After catching cold, in nervous headaches, cholics, indigestions, and different kinds of cramp and spasms in the stomach, warm broth is of excellent service.
After intemperate feasting, to give the stomach a holyday for a day or two by a diet on mutton broth (No. 564, orNo. 572), or vegetable soup (No. 218), &c. is the best way to restore its tone. “The stretching any power to its utmost extent weakens it. If the stomach be every day obliged to do as much as it can, it will every day be able to do less. A wise traveller will never force his horse to perform as much as he can in one day upon a long journey.”—FatherFeyjoo’sRules, p. 85.
ToWARM SOUPS, &c. (No. 485.)
N.B. With thePORTABLE SOUP(No. 252), a pint of broth may be made in five minutes for threepence.
89-*We prefer the form of a stew-pan to the soup-pot; the former is more convenient to skim: the most useful size is 12 inches diameter by 6 inches deep: this we would have of silver, or iron, or copper, lined (not plated) with silver.89-†This may be always avoided by browning your meat in the frying-pan; it is the browning of the meat that destroys the stew-pan.90-*In general, it has been considered the best economy to use the cheapest and most inferior meats for soup, &c., and to boil it down till it is entirely destroyed, and hardly worth putting into the hog-tub. This is a false frugality: buy good pieces of meat, and only stew them till they are done enough to be eaten.91-*Mushroom catchup, made asNo. 439, orNo. 440, will answer all the purposes of mushrooms in soup or sauce, and no store-room should be without a stock of it.91-†All cooks agree in this opinion,No savoury dish without anONION.Sliced onions fried, (seeNo. 299, andnoteunderNo. 517), with some butter and flour, till they are browned (and rubbed through a sieve), are excellent to heighten the colour and flavour of brown soups and sauces, and form the basis of most of the relishes furnished by the “Restaurateurs”—as we guess from the odour which ascends from their kitchens, and salutes our olfactory nerves “en passant.”The older and drier the onion, the stronger its flavour; and the cook will regulate the quantity she uses accordingly.92-*Burnet has exactly the same flavour as cucumber. See Burnet vinegar (No. 399).92-†The concentration of flavour inCELERYandCRESS SEEDis such, that half a drachm of it (finely pounded), or double the quantity if not ground or pounded,costing only one-third of a farthing, will impregnate half a gallon of soup with almost as much relish as two or three heads of the fresh vegetable, weighing seven ounces, and costingtwopence. This valuable acquisition to the soup-pot deserves to be universally known. See alsoNo. 409, essence ofCELERY. This is the most frugal relish we have to introduce to the economist: but that our judgment in palates may not be called in question by our fellow-mortals, who, as theCraniologistssay, happen to have theorgan of tastestronger than theorgan of accumulativeness, we must confess, that, with the flavour it does not impart the delicate sweetness, &c. of the fresh vegetable; and when used, a bit of sugar should accompany it.92-‡SeeNo. 419,No. 420, andNo. 459. Fresh greenBASILis seldom to be procured. When dried, much of its fine flavour is lost, which is fully extracted by pouring wine on the fresh leaves (seeNo. 397).To procure and preserve the flavour ofSWEET AND SAVOURY HERBS, celery, &c. these must be dried, &c. at home (seeNo. 417*andNo. 461).92-§SeeNo. 421andNo. 457. Sir Hans Sloane, in the Phil. Trans. Abr. vol. xi. p. 667, says, “Pimento, the spice of Jamaica, orALLSPICE, so called, from having a flavour composed as it were of cloves, cinnamon, nutmegs, and pepper, may deservedly be counted the best and most temperate, mild, and innocent of common spices, almost all of which it far surpasses, by promoting the digestion of meat, and moderately heating and strengthening the stomach, and doing those friendly offices to the bowels, we generally expect from spices.” We have always been of the same opinion as Sir Hans, and believe the only reason why it is the least esteemed spice is, because it is the cheapest. “What folks get easy they never enjoy.”92-‖If you have not fresh orange or lemon-juice, or Coxwell’s crystallized lemon acid,the artificial lemon juice(No. 407) is a good substitute for it.92-¶Thejuiceof theSEVILLE ORANGEis to be preferred to that of theLEMON, the flavour is finer, and the acidmilder.93-*The erudite editor of the “Almanach des Gourmands,” vol. ii. p. 30, tells us, that ten folio volumes would not contain the receipts of all the soups that have been invented in that grand school of good eating,—the Parisian kitchen.93-†“Point de Légumes,point de Cuisinière,” is a favourite culinary adage of the French kitchen, and deserves to be so: a better soup may be made with a couple of pounds of meat and plenty of vegetables, than our common cooks will make you with four times that quantity of meat; all for want of knowing the uses of soup roots, and sweet and savoury herbs.93-‡Many a good dish is spoiled, by the cook not knowing the proper use of this, which is to give a flavour, and not to be predominant over the other ingredients: a morsel mashed with the point of a knife, and stirred in, is enough. SeeNo. 402.93-§Foreigners have strange notions of English taste, on which one of their culinary professors has made the following comment: “the organ of taste in theseISLANDERSis very different fromour delicate palates; and sauce that would excoriate the palate of a Frenchman, would be hardlypiquanteenough to make any impression on that of an Englishman; thus they prefer port to claret,” &c. As far as concerns our drinking, we wish there was not quite so much truth inMonsieur’sremarks, but the characteristic of the French and English kitchen issauce without substance, andsubstance without sauce.To makeCayenneof English chillies, of infinitely finer flavour than the Indian, seeNo. 404.95-*We tried to make catchup of these by treating them like mushrooms (No. 439), but did not succeed.96-*“A poor man, being very hungry, staid so long in a cook’s shop, who was dishing up meat, that his stomach was satisfied with only the smell thereof. The choleric cook demanded of him to pay for his breakfast; the poor man denied having had any, and the controversy was referred to the deciding of the next man that should pass by, who chanced to be the most notorious idiot in the whole city: he, on the relation of the matter, determined that the poor man’s money should be put between two empty dishes, and the cook should be recompensed with the jingling of the poor man’s money, as he was satisfied with the smell of the cook’s meat.” This is affirmed by credible writers as no fable, but an undoubted truth.—Fuller’sHoly State, lib. iii. c. 12, p. 20.98-*If the gravy be not completely drained from it, the article potted will very soon turn sour.99-*Economists recommend these to be pounded; they certainly go farther, as they call it; but we think they go too far, for they go through the sieve, and make the soup grouty.
