The Still-Room

THE COUNTRY HANDBOOKS—IV
Edited by Harry Roberts
The Still-Room

A CORNISH STILLER OF HERBS.

The Still-Room

By Mrs. Charles Roundell and Harry Roberts

John Lane, The Bodley Head
London and New York MDCCCCIII

WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LTD., LONDON AND BECCLES.

EDITOR’S NOTE

MRS. CHARLES ROUNDELL is responsible for the chapters dealing with the Pickling of Meat, Preserves, Refreshments at a Garden-Party, and Food for Invalids; as well as for certain recipes scattered through the book. These are distinguished by the initials “J. R.”

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The Still-Room

“The preparation of meats and bread and drinks, that they may be rightly handled, and in order to this intention, is of exceedingly great moment; howsomever it may seem a mechanical thing and savouring of the kitchen and buttery, yet it is of more consequence than those fables of gold and precious stones and the like.”—Bacon.

The STILL-ROOM

A PLEA FOR HOUSEWIFERY

WE live in an age which may well be called the age of the purveyor; and, if we continue travelling along the road upon which we have entered, the time cannot be far distant when it will be held ridiculous to do anything at all for ourselves. To appreciate, to criticize, to display taste in selection—these are the hall-marks of to-day, and home is but another name for a private restaurant. Homes such as those in which Goldsmith and Dickens delighted are now calculated to bring a blush to the cheeks of the superior and the “artistic.” Of few of our fine ladies can it be said that “they are excellent Housewives, and as capable of descending to the kitchen with propriety as of acting in their exalted stations with dignity.”

We are nowadays far more willing to applaud and reward the woman who throws her “Letters”—real or imaginary—before the eyes of the bored and lazy world, than the one who is merely efficient in the sphere allotted to her sex by nature. An occasional grant, such as Stow records as being made by Henry VIII., would do much to remedy the position of the housewife. King Henry’s grant was of an estate in Leadenhall Street to “Mistris Cornewallies, widdow, and her heires, in reward of Fine Puddings by her made.”

But suppers have gone out—not the midnight meals of the Strand and Piccadilly—cider has gone out, and home-cured hams, with home-brewed ale and home-stilled cordials, have gone the way of Mrs. Primrose’s gooseberry wine and Mr. Frank Churchill’s spruce beer.

Little economies are now as unfashionable as quiet generosity, hospitality, and comfort. If it is not beneath the dignity of a man to spend enjoyable hours of labour in laboratory or malthouse, in sick-ward or workshop, woman need not feel degraded by the apportionment to her of those duties which are more immediately bound up with the creation of happy and refreshing homes.

A private latch-key is no doubt part of the universal birthright, but it does not in itself afford a sufficient aim in life. To be able to discourse cleverly of Browning and Wagner is an accomplishment easily acquired, and affords pleasure to no one. To acquire a reputation for the excellence of our home-made gooseberry wine, of our home-baked bread, or of our home-brewed beer is much more difficult and much more worthy. There is more scope for the use of brains in housewifery than in almost any of the other careers open to women, and this possibly is why so many women are fighting shy of it. In housewifery there can be but little pretence, for no ignorance may remain hid. Bluff and a ready tongue or pen go a long way towards creating many a “brilliant reputation” in the “artistic” and vapid world which lives at clubs and restaurants, and runs societies for improving other people. But no bluff will ever avail in the presence of the food or drink in the preparation of which our skill has been employed. The products of housewifery speak for themselves; they are no empty expressions of sentiments which may be false or true.

SYMBOLS OF DISTILLATION.
(From Baker’s “Jewell of Health,” 1576.)

In no way, indeed, can affection be displayed with more subtle grace and delicacy than by the thoughtfulness of the housewife. The greatest of poets has no such instrument at his command. Not that women, in order to be efficient in their homes, need be ignorant of the events and thoughts which are in progress outside. Quite otherwise, they should be able to be the boon companions of men. But what I would urge is that they should take over as their share of the necessary work of mankind the management of that department which is immediately associated with domestic life. In this there is nothing degrading. For, after all, it is housewifery to which nearly all the arts and sciences bring their secrets. Home and comfort, food and drink—it will be a long time before we can get quite away from the need of these things. To introduce science and order into the domestic kingdom is a task worthy of the finest intellect; and that woman who by the use of brains organizes and systematizes her household work is she who can best front with a smiling face the difficulty of obtaining servants—which appears to be the great omnipresent trouble of Englishwomen.

ALCHEMIST IN HIS LABORATORY.
(From Baker’s “Jewell of Health,” 1576.)

In his summary of the “inward and outward vertues which ought to be in a compleate woman,” Gervase Markham laid it down that she must be “of chast thought, stout courage, patient, untyred, watchfull, diligent, witty, pleasant, constant in friendship, full of good Neighbourhood, wise in discourse, but not frequent therein, sharpe and quicke of speech, but not bitter or talkative, secret in affaires, comfortable in her counsels, and generally skilfull in the worthy knowledges which doe belong to her Vocation.” Later he says that, of all these “outward and active knowledges,” “the first and most principall is a perfect skill and knowledge in Cookery, together with all the secrets belonging to the same, because it is a duty rarely belonging to a woman; and shee that is utterly ignorant therein, may not by the Lawes of strict Justice challenge the freedome of marriage, because indeede shee can then but performe halfe her vow; for she may love and obey, but shee cannot cherish, serve, and keepe him with that true duty which is ever expected.” The work that is most personal and nearest to our hand may be the most important and most valuable after all. It may also, as has been said, be the finest and most dignified if we approach it in the right spirit.

ALCHEMIST PERFORMING MYSTIC RITES. (From Baker’s “Jewell of Health,” 1576.)

The chipping away of the gross and unessential, with the consequent liberation of the true and fine, is as noble a process in cookery as in sculpture. Yet how different is the attitude of even the humblest artist in words or marble or paint towards his material and his work from that of the average housewife towards the flavours and fragrances which she is privileged to elucidate and to blend. It is a ludicrous thing that women cry out for spheres in which to display their power. And all these centuries they have been entrusted with the practice of an art with almost boundless possibilities, yet scarcely any of them have proved capable of rising above the status of artisans in that craft. Equally, one looks in vain for the Roger Bacons, the Harveys, the Darwins, or the Hubers of the kitchen. The processes of cooking do not seem to inspire women with any of the wonder, religion, and scientific zeal such as almost every branch of labour has inspired in man. Mechanically and brainlessly the recipes of the cookery books are followed by myriads of women everywhere, so that the compounding of foods and drinks is usually as uninteresting a piece of drudgery as can be conceived. One may well pray for a reaction, if indeed the art of housewifery is not past praying for.

BUTTER AND CREAM

AS a volume of the present series will be devoted to the subject of The Dairy, which is too large a subject to be treated usefully in a single chapter, I shall here merely record such facts and formulæ as may be of help to those who have a general knowledge of dairy work, and also offer a little advice of a practical kind to those who have to deal with dairying on the smallest scale. A larder or store-room should never be used for the storage of milk, as the conditions required are somewhat different, and also because, more than almost any other substance, milk absorbs and is spoilt by any strong smell such as many stores yield to the air about them. The milk-room should be cool, only moderately light, well ventilated and somewhat dry, and should, if possible, face the east or north. There must be no possibility of gas from drain or manure heap coming into contact with the milk at any stage, either in milking-yard or dairy. The floor should be of tiles or concrete, and the shelves should be of slate or stone. The room and all vessels used should be kept scrupulously clean. If a separator is used, the milk should be put through the machine as soon as possible after milking, as the milk should have a temperature of about 90° F. If the cream is to be separated by “setting,” the milk should be taken straight to the dairy as soon as possible after milking, and poured through a hair sieve or other strainer into shallow pans—about four to six inches deep. These should be kept at a temperature of between 46° and 56° F. In from twenty-four to thirty-six hours, according to the season (more quickly in summer), the cream is separated by a flat perforated skimmer, or the milk is drawn off by a syphon, or by the removal of a plug. If skimmed, the process is repeated twelve hours later, and occasionally a third time after a similar period has elapsed. If clotted cream be desired, the pans—about six to eight inches deep—of milk, having stood in the dairy for twenty-four hours, are heated over a furnace or in a water-bath to a temperature of 175° F., and then again restored to the dairy to cool. The cream is then skimmed off the milk by means of the skimmer. If the cream is to be made into butter, it must be “ripened,” but must not be allowed to become too sour. In summer, it must not be kept for more than two days, and in winter for not more than four days. It should be placed, as soon as separated, in an earthenware cream-holder, large enough to hold the entire cream to be used at a single churning. When adding the cream from subsequent skimmings, thoroughly stir the whole together. Keep the cream cool until twenty-four hours before churning, and add no fresh cream to the mixture within twelve hours of the churning in summer, or within twenty-four hours in winter. For the twenty-four hours previous to churning, the cream must be kept at a temperature of about 60° F. In summer, churn at a temperature of from 57° to 59° F., and in winter at from 59° to 63° F. The room, the churn, and the cream should all be of about the same temperature. The cream should be strained through straining muslin into the churn, and the latter should be not more than half full. Churn rather slowly for the first five minutes, and allow the gas to escape frequently, until no air rushes out when the vent is opened. Directly you hear the butter form or “break,” open the churn and see that it has come. It will resemble mustard seed. Add for each gallon of cream a quart of cold water, and slowly turn the churn for about half a minute. Draw off the butter-milk, add to the butter the same quantity of cold water as there was originally of cream, give the churn a few turns quickly, and then draw off the water. Repeat this process until the water comes away quite clear. Then take the butter out of the churn, place it on the worker, allow it to drain for quarter of an hour, and then work the whole mass together. Weigh it, and dredge over it from a quarter to three-quarters of an ounce of fine pure salt to the pound of butter, rolling it out and sprinkling the salt evenly and by degrees. Well roll it so as to mix the salt uniformly, and get rid of all the water, but do not overwork it. Place the butter in a cool place for six hours to harden before being made up. The hands should never touch the milk, cream, or butter at any stage; a thermometer should be used to measure the various temperatures of which knowledge is required; and the churn, worker, wooden hands, and other appliances should be prepared for use by first rinsing them with cold water, then scalding them with boiling water, rubbing them thoroughly with salt, and lastly rinsing them again with cold water.—H. R.

