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

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

Salmon. No. 3

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

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

Salmon, to marinate

Cut your salmon in round slices about two inches thick, and tie it with matting, like sturgeon; season it with pepper, mace, and salt; then put it into a broad earthen pan, with an equal quantity of port wine and vinegar to cover it, and add three or four bay-leaves. The pickle also must be seasoned with the spices above-mentioned. The pan must be covered with a coarse cloth, and baked with household bread.

Samphire

Pick and lay it in strong brine, cold; let it remain twenty-four hours, boil the brine once on a quick fire, and pour it immediately on the samphire. After standing twenty-four hours, just boil it again on a quick fire, and stand till cold. Lay it in a pot, let the pickle settle, and cover the samphire with the clear portion of the pickle. Set it in a dry place, and, should the pickle become mothery, boil it once a month, and, when cold, put the samphire into it.

Smelts

Lay the smelts in a pot in rows, and lay upon them sliced lemon, mace, ginger, nutmeg, pepper, powdered bay-leaves, and salt. Make pickle of red wine vinegar, saltpetre, and bruised cochineal; when cold, pour it on the smelts, and cover the pot close.

Suckers, before the leaves are hard

Pare off all the hard ends of the leaves and stalks of the suckers, and scald them in salt and water, and, when cold, put them into glass bottles, with three blades of mace, and thin sliced nutmeg; fill them with distilled vinegar.

Vinegar for Pickling. No. 1

Take the middling sort of beer, but indifferently hopped, let it work as long as possible, and fine it down with isinglass; then draw it from the sediment, and put ten pounds weight of the husks of grapes to every ten gallons. Mash them together, and let them stand in the sun, or, if not in summer, in a close room, heated by fire, and, in about three or four weeks, it will become an excellent vinegar. Should you not have grape husks, you may take the pressing of sour apples, but the vinegar will not prove so good either in taste or body. Cyder will make a decent sort of vinegar, and also unripe grapes, or plums, but foul white Rhenish wines, set in a warm place, will fine, naturally, into good vinegar.

Vinegar. No. 2

To a pound and a half of the brownest sugar put a gallon of warm water; mix it well together; then spread a hot toast thick with yest, and let it work very well about twenty-four hours. Skim off the toast and the yest, and pour off the clear liquor, and set it out in the sun. The cask must be full, and, if painted and hooped with iron hoops, it will endure the weather better. Lay a tile over the bunghole.

Vinegar. No. 3

To every gallon of water put three pounds of Malaga raisins; stop it up close, and let it stand in the cellar two years.

Camp Vinegar

Infuse a quarter of an ounce of cayenne, four heads of garlic, some shalots, half a drachm of cochineal, a quarter of a pint of ketchup, soy, walnut pickle, and an ounce of black, white, and long pepper, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg, all grossly bruised, a little mace, and cloves, in a quart of the best wine vinegar; cork it close, and put a leather and bladder over it. Let it stand before the fire for a month, shaking it frequently. You must let it stand upon the ingredients, and fill up with vinegar as you take any out. This is not only an excellent sauce, but a powerful preservative against infectious disorders.

Another

Half an ounce of cayenne pepper, a large head of garlic, half a drachm of cochineal, two spoonfuls of soy, the same of walnut pickle, and a pint of vinegar.

Chili Vinegar

Gather the pods of capsicum when full ripe; put them into a jar with a clove of garlic and a little cayenne pepper; boil the vinegar, and pour it on hot; fill up your jar: let it stand for a fortnight; pour it off clear, and it will be fit for use.

Elder-flower Vinegar. No. 1

Put two gallons of strong alegar to a peck of the pips of elder-flowers, set it in the sun in a stone jar for a fortnight, and then filter it through a flannel bag; when you draw it off, put it into small bottles, in which it will preserve its flavour better than in larger ones; when you mix the flowers and the alegar together, be careful not to drop any stalks amongst the pips.

