possible, put two-thirds of them into six gallons of water, and let them
remain for twenty-four hours. Squeeze the oranges (which ought to yield
seven or eight quarts of juice) through a sieve into a pan, and as they
are done throw them into six gallons more of water; let them be washed
well in it with the hands, and then put into another six gallons of
water and left until the following day. For each gallon of wine, put
into the cask three pounds and a quarter of loaf sugar, and the liquor
strained clear from the rinds and pulp. Wash these again and again,
should more liquor be required to fill the cask; but do not at any time
add raw water. Stir the wine daily until the sugar is perfectly
dissolved, and let it ferment from four to five weeks; add to it two
bottles of brandy, stop it down, and in twelve months it will be fit to
bottle.
_Obs._—The excellence of all wine depends so much upon the fermentation
being properly conducted, that unless the mode of regulating this be
understood by the maker, there will always be great danger of failure in
the operation. There is, we believe, an excellent work upon the subject
by Mr. McCulloch, which the reader who needs information upon it will do
well to consult: our own experience is too slight to enable us to
multiply our receipts.
THE COUNSELLOR’S CUP.
Rub a quarter of a pound of sugar upon the rinds of two fine China
oranges, put it into an enamelled stewpan, and pour on it a pint of
water; let these boil gently for two or three minutes, then pour in half
a pint of China orange-juice mixed with that of one lemon, and
previously strained through muslin; the moment this begins to boil, pour
it into a hot jug, and stir to it half a pint of the best Cognac brandy.
Serve it immediately. When preferred cold, prepare the syrup with the
juice of the fruit, cover it down in the jug, set it into ice, or into a
very cool place, and add the spirit only just before the cup is wanted
for table. Should the fruit be very acid, increase the proportion of
sugar. A few slight strips of the rind of a Seville orange cut very
thin, would to many tastes be an agreeable addition to the beverage;
which should be made always with fresh sound fruit.
Sugar, 4 oz. (6 if needed); rasped rinds of China oranges, 2; water, 1
pint: 3 minutes. Strained juice of China oranges mixed with that of 1
large lemon, 1/2 pint; best Cognac brandy, 1/2 pint.
_Obs._—For a large cup these proportions must be doubled. Sherry or
Madeira substituted for the brandy, will make a pleasant cool cup of
this kind; and equal parts of well made lemonade, and of any good light
white wine, thoroughly cooled down, will give another agreeable beverage
for warm weather; but a much smaller proportion of wine would better
adapt it to many tastes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXX.
=Coffee, Chocolate, &c.=
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
COFFEE.
THERE is no beverage which is held in more universal esteem than good
coffee, and none in this country at least, which is obtained with
greater difficulty (unless indeed it be _pure_ wine). We hear constant
and well-founded complaints both from foreigners and English people, of
the wretched compounds so commonly served up here under its name,
especially in many lodging houses, hotels, and railway refreshment
rooms;[182] yet nothing can well be easier than to prepare it properly.
Some elaborate and various fanciful modes of making it have been
suggested at different times by writers fond of novelty, but they have
in general nothing to recommend them beyond the more simple processes
which follow, and of which we believe the result will seldom prove
unsatisfactory to our readers, unless it be to such of them as may have
been accustomed to the spiced or other peculiar Oriental preparations of
the fragrant berry, or simply to the exquisite quality of it, which
would appear to be obtainable only in the East; or which, at all events,
is beyond the reach of the mass of English consumers, and of their near
Continental neighbours.
Footnote 182:
At some of the principal stations on lines connected with the coast,
by which an immense number of strangers pass and repass, the coffee is
so bad, that great as the refreshment of it would be to them,
particularly in night travelling, in very cold weather, they reject it
as too nauseous to be swallowed. A little _national pride_ ought
surely to prevent this, if no higher principle interfered to do so;
for to exact the full price of a good commodity, and habitually to
supply only trash for it, is a commercial disgrace.
TO ROAST COFFEE.
[Illustration]
Persons who drink coffee habitually, and who are very particular about
its flavour and quality, should purchase the best kind in a raw state,
keep it for two or three years if they are not _certain_ that it has
been so long harvested—as when new it is greatly inferior to that which
has been kept—and have it roasted at home. This can be cheaply done in
small quantities by means of the inexpensive apparatus shown above; the
cost of it not exceeding seven or eight shillings, and the supply of
charcoal needed for it being very trifling indeed; or, with that
inserted below, which is larger and about double the price. The cylinder
which contains the coffee should be only half filled, and it should be
turned rather slowly over the fire, which should never be fierce, until
a strong aromatic smell is emitted; the movement should then be
quickened, as the grain is in that case quite heated, and it will become
too highly coloured before it is roasted through, if slowly finished.
When it is of a fine, _light_, equal brown, which must be ascertained,
until some little experience has been acquired, by sliding back the door
of the cylinder, and looking at it occasionally towards the end of the
process, spread it quickly upon a large dish, and throw a thickly folded
cloth over it. Let it remain thus until it is quite cold; then put it
immediately into canisters or bottles, and exclude the air carefully
from it.
[Illustration:
Patent Percolator, with Spirit Lamp.
]
A FEW GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING COFFEE.
When good coffee is desired, let it be procured if possible of a
first-rate London house[183] which can be depended on; and we would
recommend that it should be of the finest quality that can be obtained;
for there is no real economy in using that which is nominally cheaper,
as a larger quantity will be required to give the same amount of
strength, and the flavour will be very inferior. It should always be
_freshly roasted_; but when a constant and large demand for it exists,
it will be easy to have it so. When it has been stored for any length of
time it will be much freshened and improved by being gently heated
through, either in the oven or in a stewpan held high above the fire. It
should be often turned while it is warming, and ground as soon as it is
cold again. _Never purchase it ready ground_ unless compelled to do so.
When no proper mill for it is fitted up in the house, a small portable
one, which may be had at a trifling expense, will answer tolerably well
for grinding it, though it cannot be used with quite the same facility
as those which are fastened firmly to a wall; but whatever form of mill
may be used it should be arranged so as to reduce the berries to a
moderately fine powder; for if it be too coarse the essence will be only
partially extracted from it by filtering; and if it be extremely fine
the water will not percolate through it, and it will not be clear.
Footnote 183:
We could indicate several houses where unadulterated coffee may be
procured, but it is not always to be had from them so choice in
quality as it might be; and it is in general too highly roasted. By
far the finest we have ever tasted we had on two occasions, some years
since, from Mr. Cobbett, of Pall Mall. The fragrance of it was too
remarkable to be easily forgotten, and the flavour was exquisite; but
it was apparently an accidental sample which he had met with in the
market, for though very good, that with which we were supplied
afterwards never equalled it.
Messrs. Staniforth and Co., 138, Oxford-street, are deservedly noted
for the excellence of their coffee. It is always ground at the instant
of serving it to a customer; and they have the complaisance of
roasting even so small a quantity as two pounds, to suit the taste of
the purchaser: it may therefore be procured of them as pale-dried as
it can be wished.
The house of Messrs. Decastro and Peach, next door to Hatchett’s
Hotel, Piccadilly, may likewise, we think, be quite depended on for
supplying genuine coffee to the public; and they have an immense
demand for it.
We say nothing about mingling chicory with it. Our directions are for
making _pure coffee_; which, when not taken in excess, is, we believe, a
wholesome as well as a most agreeable beverage. The effect of chicory
is, we believe, to impart a slight bitter flavour to the infusion, and
to deepen its colour so much as to make it appear much stronger than it
really is. True connoisseurs, however, do not attach any importance to
the dark hue of coffee, the very choicest that can be tasted being
sometimes of quite a pale tint.
Always serve hot milk or cream, or hot milk and cold cream, if
preferred, with breakfast coffee. In the evening, when milk is served at
all with it, it should likewise be boiling.
Do not, _in any way_, make use of the residue of one day’s coffee in
preparing that of the next; you would but injure the purity of its
flavour by doing so, and effect _next to nothing_ in the matter of
economy.[184]
Footnote 184:
When the coffee has been filtered in a proper manner, water poured
afterwards on the “grounds” as they are termed, will have scarcely any
taste or colour; this is not the case when it has been boiled.
EXCELLENT BREAKFAST COFFEE.
A simple, well-made English filter, or _percolator_, as it is called,
will answer perfectly for making coffee; but from amongst the many of
more recent invention which are on sale, the reader who prefers one of
ornamental appearance, and of novel construction, will easily be suited.
The size of the filter must be adapted to the number of persons for whom
the coffee is to be prepared; for if a large quantity of the powder be
heaped into an insufficient space for it, there will not be room for it
to swell, and the water will not pass through. Put three ounces of
coffee into one which will contain in the lower compartment two pints
and a half; shake the powder quite level and press it closely down;
remove the presser, put on the top strainer, and pour round and round,
so as to wet the coffee equally, about the third part of a measured pint
of fast boiling water. Let this drain quite through before more is
added; then pour in—still _quite boiling_—in the same manner as much
more water, and when it has passed through, add the remainder; let it
drain entirely through, then remove the top of the filter, put the cover
on the part which contains the coffee, and serve it immediately. It will
be very strong, and perfectly clear. Fill the breakfast cups two parts
full of new boiling milk, and add as much of the infusion as will give
it the degree of strength which is agreeable to those for whom it is
prepared. When it is liked extremely strong, the proportion of milk must
be diminished, or less water be poured to the coffee.
If nearly an additional half pint of water be added before the top of
the percolator is taken off, it will still be very good, provided that
the coffee used be really of first-rate quality.