DIAPHRAGM CHURN.

To pot Butter.—The great secret in potting butter so that it will keep is to extract from it every drop of superfluous milk. This should be done either by working the butter thoroughly with a pair of the wooden “hands,” or spatulas, used in all good dairies instead of the human hand, or by immersing the butter in hot water. In the latter case the milk will fall to the bottom, leaving the butter floating on the surface of the water. The butter should be packed in layers in an earthenware jar or crock, a little salt being sprinkled upon each layer. If this process is carefully carried out the butter will keep well. Another method is to make a pickle by pouring a quart of boiling water upon two pounds of salt, two ounces of loaf sugar, and one ounce of saltpetre. Let this stand till perfectly cold. Then put the butter into a jar, and keep it well covered with the pickle. Butter thus treated will keep sweet and firm throughout the hottest summer.

A SELF-SKIMMING PORCELAIN MILK-PAN.

Cream Curds.—To one quart of new milk add four eggs, beaten together, and a little salt. Put it in a covered earthenware jar, and set it in a pan of water over the fire. Do not stir it, but as soon as the milk cracks, lay it upon a sieve to drain. Put it upon a china dish in large spoonfuls.—J. R.

BUTTER-SCOOP.

CHEESE

IT is quite impossible here to give more than the merest outline of the steps taken in preparing the various sorts of cheese manufactured in this country. The processes will, moreover, be more fully described in a future volume of this series. Meanwhile, the reader may be advised to study the three pamphlets issued by the Royal Agricultural Society dealing with the practices of making Cheddar, Cheshire, and Stilton cheeses respectively. A brief summary may, however, be useful to those who can supplement this by a few actual observations of practical cheese-making by skilful operators.

In some ways, and by many connoisseurs, Stilton is considered the finest of English cheeses. The first step in its manufacture is the addition of Hansen’s (or other) rennet, at the rate of one drachm to four gallons, to the fresh-strained milk when the milk has a temperature of from 80° to 85° F., the making-room being kept at a temperature of about 60° F. The whole is well stirred in a vat for eight minutes. When, in an hour so, the milk has completely turned, and the curd is ready for cutting and ladling, straining cloths, from thirty-six to forty-five inches square, are placed in earthenware curd-sinks, rods being used to support the sides. The curd is then ladled out of the vat by means of a half-gallon ladle, and about three gallons of curd are placed in each straining cloth, the plugs of the curd-sinks being in position. When the curd has stood for an hour and a half, open the plugs, drain off the whey, replace the plugs, tie the straining cloths, and tighten them every two hours until night, drawing off the whey each time. Then empty the curd on to the curd-tray, and leave it all night. On the next morning draw off the whey, cut the curd into three-inch cubes, and leave it to drain for a couple of hours. The milk from the next milking is treated in like manner. On the afternoon of the second day the two curds are thoroughly mixed together, broken up to the size of large filberts, salted at the rate of an ounce to three and a half pounds of curd, and placed into cheese hoops placed on round pieces of wood covered with “cheese greys.” The hoops are put on the drainer, and turned every two hours during the first day by means of loose calico-covered discs over their top surfaces, similar to those which served as their basis. The temperature of the room whilst draining is going on must be about five decrees higher than that of the making-room. After the first day the cheeses are turned three times daily. In about a week the cheese can stand alone, and should be removed from the hoops, calico binders taking their place. The cheeses are still to be kept on the draining shelves, fresh binders being applied daily; the outside of the cheese being gently scraped with a table knife at each binding. As soon as a dry crust begins to form, the binders are to be removed. The cheeses are to be kept at a temperature of about 55° F., and given plenty of air. They require turning daily. In about a month the cheeses are to be placed in a dark store-room having a temperature of 60° to 65° F., and are to be turned and brushed daily. In about six months they are fit for the table.

In making Cheddar cheese, the night’s milk is placed in a vat, and left until the following morning, being kept fairly cool. If much cream has risen by the morning, this must be skimmed off, added to the morning’s milk, and well stirred. The morning’s milk must then be heated by the pan being placed in a vessel containing hot water until its temperature is raised to a point not far short of, but never exceeding, 95° F. The evening’s milk is then added to it, and the joint temperature brought to about 80° to 85° F. Rennet is added, as in the case of Stilton cheese. In about an hour, when the curd breaks readily and clearly, as if cut, the curd is to be cut by a long thin knife into two-inch cubes. In about five minutes the curd is to be further broken up for about fifty minutes by the “breaker” until the pieces are of the size of peas, the whey keeping green all the while. Allow the whey to drain and separate for five or ten minutes, when it should be partly baled or syphoned off, heated to 130° F., and returned so as to raise the total temperature to 90° to 95° F., the curd being well stirred during the return of the heated whey, which process should be gradual, extending over ten minutes or more. The whey should now rest above the hard and shotty curd, which sinks to the bottom of the vat. In about a quarter of an hour the whey is drawn off, the curd is cut up, and the pieces are piled in a mound. Keep it warm by covering it with cloths, and in a quarter of an hour again cut it into pieces, turn it, and arrange it afresh in a mound. It is again covered for half an hour, then removed to a cooler, cut into small pieces, and covered for another half an hour. This is often again and again repeated until the curd is ripe for grinding. The curd having been ground, pure salt at the rate of an ounce to three pounds should be carefully dredged over, and mixed into it. The curd should then be placed in the cloth-lined moulds, and subjected to the press for twelve hours. The cloth is then changed, the cheese turned, and again pressed for twenty-four hours. This is repeated for four days, when the cheese is finally removed from the mould, bandaged after the manner of Stilton, and kept in a temperature of 65° to 70° F. for six weeks, being turned daily the while, and then in a temperature of 60° to 65° F., when it is turned on alternate days for another six or eight weeks.

Cream Cheese.—There are several soft cheeses well worth the attention of the small dairy owner. Simple cream cheese is the easiest of all, for one has only to take a quart of thick cream, put it with two drops of rennet into a napkin which has been freshly rinsed out in cold spring water, and sprinkle a little salt over it. Tie up the cream in the napkin as tightly as possible, and hang it up in the dairy. It may be eaten in twenty-four hours. The napkin must be changed at night, and again in the morning, for a fresh one wrung out in cold water. When the cream cheese comes out of the dining-room, it must be again tied up in a clean damp napkin and taken immediately to the dairy.

Grewelthorp Cream Cheese is equally simple in its manufacture. Take one quart of new milk, and put it with a few drops of rennet in a warm place, where it must remain for twenty-four hours. Then put in a little salt, stir the milk well, tie it up in a cloth, and hang it up in the dairy to drain. If a richer cheese is required, add half a pint of cream to the new milk.

A number of soft cheeses may be made with the help of some tinned iron cylindrical moulds open at both ends. These moulds may be of various diameters and depths. Some loose squares of wood, some entire and others perforated, of various sizes, to serve as bottoms and tops of the moulds, must also be provided; and straw mats of the same size as the boards are also desirable. A good average size for the moulds is five inches in diameter, and four inches in depth. About two quarts of milk are required to make one cheese for this size mould.

