The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families

QUICK HEDGES. A great variety of different sorts of plants is employed in forming and constructing these hedges, as those of the hawthorn, the black-thorn, the crab-tree, the hazel, the willow, the beech, the elder, the poplar, the alder, and several other kinds, according to particular circumstances and situations. Whatever sort of plants may be employed for this purpose, the work should constantly be well performed in the first instance, and the hedges and plants be afterwards kept in due order and regularity by suitable pruning, cutting in, and other proper management. Excellent hawthorn hedges are raised by planting one row only at six inches asunder, rather than two rows nine inches or a foot apart. Those planted six inches apart do not require to be cut down to thicken them at the bottom, and will form a complete protection against hogs, and in other respects form a beautiful and effectual fence.

QUICKSILVER, when rubbed down and blended with unctuous matters, forms a sort of ointment, which is useful in the curing of different diseases of the skin, as well as in destroying lice and other vermin that infest animals of different kinds, which form the live stock of the farmer. It has also been found useful in its crude state in destroying insects on fruit trees. Take a small awl, and pierce sloping, through the rind, and into part of the wood of the branch, but not to the heart or pith of it; and pour in a small drop or two of the quicksilver, and stop it up with a small wooden plug made to fit the orifice, and the insects will drop off from that very branch the next day; and in a day or two more, from the other branches of the trees without any other puncture, and the tree will continue in full vigour and thrive well through the summer. Honeysuckles and other shrubs may be cleared of insects, by scraping away the top of the ground with a trowel, and running an awl in the same sloping manner, into the main stem just above the roots; but with the same caution as above, not quite to the inner pith, and then applying the quicksilver. The insects will drop off the day after the experiment.

QUILLS. To harden and prepare them for use, dip them for a minute in some boiling water in which alum has been dissolved; or thrust them into hot ashes till they become soft, and afterwards press and scrape them with the back of a knife. When they are to be clarified, the barrels must be scraped and cut at the end, and then put into boiling water for a quarter of an hour, with a quantity of alum and salt. Afterwards they are dried in an oven, or in a pan of hot sand.

QUIN'S FISH SAUCE. Half a pint of walnut pickle, the same of mushroom pickle, six anchovies pounded, six anchovies whole, and half a tea-spoonful of cayenne. Shake it up well, when it is to be used.

QUINCE. The fruit of the quince is astringent and stomachic; and its expressed juice, in small quantities, as a spoonful or two, is of considerable service in nausea, vomitings, eructations, &c. Quince trees are very apt to have rough bark, and to be bark-bound; in these cases it will be necessary to shave off the rough bark with a draw-knife, and to scarify them when bark-bound, brushing them over with the composition. It is also advised to plant quince trees at a proper distance from apple and pears, as bees and the wind may mix the farina, and occasion the apples and pears to degenerate. These trees may be raised from the kernels of the fruit sown in autumn; but there is no depending on having the same sort of good fruit from seedlings, nor will they soon become bearers. But the several varieties may be continued the same by cuttings and layers; also by suckers from such trees as grow upon their own roots, and likewise be increased by grafting and budding upon their own pear-stocks raised from the kernels in the same manner as for apples. Standard quinces, designed as fruit trees, may be stationed in the garden or orchard, and some by the sides of any water, pond, watery ditch, &c. as they delight in moisture.

QUINCE JELLY. When quinces have been boiled for marmalade, take the first liquor and pass it through a jelly bag. To every pint allow a pound of fine loaf sugar, and boil it till it is quite clear and comes to a jelly. The quince seeds should be tied in a piece of muslin, and boiled in it.

QUINCE MARMALADE. Pare and quarter some quinces, and weigh an equal quantity of sugar. To four pounds of the latter put a quart of water, boil and skim it well, by the time the quinces are prepared. Lay the fruit in a stone jar, with a teacupful of water at the bottom, and pack them with a little sugar strewed between. Cover the jar close, set it in a cool oven, or on a stove, and let the quinces soften till they become red. Then pour the syrup and a quart of quince juice into a preserving pan, and boil all together till the marmalade be completed, breaking the lumps of fruit with the ladle; otherwise the fruit is so hard, that it will require a great deal of time. Stewing quinces in a jar, and then squeezing them through a cheese cloth, is the best method of obtaining the juice; and in this case the cloth should first be dipped in boiling water, and then wrung out.