To make cheaper breakfast coffee to be served in the usual English mode,
the same process should be followed, but the proportion of water must be
considerably increased: it should always, however, be added by _slow
degrees_.
Good breakfast coffee (for three persons). Best Mocha, in moderately
fine powder, ground at the instant of using it, 3 oz.; boiling water
added by degrees, 1 pint; (more at pleasure). Boiling milk served with
it, 1-1/2 pint to 1 quart. Common English coffee: coffee-powder, 3 oz.;
water, 1 quart, to be slowly filtered; hot milk, half to whole pint.
Cream in addition to either of the above, at choice.
TO BOIL COFFEE.
To boil coffee and refine it, put the necessary quantity of water into a
pot which it will not fill by some inches; when it boils stir in the
coffee; for unless this be at once moistened, it will remain on the top
and be liable to fly over. Give it one or two strong boils, then raise
it from the fire, and simmer it for ten minutes only; pour out a large
cupful twice, hold it high over the coffee pot and pour it in again,
then set it on the stove where it will keep hot without simmering or
moving in the least, for ten minutes longer. It will be perfectly clear,
unless mismanaged, without any other fining. Should more, however, be
deemed necessary, a _very_ small pinch of isinglass, or a clean
egg-shell, with a little of the white adhering to it, is the best that
can be used. _Never_ use mustard to fine coffee with. It is a barbarous
custom of which we have heard foreigners who have been in England
vehemently complain.
Coffee, 2 oz.; water, 1 pint to 1 quart, according to the strength
required. Boiled 10 minutes; left to clear 10 minutes.
_Remark._—Filtering is, we should say, a far more economical, and in
every way a superior mode of making coffee to boiling it; but as some
persons still prefer the old method, we insert the receipt for it.
CAFÉ NOIR.
This is the very essence of coffee, and is served in nearly all French
families, as well in those of many other countries, immediately after
the rice-crust. About two-thirds of a small cupful—not more—sweetened
almost to syrup with highly refined sugar in lumps, is usually taken by
each person; in families of moderate rank, generally before they leave
the table; in more refined life, it is served in the drawing-room the
instant dinner is ended; commonly with liqueurs after it, but not
invariably. To make it, proceed exactly as for the breakfast-coffee, but
add only so much water as is required to make the strongest possible
infusion. White sugar-candy in powder may be served with it in addition
to the sugar in lumps.
BURNT COFFEE, OR COFFEE À LA MILITAIRE.
(_In France vulgarly called Gloria._)
Make some coffee as strong and as clear as possible, sweeten it in the
cup with white sugar almost to syrup, then pour the brandy on the top
gently over a spoon, set fire to it with a lighted paper, and when the
spirit is in part consumed, blow out the flame, and drink the _gloria_
quite hot.
TO MAKE CHOCOLATE.
[Illustration]
An ounce of chocolate, if good, will be sufficient for one person. Rasp,
and then boil it from five to ten minutes with about four tablespoonsful
of water; when it is extremely smooth add nearly a pint of new milk,
give it another boil, stir it well, or mill it, and serve it directly.
For water-chocolate use three-quarters of a pint of water instead of the
milk, and send rich hot cream to table with it. The taste must decide
whether it shall be made thicker or thinner.
Chocolate, 2 oz.; water, quarter-pint, or rather more; milk, 1-3/4: 1/2
minute.
_Obs._—The general reader will understand the use of the chocolate-mill
shown in the engraving with the pot; but to the uninitiated it may be as
well to observe, that it is worked quickly round between both hands to
give a fine froth to the chocolate. It also serves in lieu of a whisk
for working creams, or jellies, to a froth or _whip_.
A SPANISH RECIPE FOR MAKING AND SERVING CHOCOLATE.
Take of the best chocolate an ounce for each person, and half a pint of
cold water; rasp or break it small in a mortar, set it over a slow fire,
and stir or mill it gently until it has become quite smooth like
custard; pour it immediately into deep cups, and serve it with a glass
of sugar and water, or with iced water only[185] to each cup; and with
plates of very delicate dried toast cut in narrow strips, or with the
cakes called “ladies’ fingers.” Should the chocolate appear too thick, a
little water must be added. Milk is sometimes substituted for it
altogether.
Footnote 185:
Sometimes with a water ice, which should be of an appropriate
character.
TO MAKE COCOA.
Directions for making it are usually sold with the prepared, or best
quality of cocoa, which is merely mixed with boiling water in the
proportions indicated on the packets. That which is prepared from the
nibs requires several hours’ boiling, and should be left until it is
quite cold, that the oil which will be found on the surface may be
cleared from it before it is again heated for table: this is
particularly needful when it is to be served to persons in delicate
health.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXI.
=Bread.=
[Illustration]
REMARKS ON HOME-MADE BREAD.
IT is surely a singular fact that the one article of our daily food on
which health depends more than on any other, is precisely that which is
obtained in England with the greatest difficulty—_good, light, and pure
bread_—yet nothing can be more simple and easy than the process of
making it, either in large quantities or in small. From constant
failure, it is nevertheless considered so difficult in many families,
that recourse is had to the nearest baker, both in town and country, as
a means of escape from the heavy, or bitter, or ill-baked masses of
dough which appear at table under the name of _household_ or _home-made_
bread; and which are well calculated to create the distaste which they
often excite for everything which bears its name. Without wishing in the
slightest degree to disparage the skill and labour of bread-makers by
trade, truth compels us to assert our conviction of the superior
wholesomeness of bread made in our own homes. When a miller can be
depended on to supply flour of good quality, and the other ingredients
used in preparing it are also fresh and good, and mingled with it in due
proportions, and the kneading, fermentation, and baking, are conducted
with care and intelligence, the result will uniformly be excellent
bread. Every cook, therefore,—and we might almost say _every female
servant_—ought to be perfectly acquainted with the proper mode of making
it; and skill in preparing a variety of dishes, is poor compensation for
ignorance on this one essential point.[186] Moreover, it presents no
more real difficulty than boiling a dish of potatoes, or making a rice
pudding; and the neglect with which it is treated is therefore the less
to be comprehended or excused.
Footnote 186:
Only those persons who live habitually on good home-made bread, can
form an idea of the extent to which health is affected by their being
deprived of it. We have been appealed to on several occasions for
household loaves—which we have sent to a considerable distance—by
friends who complained of being rendered really _ill_ by the bread
which they were compelled to eat in the sea-side towns and in other
places of fashionable resort; and in London we have heard incessant
complaints both from foreigners and habitual residents, of the
impossibility of obtaining _really wholesome bread_.
TO PURIFY YEAST FOR BREAD OR CAKES.
The yeast procured from a public brewery is often so extremely bitter
that it can only be rendered fit for use by frequent washings, and after
these even it should be cautiously employed. Mix it, when first brought
in, with a large quantity of cold water, and set it by until the
following morning in a cool place; then drain off the water, and stir
the yeast up well with as much more of fresh: it must again stand
several hours before the water can be poured clear from it. By changing
this daily in winter, and both night and morning in very hot weather,
the yeast may be preserved fit for use much longer than it would
otherwise be; and should it ferment rather less freely after a time, a
_small_ portion of brown sugar and a little warm milk or other liquid,
stirred to it a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes before it is
required for bread-making, will restore its strength.
The German yeast, of which we have spoken in detail in another part of
this chapter, makes exceedingly light bread and buns, and is never
bitter; it is therefore a valuable substitute for our own beer-yeast,
but cannot be procured in all parts of the country, for the reasons
which we have stated.
THE OVEN.
A brick oven, heated with wood, is far superior to any other for baking
bread, as well as for most other purposes. The iron ovens, now commonly
attached to kitchen-ranges—the construction of which has within these
few years been wonderfully improved—though exceedingly convenient, from
the facility which they afford for baking at all hours of the day, do
not in general answer well for _bread_, unless it be made into very
small loaves or rolls, as the surface becomes hardened and browned long
before the heat has sufficiently penetrated to the centre of the dough.
The same objection often exists to iron-ovens of larger size, which
require care and management, to ensure the successful use of them. A
brick oven should be well heated with faggot wood, or with a faggot, and
two or three solid logs; and after it is cleared, the door should be
closely shut for quite half an hour before the baking commences: the
heat will then be well sustained for a succession of bread, pies, cakes,
and small pastry. The servant who habitually attends at an oven will
soon become acquainted with the precise quantity of fuel which it
requires, and all other peculiarities which may be connected with it.
A FEW RULES TO BE OBSERVED IN MAKING BREAD.
Never use too large a proportion of yeast, as the bread will not only
become dry very speedily when this is done, but it will be far less
sweet and pleasant in flavour than that which is more slowly fermented,
and the colour will not be so good: there will also be a great chance of
its being bitter when brewer’s yeast is used for it. Remember that milk
or water of _scalding_ heat poured to any kind of yeast will render the
bread heavy. One pint of either added quite boiling to a pint and a half
of cold, will bring it to about the degree of warmth required. In frosty
weather the proportion of the heated liquid may be increased a little.
When only porter-yeast—which is dark-coloured and bitter—can be
procured, use a much smaller proportion than usual, and allow _much_
longer time for it to rise. Never let it be sent to the oven until it is
evidently _light_. Bitter bread is unpalatable, but not really
unwholesome; but heavy bread is _particularly_ so.
