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

Mince Meat without Meat. No. 2

To make a mince meat that will keep for five or six years, take four pounds of raisins of the sun, stoned and chopped very fine, five pounds of currants, three pounds of beef suet shred very fine, the crumb of a half-quartern loaf, three pounds of loaf-sugar, the peel of four lemons grated, half an ounce of nutmeg, a quarter of an ounce of mace, the same of cloves, and one pint of good brandy. When you make your pies, add about one third of apple chopped fine; and to each pie put six or eight small slices of citron and preserved orange-peel, with a table-spoonful of sweet wine, ratafia, and a piece of a large lemon mixed together.

Mince Meat without Meat. No. 3

Three pounds of suet, three pounds of apples, pared and cored, three pounds of currants washed, picked, and dried, one pound and a half of sugar powdered, three quarters of a pound of preserved orange-peel, six ounces of citron, the juice of six lemons, one pint of sack and one of brandy, a quarter of an ounce of mace, the same of nutmeg, and of cloves and cinnamon half a quarter of an ounce each.

Lemon Mince Meat

Cut three large lemons, and squeeze out the juice; boil the peels together with the pulp till it will pound in a mortar; put to it one pound of beef suet, finely chopped, currants and lump sugar, one pound of each; mix it all well together; then add the juice with a glass of brandy. Put sweetmeats to your taste.

Mirangles

Put half a pint of syrup into a stewpan, and boil it to what is called blow; then take the whites of three eggs, put them in another copper pan, and whisk them very strong. When your sugar is boiled, rub it against the sides of the stewpan with a table-spoon; when you see the sugar change, quickly mix the whites of eggs with it, for if you are not quick your sugar will turn to powder. When you have mixed it as light as possible, put in the rind of one lemon; stir it as little as possible: take a board, about one foot wide and eighteen inches long, and put a sheet of paper on it. With your table-spoon drop your batter in the shape of half an egg: sift a little powdered sugar over them before you put them in the oven. Let your oven be of a moderate heat; watch them attentively, and let them rise, and just let the outside be a little hard, but not the least brown; the inside must be moist. Take them off with a knife, and just put about a tea-spoonful of jam in the middle of them; then put two of them together, and they will be in the shape of an egg; you must handle them very gently.

Moss

Take as much white starch as sugar, and sift it; colour some of the sugar with turmeric, some with blue powder, some with chocolate, and some with the juice of spinach; and wet each by itself with a solution of gum-dragon. Strain and rub it through a hair sieve, and let them dry before you touch them.

Muffins

Mix flour in a pan, with warm new milk and water, yest and salt, according to your judgment. Beat it up well with a wooden spoon till it is a stiff batter; then set it near the fire to rise, which will be in about an hour. It must then be well beaten down, and put to rise again, and, when very light, made into muffins, and baked in flat round irons made for the purpose. The iron must be made hot, and kept so with coals under it. Take out the batter with a spoon, and drop it on a little flour sprinkled lightly on a table. Then lay them on a trencher with a little flour; turn the trencher round to shape them, assisting with your hand if they need it. Then bake them; when one side is done, turn them with a muffin knife, and bake the other.

Oranges, to preserve

Make a hole at the stalk end; take out all the seeds, but no pulp; squeeze out the juice, which must be saved to put to them, taking great care you do not loosen the pulp. Put them into an earthen pan, with water; boil them till the water is bitter, changing it three times, and, in the last water put a little salt, and boil them till they are very tender, but not to break. Take them out and drain them; take two pounds of sugar and a quart of pippin jelly; boil it to a syrup, skim it very clear, and then put in your oranges. Set them over a gentle fire till they boil very tender and clear; then put to them the juice that you took from them; prick them with a knife that the syrup may penetrate. If you cut them in halves, lay the skin side upwards, and put them up and cover them with the syrup.

Lemons and citrons may be done in the same way.

