Part 4

Ebullition which is often times resorted to in order to extract the aroma of plants by means of distillation, in spite of all the apparatus made use of for keeping the same closed up, most frequently destroys the nature of the productions.

Not only are the principles extracted by the water injured by this first operation, but they scarcely retain any strength after the evaporation which it is usual to make them undergo, in order to form essences of them. The extract therefore, exhibits nothing but the appearance of the soluble and nutritive principles of vegetable and animal substances; since fire, which is necessary to form an essence by means of evaporation, destroys the aroma and almost all the properties of the substance which contains it.

§ XXIX.

_The Juices of Herbs._

I have succeeded in preserving very well the juices of such plants as lettuce, chervil, borage (_bourache_), wild succory (_chicorée sauvage_), water-cresses (_cresson de fontaine_), &c. I prepared and purified them by the usual process, I corked them, &c. in order to give them one boiling in the water-bath.

§ XXX.

_Fruits and their Juices._

Fruits and their juices require the utmost celerity in the preparatory process, and particularly in the application of heat to the water-bath.

The fruit which is to be preserved either whole or in quarters, ought not to be completely ripe, because it dissolves in the water-bath. In like manner it should not be gathered either at the commencement or the end of the season. The first and the last of the crop have neither the fine flavour, nor the perfume of those which are gathered in the heighth of the season, that is, when the greater part of the crop of each species is ripe at the same period.

§ XXXI.

_White and Red Currants in Bunches._

(_Groseilles rouges et blanches en Grappes._)

I gather the white and red currants apart, and not too ripe. I collect the finest, and in the finest bunches; and I bottle them, taking care to shake them down on the stool, in order to fill up the vacancies in the bottle. Then I cork them, &c. in order to put them in the water-bath which I am careful to watch closely; and as soon as I perceive it boils, I withdraw the fire rapidly, and a quarter of an hour afterwards draw off the water from the bath by means of the cock, &c.

§ XXXII.

_White and Red Currants, stripped._

(_Groseilles rouges et blanches égrenées._)

I strip the white and red currants apart. They are immediately put into bottles, and I conclude the operation with the same attention as in preserving the currants in bunches. I preserve a greater quantity of currants stripped, than in bunches; as the stalks always give a harshness to the currant juice.

§ XXXIII.

_Cherries, Raspberries, Mulberries._

(_Cerises, Framboises, Mures et Cassis._)

I gather these fruits before they are too ripe, that they may be less squeezed in the operation. I put them in separate bottles, and shake the bottles gently on the stool. I cork them, &c. and I complete them in the same manner, and with the same care as the currants.

§ XXXIV.

_Juice of Red Currants._

I gather red currants quite ripe, and squeeze them upon fine sieves. I put into a press the skins which remain upon the sieves, in order to extract all the juice which may be in them, and this I mix with the former juice. I perfume the whole with a little raspberry juice, and I strain this decoction through a sieve finer than those used before. I put the juice in bottles, &c. and expose them to the water-bath, with the same attention as the stripped currants, &c.

I proceed in the same manner with the juice of white currants and barberries (_épines-vinettes_), as well as with that of pomegranates, oranges, and lemons.

§ XXXV.

_Strawberries._

(_Fraises._)

I made a number of experiments on the strawberry, and in various ways, without being able to obtain its perfume. I was forced to have recourse to sugar: in consequence, I squeezed some strawberries, and strained them through a sieve, as if I were about to make ice. I added half a pound of powder sugar, with the juice of half a lemon, to a pound of strawberries. I mixed the whole together, and put the decoction in bottles which I corked, &c. I exposed it to a water-bath till it began to boil, &c. This mode succeeded very well, in every respect, except the colour, which was considerably faded; but that may be supplied.

§ XXXVI.