89-*We prefer the form of a stew-pan to the soup-pot; the former is more convenient to skim: the most useful size is 12 inches diameter by 6 inches deep: this we would have of silver, or iron, or copper, lined (not plated) with silver.
89-†This may be always avoided by browning your meat in the frying-pan; it is the browning of the meat that destroys the stew-pan.
90-*In general, it has been considered the best economy to use the cheapest and most inferior meats for soup, &c., and to boil it down till it is entirely destroyed, and hardly worth putting into the hog-tub. This is a false frugality: buy good pieces of meat, and only stew them till they are done enough to be eaten.
91-*Mushroom catchup, made asNo. 439, orNo. 440, will answer all the purposes of mushrooms in soup or sauce, and no store-room should be without a stock of it.
91-†
All cooks agree in this opinion,No savoury dish without anONION.
Sliced onions fried, (seeNo. 299, andnoteunderNo. 517), with some butter and flour, till they are browned (and rubbed through a sieve), are excellent to heighten the colour and flavour of brown soups and sauces, and form the basis of most of the relishes furnished by the “Restaurateurs”—as we guess from the odour which ascends from their kitchens, and salutes our olfactory nerves “en passant.”
The older and drier the onion, the stronger its flavour; and the cook will regulate the quantity she uses accordingly.
92-*Burnet has exactly the same flavour as cucumber. See Burnet vinegar (No. 399).
92-†The concentration of flavour inCELERYandCRESS SEEDis such, that half a drachm of it (finely pounded), or double the quantity if not ground or pounded,costing only one-third of a farthing, will impregnate half a gallon of soup with almost as much relish as two or three heads of the fresh vegetable, weighing seven ounces, and costingtwopence. This valuable acquisition to the soup-pot deserves to be universally known. See alsoNo. 409, essence ofCELERY. This is the most frugal relish we have to introduce to the economist: but that our judgment in palates may not be called in question by our fellow-mortals, who, as theCraniologistssay, happen to have theorgan of tastestronger than theorgan of accumulativeness, we must confess, that, with the flavour it does not impart the delicate sweetness, &c. of the fresh vegetable; and when used, a bit of sugar should accompany it.
92-‡SeeNo. 419,No. 420, andNo. 459. Fresh greenBASILis seldom to be procured. When dried, much of its fine flavour is lost, which is fully extracted by pouring wine on the fresh leaves (seeNo. 397).
To procure and preserve the flavour ofSWEET AND SAVOURY HERBS, celery, &c. these must be dried, &c. at home (seeNo. 417*andNo. 461).
92-§SeeNo. 421andNo. 457. Sir Hans Sloane, in the Phil. Trans. Abr. vol. xi. p. 667, says, “Pimento, the spice of Jamaica, orALLSPICE, so called, from having a flavour composed as it were of cloves, cinnamon, nutmegs, and pepper, may deservedly be counted the best and most temperate, mild, and innocent of common spices, almost all of which it far surpasses, by promoting the digestion of meat, and moderately heating and strengthening the stomach, and doing those friendly offices to the bowels, we generally expect from spices.” We have always been of the same opinion as Sir Hans, and believe the only reason why it is the least esteemed spice is, because it is the cheapest. “What folks get easy they never enjoy.”
92-‖If you have not fresh orange or lemon-juice, or Coxwell’s crystallized lemon acid,the artificial lemon juice(No. 407) is a good substitute for it.
92-¶Thejuiceof theSEVILLE ORANGEis to be preferred to that of theLEMON, the flavour is finer, and the acidmilder.
93-*The erudite editor of the “Almanach des Gourmands,” vol. ii. p. 30, tells us, that ten folio volumes would not contain the receipts of all the soups that have been invented in that grand school of good eating,—the Parisian kitchen.
93-†“Point de Légumes,point de Cuisinière,” is a favourite culinary adage of the French kitchen, and deserves to be so: a better soup may be made with a couple of pounds of meat and plenty of vegetables, than our common cooks will make you with four times that quantity of meat; all for want of knowing the uses of soup roots, and sweet and savoury herbs.
93-‡Many a good dish is spoiled, by the cook not knowing the proper use of this, which is to give a flavour, and not to be predominant over the other ingredients: a morsel mashed with the point of a knife, and stirred in, is enough. SeeNo. 402.
93-§Foreigners have strange notions of English taste, on which one of their culinary professors has made the following comment: “the organ of taste in theseISLANDERSis very different fromour delicate palates; and sauce that would excoriate the palate of a Frenchman, would be hardlypiquanteenough to make any impression on that of an Englishman; thus they prefer port to claret,” &c. As far as concerns our drinking, we wish there was not quite so much truth inMonsieur’sremarks, but the characteristic of the French and English kitchen issauce without substance, andsubstance without sauce.
To makeCayenneof English chillies, of infinitely finer flavour than the Indian, seeNo. 404.
95-*We tried to make catchup of these by treating them like mushrooms (No. 439), but did not succeed.
96-*“A poor man, being very hungry, staid so long in a cook’s shop, who was dishing up meat, that his stomach was satisfied with only the smell thereof. The choleric cook demanded of him to pay for his breakfast; the poor man denied having had any, and the controversy was referred to the deciding of the next man that should pass by, who chanced to be the most notorious idiot in the whole city: he, on the relation of the matter, determined that the poor man’s money should be put between two empty dishes, and the cook should be recompensed with the jingling of the poor man’s money, as he was satisfied with the smell of the cook’s meat.” This is affirmed by credible writers as no fable, but an undoubted truth.—Fuller’sHoly State, lib. iii. c. 12, p. 20.
