The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual Part 57

_Orange or Lemon-peel, to mix with Stuffing._--(No. 387.)

Peel a Seville orange, or lemon, very thin, taking off only the fine yellow rind (without any of the white); pound it in a mortar with a bit of lump sugar; rub it well with the peel; by degrees add a little of the forcemeat it is to be mixed with: when it is well ground and blended with this, mix it with the whole: there is no other way of incorporating it so well.

Forcemeats, &c. are frequently spoiled by the insufficient mixing of the ingredients.

_Clouted or Clotted Cream._--(No. 388.)

The milk which is put into the pans one morning stands till the next; then set the pan on a hot hearth, or in a copper tray[267-*] half full of water; put this over a stove; in from ten to twenty minutes, according to the quant.i.ty of the milk and the size of the pan, it will be done enough; the sign of which is, that bladders rise on its surface; this denotes that it is near boiling, which it must by no means do; and it must be instantly removed from the fire, and placed in the dairy till the next morning, when the fine cream is thrown up, and is ready for the table, or for b.u.t.ter, into which it is soon converted by stirring it with the hand.

N.B. This receipt we have not proved.

_Raspberry Vinegar._--(No. 390.)

The best way to make this, is to pour three pints of the best white wine vinegar on a pint and a half of fresh-gathered red raspberries in a stone jar, or China bowl (neither glazed earthenware, nor any metallic vessel, must be used); the next day strain the liquor over a like quant.i.ty of fresh raspberries; and the day following do the same. Then drain off the liquor without pressing, and pa.s.s it through a jelly bag (previously wetted with plain vinegar) into a stone jar, with a pound of pounded lump sugar to each pint. When the sugar is dissolved, stir it up, cover down the jar, and set it in a saucepan of water, and keep it boiling for an hour, taking off the sc.u.m; add to each pint a gla.s.s of brandy, and bottle it: mixed in about eight parts of water, it is a very refres.h.i.+ng and delightful summer drink. An excellent cooling beverage to a.s.suage thirst in ardent fevers, colds, and inflammatory complaints, &c.

and is agreeable to most palates.

See No. 479*.

N.B. We have not proved this receipt.

_Syrup of Lemons._--(No. 391.)

The best season for lemons is from November to March. Put a pint of fresh lemon-juice to a pound and three-quarters of lump sugar; dissolve it by a gentle heat; skim it till the surface is quite clear; add an ounce of thin-cut lemon-peel; let them simmer (very gently) together for a few minutes, and run it through a flannel. When cold, bottle and cork it closely, and keep it in a cool place. _Or_,

Dissolve a quarter of an ounce (avoirdupois) of citric, _i. e._ crystallized lemon acid, in a pint of clarified syrup (No. 475); flavour it with the peel, with No. 408, or dissolve the acid in equal parts of simple syrup (No. 475), and syrup of lemon-peel, as made No. 393.

_The Justice's Orange Syrup for Punch or Puddings._--(No. 392.)

Squeeze the oranges, and strain the juice from the pulp into a large pot; boil it up with a pound and a half of fine sugar to each point of juice; skim it well; let it stand till cold; then bottle it, and cork it well.

_Obs._--This makes a fine, soft, mellow-flavoured punch; and, added to melted b.u.t.ter, is a good relish to puddings.

_Syrup of Orange or Lemon-peel._--(No. 393.)

Of fresh outer rind of Seville orange or lemon-peel, three ounces, apothecaries' weight; boiling water a pint and a half; infuse them for a night in a close vessel; then strain the liquor: let it stand to settle; and having poured it off clear from the sediment, dissolve in it two pounds of double-refined loaf sugar, and make it into a syrup with a gentle heat.

_Obs._--In making this syrup, if the sugar be dissolved in the infusion with as gentle a heat as possible, to prevent the exhalation of the volatile parts of the peel, this syrup will possess a great share of the fine flavour of the orange, or lemon-peel.

_Vinegar for Salads._--(No. 395.)

"Take of tarragon, savoury, chives, eschalots, three ounces each; a handful of the tops of mint and balm, all dry and pounded; put into a wide-mouthed bottle, with a gallon of best vinegar; cork it close, set it in the sun, and in a fortnight strain off, and squeeze the herbs; let it stand a day to settle, and then strain it through a filtering bag."

From PARMENTIER'S _Art de faire les Vinaigres_, 8vo. 1805, p. 205.

_Tarragon Vinegar._--(No. 396.)

This is a very agreeable addition to soups, salad sauce (No. 455), and to mix mustard (No. 370). Fill a wide-mouthed bottle with fresh-gathered tarragon-leaves, _i. e._ between midsummer and Michaelmas (which should be gathered on a dry day, just before it flowers), and pick the leaves off the stalks, and dry them a little before the fire; cover them with the best vinegar; let them steep fourteen days; then strain through a flannel jelly bag till it is fine; then pour it into half-pint bottles; cork them carefully, and keep them in a dry place.

_Obs._ You may prepare elder-flowers and herbs in the same manner; elder and tarragon are those in most general use in this country.

Our neighbours, the French, prepare vinegars flavoured with celery, cuc.u.mbers, capsic.u.ms, garlic, eschalot, onion, capers, chervil, cress-seed, burnet, truffles, Seville orange-peel, ginger, &c.; in short, they impregnate them with almost every herb, fruit, flower, and spice, separately, and in innumerable combinations.

Messrs. Maille et Aclocque, _Vinaigriers a Paris_, sell sixty-five sorts of variously flavoured vinegar, and twenty-eight different sorts of mustard.

_Basil Vinegar or Wine._--(No. 397.)

Sweet basil is in full perfection about the middle of August. Fill a wide-mouthed bottle with the fresh green leaves of basil (these give much finer and more flavour than the dried), and cover them with vinegar, or wine, and let them steep for ten days: if you wish a very strong essence, strain the liquor, put it on some fresh leaves, and let them steep fourteen days more.

_Obs._ This is a very agreeable addition to sauces, soups, and to the mixture usually made for salads. See Nos. 372 and 453.

It is a secret the makers of mock turtle may thank us for telling; a table-spoonful put in when the soup is finished will impregnate a tureen of soup with the basil and acid flavours, at very small cost, when fresh basil and lemons are extravagantly dear.

The flavour of the other sweet and savoury herbs, celery, &c. may be procured, and preserved in the same manner (No. 409, or No. 417), by infusing them in wine or vinegar.

_Cress Vinegar._--(No. 397*.)

Dry and pound half an ounce of cress-seed (such as is sown in the garden with mustard), pour upon it a quart of the best vinegar, let it steep ten days, shaking it up every day.

_Obs._ This is very strongly flavoured with cress; and for salads and cold meats, &c. it is a great favourite with many: the quart of sauce costs only a half-penny more than the vinegar.

Celery vinegar is made in the same manner.

The crystal vinegar (No. 407*), which is, we believe, the pyroligneous acid, is the best for receiving flavours, having scarcely any of its own.

_Green Mint Vinegar_,--(No. 398.)

Is made precisely in the same manner, and with the same proportions as in No. 397.

_Obs._--In the early season of housed lamb, green mint is sometimes not to be got; the above is then a welcome subst.i.tute.

_Burnet or Cuc.u.mber Vinegar._--(No. 399.)

This is made in precisely the same manner as directed in No. 397. The flavour of burnet resembles cuc.u.mber so exactly, that when infused in vinegar, the nicest palate would p.r.o.nounce it to be cuc.u.mber.

_Obs._--This is a very favourite relish with cold meat, salads, &c.

Burnet is in best season from midsummer to Michaelmas.