The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual Part 85

_To preserve Ginger._--(No. 97.)

Take green ginger, pare it neatly with a sharp knife; throw it into a pan of cold water as it is pared, to keep it white; when you have sufficient, boil it till tender, changing the water three times; each time put it into cold water to take out the heat or spirit of the ginger; when tender, throw it into cold water: for seven pounds of ginger, clarify eight pounds of refined sugar, see No. 475; when cold, drain the ginger, and put it in an earthen pan, with enough of the sugar, cold, to cover it, and let it stand two days; then pour the syrup from the ginger to the remainder of the sugar; boil it some time, and when cold, pour it on the ginger again, and set it by three days at least. Then take the syrup from the ginger; boil it, and put it hot over the ginger; proceed in this way till you find the sugar has entered the ginger, boiling the syrup, and skimming off the sc.u.m that rises each time, until the syrup becomes rich as well as the ginger.

_Obs._--If you put the syrup on hot at first, or if too rich, the ginger will shrink, and not take the sugar.

N.B. When green ginger is not to be procured, take large races of Jamaica ginger boiled several times in water till tender, pare neatly, and proceed as above.

_To preserve Cuc.u.mbers._--(No. 98.)

Take large and fresh-gathered cuc.u.mbers; split them down and take out all the seeds; lay them in salt and water that will bear an egg, three days; set them on a fire with cold water, and a small lump of alum, and boil them a few minutes, or till tender; drain them, and pour on them a thin syrup; let them lie two days; boil the syrup again, and put it over the cuc.u.mbers; repeat it twice more; then have ready some fresh clarified sugar, boiled to a blow (see No. 94); put in the cuc.u.mbers, and simmer it five minutes; set it by till next day; boil the syrup and cuc.u.mbers again, and set them in gla.s.ses for use.

_Preserved Fruit, without Sugar._--(No. 99.)

Take damsons when not too ripe; pick off the stalks, and put them into wide-mouthed gla.s.s bottles, taking care not to put in any but what are whole, and without blemish; shake them well down (otherwise the bottles will not be half full when done); stop the bottles with new soft corks, not too tight; set them into a very slow oven (nearly cold) four or five hours; the slower they are done the better; when they begin to shrink in the bottles, it is a sure sign that the fruit is thoroughly warm: take them out, and before they are cold, drive in the corks quite tight; set them in a bottle-rack or basket, with the mouth downwards, and they will keep good several years.

Green gooseberries, morello cherries, currants, green gages, or bullace, may be done the same way.

_Obs._--If the corks are good, and fit well, there will be no occasion for cementing them; but should bungs be used, it will be necessary.

_Bread._--(No. 100.)

Put a quartern of flour into a large basin, with two tea-spoonfuls of salt; make a hole in the middle; then put in a basin four table-spoonfuls, of good yest; stir in a pint of milk, lukewarm; put it in the hole of the flour; stir it just to make it of a thin batter; then strew a little flour over the top; then set it on one side of the fire, and cover it over: let it stand till the next morning; then make it into dough; add half a pint more of warm milk; knead it for ten minutes, and then set it in a warm place by the fire for one hour and a half; then knead it again, and it is ready either for loaves or bricks: bake them from one hour and a half to two hours, according to the size.

_French Bread and Rolls._--(No. 100*.)

Take a pint and a half of milk; make it quite warm; half a pint of small-beer yest; add sufficient flour to make it as thick as batter; put it into a pan; cover it over, and keep it warm: when it has risen as high as it will, add a quarter of a pint of warm water, and half an ounce of salt,--mix them well together;--rub into a little flour two ounces of b.u.t.ter; then make your dough, not quite so stiff as for your bread; let it stand for three quarters of an hour, and it will be ready to make into rolls, &c.: let them stand till they have risen, and bake them in a quick oven.

SALLY LUNN.--_Tea Cakes._--(No. 101.)

Take one pint of milk quite warm, a quarter of a pint of thick small-beer yest; put them into a pan with flour sufficient to make it as thick as batter,--cover it over, and let it stand till it has risen as high as it will, _i. e._ about two hours: add two ounces of lump sugar, dissolved in a quarter of a pint of warm milk,[391-*] a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter rubbed into your flour very fine; then make your dough the same as for French rolls, &c.; and let it stand half an hour; then make up your cakes, and put them on tins: when they have stood to rise, bake them in a quick oven.

Care should be taken never to put your yest to water or milk too hot, or too cold, as either extreme will destroy the fermentation. In summer it should be lukewarm, in winter a little warmer, and in very cold weather, warmer still.

When it has first risen, if you are not prepared, it will not hurt to stand an hour.

_m.u.f.fins._--(No. 102.)

