The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary Part 59

STEWED RUMP OF BEEF. Wash it well, and season it high with pepper, cayenne, salt, allspice, three cloves, and a blade of mace, all in fine powder. Bind it up tight, and lay it into a pot that will just hold it.

Fry three large onions sliced, and put them to it, with three carrots, two turnips, one shalot, four cloves, a blade of mace, and some celery.

Cover the meat with good beef broth, or weak gravy. Simmer it as gently as possible for several hours, till quite tender. Clear off the fat, and add to the gravy half a pint of port wine, a gla.s.s of vinegar, and a large spoonful of ketchup; half a pint of beer may be added. Simmer for half an hour, and serve in a deep dish. The herbs to be used should be burnet, tarragon, parsley, thyme, basil, savoury, marjoram, pennyroyal, knotted marjoram, and some chives; a good handful all together. But observe to proportion the quant.i.ties to the pungency of the several sorts. Garnish with carrots, turnips, or truffles and morels, or pickles of different colours, cut small, and laid in little heaps separate.

Chopped parsley, chives, and beet root may be added. If there is too much gravy for the dish, take only a part to season for serving, the less the better; and to increase the richness, add a few beef bones and shanks of mutton in stewing. A spoonful or two of made mustard is a great improvement to the gravy.--Another way. Half roast the rump, then put it into a large pot with three pints of water, one of small beer, one of port vine, some salt, three or four spoonfuls of vinegar, and two of ketchup. Add a bunch of sweet herbs, consisting of burnet, tarragon, parsley, thyme, basil, savoury, pennyroyal, marjoram, knotted marjoram, and a leaf or two of sage; also some onions, cloves, and cayenne. Cover it close, and simmer it for two or three hours, till quite tender. When done lay it into a deep dish, set it over some hot water, and cover it close. Skim the gravy, put in a few pickled mushrooms, truffles, morels, and oysters if agreeable, but it is very good without. Thicken the gravy with flour and b.u.t.ter, heat it with the above, and pour it over the beef. Forcemeat b.a.l.l.s of veal, anchovies, bacon, suet, herbs, spice, bread, and eggs to bind, are a great improvement. A rump of beef is excellent roasted; but in the country it is generally sold whole with the edge-bone, or cut across instead of lengthways as in London, where one piece is for boiling, and the rump for stewing or roasting. This must be attended to, the whole being too large to dress together.--Another way. Raise the lean next the chump-end; cut that bone off, but leave the chine-bone, then with two skewers fasten the meat as if the bone was not taken away: Put it into a pot with a little more water than will cover it: Add parsley, thyme, two or three large onions, a handful of salt, whole pepper half an ounce, half a quarter of an ounce of cloves, the same quant.i.ty of mace; cover it close down, and stew it over a slow fire for three hours, till your beef is very tender.

To make your sauce, take two pounds of gravy beef, cut it in pretty thick slices, and flour them well; put a piece of b.u.t.ter into your stewpan, over a stove, or a quick fire. When that is brown, put in the slices of beef, and fry them brown, as quick as you can; then add water as much as you think will be sufficient to make a very strong gravy; cut an onion cross with parsley, thyme, pepper, and salt, two or three cloves, and a blade of mace; let this stew till your gravy is very rich, then strain it off, and thicken it up with a piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour.

STEWED SAVOYS. These may be done in the same manner as red cabbage; but the better way is to boil the savoy in water till about half done, and then stew it. This takes off the strong flavour, and makes it much more agreeable.

STEWED SCALLOPS. Boil them very well in salt and water; take out the fish, stew them in some of their liquor, with a little white wine, two or three blades of mace, a little nutmeg, and a good piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour; let them be thoroughly stewed, then pour in a little cream, shake your pan round, and squeeze in the juice of a Seville orange. Send them to table garnished with baked sippets and orange.

STEWED SOLES. Half fry them in b.u.t.ter, take out the fish, and put a quart of water or gravy into the pan, two anchovies, and a sliced onion.

