 Chapter 33 Part 1 Separation of Milk and Cream If it be desired that the milk should be freed entirely from cream, it should be poured into a very shallow, broad pan or dish, not more than one and a half inch deep, as cream cannot rise through a great depth of milk. In cold and wet weather, milk is not so rich as it is in summer and warm weather, and the morning's milk is always richer than the evening's. The last drawn milk of each milking, at all times in seasons, is richer than the first drawn, and on that account should be set apart for cream. Milk should be shaken as little as possible when carried from the cow to the dairy, and should be poured into the pans very gently. Persons not keeping cows may always have a little cream, provided the milk they purchase be pure and unadulterated. As soon as it comes in, it should be poured into very shallow, open pie dishes and set by in a very cool place, and in seven or eight hours a nice cream should have risen to the surface. Milk is one of the most complete of all articles of food, that is to say it contains a very large number of the elements which enter into the composition of the human body. It disagrees with fat, heavy, languid people of slow circulation, and at first with many people of sedentary habits and stomachs weakened by stimulants of different kinds. But, if exercise can be taken, and a little patience shown, while the system accommodates itself to a new regimen, this bland and soothing article of diet is excellent for the majority of thin, nervous people, especially for those who have suffered much from emotional disturbances, or have relaxed their stomachs by too much tea or coffee, taken too hot. Milk is, in fact, a nutrient and a sedative at once. Stomachs, however, have their idiosyncrasies, and it sometimes proves an unwelcome and ill-digested article of food. As milk, when good, contains a good deal of respiratory material, fat, material which must either be burnt off, or deranged the liver, and be rejected in other ways, it may disagree because the lungs are not sufficiently used in the open air. But it is very probable that there are really constitutions which cannot take to it, and they should not be forced. To keep milk and cream in hot weather When the weather is very warm, and it is very difficult to prevent milk from turning sour and spoiling the cream, it should be scalded, and it will then remain good for a few hours. It must on no account be allowed to boil, or there will be a skin instead of a cream upon the milk, and the slower the process, the safer will it be. A very good plan to scald milk is to put the pan that contains it into a saucepan or wide kettle of boiling water. When the surface looks thick, the milk is sufficiently scalded, and it should then be put away in a cool place in the same vessel that it was scalded in. Cream may be kept for 24 hours. It will remain good double the time if kept in a cool place. All pans, jugs, and vessels intended for milk should be kept beautifully clean, and well scalded before the milk is put in, as any negligence in this respect may cause large quantities of it to be spoiled, and milk should never be kept in vessels of zinc or copper. Milk may be preserved good in hot weather for a few hours by placing the jug which contains it in ice, or very cold water, or a pinch of bicarbonate of soda may be introduced into the liquid. Milk, when of good quality, is of an opaque white color. The cream always comes to the top. The well-known milky odor is strong. It will boil without altering its appearance. In these respects, the little bladders which arise on the surface will renew themselves if broken by the spoon. To boil milk is, in fact, the simplest way of testing its quality. The commonest adulterations of milk are not of a hurtful character. It is a good deal thinned with water, and sometimes thickened with a little starch, or colored with yolk of egg, or even saffron, but these processes have nothing murderous in them. Curds and Whey Ingredients A very small piece of rennet, one half gallon of milk Mode Procure from the butchers a small piece of rennet, which is the stomach of the calf, taken as soon as it is killed, scoured and well rubbed with salt, and stretched on sticks to dry. Pour some boiling water on the rennet, and let it remain for six hours. Then use the liquor to turn the milk. The milk should be warm and fresh from the cow. If allowed to cool, it must be heated till it is of a degree quite equal to new milk. But do not let it be too hot. About a tablespoon full, or rather more, would be sufficient to turn the above proportion of milk into curds and whey. And whilst the milk is turning, let it be kept in rather a warm place. Time From two to three hours to turn the milk. Seasonable at any time. Devonshire cream The milk should stand twenty-four hours in the winter, half that time when the weather is very warm. The milk pan is then set on a stove, and should there remain until the milk is quite hot, but it must not boil or there will be a thick skin on the surface. When it is sufficiently done, the undulations on the surface look thick, and small rings appear. The time required for scalding cream depends on the size of the pan and the heat of the fire, but the slower it is done the better. The pan should be placed in the dairy when the cream is sufficiently scalded and skimmed the following day. This cream is so much esteemed that it is sent to the London markets in small square tins, and is exceedingly delicious eaten with fresh fruit. In Devonshire, butter is made from this cream and is usually very firm. Devonshire junket Ingredients To every pint of new milk, allow two dessert spoonfuls of brandy, one dessert spoonful of sugar, and one-and-a-half dessert spoonful of prepared rennet, thick cream, pounded cinnamon, or grated nutmeg. Mode. Make the milk blood warm, put it into a deep dish with the brandy, sugar, and rennet, stir it all together, and cover it over until it is set. Then spread some thick or clotted cream over the top, grate some nutmeg, and strew some sugar over, and the dish will be ready to serve. Time. About two hours to set the milk. Seasonable at any time. To keep and choose fresh butter. Fresh butter should be kept in a dark, cool place, and in as large a mass as possible. Mold as much only as is required, as the more surface is exposed, the more liability there will be to spoil, and the outside very soon becomes rancid. Fresh butter should be kept covered with white paper. For small larders, butter coolers of red brick are now very much used for keeping fresh butter in warm weather. These coolers are made with a large, bell-shaped cover into the top of which a little cold water should be poured, and in summertime very frequently changed, and the butter must be kept covered. These coolers keep butter remarkably firm in hot weather, and are extremely convenient for those whose larder accommodation is limited. In choosing fresh butter, remember it should smell deliciously, and be of an equal color all through. If it smells sour, it has not been sufficiently washed from the buttermilk, and if veiny and open, it has probably been worked with a staler or an inferior sort. To preserve and choose salt butter. In large families where salt butter is purchased a tub at a time, the first thing to be done is to turn the whole of the butter out, and with a clean knife, to scrape the outside. The tub should then be wiped with a clean cloth, and sprinkled all round with salt. The butter replaced, and the lid kept on to exclude the air. It is necessary to take these precautions, as sometimes a want of proper cleanliness in the dairy-made causes the outside of the butter to become rancid. And if the scraping be neglected, the whole mass would soon become spoiled. To choose salt butter, plunge a knife into it, and if, when drawn out, the blade smells rancid or unpleasant, the butter is bad. The layers and tubs will vary greatly, the butter being made at different times. So, to try if the whole tub be good, the cask should be unhooped, and the butter tried between the staves. It is not necessary to state that butter is extracted from cream, or from unskimmed milk, by the churn. Of course it partakes of the qualities of the milk, and winter butter is said not to be so good as spring butter. A word of caution is necessary about rancid butter. Nobody eats it on bread, but it is sometimes used in cooking, in forms in which the acidity can be more or less disguised. So much the worse. It is almost poisonous, disguise it as you may. Never, under any exigency, whatever, be tempted into allowing butter, with even a soup-zone of turning, to enter into the composition of any dish that appears on your table. And in general, the more you can do without the employment of butter that has been subjected to the influence of heat, the better. The woman of modern times is not a leech, but she might often keep the leech from the door, if she would give herself the trouble to invent innocent sauces. Butter molds for molding fresh butter Butter molds, or wooden stamps for molding fresh butter, are much used, and are made in a variety of forms and shapes. In using them, let them be kept scrupulously clean, and before the butter is pressed in, the interior should be well wetted with cold water. The butter must then be pressed in, the mold opened, and the perfect shape taken out. The butter may be then dished and garnished with a wreath of parsley, if for a cheese course, if for breakfast, put it into an ornamental butter dish, with a little water at the bottom, should the weather be very warm. Curled butter Tie a strong cloth by two of the corners to an iron hook in the wall. Make a knot with the other two ends, so that a stick might pass through. Put the butter into the cloth, twist it tightly over a dish into which the butter will fall through the knot, so forming small and pretty little strings. The butter may then be garnished with parsley, if to serve with a cheese course, or it may be sent to table plain for breakfast in an ornamental dish. Squirted butter for garnishing hams, salad, eggs, etc., is made by forming a piece of stiff paper in the shape of a cornet, and squeezing the butter in fine strings from the hole at the bottom. Scooped butter is made by dipping a teaspoon, or scooper, in warm water, and then scooping the butter quickly and thin. In warm weather, it would not be necessary to heat the spoon. Butter may be kept fresh for 10 or 12 days by a very simple process. Need it well in cold water till the buttermilk is extracted. Then put it in a glazed jar, which invert in another, putting into the latter a sufficient quantity of water to exclude the air. Renew the water every day. Fairy Butter Ingredients The yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, one tablespoon of orange flower water, two tablespoonfuls of pounded sugar, one quarter pound