How To Prepare Rennet

Take a calf's maw and turn it out of the bag; then take nutmeg crushed small, a large handful of sweet bay leaves minced, and a large handful of salt; when well mixed together put it into the bag. Boil a strong pickle of salt and water; when cold, pour three pints of it over the bag; cover it up, turning it every day for a fortnight, and pricking it with a fork; then squeeze it all through a cloth, and bottle for use. A few nettles boiled with the water are considered an improvement. Or it may be prepared thus: - Take out the stomach of a calf just killed, and scour it well with salt and water both inside and out; let it drain; put two large handfuls of salt in it, and sew it up; dry it, and soak a bit in fresh water when wanted; or it may be left wet in the salt and water.

A Cream Cheese

Dip a cheese-cloth in salt and water; take the thickest cream you have; lay it in a shape (which should be square); pour the cream in, and leave it untouched one day; then turn it on to a dry cloth, and put a weight of four pounds on it; change the dry cloth once more.

On the third day it is ready to eat.

Irish Cream Cheese

Let twelve quarts of new milk stand two or three days until it is quite thick; skim it, and tie up the cream in a linen cloth wet with salt and water; hang it up to drain; when it has done dripping, open the cloth and put the cheese on a deep plate, with a wet cloth under it, arranged so that you can turn the cheese till it is dry; then put it on another plate without a cloth, and cover it with nettles fresh every day till you think it fit for use. In warm weather the cream thickens and the cheese ripens quicker than in cold. This is particularly good. N

Cream For Butter

Should be kept constantly stirred - i. e. three or four times a-day - and changed from one tub to another every day. To prevent milk or butter tasting of turnips or cabbages, the best way is to pour a quart of boiling water on two ounces of saltpetre; when dissolved and cold, bottle and cork it for use; put two large spoonfuls of this to every four gallons of milk immediately it is brought in, stirring it well; a piece of saltpetre about the size of a walnut may also be put in the cream-pot, and stirred at least once a-day. This method, if regularly attended to, has been found very effectual; but turnips should never be given to milking-cows raw. If steamed with hay they impart a much less disagreeable flavour to the milk. Charcoal put into the milk-pan is said to be a good remedy.

How To Keep Cream

Mix with any quantity of good cream half its weight of finely-powdered lump-sugar; stir it together, and put it into bottles, closely corked, and tied down. It is said to keep good six or eight months.

A Cream Cheese For Immediate Use

Skim a pint of thick cream; let it stand twelve hours; add a little salt to it; dip a napkin in salt and water; fold it four times double; pour the cream into it, and hang it up for twelve hours to drain; lay it on a plate; cover it with nettles or vine-leaves; put a plate on the top, and it is fit to eat next day. It may also be made in the same way in the morning, and eaten that night at dinner; but then you put no nettles on it, and serve as soon as made.