MADE DISHES, &C. (continued 2)

Obs.—The bread should be a little larger than the egg, and about a quarter of an inch thick; only just give it a yellow colour: if you toast it brown, it will get a bitter flavour; or moisten it by pouring a little hot water upon it: some sprinkle it with a few drops of vinegar, or of essence of anchovy (No. 433).

To boil Eggs to eat in the Shell, or for Salads.—(No. 547.)

The fresher laid the better: put them into boiling water; if you like the white just set,338-† about two minutes boiling is enough; a new-laid egg will take a little more; if you wish the yelk to be set, it will take three, and to boil it hard for a salad, ten minutes. See No. 372.

Obs.—A new-laid egg will require boiling longer than a stale one, by half a minute.

Tin machines for boiling eggs on the breakfast table are sold by the ironmongers, which perform the process very regularly: in four minutes the white is just set.

N.B. “Eggs may be preserved for twelve months, in a sweet and palatable state for eating in the shell, or using for salads, by boiling them for one minute; and when wanted for use let them be boiled in the usual manner: the white may be a little tougher than a new-laid egg, but the yelk will show no difference.”—See Hunter’s Culina, page 257.

Eggs poached with Sauce of minced Ham.—(No. 548.)

Poach the eggs as before directed, and take two or three slices of boiled ham; mince it fine with a gherkin, a morsel of onion, a little parsley, and pepper and salt; stew all together a quarter of an hour; serve up your sauce about half boiling; put the eggs in a dish, squeeze over the juice of half a Seville orange, or lemon, and pour the sauce over them.

Fried Eggs and minced Ham or Bacon.—(No. 549.)

Choose some very fine bacon streaked with a good deal of lean; cut this into very thin slices, and afterward into small square pieces; throw them into a stew-pan, and set it over a gentle fire, that they may lose some of their fat. When as much as will freely come is thus melted from them, lay them on a warm dish. Put into a stew-pan a ladle-full of melted bacon or lard; set it on a stove; put in about a dozen of the small pieces of bacon, then stoop the stew-pan and break in an egg. Manage this carefully, and the egg will presently be done: it will be very round, and the little dice of bacon will stick to it all over, so that it will make a very pretty appearance. Take care the yelks do not harden; when the egg is thus done, lay it carefully in a warm dish, and do the others.

^*_*^* They reckon 685 ways of dressing eggs in the French kitchen: we hope our half dozen receipts give sufficient variety for the English kitchen.

Tea.339-*—(No. 550.)

“The Jesuit that came from China, A.D. 1664, told Mr. Waller, that to a drachm of tea they put a pint of water, and frequently take the yelks of two new-laid eggs, and beat them up with as much fine sugar as is sufficient for the tea, and stir all well together. He also informed him, that we let the hot water remain too long soaking upon the tea, which makes it extract into itself the earthy parts of the herb; the water must remain upon it no longer than while you can say the ‘Miserere’ psalm very leisurely; you have then only the spiritual part of the tea, the proportion of which to the water must be about a drachm to a pint.”—Sir Kenelm Digby’s Cookery, London, 1669, page 176.

Obs.—The addition of an egg makes the “Chinese Soup,” a more nutritious and substantial meal for a traveller.

Coffee.340-*

Coffee, as used on the Continent, serves the double purpose of an agreeable tonic, and an exhilarating beverage, without the unpleasant effects of wine.

Coffee, as drunk in England, debilitates the stomach, and produces a slight nausea. In France and in Italy it is made strong from the best coffee, and is poured out hot and transparent.

In England it is usually made from bad coffee, served out tepid and muddy, and drowned in a deluge of water, and sometimes deserves the title given it in “the Petition against Coffee,” 4to. 1674, page 4, “a base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking puddle water.”

To make Coffee fit for use, you must employ the German filter,—pay at least 4s. the pound for it,—and take at least an ounce for two breakfast-cups.

No coffee will bear drinking with what is called milk in London.

London people should either take their coffee pure, or put a couple of tea-spoonfuls of cream to each cup.

N.B. The above is a contribution from an intelligent traveller, who has passed some years on the Continent.

Suet Pudding, Wiggy’s way.—(No. 551.)

Suet, a quarter of a pound; flour, three table-spoonfuls; eggs, two; and a little grated ginger; milk, half a pint. Mince the suet as fine as possible, roll it with the rolling-pin so as to mix it well with the flour; beat up the eggs, mix them with the milk, and then mix all together; wet your cloth well in boiling water, flour it, tie it loose, put it into boiling water, and boil it an hour and a quarter.