Elder-flower Vinegar. No. 2

Take good vinegar, fill a cask three quarters full, and gather some elder-flowers, nearly or moderately blown, but in a dry day; pick off the small flowers and sprigs from the greater stalks, and air them well in the sun, that they may grow dry, but not so as to break or crumble. To every four gallons of vinegar put a pound of them, sewing them up in a fine rag.

Elder-flower Vinegar. No. 3

Pick the flowers before they are too much blown from the stalks, and dry them in the sun, but not when it is very hot. Put a handful of them to a quart of the best white wine vinegar, and let it stand a fortnight. Strain and draw it off, and put it into a cask, keeping out about a quart. Make it very hot, and put it into your cask to produce fermentation. Stop it very close, and draw it off when wanted.

Elder-flower Vinegar. No. 4

Gather the elder-flowers in dry weather, pick them clean from the stalks, and put two pints of them to a gallon of the best white wine vinegar. Let them infuse for ten days, stirring them every day till the last day or two; then strain off the vinegar, and bottle it.

Garlic Vinegar

Take sixty cloves, two nutmegs sliced, and eight cloves of garlic, to a quart of vinegar.

Gooseberry Vinegar

To every gallon of water take six pounds of full ripe gooseberries; bruise them, and put them into a vessel, pouring the water cold upon them. Set the vessel in a hot place till the gooseberries come to the top, which they will do in about a fortnight; then draw off the liquor, and, when you have taken the gooseberries out of the vessel, measure the liquor into it again, and to every gallon put a pound of coarse sugar. It will work again, and, when it has done working, stop it down close, set it near the fire or in the sun: it will be fit for use in about six months. If the vessel is not full, it will be ready sooner.

Plague, or Four Thieves’ Vinegar

Take rue, sage, mint, rosemary, wormwood, and lavender, of each a large handful; put them into a stone jar, with a gallon of the best vinegar; tie it down very close, and let it stand a fortnight in the sun, shaking the jar every day. Bottle it, and to every bottle add a quarter of an ounce of camphor, beaten very fine. The best time to make it is in June or July.

Raisin Vinegar

Put four quarts of spring water to two pounds of Malaga raisins, lay a stone or slate over the bung-hole, and set it in the sun till ready for use. If you put it into a stone jar or bottle, and let it stand in the chimney corner, for a proper time, it will answer the same purpose.

Raspberry Vinegar. No. 1

Fill a very large jug or jar with raspberries; then pour as much white wine vinegar upon them as it will hold; let it stand four days, stirring it three times every day. Let it stand four days more, covered close up, stirring it once a day. Strain it through a hair sieve, and afterwards through a flannel bag; and to every pint of liquor add one pound of loaf-sugar. Simmer it over the fire, skimming it all the time, till quite clear. As soon as cold, bottle it.

This is very good sauce for a plain batter pudding and pancakes.

Raspberry Vinegar. No. 2

Take two pounds of sugar; dissolve it in a pint of water; then clarify, and let it boil till it is a thick syrup. Take the same quantity of raspberries, or currants, but not too ripe, and pour over them a quarter of a pint of vinegar, in which they must steep for twenty-four hours. Pour the fruit and vinegar into the syrup, taking care not to bruise the fruit; then give it one boil, strain it, and cork it up close in bottles. The fruit must be carefully picked and cleaned, observing not to use any that is in the least decayed. To the syrup of currants a few raspberries may be added, to heighten the flavour. An earthen pipkin is the best to boil in.

Raspberry Vinegar. No. 3

Fill a jug with raspberries; add as much of the best vinegar as the jug will hold; let the fruit steep ten or twelve days; then strain the liquor through a fine sieve, without squeezing the raspberries; put three pounds of lump sugar to a quart of juice, and skim it.

