THE BUTLER.
At first rising, it is the duty of the Butler, where no valet is kept, to manage and arrange his master’s clothes, and carry them to his dressing-room, his boots and shoes being cleaned by the footman or under butler.
It is his proper business to see that the breakfast is duly set, the under butler or footman carrying up the tea urn, and the butler the eatables; he, or the under butler waiting during breakfast.[19] On taking away, he removes the tea-tray, and the under butler or footman the urn, cloth, &c.
The breakfast things being taken away, and the plate, &c. cleaned and put away under his directions, the Butler then gets his own breakfast with the housekeeper, unless the servants all breakfast together at an earlier hour.
If no valet is kept, he then attends in his master’s dressing-room, sets it in order, carries down his clothes to be brushed by the under butler or footman, and attends to every thing connected with his master’s clothes, linen, &c. or sees that what is wanted is done by others.
He now cleans himself to attend company or visitors at the door, which he is to answer, receive cards, deliver messages, &c.
At luncheon time, the cloth being laid by the under butler or footman, it is the duty of the Butler to carry in the tray, or arrange the table, and when there is company, he waits in the room assisted by the other servants.
If wine is wanted for the luncheon, it is his duty to fetch it from the cellar; and if ale, to draw or bring it up when wanted.
The keys of the wine and ale cellars are specially kept by him, and the management of the wine, the keeping the stock book, and also of ale in stock, or in brewing, are in his particular charge. This duty he generally performs in the morning before he is drest to receive company, and he then brings out such wine as is wanted for the day’s use. It is his duty to fine wine as it comes in the pipe, and to superintend the bottling, sealing it himself, and disposing it in binns so as to know its age and character. While these duties and those of brewing are in hand, he leaves the parlour and waiting duties to the under butler and footman.
Where no steward is kept, he pays all bills for wine, spirits, ale, malt, coals, and in general, all bills not in the housekeeper’s or kitchen department. Sometimes, also, he pays the other male servants.
At dinner time, the under butler or footman lays the cloth, and carries up the articles wanted, under the direction of the Butler, who gives out the necessary plate, kept by him under lock, and generally in an iron chest.
He sets and displays the dinner on the table, carrying in the first dish, waits at the side-board, hands wine round or when called for; removes every course, and sets and arranges every fresh course on the table according to his bill of fare, which is placed on the side-board for reference; and does not leave the dinner room till the dessert and wine have been placed on the table by him or under his direction.[20]
It is then his business to see that the plate, glasses, &c. are carried to the pantry, cleaned, and wiped by the under butler and footman, and the whole carefully put in their proper places.
Having taken his own dinner with the other servants out of livery, generally at one o’clock, he gets his tea while the family in the parlour are taking their wine and dessert, and in the mean time, the under butler or footman prepares the tea things for the parlour.
If the bell rings during the dessert, the Butler answers, and does the same for the remainder of the evening.
The under butler is now engaged in cleaning the plate and arranging the pantry.
The tea tray is carried up by the Butler, assisted by the footman; and in waiting at tea, the Butler hands round the cups on the tray, the footman assisting with the eatables. The Butler removes the tea-tray, and the footman the urn, &c. The footman carries in coals, but the Butler manages the candles.
When tea is made below, it is done by the housekeeper, but carried up and handed round by the Butler and footman.
If there is company, the refreshments, wine, ices, &c. are carried up by the Butler, assisted and followed by the footman.
When there is supper, the under Butler or Butler arranges the same, and it is managed like the dinner.
Slippers, dressing gown, night candles, &c. are carried up and disposed by the Butler.
After his master has gone to bed, he goes to his dressing-room, takes down such things as want cleaning or brushing, and gives them to the footman. He then looks over the plate, locks it up, sees that all the men servants are gone to bed, the doors locked, and windows fastened, and then retires to rest himself.
This business is strictly domestic, but he goes out to order things in his department, and he is sometimes employed abroad in any confidential business, to which the under servants are considered unequal.
The wages of regular Butlers, in large families, are from 50 to 80l. per annum; but in smaller families, from 30 to 50l. The perquisites, if he perform the duty of valet, are his master’s cast off clothes; and as Butler, he gets the pieces of wax candles, the second hand cards, compliments on paying tradesman’s bills, or Christmas boxes and wine for his own use. He finds his own clothes, washing, &c. and is expected to be genteel and clean in his person.
