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\^c- 7V??. t -/.
RADCUFFE COLLEGE UBRARYI
SSf
WOMEN'S ARCHIVES
Transferred from
HARVARD COLLEGE UBRARY
1960
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Digitized by
Digitized by
^pp
Tjike of alum 2Iba.; talt, lib. j hot wi|^er suffieient ^ ^ to distoue 4heni. When coo! enough to bear tlie hand in without tealdiog, immerse the skin. After lort5>ei||iit honra withdraw it, and nail it akin outward* SfE»i«i^ a wall in the shad^. While wet take equal pnrtt of alum ana chalk, finely powdered ; wbidi mix XA water, il^Cil it it a thick paste ; spread it over the
VBofe on, tifl the grease is completely withdrawn ; then,
^ii**^?^ ^ '^^^ **^® '''*"' *'"*' *' '^^'^^ pumice-stone eifl thin cnoujfh, when work it ab<mt gently with the liandtf^ and it will become as soft as wash-le§^H>w
' I'.
f
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/,
n
f i*
y.
/ 1'
INDIAN
DOMESTIC ECONOMY
AND
RECEIPT BOOK.
Digitized by
ft
Digitized by
INDIAN
DOMESTIC ECONOMJ
AND
RECEIPT BOOK;
COMPBISING
NUMEBOUS DIKECTI0N8 POB PLAIN WHOLESOME GOOKEfiT, , BOTH OBIENTAL AND ENGLISH; WITH MUCH MISCELLANEOUS MATTER, ANSWEBING FOB ALL GENiy^ PUBPOSES OF BEFEBENCE,
CONNXCrXD
WITH H0U8EH0LD AFFAIRS, LIKELY TO BE IMMEDUTBLT
BEQUIBED BT FAMILIES, MESSES, AND PBIYATE INDIVIDUALS^
BESIDING AT THE PBESIDENCIES OB OUT-STATION&,
BY THE AUTHOB OF
'MANUAL OF GARDENING POR WESTERN INDIA.*'
hi A, luit^i
FIFTB SBSTXON— BJBVX8SB.
MADSAS: panmiD at thb pkbss of thb socibtt fos rsoMoriNG
CHUISTU2? KNOVLSDOE, TBFERY. 1860.
Digitized by
HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY
BCQULST or
MRS. CNESTEK ». QOCf N0U6N
RCPTEHBER 20, 1925
J 31
Digitized by
PREFACE TO THE FUTH EDITION.
To this edition the Author has appended the new Act for tlie management of the Post Office and the Begulations of the duties of Postages. He has seen no occasion to make foitber additions; nevertheless he feels assured the work mil continue to sustain its expectation as one of general utility throughout India.
The flattering notice taken of the work by the Press of the three Presidencies^ and its acknowledged usefulness as a book of reference by numerous private individuals unknown to the Author^ is highly gratifying; while the facts proye^ ivhafc has always been his opinion, that a work having for its object simple yet distinct instruction— by the assimi- lation of the Asiatic Customs with the European — in Domssno 'Ecovouy, must prove eminently useful and ao« ceptable to the Anglo-Indian Community. The Keceipts are rendered in as plain a manner as possible, so that no diffi- culty may arise in their communication co Natives; the selections are such as are most easily attainable; and the means for their preparation generally procurable ; whilst the additions are largely imported into this country, and are to be had at almost every Bazaar.
Thb Mabket Tables attached will form a very fair guide to the actual prices of provisions, &c. at either of the Pre- adencies or in the Mofussil, and prevent any immoderate overcharge by servants; for let the European's experience be what it may, and even were he to visit the Market himself^ he never could purchase any article at the same rate as the
Digitized by
VI PREPACB.
Native> nor can he fail to discover in any intercourse with him involving outisLj, that he is obliged to submit to a per centage in some degree, or what is called Dostoory,^ «n allowance established by general usage and considered by the servant as his perquisite for making purchases. When small, however, it may be as well to let him enjoy the advantage, if quiet and comfort are desired. This deduction is not so applicable to the household expenditure ; especially when the head servant's account is settled every morning, as then the prices charged are generally made at the admitted or known rates, and can be checked accordingly if examined at the time; but when allowed to stand over, articles are. frequently entered and charged for, although neither procured nor con- sumed, and of course there is clear gain to the servant, who besides, takes his usual DasTooBT when settling with the tradesmen for bond fide purchases.
Families and single individuals residing at the Presiden* ties or the Mofussil, who may at times be particularly cast on their own resources, or deem it necessary to superintend their daily expenditurey and are not above an acquaintance with the number of annas and pice forming a rupee, — items as indispensable to present as conducive to future comfort, *-will, in all mattas of household affairs, whether in check- ing the extravagant charges of domestics, the over-demands of trades-people in purchases, or affording useful instruction for the routine of the Culinary department, as well as the management of the Farm, Poultry Yard, or, Kitchbn Garden,, it is hoped» find that much useful informatTon may be derived by following the rules and instructions contained in the '^ Indian Dokbshc Economy/'
* Two pie in eadi mpM.
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ANALYTICAL INDEX.
Chapter 1st. Servants; — ^their description, habits, caste, wages, &C'^ at Bombay, Bengal, Hyderabad, and Madras.
— 2nd. Farm and Poultry Tard; — Cows, Calves, Buffaloes,
Goats, Sheep, Pigs, Babbits ; management of Poul- try with preliminary remarks; Turkeys, Guinea- fowls, Geese, Ducks, Pigeons and Pba-fowL '*- 3bd. Horse and Stable ; — ^Exercise, grooming, feeding, and medical treatment in the most immediate and easiest form, with recipes, &o.
— 4th. Daily; — General remarks on Utensils, Pans, &c.;
MOk, Creun and Butter; mode of making butler from Cream and Milk • also Iresh Cream and Curd Cheeses.
— 5tb. Soups of various kmds, with general directions for
flavouring, foroe*meat balk, te«
— 6tb. Fish, and Shell-fish, with Bemarks upon dressing, Stc.
— 7th. Bemarks on Boiling, Boasting, Broiling, &c.
— 8th. Sauces and Gravies.
— 9th. Beef; Yeal, Mutton, Liamb and Pork.
— IOth. General directions for Grame and Poultry, with various
methods of dressing the same.
— 11th. Vegetables; — ^how to prepare and dress in different
ways. 12th. Devils, Zests, Sandwiches, Omdettes, Essences, Toast-
ed Cheese, Bamakins, &c« 13th. Pickles and Chutneys.
— 14th. Pastry, Tarts, &c.
— 15th. Puddings.
— 16th. Cakes.
— 17th. Baking ;— Bread, Biscuits, &c.
— 18th. Sweet Dishes, &c.
— 19th, Jellies and Jams*
-
1
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VIU ANALYTICAL INDEX.
Chapter 20th. Tea, Coffee, &c.
— 2 1st. Syrups, Drops, &c.
— 22nd. Drinks, Liquors, &c»
— 23bd. Cordials.
— 24th. Cooling fluids ; Purifying water.
— 25th. Freezing Mixtures, with or without loe.
— 26th. Making Ice ; — receipts for the same, with directions
for preserving it.
— 27th« Vocabulary of Culinary terms.
— 28th. Oriental Cookery ; — prelimmary remarks on Curries,
Brianes, Pullows, Ashes, Kubabs, Cakes and Chut- neys ; with various receipts for making the saoie.
— 29th. Bombay Market Table, with the average Prices Cur-
rent for three Months in the year ; January, May and November j Tables of Money, Weights and Measures ; with the Commercial Weights in various parts of India, &c.
— 30th. Calcutta, Dinapore, Madras and Aurungabad Market
Tables, and prices of Miscellaneous Articles, &c.
— SlsT. Tables of Exchange, Interest, &c.
— S2nd. Miscellaneous Domestic Heceipts.
— S3BD, Kitchen Garden and Orchard^with a copious Index
of the whole.
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CHAPTER I,
SERVANTS.
The misdeeds of Indian servants appear to be a general aod unfailing source of complaint amongst all, whether we take the new-comer on his arrival, or the long resident, without reference to any particular place; the complaint of them is universal — ^laziness, dishonesty, falsehood, with a host of other vices, seem to be inherent in them. This need hardly be wondered at, when we consider the way in which they are brought up, taught from their earliest in- fancy to look for employment only in the particular calling of their parent, or the guardian by whom they have been adopted. Nor is the fault wholly on their side — much that is complained of, originates with the master, and is owing to him* In the first place, taking a servant merely on the recommendation of a written character, without any en- deavour to ascertain whether the bearer is the person de- scribed, or how he became possessed of it. In most cases these characters are borrowed; in many they are written for the occasion, by a class of persons who earn their bread by writing characters for any applicant who will give them a few annas, or agree to pay a per centage should he suc- ceed in getting the place. So sudden and frequent are the changes in India, that a master or mistress has seldom an opportunity of making any personal inquiry, and is often led to overlook this precaution; all this causes a fruitful source of mischief to domestic economy.
Then again, persons are not sufficiently careful in giving characters ; how often it happens that a master or mistress, when turning away a servant, gives him, from false kind-
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Z INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMY
ness^ a better character than he deserves^ suppressing the real cause ol his being sent away^ and at the same time mentioning a period of service sufficiently long to be of itself a Tecoinmendation, and almost a guarantee of his trustworthiness and usefulness, whereas they know the con- trary to be the ease.
Some servanis there are who enter your family simply to see what they can lay their hands upon, taking them- selves off the first convenient opportunity.
Others there are who take advantage of the advance of pay, usually given in setting out on a journey, to enable the servant to leave a small sum with his family or relations and to provide himself with necessaries; thus getting a month's or more advance of pay, and, in nine cases out of ten, when the traveller starts, are nowhere to be found, or slip away after the first day or two.
The best way to prevent this, is to make your head servant (if out of your own power) go to the Police Office, and have their names and agreement registered; it will afford an opportunity for detection, should they be old offenders, as the Police have better means of making in- quiries than you can possibly have. This clearly shows what an advantage an office for registry would be, where the honest and well-disposed servant could be heard of, when he would be sure to find a place.
On the other hand, servants have too often just cause for leaving their places suddenly, the slightest fault of a native servant being often visited with blows and such abuse as no respectable man will bear, very often too for no other fault than that of not understanding what the master has said, who has given his directions in some unintelligible stuff, from ignorance of the language, that no one could understand.
The races of servants are very different at the three Pre- sidencies ; at Bombay there is a large proportion of native Portuguese, Parsees, Mussulmen, and Hindoos, besides Eurasians; at Madras native Christians take the place of
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AND COOKSET.
Psrsees at Bombay, lind at Calcutta there is a mixture of efoy caste and grade in India. There are some amongst &eae who speak English^ and who generally bear but very indiflferent characters* '
BOMBAY. A Batler, whether Portugaese, Parsee or Mossul-
|
man, B«. |
10 to 15-20-30 |
|
|
A Table Servant (seldom more), |
6 „ |
10 |
|
Cook, |
7 „ |
20 |
|
Aaristaat, |
4 „ |
6 |
|
Tf tshennan or Dhobee, according to the family, |
7 „ |
36 or more. |
|
Mor, |
7 „ |
15 |
|
Ayifc. |
8 ,• |
15 |
|
Amah or Wet Nttrae, |
7 „ |
16 |
|
Coachman, |
10 „ |
16 |
|
Gorahwalkh, |
5 „ |
9 |
|
Maasolchee, where no house Hammals are em- |
||
|
l^J^ |
6 |
|
|
fiheestee, if used, but the Htunmals do this work, |
8 |
|
|
Totee or Sweeper, |
2 „ |
6 |
|
Gkapiaaee or Pnttah WaUah» |
5 „ |
7 |
|
BENGAL. |
||
|
A Sircar or Acoonntant, |
...Bs. 10 to 13 |
|
|
A Butler or Khansmnar, .. |
8 .. 10 |
|
|
A Table Servant or Khidmutgar, |
... |
6 „ 8 |
|
Assistant do. orMatie, |
.. |
4 „ 6 |
|
Bresaang Bearer or Bhoee, |
... |
6„ 8 |
|
Hooae and PiOkee do. |
., |
5 ., 7 |
|
Washerman or Phobee, |
... |
4 „ 14 |
|
Water Carrier, Bheestee or Puckalec, ... ' ... |
,, |
6 „ 8 |
|
Cook or Bawurchee, |
... |
8 „ 18 |
|
Sweeper, Halalknr or Mihtor, |
.. |
8 „ 4 |
|
Messenger or Hnrkara, |
6 „ 6 |
|
|
Porter or Dorwany |
.. |
6 „ 6 |
|
Tailor or Bnrsee, |
•»• |
5 „ 8 |
|
Goaofaman or Ghareewan, |
8 „ 15 |
|
|
Horaekeeper or Syce, |
... |
5 „ 6 |
|
Graascutter or Ghaswara, |
3 „ 5 |
|
|
Elephant Driver or Mahut, |
... |
8 „ 16 |
|
Assistant Cooly, |
3 „ 5 |
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INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMY
Gamelman, Oontwallah,
Gardener, Malee or Baghban,
Shepherd, B'herehara,
Water Cooler or Abdar,
Tent Pitcher, or Lascar,
Hooka attendant, or Hookabadar,
Rs
Female ServanU.
Ayah, or Waiting^woman, Amah, or Wet Nurse, Ladies' Tailor, 1st Class,
Do. 2nd do.
Washerman, 1st do. .
Bo. 2nd do.
Sweeper, or Mihturanee,
Butler, per mensem, from Ordinary Servants,
Boys,
Cooks, Under do. Waterwoman, Coachman, Horsekeeper, Grasscutters, ... Gardeners, Cowman, ^Water Carriers, Ayahs,
Under do. .. Ponkah Pullers,
Miufulmans.
MADRAS.
HYDERABAD.
Xhansumar, or Butler, 12 to 20
1 Jemadar of Servants, 12 „ 15 Ehidmutgar, or Table
Servant, - - 7 „ 10
2 Dressing Boy, - - 7 „ 10 Abdar or Water Cooler, 8 „ 12 Hookabadar, - - 12
Hindoos.
|
. 5to |
3 |
|
s „ |
6 |
|
3 „ |
4 |
|
5 „ |
8 |
|
3 ,. |
5 |
|
6 „ |
8 |
|
5to |
13 |
|
« .. |
12 |
|
10 |
|
|
6 |
|
|
10 |
|
|
6 |
|
|
3 „ |
i |
|
10 to |
21 |
|
7 .. |
10 |
|
6 „ |
7 |
|
7 „ |
17 |
|
3 |
|
|
3 „ |
4 |
|
10 „ |
15 |
|
5 „ |
7 |
|
3i ., |
4 |
|
4 „ |
7 |
|
5 „ |
7 |
|
4 „ |
6 |
|
10 „ |
17 |
|
6 „ |
8 |
|
5 |
5 Matie, - - • 6 to 7
6 Mussalehee, or Barber, 4 „ 7 Dhobee, - - 6 „ 8 Syce, - • . 7 Grasscutter, - - 4 „ 6 Bearer, - . - 7 Head Bearer, - 8
Digitized by
|
.ND COOKBIIY. |
0 |
|
|
Hindoot. |
||
|
to 6 „ 7 |
Male, - - Cooly Woman, 7 Cook, Tailor, - - - - |
- 6 to 8 2 „ 3 -10 „ 20 7 „ 12 |
|
„ 7 .. 8 |
Ayah, • - |
- 7 „ 16 |
MtunUmam.
% Fisrraah, or Lascar, 7
Mihtiir, or Sweeper, 3
i Chuprassee, or Jewan, 5 Mahut^ or Elephant
Driver, - - 12
Aasistaiit to do. - 6
fflieestee, or Packalee, 7
In engaging with an Ayah who speaks English^ as is iDo^y the case with the Indo-Portuguese^ it is necessary to be very particular in your agreements as to the amount of yoor wages^ and also whether they expect food to be fband them, as their demand at first will be made gener- aDy without reference to the latter, and at as high a rate ts they can venture to ask, in consequence of their attain- ments being beyond those of most Mussulmen and Hindoo
Ayilss, who can only assist in dressing a lady; whereas most of the first clase Indo-Portuguese dress hair, wash laoes, silk stockings, .&c., and in some few instances can use tbeat needles, for all of which they expect to be better paid of course. The wages of an Ayah will greatly depend upon the daties she undertakes, and those who perform the moiial offices, which some do, are on the lowest scale of pay.
The Wet Nurses are only procurable generally from the lower classes, and are very obstinate as to their rules of diet The greatest trouble arises in getting them to re- strict themselves to proper food; they are prone to indulge in liquor, opium, ' tobacco, pawn, suparee, &c. ; they are perfectly careless of any regularity as to their state of healthy and require great watching. Previous to engaging ihey make the most exorbitant demands, which from ne- cessity you are often compelled to comply with. Besides Iheir wages, it is usual to find them in food and clothes.
All classes of servants are engaged by the month, though not always paid at the expiration of it, and it is usual to keep them in arrears until the middle of the following, as
Digitized by
6 INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMY
some check upon their behaviour^ and to prevent their withdrawing themselves without notice, as they subject them- selves to the loss of one month's pay, if they quit of their own free will, or without giving a proper warning.
In some houses, besides the Khansumar or Butler, whose province appears to be merely superintending the concerns of the table and of the servants attached to it, a sort of Jemadar of servants is also kept up, who takes charge of the purse and of all the out*of-door servants, pays all the expenses,— in fact, superintends the household concerns in general. He is usually a Mussulman, but sometimes of the other class, answering in some degree to the Sircar in Cal- cutta. Very frequently, instead of a regular servant for the toilet, a Hindoo of the Bearer class is employed, and it seems the better plan; for, being a dressing servant, he is in general too great a man to assist in carrying the palan- keen: he yet keeps up with it, and is always therefore at hand. If the bearer be a Mussulman he is made some- times to wait also at table.
A Furrash, I suspect, is kept up but in few houses: his occupation is that of a Lascar or Khalassie; he sweeps the carpets, cleans the house and furniture, the care of which he has ; also the beds, shades and lights, it being his duty to light the latter; in fact, his duty is both that of thf Lascar and Mussalchee, has he is in some houses^ where a IHirrash is not kept up in Bengal. His principal duty is the charge of tents, with the care of the same, * pitching, striking and loading them.
A Ghuprassee may be either Mussulman or Hindoo, as frequently one as the other. The distinction between the Ghuprassee and Jewan, is that the latter, besides being a messenger and attending bis master in Ids journeys about, is employed also in guarding his house; the Chuprassee's badge is his external sign, the Jewan has it not.
Matie is sometimes a Mussulman, but less frequently; and is assistant to the table servant.
The Mussalchee in general has charge of the candles,
Digitized by
AND COOKERY. 7
ahmdes and lights; but where a Furrash is kept up^ he is employed as torch-bearer and barber^ his profession gen- erally being that of the latter.
The C!ook is usually a Native Christian of the lowest casle ef Hindoos from Madras or the Coast; sometimes they are Mussulmen^ but seldom in any proportion to the former* The bearers are a hard-working and very trusty class of people; you may leave articles of any value with them with perfect safety^ only making it over to their charge, whether Hindoos or Mussulmen; indeed, this may be said to be the case with most classes of native servants who are well treated ; and if a fair estimate and allowance is made, it will generally be found that there is more rea- son to praise than complain of them. Entrust money, jewels, clothes, &c., in fact, any thing to their charge, and yoa will find them usually faithful. They will for years treasure up the smallest rags for you, though now and then you will see them appropriating articles, they have thought forgotten by their masters (from their never having been asked for), and if they can profit in any way from their intermedium in purchasing for you, you will find they will generally cheat you in over demands in some slight way or other. Should you become poor they will drop ewfsm this in a very great degree, or totally. In sickness they will take the greatest care of you, doing for you ser- vices that a European seldom ever will. In marching, at all seasons and all weather, they will go long distances without grumbling, cook for you, put their hands to pitch- ing tents, loading, and at all times do work extra to their own duty. They are in general sensitive of and grateful for kindness, and become active and zealous therefrom.
