Part 87

Nudels.-These are home-made maccaroni, and serve all the purposes for which it is used in Italy. They may be appropriated to any sweet dishes by first boiling them soft in milk or water 10-20 minutes, and then mixing them with eggs, sugar, spice, preserves, &c. A straight rolling-pin and a smooth pasteboard are indispensable in the manufacture of nudels. For nudel paste, beat 2 eggs, work into them by degrees as much flour as they will take, and knead them into a smooth, stiff dough. Cut this into 4 or 6 parts, make a ball of each, and roll it out as thin as possible; indeed, it cannot be too thin, for perfection is only gained when it is thin enough for one to be able to read through it. Lay each cake on a napkin as it is finished. They will resemble fine chamois leather. By the time you have rolled out the last cake, the first one will be dry enough to cut as follows: Divide the cake into quarters by cutting straight across each way. Lay the pieces one on the other, with their inner edges equal, and begin cutting them with a sharp knife into strips as narrow as twine; indeed as thread-like as you can to the end. Then scatter them apart to dry, and proceed in turn with the other cakes. When you have rolled out one of the little balls to its full tension, turn in an edge, roll it up tightly, and thus cut it into little rings, which will open when thrown into the boiling soup or water. Little stars, &c., may be stamped out with very small tin cutters. The cakes may be laid one on the other for cutting, and may be cut finer and quicker by using an ordinary ruler, as for ruling lines nearly close together. When allowed to dry well, they will keep any length of time in paper bags or tin canisters. A variety may also be made by cutting the paste into tape widths like ordinary macaroni. If preferred perfectly white, use only the whites of eggs in mixing the paste. Be careful to keep the paste-board constantly dredged with dry flour while rolling out the nudels.

Parsnip Pudding.--Wash and scrape 2 or 3 parsnips, and boil them in milk or water till tender. Mash or pound them smooth, stir in a piece of butter warmed, and sugar, lemon, or cinnamon to taste. Mix in 3 or 4 well-beaten eggs, according to the size of the pudding, and a small glass of rum or brandy. Put it in a buttered dish, strew crumbs over, put little lumps of butter on the top, and bake it in a moderate oven; or butter a mould, strew it with crumbs thickly, and boil it. Serve with pudding sauce.

Plinsen.--These are much the same as our pancakes, only there are more varieties, both in the batter used and the method of treating the pancakes after being fried. 4 tablespoonfuls flour, 4 eggs, 2 oz. warmed butter, a little salt, 1 tablespoonful sugar, and ½ pint cream or lukewarm milk enough to make a thin batter; stir this well. Fry pancakes, exceedingly thin, a pale brown on both sides. Lay one on the other, with sugar and cinnamon, or other spice, between. Strew sugar plentifully over the top one, and glaze it with a salamander or other red-hot iron. For fruit, to the above batter add 2 oz. currants, well washed in hot water, and ½ lemon peel grated. Use very little butter or lard in frying the plinsen. Spread over each one a thin layer of preserved or stewed fruit. Roll them up. Lay them close together in a dish, sift sugar and cinnamon over, and serve with sweet sauce.

Sago Wine Soup.--First wash the sago, and then boil for an hour in plenty of water, a pinch of salt, some cinnamon and rind of lemon. By this time the water should be reduced by one half. Fill up with red wine, add some slices of lemon, and sugar to sweeten. Let it come to the boil once more, and when serving the soup sprinkle it with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Salsenaugen.--Make a dough of 6 oz. flour, 4 oz. butter, 4 oz. sugar flavoured with vanilla or lemon, 4 hard-boiled yolks of eggs, and 2 oz. pounded almonds. Knead it out as thick as a finger, stamp it with cutters into leaves and rings, and pile them up; wash them over with the white of egg in a snow and strew them thickly with sugar. Then sprinkle with water, and bake, after which put a jelly in the centre.

Sand-torte.--Take ¼ lb. butter, ¼ lb. sugar, grate the rind of lemon, and beat it well for ½ hour. Mix in 2 eggs, and 2 yolks one after the other, with ¼ lb. fine flour; beat it well together, and fill the whole in a buttered form; strew some finely cut almonds on the top, and bake it for 1 hour.