In all things connected with the establishment, he is supposed, when no steward is kept, to represent his master; and as various accounts are under his direction, he ought to be able to write a fair hand, and to be ready in the first rules of arithmetic. From this display of his duties, it will appear that his office is no sinecure; and as the good order and economy of an establishment depends much on the vigilance of the Butler, when no steward is kept, so a Butler who knows his duties, and performs them with zeal, integrity, and ability, cannot be too highly prized by judicious heads of families.
To manage foreign Wines.
The principal object to be attended to in the management of foreign wine vaults, is to keep them of a temperate heat. Care must be taken, therefore, to close up every aperture or opening, that there may be no admission given to the external air. The floor of the vault should likewise be well covered with saw-dust, which must not be suffered to get too dry and dusty, but must receive now and then an addition of new, lest, when bottling or racking wine, some of the old dust should fly into it. At most vaults, in the winter, it is necessary to have a stove or chafing-dish, to keep up a proper degree of warmth. In the summer time it will be best to keep them as cool as possible.
To Fit up a Cellar of Wines and Spirits.
Provide a good rope and tackling, to let down the casks into the vault or cellar, and a slide, ladder, or pulley for the casks to slide or roll on;
A pair of strong slings;
A pair of can hooks and a pair of crate hooks;
A block of wood to put under the pipes when topping them over in a narrow passage, or in casing them;
A small valinch to taste wine;
A crane, and a small copper pump to rack off;
Two or three gallon cans, made of wood;
A large wooden funnel;
Two or three copper funnels from a quart to a gallon each;
Two racking cocks;
Two wine bottling cocks;
A brace and various bits;
Two small tubs;
A square basket to hold the corks;
Two small tin funnels;
A small strainer;
Two cork screws;
Two or three baskets;
A wisk to beat the finings;
Three flannel or linen bags;
A strong iron screw to raise the bungs;
A pair of pliers;
Bungs, corks, and vent pegs;
Two frets or middle sized gimblets;
Some sheet lead and tacks to put on broken staves;
Brown paper to put round cocks and under the lead, when stopping leaks;
A staff with a chain at one end to rumage the wines, &c.
Shots and lead canister, or bristle brush, and two cloths to wash bottles;
Two large tubs;
Some small racks that will hold six dozen each;
A cooper’s adze;
An iron and a wooden driver to tighten hoops;
Two dozen of wooden bungs of different sizes;
A thermometer, which is to be kept in the vault, a stove or chafing-dish, to keep the heat of the vault to a known temperature;
A few dozen of delf labels;
A cup-board to hold all the tools;
A spade, two good stiff birch brooms, and a rake to level the saw-dust.
To restore pricked British Wines.
Rack the wines down to the lees into another cask, where the lees of good wines are fresh; then put a pint of strong aqua vitæ, and scrape half a pound of yellow bees-wax into it, which by heating the spirit over a gentle fire, will melt; after which dip a piece of cloth into it, and when a little dry, set it on fire with a brimstone match, put it into the bung-hole, and stop it up close.
Another Method.
First prepare a fresh empty cask, that has had the same kind of wine in it which is about to be racked, then match it, and rack off the wine, putting to every ten gallons two ounces of oyster-shell powder, and half an ounce of bay salt, then get the staff and stir it well about, letting it stand till it is fine, which will be in a few days; after which rack it off into another cask, (previously matched) and if the lees of some wine of the same kind can be got, it will improve it much.—Put likewise a quart of brandy to every ten gallons, and if the cask has been emptied a long time, it will match better on that account; but if even a new cask, the matching must not be omitted. A fresh empty cask is to be preferred.
This method will answer for all made wines.
To rack Foreign Wine.
The vault or cellar should be of a temperate heat, and the casks sweet and clean. Should they have an acid or musty smell, it may be remedied by burning brimstone matches in them; and if not clean, rinse them well out with cold water, and after draining rinse with a quart of brandy, putting the brandy afterwards into the ullage cask. Then strain the lees or bottoms through a flannel or linen bag. But put the bottoms of port into the ullage cask without going through the filtering bag. In racking wine that is not on the stillage, a wine-pump is desirable.
To manage and improve poor Red Port.
If wanting in body, colour, and flavour, draw out thirty or forty gallons, and return the same quantity of young and rich wines. To a can of which put three gills of colouring, with a bottle of wine or brandy. Then wisk it well together, and put it into the cask stirring it well. If not bright in about a week or ten days, fine it for use; previous to which put in at different times a gallon of good brandy. If the wine is short of body, put a gallon or two of brandy in each pipe, by a quart or two at a time, as it feeds the wine better than putting it in all at once. But if the wines are in a bonded cellar, procure a funnel that will go to the bottom of the cask, that the brandy may be completely incorporated with the wine.
