Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesLeslie, Eliza
General
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches
Leslie, Eliza
Cooking, American
Pare a fine ripe pumpkin, and cut it into pieces. Put them into a
kettle with a large handful of hops, and as much water as will cover
them. Boil them till the pumpkin is soft enough to pass through a
cullender. Having done this, put the pulp into a stone jar, adding half
a pint of good strong yeast to set it into a fermentation. The yeast
must be well stirred into the pumpkin. Leave the jar uncovered till
next day; then secure it lightly with a cork. If pumpkin yeast is well
made, and of a proper consistence, neither too thick nor too thin, it
will keep longer than any other.
BAKER’S YEAST.
To a gallon of soft water put two quarts of wheat bran, one quart of
ground malt, (which may be obtained from a brewery,) and two handfuls
of hops. Boil them together for half an hour. Then strain it through a
sieve, and let it stand till it is cold; after which put to it two
large tea-cups of molasses, and half a pint of strong yeast. Pour it
into a stone jug, and let it stand uncorked till next morning. Then
pour off the thin liquid from the top, and cork the jug tightly. When
you are going to use the yeast, if it has been made two or three days,
stir in a little pearl-ash dissolved in warm water, allowing a lump the
size of a hickory-nut to a pint of yeast. This will correct any
tendency to sourness, and make the yeast more brisk.
TO MAKE BUTTER.
Scald your milk pans every day after washing them; and let them set
till the water gets cold. Then wipe them with a clean cloth. Fill them
all with cold water half an hour before milking time, and do not pour
it out till the moment before you are ready to use the pans. Unless all
the utensils are kept perfectly sweet and nice, the cream and butter
will never be good. Empty milk-pans should stand all day in the sun.
When you have strained the milk into the pans, (which should be broad
and shallow,) place them in the spring-house, setting them down in the
water. After the milk has stood twenty-four hours, skim off the cream,
and deposits it in a large deep earthen jar, commonly called a crock,
which must be kept closely covered, and stirred up with a stick at
least twice a day, and whenever you add fresh cream to it. This
stirring is to prevent the butter from being injured by the skin that
will gather over the top of the cream.
You should churn at least twice a week, for if the cream is allowed to
stand too long, the butter will inevitably have a odd taste. Add to the
cream the strippings of the milk. Butter of only two or three days
gathering is the best. With four or five good cows, you may easily
manage to have a churning every three days. If your dairy is on a large
scale, churn every two days.
Have your churn very clean, and rinse and cool it with cold water. A
barrel churn is best; though a small upright one, worked by a staff or
dash, will do very well where there are but one or two cows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account