Harry Roberts

“ For, after all, it is housewifery to which nearly all the arts and sciences bring their secrets. Home and comfort, food and drink—it will be a long time before we can get quite away from the need of these things. To introduce science and order into the domestic [5]
[6] kingdom is a task worthy of the finest intellect; and that woman who by the use of brains organizes and systematizes her household work is she who can best front with a smiling face the difficulty of obtaining servants—which appears to be the great omnipresent trouble of Englishwomen. ”

“ A private latch-key is no doubt part of the universal birthright, but it does not in itself afford a sufficient aim in life. To be able to discourse cleverly of Browning and Wagner is an accomplishment easily acquired, and affords pleasure to no one. To acquire a reputation for the excellence of our home-made gooseberry wine, of our home-baked bread, or of our home-brewed beer is much more difficult and much more worthy. ”

“ WE live in an age which may well be called the age of the purveyor; and, if we continue travelling along the road upon which we have entered, the time cannot be far distant when it will be held ridiculous to do anything at all for ourselves. ”

“ Thus, strawberries must be carefully stirred, raspberries must be mashed with a wooden spoon; and both these fruits, being soft and juicy, require less boiling than the drier kinds. Dry fruits, such as apples, should always be put first into a covered jar set in a pan of boiling water, and kept there until they are thoroughly softened. Fruit, with the exception of the very juicy kinds, takes longer to boil than sugar, so that it is well to cook the fruit partially before adding the sugar. Over-boiled sugar spoils the texture of jam. ”

“ THE DISTILLING OF WATERS AND CORDIALS THERE is no occupation that comes nearer to the work of gods than this occupation of distilling. By the application of fire, the purest of the elements, we separate from gross, substantial bodies those subtle essences which alone gave them distinction and charm. ”

“ We are nowadays far more willing to applaud and reward the woman who throws her “Letters”—real or imaginary—before the eyes of the bored and lazy world, than the one who is merely efficient in the sphere allotted to her sex by nature. ”

“ Cold tea should be drunk unsweetened, and if carelessly made it is flat and unpalatable. Wide-mouthed glass bottles with screw-tops, such as are sold for jam, are the best to use. Cold tea should be made from the best tea and freshly boiling water; it should stand four minutes only, and should then be poured into the bottles through a tin strainer. A couple of lemons and a sharp clasp-knife should be packed in the basket with the bottles of tea, and a little metal box of sugar can be added for those who like it. ”

“ Turn the beef every day, and well rub into it the brine which it makes. Let it remain in pickle for one month. When ready for cooking, let the beef be closely bound into shape with coarse webbing. Lay it in a large kettle or pot, and cover the beef with broth as cold as it can be to remain liquid. Add plenty of rough vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, onions, and celery, all sliced. Dry in the oven a sufficient quantity of ginger, cloves, mace, and peppercorns to make two ounces of each when dried and pounded fine in a mortar. ”

“ The distiller can but smile at the impotence of those who are unable to conceive the possibility of a post-physical human existence, for, day by day, as he stands before his stills, he sees the miracle performed whereby the spiritual, the essential, is separated and continues to exist apart from the material body in which it previously dwelt. ”

“ Beat up well the yolks of eight eggs with refined sugar pulverized, and a nutmeg grated; then extract the juice from the rind of a lemon by rubbing loaf sugar upon it, and put the sugar, with a piece of cinnamon and a quart of strong home-brewed beer, into a saucepan, place it on the fire, and when it boils take it off, then add a single glass of gin, or this may be left out, put the liquor into a spouted jug, and pour it gradually among the yolks of eggs, etc. All must be kept well stirred with a spoon while the liquor is being poured in. ”

“ The hands should never touch the milk, cream, or butter at any stage; a thermometer should be used to measure the various temperatures of which knowledge is required; and the churn, worker, wooden hands, and other appliances should be prepared for use by first rinsing them with cold water, then scalding them with boiling water, rubbing them [14] thoroughly with salt, and lastly rinsing them again with cold water.—H. R.
DIAPHRAGM CHURN.
To pot Butter.—The great secret in potting butter so that it will keep is to extract from it every drop of superfluous milk. ”