To manage Claret.
Claret is not a wine of a strong body, though it requires to be of a good age before it is used, and, therefore, it should be well managed; the best method is to feed it every two or three weeks with a pint or two of French brandy. Taste it frequently, to know what state it is in, and use the brandy accordingly, but never put much in at a time, while a little incorporates with the wine, and feeds and mellows it.
If the claret is faint, rack it into a fresh-emptied hogshead, upon the lees of good claret; and bung it up, putting the bottom downwards for two or three days, that the lees may run through it.
To colour Claret.
If the colour be not yet perfect, rack it off again into a hogshead that has been newly drawn off, with the lees; then take a pound of turnsole, and put it into a gallon or two of wine; let it lie a day or two, and then put it into the vessel; after which lay the bung downwards for a night, and the next day roll it about.
Or, take any quantity of damsons or black sloes, and strew them with some of the deepest coloured wine and as much sugar as will make it into a syrup. A pint of this will colour a hogshead of claret. It is also good for red port wines, and may be kept ready for use in glass bottles.
To restore Claret that drinks foul.
Rack it off from the dregs on some fresh lees of its own kind, and then take a dozen of new pippins, pare them, and take away the cores or hearts: then put them in the hogsheads, and if that is not sufficient, take a handful of the oak of Jerusalem, and bruise it; then put it into the wine, and stir it well.
To make Claret and Port rough.
Put in a quart of claret or port two quarts of sloes; bake them in a gentle oven, or over a fire, till a good part of their moisture is stewed out, then pour off the liquor, and squeeze out the rest. A pint of this will be sufficient for 30 or 40 gallons.
TO RECOVER PRICKED FOREIGN WINES.
Take a bottle of red port that is pricked, add to it half an ounce of tartarised spirit of wine, shake the liquor well together, and set it by for a few days, and it will be found much altered for the better. If this operation be dexterously performed, pricked wines may be absolutely recovered by it, and remain saleable for some time; and the same method may be used to malt liquors just turned sour.
To manage Hermitage and Burgundy.
Red hermitage must be managed in the same way as claret, and the white likewise, except the colouring, which it does not require. Burgundy should be managed in the same manner as red hermitage.
To manage Lisbon Wine.
If the Lisbon is dry, take out of the pipe thirty-five or forty gallons, and put in the same quantity of calcavella, stir it well about, and this will make a pipe of good mild Lisbon: or, if it be desired to convert mild into dry, take the same quantity out as above mentioned, before, and fill the pipe with Malaga sherry, stirring it about as the other. The same kind of fining used for Vidonia will answer for Lisbon wines; or it may be fined with the whites and shells of sixteen eggs, and a small handful of salt; beat it together to a froth, and mix it with a little of the wines; then pour it into the pipe, stir it about, and let it have vent for three days; after which bung it up, and in a few days it will be fine. Lisbon when bottled should be packed either in saw-dust or leather in a temperate place.
To manage Bucellas Wine.
In fining it, proceed in the same way as with the Madeira; only observe, that if not wanted very pale, keep the milk out of the finings. This tender wine should be fed with a little brandy, for if kept in a place that is either too hot or too cold, it will be in danger of turning foul.
To improve Sherry.
If the sherry be new and hot, rack it off into a sweet cask, add five gallons of mellow Lisbon, which will take off the hot taste, then give it a head, take a quart of honey, mix it with a can of wine, and put it into the cask when racking. By this method, Sherry for present use will be greatly improved, having much the same effect upon it as age.
To improve White Wines.
If the wine have an unpleasant taste, rack off one half; and to the remainder add a gallon of new milk, a handful of bay-salt, and as much rice; after which take a staff, beat them well together for half an hour, and fill up the cask, and when rolled well about, stillage it, and in a few days it will be much improved.
If the white wine is foul and has lost its colour, for a but or pipe take a gallon of new milk, put it into the cask, and stir it well about with a staff; and when it has settled, put in three ounces of isinglass made into a jelly, with a quarter of a pound of loaf sugar scraped fine, and stir it well about. On the day following, bung it up, and in a few days it will be fine and have a good colour.
