*Take notice,that theTIMEgiven in the following receipts is calculated for those who like meat thoroughly roasted.(SeeN.B.precedingNo. 19.)
*Take notice,that theTIMEgiven in the following receipts is calculated for those who like meat thoroughly roasted.(SeeN.B.precedingNo. 19.)
Some good housewives order very large joints to be rather under-done, as they then make a better hash or broil.
To makegravyfor roast, seeNo. 326.
N.B.Roastsmust not be put on, till thesoupandfishare taken off the table.
1. Flour mixed with grated bread.2. Sweet herbs dried and powdered, and mixed with grated bread.3. Lemon-peel dried and pounded, or orange-peel, mixed with flour.4. Sugar finely powdered, and mixed with pounded cinnamon, and flour or grated bread.5. Fennel-seeds, corianders, cinnamon, and sugar, finely beaten, and mixed with grated bread or flour.6. For young pigs, grated bread or flour, mixed with beaten nutmeg, ginger, pepper, sugar, and yelks of eggs.7. Sugar, bread, and salt, mixed.
1. Flour mixed with grated bread.
2. Sweet herbs dried and powdered, and mixed with grated bread.
3. Lemon-peel dried and pounded, or orange-peel, mixed with flour.
4. Sugar finely powdered, and mixed with pounded cinnamon, and flour or grated bread.
5. Fennel-seeds, corianders, cinnamon, and sugar, finely beaten, and mixed with grated bread or flour.
6. For young pigs, grated bread or flour, mixed with beaten nutmeg, ginger, pepper, sugar, and yelks of eggs.
7. Sugar, bread, and salt, mixed.
1. Fresh butter.2. Clarified suet.3. Minced sweet herbs, butter, and claret, especially for mutton and lamb.4. Water and salt.5. Cream and melted butter, especially for a flayed pig.6. Yelks of eggs, grated biscuit, and juice of oranges.
1. Fresh butter.
2. Clarified suet.
3. Minced sweet herbs, butter, and claret, especially for mutton and lamb.
4. Water and salt.
5. Cream and melted butter, especially for a flayed pig.
6. Yelks of eggs, grated biscuit, and juice of oranges.
74-*Small families have not always the convenience of roasting with a spit; a remark uponROASTING BY A STRINGis necessary. Let the cook,beforeshe puts her meat down to the fire, pass a strong skewer througheach endof the joint: by this means, when it is about half-done, she can with ease turn the bottom upwards; the gravy will then flow to the part which has been uppermost, and the whole joint be deliciously gravyful.ABOTTLE JACK, as it is termed by the furnishing ironmongers, is a valuable instrument for roasting.ADutch ovenis another very convenient utensil for roasting light joints, or warming them up.75-*If there is moreFATthan you think will be eaten with the lean, trim it off; it will make an excellentPUDDING(No. 551, or554): or clarify it (No. 83).76-*This the good housewife will take up occasionally, and pass through a sieve into a stone pan; by leaving it all in the dripping-pan until the meat is taken up, it not only becomes very strong, but when the meat is rich, and yields much of it, it is apt to be spilt in basting. ToCLARIFY DRIPPINGS, seeNo. 83.77-*Insist upon the butcher fixing aTICKETof the weight to each joint.77-†If the meat is frozen, the usual practice is to put it into cold water till it is thawed, then dry and roast it as usual; but we recommend you to bring it into the kitchen the night before, or early in the morning of the day you want to roast it, and the warm air will thaw it much better.78-*When the steam begins to arise, it is a proof that the whole joint is thoroughly saturated with heat; any unnecessary evaporation is a waste of the best nourishment of the meat.78-†A celebrated French writer has given us the following observations on roasting:—“The art of roasting victuals to the precise degree, is one of the most difficult in this world; andyou may find half a thousand good cooks sooner than one perfect roaster. (See ‘Almanach des Gourmands,’ vol. i. p. 37.) In the mansions of the opulent, they have, besides the master kitchener, a roaster, (perfectly independent of the former,) who is exclusively devoted to the spit.“All eruditegourmandsknow that these two important functions cannot be performed by one artist; it is quite impossible at the same time to superintend the operations of the spit and stewpan.”—Further on, the same author observes: “No certain rules can be given for roasting, the perfection of it depending on many circumstances which are continually changing; the age and size (especially the thickness) of the pieces, the quality of the coals, the temperature of the atmosphere, the currents of air in the kitchen, the more or less attention of the roaster; and, lastly, the time of serving. Supposing the dinner ordered to be on table at a certain time, if the fish and soup are much liked, and detained longer than the roaster has calculated; or, on the contrary, if they are despatched sooner than is expected, the roasts will in one case be burnt up, in the other not done enough—two misfortunes equally to be deplored. The first, however, is without a remedy;five minutes on the spit, more or less, decides the goodness of this mode of cookery. It is almost impossible to seize the precise instant when it ought to be eaten; which epicures in roasts express by saying, ‘It isdone to a turn.’ So that there is no exaggeration in saying, the perfect roaster is even more rare than the professed cook.“In small families, where the cook is also the roaster, it is almost impossible the roasts should be well done: the spit claims exclusive attention, and is an imperious mistress who demands the entire devotion of her slave. But how can this be, when the cook is obliged, at the same time, to attend her fish and soup-kettles, and watch her stewpans and all their accompaniments?—it is morally and physically impossible: if she gives that delicate and constant attention to the roasts which is indispensably requisite, the rest of the dinner must often be spoiled; and most cooks would rather lose their character as a roaster, than neglect the made-dishes and ‘entremets,’ &c., where they think they can display theirculinary science,—than sacrifice these to the roasts, the perfection of which will only prove their steady vigilance and patience.”79-*Our ancestors were very particular in theirBASTINGSandDREDGINGS, as will be seen by the following quotation fromMay’s“Accomplished Cook,” London, 1665, p. 136. “The rarest ways of dressing of all manner of roast meats, either flesh or fowl, by sea or land, and divers ways of braiding or dredging meats to prevent the gravy from too much evaporating.”
