The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary Part 11

CHERRY BRANDY. Stone ten pounds of black cherries, bruise the stones in a mortar, and put them to a gallon of the best brandy. Let it stand a month close covered, pour it clear from the sediment, and bottle it.

Morella cherries managed in this way will make a fine rich cordial.

CHERRY JAM. To twelve pounds of ripe fruit, Kentish or duke cherries, weigh one pound of sugar. Break the stones of part, and blanch them; then put them to the fruit and sugar, and boil all gently till the jam comes clear from the pan. Pour it into china plates to come up dry to the table, and keep it in boxes with white paper between.

CHERRY PIE. This should have a mixture of other fruit; currants or raspberries, or both. Currant pie is also best with raspberries.

CHERRY WINE. Mash some ripe cherries, and press them through a hair sieve. Allow three pounds of lump sugar to two quarts of juice, stir them together till the sugar is dissolved, and fill a small barrel with the liquor. Add a little brandy, close down the bung when it has done hissing, let it stand six months and bottle it off.

CHERRIES IN BRANDY. Weigh some fine morellas, cut off half the stalk, p.r.i.c.k them with a new needle, and drop them into a jar or wide-mouth bottle. Pound three quarters of the weight of sugar or white candy, and strew over; fill the bottle up with brandy, and tie a bladder over.

CHERVIL SAUCE. The flavour of this fine herb, so long a favourite with the French cook, is a strong concentration of the combined taste of parsley and fennel, but more aromatic and agreeable than either, and makes an excellent sauce for boiled poultry or fish. Wash the chervil, and pick it very clean; put a tea-spoonful of salt into half a pint of boiling water, boil the chervil about ten minutes, drain it on a sieve, and mince it very fine. Put it into a sauce boat, mix with it by degrees some good melted b.u.t.ter, and send it up in the boat.

CHEs.h.i.+RE CHEESE. In preparing this article, the evening's milk is not touched till the next morning, when the cream is taken off and warmed in a pan, heated with boiling water; one third part of the milk is heated in a similar manner. The cows being milked early in the morning, the new milk, and that of the preceding night thus prepared, are poured into a large tub along with the cream. A piece of rennet kept in lukewarm water since the preceding evening, is put into the tub in order to curdle the milk, and the curd is coloured by an infusion of marigolds or carrots being rubbed into it. It is then stirred together, covered up warm, and allowed to stand about half an hour till it is coagulated; when it is first turned over with a bowl to separate the whey from the curds, and broken soon after into small pieces. When it has stood some time, the whey is taken out, and a weight laid at the bottom of the tub to press out the remainder. As soon as it becomes more solid, it is cut into slices, and turned over several times to extract all the whey, and again pressed with weights. Being taken out of the tub, it is broken very small, salted, and put into a cheese vat. It is then strongly pressed and weighted, and wooden skewers are placed round the cheese, which are frequently drawn out. It is then s.h.i.+fted out of the vat with a cloth placed at the bottom; and being turned it is put into the vat again. The upper part is next broken by the hand down to the middle, salted, pressed, weighted, and skewered as before, till all the whey is extracted. The cheese is then reversed into another vat, likewise warmed with a cloth under it, and a tin hoop put round the upper part of the cheese. These operations take up the greater part of the forenoon; the pressing of the cheese requires about eight hours more, as it must be twice turned in the vat, round which thin wire skewers are pa.s.sed, and s.h.i.+fted occasionally. The next morning it ought to be turned and pressed again; and on the following day the outside is salted, and a cloth binder tied round it. The outsides are sometimes rubbed with b.u.t.ter, in order to give them a coat; and being turned and cleaned every day, they are left to dry two or three weeks.

