The American Housewife Part 7

131. _Cuc.u.mbers._

Gather those that are small and green, and of a quick growth. Turn boiling water on them as soon as picked. Let them remain in it four or five hours, then put them in cold vinegar, with alum and salt, in the proportion of a table spoonful of the former and a tea cup of the latter, to every gallon of vinegar. When you have done collecting the cuc.u.mbers for pickling, turn the vinegar from the cuc.u.mbers, scald and skim it till clear, then put in the pickles, let them scald without boiling, for a few minutes; then turn them while hot into the vessel you intend to keep them in. A few peppers, or peppercorns, improve the taste of the cuc.u.mbers. Cuc.u.mbers to be brittle need scalding several times.

If the vinegar is weak, it should be thrown away, and fresh put to the cuc.u.mbers, with more alum and salt. Another method of pickling cuc.u.mbers, which is good, is to put them in salt and water, as you pick them--changing the salt and water once in three or four days. When you have done collecting your cuc.u.mbers for pickling, take them out of the salt and water, turn on scalding hot vinegar, with alum, salt and peppercorns in it.

132. _Gherkins._

Put them in strong brine--keep them in a warm place. When they turn yellow, drain off the brine, and turn hot vinegar on them. Let them remain in it till they turn green, keeping them in a warm place. Then turn off the vinegar--add fresh scalding hot vinegar, spiced with mace, allspice, and peppercorns--add alum and salt, in the same proportion as for cuc.u.mbers.

133. _To Pickle Oysters._

Take the oysters from the liquor, strain and boil it. Rinse the oysters, if there are any bits of the sh.e.l.ls attached to them. Put them into the liquor while boiling. Boil them one minute, then take them out of it, and to the liquor put a few peppercorns, cloves, and a blade or two of mace--add a little salt, and the same quant.i.ty of vinegar as oyster juice. Let the whole boil fifteen minutes, then turn it on to the oysters. If you wish to keep the oysters for a number of weeks, bottle and cork them tight as soon as cold.

134. _To Pickle Mushrooms._

Peel and stew them, with just water enough to prevent their sticking at the bottom of the pan. Shake them occasionally, to prevent their burning. When tender, take them up, and put them in scalding hot vinegar, spiced with mace, cloves, and peppercorns--add a little salt.

Bottle and cork them tight, if you wish to keep them long.

135. _Wheat Bread._

For six common sized loaves of bread, take three pints of boiling water, and mix it with five or six quarts of flour. When thoroughly mixed, add three pints of cold water. Stir it till the whole of the dough is of the same temperature. When lukewarm, stir in half a pint of family yeast, (if brewers' yeast is used, a less quant.i.ty will answer,) a table-spoonful of salt, knead in flour till stiff enough to mould up, and free from lumps. The more the bread is kneaded, the better it will be. Cover it over with a thick cloth, and if the weather is cold, set it near a fire. To ascertain when it has risen, cut it through the middle with a knife--if full of small holes like a sponge, it is sufficiently light for baking. It should be baked as soon as light. If your bread should get sour before you are ready to bake it, dissolve two or more tea-spoonsful of saleratus (according to the acidity of it) in a tea-cup of milk or water, strain it on to the dough, work it in well--then cut off enough for a loaf of bread--mould it up well, slash it on both sides, to prevent its cracking when baked--put it in a b.u.t.tered tin-pan. The bread should stand ten or twelve minutes in the pans before baking it. If you like your bread baked a good deal, let it stand in the oven an hour and a half. When the wheat is grown, it makes better bread to wet the flour entirely with boiling water. It should remain till cool before working in the yeast. Some cooks have an idea that it kills the life of the flour to scald it, but it is a mistaken idea--it is sweeter for it, and will keep good much longer. Bread made in this way is nearly as good as that which is wet with milk. Care must be taken not to put the yeast in when the dough is hot, as it will scald it, and prevents its rising. Most ovens require heating an hour and a half for bread. A brisk fire should be kept up, and the doors of the room should be kept shut, if the weather is cold. Pine and ash, mixed together, or birch-wood, is the best for heating an oven. To ascertain if your oven is of the right temperature, when cleaned, throw in a little flour; if it browns in the course of a minute, it is sufficiently hot; if it turns black directly, wait several minutes, before putting in the things that are to be baked. If the oven does not bake well, set in a furnace of live coals.

