THE ART AND MYSTERY OF CURING, PRESERVING, AND POTTING ALL KINDS OF MEATS, GAME, AND FISH TEXT

Mace, beaten fine ½ oz. Cloves, beaten fine ½ oz. Nutmeg, beaten fine ½ oz. Ginger, sliced 1 oz. Garlic, minced ½ oz. White-wine vinegar 1 gallon It must be boiled fifteen minutes and skimmed well. Fill the jars so as to cover the fruit completely with the pickle. Tie bladder and leather over, and keep them eight or nine months. They will be very rich and choice pickles. GOLDEN PIPPINS. From a basketful of this ripe fruit pick out twenty of the largest and clearest, lay them in a stewpan, and, covering them with soft water, set them on a fire and let them simmer until the peels begin to be separated from them――they must on no account come to the boil. If tender, set them to go cold, and peel them carefully, then lay them again in the water, adding nearly a pint of good sharp vinegar, and continue the simmering until they become a nice green colour. Now, with a wooden spoon take them out singly, and let them go cold, and make the following pickle, boiling it and skimming as long as any scum arises, for fifteen or twenty minutes: Best ginger, bruised 1½ oz. Mustard seed, bruised 2 oz. Garlic, sliced ¾ oz. Mace, bruised ¾ oz. Cloves, bruised 1½ oz. White-wine vinegar 2 quarts Put the fruit carefully into jars, not crushing them, and pour the pickle, cold, upon them, and effectually exclude the air with bladder and leather. NASTURTIUMS. About ten days after the blossoms have left the plants is the proper time to take these for pickling, and they should be immediately put into process, before they become shrivelled. Immerse half a peck of the clearest and soundest in a pan of cold salt and water, and let them remain thus, changing the pickle every morning, for three days. Lay them to drain on a sieve, and then dry them well between cloths; and make a pickle of the following ingredients: Six eschalots, minced White peppercorns 2 oz. Mace, bruised 1½ oz. Nutmeg, sliced 1½ oz. Common table salt 6 oz. White-wine vinegar 5 pints Skim this well, boiling it fifteen minutes, and, filling jars with the fruit, pour the liquor and spices equally upon them, when about new milk warm, and tie bladder over the jars. BEET-ROOTS. Pickled beet-roots which have both fine colour and flavour to recommend them are seldom to be met with, particularly in the provinces. If this method is tried, it will most certainly recommend them. Take half a dozen roots of the deepest blood-red colour, put them into a pail of cold water, and with a soft brush scour and wash them well, and without breaking the skin in the least. Put them into a saucepan of boiling water, and let them boil gently until tender, and no longer, then take them up, wipe dry, and leave them until the next day. Now peel them nicely, and cut them across in slices a quarter of an inch thick, not using the extremities. You may cut the slices into various ornamental and grotesque figures, and lay them in open-mouthed jars, and make the following pickle: Mace 1 oz. Cloves, bruised 2 oz. Peppercorns 2 oz. Bay salt, pounded 4 oz. Ginger, sliced 2 oz. Horseradish, sliced 1 oz. Best vinegar ½ gallon Boil these ten or fifteen minutes, skimming well, and, when cold, pour over the roots. Replenish the next day what pickle may have been absorbed, and cover the jars with bladder and leather. This pickle is ready in a month, and is very good. It makes a beautiful garnish with fish at dinner, &c. &c. BUTTON MUSHROOMS, FOR PIES AND SAUCES. Pick out expressly for this purpose a couple of quarts of fresh gathered button mushrooms, cut the stalks out closely, and wipe them singly with a piece of soft flannel dipped in moistened bay salt, place them apart on dishes and scatter a _little_ finely beaten salt amongst them. Put them into a roomy saucepan along with Mace, slightly bruised ½ oz. White peppercorns, slightly bruised ¾ oz. Bay leaves, shred ½ oz. Cloves, bruised ¼ oz. and let them simmer gently and until all their juice is taken up. Take the pan from the fire, and when cooled a little add to them four or five glasses of good white wine, agitate the mushrooms in the pan, replace it on the fire and bring it to the boil for one minute, then add three pints of the best pale vinegar and boil for ten minutes slowly. Now put the mushrooms into glass