QUINCE PUDDING. Scald six large quinces very tender, pare off the thin rind, and scrape them to a pulp. Add powdered sugar enough to make them very sweet, and a little pounded ginger and cinnamon. Beat up the yolks of four eggs with some salt, and stir in a pint of cream. Mix these with the quince, and bake it in a dish, with a puff crust round the edge. In a moderate oven, three quarters of an hour will be sufficient. Sift powdered sugar over the pudding before it is sent to table.

QUINCE WINE. Gather the quinces in a dry day, when they are tolerably ripe; rub off the down with a linen cloth, and lay them in hay or straw for ten days to perspire. Cut them in quarters, take out the cores, and bruise them well in a mashing tub with a wooden pestle. Squeeze out the liquid part by degrees, by pressing them in a hair bag in a cider press. Strain the liquor through a fine sieve, then warm it gently over a fire, and skim it, but do not suffer it to boil. Now sprinkle into it some loaf sugar reduced to powder, and boil a dozen or fourteen quinces thinly sliced, in a gallon of water mixed with a quart of white wine. Add two pounds of fine sugar, strain off the liquor, and mingle it with the natural juice of the quinces. Put this into a cask, but do not fill it, and mix them well together. Let it stand to settle, put in two or three whites of eggs, and draw it off. If it be not sweet enough, add more sugar, and a quart of the best malmsey. To make it still better, boil a quarter of a pound of stone raisins, and half an ounce of cinnamon bark, in a quart of the liquor, till a third part is reduced. Then strain it, and put it into the cask when the wine is fermenting.

QUINCES PRESERVED. Wipe clean a quantity of golden pippins, not pared but sliced, and put them into two quarts of boiling water. Boil them very quick, and closely covered, till the water is reduced to a thick jelly, and then scald the quinces, either whole or cut in halves. To every pint of pippin jelly add a pound of the finest sugar, boil and skim it clear. Put those quinces that are to be done whole into the syrup at once, and let it boil very fast; and those that are to be in halves by themselves. Skim it carefully, and when the fruit is clear, put some of the syrup into a glass, to try whether it jellies, before taking it off the fire. A pound of quinces is to be allowed to a pound of sugar, and a pound of jelly already boiled with the sugar.

QUINSEY. For a quinsey, or inflammation of the throat, make a volatile liniment, by shaking together an ounce of Florence oil, and half an ounce of the spirit of hartshorn; or an equal quantity of each, if the patient be able to bear it. Moisten a piece of flannel with the liniment, and apply it to the throat every four or five hours. After bleeding, it will seldom fail to lessen or carry off the complaint.

