Part 4

Set some mulberries over the fire in skillet or preserving pan; draw from them a pint of juice when it is strained; then take three pounds of sugar beaten very fine, wet the sugar with the pint of juice, boil up your sugar and skim it, put in two pounds of ripe mulberries, and let them stand in the sirrup till they are thoroughly warm, then set them on the fire, and let them boil very gently; do them but half enough, so put them by in the sirrup till next day, then boil them gently again: when the sirrup is pretty thick, and will stand in round drops when it is cold, they are done enough, so put all into a gallipot for use.

_To preserve Goosberries, Damsons, or Plumbs_

Gather them when dry, full grown, and not ripe; pick them one by one, put them into glass bottles that are very clean and dry, and cork them close with new corks; then put a kettle of water on the fire, and put in the bottles with care; wet not the corks, but let the water come up to the necks; make a gentle fire till they are a little codled and turn white; do not take them up till cold, then pitch the corks all over, or wax them close and thick; then set them in a cool dry cellar.

_To preserve Peaches_.

Put your peaches in boiling water, just give them a scald, but don't let them boil, take them out, and put them in cold water, then dry them in a sieve, and put them in long wide mouthed bottles: to half a dozen peaches take a quarter of a pound of sugar, clarify it, pour it over your peaches, and fill the bottles with brandy, stop them close, and keep them in a close place.

_To preserve Apricots_.

Take your apricots and pare them, then stone what you can whole; give them a light boiling in a pint of water, or according to your quantity of fruit; then take the weight of your apricots in sugar, and take the liquor which you boil them in, and your sugar, and boil it till it comes to a sirrup, and give them a light boiling, taking of the scum as it rises; when the sirrup jellies, it is enough; then take up the apricots, and cover them with the jelly, and put cut paper over them, and lay them down when cold. Or, take you plumbs before they have stones in them, which you may know by putting a pin through them, then codle them in many waters, till they are as green as grass; peel them and codle them again; you must take the weight of them in sugar and make a sirrup; put to your sugar a pint of water; then put them in, set them on the fire to boil slowly, till they be clear, skimming them often, and they will be very green. Put them up in glasses, and keep them for use.

_To preserve Cherries_.

Take two pounds of cherries, one pound and a half of sugar, half a pint of fair water, melt some sugar in it; when it is melted, put in your other sugar and your cherries; then boil them softly, till all the sugar be melted; then boil them fast, and skim them; take them off two or three times and shake them, and put them on again, and let them boil fast; and when they are of a good colour, and the sirrup will stand, they are boiled enough.

_To preserve Raspberries_.

Chuse raspberries that are not too ripe, and take the weight of them in sugar, wet your sugar with a little water, and put in your berries, and let them boil softly; take heed of breaking them; when they are clear, take them up, and boil the sirrup till it be thick enough, then put them in again; and when they are cold, put them up in glasses.

_To preserve Currants_.

Take the weight of the currants in sugar, pick out the seeds; take to a pound of sugar, half a pint of water, let it melt; then put in your currants and let them do very leisurely, skim them, and take them up, let the sirrup boil; then put them on again; and when they are clear, and the sirrup thick enough, take them off; and when they are cold, put them up in glasses.

_To preserve Plumbs_.

Take your plumbs before they have stones in them, which you may know by putting a pin through them, then codle them in many waters till they are as green as grass, peel them and coddle them again; you must take the weight of them in sugar, a pint of water, then put them in, set them on the fire, to boil slowly till they be clear, skiming them often, and they will be very green; put them up in glasses and keep them for use.

_To keep Damsons_.

Take damsons when they are first ripe, pick them off carefully, wipe them clean, put them into snuff bottles, stop them up tight so that no air can get to them, nor water; put nothing into the bottles but plumbs, put the bottles into cold water, hang them over the fire, let them heat slowly, let the water boil slowly for half an hour, when the water is cold take out the bottles, set the bottles into a cold place, they will keep twelve months if the bottles are stopped tight, so as no air nor water can get to them. They will not keep long after the bottles are opened; the plumbs must be hard.

_Currant Jelly_.