98-*If the gravy be not completely drained from it, the article potted will very soon turn sour.
99-*Economists recommend these to be pounded; they certainly go farther, as they call it; but we think they go too far, for they go through the sieve, and make the soup grouty.
“The spirit of each dish, andZESTof all,Is what ingenious cooks the relish call;For though the market sends in loads of food,They are all tasteless, till that makes them good.”King’sArt of Cookery.
“Ex parvis componere magna.”
Itis of as much importance that the cook should know how to make a boat of good gravy for her poultry, &c. as that it should be sent up of proper complexion, and nicely frothed.
In this chapter, we shall endeavour to introduce to her allthe materials101-*which give flavour insauce, which is theessence of soup, and intended to contain more relish in atea-spoonfulthan the former does in atable-spoonful.
We hope to deserve as much praise from theeconomistas we do from thebon vivant; as we have taken great pains to introduce to him the methods of making substitutes for those ingredients, which are always expensive, and often not to be had at all. Many of these cheap articles are as savoury and as salutary as the dearer ones, and those who have large families and limited incomes, will, no doubt, be glad to avail themselves of them.
The reader may rest assured, that whether he consults this book to diminish the expense or increase the pleasures of hospitality, he will find all the information that was to be obtained up to 1826, communicated in the most unreserved and intelligible manner.
A great deal of the elegance of cookery depends upon the accompaniments to each dish being appropriate and well adapted to it.
We can assure our readers, no attention has been wanting on our part to render this department of the work worthy of their perusal; each receipt is the faithful narrative of actual and repeated experiments, and has received the most deliberate consideration before it was here presented to them. It is given in the most circumstantial manner, and not in the technical and mysterious language former writers on these subjects seem to have preferred; by which their directions are useless and unintelligible to all who have not regularly served an apprenticeship at the stove.
Thus, instead of accurately enumerating the quantities, and explaining the process of each composition, they order a ladleful ofstock, a pint ofconsommé, and a spoonful ofcullis; as if a private-family cook had always at hand a soup-kettle full ofstock, a store ofconsommé, and the larder ofAlbion house, and thespoonsandpennyworthswere the same in all ages.
It will be to very little purpose that I have taken so much pains to teach how to manage roasts and boils, if a cook cannot or will not make the several sauces that are usually sent up with them.
The most homely fare may be made relishing, and the most excellent and independent improved by a well-madesauce;102-*as the most perfect picture may, by being well varnished.
We have, therefore, endeavoured to give the plainest directions how to produce, with the least trouble and expense102-†possible, all the various compositions the English kitchen affords; and hope to present such a wholesome and palatable variety as will suit all tastes and all pockets, so that a cook may give satisfaction in all families. The more combinations of this sort she is acquainted with, the better she will comprehend the management of every one of them.
We have rejected someoutlandish farragoes, from a conviction that they were by no means adapted to an English palate. If they have been received into some English books, for the sake of swelling the volume, we believe they will never be received by an Englishman’s stomach, unless for the reason they were admitted into the cookery book,i. e.because he has nothing else to put into it.
However “les pompeuses bagatelles de la Cuisine Masquée” may tickle the fancy ofdemi-connoisseurs, who, leaving the substance to pursue the shadow, prefer wonderful and whimsical metamorphoses, and things extravagantly expensive to those which are intrinsically excellent; in whose mouth mutton can hardly hope for a welcome, unless accompanied by venison sauce; or a rabbit, any chance for a race down the red lane, without assuming the form of a frog or a spider; or pork, without being either “goosified” or “lambified” (seeNo. 51); and game and poultry in the shape of crawfish or hedgehogs; these travesties rather show the patience than the science of the cook, and the bad taste of those who prefer such baby-tricks to nourishing and substantial plain cookery.
I could have made this the biggest book with half the trouble it has taken me to make it the best: concentration and perspicuity have been my aim.
As much pains have been taken in describing, in the most intelligible manner, how to make, in the easiest, most agreeable, and economical way, those common sauces that daily contribute to the comfort of the middle ranks of society; as in directing the preparation of those extravagant and elaborate double relishes, the most ingenious and accomplished “officers of the mouth” have invented for the amusement of profound palaticians, and thorough-bredgrands gourmandsof the first magnitude: these we have so reduced the trouble and expense of making, as to bring them within the reach of moderate fortunes; still preserving all that is valuable of their taste and qualities; so ordering them, that they may delight the palate, without disordering the stomach, by leaving out those inflammatory ingredients which are only fit for an “iron throat and adamantine bowels,” and those costly materials which no rational being would destroy, for the wanton purpose of merely giving a fine name to the compositions they enter into, to whose excellence they contribute nothing else. For instance, consumingtwopartridges to make sauce forone: half a pint of game gravy (No. 329,) will be infinitely more acceptable to the unsophisticated appetite of Englishmen, for whose proper and rational recreation we sat down to compose these receipts; whose approbation we have done our utmost to deserve, by devoting much time to the business of the kitchen; and by repeating the various processes that we thought admitted of the smallest improvement.
We shall be fully gratified, if our book is not bought up with quite so much avidity by those high-bred epicures, who are unhappily so much more nice than wise, that they cannot eat any thing dressed by an English cook; and vote it barbarously unrefined and intolerably ungenteel, to endure the sight of the best bill of fare that can be contrived, if written in the vulgar tongue of old England.103-*
Let your sauces each display a decided character; send up your plain sauces (oyster, lobster, &c.) as pure as possible: they should only taste of the materials from which they take their name.
The imagination of most cooks is so incessantly on the hunt for a relish, that they seem to think they cannot make sauce sufficiently savoury without putting into it every thing that ever was eaten; and supposing every addition must be an improvement, they frequently overpower the natural flavour of theirPLAIN SAUCES, by overloading them with salt and spices, &c.: but, remember, these will be deteriorated by any addition, save only just salt enough to awaken the palate. The lover of “piquance” and compound flavours, may have recourse to “the Magazine of Taste,”No. 462.
