TEA, COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, COCOA, ETC.

Tea.

See that the water boils. Scald the pot, and put in a teaspoonful for each person. Upon green tea, pour a little water, and allow it to stand two or three minutes where it will keep hot; then fill the pot from the teakettle. Green tea should never be boiled, and it is rendered dead by being steeped long.

Of black tea the same measure is used; the pot being filled up at first, and set immediately upon the stove, just long enough to boil up once. Water should be added to the teapot from the teakettle; never from the water pot, as in that case it cannot be boiling hot. Black and green tea are good mixed. If tea is made from a boiling urn at the table, which is, on several accounts, a very good practice, make black tea in the same way as green.

To roast Coffee.

As this must be done well in order to have good coffee, directions for it may not be amiss. There are often little stones in coffee, of the same color with it; therefore, pick it over carefully. If you have no coffee-roaster, put it into a round-bottomed, iron kettle, and let it be where it will be hot an hour or two without burning; then put it where it will brown, and stir it constantly until it is done. If it is left half a minute, the kernels next to the kettle may be burnt black, and this is enough to injure all the rest. It should be a dark, rich brown, but not black. Before taking it up, stir in a piece of butter the size of a small nut. Put it, while steaming hot, into a box with a close cover.

In a small family, not more than two pounds should be roasted at once, as it loses its freshness by being roasted long before use. For the same reason it should be ground as it is wanted. The practice of grinding up a quantity for two or three weeks, is a poor one. The best kinds are the Java and the Mocha, and it is considered an improvement to mix the two. West India coffee, though of a different flavor, is often very good.

To make Coffee.

Put a coffee-cup full into a pot that will hold three pints of water; add the white of an egg, or a few shavings of isinglass, or a well cleansed and dried bit of fish-skin of the size of a ninepence. Pour upon it boiling water and boil it ten minutes. Then pour out a little from the spout, in order to remove the grains that may have boiled into it, and pour it back into the pot. Let it stand eight or ten minutes where it will keep hot, but not boil; boiling coffee a great while makes it strong, but not so lively or agreeable. If you have no cream, boil a saucepan of milk, and after pouring it into the pitcher, stir it now and then till the breakfast is ready, that the cream may not separate from the milk.

If you use a coffee-biggin, let the coffee be ground very fine and packed tight in the strainer; pour on boiling water, stop the spout of the pot, shut the lid close, and place it upon a heater kept for the purpose. This is made at the table.

Coffee Milk.

Put a dessert spoonful of ground coffee into a pint of milk; boil it a quarter of an hour with a shaving or two of isinglass; then let it stand ten minutes and pour it off.

Chocolate.

For those who use a great deal of chocolate, the following is an economical method. Cut a cake into small bits and put them into a pint of boiling water. In a few minutes set it off the fire and stir it well till the chocolate is dissolved; then boil it again gently a few minutes, pour it into a bowl, and set it in a cool place. It will keep good eight or ten days. For use, boil a spoonful or two in a pint of milk, with sugar.

Another.

Shave fine an inch wide across a cake of chocolate; pour on it a quart of boiling water; boil it twenty minutes; add milk in such proportion as you like, and boil it up again.

Cocoa.

The cracked cocoa is considered the best. Two large spoonfuls put into three pints of cold water, and boiled from one to two hours, is a good rule to make it for four or five persons. It should be boiled over several times, as it is very strong. Boil milk for it by itself.

To make the ground Cocoa.

Boil two large spoonfuls in a quart of water half an hour; skim off the oil, pour in three gills of milk, and boil it up again. It is the best way to make it the day before it is used, as the oily substance can be more perfectly removed when the cocoa is cold.

Shells.

Put a heaping teacupful to a quart of boiling water. Boil them a great while. Half an hour will do, but two or three hours is far better. Scald milk as for coffee. If there is not time to boil shells long enough before breakfast, it is well to put them into the water over night.

Syrup of Cream.

To a pint of fresh cream, put a pound and a quarter of loaf sugar; boil it in an earthen pot or saucepan; pour it into a jar or basin, and let it stand till it is cold; then put it into phials and cork close. It will keep good for several weeks, and is convenient to carry to sea.

To raise a Thick Cream.

Put new milk into an earthen pan, and set it on a stove, or over clear embers till it is quite hot. Then set it aside till the next day, and it will produce excellent cream for coffee or fruit.