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. Eaton Mary
common articles, or laid in the way of children. But if, unfortunately, this deadly poison should by some mistake be taken inwardly, the most effectual remedy will be a table-spoonful of powdered charcoal, mixed with honey, butter, or treacle, and swallowed immediately. Two hours afterwards, take an emetic or an opening draught, to cleanse away the whole from the stomach and bowels. The baneful effects of verdigris, from the use of copper boilers and saucepans, may be counteracted by the same means, if resorted to in time, and no remedy is so likely to become effectual.
ARTICHOKES. Soak them in cold water, wash them well, and boil them gently in plenty of water. If young, they will be ready in half an hour; if otherwise, they will not be done in twice that time. The surest way to know when they are boiled enough is to draw out a leaf, and see whether they be tender; but they cannot be properly boiled without much water, which tends also to preserve their colour. Trim and drain them on a sieve, serve with melted butter, pepper and salt, and small cups.
ARTICHOKE BOTTOMS, if dried, must be well soaked, and stewed in weak gravy. Or they may be boiled in milk, and served with cream sauce, or added to ragouts, French pies, &c. If intended to keep in the winter, the bottoms must be slowly dried, and put into paper bags.
ASPARAGUS. Having carefully scraped the stalks till they appear white, and thrown them into cold water, tie them up in small bundles with tape, and cut the stalks of an equal length. Put them into a stewpan of boiling water a little salted, and take them up as soon as they begin to be tender, or they will lose both their taste and colour. Meanwhile make toasts well browned for the bottom of the dish, moisten them in the asparagus liquor, place them regularly, and pour on some melted butter. Then lay the asparagus on the toasts round the dish, with the heads united at the centre, but pour no butter over them. Serve with melted butter in a sauce tureen, and separate cups, that the company may season with salt and pepper to their taste. – As this vegetable is one of the greatest delicacies which the garden affords, no person should be unacquainted with the means of producing it in constant succession. Toward the end of July, the stalks of the asparagus are to be cut down, and the beds forked up and raked smooth. If the weather be dry, they should be watered with the drain of a dunghill, and left rather hollow in the middle to retain the moisture. In about a fortnight the stalks will begin to appear, and the watering should be continued once a week if the weather be dry. Asparagus may thus be cut till near the end of September, and then by making five or six hot-beds during the winter, a regular succession may be provided for almost every month in the year. To obviate the objection of cutting the same beds twice a year, two or three others may be left uncut in the spring, and additional beds made for the purpose. The seed is cheap, and in most places the dung may be easily procured. There is no need to continue the old beds when they begin to fail; it is better to make new ones, and to force the old roots by applying some rotten dung on the tops of the beds, and to sow seed every year for new plants.
ASSES' MILK, so beneficial in consumptive cases, should be milked into a glass that is kept warm, by being placed in a bason of hot water. The fixed air that it contains sometimes occasions pain in the stomach; at first therefore a tea-spoonful of rum may be taken with it, but should only be put in the moment it is to be swallowed. The genuine milk far surpasses any imitation of it that can be made; but a substitute may be found in the following composition. Boil a quart of water with a quart of new milk, an ounce of white sugar-candy, half an ounce of eringo-root, and half an ounce of conserve of roses, till the quantity be half wasted. As this is an astringent, the doses must be proportioned accordingly, and the mixture is wholesome only while it remains sweet. – Another way. Mix two spoonfuls of boiling water, two of milk, and an egg well beaten. Sweeten with white sugar-candy pounded: this may be taken twice or thrice a day. Or, boil two ounces of hartshorn-shavings, two ounces of pearl barley, two ounces of candied eringo-root, and one dozen of snails that have been bruised, in two quarts of water till reduced to one. Mix with an equal quantity of new milk, when taken, twice a day.
