add a teaspoonful of salt; mix very gradually, while the water is
boiling, one pound of fine oatmeal, stirring constantly, while you put
in the meal, with a round stick about eighteen inches long, called a
"spirtle." Continue stirring for fifteen minutes; then pour into soup
plates, allow it to cool a little, and serve with sweet milk. Scotch
porridge is one of the most nutritive diets that can be given,
especially for young persons, on account of the bone-producing
elements contained in oatmeal. It is sometimes boiled with milk
instead of water, but the mixture is then rather rich for delicate
stomachs.
1204. Scotch Brose.
This favourite Scotch dish is generally made with the liquor in which
meat has been boiled. Put half a pint of oatmeal into a porringer with
a little salt, if there be not enough in the broth,--of which add as
much as will mix it to the consistence of hasty pudding or a little
thicker,--lastly, take a little of the fat that swims on the broth
and put it on the porridge, and eat it in the same way as hasty
pudding.
1205. Barley Broth, Scotch.
Dr. Kitchiner, from whose "Cook's Oracle," [1] we take this receipt,
after testing it, says:
"This is a most frugal, agreeable, and nutritive meal. It will
neither lighten the purse nor lie heavy on the stomach. It will
furnish you with a pleasant soup, _and meat_ for eight persons.
Wash three-quarters of a pound of Scotch barley in a little cold
water; put it in a soup-pot with a shin or leg of beef, of about ten
pounds weight, sawn into four pieces (tell the butcher to do this
for you); cover it well with cold water; set it on the fire; when it
boils, skim it very clean, and put in two onions, of about three
ounces weight each; set it by the side of the fire to simmer very
gently for about two hours; then skim all the fat clean off, and put
in two heads of celery and a large turnip cut into small squares;
season it with salt, and let it boil for an hour and a half longer,
and it will be ready: take out the meat carefully with a slice (and
cover it up, and set it by the fire to keep warm), and skim the
broth well before you put it in the tureen.
Put a quart of the soup into a basin, and about an ounce of flour
into a stewpan, and pour the broth to it by degrees, stirring it
well together; set it on the fire, and stir it till it boils, then
let it boil up, and it is ready. Put the meat in a ragoût dish, and
strain the sauce through a sieve over the meat; you may put to it
some capers, or minced gherkins, or walnuts, &c. If the beef has
been stewed with proper care, in a very gentle manner, and taken up
at 'the critical moment when it is just tender,' you will obtain an
excellent and savoury meal."
[Footnote 1: Published by Messrs. Houlston and Suns,
Paternoster-square. London, E.C.]
1206. Hotch-Potch for Summer.
Make a stock from the neck or ribs of lamb or mutton, reserving some
chops, which cook for a shorter time and serve in the tureen. Chop
small, four turnips, four carrots, a few young onions, a little
parsley, and one lettuce; boil for one hour. Twenty minutes before
they are done, put in a cauliflower cut small, one quart of shelled
peas, and a pint of young beans.
1207. Hotch-Potch for Winter.
This can be made of beef or mutton, or, for those who are partial to
Scotch cookery, a sheep's head and feet, one pound of old green peas,
steeped all the night previously, one large turnip, three carrots,
four leeks, a little parsley, all cut small, with the exception of one
carrot, which should be grated; add a small bunch of sweet herbs,
pepper, and salt. The peas take two hours and a half to cook; the
other vegetables, two hours; the head, three hours; and the feet, four
hours.
[THERE IS NO BALM FOR EVERY WOUND.]
1208. Beef Broth.
Beef broth may be made by adding vegetables to essence of beef--or
you may wash a leg or shin of beef, the bone of which has been well
cracked by the butcher; add any trimmings of meat, game, or poultry,
heads, necks, gizzards, feet, &c.; cover them with cold water; stir
the whole up well from the bottom, and the moment it begins to simmer,
skim it carefully. Your broth must be perfectly clear and limpid; on
this depends the goodness of the soups, sauces, and gravies of which
it is the basis. Add some cold water to make the remaining scum rise,
and skim it again.
When the scum has done rising, and the surface of the broth is quite
clear, put in one moderate sized carrot, a head of celery, two
turnips, and two onions,--it should not have any taste of sweet herbs,
spice, or garlic, &c.; either of these flavours can easily be added
after, if desired,--cover it close, set it by the side of the fire,
and let it simmer very gently (so as not to waste the broth) for four
or five hours, or more, according to the weight of the meat. Strain it
through a sieve in to a clean and dry stone pan, and set it in the
coldest place you have, if for after use.
1209. Beef Tea.
Beef extract, by adding water, forms the best beef tea or broth for
invalids. (See BEEF EXTRACT, _par._ 1226.)
