The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary Part 49

ROLLED BEEF. Soak the inside of a large sirloin in a gla.s.s of port wine and a gla.s.s of vinegar mixed, for eight and forty hours: have ready a very fine stuffing, and bind it up tight. Roast it on a hanging spit, baste it with a gla.s.s of port wine, the same quant.i.ty of vinegar, and a tea-spoonful of pounded allspice. Larding it improves the flavour and appearance: serve it with a rich gravy in the dish, with currant jelly and melted b.u.t.ter in tureens. This article will be found very much to resemble a hare.

ROLLED BREAST OF VEAL. Bone it, take off the thick skin and gristle, and beat the meat with a rolling-pin. Season it with herbs chopped very fine, mixed with salt, pepper, and mace. Roll the meat in some thick slices of fine ham, or in two or three calves' tongues of a fine red, first boiled an hour or two and peeled. Bind the meat up tight in a cloth, and tie it round with tape. Simmer it over the fire for some hours, in a small quant.i.ty of water, till it is quite tender. Lay it on the dresser with a board and weight upon it till quite cold. Then take off the tape, and pour over it the liquor, which must be boiled up twice a week, or it will not keep. Pigs' or calves' feet boiled and taken from the bones, may be put in or round the veal. The different colours placed in layers look well when cut. Boiled yolks of eggs, beet root, grated ham, and chopped parsley, may be laid in different parts to encrease the variety, and improve the general appearance.

ROLLED LOIN OF MUTTON. Hang the joint up till tender, and then bone it.

Lay on a seasoning of pepper, allspice, mace, nutmeg, and a few cloves, all in fine powder. Next day prepare a stuffing as for hare, beat the meat with a rolling-pin, cover it with the stuffing, roll it up tight and tie it. Half bake it in a slow oven, let it grow cold, take off the fat, and put the gravy into a stewpan. Flour the meat, and put it in likewise. Stew it till almost ready, and add a gla.s.s of port, an anchovy, some ketchup, and a little lemon pickle. Serve it in the gravy, and with jelly sauce. A few mushrooms are a great improvement; but if to eat like hare, these must not be added, nor the lemon pickle.

ROLLED NECK OF PORK. Bone it first, then put over the inside a forcemeat of chopped sage, a very few crumbs of bread, salt, pepper, and two or three berries of allspice. Then roll the meat up very tight, place it at a good distance from the fire, and roast it slowly.

ROLLED STEAKS. Cut a large steak from a round of beef, spread over it a forcemeat, such as is made for veal, roll it up like collared eel, and tie it up in a cloth. Boil it an hour and a half, and when done enough, cut it into slices. Prepare a rich gravy, a little thickened, and pour over the steaks.

ROMAN CEMENT. To make a mortar for outside plastering, or brick-work, or to line reservoirs, so as no water can penetrate it, mix together eighty-four pounds of drifted sand, twelve pounds of unslaked lime, and four pounds of the poorest cheese grated through an iron grater. When well mixed, add enough hot water, not boiling, to make it into a proper consistence for plastering, such a quant.i.ty of the above as is wanted.

It requires very good and quick working. One hod of this mortar will go a great way, as it is to be laid on in a thin smooth coat, without the least s.p.a.ce being left uncovered. The wall or lath work should be first covered with common hair mortar well dried. Suffolk cheese will be found to make the best cement.

ROOK PIE. Skin and draw some young rooks, cut out the backbones, and season with pepper and salt. Lay them in a dish with a little water, strew some bits of b.u.t.ter over them, cover the dish with a thick crust, and bake it well.

ROSE WATER. When the roses are full blown, pick off the leaves carefully, and allow a peck of them to a quart of water. Put them in a cold still over a slow fire, and distil it very gradually. Bottle the water, and cork it up in two or three days.

ROT IN SHEEP. When sheep are newly brought in, it will preserve their health to give them a table-spoonful of the juice of rue leaves, mixed with a little salt. If they are in danger of the rot, this mixture may be repeated every week or oftener, as the case requires.

ROUND OF BEEF. Cut out the bone first, then skewer and tie up the beef to make it quite round. Salt it carefully, and moisten it with the pickle for eight or ten days. It may be stuffed with parsley, if approved; in which case the holes to admit the parsley must be made with a sharp-pointed knife, and the parsley coa.r.s.ely cut and stuffed in tight. When dressed it should be carefully skimmed as soon as it boils, and afterwards kept boiling very gently.

ROUT CAKES. To make rout drop-cakes, mix two pounds of flour with one pound of b.u.t.ter, one pound of sugar, and one pound of currants, cleaned and dried. Moisten it into a stiff paste with two eggs, a large spoonful of orange-flower water, as much rose water, sweet wine, and brandy. Drop the paste on a tin plate floured, and a short time will bake them.