TO IMPROVE WINE BY CHALK.
Add a little chalk to the must, when it is somewhat sour; for the acidity arising from citric and tartaric acids, there is thus formed a precipitate of citrate and tartrate of lime, while the must becomes sweeter, and yields a much finer wine. Too much chalk may render the wine insipid, since it is proper to leave a little excess of acid in the must. Concentrate the must by boiling, and add the proper quantity of chalk to the liquor, while it is still hot. Even acid wine may be benefited by the addition of chalk. Oyster-shells may be used with this view; and when calcined are a cleaner carbonate of lime than common chalk.
To Renovate Sick Wine.
Wines on the fret should be racked; if their own lees indicates decay they should be racked on the sound lees of another wine of similar, but stronger quality, to protract their decline; if this be done at an early period, it may renovate the sick wine; on these occasions, giving the sick wine a cooler place, will retard its progress to acidity; if convenient, such wines should be forced and bottled. Previous to bottling, or rather at the forcing, give it one, two, or three table-spoonsful of calcined gypsum finely pulverised. This will check its tendency to acidity, without exciting much intumescence, without injuring the colour of the red wine, and without retarding its coating to the bottle, which it rather promotes. The proper forcing for red wines are, the whites of ten or twelve eggs, beat up with one or two tea-spoonsful of salt per hogshead, and well worked into the wine with a forcing-rod; the gypsum should be first boiled in a little water. This is intended to check the acetous process. To retard the vinous, the French are in the habit of burning sulphur immediately under the cask, and possibly the sulphuric acid evolved by the combustion, may check its progress and prevent the necessity of an admixture.
To Mellow Wine.
Cover the orifices of the vessels containing it with bladders closely fastened instead of the usual materials, and an aqueous exhalation will pass through the bladder, leaving some fine crystallizations on the surface of the wine, which, when skimmed off, leaves the wine in a highly improved state of flavour. Remnants of wine covered in this manner, whether in bottles or casks, will not turn mouldy, as when stopped in the usual way, but will be improved instead of being deteriorated.
German method of restoring sour Wines.
Put a small quantity of powdered charcoal in the wine: shake it, and after it has remained still for forty-eight hours, decant steadily.
To Concentrate Wines by Cold.
If any kind of wine be exposed to a sufficient degree of cold in frosty weather, or be put into any place where ice continues all the year, as in ice-houses, and there suffered to freeze, the superfluous water contained in the wine will be frozen into ice, and will leave the proper and truly essential part of the wine unfrozen, unless the degree of cold should be very intense, or the wine but weak and poor. When the frost is moderate, the experiment has no difficulty, because not above a third or fourth part of the superfluous water will be frozen in a whole night; but if the cold be very intense, the best way is, at the end of a few hours, when a tolerable quantity of ice is formed, to pour out the remaining fluid liquor, and set it in another vessel to freeze again by itself.
The frozen part, or ice, consists only of the watery part of the wine, and may be thrown away, and the liquid part retains all the strength, and is to be preserved. This will never grow sour, musty, or mouldy, and may at any time be reduced to wine of the common strength, by adding to it as much water as will make it up to the former quantity.
TO FINE WHITE WINES.
Take an ounce of isinglass, beat it into thin shreds with a hammer, and dissolve it, by boiling in a pint of water; this, when cold, becomes a stiff jelly. Whisk up some of this jelly into a froth with a little of the wine intended to be fined, then stir it well among the rest in the cask, and bung it down tight; by this means it will become bright in eight or ten days.
TO FINE RED WINES.
Take whites of eggs beat up to a froth, and mix in the same manner as in white wines.
Another Method.
Put the shavings of green beech into the vessel, having first taken off all the rind, and boil them for an hour in water to extract their rankness, and afterwards dry them in the sun, or in an oven. A bushel serves for a tun of wine; and being mashed, they serve again and again.
Mortimer recommends to gather the grapes when very dry, pick them from the stalks, press them, and let the juice stand twenty-four hours in a covered vat. Afterwards to draw it off from the gross lees, then put it up in a cask, and to add a pint or quart of strong red or white port to every gallon of juice, and let the whole work, bunging it up close, and letting it stand till January; then bottling it in dry weather.
Bradley chooses to have the liquor when pressed, stand with the husks and stalks in the vat, to ferment for fifteen days.
To fine a hogshead of Claret.
Take the whites and shells of six fresh eggs, and proceed as with port finings. Claret requires to be kept warm in saw-dust when bottled.