Their principal vice, besides what I have already given, is an intolerable habit of lying. In the way of tea, sugar, bread, milk, paper and such like articles, they will fre- quently, like European servants, appropriate a little for themselves. You will sometimes find oases of ingratitude, but if yott treat them kindly, you will not find these fre-
Digitized by
O INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMY
quent. They will conceal in general the petty thefts and cheatings of one another from their master, but when any one has been detected by him, all are ready to come for- ward and tell against the offender. Canning and doable- dealing characterize the Native^ and are some of his 'prin- cipal faults. Curiosity, also, is another of his peculiarities; if you send a man with a note or message, he is sure to be asked by all he meets where he is going, and on what business, if he knows. They also endeavour to find oat all that concerns you; whether you are an influential per- son or in any way a leading character, and are guided accordingly. I think that you have only to treat natives well and kindly, and they will generally prove good servants to you. Sympathize in their griefs and joys, with the smallest words of kindness, speak kindly to them, and oblige them when you can, and they will serve you well, and will refuse to execute no sort of work how extraneous soever from their regular duties ; on the contrary, if a master or mistress is always finding fault with their ser- vants for the most trifling omission of duty, having them beaten and cutting from .their pay the value of an ar- ticle broken by accident, the Native naturally becomes discontented and careless to please,' knowing he can but be sent away with a chance of getting a much more humane and even-tempered employer. They are often turned off without being paid their wages, upon the alleged score of insolence; this being assigned as the reason when a master loses his temper, and ill-treats a servant without cause, for appearing stupid or awkward. It is necessary, if you desire to retain and attach your servants to you, to act justly by them, make them fully understand what you desire to be done, and see that it is so; and if a servant has commit- ted a fault, or destroyed your property in a wanton man- ner, do not, if you can help it, punish him yourself, but refer the case, where you have the means, to the decision of public authority, or give him his discharge at once. Encourage a servant to come and confess his fault, show-
Digitized by
A^D COOKEAY. 9
ing perhaps tUat be has broken, an article; then refrain from blows,, abuse, and cutting his pay, which seldom at any time is very high, owing to the small sum required for a native to live upon, and if reduced by stoppages, falls heavily upon him, and arouses his natural cunning to make it up most assuredly at your expense, and in future induces him to bide by every m«ans in his power any fault be may afterwards commit.
In having mentioned the particular duties of each ser* vant, I do not wish to be understood that he will confine them only to one particular department, as was almost generally the case formerly in the upper parts in India, though not so much at the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay; for where circumstances require that a few ser- vants are only kept in the establishment, the duties of two or three may be carried on by one, with a little management, as is indeed generally practised. The Cook may attend the market early of a morning and purchase the supplies for the day ; but here it is essentially necessary, to prevent disappointment as%well as to insure comfort, that the necessary orders for all that is required be given over night, as after seven or eight o'clpck, nothing .but the refuse of meat, &c., is procurable : this duty, though coming more immediately under the province of the head servant^ may, where economy is the object, be, as has been stated, intrusted to the Cook or a Xhansumar.
The head servant may aet as Butler, attend the table, look after the plate, and as is often the case, superintend the making of, if not make himself, the pastry and sweet- meats, besides exercising superintendence over the whole household, and recording the daily expenditure in an ac- count-book kept for the purpose. A little difficulty some- times exists in getting servants to perform more than their own particular duty, but by a little management it is soon overcome and adds to the domestic comfort.
It is a useless, besides expensive custom, giving dresses to your servants; however, this is a mere matter of consi-
Digitized by
10 INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND COOKERY.
deration with yourself. In some families in Bengal, where the establishment is large and the servants numerous, and expected to be all dressed uniform with turban, &c., a man is kept on purpose to make the latter up, and is paid a small sum by each for so doing or by their emj^oyer, he performing some other duty when not so engaged. The only class requiring a livery generally, are your horse- keepeVs and coachmen; they need little more than an uni-* form turban and belt, but insist en their appearing in clean clothes when in attendance*
Digitized by
CHAPTER II.
'^AAA^^'^^i^V^'^Atf^*
•VTNIR EC«]!I«IT.
*^^W^AA^V\^«^S^^^*WWM
THE FARM AND POULTEY YARD.
The best Cows in Western India are the Quze- Cteiw. ratti, and in the South, the Mysore and Nellore, and in the Upper parts, the Nagore; the general time of calving being at the commencement of, and daring the monsoon. The Guzerat cows, when in full milk, after calv- >»gi give from five to six seers daily, for the first three or four months, if fed with gram and green grass;*— the Nellore €ow about half the quantity, and the common country cow seldom more than two or three seers, and generally not more than one, from which the calf must have its share. Few country cows will give any milk if the calf is taken from them. It depends upon the constitution of the cow how nearly she may be milked to the time of her calving, — also on the quantity and cost of feeding. When pas- turage is abundant, the best way is to keep such a stock of cows as will enable you to have a succession in milk. The expense of tending them out grazing is the same for a dozen as a couple, a man being required to milk, feed and pen up the calves morning and evening.t The quan-
* The natiyes scUom if ever give gram to their catUe ; and, previous to calving, Oard is the principal grain given ; — also Tonr, Chenna, and others that are cheap. Tlie Oord is first boiled and then mixed with oil, — say one -eighth of a seer of oil to one seer of Oord, and this is o^ven to a cow, and twice the quantity to a bufifaloe.
t At an the towns and villages there are herdsmen who collect and take out the cstik to feed of a morning, and bring them back in the evening, chaI^^ifig so moch A head, — Irom two to eight annas, — a month.
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tity of gram to be given to each cow daily must neces- sarily depend upon her milk. For a common country cow half a seer soaked at each milking is sufficient; double the quantity will be required for a Nellore, or Guzerat qow. In selecting a cow for purchase the Natives give preference to those with fine thin skin, good looking udder (not de- pending upon the size), and long thin tails. Colour is a matter of no consequence ; of course if the cow does not promise from her appearance, when in full calf, to give a fair share of milk, no one would think of becoming a pur- cliascr. The price of a good Guzeratti cow is from 30 to 70 rupees or more; the Nellore probably not quite so much, and a country cow from five to fifteen rupees. It is ne- cessary that a cow should be fed while being milked so as to induce her to give it down freely ; the natives generally allow the calf to suck at the same time; before the cows are milked the teats should be washed and wiped. The milk of some cows yields more cream than that of others. The cream yielded by the last half of the milking is always the best, provided the udder is properly emptied. Water added to milk causes it to throw up a larger quantity of cream than if unmixed, but the cream is of a very inferior quality. Milk carried to a distance before it is set for cream, or in any other way shaken, gives much less cream, and also thinner, than that which has not been agitated. Milk should always be strained before setting for cream. The cream being churned, and strained from the butter- milk, is to have the remains of the buttermilk carefully squeezed from it with as little working of the butter as possible, and then moulded into the form necessary; it should never be touched during the making by the hand, but worked up with a wooden spatula. Butter is always in- jured in its quality by being kept in water, nor wQl it keep so long as if in a cool vessel that is porous, with moisture round it. The only cheeses made in this country are cream or common white curd, directions for miOLing which will be found under a separate head of tlie present worl«
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The feeding of these animals for the table Calves. (as in Europe) is seldom carefully attended to; but should you desire to have good veal, you must allow the calf the whole of its mother's milk, and for the first week break a raw egg into its mouth every day; the second week, give it two eggs, and increase the number weekly, until it has had six daily, when it will be found fat and fit to kill — not such half-starved meat as is usually sold as veal, but approaching in flavour to an English dairy-fed calf. If you do not choose to give it eggs, let the calf run to another cow, as the expense with a country bred animal is very trifling* Calves may be reared upon skimmed milk as in Europe, but then the milk must not be allowed to stand more than a few hours, otherwise it will get sour. At first the milk must be put into a vessel and the hand immersed in it, giving a finger for the calf to suck and draw the milk up by ; or else put the milk into a leather bag, funnel'shaped, with a small opening for the calf to suck it out by; this is the common native practice, but after a few days, the calf will drink it very readily from the vessel it is offered in. In Europe chalk is placed in the pen where the calf is confined, for it to lick ; this is done, not as is generally supposed to whiten the meat, but to correct the acidity of the milk.
The finest description of these animals to be Bi^aioes. found throughout Hindoslan are those along the banks of the Ganges, as well as in some parts of the Deccan about Jefferabad, Amarouttee, and Mahore, east of Hingolie. The quantity of milk from the finest bred animals has been known to be equal to that of first rate English cows, being upwards of five galloiTs in the twenty-four hours, bat this is very uncommon. The average supply received from a good buffaloe, in full milk, may be about from six to eight seers, from a common one seldom more than four; and, if not carefully attended to, they soon fall off even firom that quantity. The milk
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of the buifaloe is extremely rich, and answers all domestic purposes, yielding a rich cream, butter, cheese, and ghee. In choosing 'a buffaloe, select the fine dark black or light brown, with a good barrel, short legged^ thin necked, flat and broad hind quarters and large open eyes. Their food consists generally of grass, hay, kirbee, bran, oil-cake, cot- ton seed, &c. But when they have, calved the best food to give them besides grass for the first week at milking time, is bdiled jawaree and baujeroe, about one seer of each, with a table spoonfull of zeera. When brought home to be milked, cotton seed or oil-cake is given to them. They delight in water, and will not thrive unless they have a swamp or pond to wallow in. There rolling themselves, they work hollows, when immersed, deep enough to leare nothing but their horns, nostrils, and 6yes above the water. When a buffaloe has calved the young one is immediately taken from her and brought up by hand ; if a male, it is given away, being considered useless except for draft or to breed with. The males are very savage, and if taken out to the jungles with other cattle, will fight even the tiger ; should he venture to attack the herd, the female will aiso make the same resistance. The milk sells from eight to twenty seers the rupee, and ghee made from it with care may be considered one of the most useful of domestic articles, and will keep sweet and good for years.
These are procurable in all parts of India, Goais, of a fine description, though varying much in appearance. The Surat goat brought to Bom- bay is highly prized. It is short-legged, well formed, round and compact, giving as much milk as a seer at a time. The *kid affords a delicate meat, for which Bombay has long been celebrated. The goats from the banks of the Jumna in Hindostan are a long-legged breed, but excel- lent milchers ; so are some from the southern part of India. They all feed alike, and will eat leaves and roots where no other animal could find a subsistence. It is
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necessary to give a little grain^ morning and evenings to your milch goats. Half a seer to each of gram, or other grain at a time is quite sufficient, and, if you have a garden, the refuse leaves from any vegetable wiU be greedi- ly eaten by them, as also cakes of bread made from the common sorts of grain, such as jawaree, baujeroe, &c. Where there are children, a milch goat about the house is invaluable; but remember they are very destructive to a garden and must be carefully looked after. The kid should not be allowed tg follow the mother if you require her milk, unless some means is adopted to prevent its sucking, either by a muzzle or tying her teats.
Bengal has long been celebrated for its gram- Skeq^. fed mutton, which gives the meat a flavour far
superior to any other method of fattening ; the grain of the meat is not finer than that of sheep in other parts of India, as, undoubtedly in the Deccan, where there is good green grass pasturage, the meat is fine and ex- tremely sweet, and mixed with a proportionate quantity of fat. To the southward there is a large breed of sheep of a reddish colour that, if fed on grain like the Bengal, will become fat, as easily retaining the same flavour and quali- ties. Perhaps much of the estimation in which Bengal gram-fed mutton is held arises from the shepherd^s making wedders of the males, when young, — a practice not gen- erally adopted, but very essential to having fine-flavoured mutton. In the case of sheep, it is necessary that their pens should be clean and dry, and secured from the attacks of wild animals. They may be taken to feed with goats, but should never be driven out before the dew is off the ground, and should always be brought home of an evening when they are to have their grain given to them; such sheep as you are about to prepare for fattening will require less than those you intend to kill, being already &t. If, for instance, you kill once or twice a week, you will replace the slaughtered one by another from the flock.
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and 80 continne. The selection for killing should fall upon that sheep which is in the habit of rushing to the gram trough shoving the others aside ; he generally is in the beat condition. Sheep should at first have the grain broken for them and a little salt every third day, or so, mixed witli it ; it is useless giving sheep grain until thef have eight teeth in front, and then the proper quantity for each, averages about half a seer daily. In some parts of Bengal, where grain is very cheap^ the whole flock is fed on it. A sheep is allowed to get fat, and fall off, and again fat* tened before he is killed; which very much lidghtens the flavor of the meat. This is two or three times repeated. The lambs, besides sucking the ewes, are fattened with ground gram, sugar and milk ; the Hindostan shepherds understand this well, and the meat is deliciously sweet. The proper time for making wedders of them is when they are about three weeks old.
House lamb is very seldom procurable, though some- times the natives will bring them up for the purpose of sale, where there is a demand for such meat. They are fed on native bread, milk and vegetables — in feict, pretty much in the same way they are at home.
These animals when reared in a stye, for Piff9. domestic purposes, are very useful, and Ao not
give much trouble. The China breed being round, short-legged and of a docile temper, are to be pre- ferred, but if crossed with English or any other breeds make much flner pork and bacon, as they do not run so much to fat^ and the bacon becomes more streaky. If you desire to bring up several young pigs for porkers or bacon, rail off a space of a few square yards independent of the stye, that they may roam about, as it is not beneficial to confine them at first, and give them any spare vegetable with their food daily ; but as soon as you wish to fatten them, let the food be as nourishing -as possible, and remem- ber they wiB fatten much sooner on boiled food than raw.
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Thej should also have plenty of clean water to drink. The tame pig gives from 6 to 11 young ones at a time and carries ber yoong 16 weeks. They sometimes breed twice a year, but the more usual time is once in eight months. Clean- liness is essentially necessary to rearing pigs in India, and the best way to attain this end is to have the stye paved with luge stones, so that they cannot be turned up ; yet a sow that is breeding will get on better, if she has plenty of grass, on a good clay floor, which should be kept just moderately moist^ 80 as to be cool, bat neither swampy nor wet. Before they firrow they are very fond of scraping a hole to lie in, and if tbe ground is dry and dusty the young ones are apt to get smothered; this is known to have been the case with a htter where there was a chunam floor. The sow may be pat with the boar from a month to six weeks after farrowing, though it is much better to wait a longer period. The young are seldom fit to roast under a month, tmd tbere will generally be found in a litter one larger than the rest. This is not, as is supposed by some, the mother's farorite, but is the strongest, and manages, by thrusting tbe others aside, to get the largest share of milk. Of course he is the first for roasting.
The stye may be bailt of stone, bricks, or wood, and, if not for breeding sows, should always be well paved, and on a slope, that water may be thrown ov^ it to keep the animals cool and clean— giving them during the rainy and cold weather plenty of straw or grass to lie on.
Heir food may consist of the refuse from the garden, table and kitchen, or rice boosah mixed with buttermilk. They thrive very well on boiled grain, such as jawaree, cooltie, &c. Gram are they also very fond of; and if you wish for fine, firm, fleshy bacon, it is the best grain they can have when fattening. The food, whatever it is, should be put' into troughs for them to eat out of, and the best I have found are those cut out of stone, as being strong, as well as heavy and not easily turned over, which, if it
bappens, occasions a great loss of food. Where pigs are
c
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kept it is necessary to have a Hindoo servant to attend and feed them, and this duty is generally performed by one of the Mihtur caste.
The successful management of these animals Mahbits. consists in cleanliness and proper feeding, keep- ing them dry, and in the open air, and shel- tering them from rain and sun. The boxes or hutches in which they are kept should be swept out every day,' and holes made in the bottom, so that they may be as dry as possible. The breeding hutches for does should have a separate compartment, with a door at the end for the pur- pose of cleaning it out when necessary, but this door should never be opened after the doe has littered, until the young ones are able to run about. Some does are so shy that if you disturb them in any way at the early stage after giving young, they destroy them immediately. Bab- bits are very prolific ; their period of gestation is one calendar month. The does when about to breed should have fine dry grass given to them to make their beds with, which they line by plucking hair from the breast and stomach. The young ones may be separated from the does when a month old, but it is better to let them remain a fortnight longer, as it increases their size ; the feeding of them carefully after this, is principally to be attended to. They should be kept in a separate hutch; by themselves and fed at regular periods ; for if seldom fed and in large quantities, they overfill their stomachs and become what is called pot-bellied. The best food is lucerne, cabbage, lettuce leaves, and sliced carrots, also wild endive, with bran of the first sort, and ground gram a little moistened, also jawaree. A doe may be put with the buck when her young ones are a month old. The number a doe produces at a litter varies;, some giving three and others as many as seven or more young ones. The buck should always have a roomy hutch to himself, with plenty of gram and dry food. The young bucks intended for fattening should
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be cut when about a month old. This can be done by indsioni or ligature.
Sabbits may be kept in an artificial warren by digging a large square hole about six feet deep, lining it with a brick Tall, and then filling up the hole again with earth and water or day, beating it well down. This must be surrounded with another wall, and covered in, so that no animal can disturb the rabbits which are here put^ and left to burrow as they please. An opening should be made into a separate room or yard, with a sliding door where their food is to be placed for them to feed. This is done with the view of catching and selecting them when at their meals. In some situa- tioDS, where the ground is of a hard stony nature, so , as not to require a wall beneath, it is only necessary to exca- vate the place and fill it up with earth, as before directed, moistening it with water, and beating it down firm.
MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY. The time of incubation with the domestic SomeJfiic fowl is three weeks, and during that period the Fwh. fowl generally, if left to herself, will leave her eggs once in twenty-four hours to feed, shake her feathers^ and exercise her limbs. Some fowls are such close sitters that they will not leave their nest even for this purpose — so intent are they on their maternal duties. In such a case the hen must be lifted carefully from her eggs, and put out to feed, when, after a short time, habit will induce her to leave them at the same time each day. A. sitting hen daily turns her eggs^ and if she were not to do this, the heat from her body would be unequally distri- buted, and the yolk would become misplaced. A laying hen must do this, as she could not deposit the requisite rnunber of eggs for a brood in less than fifteen days, and in a fourth part of that period, the yolk would have sunk through the white, and come in contact with the shell, which being porous would have admitted the atmosphere ind the vital principle would have become inert, and the
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egg be addled. As early as the third day of incubation the nature of the egg is altered and rendered unfit for use. The yolk of the egg is devoted exclusively to the nourishment of the chicken in embryo^ and if this, by the admission of air, as I have before observed, is injured, the brood is destroyed. Chickens may be left under the mother without injury for a couple of days, as her care and warmth are far better calculated to rear them than any artificial means. As nature has pointed out the means of preserving her eggs to the mother, it is plain that the same plan of turning them daily is necessary to keep them fresh and equal to new laid. When a batch of young chickens is hatched, it is hardly necessary to confine them under baskets or coops, as they thrive better by being allowed to foUow the hen about, and only require food to be given them once or twice a day. They must at night be carefully shut up with the mother in a basket, on straw or fine dry grass, and let out early in the morning. The food may be rice or jawaree. Game fowls require much more care than the common. The same treatment as to food, &c. for the turkey will here perhaps be found the best. It is not advisable to put the game hens on their own eggs, as they are too heavy and clumsy birds, very often de- stroying the young ones, like tuAeys, from trampling and pressing them to death, even whilst resting at night. The common hens should therefore be preferred, and, as they are small, not more than seven eggs should be placed under them at a time. It is very difficult to get the thorough game breed, and, in many of the large cities in India that are celebrated for them, the owners of the fowls, if constrained to sell the eggs, often '*dip them in hpt water previous to doing so, with the view of destroying their vitality. Even any rough motion will have the same effect, by rupturing the membranes which keep the white, the yolk, and the germ of the chick in their ap- propriate places, and upon these becoming injured or mixed, putrefaction is promoted.