R

Rabbits. Wild ones have the finest flavour, and are by far the best. Tame rabbits are scarcely eatable, unless kept delicately clean. The doe brings forth every month, and must be allowed to go with the buck as soon as she has kindled. The sweetest hay, oats, beans, sow-thistle, parsley, carrot tops, cabbage leaves, and bran, should be given to the rabbits, fresh and fresh. If not carefully attended, their own stench will destroy them, and be very unwholesome to those who live near them. Constant care is requisite to prevent this inconvenience. – When rabbits are to be dressed, they may have gravy and stuffing like hare; or they may be larded, and roasted without stuffing. For the manner of trussing a rabbit, either for roasting or boiling, see the Plate. If boiled, it should be smothered with onion sauce, the butter to be melted with milk instead of water. If fried in joints, it must be dressed with dried or fried parsley, and liver sauce made for it, the same as for roasting. Chop up the liver with parsley, and put it into melted butter, with pepper and salt. If fricasseed, the same as for chickens. Young rabbits are good in a pie, with forcemeat as for chicken pie. – When rabbits are to be purchased for cooking, the following things must be observed. If the claws are blunt and rugged, the ears dry and tough, and the haunch thick, it is old. But if the claws are smooth and sharp, the ears easily tear, and the cleft in the lip is not much spread, it is young. If fresh and newly killed, the body will be stiff, and in hares the flesh is pale. They keep a good while by proper care, and are best when rather beginning to turn, if the inside is preserved from being musty. To distinguish a real leveret from a hare, a knob or small bone will be discovered near the foot on its fore leg. —Tame rabbits may be bred with much success and ornamental effect in a small artificial warren, in a lawn in the garden, made in the following manner. Pare off the turf of a circle about forty feet diameter, and lay it on the outside; then dig a ditch within this circle, the outside perpendicular, the inner sloping, and throw earth sufficient into the middle to form a little hill, two or three feet higher than the level of the lawn; the rest must be carried away. Then lay down the turf on the hill, and beat it well to settle. The ditch at bottom should be about three feet wide, and three and a half deep, with two or three drains at the bottom, covered with an iron grate, or a stone with holes, to carry off the hasty rains, in order to keep the rabbits dry. In the outside bank should be six alcoves, the sides and top supported, either by boards or brick-work, to give the rabbits their dry food in; by their different situations some will always be dry; six boxes or old tea-chests, let into the bank will do very well. If the ground be very light, the outside circle should have a wall built round it, or some stakes driven into the ground, and boards or hurdles nailed to them, within a foot of the bottom, to prevent the bank from falling in. The entrance must either be by a board to turn occasionally across the ditch, or by a ladder. The turf being settled, and the grass beginning to grow, turn in the rabbits, and they will immediately go to work to make themselves burrows in the sides, and in the hill. By way of inducing them rather to build in the sides, to keep the turf the neater, make a score of holes about a foot deep, and they will finish them to their own mind; and if there be a brick wall round it, it should be built on pillars, with an arch from each, to leave a vacancy for a burrow. Lucern, parsley and carrots are very proper food for them; and they should also be fed upon some of the best upland pasture hay. Rabbits are subject to several diseases, as the rot, which is caused by giving them too large a quantity of green food, or the giving it fresh gathered, with the dew or rain hanging in fresh drops upon it, as it is over-moisture that always causes the disease; the green food should therefore always be given dry, and a sufficient quantity of hay, or other dry food, intermixed with it, to counteract the bad effects of it. And a sort of madness often seizes them: this may be known by their tumbling about; their heels upwards, and hopping in an odd manner into the boxes. This distemper is supposed to be owing to the rankness of their feeding; and the general cure is the keeping them low and giving them the prickly herb called tare-thistle to eat as much as possible. They are also subject to a sort of scabby eruption, which is seldom removed. These should, however, be directly separated from the rest of the stock.

RABBIT LIKE HARE. Choose a full-grown young rabbit, and hang it up three or four days. Then skin it, and without washing, lay it in a seasoning of black pepper and allspice, in very fine powder. Add a glass of port wine, and the same quantity of vinegar. Baste it occasionally for forty hours, then stuff and roast it as hare, and with the same sauce. Do not wash off the liquor that it was soaked in.