To fine Sherry.
Take an ounce and a half of isinglass, beat it with a hammer till it can be pulled into small pieces, then put it into three pints of cider or perry, and let it remain twenty-four hours, till it becomes a jelly. After which mix it with a quart or two of wine, and whisk it well with the whites and shells of six fresh eggs. Take four or five gallons out to make room for the finings, and stir the wine well. Then nearly fill the can of finings with wine, whisk it well, and put it in the butt, stirring it well for about five minutes; afterwards fill it up, and put the bung in loose. In two days bung it up, and in eight or ten it will be fit for bottling.
To fine pale Sherry.
Put three pints of skim-milk with the whites of eight eggs, beat well together in a can; then put in finings, in the same manner as for common sherry. If the sherry be thin and poor, feed them with good brandy, as other wines.
To fine Madeira.
Take three ounces of isinglass, and dissolve it, but if old wine two ounces will be enough, also one quart of skim-milk, and half a pint of marble sand: whisk these in a can with some wine. If the pipe is full, take out a canful, and stir the pipe well; then put in the can of finings, and stir that with a staff for five minutes; after which, put the other can of wine into it, and let it have vent for three days. Then close it up, and in ten days or a fortnight it will be fine and fit for bottling and stowing with saw-dust in a warm place.
To improve Madeira which has been round to the Indies.
Madeira should be kept in a warmer place than port wine, and therefore requires a good body, and to be fed with brandy, but if deficient in flavour or mellowness, add to it a gallon or two of good Malmsey.
To fine Vidonia Wine.
When first imported, Vidonia has a harsh and acid taste; but if properly managed it more resembles Madeira wine than any other. To take off the harshness, fine it down, and then rack it off upon the lees of Madeira or white Port, fining it again with a light fining; and if 20 or 30 gallons of good Madeira wine be added, it will pass for Madeira. For the finings, dissolve two ounces of isinglass, and the whites and shells of six fresh eggs; beat them well up together with a whisk and add a gill of marble sand.
To fine Malmsey and other Wines.
Take 20 fresh eggs, beat the whites, yolks, and shells together, and manage it the same as other finings.—Calcavella, Sweet Mountain, Paxaretta, and Malaga, should be managed and fined in the same manner as Lisbon.—Tent, Muscadine, Sack, and Bastard, should be managed the same as Malmsey, and fined with 16 or 20 fresh eggs, and a quart or three pints of skim-milk. Old Hock, and Vin de Grave, are thin, but pleasant wines, and should be fed with a little good brandy, and fined, if necessary, with the whites and shells of six or eight eggs.
To fine Port Wine.
Take the whites and shells of eight fresh eggs, beat them in a wooden can or pail, with a whisk, till it becomes a thick froth; then add a little wine to it, and whisk it again. If the pipe is full take out four or five gallons of the wine to make room for the finings. If the weather be warmish, add a pint of fresh-water sand to the finings. Stir it well about; after which put in the finings, stirring it for five minutes; put in the can of wine, leaving the bung out for a few hours, that the froth may fall: then bung it up, and in eight or ten days it will be fine and fit for bottling.
To make and apply Finings.
Put the finings into a can or pail, with a little of the liquor about to be fined, whisk them altogether till they are perfectly mixed, and then nearly fill the can with the liquor, whisking it well about again; after which, if the cask be full, take out four or five gallons to make room; then take the staff, and give it a good stirring; next whisk the finings up, and put them in; afterwards stir it with the staff for five minutes. Then drive the bung in, and bore a hole with a gimblet, that it may have vent for three or four days, after which drive in a vent peg.
To convert White Wine into Red.
Put four ounces of turnesole rags into an earthen vessel, and pour upon them a pint of boiling water; cover the vessel close, and leave it to cool; strain off the liquor, which will be of a fine deep red inclining to purple. A small portion of this colours a large quantity of wine. This tincture may either be made in brandy, or mixed with it, or else made into a syrup, with sugar, for keeping.
In those countries which do not produce the tinging grape which affords a blood-red juice, wherewith the wines of France are often stained, in defect of this, the juice of elderberries is used, and sometimes logwood is used at Oporto.
To force down the Finings of all White Wines, Arracks, and Small Spirits.
Put a few quarts of skimmed milk into the cask.
To render Red Wine White.
