The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory Part 84

_Onions._ No. 4.

Put your small onions, after peeling them, into salt and water, shifting them once a day for three or four days; set them over the fire in milk and water till ready to boil; dry them; and, when boiled and cold, pour over a pickle made of double-distilled vinegar, a bay-leaf or two, salt, and mace.

_Onions._ No. 5.

Parboil small white onions, and let them cool. Make a pickle with half vinegar, half wine, into which put some salt, a little ginger, some mace, and sliced nutmeg. Boil all this up together, skimming it well.

Let it stand till quite cold; then put in your onions, covering them down. Should they become mouldy, boil the liquor again, but skim it well; let it stand till quite cold before the onions are again put in, and they will keep all the year.

_Onions._ No. 6.

Take the small white round onions; peel off the brown skin. Have ready a stewpan of boiling water; throw in as many onions as will cover the top.

As soon as they look clear on the outside, take them up quickly, lay them on a clean cloth, and cover them close with another cloth.

_Spanish Onions, Mango of._

Having peeled your onions, cut out a small piece from the bottom, scoop out a little of the inside, and put them into salt and water for three or four days, changing the brine twice a day. Then drain and stuff them, first putting in flour of mustard, then a little ginger cut small, mace, shalot cut small, then more mustard, and filling up with sc.r.a.ped horseradish. Put on the bottom piece, and tie it on close. Make a strong pickle of white wine vinegar, ginger, mace, sliced horseradish, nutmeg, and salt: put in your mangoes, and boil them up two or three times. Take care not to boil them too much, otherwise they lose their firmness and will not keep. Put them, with the pickle, into a jar. Boil the pickle again next morning, and pour it over them.

_Orange and Lemon Peel._

Boil the peels of the fruit in vinegar and sugar, and lay them in the pickle; but be careful to cut them in small long slices, about the length of half the peel of your lemon. It must be boiled in water previously to boiling in sugar and vinegar.

_Oysters._ No. 1.

Take a quant.i.ty of large oysters with their liquor; wash well all the grit from them, and to every three pints of clear water put half an ounce of bruised pepper, some salt, and a quarter of an ounce of mace.

Let these boil over a gentle fire, until a fourth part is consumed, skimming it; just scald the oysters, and put them into the liquor; put them into barrels or pots; stop them very close, and they will keep for a year in a cool place.

_Oysters._ No. 2.

Parboil some large oysters in their own liquor; make pickle of their liquor with vinegar, a pint of white wine, mace, salt and pepper; boil and skim it, and when cold put in the oysters, and keep them.

_Oysters._ No. 3.

Take whole pepper and mace, of each a quarter of an ounce, and half a pint of white wine vinegar. Set the oysters on the fire, in their own liquor, with a little water, mace, pepper, and half a pound of salt; skim them well as they heat, and only allow them just to boil for fear of hardening them. Take them out to dry, skim the liquor, and then put in the rest of the spice with the vinegar. Should the vinegar be very strong, reduce it a little, and boil it up again for a short time. Let both stand till cold: put your oysters into the pickle: in a day or two, taste your pickle, and, should it not be sharp enough, add a little more vinegar.

_Oysters._ No. 4.

Take the largest oysters you can get, and just plump them over the fire in their own liquor; then strain it from them, and cover the oysters close in a cloth. Take an equal quant.i.ty of white wine and vinegar, and a little of the oyster liquor, with mace, white pepper, and lemon-peel, pared very thin, also salt, the quant.i.ty of each according to your judgment and taste, taking care that there be sufficient liquor to cover them. Set it on the fire, and, when it boils, put in the oysters; just give them one boil up; put the pickle in a pot, and the oysters closely covered in a cloth till the pickle is quite cold.

_Oysters._ No. 5.

Simmer them, till done, in their own liquor; take them out one by one, strain the liquor from them, and boil them with one third of vinegar.

Put the oysters in a jar, in layers, with a little mace, whole and white pepper, between the layers; then pour over them the liquor hot.

_Oysters._ No. 6.

Take whole pepper and mace, of each a quarter of an ounce, and put to them half a pint of white wine vinegar.