or stone jars that are clean and perfectly dry, and when cold make secure with corks or bladder, and keep them in a dry cool room. This is an estimable pickle, and will be appreciated duly by lady-cooks, who best know its usefulness and the various ways in which both the mushrooms and their pickle may be made available. The wine should be good old Madeira, and the quantity may be increased with great advantage. GREEN PARSLEY. Take fresh green curled parsley just at maturity, pick out the most handsome sprigs and put them into salt and water strong enough to float an egg, and let remain so for five or six days; set them to drain on a sieve, and then immerse them in another fresh pickle of the same strength for ten days longer, changing the brine twice. Then drain them again, and put them into pure cold spring water for two days, changing the water daily, and when again drained scald them in boiling water until they are of a nice green, and dry them between soft cloths. Make, then, the following pickle of Mace ½ oz. Nutmeg, sliced 1 oz. Eschalots, minced 1 oz. Horseradish, sliced 2 oz. White-wine vinegar 3 pints which must be boiled ten or twelve minutes and well skimmed. Put the parsley branches lightly into jars and pour the pickle over, covering well. Fill up again with pickle the next day, and cover that again with pure olive oil to the thickness of an inch or thereabouts. Cover close with wetted bladder, and over that, when dried, with soft leather, and keep in a dry airy room. WALNUT CATSUP. When walnuts have attained maturity, and are being deprived of the outside green shells by the fruiterers, take half a peck of these husks, put them into a jar, and pour on them as much cold strong pickling vinegar as will quite cover them; bung up the jar, and so let them remain three months. Then press out the liquor upon a sieve, and to every gallon of it take Cloves 1 oz. Mace ¾ oz. Ginger 1½ oz. Jamaica pepper 1½ oz. Black pepper 1 oz. Garlic 1 oz. Port wine lees 1½ quart Anchovies 8 oz. With all these boil up the liquor of the walnuts, and let them simmer twenty minutes, skimming well the whole time, then put it aside for two days and boil it again until reduced one-third part. When cold, you may put it in bottles, which cork well and seal with wax. It will be an excellent catsup, and will be greatly improved by long keeping. MUSHROOM CATSUP. Throw large black flap mushrooms into a vessel, and crush them with the hands well, throwing in a large handful of common salt to each peck, and let them so lie for two days. Then put them into a crock of earthenware, and let them be macerated in a cool baker’s oven for six hours or so, and, when cold, press out the juice, which boil with the following, to each gallon of the liquor: Mace ½ oz. Jamaica pepper 1 oz. Black pepper 1 oz. Cloves 1½ oz. Ginger 1 oz. Garlic 1 oz. Bay salt 9 oz. The simmering and skimming must be continued as long as any filth rises, and let it then be put away for a day or two, and boiled up again, being kept well up to the boiling point until reduced to half its original quantity. When cold it may be put into bottles and firmly corked and waxed. TOMATO CATSUP. When tomatoes are fully ripe take two dozen of fine, large, sound ones, put them into jars and bake until they are tender; strain off the water from them, and pass the pulp through a sieve, then add to every pound of the pulp, Eschalots, shred 1 oz. Garlic, shred ½ oz. Bay salt ¼ oz. White pepper, finely powdered ¼ oz. Chili vinegar 1 pint Boil them together until the whole is quite soft, and pass it again through a sieve. Now, to every pound of the pulp add the juice of two lemons, and one large Seville orange, boil it again until it has attained the consistence of thick cream, and when cold bottle it; cork and seal well. CELERY, CRAB SALAD. Open and wash thoroughly clean a fine head of celery, wipe dry, and cut it across into a basin, add to it two ounces of some good rich old cheese sliced thinly, a teaspoonful of mustard mixed as for the table, a tablespoonful of best olive oil, the same quantity of vinegar, with pepper and salt to your taste. Mix all well together. ELDER-FLOWER VINEGAR. Pick out all the stalks from a peck of fresh elder flowers and put them into a vessel with two gallons of white-wine vinegar, set them under the influence