CHICKEN PIE.--Skin a pair of fine fowls, and cut them up. Save out the necks, backs, feet, livers, and gizzards, and the ends of the pinions; and seasoning them with a little pepper and salt add some tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs or spare bits of fresh beef or veal, and stew them in a small sauce-pan with a little water, to make the gravy. Let them stew till all to rags, and then strain off the liquid; and while hot, stir into it a beaten egg and a bit of fresh b.u.t.ter, dredged with flour. In the mean time make a nice puff-paste, and roll it out rather thick; divide it in two circular sheets. Line with one sheet the bottom and sides of a deep pie dish, and put in the best pieces of chicken. Lay among them four hard-boiled eggs, sliced or quartered. Season well with powdered mace or nutmeg. The gravy being strained, pour that into the pie, and finish at the top with a layer of b.u.t.ter divided into small pieces, and dredge with flour. This is what the old English cookery books mean when they say--"Close the pie with a _lear_."
A chicken pie will be improved by the addition of a dozen or more large fresh oysters, stewed. If you add oysters, take off the lid or upper crust as soon as the pie is baked, and put in the oysters _then_; if put in at the beginning, they will bake too long. Replace the lid nicely, and send the pie to table hot.
The lid should have in the top a cross slit with a nice paste flower in it. To make a paste flower roll out a straight narrow slip of paste, about four or five inches wide. Roll it up with your fingers as if you were rolling up a ribbon. Then with a sharp knife cut four clefts in the upper half, and when baked, it will spread apart as like the leaves of a flower.
SWEETMEATS.
No sweetmeats can either look well or taste well unless the fruit and the sugar are of the best quality. As in all other branches of cookery, it is false economy to provide bad or low-priced ingredients. It has of late years been difficult to obtain _very_ good sugar at any price, so much is adulterated with flour or ground starch. In the common powdered sugar the flour is so palpable that we are surprised at its having any sale at all; and the large quant.i.ty required to produce any perceptible sweetness renders it totally unfit for sweetmeats, or indeed for any thing else. The best brown sugar is better than this, having clarified it with white of egg. To do this, allow to every pound of sugar the beaten white of an egg, and a half pint of clear cold water. Having poured the water on the sugar, let it stand to melt before it goes on the fire. Then add the white of egg and put in on to boil. When it boils, carefully take off the sc.u.m as it rises, and add when it is boiling hard another jill or quarter pint of water for each pound of sugar. Remove it from the fire when the sc.u.m ceases to rise, and let it stand for a quarter of an hour to settle. Strain, and bottle it for use.
The best brown sugar _thus prepared_ will make a good syrup; and good marmalade, when white sugar of the best quality is not to be obtained.
But for the nicest sweetmeats use always, if you can, the best double-refined loaf.
In warm weather there is nothing better for a preserving fire than a portable charcoal furnace placed out in the open air; as in a room with the doors or windows shut the vapor of charcoal is deadly, and never fails to produce suffocation. Of whatever the fire is made, it should be clear and steady without smoke or blaze. Never use copper or bell-metal for either preserving or pickling. For all such purposes employ only iron, lined with what is called porcelain or enamel, but is in reality a thick strong white earthen, first made at Delft, in Holland. This lining will crack if the kettle is placed over a blaze, which it should never be. All sweetmeats should be boiled with the lid off. If covered, the steam having no means of escaping, returns upon them, and causes them to look dark and unsightly. When done, put the sweetmeats warm into jars or gla.s.ses, and leave them open a few hours that the watery particles may evaporate, but have them all pasted and closely covered before night. Do nothing to render your preserves hard, or firm, as it is called. It is better to have them soft and tender. The old custom of steeping them for days in salt and water, and then boiling them in something else to remove the salt, is now considered foolish, and is seldom practised.
Put up jellies and small sweetmeats in common tumblers, laying on the surface of each a double cover of white tissue paper cut exactly to fit, and then put on another cover of thick white paper pleated and notched where it descends below the edge, using always gum tragacanth paste, which you should keep always in the house, as it requires no boiling; and if in making it, a bit of corrosive sublimate (not larger than a cherry-stone) is dissolved with the ounce of gum tragacanth and the half pint of warm water, in a yellow or white-ware mug, and _stirred only with a stick_, the paste will never spoil, and if kept covered, will be found superior to all others. No metal must touch this cement, as it will then turn black and spoil.