To make Camembert, the rennet diluted with water is added to milk of a temperature of about 85° F., and the whole is stirred for three minutes. It is then covered for about four hours, until no curd adheres to the finger when placed on its surface. The curd is then ladled in slices into the moulds, each mould being placed on a straw mat, with a board below, resting on a sloping table. The full moulds are allowed to drain for about six hours in a temperature of 60° F. A clean mat and board are then placed at the top of the mould, the latter inverted, and the previous base removed and cleaned. Repeat this changing and inversing twice a day for two days. Then remove the cheeses from the moulds, sprinkle some salt on top and bottom, and stand them on straw or straw-mats in a temperature of about 50° to 55° F., a free current of air being carried through the drying-room. The cheeses require turning each morning and evening for another three days, then every morning for a week, and afterwards on alternate days. In about a fortnight, when the cheeses cease to stick to the hand when touched, they are put in a cool (about 50° F.), dark, slightly damp cellar to ripen for about another fortnight, being turned on alternate days.

Gervais Cheese.—Messrs. Long and Morton, in their book “The Dairy,” give directions for preparing a Mignon or Gervais. This cheese is made of a mixture of cream and milk set at a temperature of 65° F. Six drops of Hansen’s rennet are sufficient for two and a half quarts of milk and one quart of cream. The curd is fit to cut in from six to eight hours, when it is removed into a cloth, in which it is allowed to drain until it is sufficiently solid and consistent to press.

Removed into a clean cloth, it is laid within a wooden frame with open sides, and pressed with a close-fitting follower of wood, heavy enough to cause the whey to drain away without any loss of cream. This pressure, with one or two manipulations, with the object of maintaining evenness of consistence, continues until the curd is as thick as an ice cream, when it is pressed into specially made paper-lined moulds. It may be eaten about three days later.

To pot Cheese.—A pleasant form of potted food is made by pounding together in a mortar a pound of cheese, three ounces of quite fresh butter, and half a table-spoonful each of castor sugar and made mustard. This mixture should be packed in jars, covered with clarified butter, and securely covered. It should not be kept longer than a fortnight.

PICKLING MEAT

IN pickling or salting meat, it is better to let the fresh joint first hang for two or three days untouched. This will make the meat more tender. Before salting it, be careful to remove every pipe or kernel in the meat, and fill up all holes with salt. Do not attempt to pickle meat in very cold frosty weather, or in warm damp weather. It is a good plan to sprinkle the meat with water and then to hang it up for a few hours before salting it: this cleanses it from any blood, and makes the flavour more delicate.

A good brine, sufficient for twenty pounds of beef, is made by mixing together three pounds of salt, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, and two ounces of saltpetre. Boil these ingredients together for twenty minutes in two gallons of water, skimming off all scum. Let the liquid get quite cold before you pour it over the meat, and see that the joint is thoroughly covered with the brine. For a smaller piece of meat the quantities given for the brine can be easily reduced, following the same proportions carefully. The meat must be turned over every day, and well basted with the brine; and the salting pan or tub must be covered with a clean piece of tamis-cloth, or other porous woollen material. The meat will be ready for use in a fortnight.

In cooking pickled or salted meat, two things must be recollected. First, that, in order to make salted meat tender, it must be put into cold water when first placed on the fire. Secondly, that it is next to impossible to cook salted meat too slowly.

Spiced Round of Beef.—Procure a round of beef weighing from thirty-five to forty pounds; remove the bone, and lay the beef in a stone pan. Well rub into the meat all over (not omitting the sides of the round as well as the top and bottom) a mixture made of four pounds of salt, two pounds of coarse brown sugar, a quarter of a pound of saltpetre, and two ounces of sal prunella from the chemist. Turn the beef every day, and well rub into it the brine which it makes. Let it remain in pickle for one month. When ready for cooking, let the beef be closely bound into shape with coarse webbing. Lay it in a large kettle or pot, and cover the beef with broth as cold as it can be to remain liquid. Add plenty of rough vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, onions, and celery, all sliced. Dry in the oven a sufficient quantity of ginger, cloves, mace, and peppercorns to make two ounces of each when dried and pounded fine in a mortar. Add these to the beef. Bring the broth slowly to a very gentle boil, and then keep it simmering very gently for twelve hours, turning the beef over at the end of six hours. It must on no account be allowed to boil, or it will be hard and tasteless. Remove the kettle from the fire, but let the beef remain in it for two days, when it will have become perfectly cold and firm. Take off the webbing, and the beef will be ready for eating.

Welsh Beef.—Rub two ounces of saltpetre into a round of beef; let it rest an hour, and then rub it with equal parts of pepper, salt, and allspice. Keep the beef in the brine which this will make for fifteen days, turning and rubbing it every day. Then put the beef into a large earthenware round pan, first coating the bottom of the pan with a layer of suet. Put another layer of suet over the top of the beef, and then cover the pan with a coarse paste of flour and water. Bake in a slow oven for eight hours, then pour off any gravy, and let the beef get cold before it is taken out of the pan.

To make Sausages.—Sausages are generally put into the thoroughly cleaned skins of the intestine of the pig. But they are sometimes preferred without this covering. Take two pounds of fresh pork, using both fat and lean in equal proportions, but avoiding the coarse fat from the inside of the pig. Mince the pork as finely as possible, and then pass it twice through the mincing machine. Blanch and mince two dessert-spoonfuls of sage, add four ounces of freshly made bread-crumbs, and season with pepper and a dust of salt. Mix all thoroughly together, and keep the sausage-meat in a cool place. When wanted do not use skins, but form the sausage-meat into small round cakes three-quarters of an inch thick, flour them, and fry them in butter from ten to fifteen minutes, turning them often.

To cook Sausages.—This recipe is for sausages which have been put into skins by the sausage machine. Plenty of time must be allowed for cooking the sausages, for if they are done too quickly the skins will burst. About ten minutes is enough over a low fire, the skins having been well pricked over first. The sausages are much better if they are first pricked, then put into hot water and brought slowly to the boil, simmered for five minutes, drained, and finally fried in bacon fat till they are brown. Serve round a pile of mashed potato, or shape the mashed potato into long ovals, fake them on a buttered baking-tin, and when very hot, lay the potato ovals on a hot dish, and put a sausage on each.

Ham.—Tastes vary much as to the best size of a ham; some people like a York ham weighing thirty or forty pounds, others prefer a foreign ham not exceeding a few pounds in weight. Monsieur de St. Simon, writing in 1721, said he could never forget the delicious flavour of the little Spanish hams he had once tasted near Burgos. The pigs which furnished these hams lived on the flesh of vipers, and in our own day the hams of the little black pigs of North Carolina, which feed on rattlesnakes, are esteemed an especial delicacy. The peculiar flavour of a Westphalian ham is due to the smoke of a fire of juniper branches over which the ham is hung for three weeks.

It was formerly the custom to put a thick coat of mortar over the inside of a cured ham to keep out the air, and to prevent the mildew, or “rust,” which damp is sure to cause. A better way is to cover the underneath portion of the ham (where the knife has been used), and also the knuckle-end of the bone, with a paste made of flour and water. This paste entirely prevents any “rusting,” or, in other words, the minute fungus caused by damp.

To cure a Ham weighing from fifteen to eighteen pounds. Norfolk Recipe.—One pound of treacle, half a pound of coarse brown sugar, half a pound of bay-salt (i.e. sea-salt), one pound of common salt, one ounce of saltpetre, and two ounces of sal prunella (i.e. saltpetre which has been fused, and is sold by chemists). Pound all these together as finely as possible, and rub the ham thoroughly with them. Lay the ham in a tub, covered with the pickle, and let it remain there for a month. It must be turned and basted with the pickle every other day. When taken out of the pickle, let the ham dry for a day or two, standing on end. Then brush it over with Crosse and Blackwell’s essence of smoke. This preparation gives to the ham all the flavour of the chimney-smoke in which hams used to be hung. [This recipe was given to me by a friend in whose family it has been used year by year during four generations.]

Pickle for Bacon.—Weigh each flitch, and allow for every stone (a stone of meat weighs eight pounds) one pound of salt, two ounces of bay-salt, two ounces of saltpetre, and three ounces of coarse brown sugar. Sprinkle the flitches with salt, and drain them for twenty-four hours. Mix the salt, bay-salt, saltpetre, and sugar thoroughly together, and rub all well into the flitches, rubbing the ends as well as the sides. Do this every day for a month. Then hang up the flitches to dry, sewing a bag of coarse muslin over each. [Do not use paper, as it breaks in damp weather. Muslin is a far better protector from the flies, which are always more partial to salt meat than to any other.] The flitch, from the Old English word, is one side of the pig.

To cure Pig’s Cheeks.—Do not use any saltpetre, but clear the two cheeks well, take out the bones, rub well with common salt, let the cheeks drain, and next day rub them again with salt, using a fresh supply. Then mix four ounces of salt with five ounces of coarse brown sugar, cover the cheeks with this mixture, and turn them every day. They will be sufficiently cured in twelve days. If saltpetre is used the cheeks will be hard.

