To Fry
Be always careful to keep the frying pan clean, and see that it is properly tinned. When frying any sort of fish, first dry them in a cloth, and then flour them. Put into the pan plenty of dripping, or hog's lard, and let it be boiling hot before putting in the fish. Butter is not so good for the purpose as it is apt to burn and to blacken, and make them soft. When they are fried, put them in a dish or hair sieve, to drain before they are sent to table. Olive oil is the best article for frying, but it is very expensive, and had oil spoils every thing that is dressed with it. Steaks and chops should be put in when the liquor is hot, and done quickly, of a light brown and turned often. Sausages should be done gradually, which will prevent their bursting.
To pot leg of beef
Boil a leg of beef till the meat will come off the bone easily; then mix it with a cow heal, previously cut into thin pieces, and season the whole with salt and spice; add a little of the liquor in which the leg of beef was boiled, put it into a cheese-vat or cullender or some other vessel that will let the liquor run off; place a very heavy weight over it, and it will be ready for use in a day or two. It may be kept in souse made of bran boiled in water, with the addition of a little vinegar.
To make a plain pudding
Weigh three quarters of a pound of any odd scraps of bread, whether crust or crumb, cut them small, and pour on them a pint and a half of boiling water, to soak them well. Let it stand till the water is cool, then press it out, and mash the bread smooth with the back of a spoon. Add to it, a tea-spoonful of beaten ginger, some moist sugar, and three quarters of a lb. of currants. Mix all well together, and lay it in a pan well buttered. Flatten it down with a spoon, and lay some pieces of butter on the tod. Bake it in a moderate oven, and serve it hot. When cold, it will turn out of the pan, and eat like good plain cheese cakes.
A baked potato pudding
Mix twelve ounces of potatoes boiled, skimmed, and mashed, 1 oz. of suet, quarter of a pint of milk, and 1 oz. of cheese grated fine; add as much boiling water as is necessary to produce a due consistence, and bake it in an earthen pan.
Tansy pudding
Blanch and pound a quarter of a pound of Jordan almonds; put them into a stew pan, add a gill of the syrup of roses, the crumb of a French roll, some grated nutmeg, half a glass of brandy, two tablespoonfuls of tansy juice, 3 oz. of fresh butter, and some slices of citron. Pour over it a pint and a half of boiling cream or milk, sweeten, and when cold, mix it; add the juice of a lemon, and 8 eggs beaten. It may be either boiled or baked.
To make a Fast day's dish
Boil eggs very hard, and cut a little from the thick ends. Fry them in a pan, and take care to keep them continually in motion; then place them in the dish, pour over them some good fish or herb gravy, and garnish with lemon.
To make a puff paste
Take a quarter of a peck of flour, and rub it into a pound of butter very fine. Make it up into a light paste with cold water just stiff enough to work it up. Then lay it out about as thick as a crown piece; put a layer of butter all over, then sprinkle on a little flour, double it up, and roll it out again. Double and roll it with layers of butter three times, and it will be fit for use.
To make a short crust
Put six ounces of butter to eight ounces of flour, and work them well together; then mix it up with as little water as possible, so as to have it a stiffish paste; then roll it out thin for use.
To make paste for tarts
Put an ounce of loaf sugar, beat and sifted, to one pound of fine flour. Make it into a stiff paste, with a gill of boiling cream, and three ounces of putter. Work it well, and roll it very thin.
To steam potatoes
Put them clean washed, with their skins on, into a steam, saucepan, and let the water under them be about half boiling, let them continue to boil rather quickly, until they are done; if the water once relaxes from its heat, the goodness of the potato is sure to be affected, and to become soddened, let the quality be ever so good. A too precipitate boiling is equally disadvantageons; as the higher parts of the surface of the root begin to crack and open, while the centre continues unheated and undecomposed.
Of roots
Cut carrots and parsnips to the length of a finger, and of much the same thickness; boil them till half done in water, put them into a stew pan with small bits of ham, chopped parsley, and shalots, pepper and salt, a glass of wine and broth; let them stew slowly until the broth is reduced pretty thick, and add the squeeze of a lemon when ready to serve. For maigre, instead of ham, use mush-rooms, and make a mixture beat up with yolks of eggs and maigre broth. Celery is done much the same, only it is cut smaller. If these roots are to be served in a boat for sauce, boil them tender in the broth pot, or in water, cut them into the desired length, and serve with a good gravy or white sauce.
To make a rich plum cake
Take one pound of fresh butter, one pound of sugar, one pound and a half of flour, two pounds of currants, a glass of brandy, one pound of sweetmeats, two ounces of sweet almonds, ten eggs, a quarter of an ounce of allspice, and a quarter of an ounce of cinnamon.
Melt the butter to cream, and put in the sugar, stir it till quite light, adding the allspice, and pounded cinnamon; in a quarter of an hour take the yolks of the eggs, and work them in, two or three at a time; and the whites of the same must by this time be beaten into a strong snow quite ready to work in; as the paste must not stand to chill the butter, or it will be heavy, work in the white gradually: then add the orange peel, lemon and citron, cut in fine stripes, and the currants, which must be mixed in well, with the sweet almonds. Then add the sifted flour and glass of brandy. Bake this cake in a tin hoop in a hot oven for three hours, and put twelve sheets of paper under it to keep it from burning.
