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FISH SAUCE A-LA CRASTER-OYSTER SAUCE.

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it into small bottles for use. Cork them very close, and seal the top.

Another.-Chop twenty-four anchovies not washed, and ten shalots, and scrape three spoonfuls of horse-radish, with about ten blades of mace, twelve cloves, two sliced lemons, half a pint of anchovy liquor, a quart of hock, or Rhenish wine, and a pint of water; boil to a quart; then strain off; and when cold, add three large spoonfuls of walnut ketchup, and put into small bottles well corked.

Fish Sauce without Butter.-Simmer very gently a quarter of a pint of vinegar and half a pint of water (which must not be hard), with an onion, half a handful of horse-radish, and the following spices lightly bruised; four cloves, two blades of mace, and half a tea-spoonful of black pepper. When the onion is quite tender, chop it small with two anchovies, and set the whole on the fire to boil for a few minutes, with a spoonful of ketchup. In the meantime, have ready and well beaten the yolks of three fresh eggs; strain them, mix the liquor by degrees with them, and when well mixed, set the saucepan over a gentle fire, keeping a basin in one hand, into which toss the sauce to and fro, and shake the saucepan over the fire, that the eggs may not curdle. Do not boil them, only let the sauce be hot enough to give it the thickness of melted butter.

Fish Sauce a-la-Craster.-Thicken a quarter of a pound of butter with flour, and brown it; then put to it a pound of the best anchovies cut small, six blades of pounded mace, ten cloves, forty berries of black pepper and allspice, a few small onions, a faggot of herbs (namely, savoury, thyme, basil, and knotted marjoram), and a little parsley and sliced horse-radish; on these pour half a pint of the best sherry, and a pint and a half of very strong gravy. Simmer all gently for twenty minutes, then strain it through a sieve, and bottle it for use: the way of using it is, to boil some of it in the butter while melting.

An excellent Substitute for Caper Sauce.-Boil slowly some parsley, to let it become a bad colour, cut, but do not chop it fine; put it to melted butter, with a tea-spoonful of salt, and a dessert-spoonful of vinegar. Boil up and serve.

Oyster Sauce.-Save the liquor in opening the oysters; and boil it with the beards, a bit of mace and lemon peel. In the meantime throw the oysters into cold water, and drain it off. Strain the liquor, and put it into a saucepan with them, and as much butter, mixed with a little milk, as will make sauce enough; but first rub a little flour with it. Set them over the fire, and stir all the time; and when the butter has boiled once or twice, take them off, and keep the saucepan near the fire, but not on it; for if done too much, the oysters will be hard. Squeeze a little lemon juice, and serve.

If for company, a little cream is a great improvement. Observe, the oysters will thin the sauce, so put butter accordingly.

Lobster Sauce.-Pound the spawn, and two anchovies : pour on them two spoonfuls of gravy: strain all into some

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ANCHOVY SAUCE-VINGARET-SHALOT VINEGAR.

butter melted as will be hereafter directed; then put in the meat of the lobster, give it all one boil, and add a squeeze of lemon.

Another way.-Leave out the anchovies and gravy; and do it as above, either with or without a little salt and ketchup, as you like. Many prefer the flavour of the lobster and salt only.

Shrimp Sauce.—If the shrimps are not picked at home, pour a little water over them to wash them; put them to butter melted thick and smooth, give them one boil and add the juice of a lemon.

Anchovy Sauce.-Chop two anchovies without washing, put them to some flour and butter, and a little drop of water; stir it over the fire till it boils once or twice. When the anchovies are good, they will be dissolved; and the colour will be better than by the usual way.

To Melt Butter, which is rarely well done, though a very essential article.-Mix in the proportion of a teaspoonful of flour to four ounces of the best butter, on a trencher. Put it into a small saucepan, and two or three table-spoonfuls of hot water, boil quick a minute, shaking it all the time. Milk used instead of water, requires rather less butter, and looks whiter.

Vingaret, for Cold Fowl or Meat.-Chop mint, parsley, and shalot, and mix with salt, oil, and vinegar. Serve in a boat.

Shalot Vinegar.-Split six or eight shalots; put them into a quart bottle, and fill it up with vinegar, stop it, and in a month it will be fit for use.