74-*Small families have not always the convenience of roasting with a spit; a remark uponROASTING BY A STRINGis necessary. Let the cook,beforeshe puts her meat down to the fire, pass a strong skewer througheach endof the joint: by this means, when it is about half-done, she can with ease turn the bottom upwards; the gravy will then flow to the part which has been uppermost, and the whole joint be deliciously gravyful.
ABOTTLE JACK, as it is termed by the furnishing ironmongers, is a valuable instrument for roasting.
ADutch ovenis another very convenient utensil for roasting light joints, or warming them up.
75-*If there is moreFATthan you think will be eaten with the lean, trim it off; it will make an excellentPUDDING(No. 551, or554): or clarify it (No. 83).
76-*This the good housewife will take up occasionally, and pass through a sieve into a stone pan; by leaving it all in the dripping-pan until the meat is taken up, it not only becomes very strong, but when the meat is rich, and yields much of it, it is apt to be spilt in basting. ToCLARIFY DRIPPINGS, seeNo. 83.
77-*Insist upon the butcher fixing aTICKETof the weight to each joint.
77-†If the meat is frozen, the usual practice is to put it into cold water till it is thawed, then dry and roast it as usual; but we recommend you to bring it into the kitchen the night before, or early in the morning of the day you want to roast it, and the warm air will thaw it much better.
78-*When the steam begins to arise, it is a proof that the whole joint is thoroughly saturated with heat; any unnecessary evaporation is a waste of the best nourishment of the meat.
78-†A celebrated French writer has given us the following observations on roasting:—
“The art of roasting victuals to the precise degree, is one of the most difficult in this world; andyou may find half a thousand good cooks sooner than one perfect roaster. (See ‘Almanach des Gourmands,’ vol. i. p. 37.) In the mansions of the opulent, they have, besides the master kitchener, a roaster, (perfectly independent of the former,) who is exclusively devoted to the spit.
“All eruditegourmandsknow that these two important functions cannot be performed by one artist; it is quite impossible at the same time to superintend the operations of the spit and stewpan.”—Further on, the same author observes: “No certain rules can be given for roasting, the perfection of it depending on many circumstances which are continually changing; the age and size (especially the thickness) of the pieces, the quality of the coals, the temperature of the atmosphere, the currents of air in the kitchen, the more or less attention of the roaster; and, lastly, the time of serving. Supposing the dinner ordered to be on table at a certain time, if the fish and soup are much liked, and detained longer than the roaster has calculated; or, on the contrary, if they are despatched sooner than is expected, the roasts will in one case be burnt up, in the other not done enough—two misfortunes equally to be deplored. The first, however, is without a remedy;five minutes on the spit, more or less, decides the goodness of this mode of cookery. It is almost impossible to seize the precise instant when it ought to be eaten; which epicures in roasts express by saying, ‘It isdone to a turn.’ So that there is no exaggeration in saying, the perfect roaster is even more rare than the professed cook.
“In small families, where the cook is also the roaster, it is almost impossible the roasts should be well done: the spit claims exclusive attention, and is an imperious mistress who demands the entire devotion of her slave. But how can this be, when the cook is obliged, at the same time, to attend her fish and soup-kettles, and watch her stewpans and all their accompaniments?—it is morally and physically impossible: if she gives that delicate and constant attention to the roasts which is indispensably requisite, the rest of the dinner must often be spoiled; and most cooks would rather lose their character as a roaster, than neglect the made-dishes and ‘entremets,’ &c., where they think they can display theirculinary science,—than sacrifice these to the roasts, the perfection of which will only prove their steady vigilance and patience.”
79-*Our ancestors were very particular in theirBASTINGSandDREDGINGS, as will be seen by the following quotation fromMay’s“Accomplished Cook,” London, 1665, p. 136. “The rarest ways of dressing of all manner of roast meats, either flesh or fowl, by sea or land, and divers ways of braiding or dredging meats to prevent the gravy from too much evaporating.”
Fryingis often a convenient mode of cookery; it may be performed by a fire which will not do for roasting or boiling; and by the introduction of the pan between the meat and the fire, things get more equally dressed.
The Dutch oven or bonnet is another very convenient utensil for small things, and a very useful substitute for the jack, the gridiron, or frying-pan.
A frying-pan should be about four inches deep, with a perfectly flat and thick bottom, 12 inches long and 9 broad, with perpendicular sides, and must be half filled with fat: good frying is, in fact, boiling in fat. To make sure that the pan is quite clean, rub a little fat over it, and then make it warm, and wipe it out with a clean cloth.
Be very particular in frying, never to use any oil, butter, lard, or drippings, but what is quite clean, fresh, and free from salt. Any thing dirty spoils the look; any thing bad-tasted or stale, spoils the flavour; and salt prevents its browning.
Fine olive oil is the most delicate for frying; but the best oil is expensive, and bad oil spoils every thing that is dressed with it.
For general purposes, and especially for fish, clean freshlard is not near so expensive as oil or clarified butter, and does almost as well. Butter often burns before you are aware of it; and what you fry will get a dark and dirty appearance.
Cooks in large kitchens, where there is a great deal of frying, commonly use mutton or beef suet clarified (seeNo. 84): if from the kidney, all the better.
Dripping, if nicely clean and fresh, is almost as good as any thing; if not clean, it may be easily clarified (seeNo. 83). Whatever fat you use, after you have done frying, let it remain in the pan for a few minutes, and then pour it through a sieve into a clean basin; it will do three or four times as well as it did at first,i. e.if it has not burned: but,Mem.the fat you have fried fish in must not be used for any other purpose.
To know when the fat is of a proper heat, according to what you are to fry, is the great secret in frying.