Walnuts, black. No. 1

Take large full grown walnuts before they are hard; lay them in salt and water for two days: then shift them into fresh water, and let them lie two days longer; change them again, and let them lie two days longer; take them out, and put them in your pickle pot; when the pot is half full, put in some shalots, and a head of garlic. To a hundred of walnuts add half an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of black pepper, six bay-leaves, and a stick of horseradish. Then fill your pots, and pour boiling vinegar over them; cover them with a plate, and when cold tie them down.

Before you put the nuts into salt and water, prick them well with a pin.

Walnuts. No. 2

About midsummer take your walnuts, run a knitting-needle through them, and lay them in vinegar and salt, sufficiently strong to bear an egg. Let them remain in this pickle for three weeks; then make some fresh pickle; shift them into it, and let them lie three weeks longer; take them out, and wipe them with a clean cloth; and tie up every nut in a clean vine-leaf. Put them into fresh vinegar, seasoned with salt, mace, mustard, garlic, and horseradish; and to a hundred nuts put one ounce of ginger, one ounce of pepper, and of cloves and mace a quarter of an ounce each, two small nutmegs, and half a pint of mustard seed. All the pickles to be done in raw vinegar (that is, not boiled). It is always recommended to have the largest double nuts, being the best to pickle.

Walnuts. No. 3

Take the large French nuts, wipe them clean, and wrap each in a vine-leaf; put them into a weak brine of salt and water for a fortnight, changing it every day, and lay a slate upon them, to keep them always under, or they will turn black. Drain them, and make a stronger brine, that will bear an egg; let them lie in that a fortnight longer; then drain and wipe them very dry, and wrap them in fresh vine-leaves; put them in jars, and pour on them double-distilled vinegar, which must not be boiled. To six or eight hundred nuts put two pounds of shalots, one of garlic, and one of rocambole; a piece of assaf[oe]tida, of the size of a pea, tied up in a bit of muslin, and put into each jar, of white, black, and long pepper, one pound each, half a pound of mace, a quarter of a pound of nutmegs, two ounces of cinnamon, two ounces of cloves, two pounds of allspice, one pound of ginger, two pounds of mustard-seed, some bay-leaves, and horseradish. The mustard-seed and spice must be a little bruised. Mix all these ingredients together, and put in a layer of nuts and then a layer of this mixture; put the assaf[oe]tida in the middle; and as the pickle wastes take care to keep the jar filled up with vinegar.

Walnuts. No. 4

Take a hundred walnuts, at the beginning of July, before they are shelled; just scald them, that the skin may rub off, then put them into salt and water, for nine or ten days; shift them every day, and keep them covered from the air: dry them; make your pickle of two quarts of white wine vinegar, long pepper, black pepper, and ginger, of each half an ounce; beat the spice; add a large spoonful of mustard-seed; strew this between every layer of nuts. Pour liquor, boiling hot, upon them, three or four times, or more, if required. Be sure to keep them tied down close.

Walnuts. No. 5

Put into a stone jar one hundred large double nuts. Take one ounce of Jamaica and four ounces of black pepper, two of ginger, one of cloves, and a pint of mustard-seed; bruise these, and boil them, with a head or two of garlic and four handfuls of salt, in a sufficient quantity of vinegar to cover the nuts. When cold, put it to them, and let them stand two days. Then boil up the pickle, pour it over the nuts, and tie them down close. Repeat this process for three days.

Walnuts, green

Wipe and wrap them one by one in a vine-leaf: boil crab verjuice, and pour it boiling hot over the walnuts, tying them down close for fourteen days; then take them out of the leaves and liquor, wrap them in fresh leaves, and put them in your pots. Over every layer of walnuts, strew pepper, mace, cloves, a little ginger, mustard seed, and garlic. Make the pickle of the best white wine vinegar, boiling in the pickle the same sort of spices, with the addition of horseradish, and pour it boiling hot upon the walnuts. Tie them close down; they will be ready to eat in a month, and will keep for three or four years.

