449. To make SACK POSSET another Way.

Take a quart of good cream, and boil it with a blade or two of mace, put in about a quarter of a pound of fine powder sugar; take a pint of sack or better, set it over the fire to heat, but don’t let it boil, then grate in a little nutmeg, and about a quarter of a pound of powder sugar; take nine eggs, (leave out six of the whites and strains) beat ’em very well, then put to them a little of your sack mix the sack and eggs very well together, then put to ’em the rest of your sack, stir it all the time you are pouring it in, set it over a slow fire to thicken, and stir it till it be as thick as custard; be sure you don’t let it boil, if you do it will curdle, then pour it into your dish or bason; take your cream boiling hot, and pour to your sack by degrees, stirring it all the time you are pouring it in, then set it on a hot-hearth-stone; you must make it half an hour before you use it; before you set on the hearth cover it close with a pewter dish.

To make a FROTH for them.

Take a pint of the thickest cream you can get, and beat the whites of two eggs very well together, take off the cream by spoonfuls, and lie it in a sieve to drain; when you dish up the posset lie over it the froth.

450. To dry CHERRIES another Way.

Take cherries when full ripe, stone them, and break ’em as little as you can in the stoning; to six pounds of cherries take three pounds of loaf sugar, beat it, lie one part of your sugar under your cherries, and the other at the top, let them stand all night, then put them into your pan, and boil them pretty quick whilst your cherries change and look clear, then let them stand in the syrrup all night, pour the syrrup from them, and put them into a pretty large sieve, and set them either in the sun or before the fire; let them stand to dry a little, then lay them on white papers one by one, let them stand in the sun whilst they be thoroughly dry, in the drying turn them over, then put them into a little box; betwixt every layer of cherries lie a paper, and so do till all are in, then lie a paper at the top, and keep them for use.

You must not boil them over long in the syrrup, for if it be over thick it will keep them from drying; you may boil two or three pounds more cherries in the syrrup after.

451. How to order STURGEON.

If your sturgeon be alive, keep it a night and a day before you use it; then cut off the head and tail, split it down the back, and cut it into as many pieces as you please; salt it with bay salt and common salt, as you would do beef for hanging, and let it lie 24 hours; then tie it up very tight, and boil it in salt and water whilst it is tender; (you must not boil it over much) when it is boiled throw over it a little salt, and set it by till it be cold.  Take the head and split it in two and tye it up very tight; you must boil it by itself, not so much as you did the rest, but salt it after the same manner.