a day. When you take them out, dip them in hot water, and lay them to dry.

_Damsons, to preserve without Sugar._

When the damsons are quite ripe, wipe them separately, and put them into stone jars. Set them in an oven four or five times after the bread is drawn. When the skins shrivel they are done enough; if they shrink much, you must fill up the jar with more fruit, and cover them at last with melted suet.

_Dripping, to clarify for Crust._

Boil beef dripping in water for a few minutes; let it stand till cold, when it will come off in a cake. It makes good crust for the kitchen.

_Dumplings._

Take of stale bread, suet, and loaf-sugar, half a pound each; make the whole so fine as to go through a sieve. Mix it with lemon-juice, and add the rind of a lemon finely grated. Make it up into dumplings, and pour over them sweet sauce without wine.

_Currant Dumplings._

A quarter of a pound of apple, a quarter of a pound of currants, three eggs, some sugar, bitter almonds, lemon or orange peel, and a little nutmeg. Boil an hour and a half.

_Drop Dumplings._

To a piece of fresh butter, of the size of an egg, take three spoonfuls of flour, and three yolks of eggs; stir the butter and eggs well together; add a little salt and nutmeg, and then put the flour to it. Drop the batter with a small spoon into boiling water, and let it boil four or five minutes; pour the water from the dumplings, and eat them with a ragout, or as a dish by itself.

_Another way._

Break two eggs into half a pint of milk, and beat them up; mix with flour, and put a little salt. Set on the fire a saucepan with water, and, when it boils, drop the batter in with a large spoon, and boil them quick for five minutes. Take them out carefully with a slice, lay them on a sieve for a minute to dry, put them into a dish, cut a piece of butter in thin slices, and stir among them. Send them up as hot as you can.

_Kitchen hard Dumplings._

Mix flour and water with a little salt into a stiff paste. Put in a few currants for change, and boil them for half an hour. It improves them much to boil them with beef or pork.

_Yest Dumplings._

A table-spoonful of yest, three handfuls of flour, mix with water and a little salt. Boil ten minutes in a deep pot, and cover with water when they rise. The dough to be made about the size of an apple. The quantity mentioned above will make a dozen of the proper size.

_Another way._

Make nice light dough, by putting your flour into a platter; make a hollow in the middle of it, and pour in a little good small beer warmed, an egg well beaten, and some warm milk and water. Strew salt upon the flour, but not upon the mixture in the middle, or it will not do well. Then make it into as light a dough as you can, and set it before the fire, covered with a cloth, a couple of hours, to rise. Make it into large dumplings, and set them before the fire six or seven minutes; then put them into boiling water with a little milk in it. A quarter of an hour will do them.

_Eggs._

Eggs left till cold will reheat to the same degree as at first. For instance, an egg boiled three minutes and left till cold will reheat in the same time and not be harder. It may be useful to know this when fresh eggs are scarce.

_Whites of Eggs._

Beat up the whites of twelve eggs with rose-water, some fine grated lemon-peel, and nutmeg; sweeten to your taste, and well mix the whole. Boil it in four bladders, tied up in the shape of an egg, till hard; they will take half an hour. When cold, lay them in a dish; mix half a pint of good cream, a gill of sack, and half the juice of a Seville orange; sweeten and mix it well, and pour it over the eggs.

_Another way._

Beat two whites in a plate in a cool place till quite stiff and they look like snow. Lay it on the lid of a stewpan; put it in a cool oven, and bake it of a light brown for about ten minutes.

_Figs, to dry._

Take figs when thoroughly ripe, pare them very thin, and slit them at the top. To one pound of fruit put three quarters of a pound of sugar, and to the sugar a pint of water; boil the syrup at first a little, skim it very clean, and set it over coals to keep it warm. Have ready some warm water, and when it boils put in your figs; let them boil till tender; then take them up by the stalk, and drain them clean from water. Put them into the syrup over the fire for two or three hours, turning them frequently; do the same morning and evening, keeping them warm, for nine days, till you find them begin to candy. Then lay them out upon glasses. Turn them often the first day, on the next twice only; they will quickly dry if they are well attended to. A little ambergris or musk gives the fruit a fine flavour. Peaches and plums may be done the same way.

_Small Flowers, to candy._

Take as much fine sugar as you think likely to cover the flowers, and wet it for a candy. When boiled pretty thick, put in your flowers, and stir, but be careful not to bruise them. Keep them over the fire, but do not let them boil till they are pretty dry; then rub the sugar off with your hands as soon as you can, and take them out.

