Francis Hindes Groome - "Two Suffolk Friends"

George Otto Trevelyan - "Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay"

Nell Speed - "Molly Brown's Orchard Home"

Bernard Mandeville - "An Enquiry into the Origin of Honour, and the Usefulness of Christianity in War"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches

E >> Eliza Leslie >> Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches




Pour the buttermilk into a clean crock, and place it in the
spring-house, with a saucer to dip it out with. Keep the pot
covered. The buttermilk will be excellent the first day; but
afterwards it will become too thick and sour. Winter buttermilk is
never very palatable.

Before you put away the churn, wash and scald it well; and the day
that you use it again, keep it for an hour or more filled with
cold water.

In cold weather, churning is a much more tedious process than in
summer, as the butter will be longer coming. It is best then to
have the churn in a warm room, or near the fire. If you wish to
prepare the butter for keeping a long time, take it after it has
been thoroughly well made, and pack it down tightly into a large
jar. You need not in working it, add more salt than if the butter
was to be eaten immediately. But preserve it by making a brine of
fine salt, dissolved in water. The brine must be strong enough to
bear up an egg on the surface without sinking. Strain the brine
into the jar, so as to be about two inches above the butter. Keep
the jar closely covered, and set it in a cool place.

When you want any of the butter for use, take it off evenly from
the top; so that the brine may continue to cover it at a regular
depth.

This receipt for making butter is according to the method in use
at the best farm-houses in Pennsylvania, and if exactly followed
will be found very good. The badness of butter is generally owing
to carelessness or mismanagement; to keeping the cream too long
without churning; to want of cleanliness in the utensils; to not
taking the trouble to work it sufficiently; or to the practice of
salting it so profusely as to render it unpleasant to the taste,
and unfit for cakes or pastry. All these causes of bad butter are
inexcusable, and can easily be avoided. Unless the cows have been
allowed to feed where there are bitter weeds or garlic, the milk
cannot naturally have any disagreeable taste, and therefore the
fault of the butter must be the fault of the maker. Of course, the
cream is much richer where the pasture is fine and luxuriant; and
in winter, when the cows have only dry food, the butter must be
consequently whiter and more insipid than in the grazing season.
Still, if properly made, even winter butter cannot taste badly.

Many economical housekeepers always buy for cooking, butter of
inferior quality. This is a foolish practice; as when it is bad,
the taste will predominate through all attempts to disguise it,
and render every thing unpalatable with which it is combined. As
the use of butter is designed to improve and not to spoil the
flavour of cookery, it is better to omit it altogether, and to
substitute something else, unless you can procure that which is
good. Lard, suet, beef-drippings, and sweet oil, may be used in
the preparation of various dishes; and to eat with bread or warm
cakes, honey, molasses, or stewed fruit, &c, are far superior to
bad butter.


CHEESE.

In making good cheese, skim milk is never used. The milk should either
be warm from the cow or heated to that temperature over the fire.
When the rennet is put in, the heat of the milk should be from 90
to 96 degrees. Three quarts of milk will yield, on an average, about
a pound of cheese. In infusing the rennet, allow a quart of lukewarm
water, and a table-spoonful of salt to a piece about half the size
of your hand. The rennet must soak all night in the water before
it can be fit for use. In the morning (after taking as much of it
as you want) put the rennet water into a bottle and cork it
tightly. It will keep the better for adding to it a wine glass of
brandy. If too large a proportion of rennet is mixed with the
milk, the cheese will be tough and leathery.

