Chapter I: RECOMMEND this apparatus, having, for many years, employed exactly (4)

You may not expect any thing particularly good as a relish from so common an article as a beef’s heart, but I often think there is more credit due to a person for producing a choice relish from what is considered an inferior base, than in spoiling an expensive natural production in the attempt to improve it. In this case I fear not to give satisfaction. The expense is really trifling, and the trouble reducible to a pleasure. Get a fine ox heart, with plenty of fat on it, hang it up a dry room, but not in an air current, for a week; then empty the cavities of the clotted blood, cut out the deaf ears as low down internally as your knife will reach, cut open a communication between the upper cavities and the lower ones, but on no account penetrate through the outside bark of the heart. Tie good string round and about it, so that the meat may be hung in various ways when needed, and rub it well for a quarter of an hour with the following:

West India molasses ¼ lb.
Strong vinegar ½ pint
Eschalots, minced 2 oz.

simmered for twenty minutes and let go cold. Hang up the heart point downwards, and fill the holes with the mixture. Rub it daily for a week, keeping the cavities filled. Then boil up the pickle, adding

Jamaica pepper, ground 1½ oz.
Garlic, minced 1 oz.
Bay salt 3 oz.
Black pepper, ground 1 oz.

and for another week rub the heart daily and keep the holes filled. Then boil up again, adding

Bay leaves, in powder 1 oz.
Laurel leaves, shred ½ oz.
Bay salt 4 oz.
Water 1 quart

and rub with this once. Take down the meat and let it lie on its broad end in a deep dish, and baste it every morning for a week longer. Then take it up, wipe it dry and hang it in a current of air for twenty-four hours, and then rub it twice daily for a week with

Pure olive oil ½ pint
Salpetre, in powder ¾ oz.
Bay salt, in powder 2 oz.

Now wipe it dry again, put it in a deep pot, tie paper over, and bake it in a slow oven until done enough. When cold cut it open lengthwise, select all the tender parts, pick them well from strings and films, and, cutting it into dice, pound it in a mortar into a nice smooth pulpy consistence. Consider now that it may be required to be kept, and if it needs salt add some, but unless you are in favour of any peculiar taste, I think we shall need no addition. Press the meat into pots and jars, cover with clarified butter, and tie paper over. If kept three months, or twelve months, I am pretty sure of your approbation.

POTTED VENISON.

Get a nice fat plump shoulder of mutton, cut it open three inches above the knuckle and also for three or four inches on the under side, and down to the bone, and filling these trenches with

Twelve eschalots, minced
Port wine lees ¼ pint
Thyme, in powder 1 oz.
Marjorum, in powder ¾ oz.

sew the skin over, and hang the meat in a dry room to season for nine days; then rub it all over with

Bay salt, in powder 1 lb.
Coarse sugar ¼ lb.
Allspice, ground 1 oz.
Nutmeg, ground 1 oz.

and let it lie, being turned and rubbed daily, for a week longer. It may now be baked, and when cold cut up in the way best calculated for embracing the tenderness of the joint. The lean should be pounded by itself, picking out all sinews and strings, and the fat, or such parts as will help to make the mass smooth; fresh butter must also be used if required, and when all is in readiness you may season it to your taste with

Cloves, in fine powder 1 oz.
Mace, in fine powder ½ oz.
Cayenne, in fine powder ¼ oz.
Bay leaf, in fine powder 1 oz.

and adding salt as you relish, remembering that potted delicacies if seeming too salt at first lose that predominance by keeping, and it is the same, but in a less degree, with some of the finer spices. Fill your pots and little jars, and cover with clarified butter and paper, and keep them in a dry cool room, and where there is nothing to be feared from damps.

MARINATED VEAL.

Beat a fine large cutlet with the rolling-pin, put butter, eggs, and flour into a pan, and when hot lay in the cutlet and let it stew; the mixture will penetrate to the very inside, and your olfactory sense is delighted and palate refreshed with veal, not insipid as veal generally is, but with a morsel moist with odoriferous juices. When cold it may be cut in pieces, placed in oblong pots, and covered with the best olive oil. It must be eaten with tomato sauce.

ANOTHER METHOD.

Chop a pound and a half of veal fine, with half a pound of lean ham and half a pound of sweet fat bacon to be minced along with

Two eschalots
Green parsley 1 teaspoonful
Mushrooms 1 teaspoonful
Marjorum, in powder 1 teaspoonful
Thyme, in powder 1 teaspoonful
Mace, in fine powder ¼ oz.
Cayenne pepper ½ teaspoonful
Salt 1 dessert-spoonful

Put these into a mortar after they have been well mixed, and bring the whole to a nice thick plastic consistence; put it into a mould lined with thin slices of fat bacon, and let it remain pressed down heavily for a week; then take it out, cut it into rather thick slices, which fry in boiling olive oil until done through, and of a nice brown colour, set them aside, and when cold put them into proper pots and fill up with best olive oil; tie bladder over the pots and keep in a dry cool room.

MARINATED SALMON ROES.

As soon as they are taken out of the fish wash them in salt and water for a minute, and dry them well with cloths. Smear the inside of an earthenware jar with sweet lard, put in the roes, tie leather over and subject them to the action of a water bath for three hours, then let them cool and divide them, pick out all the films and specks, and mix the following with the mass according to your taste:

Mace, in finest powder ¼ oz.
Nutmeg, in finest powder ½ oz.
Bay leaf, in finest powder ½ oz.
Table salt, in finest powder 4 oz.
Cayenne pepper, in finest powder ¼ oz.

