The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory Part 82

Take cuc.u.mbers not full grown, slice them into a pewter dish; to twelve cuc.u.mbers put three or four onions sliced, and as you do them strew salt on them; cover them with a pewter dish, and let them stand twenty-four hours. Then take out the onions, strain the liquor from the cuc.u.mbers through a colander, and put them in a well glazed jar, with a pickle made of white wine vinegar, distilled in a cold still, with seasoning of mace, cloves, and pepper. The pickle must be poured boiling hot upon them, and then cover them down as close as possible. In four or five days take them out of the pickle, boil it, and pour it on as before, keeping the jar very close. Repeat this three times; cover the jar with a bladder, and leather over it; the cuc.u.mbers will keep the whole year, and be of a fine sea-green, but perhaps not of so fine colour when first you open them; they will become so, however, if the vinegar is really fine.

_Cuc.u.mbers stuffed._

Take six or eight middling-sized cuc.u.mbers, the smoothest you can procure; pare them, cut a small piece off the end, and scoop out all the seeds; blanch them for three or four minutes in boiling water on the fire; then put them into cold water to make the forcemeat. Then take some veal off the leg, calf's udder, fat bacon, and a piece of suet, and put it in boiling water about four minutes; take it out, and chop all together; put some parsley, small green onions, and shalots, all finely chopped, some salt, pepper, and nutmeg, sufficient for seasoning it, some crumbs of bread that have been steeped in cream, the whites of two eggs, and four yolks beaten well in a mortar. Stuff your cuc.u.mbers with this, and put the piece you cut off each upon it again. Lay at the bottom of your stewpan some thin slices of bacon, with the skin of the veal, onions in slices, parsley, thyme, some cloves; put your cuc.u.mbers in your stewpan, and cover them with bacon, &c., as at the bottom, and then add some strong broth, just sufficient to cover them. Set them over a slow fire covered, and let them stew slowly for an hour. Make some brown gravy of a good colour, and well tasted; and, when your cuc.u.mbers are stewed, take them out, drain them well from all grease, and put them in your brown gravy; it must not be thick. Set it over the stove for two minutes, and squeeze in the juice of a lemon.

To make brown gravy, put into your stewpan a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter; set it over the fire, and, when melted, put in a spoonful of flour, and keep stirring it till it is as brown as you wish, but be careful not to let it burn; put some good gravy to it, and let it boil some time, with parsley, onions, thyme, and spices, and then strain it to your cuc.u.mbers.

Should any of the cuc.u.mbers be left at dinner, you may serve them up another way for supper; cut the cuc.u.mbers in two, lengthwise, or, if you like, in round slices; add yolks of eggs beaten, and dust them all well over with crumb of bread rubbed very fine; fry them very hot; make them of a good colour, and serve them in a dish, with fried parsley.

_Cuc.u.mbers, to preserve._

Take some small cuc.u.mbers, and large ones that will cut in quarters, but let them be as green and as free from seeds as you can get them. Put them into a narrow-mouthed jar, in strong salt and water, with a cabbage-leaf to keep them from rising; tie a paper over them, and set them in a warm place till they are yellow. Then wash them out, and set them over the fire in fresh water, with a little salt and a fresh cabbage-leaf over them. Cover the pan very close, but be sure you do not let them boil. If they are not of a fine green, change the water, which will help them; then make them hot, and cover them as before. When you find them of a good green, take them off the fire, and let them stand till they are cold: then cut the large ones into quarters; take out the seeds and soft parts, put them into cold water, and let them stand two days; but change the water twice each day, to take out the salt; put a pound of refined sugar to a pint of water, and set it over the fire; when you have skimmed it clear, put in the rind of a lemon and an ounce of ginger, sc.r.a.ping off the outside. Take your syrup off as soon as it is pretty thick, and, when it is cold, wipe the cuc.u.mbers dry and put them into it. Boil the syrup once in two or three days for three weeks, and strengthen the syrup if required, for the greatest danger of spoiling them is at first. When you put the syrup to the cuc.u.mbers, wait till it is quite cold.

_French Beans._ No. 1.

Gather them when very slender; string and parboil them in very strong salt and water; then take them out, and dry them between two linen cloths. When they are well drained, put them into a large earthen vessel, and, having boiled up the same kind of pickle as for cuc.u.mbers, pour as much upon your beans as will cover them well. Strain the liquor from them three days successively; boil it up, and put your beans into the vinegar on the fire till they are warm through. After the third boiling, put them into jars for use, and tie them down.

_French Beans._ No. 2.

Take from the small slender beans their stalks, and let them remain fourteen days in salt and water; then wash and well cleanse them from the brine, and put them in a saucepan of water over a slow fire, covering them with vine-leaves. Do not let them boil, but only stew, until they are tender, as for eating; strain them off, lay them on a coa.r.s.e cloth to dry, and put them into pots; boil and skim alegar, and pour it over, covering them close; keep boiling in this manner for three or four days, or until they become green; add spice, as you would to other pickles, and, when cold, cover with leather.

