PATTENS
Articles made for the feet, to protect them from wet and damp. From their clumsiness, and the danger attending the wearing of them, they are now seldom worn, and are almost entirely superseded by the clog and golosh.
PEACH FRITTERS
Make a thick batter composed of six eggs well beaten, three-quarters of a pint of cream, a little yeast, a glass of white wine, half a glass of ratafia, and a little orange-flower water; add a little grated nutmeg, and as much flour as may be necessary; cut half a dozen peaches into thin pieces, mix with the batter, which must be then covered over, and set near the fire for three-quarters of an hour, drop the batter into boiling lard, and fry to a good colour. Strew sugar over them when served.
PEAR JELLY
Peel and cut ripe pears into quarters, and boil them into a marmalade with water; then pass the marmalade through a sieve, so as to leave only the juice, and boil it with sugar in equal portions. When it has become sufficiently thick by boiling, put it into glasses and cover it.
PEARS BAKED
The pears employed for baking are those of a hard green kind. Wipe, but do not pare them; lay them on tin plates, and bake them in a slow oven. When soft enough to bear it, flatten them with a silver spoon; and when quite done, serve them in a dish with pounded sugar.
PEARL
The most beautiful and costly pearls are obtained exclusively from the pearl oyster of the Indian seas. An inferior description of pearl is procured from a fresh-water shell-fish in the rivers of Ireland and Scotland.
PEN
The steel pen is now almost universally employed for the purposes of writing. They may be procured at the lowest possible prices, and require little or no care. Leaving them embedded in shot when not in use, prevents them eroding.
PENKNIFE
A knife so called for the use formerly assigned it of making and mending pens. It is now carried about the person, as a useful little implement to be employed for numerous offices, and is found of great use in many emergencies.
PEN WIPER
A useful little implement employed for wiping the pen upon, after writing with and previous to putting it away. They may be made of the odds and ends of any materials, and designed in any fanciful form.
PESTLE
An implement used with the mortar sometimes with a beating or hammering action; but more generally it is used to grind or triturate, whilst firmly grasped. For simply mingling powders, a lighter hold by the forefinger and thumb is quite sufficient.
PETTICOAT
An under-garment of female attire, made of various materials. They may be converted from dresses, when they are past duty in that capacity. Delicate females should never fail to wear a warm kind of petticoat during the inclement weather, in order that their limbs may not be visited with rheumatic and other affections, not their general health injured.
PIG'S CHEEK
To prepare pig's cheek for boiling, cut off the snout and clean the head. Divide it, take out the eyes and the brains, sprinkle the head with salt, and let it drain for twenty-four hours. Salt it with common salt and saltpetre; and simmer it till it is tender.
PIG'S HARSLET
Wash and dry some liver, sweetbreads, and fat and lean pieces of pork, beating the latter with a rolling-pin, to make them tender. Season with pepper, salt, sage, and a little onion shred fine. When mixed, put all into a bladder, and sew it up securely with a needle and thread. Roast it on a hanging jack, or by a string. Serve with a sauce made of port wine and water, and just boiled up.
PIGEON BROILED
Split the bird down the back, spread it open, season with pepper and salt, and broil over a quick clear fire. Serve with mushroom sauce.
PINCUSHION
A receptacle for pins, which may be made of any dimensions, and of a variety of materials; a handy little article of this kind is made of thick cardboard covered with silk, and being perfectly flat and of small dimensions may be carried about the person without inconvenience.
PINK SAUCER
This is employed for imparting an artificial bloom to the cheeks, and may be prepared as follows: - Take eight ounces of dried safflower, previously washed in water, until it no longer gives out any colour, two ounces of subcarbonate of soda, and two gallons of water. Infuse, and afterwards strain it, add four pounds of French chalk, scraped fine with Dutch rushes, and precipitate the colour upon it, with citric or tartaric acid.
POCKET
A receptacle forming portion of male and female attire, for keeping articles in safety. Pockets in which money and valuable articles are kept, should be so placed that they are difficult of being rifled. The pockets worn by females afford great facilities for robbery, and it would be a wise provision if every dress were made with a pocket near the waistband, so that it might be under the wearer's immediate control and protection.
POUNCE
A substance used for smoothing paper after making erasures with a knife; it is rubbed on with the finger. To make it, powder very finely some gum-sandarac, sift it, and put it into a little box for use.
QUAKING PUDDING
Scald a quart of cream; when almost cold, put to it four eggs well beaten, and a spoonful and a half of flour, with nutmeg and sugar. Tie it close in a buttered cloth, boil it for an hour, and turn it out carefully without cracking it. Serve it with melted butter, a little wine, and sugar.
QUINCE PIE
Pare, cut, and core sufficient quinces to fill the dish, put a small cup in the centre, add one clove to every three quinces, a pint* of powdered cinnamon, a small piece of chopped lemon-peel, and sugar; bake according to size.
*The original recipe states "a pint of powdered cinnamon. I suspect that "a pinch" is meant!
RABBIT, MUMBLED
Boil a rabbit well, but not too much, remove the flesh and chop it up fine; then add nutmeg, salt, lemon-peel, and the juice of a lemon. Put whole into a stewpan with twelve eggs and three-quarters of a pound of butter; stir it well, and serve in a dish with sippets.
sippet is a piece of toasted bread.//
RABBIT PUDDING
Wash a rabbit thoroughly, remove the head, and cut the body into small pieces; make a light suet paste, allowing a quarter of a pound of fresh beef or veal suet finely minced to a pound of flour; season the rabbit with pepper and salt, and a little mushroom powder, line a dish with the paste, put the rabbit in and boil it in a cloth for two hours and a half; serve it with gravy in a sauce-tureen. One or two slices of pickled pork, or streaked bacon, may be added.
