CHAPTER XXV.

=Pickles.= [Illustration: Mango. ] OBSERVATIONS ON PICKLES. WITH the exception of walnuts,[170] which, when softened by keeping, or by the mode of preparing them, are the least objectionable of any pickle, with Indian mangoes, and one or two other varieties, these are not very wholesome articles of diet,[171] consisting, as so many of them do, of crude hard vegetables, or of unripe fruit. In numerous instances, too, those which are commonly sold to the public have been found of so deadly a nature as to be eminently dangerous to persons who partake of them often and largely. It is most desirable, therefore, to have them prepared at home, and with good _genuine_ vinegar, whether French or English. That which is home-made can at least be relied on; and it may be made of excellent quality and of sufficient strength for all ordinary purposes. The superiority of French vinegar results from its being made of wine; no substitute producing any equal to that derived from the unmixed juice of the grape. In our next page will be found the address of the importers, from whom, or whose agents, we have for several years been supplied with it. Footnote 170: The bitter of the green walnut renders it a fine stomachic. In France a liqueur called “_Ratifia de Brou de Noix_,” is made by infusing the bruised fruit in brandy. Footnote 171: Flavoured vinegars or mustard are more so, and are equally appetising and pungent. Pickles should always be kept quite covered with their liquor, and well secured from the air and from the influence of damp; the last of which is especially detrimental to them. We can quite recommend to the reader the rather limited number of receipts which follow, and which might easily be multiplied did the size of our volume permit. Pickling is so easy a process, however, that when in any degree properly acquired, it may be extended to almost every kind of fruit and vegetable successfully. A few of the choicer kinds will nevertheless be found generally more acceptable than a greater variety of inferior preparations. Mushrooms, gherkins, walnuts, lemons, eschalots, and peaches, for all of which we have given minute directions, will furnish as much choice as is commonly required. Very excellent Indian mangoes too may be purchased at the Italian warehouses, and to many tastes will be more acceptable than any English pickle. We have had them _very_ good from Mr. Cobbett, 18, Pall Mall, whose house we have already had occasion to name more than once. TO PICKLE CHERRIES. Leave about an inch of their stalks on some fine, sound Kentish or Flemish cherries, which are not over ripe; put them into a jar, cover them with cold vinegar, and let them stand for three weeks; pour off two-thirds of the liquor and replace it with fresh vinegar; then, after having drained it from the fruit, boil the whole with an ounce of coriander seed, a small blade of mace, a few grains of cayenne, or a teaspoonful of white peppercorns, and four bruised cochineals to every quart, all tied loosely in a fold of muslin. Let the pickle become quite cold before it is added to the cherries: in a month they will be fit for use. The vinegar which is poured from the fruit makes a good syrup of itself, when boiled with a pound of sugar to the pint, but it is improved by having some fresh raspberries, cherries, or currants previously infused in it for three or four days. TO PICKLE GHERKINS. Let the gherkins be gathered on a dry day, before the frost has touched them; take off the blossoms, put them into a stone jar, and pour over them sufficient boiling brine to cover them well. The following day take them out, wipe them singly, lay them into a clean stone jar, with a dozen bay leaves over them, and pour upon them the following pickle, when it is boiling fast: as much vinegar as will more than cover the gherkins by an inch or two, with an ounce and a quarter of salt, a quarter-ounce of black peppercorns, an ounce and a half of ginger sliced, or slightly bruised, and two small blades of mace to every quart; put a plate over the jar, and leave it for two days, then drain off the vinegar, and heat it afresh; when it boils, throw in the gherkins, and keep them just on the point of simmering for two or three minutes; pour the whole back into the jar, put the plate again upon it, and let it remain until the pickle is quite cold, when a skin, or two separate folds of thick brown paper, must be tied closely over it. The gherkins thus pickled are very crisp, and