PICKLES AND PRESERVES.
CHAPTER I.
THE STILL-ROOM.
In former days there were few houses of any pre-
tension to gentility and housewifery (and in those
times the two words were usually far more closely
coupled than they are at present), that did not
boast a still-room of some sort, in which the ladies
of the household, matrons and maids, concocted the
conserves, marchpanes, waters, essences, &c., which
then had to be home-made if required at all. The
room took its name from the still used in distilling
the many odds and ends needed by the lady of the
house, who not only provided the culinary wants of
her household, but was also responsible for as many
of the ailments of her tenants as did not actually in-
volve the attendance of the surgeon; and, unless
she is greatly belied, very weird and (to use her own
word) somewhat “ugsome” were the drugs she
compounded. Now-a-days the name still remains.
but the room is shorn of much of its previous im-
portance, and is simply the scene of the still-room
maid’s labours, in preparing the coffee, setting out
the dessert, and, in short, is little more than an
adjunct to the housekeeper’s room.
But the old still-room was the scene in former
years of the arduous work, engaged in by the mistress,
or, in her default, by the housekeeper, in preparing
the pickles, jams, compôtes, sweets, biscuits, &c., re-
quired for the family, and so it may well serve as
the heading for this introductory chapter. It were
well, in the country especially, if every lady could
set aside a room which might be given up to this
work, as then it could be carried on without dis-
turbing the cook’s equanimity. That good lady, not
unnaturally, rather discountenances the invasion of
her premises by the ladies of the family, whose
culinary views she knows from sad experience to be
“death on theory, but mighty little on practice,” as
an injured cook was once heard to mutter, as she
bowed out of her kitchen some young ladies who had
kindly undertaken to show her the latest ideas on “the
theory of cooking.” The usual result of such visits
only too generally is a fearful litter, and a display of
dirty pots and pans (very likely some burnt or other-
wise irretrievably injured), which will ensure the
kitchenmaid from the danger of idle hands for some
hours to come. Incidentally it may be observed
that the lady-cook would effect far more good would
she remember the old kitchen rule and “clear up as
she goes.” The right way of cleaning pots involves
so little time or labour, that even were her cookery
unsuccessful, her cleanliness and dainty order would
go far to reconcile even the most conservative cook
to her “new-fangled notions.”
Whether, however, you set up a still-room, or elect
to confide your preserves, &c., to “cook,” one point
must be carefully attended to, and that is the
presence of the requisite utensils. These should be
kept strictly for the one special purpose of preserve-
making, and the small extra expense this will entail
will be amply repaid by the pleasure derived from
the home-made conserves.
When the kitchen fire is not to be had, a gas
ring, where obtainable, is certainly the nicest fire to
use, allowing as it does of any degree of heat with
the minimum of trouble, avoiding the heat and
scorch of the range when used for this purpose, and
finally giving the least trouble in the matter of
cleaning up. Next to the gas ring comes the oil
stove, and for this Messrs. Rippingille supply most
fascinating little stoves, but personally Möller’s
“Primus” stove (which consumes only the gas
generated from the petroleum, and not the petroleum
itself) appears to me the most satisfactory, as it
produces a moderate heat, or a fierce blaze, just as
easily as the gas ring; moreover, a very useful
little hotplate to be used with it can be obtained
from the Household Supply Stores, 119, New Bond
Street, that will give all the advantage without any
of the drawbacks of a kitchen range. Having
obtained your stove, the next consideration is a pre-
serving pan. The nicest and most durable (but
also the most expensive) is made of bell metal; next
to this is the enamel lined pan, which is also
extremely useful in pickling, as acids do not affect it;
and, lastly, there is the preserving pan of aluminium,
of which, though I have heard much, I cannot speak
from personal experience. But, whichever you
elect, it must be kept immaculate, and never on any
consideration used for anything but still-room use.
Have also a couple of good hair sieves, which must
be carefully scalded and dried after use; a jelly bag,
or a thick piece of felt-flannel, such as jelly bags
are made of, which can be tied to the four legs of a
reversed chair, set on another chair or a table (as
shown in Vol. I. for soup straining), and allowed to
droop a little in the centre, a basin being placed on
the reversed seat of the chair to receive the strained
liquid; two or three squares of coarse muslin; four
or six wooden spoons of varying size (the very long-
handled ones being especially convenient), which
must be kept in spotless condition, and thus kept,
are preferable to anything but silver, which house-
wives of old always used if obtainable (remember
nothing made of tin, iron, or pewter, should touch
jams or preserves, if their colour is a matter of
importance.) A good long handled skimmer should
also be at hand for sugar boiling. Besides these, be
sure there is an ample supply of jam pots of varying
sizes, with white paper and vegetable parchment, to
cover them, or, far better still, have a good supply of
Messrs. Daniel Rylands’ (Barnsley) preserving
bottles of varying sizes. These are of three kinds,
the Climax, the Lightning, and the May Queen.
All three are alike in the matter of the fruit, &c.,
touching nothing but glass anywhere, the only
difference lying in the method of sealing, which is
extremely simple in every case. In the Climax the
wide mouth is fitted with an india-rubber band out-
side it, on which a strong glass top fits, being made
absolutely air tight at the last by a fire-gilt metal
cap, which screws down over all, firmly pressing
down the glass top into its place, over the elastic
ring. These bottles can also be had with a
small vent-hole in the glass top for use in pre-
serving when the fruit has to be cooked after
bottling; it can then be closed with a tiny bit
of cork, and a drop of wax dropped over this
before the outer cap is screwed on. The May
Queen bottle differs from this by replacing the
screw cap by a wire bail, the ends of which fit into
sockets on the bottle neck, and are locked into place
by means of a lever. The Lightning bottle cap
varies a little from both of these. It has a wire
bail and lever, but after the glass cap has been fixed
in position over the rubber band, the end of the bail
is passed over the top, fitted in between two glass
studs over the cap, and the lever is pressed down till
it locks the bail, and so keeps the lid in an air-tight
condition. To open the jar, the lever must be
raised, and the bail pulled towards the lever, off the
cap. This last kind is, I believe, the most generally
popular. The prices of all three are most moderate,
and if any difficulty is found in procuring these
most excellent preserving bottles, a stamped envelope
with the enquirer’s address will obtain from Messrs.
Rylands’ the name of the nearest agent. These save