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PICKLING is a branch of domestic economy which comprises a great variety of articles essentially necessary to the convenience of families.

It is too prevalent a practice to make use of brass utensils to give pickles a fine colour. This pernicious custom is easily avoided by heating the liquor and keeping it in a proper degree of warmth before it is poured upon the pickle. Stone or glass jars are the best adapted for sound keeping.

Pickle should never be handled with the fingers, but taken out by a spoon, with holes in it, kept for the purpose.

The strongest vinegar must be used for pickling. It must not be boiled, as thereby the strength of the vinegar and spices will be evaporated. By parboiling the pickles in brine, they will be ready in half the time they would otherwise be. When taken out of the hot brine, let them get cold and quite dry before you put them into the pickle.

The articles to be pickled should be pers forated with a larding pin, in several places, by which means they will the more readily imbibe the flavour of the pickle.

The spices, &c. generally used, are those mentioned in the following receipt for walnuts.

To every quart of the strongest vinegar, add one ounce each of black pepper, ginger, shallots, and salt; half an ounce of allspice, and half a drachm of Cayenne. Put these into a stone jar, covered with a bladder, wetted with the pickle; tie over that some leather, and set the jar on a trivet, by the side of a fire, for three days, shaking it three times a day, and then pour it, while hot, on the wal

nuts, and cover them down with a bladder, wetted with the pickle, &c. This pickle is the best, easiest prepared, and cheapest of any, for every kind of article.-It is also an excellent savoury sauce for cold meats.

118. TO PICKLE WALNUTS.

Put

Make a brine of salt and water, with a quarter of a pound of salt to a quart of water. Soak the walnuts in this for a week, and if you wish to have them ready the sooner, run a larding pin through them, in half a dozen places, which will make them much softer and better flavoured. them into a stew-pan with the brine, and give them a gentle simmer. Lay them on a sieve to drain, then put them on a fish plate in the open air, a couple of days, or till they turn black. Put them into unglazed or stone jars, about three parts full, and fill up the jars with the preceding pickle; and when they have been done about a week, open them and fill them up again, and so on continually, or else they will be spoiled.

119. ONIONS.

Put a sufficient quantity into salt and water for nine days, observing to change the water evey day; next put them into jars and pour fresh boiling salt and water over them, cover them close up till they are cold, then make a second decoction of salt and water, and pour it on boiling. When it is cold drain the onions on a hair sieve, and put them into wide-mouthed bottles; fill them up with distilled vinegar; put into every bottle a slice or two of ginger, a blade of mace, and a tea-spoonful of sweet oil, which will keep the onions white, Cork them well up, and keep them in a dry place.

120. SAUR KRAUT.

Take a large strong wooden vessel, or cask, resembling salt beef cask, and capable of containing as much as is sufficient for the winter's consumption of a family. Gradually break down or chop the cabbages (deprived of outside green leaves,) into very small pieces; begin with one or two cabbages at the bottom of the cask, and add others at intervals, pressing them by means of a wooden spade, against the side of the cask, until it is full. Then place a heavy weight upon the top of it, and allow it to stand near to a warm place, for four or five days. By this time it will have undergone fermentation, and be ready for use, Whilst the cabbages are passing through the process of fermentation, a very disagreeable fetid, acid smell is exhaled from them;

Now remove the cask to a cool situation, and keep it always covered up. Strew aniseeds among the layers of the cab. bage during its preparation, which communicates a peculiar flavour to the Saur Kraut at an after period.

In boiling it for the table, two hours is the period for it to be on the fire. It forms an excellent nutritious and antiscorbutic food for winter use.

121. PECCALILLI :-INDIAN METHOD.

This consists of all kinds of pickles mixed and put into one large jar-girkins, sliced cucumbers, button onions, cauliflowers, broken in pieces. Salt them, or put them in a large hair sieve in the sun to dry for three days, then scald them in vinegar for a few minutes; when cold put them together. Cut a large white cabbage in quarters, with the outside leaves taken off and cut fine, salt it, and put it in the sun to dry for three or four days; then scald it in vinegar, the same as cauliflower, carrots, three parts boiled in vinegar and a little bay salt; French beans, rock-samphire, reddish pods, and nastertiums, all go through the same process as girkins, capsicums, &c. To one gallon of vinegar put four ounces of ginger bruised, two ounces of whole white pepper, two ounces of allspice, half an ounce of chillies bruised, four ounces of turmeric, one pound of the best mustard, half a pound of shalots, one ounce of garlic and half a pound of bay salt. The vinegar, spice, and other ingre dients, except the mustard, must boil half an hour; then strain it into a pan, put the mustard into a large basin, with a little vinegar; mix it quite fine and free from lumps, then add more; when well mixed put it to the vinegar just strained off, and when quite cold put the pickles into a large pan, and the liquor over them; stir them repeatedly so as to mix them all; finally, put them into a jar, and tie them over first with a bladder, and afterwards with leather. The capsicums want no preparation.

