Enquire within upon everything · Chapter 21Part 2 (2)
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1015. Use Bran-Water
A great increase on Home-made Bread, even equal to one-fifth, may be produced by using bran water for kneading the dough. The proportion is three pounds of bran for every twenty-eight pounds of flour, to be boiled for an hour, and then strained through a hair sieve.
1016. Rye and Wheat Flour
Rye and wheat flour, in equal quantities, make an excellent and economical bread.
1017. Potatoes in Bread
Place in a large dish fifteen pounds of flour near the fire to warm; take five pounds of good potatoes, those of a mealy kind being preferable, peel and boil them as if for the table, mash them fine, and then mix with them as much cold water as will allow all except small lumps to pass through a coarse sieve into the flour, which will now be ready to receive them; add yeast, &c., and mix for bread in the usual way. This plan has been followed for some years: finding that bread made according to it is much superior to that made of flour only, and on this ground alone we recommend its adoption; but in addition to this, taking the high price of flour, and moderately low price of potatoes, here is a saving of over twenty per cent., which is surely an object worth attending to by those of limited means.
All Things have a Beginning, God Excepted.
1018. Use of Lime Water in making Bread
It has lately been found that water saturated with lime produces in bread the same whiteness, softness, and capacity of retaining moisture, as results from the use of alum; while the former removes all acidity from the dough, and supplies an ingredient needed in the structure of the bones, but which is deficient in the
cerealia
. The best proportion to use is, five pounds of water saturated with lime, to every nineteen pounds of flour. No change is required in the process of baking. The lime most effectually coagulates the gluten, and the bread weighs well; bakers must therefore approve of its introduction, which is not injurious to the system, like alum, &c.
1019. Rice Bread
Take one pound and a half of rice, and boil it gently over a slow fire in three quarts of water about five hours, stirring it, and afterwards beating it up into a smooth paste. Mix this, while warm, into two gallons or four pounds of flour, adding at the same time the usual quantity of yeast. Allow the dough to work a certain time near the fire, after which divide it into loaves, and it will be found, when baked, to produce twenty-eight or thirty pounds of excellent white bread.
1020. Apple Bread
A very light, pleasant bread is made in France by a mixture of apples and flour, in the proportion of one of the former to two of the latter. The usual quantity of yeast is employed, as in making common bread, and is beaten with flour and warm pulp of the apples after they have boiled, and the dough is then considered as set; it is then put in a proper vessel, and allowed to rise for eight or twelve hours, and then baked in long loaves. Very little water is requisite: none, generally, if the apples are very fresh.
1021. Pulled Bread
Take from the oven an ordinary loaf when it is about
half baked
, and with the fingers, while the bread is yet hot, dexterously pull the half-set dough into pieces of irregular shape, about the size of an egg. Don't attempt to smooth or flatten them—the rougher their shapes the better. Set upon tins, place in a very slow oven, and bake to a rich brown. This forms a deliciously crisp crust for cheese. If you do not bake at home, your baker will prepare it for you, if ordered. Pulled bread may be made in the revolving ovens. It is very nice with wine instead of biscuits.
1022. French Bread and Rolls
Take a pint and a half of milk; make it quite warm; half a pint of small-beer yeast; add sufficient flour to make it as thick as batter; put it into a pan; cover it over, and keep it warm: when it has risen as high as it will, add a quarter of a pint of warm water, and half an ounce of salt, —mix them well together,—rub into a little flour two ounces of butter; then make your dough, not quite so stiff as for your bread; let it stand for three-quarters of an hour, and it will be ready to make into rolls, &c.:—let them stand till they have risen, and bake them in a quick oven.
1023. Rolls
Mix the salt with the flour. Make a deep hole in the middle. Stir the warm water into the yeast, and pour it into the hole in the flour. Stir it with a spoon just enough to make a thin batter, and sprinkle some flour over the top. Cover the pan, and set it in a warm place for several hours. When it is light, add half a pint more of lukewarm water, and make it, with a little more flour, into a dough. Knead it very well for ten minutes. Then divide it into small pieces, and knead each separately. Make them into round cakes or rolls. Cover them, and set them to rise about an hour and a half. Bake them, and, when done, let them remain in the oven, without the lid, for about ten minutes.
God is the First of All.
