Part 6

The meat employed for broth (and also for soup and gravy), should be fresh, for if in the slightest degree tainted or musty, it infallibly communicates a very disagreeable taste to the broth; besides, fresh meat gives a more savoury broth than meat that has been kept for two or three days. It is also advisable to score the meat and to cut it into slices, or to bruise it with a mallet or cleaver.

Two pounds of muscular beef scored and cut into slices, affords a stronger and far more savoury broth, than 3 lbs. of the same beef when boiled in one piece. Cooks usually allow for good broth, one pound of muscular meat, to two quarts of water, and they suffer the fluid to simmer till reduced, by evaporation, to one pint, or one pint and a half. A second decoction may be made by again covering the meat with a less quantity of water, and suffering it to boil, taking care to supply the water from time to time as it becomes evaporated.

This reminds us of Rabelais, the humorous vicar of Meudon, who distinguishes, in his jocose way, two sorts of broths. (_Bouillon de Prime_,) prime-broth; and broth good for hounds; (_Bouillon de levriers_,) the meaning of which stands as follows.[25] The first designates that premature delibation of broth which the young monks in the convent used to steal, when they could, from the kitchen, in their way to the choir at the hour of “_Prime_,” a service which was performed at about seven or eight in the morning, when the porridge-pot, with all its ingredients, had been boiling for the space of one or two hours, and when the broth, full of eyes swimming gently on the golden surface, had already obtained an interesting appearance and taste. On the contrary, greyhound’s broth, (_Bouillon de levriers_,) means that portion of the porridge which was served to the novices after an ample _presumption_ in favour of the _Magnates_ of the monastery. This was good for nothing, and monks of inferior ranks were ready to throw it to the dogs.

[25] Tabella Cibaria, p. 23.

The flavouring ingredients, which are usually the domestic pot-herbs and indigenous roots, such as cellery, carrots, &c. should be added at the end of the process, to prevent their aromatic substances becoming dissipated by long simmering.

Dr. Kitchener[26] says, “meat from which broth has been made, is excellently well prepared for _potting_, and is quite as good, or better than that which has been boiled, till it is dry.”

[26] The Cook’s Oracle, p. 103.

SOUP.

Soups are decoctions of meat which differ from broth, in being more concentrated, and usually also more complex in their composition. They are in fact strong broths, containing either farinaceous roots and seeds, or other parts of vegetable substances.

The erudite editor of the “_Almanach des Gourmands_”[27] tells us, that ten folio volumes would not contain the receipts of all the soups that have been invented in that grand school of good eating, the Parisian kitchen. The author of _Apicius Redivivus_[28] says “the general fault of our English soups seems to be the employment of an excess of spice, and too small a portion of roots and herbs.” “_Point des Legumes, point de Cuisiniere_,” is deservedly the common adage of the French kitchen. A better soup may be made with a couple of pounds of meat, and plenty of vegetables, than our common cooks will make with four times that quantity of meat. The great art of composing a rich soup consists in so proportioning the several flavouring ingredients, that no particular taste predominates.”--One pound and a half of meat at least ought to be allowed for making a quart of soup. The full flavour can only be obtained by long and slow simmering the meat, during which time the vessel should be kept covered to prevent the evaporation of the fluid as much as possible.

[27] Vol. II. page 30.

[28] Or the Cook’s Oracle, 2d edit. Vol. 97.

The flavouring ingredients should not be added till ten or fifteen minutes before the soup is finished. Clear soups should be perfectly transparent, and thickened soups, should be of the consistence of cream.

The soup, says a writer, on Cookery, might be called the portal of the edifice of a French dinner, either plain or sumptuous. It is a _sine qua non_ article. It leads to the several courses constituting the essence of the repast, and lays the unsophisticated foundation upon which the whole is to rest, as upon a solid basis, in the stomach. It is, perhaps, the most wholesome food that can be used; and the gaunt, yet strong frame of the French soldiery, has long experienced the benefit of it. They vulgarly say, “_C’est la soupe qui fait le Soldat._” ‘It is the soup that makes the soldier.’ Partial to this mess, they have it daily in barracks, in their marches, and in the camp; and they often swallow a large bowl of broth and bread, in the morning a few minutes before the trumpets calls them to the field of battle.