Dry small white jars and pots and fill them to within three quarters of an inch of the top with the fish, press closely down, set the jars near the door of an oven for twenty minutes, and when cold fill up with olive oil, which replenish the next day, and then tie bladder closely over. Keep in a cool dry room.

ESSENCE OF LOBSTERS.

Boil six pounds of live lobsters thus: Throw them into salt and water and with a brush clean them well, tie up the tails, and pop them into a pan of boiling water, in which a good handful of salt and half an ounce of saltpetre have been dissolved; then set them to cool, take out all the meat and coral, which, when it has been cleared of the skins, chop up into dice, and set it on the fire in a clean pan, with a pound and a half of bay salt and two quarts of water, and let it simmer twenty minutes. Then take out the fish, pound it in a mortar with half an ounce of cayenne pepper and the same quantity of finely powdered mace, bring it to a nice paste with some of the water last used, and put it again into the pan with the remainder of the water and let it simmer half an hour. When cold, or nearly so, fill your clean glass jars with it, cork them well and seal them.

ESSENCE OF SHRIMPS.

Put a gallon of live shrimps into a pan of three quarts of boiling water, in which a pound and half of bay salt or rock salt has been dissolved, skim them well and boil them ten minutes, strain off the water through a sieve, and while the shrimps are warm pull off the heads, which with unsound ones put aside. Boil one pound of bay salt with two quarts of water ten minutes, skimming it well, and set it by to get cold. Pound the shrimps in a mortar with their skins to a paste, using a little of the last water, and when it has been well worked add the remainder of the water, boiled and strained, with this mixture:

Red sanders, in powder 1 oz.
Cayenne pepper ½ oz.
Mace, bruised ½ oz.
Bay leaf, shred ¾ oz.
Two anchovies, shred

Pass the pulp through a sieve, and, when cold, bottle it, corking and sealing securely.

ESSENCE OF ANCHOVIES.

Boil fourteen pounds of Gorgona fish for ten or twelve minutes with ten quarts of river water, rub the fish through a sieve, saving the water to again boil any of the fish that will not pass. When the bones are all dissolved, strain, add the water to the pulp of the fish along with

Bay salt 1 lb.
Wheaten flour 1 lb.
Cayenne pepper ½ oz.
Mushroom catsup ¼ pint.

Put it into bottles, which cork and seal well.

TOMATO PASTE.

Scald and peel twenty large fine tomatoes, put them in a stone jar, tie paper over, and leave them in a warm oven for an hour. Take off the liquid that floats on the top and press the fruit through a sieve. Add to every quart of the tomatoes half a pint of good sharp vinegar, and seasoning to your taste with this mixture, viz.

Bay salt 6 oz.
Mace, in powder ¾ oz.
Cayenne, in powder ½ oz.
Cloves, in powder 1½ oz.
Bay leaf 1 oz.

Put it into a clean saucepan, stir it continually from the bottom for three hours and until you have got a smooth nice thick mass, which when cold put into jars and cover well with bladder. It will be found of essential service in seasoning soups, &c., when tomatoes are not to be had.

TOMATO CATSUP.

Take twenty fine tomatoes and scatter over them, upon a dish, twelve ounces of table salt, so let them lie three days. Next boil together

Mace, bruised ¼ oz.
Cloves, bruised ¼ oz.
Black pepper, bruised ½ oz.
Jamaica pepper, bruised ½ oz.
Long pepper, bruised ½ oz.
Ginger ½ oz.
Mustard seed, bruised ¾ oz.
Two dozen capsicums
Six heads of garlic
One stick of horseradish, sliced
Best London pickling vinegar 1 quart

The boiling and skimming should continue half an hour. Peel the fruit, add them, and boil together half an hour longer; strain through a sieve and bottle it the next day; cork well and seal. This is an excellent receipt, as will be proved by a trial. The catsup should be six months old to attain its prime.

BENGAL CHETNA

Sub-acid apples, pared and cored ½ lb.
Malaga raisins, stoned ¼ lb.
Coarse sugar ¼ lb.
Bay salt 2 oz.
Best ginger, powdered 2 oz.
Cayenne pepper 2 oz.
Eschalots, minced 1 oz.
Best pickling vinegar, as much as required.

Pound these ingredients well together, adding the vinegar by degrees until it comes to a smooth pulp. Let this remain six hours covered up. If the vinegar has risen to the top clear, it must be further blended with the spices by well rubbing with some surface of wood, for example, a potato masher; then add the whole of the vinegar, pass all through a sieve and bottle it, corking and sealing well.

AN EXCELLENT FISH SAUCE.

Take two dozen genuine anchovies, neither wipe nor wash them, and add them to the following:

Eschalots, peeled and sliced 1 dozen
Fresh horseradish, scraped finely 3 tablespoonfuls
Mace, beaten 2 drachms
Cloves, beaten 2 drachms
Two lemons, sliced
Anchovy liquor 8 oz.
Rhenish wine 1 quart
Water 1 pint

Boil all together until reduced to one quart, skim it well, and afterwards strain through a sieve. When cold bottle it, and seal the corks.

A PROVOCATIVE.