Mrs. Glasse has it, “when you have made your water boil, then put your pudding into your pot.”

Yorkshire Pudding under roast Meat, the Gipsies’ way.—(No. 552.)

This pudding is an especially excellent accompaniment to a sir-loin of beef,—loin of veal,—or any fat and juicy joint.

Six table-spoonfuls of flour, three eggs, a tea-spoonful of salt, and a pint of milk, so as to make a middling stiff batter, a little stiffer than you would for pancakes; beat it up well, and take care it is not lumpy; put a dish under the meat, and let the drippings drop into it till it is quite hot and well greased; then pour in the batter;—when the upper surface is brown and set, turn it, that both sides may be brown alike: if you wish it to cut firm, and the pudding an inch thick, it will take two hours at a good fire.

N.B. The true Yorkshire pudding is about half an inch thick when done; but it is the fashion in London to make them full twice that thickness.

Plum Pudding.—(No. 553.)

Suet, chopped fine, six ounces; Malaga raisins, stoned, six ounces; currants, nicely washed and picked, eight ounces; bread-crumbs, three ounces; flour, three ounces; eggs, three; sixth of a nutmeg; small blade of mace; same quantity of cinnamon, pounded as fine as possible; half a tea-spoonful of salt; half a pint of milk, or rather less; sugar, four ounces: to which may be added, candied lemon, one ounce; citron, half an ounce. Beat the eggs and spice well together; mix the milk with them by degrees, then the rest of the ingredients; dip a fine close linen cloth into boiling water, and put it in a hair-sieve; flour it a little, and tie it up close; put it into a saucepan containing six quarts of boiling water: keep a kettle of boiling water along side of it, and fill up your pot as it wastes; be sure to keep it boiling six hours at least.

My Pudding.—(No. 554.)

Beat up the yelks and whites of three eggs; strain them through a sieve (to keep out the treddles), and gradually add to them about a quarter of a pint of milk,—stir these well together; rub together in a mortar two ounces of moist sugar, and as much grated nutmeg as will lie on a sixpence,—stir these into the eggs and milk; then put in four ounces of flour, and beat it into a smooth batter; by degrees stir into it seven ounces of suet (minced as fine as possible), and three ounces of bread-crumbs; mix all thoroughly together at least half an hour before you put the pudding into the pot; put it into an earthenware pudding-mould that you have well buttered; tie a pudding-cloth over it very tight; put it into boiling water, and boil it three hours.

Put one good plum into it, and Moost-Aye says, you may then tell the economist that you have made a good plum pudding—without plums: this would be what schoolboys call “mile-stone pudding,” i. e. “a mile between one plum and another.”

N.B. Half a pound of Muscatel raisins cut in half, and added to the above, will make a most admirable plum pudding: a little grated lemon-peel may be added.

Obs.—If the water ceases to boil, the pudding will become heavy, and be spoiled; if properly managed, this and the following will be as fine puddings of the kind as art can produce.

Puddings are best when mixed an hour or two before they are boiled; the ingredients by that means amalgamate, and the whole becomes richer and fuller of flavour, especially if the various articles be thoroughly well stirred together.

A table-spoonful of treacle will give it a rich brown colour. See pudding sauce, No. 269, and pudding catchup, No. 446.

N.B. This pudding may be baked in an oven, or under meat, the same as Yorkshire pudding (No. 552); make it the same, only add half a pint of milk more: should it be above an inch and a quarter in thickness, it will take full two hours: it requires careful watching, for if the top gets burned, an empyreumatic flavour will pervade the whole of the pudding. Or, butter some tin mince-pie patty-pans, or saucers, and fill them with pudding, and set them in a Dutch oven; they will take about an hour.

Maigre Plum Pudding.

Simmer half a pint of milk with two blades of mace, and a roll of lemon-peel, for ten minutes; then strain it into a basin; set it away to get cold: in the mean time beat three eggs in a basin with three ounces of loaf-sugar, and the third of a nutmeg: then add three ounces of flour; beat it well together, and add the milk by degrees: then put in three ounces of fresh butter broken into small pieces, and three ounces of bread-crumbs; three ounces of currants washed and picked clean, three ounces of raisins stoned and chopped: stir it all well together. Butter a mould; put it in, and tie a cloth tight over it. Boil it two hours and a half. Serve it up with melted butter, two table-spoonfuls of brandy, and a little loaf-sugar.