excellent in flavour, and the colour is sufficiently good to satisfy the prudent housekeeper, to whom the brilliant and _poisonous_ green produced by boiling the vinegar in a brass skillet (a process constantly recommended in books of cookery) is anything but attractive. To satisfy ourselves of the effect produced by the action of the acid on the metal, we had a few gherkins thrown into some vinegar which was boiling in a brass pan, and nothing could be more beautiful than the colour which they almost immediately exhibited. We fear this dangerous method is too often resorted to in preparing pickles for sale. Brine to pour on gherkins:—6 oz. salt to each quart water: 24 hours. Pickle:—to each quart vinegar, salt, 1-1/4 oz.; black peppercorns, 1/4 oz.; ginger, sliced or bruised, 1-1/2 oz.; mace, 2 small blades; bay leaves; 24 to 100 gherkins, more when the flavour is liked: 2 days. Gherkins simmered in vinegar, 2 to 3 minutes. _Obs._—The quantity of vinegar required to cover the gherkins will be shown by that of the brine: so much depends upon their size, that it is impossible to direct the measure exactly. A larger proportion of spice can be added at pleasure. TO PICKLE GHERKINS. (_A French Receipt._) Brush or wipe the gherkins very clean, throw them into plenty of fast-boiling water, and give them a single boil, take them out quickly, and throw them immediately into a large quantity of very cold water; change it once, and when the gherkins themselves are quite cold, drain them well, spread them on sieves or dishes, and dry them in the air. When this is done, put them into stone jars, and pour on them as much boiling vinegar as will cover them well; heat it anew, and pour it on them again the following day; and on the next throw them into it for a minute so soon as it boils, with plenty of tarragon in branches, a few very small silver onions, and salt and whole pepper in the same proportions as in the receipt above. It should be observed that the French vinegar, from its superior excellence, will have a very different effect, in many preparations, to that which is made up for sale generally in England.[172] Footnote 172: We have already spoken in Chapter VI. of the very superior _Vinaigre de Bordeaux_ so largely imported by the Messrs. Kent and Sons, of Upton-on-Severn, and sold by their agents in almost every town in England. It may be procured in small quantities (bottled) of Mr. Metcalfe, Foreign Warehouse, Southampton Row, London, and of other agents, whose names may easily be known by applying to the Messrs. Kent themselves. TO PICKLE PEACHES, AND PEACH MANGOES. Take, at their full growth, just before they begin to ripen, six large or eight moderate-sized peaches; wipe the down from them, and put them into brine that will float an egg. In three days let them be taken out, and drained on a sieve reversed for several hours. Boil in a quart of vinegar for ten minutes two ounces of whole white pepper, two of ginger slightly bruised, a teaspoonful of salt, two blades of mace, half a pound of mustard-seed, and a half-teaspoonful of cayenne tied in a bit of muslin. Lay the peaches into a jar, and pour the boiling pickle on them: in two months they will be fit for use. Peaches, 6 or 8: in brine three days. Vinegar, 1 quart; whole white pepper, 2 oz.; bruised ginger, 2 oz.; salt, 1 teaspoonful; mace, 2 blades; mustard-seed, 1/2 lb.: 10 minutes. _Obs._—The peaches may be converted into excellent mangoes by cutting out from the stalk-end of each, a round of sufficient size to allow the stone to be extracted: this should be done after they are taken from the brine. They may be filled with _very fresh_ mustard-seed, previously washed in a little vinegar; to this a small portion of garlic, or bruised eschalots, cayenne, horseradish, chilies (the most appropriate of any), or spice of any kind may be added, to the taste. The part cut out must be replaced, and secured with a packthread crossed over the fruit. SWEET PICKLE OF MELON. (FOREIGN RECEIPT.) (_To serve with Roast Meat._) Take, within three or four days of their being fully ripe, one or two well-flavoured melons; just pare off the outer rind, clear them from the seeds, and cut them into slices of about half an inch thick; lay them into good vinegar, and let them remain in it for ten days; then cover them with cold fresh vinegar, and simmer them very gently until they are tender. Lift them on to a sieve reversed, to drain, and when they are quite cold stick a couple of cloves into