of good fresh butter. Mode Beat the yolks of the eggs smoothly in a mortar with the orange flower water and the sugar until the whole is reduced to a fine paste. Add the butter and force all through an old but clean cloth by wringing the cloth and squeezing the butter very hard. The butter will then drop on the plate in large and small pieces according to the holes in the cloth. Plain butter may be done in the same manner and is very quickly prepared, besides having a very good effect. Butter White-colored butter is said not to be so good as the yellow, but the yellow color is often artificially produced by the introduction of coloring matter into the churn. Anchovy Butter Ingredients To every pound of butter, allow six anchovies, one small bunch of parsley. Mode Wash, bone, and pound the anchovies well in a mortar. Sculpt the parsley, chop it, and rub through a sieve. Then pound all the ingredients together, mix well, and make the butter into paths immediately. This makes a pretty dish, offensively molded, for breakfast or supper, and should be garnished with parsley. Average cost, one shelling, eight pence. Sufficient to make two dishes with four paths each. Seasonable at any time. Cheese In families where much cheese is consumed, and it is bought in large quantities, a piece from the whole cheese should be cut, the larger quantities spread with a thickly buttered sheet of white paper, and the outside occasionally wiped. To keep cheeses moist that are in daily use, when they come from table, a damp cloth should be wrapped around them, and the cheese put into a pan with a cover to it, in a cool, but not very dry place. To ripen cheeses and bring them forward, put them into a damp cellar, and, to check too large a production of mites, spirits may be poured into the parts affected. Pieces of cheese which are too near the rind, or too dry to put on table, may be made into Welsh rare bits, or grated down and mixed with macaroni. Cheeses may be preserved in a perfect state for years, by covering them with parchment made pliable by soaking in water, or by rubbing them over with a coating of melted fat. The cheeses selected should be free from cracks or bruises of any kind. Cheese. It is well known that some persons like cheese in a state of decay, or even alive. There is no accounting for tastes, and it may be hard to show why mold, which is vegetation, should not be eaten as well as salad, or maggots as well as eels. But, generally speaking, decomposing bodies are not wholesome eating, and the line must be drawn somewhere. Stilton cheese. Stilton cheese, or British Parmesan, as it is sometimes called, is generally preferred to all other cheeses by those whose authority few will dispute. Those made in May or June are usually served at Christmas, or, to be in prime order, should be kept from 10 to 12 months, or even longer. An artificial ripeness in Stilton cheese is sometimes produced by inserting a small piece of decayed cheshire into an aperture at the top. From three weeks to a month is sufficient time to ripen the cheese. An additional flavor may also be obtained by scooping out a piece from the top, and pouring therein port, sherry, madera, or old ale, and letting the cheese absorb these for two or three weeks. But that cheese is the finest, which is ripened without any artificial aid, is the opinion of those who are judges in these matters. In serving a Stilton cheese, the top of it should be cut off to form a lid, and a napkin or piece of white paper with a frill at the top pinned round. When the cheese goes from table, the lid should be replaced. Mode of Serving Cheese The usual mode of serving cheese at good tables is to cut a small quantity of it into neat square pieces, and to put them into a glass cheese dish, this dish being handed round. Should the cheese crumble much, of course this method is rather wasteful, and it may then be put on the table in the piece, and the host may cut from it. When served thus, the cheese must always be carefully scraped, and laid on a white doily or napkin, neatly folded. Cream cheese is often served in a cheese course, and sometimes grated parmesan. The latter should be put into a covered glass dish. Rusks, cheese biscuits, pats, or slices of butter, and salad, cucumber, or watercresses, should always form part of a cheese course. Smoking Cheeses The Romans smoked their cheeses to give them a sharp taste. They possessed public places expressly for this use, and subject to police regulations which no one could evade. A celebrated gourmand remarked that a dinner without cheese is like a woman with one eye. Cheese Sandwiches Ingredients Slices of brown bread and butter, thin slices of cheese Mode Cut from a nice fat cheshire, or any good rich cheese, some slices about 1 ½ inch thick, and place them between some slices of brown bread and butter, like sandwiches. Place them on a plate in the oven, and, when the bread is toasted, serve on a napkin very hot and very quickly. Time 10 minutes in a brisk oven Average cost 1 ½ pence each sandwich Sufficient Allow a sandwich for each person Seasonable Time Cheese One of the most important products of coagulated milk is cheese, unfermented or cream cheese, when quite fresh, is good for subjects with whom milk does not disagree. But cheese, in its commonest shape, is only fit for sedentary people as an after-dinner stimulant, and in very small quantity. Bread and cheese, as a meal, is only fit for soldiers on March or laborers in the open air, who like it because it holds the stomach a long time. Cayenne Cheeses Ingredients 1 ½ pound of butter, 1 ½ pound of flour, 1 ½ pound of grated cheese, 1 3 teaspoon full of cayenne, 1 3 teaspoon full of salt, water, Mode Rub the butter and the flour, add the grated cheese, cayenne and salt, and mix these ingredients well together. Moisten with sufficient water to make the whole into a paste. Roll out and cut into fingers about 4 inches in length. Bake them in a moderate oven, a very light color, and serve very hot. Time 15 to 20 minutes Average cost 1 shilling 4 pence Sufficient For 6 or 7 persons, seasonable at any time. To make a fondue Ingredients 4 eggs The weight of 2 in Parmesan or good Cheshire cheese The weight of 2 in butter, pepper and salt to taste Mode Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs, beat the former in a basin, and grate the cheese or cut it into very thin flakes. Parmesan or Cheshire cheese may be used, whichever is the most convenient, although the former is considered more suitable for this dish, or an equal quantity of each may be used. Break the butter into small pieces, add it to the other ingredients with sufficient pepper and salt to season nicely, and beat the mixture thoroughly. Well whisk the whites of the eggs, stir them lightly in, and either bake the fondue in a souffle dish or small round cake tin. Fill the dish only half full, as the fondue should rise very much. Pin a napkin round the tin or dish, and serve very hot and very quickly. If allowed to stand after it is withdrawn from the oven, the beauty and lightness of this preparation will be entirely spoiled. Time From 15 to 20 minutes Average cost 10 pence Sufficient For 4 or 5 persons, seasonable at any time. Brillet, Savorins, Fondue An excellent recipe. Ingredients Eggs Cheese Butter Pepper and Salt Mode Take the same number of eggs as there are guests, weigh the eggs in the shell, allow a third of their weight in Gruyere cheese, and a piece of butter one-sixth of the weight of the cheese. Break the eggs into a basin, beat them well, add the cheese, which should be grated, and the butter, which should be broken into small pieces. Stir these ingredients together with a wooden spoon. Put the mixture into a lined saucepan, place it over the fire, and stir until the substance is thick and soft. Put in a little salt, according to the age of the cheese, and a good sprinkling of pepper, and serve the fondue on a very hot silver or metal plate. Do not allow the fondue to remain on the fire after the mixture is set, as, if it boils, it will be entirely spoiled. Brillet, Savorin, recommends that some choice burgundy should be handed round with this dish. We have given this recipe exactly as he recommends it to be made, but we have tried it with good Cheshire cheese and found it answer remarkably well. Time, about 4 minutes to set the mixture. Average cost, for 4 persons, 10 pence. Sufficient, allow one egg with the other ingredients in proportion for one person, seasonable at any time. Macaroni, as usually served with the cheese course. One, ingredients, 1 half pound of pipe macaroni, 1 quarter pound of butter, 6 ounces of Parmesan or Cheshire cheese, pepper and salt to taste, 1 pint of milk, 2 pints of water, breadcrumbs. Put the milk and water into a saucepan with sufficient salt to flavor it. Place it on the fire and, when it boils quickly, drop in the macaroni. Keep the water boiling until it is quite tender. Drain the macaroni and put it into a deep dish. Have ready the grated cheese, either Parmesan or Cheshire. Sprinkle it amongst the macaroni and some of the butter cut into small pieces, reserving some of the cheese for the top layer. Season with a little pepper and cover the top layer of cheese with some very fine breadcrumbs. Warm, without oiling, the remainder of the butter and pour it gently over the breadcrumbs. Place the dish before a bright fire to brown the crumbs. Turn it once or twice, that it may be equally colored and serve very hot. The top of the macaroni may be browned with a salamander, which is even better than placing it before the fire, as the process is more expeditious, but it should never be browned in the oven as the butter would oil and so impart a very disagreeable flavor to the dish. In boiling the macaroni, let it be perfectly tender but firm, no part beginning to melt, and the form entirely preserved. It may be boiled in plain water with a little salt instead of using milk, but should then have a small piece of butter mixed with it. Time, one and a half to one and three-quarter hour, to boil the macaroni five minutes to brown it before the fire. Average cost, one shilling six pence. Sufficient for six or seven persons, seasonable at any time. Note, ribbed macaroni may be dressed in the same manner, but does not require boiling so long a time. Two, ingredients, one-quarter pound of pipe or ribbed macaroni, one-half pint of milk, one-half pint of veal or beef gravy, the yolks of two eggs, four tablespoon fulls of cream, three ounces of grated parmesan or Cheshire cheese, one ounce of butter. Mode, wash the macaroni and boil it in the gravy and milk until quite tender, without being broken. Drain it and put it into rather a deep dish. Beat the yolks of the eggs with the cream and two tablespoon fulls of the liquor the macaroni was boiled in. Make this sufficiently hot to thicken, but do not allow it to boil. Pour it over the macaroni, over