The Book of Household Management Part 64

531. INGREDIENTS.--1 dozen tomatoes, 2 teaspoonfuls of the best powdered ginger, 1 dessertspoonful of salt, 1 head of garlic chopped fine, 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful of Chili vinegar (a small quant.i.ty of cayenne may be subst.i.tuted for this).

_Mode_.--Choose ripe tomatoes, put them into a stone jar, and stand them in a cool oven until quite tender; when cold, take the skins and stalks from them, mix the pulp with the liquor which is in the jar, but do not strain it; add all the other ingredients, mix well together, and put it into well-sealed bottles. Stored away in a cool dry place, it will keep good for years. It is ready for use as soon as made, but the flavour is better after a week or two. Should it not appear to keep, turn it out, and boil it up with a little additional ginger and cayenne. For immediate use, the skins should be put into a wide-mouthed bottle with a little of the different ingredients, and they will be found very nice for hashes or stews.

_Time_.--4 or 5 hours in a cool oven.

_Seasonable_ from the middle of September to the end of October.

III.

532. INGREDIENTS.--3 dozen tomatoes; to every pound of tomato-pulp allow 1 pint of Chili vinegar, 1 oz. of garlic, 1 oz. of shalot, 2 oz. of salt, 1 large green capsic.u.m, 1/2 teaspoonful of cayenne, 2 pickled gherkins, 6 pickled onions, 1 pint of common vinegar, and the juice of 6 lemons.

_Mode_.--Choose the tomatoes when quite ripe and red; put them in a jar with a cover to it, and bake them till tender. The better way is to put them in the oven overnight, when it will not be too hot, and examine them in the morning to see if they are tender. Do not allow them to remain in the oven long enough to break them; but they should be sufficiently soft to skin nicely and rub through the sieve. Measure the pulp, and to each pound of pulp, add the above proportion of vinegar and other ingredients, taking care to chop very fine the garlic, shalot, capsic.u.m, onion, and gherkins. Boil the whole together till everything is tender; then again rub it through a sieve, and add the lemon-juice.

Now boil the whole again till it becomes as thick as cream, and keep continually stirring; bottle it when quite cold, cork well, and seal the corks. If the flavour of garlic and shalot is very much disliked, diminish the quant.i.ties.

_Time_.--Bake the tomatoes in a cool oven all night.

_Seasonable_ from the middle of September to the end of October.

_Note_.--A quant.i.ty of liquor will flow from the tomatoes, which must be put through the sieve with the rest. Keep it well stirred while on the fire, and use a wooden spoon.

UNIVERSAL PICKLE.

533. INGREDIENTS.--To 6 quarts of vinegar allow 1 lb. of salt, 1/4 lb.

of ginger, 1 oz. of mace, 1/2 lb. of shalots, 1 tablespoonful of cayenne, 2 oz. of mustard-seed, 1-1/2 oz. of turmeric.

_Mode_.--Boil all the ingredients together for about 20 minutes; when cold, put them into a jar with whatever vegetables you choose, such as radish-pods, French beans, cauliflowers, gherkins, &c. &c., as these come into season; put them in fresh as you gather them, having previously wiped them perfectly free from moisture and grit. This pickle will be fit for use in about 8 or 9 months.

_Time_.--20 minutes.

_Seasonable_.--Make the pickle in May or June, to be ready for the various vegetables.

_Note_.--As this pickle takes 2 or 3 months to make,--that is to say, nearly that time will elapse before all the different vegetables are added,--care must be taken to keep the jar which contains the pickle well covered, either with a closely-fitting lid, or a piece of bladder securely tied over, so as perfectly to exclude the air.

PICKLED WALNUTS (Very Good).

534. INGREDIENTS.--100 walnuts, salt and water. To each quart of vinegar allow 2 oz. of whole black pepper, 1 oz. of allspice, 1 oz. of bruised ginger.

_Mode_.--Procure the walnuts while young; be careful they are not woody, and p.r.i.c.k them well with a fork; prepare a strong brine of salt and water (4 lbs. of salt to each gallon of water), into which put the walnuts, letting them remain 9 days, and changing the brine every third day; drain them off, put them on a dish, place it in the sun until they become perfectly black, which will be in 2 or 3 days; have ready dry jars, into which place the walnuts, and do not quite fill the jars. Boil sufficient vinegar to cover them, for 10 minutes, with spices in the above proportion, and pour it hot over the walnuts, which must be quite covered with the pickle; tie down with bladder, and keep in a dry place.