Black pepper, ground 2 oz.
Bay or rock salt 2 oz.
Ground allspice 1 oz.
Horseradish, scraped 1 oz.
Eschalots, minced 1 oz.
Walnut pickle, or mushroom catsup 1 quart

Infuse for fourteen days in a gentle heat, strain and bottle for use, corking and sealing well.

FRENCH SAUSAGE SPICE.

Black pepper, finely powdered 5 lb.
Mace, finely powdered 3 oz.
Cloves, finely powdered 1½ lb.
Nutmeg, finely powdered 1½ lb.
Jamaica ginger, finely powdered 2½ lb.
Coriander seeds, finely powdered ¾ lb.
Aniseeds, finely powdered ¾ lb.

Mix them thoroughly, sift, bottle, cork well and seal.

TO PREPARE SYRUP FOR PRESERVING FRUIT.

The best refined sugar, which will require no clarifying, should invariably be used for this process; but when inferior qualities are chosen they must be prepared in the following manner: To clarify six pounds of sugar, break it into large lumps, put it into a preserving pan, and pour upon it five pints of cold spring water; in another pint of water beat up lightly the white of one small egg, but not frothing it very much, add it to the sugar, and stir it to mix it well with the whole. Set the pan over a gentle fire, when the sugar is nearly dissolved, and let the scum rise without being disturbed; when the syrup has boiled five minutes, take it off the fire, let it stand two minutes, and then skim it very clean, let it boil again, then throw in half a cupful of cold water, which will bring the remainder of the scum to the surface; skim it until it is perfectly clear, strain it through a thin cloth, and it will be ready for use, or for further boiling.

All _unripe_ fruit must be rendered perfectly tender by gentle scalding, before it is put into syrup, or it will not imbibe the sugar; and the syrup must be _thin_ when it is first added to it, and be thickened afterwards by frequent boiling, or with sugar added, or the fruit will shrivel instead of becoming plump and clear. A pound of sugar boiled for ten minutes in a pint of water will make a very light syrup, but it will gradually thicken if rapidly boiled in an uncovered pan. Two pounds of sugar to the pint of water will become thick with little more than half an hour’s boiling, or with three or four separate boilings of eight or ten minutes each; if too much reduced it will candy, instead of remaining liquid.

WEST INDIA PRESERVED GREEN GINGER.

Take half a dozen middle-sized cucumbers, cut them open lengthwise, take out the seeds, cut off the pulpy part, and soak them three days in strong salt and water, and weighted down so as to be completely submerged. Next, take them out and wash them in cold water, and put them, with plenty of cold water, into a pan on the fire, and when it comes to the boiling point, take them off, pour off the water, and add more cold water with a quarter of an ounce of bicarbonate of potash to each quart of water. Now boil them half an hour, and set by in the water they were boiled in till next day. Then take out, and set them to drain on a sieve, covered with a cloth. Then take

Best ginger, bruised 10 oz.
Best cloves, bruised 1 oz.
Cinnamon, bruised ½ oz.
Rain or soft water 5 pints

which boil five minutes, then simmer for half an hour, in a closely covered pan, strain the liquor through a flannel bag, and add to each pint of it one and a quarter pounds of sifted loaf-sugar, making a syrup, which must be clarified with the white of egg. Boil this, and skim with care till no scum rises. Peel the cucumbers, and cut them in pieces the size and shape of a pigeon’s egg. Simmer two ounces more of bruised ginger, tied in a piece of muslin, in a pint of water, till reduced to a moderate sized teacupful, and add it to the syrup. Take the ginger you first used, put it with the syrup and cucumbers into a clean pan, and boil for ten minutes. Empty all into a clean earthenware jar, and let stand two days and nights. Next pour off the syrup, boil it five minutes, taking off the scum if any arises; then add the cucumbers, boil five minutes longer, and put all back again into the jar, and let stand three days. Return the syrup and the whole of the ginger tied in muslin into the pan, and boil until the syrup adheres to the spoon. Then put in the cucumbers, and boil, a quarter of an hour, when return all into the jar, and let remain twenty-four hours uncovered. Then tie wet bladder well over, and in a month it may be removed into small wide-mouthed glass jars and covered with bladder, and green paper over that. This, as dessert, is an excellent stomachic, assisting digestion in weak habits.

CURRANTS FOR TARTS.

The fruit for these purposes should be gathered on fine days, and only the best used for preserves. Press the juice from the rejected currants, and strain it clear. To each pound of fruit you must allow a pound of the best refined sugar, and make a fine clear syrup of the currant juice and sugar. When it is cold put in your fruit and let it boil until beautifully clear, when you may put it into pots and glass jars, covering with brandy paper and wetted bladder.

TOMATOES.

The fruit here must be taken before it is quite ripe, and if not having lost its green hue quite may be preferable; and for three pounds of fruit take off the thin yellow rinds of two large lemons, and, squeezing out the juice, strain it and put it aside for awhile. Put the juice with the thin rinds into a clean saucepan, with two or three blades of mace, a few peach leaves and a dessert-spoonful of ginger sliced thinly; cover the tomatoes with water barely, and set the pan on a clear fire to simmer half an hour. Then take out the fruit carefully with a spoon and set them on a sieve to cool. Add to the water they were simmered in sugar sufficient to make a thin syrup, which must be poured over the fruit, when placed in a deep dish, boiling hot, and so leave them for four or five days. Then pour out the syrup into a pan, and add sugar to make a strong syrup, into which you may put the tomatoes and simmer them gently until the syrup has entered fully into them. Remove them now from the fire and let them remain unmolested for four or five days longer. If the syrup has now not attained a proper consistence, you may add sugar, and boil until you have got the desired end. Pour now on the fruit while it is hot, and if when cold you are satisfied, make all safe with bladder and leather, and keep in a cool and airy room.

