The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight Opened, Sir Kenelm Digby [books to read in a lifetime .txt] 📗

in the bottom) and strew more sugar upon that. You should have the sugar-box by you, to strew on sugar from time to time, as you eat off the superficies, that is strewed over with sugar. If you would have your whipped cream light and frothy, that hath but little substance in the eating, make it of onely plain milk; and if you would have it of a consistence between both, mingle cream and milk.


TO MAKE THE CREAM CURDS

Strain your Whey, and set it on the fire; make a clear and gentle fire under your kettle; as they rise, put in Whey, so continuing till they are ready to skim. Then take your skimmer, and put them on the bottom of a hair sieve, so let them drain till they are cold; then take them off, and put them into a basin, and beat them with two or three spoonfuls of Cream and Sugar.


TO MAKE CLOUTED CREAM

Take two Gallons more or less of new milk, set it upon a clear fire; when it is ready to boil, put in a quart of sweet cream, and take it off the fire, and strain it through a hair sieve into earthen pans; let it stand two days and two nights; then take it off with a skimmer; strew sugar on the cream, and serve it to the Table.


TO MAKE A WHIP SYLLABUB

Take the whites of two Eggs, and a pint of Cream, six spoonfuls of Sack, as much Sugar as will sweeten it; then take a Birchen rod and whip it; as it riseth with froth, skim it, and put it into the Syllabub pot; so continue it with whipping and skimming, till your Syllabub pot be full.


TO MAKE A PLAIN SYLLABUB

Take a pint of Verjuyce in a bowl; milk the Cow to the Verjuyce; take off the Curd; and take sweet-cream and beat them together with a little Sack and Sugar; put it into your Syllabub pot; then strew Sugar on it, and so send it to the Table.


CONCERNING POTAGES

The ground or body of Potages must always be very good broth of Mutton, Veal and Volaille. Now to give good taste, you vary every month of the year, according to the herbs and roots that are in season. In Spring and Summer you use Cersevil, Oseille, Borage, Bugloss, Pourpier, Lettice, Chicoree and Cowcombers quartered, etc. The manner of using them is to boil store of them about half an hour or a quarter, in a pot by it self, with some bouillon taken out off the great pot; half an hour before dinner, take light bread well dryed from all moisture before the fire; then cut in slices, laid in a dish over coals, pour upon it a ladleful of broath, no more then the bread can presently drink up; which when it hath done, put on another ladleful, and stew that, till it be drunk up; repeat this three or four times, a good quarter of an hour in all, till the bread is swelled like a gelly (if it be too long, it will grow glewy and stick to the dish) and strong of broth; then fill it up near full with the same strong broth, which having stewed a while, put on the broth and herbs, and your Capon or other meat upon that, and so let it stew a quarter of an hour longer, then turn it up.

In winter, boil half an hour a pretty bundle of Parsley, and half as much of Sives, and a very little Thyme, and Sweet-marjoram; when they have given their taste to the herbs, throw the bundle away, and do as abovesaid with the bread. Deeper in the Winter, Parsley-roots, and White-chicoree, or Navets, or Cabbage, which last must be put in at first, as soon as the pot is skimmed; and to colour the bouillon it is good to put into it (sooner or later, according to the coursness or fineness of what you put in) Partridges or Wild-duck, or a fleshy piece of Beef half rosted. Green-pease may some of them be boiled a pretty while in the great pot; but others in a pot by themselves, with some Bouillon no longer then as if they were to eat buttered, and put upon the dish, containing the whole stock a quarter of an hour after the other hath stewed a quarter of an hour upon the bread. Sometimes Old-pease boiled in the broth from the first, to thicken it, but no Pease to be served in with it. Sometimes a piece of the bottom of a Venison Pasty, put in from the first. Also Venison bones.


PLAIN SAVOURY ENGLISH POTAGE

Make it of Beef, Mutton and Veal; at last adding a Capon, or Pigeons. Put in at first a quartered Onion or two, some Oat-meal, or French barley, some bottome of a Venison-pasty-crust, twenty whole grains of Pepper: four or five Cloves at last, and a little bundle of sweet-herbs, store of Marigold-flowers. You may put in Parsley or other herbs.

Or make it with Beef, Mutton and Veal, putting in some Oat-meal, and good pot-herbs, as Parsley, Sorrel, Violet-leaves, etc. And a very little Thyme and Sweet-marjoram, scarce to be tasted: and some Marigold leaves, at last. You may begin to boil it overnight, and let it stand warm all night; then make an end of boiling it next morning. It is well to put into the pot, at first, twenty or thirty corns of whole Pepper.


