Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Mullet, Stewed. — Make a sauce as follows : — Put together in a stewpan three glassfuls of hock and sherry wine mixed, the former to he two-thirds of the quantity given. Slice thinly a small carrot and turnip, also half a small lemon ; add a bay-leaf, a blade of mace, and a bunch of thyme and parsley. Lay in the fish, and stew gently over a slow fire. Strain the gravy, thicken with butter rolled in flour, season with salt and pepper, and serve the fish on a hot dish, with the sauce poured over. Time, twenty to thirty minutes to stew. Probable cost, Is. to 2s. each. Sufficient, three fish for this sauce. Mum.— Take eighty gallons of water, brew it with seven bushels of wheaten malt, one bushel of oat-malt, and one bushel of ground beans. When it has worked or fermented awhile in a hogshead not too full, put into it of inner rind of fir three pounds ; one pound of 'tops of fir and birch ; three handfuls of carduns henedictus; a handful or two of flowers from solis; bumet, betony, marjoram, penny-royal, wild MTJS ( 432 ) MUS thyme, of each a handful; two handfuls of elder-flowers ; thirty ounces of seeds of cardamon, bruised ; and one ounce of barberries, bruised, When the liquor has ceased working, fill it up, and at last put into the hogshead ten new-laid eggs ; stop it up close, and in two years the mum will be tit for use. Mush of Indian Corn. — A recipe for this wholesome dish is given by William Cobbett, in his " Treatise on Cobbett's Corn." " You put," he says, " some water or milk into a pot, and bring it to boil; you then let the flour or meal out of one hand gently into the milk or water, keeping stirring with the other, until you have got it into a pretty stiff state ; after which you let it stand ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, or less, or even only one minute, and then take it out, and put it into a dish or bowl. This sort of half pudding, half porridge, you eat either hot or cold, -with a little salt, or without it. It is frequently eaten unaccompanied with any liquid matter ; but the general way is to have a porringer of milk, and, taking off a lump of the mush and putting it into the milk, you take up a spoonful at a time, having a little milk along with it ; and this is called mush and milk." Mushrooms. — Of the mushrooms generally eaten in England, and which may be partaken of with impunity, the chief is the common mushroom [Agaricus campestris). " When eaten," says Dr. Lancaster, " this mushroom should be fresh gathered, as after keeping it acquires properties that render it liable to disagree. The Agaricus campestris may, however, be dried quickly, and kept wholesome for any length of time, or they may be powdered and thus kept. Wlien salted fresh and pressed they j'ield the sauce known by the name of 'ketchup,' or 'catsup.' The mushroom gives a fine flavour to soups, and greatly improves beef-tea. When arrowroot and weak broths are distasteful to persons with delicate stomachs, a little seasoning with ketchup will generally form an agreeable change." The mushroom itself may be cooked in a variety of ways. Some roast them, basting them with melted butter, and serve with white wine sauce. They may be made into patties and added to fricassees.