PIES

Are those dishes which consist either of meat, or of fruit, covered with a farinaceous crust, enriched with butter or other fat, and rendered fit for eating by baking.

The crust of the pie is usually made of two parts by weight of wheaten flour, and one part of butter, lard, or other fat.

The flour is made into a stiff paste with cold water, and rolled out on a board with a paste pin to the thickness of about one quarter of an inch, the board being previously sprinkled over with flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the board. About one-sixth part of the butter, in pieces of the size of a nutmeg, is put over the extended paste, and the whole again dusted with flour; the paste is then doubled up and rolled out as before. A like portion of butter is again distributed over the paste, which, after being doubled up, is rolled out, and the same operation is repeated till the whole quantity of butter is thus incorporated with the flour.

Part of the paste is then laid, one quarter or half an inch in thickness, over the inside of a deep dish in which the pie is to be baked, and the meat, cut in chops or slices, is put into the dish, together with the seasonings, and a portion of water or gravy, about one tea cup full, to one pound of meat. The contents of the basin are then covered with a lid, made of the remainder of the paste, rolled out rather thicker than the inside lining of the dish, and the lid is made to adhere to the inside sheeting, which should extend over the rim of the dish, by pressing the top paste close upon the margin. A few small holes are then made in the top crust, and the pie is put in the oven.

The baking should be slow. If the pie be put into a hot oven, the crust becomes hard, and many a cook is blamed for making bad pies, when the fault really lies with the baker. A light and flaky pie crust can only be produced by the judicious application in the manner stated, of the butter, or fatty matter. By this means the butter is distributed, in distinct layers, through the mass of the pie crust. The flour dusted over each layer prevents the paste forming one mass, or, as it is called, becoming heavy. The more frequently, therefore, the paste is rolled out with butter, lard, or other fat, interposed between each layer, provided the layers are dusted over with flour, the more flaky will be the pie; and hence, also, by increasing the quantity of butter, to a certain limit, the flakeness of the pie crust becomes increased.

Pastry cooks usually allow from ten to twelve ounces of butter to one pound of flour for making a light puff paste, such as they use for tarts and patties.

PUDDINGS

Are of two kinds; the first consists of a farinaceous dough, containing a portion of butter or other fat, inclosing any kind of meat or fruit, and rendered eatable by boiling; it may be termed _a boiled pie_.

The paste for a meat pudding is usually made with beef suet, or marrow, one part of it chopped as fine as possible, and intimately mixed with four parts by weight of flour, is made into a paste with water or milk. With this paste, a pudding mould or basin, previously rubbed with butter within, is lined, and the meat is added to fill up the vacancy. A lid of paste is now put over the meat, and made to adhere to the margin of the dish. The whole is then tied over with a wetted cloth, dusted with flour to prevent the dough sticking to it, and then boiled in water till the pudding is sufficiently cooked.

The other kind of pudding is a batter composed of eggs, butter and flour, or any other farinaceous substance, occasionally enriched with the admixture of fruit, sugar, and spices, and rendered eatable either by boiling in the manner stated, or by baking in an oven.

MADE DISHES,

So called to distinguish them from plain, roasted, boiled, or fried meat; are usually composed of flesh, fish, poultry, or vegetables, stewed with gravy, butter, cream, or other savoury sauces. The composition of made dishes is generally from printed or written receipts, except when done by what are termed professed cooks, who, understanding completely their business, follow their own judgment, in aid of the receipt. There is a mistake very common in supposing that there is a great difficulty in cooking such dishes, though there is indeed much trouble; but if a mistake is made, it can in general be remedied, which is not the case in the mere simple operations of roasting and boiling, where a mistake is very often irreparable.