Take one pint of milk quite warm, and a quarter of a pint of thick small-beer yest; strain them into a pan, and add sufficient flour to make it like a batter; cover it over, and let it stand in a warm place until it has risen; then add a quarter of a pint of warm milk, and one ounce of b.u.t.ter rubbed in some flour quite fine; mix them well together: then add sufficient flour to make it into dough, cover it over, and let it stand half an hour; then work it up again, and break it into small pieces: roll them up quite round, and cover them over for a quarter of an hour; then bake them.

_Crumpets._--(No. 103.)

The same: instead of making the mixture into dough, add only sufficient flour to make a thick batter, and when it has stood a quarter of an hour it will be ready to bake.

m.u.f.fins and crumpets bake best on a stove with an iron plate fixed on the top; but they will also bake in a frying-pan, taking care the fire is not too fierce, and turning them when lightly browned.

_Yorks.h.i.+re Cakes._--(No. 104.)

Take a pint and a half of milk quite warm, and a quarter of a pint of thick small-beer yest; mix them well together in a pan with sufficient flour to make a thick batter; let it stand in a warm place covered over until it has risen as high as it will; rub six ounces of b.u.t.ter into some flour till it is quite fine; then break three eggs into your pan with the flour and b.u.t.ter; mix them well together; then add sufficient flour to make it into a dough, and let it stand a quarter of an hour; then work it up-again, and break it into pieces about the size of an egg, or larger, as you may fancy; roll them round and smooth with your hand, and put them on tins, and let them stand covered over with a light piece of flannel.

FOOTNOTES:

[376-*] The goodness of a cake or biscuit depends much on its being well baked; great attention should be paid to the different degrees of heat of the oven: be sure to have it of a good sound heat at first, when, after its being well cleaned out, may be baked such articles as require a hot oven, after which such as are directed to be baked in a well-heated or moderate oven; and, lastly, those in a slow soaking or cool one. With a little care the above degrees may soon be known.

In making b.u.t.ter cakes, such as Nos. 55, 57, or 61, too much attention cannot be paid to have the b.u.t.ter well creamed; for should it be made too warm, it would, cause the mixture to be the same, and when put to bake, the fruit, sweetmeats, &c. would, in that event, fall to the bottom.

Yest cakes should be well proved before put into the oven, as they will prove but little afterward.

In making biscuits and cakes where b.u.t.ter is not used, the different utensils should be kept free from all kinds of grease, or it is next to impossible to have good ones.

In b.u.t.tering the insides of cake-moulds, the b.u.t.ter should be nicely clarified, and when nearly cold, laid on quite smooth, with a small brush kept for that purpose.

Sugar and flour should be quite dry, and a drum sieve is recommended for the sugar. The old way of beating the yelks and whites of eggs separate (except in very few cases), is not only useless, but a waste of time.

They should be well incorporated with the other ingredients, and, in some instances, they cannot be beaten too much.

[378-*] Take fine brown Holland, and make a bag in the form of a cone, about five inches over at the top. Cut a small hole at the bottom, and tie in a small pipe of a tapering form, about two inches long; and the bore must be large or small, according to the size of the biscuits or cakes to be made. When the various mixtures are put in, lay the pipe close to the paper, and press it out in rows.

Some use a bullock's bladder for the purpose.

[379-*] A wide-mouthed earthen pan, made quite hot in the oven, or on a fire, will be a good subst.i.tute.

[391-*] If you do not mind the expense, the cake will be much lighter if, instead of the milk, you put four eggs.

OBSERVATIONS ON PUDDINGS AND PIES.

The quality of the various articles employed in the composition of puddings and pies varies so much, that two puddings, made exactly according to the same receipt, will be so different[392-*] one would hardly suppose they were made by the same person, and certainly not with precisely the same quant.i.ties of the (apparently) same ingredients.

Flour fresh ground, pure new milk, fresh laid eggs, fresh b.u.t.ter, fresh suet, &c. will make a very different composition, than when kept till each article is half spoiled.

Plum puddings, when boiled, if hung up in a cool place in the cloth they are boiled in, will keep good some months; when wanted, take them out of the cloth, and put them into a clean cloth, and as soon as warmed through, they are ready.

MEM.--In composing these receipts, the quant.i.ties of eggs, b.u.t.ter, &c.

are considerably less than are ordered in other cookery books; but quite sufficient for the purpose of making the puddings light and wholesome;--we have diminished the expense, without impoveris.h.i.+ng the preparations; and the rational epicure will be as well pleased with them as the rational economist.

Milk, in its genuine state, varies considerably in the quant.i.ty of cream it will throw up, depending on the material with which the cow is fed.

The cow that gives the most milk does not always produce the most cream, which varies fifteen or twenty per cent.

Eggs vary considerably in size; in the following receipts we mean the full-sized hen's egg; if you have only pullet's eggs, use two for one.