To make a very good cheese, take three buckets of milk warm from
the cow, and strain it immediately into a large tub or kettle.
Stir into it half a tea-cupful of infusion of rennet or rennet-water;
and having covered it, set it in a warm place for about
half an hour, or till it becomes a firm curd. Cut the curd into
squares with a large knife, or rather with a wooden slitting-dish,
and let it stand about fifteen minutes. Then break it up fine with
your hands, and let it stand a quarter of an hour longer. Then
pour off from the top as much of the whey as you can; tie up the
curd in a linen cloth or bag, and hang it up to drain out the
remainder of the whey; setting a pan under it to catch the
droppings. After all the whey is drained out, put the curd into
the cheese-tray, and cut it again into slices; chop it coarse; put
a cloth about it; place it in the cheese-hoop or mould, and set it
in the screw press for half an hour, pressing it hard. [Footnote:
If you are making cheese on a small scale, and have not a regular
press, put the curd (after you have wrapped it in a cloth) into a
small circular wooden box or tub with numerous holes bored in the
bottom; and with a lid that fits the inside exactly. Lay heavy
weights on the lid in such a manner as to press evenly all over.]
Then take it out; chop the curd very fine; add salt to your taste;
and put it again into the cheese-hoop with a cloth about it, and
press it again. You must always wet the cloth all over to prevent
its sticking to the cheese, and tearing the surface. Let it remain
in the press till next morning, when you must take it out and turn
it; then wrap it in a clean wet cloth, and replace it in the
press, where it must remain all day. On the following morning
again take out the cheese; turn it, renew the cloth, and put it
again into the press. Three days pressing will be sufficient.

When you finally take it out of the press, grease the cheese all
over with lard, and put it on a clean shelf in a dry dark room, or
in a wire safe. Wipe, grease, and turn it carefully every day. If
you omit this a single day the cheese will spoil. Keep the shelf
perfectly clean, and see that the cheese does not stick to it.
When the cheese becomes firm, you may omit the greasing; but
continue to rub it all over every day with a clean dry cloth.
Continue this for five or sis weeks; the cheese will then be fit
to eat.

The best time for making cheese is when the pasture is in
perfection.

You may enrich the colour of the cheese by a little anatto or
arnotta; of which procure a small quantity from the druggist,
powder it, tie it in a muslin rag, and hold it in the warm milk,
(after it is strained,) pressing out the colouring matter with
your fingers, as laundresses press their indigo or blue rag in the
tub of water. Anatto is perfectly harmless.

After they begin to dry, (or ripen, as it is called,) it is the
custom in some dairy-farms, to place the cheeses in the haystack,
and keep them there among the hay for five or six weeks. This is
said greatly to improve their consistence and flavour. Cheeses are
sometimes ripened by putting them every day in fresh grass.


SAGE CHEESE.

Take some of the young top leaves of the sage plant, and pound
them in a mortar till you have extracted the juice. Put the juice
into a bowl, wipe out the mortar, put in some spinach leaves, and
pound them till you have an equal quantity of spinach juice. Mix
the two juices together, and stir them into the warm milk
immediately after you have put in the rennet. You may use sage
juice alone; but the spinach will greatly improve the colour;
besides correcting the bitterness of the sage.


STILTON CHEESE.

Having strained the morning's milk, and skimmed the cream from the
milk of the preceding evening, mix the cream and the new milk
together while the latter is quite warm, and stir in the rennet-water.
When the curd has formed, you must not break it up, (as is
done with other cheese,) but take it out all at once with a wooden
skimming dish, and place it on a sieve to drain gradually. While
it is draining, keep pressing it gently till it becomes firm and
dry. Then lay a clean cloth at the bottom of a wooden cheese-hoop
or mould, which should have a few small holes bored in the bottom.
The cloth must be large enough for the end to turn over the top
again, after the curd is put in. Place it in the press for two
hours; turn it, (putting a clean cloth under it,) and press it
again for six or eight hours. Then turn it again, rub the cheese
all over with salt, and return it to the press for fourteen hours.
Should the edges of the cheese project, they must be pared off.