To fry fish, parsley, potatoes, or any thing that is watery, your fire must be very clear, and the fat quite hot; which you may be pretty sure of, when it has done hissing, and is still. We cannot insist too strongly on this point: if the fat is not very hot, you cannot fry fish either to a good colour, or firm and crisp.
To be quite certain, throw a little bit of bread into the pan; if it fries crisp, the fat is ready; if it burns the bread, it is too hot.
The fire under the pan must be clear and sharp, otherwise the fat is so long before it becomes ready, and demands such attendance to prevent the accident of its catching fire,81-*that the patience of cooks is exhausted, and they frequently, from ignorance or impatience, throw in what they are going to fry before the fat is half hot enough. Whatever is so fried will be pale and sodden, and offend the palate and stomach not less than the eye.
Have a good light to fry by, that you may see when you have got the right colour: a lamp fixed on a stem, with a loaded foot, which has an arm that lengthens out, and slides up and down like a reading candlestick, is a most useful appendage to kitchen fireplaces, which are very seldom light enough for the nicer operations of cookery.
After all, if you do not thoroughly drain the fat from whatyou have fried, especially from those things that are full dressed in bread crumbs,82-*or biscuit powder, &c., your cooking will do you no credit.
The dryness of fish depends much upon its having been fried in fat of a due degree of heat; it is then crisp and dry in a few minutes after it is taken out of the pan: when it is not, lay it on a soft cloth before the fire, turning it occasionally, till it is. This will sometimes take 15 minutes: therefore, always fry fish as long as this before you want them, for fear you may find this necessary.
To fry fish, see receipt to fry soles, (No. 145) which is the only circumstantial account of the process that has yet been printed. If the cook will study it with a little attention, she must soon become an accomplished frier.
Frying, though one of the most common of culinary operations, is one that is least commonly performed perfectly well.
81-*If this unfortunately happens, be not alarmed, but immediately wet a basket of ashes and throw them down the chimney, and wet a blanket and hold it close all round the fireplace; as soon as the current of air is stopped, the fire will be extinguished; with aCHARCOAL STOVEthere is no danger, as the diameter of the pan exceeds that of the fire.
81-*If this unfortunately happens, be not alarmed, but immediately wet a basket of ashes and throw them down the chimney, and wet a blanket and hold it close all round the fireplace; as soon as the current of air is stopped, the fire will be extinguished; with aCHARCOAL STOVEthere is no danger, as the diameter of the pan exceeds that of the fire.
“And as now there is nought on the fire that is spoiling,We’ll give you just two or three hints upon broiling;How oft you must turn a beefsteak, and how seldomA good mutton chop, for to have ’em both well done;And for skill in such cookery your credit ’t will fetch up,If your broils are well-seasoned with good mushroom catchup.”
Cleanlinessis extremely essential in this mode of cookery.
Keep your gridiron quite clean between the bars, and bright on the top: when it is hot, wipe it well with a linen cloth: just before you use it, rub the bars with clean mutton-suet, to prevent the meat from being marked by the gridiron.
Take care to prepare your fire in time, so that it may burn quite clear: a brisk and clear fire is indispensable, or you cannot give your meat that browning which constitutes theperfection of this mode of cookery, and gives a relish to food it cannot receive any other way.
The chops or slices should be from half to three-quarters of an inch in thickness; if thicker, they will be done too much on the outside before the inside is done enough.
Be diligently attentive to watch the moment that any thing is done: never hasten any thing that is broiling, lest you make smoke and spoil it.
Let the bars of the gridiron be all hot through, but yet not burning hot upon the surface: this is the perfect and fine condition of the gridiron.
As the bars keep away as much heat as their breadth covers, it is absolutely necessary they should be thoroughly hot before the thing to be cooked be laid on them.
The bars of gridirons should be made concave, and terminate in a trough to catch the gravy and keep the fat from dropping into the fire and making a smoke, which will spoil the broil.
Upright gridirons are the best, as they can be used at any fire without fear of smoke; and the gravy is preserved in the trough under them.
N.B. Broils must be brought to table as hot as possible; set a dish to heat when you put your chops on the gridiron, from whence to the mouth their progress must be as quick as possible.
When the fire is not clear, the business of the gridiron may be done by the Dutch oven or bonnet.
82-*When you want a great manyBREAD CRUMBS, divide your loaf (which should be two days old) into three equal parts; take the middle or crumb piece, the top and bottom will do for table:in the usual way of cutting, the crust is wasted.Oatmealis a very satisfactory, and an extremely economical substitute forbread crumbs. SeeNo. 145.
82-*When you want a great manyBREAD CRUMBS, divide your loaf (which should be two days old) into three equal parts; take the middle or crumb piece, the top and bottom will do for table:in the usual way of cutting, the crust is wasted.
Oatmealis a very satisfactory, and an extremely economical substitute forbread crumbs. SeeNo. 145.
Thereis nothing in which the difference between an elegant and an ordinary table is more seen than in the dressing of vegetables, more especially greens. They may be equally as fine at first, at one place as at another; but their look and taste are afterward very different, entirely from the careless way in which they have been cooked.
They are in greatest perfection when in greatest plenty,i. e.when in full season.
By season, I do not mean those early days, that luxury in the buyers, and avarice in the sellers, force the various vegetables; but that time of the year in which by nature and common culture, and the mere operation of the sun and climate, they are in most plenty and perfection.
Potatoes and pease are seldom worth eating before midsummer; unripe vegetables are as insipid and unwholesome as unripe fruits.
As to the quality of vegetables, the middle size are preferred to the largest or the smallest; they are more tender, juicy, and full of flavour, just before they are quite full-grown. Freshness is their chief value and excellence, and I should as soon think of roasting an animal alive, as of boiling a vegetable after it is dead.
The eye easily discovers if they have been kept too long; they soon lose their beauty in all respects.
