CARPETS. In order to keep them clean, they should not frequently be swept with a whisk brush, as it wears them fast; not more than once a week, and at other times with sprinkled tea-leaves, and a hair brush.
Fine carpets should be done gently on the knees, with a soft clothes"
brush. When a carpet requires more cleaning, take it up and beat it well, then lay it down and brush it on both sides with a hand-brush.
Turn it the right side upwards, and scour it clean with ox-gall and soap and water, and dry it with linen cloths. Lay it on the gra.s.s, or hang it up to dry thoroughly.
CARRAWAY CAKE. Dry two pounds of good flour, add ten spoonfuls of yeast, and twelve of cream. Wash the salt out of a pound of b.u.t.ter, and rub it into the flour; beat up eight eggs with half the whites, and mix it with the composition already prepared. Work it into a light paste, set it before the fire to rise, incorporate a pound of carraway comfits, and an hour will bake it.
CARRIER SAUCE. Chop six shalots fine, and boil them up with a gill of gravy, a spoonful of vinegar, some pepper and salt. This is used for mutton, and served in a boat.
CARROLE OF RICE. Wash and pick some rice quite clean, boil it five minutes in water, strain and put it into a stewpan, with a bit of b.u.t.ter, a good slice of ham, and an onion. Stew it over a very gentle fire till tender; have ready a mould lined with very thin slices of bacon, mix the yolks of two or three eggs with the rice, and then line the bacon with it about half an inch thick. Put into it a ragout of chicken, rabbit, veal, or of any thing else. Fill up the mould, and cover it close with rice. Bake it in a quick oven an hour, turn it over, and send it to table in a good gravy, or curry sauce.
CARROTS. This root requires a good deal of boiling. When young, wipe off the skin after they are boiled; when old, sc.r.a.pe them first, and boil them with salt meat. Carrots and parsnips should be kept in layers of dry sand for winter use, and not be wholly cleared from the earth. They should be placed separately, with their necks upward, and be drawn out regularly as they stand, without disturbing the middle or the sides.
CARROT PUDDING. Boil a large carrot tender; then bruise it in a marble mortar, and mix with it a spoonful of biscuit powder, or three or four little sweet biscuits without seeds, four yolks and two whites of eggs, a pint of cream either raw or scalded, a little ratifia, a large spoonful of orange or rose-water, a quarter of a nutmeg, and two ounces of sugar. Bake it in a shallow dish lined with paste; turn it out, and dust a little fine sugar over it.
CARROT SOUP. Put some beef bones into a saucepan, with four quarts of the liquor in which a leg of mutton or beef has been boiled, two large onions, a turnip, pepper and salt, and boil them together for three hours. Have ready six large carrots sc.r.a.ped and sliced; strain the soup on them, and stew them till soft enough to pulp through a hair sieve or coa.r.s.e cloth, with a wooden spoon; but pulp only the red part of the carrot, and not the yellow. The soup should be made the day before, and afterwards boiled with the pulp, to the thickness of peas-soup, with the addition of a little cayenne.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Carving]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Carving.]
CARVING. In nothing does ceremony more frequently triumph over comfort, than in the administration of "the honours of the table." Every one is sufficiently aware that a dinner, to be eaten in perfection, should be taken the very moment it is sent hot to table; yet few persons seem to understand, that he is the best carver who fills the plates of the greatest numbers of guests in the least portion of time, provided it be done with ease and elegance. In a mere family circle, where all cannot and ought not to be choosers, it is far better to fill the plates and send them round, rather than ask each individual what particular part they would prefer; and if in a larger company a similar plan were introduced, it would be attended with many advantages. A dexterous carver, would help half a dozen people in less time than is often wasted in making civil faces to a single guest. He will also cut fair, and observe an equitable distribution of the dainties he is serving out. It would save much time, if poultry, especially large turkeys and geese, were sent to table ready cut up. When a lady presides, the carving knife should be light, of a middling size, and of a fine edge. Strength is less required than address, in the manner of using, it; and to facilitate this, the butcher should be ordered to divide the joints of the bones, especially of the neck, breast, and loin of mutton, lamb, and veal; which may then be easily cut into thin slices attached to the adjoining bones. If the whole of the meat belonging to each bone should be too thick, a small slice may be taken off between every two bones.