On the contrary, ofCOMPOUND SAUCES; the ingredients should be so nicely proportioned, that no one be predominant; so that from the equal union of the combined flavours such a fine mellow mixture is produced, whose very novelty cannot fail of being acceptable to the perseveringgourmand, if it has not pretensions to a permanent place at his table.
An ingeniouscookwill form as endless a variety of these compositions as amusicianwith his seven104-*notes, or apainterwith his colours; no part of her business offers so fair and frequent an opportunity to display her abilities:SPICES,HERBS, &c. are often very absurdly and injudiciously jumbled together.
Why have clove and allspice, or mace and nutmeg, in the same sauce; or marjoram, thyme, and savoury; or onions, leeks,eschalots, and garlic? one will very well supply the place of the other, and the frugal cook may save something considerable by attending to this, to the advantage of her employers, and her own time and trouble. You might as well, to make soup, order one quart of water from theThames, another from theNew River, a third fromHampstead, and a fourth fromChelsea, with a certain portion ofspringandrainwater.
In many of our receipts we have fallen in with the fashion of ordering a mixture of spices, &c., which the above hint will enable the culinary student to correct.
“Pharmacyis now much more simple;COOKERYmay bemade so too. A prescription which is now compounded with five ingredients, had formerly fifty in it: people begin to understand that the materia medica is little more than a collection of evacuants and stimuli.”—Boswell’s Life of Johnson.
Theragoûts of the last centuryhad infinitely more ingredients than we use now; the praise given toWill. Rabishafor his Cookery, 12mo. 1673, is
“To fry and fricassee, his way’s most neat,For he compounds a thousand sorts of meat.”
To become a perfect mistress of the art of cleverly extracting and combining flavours,105-*besides the gift of a good taste, requires all the experience and skill of the most accomplished professor, and, especially, an intimate acquaintance with the palate she is working for.
Send your sauces to table as hot as possible.
Nothing can be more unsightly than the surface of a sauce in a frozen state, or garnished with grease on the top. The best way to get rid of this, is to pass it through a tamis or napkin previously soaked in cold water; the coldness of the napkin will coagulate the fat, and only suffer the pure gravy to pass through: if any particles of fat remain, take them off by applying filtering paper, as blotting paper is applied to writing.
Let your sauces boil up after you put in wine, anchovy, or thickening, that their flavours may be well blended with the other ingredients;105-†and keep in mind that the “chef-d’œuvre” ofCOOKERYis, to entertain the mouth without offending the stomach.
N.B. Although I have endeavoured to give the particular quantity of each ingredient used in the following sauces, as they are generally made; still the cook’s judgment must direct her to lessen or increase either of the ingredients, according to the taste of those she works for, and will always be on the alert to ascertain what are the favouriteaccompanimentsdesired with each dish. SeeAdvice to Cooks,page 50.
When you open a bottle ofcatchup(No. 439),essence of anchovy(No. 433), &c., throw away the old cork, and stop it closely with a new cork that will fit it very tight. Use only the best superfine velvet taper-corks.
Economy in corks is extremely unwise: in order to save a mere trifle in the price of the cork, you run the risk of losing the valuable article it is intended to preserve.
It is avulgar errorthat a bottle must be well stopped, when the cork is forced down even with the mouth of it; it is rather a sign that the cork is too small, and it should be redrawn and a larger one put in.
Half a pound of black resin, same quantity of red sealing-wax, quarter oz. bees’ wax, melted in an earthen or iron pot; when it froths up, before all is melted and likely to boil over, stir it with a tallow candle, which will settle the froth till all is melted and fit for use. Red wax, 10d.per lb. may be bought at Mr. Dew’s Blackmore-street, Clare-market.
N.B. This cement is of very great use in preserving things that you wish to keep a long time, which without its help would soon spoil, from the clumsy and ineffectual manner in which the bottles are corked.
101-*See, in pages91,92,A CATALOGUE OF THE INGREDIENTSnow used in soups, sauces, &c.102-*“It is the duty of a good sauce,” says the editor of theAlmanach des Gourmands(vol. v. page 6), “to insinuate itself all round and about the maxillary gland, and imperceptibly awaken into activity each ramification of the organs of taste: if not sufficiently savoury, it cannot produce this effect, and if toopiquante, it will paralyze, instead of exciting, those delicious titillations of tongue and vibrations of palate, that only the most accomplished philosophers of the mouth can produce on the highly-educated palates of thrice happygrands gourmands.”102-†To save time and trouble is the most valuable frugality: and if the mistress of a family will condescend to devote a little time to the profitable and pleasant employment of preparing some of theSTORE SAUCES, especially Nos.322.402.404.413.429.433.439.454; these, both epicures and economists will avail themselves of the advantage now given them, of preparing at home.By the help of these, many dishes may be dressed in half the usual time, and with half the trouble and expense, and flavoured and finished with much more certainty than by the common methods.A small portion of the time which young ladies sacrifice to torturing the strings of theirpiano-forte, employed in obtaining domestic accomplishments, might not make them worse wives, or less agreeable companions to their husbands. This was the opinion 200 years ago.“To speak, then, of the knowledge which belongs unto our British housewife, I hold the most principal to be a perfect skill inCOOKERY: she that is utterly ignorant therein, may not, by the lawes of strict justice, challenge the freedom of marriage, because indeede she can perform but half her vow: she may love and obey, but she cannot cherish and keepe her husband.”—G. Markham’sEnglish Housewife, 4to. 1637, p. 62.We hope our fair readers will forgive us, for telling them that economy in a wife, is the most certain charm to ensure the affection and industry of a husband.103-*Though some of these people seem at last to have found out, that an Englishman’s head may be as full of gravy as a Frenchman’s, and willing to give the preference to native talent, retain an Englishman or woman as prime minister of their kitchen; still they seem ashamed to confess it, and commonly insist as a “sine quâ non,” that their English domestics should understand the “parlez vous;” and notwithstanding they are perfectly initiated in all the minutiæ of the philosophy of the mouth, consider them uneligible, if they cannot scribblea bill of fare in pretty good bad French.104-*The principal agents now employed to flavour soups and sauces are,MUSHROOMS(No. 439),ONIONS(No. 420),ANCHOVY(No. 433),LEMON-JUICEandPEEL, orVINEGAR,WINE, (especially goodCLARET),SWEET HERBS, andSAVOURY SPICES.—Nos.420-422, and457.459,460.105-*If your palate becomes dull by repeatedly tasting, the best way to refresh it is to wash your mouth well with milk.105-†Before you put eggs or cream into a sauce, have all your other ingredients well boiled, and the sauce or soup of proper thickness; because neither eggs nor cream will contribute to thicken it.—After you have put them in, do not set the stew-pan on the stove again, but hold it over the fire, and shake it round one way till the sauce is ready.