CUCUMBERS.

This is an elegant preserve if well managed. Take two dozen of the finest, largest, and most clear cucumbers, and without seeds. Cut them into pieces, take out the very soft part of the insides, put them into a jar with strong salt and water to cover them, and set them in a warm situation until they become yellow. Now wash them well, and set them in a pan of water, with plenty of fresh cabbage leaves, on the fire, close the lid of the pan, so that no steam can escape, and simmer them until of a fine green colour. If you have not yet attained your object, change the water and leaves, and simmer them again. Then take out the fruit, set it on a sieve to cool, and then into pure cold water for three or four days, changing the water daily. Put into a clean pan four pounds of the best refined sugar, with one quart of pure spring water, boil and skim it well. Then add the rinds of four large lemons pared very thin, and three ounces of the best ginger sliced, and boil all together ten minutes. Take it then off the fire, and when cool put in the cucumbers, and boil them until they are perfectly clear. If their appearance does not fully satisfy you, set them aside for forty-eight hours, and then repeat the boiling, and putting your cucumbers into your pots and glasses, pour the syrup over them, and secure them from the air with bladder and leather, or with paper over the glasses.

GREEN-GAGE PLUMS.

From a peck of this rich fruit, pick out all the largest and most clear. Put a handful of vine leaves into a pan, then a layer of the fruit, and so on, in alternate layers, to the end; fill the vessel up with water, put them over a moderate fire, and let them get thoroughly hot through, skim them well, pour off the water, and put the plums on a sieve to cool. Now take off the peels carefully, and, as you proceed, put them into the water they were heated in, with fresh leaves, and let them boil three minutes, preventing the escape of the steam as much as you possibly can. Let them remain at a moderate distance from the fire seven or eight hours, or until they become green; then put them on a sieve to drain, and then boil them up in a good clear syrup once a day, for three successive days. Then take them up, and place in clean dry glasses and jars; skim the syrup thoroughly over the fire, and, when nearly cold, pour it over the plums, put brandy paper upon them, and cover with bladder. You will have an elegant and very rich preserve.

PEACHES AND NECTARINES.

Before they are ripe, take the choicest of these fruit, rub off the down from them with soft old linen, and divide the skin at the seam with a sharp pointed knife. Put them into a clean jar, cover them with French brandy, and let them remain so for ten days; then take them out, and having ready a fine clear syrup, put the fruit into a pan with it, and boil them until they are beautifully bright and clear. When cold, take out the fruit, place it in glasses and jars, and fill up with the syrup nearly cold. Lay brandy paper over and cover with bladder.

LEMONS PRESERVED.

Take two dozen fine lemons, wipe them well, and pare off the yellow rind very thin. Cut out a piece of the rind at the blossom end, and take out the whole of the pulp and seeds. Rub the lemons over with fine bay salt, and lay them in cold water, so let them lie for a week, quite covered, and then boil them in fresh salt and water twenty minutes. Now prepare a syrup of one pound of the best loaf sugar to a quart of water, and well skimmed, and into which put the lemons, and boil them five or six minutes for four days successively, then place them in a jar and let them stand six weeks, and all the time well covered with the syrup. Now make a clear, thick, fine syrup of the best refined sugar and water, put the lemons into it, and boil them gently for ten minutes; then put them away, and in twenty-four hours boil them again at short intervals, until they look plump and clear. Now lay them in jars and glasses, and pour the syrup over them cold; cover with brandy-paper and tie bladder over them.

APRICOTS.

Take two dozen of the largest and soundest apricots when they are just fully ripe, wipe them clear from gum and other filth; push the stones out through the stalk ends with a blunted piece of wood; weigh the fruit now, and for each pound of apricots, allow one pound of the best refined sugar, the half of which, when reduced to a powder and sifted, you must strew over the fruit, and let them remain so for twenty-four hours. Boil them up gently, and when they have been cold repeat the boiling four or five times, at intervals of three hours, by which means they will have become clear and bright. Now take them up and lay them on a sieve, and when you have prepared a good clear thick syrup, boil the fruit up in it for five minutes, and skimming it well. Then put the apricots into clear glass jars, and pour the syrup over them. When cold make all safe with writing paper steeped in brandy, and tie wetted bladder over. They must be stored in a dry, airy room.

DAMSONS.

Choose the finest, large prune damsons for this purpose, pick them over carefully, throwing out the stalks, and all that are the least crushed, cut them open lengthwise, and take out the stones, put them into a pan with water sufficient to cover them, and boil them ten minutes; turn them out upon a sieve, and when cold, or nearly so, wipe each separately with some old soft linen or flannel. To each pound of the fruit allow one pound of the best refined sugar, the half of which, after being sifted finely, you must scatter equally over the damsons, on large dishes; put the other half of the sugar to the water in which the fruit was scalded, set it in a pan on a clear fire, and let it boil up; skim it thoroughly, and then simmer only, for ten or twelve minutes; put in the fruit and bring it to a boil; then take it off the fire, and let it stand, closely covered, half an hour; then put it again to simmer for half an hour longer, and then put it aside until the next day. Now boil up the fruit until it is tender, put the damsons into a sieve while warm, and boil the jelly alone full half an hour, and taking off any scum that may yet have arisen. Put the fruit into your pots, jars, &c., and pour your jelly over them, well heated. When cold, put brandy-paper upon the fruit, and melted mutton suet above that. Make all safe with bladder and leather, and store them in a dry, airy, cool room.