_Flowers in sprigs, to candy._

Dissolve gum arabic in water, and let it be pretty thin; wet the flowers in it, and put them in a cloth to dry. When nearly dry, dip them all over in finely sifted sugar, and hang them up before the fire, or, if it should be a fine sunshiny day, hang them in the sun till they are thoroughly dry, and then take them down. The same may be done to marjoram and mint.

_Dutch Flummery._

Steep two ounces of isinglass two hours in a pint of boiling water; take a pint of white wine, the yolks of eight eggs, well beaten, the juice of four lemons, with the rind of one. Sweeten it to your taste; set it over the fire, and keep it stirring till it boils.

_Hartshorn Flummery._ No. 1.

Take half a pound of hartshorn; boil it in four quarts of water, till reduced to one quarter or less; let it stand all night. Blanch a quarter of a pound of almonds, and beat them small; melt the jelly, mix with it the almonds, strained through a thin strainer or hair sieve; then put a quarter of a pint of cream, a little cinnamon, and a blade of mace; boil these together, and sweeten it. Put it into china cups, and, when you use it, turn it out of the cups, and eat it with cream.

_Hartshorn Flummery._ No. 2.

Put one pound of hartshorn shavings to three quarts of spring water; boil it very gently over a slow fire till it is reduced to one quart, then strain it through a fine sieve into a basin; let it stand till cold; then just melt it, and put to it half a pint of white wine, a pint of good thick cream, and four spoonfuls of orange-flower water. Scald the cream, and let it be cold before you mix it with the wine and jelly; sweeten it with double-refined sugar to your taste, and then beat it all one way for an hour and a half at least, for, if you are not careful in thus beating, it will neither mix nor even look to please you. Dip the moulds first in water, that they may turn out well. Keep the flummery in cups a day before you use it; when you serve it, stick it with blanched almonds, cut in thin slices. Calves' feet may serve instead of hartshorn shavings.

_Hartshorn Flummery._ No. 3.

Take one pound of hartshorn shavings, and put to it three quarts of water; boil it till it is half consumed; then strain and press out the hartshorn, and set it by to cool. Blanch four ounces of almonds in cold water, and beat them very fine with a little rose and orange-flower water. Make the jelly as warm as new milk, and sweeten it to your taste with the best sugar; put it by degrees to the almonds, and stir it very well until they are thoroughly mixed. Then wring it through a cloth, put it into cups, and set it by to jelly. Before you turn them out, dip the outside in a little warm water to loosen them; stick them with blanched almonds, cut in thin long pieces. Three ounces of sweet almonds, and one of apricot or peach kernels, make ratafia flummery. If you have none of the latter, use bitter almonds.

_Fondues._

Boil a quarter of a pound of crumb of bread in milk; beat it with a wooden spoon; grate half a pound of Cheshire cheese, add the yolks of three eggs, and a quarter of a pound of butter; beat all well together. Beat up three whites of eggs to a thick froth; put this in last, and beat the whole well together. Bake in two paper cases or a dish, in a quick oven, for twenty minutes.

_Yorkshire Fritters._

To two quarts of flour take two spoonfuls of yest, mixed with a little warm milk. Let it rise. Take nine eggs, leaving out four whites, and temper your dough to the consistence of paste. Add currants or apples, and a little brandy or rose-water. Roll the fritters thin, and fry them in lard.

_Fruit, to preserve._

Strip the fruit, put it into a stone jar, set the jar in a saucepan of water, and stew it to boiling on the stove. Strain off the liquor, and to every pint allow a pound of loaf sugar. Mix the fruit and the sugar in lumps in a stone vessel, but not till the sugar is nearly dissolved: then put it in a preserving-pan, and simmer and strain it till it is quite clear. When it will jelly on a plate, it is done, and may be put into pots.

_Fruit, to preserve green._

Take green pippins, pears, plums, apricots, or peaches; put them into a preserving-pan; cover them with vine-leaves, and then with clear spring water. Put on the cover of the pan, and set them over a very clear fire; take them off as soon as they begin to simmer, and take them carefully out with a slice. Then peel and preserve them as other fruit.

_Fruit of all sorts, to scald._

Put your fruit into scalding water, sufficient nearly to cover it; set it over a slow fire, and keep it in a scald till tender, turning the fruit where the water does not cover. When it is very tender, lay paper close to it, and let it stand till it is cold. Then, to a pound of fruit put half a pound of sugar, and let it boil, but not too fast, till it looks clear. All fruit must be done whole, excepting pippins, and they are best in halves or quarters, with a little orange-peel and the juice of lemon.

_Gingerbread._ No. 1.