Let the leaven be kneaded up quickly with the remainder of the flour
when once it is well risen, as it should on no account be allowed to
sink again before this is done, when it has reached the proper point;
and in making the dough, be particularly careful not to render it too
lithe by adding more liquid than is requisite. It should be quite firm,
and entirely free from lumps and crumbs throughout the mass, and on the
surface also, which ought to be _perfectly smooth_.
In winter, place the bread while it is rising sufficiently close to the
fire to prevent its becoming cold, but never so near as to render it
_hot_. A warm thick cloth should be thrown over the pan in which it is
made immediately after the leaven is mixed, and kept on it until the
bread is ready for the oven.
HOUSEHOLD BREAD.
Put half a bushel (more or less, according to the consumption of the
family) of flour into the kneading tub or trough, and hollow it well in
the middle; dilute a pint of yeast as it is brought from the brewery or
half the quantity if it has been washed and rendered solid, with four
quarts or more of lukewarm milk or water, or a mixture of the two; stir
into it, from the surrounding part, with a wooden spoon, as much flour
as will make a thick batter; throw a handful or two over it, and leave
this, which is called the leaven, to rise before proceeding further. In
about an hour it will have swollen considerably, and have burst through
the coating of flour on the top; then pour in as much more warm liquid
as will convert the whole, with _good kneading_, and this should not be
spared, into a firm dough, of which the surface should be entirely free
from lumps or crumbs. Throw a cloth over, and let it remain until it has
risen very much a second time, which will be in an hour, or something
more, if the batch be large. Then work it lightly up, and mould it into
loaves of from two to three pounds weight; send them directly to a well
heated oven, and bake them from an hour and a half to an hour and
three-quarters.
Flour, 1/2 bushel; salt (when it is liked), 4 to 6 oz.; yeast, 1 pint
unwashed, or 1/2 pint if purified; milk, or water, 2 quarts: 1 to 1-1/2
hour. Additional liquid as needed.
_Obs._—Brown bread can be made exactly as above, either with half meal
and half flour mixed, or with meal only. This will absorb more moisture
than fine flour, and will retain it rather longer. Brown bread should
always be _thoroughly baked_.
_Remark._—We have seen it very erroneously asserted in one or two works,
that bread made with milk speedily becomes sour. This is never the case
when it is properly baked and kept, and when the milk used for it is
_perfectly sweet_. The experience of many years, enables us to speak
positively on this point.
BORDYKE BREAD.
(_Author’s Receipt._)
Mix with a gallon of flour a large teaspoonful of fine salt, make a
hollow in the centre, and pour in two tablespoonsful of solid, well
purified yeast, gradually diluted with about two pints and a half of
milk, and work it into a thick batter with the surrounding flour, strew
a thick layer over and leave it to rise from an hour to an hour and a
half; then knead it up with as much more warm skimmed milk, or half new
milk and half water, as will render it quite firm and smooth without
being very stiff; let it rise another hour, and divide it into three
loaves; put them into square tins slightly buttered, or into round
baking pans, and bake them about an hour and a quarter in a well-heated
oven. The dough can be formed into household loaves if preferred, and
sent to the oven in the usual way. When a finer and more spongy kind of
bread is required for immediate eating, substitute new milk for skimmed,
dissolve in it about an ounce of butter, leave it more liquid when the
sponge is set, and let the whole be lightly kneaded into a lithe dough:
the bread thus made will be excellent when new, and for a day or so
after it is baked, but it will become dry sooner than the other.
Flour, 1 gallon; salt, 1 teaspoonful; skimmed milk, 2-1/2 pints, to rise
from 1 to 1-1/2 hour. Additional milk, 1 to 2 pints: to rise 1 hour. 3
loaves, baked 1-1/4 hour.
_Obs. 1._—A few spoonsful of cream will wonderfully improve either of
the above receipts, and sweet buttermilk, substituted for the other,
will give to the bread the shortness of a cake: we would particularly
recommend it for trial when it can be procured.
_Obs. 2._—Shallow round earthen pans answer much better, we think, than
tins for baking bread; they should be _slightly_ rubbed with butter
before the dough is put into them.
GERMAN YEAST.
(_And Bread made with German Yeast._)
This has very generally superseded the use of English beer-yeast in
London, and other places conveniently situated for receiving quickly and
regularly the supplies of it which are imported from abroad; but as it
speedily becomes putrid in sultry weather, and does not in any season
remain good long after its arrival here, it is unsuited for transmission
to remote parts of the country. Bread made with it while it is perfectly
sweet, is extremely light and good, and it answers remarkably well for
light cakes and biscuits. An ounce is the proportion which we have
always had used for a quartern (half a gallon or three pounds and a
half) of flour, and this, with the addition of some salt and nearly a
quart of milk, or milk and water, has produced _excellent_ bread when it
has been made with care. The yeast should be very gradually and
perfectly moistened and blended with the warm liquid; for unless this be
done, and the whole rendered smooth as cream, the dough will not be of
the uniform texture which it ought, but will be full of large hollow
spaces, which are never seen in well-made bread. The mass should be
mixed up firmly and _well kneaded_ at once, then left to rise for about
an hour; again kneaded thoroughly, and again left to rise from
three-quarters of an hour to an hour; then divided, and lightly worked
up into loaves, put into round slightly buttered earthen pans, and sent
immediately to the oven.[187]
Footnote 187:
We give the proportions used and the exact manner of making this
bread, which we have had followed for more than twelve months, with
entire success.
A leaven may be first laid with the yeast, and part of the liquid when
it is preferred, as directed for bread made with beer-yeast, but the
result will be equally good if the whole be kneaded up at once, if it be
made _quite firm_.
PROFESSOR LIEBIG’S BAVARIAN BROWN BREAD.
(_Very nutritious and wholesome._)
Baron Liebig pronounces this bread to be very superior to that which is
made with fine flour solely, both in consequence of the greater amount
of nutriment which it contains, and from its slight medicinal effect,
which renders it valuable to many persons accustomed to have frequent
recourse to drugs, of which it supersedes the necessity. It is made with
the wheat exactly as it is ground, no part being subtracted, nor any
additional flour mingled with it. He directs that the wheat should not
be _damped_ before it is prepared: but few millers can be found who will
depart from their ordinary practice to oblige private customers; and
this determined adherence to established usage intervenes constantly
between us, and all improvement in our modes of preparing food. The
bread is made in the usual way, with water only, or with a portion of
milk added to the yeast, as taste or convenience may dictate. The loaves
should be well baked at all times; and the dough should of course be
perfectly light when it is placed in the oven. Salt should be mixed with
the meal before the yeast is added.
ENGLISH BROWN BREAD.
This is often made with a portion only of the unbolted meal recommended
in the preceding receipt, mixed with more or less of fine flour,
according to the quality of bread required; and in many families the
coarse bran is always sifted from the meal, as an impression exists that
it is irritating to the stomach. If one gallon of meal as it comes from
the mill, be well mixed with an equal measure of flour, and made into a
dough in the manner directed for white household bread, the loaves will
still be sufficiently brown for the general taste in this country, and
they will be good and wholesome, though not, perhaps, so entirely easy
of digestion as Baron Liebig’s Bavarian bread.
UNFERMENTED BREAD.
This bread, in which carbonate of soda and muriatic acid are substituted
for yeast or other leaven, has within these few years been highly
recommended, and much eaten. It may possibly suit many persons better
than that which is fermented in the usual way, but it is not in general
by any means so pleasant in flavour; and there is much more chance of
failure in preparing it in private families, as it requires some skill
to mix the ingredients with exactness and _despatch_; and it is
absolutely necessary that the dough should be set into the oven the
instant it is ready. In some hydropathic and other large establishments,
where it is always supplied to the table in lieu of the more common
kinds, it is, we have been informed by patients who had partaken of it
there for many months together, exceedingly and uniformly good. More
detailed information with regard to it, will be found in our “Cookery
for Invalids,” a work for which our want of space in the present volume
compels us to reserve it.
“For each pound of flour (or meal) take forty grains of sesquicarbonate
of soda, mix it intimately with the sugar and flour, then add fifty
drops of muriatic acid of the shops, diluted with half a pint of water,
or with as much as may be requisite to form the dough, stirring it
constantly into a smooth mass. Divide it into a couple of loaves, and
put them immediately into a quick oven.” Bake them thoroughly.
Author’s note.—Dr. Pereira, from whose book on diet the substance of the
above receipt is taken, says that delicious bread was made by it in his
presence by the cook of Mr. John Savory, of Bond Street, equal to any
bread fermented by the usual process. We would suggest that the soda,
mixed with the sugar, and a small portion of the flour, should be rubbed
through a hair sieve with a wooden spoon into the remainder of the
flour, and stirred up with it until the whole is perfectly mingled,
before the liquid is added. Should lighter bread be desired, the soda
may be increased to fifty or even sixty grains, if the quantity of acid
be proportionately augmented. As common salt is formed by the
combination of these two agents, none beside is needed in the bread.
Flour, 1 lb.; sesquicarbonate of soda, 40 grains; sugar, 1 teaspoonful;
muriatic acid of the shops, 50 drops; water, 1/2 pint (or as needed).
POTATO BREAD.
One pound of good mealy potatoes, steamed or boiled very dry, in the
ordinary way, or prepared by Captain Kater’s receipt (see Chapter
XVII.), and rubbed quite hot, through a coarse sieve, into a couple of
pounds of flour, with which they should be well mixed, will produce
excellent bread, which will remain moist much longer than wheaten bread
made as usual. The yeast should be added immediately after the potatoes.
An ounce or two of butter, an egg and some new milk, will convert this
bread into superior rolls.
DINNER OR BREAKFAST ROLLS.
