Hand-Book of Practical Cookery for Ladies and Professional Cooks Part 12

If wanted richer, an egg may be mixed with the flour and milk, or a yolk of egg may be added as soon as taken from the fire.

RAISINS.

When the stems of raisins or of currants are removed, put them in a bowl, dust them well with flour, move them round a little, then turn them into a sieve and shake them well. This process will remove the sand as well as was.h.i.+ng them, and will not take away the sweetness.

SANDWICHES.

These are too well known to require any direction.

SAUSAGE-MEAT.

Butchers generally, with an eye to economy, make sausage-meat of bad or tainted pork.

We recommend our readers, as far as possible, never to buy sausage-meat ready made, but to make it themselves, or have it made according to their directions.

A chopping-machine costs very little, and saves a great deal of work, besides chopping much better than can be done by hand.

The proportions are: one pound of lean pork and one pound of lean veal, chopped very fine, well mixed, and both very fresh. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and clove grated, and with cinnamon, if liked.

A yolk of egg may be added to a pound of meat.

It may also be made with one pound of veal and half a pound or less of pork, or with veal only or pork only, according to taste.

SOUSE.

Put three ounces of b.u.t.ter in a saucepan, and set it on the fire; when melted, add two carrots and two onions sliced, stir now and then till they begin to turn brown; then add about three pints of warm water, half a pint of vinegar, one clove of garlic, four sprigs of parsley, one of thyme, a clove, a bay-leaf, six pepper-corns, a little grated nutmeg, and salt. Simmer about an hour, strain, and it is ready for use.

_Another._--Put two quarts of vinegar and about ten quarts of water in a stone or crockery vessel, with four cloves of garlic, a handful of parsley, six cloves, four stalks of thyme, four bay-leaves, half a nutmeg grated, three or four carrots, and three or four onions sliced, a little salt, and two dozen pepper-corns. Stir and mix the whole well, and it is ready for use.

Pieces of mutton, beef, pork, venison, and bear-meat, may be soaked in one of the above preparations from four to six days before cooking them.

A piece of tough meat will be more tender and juicy after being soaked.

More or less may be made, according to the size of the piece of meat.

TEA.

There are many ways of making tea; we might say that every one makes it in his own way; but, after many experiments and much information, we have found the following to be the best:

Warm the teapot either by pouring boiling water in it and emptying it, or by placing it on a corner of the range.

Then put good tea in it (the quant.i.ty to be according to the strength and also to the quant.i.ty you want), and pour boiling water on the leaves, just enough to wet them; leave thus about one minute, then pour on all the water you want.

Let it steep no longer than about six minutes, and not less than four minutes, before drawing it.

If allowed to steep longer than six minutes, all the astringency of the tea is extracted, and it acts and has a bad effect on the nervous system, besides losing most of its aroma.

Chemists and physiologists generally recommend black tea, as not affecting the nervous system as much as green tea.

Tea being naturally very astringent, should never be served at breakfast.

Taken after dinner, instead of _cafe noir_, it has the same effect, and brandy may be mixed with it as in coffee.

Tea is excellent in damp climates and marshy countries, but it must be taken after a substantial meal.

Drinking warm tea while eating causes the food to pa.s.s through the system without nouris.h.i.+ng it, or supplying its waste.

TOAST.

Cut several slices of bread of even size, and spread some anchovy-b.u.t.ter on them; cut anchovies in small strips, lengthwise, lay them on the bread also, and then spread over some hard-boiled egg chopped fine, and on it some parsley also chopped fine, finish with capers here and there.

Place the toast or slices of bread on a dish, tastefully arranged all around, a few sprigs of parsley in the middle, and you have a fine _hors-d'oeuvre_.

Sardines, Dutch herrings, or red herrings may be used the same as anchovies.

WELSH RAREBIT.

This dish is not generally understood. It is thought by many to be Welsh rabbit, that is, a rabbit prepared _Welsh fas.h.i.+on_.

It is not a rabbit, but Welsh cheese (a certain kind only, and prepared for that purpose), melted to a certain degree, and then spread on toast of Welsh bread.

Grate some Gloucester or Gruyere cheese and pepper it with Cayenne pepper. Fry some slices of bread with a little b.u.t.ter, but on one side only, until perfectly yellow, then spread a thick coat of grated cheese on the fried side of the bread, place the slices in a baking-pan, put them in a pretty warm oven, take off when it begins to melt, and serve warm.

Then you have as good a Welsh rarebit as can be made here. The receipt was given to us by an English lady.

POTAGES OR SOUPS.

Potage is the modern word for soup, and is used in bills of fare everywhere.

Three kinds of liquor are used to make potages: broth, milk, and water.

Besides the liquor, meat, fish, and vegetables are used.

The richest potages are made with _consomme_ and some other compounds; such as bread, Italian pastes, vegetables, etc.

_Consomme_ means rich broth; literally, it means consumed, perfect, that is, properly reduced and partly consumed, as it is the case in making it. _Consomme_ is broth reduced to a certain point, according to want or taste.

_Broth._--Broth is to good cooking what wheat is to bread. Dishes (with some exceptions) prepared without broth are, to those prepared with it, what rye or corn bread is to wheat bread. Broth, and especially _consomme_, are to old age what milk is to the infant. Broth is called _bouillon_ in France, and _stock_ in England. The word _pot-au-feu_ means the meat, vegetables, seasonings, spices, and the "pot" or soup-kettle itself, _i. e._, every thing made use of in making broth.