of bright sunbeams for fourteen days and upwards, or at a short distance from a continuous fire, and then filter the vinegar through a new flannel bag; fill bottles, which must be well corked and sealed. TARRAGON VINEGAR. Take the leaves of tarragon just before it blossoms, put a pound of them to three quarts of the best white-wine vinegar in a stone jar, and let them infuse sixteen days. Then drain it and strain through a flannel bag; add for every two gallons a quarter of an ounce of isinglass dissolved in sherry wine, and let it be agitated briskly in a large stone bottle two days. Leave it a month to get fine, then draw it off into clean dry glass bottles, which cork well and seal. WHITE-GOOSEBERRY VINEGAR. Vinegars should be made at home if you wish to rely upon their quality. This will be superior to any white-wine vinegar, “so called at the shops,” and as such will be extremely serviceable in all large establishments and families. Choose fruit of the lightest colour you can get when fully ripe, mash it with a wooden mallet or potato beetle. To every peck of the fruit put two gallons of water, stir them well for an hour and let them ferment three weeks, repeating the stirring daily. Then strain off the liquor and add for every gallon: Loaf sugar 1 lb. Yeast, thick and fresh 1 tablespoonful Treacle 1 tablespoonful Let it work for three or four days, then put it into a sweet barrel of convenient size, and stop it down for twelve months. SYRUP D’ORGEAT, A PARIS RECEIPT. This elegant syrup is thus made: Sweet almonds 20 oz. Bitter almonds 8 oz. Refined sugar 9 lb. Water 4 pints Blanch the almonds, dry them perfectly and pound them in a mortar with the sugar, adding gradually two thirds of the water; strain through linen, and wash the almonds on the strainer with the remainder of the water, and dissolve the sugar in the strained liquor by a gentle heat. Pour the syrup into an earthenware vessel, remove the scum, and, when nearly cold, add two ounces of orange-flower water. Put it into clean clear glass bottles, cork well, and seal effectually. AN EXCELLENT CURRY-POWDER. Turmeric 2 oz. Coriander seeds 6 oz. Ginger ½ oz. Cinnamon 2 drachms Cayenne pepper 6 drachms Black pepper ½ oz. Mace 1 drachm Fenugreek 1½ oz. Pimento 2 drachms Cloves 1 drachm Nutmeg ½ oz. Pound all the above separately in a mortar, mix thoroughly for twenty minutes, then sift and again pound the returns, which, when in finest powder, mix with bulk; put into dry bottles, cork them well and seal. Some persons prefer more turmeric and less coriander. Others add two ounces of the best Durham mustard (scorched). Others, half an ounce of cardamoms or two ounces of cummin. The colour should be light yellow――brown, not bright yellow. NOTES. It has been incontestably proved by Baron Liebig and other Professors of Chemistry, that the albumen and gelatine constitute the leading nutritive ingredients in the different kinds of flesh and fish used as food; and I have arrived at the conclusion, that any mode of curing which deprives them of these valuable properties, is opposed to facts in science and to common-sense, and cannot therefore be tolerated. On the nutritive properties of animal food, Professor Brande writes: “When the muscular parts of animals are washed repeatedly in cold water, the fibrinous matter which remains, consists chiefly of albumen, and is, in its chemical properties, analogous to the clot of blood.” In mutton, the albumen or fibrin amounts to as much as twenty-two per cent., and of gelatine to seven per cent., giving a total of twenty-nine per cent. of nutritive matter. In beef, the albumen is twenty, and the gelatine six per cent., yielding a total of twenty-six per cent. of nutritive matter. When a piece of meat is covered with salt, or immersed in brine, the salt penetrates the whole fibre of the flesh, and the juices contained within are drawn out, and mix with the brine; the salts of potass contained in it, are exchanged and superseded by those of soda, derived from _the salt_ with which it has been cured; now, as a constant supply of potass is required in the system to renew the muscular fibre, it is quite clear that the want of it must be attended with some derangement of the health; and hence the benefit derived from the taking of vegetables, which by supplying