Camp Vinegar.-Slice a large head of garlic; and put it into a wide-mouthed bottle with half an ounce of Cayenne, two teaspoonfuls of real soy, two of walnut ketchup, four anchovies chopped, a pint of vinegar, and enough cochineal to give it the colour of lavender drops. Let it stand six weeks: then strain off quite clear, and keep in small bottles sealed up.

Sugar Vinegar. To every gallon of water put two pounds of the very coarsest sugar, boil and skim thoroughly, then put one quart of cold water for every gallon of hot. When cool, put into it a toast spread with yeast. Stir it nine days; then barrel, and set in a place where the sun will lie on it, with a bit of slate on the bung-hole. Make it in March, it will be ready in six months. When sufficiently sour, it may be bottled, or may be used from the cask with a wooden spigot and faucet.

Gooseberry Vinegar.-Boil spring water; and when cold, put to every three quarts, a quart of bruised gooseberries in a large tub. Let them remain sixty hours, stirring often, then strain through a hair bag, and to each gallon of liquor, add a pound of the coarsest sugar. Put it into a barrel, and a toast and yeast cover the bung-hole with a bit of slate, &c., as above. The greater quantity of sugar and fruit the stronger the vinegar. Cucumber Vinegar.-Pare and slice fifteen large cucumbers and put them in a stone jar, with three pints of vinegar, four onions sliced, two or three shalots, a little garlic, two large spoon

WINE VINEGAR-NASTURTIUM CAPERS.

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fuls of salt, three tea-spoonfuls of pepper, and half a tea-spoonful of Cayenne. After standing four days, give the whole a boil; when cold, strain and filter the liquor through paper. Keep in small bottles to add to salad, or eat with meat.

Wine Vinegar.—After making raisin wine, when the fruit has been strained, lay it on a heap to heat, then to every hundred weight put fifteen gallons of water-set the cask, and put yeast, &c., as before.

As vinegar is so necessary an article in a family, and one on which so great a profit is made, a barrel or two might always be kept preparing, according to what suited. If the raisins of wine were ready, that kind might be made; if a great plenty of gooseberries made them cheap, that sort; or if neither, then the sugar vinegar-so that the cask may not be left empty, and grow musty.

Nasturtiums for Capers.-Keep them a few days after they are gathered, then pour boiling vinegar over them, and when cold, cover. They will not be fit to eat for some months, but are then finely flavoured, and by many preferred to capers.

To make Mustard.-Mix the best Durham flour of mustard with boiling water till of a proper thickness, rubbing it perfectly smooth; add a little salt, and keep it in a small jar, close covered, and put only as much into the glass as will be used soon, which should be wiped daily round the edges.

Another way, for immediate use. Mix the mustard with new milk by degrees, to be quite smooth, and add a little raw cream. It is much softer this way, is not bitter, and will keep well.

The patent mustard is by many preferred, and it is perhaps as cheap, being always ready; and if the pots are returned, threepence is allowed for each.

A tea-spoonful of sugar to half a pint of mustard is a great improvement, and softens it.

Kitchen Pepper,-Mix in the finest powder one ounce of ginger; of cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg, and Jamaica pepper, half an ounce each; ten cloves, and six ounces of salt. Keep it in a bottle; it is an agreeable addition to any brown sauces or soups.

Spice in powder, kept in small bottles close stopped, goes much further than when used whole. It must be dried before pounded, and should be done in quantities that may be wanted in three or four months. Nutmeg need not be done, but the others should be kept in separate bottles with a little label on each.

To Dry Mushrooms.-Wipe them clean, and of the large take the brown, and peel off the skin. Lay them on paper to dry in a cool oven, and keep them in paper bags in a dry place. When used simmer them in the gravy, and they will swell to near their former size: to simmer them in their own liquor till it dry up into them, shaking the pan, then drying on tin plates, is a good way, with spice or not, as above, before made into powder. Tie down with bladder, and keep in a dry place, or in paper. Mushroom Powder.-Wash half a peck of large mushrooms

100 while quite fresh, and free from grit and dirt with flannel: scrape out the black part clean, and do not use any that are worm-eaten ; put them into a stew-pan over the fire without water, with two large onions, some cloves, a quarter of an ounce of mace, and two spoonfuls of white pepper, all in powder; simmer and shake them till all the liquor be dried up, but be careful they do not burn. Lay them on tins or sieves in a slow oven till they are dry enough to beat to powder, then put the powder in small bottles, corked and tied closely, and keep in a dry place. A tea-spoonful will give a very fine flavour to any soup or gravy, or any sauce; and it is to be added just before serving, and one boil given to it after it is put in.