CHICKENS. Fowls are chiefly considered as an article of luxury, and are generally sold at a high price; yet the rearing of them is seldom productive of much pecuniary advantage. They are liable to innumerable accidents in their early stages, which require incessant watchfulness and care; and if the grain on which they feed is to be purchased, the labour and expence are scarcely requited by the price they bear in the market. The Irish peasantry are in the habit of rearing a great number of fowls, by subst.i.tuting the offal of potatoes instead of grain; but the flesh is neither so firm nor so good as that of chickens raised in England. It is much to be desired therefore, that encouragement could be given to the cottagers of this country for rearing a larger quant.i.ty of poultry, by means less expensive than the present, in order that the market might be supplied on better terms with an article of food so fine and delicate, and in such general respect. Various artificial means have been used for brooding chickens, in order to increase their number, and to bring them forward at an earlier season, but none of them have been found to answer, though in Egypt immense quant.i.ties are raised every year by the heat of ovens, bringing the eggs to a state of maturity. A well-fed hen is supposed to lay about two hundred eggs in a year; but as she does not sit more than once or twice in that time, it is but a small quant.i.ty of chickens that can be hatched in the usual way, and it would be highly desirable if some other expedient could be devised.--The most expeditious way of fattening chickens is to mix a quant.i.ty of rice flour sufficient for present use, with milk and a little coa.r.s.e sugar, and stir it over the fire till it comes to a thick paste. Feed the chickens with it while it is warm by putting as much into their coops as they can eat; and if a little beer be given them to drink, it will fatten them very soon. A mixture of oatmeal and treacle made into crumbs is also good food for chickens; and they are so fond of it, that they will grow and fatten much faster than in the common way. Poultry in general should be fed in coops, and kept very clean. Their common food is barley meal mixed with water: this should not be put in troughs, but laid upon a board, which should be washed clean every time fresh food is put upon it. The common complaint of fowls, called the pip, is chiefly occasioned by foul and heated water being given them. No water should be allowed, more than is mixed up with their food; but they should often be provided with some clean gravel in their coop.--The method of fattening poultry for the London market, is liable to great objection. They are put into a dark place, and crammed with a paste made of barley meal, mutton suet, treacle or coa.r.s.e sugar, mixed with milk, which makes them ripe in about a fortnight; but if kept longer, the fever that is induced by this continual state of repletion, renders them red and unsaleable, and frequently kills them. Air and exercise are as indispensable to the health of poultry as to other animals; and without it, the fat will be all acc.u.mulated in the cellular membrane, instead of being dispersed throughout the system. A barn-door fowl is preferable to any other, only that it cannot be fatted in so short a time.

CHICKEN BROTH. Having boiled a chicken for panada, take off the skin and the rump, and put it into the water it was boiled in. Add one blade of mace, a slice of onion, and ten corns of white pepper. Simmer it till the broth be of a pleasant flavour, adding a little water if necessary.

Beat a quarter of an ounce of sweet almonds with a tea-spoonful of water till it is quite fine, boil it in the broth, and strain it. When cold, remove the fat.

CHICKEN CURRIE. Cut up the chicken raw, slice onions, and fry both in b.u.t.ter with great care, of a fine light brown; or if chickens that have been dressed are used, fry only the onions. Having cut the joints into two or three pieces each, lay them in a stewpan, with veal or mutton gravy, and a clove or two of garlic. Simmer till the chicken is quite tender. Half an hour before serving it up, rub smooth a spoonful or two of currie powder, a spoonful of flour, and an ounce of b.u.t.ter; and add this to the stew, with four large spoonfuls of cream, and a little salt.

Squeeze in a small lemon, when the dish is going to table.--A more easy way to make currie is to cut up a chicken or young rabbit; if chicken, take off the skin. Roll each piece in a mixture of a large spoonful of flour, and half an ounce of currie powder. Slice two or three onions, and fry them in b.u.t.ter, of a light brown; then add the meat, and fry all together till the meat begin to brown. Put all into a stewpan, cover it with boiling water, and simmer very gently two or three hours. If too thick, add more water half an hour before serving. If the meat has been dressed before, a little broth will be better than water, but the currie is richer when made of fresh meat. Slices of underdone veal, turkey, or rabbit, will make excellent currie. A dish of rice boiled dry should be served with it.