“ Stone fruit requires an extra quarter of a pound of sugar. Break the sugar small, but do not pound it; if the sugar is pounded the syrup will not be clear. Use the best sugar, as the inferior kinds produce much more scum.
3. Never set the preserving-pan flat on the fire. If you do, the fruit will stick to it, and burn. Raise the pan on a trivet a little above the fire, and not exactly over the hottest part. Stir the jam with a wooden spoon all the time that the sugar and fruit are boiling together. An iron spoon ruins both the flavour and the colour of jam. ”

“ When preparing the pears before drying, the flavour will be improved if a little sugar be added to the water in which they are cooked, [70] and to this may be put the juice of the removed seed-vessels and peelings.
Vegetables require, in addition to the peeling, slicing, or cutting up, to be steamed or cooked for five to seven minutes before they are dried. This is necessary in order to keep their colour and to prevent their becoming hard. When dried on a small scale the cooking in boiling water is generally sufficient. Like apples, vegetables are always filled in from below upwards. ”

“ The rashers of bacon should be cut thin, and they will be sufficiently toasted when the fat looks transparent. A gingerbread loaf, made according to the following family recipe, is useful for boating-trips, as the longer it lasts the better it is. Two pounds of brown flour, two pounds of treacle, a quarter of a pound of brown sugar, a breakfast-cupful of cream, two eggs, a tea-spoonful of carbonate of soda dissolved in a little hot water, two ounces and a half of ground ginger, and a little chopped citron. Mix all well together, and bake in a moderately hot oven. ”

“ It is often thought desirable to add to wines the flavour of spices or herbs other than those essentially used in the making of the wine. In such a case, the spices should be placed in a muslin bag and [91] suspended in the wine when active fermentation is subsiding, as suggested in the directions for making. Commonly for elderberry wine, a mixture of crushed ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and mace—of each half an ounce to the gallon—is employed, and for whortleberry wine a mixture of lavender, rosemary, and ginger. ”

“ Cordials.—In the preparation of cordials or liqueurs, scrupulous cleanliness is of the utmost consequence; and the best of sugar, the purest of rectified spirits, the best of herbs or essences, and distilled or filtered rain-water should be used. Where possible, distillation should nearly always be employed in the preparation of liqueurs, lemon and orange liqueurs being perhaps exceptions. If, however, distillation is impracticable, prolonged maceration for a month or more should be resorted to. ”

“ Sweet Sandwiches can be made of any jam or marmalade. They are better without butter, and the preserve should be very lightly spread. They should be about four inches long and one inch wide. Chocolate, melted in a little hot milk, and spread between slices of stale sponge cake, makes a popular sandwich.
Macédoine of Fruit.—Put three lumps of sugar and the thinly pared rind of half a lemon into a quarter or a pint of water, and boil it for ten minutes. Then add, if possible, twelve raspberries. If raspberries cannot be had, add the juice of the half lemon. ”

“ THE value of fruits bottled whole in such a way that they retain their natural form as well as their natural flavour is becoming more and more recognized, and fortunately science has kept space with the spread of this recognition, so that it is a perfectly simple matter for the owner of the smallest garden to bottle his fruit at the most trifling cost and trouble. ”

“ Blackberry Jelly.—Take six pounds of blackberries before they are quite ripe, pick them from the stalks, and put them into a jar. Tie the jar up closely, set it in a pan of water on the fire till the blackberries become pulp. Then strain the fruit through a cloth, and to one pint of juice add one pound of sifted sugar. Boil it to a jelly, and pour it into pots for use. Blackberry jelly is much improved if half the quantity of blackberries is used and the other half made up of bullaces or wild plums. ”

“ A good brine, sufficient for twenty pounds of beef, is made by mixing together three pounds of salt, three-quarters of a pound of sugar, and two ounces of saltpetre. Boil these ingredients together for twenty minutes in two gallons of water, skimming off all scum. Let the liquid get quite cold before you pour it over the meat, and see that the joint is thoroughly covered with the brine. For a smaller piece of meat the quantities given for the brine can be easily reduced, following the same proportions carefully. The meat must be turned over every day, and well basted with the brine ”