When you take it finally out of the press, bind it round tightly
with a cloth, (which must be changed every day when you turn the
cheese,) and set it on a shelf or board. Continue the cloths till
the cheese is firm enough to support itself; rubbing or brushing
the outside every day when you turn it. After the cloths are left
off, continue to brush the cheese every day for two or three
months; during which time it may be improved by keeping it covered
all round, under and over, with grass, which must be renewed every
day, and gathered when quite dry after the dew is off. Keep the
cheese and the grass between two large plates.

A Stilton cheese is generally made of a small size, seldom larger
in circumference than a dinner plate, and about four or five
inches thick. They are usually put up for keeping, in cases of
sheet lead, fitting them exactly. There is no cheese superior to
them in richness and mildness.

Cream cheeses (as they are generally called) may be made in this
manner. They are always eaten quite fresh, while the inside is
still somewhat soft. They are made small, and are sent to table
whole, cut across into triangular slices like a pie or cake. After
they become fit to eat, they will keep good but a day or two, but
they are considered while fresh very delicious.


COTTAGE CHEESE.

This is that preparation of milk vulgarly called Smear Case. Take
a pan of milk that has just began to turn sour; cover it, and set
it by the fire till it becomes a curd. Pour off the whey from the
top, and tie up the curd in a pointed linen bag, and hang it up to
drain; setting something under it to catch the droppings. Do not
squeeze it. Let it drain all night, and in the morning put the
curd into a pan, (adding some rich cream,) and work it very fine
with a spoon, chopping and pressing it till about the consistence
of a soft bread pudding. To a soup plate of the fine curd put a
tea-spoonful of salt; and a piece of butter about the size of a
walnut; mixing all thoroughly together. Having prepared the whole
in this manner, put it into a stone or china vessel; cover it
closely, and set it in a cold place till tea time. You may make it
of milk that is entirely sweet by forming the curd with rennet.


A WELSH RABBIT.

Toast some slices of bread, (having cut off the crust,) butter
them, and keep them hot. Grate or shave down with a knife some
fine mellow cheese: and, if it is not very rich, mix with it a few
small bits of butter. Put it into a cheese-toaster, or into a
skillet, and add to it a tea-spoonful of made mustard; a little
cayenne pepper; and if you choose, a wine glass of fresh porter or
of red wine. Stir the mixture over hot coals, till it is
completely dissolved; and then brown it by holding over it a
salamander, or a red-hot shovel. Lay the toast in the bottom and
round the sides of a deep dish; put the melted cheese upon it, and
serve it up as hot as possible, with dry toast in a separate
plate; and accompanied by porter or ale.

This preparation of cheese is for a plain supper.

Dry cheese is frequently grated on little plates for the tea-table.


TO MAKE CHOCOLATE

To each square of a chocolate cake allow three jills, or a
chocolate cup and a half of boiling water. Scrape down the
chocolate with a knife, and mix it first to a paste with a small
quantity of the hot water; just enough to melt it in. Then put it
into a block tin pot with the remainder of the water; set it on
hot coals; cover it, and let it boil (stirring it twice) till the
liquid is one third reduced. Supply that third with cream or rich
milk; stir it again, and take it off the fire. Serve it up as hot
as possible, with dry toast, or dry rusk. It chills immediately.
If you wish it frothed, pour it into the cup, and twirl round in
it the little wooden instrument called a chocolate mill, till you
nave covered the top with foam.


TO MAKE TEA.

In buying tea, it is best to get it by the box, of an importer,
that you may be sure of having it fresh, and unmixed with any that
is old and of inferior quality. The box should be kept in a very
dry place. If green tea is good, it will look green in the cup
when poured out. Black tea should be dark coloured and have a
fragrant flowery smell. The best pots for making tea are those of
china. Metal and Wedgwood tea-pots by frequent use will often
communicate a disagreeable taste to the tea. This disadvantage may
be remedied in Wedgwood ware, by occasionally boiling the tea-pots
in a vessel of hot water.

