be abandoned, though its substitute of potatoe pudding is not to be
rejected. Garnish with finely scraped horseradish.--Where cold roast beef
is not liked, or if too underdone to eat cold, slices may be gently
simmered over the fire in gravy or broth, or a very little water, and a
little pepper and salt, eschalot vinegar, or some sort of catsup. The
sirloin always came to table whole in the house in which I was brought up;
therefore, I am able to give instructions for cooking it. No spit will
carry round a whole sirloin; it must be _dangled_, and one which weighs
(after great part of the suet has been taken out) 40 lbs. will roast in
five hours, for it is no thicker than a piece of 10 lbs. weight. The fire
must be large and high, the heat, of course, very great. Many a cook's
complexion, to say nothing of her temper, has suffered in the cause of our
"noble sirloins." If the inside, or tender-loin, be taken out leaving all
the fat to roast with the joint, this part may be cooked to resemble hare.
For this purpose, spread some hare stuffing over the beef, roll that up
tightly with tape, and tie it on the spit. Send this to table with the
sauces for roast hare. When the whole joint is roasted, the inside {70}will
be sufficiently underdone to make hashes. If only a part of the sirloin be
cooked, the inside is best eaten hot, as it is not so good cold as the
upper side.--Roast beef bones should be taken care of, for soup and gravy,
and used before they become musty.
_Rump of Beef._
Roast in the same manner. _Half_ of this joint makes a nice family dish.
Parboiled potatoes, browned in the dripping-pan are good.
_Ribs of Beef._
Roasted the same as the sirloin. But it requires to be basted. Is a better
joint to eat cold than sirloin. 15 or 20 lbs. weight, three hours or more,
according to the size. Paper the fat and the thin part. Another way is to
take out the bones, lay the meat flat, and beat it with a rolling pin; soak
it in two thirds of vinegar and one of water, or, better still, white wine
in place of vinegar, a night; next day cover it with a rich forcemeat, of
veal, suet, grated ham, lemon peel, and mixed spices. Roll it tightly up,
fasten with small skewers and tape, and roast it, basting constantly with
butter, and serve with venison sauce.--_Or:_ you may take out the bones,
roll the meat up like a fillet of veal, lard it, then roast and serve with
tomata sauce.
_Leg, Loin, Haunch, Saddle, and Shoulder of Mutton._
Cut out the pipe that runs along the back bone, wipe off all mustiness.
Rather a _quick_ fire is required for mutton, particularly if it have been
kept. Roast in the same manner as beef. Paper it, and baste every twenty
minutes till the last half hour, when lightly sprinkle with salt, baste
with _butter_, and dredge flour lightly over, and as soon as the froth
rises, take it up. Onion, sweet sauce, or currant jelly, are eaten with
mutton. Some think it an improvement to the _haunch_ and _saddle_ to take
the skin off; to do this you must beat it well with a rolling pin, slip the
skin with a sharp knife from the meat, and with a cloth pull it off nearly
to the shank. Some put a thin paste over, as directed for venison, others
paper only, and the latter is sufficient, if the cook baste enough, and do
not let {71}it burn.--A good sauce for roast mutton is made by putting 2
glasses of port wine, 1 of Reading sauce, and a tea-spoonful of garlic
vinegar into a small saucepan, and pouring the contents hot over the joint
just before serving it.
_Haunch of Mutton._
_To dress as Venison._--Keep it as long as you can, then rub with the
following, and let it lie in it, thirty-six hours. Mix 2 oz. of coarse
sugar, 1 oz. of salt, and ½ oz. of saltpetre. A taste somewhat peculiar to
our house, and of American growth, is stewed cranberries, as sauce with
roast mutton, and I recommend the trial to all who can procure good
cranberries. Tomata sauce is also good with roast mutton.
_Bullock's Heart._
Soak it well in lukewarm water to disgorge, dry and stuff the interior with
a veal stuffing, and roast it two hours. _Calves'_ and _Sheep's_ heart the
same.
_Tongue._
Stick a fresh tongue all over with cloves, roast it, baste with butter, and
serve with port wine sauce, and currant jelly.
_Sucking Pig._
The age at which it ought to be killed is a matter of dispute; some say at
twelve days old, others at three weeks; but all agree that the sooner it is
cooked after, the better. After the inside is taken out, wash the pig well
with cold water. Cut off the feet at the first joint, leaving the skin long
enough to turn neatly over. Prepare a stuffing as follows: ½ oz. of mild
sage, 2 onions, parboiled and chopped fine, a tea-cup full of grated bread
crumbs, 2 oz. of good butter, and some pepper, cayenne and salt; put this
into the pig, and carefully sew the slit up. Some cooks baste, at first,
with salt and water, and then keep brushing the pig with a brush of
feathers, dipped in salad oil. Others tie a piece of butter in muslin, and
diligently rub the crackling with it; either is good. It should be dredged
with flour, soon after it is put down, and the {72}rubbing with butter or
oil never cease, or the skin will not be crisp. The fire should be brisk,
and a pig iron used, or the pig will be unequally cooked, for the middle
will be burnt up, before the two ends are done. A good-sized one will take
two hours. A pig should never go whole to table. Take the spit from the
fire, and place it across a dish, then with a sharp knife cut the head off,
cut down the back, and slip the spit out. Lay it back to back in your dish,
and the ears, one at each end, which ought to be quite crisp. For sauce,
clear beef, or veal gravy, with a squeeze of lemon, and, if approved, the
brains and liver, or a little of the stuffing out of the pig, mixed in it,
also a very little finely chopped sage. Apple sauce and currant sauce are
not yet out of fashion for roast pig. Chili or eschalot vinegar is an
improvement to pig-sauce. The easiest way is to _bake it_. (See _Baking._)
_Venison, Haunch or Shoulder._
This will hang three weeks with care, but must be watched. Wet it as little
as possible; a damp cloth, only, should be used to cleanse it. Butter a
sheet of kitchen paper, and tie it over the fat side of the joint, then lay
over that a paste of about ½ an inch thick of flour and water; tie another
sheet of paper over that, fasten all on firmly, and rub butter over the
outside paper, that the fire may not catch it. Baste well, and keep up a
strong clear fire. A haunch of from 20 to 25 lbs. weight, in a paste, will
take from four to five hours, and not be overdone. Half an hour before it
is ready take off the coverings, and put it nearer the fire to brown and
froth. Baste with fresh butter, and lightly dredge it with flour. For
sauce, currant jelly in heated port wine, in one boat, and clear drawn,
unspiced gravy, in another. (_See Gravies._) Raspberry vinegar may be used
in making sauce for venison. Some epicures like eschalots or small onions,
served with venison, hare, or any meat, eaten with sweet sauce.--The
shoulder, breast, and neck, are all roasted, but the two latter are best in
pies; and if lean, may be used in soup.--Serve French beans, and currant
jelly.
_Fawn._
This should, like a sucking-pig, be dressed soon after it {73}is killed.
When quite young, it is trussed and stuffed like hare. But it is best, when
large enough, cut in quarters, and dressed like lamb. The hind quarter is
the best. It may be half roasted, and then hashed like hare or
venison.--_Or_: in pies the same as venison. It may also be baked. Venison
sauce.
_Veal_
Must have a strong and brisk fire. It must not only be _well done through_,
but be of a nice brown. For the fillet a stuffing of forcemeat made thus:
two parts of stale bread-crumbs, one part suet, marrow or fresh butter, a
little parsley boiled for a minute and chopped fine, 2 tea-spoonsful of
grated lemon peel, a little nutmeg, a very little cayenne and some salt,
the whole to be worked to a proper consistence, with yolks of 2 or 3 eggs.
Many things may be used in flavouring stuffing, such as grated ham, beef,
sausages, pickled oysters, anchovy, sweet herbs, eschalots, mushrooms,
truffles, morels, currie powder and cayenne. The fillet should be covered
with paper, and securely fastened in a nice shape. Baste well, and half an
hour before you take it up, remove the paper, and bring the meat nearer the
fire, to brown it. Garnish with slices of lemon. When in the dish, pour
some thin melted butter over it, to mix with its own gravy. A fillet of 15
lbs. weight will require 4 hours' roasting. Serve sausages, ham, or bacon,
and greens.
_Shoulder of Veal._
Stuff it, using more suet or butter than for the fillet. Serve and garnish
the same. From three hours to three and a half.
_Loin of Veal_
Must be well jointed. The kidney fat papered, or it will be lost. Toast
half the round of a loaf, and place it in the dish under the kidney part,
and serve and garnish the same as the fillet. About three hours.
_Breast of Veal._
Keep it covered with the caul till nearly done, for that will preserve the
meat from being scorched, and will also {74}enrich it.--From one hour and a
half to two hours. Some put in a very delicate stuffing.
_Neck, best end._
Two hours to roast.
_Lamb._
Lamb must be young, to be good, and requires no keeping to make it tender.
It is roasted in _quarters_, or _saddles_, _legs_, and _shoulders_; must be
well done, but does not require a strong fire. Put oiled paper over a fore
quarter. One of 10 lbs. weight will require two hours.--When the shoulder
is removed, the carver ought to sprinkle some salt, squeeze ½ a lemon, and
pour a little melted butter (it _may_ have finely chopped parsley in it),
over the target, and then replace the shoulder for a few minutes.--Mint
sauce; and garnish with crisp parsley, sprigs of parsley, sprigs of
cauliflower, or alternate slices of lemon and sprigs of water cress.--Serve
salad, spinach, French beans, cauliflower or green peas. (_See Sauces._)
_Pork_
Requires a very strong fire, and must be well done.
_Leg of Pork._
Make a slit in the shank, and put in a stuffing of mild sage, and parboiled
onions, chopped fine, also pepper, salt, grated stale bread-crumbs, a piece
of butter, a tea-spoonful of made mustard, and an egg to cement the whole,
then sew it up. Rub the skin often all over with salad oil or fresh butter,
while the roast is going on. The skin must be scored about twenty minutes
after the pork is put down. A leg of 8 lbs. about three hours. Serve onion
sauce, mustard, or apple sauce. (_See Sauces._)
_Spare Rib._
When put to the fire, dust some flour over, and baste gently with some
butter. Have some sage leaves dried and rubbed through a hair sieve, and
about a quarter of an hour {75}before the meat is done, sprinkle this over
it, just after the last basting with butter. Apple sauce; mashed potatoes.
_Loin and Griskin._
Score the loin, and, if you like, stuff it as the leg, or mix powdered sage
and finely-chopped onion with the basting. A loin of 5 lbs. two hours; if
very fat, half an hour longer. A griskin of 7 or 8 lbs. one hour and a
half. Either of these may be baked. Score the rind, rub over it well with
butter or oil, and stand it in a common earthen dish, with potatoes peeled
and cut in quarters; and, if you like, add some apples also, and two or
three onions previously parboiled and cut up. Dress the pork round with
these when you serve it. _Apples roasted_, and sent to table in their
skins, are very good with pork.
_Turkey._
It is not a good practice to wash poultry, only to wipe it out quite clean;
but if it be _necessary_ to wash it, then dredge flour over before you put
it down to the fire.
A turkey ought to hang as long as the weather will allow. Take care, in
drawing, not to break the gall bag, for no washing would cure the mischief.
It is still the custom, in some counties, to send a roast turkey to table
with its head on. Press down the breast-bone. Fill the craw with a stuffing
as follows: a large cup of bread-crumbs, 2 oz. minced beef suet, a little
parsley (always parboiled, as well as onions, for stuffings), a little
grated lemon peel, two or three sprigs of thyme, some nutmeg, pepper and
salt; mix the whole well, and cement it with an egg. Add, if you choose,
parboiled oysters (a few), or a little grated ham. Do not stuff too full,
and keep back some of the stuffing to make little balls, to fry and garnish
with, unless you have sausages. Paper the breast. Score the gizzard, dip it
in melted butter, and then in bread-crumbs, fix it under the pinion, cover
it with buttered paper, and be sure that it has its share of basting, as
well as the liver, which must be placed under the other pinion. The fire
must be the same as for beef. Keep the turkey at a distance from the fire,
at first, that the breast and legs may be done. A very large one will
require three hours, and is never so good as a {76}moderate sized one, such
as will roast in little more than one hour and a half. Dredge with flour,
and baste with fresh butter, or wash it with salt butter. Half an hour
before it is done, take off the paper, to let the turkey brown, and when
the steam draws towards the fire, lightly dredge it with flour; then put a
good sized piece of butter in the basting ladle, hold it over the turkey,
and let it drop over it as it melts. This will give a finer froth than
basting from the dripping-pan. Clear gravy in the dish, and more in a
tureen, with egg, bread, or oyster sauce, in another. Chine and greens.
_Capons and common Fowls._
Roasted the same as turkeys, and stuffed, if the size will admit. A large,
full-grown fowl will take about one hour and a quarter; a chicken from
thirty to forty minutes. The sauces for fowls are, gravy, parsley, and
butter, either with or without the liver (roasted) chopped up in it, or
mushroom, bread or egg sauce. Three or four slices of fat bacon, not too
thick, may be attached by skewers to the breast of a fowl, and is an
improvement to a large one.
_Goose._
Well wash and dry it in a cloth; then stuff it with four onions, parboiled,
a fourth of their bulk in sage, and half, or, if you like it, the whole of
the liver; parboil these together slightly, and mix them with the crumb of
a penny loaf and an egg. _Or_, prepare a stuffing of six good onions, two
or three apples, and some sage; chop these together quite fine, season with
pepper and salt, and warm it in a saucepan sufficient to half cook it. Put
the stuffing in the goose, tie that tightly at both ends, when on the spit:
keep it papered the first hour, and baste with a little dripping. Froth it
the same as turkey. The fire must be kept brisk. A large goose will require
two hours. Take it up before the breast falls. Its own gravy is not good.
Serve a good gravy flavoured with port wine, or cider, and walnut catsup,
also a table-spoonful of made mustard.--It is a good plan for the cook to
cut up the goose, remove the joints separately on another _hot_ dish, then
pour the gravy boiling hot over. This may not be fashionable, but it
preserves the {77}goose from eating _greasy_, saves the lady of the house
trouble, and insures its being hot when helped. Serve apple sauce.--Some
persons like goose stuffed with potatoes, previously boiled, then mashed
without butter, and well peppered and salted.