The more fleshy joints, as fillet of veal, leg or saddle of mutton and beef, are to be helped in thin slices, neatly cut and smooth; observing to let the knife pa.s.s down to the bone in the mutton and beef joints.
The dish should not be too far off the carver, as it gives an awkward appearance, and makes the task more difficult. In helping fish, take care not to break the flakes; which in cod and very fresh salmon are large, and contribute much to the beauty of its appearance. A fish knife, not being sharp, divides it best on this account. Help a part of the roe, milt or liver, to each person. The heads of carp, part of those of cod and salmon, sounds of cod, and fins of turbot, are likewise esteemed niceties, and are to be attended to accordingly. In cutting up any wild fowl, duck, goose, or turkey, for a large party, if you cut the slices down from pinion to pinion, without making wings, there will be more prime pieces. But that the reader may derive the full advantage of these remarks, we shall descend to particulars, and ill.u.s.trate the subject with a variety of interesting Plates, which will show at the same time the manner in which game and poultry should be trussed and dished.----COD"S HEAD. Fish in general requires very little carving, the fleshy parts being those princ.i.p.ally esteemed. A cod"s head and shoulders, when in season, and properly boiled, is a very genteel and handsome dish. When cut, it should be done with a fish trowel, and the parts about the backbone on the shoulders are the firmest and the best.
Take off a piece quite down to the bone, in the direction _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, putting in the spoon at _a_, _c_, and with each slice of fish give a piece of the sound, which lies underneath the backbone and lines it, the meat of which is thin, and a little darker coloured than the body of the fish itself. This may be got by pa.s.sing a knife or spoon underneath, in the direction of _d_, _f_. About the head are many delicate parts, and a great deal of the jelly kind. The jelly part lies about the jaw, bones, and the firm parts within the head. Some are fond of the palate, and others the tongue, which likewise may be got by putting a spoon into the mouth.----EDGE BONE OF BEEF. Cut off a slice an inch thick all the length from _a_ to _b_, in the figure opposite, and then help. The soft fat which resembles marrow, lies at the back of the bone, below _c_; the firm fat must be cut in horizontal slices at the edge of the meat _d_.
It is proper to ask which is preferred, as tastes differ. The skewer that keeps the meat properly together when boiling is here shewn at _a_.
This should be drawn out before it is served up; or, if it is necessary to leave the skewer in, put a silver one.----SIRLOIN OF BEEF may be begun either at the end, or by cutting into the middle. It is usual to enquire whether the outside or the inside is preferred. For the outside, the slice should be cut down to the bones; and the same with every following helping. Slice the inside likewise, and give with each piece some of the soft fat. The inside done as follows eats excellently. Have ready some shalot vinegar boiling hot: mince the meat large, and a good deal of the fat; sprinkle it with salt, and pour the shalot vinegar and the gravy on it. Help with a spoon, as quickly as possible, on hot plates.----ROUND OR b.u.t.tOCK OF BEEF is cut in the same way as fillet of veal, in the next article. It should be kept even all over. When helping the fat, observe not to hack it, but cut it smooth. A deep slice should be cut off the beef before you begin to help, as directed above for the edge-bone.----FILLET OF VEAL. In an ox, this part is round of beef. Ask whether the brown outside be liked, otherwise help the next slice. The bone is taken out, and the meat tied close, before dressing, which makes the fillet very solid. It should be cut thin, and very smooth. A stuffing is put into the flap, which completely covers it; you must cut deep into this, and help a thin slice, as likewise of fat. From carelessness in not covering the latter with paper, it is sometimes dried up, to the great disappointment of the carver.----BREAST OF VEAL.
