Original White House Cookbook

When gathered from the vines, wash, and put in a firkin or half barrel layers of cucumbers and rock-salt alternately, enough salt to make sufiicient brine to cover them, no water; cover with a cloth; keep them under the brine with a heavy board ; take off the cloth, and rinse it every time you put in fresh cucumbers, as a scum will rise and settle upon it. Use plenty of salt and it will keep a year. To prepare pickles for use, soak in hot water, and keep in a warm place until they are fresh enough, then pour spiced vinegar over them and let them stand over night, then pour that off and put on fresh. GREEN TOMATO PICKLES. (Sweet.) One peck of green tomatoes, sliced the day before you are ready for pickling, sprinkling them through and through with salt, not too heavily; in the morning drain off the liquor that will drain from them. Have a dozen good-sized onions rather coarsely sliced; take a suitable kettle and put in a layer of the sliced tomatoes, then of onions, and between each layer sprinkle the following spices: Six red peppers chopped coarsely, one cup of sugar, one tablespoonful of ground allspice, one tablespoonful of ground cinnamon, a teaspoonful of cloves, one tablespoonful of mustard. Turn pver three pints of good vinegar, or enough to completely cover them; boil until tender. This is a choice recipe. If the flavor of onions is objectionable, the pickle is equally as good without them. GREEN TOMATO PICKLES. (Sour.) Wash and slice, without peeling, one peck of sound green tomatoes, put them into a jar in layers with a slight sprinkling of salt between. This may be done over night ; in the morning drain off the liquor that has accumulated. Have two dozen medium-sized onions peeled and sliced, also six red peppers chopped flne. Make some spiced vinegar by boiling for half an hour a quart of cider vinegar with whole spices in it. Now take a porcelain kettle and place in it some of the sliced tomatoes, then some of the sliced onions ; shake in some black pepper and some of the chopped red peppers ; pour over some of the spiced vinegar ; then repeat with the tomatoes, onions, etc., until the kettle is full ; cover with cold, pure cider vinegar and cook until tender, but not too soft. Turn into a jar well covered and set in a cool place. PICKLED MUSHROOMS. Sufficient vinegar to cover the mushrooms ; to each quart of mushrooms two blades pounded mace, one ounce ground pepper, salt to taste. Choose some nice young button mushrooms for pickling and rub off the skin with a piece of flannel and salt, and cut off the stalks ; if very large, take out the red inside, and reject the black ones, as they are too old. Put them in a stewpan, sprinkle salt over them, with pounded mace and pepper in the above proportion ; shake them well over a clear fire until the liquor flows and keep them there until it is all dried up again ; then add as much vinegar as will cover them; just let it simmer for one minute and store it away in stone jars for use. When cold, tie down with bladder and keep in a dry place ; they will remain good for a length of time, and are generally considered excellent for flavoring stews and other dishes. PICKLED CABBAGE. (Purple.)