GOOD YEAST.--Take two handfuls of hops. The best hops have a fresh light green color, and a pleasant, lively smell. Pour on them two quarts of boiling water, and let them boil five minutes after they have come to a boil; not longer, for it makes them bitter. Then strain the liquid into a pan, and add a table-spoonful of brown sugar and one of salt. When lukewarm, stir in flour enough to make a thick batter. Add a jill and a half of fresh baker"s yeast. Set it in a warm place till it begins to ferment; then keep it in the cellar well corked.
This yeast will continue good two weeks. When you open the jug to take out some yeast, put in always a table-spoonful of flour before you cork it up again.
A stone jug or pitcher is a good vessel for yeast. Wash it very clean in hot water, always before you put in fresh yeast, and then rinse the jug with water in which a spoonful of pearlash has been melted, letting the pearlash water remain in it five or six minutes, and shaking it round hard. Then rinse it with plain cold water.
All vessels that have contained acids should have pearlash or soda in the rinsing water, and then be finished with plain water.
Never clean a bottle by rinsing it with shot. The lead is poisonous, and has caused death. Some bits of raw potato chopped, and put in the water, will clean the inside of bottles or jugs, and brighten decanters.
YEAST POWDERS.--Get two ounces of bicarbonate of soda, and one ounce of tartaric acid. Divide the soda into equal portions, about a level tea-spoonful in each, and the tartaric acid into level salt-spoonfuls.
By _level_ we mean that the article is not to be heaped in the least, not rising above the edge of the spoon. Cut some papers of regular and sufficient size, and fold them nicely. Put the soda into white papers, and the tartaric acid into blue papers. Place an equal number of each in a little square or oblong box, standing up the papers on their folded edges. Dissolve them in two separate cups, in as much tepid water as will cover the powder. They must be entirely melted before using. Stir in the soda at the beginning, and the tartaric acid at the conclusion of the batter or cake mixture.
We do not approve of the introduction of these substances into cakes.
They give a sort of fact.i.tious lightness very different from that honestly produced by a liberal allowance of egg and b.u.t.ter, genuine yeast, and good beating and stirring--but they destroy the taste of the seasoning, and are certain destruction to the taste of lemon, orange, strawberry, pine-apple, and every kind of fruit flavoring. The justly celebrated Mrs. Goodfellow never used any of them in her school, and the articles made there by her pupils, (of whom the author was one) were such as no money can purchase in the present times. Any confectioner who would _faithfully_ revive them could make a fortune by doing so.
The present introduction of hartshorn into bread and cakes is an abomination, rendering the articles equally unpalatable and unwholesome.
Cannot the use of hartshorn in food be put down? Which of our _American_ doctors will write a book on "culinary poisons."
VINEGAR.--Mix together in a clean keg three gallons of clear rain water, (that has been caught in a clean tub without running over the roof of a house,) one quart of _West India_ mola.s.ses, and one pint of baker"s yeast. Cover it, and set it in a warm place where it will be exposed to the summer sun. Remember to shake the cask every day. In three months it will be excellent vinegar. Then transfer it to stone jugs, and keep it closely corked. Begin it in May.
So much of the vinegar sold in stores is concocted of pernicious drugs, that we recommend all families to make their own, or to buy it from a cider farmer. Good cider, set in the sun, will after a while become good vinegar.
What is shamefully called the best white wine vinegar is frequently a slow poison, as may be known by its action upon oysters, pickles, &c. It is quite clear and well to look at. Its taste is very sharp and pungent, as to overpower and render every thing that is with it painfully sour, and it has a singular and disagreeable smell when boiling. Oysters cooked with this vinegar go immediately into rags, and are soon entirely eaten up, or dissolved into a thin whitish liquid, fit for nothing but to throw away.
Pickles the same. A punishment should be provided by law for persons who manufacture and sell these deleterious compounds, of which we have now so many, that it would indeed be well if we could make at home, as far as possible, every thing we eat and drink.