CHICKEN PANADA. Boil a chicken in a quart of water, till about three parts ready. Take off the skin, cut off the white meat when cold, and pound it to a paste in a marble mortar, with a little of the liquor it was boiled in. Season it with a little salt, a grate of nutmeg, and the least bit of lemon peel. Boil it gently for a few minutes till it be tolerably thick, but so it may be drank. The flesh of a chicken thus reduced to a small compa.s.s, will be found very nouris.h.i.+ng.

CHICKEN PIE. Cut up two young fowls, season them with white pepper, salt, a little mace, nutmeg, and cayenne, all finely powdered. Put alternately in layers the chicken, slices of ham, or fresh gammon of bacon, forcemeat b.a.l.l.s, and eggs boiled hard. If baked in a dish, add a little water, but none if in a raised crust. Prepare some veal gravy from the knuckle or scrag, with some shank-bones of mutton, seasoned with herbs, onions, mace, and white pepper, to be poured into the pie when it returns from the oven. If it is to be eaten hot, truffles, morels, and mushrooms may be added; but not if it is to be eaten cold.

If baked in a raised crust, the gravy must be nicely strained, and then put in cold as jelly. To make the jelly clear, give it a boil with the whites of two eggs, after taking away the meat, and then run it through a fine lawn sieve.--Rabbits, if young and fleshy, will make as good a pie. Their legs should be cut short, and their breast-bones must not go in, but will help to make the gravy.

CHICKEN SAUCE. An anchovy or two boned and chopped, some parsley and onion chopped, and mixed together, with pepper, oil, vinegar, mustard, walnut or mushroom ketchup, will make a good sauce for cold chicken, veal, or partridge.

CHILI VINEGAR. Slice fifty English chilies, fresh and of a good colour, and infuse them in a pint of the best vinegar. In a fortnight, this will give a much finer flavour than can be obtained from foreign cayenne, and impart an agreeable relish to fish sauce.

CHIMNEY PIECES. To blacken the fronts of stone chimney-pieces, mix oil varnish with lamp black that has been sifted, and a little spirit of turpentine to thin it to the consistence of paint. Wash the stone very clean with soap and water, and sponge it with clear water. When perfectly dry, brush it over twice with this colour, leaving it to dry between the times, and it will look extremely well.

CHINA. Broken china may be repaired with cement, made of equal parts of glue, the white of an egg, and white-lead mixed together. The juice of garlic, bruised in a stone mortar, is also a fine cement for broken gla.s.s or china; and if carefully applied, will leave no mark behind it.

Isingla.s.s glue, mixed with a little finely sifted chalk, will answer the same purpose, if the articles be not required to endure heat or moisture.

CHINA CHILO. Mince a pint-basonful of undressed neck or leg of mutton, with some of the fat. Put into a stewpan closely covered, two onions, a lettuce, a pint of green peas, a tea-spoonful of salt, the same quant.i.ty of pepper, four spoonfuls of water, and two or three ounces of clarified b.u.t.ter. Simmer them together two hours, add a little cayenne if approved, and serve in the middle of a dish of boiled dry rice.

CHINE OF BACON. One that has been salted and dried requires to be soaked several hours in cold water, and sc.r.a.ped clean. Then take a handful of beech, half as much parsley, a few sprigs of thyme, and a little sage, finely chopped together. Make some holes in the chine with the point of a knife, fill them with the herbs, skewer the meat up in a cloth, and boil it slowly about three hours. A dried pig's face is cooked in the same manner, adding a little salt, pepper, and bread crumbs to the stuffing.

CHOCOLATE. Those who use much of this article, will find the following mode of preparing it both useful and economical. Cut a cake of chocolate into very small pieces, and put a pint of water into the pot; when it boils, put in the chocolate. Mill it off the fire till quite melted, then on a gentle fire till it boil; pour it into a bason, and it will keep in a cool place eight or ten days or more. When wanted, put a spoonful or two into some milk; boil it with sugar, and mill it well. If not made too thick, this will form a very good breakfast or supper.