One part, called the brisket, is thick and gristly; put the knife about four inches from the edge of this, and cut through it, which will separate the ribs from the brisket.----CALF"S HEAD has a great deal of meat upon it, if properly managed. Cut slices from _a_ to _b_, letting the knife go close to the bone. In the fleshy part, at the neck end _c_, there lies the throat sweetbread, which you should help a slice of from _c_ to _d_ with the other part. Many like the eye, which must be cut out with the point of a knife, and divided in two. If the jaw-bone be taken off, there will be found some fine lean. Under the head is the palate, which is reckoned a nicety; the lady of the house should be acquainted with all things that are thought so, that she may distribute them among her guests.----SHOULDER OF MUTTON. This is a very good joint, and by many preferred to the leg; it being very full of gravy, if properly roasted, and produces many nice bits. The figure represents it as laid in the dish with its back uppermost. When it is first cut, it should be in the hollow part of it, in the direction of _a_, _b_, and the knife should be pa.s.sed deep to the bone. The prime part of the fat lies on the outer edge, and is to be cut out in thin slices in the direction _e_. If many are at table, and the hollow part cut in the line _a_, _b_, is eaten, some very good and delicate slices may be cut out on each side the ridge of the blade-bone, in the direction _c_, _d_. The line between these two dotted lines, is that in the direction of which the edge or ridge of the blade-bone lies, and cannot be cut across.----LEG OF MUTTON. A leg of wether mutton, which is the best flavoured, may be known by a round lump of fat at the edge of the broadest part, as at _a_. The best part is in the midway, at _b_, between the knuckle and further end. Begin to help there, by cutting thin deep slices to _c_. If the outside is not fat enough, help some from the side of the broad end in slices from _e_ to _f_. This part is most juicy; but many prefer the knuckle, which in fine mutton will be very tender though dry. There are very fine slices on the back of the leg: turn it up, and cut the broad end, not in the direction you did the other side, but longways. To cut out the cramp bone, take hold of the shank with your left hand, and cut down to the thigh bone at _d_; then pa.s.s the knife under the cramp bone in the direction, _d_, _g_.----FORE QUARTER OF LAMB. Separate the shoulder from the scoven, which is the breast and ribs, by pa.s.sing the knife under in the direction of _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_; keeping it towards you horizontally, to prevent cutting the meat too much off the bones. If gra.s.s lamb, the shoulder being large, put it into another dish. Squeeze the juice of half a Seville orange or lemon on the other part, and sprinkle a little salt and pepper. Then separate the gristly part from the ribs in the line _e_, _c_; and help either from that or from the ribs, as may be chosen.----HAUNCH OF VENISON. Cut down to the bone in the line _a_, _b_, _c_, to let out the gravy. Then turn the broad end of the haunch toward you, put in the knife at _b_, and cut as deep as you can to the end of the haunch _d_; then help in thin slices, observing to give some fat to each person. There is more fat, which is a favourite part, on the left side of _c_ and _d_ than on the other: and those who help must take care to proportion it, as likewise the gravy, according to the number of the company.--HAUNCH OF MUTTON is the leg and part of the loin, cut so as to resemble a haunch of venison, and is to be helped at table in the same manner.----SADDLE OF MUTTON. Cut long thin slices from the tail to the end, beginning close to the back bone. If a large joint, the slice may be divided. Cut some fat from the sides.----HAM may be cut three ways. The common method is, to begin in the middle, by long slices from _a_ to _b_, from the centre through the thick fat. This brings to the prime at first, which is likewise accomplished by cutting a small round hole on the top of the ham, as at _c_, and with a sharp knife enlarging that by cutting successive thin circles: this preserves the gravy, and keeps the meat moist. The last and most saving way is, to begin at the hock end, which many are most fond of, and proceed onwards.
Ham that is used for pies, &c. should be cut from the under side, first taking off a thick slice.----SUCKING PIG. The cook usually divides the body before it is sent to table, and garnishes the dish with the jaws and ears. The first thing is, to separate a shoulder from the carcase on one side, and then the leg, according to the direction given by the dotted line _a_, _b_, _c_. The ribs are then to be divided into about two helpings, and an ear or jaw presented with them, and plenty of sauce. The joints may either be divided into two each, or pieces may be cut from them. The ribs are reckoned the finest part, but some people prefer the neck end, between the shoulders.----GOOSE. Cut off the ap.r.o.n in the circular line _a_, _b_, _c_, and pour into the body a gla.s.s of port wine, and a large tea-spoonful of mustard, first mixed at the sideboard. Turn the neck end of the goose towards you, and cut the whole breast in long slices from one wing to another; but only remove them as you help each person, unless the company is so large as to require the legs likewise. This way gives more prime bits than by making wings. Take off the leg, by putting the fork into the small end of the bone, pressing it to the body; and having pa.s.sed the knife at _d_, turn the leg back, and if a young bird, it will easily separate. To take off the wing, put your fork into the small end of the pinion, and press it close to the body; then put in the knife at _d_, and divide the joint, taking it down in the direction _d_, _e_. Nothing but practice will enable people to hit the joint dexterously. When the leg and wing of one side are done, go on to the other; but it is not often necessary to cut up the whole goose, unless the company be very large. There are two side bones by the wing, which may be cut off; as likewise the back and lower side bones: but the best pieces are the breast and the thighs, after being divided from the drum-sticks.----HARE. The best way of cutting it up is, to put the point of the knife under the shoulder at _a_, and so cut all the way down to the rump, on one side of the back-bone, in the line _a_, _b_. Do the same on the other side, so that the whole hare will be divided into three parts. Cut the back into four, which with the legs is the part most esteemed. The shoulder must be cut off in a circular line, as _c_, _d_, _a_. Lay the pieces neatly on the dish as you cut them; and then help the company, giving some pudding and gravy to every person. This way can only be practised when the hare is young.
