Jerky

“ Cold chickens, pigeons, and game, look very handsome in jelly. To make this jelly, take four calves-feet (with the skin on) and boil them to a strong jelly with an ounce of isinglass and three quarts of water, carefully skimming off the fat. The calves-feet must be boiled the day before the jelly is wanted, and when it is cold scrape off all the sediment that adheres to it. Then boil the jelly with the addition of the whites and shells of six eggs, the juice of three lemons, three or four sticks of cinnamon, half a pound of loaf-sugar, and a pint of Malaga or other sweet wine. ”

“ A little sherry and sugar may be added. For infants, a drop or two of the essence of caraway seed or cinnamon is preferable.
2131. An Excellent Jelly
(
For the Sick room.
) —Take rice, sago, pearl-barley, hartshorn shavings, each one ounce; simmer with three pints of water to one, and strain it. When cold, it will be a jelly, which give, dissolved in wine, milk, or broth, in change with the other nourishment.
2132. Calves' Feet Jelly
It is better to buy the feet of the butcher, than at the tripe-shop ready boiled, because the best portion of the jelly has been extracted. ”

“ Fritters from calves’ feet may be made when the feet are being used for making jelly. When the meat is about half cooked, take off some of the best portion of it, returning the bones to the stock for jelly; let it simmer on a dish to get cold; when cold cut it into long or cutlet-shaped pieces, dip them in batter, and fry them a light colour; they must be well drained from the fat and piled high in the centre of the dish, pouring round them the following sauce, which should be ready prepared, and they must be sent to table very hot. ”

“ Extract of coffee can be used to flavour this jelly, and answers well.
Porter Jelly.—Procure a cow-heel (which should be thoroughly cleaned) and 2 calves’ feet; wash them in cold water, and put them into a pan with 5 pints water, and let them boil until the meat leaves the bones; strain the liquor through a hair sieve, and let it stand for one night in a cool place. Next morning put the stock into a pan with 1 lb. loaf sugar, 1⁄2 pint porter, the juice of 4 lemons with their rinds cut very thin, and the well-beaten whites of 8 eggs. Let all boil together till it rises to the top of the pan ”

“ Nor did Jerry offer to snarl or bite, although the blind man’s hands came within reach of his teeth more than once. For Jerry sensed no enmity in the fingers that passed so softly over him. Next, Nalasu felt over the pig, and several times, as if calculating, alternated between Jerry and the pig.
Nalasu stood up and voiced judgment:
“The pig is as small as the dog. They are of a size, but the pig has more meat on it for the eating. Take the pig and I shall take the dog.”
“Nay,” said Agno. “The white master’s dog has broken the taboo. It must be eaten. Take any other dog and leave the pig. ”

“ Drain stock from vegetables, and thicken with flour diluted with enough cold water to pour easily. Season with salt, pepper, and wine. If not rich enough, add more butter. Allow one bird to each individual dish, sauce to make sufficiently moist, and cover with plain or puff paste, in which make two incisions, through which the legs of the bird should extend.
Aspic Jelly Aspic jelly is always made with meat stock, and is principally used in elaborate entrées where fish, chicken, game, or vegetables are to be served moulded in jelly. ”

“ If scalded only, the liquor will require greater care in removing the fat; but the jelly will be far stronger, and of course allow more water. Jelly is equally good if made of cow-heels nicely cleaned, and will be much stronger than what is made from calf's feet.
CALF'S FEET PUDDING. Boil four feet quite tender, pick off the meat, and chop it fine. Add some grated bread, a pound of chopped suet, half a pint of milk, six eggs, a pound of currants, four ounces of citron, two ounces of candied peel, a grated nutmeg, and a glass of brandy. ”

“ Some think that jelly eats best in the rough, not out of a mould.—Another: boil 4 feet in 21⁄2 quarts of water, boil twelve hours, or till all their goodness is extracted. The next day remove all fat as well as sediment, put the jelly into a saucepan with 11⁄2 pint of sherry or Marsala, the peel and juice of 7 lemons, and sugar to your taste. Finish in the same way as directed above, and when strained, add a wine-glassful of Champagne brandy. You may add 1 oz. isinglass to make the jelly very stiff, but some object to this, as it makes it tough as well as stiff. ”

