the white part of the root and stalks of fine fresh celery cut into slices, and pour on it a pint of boiling vinegar; when a little cool, cork it down, and in three weeks it will be ready to strain, and to bottle for keeping. Half an ounce of bruised celery-seed will answer the same purpose, when the root cannot be obtained. This is an agreeable addition to a salad, when its flavour is much liked: a half-teaspoonful of salt should be boiled in it.

ESCHALOT, OR GARLIC VINEGAR.

On from four to six ounces of eschalots, or on two of garlic, peeled and bruised, pour a quart of the best vinegar; stop the jar or bottle close, and in a fortnight or three weeks the vinegar may be strained off for use: a few drops will give a sufficient flavour to a sauce, or to a tureen of gravy.

Eschalots, 4 to 6 ozs. ; or, garlic, 2 to 4 ozs. ; vinegar, 1 quart: 15 to 21 days.

Obs.-These roots may be used in smaller or in larger proportion, as a slighter or a stronger flavour of them is desired, and may remain longer in the vinegar without any detriment to it.

ESCHALOT WINE.

This is a far more useful preparation even than the preceding one, since it can be used to impart the flavour of the eschalot to dishes for which acid is not required. Peel and slice, or bruise, four ounces of eschalots, put them into a bottle, and add to them a pint of sherry; in a fortnight pour off the wine, and should it not be strongly flavoured with the eschalots, steep in it two ounces more, for another fortnight; a half-teaspoonful of cayenne may be added at first. The bottle should be shaken occasionally, while the eschalots are infusing, but should remain undisturbed for the last two or three days, that the wine may be clear when it is poured off to bottle for keeping. Sweetbasil wine is made by steeping the fresh leaves of the herb in wine, from ten to fifteen days.

Eschalots, 4 ozs.; sherry 1 pint: 15 days, or more.

HORSERADISH VINEGAR.

On four ounces of young and freshly-scraped horseradish pour a quart of boiling vinegar, and cover it down closely: it will be ready for use in three or four days, but may remain for weeks, or months, before the vinegar is poured off. An ounce

of minced eschalot may be substituted for one of the horseradish, if the flavour be liked.

CAYENNE VINEGAR.

Put from a quarter to half an ounce of the best cayenne pepper into a bottle, and pour on it a pint of pale vinegar. Cork it closely, and shake it well every two or three days. It may remain any length of time before it is poured off, but will very soon be ready for use. From being so extremely pungent, it is, for some purposes, preferable to Chili vinegar, as the cayenne seasoning can be given with less of acid. It may be made of any degree of strength. We warn the young housekeeper against using essence of cayenne (or cayenne steeped in brandy) for flavouring any dishes, as the brandy is very perceptible always, and gives an exceedingly coarse taste.

Good cayenne pepper, to oz. ; vinegar, 1 pint: infuse from 2 weeks to 12 months.

LEMON BRANDY.

(For flavouring sweet dishes.)

Fill any sized wide-necked bottle lightly with the very thin rinds of fresh lemons, and cover them with good brandy; let them remain three weeks, then strain off the spirit and keep it well corked for use: a few apricot kernels blanched and infused with the lemon-rind will give an agreeable flavour.

ANOTHER STORE-FLAVOURING FOR PUDDINGS OR CAKES.

Rasp on from two to four ounces of sugar the rinds of a couple of fine lemons, reduce the lumps to powder, and add it gradually to, and pound it with, an ounce of bitter almonds, blanched and wiped very dry. When these have been beaten to a fine paste, and the whole is well blended, press the mixture into a small pan, tie a paper over, and keep it for use. The proportions can be varied at pleasure, and the quantities increased from a teaspoonful to three times as much can be mixed with the ingredients for a pudding. Cakes require more in proportion to their size.

Rinds large lemons, 2; sugar, 2 to 4 ozs.; bitter almonds, 1 oz.

DRIED MUSHROOMS.

Peel small, sound, freshly-gathered flaps, cut off the stems, and scrape out the fur entirely; then arrange the mushrooms singly on tins or dishes, and dry them as gradually as possible in a gentle oven. Put them, when they are done, into tin

canisters, and store them where they will be secure from damp. French cooks give them a single boil in, water, from which they then are well drained, and dried, as usual. When wanted for table, they should be put into cold gravy, slowly heated, and gently simmered, until they are tender.

MUSHROOM POWDER.