Sauerbraten.--One of the great national dishes of Germany is sauerbraten. Lay a piece of beef in a deep dish and pour a cup of vinegar over it. Let it remain in this 2-4 days, turning and basting it every day. To prepare for cooking wipe it dry; cut strips of fat bacon the size of a little finger; roll them in a mixed seasoning of salt, pepper, and pounded cloves. Make holes in the meat with a large skewer, and put in the pieces of bacon. Make butter hot in an iron pot or stewpan just large enough; put in the beef and set it over a brisk fire, letting the steam escape to hasten the browning; dredge it with flour, and turn it when one side is brown. When the meat is nicely coloured add about 1 pint water, 2 carrots, quartered lengthwise, a large onion or two sliced, 2 or 3 bay leaves, 1 teaspoonful whole pepper, a blade of mace, ¼ lemon peel, and a good sprinkling of salt. Cover closely, and let it steam slowly 2-3 hours, adding a little water when necessary. At serving time take up the meat, and keep it hot while you skim the fat off and strain the gravy. The unbroken carrots may be laid round the meat. Add lemon juice or vinegar if the sauce requires more acid; thicken with flour, give it a boil up, pour a little over the meat, and serve the rest in a sauceboat.

Schmarn Batter.-½ lb. flour, the yolks of 4 eggs, a little salt, sugar, either nutmeg or grated lemon, and cream or milk enough to give a rather thick batter; must be briskly and well stirred. Then add the whites of the eggs, whisked to a snow; about 2 oz. butter must be made quite hot in a stewpan, and into this pour the batter over a brisk fire. Cover, and let it remain till a nice brown crust has formed at the bottom, of not too dark a colour. As soon as this incrusting takes place, break up the schmarn with a little iron spatula or fork, and let it set and brown again; then break it up smaller by tearing it lightly apart, and serve it without delay. If salad is to be served with schmarn, leave out any flavouring of nutmeg, &c., if disapproved of, as also the sugar. To the above schmarn either cream, stewed prunes, or fruit syrup may be added at table.

Schmarollen.--Let a pint of new milk boil, stir in 1 oz. sugar with flour enough to thicken it; boil until the mixture no longer hangs to the sides of the pan, then turn it out and when cool stir in 4 well-beaten eggs. Have 1½ pint milk boiling in a stewpan, and with a spoon dipped each time in water, cut klösse out of the mass, and simmer them in the milk a few minutes. Turn all into a dish, cut 2 oz. butter over them, and bake it a pale brown in a quick oven.

Spatzen.--Stir flour into cold water or milk, with a little salt, to make a thick batter, beat it well with a wooden spoon; drop little flakes or buttons into boiling water. This is easiest done by putting some of the batter on a trencher or flat plate and flaking it quickly off into the pot with a knife, dipped constantly in the water. Boil them 5 minutes; they will swim on the top when done; strain and dish them. Have ready a piece of butter melted in a stewpan, and a handful of crumbs in it, crisped brown; pour this over the spatzen, and serve while they are light and hot. A piece of butter may be stirred in as they are dished. If preferred richer, use an egg or two and milk for the batter.

Sticklerspersgrod.--For this simple and cheap dish, well flavoured, ripe, red gooseberries are used; 4 lb. gooseberries, with ½ lb. raspberries, keep them stirred gently in a stewpan over a clear fire till the fruit is quite soft, then mash and strain the juice through a cloth; make this juice quite boil, then add ½ lb. sugar and 6 oz. cornflour or arrowroot, let it boil 10 minutes, stirring it all the time; wet a mould with cold water, pour in, and when cold turn it out. 1 pint juice to ¼ lb. cornflour are the best proportions. To be eaten in soup plates, with sifted sugar and milk.

Stölle.--Mix 2 oz. dry yeast with ½ pint warm milk and ½ lb. flour. Set this to rise. Take 1½ lb. flour, ¼ lb. sugar, 4 eggs, 1 oz. bitter almonds pounded, ½ nutmeg, the grated rind of a lemon, a little salt, and milk enough to work these into a dough. Add to this the light sponge dough, and mix both well. Add ½ lb. softened butter, ½ lb. stoned raisins, ½ lb. currants, 2 oz. sweet almonds, cut in slices, and the same of candied peel. Knead the whole, cover, and set it to rise. When light flour the paste-board, turn the cake out, and mould it into a long roll. Lay it on a flat baking tin; cut, with a knife, 2 slits all along the roll, near 1 in. deep, so that the 3 divisions on the top are equal in width. Set it to rise. Bake it in a moderate oven. When done rub it over with butter, and strew sugar over when cold.