_Apricots._

(_Abricots._)

For the table, the wild and garden apricot (_l’abricot commun, et l’abricot péche_) both taken from trees standing free in the open air, are the best kinds for preservation: I commonly mingle these two kinds together, because the former supports the latter, which has more sugar in it, and which dissolves more from the action of heat. They may nevertheless be prepared apart, provided the precaution be taken, of letting the garden peach remain a few minutes less in the water-bath than the wild peach. That is, as soon as the water-bath begins to boil, the fire is to be taken away from the garden peach, while the fire may be allowed to remain under the wild peach until the water-bath completely boils.

I gather the apricots when they are ripe, but somewhat firm; when, on being squeezed gently between the fingers, the stone is perceived to detach itself from the fruit. As soon as gathered, I cut them in halves, take out the stone, and peel off the skin with a knife as delicately as possible. I put them into bottles, either in halves or quarters, according to the size of the mouth, and shake them on the stool to fill up the vacancies. I add to each bottle from twelve to fifteen almonds; I cork them and put them into the water-bath to receive one boiling only; and I instantly withdraw the fire with the same precaution as made use of in the preparation of the currants, &c.

§ XXXVII.

_Peaches and Nectarines._

(_Pêches, Brugnons._)

The _grosse mignonne_ and the _calande_ are the two kinds of peach which unite the most flavour and perfume. For want of these, I take the best I can meet with.

I gather the nectarine (_brugnon_) more ripe than the peach, because it supports the heat better: and on the other hand, I leave the skin on it in order to preserve it. Moreover, the same process is observed as in preserving the nectarine, the peach, and the apricot; in every instance watching the water-bath closely, as I do in preserving the bunches of currants.

§ XXXVIII.

_Prunes from Green Gages, and Plumbs._

(_Prunes de Reine-Claude et Mirabelles._)

I have made prunes of whole green-gages, including the stone and the stalk, as well as of other great plums; and even of _perdrigons_ and _alberges_, which succeeded very well. But there are these inconveniences in preserving the largest fruits whole, that few of these large plums can be put into even a large jar, since the vacancies cannot be filled up by shaking the fruit, without altogether crushing them; and that when the heat of the water-bath is applied to them, they shrink, and the jars are found half empty.

In consequence, I have abandoned this too expensive mode, and am accustomed to preserve all these large plums, cut in halves, after having taken out the stone. This is the easiest and most economical manner, corks of a sufficiently large size for large objects being very dear, and also rare, when the cork is very fine; the vessels too which have a narrow or middling neck are more easy to be well corked, and the operation is in consequence more certain. As to the _mirabelle_ [a small white plum] and all other small plums, I prepare them with the stone in them, after having taken off the stalk; for they are in this way easier to shake close, and they leave but few vacancies in the bottles. In general, I observe, in the preservation of all these prunes, either whole or cut in halves, the same process, care and attention, which I have pointed out under the head of apricots and peaches.

§ XXXIX.

_Pears of every kind._

When the pears are peeled, and cut into quarters, and the pips with their husks are taken out, I put them into bottles, &c. in order to place them in the water-bath. I carefully attend to the degree of heat they have to receive, which, if they are of a kind usually eaten raw, should not be more than sufficient to make the water-bath boil. When the preserve consists of pears usually stewed or boiled, then I let them remain boiling in the water-bath, five or six minutes. Pears which have fallen from the tree require a quarter of an hour’s boiling, &c.

§ XL.

_Chesnuts, Truffles, and Mushrooms._

(_Marrons, Truffes, et Champignons._)

I pierce _chesnuts_ at the point with the point of a knife, as if I meant to roast them. I put them in bottles, and give them one boiling in the water-bath.

Having well washed and brushed the _truffles_ in order to take away all the soil, I cut off the upper part gently with a knife. Then I put them into bottles either whole or in pieces, according to the diameter of the neck. The remainder I put in bottles apart. The whole being well corked, &c. I put them in the water-bath to receive an hour’s boiling, &c. It is not necessary to recommend that the truffles should be sound, and recently gathered.