Whole Oranges, to preserve

Take six oranges, rasp them very thin, put them in water as you do them, and let them lie all night. In the morning boil them till they are tender, and then put them into clear water, and let them remain so two or three days. Take the oranges, and cut a hole in the top, and pick out the seeds, but not the meat; then take three pounds of fine sugar, and make a thin syrup, and, when boiled and skimmed, put in your oranges, and let them boil till they are clear. Take them out, and let them stand three or four days; then boil them again till the syrup is rather thick. Put half a pound of sugar and half a pint of apple jelly to every orange, and let it boil until it jellies; put them into pots, and place any substance to keep down the orange in the pot till it cools.

Seville Oranges, to preserve

Put Seville oranges in spring water, where let them remain three or four days, shifting the water every day. Take them out, and grate off a little of the outside rind very carefully without touching the white, only to take away a little of the bitter; make a thin syrup, and, when it is sufficiently cleared and boiled, take it off, and, when it is only warm, put the oranges in and just simmer them over the fire. Put them and the syrup into a pan, and in a day or two set them again on the fire, and just scald them. Repeat this a day afterwards; then boil a thick syrup; take the oranges out of the thin one, and lay them on a cloth to drain, covered over with another; then put them to the thick syrup, as you before did to the thin one, putting them into it just hot, and giving them a simmer. Repeat this in a few days if you think they are not sufficiently done. The insides must be left in.

Butter Orange

Take a pint of the juice of oranges and eight new-laid eggs beaten well together; mix and season them to your taste with loaf-sugar; then set it on the fire; keep stirring till it becomes thick; put in a bit of butter of the size of a walnut, stirring it while on the fire; then dish it up.

Candied Orange

Take twelve oranges, the palest you can get; take out the pulp, pick out the seeds and skins; let the outsides soak in water with a little salt all night: then boil them in a good quantity of spring water, till tender, which will be about nine or ten hours. Drain and cut them in very thin slices; add them to the pulp, and to every pound take one pound and a half of sugar beaten fine. Boil them together till clear, which will be in about three quarters of an hour.

Orange Cream

Grate the peels of four Seville oranges into a pint of water, then squeeze the juice into the water. Well beat the yolks of four eggs; put all together; and sweeten with double-refined sugar. Press the whole hard through a strong strainer; set it on the fire, and stir it carefully one way, till it is as thick as cream.

Orange Jelly

Dissolve two ounces of isinglass in a pint of water; add a pint of the juice of four China oranges, two Seville oranges, and two lemons. Grate the peel of them all, and sweeten to your palate.

Orange Paste

Pick all the meat out of the oranges, and boil the rinds in water till they are very tender. Cut off all the outside, and beat the pulp in a mortar till it is very fine. Shred the outside in long thin bits, and mix it with the meat, when you have taken out all the seeds. To every pint of juice put half a pint of the pulp, and mix all together. Then boil up a candy of sugar; put in your paste, and just scald it; add a good pound of sugar to a pint of the paste; put it into a broad earthen pan, set it on a stove, let it remain till it candies; skim it off with a spoon, drop it on glasses to dry, and as, often as it candies keep skimming it.

Another way

To six ounces of sugar put six ounces at least of fine flour, mixed with a little orange-flower water, but no eggs, as they would make it too dry. Moisten with water, taking care that it is neither too hard nor too soft. Rub the pan with a little fine oil.

Orange Puffs

Pare off the yellow peel of a large Seville orange, but be careful not to touch the white; boil it in three several waters to take out the bitterness; it will require about three hours’ boiling. Beat it very fine in a marble mortar, with four ounces of fine lump sugar, four ounces of fresh butter, the yolks of six eggs, four good spoonfuls of sweet thick cream, and one spoonful of orange-flower water. Beat all these ingredients so well together that you cannot discern a particle of the orange-peel. Roll out your puff paste as thin as possible, lay it in pattypans, fill them with the ingredients, but do not cover them. Bake them in an oven no hotter than for cheesecakes; but for frying you must make them with crust without butter, and fry them in lard.

Another way

Take one pound of single-refined sugar sifted and the rind of an orange grated, a little gum-dragon, and beaten almonds rubbed through a sieve. Mix all these well together; wet it into paste, and beat it in a mortar; add whites of eggs whipped to a frost.