ROYAL CAKES. Put into a saucepan a quarter of a pint of water, a piece of b.u.t.ter half the size of an egg, two ounces of fine sugar, a little grated lemon peel, and a little salt. When it has boiled about half a minute, stir in by degrees four spoonfuls of flour, keeping it constantly stirring all the time, till it becomes a smooth paste, pretty stiff, and begins to adhere to the saucepan. Then take it off the fire, and add three eggs well beaten, putting them in by degrees, and stirring the paste all the time to prevent its being lumpy. Add a little orange-flower water, and a few almonds pounded fine. Make it into little cakes, and bake them upon a sheet of tin well b.u.t.tered. Half an hour will bake them in a moderate oven.

ROYAL PUNCH. Take thirty Seville oranges and thirty lemons, quite sound, and pare them very thin. Put the parings into an earthen pan, with as much rum or brandy as will cover them. Cover up the pan, and let them stand four days. Take ten gallons of water, and twelve pounds of lump sugar, and boil them. When nearly cold, put in the whites of thirty eggs well beaten, and stir it and boil it a quarter of an hour. Strain it through a hair sieve into an earthen pan, and let it stand till next day. Then put it into a cask, strain the spirit from the parings of the oranges and lemons, and add as much more to it as will make it up five gallons. Put it into the cask with five quarts of Seville orange juice and three quarts of lemon juice. Stir it all together with a cleft stick, and repeat the same once a day for three successive days: then stop it down close, and in six weeks it will be fit to drink.

RUFFS AND REEVES. These are to be trussed and skewered the same as snipes and quails. Place bars of bacon over them, roast them in about ten minutes, and serve with a good gravy in the dish.

RUMP OF BEEF. Take a rump of beef, or about eight pounds of the brisket, and stew it till it is quite tender, in as much water as will cover it.

When sufficiently done, take out the bones, and skim off the fat very clean. To a pint of the liquor, add the third part of a pint of port wine, a little walnut or mushroom ketchup, and some salt. Tie up some whole white pepper and mace in a piece of muslin, and stew all together for a short time. Have ready some carrots and turnips boiled tender and cut into squares, strew them upon the beef, putting a few into the dish.

Truffles and morels may be added, or artichoke bottoms.

RUMP SOUP. Two or three rumps of beef will make a stronger soup, and of a far more nouris.h.i.+ng quality, than a larger quant.i.ty of meat without them. It may be made like gravy soup, and thickened and flavoured in any way that is most approved.

RUMP STEAKS. The best steaks are those cut from the middle of a rump of beef, that has been killed at least four days in moderate weather, and much longer in cold weather, when they can be cut about six inches long, four inches wide, and half an inch thick. Do not beat them, unless you suspect they will not be tender. Take care to have a very clear brisk fire, throw on it a little salt, make the gridiron hot, and set it slanting, to prevent the fat from dropping into the fire, and making a smoke. It requires more practice and care than is generally supposed to do steaks to a nicety; and for want of these little attentions, this very common dish, which every body is supposed capable of dressing, seldom comes to table in perfection. It may be underdone or thoroughly done, as happens to be preferred. It is usual to put a table-spoonful of ketchup into a dish before the fire, with a little minced shalot. In broiling, turn the steak with a pair of meat tongs, and it will be done in about ten or fifteen minutes. Rub a bit of b.u.t.ter over it, and send it up quite hot, garnished with pickles, and sc.r.a.ped horseradish.--If onion gravy is to be added, prepare it in the following manner. Peel and slice two large onions, put them into a stewpan with two table-spoonfuls of water, cover the stewpan close, and set it on a slow fire till the water has boiled away, and the onions have got a little browned. Then add half a pint of good broth, or water with a large spoonful of ketchup, and boil the onions till they are quite tender. Strain off the liquor, and chop them very fine. Thicken the broth with b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, and season it with mushroom ketchup, pepper and salt. Put the onion into it, let it boil gently for five minutes, and pour it over the broiled steak. Good beef gravy, instead of broth, will make the sauce superlative.--If a cold rump steak is to be warmed up, lay it in a stewpan, with a large onion cut in quarters, six berries of allspice, and six of black pepper. Cover the steak with boiling water, let it stew gently for an hour, thicken the liquor with b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, shake it well over the fire for five minutes, and it is ready. Lay the steaks and onion on a dish, and pour the gravy over them through a sieve.

RUSKS. Beat seven eggs well, and mix them with half a pint of new milk, in which four ounces of b.u.t.ter have been previously melted. Add a quarter of a pint of yeast, and three ounces of sugar, and put them by degrees into as much flour as will make a very light paste, rather like a batter, and let it rise before the fire half an hour. Then add some more flour, to make it a little stiffer, but not much. Work it well, and divide it into small loaves, or cakes, about five or six inches wide, and flatten them. When baked and cold, slice them the thickness of rusks, and put them into the oven to brown a little. The cakes when first baked, eat deliciously b.u.t.tered for tea; or made with carraways, they eat well cold.

