The Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for Several Years, 2nd ed.. Appert Nicolas
on a small scale, nothing further will be requisite, than such vessels and other conveniences as are found in every house in the country, where provisions are cured for the consumption of the family during winter.
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The reason why it is necessary that large boilers should be furnished with wide cocks is, that it would take up too much time to let so large a body of water, always placed over a heated stove, remain till it became cool; and that, on the other hand, it would do great injury to those substances to let them remain too long exposed to the heat. Without inconvenience, therefore, in private families, any cauldron or earthen vessel may be taken for a water-bath, provided the water rises to the rim of the bottle. In case there should be no vessel sufficiently high, the bottles may be laid down in the water-bath, care being taken to pack them well together, lest they should be broken. Many operations have succeeded well with me this way. The corks are somewhat more liable to burst outwards; but if the bottles are well corked, there is nothing to be feared. For instance, it would not be advisable to lay on their sides, bottles, or other vessels stopped up with stoppers consisting of different pieces of any substance, because the action of the fire upon this kind of stopper is stronger; and however well the vessel might be corked, it would not be advisable to incur the risque.
Small water-baths are the more convenient, because they may be placed any where, and removed at will. They soon become cold. The bottles are taken out when the water is sufficiently cool to allow of the finger being put in, and thus the operation is terminated.
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The French
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Many persons believe they have corked well, when they have forced the cork even with the mouth of the bottle; but this is a great mistake. On the contrary, whenever the whole of the cork, instead of withstanding the blows of the bat, is forced into the bottle, it is adviseable to draw it out and substitute another in its place. Thus the believing that a bottle corked very low is well corked, because no liquor escapes when the bottle is turned with its neck downwards, is an error, which, joined to the use of bad corks, causes a number of losses. He who corks with care and judgment is satisfied that the operation has been performed well by the resistance of the cork to the blows of the bat, and never thinks of turning the neck of the bottle downwards. It is besides sufficient to reflect on the punctures met with in cork, and on all the hidden defects which may subsist in the interior even of the finest cork, by means of which, the air may be introduced; in order to be convinced of the propriety of making use of none but the very best corks, and that, after having well compressed them in the machine for that purpose; and also of corking them so closely that they become very much compressed in the middle.
It is in this way only, that losses can be prevented from frequently taking place, which have often no other cause than bad corking; for, if a bottle does not instantly run when carelessly corked, it proceeds from this circumstance, that the air has not had time to penetrate through the apertures which may be in the interior of the cork: and, in fact, how different is the quality of wine, drawn from the same cask! and how many bottles do we meet with, which have lost more or less of their contents!