PICKLED CUc.u.mBERS.--Take small young cuc.u.mbers, freshly gathered, and free from blemishes. Make a brine strong enough to float an egg, and let the cuc.u.mbers lie in it till they become yellow, stirring them down to the bottom twice a day. Then pour off all the brine, wash the cuc.u.mbers in cold water, and drain them. Lay a thick bed of fresh green vine leaves in the bottom and sides of a porcelain kettle. Put in the cuc.u.mbers, and pour on sufficient cold water to wet them all plentifully. Then cover them, closely, with more vine leaves, and pour on more water, packing the leaves well and pressing them down. Fill up to the top with water and vine leaves, and cover the kettle closely to keep in the steam. Hang it over a slow fire where there is no blaze, and keep it _warm_ all night, but not _hot_. In the morning if the pickles are not a fine deep green, remove the vine leaves and replace them with a fresh supply. After this, they will be generally green enough; but if not, continue till they are. Then drain the cuc.u.mbers on a sieve, and transfer them to a very clean stone jar. To fifty cuc.u.mbers allow four quarts of excellent vinegar, and a bit of alum about the size of a large grain of corn, with half an ounce of mustard seed, half an ounce of mace, a broken-up nutmeg, and half an ounce of root ginger, sliced. Tie up the spice in three muslin bags, and boil them ten minutes in the vinegar. Then take out and lay them among the cuc.u.mbers in the jar; one to the bottom, one in the middle, and one at the top. Pour over them the vinegar boiling hot; add a table-spoonful of sweet oil, and cork the jar immediately, tying a leather over it. Keep wooden pickle spoons in the pantry for taking out pickles, and always be careful to close the jar immediately after.
You need not keep the bags of spice in the jars more than two or three weeks.
PICKLED ONIONS.--Take the small silver-skinned white onions. Peel off the outer skin. Make a brine strong enough to float an egg, skim it well, and when it begins to cool pour it upon the onions. Let them stand in it (closely covered,) till quite cold. Then take them out, peel off another skin, and wash them through a cullender in cold water. Next, boil them in milk till tender all through, so that you can easily pierce them with a needle. Then drain off the milk. Measure them, and to a quart of onions allow a quart of the best cider vinegar. Boil in the vinegar two muslin bags tied up with broken-up nutmeg and mace. When it has boiled, pour it hot over the onions in the jar; having laid one bag of spice at the bottom, and one in the middle. The onions should fill two thirds of the jar, and the vinegar the remainder. Finish with a table-spoonful of salad oil, and cork the jar immediately, and tie on the leather cover.
As onions pickled this way are generally much liked, it is well, when doing them, to make several jars full.
_Cuc.u.mber and Onion Pickle._--To a dozen fine cuc.u.mbers allow three large onions. Pare the cuc.u.mbers and peel the onions, and cut both into thick slices. Sprinkle salt and pepper over them, and let them rest till next day. Then drain them well, and put them into a stone jar. Pour boiling vinegar over them. Close the jar, and set it in a warm place.
Next day repeat the boiling vinegar, and cork the jar. Next day repeat it again, with a bag of mace, nutmeg, and ginger, boiled in the vinegar.
Then cork the jar, and tie it up. When the pickle is finished, divide it in small stone jars, with sweet oil on the top of each.
WALNUTS OR b.u.t.tERNUTS PICKLED--Gather them in early summer, when they are full-grown, but so tender that a large needle will easily pierce them all through. Rub off the outer skin with a coa.r.s.e cloth, and then lay them in salt and water for a week, changing the brine every other day. Allow for this brine a small quarter of a pound of salt to a large quart of water. Make enough to cover all the nuts well. Place a large lid over the pan, and keep them closely from the air. The last day take them out of the brine, drain them, and p.r.i.c.k every one quite through in several places with a large needle. Drain them again, spread them out on large flat dishes, and set them to blacken for two days in the hot sun.
For a hundred nuts, allow a gallon of excellent cider vinegar, half an ounce of black pepper-corns, half an ounce of cloves, half an ounce of allspice, an ounce of root ginger, and an ounce of mace. Boil the spice in the vinegar for ten minutes, tied up in eight small muslin bags. Then take them out, and having divided the nuts in four stone jars, distribute among them, equally, the bags of spice, and pour on the vinegar hot, an equal portion in each jar. While warm, secure them with flat corks, and tie leather over them. Done this way, you may begin to use them in a week. If you have not enough of vinegar to fill the jars up to the top, add some cold, and strew among the nuts some blades of mace. Finish with a large spoonful of salad oil at the top of each jar.