PINK CHAMPAGNE--(_Domestic._)--Pick from the stems three quarts of fine ripe red currants, and mix with them three quarts of ripe white currants. Bruise them all. Put nine pounds of loaf sugar to melt in three gallons of very clear soft water. Boil the water and sugar together for half an hour, skimming carefully, and pour the liquid boiling hot over the currants. When it is nearly cold, add a small tea-cupful of excellent strong fresh yeast. Let it ferment for two days, and then strain it into a small cask through a very clean hair sieve.
Put into the cask half an ounce of finely-chipped isingla.s.s. Have rather more liquor than will fill the cask at first, and keep it to fill up as it works over. In about a fortnight bung it up. Let it remain in the cask till April. Then transfer it to bottles, (putting into each a lump of double-refined loaf sugar,) and letting them remain one day uncorked.
Then cork and wire them. They must stand upright in the cellar; but when likely to be wanted, lay a few of them on their sides for a week.
SHERRY COBBLER.--Lay in the bottom of a large tumbler, two table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar, and squeeze over it (through a strainer) the juice of a large lemon that has been softened by rolling under your hand. Then half fill the tumbler with ice, broken very small.
Add a large gla.s.s of very good sherry wine. Take another tumbler, and pour the liquid back and forward from gla.s.s to gla.s.s, till completely mixed without stirring. Sip it through a clean straw, or one of the tubes made on purpose.
MINT JULEP.--Cut two or three round slices from a fine ripe pine-apple that has been pared; and take out the core or hard part from the centre of each slice. A still better way is to split down the pine-apple into four pieces, and grate two of the quarters with a coa.r.s.e grater, standing it upright while doing so. Put it into a large tumbler, and cover the fruit with two or three heaped table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf sugar. Add a large gla.s.s of the best brandy, and pour on cold water till the tumbler is two-thirds full. Then put in a thick layer of finely broken ice, till it almost reaches the top. Finish by sticking in a full bunch of fresh green mint in handsome sprigs, that rise far above one side of the tumbler; and at the other side place a clean straw, or one of the tubes used for the same purpose.
CAROLINA PUNCH.--Mix together a tumbler of peach brandy and a tumbler of water, the juice of two lemons, the yellow rinds of four, pared to transparent thinness, and four large juicy free-stone peaches cut in half, and the kernels of their stones blanched and broken up. If you cannot obtain peaches, quarter and grate down a ripe pine-apple. Let all these ingredients infuse with a quart of Jamaica spirits in a bowl for two days before the punch is wanted. Keep it carefully covered with a cloth. Then pour on sufficient cold water to make the punch of the desired strength; and strain the liquid into another bowl, and put in a large lump of ice. Serve it out in small gla.s.ses.
NECTAR.--Take two pounds of _the best_ raisins, seeded and chopped; the grated yellow rind and the juice of four fine lemons, and two pounds of loaf sugar, powdered. Put the sugar into a large porcelain kettle, and melt it in a gallon of water. Boil and skim it for half an hour, and while it is boiling hard, put in by degrees the raisins and lemons.
Continue the boiling about ten minutes. Put the mixture into a stoneware crock, and cover it closely. Let it stand three days, stirring it down to the bottom twice every day. Then strain it through a linen bag, and bottle it, sealing the corks. It will be fit for use in a fortnight.
Take it in wine-gla.s.ses, with a bit of ice in each. This is a nice temperance drink.
CHOCOLATE CARAMEL.--Take half a pint of rich milk, and put it to boil in a porcelain kettle; sc.r.a.pe down a square and a half of Baker"s chocolate, put it into a very clean tin cup, and set on the top of a stove till it becomes soft. Let the milk boil up _twice_. Then add, gradually, the chocolate, and stir both over the fire till thoroughly mixed and free from lumps. Stir in a half pint of the best white sugar powdered, and half a jill (or four large table-spoonfuls,) of mola.s.ses.
Let the whole boil fast and constantly (so as to bubble,) for at least one hour or more, till it is nearly as stiff as good mush. When all is done add a small tea-spoonful of essence of vanilla, and transfer the mixture to shallow tin pans, slightly greased with very nice sweet oil.
Set it on ice, or in a very cool place, and while yet soft mark it deeply in squares with a very sharp knife. When quite hard, cut the squares apart. If it does not harden well it has not been boiled long enough, or fast enough.