If old, do not divide it down, which will require a strong arm: but put the knife between the leg and back, and give it a little turn inwards at the joint; which you must endeavour to hit, and not to break by force.
When both legs are taken off, there is a fine collop on each side the back; then divide the back into as many pieces as you please, and take of the shoulders, which are by many preferred, and are called the sportman"s pieces. When every one is helped, cut off the head; put your knife between the upper and lower jaw, and divide them, which will enable you to lay the upper one flat on your plate; then put the point of the knife into the centre, and cut the head into two. The ears and brains may be helped then to those who like them.----Carve RABBITS as directed the latter way for hare; cutting the back into two pieces, which with the legs are the prime.----A FOWL. The legs of a boiled fowl are bent inwards, and tucked into the belly; but before it is served, the skewers are to be removed. Lay the fowl on your plate; and place the joints, as cut off, on the dish. Take the wing off in the direction of _a_ to _b_, in the annexed engraving, only dividing the joint with your knife; and then with your fork lift up the pinion, and draw the wing towards the legs, and the muscles will separate in a more complete form than if cut. Slip the knife between the leg and body, and cut to the bone; then with the fork turn the leg back, and the joint will give way if the bird is not old. When the four quarters are thus removed, take off the merrythought from _a_, and the neck bones; these last by putting in the knife at _c_, and pressing it under the long broad part of the bone in the line _c_, _b_. Then lift it up, and break it off from the part that sticks to the breast. The next thing is, to divide the breast from the carcase, by cutting through the tender ribs close to the breast, quite down to the tail. Then lay the back upwards, put your knife into the bone half-way from the neck to the rump, and on raising the lower end it will separate readily. Turn the rump from you, and very neatly take off the two sidebones, and the whole will be done. As each part is taken off, it should be turned neatly on the dish, and care should be taken that what is left goes properly from table. The breast and wings are looked upon as the best parts, but the legs are most juicy in young fowls. After all, more advantage will be gained by observing those who carve well, and a little practice, than by any written directions whatever.----A PHEASANT. The bird in the annexed engraving is as trussed for the spit, with its head under one of its wings. When the skewers are taken out, and the bird served, the following is the way to carve it. Fix a fork in the centre of the breast; slice it down in the line _a_, _b_; take off the leg on one side in the dotted line _b_, _d_; then cut off the wing on the same side in the line _c_, _d_. Separate the leg and wing on the other side, and then cut off the slices of breast you divided before. Be careful how you take off the wings; for if you should cut too near the neck, as at _g_, you will hit on the neck-bone, from which the wing must be separated. Cut off the merrythought in the line _f_, _g_, by pa.s.sing the knife under it towards the neck. Cut the other parts as in a fowl. The breast, wings, and merrythought, are the most esteemed; but the leg has a higher flavour.----PARTRIDGE. The partridge is here represented as just taken from the spit; but before it is served up, the skewers must be withdrawn. It is cut up in the same manner as a fowl. The wings must be taken off in the line _a_, _b_, and the merrythought in the line _c_, _d_. The prime parts of a partridge are the wings, breast, and merrythought; but the bird being small, the two latter are not often divided. The wing is considered as the best, and the tip of it reckoned the most delicate morsel of the whole.----PIGEONS. Cut them in half, either from top to bottom or across. The lower part is generally thought the best; but the fairest way is to cut from the neck to _a_, rather than from _c_ to _b_, by _a_, which is the most fashionable. The figure represents the back of the pigeon; and the direction of the knife is in the line _c_, _b_, by _a_, if done the last way.