RADISHES. These are raised from seed by different sowings from the end of October till April, or the following month. They should have a light fine mould, and the more early sowings be made on borders, under warm walls, or other similar places, and in frames covered by glasses. The common spindle-rooted, short-topped sorts are mostly made use of in these early sowings, the seed being sown broadcast over the beds after they have been prepared by digging over and raking the surface even, being covered in with a slight raking. Some sow carrots with the early crops of radishes. It is usual to protect the early sown crops in the borders, during frosty nights and bad weather, by mats or dry wheat straw, which should be carefully removed every mild day. By this means they are brought more forward, as well as form better roots. When mats are used, and supported by pegs or hoops, they are readily applied and removed. A second more general sowing should be made in January or February. When the crops have got their rough leaf; they should be thinned out, where they are too thick, to the distance of two inches, as there will be constantly more thinning by the daily drawing of the young radishes. When the weather is dry in March, or the following month, the crops should be occasionally well watered, which not only forwards the growth of the crops, but increases the size of the roots, and renders them more mild and crisp in eating. And the sowings should be continued at the distance of a fortnight, till the latter end of March, when they should be performed every ten days, until the end of April or beginning of the following month. In sowing these later crops, it is the practice of some gardeners to sow coss-lettuces and spinach with them, in order to have the two crops coming forward at the same time; but the practice is not to be much recommended, where there is sufficient room. But in sowing the main general crops in the open quarters, the market-gardeners generally put them in on the same ground where they plant out their main crops of cauliflowers and cabbages, mixing spinach with the radish-seed as above, sowing the seeds first, and raking them in, then planting the cauliflowers or cabbages; the radishes and spinach come in for use before the other plants begin to spread much, and as soon as those crops are all cleared off for use, hoe the ground all over to kill weeds and loosen the soil, drawing earth about the stems of the cauliflowers and cabbages. The turnip radish should not be sown till the beginning of March, the plants being allowed a greater distance than for the common spindle-rooted sort. The seeds of this sort are apt to degenerate, unless they are set at a distance from that kind. The white and black Spanish radishes are usually sown about the middle of July, or a little earlier, and are fit for the table by the end of August, or the beginning of September, continuing good till frost spoils them. These should be thinned to a greater distance than the common sort, as their roots grow as large as turnips, and should not be left nearer than six inches. To have these roots in winter, they should be drawn before hard frost comes on, and laid in dry sand, as practised for carrots, carefully guarding them from wet and frost; as in this way they may be kept till the spring. In regard to the culture of the general crops, they require very little, except occasional thinning, where they are too thick, when the plants are come into the rough leaf, either by hoeing or drawing them out by hand: though for large quantities, small hoeing is the most expeditious mode of thinning, as well as most beneficial to the crop by loosening the ground; in either method thinning the plants to about two or three inches distance, clearing out the weakest, and leaving the strongest to form the crop. In order to save the seed, about the beginning of May some ground should be prepared by digging and levelling; then drawing some of the straightest and best coloured radishes, plant them in rows three feet distant, and two feet asunder in the rows; observing, if the season be dry, to water them until they have taken root: after which they will only require to have the weeds hoed down between them, until they are advanced so high as to overspread the ground. When the seed begins to ripen, it should be carefully guarded against the birds. When it is ripe, the pods will turn brown: then it must be cut, and spread in the sun to dry; after which it must be thrashed, and laid up for use where no mice can come at it. In order to have the roots early, as in January or the following month, the method of raising them in hot-beds is sometimes practised. They should have eighteen inches depth of dung to bring them up, and six or seven inches depth of light rich mould. The seed should be sown moderately thick, covering it in half an inch thick, and putting on the lights: the plants usually come up in a week or less; and when they appear, the lights should be lifted or taken off occasionally, according to the weather; and in a fortnight thin the plants to the distance of an inch and half or two inches, when in six weeks they will be fit to draw. Where there are no frames to spare, the beds may be covered with mats over hoops, and the sides secured by boards and straw-bands. And when in want of dung, if the beds be covered with frames, and the lights put on at night and in bad weather, the plants may be raised for use a fortnight sooner than in the open borders. – To raise them in constant succession, steep the seed in rain water for twenty-four hours, tie it up in a linen bag, and hang it in the sun all day. The seed beginning to shoot, is then to be sown in fresh earth well exposed to the sun, and covered with a tub. In three days the radishes will be produced fit for salad, and much more delicate than those grown in the common way. In the winter the seeds should be steeped in warm water, and the bag put in a place sufficiently hot to make them sprout. Then fill a tub with rich mould, sow the seeds in it, and cover them over closely with another tub, taking care to sprinkle them now and then with warm water. The two tubs closely joined should be set in a warm place, and in about a fortnight some fine salad will be produced. Radishes may be raised in this manner all the year round, and by the quickness of their growth they will be rendered fine and delicate.

RAGOUT OF EGGS. Boil eight eggs hard, then shell and cut them into quarters. Have ready a pint of good gravy, well seasoned, and thickened over the fire with two ounces of butter rolled in flour. When quite smooth and hot, pour it over the eggs, and serve them up. By using cream instead of gravy, this will make a fricassee.

RAGOUT OF MORELS. Cut them in long slices, then wash and drain them well. Put them into a stewpan with a piece of butter, some chopped parsley, a bunch of herbs, and some gravy. Simmer them over a gentle fire, and when nearly done, add a little pepper, salt, and flour. Set them over the fire, till the sauce is properly thickened. Stewed with a little water and a blade of mace, and thickened with cream, and yolks of eggs, they make a white ragout. Serve them with sippets of bread toasted.