EGGS TO BOIL.--The water must be boiling fast when the eggs are put in.
First wipe them clean all over, with a wet cloth. It is true that the sh.e.l.ls are never eaten, but still, if brought to table dirty and discolored, they look slovenly, disgusting, and vulgar, such as are never seen in good houses. Put them into water that is boiling fast; and if desired very soft, four minutes will be sufficient. Six or eight minutes will barely set the whites and yolks, and ten or twelve minutes (in water that is really boiling,) will render them hard enough for salad. In the egg-boilers that are set on the table no egg will ever boil hard, as the water cools too soon. A _stale_ egg never boils hard.
Except in the spring, and late in the winter, there is often much difficulty in obtaining good eggs, unless you have fowls of your own. If an egg is really fresh, when held up against the light, the yolk looks round and compact and the white clear and transparent; you may then trust it. But if the yolk is thick, broken, and mixed among the white, and the white is cloudy and muddled, it is certainly bad, and should be thrown away. When tried in a pan of cold water the freshest will sink, and the stale ones float on the surface. It requires strong brine to bear up a good egg. Eggs may be preserved for keeping a few months, by putting every one in fast boiling water for _one minute_. Then grease them all over the outside with good melted fat, and wedge down close together (layer above layer,) in a box of powdered charcoal. This preserves them for a sea voyage of several weeks. The charcoal box must be kept closely covered, and closed immediately whenever opened. Pack the eggs with the small end downwards.
POACHED EGGS.--See that the eggs are quite fresh. Pour from a kettle of boiling water enough to fill a broad shallow stew-pan. Break the eggs into a saucer, (one at a time,) slip them carefully into the hot water, and let them stand in it till the whites are set. Then put the pan over a moderate fire; and, as soon as the water boils again, the eggs are ready. The whites should be firm, and the yolks should appear in the centre looking yellow through a thin transparent coating of the white.
Take them out carefully (one by one,) with an egg-slice. Have ready, for each egg, a nice slice of toast of a light brown or yellow all over.
Trim off all the crust, and dip the toast for a minute in hot water.
Then b.u.t.ter it _slightly_ with fresh b.u.t.ter. Trim off neatly the ragged and discolored white from the edge of each egg. Lay a poached egg in the middle of every toast, and serve them up warm.
Instead of toast, you may lay beneath every egg a thin slice of ham, that has been soaked, and nicely broiled and trimmed. Or, large thin slices from the breast of a cold roast turkey, or cold fillet of roast pork or veal. These are nice breakfast dishes.
_Scrambled Eggs._--Make a mixture as for an omelet, but instead of frying put it into a sauce-pan, and when it has boiled five minutes take it off, and chop and mix all the ingredients into confusion. Serve it up hot in a deep dish. It is eaten at breakfast, and is by many preferred to a fried omelet. You may season it with grated ham, tongue, or sweet herbs.
EGG-NOGG.--Beat, till very light and thick, the yolks only of six eggs.
Stir the eggs, gradually, into a quart of rich unskimmed milk, and add half a pound of powdered loaf sugar, a half pint of brandy, and a grated nutmeg. Next beat three whites of the eggs by themselves, and stir them quickly into the mixture. Divide it into two pitchers, and pour it back and forward from one pitcher to the other till it has a fine froth. Then serve it in a large china bowl, with a silver ladle in it, and distribute it in gla.s.ses with handles.
_To Beat Eggs._--For beating eggs have a broad shallow earthen pan. If beaten in tin, the coldness of the metal r.e.t.a.r.ds their lightness; for the same reason, hickory rods are better than tin wire. Beat with a short quick stroke, holding the egg rods in your right hand close to your side, and do not exert your elbow, or use your arm violently with a hard sweeping stroke; of this there is no necessity. If beaten in a proper manner, (moving your hand _only_ at the wrist) the eggs will be light long before you are fatigued. But you must continue beating till after the froth has subsided, and the pan of eggs presents a smooth thick surface, like a nice boiled custard. White of egg is done if it stands stiff alone, and will not fall from the beater when held upon it.
b.u.t.ter and sugar should always be stirred with a strong hickory spaddle, which resembles a short mush stick, rather broad and flattened at one end.