If a few quarts of well-skimmed milk be put to a hogshead of red wine, it will soon precipitate the greater part of the colour, and leave the whole nearly white; and this is of known use in the turning red wines, when pricked, into white; in which a small degree of acidity is not so much perceived.
Milk is, from this quality of discharging colour from wines, of use also to the wine-coopers, for the whitening of wines that have acquired a brown colour from the cask, or from having been hastily boiled before fermenting; for the addition of a little skimmed milk, in these cases, precipitates the brown colour, and leaves the wines almost limped, or of what they call a water whiteness, which is much coveted abroad in wines as well as in brandies.
To preserve new Wine against Thunder.
Thunder will turn and often change wines. Cellars that are paved, and the walls of stone, are preferable to boarded floors. Before a tempest of thunder, it will be advisable to lay a plate of iron on the wine-vessels.
To make Wine settle well.
Take a pint of wheat, and boil it in a quart of water, till it burst and become soft; then squeeze it through a linen cloth, and put a pint of the liquor into a hogshead of unsettled white wine; stir it well about, and it will become fine.
To make a Match for sweetening Casks.
Melt some brimstone, and dip into it a piece of coarse linen cloth; of which, when cold, take a piece of about an inch broad and five inches long, and set fire to it, putting it into the bung-hole, with one end fastened under the bung, which must be driven in very tight: let it remain a few hours before removing it out.
To make Oyster Powder.
Get some fresh oyster-shells, wash them and scrape off the yellow part from the outside; lay them on a clear fire till they become red hot; then lay them to cool, and take off the softest part, powder it, and sift it through a fine sieve; after which use it immediately, or keep it in bottles well corked up, and laid in a dry place.
To make a Filtering Bag.
This bag is made of a yard of either linen or flannel, not too fine or close, and sloping, so as to have the bottom of it run to a point, and the top as broad as the cloth will allow. It must be well sewed up the side, and the upper part of it folded round a wooden hoop, and well fastened to it; then tie the hoop in three or four places with a cord to support it; and when used, put a can or pail under it to receive the liquor, filling the bag with the sediments; after it has ceased to run, wash out the bag in three or four clear waters, then hang it up to dry in an airy place, that it may not get musty. A wine dealer should always have two bags by him, one for red, and the other for white wines.
To bottle Wine.
When wine is made fine and pleasant, it may be bottled, taking care afterwards to pack it in a temperate place with saw-dust or leather. After which it will not be fit to drink for at least two months. Never use new deal saw-dust, as that causes the wine to fret, and often communicates a strong turpentine smell through the corks to the wine.
To Detect Adulterated Wine.
Heat equal parts of oyster-shells and sulphur together, and keep them in a white heat for fifteen minutes, and when cold, mix them with an equal quantity of cream of tartar; put this mixture into a strong bottle with common water to boil for one hour, and then decant into ounce phials, and add 20 drops of muriatic acid to each; this liquor precipitates the least quantity of lead, copper, &c. from wines in a very sensible black precipitate.
To Detect Alum in Wine.
Wine merchants add alum to red wine, to communicate to it a rough taste and deeper colour; but this mixture produces on the system the most serious effects. For the discovery of the fraud in question, adopt the following means:—The wine is to be discoloured by means of a concentrated solution of chlorine; the mixture is to be evaporated until reduced to nearly the fourth of its original volume; the liquor is to be filtered; it then possesses the following properties when it contains alum:—1st. It has a sweetish astringent taste; 2d. it furnishes a white precipitate (sulphate of barytes) with nitrate of barytes, insoluble in water and in nitric acid; 3d. caustic potass rise to a yellowish white precipitate of alumine, soluble in an excess of potass; 4th. the sub-carbonate of soda produces a yellowish white precipitate (sub-carbonate of alumine) decomposable by fire into carbonic acid gas, alumine, easily recognisable by its characters.
TO BOTTLE BEER.
When the briskness of small liquors in the cask fails, and they become vapid and dead, which they generally do soon after they are tilted, let them be bottled.
TO TRY THE GOODNESS OF SPIRITS.
Set fire to some in a spoon; if good it will burn brightly away, without leaving any moisture in the spoon.
TO COOL LIQUORS IN HOT WEATHER.
Dip a cloth in cold water and wrap it two or three times round the bottle and place it in the sun. Repeat this once or twice.
TO PACK GLASS OR CHINA.