Strudels.--This form of pastry can only be described by the English term roly-poly, in a very diminutive size. There are various ways of making the paste, but they all agree in this one particular--that it must be worked into a tough dough and very smooth. One way is to beat 2 eggs and the yolks of 2 others, warm a piece of butter the size of an egg and add it to the eggs with a little salt, work in by degrees as much fine flour as will form a dough; knead this till quite smooth. Divide the paste into small balls, roll them round in the hands, then with a smooth rolling pin roll them out as thin as possible. They should be the size of a saucer, but rather oval. Spread over them whatever they are to be called after. Roll them up, when the shape will be larger in the middle, and tapering off at both ends. Lay them 1 in. apart in a baking tin or large stewpan that has been well buttered, cover, and either bake them in the oven or over a slow fire, with red coals on the lid to draw them. When they are risen and beginning to colour, pour some hot milk over, and finish baking a very pale brown.

Zweibach.--(_a_) Ingredients: 1 lb. flour, ¼ lb. sugar, ¼ lb. butter, ½ pint milk, and 2 tablespoonfuls good yeast. Warm the milk and stir the yeast into it. Put the flour in a pan, and throw the sugar among it. Make a hollow in the middle, and stir the yeast and milk into the hollow like a thin batter. Cut up the butter on the flour, cover, and set it to rise. Then beat it until the dough no longer hangs to the hand or spoon. Let it rise again till it cracks on the top. Cut and mould from the dough long cakes 1 in. thick, 5-6 in. long, and 2 broad. Set them on a buttered tin 2 in. apart; let them rise on this, then brush them over with milk and bake them. Next day slice them open with a sharp knife, lay them on a tin with the crust under, and put them in a cool oven till they are crisp and baked yellow. (_b_) Beat 6 eggs well, melt ¼ lb. butter in ½ pint new milk, stir into this ¼ pint fresh yeast and 3 oz. powdered sugar. Then stir in, by degrees, as much flour as will make a batter so thick that the spoon moves with difficulty. Cover and place it in warmth to rise. In about an hour sprinkle flour in, and work it well together, but not to a stiff dough. Form cakes as described in (_a_), and finish the same way in all particulars. Either caraways or anise seeds may be mixed in them. The latter are very good and wholesome for infants’ food.

_Indian._--Bhartas.--Bharta holds the same relative position in the cuisine of the East that salad does in that of the West. Bhartas can be made of every kind of vegetable, either singly or in combination, and many kinds of fruit; also with meat, fish, &c. From this it will be seen that it is impossible to give recipes for every kind of bharta, nor is it really necessary, as, once the spirit of the thing in its various forms is mastered, anyone with ordinary ingenuity will be able to successfully work out the problem for themselves. The components of a bharta consist of, first, a chatni or zest, and, secondly, the substantial part being a vegetable, vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, &c. The latter constituent is in most cases cooked, but there are a few exceptions in which its nature will permit of it being used either raw or cooked--tomatoes for example. Bhartas prepared with meat and fish are eaten as dishes by themselves, while the more substantial vegetable bhartas may either form a separate dish or be used as an accompaniment to curry, &c. For the Chatni or Zest.--Ingredients: 6 spring onions, 2 green chillies, the juice of ½ lemon; salt to taste. Mode: Slice the onions as fine as possible, chop the chillies crossways in circles, mix together, add the salt, squeeze the lemon juice over all, and let the whole soak for ¼ hour at the very least. The onions must be of a fairly good size. The chillies may be increased if the palate will permit, and for appearance sake half may be green and the other half red, but fresh of course. When limes are procurable, the juice of a whole one may with advantage be substituted for that of the lemon. Cayenne pepper and ordinary onions may be used when fresh chillies and spring onions cannot be had. Mustard oil may be omitted but it is a great improvement to all bhartas.