136. _Sponge Bread._

For four loaves of bread, take three quarts of wheat flour, and the same quant.i.ty of boiling water--mix them well together. Let it remain till lukewarm, then add a tea-cup full of family, or half a tea-cup of distillery yeast. Set it in a warm place to rise. When light, knead in flour till stiff enough to mould up, then let it stand till risen again, before moulding it up.

137. _Rye Bread._

Wet up rye flour with lukewarm milk, (water will do to wet it with, but it will not make the bread so good.) Put in the same proportion of yeast as for wheat bread. For four or five loaves of bread, put in a couple of tea-spoonsful of salt. A couple of table-spoonsful of melted b.u.t.ter makes the crust more tender. It should not be kneaded as stiff as wheat bread, or it will be hard when baked. When light, take it out into pans, without moulding it up--let it remain in them about twenty minutes, before baking.

138. _Brown Bread._

Brown bread is made by scalding Indian meal, and stirring into it, when lukewarm, about the same quant.i.ty of rye flour as Indian meal--add yeast and salt in the same proportion as for other kinds of bread. Bake it between two and three hours.

139. _Indian Bread._

Mix Indian meal with cold water, stir it into boiling water, let it boil half an hour--stir in a little salt, take it from the fire, let it remain till lukewarm, then stir in yeast and Indian meal, to render it of the consistency of unbaked rye dough. When light, take it out into b.u.t.tered pans, let it remain a few minutes, then bake it two hours and a half.

140. _Potato Bread._

Boil the potatoes very soft, then peel and mash them fine. Put in salt, and very little b.u.t.ter--then rub them with the flour--wet the flour with lukewarm water--then work in the yeast, and flour till stiff to mould up. It will rise quicker than common wheat bread, and should be baked as soon as risen, as it turns sour very soon. The potatoes that the bread is made of should be mealy, and mixed with the flour in the proportion of one-third of potatoes to two-thirds of flour.

141. _Rice Bread._

Boil a pint of rice till soft--then mix it with a couple of quarts of rice or wheat flour. When cool, add half a tea-cup of yeast, a little salt, and milk to render it of the consistency of rye bread. When light, bake it in small b.u.t.tered pans.

142. _French Rolls._

Turn a quart of lukewarm milk on to a quart of flour. Melt a couple of ounces of b.u.t.ter, and put to the milk and flour, together with a couple of eggs, and a tea-spoonful of salt. When cool, stir in half a tea-cup of yeast, and flour to make it stiff enough to mould up. Put it in a warm place. When light, do it up into small rolls--lay the rolls on flat b.u.t.tered tins--let them remain twenty minutes before baking.

143. _Yeast._

Boil a small handful of hops in a couple of quarts of water. When the strength is obtained from them, strain the liquor--put it back on the fire--take a little of the liquor, and mix smoothly with three heaping table-spoonsful of wheat flour--stir it into the liquor when it boils.

Let it boil five or six minutes--take it from the fire. When lukewarm, stir in a tea-cup of yeast--keep it in a warm place till risen. When of a frothy appearance, it is sufficiently light. Add a table-spoonful of salt, turn it into a jar, and cover it tight. Some people keep yeast in bottles, but they are apt to burst--some use jugs, but they cannot be cleaned so easily as jars. Whenever your yeast gets sour, the jar should be thoroughly cleaned before fresh is put in--if not cleaned, it will spoil the fresh yeast. Yeast made in this manner will keep good a fortnight in warm weather; in cold weather longer. If your yeast appears to be a little changed, add a little saleratus to it before you mix it with your bread. If it does not foam well, when put in, it is too stale to use. Milk yeast makes sweeter bread than any other kind of yeast, but it will not keep good long. It is very nice to make biscuit of. Take half the quant.i.ty of milk you need for your biscuit--set it in a warm place, with a little flour, and a tea-spoonful of salt. When light, mix it with the rest of the milk, and use it directly for the biscuit. It takes a pint of this yeast for five or six loaves of bread. Another method of making yeast, which is very good, is to take about half a pound of your bread dough, when risen, and roll it out thin, and dry it.