Procure some soft straw or hay to pack them in, and if they are to be sent a long way, and are heavy, the hay or straw should be a little damp, which will prevent them slipping about. Let the largest and heaviest things be always put undermost in the box or hamper. Let there be plenty of straw, and pack the articles tight; but never attempt to pack up glass or china which is of much consequence, till you have seen it done by some used to the job. The expense will be but trifling to have a person to do it who understands it, and the loss may be great if articles of much value are packed up in an improper manner.
TO CLEAN WINE DECANTERS.
Cut some brown paper into very small bits, so as to go with ease into the decanters; then cut a few pieces of soap very small, and put some water, milk-warm, into the decanters, upon the soap and paper: put in also a little pearl ash; by well working this about in the decanters it will take off the crust of the wine, and give the glass a fine polish. Where the decanters have had wine left to stand in them a long time, take a small cane with a bit of sponge tied tight at one end: by putting this into the decanters any crust of the wine may be removed. When the decanters have been properly washed, let them be thoroughly dried, and turned down in a proper rack.
If the decanters have wine in them when put by, have some good corks always at hand to put in instead of stoppers; this will keep the wine much better.
TO DECANT WINE.
Be careful not to shake or disturb the crust when moving it about, or drawing the cork, particularly Port wine. Never decant wine without a wine-strainer, with some fine cambric in it, to prevent the crust, and bits of cork going into the decanter. In decanting Port wine do not drain it too near; there are generally two-thirds of a wine glass of thick dregs in each bottle, which ought not to be put in; but in white wine there is not much settling; pour it out however slowly, and raise the bottle up gradually, the wine should never be decanted in a hurry, therefore always do it before the family sit down to dinner. Do not jostle the decanters against each other when moving them about, as they easily break when full.
TO MIX A SALAD.
Always inquire before you mix a salad, how your master or mistress would like to have it done. If no particular method be pointed out to you, adopt the following, which has been much approved of. Let the salad be well washed and dried in a cloth before you cut it up; save a part of the celery with a little beet-root and endive for ornament in the middle of the dish: cut the rest small as well as the lettuce and mustard and cresses, and put to it the following mixture: take the yolk of an egg boiled hard, rub it quite smooth with a table-spoonful of oil and a little mustard; when they are well mixed together add six spoonsful of milk or cream, and when these are well mixed, put six or seven spoonsful of vinegar to the whole, and mix it all together with the salad. Never make the salad long before it is wanted, as it becomes flat with standing.
TO MAKE PUNCH.
Put 40 grains of citric acid, 7 full drops of essence of lemon, 7 oz. of lump sugar, in a quart mug; pour over 1 pint of boiling water, when the sugar is melted, stir; then add ½ pint of rum, and ¼ pint of brandy.
TO PREPARE SODA WATER.
Soda water is prepared (from powders) precisely in the same manner as ginger beer, except that, instead of the two powders there mentioned, the two following are used: for one glass, 30 grains of carbonate of soda; for the other, 25 grains of tartaric (or citric) acid.
TO MAKE GINGER BEER.
Take an ounce of powdered ginger, half an ounce of cream of tartar, a large lemon sliced, two pounds of lump sugar, and one gallon of water; mix all together, and let it simmer over the fire for half an hour, then put a table-spoonful of yeast to it, let it ferment a little time, and then put it into stone pint bottles, and cork it down closely for use.
TO PREPARE GINGER BEER POWDERS.
Take 2 drams of fine loaf sugar, 8 grains of ginger, and 26 grains of carbonate of potass, all in fine powder; mix them intimately in a Wedgwood’s-ware mortar. Take also 27 grains of citric or tartaric acid, (the first is the pleasantest but the last the cheapest.) The acid is to be kept separate from the mixture. The beer is prepared from the powders thus: take two tumbler glasses, each half filled with water, stir up the compound powder in one of them, and the acid powder in the other, then mix the two liquors, when an effervescence takes place, the beer is prepared and drank off immediately.
METHOD OF PRESERVING PEAS GREEN FOR WINTER.
Put into a kettle of hot water any quantity of fresh shelled green peas, and after just letting them boil up, pour them into a large thick cloth, cover them with another, make them quite dry, and set them once or twice in a cool oven to harden a little; after which put them into paper bags, and hang them up in the kitchen for use.—To prepare them when wanted, they are first to be soaked well for an hour or more, and then put into warm water, and boiled with a little butter.
TO MEND GLASS.
The juice of garlick, pounded in a stone mortar, is said to be the strongest cement to mend broken glass.
TO CONVEY FRESH FISH.