MORELLO CHERRIES.

Pick thoroughly ripe and sound fruit from the stalks and wipe them separately; prick them with a needle in three or four places. To each pound of fruit allow one pound and a half of the best sugar, and strew one half of it when finely sifted over the cherries upon clean large dishes, and let them remain so for twenty-four hours. Take now as much strained red-currant juice as will effectually dissolve the other half of the sugar, and put it into a pan over a moderate fire, and let it boil twelve or fifteen minutes, skim it well, add to it the fruit with their sugar, and let all simmer five minutes, being careful to not allow them to boil. Then remove the cherries into glasses, boil the syrup until it is thick and pour it cool over them. When cold guard them with brandy paper, and paste writing paper neatly cut over the glasses.

BARBERRIES IN SPRIGS AND BUNCHES.

Pick out the finest bunches and sprigs of fine ripe clear berries――reject all faulty ones――lay them in as much water as will be requisite for making their syrup, and boil them until they are tender. Now strain them upon a sieve, and to every pint of their juice add a pound and half of best refined sugar, boil and skim this thoroughly, and to each pint of the syrup put half a pound of the fruit in bunches and boil them very gently until they become quite bright and clear. When cold put them into clear glasses and pour the syrup to them. Use brandy paper, and paste writing paper over the glasses.

HAMBURGH GRAPES PRESERVED WHOLE.

Pick out some handsome little bunches, wipe them very carefully with soft old linen moistened with spirits and water, place them in a wide jar, and allow one ounce of white sugar-candy beaten small to each pound of the grapes, which, as the fruit is placed, must be scattered equally amongst it. Fill the jar up with French brandy, the best, and seeing in two days afterwards that the fruit is properly covered, make up safely with bladder and leather, and store away in a cool airy room.

GOLDEN PIPPINS

Pare two dozen fine pippins nicely, cut them into quarters and take out the cores. Boil the rinds of two fine large oranges in a pan of cold water until perfectly tender and lay them in pure spring water for three days. Put these into a pan, just cover them with water and let them boil twenty minutes, and strain the juice through a jelly-bag; then pare two dozen more pippins, take out the cores at the stalk ends neatly. Make now a fine clear syrup of two pounds of the best refined sugar and one pint of water, to which add the apple juice, and when it is cold put in the pippins, adding the orange peel cut into thin chips. Boil it very gently ten minutes, then take out the pippins, and when cool put them into jars and pour the syrup over them. Apply brandy paper, and tie bladder over the jars, and leather over that. Some adopt the mutton suet melted, with one-eighth of its weight of sweet lard added, which corrects the brittleness of the suet and causes it to adhere better to the sides of the jars.

RASPBERRY MARMALADE.

Pick fresh ripe raspberries from the stalks and simmer them gently about ten minutes, keeping them stirred all the time. Pour them and their juice into a clean hair sieve and rub them through it with a wooden spoon, leaving only the seeds behind. Weigh the fruit and boil it quickly for eight or ten minutes, then take the pan from the fire and stir gradually into it three quarters of a pound of sugar to the pound of pulp. When this is quite dissolved continue the boiling for another ten minutes――less time will occasionally be sufficient, but the thickness of the preserve and the manner in which it jellies on the skimmer will show when it is boiled enough. The raspberries may be rubbed through a sieve without the previous simmering, then mixed with their weight of sugar and boiled quickly for twenty minutes. Rich strawberry jam or marmalade is made in precisely the same manner.

JAM OF MORELLO CHERRIES.

This is a delicious preserve when made with fine ripe morellos. Stone the fruit, weigh it, heat it rather slowly to draw out the juice, then boil it quickly for twenty minutes over a very clear fire, add thirteen ounces of sugar for each pound of the cherries, and boil the jam from fifteen to twenty minutes longer, being careful to clear off all the scum. The sugar should be of good quality; it must be beaten to powder and added gradually to the fruit, and stirred with it off the fire until it is dissolved. A larger portion may be used when the morellos are very acid. An equal weight with the cherries will not be too much for some tastes, but their flavour will be better preserved with less. A few of the kernels blanched and wiped quite dry may be added a couple of minutes before the jam is poured out.

RED CABBAGE.
A RECEIPT FROM HALTON CASTLE.

Take two middle-sized close-knit red cabbages, just when the frost has seasoned them, strip them of all superfluous leaves, cut them across in slices nearly a quarter of an inch thick, and scatter finely beaten bay or rock salt over them when laid on large dishes and covered with cloths; so let them lie twenty-four hours. Next drain the cabbage on a sieve and let it remain until the next day, still covered over. Put it into one jar that will contain it without pressure, and strew as you proceed pretty plentifully the following mixture amongst and finally upon the cabbage:

Allspice, coarsely beaten 1 oz.
Ginger, sliced 1½ oz.
Black peppercorns 1 oz.
Bay leaves, shred ½ oz.
Laurel leaves, shred ½ oz.