When they have boiled slowly for a quarter of an hour, put the fish in again, and stew them gently about twenty minutes. Take them out, thicken the liquor with b.u.t.ter and flour, boil it gently, strain it over the fish, and serve it with oyster, c.o.c.kle, or shrimp sauce.

STEWED SORREL. Wash it clean, and put it into a silver vessel, or stone jar, with no more water than hangs to the leaves. Simmer it as slowly as possible; and when done enough, beat it up with a piece of b.u.t.ter. This is very fine with a fricandeau, with roast meat, mackarel, or any thing usually eaten with an acid sauce. The same thickening may be added, as for spinach and sorrel. It is as well prepared in a stone jar set before the fire, only it requires a longer time.

STEWED SPINACH WITH CREAM. Boil the spinach till nearly done enough, then squeeze all the water from it, and put it into a stewpan, with a piece of b.u.t.ter and some salt. Stir it over the fire till the b.u.t.ter is well mixed in with it, and add as much cream as will make it of a moderate thickness. Shake it for a minute or two over the fire, and serve it up with sippets of bread, either fried or toasted.

STEWED SPINACH WITH GRAVY. Pick the spinach nicely, then wash it well, and put it into a stewpan, with a few spoonfuls of water, and a little salt. Stew this till quite tender, shaking the pan very often to prevent its burning. When done enough, put it into a sieve to drain, and give it a slight squeeze. Beat the spinach well, then return it to the stewpan with some gravy, pepper, salt, and a piece of b.u.t.ter. Let it stew about a quarter of an hour, stirring it frequently. Serve it up either in a dish by itself, or with poached eggs upon it, according to the occasion for which it is wanted.

STEWED SPINACH WITH SORREL. Take spinach and sorrel, in the proportion of three fourths of spinach to one of sorrel. Pick and wash these very nicely; cut them a little, and put them into a stewpan, with two or three spoonfuls of water. Keep them stirring over the fire, till they begin to soften and to liquify. Then leave it to stew at a distance over the fire for an hour or more, stirring it every now and then. Thicken it with a little flour, and when quite done, add some pepper and salt, and serve it up. This will form an excellent sauce to all kinds of meat, or to eat with potatoes. Almost any kind of cold vegetables may be added to this stew. They should be put in just long enough to heat, and mixed in properly with the spinach before it is served up.

STEWED TONGUE. Prepare a tongue with saltpetre and common salt for a week, and turn it every day. Boil it tender enough to peel, and afterwards stew it in a moderately strong gravy. Season it with soy, mushroom ketchup, cayenne, pounded cloves, and salt if necessary. Serve with truffles, morels, and mushrooms. The roots of the tongue must be removed before it is salted, but some fat should be left.

STEWED TURKEY. Have a nice hen turkey trussed close, and the breast-bone broken; put it into a stewpan with a good piece of b.u.t.ter; let the breast and pinions be glazed of a fine brown; then put it into a stewpan that is very clean; and a f.a.ggot of sweet herbs, an onion stuck with three cloves, two blades of mace, some whole pepper, and a little salt; then put in as much strong broth or gravy as will just cover it; cover it very close, and let it stew over a moderate fire, till you think it is tender; in the mean time make some forcemeat b.a.l.l.s of veal, &c. and let them be fried of a fine brown, in readiness. When your turkey is done, take it up, put it into your dish, and keep it hot; strain off your liquor into a clean stewpan, and sc.u.m it very clean: if it is not thick enough, roll apiece of b.u.t.ter in flour; put in half a gla.s.s of white wine, and your forcemeat b.a.l.l.s; toss up all together, till your sauce is of a good thickness; squeeze in a little lemon; pour your sauce over the turkey, and garnish your dish with lemon. In the same manner you may do a large fowl; and you may add morels, truffles, artichoke bottoms, &c.--Another. Put turkey or fowl into a stewpan, with a sufficient quant.i.ty of gravy or good broth, a head of celery cut small, whole pepper, and a sprig of thyme tied up in a muslin bag. When these are stewed enough, take them up, thicken the liquor with flour and b.u.t.ter, lay the meat in a dish, and pour the sauce over it.