_Green Geese_
Will roast in half an hour; are not stuffed. Put a good sized piece of
butter inside, pepper and salt. Froth and brown nicely. Gooseberry sauce.
_Ducks_
Will keep three days, but are better dressed the day they are killed. Ducks
may be stuffed or not (the same as geese), according to taste. But if two
are roasted, one may be stuffed, and the other merely seasoned inside, with
pepper, salt, an eschalot, and cayenne, if liked. Serve green peas with
ducks. From three quarters to an hour will roast them. Baste well, and give
a good froth. (_See Sauces and Forcemeats._) Some persons squeeze a lemon
over the breasts when dished.
_Wild Ducks_
Take from twenty-five minutes to half an hour. Have a clear brisk fire.
They are, generally, preferred underdone, but brown outside. Cut slices in
the breast, and squeeze in lemon juice with cayenne; _or_ put an oz. of
butter into a stew-pan with a little cayenne, the rind of an orange cut
thin and previously blanched in boiling water, and the juice of a lemon;
warm this over the fire, and when melted, but not oiled, pour it over the
duck and serve. (_See Sauces._)
_Pheasants, Partridges, Guinea and Pea-fowl_,
Require a brisk fire. All are trussed in the same way, and the heads left
on. Make a slit in the back of the neck to take out the craw; do not turn
the head under the wing, but truss it like a fowl, and fasten the neck to
its side with a skewer. Thirty minutes will roast a young pheasant, and
forty or fifty minutes a full grown one. Good sized partridges take nearly
as long. Baste with butter, and {78}froth them. Clear, well-flavoured
gravy, in which there should be a tea-spoonful of the essence of ham. Also
bread sauce.
French cooks lard all these. (_See to Lard._) They also have a method of
dressing them thus: lay slices of lemon over the breast, and upon these,
slices of fat bacon, cover with paper, and roast them. Another way is to
fill the bird with a delicate stuffing of veal, grated ham, lemon grated,
and spice; then roast it.
_Woodcocks, Snipes, and Ortolans_,
Should be kept as long as they are good. Do not draw woodcocks, for the
trail is considered a delicacy, nor cut off their heads. They should be
tied to a bird spit, or dangled singly. The fire must be clear. Twenty or
thirty minutes is enough for woodcocks, and less for the rest, in
proportion to their size. Lay some slices of toasted bread, the crust cut
off, in the dripping-pan, to dish them on. Serve melted butter. Garnish
with slices of lemon.--In France they stuff woodcocks with truffles, and
other things, then roast, or stew them.
_Grouse, Black Game, Plovers, Rails, Quails, Widgeons and Teal_,
Are roasted the same as partridges, the head of grouse twisted under the
wing. Do not let them be over-done. A rich gravy, and bread sauce. Garnish
with fried bread-crumbs.
_Pigeons._
Clean them as soon as killed, and the sooner they are dressed the better.
Wash them very well, stuff each with a piece of butter the size of an egg,
a few bread-crumbs, a little parsley, and the liver chopped, if you like:
season well with pepper and salt. Roast twenty-five or thirty minutes. Pour
into the dish a little thin melted butter, with or without the parsley, to
mix with their own gravy. Serve bread or rice sauce, or parsley and butter.
They may be served on a thin toast. Wood-pigeons should hang till tender,
then roasted and served in rich gravy. They require less roasting than tame
pigeons.
{79}_Larks, Wheat-ears, and other Small Birds._
Some of these are nice eating, particularly the _Wheat-ear_, which, from
its superior flavour, has been called the English ortolan. A roast of small
birds is so much the fashion in France, that you seldom travel many days
together without finding it one of the principal dishes of the supper
table. In the autumn, and, indeed, through the winter, you will constantly
see a partridge, or a woodcock, served up in the midst of a numerous
company of blackbirds, thrushes, larks, and a variety of such small birds;
a truly "dainty dish to set before a king." This custom is remarkable
because there is a comparative scarcity of small birds in France, whilst we
in England are overstocked with them. The _sparrow-pudding_ is _known_ in
many country places, but is not often seen. Indeed, in this land of beef
and mutton, it would be hard if these little creatures could not be left to
sing and build their nests in peace. With the French there is such an
avidity for all sorts of small birds, that a string of them is one of the
most ordinary articles in the larder. Nothing that flies in France above
the order of humming-birds in its size, is too insignificant to come within
the scope of the sportsman's ambition, and the purveyor's nets and
springes. I am not sure whether our exquisite neighbours ever proceed so
far as to devour sweet Philomel herself; but they certainly do what would
be deemed still more shocking in England, making no exception in favour of
that little bird, to injure which is here a sort of crime; they kill the
robins and cook them by dozens at a time. The Forest of Ardennes abounds in
them, and in the season the traveller may fare sumptuously upon these
pretty little creatures, without being aware of what he is eating. Lovers
of delicacies might find it worth their while to travel in the countries
where the vine and the fig-tree abound. There the small birds feed and
fatten on the grapes, even in the winter, for, long after the conclusion of
the vintage, refuse grapes may always be found hanging. This food, so
superior to our blackberries, hips and haws, may well cause the flavour of
the birds to be in the highest perfection: for the fruit is so nutritious
that the labouring people almost entirely live upon it through one whole
season of the year. In Sicily the grapes will keep for months {80}after
they are quite ripe, hanging on the vines in the open air. There is a
little bird, about the size of the nightingale, called the _fig-pecker_,
from its feeding upon the figs. This is one of the most prized delicacies
of the south of France and Italy.--All the above-named birds require to be
well cleaned. Then put them on a bird-spit or skewer, and tie that on
another spit, or dangle it before the fire. Baste constantly with good
butter, and strew sifted bread-crumbs over as they roast. French cooks
generally put a thin small slice of bacon over the breast of each bird,
bringing it over each wing. Fifteen minutes will roast them. Serve larks on
bread-crumbs, and garnish with slices of lemon.--_Or_: dip the birds into a
batter, then roll them in bread-crumbs.
_Hare_
Should, unless a leveret, hang several days, to become tender. Cooks differ
as to the proper method of keeping it. Some keep it unpaunched, while
others see that it is paunched instantly, wiped clean and dry inside, and
then let it hang as many as eight days. If really an _old_ hare, it should
be made into soup at once, for it will never be tender enough to roast. The
heart and liver should be taken out as soon as possible, washed, scraped,
parboiled, and kept for the stuffing. Most cooks maintain the practice of
soaking hares for two hours in water, but more are rendered dry and
tasteless by this method than would be so naturally. A slit should be cut
in the neck, to let the blood out, and the hare be washed in several
different waters. Prepare a rich and relishing stuffing, as follows: the
grated crumb of a penny loaf, a ¼ lb. beef suet, or 3 oz. of marrow, a
small quantity of parsley and eschalot, a tea-spoonful of grated
lemon-peel, the same of nutmeg, salt, pepper, and the liver chopped, mix
all together with the yolk of an egg; and an anchovy, if approved; put it
inside the hare, and sew it up. For basting, most cooks use milk and water
till within twenty minutes, or thereabouts, of the hare being done, and
then baste with butter. But a cook of ours, first basted it with milk and
water, for about ten minutes, to draw away the blood, then with ale, and
for the last half hour with fresh dripping, until about five minutes before
the hare was taken up, when she basted with butter to give {81}a froth,
having previously lightly floured it. Where cream and eggs abound, you may,
after the hare has been basted with butter, empty the dripping pan, and
baste with warm cream, and the yolk of an egg mixed in it. A good-sized
hare will take one hour and a quarter to roast. Serve good gravy in a
tureen, and currant jelly, or some piquant sauce. (_See Sauces._) Kid is
dressed the same way.
_Rabbit_
Is roasted in the same manner as hare; in addition to the stuffing, put
three or four slices, cut very thin, of bacon. Liver sauce.
CHAPTER IX.
BAKING.
SOME joints of meat bake to advantage. It is convenient, occasionally, to
send the dinner out to be cooked, and the meat which suffers least from
such cookery ought to be selected; veal is good baked, so is pork, a
sucking pig, a goose, and a duck; but not mutton. Some pieces of beef bake
well, with peeled potatoes under to catch the gravy, and brown. Some sorts
of fish also bake well. (_See Fish in the Index._)
_Breast, Loin, Fillet, or Shoulder of Veal._
The two last stuffed with forcemeat; put the joint on a stand in a deep
baking dish, and stick bits of butter over the top. The heat of the oven
strong, but not fierce. Baste often; when nearly done, sprinkle salt over,
and ten minutes before it is taken out, dredge with flour.
_Pig._
Put it in a shallow baking dish, wrap the ears and tail in buttered paper;
send a good sized piece of butter tied in muslin, for the baker to rub over
it frequently.
_Goose and Duck._
Prepare as for roasting: put them on a stand, and turn {82}them when half
done.--_Wild Goose_ the same, with a piece of suet inside.
_Ham._
Boil it till half done, then cover it with a paste of flour and water, and
set it in an oven, hot enough for bread, till you think it done.
_Ox Cheek._
Cover with a strong seasoning of pepper, salt, and minced onion. Bake three
or four hours, according to its size, then set it by till next day, take
off the fat, and warm it as you want it. A _Shin of beef_ in the same way.
_Hare and Rabbit._
Prepare as for roasting, and baste it constantly with butter. The stuffing
should be rich.
_A Fawn._
Put a caul over and set it in the oven; about a quarter of an hour before
it is done, take off the caul and baste well with butter. It will bake in
the same time that a pig requires.
Meat pies require the oven to be as hot as for joints of meat, yet they
should not be scorched. They also require time to soak through, or the meat
will not be done.
Fish pies require half an hour less baking than the same sized meat pies.
Great nicety is required in baking fruit pies and light pastry. All these
ought to be baked at home; when the precise heat of the oven, required, may
be attained, which it rarely can be at the bakehouse. Pastry suffers, too,
in being exposed to the air on its way to the oven; and it ought not to
wait long before it is baked.
_Pork._
Any joint will bake well. It must be scored. Rub it over with oil, or stick
bits of butter all over it. Put it on a stand, and put peeled potatoes
under it; also, you may put onions and apples. Sprinkle dry sage over,
before you serve it. Stuff the pork, or not, as you choose.
{83}CHAPTER X.
BROILING.
THIS is seldom excelled in, though it appears simple, and is of general
utility; for few like to dine on cold meat, and none dislike a broil. There
is no economy in broiling, but such meat, poultry, or game, as cannot be
hashed with advantage, had best be broiled.
The great art in broiling is to have a suitable fire. It must be strong,
bright, and clear, and entirely free from smoke; if half burnt down, so
much the better. Have two gridirons, one for meat and poultry, the other
for fish. Those which hang before the fire are useful. A gridiron should be
rubbed clean immediately after being used, not set aside with a particle of
grease or soot attached to it. Just before you lay meat on, after you have
made it hot, rub the gridiron with a piece of fresh suet, if for meat; if
for fish, rub with chalk. A pair of steak-tongs is indispensable. Above all
things, it is necessary that the broil be served immediately, closely
covered on its way from the fire to the table, and that the plates and the
dish be hot.
_Beef Steaks._
These are eaten in perfection in England only, and, it is said, best in the
Chop-houses in London, where daily practice makes the cooking perfect, and
because in London the best beef may always be procured. No skill in
broiling will render tough meat tender. Steaks are best from the middle of
the rump (unless it be the under part of the sirloin), after the meat has
been killed five days (if the weather permit), or even longer. They should
be of about ¾ of an inch in thickness; beat them a very little. Sprinkle a
little salt over the fire, lay the steaks on the hot gridiron, {84}turn
them frequently, and when the fat blazes and smokes much, quickly remove
the gridiron for an instant, till it be over, and the steak will be
sufficiently done, in from ten to fifteen minutes. Have a hot dish by the
side of the fire; and, to gratify the taste of some persons, rub it with a
piece of eschalot; at all events let the dish be _hot_, and as you turn the
steaks, if there be any gravy at the top, drop it into the dish. Before you
dish them, put a piece of fresh butter, and a spoonful of catsup in the
dish; then sprinkle the dish with a little salt, lay the steaks in the
dish, and turn them once or twice, to express the gravy. Garnish with
horse-radish, or pickles. Oyster, and many other sauces may be served; some
beef steak eaters say that its own gravy, pepper and salt, are all that a
good beef steak requires, unless it be a little sliced raw onion or
tarragon; others like fried onions.
_Beef Steaks, with Potatoes._
Beat them flat; season on both sides with pepper, salt, and such mixed
spices as you choose; dip the steaks in melted butter, lay them on the
gridiron, and broil them, as directed in the last receipt. Have a little
finely-rubbed parsley, or chopped eschalot, a piece of butter, and some
pepper and salt, in a hot dish; when the steaks are done, lay them in it,
turn them once or twice, and arrange slices of potatoes fried, round them.
_Or_: spread mashed potatoes quite hot in the dish, and lay the steaks on.
_Blade bone of Veal._
Broil it till quite done. Serve it with stewed mushrooms, or a garnish of
pickled mushrooms and slices of lemon.
_Mutton and Lamb Chops, also Rabbit and Fowl cut up, Sweetbread and
Kidneys._
These may all be broiled in the same way as plain beef steak. Take care
that the fat which drops from mutton and lamb, does not smoke the chops;
where there is danger, take off the gridiron, and hold it aslant over the
fire. {85}Kidneys must, to prevent their curling, be stretched on a skewer.
They may be dressed in a more savoury way, thus: dip them in egg, then in a
mixture of bread-crumbs, and savoury herbs, before you put them on the
gridiron. For mutton, a piece of butter in a hot dish, with a little
catsup, is good sauce; but no catsup for lamb; cucumber sauce is
better.--(_See Blade bone of Pork._)
_Pork Chops_
Require a very strong fire, and more cooking than mutton, for they must be
well done, about a quarter of an hour; cut them once to ascertain the state
they are in. Mix in a _little_ gravy, rather thin than rich, a spoonful of
made mustard; pour this quite hot, over the chops, in the dish, to mix with
their own gravy; then strew over them a little dry sage, rubbed small, and
some chopped eschalot. Pork chops may be dressed in a Dutch oven.
