Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesLeslie, Eliza
General
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Leslie, Eliza
Cooking, American
The large Spanish chestnuts are the best for roasting. Cut a slit in
the shell of every one to prevent their bursting when hot. Put them
into a pan, and set them over a charcoal furnace till they are
thoroughly roasted; stirring them up frequently and taking care hot to
let them burn. When they are done, peel off the shells, and send the
chestnuts to table wrapped up in a napkin to keep them warm.
Chestnuts should always be roasted or boiled before they are eaten.
GROUND-NUTS.
These nuts are never eaten raw. Put them, with their shells on, into an
iron pan, and set them in an oven; or you may do them in a skillet on
hot coals. A large quantity may be roasted in an iron pot over the
fire. Stir them frequently, taking one out from time to time, and
breaking it to try if they are done.
EGGS, ETC.
TO KEEP EGGS.
There is no infallible mode of ascertaining the freshness of an egg
before you break it, but unless an egg is perfectly good, it is unfit
for any purpose whatever, and will spoil whatever it is mixed with. You
may judge with tolerable accuracy of the state of an egg by holding it
against the sun or the candle, and if the yolk, as you see it through
the shell, appears round, and the white thin and clear, it is most
probably a good one; but if the yolk looks broken, and the white thick
and cloudy, the egg is certainly bad. You may try the freshness of eggs
by putting them into a pan of cold water. Those that sink the soonest
are the freshest; those that are stale or addled will float on the
surface.
There are various ways of preserving eggs. To keep them merely for
plain boiling, you may parboil them for one minute, and then bury them
in powdered charcoal with their small ends downward. They will keep a
few days in ajar of salt; but do not afterwards use the salt in which
they have been immersed.
They are frequently preserved for two or three months by greasing them
all over, when quite fresh, with melted mutton suet, and then wedging
them close together (the small end downwards) in a box of bran, layer
above layer; the box must be closely covered.
Another way (and a very good one) is to put some lime in a large
vessel, and slack it with boiling water, till it is of the consistence
of thin cream; you may allow a gallon of water to a pound of lime. When
it is cold, pour it off into a large stone jar, put in the eggs, and
cover the jar closely. See that the eggs are always well covered with
the lime-water, and lest they should break, avoid moving the jar. If
you have hens of your own, keep a jar of lime-water always ready, and
put in the eggs as they are brought in from the nests. Jars that hold
about six quarts are the most convenient.
It will be well to renew the lime-water occasionally.
TO BOIL EGGS FOR BREAKFAST.
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