The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory Part 83

_Melons._

Scoop your melons clean from the pulp; fill them with sc.r.a.ped horseradish, ginger, nutmeg, sliced garlic, mace, pepper, mustard-seed, and tie them up. Afterwards take the best white wine vinegar, a quartered nutmeg, a handful of salt, whole pepper, cloves, and mace, or a little ginger; let the vinegar and spice boil together, and when boiling hot pour it over the fruit, and tie them down very close for two or three days; but, if you wish to have them green, let them be put over a fire in their pickle in a metal pot, until they are scalding hot and green; then pour them into pots, and stop them close down, and, when cold, cover them with wet bladder and leather.

_Melons to imitate Mangoes._

Cut off the tops of the melons, so as that you may take out the seeds with a small spoon; lay them in salt and water, changing it every twenty-four hours for nine successive days: then take them out, wipe them dry, and put into each one clove of garlic or two small shalots, a slice or two of horseradish, a slice of ginger, and a tea-spoonful of mustard seed; this being done, tie up their tops again very fast with packthread, and boil them up in a sufficient quant.i.ty of white wine vinegar, bay-salt, and spices, as for cuc.u.mbers, skimming the pickle as it rises; put a piece of alum into your pickle, about the size of a walnut; and, after it has boiled a quarter of an hour, pour it, with the fruit, into your jar or pan, and cover it with a cloth. Next day boil your pickle again, and pour it hot upon your melons. After this has been repeated three times, and the pickle and fruit are quite cold, stop them up as directed for mushrooms. These and all other pickles should be set in a dry place, and frequently inspected; and, if they grow mouldy, you must pour off the liquor and boil it up as at first.

_Melons or Cuc.u.mbers, as Mangoes._

Pour over your melons or other vegetables boiling hot salt and water, and dry them the next day; cut a piece out of the side; sc.r.a.pe away the seed very clean; and fill them with sc.r.a.ped horseradish, garlic, and mustard seed; then put in the piece, and tie it close. Pour boiling hot vinegar over them, and in about three days boil up the vinegar with cloves, pepper, and ginger: then throw in your mangoes, and boil them up quick for a few minutes; put them in jars, which should be of stone, and cover them close.

The melons ought to be small and the cuc.u.mbers large. Should they not turn out green enough, the vinegar must be boiled again.

_Mushrooms._ No. 1.

Gather your mushrooms in August or September, and peel off the uppermost skin; cut the large ones into quarters, and, as you do them, throw them into clear water, but be very careful not to have any worm-eaten ones.

You may put the b.u.t.tons in whole; the white are the best, and look better than the red. Take them out, and wash them in another clear water; then put them into a dry skillet without water; and with a little salt set them on the fire to boil in their own liquor, till half is consumed and they are as tender as you wish them; as the sc.u.m rises, take it off. Remove them from the fire: pour them into a colander, and drain off all the water. Have ready pickle, boiled and become cold again, made of the best white wine vinegar; then add a little mace, ginger, cloves, and whole pepper: boil it; put your mushrooms in the pickle when cold, and tie them up close.

_Mushrooms._ No. 2.

Put your mushrooms into salt and water, and wash them clean with a flannel, throw them into water as you do them; then boil some salt and water: when it boils, put in your mushrooms, and let them boil one minute. Take them out, and smother them between two flannels; when cold, put them into white wine vinegar, with what spice you choose. The vinegar must be boiled and stand till cold. Keep them closely tied down with a bladder. A bit of alum is frequently put to keep them firm.

The white mushrooms are done the same way, using milk and water instead of salt and water, distilled vinegar in the room of white wine vinegar, no spices except mace, and a lump of alum.

_Mushrooms._ No. 3.

Cut off the stalks of the small hard mushrooms, called b.u.t.tons, and wash and rub them dry in a clean flannel. Boil some water and salt, and while boiling put in the mushrooms. Let them just boil, and strain them through a cloth. Make a pickle of white wine vinegar, mace, and ginger, and put to them; then put them into pots, with a little oil over them, and stop them close.

_Mushrooms._ No. 4.

Put young mushrooms into milk and water; take them out, dry them well, and put them into a brine made of salt and spring water. Boil the brine, and put in the mushrooms; boil them up for five minutes; drain them quick, covering them up between two cloths and drying them well. Boil a pickle of double-distilled vinegar and mace; when it is cold, put in the b.u.t.tons, and pour oil on the top. It is advisable to put them into small gla.s.s jars, as they do not keep after being opened. It is an excellent way to boil them in milk.

_Mushrooms._ No. 5.

Put your mushrooms into water; rub them very clean with a piece of flannel; put them into milk and water, and boil them till they are rather tender. Then pour them into an earthen colander, and pump cold water on them till they are quite cold. Have ready some salt and water; put them into it; let them lie twenty-four hours; then dry them in a cloth. Then put them into a pickle made of the best white wine vinegar, mace, pepper, and nutmeg. If you choose to boil your pickle, it must be quite cold before you put in the mushrooms.