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Persons desiroas of breeding their own stock may com- mence at any time of the year^ although that after the first fall of rain and during the cold weather is the most fiivourable, when turkeys, guinea fowls, and chickens may easily be reared. Ducks and geese are later in laying, though the former will sometimes continue to give eggs throughout the year. Geese seldom lay more than one batch of eggs in the year, and the period during which they usually lay, is from August to January.
I may mention, for the information of persons rearing their own poultry, that an enclosed, sheltered spot, well secured either by a trellis work, or wall sufficiently high to confine the stock, is necessary, in which there should be a shallow pond, or chunam tank, for the ducks, in some convenient part,- as else they are occasionally drowned, if care be not taken that the sides slope sufficiently for the animals to get in and out with ease. There should also be patches of gravel for the fowls to roll in and clean them- selves, as well as for food; and, if protected by a shed, the better, under which should be a few pits filled with dry sand or ashes from the kitchen, &c. for the birds to wallow in. The fowl-house should be large and roomy, and if tiled the better, as being cooler and safer from animals. The door should be well secured and inaccessible to vermin, vith a hole sufficiently large for the fowls to pass through, bnt admitting of being well closed at nights, or, if require- ed, at any other time. Around the room there may be boxes, pans, or baskets fixed at a proper distance from each other, either in the wall or on the floor, perfectly ac- cessible, for the hens to lay and sit in* Fowls are very stupid in recognizing their own nests, and often interfere with each other, so as to spoil a hatch. Care should be taken to mark the basket or box in which a hen has com- menced to sit, putting the date down in a book, or marked in some other way. The room should be frequently white- washed, and wood ashes sprinkled plentifully about; and after a batch of chickens have been hatched, the boxes or
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baskets should be scalded or famigated with smoke, to kill the vennin and fleas, which are almost certain to collect. The hens whilst sitting should be at liberty at all times to leave their eggs to procure food or wallow in the ashes put on purpose for them. If, for want of accommodation, you are obliged to keep your ducks and geese in the same place with your poultry, they should be separated by a division, and the two latter species again divided and kept apart. It is essentially necessary that the fowl-house be continually swept out, and the floor and walls occasionally washed with fresh chunam water to destroy the vermin, or else it is impossible for a visitor to inspect the stock. Glean water should also be near in pans for the poultry to resort to whenever so inclined.
In selecting fowls for the table, it is in this country almost impossible to obtain any particular breed. Choose your birds young, weU shaped, and in a healthy condition. If you cannot appropriate a room, you must keep them in a feeding coop, or under baskets made on purpose; only be careful that cats, the moong90se, or other vermin can- not get at them, and see that they are not crowded ; pro- vided you keep them clean and supply them with jawaree, ricey gravel) and water, there is little else necessary, and, by substituting fresh fowls for those killed off, you may always have at hand a few pairs of fowls ready for the table.
To fatten fowls, when you put them up, first mix some fine bran and ground jawaree, wheat, or rice, together with warm water ; let them pick this for four or five days, then cram them with ground rice, wheat, or jawaree, with a little mutton fat chopped fine and mixed, for about a fortnight, when they will be in prime order.
Chickens should pick on ground grain with milk and a little fat for a week at least before cramming, and do not afterwards force them too fast.
Capons should be crammed for three weeks the same as fowls. Turkeys require a month to fatten ; give them rice
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boiled in millc with ground grain^ and some fat mixed in the same manner as* for fowls.
Qive geese and ducks coarse boosali^ mixed with soaked jawaree and water or buttermilk, for a few days ; then give dry g|fun, such as rice in husk, jawaree, and clean water, also some fine gravel. Do not let them wet their feet, but give dean straw to lie upon ; feed them three times a day at regular hours, and give them no more tlian they can eat at once without leaving any, and water only once a day. In two or three weeks ducks, and, in three or fouv, geese, will thus be good.
Ducks that are kept in a small mclosure with a pool or tank to wash in, will get very fat on common grain and plenty of chopped vegetables, such being given to them daily.
As a general rule, keep your poultry for fattening clean, keep them in darkness after • their meal, let them have milk to drink, and, immediately before you kill them, nothing but congee water made with rice. By these means you will have delicate, white, and fat poultry for table.
Lay from fifteen to twenty eggs, and at all Turiejfs, seasons. The hen will sit and bring out the young, but they are very careless mothers, eating the food greedily that is prepared for their young ones, and trampling upon them when moving about. A hen sits upon her eggs for twenty-five or twenty-six days, and will lay them in any secluded spot. When you find a nest, do not remove the whole of the eggs at once unless she has done laying. If she has only lately commenced, take away a part, but be certain to leave a nest egg, and tatch her daily.
When she lays her egg, then remove it, and continue this until she is inclined to sit. The time of incubation I have known to vary, but on the twenty-fifth day the chickens make their appearance generally. Do not remove them until the whole are come out, unless the hen has got off the eggs herself. In that case, take away the young ones.
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and put them in a basket lined with cotton and keep them safe; when they are all hatched the hen should be removed into a dry spot^ and let some chopped eggs^ onions^ and pounded grain, mixed, be given to her and the young ones; let her eat her fill. Large baskets of a con^ shape are most convenient for rearing them under. If the hen is careless with her chickens, treading on them, she must be taken away and kept outside, and the young ones fed by themselves, until they are strong enough to run about and get out of her way ; if you have a person to watch them^ the hen may be allowed to roam about, as the young ones thrive faster and considerably better on the seed and insects they pick up in grass, than when wholly confined. At all events, they should be allowed to feed in this way morning and evening. When the young ones are put up with the hen at night, see that she has fine soft grass in the basket in which she sits to cover the young ones, otherwise you may find one-half killed by her smothering them during the night. If the young ones appear to mope, and do not seem lively, put two or three grains of black pepper down their throats. It may be bruised at first, but this is not of much consequence. The ground on which the basket is kept during the day must be dry, and should also be shaded from the sun. After the young ones are feathered there is little trouble with them ; they eat greedily chopped onions, salad^ hard eggs, bread and milk, or in fact any- thing. The young ones should never be let out when the dew is on the ground, and should always be taken in a little after sunset. Turkeys certainly thrive better when allowed to roam about, but require to be watched on their excursions, and will, if fed in any particular spot, return to it at the customary hour. When Turkeys, or fowls, or chickens get the chicken-pox, what the natives call mattie (and to which they are very subject in the rains), both old and young, pounded charcoal and bruised onions, mixed with a little cocoa-nut oil, if rubbed over the pimples about the head for a few times, is almost a certain cure ;
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care at the same time most be taken that the eyes are not closed over by the disease, for if so, the birds cannot see to feed, and large turkeys or fowls will then require to be crammed with food, or else they die from starvation.
These are reared when young precisely in Guinea the same manner as turkeys; only the female /owls* in this case seldom hatches her eggs; when she does it is necessary to keep her confined under a large basket or coop. The young ones should have white ants given to them twice or thrice a day, with hard boiled eggs^ rice, and onions chopped fine. It is particu* larly necessary to keep them in dry ground and sheltered from rain and sun. If they appear sickly, put a few black pepper corns down their throats. One hen will lay as many as sixty eggs, hut only during the rains. Their time of incubation is twenty-five days. When you wish to hatch a brood under a common hen, never put more than eleven or thirteen eggs, and after she has sat about fourteen days you may ascertain if they are good by gently ahakiiig each egg separately, when if addled it will be per« ceived at once by its sound as if filled with water; or by holding the egg firmly in the hand near the ear, the young one wiU generally be heard to chirp. When a hen has died on her eggs, before the time of hatching, they may be brought out, by putting them in flannel near a fire, or exposing them to the sun; by this means the whole batch will sometimes be brought forth, though there is trouble in first teaching them to feed, but which they soon learn if they have a young chicken placed with them; or at night they may be put under another hen that has young ones. When a hen is let out to feed with her I brood, care should be taken to protect them from hawks, crows, &c.
These commence laying in September, and Gee^e. - continue until February, sometimes later. Their
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period of incubation is thirty days. The goslings re- quire very little looking after if there is a pond, nul- lah, or tank where the old one can resort; when the goose begins laying she should have plenty of dry grass or straw near her to cover the eggs with. On her quitting the nest, if there is any danger of the eggs being stolen or destroyed, they must be removed, leaving one as a nest egg.
These hatch their own eggs, and sit 25 days. Dueha. They require to be near water with a sipping
bank, where they can easily go in and out with their young ones, as otherwise they are cons<3intIy drowned. Their food may be either fine bran mixed in water, or any other sort of meal. Bice in its husk they are very fond of.
These, whether of the fancy or common kind, Tigeona. require pretty nearly the same treatment, and, as my object is to describe the simple mode* of rearing them for domestic purposes, it would be use- less to enter into a description of the various fancy breeds, further than to describe the particular sorts, which consist of the carrier, pouter, fantail or shaker, so called from its head being always in motion, and the tumbler. The common kinds, generally kept for profit, vary both in colour and size, and seldom quit the place in which they are bred. The first thing is to provide a commodious place for rearing the stock, and for this end a room, secured from the entrance of cats and other destructive animals, is necessary. The door should fit close and secure- ly, with an opening for the pigeons to pass in and out, and at such a height from the ground that no animal could pass or jump easily through, with a. door or slide o close at night, and a step or perch for them to rest upon on entering the inside of the room. Chatties may be built in the wall (or pots) lying on their sides, with
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the mouths projectiBg from the surface several inches ; the pots should each be at least one foot in diameter, and the mouth from four to six inches — the distance between each chatty at least one foot. They may in this way be arranged round the sides of the wall as the proprietor may please in any number^ or a house may be built on posts with shelves, and close boxes inside, but then the posts or pillars must be defended so that cats and other animals cannot climb up into the house, and this can only be done by sloping shelves, or else thorns kept bound round them; this latter plan is tronblesome. They may also be allowed to breed in chatties suspended under the roof of a flat verandah where no animals can get near them. "When the house or dove-cot is prepared, the next business is to stock it, and this must be done with young birds just fledged, and which have never essayed the wing ; other- wise they are dif&cult to retain ; with old birds it is ne- cessary to pluck the long feathers out of one wing only, and let them remain in the house until the new feathers are grown, when perhaps they may have formed some at- tachment to the place, and will not leave it ; but this is not to be depended upon. Pigeons begin to breed when they are six months old, and produce eight or ten couples a year. When pigeons are confined to a room, food and fresh water must be supplied to them daily, and in such a manner as to prevent the excrement contaminating it ; if confined, they must be provided with green food, and the pl^fce occasionally cleaned, after which strew about l^enty of gravel, and take every opportunity, by white- washing, to destroy fleas and other vermin. Pans of water should also be kept in the place. They are fond of gram, peas, jawaree, and aU kinds of pulse ; and if they are at liberty will only require to be fed once a day. It is not difficult to match young ones according to your wish, pro- vided they have not already formed their attachment. Eor this purpose they must be shut up together, or near, and within reach of, each other. The male is distinguished
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hj his size and forwardness of action ; the female lays two eggs, and, having laid one, she rests a day, and then proceeds to sit ; the period of incubation is nineteen days from the first egg, and the male and female divide the labour during the day between them, but at night the hen always sits. At the end ^of a month the young ones are abandoned and left to shift for themselves. Until they can fly, they are called squabs. When a pigeon loses its mate it often entices another from a distance, and this may account for the loss of any particular bird. Cats, rats, and snakes often commit great depredations in a dove-cot ; also the mongoose when it can effect an entrance. All these enemies must be guarded against.
Should no young pigeons be produced after the lapse of a day or two beyond the time of incubation, the eggs should be removed, as they are certain to be bad, and a squab taken from another pair substituted. The parents will rear this, and feed off their soft meat, or which might otherwise stagnate in their crop, and injure them* This soft meat is a sort of pap secreted in the craw against the time it is required to nourish the young.
These, when brought up by the hand, become Pea fowl, very tame, mixing with the domestic poultry, roosting on some high tree at night or the cross beams of an out-house. The natives continually during the rains bring in the eggs from the jungle, and if put under a common hen they are easily hatched and reared. The food given to the young chickens is precisely the same as for turkeys or guinea fowls. The hen lays from five to seven eggs, and always leads her young away from the male bird to feed until they have got their top knot feath- ers, as he kills them otherwise* They are ornamental about a house, but very destructive to a garden. It is said that they destroy snakes. The young ones when brought in from the jungles must be kept under a coop or basket and fed with bruised grain or millet seed, chopped eggs
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and onions, fine grass, and occasionally with white ants. It does not do to give them too many of the latter, as th^ are so fond of them as to refuse their other food. If the young are only just hatched^ it is difficult at first to teach them to feed. A young chicken^ about their own age^ put with them, will soon shew the way, and, from its habits, teach them to follow into the basket in which they are kept during the night, and save the trou- ble of catching them for the purpose.
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CHAPTEE III.
THE HOESE AND STABLE.
To keep a horse in proper working condition^ he ought to have at least a three-mile canter every other day. If, from not being able to give him this exercise yourself, or not having a person to ride for you, this is impossible, he should be walked at a slapping pace, not the lazy, lurch- ing walk which the horsekeeper always allows the horse, when led, to indulge in, for at least an hour and a half of a morning, and an hour in the evening.
If the horsekeeper can ride at all, it is better to allow him to mount the horse with a snaffle bridle, and take him at a good walk for the same period. Don't trust the horsekeeper with a curb bit; and when he returns, if you waift to preserve your nag from getting a sore back, be particular yourself in examining the saddle place for any galls or lumps that may have arisen. Horsekeepers never will tell you of these slight accidents, which taken in time are trifles, but if allowed to go on overlooked for some days may prove a serious nuisance. A pad of num- dah, cut to fit beneath the saddle, will mostly prevent this occurring; the application of salt and water is gene* rally all that is requisite for removing excoriations when only of a simple nature, at the same time the saddle should be fresh cased and padded as soon as it begins to be of the least inconvenience to the horse.
On his being brought home, he is to be well rubbed down, and his water given. Then the feet and legs are to be well washed in warm water. Each leg to be washed half way up the cannon bone and dried separately. Horse-
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keepers are invariably careless unless well looked after, and wash all four legs at once, leaving three wet while they are drying one. This produces cold and swelling of the legs constantly, and is likely to bring on thrushes in the feet. His grain is now to be given him, and, about half an hour after, some more water offered, and his grass given.
It is better to give all the grass you intend giving him between 9 and 12 o'clock at once, as he can then select the best himself ; about half-past IS o'clock water is to be again given, and at 1 o'clock the mid-day feed. After this, half of the remaining grass is to be given; at 4 the stall shoTdd be swept, the horse rubbed down and taken out to his evening exercise. On returning he is to be again slightly rubbed down and cleaned, and the evening's water given, then the evening's feed and the rest of his grass. If the horse is a greedy one, and inclined to eat his bed, he must have a muzzle put on about ten o'clock. Then leave him for the night perfectly undisturbed.
To keep your horse in regular working condition, the times of feeding should be as equally divided as convenience will permit : and when it is likely that the horse will be kept longer than usual from home, the nose-bag should invariably be taken. The stomach of a horse is small and consequently emptied in a few hours, and if suffered to re- main hungry much beyond his accustomed time, he will ' afterwards devour his food so voraciously as to distend the stomach, and endanger an attack of staggers. ,
As herbage, green and dry, constitutes the principal part of the food of the horse, it is very seldom regarded with the attention necessary. The quantity of dry huryalah grass sufficient for an Arab of 14 hds. generally is from 12 to 14 pounds daily, but this must depend of course on his sia ; it should, when cut, be well washed, then spread out in the sun to dry for three or four days before giving to the horse. Where the horse is fed on green grass, the asual method is to keep a man to bring it daily, which he
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cuts and digs up with a portion of the roots ; this is washed and brought home every evening, and in its wet state forms n bundle as much as he can well carry ; and if given to the horse in such a state, can never be so wholesome as if dried previously; it should always be kept upon a stand, and given to the horse in small quantities. Hay ought to be cut soon after the rains, when full of its juices, and before the seed falls ; it is then in its most nutritive state. The grass cut late in .the season merely fills the stomach, affording scarcely any nourishment ; hence the necessity, when laying in a stock, to examine the quality before pur- chase, as old hay is dry, tasteless, innutritive and unwhole- some. Horses, like aU other domestic animals, are fond of salt, and it is a good practice to sprinkle the hay with water in which salt has been dissolved, or to suspend a lump of rock salt near the horse, where he can at pleasure lick it; there can be no doubt that salt very materially assists the process of digestion.
Lucerne, when it can be obtained, is extremely advan- tageous for bringing a horse into condition ; it is easy of digestion and speedily puts muscle and fat on the horse that is worn down by labour, and is almost a specific for hidebound. A horse must not have too much given to him at once, as it is apt to make him refuse his other grass or hay. Kirby or cholum (the stalk of the jawaree) is, when chopped up, an excellent dry food for feeding and bringing a horse into condition. It should be cut coarse and put into a manger or rackstand, thus enabling the horse to feed at leisure ; and as it takes time for mastication, the stomach becomes more gradually filled, and the in- creased quantity of saliva necessary for its amalgamation^ softens and makes it more fit for digestion.
Carrots^ being procurable in abundance for several months after the rains, may be given either to strengthen the horse or for his recovery, if sick. To the healthy horse they should be given sliced with finely chopped kirby, half a dozen pounds being an ample allowance. Stewart says of
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them in his Stable Economy : " This root is held in mnch esteem. There is none better nor perhaps so good; when first given it is shghtly diuretic and laxative^ but as the horse becomes accustomed to it these effects cease to be produced : they also improve the state of the skin ; they form a good substitute for grass and an excellent altera- tive for horses out of condition. To sick and idle horses they render corn unnecessary, they are beneficial in all chronic diseases connected with breathing, they are ser- viceable in diseases of the skin, and have a marked in- fluence upon chronic coughs and broken wind/'
Gram. — The quantity of gram necessary for an Arab of 14 hds. averages about three seers or more daily ; the gram should be ground slightly and soaked for not more than a few minutes. Of course a horse of 15 hds. will require an extra seer or more^ but it entirely depends upon the work he has to do ; if he is hunted every other day or otherwise daily worked, four seers will not be at all too much. If the gram is not ground, it will require a little longer soaking.
Cooltie is given in the same quantity, but requires pre- vious boiling ; horses unaccustomed to this grain and its mode of preparation, refuse it at first, but soon take to it like other food. N. B.--A seer is two English pounds weight.
Tie Stable should be as large of course as the number of horses it is destined to contain; and as in India aU stables, except for racing, are generally open, I shall merely describe the length and breadth necessary ^for a stable, which is amply sufficient if 10 or 12 feet^ in breadth and fourteen in length. The open face of the stable must depend on circumstances, and if it is thought necessary to have any apertures for increased circulation in the sur- rounding walls, they should be as far above the horses as they conveniently can, to prevent all injurious draughts of air falling upon them. Backs are useful in a stable to keep the hay or grass dean, and prevent its being
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mixed with the litt«r. In some stables where the horse is allowed to run' loose^ enclosed by a high partition from his neighbonr^ and bars in front, a rack is generally made in one comer, with a wooden trough on the other side for giving him his gram, cooltie, or other food^ though more commonly the nose-bag is used; this is either made of leather or strong coarse canvas.
