The spirit of cookery

Under the influence of pancreatin, a ferment extracted from the pancreas, or sweetbread, of cattle, and sold by chemists, cow’s milk is transformed in such a manner that its caseine is no longer precipitable by acids or alcohol, but is in the state of (probably) assimilable ‘peptone. It may then be mixed with acids, sugar of milk, or cane-sugar, and alcoholic preparations, such as rum, cognac or wine, and drunk as a nutritive stimulating beverage. Care must be taken to watch its effects, as in erethic persons it may prove intoxicating, even in small doses, by its quick absorption ; moreover, the taste of the alcohol is concealed, and its quantity may exceed the intention of the consumer unawares. 6o4 Such peptonized milk will probably prove useful in many culinary operations in which there is a risk of curdling ordinary milk. But the exact conditions of such usefulness will have to be ascertained by further inquiry. In the posset and in the (Devonshire) junket, to be described below, the milk is curdled expressly by loine, or acid, or rennet ; but in the several varieties of sillabub to be described lower down, the curdling of the milk in whole or part seems to be rather tolerated than intended or desirable. In these preparations the substitution of peptonized for unprepared milk may prove a decided advantage ; this substitution will be much easier than it is at present at a future time, when peptonized milk may perhaps be sold almost at the same price as fresh. Junkets and sillabubs are mixtures of milk variously modified with alcoholic and spicy additions. The derivations of the names can be seen in the Explanation of Culimry Terms. A junket is made by adding to a pint of new, if possible yet warm, milk some watery extract of rennet, two ounces of pounded sugar, a teaspoonful of powdered cinnamon, and a glassful of brandy ; as soon as the mixture begins to stiffen, cover its surface with clotted cream, and strew powdered sugar over it ; from this latter addition it receives the surname of Devonshire junket. The preparation is to be eaten cold. Sillabubs are made by the addition to milk (or colostrum, the first milk which a cow gives after calving), of wine, e.cj., sherry or madeira, port, cider, or brandy, spices, such as nutmeg and cinnamon, and sugar. Some collectors of i-ecipes distinguish London, Siajj'ordshire, and Somersetshire sillabub, but the localizations are not characterized by any specificity. There is also a lemon sillabub, made of a pint of cream and the zest of two, the juice of five lemons, half a pint of sweet wine and sugar, the mixture to be whipped for half an hour and put into glasses ; to stand for at least twelve hours [illustration: Junkets, Sillabubs; Varieties of Cheese 605] before being eaten. This is really a preparation of cream ; when it draws liquid it may be filtered off on muslin. A mixture of milk with cognac or rum is by Englishnaen in India called ‘ tiger’s milk.’