1210. Clear Gravy Soup
This may be made from shin of beef, which should not be large or
coarse. The meat will be found serviceable for the table. From ten
pounds of the meat let the butcher cut off five or six from the thick
fleshy part, and again divide the knuckle, that the whole may lie
compactly in the vessel in which it is to be stewed. Pour in three
quarts of cold water, and when it has been brought slowly to boil, and
been well skimmed, throw in an ounce and a half of salt, half a large
teaspoonful of peppercorns, eight cloves, two blades of mace, a faggot
of savoury herbs, a couple of small carrots, and the heart of a root
of celery; to these add a mild onion or not, at choice.
When the whole has stewed very softly for four hours, probe the large
bit of beef, and, if quite tender, lift it out for table; let the soup
he simmered from two to three hours longer, and then strain it through
a fine sieve, into a clean pan. When it is perfectly cold, clear off
every particle of fat: heat a couple of quarts; stir in, when it
boils, half an ounce of sugar, a small tablespoonful of good soy, and
twice as much of Harvey's sauce, or, instead of this, of clear and
fine mushroom ketchup. If carefully made, the soup will be perfectly
transparent, and of good colour and flavour. A thick slice of ham will
improve it, and a pound or so of the neck of beef with an additional
pint of water, will likewise enrich its quality. A small quantity of
good broth may be made of the fragments of the whole, boiled down with
a few fresh vegetables.
1211. Beef Glaze.
Beef glaze, or portable soup, is simply the essence of beef condensed
by evaporation. It may be put into pots, like potted meats, or into
skins, as sausages, and will keep for many months. If further dried in
cakes or lozenges, by being laid on pans or dishes, and frequently
turned, it will keep for years, and supply soup at any moment.
1212. Vermicelli Soup.
To three quarts of gravy soup, or stock, add six ounces of vermicelli.
Simmer for half an hour; stir frequently.
1213. Vegetable Soup.
Peel and cut into very small pieces three onions, three turnips, one
carrot, and four potatoes, put them into a stewpan with a quarter of a
pound of butter, the same of lean ham, and a bunch of parsley, pass
them ten minutes over a sharp fire; then add a large spoonful of
flour, mix well in, moisten with two quarts of broth, and a pint of
boiling milk; boil up, keeping it stirred; season with a little salt
and sugar, and run it through a hair sieve; put it into another
stewpan, boil again, skim, and serve with fried bread in it.
1214. Asparagus Soup.
Two quarts of good beef or veal stock, four onions, two or three
turnips, some sweet herbs, and the white parts of a hundred young
asparagus,--if old, half that quantity,--and let them simmer till fit
to be rubbed through a tammy; strain and season it; have ready the
boiled green tops of the asparagus, and add them to the soup.
[BOOKS AND THOUGHT;--THEY SHOULD NOT SUPERSEDE IT.]
1215. Carrot Soup.
Scrape and wash half a dozen large carrots; peel off the red outside
(which is the only part used for this soup); put it into a gallon
stewpan, with one head of celery, and an onion cut into thin pieces;
take two quarts of beef, veal, or mutton broth, or liquor in which
mutton or beef has been boiled, as the foundation for this soup. Stock
that is equally good may be made by boiling down some cold roast
mutton or beef bones. When you have put the broth to the roots, cover
the stewpan close, and set it on a slow stove for two hours and a
half, when the carrots will be soft enough. At this stage some cooks
put in a teacupful of bread-crumbs. Next boil the soup for two or
three minutes; rub it through a tammy or hair sieve, with a wooden
spoon, and add as much broth as will make it a proper thickness,
_i.e._, almost as thick as pea soup; put it into a clean stewpan, make
it hot and serve.
1216. Cock-a-Leekie.
Boil from four to six pounds of good shin of beef well broken, until
the liquor is very good. Strain it and add a good-sized fowl, with two
or three leeks cut in pieces about an inch long, put in pepper and
salt to taste, boil slowly about an hour, then put in as many more
leeks, and give it three-quarters of an hour longer. A somewhat
similar soup may be made of good beef stock, and leeks cut up and put
in without a fowl, though this cannot be called Cock-a-Leekie with
propriety.
1217. Mince Meat.
Take seven pounds of currants well picked and cleaned; of finely
chopped beef suet, and finely chopped apples (Kentish or golden
pippins), each three and a half; pounds; citron, lemon peel, and
orange peel cut small, each half a pound; fine moist sugar, two
pounds; mixed spice, an ounce; the rind of four lemons and four
Seville oranges; mix well, and put in a deep pan. Mix a bottle of
brandy, another of white wine, and the juice of the lemons and oranges
that have been grated, together in a basin; pour half over and press
down tight with the hand, then add the other half and cover closely.