Orange Sponge

Dissolve two ounces of isinglass in one pint of water; strain it through a sieve; add the juice of two China oranges and some lemon; sugar it to your taste. Whisk it till it looks like a sponge; put it into a mould, and turn it out.

Orange and Lemon Syrup

To each pint of juice, which must be put into a large pan, throw a pound and a half of sugar, broken into small lumps, which must be stirred every day till dissolved, first carefully taking off the scum. Let the peel of about six oranges be put into twelve quarts, but it must be taken out when the sugar is melted, and you are ready to bottle it. Proceed in the same way with lemon, only taking two pounds of sugar to a pint of juice.

Oranges for a Tart

Pare some oranges as thin as possible; boil them till they are soft. Cut and core double the number of good pippins, and boil them to pap, but so as that they do not lose their colour; strain the pulp, and add one pound of sugar to every pint. Take out the orange-pulp, cut the peel, make it very soft by boiling, and bruise it in a mortar in the juice of lemons and oranges; then boil it to a proper consistence with the apple and orange-pulp and half a pint of rose-water.

Orange Tart

Take eight Seville oranges; cut them in halves, pick out all the seeds; then pick out all the orange as free from the white skins as possible. Take the seeds out of the cores, and boil them till tender and free from bitter. When done enough, dry them very well from the water, and beat five of the orange-peels in a marble mortar till quite smooth. Then take the weight of the oranges in double-refined sugar, beaten fine, and sifted; mix it with the juice, and pound all well in the mortar; the peel that was left unbeaten you slice into your tart. You may keep out as much sugar as will ice the tart. Make the crust for it with twelve ounces of flour, six ounces of butter, melted in water, and the yolks of two eggs, well beaten and mixed into your flour. Be sure to prick the crust well before it goes into the oven.

Half this quantity makes a pretty-sized tart.

Another way

Take as many oranges as you require. Cut the peel extremely thin from the white, and shred it small. Clear the oranges entirely from the white, and cut them in small pieces like an apple, taking out the seeds. Sweeten as required, and bake in a nice paste. In winter, apples may be mixed.

Panada

Take oatmeal, clean picked and well beaten; steep it in water all night; strain and boil it in a pipkin, with some currants, a blade or two of mace, and a little salt. When it is well boiled, take it off; and put in the yolks of two or three new-laid eggs, beaten with rose-water. Set it on a gentle fire, and stir it that it may not curdle. Sweeten with sugar, and put in a little nutmeg.

Pancakes. No. 1

Mix a quart of milk with as much flour as will make it into a thin batter; break in six eggs; put in a little salt, a glass of raisin wine, a spoonful of beaten ginger; mix all well together; fry and sprinkle them with sugar.

In making pancakes or fritters, always make your batter an hour before you begin frying, that the flour may have time to mix thoroughly. Never fry them till they are wanted, or they will eat flat and insipid. Add a little lemon-juice or peel.

Pancakes. No. 2

To a pint of cream put three spoonfuls of sack, half a pint of flour, six eggs, but only three whites; grate in some nutmeg, very little salt, a quarter of a pound of butter melted, and some sugar. After the first pancake, lay them on a dry pan, very thin, one upon another, till they are finished, before the fire; then lay a dish on the top, and turn them over, so that the brown side is uppermost. You may add or diminish the quantity in proportion. This is a pretty supper dish.

Pancakes. No. 3

Break three eggs, put four ounces and a half of flour, and a little milk, beat it into a smooth batter; then add by degrees as much milk as will make it the thickness of good cream. Make the frying-pan hot, and to each pancake put a bit of butter nearly the size of a walnut; when melted, pour in the batter to cover the bottom of the pan; make them of the thickness of half a crown. The above will do for apple fritters, by adding one spoonful more flour; peel and cut your apples in thick slices, take out the core, dip them in the batter, and fry them in hot lard; put them in a sieve to drain; grate some loaf sugar over them.