_Blade bone of Pork._
Cut it with a small quantity of meat to it: lay it on the gridiron, and
when nearly done, pepper and salt it well, then rub a piece of butter over,
and serve it directly. Mutton in the same way.
_Chickens and Pigeons._
After a chicken is picked, singed and washed, or wiped clean, truss, and
lay it open, by splitting down the back; season the inside with pepper and
salt, and lay that side on the gridiron, at a greater distance from the
fire than you put a steak, for it will take longer to cook; at least half
an hour is necessary for a good sized chicken. From time to time remove the
chicken from the fire, and rub it over with a piece of butter, tied in
muslin. Run a knife into the breast to ascertain if it be done. The gizzard
should be scored, well seasoned, broiled and divided, to garnish the
chicken, with the liver, and slices of lemon. Serve mushroom sauce or
parsley and butter. You may egg the chicken and strew grated bread over it,
and broil till it is of a fine brown; take care that the fleshy side is not
{86}burnt. Pigeons are broiled in the same way, or may be done whole; in
which case truss and put inside each a large piece of butter, pepper and
salt, tie close at both ends, lay them on the gridiron, and turn them
frequently. You may brush them with egg, and roll them in bread-crumbs and
chopped parsley, with which mixture dredge them whilst broiling. Parsley
and butter in the dish, with mushroom catsup, if you like. Stewed mushrooms
are served with these, or pickled mushrooms as garnish. Chickens should be
skinned before they are broiled for a sick person.
_Partridges._
Prepare as above, and place them in a frying-pan in which you have melted a
little very delicate dripping, or butter; let them stay ten minutes; turn
them once, finish on the gridiron; this makes them more firm than they
would otherwise be. Poor man's sauce (_see Sauces_) is good with all
broiled birds.
(_See in Index for Devils, also in Made Dishes, for Cutlets._)
_Note._--_Sauce Robert_ is good with all broils.
{87}CHAPTER XI.
FRYING.
NOT so difficult to _fry_ as it is to _broil_ well, and it is quite as
good, for some things, but the fat must be good. Lard, butter, dripping,
topfat (i.e. the cake of fat which is taken off soup or broth, when it has
stood a night), oil, and suet, are all good for frying. If butter, suet and
dripping be clarified, the pan will not be so apt to burn, and the fat will
be more delicate. Housekeepers lose much of their credit by neglecting
this, and similar niceties. The pan should be thick at the bottom: an oval
shape is best, particularly for fish. The fire not fierce, as fat soon
scorches, and the meat may be burnt, before it is half cooked; neither must
it be too slack, for then the meat will be soddened; and if fish, of a bad
colour, and not crisp. Ascertain the heat by throwing a bit of bread in; if
the pan be too hot the bread will be burnt up. The fat in which veal, lamb
or sweetbreads have been fried, will do for fish; let it stand to settle,
then pour the top carefully from the sediment, and put it by. Fritters,
pastry or sweet things, must be fried in good butter, lard or oil.
Care is required to fry fish well, and is attainable only by practice. To
ascertain the heat of the pan, dip the tail of the fish into the boiling
fat, and if it crisps quickly, the pan is ready.
Fries, as well as broils, served hot, as soon as off the fire, or they will
be spoiled.
_To Clarify Butter._
Cut in pieces, and put it into a jar: set that in a kettle of boiling
water, to melt; skim carefully, take the jar out of the water, let the
butter cool a little, then pour it gently off, keeping back the milky
sediment.
{88}_Suet._
Chop beef, mutton, or veal suet, take off all skin and fibrous parts, melt
it _slowly_, as in the last receipt, or in a Dutch oven, before the fire.
Strain, and pour it off: beef or mutton dripping may be done the same way,
and is good for peas soup, and for plain pastry. For soup, it may be
seasoned, after it is melted and strained. A piece of charcoal will remove
a rancid taste, put into the melting fat, and stirred round a few minutes.
Use butter or lard in frying white meat.
_Beef Steaks and Mutton Chops_
Must be fried in butter. Steaks the size directed for broiling will be done
in from ten to fifteen minutes. When nearly done, cover with a dish and let
the pan remain five minutes by the fire, after you take it off. Then lay
the steaks in a hot dish, and add to the gravy in the pan a piece of butter
rolled in flour, a glass of port wine, or some catsup, a very little water,
pepper, salt, a little minced eschalot or onion; let this boil, then pour
it over the steaks. Garnish with horse-radish, and serve mashed potatoes
and pickles. (_See Made Dishes, for Cutlets._)
_Veal Cutlets_
May be cut from the fillet or the loin, ½ an inch thick: brush them over
with egg, cover with bread-crumbs, and fry of a nice light brown, in a good
deal of butter or lard. You may, if you choose, add to the bread-crumbs, a
mixture of parsley, lemon thyme, lemon peel, and a little nutmeg and
cayenne. When done place the cutlets in a hot dish, while you make some
gravy in the pan; pour all the fat out, and pour in ¼ pint of boiling
water, the same of melted butter, and let it boil till thickish, then add
Harvey sauce, white wine, and any other sauce you like: strain this over
the cutlets. Garnish with rashers of bacon, curled parsley, and slices of
bacon. Cutlets, _without gravy_, may be served round mashed potatoes.
_Lamb and Pork Chops._
Pork chops may be cut from neck or loin. Fry the same {89}as veal, either
plain or egged. Garnish with slices of lemon, or crisped parsley. Pork
chops, egged, are improved, to some persons' tastes, by a little finely
chopped onion and sage. You may make a sauce thus: put the chops on a dish,
keep hot while you pour part of the fat from the pan, stir in a
tea-spoonful of flour, moisten ½ pint of water, or broth, a table-spoonful
of vinegar, a little salt and pepper, and 6 small gherkins or slices (or
_for lamb, pickled mushrooms_), put the chops back into the pan to re-warm
in the sauce, and serve it altogether. You may add mustard to the sauce;
also, chopped onions, for pork. If there be no herbs used before, you may
sprinkle dried parsley over lamb chops in the dish; also, lemon peel.
_Sausages._
Some suppose that these do not require fat to fry them. It should be butter
or dripping, not lard (a little for beef or pork, more for veal), and
sausages ought to cook slowly, that they may be done, without being
scorched, and not burst. Prick them with a darning needle to prevent this,
but gradual heating is the best preventative. Drain, _very_ lightly flour,
and set them before the fire to froth. For dinner or supper, serve mashed
potatoes with sausages.
_Rabbits_
_Must_ be young, either tame or wild. Carve in joints, brush these with
egg, and dip them in bread-crumbs, in which there may be, if you like it,
some dried parsley, grated ham or lemon peel; fry nicely and serve with
rashers; make some gravy in the pan as directed for veal cutlets.
_Eggs with Ham or Bacon._
Soak the slices, of ham or bacon, in lukewarm water, and dry them in the
folds of a cloth; and they will be less hard than fried bacon usually is.
The pan used to fry eggs should be delicately clean. A good method is, to
melt a little fat in the pan, pour that off, and then, whilst the pan is
quite hot, rub it hard with a cloth. Let the bacon be nearly done, and if
the fat be burnt, pour that off, and put in some fresh; then slip the eggs
gently in. When they {90}are done lay the slices of bacon in a dish, trim
the eggs, and lay them on the bacon. The eggs may be fried in one pan, and
the bacon in another; some prefer the latter broiled. For breakfast, slices
of ham or bacon should not be broiled or fried, but toasted before the
fire.
_Sweetbreads._
Parboil them while fresh, and then fry them in long slices, or whole, in
plain butter; or else egged, covered with bread-crumbs, and seasoned with
lemon peel, pepper, and a sprig of basil. Garnish with crisped parsley, and
lemon sliced: serve on a toast, with either parsley and butter, or plain
butter, and a very little walnut, mushroom or any other catsup. Garnish
with small slices of crisped bacon. (_See Made Dishes._)
_Ox, Calves', and Lamb's Liver, and Pig's Harslet_,
Must be quite sound. Cut the liver in long thin slices, soak in water, then
dry them in a cloth, flour, and season with pepper, salt, a little onion,
or eschalot and sage, chopped fine. Fry the slices in butter or lard, of a
light brown, and when nearly done, put into the pan some slices of bacon.
When you take the liver and bacon out of the pan, pour in a tea-cupful of
boiling water, dredge some flour in, let it boil up, and pour this gravy
over the liver. You may fry a handful of parsley in the gravy. You may
improve this gravy, by adding to it pepper, salt, a wineglass of vinegar,
lump of sugar, and a tea-spoonful of made mustard. Garnish with crisped
parsley; serve mashed potatoes, or better still, stewed cucumbers. Of the
pig's harslet, the lights, sweetbread, and heart may be parboiled, cut up,
and fried with the liver. _Or_:--After the fashion of _Herefordshire_, cut
in slices, 2 inches thick, the liver, griskins, heart, kidney, lights,
crow, and some fat of bacon; rub these slices well with a seasoning,
composed of onions, apples, a _little_ sage, and plenty of pepper and salt;
then put them on a small spit in alternate slices of lean and fat, cover
all over with a pig's caul, and roast it three hours, or more, if the
harslet be large. When done, remove the caul and pour a kettle of boiling
water over. Make some gravy of the water that has been poured over, and
flavour it with port wine, cyder, and walnut catsup. Serve apple sauce.
_Harslet_ is {91}very good stewed in just enough water to make gravy, and
seasoned well. A little cayenne.
_Tripe._
Boiled tender, cut in long narrow slips, these dipped in a batter of egg
and flour, and, if you like, a little minced onion and salt. Fry from seven
to ten minutes, of a light brown. Serve, if approved of, onion
sauce.--(_Cow-Heel the same._)
_To Fry Parsley._
After it has been washed and picked, shake the parsley backwards and
forwards in a cloth till dry; then put it into a pan of hot fat, and fry it
quickly of a light brown; take it out with a slice the moment it is
crisp--it will be spoiled if done too much. Lay it on a sieve before the
fire. Herbs, lemon peel, and onions, must always be chopped fine before
they are mixed with bread-crumbs to fry. _Or_: Spread it on paper in a
Dutch oven before the fire, and turn it often till it is crisp.
_To Fry Bread Sippets._
Cut a slice of bread about a ¼ inch thick, divide it into pieces of any
shape you like. Make some fat quite hot, in the frying-pan, put in the
sippets, and fry of a light brown; take them up with a slice, and drain
them before the fire ten minutes. Take care the pan be not hot enough to
burn.
_To Fry Bread Crumbs._
The bread two days old: rub it into very smooth crumbs, put them into a
stew-pan with some butter; set it near a moderate fire, and stir them
constantly with a wooden spoon, till of a fine light brown; spread them on
a sieve to drain, and stir occasionally. Serve with roasted sweetbreads,
small birds, and game, if approved. (_See Made Dishes._)
{92}CHAPTER XII.
SOUPS AND BROTHS.
THE prejudice against French soup, arising from a belief that it must be
_maigre_, is as ridiculous as was the assuming that all Frenchmen are the
small, thin, miserable looking creatures which they used to be represented
in caricatures. Soup is nourishing, and also economical, as it converts
into palatable food, the coarser parts of meat, all trimmings, and much
that could not be cooked with effect in any other way.
The French excel, merely because they take such pains in making soup, and
not from the quality or quantity of their ingredients. A little meat with
slow and regular boiling, will produce richer soup, than double the
quantity, if the soup kettle be suffered to boil fast one quarter of an
hour, and to stop boiling altogether the next quarter of an hour.--The
fault most common in English soup is, the want of the juice of meat, caused
by too quick and irregular boiling, to remedy which want, recourse is had
to pepper, herbs, and wine. It is very easy to vary the _sort_ of soup, by
making a good clear _stock_, or what the French call _bouillon_, and the
next or following days, flavour it, or add vegetable ingredients to your
taste. Soup made solely of brown meat or game, without vegetables, will
keep better than that made of veal, fowl, any vegetable substance, or fish.
As the French are great economists in their kitchens, and are most
scientific cooks, it may not be amiss to recommend their practice.
Read the directions for boiling meat, for they must be observed in the
first process of soup making. Always use the softest water; and, as a
general rule, give a quart to a pound of meat for soup, rather less for
gravy. Place the soup-kettle over a moderate fire, that the meat may be
gradually heated through, which will cause it to swell and become tender;
also the water will penetrate into it, and {93}extract all the gross
particles, which will then go off in scum. If it be suffered to boil up
quickly, it will be just as if scorched before the fire, and will never
yield any gravy.--After the soup has been near to a boil for half an hour,
let it boil _gently_, to throw up the scum; remove that carefully, and when
you think no more will appear, put in the vegetables and a little salt:
these will cause more scum to rise; watch and take it off, then cover the
pot close, and place it so, by the fire, that it may boil or _simmer_
gently, and not vary its rate of boiling. From four to six hours may be
enough, but an hour more would not be too much, for the bare meat and
vegetables; all flavouring ingredients should be allowed the shortest
possible time, because their flavour evaporates in boiling. Great
extravagance is often committed for the want of attention to this, for a
larger quantity of costly ingredients is used, than need be if they were
put in just at the proper time. It may be necessary to put in _some_ of
these things earlier than others; but this must rest with the discretion of
the cook. Remember that where catsup is used, care must be observed not to
give so much salt as where there is none.
If the soup waste much in boiling, add boiling water. Keep the lid close,
and remove it as seldom as possible, because so much of the flavour escapes
by that means. If the soup be over-watered, leave the lid half way off,
that some of it may evaporate in steam.
French cooks, I believe, invariably brown the meat and vegetables first,
thus: put a good piece of butter in a stew or frying-pan, then the meat and
vegetables and a little water (no seasoning), set it over a sharp fire,
turn it frequently that none of it may burn, or the flavour will be
spoiled; when it is all browned, put your quantity of water to it. The soup
may, perhaps, have a finer flavour, but it will not be so clear, for after
the meat has been fried the scum will not be extracted from it in boiling.
Thickening may be made of bread-raspings. But that most commonly used, is
flour rubbed in butter or fat skimmings. Flour or meal is coloured, spread
on a plate, in a Dutch oven before the fire. Turn it with a spoon till it
is of the colour you wish. Keep covered close, for use. Potato flour, a
table-spoonful, mixed smooth in a cup of water, is a nice thickening.
Barley and oatmeal, also Indian {94}corn meal, in the same quantity.