To boil a Ham.—The great point in boiling a ham is to boil it as slowly as possible. If a ham is small and rather fresh, it will need soaking in cold water for only eighteen hours before it is boiled; but as a rule a ham should be soaked for forty-eight hours, the water being changed three or even four times during that period. After the ham has been soaked, scrub it well with a dry, stiff brush, so as to remove all smoke and discoloration from the surface. Trim off any ragged or untidy parts, reserving them for the stock-pot. Now put the ham into a ham-kettle or a large pan, and cover it completely with cold water to the depth of one inch. Let the water heat as slowly as possible, so that it may be an hour and a half or two hours before it comes to the boil. It is a good rule to allow twenty-five minutes’ simmering to each pound of ham. Skim off all scum as it rises. When the liquor is perfectly clear put in one shallot, a stick of celery, two turnips, two or three onions, and three carrots, also add (in a muslin bag) a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme and of marjoram, some chopped lemon-peel, and twelve peppercorns. Cover the pan closely, reduce the heat under it, and let the ham simmer very gently for five hours. At the end of that time lift the ham out, peel off the outside skin, and trim it a little if this is needed. Brush the ham over with thin glaze, or cover it with raspings of bread, and set it in a slow oven to brown.

To steam a Ham.—If the ham is quite small this is an excellent way of cooking it. As soon as the ham has been soaked, scrubbed, and trimmed, put it into the steamer over boiling water. Allow twenty-five minutes to every pound of ham, and keep the water under the steamer boiling hard. Either glaze the ham or cover with raspings.

To pot Pounded Meat, Chicken, or Fish.—Cook the meat until it is very tender and easily separated from the bones. Mince it, and then pound it with a quarter of its weight of clarified butter, together with pepper and such other spices and herbs as are liked. Then fill the pots with the mixture, press it tightly, and cover with clarified butter.

FISH

TO smoke Fish.—Having opened and cleaned the fish, place them in salt and saltpetre, eight parts to one, and leave them over the night. Then wipe them, and hang them in a row, by a stout wire passed through their eyes, over a sawdust fire for about twenty-four hours.

To salt Fish.—Having opened and cleaned the fish, place them in strong brine for twenty hours. Drain them and place them in jars, with layers of salt between the several layers of fish. Securely cover the jars until the fish are wanted. Soak the fish for four hours in lukewarm water and dry before cooking.

To pickle Fish.—Having opened and cleaned the fish and removed their heads, place them in a jar for twenty-four hours with layers of salt between the several layers of fish. Drain them, and boil them for two minutes with vinegar, onions, cloves, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Place them in jars, pour the liquid over them, and closely fasten down the covers.

To pot Shrimps.—Boil some shrimps, and as soon as cold remove their shells. Mix with them a little mace, cayenne, salt, and pepper, and pack them tightly in the pots. Bake for about ten minutes in a slow oven, and when cold pour over them a quarter of an inch thickness of melted butter which is just beginning to set.

EGGS

TO preserve Eggs.—Gather them quite fresh, thoroughly clean them, and place them in a covered vessel containing a 10 per cent. solution of sodium silicate (soluble glass). Eggs thus treated keep perfectly fresh for six months, or even longer.

PICKLING VEGETABLES

FOR pickling, the fruit, or leaves, or bulbs should be in perfect condition and thoroughly cleaned. Strong vinegar of good quality should be used, and the spices should be fresh and good. The mixing and heating of the vinegar is best performed in unglazed stoneware vessels; if these are unavailable, enamelled iron pans should be used. Pickling consists in preserving fruits or other vegetable products in spiced vinegar, the details of the process differing slightly according to the product to be pickled. To make the spiced vinegar, place in a stoneware or enamelled boiling-pan a quart of strong vinegar, from half an ounce to four ounces of black peppercorns, a couple of ounces of crushed ginger, and from two to eight ounces of mustard seed. Boil this mixture for four minutes. If liked, any or all of the following spices may be added to, and boiled with, the vinegar, in addition to those just named: from one to four blades of mace, from two to ten cloves, from four to eight allspice, and from two to eight grains of cayenne pepper.

Implements.—Unglazed stone jars are of all vessels the most suitable for the containing of pickles, both by virtue of their chemical composition, and on account of their pleasant wholesome look. Glass bottles are next best for the purpose. In any case, the great thing to be remembered is that no metallic substance must be allowed to come into contact with the pickle or with the vinegar which is to be used. Wooden spoons alone should be used for mixing. For closing the mouths of the jars or bottles, corks should be employed, and further security from contact with the air should be ensured by covering the corked mouths with tinfoil, bladder, or parchment-paper. It is desirable that the vessels be furnished with mouths of smaller size than is usually the case, as the larger the mouth the greater the risk of contamination by exposure to the air.

OLD DISTILLING FURNACES AND STILLS.
(From the title page of the first volume of Brunschwig’s “Liber de Arte Distillandi,” 1500.)

To pickle Red Cabbage.—Cut the cabbages into shreds, place them in a large jar with plenty of salt well intermingled. Leave them alone for two days, then pour off the liquid, dry the cabbage for a few hours in the air, pack it in the pickling jars to about an inch from the opening, and pour sufficient cold spiced vinegar to fill each jar completely, interspersing some of the spices among the cabbage. Cork and seal at once.

To pickle Shallots.—Peel the shallots, and place them in a large jar with plenty of salt well intermingled. In two days pour off the liquid, and dry the shallots in the air for a few hours. Then pack them in the pickling jars, and pour boiling spiced vinegar to fill each jar completely, interspersing some of the spices among the shallots. Cork and seal whilst hot. If the vinegar be poured off in a week, reboiled, and returned to the jars, the pickle will keep much longer.

To pickle Walnuts.—Take walnuts gathered about July, when still young and soft enough to be pierced by a pin, and place them in a large jar, with plenty of salt well interspersed and covering. In eight days pour off the liquid, and wipe and then dry the nuts in the air for a few hours. Pierce each walnut with a stout needle, place them in the pickling jars, and pour boiling spiced vinegar on them so as to fill the jars. Cover with corks, and each week for three weeks pour off the vinegar, reboil it, and fill up the jars with boiling spiced vinegar. Then finally cork and seal.

To pickle Gherkins.—Place the gherkins in a large jar with plenty of salt over and among them. In six days pour off the liquid and add a little water to it, so that it may be a brine strong enough that an egg will float thereon. Boil this liquid and pour it over the gherkins. In twenty-four hours pour off the liquid, wipe and dry the gherkins in the air, place them in the pickling jars, and fill the latter with boiling spiced vinegar. Cork and seal. If the vinegar be poured off in a week, reboiled, and again placed in the jars, the pickle will keep much longer.

To make a Green Tomato Pickle.—Take a gallon of green tomatoes and a quart of onions; slice them and cover them with salt. In twenty-four hours pour off the liquid, and slowly boil for about an hour the tomatoes and onions in a quart of spiced vinegar, to which a pound of sugar and a tea-spoonful of celery seed have been added. When tender, take the mixture off the fire, bottle, cork, and seal.

To make a Ripe Tomato Pickle.—Substitute ripe tomatoes for the tomatoes and onions in the last recipe. Halve the quantity of vinegar, and omit the celery seed.

To pickle Plums.—Prick four pounds of plums and place them in a fire-proof stoneware pan with two and a half pounds of sugar. Carefully bring to the boil, and add two-thirds of a pint of spiced vinegar. Boil for a few minutes, take out the plums, cool them, and place them in the pickle-jars. Boil up the liquid again, and pour it whilst boiling over the plums so as to fill the jars. Cork and seal at once.

To pickle Samphire.—Gather samphire whilst it is green, about August, break it into sprigs, place in a jar, and add abundance of salt over and amongst the sprigs. In two days pour off the liquid, and dry the samphire for a few hours in the air. Pack it in jars, pour boiling unspiced vinegar over it so as to fill the jars, and boil in the oven until the samphire is green and crisp, and at once remove. Cork and seal.

To make Nasturtium Pickle.—Place some green nasturtium seeds in a weak solution of salt for three days. Then soak them in cold water for twelve hours. Strain and place them in small jars, and pour boiling vinegar over them.

Some other Pickles.—Young pea pods, young French bean pods, cauliflower, unripe gooseberries, and umbels of elderberry flowers gathered before they expand, barberries (Mrs. Glasse recommends that a little sprig of boiled fennel be placed at the top of each jar before sealing), and sliced boiled beetroot, are pickled as directed for red cabbage.

Unripe, but fully grown radish pods, are pickled as directed for gherkins.

Onions and young mushrooms (which should be rubbed with salt but not peeled) are pickled as directed for shallots.

Small apples, pears, peaches, apricots, and damsons may be used to make sweet pickles as directed for plums. But apples, pears, peaches, and apricots require to be peeled before being pickled.