potass, make up for the want of this alkali in the meat. Albumen is coagulated by heat, and is drawn out by cold water; this fact is referred to in Note, No. 11. * * * * * No. 1. The coating of small articles, of the better sorts, excludes the air. It is a mixture of gelatine with treacle, applied when hot, and which when exposed to the air becomes hardened, yet elastic as india-rubber. See Note, No. 12. No. 2. The smoking with different sorts of fuel exerts a considerable influence on the flavour and preservation of the articles so treated; for example, the mutton of the Ardennes forest, Belgium, which owes its superiority to the juniper bushes with which it is dried and smoked. And again, kippered salmon smoked with cedar-wood, at the request of some of our wealthy Jew families, is excellent, though rather expensive. No. 3. The spicing of bacon was adopted some years since, and chiefly in Ireland, to hide the inferior quality of the meat. No. 4. Bay salt is far preferable to common salt for curing meats and fish, but the expense deters many persons from using it, except in small quantities. The rock, or mineral salt of Cheshire, is equal in all respects to the bay salt of commerce, and I have long used it with the greatest success. Common salt leaves a _bitter_ smatch on all food cured with it after being long kept. See Note, No. 12. No. 5. There is no remedy for over-salted provisions. You may, indeed, cut them into slices and lay them in water, but this only affects the outsides of large pieces, as hams, &c. If I had a ham that I suspected of being over salted, I should put it in an old bag, and bury it in my garden for a week or more, according to size. No. 6. Rubbing large joints of meat over with a profusion of common salt, and letting them lie, to “draw out the blood,” as it is termed, is contrary to all reason, for away goes the chief part of the flavour and nutriment. No. 7. Sprats are so different in their animal construction as to be easily detected from genuine fish――Gorgona anchovies. The Armenian bole, often made use of to colour the sauce, has very properly been exposed and condemned. No. 8. Pure olive oil will preserve meat and fish, after it has been cured, for a long time; but oils drawn from lard and other spurious imitations, will not fail to hasten their decay. The oil should never be heated, when used for this purpose. No. 9. Subjecting meats to a water-bath is not to be resorted to. I was shown a specification previous to the taking out of a patent (in France, by a French gentleman) to cure the more expensive sorts of fish. The first part of the process proposed, was subjecting the fish to a water-bath, first for three hours, and, changing the water, then to two hours further immersion in warm water. I, of course, entered my protest against such unreasonable treatment. I am sure I could not conjecture what became of both flavour and nutriment after so long immersion. No. 10. Meats to be boiled, and particularly fish, must be put into _boiling_ water, and after being kept up to the boiling point fifteen minutes or so, let them only simmer until done. No. 11. The albumen is drawn out from both meat, fish, and vegetables by cold water; how, then, can we reconcile ourselves with the foolish old practice of laying the heads, for instance, and other parts, in pails of water, and leaving them for hours in that state, to lose all their goodness. Vegetables for pickling, too, are often treated in this way. Lying in water cannot possibly _clean_ anything. Wash well, and hang up to dry, is more reasonable. No. 12. A very effective _coating_ for small cured articles is made thus: To four pounds of hard, compact gelatine, add as much soft or rain-water as will just cover it, and stir it about occasionally for six hours. When it has stood twenty-four hours, and all the water is absorbed, submit it to the action of heat in a water-bath, and the gelatine will be quickly dissolved. Take it off the fire as soon as the froth is perceived to rise, and mix with it three and a half pounds of molasses, which has previously been made thoroughly hot. Stir the composition well together while in the water-bath over the fire, not suffering it to boil. After it has been thus subjected to heat for half an hour, and well stirred all the time, it should be taken off the