Page:Art of Cookery 1774 edition.djvu/414
To preserve cucumbers equal with any Italian sweetmeat.
TAKE fine young gerkins, of two or three different sizes; put them into a stone jar, cover them well with vine-leaves, fill the jar with spring-water, cover it close; let it stand near the fire, so as to be quite warm, for ten days or a fortnight; then take them out, and throw them into spring-water, they will look quite yellow, and stink, but you must not mind that. Have ready your preserving-pan; take them out of that water, and put them into the pan, cover them well with vine-leaves, fill it with spring-water, set it over a charcoal fire, cover them close, and let them simmer very slow; look at them often, and when you see them turned quite of a fine green, take off the leaves, and throw them into a large sieve; then into a coarse cloth, four or five times doubled; when they are cold, put them into the jar, and have ready your syrup, made of double-refined sugar, in which boil a great deal of lemon-peel and whole ginger; pour it hot over them, and cover them down close; do it three times; pare you lemon-peel very thin, and cut them in long thin bits, about two inches long; the ginger must be well boiled in water before it is put in the syrup. Take long cucumbers, cut them in half, scoop our the inside; do them the same way: they eat very fine in minced pies or puddings; or boil the syrup to a sandy, and dry them on sieves.
The Jews way of preserving salmon, and all sorts of fish.
TAKE either salmon, cod, or any large fish, cut off the head, wash it clean, and cut it in slices as crimp'd cod is, dry it very well in a cloth; then flour it, and dip it in yolks of eggs, and fry it in a great deal of oil, till it is of a fine brown, and well done; take it out and lay it to drain, till it is very dry and cold. Whitings, mackrel, and flat fish, are done whole; when they are quite dry and cold, lay them in your pan or vessel, throw in between them a good deal of mace, cloves, and sliced nutmeg, a few bay leaves; have your pickle ready, made of the best white wine vinegar, in which you must boil a great many cloves of garlick and shalot, black and white pepper, Jamaica and long pepper, juniper berries and salt; when it is quite cold, pour it on your fish, and a little oil on the top. They will keep good a twelvemonth, and are to be eat cold with oil and vinegar: they will go good to the East-Indies. All sorts of fish fried well inoil