each slice, lay them into a jar (a glass one, if at hand) and cover them well with cold syrup, made with ten ounces of sugar to the pint of water, boiled quickly together for twenty minutes. In about a week take them from the syrup, let it drain from them a little, then put them into jars in which they are to be stored, and cover them again thoroughly with good vinegar, which has been boiled for an instant, and left to become quite cold before it is added to them. This pickle is intended to be served more particularly with roast mutton, hare, and venison, instead of currant jelly, but it is very good with stewed meat also. Small blades of cinnamon, and a larger proportion of cloves are sometimes stuck into the melon, but their flavour should not prevail too strongly. We have found the receipt answer extremely well as we have given it, when tried with small green melons, cut within four days of being fit for table. Melons not quite ripe, pared from hard rind and sliced, 1 or 2: in vinegar 10 days. Simmered in it until tender. In syrup 6 to 7 days. In fresh vinegar to remain. Ready to serve in a month. _A Common Sweet Pickle of Melon._—Prepare the fruit as above. In a fortnight simmer it until tender; drain, and lay it into jars, and pour on it while just warm, a pickle made with a pound and two ounces of coarse brown sugar, twenty cloves, and half a drachm of cinnamon to the pint of vinegar, boiled together for ten minutes. TO PICKLE MUSHROOMS. Select for this purpose the smallest buttons of the wild _meadow_ mushrooms, in preference to those which are artificially raised, and let them be as freshly gathered as possible. Cut the stems off quite close, and clean them with a bit of new flannel slightly moistened, and dipped into fine salt; throw them as they are done into plenty of spring-water, mixed with a large spoonful of salt, but drain them from it quickly afterwards, and lay them into a soft cloth to dry, or the moisture which hangs about them will too much weaken the pickle. For each quart of the mushrooms thus prepared, take _nearly_ a quart of the palest white wine vinegar (this is far superior to the distilled vinegar generally used for the purpose, and the variation in the colour of the mushrooms will be very slight), and add to it a heaped teaspoonful of salt, half an ounce of whole white pepper, an ounce of ginger, sliced or slightly bruised, about the fourth of a saltspoonful of cayenne tied in a small bit of muslin, and two large blades of mace: to these may be added half a small nutmeg, sliced, but too much spice will entirely overpower the fine natural flavour of the mushrooms. When the pickle boils throw them in, and boil them in it over a clear fire moderately fast from six to nine minutes, or somewhat longer, should they _not_ be very small. When they are much disproportioned in size, the larger ones should have two minutes boil before the others are thrown into the vinegar. As soon as they are tolerably tender, put them at once into small stone jars, or into _warm_ wide-necked bottles, and divide the spice equally amongst them. The following day, or as soon as they are perfectly cold, secure them from the air with large corks, or tie skins and paper over them. They should be stored in a dry place, and guarded from severe frost. When the colour of the mushrooms is more considered than the excellence of the pickle, the distilled vinegar can be used for it. The reader may rely upon this receipt as a really good one; we have had it many times proved, and it is altogether our own. Mushroom buttons (without the stems), 2 quarts; palest white wine vinegar, short 1/2 gallon; salt, _large_ dessertspoonful, or 1-1/2 oz.; white peppercorns, 1 oz.; whole ginger, 2 oz.; cayenne, small 1/2 saltspoonful; 1 small nutmeg. MUSHROOMS IN BRINE. _For Winter Use._ (_Very Good._) We have had small mushroom-buttons excellently preserved through the winter prepared as follows, and we therefore give the exact proportions which we had used for them, though the same quantity of brine would possibly allow of rather more mushrooms in it. Prepare them exactly as for the preceding pickle, and measure them after the stems are taken off. For each quart, boil together for five minutes two quarts of water, with half a pound of common white salt, a small dessertspoonful of white peppercorns, a couple of blades of mace, and a race of ginger; take off the scum thoroughly, and throw in the mushrooms; boil them gently for about five minutes, then