A Fat Pudding.

Break five eggs in a basin; beat them up with a tea-spoonful of sugar and a table-spoonful of flour; beat it quite smooth; then put to it a pound of raisins, and a pound of suet; it must not be chopped very fine; butter a mould well; put in the pudding; tie a cloth over it tight, and boil it five hours.

N.B. This is very rich, and is commonly called a marrow pudding.

Pease Pudding.—(No. 555.)

Put a quart of split pease into a clean cloth; do not tie them up too close, but leave a little room for them to swell; put them on in cold water, to boil slowly till they are tender: if they are good pease they will be boiled enough in about two hours and a half; rub them through a sieve into a deep dish, adding343-* to them an egg or two, an ounce of butter, and some pepper and salt; beat them well together for about ten minutes, when these ingredients are well incorporated together; then flour the cloth well, put the pudding in, and tie it up as tight as possible, and boil it an hour longer. It is as good with boiled beef as it is with boiled pork; and why not with roasted pork?

Obs.—This is a very good accompaniment to cold pork or cold beef.

N.B. Stir this pudding into two quarts of the liquor meat or poultry has been boiled in; give it a boil up, and in five minutes it will make excellent extempore pease soup, especially if the pudding has been boiled in the same pot as the meat (see No. 218, &c.) Season it with pease powder, No. 458.

Plain Bread Pudding.—(No. 556.)

Make five ounces of bread-crumbs; put them in a basin; pour three quarters of a pint of boiling milk over them; put a plate over the top to keep in the steam; let it stand twenty minutes, then beat it up quite smooth with two ounces of sugar and a salt-spoonful of nutmeg. Break four eggs on a plate, leaving out one white; beat them well, and add them to the pudding. Stir it all well together, and put it in a mould that has been well buttered and floured; tie a cloth over it, and boil it one hour.

Bread and butter Pudding.—(No. 557.)

You must have a dish that will hold a quart: wash and pick two ounces of currants; strew a few at the bottom of the dish; cut about four layers of very thin bread and butter, and between each layer of bread and butter strew some currants; then break four eggs in a basin, leaving out one white; beat them well, and add four ounces of sugar and a drachm of nutmeg; stir it well together with a pint of new milk; pour it over about ten minutes before you put it in the oven; it will take three quarters of an hour to bake.

Pancakes and Fritters.—(No. 558.)

Break three eggs in a basin; beat them up with a little nutmeg and salt; then put to them four ounces and a half of flour, and a little milk; beat it of a smooth batter; then add by degrees as much milk as will make it of the thickness of good cream: the frying-pan must be about the size of a pudding plate, and very clean, or they will stick; make it hot, and to each pancake put in a bit of butter about as big as a walnut: when it is melted, pour in the batter to cover the bottom of the pan; make them the thickness of half a crown; fry them of a light brown on both sides.

The above will do for apple fritters, by adding one spoonful more of flour; peel your apples, and cut them in thick slices; take out the core, dip them in the batter, and fry them in hot lard; put them on a sieve to drain; dish them neatly, and grate some loaf-sugar over them.

Tansy Pancakes.

The batter for the preceding may be made into tansy pancakes by cutting fine a handful of young green tansy, and beating it into the batter. It gives the cakes a pleasant aromatic flavour, and an agreeable, mild bitter taste. A.

No. 560

The following receipts are from Mr. Henry Osborne, cook to Sir Joseph Banks, the late president of the Royal Society:

Soho Square, April 20, 1820.

Sir,—I send you herewith the last part of the Cook’s Oracle. I have attentively looked over each receipt, and hope they are now correct, and easy to be understood. If you think any need further explanation, Sir Joseph has desired me to wait on you again. I also send the receipts for my ten puddings, and my method of using spring fruit and gourds.

I am, Sir, Your humble servant, Henry Osborne.

Boston Apple Pudding.

Peel one dozen and a half of good apples; take out the cores, cut them small, put into a stew-pan that will just hold them, with a little water, a little cinnamon, two cloves, and the peel of a lemon; stew over a slow fire till quite soft, then sweeten with moist sugar, and pass it through a hair sieve; add to it the yelks of four eggs and one white, a quarter of a pound of good butter, half a nutmeg, the peel of a lemon grated, and the juice of one lemon: beat all well together; line the inside of a pie-dish with good puff paste; put in the pudding, and bake half an hour.