I take _Mushrooms_ fresh from the bed, well formed and firm. Having peeled and washed them, I put them in a saucepan on the fire, with a piece of butter or some good olive oil, in order to make them eject their liquor. I leave them on the fire till this liquor is reduced one half. I withdraw them in order to let them grow cool in a pan; after which, I bottle them and give them one good boiling in the water-bath.

§ XLI.

_The Juice of the Grape or Must._

During the vintage of 1808, I took black grapes, carefully gathered from the vine; after having taken away the rotten and green grapes, and stripped the others from the stalks, I squeezed them upon a fine sieve, and afterwards put into a press the husks which remained on the sieve, in order to extract the remainder of the juice; and then put the produce both of the sieve and the press into one cask. Having let it stand in this state twenty-four hours, I put it in bottles, &c. to give it one good boiling in the water bath. When the operation was completed, I withdrew the bottles from the boiler. The action of the fire had precipitated the little colour which the grape-juice had assumed during the preparation, and it was become very white. I then placed it in my laboratory in a rack as if it had been wine.

I repeated all these experiments on the 10th of September 1809, in the presence of the special commission nominated by his Excellency the Minister of the Interior, composed of the most distinguished persons of the profession.

New experiments which I have begun, as well as others which I purpose to make on various objects, will be detailed in a memoir which I shall publish as soon as I shall be able to speak of their result.

OF THE MODE OF MAKING USE OF THE SUBSTANCES WHICH HAVE BEEN PRESERVED.

§ XLII.

_Meat, Game, Poultry, Fish._

Meat which has in the preparatory dressing, as well as the boiling it received in the water-bath, received its due quantity of cooking, will, when it is taken to be used, require only to be properly warmed in order to produce both soup and meat (_potage et bouilli_).

For the sake of greater economy, and to lessen the number of bottles and jars wanted, it is better to make in the first instance a good gravy as already pointed out by me. For both the beef and the gravy need only to be warmed, and by adding one half or two-thirds of water to the gravy a good soup is provided.

In this manner, a bottle containing a _litre_ of gravy may, by adding two _litres_ of boiling water to it at the moment that it is to be used, and adding a little salt, furnish a dozen good messes. Thus it is easy at a very slight expence to keep a little stock of provisions against an emergency and hot weather, when it is so difficult to procure them, more especially in the country.

All meat, poultry, game, and fish, which have received three-fourths of their dressing in the preparatory process, and the remainder in the water-bath, as already pointed out, may, when taken out of the vessels, be heated to the proper degree in order to be instantly served at table. If, for instance, the substance taken from the bottle or jar, had not received either enough previous dressing, or enough heat from the water-bath; it is immediately put on the fire in order to supply what is deficient. Consequently, when the operator has taken due care in making his preparations, having properly seasoned and dressed them, the use to be made of them afterwards, will at all events be easy and convenient; for on the one hand they will need only to be warmed, and on the other hand, they may, if necessary, be eaten cold.

Substances thus prepared and preserved, do not, as might be imagined, require to be consumed as soon as they are opened. Provisions may be used from a vessel eight or ten days after it has been uncorked,[P] care being taken only to replace the cork as soon as the necessary part of the provision has been taken out. Besides, it is easy to regulate the size of the vessels from one to twenty-five _litres_ or more, according to the rapidity of the expected consumption.

[P] See the report made to the _Société d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie nationale_, by Mr. Bouriat, in the name of the Committee. Two half-bottles, one of milk, the other of whey, after remaining uncorked from twenty to thirty days, had been re-corked with little cork; nevertheless the two substances retained all their properties.

§ XLIII.

_Jellies made of Meat and Poultry._

A well prepared and preserved jelly, carefully taken in pieces out of the jar may be used to garnish cold dishes, or it may be even dissolved in the water-bath, the vessel containing it being first uncorked; afterwards it may be poured in a dish to congeal again before it is made use of.