Walnut Ketchup

To three pints of the best white wine vinegar put nine Seville oranges peeled, and let them remain four months. Pound or bruise two hundred walnuts, just before they are fit for pickling; squeeze out two quarts of juice, and put it to the vinegar. Tie a quarter of a pound of mace, the same of cloves, and a quarter of a pound of shalot, in a muslin rag or bag; put this into the liquor; in about three weeks boil it gently till reduced one half, and when quite cold bottle it.

Another

Cut in slices about one hundred of the largest walnuts for pickling; cut through the middle a quarter of a pound of shalots, and beat them fine in a mortar, adding a pint and a half of the best vinegar and half a pound of salt. Let them remain a week in an earthen vessel, stirring them every day. Press them through a flannel bag; add a quarter of a pound of anchovies; boil up the liquor, scum it, and run it through a flannel bag. Put into it two sliced nutmegs, whole pepper, and mace, and bottle it when cold.

WINES, CORDIALS, LIQUEURS, &c

Ale, to drink in a week

Tun it into a vessel which will hold eight gallons, and, when it has done working and is ready to bottle, put in some ginger sliced, an orange stuck full of cloves, and cut here and there with a knife, and a pound and a half of sugar. With a stick stir it well together, and it will work afresh. When it has done working, bottle it: cork the bottles well; set them bottom upwards; and the ale will be fit to drink in a week.

Very rare Ale

When your ale is tunned into a vessel that will hold eight or nine gallons, and has done working, and is ready to be stopped up, take a pound and a half of raisins of the best quality, stoned and cut into pieces, and two large oranges. Pulp and pare them. Slice it thin; add the rind of one lemon, a dozen cloves, and one ounce of coriander seeds bruised: put all these in a bag, hang them in the vessel, and stop it up close. Fill the bottles but a little above the neck, to leave room for the liquor to play; and put into every one a large lump of fine sugar. Stop the bottles close, and let the ale stand a month before you drink it.

Orange Ale

Boil twenty gallons of spring water for a quarter of an hour; when cool, put it into a tub over a bushel of malt, and let it stand one hour. Pour it from the malt, put to it a handful of wheat bran, boil it very fast for another hour; then strain and put it into a clean tub. When cold, pour it off clear from the sediment; put yest to it, and let it work like all other ales. When it has worked enough, put it into the cask. Then take the rind and juice of twenty Seville oranges, but no seeds; cut them thin and small, put them into a mortar, and beat them as fine as possible, with two pounds of fine lump sugar; put them into a ten-gallon cask, with ten gallons of ale. Keep filling up your cask again with ale, till it has done working; then stop it up close. When it has stood eight days, tap it for drink; if you bottle it, let it stand till it is clear before you bottle it, otherwise the bottles may burst.

Aqua Mirabilis, a very fine Cordial

Three pints of sack, three pints of Madeira, one quart of spirit of wine, one quart of juice of celandine leaves, of melilot flowers, cardamom seeds, cubebs, galingale, nutmeg, cloves, mace, ginger, two drachms of each; bruise them thoroughly in a mortar, and mix them with the wine and spirits. Let it stand all night in the still, closely stopped with rye paste; next morning make a slow fire in the still, and while it is distilling keep a wet cloth about the neck of the still. Put so much white sugar-candy as you think fit into the glass where it drops.

Bitters

One drachm of cardamom seed, two scruples of saffron, three ounces of green root, two scruples of cochineal, and four ounces of orange-peel. Put these ingredients into a large bottle, and fill it with the very best French brandy, so that they are well covered; after it has stood for three days, take out the liquor, and put it into another large bottle; fill up the first before, and let it stand four or five days; then once more take out the liquor and fill up again, letting it stand ten or twelve days. Then take it out again, put it all together, and it will be fit for use.

Another way

Ginger and cardamom seed, of each three pennyworth, saffron, orange-peel, and cochineal, of each two pennyworth, put into one gallon of brandy.

