For Oat cakes. Merely mix oatmeal and water together till about as thick as ordinary dough, then roll out as thin as possible, and bake on a hot flat iron called a girdle, hung over the fire. A few eggs are sometimes added to make what is called in Scotland Car cake.
For Muffins and Crumpets. Take a pint and a half of warm milk and dissolve in it a tea-spoonful of salt of tartar (subcarbonate of potash), then mix with it five table-spoonfuls of yeast. When it has stood to settle, pour it off by degrees, if for crumpets, into two pounds of flour with a little salt, stir it well, and then beat it till it looks like a thick batter, and may be drawn out to a great length when you lift up the spoon. Set it before the fire to rise, and when it bubbles up bake the crumpets on a hot stove, or a girdle. For muffins, take three pounds of flour, and roll the dough into balls, and let them rise before putting them on the iron plate. When the muffins begin to bake they will spread into the proper shape; and when one side is done they should be turned on the other side. The crumpets do not require turning; but if they are wished to be thick, they may be baked in an iron hoop. Potato crumpets are made by adding to three pounds of mealy potatoes boiled and rubbed through a coarse sieve, half a pound of flour, an egg, a little salt, and a spoonful of yeast.
For a Brioche. Take a pound of fine flour, divide it into three parts, to one of which put a table-spoonful of yeast, mixed with warm water into a light batter, then set it before a fire if the weather is cold, and let it rise half an hour. In warm weather it need not be put to the fire, as it will rise immediately. Mix the rest of the flour with a quarter of an ounce of salt, three eggs, a quarter of a pound of butter, and enough warm water to make it into a stiff dough. Work it well, and then add the portion that was previously prepared. Knead the whole well together, and then wrap the dough in a white napkin, and leave it for seven or eight hours. Then divide the dough into pieces, as if for buns, and make them into the usual half-twisted form of a brioche, using a little warm milk to moisten them if necessary. Lastly, wash them over with eggs well beaten, and put them in the oven.
I shall now give you two or three receipts for biscuits, and sweet cakes.
For Butter biscuits. Warm two ounces of butter in as much skimmed milk as will make a pound of flour into a stiff paste, knead it well, and beat it with a paste roller; roll it out thin, cut the paste into round cakes with a glass, and prick them with a fork. Bake in a quick oven.
Stamped biscuits are made by rubbing a quarter of a pound of butter into a pound of flour, then mixing it with cold water and a tea-spoonful of yeast into a paste. Knead it till it is quite smooth; then cover it on the board with a basin for half an hour, and afterwards make it into balls, stamping each with the print.
Abernethy biscuits may be made by adding caraway seeds and a very little sugar to the above.
For a Sponge-cake. Take half a pound of flour, three quarters of a pound of lump sugar powdered, and seven eggs, leaving out three of the whites; beat all well together, and add the rind of a lemon grated on some of the sugar before it is pounded. Bake in a mould, and in a quick oven.
For Naples biscuits. Put a quarter of a pint of water, two spoonfuls of orange-flower water, and half a pound of fine sugar into a saucepan, and let it boil till the sugar be melted; then pour it upon four eggs well beaten, stirring the whole as fast as possible while the syrup is poured in. Continue beating it well till cold; then stir in half a pound of flour. Make clean white paper into moulds of the proper size for the biscuits, pour the batter into them, and put them on tins to bake; sift fine sugar on, and set them in a brisk oven, taking great care that they are not scorched.
For Wine cakes. Mix two pounds of flour, one pound of sugar, and one ounce of caraway seeds, with four eggs, and a few spoonfuls of water to make a stiff paste; roll it thin, cut the cakes in any shape, and bake them on floured tins. While baking, boil half a pound of sugar in half a pint of water to a thin syrup; and, while both are hot, dip each cake into it. Put them into the oven on tins, to dry for a short time; and when the oven is cool put them in again, and let them remain in four or five hours.