PICKLED PLUMS.--Take large fine plums; perfect, and quite ripe. To every quart of plums allow half a pound of the best white sugar powdered, and a large pint of the best cider vinegar. Melt the sugar in the vinegar, and put it with the fruit into a porcelain kettle; all the plums having been previously p.r.i.c.ked to the stone with a large needle. Lay among them some small muslin bags filled with broken nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon; and if you choose, a few cloves. Give them one boil up, skimming them well. Put them warm into stone jars, with the bags interspersed, and cork them immediately. Green gages may be done in this manner, first rendering them greener by boiling with vine leaves in the usual way.
_Damsons Pickled._--Do these in the same manner as plums; but as they are much more acid, allow brown sugar of the best kind. Plums or damsons may be pickled plain, and with little trouble if full ripe, p.r.i.c.ked with a needle, and packed down in a stone jar with profuse layers of brown sugar between the layers of fruit; the jars filled up with cold cider vinegar, and putting sweet oil at the top.
_Pickled Cherries._--Take the largest and finest red cherries, fully ripe. Morellas are the best. Either remove the stems entirely, or cut them short, within two inches of the fruit. Have ready a large gla.s.s jar. Fill it two thirds with fresh newly-gathered cherries, and then fill up to the top with the best vinegar. Keep it well covered, and if both fruit and vinegar are of excellent quality, no boiling is necessary, and no spice, as the cherry flavor will be retained, and they will not shrivel.
_b.u.t.ton Tomatos._--The small round tomatos, either red or yellow, will keep perfectly, if put whole into cold vinegar of the _really_ best quality. You may add a bag of spice if you choose.
_Nasturtion Seeds._--Keep a large gla.s.s jar of cold cider vinegar, and put in the green seeds of nasturtions after the flowers are off, and the seeds full-grown, but not hard. Remove the stalks. In this simple way nasturtions will keep perfectly well, and are an excellent subst.i.tute for capers with boiled mutton. They can be raised profusely, even in a city garden, and the blossoms are very beautiful. With pepper-gra.s.s and nasturtion flowers from your own garden, you can have a nice salad for a summer evening tea-table.
The three pickles above (cherries, b.u.t.ton tomatos, and nasturtion seeds,) are cheap, easy, and palatable. Try them. To flavor them with spice, boil the vinegar with a bag of spice in it, and pour it on hot, leaving the bag among them in the jar.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE SICK.
CHICKEN BROTH.--Skin and cut up a fine full-grown fowl. If but little is wanted, take only the dark meat for the broth, and put it into a pot with a small quart of water, and slowly boil it to rags. Strain the liquid and return it to the pot, and thicken it with two spoonfuls of arrow root, if no vegetables are permitted. Otherwise, you may boil with the chicken some sliced onion and sliced turnip, with a grated parsnip and a sliced potato, straining out the vegetables with the shreds of fowl. You may reserve the white meat of the breast and wings to make another dish, if the patient is permitted to take it. This is the white meat cut off the bones, and stewed slowly in fresh oyster liquid, with a bit of nice b.u.t.ter. If the patient is well enough, stir in a beaten egg just before the stew is taken from the fire.
_Oyster Soup for Invalids._--Remove the gristle from a dozen fine large fresh oysters. Take half their liquor and mix it with an equal portion of very good milk, seasoning it with three or four blades of mace, and a stalk of celery sc.r.a.ped and cut into pieces. When it has boiled and been skimmed well, strain it over the oysters, and let all simmer together till the oysters are plumped, but do not let them come to a boil. Serve it up in a bowl, with some milk biscuit to eat with it.
_Clam Soup for Invalids._--Where salt is permitted, cut up and boil slowly in their own liquor a dozen or more small sand clams. When well boiled and skimmed, strain the liquor into a clean sauce-pan, and thicken it with bread crumbs, and a small bit of nice fresh b.u.t.ter. The clams are of no further use. Throw them away.
MUTTON BROTH FOR THE SICK.--Take two pounds from a nice neck of mutton, and leave out some of the fat if there seems too much. Cut the meat from the bones, and put it into a pot with a large quart of water, and no seasoning. Boil it till the meat is all in rags. Do not skim it, as the fat on the surface is very healing, if without salt or pepper. When done, strain it into a bowl. Let the patient eat with it a slice of very light wheat bread, having the crust cut off. It is excellent for the dysentery. When the patient is convalescent, a little seasoning may be allowed, and some well-boiled mashed turnips stirred into the bowl of soup with a boiled onion sliced, and a thickening of arrow-root or farina, stirred in about half an hour before the soup is taken up. Pour it off clear from the shreds of meat at the bottom.