CASKS. New casks are apt to give beer a bad taste, if not well scalded and seasoned before they are used. Boil therefore two pecks of bran or malt dust in a copper of water, pour it hot into the cask, stop it close, and let it stand two days. Then wash it clean, and dry it fit for use. Old casks are apt to grow musty, if allowed to stand by neglected; they should therefore be closely stopped as soon as emptied. When tainted, put in some lime, fill up with water, and let them stand a day or two. If this be not sufficient, the head must be taken out, the inside well scoured, and the head replaced.
CATERPILLARS. These noxious insects, sustained by leaves and fruit, have been known in all ages and nations for their depredations on the vegetable world. In August and September they destroy cabbages and turnips in great abundance, and commit their ravages in fields and gardens whenever the easterly winds prevail. Various means have been devised for their destruction, and any of the following which may happen to be the most convenient, may be employed with very good effect.
Mix and heat three quarts of water and one quart of vinegar, put in a full pound of soot, and stir it with a whisk till the whole is incorporated. Sprinkle the plants with this preparation, every morning and evening, by dipping in a brush and shedding it over them; and in a few days all the cankers will disappear. Or sow with hemp all the borders where cabbages are planted, so as to enclose them, and not one of these vermin will approach. When gooseberry or currant bushes are attacked, a very simple expedient will suffice. Put pieces of woollen rags in every bush, the caterpillars will take refuge in them during the night, and in the morning quant.i.ties of them may thus be taken and destroyed. If this do not succeed, dissolve an ounce of alum in a quart of tobacco liquor; and as soon as the leaves of the plants or bushes appear in the least corroded, sprinkle on the mixture with a brush. If any eggs be deposited, they never come forward after this application; and if changed into worms they will sicken and die, and fall off.
Nothing is more effectual than to dust the leaves of plants with sulphur put into a piece of muslin, or thrown upon them with a dredging box: this not only destroys the insects, but materially promotes the health of the plants. When caterpillars attack fruit trees, they may be destroyed by a strong decoction of equal quant.i.ties of rue, wormwood, and tobacco, sprinkled on the leaves and branches while the fruit is ripening. Or take a chafing-dish of burning charcoal, place it under the branches of the bush or tree, and throw on it a little brimstone. The vapour of the sulphur, and the suffocating fume arising from the charcoal, will not only destroy all the insects, but prevent the plants from being infested with them any more that season. Black cankers, which commit great devastation among turnips, are best destroyed by turning a quant.i.ty of ducks into the field infested by them. Every fourth year these cankers become flies, when they deposit their eggs on the ground, and thus produce maggots. The flies on their first appearance settle on the trees, especially the oak, elm, and maple: in this state they should be shaken down on packsheets, and destroyed. If this were done before they begin to deposit their eggs on the ground, the ravages of the canker would in a great measure be prevented.
CAUDLE. Make a fine smooth gruel of half grits, strain it after being well boiled, and stir it at times till quite cold. When to be used, add sugar, wine, lemon peel and nutmeg. A spoonful of brandy may be added, and a little lemon juice if approved. Another way is to boil up half a pint of fine gruel, with a bit of b.u.t.ter the size of a large nutmeg, a spoonful of brandy, the same of white wine, one of capillaire, a bit of lemon peel and nutmeg.--Another. Beat up the yolk of an egg with sugar, mix it with a large spoonful of cold water, a gla.s.s of wine, and nutmeg.
Mix it by degrees with a pint of fine gruel, not thick, but while it is boiling hot. This caudle is very agreeable and nourishing. Some add a gla.s.s of beer and sugar, or a tea-spoonful of brandy.--A caudle for the sick and lying-in is made as follows. Set three quarts of water on the fire, mix smooth as much oatmeal as will thicken the whole, with a pint of cold water; and when the water boils pour in the thickening, and add twenty peppercorns in fine powder. Boil it up to a tolerable thickness; then add sugar, half a pint of good table beer, and a gla.s.s of gin, all heated up together.
CAULIFLOWERS. Choose those that are close and white, cut off the green leaves, and see that there be no caterpillars about the stalk. Soak them an hour in cold water, then boil them in milk and water, and take care to skim the saucepan, that not the least foulness may fall on the flower. The vegetable should be served very white, and not boiled too much.--Cauliflower dressed in white sauce should be half boiled, and cut into handsome pieces. Then lay them in a stewpan with a little broth, a bit of mace, a little salt, and a dust of white pepper. Simmer them together half an hour; then add a little cream, b.u.t.ter, and flour.