which sprinkle the grated cheese and the butter broken into small pieces. Brown with a salamander or before the fire and serve. Time, one-and-a-half to one-and-three-quarter hour to boil the macaroni, five minutes to thicken the eggs and cream, five minutes to brown. Average cost, one shilling, two pence. Sufficient for three or four persons, seasonable at any time. Three, ingredients, one-quarter pound of pipe macaroni, one-half pint of brown gravy, number 436, six ounces of grated parmesan cheese. Mode, wash the macaroni and boil it in salt and water until quite tender. Drain it and put it into rather a deep dish. Have ready a pint of good brown gravy, pour it hot over the macaroni and send it to table with grated parmesan served on a separate dish. When the flavor is liked, a little pounded mace may be added to the water in which the macaroni is boiled. But this must always be sparingly added as it will impart a very strong flavor. Time, one-and-a-half to one-and-three-quarter hours to boil the macaroni. Average cost, with the gravy and cheese, one shilling, three pence. Sufficient for three or four persons, seasonable at any time. Pound of cheese, ingredients. To every pound of cheese allow three ounces of fresh butter. Mode, to pound of cheese is an economical way of using it. If it has become dry, it is exceedingly good spread on bread and is the best way of eating it for those whose digestion is weak. Cut up the cheese into small pieces and pound it smoothly in a mortar, adding butter in the above proportion. Press it down into a jar, cover with clarified butter, and it will keep for several days. The flavor may be very much increased by adding mixed mustard, about a teaspoon full to every pound, or cayenne, or pounded mace. Curry powder is also not infrequently mixed with it. Ramikins to serve with the cheese course. Ingredients. One-quarter pound of Cheshire cheese. One-quarter pound of Parmesan cheese. One-quarter pound of fresh butter. Four eggs. The crumb of a small roll. Pepper, salt, and pounded mace to taste. Mode, boil the crumb of the roll in milk for five minutes. Strain and put it into a mortar. Add the cheese, which should be finely scraped, the butter, the yolks of the eggs, and seasoning, and pound these ingredients well together. Whisk the whites of the eggs, mix them with the paste, and put it into small pans or saucers, which should not be more than half filled. Bake them from ten to twelve minutes and serve them very hot and very quickly. This batter answers equally well for macaroni after it is boiled tender. Time, ten to twelve minutes, average cost, one shilling four pence. Sufficient for seven or eight persons, seasonable at any time. Pastry Ramikins to serve with the cheese course. Ingredients. Any piece of very good light puff paste, Cheshire, Parmesan, or Stilton cheese. Mode. The remains or odd pieces of paste left from large tarts, etc. Answer for making these little dishes. Gather up the pieces of paste, roll it out evenly, and sprinkle it with grated cheese of a nice flavor. Fold the paste in three, roll it out again, and sprinkle more cheese over. Fold the paste, roll it out, and with a paste cutter, shape it in any way that may be desired. Bake the Ramikins in a brisk oven from ten to fifteen minutes. Dish them on a hot napkin and serve quickly. The appearance of this dish may be very much improved by brushing the Ramikins over with yolk of egg before they are placed in the oven. Where expense is not objected to, Parmesan is the best kind of cheese to use for making this dish. Time, ten to fifteen minutes, average cost, with one half pound of paste, ten pence. Sufficient for six or seven persons, seasonable at any time. Toasted cheese or scotch rare bit. Ingredients. A few slices of rich cheese, toast, mustard, and pepper. Mode. Cut some nice rich sound cheese into rather thin slices. Melt it in a cheese toaster on a hot plate or over steam, and, when melted, add a small quantity of mixed mustard and a seasoning of pepper. Stir the cheese until it is completely dissolved, then brown it before the fire or with a salamander. Fill the bottom of the cheese toaster with hot water, and serve with dry or buttered toasts, whichever may be preferred. Our engraving illustrates a cheese toaster with hot water reservoir. The cheese is melted in the upper tin, which is placed in another vessel of boiling water, so keeping the preparation beautifully hot. A small quantity of porter or port wine is sometimes mixed with the cheese, and, if it be not very rich, a few pieces of butter may be mixed with it, to great advantage. Sometimes the melted cheese is spread on the toasts, and then laid in the cheese dish at the top of the hot water. Whichever way it is served, it is highly necessary that the mixture be very hot and very quickly sent to table, or it will be worthless. Time about five minutes to melt the cheese. Average cost? One and a half pence per slice. Sufficient? Allow a slice to each person. Seasonable at any time. Toasted cheese or Welsh rarebit. Ingredients Slices of bread, butter, cheshire, or clouster cheese, mustard, and pepper. Mode Cut the bread into slices about one inch in thickness. Pair off the crust, toast the bread slightly without hardening or burning it, and spread it with butter. Cut some slices, not quite so large as the bread, from a good, rich, fat cheese. Lay them on the toasted bread in a cheese toaster. Be careful that the cheese does not burn, and let it be equally melted. Spread over the top a little made mustard and a seasoning of pepper, and serve very hot with very hot plates. To facilitate the melting of the cheese, it may be cut into thin flakes, or toasted on one side, before it is laid on the bread. As it is so essential to send this dish hot to table, it is a good plan to melt the cheese in small, round, silver, or metal pans, and to send these pans to table, allowing one for each guest. Slices of dry or buttered toast should always accompany them with mustard, pepper, and salt. Time, about five minutes to melt the cheese. Average cost, one and a half pence each slice. Sufficient, allow a slice to each person, seasonable at any time. Note, should the cheese be dry, a little butter mixed with it will be an improvement. Cow cheese. It is only fifty years after Aristotle, the fourth century before Christ, that butter began to be noticed as an element. The Greeks, in imitation of the Parthians, and Scythians, who used to send it to them, had it served upon their tables, and called it at first oil of milk, and later boturus, cow cheese. Scotch woodcock. Ingredients, a few slices of hot buttered toast, allow one anchovy to each slice. For the sauce, one quarter pint of cream, the yolks of three eggs. Mode. Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs. Beat the former. Stir to them the cream, and bring the sauce to the boiling point, but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle. Have ready some hot buttered toast, spread with anchovies pounded to a paste. Pour a little of the hot sauce on the top, and serve very hot and very quickly. Time, five minutes to make the sauce hot. Sufficient. Allow one half slice to each person, seasonable at any time. End of Section 78 Section 79 of the Book of Household Management. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Reading by Robin Cotter. November 2007 The Book of Household Management. By Isabella Beaton. Recipes. Chapter 33. Part 2 To Choose Eggs. 1654 In choosing eggs, apply the tongue to the large end of the egg, and if it feels warm, it is new. And may be relied on as a fresh egg. Another mode of ascertaining their freshness is to hold them before a lighted candle, or to the light, and if the egg looks clear, it will be tolerably good. If thick, it is stale, and if there is a black spot attached to the shell, it is worthless. No egg should be used for culinary purposes, with the slightest taint in it, as it will render perfectly useless those with which it has been mixed. Eggs that are purchased and that cannot be relied on should always be broken in a cup, and then put into a basin. By this means stale or bad eggs may be easily rejected without wasting the others. Eggs contain for their volume a greater quantity of nutriment than any other article of food, but it does not follow that they are always good for weak stomachs, quite the contrary, for it is often a great object to give the stomach a large surface to work upon, a considerable volume of ingesta over which the nutritive matter is diffused, and so exposed to the action of the gastric juice at many points. There are many persons who cannot digest eggs however cooked, it is said however that their digestibility decreases in proportion to the degree in which they are hardened by boiling. To keep eggs fresh for several weeks, 1655. Have ready a large saucepan capable of holding three or four quarts full of boiling water. Put the eggs into a cabbage net, say twenty at a time, and hold them in the water, which must be kept boiling, for twenty seconds. Proceed in this manner till you have done as many eggs as you wish to preserve, then pack them away in sawdust. We have tried this method of preserving eggs and can vouch for its excellence. They will be found at the end of two or three months, quite good enough for culinary purposes, and although the white may be a little tougher than that of a new laid egg, the yolk will be nearly the same. Many persons keep eggs for a long time by smearing the shells with butter or sweet oil. They should then be packed in plenty of bran or sawdust, and the eggs not allowed to touch each other. Eggs for storing should be collected in fine weather and should not be more than twenty-four hours old when they are packed away, or their flavor, when used, cannot be relied on. Another simple way of preserving eggs is to immerse them in lime water soon after they have been laid, and then to put the vessel containing the lime water in a cellar or cool outhouse. Seasonable. The best time for preserving eggs is from July to September. Eggs. The quality of eggs is said to be very much affected by the food of the fowls who lay them. Herbs and grain together make a better food than grain only. When the hens eat too many insects, the eggs have a disagreeable flavor. To boil eggs for breakfast, salads, etc. Illustration. Egg stand for the breakfast table. 