_Veal Broth for Invalids._--Take a pound of knuckle of veal cut in pieces, four calf"s feet, split up. Boil them in a large quart of water, till they are all reduced to rags. Then strain the liquid, and add to it the soft part, only, of half a dozen fine oysters, and three or four blades of mace. Set it again on the fire, and as soon as it simmers well, take it off, and serve it up with very light milk biscuit, or little bread rolls, to eat with it. Veal broth may be made with a piece of knuckle of veal cut small, and boiled in the liquor of clams instead of water. The clams themselves must be omitted, as they are always tough and indigestible for an invalid, but their liquor adds a pleasant relish to the insipidity of the veal. As the strength of the patient improves, a grated carrot, a sliced onion, and some sliced turnip, may be added to the veal from the beginning.
_Raw Oysters for the Sick._--Take large fine fresh oysters, and carefully cut out the hard part or gristle. They are considered very good for convalescents, being, when raw, cooling, refreshing, and nutritious. Drain them well from the liquor, making them as dry as you can; and if permitted, accompany the oysters with black pepper and vinegar, and a plate of bread and b.u.t.ter.
_Birds._--Convalescents, not yet allowed to eat meat, can generally relish birds nicely broiled, or stewed in their own gravy, with any appropriate seasoning, and a little _fresh_ b.u.t.ter, if they are not very fat. When dished, lay under each a piece of nice toast, dipped for a minute in hot water.
_Beefsteak for Invalids._--When this can be eaten with an appet.i.te, there is no greater promoter of returning health; but it must be of the best sirloin steak, very tender, well broiled, and thoroughly done on both sides, the gravy being carefully saved to serve up with it, a little fresh b.u.t.ter being added after the meat comes off the gridiron.
If the taste of onion is desired, merely rub the plate with a peeled onion. A very tender lamb-chop well broiled may be eaten by way of change; but a tenderloin steak is better. Avoid pork, or veal cutlets.
_Gravy Sippets._--For invalids who cannot yet eat meat, a light and relishing preparation may be made with one or two slices of the best wheat bread, divested of the crust, and spread on a hot plate, while some nice well-skimmed gravy is poured over them; the gravy of roast beef, veal, or mutton, that has had no b.u.t.ter about it. Gravy sippets will form a variety to the usual broths, and other beginnings for the resumption of animal food.
HERB TEAS.--Have one or more china or white-ware pots for the purpose of making herb teas; and see that, after using, they are well washed, well scalded and dried, and set open in the sun till wanted again. The herbs, whether green or dried, should be of excellent quality, and picked very clean from dust and stems. Having well-scalded the pot, take the allotted quant.i.ty of the herb and put it in; then pour on the water, which must be actually boiling at the time, and press the herbs down at the bottom with a silver spoon. Then put on the lid closely, and immediately stop up the spout with a small cork, or a wad of soft white paper rolled tightly. This is to keep in the steam, and prevent the strength of the herb from escaping. When sufficiently boiled, pour into a pitcher with a lid, and through a strainer, as much of the tea as is wanted. Strainers of block tin, with a handle and _very fine_ close holes, are excellent for this and other purposes.
_Herb Candies._--h.o.a.rhound candy, and many others, may be made of a strong decoction or tea of the herb, thickened with loaf sugar, and boiled, skimmed, and stirred till very thick and stiff. Then pour it smoothly into a square tin pan and set it in a cool place to congeal.
While still soft, mark it in even squares with a knife. When quite cold and hard, loosen it from the pan with a knife, and take it out. It is good for coughs.
Peppermint candy is made in the same way, and is used for flatulence.
GRUEL.--Gruels, for patients who are unable to take any thing more substantial, may be made of ground rice flour, arrow root, indian meal, oatmeal grits, or farina. Mix to a paste, with water, two large table-spoonfuls of any of the above articles; then stir the paste, gradually, into a pint of water boiling on the fire, making it very smooth and pressing out all the lumps. To prevent it boiling over, when it has risen nearly to the top of the pan, remove it from the fire.
Sweeten it while hot, and, if permitted, add a little white wine with nutmeg, and a small bit of fresh b.u.t.ter.
_Toast and Water._--Cut a large slice or two of the best wheat bread; pare off all the crust; and with a long-handled toasting fork toast it evenly on both sides, not allowing it to blacken or burn in any part.
While hot from the fire, plunge the toast immediately into a quart pitcher of clear cold water. Cover the pitcher instantly, and let it infuse for half an hour or more, without leaving off the cover. When done, it should be of a very pale brown color.
JELLY WATER.--Stir a table-spoonful of currant jelly into a half pint tumbler of ice water, if the patient is feverish. The jelly may be of other fruit, and if not sweet enough add some loaf sugar. The juice of any ripe fruit, made sweet and mixed with cold water, is a good subst.i.tute when sweetmeats are not at hand. Warm drinks are now seldom used, but to promote perspiration and carry off a cold. Tamarinds are in themselves very cooling and pleasant, and make an agreeable drink infused in water, either warm or cold.