Roots, greens, salads, &c. and the various productions of the garden, when first gathered, are plump and firm, and have a fragrant freshness no art can give them again, when they have lost it by long keeping; though it will refresh them a little to put them into cold spring water for some time before they are dressed.
To boil them in soft water will preserve the colour best of such as are green; if you have only hard water, put to it a tea-spoonful ofcarbonate of potash.84-*
Take care to wash and cleanse them thoroughly from dust, dirt, and insects: this requires great attention. Pick off all the outside leaves, trim them nicely, and, if not quite fresh gathered and have become flaccid, it is absolutely necessary to restore their crispness before cooking them, or they will be tough and unpleasant: lay them in a pan of clean water, with a handful of salt in it, for an hour before you dress them.
“Most vegetables being more or less succulent, their full proportion of fluids is necessary for their retaining that state of crispness and plumpness which they have when growing. On being cut or gathered, the exhalation from their surface continues, while, from the open vessels of the cut surface, there is often great exudation or evaporation; and thus their natural moisture is diminished, the tender leaves become flaccid, and the thicker masses or roots lose their plumpness. This is not only less pleasant to the eye, but is a real injury to the nutritious powers of the vegetable; for in this flaccid and shrivelled state its fibres are less easily divided in chewing, and the water which exists in vegetable substances, in the form of their respective natural juices, is directly nutritious. The first care in the preservation of succulent vegetables, therefore, is to prevent them from losing their natural moisture.”—Suppl. to Edin. Encyclop.vol. iv. p. 335.
They should always be boiled in a sauce-pan by themselves, and have plenty of water; if meat is boiled with them in the same pot, they will spoil the look and taste of each other.
If you wish to have vegetables delicately clean, put on your pot, make it boil, put a little salt in it, and skim it perfectly clean before you put in the greens, &c.; which should not be put in till the water boils briskly: the quicker they boil, the greener they will be. When the vegetables sink, they are generally done enough, if the water has been kept constantly boiling. Take them up immediately, or they will lose their colour and goodness. Drain the water from them thoroughly before you send them to table.
This branch of cookery requires the most vigilantattention.
If vegetables are a minute or two too long over the fire, they lose all their beauty and flavour.
If not thoroughly boiled tender, they are tremendously indigestible, and much more troublesome during their residence in the stomach, than under-done meats.85-*
To preserve or give colour in cookery, many good dishes are spoiled; but the rational epicure who makes nourishment the main end of eating, will be content to sacrifice the shadow to enjoy the substance. VideObs.toNo. 322.
Once for all, take care your vegetables are fresh: for as the fishmonger often suffers for the sins of the cook, so the cook often gets undeservedly blamed instead of the green-grocer.
Vegetables, in this metropolis, are often kept so long, that no art can make them either look or eat well.
Strong-scented vegetables should be kept apart; leeks, or celery, laid among cauliflowers, &c. will quickly spoil them.
“Succulent vegetables are best preserved in a cool, shady, and damp place.
“Potatoes, turnips, carrots, and similar roots, intended to be stored up, should never be cleaned from the earth adhering to them, till they are to be dressed.
“They must be protected from the action of the air andfrost, by laying them in heaps, burying them in sand or earth, &c., or covering them with straw or mats.
“The action of frost destroys the life of the vegetable, and it speedily rots.”—Suppl. to Edin. Encyclop.vol. iv. p. 335.
Mem.—When vegetables are quite fresh gathered, they will not require so much boiling, by at least a third of the time, as when they have been gathered the usual time those are that are brought to public markets.
84-*Peàrlash is a sub-carbonate, and will answer the purpose. It is a common article in the kitchen of the American housekeeper. A.85-*“Cauliflowersand other vegetables are often boiled only crisp to preserve their beauty. For the look alone they had better not be boiled at all, and almost as well for the use, as in this crude state they are scarcely digestible by the strongest stomach. On the other hand, when over-boiled, they become vapid, and in a state similar to decay, in which they afford no sweet purifying juices to the body, but load it with a mass of mere feculent matter.”—Domestic Management, 12mo. 1813, p. 69.
84-*Peàrlash is a sub-carbonate, and will answer the purpose. It is a common article in the kitchen of the American housekeeper. A.
85-*“Cauliflowersand other vegetables are often boiled only crisp to preserve their beauty. For the look alone they had better not be boiled at all, and almost as well for the use, as in this crude state they are scarcely digestible by the strongest stomach. On the other hand, when over-boiled, they become vapid, and in a state similar to decay, in which they afford no sweet purifying juices to the body, but load it with a mass of mere feculent matter.”—Domestic Management, 12mo. 1813, p. 69.
Thisdepartment of the business of the kitchen requires considerable experience, and depends more upon practice than any other. A very few moments, more or less, will thoroughly spoil fish;86-*which, to be eaten in perfection, must never be put on the table till the soup is taken off.
So many circumstances operate on this occasion, that it is almost impossible to write general rules.
There are decidedly different opinions, whether fish should be put into cold, tepid, or boiling water.
We believe, for some of the fame the Dutch cooks have acquired, they are a little indebted to their situation affording them a plentiful supply of fresh fish for little more than the trouble of catching it; and that the superior excellence of the fish in Holland, is because none are used, unless they are brought alive into the kitchen (mackerel excepted, which die the moment they are taken out of the water). The Dutch are as nice about this as Seneca says the Romans86-†were; who, complaining of the luxury of the times, says,“They are come to that daintiness, that they will not eat a fish, unless upon the same day that it is taken, that it may taste of the sea, as they express it.”
On the Dutch flat coast, the fish are taken with nets: on our rocky coast, they are mostly caught by bait and hook, which instantly kills them. Fish are brought alive by land to the Dutch markets, in water casks with air-holes in the top. Salmon, and other fish, are thus preserved in rivers, in a well-hole in the fishing-boat.