1656 Eggs for boiling cannot be too fresh or boiled too soon after they are laid, but rather a longer time should be allowed for boiling a new laid egg than for one that is three or four days old. Have ready a saucepan of boiling water. Put the eggs into it gently with the spoon, letting the spoon touch the bottom of the saucepan before it is withdrawn, that the egg may not fall and consequently crack. For those who like eggs lightly boiled, three minutes will be found sufficient. Three to three-quarters to four minutes will be ample to set the white nicely, and if liked hard, six to seven minutes will not be found too long. Should the eggs be unusually large, as those of black Spanish fowls sometimes are, allow an extra half minute for them. Eggs for salads should be boiled from ten minutes to a quarter of an hour, and should be placed in a basin of cold water for a few minutes. Then should then be rolled on the table with the hand, and the shell will peel off easily. Time. To boil eggs lightly for invalids or children, three minutes. To boil eggs to suit the generality of tastes, three to three-quarters to four minutes. To boil eggs hard, six to seven minutes. For salads, ten to fifteen minutes. Note. Silver or plated egg dishes, like that shown in our engraving, are now very much used. The price of the one illustrated is two pounds, two shillings, and may be purchased of M. R. and J. Slack, three, three-six, Strand. Eggs. When fresh eggs are dropped into a vessel full of boiling water, they crack. Because the eggs being well-filled, the shells give way to the efforts of the interior fluids, dilated by heat. If the volume of hot water be small, the shells do not crack, because its temperature is reduced by the eggs before the interior dilation can take place. Stale eggs, again, do not crack, because the air inside is easily compressed. Buttered eggs. One thousand six hundred fifty-seven. Ingredients. Four new-laid eggs. Two ounces of butter. Mode. Procure the eggs new-laid if possible, break them into a basin, and beat them well. Put the butter into another basin, which place in boiling water, and stir till the butter is melted. Pour that and the eggs into a lined saucepan, holding it over a gentle fire, and as the mixture begins to warm, pour it two or three times into the basin and back again, that the two ingredients may be well incorporated. Keep stirring the eggs and butter one way until they are hot, without boiling, and serve on hot, buttered toast. If the mixture is allowed to boil, it will curdle, and so be entirely spoiled. Time. About five minutes to make the eggs hot. Average cost? Seven pennies. Sufficient. Allow a slice to each person, seasonable at any time. Duck's eggs. One thousand six hundred fifty-eight. Duck's eggs are usually so strongly flavored that, plainly boiled, they are not good for eating. They answer, however, very well for various culinary preparations where eggs are required, such as custards, etc., etc. Being so large and highly flavored, one duck's egg will go as far as two small hen's eggs, besides making whatever they are mixed with exceedingly rich. They also are admirable when used in puddings. Primitive method of cooking eggs. The shepherds of Egypt had a singular manner of cooking eggs without the aid of fire. They placed them in a sling, which they turned so rapidly that the friction of the air heated them to the exact point required for use. Fried eggs. One thousand six hundred fifty-nine. Ingredients. Four eggs, one quarter pound of lard, butter, or clarified dripping. Illustration. Fried eggs on bacon. Mode. Place a delicately clean frying pan over a gentle fire. Put in the fat, and allow it to come to the boiling point. Break the eggs into cups. Slip them into the boiling fat, and let them remain until the whites are delicately set. And whilst they are frying, ladle a little of the fat over them. Take them up with a slice. Drain them for a minute from their greasy moisture. Trim them neatly, and serve on slices of fried bacon or ham. Or the eggs may be placed in the middle of the dish, with the bacon put round as a garnish. Time. Two to three minutes. Average cost. One penny each. Two pennies. One scarce. Sufficient for two persons. Seasonable at any time. Veneration for eggs. Many of the most learned philosophers held eggs in a kind of respect, approaching to veneration, because they saw in them the emblem of the world and the four elements. The shell, they said, represented the earth, the white water, the yoke, fire, and air was found under the shell at one end of the egg. Eggs a la metre d'hôtel. One thousand six hundred sixty. Ingredients. One quarter pound of fresh butter. One tablespoon full of flour. One half pint of milk. Pepper and salt to taste. One tablespoon full of minced parsley. The juice of one half lemon. Six eggs. Mode. Put the flour and half the butter into a stew pan. Stir them over the fire until the mixture thickens. Pour in the milk, which should be boiling. Add a seasoning of pepper and salt and simmer the whole for five minutes. Put the remainder of the butter into the sauce and add the minced parsley. Then boil the eggs hard, strip off the shells, cut the eggs into quarters, and put them on a dish. Bring the sauce to the boiling point. Add the lemon juice. Pour over the eggs and serve. Time. Five minutes to boil the sauce. The eggs ten to fifteen minutes. Average cost. One shilling. Sufficient for four or five persons. Seasonable at any time. Oufs au plat. Or au mirrore. Served on the dish in which they are cooked. One thousand six hundred sixty one. Ingredients. Four eggs. One ounce of butter. Pepper and salt to taste. Mode. Butter a dish rather thickly with good fresh butter. Melt it. Break the eggs into it. The same is for poaching. Sprinkle them with white pepper and fine salt. And put the remainder of the butter cut into very small pieces on the top of them. Put the dish on a hot plate or in the oven or before the fire. And let it remain until the whites become set. But not hard. One serve immediately placing the dish they were cooked in on another. To hasten the cooking of the eggs a salamander may be held over them for a minute. But great care must be taken that they are not too much done. This is an exceedingly nice dish and one very easily prepared for breakfast. Time three minutes. Average cost five pennies. Sufficient for two persons. Seasonable at any time. Plover's eggs. One thousand six hundred sixty two. Plover's eggs are usually served boiled hard and sent to table in napkin either hot or cold. They may also be shelled and served the same as eggs ala tripe. With a good bechamel sauce or brown gravy poured over them. They are also used for decorating salads. The beautiful color of the white being generally so much admired. Poached eggs. Illustration. Egg poached on toast. Illustration. Tin egg poacher. One thousand six hundred sixty three. Ingredients. Eggs. Water. To every pint of water allow one tablespoon full of vinegar. Mode. Eggs for poaching should be perfectly fresh but not quite new laid. Those that are about thirty six hours old are the best for the purpose. If quite new laid the white is so milky it is almost impossible to set it. And on the other hand if the egg be at all stale it is equally difficult to poach it nicely. Strain some boiling water into a deep clean frying pan. Break the egg into a cup without damaging the yolk. And when the water boils remove the pan to the side of the fire and gently slip the egg into it. Place the pan over a gentle fire and keep the water simmering until the white looks nicely set when the egg is ready. Take it up gently with a slice cut away the ragged edges of the white and serve either on toasted bread or on slices of ham or bacon or on spinach etc. A poached egg should not be overdone as its appearance and taste will be quite spoiled if the yolk be allowed to harden. When the egg is slipped into the water the white should be gathered together to keep it a little in form or the cup should be turned over it for one minute. To poach an egg to perfection is rather a difficult operation so for inexperienced cooks a tin egg poacher may be purchased which greatly facilitates this manner of dressing eggs. Our illustration clearly shows what it is. It consists of a tin plate with a handle with a space for three perforated cups. An egg should be broken into each cup and the machine then placed in a stew pan of boiling water which has been previously strained. When the whites of the eggs appear set they are done and should then be carefully slipped onto the toast or spinach or with whatever they are served. In poaching eggs in a frying pan never do more than four at a time and when a little vinegar is liked mixed with the water in which the eggs are done use the above proportion. Time two and a half to three and a half minutes according to the size of the egg. Sufficient allow two eggs to each person. Seasonable at any time but less plentiful in winter. Poached eggs with cream 1664. Ingredients One pint of water, one teaspoon full of salt, four teaspoon full of vinegar, four fresh eggs, one half gill of cream, salt, pepper, and pounded sugar to taste. One ounce of butter. Mode. Put the water, vinegar, and salt into a frying pan and break each egg into a separate cup. Bring the water, etc., to boil and slip the eggs gently into it without breaking the yolks. Simmer them from three to four minutes but not longer and with a slice lift them out onto a hot dish and trim the edges. Empty the pan of its contents, put in the cream, add a seasoning to taste of pepper, salt, and pounded sugar. Bring the hole to the boiling point, then add the butter, broken into small pieces, toss the pan round and round till the butter is melted. Pour it over the eggs and serve. To ensure the eggs not being spoiled whilst the cream, etc., is preparing, it is a good plan to warm the cream with the butter, etc., before the eggs are poached so that it may be poured over them immediately after they are dished. Time. Three to four minutes to poach the eggs. Five minutes to warm the cream. Average cost for the above quantity, nine pennies. Sufficient for two persons, seasonable at any time. One thousand six hundred sixty-five. Comparative sizes of eggs. Illustration. One swan's egg. Two turkey's egg. Three duck's egg. Four plover's egg. Scotch eggs. One thousand six hundred sixty-six. Ingredients. Six eggs. Six tablespoons of force meat. Number four one seven. Hot lard. One half pint of good brown gravy. Mode. Boil the eggs for ten minutes. Strip them from the shells and cover them with force meat made by recipe number four hundred seventeen. Or substitute pounded anchovies for the ham. Fry the eggs in ice brown in boiling lard. Drain them before the fire from their greasy moisture. Dish them and pour round from one quarter to one half pint of good brown gravy. To enhance the appearance of the eggs they may be rolled in beaten egg and sprinkled with breadcrumbs. But this is scarcely necessary if they are carefully fried. The flavor of the ham or anchovy in the force meat must preponderate as it should be very relishing. Time ten minutes to boil the eggs. Five to seven minutes to fry them. Average cost one shilling four pennies. Sufficient for three or four persons seasonable at any time. Eggs a la tripe. One thousand six hundred sixty-seven. Ingredients. Eight eggs three quarters pint of bechamel sauce. Number three