BOILING.
All meats should be boiled slowly, in sufficient water; and a ham
should not be allowed to boil until a very short time before it is
taken out of the pot, in which it has been allowed to simmer slowly for
four, five, or six hours, according to its size, age, &c. When meats
are boiled fast, the outside is hardened before the inside is warm; in
addition to which the meat becomes discoloured.
It is usual in boiling as well as in roasting, to allow a quarter of an
hour’s boiling to every pound of meat. The rule usually is a good one,
but there are several exceptions, that will task the discretion and
science of a cook.
If the joint be large and thick, such as buttock or round of beef,
more than a quarter of an hour must be allowed for each pound. If,
however, the joint be a small or a thin one, such as a neck of lamb,
somewhat less than a quarter of an hour for each pound will suffice.
During the process of boiling meat or fish, the scum which arises
should be skimmed off, otherwise the meat or fish will be discoloured.
The majority of cookery books direct that fresh meat should be put
into water when it boils, and salt meat when the water is cold;
but the better opinion seems now to be that fresh and salted meats
should be put into cold water, and allowed to become hot gradually.
The five constituent properties of the flesh of animals used by man
are--fibrine, gelatine, osmazone, fat, and albumen. Gelatine is soluble
only in boiling or very hot water, whereas osmazone is very soluble,
even in cold water, and contains the sapid principle of all meats.
Fat is insoluble in water, but the heat melts it, when it floats in a
liquid form on the surface.
Albumen resembles the white of an egg. It is soluble in cold or
lukewarm water, and coagulates at a less temperature than that of
boiling water. Albumen abounds in the blood, and exists in portions of
the flesh of animals. It is the albumen, in coagulating after having
been dissolved, which causes the scum to rise in the liquid in which
a joint has been boiled. It is evident that if the meat be put in a
vessel with boiling water, or if the water being cold be boiled too
quickly, the albumen in the first case by coagulating on the surface
of the water, and in the second in the interior of the joint of meat,
prevents the gelatine and osmazone from dissolving. Though boiling
does not require so much nicety and care as roasting, yet it is seldom
perfectly performed. It requires patient watchfulness and vigilance.
“It is natural,” says Count Rumford, “to suppose that many of the finer
and more volatile parts of food must be carried off by the steam when
the boiling is violent. The water should be heated gradually until it
boils, for the slower the meat boils the more juicy and tender will
it be. Meat freshly killed takes longer to boil than when it has been
properly hung, and meat killed in cold or frosty weather takes longer
to boil than meat killed in summer. Meat or poultry should not be
allowed to remain in the water after they are done, as they soon become
sodden.”
It is usual to boil lamb, veal, and pork longer than beef or mutton.
Of course all vessels in which meat is boiled, should be clean and
wholesome. Vessels of copper, brass, and lead must be avoided in
cookery, unless the inside be well tinned. The best saucepans are of
iron, tinned in the inside. I would observe, that salmon requires
nearly as much boiling as meat, that is to say, about a quarter of
an hour to every pound of fish. Turbot, salmon, john-dory, cod-fish,
haddocks, brill, skate, and the large Dover and West of England black
soles, are best boiled. Other kinds of sea-fish are best fried or
filleted, or done in the French fashion, such as _filets de turbot_,
sauce _suprême_, or _escalopes de turbot_, _aux truffes à la Royale_.
Cod-fish, besides being boiled or fried, may be served in twenty
ways--_à la hollandaise_, _à la Sainte Ménéhould_, _à la Perigeaux_,
_à la provençale_. As to salmon, the same observation may be made. It
may be served _à la Saint Cloud_, _à la génevoise_, _à la vénitienne_,
_à la Royale_, in _filets aux anchois_, _à la d’Artois_, _à la Sainte
Ménéhould_, _en papillotes_, _à la d’uxelle_; but, unless you have a
superior cook, salmon is best plain boiled.
I will conclude with the following remarks as to the time required to
boil poultry.
Turkeys, capons, fowls, chickens, &c., are all boiled in the same
manner, allowing time according to their size.
A chicken will take about twenty minutes.
A fowl, about forty minutes.
A poularde or capon, about an hour.
A small turkey, an hour and a half.
A large turkey, two hours or more.
Rabbits should be put into a basin of warm water; then put them into
plenty of water, and boil half an hour. If large, three quarters of an
hour.
* * * * *
Of frying I would merely say, that the frying is the finest and most
delicate when good olive oil is employed. “Il est reconnu que c’est
avec la bonne huile d’olive que se font fritures les plus fines, les
plus délicates.”--_Manuel de Cuisinier et de la Cuisinière_, par
P. Cardelli.
[Illustration]