When we take a view of the chemical composition of made dishes, we soon perceive that they are all compounds of animal and vegetable substances, rendered sapid or agreeable to the palate by strong decoctions of meat, gravy, and spices, of various descriptions; all of them abound in animal gelatine and vegetable mucilage, or farinaceous matter, rendered soluble in water. The quantity of spices is generally small, “[29]their presence should be rather supposed than perceived, they are the invisible spirit of good cookery.”

[29] Dr. Kitchiner’s Cook’s Oracle, p. 493.

OBSERVATIONS ON MADE DISHES.

Made dishes are sometimes very expensive, and sometimes very economical, for ragouts and fricassees are often much less expensive than the plain dishes made of the same material, that is, a given weight of meat will go farther than if plainly roasted or boiled. French cookery consists nearly altogether of made dishes, both with the rich and poor. The rich have them to gratify the palate, and the poor, for the sake of economy. Many circumstances combine to prevent made dishes from becoming of very general or frequent use in England. The care, attention, and length of time necessary for preparing them, are incompatible with the domestic affairs and usages of life in this country, where time is far more precious than in any other country; it is for that reason, most probably, that all the operations of English cookery are such as can be performed expeditiously.

The English cooks, both in the middling and lower ranks, are generally in a hurry to get a dinner dressed. The French cooks, on the contrary, begin in the morning early, and even in the house of the simple _Bourgois_, the dinner begins to be cooked immediately after breakfast.

The superior expedition, and inferior degree of skill which distinguish English from French cookery, would be sufficient alone to give the former the preference in this country; but there are a number of other circumstances that have the same tendency.

A good table is a study in France: it is with the master a grand object in life, and with the cooks a constant employment, like our journeymen in a manufactory. With us, again, the dinner is readily prepared, and expeditiously eaten. It is despatched like a piece of business in this country; but in France, and more or less all over the Continent, people dine as if they had a pleasure in dining; they converse more during the repast than almost at any other time, and they never hurry it over as if they were in haste to be done, and as if they had business always on their mind, and were reflecting on the saying, so common and so true, that “_time is money_.”

It is curious enough, however, to remark, that the French, who sit so long, and enjoy themselves so leisurely at dinner, rise, immediately after the dessert, from the table, and are ready for business; and that the English, who hurry the dinner over, pass whole hours over the bottle as if time were of no value. Such are the inconsistencies of mankind, arising from different tastes and different circumstances.

The construction of our kitchen grates and fire places, and the nature of the fuel we burn, are unfavourable to the slow and regular simmering with which made dishes are prepared; and, at the same time, that they are unfavourable for made dishes, they are exactly what is wanted for English cookery. The construction of the grates, together with the nature of the fuel, produce a fierce scorching fire, so that the direct rays of heat may be made to impinge on the substance to be cooked.

In France, roasting large joints is almost impracticable with the form and nature of the fire; so that it does not appear that taste or will has been the only guide in the mode of cooking in either country; but that the practices most suitable to circumstances have been a chief cause of the great difference of the manner of dressing victuals.

English medical men have always been at great pains to condemn made dishes as injurious to health; but the French physicians have been of a different opinion, and if _experientia docet_ is a true proverb, they ought to be the best judges: but those who have been used to both, will allow that they are less heavy, and the stomach seems to be less encumbered after the French dinner on made dishes, than the English one on single joints.

In made dishes, where butcher’s meat enters, as although the chief ingredient is generally _much more_ done, to use the common phrase, none of its nutritive substances are lost; but as the arguments for and against the real things of one or the other is not to be determined by reason, and has not been determined by experience, it would be absurd to give an opinion on the subject.

