Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/437

405&#93; BUT Kttle working of the butter as pos- sible; for if it be too much beat and turned, it -will become tough and gluey, which greatly debases its quality. To beat it up by the hand, is an indelicate practice. It is also very detrimental to pour cold water on the butter, during this operation. If the heat should be so great, as to render it too soft to receive the impression of the mould, it may be put into small vessels, allowed to swim in the trough of cold water under the table ; preventing, however, the water from touching the butter : thus it will, in a short time, acquire the necessary degree of firmness, especially if a small piece of ice be put into the vessel. The Doctor, on this occasion, severely censures the practice that prevails in many private families, of keeping fresh butter in water, and thus bringing it to table in a glass vessel. If coolness only is wanted, he advises to put the butter into a dry glass, and immerse this into cold water: and if it be taken out immediately before it is used, such butter will, in our climate, always have suffi- cient firmness. After the butter has been beaten up and cleared from the milk, it is ready for being salted. The ves- sels intended for this purpose, be- ing rendered perfectly clean, should be rubbed in the whole inside with common salt; and a little melted butter should be poured into the cavity, between the bottom and the sides : thus prepared, they are fit to receive the butter. Although common salt is gene- raliy employed fow preserving but- ter, yet Dr. Anderson has found by experience, that the following composition not only preserves the butter more etfectually from any BUT fo°: taint of rancidity, but makes it also look better, taste sweeter, richer, and more marrowy, than if it had been cured With common salt alone. Best common salt, two parts ; saltpetre, one part 3 sugar, one part : beat them up together, so that they may be completely blended. To every pound, or six- teen ounces of butter, add one ounce of this composition. Mix it well in the mass, and close it up for use. Butter prepared in this manner, will keep good for three years, and cannot be distinguished from that recently salted. It should, however, be remarked, that butter, thus cured, does not taste well till it has stood a fort- night, or three weeks. In the opinion of Dr. Anderson, such butter would keep sweet during the longest voyages, if it were so stowed, that it could not melt by the heat of the climate, and occa- sion the salts to separate from it. Hence the butter ought to be pre- viously freed from its mucilage, which is more putrescible than the oily parts. In order to prepare it for a distant voyage, let it be put into a vessel of a proper shape, Which should be immersed into another, containing water. Let this be gradually heated, till the butter be thoroughly melted, in which state it may remain for some time, and then be allowed, to settle. Thus, the mucilaginous part will fall entirely to the bot- tom, and the pure oil will swim uppermost, perfectly transparent, while hot ; but, on cooling, it be- comes opaque, assumes a colour somewhat paler than the original butter, before it was melted, and acquires a firmer consistence; by which it is better enabled to resist the heat of tropical climates. D d 3 When