Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/1460

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Ingredients.—Lobster coral, butter, cayenne, salt.

Method.—Dry the coral thoroughly, then pound it until smooth, adding cayenne and salt to taste, and a little butter gradually until the desired consistency is attained.

Time.—½-hour. Average Cost, 6d. to 9d.

Ingredients.—Watercress, fresh butter, pepper and salt.

Method.—Choose fresh young watercress, strip the leaves from the stalks, wash and dry them thoroughly, and chop them finely. Enclose the chopped cress in the corner of a clean cloth, dip it 2 or 3 times into cold water, then squeeze as dry as possible. Knead it into the butter, adding it by degrees until the butter is sufficiently green, then add salt and pepper to taste, and use as required.

Time.—20 minutes. Average Cost,—4d. to 6d.

Method.—Butter may be shaped without the aid of moulds, but round butter moulds or wooden stamps are much used and are made in a variety of patterns. They should be kept scrupulously clean, and before the butter is pressed in the moulds should be scalded, and afterwards well soaked in cold water. The butter at once takes the impress of the mould, and may therefore be turned out immediately into the butter dish. In hot weather a little ice should be placed either round or beneath the butter dish. Dishes with a double bottom are constructed for this purpose.

Method.—In large families, where salt butter is purchased a tub at a time, the first thing to be done is to turn the whole of the butter out, and, with a clean knife, to scrape the outside; the tub should then be wiped with a clean cloth, and sprinkled all round with salt, the butter replaced, and the lid kept on to exclude the air. It is necessary to take these precautions, since a want of proper cleanliness in the dairymaid may cause the outside of the butter to become rancid; and if the scraping be neglected, the whole mass will soon become spoiled. To choose salt butter, plunge a knife into it, and if, when drawn out, the blade smells rancid or unpleasant, the butter is bad. The layers in tubs will vary greatly, the butter being made at different times;