_Mushrooms._ No. 6.

Peel your mushrooms, and throw them into clean water; wash them in two or three waters, and boil them in a little water, with a bundle of sweet-herbs, a good quant.i.ty of salt, a little rosemary, and spice of all sorts. When well boiled, let them remain in the liquor for twenty-four hours; pour the liquor into a hot cloth, smothering them for a night and a day; then put in your pickle, which make of elder and white wine vinegar, with all kinds of spice, horseradish, ginger, and lemon-juice. Put them into pots, cover with oiled paper, and keep them close for use.

_Mushrooms._ No. 7.

Clean them very well, and take out the gills; boil them tender with a little salt, and dry them with a cloth. Make a strong brine; when it is cold, put in the mushrooms, and in about ten days or a fortnight change the brine, and put them into small bottles, pouring oil on the top.

_Brown Mushrooms._

Wipe them very clean, put them into a stewpan with mace, cloves, pepper, and salt, and to every quart of mushrooms put about two large spoonfuls of mushroom ketchup; stew them gently over a slow fire for about half an hour, then let them cool. Put them into bottles. To each quart of mushrooms put a quarter of a pint of white wine vinegar boiled and cooled; stop the bottles close with rosin.

_Mushrooms, to dry._

Cut off their stalks, and cut or sc.r.a.pe out the gills, and with a little salt put them into a saucepan. Set them on the fire, and let them stew in their own liquor; then pour them into a sieve to drain. When dry, put them into a slack oven upon tin plates, and, when quite dry, put them into shallow boxes for use.

The liquor will make ketchup.

_Mushroom Liquor and Powder._

Take about a peck of mushrooms, wash them, and rub them with a piece of flannel, taking out the gills, but do not peel them. Put to them half an ounce of beaten pepper, four bay-leaves, four cloves, twelve blades of mace, a handful of salt, eight onions, a bit of b.u.t.ter, and half a pint of vinegar; stew all these as quick as possible; keep stirring till the liquor is quite out of the mushrooms; then drain them, and bottle the liquor and spice when cold. Dry the mushrooms in an oven, first on a flat or broad pan, then on sieves, until they can be beaten into powder.

This quant.i.ty will make about seven ounces. Stop the powder close in wide-mouthed bottles.

_Mustard Pickle._

Cut cabbages, cauliflowers, and onions, in small pieces or slices; salt them together, and let them stand in the salt for a few days. Then take them up in a strainer that the brine may run off; put them in a jar that will hold three quarts; take enough vinegar to cover them; boil it up, pour it on them, and cover it till next day. Pour the vinegar off, take the same quant.i.ty of fresh vinegar, of black pepper, ginger, and Jamaica pepper, each one ounce; boil them up together, let the liquor stand till cold; then mix four tea-spoonfuls of turmeric, and six ounces of flour of mustard, which pour on them cold. Cover the pickle up close; let it stand three weeks; and it will be fit for use. The spices must be put in whole.

_Nasturtiums._

The seed must be full grown and gathered on a dry day. Let them lie two or three days in salt and water; take them out, well dry them, and put them into a jar. Take as much white wine vinegar as will cover them, and boil it up with mace, sliced ginger, and a few bay leaves, for a quarter of an hour. Pour the pickle upon the seeds boiling hot. This must be repeated three days, keeping them covered with a folded cloth. After the third time, take care to let them be quite cold before you stop them up, which you must do very close.

_Onions._ No. 1.

Take your onions when they are dry enough to lay up for winter, the smaller the better they look: put them in a pot, cover them with spring water, with a handful of salt, and let them boil up; then strain them off. Take off three coats; lay them on a cloth, and let two persons take hold of it, one at each end, and rub them backwards and forwards till they are very dry. Then put them in your jars or bottles, with some blades of mace, cloves, and nutmeg, cut into pieces; take some double-distilled white wine vinegar, boil it up with a little salt; let it stand till it is cold, and put it over the onions. Cork them close, and tie a bladder and leather over them.

_Onions._ No. 2.

Take the smallest onions you can get; peel and put them into spring water and salt made very strong. Shift them daily for six days; then boil them a very little; skim them well, and make a pickle as for cuc.u.mbers, only adding a little mustard seed. Let the onions and the pickle both be cold, when you put them together. Keep them stopped very close, or they will spoil.

_Onions._ No. 3.

Peel some small white onions, and boil them in water with salt; strain them, and let them remain till cool in a cloth. Make the pickle as for mushrooms; when quite cold, put them in and cover them down. Should the onions become mouldy, boil them again, carefully skimming off the impurities; then let them cool, and proceed as at first.

Cauliflowers are excellent done in this way.