The best for baking are the large late ones, commonly called pound pears. Pare them, cut them in half, and take out the cores. Lay them in a deep white dish, with a thin slip of fresh lemon-peel in the place from which each core was taken. Sprinkle them with sugar, and strew some whole cloves or some powdered cinnamon-among them. Pour into the dish some port wine. To a dozen large pears you may allow half a pound of sugar, and a pint of wine. Cover the dish, with a large sheet of brown paper tied on; set it in a moderate oven, and let them bake till tender all through which you may ascertain by sticking a broom twig through them. They will he done in about an hour, or they may probably require more time; but you must not let them remain long enough in the oven, to break or fall to pieces. When cool, put them up in a stone jar. In cold weather they will keep a week. To bake smaller pears, pare them, but leave on the stems, and do not core them. Put them into a deep dish with fresh lemon, or orange-peel; throw on them some brown sugar or molasses; pour in at the bottom a little water to keep them from burning; and bake them till tender throughout.
Stir one cup of powdered white sugar and one-half cup of butter together, till perfectly light; beat the yolks of three eggs till very thick and smooth; sift three cups of flour and stir it into the beaten eggs with the butter and sugar; add a teaspoonful of mixed spice (nutmeg, mace and cinnamon) and half a glass of rose-water or wine; stir the whole well and lay it on your paste-board, which must first be sprinkled with flour; if you find it so moist as to be unmanageable, throw in a little more flour; spread the dough into a sheet about half an inch thick and cut it out in round cakes with a biscuit-cutter; lay them in buttered pans and bake about five or six minutes; when cold, spread over the surface of each cake a liquor of fruit jelly or marmalade; then beat the whites of three or four eggs till they stand alone; beat into the froth, by degrees, a sufficiency of powdered loaf sugar to make it as thick as icing; flavor with a few drops of strong essence of lemon, and with a spoon heap it up on each cake, making it high in the centre; put the cakes into a cool oven, and as soon as the tops are colored a pale brown, take them out.
These nuts are in the best state for pickling when the shell is soft, and when they are so young that the outer skin can be penetrated by the head of a pin. They should be gathered when the sun is hot upon them. If you have a large quantity, the easiest way to prepare them for pickling is to put them into a tub with sufficient lye to cover them, and to stir and rub them about with a hickory broom, till they are clean and smooth on the outside. This is much less trouble than scraping them, and is not so likely to injure the nuts. Another method is to scald them, and then to rub off the outer skin. Put the nuts into strong salt and water for nine or ten days; changing the water every other day, and keeping them closely covered from the air. Then drain and wipe them, (piercing each nut through in several places with a large needle,) and prepare the pickle as follows:--For a hundred large nuts, take of black pepper and ginger root of each an ounce; and of cloves, mace and nutmeg of each a half ounce. Pound all the spices to powder, and mix them well together, adding two large spoonfuls of mustard seed. Put the nuts into jars, (having first stuck each of them through in several places with a large needle,) strewing the powdered seasoning between every layer of nuts. Boil for five minutes a gallon of the best white wine vinegar, and pour it boiling hot upon the nuts. Secure the jars closely with corks and leathers. You may begin to eat the nuts in a fortnight. Walnuts may be pickled in the same manner.
Take six hard-boiled eggs, cut lengthwise, remove yolk and add to same: one dessertspoon of melted butter, Cayenne pepper, salt and chopped parsley. Mash this mixture very fine and refill the whites of the eggs and turn over on platter. *Sauce.*--One tablespoon of butter, one tablespoon of flour, a pinch of Cayenne pepper, salt and one pint of milk. Stir this mixture continually until it thickens; beat the yolk of one egg and pour the hot gravy over the same. Dress with chopped parsley and eat very hot. Sherry wine can be added if desired.
