The Book of Household Management Part 11

_Time_.--Half an hour. _Average cost_ per quart, 4d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

_Sufficient_ for 4 persons.

_Note_.--This is a cheap recipe, and will be found useful where extreme economy is an object.

[Ill.u.s.tration: QUERN, or GRINDING-MILL.]

BREAD.--The origin of bread is involved in the obscurity of distant ages. The Greeks attributed its invention to Pan; but before they, themselves, had an existence, it was, no doubt, in use among the primitive nations of mankind. The Chaldeans and the Egyptians were acquainted with it, and Sarah, the companion of Abraham, mixed flour and water together, kneaded it, and covered it with ashes on the hearth. The Scriptures inform us that leavened bread was known to the Israelites, but it is not known when the art of fermenting it was discovered. It is said that the Romans learnt it during their wars with Perseus, king of Macedon, and that it was introduced to the "imperial city"

about 200 years before the birth of Christ. With them it no doubt found its way into Britain; but after their departure from the island, it probably ceased to be used. We know that King Alfred allowed the unfermented cakes to burn in the neatherd's cottage; and that, even in the sixteenth century, unfermented cakes, kneaded by the women, were the only kind of bread known to the inhabitants of Norway and Sweden. The Italians of this day consume the greater portion of their flour in the form of _polenta_, or soft pudding, vermicelli, and macaroni; and, in the remoter districts of Scotland, much unfermented bread is still used. We give a cut of the _quern_ grinding-mill, which, towards the end of the last century, was in use in that country, and which is thus described by Dr. Johnson in his "Journey to the Hebrides:"--"It consists of two stones about a foot and half in diameter; the lower is a little convex, to which the concavity of the upper must be fitted. In the middle of the upper stone is a round hole, and on one side is a long handle.

The grinder sheds the corn gradually into the hole with one hand, and works the handle round with the other. The corn slides down the convexity of the lower stone, and by the motion of the upper, is ground in its pa.s.sage." Such a primitive piece of machinery, it may safely be said, has entirely disappeared from this country.--In other parts of this work, we shall have opportunities of speaking of bread and bread-making, which, from its great and general use in the nourishment of mankind, has emphatically been called the "staff of life." The necessity, therefore, of having it both pure and good is of the first importance.

CABBAGE SOUP.

118. INGREDIENTS.--1 large cabbage, 3 carrots, 2 onions, 4 or 5 slices of lean bacon, salt and pepper to taste, 2 quarts of medium stock No.

105.

_Mode_.--Scald the cabbage, exit it up and drain it. Line the stewpan with the bacon, put in the cabbage, carrots, and onions; moisten with skimmings from the stock, and simmer very gently, till the cabbage is tender; add the stock, stew softly for half an hour, and carefully skim off every particle of fat. Season and serve.

_Time_.--1-1/2 hour. _Average cost_, 1s. per quart.

_Seasonable_ in winter.

_Sufficient_ for 8 persons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CABBAGE SEEDING.]

THE CABBAGE.--It is remarkable, that although there is no country in the world now more plentifully supplied with fruits and vegetables than Great Britain, yet the greater number of these had no existence in it before the time of Henry VIII.

Anderson, writing under the date of 1548, says, "The English cultivated scarcely any vegetables before the last two centuries. At the commencement of the reign, of Henry VIII.

neither salad, nor carrots, nor cabbages, nor radishes, nor any other comestibles of a like nature, were grown in any part of the kingdom; they came from Holland and Flanders." The original of all the cabbage tribe is the wild plant _sea-colewort_, which is to be found _wasting_ whatever sweetness it may have on the desert air, on many of the cliffs of the south coast of England.

In this state, it scarcely weighs more than half an ounce, yet, in a cultivated state, to what dimensions can it be made to grow! However greatly the whole of the tribe is esteemed among the moderns, by the ancients they were held in yet higher estimation. The Egyptians adored and raised altars to them, and the Greeks and Romans ascribed many of the most exalted virtues to them. Cato affirmed, that the cabbage cured all diseases, and declared, that it was to its use that the Romans were enabled to live in health and without the a.s.sistance of physicians for 600 years. It was introduced by that people into Germany, Gaul, and, no doubt, Britain; although, in this last, it may have been suffered to pa.s.s into desuetude for some centuries. The whole tribe is in general wholesome and nutritive, and forms a valuable adjunct to animal food.

SOUP A LA CANTATRICE.

(_An Excellent Soup, very Beneficial for the Voice_.)

119. INGREDIENTS.--3 oz. of sago, 1/2 pint of cream, the yolks of 3 eggs, 1 lump of sugar, and seasoning to taste, 1 bay-leaf (if liked), 2 quarts of medium stock No. 105.

_Mode_.--Having washed the sago in boiling water, let it be gradually added to the nearly boiling stock. Simmer for 1/2 an hour, when it should be well dissolved. Beat up the yolks of the eggs, add to them the boiling cream; stir these quickly in the soup, and serve immediately. Do not let the soup boil, or the eggs will curdle.

_Time_.--40 minutes. _Average cost_, 1s. 6d. per quart.

