A little butter or salad oil is strongly recommended, it prevents the escape of much of the fragrance of the berry while roasting, and becomes quite dried up before the roasting is finished. The custom in the Indian kitchen is to bake, often to over-hake, the berries and then tunny- cutch anwiah pounds them to a dull black powder as fine as flour. The result is a leaden tinted liquid, acrid in flavour, and repulsive to look upon. Having ground the coffee properly, — it should be rich in aroma, and of a beautiful pale snuff colour — the best coffee- pot to use, after all, is the percolator. Be liberal with the coffee (a table-spoonful for each person), heat the coffee-pot thoroughly, fill the upper chamber of the perco- lator according to your requirements, ram the coffee down flrml}^, and having previously measured the amount of coffee liquid you require, pour boiling water, according to that measurement, in tea-spoonfuls at a time, through the upper strainer upon the powder. The slower the water is added, the more thoroughly the coffee will become soaked, and, the dripping being retarded, the essence will be as strong as possible. As soon as the coffee has run through, pour the rich essence you have obtained into 3^our cups, and for cafe au lait fill them up with boiling milk, for cafe noir with a little boiling water. As it is scarcely possible for your servant to make coffee with all this care at the end of a dinner party, I recom- mend that the essence be made just before dinner, and kept covered up. For a party of twelve, two brews will be required. At the time it is wanted, the boiling milk imparts quite enough heat to the essence in the case of cafe au lait ; and, for black coffee, a gentle re-heating, plus the modicum of boiling water aforesaid, insures a good cup , 53 494 ON COFFEE-MAKING. only, do not forget to pass ronnd with it a flask of cognac vieil. I have confined my remarks to the method -which I have folloTved for years successfully, but there arc, of course, other ways of making good coffee. The Turkish system much praised by travellers may be thus described : — The roasting having been conducted with all the care I have already indicated, the berries arc cast into a large metal mortar, and pounded to a very fine powder. This is carefully sifted through a fine sieve, all coarse particles being rejected. As much water as is wanted is then boiled in a small copper can, having a narrow top and broad bottom. When the water boils, powdered coffee is added, off the fire, according to require- ments, and the can is replaced on the fire. The liquid is now permitted to come to the boil three times, the can after each occasion of ebullition being taken off the fire for a while. After the third boiling up, the can is placed for a minute in a shallow vessel containing cold water to precipitate the " grounds," after which the coffee clear, black, and sparkling is poured into the cup. For this 1 have to thank Colonel 11. M. The last, most worthy, recipe of all.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

A little butter or salad oil is strongly recommended, it prevents the escape of much of the fragrance of the berry while roasting, and becomes quite dried up before the roasting is finished. The custom in the Indian kitchen is to bake, often to over-hake, the berries and then then they pound them to a dull black powder as fine as flour. The result is a leaden tinted liquid, acrid in flavour, and repulsive to look upon. Having ground the coffee properly, — it should be rich in aroma, and of a beautiful pale snuff colour — the best coffee- pot to use, after all, is the percolator. Be liberal with the coffee (a table-spoonful for each person), heat the coffee-pot thoroughly, fill the upper chamber of the percolator according to your requirements, ram the coffee down firmly, and having previously measured the amount of coffee liquid you require, pour boiling water, according to that measurement, in tea-spoonfuls at a time, through the upper strainer upon the powder. The slower the water is added, the more thoroughly the coffee will become soaked, and, the dripping being retarded, the essence will be as strong as possible. As soon as the coffee has run through, pour the rich essence you have obtained into 3^our cups, and for cafe au lait fill them up with boiling milk, for cafe noir with a little boiling water. As it is scarcely possible for your servant to make coffee with all this care at the end of a dinner party, I recommend that the essence be made just before dinner, and kept covered up. For a party of twelve, two brews will be required. At the time it is wanted, the boiling milk imparts quite enough heat to the essence in the case of cafe au lait ; and, for black coffee, a gentle re-heating, plus the modicum of boiling water aforesaid, insures a good cup , ON COFFEE-MAKING. only, do not forget to pass ronnd with it a flask of cognac vieil. I have confined my remarks to the method -which I have followed for years successfully, but there arc, of course, other ways of making good coffee. The Turkish system much praised by travellers may be thus described : — The roasting having been conducted with all the care I have already indicated, the berries arc cast into a large metal mortar, and pounded to a very fine powder. This is carefully sifted through a fine sieve, all coarse particles being rejected. As much water as is wanted is then boiled in a small copper can, having a narrow top and broad bottom. When the water boils, powdered coffee is added, off the fire, according to requirements, and the can is replaced on the fire. The liquid is now permitted to come to the boil three times, the can after each occasion of ebullition being taken off the fire for a while. After the third boiling up, the can is placed for a minute in a shallow vessel containing cold water to precipitate the " grounds," after which the coffee clear, black, and sparkling is poured into the cup. For this 1 have to thank Colonel 11. M. The last, most worthy, recipe of all.

Culinary jottings