They will be fit for use in a month, and will keep good 2 or 3 years.

_Time_.--10 minutes.

_Seasonable_.--Make this from the beginning to the middle of July, before the walnuts harden.

_Note_.--When liked, a few shalots may be added to the vinegar, and boiled with it.

WALNUT KETCHUP.

I.

535. INGREDIENTS.--100 walnuts, 1 handful of salt, 1 quart of vinegar, 1/4 oz. of mace, 1/4 oz. of nutmeg, 1/4 oz. of cloves, 1/4 oz. of ginger, 1/4 oz. of whole black pepper, a small piece of horseradish, 20 shalots, 1/4 lb. of anchovies, 1 pint of port wine.

_Mode_.--Procure the walnuts at the time you can run a pin through them, slightly bruise, and put them into a jar with the salt and vinegar, let them stand 8 days, stirring every day; then drain the liquor from them, and boil it, with the above ingredients, for about 1/2 hour. It may be strained or not, as preferred, and, if required, a little more vinegar or wine can be added, according to taste. When bottled well, seal the corks.

_Time_.--1/2 hour.

_Seasonable_.--Make this from the beginning to the middle of July, when walnuts are in perfection for pickling purposes.

II.

536. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 sieve of walnut-sh.e.l.ls, 2 quarts of water, salt, 1/2 lb. of shalots, 1 oz. of cloves, 1 oz. of mace, 1 oz. of whole pepper, 1 oz. of garlic.

_Mode_.--Put the walnut-sh.e.l.ls into a pan, with the water, and a large quant.i.ty of salt; let them stand for 10 days, then break the sh.e.l.ls up in the water, and let it drain through a sieve, putting a heavy weight on the top to express the juice; place it on the fire, and remove all sc.u.m that may arise. Now boil the liquor with the shalots, cloves, mace, pepper, and garlic, and let all simmer till the shalots sink; then put the liquor into a pan, and, when cold, bottle, and cork closely. It should stand 6 months before using: should it ferment during that time, it must be again boiled and skimmed.

_Time_.--About 3/4 hour.

_Seasonable_ in September, when the walnut-sh.e.l.ls are obtainable.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WALNUT.]

THE WALNUT.--This nut is a native of Persia, and was introduced into England from France. As a pickle, it is much used in the green state; and grated walnuts in Spain are much employed, both in tarts and other dishes. On the continent it is occasionally employed as a subst.i.tute for olive oil in cooking; but it is apt, under such circ.u.mstances, to become rancid. The matter which remains after the oil is extracted is considered highly nutritious for poultry. It is called _mare_, and in Switzerland is eaten under the name of _pain amer_ by the poor. The oil is frequently manufactured into a kind of soap, and the leaves and green husks yield an extract, which, as a brown dye, is used to stain hair, wool, and wood.

WHITE SAUCE (Good).

537. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 pint of white stock (No. 107), 1/2 pint of cream, 1 dessertspoonful of flour, salt to taste.

_Mode_.--Have ready a delicately-clean saucepan, into which put the stock, which should be well flavoured with vegetables, and rather savoury; mix the flour smoothly with the cream, add it to the stock, season with a little salt, and boil all these ingredients very gently for about 10 minutes, keeping them well stirred the whole time, as this sauce is very liable to burn.

_Time_.--10 minutes. _Average cost_, 1s.

_Sufficient_ for a pair of fowls.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

WHITE SAUCE, made without Meat.

538. INGREDIENTS.--2 oz. of b.u.t.ter, 2 small onions, 1 carrot, 1/2 a small teacupful of flour, 1 pint of new milk, salt and cayenne to taste.

_Mode_.--Cut up the onions and carrot very small, and put them into a stewpan with the b.u.t.ter; simmer them till the b.u.t.ter is nearly dried up; then stir in the flour, and add the milk; boil the whole gently until it thickens, strain it, season with salt and cayenne, and it will be ready to serve.

_Time_.--1/4 hour. _Average cost_, 5d.

_Sufficient_ for a pair of fowls.