Simmer a few minutes longer, and serve them up.--To dress a cauliflower with parmesan, boil the vegetable, drain it on a sieve, and cut the stalk so that the flower will stand upright about two inches above the dish. Put it into a stewpan with a little white sauce, and in a few minutes it will be done enough. Then dish it with the sauce round, put parmesan grated over it, and brown it with a salamander.
CAULIFLOWERS RAGOUT. Pick and wash the cauliflowers very clean, stew them in brown gravy till they are tender, and season with pepper and salt. Put them in a dish, pour gravy on them, boil some sprigs of cauliflower white, and lay round.
CAYENNE. Those who are fond of this spice had better make it themselves of English capsic.u.ms or chillies, for there is no other way of being sure that it is genuine. Pepper of a much finer flavour may be obtained in this way, without half the heat of the foreign article, which is frequently adulterated and coloured with red lead. Capsic.u.ms and chillies are ripe and in good condition, during the months of September and October. The flavour of the chillies is superior to that of the capsic.u.ms, and will be good in proportion as they are dried as soon as possible, taken care that they be not burnt. Take away the stalks, put the pods into a cullender, and set them twelve hours before the fire to dry. Then put them into a mortar, with one fourth their weight of salt; pound and rub them till they are as fine as possible, and put the powder into a well-stopped bottle. A hundred large chillies will produce about two ounces of cayenne. When foreign cayenne is pounded, it is mixed with a considerable portion of salt, to prevent its injuring the eyes: but English chillies may be pounded in a deep mortar without any danger, and afterwards pa.s.sed through a fine sieve.
CELERY SAUCE. Cut small half a dozen heads of clean white celery, with two sliced onions. Put them into a stewpan, with a small piece of b.u.t.ter, and sweat them over a slow fire till quite tender. Add two spoonfuls of flour, half a pint of broth, salt and pepper, and a little cream or milk. Boil it a quarter of an hour, and pa.s.s it through a fine hair sieve with the back of a spoon. When celery is not in season, a quarter of a dram of celery seed, or a little of the essence, will impregnate half a pint of sauce with all the flavour of the vegetable.
This sauce is intended for boiled turkey, veal, or fowls.
CELERY SOUP. Split half a dozen heads of celery into slips about two inches long, wash them well, drain them on a hair sieve, and put them into a soup pot, with three quarts of clear gravy. Stew it very gently by the side of the fire, about an hour, till the celery is tender. If any sc.u.m arise, take it off, and season with a little salt. When celery cannot be procured, half a dram of the seed, pounded fine, will give a flavour to the soup, if put in a quarter of an hour before it is done. A little of the essence of the celery will answer the same purpose.
CELLARS. Beer and ale that have been well brewed, are often injured or spoiled in the keeping, for want of paying proper attention to the state of the cellar. It is necessary however to exclude as much as possible all external air from these depositaries, as the state of the surrounding atmosphere has a most material influence upon the liquor, even after it has been made a considerable time. If the cellar is liable to damps in the winter, it will tend to chill the liquor, and make it turn flat; or if exposed to the heat of summer, it will be sure to turn sour. The great object therefore is to have a cellar that is both cool and dry. Dorchester beer, generally in high esteem, owes much of its fineness to this circ.u.mstance. The soil in that county being very chalky, of a close texture and free from damps, the cellars are always cool and dry, and the liquors are found to keep in the best possible manner. The Nottingham ale derives much of its celebrity also from the peculiar construction of the cellars, which are generally excavated out of a rock of sand-stone to a considerable depth, of a circular or conical form, with benches formed all round in the same way, and on these the barrels are placed in regular succession.
CERATE. Half a pound of white wax, half a pound of calumine stone finely powdered, and a pint and a half of olive oil, will make an excellent cerate. Let the calumine be rubbed smooth with some of the oil, and added to the rest of the oil and wax, which should be previously melted together. Stir them together till they are quite cold.
CHARDOONS. To dress chardoons, cut them into pieces of six inches long, and tie them in a bunch. Boil them tender, then flour and fry them with a piece of b.u.t.ter, and when brown serve them up. Or tie them in bundles, and serve them on toast as boiled asparagus, with b.u.t.ter poured over.