BRAN m.u.f.fINS.--Take three quarts of bran, (unbolted wheat flour) and sift it into a large pan. Warm three half pints of rich milk, mixing with it half a common tumbler of _West India_ mola.s.ses. Cut up in the warm milk and mola.s.ses two ounces or two large heaped table-spoonfuls of fresh b.u.t.ter, and stir it about till well mixed all through. Then stir all the liquid into the flour. Beat in a shallow pan three eggs till very thick and light, and then stir them gradually into the pan of flour, &c. Lastly, add two table-spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast. Cover the mixture and set it to rise. When risen very light heat a griddle on the oven of a stove, set m.u.f.fin rings upon it, fill the rings nearly to the top, and bake the m.u.f.fins. Send them to table hot, pull them open with your fingers, and b.u.t.ter them. They will be much liked if properly made and baked.
COTTAGE CHEESE.--This is a good way of using up a pan of milk that is found to be turning sour. Or you may turn it, on purpose, by stirring in a spoonful of cider vinegar. Having covered it, set it in a warm place till it becomes a curd. Then pour off the liquid, and tie up the curd in a clean linen bag with a pointed end, and set a bowl under it to catch the droppings; but do not squeeze it. After it has drained ten or twelve hours, transfer the curd to a deep dish, enrich it with some cream, and press and chop it with a large spoon till it is a soft ma.s.s; adding, as you proceed, an ounce or more of nice fresh b.u.t.ter. Then set it on ice till tea-time.
FRENCH HAM PIE.--Having soaked, boiled, and skinned a small ham of the best quality, and taken out the bone, trim it into a handsome oval shape. Of the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs make a rich gravy by stewing them in a sauce-pan with a little water, and four pigs feet, (split up.) Have ready a plentiful sufficiency of nice forcemeat made of cold roast chicken or veal, minced suet, and grated bread-crumbs, b.u.t.ter, minced sweet marjoram or tarragon, and some hard-boiled yolk of egg crumbled. Have ready, prepared, a very nice puff paste; line with it the bottom and sides of a large deep dish, and lay in it the oval ham, filling up at the corners and all round with the forcemeat, and spreading a layer of it on the top. Pour on gravy to moisten the whole, and put on the paste intended for the lid. Notch the edges handsomely, and stick a flower or tulip of paste in the cross slit at the top, and place a wreath of paste leaves all round. Bake it light brown, and eat it warm or cold. It is a fine dish for a dinner or supper party, or for a handsome luncheon or breakfast.
_A Tongue Pie_--Is made in a similar manner of a boiled smoked tongue, peeled and trimmed, and filled in with forcemeat. For a large company have _two_ tongue pies, as it will be much liked, if made as above.
FIG PUDDING.--Take a pint of very ripe figs, (peeled,) cut them up and mash them smooth with the grated yellow rind of a large ripe lemon or orange, and the juice of two. Mix together a large spoonful of fresh b.u.t.ter, and two table-spoonfuls of sugar, and stir the whole very hard.
Bake it in a deep dish, and eat it fresh, but not warm. Grate sugar over the surface. When _ripe_ figs can be obtained, this pudding is much liked.
POKE PLANT.--Early in the spring, the young green stalks of the pokeberry plant, (when they are still mild and tender, and have not yet acquired a reddish tinge or a strong unpleasant taste,) are generally much liked as a vegetable, and are by many persons considered equal to asparagus. They are brought in bundles to Philadelphia market. Wash and drain them, and put them on to boil in a pot of cold water. When _quite tender_ all through they are done. Dish them in the manner of asparagus, laid on a toast dipped for a minute in hot water, and then b.u.t.tered.
You may pour a very little drawn or melted b.u.t.ter over the poke.
RHUBARB TARTS.--Take large fresh stalks of the rapontica plant, such as are full-grown and reddish. Peel off the thin skin, and cut them into bits all of the same size, either one inch or two inches long. Wash them in cold water through a cullender, (but do not drain them much,) and put them into a stew-pan without any more water. Mix with them plenty of good sugar, in the proportion of half a pound of sugar to a pint of cut-up rhubarb stalks. Cover it, and stew it slowly till quite soft.