six eight. Dessert spoonful of finely minced parsley. Mode. Boil the eggs hard. Put them into cold water, peel them, take out the yolks whole and shred the whites. Make three quarters pint of bechamel sauce by recipe number three hundred sixty-eight. Add the parsley and when the sauce is quite hot put the yolks of the eggs into the middle of the dish. And the shred whites around them. Pour over the sauce and garnish with leaves of puff pastry or fried croutons. There is no necessity for putting the eggs into the saucepan with the bechamel. The sauce being quite hot will warm the eggs sufficiently. Time ten minutes to boil the eggs. Average cost one shilling. Sufficient for five or six persons. Seasonable at any time. Illustration. End of section seventy-nine. Bread and bread making. Among the numerous vegetable products yielding articles of food for man, the cereals hold the first place. Footnotes, cereal, a corn producing plant, from Ceres, the goddess of agriculture, and a footnote. By means of skillful cultivation mankind have transformed the original forms of these growths, poor and ill-flavored as they perhaps were, into various fruitful and agreeable species which yield an abundant and pleasant supply. Classified according to their respective richness and elementary elements the cereals stand thus. Wheat and its varieties. Rye, barley, oats, rice, Indian corn. Everybody knows it is wheat flour which yields the best bread. My bread is viscous, hard, less easily soluble by the gastric juice, and not so rich in nutritive power. Flour produced from barley, Indian corn, or rice is not so readily made into bread, and the article when made is heavy and indigestible. On examining a grain of corn from any of the numerous cereals used in the preparation of flour, such as wheat, maize, rye, barley, etc., it will be found to consist of two parts. The husk, or exterior covering, which is generally of a dark color, and the inner, or albuminous part, which is more or less white. In grinding these two portions are separated, and the husk being blown away in the process of winnowing, the flour remains in the form of a light brown powder, consisting principally of starch and gluten. In order to render it white, it undergoes a process called bolting. It is passed through a series of fine sieves which separate the coarser parts, leaving behind the fine white flour, the fine firsts of the corn dealer. The process of bolting, as just described, tends to deprive flour of its gluten, the coarser and darker portion containing much of that substance, while the lighter part is peculiarly rich in starch. Bran contains a large proportion of gluten, hence it will be seen why brown bread is so much more nutritious than white. In fact we may lay it down as a general rule that the whiter the bread, the less nourishment it contains. Magendi proved this by feeding a dog for forty days with white, wheat and bread, at the end of which time he died, while another dog fed on brown bread made with flour mixed with bran, lived without any disturbance of his health. The bolting process then is rather injurious than beneficial in its result, and is one of the numerous instances where fashion has chosen a wrong standard to go by. In ancient times down to the emperors, no bolted flour was known. In many parts of Germany the entire meal is used, and in no part of the world are the digestive organs of the people in a better condition. In years of famine, when corn is scarce, the use of bolted flour is most culpable. For from eighteen to twenty percent is lost in the bran. Brown bread has of late years become very popular, and many physicians have recommended it to invalids with weak digestions, with great success. This rage for white bread has introduced adulterations of a very serious character, affecting the health of the whole community. Potatoes are added for this purpose, but this is a comparatively harmless cheat, only reducing the nutritive property of the bread. But bone dust and alum are also put in, which are far from harmless. Bread-making is a very ancient art indeed. The Assyrians, Egyptians and Greeks used to make bread, in which oil with anise seed and other species was an element, but this was unleavened. Every family used to prepare the bread for its own consumption, the trade of baking not having yet taken shape. It is said that somewhere about the beginning of the Thirteenth Olympiad, a slave of an archon at Athens made leavened bread by accident. He had left some wheat and dough in an earthen pan and forgotten it. Some days afterwards he led it upon it again and found it turning sour. His first thought was to throw it away, but his master coming up he mixed this now-assessant dough with some fresh dough, which he was working at. The bread thus produced, by the introduction of dough in which alcoholic fermentation had begun, was found delicious by the archon and his friends. And the slave, being summoned and catacysed, told the secret. It spread all over Athens, and everybody wanting leavened bread at once, certain persons set up as bread-makers or bakers. In a short time bread-making became quite an art, and Athenian bread was quoted all over Greece as the best bread, just as the honey of Hyomedis was celebrated as the best honey. In our own times, and among civilized peoples, bread has become an article of food of the first necessity. And properly so, for it constitutes of itself a complete life sustainer, the gluten, starch and sugar which it contains, representing azotized and hydrocarbonated nutrients, and combining the sustaining powers of the animal and vegetable kingdoms in one product. Wheaton bread. The finest, wholesomest and most savoury bread is made from wheat and flour. There are of wheat, three leading qualities, the soft, the medium and the hard wheat, the last of which yields a kind of bread that is not so white as that made from soft wheat, but which is richer in gluten and consequently more nutritive. Rye bread. This comes next to wheat and bread, it is not so rich in gluten, but is said to keep fresh longer, and to have some laxative qualities. Barley bread, Indian corn bread, etc. Bread made from barley, maize, oats, rice, potatoes, etc. rises badly, because the grains in question contain but little gluten, which makes the bread heavy, close in texture and difficult to digestion. In fact, corn flour has to be added before panification can take place. In countries where wheat is scarce and maize abundant, the people make the latter a chief article of sustenance when prepared in different forms. Breadmaking. Panification, or breadmaking, consists of the following processes, in the case of wheat and flour. Fifty or sixty percent of water is added to the flour, with the addition of some leavening matter and preferably of yeast from malt and hops. All kinds of leavening matter have, however, been and are still used in different parts of the world. In the East Indies, toddy, which is a liquor that flows from the wounded coconut tree, and in the West Indies, dunder, or the refuse of the distillation of rum. The dough then undergoes the well-known process called kneading. The yeast produces fermentation, a process which may be thus described. The dough reacting upon the leavening matter introduced. The starch of the flour is transformed into saccharin matter, the saccharin matter being afterwards changed into alcohol and carbonic acid. The dough must be well bound and yet allow the escape of the little bubbles of carbonic acid which accompany the fermentation, and which, in their passage, cause the numerous little holes which are seen in light bread. The yeast must be good and fresh, if the bread is to be digestible and nice. Stale yeast produces, instead of venous fermentation and acetus fermentation, which flavors the bread and makes it disagreeable. A poor, thin yeast produces an imperfect fermentation, the result being a heavy, unwholesome loaf. When the dough is well needed, it is left to stand for some time, and then, as soon as it begins to swell, it is divided into loaves, after which it is again left to stand, when it once more swells up and manifests for the last time the symptoms of fermentation. It is then put into the oven, where the water contained in the dough is partly evaporated, and the loaf swells up again, while the yellow crust begins to form upon the surface. When the bread is sufficiently baked, the bottom crust is hard and resonant if struck with the finger, while the crumb is elastic and rises again after being pressed down with the finger. The bread is, in all probability, baked sufficiently if, on opening the door of the oven, you are met by a cloud of steam which quickly passes away. One word as to the unwholesomeness of new bread and hot rolls. When bread is taken out of the oven, it is full of moisture. The starch is held together in masses, and the bread, instead of being crusted so as to expose each grain of starch to the saliva, actually prevents their digestion by being formed by the teeth into leathery, pourless masses, which lie on the stomach like so many bullets. Bread should always be at least a day old before it is eaten, and if properly made and kept in a cool, dry place, ought to be perfectly soft and palatable at the end of three or four days. Hot rolls, swimming in melted butter, and new bread, ought to be carefully shunned by everybody who has the slightest respect for that much-injured individual, the stomach. Aerated bread. It is not unknown to some of our readers that Dr. Doglish of Malvern has recently patented a process for making bread light without the use of leaven. The ordinary process of bread-making by fermentation is tedious, and much labour of human hands is requisite in the kneading, in order that the dough may be thoroughly interpenetrated with the leaven. The new process impregnates the bread by the application of machinery with carbonic acid gas, or fixed air. Different opinions are expressed about the bread, but it is curious to note that as corn is now reaped by machinery and dough is baked by machinery, the whole process of bread-making is probably in course of undergoing changes which will emancipate both the housewife and the professional baker from a large amount of labour. In the production of aerated bread, wheat and flour, water, salt, and carbonic acid gas generated by proper machinery are the only materials employed. We need not inform our readers that carbonic acid gas is the source of the effervescence, whether in common water coming from a depth, or in lemonade, or any aerated drink. Its action in the new bread takes the place of fermentation in the old. In the patent process the dough is mixed in a great iron ball, inside which is a system of paddles, perpetually turning, and doing the kneading part of the business. Into this globe the flour is dropped till it is full, and then the common atmospheric air is pumped