When the mushrooms have been prepared with great nicety, and dried, as in the foregoing receipt, pound them to a very fine powder; sift it, and put it immediately into small and perfectly dry bottles; cork and seal them without delay, for if the powder be long exposed to the air, so as to imbibe any humidity, or if it be not well secured from it in the bottles, it will be likely to become putrid: much of that which is purchased, even at the best Italian warehouses, is found to be so, and, as it is sold at a very high price, it is a great economy, as well as a surer plan, to have it carefully prepared at home. It is an exceedingly useful store, and an elegant addition to many dishes and sauces. insure its being good, the mushrooms should be gathered in dry weather, and if any addition of spices be made to the powder (some persons mix with it a seasoning of mace and cayenne), they should be put into the oven for awhile before they are used: but even these precautions will not be sufficient, unless the powder be stored in a very dry place after it is bottled. A teaspoonful of it, with a quarter-pint of strong veal gravy, as much cream, and a small dessertspoonful of flour, will make an excellent béchamel or white sauce.

POTATO FLOUR.

(Fecule de Pommes de terre.)

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Grate into a large vessel full of cold water, six pounds of sound mealy potatoes, and stir them well together. In six hours pour off the water, and add fresh, stirring the mixture well; repeat this process every three or four hours during the day, change the water at night, and the next morning pour it off; put two or three quarts more to the potatoes, and turn them directly into a hair-sieve, set over a pan to receive the flour, which may then be washed through the sieve, by pouring water to it. Let it settle in the pan, drain off the water, spread the potato-sediment on dishes, dry it in a slow oven, sift it, and put it into bottles or jars, and cork or cover them closely. The flour thus made will be beautifully white, and perfectly tasteless. It will remain good for years.

TO MAKE FLOUR OF RICE.

Take any quantity of whole rice, wash it thoroughly, changing the water several times; drain and press it in a cloth, then spread it on a dish, and dry it perfectly; beat it in a mortar to a smooth powder, and sift it through a fine sieve. When used to thicken soup or sauces, mix it with a small quantity of cold water or of broth, and pour it to them while they are boiling. This flour, when newly made, is of much purer flavour than any usually prepared for sale.

POWDER OF SAVOURY HERBS.

All herbs which are to be dried for storing should be gathered in fine weather; cleared from dirt and decayed leaves; and dried quickly, but without scorching, in a Dutch oven before the fire, or in any other that is not too much heated. The leaves should then be stripped from the stalks, pounded, sifted, and closely corked in separate bottles; or several kinds may be mixed and pounded together for the convenience of seasoning in an instant gravies, soups, forcemeats, and made dishes: appropriate spices, celery-seed, and dried lemon-peel, all in fine powder, can be added to the herbs.

THE DOCTOR'S ZEST.

Pound to the finest powder separately, eight ounces of basket salt, a quarter-ounce of cayenne, a drachm of mace, and of nutmeg; of cloves and pimento, a drachm and a half each; then add the other ingredients, one by one, to the salt, and pound them together until they are perfectly well blended. Put the zest into wide-mouthed phials, and cork them tightly. Half an ounce of mushroom-powder, and a drachm of dried lemon-peel, will greatly improve this mixture.

CHAPTER VI.

FORCEMEATS.

GENERAL REMARKS.

Weighing Machine.

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THE coarse and unpalatable compounds so stantly met with under the denomination of forcemeat, even at tables otherwise tolerably well served, show with how little attention they are commonly prepared.

Many very indifferent cooks pique themselves on never doing any thing by rule, and the consequence of their throwing together at random (or "by guess" as they call it) the ingredients which ought to be proportioned with exceeding delicacy and exactness is, repeated failure in all they attempt to do. Long experience, and a very correct eye may, it is true, enable a person to dispense occasionally with weights and measures, without hazarding the success of their operations; but it is an experiment which the learner will do better to avoid.

A large marble or Wedgwood mortar is indispensable in making all the finer kinds of forcemeat; and equally so indeed for many other purposes in cookery; no kitchen, therefore, should be without one; and for whatever preparation it may be used, the pounding should be continued with patience and perseverance until not a single lump nor fibre be perceptible in the mass of the articles beaten together. This particularly applies to potted meats, which should resemble the smoothest paste; as well as to several varieties of forcemeat. Of these last it should be observed, that such as are made by the French method (see quenelles) are the most appropriate for an elegant dinner, either to serve in soups or to fill boned poultry of any kind; but when their exceeding lightness, which to foreigners constitutes one of their great excellencies, is objected to, it may be remedied by substituting dry crumbs of bread for the panada, and pounding a small quantity of the lean of a boiled ham, with the other ingredients: however, this should be done only for the balls.