“ Bacon three inches thick with fat: the fat of beef; fat of mutton—anything they could not finish in the sitting-room; the overplus of cabbage or potatoes, savoury or unsavoury; vast slices of bread and cheese; ale, and any number of slop-basins full of tea—the cups were not large enough—and pudding, cold dumpling, hard as wood, no matter what, Jearje ate steadily through it.
A more willing fellow never lived ”

“ No jelly should be added to the meat; the meat, and the meat alone, should produce its own jelly. With the bones and trimmings of the above, a good stock should be made without vegetables, well reduced and skimmed, to form a very strong transparent demi-glaze; six-pound canisters should be filled with the same, bearing a special mark, and one of these allowed to every dozen of the others. ”

“ The juice, like red currant juice, can be boiled with a large quantity of white sugar till the jelly sets of its own accord; in this case we should require one pound of sugar to every pint of juice, and the result would be a blackberry jelly like red currant jelly, more like a preserve than the jelly we are accustomed to eat at dinner alone. For instance, no one would care to eat a quantity of red currant jelly like we should ordinary orange or lemon jelly—it would be too sickly ”

“ She captured him in the lower entry and held him carefully away from the lace of her dress, his red tongue dangling, his little eyes peering pinkly from beneath his drying bangs, as she again speeded them on their way.
“Well, what did you think of the human jellyfish?” Jerry asked, as they made for their regular “taxi,” a Subway prepayment car.
“Jerry—I think she’s the loveliest thing I’ve ever seen. But I don’t in the least get why she’s like a jellyfish.”
“Listen. If you’ve ever seen the animal, you know it’s flabby and yet you can’t pull it apart. That’s what she is.” ”

“ This kind of jelly will not keep longer than two or three days in warm weather. A knuckle of veal makes a jelly as good as calves' feet, it is made [87] in the same manner. Jellies and sweet meats are less liable to ferment, if kept in glass jars or bottles. A paper wet in spirits and put over sweet meats, has a tendency to prevent their fermenting. Sweet meats should be carefully watched during warm weather, and if fermentation commences turn the syrup from them, scald it, and turn it back. ”

“ Now boil up the fruit until it is tender, put the damsons into a sieve while warm, and boil the jelly alone full half an hour, and taking off any scum that may yet have arisen. Put the fruit into your pots, jars, &c., and pour your jelly over them, well heated. When cold, put brandy-paper upon the fruit, and melted mutton suet above that. Make all safe with bladder and leather, and store them in a dry, airy, cool room. ”

“ When it has boiled till it looks quite clear on one side, and the dross accumulates on the other, take off carefully the thickest part of the dross, and pour the jelly in the bag; put back what runs through, until it becomes quite transparent—then set a pitcher under the bag, and put a cover all over to keep out the dust: the jelly looks much prettier when it is broken to fill the glasses. ”

“ Cook the fruit till tender in a little water; throw off the water, bruise and strain the fruit, and to each pint of the juice add one pound of white sugar. Put it now in a preserving-pan, and boil it rapidly, but do not stir it while boiling, as that breaks the jelly; skim it carefully, and when it jellies, pour it into tumblers or small jars. I have made two pecks of berries into jelly in two hours. This is said for the benefit of young housekeepers who often boil their jelly too slowly and too long, which makes it ropy. ”

“ The jellies of fruits are cooling, and acescent; in all disorders of the first passages, they are of eminent service, especially when diluted with water.—On the other hand, those prepared from animal substances are very nourishing, and useful to invalids. They ought, however, to be uniformly made of young meat; as the flesh of old quadrupeds and birds is hard, tough, and productive of a thick glutinous jelly, which is extremely difficult of digestion. ”

“ If convenient, put it in ice until required for table, then wring a cloth in boiling water, wrap it round the mould for a minute, and turn the jelly carefully out. Peaches, apricots, plums, apples, &c., are better for being boiled in a little clear syrup before they are laid in the jelly; strawberries, raspberries, grapes, cherries, and currants are put in raw. In winter, when fresh fruits are not obtainable, a very pretty jelly may be made with preserved fruits or brandy cherries: these, in a bright and clear jelly, have a very pretty effect ”

