, and a large spoonful of vinegar. Or broil them very tender, and
serve them as a brown fricassee. The liquor will do to make jelly sweet
or relishing and likewise to give richness to soups or gravies. Another
way is to cut them into four parts, to dip them into an egg, and then
dredge and fry them. They may be garnished with fried onions, and served
with sauce as above. Or they may be baked as for mock turtle.

COWSLIP MEAD. Put thirty pounds of honey into fifteen gallons of water,
and boil till one gallon is wasted; skim it, and take it off the fire.
Have a dozen and a half of lemons ready quartered, pour a gallon of the
liquor boiling hot upon them, and the remainder into a tub, with seven
pecks of cowslip pips. Let them remain there all night; then put the
liquor and the lemons to eight spoonfuls of new yeast, and a handful of
sweet-briar. Stir all well together, and let it work for three or four
days; then strain and tun it into a cask. Let it stand six months, and
bottle it for keeping.

COWSLIP WINE. To every gallon of water, weigh three pounds of lump
sugar; boil them together half an hour, and take off the scum as it
rises. When sufficiently cool, put to it a crust of toasted bread dipped
in thick yeast, and let the liquor ferment in the tub thirty six hours.
Then put into the cask intended for keeping it, the peel of two and the
rind of one lemon, for every gallon of liquor; also the peel and the
rind of one Seville orange, and one gallon of cowslip pips. Pour the
liquor upon them, stir it carefully every day for a week, and for every
five gallons put in a bottle of brandy. Let the cask be close stopped,
and stand only six weeks before it be bottled off.

CRABS. The heaviest are best, and those of a middling size the sweetest.
If light they are watery: when in perfection the joints of the legs are
stiff, and the body has a very agreeable smell. The eyes look dead and
loose when stale. The female crab is generally preferred: the colour is
much brighter, the claws are shorter, and the apron in front is much
broader. To dress a hot crab, pick out the meat, and clear the shell
from the head. Put the meat into the shell again, with a little nutmeg,
salt, pepper, a bit of butter, crumbs of bread, and three spoonfuls of
vinegar. Then set the crab before the fire, or brown the meat with a
salamander. It should be served on a dry toast.--To dress a cold crab,
empty the shell, mix the flesh with a small quantity