To make Sauerkraut.—Take a dozen fine, hard-hearted, white cabbages, remove the outer leaves, and shred the hearts into small shreds. Place these shreds into a large tub, and over each layer sprinkle a little salt (about six pounds in all). Press the layers of cabbage firmly down, and, when the tub is full, sprinkle salt over the top of the heap of cabbage. On this place a piece of linen, and a wooden cover on the linen. Weigh down the cover by means of a large stone or other weight. The cover must accurately fit the tub, and slide down within the staves. The tub should then be placed in a warm room till fermentation has begun. Wash and replace the linen cover every fortnight. In three weeks the sauerkraut will be fit for use, though it will keep good for more than a year.

CONDIMENTS AND SAUCES

MUSTARD.—The simplicity of its manufacture probably accounts for our persistence in serving in our mustard-pots the never-varying paste of mustard and water. Yet the infinite variety of flavours which may be introduced into our table mustards should sufficiently reward us for the little trouble entailed in mixing them. As all these made mustards contain spices or herbs which lose much of their aroma by exposure to the air, they should be put into jars and securely corked directly they are made. Ordinary mustard also soon loses its piquancy if left exposed to the air. It should therefore be kept in a properly closed bottle or jar. It is best to make small quantities of ordinary mustard frequently, almost daily, as required.

To make Ordinary Mustard.—Take a bare table-spoonful of mustard, white and brown in equal parts, and mix therewith one tea-spoonful of salt, adding to the mixture, little by little, two table-spoonfuls of cold water, stirring the while. Continue stirring for a few minutes.

Mustard with Horseradish.—Boil a table-spoonful of grated horseradish in half a tea-cupful of water for ten minutes, and allow to get cold. Then mix the mustard as in the last recipe, adding the horseradish and two table-spoonfuls of the water in which it has been boiled instead of the plain water.

To make a simple French Mustard.—Proceed as in the last recipe, except that a minced shallot should be substituted for the horseradish, and that only the water, having been cleared by straining, is added to the mustard-flour. A tea-spoonful of good vinegar is to be added to the mixture and thoroughly incorporated.

To make a Spiced Mustard (Recipe 1).—Take a quarter of a pound of mustard-flour, pour over it three small tea-cupfuls of boiling vinegar, keep the mixture just below boiling-heat for about forty-five minutes, add a salt-spoonful of ground ginger, half a salt-spoonful of powdered cloves, and a salt-spoonful of grated nutmeg, and heat for five minutes longer.

To make a Spiced Mustard (Recipe 2).—Take a tumblerful of vinegar, and place therein two salt-spoonfuls of salt, a salt-spoonful of scraped horseradish, and half a salt-spoonful of powdered cloves. At the end of three days strain off the liquid and add a sufficiency of mustard-flour—about three ounces—to make a thick paste.

To make a Spiced Mustard (Recipe 3).—Mix together a tea-spoonful each of powdered mace, ground black pepper, powdered dill seeds, and powdered cinnamon, a slightly smaller quantity of powdered cloves, a table-spoonful of powdered tarragon leaves, and three pints of vinegar. Heat for an hour, strain, and then mix with about a pound of mustard-flour and a quarter of a pound of castor sugar to make a thick paste.

DISTILLING OYLE OUT OF SEEDES.
(From Baker’s “Jewel of Health,” 1576.)

To make Frankfort Mustard.—Mix together a quarter of a pound of castor sugar, an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of powdered-cloves, and a pound of ground mustard—white and brown, in equal parts. Mix into a thick paste with wine vinegar.

To make Jesuits’ Mustard.—Thoroughly mix ten sardines, a quarter of a pound of ground brown mustard, three-quarters of a pound of ground white mustard, and two hundred capers. Make into a paste with about a quart of boiling vinegar.

To make Mustard as at Düsseldorf.—Take two earthenware pans, and place in each a quart of vinegar. In one place a quarter of an ounce of thyme leaves, and in the other place three minced onions. Let them stand for forty-eight hours. Bruise half a pound of white mustard seed and half a pound of black mustard seed, and put them in a pan with a tea-spoonful of powdered cloves, a tea-spoonful of powdered coriander, half a pound of salt, and the strained vinegar. Thoroughly mix. Add a little more vinegar if the mixture is too thick, or a little more mustard if it is too thin. Parsley, celery, or other herbs may be used instead of onions to flavour the vinegar.

To make an Aromatic Mustard Powder.—In making a mixed powder of this kind, it is absolutely essential to success that each of the articles be thoroughly dry previous to being mixed. A good result is obtained by mixing a quarter of a pound of salt, a pound of mustard, half an ounce each of dried garlic, dried thyme, dried tarragon, and mixed spices—all finely powdered. The mixture should be stored in air-tight boxes or bottles.

To make a Spiced Table Vinegar.—Mix in an earthenware pan two ounces of cloves, a quarter of an ounce of mace, and the same quantity each of orange blossoms and cassia bark. Pour a quart of heated strong vinegar over the spices, and let the mixture digest in a warm place for a week. Strain, filter through filter-paper, and bottle.

To make an Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 1).—Chop up one ounce each of bay leaves, leaves of rosemary, and leaves of sage, and place them in a fireproof earthenware pan; add thereto a quarter of an ounce each of cloves, zedoary root, and chillis. Pour on the mixture a quart of heated strong vinegar, and let it digest in a warm place for a week. Strain, filter, and bottle.

To make an Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 2).—Chop up one ounce each of thyme leaves, basil leaves, leaves of marjoram, leaves of tarragon, and bean leaves. Add thereto half an ounce each of chopped shallots and celery. Pour on the mixture a quart of heated strong vinegar, and treat as in the last recipe.

To make an Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 3).—Chop up and mix half a pound of tarragon leaves, and a quarter of a pound each of rocambole, shallots, anchovies, capers, and bay leaves. Pour over them three quarts of heated strong vinegar, and treat as in the first recipe.

To make Aromatic Table Vinegar (Recipe 4).—The leaves of any sweet herb, having been dried, may be lightly placed—not pressed—in a bottle till it is full, and vinegar poured over them and allowed to stand for six weeks. It may then be strained off and bottled.

To make Aromatic Wines.—The leaves of any sweet herb are to be treated as above, but sherry is to take the place of the vinegar.

To make Curry Powder.—Pound to a fine powder and mix thoroughly together a quarter of a pound each of coriander seed and turmeric, an ounce each of mustard, ginger, and black pepper, and half an ounce each of cardamom, cumin, and pimento.

To make Mushroom Catsup.—Wipe, but do not wash or skin, some freshly gathered, fully ripe mushrooms, and place them in a jar with layers of salt between the several layers of mushrooms and over the whole, allowing six ounces of salt to a gallon of mushrooms. Cover the jar loosely with a cloth, and place it in a warm room until the next day. Crush the mushrooms, place the whole in a cool oven for half an hour, and strain through coarse muslin. Boil the liquid with peppercorns, half an ounce to the quart; mace, a dram to the quart; cloves, a dozen to the quart; and bruised ginger, half an ounce to the quart. When the liquid has boiled down to a half, take it off the fire, allow it to cool, strain through very coarse straining cloth, and bottle in small, well-corked bottles. If these bottles are treated as the bottles of fruit in fruit-bottling are treated, the catsup will keep the better.

To make Tomato Catsup.—Boil a quart of perfectly ripe tomatoes with a table-spoonful of black pepper, a salt-spoonful of salt, a tea-spoonful each of ground cloves and allspice, and half a tea-spoonful of mustard in a pint of vinegar for three hours. Strain, and, when the mixture is cold, bottle and seal.

To make Walnut Catsup.—Boil a gross of soft, young walnuts, crushed, two ounces each of ground nutmeg and black pepper, half an ounce each of ground mace and ginger, and fifty cloves, ground, in two quarts of vinegar for forty minutes. Strain, and, when the mixture is cold, bottle and seal.

To make a Piquant Sauce (Recipe 1).—Boil half an ounce of cayenne, half an ounce of cochineal, half an ounce of mixed garlic, and half a dozen cloves in a quart of vinegar for twenty minutes. Strain, and, when the liquor is cool, add two ounces of essence of anchovies, half a pint of an equal mixture of walnut and mushroom catsup, and half a pint of good port. Thoroughly mix and bottle.

To make a Piquant Sauce (Recipe 2).—Boil a quarter of a pound of bruised cloves, a quarter of a pound of minced shallots, and half an ounce of cayenne pepper in half a gallon of vinegar for twenty minutes. Strain, and, when the liquor is cool, add half a pint of an equal mixture of walnut catsup and soy. Thoroughly mix and bottle.

To make a Piquant Sauce (Recipe 3).—Boil a quarter of a pound each of allspice, minced shallots, and minced garlic, and two ounces of salt in a quart of vinegar for twenty minutes. Strain, and, when the mixture is cool, add a gallon each of walnut catsup and mushroom catsup. Thoroughly mix and bottle.

To make Anchovy Sauce.—Heat, until it thickens, a mixture of a pint of vinegar, a pint and a quarter of water, two pounds and a half of butter, three-quarters of a pound of flour, and thirty minced anchovies. Rub the mixture through a coarse hair sieve and bottle.