101-*See, in pages91,92,A CATALOGUE OF THE INGREDIENTSnow used in soups, sauces, &c.
102-*“It is the duty of a good sauce,” says the editor of theAlmanach des Gourmands(vol. v. page 6), “to insinuate itself all round and about the maxillary gland, and imperceptibly awaken into activity each ramification of the organs of taste: if not sufficiently savoury, it cannot produce this effect, and if toopiquante, it will paralyze, instead of exciting, those delicious titillations of tongue and vibrations of palate, that only the most accomplished philosophers of the mouth can produce on the highly-educated palates of thrice happygrands gourmands.”
102-†To save time and trouble is the most valuable frugality: and if the mistress of a family will condescend to devote a little time to the profitable and pleasant employment of preparing some of theSTORE SAUCES, especially Nos.322.402.404.413.429.433.439.454; these, both epicures and economists will avail themselves of the advantage now given them, of preparing at home.
By the help of these, many dishes may be dressed in half the usual time, and with half the trouble and expense, and flavoured and finished with much more certainty than by the common methods.
A small portion of the time which young ladies sacrifice to torturing the strings of theirpiano-forte, employed in obtaining domestic accomplishments, might not make them worse wives, or less agreeable companions to their husbands. This was the opinion 200 years ago.
“To speak, then, of the knowledge which belongs unto our British housewife, I hold the most principal to be a perfect skill inCOOKERY: she that is utterly ignorant therein, may not, by the lawes of strict justice, challenge the freedom of marriage, because indeede she can perform but half her vow: she may love and obey, but she cannot cherish and keepe her husband.”—G. Markham’sEnglish Housewife, 4to. 1637, p. 62.
We hope our fair readers will forgive us, for telling them that economy in a wife, is the most certain charm to ensure the affection and industry of a husband.
103-*Though some of these people seem at last to have found out, that an Englishman’s head may be as full of gravy as a Frenchman’s, and willing to give the preference to native talent, retain an Englishman or woman as prime minister of their kitchen; still they seem ashamed to confess it, and commonly insist as a “sine quâ non,” that their English domestics should understand the “parlez vous;” and notwithstanding they are perfectly initiated in all the minutiæ of the philosophy of the mouth, consider them uneligible, if they cannot scribblea bill of fare in pretty good bad French.
104-*The principal agents now employed to flavour soups and sauces are,MUSHROOMS(No. 439),ONIONS(No. 420),ANCHOVY(No. 433),LEMON-JUICEandPEEL, orVINEGAR,WINE, (especially goodCLARET),SWEET HERBS, andSAVOURY SPICES.—Nos.420-422, and457.459,460.
105-*If your palate becomes dull by repeatedly tasting, the best way to refresh it is to wash your mouth well with milk.
105-†Before you put eggs or cream into a sauce, have all your other ingredients well boiled, and the sauce or soup of proper thickness; because neither eggs nor cream will contribute to thicken it.—After you have put them in, do not set the stew-pan on the stove again, but hold it over the fire, and shake it round one way till the sauce is ready.
Under this general head we range our receipts forHASHES,STEWS, andRAGOUTS,106-*&c. Of these there are a great multitude, affording the ingenious cook an inexhaustible store of variety: in the French kitchen they count upwards of 600, and are daily inventing new ones.
We have very few general observations to make, after what we have already said in the two preceding chapters onsauces,soups, &c., which apply to the present chapter, as they form the principal part of the accompaniment of most of these dishes. In fact,MADE DISHESare nothing more than meat, poultry (No. 530), or fish (Nos.146,158, or164), stewed very gently till they are tender, with a thickened sauce poured over them.
Be careful to trim off all the skin, gristle, &c. that will not be eaten; and shape handsomely, and of even thickness, the various articles which compose your made dishes: this is sadly neglected by common cooks. Only stew them till they are just tender, and do not stew them to rags; therefore, what you prepare the day before it is to be eaten, do not dress quite enough the first day.
We have given receipts for the most easy and simple way to makeHASHES, &c. Those who are well skilled in culinary arts can dress up things in this way, so as to be as agreeable as they were the first time they were cooked. But hashing is a very bad mode of cookery: if meat has been done enough the first time it is dressed, a second dressing will divest it of all its nutritive juices; and if it can be smuggled into the stomach by bribing the palate withpiquantesauce, it is at the hazard of an indigestion, &c.
I promise those who do me the honour to put my receipts into practice, that they will find that the most nutritious and truly elegant dishes are neither the most difficult to dress, the most expensive, nor the most indigestible. In these compositions experience will go far to diminish expense: meat that is too old or too tough for roasting, &c., may by gentle stewing be rendered savoury and tender. If some of our receipts do differ a little from those in former cookery books, let it be remembered we have advanced nothing in this work that has not been tried, and experience has proved correct.
N.B. SeeNo. 483, an ingenious and economical system ofFrench cookery, written at the request of the editor by an accomplishedEnglish lady, which will teach you how to supply your table with elegant little made dishes, &c. at as little expense as plain cookery.