When horses are fastened ill a stable by halter and heel ropes, consequently almost always standing in the same place, it is essentially necessary that a pit made of brick or stone, where the horse stands, should be sunk, with a sloping gutter running underneath the groundwork of the stable, for the urine to pass off; the surface must be covered over either with a large stone having holes in it for the purpose, or else boards at such intervals of distance as will admit of the urine passing through into the pit or drain. It is well known that the urine of a horse contains a large proportion of ammonia, and that the vapour given out rises soon after the horse has staled, which is in itself injurious in a close stable, as is the case in large towns and the presidencies ; this mixing also with other matter of an offensive nature, must affect the health of a horse : hence the necessity of its being remov- ed, and keeping the stable amply supplied with fresh air.
In a warm climate like India, where the stable is con- fined, ventilation is essential; if this is not attended to, the air becomes empoisoned, and the health of the animal must suffer. ''In England it is thought that the majori- ty of the maladies of the horse, and those of the worst description, are directly or indirectly to be attributed as much to a deficient supply of air as to hard work ' and bad food : and to prevent any accumulation of foul air, it is necessary that the dung and urine of the horse should be immediately removed, to prevent fermentation and its evolving unwholesome vapour/'
Light. — Indian stables, away from the presidencies, are, from their construction, seldom deficient here. Horses kept
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in dark stables in England are frequently notorious start- ers, and it is probable that even the horse fastened in the stable with a dark wall in front may have his vision affected by it; the colour should never be glaring, neither should it be white, especially if the sun shines into the stable, it being as injurious to the eye as sudden changes from darkness to light. The colour therefore should depend upon the quantity of light, and therefore the best colour is perhaps a grey or light brown, easily effected by the simple native process of gobering. Hence dark stables are un- firiendly to cleanliness, the frequent cause of the vice of starting, and of serious diseases of the eyes.
Grooming. — It is to the stabled horse, highly fed and irregularly worked, that grooming is of so much importance. Good rubbing with the brush or the currycomb opens the pores of the skin, circulates the blood to the extremities of the body, produces free and healthy perspiration, and stands in the room of exercise. No horse will carry a fine coat without either unnatural heat or dressing; they both effect the same purpose by increasing the insensible perspiration, but the first does it at ,the expense of health and strength, while the second, at the same time that it produces a glow on the skin and a determination of blood to it, rouses all the energies of the frame; and a fine coat should only be produced by good cleanings and not by warm clothing or stimulating spices, though a horse just landed from a ship wiU benefit much by leaving stim- ulants mixed with his gram, such as black pepper and salt, for a time.
A horse must be dressed regularly every day, in addition to the grootiing that is necessary after work. If he has been driven, he should . be walked gently about without removing the pad or harness, the traces being unbuckled and removed, or turned up so as not to trail on the ground. If ridden, he should be walked- with the saddle on, but the girths loosened and the stirrups secured high up, to prevent him from getting his feet into either of them.
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When the horse is moderately cooled, he is to be taken to his stall and well hand- rubbed and shampooed till dry; his grass or other food may then be given him. The curry- comb should be at all times lightly used; even the brush need not be so hard or the points of the bristles so irregular as thy often are. A hair cloth made like a bathing -glove, or of coir, is all that is necessary with horses of a thin skin, and this latter is often used by the natives. There is no* thing after all like good hand-rubbing, and to this the Indian horse is accustomed* The only thing is to See that the horsekeeper does his duty as he ought; but if not looked after, this is not always the case.
Waier. — ^The difference between hard and soft water is known to all persons ; and a horse, if he has a choice, will always take running water in preference to that from a well, though the latter be clearer : hard water makes the coat stare, and not unfrequently gripes and otherwise injures him. An Arab horse seldom takes any injury from satiating his thirst at pleasure, that is, if he has the opportunity on a journey; a horse should be liberally supplied with water; when he is a little cooled, two or three quarts may be given to him, and after that his feed ; before he has finished his gram two or three quarts more may be offered. He will take no harm if this is repeated three or four times during a long and hot day. An Arab horse enjoys bathing as much as a human being, and when yoa have an opportunity of indulging him with a bath in a clear running stream at noon during a hot day, it is most healthy. The Indian horsekeepers are much in the habit of washing a horse in the morning ; this is all very well if he is not required for work immediattly, and can be well dried and groomed after ; but if it is only done to save trouble of hand-cleaning, the sooner it is put a stop to the better, and it should seldom be allowed in the rains, except in the middle of the day.
Brauj or the ground husk of wheat, is usually given to sick horses on account of the supposed advantage of
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rdaxUig the bowels, but it must not be constant or even frequent food, as ,it produces indigestion from its accumu- lation in the large intestines. Bran is useful as an occasional aperient in the form of a mash^ but never should become a regular article of food.
Odff.-^For the assistance of persons whose horses may meet with accidents usual in a stable, desirous to know the treatment immediately necessary, in the easiest and common- est forms, and where' professional advice is not directly at hand, I have "selected from White* and ^ The Horse,'' a few remarks and prescriptions, and add^d to these some of my own, which may serve our purpose in a general work on Domestic Economy.
The first thing to be done is to remove care- Broken knees, fully all extraneous matter, washing the wound clean with warm water, and taking care that no gravel or dirt remains. If the joint is .penetrated, a poultice must be first applied; this will prevent or reduce inflammation. If the joint has been opened, the orifice must be closed, and every attention paid to prevent the escape of the fluid which lubricates the joint, by the appli- cation of a compress enclosing the wound, and which must not be removed for some days. If it be a deep or extensive wound, goulard poultice is to be applied twice or thrice a day^ taking care to keep it constantly moist, when in two or three days a white healthy matter will appear, and the poultice may be discontinued and simple dressing applied ; but should the wound put on an unhealthy appearance, and the matter become fetid and smelling offensively, add some pounded charcoal finely sifted through muslin to the poultice, and continue this until a healthy action has taken place ; but in aU cases when the disease is of a severe or unusual character, the assistance of a Veterinary Surgeon should be immediately sought, or the best works on the subject consulted. Where there has been only a partial abrasion of the skin.
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carefolly washing the part and applying a little simple oint- menty with about one-eighth part mercnriai, wiH be found all that is necessary. To promote the growth of the hair, the part may be rubbed with any simple ointment containing a small portion of stimulating matter either in the shape of turpentine or blistering fly; a solution of blue vitriol and brandy is perhaps the best application to all bald sur* faces where the roots of the hair still remain.
In recent bruises fomentations are the most JBruUes, essential remedies, and, if extensive, with inflam- mation, it is advisable to bleed moderately near the affected part, and should any hard callous swelling remain in consequence, rub well into the part, twice or thrice a day, some of the embrocations mentioned for bruises.
This operation is performed either with a Bleeding, lancet or fleam. The latter is the most common instrument, and safest in an unskilful hand. A lancet with a spring has long been invented by Mr, Weiss in the Strand, by which a novice may bleed safely from the jugular or smaller vein.
"For general bleeding the jugular vein is generally select- ed. The horse is blindfolded on the side to which he is to be bled, or his head turned well away; the hair is smoothed along the course of the vein with the moistened finger, then with the third and Httle fingers of the left hand, which holds the ' fleam, pressure is made in the vein, sufficient to bring it fairly into view, but not to swell it too much, for then, presenting a round- ed surface, it would be apt to roll or slip under the blow.
"The point to be selected is about two inches below the union of the two portions of the jugular at the angle of the jaw : the fleam is to be placed in a direct line with the course of the vein, * and over its precise centre, as close to it as possible, but its point not absolutely touching
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AND COOKSKT. 39
the rein: a sharp rap with the blood stick, or the hand, on that part of the back of the fleam immediately over the blade, will cat throngh the vein, and the blood will flow. A fleam with a large blade shoidd always be preferred; for the operation will be materially shortened, which will be a matter of some consequence with a fidgetty horse, and a quantity of blood drawn speedily will have iai more effect on the system than double the weight slowly taken, while the wound wiQ heal just as readily as if made by a smaller instrument. A slight pressure, if the incision has been krge enough and straight, and in the middle of the vein, will cause the blood to flow sufi&ciently fast ; or the finger being introduced into the mouth, between the tusks and grinders, and gently moved about, will keep the mouth in motion, and hasten the rapidity of the stream by the action and pressure of the neighbouring muscles.
''When sufficient blood has been taken, the edges of the wonnd should be brought closely together, and so kept by a sharp pin being passed through them ; round this a piece of twine, tow, or a few hairs from the mane of the horse, should be wrapped so as to cover the who le of the incision, and the head of the horse tied up for several hours, to prevent his rubbing the part against the manger.
''Few directions are necessary for the use of the lancet. Those who are competent to operate with it will scarcely require any. If the point be sufficiently sharp, the lancet can scarcely be too broad-shouldered, and an abscess lancet will generally make a freer incision than that in com- mon nse/'
PHYSICKING.
A horse should be carefully prepared for the action of physic.
Two or three bran-mashes, given on that or the pre- ceding day, are far from sufficient. When a horse is about to be physicked, whether to promote his condition, or in obedience to custom, mashes should be given until
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the dung becomes softened; a less quantity of pbysio will then suffice, itnd it will more quickly pass through the in- testines, and be more equally diffused over them. Fi?e drachms of aloes, given when the dung has thus been soften- ed, will act much more effectually, and much more safely, than seven drachms, when the lower intestines are obstruct- ed by hardened faeces.
On the day on which the physic is given, the horse should have walking exercise, or may be gently trotted foi a quarter of an hour, twice in the day; but after the physic begins to work, he should not be moved from his stall. Exercise then would produce gripes, irritation, and possibly dangerous inflammation. The common and absurd practice is to give the horse most exercise after the physic has begun to operate.
A little hay may be put into the rack; as much mash may be given as the horse will eat, and as much water with the coldness of it taken off as he will drink. If, however, he obstinately refuses to drink warm water, it is better that he should have it cold, than to continue with- out taking any fluid; but he should not be suffered to take more than a quart at a time, with an interval of at least an hour between each portion. A table-spoonful of pounded black salt mixed with the horse's gram, and given morning and evening for a few days, will act as a mild aperient, and generally be found sufficient to keep him in good health and condition.
May be used either for the evacuation of the Clysters bowels, or for soothing or nourishing a horse. Where a regular machine is not pro- curable, a large bladder with a wooden pipe may be used^ or a kid skinned, without perforating it, is an immediate substitute even for the bladder. The principal art in ad- ministering a clyster, consists in not frightening the horse. The pipe, well oiled, is to be very gently introduced, and the fluid not too hastily thrown up, and the heat should
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be as nearly as possible that of the intestine^ or about 96'' of Fahrenheit's thermometer.
Two ounces of soft or yellow soap, dissolved
Aperient in a gallon of warm water. For a more active
CljfsUr. aperient— Eight ounces of Epsom salts^ or even
of common salt^ dissolved in the same quantity
of water. . If nothing else can be obtained^ warm water
may be employed..
If an injection of a soothing nature is required^ it may consist alone of plain congee (rice water) ; but if a purg- ing be great or difBcult to stop^ add four ounces of pre- pared or powdered chalk to the congee^ made thicker with two scruples, or a drachm, of powdered opium.
Open the pores of the skin, promote perspi- F(nMnia' ration in the part, and so abate the local swelling, tunu. relieve pain, and lessen inflammation. They are rarely, if ever, continued long enough, and when they are removed, the part is left wet and uncov- ered, and the coldness of evaporation succeeds to the heat of fomentation. The perspiration is thus suddenly check- ed, the animal suffers considerable pain, and more injury is done by the extreme change of temperature, than if the fomentation had not been attempted.
Fomentations may be made by boiling Neem leaves, poppy heads, marsh mallow roots, to a strong decoction, and then applied — even boiling water is useful.
Are made by pouring boiling water on bran
Maties and stirring it well, and then covering it over
until it is sufficiently cool for the horse to eat.
They are very useful preparations for physic, and they are
necessary during the operation.
A stale mash should never be put before a horse, as it soon turns sour.
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Is purely a local disease^ and arises from Mange bad feeding and little attention being paid to the animal; it is contagious^ and may there- fore attack horses in good condition.
A cure for Mange. — ^Fig leaves beat to a pulp, and soaked one night in Tyre (butter milk), will in three ap- plications cure the most inveterate state of this disease.
When the bars, or roof of the horse's mouth Lampas. near the front teeth, become level with or higher than the teeth, he is said to have the lampas, and he feeds badly in consequence. Same burn down the part with a red-hot iron; but the best practice is to make a few incisions across the bars with a penknife^ or lancet, not too deep, and rub the parts with a little salt; this will cause the swelling to subside^ and relieve the inflammation.
Are fomentations of the best kind, continued Poultices much longer than a simple fomentation can be. The moisture and warmth are the principal use of the poultice; and that poultice is the best for general purposes in which moisture and warmth are longest retain- ed. A poultice, if applied to the legs, should never be put -on too tight, so as to prevent the free circulation, or too hot, so as to give pain and increase inflammation.
The best poultices are made from coarse wheat flour and linseed meal. Bran is objectionable from its becom- ing soon dry.
Are inflamed tumours, produced by the un- Saddle equal pressure of the saddle, and, if neglected^ Galls often become troublesome sores, and are a con- siderable time in healing. As soon as a swell- ing of the kind is observed, cold lotions should be appli- ed and kept constantly wet, or if matter is formed, it must be opened and let out, and poultices applied. Should a
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bard swelling remain after the inflammation is in a great measure reduced, recourse must be had to a blister, and after dress with simple ointment. In the first instance of a gall being discovered, a strong solution of salt and water will be generally sufficient.
The saddle must be looked at> and the stuffing renewed.
The attack of this disease is always sudden,
Gripe9,or and. proceeds from various causes. Sometimes
Spasmodic from drinking a large quantity of cold water,
CdUc. when the body has been heated and the blood accelerated by violent exercise. In horses of a delicate constitution, that have been accustomed to warm clothing and a hot stable, it may be brought on by drink- ing very cold water, though they have not been previous- ly exercised. Bad hay is another cause of the complaint; but it frequently occurs without any apparent cause. Colic sometimes follows the exposure of a horse to the cold air, or a cold wind after violent exercise.
The symptoms are, first, the horse begins to shift his posture, look round at his flanks, paw violently, strike his belly with his feet; voids small quantities of excrement, and makes frequent and fruitless attempts to^ stale ; lies down, rolls, and that frequently on his back. In a few minutes the pain seems to cease, the horse shakes himself and begins to feed, but on a sudden the spasm returns more violently, every indication of pain is increased, he heaves at the flanks, breaks out into profuse perspiration, and throws himself more violently about. In the space of an hour or two, either the spasms begin to relax, and the remissions are of a longer duration, or the torture is aug- mented at every paroxysm, the intervals of ease are fewer and less marked, and inflammation and death supervene. A powerful remedy is three ounces of Oil or Spirit of Tur- pentine with an ounce of Laudanum, mixed with ghee or oil. If relief be not obtained in half an hour, the horse ahould be bled freely, as far as three quarts, as it may
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relieve or mitigate inflammation^ and a clyster given, com- posed of congee (rice water) with a handful of common salt. If it be a clear case of colic, half of the first dose maj be repeated with an ounce of Barbadoes aloes dissolved in a little warm water. The belly should be well rubbed by two persons, one on each side, and the horse afterwards walked about or trotted moderately.
When reb'ef has been obtained, the horse must be rub^ bed dry, plenty of litter given him to rest upon, and have bran mashes for the next two or three days.
As the treatment for colic would be fatal in inflamma- tion of the bowels, the distinguishing symptoms are here given : —
Colic. Inflammation of the JBotceli,
Sudden in its attack. Gradual in its 'approach, with
Fulse rarely much quickened in previous indications of fever,
the early stage of the disease, and Fulse very much quickened,
during the intervals of ease, but small, and scarcely to be felt,
evidently fuller. Legs and ears of Legs and ears oold.
the natural temperature. Eelief Belly exceedingly tender, and
obtaiued from rubbing the belly. painful to tbe touch.
Relief obtained from motion. Motion increasing the pain.
Intervals of rest. Constant pain.
Strength scarcely affected. Kapid and great weakness.
The causes of inflammation are, most frequently, sudden exposure to cold, over-feeding, having been some hours without food, and then allowed to drink freely of cold water; — ^stones in the intestines are an occasional cause, and colic, neglected or wrongly treated, will terminate in it.
The treatment must be early and copious bleeding, ap- plication of blisters to the abdomen, or else mustard em- brocation assiduously rubbed upon it, and if the horse is costive, a pint of castor oil mixed in congee must be ad« ministered by a clyster, and his legs well rubbed by the hand, and plenty of litter for the animal to lie down. If^ after these remedies have been applied^ the disease appear to continue in violence, the pulse become quick, weak, and
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flattering^ so as scarcely to be felt, or if there appear a remission or cessation of pain, or the horse become delirious, these are always fatal symptoms, denoting that mortification is taking place; but should the pain continue after the above remedies have been fairly tried, an anodyne clyster may be injected.
Are bony excrescences about the shank bone. Splints i. e.f between the knee and fetlock joint. They
never occasion lameness, unless situated so near the knee, or back sinews, as to interfere with their motion, and are invariably found on the outside of the small bone, and generally on the inside of the leg.
The treatment is simple; — shave the hair closely off lound the tumour, rub in a little strong mercurial oint- ment for two or three days, and follow it up with an active blister; — sometimes a second may be necessary.
Consists in a discharge of fetid matter from T%rusi the cleft of the frog. When the frog is in a sound state, the cleft sinks but a little way into it, but when it becomes contracted, the cleft extends in length, and penetrates to the sensible horn within ; from this fissure the thrushy discharge proceeds. When the complaint attacks the fore feet, it is seldom an original disease.
The treatment consists in first removing every part of the loose horn, and keeping the frog moist, and introdu- cing as deeply as possible a pledget of tow or lint covered vith an ointment, composed of one ouuce of blue and white vitriol rubbed down with two pounds of simple oint- ment or lard, to which is added one of tar; at the same time giving the horse a gentle laxative, and nothing is better than a table-spoonful of pounded black salt, morn- ing and evening, mixed with his gram. When the disease exists in the hind feet, the same attention is necessary, keeping the bowels moderately open, and applying the as- tringent ointment. This treatment will be assisted by gentle exercise, and frequent hand-rubbing to the legs.
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46 * INDIAN DOMESTIC EOONOMY
There are three kinds found in the horse;
Worms, the most mischievous reside in the stomach,
and are named bots, they attach themselves to the
stomach at the sensible part^ and do great injury, occasioning
emaciation, a rough staring coat, hide-bound, and a cough.
2nd. A long white worm, much resembling the common earth-worm, six to ten inches long, which inhabits the small intestines; a dose of physic will sometimes remove incredi- ble quantities.
3rd. A smaller dark-coloured worm, called the needle worm, inhabits the large intestines; they cause great irri- tation about the fundament, and are very troublesome to the horse. Their existence may generally be discovered by a white powder found about the anus. They may be re- moved by an injection of linseed oil, or an ounce of aloes dissolved in warm water.
Cure for long White Worme^
White Arsenic, - - - - 5 to 8 grains. Cantharides finely powdered, • 6 to 10 grama.
Sulphate of Iron finely powdered, - 1 to 2 drachms. Ginger powder, - - - ] drachm.
Tartarized Antimony, - - - 1 do.
To be given with his gram for a fortnight ; mix with the powder a little Boosa.
Purgative Balls. No. 1. No. 2.
Barbadoes Aloes, 5 dr. Barbadoes Aloes, 7 dr.
Prepared Natron, 2 dr. Castile Soap, \ oz.
Aromatic Powder, 1 dr. Powdered Ginger, 1 dr.
Oil of Caraways, 10 drops. Oil oif Caraways, 10 drops.
Syrup enough to form a hall for one dose.
No. 3.
Barbadoes Aloes, 1 oz.
Prepared Natron, - . - . 2 dr.
Aromatic Powder, - - . - - 1 dr. Oil of Anise Seeds, .... lo drops. Syrup enough to form a hall for one dose.