All kinds of fish are best some time before they begin to spawn; and are unfit for food for some time after they have spawned.
Fish, like animals, are fittest for the table when they are just full grown; and what has been said inChapter V. respecting vegetables, applies equally well to fish.
The most convenient utensil to boil fish in, is a turbot-kettle. This should be 24 inches long, 22 wide, and 9 deep. It is an excellent vessel to boil a ham in, &c. &c.
The good folks of this metropolis are so often disappointed by having fish which has been kept too long, that they are apt to run into the other extreme, and suppose that fish will not dress well unless it is absolutely alive. This is true of lobsters, &c. (No. 176), and may be of fresh-water fish, but certainly not of some sea-fish.
Several respectable fishmongers and experienced cooks have assured the editor, that they are often in danger of losing their credit by fish too fresh, and especially turbot and cod, which, like meat, require a certain time before they are in the best condition to be dressed. They recommend them to be put into cold water, salted in proportion of about a quarter of a pound of salt to a gallon of water. Sea-water is best to boil sea-fish in. It not only saves the expense of salt, but the flavour is better. Let them boil slowly till done; the sign of which is, that the skin of the fish rises up, and the eyes turn white.
It is the business of the fishmonger to clean them, &c. but the careful cook will always wash them again.
Garnish with slices of lemon, finely scraped horseradish, fried oysters (No. 183), smelts (No. 173), whitings (No. 153), or strips of soles, as directed inNo. 145.
The liver, roe, and chitterlings should be placed so that the carver may observe them, and invite the guests to partake of them.
N.B.Fish, like meat, requires more cooking in cold than in warm weather. If it becomesFROZEN,88-*it must be thawed by the means we have directed for meat, in the2d chapterof the Rudiments of Cookery.
[Fish are plenty and good, and in great variety, in all the towns and cities on the extensive coast of the United States. Some of the interior towns are also supplied with fish peculiar to the lakes and rivers of this country. A.]
The melted butter (No. 256) for fish, should be thick enough to adhere to the fish, and, therefore, must be of the thickness of light batter, as it is to be diluted with essence of anchovy (No. 433), soy (No. 436), mushroom catchup (No. 439). Cayenne (No. 404), or Chili vinegar (No. 405), lemons or lemon-juice, or artificial lemon-juice, (seeNo. 407*), &c. which are expected at all well-served tables.
Cooks, who are jealous of the reputation of their taste, and housekeepers who value their health, will prepare these articles at home: there are quite as many reasons why they should, as there are for the preference usually given to home-baked bread and home-brewed beer, &c.
N.B. The liver of the fish pounded and mixed with butter, with a little lemon-juice, &c. is an elegant and inoffensive relish to fish (seeNo. 288). Mushroom sauce extempore (No. 307), or the soup of mock turtle (No. 247), will make an excellent fish sauce.
On the comparatively nutritive qualities of fish, seeN.B.toNo. 181.
86-*When the cook has large dinners to prepare, and the time of serving uncertain, she will get more credit byFRIED(seeNo. 145), or stewed (seeNo. 164), than byBOILEDfish. It is also cheaper, and much sooner carved (seeNo. 145).Mr. Ude, page 238 of his cookery, advises, “If you are obliged to wait after the fish is done, do not let it remain in the water, but keep the water boiling, and put the fish over it, and cover it with a damp cloth; when the dinner is called for, dip the fish again in the water, and serve it up.”The only circumstantial instructions yet printed forFRYING FISH, the reader will find inNo. 145; if this be carefully and nicely attended to, you will have delicious food.86-†They had salt-water preserves for feeding different kinds of sea-fish; those in the ponds of Lucullus, at his death, sold for 25,000l.sterling. The prolific power of fish is wonderful: the following calculations are from Petit, Block, and Leuwenhoeck:—Eggs.A salmon of 20 pounds weight contained27,850A middling-sized pike148,000A mackerel546,681A cod9,344,000SeeCours Gastronomiques, 18mo. 1806, p. 241.88-*Fish are very frequently sent home frozen by the fishmonger, to whom an ice-house is now as necessary an appendage (to preserve fish,) as it is to a confectioner.
86-*When the cook has large dinners to prepare, and the time of serving uncertain, she will get more credit byFRIED(seeNo. 145), or stewed (seeNo. 164), than byBOILEDfish. It is also cheaper, and much sooner carved (seeNo. 145).
Mr. Ude, page 238 of his cookery, advises, “If you are obliged to wait after the fish is done, do not let it remain in the water, but keep the water boiling, and put the fish over it, and cover it with a damp cloth; when the dinner is called for, dip the fish again in the water, and serve it up.”
The only circumstantial instructions yet printed forFRYING FISH, the reader will find inNo. 145; if this be carefully and nicely attended to, you will have delicious food.
86-†They had salt-water preserves for feeding different kinds of sea-fish; those in the ponds of Lucullus, at his death, sold for 25,000l.sterling. The prolific power of fish is wonderful: the following calculations are from Petit, Block, and Leuwenhoeck:—
SeeCours Gastronomiques, 18mo. 1806, p. 241.
88-*Fish are very frequently sent home frozen by the fishmonger, to whom an ice-house is now as necessary an appendage (to preserve fish,) as it is to a confectioner.
Thecook must pay continual attention to the condition of her stew-pans89-*and soup-kettles, &c. which should be examined every time they are used. The prudent housewife will carefully examine the condition of them herself at least once a month. Their covers also must be kept perfectly clean and well tinned, and the stew-pans not only on the inside, but about a couple of inches on the outside: many mischiefs arise from their getting out of repair; and if not kept nicely tinned, all your good work will be in vain; the broths and soups will look green and dirty, taste bitter and poisonous, and will be spoiled both for the eye and palate, and your credit will be lost.