Crumble down very small indeed, an ounce of butter into a couple of
pounds of the best flour, and mix with them a large saltspoonful of
salt. Put into a basin a dessertspoonful of solid, well-purified yeast,
and half a teaspoonful of pounded sugar; mix these with half a pint of
warm new milk; hollow the centre of the flour, pour in the yeast
gradually, stirring to it sufficient of the surrounding flour to make a
thick batter; strew more flour on the top, cover a thick double cloth
over the pan, and let it stand in a warm kitchen to rise. In winter it
must be placed within a few feet of the fire. In about an hour, should
the leaven have broken through the flour on the top, and have risen
considerably in height, mix one lightly-whisked egg, or the yolks of
two, with nearly half a pint more of quite warm new milk, and wet up the
mass into a very smooth dough. Cover it as before, and in from half to
three-quarters of an hour turn it on to a paste-board, and divide it
into twenty-four portions of equal size. Knead these up as lightly as
possible into small round, or olive-shaped rolls; make a slight incision
round them, and cut them once or twice across the top, placing them as
they are done on slightly floured baking sheets an inch or two apart.
Let them remain for fifteen or twenty minutes to _prove_; then wash the
tops with yolk of egg, mixed with a little milk, and bake them in a
rather brisk oven from ten to fifteen minutes. Turn them upside down
upon a dish to cool after they are taken from the tins. An additional
ounce of butter and another egg can be used for these rolls when richer
bread is liked; but it is so much less wholesome than a more simple
kind, that it is not to be recommended. A cup of good cream would be an
admirable substitute for butter altogether, rendering the rolls
exceedingly delicate both in appearance and in flavour. The yeast used
for them should be stirred up with plenty of cold water the day before
it is wanted; and it will be found very thick indeed when it is poured
off, which should be gently done. Rather less than an ounce of good
fresh German yeast may be used for them instead of brewer’s yeast, with
advantage.
GENEVA ROLLS, OR BUNS.
Break down into very small crumbs three ounces of butter with two pounds
of flour; add a little salt, and set the sponge with a large
tablespoonful of solid yeast, mixed with a pint of new milk, and a
tablespoonful or more of strong saffron water; let it rise for a full
hour, then stir to a couple of well-beaten eggs as much hot milk as will
render them lukewarm, and wet the rolls with them to a light, lithe
dough; leave it from half to three-quarters of an hour longer, mould it
into small rolls, brush them with beaten yolk of egg, and bake them from
twenty minutes to half an hour. The addition of six ounces of good
sugar, three of butter, half a pound or more of currants, the grated
rind of a large lemon, and a couple of ounces of candied orange-rind,
will convert these into excellent buns. When the flavour of the saffron
is not liked, omit it altogether. Only so much should be used at any
time as will give a rich colour to the bread.
Flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 3 oz.; solid yeast, 1 large tablespoonful
(saffron, 1 teaspoonful; water, less than a quarter pint); new milk, 1
pint: 1 hour, or more. 2 eggs, more milk: 3/4 hour: baked 20 to 30
minutes.
RUSKS.
Work quite into crumbs six ounces of butter with a couple of pounds of
fine dry flour, and mix them into a lithe paste, with two tablespoonsful
of mild beer yeast, three well-beaten eggs, and nearly half a pint of
warm new milk. When it has risen to its full height knead it smooth, and
make it into very small loaves or thick cakes cut with a round
cake-cutter; place them on a floured tin, and let them stand in a warm
place to _prove_ from ten to twenty minutes before they are set into the
oven. Bake them about a quarter of an hour; divide them while they are
still warm, and put them into a very slow oven to dry. When they are
crisp quite through they are done. Four teaspoonsful of sifted sugar
must be added when sweet-rusks are preferred.
Flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 6 oz.; yeast, 2 tablespoonsful; eggs, 3; new milk
nearly half a pint: baked 1/4 hour.
For either of the preceding receipts substitute rather more than an
ounce of German yeast, when it can be procured quite fresh; or should an
ounce of it only be used (which we should consider an ample proportion),
let the dough—especially that of the rusks—become extremely light before
it is kneaded down, and also previously to its being sent to the oven. A
somewhat smaller quantity of yeast is required in warm weather than in
cold.
--------------
[REMARK.—The remainder of this chapter is extracted from a little
treatise on _domestic_ bread-making, which we hope shortly to lay before
the public, as it appears to us to be greatly needed; but, as we have
already more than once repeated, we are unwilling to withhold from the
present volume any information which may be generally useful.]
EXCELLENT DAIRY-BREAD MADE WITHOUT YEAST.
(_Author’s Receipt._)
When we first heard unfermented bread vaguely spoken of, we had it tried
very successfully in the following manner; and we have since been told
that an almost similar method of preparing it is common in many remote
parts both of England and Ireland, where it is almost impossible to
procure a constant supply of yeast. Blend well together a teaspoonful of
pounded sugar and fifty grains of the purest carbonate of soda; mix a
saltspoonful of salt with a pound of flour, and rub the soda and sugar
through a hair-sieve into it. Stir and mingle them well, and make them
quickly into a firm but not _hard_ dough with sour buttermilk. Bake the
loaf well in a thoroughly heated, but not _fierce_ oven. In a brick, or
good iron oven a few minutes less than an hour would be sufficient to
bake a loaf of similar weight. The buttermilk should be kept until it is
quite acid, but it must never be in the slightest degree rancid, or
otherwise bad. _All_ unfermented bread should be placed in the oven
directly it is made, or it will be heavy. For a larger baking allow
rather less than an ounce of soda to the gallon (seven pounds) of flour.
_Obs._—There are cases in which a knowledge of this, or of any other
equally easy mode of bread-making would be invaluable. For example:—We
learn from the wife of an officer who has for a long time been stationed
off the Isle of Skye, in which his family have their abode, that the
inhabitants depend entirely for bread on supplies brought to them from
Glasgow; and that they are often entirely without, when the steamer
which ought to arrive at intervals of eight days, is delayed by stress
of weather. The residents are then compelled to have recourse to
_scones_—as a mixture of flour and water and a little soda (cooked on a
flat iron plate), are called—or to ship’s biscuit; and these are often
found unsuitable for young children and invalids. There are no ovens in
the houses, though there are grates for coal fires, in front of which
small loaves of unfermented bread could be baked extremely well in good
American ovens. Buttermilk can always be procured; and if not, a
provision of carbonate of soda and muriatic acid might be kept at hand
to ensure the means of making wholesome bread. In many other localities
the same plan might prove of equal benefit.
TO KEEP BREAD.
Bread requires almost as much care as milk to preserve it wholesome and
fresh. It should be laid, as soon as it is perfectly cold, into a large
earthen pan with a cover, which should be kept free from crumbs, and be
frequently scalded, and then wiped very dry for use. Loaves which have
been cut should have a smaller pan appropriated to them, and this also
should have the loose crumbs wiped from it daily. It is a good plan to
raise the bread-pans from the floor of the larder, when there is no
proper stand or frame for the purpose, by means of two flat wedges of
wood, so as to allow a current of air to pass under them.
TO FRESHEN STALE BREAD (AND PASTRY, ETC.), AND PRESERVE IT FROM MOULD.
If entire loaves be placed in a gentle oven and heated quite through,
_without_ being previously dipped into cold water, according to the
old-fashioned plan, they will eat almost like bread newly baked: they
should not remain in it long enough to become hard and dry, but they
should be made hot throughout. In very damp localities, when large
household bakings take place but once in eight or ten days, it is
sometimes necessary to use precautions against the attack of mould,
though the bread may have been exceedingly well made; and the method
recommended above will be the best for warding it off, and for
preserving the bread eatable for several days longer than it would
otherwise be. If _large_ loaves be just dipped into cold water and then
placed in a quick oven until they are again thoroughly dried, they will
resemble _new_ bread altogether.
Pastry, cakes, and biscuits, may all be greatly improved when stale, by
heating them in a gentle oven.
TO KNOW WHEN BREAD IS SUFFICIENTLY BAKED.
When the surface is uniformly browned, and it is everywhere _firm to the
touch_, and the bottom crust of a loaf is hard, it is generally certain
that it is thoroughly baked. To test bread that has been cut (or
yeast-cakes), press down the crumb lightly in the centre with the thumb;
when it is elastic and rises again to its place, it is proof that it is
perfectly done; but if the indentation remains, the heat has not
sufficiently penetrated the dough to convert it into wholesome eating.
ON THE PROPER FERMENTATION OF DOUGH.
As we have previously said, too large a proportion of yeast, which is
very commonly used by persons not well skilled in bread-making, although
it produces quickly a light spongy dough, has a very bad effect on
bread, which it renders much less easy of digestion than that which is
more slowly fermented, and far less sweet and pleasant in flavour: it
also prevents its remaining eatable the same length of time, as it
speedily becomes dry. It is likewise very disadvantageous to make the
dough so lithe that it spreads about in the oven; and if it be
_excessively_ stiff, and its management not thoroughly understood, it
will sometimes be heavy,. To prevent this, it should be kept quite warm
(never _heated_), and left a much longer time to rise. It will
frequently then prove excellent. It will ferment rather more quickly if,
when it gives symptoms of becoming light it is made up into loaves with
the least possible kneading, and a slight incision is made round them
and across the tops, and they are then placed in a warm air, and kept
secure from cold currents passing over them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER XXXII.
[Illustration]
FOREIGN AND JEWISH COOKERY.
