Part 2

15. Liquid browning, for colouring soups and gravies, should be made as follows, and kept in a bottle for use:—Put 2 oz. pounded loaf sugar in a small iron saucepan; let it melt, stirring with an iron spoon; when very dark (but not black), add ½ pint hot water; let it boil up, and when cool, bottle it. A few drops are sufficient to colour a quart of liquid.

KOSHERING.[1]

Leviticus, ch. xvii. 10, 11:—“And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood.”

When purchasing meat, care must be taken to see that all veins of blood, forbidden fat, and the prohibited sinew have been removed. It is the custom in London to affix a label marked “Porged” on joints from the hind-quarters, which have been prepared in accordance with our ordinances.

The following are the Jewish regulations for koshering meat and poultry:—

The meat is put into a pan, specially reserved for the purpose, and is then entirely covered with cold water, and left in it for half-an-hour. Before removing the meat from the water, every clot of blood must be washed off. It should then be put upon the salting board (a wooden board perforated with holes), or a basket lid, placed in a slanting position, so that the water may run off. Finely powdered salt is then sprinkled profusely over every part of the meat. The meat must remain in salt for one hour. It is then removed, held over a sink or pan, and well rinsed with cold water three times, so that all the salt is washed off. Then it is placed in a clean cloth, and thoroughly dried.

The heart and the lungs must be cut open before being soaked, so that the blood may flow out. The liver must be prepared apart from other meat. It must be cut open, washed in cold water, fried over the fire on a shovel, and, whilst frying, it must be salted. When fried the blood must be well washed from it.

The head and feet of an animal may be koshered with the hair or skin adhering thereto. The head should, however, be cut open, the brain removed and koshered separately. The ends of the claws and hoofs must be cut off before the feet are koshered.

Poultry is koshered in the same way as meat, taking care that previous to the soaking in water the whole of the inside be completely removed.

Footnote 1:

The word _kosher_ means “to render fit or proper for eating.”

THE ECONOMICAL JEWISH COOK.

SOUPS.

Hints on Making Soups and Stock.

Every housewife should bear in mind that a stock-pot always on the fire is a great aid to economy. Any odd pieces, trimmings, cooked bones, the liquor in which meat or poultry has been boiled (commonly known as _pot-liquor_), should be thrown in, and the pot kept about three parts full of water. When soup or gravy is required the stock should be well skimmed, and poured into a clean saucepan. The pot may be of brown earthenware with a cover and must be cleaned frequently. It should often be looked over, soft bones removed and fresh ones added.

In preparing soups:—

1. Allow plenty of time, so that all the goodness of the ingredients may be thoroughly extracted. To do this effectually always put soup-meat into _cold_ water, so that the outside may not be hardened, and the flow of the juices may not be checked.

2. Make the stock the day before the soup is wanted.

3. Let the stock boil once; remove the scum, and draw the saucepan to the side of the fire to _simmer_ only.

4. When the stock is made pour it at once into a clean basin and leave it uncovered. Remove the fat from the top next morning.

5. Bread fried in boiling oil or fat, and cut into small squares, should be served with all thick soups.

To Make Fresh Stock. Time—5 hours.

Order a melt (cost 8d.) from the butcher. After koshering, skin it, and notch it across several times; add 2 quarts of cold water, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 onion stuffed with whole peppers and cloves, salt, and simmer about 5 hours. This will make about 3 pints of good stock, and is more economical than any other soup-meat.

Another way of Making Fresh Stock. Time—5 hours.

2 lbs. shin of beef, 1 turnip, 1 carrot, 1 onion, ½ head celery, 1 teaspoonful salt, ½ teaspoonful pepper, 2 quarts cold water.

Cut the meat into pieces, break up the bones, add the cold water and the salt. Bring to the boil and skim well. Prepare the vegetables, cut them into pieces, and add them. Simmer 5 hours. This will make about 3 pints of good stock.

White Stock.

Same as above, using knuckle of veal and poultry-bones instead of beef.

To Clear Soup. Time—1 hour.

3 pints stock, ½ lb. gravy beef, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 onion.

Chop up the beef fine; clean the vegetables and cut them into small pieces. After removing all the fat from the stock, which should now be in the form of jelly, place it in a stew-pan with the meat and vegetables. Whisk it over the fire until just on boiling point, when it should be left to boil up well. It should now be clear. Fix a clean kitchen-cloth on the legs of a chair, placed with its seat on a table; pour boiling water several times through the cloth into a basin, and then let the soup run twice slowly through the cloth.

