FIG MARMALADE.--Take fine fresh figs that are perfectly ripe, such as can only be obtained in countries where they are cultivated in abundance. Weigh them, and to every two pounds of figs allow a pound and a half of sugar, and the grated yellow rind of a large orange or lemon.
Cut up the figs, and put them into a preserving kettle with the sugar, and orange or lemon rind, adding the juice. Boil them till the whole is reduced to a thick smooth ma.s.s, frequently stirring it up from the bottom. When done, put it warm into jars, and cover it closely.
CARRAWAY GINGERBREAD.--Cut up half a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter in a pint of _West India_ mola.s.ses, and warm them together slightly till the b.u.t.ter is quite soft. Then stir them well, and add gradually a half pound of good brown sugar, a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and two heaped table-spoonfuls of ground ginger, or three, if the ginger is not very strong. Sift two pounds or two quarts of flour. Beat four eggs till very thick and light, and stir them gradually into the mixture, in turn with the flour, and five or six large table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds, a little at a time. Dissolve a very small tea-spoonful of pearlash or soda in as much lukewarm water as will cover it. Then stir it in at the last.
Stir all very hard. Transfer it to a b.u.t.tered tin pan with straight sides, and bake it in a loaf in a moderate oven. It will require a great deal of baking.
SEA-VOYAGE GINGERBREAD.--Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and cut up in it a pound and a quarter of fresh b.u.t.ter; rub the b.u.t.ter well into the flour, and then mix in a pint of _West India_ mola.s.ses and a pound of the best brown sugar. Beat eight eggs till very light. Stir into the beaten egg two gla.s.ses or a jill of brandy. Add also to the egg a tea-cupful of ground ginger, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, with a tea-spoonful of soda melted in a little warm water. Wet the flour, &c., with this mixture till it becomes a soft dough. Sprinkle a little flour on your pasteboard, and with a broad knife spread portions of the mixture thickly and smoothly upon it. The thickness must be equal all through; therefore spread it carefully and evenly, as the dough will be too soft to roll out. Then with the edge of a tumbler dipped in flour, cut it out into round cakes. Have ready square pans, slightly b.u.t.tered; lay the cakes in them sufficiently far apart to prevent their running into each other when baked. Set the pans into a brisk oven, and bake the cakes well, seeing that they do not burn.
You may cut them out small with the lid of a cannister (or something similar) the usual size of gingerbread nuts.
These cakes will keep during a long voyage, and are frequently carried to sea. Many persons find highly-spiced gingerbread a preventive to sea-sickness.
EXCELLENT GROUND RICE PUDDING.--Take half a pint from a quart of rich milk, and boil in it a large handful of bitter almonds or peach kernels, blanched and broken up; also half a dozen blades of mace, keeping the sauce-pan closely covered. When the milk is highly flavored and reduced to one half the quant.i.ty, take it off and strain it. Stir, gradually, into the remaining pint and a half of milk, five heaping table-spoonfuls of ground rice; set it over the fire in a sauce-pan, and let it come to a boil. Then take it off, and while it is warm, mix in gradually a quarter of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter and a quarter of a pound of white sugar. Afterwards, beat eight eggs as light as possible, and stir them gradually into the mixture. Add some grated nutmeg. Stir the whole very hard; put it into a deep dish, and set it immediately into the oven.
Keep it baking steadily for an hour. It should then be done. Eat it cool, having sifted sugar over it.
CHOCOLATE MACAROONS.--Blanch half a pound of sh.e.l.led sweet almonds, by scalding them with boiling water, till the skins peel off easily. Then throw them into a bowl of cold water, and let them stand awhile. Take them out and wipe them separately. Afterwards set them in a warm place to dry thoroughly. Put them, one at a time, into a marble mortar, and pound them to a smooth paste, moistening them, as you proceed, with a few drops of rose-water to prevent their oiling. When you have pounded one or two, take them out of the mortar with a tea-spoon, and put them into a deep plate beside you, and continue removing the almonds to the plate till they are all done. Sc.r.a.pe down, as fine as possible, half a pound of the best chocolate, or of Baker"s prepared cocoa, and mix it thoroughly with the pounded almonds. Then set the plate in a cool place.
Put the whites of eight eggs into a shallow pan, and beat them to a stiff froth that will stand alone. Have ready a pound and a half of finely-powdered loaf sugar. Stir it hard into the beaten white-of-egg, a spoonful at a time. Then stir in, gradually, the mixture of almond and chocolate, and beat the whole very hard. Drop the mixture in equal portions upon thin white paper, laid on square tin pans; smoothing them with a spoon into round cakes about the size of a half dollar. Dredge the top of each lightly with powdered sugar. Set them into a quick oven, and bake them a light brown. When done, take them off the paper.
BREAD FRITTERS.--Pick, wash, and dry half a pound of Zante currants, and having spread them out on a flat dish, dredge them well with flour.