In preparing to make tea, let the pot be twice scalded from the
tea-kettle, which must be boiling hard at the moment the water is
poured on the tea; otherwise it will be weak and insipid, even
when a large quantity is put in. The best way is to have a chafing
dish, with a kettle always boiling on it, in the room where the
tea is made. It is a good rule to allow two tea-spoonfuls of tea
to half a pint or a large cupful of water, or two tea-spoonfuls
for each grown person that is to drink tea, and one spoonful
extra. The pot being twice scalded, put in the tea, and pour on
the water about ten minutes before you want to fill the cups, that
it may have time to draw or infuse. Have hot water in another pot,
to weaken the cups of those that like it so. That the second
course of cups may be as strong as the first, put some tea into a
cup just before you sit down to table, pour on it a very little
boiling water, (just enough to cover it,) set a saucer over it to
keep in the steam, and let it infuse till you have filled all the
first cups; then add it to that already in the tea-pot, and pour
in a little boiling water from the kettle. Except that it is less
convenient for a large family, a kettle on a chafing dish is
better than an urn, as the water may be kept longer boiling.

In making black tea, use a larger quantity than of green, as it is
of a much weaker nature. The best black teas in general use are
pekoe and pouchong; the best green teas are imperial, young hyson,
and gunpowder.


TO MAKE COFFEE.

The manner in which coffee is roasted is of great importance to
its flavour. If roasted too little, it will be weak and insipid;
if too much, the taste will be bitter and unpleasant. To have it
very good, it should be roasted immediately before it is made,
doing no more than the quantity you want at that time. It loses
much of its strength by keeping, even in twenty-four hours after
roasting. It should on no consideration be ground till directly
before it is made. Every family should be provided with a coffee
roaster, which is an iron cylinder to stand before the fire, and
is either turned by a handle, or wound up like a jack to go of
itself. If roasted in an open pot or pan, much of the flavour
evaporates in the process. Before the coffee is put into the
roaster, it should be carefully examined and picked, lest there
should be stones or bad grains among it. It should be roasted of a
bright brown; and will be improved by putting among it a piece of
butter when about half done.

Watch it carefully while roasting, looking at it frequently.

A coffee-mill affixed to the wall is far more convenient than one
that must he held on the lap. It is best to grind the coffee while
warm.

Allow half a pint of ground coffee to three pints of water. If the
coffee is not freshly roasted, you should put in more. Put the
water into the tin coffee-pot, and set it on hot coals; when it
boils, put in the coffee, a spoonful at a time, (stirring it
between each spoonful,) and add two or three chips of isinglass,
or the white of an egg. Stir it frequently, till it has risen up
to the top in boiling; then set it a little farther from the fire,
and boil it gently for ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour; after
which pour in a tea-cup of cold water, and put it in the corner to
settle for ten minutes. Scald your silver or china pot, and
transfer the coffee to it; carefully pouring it off from the
grounds, so as not to disturb them.

If coffee is allowed to boil too long, it will lose much of its
strength, and also become sour.


FRENCH COFFEE.

To make coffee without boiling, you must have a biggin, the best
sort of which is what in France is called a Grecque. They are to
be had of various sizes and prices at the tin stores. Coffee made
in this manner is much less troublesome than when boiled, and
requires no white of egg or isinglass to clear it. The coffee
should be freshly roasted and ground. Allow two cupfuls of ground
coffee to sis cupfuls of boiling water. Having first scalded the
biggin, (which should have strainers of perforated tin, and not of
linen,) put in the coffee, and pour on the water, which should be
boiling hard at the time. Shut down the lid, place the pot near
the fire, and the coffee will be ready as soon as it has all
drained through the coarse and fine strainers into the receiver
below the spout. Scald your china or silver pot, and pour the
coffee into it. But it is best to have a biggin in the form of an
urn, in which the coffee can both be made and brought to table.

For what is called milk coffee,--boil the milk or cream
separately; bring it to table in a covered vessel, and pour it hot
into the coffee, the flavour of which will be impaired if the milk
is boiled with it.