_Another Way._—Use 2 whites of eggs whisked in ½ pint cold water, instead of the gravy beef.

Green Pea Soup. Time—1 hour.

1 pint green peas, 1 quart stock, a few sprigs parsley, a small bunch of mint, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tablespoonful flour.

Put the stock on, and when it boils add the salt, peas and other ingredients. When the vegetables are tender pass them through a sieve with the stock they were boiled in; boil it up again in a clean stew-pan; thicken it carefully with flour, and cook 10 minutes.

Julienne Soup. Time—2 hours.

1 large carrot, 1 small turnip, 2 leeks, 1 onion, ½ head celery, 2 oz. dripping, 1 cabbage-lettuce, a little tarragon and chervil, 1 teaspoonful sugar, salt to taste, 3 pints stock.

Shred all the vegetables to the same length and size; fry all except the lettuce, tarragon and chervil, a light brown in the dripping in the stew-pan. Clear the stock as directed on page 2; boil it and add it with the sugar and salt to the vegetables; skim well until all grease is removed, add the lettuce, tarragon, and chervil; let it boil a few minutes, and serve.

Kugel.

1 pint dried green peas, 1 quart large haricot beans, both soaked over-night; 2 lbs. clod, 1 large onion stuffed with cloves, 1 tablespoonful flour; salt and pepper to taste.

_Pudding._

2 eggs, ¼ lb. suet, ½ lb. flour, ¼ lb. brown sugar, ¼ lb. currants, ¼ lb. raisins or sultanas, 2 oz. candied peel: spice to taste.

Shred the suet and candied peel, wash and dry the currants, stone the raisins, mix all the dry ingredients together, add the eggs, well-beaten, place in a greased basin and tie a cloth over. Put the basin at the bottom of a large earthenware pan; place a plate on the top of the basin and the meat on this. Throw the peas, beans, onion, pepper, salt and flour into the pan, cover all with water, and tie a piece of brown paper over the pan. Put it in the oven when the cooking is finished on Friday, and dish up when required on Saturday, serving the soup, meat, and pudding as separate courses.

Liver Soup. Time—2 hours.

1 quart pot-liquor, 6 oz. liver, 1 egg, 3 oz. dripping, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, half small roll; pepper and salt to taste.

Brown the flour in the dripping; add the liver cut in small pieces, the egg and bread, and let all brown in the pan until thoroughly done a good dark colour. Pound it, and return to the saucepan with the pepper, salt, and pot-liquor, to simmer about 1 hour.

Mock Turtle Soup. Time—1½ hour.

1 bullock’s foot, 2 lbs. shin of beef, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 1 small head celery, 1 leek, 1 onion, 6 oz. dripping, ½ lb. flour; bay-leaves, cloves, cayenne, and ground mace; 1 wineglassful sherry.

The day before the soup is required cut up the foot and put it in a saucepan with 2 quarts of cold water; simmer 5 hours, then strain; cut all the flesh off the bones and chop it up into neat pieces. Put on the shin separately in 2 quarts of cold water, and simmer 4 or 5 hours. Prepare the vegetables, cut them up, fry them in the fat in a large stew-pan; when soft add the flour, and stir till rather brown. Add the stock from the foot, then that from the shin, the bay-leaves and all the other ingredients. When it boils pass it all through a sieve, add the pieces of bullock’s foot, and simmer ½ hour. A little soy may be added if required. Before serving pour the wine into the bottom of the tureen.

Mulligatawny Soup. Time—2 hours.

2 oz. dripping, 2 onions, 2 apples, 2 or 3 carrots, 1 turnip, a few sticks celery, a bunch of herbs, 2 quarts stock or pot-liquor, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, 1 tablespoonful curry powder, 1 dessertspoonful curry paste, 1 gill water, 1 teaspoonful salt.

Prepare the vegetables, fry the onions in hot dripping in the stew-pan; when brown add the apples cut up and cored, carrots, turnip, celery, herbs and salt. Boil these in the stock. Mix the flour, curry paste and powder into a smooth paste with the water, pour into the soup, and stir till it boils. The fat should be skimmed off as it rises. Boil at least 1 hour, and then strain through a sieve. Serve with well-boiled rice (see page 35).

Mutton Broth. Time—2½ to 3 hours.

2 lbs. scrag of mutton, 2 oz. pearl barley or rice, 1 turnip, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 leek, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 quart water.