Spring Fruit Pudding.

Peel, and well wash four dozen sticks of rhubarb: put into a stew-pan with the pudding a lemon, a little cinnamon, and as much moist sugar as will make it quite sweet; set it over a fire, and reduce it to a marmalade; pass through a hair-sieve, and proceed as directed for the Boston pudding, leaving out the lemon-juice, as the rhubarb will be found sufficiently acid of itself.

Nottingham Pudding.

Peel six good apples; take out the core with the point of a small knife, or an apple corer, if you have one; but be sure to leave the apples whole; fill up where you took the core from with sugar; place them in a pie-dish, and pour over them a nice light batter, prepared as for batter pudding, and bake an hour in a moderate oven.

Butter Pudding.

Take six ounces of fine flour, a little salt, and three eggs; beat up well with a little milk, added by degrees till the batter is quite smooth; make it the thickness of cream; put into a buttered pie-dish, and bake three quarters of an hour; or into a buttered and floured basin, tied over tight with a cloth: boil one and a half hour, or two hours.

Newmarket Pudding.

Put on to boil a pint of good milk, with half a lemon-peel, a little cinnamon, and a bay-leaf; boil gently for five or ten minutes; sweeten with loaf sugar; break the yelks of five, and the whites of three eggs, into a basin; beat them well, and add the milk: beat all well together, and strain through a fine hair-sieve, or tamis: have some bread and butter cut very thin; lay a layer of it in a pie-dish, and then a layer of currants, and so on till the dish is nearly full; then pour the custard over it, and bake half an hour.

Newcastle, or Cabinet Pudding.

Butter a half melon mould, or quart basin, and stick all round with dried cherries, or fine raisins, and fill up with bread and butter, &c. as in the above; and steam it an hour and a half.

Vermicelli Pudding.

Boil a pint of milk, with lemon-peel and cinnamon; sweeten with loaf-sugar; strain through a sieve, and add a quarter of a pound of vermicelli; boil ten minutes; then put in the yelks of five, and the whites of three eggs; mix well together, and steam it one hour and a quarter: the same may be baked half an hour.

Bread Pudding.

Make a pint of bread-crumbs; put them in a stew-pan with as much milk as will cover them, the peel of a lemon, a little nutmeg grated, and a small piece of cinnamon; boil about ten minutes; sweeten with powdered loaf-sugar; take out the cinnamon, and put in four eggs; beat all well together, and bake half an hour, or boil rather more than an hour.

Custard Pudding.

Boil a pint of milk, and a quarter of a pint of good cream; thicken with flour and water made perfectly smooth, till it is stiff enough to bear an egg on it; break in the yelks of five eggs; sweeten with powdered loaf-sugar; grate in a little nutmeg and the peel of a lemon: add half a glass of good brandy; then whip the whites of the five eggs till quite stiff, and mix gently all together: line a pie-dish with good puff paste, and bake half an hour.

N.B. Ground rice, potato flour, panada, and all puddings made from powders, are, or may be, prepared in the same way.

Boiled Custards.

Put a quart of new milk into a stew-pan, with the peel of a lemon cut very thin, a little grated nutmeg, a bay or laurel-leaf, and a small stick of cinnamon; set it over a quick fire, but be careful it does not boil over: when it boils, set it beside the fire, and simmer ten minutes; break the yelks of eight, and the whites of four eggs into a basin; beat them well; then pour in the milk a little at a time, stirring it as quick as possible to prevent the eggs curdling; set it on the fire again, and stir it well with a wooden spoon; let it have just one boil; pass it through a tamis, or fine sieve: when cold, add a little brandy, or white wine, as may be most agreeable to the eater’s palate. Serve up in glasses, or cups.

Custards for baking are prepared as above, passed through a fine sieve; put them into cups; grate a little nutmeg over each: bake them about 15 or 20 minutes.

TO DRESS SPRING FRUIT.

Spring Fruit Soup.

Peel and well wash four dozen sticks of rhubarb; blanch it in water three or four minutes; drain it on a sieve, and put it into a stew-pan, with two onions sliced, a carrot, an ounce of lean ham, and a good bit of butter; let it stew gently over a slow fire till tender; then put in two quarts of good consommé, to which add two or three ounces of bread-crumbs; boil about fifteen minutes; skim off all the fat; season with salt and Cayenne pepper; pass it through a tamis, and serve up with fried bread.