Thickening should be put in after that scumming has taken place which the
vegetables have made necessary. But the French mode of thickening soup is
best of all. (_See Roux._)
Some persons boil vegetables by themselves to a mash, and pulp them through
a sieve into the soup. This helps to thicken it. The fatter the meat, the
more of green vegetables, such as leeks and greens, may be used. Meat
should not be very fat, nor yet all lean, for soup.
No seasoning whatever, except salt, should be given to plain stock, if not
to be eaten the day it is made. Thickened soup requires a greater quantity
of flavouring ingredients than clear soup, as the thickening material
absorbs a portion of the flavouring.--Take care not to over-season, for
this is a common fault. Of wine, the quantity should not exceed a
wine-glassful to a quart. The sort must depend upon taste, but claret is
best for brown soup; Madeira for Mock Turtle; Brandy is used in soup, and
so is lump sugar. Vegetable soup requires a little cayenne.
Soup or stock to be eaten on the following day, should stand by the side of
the fire a quarter of an hour to settle, before it is strained; the fat
skimmed carefully off, and put by. Strain the stock into an unglazed
vessel. In hot weather, let it stand in a cool place; if you wish to keep
it three or four days, boil it up every day. When you rewarm it, take off
the cake of fat at the top, and hold back the sediment. Be careful in
warming soup, that it do not get smoked. Also remember that it should but
just come to a boil, and be taken off the fire, for every bubble tends to
flatten its flavour. When macaroni, or other paste, or any kind of green
vegetable, is added at the time of re-warming the soup, of course time must
be given for such addition to be cooked; it is best partly cooked by itself
first.
Ham is used for making stock; but except for ragouts, or sauces very highly
flavoured, I should reject it.
When cream is added, it must be boiled first, or it will curdle. Pour it in
by degrees, stirring all the while.
The French use earthenware soup-kettles, and some prefer them to the
cast-iron digester, or stock-pot. Tammis cloths (bought at the oil shops)
are better for straining than sieves.
Never use stale meat for broth or soup. Vegetables as {95}fresh as
possible. The older and drier the onion, the stronger its flavour.
_Plain Stock._
Having read the foregoing directions, get a leg or shin of beef, break it
in two or three places, wash it, and cut some nice pieces to eat. Cover
with water, and boil it slowly. If you wish it to be very good, add an old
fowl, rabbit, any trimmings of meat, or gizzards of poultry, or bones, but
mind that whatever it be, it is quite fresh; take care that you take off
the first scum as it rises, then put in salt, and a large carrot, a head of
celery, two turnips, and two onions. Simmer this so gently as not to waste
the liquor, from four to five hours, then strain as directed.--Rabbits are
excellent in making stock. More onions may be used than I have given
directions for in this receipt; indeed, where their flavour is not objected
to, it is scarcely possible to use too many, for nothing enriches soup and
gravy so much. The meat of shin of beef is excellent for your family
dinner; before what is cut into smallish pieces are cooked too much, take
them out and keep hot to serve with a little of the soup poured over, as
sauce. Serve pickles.
_Soup and Bouilli._
About 5 lbs. of fresh, juicy rump, or flank of beef, four quarts of water,
let it come slowly to a boil, put in a heaped table-spoonful of salt,
taking off all the scum carefully; put in three carrots, four turnips, two
leeks, one head of celery, three onions (one burnt), three cloves in each,
a small bunch of herbs; this should boil very gently five hours. All the
vegetables cut or sliced. Some persons like a small cabbage cut up in this.
Serve the bouilli garnished with the vegetables; put slices of bread in
your tureen and pour the soup over, without straining. Tomata sauce is good
with bouilli.
_Good Plain Stock._
7 lbs. of knuckle of veal cut in pieces, five inches in diameter, also ¾
lb. of lean ham, cut in dice, put ¼ lb. of butter into a stew-pan, turn it
round, then put in the meat, two {96}onions, four cloves in each, a turnip,
carrot, leek and a head of celery. Cover the pan and keep skimming its
contents over a sharp fire, until there be a thick white glaze that will
adhere to the spoon; then put in four quarts of soft water, and when coming
to a boil, set it on one side of the fire, that it may _simmer_ for three
hours. Skim off the fat, and strain it.
_Very good Clear Gravy Soup._
First heat, then rub with a coarse cloth, a good-sized stew-pan or
stock-pot, then rub the bottom and sides with a marrow, or a large piece of
butter. Lay in about 6 or 7 lbs. of shin of beef chopped across, a knuckle
or scrag of veal, four shanks or the knuckle part of a leg of mutton, and
any trimmings of meat, game or poultry you have, a slice of carrot, a head
of celery, two onions, two leeks, and turnip sliced, and two
table-spoonsful of salt. Let this catch, not burn, over a rather brisk
fire, and add five quarts of soft water. When it has been carefully scummed
once, give it a pint of cold water, to throw up more scum. Simmer slowly
full four hours. Place it by the side of the hearth to settle, skim off the
fat, and strain it. Of this soup, which ought to be very clear, are made
many sorts, on following days, thus:--
_Vermicelli._--Boil the quantity you wish to use, in a little water, till
nearly cooked enough, then put it into the clear soup, when you put that on
the fire to re-warm. _Brown thickening, which see, in the Index._
_Maccaroni Soup._--The same as the last, but do not make it too thick. Boil
the maccaroni till rather more than three parts cooked, and put it into the
soup to finish while that is heating. Cream is an improvement. Serve grated
parmesan. _White thickening._
_Carrot or Turnip Soup._--Cut red carrots in thin strips, boil them till
tender, and put them into clear soup, when it is rewarmed. _Or_: Boil six
or eight carrots quite tender, then pulp them through a sieve into the
soup. Scoop turnips into little balls, or cut them in any shapes you like,
boil them till tender, and put into the soup. _Brown thickening._
_Celery and Asparagus Soup._--Cut these in pieces rather more than ½ an
inch in length, and boil them gently, till {97}tender, then put them into
clear gravy soup. Cream may be used if the thickening be white.
_Julienne Soup._--Cut leeks and celery in squares, turnips and carrots in
strips, boil them till tender, and put into clear brown soup. _Or_: Cut
carrots and turnips in strips, put a large tea-cupful of these into a
stewpan with ½ lb. of butter, and shake it over the fire till they are
tender and look transparent, then pour in the stock; add young peas, two
onions, two leeks, a small lettuce, some sorrel and chervil, all these cut
small; simmer gently till the vegetables are cooked, then put in three
lumps of sugar.
_Clear Herb Soup._
Cut up what herbs you like the flavour of; also leeks, celery, carrots,
turnips, cabbage, lettuce, and young onions, in preference to old ones, a
handful of young peas, put the whole into boiling water, and give them just
a scald. Drain them on a sieve, put them into some clear stock, and simmer
slowly till the roots are tender. Season with salt, and a very little
cayenne, if you choose.
_A Clear Soup._
Cut 6 lbs. of gravy beef small, put it into a large stewpan, with two
onions, a small carrot and turnip, a head of celery, a bunch of sweet
herbs, and a pint of water. Stew slowly an hour, add nine pints of boiling
water. Simmer it slowly six hours, strain, and let it stand till next day.
Take off the fat, pour it from the sediment, and boil up with whatever
flavouring ingredient you choose. This may be made _Julienne_ by putting in
the mixture of vegetables as directed above. Also _Ox-tail_ by adding one
to it.
_Brown Soup._
Make this as clear gravy soup, and strain it. Then fry to a nice brown 2
lbs. rump steaks, cut in small pieces, drain them from the fat, and put
them in the soup. Let them simmer an hour, add salt, pepper, and cayenne to
taste, also a wine-glassful of any catsup you like, and when done, let it
stand by the fire, to allow the fat to rise; take that off, and serve the
soup with the steaks.
{98}_Plain White Soup._
Soak a large knuckle of veal, put it into the soup-kettle with 2 fowls
skinned, or a rabbit, ¼ lb. of lean undressed bacon or ham, a bunch of
lemon thyme, 2 onions, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, a head of celery, a few white
peppercorns, and 2 blades of mace, cover with water, and boil for two hours
and a half, and strain. This should form a jelly. To re-warm it, take off
the top fat, clear the soup from the sediment, and put it in a stewpan. Add
vermicelli or maccaroni, previously boiled, till nearly done.
_Another White Soup._
Fry 2½ lbs. veal, and ¼ lb. ham or bacon, with a faggot of herbs, 2 onions,
a parsnip cut small, and a head of celery. When the gravy is drawn, pour
upon it 2 quarts of water, and 2 quarts of skim milk. Boil it slowly an
hour and a half. Add 2 table-spoonfuls of oatmeal, rubbed smooth in a
tea-cupful of broth. Boil half an hour, then strain it into the tureen.
_Cow heel_ and _calf's feet_ are good in making white soup; also rabbits,
in place of fowls. When veal is dear, use lean beef.
_Another with herbs._
Boil a quart of beef and a quart of veal stock together, with a
table-spoonful of chopped tarragon, and one of chervil; when tender, have
ready a coffee-cupful of cream and three eggs beaten together, stir them
gently in, and keep stirring till cooked, but do not let it boil.
_Lorraine Soup._
Blanch ½ lb. of sweet and 1 oz. bitter almonds, pound them in a mortar,
with a very little water, to a paste. Take all the white part of a cold
roast fowl, skin and mince it very fine, with the yolks of 3 hard-boiled
eggs, and some fine bread-crumbs; put this into a pint of _plain white
soup_, with a large piece of lemon peel, and a little mace and nutmeg; let
it come to a boil, add a quart more of the same stock boiling hot, and
after it has simmered a few minutes, strain the soup, and add, by degrees,
a quart of cream which has been boiled.
{99}_Onion Soup._
The number of onions must depend upon taste; if 10 or 12, chop and stew
them, in a saucepan, with a good piece of butter; stew them gradually, and
when done, add some good stock: salt, pepper, and cayenne, if the stock be
not already seasoned. This may be strained, and a pint of boiling cream
added, to make it more delicate.--_Another_: cut small silver onions in
rings, fry them of a light colour, drain and cook them for twenty minutes
in _clear gravy soup_. Serve toasted sippets.
_Onion Soup Maigre._
Fry in clarified butter 12 large onions, 2 heads of celery, a large carrot
and a turnip, all chopped. When soft, pulp them through a sieve, into 2
quarts of boiled water, thickened with 4 or 5 oz. of butter, worked up with
potato flour, and seasoned with mace and white peppercorns, 2 lumps of
sugar, or you may thicken with the beat yolks of 4 eggs. Bread sippets in
the tureen.
_Green Peas Soup._
An old-fashioned, but good receipt. Boil quite soft, 3 pints of green peas,
and work them through a hair sieve. Put into the water in which the peas
were boiled, 3 large slices of ham, a small knuckle of veal, a few beet
leaves shred small, a turnip, 2 carrots, and a little more water. Boil an
hour and a half. Then strain the liquor into a bowl, and mix it with the
pulp. Put in a little juice of spinach, which is obtained by squeezing the
spinach, after it has been boiled, through a cloth. This will give a good
colour. Then give it a gentle boil, to take off the taste of the spinach,
slice in the whitest part of a head of celery, and a lump of sugar the size
of a walnut. Cut a slice of bread into little square pieces, a slice of
bacon in the same manner, and fry together in fresh butter, of a light
brown. Cut a large lettuce in slices, fry that, after the other, then put
them all together into the tureen. Have ready boiled, a pint of young peas,
put them also into the tureen, and pour the soup over.--Onions may be added
if approved.--Serve toasted bread, and also dry powdered mint.
{100}_Green Pea or Asparagus Soup._
Put 5 pints of peas, with ½ lb. of butter and ¼ lb. lean ham, in dice, into
a stew-pan with two onions cut up and a little parsley, moisten it with
water, and keep stirring or shaking over a sharp fire; when quite tender
put in a thickening of flour rubbed smooth with water or broth, and having
stirred that well in, add 3 quarts of any stock you have; whatever salt and
pepper you think is required, also cayenne if you like, and 3 lumps of
sugar: boil ten minutes and strain it. This may be served at once; or,
after you have strained it, you may boil it up again with ½ pint of boiling
milk, skim it, and serve on crisp sippets. _Asparagus_ the same way: keep
back part of the heads, and boil them separately, not very tender, cut them
in pointed pieces, and put into the strained soup.
_Artichoke Soup._
Wash and peel 2 doz. Jerusalem artichokes, and cut them in thin slices. Put
2 large onions, 1 turnip, a head of celery, 2 bay leaves, a sprig of thyme,
and 1 lb. of lean ham into a stew-pan, with ½ lb. butter, stir all the
time, and let it fry over a slow fire 20 minutes; it will form a white
glaze, then take it off, and put it all with the artichokes into a stew-pan
with a pint of thin broth or soft water, and simmer it, till all the
vegetables are quite tender, then put in 3 table-spoonsful of flour rubbed
smooth with broth, mix well together; add 3 quarts of good stock and a pint
of boiled milk, a tea-spoonful of salt, the same of sugar, let it just boil
up, then strain it, and boil it up again with mushroom catsup, and a glass
of white wine; and pour it over fried bread in the tureen.
_A good Maigre Soup._
Melt slowly, in a stew-pan, ¾ lb. butter, put in a head of celery, 1
carrot, and 1 turnip sliced, shake them well and let them brown; add three
quarts of boiling water, 1½ pint of young peas, and some black pepper; when
these are done, let it settle, strain the soup into another stew-pan,
leaving all sediment; put it on again with 3 large onions in slices,
{101}another head of celery, and 3 turnips and carrots in pretty shapes.
Boil slowly till done, then serve the soup.
_Yellow Peas Soup_
Should soak the night before, and if old, again in the morning, in lukewarm
water. Allow 1½ lb. to 4 quarts of soft water, with 3 lbs. of lean sinewy
beef, or fresh trimmings of meat, poultry, or roast beef bones, a small
piece of pickled pork, the shank of a bacon or mutton ham, or the root of a
tongue a little salted, and soaked and washed; also 2 carrots, 2 turnips,
and 6 rather small onions. Scum well, as soon as it boils, and stir the
peas up from the bottom; add another quart of boiling water, or the liquor
of any boiled meat. (Pot liquor should always be saved for peas soup.) Let
it simmer till the peas will pulp. Then strain through a coarse sieve. Take
the onions out from the pulp, and put the latter back into the soup, with a
fresh head of celery, or a large tea-spoonful of celery seed, tied in
muslin, and some salt and pepper. Simmer it, if thin, three-quarters of an
hour, to thicken it; then put it into the tureen, let it stand covered a
few minutes, and remove the fat which will have gathered on the top. Shake
dried mint or parsley over the soup, and serve with dice of toasted
bread.--This soup may be made in a very economical way, by the means of pot
liquor, roast beef bones, fragments of meat, and fresh clarified dripping.