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Tonic Balls. Yellow Peruvian Bark, 6 dr. Powdered Opium, -
Gascarilla, - - - 1 dr. Prepared Kali, - -
Syrup enough to form a ball for a dose.
idr.
1 03.
No. 1. Cummin Seeds, Anise Seeds, and Caraway Seeds, of each. Ginger, - - - Treade enough to make it of a proper consis- tence for balls. The dose about - -
No. 3.
Cummin Seeds, Corian- der Seeds» and Cara- way Seeds, of each.
Grams of Paradise, -
Cassia^ ...
Cardamom Seeds and Saffron, of each,-
liquorice dissolved in White Wine, - -
Syrup of Saffron enough to form a mass. The dose about -
Cardial Balls.
No. 2. Anise Seeds, Caraway Seeds, Sweet Fennel 4 oz. Seeds, and Liquorice
2 oz. Powder, of each, -
Giuger and Cassia, of each, - - - Honey enough to form 2 oz. them into a mass.
The dose about No 4. Powdered Ginger, Powdered Caraway Seeds, 4 oz. Oil of Caraways, and
1 oz. Oil of Anise Seeds, of i oz. each.
Liquorice Powder, -
2 dr. Treacle enough to form a mass.
4 oz.
Hoz.
2 oz.
4 oz.
2 dr. 8 oz.
4 oz.
2 oz.
No. OamphoT, Oil of Turpentine, 8oap Liniment,
Mix.
Embrocation for Bruises.
L. No. 2.
- \ oz. Tincture of Cantharides, 1 oz. 1 oz. Oil of Origanum, - 2 dr.
- \\ oz. Camphorated Spirit, 6 dr .
Mix.
Mustard Ewirocation.
No. 3. Moriate of Ammonia, - Distilled Vinegar, - Spirit of Wine, - Biix.
No. 4.
1 oz. Camphor, - - - 1 oz.
8 oz. Spirit or Oil of Turpentine, 2 oz. 6 oz. Water of Ammonia; - - 2 oz.
Flour of Mustard, • - 8 oz. To be made into a thin paste, with water, and rubbed for a con- siderable time on the part.
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48 INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMT^AND COOMRY.
BlUtering Ointment. No. 1. No. 2.
Spanish Mies powdered, \ oz. Oil of Turpentine, - - 1 ox. Oil of Turpentine, - 1 oz. To which add gradually Ointment of Wax or Vitriolic Acid, - - - 2 dr.
Hog's Lard, - - 4 oz. Hog's Lard, - - . 4 oz. Mix. Spanish Flies powdered, - 1 oz.
No. 3.
Common Tar, - • 5oz.
Vitriolic Acid, 2 dr.
Oil of Origanum, - - - • - -^oz. Hog's Lard, - - - • - - 2 oz.
Spanish Flies, powdered, H or 2 oz.
Add the Vitriolic Acid gradually to the Tar, and then the rest of the ingredients.
Alterative BaU. Socotrine Aloes, - . - - - - 1 oz.
Castile Soap, IJ oz.
Powdered Ginger and Myrrh, of each, - - J oz. Syrup enough to form a mass, to be divided into six balls.
Lotiane.
The strength of these often requires to be altered. Where the inflammation and irritability of the part are considerable, they must be diluted with an equal quantity of water ; but if the inflammation be subdued, and a swelling and ulceration remain, the alum solution cannot be made too strong.
Astringent Lotion. No. 1. No. 2.
Alum powdered, - - 1 oz. Alum powdered, - • 4 ou.
Vitriolic Acid, - - 1 dr. Vitriolated Copper, - \ oz.
Water, - . - . 1 Pint. Water, - - - li Pint.
No. 3.
Sugar of Lead, 4 oz.
Vinegar, 6oz.
Water, 1 oz.
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CHAPTEE IV-
»>•» ECONMT.
DAIET UTENSILS, Etc.
These, for holding the milk or setting the Pom. cr^am, should be of tin, or glazed ware: the
objection to the latter, if common, consists in the surface being easily chipped, and from its porousness the vessel acquires a greasy scent, which no washing will remove, as the milk from time to time soaks into the sub- stance of the pan, and then, becoming stale, gives a very disagreeable taint to the milk or cream. The very best dishes for setting milk in, are the real common China, pro- curable in the bazars at the presidencies and large towns, or else tin pans.
Brass vessels may be used, but they must be kept perfectly sweet and clean, the pans well scalded and washed previous to their being used, as also every other utensil, lotah, chum, cloths or sieve, spoons, &c. In fact, cleanliness is necessary with aU articles destined for the use of the dairy; and without, it is impossible to succeed.
Milk should be kept where there is a free circulation of air, and covered with gauze or wire screens, to keep off fliesj &c. Previous to setting milk for cream, dip the pan in cold water, and if required for table-use, take care to skim it before the milk gets in the least sour, which, in warm weather, soon takes place.
When the butter is taken from the chum, the smaller the quantity of water used in preparing it, the better.
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50 INDIAN DOMBSnC ECONOMY
The batter should be placed on a board or dish in a sloping position^ so that the butter-milk may run off, and then by means of a flat stick the mass must be pressed, rolled, and beaten; then sprinkle over it a little salt, .and renew the process of pressing until no more butter-milk appears, and the butter shall have become firm, when form it into shape for use. The chief essential in preserving butter, is to remove all the milk, and this can only be done by working it well; water remaining in the butter is as bad, as it soon undergoes decomposition : hence butter to be preserved sweet should never be kept in water, but in a vessel that is porous, with a damp cloth round it, and in a free circulation of air.
Those who desire to possess the luxuries of* a dairy, such as butter, cream, and milk, in perfection, should keep their own milch cattle, or else, if the milk is purchased, have the animals brought to their doors, and there milked; even then if the people are not looked after, they will bring water in the lotahs, and adulterate the milk; however, care 'will prevent this fraud. The next precaution if you buy your milk is to see that you get the milk you actu- ally order, or pay for; the buffalo-milk being so much cheaper, they often mix it with the cow^s and sell it as such. If you keep your own cattle, you possess the ad- vantage of being able to turn the produce of your dairy to account. The various modes of using the milk will suggest themselves after the butter is made and the fa- mily wants supplied, the remainder being converted to economical purposes, as the milk or whey may be mixed with grain or bran for feeding poultry, pigs, &c. Skim- milk in this country is of no other lise, as it soon turns sour from the heat.
Pill your pan two-thirds full of new milk,
SealdedCream. and place it at a proper distance over a
dear charcoal fire, and with a gentle heat;
let it warm gradually for about SO minutes^ when the
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Maiding will be complete; if allowed to go beyond a certain point the cream will not rise properly^ and it is spoilt. Remove the pan steadily^ and set it to stand dnr« ing the night, the following morning the cream may be taken off. It may be scalded by setting the milk in tin pans over boiling water; the precise moment for remov- ing the milk can only be ascertained by practice.
The milk must be set for about twelve
Devmshire hours; the vessel containing it is then placed
Clotted over a very slow fire or stove, without shak-
Cream. ing, or disturbing it as little as possible; the
cream then rises gradually to the top, and
forms a thick mass when it is cool; the cream is to be
removed and set aside for butter or other purposes.
Boil two seers of morning's milk slowly leUow until it is reduced about one-fourth, stir it
Butter, constantly while boiling and cooling, until it is cold, in the warm weather, but if in the cold season, leave it lukewarm; cover the milk with a cloth tied o?er the vessel, until the afternoon, when treat the even- ing milk in the same manner, and nux them both togeth- er, adding about two table-spoonfuls of the morning's batter-milk, kept for the purpose.
In the morning chum it, adding every now and then a Httle cold water while churning. This quantity of milk ought to yield one chittack of butter to the seer.
Obs. — In warm weather, the milk after boiling may be left to set by itself with a cloth tied over it; but in the cold weather, you must set the vessel containing the milk upon hoi embers, so as to keep it a little warm all night; of course, if you purchase your milk, the best plan is to set the whole quantity at once in the morning: more butter-milk is required to be added in the cold sea- son than in the hot.
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52 INDIAN BOVEITIC ECONOMY
This for families is made either from pure Butter. cream^ or the cream and milk together^ with which a small quantity of the previous day's butter-milk has been mixed at the time of setting, a table- spoonful to each seer of milk is sufficient. The natives do it otherwise, by first smoking the inside of the chatty in which the milk is kept; it is said that more butter is procured by this means^ but it always retains the smoky flavour, and is the cause of the milk having the same, when brought to persons on a joomey or march, if notioe of its being required has not been previously given.
The best method of preserving butter is to Buttery to have every particle of water worked out of it preserve, with a wooden spatula, and then mixed with it a few black pepper corns that have been washed and dried; put the butter into a jar, and lay over the top a small quantity of moist sugar placed in a bag or between two folds of linen. By this means butter may be preserved in travelling many' days.
Way is to clean your butter well; mix with
Another a very little salt; put it into a porous vessel,
and keep cool with wet doth round it, or else
in a cooling machine. (See Coolers.) Butter gets rancid
sooner by being kept in water, than when dry.
Ohe. — Butter if melted at the very lowest temperature and set to cool, so that the water separates entirely from it, will keep for months.
The milk is first strained into flat pans or From Cream dishes, which should never be deeper than two or three inches. Tin pans are preferable, as they are easily kept sweet and clean, besides not being so readily broken. The round or oval shape admits of being skimmed with ease, if a small quantity of cream is only used, such as is given from two or three seers of milk;
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a large fruit bottle answers all the purposes of a chum. Of cotirse, if a large quantity, then a churn must be used : it seldom is necessary to add any thing to the cream to give it acidity.
The bottle is beat upon a roll of cloth made with coarse canyas until the butter is formed into flakes, the butter- milk withdrawn^ and a little cool water substituted; this is again shaken in the bottle till the butter is in a mass, changing the water two or three times; when the butter is taken out^ put into a basin, and work it with a fiat piece of bamboo or stick similar to a paper cutter; after' it has become as firm as the weather will permit^ it is transferred to the butter pot or plate, and formed into any fanciful shape of a flower or cone, and put on the breakfast- table. If the butter is intended to be kept, a little salt may be added.
04f. — Cream that is moderately sour makes sweet butter, and it is generally so after standing twenty- four hours. The cream may be either from cow's or buffalo's milk.
The general custom in this case is to From Milk and simmer the milk over a chafing dish or Cream. brazier with clear coals, but of course your kitchen fire will answer, only remember the milk must never boil, or be. removed out of the pan it is warmed in. A small quantity 6f the previous day's butter- milk saved on purpose is then thrown into it; the following morning the whole is put into the churn, and the butter is made in the usual manner. If the butter is made from buffalo -milk, a little colouring is given by soaking the seed of the sappun, Bixa Orellana, or a little saffron — though the latter is too dear for general use.
Take any quantity of buffalo or cow's
jkotierjromelot- milk, let it stand for three or four
ied Cream in a hours, then simmer it gently over a
few minutes. charcoal fixe, taking it off before it
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64 INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMY
is at the boiling pointy and not on any account shake or disturb it in removing the pan to the shelf it is to stand upon. The cream that will rise is a very good imitation of clotted cream, and will be fit for use, if for eating, in twelve hours, but if required for but- ter may stand for twenty-four. Skim it carefully, put it into a bottle with a wide mouth, and shake it well, the butter will come in a few minutes. When travelling, if the cream is thus put in a bottle and care- fully suspended on a camel or other cattle, the butter will be ready on your reaching the end of the stage — this I believe to be a common custom with officers march- ing in India.
Is prepared by boiling butter over a dear Ghee fire until every particle of water is evaporat-
ed, it will then keep good for years. If ghee has a rancid flavour or is tainted, which is often the ease when procured from the bazaar, it may be rendered sweetj by boiling it with a handful of Moringa leaves ; this is the tree the root of which furnishes a substitute for horse ' radish.
Cheese
Is only made in this country as cream-cheese, or fresh curd.
Take any quantity of good cream, hang it in Cream a coarse cloth (that has been dipped in scald- Cheeee. ing water and wrung out) for about twelve hours, then line with cloth a small fine bamboo basket made on purpose, or a tin mould — the shape rpund or ob- long, with about an inch and a half rim, and the bottom perforated with holes; place the cheese in it, and turn the ends of the cloth over it. Put on a light weight, and turn the cheese carefully once in twelve hours, sprink- ling a little fine salt over it; in four or five days it may be used.
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Take six seen of new milk^ put it in a Rt9k saucepan over a slow fire» then mix in by
CAeeie. degrees a coffee cup-M of white salt, stir- ring the milk the whole time^ until it is near- ly boiling; take it off> poar it into a dish, and let it stand until cool, add half a tea-cup of sour butter- milk and squeeze a little lime juice into it and let it remain twenty-four hours, then remove the curd from the whey, put it into a towel or cloth, ini hang it to ^drain ; when the whey has run off, give the curds a shake in the doth so as to bring all into a mass, put it, with the doth it is in, into a bamboo basket or frame, and place a weight of about six pounds upon it, with a thin board between, the following day the cheese may be turned and salt sprinkled over it. In three or four days it is fit for eating, though it is better for being kept longer.
To the same quantity of mUk add a pint of Jnoiier* cream, turn it with rennet or by any other means, let it stand for twenty-four hours before removing the curd, put the whole into a towel tied mo- derately tight to strain, shaking the sides of the cloth to bring the cheese together; when the whey is aU out torn the cheese into your frame lined with cloth, and treat it as last directed; this from the addition of cream will be richer than the last.
06s. — ^If from any unknown cause you find the curd has fermented or has a honey-comb appearance, your cheese will not be so firm or good.
Take the stomach of a calf four or five Bennei, <f weeks old, remove the curd, wash the bag takes, and replace the curd with a handful of salt
pg or kid. and the juice of four or more limes, tie it up so that none of the juice escapes, then cover it well with salt, and lay it in a deep dish, and, let it dry, or eke stretch it out on sticks for the same purpose. When
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66 INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMT
required for use^ cat a bit with some of the curd and soak it in salt and water. The stomach of a young sack- ing pig, kid or lamb answers as welL Wash it dean in a strong brine of salt and water^ and return the maw as with the calfs stomachy treating it exactly in the same manner with plenty of salt. The usual application is as follows. The night before cheesemaking, one or two inches of the' maw should be cut oS, and steeped in a few table spoonfuls of warm water; on the following morning the liquor is strained off and poured into the milk; one inch is generally held sufBcient to curdle the milk of five English cows. Some put sweet-briar^ cloves^ and variona aromatics into the rennet, for the purpose of imparting a fine flavour to the cheese.
Take the inside skins of fowls' gizzards^ Italian warm a little milk and steep the gizzards,
rennet strain and add it to the milk to be turned into curds — the gizzards after being used, if washed and dried, will answer several times, but it is hardly necessary to take this trouble where fowls are so common, and easily procured.
The dried leaves of the flower of the thistle Vegetable and artichoke coagulate milk, and, form the onlj rennet. rennet principally used in the south of France. The blue flower of the artichoke, if taken if esh or dried, turns milk into excellent curd for cheese or other purposes. A tolah weight of the fresh flowers soaked in two table-spoonfcds of hot water, and strained, is suf- ficient to turn a pint of milk ; two-thirds of a tolah weighty or two English drachms of the dried flowers soaked in a little hot water, and a tea spoonful of salt, turned two quarts of fresh buffalo milk into a rich curd.
Devonshire Turn some new milk, as for curds, in a wide junket. shallow dish; when firm, pour over the top
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AMD COOKSRT* 57
dotted cream mixed with pounded sugar^ a little brandy^ and some grated nutmeg.
Turn some new milk with a little rennet;
Anoiier sweeten some clotted cream, add pounded nut-
jn/nkeU meg or cinnamon^ make it warm, and when
cold, pour it over the curd; and put a little
wine or sugar at the bottom of the dish.
Made bj adding a little butter-milk to warm Tj/re. fresh milk and letting it stand all night; the
whole may be churned for butter, or the top onlj^ as it is the richest and best.
This is made from the first drawn milk
Beastin^f. after the cow has calved — ^it is to be well
sweetened with treacle, then put into a deep
pie-dish and baked, a common preparation both in Devoa-
shire and Somerset.
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CHAPTER V.
SOUPS.
G£N£BAL DiEECnONS.
The great essential in making good And economical soop^ is cleanliness. The utensils must not only be perfectly sweet and clean, but the meat and oth^ kigredient^ well washed to insure success.
In this country, stock must be made as it is wanted, for even in the cold season it will seldom keep sweet till the following day, especially where yegetables are UBed in its preparation. It is therefore necessary, as fresh meat must generally in all cases be used, that the skimming be particularly attended to, and a sufficient time allowed for the juices to be' extracted by slow and careful boiling as well also as for its cooling, that the fatty particles may be removed from the surface, and admit of the sediments, if any fall to the bottom of the liquid, being drawn off clear.
The material for the basis of plain soup should always have its goodness extracted by first applying only a small quantity of water and butter to the meat, the remaining portion of water added, and immediately brought to the boiling point, to raise the scum, and then allowed to simmer gently ; then it is that great attention is necessary in remov- iug all the scum at first as it rises, else it settles over the meat, and the soup is never dear. This must be continued whilst any remains; a little cold water thrown in, will cause more scum to rise, should there be any.
Bich and high-seasoned soups have a much stronger flavour when the meat is stewed with herbs and butter
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INDIAN DOMESTIC SOONOMY AND COOKBRY. 59
previotts to sioek or water being added^ than when the latter is at onee pat to the meat^ and, as is often the eas^ kept at a boiliag rate, tliroughout the whole process, by which means the flavonr and juice is not half extracted, and th^ meat rendered tough. The ingredients for season* ing soup should be so equally proportionate, that, when mixed, no particular flavour predominates.
Presh lean juicy meat is always to be preferred for clear soups ; fat meat is not so good, and stale meat makes the broth grouty and bad tasted, besides wanting in its juices and strength. Whenever esculents, such as cabbages, endive, spinach, or any others are used, they should be first blanched in boiling water to remove the bitter and strong taste. It is sometimes necessary to boil them in one or two waters for this purpose, or they cannot be used.
Soups that have vegetables in them will seldom keep beyond the next day, but on no account must they be allowed to remain m any metal vessel, but kept in earthern jars or pans. Whatever vessel is used for preparing soup, care must be taken that the lid fits close and well, to pre- vent the quick diminution of the soup, though sometimes it is necessary, if the soup is weak, that the cover should be removed to allow the steam to pass off and reduce it : the proportion of water is about a quart to a pound of meat, if the steam is retained by having a close fitting eover so that the broth sbwly evaporates. Soup may also be made in a jar covered with paste, or folds of paper, and the jar boiled in water or baked in an oven. Chicken broth made in this way is superior.
Sauces, ketchups, fee, should only be put to weak soups diat require a flavour to be given to them. Huch as are made from calves' and sheep's head, cows' heels and calves' feet, require flavouring additions; where wine is used a glass mixed with the sauces, and put into soup just before it is finished, (to prevent its tasting raw,) will go as far as a pint that is boiled with the soup, and which, if given to the cook, seldom ever finds its way to the soup ketde.
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Broth^ to contain the pure juices of the meat^ must be boiled gently, until it is tender; as the flavour can only be extracted bj very slow simmering; those seasoned with vegetables and herbs, and thickened by using flour, arrow- root, rice, potatoe, starch, bread, sago, &c., are ^pcidedly the most wholesome. £efore vegetables or herbs are added to the broth, be careful that they are perfectly clean.
If broth is carefully skimmed, it will be clear enough without clarifying, which in a great degree impairs tiie flavour. To clarify broth» beat up the white of an egg, and add it to the broth, and stir it with a whisk, when it has boiled a few minutes, strain it through a tammis or napkin. Thickening may also be done by stewing the meat down to a gelatinous consistence*
PAKTICULAa DlKECnONS.