Keep your sweetmeats always in a dry place. But if after a while you see a coat of mould on the surface, you need not throw them away, till you have tried to recover them by carefully removing every particle of mould, filling up the jars with fresh sugar, and setting them, one by one, in a bottle of water, and in this way boiling them over again. But if they have an unpleasant smell, and you see insects about them, of course they must be thrown away. To purify jars, clean and sc.r.a.pe them, and wash them thoroughly with ley and water, or with a solution of soda--afterwards exposing them to the sun and air for a week or more.
_Jellies._--We have already given directions for various fruit jellies in the chapter on Fine Desserts. They are all made nearly in the same manner, using the juice of the fruit, and sufficient sugar to make it congeal and to keep it. Jellies should always be bright and transparent, and therefore require the best and ripest of fruit and the finest of loaf sugar.
MARMALADE OR JAMS.--Marmalade or jams are the easiest sweetmeats to make, and are useful for all sweetmeat purposes. They are all made nearly in the same manner; and to be very good, and to keep well, at least a pound of fine sugar should be allowed to every pound of fruit--the fruit being quite ripe, freshly gathered, and of the best kind.
_For Peach Marmalade_--Take fine, juicy free-stone peaches. Pare them; cut them in half; remove the stones, and let them be saved and the kernels extracted to use as bitter almonds. Cut up the peaches, and allow for each pound a pound of sugar. Lay the peaches (with all the sugar among them,) in a large pan or tureen, and let them rest for three or four hours. Boil the peaches and sugar together in a porcelain kettle (without a cover) for half an hour, skimming and stirring well. When it becomes a thick smooth ma.s.s it is finished. Put it up in gla.s.s jars, and leave it uncovered till cool; but not longer. The flavor will be much improved by boiling with the peaches and sugar one or two handfuls of the kernels, blanched and pounded; or else a bunch of fresh peach leaves, to be removed afterward.
_Quince Marmalade_ is made in the same manner--first carefully removing all the blemishes. Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of quinces. They must boil longer than peaches. All marmalades must be cooked till the form of the fruit is quite indistinguishable, and till it mashes into a thick smooth ma.s.s. Quinces should be allowed to remain on the trees till after the first frost, which greatly improves them. Persimmons and wild grapes are not eatable till they are touched by the frost.
_Tomato Marmalade._--Make this when lemons are ripe and plenty. To every two pounds of tomatos allow two pounds of sugar, and the grated yellow rind and the juice of one lemon. The worst way of using lemons for any purpose is to merely slice them. Depend on the slices for flavoring, and they are wasted; the taste being scarcely perceptible. They should always be first rolled under your hand, which increases the yield of juice. Then grate off from the outside the _yellow_ rind only (the white part of the rind is worse than useless,) and having cut the lemon, squeeze the juice through a tin strainer to exclude the seeds, which otherwise would be troublesome to pick out. The yellow rind and the juice are all you need want of a lemon for any purpose of flavoring.
Scald the tomatos to make them peel easily, and mix the sugar thoroughly with them. Boil them slowly for an hour in a porcelain kettle, skimming carefully, and stirring well after each skimming. Then add the lemon grate and the juice, and boil the marmalade another half hour, or till it is a thick smooth ma.s.s.
_Pumpkin Marmalade._--Take a fine ripe high-colored pumpkin. Cut it up.
Empty it very clean of the seeds and strings; take off a thick paring.
Slice the pieces small and thin, and weigh them. To each pound of pumpkin allow a pound of powdered sugar, and the grated peel and the juice of one large lemon. Pumpkin sweetmeats require a high lemon flavoring. Boil the pumpkin alone, till quite soft. Then mash it in a cullender till the water is pressed out, and the pumpkin left dry.