out, and the pure gas turned on. The gas is followed by the water, which has been aerated for this purpose, and then begins the turning or kneading part of the business. Of course it is not long before we have the dough, and very light and nice it looks. This is caught in tins, and passed on to the floor of the oven, which is an endless floor, moving slowly through the fire. Done to a turn, the loaves emerge at the other end of the apartment, and the aerated bread is made. It may be added that it is a good plan to change one's baker from time to time, and so secure a change in the quality of the bread that is eaten. Mixed breads Rye bread is hard of digestion, and requires longer and slower baking than wheat and bread. It is better when made with leaven of wheat and flour rather than yeast, and turns out lighter. It should not be eaten till two days old. It will keep a long time. A good bread may be made by mixing rye flour, wheat flour, and rice paste in equal proportions, also by mixing rye, wheat, and barley. In Norway it is said that they only make their barley bread once a year, such as its keeping quality. Indian corn flour mixed with wheat flour, half with half, makes a nice bread, but it is not considered very digestible, though it keeps well. Rice cannot be made into bread, nor can potatoes, but one third potato flour to three fourths wheaten flour makes a tolerably good loaf. A very good bread, better than the ordinary sort, and of a delicious flavour, is said to be produced by adopting the following recipe. Take ten parts of wheat flour, five parts of potato flour, one part of rice paste, knead together, add the yeast, and bake as usual. This is of course cheaper than wheaten bread. Flour, when freshly ground, is too glutinous to make good bread, and should therefore not be used immediately, but should be kept dry for a few weeks, and stirred occasionally, until it becomes dry and crumbles easily between the fingers. Flour should be perfectly dry before being used for bread or cakes. If at all damp, the preparation is sure to be heavy. Before mixing it with the other ingredients, it is a good plan to place it for an hour or two before the fire, until it feels warm and dry. Yeast from home-brewed beer is generally preferred to any other. It is very bitter, and on that account should be well washed, and put away until the thick mass settles. If it still continues bitter, the process should be repeated. And before being used, all the water floating at the top must be poured off. German yeast is now very much used, and should be moistened and thoroughly mixed with the milk or water with which the bread is to be made. The following observations are extracted from a valuable work on bread-making—footnote, the English bread-book by Eliza Acton, London, Longman, and a footnote—and will be found very useful to our readers. The first thing required for making wholesome bread is the utmost cleanliness. The next is the soundness and sweetness of all the ingredients used for it, and in addition to these there must be attention and care through the whole process. An almost certain way of spoiling dough is to leave it half-made and to allow it to become cold before it is finished. The other most common causes of failure are using yeast which is no longer sweet, or which has been frozen, or which has had hot liquid poured over it. Too small a proportion of yeast, or insufficient time allowed for the dough to rise, will cause the bread to be heavy. Heavy bread will also most likely be the result of making the dough very hard and letting it become quite cold, particularly in winter. If either the sponge or the dough be permitted to overwork itself, that is to say, if the mixing and kneading be neglected when it has reached the proper point for either, sour bread will probably be the consequence in warm weather and bad bread in any. The goodness will also be endangered by placing it so near a fire as to make any part of it hot, instead of maintaining the gentle and equal degree of heat required for its due fermentation. Milk or butter. Milk which is not perfectly sweet will not only injure the flavour of the bread, but in sultry weather will often cause it to be quite unedible, yet either of them, fresh and good, will materially improve its quality. To keep bread sweet and fresh, as soon as it is cold it should be put into a clean, earthen pan with a cover to it. This pan should be placed at a little distance from the ground to allow a current of air to pass underneath. Some persons prefer keeping bread on clean wooden shelves without being covered, that the crust may not soften. Stale bread may be freshened by warming it through in a gentle oven. Stale pastry, cakes, etc. may also be improved by this method. The utensils required for making bread on a moderate scale are a kneading trough or pan sufficiently large that the dough may be kneaded freely without throwing the flour over the edges, and also to allow for its rising. A hair sieve for straining yeast, and one or two strong spoons. Yeast must always be good of its kind, and in a fitting state to produce ready and proper fermentation. Yeast of strong beer or ale produces more effect than that of milder kinds, and the fresher the yeast the smaller the quantity will be required to raise the dough. As a general rule the oven for baking bread should be rather quick, and the heat so regulated as to penetrate the dough without hardening the outside. The oven door should not be opened after the bread is put in until the dough is set, or has become firm, as the cool air admitted will have an unfavorable effect on it. Brick ovens are generally considered the best adapted for baking bread. These should be heated with wood faggots, and then swept and mocked out, to cleanse them for the reception of the bread. Iron ovens are more difficult to manage, being apt to burn the surface of the bread before the middle is baked. To remedy this a few clean bricks should be set at the bottom of the oven, close together, to receive the tins of bread. In many modern stoves the ovens are so much improved that they bake admirably, and they can always be brought to the required temperature when it is higher than needed, by leaving the door open for a time. A few hints respecting the making and baking of cakes. Eggs should always be broken into a cup, the whites and yolks separated, and they should always be strained. Breaking the eggs thus the bad ones may be easily rejected without spoiling the others, and so cause no waste. As eggs are used instead of yeast, they should be very thoroughly whisked, and they are generally sufficiently beaten when thick enough to carry the drop that falls from the whisk. Loaf sugar should be well pounded, and then sifted through a fine sieve. Currents should be nicely washed, picked, dried in a cloth, and then carefully examined, that no pieces of grit or stone may be left amongst them. They should then be laid on a dish before the fire, to become thoroughly dry, as if added damp to the other ingredients, cakes will be liable to be heavy. Good butter should always be used in the manufacture of cakes, and if beaten to a cream it saves much time and labour to warm, but not melt it before beating. Less butter and eggs are required for cakes when yeast is mixed with the other ingredients. The heat of the oven is of great importance, especially for large cakes. If the heat be not tolerably fierce, the batter will not rise. If the oven is too quick and there is any danger of the cake burning or catching, put a sheet of clean paper over the top. Newspaper or paper that has been printed on should never be used for this purpose. To know when a cake is sufficiently baked, plunge a clean knife into the middle of it. Draw it quickly out, and if it looks in the least sticky, put the cake back in, and close the oven door until the cake is done. Cakes should be kept in closed tin canisters or jars, and in a dry place. Those made with yeast do not keep so long as those made without it. Biscuits Since the establishment of the large modern biscuit manufacturers, biscuits have been produced both cheap and wholesome and comparatively speaking endless variety. Their actual component parts are perhaps known only to the various makers, but there are several kinds of biscuits which have been long in use, that here may be advantageously described. Biscuits belong to the class of unfermented bread, and are perhaps the most wholesome of that class. In cases where fermented bread does not agree with the human stomach, they may be recommended. In many instances they are considered lighter, and less liable to create acidity and flatulence. The name is derived from the French biscuit, twice baked, because originally that was the motive entirely depriving them of all moisture to ensure their keeping. But although that process is no longer employed, the name is retained. The use of this kind of bread on land is pretty general, and some varieties are luxuries, but at sea biscuits are articles of the first necessity. Biscuits are made of wheat flour from which only the coarsest bran has been separated. The dough is made up as stiff as it can be worked, and is then formed into shapes and baked in an oven, after which the biscuits are exposed to lofts over the oven until perfectly dry, to prevent them from becoming moldy when stored. Captain's biscuits are made in a similar manner, only of fine flour. End of Section 80. 1716. Ingredients 1 and 1 half ounces of hops. 3 quarts of water. 1 pound of bruised malt. Half pint yeast. Mode. Boil the hops in the water for 20 minutes. Let it stand for about 5 minutes, then add it to 1 pound of bruised malt, prepared as for brewing. Let the mixture stand covered till about lukewarm. Then put in not quite half pint of yeast. Keep it warm, and let it work 3 or 4 hours. Then put it into small half pint bottles. Ginger beer bottles are the best for the purpose. Cork them well, and tie them down. The yeast is now ready for use. It will keep good for a few weeks, and one bottle will be found sufficient for 18 pounds of flour. When required for use, boil 3 pounds of potatoes without salt. Mash them in the same water in which they were boiled, and rub them through a colander. Stir in about half a pound of flour. Then put in the yeast, pour it in the middle of the flour, and let it stand warm on the hearth all night. And in the morning let it be quite warm when it is needed. The bottles of yeast require very careful opening as it is generally exceedingly ripe. Time, 20 minutes to boil the hops and water, the yeast to work 3 or 4 hours. Sufficient, half pint sufficient for 18 pounds of flour. Kirkletham yeast, 1717. Ingredients, 2 ounces of hops, 4 quarts of water, half pound of flour, half pint of yeast. Mode, boil the hops and water for 20 minutes. Strain and mix with the liquid half pound of flour and not quite half pint of yeast. Bottle it up and tie the corks down. When wanted for use, boil potatoes according to the quantity of bread to be made. About 3 pounds are sufficient for about a peck of flour. Mash them, add to them half pound of flour, and mix about half pint of the yeast with them. Let this mixture stand all day and lay the bread to rise the night before it is wanted. Time, 20 minutes to boil the hops and water. Sufficient, half pint of this yeast sufficient for a peck of flour or rather more. To make good homemade bread, Miss Acton's recipe. 