To make a Salad Dressing to be stored.—Salad dressings should be mixed freshly as required; but it is sometimes thought desirable to keep a stock dressing bottled and ready for all emergencies. Thoroughly beat the yolks of three eggs, and gradually stir in half a tea-cupful of olive oil, together with a table-spoonful of mustard, a little pepper, two table-spoonfuls of salt, and half a tea-cupful of vinegar; adding, last of all, the well-beaten whites of the three eggs. Bottle in well-stoppered bottles.

PRESERVES

IT is easy to make good jam at home if a few simple rules are followed. Excellent jams can, it is true, be bought, but they are generally too sweet, a large proportion of sugar being used in order to make the jam keep for a considerable time.

Rule 1.—Use only fresh fruit which has been gathered in dry weather.

2. Allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to one pound of all fruit, except stone fruit. Stone fruit requires an extra quarter of a pound of sugar. Break the sugar small, but do not pound it; if the sugar is pounded the syrup will not be clear. Use the best sugar, as the inferior kinds produce much more scum.

3. Never set the preserving-pan flat on the fire. If you do, the fruit will stick to it, and burn. Raise the pan on a trivet a little above the fire, and not exactly over the hottest part. Stir the jam with a wooden spoon all the time that the sugar and fruit are boiling together. An iron spoon ruins both the flavour and the colour of jam. Stir gently at first, more quickly as the boiling of the jam proceeds. Skim off all scum as it rises.

4. Put the fruit into the preserving-pan, sprinkle in some of the sugar, and as the fruit juices, add the rest of the sugar by degrees. When the sugar is all dissolved bring the jam to the boil.

5. Never boil jam longer than twenty minutes. If it is boiled too long the jam will be sticky, but if not boiled enough it will not keep. When the scum ceases to rise, put a few drops of the jam on a cold plate, watch it for a minute, and if it sets, and does not flow freely, the jam is done.

6. Warm the jam-pots before you pour the hot jam into them; if you do not they may crack. Fill the pots to within half an inch of the top, and wipe off any drops spilt with a cloth wrung out in hot water. If this is not attended to, there will be great difficulty in scraping off the drops when the jam has cooled.

7. The day after the jam is made, and when it has become quite cold, lay a round of thin paper on the top of each pot. Then take a sufficient number of the vegetable parchment covers which are sold for tying over jam-pots, soak them for a minute or two in cold water, wipe them dry, stretch one over each pot, and tie it round with string. The parchment tightens as it dries, and excludes the air from the jam. When the covers are dry, write in ink on each the name of the jam and the date.

8. Always keep jam in a cool, dry place. Damp makes it mouldy, heat makes it ferment.

9. Never put one pot of jam exactly on the top of another, but set one row of pots on the edges of the row beneath, leaving a clear space in the centre of each pot.

Different fruits require different treatment when made into jam. Thus, strawberries must be carefully stirred, raspberries must be mashed with a wooden spoon; and both these fruits, being soft and juicy, require less boiling than the drier kinds. Dry fruits, such as apples, should always be put first into a covered jar set in a pan of boiling water, and kept there until they are thoroughly softened. Fruit, with the exception of the very juicy kinds, takes longer to boil than sugar, so that it is well to cook the fruit partially before adding the sugar. Over-boiled sugar spoils the texture of jam.

Rhubarb jam requires the addition of a little root-ginger and a few strips of lemon-peel.

Orange Marmalade.—Allow for every pound of oranges one pint of water and three-quarters of a pound of sugar.

Pare Seville oranges very thin, and boil the rind till tender. Boil it in plenty of water for about three-quarters of an hour. At the end of this time the orange rind should be so tender that a straw will pierce it. Then cut it into very thin strips about half an inch long. Take off the tough white coat of each orange, and throw it away. Then scrape out the pulp and juice very carefully, and throw the pips into cold water. When they have remained in the water for a short time, squeeze them through a cloth, and add a pint of the water in which the pips have been soaked to every three-quarters of a pound of the sugar. The reason for steeping the pips is that they yield a glutinous substance, which adds richness to the marmalade. Boil the syrup for twenty minutes, allowing three-quarters of a pound of sugar and one pint of water to every pound of orange pulp. Put the pulp and juice into the syrup, and boil for half an hour, carefully skimming off the scum as it rises. During the last five minutes add the shreds of orange-peel. Put the marmalade into pots, and tie them down next day.

Clear Orange Marmalade.—In this marmalade there are no shreds of orange-peel. Cut the oranges in half after they are peeled and freed from the white skin. Boil them for three-quarters of an hour, allowing one pint of water to twelve oranges. Strain off the juice, and boil it up sharp for ten minutes. Allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Boil for twenty or five-and-twenty minutes till it jellies. Four oranges make a pound pot of marmalade. It is an improvement if half the peel taken from the oranges is grated finely, and boiled with the oranges.

Quince Marmalade.—Scald the quinces, pare, core, and quarter them. To four pounds of fruit add three pounds and a half of sugar. Take three pints of the water the quinces were scalded in, and boil in it both the parings and the cores. Strain the water, and add it to the quinces and the sugar. Let it stand all night. Next day set the quinces over a slow fire, and bring them very gradually to the boil, skimming and stirring them all the time they are cooking.

Crab-apples, Siberian crab-apples, and the fruit of the Pyrus Japonica, or Japanese quince, all make excellent preserve.

Crab-apple Marmalade.—Parboil the crab-apples, and pulp them through a sieve or colander. Pare six large common apples, boil them till quite soft, and pass them through the sieve, when they will yield all the liquid they contain. To every quart of crab-apple pulp add one gill of the liquid from the common apples; and allow three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pound of pulp. Boil all together for fifteen minutes, stirring the whole time.

Fruit Jellies.—In making fruit jellies only the clear juice extracted from the fruit is used. The fruit must be softened by being placed in a jar set in boiling water, after which the juice must be allowed to drip through a hair sieve or a piece of canvas. The fruit must on no account be squeezed or rubbed with the hand or spoon, but it may be pressed down by a plate with a weight set upon it. Boil the juice for ten minutes, weigh it, and when it boils up again, add half a pound of sugar to every pint of juice. Then boil the whole sharp for five or ten minutes more, skimming off all scum.

Clear Apple Jelly.—Pare and core half a peck of green apples, cut them up, and drop them as you cut them into two quarts of water. Pare two small lemons, cut them up, removing the pips, and add them to the apples, reserving the lemon-peel. Put the apple-parings and the cores with the apples, and boil all together very slowly till the fruit is quite a pulp. Then strain it through a jelly-bag, and to every pint of liquid add half a pound of lump sugar. Boil the whole very fast with the peel of the two lemons, skimming thoroughly all the time. It ought to jelly in three-quarters of an hour; try it by dropping a few drops on a cold plate. When sufficiently done take out all the lemon-peel, and pour the jelly into moulds or small pots.

Cranberry Jelly can be made in this way from the Russian and Swedish cranberries now sold, but cranberries will require a pound of sugar to the pint of juice. Cranberries should not be boiled longer than twenty minutes.

Medlar Jelly.—Gather the medlars when quite sound, wipe them well, and let them stew in the preserving-pan with just enough boiling water to cover them till they are in a pulp. Drain the fruit through a piece of canvas, but do not press the pulp. Weigh the juice, and allow half a pound of sugar to every pint. Boil it till quite clear, stirring and skimming well. When it jellies, pour it into small moulds, and let it set.

Currant Jelly (No. 1).—Strip red currants from their stalks, and put them into the oven. When quite juicy, pass them through a hair sieve or a coarse cloth. To every pint of juice allow a pound of loaf sugar well beaten and sifted. Heat the sugar on a dish in the oven, putting it between two sheets of foolscap paper, and when the currant juice has boiled for a couple of minutes, strew the sugar into it by degrees whilst the juice is boiling hot. It will jelly immediately, and gain flavour by keeping. Put it at once into pots.

Currant Jelly (No. 2).—To six pounds of red, white, or black currants add four pounds of sugar and half a pint of currant juice extracted from additional currants. Stir the fruit well together in a preserving-pan, set it on a brisk fire, and when it boils up, pass it through a cloth into a basin with a lip. Pour the jelly from the basin at once into pots. Let the pots remain uncovered for nine days, and then tie them up.

Blackberry Jelly.—Take six pounds of blackberries before they are quite ripe, pick them from the stalks, and put them into a jar. Tie the jar up closely, set it in a pan of water on the fire till the blackberries become pulp. Then strain the fruit through a cloth, and to one pint of juice add one pound of sifted sugar. Boil it to a jelly, and pour it into pots for use. Blackberry jelly is much improved if half the quantity of blackberries is used and the other half made up of bullaces or wild plums. But bullaces are now rare.

