The Book of Household Management Part 217

1825. INGREDIENTS.--2 oz. of bitter almonds, 1 oz. of sweet ditto, 1 lb.

of loaf sugar, the rinds of 3 lemons, 1 quart of Irish whiskey or gin, 1 tablespoonful of clarified honey, 4 pint of new milk.

_Mode_.--Blanch and pound the almonds, and mix with them the sugar, which should also be pounded. Boil the milk; let it stand till quite cold; then mix all the ingredients together, and let them remain for 10 days, shaking them every day. Filter the mixture through blotting-paper, bottle off for use in small bottles, and seal the corks down. This will be found useful for flavouring many sweet dishes.

_Average cost_, 2s. 9d.

_Sufficient_ to make about 24 pints of Noyeau.

_Seasonable_.--May be made at any time.

ORANGE BRANDY.

(_Excellent_.)

1826. INGREDIENTS.--To every 1 gallon of brandy allow 3/4 pint of Seville orange-juice, 1-1/4 lb. of loaf sugar.

_Mode_.--To bring out the full flavour of the orange-peel, rub a few lumps of the sugar on 2 or 3 unpared oranges, and put these lumps to the rest. Mix the brandy with the orange-juice, strained, the rinds of 6 of the oranges pared very thin, and the sugar. Let all stand in a closely-covered jar for about 3 days, stirring it 3 or 4 times a day.

When clear, it should be bottled and closely corked for a year; it will then be ready for use, but will keep any length of time. This is a most excellent stomachic when taken pure in small quant.i.ties; or, as the strength of the brandy is very little deteriorated by the other ingredients, it may be diluted with water.

_Time_.--To be stirred every day for 3 days.

_Average cost_, 7s.

_Sufficient_ to make 2 quarts. _Seasonable_.--Make this in March.

A VERY SIMPLE AND EASY METHOD OF MAKING A VERY SUPERIOR ORANGE WINE.

1827. INGREDIENTS.--90 Seville oranges, 32 lbs. of lump sugar, water.

_Mode_.--Break up the sugar into small pieces, and put it into a dry, sweet 9-gallon cask, placed in a cellar or other storehouse, where it is intended to be kept. Have ready close to the cask two large pans or wooden keelers, into one of which put the peel of the oranges pared quite thin, and into the other the pulp after the juice has been squeezed from it. Strain the juice through a piece of double muslin, and put it into the cask with the sugar. Then pour about 1-1/2 gallon of cold spring water on both the peels and pulp; let it stand for 24 hours, and then strain it into the cask; add more water to the peels and pulp when this is done, and repeat the same process every day for a week: it should take about a week to fill up the cask. Be careful to apportion the quant.i.ty as nearly as possible to the seven days, and to stir the contents of the cask each day. On the "third' day after the cask is full,--that is, the 'tenth' day after the commencement of making,--the cask may be securely bunged down. This is a very simple and easy method, and the wine made according to it will be p.r.o.nounced to be most excellent. There is no troublesome boiling, and all fermentation takes place in the cask. When the above directions are attended to, the wine cannot fail to be good. It should be bottled in 8 or 9 months, and will be fit for use in a twelve month after the time of making. Ginger wine may be made in precisely the same manner, only, with the 9-gallon cask for ginger wine, 2 lbs. of the best whole ginger, 'bruised', must be put with the sugar. It will be found convenient to tie the ginger loosely in a muslin bag.

_Time_.--Altogether, 10 days to make it.

_Average cost_, 2s. 6d. per gallon. _Sufficient_ for 9 gallons.

_Seasonable_.--Make this in March, and bottle it the following January.

RASPBERRY VINEGAR.

1828. INGREDIENTS.--To every 3 pints of the best vinegar allow 4-1/2 pints of freshly-gathered raspberries; to each pint of liquor allow 1 lb. of pounded loaf sugar, 1 winegla.s.sful of brandy.

_Mode_.--Let the raspberries be freshly gathered; pick them from the stalks, and put 1-1/2 pint of them into a stone jar; pour 3 pints of the best vinegar over them, and let them remain for 24 hours; then strain the liquor over another 1-1/2 pint of fresh raspberries. Let them remain another 24 hours, and the following day repeat the process for the third time; then drain off the liquor without pressing, and pa.s.s it through a jelly-bag (previously wetted with plain vinegar), into a stone jar. Add to every pint of the liquor 1 lb. of pounded loaf sugar; stir them together, and, when the sugar is dissolved, cover the jar; set it upon the fire in a saucepan of boiling water, and let it boil for an hour, removing the sc.u.m as fast as it rises; add to each pint a gla.s.s of brandy, bottle it, and seal the corks. This is an excellent drink in cases of fevers and colds: it should be diluted with cold water, according to the taste or requirement of the patient.

_Time_.--To be boiled 1 hour. Average cost, 1s. per pint.

