Anonymous

“ All unripe fruit must be rendered perfectly tender by gentle scalding, before it is put into syrup, or it will not imbibe the sugar; and the syrup must be thin when it is first added to it, and be thickened afterwards by frequent boiling, or with sugar added, or the fruit will shrivel instead of becoming plump and clear. A pound of sugar boiled for ten minutes in a pint of water will make a very light syrup, but it will gradually thicken if rapidly boiled in an uncovered pan. ”

“ Comparative trials prove that, in the majority of fish the proportion of solid matter—that is, the matter which remains after perfect desication or the expulsion of the aqueous part, is little inferior to that of the several kinds of butcher’s meat, game, or poultry. And if we give our attention to classes of people, classed as to the quality of [Pg 37] food they principally subsist on, we find that the ichthyophagous class are especially strong, healthy, and prolific. ”

“ Hams, hung meats, cured tongues, &c., as well as the more expensive sorts of fish, as smoked and kippered salmon, are often so loaded with salt as to be hard, tough, and barely eatable; and, on the other hand, are often found in a state of slow decomposition, unwholesome and disgustful. ”

“ Pick out all the small fish and rubbish, and wash the bulk in salt and water, as for bloaters, but not too many at once, as they are apt to sweat if lying long together, and then would never be bright when smoked. Use a saturated solution of common salt, or, preferably, of rock salt, and if you intend to produce “bloated sprats,” two hours will be sufficient to let them remain in pickle; run off the brine, and put the fish on the spits, which may be a little pointed at one end. Hang them in a free current of air till next day, and smoke them with
until they are the colour of new sovereigns. ”

“ If it is your purpose to convert two or more fish at once, choose them nearly of the same size, and lay them in a shallow tub with plenty of soft water and salt, so that they are totally immersed for twenty-four hours; then take one up, lay it on a table, scale side downwards, and with scalding hot water and a middling soft brush clean the face of the red side, by drawing the instrument down always in the same direction with the grain of the fish; it will be quite necessary to use a small knife in paring away loose films which attach to the middle of the belly and about the vent. ”

“ Turn the pickle and fruit into a hair sieve and press the liquor out into a large jug or jar, and on the next day pour the clear off from the lees through a muslin strainer into bottles, which should be corked well and the air excluded by sealing wax. You will still have remaining some sediment, upon which you may put half a pint of boiling rough cider or light vinegar, for an inferior lemon pickle, to be kept apart from your best. Better than the first product is rarely made, and it is an estimable pickle, generally admitted. ”

“ Great care must be taken that it does not adhere to the pan and become burnt. You may now add cayenne pepper and salt to your taste, and pour it out on to dishes a quarter of an inch thick, and when nearly cold cut it into cakes, which may be packed in tin cases between writing paper, and kept in a cool dry place. A pint of boiling water poured into a basin on one or two of these cakes, will immediately produce soup of very superior flavour, which will be found a great convenience, especially in travelling. ”

“ When seasoned to your entire satisfaction, the fish however fully retaining their own fine flavour, fill your pots, which must be the cleanest and best dried possible; press the shrimps well down, and set them as you proceed at the mouth of your cool oven until there is no evaporation observable. Now take them up, press down again, and laying one or two bay leaves on the top, fill up with the best olive oil, and set away in a cool dry room. Next day replenish the oil that has been absorbed, and not till after the third day tie bladder over. ”

“ Split them open at the belly, right over the backbone, clean away all the garbage, gills, &c, and lay them in a strong brine of common salt until nicely flavoured, then hang them on your tenters, dry them a day or two, taking care they do not become clammy, as these fish very soon are spoiled. Make a fire in your chimney with oak lops, sawdust, and beech chips, and when you have brought it to embers put in the rods, and first dry and then smoke them highly. Whitings are often done the same way, when the markets are glutted with the fresh fish. ”

“ Pick out the finest bunches and sprigs of fine ripe clear berries—reject all faulty ones—lay them in as much water as will be requisite for making their syrup, and boil them until they are tender. Now strain them upon a sieve, and to every pint of their juice add a pound and half of best refined sugar, boil and skim this thoroughly, and to each pint of the syrup put half a pound of the fruit in bunches and boil them very gently until they become quite bright and clear. When cold put them into clear glasses and pour the syrup to them. Use brandy paper, and paste writing paper over the glasses. ”

“ It is nearly double the strength, and is not so rank and mawkish in the flavour it gives. There is a quantity of it at the bottom of every cask of the West India sugar when first opened. It is preferable to treacle in many respects. To store your goods when cured, and to keep them in the best possible state of preservation, there is nothing so well adapted, and proved by experience to be effectual, as malt cooms, which should be contained in chests and boxes, with little bags of pulverised charcoal here and there distributed throughout. ”