_French Beans._ No. 3.

Put in a large jar a layer of beans, the younger the better, and a layer of salt, alternately, and tie it down close. When wanted for use, boil them in a quant.i.ty of boiling water: change the water two or three times, always adding the fresh water boiling; then put them into cold water to soak out the salt, and cut them when you want them for dressing for table. They must not be soaked before they are boiled.

_Herrings, to marinate._

Take a quarter of a hundred of herrings; cut off their heads and tails; take out the roes, and clean them; then take half an ounce of Jamaica and half an ounce of common pepper, an ounce of bay salt, and an ounce and a half of common salt; beat the pepper fine, mix it with the salt, and put some of this seasoning into the belly of each herring. Lay them in rows, and between every row strew some of the seasoning, and lay a bunch or two of thyme, parsley, and sage, and three or four bay-leaves.

Cover your fish with good vinegar, and your pot with paste; put the pot into the oven after the household bread is drawn; let it remain all night; and, when it comes out of the oven, pour out all the liquor, take out the herbs; again boil up the liquor; add as much more vinegar as will cover the herrings, skim it clean, and strain it. When cold, pour it over your herrings.

_Herrings, red, Trout fas.h.i.+on._

Cut off their heads, cleanse them well, and lay a row at the bottom of an earthen pot, sprinkling them over with bay salt and saltpetre, mixed together. Repeat this until your pan is full; then cover them, and bake them gently; when cold, they will be as red as anchovies, and the bones dissolved.

_India Pickle, called Picolili._ No. 1.

Lay one pound of ginger in salt and water for a whole night; then sc.r.a.pe and cut it in thin slices, and lay them in the sun to dry; put them into a jar till the other ingredients are ready. Peel two pounds of garlic, and cut it in thin slices; cover it with salt for three days; drain it well from the brine, and dry it as above directed. Take young cabbages, cut them in quarters, salt them for three days, and dry them as above; do the same with cauliflowers, celery, and radishes, sc.r.a.ping the latter and leaving the tops of the celery on, French beans, and asparagus, which last two must be salted only two days, and dried in the same manner. Take long pepper and salt it, but do not dry it too much, three ounces of turmeric, and a quarter of a pound of mustard seed finely bruised; put these into a stone jar, and pour on them a gallon of strong vinegar; look at it now and then, and if you see occasion add more vinegar. Proceed in the same manner with plums, peaches, melons, apples, cuc.u.mbers; artichoke bottoms must be pared and cut raw; then salt them, and give them just one gentle boil, putting them into the water when hot. Never do red cabbage or walnuts. The more every thing is dried, the plumper it will become in the vinegar. Put in a pound or two of whole garlic prepared as above to act as a pickle. You need never empty the jar, as the pickle keeps; but as things come into season, do them and throw them in, observing that the vinegar always covers them. If the ingredients cannot be conveniently dried by the sun, you may do them by the fire, but the sun is best.

_India Pickle._ No. 2.

Select the closest and whitest cabbage you can get, take off the outside leaves, quarter and cut them into thin slices, and lay them upon a sieve; salt well between each layer of the cabbage, and let it drain till the next day; then dry it in a cloth, and spread it in dishes before the fire, or the sun, often turning it till dry. Put it in a stone jar, with half a pint of white mustard seed, a little mace and cloves beat to a powder, as much cayenne as will lie on a s.h.i.+lling, a large head of garlic, and one pennyworth of turmeric in powder. Pour on it three quarts of vinegar boiling hot; cover it close with a cloth, and let it stand a fortnight; then turn it all out into a saucepan. Boil it, turning it often, about eight minutes, and put it up in your jar for use. It will be ready in a month. If other things are put in, they should lie in salt three days and then be dried; in this case, it will be necessary to make the pickle stronger, by adding ginger and horseradish, and it must be kept longer before used.

_India Pickle._ No. 3.

Boil one pound of salt, four ounces of ginger, eight ounces of shalots or garlic, a spoonful of cayenne pepper, two ounces of mustard seed, and six quarts of good vinegar. When cold, you may put in green fruit or any vegetable you choose, fresh as you pick them, only wiping off the dust.

Stop your jar close, and put in a little turmeric to colour it.

_Lemons._ No. 1.

Cut the lemons through the yellow rind only, into eight parts; then put them into a deep pan, a layer of salt and a layer of lemons, so as not to touch one another; set them in the chimney corner, and be sure to turn them every day, and to pack them up in the same manner as before.