Brianees.--Brianees are spiced dishes somewhat resembling a mixture of curry and pilau. They consist of meat, fish, or cheese, highly seasoned and partially fried, which is put in a saucepan with condiments of various kinds, carefully covered over, and then steamed or boiled. The following example will suffice: Zarebrian Punneezee.--Ingredients: ½ lb. cheese; 2 lb. rice; a small quantity clarified butter; ½ lb. onions; 1 oz. flour; ¼ lb. dried pea flour; cinnamon, cardamoms, cloves, saffron, ½ teaspoonful of each; ½ oz. green ginger; ¾ oz. salt. Cut the cheese into small round slices, and sprinkle them with flour; then fry in clarified butter till brown. Grind the cardamoms and cloves, and add to the cheese. Spread a few clean little sticks on the bottom of a saucepan (this is the native way of preventing any substance from being burnt at the bottom of the pan), and place the cheese on them. Fry the green ginger, onions, and curry stuff, and add the mixture to the cheese. Parboil the rice, and put it over with a small quantity of the rice water. Colour a little rice with saffron, and put it into the saucepan under the rice on one side, and the dried pea flour on the other; then pour a little hot clarified butter over. Make a plain biscuit or thin cake of flour and water, and place it on the rice. Cover the saucepan, put a live coal or bit of charcoal on the top of the lid, and boil the whole until the rice is done.

Burdwan.--This is made of almost any kind of meat which has been previously roasted or boiled. Poultry, game-birds, hare, rabbit, kid, veal, or venison are all suitable for the purpose. If the material chosen happens to be raw, it can easily be made available by being semi-boiled or semi-roasted especially for the purpose. The following typical example will explain the mode of procedure. For the chicken used therein, any other kind of meat, as fancy may suggest, can be substituted.

Take a good chicken which has been left from a previous meal, or purposely prepared, as explained above; a small teacupful of good clear stock, a small Spanish onion, a wineglassful of white wine (Chablis is the best), ½ oz. butter, 6 chillies (a little cayenne pepper will do instead), the juice of ½ lemon, a small piece of garlic. Mix the stock, onion (previously boiled or roasted), wine, butter, chillies, and garlic, and let them thoroughly amalgamate in a stewpan over a moderate fire. Then add the chicken cut up as for curry. Allow the whole to simmer till done, when squeeze in the lemon juice. It ought to be served very hot, accompanied by a dish of boiled rice or kichri.

Chachki or Vegetable Curry.--Ingredients: 1 breakfastcupful shelled peas, ½ lb. pumpkin, 1 small teacupful clear veal stock or water, 2 onions 1 in. diameter, 3 green chillies, a small clove of garlic, 1 tablespoonful curry powder, salt to taste, 1 wineglassful mustard oil, or 2 oz. butter. Mode: Chop the onions, garlic, and chillies, and then reduce them all to a pulp in a mortar. Boil the oil (or butter) in a frypan, add the curry powder, onion, garlic, and chilli pulp, and salt; let it fry for a few minutes, stirring constantly, then put in the peas and pumpkin; when of a golden colour put the whole into a saucepan. Pour the stock or water into the frypan just used; let it boil up, scraping it as you do in making gravy; when it has boiled for a few minutes, add it to the contents of the saucepan, and let it simmer till tender, when serve. All vegetable curries are made in the same manner, and any number of vegetables may be used according to taste. When potato or spinach is one of the ingredients, it will be necessary to ¾ boil them in water before frying them; this will prevent the objectionable liquor given off by them from entering into the gravy.

Chapatis.--1 lb. flour (the coarse kind preferable), 2 oz. butter, 1 teaspoonful salt, some water. Work the butter and salt into the flour, add gradually sufficient water to form the whole into a dough. Roll some of it out on a board with a rolling pin till about 1/16 in. thick; cut it into a circular form with an inverted saucer, and bake it on a girdle over a clear fire; when done on both sides, place it on a trivet before the fire, turning it occasionally. By the time that the second cake is baked on the girdle, the first will be toasted enough. Now butter the first chapati, and put it on a plate in the oven. Repeat the process till all are ready.

Chicken Country-Captain.--A plump chicken, 4 oz. butter, 4 onions 1 in. in diameter, ½ teaspoonful each ground green chillies, ground coriander seed, and salt, ½ teaspoonful ground turmeric. Cut up the chicken as for curry; if uncooked veal, mutton, &c., is about to be used instead of the chicken, it must be cut up after it has been semi-broiled or semi-roasted. Slice the onions as fine as possible, fry ¼ the quantity in the butter till of a golden brown colour, drain them carefully from all superfluous grease, and put aside in an oven to get crisp. Now put the ground chillies, coriander seed, tumeric, and salt into the frypan, and after the contents have fried for a minute, add the chicken and the remainder of the onions, and keep constantly stirring the whole till the chicken is quite tender. Serve garnished with the crisped onions. Boiled rice is generally an accompaniment when time is no object.

