The Virginia Housewife

TO MAKE NICE BISCUIT

Rub a large spoonful of butter into a quart of risen dough, knead it well, and make it into biscuit, either thick or thin: bake them quickly.

RICE BREAD

Boil six ounces of rice in a quart of water, till it is dry and soft–put it into two pounds of flour, mix it in well; add two tea-spoonsful of salt, two large spoonsful of yeast, and as much water as will make it the consistence of bread: when well risen, bake it in moulds.

MIXED BREAD

Put a tea-spoonful of salt, and a large one of yeast, into a quart of flour; make it sufficiently soft, with corn meal gruel; when well risen, bake it in a mould. It is an excellent bread for breakfast. Indifferent flour will rise much better, when made with gruel, than with fair water.

PATENT YEAST

Put half a pound of fresh hops into a gallon of water, and boil it away to two quarts; then strain it, make it a thin batter with flour; add half a pint good yeast, and when well fermented, pour it in a bowl, and work in as much corn meal as will make it the consistency of biscuit dough; set it to rise, and when quite light, make it into little cakes, which must be dried in the shade, turning them very frequently; keep them securely from damp and dust. Persons who live in town, and can procure brewer's yeast, will save trouble by using it: take one quart of it, add a quart of water, and proceed as before directed.

TO PREPARE THE CAKES

Take one or more cakes, according to the flour you are to make; pour on a little warm water; when it is dissolved, stir it well, thicken with a little flour, and set it near the fire, to rise before it is used. The best thing to keep yeast in, is a small mug or pitcher, with a close stopper, under which must be placed a double fold of linen, to make it still closer. This is far preferable to a bottle, and more easily cleaned.

ANOTHER METHOD FOR MAKING YEAST

Peel one large Irish potato, boil it till soft, rub it through a sieve; add an equal quantity of flour, make it sufficiently liquid with hop tea; and when a little warmer than new milk, add a gill of good yeast; stir it well, and keep it closely covered in a small pitcher.

NICE BUNS

Put four ounces of sugar with three quarters of a pound of flour; make it up with two spoonsful of yeast, and half a pint of milk; when well risen, work into it four ounces of butter, make it into small buns, and bake them in a quick oven–do not burn them.

MUFFINS

Sift a quart of flour, put to it a little salt, and a large spoonful of yeast–beat the white of a fresh egg to a strong froth, add it, and make the flour up with cold water, as soft as you can to allow it to be handled; set it in a moderately warm place. Next morning, beat it well with a spoon, put it on the griddle in a round form, and bake it nicely, turning them frequently till done.

FRENCH ROLLS

Sift a quart of flour, add a little salt, a spoonful of yeast, two eggs well beaten, and half a pint of milk–knead it, and set it to rise: next morning, work in an ounce of butter, make the dough into small rolls, and bake them. The top crust should not be hard.

CRUMPETS

Take a quart of dough from your bread at a very early hour in the morning; break three fresh eggs, separating the yelks from the whites–whip them both to a froth, mix them with the dough, and add gradually milk-warm water, till you make a batter the thickness of buckwheat cakes: beat it well, and set it to rise till near breakfast time; have the griddle ready, pour on the batter to look quite round: they do not require turning.

APOQUINIMINC CAKES

Put a little salt, one egg beaten, and four ounces of butter, in a quart of flour–make it into a paste with new milk, beat it for half an hour with a pestle, roll the paste thin, and cut it into round cakes; bake them on a gridiron, and be careful not to bum them.

BATTER CAKES

Boil two cups of small homony very soft; add an equal quantity of corn meal with a little salt, and a large spoonful of butter; make it in a thin batter with three eggs, and a sufficient quantity of milk–beat all together some time, and bake them on a griddle, or in woffle irons. When eggs cannot be procured, yeast makes a good substitute; put a spoonful in the batter, and let it stand an hour to rise.

BATTER BREAD

Take six spoonsful of flour and three of corn meal, with a little salt–sift them, and make a thin batter with four eggs, and a sufficient quantity of rich milk; bake it in little tin moulds in a quick oven.

CREAM CAKES

Melt as much butter in a pint of milk, as will make it rich as cream–make the flour into a paste with this, knead it well, roll it out frequently, cut it in squares, and bake on a griddle.

SOUFLE BISCUITS

Rub four ounces of butter into a quart of flour, make it into paste with milk, knead it well, roll it as thin as paper, and bake it to look white.

CORN MEAL BREAD

Rub a piece of butter the size of an egg, into a pint of corn meal–make it a batter with two eggs, and some new milk–add a spoonful of yeast, set it by the fire an hour to rise, butter little pans, and bake it.