Another way is to boil them, and then heat them up in frica.s.see sauce.
Or boil in salt and water, dry them, dip them into b.u.t.ter, fry, and serve them up with melted b.u.t.ter. Or having boiled, stew, and toss them up with white or brown gravy. Add a little cayenne, ketchup, and salt, and thicken with a bit of b.u.t.ter and flour.
CHARLOTTE. Rub a baking-dish thick with b.u.t.ter, and line the bottom and sides with very thin slices of white bread. Put in layers of apples thinly sliced, strewing sugar between, and bits of b.u.t.ter, till the dish is full. In the mean time, soak in warm milk as many thin slices of bread as will cover the whole; over which lay a plate, and a weight to keep the bread close on the apples. To a middling sized dish use half a pound of b.u.t.ter in the whole, and bake slowly for three hours.
CHEAP SOUP. Much nutricious food might be provided for the poor and necessitous, at a very trifling expence, by only adopting a plan of frugality, and gathering up the fragments, that nothing be lost. Save the liquor in which every piece of meat, ham, or tongue has been boiled, however salt; for it is easy to use only a part of it, and to add a little fresh water. Then, by the addition of more vegetables, the bones of meat used in the family, the pieces of meat that come from table on the plates, and rice, Scotch barley, or oatmeal, there will be some gallons of useful soup saved. The bits of meat should only be warmed in the soup, and remain whole; the bones and sinewy parts should be boiled till they yield their nourishment. If the fragments are ready to put into the boiler as soon as the meat is served, it will save lighting the fire, and a second cooking. Take turnips, carrots, leeks, potatoes, leaves of lettuce, or any sort of vegetable that is at hand; cut them small, and throw in with the thick part of peas, after they have been pulped for soup, and grits, or coa.r.s.e oatmeal, which have been used for gruel. Should the soup be poor of meat, the long boiling of the bones, and different vegetables, will afford better nourishment than the laborious poor can generally obtain; especially as they are rarely tolerable cooks, and have not fuel to do justice to what they buy. In almost every family there is some superfluity; and if it be prepared with cleanliness and care, the benefit will be very great to the receiver, and the satisfaction no less to the giver. The cook or servant should never be allowed to wash away as useless, the peas or grits of which soup or gruel have been made, broken potatoes, the green heads of celery, the necks and feet of fowls, and particularly the shanks of mutton; all of which are capable of adding flavour and richness to the soup. The bones, heads, and fins of fish, containing a portion of isingla.s.s, may also be very usefully applied, by stewing them in the water in which the fish is boiled, and adding it to the soup, with the gravy that is left in the dish. If strained, it considerably improves the meat soup, particularly for the sick; and when such are to be supplied, the milder parts of the spare bones and meat should be used, with very little of the liquor of the salt meats. If a soup be wanted for the weakly and infirm, put two cow heels and a breast of mutton into a large pan, with four ounces of rice, one onion, twenty corns of Jamaica pepper, and twenty black, a turnip, and carrot, and four gallons of water. Cover it with white paper, and bake it six hours.
CHEESE. This well-known article of domestic consumption, is prepared from curdled milk, cleared from the whey. It differs very much in quality and flavour, according to the pasture in which the cows feed, and the manner in which the article itself is made. The same land rarely produces very fine b.u.t.ter, and remarkably fine cheese; yet with proper management, it may give one pretty good, where the other excels in quality. Cheese made on the same land, from new milk, skimmed or mixed milk, will differ greatly, not only in richness, but also in taste.
Valuable cheese may be made from a tolerable pasture, by taking the whole of two meals of milk, and proportioning the thickness of the vat to the quant.i.ty, rather than having a wide and flat one, as the former will produce the mellowest cheese. The addition of a pound of fresh-made b.u.t.ter of a good quality, will cause the cheese made on poor land to be of a very different quality from that usually produced by it. A few cheeses thus made, when the weather is not extremely hot, and when the cows are in full feed, are well adapted to the use of the parlour.
