The New England Cook Book Part 14

262. _Spring Beer._

Take a small bunch each of sarsaparilla, sweet fern, wintergreen, sa.s.safras, and spice wood, boil them with three ounces of hops, to six gallons of water, pare two or three raw potatoes, and throw them into the beer while it is boiling. When it has boiled five or six hours, strain it, and put to it three pints of mola.s.ses, when cool stir in a pint of fresh yeast, if the beer is too thick, dilute it with a little cold water. When fermented, bottle and keep it in a cool place.

263. _Ginger Beer._

Take three table spoonsful of ginger, one of cream of tartar, and boil them gently in a gallon of water, with a lemon cut in slices; sweeten it to your taste, with loaf or Havana sugar, boil it three quarters of an hour. Strain it, and when cool, put in a tea cup of yeast; as soon as it has ceased fermenting, bottle it.

264. _A good Family Wine._

Take equal parts of red and white currants, grapes, raspberries and English cherries, bruise and mix them with soft water, in the proportion of four pounds of fruit, to one gallon of water, let the liquid remain for two or three hours, then strain it, and to each gallon of wine add three pounds of sugar. Let it stand open three days, stirring it frequently, skim, and put it in a cask, place it in a temperate situation, where it will ferment slowly, when fermented add to it a ninth part of brandy, and stop it up tight. In two or three years it will be very rich.

265. _Currant Wine._

Strain the currants, which should be perfectly ripe, to each quart of juice, put two of water, and three pounds of sugar. Stir the whole well together, and let it stand twenty four hours, then skim it, and set it in a cool place, where it will ferment slowly, let it remain three or four days, if at the end of that time, it has fermented, add one quart of French brandy, to every fifteen gallons, stop it tight, when it is clear, it is fit to bottle. This wine is better for being kept several years.

266. _Raspberry Shrub._

To a quart of vinegar, put three quarts of fresh ripe raspberries, let it stand a day, then strain it, and to each pint, put a pound of white sugar. Put it in a jar, and set it in a kettle of boiling water, boil it an hour, skim it till clear. When cool add a wine gla.s.s of wine, to each pint of shrub. A couple of table spoonsful of this, mixed with a tumbler of water, is a very wholesome and refres.h.i.+ng drink in fevers.

267. _Noyeau._

To three pints of good French brandy, put four ounces of bitter almonds, or peach meats bruised, put in half an ounce of cinnamon, the same quant.i.ty of mace and amber, pounded fine, add a tea spoonful of cloves; let it stand for a fortnight, shaking it often, then add a quart of water, and a pound and a quarter of sugar, let it stand a week, shaking it each day, then strain it off for use.

268. _Spring Fruit Sherbet._

Boil in a quart of water six or eight stalks of the rhubarb plant, with the peel of a lemon pared very thin, and the juice of it. When it has boiled eight, or ten minutes, take it, sweeten it to the taste with any kind of syrup you like, or honey, flavor it with rosewater, strain it, let it stand five or six hours, it will then be fit to drink. It is a fine thing to a.s.suage thirst.

269. _Grape Wine._

To every gallon of ripe grapes, put a gallon of soft water, bruise the grapes, and let them stand a week, without stirring, then draw off the liquor carefully; to each gallon, put three pounds of lump sugar, when fermented, put it in a cask, stop it up tight, in six months it will be fit to bottle.

270. _Smallage Cordial._

Take the young sprouts of smallage, wash and drain them till perfectly dry. Cut them into small pieces, and put them in a bottle, with stoned raisins, a layer of each alternately; when the bottle is two thirds full, fill it up with good French brandy. Cork it up, let it stand four or five days, then pour in as much more brandy, as you can get in. It will be fit for use in the course of a few days.

_Miscellaneous Receipts, and observations useful to young housekeepers._

1. _To make Essence of Lemon._

Take one drachm of the best oil of lemon, and two ounces of strong rectified spirit. Mix the spirit by degrees, with the oil. Another way to procure the essence of the peel, is to rub the peel with lumps of sugar, till the yellow part is all taken up. Sc.r.a.pe off the surface of the sugar, and press it down tight, in a preserving pot, and cover it tight; a little of this sugar gives a fine flavor to pies or cake. This mode of procuring the essence of the peel, is superior to any other, as the fine flavor of the peel is extracted without any alloy.

