Page:Art of Cookery 1774 edition.djvu/166

 care that none of the water gets into the cups; if it does; it will spoil it. Keep the water boiling gently all the time till the jelly becomes as thick as glue, take them out, and let them stand to cool, and then turn the glue out into some new coarse flannel, which draws out all the moisture, turn them in six or eight hours on fresh flannel, and so do till they are quite dry. Keep it in a dry warm place, and in a little time it will be like a dry hard piece of glue, which you may carry in your pocket without getting any harm. The best way is to put it into little tin-boxes. When you use it, boil about a pint of water, and pour it on a piece of glue about as big as a small walnut, stirring it all the time till it is melted. Season with salt to your palate; and if you chuse any herbs or spice, boil them in the water first, and then pour the water over the glue.

TAKE two legs of beef, about fifty pounds weight, take off all the skin and fat as well as you can, then take all the meat and sinews clean from the bones, which meat put into a large pot, and put to it eight or nine gallons of soft water; first make it boil, then put in twelve anchovies, an ounce of mace, a quarter of an ounce of cloves, an ounce of whole pepper black and white together, six large onions peeled and cut in two, a little bundle of thyme, sweet-marjoram, and winter-savoury, the dry hard crust of a two penny loaf, stir it all together and cover it close, lay a weight on the cover to keep it close down, and let it boil softly for eight or nine hours, then uncover it, and stir it together; cover it close again, and let it boil till it is a very rich good jelly, which you will know by taking a little out now and then, and letting it cool. When you think it is a thick jelly, take it off, strain it through a coarse hair bag, and press it hard; then strain it through a hair sieve into a large earthen pan; when it is quite cold, take off the skum and fat, and take the fine jelly clear from the settlings at bottom, and then put the jelly into a large deep well tinned stew-pan. Set it over a stove with a slow fire, keep stirring it often, and take great care it neither sticks to the pan or burns. When you find the jelly very stiff and thick, as it will be in lumps about the pan, take it out, and put it into large deep china-cups, or well-glazed earthen-ware. Fill the pan two-thirds full of water, and when the water boils, set in your cups. Be sure no water gets into the cups, and keep the water boiling softly all the time till you find the jelly is like a stiff glue; take out the cups, and when they are cool, turn