[Illustration]
WE had hoped to have been able without exceeding the prescribed limits
of the present volume to have added here a somewhat extensive chapter on
the cookery of other countries, and to have comprised in it a section
adapted to the service of the Jewish table; but we have so much enlarged
in the pages on the more important subject of “Bread,” and on other
matters which relate to simple _English_ domestic economy, that we find
it necessary to depart from our original intention, and to confine our
receipts here to a comparatively small number. This, however, is of the
less consequence as so many good and well tested foreign receipts, of
which, from our own experience, we can guarantee the success, are to be
found in the body of the work.
REMARKS ON JEWISH COOKERY.
From being forbidden by their usages to mingle butter, or other
preparation of milk or cream with meat at any meal, the Jews have oil
much used in their cookery of fish, meat, and vegetables. Pounded
almonds and rich syrups of sugar and water agreeably flavoured, assist
in compounding their sweet dishes, many of which are excellent, and
preserve much of their oriental character; but we are credibly informed
that the restrictions of which we have spoken are not at the present day
very rigidly observed by the main body of Jews in this country, though
they are so by those who are denominated strict.
JEWISH SMOKED BEEF.[188]
Footnote 188:
We were made acquainted with it first through the courtesy of a Jewish
lady, who afterwards supplied us with the address of the butcher from
whom it was procured: _Mr. Pass, 34, Duke Street, Aldgate_, from whom
the _chorissa_ also may be purchased, and probably many other
varieties of smoked meat which are used in Jewish cookery. For such of
our readers as may not be acquainted with the fact, it may be well to
state here that all meat supplied by Jew butchers is sure to be of
first-rate quality, as they are forbidden by the Mosaic Law to convert
into food any animal which is not perfectly free _from all_ “spot or
blemish.”
This is _excellent_, possessing the fine flavour of a really well cured
ham, and retaining it unimpaired for a very long time after it is cut or
cooked, if kept in a cool larder; it is therefore a valuable and
inexpensive _store_ for imparting savour to soups, gravies, and other
preparations; and it affords also a dish of high relish for the table.
An inch or two of the lean part, quite cleared from the smoked edges and
divided into dice, will flavour _well_ a tureen of gravy, or a pint of
soup: even that which has been boiled will greatly improve the flavour
of Liebig’s extract of beef, and of any simple broth or _consommé_. From
the depth of fat upon it, which appears particularly rich and mellow, we
think it is the thick flank of the beef of which we have made trial in
various ways, and which is now in much request in several families of
our acquaintance, who find it greatly superior to the common hung or
Dutch beef, to which they were previously accustomed.
It must be cooked in the same manner as other smoked meats, more time
being allowed for it than for fresh. Drop it into boiling water, and
when it has boiled quickly for ten minutes, take off the scum should any
appear, add cold water sufficient to reduce it to mere _scalding heat_,
bring it again gently to a boil, and simmer it until the lean appears
quite tender when probed with a sharp skewer; then lift it on to a
drainer and serve it hot or cold, and garnished in either case with
vegetables or otherwise at pleasure. Beef, 6 lbs.: 3 hours or more.
CHORISSA (OR JEWISH SAUSAGE) WITH RICE.
The chorissa is a peculiar kind of smoked sausage much served at Jewish
tables[189] as an accompaniment to boiled poultry, &c. It seems to be in
great part composed of delicate pounded meat, intermingled with suet and
with a small portion of some highly-cured preparation, and with herbs or
spices which impart to it an agreeable aromatic flavour.
Footnote 189:
It may be had at the same shops as the smoked beef, and is the same
price—a shilling the pound.
Drop the _chorissa_ into warm water, heat it gently, boil it for about
twenty minutes, and serve it surrounded with rice prepared as for
currie. It will be found very good broiled in slices after the previous
boiling: it should be cold before it is again laid to the fire. In all
cases it will, we think, be found both more easy of digestion and more
agreeable if half-boiled at least before it is broiled, toasted, or
warmed in the oven for table. It is a good addition to forcemeat, and
pounded savoury preparations, if used in moderation.
TO FRY SALMON AND OTHER FISH IN OIL.
(_To Serve Cold._)
Turn into a _small_ deep frying-pan, which should be kept for the
purpose, a flask of fresh olive oil, place it over a clear fire, and as
soon as it ceases to bubble lay in a pound and a half of delicate salmon
properly cleansed and well dried in a cloth, and fry it gently until it
is cooked quite through. The surface should be only lightly browned, and
when the proper colour is attained the pan must be lifted so high from
the fire as to prevent it being deepened, as we have directed in Chapter
IX. in the general instructions for frying. Drain the fish well when it
is done, and when it is perfectly cold, dish, and garnish it with light
foliage. The Jews have cold fried fish much served at their repasts.
Fillets of soles, plaice, brill, small turbots, or other flat fish, may
be fried as above, and arranged in a symmetrical form round a portion of
a larger fish, or by themselves. We would recommend as an accompaniment
one of the _Mauritian chutnies_ which are to be found in this chapter.
Olive oil, 1 small flask; salmon, about 1-1/2 lb.: 1/2 hour or rather
more. Fillets of fish 5 to 10 minutes.
_Obs._—The oil should be strained through a sieve, and set aside as the
fish is done; it will serve many times for frying if this be observed.
JEWISH ALMOND PUDDING.
We have not thought it necessary to test this receipt ourselves, as we
have tasted the puddings made by it more than once, and have received
the exact directions for them from the Jewish lady at whose house they
were made. They are extremely delicate and excellent. The almonds for
them were procured ready ground from a Jew confectioner, but when they
cannot be thus obtained they must be pounded in the usual manner. With
half a pound of sweet, mingle six or seven bitter almonds, half a pound
of sifted sugar, a little fine orange-flower water, with the yolks of
ten and the whites of seven well whisked eggs, and when the whole of the
ingredients are intimately blended, bake the pudding in a rather quick
oven for half an hour, or longer should it not be then sufficiently firm
to turn out of the dish. Sift sugar thickly over, or pour round it a
rich syrup flavoured with orange-flower water, _noyau_ or _maraschino_.
_Obs._—We think a _fruit_ syrup—pine-apple or other—or a compôte of
fruit would be an excellent accompaniment to this pudding, which may be
served hot or cold. We conclude that the dish in which it is baked, _if
not well buttered_, must be rubbed with oil. The above proportions will
make two puddings of sufficient size for a small party.
THE LADY’S OR INVALID’S NEW BAKED APPLE PUDDING.
(_Author’s Original Receipt. Appropriate to the Jewish table._)
This pudding, which contains no butter, is most excellent when made
_with exactness_ by the directions which follow, but any variation from
them will probably be attended with entire failure, especially in the
crust, which if properly made will be solid, but very light and crisp;
whereas, if the proportion of sugar for it be diminished, the bread will
not form a compact mass, but will fall into crumbs when it is served.
First weigh six ounces of the crumb of a light stale loaf, and grate it
down small; then add to, and mix thoroughly with it three ounces and a
half of pounded sugar, and a slight pinch of salt. Next, take from a
pound to a pound and a quarter of russets, or of any other _good_ baking
apples; pare, and then take them off the cores in quarters without
cutting the fruit asunder, as they will then, from the form given to
them, lie more compactly in the dish. Arrange them in close layers in a
deep tart-dish which holds about a pint and a half, and strew amongst
them four ounces of sugar and the grated rind of a fine fresh lemon; add
the strained juice of the lemon, and pour the bread-crumbs softly in a
heap upon the apples in the centre of the dish, and with the back of a
spoon level them gently into a very smooth layer of equal thickness,
pressing them lightly down upon the fruit, which must all be perfectly
covered with them. Sift powdered sugar over, wipe the edge of the dish,
and bake the pudding in a somewhat quick oven for rather more than
three-quarters of an hour. We have had it several times baked quite
successfully in a baker’s oven, of which the heat is in general too
great for puddings of a delicate kind. Very pale brown sugar will answer
for it almost as well as pounded. For the nursery, some crumbs of bread
may be strewed between the layers of fruit, and nutmeg or cinnamon may
be used instead of lemon.
_Obs._—We insert this receipt here because the pudding has been so much
liked, and found so wholesome by many persons who have partaken of it at
different times, that we think it will be acceptable to some of our
readers, but it belongs properly to another work which we have in
progress, and from which we extract it now for the present volume. An
ounce or more of ratifias crushed to powder, may be added to the crust,
or strewed over the pudding before it is served, when they are
considered an improvement.
A FEW GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE JEWISH TABLE.
As a substitute for milk, in the composition of _soufflés_, puddings,
and sweet dishes, _almond-cream_ as it is called, will be found to
answer excellently. To prepare it, blanch and pound the almonds by the
directions of page 542, and then pour very gradually to them boiling
water in the proportion directed below; turn them into a strong cloth or
tammy, and wring it from them with powerful pressure, to extract as much
as possible of it from them again.
The fruit custards of page 482, and the _méringues_ of fruit of page
485, are perfectly suited to the tables of Jewish families; and sweet or
savoury _croustades_ or fried patties may be supplied to them from the
receipts in the present work, by substituting clarified marrow (see page
388) for the butter used for them in general cookery. The reader will
easily discover in addition, numerous dishes distributed through this
volume which may be served to them without departing from their peculiar
usages.
Almond-cream: (for puddings, &c.) almonds, 4 oz.; water, 1 pint. For
blancmanges, and rich _soufflés_, creams and custards: almonds, 1/2 to
whole pound; water, 1 to 1-1/2 pints.