122. SAMPHIRE.

Put what quantity is wanted into a clean pan, throw over it two or three handsful of salt, and cover it with spring water for twenty-four hours; next put it into a clean saucepan, throw in a handful of salt, and cover it with good vinegar. Close the pan tight, set it over a slow fire, and let it stand till the samphire is green and crisp; then take it off instantly, for should it remain till it is soft, it will be totally spoiled. Put it into the pickling pot and cover it close; when it is quite cold tie it down with a bladder and leather, and set it by for use. Samphire may be preserved all the year by keeping it in a very strong brine of salt and water, and just before using it, put it for a few minutes into some of the best vinegar.

123. MUSHROOMS.

Put the smallest that can be got into spring water, and rub them with a piece of new flannel dipped in salt. Throw them into cold water as they are cleaned, which will make them keep their colour; next put them into a saucepan with a handful of salt upon them. Cover them close and set them over the fire four or five minutes, or till the heat draws the liquor from them; next lay them betwixt two dry cloths till they are cold; put them into glass bottles and fill them up with distilled vinegar, with a blade of mace, and a teaspoonful of sweet oil in every bottle; cork them up close and set them in a dry cool place; as a substitute for distilled vinegar, use white wine vinegar, or ale. Allegon will do, but it must be boiled with a little mace, salt, and a few slices of ginger, and it must be quite cold before it is poured upon

the mushrooms.

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Bruise a quantity of well-grown flaps of mushrooms with the hands, and then strew a fair proportion of salt over them; let them stand all night, and the next day put them into stew-pans; set them in a quick oven for twelve hours, and strain them through a hair sieve. To every gallon of liquor put of cloves, Jamaica black pepper, and ginger, one ounce each, and half a pound of common salt; set it on a slow fire, and let it boil till half the liquor is wasted; then put it into a clean pot, and when cold bottle it for use.

125. CUCUMBERS.

Let them be as free from spots as possible; take the smallest that can be got, put them into strong salt and water for nine days, till they become yellow; stir them at least twice a day; should they become perfectly yellow, pour the water off and cover them with plenty of vine leaves. Set the water over the fire, and when it boils, pour it over them, and set them upon the earth to keep warm. When the water is almost cold make it boil again, and pour it upon them; procced thus till they are of a fine green, which they will be in four or five times; keep them well covered with vine leaves, with a cloth and dish over the top to keep in the steam, which will help to green them.

When they are greened put them in a hair sieve to drain, and then to every two quarts of white wine vinegar put half an ounce of mace, ten or twelve cloves, an ounce of ginger cut into slices, an ounce of black pepper, and a handful of salt. Boil them all together for five minutes; pour it hot on the pickles, and tie them down for use. They may also be pickled with ale, ale vinegar, or distilled

vinegar, and adding three or four cloves of garlic and shalots.

126. ARTIFICIAL ANCHOVIES.

To a peck of sprats put two pounds of salt, three ounces of bay salt, one pound of salt-petre, two ounces of prunella, and a few grains of cochineal; pound all in a mortar, put into a stone pan first a layer of sprats, and then one of the compound, and so on alternately to the top. Press them down hard; cover them close for six months, and they will be fit for use, and will really produce a most excellent flavoured sauce.

127. SALMON.

Boil the fish gently till done, and then take it up, strain the liquor, add bay leaves, pepper corns, and salt; give these a boil, and when cold add the best vinegar to them; then put the whole sufficiently over the fish to cover it, and let it remain a month at least.

128. TO PRESERVE FISH BY SUGAR.

Fish may be preserved in a dry state, and perfectly fresh, by means of sugar alone, and even with a very small quantity of it.

Fresh fish may be kept in that state for some days, so as to be as good when boiled as if just caught. If dried, and kept free from mouldiness, there seems no limit to their preservation; and they are much better in this way than when salted. The sugar gives no disagreeable taste.

This process is particularly valuable in making what is called kippered salmon : and the fish preserved in this manner are far superior in quality and flavour to those which are salted or smoked. If desired, as much salt may be used as to give the taste that may be required; but this substance does not conduce to their preservation.

In the preparation, it is barely necessary to open the fish, and to apply the sugar to the muscular parts, placing it in a horizontal position for two or three days, that this substance may penetrate. After this it may be dried; and it is only further necessary to wipe and ventilate it occasionally, to prevent mouldiness.

A table spoonful of brown sugar is sufficient in this manner for a salmon of five or six pounds weight; and if salt is desired, a tea-spoonful or more may be added. Saltpetre may be used instead, in the same proportion, if it is desired to make the kipper hard.

129. TO SALT HAMS.

For three hams pound and mix together half a peck of salt, half an ounce of salt prunella, three ounces of salt-petre, and four pounds of coarse salt; rub the hams well with this, and lay what is to spare over them, let them lie three days,

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