STEWED VEAL. Cut off the neck end of a breast of veal, and stew it for gravy. Make a forcemeat of the sweetbread boiled, a few crumbs of bread, a little beef suet, an egg, pepper and salt, a spoonful or two of cream, and a little grated nutmeg. Mix them all together, raise the thin part of the breast, and put in the stuffing. Skewer the skin close down, dredge it over with flour, tie it up in a cloth, and stew it in milk and water rather more than an hour: if a large one, an hour and a half. The proper sauce for this dish is made of a little gravy, a few oysters, a few mushrooms chopped fine, and a little lemon juice, thickened with flour and b.u.t.ter. If preferred, the veal may be stewed in broth, or weak gravy. Then thicken the gravy it was stewed in, pour it over the veal, and garnish with forcemeat b.a.l.l.s.

STEWED VENISON. Let the meat hang as long as it will keep sweet. Take out the bone, beat the meat with a rolling-pin, lay on some slices of mutton fat, sprinkle over it a little pepper and salt, roll it up light and tie it. Stew it in mutton or beef gravy, with a quarter of a pint of port wine, some pepper and allspice. Cover it close, and simmer it as slowly as possible for three or four hours. When quite tender take off the tape, lay the meat on a dish, strain the gravy over it, and serve it up with currant jelly.

STEWED WATER CRESSES. Pick and wash a quant.i.ty of water cresses, and boil them for a few minutes. Drain and press them dry, chop them slightly, and put them into a stewpan, either with good gravy or cream, and a seasoning of salt and pepper. Add a thickening of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, if necessary. Stew them gently for ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, and serve them up with a garnish of sippets, of fried or toasted bread.

STICKING PLASTER. Melt three ounces of diachylon with half an ounce of rosin, and when cooled to about the thickness of treacle, spread it upon a piece of smooth soft linen.

STILTON CHEESE. This rich and relis.h.i.+ng article is made in the following manner. The night's cream is put into the morning's milk, with the rennet. When the curd is come, it is not broken, as is usually done with other cheese, but taken out whole, and put into a sieve to drain. Here it is pressed till it becomes firm and dry, when it is placed in a wooden hoop made to fit it, in order to prevent its breaking. After being taken out of the hoop, the cheese is bound with cloths, which are changed every day, till it is sufficiently firm to support itself. The cloths are then removed, and the cheese is rubbed with a brush and turned every day. The rennet bag should be kept perfectly sweet and fresh: if it be in the least degree tainted, the cheese will never have a good flavour.

STINGS. The stings of bees are often more virulent than those of wasps, and attended with more painful effects. The sting being barbed, it is always left in the wound. When therefore a person is stung by a bee, the sting should be instantly extracted, or it will communicate more of its poison, according to the time it is permitted to remain. It should be carefully pulled out with a steady hand, for if any of it break in, remedies will in a great measure be ineffectual. When the sting is completely extracted, the wounded part should be sucked, and very little inflammation will ensue. If a few drops of the spirits of hartshorn be immediately rubbed on the part affected, the cure will be more speedily accomplished. Another simple remedy is, a solution of indigo in water, or of potash, a little oil of tartar, or common sweet oil, rubbed upon the part. Honey and olive oil, or some bruised mallows, may occasionally be subst.i.tuted with advantage; but their application should be repeated till the pain ceases. Rubbing on a little common salt, after it has been moistened, is also said to be an effectual cure. If a wasp or bee has been incautiously swallowed in a gla.s.s of liquor, take a spoonful of common salt, or repeated doses of salt and water. This will immediately kill the insect, and prevent the injurious effects of the sting. To remove the disagreeable itching which arises from the sting of gnats, wash the part directly with cold water; or at night, rub on fuller's earth mixed with water.

STOCK. To make a clear brown stock, for gravy or gravy soup, put into a stewpan with two quarts of water, a pound of lean beef, a pound of the lean of a gammon of bacon, all sliced. Add two or three sc.r.a.ped carrots, two onions, two turnips, and two heads of sliced celery. Stew the meat quite tender, but do not let it brown. When thus prepared, it will serve either for soup, or brown or white gravy. If for brown, put in some soup colouring, and boil it a few minutes.