CHOCOLATE CREAM. Sc.r.a.pe into one quart of thick cream, an ounce of the best chocolate, and a quarter of a pound of sugar. Boil and mill it: when quite smooth, take it off the fire, and leave it to be cold. Then add the whites of nine eggs; whisk it, and take up the froth on sieves, as other creams are done. Serve up the froth in gla.s.ses, to rise above some of the cream.

CHOLIC. Young children are often afflicted with griping pains in the bowels; and if attended with costiveness, it will be necessary to give them very small doses of manna and rhubarb every half hour, till they produce the desired effect. When the stools are green, a few drams of magnesia, with one or two of rhubarb, according to the age of the patient, may be given with advantage; but the greatest benefit will be derived from clysters made of milk, oil and sugar, or a solution of white soap and water. A poultice of bread, milk and oil, may likewise be applied to the lower part of the belly, and frequently renewed with a little warm milk to give it a proper consistence. The cholic in adults arises from a variety of causes, not easily distinguished except by professional persons; and therefore it is absolutely necessary to abstain from all violent remedies, or it may be attended with fatal consequences. Nothing can be applied with safety but emollient clysters and fomentations, and to drink copiously of camomile tea, or any other diluting liquor, till the spasms be relieved, and the nature of the disease more clearly understood. Persons who are subject to the bilious cholic in particular, should abstain from acrid, watery and oily food, especially b.u.t.ter, fat meat, and hot liquors: and pursue a calm and temperate course of life.

CHOPPED HANDS. Wash in common water, and then in rose water, a quarter of a pound of hog's lard not salted; mix with it the yolks of two new laid eggs, and a large spoonful of honey. Add as much fine oatmeal, or almond paste, as will work it into a paste; and by frequently rubbing it on the hands, it will keep them smooth, and prevent their being chopped.

CHOPPED LIPS. Put into a new tin saucepan, a quarter of an ounce of benjamin, storax, and spermaceti, two pennyworth of alkanet root, a large juicy apple chopped, a bunch of black grapes bruised, a quarter of a pound of unsalted b.u.t.ter, and two ounces of bees wax. Simmer them together till all be dissolved, and strain it through a linen. When cold melt it again, and pour it into small pots or boxes, or make it into cakes on the bottoms of tea-cups.

CHUMP OF VEAL. To dress it _a-la-daube_, cut off the chump end of the loin, take out the edge bone, stuff the hollow with good forcemeat, tie it up tight, and lay it in a stewpan with the bone that was taken out, a little f.a.ggot of herbs, an anchovy, two blades of mace, a few white peppercorns, and a pint of good veal broth. Cover the veal with slices of fat bacon, and lay a sheet of white paper over it. Cover the pan close, simmer it two hours, then take out the bacon, and glaze the veal.

Serve it on mushrooms, with sorrel sauce, or any other that may be preferred.