Spring Fruit Pudding.

Clean as above three or four dozen sticks of rhubarb; put it in a stew-pan, with the peel of a lemon, a bit of cinnamon, two cloves, and as much moist sugar as will sweeten it; set it over a fire, and reduce it to a marmalade; pass it through a hair-sieve; then add the peel of a lemon, and half a nutmeg grated, a quarter of a pound of good butter, and the yelks of four eggs and one white, and mix all well together; line a pie-dish, that will just contain it, with good puff paste; put the mixture in, and bake it half an hour.

Spring Fruit—A Mock Gooseberry Sauce for Mackerel, &c.

Make a marmalade of three dozen sticks of rhubarb, sweetened with moist sugar; pass it through a hair-sieve, and serve up in a sauce-boat.

Spring Fruit Tart.

Prepare rhubarb as above: cut it into small pieces into a tart-dish; sweeten with loaf-sugar pounded; cover it with a good short crust paste; sift a little sugar over the top, and bake half an hour in a rather hot oven: serve up cold.

Spring Cream, or mock Gooseberry Fool.

Prepare a marmalade as directed for the pudding: to which add a pint of good thick cream; serve up in glasses, or in a deep dish. If wanted in a shape, dissolve two ounces of isinglass in a little water; strain it through a tamis, and when nearly cold put it to the cream; pour it into a jelly mould, and when set, turn out into a dish, and serve up plain.

Spring Fruit Sherbet.

Boil six or eight sticks of rhubarb (quite clean) ten minutes in a quart of water; strain the liquor through a tamis into a jug, with the peel of a lemon cut very thin, and two table-spoonfuls of clarified sugar; let it stand five or six hours, and it is fit to drink.

Gourds (now called vegetable Marrow) stewed.

Take off all the skin of six or eight gourds, put them into a stew-pan, with water, salt, lemon-juice, and a bit of butter, or fat bacon, and let them stew gently till quite tender, and serve up with a rich Dutch sauce, or any other sauce you please that is piquante.

Gourd Soup,

Should be made of full-grown gourds, but not those that have hard skins; slice three or four, and put them in a stew-pan, with two or three onions, and a good bit of butter; set them over a slow fire till quite tender (be careful not to let them burn); then add two ounces of crust of bread, and two quarts of good consommé; season with salt and Cayenne pepper: boil ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour; skim off all the fat, and pass it through a tamis; then make it quite hot, and serve up with fried bread.

Fried Gourds.

Cut five or six gourds in quarters; take off the skin and pulp; stew them in the same manner as for table: when done, drain them quite dry; beat up an egg, and dip the gourds in it, and cover them well over with bread-crumbs; make some hog’s-lard hot, and fry them a nice light colour; throw a little salt and pepper over them, and serve up quite dry.

Another Way.

Take six or eight small gourds, as near of a size as possible; slice them with a cucumber-slice; dry them in a cloth, and then fry them in very hot lard; throw over a little pepper and salt, and serve up on a napkin. Great attention is requisite to do these well; if the fat is quite hot they are done in a minute, and will soon spoil; if not hot enough, they will eat greasy and tough.

To make Beef, Mutton, or Veal Tea.—(No. 563.)

Cut a pound of lean gravy meat into thin slices; put it into a quart and half a pint of cold water; set it over a very gentle fire, where it will become gradually warm; when the scum rises, let it continue simmering gently for about an hour; then strain it through a fine sieve or a napkin; let it stand ten minutes to settle, and then pour off the clear tea.

N.B. An onion, and a few grains of black pepper, are sometimes added.

If the meat is boiled till it is thoroughly tender, you may mince it and pound it as directed in No. 503, and make potted beef.

To make half a pint of beef tea in five minutes for three halfpence, see No. 252.

Mutton Broth for the Sick.—(No. 564.)

Have a pound and a half of a neck or loin of mutton; take off the skin and the fat, and put it into a saucepan; cover it with cold water, (it will take about a quart to a pound of meat,) let it simmer very gently, and skim it well; cover it up, and set it over a moderate fire, where it may stand gently stewing for about an hour; then strain it off. It should be allowed to become cold, when all the greasy particles will float on the surface, and becoming hard, can be easily taken off, and the settlings will remain at the bottom.