Scotch “Jam Jelly.”—This preserve is made from the berries of the mountain ash, gathered when they have become nearly (but not quite) ripe. Take off the stalks, and stew the berries in a jar set in boiling water. They take many hours’ stewing before they become tender, but in the end they make excellent jelly. For the mountain-ash berries allow a pound of sugar to a pound of pulp.

Damson Cheese.—Stew the damsons till tender in a jar set in boiling water. Rub them through a coarse sieve to take off the skins. Take out the stones, crack them, and blanch the kernels. Boil the cheese for one hour. Then weigh it, and add one pound of sugar to two quarts of the damson pulp. Boil it, stirring it well till it is thick. Keep the fire low, and boil the pulp very slowly. After the cheese has thickened well, leave off stirring; but it must boil quite to a candy, and may take seven hours. Put in the kernels a few minutes before the damson cheese is taken off the fire. The cheese will be done when it leaves the sides of the pan. A peck and a half of damsons will make ten pints of cheese. Cover the moulds when cold with paper dipped in brandy.

Brandy Cherries.—To every pound of Morello cherries, stalked but not stoned, add three-quarters of a pound of best loaf sugar. Take a few cherries, bruise them, and take as much juice from them as will make the sugar into a very thick syrup. Fill wide-mouthed bottles with the cherries, and prick each cherry all over with a fine needle. Let the syrup get quite cold, then pour it on the cherries, and fill up the bottles with good brandy.

Brandy Peaches.—Peel the peaches carefully with a silver dessert-knife, and as you do so put each peach into cold water. Choose a deep stone jar, put into it one pound of peaches covered with three-quarters of a pound of sifted sugar. Fill up the jar with good brandy. Set the jar in a pan of cold water on the fire, and let it gradually heat till the brandy is nearly boiling. Then let it get cold and tie up the jar closely.

THE STORING OF FRUIT AND HERBS

A STORE-ROOM for apples and pears should be cool, though frost-proof, slightly moist, and well ventilated, though free from draughts. Adjacent apples should not be in contact with each other. If very choice, it is wise to wrap each apple in tissue paper. The fruit should be hand-picked, and placed in the store-room when quite dry, and any specimens that show signs of rottenness should be removed directly they are recognized.

Messrs. Bunyard, of Maidstone, have built some fruit-houses which admirably fulfil the desired conditions. The following instructions for erecting a similar storehouse are given by Mr. George Bunyard.

First level the soil and dig out holes for the corners large enough to admit brick piers 14 inches by 14 inches, or stones about 1 foot square; fix an iron dowel in the centre to receive the corner posts of the structure. Some provision for air (air-bricks), or an aperture covered outside and inside with perforated zinc, should be provided just above the ground line, and if over 20 feet long an extra foundation should be put in at the half distance to hold another support.

Make the main posts 6 feet long, 6 inches square, and prepare a hole in the foot to receive the dowel mentioned above. This will keep the framework firm. The main ground plate should be 4½ inches by 3 inches, and the top plate of the same size. Support and steady in the usual way with quartering 4½ inches by 3 inches, and when this is fixed, choose a dry day, and pitch, tar, or cold creosote the lower plates and all the woodwork 2 feet from the ground to protect from damp: this quartering should show an even outside face to secure the matchboard.

The cheapest material for the outside covering will be ¾-inch matchboard, and it may as well be fixed outside the rafters as well. Pitchboard 4½ inches by 1 inch, rafters 3 inches by 2 inches.

Inside Bonds from one side to the other, 4½ inches by 3 inches. If stout they are useful to hold planks, on which baskets can be placed overhead in the roof, space. In order to receive the side thatch, a board is attached round the door-plates and at the corners, 6 inches wide, from the ground to eaves, in which the thatch is placed upright, and it is kept in position by lateral splines of wood 3 inches by 1 inch.

The Roof Thatch may be 18 inches thick on the roof and 6 inches at the sides, and where it can be procured, carex or reed is strongest and most lasting, but it may be of wheat straw or heather. The thatch at the sides should be 6 inches thick.

Both an inside and outside door should be provided, and they must be made to fit closely to exclude draughts.

A FRUIT-ROOM.

ORR’S TRAYS FOR STORING FRUIT

In order that one may readily inspect the fruit, windows of 21-ounce glass are inserted, and this saves the use of a candle at storing time; but outside shutters must be provided to keep the place as dark as possible, and a fruit-house is perhaps better without windows.

Ventilation is provided by an opening under the apex of roof at each end, 18 inches by 8 inches, a small opening being left between the dairy shutters, which can be stopped by hay or moss in severe weather, and inside opening should be protected by perforated zinc, fine enough to keep out wasps and flies; another ventilator should be inserted about midway under the lowest shelf, to open from outside by a shutter, being covered inside by perforated zinc.

To protect the contents from rats, a ½-inch stout wire netting should be fastened to the matchboard outside beneath the thatch, so that an entry would be difficult.

Inside Shelves on which to lay the fruit are readily fixed at the sides. First place uprights 2 inches by 1½ inch from the ground to the rafters, and then attach bearers 2 inches by ¾ inch on this to the quartering; 1 foot between the shelves is a very convenient distance, the lowest shelf being placed 6 inches from the ground, making six all up to the eaves. The shelves are made of ¾-inch matchboard, should not quite meet each other by ¼ inch, so as to gain a slight circulation of air; upon this place lengths of clean wheat straw, so that the fruit shall not touch the wooden shelves. In the centre of the fruit-house a narrow table with a raised edge made of lengths of matchboard, set on trestles, is useful to set up exhibition collections or to show special samples. Baskets of fruit can be set under this for early use.

Floor.—The best possible floor is the natural earth—paved surfaces are apt to become too dry. The latest sorts should be stored on the lowest shelf.

Names.—Provide slips of zinc 4 inches long, turn up one end 1 inch, at an angle of 45°, and then slit this angle three times, and bend it so that it will hold a neat card; the other end can be slipped under the straw.

From their fruit-house, constructed on these lines, Messrs. Bunyard have put up 80 dishes of fresh clean apples at the Temple Shows at the end of May.

Pears.—If pears constitute the bulk of the store, the fruit-house should be rather drier and rather warmer than in the case of apples. In either case, the winter temperature should not fall below 40° F., and the summer temperature should not rise above 60° F.

A very convenient method of storing apples and pears is in flat trays, such as those known as Orr’s, of which Mr. White, of Bedford, holds the patent rights. The fruit is placed direct in these as picked from the tree, and the trays are carried to the fruit-house as fast as they are filled.

Medlars should be picked in November, preferably after the frost has touched them. Their stalks should be dipped in strong lime, and the fruits buried in boxes of wet bran, no two medlars touching, and placed in the fruit-house.

LEE’S STEAM FRUIT PRESERVING APPARATUS

Walnuts should be removed from their outer rinds, and at once placed in an earthen jar. Cover them with three inches of sawdust, and place them in a cool cellar or fruit-house.

Filberts, Cobs and Hedge Nuts, for storing, should be gathered just before they slip their husks—though they must be so ripe as to do so at the slightest force. They should be dried before storing, or the husks will become mouldy. They may then be treated as advised for walnuts, or they may be placed in a jar and sprinkled over with salt.

Gathering and Drying Herbs.—Herbs should usually be picked just before they flower, and, their roots having been cut off, they should be tied into bundles and quickly sun-dried. These bundles may then be tied in paper bags and hung in a dry room, or they may be powdered and bottled. Lavender should be cut as soon as the flowers are fully open. It should then be dried in the shade, and stored in a dry room.

THE BOTTLING OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

RYLAND’S FRUIT BOTTLES.
Empress. Climax. May Queen.

THE value of fruits bottled whole in such a way that they retain their natural form as well as their natural flavour is becoming more and more recognized, and fortunately science has kept space with the spread of this recognition, so that it is a perfectly simple matter for the owner of the smallest garden to bottle his fruit at the most trifling cost and trouble. The methods adopted have for their object the destruction of the germs present in the fruit, through whose activity fermentation and decomposition usually result, and the subsequent exclusion of germs from the vessels in which the fruit is being preserved. Glass bottles with air-tight stoppers are usually employed for this purpose, and several excellent varieties are in the market. In practically all of them, the top fits on the wide open mouth of the bottle and presses on a rubber ring. The tops are usually either held down by a metal screw ring or by a spring clip or wire bail. Of the bottles here illustrated, the Climax, May Queen, and Empress are manufactured by the Rylands Glass Company, of Barnsby; whilst the others are dealt in by Messrs. E. Lee and Company, of Maidstone. Messrs. Lee are also responsible for an admirable apparatus or boiling pan for sterilizing the fruit or other product. This apparatus serves not only for the purposes of fruit bottling, but is also serviceable for sterilizing milk and for certain other culinary purposes. Select ripe fruit, removing any that are unsound, and, having washed the bottles, place the fruit therein—packing the bottles full to the shoulder. Pour in cold water or cold syrup (from a table-spoonful to half a pound of sugar to the pint of water) so as to fill the bottles to the brim. Place the indiarubber ring round the ledge on the neck of the bottle, place the disc upon it, and loosely arrange the screw-top, if that method be adopted, as free outlet must be left for steam to escape. Take a pan, such as Lee’s sterilizing apparatus includes, and place cold water in it of such a depth as shall reach the shoulders of the bottles which are now to be placed in the pan. Heat until the water in the pan has a temperature of between 155° and 160° F., and this temperature is to be maintained until the bottles are removed. The bottles are to be lifted out singly and the covers at once screwed down, or locked by the spring or lever, according to the make of bottle. They should be cooled as quickly as possible. Apples and pears should be peeled, cut, and cored, and placed in cold water directly they are cored. All stone fruit should be stoned before bottling. The time for which the bottles should remain in the pan, at a temperature of 155° to 160° F., varies. Cherries, rhubarb, small plums, gooseberries and currants require about twenty minutes; tomatoes, half an hour; apricots, three-quarters of an hour; and pears, an hour.