_Obs._—As every cook may not be quite aware of the articles of food
strictly prohibited by the Mosaic law, it may be well to specify them
here. Pork in every form; all varieties of shell-fish, without
exception; hares, rabbits, and swans.
TOMATA AND OTHER CHUTNIES.
(_Mauritian Receipts._)
The composition of these favourite oriental sauces varies but little
except in the ingredient which forms the basis of each. The same piquant
or stimulating auxiliaries are intermingled with all of them in greater
or less proportion. These are, young onions, chilies (sometimes green
ginger), oil, vinegar, and salt; and occasionally a little garlic or
full grown onion, which in England might be superseded by a small
portion of minced eschalot. Green peaches, mangoes, and other unripe
fruits, crushed to pulp on the stone roller, shown at the head of this
chapter; ripe bananas, tomatas roasted or raw, and also reduced to a
smooth pulp; potatoes cooked and mashed; the fruit of the egg-plant
boiled and reduced to a paste; fish, fresh, salted, or smoked, and
boiled or grilled, taken in small fragments from the bones and skin, and
torn into minute shreds, or pounded, are all in their turn used in their
preparation.[190] Mingle with any one of these as much of the green
onions and chilies chopped up small, as will give it a strong flavour;
add salt if needed, and as much olive oil, of pure quality, with a third
as much of vinegar, as will bring it to the consistence of a thick
sauce. Serve it with currie, cutlets, steaks, pork, cold meat, or fish,
or aught else to which it would be an acceptable accompaniment.
Footnote 190:
We are indebted for these receipts to a highly intelligent medical man
who has been for twenty years a resident in the Mauritius.
INDIAN LOBSTER-CUTLETS.
A really excellent and elegant receipt for lobster-cutlets has already
been given in previous editions of the present work, and is now to be
found at page 91 of Chapter III.; but the subjoined is one which may be
more readily and expeditiously prepared, and may consequently, be
preferred by some of our readers for that reason: it has also the
recommendation of being new. In India, these cutlets are made from the
flesh of prawns, which are there of enormous size, but lobsters, unless
quite overgrown, answer for them as well, or better. Select fish of good
size and take out the tails entire; slice them about the third of an
inch thick, dip them into beaten egg, and then into very fine crumbs of
bread seasoned rather highly with cayenne, and moderately with salt,
grated nutmeg, and pounded mace. Egg and crumb them twice, press the
bread upon them with the blade of a knife, and when all are ready, fry
them quickly in good butter to a light brown. Serve them as dry as
possible, arranged in a chain round a hot dish, and pour into the
centre, or send to table with them in a tureen, some sauce made with the
flesh of the claws heated in some rich melted butter, flavoured with a
tablespoonful of essence of anchovies, one of strong chili vinegar, a
little salt and mace, and coloured with the coral of the fish, should
they contain any. A few shrimps may be added with good effect; or the
sauce may be made of these entirely, either whole or pounded, when they
are preferred. In either case, they should only be heated in it, and not
allowed to boil. East or West Indian mangoes, or other hot pickle,
should accompany the dish. The cutlets may likewise be dipped into light
French batter, and fried; but the egg and bread-crumbs are somewhat
preferable. It is an advantage to have lobsters little more than
parboiled for them. Herbs can be added to the crumbs at pleasure; the
writer does not, however, recommend them.
AN INDIAN BURDWAN.
(_Entrée._)
This is an Oriental dish of high savour, which may be made either with a
young fowl or chicken parboiled for the purpose, or with the remains of
such as have already been sent to table. First, put into a stewpan about
a tablespoonful of very mild onion finely minced, or a larger proportion
with a mixture of eschalots, for persons whose taste is in favour of so
strong a flavour; add rather more than a quarter of a pint of cold
water, about an ounce of butter smoothly blended with a very small
teaspoonful of flour, a moderate seasoning of cayenne, and a
tablespoonful of essence of anchovies. Shake or stir this sauce over a
clear fire until it boils, then let it stand aside and merely simmer for
ten or fifteen minutes, or until the onion is quite tender, then pour to
it a couple of wineglassesful of Madeira (Sherry or Tenerifte will do),
and a tablespoonful of chili-vinegar. Lay in the fowl after having
carved it neatly, divided all the joints, and stripped off the skin; and
let it remain close to the fire, but without boiling, until it is
perfectly heated through; bring it to the point of boiling and send it
immediately to table. A dish of rice, boiled as for currie, is often,
but not invariably, served with it. Should the fowl have been parboiled
only—that is to say, boiled for a quarter of an hour—it must be gently
stewed in the sauce for fifteen or twenty minutes; longer, even, should
it not then be quite tender. Cold lamb, or veal, or calf’s-head, or a
delicate young rabbit, may be very advantageously served as a
_rechauffé_, in a sauce compounded as above. The various condiments
contained in this can be differently apportioned at pleasure; and
pickled capsicum, or chilies minced, can be added to it at choice either
in lieu of, or in addition to the chili-vinegar. The juice of a fresh
lime should, if possible, be thrown into it before it is served. Except
for a quite plain family dinner, only the superior joints of poultry
should be used for this dish. Care should be taken not to allow the
essence of anchovies to predominate too powerfully in it.
THE KING OF OUDE’S OMLET.
Whisk up very lightly, after having cleared them in the usual way, five
fine fresh eggs; add to them two dessertspoonsful of milk or cream, a
small teaspoonful of salt, one—or half that quantity for English
eaters—of cayenne pepper, three of minced mint, and two dessertspoonsful
of young leeks, or of mild onions chopped small. Dissolve an ounce and a
half of good butter in a frying-pan about the size of a plate, or should
a larger one of necessity be used, raise the handle so as to throw the
omlet entirely to the opposite side; pour in the eggs, and when the
omlet, which should be kept as thick as possible, is well risen and
quite firm, and of a fine light brown underneath, slide it on to a very
hot dish, and fold it together “like a turnover,” the brown side
uppermost: six or seven minutes will fry it. This receipt is given to
the reader in a very modified form, the fiery original which we
transcribe being likely to find but few admirers here we apprehend: the
proportion of leeks or onions might still be much diminished with
advantage:—“Five eggs, two tolahs of milk, one masha of salt, two mashas
of cayenne pepper, three of mint, and two tolahs of leeks.”
KEDGEREE OR KIDGEREE, AN INDIAN BREAKFAST DISH.
Boil four ounces of rice tender and dry as for currie, and when it is
cooled down put it into a saucepan with nearly an equal quantity of cold
fish taken clear of skin and bone, and divided into very small flakes or
scallops. Cut up an ounce or two of fresh butter and add it, with a full
seasoning of cayenne, and as much salt as may be required. Stir the
kedgeree constantly over a clear fire until it is very hot; then mingle
quickly with it two slightly beaten eggs. Do not let it boil after these
are stirred in; but serve the dish when they are just _set_. A Mauritian
chatney may be sent to table with it. The butter may be omitted, and its
place supplied by an additional egg or more. Cold turbot, brill, salmon,
soles, John Dory, and shrimps, may all be served in this form.
A SIMPLE SYRIAN PILAW.
Drop gradually into three pints of boiling water one pint of rice which
has been shaken in a cullender to free it from the dust and then well
wiped in a soft clean cloth. The boiling should not be checked by the
addition of the rice, which if well managed will require no stirring,
and which will entirely absorb the water. It should be placed _above_
the fire where the heat will reach it equally from below; and it should
boil gently that the grain may become quite tender and dry. When it is
so, and the surface is full of holes, pour in two or three ounces of
clarified butter, or merely add some, cut up small; throw in a seasoning
of salt and white pepper, or cayenne; stir the whole up well, and serve
it immediately. An onion, when the flavour is liked, may be boiled in
the water, which should afterwards be strained, before the rice is
added; there should be three pints of it when the grain is dropped in.
Small fried sausages or sausage-cakes may be served with it at pleasure
for English eaters. The rice may be well washed and thoroughly dried in
a cloth when time will permit.
SIMPLE TURKISH OR ARABIAN PILAW.
(_From Mr. Lane, the Oriental Traveller._)
“_Piláw_ or _piláu_ is made by boiling rice in plenty of water for about
twenty minutes, so that the water drains off easily, leaving the grains
whole, and with some degree of hardness; then stirring it up with a
little butter, just enough to make the grains separate easily, and
seasoning it with salt and pepper. Often a fowl, boiled almost to rags,
is laid upon the top. Sometimes small morsels of fried or roasted mutton
or lamb are mixed up with it; and there are many other additions; but
generally the Turks and Arabs add nothing to the rice but the butter,
and salt, and pepper.”
_Obs._—We are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Lane for this receipt,
which was procured from him for us by one of his friends.
A REAL INDIAN PILAW.
Boil three pounds of bacon in the usual manner; take it out and drop
into the same pan a pair of fowls compactly trussed as for boiling. In
three quarters of an hour, unless very large, they will be sufficiently
cooked; but they should be thoroughly boiled. When they are so, lift
them out, and place a hot cover and thick cloth over them. Take three
pints and a half of the liquor in which they were boiled, and add to it
when it again boils, nearly two pounds of well washed Patna rice, three
onions, a quarter of an ounce each of cloves and peppercorns, with half
as much of allspice, tied loosely in a bit of muslin. Stew these
together very gently for three quarters of an hour. Do not stir them as
it breaks the rice. Take out the spice and onions; lay in the fowls if
necessary, to heat them quite through, and dish them neatly with the
rice heaped smoothly over them. Garnish the pilaw with hot hard-boiled
eggs cut in quarters, or with fried forcemeat-balls, or with half rings
of onion fried extremely dry. The bacon, heated apart, should be served
in a separate dish.