Now pour pure cold best London pickling vinegar into the jar, and take care that the cabbage is perfectly covered, and to the depth of an inch or more. Make up the jar with a bung, and secure it with resin or pitch. In a month you will have perhaps the best article of its kind to be found anywhere, its excellency consisting in its flavour, its colour, and crispness.

GREEN SAMPHIRE.

Carefully pick out the refuse from a peck of fresh samphire as soon as you get it, or it will be tough by delay. Immerse the accepted branches in salt and water strong brine for two days, then take it up and dry with cloths, place it lightly in a pan, and cover it with spring water in which a handful of salt and half an ounce of saltpetre have been dissolved, and put it on the fire to simmer, taking it off the moment that a thick steam comes upon the surface, and add for every quart of water used in the mouth of each jar a small teaspoonful of gum kino. Then make the jars secure with bladder and keep for use.

CAULIFLOWERS.

Purchase for pickling the closest, soundest, and whitest, entirely free from grub and insect, and pull them into nice branches and sprigs. Lay them loosely on large dishes, and scatter table salt generally through and over them, let them remain thus for three days. Next place them neatly in jars, and pour boiling water upon them, tie leather over, and let them stand by twelve or fourteen hours, then dry them on a sieve and remove them to glass jars, filling them up with the following pickle when cold:

Bay leaves, shred 1 oz.
Laurel leaves, shred 1 oz.
Chillies, whole 1 oz.
Capsicums, red and green 1 oz.
White-wine vinegar 3 quarts

This must be boiled twenty minutes, and skimmed quite clear. Let olive oil float at the top of the pickle, in the jars, to the depth of half an inch. Then cover with bladder.

WHITE MUSHROOMS.

Choose the smallest, round, perfect buttons, rub each separately with a piece of soft old flannel, wetted with a solution of bay salt, and let them be thoroughly cleansed after they are all rubbed. (See note, No. 11). When all ready put them into a pan with a little finely powdered bay salt scattered over them, and covered so closely that not the least steam can escape, for ten or twelve minutes, or until the water is extracted from them. Then get them removed, without any delay, on to a sieve, then dry them well with cloths, and let them get cold, effectually covered up from the action of the air. Make the following light pickle, by boiling it and skimming it well, and, laying your mushrooms in clean glass jars, pour it amongst and upon them:

Mace, whole ½ oz.
Eschalots, sliced ½ oz.
Cloves, whole 1 oz.
Chillies, whole 1 oz.
Capsicums, whole ½ oz.
White-wine vinegar 3½ quarts

When the bottles are nearly filled with the pickle, let olive oil float on the top for an inch in depth, then make safe with bladder, and keep dry and cool. In a month they will be fit for use.

SILVER ONIONS.

Select your onions well, for many attempts at pickling them have been rendered abortive by the bad quality of the raw material. They should be globular and sound, and have the appearance of being got up in dry weather, and been well dried by the air and sun previous to being stored. The peeling will, however, prove much, and if you are suspicious of having been not well served, do not proceed with them.

Peel a peck of nice onions, and, as you proceed, throw them into plenty of strong salt and water, and let them remain so for ten or twelve days, changing the pickle every second day. Set them now on a sieve to drain, then put them into jars and pour on them a brine freshly made of bay salt and water, boiling hot, and, covering up close, let them remain till cold. Repeat the scalding and with fresh pickle, and when drained thoroughly, put them into jars with

Bay leaves, shred ½ oz.
Laurel leaves, shred ½ oz.
Chillies, whole 1 oz.
Best ginger, sliced 1 oz.
Mace, whole ½ oz.
Best vinegar 3 quarts

scattered amongst them, and fill up with the vinegar cold. Let olive oil float on the top, for nearly an inch deep, and secure the jars with wetted bladder, and, that dried, soft leather above all. For the preservation of the colour, this attention to the exclusion of the air is chiefly owing. These are of first-rate quality, and are much resorted to in the kitchens of the wealthy.

PRESERVED WALNUTS.

Take half a hundred of walnuts just when they are ready for pickling, that is, when punctured with a pin no shell can be perceived. Take a jar that will a little above hold them, deposit in it a layer of coarse-sugar half an inch thick, on this make a layer of walnuts well wiped, and every one sound, then a layer of sugar, and so on alternately to near the top of the jar. The allowance of sugar must be half a pound to every score of nuts. Tie coarse paper over the mouth of the jar and place it in a saucepan of boiling water, in which it must remain three hours. This will dissolve the sugar; the syrup should now cover the fruit; if it does not, add some more sugar and continue the simmering. When cold, cover the mouth of the jar with bladder, and do not disturb them for six months, for the longer kept the better they will be. These will be found of excellent and extensive use in families of many children as a gentle aperient medicine. One is a dose for a child of five to seven years old, and so in advancing ratio, and instead of proving nauseous to young palates, will be regarded as a treat, and, if I am not mistaken, adults will occasionally be troubled with constipation.

APPLE MARMALADE.

Pare and core two pounds of rather acid apples, put them into an enamelled pan with a pint of sweet cider, or with half a pint of cape wine, and a pound of crushed good loaf sugar, and cook them slowly by a gentle heat three hours. Squeeze the fruit first through a colander and then through a sieve. If not sweet enough add powdered sugar to your taste. Put it in small white jars, cover with bladder and writing paper. It will be very nice, and extremely wholesome as supper for the juveniles, and for the aged, eaten with cream or milk.