DOMESTIC LIQUORS ETC.


SPRUCE BEER

Put into a large kettle, ten gallons of water, a quarter of a
pound of hops, and a tea-cupful of ginger. Boil them together till
all the hops sink to the bottom. Then dip out a bucket full of the
liquor, and stir into it six quarts of molasses, and three ounces
and a half of the essence of spruce. When all is dissolved, mix it
with the liquor in the kettle; strain it through a hair sieve into
a cask; and stir well into it half a pint of good strong yeast.
Let it ferment a day or two; then bung up the cask, and you may
bottle the beer the next day. It will be fit for use in a week.

For the essence of spruce, you may substitute two pounds of the
outer sprigs of the spruce fir, boiled ten minutes in the liquor.

To make spruce beer for present use, and in a smaller quantity,
boil a handful of hops in two gallons and a half of water, till
they fall to the bottom, Then strain the water, and when it is
lukewarm, stir into it a table-spoonful of ground white ginger; a
pint of molasses; a table-spoonful of essence of spruce; and half
a pint of yeast. Mix the whole well together in a stone jug, and
let it ferment for a day and a half, or two days. Then put it into
bottles, with three or four raisins in the bottom of each, to
prevent any further fermentation. It will then be fit for
immediate use.


GINGER BEER.

Break up a pound and a half of loaf-sugar, and mix with it three
ounces of strong white ginger, and the grated peel of two lemons.
Put these ingredients into a large stone jar, and pour over them
two gallons of boiling water. When it becomes milk-warm strain it,
and add the juice of the lemons and two large table-spoonfuls of
strong yeast. Make this beer in the evening and let it stand all
night. Next morning bottle it in little half pint stone bottles,
tying down the corks with twine.


MOLASSES BEER.

To six quarts of water, add two quarts of West India molasses;
half a pint of the best brewer's yeast; two table-spoonfuls of
ground ginger; and one table-spoonful of cream of tartar. Stir all
together. Let it stand twelve hours, and then bottle it, putting
three or four raisins into each bottle.

It will be much improved by substituting the juice and grated peel
of a large lemon, for one of the spoonfuls of ginger.

Molasses beer keeps good but two or three days.


SASSAFRAS BEER.

Have ready two gallons of soft water; one quart of wheat bran; a
large handful of dried apples; half a pint of molasses; a small
handful of hops; half a pint of strong fresh yeast, and a piece of
sassafras root the size of an egg.

Put all the ingredients (except the molasses and yeast) at once
into a large kettle. Boil it till the apples are quite soft. Put
the molasses into a small clean tub or a large pan. Set a hair
sieve over the vessel, and strain the mixture through it. Let it
stand till it becomes only milk-warm, and then stir in the yeast.
Put the liquor immediately into the keg or jugs, and let it stand
uncorked to ferment. Fill the jugs quite full, that the liquor in
fermenting may run over. Set them in a large tub. When you see
that the fermentation or working has subsided, cork it, and it
will be fit for use next day.

Two large table-spoonfuls of ginger stirred into the molasses will
be found an improvement.

If the yeast is stirred in while the liquor is too warm, it will
be likely to turn sour.

If the liquor is not put immediately into the jugs, it will not
ferment well.

Keep it in a cold place. It will not in warm weather be good more
than two days. It is only made for present use.


GOOSEBERRY WINE.

Allow three gallons of soft water (measured after it has boiled an
hour) to six gallons of gooseberries, which must be full ripe. Top
and tail the gooseberries; put them, a few at a time, into a
wooden dish, and with a rolling-pin or beetle break and mash every
one; transferring them, as they are done, into a large stone jar.
Pour the boiling water upon the mashed gooseberries; cover the
jar, and let them stand twelve hours. Then strain and measure the
juice, and to each quart allow three-quarters of a pound of loaf-sugar;
mix it with the liquid, and let it stand eight or nine
hours to dissolve, stirring it several times.