RUSSIAN SAUCE. To four spoonfuls of grated horseradish, put two tea-spoonfuls of patent mustard, a little salt, one tea-spoonful of sugar, and a sufficient quant.i.ty of vinegar to cover the ingredients.

This sauce is used for cold meat, but makes a good fish sauce, with the addition of melted b.u.t.ter.

RUST. To prevent iron and steel from rusting, mix with fat oil varnish, at least half, or at most four fifths of its quant.i.ty of highly rectified spirits of turpentine. This varnish must be lightly and evenly applied with a sponge; after which the article is left to dry in some situation not exposed to dust. Articles thus varnished retain their metallic l.u.s.tre, and do not contract any spots of rust. This varnish may also be applied to copper, of which it preserves the polish and heightens the colour.

S.

SACK CREAM. Boil a pint of raw cream, the yolk of an egg well beaten, two or three spoonfuls of white wine, sugar, and lemon peel. Stir it over a gentle fire till it be as thick as rich cream, and afterwards till it becomes cold. Then serve it in gla.s.ses, with long pieces of dry toast.

SACK DUMPLINS. Grate the crumb of two penny rolls, add three quarters of a pound of suet cut small, three quarters of a pound of currants washed clean, a grated nutmeg, a little sugar, the yolks of eight eggs, and two wine gla.s.ses of sack. Make the paste into dumplins of a moderate size, tie them in cloths, and boil them two hours. Melted b.u.t.ter for sauce, with white wine and sugar.

SACK MEAD. To every gallon of water put four pounds of honey, and boil it three quarters of an hour, taking care to skim it. To every gallon add an ounce of hops; then boil it half an hour, and let it stand till the next day. Put it into a cask, and to thirteen gallons of the liquor add a quart of brandy. Stop it lightly till the fermentation is over, and then bung it up close. A large cask should be suffered to stand a year.

SACKS OF CORN. Seeds, and various kinds of grain, are liable to damage when kept in sacks or bins, from the want of being sufficiently aired.

Make a small wooden tube nearly the length of the sack, closed and pointed at one end, and perforated with holes about an inch asunder, nearly two thirds of its length from the point end. Then at the other end fasten a leather tube, and thrust it into the corn to the bottom of the sack. Put the pipe of a pair of bellows into the leather tube, and blow into it, so that the air may be diffused among the corn throughout the holes of the wooden tube. If corn be thus treated every other day after it is first put into sacks, it will prevent the damp sweats which would otherwise injure it, and it will afterwards keep sweet with very little airing.

SADDLE OF MUTTON. When it has been well kept, raise the skin, and then skewer it on again. Take it off a quarter of an hour before serving, sprinkle on some salt, baste and dredge it well with flour. The rump should be split, and skewered back on each side. The joint may be cut large or small, according to the company: the latter is the most elegant. Being broad, it requires a high and strong fire.

SAFFRON CAKE. Take a quarter of a peck of fine flour, a pound and a half of fresh b.u.t.ter, a quarter of an ounce of mace and cinnamon together, beat fine, and mix the spice in the flour. Set on a quart of milk to boil, break the b.u.t.ter in, and stir it till the milk boils; take off all the b.u.t.ter, and a little of the milk; mix with the flour a pound of sugar beat fine, a penny-worth of saffron made into a tincture; take a pint of yeast that is not bitter, and stir it well into the remainder of the milk; beat up six eggs very well, and put to the yeast and milk, strain it to the flour, with some rose-water, and the tincture of saffron; beat up all together with your hands lightly, and put it into a hoop or pan well b.u.t.tered. It will take an hour and a half in a quick oven. You may make the tincture of saffron with the rose-water.

SAGE is raised from seed, or from slips. To have it at hand for winter it is necessary to dry it; and it ought to be cut for this purpose before it comes out into bloom, as indeed is the case with all other herbs.

SAGE CHEESE. To make this kind of cheese, bruise the tops of young red sage in a mortar, with some leaves of spinach, and squeeze out the juice. Mix it with the rennet in the milk, more or less, according as the taste and colour may be preferred. When the curd is come, break it gently, and put it in with the skimmer, till it is pressed two inches above one vat. Press it eight or ten hours, salt and turn it every day.

SAGO. To prevent the earthy taste, soak it an hour in cold water; pour off the water, and wash it well. Then add more, and simmer it gently till the berries are clear, with lemon peel and spice, if approved. Add wine and sugar, and boil all up together.--If intended for the sick, or those whom disease has left very feeble, boil a teacupful of washed, sago in a quart of water, and a taste of lemon peel. When thickened, grate in some ginger, and add half a pint of raisin wine, some brown sugar, and two spoonfuls of Geneva: boil all up together.

SAGO MILK. Cleanse the sago as in the former article, and boil it slowly in new milk. It swells so much, that a small quant.i.ty will be sufficient for a quart; and when done, it will be diminished to about a pint. It requires no sugar or flavouring.