This you must continue doing fifteen or sixteen days; then take them out of the salt, lay them in a flat pan, and put them in the sun every day for a month; or, if there should be no sun, before the fire; then put them in the pickle; in about six months they will be fit to eat. Make the pickle for them as follows: Take two pounds of peeled garlic, eight pods of India pepper, when it is green; one pound and a half of ginger, one pound and a quarter of mustard seed, half an ounce of turmeric; each clove of the garlic must be split in half; the ginger must be cut in small slices, and, as no green ginger can be had in Europe, you must cover the ginger with salt in a clean earthen vessel, until it is soft, which it will be in about three weeks, or something more, by which means you may cut it as you please; the mustard seed must be reduced, but not to powder, and the turmeric pounded fine: mix them well together, and add three ounces of oil of mustard seed. Put these ingredients into a gallon of the best white wine vinegar boiled; then put the whole upon the lemons in a glazed jar, and tie them up close. They will not be fit in less than six months. When the vinegar is boiled, let it stand to be cold, or rather lukewarm, before you put it to the lemons, and if you use more than a gallon of vinegar, increase the quant.i.ty of each ingredient in proportion. Strictly observe the direction first given, to let the lemons lie in salt fifteen or sixteen days, to turn them every day, and to let them be thoroughly dry before you put the pickle to them; it will be a month at least before they are sufficiently dry.

_Lemons._ No. 2.

Take twelve lemons pared so thin that not the least of the whites is to be seen; slit them across at each end, and work in as much salt as you can, rubbing them very well within and without. Lay them in an earthen pan for three or four days, and strew a good deal of salt over them; then put in twelve cloves of garlic, and a large handful of horseradish; dry the lemons with the salt over them in a very slow oven, till the lemons have no moisture in them, but the garlic and the horseradish must not be dried so much. Then take a gallon of vinegar, cloves, mace, and nutmegs, broken roughly, half an ounce of each, and the like quant.i.ty of cayenne pepper. Give them a boil in the vinegar; and, when cold, stir in a quarter of a pound of flour of mustard, and pour it upon the lemons, garlic, &c. Stir them every day, for a week together, or more. When the lemons are used in made dishes, shred them very small; and, when you use the liquor, shake it before you put it to the sauce, or in a cruet. When the lemons are dried, they must be as hard as a crust of bread, but not burned.

_Lemons._ No. 3.

Take two dozen lemons, cut off about an inch at one end, scoop out all the pulp, fill them with salt, and sew on the tops. Let them continue over the mouth of an oven, or in any slow heat, for about three weeks, till they are quite dried. Take out the salt; lay them in an earthen jar; put to them six quarts of the best vinegar which has been boiled; add some long pepper, mace, ginger, and cinnamon, a few bay-leaves, four cloves of garlic, and six ounces of the best flour of mustard. When quite cold, cover up the jar, and let it stand for three weeks or a month. Then strain off the liquor, and bottle it.

_Lemons._ No. 4.

Quarter the lemons lengthwise, taking care not to cut them so low as to separate; put a table-spoonful of salt into each. Set them on a pewter dish; dry them very slowly in a cool oven or in the sun; they will take two or three weeks to dry properly. For a dozen large lemons boil three quarts of vinegar, with two dozen peppercorns, two dozen allspices, and four races of ginger sliced. When the vinegar is cold, put it, with the lemons, the ingredients, and all the salt, into a jar; add a quarter of a pound of flour of mustard and two dozen cloves of garlic; the garlic must be peeled and softened in scalding water for a little while, then covered with salt for three days, and dried before it is put into the jar. Let the whole remain for two months closely tied down and stirred every day; then squeeze the lemons well; strain and bottle the liquor.

_Lemons._ No. 5.

Select small thick-rinded lemons; rub them with a flannel; slit them in four parts, but not through to the pulp; stuff the slits full of salt, and set them upright in a pan. Let them remain thus for five or six days, or longer if the salt should not be melted, turning them three times a day in their own liquor, until they become tender. Then make a pickle of rape, vinegar, and the brine from the lemons, ginger, and Jamaica pepper. Boil and skim it, and when cold put it to the lemons, with three cloves of garlic, and two ounces of mustard seed. This is quite sufficient for six lemons.

_Lemons._ No. 6.

Boil them in water and afterwards in vinegar and sugar, and then cut them in slices.

_Lemons, or Oranges._

Select fruit free from spots; lay them gently in a barrel. Take pure water, and make it so strong with bay-salt as that it would bear an egg; with this brine fill up the barrel, and close it tight.

_Mango Cossundria, or Pickle._

Take of green mangoes two pounds, green ginger one pound, yellow mustard seed one pound; half dried chives, garlic, salt, mustard, oil, of each two ounces; fine vinegar, four bottles. Cut the mangoes in slices lengthwise, and place them in the sun till half dried. Slice the ginger also; put the whole in a jar well closed, and set it in the sun for a month. This pickle will keep for years, and improves by age.