For a Pound cake. Take two pounds of flour, one pound of butter, one pound of sugar, one pound of currants, a little cream, lemon-peel, mace, and cinnamon; first rub the butter in the flour, then put in the cream, a little yeast, and five eggs, and set it to rise; when risen enough add the other ingredients. Bake in a tin lined with paper well buttered.
For Ratafia drops. Blanch and beat four ounces of bitter and two ounces of sweet almonds with a little rose-water, a pound of sifted sugar, the whites of two eggs well beaten, and a table-spoonful of flour. Drop this mixture so as to form balls about the size of a nutmeg, and bake them on wafer paper.
For Macaroons. Blanch four ounces of sweet almonds, and pound them with four spoonfuls of orange-flower water; whisk the whites of four eggs to a froth, then mix them, and a pound of sugar sifted, with the almonds, to a paste; and, laying a sheet of wafer-paper on a tin, put the paste on in different moulds, or cut into little cakes, the shape of macaroons.
Gâteau d'Avranches. Grate one pound of loaf sugar to a fine powder, and add it to the yolks of fourteen eggs. Beat them well together for half an hour, and then add the juice of two lemons, some orange-flower water, and half a pound of potato flour. In the mean time another person must beat the whites of the fourteen eggs for half an hour or more till they look like snow, as, should any liquid remain, it will spoil the cake completely. Put this snow to the yolks, and beat the whole together for ten minutes; then pour the whole quickly into a mould that has been well buttered before the fire, and put it directly into an oven, which must be hot, but not quite so much so as for bread; three quarters of an hour will bake it.
For Gingerbread. Put into a Maslin kettle half a pound of fresh butter and three quarters of a pound of treacle, and keep them on the fire, stirring them together, till they are melted and thoroughly incorporated. In the mean time mix half a pound of moist sugar with two pounds of flour and three quarters of an ounce of ginger, and pour the treacle and butter quite hot on the flour, sugar, and ginger; work the whole well together, and when almost cold roll the paste out, and cut it into cakes. Bake them in rather a slow oven. If it is wished to have the gingerbread very rich, only half the quantity of flour must be used; and the paste, which is rolled very thin, is cut into squares. This kind of gingerbread is called Parliament.
LETTER V.
IMPROMPTU COOKERY.—SOUPS.—POULTRY.—PIGEONS.—GAME.—SALADS OF COLD MEAT AND POTATOES.—MODES OF DRESSING POTATOES AND CARROTS.—SAUCES.—OMELETTES, CREAMS, AND SIDE DISHES.—MISCELLANEOUS COOKERY.—NATIONAL COOKERY.—THE FRENCH POT-AU-FEU.—ITALIAN MACARONI.—GERMAN SAUER KRAUT.—POLISH BARSCH.—SPANISH OLLA PODRIDA AND PUCHERO.—SCOTCH HAGGIS, BARLEY BROTH, AND HOTCH-POTCH.—ENGLISH PLUM-PUDDING.
The anxiety you express to see my promised hints on cookery has induced me to send them to you without waiting till I had finished all that I have to say of the servants' offices of your house; and you will observe that I shall first confine myself to what may be styled Impromptu Cookery, or cookery for the country, in contradistinction to cookery in towns; my principal aim being to enable you to have a nice little dinner ready in a short time on any emergency, without keeping an expensive table in ordinary. I have already advised you always to have a supply of salted meat in the house; but this is not enough, as a single dish of meat with vegetables and pudding, though quite sufficient as far as regards mere eating, does not form such a dinner as your husband would like to see on his table, if he were to bring a friend home unexpectedly. If, however, you are able to give them a well-flavoured soup, and two or three nicely cooked made-dishes to support the joint, (or pièce de résistance, as the French call it,) you have at once a dinner that is not expensive, and yet gives an air of elegance and refinement to the table.
I suspect indeed it would be a good plan to have several dishes on your table every day, whether you have company or not. It is not more expensive; for made dishes, by employing more vegetable