Part 11 (1/2)

_Time_.--Half an hour. _Average cost_ per quart, 4d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

_Sufficient_ for 4 persons.

_Note_.--This is a cheap recipe, and will be found useful where extreme economy is an object.

[Ill.u.s.tration: QUERN, or GRINDING-MILL.]

BREAD.--The origin of bread is involved in the obscurity of distant ages. The Greeks attributed its invention to Pan; but before they, themselves, had an existence, it was, no doubt, in use among the primitive nations of mankind. The Chaldeans and the Egyptians were acquainted with it, and Sarah, the companion of Abraham, mixed flour and water together, kneaded it, and covered it with ashes on the hearth. The Scriptures inform us that leavened bread was known to the Israelites, but it is not known when the art of fermenting it was discovered. It is said that the Romans learnt it during their wars with Perseus, king of Macedon, and that it was introduced to the ”imperial city”

about 200 years before the birth of Christ. With them it no doubt found its way into Britain; but after their departure from the island, it probably ceased to be used. We know that King Alfred allowed the unfermented cakes to burn in the neatherd's cottage; and that, even in the sixteenth century, unfermented cakes, kneaded by the women, were the only kind of bread known to the inhabitants of Norway and Sweden. The Italians of this day consume the greater portion of their flour in the form of _polenta_, or soft pudding, vermicelli, and macaroni; and, in the remoter districts of Scotland, much unfermented bread is still used. We give a cut of the _quern_ grinding-mill, which, towards the end of the last century, was in use in that country, and which is thus described by Dr. Johnson in his ”Journey to the Hebrides:”--”It consists of two stones about a foot and half in diameter; the lower is a little convex, to which the concavity of the upper must be fitted. In the middle of the upper stone is a round hole, and on one side is a long handle.

The grinder sheds the corn gradually into the hole with one hand, and works the handle round with the other. The corn slides down the convexity of the lower stone, and by the motion of the upper, is ground in its pa.s.sage.” Such a primitive piece of machinery, it may safely be said, has entirely disappeared from this country.--In other parts of this work, we shall have opportunities of speaking of bread and bread-making, which, from its great and general use in the nourishment of mankind, has emphatically been called the ”staff of life.” The necessity, therefore, of having it both pure and good is of the first importance.

CABBAGE SOUP.

118. INGREDIENTS.--1 large cabbage, 3 carrots, 2 onions, 4 or 5 slices of lean bacon, salt and pepper to taste, 2 quarts of medium stock No.

105.

_Mode_.--Scald the cabbage, exit it up and drain it. Line the stewpan with the bacon, put in the cabbage, carrots, and onions; moisten with skimmings from the stock, and simmer very gently, till the cabbage is tender; add the stock, stew softly for half an hour, and carefully skim off every particle of fat. Season and serve.

_Time_.--1-1/2 hour. _Average cost_, 1s. per quart.

_Seasonable_ in winter.

_Sufficient_ for 8 persons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CABBAGE SEEDING.]

THE CABBAGE.--It is remarkable, that although there is no country in the world now more plentifully supplied with fruits and vegetables than Great Britain, yet the greater number of these had no existence in it before the time of Henry VIII.

Anderson, writing under the date of 1548, says, ”The English cultivated scarcely any vegetables before the last two centuries. At the commencement of the reign, of Henry VIII.

neither salad, nor carrots, nor cabbages, nor radishes, nor any other comestibles of a like nature, were grown in any part of the kingdom; they came from Holland and Flanders.” The original of all the cabbage tribe is the wild plant _sea-colewort_, which is to be found _wasting_ whatever sweetness it may have on the desert air, on many of the cliffs of the south coast of England.

In this state, it scarcely weighs more than half an ounce, yet, in a cultivated state, to what dimensions can it be made to grow! However greatly the whole of the tribe is esteemed among the moderns, by the ancients they were held in yet higher estimation. The Egyptians adored and raised altars to them, and the Greeks and Romans ascribed many of the most exalted virtues to them. Cato affirmed, that the cabbage cured all diseases, and declared, that it was to its use that the Romans were enabled to live in health and without the a.s.sistance of physicians for 600 years. It was introduced by that people into Germany, Gaul, and, no doubt, Britain; although, in this last, it may have been suffered to pa.s.s into desuetude for some centuries. The whole tribe is in general wholesome and nutritive, and forms a valuable adjunct to animal food.

SOUP A LA CANTATRICE.

(_An Excellent Soup, very Beneficial for the Voice_.)

119. INGREDIENTS.--3 oz. of sago, 1/2 pint of cream, the yolks of 3 eggs, 1 lump of sugar, and seasoning to taste, 1 bay-leaf (if liked), 2 quarts of medium stock No. 105.

_Mode_.--Having washed the sago in boiling water, let it be gradually added to the nearly boiling stock. Simmer for 1/2 an hour, when it should be well dissolved. Beat up the yolks of the eggs, add to them the boiling cream; stir these quickly in the soup, and serve immediately. Do not let the soup boil, or the eggs will curdle.

_Time_.--40 minutes. _Average cost_, 1s. 6d. per quart.

_Seasonable_ all the year.

_Sufficient_ for 8 persons.