RED CURRANTS.

Take currants for this purpose just before they have attained a perfect red colour. Select the nicest bunches, which keep separate, and accept no single ones but what are clear and sound. Boil these with the fruit until the colour of the vinegar is changed by it,

Loaf sugar, sifted 2 lb.
Bay salt, beaten fine ½ lb.
Bay leaves, shred 1 oz.
Sal prunelle ¼ oz.
White wine, or palest vinegar 2 quarts

skim it well, and let it get cold. Strain it now nicely, and press the fruit in a sieve, to obtain as much of the colour as possible. Boil it up again, and skim till quite clear. Now place the bunches and detached fruit into glass jars or tumblers, and pour the liquor hot upon them, so as to cover totally; then tie paper and bladder closely over.

CELERY.

The white part only is used for this purpose. Wash very clean half a dozen fine heads, and wipe them dry. Cut them into pieces to your taste, and make the following pickle:

Bay salt 1 lb.
Best ginger, sliced 2 oz.
Mace ½ oz.
Capsicums, red and green 1 oz.
Best vinegar 2 quarts

Put all these into a deep saucepan, and soon as they come to the boiling point, strew in the celery; let it boil again, not more than two minutes, then take it up, pour it through a sieve. When cold, place the celery in jars, and pour the liquor upon it, and make all safe with bladder, &c. &c. This will be found extremely useful in all families that live well. It will keep good a great length of time, and when the celery is all used, the pickle will be highly acceptable in dressing salads, &c. A few small onions may be added where they are not disliked, and omitted at pleasure.

GRAPES.

The foreign grapes, if got in the beginning of the importations to this country, for then they are less likely to be decayed or specked, answer extremely well for pickling, and are, of course, much cheaper than those grown at home. The white ones are generally chosen; but it appears to me that a mixture of the purple ones with them makes an agreeable change, as far as the appearance is concerned. Take ten pounds of the largest and soundest you can, and divide into little branches, which place in a deep straight-sided stone jar, embedded in vine leaves, and completely cover them with this mixture:

Bay salt 1 lb.
Sal prunelle 2 oz.
Common salt 1 lb.
Coarse sugar 6 oz.
Water 6 quarts

Tie leather over the jar, and set it in a saucepanful of water on the fire, and when it has boiled three quarters of an hour, pour off the liquor, which set aside to be well skimmed, and poured clean off the dregs. Return the liquor on to the fruit, cover up close, and let remain so for twenty-four hours; then take them up, and dry them well between cloths, not allowing the air to act upon them by keeping them covered up. Next make this pickle:

Soft or river water 2 quarts
White-wine vinegar 4 quarts
Coarse sugar 2½ lb.
Bay leaves, shred 3 oz.
Laurel leaves, shred 2 oz.

Boil these ten minutes, skim until quite clear, and let it get cold. Replace the fruit in the jar, and fill up with the pickle; you having laid plenty of vine leaves under, and also on the top of the fruit. After two days more see if the jar will hold any more of the pickle, which, if needful, must be added. Make all secure with bung and resin, and keep them in a cool airy apartment. You will please not to open them for six months, and will then be much delighted with so elegant and rich a product.

CODLINS.

These must be taken when about the size of hen-eggs, and none but perfectly sound ones accepted. Wrap them up singly in vine leaves recently plucked, and place them lightly in a saucepan, with plenty of leaves under, amongst, and above them, and thoroughly cover them with water. Boil them slowly until the peels begin to start, and separate, then carefully take them up, and drain them on a sieve. When cold, pare them carefully, and, replacing them in the pan, cover so well that none of the steam can escape, and continue the simmering until they are of a nice green colour. Now take them up, and let them drain, and get cold. Put them into little jars, and cover the fruit with white-wine vinegar, put a round of pasteboard on the top, and pour in melted mutton suet. Tie bladder over and leather above that, and keep them cool and dry for three or four months. They will be a good pickle at a little expense.

BARBERRIES.

These are more useful as garnishes than otherwise, and a great many are annually pickled for that purpose. Take half a sieve of fine, high-coloured fruit, pick out all the nice bunches that are sound, and keep them apart by themselves; the best of the single ones must also be had, but put in separate jars. Wash both in salt and water, and set them to drain. Now take two and a half pounds of bay salt to each gallon of water, and fill up the jars with the mixture, to running over; skim them daily for four or five days, and then pour the liquor away, and fill the jars again with a similar mixture of salt and water, adding half a pint of the strongest pickling vinegar. Let it merely steam over the fire, until it has become crisp and finely green, then take it off quickly, and let it cool, drain off the liquor, and put the fruit along with a light scattering of the following mixture into a jar, and cover it well with the liquor:

Mace, beaten roughly ½ oz.
Nutmeg, sliced 1 oz.
Bay leaves, shred 1 oz.
Saltpetre ½ oz.

Close the jar with a bung and secure that with resin. In a month it will be ready for table.

ASPARAGUS.