Cut the meat into small pieces (removing the fat), and put it into a saucepan with the bones, cold water and salt; bring to the boil. Draw to the side of the fire as soon as the broth boils, skim well. Simmer for 1½ hour, skimming occasionally. Prepare the vegetables and rice, add them and let all simmer ½ hour till the vegetables are tender. Add the parsley just before serving.

Ox-tail Soup. Time—4 hours.

1 ox-tail, 2 oz. dripping, 1 carrot, 1 small turnip, 2 onions, 2 shalots, 1 tooth garlic or 1 leek, a bunch of herbs, a few sticks celery, a little mace, cinnamon, and 2 cloves, 2 quarts water or pot-liquor, salt, 2 or 3 mushrooms, 1 gill sherry or chablis.

Prepare the vegetables, cut them up, wash and wipe the ox-tail, cut it in pieces and fry all in hot dripping in a large stew pan. Add the herbs, spice, seasoning and water. When boiling skim off the fat and then stew gently for 3 hours; strain it into a basin, putting the pieces of ox-tail into the tureen with the sherry or chablis. Pour the soup into a stew-pan, stir till it boils. Add the mushrooms, and cook from 10 to 15 minutes, skimming off any scum; strain the soup and pour over the ox-tail.

Tomato Soup. Time—1½ hour.

2 quarts stock, 2 lbs. tomatoes or 1 tin tomatoes, 2 leeks, 2 carrots, 2 turnips; pepper and salt to taste; thyme, and half a bay-leaf, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 oz. dripping, 2 tablespoonfuls flour.

Prepare and cut up the vegetables, boil all for half an hour in ½ pint water, and then pulp through a sieve. Warm the dripping in a stew-pan, stir the flour in smoothly, pour the pulped vegetables and stock on to it slowly, and let all thicken over the fire.

SAVOURY INGREDIENTS FOR SOUPS.

Vermicelli, macaroni, sago, Italian paste, or semolina, may be thrown into any clear soup, when boiling, about ¼ hour before it is served.

Frimsels. Time—¾ hour.

1 egg, salt, flour.

Beat up the egg well, add a pinch of salt, then, with a knife, work in as much flour as possible. Flour the board thoroughly, roll out the paste very thin, cut into three, and roll out each piece till nearly transparent; then fold into three, let it dry for ¼ of an hour, and with a sharp knife shave off extremely fine strips. Let these dry, and add them to the soup when boiling ¼ of an hour before serving.

Drop Dumplings. Time—½ hour.

1 tablespoonful beef dripping, 1 egg, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, nutmeg, 1 dessertspoonful chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

Beat up the dripping till quite white; pour some boiling water over the egg, then break it into the dripping; stir these together, then add the flour, seasoning, a little grated nutmeg, and the parsley. Drop pieces the size of a large walnut, into the boiling soup, and cook about 15 minutes.

Savoury Custard. Time—40 minutes.

3 yolks of eggs, 2 whites of eggs, 1 gill of stock, a little salt.

Beat up the eggs with the stock and salt; strain into a well-greased gallipot, cover it with a piece of greased paper, stand it in a saucepan of boiling water and steam very gently for 30 minutes (the custard would be full of holes if steamed quickly). When the custard is set, take the gallipot out of the saucepan, let it get cool, turn the custard out and cut it up into fancy shapes.

MILK SOUPS.

Artichoke or Turnip Soup. Time—1 hour.

1½ lb. sliced artichokes or turnips, 1 oz. butter, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1½ pint hot milk, 1½ pint hot water, a little cream or good butter, salt, pepper, and a little sugar.

Heat the butter in a stew-pan, put in the vegetables, turn them about, add the salt, flour, milk and water, stirring them in slowly. When the vegetables are done rub them through a sieve, put them back into a clean stew-pan, add sugar and more seasoning if required and heat thoroughly. A little cream or good butter may be put into the tureen, and the soup stirred into it.

Cabbage Soup. Time—1 hour.

1 cabbage, 1 tablespoonful parsley, 1 oz. butter, 1 shalot or onion, 1 pint milk, 1¼ pint boiling water, 2 tablespoonfuls semolina, 1 teaspoonful salt, ¼ teaspoonful pepper.

Put on a large saucepan of water to boil; shred the cabbage and put it into the boiling water to blanch for 5 minutes. Strain the cabbage, return it to the saucepan with 1¼ pint boiling water, the milk, onion, chopped parsley, butter, and seasoning. Bring this to the boil and cook 15 minutes; then shake in the semolina and boil 10 minutes.

Celery Soup. Time—6 hours.

4 heads celery, 1 small onion, 1 pint water, 1 pint milk, 1 yolk of egg. Pepper and salt to taste.