“ Meats to be boiled, and particularly fish, must be put into boiling water, and after being kept up to the boiling point fifteen minutes or so, let them only simmer until done.
No. 11. The albumen is drawn out from both meat, fish, and vegetables by cold water; how, then, can we reconcile ourselves with the foolish old practice of laying the heads, for instance, and other parts, in pails of water, and leaving them for hours in that state, to lose all their goodness. Vegetables for pickling, too, are often treated in this way. [Pg 180] Lying in water cannot possibly clean anything. ”

“ This a nice preparation of the richest fresh water fish we have, and will fully repay the amateur for the trouble and trifling expense. I have said “river eels,” because those fish of ponds or waters nearly stagnant, when they run to large sizes, are said to taste of the mud they inhabit. I have experienced the truth of this. Take fresh eels of two pounds each and upwards, cut off the heads, tails, and fins, split them open at the belly to the backbone, from the vent upwards, and clean them out, well washing them also in salt and water a minute or two. ”

“ As the barrels are emptied of their contents, the largest fish should be picked out from the rest, and pickled separately, for otherwise the consumer gets the finest herrings hardly tasting of salt, and most likely in a state of decay, while the small ones are so much oversalted, as to be scarcely eatable. ”

“ The lean should be pounded by itself, picking out all sinews and strings, and the fat, or such parts as will help to make the mass smooth; fresh butter must also be used if required, and when all is in readiness you may season it to your taste with
and adding salt as you relish, remembering that potted delicacies if seeming too salt at first lose that predominance by keeping, and it is the same, but in a less degree, with some of the finer spices. ”

“ Sprats are so different in their animal construction as to be easily detected from genuine fish—Gorgona anchovies. The Armenian bole, often made use of to colour the sauce, has very properly been exposed and condemned.
No. 8. Pure olive oil will preserve meat and fish, after it has been cured, for a long time; but oils drawn from lard and other spurious imitations, will not fail to hasten their decay. The oil should never be heated, when used for this purpose.
No. 9. Subjecting meats to a water-bath is not to be resorted to. ”

“ Season the insides of the fish plentifully with this mixture, and close the sides upon it, tie the fish round with packthread, and place them on their backs on a layer of table salt, and let them lie till next day. Take off the threads, and lay the fish in a deep dish or earthen pan, and pour over them best vinegar and water in equal parts. Pare off the thin yellow rind of one large or two smaller lemons, lay this on the top, [Pg 73] cover with paper and bake in slow oven. If not all consumed in a week, boil up the pickle, skim it, and pour again to the fish, when cold. ”

“ If it were worth while to favour the deception, you must select your fish from out of half a bushel of the freshest you can get, retaining only the middle-sized ones, for the real Gorgona fish are never so large as our large sprats, and never so small as our little ones, and your’s should also be all of the same size. ”

“ Press the fish well down in the jar, and boiling sufficient of the best pickling vinegar with bay leaves, and four or five laurel leaves, pour it upon the fish when cold, and tie leather over the jar. They will require three months at least to become mellow, and are much improved by keeping twice that length of time.
PICKLED LOBSTERS.
In our hot summer months, and when lobsters are plentiful, it would be wise to save some that would come in opportunely for sauce and many dishes, when lobsters are scarce and high priced. ”

“ When all are well incorporated, add to the mass as much of the lemon zest as will be just perceptible, and fill pots of small sizes, in which the fish must be well pressed down; put a short time in a cool oven, and when cold be covered with clarified butter or olive oil, and next day, seeing that the air is excluded, tie over with bladder ”

“ Put all these into a deep saucepan, and soon as they come to the boiling point, strew in the celery; let it boil again, not more than two minutes, then take it up, pour it through a sieve. When cold, place the celery in jars, and pour the liquor upon it, and make all safe with bladder, &c. &c. This will be found extremely useful in all families that live well. It will keep good a great length of time, and when the celery is all used, the pickle will be highly acceptable in dressing salads, &c. A few small onions may be added where they are not disliked, and omitted at pleasure. ”

“ Lay your fish, cut in proper pieces, in oblong earthenware pots, and pour the pickle over them when it is scalding hot, not boiling. Next day fill up the pots with more liquor, and tie bladder over them. These will be fit for table in a week, but will be improved by keeping. If any water is put to the vinegar it will certainly spoil them for keeping long. ”

“ We see so many of these delicious birds now-a-days, particularly at our seaports opposite to the Continent, that we are reminded of the great gratifications of former days, when such things were not purchaseable, as to induce us to embrace the opportunity of preserving some. ”