STOCK-FISH. Put it into water, and let it remain there two days, s.h.i.+fting the water often; then take it out, and clean the skin and inner part with a hard brush, and hang it up for one night in the air. In the morning put it again into water, and let it remain till the next morning, s.h.i.+fting the water often; take it out, and hang it up for another day, when it will be fit for dressing. Roll up the fish round, and tie it close with a tape; put it into a fish-kettle, the water of which simmers when you put it on: let it remain simmering for three quarters of an hour, then let it boil for five minutes, and the fish is enough.

STOMACHIC TINCTURE. In low nervous affections arising from a languid circulation, and when the stomach is in a state of debility, the following tincture will be found to be strengthening and beneficial. An ounce and a half of peruvian bark bruised, and an ounce of orange peel, steeped in a pint of the best brandy, for ten days. Shake the bottle every day, then let it settle for two days, and decant off the clear liquor. Take a tea-spoonful of the tincture in a wine gla.s.s of water, twice a day, when the stomach feels empty and uneasy, an hour before dinner, and also in the evening. This agreeable aromatic tonic will procure an appet.i.te, and aid digestion. Tea made with dried Seville orange peel, in the same way as common tea, and drunk with milk and sugar, has been taken by nervous persons with great benefit. Sucking a bit of dried orange peel about an hour before dinner, when the stomach is empty, is very grateful and strengthening.

STONE STAIRS AND HALLS. In order to clean these properly, boil a pound of pipe-maker's clay with a quart of water, a quart of small beer, and a bit of stone blue. Wash the stairs or the floor with this mixture, and when dry, rub it with flannel and a brush.

STOPPLES. When a gla.s.s stopple is set fast, in a bottle or decanter, rub a drop or two of olive oil round it, close to the mouth of the decanter, and place it near the fire. The oil will soon insinuate itself downwards, and the stopple may then be loosened by the hand, or by striking it lightly with a piece of soft wood. Sometimes the rubbing of the neck of the bottle with a small key, and striking the head of the stopper, will be sufficient to loosen it, without the application of any oil.

STORING. The storing of fruits, vegetables, and roots, has been performed in various ways, which are well known already; but lately some better modes have been suggested for this purpose. For apples and pears, after they have been carefully gathered from the trees, and laid in heaps covered with clean cloths or mats for sweating, which is effected in three or four days, they remaining for that length of time afterwards, they are to be wiped separately with clean cloths; when some glazed earthen jars are to be provided with tops and covers, and likewise a quant.i.ty of pure pit-sand, which is quite free from any mixture. This is to be thoroughly dried upon a flue. Then put a layer of this sand an inch thick on the bottoms of the jars; above this layer of fruit, a quarter of an inch free of each other; covering the whole with sand to the depth of an inch; then a second course of fruit is to be laid in, and again covered with an inch of the sand, proceeding in the same way until the whole be finished and completed. An inch and a half in depth of sand may be laid over the last or uppermost layer of fruit; when the jars are to be closed and placed in some dry situation, as cool as possible, but entirely out of the way of frost. The usual time at which each kind of such fruits should be ready for the table being known, the jars containing such fruit may, it is said, be examined, by turning out the sand and fruit together cautiously into a sieve. The ripe fruit may then be laid upon the shelves of the fruit-room for use, and the unripe be carefully replaced in the jars as before, but with fresh dry sand. Some kinds of apples managed in this way, will, it is said, keep a great while, as till July; and pears until April, and in some sorts till June. It is not improbable but that many other sorts of fruit might be stored and preserved in somewhat the same way. Vegetables of the cauliflower kind have been stored and kept well through a great part of the winter, by putting them, when in full head, on a dry day, into pits about eighteen inches in depth, and much the same breadth, in a perfectly dry soil, with the stalks and leaves to them, the latter being carefully doubled over and lapped round the heads, instead of hanging them up in sheds or other places, as is the usual practice in preserving them. In performing the work, it is begun at one end of the pits, laying the heads in with the root-stalks uppermost, so as that the former may incline downwards, the roots of the one layer covering the tops or heads of the other, until the whole is completed. The pits are then to be closely covered up with the earth into a sort of ridge, and beaten quite smooth with the back of the spade, in order that the rain-water may be fully thrown off. Fine cauliflowers have been thus stored and kept for the occasional supply of the table until the middle of the following January. For storing and preserving different kinds of roots for common summer use, until the coming in or return of the natural crops, the following method has likewise been proposed. As the ice in ice-houses has commonly subsided some feet, as four, five, or more, by the beginning of the spring, it is proposed to deposit in the rooms or vacancies so left empty, the roots that are to be preserved. As soon as any openings in the places have been well stuffed with straw, and the surfaces of the ice covered with the sort of material, case-boxes, dry ware, casks, baskets, or any other such vessels, are to be placed upon it, which are then to be filled with the roots, such as turnips, carrots, beets, celery, potatoes in particular, and some others. In cases where there are not ice-houses, vegetation may be greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded, and the roots preserved by storing them in deep vaulted cellars, caves, coal-pits, mines, or in any place seated deep in the earth. Potatoes have also been well stored and preserved, it is said, by earthing them in small parcels, as about two bolls each, heaped up, and covered in the usual way with straw and earth; which are turned over into other pits in the early spring, first rubbing off all the sprouts or shoots, and having the roots well watered in small quant.i.ties as they are put into the other pits, the whole earthy covering being also well watered and beaten together at the time with the back part of the spade. This covering is to be made to the thickness of about two feet. The same practice or process is to be repeated every time the potatoes are turned over, which should be about once in three weeks, as the state of the weather may be. And where the pits or heaps are not in the shade, it is sometimes proper, when the season is very hot, to cover them with mats supported on sticks, so as to permit a free current of air between the mats and the heaps. In this way it is stated that these roots have been preserved quite plump and entire in the taste until the end of September, or till the succeeding crop becomes perfectly ripe, so as to be used without loss, as that must always be the case where the roots are largely employed before they are in a state of mature growth.