LEE’S FRUIT BOTTLING BOILER AND FRUIT BOTTLES

Mushrooms and carrots may be bottled in the same way as fruit, but the bottles containing them should be left in the pan of heated water for an hour and a half. Green peas, asparagus and French beans, if first placed in boiling water for five minutes, may be bottled in like way, the bottles remaining in the pan for an hour.

To make Fruit Syrups.—Mash the fruit (raspberries, currants, strawberries, blackberries, etc.), and allow it to remain, loosely covered, in a warm place for three days. Then pass the juice through a muslin strainer, and add a pound of sugar to every half-pound of juice. Boil until the sugar is dissolved. Cool and bottle, corking securely.

THE DRYING OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

BY means of an evaporator, or drier, a number of fruit and vegetables may be preserved by the removal of the moisture which they contain. Quite cheap evaporators are now to be obtained, such as the Quorn, of Messrs. Lumley, of the Minories, London. As the makers of the various evaporating appliances supply full instructions for their use, it is not necessary here to give more than the briefest summary of the treatment to be adopted in drying one or two typical fruits and vegetables.

The method of preparing apples to be evaporated is as follows:—

After the apples have been pared, cored, and sliced, they are placed in a tub of perfectly clean water, containing a small quantity of salt, which prevents oxidation and discoloration. They are then cut once vertically, and all bruises, specks, and parings trimmed away to produce the well-known apple-rings of commerce. These are placed thinly on one of the trays of the evaporator and entered at the lower end of the upper flue. Sometimes a little sulphur may be sprinkled on the furnace with great advantage for the purpose of bleaching the rings. The first tray remains in the position just mentioned until the second tray is ready to be placed under the first tray which will be in four or five minutes; the third tray is then filled in the usual manner, and placed under the second tray, and when the fourth tray is ready the first three trays are pushed forward in the flue, and the fourth tray takes the place of No. 1, and so on until the top flue is full. On the arrival of the first tray at the upper end of the flue, the contents are examined, and those that are sufficiently dried are removed, and the remainder turned over and returned down the lower and cooler flue. In many cases, one tray will hold the whole of the contents (which are nearly dried) of two or three trays, the empty ones being taken away to be again filled with fresh fruit. The degree of heat used for drying apples is from 175° to 240° F.; and the time occupied varies from two to four hours, according to the variety of the apple, but from two to two and a half hours is the usual time. Whole apples require a much longer time, eight to ten hours, according to size and variety.

Plums are dried in the same manner, except that they are placed in the evaporator at once. They should be graded according to size, and be uniformly ripe. During the process of evaporation plums ought to be removed from the evaporator once or twice for the purpose of cooling them and toughening the skin, and so prevent bursting, which they are liable to do, because the skin does not allow the moisture in the fruit to freely escape when first placed in the machine. As soon as the plums commence to shrivel all danger of bursting is past, and they may then remain in the evaporator until dry. The time required for plums is from six to ten hours, and the temperature requisite 240° to 300° F. Plums may be steamed for a few minutes and then split in half, thus entirely dispensing with the cooling process, and considerably reducing the length of time required in drying. 100 pounds of fresh plums will give about 30 pounds of dried.

Apricots are simply cut in two, the stones being taken out, and the fruit then dried just like apples, at from 240° to 250° F. They take from two to three hours to dry. From 100 pounds of the fresh fruit, 10 to 12 pounds of dried will result.

Pears for drying purposes ought not to be quite ripe. They are peeled, and either dried whole, or, more generally, are divided, and the seed-vessels cut out, the stems being left on. They then require steaming for eight or ten minutes, and are filled in from the bottom upwards. The temperature used is 212° to 240° F., and the pears will take five to seven hours to dry if divided, or seven to nine hours if whole. From 100 pounds of fresh pears 12 to 16 pounds of dried ones will be obtained. When preparing the pears before drying, the flavour will be improved if a little sugar be added to the water in which they are cooked, and to this may be put the juice of the removed seed-vessels and peelings.

Vegetables require, in addition to the peeling, slicing, or cutting up, to be steamed or cooked for five to seven minutes before they are dried. This is necessary in order to keep their colour and to prevent their becoming hard. When dried on a small scale the cooking in boiling water is generally sufficient. Like apples, vegetables are always filled in from below upwards.

French beans are cut into strips by a special machine, and cooked for a few minutes. A little soda added to the water helps to preserve their bright green colour. The time required for drying is from three-quarters to one hour. Temperature 150° to 160° F. 100 pounds of fresh beans giving 10 to 12 pounds of dry.

Peas require simply shelling and a few minutes’ cooking. They should not be quite ripe, and are laid thinly on the trays. They take from one to one and a half hours to dry. Temperature 212° to 220° F. 100 pounds of green pods will yield about 10 to 12 pounds of dried peas.

HOME-BREWED BEER

“Blessing of your heart, you brew good ale.”

“It illuminateth the face, warmeth the blood, and maketh it course from the inwards to the parts extreme.”

“A quart of ale is a dish for a king.”

“Sir, I have now in my cellar ten tun of the best ale in Staffordshire; ’tis smooth as oil, sweet as milk, clear as amber, and strong as brandy; and will be just fourteen years old the fifth day of next March, old style.”

ONE of the finest pamphlets ever issued in this country is William Cobbett’s “Cottage Economy.” Even now it affords good stimulating reading, and might still serve as a wise protest against the pietistic and other cant of the times. The object of the little book was first to emphasize the sound doctrines that no nation ever was or ever will be permanently great if it consists to any large extent of wretched and miserable families; that a family to be happy must usually be well supplied with food and raiment; and that it is to blaspheme God to suppose that He created men to be miserable, to hunger, to thirst, and to perish with cold in the midst of that abundance which is the fruit of their own labour. The second object of the book was to convey to the families of the labouring classes in particular such information as to the preparation of food, the selection of clothes and furniture, and the general management of homes as his wisdom and sound judgment dictated. All through the book runs a steady stream of common sense far removed from the slushy cant so prevalent in works of the kind. “A couple of flitches of bacon are worth fifty thousand Methodist sermons and religious tracts. They are great softeners of the temper and promoters of domestic harmony.” “Oak tables, bedsteads, and stools, chairs of oak or of yew-tree, and never a bit of miserable deal board. Things of this sort ought to last several lifetimes. A labourer ought to inherit from his great-grandfather something besides his toil.” “Nowadays the labourers, and especially the female part of them, have fallen into the taste of niceness in food and finery in dress; a quarter of a bellyful and rags are the consequence. The food of their choice is high-priced, and the dress of their choice is showy and flimsy, so that to-day they are ladies, and to-morrow ragged as sheep with the scab.” A healthy attitude towards the plain and the wholesome and the genuine marks the whole book. Among other things ardently desired by Cobbett was the extension of the practice of the home brewing of honest beer, and he denounced the growing habit of tea-drinking with a vigour that time and results have shown was not misplaced. He looked upon tea-drinking as a destroyer of health, an enfeebler of the frame, an engenderer of effeminacy and laziness, a debaucher of youth, and a maker of misery for old age. And he could scarce find adequate vent for his impatience of what he rightly considered the everlasting dawdling about with the slops of the tea-tackle, or for his pity for the labourer who, instead of cheerfully and vigorously doing a morning’s work on the strength of a breakfast of bread, bacon, and beer, has to force his tea-sodden limbs along under the sweat of feebleness, and at night to return to the wretched tea-kettle once more. How different, says Cobbett, is the fate of that man who has made his wife brew beer instead of making tea!

It has been said and often quoted that there is good beer, and better beer, but no bad beer. The present writer’s experience is that there is beer so bad that few drinks can rival it for disagreeableness in taste and effects; stuff which should never be called by the same name as that transparent, brown or amber, vinous fluid, “bright as a sunbeam,” free from acidity, flatness and insipidity, which alone is worthy the name of beer.