Having stripped the currants from the stalks, put them in a stone jar, stop it close, set it in a kettle of boiling water, halfway the jar, let it boil half an hour, take it out and strain the juice through a coarse hair sieve, to a pint of juice put a pound of sugar, set it over a fine quick fire in a preserving pan, or a bell-metal skillet, keep stirring it all the time till the sugar be melted, then skim the skum off as fast as it rises. When the jelly is very clear and fine, pour it into earthern or china cups, when cold, cut white papers just the bigness of the top of the pot, and lay on the jelly, dip those papers in brandy, then cover the top of the pot and prick it full of holes, set it in a dry place; you may put some into glasses for present use.

_To dry Peaches_.

Take the fairest and ripest peaches, pare them into fair water; take their weight in double refined sugar; of one half make a very thin sirrup; then put in your peaches, boiling them till they look clear, then split and stone them, boil them till they are very tender, lay them a draining, take the other half of the sugar, and boil it almost to a candy; then put in your peaches, and let them lie all night then lay them on a glass, and set them in a stove, till they are dry, if they are sugared too much, wipe them with a wet cloth a little; let the first sirrup be very thin, a quart of water to a pound of sugar.

_To pickle or make Mangoes of Melons_.

Take green melons, as many as you please, and make a brine strong enough to bear an egg; then pour it boiling hot on the melons, keeping them down under the brine; let them stand five or six days; then take them out, slit them down on one side, take out all the seeds, scrape them well in the inside, and wash them clean with cold water; then take a clove of a garlick, a little ginger and nutmeg sliced, and a little whole pepper; put all these proportionably into the melons, filling them up with mustard-seeds; then lay them in an earthern pot with the slit upwards, and take one part of mustard and two parts of vinegar, enough to cover them, pouring it upon them scalding hot, and keep them close slopped.

_To pickle Barberries_.

Take of white wine vinegar and water, of each an equal quantity; to every quart of this liquor, put in half a pound of cheap sugar, then pick the worst of your barberries and put into this liquor, and the best into glasses; then boil your pickle with the worst of your barberries, and skim it very clean, boil it till it looks of a fine colour, then let it stand to be cold, before you strain it; then strain it through a cloth, wringing it to get all the colour you can from the barberries; let it stand to cool and settle, then pour it clear into the glasses; in a little of the pickle, boil a little fennel; when cold, put a little bit at the top of the pot or glass, and cover it close with a bladder or leather. To every half pound of sugar, put a quarter of a pound of white salt.

_To pickle Cucumbers_.

Let your cucumbers be small, fresh gathered, and free from spots; then make a pickle of salt and water, strong enough to bear an egg; boil the pickle and skim it well, and then pour it upon your cucumbers, and stive them down for twenty four hours; then strain them out into a cullender, and dry them well with a cloth, and take the best white wine vinegar, with cloves, diced mace, nutmeg, white pepper corns, long pepper, and races of ginger, (as much as you please) boil them up together, and then clap the cucumbers in, with a few vine leaves, and a little salt, and as soon as they begin to turn their colour, put them into jars, stive them down close, and when cold, tie on a bladder and leather.

_Alamode Beef_.

Take a round of beeĀ£; and stuff it with half pound pork, half pound of butter, the soft of half a loaf of wheat bread, boil four eggs very hard, chop them up; add sweet marjoram, sage, parsley, summersavory, and one ounce of cloves pounded, chop them all together, with two eggs very fine, and add a jill of wine, season very high with salt and pepper, cut holes in your beef, to put your stuffing in, then stick whole cloves into the beef, then put it into a two pail pot, with sticks at the bottom, if you wish to have the beef round when done, put it into a cloth and bind it tight with 20 or 30 yards of twine, put it into your pot with two or three quarts of water, and one jill of wine, if the round be large it will take three or four hours to bake it.

_For dressing Codfish_.

Put the fish first into cold water and wash it, then hang it over the fire and soak it six hours in scalding water, then shift it into clean warm water, and let it scald for one hour, it will be much better than to boil.

_To boil all kinds of Garden Stuff_.

In dressing all sorts of kitchen garden herbs, take care they are clean washed; that there be no small snails, or caterpillars between the leaves; and that all coarse outer leaves, and the tops that have received any injury by the weather, be taken off; next wash them in a good deal of water, and put them into a cullender to drain, care must likewise be taken, that your pot or sauce pan be clean, well tinned, and free from sand, or grease.