SWEET POTATO BUNS

Boil and mash a potato, rub into it as much flour as will make it like bread–add spice and sugar to your taste, with a spoonful of yeast; when it has risen well, work in a piece of butter, bake it in small rolls, to be eaten hot with butter, either for breakfast or tea.

RICE WOFFLES

Boil two gills of rice quite soft, mix with it three gills of flour, a little salt, two ounces melted butter, two eggs beaten well, and as much milk as will make it a thick batter–beat it till very light, and bake it in woffle irons.

VELVET CAKES

Make a batter of one quart of flour, three eggs, a quart of milk, and a gill of yeast; when well risen, stir in a large spoonful of melted butter, and bake them in muffin hoops.

CHOCOLATE CAKES

Put half a pound of nice brown sugar into a quart of flour, sift it, and make it into a paste, with four ounces of butter melted in as much milk as will wet it; knead it till light, roll it tolerably thin, cut it in strips an inch wide, and just long enough to lay in a plate; bake them on a griddle, put them in the plate in rows to checker each other, and serve them to eat with chocolate.

WAFERS

Beat six eggs, add a pint of flour, two ounces of melted butter, with as much milk as will make a thin batter–put in pounded loaf sugar to your taste, pour it in the wafer irons, bake them quickly without browning, and roll them while hot.

BUCKWHEAT CAKES

Put a large spoonful of yeast and a little salt, into a quart of buckwheat meal; make it into a batter with cold water; let it rise well, and bake it on a griddle–it turns sour very quickly, if it be allowed to stand any time after it has risen.

OBSERVATIONS ON ICE CREAMS

It is the practice with some indolent cooks, to set the freezer containing the cream, in a tub with ice and salt, and put it in the ice house; it will certainly freeze there; but not until the watery particles have subsided, and by the separation destroyed the cream. A freezer should be twelve or fourteen inches deep, and eight or ten wide. This facilitates the operation very much, by giving a larger surface for the ice to form, which it always does on the sides of the vessel; a silver spoon with a long handle should be provided for scraping the ice from the sides as soon as formed: and when the whole is congealed, pack it in moulds (which must be placed with care, lest they should not be upright,) in ice and salt, till sufficiently hard to retain the shape–they should not be turned out till the moment they are to be served. The freezing tub must be wide enough to leave a margin of four or five inches all around the freezer, when placed in the middle–which must be filled up with small lumps of ice mixed with salt–a larger tub would waste the ice. The freezer must be kept constantly in motion during the process, and ought to be made of pewter, which is less liable than tin to be worn in holes, and spoil the cream by admitting the salt water.

ICE CREAMS

When ice creams are not put into shapes, they should always be served in glasses with handles.

VANILLA CREAM

Boil a Vanilla bean in a quart of rich milk, until it has imparted the flavour sufficiently–then take it out, and mix with the milk, eight eggs, yelks and whites beaten well; let it boil a little longer; make it very sweet, for much of the sugar is lost in the operation of freezing.

RASPBERRY CREAM

Make a quart of rich boiled custard–when cold, pour it on a quart of ripe red raspberries; mash them in it, pass it through a sieve, sweeten, and freeze it.

STRAWBERRY CREAM

Is made in the same manner–the strawberries must be very ripe, and the stems picked out. If rich cream can be procured, it will be infinitely better–the custard is intended as a substitute, when cream cannot be had.

COCOA NUT CREAM

Take the nut from its shell, pare it, and grate it very fine; mix it with a quart of cream, sweeten, and freeze it. If the nut be a small one, it will require one and a half to flavour a quart of cream.

CHOCOLATE CREAM

Scrape a quarter of a pound of chocolate very fine, put it in a quart of milk, boil it till the chocolate is dissolved, stirring it continually–thicken with six eggs. A Vanilla bean boiled with the milk, will improve the flavour greatly.

OYSTER CREAM

Make a rich soup, (see directions for oyster soup,) strain it from the oysters, and freeze it.

ICED JELLY

Make calf's foot jelly not very stiff, freeze it, and serve it in glasses.

PEACH CREAM

Get fine soft peaches perfectly ripe, peel them, take out the stones, and put them in a China bowl: sprinkle some sugar on, and chop them very small with a silver spoon–if the peaches be sufficiently ripe, they will become a smooth pulp; add as much cream or rich milk as you have peaches; put more sugar, and freeze it.