When you wish to make bread, put a quart of lukewarm milk to it, set it near the fire to rise--when light, scald the flour, and let it be till lukewarm--then add the yeast and salt. This will raise the bread in the course of an hour. The dough will need a little fresh hop liquor put to it, in the course of three or four times baking. Potato yeast makes very nice bread, but the yeast does not keep good as long as when made without them. It is made in the following manner: boil a couple of good, sized potatoes soft--peel and rub them through a sieve--put to it a couple of table-spoonsful of wheat flour, and a quart of hot hop tea--when lukewarm, stir in half a tea-cup of yeast--when light, put in a couple of tea-spoonsful of salt, put it in your yeast-jar, and cover it up tight.

144. _Yeast Cakes._

Stir into a pint of good lively yeast a table-spoonful of salt, and rye or wheat flour to make a thick batter. When risen, stir in Indian meal till of the right consistency to roll out. When risen again, roll them out very thin, cut them into cakes with a tumbler, and dry them in the shade in clear windy weather. Care must be taken to keep them from the sun, or they will ferment. When perfectly dry, tie them up in a bag, and keep them in a cool dry place. To raise four or five loaves of bread, take one of these cakes, and put to it a little lukewarm milk or water.

When dissolved, stir in a couple of table-spoonsful of flour, set it near the fire--When light, use it for your dough. Yeast cakes will keep good five or six months. They are very convenient to use in summer, as common yeast is so apt to ferment.

145. _b.u.t.ter Biscuit._

Melt a tea-cup of b.u.t.ter--mix it with two-thirds of a pint of milk, (if you have not any milk, water may be subst.i.tuted, but the biscuit will not be as nice.) Put in a tea-spoonful of salt, half a tea-cup of yeast, (milk yeast is the best, see directions for making it)--stir in flour till it is stiff enough to mould up. A couple of eggs improve the biscuit, but are not essential. Set the dough in a warm place when risen, mould the dough with the hand into small cakes, lay them on flat tins that have been b.u.t.tered. Let them remain half an hour before they are baked.

146. _b.u.t.ter-milk Biscuit._

Dissolve a couple of tea-spoonsful of saleratus in a tea-cup of sour milk--mix it with a pint of b.u.t.ter-milk, and a couple of tea-spoonsful of salt. Stir in flour until stiff enough to mould up. Mould it up into small cakes, and bake them immediately.

147. _Hard Biscuit._

Weigh out four pounds of flour, and rub three pounds and a half of it with four ounces of b.u.t.ter, four beaten eggs, and a couple of tea-spoonsful of salt. Moisten it with milk, pound it out thin with a rolling-pin, sprinkle a little of the reserved flour over it lightly--roll it up and pound it out again, sprinkle on more of the flour--this operation continue to repeat till you get in all the reserved flour--then roll it out thin, cut it into cakes with a tumbler, lay them on flat b.u.t.tered tins, cover them with a damp cloth, to prevent their drying. Bake them in a quick oven.

148. _Saleratus Biscuit._

Put a couple of tea-spoonsful of saleratus in a pint of sour milk. If you have not any sour milk, put a table-spoonful of vinegar to a pint of sweet milk, set it in a warm place--as soon as it curdles, mix it with the saleratus--put in a couple of table-spoonfuls of melted b.u.t.ter, and flour to make them sufficiently stiff to roll out. Mould them up into small biscuit, and bake them immediately.

149. _Potato Biscuit._

Boil mealy potatoes very soft, peel and mash them. To four good-sized potatoes, put a piece of b.u.t.ter, of the size of a hen's egg, a tea-spoonful of salt. When the b.u.t.ter has melted, put in half a pint of cold milk. If the milk cools the potatoes, put in a quarter of a pint of yeast, and flour to make them of the right consistency to mould up. Set them in a warm place--when risen, mould them up with the hand--let them remain ten or fifteen minutes before baking them.