See also Nos. 490 and 252.

N.B. We direct the meat to be done no more than just sufficiently to be eaten; so a sick man may have plenty of good broth for nothing; as by this manner of producing it, the meat furnishes also a good family meal.

Obs.—This is an inoffensive nourishment for sick persons, and the only mutton broth that should be given to convalescents, whose constitutions require replenishing with restorative aliment of easy digestion. The common way of making it with roots, onions, sweet herbs, &c. &c. is too strong for weak stomachs. Plain broth will agree with a delicate stomach, when the least addition of other ingredients would immediately offend it.

For the various ways of flavouring broth, see No. 527.

Few know how much good may be done by such broth, taken in sufficient quantity at the beginning and decline of bowel complaints and fevers; half a pint taken at a time. See the last two pages of the 7th chapter of the Rudiments of Cookery.

Barley Water.350-*—(No. 565.)

Take a couple of ounces of pearl barley, wash it clean with cold water, put it into half a pint of boiling water, and let it boil for five minutes; pour off this water, and add to it two quarts of boiling water: boil it to two pints, and strain it.

The above is simple barley water. To a quart of this is frequently added

Two ounces of figs, sliced;

The same of raisins, stoned;

Half an ounce of liquorice, sliced and bruised;

And a pint of water.

Boil it till it is reduced to a quart, and strain.

Obs.—These drinks are intended to assuage thirst in ardent fevers and inflammatory disorders, for which plenty of mild diluting liquor is one of the principal remedies: and if not suggested by the medical attendant, is frequently demanded by honest instinct, in terms too plain to be misunderstood: the stomach sympathizes with every fibre of the human frame, and no part of it can be distressed without in some degree offending the stomach: therefore it is of the utmost importance to sooth this grand organ, by rendering every thing we offer to it as elegant and agreeable as the nature of the case will admit of: the barley drink prepared according to the second receipt, will be received with pleasure by the most delicate palate.

Whey.—(No. 566.)

Make a pint of milk boil; put to it a glass or two of white wine; put it on the fire till it just boils again; then set it on one side till the curd has settled; pour off the clear whey, and sweeten it as you like.

Cider is often substituted for wine, or half the quantity of vinegar that we have ordered wine.

Obs.—When there is no fire in the sick room, this may be put hot into a bottle, and laid between the bed and mattress; it will keep warm several hours.

Toothache and anti-rheumatic Embrocation.—(No. 567.)

In no branch of the practice of physic is there more dangerous quackery, than in the dental department.

To all people the toothache is an intolerable torment; not even a philosopher can endure it patiently; what an overcoming agony then must it be to a grand gourmand! besides the mortification of being deprived of the means of enjoying that consolation which he looks to as the grand solace for all sublunary cares.

When this affliction befalls him, we recommend the following specific for it;—

Mix, and rub the part affected frequently, or if the tooth which aches be hollow, drop some of this on a bit of cotton, and put it into the tooth. For a general faceache, or sore throat, moisten a bit of flannel with it, and put it at night to the part affected.

Stomachic Tincture—(No. 569.)—is

Peruvian bark, bruised, one ounce and a half.

Orange-peel, do. one ounce.

Brandy, or proof spirit, one pint.

Let these ingredients steep for ten days, shaking the bottle every day; let it remain quiet two days, and then decant the clear liquor.

Dose—a tea-spoonful in a wineglass of water, twice a day, when you feel languid, i. e. when the stomach is empty, about an hour before dinner, and in the evening.

This agreeable aromatic tonic is an effective help to concoction; and we are under personal obligations to it, for frequently restoring our stomach to good temper, and procuring us good appetite and good digestion.

In low nervous affections arising from a languid circulation, and when the stomach is in a state of debility from age, intemperance, or other causes, this is a most acceptable restorative.

N.B. Tea made with dried and bruised Seville orange-peel, in the same way as common tea, and drank with milk and sugar, has been taken by nervous and dyspeptic persons with great benefit.

Sucking a bit of dried orange-peel about an hour before dinner, when the stomach is empty, is very grateful and strengthening to it.

Paregoric Elixir.—(No. 570.)

A drachm of purified opium, same of flowers of benjamin, same of oil of aniseed, camphor, two scruples; steep all in a pint of brandy or proof spirit; let it stand ten days, occasionally shaking it up: strain.