Afterwards put it into a porcelain kettle, mix with it the sugar and lemon, and boil it again till it becomes a thick jam. Cantaloupe marmalade is made in the same way with lemon and sugar--also marmalade of ripe figs.
_Plum Marmalade._--Choose plums that are fully ripe. Allow to each pound a pound and a half of sugar. Scald them till the skins peel off easily, and extract all the stones. Lay them in the sugar for two or three hours or more, and then boil them till they become a thick smooth ma.s.s.
Green-gages the same.
_Raspberry Jam._--To every quart of fine ripe raspberries allow a pound of best loaf sugar, powdered. Put them together into a broad white-ware pan, and let them rest for two or three hours. Then boil them in an uncovered porcelain kettle, taking off the sc.u.m carefully. When no more sc.u.m rises, mash them, and boil them to a smooth thick marmalade. When cold, put it up in half pint tumblers, and cover them with rounds of double tissue paper, cut exactly to fit, and then with thick white paper dipped in brandy.
_Strawberry Jam._--The strawberries must be quite ripe, and very fine.
Allow to each quart a pound of powdered loaf sugar. Put them into a large white-ware pan; a layer of sugar and a layer of strawberries alternately, finishing with strawberries on the top. Let them rest in the sugar and juice three or four hours. Then boil and skim them till they become very thick and smooth. When cold, put them up in tumblers, with double tissue paper over the top. Blackberry jam is made in the same manner.
_Gooseberry Jam._--Top and tail the gooseberries, which must be thoroughly ripe, and with thin skins. They require to every pound of fruit a pound and a half of sugar of the best sort. Mash them with a wooden beetle, and put them with all the sugar into an uncovered porcelain kettle, and boil and skim them. When half done add more sugar, and continue boiling till they are a very thick marmalade. When cold, cover the tumblers with brandy paper.
_Pine-apple Marmalade._--Take the best and ripest pine-apples; remove the leaves, and split each pine-apple into four pieces, and cut out the core from the centre. Stand the pieces upright in a deep dish, and, with a large coa.r.s.e grater grate down all the _flesh_ of the fruit, as it is called. To every pint of grated pine-apple allow a pound of powdered loaf sugar, and put them together in a large tureen. Let them rest two hours. Then transfer the whole to a porcelain kettle. Leave it uncovered; and boil, skim, and stir, till it becomes a very thick marmalade. When cool, put it up in gla.s.s jars. It is a very nice sweetmeat, particularly for sh.e.l.ls or tarts.
_Grape Marmalade._--Take a sufficiency of fine grapes, thoroughly ripe.
Having picked them from the stems, mash them with a wooden beetle, and then press them through a sieve. To every pint of the pulp allow a pound of powdered sugar, well mixed in; let it stand an hour or two. Then boil it, uncovered, in a porcelain kettle, skimming and stirring well, till it is very thick and smooth. When cool, put it up in small marmalade pots of white-ware with lids, and paste a band of thick white paper round each, at the small crack where the cover fits on. A good marmalade for the backwoods may be made of wild grapes and maple sugar.
_Cherry Marmalade._--If you cannot procure morellas, (the best of all cherries for sweetmeats) use the large Virginia or carnation cherries.
Black cherries are unfit for cooking. Stem and stone your cherries, saving all the juice you can. Allow a pound of powdered loaf sugar to every pint of cherries. Boil the fruit and the sugar together, uncovered, for an hour, skimming and stirring. When cool, put it in white-ware marmalade pots and paste the lids.
_Orange Marmalade._--Quarter some large ripe oranges, and remove the rind, the seeds, and the strings or filaments, taking care to save all the juice. Put the pulp, with the juice, into a porcelain kettle, and mix with it an equal quant.i.ty of strained honey, adding sufficient powdered loaf sugar to render it very thick and sweet. The honey alone will not make it sweet enough. Boil it uncovered, and skim it till very thick, smooth, and clear. Taste it, and if necessary add more sugar, and boil it longer. When cold, put it up in tumblers or white-ware marmalade pots, and cover it securely. This marmalade is exquisite, and very superior to any other.