White Soxtps may be flavoured with cream, egg, almond, spices, white wine, celery, white pepper, salt, &c. The thick- ening made of bread, arrowroot, flour, almonds, cream, mashed vegetables^ such as potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, turnips, pumpkin, &c.
Brown Soxtps may be flavoured with sauces, ketchup, essence of anchovy, soy, herbs^ vegetable essences, vegetables, wine, vinegar, &c., and coloured with toasted bread, burnt sugar, fried onions^ or brown sauce: if the soup has by any means acquired a burnt taste, a little sugar will re- move it.
The liquor in which mutton^ beef or pork has been boiled^ if -the latter is not too salty may be converted into very good plain economical soupy by adding vegetables fried in butter or ghee^ and thickened with a little arrowroot or flour made into a paste with some of the broth; it must then be boiled up again to take off the raw taste of the same.
By attending to these few directions, any person may produce good palatable broths and soups, and vary them to any extent by a little judgment: at the same time it
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nuist be remembered that the relish is lost if the soup be oold^ th^efore never poor it into the tureen until it is to be pnt on the table.
The principal agents employed to flavour soups and sauces, are ijashrooms, onions, anchovy, lemon juice and peeU or vinegar, wine^ (especially good daret,) sweet herbs and savoury spices.
Broih heris, So/up rooU, and Setuonings,
|
Scotch Barley. |
Tomata. |
CherviL |
|
Bread. |
Celery. |
Shallots. |
|
Bioe. |
Common thyme. |
Champignons. |
|
Potatoe Mucilage. |
Mushrooms. |
Leeks. |
|
Carrots. |
Celery seed. |
Cress seed. |
|
Pearl Barky. |
Lemon thyme. |
|
|
Raspings. |
Orange thyme. |
Nutmeg. |
|
VcrmiceUi. |
Gariic. |
Allspice. |
|
Beet-root. |
Parsley. |
Clove. |
|
Hour. |
Knotted marjoram. |
White pepper. |
|
Peas. |
Sage. |
Cinnamon. |
|
Maccaroni. |
Bay leaves. |
Mace. |
|
Turnips. |
Burnet. |
Ginger. |
|
Oatmeal. |
Lemon peeL |
Black pepper. |
|
Beans. |
Mint. |
|
|
Isinglass. |
Winter Sav(»ry. |
Essence of anchovy |
|
Parsnips. |
Tarragon. |
Lemon juice |
|
Cucumber. |
Sweet Basil. |
Seville Orange juice |
These materials, combined in various proportions, added to wine or mushroom catsup, will give to broths and soups a variety of the most agreeable and pleasant flavours. .
Cut a few carrots and turnips into narrow Soup h la slices or ribbands, divide two or three heads of Julienne, celery and the same number of onions (with a few leeks), cut these about an inch long, and a quarter of an inch wide, and the same in thickness. Put into a stewpan two spoonfuls of butter and lay the vegetables over it. Fry the whole over a slow fire, stirring
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it gently all the while till of a nice brown. Moisten the vegetables with veal gravj^ chicken or mutton broth ; season to your taste with salt and pepper, and let it boil at the side of the fire ; skim off all the fat as it rises^ and add a little sugar to take off the bitter taste of the vegetables. 04*. — Green peas, French beans, some lettuce or sorrel, may be added.
Scald and clean the giblets of a goose or Oiblel Soup, a pair of ducks ; stew them in water, a pint for each set, till they are quite tender, or with a neck of mutton, or a couple of pounds of gravy beef, three onions, a buijich of sweet herbs and four pints of water, stew them until the gizzards are quite tender, then remove and set aside ; add more stock if necessary to the soup. Flavour with mushroom or Harvey sauce, and a little butter rolled in arrowroot or flour to thicken it.
Take four heads of celery, two carrots, two Prussian turnips, two onions and lettuce, cut them all Sottf, up into small pieces, and fry in a little ghee or dripping. Take a seer of mutton, cut it into slicesy put all together in a large saucepan, and keep it sweating for an hour without any water, then pour on two quarts of water, shut the lid of the saucepan dose, and simmer gently for two hours longer and serve up.
This may be considered the very best of white Almond soups, and to make it well, great care is necessary. Soup. See that the soup kettle has been well tinned and well cleaned, or all your labour will be in vain. Clean sweet towels are also essential, spoons and ladle. Make your stock of the knuckles of veal and fat^ with a slice of ham or bacon, season it with thyme or any sweet herbs, using also white pepper. If you have not veal, neck of mutton with sheep's feet will answer, only be careful to skim off all the . fat» &c« Have ready
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a fowl nicely boiled^ and when the stock is finished^ say enough for six persons^ take the meat off the fowl, cut it ap into slices or bits, and pound it well in a marble or large clean mortar* Then take four ounces of blanched almonds, pound them up fine, and mix with the pounded meat of the fowl, adding six table-spoonfuls of cream or Tery rich buffalo milk — if milk is used, add the yolk of an egg or a couple— -rub the whole through a sieve or coarse doth; when this is done, take as much arrowroot as you conceive necessary to give a prefer consistency to the soup*— a table-spoonfol is enough; this must be mixed with a little of the stock, then add the whole together, atirring it carefully, but do not let it boil, else it will curdle.
Take three quarts of good white stock, made Another either of fowl, veal, rabbits, or aheep's head and White feet, or the liquor in which a calPs head has Soup. been boiled; put one pound of lean veal, some
slices of ham, two or three whole onions, a head of white celery and a large carrot, a banch of parsley, and three blades of mace, boil one hour; strain and add to the liquor the white part of a cold roast or boiled fowl, (or pheasant) finely pounded, about two ounces of sweet almonds blanched and pounded, and the pounded yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Bub the whole through a sieve or coarse open-textured doth. Mix the yolk of six eggs, well beaten, with one pint of boiled cream and a table-spoonfd of arrowroot, add it to the soup. Stir it over the fire until thoroughly hot, but on no account let it boil, or else it will curdle; then add a little salt and a tea-spoopfol of sugar.
Obs. — Two or theee table-spoonfuls of butter may be added to the cream instead of arrowroot, and a few peach kayes substituted for the almonds, but the latter must be boiled in the stock.
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Make a clear broth from the head and iSeel Artichoke of a sheep or from the remains of any cold Soup, Je- meaty or a large roast fowl will answer ; have rusalem. ready the following vegetables, which dean and cut up into slices : one head of celery ; carrots, turnips, leeks and onions, two of each ; stick ludf a doeen cloves in the latter, and put the whole into a stewpan with the consomme, (or the cold roast fowl cut up,) to which add from two to three quarts of broth; boil the whole gently for a couple of hours, and skim off the fat as it rises. Take two pounds of Jerusalem artichokes, wash and peel them clean, free from all skin and colour ; put them into a stewpan with some broth, and boil till they are sufficiently tender to rub through a cloth; strain the remainder of the broth and add the artichokes with a little salt, after which return the whole into the stew- pan and give it a boil up, taking off any scum that rises; then mix with it a pint of boiling cream in which the yolk of an egg or two has been beaten. Serve with or without toasted sippets of bread.
Take three quarts of plain good veal or mutton Another broth, add the following vegetables, sliced : two way. onions sthck with a few cloves, two carrots,
two turnips, a head of celery ; boil the whole very slowly down to one half, and remove any scum that rises ; take at least a pound and a half of artichokes that have been carefully scraped and cleaned; boil them in some broth, then rub smooth in a mortar, and pass the whole with the remainder of the broth through a tammis ; have ready a pint of rich milk thickened with arrowroot and the yolk of two eggs to the consistence of cream ; add this to the soup, with a little salt, and serve up hot.
Asparagus This is made only with the green tops, in Soup, the same manner as pea soup. Having pre-
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pued two quarts of veal or mutton brotb^ take a pint and a half of the green tops^ cut about two inches in length and boil them in water with a little salt; then mb two-thirds through a cloth or sieve and thicken the broth with it; the remainder chop up to the size of peas, and lastlj put with the soup before serving, that thejr may be as firm as possible.
Take a leg and shin and break the bones BetfBouiUi of the formerj or else eight or nine pounds and Soup. of the brisket, put it into a soup kettle, or stewpan, with a sufficient quantity of water to oover it well; set it on a quick fire to raise the scum, which remove as it rises j^ add two carrots, the same of onions, turnips, and two heads of celery, with a little parsley, and spice, also a slice or two of lean ham if you have it by you, or an anchovy; let the whole simmer gently for four or five hours; season with all* spioe and black pepper ; then carefully remove the meat and keep it warm, whilst getting ready the following vegetables: take a large carrot, an onion, a turnip and a head of celeiy; put them into the soup and boil till tender ; then take them out and cut the whole into slices ; thicken a part of the gravy with flour and add the veget- ables; give the whole a warm up, and pour the sauce over the meat if served whole, if cut into slices pour the sauce and v^etables round it.
A few chopped capers or some mushroom catsup may be added, and the bouilli may be served on stewed red cabbage flavoured with vinegar. If you wish to have soup as well> strain the soup through a sieve or coarse cloth into a clean saucepan, put the vegetables cut into the soup after the fat has been removed, and flavour the soup with a glass of port wine, some pepper and mushroom catsup, and thicken it if required with three or four spoonfuls of flour, or a sufficient quantity of arrowroot robbed up in butter, or a little of the clear fat from
I
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the top quite smooth; stir it by degrees into the soap and simmer for ten minutes longer; brown a little pound* ed sugar at the fire and put it to colour, if necessary.
Take a leg (and cut the meat into pieces), or Betf gravy, four or five pounds of gravy beef, lay it in a stewpan, properly tinned, with half a pound of ham or lean bacon, a large carrot, a head of celery, an onion with a dozen cloves stuck in it, some black pepper and a little sugar ; moisten it with a pint of broth or water; cover the stewpan dose and set it over a moderate fire; when the broth is so nearly reduced as only to save the ingredients from burning, prick the meat with a knife and shake it about so as to brown it equally all over; then gradually add^a pint or more of boiling water for each pound of meat ; let the whole stew gently from four to five hours, and skim it well at inter« vals that it may be very clear, then strain it through a fine napkin, and set it in a cool place; when cold, take off all the fat.
Oitf.— -Particular care is necessary, during the process of browning the meat, to prevent it sticking to the pan and acquiring a burnt taste; also if the water is pour- ed in too soon, the colour and flavour will be injured; and if by accident it is at all muddy, it can only be converted, by thickening, into some other soup.
This may be made to approach very near-
Imitation ly in flavour the genuine oyster. Having pre-
OysUr pared a good white stodc or consomme (a full
Soiip. quart), take and blanch two ounces of shelled
almonds (sweet) and pound them to a paste
with a little water; then rub it with a half pint of
cream, or rich milk, through a cloth or sieve; mix up
two table-spoonfuls of anchovy sauce, three of mushroom
catsup, one of vinq;ar, three of white wine, a quarter of
a nutmeg grated, and the yolk of two eggs well beaten
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with a table-spoonful of arrowroot or fine flour; add this to the consomme^ with the abnonds and cream^ and give the whole a boil up; season only with pepper and a little mace.
Clean the head and feet of a calf; then Mock scald off all the hair in boiling water^ scrap-
turtle, ing it well with a knife ; when the head and feet are properly cleaned and the fat remov- edy split the head open, take out the brains and lay them aside; put the head with about five quarts of clear water into the soup kettle, with a dose-fitting lid, and let it boil gently until the head is sufficiently done^ so that the meat separates from the bone; if half the head is required for a side dish, you must remove it before quite so much done, with the tongue, but do not take away the bone; set this on one side, and let the othw half simmer a little longer; when ready, remove the whole of the skin and meat, and reduce the broth to about a couple of quarts, or one half; strain it through a thick wet doth and set it to cool. Take the meat, cut it into slices of half an inch square, and set it on one side. Boil the feet down into a jelly of a quart or more, strain it and let it stand to cod, when you can remove the fat and scum if any. Now take the brains, which have been previously boiled, set apart half for sauce for the remainder of the head, and with the other portion add crumbs of bread, yolk of ej^, black pepper and salt; bind the whole with a little flour, and make into balls the size of marbles and fry in hot ghee to a nice brown. Then take 6ome veal, fowl or fish, chop it up fine, pound it in a mortar, to which add chopped parsley, or lemon thyme, some crumbs of bread, marrow, ved udder or suet, the yolks of eggs, a little sdt and pepper, with a little flour to bind the whole; make this into bdb and fry of a rich brown* Then make some egg-balls and keep the whole on one side till the soup is ready for serving; now brown your stock
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68 INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMY
with roax, add the jelly from the feet with four table- spoonfuls of mushroom catsup, one of anchovy saace, three glasses of Prench claret, or two of white wine, a blade of mace, half a grated nutmeg, some black pepper and a table-spoonfol of sweet basil, wine or vinegar, or two or tliree of the fresh leaves not more ; give the whole a boil up with the slices of the head. Then put the force meat balls into the soup tureen with the juice of a lime, and pour the soup over it. Bed pepper is an improvement, which can be added at pleasure.
Take the head and feet and clean them as Another directed in the last receipt, also a pound of
way. ' pickled pork, which soak, and wash ofTall the salt; put the whole into a soup kettle with a couple of onions stuck with cloves, some lemon thyme« a leaf or two of sweet basil, a stick of celery and a blade of mace ; add about six or seven quarts of water and boil very gently until the meat is tender; separate the meat from the bones and cut it into small pieces; return the bones into the soup and let it stew for some time longer until sufficiently reduced ; then set it to cool, remoTe all the fat and strain it : colour the soup, add the wine and sauces, with the force meat and egg baUs, as directed in the last receipt.
Obt.^-Two sheep's head with eight feet, dressed in a similar manner, will make excdilent imitation mock turtle. The skin of the head may be made to resemble the green calapash, by colouring it with spinach juice after it has been cut into pieces.
Make two quarts of a rich stock with a Carrol Soup, shin of beef, a quarter of a pound of lean ham, a fowl, some sweet herbs, cloves, two onions, black pepper, and salt, with a head of celery; strain; let it stand; when cool, remove all the fat. Clean and boil till tender, twelve good sized carrots^ poand them
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in a mortar, and rab through a tammis into the soup, gi?e it a boil and serve. Oil.— A spoonfol or two of mushroom catsup improves it.
Make some good clear mutton broth, CveMmierand about three quarts or more, from the neck Pea Soup. and head, a thick slice of lean bacon, an onion stuck with four or five cloves, a carrot, two tonupsy a little salt and a few sweet herbs^ strain it, and brown with an ounce of butter, and the crumb of a French roll, to which add four cucumbers and two heads of lettuce cut small; let them stew a quarter of an hour in a quart of the broth; when it boils, put in a qnart of green peas ; and, as it stewst add the remainder of the broth.
To every pound of eels add a quart of water, EdStmp. an onion, some sweet herbs, a cm^t of bread, some mace,* pepper and salt, and let the whole boil until half the liquor is wasted; then strain and serve up with toaated bread. If the soup is not rich enough, tticken with flour and butter.
To the liquor in which eels have been boiled, IdSoup, add a small bunch of parsley and a couple of pkm. green onions. Let it boil for ten minutes, then put in a thickening of fiour rolled in butter, with a little salt ; continue the boiling until the rawness of the floor is gone ; add a small quantity of white pepper, and poor into the tureen. Have ready the yolk of one ej^ beaten up and stir it in the soup.
To make a tureenful, take a couple of middling
FiikSaup. sized onions, cut them in halves, and across,
two or three times; put two ounces of butter
into a stewpan^ when it is melted, put in the onions, stir
them about till they are lightly browned. Cut into pieces
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three pounds of unskinned eels (or other fish), pat them into your stewpan and shake them over the fire four or five minutes, then add three quarts of boiling water, and when it comes to boil, take the scum ofT verj dean ; then put in a quarter of an ounce of the green leaves (not dried) of basil or winter savory, the same of lemon thyme, and twice the quantity of parsley chopped, two drachms of allspice, the same of black pepper ; cover it close and let it boil gently for two hours, then strain it ofF, and skim it very clean. To thicken it, put three ounces of butter into a clean stewpan ; when it is melted, stir in as much flour or arrowroot as will make it of a stiff paste, then add the liquor by degrees, let it simmer for ten minutesj and pass it through your sieve, then put your soup on in a clean stewpan, and have ready some little square pieces of fish fried of a nice light brown. The firied fish should be added a little before the soup is served up. Force meat balls are sometimes served with it.
Take two ounces of any fish — crayfish, Fisk force metU lobster, shrimps, or oysters, free from skin ; far Soup. put it in a mortar with two ounces of fresh butter, one ounce of bread erumbs9 the yolk of two egg^ boiled hard, and. a little eshallot, grated lemon peel, and parsley, minced very fine; then pound it well till it is thoroughly mixed and quite smooth; season it with salt and cayenne to your taste, break in the yolk and white of one egg, rub it well together, and it is ready for use. Oysters parboiled and minced fine, and an anchovy may be added.
Take three pounds of any fish, cut it into Fi$l Soup. pieces and place them in a stewpan with two anchovies, some onions, parsnips, turnips, celery^ and sweet herbs, and three quarts of boiling water. Stew altogether for two hours, then strain and season with white pepper and salt to taste. Put some force meat balls in
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the sonpj with the crust of a !French roll, and let it sim- mer for a quarter of an hour before serving np.
Cnt half a pound of ham into slices, and Gravj^ Soup, lay them at the bottom of a large stewpan clear. or stockpot with two or three pounds of lean
beef, and as much veal ; break the bones and lay them on the meat ; take off the outer skin of two large onions and two turnips, wash dean and cut into pieces a couple of large carrots and two heads of celery, and put in three cloves and a large blade of mace ; cover the stewpan close, and set it over a smart fire. When the meat begins to stick to the bottom of the stewpan, turn it, and when there is a nice brown ^ glaze at the bottom of the stewpan, cover the meat with hot water, watch it, and whep it is coming to a boil, put in half a pint of cold water, take off the scum, then put in half a pint of more cold water, and skim it again, and continue to do so till no more scorn rises. Now set it on one side of the fire to boil gently for about four hours, strain it through a dean tammis or napkin (do not squeeze it, or the soup will be thick) into a clean stewpan, let it remain till it is cold, and then remove all the fat. "When you pour it off, be cuefdl not to disturb the settlings at the bottom of the pan.
Take three pints of large peas of a nice Oreeii Peaa green colour, boil them with a quarter of Soup. a pound of butter and a handful of parsley
and green onions over a slow fire till thorough- ly stewed; then put them into a mortar, and pound them well, rub them through a tammis and moisten with good eonsomme; leave it on the comer of the fire, for if it boils the peas will lose their green colour. Just at the moment of sending up, put in slices of bread nicdy fried and cut in dice shape.
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Tske a couple of hares^ skin and wash the Hare Soup* inside well, separate the legs, head, shoulders, &c* ; put them into a saucepan, with a couple of onions stuck with cloves, a bundle of parsley, « sprig or two of thyme, two or three leaves of sweet basil (Suffidd Toolsie), and a blade or two of mace, with half a pint of broth or port wine; put the whole over a slow fire or stove, and simmer with the saucepan covered close for one hour; then add a sufficient quantity of good broth to cover* the whole, and continue to boil it gently until the meat is quite tender. Then remove it from the broth, and strain the latter through a doth or sieve, and soak the crumb of a small loaf in it* Then remove all the meat from the bones of the hares and pound it in a mortar until fine enough to be rubbed through a sieve or tammis; moisten this with the broth and season with a htile mushroom catsup. Care must be taken not to make the soup too thick, by adding a larger quantity of meat than is necessary. If the soup has to be warmed up again, it must not be allowed to boil.