ASTHMA. As this complaint generally attacks aged people, the best mode of relief will be to attend carefully to diet and exercise, which should be light and easy, and to avoid as much as possible an exposure to cold and frosty air. The temperature of the apartment should be equalised to moderate summer's heat by flues and stoves, and frequently ventilated. A dish of the best coffee, newly ground and made very strong, and taken frequently without milk or sugar, has been found highly beneficial. An excellent diet drink may be made of toast and water, with the addition of a little vinegar, or a few grains of nitre. Tar water is strongly recommended, and also the smoking of the dried leaves of stramonium, commonly called the thorn-apple.
ASTRINGENT BOLUS, proper to be taken in female complaints, arising from excessive evacuations. Fifteen grains of powdered alum, and five grains of gum kino, made into a bolus with a little syrup, and given every four or five hours till the discharge abates.
ASTRINGENT MIXTURE, in case of dysentery, may be made of three ounces of cinnamon water, mixed with as much common water, an ounce and a half of spirituous cinnamon-water, and half an ounce of japonic confection. A spoonful or two of this mixture may be taken every four hours, after the necessary evacuations have been allowed, and where the dysentery has not been of long standing, interposing every second or third day a dose of rhubarb.
B
Bacon, though intended to be a cheap article of housekeeping, is often, through mismanagement, rendered one of the most expensive. Generally twice as much is dressed as need be, and of course there is a deal of waste. When sent to table as an accompaniment to boiled poultry or veal, a pound and a half is plenty for a dozen people. Bacon will boil better, and swell more freely, if the rind is taken off before it is dressed; and when excessively salt, it should be soaked an hour or two in warm water. If the bacon be dried, pare off the rusty and smoked part, trim it neatly on the under side, and scrape the rind as clean as possible. Or take it up when sufficiently boiled, scrape the under side, and cut off the rind: grate a crust of bread over it, and place it a few minutes before the fire to brown. Two pounds will require to be boiled gently about an hour and a half, according to its thickness: the hock or gammon being very thick, will take more. See Dried Bacon.
BAKING. This mode of preparing a dinner is undoubtedly one of the cheapest and most convenient, especially for a small family; and the oven is almost the only kitchen which the poor man possesses. Much however depends on the care and ability of the baker: in the country especially, where the baking of dinners is not always considered as a regular article of business, it is rather a hazardous experiment to send a valuable joint to the oven; and more is often wasted and spoiled by the heedless conduct of the parish cook, than would have paid for the boiling or roasting at home. But supposing the oven to be managed with care and judgment, there are many joints which may be baked to great advantage, and will be found but little inferior to roasting. Particularly, legs and loins of pork, legs of mutton, fillets of veal, and other joints, if the meat be fat and good, will be eaten with great satisfaction, when they come from the oven. A sucking pig is also well adapted to the purpose, and is equal to a roasted one, if properly managed. When sent to the baker, it should have its ears and tail covered with buttered paper fastened on, and a bit of butter tied up in a piece of linen to baste the back with, otherwise it will be apt to blister. A goose should be prepared the same as for roasting, placing it on a stand, and taking care to turn it when it is half done. A duck the same. If a buttock of beef is to be baked, it should be well washed, after it has been in salt about a week, and put into a brown earthen pan with a pint of water. Cover the pan tight over with two or three thicknesses of writing paper, and give it four or five hours in a moderate oven. Brown paper should never be used with baked dishes; the pitch and tar which it contains will give the meat a smoky bad taste. Previously to baking a ham, soak it in water an hour, take it out and wipe it, and make a crust sufficient to cover it all over; and if done in a moderate oven, it will cut fuller of gravy, and be of a finer flavour, than a boiled one. Small cod-fish, haddock, and mackarel will bake well, with a dust of flour and some bits of butter put on them. Large eels should be stuffed. Herrings and sprats are to be baked in a brown pan, with vinegar and a little spice, and tied over with paper. These and various other articles may be baked so as to give full satisfaction, if the oven be under judicious management.
BAKED CARP. Clean a large carp, put in a Portuguese stuffing, and sow it up. Brush it all over with the yolk of an egg,