The hearthstone; or, Life at home

Celery Sauce {for boiled turkey, poultry, etc.) — Six heads of celery, one pint of white stock, two blades of mace, one small bunch of savory herbs ; thickening of butter and flour, or arrowroot, half a pint of cream, lemon-juice. Boil the celery in salt and water till tender, and cut into pieces two inches long. Put the stock into a stewpan with the mace and herbs, and let it simmer for one-half hour to extract their flavor. Then strain the liquor, add the celery and a thickening of butter kneaded with flour, or, what is still better, with arrowroot; just before serving, put in the cream, boil it up and squeeze in a little lemon-juice. If necessary, add a seasoning of salt and white pepper. Celery Sauce. — Take four heads of celery, wash and boil it in salt and water till tender, and cut into pieces two inches long ; use half a pint of melted butter made with a little milk, and put in the celery, pounded mace and seasoning. Simmer for three minutes, when the sauce will be ready to serve. It will require twenty-five minutes to boil the celery. Tomato Sauce for Keeping. — To every quart of tomato pulp allow one pint of cayenne vinegar, three-quarters of an ounce of shallots, three-quarters of an ounce of garlic, peeled and cut in slices; »salt to taste. To every six quarts of liquor, one pint of soy, one pint •of anchovy sauce. Gather the tomatoes quite ripe ; bake them in a slow oven till tender ; rub them through a sieve, and to every quart of pulp add cayenne vinegar, garlic, shallots and salt, in the above proportion. Boil the whole together till the garlic and shallots are quite soft ; then rub it through a sieve, put it again into a saucepan, and to every six quarts of the liquor add one pint of soy, and the same quantity of anchovy sauce, and boil all together for about twenty minutes; bottle off for use, and carefully seal or resin the corks. This will keep good for two or three years, but will be fit for use in a week. A useful and less expensive sauce may be made by omitting the anchovy and soy. Time, altogether, one hour. Pepper Sauce. — One head of cabbage, twenty-five green peppers and a small measure of onions. Chop fine. Add one-half pound of mustard-seed and a handful of salt ; put it in a stone pot, with vinegar enough to wet it thoroughly. Chow-chow. — Four quarts chopped tomatoes, one quart chopped onions, one pint chopped peppers, half-cup white mustard-seed, halfcup salt. Mix and cover with cold vinegar, then add sugar and curry powder to taste. To Preserve Parsley through the Winter. — Use freshlygathered parsley for keeping, and wash it perfectly free from grit and dirt; put it into boiling water which has been slightly salted and well skimmed, and then let it boil for two or three minutes ; take it out, let it drain and lay it on a sieve in front of the fire, when it should be dried as expeditiously as possible. Store it away in a very dry place in bottles, and when wanted for use, pour over it a little warm water, and let it stand for about five minutes. Keeping Sweet Cider. — Heat the cider until it boils, pour into bottles, which have been previously heated to prevent cracking. Cork tight, and seal immediately, as in canning fruit. The cider will keep unchanged for years.