Grate some bread into a pan, till you have a pint of crumbs. Pour over the grated bread a pint of boiling milk, into which you have stirred, (as soon as taken from the fire,) a piece of fresh b.u.t.ter the size of an egg. Cover the pan and let it stand an hour. Then beat it hard, and add nutmeg, and a quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar, stirred in gradually, and two table-spoonfuls of the best brandy. Beat six eggs till very light, and then stir them by degrees into the mixture. Lastly, add the currants a few at a time, and beat the whole very hard. It should be a thick batter. If you find it too thin, add a little flour.
Have ready, over the fire, a hot frying-pan with boiling lard. Put in the batter in large spoonfuls, (so as not to touch,) and fry the fritters a light brown. Drain them on a perforated skimmer, or an inverted sieve placed in a deep pan, and send them to table hot. Eat them with wine, and powdered sugar.
TO KEEP FRESH b.u.t.tER FOR FRYING STEWING, &c.--Take several pounds of the _very best_ fresh b.u.t.ter. Cut it up in a large tin sauce-pan, or in any clean cooking vessel lined with tin. Set it over the fire, and boil and skim it during half an hour. Then pour it off, carefully, through a funnel into a stone jar, and cover it closely with a bladder or leather tied down over the lid. The b.u.t.ter having thus been separated from the salt and sediment, (which will be found remaining at the bottom of the boiling vessel,) if kept closely covered and set in a cool place, will continue good for a month, and be found excellent for frying and stewing, and other culinary purposes. Prepare it thus in May or June, and you may use it in winter, if living in a place where fresh b.u.t.ter is scarce at that season.
EXCELLENT MUTTON SOUP.--Having been accidentally omitted in its proper place, we here insert a receipt for very fine mutton soup. Try it. If for a large family, take two necks of mutton of the best quality, and let the butcher disjoint it. To each pound of meat allow a quart of water. Put it into a soup-pot, with a slice of ham, which will render the soup sufficiently salt. Boil it slowly, and skim it well, till the sc.u.m ceases to appear. If you have no ham, season the meat, when you first put it in, with a tea-spoonful of salt. In the mean time prepare the vegetables, but do not put them in till the meat has boiled to rags, and all the sc.u.m has risen to the surface and been carefully removed. It is then time to strain out the shreds of meat and bone, return the soup to the pot, and add the vegetables. First, have ready the deep yellow _outsides_ of three or four carrots grated, and stir them into the soup to enrich it, and give it a fine color. Next, add turnips, potatos, parsnips, salsify, celery, (including its green leaves from the top) and onions that have been already peeled and boiled by themselves to render them less strong. All the vegetables should be cut nicely into small pieces of equal size, (as for Soup a la Julienne.) You may add some boiled beets, handsomely sliced. And (if approved) strew in at the last a handful of fresh leaves of the marygold flower, which adds a flavor to some persons very agreeable. Put all these vegetables gradually into the soup, (those first that require the longest boiling,) and when they are all _quite done_ the soup is finished. If well made, with a liberal allowance of meat and vegetables, and well boiled, it will be much liked--particularly if served as Julienne soup, for company.
NEW ENGLAND CREAM CHEESE.--Take a large pan of rich unskimmed milk that has set in the dairy all night, and is from pasture-fed cows in the summer. Have ready a small tea-cup of rennet-water, in which a piece of rennet, from four to six inches square, has been steeping several hours.
Stir the rennet-water into the pan of milk, and set it in a warm place till it forms a firm curd. Tie up the curd in a clean linen bag, and hang it up in the dairy with a pan under it to receive the droppings, till it drips no longer. Then transfer the curd to a small cheese mould.
Cover it all over with a clean linen cloth, folded over the sides, and well secured. Put a heavy weight on the top, so as to press it hard. The wooden vessel in which you mould cream cheeses, should be a bottomless, broad hoop, about the circ.u.mference of a dinner plate. Set it (before you fill it with the curd) on a very clean table or large flat dish.
Turn it every day for four days, keeping it covered thickly all over with fresh green gra.s.s, frequently renewed. When done, keep it in a dry cool place, first rubbing the outside with fresh b.u.t.ter. When _once cut_, use the whole cheese on that day, as it may spoil before the next.
Send it to the tea-table cut across in triangular or pie pieces.
MOLa.s.sES CANDY.--Take three quarts of the best _West India_ mola.s.ses--no other will do. Put it into a thick block-tin kettle, (or a _bain-marie_) and stir in a pound and a half of the best and cleanest brown sugar.
Boil slowly and skim it well, (stirring it always after skimming,) and taking care that it does not burn. Prepare the grated rind and the juice of three large lemons or oranges, and stir them in after the mola.s.ses and sugar have boiled long enough to become very thick. Continue to boil and stir till it will boil no longer, and the spoon will no longer move.