POTAGE DE BLANC DE CHAPON

Make first a very good bouillon, seasoned as you like. Put some of it upon the white flesh of a Capon or Hen a little more than half-rosted. Beat them well in a Mortar, and strain out all the juyce that will come. You may put more broth upon what remains in the strainer, and beat again, and strain it to the former. Whiles this is doing, put some of your first plain broth upon some dryed bread to mittonner well. Let there be no more broth, then just to do that. None to swim thin over. When you will serve the potage in, pour the white liquor upon the swelled and gellied-bread, and let them stew together a little upon the Coals. When it is through hot, take it off, and squeese some limon or orange into it, and so send it in presently. It mendeth a Bouillon much, to boil in it some half-rosted Volaille, or other good meat.


TO MAKE SPINAGE-BROTH

Take strong broth, and boil a neck of Mutton, and a Marrow-bone in it, and skim it very well; then put in half a pound of French barley, and a bundle of sweet herbs, and two or three blades of Large-mace. Let these boil very well. Then mince half a peck of Spinage, and two great Onions very small, and let it boil one hour or more; season it with salt as you please, and send the Mutton and the Marrow-bone in a dish with French bread or Manchet to the Table.


ORDINARY POTAGE

Take the fleshy and sinewy part of a leg of Beef, crag-ends of necks of Veal and Mutton. Put them in a ten quarts pot, and fill it up with water. Begin to boil about six a clock in the Morning, to have your potage ready by Noon. When it is well skimmed, put in two or three large Onions in quarters, and half a loaf (in one lump) of light French bread, or so much of the bottom crust of a Venison Pasty; all which will be at length clean dissolved in the broth. In due time season it with Salt, a little Pepper, and a very few Cloves. Likewise at a fit distance, before it be ended boiling, put in store of good herbs, as in Summer, Borrage, Bugloss, Purslain, Sorel, Lettice, Endive, and what else you like; in Winter, Beetes, Endive, Parsley-roots, Cabbage, Carrots, whole Onions, Leeks, and what you can get or like, with a little Sweet-marjoram and exceeding little Thyme. Order it so that the broth be very strong and good. To which end you may after four hours (or three) boil a Hen or Capon in it; light French-bread sliced, must be taken about noon, and tosted a little before the fire, or crusts of crisp new French-bread; lay it in a dish, and pour some of the broth upon it, and let it stew a while upon a Chafing-dish. Then pour in more Broth, and if you have a Fowl, lay it upon the bread in the broth, and fill it up with broth, and lay the herbs and roots all over and about it, and let it stew a little longer, and so serve it up covered, after you have squeesed some juyce of Orange or Limon, or put some Verjuyce into it. Or you may beat two or three Eggs, with part of the broth, and some Verjuyce, or juyce of Orange, and then mingle it with the rest of the broth.


BARLEY POTAGE

Take half a pound of French-barley, and wash it in three or four hot-waters; then tye it up in a course linnen-cloth and strike it five or six blows against the table; for this will make it very tender. Put it into such a pot full of meat and water, as is said in the ordinary potage, after it is skimmed; and season this with Salt, Spice, Marjoram and Thyme, as you did the other. An hour before you take it from the fire, put into it a pound of the best Raisins of the Sun well washed; at such a distance of time, that they may be well plumped and tender, but not boiled to mash. When the broth is enough boiled and consumed, and very strong, pour some of it upon sliced dry bread in a deep potage-dish, or upon crusts, and let it stew a while. Then pour on all the rest of the broth, with the barley and Raisins, upon a Capon or Hen, or piece of Mutton or Veal; and let it mittonner awhile upon the Chafing-dish, then serve it in.


STEWED BROTH

Take a like quantity of water and flesh, as in the others, adding two Marrow bones: which tie at the ends with pieces of Linnen, that the Marrow may not melt out, and make the broth too fat. A while after it is skimmed, put into it a loaf of French bread very thin sliced, (which is better than grated) and this will be all dissolved in the broth. Season it in due time with salt, four or five flakes of Mace, and five or six Cloves; as also with sweet herbs: And an hour, or better, before you take it off, put in Raisins of the Sun, Prunes, and Currants, of each one Pound, well picked and washed. When it is boiled enough, pour the broth into a bason, that if it be too fat, you may take it off. There season it with a little Sugar, and four or five spoonfuls of White-wine or Sack. Then pour it upon sliced-bread, and stew it a while. Then squeese an Orange or Limon (or both) upon it, and serve it up with the Marrow-bones in it.


AN ENGLISH POTAGE

Make a good strong broth of Veal and Mutton; then take out the meat, and put in a good Capon or Pullet: but first, if it be very fat, parboil it a little to take away the Oyleness of it, and then put it into the broth; and when it hath boiled a little therein, put in some grated