The liquor in which a leg of pork has been boiled, should be saved for peas
soup.--Very little pieces of boiled pork may be served in peas soup, also
cucumbers cut and fried, or bacon cut and fried. A pickled herring is used
to give flavour, when there is no pot liquor. Peas soup is very good quite
maigre; the water must be soft, and the peas boiled long and slowly, before
they are pulped.
_Carrot Soup plain._
Scrape and wash six large carrots, and peel off the outsides quite thick;
put these into a soup-kettle, with a large head of celery, an onion cut
thin, two quarts of soft water, or pot liquor, and, if you have them, roast
beef bones. After this has been boiled and scummed, set it by the fire,
keep it close covered and simmer it gently two hours. {102}Strain through a
sieve, and pulp the vegetables, with a wooden spoon, into a clean saucepan,
and as much broth as will make it as thick as peas soup; season with salt
and pepper. Make it hot, and send it to table. Add what spices you like.
Serve toasted bread, either fried or plain.--_Celery_ and _Turnip_ soup the
same way. When celery cannot be procured, the seed pounded fine, about ½ a
drachm, put in a quarter of an hour, will give the flavour of two heads of
celery.
_Mock Turtle Soup._
Make it the day before it is wanted. Get a good sized calf's head, the skin
on, scald and split it, take out the brains, and the bones of the nose, and
lay it in lukewarm water to soak. Change the water often, to draw out the
blood and slime. When the head is quite clean, put it into a stew-pan with
rather more soft cold water than to cover it. Let it come to a boil rather
quickly, and scum well. Then boil gently, rather more than half an hour.
Take out the head, place it in a dish, and when cold, cut it into small
neat pieces: skin the tongue, and cut it up. Keep the meat covered, and set
it by till the next day. Put all the bones and refuse parts of the head
into the soup-kettle, in the liquor in which it was boiled, with a knuckle
of veal broken, and about 3 lbs. shin of beef, but the latter must be
soaked first. Let this boil, then take off all the scum, and simmer it
gently from four hours and a half to six hours, strain it into a pan, and
set it by. When you want to make the soup, take off the cake of fat, and
pour the stock into a large stew-pan, holding back the sediment; set it on
the fire, let it come quickly to a boil, then throw in a little salt to
facilitate the rising of whatever scum there may still be, and take this
off. Put in from 10 to 12 sliced onions, browned in the frying-pan; also a
few sprigs of fried sage, a few leaves of sweet basil, and the peel of a
large lemon, not fried; a little cayenne, black pepper to your taste, a
very little allspice, three blades of mace, some cloves, one eschalot, and
the thickening; which latter may be of flour worked up in butter, or of
brown _roux_ (which _see in the Index_). Let it simmer nearly two hours, or
till it taste strong, and be of a good colour; pass it gently through a
hair-sieve into another stew-pan, and put into that the cut {103}up pieces
of head, and what wine you choose, Madeira, sherry, or claret, about a
wine-glassful of either of the two former, to a quart of soup. When the
meat is tender, the soup is done, and from half to three-quarters of an
hour ought to cook it.
Have ready 12 each of forcemeat and egg balls to serve in the tureen.
_Forcemeat balls_ are made of veal or fowl, suet and parsley, all minced
very fine, mixed with bread-crumbs, salt, pepper, cayenne, lemon-peel,
nutmeg, and allspice, and wetted with yoke of egg, to make up into balls.
Fry of a light brown, and lay them in a small sieve to drain before you put
them in the tureen. _Egg balls_ are eggs boiled hard, the yoke taken from
the white and pounded well in a mortar, a little salt added, and as much
raw yolk of egg and flour as will bind these into balls, not bigger than a
marble. Put them into the soup soon enough to cook them. Before you serve
the soup, squeeze the juice of a lemon into the tureen.
Some persons put ox palates, in slices, in mock turtle; pickled cucumbers
cut very thin may also be an improvement. The above is not an expensive
receipt, though, perhaps, quite rich enough. _Cheaper Mock Turtle_ may be
made of cow-heels or calf's feet, stewed gently, strained, and the liquor
added to plain stock of beef, an onion, and what herbs and other seasonings
you like. Cut up the feet, and put them into the soup, just before you
serve it. Add lemon juice and wine, if you like.
_Hare Soup._
The hare must be quite fresh. Cut it up (washed, but not soaked), put it in
a stewpan, with six middling-sized onions (two burnt), two bay leaves, a
blade of mace, three cloves, a bunch of parsley, a little sweet basil,
thyme, and celery, also a little broth, plain stock, or, if you have
neither, soft water, to cover the meat. If you desire it to be very good,
add 1 lb. of gravy beef, notched and browned first; when it has come to a
boil, and been scummed, put in three quarts of water, and simmer, if the
hare be young, three hours; if old, longer. Strain it, set the best pieces
cut rather small apart, to serve in the tureen, and cut all the meat off
the other parts, to pound with soaked crumb of {104}bread, to give
thickness to the soup. When this is put into the strained soup, season it
to your taste, and add catsup and port wine; also fried forcemeat balls, if
you like.
_Another, and a better._
If you happen to have two hares, one old and tough, the other young, cut up
the first and put it on in three quarts of water, with three onions, two
anchovies, six cloves, a blade of mace, a teaspoonful of salt, half a one
of cayenne, and simmer it four hours. Meantime, roast the other hare,
properly stuffed, till half done, then cut it up, and put it all, with the
stuffing, into the soup, and let it simmer gently nearly an hour. You will
have kept back some of the best pieces to serve in the soup the next day,
unless you prefer it clear without any meat, in which case put it all in.
Next day, when you re-warm it, add a tumbler of port wine. Not having the
old hare, two rabbits may be found very good.
_Rabbit Soup._
Cut up the rabbits, and if two, put the pieces into water sufficient to
cover them; let it boil slowly, and take off all the scum; when no more
rises, add two quarts of good stock (or soft water), prepared of shin of
beef and veal, or of knuckle of veal alone, or of trimmings of veal and two
or three shanks of mutton: this stock must be already flavoured with onions
or eschalots, white peppercorns, and mace; simmer gently till the meat is
quite tender, and then put it by till next day. Take off all fat before you
re-warm it; take out the liver, rub it through a sieve, moisten with a
little flour and butter, and add to the soup, also a teacupful of Port, the
same of white wine, a table-spoonful of walnut catsup, and lemon pickle.
_Game and Venison Soup_,
May be made of any and of every kind of game. Skin the birds; if large
ones, carve them; if small ones, only split down the back; fry them, with
slices of ham or bacon, and a _little_ sliced onion and carrot. Drain the
pieces, lay them in a stewpan with some good _stock_, a head of celery, a
little chopped parsley, and what seasonings you like. Stew gently {105}for
an hour. If venison be at hand, fry some small steaks, and stew with the
birds. Serve the meat in the soup, taking out the ham.
_Another, and plainer._
In the season, and in houses where game abounds, make soup as follows: cut
the meat off the breasts of any cold birds, and pound it in a mortar. Boil
the legs, and all the bones, in whatever broth you have, for an hour. Boil
four large turnips to a mash, and pulp them to the pounded meat, mix these
well, then strain in the broth, by degrees, and let it stand close by the
fire, in the stew-pan, but do not let it boil. Season to your taste. Just
before you serve it, beat the yolks of 6 eggs in a pint of cream, and pass
through a sieve; then put the soup on the fire, and as it is coming to a
boil, stir in the cream, and keep stirring a few minutes, but do not let it
quite boil, or it will curdle.
_Stewed Knuckle of Veal and Soup_,
May be made of the breast, shoulder-blade, or scrag, but best of the
knuckle. Cut it in three pieces: wash, break, and place it on skewers, in
the stew-pan, with 1 lb. of streaked bacon, a head of celery, 4 onions, 2
carrots, 1 turnip, a bunch of parsley and lemon thyme, and a few black and
Jamaica peppercorns. Cover the meat with water, and let it simmer till
quite tender. Strain the soup, put it on the fire again, and season and
thicken it to your taste. Either serve the meat in the tureen with the
soup, or put it in a dish with the bacon, and the vegetables round it. You
may pour parsley and butter over the meat, or serve it in a boat. A little
rice flour is good to thicken with. Some have whole rice boiled, as for
eating, and put to the soup when it is returned to the fire. Others use
vermicelli. Eggs and cream beaten together and strained, would enrich this
soup; when you put them in, stir all the time, and take off the soup before
it quite boils.
_Mulligatawny Soup._
Put a few slices of bacon into a stew-pan with a knuckle of veal, and no
vegetables; simmer an hour and three {106}quarters; cut about 2½ lbs. of
breast of veal into rather small pieces, add the bones, and gristly parts
of the breast, to the knuckle which is stewing; fry the pieces of meat, and
6 sliced onions, in a stew-pan, with a piece of good clarified dripping or
butter. Strain the stock if done, and put the fry to it, set it on the
fire, and scum carefully; simmer it an hour. Have ready mixed in a batter,
2 dessert-spoonsful of curry powder, the same of lightly browned flour, and
salt and cayenne as you choose; add them to the soup. Simmer the meat till
quite tender. You may have 2 chickens parboiled, and use them in place of
the breast of veal. The above receipt is a plain one.
_Another and richer._
Make a strong stock of a knuckle of veal, roast beef bones, a ham bone, a
faggot of sweet herbs, 2 carrots, 4 turnips, 8 onions, 1 clove of garlic, 3
heads of celery, previously fried in butter, 6 cloves, some black pepper,
salt, cayenne, mace, and mushroom powder; stew it all in 5 quarts of water,
eight hours, then strain through a fine sieve. When cold take off all the
fat, and if the stock be not rich enough, add to 3 quarts, a pint of good
gravy; rub 3 table-spoonsful of curry powder, 1 of ground rice, and 1 of
turmeric with some butter and flour, then moisten with a little stock, and
add it by degrees to the rest, and simmer it two hours. Add 2 or 3
wine-glassfuls of sherry or Madeira, 1 of oyster, 1 of walnut pickle, 1 of
eschalot or chili vinegar, 2 table-spoonsful of soy, 2 of Harvey or Reading
sauce, and 1 of essence of anchovy; simmer it a few minutes. Have ready 2
chickens, or a rabbit, parboiled, then browned in fresh butter, or pieces
of ox-tail previously cooked, add whichever of these it may be to the soup,
simmer it again till the meat be cooked, then squeeze in the juice of a
lemon and serve. Serve rice, cayenne, chili vinegar, and pickles.--_Cold
Arrack_, or _Rum Punch_, after mulligatawny.
_Ox-Tail Soup._
Three tails will make a good sized tureen-ful of soup; it is very
strengthening, is considered an elegant, and is by no means an expensive
soup. Have the tails divided at the {107}points, rub with suet, and soak
them in lukewarm water. Lay them in a stew-pan with 6 onions, a turnip, 2
carrots, some peppercorns, and 3 quarts of soft water. Let it simmer two
hours and a half; take out the tails, cut them in small pieces, thicken it
brown, then strain it into a fresh stew-pan, put in the pieces of meat,
boil up and skim it; put more pepper, if wanted, and either catsup, or Port
wine.
_Grouse Soup._
Roast 3 birds, cut off all the meat, reserve some nice pieces to serve in
the tureen; put the bones and all the rest into 2 quarts of good stock, and
boil them half an hour; then pound the meat in a mortar; put a large onion,
½ a carrot and turnip, cut up, into a stew-pan with ½ lb. butter, 2 sprigs
each of parsley, thyme, 2 bay leaves, 6 peppercorns, and ½ a blade of mace,
and stir them a few minutes over the fire; then add a pint of stock, and
stew it all till tender, put in the pounded meat, and 4 oz. of flour rubbed
smooth, and the soup, mix it all well together, simmer it 20 minutes,
stirring all the while; if required, add salt, and a table-spoonful of
sugar; strain it into another stew-pan, boil it up, skim it well, and pour
into the tureen over the reserved slices of meat, and some fried pieces of
bread, cut in any shape you please. The _stock_ for the above is good made
of 4 or 5 lbs. of beef and 1 or 2 rabbits, according to the quantity, and
the richness you require. I should put a large wine-glassful of Port into a
moderate sized tureen-ful.
_Partridge and Pheasant Soup._
The same as the above.
_Poacher's Soup._
This excellent soup may be made of any kind of game. About 4 lbs. of any of
the coarse parts of venison, beef, or the same weight in shanks, or lean
mutton, for the stock; boil in it celery, onions, carrots, turnips, what
herbs you like, and ¼ oz. of mixed black and Jamaica peppers. Simmer three
hours, then strain it. Skin and cut up a black cock, a woodcock, a
pheasant, half a hare, a rabbit, a brace {108}of partridges, or grouse, or
slices of venison; any one, or parts of several of these, according to what
you may require and what game you may have. Season the meat with such mixed
spices as you like, then flour and fry it in the frying-pan, or put them,
at once, into the strained stock, for the frying process is not actually
necessary. Put in with the pieces of meat, about 10 small onions, 2 heads
of celery cut up, and 6 peeled potatoes; when the stock comes to a boil,
add a small white cabbage, or a lettuce quartered, black pepper, salt, and
allspice if you like. Simmer till the meat be tender. If the meat be
composed of small birds, the vegetables must be put into the soup and
cooked before the meat, for _that_ must not be _overdone_. This may be
enriched by wine, catsup, anchovies, and forcemeat balls.
_Scotch Barley Broth._
About 4 lbs. of mutton to 4 quarts of water, and ¼ lb. of Scotch barley
(more or less according to taste), a large spoonful of salt, also a large
cup of soaked split peas, if in season. Scum carefully, and let the broth
boil slowly an hour. Then add 2 carrots, 2 turnips, cut small, 3 onions, or
3 leeks sliced, and a head of celery, or a bunch of parsley, and some green
or split peas. When these are done, season to your taste. This may be made
of beef, with greens instead of turnips. The meat, if mutton, is served in
a dish, with parsley and butter; and the vegetables in the soup. Remove the
fat from the top before you serve.
