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
or laudanum. The deleterious effects of opium, which are so often experienced in the form of laudanum, may in great measure be counteracted by taking a proper quantity of lemon juice immediately afterwards. Four grains of opium, or a hundred drops of laudanum, are often sufficient for a fatal dose; but if an ounce of pure lemon juice, or twice that quantity of good vinegar be added to every grain of opium, or every twenty-five drops of laudanum, it will relieve both the head and the bowels; and the use of vegetable acids cannot be too strongly recommended to those who are under the necessity of taking considerable doses of opiates.
ANTS. Though it does not become us to be prodigal of life in any form, nor wantonly to seek its extinction, yet where any species of animals are found to be really noxious or annoying, the good of man requires that they should be destroyed. Houses are sometimes so infested with ants, that they are not to be endured. In this case, sprinkle the places they frequent with a strong decoction of walnut-tree leaves; or take half a pound of sulphur, and a quarter of a pound of potash, and dissolve them together over the fire. Afterwards beat them to a powder, add some water to it; and when sprinkled, the ants will either die or leave the place. When they are found to traverse garden walls or hot-houses, and to injure the fruit, several holes should be drilled in the ground with an iron crow, close to the side of the wall, and as deep as the soil will admit. The earth being stirred, the insects will begin to move about: the sides of the holes are then to be made smooth, so that the ants may fall in as soon as they approach, and they will be unable to climb upwards. Water being then poured on them, great numbers may easily be destroyed. The same end may be answered by strewing a mixture of quick lime and soot along such places as are much frequented by the ants; or by adding water to it, and pouring it at the roots of trees infested by them. To prevent their descending from a tree which they visit, it is only necessary to mark with a piece of common chalk a circle round its trunk, an inch or two broad, and about two feet from the ground. This experiment should be performed in dry weather, and the ring must be renewed: as soon as the ants arrive at it, not one of them will attempt to cross over. – Ant hills are very injurious in dry pastures, not only by wasting the soil, but yielding a pernicious kind of grass, and impeding the operation of the scythe. The turf of the ant hill should be pared off, the core taken out and scattered at a distance; and when the turf is laid down again, the place should be left lower than the ground around it, that when the wet settles into it, the ants may be prevented from returning to their haunt. The nests may more effectually be destroyed by putting quick lime into them, and pouring on some water; or by putting in some night soil, and closing it up.
APPLE TREES may be preserved from the innumerable insects with which they are annoyed, by painting the stems and branches with a thick wash of lime and water, as soon as the sap begins to rise. This will be found, in the course of the ensuing summer to have removed all the moss and insects, and given to the bark a fresh and green appearance. Other fruit trees may be treated in the same manner, and they will soon become more healthy and vigorous. Trees exposed to cattle, hares and rabbits, may be preserved from these depredators, without the expense of fence or rails, by any of the following experiments. Wash the stems of the trees or plants to a proper height with tanner's liquor, or such as they use for dressing hides. If this does not succeed, make a mixture of night soil, lime and water, and brush it on the stems and branches, two or three times in a year: this will effectually preserve the trees from being barked. A mixture of fresh cow dung and urine has been found to answer the same purpose, and also to destroy the canker, which is so fatal to the growth of trees.
APPLES are best preserved from frost, by throwing over them a linen cloth before the approach of hard weather: woollen will not answer the purpose. In this manner they are kept in Germany and in America, during the severest winters; and it is probable that potatoes might be preserved in the same way. Apples may also be kept till the following summer by putting them into a dry jar, with a few pebbles at the bottom to imbibe the moisture which would otherwise destroy the fruit, and then closing up the jar carefully with a lid, and a little fresh water round the edge.
APPLES DRIED. Put them in a cool oven six or seven times; and when soft enough to bear it, let them be gently flattened by degrees. If the oven be too warm they will waste; and at first it should be very cool. The biffin, the minshul crab, or any tart apples, are the best for drying.