This may be made one year so as to be used the next.
1218. Minced Collops.
Two pounds of good rump steak, chopped very fine; six good-sized
onions, also chopped small; put both into a stewpan, with as much
water or gravy as will cover the meat; stir it without ceasing till
the water begins to boil; then set the stewpan aside, where the
collops can simmer, not boil, for three-quarters of an hour. Just
before serving, stir in a tablespoonful of flour, a little pepper and
salt, and boil it up once. Serve with mashed potatoes round the dish.
The above quantity will be enough for four persons.
1219. Forcemeat Balls.
(For turtle, mock turtle, or made dishes.)--Pound some veal in a
marble mortar, rub it through a sieve with as much of the udder as you
have veal, or about n third of the quantity of butter: put some
bread-crumbs into a stewpan, moisten them with milk, add a little
chopped parsley and shalot, rub them well together in a mortar, till
they form a smooth paste; put it through a sieve, and when cold,
pound, and mix all together, with the yolks of three eggs boiled hard;
season the mixture with salt, pepper, and curry powder, or cayenne;
add to it the yolks of two raw eggs, rub it well together, and make it
into small balls which should be put into the soup or hash, as the
case may be, ten minutes before it is ready.
[THERE IS SOMETHING TO BE LEARNED FROM THE MEREST TRIFLE.]
1220. Beef Extract.
(AS RECOMMENDED BY BARON LIEBIG).--Take a pound of good juicy beef
from which all the skin and fat has been cut away, chop it up like
sausage meat; mix it thoroughly with a pint of cold water, place it on
the side of the stove to heat very slowly, and give it an occasional
stir. It may stand two or three hours before it is allowed to simmer,
and will then require but fifteen minutes of gentle boiling. Salt
should be added when the boiling commences, and this for invalids in
general, is the only seasoning required. When the extract is thus far
prepared, it may be poured from the meat into a basin, and allowed to
stand until any particles of fat on the surface can he skimmed off,
and the sediment has subsided and left the soup quite clear, when it
may be poured off gently, heated in a clean saucepan, and served. The
scum should be well cleared as it accumulates.
1221. Potted Beef.
Take three or four pounds, or any smaller quantity, of lean beef, free
from sinews, and rub it well with a mixture made of a handful of salt,
one ounce of saltpetre, and one ounce of coarse sugar; let the meat
lie in the salt for two days, turning and rubbing it twice a day. Put
it into a stone jar with a little beef gravy, and cover it with a
paste to keep it close. Bake it for several hours in a very slow oven
till the meat is tender; then pour off the gravy, which should be in a
very small quantity, or the juice of the meat will be lost; pound the
meat, when cold, in a marble mortar till it is reduced to a smooth
paste, adding by degrees a little fresh butter melted. Season it as
you proceed with pepper, allspice, nutmeg, pounded mace, and cloves,
or such of these spices as are thought agreeable. Some flavour with
anchovy, ham, shalots, mustard, wine, flavoured vinegar, ragoût
powder, curry powder, &c., according to taste. When it is thoroughly
beaten and mingled together, press it closely into small shallow pots,
nearly full, and fill them up with a layer a quarter of an inch thick
of clarified butter, and tie them up with a bladder, or sheet of
Indian rubber. They should be kept in a cool place.
1222. Strasburg Potted Meat.
Take a pound and a half of rump of beef, cut into dice, and put it in
an earthen jar, with a quarter of a pound of butter at the bottom; tie
the jar close up with paper, and set over a pot to boil; when nearly
done, add cloves, mace, allspice, nutmeg, salt, and cayenne pepper to
taste; then boil till tender, and let it get cold. Pound the meat,
with four anchovies washed and boned; add a quarter of a pound of
oiled butter, work it well together with the gravy, warm a little, and
add cochineal to colour. Then press into small pots, and pour melted
mutton suet over the top of each.
1223. Brown Stock (1).
Put five pounds of shin of beef, three pounds of knuckle of veal, and
some sheep's trotters or cow-heel into a closely-covered stewpan, to
draw out the gravy very gently, and allow it to become nearly brown.
Then pour in sufficient boiling water to entirely cover the meat, and
let it boil up, skimming it frequently; seasoning it with whole
peppers, salt, and roots, herbs, and vegetables of any kind. That
being done, let it boil gently five or six hours, pour the broth off
from the meat, and let it stand during the night to cool. The
following morning take off the scum and fat, and put it away in a
stone jar for further use.