1718. Ingredients, 1 quarter turn of flour, 1 large tablespoon full of solid brewers yeast, or nearly 1 ounce of fresh German yeast, 1 and 1 quarter to 1 and 1 half pint of warm milk and water. Illustration, cottage loaf. Illustration, tin bread. Mode, put the flour into a large earthenware bowl or deep pan, then with a strong metal or wooden spoon hollow out the middle, but do not clear it entirely away from the bottom of the pan, as in that case the sponge or leaven, as it was formerly termed, would stick to it, which it ought not to do. Next take either a large tablespoon full of brewers yeast, which has been rendered solid by mixing it with plenty of cold water, and letting it afterwards stand to settle for a day and night, or nearly an ounce of German yeast. Put it into a large basin and proceed to mix it so that it shall be as smooth as cream, with 3 quarter pint of warm milk and water, or with water only, though even a very little milk will much improve the bread. Pour the yeast into the hole made in the flour, and stir into it as much of that, which lies round it, as will make a thick batter, in which there must be no lumps. Strew plenty of flour on the top. Throw a thick, clean cloth over and set it where the air is warm, but do not place it upon the kitchen fender, for it will become too much heated there. Look at it from time to time. When it has been laid for nearly an hour, and when the yeast has risen and broken through the flour so that bubbles appear in it, you will know that it is ready to be made up into dough. Then place the pan on a strong chair or dresser, or table, of convenient height. Pour into the sponge the remainder of the warm milk and water. Stir into it as much of the flour as you can with the spoon. Then wipe it out clean with your fingers and lay it aside. Next, take plenty of the remaining flour, throw it on top of the leaven, and begin with the knuckles of both hands to knead it well. When the flour is nearly all kneaded in, begin to draw the edges of the dough toward the middle in order to mix the whole thoroughly. And when it is free from flour and lumps and crumbs, and does not stick to the hands when touched, it will be done and may again be covered with the cloth and left to rise a second time. In three-quarters hour look at it, and should it have swollen very much and begin to crack, it will be light enough to bake. Turn it then onto a paste board or very clean dresser, and with a large sharp knife divide it in two. Make it up quickly into loaves and dispatch it to the oven. Make one or two incisions across the top of the loaves as they will rise more easily if this be done. If baked in tins or pans, rub them with a tiny piece of butter laid on a piece of clean paper to prevent the dough from sticking to them. All bread should be turned upside down or on its side as soon as it is drawn from the oven. If this be neglected, the under part of the loaves will become wet and blistered from the steam, which cannot then escape from them. To make the dough without setting a sponge, merely mix the yeast with the greater part of the warm milk and water and wet up the whole of the flour at once after a little salt has been stirred in, proceeding exactly in every other respect as in the directions just given. As the dough will soften in the rising, it should be made quite firm at first, or it will be too light by the time it is ready for the oven. Illustration Italian Millet Time To be left to rise an hour the first time, three-quarter hour the second time, to be baked from one to one-and-one-quarter hour, or baked in one loaf from one-and-a-half to two hours. Italian Millet, or Great Indian Millet, is cultivated in Egypt and Nubia, where it is called Dura, and is used as human food as well as for the fermentation of beer. It will grow on poor soils and is extremely productive. It has been introduced into Italy where they make a coarse bread from it, and it is also employed in pastry and puddings. They also use it for feeding horses and domestic fowls. It is the largest variety growing to a height of six feet, but it requires a warm climate and will not ripen in this country. A yellow variety, called Golden Millet, is sold in the grocer's shops for making puddings and is very delicate and wholesome. To make a Peck of Good Bread, 1719 Ingredients Three pounds of potatoes Six pints of cold water Half pint of good yeast A peck of flour Two ounces of salt Mode Peel and boil the potatoes Beat them to a cream while warm Then add one pint of cold water Strain through a colander and add to it half pint of good yeast which should have been put in water overnight to take off its bitterness Stir all well together with a wooden spoon and pour the mixture into the center of the flour Mix it to the substance of cream Cover it over closely and let it remain near the fire for an hour Then add the five pints of water, milk warm, with two ounces of salt Pour this in and mix the whole to a nice light dough Let it remain for about two hours Then make it into seven loaves and bake for about one and one half hour in a good oven When baked, the bread should weigh nearly twenty pounds Time about one and one half hour The red varieties of wheat are generally heartier and more easily grown than the white sorts and although of less value to the miller they are fully more profitable to the grower in consequence of the better crops which they produce Another advantage the redweeds possess is their comparative immunity from the attacks of mildew and fly The best English wheat comes from counties of Kent and Essex The qualities under these heads always bearing a higher price than others as will be seen by the periodical lists in the journals Rice Bread 1720 Ingredients The amount of rice allows four pounds of wheat flour nearly three tablespoons of yeast one quarter ounce of salt Boil the rice and water until it is quite tender Pour off the water and put the rice before it is cold to the flour Mix these well together with the yeast, salt and sufficient warm water to make the whole into a smooth dough When the dough is cooked by the side of the fire then form it into loaves and bake them from one and a half to two hours according to their size If the rice is boiled in milk instead of water it makes very delicious bread or cakes When boiled in this manner it may be mixed with the flour without straining the liquid from it Time One and one half to two hours Indian Corn Flour Bread 1721 Ingredients To four pounds of flour allow two pounds of Indian Corn Flour two tablespoons of yeast three pints of warm water one quarter ounce of salt Mode Mix the two flours well together with the salt Make a hole in the center and stir the yeast up well with half pint of the warm water Put this into the middle of the flour and mix enough of it with the yeast to make a thin batter Throw a little flour over the surface of this batter Cover the hole with a thick cloth and set it to rise in a warm place When the batter has nicely risen work the hole to a nice smooth dough adding the water as required Knead it well and mold the dough into loaves Let them rise for nearly half hour then put them into a well heated oven If made into two loaves they will require from one and one half to two hours baking Time One and one half to two hours Illustration Maze Plant Illustration Ear of Maze Maze Next to wheat and rice maize is the grain most used in the nourishment of man In Asia, Africa and America it is the principal daily food of a large portion of the population especially of the colonists In some of the provinces of France too it is consumed in large quantities There are eight varieties of the maize The most productive is the maize of Cusco The flower of maize is yellow and it contains an oily matter which when fresh gives it an agreeable flavor and odor but the action of the air on it soon develops rancidity If carried any distance it should be stored away in airtight vessels An excellent soup is prepared with meat and maize flour The inhabitants of some countries where wheat is scarce make with maize and water or milk and salt a kind of biscuit which is pleasant in taste but indigestible Some of the preparations of maize flour are very good and when partaken in moderation suitable food for almost everybody Soda bread 1722 Ingredients To every two pounds of flour allow one teaspoon full of tartaric acid one teaspoon full of salt one teaspoon full of carbonate of soda two breakfast cupfuls of cold milk mode let the tartaric acid and salt be reduced to the finest possible powder then mix them well with the flour dissolve the soda in the milk and pour it several times from one basin to another before adding it to the flour work the whole quickly into a light dough divide it into two loaves and put them into a well heated oven immediately and bake for an hour sour milk or buttermilk may be used but then a little less acid will be needed time one hour Polish and Pomeranian wheat are accounted by authorities most excellent large raft like barges convey this grain down the rivers from the interior of the country to the seaports this corn is described as being white hard and thin skin and it yields a large quantity of flour having a small proportion of bran excellent rolls 1723 ingredients to every pound of flour allow one ounce of butter one quarter pint of milk one large teaspoon full of yeast a little salt illustration rolls mode warm the butter in the milk add it to the yeast and salt and mix these ingredients well together put the flour into a pan stir in the above ingredients and let the dough rise covered in a warm place knead it well make it into rolls let them rise again for a few minutes and bake in a quick oven richer rolls may be made by adding one or two eggs and a larger proportion of butter and their appearance improved by brushing the tops over with yolk of egg or a little milk time one pound of flour divided into six rolls from 15 to 20 minutes hot rolls 1724 this dish although very unwholesome and indigestible nevertheless a great favorite and eaten by many persons as soon as the rolls come from the bakers they should be put into the oven which in the early part of the morning is sure not to be very hot and the rolls must not be buttered until wanted when they are quite hot divide them lengthwise into three put some thin flakes of good butter between the slices press the rolls together