MUSHROOM POWDER-ESSENCE OF ANCHOVIES.

To Choose Anchovies.-They are preserved in barrels, with bay salt no other fish has the fine flavour of the anchovy. The best look red and mellow, and the bones moist and oily; the flesh should be high flavoured, the liquor reddish, and have a fine smell. Essence of Anchovies.-Take two dozen of anchovies, chop them, and take out the bone, but with some of their own liquor strained, add them to sixteen large spoonfuls of water; boil gently till dissolved, which will be in a few minutes; when cold, strain and bottle it.

To Keep Anchovies when the Liquor Dries.—Pour on them beef brine.

To Make Sprats Taste like Anchovies.-Salt them well, and let the salt drain from them. In twenty-four hours wipe them dry, but do not wash them. Mix four ounces of common salt, an ounce of bay salt, an ounce of saltpetre, a quarter of an ounce of sal prunel, and half a tea-spoonful of cochineal, all in the finest powder. Sprinkle it among three quarts of the fish, and pack them in two stone jars. Keep in a cold place fastened down with a bladder.

These are pleasant on bread and butter; but use the best for

sauce.

Forcemeat to Force Fowls or Meat.-Shred a little ham, or gammon, some cold veal, or fowl, some beef-suet, a small quantity of onion, some parsley, a very little lemon-peel, salt, nutmeg, or pounded mace, and either white pepper or Cayenne, and bread crumbs.

Pound it in a mortar, and bind it with one or two eggs beaten and strained. For forcemeat patties, the mixture as above.

Forcemeat, whether in the form of stuffingballs, or for patties, makes a considerable part of good cooking, by the flavour it imparts to whatsoever dish it is added, if properly made.

Exact rules for the quantity cannot easily be given; but the following observations may be useful, and habit will soon give knowledge in mixing it to the taste.

At many tables where everything else is well done, it is common to find very bad stuffing.

According to what it is wanted for, should be the selection from the following list, observing that of the most pungent articles, least must be used. No one flavour should predominate greatly

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yet, if several dishes be served the same day, there should be a marked variety in the taste of the forcemeat, as well as of the gravies. It should be consistent enough to cut with a knife, but not dry and heavy.

Forcemeat Ingredients.

Cold fowl or veal.

Oysters,

Scraped ham.

Anchovy.

Fat bacon.

Tarragon.

Beef-suet.

Savoury.

Chives.

Jamaica pepper, in fine powder, or two or three cloves. The first column contains the articles of which the forcemeat may be made, without any striking flavour; and to those, may be added some of the different ingredients of the second column, to vary the taste.

For Cold Savoury Pies.-The same only substituting fat, or bacon, for suet. The livers (if the pie be of rabbit or fowls) mixed with fat and lean pork, instead of bacon, and seasoned as above, are excellent.

For HARE, see to roast, page 82.

Ditto, for baked PIKE, page 29.

Ditto, for PIKE, HADDOCK, and small COD, page 29.

Ditto, for SOLES, page 29.

Ditto, for MACKEREL, page 28.

Ditto, for FISH PIE, page 103.

Very fine Forcemeat Balls, for Fish Soups, or Fish Stewed, on Maigre Days.-Beat the flesh and soft parts of a middling lobster, half an anchovy, a large piece of boiled celery, the yolk of a hard egg, a little Cayenne, mace, salt, and white pepper, with two table-spoonfuls of bread crumbs, one ditto of oyster liquor, two ounces of butter warmed, and two eggs long beaten make into balls, and fry of a fine brown in butter.

Forcemeat as for Turtle, at the Bush, Bristol. — A pound of fresh suet, one ounce of ready dressed veal or chicken, chopped fine, bread crumbs, a little shalot or onion, salt, white pepper, nutmeg, mace, pennyroyal, parsley, and lemon thyme finely shred; beat as many fresh eggs, yolks and whites separately, as will make the above ingredients into a moist paste: roll into small balls, and boil them in fresh lard, putting them in just as it boils up. When of a light brown, take them out, and drain them before the fire. If the suet be moist or stale, a great many more eggs will be necessary.