_Obs._—This is a highly approved receipt supplied to us by a friend who
had long experience of it in India; but we would suggest that to be
_really cooked_ so as to render it wholesome in this country, a larger
quantity of liquid should be added to it, as one pint (or pound) will
absorb three pints of water or broth: and the time allowed for stewing
it appears to us insufficient for it to become really tender. A Persian
Pilaw is made much in the same manner, sometimes with morsels of fried
kid mixed with the rice.
Bacon, 3 lbs., 1-1/2 to 2 hours; fowls, 2.; Rice, nearly 2 lbs. Broth
from bacon and fowls, 3-1/2 pints; onions, 3; cloves and peppercorns,
1/4 oz. each; allspice, 1 drachm: 3/4 hour.
INDIAN RECEIPT FOR CURRIED FISH.
Take the fish from the bones, and cut it into inch and half squares; lay
it into a stewpan with sufficient hot water to barely cover it; sprinkle
some salt over, and boil it gently until it is about half cooked. Lift
it out with a fish-slice, pour the liquor into a basin, and clear off
any scum which may be on it. Should there be three or four pounds of the
fish, dissolve a quarter of a pound of butter in a stewpan, and when it
has become a little brown, add two cloves of garlic and a large onion
finely minced or sliced very thin; fry them until they are well
coloured, then add the fish; strew equally over it, and stir it well up
with from two to three tablespoonsful of Bengal currie powder; cover the
pan, and shake it often until the fish is nicely browned; next add by
degrees the liquor in which it was stewed, and simmer it until it is
perfectly done, but not so as to fall into fragments. Add a moderate
quantity of lemon-juice or chili vinegar, and serve it very hot.
BENGAL CURRIE POWDER.
No. 1.
Mix thoroughly the following ingredients after they have been separately
reduced to the finest powder and passed through a fine hair or lawn
sieve:—
6 oz. coriander seed.
3 oz. black pepper.
1 oz. cummin-seed.
1-1/2 oz. fenugreek-seed.
3/4 oz. cayenne pepper.
3 oz. best pale turmeric.
Set the powder before the fire to dry, and turn it often; then withdraw
it, let it become cold, and bottle it immediately. Keep it closely
corked.
_Obs._—We cannot think a large proportion of black pepper a desirable
addition to currie powder, as it gives a strong coarse flavour: but as
it may be liked by persons who are accustomed to it, we give the
preceding and the following receipt without varying either: the second
appears to us the best.
Coriander-seed 8 oz.
Chinese 4 oz.
turmeric
Black pepper 2 oz.
Cassia 1/2
oz.
White ginger 1 oz.
Cayenne pepper 1/2
oz.
RISOTTO À LA MILANAISE.
Slice a large onion very thin, and divide it into shreds; then fry it
slowly until it is equally but not too deeply browned; take it out and
strain the butter, and fry in it about three ounces of rice for every
person who is to partake of it. As the grain easily burns, it should be
put into the butter when it begins to simmer, and be very gently
coloured to a bright yellow tint over a slow fire. Add it to some good
boiling broth lightly tinged with saffron, and stew it softly in a
copper pan for fifteen or twenty minutes. Stir to it two or three ounces
of butter mixed with a small portion of flour, a moderate seasoning of
pepper or cayenne, and as much grated Parmesan cheese as will flavour it
thoroughly. Boil the whole gently for ten minutes, and serve it very
hot, at the commencement of dinner as a _potage_.
_Obs._—The reader should bear in mind what we have so often repeated in
this volume, that rice should always _be perfectly cooked_, and that it
will not become tender with less than three times its bulk of liquid.
STUFATO.
(_A Neapolitan Receipt._)
“Take about six pounds of the silver side of the round, and make several
deep incisions in the inside, nearly through to the skin; stuff these
with all kinds of savoury herbs, a good slice of lean ham, and half a
small clove of garlic, all finely minced, and well mingled together;
then bind and tie the meat closely round, so that the stuffing may not
escape. Put four pounds of butter into a stewpan sufficiently large to
contain something more than that quantity, and the beef in addition; so
soon as it boils lay in the meat, let it just simmer for five or six
hours, and turn it every half hour at least, that it may be equally
done. Boil for twenty-five minutes three pounds of pipe maccaroni, drain
it perfectly dry, and mix it with the gravy of the beef, without the
butter, half a pint of very pure salad oil, and a pot of paste tomatas;
mix these to amalgamation, without breaking the maccaroni; before
serving up, sprinkle Parmesan cheese thickly on the maccaroni.”
We insert this receipt exactly as it was given to us by a friend, at
whose table the dish was served with great success to some Italian
diplomatists. From our own slight experience of it, we should suppose
that the excellence of the beef is quite a secondary consideration, as
all its juices are drawn out by the mode of cooking, and appropriated to
the maccaroni, of which we must observe that three pounds would make too
_gigantic_ a dish to enter well, on ordinary occasions, into an English
service.
We have somewhere seen directions for making the _stufato_ with the
upper part of the sirloin, thickly larded with large, well-seasoned
lardoons of bacon, and then stewed in equal parts of rich gravy, and of
red or of white wine.
BROILED EELS WITH SAGE. (ENTRÉE.)
(_German Receipt._) _Good._
Skin, open, and cleanse one fine eel (or more), cut it into
finger-lengths, rub it with a mixed seasoning of salt and white pepper,
and leave it for half an hour. Wipe it dry, wrap each length in sage
leaves, fasten them round it with coarse thread, roll the eel in good
salad oil or clarified butter, lay it on the gridiron, squeeze
lemon-juice over, and broil it gently until it is browned in every part.
Send it to table with a sauce made of two or three ounces of butter, a
tablespoonful of chili, tarragon, or common vinegar, and one of water,
with a little salt; to keep this smooth, proceed as for the Norfolk
sauce of Chapter V. Broiled fish is frequently served without _any_
sauce. A quite simple one may supply the place of that which we have
indicated above: eels being of so rich a nature, require no other.
A SWISS MAYONNAISE.
Beat half a pound of butter to a cream, and then add it very gradually
to the hard-boiled yolks of six fresh eggs which have been cut into
quarters, separated carefully from the whites, and pounded to a perfect
paste; when these are blended into a smooth sauce add, a few drops at a
time, some of the finest salad oil that can be procured, and work the
mixture in the same manner as the _mayonnaise_ of Chapter VI. until no
particle of it remains visible: a small quantity of salt also must be
thrown in, and sufficient good vinegar in very small portions, to give
an agreeable acidity to the preparation. (Fresh lemon-juice might be
substituted in part for this, and a little fine cayenne used with it;
but though we suggest this, we adhere to our original Swiss receipt for
this excellent dish, even when we think it might be slightly improved in
_flavour_.)
Carve very neatly two delicate boiled fowls, and trim the joints into
handsome form. Lay the inferior parts upon a large plate, and spread a
portion of the sauce, which should be very thick, upon them; arrange
them in a flat layer in the dish in which they are to be served; then
sauce in the same way more of the joints, and arrange them symmetrically
over the others. Proceed thus to build a sort of pyramid with the whole;
and decorate it with the whites of the eggs, and the hearts of small
lettuces cut in halves. Place these last round the base alternately with
whole bantams’ or plovers’ eggs, boiled hard, a small slice must be cut
from the large end of each of these to admit of their being placed
upright. A slight branch of parsley, or other foliage, may be stuck in
the tops. Roast chickens divested entirely of the skin, can always be
substituted for boiled ones in a _mayonnaise_: they should all be
separated into single joints with the exception of the wings. The quite
inferior parts need not be used at all.
The same sauce rather highly flavoured with cayenne, and other
condiments, and more or less, to the taste, with essence of anchovies or
anchovy butter, and coloured with lobster-coral, will make an excellent
fish-salad, with alternate slices of lobster,—cut obliquely to increase
their size,—and of cold turbot or large soles. These can be raised into
a high border or chain round a dish when more convenient, and the centre
filled with young fresh salad, sauced at the instant it is sent to
table.
A French _mayonnaise_ does not vary much from the preceding, except in
the composition of the sauce, for which see Chapter VI. It should always
be kept very thick. A little rich cold white sauce is sometimes mixed
with it.
TENDRONS DE VEAU.
The _tendrons_ (or gristles) which lie under the flesh of the brisket of
a breast of veal are much used in foreign countries, and frequently now
in this, to supply a variety of the dishes called _entrées_. When long
stewed they become perfectly tender, and yield a large amount of
gelatine; but they are quite devoid of flavour, and require therefore to
be cooked and served with such additions as shall render them palatable.
With a very sharp knife detach the flesh from them without separating it
from the joint, and turn it back, so as to allow the gristles to be
divided easily from the long bones. Cut away the chine-bone from their
outer edge, and then proceed first to soak them, that they may be very
white, and to boil them gently for several hours,[191] either quite
simply, in good broth, or with additions of bacon, spice, and
vegetables. Foreign cooks _braise_ them somewhat expensively, and then
serve them in many different forms; but as they make, after all, but a
rather unpretending _entrée_, some economy in their preparation would
generally be desirable. They may be divided at the joints, and cut
obliquely into thin slices before they are stewed, when they will
require but four hours simmering; or they may be left entire and
braised, when they will require, while still warm, to be pressed between
two dishes with a heavy weight on the top, to bring them into good shape
before they are divided for table. They are then sometimes dipped into
egg and bread-crumbs, and fried in thin slices of uniform size; or
stewed tender, then well drained, and glazed, dished in a circle, and
served with peas _à la Française_ in the centre, or with a thick _purée_
of tomatas, or of other vegetables. They are also often used to fill
_vol-au-vents_, for which purpose they must be kept very white, and
mixed with a good _béchamel_-sauce. We recommend their being highly
curried, either in conjunction with plenty of vegetables, or with a
portion of other meat, after they have been baked or stewed as tender as
possible.