It is a.s.serted, too, that in this manner potatoes are even capable of recovering in plumpness and taste, where they have been suffered, by improper exposure to air or heat, to become deficient in these qualities.

STOVE BLACKING, for backs of grates, hearths, and the fronts of stoves, is made in the following manner. Boil a quarter of a pound of the best black lead, with a pint of small beer, and a bit of soap the size of a walnut. When that is melted, dip in a painter's brush, and wet the grate, having first cleared off all the soot and dust. Then take a hard brush, and rub it till it is quite bright. A mixture of black lead and whites of eggs well beaten together, will answer the same purpose.

STRAMONIUM. This celebrated plant, commonly called the Thorn Apple, often grows on dunghills, and flowers in the month of July. Having lately been discovered as possessing very powerful medical properties, and as affording the most effectual remedy for the asthma, it is now frequently transplanted into gardens, though its odour is extremely offensive. A kind of herb tobacco is made of the dried leaves, mixed with a little rosemary to prevent nausea, and a pipeful is smoked in the evening before going to bed. The practice should be continued for some time, or as often as asthma returns, and it will afford very sensible relief. The plant may easily be raised from seed; but an elegant preparation of the stramonium, or the asthmatic tobacco, may be had of several medicine vendors in the kingdom.

STRAWBERRIES. Sir Joseph Banks, from a variety of experiments, and the experience of many years, recommends a general revival of the now almost obsolete practice of laying straw under strawberry plants, when the fruit begins to swell; by which means the roots are shaded from the sun, the waste of moisture by evaporation prevented, the leaning fruit kept from damage, by resting on the ground, particularly in wet weather, and much labour in watering saved. Twenty trusses of long straw are sufficient for 1800 feet of plants. On the management of strawberries in June and July, the future prosperity of them greatly depends; and if each plant has not been kept separate, by cutting off the runners, they will be in a state of confusion, and you will find three different sorts of plants. 1. Old plants, whose roots are turned black, hard, and woody. 2. Young plants, not strong enough to flower. 3. Flowering plants, which ought only to be there, and perhaps not many of them.

