663. Barley Water

Scotch or pearl barley may be used. Wash, or boil up, as tor barley gruel; to a quart of water, barley two ounces. Simmer till of an agreeable thickness, and strain. Boil the barley up again, and it will make a pint more. This is a very cooling drink. It also is a pleasant thing to take medicine in. Lemon juice and peel, raisins, figs, liquorice root, sugar, honey, and gum arable, with these additions it is often used either for complaints of the chest, confined bowels, or stranguary; or powdered nitre a drachm to a quart, is often found good for fever. (Merely for a drink, put sugar and lemon peel.) Rub up the nitre with honey or sugar, mix it with a little barley water, and then pour it on the whole quantity in a boiling state. Stir it well together.

665. Beef Tea

Take a pound of fleshy beef, cut in slices (without the least bit of fat;) boil it up in a quart of water, and skim it well; then put it on one side to simmer twenty minutes. Season if approved, but generally only salt.

666. Shank Jelly

Soak twelve shanks of mutton some hours. Brush and scour them well. Put them in a saucepan, put three quarts of water to them, add a bunch of sweet herbs, thirty or forty black peppers, twenty Jamaica, three blades of mace, an onion, and a crust of bread toasted brown, and put them on a hot hearth, closely covered. Let them simmer five hours very gently; then strain it off, and put it in a cool place. It may have the addition of a pound of beef, if approved, for flavour. This is a very good thing for people who are weakly.

667. Tapioca Jelly

Choose the largest sort. Pour cold water on, and wash it two or three times; then soak it in fresh water five or six hours, and simmer it until it becomes quite clear. Add wine, lemon juice, and sugar. Boil the peel of the lemon in it. It thickens very much.

667. Posset

This is more potent than whey, and in which the curd is not separated. Either ale or wine will turn it. Put on the fire, in a kettle, a quart of new milk, with a stick of cinnamon; cut a slice of bread; as the milk boils, lay it at the top, and let it boil a minute or two; then put it aside to soften. Put a pint of very strong ale, with sugar and nutmeg, or white wine. Boil up the milk again, take the bread out with a slice, and lay on the ale or wine; then very gently pour over the boiling milk, and let it stand until the head rises like that of a syllabub. Then serve. A richer posset may be made by substituting Naples biscuits for bread. A brandy posset is a quart of rich custard poured over a glass and a half of brandy.

668. Orgeat

Boil a quart of new milk with a stick of cinnamon. Put to it two ounces of loaf-sugar, and let it cool. Blanch and beat to a paste, with a little rose water, three ounces of sweet almonds, and two dozen bitter. Stir them to the milk; boil it up again, and continue stirring till cold. Then add half a glass of brandy.

669. Orange Marmalade

Seville oranges are in perfection about the end of March and beginning of April, at which time marmalade should be made. Allow two pounds of sugar to each pound of Seville oranges; grate the oranges lightly, and slice them down with a very sharp knife, as thin as possible, and straight through. Nothing must be kept out but the seeds. Clarify the sugar, put the fruit in, and boil it slowly for at least an hour, until the chips are perfectly tender and clear, and it will jelly; a little of the grate may be put in, if approved; the rest is good seasoning for puddings.