COFFEE CREAM

Toast two gills of raw coffee till it is a light brown, and not a grain burnt; put it hot from the toaster without grinding it, into a quart of rich, and perfectly sweet milk; boil it, and add the yelks of eight eggs; when done, strain it through a sieve, and sweeten it; if properly done, it will not be discoloured. The coffee may be dried, and will answer for making in the usual way to drink, allowing more for the quantity of water, than if it had not gone through this process.

QUINCE CREAM

Wash ripe quinces and boil them whole till quite tender–let them stand to drain and cool–then rub them through a hair sieve; mix with the pulp as much cochineal finely powdered, as will make it a pretty colour; then add an equal quantity of cream, and sweeten it. Pears or apples may be used, prepared in the same manner.

CITRON CREAM

Cut the finest citron melons when perfectly ripe–take out the seeds, and slice the nicest part into a China bowl in small pieces, that will lie conveniently; cover them with powdered sugar, and let them stand several hours–then drain off the syrup they have made, and add as much cream as it will give a strong flavour to, and freeze it. Pine apples may be used in the same way.

ALMOND CREAM

Pour hot water on the almonds, and let them stand till the skins will slip off, then pound them fine, and mix them with cream: a pound of almonds in the shells, will be sufficient for a quart of cream–sweeten and freeze it. The kernels of the common black walnut, prepared in the same way, make an excellent cream.

LEMON CREAM

Pare the yellow rind very thin from four lemons–put them in a quart of fresh cream, and boil it; squeeze and strain the juice of one lemon, saturate it completely with powdered sugar; and when the cream is quite cold, stir it in–take care that it does not curdle–if not sufficiently sweet, add more sugar.

LEMONADE ICED

Make a quart of rich lemonade, whip the whites of six fresh eggs to a strong froth–mix them well with the lemonade, and freeze it. The juice of morello cherries, or of currants mixed with water and sugar, and prepared in the same way, make very delicate ices.

TO MAKE CUSTARD

Make a quart of milk quite hot, that it may not whey when baked; let it stand to get cold, and then mix six eggs with it; sweeten it with loaf sugar, and fill the custard cups–put on the covers, and set them in a Dutch oven with water, but not enough to risk its boiling into the cups; do not put on the top of the oven. When the water has boiled ten or fifteen minutes, take out a cup, and if the custard be the consistence of jelly; it is sufficiently done; serve them in the cups with the covers on, and a tea-spoon on the dish between each cup–grate nutmeg on the tops when cold.

TO MAKE A TRIFLE

Put slices of Savoy cake or Naples biscuit at the bottom of a deep dish; wet it with white wine, and fill the dish nearly to the top with rich boiled custard; season half a pint of cream with white wine and sugar; whip it to a froth–as it rises, take it lightly off, and lay it on the custard; pile it up high and tastily–decorate it with preserves of any kind, cut so thin as not to bear the froth down by its weight.

RICE BLANC MANGE

Boil a tea-cup full of rice in a very small of water, till it is near bursting–then add half a pint of milk, boil it to a mush, stirring all the time; season it with sugar, wine, and nutmeg; dip the mould in water, and fill it; when cold, turn it in a dish, and surround it with boiled custard seasoned, or syllabub–garnish it with marmalade.

FLOATING ISLAND

Have the bowl nearly full of syllabub, made with milk, white wine, and sugar; beat the whites of six new laid eggs to a strong froth–then mix with it raspberry or strawberry marmalade enough to flavour and colour it; lay the froth lightly on the syllabub, first putting in some slices of cake; raise it in little mounds, and garnish with something light.

SYLLABUB

Season the milk with sugar and white wine, but not enough to curdle it; fill the glasses nearly full, and crown them with whipt cream seasoned.

COLD CREAMS

LEMON CREAM

Pare the rind very thin from four fresh lemons, squeeze the juice, and strain it–put them both into a quart of water, sweeten it to your taste, add the whites of six eggs, beat to a froth; set it over the fire, and keep stirring until it thickens, but do not let it boil–then pour it in a bowl; when cold, strain it through a sieve, put it on the fire, and add the yelks of the eggs–stir it till quite thick, and serve it in glasses.

ORANGE CREAM

Is made in the same manner, but requires more juice to give a flavour.

RASPBERRY CREAM

Stir as much raspberry marmalade into a quart of cream, as will be sufficient to give a rich flavour of the fruit–strain it, and fill your glasses, leaving out a part to whip into froth for the top.