Take two hundred of fresh cut asparagus, fully grown, take off the root ends so high up as to leave the remaining parts tender, and wash the green tops in cold water, slightly tasted with salt, then remove them into fresh water, and let them remain in it for about two hours. Put them next into a shallow pan with as much cold spring water as will just cover them, and putting it on the fire, watch them closely, so that the moment the water comes to the boiling point you will remove it from the fire, and taking out the asparagus heads very carefully, lest they break, lay them on a sieve to get cold, being covered over with cloths. Place them now in jars and pour upon them a pickle made of

White pepper ½ oz.
Nutmeg 1½ oz.
Mace ½ oz.
Bay salt 1½ oz.
White-wine vinegar 4 quarts

boiled ten minutes or more, and well skimmed, to be used hot. Tie leather over the jars, and let them remain for five or six days, when you will boil the pickle again, and pour over hot. When cold make up the jars securely with bungs and leather.

GHERKINS.

From out of three hundred gherkins of the markets you may probably pick two hundred that will suit your purpose, and they should be all nearly of the same size; put them into a pickle made of two pounds and a half of common table salt to one gallon of soft or river water, and let them remain in it for three hours if they run small, or four hours if large. Let them lie on a sieve to drain, and wipe them carefully quite dry, and place them in stone jars――glazed ware is objectionable on many accounts for pickles. Next make a pickle of

Cloves 1 oz.
Mace ½ oz.
Allspice 1 oz.
Two nutmegs, sliced
White mustard seed 1 oz.
A stick of horseradish
Bay salt 8 oz.
White-wine vinegar 4 quarts

by boiling them fifteen minutes and skimming clear; when cold pour it over the gherkins, cover up closely, and let them remain so for twenty-four hours. Then put the whole contents into a saucepan, and let them simmer until they have acquired a bright green colour, then place them not too closely in jars, and pour the liquor with the spices over them. They must be totally covered with pickle, or more must be made for that purpose if you intend them to keep well and a long time. Cover your jars with wetted bladder, and soft leather over that.

PICCALILLI.

Take two perfectly fresh closely grown white cabbages, in preference to one large one, they must be quite sound at the hearts; cut them crosswise in slices, and then take a thorough grown white beetroot cut also the same way; divide a nice cauliflower into many small sprigs; some clear green radish pods, and twenty of the smallest gherkins. Place these apart from each other and strew three or four handfuls of common table salt over them. Expose these to the action of the sun if possible, or of a slow fire four days, or until you see that all the moisture has been drawn from them. Then put all into a large stoneware jar, and scatter over and amongst them two handfuls of sound bright mustard seed as you are packing them down. Now boil together

Garlic, minced 3 oz.
Eschalots, minced 1 oz.
Bay salt 1 oz.
Turmeric 2 oz.
Best pickling vinegar 1 gallon

Skim it well, and while boiling hot pour it upon the vegetables, and let them stand closely covered with leather, near the fire, until they have become of a nice yellow colour and saturated with the acid. Then make the following pickle:

Mace, bruised 1 oz.
Cloves, bruised 1 oz.
Jamaica pepper, bruised ½ oz.
Nutmeg, sliced ½ oz.
White pepper 2 oz.
Best vinegar 1 quart

Let these boil fifteen to twenty minutes, skimming well, and when cold add it to the pickles. Make the jar safe with bladder and tie leather over that. This pickle requires three months at least to become superior, and that the different flavours may be assimilated.

LEMON MANGOES.

Take a couple of dozen of large thick-skinned lemons, cut off a piece from the blossom end of each, leaving a bare surface the size of a shilling, scoop out the whole of the insides, wash them in cold water, entirely freeing them of loose pulp, and immerse them in a brine of a pound of bay salt to the gallon of water. Rouse them about occasionally, change the brine on the third day, and let them remain so pickled three days longer. Now drain and wipe them dry, and fill them with this mixture:

Horseradish, scraped fine 1 oz.
Mustard seed, bruised 2 oz.
Ginger, sliced thin 1 oz.
Eschalots, minced 1 oz.
Chillies, minced 1 oz.

Stitch the pieces which you cut off on to their respective correspondents, neatly place the fruit closely together in a stone jar, and pour upon them, boiling hot, the following pickle:

Best pickling vinegar 2 quarts
The juice from the lemons
Table salt 2 tablespoonfuls
White peppercorns, bruised 1 oz.
Ginger, bruised 1 oz.
Mace, bruised 1 oz.

The lemon juice must have been strained, and the vinegar put upon the pulp for half an hour, and then also passed through a fine sieve. The mangoes must be well covered by the pickle, and as some will be absorbed, it is desirable to let them remain just temporarily covered with paper for three days and then fill up with the pickle. These will be very fine in four or five months, but for present consumption they could not be recommended. Put bladder safely over the jars and cover with leather.

LEMON PICKLE.

Rub off with a fine tin grater the yellow rind of twenty fine large fresh lemons, recently unpacked from the chest, without disturbing the white part that lies underneath; next take the white part off with a sharp knife, and divide the fruit into two parts in the middle, and then again divide these pieces into slices, which will be each about an inch and three quarters thick. Rub these thoroughly with bay salt in fine powder, and set them on a dish to dry in a cool oven until the juice is completely taken up; put them then in a jar and pour upon them a pickle of the following ingredients, viz.

Mace, in fine powder 1¾ oz.
Cloves, in fine powder 1 oz.
Nutmeg, in fine powder 2 oz.
Garlic, minced 1 oz.
Mustard seed, crushed 1 pint