106-*Sauce for ragoûts, &c., should be thickened till it is of the consistence of good rich cream, that it may adhere to whatever it is poured over. When you have a large dinner to dress, keep ready-mixed some fine-sifted flour and water well rubbed together till quite smooth, and about as thick as butter. SeeNo. 257.
106-*Sauce for ragoûts, &c., should be thickened till it is of the consistence of good rich cream, that it may adhere to whatever it is poured over. When you have a large dinner to dress, keep ready-mixed some fine-sifted flour and water well rubbed together till quite smooth, and about as thick as butter. SeeNo. 257.
[Read thefirst chapterof the Rudiments of Cookery.]
Cutoff the shank bone, and trim the knuckle, put it into lukewarm water for ten minutes, wash it clean, cover it with cold water, and let it simmervery gently, and skim it carefully. A leg of nine pounds will take two and a half or three hours, if you like it thoroughly done, especially in very cold weather.
For the accompaniments, see the following receipt.
N.B. Thetit-bitswith an epicure are the “knuckle,” the kernel, called the “pope’s eye,” and the “gentleman’s” or “cramp bone,” or, as it is called in Kent, the “CAW CAW,” four of these and a bounder furnish the little masters and mistresses of Kent with their most favourite set of playthings.
A leg of mutton stewedvery slowly, as we have directed the beef to be (No. 493), will be as agreeable to an English appetite as the famous “gigot108-*de sept heures” of the French kitchen is to a Parisian palate.
When mutton is very large, you may divide it, androast the fillet, i. e. the large end, andboil the knuckle end; you may also cut some fine cutlets off the thick end of the leg,and so have two or three good hot dinners. See Mrs.Makeitdo’sreceipt how to make a leg of mutton last a week, in “the housekeeper’s leger,” printed for Whittaker, Ave-Maria Lane.
The liquor the mutton is boiled in, you may convert into good soup in five minutes, (seeN.B.toNo. 218,) and Scotch barley broth (No. 204). Thus managed, a leg of mutton is a most economical joint.
Put four or five pounds of the best end of a neck (that has been kept a few days) into as much cold soft water as will cover it, and about two inches over; let it simmer very slowly for two hours: it will look most delicate if you do not take off the skin till it has been boiled.
For sauce, that elegant and innocent relish, parsley and butter (No. 261), oreschalot (No. 294or5), or caper sauce (No. 274), mock caper sauce (No. 275), and onion sauce (No. 298), turnips (No. 130), or spinage (No. 121), are the usual accompaniments to boiled mutton.
A leg of five pounds should simmer very gently for about two hours, from the time it is put on, in cold water. After the general rules for boiling, in thefirst chapterof the Rudiments of Cookery, we have nothing to add, only to send up with it spinage (No. 122), broccoli (No. 126), cauliflower (No. 125), &c., and for sauce,No. 261.
This is expected to come to table looking delicately clean; and it is so easily discoloured, that you must be careful to have clean water, a clean vessel, and constantly catch the scum as soon and as long as it rises, and attend to the directions before given in thefirst chapterof the Rudiments of Cookery. Send up bacon (No. 13), fried sausages (No. 87), or pickled pork, greens, (No. 118and following Nos.) and parsley and butter (No. 261), onion sauce (No. 298).
N.B. For receipts to cook veal, see fromNo. 512toNo. 521.
In plain English, is understood to mean boiled beef; but its culinary acceptation, in the French kitchen, is fresh beef dressed without boiling, and only very gently simmered by a slow fire.
Cooks have seldom any notion, that good soup can be made without destroying a great deal of meat; however, by a judicious regulation of the fire, and a vigilant attendance on the soup-kettle, this may be accomplished. You shall have a tureen of such soup as will satisfy the most fastidious palate, and the meat make its appearance at table, at thesame time, in possession of a full portion of nutritious succulence.
This requires nothing more than to stew the meat very slowly (instead of keeping the pot boiling a gallop, as common cooks too commonly do), and to take it up as soon as it is done enough. See “Soup and bouilli” (No. 238), “Shin of beef stewed” (No. 493), “Scotch barley broth” (No. 204).
Meat cooked in this manner affords much more nourishment than it does dressed in the common way, is easy of digestion in proportion as it is tender, and an invigorating, substantial diet, especially valuable to the poor, whose laborious employments require support.
If they could get good eating put within their reach, they would often go to the butcher’s shop, when they now run to the public-house.
Among the variety of schemes that have been suggested for bettering the condition of the poor, a more useful or extensive charity cannot be devised, than that of instructing them in economical and comfortable cookery, except providing them with spectacles.
“The poor in Scotland, and on the Continent, manage much better. Oatmeal porridge (Nos.205and572) and milk, constitute the breakfast and supper of those patterns of industry, frugality, and temperance, the Scottish peasantry.
“When they can afford meat, they form with it a large quantity of barley broth (No. 204), with a variety of vegetables, by boiling the whole a long time, enough to serve the family for several days.
“When they cannot afford meat, they make broth of barley and other vegetables, with a lump of butter (seeNo. 229), all of which they boil for many hours, and this with oat cakes forms their dinner.”Cochrane’sSeaman’s Guide, p. 34.
The cheapest method of making a nourishing soup is least known to those who have most need of it. (SeeNo. 229.)
Our neighbours the French are so justly famous for their skill in the affairs of the kitchen, that the adage says, “as many Frenchmen as many cooks:” surrounded as they are by a profusion of the most delicious wines and most seducingliqueurs, offering every temptation and facility to render drunkenness delightful: yet a tippling Frenchman is a “rara avis;” they know how so easily and completely to keep life in repair by good eating, that they require little or no adjustment from drinking.
This accounts for that “toujours gai,” and happy equilibrium of spirits, which they enjoy with more regularity than any people. Their stomach, being unimpaired by spirituous liquors, embrace and digest vigorously the food they sagaciously prepare for it, and render easily assimilable by cooking it sufficiently, wisely contriving to get the difficult part of the work of the stomach done by fire and water.
