Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Hawthorn Liquor (for seasoning puddings and sweet dishes). — Fill a wide-mouthed bottle with blossoms of the white hawthorn, which have been gathered on a dry day. Shake them together, but do not press them down. Fill the bottle with good brandy, let the hawthorn infuse for three months, then strain off the liquor, pour it into small bottles, and cork securely. Half a tea-spoonful of hawthorn liquor will flavour a pint of custard. Hazel-nut Cakes. — Mince two ounces of hazel-nuts and half an ounce of sweet almonds very finely. Add three ounces of pounded and sifted sugar, the white of an egg, beaten to a firm froth, and as much flour as will bind them together. Roll the paste out till it is a quarter of an inch thick, stamp it out in small round cakes, place these on well-buttered tins, and bake in a slow oven. Time, twenty minutes to bake. Probable cost, 4d. Sufficient for six or eight cakes. Heart, Bullock's. — Wash the heart in several waters, clean the blood carefully from the pipes, and put it to soak in vinegar and water for five or six hours. Drain it, and fill it either with hare forcemeat or sage-and-onion etufling. Fasten it securely, tie it in a cloth, put it into a pan of boiling water, and let it simmer gently for two hours. Take off the cloth, and roast the heart while hot, basting it plentifully, with good di'ipping for two houi's longer. Serve with good brown gravy and currant jelly, if veal forcemeat has been used, and apply jelly if the heart has been stuffed with sago and onions. The stewing may be omitted, and the heart simply roasted for three or four hours, but the flesh will not then be so tender. Probable cost of heart, 2s. 6d. Sufficient for six or seven persons. Heart. Bullock's, Hashed-— Take the remains of a bullock's heart, and cut it into neat slices. Put half a pint of good gravy, that which was served with the heart will answer excellently ; mix with it a quarter of a pint of port, claret, or ale, and thicken it with a little flour, mixed smoothly in a small quantity of water. Let it boil for a few minutes, then dissolve a table-spoonful of red currant jelly in it, put in the slices of heart, and, when these are heated through, serve immediately, with toasted sippets to garnish the dish. The gravy must not boil after the slices of heart are added. Time, half an hour. Probable cost, exclusive of the cold meat and wine, 3d. Sufficient for three or four persons. Heart, Bullock's, Stewed.— Prepare a heart as in the last recipe. Soak it in vinegar and water, fill it with hare forcemeat, and put it in a saucepan, the broad end uppermost, and with it a sliced turnip and carrot, an onion stuck with four cloves, half a tea-spoonful of bruised celery-seed, tied in muslin, two teaspoonfuls of salt, one tea-spoonful of moist sugar, and a quarter of a tea-spoonful of cayenne. Pour over the heart a pint of good stock, or, failing this, water, and half a pint of beer. Cover the pan closely, and when the liquid has once boiled, draw it a little to the side, and simmer gently for five hours. Send the gravy in which it was stewed to table with it. Probable cost of heart, 2s. 6d. Sufficient for six or seven persons.