Under an infinity of circumstances, a cook may be in want of the substances necessary to make a sauce with. But with the essences of meat, poultry, ham, &c. as well as with a provision of jelly well preserved and prepared, they may be furnished in an instant.

The broth or jelly prepared and preserved as pointed out in page 46 is eaten either cold as it is found in the bottles, or diluted with more or less boiling water, in the proportions which persons of experience may judge suitable in the several instances.

§ XLIV.

_Milk and Cream._

Cream, Milk and Whey, prepared and preserved in the manner already pointed out, are used in the same way, and for the same daily purposes, as the same articles when fresh.

Since cream and milk are perfectly preserved in this manner, there is no doubt that desert-creams might be preserved by a similar process, as well as those which are used for ices. These, having been well prepared and completed before they are put into bottles, will only require to be gently warmed in the water-bath, the bottles being uncorked, in order to facilitate its coming out of the vessel. In this manner creams and ices may be furnished instantly.

§ XLV.

_Vegetables._

Vegetables put into bottles without being dressed, and entirely submitted to the action of heat in the water-bath, as before described, require to be prepared for use on being taken out of the bottles. This preparation will be made according to the season, and every one’s taste and inclination. Attention must be given to the washing of the vegetables when taken from the bottle; and to facilitate the taking them out, I fill the bottle with luke-warm water, and after having drained it of the first water, I wash the vegetables in a second water somewhat hotter, and having drained them, I then prepare them for a meat or vegetable soup.

§ XLVI.

_French Beans._

(_Haricots._)

I scald French beans (_haricots verts_,) as if they were fresh in water, with a little salt when not sufficiently dressed by the preserving process. This often happens to them as well as to artichokes, asparagus and cauliflowers. If sufficiently boiled, on being taken out of the bottles, I have only to wash them in hot water in order to prepare them afterwards for vegetable or meat soup.

I scald in the same way the beans of the _haricot blanc_; when sufficiently dressed, I take them from the fire and leave them in the boiling water, half an hour, and even an hour, in order to render them more tender: I then prepare them for soup.

§ XLVII.

_Peas, Beans, &c._

Green peas are dressed in various ways. If they are ill cooked in the season, it is the cook who is blamed; but if they are not found good in winter, the fault is thrown on the person who has preserved them, though the fault most frequently arises from some of the substances employed; either from the bad butter, or the oil or rancid fat which is made use of through negligence or economy. At another time they are prepared two hours too soon. They are suffered to stick to the bottom of the saucepan when on the fire, and they are served smelling of the butter which is turned into oil with a burnt taste; or they are prepared without care and with too much precipitation. It is thus we see green peas brought to the table swimming in water; but every one has his way. The following is mine.

As soon as the peas have been washed and immediately afterwards drained (for neither this vegetable nor the windsor-bean must be suffered to remain in water, for that would take away their flavour), I put them on the fire in a saucepan with a morsel of good fresh butter. I add to them a bunch of parsley and chives. After having tossed them several times in butter, I dredge them with a little flour, and moisten them immediately afterwards with boiling water up to the level of the peas. I leave them thus to be boiled a good quarter of an hour, until very little sauce remains. Then I season them with salt and a little pepper, and leave them on the fire until they are stewed down; I then take them off the fire immediately, in order to add a piece of fresh butter as large as a nut, with a table spoonful of powder sugar for each bottle of peas. I toss them well without replacing them on the fire, until the butter is melted, and I serve them up in the shape of a pyramid upon a dish, which I take care to warm thoroughly. I have observed several times, that by adding sugar to the peas when upon the fire, and giving them only one boiling, the peas became hard and the sauce ran so that it could no longer bind the peas together. Thus great attention should be given to the not putting in the sugar and the last piece of butter until the moment of serving them up. This is the only way of dressing them well, for neither in summer nor winter ought any sauce to appear among the peas.

