FoodNet

Chambers's cookery for young housewives

1894

Page 71 · 2 recipe records on this page

Presented as published in 1894. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Put the thin yellow rind of the lemons into a jug with the sugar. Squeeze on the juice, but keep back the pips. Pour over them the boiling water, cover, and set aside to become quite cold. Strain and bottle. Serve two or three table- spoonfuls in a tumbler, and till it up with potash, soda, or fresh cold water. TOAST WATER. 1 slice bread. | 1 quart cold waterToast Water. Take the upper crust of a stale loaf, about an inch and a half thick. Toast it very brown and dry before the lire, but do not burn it. Place it in a jug containing the cold water. Cover for one hour, strain through muslin, and serve. Toast water should be made fresh every day. WHITE WINE WHEY. J pint milk. I 2 glasses sherry. Sugar. This is a drink which is used to cause perspiration, in cases of cold, or other ailments where there is no inflamma- tory tendency in the patient. Put the milk on the fire in a saucepan, and directly it boils, add the white wine, with a little sugar dissolved in it. A light floating curd will be instantly seen. Boil for a few minutes; then strain it through a hair-sieve, so that the whey may run from the curd. Serve the whey hot. Throw away the curd, for it is exceedingly indigestible, and should not be eaten. CAKES. Having decided to make and bake a cake, first look to the oven, for often a great deal of trouble and time may be spent in making a cake which turns out a failure, this being more often than not the fault of the oven. Ascertain that it is perfectly clean, make up the fire, and close the oven door. For small cakes you will require a hot, brisk oven, and OAKES. 125 for largo cakes a moderately hot oven. The temperature of the oven should not he increased after the cake is put in, but, if possible, kept at a uniform heat, and the oven door must not be opened more often than is absolutely necessary. A good method of testing tlie heat of the oven is to sprinkle a little flour on the hottest part. Should it become a golden brown in a minute or two, the oven may be considered in a fit condition, and the cake may be put in ; should the flour turn black, the oven is too hot; should it only dry with- out colouring, the oven is too cold, and in this condition would spoil any cake, making it slack and doughy. After the cake is nicely browned, put it into a cooler part of the oven to ‘soak,’ or get baked thoroughly to the centre. To ascertain when it is sufficiently cooked, thrust a thin -wooden skewer into the centre ; if it is quite clean and dry when drawn out, the cake is ready, and should be turned out of the tin, placed upon a sieve until cold, and then stored in a covered tin or earthenware crock ; on the other hand, should the skewer be in the least damp when it is removed, the cake should be returned to the cool part of the oven to finish cooking. Select a tin sufficiently large to allow of the cake rising, and grease it thoroughly with oil or suet. For a rich cake a greased paper should be placed between the cake and the tin. Good beef dripping will be found excellent for making ordinary cakes, and is far better than inferior butter. Always have all the ingredients in readiness before you begin to mix the cake. Let the currants be well washed and dried, with all the stalks and stones picked out. Have the flour quite dry and free from lumps ; cut any candied peel in thin slices; grate the yellow rincl only of lemons.