The health, and even life of the family, depends upon this, and the cook may be sure her employers had rather pay the tinman’s bill than the doctor’s; therefore, attention to this cannot fail to engage the regard of the mistress, between whom and the cook it will be my utmost endeavour to promote perfect harmony.
If a servant has the misfortune to scorch or blister the tinning of her pan,89-†which will happen sometimes to the most careful cook, I advise her, by all means, immediately to acquaint her employers, who will thank her for candidly mentioning an accident; and censure her deservedly if she conceal it.
Take care to be properly provided with sieves and tammy cloths, spoons and ladles. Make it a rule without an exception, never to use them till they are well cleaned and thoroughly dried, nor any stewpans, &c. without first washing them out with boiling water, and rubbing them well with a dry cloth and a little bran, to clean them from grease, sand, &c., or any bad smell they may have got since they were last used: never neglect this.
Though we do not suppose our cook to be such a naughtyslut as to wilfully neglect her broth-pots, &c., yet we may recommend her to wash them immediately, and take care they are thoroughly dried at the fire, before they are put by, and to keep them in a dry place, for damp will rust and destroy them very soon: attend to this the first moment you can spare after the dinner is sent up.
Never put by any soup, gravy, &c. in metal utensils; in which never keep any thing longer than is absolutely necessary for the purposes of cookery; the acid, vegetables, fat, &c. employed in making soups, &c. are capable of dissolving such utensils; therefore stone or earthen vessels should be used for this purpose.
Stew-pans, soup-pots, and preserving pans, with thick and round bottoms (such as sauce-pans are made with), will wear twice as long, and are cleaned with half the trouble, as those whose sides are soldered to the bottom, of which sand and grease get into the joined part, and cookeys say that it is next to an impossibility to dislodge it, even if their nails are as long as Nebuchadnezzar’s. The Editor claims the credit bf having first suggested the importance of this construction of these utensils.
Take care that the lids fit as close as possible, that the broth, soup, and sauces, &c. may not waste by evaporation. They are good for nothing, unless they fit tight enough to keep the steam in and the smoke out.
Stew-pans and sauce-pans should be always bright on the upper rim, where the fire does not burn them; but to scour them all over is not only giving the cook needless trouble, but wearing out the vessels. See observations on sauce-pans inChapter I.
Cultivate habits of regularity and cleanliness, &c. in all your business, which you will then get through easily and comfortably. I do not mean the restless spirit ofMolidusta, “theTidy One,” who is anon, anon, Sir, frisking about in a whirlpool of bustle and confusion, and is always dirty, under pretence of being always cleaning.
Lean, juicy beef, mutton, or veal, form the basis of broth; procure those pieces which afford the richest succulence, and as fresh killed as possible.90-*
Stale meat will make broth grouty and bad tasted, and fat meat is wasted. This only applies to those broths which are required to be perfectly clear: we shall show hereafter (inNo. 229), that fat and clarified drippings may be so combined with vegetable mucilage, as to afford, at the small cost of one penny per quart, a nourishing and palatable soup, fully adequate to satisfy appetite and support strength: this will open a new source to those benevolent housekeepers, who are disposed to relieve the poor, will show the industrious classes how much they have it in their power to assist themselves, and rescue them from being objects of charity dependent on the precarious bounty of others, by teaching them how they may obtain a cheap, abundant, salubrious, and agreeable aliment for themselves and families.
This soup has the advantage of being very easily and very soon made, with no more fuel than is necessary to warm a room. Those who have not tasted it, cannot imagine what a salubrious, savoury, and satisfying meal is produced by the judicious combination of cheap homely ingredients.
Scotch barley broth (No. 204) will furnish a good dinner of soup and meat for fivepence per head, pease soup (No. 221) will cost only sixpence per quart, ox-tail soup (No. 240) or the same portable soup (No. 252), for fivepence per quart, and (No. 224) an excellent gravy soup for fourpence halfpenny per quart, duck-giblet soup (No. 244) for threepence per quart, and fowls’ head soup in the same manner for still less (No. 239), will give you a good and plentiful dinner for six people for two shillings and twopence. See also shin of beef stewed (No. 493), and à-la-mode beef (No. 502).
The above materials, wine, and mushroom catchup (No. 439), combined in various proportions, will make an endless variety93-*of excellent broths and soups, quite as pleasant to the palate, and as useful and agreeable to the stomach, as consuming pheasants and partridges, and the long list of inflammatory,piquante, and rare and costly articles, recommended by former cookery-book makers, whose elaborately compounded soups are like their made dishes; in which, though variety is aimed at, every thing has the same taste, and nothing its own.
The general fault of our soups seems to be the employment of an excess of spice, and too small a portion of roots and herbs.93-†
Besides the ingredients I have enumerated, many culinary scribes indiscriminately cram into almost every dish (in such inordinate quantities, one would suppose they were working for theasbestospalate of an Indian fire-eater) anchovies, garlic,93-‡bay-leaves, and that hot, fiery spice,Cayenne93-§pepper; this, which the French call (not undeservedly)piment enragé(No. 404), has, somehow or other, unaccountably acquired a character for being very wholesome; while the milder peppers and spices are cried down, as destroying the sensibility of the palate and stomach, &c., and being the source of a thousand mischiefs. We should just as soon recommend alcohol as being less intoxicating than wine.
The best thing that has been said in praise of peppers is, “that with all kinds of vegetables, as also with soups (especially vegetable soups) and fish, either black or Cayenne pepper may be taken freely: they are the most useful stimulants to old stomachs, and often supersede the cravings forstrong drinks; or diminish the quantity otherwise required.” See Sir A.Carlisleon Old Age, London, 1817. A certain portion of condiment is occasionally serviceable to excite and keep up the languid action of feeble and advanced life: we must increase the stimulus of our aliment as the inirritability of our system increases. We leave those who love these things to use them as they like; their flavours can be very extemporaneously produced by chilly-juice, or essence of Cayenne (No. 405),eschalot wine (No. 402), and essence of anchovy (No. 433).