_To keep Green Peas till Christmas_.

Take young peas, shell them, put them in a cullender to drain, then by a cloth four or five times double on a table, then spread them on, dry them very well, and have your bottles ready, fill them, cover them with mutton suet fat when it is a little soft; fill the necks almost to the top, cork them, tie a bladder and a leather over them and set them in a dry cool place.

_To boil French Beans_.

Take your beans and string them, cut in two and then across, when you have done them all, sprinkle them over with salt, stir them together, as soon as your water boils put them in and make them boil up quick, they will be soon done and they will look of a better green than when growing in the garden if; they are very young, only break off the ends, them break in two and dress them in the same manner.

_To boil broad Beans_.

Beans require a great deal of water and it is not best to shell them till just before they are ready to go into the pot, when the water boils put them in with some picked parsley and some salt, make them boil up quick, when you see them begin to fall, they are done enough, strain them off, garnish the dish with boiled parsley and send plain butter in a cup or boat.

_To boil green Peas_.

When your peas are shelled and the water boils which should not be much more than will cover them, put them in with a few leaves of mint, as soon as they boil put in a piece of butter as big as a walnut, and stir them about, when they are done enough, strain them off, and sprinkle in a little salt, shake them till the water drains off, send them hot to the table with melted butter in a cup or boat.

_To boil Asparagus_.

First cut the white ends off about six inches from the head, and scrape them from the green part downward very clean, as you scrape them, throw them into a pan of clear water, and after a little soaking, tie them up in small even bundles, when your water boils, put them in, and boil them up quick; but by over boiling they will lose their heads; cut a slice of bread, for a toast, and toast it brown on both sides; when your asparagus is done, take it up carefully; dip the toast in the asparagus water, and lay it in the bottom of your dish; then lay the heads of the asparagus on it, with the white ends outwards; pour a little melted butter over the heads; cut an orange into small pieces, and stick them between for garnish.

_To boil Cabbage_.

If your cabbage is large, cut it into quarters; if small, cut it in halves; let your water boil, then put in a little salt, and next your cabbage with a little more salt upon it; make your water boil as soon as possible, and when the stalk is tender, take up your cabbage into a cullender, or sieve, that the water may drain off, and send it to table as hot as you can. Savoys are dressed in the same manner.

_For brewing Spruce Beer_.

Take four ounces of hops, let them boil half an hour in one gallon of water, strain the hop water then add sixteen gallons of warm water, two gallons of molasses, eight ounces of essence of spruce, dissolved in one quart of water, put it in a clean cask, then shake it well together, add half a pint of emptins, then let it stand and work one week, if very warm weather less time will do, when it is drawn off to bottle, add one spoonful of molasses to every bottle.

_Emptins_.

Take a handful of hops and about three quarts of water, let it boil about fifteen minutes, then make a thickening as you do for starch, strain the liquor, when cold put a little emptins to work them, they will keep well cork'd in a bottle five or six weeks.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The author of the American Cookery, not having an education sufficient to prepare the work for the press, the person that was employed by her, and entrusted with the receipts, to prepare them for publication, (with a design to impose on her, and injure the sale of the book) did omit several articles very essential in some of the receipts, and placed others in their stead, which were highly injurious to them, without her consent---which was unknown to her, till after publication; but she has removed them as far as possible, by the following

ERRATA.

Page 25. Rice pudding, No. 2; for one pound butter, read half pound--for 14 eggs read 8. No. 5; after half pint rice, add 6 ounces sugar.

Page 26. A nice Indian pudding, No. 3; boil only 6 hours.--A flour pudding; read 9 spoons of flour, put in scalding milk; bake an hour and half.--A boiled flour pudding; 9 spoons of flour, boil an hour and half.

Page 27. A cream almond pudding; for 8 yolks and 3 whites, read 8 eggs; for 1 spoon flour, read 8--boil an hour and half.

Potato pudding, No. 1, No. 2. add a pint flour to each.

Page 29. Puff pastes for tarts, No, 3; for 12 eggs read 6.

Page 33. Plain cake; for 1 quart of emptins, read 1 pint.

Page 35. Another plain cake, No. 5; for 9 pounds of flour, read 18 pounds.

In all Puddings, where cream is mentioned, milk may be used.

In pastes, the white of eggs only are to be used.