TEA CREAM

Put one ounce of the best tea in a pitcher, pour on it a table spoonful of water, and let it stand an hour to soften the leaves; then put to it a quart of boiling cream, cover it close, and in half an hour strain it; add four tea-spoonsful of a strong infusion of rennet in water, stir it, and set it on some hot ashes, and cover it; when you find by cooling a little of it, that it will jelly, pour it into glasses, and garnish with thin bits of preserved fruit.

SAGO CREAM

Wash the sago clean, and put it on the fire with a stick of cinnamon, and as much water as will boil it thick and soft; take out the cinnamon, and add rich boiled custard till it is of a proper thickness; sweeten it, and serve in glasses or cups, with grated nutmeg on the top.

BARLEY CREAM

Is made the same way–you may add a little white wine to both; it will give an agreeable flavour.

GOOSEBERRY FOOL

Pick the stems and blossoms from two quarts of green gooseberries; put them in a stew pan, with their weight in loaf sugar, and a very little water–when sufficiently stewed, pass the pulp through a sieve; and when cold, add rich boiled custard till it is like thick cream; put it in a glass bowl, and lay frothed cream on the top.

TO MAKE SLIP

Make a quart of rich milk moderately warm: then stir into it one large spoonful of the preparation of rennet, (see receipt to prepare rennet,) set it by, and when cold, it will be as stiff as jelly. It should be made only a few hours before it is used, or it will be tough and watery; in summer, set the dish in ice after it has jellied–it must be eaten with powdered sugar, cream, and nutmeg.

CURDS AND CREAM

Turn one quart of milk as for the slip–let it stand until just before it is to be served: then take it up with a skimming dish, and lay it on a sieve–when the whey has drained off, put the curds in a dish, and surround them with cream–use sugar and nutmeg. These are Arcadian dishes; very delicious, cheap, and easily prepared.

BLANC MANGE

Break one ounce of isinglass into very small pieces; wash it well, and pour on a pint of boiling water; next morning, add a quart of milk, boil it till the isinglass is dissolved, strain it, put in two ounces sweet almonds, blanched and pounded; sweeten it, and put it in the mould–when stiff, turn them into a deep dish, and put raspberry cream around them. For a change, stick thin slips of blanched almonds all over the blanc mange, and dress round with syllabub, nicely frothed. Some moulds require colouring–for an ear of corn, mix the yelk of an egg with a little of the blanc mange; fill the grains of the corn with it–and when quite set, pour in the white, but take care it is not warm enough to melt the yellow: for a bunch of asparagus, colour a little with spinach juice, to fill the green tops of the heads. Fruit must be made the natural colour of what it represents. Cochineal and alkanet root pounded and dissolved in brandy, make good colouring; but blanc mange should never be served, without raspberry cream or syllabub to eat with it.

TO MAKE A HEN'S NEST

Get five small eggs, make a hole at one end, and empty the shells–fill them with blanc mange: when stiff and cold, take off the shells, pare the yellow rind very thin from six lemons, boil them in water till tender, then cut them in thin strips to resemble straw, and preserve them with sugar; fill a small deep dish half full of nice jelly–when it is set, put the straw on in form of a nest, and lay the eggs in it. It is a beautiful dish for a dessert or supper.

Little Dishes for a Second Course, or Supper

PHEASANTS A-LA-DAUB

Roast two pheasants in the nicest manner–get a deep dish, the size and form of the one you intend to serve the pheasants in–it must be as deep as a tureen; put in savoury jelly about an inch and a half at the bottom; when that is set, and the pheasants cold, lay them on the jelly with their breasts down; fill the dish with jelly up to their backs; take care it is not warm enough to melt the other, and that the birds are not displaced–just before it is to be served, set it a moment in hot water to loosen it; put the dish on the top, and turn it out carefully.

PARTRIDGES A-LA-DAUB

Truss six partridges neatly, cover them with thin slices of fat bacon taken from the top of a middling; this keeps them white, and gives a good flavour; they must be wrapped entirely in it–roast them, and when done, take off the bacon; let them get cold, and use jelly as for the pheasants.

CHICKENS A-LA-DAUB

Roast two half grown chickens, cut off the legs and wings, pull the breast from each side entire, take the skin from all the pieces, lay it in the dish, and cover it with jelly.

TO MAKE SAVOURY JELLY

Put eight or ten pounds of coarse lean beef, or the same quantity of the inferior parts of the fore quarter of veal, into a pot with two gallons of water, a pound of lean salt pork, three large onions chopped, three carrots, a large handful of parsley, and any sweet herb that you choose, with pepper and salt; boil it very gently till reduced to two quarts; strain it through a sieve–next day, take off the fat, turn out the jelly, and separate it from the dregs at the bottom; put it on the fire with half a pint of white wine, a large spoonful of lemon pickle, and the whites and shells of four eggs beaten: when it boils clear on one side, run it through the jelly bag.

