The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c

HEERING’S P. F. CHERRY BRANDY. —See Cherry Brandt. HENDERSON’S PATENT OPENERS.— See Knives. HERBACEOUS MIXTURE.— Aromatic flavouring herbs are now to be obtained ready mixed in bottles, and are a great convenience to cooks, as the home manufacture of these flavouring herbs is very troublesome. Herbaceous mixture is possessed of a strong aromatic smell, and is used for making forcemeats, and also to impart a gamey flavour to various kinds of dishes, such as lark pudding, game pie, hashed venison, etc. One very common purpose to which these herbs are applied is for making liver forcemeat. Calves’ liver is cut up and fried, with an equal quantity of ham and a small quantity of mushrooms ; a head or two of garlic or an onion can be fried with it, and the whole then nibbed through a wire sieve. To this is added a small quantity of herbaceous mixture. This forcemeat is admirably adapted for all kinds of game pies. A very good imitation game pie can be made by using this forcemeat with some rabbit or chicken. In making these pies it is always desirable to have some good strong stock added to it, which stock should be a hard jelly when it is cold. The stock should be poured in after the pie is baked, so that when the pie is cut there will be a jelly touching the crust. In order to do this the jelly must be poured in very gently when it is very nearly cold, and just on the point of setting. In hot weather any kind of game pie, or indeed any pie that contains jelly, should be kept in a cold place till it is required for use. In hot weather the jelly is apt to run, and this gives the pie when cut a very uninviting appearance. A very small quantity of herbaceous mixture may be added to meat puddings and meat pies, but the cook should be careful not to put in too \ much, as it is apt to impart a peculiar | flavour suggestive of the meat having ' been kept too long if used in anything like excess. For instance, for a goodj sized meat pie, a pinch of herbaceous i mixture, about half of what would cover a threepenny-piece, would be ample. One important point in keeping these herbs is to see that the bottle is always very carefully corked down. I would recommend housekeepers, > when it is possible, to get a glass-stoppered bottle, and keep the herbs in this bottle, and to place over the stopper an indiarubber cap. By this means the herbaceous mixture will retain its flavour for years. If, however, it is kept in a bottle with an ordinary cork, and especially if the bottle be carelessly corked, it will gradually get weaker and weaker, and after a long time be almost useless. When the mixture has been kept in a bottle with an ordinary cork, after some time cooks will find that they will have to add more, owing to a good deal of the strength having evaporated. The bottle should always be so corked down that when you smell the bottle outside you cannot detect any aroma. If you can detect any aroma it is a sure sign the herbaceous mixture is gradually getting weaker and weaker.