and put them in the oven for a minute or two but not longer or the butter would oil take them out of the oven spread the butter equally over divide the rolls in half and put them on to a very hot clean dish and send them instantly to table to make dry toast 1725 to make dry toast properly a great deal of attention is required much more indeed than people generally suppose never use new bread for making any kind of toast as it eats heavy and besides it is very extravagant procure a loaf of household bread about two days old cut off as many slices as may be required not quite quarter inch in thickness trim off the crusts and ragged edges put the bread on a toasting fork and hold it before a very clear fire move it backwards and forwards until the bread is nicely colored then turn it and toast the other side and do not place it so near the fire that it blackens dry toast should be more gradually made than buttered toast as its great beauty consists in its crispness and this cannot be attained unless it is low and the bread is allowed gradually to color it should never be made long before it is wanted as it soon becomes tough unless placed on the fender in front of the fire as soon as each piece is ready it should be put into a rack or stood upon its edges and sent quickly to table to make hot buttered toast 1726 a loaf of household bread about two days old answers for making toast better than cottage bread the latter not being a good shape and too crusty for the purpose cut as many nice even slices as may be required rather more than one quarter inch in thickness and toast them before a very bright fire without allowing the bread to blacken which spoils the appearance and flavor of all toast a nice color on both sides put it on a hot plate divide some good butter into small pieces place them on the toast set this before the fire and when the butter is just beginning to melt spread it lightly over the toast trim off the crust and ragged edges divide each round into four pieces and send the toast quickly to table some persons cut the slices of toast across from corner to corner so making the pieces of a three cornered shape Sawyer recommends that each slice should be cut into pieces as soon as it is buttered and when all are ready that they should be piled lightly on the dish they are intended to be served on he says that by cutting through four or five slices at a time all the butter is squeezed out of the upper ones while the bottom one is in fat liquid it is highly essential to use good butter for making this dish muffins 1727 ingredients to every quart of milk allow one and one half ounce of German yeast a little salt, flour illustration muffins mode warm the milk, add it to the yeast together, put them into a pan and stir in sufficient flour to make the whole into a dough of rather a soft consistence cover it over with a cloth and place it in a warm place to rise and when light and nicely risen divide the dough into pieces and round them to the proper shape with the hands place them in a layer of flour about two inches thick on wooden trays and let them rise again when this is affected they will each exhibit a semi globular shape then place them carefully on a hot plate or stove and bake them until they are slightly browned turning them when they are done on one side muffins are not easily made and are more generally purchased than manufactured at home to toast them, divide the edge of the muffin all around by pulling it open to the depth of about an inch with the fingers put it on a toasting fork and hold it before a very clear fire until one side is nicely browned, not burnt turn and toast it on the other do not toast them too quickly as if this is done the middle of the muffin will not be warmed through when done divide them by pulling them open slightly on both sides put them together again and cut them into halves when sufficient are toasted and buttered pile them on a very hot dish and send them very quickly to table time from 20 minutes to half hour to bake them sufficient allow one muffin to each person crumpets illustration crumpets in 1928 these are made in the same manner as muffins only in making the mixture let it be more like batter than dough let it rise for about half hour pour it into iron rings which should be ready on a hot plate bake them and when one side appears done turn them quickly on the other to toast them have ready a very bright clear fire put it on a toasting fork and hold it before the fire not too close until it is nicely brown on one side but do not allow it to blacken turn it and brown the other side then spread it with good butter cut it in half and when all are done pile them on a hot dish and send them quickly to table muffins and crumpets should always be served on separate dishes toasted and served as expeditiously as possible time from 10 to 15 minutes to bake them sufficient allow two crumpets to each person plain buns 1729 ingredients to every two pounds of flour allow six ounces of moist sugar one half gill of yeast one half pint of milk one half pound of butter warm milk mode put the flour into a basin mix the sugar well with it make a hole in the center and stir in the yeast and milk which should be luke warm with enough of the flour to make it the thickness of cream cover the basin over with a cloth and let the sponge rise in a warm place which will be accomplished in about one and one half hour melt the butter but do not allow it to oil stir it into the other ingredients with enough warm milk to make the hole into a soft dough then mold it into buns about the size of an egg lay them in rows quite three inches apart set them again in a warm place until they have risen to double their size then put them into a good brisk oven and just before they are done wash them over with a little milk from 15 to 20 minutes will be required to bake them nicely these buns may be varied by adding a few currants candied peel or caraway seeds to the other ingredients and the above mixture answers for hot cross buns by putting in a little ground allspice and by pressing a tin mold in the form of a cross in the center of the bun time 15 to 20 minutes average cost one pence each sufficient to make 18 buns to make good plain buns 1730 ingredients one pound of flour six ounces of good butter one quarter pound of sugar one egg nearly one quarter pint of milk one teaspoon fulls of baking powder a few drops of essence of lemon mode warm the butter without oiling it beat it with a wooden spoon stir the flour in gradually with the sugar and mix these ingredients well together make the milk luke warm beat up with it the yolk of the egg and the essence of lemon and stir these to the flour add the baking powder beat the dough well for about 10 minutes divided into 24 pieces put them into buttered tins or cups and bake in a brisk oven from 20 to 30 minutes time 20 to 30 minutes average cost one shilling sufficient to make 12 buns seasonable at any time light buns buns 1731 ingredients one half teaspoon full of tartaric acid one half teaspoon full of bicarbonate of soda one pound of flour two ounces of butter two ounces of loaf sugar one quarter pound of currants or raisins when liked a few caraway seeds half pint of cold new milk one egg mode rub the tartaric acid soda and flour all together through a hair sieve work the butter into the flour add the sugar, currants and caraway seeds when the flavor of them ladder is liked mix all these ingredients well together make a hole in the middle of the flour and pour in the milk mixed with the egg well beaten mix quickly and set the dough with a fork on baking tins and bake the buns for about 20 minutes this mixture makes a very good cake and if put into a tin should be baked one and one half hour the same quantity of flour soda and tartaric acid with one half pint of milk and a little salt will make either bread or tea cakes if wanted quickly time 20 minutes for the buns if made into a cake one and one half hour sufficient to make about 12 buns Victoria buns 1732 ingredients two ounces of pounded loaf sugar one egg one and one half ounce of ground rice two ounces of butter two ounces of currants a few thin slices of candied peel flour whisk the egg stir in the sugar and beat these ingredients well together beat the butter to a cream stir in the ground rice currants and candied peel and as much flour as will make it of such a consistency that it may be rolled into 7 or 8 balls put these on to a buttered tin and bake them from one half to three quarter hour they should be put into the oven immediately or they will become heavy and the oven should be tolerably brisk time one half to three quarter hour average cost 6 pence sufficient to make 7 or 8 buns seasonable at any time Italian rusks 1733 a stale savoy or lemon cake may be converted into very good rusks in the following manner cut the cake into slices divide each slice in two put them on a baking sheet in a slow oven and when they are of a nice brown and quite hard they are done they should be kept in a closed tin canister in a dry place to preserve their crispness illustration panacled millet panacled millet this is the smallest seeded of the corn plants being a true grass but the number of the seeds in each ear makes up for their size it grows in sandy soils that will not do for the cultivation of many other kinds of grain and forms the chief sustenance of the entire districts of Arabia Syria Nubia and parts of India it is not cultivated in England being principally confined to the east the nations who make use of it grind it in the primitive manner between two stones and make it into a diet which cannot be properly called bread but rather a kind of soft thin cake half baked when we take into account that the Arabians are fond of lizards and locusts as articles of food their cuisine altogether is scarcely attempting one to make rusks Suffolk recipe 1734 ingredients to every pound of flour allow two ounces of butter one quarter pint of milk two ounces of loaf sugar three eggs a spoon full of yeast illustration rusks mode put the milk and butter into a saucepan and keep shaking it round until the ladder is melted put the flour into a basin with the sugar mix these well together and beat the eggs stir them with the yeast to the milk and butter and with this liquid work the flour into a smooth dough pour a cloth over the basin and leave the dough to rise by the side of the fire then knead it and divide it into 12 pieces place them in a brisk oven and bake for about 20 minutes take the rusks out break them in half and then set them in the oven to get crisp on the other side when cold they should be put into 10 canisters to keep them dry and if intended for the cheese the sifted sugar should be omitted time 20 minutes to bake the rusks 5 minutes to render them crisp after being divided average cost 8 pence sufficient to make 2 dozen rusks seasonable at any time end of section 81