1224. Brown Stock (2).
Brown stock may be made from all sorts of meat, bones, remnants of
poultry, game, &c. The shin of beef makes an excellent stock.
1225. Brown Gravy.
Three onions sliced, and fried in butter to a nice brown; toast a
large thin slice of bread until quite hard and of a deep brown. Take
these, with any piece of meat, bone, &c., and some herbs, and set them
on the fire, with water according to judgment, and stew down until a
rich and thick gravy is produced. Season, strain, and keep cool.
1226. Goose or Duck Stuffing.
Chop very fine about two ounces of onion, of _green_ sage leaves about
an ounce (both unboiled), four ounces of bread-crumbs, a bit of butter
about as big as a walnut, &c., the yolk and white of an egg, and a
little pepper and salt; some add to this a minced apple.
[STRIVE TO LEARN FROM ALL THINGS.]
1227. Bacon.
Bacon is an extravagant article in housekeeping; there is often twice
as much dressed as need be; when it is sent to table as an
accompaniment to boiled poultry or veal, a pound and a half is plenty
for a dozen people, A good German sausage is a very economical
substitute for bacon; or fried pork sausage.
1228. Culinary Economy.
The English, generally speaking, are very deficient in the practice of
culinary economy; a French family would live well on what is often
wasted in an English kitchen: the bones, dripping, pot-liquor, remains
of fish, vegetables, &c., which are too often consigned to the
grease-pot or the dust-heap, especially where pigs or fowls are not
kept, might, by a very trifling degree of management on the part of
the cook, or mistress of a family, be converted into sources of daily
support and comfort, at least to some poor pensioner or other, at an
expense that even the miser could scarcely grudge.
1229. Calf's Head Pie.
Boil the head an hour and a half, or rather more. After dining from
it, cut the remaining meat off in slices. Boil the bones in a little
of the liquor for three hours; then strain it off, let it remain till
next day, and then take off the fat.
_To make the Pie._--Boil two eggs for five minutes; let them get cold,
then lay them in slices at the bottom of a pie-dish, and put alternate
layers of meat and jelly, with pepper and chopped lemon also
alternately, till the dish is full; cover with a crust and bake it.
Next day turn the pie out upside down.
1230. Sea Pie.
Make a thick pudding crust, line a dish with it, or what is better, a
cake-tin; put a layer of sliced onions, then a layer of salt beef cut
in slices, a layer of sliced potatoes, a layer of pork, and another of
onions; strew pepper over all, cover with a crust, and tie down
tightly with a cloth previously dipped in boiling water and floured.
Boil for two hours, and serve hot in a dish.
1231. Rump-Steak Pie.
Cut three pounds of rump-steak (that has been kept till tender) into
pieces half as big as your hand, trim off all the skin, sinews, and
every part which has not indisputable pretensions to be eaten, and
beat them with a chopper. Chop very fine half a dozen shalots, and add
to them half an ounce of pepper and salt mixed; strew some of the
seasoning at the bottom of the dish, then a layer of steak, then some
more of the seasoning, and so on till the dish is full; add half a
gill of mushroom ketchup, and the same quantity of gravy, or red wine;
cover it as in the preceding receipt, and bake it two hours. Large
oysters, parboiled, bearded, and laid alternately with the
steaks--their liquor reduced and substituted instead of the ketchup
and wine, will impart a delicious flavour to the pie.
1232. Raised Pies.
Put two pounds and a half of flour on the pasteboard,--and set on the
fire, in a saucepan, three quarters of a pint of water, and half a
pound of good lard. When the water boils, make a hole in the middle of
the flour, pour in the water and lard by degrees, gently incorporating
the flour with a spoon, and when it is well mixed, knead it with your
hands till it becomes stiff; dredge a little flour to prevent it
sticking to the board, or you cannot make it look smooth. Roll the
dough with your hands--the rolling-pin must not be used--to about the
thickness of a quart pot; leave a little for the covers, and cut the
remainder into six circular discs. Take each of these pieces in
succession; put one hand in the middle, and keep the other close on
the outside till you have worked it either into an oval or a round
shape.
Have your meat ready cut, and seasoned with pepper and salt; if pork,
cut it in small slices--the griskin is the best for pasties: if you
use mutton, cut it in very neat cutlets, and put them in the pies as
you make them; roll out the covers with the rolling-pin, and cut them
to the size of the pies, wet them round the edge, put them on the pie.
Then press the paste of each pie and its cover together with the thumb
and finger, and lastly, nick the edge all round with the back of a
knife, and bake them an hour and a half.
[OBSERVATION IS THE BEST TEACHER.]