TURKEY A-LA-DAUB

Bone a small turkey, put pepper and salt on the inside, and cover it with slices of boiled ham or tongue; fill it with well seasoned forcemeat, sew it up and boil it–cover it with jelly.

SALMAGUNDI

Turn a bowl on the dish, and put on it in regular rings, beginning at the bottom, the following ingredients, all minced:–anchovies with the bones taken out, the white meat of fowls without the skin, hard boiled eggs, the yelks and whites chopped separately, parsley, the lean of old ham scraped, the inner stalks of celery; put a row of capers round the bottom of the bowl, and dispose the others in a fanciful manner; put a little pyramid of butter on the top, and have a small glass with egg mixed as for sallad, to eat with the salmagundi.

AN EXCELLENT RELISH AFTER DINNER

Put some soup or gravy from any of the dishes on the table, into the stew dish; add a good portion of pepper, vinegar, wine, catsup and salt; let it be very highly seasoned; broil the legs, liver, and gizzard of a turkey, the kidney of veal, or any thing you fancy; cut it up in small pieces: when broiled, put it in the gravy, and stew it at table.

TO STEW PERCH

Lay the perch in a deep pan with the heads on; sprinkle salt, pepper, and a little chopped onion over each layer; when they are all in, take as much water as will be sufficient to fill the pan less than half full; add a gill of wine, one of catsup, a little lemon pickle and spice; cover the pan, and let it stew gently till done; take out the fish without breaking, put them in a deep dish, pour the gravy on, and neatly turn them out.

PRESERVES

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING PRESERVES

The preserving pan should be made of bell metal, flat at the bottom, very large in diameter, but not deep. It should have a cover to fit closely, and handles at the sides of the pan, for taking it off with ease when the syrup boils too fast. There should also be a large chafing-dish with long legs, for the convenience of moving it to any part of the room. The process is a tedious one; and if the superintendent be not comfortably situated, the preserves cannot be properly managed. A ladle the size of a saucer, pierced and having a long handle, will be necessary for taking up the fruit without syrup. When a chafing-dish cannot be procured, the best substitute is a brick stove, with a grating, to burn charcoal. The sugar should be the best double refined; but if the pure amber coloured sugar house syrup from the West Indies can be got, it is greatly superior; it never ferments, and the trouble is very much lessened by having ready made syrup, in which it is only necessary to boil the fruit till clear. All delicate fruit should be done gently, and not allowed to remain more than half an hour after it begins to stew, before it is laid on dishes to cool; it must be put into the syrup again for the same time; continue this until it is sufficiently transparent. The advantage of this method is that the preserves are less liable to boil to pieces, than when done all at one time. It is injudicious to put more in the pan at once, than can lie on the bottom without crowding. The pan must be made bright, and nothing permitted to cool in it, lest it should canker. Delicate preserves should be kept in small glasses or pots, that will not hold more than one or two pounds, for the admission of air injures them; put letter paper wet with brandy on the preserves, and cover the tops with many folds of soft paper, that will tie round closely; keep them in a dry place, and expose them constantly to the sun to check fermentation. Fruit for preserving should be in full perfection, but not too ripe.

TO PRESERVE CLING-STONE PEACHES

Get the finest yellow cling-stones, pare them, and lay them in a bowl; have their weight of sugar pounded, and sprinkle it over them as they are put in; let them stand two or three hours, put them together with the sugar into the pan, add a little water, and let the peaches remain till thoroughly scalded; take them out with the ladle, draining off the syrup; should there not be enough to cover the peaches, add more Water, boil it and skim it, return the fruit, and do them gently till quite clear. Have some stones cracked, blanch the kernels, and preserve them with the peaches.

CLING-STONES SLICED

Pare the peaches, and cut them in as large slices as possible; have their weight in sugar, and preserve them as the others.

SOFT PEACHES

Get yellow soft peaches that are not quite ripe, pare and divide them, scrape the places where the stones lay with a tea-spoon, and follow the former directions.

PEACH MARMALADE

Take the ripest soft peaches, (the yellow ones make the prettiest marmalade,) pare them, and take out the stones; put them in the pan with one pound of dry light coloured brown sugar to, two of peaches: when they are juicy, they do not require water: with a silver or wooden spoon, chop them with the sugar; continue to do this, and let them boil gently till they are a transparent pulp, that will be a jelly when cold. Puffs made of this marmalade are very delicious.