To make a rich seed cake
Take a pound and a quarter of flour well dried, a pound of butter, a pound of loaf sugar, beat and sifted, eight eggs and two ounces of caraway seed, one grated nufmeg, and its weight in cinnamon. Beat the butter into a cream, put in the sugar, beat the whites of the eggs and the yolks separately, them mix them with the butter and sugar. Beat in the flour, spices and seed, a little before sending it away. Bake it two hours in a quick oven.
A plain pound cake
Beat one pound of butter in an earthern pan until it is like a fine thick cream, then beat in nine whole eggs till quite light. Put in a glass of brandy, a little lemon peel, shred fine, then work in a pound and a quarter of flour; put it into the hoop or pan and bake it for an hour. A good plum cake is made the same with putting one pound and a half of clean washed currants and half a pound of candied lemon peel.
Beat the yolks of fifteen eggs for nearly half an hour, with a whisk, mix well with them ten ounces of fine sifted loaf sugar, put in half a pound of ground rice, a little orange water or brandy, and the rinds of two lemons grated, then add the whites of seven eggs well beaten, and stir the whole together for a quarter of an hour. Put them into a hoop and set them in a quick oven for half an hour when they will be properly done.
To make plain gingerbread
Mix three pounds of flour with four ounces of moist sugar, half an ounce of powdered ginger, and one pound and a quarter of warm treacle; melt half a pound of fresh butter in it; put it to the flour and make it a paste; then form it into nuts or cakes, or bake it in one cake.
To make cream cakes
Beat the whites of nine eggs to a stiff froth, stir it gently with a spoon lest the froth should fall, and to every white of an egg grate the rinds of two lemons; shake in gently a spoonful of double refined sugar sifted fine, lay a wet sheet of paper on a tin, and with a spoon drop the froth in little lumps on it near each other. Sift a good quantity of sugar over them, set them in the oven after the bread is out, and close up the mouth of it, which will occasion the froth to rise. As soon as they are colored they will be sufficiently baked; lay them by two bottoms together on a sieve and dry them in a cool oven.
To make common buns
Rub four ounces of butter into two pounds of flour, a little salt, four ounces of sugar, a desert spoonful of caraways, and a teaspoonful of ginger; put some warm milk or cream to four table spoonfulls of yeast; mix all together into a paste, but not too stiff; cover it over and set it before the fire an hour to rise, then make it into buns, put them on a tin, set them before the fire for a quarter of an hour, cover over with flannel, then brush them with very warm milk and bake them of a nice brown in a moderate oven.
Baked Custards
Boil a pint of cream with some mace and cinnamon, and when it is cold, take four yolks of eggs, a little rose water, sack, nutmeg and sugar, to taste; mix them well and bake them.
Rice Custards
Put a blade of mace, and a quartered nutmeg into a quart of cream; boil and strain it, and add to it some boiled rice and a little brandy. Sweeten it to taste, stir it till it thickens, and serve it up in cups or in a dish; it may be used either hot or cold.
To make apple cakes
Take half a quartern of dough, roll it out thin: spread equally over it five ounces each of coffee and sugar, a little nutmeg or allspice, and two oz. of butter; then fold and roll it again two or three times, to mix well the ingredients. Afterwards roll it out thin, and spread over it four rather large apples, pared, cored, and chopped small; fold it up, and roll until mixed. Let it stand to rise after. Half a pound of butter may be added.
Sponge biscuits
Beat the yolks of twelve eggs for half an hour; then put in one and a half pounds of beaten sifted sugar, and whisk it till it rises in bubbles; beat the whites to a strong froth, and whisk them well with the sugar and yolks, work in fourteen ounces of flour, with the rinds of two lemons grated. Bake them in tin mould buttered, in a quick oven, for an hour; before they are baked, sift a little fine sugar over them.
To make fancy biscuits
Take one pound of almonds, one pound of sugar, and some orange flower water. Pound the almonds very fine, and sprinkle them with orange flower water; when they are perfectly smooth to the touch, put them in a small pan, with flour sifted through a silk sieve; put the pan on a slow fire, and dry the paste till it does not stick to the fingers; move it well from the bottom to prevent its burning; then take it off, and roll it into small round fillets, to make knots, rings, &c. and cut into various shapes; make an iceing of different colours, dip one side of them in it, and set them in it, and set them on wire gratings to drain. They may be varied by strewing over them colored pistachios, or colored almonds, according to fancy.
Black current jelly
Put to ten quarts of ripe dry black currants, one quart of water; put them in a large stew-pof, tie paper close over them, and set them for two hours in a cool oven. Squeeze them through a fine cloth, and add to every quart of juice a pound and a half of loaf sugar broken into small pieces. Stir it till the sugar is melted, when it boils, skim it quite cleam. Boil it pretty quick over a clear fire, till it jellies, which is known by dipping a skimmer into the jelley and holding it in the air; when it hangs to the spoon in a drop, it is done. If the jelley is boiled too long, it will loose its flavour and shrink very much. Pour it into pots, cover them with brandy papers, and keep them in a dry place. Red and white jellies are made in the same way.
Raspberry cream
Rob a quart of raspberries through a hair sieve, and take out the seeds, and mix it well with cream; sweeten it with sugar to your taste, then put into a stone jug, and raise a froth with a chocolate mill, As the froth rises take it off with a spoon, and lay it upon a hair sieve. When there is as much froth as wanted, put what cream remains in a deep china dish, and pour the frothed cream upon it, as high as it will lie on.
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Old fashioned home remedies and recipes >