It may be well enough, however, to observe, that the dispute about what are the most healthy dishes, probably arises from difference of tastes, and from those things to which the stomach has not been accustomed, not agreeing with it at first; so that most people on finding it so, if they can avoid doing it, never repeat the experiment.

The case is the same with Foreigners as with Englishmen, for their stomachs do not at first find our dishes agree with them.

GRAVY.

When the muscular part of meat is gradually exposed to a very moderate heat, sufficient to brown the outer fibres, the gelatine, osmazome, and other animal juices of it, become disengaged, and separated in a liquid state, and constitute a fluid of a brown colour, possessing a highly savoury and grateful taste. Hence gravy is the soluble constituent or liquid part of meat, which, spontaneously, exudes from flesh, when gradually exposed to a continued heat sufficient to corrugate the animal fibre. Flavouring vegetables are often added, and fried with the meat, such as sliced onions, carrots or cellery, till they are tender, together with some spices and the usual condiments.

To extract gravy, the meat is cut into thin slices, or it is scored, and the fibres are bruised with a mallet. It is then usually seasoned, with pepper and salt, and exposed in a pan containing a small quantity of butter, or other fat, (or without any fat,) to the action of a gradual heat, just sufficient to brown the outer fibre strongly. The juices of the meat, which are thus during the frying process, copiously disengaged, are suffered to remain exposed to the action of heat till they have assumed the consistence of a thin cream, and a brown colour. A small portion of water is then added to re-dissolve the extracted mass, and after the whole has been suffered to simmer with the spices and roots for a short time, together with an additional quantity of water, the liquid is strained off through a sieve. If the gravy be intended for made dishes, it is customary to give it the consistence of cream, by means of _thickening paste_. (See p. 160.) The meat is capable of furnishing an additional quantity of gravy. It is therefore covered with water and suffered to simmer for about one hour, or till the fluid is reduced to one half its bulk.

One pound and a quarter of lean beef, or one pound and a half of veal, will afford one pint of strong gravy.

When broth, soups, or gravy, are preserved from day to day, in hot weather, they should be warmed up every day, and put into fresh scalded pans, this renders them less liable to spoil.

SAUCES.

“The fundamental principle of all, Is what ingenious cooks, the _relish_ call; For when the markets send in loads of food, They all are tasteless till that makes them good.”

_Dr. King’s Art of Cookery._

Sauces are intended to heighten the taste and give a savoury flavour to a dish, flesh, fish, fowl, or vegetables.

In England there is little variety in those kind of relishes, and it was observed by a foreigner, with a good deal of wit, and a great deal of truth, “that the English had a great variety of forms of religion and no variety in their sauces; whereas, in France they had uniformity in the former, and an infinite variety in the latter.”

Melted butter is the grand and chief basis of most English sauces. Melted butter and oysters, melted butter and parsley, melted butter and anchovies, melted butter and eggs, melted butter and shrimps, melted butter and lobsters, melted butter and capers, are nearly all the sauces used in England. Besides these, the following flavouring substances are in common use: _viz._ mushrooms, onions, spices, sweet herbs, wine, soy, and the usual condiments, but melted butter, gravy, or some farinaceous mucilage, form the basis of all sauces. These substances combined in different proportions are quite sufficient to make an endless variety of picquant sauces, as pleasant to the palate and stomach, as the most compound foreign sauces in which every thing has the same taste, and none its own taste. The aim of the English cooks, as far as it regards sauces, appears to be to let every sauce display a decided character, so as to taste only of the material from which it derives its name. _Compound sauces_ are seldom employed, but in the _learned_ foreign dishes.

What has been observed, relative to time used in the article, of _made dishes_, namely, that it was in this country too valuable to be bestowed on eating, or on preparing to eat, applies also in the case of making sauces.

Nothing can be made more easily than the English sauces, but the variety of French sauces are great, and much skill and time are necessary for preparing most of them.

THICKENING PASTE FOR BROTH, SOUP, GRAVY, AND MADE DISHES.