put them into well-warmed, wide-necked bottles, and let them become perfectly cold; pour a little good salad-oil on the top, cork them with new corks, and tie bladder over, or cover them with two separate bladders. When wanted for use, soak the mushrooms in warm water until the brine is sufficiently extracted. Mushrooms, 1 quart; water, 1/2 gallon; salt, 1/2 lb.; peppercorns, 1 small dessertspoonful; mace, 2 blades; ginger, 1 race: 5 minutes. Mushrooms, in brine: 5 minutes. TO PICKLE WALNUTS. The walnuts for this pickle must be gathered while a pin can pierce them _easily_, for when once the shell can be felt, they have ceased to be in a proper state for it. Make sufficient brine to cover them well, with six ounces of salt to the quart of water; take off the scum, which will rise to the surface as the salt dissolves, throw in the walnuts, and stir them night and morning; change the brine every three days, and if they are wanted for immediate eating, leave them in it for twelve days; otherwise, drain them from it in nine, spread them on dishes, and let them remain exposed to the air until they become black: this will be in twelve hours, or less. Make a pickle for them with something more than half a gallon of vinegar to the hundred, a teaspoonful of salt, two ounces of black pepper, three of bruised ginger, a drachm of mace, and from a quarter to half an ounce of cloves (of which some may be stuck into three or four small onions), and four ounces of mustard-seed. Boil the whole of these together for about five minutes; have the walnuts ready in a stone jar or jars, and pour it on them as it is taken from the fire. When the pickle is quite cold, cover the jar securely, and store it in a dry place. Keep the walnuts always well covered with vinegar, and boil that which is added to them. Walnuts, 100; in brine made with 12 oz. salt to 2 quarts water, and changed twice or more, 9 or 12 days. Vinegar, _full_ 1/2 gallon; salt, 1 teaspoonful; whole black pepper, 2 oz.; ginger, 3 oz.; mace, 1 drachm; cloves, 1/4 to 1/2 oz.; small onions, 4 to 6; mustard-seed, 4 oz.: 5 minutes. TO PICKLE BEET-ROOT. Boil the beet-root tender by the directions of page 329, and when it is quite cold, pare and slice it; put it into a jar, and cover it with vinegar previously boiled and allowed to become again perfectly cold: it will soon be ready for use. It is excellent when merely covered with chili vinegar. A few small shalots may be boiled in the pickle for it when their flavour is liked. Carrots boiled tolerably tender in salt and water may be prepared by this receipt with or without the addition of the shalots, or with a few _very_ small silver onions, which should be boiled for a minute or two in the pickle: this should be poured _hot_ on the carrots. To each quart of vinegar, salt, 1 teaspoonful; cayenne tied in muslin, 1/2 saltspoonful, or white peppercorns, 1/2 to whole oz. PICKLED ESCHALOTS. (_Author’s Receipt._) For a quart of ready-peeled eschalots, add to the same quantity of the best pale white wine vinegar, a dessertspoonful of salt, and an ounce of whole white pepper; bring these quickly to a boil, take off the scum, throw in the eschalots, simmer them for two minutes only, turn them into a clean stone jar, and when they are quite cold, tie a skin, or two folds of thick paper over it. Eschalots, 1 quart; vinegar, 1 quart; salt, 1 dessertspoonful; whole white pepper, 1 oz. _Obs._—The sooner the eschalots are pickled after they are ripe and dry, the better they will be. PICKLED ONIONS. Take the smallest onions that can be procured,[173] just after they are harvested, for they are never in so good a state for the purpose as then; proceed, after having peeled them, exactly as for the eschalots, and when they begin to look clear, which will be in three or four minutes, put them into jars, and pour the pickle on them. The vinegar should be very pale, and their colour will then be exceedingly well preserved. Any favourite spices can be added to it. Footnote 173: The Reading onion is the proper kind for pickling. TO PICKLE LEMONS, AND LIMES. (_Excellent._) Wipe eight fine sound lemons very clean, and make, at equal distances, four deep incisions in each, from the stalk to the blossom end, but without dividing the fruit; stuff them with as much salt as they will contain, lay them into a deep dish, and place them in a sunny window, or in some warm place for a week or ten days, keeping them often turned and basted with their own liquor; then rub them