The Epicure's Almanac or Diary of Good Living
January 11th. : SOLUBLE CAYENNE
All true gourmands acknowledge the supremacy of Cayenne as the first of peppers ; but it is very annoying to have a particle of this delicious stimulant “stick in your throat,” like Macbeth's “ Amen ,” detaching itself from the sauce, fish, or meat, to which it had been applied.
To avoid such drawback on the pleasure of the table, I recommend the adoption of this simple plan :
Infuse an ounce of genuine Cayenne in boiling water, enough to cover it; let it stand on the hob for a couple of hours, and then pour the liquor through a fine sieve upon an ounce of basket-salt in a soup plate ; cover this down, and let it cool. You will find the new crystals have absorbed the liquid, and they can be rubbed up to any size required, and placed in your cruet-stand, with the advantage that the new grains will dissolve, and are free from the husk and seed of the pepper-pod.
It may be well to observe, that whenever Cayenne pepper is mentioned in these pages, the soluble preparation is intended to be used.