Footnote 191:
We think that in the pasted jar which we have described in Chapter
IX., in the section of Baking, they might be well and easily cooked,
but we have not tried it.
POITRINE DE VEAU GLACÉE.
(_Breast of Veal Stewed and Glazed._)
When the gristles have been removed from a breast of veal, the joint
will still make an excellent roast, or serve to stew or braise. Take out
the long-bones,[192] beat the veal with the flat side of a cleaver, or
with a cutlet-bat, and when it is quite even, cut it square, and
sprinkle over it a moderate seasoning of fine salt, cayenne, and mace.
Make some forcemeat by either of the receipts Nos. 1, 2, 3, or 7, of
Chapter VIII., but increase the ingredients to three or four times the
quantity, according to the size of the joint. Lay over the veal, or not,
as is most convenient, thin slices of half-boiled bacon, or of ham;
press the forcemeat into the form of a short compact _rouleau_ and lay
it in the centre of one side of the breast; then roll it up and skewer
the ends closely with small skewers, and bind the joint firmly into good
form with tape or twine. When thus prepared, it may be slowly stewed in
very good veal stock until it is tender quite through, and which should
be _hot_ when it is laid in; or embedded in the usual ingredients for
braising (see Chapter IX., page 180), and sent to table glazed, sauced
with an _Espagnole_, or other rich gravy, and garnished with carrots _à
la Windsor_ (see page 335), or with sweetbread cutlets, also glazed.
Footnote 192:
This is very easily done by cutting through the skin down the centre
of each.
BREAST OF VEAL. SIMPLY STEWED.[193]
Footnote 193:
We give here the English receipt of an excellent practical cook for
“Stewed Breast of veal,” as it may be acceptable to some of our
readers, After it has been boned, flattened, and trimmed, season it
well, and let it lie for an hour or two (this, we do not consider
essential); then prepare some good veal forcemeat, to which let a
little minced shalot be added, and spread it over the veal If you have
any cold _tongue_ or lean of ham, cut it in square strips, and lay
them the short way of the meat that they may be shewn when it is
carved. Roll it up very tight, and keep it in good shape; enclose it
in a cloth as you would a jam-pudding, and lace it up well, then lay
it into a braising-pan with three onions, as many large carrots
thickly sliced, some spice, sweet herbs, and sufficient fresh
second-stock or strong veal broth to more than half cover it, and stew
it very gently over a slow fire for three hours: turn it occasionally
without disturbing the _braise_ which surrounds it. Glaze it before it
is sent to table, and serve it with Spanish sauce, or with rich
English brown gravy, flavoured with a glass of sherry; and garnish it
with stewed mushrooms in small heaps, and fried forcemeat balls.
Omit the forcemeat from the preceding receipt, and stew the joint tender
in good veal broth, or shin of beef stock. Drain, and dish it. Pour a
little rich gravy round it, and garnish it with nicely fried balls of
the forcemeat No. 1, Chapter VIII., or with mushroom-forcemeat (No. 7).
Mushroom-sauce is always an excellent accompaniment to a joint of veal.
The liquor in which the breast is stewed or braised is too fat to serve
as sauce until it has been cooled and cleared. The veal can be cooked
without boning, but will have but an indifferent appearance. It should
in that case be slowly brought to boil, and very gently simmered: about
two hours and a half will stew it tender. The sweetbread, after being
scalded, may be stewed with it for half the time, and served upon it.
_Obs._—The breast without the gristles, boned and filled with forcemeat,
makes a superior roast. It may also be boiled on occasion, and served
with balls of oyster-forcemeat in the dish; or with white mushroom-sauce
instead.
COMPOTE DE PIGEONS (STEWED PIGEONS.)
The French in much of their cookery use more bacon than would generally
be suited to a very delicate taste, we think. This bacon, from being
cured without saltpetre, and from not being smoked, rather resembles
salt pork in flavour: we explain this that the reader may, when so
disposed, adapt the receipts we give here to an English table by
omitting it. Cut into dice from half to three quarters of a pound of
streaked bacon, and fry it gently in a large stewpan with a morsel of
butter until it is very lightly browned; lift it out, and put in three
or four young pigeons trussed as for boiling. When they have become
firm, and lightly coloured, lift them out, and stir a large
tablespoonful of flour to the fat. When this thickening (_roux_) is also
slightly browned, add gradually to it a pint, or something more, of
boiling veal-stock or strong broth; put back the birds and the bacon,
with a few small button-onions when their flavour is liked, and stew the
whole very gently for three quarters of an hour. Dish the pigeons neatly
with the bacon and onions laid between them; skim all the fat from the
sauce, reduce it quickly, and strain it over them. The birds should be
laid into the stewpan with the breasts downwards.
The third, or half of a pottle of small mushrooms is sometimes added to
this dish. It may be converted into a _compote aux petits pois_ by
adding to the pigeons when the broth, in which they are laid, first
begins to boil, a pint and a half of young peas. For these, a pint and a
quarter, at the least, of liquid will be required, and a full hour’s
stewing. The economist can substitute water for the broth. When the
birds can be had at little cost, one, two, or more, according to
circumstances, should be stewed down to make broth or sauce for the
others.
_Obs._—Pigeons are excellent filled with the mushrooms _au beurre_, of
page 329, and either roasted or stewed. To broil them proceed as
directed for a partridge (French receipt), page 290.
MAI TRANK (MAY-DRINK).
(_German._)
[Illustration]
Put into a large deep jug one pint of light white wine to two of red,
and dissolve in it sufficient sugar to sweeten it agreeably. Wipe a
sound China orange, cut it in rather thick slices, without paring it,
and add it to the wine; then throw in some small bunches or faggots of
the fragrant little plant called _woodruff_; cover the jug closely to
exclude the air and leave it until the following day. Serve it to all
_May-day visitors_. One orange will be sufficient for three pints of
wine. The woodruff should be washed and well drained before it is thrown
into the jug; and the quantity of it used should not be _very_ large, or
the flavour of the beverage will be rather injured than improved by it.
We have tried this receipt on a small scale with lemon-rind instead of
oranges, and the mixture was very agreeable. Rhenish wine should
properly be used for it; but this is expensive in England. The woodruff
is more odorous when dried gradually in the shade than when it is fresh
gathered, and imparts a pleasant fragrance to linen, as lavender does.
It grows wild in Kent, Surrey, and other parts of England, and
flourishes in many suburban gardens in the neighbourhood of London.
A VIENNESE SOUFFLÉ-PUDDING, CALLED SALZBURGER NOCKERL.
At the moment of going to press, we have received direct from Vienna the
following receipt, which we cannot resist offering to the reader for
trial, as we are assured that the dish is one of the most delicate and
delicious soufflé-puddings that can be made.
(A) Take butter, four ounces; sugar in powder, three ounces; fine flour,
one ounce and a half or two ounces; and the yellow of eight eggs; beat
these together in a convenient sized basin till the mixture gets frothy.
(The butter should probably first be beaten to cream.)
(B) Beat to snow the whites of the eight eggs.
(C) Take three pounds (or pints) of new milk, put it in an open stewpan
over a gentle fire, and let it boil.
(D) Next, prepare a china casserole (enamelled stewpan—a copper one will
do) by greasing its internal surface.
As soon as the milk boils, mix gently A and B together, and with a small
spoon take portions of this shape and size and lay them over the surface
of the boiling milk till it is entirely covered with them. Let them boil
for four or five minutes to cook them; then put them in convenient order
on the ground of the greased _casserole_ (stewpan). Go on putting in the
same manner small portions of the mixture on the surface of the boiling
milk, and when cooked, place a new layer of them in the stewpan over the
first; and continue the same operation until the mixture is all
consumed. Take now the remainder of the milk, and add it to the beaten
yellow (yolks) of two eggs, some sugar, and some powdered vanilla. Pour
this over the cooked pastry in the stewpan, and set it into a gently
heated oven. Leave it there until it gets brown; then powder it with
vanilla-sugar, and send it to the table.
--------------
_Author’s Note._—The preceding directions were written by a physician of
Vienna, at whose table the dish was served. It was turned out of the
casserole, and served with the greatest expedition; but we think it
would perhaps answer more generally here, to bake it in a _soufflé_
dish, and to leave it undisturbed. We would also suggest, that the yolk
of a third egg might sometimes be needed to bind the mixture well
together. A good and experienced cook would easily ascertain the best
mode of ensuring the success of the preparation.
We must observe, that the form of the enamelled _stewpans_ made commonly
in this country prevents their being well adapted for use in the present
receipt: those of copper are better suited to it.
Half the proportion of the ingredients might, by way of experiment, be
prepared and baked in a tart-dish, as our puddings frequently are; or in
a small round cake mould, with a band of writing paper fastened round
the top.
The vanilla sugar is prepared by cutting the bean up small, and pounding
it with some sugar in a mortar, and then passing it through a very fine
sieve.
The “cooked portions” of which the soufflé is principally composed are
the shape, and about half the size of the inside of an egg-spoon. If
somewhat larger, they would _possibly_ answer as well.
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INDEX.
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