Try some in a saucer, and let it get cold. If it is brittle, it is done. Then take it from the fire, and transfer it immediately to shallow square tin pans, that have been well greased with nice fresh b.u.t.ter or sweet oil. Spread it evenly, and set it to cool.
While boiling, you may add three or four spoonfuls of sh.e.l.l-barks, cracked clean from their sh.e.l.ls, and divided into halves. Or the same quant.i.ty of roasted pea-nuts or ground-nuts. With both nuts and lemon it will be very good.
WORTH KNOWING.
THE BEST CEMENT FOR JARS.--Before preserving and pickling time, buy at a druggist"s, two ounces of the clearest and whitest gum tragacanth.
Obtain also two grains of corrosive sublimate, (indispensable to this cement), and having picked the gum tragacanth clean, and free from dust and dark or discolored particles, put it with the sublimate into a very clean yellow or white-ware mug that holds a small quart and has a close-fitting lid belonging to it. Then fill the vessel more than two-thirds with very clean water, either warm or cold; and put on the lid. Let it rest till next morning. Then stir it with an _unpainted_ stick, that will reach quite down to the bottom. Repeat the stirring frequently through the day, always replacing the lid. In a few days the cement will have risen to the top of the mug, and have become a fine, clear, smooth paste, _far superior to any other_; and, by means of the corrosive sublimate, it will keep perfectly well to an indefinite period, if always closely covered, and having no sort of metal dipped into it. On no account attempt to keep this paste in tin, or even in silver. Both paste and metal will turn black and become spotted.
Remember this.
When going to put away your sweetmeats or pickles, this paste will come into use, and be found invaluable. It is best to keep all these things in small jars, as opening a large jar frequently, may injure its contents by letting in the air. In a large family, or where many pickles are eaten, those in most frequent use may be kept in stone-ware jars, with a wooden spoon always at hand for taking them out when wanted. On the surface of every jar of pickles, put one or two table-spoonfuls of salad oil, and then cover the top of the jar closely with a circular piece of bladder or thin leather. Next cut out a narrow band of the same, and cement it on with gum tragacanth paste, (made as above), and let it remain till you open the jar for use.
For sweetmeats, have gla.s.s or white-ware jars. Lay on the surface of each a circular paper, cut to fit and dipped in brandy. Next, put on an outside cover of bladder or thick white paper secured with a band of the same, coated with tragacanth paste. When this cement is used, the jars will not be infested with ants or other insects, the corrosive sublimate keeping them out.
This paste should be at hand in every library or office, when wanted for papers or books. It requires no boiling when made, and is always ready, and never spoils. For a small quant.i.ty, take an ounce of the best gum tragacanth and a grain of corrosive sublimate. Get a covered white or yellow-ware mug that holds a pint; such a mug will cost but twelve cents. Dissolve in less than a pint of water.
A BAIN-MARIE; OR, DOUBLE KETTLE.--These are most useful and satisfactory utensils, as all who have tried them can certify. They are to be had of various sizes at the best household furniture stores, and are made to order by the chief tinsmiths. The French make great use of the Bain-Marie; which, in some measure, accounts for the general superiority of their cookery.
This utensil, as made in America, is a double kettle of the strongest and best block-tin. The bottom of the outside kettle is of strong copper or iron, well tinned, and _kept so_. The food, however, is all contained in the inner kettle, which is of tin entirely. After the food is in, (having with it no water whatever), put on the lid tightly, and through the tube on the outside, pour into the outer kettle the water that is to cook it. If it boils away too fast, replenish it with more water poured in at the tube.
If it boils too slowly, quicken it by adding some salt put in at the tube. Keep the kettle closely covered, except when removing the lid to take off the sc.u.m; and do this quick and seldom. The superfluous steam is all the time escaping through the top of the tube and through a very small hole in the lid. Nothing cooked in this manner (with all the water outside) can possibly burn or scorch. After every skimming, stir the stew down to the bottom before you replace the lid. To cook in a Bain-Marie, requires a strong, steady heat, well kept up; and you must begin earlier than in the common way of stewing. This is an excellent vessel for boiling custards, blancmanges, marmalades, and many other nice things; as a good housewife will soon discover. Also, for making beef tea and other preparations for invalids. It is well to keep a small one purposely for a sick room.
If from deficiency of sugar, or being kept too warm, or not closely covered, any of your sweetmeats turn sour, do not hastily throw them away, but carefully remove the surface, (even if coated with blue mould), add an additional portion of sugar so as to make them very sweet, and put them into a Bain-Marie. Fill the outer kettle with _hot_ water, and boil it till you find the preserves restored to their proper taste. Then put them up again in jars that have been well scalded, rinsed, and sunned, and lay brandied paper on the surface of each.
Mouldy pickles may be recovered in a similar manner, adding fresh spices and vinegar before you put them up again.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Bain-Marie; or, Double Kettle. (p.r.o.nounced _Bine Maree_.)]