_Seasonable_ all the year.

_Sufficient_ for 8 persons.

_Note_.--This is a soup, the princ.i.p.al ingredients of which, sago and eggs, have always been deemed very beneficial to the chest and throat.

In various quant.i.ties, and in different preparations, these have been partaken of by the princ.i.p.al singers of the day, including the celebrated Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind, and, as they have always avowed, with considerable advantage to the voice, in singing.

CARROT SOUP.

I.

120. INGREDIENTS.--4 quarts of liquor in which a leg of mutton or beef has been boiled, a few beef-bones, 6 large carrots, 2 large onions, 1 turnip; seasoning of salt and pepper to taste; cayenne.

_Mode_.--Put the liquor, bones, onions, turnip, pepper, and salt, into a stewpan, and simmer for 3 hours. Sc.r.a.pe and cut the carrots thin, strain the soup on them, and stew them till soft enough to pulp through a hair sieve or coa.r.s.e cloth; then boil the pulp with the soup, which should be of the consistency of pea-soup. Add cayenne. Pulp only the red part of the carrot, and make this soup the day before it is wanted.

_Time_.--4-1/2 hours. _Average cost_ per quart, 1-1/2d.

_Seasonable_ from October to March.

_Sufficient_ for 10 persons.

II.

121. INGREDIENTS.--2 lbs. of carrots, 3 oz. of b.u.t.ter, seasoning to taste of salt and cayenne, 2 quarts of stock or gravy soup.

_Mode_.--Sc.r.a.pe and cut out all specks from the carrots, wash, and wipe them dry, and then reduce them into quarter-inch slices. Put the b.u.t.ter into a large stewpan, and when it is melted, add 2 lbs. of the sliced carrots, and let them stew gently for an hour without browning. Add to them the soup, and allow them to simmer till tender,--say for nearly an hour. Press them through a strainer with the soup, and add salt and cayenne if required. Boil the whole gently for 5 minutes, skim well, and serve as hot as possible.

_Time_.--1-1/4 hour. _Average cost_ per quart, 1s. 1d.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TAZZA AND CARROT LEAVES.]

THE CARROT.--There is a wild carrot which grows in England; but it is white and small, and not much esteemed. The garden carrot in general use, was introduced in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was, at first, so highly esteemed, that the ladies wore leaves of it in their head-dresses. It is of great value in the culinary art, especially for soups and stews. It can be used also for beer instead of malt, and, in distillation, it yields a large quant.i.ty of spirit. The carrot is proportionably valuable as it has more of the red than the yellow part. There is a large red variety much used by the farmers for colouring b.u.t.ter. As a garden vegetable, it is what is called the orange-carrot that is usually cultivated. As a fattening food for cattle, it is excellent; but for man it is indigestible, on account of its fibrous matter. Of 1,000 parts, 95 consist of sugar, and 3 of starch.--The accompanying cut represents a pretty winter ornament, obtained by placing a cut from the top of the carrot-root in a shallow vessel of water, when the young leaves spring forth with a charming freshness and fullness.

CELERY SOUP.

122. INGREDIENTS.--9 heads of celery, 1 teaspoonful of salt, nutmeg to taste, 1 lump of sugar, 1/2 pint of strong stock, a pint of cream, and 2 quarts of boiling water.

_Mode_.--Cut the celery into small pieces; throw it into the water, seasoned with the nutmeg, salt, and sugar. Boil it till sufficiently tender; pa.s.s it through a sieve, add the stock, and simmer it for half an hour. Now put in the cream, bring it to the boiling point, and serve immediately.

_Time_.--1 hour. _Average cost_, 1s. per quart.

_Seasonable_ from September to March.

_Sufficient_ for 10 persons.

_Note_.--This soup can be made brown, instead of white, by omitting the cream, and colouring it a little. When celery cannot be procured, half a drachm of the seed, finely pounded, 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 celery will answer the same purpose.

CELERY.--This plant is indigenous to Britain, and, in its wild state, grows by the side of ditches and along some parts of the seacoast. In this state it is called _smallaqe_, and, to some extent, is a dangerous narcotic. By cultivation, however, it has been brought to the fine flavour which the garden plant possesses. In the vicinity of Manchester it is raised to an enormous size. When our natural observation is a.s.sisted by the accurate results ascertained by the light of science, how infinitely does it enhance our delight in contemplating the products of nature! To know, for example, that the endless variety of colour which we see in plants is developed only by the rays of the sun, is to know a truism sublime by its very comprehensiveness. The cause of the whiteness of celery is nothing more than the want of light in its vegetation, and in order that this effect may be produced, the plant is almost wholly covered with earth; the tops of the leaves alone being suffered to appear above the ground.

CHANTILLY SOUP.

123. INGREDIENTS.--1 quart of young green peas, a small bunch of parsley, 2 young onions, 2 quarts of medium stock No. 105.

_Mode_.--Boil the peas till quite tender, with the parsley and onions; then rub them through a sieve, and pour the stock to them. Do not let it boil after the peas are added, or you will spoil the colour. Serve very hot.