In thesummerseason, especially, meat is frequently spoiled by the cook forgetting to take out the kernels; one in the udder of a round of beef, in the fat in the middle of the round, those about the thick end of the flank, &c.: if these are not taken out, all the salt in the world will not keep the meat.
The art of salting meat is to rub in the salt thoroughly and evenly into every part, and to fill all the holes full of salt where the kernels were taken out, and where the butcher’s skewers were.
A round of beef of 25 pounds will take a pound and a half of salt to be rubbed in all at first, and requires to be turned and rubbed every day with the brine; it will be ready for dressing in four or five days,111-*if you do not wish it very salt.
Insummer, the sooner meat is salted after it is killed the better; and care must be taken to defend it from the flies.
Inwinter, it will eat the shorter and tenderer, if kept a few days (according to the temperature of the weather) until its fibre has become short and tender, as these changes do not take place after it has been acted upon by the salt.
In frosty weather, take care the meat is not frozen, and warm the salt in a frying-pan. The extremes of heat111-†and cold are equally unfavourable for the process of salting. In the former, the meat changes before the salt can affect it: in the latter, it is so hardened, and its juices are so congealed, that the salt cannot penetrate it.
If you wish it red, rub it first with saltpetre, in the proportion of half an ounce, and the like quantity of moist sugar, to a pound of common salt. (See Savoury salt beef,No. 496.)
You may impregnate meat with a very agreeable vegetable flavour, by pounding some sweet herbs (No. 459,) and an onion with the salt. You may make it still more relishing by adding a little ZEST (No. 255), orsavoury spice(No. 457).
“Six pounds of salt, one pound of sugar, and four ounces of saltpetre, boiled with four gallons of water, skimmed, and allowed to cool, forms a very strong pickle, which will preserve any meat completely immersed in it. To effect this, which is essential, either a heavy board or a flat stone must be laid upon the meat. The same pickle may be used repeatedly, provided it be boiled up occasionally with additional salt to restore its strength, diminished by the combination of part of the salt with the meat, and by the dilution of the pickle by the juices of the meat extracted. By boiling, the albumen, which would cause the pickle to spoil, is coagulated, and rises in the form of scum, which must be carefully removed.”—SeeSupplement to Encyclop. Britan.vol. iv. p. 340.
Meat kept immersed in pickle gains weight. In one experiment by Messrs. Donkin and Gamble, there was a gain of three per cent., and in another of two and a half; but in the common way of salting, when the meat is not immersed in pickle, there is a loss of about one pound, or one and a half, in sixteen. See Dr. Wilkinson’s account of the preserving power ofPYRO-LIGNEOUS ACID, &c. in the Philosophical Magazine for 1821, No. 273, p. 12.
An H-bone of 10 or 12 pounds weight will require about three-quarters of a pound of salt, and an ounce of moist sugar, to be well rubbed into it. It will be ready in four or five days, if turned and rubbed every day.
The time meat requires salting depends upon the weight of it, and how much salt is used: and if it be rubbed in with a heavy hand, it will be ready much sooner than if only lightly rubbed.
N. B. Dry the salt, and rub it with the sugar in a mortar.
Porkrequires a longer time to cure (in proportion to its weight) than beef. A leg of pork should be in salt eight or ten days; turn it and rub it every day.
Salt meat should be well washed before it is boiled, especially if it has been in salt long, that the liquor in which the meat is boiled, may not be too salt to make soup of. (No. 218, &c. andNo. 555.)
If it has been in salt a long time, and you fear that it willbe too salt, wash it well in cold water, and soak it in lukewarm water for a couple of hours. If it isvery salt, lay it in water the night before you intend to dress it.
As this is too large for a moderate family, we shall write directions for the dressing half a round. Get the tongue side.
Skewer it up tight and round, and tie a fillet of broad tape round it, to keep the skewers in their places.
Put it into plenty of cold water, and carefully catch the scum as soon as it rises: let it boil till all the scum is removed, and then put the boiler on one side of the fire, to keepsimmeringslowly till it is done.
Half a round of 15lbs. will take about three hours: if it weighs more, give it more time.
When you take it up, if any stray scum, &c. sticks to it that has escaped the vigilance of your skimmer, wash it off with a paste-brush: garnish the dishes with carrots and turnips. Send up carrots (No. 129), turnips (No. 130), and parsnips, or greens (No. 118), &c. on separate dishes. Pease pudding (No. 555), andMY PUDDING(No. 551), are all very proper accompaniments.
N.B. The outside slices, which are generally too much salted and too much boiled, will make a very good relish as potted beef (No. 503). For using up the remains of a joint of boiled beef, see also Bubble and Squeak (No. 505).
Is to be managed in exactly the same manner as the round, but will be sooner boiled, as it is not so solid. An H-bone of 20lbs. will be done enough in about four hours; of 10lbs. in three hours, more or less, as the weather is hotter or colder. Be sure the boiler is big enough to allow it plenty of water-room: let it be well covered with water: set the pot on one side of the fire to boil gently: if it boils quick at first, no art can make it tender after. The slower it boils, the better it will look, and the tenderer it will be. The same accompanying vegetables as in the preceding receipt. Dress plenty of carrots, as cold carrots are a general favourite with cold beef.
Mem.—Epicures say, that thesoft, fat-like marrow, which lies on the back, is delicious when hot, and thehardfat about the upper corner is best when cold.
To makePERFECTLY GOOD PEASE SOUPinten minutes, ofthe liquor in which the beef has been boiled, seeN.B.toNo. 218.
Obs.—In “Mrs. Mason’s Ladies’ Assistant,” this joint is called haunch-bone; in “Henderson’s Cookery,” edge-bone; in “Domestic Management,” aitch-bone; in “Reynold’s Cookery,” ische-bone; in “Mrs. Lydia Fisher’s Prudent Housewife,” ach-bone; in “Mrs. M’Iver’s Cookery,” hook-bone. We have also seen it spelled each-bone and ridge-bone; and we have also heard it called natch-bone.