“ British wines have earned their bad name partly through the careless manner in which they are usually prepared, unclean bottles, corks, casks, and vats being commonly used; and partly through the absurdly short space of time allowed to elapse between making and drinking. No wine is fit to drink under two years from the time of its manufacture, and most wines should be kept in bottle much longer than is customary. ”

“ It is a ludicrous thing that women cry out for spheres in which to display their power. And all these centuries they have been entrusted with the practice of an art with almost boundless possibilities, yet scarcely any of them have proved capable of rising above the status of artisans in that craft. ”

“ The processes of cooking do not seem to inspire women with any of the wonder, religion, and scientific zeal such as almost every branch of labour has inspired in man. Mechanically and brainlessly the recipes of the cookery books are followed by myriads of women everywhere, so that the compounding of foods and drinks is usually as uninteresting a piece of drudgery as can be conceived. ”

“ Pickling consists in preserving fruits or other vegetable products in spiced vinegar, the details of the process differing slightly according to the product to be pickled. To make the spiced vinegar, place in a stoneware or enamelled boiling-pan a quart of strong vinegar, from half an ounce to four ounces of black peppercorns, a couple of ounces of crushed ginger, and from two to eight ounces of mustard seed. ”

“ The bottles are to be lifted out singly and the covers at once screwed down, or locked by the spring or lever, according to the make of bottle. They should be cooled as quickly as possible. Apples and pears should be peeled, cut, and cored, and placed in cold water directly they are cored. All stone fruit should be stoned before bottling. The time for which the bottles should remain in the pan, at a temperature of 155° to 160° F., varies. Cherries, rhubarb, small plums, gooseberries and currants require about twenty minutes; tomatoes, half an hour; apricots, three-quarters of an hour ”

“ Thoroughly beat the yolks of three eggs, and gradually stir in half a tea-cupful of olive oil, together with a table-spoonful of mustard, a little pepper, two table-spoonfuls of salt, and half a tea-cupful of vinegar; adding, last of all, the well-beaten whites of the three eggs. Bottle in well-stoppered bottles.
[48]
PRESERVES IT is easy to make good jam at home if a few simple rules are followed. Excellent jams can, it is true, be bought, but they are generally too sweet, a large proportion of sugar being used in order to make the jam keep for a considerable time. ”

“ The day after the jam is made, and when it has become quite cold, lay a round of thin paper on the top of each pot. Then take a sufficient number of the vegetable parchment covers which are sold for tying over jam-pots, soak them for a minute or two in cold water, wipe them dry, stretch one over each pot, and tie it round with string. The parchment tightens as it dries, and excludes the air from the jam. When the covers are dry, write in ink on each the name of the jam and the date.
8. Always keep jam in a cool, dry place. Damp makes it mouldy, heat makes it ferment. ”

“ A good recipe is a pound of lavender flowers, two ounces of thyme, an ounce of ground cloves, and two ounces of salt. A more elaborate recipe is as follows: Grind into a coarsely powdered mixture a pound of orris root, a quarter of a pound each of rose petals, lavender flowers, and sandalwood shavings, two ounces of benzoin, a dram each of otto of roses and oil of cloves, a dram of musk, and half an ounce of vanilla pods. ”

“ If it is not beneath the dignity of a man to spend enjoyable hours of labour in laboratory or malthouse, in sick-ward or workshop, woman need not feel degraded by the apportionment to her of those duties which are more immediately bound up with the creation of happy and refreshing homes. ”

“ A larder or store-room should never be used for the storage of milk, as the conditions required are somewhat different, and also because, more than almost any other substance, milk absorbs and is spoilt by any strong smell such as many stores yield to the air about them. The milk-room should be cool, only moderately light, well ventilated and somewhat dry, and should, if possible, face the east or north. There must be no possibility of gas from drain or manure heap coming into contact with the milk at any stage, either in milking-yard or dairy. ”

“ The food of their choice is high-priced, and the dress of their choice is showy and flimsy, so that to-day they are ladies, and to-morrow ragged as sheep with the scab.” A healthy attitude towards the plain and the wholesome and the genuine marks the whole book. Among other things ardently desired by Cobbett was the extension of the practice of the home brewing of honest beer, and he denounced the growing habit of tea-drinking with a vigour that time and results have shown was not misplaced. ”