Cherry Brandy

Four pounds of morella cherries, two quarts of brandy, and twelve cloves, to be sweetened with syrup of ginger made in the following manner: one ounce and a half of ginger boiled in a quart of water, till reduced to half a pint; then dissolve in it one pound and a half of sugar, and add it to the brandy. It will be fit for use by Christmas.

After the cordial is made, you can make a most delightful sweetmeat with the cherries, by dipping them into syrup, and drying them in a cool oven.

Cordial Cherry Water

Nine pounds of the best red cherries, nine pints of claret, eight ounces of cinnamon, three ounces of nutmegs; bruise your spice, stone your cherries, and steep them in the wine; then add to them half a handful of rosemary, half a handful of balm, and one quarter of a handful of sweet marjoram. Let them steep in an earthen pot twenty-four hours, and, as you put them into the alembic to distil them, bruise them with your hands; make a gentle fire under them, and distil by slow degrees. You may mix the waters at your pleasure when you have drawn them all. Sweeten it with loaf sugar; then strain it into another glass vessel, and stop it close that the spirits may not escape.

A very fine Cordial

One ounce of syrup of gilliflowers, one dram of confection of alkermes, one ounce and a half of borage water, the like of mint water, as much of cinnamon water, well mixed together, bottled and corked. In nine days it will be ready for drinking.

Cup

Take the juice of three lemons and the peel of one, cut very thin; add a pint, or rather more, of water, and about half a pound of white sugar, and stir the whole well; then add one bottle of sherry, two bottles of cyder, and about a quarter of a nutmeg grated down. Let the cup be well mixed up, and add a few heads of borage, or balm if you have no borage; put in one wine glass of brandy, and then add about another quarter of a nutmeg. Let it stand for about half an hour in ice before it is used.

If you take champagne instead of cyder, so much the better.

Elder-flower Water

To every gallon of water take four pounds of loaf sugar, boiled and clarified with eggs, according to the quantity, and thrown hot upon the elder-flowers, allowing a quart of flowers to each gallon. They must be gathered when the weather is quite dry, and when they are so ripe as to shake off without any of the green part. When nearly cold, add yest in proportion to the quantity of liquor; strain it in two or three days from the flowers, and put it into a cask, with two or three table-spoonfuls of lemon-juice to every two gallons. Add, if you please, a small quantity of brandy, and, in ten months, bottle it.

Elderberry Syrup

Pick the elderberries when full ripe; put them into a stone jar, and set them in the oven, or in a kettle of boiling water, till the jar is hot through. Take them out, and strain them through a coarse cloth, wringing the berries. Put them into a clean kettle, with a pound of fine Lisbon sugar to every quart of juice. Let it boil, and skim it well. When clear and fine, put it into a jar. When cold, cover it down close, and, when you make raisin wine, put to every gallon of wine half a pint of elder syrup.

Ginger Beer. No. 1

Boil six gallons of water and six pounds of loaf sugar for an hour, with three ounces of ginger, bruised, and the juice and rind of two lemons. When almost cold, put in a toast spread with yest; let it ferment three days; then put it in a cask, with half a pint of brandy. When it has stood ten days, bottle it off, and it will be fit to drink in a fortnight, if warm weather.

Ginger Beer. No. 2

Four ounces of ground ginger, two ounces of cream of tartar, three large lemons, cut in slices and bruised, three pounds of loaf sugar. Pour over them four gallons of boiling water; let it stand till it is milk warm; then add two table-spoonfuls of yest on a toast; let it stand twenty-four hours, strain it through a sieve, bottle it, and it will be fit for use in three days: the corks must be tied or wired, or they will fly.

Ginger Beer. No. 3

To make ginger beer fit for drinking twenty-four hours after it is bottled, take two ounces of ground ginger, two ounces of cream of tartar, two lemons sliced, one pound and a half of lump sugar; put them into a pan, and pour upon them two gallons of boiling water. When nearly cold, strain it from the lees, add three table-spoonfuls of yest, and let it stand twelve hours. Bottle it in stone bottles, well corked and tied down.

Ginger Beer. No. 4