_Orange Milk._--Take four dozen large ripe juicy oranges, and roll them under your hand. Cut them in two; remove the seeds, and squeeze the juice into a large clean stone jar. Have ready four pounds of the best double-refined loaf sugar, dissolved in a gallon of French brandy. Pour it into the jar that contains the orange juice; stir the mixture well, and add the yellow rind of the oranges, pared so thin from the white as to be transparent, and divide it into bits. Cover the jar, and let it stand four days, stirring it frequently. Then take a gallon of new unskimmed milk, (the morning"s milk of that day,) boil it alone, and when it comes to a hard boil pour it into the mixture of orange, sugar, and brandy. Cover it closely, and let it stand till quite cold. Then strain it into another vessel through a linen jelly bag. Bottle it immediately, and seal the corks. It improves by keeping. To use it, pour it out in half tumblers, and fill up with ice water, or serve it round undiluted in small cordial gla.s.ses, after ice-cream. It is much admired, and in orange countries may be made in large quant.i.ties. Lemon milk is made in the same manner, having a larger proportion of sugar.
_Fruit in Syrups._--Make a syrup in the proportion of half a pint of water to every pound of sugar, and a pint of the juice of any sort of fine ripe fruit. Boil and skim it till very clear, but not till it congeals or jellies. Then bottle it, and cork the bottles. As the fresh fruit comes again into season, select the finest, largest, and ripest.
For instance, half fill a white-ware preserve jar with fine fresh strawberries, and fill up from a bottle of strawberry syrup; or ripe raspberries with raspberry syrup; currants, with currant syrup, &c.
Cover them closely till wanted for immediate use.
PRESERVED CITRON MELONS.--Take some fine citron melons; pare, core, and cut them into slices. Then weigh them; and, to every six pounds of melon, allow six pounds of the best double refined loaf sugar, and the juice and yellow rind (grated very fine,) of four large fresh lemons, and _a quarter_ of a pound of root ginger.
Put the slices of lemon into a preserving kettle, and boil them half an hour or more, till they look _quite_ clear, and are so tender that a broom twig will pierce through them. Then drain them; lay them in a broad pan of cold water, cover them, and let them stand all night. In the morning tie the root ginger in a thin muslin cloth, and boil it in three pints of clear spring or pump water till the water is highly flavored. Then take out the bag of ginger. Having broken up the sugar put it into a clean preserving kettle, and pour the ginger water over it. When the sugar is all melted set it over the fire, put in the grated yellow peel of the lemons, and boil and skim it till no more sc.u.m rises.
Then put in the sliced citrons, and the juice of the lemons; and boil them in the syrup till all the slices are quite transparent, and so soft that a straw will go through them; but do not allow them to break. When quite done, put the slices (while still warm,) into wide-mouthed gla.s.s or white-ware jars, and gently pour on the syrup. Lay inside of each jar, upon the top of the syrup, a round of white paper dipped in brandy.
Put on the lids of the jars, and tie leather over them.
This will be found a delicious sweetmeat; equal to any imported from the West Indies, and far less expensive.
PINE-APPLES PRESERVED.--Take six fine large pine-apples, as ripe as you can get them. Make them very clean, but do not, at first, pare off the rind or cut off the leaves. The rind and leaves being left on while boiling will _keep in_ the flavor of the fruit. Put the pine-apples whole into a very large and very clean iron pot. Fill it up with cold water, and boil the pine-apples till they are so tender that you can pierce them through the rind to the core, with a splinter skewer or a twig from a corn broom. Then take them out of the pot, and drain them.
When they are so cool as to be handled without inconvenience, remove the leaves, and pare off the rind. Cut then into round slices about half an inch thick, extracting the core from the centre as to leave a small round hole in every slice. Weigh them, and to each pound of fruit allow a pound of double refined loaf sugar, broken up and powdered. Cover the bottom of a large dish or dishes with a thick layer of the sugar. On this place a layer of pine-apple slices; then a layer of sugar; then a layer of fruit, and so on till the slices are all thickly covered, finishing with a layer of sugar at the top. Let them stand twenty-four hours. Then drain the slices from the syrup, and lay them in wide jars.