2. _Essence of Ginger._

Put three ounces of fresh grated ginger, an ounce of thin cut lemon peel, into a quart of brandy, or proof spirit, bottle and cork it, let it stand for ten days, shaking it up each day, it will then be fit for use. A few drops of this, in a little water, or on a lump of sugar, answers all the purposes of ginger tea, and is much more convenient and palatable.

3. _Rose Water._

Gather your roses on a dry day, when full blown, pick off the leaves, and to a peck of them, put a quart of water. Put them in a cold still, and put it over a slow fire, the slower they are distilled the better.

When distilled put it in the bottles, let it stand a couple of days, then cork it tight.

4. _Spice Brandy._

Into a large wide mouthed bottle, put French brandy, and fresh rose leaves, or lemon and orange peel. When this has stood a week, it is nice spice for pies, puddings and cake. Peach meats or almonds steeped in brandy are very good spice for custards.

5. _Barley Water._

Take a couple of ounces of pearl barley, wash it in cold water, and put it into half a pint of boiling water, and let it boil four or five minutes, then turn off the water, and pour on two quarts of boiling water, strain it, and put to it two ounces of figs sliced, two of stoned raisins, half an ounce of liquorice cut into small bits, and bruised, boil it till reduced to a quart, and strain it. This is a very wholesome drink in fevers.

6. _Water Gruel._

Mix a couple of table spoonsful of Indian meal, with one of flour and a little water, stir it into a pint of boiling water, let it boil six or eight minutes, then take it up put in a piece of b.u.t.ter of the size of a walnut, pepper and salt, to your taste, and nutmeg, or cinnamon if you like, turn it on to toasted bread or crackers. To convert this into caudle, add a little ale; wine or brandy, and loaf sugar.

7. _Wine Whey._

Into a pint of milk while boiling, stir a couple of wine gla.s.ses of wine, let it boil for a moment, then take it off, when the curd has settled, turn off the whey, and sweeten it with loaf sugar. Where wine cannot be procured, cider, or half the quant.i.ty of vinegar, is a good subst.i.tute.

8. _Stomachic Tincture._

Bruise an ounce and a half of Peruvian bark, and one of bitter dried orange peel. Steep it in brandy or proof spirit, for a fortnight, shaking it each day. Let it remain for a couple of days without shaking it, then decant the liquor. A tea spoonful of it in a wine gla.s.s of water, is a fine tonic.

9. _Beef Tea._

Broil a pound of fresh beef ten minutes, take it up, pepper and salt it, cut it into small pieces, and turn a pint of boiling water on to it, let it steep in a warm place for half an hour, then strain it off, and it is fit to drink. This is a quick way of making it, but the best way is to cut beef into small bits, and fill a junk bottle with it, stop it up tight, and immerse it in a kettle of cold water, put it where it will boil four or five hours. This way is superior to the other, as the juices of the meat are obtained unmixed with water; a table spoonful of this is as nouris.h.i.+ng as a cup full of that which is made by broiling.

10. _Carrageen or Irish Moss._

American, or Irish Carrageen, is a very nutritious and light article of food for children, and invalids, and is a good thickener of milk and broths, and for blanc mange is equal to the most expensive ingredients, while the cost is very trifling. The following decoction for consumptive patients, is recommended. Steep half an ounce of the moss in cold water, for a few minutes, then take it out, boil it in a quart of milk until it attains the consistency of warm jelly, strain it, and sweeten it to the taste, with white sugar or honey, flavor it with whatever spice is most agreeable, if milk is disagreeable, water may be subst.i.tuted. If a tea spoonful of the tincture of rhutany is mixed with a cup full of the decoction, a tone will be given to the stomach, at the same time that nourishment is conveyed to the system.