There is no French dinner without soup, which is regarded as an indispensableoverture; it is commonly followed by “le coup d’Après,” a glass of pure wine, which they consider so wholesome after soup, that their proverb says, the physician thereby loses a fee. Whether the glass of wine be so much more advantageous for the patient than it is for his doctor, we know not, but believe it an excellent plan to begin the banquet with a basin of good soup, which, by moderating the appetite for solid animal food, is certainly a salutiferous custom. Between theroastsand theentremetsthey introduce “le coup du Milieu” or a small glass ofJamaica rum, oressence of punch(seeNo. 471), orCuracao(No. 474).
The introduction of liqueurs is by no means a modern custom: our ancestors were very fond of a highly spiced stimulus of this sort, commonly calledIpocrasse, which generally made a part of the last course, or was taken immediately after dinner.
“Take a quarte of red wyne, an ounce of synamon, and halfe an ounce of gynger; a quarter of an ounce of greynes (probably of paradise) and long pepper, and halfe a pounde of sugar; and brose (bruise) all this (not too small), and then put them in a bage (bag) of wullen clothe, made, therefore, with the wynee; and lete it hange over a vessel, till the wynee be run thorowe.”—An extract from Arnold’s Chronicle.
It is a custom which almost universally prevails in the northern parts of Europe, to presenta dramor glass ofliqueur, before sitting down to dinner: this answers the double purpose of a whet to the appetite, and an announcement that dinner is on the point of being served up. Along with the dram, are presented on a waiter, little square piecesof cheese, slices of cold tongue, dried tongue, and dried toast, accompanied with freshcaviar.
We again caution the cook to avoid over-seasoning, especially with predominant flavours, which, however agreeable they may be to some, are extremely disagreeable to others. Seepage 50.
Zest (No. 255), soy (No. 436), cavice, coratch, anchovy (No. 433), curry powder (No. 455), savoury ragoût powder (No. 457), soup herb powder (No. 459and460), browning (No. 322), catchups (No. 432), pickle liquor, beer, wine, and sweet herbs, and savoury spice (No. 460), are very convenient auxiliaries to finish soups, &c.
The proportion of wine (formerly sack, then claret, now Madeira or port) should not exceed a large wine-glassful to a quart of soup. This is as much as can be admitted, without the vinous flavour becoming remarkably predominant; though not only much larger quantities of wine (of which claret is incomparably the best, because it contains less spirit and more flavour, and English palates are less acquainted with it), but evenvéritable eau de vieis ordered in many books, and used by many (especially tavern cooks). So much are their soups overloaded with relish, that if you will eat enough of them they will certainly make you drunk, if they don’t make you sick: all this frequently arises from an old cook measuring the excitability of the eater’s palates by his own, which may be so blunted by incessant tasting, that to awaken it, requires wine instead of water, and Cayenne and garlic for black pepper and onion.
Old cooks are as fond ofspice, as children are ofsugar, and season soup, which is intended to constitute a principal part of a meal, as highly as sauce, of which only a spoonful may be relish enough for a plate of insipid viands. (Seeobs.toNo. 355.) However, we fancy these large quantities of wine, &c. are oftener ordered in cookery books than used in the kitchen: practical cooks have the health of their employers too much at heart, and love “sauce à la langue” too well to overwine their soup, &c.
Truffles and morels95-*are also set down as a part of most receipts. These, in their green state, have a very rich high flavour, and are delicious additions to some dishes, or sent up as a stew by themselves when they are fresh and fine; but in this state they are not served up half a dozen times in a year at the first tables in the kingdom: when dried they become mere “chips in pottage,” and serve only tosoak up good gravy, from which they take more taste than they give.
The art of composing a rich soup is so to proportion the several ingredients one to another, that no particular taste be stronger than the rest, but to produce such a fine harmonious relish that the whole isdelightful. This requires that judicious combination of the materials which constitutes the “chef d’œuvre” of culinary science.
In the first place, take care that the roots and herbs be perfectly well cleaned; proportion the water to the quantity of meat and other ingredients, generally a pound of meat to a quart of water for soups, and double that quantity for gravies. If they stew gently, little more water need be put in at first than is expected at the end; for when the pot is covered quite close, and the fire gentle, very little is wasted.
Gentle stewing is incomparably the best; the meat is more tender, and the soup better flavoured.
It is of the first importance that the cover of a soup-kettle should fit very close, or the broth will evaporate before you are aware of it. The most essential parts are soon evaporated by quick boiling, without any benefit, except to fatten the fortunate cook who inhales them. An evident proof that these exhalations96-*possess the most restorative qualities is, thatTHE COOK, who is in general the least eater, is, as generally, thefattestperson in the family, from continually being surrounded by the quintessence of all the food she dresses; whereof she sends toHER MASTERonly the fibres and calcinations, who is consequentlythin,gouty, and the victim of diseases arising from insufficient nourishment.
It is not only thefibresof the meat which nourish us, but thejuicesthey contain, and these are not only extracted but exhaled, if it be boiled fast in an open vessel. A succulent soup can never be made but in a well-closed vessel, which preserves the nutritive parts by preventing their dissipation. This is a fact of which every intelligent person will soon perceive the importance.
Place your soup-pot over a moderate fire, which will makethe water hot without causing it to boil for at least half an hour; if the water boils immediately, it will not penetrate the meat, and cleanse it from the clotted blood, and other matters which ought to go off in scum; the meat will be hardened all over by violent heat; will shrink up as if it was scorched, and give hardly any gravy: on the contrary, by keeping the water a certain time heating without boiling, the meat swells, becomes tender, its fibres are dilated, and it yields a quantity ofscum, which must be taken off as soon as it appears.
