The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory Part 87

_Cordial Cherry Water._

Nine pounds of the best red cherries, nine pints of claret, eight ounces of cinnamon, three ounces of nutmegs; bruise your spice, stone your cherries, and steep them in the wine; then add to them half a handful of rosemary, half a handful of balm, and one quarter of a handful of sweet marjoram. Let them steep in an earthen pot twenty-four hours, and, as you put them into the alembic to distil them, bruise them with your hands; make a gentle fire under them, and distil by slow degrees. You may mix the waters at your pleasure when you have drawn them all.

Sweeten it with loaf sugar; then strain it into another gla.s.s vessel, and stop it close that the spirits may not escape.

_A very fine Cordial._

One ounce of syrup of gilliflowers, one dram of confection of alkermes, one ounce and a half of borage water, the like of mint water, as much of cinnamon water, well mixed together, bottled and corked. In nine days it will be ready for drinking.

_Cup._

Take the juice of three lemons and the peel of one, cut very thin; add a pint, or rather more, of water, and about half a pound of white sugar, and stir the whole well; then add one bottle of sherry, two bottles of cyder, and about a quarter of a nutmeg grated down. Let the cup be well mixed up, and add a few heads of borage, or balm if you have no borage; put in one wine gla.s.s of brandy, and then add about another quarter of a nutmeg. Let it stand for about half an hour in ice before it is used.

If you take champagne instead of cyder, so much the better.

_Elder-flower Water._

To every gallon of water take four pounds of loaf sugar, boiled and clarified with eggs, according to the quant.i.ty, and thrown hot upon the elder-flowers, allowing a quart of flowers to each gallon. They must be gathered when the weather is quite dry, and when they are so ripe as to shake off without any of the green part. When nearly cold, add yest in proportion to the quant.i.ty of liquor; strain it in two or three days from the flowers, and put it into a cask, with two or three table-spoonfuls of lemon-juice to every two gallons. Add, if you please, a small quant.i.ty of brandy, and, in ten months, bottle it.

_Elderberry Syrup._

Pick the elderberries when full ripe; put them into a stone jar, and set them in the oven, or in a kettle of boiling water, till the jar is hot through. Take them out, and strain them through a coa.r.s.e cloth, wringing the berries. Put them into a clean kettle, with a pound of fine Lisbon sugar to every quart of juice. Let it boil, and skim it well. When clear and fine, put it into a jar. When cold, cover it down close, and, when you make raisin wine, put to every gallon of wine half a pint of elder syrup.

_Ginger Beer._ No. 1.

Boil six gallons of water and six pounds of loaf sugar for an hour, with three ounces of ginger, bruised, and the juice and rind of two lemons.

When almost cold, put in a toast spread with yest; let it ferment three days; then put it in a cask, with half a pint of brandy. When it has stood ten days, bottle it off, and it will be fit to drink in a fortnight, if warm weather.

_Ginger Beer._ No. 2.

Four ounces of ground ginger, two ounces of cream of tartar, three large lemons, cut in slices and bruised, three pounds of loaf sugar. Pour over them four gallons of boiling water; let it stand till it is milk warm; then add two table-spoonfuls of yest on a toast; let it stand twenty-four hours, strain it through a sieve, bottle it, and it will be fit for use in three days: the corks must be tied or wired, or they will fly.

_Ginger Beer._ No. 3.

To make ginger beer fit for drinking twenty-four hours after it is bottled, take two ounces of ground ginger, two ounces of cream of tartar, two lemons sliced, one pound and a half of lump sugar; put them into a pan, and pour upon them two gallons of boiling water. When nearly cold, strain it from the lees, add three table-spoonfuls of yest, and let it stand twelve hours. Bottle it in stone bottles, well corked and tied down.

_Ginger Beer._ No. 4.

Ten gallons of water, twelve pounds of loaf sugar, the whites of four eggs, well beaten; mix them together when cold, and set them on the fire: skim it as it boils. Add half a pound of bruised ginger, and boil the whole together for twenty minutes. Into a pint of the boiling liquor put an ounce of isingla.s.s; when cold, add it to the rest, and put the whole, with two spoonfuls of yest, into a cask: next day, bung it down loosely. In ten days bottle it, and in a week it will be fit for use.

_Ginger Beer._ No. 5.

One gallon of cold water, one pound of lump sugar, two ounces of bruised ginger, the rind of two large lemons; let these simmer ten minutes. Put in an ounce of cream of tartar the moment it boils, and immediately take it off the fire, stirring it well, and let it stand till cold.

Afterwards add the lemon-juice, straining out the pips and pulp, and put it into bottles, tying down the corks fast with string. This will be fit for use in three days.

_Imperial._ No. 1.

The juice of two large lemons, rather more than an equal quant.i.ty of white wine, and an immoderate proportion of sugar, put into a deep round dish. Boil some cream or good milk, and put it into a tea-pot; pour it upon the wine, and the higher you hold the pot the better appearance your imperial will have.

_Imperial._ No. 2.

Four or five quarts of boiling water poured to two ounces of cream of tartar, and the rinds of two lemons cut very thin, with half a pound of sugar. Well mix the whole together: and, when cold, add the juice of the two lemons.

_Imperial._ No. 3.

Two ounces of cream of tartar, four ounces of sugar, six quarts of boiling water, poured upon it, the juice and peel of a lemon; to be kept close till cold.

_Lemonade._ No. 1.

To two quarts of water take one dozen lemons; pare four or six of them very thin, add the juice to the water, and sweeten to your taste with double-refined sugar. Boil a quart of milk and put into it; cover and let it stand all night, and strain it through a jelly-bag till it runs clear. Leave the lemon-pips to go into the bag with the other ingredients.

_Lemonade._ No. 2.

The peel of five lemons and two Seville oranges pared very thin, so that none of the white is left with it; put them in a basin, with eight ounces of sugar and a quart of boiling water. Let it stand all night, and in the morning squeeze the juice to the peels, and pick out the seeds; then put to it a quarter of a pint of white wine; stir all well together; add half a pint of boiling milk, and pour it on, holding it up high. Let it stand half an hour without touching it; then run it through a jelly-bag.

_Lemonade._ No. 3.

Three quarts of spring water, the juice of seven lemons peeled very thin, the whites of four eggs well beaten, with as much loaf-sugar as you please: boil all together about half an hour with half the lemon-peel. Pour it through a jelly-bag till clear. The peel of one Seville orange gives it an agreeable colour.

_Clarified Lemonade._

Pare the rind of three lemons as thin as you can; put them into a jug, with the juice of six lemons, half a pound of sugar, half a pint of rich white wine, and a quart of boiling water. Let it stand all night. In the morning, add half a pint of boiling milk: then run it through a jelly-bag till quite clear.

_Milk Lemonade._

Squeeze the juice of six lemons and two Seville oranges into a pan, and pour over it a quart of boiling milk. Put into another pan the peel of two lemons and one Seville orange, with a pound of sugar; add a pint of boiling water; let it stand a sufficient time to dissolve the sugar; then mix it with the milk, and strain it through a fine jelly-bag. It should be made one day and strained off the next.

_Transparent Lemonade._

Take one pound and a half of pounded sugar of the finest quality, and the juice of six lemons and six oranges, over which pour two quarts of boiling water; let it stand twelve hours till cool. Pour on the liquor a quart of boiling milk, and let it stand till it curdles; then run it through a cotton jelly-bag till it is quite clear.