CARRAGEEN BLANCMANGE.--Carrageen is a species of sea moss which becomes glutinous when boiled, and is considered remarkably nutritious and strengthening. It can also be rendered very palatable. It is found abundantly on some parts of our sea-coast, and may be obtained of the best druggists, very nicely cleaned and pressed. To a small loose handful of carrageen allow a small quart of rich unskimmed milk, half a pound of powdered white sugar, a stick of the best cinnamon broken-up, six or seven blades of mace, and half a nutmeg, powdered. Having washed the carrageen through two or three cold waters, and shaken it out to remove the drops that hang about it, put it to a pint and a half of the cold milk. Boil it half an hour in a covered porcelain kettle. Then take it out, for if it boils too long the carrageen will taste too strongly.
In another vessel boil the remaining half pint of milk with the spices, till very highly flavored. Then strain it into the carrageen milk, and stir in, gradually, the half pound of powdered loaf sugar. Set the porcelain kettle again over the fire, and let it boil fast for five minutes longer. Then strain it into moulds or bowls previously wet with cold water; and when it has well congealed, turn it out, and serve it up with sweetened cream, flavored with rose-water or peach-water. If for an invalid, who is not allowed spices, flavor it with rose-water only, stirred in after the blancmange has been taken from the fire.
FARINA BLANCMANGE.--From a quart of rich milk take out half a pint. Put the half pint into a small sauce-pan, and add (if permitted) sufficient mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon to flavor it well; the spices being tied up in a very thin muslin bag. Then add the flavored milk to the remainder, having stirred in two heaped table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar. Set it over the fire in a porcelain kettle, and when it has come to a boil sprinkle in, gradually, four large heaping table-spoonfuls of farina, stirring it well. Keep it boiling a quarter of an hour after all the farina is in. When done, strain it into blancmange moulds, and set it on ice to congeal. If for an invalid not allowed spice, boil it plain, and when taken from the fire stir in a wine-gla.s.s of rose-water. If rose-water is boiled with it from the beginning, the strength and flavor will evaporate.
_Farina Flummery._--Mix with a small pint of water a large pint of the juice of ripe currants, or strawberries, or of stewed cranberries in winter, made very sweet with white sugar. Boil the water and juice together, and stir in gradually a quarter pound of farina, and then boil it fifteen minutes longer. Afterwards transfer it to moulds, and set it on ice till congealed.
_Farina Gruel._--Have some water boiling on the fire, and when it boils fast, sprinkle in sufficient farina to make it moderately thick. Then sweeten it with white sugar. If permitted, stir in some white wine, and nutmeg grated.
BEEF TEA.--Take a pound of fine fresh beefsteak cut from the round, without any fat. Chop it into small bits, and season it with a level salt-spoon of salt. Put it into a wide-mouthed bottle, cork it closely, and set it into a kettle of cold water, which must reach to the neck of the bottle. Let it boil steadily for three hours, by which time the essence will be all extracted from the beef. Then remove the cork, and strain the liquid into a bowl, and skim it. It can be made still more conveniently in a _bain-marie_ or double kettle; an article useful for many purposes, particular in cookery for an invalid. Mutton or veal tea are made in the same manner. Also chicken tea, or essence of any sort of poultry or game.
_Chicken Panada._--Having skinned and cut up a fine full-grown chicken, take the white meat from the breast and wings, and mince it small for panada. The dark meat will do for chicken tea. Add to the panada a slice of wheat bread crumbled and mixed in, and boil it in a _bain-marie_ with the water outside; seasoning it (if permitted) with powdered mace or nutmeg.
_Sweet Panada._--Mix with a pint of water a gla.s.s of madeira or sherry; a heaped table-spoonful of powdered loaf sugar, half the yellow rind of a lemon grated, and half the juice; and a half tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg or mace. Set the mixture over the fire, and as soon as it boils add crumbled milk biscuit, or a rusk. Then give it another boil up.
BARLEY WATER.--Having washed clean two ounces of pearl barley, put it into a sauce-pan with a quart of water, the grated rind and the juice of a lemon, and two ounces of seeded raisins. Boil it slowly till the liquid is reduced one half. Then strain it, and sweeten it, while warm, with loaf sugar.
_Gum Arabic Water._--Take an ounce of the best and cleanest gum arabic.
Put it into a pitcher, and pour on a pint of boiling water, and stir while dissolving. When cool, squeeze in (if permitted) the juice of a lemon, and add loaf sugar enough to make it pleasantly sweet. Gum arabic water, alone, is sometimes given to a patient, whom it is expedient to keep very low as a preventive to inflammation.