Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Soy, Japanese.— The beans are first washed, then boiled with water enough to cover them until they are tender. They are then mashed in a mortar and mixed with their weight of coarse barley-meal. This mixture, being closely covered, is then placed in a warm situation, and left to ferment. When the mass is sufficiently fermented, a weight of salt, equal to that of the beans originally, is dissolved in five times its weight of water, and added to the fermented mass, and is strongly stirred in it. The whole being well covered, it remains in this state during three months, being daily agitated and beaten during two hours, after which it is again covered. It is then strained through cotton cloth, which is well pressed until every drop of liquid has passed through. The soy is now put into wooden tubs, when age fines it. After a time, when it is sufficiently clear, it is racked oft", and put into smaller wooden vessels for sale. Meanwhile, more water is poured upon the mass that remains after the straining, and soy of an inferior kind is made. Though there is no spice, nor other seasoning but salt, in the Japanese soy, it is far SPA ( 9C9 ) SPA preferable to that of China, and is free from the sweet treacly flavour which distinguishes the latter. Spanish Buns.— Ruh haK a pound of fresh butter into a pound of flour. Add a pinch of salt, a little grated nutmeg and powdered cinnamon, and also six table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and work them into a paste with four well-beaten eggs. Drop the mixture in knobs upon a floured tin, and bake these until done enough. "When half-baked, brush the surface with milk. If liked, half a pound of currants may be added to the buns, and then an additional egg or a little milk will be required. Time to bake the buns, about twenty minutes. Spanish Buns (another way). — Rub half a pound of fresh butter into a pound of flour. Add a pinch of salt, three-quarters of a pound of powdered sugar, a tea- spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and the eighth of a nutmeg grated. Beat four eggs thoroughly, and work them into the mixture with two table-spoonfuls of rosewater and as much milk as will fomi a thick batter. Knead into this a quarter of a pint of yeast, cover the bowl, and leave the dough on the hearth all night. The next morning knead it again, and let it rise a second time. Butter some shallow tins, fill them three-parts full, and bake the buns in a moderate oven. When done enough, let them get cold, sift powdered sugar upon them, and with a sharp knife cut them into squares. Spanish Cakes.— Blanch four ounces of sweet almonds and six or seven bitter ones, and pound them to paste with orange-flower water. Mix with them si.x ounces of powdered and sifted sugar, half a pound of dried flour, and a quarter of an ounce of powdered cinnamon. Break six eggs, free them from specks, and whisk them thoroughly. Put them into a chocolate mill, and add gradually the dry ingredients, together with two table-spoonfuls of rosewater and two table-spoonfuls of light wine. Mill the mixture between every addition, and for some time after all additions have been made, and till the batter is very light. Butter a pan, and bake the cake in a slow oven. Probable cost, 2s. for a cake this size.