It is customary to thicken some dishes with a compound of two parts of flour and one of butter, first made into a paste by heating slowly the ingredients in a pan, till the mass acquires a yellow gold colour, the flour and butter being stirred all the time to prevent the mass from burning to the bottom of the pan. The substance thus obtained is called _thickening_, or _thickening paste_, for it is the basis employed by cooks for thickening soups, gravies, stews, sauces, and other dishes. The mass readily combines with water; a large table spoonful is sufficient to thicken a quart of meat broth. Besides this _thickening paste_, other farinaceous substances are employed for that purpose, such as bread raspings, crumbs of stale bread, biscuit powder, potatoe mucilage, oatmeal, sago powder, rice powder, &c. A cow-heel, on account of the vast quantity of gelatine with which it abounds, is excellently well calculated for giving _body_ to soups: the cow-heel, after being cracked, is boiled with the broth or soup.

COLOURING FOR BROTH, SOUP, GRAVIES, AND MADE DISHES.

The substance employed for colouring soups, gravies, broths, and other dishes, requiring a brown colour, is burnt sugar. This imparts to the dish a fine yellowish brown tinge, without giving any sensible flavour to the dish. Eight ounces of powdered lump sugar, and two or three table spoonfuls of water, are suffered to boil gently in an iron pan, till the mass has assumed a dark brown colour, which takes place when all the water is evaporated, and the sugar begins to be partly charred by the action of the heat. The mass is then removed from the fire, and about a quarter of a pint of water is gradually added to effect a solution. The fluid thus obtained is of a syrupy consistence, and of a fine dark brown colour; a small quantity gives to broth, soup, or gravy, a bright orange colour, without altering sensibly the flavour of the dish. Some cooks add to it mushroom catsup and port wine.

STOCK FOR MAKING EXTEMPORANEOUS BROTH, SOUP, OR GRAVY.

The name of _stock_ is given to meat jelly produced from a decoction of meat, so highly concentrated that the fluid, when cold, exhibits an elastic tremulous consistence.

The meat is slowly boiled in water, with the customary seasonings, as pot herbs, or esculent roots, and the decoction skimmed, and continued to simmer till it is charged with a sufficient quantity of animal matter to form a jelly when cold; this degree of concentration is known by removing, from time to time, a portion of the fluid, and suffering it to cool. When the decoction has been so far concentrated, it is strained off through a sieve and suffered to repose, that the insoluble part, if any, may subside. When this has been effected, the clear fluid is suffered to cool, which causes the fatty matter it contains to become collected at the surface, where it forms a cake or crust, which is to be removed. The substance underneath is a tremulous jelly; it is called first stock, or long broth, (_Le grand bouillon_ of the French kitchen). If the jelly be not transparent it is re-melted by a gentle heat, and clarified by the addition of the white of eggs added to it, as soon as it is liquified. This substance becoming coagulated at the boiling heat, entangles with it the parts mechanically diffused through the jelly, and rises to the top as a dense scum. It may then be removed by a skimmer. The name of _second-stock_ (_Jus de bœuf_ of the French) is given to a more concentrate jelly of meat made in a similar manner. It is chiefly employed as the basis of all savoury made dishes and rich sauces, whilst the former serves for making extemporaneous soups. _Second stock_ is usually prepared in the following manner:--Put into a stew-pan about half a pound of lean bacon or ham, a few carrots and onions, two or three cloves, about six or eight pounds of lean beef, and a shin of beef of about the same weight, break the bone, and having scored the meat, suffer it to simmer over a very gentle fire, with about two quarts of _first stock_, or better put it into an oven, and suffer it to stew, till the liquid assumes a light brown colour. When this has taken place, add to the mass six quarts of boiling water, suffer it to boil up gently, and remove the scum as it rises; and suffer it to evaporate till reduced to about three quarts, then strain it through a sieve, and clarify it as before directed.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHOICE OF MEAT.