Odtf.— When it is possible, the blood of the hare should be preserved in a basin until the soup is about to be serv- ed ; then pour the blood to it by degrees and stir it weU till it is thickened, but take care it does not curdle. This makes the soup of a black colour. A few scollops may be set aside for adding to the soup before serving.
Take two or three hares, cut them into Anoiher. pieces and put them with a small shin of
beef, or a cow-heel, into a kettle with , six seers of water, some herbs, a large onion and a blade of mace; simmer gently over a charcoal fire until the gravy is strong; then take out the back and legs, cut the meat o£F, return the bones, and continue stewing till the meat is nearly dissolved. Then strain the gravy, and put a glass of port wine to every quart of soup, add pepper and salt ; give it a boil up with the meat for a few minutes, and serve.
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Obs. — ^An Indian bare will not make more than a basin
of lK)1]p.
Skin and clean out the inside of three Queen Sanp^ fowls or chickens ; let them be washed in warm water ; stew for an hour with sufficient strong veal broth to cover the meat^ and a bunch of parsley. Take out the fowls, and* soak the crumb of a small loaf in the liquor ; cut the meat off ; take away the skin and pound the flesh in a mortar, adding the soaked crumb and the yolks of five hard boiled eggs ; rub this through a coarse sieve or tammis, and put into it a quart of cream that has been previously boiled.
Take three quarts of veal broth^ put it Lobster Soup, into a stewpan with some onions^ celery, carrots, parsnips^ a bunch of sweet herbs, three anchovies, or a red herring, stew gently for two hours, strain, then add to the soup the meat of three lobsters cut small, and thicken with butter rolled in flour ; if there is any spawn, bruise it in a mortar, with a little floor and butter, rub it through a sieve and a^d it to the soup. Let it simmer very gently for ten minutes ; it must not boil, or. its red colour will be lost : turn it into a tureen, add the juice of a lime with a little essence of anchovy.
Obs, — ^The stock for this soup may be made of fish instead of veal gravy.
9
Half an ounce of vermicelli or maccaroni
Maeearoni or is enough for each person. First break it
Vermicelli into its proper length, then wash it in clear
Soup, water to remove any dirt or stale flavour;
strain and put it into some boiling broth
that has been flavoured with a stalk of celery. Make some
good consomme with a shin of beef and a couple of calves'
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feet or half a dozen sheep's trotters^ five seers of water, carrots, turnips and onions, sliced, six of each, some sweet herbs, black pepper, salt, and a small spoonful of sugar ; simmer all very gently for five or six hours ; then strain and set it to cool ; remove the fat, add the maccaroni or vermicelli, and give the whole a w&rm up. Serve with a French roll or croustades. Italian paste may be prepared in the same manner.
Boil the eggs until quite hard, throw them
Egg Balls into cold water, remove the white and pound
for Soup, the yolks in a mortar, working them with the
yolk of a raw egg to bind, roll them up firmly
into small sized balls and boil them.
Oh. — Salt, pepper, cayenne, chopped parsley, and flour may be added.
Boil two roots of large sized beet, rub off JBeet-root the skin with a towel and mince finely with' Soup* two or three onions* Add five pints of good rich gravy soup, then stir in thr^e table- spoonfuls of vinegar and one of moist sugar ; let it boil. If not thick enough, add a little arrowroot or flour. Throw in some veal force meat balls rolled in flour.
Take four or five onions and four cloves Mulligataw- of garlic, slice them very fine, and put them ney Soup, into a stewpan, with a quarter of a pound of butter. Take two chickens, or a rabbit, a fowl, some beef, or mutton, and cut them as for fricassee ; season with a little white pepper ; lay the meat upon the onions ; cover the stewpan closely, and let it simmer for half an hour. Having prepared the following ingredients well ground or pounded in a mortar, add them with two quarts of clear gravy, and let it simmer for half an hour, adding during the last five minutes, the juice of a lime with a little flour or surrowroot.
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Inffredienia,*
Turmeric 1 Tolah. Salt 1 Tolah.
Cajenne Pepper.... .....1 Massa. Fenugreek \ Tolah.
Coriander Seeds 4 Tolahs. *Currj pak leaves, four or five
Black Pepper 1 Tolah. to be added whilst boiling.
Cut up a large fowl, or four pounds of the Anoiier. breast of mutton or veal into slices^ put the trimmings into a stew pan with two quarts of water, a few corns of black pepper, and some allspice; when it boils, skim it clean, and let it boil gentlj an hoar or more; then strain it off; take some of the bits of the meat and fry them of a nice brown in butter, with three or four sUced onions; when they are done, put the broth to them, put it on the fire, skim it clear, let it simmer half an hour, then mix two spoonfuls of curry powder and a little flour or arrowroot with a tea-spoon- fol of salt, and a sufBciency of water to thicken the soup, and let it simmer gently till the meat is quite tender; and when it is ready, a few curry pak leaves, dried, may be added to flavour it.
Cut up a fowl in slices, with four large onions Another. and . half a dozen cloves, put into a stewpan with two table-spoonfuls of butter; and when melted, and the meat and onions are nearly browned, add three table- spoonfuls of curry powder or the ingredients for No. 1, with a tea-spoonful of salt and a cup of tyre, or two spoonfuls of Bruce's Madras MuUigatawney paste. Stew gently until a rich smell issues from the pan; then add three pints of good broth, veal or mutton, and let it simmer for twenty minutes. Thicken with a little flour or arrowroot mixed in cold broth or butter, with the juice of a lime, a few minutes before serving. A few pak leaves may be added.
* Native name, Kodia neem.
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Clean and cut up the bird, separate all the
Pea-fowl joints, put into a stewpan with four quarts of
Mulliga- water, a few corns of black pepper, and some
tatoney* allspice ; when it boils, skim it clean, and let
it boil gently for two hours or more ; then
strain it off. Take some of the bits of meat and fipy
them of a nice bro¥ni in' butter with three or four sliced
onions ; when they are done, put the broth to them, put
it on the fire, skim it clean, let it simmer half an hour,
then mix two spoonfuls of curry powder, and a little flour
or arrowroot with a tea-spoonful of salt, and a suf&ciency
of water to thicken the soup, and let it simmer gently
till the meat is quite tender, and it is ready. A few
pak leaves may be added to flavour it.
Take a handful of cut nolecole, carrots, tur- Meagre nips, celery or any other vegetables ; blanch, and Soup, fry them with a large proportion of onions, in butter or ghee ; dredge with flour, and put them with fish stock ; and let it simmer till the vegeta- ble dissolve. Have ready bread or vegetable to put into the soup.
Slice, very thin, twelve large onions, one
A Meagre turnip, two carrots, and two heads of celery ;
Onion Soup, fry them in half a pound of butter until quite
brown; add four quarts of boiling water, four
anchovies, four blades of mace, a few pepper corns, some
salt, and two rolls of white bread or a small loaf. Boil
all together till reduced to a pulp; strain, set it on the
fire, skim and thicken with the yolks of six eggs, serve
with fried bread or French roll.
Take six table-spoonfols of clean ghee.
Another Soup or melt the same quantity of butter in a
Meagre, stewpan; add, sliced, three or four onions,
a couple of heads of celery, two or three
turnips, some cabbage, spinage, parsley, thvme or any other
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herbs; set them over the fire to stew gently for half an hour; then add by degrees two quarts of water^ and sim- mer until the vegetables are quite tender; season with mushroom catsup^ pepper and salt. Serve with slices of toast at the bottom of the tureen.
Prepare meat^ vegetable, or fish stock, and Ogiter Soup, season it well without salt. Boil down a few oysters for thickening, and, if necessary, some white meat or fish, and panada farce may also be made of the fish. If the oysters are very large, they must be cut in two, as every thing in the soup should be nearly the same size; rub the thickening through a tammis with a httle , of the soup ; every quart of the soup will require • about half a pint of oysters. All fish soups may be flavored with ketchups, anchovy, lemon pickle, soy, &c. &c.
One tail is sufficient to make soup for four Ox-tail Soup, or five persons ; divide the tail at the joints and soak tliem in warm water ; if the bones are partially sawed across they will give more strength ^ to the soup. Put into a stewpan the slices of the tail and fry them a little; then add a few cloves, with a couple of large onions, a bunch of sweet herbs, some black pepper and a blade of mace; cover the whole with water, and as it boils, keep removing the scum whilst any rises; then replace the cover close and set the pot on the side of the fire to sinmier gently for two or three hours until the meat is tender, when remove it and cut it into small pieces, laying them on one side ; strain the broth through a cloth or sieve ; add a glass of wine with a couple of spoonfuls of mushroom catsup, Harvey sauce, or soy ; return the meat into the soup and give it a boil up. If you wish the soup to be thick, take a couple of spoonfuls of the clear fat that has been removed, mix it into a paste with flour and add the warm broth by degrees, stirring it quite smooth, and let it simmer for a short time; or add, a tittle arrowroot with the wine and sauce. Have ready
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< some nicely cut carrots, turnips, and small onions, prepared and boiled previously, which add to the soup a minute or two before serving.
Obs. — Two or three slices of bacon or ham, laid at the bottom of the stewpan with the meat, will increase the flavour of the soup.
Take a pint of split peas or dh&Il, steep DAdll or split them in cold water for an hour or two, PeasSoujo. put them into a saucepan with a quart of water, and boil them until they can be pulped through a sieve or coarse cloth; then add them to some good broth that has been seasoned, with a little ham, or the root of a salted tongue and a head of celery, and boil toge&er for a few minutes. Serve up with fried bread and powdered mint in a separate plate.
Take lean bacon or ham (half a pound) Anothif way. cut into slices, water four quarts,, split peas or dh&ll one pint which have been soaked for two hours, one head of celery, carrots, turnips and onions sliced two of each, add pepper and a littlt salt ; put the whole into a stewpan and set it on the fire; when it boils take it off, then let it simmer by the fire three or four hours until the peas or dh&ll are quite tender, when serve with toasted bread.
Take two ounces of rice, pick it clean and ^e Soup, wash it in several waters till no dirt remains. Blanch it in boiling water and 'drain it. Then take some nice broth, season it well, throw ihe rice in, and let it boil; but not so as to be much done; for if it breaks, the appearance is spoilt.
Peel and wash well four dozen sticks of rhu-
JiAuiarb barb, blanch it in hot water three or four
Soup. minutes, drain it on a sieve, and put it in
a stewpan with two ounces of lean ham, and
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a good bit of butter* Let it stew gently over a slow fire till tender; then put in two quarts of good conso'mme, boil about fifteen minutes, skim off all the fat, add two or three ounces of bread crumbs ; season with salt and cay« enne pepper, 'pass it through a tammis, and serve up with fried bread.
Make a stock with either veal or mutton. Turnip only be cautious that it is clean, and clear, Soup. not greasy. Let the turnips be only sufficiently
boiled to rub smoothly through a tammis, coarse doth, or hair sieve; add a little sugar, and a suf- ficient quantity of arrowroot or pounded rice flour to thicken it; season with pepper and salt. Mushrooms, if fresh, may be boiled in stock, but they must be of the button sort, or the stalks of mushrooms very nicely cleaned.
Prepare a stock of fish or meat, fia-
Praum, Cray- voured with an onion, some parsley, a
fish or Shrimp little thyme and black pepper, to each
Soup. ^ quart allow a pint or more of fish, that
have been boiled in a little water with
salt and vinegar, remove and save the shells, pound up
one half of the fish with the crumb of a roll or the same
quantity of panada, and moisten this with the liquor in
which the fish were boiled, by first pouring it over the
shells in a sieve, then add gradually the stock seasoned
with some anchovy, and lime juice; or vinegar. If not
thick enough, mix a pat of batter, rolled in flour or
arrowroot, set the soup on the side of the fire, add the
remaining fish, chopped to a proper size, with the tails
of the cray-fish, and spawn, if any.
Skin and ^lit the head, then take the brains
Sheets head out, and soak it in water all night; put
Sovp. five quarts of water to it (after having taken
it out of the water in which it was soaked)
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80 INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMT
and boil till the scum rises to the top, which most be taken off ; then add an onion, carrot,* and turnip, and let it simmer for three hours, or till the meat is quite tender. Then take out the head, and thicken the broth with a little oatmeal, pearl barley, or rice flour, boil- ing it about ten minutes.
Beef one seer, rice a quarter of a pound.
Beef Soup. potatoes, turnips, and onions, sliced, of each
three; add pepper and salt. Boil in eight
pints of water until the scum rises, which must be taken
off; then simmer until it is reduced to six pints.
Are essentially neessary to some soups Force-meat and most made dishes. The chief art in or Farces compounding them consists in due propor- tions of the materials employed, and the care taken to make them well, so that no particular flavour preponderates; much depends upon the savouriness of the dish to which a zest is to be added : some only requiring a delicate farce, others a full and high seasoned. As Kit- chener observes, ''that which would be used for turkey would be insipid with turtle," therefore, the great neces- sity of attending to the proper seasoning proportions and consistency.
"When the force-meat is made of fowl, there is one-third fowl, one-third panada, and one-third of marrow, kidney fat, veal udder or butter. This is the French method, but whatever kind of fat is used the proportion is a third, the seasoning should be the same as that used in the dish, with the addition of a little cayenne and mixed trufile or savory powder to raise it. "When the propor- tions are made, they are all to be put in a mortar with the minced sweet herbs that have been cooked in butter, white pepper with spices, and pounded together with a raw egg beat up and dropped in with a little water by degrees, ' until the whole forms a fine paste. Test it by rolling a
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AXD COOKERY. 81
little bit in flour, and poach it in boiling waler or the fryingpan; if it is too stiff, put a little more water into the mortar, and beat it again, and if too soft, add ano- ther egg, or more. The balls must never be made larger than a common marble, and should be either fried or boiled according to the sauce in which they are served ; previous to frying or dressing, roll them in a little fine flour.
White' meats with ham, tongue, &c. are generally used for fowl^ veal, rabbits, and sometimes for*fish; the pro- portions never vary, being always by thirds.
If two meats are used, such as fowl and tongue, these together only make one-third of the farce. Fish, fruit or vegetables, the same. The balls when made, may be kept in clarified dripping or butter, and warmed when required.
To prepare force-meat, take your meat, clean it from all sinews, cut it in slices, pound it in a mortar, and make into a ball; then take a calfs udder and boil it; when it is done, clean it nicely, cut it also into slices, pound it in a mortar until it can be rubbed through a sieve. All that passes through must be made into a ball of the same size as the meat ; then make the panada as follows— soak crumbs of bread well in milk, then drain ofif all the latter, and put them into a stewpan with a little white broth; then take a little butter, a small slice of ham, some parsley, a clove, a few shallots, a little mace and some mushrooms; put these in a stewpan and fry them gently on the fire. When done, moisten with a spoonful of broth, let it boil gently for some time, and drain the gravy over the panada through a sieve, then place the panada on the fire, and reduce it, stirring it carefully. When dry, put in a small piece of butter, and let it dry further, adding the yolks . of two eggs ; let it cool on a clean plate and use as wanted* in the same proportions as the two other articles.
Crumbs of bread soaked in milk, and strained, may
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8S INDIAN Bonsnc ICOXOHY
be nsed instead of panada, and fat or butter for the calves' udder.
Pound some veal in a marble mortar, rub For Turtle, it through a sieve with as much of the JUoei Turtle, udder as 70U have veal, and about a third ^e. the quantity of butter. Put some bread
crumbs into a stewpan, moisten them with milk add a little chopped parsley and shallot; rub them well together in a mortar, till they form a smooth paste. Put it through a sieve, and when cold, pound and mix all together with the yolks of three eggs boiled hard ; sea* son it with salt, pepper, and curry powder, or cayenne ; add to it the yolks of two raw eggs, rub it well togeth- er, and make small baUs. Ten minutes before the soup is ready put them in.
Take the liver, two ounces of beef suet Stuffing for chopped fine, some parsley, a little thyme or Hare. the peel of a ripe lime cut yery thin and
smaU, pepper, salt and grated nutmeg, two table- spoonfuls of crumbs of bread, a little milk, the white and yolk of an egg well beaten; mix the whole together and take care that it is of a proper consistency ; it must not be too thin; put it into the hare and sew it up; a shallot rubbed down smooth, or half a clove of garHc, will improve the flavour.
Take two ounces of lobsters, prawns, shrimps, Tuh Force' oysters, or of any fish, clean and chop it up, meat. put it into a mortar with two table-spoon-
fuls of fresh butter, some bread crumbs soak- ed in milk, the yolks of two eggs boiled bard, one an- chovy, some grated lemon peel, and parsley chopped fine; season with pepper, salt and allspice, and bind the whole with the white and yolk of an egg, or more if necessary.
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• ANB COOKXRY. 83
Take foui table-spooufuls of clean picked
StvgmgfoT mairow or beef suet, the same quantity of
Tealy Tver- bread crumbs^ a tea-spoonful of chopped pars-
iby, lofwlj ley, thyme, a , small white onion, half a nut-
ifc. meg, grated lemon peel, pepper, salt, and the
yolks of two eggs; mix it well in a mortar;
when ready secure it in the veal or poultry, either with
a skewer, or sew it in with thread. If made into balls or sausages, roll them into a proper
shape^ dust them with flour and fry them of a nice brown;
they are* an excellent garnish in this way for roast poultry ;
cutlets, &c.
These may also be used with white sauce, but then the balls must be boiled; put them into boiling water, and a few minutes will do them.
Take two or three ounces of beef suet and
jMoiherfor the same quantity of crumbs of bread that
VeaL have been moistened in milk ; chop the suet
very fine together with parsley, marjoram or
thyme, grated lemon peel, ground mace pepper and salt ;
pound these well in a mortar and add a little butter, uniting
the whole with the yolk of eggs. A shallot may be added.*
Ob9. — Ham, tongue, grated or potted, may be added to
this farce, to render it more savory.
Prepare the farce the same as for roast
Stuffing for turkey. Clean a dozen or more of oysters
hiikd Turkey, free from beard and add to the stufBing ;
fill the bird with this and sew it up nicely.
It may be served with oyster sauce, parsley and butter
or plain melted butter ; sometimes roast turkey and capons
are stuffed with pork sausage meat.
Goose (nr Chop very fine about two ounces of
Buck stuffing, onions, of green sage leaves about an ounce
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INDLA.N DOMESTIC ECONOMY
(both unboiled)^ four ounces of bread crumbs, the yolk aud white of an egg, and a little pepper and salt.
Boil four eggs for ten minutes, and put Egg Balls, them into cold water ; when they are quite cold, put the yolks into a mortar with the yolk of a raw egg, a tea-spoonful of flour, the same of chopped parsley, a spoonful of salt, and a little black pepper, or cayenne; rub them well together, roll them into small balls (as they swell in boiling) ; boil them a couple of jninutes.
Materials used for Forcemeat^ Stuffing, ^e. Spirits of
|
Common thyme. |
Lemon thyme. |
Orange thyme. |
Sweet marjoram. |
|
Summer and |
Sage. |
Tarragon. |
Chervil. |
|
Winter Savory. |
Basil. |
Bay-leaf. |
/ |
|
Bomet. |
|||
|
< |
Fresh and Green, |
or in dried Powder, |
|
|
Truffles and Mo- |
Allspice. |
Dressed tongue. |
Capers and Pic- |
|
rells. |
Ham. |
kles. |
|
|
Mushroom pow- |
Nutmegs. |
Bacon. |
(Minoed, or pow- |
|
der. |
dered.) |
||
|
Garlic. |
Maoe. |
Shrimps. |
Zest. |
|
Soup herb pow- |
Cloves. |
Oysters. |
|
|
der. |
|||
|
Leeks. |
Curry powder. |
Lobsters. |
|
|
Lemon peel. |
Cinnamon. |
Crabs. |
|
|
Onions. |
Cayenne. |
Prawns. |
|
|
Eshallot. |
Ginger. |
Anchovy. |
|
|
Savory powder.* |
Black or White pepper. |
, |
|
|
Substances. |
|||
|
Flour. |
Boiled onions. |
Mutton. |
Parboiled sweet |
|
Crumbsof potatoes. Parsley. |
Beef. |
bread. |
|
|
Mashed potatoes. |
Spinach. |
Veal suet or |
Veal minced and |
|
Yolks of hard |
Marrow. |
pounded. Pot- |
|
|
Eggs. |
Calfs udder or |
ted meats, &c. |
|
|
brains. |
♦ Stvory powder, dried parsley, winter savory, sweet maijoram, lemon thyme, of each two ouuces : lemon poaL cut very thin and dried, and sweet ba*il, an ounce of each; pound the whole and pass through a sieve, and keep in a bottle closely stopped.