Cheese for common family use may very well be produced by two meals of skim, and one of new milk; or on good land, by the skim milk only. The princ.i.p.al ingredient in making cheese is the rennet, maw, or inner part of a calf"s stomach, which is cleaned, salted, and hung up in paper bags to dry. The night before it is used, it is washed and soaked in a little water. When the milk is ready, being put into a large tub, warm a part of it to the degree of new milk; but if made too hot, the cheese will be tough. Pour in as much rennet as will curdle the milk, and then cover it over. Let it stand till completely turned; then strike the curd down several times with the skimming dish, and let it separate, still keeping it covered. There are two modes of breaking the curd, and there will be a difference in the taste of the cheese, according as either is observed. One is to gather it with the hands very gently towards the side of the tub, letting the whey pa.s.s through the fingers till it is cleared; and lading it off as it collects. The other is, to get the whey from it by early breaking the curd. The last method deprives it of many of its oily particles, and is therefore less proper. In pursuing the process, put the vat on a ladder over the tub, and fill it with curd by means of the skimmer. Press the curd close with the hand, add more as it sinks, and finally leave it two inches above the edge. Before the vat is filled, the cheesecloth must be laid at the bottom; and when full, drawn smooth over on all sides. In salting the cheese, two modes may be adopted; either by mixing it in the curd while in the tub, after the whey is out, or by putting it in the vat, and crumbling the curd all to pieces with it, after the first squeezing with the hand has dried it.
These different methods prevail in the different parts of the country.
Put a board under and over the vat, and place it in the press: in two hours turn it out, and put in a fresh cheesecloth. Press it again for eight or nine hours, salt it all over, and turn it again in the vat. Let it stand in the press fourteen or sixteen hours, observing to put the cheeses last made undermost. Before putting them the last time into the vat, pare the edges if they do not look smooth. The vat should have holes at the sides, and at the bottom, to let all the whey pa.s.s through.
Put on clean boards, and change and scald them. When cheese is made, care must be taken to preserve it sound and good. For this purpose wash it occasionally in warm whey, wipe it once a month, and keep it on a rack. If wanted to ripen soon, a damp cellar will bring it forward. When a whole cheese is cut, the inside of the larger quant.i.ty should be spread with b.u.t.ter, and the outside wiped, to preserve it. To keep those in daily use moist, let a clean cloth be wrung out from cold water, and wrapt round them when carried from the table. Dry cheese may be used to advantage to grate for serving with macaroni or eating without; and any thing tending to prevent waste, is of some consequence in a system of domestic economy. To preserve cheeses from decay, lay them in an airy situation, and cover them with dried leaves of the yellow star of Bethlehem. The tender branches of the common birch, will prevent the ravages of mites. If cheese get hard, and lose its flavour, pour some sweet wine over four ounces of pearlash, till the liquor ceases to ferment. Filter the solution, dip into it some clean linen cloths, cover the cheese with them, and put in a cool dry place. Turn the cheese every day, repeat the application for some weeks, and the cheese will recover its former flavour and goodness.
CHEESECAKES. Strain the whey from the curd of two quarts of milk; when rather dry, crumble it through a coa.r.s.e sieve. With six ounces of fresh b.u.t.ter, mix one ounce of blanched almonds pounded, a little orange-flower water, half a gla.s.s of raisin wine, a grated biscuit, four ounces of currants, some nutmeg and cinnamon in fine powder. Beat them up together with three eggs, and half a pint of cream, till quite light: then fill the pattipans three parts full.--To make a plainer sort of cheesecakes, turn three quarts of milk to curd; break it and drain off the whey. When quite dry, break it in a pan, with two ounces of b.u.t.ter, till perfectly smooth. Add a pint and a half of thin cream or good milk, a little sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, and three ounces of currants.--Another way is to mix the curd of three quarts of milk, a pound of currants, twelve ounces of Lisbon sugar, a quarter of an ounce of cinnamon, the same of nutmeg, the peel of one lemon chopped as fine as possible, the yolks of eight and the whites of six eggs, a pint of scalded cream and a gla.s.s of brandy. Put a light thin puff paste in the pattipans, and three parts fill them.
CHEESE PUFFS. Strain some cheese curd from the whey, and beat half a pint of it fine in a mortar, with a spoonful and a half of flour, three eggs, but only one white. Add a spoonful of orange-flower water, a quarter of a nutmeg, and sugar to make it pretty sweet. Lay a little of this paste, in small round cakes, on a tin plate. If the oven be hot, a quarter of an hour will bake them. Serve the puffs with pudding sauce.