CHURNING. In order to prepare for this important operation, the milk when drawn from the cow, and carefully strained through a cloth or hair sieve, should be put into flat wooden trays about three inches deep, and perfectly clean and cool. The trays are then to be placed on shelves, till the cream be completely separated; when it is to be nicely taken off with a skimming dish, without lifting or stirring the milk. The cream is then deposited in a separate vessel, till a proper quant.i.ty is collected for churning. In hot weather, the milk should stand only twenty-four hours, and be skimmed early in the morning before the dairy becomes warm, or in the evening after sun-set. In winter the milk may remain unskimmed for six and thirty or even eight and forty hours. The cream should be preserved in a deep pan during the summer, and placed in the coolest part of the dairy, or in a cellar where free air is admitted. The cream which rises first to the surface is richer in quality, and larger in quant.i.ty, than what rises afterwards. Thick milk produces a smaller proportion of cream than that which is thinner, though the former is of a richer quality: if therefore the thick milk be diluted with water, it will afford more cream, but its quality will be inferior. Milk carried about in pails, and partly cooled before it be strained and poured into the trays, never throws up such good and plentiful cream, as if it had been put into proper vessels immediately after it came from the cow. Those who have not an opportunity of churning every other day, should s.h.i.+ft the cream daily into clean pans, in order to keep it cool; but the churning should take place regularly twice a week in hot weather, and in the morning before sun-rise, taking care to fix the churn in a free circulation of air. In the winter time, the churn must not be set so near the fire as to heat the wood, as by this means the b.u.t.ter will acquire a strong rancid flavour. Cleanliness being of the utmost importance, the common plunge-churn is preferable to any other; but if a barrel-churn be requisite in a large dairy, it must be kept thoroughly clean with salt and water. If a plunge-churn be used, it may be set in a tub of cold water during the time of churning, which will harden the b.u.t.ter in a considerable degree. The motion of the churn should be regular, and performed by one person, or the b.u.t.ter will in winter go back; and if the agitation be violent and irregular, the b.u.t.ter will ferment in summer, and acquire a disagreeable flavour. The operation of churning may be much facilitated by adding a table-spoonful or two of distilled vinegar to a gallon of cream, but not till after the latter has undergone considerable agitation. In many parts of England, b.u.t.ter is artificially coloured in winter, though it adds nothing to its goodness. The juice of carrots is expressed through a sieve, and mixed with the cream when it enters the churn, to give it the appearance of May b.u.t.ter. Very little salt is used in the best Epping b.u.t.ter; but a certain proportion of acid, either natural or artificial, must be used in the cream, in order to secure a successful churning. Some keep a small quant.i.ty of the old cream for that purpose; some use a little rennet, and others a few tea-spoonfuls of lemon juice. It has been ascertained however, by a variety of experiments, that it is more profitable to churn the cream, than to churn the whole milk, as is practised in some parts of the country. Cream b.u.t.ter is also the richest of the two, though it will not keep sweet so long.

CIDER. Particular caution is requisite in bottling this useful beverage, in order to its being well preserved. To secure the bottles from bursting, the liquor must be thoroughly fine before it be racked off. If one bottle break, it will be necessary to open the remainder, and cork them up again. Weak cider is more apt to burst the bottles, than that of a better quality. Good corks, soaked in hot water, will be more safe and pliant; and by laying the bottles so that the liquor may always keep the corks wet and swelled, will tend much to its preservation. For this purpose the ground is preferable to a frame, and a layer of sawdust better than the bare floor; but the most proper situation would be a stream of running water. In order to ripen bottled liquors, they are sometimes exposed to moderate warmth, or the rays of the sun, which in a few days will bring them to maturity.

CIDER CUP. To make a cooling drink, mix together a quart of cider, a gla.s.s of white wine, one of brandy, one of capillaire, the juice of a lemon, a bit of the peel pared thin, a sprig of borage or balm, a piece of toasted bread, and nutmeg grated on the top.

CINNAMON CAKES. Whisk together in a pan six eggs, and two table-spoonfuls of rose water. Add a pound of fine sugar sifted, a desert-spoonful of pounded cinnamon, and flour sufficient to make it into a paste. Roll it out, cut it into cakes, and bake them on writing paper.

CITRON PUDDING. Boil some Windsor beans quite soft, take off the skins, and beat a quarter of a pound of them into a paste. Then add as much b.u.t.ter, four eggs well beaten, with some sugar and brandy. Put a puff-paste in the dish, lay some slices of citron on it, pour in the pudding, garnish with bits of citron round the edge of the dish, and bake it in a moderate oven.

CLARIFIED BROTH. Put broth or gravy into a clean stewpan, break the white and sh.e.l.l of an egg, beat them together and add them to the broth.

Stir it with a whisk; and when it has boiled a few minutes, strain it through a tammis or a napkin.

CLARIFIED b.u.t.tER. To make clarified b.u.t.ter for potted things, put some b.u.t.ter into a sauceboat, and set it over the fire in a stewpan that has a little water in it. When the b.u.t.ter is dissolved, the milky parts will sink to the bottom, and care must be taken not to pour them over things to be potted.