RAGOUT OF TRUFFLES. Peel the truffles, cut them in slices, wash and drain them well. Put them into a saucepan with a little gravy, and stew them gently over a slow fire. When they are nearly done enough, thicken them with a little butter and flour. Stewed in a little water, and thickened with cream and yolk of egg, they make a nice white ragout. Truffles, mushrooms, and morels, are all of them very indigestible, and therefore not to be recommended to general use.

RAISED CRUST. For meat pies or fowls, boil some water with a little fine lard, and an equal quantity of fresh dripping or butter, but not much of either. While hot, mix this with as much fine flour as is necessary, making the paste as stiff as possible, to be smooth. Good kneading will be required for this purpose, and beating it with a rolling-pin. When quite smooth, put a part of it into a cloth, or under a pan, to soak till nearly cold. Those who are not expert in raising a crust, may roll the paste of a proper thickness, and cut out the top and bottom of the pie, then a long piece for the sides. Cement the bottom to the sides with egg, bringing the former rather farther out, and pinching both together. Put egg between the edges of the paste, to make it adhere at the sides. Fill the pie, put on the cover, and pinch it and the side crust together. The same mode of uniting the paste is to be observed, if the sides are pressed into a tin form, in which the paste must be baked, after it is filled and covered; but in the latter case, the tin should be buttered, and carefully taken off when done enough; and as the form usually makes the sides of a lighter colour than is proper, the paste should be put into the oven again for a quarter of an hour. The crust should be egged over at first with a feather. – Another. Put four ounces of butter into a saucepan with water; and when it boils, pour it into a quantity of flour. Knead and beat it quite smooth, cover it with small bits of butter, and work it in. If for custard, put a paper within to keep out the sides till half done. Mix up an egg with a little warm milk, adding sugar, a little peach water, lemon peel, or nutmeg, and fill up the paste. – Another way. To four pounds of flour, allow a pound of butter, and an ounce of salt. Heap the flour on a pie board, and make a hole in the middle of it, and put in the butter and salt. Pour in water nearly boiling, but with caution, that the crust be not too flimsey. Work the butter with the hand till it is melted in the water, then mix in the flour, mould it for a few minutes as quick as possible, that it may be free from lumps, and the stiffer it is the better. Let it be three hours before it is used.

RAISIN WINE. To every gallon of spring water, allow eight pounds of fresh Smyrnas, and put them together in a large tub. Stir it thoroughly every day for a month, then press the raisins in a horse-hair bag as dry as possible, and put the liquor into a cask. When it has done hissing, pour in a bottle of the best brandy, stop it close for twelve months, and then rack it off free from the dregs. Filter the dregs through a bag of flannel of three or four folds, add what is clear to the general quantity, and pour on a quart or two of brandy, according to the size of the vessel. Stop it up, and at the end of three years it may either be bottled, or drank from the cask. If raisin wine be made rich of the fruit, and well kept, the flavour will be much improved. – To make raisin wine with cider, put two hundred-weight of Malagas into a cask, and pour upon them a hogshead of good sound cider that is not rough; stir it well two or three days, stop it up, and let it stand six months. Then rack it into a cask that it will fill, and add a gallon of the best brandy. If raisin wine be much used, it would answer well to keep a cask always for it, and bottle off one year's wine just in time to make the next, which, allowing the six months of infusion, would make the wine to be eighteen months old. In cider counties this way is found to be economical; and if the wine is not thought strong enough, the addition of another stone or two of raisins would be sufficient, and the wine would still be very cheap. When the raisins are pressed through a horse-hair bag, they will either produce a good spirit by distillation, if sent to a chemist, or they will make excellent vinegar. – Raisin wine without cider. On four hundred-weight of Malagas pour a hogshead of spring water, stir it well every day for a fortnight, then squeeze the raisins in a horse-hair bag in a press, and tun the liquor. When it ceases to hiss, stop it close. In six months rack it off into another cask, or into a tub; and after clearing out the sediment, return it into the cask without washing it. Add a gallon of the best brandy, stop it close, and bottle it off in six months. The pressed fruit may be reserved for making vinegar.