Put all the syrup into a clear porcelain kettle, and boil and skim it till the sc.u.m ceases to rise. Then pour it hot upon the pine-apple.
While warm, cover the jars closely with white paper cut to fit, and dipped in brandy; and then tie on a piece of bladder. There is no better way of preserving pine-apples, or that retains the flavor so well.
Quinces may be preserved in the same manner.
PRESERVED LEMONS OR ORANGES.--The fruit must be perfectly ripe, of the best quality, with a smooth rind and fine color. Cut out from the stem end of each, a piece not quite the size of a quarter dollar, and with a small knife scoop out all the inside, keeping the rind as whole as possible. Put the pulp and juice into a large bowl, and clear it from the strings and seeds. Lay the skins in a tureen of cold ice water, and change it twice during the day, (fresh water and fresh ice); and at bedtime put ice only. Next morning boil the skins slowly in a porcelain kettle with plenty of water, keeping them well covered. Continue to boil till they are tender all through, and can easily be pierced with a splinter skewer. Then drain them, and lay them in cold water immediately. Take care to boil with them the small round pieces that come out of the top. Make a thick jelly or marmalade of the pulp and juice of these, and some additional fruit, allowing to a pint of juice a pound of loaf sugar. When the jelly has been boiled till clear and firm when held in the air, fill with it the skins so as to swell them out into a good shape. Replace the small circular pieces that have been cut off the top of the fruit, and tie them on securely with packthread, so as to keep in the jelly. Next make a thin syrup, allowing to a pound of broken-up loaf sugar half a pint of fresh juice, and the beaten white of an egg. Boil and skim it till no more sc.u.m rises. Then having put the oranges into large gla.s.s jars rather more than half full, pour the syrup on them, filling up to the top.
_To Green Small Lemons or Limes._--Boil them first in a little hard water, placing them in a porcelain kettle with a thick bed of fresh vine leaves under them and a thick cover of vine leaves over them. Boil them till green and tender in two or three waters, putting entirely fresh vine leaves whenever you change the water, and persisting till they are well greened. Then make holes in the stem end, and extract the pulp, strings, and seeds, and proceed as directed in the last receipt. The skins, as soon as empty, being laid in cold water, and then filled and shaped out with lemon jelly, and the jars filled up warm with lemon syrup. Or by putting a larger portion of sugar, and boiling the syrup longer, you may candy it all over the surface of the fruit.
Green limes are preserved in the above manner, filling the skins with lemon jelly. To candy the syrup use a double portion of sugar, and boil it till it bubbles and sparkles in the kettle.
PEACHES PRESERVED.--Take the finest ripe free-stone peaches. Pare them, cut them in half, and remove the stones. To every pound of peaches allow a pound of double refined loaf sugar, and half the white of an egg (slightly beaten) with half a pint of very clear soft water. Put the sugar into a porcelain preserving kettle, mix it with the water and white of egg, and when it has entirely dissolved, set it over the fire, and boil and skim it till the sc.u.m ceases to rise, which will be very soon, if the sugar is as good as it should be. There is no economy in using inferior sugar for sweetmeats, as much of it will be lost in skimming and sediment. In the mean time, boil in a little sauce-pan a bunch of fresh green peach leaves that have been cleared from all dust; or a handful of broken-up peach kernels. When the flavor is well extracted, strain this water and mix it with the syrup. Then put in the halved peaches, and boil them (uncovered) till quite clear and soft, but not till they break. While warm, put them up with the syrup in gla.s.s or white-ware jars.
Apricots are preserved in the same way.
_Preserved Green Gages._--Get the largest and ripest green gages, or egg plums. Scald them in boiling water to make them peel easily; the skins of all sorts of plums becoming very hard and tough when preserved.
Remove the stems; they are no ornament, and render them troublesome to eat. Make a syrup in the usual way, allowing to each pound of plums a pound of the finest loaf sugar, half a pint of water, and half a white of egg. When well skimmed and boiled put in the plums, and boil them gently till quite clear and soft, but not till broken. All plums may be done in this manner. If not as ripe as possible, they will require to each pound of fruit a pound and a half of the best sugar.