Stew the celery and onion in the water for 5 to 6 hours, pulp it through a sieve, add ¾ pint milk and the seasoning and let it boil once. Draw it to the side of the fire and add the yolk beaten up in 1 gill cold milk; stir, but do not let it boil, and serve when hot.

Haricot Soup. Time—4½ hours.

1 pint haricot beans, 1 pint milk, 2 quarts water, 1 onion; pepper and salt to taste.

Soak the beans in water all night. Next morning put them in a saucepan with the water, pepper, salt, and sliced onion. Boil gently 4 hours. Then mash all through a sieve into a basin, stir in the milk, and return to the saucepan to get hot.

Potato Soup. Time—1½ hour.

1 lb. potatoes (weighed after they are peeled), ½ oz. butter, 1 onion, 1 pint hot water, ½ pint milk; salt and pepper to taste.

Cut up the potatoes, put them in a stew-pan with the butter and the onion cut in slices. Stir over the fire for 5 minutes. Add the water, and simmer for 1 hour. Pass all through a sieve, and return to the stew-pan. Add the milk, salt, and pepper, and serve when hot.

CHEAP SOUPS.

Barley Soup. Time—4 hours.

2 quarts water or pot-liquor, ¼ lb. pearl barley, 2 onions, 2 carrots, a little chopped parsley; salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the vegetables, put them with the other ingredients into a saucepan, and simmer gently for 3 or 4 hours.

Brown Onion Soup. Time—1½ hour.

3 onions, 1 oz. dripping, 1 teaspoonful flour, 1½ pint water or pot-liquor; pepper, salt and soy to taste.

Skin the onions, cut them into small dice, heat the dripping, and throw in the onions, shaking them about over the fire till they are golden brown (they must be coloured very slowly or some pieces will get too dark). When they are brown stir in the flour carefully, and add the water or pot-liquor. Simmer for an hour, then rub through a sieve, return to the saucepan, add a little soy, pepper and salt to taste, and boil for 3 minutes before serving.

If these directions are carefully followed this soup is equal to one made from good stock.

Carrot Soup. Time—1½ hour.

1 quart water or pot-liquor, 1½ lb. carrots, 4 onions, 2 oz. dripping; salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the vegetables, slice them, then fry them in the dripping. Add the water or pot-liquor, salt and pepper. Boil till the vegetables are tender, then pulp through a sieve into a basin. Heat again and serve with fried bread.

Lentil Soup. Time—3 or 4 hours.

5 pints water, 1 pint red lentils, 1 onion, 3 sticks of celery or some celery seed, 1 oz. dripping; pepper and salt to taste.

The lentils must be soaked all night in cold water. Melt the dripping in a saucepan, fry the lentils, sliced onion, and celery cut in small pieces. Stir over the fire for 5 minutes. Then add the water and boil gently, stirring occasionally, till the lentils are quite soft. Pass all through a sieve, return to the saucepan, add the pepper and salt, and heat again.

Pea Soup. Time—2½ hours.

1 pint split peas, 2 onions, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 3 sticks celery, 2 quarts water or pot-liquor; salt and pepper to taste. Bones or trimmings from meat are a great improvement.

Soak the peas over-night; next morning put them on in the cold water or pot-liquor. Bring to the boil, and then add the prepared vegetables, bones, and seasoning. Skim well, and boil for 1½ hour, stirring occasionally. Remove the bones, and pulp the soup through a sieve. Heat it again, and serve with dried mint and fried bread.

Spinach Soup. Time—2 hours.

3 lbs. spinach, 1 quart water or stock, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tablespoonful flour.

Wash the spinach in several waters, strip off the leaves and place them in a saucepan of cold water with a little salt, and boil till tender (about ½ hour). Pulp through a hair sieve with the water in which it was boiled; boil it up again in a clean stew-pan, thicken carefully with the flour, cook for 10 minutes, and serve with poached eggs.

Vegetable Soup. Time—1½ hour.

1 quart water or pot-liquor, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 2 potatoes, 2 onions, 3 sticks celery, a few sifted herbs, 1 oz. dripping, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 teaspoonful mustard; salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the vegetables, cut them into slices, fry them in the dripping, add the water or pot-liquor, the salt, pepper, and herbs. Boil till quite tender, mix the flour and mustard to a cream with the cold water, and add to the soup. Simmer for half an hour longer and then serve.

FISH.

Fresh fish may be known by its stiffness, firmness, bright eyes, and bright red gills.