French Pancakes

Beat the yolks of eight eggs, which sweeten to your taste, nearly a table-spoonful of flour, a little brandy, and half a pint of cream. They are not to be turned in the frying-pan. When half done, take the whites beaten to a strong froth, and put them over the pancakes. When these are done enough, roll them over, sugar them, and brown them with a salamander.

Grillon’s Pancakes

Two soup-ladles of flour, three yolks of eggs, and four whole ones, two tea-spoonfuls of orange-flower water, six ratafia cakes, a pint of double cream; to be stirred together, and sugar to be shaken over every pancake, which is not to be turned – about thirty in number.

Quire of Paper Pancakes

Take to a pint of cream eight eggs, leaving out two whites, three spoonfuls of fine flour, three of sack, one of orange-flower water, a little sugar, a grated nutmeg, a quarter of a pound of butter melted in the cream. Mix a little of the cream with flour, and so proceed by degrees that it may be smooth: then beat all well together. Butter the pan for the first pancake, and let them run as thin as possible to be whole. When one side is coloured, it is enough; take them carefully out of the pan, lay them as even on each other as possible; and keep them near the fire till they are all fried. The quantity here given makes twenty.

Rice Pancakes

In a quart of milk mix by degrees three spoonfuls of flour of rice, and boil it till it is as thick as pap. As it boils, stir in half a pound of good butter and a nutmeg grated. Pour it into a pan, and, when cold, put in by degrees three or four spoonfuls of flour, a little salt, some sugar, and nine eggs, well beaten up. Mix them all together, and fry them in a small pan, with a little piece of butter.

Paste

Take half a pound of good fresh butter, and work it to a cream in a basin. Stir into it a quarter of a pound of fine sifted sugar, and beat it together: then work with it as much fine flour as will make a paste fit to roll out for tarts, cheesecakes, &c.

Paste for baking or frying

Take a proper quantity of flour for the paste you wish to make, and mix it with equal quantities of powdered sugar and flour; melt some butter very smooth, with some grated lemon-peel and an egg, well beat; mix into a firm paste; bake or fry it.

Paste for Pies

French roll dough, rolled out with less than half the quantity of butter generally used, makes a wholesome and excellent paste for pies.

Paste for raised Pies

Put four pounds of butter into a kettle of water; add three quarters of a pound of rendered beef suet; boil it two or three minutes; pour it on twelve pounds of flour, and work it into a good stiff paste. Pull it into lumps to cool. Raise the pie, using the same proportions for all raised pies according to the size required: bake in a hot oven.

Another way

Take one pound of flour, and seven ounces of butter, put into boiling water till it dissolves: wet the flour lightly with it. Roll your paste out thick and not too stiff; line your tins with it; put in the meat, and cover over the top of the tin with the same paste.

This paste is best made over-night.

Paste for Tarts

To half a pound of the best flour add the same quantity of butter, two spoonfuls of white sugar, the yolks of two eggs and one white; make it into a paste with cold water.

Paste for Tarts in pans

Take a pound of flour, the same of butter, with five yolks of eggs, the white of one, and as much water as will wet it into a pretty soft paste. Roll it up, and put it into your pan.

Paste for very small Tartlets

Take an egg or more, and mix it with some flour; make a little ball as big as a tea-cup; work it with your hands till it is quite hard and stiff; then break off a little at a time as you want it, keeping the rest of the ball under cover of a basin, for fear of its hardening or drying too much. Roll it out extremely thin; cut it out, and make it up in what shape you please, and harden them by the fire, or in an oven in a manner cold. It does for almonds or cocoa-nut boiled up in syrup rich, or any thing that is a dry mixture, or does not want baking.

Potato Paste

Take two thirds of potato and one of ground rice, as much butter rubbed in as will moisten it sufficiently to roll, which must be done with a little flour. The crust is best made thin and in small tarts. The potatoes should be well boiled and quite cold.

Rice Paste

Whole rice, boiled in new milk, with a reasonable quantity of butter, to such a consistency as to roll out when cold. The board must be floured while rolling.

Another way

Beat up a quarter of a pound of rice-flour with two eggs; boil it till soft; then make it into a paste with very little butter, and bake it.