RASPBERRY CAKE
Take half a pound of dry raspberries, and a pound and a quarter of sugar; when the sugar has been sufficiently boiled and thoroughly skimmed, throw in the raspberries, adding the white of an egg beaten with a little cream, and mix the above ingredients well with it; then give the whole a boil, and turn it out into moulds.
RENNET
A substance used in the making of cheese. To prepare it, take out the stomach of a calf as soon as killed, and well scour it inside and out with salt, having previously cleaned it of the curd which is always found in it. Let it drain for a few hours, then sew it up with two handfuls of salt in it; or stretch it on a stick well salted; or keep it in the salt wet. When required for use, soak a portion of it, which may be employed several times by using fresh water.
RESINS
Vegetable juices, which are solid, are not soluble in water, but dissolve in alcohol; they are generally brittle, and more or less transparent. The resins best known and which are used in medicine are left after the distillation of the essential oil of turpentine; they vary in appearance, according to the mode in which the distillation has been conducted. Resin is only used in medical practice, at present, as an addition to plasters.
RHEUMATIC GOUT
The disease which is sometimes erroneously called by this name, is rheumatic fever; and the local affection of the toes and feet still more generally believed in, is nothing more than rheumatism attacking the smaller joints, where, from the extreme pain, the soothing system is found more conducive to recovery than the stimulating; that is fomentations of chamomile and poppy-heads, and the occasional employment of doses of laudanum, from fifteen to twenty drops, two or three times a day.
RHUBARB DUMPLINGS
Line a tin basin with a plain suet crust, and fill with the fruit. Pinch in the paste, tie a floured cloth over the basin, and boil them for two or three hours; then turn out.
RHUBARB FOOL
Scald a quart of rhubarb, carefully peeled, and cut into pieces an inch long; pulp it through a sieve, sweeten, and let it stand to cool. Put a pint of cream or new milk into a stewpan, with a stick of cinnamon, a small piece of lemon-peel, a few cloves, coriander-seed, and sugar to taste; boil for ten minutes. Beat up the yolks of four eggs, add a little flour, stir up the cream, set the whole over the fire till it boils, stirring in the meantime. Remove and let it stand till cold. Mix the fruit and cream together, add a little nutmeg, and serve.
RHUBARB PASTY
Make a hot crust, with dripping or lard melted in boiling water: roll it out quickly, and stamp it so as to be of a semicircular form when turned over. Lay rhubarb in the crust, with sugar to sweeten; add a little ginger; double up and pinch the crust; trim the edges, and bake the pasties in a moderate oven. If there be icing at hand, they may be iced.
RHUBARB PRESERVED
Take a quart bottle with a wide neck, and cut the sticks of young rhubarb small enough to go into the bottle; add powdered loaf sugar, and tie a piece of bladder tight round the neck; put as much water into the copper as will immerse the bottle, and make the water to boil just over the bladder; then rake out the fire and let the bottle remain till cooled; take them out and place them on a dry shelf.
RHUBARB PUDDING
Put several sticks of rhubarb, peeled, into a stewpan, with the rind of a lemon, a stick of cinnamon, two cloves, and as much moist sugar as will sweeten it. Set it over the fire, and reduce it to a marmalade; pass it through a hair sieve; then add half a nutmeg grated, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, the yolks of four eggs, and the white of one. Mix all well together; line a pie-dish with good puff paste, put in the mixture, and bake it for half an hour.
RHUBARB SHERBERT
Boil six or eight sticks of peeled rhubarb for ten minutes in a quart of water; strain the liquor into a jug, in which is the peel of a lemon cut very thin, and two tablespoonfuls of clarified sugar. Let it stand for five or six hours, and it will then be fit to drink. In summer this will be found a very refreshing and agreeable drink.
RHUBARB SOUP
Peel, clean and blanch a bundle of rhubarb, cut the stems into inch lengths, and put them to two quarts of good veal or beef gravy, with two or three onions, a few thin slices of bread, crust and crumb together, salt and cayenne; skim off all the fat and scum; simmer till tender; steam and serve with toasted sippets.
RICE BIGNETS
In a pint of new milk simmer three ounces of rice till it becomes a stiff paste; add half a teacupful of thick cream, the grated rind of half a lemon, two ounces of loaf sugar, and a little powdered cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg, and two eggs well beaten; grate a small teacupful of bread crumbs; when the rice is cold, cut it into bits and roll it into small balls, dip each in the yolk of an egg, roll in the bread crumbs, and fry them quickly; serve with curry sauce.
RICE BUTTERED
Swell the rice till tender in new milk. Pour off the thick milk, and add melted butter, sugar and cinnamon. Serve hot.
RICE CHEESECAKES
Boil four ounces of ground rice in milk, with a blade of cinnamon; put it into a pot, and let it stand till the next day. Mash it finely with half a pound of butter; add to it four eggs, half a pint of cream, a nutmeg grated, a glass of brandy, and sugar to sweeten. Bake in a moderate oven.
[DDW1860]