with some good pale turmeric, and put them with their juice, into a stone jar with a small head of garlic, divided into cloves and peeled, and a dozen small onions stuck with twice as many cloves. Boil in two quarts of white wine vinegar, half a pound of ginger slightly bruised, two ounces of whole black pepper, and half a pound of mustard-seed; take them from the fire and pour them directly on the lemons; cover the jar with a plate, and let them remain until the following day, then add to the pickle half a dozen capsicums (or a few chilies, if more convenient), and tie a skin and a fold of thick paper over the jar. Large lemons stuffed with salt, 8: 8 to 10 days. Turmeric, 1 to 2 oz.; ginger, 1/2 lb.; mustard-seed, 1/2 lb.; capsicums, 6 oz. _Obs._—The turmeric and garlic may, we think, be omitted from this pickle with advantage. It will remain good for seven years if the lemons be kept well covered with vinegar: that which is added to them should be boiled and then left till cold before it is poured into the jar. They will not be fit for table in less than twelve months; but if wanted for more immediate use, set them for one night into a very cool oven: they may then be eaten almost directly. Limes must have but slight incisions made in the rinds; and they will be sufficiently softened in four or five days. Two ounces of salt only will be required for half a dozen; and all which remains unmelted must, with their juice, be put into the jar with them before the vinegar is poured on: this should be mixed with spice and mustard-seed, and be boiling when it is added to the limes. LEMON MANGOES. (_Author’s Original Receipt._) All pickles of vegetables or fruit which have been emptied and filled with various ingredients, are called in England _mangoes_, having probably first been prepared in imitation of that fruit, but none that we have ever tasted, bearing the slightest resemblance to it. Young melons, large cucumbers, vegetable-marrow, and peaches are all thus designated when prepared as we have described. Lemons may be converted into an excellent pickle of the same description in the following manner. After having removed from the blossom end of each a circular bit of the rind about the size of a shilling, proceed to scoop out all the pulp and skin with the handle of a teaspoon; rinse the insides of the rinds until the water from them is clear; throw them into plenty of brine made with half a pound of salt to two quarts of water, and stir them down in it often during the time. In three days change the brine, and leave them for three days longer; then drain them from it on a sieve, fill them with bruised or whole mustard-seed, very small chilies, young scraped horseradish, very small eschalots, a little ginger sliced thin, or aught else that may be liked. Sew in the parts that have been cut out, lay the lemons into a stone jar, and pour boiling on them a pickle made of their own juice, which when they are first emptied should be squeezed from the pulp through a cloth, and boiled with sufficient vinegar to keep it,—a large saltspoonful of salt, half an ounce each of ginger and of white peppercorns, and a blade or two of mace to every quart; or prepare them like the whole lemons, omitting the turmeric; and soften them if wanted for immediate eating as directed for them. They may be filled simply with mustard-seed, horseradish, and spice, if preferred so. This receipt has been in print before, but without the author’s name. TO PICKLE NASTURTIUMS. These should be gathered quite young, and a portion of the buds, when very small, should be mixed with them. Prepare a pickle by dissolving an ounce and a half of salt in a quart of pale vinegar, and throw in the berries as they become fit, from day to day. They are used instead of capers for sauce, and by some persons are preferred to them. When purchased for pickling, put them at once into a jar, and cover them well with the vinegar. TO PICKLE RED CABBAGE. Strip off the outer leaves, wipe, and slice a fine sound cabbage or two extremely thin, sprinkle plenty of salt over them, and let them drain in a sieve, or on a strainer for twelve hours or more; shake or press the moisture from them; put them into clean stone jars, and cover them _well_ with cold vinegar, in which an ounce of black pepper to the quart has been boiled. Some persons merely cover the vegetable with strong, unboiled vinegar, but this is not so well. ------------------------------------------------------------------------