Paste Royal

Mix together one pound of flour, and two ounces of sifted sugar; rub into it half a pound of good butter, and make it into a paste not over stiff. Roll it out for your pans. This paste is proper for any sweet tart or cheesecake.

Short or Puff Paste. No. 1

Rub together six ounces of butter and eight of flour; mix it up with as little water as possible, so as to make a stiff paste. Beat it well, and roll it thin. This is the best crust of all for tarts that are to be eaten cold and for preserved fruit. Have a moderate oven.

Short Paste. No. 2

Half a pound of loaf-sugar, and the same quantity of butter, to be rubbed into a pound of flour; then make it into paste with two eggs.

Short Paste. No. 3

To a pound and a quarter of sifted flour rub gently in half a pound of fresh butter, mixed up with half a pint of spring water, and set it by for a quarter of an hour; then roll it out thin; lay on it in small pieces three quarters of a pound more of butter; throw on it a little more flour, roll it out thin three times, and set it by for an hour in a cold place.

Short Paste. No. 4

Take one pound of flour, half a pound of fresh butter, and about four table-spoonfuls of pounded white sugar. Knead the paste with the yolks of two eggs well beaten up instead of water. Roll it very thin for biscuits or tarts.

Short Paste. No. 5

Three ounces of butter to something less than a pound of flour and the yolk of one egg; the butter to be thoroughly worked into the flour; if you use sugar, there is no occasion for an egg.

Short Paste. No. 6

Three quarters of a pound of butter, and the same of flour; mix the flour very stiff with a little water; put the butter in a clean cloth, and press it thoroughly to get from it all the water. Then roll out all the flour and water paste, and lay the butter upon it, double over the paste, and beat it with a rolling-pin. Double it up quite thick, lay it in a clean plate, and put it in a cool place for an hour. If it is not light when tried in the oven, it must be beaten again.

Short Paste. No. 7

Rub into your flour as much butter as possible, without its being greasy; rub it in very fine; put water to make it into a nice light paste; roll it out; stick bits of butter all over it; then flour and roll it up again. Do this three times; it is excellent for meat-pies.

Short Paste, made with Suet

To one pound of flour take about half a pound of beef suet chopped very small; pour boiling water upon it; let it stand a little time; then mix the suet with the flour, taking as little of the water as possible, and roll it very thin; put a little sugar and white of egg over the crust before it is baked.

Sugar Paste

Take half a pound of flour, and the same quantity of sugar well pounded; work it together, with a little cream and about two ounces of butter, into a stiff paste; roll it very thin. When the tarts are made, rub the white of an egg, well beaten, over them with a feather; put them in a moderate oven, and sift sugar over them.

Peaches, to preserve in Brandy. No. 1

The peaches should be gathered before they are too ripe; they should be of the hard kind – old Newington or the Magdalen peaches are the best. Rub off the down with a flannel, and loosen the stone, which is done by cutting a quill and passing it carefully round the stone. Prick them with a large needle in several places; put them into cold water; give them a great deal of room in the preserving-pan; scald them extremely gently: the longer you are scalding them the better, for if you do them hastily, or with too quick a fire, they may crack or break. Turn them now and then with a feather: when they are tender to the feel, like a hard-boiled egg that has the shell taken off, remove them from the fire, carefully take them out, and cover them up close with a flannel. You must in all their progress observe to keep the fruit covered, and, whenever you take it from the scalding syrup, cover it up with a cloth or flannel, or the air will change the colour. Then put to them a thin syrup cool. The next day, if you think the syrup too thin, drain it well from the peaches, and add a little more sugar; boil it up, and put it to them almost cold. To a pint of syrup put half a pint of the best pale brandy you can get, which sweeten with fine sugar. If the brandy is dark-coloured, it will spoil the look of the fruit. The peaches should be well chosen, and they should have sufficient room in the glass jars. When the liquor wastes, supply the deficiency by adding more syrup and brandy. Cover them with a bladder, and every now and then turn them upside down, till the fruit is settled.