APPLE DUMPLINGS. Pare and slice some apples, line a bason with a thin paste, fill it with the fruit, and close the paste over. Tie a cloth tight over, and boil the dumpling till the fruit is done. Currant and damson puddings are prepared in the same way.
APPLE FOOL. Stew some apples in a stone jar on a stove, or in a saucepan of water over the fire: if the former, a large spoonful of water should be added to the fruit. When reduced to a pulp, peel and press them through a cullendar; boil a sufficient quantity of new milk, and a tea-cupful of raw cream, or an egg instead of the latter, and leave the liquor to cool. Then mix it gradually with the pulp, and sweeten the whole with fine moist sugar.
APPLE FRITTERS. Pare some apples, and cut them into thin slices; put a spoonful of light batter into a frying-pan, then a layer of apples, and another spoonful of batter. Fry them to a light brown, and serve with grated sugar over them.
APPLE JELLY. Prepare twenty golden pippins, boil them quite tender in a pint and a half of spring water, and strain the pulp through a cullendar. To every pint add a pound of fine sugar, with grated orange or lemon peel, and then boil the whole to a jelly. Or, having prepared the apples by boiling and straining them through a coarse sieve, get ready an ounce of isinglass boiled to a jelly in half a pint of water, and mix it with the apple pulp. Add some sugar, a little lemon juice and peel; boil all together, take out the peel, and put the jelly into a dish, to serve at table. – When apple jelly is required for preserving apricots, or any sort of sweetmeats, a different process is observed. Apples are to be pared, quartered and cored, and put into a stewpan, with as much water as will cover them. Boil them to a mash as quick as possible, and add a quantity of water; then boil half an hour more, and run it through a jelly bag. If in summer, codlins are best: in autumn, golden rennets or winter pippins. – Red apples in jelly are a different preparation. These must be pared and cored, and thrown into water; then put them in a preserving pan, and let them coddle with as little water as will only half cover them. Observe that they do not lie too close when first put in; and when the under side is done, turn them. Mix some pounded cochineal with the water, and boil with the fruit. When sufficiently done, take them out on the dish they are to be served in, the stalk downwards. Make a rich jelly of the water with loaf sugar, boiling them with the thin rind and juice of a lemon. When cold, spread the jelly over the apples; cut the lemon peel into narrow strips, and put them across the eye of the apple. The colour should be kept fine from the first, or the fruit will not afterwards gain it; and use as little of the cochineal as will serve, lest the syrup taste bitter.
APPLE MARMALADE. Scald some apples till they come to a pulp; then take an equal weight of sugar in large lumps, just dip them in water, and boil the sugar till it can be well skimmed, and is reduced to a thick syrup. Put it to the pulp, and simmer it on a quick fire a quarter of an hour. Grate a little lemon peel before boiling, but if too much it will be bitter.
APPLE PASTY. Make a hot crust of lard or dripping, roll it out warm, cover it with apples pared and sliced, and a little lemon peel and moist sugar. Wet the edges of the crust, close it up well, make a few holes in the top, and bake it in a moderate oven. Gooseberries may be done in the same way.
APPLE PIE. Pare and core the fruit, after being wiped clean; then boil the cores and parings in a little water, till it tastes well. Strain the liquor, add a little sugar, with a bit of bruised cinnamon, and simmer again. Meantime place the apples in a dish, a paste being put round the edge; when one layer is in, sprinkle half the sugar, and shred lemon peel; squeeze in some of the juice, or a glass of cider, if the apples have lost their spirit. Put in the rest of the apples, the sugar, and the liquor which has been boiled. If the pie be eaten hot, put some butter into it, quince marmalade, orange paste or cloves, to give it a flavour.
APPLE POSTILLA. Bake codlins, or any other sour apples, but without burning them; pulp them through a sieve into a bowl, and beat them for four hours. Sweeten the fruit with honey, and beat it four hours more; the longer it is beaten the better. Pour a thin layer of the mixture on a cloth spread over a tray, and bake it in a slow oven, with bits of wood placed under the tray. If not baked enough on one side, set it again