There is another mode of eating green peas and which may suit many persons; this consists in simply boiling the peas in water. When done, the water is drained off and the peas are tossed with a piece of good fresh butter, salt, pepper and sugar, all together over a very gentle fire, they are then served up directly upon a very hot dish. Care must be taken that the peas do not boil with the seasoning, otherwise the butter turns into oil, and the green peas are dissolved in the water.

I cook the small windsor-beans, as well with as without their skin, by the same process and with the same attentions which I observe in dressing green peas.

I make an excellent soup-maigre, with large preserved peas which are equally good for a meat soup. As to asparagus, artichokes, cauliflowers, &c. they are dressed in the usual way after having been washed, &c. Green peas, beans, French beans, and all kinds of vegetables may be three-fourths boiled, seasoned at the same time, as is done when intended for immediate use, put into bottles or other vessels when cool, corked, &c. and allowed one half hour’s boiling in the water-bath. By these means vegetables will be preserved and quite ready, which may be made use of in an instant, without any other care than to warm them; and there are also many instances in which these vegetables may be eaten cold. In this way all difficulties may be removed in travelling by land or water.

§ XLVIII.

_Spinage and Succory._

I dress spinage and succory as usual, in either vegetable or meat soup. Each bottle of a _litre_, contains two or three dishes, either of spinage, or succory according to their strength. When I want to make use of a part only I re-cork the bottle which I keep for another day.

§ XLIX.

_Vegetable Soups._

Having emptied a bottle containing a _litre_ of preserved _Julienne_, I add two _litres_ of boiling water with a little salt, and I have a dish for twelve or fifteen persons.

As well as a Julienne, a _coulis de racines_, a soup of lentils, carrots, onions, &c. being well prepared, furnishes with the greatest economy, excellent dishes in an instant.

All farinaceous substances, such as oatmeal, rice, spelt, semoulia, vermicelli, and in general every thing that may be formed into a paste, nutritive and easy of digestion, may be prepared and seasoned with either vegetable or meat soup, and even with milk, before they are made to undergo the preserving process, in order to facilitate the use of them at sea and in armies at a moment of necessity.

§ L.

_Tomates and Herbs._

I use preserved Tomates or _love-apples_ in the same manner as those taken fresh in the season. They need only to be properly warmed and seasoned when taken out of the bottle.

A _Sorrel_ preserved in the manner pointed out, does not, when taken out of the bottle, in the least differ from fresh sorrel in June. I make use of it in the same way.

As to mint (_menthe poivrée_) and all other plants which may be preserved in bunches; cooks will know how to make the proper use of them, as well as of the juices of herbs.

§ LI.

_Preserved Fruits, Marmelades, &c._

The manner of making use of fruits, preserved by the process I have pointed out, consists, 1st. in putting such fruit into a fruit jar, in the same state in which it is in the bottle, without adding any sugar, because many persons, more especially ladies, prefer fruits with their natural juice. At the same time I prepare another jar with a preserve of grape-syrup or powder sugar, for those who prefer it. I have from experience learnt that grape-syrup preserves the aroma and agreeable acidity of fruits, much better than sugar. This is a very simple and economical mode of preparing an excellent dish of preserved fruits, which is the more convenient, as every one can satisfy his own taste as to the mixture of sugar with his fruits.

2. In order to make preserves with sugar (_compotes sucrées_), I take a pound of preserved fruits, it matters not which; this, on being taken out of the bottle, I put, with its juice, over the fire in a skimming pan, mixing with it four ounces of grape syrup. As soon as it begins to boil, I withdraw it from the fire, and take off the froth by means of a piece of brown paper, which I apply to the surface. As soon as I have skimmed it, I take the fruit gently off the syrup, in order to put it into a fruit-jar. After having reduced the syrup one half over the fire, I put it upon the fruit in the jar. Fruits thus preserved are sufficiently sweet, and have as fine a flavour as a preserve made in the season with fresh fruits.