Then pour it into a keg of proper size for containing it, and let
it ferment at the bung-hole; filling it up as it works out with
some of the liquor reserved for that purpose. As soon as it ceases
to hiss, stop it close with a cloth wrapped round the bung. A pint
of white brandy for every gallon of the gooseberry wine may be
added on bunging it up. At the end of four or five months it will
probably be fine enough to bottle off. It is best to bottle it in
cold frosty weather. You may refine it by allowing to every gallon
of wine the whites of two eggs, beaten to a froth, with a very
small tea-spoonful of salt. When the white of egg, &c, is a stiff
froth, take out a quart of the wine, and mix them well together.
Then pour it into the cask, and in a few days it will be fine and
clear. You may begin to use it any time after it is bottled. Put
two or three raisins in the bottom of each bottle. They will tend
to keep the wine from any farther fermentation.

Fine gooseberry wine has frequently passed for champagne. Keep the
bottles in saw-dust, lying on their sides.


CURRANT WINE.

Take four gallons of ripe currants; strip them from the stalks
into a great stone jar that has a cover to it, and mash them with
a long thick stick. Let them stand twenty-four hours; then put the
currants into a large linen bag; wash out the jar, set it under
the bag, and squeeze the juice into it. Boil together two gallons
and a half of water, and five pounds and a half of the best loaf-sugar,
skimming it well. When the scum ceases to rise, mix the
syrup with the currant juice. Let it stand a fortnight or three
weeks to settle; and then transfer it to another vessel, taking
care not to disturb the lees or dregs. If it is not quite clear
and bright, refine it by mixing with a quart of the wine, (taken
out for the purpose,) the whites of two eggs beaten to a stiff
froth, and half an ounce of cream of tartar. Pour this gradually
into the vessel. Let it stand ten days, and then bottle it off.
Place the bottles in saw-dust, laying them on their sides. Take
care that the saw-dust is not from pine wood. The wine will be fit
to drink in a year, but is better when three or four years old.

You may add a little brandy to it when you make it; allowing a
quart of brandy to six gallons of wine.


RASPBERRY WINE.

Put four gallons of ripe raspberries into a stone jar, and mash
them with a round stick. Take four gallons of soft water,
(measured after it has boiled an hour,) and strain it warm over
the raspberries. Stir it well and let it stand twelve hours. Then
strain it through a bag, and to every gallon of liquor put three
pounds of loaf-sugar. Set it over a clear fire, and boil and skim
it till the scum ceases to rise. When it is cold bottle it. Open
the bottles every day for a fortnight, closing them again in a few
minutes. Then seal the corks, and lay the bottles on their sides
in saw-dust, which must not be from pine wood.


ELDERBERRY WINE.

Gather the elderberries when quite ripe; put them into a stone
jar, mash them with a round stick, and set them in a warm oven, or
in a large kettle of boiling water till the jar is hot through,
and the berries begin to simmer. Then take them out, and press and
strain them through a sieve. To every quart of juice allow a pound
of Havanna or Lisbon sugar, and two quarts of cold soft water. Put
the sugar into a large kettle, pour the juice over it, and, when
it has dissolved, stir in the water. Set the kettle over the fire,
an& boil and skim it till the scum ceases to rise. To four gallons
of the liquor add a pint and a half of brandy. Put it into a keg,
and let it stand with the bung put in loosely for four or five
days, by which time it will have ceased to ferment. Then stop it
closely, plastering the bung with clay. At the end of six months,
draw off a little of it; and if it is not quite clear and bright,
refine it with the whites and shells of three or four eggs, beaten
to a stiff froth and stirred into a quart of the wine, taken out
for the purpose and then returned to the cask; or you may refine
it with an ounce or more of dissolved isinglass. Let it stand a
week or two, and then bottle it.

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