“ RED CURRANT JELLY. Wash your currants, drain them, and pick them from the stalks. Mash them with the back of a spoon. Put them in a jelly-bag, and squeeze it till all the juice is pressed out.
To every pint of juice, allow a pound of the best loaf-sugar. Put the juice and the sugar into your kettle, and boil them twenty minutes, skimming all the while. Pour it warm into your glasses, and when cold, tie it up with brandy paper. Jellies should never be allowed to get cold in the kettle. If boiled too long, they will lose their flavour, and become of a dark colour. ”

“ A wholesome jelly may be obtained by boiling a large portion of blanched oats, with some harts-horn shavings and currants, together with a leg of veal cut to pieces, and the bones of which are broken. These ingredients are to be boiled or stewed over the fire, in a sufficient quantity of water, till the whole be reduced to a kind of jelly, which, when strained, and suffered to grow cold, will become firm and elastic. ”

“ In the days of old, the jelly-fish was one of the retainers in waiting upon the Queen of the World under the Sea, at her palace in Riu Gu. In those days he had a shell, and as his head was hard, no one dared to insult him, or stick him with their horns, or pinch him with their claws, or scratch him with their nails, or brush rudely by him with their fins. In short, this fish instead of being a lump of jelly, as white and helpless as a pudding, as we see him now, was a lordly fellow that could get his back up and keep it high when he wished to. ”

“ Perhaps while you gaze at the reddish jelly a pink little projection appears within the field of your lens, and slowly lengthens and broadens, retreating and reappearing, it may be, many times, but finally, after much hesitation, it suddenly seems to burst into bloom. A narrow body, so deeply red that it is often almost crimson, lifts above the jelly a crescentic disc ornamented with two rows of long tentacles that seem as fine as hairs, and they glisten and sparkle like lines of crystal as they wave and float 264 and twist the delicate threads beneath your wondering gaze. ”

“ Sometimes ladies complain that, for some inexplicable reason, they cannot make their currant jelly harden. The true reason was doubtless this,—that while making it, it was suffered to stop boiling for a few minutes. Let it boil gently but steadily, until by taking a little of it into a cold silver spoon, you perceive that it quickly hardens around the edges. A practised eye will readily judge by the movement of the liquid as it boils. Put jelly in little jars, cups, or tumblers; when it is cold, paste paper over the top and brush it over with white of egg. ”

“ Aspic.—Make a savoury jelly with 2-3 lb. knuckle of veal, an oxfoot, some lean bacon, carrots, onions, shallots, a faggot of herbs, spices, pepper, and salt, and 2 qt. water; stew till quite strong, strain, when cold remove all fat, and clear with the whites of 2 or 3 eggs, and a glass of sherry; strain through a jelly bag, and when nearly set pour a little into a jelly mould, put a layer of cooked prawns, another layer of jelly and so on, filling up the mould with alternate layers of jelly and prawns ”

“ Pudding à la Reine.— Set a border form into cracked ice and pour in to the depth of about 1⁄2 inch some white wine jelly; when the jelly is firm put in some fruit, such as strawberries, cherries, plums or peaches, and pour over a few spoonfuls jelly; after the lapse of 5 minutes pour in more jelly; when firm put in another layer of fruit and then fill the form with jelly; let it remain on the ice till ready to serve; pare and cut into slices 12 large, ripe peaches, sprinkle thickly with sugar and let them stand 1 hour ”

“ When it is perfectly congealed, dip the mould for an instant in boiling water to loosen the jelly. Turn it out on a glass dish.
This quantity of ingredients will make a quart of jelly when finished. In cool weather it may be made a day or two before it is wanted.
You may increase the seasoning, (that is, the wine, lemon, and cinnamon,) according to your taste, but less than the above proportion will not be sufficient to flavour the jelly.
BLANCMANGE
Four calf's-feet. ”

“ Excuse me if I help our unexpected company first," observed Jerry, heaping a pannikin with some stew, and placing several slices of toast, already buttered, on top of this, after which he passed it along to the bound boy.
It was pleasure enough just to watch the look on his pinched face as he started to devour the appetizing food with the rapacity of a half-starved wolf.
"Bluff, get your gun and keep it across your knees. Sometimes kettles have a strange habit of vanishing just when you are expecting to enjoy the contents. This seems to be a bewitched country in that respect. ”