It is not till after a good half hour’s hot infusion that we may mend the fire, and make the pot boil: still continue to removethe scum; and when no more appears, put in the vegetables, &c. and a little salt. These will cause morescumto rise, which must be taken off immediately; then cover the pot very closely, and place it at a proper distance from the fire, where it will boil very gently, and equally, and by no means fast.
By quick and strong boiling the volatile and finest parts of the ingredients are evaporated, and fly off with the steam, and the coarser parts are rendered soluble; so you lose the good, and get the bad.
Soups will generally take fromthreetosixhours.
Prepare your broths and soups the evening before you want them. This will give you more time to attend to the rest of your dinner the next day; and when the soup is cold, thefatmay be much more easily and completely removed from the surface of it. When you decant it, take care not to disturb the settlings at the bottom of the vessel, which are so fine that they will escape through a sieve, or even through aTAMIS, which is the best strainer, the soups appear smoother and finer, and it is much easier cleaned than any sieve. If you strain it while it is hot, pass it through a clean tamis or napkin, previously soaked in cold water; the coldness of this will coagulate the fat, and only suffer the pure broth to pass through.
The full flavour of the ingredients can only be extracted by very long and slow simmering; during which take care to prevent evaporation, by covering the pot as close as possible: the best stew-pot is a digester.
Clear soups must be perfectly transparent; thickened soups, about the consistence of rich cream; and remember that thickened soups require nearly double the quantity of seasoning. Thepiquanceof spice, &c. is as much blunted by the flour and butter, as the spirit of rum is by the addition of sugar and acid: so they are less salubrious, without beingmore savoury, from the additional quantity of spice, &c. that is smuggled into the stomach.
To thicken and give body to soups and sauces, the following materials are used: they must be gradually mixed with the soup till thoroughly incorporated with it; and it should have at least half an hour’s gentle simmering after: if it is at all lumpy, pass it through a tamis or a fine sieve. Bread raspings, bread, isinglass, potato mucilage (No. 448), flour, or fat skimmings and flour (seeNo. 248), or flour and butter, barley (seeNo. 204), rice, or oatmeal and water rubbed well together, (seeNo. 257, in which this subject is fully explained.)
To give thatglutinousquality so much admired inmock turtle, seeNo. 198, andnoteunderNo. 247,No. 252, andN.B.toNo. 481.
To their very rich gravies, &c. the French add the white meat of partridges, pigeons, or fowls, pounded to a pulp, and rubbed through a sieve. A piece of beef, which has been boiled to make broth, pounded in the like manner with a bit of butter and flour, seeobs.toNo. 485*andNo. 503, and gradually incorporated with the gravy or soup, will be found a satisfactory substitute for these more expensive articles.
Meat from which broth has been made(No. 185, andNo. 252), and all its juice has been extracted, is then excellently well prepared forPOTTING, (seeNo. 503), and is quite as good, or better, than that which has been baked till it is dry;98-*indeed, if it be pounded, and seasoned in the usual manner, it will be an elegant and savoury luncheon, or supper, and costs nothing but the trouble of preparing it, which is very little, and a relish is procured for sandwiches, &c. (No. 504) of what heretofore has been by the poorest housekeeper consideredthe perquisite of theCAT.
Keep some spare broth lest your soup-liquor waste in boiling, and get too thick, and for gravy for your made dishes, various sauces, &c.; for many of which it is a much better basis than melted butter.
The soup of mock turtle, and the other thickened soups, (No. 247), will supply you with a thick gravy sauce forpoultry,fish,ragoûts, &c.; and by a little management of this sort, you may generally contrive to have plenty of good gravies and good sauces with very little trouble or expense. See alsoPortable Soup(No. 252).
If soup is too thin or too weak, take off the cover of your soup-pot, and let it boil till some of the watery part of it has evaporated, or else add some of the thickening materials we have before mentioned; and have at hand some plain browning: seeNo. 322, and theobs.thereon. This simple preparation is much better than any of the compounds bearing that name; as it colours sauce or soup without much interfering with its flavour, and is a much better way of colouring them than burning the surface of the meat.
When soups and gravies are kept from day to day,in hot weather, they should be warmed up every day, and put into fresh-scalded tureens or pans, and placed in a cool cellar; in temperate weather every other day may be enough.
We hope we have now put the common cook into possession of the wholearcanaof soup-making, without much trouble to herself, or expense to her employers. It need not be said in future that an Englishman only knows how to make soup in his stomach, by swilling down a large quantity of ale or porter, to quench the thirst occasioned by the meat he eats.John Bullmay now make his soup “secundùm artem,” and save his principal viscera a great deal of trouble.
***In the following receipts we have directed the spices99-*and flavouring to be added at the usual time; but it would greatly diminish the expense, and improve the soups, if the agents employed to give them a zest were not put in above fifteen minutes before the finish, and half the quantity of spice, &c. would do. A strong heat soon dissipates the spirit of the wine, and evaporates the aroma and flavour of the spices and herbs, which are volatile in the heat of boiling water.
In ordering the proportions of meat, butter, wine, &c. the proper quantity is set down, and less will not do: we have carried economy quite as far as possible without “spoiling the broth for a halfpenny worth of salt.”
I conclude these remarks with observing, that some persons imagine that soup tends to relax the stomach. So far from being prejudicial, we consider the moderate use of such liquid nourishment to be highly salutary. Does not our food and drink, even though cold, become in a few minutes a kind of warm soup in the stomach? and therefore soup, if not eaten too hot, or in too great a quantity, and of proper quality, is attended with great advantages, especially to those who drink but little.
Warm fluids, in the form of soup, unite with our juices much sooner and better than those that are cold and raw: on this account,RESTORATIVE SOUPis the best food for those who are enfeebled by disease or dissipation, and for old people, whose teeth and digestive organs are impaired.
“Half subtilized to chyle, the liquid foodReadiest obeys th’ assimilating powers.”