Page:The Lady's Receipt-book.djvu/145

Rh Seed and chop two pounds of the best raisins. Sultana raisins have no seeds, and are therefore the most convenient for all cookery purposes. Grate the yellow rind of three large lemons or oranges into a saucer, and squeeze upon it their juice, through a strainer. Mix this with the currants and raisins. Prepare a heaped-up table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon; the same quantity of powdered ginger; a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg; the same of powdered cloves; and the same of powdered mace. Mix all these spices into a quart of the best West India molasses. Then mix well together the meat and the fruit; and wet the whole with the spiced molasses; of which you must have enough to make the mixture very moist, but not too thin. If you want the mince-meat for immediate use, add to it four pounds of minced apple. The apples for this purpose should be pippins or bell-flowers, pared, cored, quartered, and chopped fine. Add, also, half a pound of citron, not minced, but cut into long slips.

If you intend the mince-meat for keeping, do not add the apple and citron until you are about to make the pies, as it will keep better without them. Mix all the other articles thoroughly, and pack down the mince-meat, hard, in small stone jars. Lay upon the top of it, a round of thin white paper, dipped in molasses, and cut exactly to fit the inside circumference of the jar. Secure the jars closely with flat, tight-fitting corks, and then with a lid; and paste paper down over the top on the outside.

West India molasses will be found a good substitute for the wine and brandy generally used to moisten mince-meat.

TRANSPARENT PASTE.—Take twelve ounces (or a pint and a half) of the best fresh butter. Wash and squeeze it through several cold waters, and press out