Before the time of flowering is quite over, examine them, and pull up every old plant which has not flowered; for, if once they have omitted to flower you may depend upon it they will never produce any after, being too old, and past bearing; but to be fully convinced, leave two or three, set a stick to them, and observe them next year. If the young plants, runners of last year, be too thick, take some of them away, and do not leave them nearer than a foot of the scarlet, alpines, and wood, and fifteen or sixteen inches of all the larger sorts; and in the first rainy weather in July or August, take them all up, and make a fresh plantation with them, and they will be very strong plants for flowering next year. Old beds, even if the plants be kept single at their proper distance, examine, and pull all the old plants which have not flowered.

When the fruit is nearly all gathered examine them again, and cut off the runners; but if you want to make a fresh plantation, leave some of the two first, and cut off all the rest. Then stir up the ground with a trowel, or three-p.r.o.nged fork, and in August they will be fit to transplant. If you have omitted in July do not fail in August, that the runners may make good roots to be transplanted in September, for, if later, the worms will draw them out of the ground, and the frost afterwards will prevent them from striking root; the consequence of which is, their not flowering the next spring; and you will lose a year.

STRAWBERRY AND RASPBERRY FOOL. Bruise a pint of scarlet strawberries, and a pint of raspberries, pa.s.s them through a sieve, and sweeten them with half a pound of fine sugar pounded, add a spoonful of orange-flower water, then boil it over the fire, for two or three minutes; take it off, and set on a pint and a half of cream, boil it and stir it till it is cold; when the pulp is cold, put them together, and stir them till they are well mixed; put the fool into gla.s.ses, or basins, as you think proper.

STRAWBERRY JAM. Dissolve four pounds of lump sugar in a quart of currant juice, then boil and sc.u.m it quite clean. Mash four quarts of raspberries, and mix with it. Let it boil quick, over a clear fire, for nearly an hour, or till the sugar and raspberries are quite mixed. This may be known by putting a little on a plate; if the juice drains from the fruit, it must be boiled longer. When done enough, put it into pots, and the next day put brandy papers over them. Tie them down with another paper, and set the jars in a dry place.

STRAWBERRIES PRESERVED. To keep whole strawberries, take equal weights of the fruit and double refined sugar. Lay the strawberries in a large dish, and sprinkle over them half the sugar in fine powder. Shake the dish gently, that the sugar may touch the under side of the fruit. Next day make a thin syrup with the remainder of the sugar, and instead of water, allow to every pound of strawberries a pint of red currant juice.

Simmer the fruit in this, until sufficiently jellied. Choose the largest scarlet strawberries, before they are dead ripe. They will eat well in thin cream, served up in gla.s.ses.

STRAWBERRIES IN WINE. Put a quant.i.ty of the finest strawberries into a gooseberry bottle, and strew in three spoonfuls of fine sugar. Fill up the bottle with madeira, or fine sherry.

STRENGTHENING DRAUGHT. For weakly persons, any of the following preparations will be highly beneficial. Put two calves' feet in two pints of water, and the same quant.i.ty of new milk; bake them in a jar closely covered, three hours and a half. When cold remove the fat, and take a large teacupful of the mucilage, morning and evening. It may be flavoured by baking in it lemon peel, cinnamon, or mace: sugar is to be added afterwards.--Or simmer six sheeps' trotters, with two blades of mace, a bit of cinnamon, lemon peel, a few hartshorn shavings, and a little isingla.s.s, in two quarts of water till reduced to one. When cold, remove the fat, and take nearly half a pint twice a day, warming it with a little new milk.--Another way. Boil an ounce of isingla.s.s shavings, forty peppercorns, and a bit of brown crust of bread, in a quart of water, till reduced to a pint, and strain it. This makes a pleasant jelly to keep in case of sickness, and a large spoonful may be taken in wine and water, in milk, tea, soup, or any other way.--Or boil a quarter of an ounce of isingla.s.s shavings with a pint of new milk, till reduced one half. Add a little sugar, and for a change a bitter almond. Take this at bed-time, but not too warm. Dutch flummery, jellies, or blamange, if not too rich, are also very strengthening.