_Peaches, Mango of._

Take some of the largest peaches, when full grown and just ripening, throw them into salt and water, and add a little bay-salt. Let them lie two or three days, covering them with a board; take them out and dry them, and with a sharp knife cut them open and take out the stone; then cut some garlic very fine, sc.r.a.pe a great deal of horseradish, mix the same quant.i.ty of mustard seed, a few bruised cloves, and ginger sliced very thin, and with this fill the hollow of the peaches. Tie them round, and lay them in a jar; throw in some broken cinnamon, cloves, mace, and a small quant.i.ty of cochineal, and pour over as much vinegar as will fill the jar. To every quart put a quarter of a pint of the best mustard, well made, some cloves, mace, nutmeg, two or three heads of garlic, and some sliced ginger. Mix the pickle well together; pour it over the peaches, and tie them down close with either leather or a bladder. They will soon be fit for use.

In the same manner you may do white plums.

_Purslain, Samphire, Broom Buds, &c._

Pick the dead leaves from the branches of purslain, and lay them in a pan. Make some strong brine; boil and skim it clean, and, when boiled and cold, put in the purslain, and cover it; it will keep all the year.

When wanted for use, boil it in fresh water, having the water boiling before you put it in. When boiled and turned green, cool it, take it out afterwards, put it into wide-mouth bottles, with strong white wine vinegar to it, and close it for use.

_Quinces._

Cut in pieces half a dozen quinces; put them into an earthen pot, with a gallon of water and two pounds of honey. Mix the whole together, and boil it leisurely in a kettle for half an hour. Strain the liquor into an earthen pot: and, when cold, wipe the quinces clean, and lay them in it. Cover them very close, and they will keep all the year.

_Radish Pods._

Make a pickle with cold spring water and bay salt, strong enough to bear an egg; put in your pods; lay a thin board on them to keep them under water, and let them stand ten days. Drain them in a sieve, and lay them on a cloth to dry; then take as much white wine vinegar as you think will cover them, boil and put your pods in a jar, with ginger, mace, cloves, and Jamaica pepper; put your vinegar boiling hot on them; cover them with a coa.r.s.e cloth three or four times double, that the steam may come through a little, and let them stand two days; repeat this two or three times. When cold, put in a pint of mustard-seed and some horseradish, and cover them close.

_Salmon._ No. 1.

Cut off the head of the fish, take out the intestines, but do not slit the belly; cut your pieces across, about two or three inches in breadth; take the blood next to the back clean out: wash and scale it; then put salt and water over the fire, and a handful of bay leaves; put in the salmon, and, when it is boiled, take it off and skim it clear. Take out the pieces with a skimmer as whole as you can; lay them on a table to drain; strain a handful of salt slightly over them; when they are cold, stick some cloves on each side of them. Then take a cask, well washed, and seasoned with hot and cold water, three or four days before you use it; put in the pickle you boiled your salmon in hot, some time before you use it; then take broad mace, sliced nutmeg, white pepper, just bruised, and a little black; mix the pepper with salt, sufficient to season the salmon; strew some pepper, salt, and bay-leaves, at the bottom of the cask; then put in a layer of salmon, then spice, salt, bay-leaves, and pepper, as before, until the cask is full. Put on the head, and bore a hole in the top of it; fill up the cask with good white wine vinegar, cork it, and, in two or three days, take out the cork and put more vinegar, and the fat will come out; do so three or four times; then cut off the cork, and pitch it; if it be for present use, put it in a jar, closely covered.

_Salmon._ No. 2.

Well sc.r.a.pe the salmon, take out the entrails, and well wash and dry it.

Cut it in pieces of such size as you think proper; take three parts of common vinegar and one of water, enough to cover the fish. Put in a handful of salt, and stir it till dissolved. Add some mace, whole pepper, cloves, sliced nutmeg, and boil all these till the salmon is sufficiently done. Take it out of the liquor, and let it cool. Put it into a barrel, and over every layer of salmon strew black pepper, mace, cloves, and pounded nutmeg; and, when the barrel is full, pour upon the salmon the liquor in which it was boiled, mixed with vinegar, in which a few bay-leaves have been boiled, and then left till cold. Close up the barrel, and keep it for use.

_Salmon._ No. 3.

Cut your fish into small slices, and clean them well from the blood, by wiping and pressing them in a dry cloth; afterwards lay it in a kettle of boiling water, taking care not to break it, and, when nearly boiled, make a pickle as follows: two quarts of water, three quarts of rape vinegar; boil it with a little fennel and salt till it tastes strong; then skim it; let it cool; lay the fish in a kettle, and pour the pickle to it pretty warm.

The same process will do for sturgeon, excepting the fennel, and putting a little more salt, or for any other fish.