_Hotchpotch, a German dish._
Cut 6 lbs. of either beef or mutton, or both, into nice shaped pieces, and
put to them as much water as you require soup. Boil and scum well, then put
in carrots and turnips sliced, parsley chopped, leeks and German greens cut
up, suiting the quantity to the meat. Serve all together.
_A Pepper Pot._
Three quarts of water, 2 lbs. of mutton or veal, and a small piece of lean
bacon; a fowl if you have it; as many carrots, turnips, and onions as you
like, and a tea-cupful of {109}rice. Scum well, season highly, and let it
stand a little before you serve it, to take off the fat.
_Scotch Cock-a-leekie._
Make a stock of 5 lbs. of shin of beef, strain, and put to it a large fowl
trussed for boiling, and when it boils, put in six leeks (blanched), in
pieces an inch long. In half an hour put in six more leeks and the
seasoning; if these leeks do not make the soup thick enough, put more. When
the fowl is done, serve it in the soup.
_Mutton Broth._
Put 2 lbs. of scrag of mutton into a saucepan, with just enough water to
cover, and when that is near boiling, pour it off, and carefully take all
the scum off the meat; then put it back into the saucepan with four pints
of boiling water, a table-spoonful of grits, a little salt, and an onion;
set it over a slow fire, scum well, and then put in two turnips, and simmer
it slowly two hours. (_See Cooking for the Sick._)
_Veal Broth._
The knuckle is best, but the scrag is good. A gallon of water to the
knuckle, add an onion, a blade of mace and salt. Carefully scum, and boil
it gently till the meat be thoroughly done, and the liquor greatly reduced.
Add vermicelli or rice.
_Chicken Broth_
Should simmer very gently, and its strength will be in proportion to the
quantity of water. A good-sized chicken will make a quart of very good
broth. As this is seldom made except for invalids, neither onion, carrot,
nor turnip ought to be used. A bunch of parsley may be boiled in the broth,
then taken out and chopped fine. Skim the fat off the broth, and serve the
parsley in it.
_Milk Soup._
Boil two quarts with a little salt, cinnamon, and sugar. {110}Lay thin
slices of toasted bread in a tureen, pour a little hot milk over them, and
cover close that they may soak. Beat the yolks of five eggs, add them by
degrees to the milk; stir it over the fire till it thickens, take it off
instantly or it will curdle; pour it into the tureen upon the bread. You
may stir into the boiling milk a ¼ lb. of sweet almonds, and a few bitter
ones, all blanched. In France _buttermilk_ is cooked in this way, and
poured on thin slices of boiled apples, spread in a tureen.
_Ox-Head Soup._
Put half an ox cheek into a tub of cold water, and let it soak two hours.
Take it out, break the bones not already broken, and wash it well in
lukewarm water. Then put it in a pot, cover with cold water, and let it
boil; scum carefully, put in salt, one head of celery, one turnip, two
carrots, two large onions (one burnt), a bay leaf, two dozen berries of
black pepper, the same of allspice, a good handful of parsley, some
marjoram, savory, and lemon thyme; cover the soup kettle close, and set it
over a slow fire. As the liquor is coming to a boil, scum will rise, take
that off, and let the soup stew gently by the fire three hours. Then take
out the head, pour the soup through a fine sieve into a stone-ware pan, and
set both by till the next day. Cut the meat into small pieces, skim all fat
from the top of the liquor, and put about two quarts of it, all the meat,
and a head of celery cut up and fried with an onion, into a clean saucepan,
and simmer it half an hour. Cayenne may be added, a glass of white wine, or
a table-spoonful of brandy.
_Giblet Soup._
Scald two sets of fresh giblets, and pick them very clean. Cut off the
noses, split the heads, and divide the gizzards and necks into small
pieces; crack the bones of the legs, put all into a stewpan, and cover them
with cold water. When it boils scum well, and put in three sprigs each of
lemon thyme, winter savory, or marjoram, and a little bunch of parsley;
also twenty berries of allspice, and the same of black pepper, in a muslin
bag; let this _stew very gently_, till the gizzards are tender, which will
be in about an hour and {111}a half. Lift out the giblets with a skimmer,
or spoon with holes, into a tureen, and keep it, covered, by the fire. Melt
1½ oz. of fresh butter in a clean saucepan, stir in enough flour to make a
paste, and pour in, by degrees, a ladleful of the giblet liquor, and the
rest by degrees, and boil it ten minutes, stirring all the time. Skim and
strain the soup through a fine sieve into a bason. Rince the stewpan,
return the soup into it, and add a glass of Port wine, a tablespoonful of
mushroom catsup, and a little salt. Give it one boil up, put the giblets in
to get hot, and serve it.--You may make this much better by using plain
stock in place of water, and a ham bone. You may add a pint of Madeira
also; squeeze a small Seville orange into the tureen, and add three lumps
of sugar and a little cayenne.
_Soup Maigre._
Cut the white part of eight-loaved lettuces small as dice, wash and drain
them, also a handful of purslain, the same of parsley. Cut six large
cucumbers into pieces the size of a crown piece, peel and mince four large
onions, and have three pints of young peas. Put ¾ lb. of fresh butter into
a stewpan, brown it of a high colour, and put in all the vegetables, with
thirty whole peppers, and stew it ten minutes, stirring all the time, to
prevent burning. Add a gallon of boiling water, and one or two French
rolls, cut in three pieces, and toasted of a light brown. Cover the
stew-pan, and let the soup stew gradually two hours. Put in ½ drachm of
beaten mace, two cloves bruised, nutmeg and salt to your taste; boil it up,
and just before you serve, squeeze the juice of one lemon into it: do not
strain it.--Soup may be made of any, and of every sort of vegetable, in the
same manner, but they must be thoroughly cooked. Cream is an improvement,
and French rolls, if not stewed in the soup, may be cut in slices, toasted,
and put into the tureen before the soup.
_Stock for Fish Soup._
This may be made of either meat or fish, the latter for maigre days. If
meat, make it the same as for meat soup. If fish be used, it may be cod's
head, haddocks, whitings, {112}eels, skate, and all white fish. Boil the
fish for stock in two quarts of water, with two onions, some salt, a piece
of lemon peel, and a bunch of sweet herbs. Scum carefully, and strain it.
If the soup is to be brown, you may brown the fish for stock in the
frying-pan before you boil it. Fish stock will not keep.
_Lobster Soup._
For this there should be a good stock, of beef, ham, onions, and fresh fish
trimmings; strain it and pulp back the onions. Pound the spawn and all the
body of the lobster, and stir it smoothly into the soup. Cut all the meat
of the claws in small pieces, and put it in the soup also. Add cayenne,
white pepper, and a glass of sherry. _Or_--Having a stock of fish prepared,
cut up the meat of the lobster in pieces, and mix the coral with it. Bruise
the spawn with a little flour in a mortar, wet it with a little of the
strained stock, and mix it by degrees into the rest. Take half of the cut
up meat and coral, add oysters, an anchovy, a blade of mace, nutmeg, lemon
peel grated, and a little cayenne; pound all together, with the yolks of
two eggs, and a very little flour, and make forcemeat balls for the soup;
fry or brown them in a Dutch oven, or use them without being browned or
fried. Put the balls and the remainder of the cut up meat into the soup,
let it simmer half an hour, then serve it, first squeezing half a lemon or
Seville orange in the tureen. Madeira may be added.
_Oyster Soup._
Veal makes the most delicate stock; it should be strong and clear: put to
it a quart of the hard part of fresh juicy oysters, which have been pounded
in a mortar with the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs. Simmer for half an
hour, then strain it into a fresh stewpan, and put in another quart or more
of oysters, trimmed, and washed from their shells, also some mace and
cayenne, and let it simmer ten minutes. Beat the yolks of three eggs, take
out a little soup in a cup, let it cool, mix it by degrees with the eggs,
and stir into the soup, having first drawn that aside from the fire; stir
all the time until you send it to table, or it will curdle. Give {113}this
soup any additional flavour you like. The oysters put in whole, may be
first run on fine wire skewers, and fried.
_Another Maigre._
Into four pints of water put five onions fried in butter, some mace, salt,
pepper, and what herbs you like, in a small quantity. When this has boiled,
and been carefully scummed, put in 1 lb. of fresh butter, a few mushrooms,
and a 100 oysters; thicken with vermicelli, and let the soup boil gently a
quarter of an hour.
_Cray Fish Soup._
If to be maigre, the stock must be made of fish alone; it must be quite
fresh, and 3 lbs. will make two quarts; put in an onion or two, and some
black and Jamaica peppers. Boil the fish to a mash, and keep straining the
liquor till clear. About four dozen cray fish will be enough, pick and stew
them in the soup, after it has been strained, till done; add a little
cayenne, and the spawn of a lobster pounded, and stirred in to thicken as
well as flavour the soup. _Prawns_, _cockles_, and _muscles_, in the same
way. It may be made of meat stock, and flavoured to be richer.
_Eel Soup._
To 3 lbs. of eels, cut in pieces, allow three quarts of water; after this
has boiled and been scummed, add two rather large crusts of toasted bread,
eight blades of mace, three onions, a few whole peppercorns, and a faggot
of herbs. Let this boil gently till half wasted, and then serve it with
dice of toasted bread. You may add ¼ pint of cream, with a dessert-spoonful
of flour, rubbed smooth in it. (_For fish forcemeats see in the Index._)
{114}CHAPTER XIII.
FISH.
_To Boil._
THE fish-kettle ought to be roomy: the water should, according to some, be
cold, and spring water, and be slow in coming to a boil. I incline to this:
according to others, it ought to be hot at the time of putting in the fish,
upon the supposition that the shorter time it is in water the better.
Experience must, however, be the best instructor; and much depends on the
size, and sort of the fish. A handful of salt in the water, helps to draw
the slime from the fish, and gives it firmness. Vinegar is used for the
latter purpose, particularly for cod and turbot.--When the water boils,
take off the scum, and place the fish-kettle by the side of the fire, to
simmer gently; the usual allowance of time is twelve minutes to the pound,
but there is no certain rule. Run a sharp knife into the thick part, and if
it divide easily from the bone, it is done. When you think the fish done,
lift up the strainer, and place it across the kettle to drain, and if it
have to wait, put a heated cover on it, and over that, several folds of
flannel; this is the best substitute for a _Bain Marie_. It must not stay
an instant in water, after it is done. Serve on a fish drainer, which, as
well as the dish, ought to be quite hot, for half cold fish is very bad.
Crisp parsley, slices of lemon and barberries, also picked red cabbage, are
used to garnish.
Some cooks say that _salt fish_ should scarcely _boil_ at all, but remain
till tender, in hot water, just coming to a boil; put it on in cold water,
and let it be a long time heating through.
Stock for gravy, for stewing, or sauce, is made of meat or fish, according
to whether it be to be maigre or not. Any white fish, and the trimmings of
all quite fresh fish, may be used. These may be browned first, in the
{115}frying-pan, then put into 1 or 2 quarts of water, according to the
quantity you require, with a bunch of sweet herbs, onion, eschalot, mace,
and lemon peel; boil it and scum well; then strain it, and put in the fish
to stew. Fish stock is best made on the morning it is wanted. _Court
Bouillon_, for boiling or stewing fish, is as follows: to a gallon of
water, a handful of salt, 2 onions, 2 carrots, and eschalots, a bunch of
parsley, thyme, and basil, 2 bay leaves, 12 peppercorns, and 6 cloves, also
a large piece of butter. Stew, then strain it. This may be enriched as
required. It keeps well, and is a good basis for stock.
_To Fry._
This is rather difficult, and requires exceeding care and attention. Some
people consider that lard is essential, but clarified dripping is as good.
Oil is used in countries where the olive tree grows. Wash, and lay the fish
in the folds of a clean cloth, for it must be quite dry. Flour it lightly,
if to be covered with bread-crumbs, for if not quite dry, the bread will
not adhere to it. The crumbs of stale bread; or to be very delicate in
appearance, use biscuit powder. Having floured the fish, brush over with
yolk and white of egg, then strew over the crumbs or powder, so as to cover
every part of the fish. The frying-pan of an oval shape. The fire hot, but
not fierce. If not hot enough, the fish will be soddened, if too hot, it
will catch and burn. There should be fat enough to cover the fish; let it
boil, (for frying is, in fact, _boiling in fat_,) skim it with an egg
slice, as it becomes hot, then dip the tail of the fish in to ascertain the
heat; if it become crisp at once the pan is ready, then lay in the fish.
When done, lay it before the fire to dry, either on whity brown paper or a
soft cloth; turn it two or three times, and if the frying fat has not been
sufficiently hot, this will, in some measure, remedy the defect.--Fat in
which veal or lamb has been fried may be used for fish, when it has settled
long enough to be poured from the sediment.
_Turbot to Boil._
First wash well, and soak it in salt and water; when quite clean, score the
skin of the back, or the belly will crack {116}when the fish begins to
swell. Do not take off the fins, as they are a delicacy. Place it on a
fish-strainer, in a roomy turbot-kettle, the back downwards. You may rub it
over with lemon juice, to keep it white. Cover the fish with cold water,
and throw in salt. Allow 1 lb. salt to a gallon and a half of water. It
should be quite half an hour in coming to a boil, scum well, then draw the
kettle to the side, and if a fish of 10 lbs. weight (larger are not so
good), let it simmer 30 minutes, but if it do not simmer _gently_ the fish
will be spoiled and the skin cracked. When done, garnish with slices of
lemon, scraped horse-radish, parsley, barberries, whole capers, or the pea
of a lobster, forced through a sieve. A very few smelts or sprats fried,
laid round the turbot. Lobster sauce is most esteemed, but shrimp or
anchovy sauce answer very well. (_See to dress Cold Turbot._)
_Brill._
The same as turbot, except that you put it into boiling water, the flesh
being softer. _Or_: parboiled, covered with egg and crumbs, and browned
before the fire, or in the frying-pan. If 6 lbs. simmer it ½ an hour, but
when it begins to crack it is done.
