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Pepper Vinegar
Fill a quart bottle with small peppers, green or ripe, put in two table-spoons of sugar, and fill with good cider vinegar. Good to eat with fish or meat, and invaluable in seasoning sauces. - Mrs. S. T. To avoid adulteration, buy coffee in the grain, either raw or in small quantities freshly roasted. The best kinds are the Mocha and Java, and some prefer to mix the two, having roasted them separately in the proportion of one-third of the former to two-thirds of the latter. West India coffee, though of a different flavor, is often very good.
Roast coffee with the greatest care for here lies the secret of success in coffee-making-and in small quantities, for there is a peculiar freshness of flavor when newly roasted. Pick over carefully, wash and dry in a moderate oven, increase the heat and roast quickly, either in the oven, or on top of the stove or range; in the latter case, stir constantly, and in the oven stir often, with a wooden spoon or ladle kept for that purpose. The coffee must be thoroughly and evenly roasted to a dark rich brown (not black) throughout, and must be free from any burnt grains, a few of which will ruin the flavor of a large quantity. It must be tender and brittle, to test which take a grain, place it on the table, press with the thumb, and if it can be crushed, it is done. Stir in a lump of butter while the coffee is hot, or wait until about half cold and then stir in a wellbeaten egg. The latter plan is very economical, as coffee so prepared needs no further clarifying. Keep in a closely-covered tin or earthen vessel. Never attempt other work while roasting coffee, but give it the entire attention. Do not grind too fine, and only in quantities as needed, for the flavor is dissipated if it is long unused after grinding, even when under cover. If properly roasted, coffee will grind into distinct, hard, and gritty particles, and not into a powder. (137) Physicians say that coffee without cream is more wholesome, particularly for persons of weak digestion. There seems to be some element in the coffee which, combining with the milk, forms a leathery coating on the stomach, and impairs digestion. If soft water is used for making tea, tea should be added as soon as it boils, as boiling expels all the gases from the water, but if soft water can not be had, and hard water is used, boil it from twenty to thirty minutes before using. The boiling drives off the gases in this case, but it also causes the lime and mineral matters, which render the water hard, to settle, thus softening it.
A two-line recipe with a great deal of unrelated coffee-roasting text run in after it, an artifact of the original typesetting. Only the first sentence is the recipe.
- The peppers"Small peppers" most likely means the hot bird- or cayenne-type pods, an inch or two long; the recipe does not name a variety. Any small hot pepper will serve; anything larger will not fit or infuse properly through a bottle neck.
- Prick each podThis is the hinge. Whole peppers with intact skins float and infuse slowly; pierce each one two or three times with a skewer or paring knife so vinegar penetrates the cavity and the pods stay submerged.
- Vinegar strength"Good cider vinegar" in this period was often homemade and of uncertain acidity. Use commercial cider vinegar at 5 percent, which is what keeps the jar safe and the peppers from softening.
- Heat the vinegarBringing the vinegar just to a simmer before pouring helps dissolve the sugar and speeds infusion. The original says nothing either way; poured cold it will simply take longer.
- The sugarTwo tablespoons in a quart is a seasoning, not a sweetener; it rounds the vinegar's edge. It can be left out entirely without affecting keeping quality.
- StorageThis is a refrigerator condiment, not a canned preserve. Keep the peppers fully covered by liquid; anything sitting above the surface will discolor and soften. Refrigerated, it holds for months, and the bottle can be topped up with fresh vinegar once or twice as it is used.
- Timing and yieldA quart gives a season's worth of table condiment. It becomes usable within a few days and grows stronger the longer it stands.
- How it was usedThe recipe recommends it with fish or meat and for seasoning sauces; a few drops will also lift a pan gravy or a mayonnaise.
- The coffee passageEverything after "invaluable in seasoning sauces" belongs to a separate article on buying and roasting coffee that has been run together with this entry. Ignore it when making the vinegar.
Pepper vinegar -- pods in a bottle, vinegar over them, no cooking, no straining, no mash -- is among the simplest forms of bottled pepper condiment, and versions appear in a number of nineteenth-century American collections, often credited to a named contributor as here. Small hot peppers of the Capsicum frutescens and Capsicum annuum types also underlie the Louisiana pepper sauces, the best known of which is usually traced to Edmund McIlhenny in the years after the Civil War.