Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches Part 55

FINE MILK PUNCH.

Pare off the yellow rind of nine large lemons, and steep it for twenty-four hours in a quart of brandy or rum. Then mix with it the juice of the lemons, a pound and a half of loaf-sugar, two grated nutmegs, and a quart of water. Add a quart of rich unskimmed milk, made boiling hot, and strain the whole through a jelly-bag. You may either use it as soon as it is cold, or make a larger quant.i.ty, (in the above proportions,) and bottle it. It will keep several months.

REGENT'S PUNCH.

Take four large lemons; roll them on the table to make them more juicy, and then pare them as thin as possible. Cut out all the pulp, and throw away the seeds and the white part of the rind. Put the yellow rind and the pulp into a pint of boiling water with two tea-spoonfuls of raw green tea of the best sort. Let all boil together about ten minutes. Then strain it through linen, and stir in a pound of powdered loaf-sugar and a bottle of champagne, or of any liquor suitable for punch. Set it again over the fire, and when just ready to boil, remove it, and pour it into a china bowl or pitcher, to be sent round in gla.s.ses.

WINE JELLY.

Clarify a pound of loaf-sugar, by mixing it with half a pint of water and the beaten white of an egg, and then boiling and skimming it. Put an ounce of isingla.s.s (with as much boiling water as will cover it) into a small sauce-pan, and set it in hot coals till the isingla.s.s is thoroughly dissolved. Then when the syrup has been taken from the fire, mix the melted isingla.s.s with it, add a quart of white wine and stir in a table-spoonful or a spoonful and a half of old Jamaica spirits. Stir the mixture very hard, and pour it into a mould. When it has congealed, wrap a cloth dipped in warm water round the outside of the mould; turn out the jelly, and eat it with ice-cream.

BISHOP.

The day before you want to use the liquor toast four large oranges till they are of a pale brown. You may do them either before a clear fire or in the oven of a stove. Dissolve half a pound of loaf-sugar in half a pint of claret. When the oranges are roasted, quarter them without peeling, lay them in the bottom of a bowl or a tureen, add two beaten nutmegs and some cinnamon, and pour on them the wine and sugar. Cover it, and let it stand till next day.

Then having heated the remainder of the bottle of claret till it nearly boils, pour it into a pitcher, and having first pressed and mashed the pieces of orange with a spoon to bring out the juice, put them with the sugar, &c. into a cloth, and strain the liquid into the hot claret. Serve it warm in large gla.s.ses.

MULLED WINE.

Boil together in a pint of water two beaten nutmegs, a handful of broken cinnamon, and a handful of cloves slightly pounded. When the liquid is reduced to one half, strain it into a quart of port wine, which must be set on hot coals, and taken off as soon as it comes to a boil. Serve it up hot in a pitcher with little gla.s.s cups round it, and a plate of fresh rusk.

MULLED CIDER.

Allow six eggs to a quart of cider. Put a handful of whole cloves into the cider, and boil it. While it is boiling, beat the eggs in a large pitcher; adding to them as much sugar as will make the cider very sweet. By the time the cider boils, the eggs will be sufficiently light. Pour the boiling liquor on the beaten egg, and continue to pour the mixture backwards and forwards from one pitcher to another, till it has a fine froth on it. Then pour it warm into your gla.s.ses, and grate some nutmeg over each.

Port wine may be mulled in the same manner.

EGG NOGG.

Beat separately the yolks and whites of six eggs. Stir the yolks into a quart of rich milk, or thin cream, and add half a pound of sugar. Then mix in half a pint of rum or brandy. Flavour it with a grated nutmeg. Lastly, stir in gently the beaten white of an egg.

It should be mixed in a china bowl.

SANGAREE.

Mix in a pitcher or in tumblers one-third of wine, ale, or porter, with two-thirds of water either warm or cold. Stir in sufficient loaf-sugar to sweeten it, and grate some nutmeg into it.

By adding to it lemon juice, you may make what is called negus.

TURKISH SHERBET.

Having washed a fore-quarter or knuckle of veal, and cracked the bones, put it on to boil with two quarts and a pint of water. Let it boil till the liquid is reduced to one quart, and skim it well.

Then strain it, and set it away to cool. When quite cold, mix with it a pint and a half of clear lemon juice, and a pint and a half of capillaire or clear sugar-syrup. If you have no capillaire ready, boil two pounds of loaf-sugar in a pint and a half of water, clearing it with the beaten white of an egg mixed into the sugar and water before boiling. Serve the sherbet cold or iced, in gla.s.s mugs at the dessert, or offer it as a refreshment at any other time.

Sherbet may be made of the juice of various sorts of fruit.

BOTTLED SMALL BEER.

Take a quart bottle of the very best brisk porter, and mix it with four quarts of water, a pint of mola.s.ses, and a table-spoonful of ginger. Bottle it, and see that the corks are of the very best kind. It will be fit for use in three or four days.

TO KEEP LEMON JUICE.

Powder a pound of the best loaf-sugar; put it into a bowl, and strain over it a pint of lemon juice; stirring it well with a silver spoon till the sugar has entirely melted. Then bottle it, sealing the corks; and keep it in a dry place.

ESSENCE OF LEMON-PEEL.

Rub lumps of loaf-sugar on fine ripe lemons till the yellow rind is all grated off; sc.r.a.ping up the sugar in a tea-spoon, and putting it on a plate as you proceed. When you have enough, press it down into a little gla.s.s or china jar, and cover it closely.

This will be found very fine to flavour puddings and cakes.

Prepare essence of orange-peel in the same manner.

CIDER VINEGAR.

Take six quarts of rye meal; stir and mix it well into a barrel of strong hard cider of the best kind; and then add a gallon of whiskey. Cover the cask, (leaving the bung loosely in it,) set it in the part of your yard that is most exposed to the sun and air; and in the course of four weeks (if the weather is warm and dry) you will have good vinegar fit for use. When you draw off a gallon or more, replenish the cask with the same quant.i.ty of cider, and add about a pint of whiskey. You may thus have vinegar constantly at hand for common purposes.

The cask should have iron hoops.

A very strong vinegar may be made by mixing cider and strained honey, (allowing a pound of honey to a gallon of cider,) and letting it stand five or six months. This vinegar is so powerful that for common purposes it should be diluted with a little water.

Vinegar may be made in the same manner of sour wine.

WHITE VINEGAR.

Put into a cask a mixture composed of five gallons of water, two gallons of whiskey, and a quart of strong yeast, stirring in two pounds of powdered charcoal. Place it where it will ferment properly, leaving the bung loose till the fermentation is over, but covering the hole slightly to keep out the dust and insects.

At the end of four months draw it off, and you will have a fine vinegar, as clear and colourless as water.

SUGAR VINEGAR.

To every gallon of water allow a pound of the best brown sugar, and a jill or more of strong yeast. Mix the sugar and water together, and boil and skim it till the sc.u.m ceases to rise. Then pour it into a tub; and when it cools to lukewarm heat, put into it the yeast spread on pieces of toast. Let it work two days; then put it into an iron-hooped cask, and set it in a sunny place for five months, leaving the bung loose, but keeping the bung-hole covered. In five months it will be good clear vinegar, and you may bottle it for use.

A cask that has not contained vinegar before, should have a quart of boiling hot vinegar poured into it, shaken about frequently till cold, and allowed to stand some hours.