Chicken Curry.--A small fowl, 1 pint stock, 6 onions about 1 in. in diameter, 4 oz. butter, 1 small clove of garlic chopped fine, 2 green chillies (failing which, 3 dried bird’s-eye chillies) chopped fine, 1½ heaped tablespoonfuls curry powder and ½ lemon. Slice the onions fine, take a third of them and fry with half the butter till crisp and of a nice golden colour; drain them carefully from all superfluous grease and put them aside. Then fry the chicken, cut up as directed, in the surplus of the butter left from the last operation; when the meat is slightly coloured, put them also aside. Now take a saucepan, put into it the curry-powder and the remaining half of the butter; let it fry for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, then throw in the uncooked onions. Amalgamate well with the contents of the saucepan, and after they have fried for a few minutes add the stock chillies, salt, and garlic; stir well, and let the liquor reduce to one-third of its original quantity, the cover of the pan being drawn slightly aside to enable the steam to escape. When it has reduced, add the chicken. Allow the whole to boil briskly for 2 minutes; then place it on the edge of the hob to simmer gently till cooked, stirring the curry frequently to enable the meat to take up the gravy. In about 20 minutes it ought to be ready, but the surest guide is to observe the appearance of the drumsticks; if the bones are found protruding by the flesh having shrunk, it is done. Finally, the piece of the lemon and the fried onions, which have been put aside from the first operation, must be added to the contents of the saucepan, and the whole quickly stirred, after which no time should be lost in serving the curry.

Coconut Pudding.--Grate fine a large coconut, fry it slightly with a little butter. Make 1 pint custard with some new milk, 4 well beaten eggs, a little nutmeg, 1 tablespoonful loaf sugar; stir in gradually a small glass of brandy, adding the coconut by degrees. When well mixed, fill a pie dish, that has been lined with puff paste with the mixture, bake in a gentle oven; about 20 minutes will suffice.

Coconut Soup.--3 pints prepared stock, the kernels of 2 large coconuts, yolks of 2 eggs, juice of a lemon, 2 blades of mace, 1 saltspoonful ground cinnamon, salt and white pepper to taste, a little corn or rice flour. Throw away the liquor inside the kernels of the coconuts, remove the brown outside rind, and rasp them as fine as possible. Mix the stock with the rasped kernel, add the mace, cinnamon, pepper and salt, and let the whole simmer for ½ hour or so, when carefully strain it through fine muslin. Make a paste with the lemon-juice, the yolks of the eggs beaten up, and sufficient cornflour till of the consistency of thin batter; add this gradually to the liquor before prepared, stirring all the while. Let it simmer till ready, when serve with a separate dish of plain boiled rice.

Curries.--Oriental dishes, with few exceptions, are prepared in sufficiently small morsels to permit of their being eaten with the hand, without the aid of knife, fork, or spoon. When, however, this cannot be avoided, as in the case of pilau of poultry, game, or joints, the meat is cooked just long enough to allow of its being separated from the bone by the fingers without being stewed to rags. Indeed, the whole art of curry and pilau making consists in correctly timing the simmering process. If it is removed off the fire too soon, the meat, though done, will be tough, and the spices will not have had time to permeate the tissues; while again, if too much cooked, the disintegration of the fibres will have caused the spices to return into the gravy. Therefore, in either case, a failure will be the inevitable result. A curry properly cooked must hit the happy mean between these extremes, yet ought to be able to be eaten with a spoon and fork only, which is the practice among Europeans in India. The next rule to be borne in mind is the correct dressing of the meat which is to be used. Beef, mutton, pork, fish, &c., must be cut into dice not larger than 1 in. square. Poultry, partridges, &c., should be disjointed as follows: The wings and legs into 2 parts at the joints, and the backs crossways, according to size, into 3 or 4, and the merrythought separated. It may be as well stated that 2 smaller birds are preferable to one large. Hares and rabbits, according to size, ought to have the legs each cut into 3 or 4 pieces, and the backs crossways into 8 or 9; pigeon’s wings and legs whole, backs in two. Small birds as quails, larks, &c., in two, lengthwise.