The cheaper kinds of fish, such as herrings, mackerel, haddocks, and plaice, contain more nourishment than most of the more expensive kinds. All fish must be thoroughly cleansed in salt and water, two waters at least being allowed. It must then be very carefully dried in a coarse cloth kept specially for this purpose.

To Bake Fish.

Clean and dry the fish very thoroughly, put it on a baking tin, greased with a little oil or butter, sprinkling pepper and salt over it. Cover with a well-greased sheet of paper, bake from 10 minutes to ½ an hour, according to the size of the fish. Remove the paper, and serve the fish with chopped parsley and the strained liquor from the tin.

To Boil Fish.

When the fish is thoroughly cleaned, put it on a strainer or dish, place it in a saucepan with boiling water sufficient to cover it, some salt and a tablespoonful of vinegar. Simmer gently till the skin begins to crack.

Some of the liquor in which the fish was boiled can be used for making a sauce.

To Broil Fish.

Clean and dry the fish thoroughly, split it open, flour it, sprinkle with chopped parsley, pepper, and salt. Grease a gridiron with oil or butter, and broil the fish over or in front of a very clear fire from 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with small pieces of butter before serving. Before broiling mackerel or herrings lay them in a mixture of salad oil and tarragon vinegar for an hour.

Hints on Frying.

This method of cooking fish requires the utmost care. It is most important that the fish should be very carefully dried, and that the oil should be at the right temperature. To test this throw in a small piece of bread, and if it brown in less than a minute the oil has reached the correct heat. When the oil is perfectly still, and a blue smoke rises, the temperature may also be considered right. The fish must be well covered in oil, and the pieces must not come in contact with one another.

To Fry Fish.

Clean the fish, then cut it as required, and dry it very thoroughly. Beat up an egg, mix some flour, pepper and salt on a plate, dip the fish first into this seasoning, then into the egg, and when the oil has reached the right temperature, fry the fish a golden brown. Place it on soft paper on a basket lid to drain. When the oil has cooled, strain it, pour it into a jar, cover it and it will be ready for use another time. It can be used again for _fish_ only.

To economise the eggs mix a little water with them.

To utilise any scraps of fried fish, heat them in melted butter (page 40), flavoured to taste.

To Steam Fish.

Fish should rather be steamed than boiled, for though more time is required the result is more satisfactory. If a fish-kettle is not to hand, place a pie-dish upside down in a large saucepan, and put the fish on it. Let boiling water always reach half way up the dish, so that the fish cooks in the steam. Add more boiling water when required.

Anchovy Butter. Time—½ hour.

6 large anchovies, 1 hard boiled egg, 2 oz. butter, a little pepper.

Pound all together and pass through a sieve.

Savoury Cod. Time—½ hour.

1 or more lbs. of fresh cod, 1 tablespoonful vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful flour, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, ½ teaspoonful salt, ¼ teaspoonful pepper, 1 oz. butter, 1 egg.

Clean the fish and dry it, then cut it into nice sized pieces. Boil as directed (page 10), then cover and keep hot. Put the flour into a basin, and add pepper, salt, and butter (melted); mix well, and make into a paste with the vinegar. Stir this into ½ pint of the liquor in which the fish has been boiled, and cook 3 minutes, stirring continually. While this sauce cools beat up an egg; then stir it carefully into the sauce, add the chopped parsley, and pour it over the fish. If preferred the egg may be boiled hard and chopped.

Baked Haddock. Time—¾ hour.

1 haddock, 2 tablespoonfuls bread crumbs, 1 dessertspoonful chopped parsley, 1 teaspoonful chopped herbs, 1 egg (well beaten); 2 oz. butter or 1 tablespoonful oil; pepper and salt to taste.

Wash and dry the fish well. Mix nearly all the bread crumbs with the herbs, parsley, pepper, salt, half the egg, and ½ oz. of butter. Stuff the stomach of the fish with this mixture, and sew or skewer it up. Egg and bread-crumb the fish, place it on a greased tin in the shape of an S, with the oil and pieces of butter; bake for half-an-hour, basting it frequently. Take out the cotton with which the fish was sewn before serving.

Dried Haddock. Time—20 minutes.

Place the dried haddock in a frying-pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then take out the haddock, place it on a dish in the oven, with bits of butter over it, for 5 minutes, and then serve.

Baked Plaice and Tomatoes. Time—¾ hour.

1 plaice, 1 onion, 4 tomatoes, 2 tablespoonfuls oil, 1 lb. potatoes, pepper and salt to taste, the juice of a lemon, chopped parsley.