Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches Part 24

The bottles should be quite small, as it soon spoils after being opened.

TOMATA CATCHUP.

Gather the tomatas on a dry day, and when quite ripe. Peel them, and cut them into quarters. Put them into a large earthen pan, and mash and squeeze them till they are reduced to a pulp. Allowing half a pint of fine salt to a hundred tomatas, put them into a preserving kettle, and boil them gently with the salt for two hours, stirring them frequently to prevent their burning. Then strain them through a fine sieve, pressing them with the back of a silver spoon. Season them to your taste with mace, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and white or red pepper, all powdered fine.

Put the tomata again over the fire with the spices, and boil it slowly till very thick, stirring it frequently.

When cold, put it up in small bottles, secure the corks well, and it will keep good a year or two.

LEMON CATCHUP.

Cut nine large lemons into thin slices, and take out the seeds.

Prepare, by pounding them in a mortar, two ounces of mustard seed, half an ounce of black pepper, half an ounce of nutmeg, a quarter of an ounce of mace, and a quarter of an ounce of cloves. Slice thin two ounces of horseradish. Put all these ingredients together. Strew over them three ounces of fine salt. Add a quart of the best vinegar.

Boil the whole twenty minutes. Then put it warm into a jar, and let it stand three weeks closely covered. Stir it up daily.

Then strain it through a sieve, and put it up in small bottles to flavour fish and other sauces. This is sometimes called lemon pickle.

SEA CATCHUP.

Take a gallon of stale strong beer, a pound of anchovies washed from the pickle, a pound of peeled shalots or small onions, half an ounce of mace, half an ounce of cloves, a quarter of an ounce of whole pepper, three or four large pieces of ginger, and two quarts of large mushroom-flaps rubbed to pieces. Put the whole into a kettle closely covered, and let it simmer slowly till reduced to one half. Then strain it through a flannel bag, and let it stand till quite cold before you bottle it. Have small bottles and fill them quite full of the catchup. Dip the corks in melted rosin.

This catchup keeps well at sea, and may be carried into any part of the world. A spoonful of it mixed in melted b.u.t.ter will make a fine fish sauce. It may also be used to flavour gravy.

FLAVOURED VINEGARS.

These vinegars will be found very useful, at times when the articles with which they are flavoured cannot be conveniently procured. Care should be taken to have the bottles that contain them accurately labelled, very tightly corked, and kept in a dry place. The vinegar used for these purposes should be of the very best sort.

TARRAGON VINEGAR.

Tarragon should be gathered on a dry day, just before the plant flowers. Pick the green leaves from the stalks, and dry them a little before the fire. Then put them into a wide-mouthed stone jar, and cover them with the best vinegar, filling up the jar. Let it steep fourteen days, and then strain it through a flannel bag.

Pour it through a funnel into half-pint bottles, and cork them well.

SWEET BASIL VINEGAR.

Is made precisely in the same manner; also those of green mint, and sweet marjoram.

CELERY VINEGAR.

Pound two ounces of celery seed in a mortar, and steep it for a fortnight in a quart of vinegar. Then strain and bottle it.

BURNET VINEGAR.

Nearly fill a wide-mouthed bottle with the fresh green leaves of burnet, cover them with vinegar, and let them steep two weeks.

Then strain off the vinegar, wash the bottle, put in a fresh supply of burnet leaves, pour the same vinegar over them, and let it infuse a fortnight longer. Then strain it again and it will be fit for use.

The flavour will exactly resemble that of cuc.u.mbers.

HORSERADISH VINEGAR.

Make a quart of the best vinegar boiling hot, and pour it on four ounces of sc.r.a.ped horseradish. Let it stand a week, then strain it off, renew the horseradish, adding the same vinegar cold, and let it infuse a week longer, straining it again at the last.

SHALOT VINEGAR.

Peel and chop fine four ounces of shalots, or small b.u.t.ton onions.

Pour on them a quart of the best vinegar, and let them steep a fortnight; then strain and bottle it.

Make garlic vinegar in the same manner; using but two ounces of garlic to a quart of vinegar. Two or three drops will be sufficient to impart a garlic taste to a pint of gravy or sauce.

More will be offensive. The cook should be cautioned to use it very sparingly, as to many persons it is extremely disagreeable.

CHILLI VINEGAR.

Take a hundred red chillies or capsic.u.ms, fresh gathered; cut them into small pieces and infuse them for a fortnight in a quart of the best vinegar, shaking the bottle every day. Then strain it.

RASPBERRY VINEGAR.

Put two quarts of ripe fresh-gathered raspberries into a stone or china vessel, and pour on them a quart of vinegar. Let it stand twenty-four hours, and then strain it through a sieve. Pour the liquid over two quarts of fresh raspberries, and let it again infuse for a day and a night. Then strain it a second time. Allow a pound of loaf sugar to every pint of juice. Break up the sugar, and let it melt in the liquor. Then put the whole into a stone jar, cover it closely, and set it in a kettle of boiling water, which must be kept on a quick boil for an hour. Take off all the sc.u.m and when cold, bottle the vinegar for use.

Raspberry vinegar mixed with water is a pleasant and cooling beverage in warm weather; also in fevers.

MUSTARD AND PEPPER.

COMMON MUSTARD

Is best when fresh made. Take good flour of mustard; put it in a plate, add to it a little salt, and mix it by degrees with boiling water to the usual consistence, rubbing it for a long time with a broad-bladed knife or a wooden spoon. It should be perfectly smooth. The less that is made at a time the better it will be. If you wish it very mild, use sugar instead of salt, and boiling milk instead of water.

KEEPING MUSTARD.

Dissolve three ounces of salt in a quart of boiling vinegar, and pour it hot upon two ounces of sc.r.a.ped horseradish. Cover the jar closely and let it stand twenty-four hours. Strain it and then mix it by degrees with the best flour of mustard. Make it of the usual thickness, and beat it till quite smooth. Then put it into wide-mouthed bottles and stop it closely.