1233. Wild Duck, To Dress.
The birds are roasted like common ducks, but without stuffing, and
with a rather less allowance of time for cooking. For example, a
full-sized duck will take from three-quarters of an hour to an hour in
roasting, but a wild duck will take from forty to fifty minutes.
Before carving the knife should be drawn longitudinally along the
breast, and upon these a little cayenne pepper must be sprinkled, and
a lemon squeezed. They require a good made gravy, as described below.
They are excellent half roasted and hashed in a good gravy made as
follows:
1234. Sauce for Wild Duck.
Simmer a teacupful of port wine, the same quantity of good gravy, a
small shalot, with pepper, nutmeg, mace, and salt to taste, for about
ten minutes; put in a bit of butter and flour; give it all one boil,
and pour it over the birds, or serve in a sauce tureen.
1235. Widgeon and Teal, To Dress.
These birds may be roasted or half roasted and baked, according to the
directions given for wild duck, and served up with, a sauce or gravy
made in precisely the same way. A widgeon will take as long to roast
as a wild duck, but a teal, being a smaller bird, will take only from
twenty to thirty minutes.
1236. Roast Duck.
Put into the body of the bird a seasoning of parboiled onions mixed
with finely-chopped sage, salt, pepper, and a slice of butter. Place
it before a brisk fire, but not sufficiently near to be scorched;
baste it constantly, and when the breast is well plumped, and the
steam from it draws towards the fire, dish and serve it quickly, with
a little good brown gravy poured round them, and also some in a gravy
tureen. Young ducks will take about half an hour to roast; full-sized
ones from three-quarters of an hour to an hour.
1237 Roast Partridge.
Let the bird hang as long as it can be kept without being offensive.
Pick it carefully, and singe it; wipe the inside thoroughly with a
clean cloth, truss it with the head turned under the wing and the legs
drawn close together, but not crossed. Flour partridges prepared in
this manner when first laid to the fire, and baste them plentifully
with butter. Serve them with bread sauce and good brown gravy.
1238. Partridge Pudding.
Skin a brace of well-kept partridges, and cut them into pieces; line a
deep basin with suet crust, and lay in the pieces, which should be
rather highly seasoned with white pepper and cayenne, and moderately
with salt. Pour in water for the gravy, close the pudding carefully,
and boil it for three hours or three hours and a half. When mushrooms
are plentiful, put a layer of buttons or small mushrooms, cleaned as
for pickling, alternately with a layer of partridge in filling tho
pudding. The crust may he left untouched and merely emptied of its
contents, where it is objected to, or a richer crust made with butter
may be used instead of the ordinary suet crust.
1239. Roast Ptarmigan.
The ptarmigan, which is either a variety of grouse or grouse in its
winter plumage, and black game, when roasted, are cooked in precisely
the same manner as grouse.
1240. Roast Grouse.
Truss the birds in the same manner as pheasants, and set down before a
brisk fire. When nearly ready--they will be done in from twenty to
twenty-five minutes--baste well with butter and sprinkle with flour in
order to froth them, and send to table with some good brown gravy and
some fried bread crumbs and bread sauce. These accompaniments should
be served in different sauce tureens.
[SMALL BEGINNINGS MAY LEAD TO LARGE ENDS.]
1241. To Truss and Roast a Pheasant.
The following method of trussing a pheasant--which applies equally to
partridges, grouse, &c., and to fowls, guineafowls, &c.--is prescribed
by Francatelli in his "Cook's Guide":
"Rub the scaly cuticle off the legs with a cloth; trim away the
claws and spurs; cut off the neck close up to the back, leaving the
skin of the breast entire; wipe the pheasant clean and truss it in
the following manner, viz.:--Place the pheasant upon its breast, run
a trussing needle and string through the left pinion (the wings
being removed); then turn the bird over on its back, and place the
thumb and forefinger of the left hand across the breast, holding the
legs erect; thrust the needle through the middle joint of both
thighs, draw it out and then pass it through the other pinion, and
fasten the strings at the back; next pass the needle through the
hollow of the back, just below the thighs, thrust it again through
the legs and body and tie the strings tightly; this will give it an
appearance of plumpness."
Roast and send to table in the same manner, and with the same
accompaniments as directed for Roast Partridge (_par._ 1237.)
1242. Cold Partridge Pie.
Bone as many partridges as the size of pie to be made may require. Put
a whole raw truffle, peeled, into each partridge, and fill up the
remaining space in each bird with good forcemeat. Make a raised crust;
lay a few slices of veal in the bottom, and a thick layer of
forcemeat; then the partridges, and four truffles to each partridge;
then cover the partridges and truffles over with sheets of bacon,
cover the pie in, and finish it. It will take four hours baking.