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AND COOKEKY. 85
Liquids. Meat gravy, lemon juice, syrup of lemons, essence of anchovy, the various vegetables, essence of mushrooms, cat- sup, the whites and yolks of eggs, wines, and the essence of spices.
In the highest state of perfection, they To dry Sweet should be cut just before flowering, as they Herbu have then the finest flavour and perfume.
Take care they are gathered dry, and cleaned well from dirt and dust. Cut off the roots, separate the bunches into smaller ones, and dry them in a warm place in the shade or before a common fire ; the sooner they are dried by these means their flavour will be best preserved rather than by drying them in the heat of the sun, which deprives them of their colour, the retaining which is the best test afforded of their being properly preserved ; after which put them in bags and lay them in a dry place. But the best way to pr^erve the flavour of aromatic herbs, is to pick off leaves as soon they are dried, and to pound them and sift through a fine sieve ; keeping them in well closed stopper bottles with brown paper pasted round them.
BROTHS. Take a kunckle of veal, wash it clean, and Teal, crack the bones in two or three places ; put
it into a stewpan and cover with cold water; watch and stir it up well ; the moment it begins to simmer, skim it carefully, then add a little more cold water to make the remaining scum rise, and skim it a^ain : when the scum has done rising and the surface of the broth is quite clear, put in, cut and cleaned, a moderate sized carrot, a head of celery, two turnips and two onions ; cover it close, set it by the side of the fire, and let it simmer very gently (so as not to waste the broth) for four or five hours, ac- cording to the quantity of . meat ; strain through a sieve or tammis ; if to keep, put in a cool place.
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Ob INDIAN DOUESTIC ECONOUT
Obi»— This is the foundation of all sorts of sonps^ brown or whitCj made of beef| mutton or veal.
Clean and divide the chicken into quarters. Chicken Broth, after having removed the skin and mmp ; add a blade of mace, a small onion sliced, and ten white pepper corns, with a quart of water. Simmer till the broth be suffidentlj reduced and of a pleasant flavour, remove the fat as it rises, season wit)i salt, a little chopped parsley may be added.
Put on the broth in a clean saucepan.
To clarify beat up the white of an egg, add it to the
Broth. broth and stir it with a whisk ; when it has
boiled a few minutes, strain it through a
tammis or napkin.
Broth, if carefully skimmed, will be clear enough with- out clarifying, which iu a great degree impairs the flavour.
Is the fat skimmings of the broth pot,
Pot'tqp which when fresh and clear, answer as well as
butter for basting all meats, with the exception
of game and poultry, but if used for common firys, &c.,
require to be clarified*
Is that in which poultry or meat has been
Pot liquor boiled, and may be easily converted into a
plain wholesome soup with the addition of
the trimmings and parings of meat, game or poultry, that
you may happen to be using.
Take a pound and a half of the neck or Mutton Broth loin of mutton, remove off the skin and for the sick, fat, and put it into a saucepan, cover it with cold water a quart to a pound of meat, let it simmer very gently and skim it well, cover it up and set it over a moderate fire where it may remaia
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AND COOKERY. 87
gently stewing for aboat an hour, then strain it off. It should be allowed to become cold, when all the fatty par- ticles floating on the surface become hard and are easily taken off? the settlings falling to the bottom.
Take two pounds of mutton; put it in a Mulian Broth, stewpan, and cover it with cold water ; when the water becomes lukewarm^ pour it ofi^ akim it weH, and then put it back with four pints more water, a tea-spoonful of salt^ a table-spoonful of grits or coarse flour, and an onion; set it on a slow fire, and when you have removed the scum, put in two or three peeled turnips cut in half, let it continue to simmer slowly for two hours, and strain through a clean cloth or sieve.
OU. — ^You may thicken this broth with rice flour, rice, pearl barley, wheat flour, sago or arrowroot. Sprinkle a Uttle chopped parsley into it.
Scald the head in hot water, and scrape
Sieq/siead off aU the hair with a sharp knife; when
Broti. cleared of the wool divide it like a calf s-
head, then put it into the saucepan with
water sufficient to cover it, a couple of onions, a little
vinegar and some salt; as the scum rises, take it off.
When the water begins to boil let it after only simmer until the head is thoroughly done — set the broth to cool, remove all the fat, and strain it, then put it over the fire witli an onion quartered, a carrot cut into slices, a small turnip, and a little parsley. The moment it boils sprin* kle in one quarter of a pound of rice, washed and dried. Season to your taste, and let the soup stew until the rice is done— the same quantity 'of pearl barley may be substi- tuted for rice; if a thick barley soup be desired, add a little arrowroot or a mashed potatoe.
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CHAPTER VI.
FISH.
Fish of every kind are in the best season ' some time before they begin to spawn, and are not good for some time after they have done spawning.
Sea fish should be boiled in clear water, to which salt most be added in the proportion of two table-spoonfuls to a gallon. To make your fish firm and to keep it of a good colour, always boil it in clear fresh water, and be careful that it is nicely cleaned and washed and no particle of blood remaining about it ; then put it into the kettle with salt and water, and as soon as it boils fast, remove any scum that may appear, and slacken it, letting it boil gently so that it may be done throughout ; else the outside will be done too much, whilst the inner wiU be raw. The time it will take to boil must depend upon the size of the fish, and the cook here must be the judge. Fish should never be kept in the water after it is once ready, but remove, and kept warm by steam ; this may be done by placing it in a cloth over the kettle, or else in a dry stewpan in a Bain Marie ; by these means only its flavour and quality can be preserved.
The Pomplet, black and white, is the most esteemed on the western coast of India, and is not unlike a small tur- bot, but of a more delicate flavour. The black seems to be considered by epicures as the finest. The other fish are Tockcore (scarce), Sabb or salmon fish, Bobal, the seer fish, mullet, soles, and some others all very good. The fiumbalo is the favorite with the natives, and caught in immense numbers ; they are dried for consumption as well
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INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMY AND COOKEKY. 89
as the Pomplet, and furnish a principal article of food. Cray fish, crabs, oysters, limpets, prawns and other shell- fish are canght in great abundance. Turtle are sometimes brought to market from the adjacent islands.
In Calcutta, fish are equally plentiful at particular sea- sons, and are most abundant at the latter end and com- mencement of the year, when the following are procura' hie; Becktee, Tobeesah or mango fish, Moonjee or mul- lets, Booe, Cutla, Mirgael, Shoil, Salleah, Baunspattah, Quoye, or carp, Mangoor, Cochea or eels, Baleah, Pairsah, Byue, Khankeelah, Bholah, Singhee, Phankal, Chungnah, Chingree or prawns, Kaikra or crabs, turtle and others of inferior note.
See that your fish is perfectly fresh, clean F«A, to pre- and dry it well, then rub a little moist sugar 9erve, and salt over the throat fins and belly, hang
it up in a cool place with a cloth round it. Fish also cut into strips and hung out in the sun to drj, after being rubbed with sugar and salt, will keep for a length of time, provided it is not allowed to get damp. Two spoonfuls of sugar, with a little salt, are suf- ficient for a fish of eight or ten pounds. If to be kip% pered, a little saltpetre is to be mixed into the sugar, and to be rubbed, finished, and hung as other kippers.
Take any small fish, make a good strong ^ieUe for mixture as follows : — (Put into a stone pan any small or jar a layer of fish, and then one of the fiih. mixture, and so on alternately to the top.)
Two pounds of salt, three ounces of bay salt, one pound of saltpetre, two ounces of prunella with a few grams of cochineal ; pound all in a mortar. The fish should be nicely cleaned^ and wiped dry before salting ; press them down hard, and cover close.
Clean your fish well, cut it into slices, or Broiled. divide it in half if necessary, dry it thorough-
ly in a clean cloth, rub it over with sweet
M
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90 INDIAN BOMESnC ECONOMY
oil, or thick melted butter, and sprinkle a little salt over it ; put your gridiron over a clear fire at some distance ; "when it is hot wipe it clean, rub it with sweet oil or lard, lay the fish on, and when done on one side, torn it gently and broil the other; when in a hurry, dry and flour the fish and chalk the gridiron, and when there is any disposition to stick, loosen them with a knife, turn them, rubbing the gridiron clean.
Beat up two eggs in half a pint of milk ; Batter for add to this six table-spoonfuls of flour, and frying fsL mix the whole together gradually; dip the fish in it just before putting into the fry- ing-pan. This batter is better for being prepared an hour or two before required ; beat it up again previous to the fish being dipped into it; or dip the fish in milk, and shake it, whether whole or in slices, in a floured cloth, and put them into the frying-pan well covered with fat, pot-top is the best, giving a finer colour than oil or any of the other fats ; when they are done, place them on a hot cloth or sieve to drain.
Clean the fish well, then take either some
Native bat- of the flour of gram, rice, or mussoor (dhoU),
ter for fry- mix in it some garlic, onions, green ginger
ing fsL and salt well pounded, also some tyre and
turmeric, which apply to the fish, and fry
it in ghee.
Force any sized carp or fish with high Bate, seasoned farce, brush it over with egg and
butter, lay in a deep dish, and strew in sweet herbs and spices, some chopped anchovies or essence, with wine and stock. Baste it with this while baking, and when ready, take the sauce and reduce it over the fire, . add tarragon or lemon vinegar, cayenne and salt, with a little sugar according to the size or quantity.
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AND COOKERY* 91
After having well cleaned your fish, brush Another. it all over, inside as well, with egg and
butter ; then sprinkle it with salt, pepper^ and pounded allspice, and some chopped sweet herbs, sach as you can procure ; roll, the fish nicely up in plan* tain leaves, and tie them round, put in a deep dish and bake.
Obi. — Murrell and Marsaier may be dressed in any of the above ways, or indeed all our fine Indian fresh water fish.
Is a mode of dressing fresh water fish of Water almost every description ; indeed other fish, such
Souciy as soles, flounders, pomfret, &c. may be similarly
dressed. They must be fresh^ cleaned, and trim^ med. Put them whole in a stewpan and cover with water if small, if large they must be cut in pieces ; boil aU the parings, add parsley leaves and roots cut into shreds, season with pepper and salt, skim it carefully when it boils ; take care the fish is not overdone; nothing else is to be put into it, as its excellence rests in its simple cookery. Send it up in a deep dish or tureen with its gravy, which should be rich and clear, and serve with brown bread and butter.
This fish is generally procurable in the large
Corp. rivers, mostly all the year round, which they
leave at the commencement of the rains to
spawn, and are found in the gravelly beds of the tributary
streams, of a very large size*
Scale and dean your carp, reserving the liver To boil. and roe ; take half a pint of vinegar or more,
according to the size of your fish, add as much water as will cover it, a little horse-radish root (the Moo- risga), an onion or two cut into slices, a little salt, and »me thyme, marjoram or other sweet herbs; boil the fish in this liquor, and make a sauce as follows : — Strain some of the liquor the fish has been boiled in, and put to it the liver minced, a pint of port >vine or chrtt, two or
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9fi INDIAN DOMESTIC XCONOMY
three heads of shallots chopped, or yonng green omons, a table-spoonful of anchovy sauce, or else two anchovies pounded, some salt, black pepper, and cayenne, and a table- spoonful of soy. Boil and strain it, thicken ifc with butter rolled in flour, and pour over the carp hot. Oanush it with the roe fried, cut lemon and parsley.
Obs. — Carp eae not so fine flavoured when full of roe, they are then considered out of condition.
Put your roes into fresh water for half an Carp Roes. hour, change the water, and let them be placed on the side of the fire to whiten, then put them into another saucepan with boiling water and a little salt, let them boil and take them off the fire. Have in another pan, four or more spoonfuls of well seasoned stock. Put in the roes, let them simmer up once or twice, skim, thicken with a little flour, and squeeze a little lime juice over them. Serve hot.
When the fish has been properly cleaned and To Steiv. washed, lay it in a stewpan with half a pint of port or claret, and a quart of good gravy, a large sliced onion, some dozen or so of whole black pepper, the same of allspice, and a few cloves, or a bit of mace ; cover the fish kettle close, and let it stew gently for twenty minutes, or according to the size of the fish. Bemovethe fish and put it on a hot dish, strain the liquor and thicken it with fiour, and season it Vith pepper and salt, anchovy sauce, mushroom catsup and a little chilli vinegar; give this a boil up and pour it over the fish. If there be more sauce than the dish will hold, send the rest up separately.
There are of this kind of fish, two descriptions ;
£eh. a long pointed-nosed eel, and a round-mouthed
one. The latter is esteemed most by the natives,
and sometimes is so fat as to be disagreeable and ranoid ;
. the others are never so*
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AND COOKERY. 93
Clean them well, cut them into pieces of To Fry, three or four inches long, and then score across in two or three places. Season with pepper and salty and dust them with flour, or dip them into an egg nicely beaten up, and sprinkle them with finely grated egg crumbs ; fiy them in fresh lard, dripping or ghee, and let them dry before the fire; dress the roe in the same way.
After they are cleaned and prepared, score BraiL and dip them into melted butter; sprinkle over
them finely minced parsley mixed with pepper and salt and crumbs of bread; curl and broil them.
Clean them well, skin, wash, and cut off their &«/. heads, curl and put them in boiling salt and
water with a little vinegar, garnish with parsley- sauce, parsley and butter.
Prepare them as for frying, adding chopped Sj^ch cock, parsley with the egg and crumbs, broil them over a clear fire, or fry them. The sauce is melted butter and parsley, or catsup in melted butter.
Clean and skin the eels, wipe them dry, and Toi^ew. cut into pieces about four inches long; take two onions, a bunch of parsley and some thyme, a little mace, pepper, and a pint of gravy and two glasses of port wine, and the same of vinegar; let all boil together for ten minutes ; take out the eels, reduce the sauce a little, strain and thicken with a little flour mixed in water; add two spoonfuls of mushroom catsup and one of essence , of anchovies; put in the eels and stew gently till tender. Oi«. — Eels may be roasted with a common stuffing if large.
Take your eels, skin, wash and trim off the
Ed pie. skin; cut them into pieces three inches long,
and season well with pepper and salt (leave
oat the heads and tails). Add a little clear broth and
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91 IKOUN DOMESTIC ECONOMY
cover it with paste; rub the paste over with a paste brush or feather dipped in the yolk of an egg^ bake it, and when done, make a hole in the centre and pour in through a funnel the following sauce:— The trimmings boiled in half a pint of white stock, seasoned with pepper, salt and lemon juice, thickened wth a little butter rolled in flour ; strain, and add it boiling hot.
After it has been perfectly cleaned, tie it CodJUhto up and dry with a cloth, put a good proper- boil. tion of salt in the water, and when it boilsj
remove the scum, put in the fish and keep it boiling very fast for twenty or thirty minutes. Serve with the roe cut in slices and fried; garnish with parsley and horse-radish sauce, melted butter, oyster, or anchovy and butter. Mustard is used by some persons.
Cut the fish either in fillets or slices; fry To stew in them either white or brown, and add equal slices, quantities of rich stock and white or red wine,
a large spoonful of butter rubbed in flour, some spices, sweet h^rbs, and salt ; lay in the fish, and let it stew very slowly. When there is just time to cook some oysters, put them in with their juice. If brown, add a little catsup ; if white a little lemon — ^garnish with parsley, the roe, liver, lemon or pickled cucumber.
Obs. — Or as stewed carp, they may be dressed.
Cut a fresh cod into slices or steaks, lay
To crimp them for three hours in salt and water, adding
cod. a glass of vinegar ; when they may be boiled,
fried, or broiled.
Obs. — Any other large fish may be done in the same way.
Wash them well several times ; pull off all Cod sounds, the black and dirty skin ; blanch or soak them in warm water till cold, then boil in milk and water^ and serve on a napkin with egg sauce.
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Prepare as for boiling ; only, they must Boasted or not be quite done. When cold, make • a baied. force meat of bread crumbs, butter, salt, nut- meg, white pepper, and some chopped oys- ters ; and beat up the yolks of two eg^s to bind it. Lay over the sounds, roll them up, and fasten with a small skewer ; baste them with melted butter, and roll them in finely grated bread crumbs with pepper and salt; roast them in a Dutch oven or bake them; turn and baste them with melted butter, and strew over them bread crumbs as before. When done, and of a nice brown, serve them with oyster sauce in a dish.
After boiling them as above, drain and dust Broiled. them with flour, rub them, over with butter, season with white pepper and salt, and broil them. Serve with the following sauce put over them : a table-spoonful of catsup, half a one of soy and a little red pepper with melted butter; heat and pour over them.
On the Western Coast they are only of a Cra6g» middling size, and not much esteemed: in-
land, they are miserably small, and seldom worth the dressing for table.
Wash them well, tie their claws, and put
To bail them on in boiling water and salt. Boil for
Crabs or twenty minutes or half an hour, according
Lobsters, to their size: rub them over with a little
ghee or butter, and lay them upon their
daws till they become cold.
After the crabs are boiled, break the claws.
Dressed pick out all the meat from them and the
Crais. breast, taking the roe along with a little of
the inside. Keep the shells whole, mince up
the meat, season it with grated nutmeg, pepper, salt, and
wine; mix in some bread crumbs and butter, according
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9b INDIAN DOMESTIC ECONOMY
to the size of the crab ; put it in a saucepan to heat, stir- ring it all the time. "When thoroughly heated, fill the shell, but see that they have been washed clean; put a little puff paste round the edges. Brown them in an oven.
Pick all the meat from the bodies and
To butter Crabs, claws, mince it small, and put it into a
Lobsters or Cray saucepan with two or three table-spoon-
JisA. fuls of white wine, one of lemon pickle,
and three or four of rich gravy, a little
butter, salt, pepper and grated nutmeg, thicken with the
yolks of two eggs beat up, and when quite hot, put into
the shells. Garnish with an edging of bread.
Take out all the meat of either a large Cutlets of crab or lobster, mince it and add to it two Crabs or ounces of butter which has been brown-
Lobsters. ed with two spoonfuls of flour, and seasoned
with a little pepper, salt and cayenne. Add about half a pint of strong stock, stir it over the fire until quite hot; put it in separate table-spoonfuls on a large dish ; when cold, make them into the shape of cut- lets, brush over them the beaten yolk of eggs, dip them into grated crumbs, and fry them of a light brown colour in clarified ghee or beef dripping, place them on a dish with a little fried parsley in the centre.
The thickest part must be chosen and Salt-fish pie. put in cold water to soak the night before wanted ; then boil it well, take it up, take away the bones and skin, and if it is good fish, it will be in fine layers ; set it on a fish drainer to get cold. In the meantime, boil four eggs hard, peel, and slice them very thin, the same quantity of onion sliced, then line the bottom of a pie dish with force-meat or a layer of pota> toes sliced thin ; then a layer of onions, then of fish, and of eggs, and so on till the dish is full; season each lay- er with a little pepper ; then mix a tea-spoonful of made
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mustard^ the same of essence of anchovy, a little mushroom catsap in a gill of water; put it in the dish; then put on the top an ounce of fresh butter, cover it with puiF paste and bake it one hour. All fish for