Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

Stewed Mushrooms. — Button Mushrooms are the best for stewing, and are more digestible when stewed in broth without cream or butter. Let the Mushrooms stew in some good stock for ten minutes. Beat a little flour in some more stock till quite smooth, add it to the Mushrooms, and let them boil up. Stir occasionally, but be very careful not to break the buttons. After cooking for five minutes try the Mushrooms ; if tender, serve at once ; if not quite done, cook them for a minute or two longer. Wild Mushrooms are infinitely better and more full of flavour than those which are cultivated. But it is often very difficult to gather any if one does not live miles away from a town. People come out at peep of day, and gather Mushrooms every hour till night-fall, when it is too dark to see them. It is somewhat exasperating to witness this, and then to be invited to purchase one’s own property out of the bursting pocket-handkerchiefs and loaded pillow-cases of the gatherers. However, if any Mushrooms can be secured for preserving, button Mushrooms, done with salt, are the best. Do not wash the buttons, but wipe them clean with a flannel dipped in salt. Lay them one by one on a dish, and strew a little salt over them. Heat them in a stewpan until the liquor will run out, adding a little ground white pepper. Shake the buttons over the stove till they have nearly absorbed the liquor again. Now add gently just enough white French vinegar to cover the buttons, and give them a boil up. Put them into tightly corked bottles, using wax for the corks (see Chapter XVIII). Button Mushrooms, preserved at home, are often useful. A simple Mushroom Ketchup is made by chopping two STEWED MUSHROOMS pounds of large Mushrooms into small pieces, adding a pound of salt, and letting it stand for four days. Then strain and pass it through a tamis-cloth. Let the liquor settle, pour it off into a stewpan, add half an ounce of whole black pepper. Boil all together for half an hour. When it is quite cold strain it again, bottle it, cork it tightly, and wax the corks. Some people add a piece of ginger and half an ounce of allspice with the pepper, but to many tastes the strong simple essence of the Mushrooms is preferable. This Ketchup keeps well, but the flavour is better if it is made frequently. MUSTARD. The leaves of Mustard are eaten as small salad, and the seeds are prepared as Mustard flour. Mustard so soon gets dry and tasteless that it should be mixed almost every day. If the mustard-pot is left open the Mustard spoils in a few hours. It is the best plan to mix a small quantity every day an hour before it is wanted. Mix one ounce of flour of Mustard with one teaspoonful of salt. When well blended together add eight teaspoonfuls of cold water, a little at a time, stirring and rubbing all well together till quite smooth. Use a small wooden spoon, and keep it for mixing Mustard. The more the Mustard is stirred and rubbed with the wooden spoon the better it will be. For roast beef a tablespoonful of grated horseradish may be boiled in the water which, when cold, is used for mixing the Mustard.