_John Dory._
The same as brill.
_Sole to Boil._
Wash clean, cover it with cold water, put in a handful of salt, and let it
come gently to a boil, take off the scum, and set the fish-kettle aside;
let it simmer very gently five minutes, and it is done, unless very large,
then eight or ten minutes. Oyster sauce.
_Cod to Boil._
Wash clean, and rub the inside with salt; cover it with water, in the
kettle. A small fish will be done in fifteen minutes after the water boils;
a large one will take half an hour; but the tail being much thinner than
the thick part, it will be done too much if boiled all at once;
{117}therefore, the best way is to cut the tail in slices, to fry, and
garnish the head and shoulders, or serve separately. Lay the roe on one
side, the liver on the other side of the fish. Serve oyster, shrimp sauce,
or plain melted butter; also scalloped oysters.--Garnish with lemon, and
horse-radish. If the fish be in _slices_, the water should be made to boil
as soon as possible after they are in it, and 10 minutes will cook them:
pour shrimp or anchovy sauce over the slices. If you wish it to be rich,
having some clear broth, put in a boned anchovy, some pickled oysters,
chopped fine, pepper, salt, a glass of Port wine, and a thickening of
butter and flour; boil this up, skim it, and pour over the slices of cod.
_Cod to Boil Crimp._
Put it into boiling hot salt and water, draw it to the side, and let it
simmer 15 or 20 minutes, according to its size. Slices less. Oyster sauce.
_Salt Cod and Ling._
Soak it, according to the time it has been salted. If hard and dry, two
nights, changing the water two or three times. The best _Dogger Bank_ split
fish require less. Let there be plenty of water, and the fish a long time
in becoming heated through. Then simmer _very gently_, or it will be tough.
Garnish with hard-boiled eggs, in quarters. Serve egg sauce, parsnips, or
beet-root.
_Cod to Fry._
Cut in thick slices; flour or egg, and cover with bread-crumbs or biscuit
powder. Fry in hot dripping or lard.
_Cod's Head and Shoulders._
Wash clean, then quickly dash boiling water over it, which will cause the
slime to ooze out; this should be carefully removed with a knife, but take
care not to break the skin; wipe the head clean, and lay it on a strainer,
in a turbot-kettle of boiling water; put in salt and a tea-cupful of
vinegar. Take care that it is quite covered. Simmer {118}from thirty to
forty minutes. Drain, and put it into a rather deep dish; glaze it with
beaten yolk of egg, strew bread-crumbs, pepper, salt, and lemon-peel over,
stick in bits of butter, and brown it before the fire; baste with butter,
constantly strewing more bread-crumbs and chopped parsley over.--A rich
sauce for this is made as follows; have a quart of beef or veal stock; or,
if to be maigre, a rich well-seasoned fish stock; thicken with flour rubbed
in butter, and strain it; add 50 oysters, picked and bearded, or the hard
meat of a boiled lobster cut up, and the soft part pounded, 2 glasses of
sherry, and the juice of a lemon. Boil it altogether, five minutes, skim
and pour part into the dish where the fish is: the rest serve in a sauce
tureen. It may be garnished with fried smelts, flounders, or oysters. The
French stuff it with meat or fish forcemeat, with some balls of the same
fried, as a garnish.--_Cold cod_ may be dressed as cold turbot. The head
may be baked; bits of butter stuck all over it.
_Cod Sounds._
Scald, clean, and rub them with salt; take off the outer coat, and parboil,
then flour and broil them. Pour over a thickened gravy, which has a
tea-spoonful of made mustard, cayenne, and what other seasoning you
like.--_Or,_ fried, and served with the same kind of sauce.--_Or_, dressed
in _ragout_, parboiled, cut in pieces, and stewed in good gravy, or in
white sauce. Serve mustard and lemon.
_Cabeached Cod._
Boil vinegar enough to cover the pieces of fish, a little mace, a few
peppercorns, a few cloves, and a little salt; when this is cold put a
tea-cupful of olive oil. Cut the tail part of a cod fish in slices, rub
pepper and salt on each, fry them in oil, then lay them on a plate to cool;
when cold, put them into a pan or jar, and pour the pickle over. If you
like, lay thin slices of onion between the fish. _Salmon_ is good in this
way. Serve salad with this.
_Cod to Stew._
Lay three slices of cod in a stewpan, with ½ pint of weak {119}white wine,
_not_ sweet, 6 oz. butter, two dozen oysters and their liquor, three blades
of mace, salt, pepper, and a few crumbs of bread; stew this gently, and
thicken with flour before you serve it.
_Salmon to Boil_,
Should be well cleaned and scaled (the less washing the better), and cut
open as little as possible. Let there be water enough to well cover the
fish, and salt in the proportion of 1 lb. to a gallon and a half. When it
begins to boil, scum well, and put the fish in; for most cooks, I believe,
are of opinion that salmon eats _firmer_ when put on in hot or boiling
water. A fish of 10 lbs. will take a full hour, or a little more, but it
must only simmer all the time. Let the drainer be hot, put a folded napkin
on it, and serve the fish directly. Garnish with curled parsley,
horseradish, or slices of lemon. Serve shrimp, anchovy, or lobster sauce,
also plain melted butter. Cucumber, and also salad, are eaten with salmon.
_To boil Crimp._
Cut off the head, with about two inches of the neck, and clean the fish,
opening it as little as possible, and do not cut it up the breast; also cut
off the tail. Then cut the fish in circular slices, wash them, and lay them
in salt and water. Put the head and tail on the strainer of the kettle, and
pour in boiling water, with a little salt, and a very little vinegar; boil
it five minutes, then put in the slices, and boil fifteen minutes, scumming
all the time. Put the head and tail in the middle of the dish, the slices
round. Sauces the same as the last.--Mustard is good with salmon.
_Salmon to Grill._
Split the salmon, and endeavour not to mangle it in taking out the bone.
Cut it into fillets four inches in breadth. Dry, but do not beat or press
them, in the folds of a linen cloth, or dust them with flour to dry them.
Have a clear fire, as for steaks, rub the gridiron with chalk, lay on the
slices, and turn them occasionally. Serve very hot, with anchovy or shrimp
sauce. French cooks steep the {120}slices in oil, cover them with
seasonings and fine herbs, and broil them, basting the while with oil.
Caper sauce with this. Salmon may be thus prepared, then _fried_.--Some put
the slices in paper to broil.
_Salmon, Trout, Haddock, or Gurnet to bake._
Mix a seasoning of salt, pepper, and allspice, and rub a little in the
fish. If a small salmon, turn the tail round to the mouth, and run a skewer
through the fish to keep it in form. Place it on a stand, in a deep dish,
cover with bits of butter, and strew the remainder of the seasoning over.
Put it in the oven (an American or Dutch oven, before the fire, is very
good for this), and baste occasionally with the liquor which runs from it.
Garnish and serve the same sauce as boiled salmon. _Slices_ of salmon may
be baked this way.--Or: make it richer as follows: boil in a quart of
vinegar, a piece of butter, 2 onions, the same of eschalot and carrots, a
bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a bay leaf, some basil, cloves, and
allspice. Having cleaned and scaled the fish, fill it with fish forcemeat,
sew it up, turn the tail into the mouth and skewer it. Place it on a stand
in a baking dish, and pour the liquor over. Baste it from time to time.
When the fish is done, pour off the liquor, and boil it up with an anchovy,
cayenne, lemon juice, and a little thickening of butter rolled in flour.
Place the fish in a rather deep dish, and strain the liquor round it. A
_salmon peel_ is best suited to this, being less rich than large salmon.
(_See Haddock to stew._)
_Salmon to Pickle._
Cut the fish in pieces, not very small, and boil them in a little water and
salt, scumming carefully all the time. When done, lift the fish out into a
pan, and boil the liquor up with vinegar and spices to your taste, with
black pepper, mace and ginger. Pour it cold over the fish.--_Or_: into the
best vinegar, put 1 pint of white wine (supposing there to be 2 quarts of
liquor or water to 1 of vinegar), add mace, ginger, horse-radish, cloves,
allspice, a bay leaf, a sprig of lemon thyme, salt, and pepper. Pour it
cold over the fish. Put away carefully, in a vegetable dish, any salmon
left at table, strew over it ½ a salt-spoonful of cayenne; boil 12
{121}allspice in a pint of white wine vinegar, and pour it scalding hot
over the salmon. Keep it in a cool place.
_Salmon to Dry._
Cut the fish down, take out the roe, and rub the whole with common salt;
let it hang twenty-four hours to drain. Pound 3 oz. saltpetre, 2 oz. bay
salt, and 2 oz. coarse sugar; rub these into the salmon, and lay it on a
large dish for two days; then rub with common salt, and in twenty-four
hours it will be fit to dry. Drain it, wipe it dry, stretch it open and
fasten it with pieces of stick, in order that it may dry equally; hang it
in a chimney corner where wood or peat is burnt, and it will be smoked in
five days. Broil slices for breakfast. If too much smoked, or too dry, soak
the slices in lukewarm water, before you broil them. To make this more
relishing, dip the slices in oil, then in a seasoning of herbs and spices,
and broil them.
_Salmon to Collar._
Clean, scale, and bone the fish, then season it highly with mace, cloves,
pepper and salt, roll it up into a handsome collar, and bandage it; then
bake it with vinegar and butter, or simmer in vinegar and water. Serve
melted butter, and anchovy sauce.
_Salmon to Pot._
Do not wash, but clean with a cloth, and scale the fish, rub with salt, and
let it lie three hours; then drain, and cut it into pieces. Sprinkle over
them a seasoning of mace, black and Jamaica pepper, pounded, and lay them
in a dish; cover them with melted butter, and set the dish in the oven.
When done, drain the fat from the fish, and lay the pieces into little
pots; when cold, cover with clarified butter.
_Sturgeon_
Is generally roasted or baked, if the former, tie a piece of 3 or 4 lbs. on
a lark spit, and fasten that to a large one, baste with butter, and serve
with a rich meat or maigre gravy highly flavoured. Serve besides, or
instead of gravy, {122}oyster, lobster, or anchovy sauce. _Slices_ of
sturgeon may be egged, rolled in bread-crumbs, seasonings, and herbs, then
broiled in buttered papers. Also it is _stewed_ in good beef gravy.
_Skate._
This should be broad, thick, and of a bluish cream colour. It must be quite
fresh, if to be crimp, and put on in hot water. It will keep, in cold
weather, two or three days, but will eat tender. Shrimp, lobster, or caper
sauce, parsley and butter, or onion sauce.--_Or_: put into a stew-pan ½
pint of water, ½ pint of vinegar, all the trimmings of the skate, two
onions, a clove of garlic, some parsley, and a little basil. Boil till the
trimmings are cooked to a mash, then strain and put the skate into the
liquor; it should just come to a boil, and stand by the side of the fire
ten minutes. Garnish with the liver. Serve caper sauce.
_Skate to Fry._
Parboil it first, then cut in thin slices, and dip them in egg and
bread-crumbs. Then either fried or broiled. Both ways skate is good _cold,_
with mustard, pepper, oil and vinegar.
_Thornback and Maids._
Dress the same as Skate.
_Trout to Boil._
Put a good-sized fish into boiling water, in which there is a handful of
salt, and simmer gently 20 minutes. Melted butter plain, or with chopped
gherkins.
_Haddock to Boil._
The night before, fill the eyes with salt, and hang the fish up. _Or_, for
a few hours before cooking, sprinkle them with salt. Serve egg sauce. It
may be stuffed, as in the next receipt.
_Haddocks to Stew, Bake, or Roast._
If you have six small ones, take the heads, tails and {123}trimmings of
all, and one whole fish, boil these in a quart of water or broth, with an
onion, sweet herbs, and cayenne; boil well, and thicken with brown flour;
add spices, and mushroom catsup, or essence of anchovy; strain this, boil
again, and skim well; then lay in the rest of your haddocks, cut in pieces.
If there require more sauce, add as much as is necessary, of any broth or
gravy you have; some oysters, or oyster-pickle. When done, take the fish
out with a slice, lay it in a dish, and pour the sauce, which ought to be
thick, round. This fish may be stuffed with meat, or rich forcemeat, and
dressed whole in the above gravy.--_Another_: the fish being well cleaned,
dry it, and put in the stuffing directed for fillet of veal; tie the tail
to the mouth, put the haddock in a pie-dish, rub it over with flour, half
fill the dish with veal stock, and bake it in a slow oven 40 minutes. A
glass of white wine, or half a one of brandy, oyster-pickle, or lemon
juice, either of these may be used, according to taste. _Gurnet_ the same.
_To Roast_: Stuff a good-sized one with veal stuffing, and dangle it before
the fire; baste with butter, and when nearly done, take the gravy out of
the pan, skim off the fat, then boil up the gravy with pepper, salt, and a
wine-glassful of Port wine.
_Haddocks to Bake, quite plain._
Boil and mash some potatoes. Season the fish, and put a piece of butter
inside, lay it in the middle of the dish, and put a thick border of the
potatoes round. Brush over the whole with egg, stick bits of butter over
the fish, and bake for half an hour; when in the oven a short time, pour a
little melted butter and catsup in the dish.
_Haddock or Mackerel to Broil._
Split the fish, bone the haddock, salt it, and hang it for two days in the
chimney corner.
_Haddocks, Soles, Flounders, Plaice, Perch, Tench, Trout, Whitings, and
Herrings to Fry._
Haddocks, soles, and generally whitings, are skinned. Plaice wiped, not
washed, and must lie three or four hours {124}after being rubbed with salt.
When the fish is cleaned and wiped dry, dust with flour, and lay it gently
into the boiling fat; having first egged and dipped it into bread-crumbs.
The fat may be either lard, butter, dripping, or oil. Turn it carefully,
lift it out when done, and lay it on a sheet of paper in a sieve, whilst
you fry the rest; or put it before the fire, if it require drying. Garnish
with curled parsley, and slices of lemon. Serve very hot. Shrimp or anchovy
sauce, and plain butter. _Whitings_ and _haddocks_ should have the tail
skewered into the mouth.