A tea-spoonful in half a pint of White wine whey (No. 562), tewahdiddle (No. 467), or gruel (No. 572), taken the last thing at night, is an agreeable and effectual medicine for coughs and colds. It is also excellent for children who have the hooping-cough, in doses of from five to twenty drops in a little water, or on a little bit of sugar.

Dr. Kitchiner’s Receipt to make Gruel.—(No. 572.)

Ask those who are to eat it, if they like it thick or thin; if the latter, mix well together by degrees, in a pint basin, one table-spoonful of oatmeal, with three of cold water; if the former, use two spoonfuls.

Have ready in a stew-pan, a pint of boiling water or milk; pour this by degrees to the oatmeal you have mixed; return it into the stew-pan; set it on the fire, and let it boil for five minutes; stirring it all the time to prevent the oatmeal from burning at the bottom of the stew-pan; skim and strain it through a hair-sieve.

2d. To convert this into caudle, add a little ale, wine, or brandy, with sugar; and if the bowels are disordered, a little nutmeg or ginger, grated.

Obs. Gruel may be made with broth (No. 490, or No. 252, or No. 564), instead of water; (to make crowdie, see No. 205*); and may be flavoured with sweet herbs, soup roots, and savoury spices, by boiling them for a few minutes in the water you are going to make the gruel with; or zest (No. 255), pease powder (No. 458), or dried mint, mushroom catchup (No. 409); or a few grains of curry powder (No. 455); or savoury ragoût powder (No. 457); or Cayenne (No. 404); or celery-seed bruised, or soup herb powder (No. 459); or an onion minced very fine and bruised in with the oatmeal; or a little eschalot wine (No. 402); or essence of celery (Nos. 409, 413, 417, or No. 420), &c.

Plain gruel, such as is directed in the first part of this receipt, is one of the best breakfasts and suppers that we can recommend to the rational epicure; is the most comforting soother of an irritable stomach that we know; and particularly acceptable to it after a hard day’s work of intemperate feasting: when the addition of half an ounce of butter, and a tea-spoonful of Epsom salt, will give it an aperient quality, which will assist the principal viscera to get rid of their burden.

“Water gruel,” says Tryon in his Obs. on Health, 16mo. 1688, p. 42, is “the king of spoon meats,” and “the queen of soups,” and gratifies nature beyond all others.

In the “Art of Thriving,” 1697, p. 8, are directions for preparing fourscore noble and wholesome dishes, upon most of which a man may live excellently well for two-pence a day; the author’s Obs. on water gruel is, that “essence of oatmeal makes a noble and exhilarating meal!”

Dr. Franklin’s favourite breakfast was a good basin of warm gruel, in which there was a small slice of butter, with toasted bread and nutmeg; the expense of this he reckoned at three halfpence.

Scotch Burgoo.—(No. 572*.)

“This humble dish of our northern brethren forms no contemptible article of food. It possesses the grand qualities of salubrity, pleasantness, and cheapness. It is, in fact, a sort of oatmeal hasty pudding without milk; much used by those patterns of combined industry, frugality, and temperance, the Scottish peasantry; and this, among other examples of the economical Scotch, is well worthy of being occasionally adopted by all who have large families and small incomes.”

It is made in the following easy and expeditious manner:—

“To a quart of oatmeal add gradually two quarts of water, so that the whole may smoothly mix: then stirring it continually over the fire, boil it together for a quarter of an hour; after which, take it up, and stir in a little salt and butter, with or without pepper. This quantity will serve a family of five or six persons for a moderate meal.”—Oddy’s Family Receipt Book, p. 204.

Anchovy Toast.—(No. 573.)

Bone and wash the anchovies, pound them in a mortar with a little fresh butter; rub them through a sieve, and spread them on a toast, see Nos. 434 and 435, and No. 355.

Obs. You may add, while pounding the anchovies, a little made mustard and curry powder (No. 455) or a few grains of Cayenne, or a little mace or other spice. It may be made still more savoury, by frying the toast in clarified butter.

Deviled Biscuit,—(No. 574.)

Is the above composition spread on a biscuit warmed before the fire in a Dutch oven, with a sufficient quantity of salt and savoury spice (No. 457), zest (No. 255), curry powder (No. 455), or Cayenne pepper sprinkled over it.

Obs. This ne plus ultra of high spiced relishes, and No. 538, frequently make their appearance at tavern dinners, when the votaries of Bacchus are determined to vie with each other in sacrificing to the jolly god.