_Sufficient_ to make 2 quarts.

_Seasonable_.--Make this in July or August, when raspberries are most plentiful.

RHUBARB WINE.

1829. INGREDIENTS.--To every 5 lbs. of rhubarb pulp allow 1 gallon of cold spring water; to every gallon of liquor allow 3 lbs. of loaf sugar, 1/2 oz. of isingla.s.s, the rind of 1 lemon.

_Mode_.--Gather the rhubarb about the middle of May; wipe it with a wet cloth, and, with a mallet, bruise it in a large wooden tub or other convenient means. When reduced to a pulp, weigh it, and to every 5 lbs.

add 1 gallon of cold spring water; let these remain for 3 days, stirring 3 or 4 times a day; and, on the fourth day, press the pulp through a hair sieve; put the liquor into a tub, and to every gallon put 3 lbs. of loaf sugar; stir in the sugar until it is quite dissolved, and add the lemon-rind; let the liquor remain, and, in 4, 5, or 6 days, the fermentation will begin to subside, and a crust or head will be formed, which should be skimmed off, or the liquor drawn from it, when the crust begins to crack or separate. Put the wine into a cask, and if, after that, it ferments, rack it off into another cask, and in a fortnight stop it down. If the wine should have lost any of its original sweetness, add a little more loaf sugar, taking care that the cask is full. Bottle it off in February or March, and in the summer it should be fit to drink. It will improve greatly by keeping; and, should a very brilliant colour be desired, add a little currant-juice.

_Seasonable_.--Make this about the middle of May.

WELSH NECTAR.

1830. INGREDIENTS.--1 lb. of raisins, 3 lemons, 2 lbs. of loaf sugar, 2 gallons of boiling water.

_Mode_.--Cut the peel of the lemons very thin, pour upon it the boiling water, and, when cool, add the strained juice of the lemons, the sugar, and the raisins, stoned and chopped very fine. Let it stand 4 or 5 days, stirring it every day; then strain it through a jelly-bag, and bottle it for present use.

_Time_.--4 or 5 days. _Average cost_, 1s. 9d.

_Sufficient_ to make 2 gallons.

CLARET-CUP.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CLARET CUP.]

1831. INGREDIENTS.--1 bottle of claret, 1 bottle of soda-water, about 1/2 lb. of pounded ice, 4 tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, 1/4 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 1 liqueur-gla.s.s of Maraschino, a sprig of green borage.

_Mode_.--Put all the ingredients into a silver cup, regulating the proportion of ice by the state of the weather: if very warm, a larger quant.i.ty would be necessary. Hand the cup round with a clean napkin pa.s.sed through one of the handles, that the edge of the cup may be wiped after each guest has partaken of the contents thereof.

_Seasonable_ in summer.

CLARETS.--All those wines called in England clarets are the produce of the country round Bordeaux, or the Bordelais; but it is remarkable that there is no pure wine in France known by the name of claret, which is a corruption of _clairet_, a term that is applied there to any red or rose-coloured wine. Round Bordeaux are produced a number of wines of the first quality, which pa.s.s under the name simply of _vins de Bordeaux_, or have the designation of the particular district where they are made; as Lafitte, Latour, &c. The clarets brought to the English market are frequently prepared for it by the wine-growers by mixing together several Bordeaux wines, or by adding to them a portion of some other wines; but in France the pure wines are carefully preserved distinct. The genuine wines of Bordeaux are of great variety, that part being one of the most distinguished in France; and the princ.i.p.al vineyards are those of Medoc, Palus, Graves, and Blanche, the product of each having characters considerably different.

CHAMPAGNE-CUP.

1832. INGREDIENTS.--1 quart bottle of champagne, 2 bottles of soda-water, 1 liqueur-gla.s.s of brandy or Curacoa, 2 tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, 1 lb. of pounded ice, a sprig of green borage.

_Mode_.--Put all the ingredients into a silver cup; stir them together, and serve the same as claret-cup No. 1831. Should the above proportion of sugar not be found sufficient to suit some tastes, increase the quant.i.ty. When borage is not easily obtainable, subst.i.tute for it a few slices of cuc.u.mber-rind.

_Seasonable_.--Suitable for pic-nics, b.a.l.l.s, weddings, and other festive occasions.

CHAMPAGNE.--This, the most celebrated of French wines, is the produce chiefly of the province of that name, and is generally understood in England to be a brisk, effervescing, or sparkling white wine, of a very fine flavour; but this is only one of the varieties of this cla.s.s. There is both red and white champagne, and each of these may be either still or brisk. There are the sparkling wines (mousseux), and the still wines (non-mousseux).

The brisk are in general the most highly esteemed, or, at least, are the most popular in this country, on account of their delicate flavour and the agreeable pungency which they derive from the carbonic acid they contain, and to which they owe their briskness.