N.B. Read thenoteunderNo. 7; and to make perfectly good pease soup of the pot-liquor, in ten minutes, seeObs.toNo. 218,No. 229, andNo. 555.
Briskets, and the various other pieces, are dressed in the same way. “Wow-wow” sauce (No. 328,) is an agreeable companion.
Cut it in two, and take out the brains: wash the head well in several waters, and soak it in warm water for a quarter of an hour before you dress it. Put the head into a saucepan, with plenty of cold water: when it is coming to a boil, and the scum rises, carefully remove it.
Half a calf’s head (without the skin) will take from an hour and a half to two hours and a quarter, according to its size; with the skin on, about an hour longer. It must bestewed very gentlytill it is tender: it is then extremely nutritive, and easy of digestion.
Put eight or ten sage leaves (some cooks use parsley instead, or equal parts of each) into a small sauce-pan: boil them tender (about half an hour); then chop them very fine, and set them ready on a plate.
Wash the brains well in two waters; put them into a large basin of cold water, with a little salt in it, and let them soak for an hour; then pour away the cold, and cover them with hot water; and when you have cleaned and skinned them, put them into a stew-pan with plenty of cold water: when it boils, take the scum off very carefully, and boil gently for 10 or 15 minutes: now chop them (not very fine); put them into a sauce-pan with the sage leaves and a couple oftable-spoonfuls of thin melted butter, and a little salt (to this some cooks add a little lemon-juice), and stir them well together; and as soon as they are well warmed (take care they don’tburn), skin the tongue,115-*trim off the roots, and put it in the middle of a dish, and the brains round it: or, chop the brains with an eschalot, a little parsley, and four hard-boiled eggs, and put them into a quarter of a pint of bechamel, or white sauce (No. 2 of 364). A calf’s cheek is usually attended by a pig’s cheek, a knuckle of ham or bacon (No. 13, orNo. 526), or pickled pork (No. 11), and greens, broccoli, cauliflowers, or pease; and always by parsley and butter (seeNo. 261,No. 311, orNo. 343).
If you like it full dressed, score it superficially, beat up the yelk of an egg, and rub it over the head with a feather; powder it with a seasoning of finely minced (or dried and powdered) winter savoury or lemon-thyme (or sage), parsley, pepper, and salt, and bread crumbs, and give it a brown with a salamander, or in a tin Dutch oven: when it begins to dry, sprinkle a little melted butter over it with a paste-brush.
You may garnish the dish with broiled rashers of bacon (No. 526or527).
Obs.—Calf’s head is one of the most delicate and favourite dishes in the list of boiled meats; but nothing is more insipid when cold, and nothing makes so nice a hash; therefore don’t forget to save a quart of the liquor it was boiled in to make sauce, &c. for the hash (see alsoNo. 520). Cut the head and tongue into slices, trim them neatly, and leave out the gristles and fat; and slice some of the bacon that was dressed to eat with the head, and warm them in the hash.
Take the bones and the trimmings of the head, a bundle of sweet herbs, an onion, a roll of lemon-peel, and a blade of bruised mace: put these into a sauce-pan with the quart of liquor you have saved, and let it boil gently for an hour; pour it through a sieve into a basin, wash out your stew-pan, add a table-spoonful of flour to the brains and parsley and butter you have left, and pour it into the gravy you have made with the bones and trimmings; let it boil up for ten minutes, and then strain it through a hair-sieve; season it with a table-spoonful of white wine, or of catchup (No. 439), or sauce superlative (No. 429): give it a boil up, skim it, and then put in the brains and the slices of head and bacon; as soon as they are thoroughly warm (it must not boil) the hash is ready. Some cooks egg, bread-crumb, and fry the finest pieces of the head, and lay them round the hash.
N.B. You may garnish the edges of the dish with slicesof bacon toasted in a Dutch oven (see Nos.526and527), slices of lemon and fried bread.
To make gravy for hashes, &c. seeNo. 360.
Takes more time than any other meat. If you buy your pork ready salted, ask how many days it has been in salt; if many, it will require to be soaked in water for six hours before you dress it. When you cook it, wash and scrape it as clean as possible; when delicately dressed, it is a favourite dish with almost every body. Take care it does not boil fast; if it does, the knuckle will break to pieces, before the thick part of the meat is warm through; a leg of seven pounds takes three hours and a half very slow simmering. Skim your pot very carefully, and when you take the meat out of the boiler, scrape it clean.
Some sagacious cooks (who remember to how many more nature has given eyes than she has given tongues and brains), when pork is boiled, score it in diamonds, and take out every other square; and thus present a retainer to the eye to plead for them to the palate; but this is pleasing the eye at the expense of the palate. A leg of nice pork, nicely salted, and nicely boiled, is as nice a cold relish as cold ham; especially if, instead of cutting into the middle when hot, and so letting out its juices, you cut it at the knuckle: slices broiled, asNo. 487, are a good luncheon, or supper. To make pease pudding, and pease soup extempore, seeN.B.to Nos.218and555.
Mem.—Some persons who sell pork ready salted have a silly trick of cutting the knuckle in two; we suppose that this is done to save their salt; but it lets all the gravy out of the leg; and unless you boil your pork merely for the sake of the pot-liquor, which in this case receives all the goodness and strength of the meat, friendly reader, your oracle cautions you to buy no leg of pork which is slit at the knuckle.
If pork is not done enough, nothing is more disagreeable; if too much, it not only loses its colour and flavour, but its substance becomes soft like a jelly.
It must never appear at table without a good pease pudding (seeNo. 555), and, if you please, parsnips (No. 128); they are an excellent vegetable, and deserve to be much more popular; or carrots (No. 129), turnips, and greens, or mashed potatoes, &c. (No. 106.)
Obs.—Remember not to forget the mustard-pot (No. 369,No. 370, andNo. 427).