Take halfe a hundred of Smelts, the biggest you can get, draw them and cut off their Heads, put them into a Pipkin with a Pint of White wine, and a Pint of White wine Vinegar, an Onion shred a couple of Lemons, a Race of Ginger, three or foure blades of Mace, a Nutmeg sliced, whole Pepper, a little Salt, cover them, and let them stand twenty foure houres; if you will keep them three or four dayes, let not your Pickle be to strong of the Vinegar, when you will serve them, take them out one by one, scrape and open them as you do Anchoves, but throw away the bones, lay them close one by one, round a Silver dish, you must have the very utmost rind of a Lemon or Orange so small as grated bread and the Parsley, then mix your Lemon Pill, Orange and Parsley together with a little fine beaten Pepper, and strew this upon the dish of Smelts with the meat of a Lemon minced very small, also then power on excellent Sallet Oile, and wring in the juyce of two Lemons, but be sure none of the Lemon-seed be left in the Sallet, so serve it. To Roast a Fillet of Veal. Take a Fillet of Beefe which is the tenderest part of the Beast, and lieth only in the inward part of the Surloyne next to the Chine, cut it as big as you can, then broach it on a broach not too big, and be carefull you broach it not thorow the best of the meat, roast it leasurely and baste it with sweet butter. Set a Dish under it to save the Gravy while the Beefe is roasting, prepare the Sauce for it, chop good store of Parsley with a few sweet Herbs shred small, and the yolks of three or foure Eggs, and mince among them the pill of an Orange, and a little Onyon, then boyle this mixture, putting into it sweet butter, Vinegar, and Gravy, a spoonfull of strong broth, when it is well boyled, put it into your beef, and serve it very warm, sometimes a little grosse Pepper or Ginger into your sauce, or a pill of an Orange or Lemon.
Boil your parsnips, cut them in square long pieces about the length of your finger, dip them in egg and a little flour, and fry them a light brown; when they are fried dish them up, and grate over them a little sugar: You must have for the sauce a little white wine, butter, and sugar in a bason, and set in the middle of your dish.
The round is the best piece for potting, and you may use both the upper and under part. Take ten pounds of beef, remove all the fat, cut the lean into square pieces, two inches thick. Mix together three teaspoonfuls of salt, one of pepper, one of cloves, one of mace, one of cinnamon, one of allspice, one of thyme, and one of sweet basil. Put a layer of the pieces of beef into an earthen pot, sprinkle some of this spice mixture over this layer, add a piece of fat salt pork, cut as thin as possible, sprinkle a little of the spice mixture over the pork, make another layer of the beef with spices and pork, and so on, until the pot is filled. Pour over the whole three tablespoonfuls of Tarragon vinegar, or, if you prefer it, half a pint of Madeira wine; cover the pot with a paste made of flour and water, so that no steam can escape. Put the pot into an oven, moderately heated, and let it stand there eight hours; then set it away to use when wanted. Beef cooked in this manner will keep good for a fortnight in moderate weather. It is an excellent relish for breakfast, and may be eaten either warm or cold. When eaten warm, serve with slices of lemon.
Boil the inwards tender, chop them fine, put double quantity of grated bread, 4 ounces butter, pepper, salt, (and sweet herbs if you like) 2 eggs moulded into the stuffing, parboil 4 onions and chop them into the stuffing, add wine, and roast the bird. The above is a good stuffing for every kind of Water Fowl, which requires onion sauce.
Take about a jill of white wine and verjuice mixed, make it very hot, beat the yolk of an egg very well, and then mix them together as you would do mull'd ale; you must sweeten it very well, because there is no sugar in the pie. This caudle will do for any other sort of pie that is sweet.
Make a good gravy with one and one-half pounds of skirt of beef. With one half of the gravy make a very good purée of peas--if possible the green peas--with the other half make a good purée of tomatoes. Combine the two purées, adding pepper and salt and a dust of cayenne. For each guest add to the soup a teaspoonful of Madeira wine, beat it all well and serve quickly. Or add, instead of Madeira, one dessert-spoonful of sherry wine. This celebrated soup is honored by the name of the glorious defender of Namur. [Gabrielle Janssens.]