_Mackerel and Herrings to Boil._
The fresher these are eaten the better. They require a great deal of
cleaning. Choose soft roes to boil. A small mackerel will be done in a
quarter of an hour. When the eye starts it is done, and should not stand in
the water. Serve fennel boiled and chopped, in melted butter, and garnish
with lumps of chopped fennel. Both these may be broiled, whole or split,
and sprinkled during the cooking with chopped herbs and seasonings.
_Mackerel and Herrings to Bake._
Choose fine ones, in season, cut off the heads and take out the roes. Pound
together some mace, nutmeg, Jamaica pepper, cloves, and salt; put a little
of this into each fish, then put a layer of them into a pan, and a layer of
the mixture upon them, then another layer of fish, and so on. Fill the
vessel with vinegar, and tie over close with brown paper. Bake them 6 or 8
hours. To be eaten cold.
_Mackerel and Herrings to Pickle._
The same as salmon.--_Or_: as follows: get them as fresh as possible. Take
off the heads, split the fish open, and lay them in salt and water an hour;
prepare the following pickle: for 1½ dozen mackerel, take 1 lb. common and
1 lb. bay salt, 1 oz. saltpetre, 1 oz. lump sugar broken, and mix well
together. Take the fish out of the water, drain and wipe them. Sprinkle a
little salt over them, put a layer into a jar or cask (the skin side
downwards), then a layer of {125}the mixture, till the vessel is full.
Press it down, and cover close. Ready in three months.
_Red Herrings and Sardinias to Broil._
Open and trim them, skin them or not, as you like. If hard, soak in
lukewarm water. Broil them, either over or before the fire, and rub butter
over as they broil.
_Carp, Perch, and Tench to Stew._
If very large, divide the fish. Rub the inside with salt and mixed spices,
stick in a few cloves, and a blade or two of mace, in pieces, lay them in a
stew-pan, and cover with good fish, or meat stock. Put in 2 onions, an
anchovy chopped, cayenne, 3 glasses of claret, or 2 of Port. When done,
take the fish up, and keep it hot, while you thicken the gravy with butter
and browned flour; add mushroom catsup, oyster-pickle, chili vinegar, or
the juice of a lemon; simmer the sauce, skim and pour it over the fish. The
roe may be kept back and fried, to garnish the fish, with sippets of bread
fried. Use horse-radish and slices of lemon also, to garnish. Where meat
gravy is not used, more wine is required.--_Cod's skull, Soles, Eels,
Flounders, Trout, Whitings and fillets of Turbot, Cod and Halibut_, may be
dressed the same way. _Or_: having parboiled the fish, brown it in the
frying-pan, and stew it in good gravy seasoned with sweet marjoram, lemon
thyme, basil, onions, pepper, salt, and spices: when nearly done, thicken
the sauce, and flavour it, with a small portion each, of Worcester,
Harvey's and Reading sauces, soy, anchovy sauce, oyster-pickle, catsup, and
an equal portion of Port and white wine. The carp's blood should not be
omitted.
_Carp and Pike (or Jack) to Boil or Bake._
If to be maigre, make a forcemeat of the yolks of 3 eggs, some oysters
bearded, 3 anchovies, an onion and some parsley, all chopped; mace, black
pepper, allspice, and salt, pounded; mix this with biscuit flour, or crumbs
of bread, and the fish being well cleaned and scaled, fill it with the
stuffing, and sew it up. If to bake, lay it in a deep dish, {126}stick
butter over, and baste plentifully, as it bakes, in a moderate oven. Serve
anchovy sauce. _Or_: you may take the fish out, and keep it hot, whilst you
make a rich sauce thus: thicken the gravy in the dish, and boil it up with
parsley and sweet herbs; then strain it, add made mustard, a glass of Port
wine, and one of chili or any other flavouring vinegar, also pounded mace,
salt, and cayenne. Pour this over the fish.
_Eels to Stew._
Skin and cut them in pieces. They may be egged and rolled in bread-crumbs,
or merely floured. If to be maigre, stew them in fish stock; if otherwise,
in good clear beef gravy, in which seasoning herbs, and roots have been
boiled. Stew the fish gently, until done, then take them out, keep them
hot, and thicken the gravy with browned flour, or what you like; add a
glass of white wine, and one of mushroom catsup, also a spoonful of made
mustard; boil it up, strain and pour it over the fish. Garnish with scraped
horse-radish, and barberries. _Whiting_, also _slices of Turbot_, in the
same way.
_Lampreys to Stew._
After cleaning the fish carefully, remove the cartilage which runs down the
back, and season well with cloves, mace, nutmeg, allspice, a tea-spoonful
of mushroom powder, a little black pepper and cayenne; put it into a
stew-pan with good gravy to cover it, and sherry or Madeira; keep the pan
covered till the fish is tender, then take it out, and keep it hot while
you boil up the liquor with essence of anchovy, lemon pickle, Gloucester
sauce, and thickening; add the juice of a lemon, a spoonful of made
mustard, 1 of soy, and 1 of chili vinegar. Fry the spawn to put round the
fish.
_Eels to Fry._
They should always be _gently parboiled_, before they are either fried or
broiled, then allowed to be cold, before they are cut up; but if very
small, turn the tail round to the mouth, and fry it whole. Rub with a
mixture of spices, {127}brush with egg, and cover them with bread-crumbs.
Fry of a light brown, and lay them on a sieve to drain.--Small eels are
sometimes boiled, and served with dried sage and parsley strewed over.
_Eels to Collar._
Choose a large eel. Slit open the belly and take out the bone. Rub it well
with a mixture of pepper, salt, parsley, sage, thyme, and lemon peel. Roll
up, quite tight, and bind it with tape; then boil it gently, in salt, a
little vinegar, and water to cover it, till tender. It will keep in the
pickle it was boiled in.
_Eels to Spitchcock._
They are not skinned, but well cleaned, and rubbed with salt. Take out the
bone, wash and dry them in a cloth. Either cut in pieces, or roll them
round and cook them whole. First (parboiled) dip the fish into a thick
batter of eggs, chopped parsley, sage, eschalot, lemon peel, pepper and
salt; then roll them in bread-crumbs or biscuit powder, dip again in
batter, and again in the crumbs. Broil over a clear fire. Garnish with
curled parsley or slices of lemon, and serve anchovy sauce, or butter
flavoured with cucumber vinegar.
_Trout to Stew._
The fish being cleaned, put it into a stew-pan, with half champagne and
half rhenish, or half moselle and half sherry, in all a tumbler full;
season with pepper, salt, an onion with 3 cloves in it, and a very little
parsley and thyme, also a crust of bread. When the fish is done, lift it
out whilst you thicken the sauce; bruise the bread, but if that be not
enough, add a little flour rubbed smooth, and a bit of butter, boil it up
and pour over the trout in the dish. Garnish with sliced lemon and fried
bread.
_Sprats, Smelts, and Gudgeon to Bake, Boil, or Fry._
Rub the gridiron with chalk or mutton suet, and set it over a clear fire.
Run a long thin skewer through the heads of the sprats, and lay them on the
gridiron. They {128}should be eaten quite hot.--To _bake_, lay them in a
deep dish, strew bits of butter, pepper, salt and spices over, cover with
vinegar, and set them in the oven.--To _fry_, dip them in batter, then in a
mixture of seasoning, chopped herbs, and biscuit powder, and fry them.
_Allice or Shad._
These are broiled and eaten with caper sauce.
_Red Mullet._
The inside is not taken out. Wash the outside of the fish, fold it in oiled
paper, lay in a rather shallow dish, and bake it gently. Make a sauce of
the liquor, a piece of butter rolled in flour, a little anchovy essence,
and a glass of sherry. Boil it up, and serve in a tureen. Send the fish to
table in the paper.
_Water Souchy._
_Eels, whitings, soles, flounders, and mackerel_ are generally used. Stew
it in clear fish stock, until done, eight minutes will be enough; add
cayenne, catsup, an anchovy, and any other flavouring ingredient; let it
boil up, skim, and serve hot altogether in a tureen.
_Pipers to dress._
Stuff the fish with a forcemeat of suet, bread-crumbs, 2 eggs, chopped
parsley, pepper, salt and cayenne. Skewer the tail in the mouth, flour and
egg the fish, and bake in a hot oven. Drain it, and serve with Dutch sauce.
_Cray Fish to Boil._
Boil in the shell; five minutes is enough. Some cooks put a bunch of herbs
in the water. Serve on a napkin.
_Lobsters and Crabs to Boil._
Have plenty of water, make it quite salt, brush the lobster or crab, and
put it in. From forty to fifty minutes {129}for the middling size, more if
very large, less if very small. They will throw up a great deal of scum,
which must be taken off. Wipe the lobster with a damp cloth, rub a piece of
butter over, then wipe it with a dry cloth. Take off the large claws, and
crack them; split down the tail, and place the whole neatly in a dish. A
very nice sauce, as follows: boil hard 2 eggs, pound the yolk in a mortar,
with a little vinegar, and the spawn of the lobster, make it quite smooth,
add a large spoonful of salad oil, 3 spoonsful of good vinegar, a
tea-spoonful of made mustard, and a little cayenne and salt.
_Lobster or Crab, to eat hot._
Cut the meat in pieces, or mince it fine; season with spices, nutmeg,
cayenne and salt, and warm it in a little good gravy, thickened: or if
maigre, fish stock, or just enough water to moisten the meat, and a
good-sized piece of butter rolled in flour, a little cream, and some
catsup. Serve on toasted sippets; or have the shell of a lobster or crab
cleaned, and serve the meat in it.--_Another way_ is, not to warm the mince
_over_ the fire, but to put it into the shell, and set that before the fire
in a Dutch oven, strew some fine bread-crumbs or biscuit powder over all,
and stick some bits of butter over that; brown with a salamander, and serve
quite hot. _Prawns_ the same way.--Lobster is sometimes fricasseed, in rich
veal gravy; or with cream, and yolk of egg. Garnish with pickled cucumber,
or other pickle.--Lobster may be cooked as follows: chop the meat of a
large one, and mix with it a very little lemon peel, pepper, salt, nutmeg,
butter, cream, and crumbs of stale bread; roll this well, and divide it
into small quantities; put each one into light puff paste, the size of
sausages, rub them over with yolk of egg, then with bread-crumbs; fry of a
yellow brown, and serve with crisped parsley.--_Or_: wash and clean some
spinach and put it into a saucepan, with the meat of a lobster, or a pint
of picked shrimps cut small, an onion, a clove of garlic minced, salt and
cayenne; when nearly done, add 2 onions sliced and fried; cover close a few
minutes; garnish with slices of lemon.
_Lobsters and Crabs to Pot._
Parboil the fish, cut it into small pieces, put a layer into {130}a potting
can, or deep tin dish, sprinkle salt, pepper, cayenne and pounded mace
over, then a layer of the spawn and coral, then a layer of the meat, and so
on, till all is in, press it down, pour melted butter over, and put it half
an hour in a slow oven. Let it then get cold, take off the butter, take out
the meat and pack it into small pots; clarify the butter, and pour over.
The butter left may turn to account in sauces, as it will be highly
flavoured. If for sandwiches, the meat must be pounded in a mortar before
it is baked, that it may spread more easily.
_Prawns, Shrimps, and Cray Fish to Pot._
Boil them in salt and water, pick them carefully, then pound in a mortar,
with, to 1 lb. fish, a salt-spoonful of mace, the same of allspice, half
the quantity of salt and cayenne, the ¼ of a nutmeg grated, and butter to
make it a thick paste. Put into pots, pour clarified butter over, and tie
it down close.
_Prawns and Shrimps to Butter._
Take them out of their shells, and warm them in gravy, with a bit of butter
rolled in flour, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Simmer it a little, stir all the
time, and serve with toasted sippets.
_Prawns or Cray Fish in Jelly._
Make a good calf's-feet or cow-heel jelly, and boil in it some trimmings of
cod, turbot, and skate, a little horse-radish, lemon peel, an onion, a
piece of pounded mace, grated nutmeg and grated tongue, hung beef, or ham.
Boil it well, strain, and let it get cold. Take off the fat, pour the jelly
from the sediment, and boil it up with 2 glasses of white wine, and the
whites of 4 eggs whisked to a froth. Do not stir this as it boils. When
done, let it stand a quarter of an hour to settle; then pass it through a
jelly bag: pour some of it into a mould, or deep dish, to become firm; then
stick in the fish, neatly picked, in any form you like, and fill up the
dish with jelly. When quite cold, turn it out.
_Fish Cake._
Pick the fish from the bones, add 1 lb. of mashed {131}potatoes to 2 lbs.
fish, a little white pepper, mace, cayenne, and lemon peel; flavour either
with essence of anchovy, of lobster, of shrimp, or of oyster, according to
taste and the sort of fish; add Harvey's or Camp or Gloucester sauce, also
lemon pickle and eschalot vinegar, to your taste: mix the whole with a
little melted butter and an egg, dip in bread-crumbs, and fry of a light
brown. Use no salt with the above sauces.--_Another_: Having some cold
boiled fish, add to it the third of its weight in bread-crumbs, a little
butter beaten with a spoon, a small onion, parboiled and minced fine,
pepper, salt, and the whites of 2 eggs to bind; mixed well together, make
it in the form of a thick cake, and fry on both sides of a light brown:
stew it in good gravy, made from either meat or fish stock, and flavoured
with onion, pepper, and salt. Thicken the sauce, and add mushroom catsup.
_Fish to Pull._
When cold, pick the fish clean from the bones, and to 1 lb. add two
table-spoonsful of anchovy, two of lemon pickle, one of Harvey's, one of
Camp sauce, one of chili vinegar, a little cayenne, white pepper, and mace;
when nearly hot, add a piece of butter rolled in flour to thicken it, then
make it quite hot, put it in a dish, grate bread-crumbs over, and baste
with melted butter, to moisten them, then brown with a salamander, or in a
Dutch oven, or on a tin before the fire, with a Scotch bonnet behind
it.--_Or_: Pick from the bones, in flakes, any cold or boiled fish, salmon,
cod, turbot, sole, skate or pike; and to 1 lb. fish, add ½ pint of cream,
or ¼ lb. of butter, a table-spoonful of mustard, the same of essence of
anchovy, mushroom catsup, any flavouring sauce you like, salt and pepper;
heat it in a saucepan, put it into a hot dish, strew crumbs of bread over,
moisten the top with thin melted butter, and brown in a Dutch oven.
_A Salmagundi._