1024. Sally Lunn Tea Cakes
Take one pint of milk quite warm, a quarter of a pint of thick small-beer yeast; put them into a pan with flour sufficient to make it as thick as batter, —cover it over, and let it stand till it has risen as high as it will, i. e., about two hours: add two ounces of lump sugar, dissolved in a quarter of a pint of warm milk, a quarter of a pound of butter rubbed into the flour very fine, —then make the dough the same as for French rolls, &c.; let it stand half an hour; then make up the cakes, and put them on tins:—when they have stood to rise, bake them in a quick oven. Care should be taken never to mix the yeast with water or milk too hot or too cold, as either extreme will destroy the fermentation. In summer it should he lukewarm,—in winter a little warmer, —and in very cold weather, warmer still. When it has first risen, if you are not prepared, it will not harm if it stand an hour.
1025. Cooking Instruments
1026. The Gridiron
The gridiron, though the simplest of cooking instruments, is by no means to be despised. In common with all cooking utensils the Gridiron should be kept scrupulously clean; and when it is used, the bars should be allowed to get warm before the meat is placed upon it, otherwise the parts crossed by the bars will be insufficiently dressed. The fire should be sharp, clear, and free from smoke. The heat soon forms a film upon the surface of the meat, by which the juices are retained. Chops and steaks should not be too thick nor too thin. From a half to three-quarters of an inch is the proper thickness. Avoid thrusting the fork into the meat, by which you release the juice. There is a description of gridiron in which the bars are grooved to catch the juice of the meat, but a much better invention is the upright gridiron, which is attached to the front of the grate, and has a pan at the bottom to catch the gravy. Kidneys, rashers, &c., dressed in this manner will he found delicious.
1027. The Frying-pan
The frying-pan is a noisy and a greasy servant, requiring much watchfulness. Like the Gridiron, the Frying-pan requires a clear but not a large fire, and the pan should be allowed to get thoroughly hot, and be well covered with fat, before meat is put into it. The excellence of frying very much depends upon the sweetness of the oil, butter, lard, or fat that may be employed. The Frying-pan is very useful in the warming of cold vegetables and other kinds of food, and in this respect may be considered a real friend of economy. All know the relish afforded by a pancake, to say nothing of eggs and bacon, and various kinds of fish, to which both the Saucepan and the Gridiron are quite unsuited, because they require that which is the essence of frying,
boiling and browning in fat
.
1028. The Spit
The spit is a very ancient and very useful implement of cookery. Perhaps the process of roasting stands only second in the rank of excellence in cookery. The process is perfectly sound in its chemical effects upon the food, while the joint is kept so immediately under the eye of the cook, that it must be the fault of that functionary if it does not go to the table in the highest state of perfection. The process of roasting should be commenced very slowly, the meat being kept a good distance from the fire, and gradually brought forward, until it is thoroughly soaked within and browned without. The Spit has this advantage over the Oven, and especially over the common oven, that the meat retains its own flavour, not having to encounter the evaporation from fifty different dishes, and that the steam from its own substance passes entirely away, leaving the essence of the meat in its primest condition.
Virtue is the Fairest of All.
1029. The Meat Hook
The meat hook has in the present day superseded the use of the Spit in middle class families. It is thrust into the meat, and the joint thereby suspended before the fire. For roasting in this manner the lintel of the mantel-piece is furnished with a brass or iron arm, turning on pivots in a plate fastened to the lintel, and notched along its upper edge. From this arm, which is turned back against the lintel when not in use, the meat is hung and turned by means of a bottle-jack or a skein of worsted, knotted in three or four places, which answers the purpose equally well, and may be replaced by a new one when required, at a merely nominal cost. Meat roasted in this manner should be turned occasionally, the hook being inserted first at one end and then at the other.
1030. The Dutch Oven
The Dutch oven is of great utility for small dishes of various kinds, which the Spit would spoil by the magnitude of its operations, or the Oven destroy by the severity of its heat. It combines, in fact, the advantages of roasting and baking, and may be adopted for compound dishes, and for warming cold scraps: it is easily heated, and causes no material expenditure of fuel.
1031. The Saucepan
When we come to speak of the Saucepan, we have to consider the claims of a very large, ancient, and useful family. There are large saucepans, dignified with the name of Boilers, and small saucepans, which come under the denomination of Stewpans. There are few kinds of meat or fish which the Saucepan will not receive, and dispose of in a satisfactory manner; and few vegetables for which it is not adapted.
When rightly used, it is a very economical servant, allowing nothing to be lost; that which escapes from the meat while in its charge forms broth, or may be made the basis of soups. Fat rises upon the surface of the water, and may be skimmed off; while in various stews it combines, in an eminent degree, what we may term the
fragrance
of cookery, and the
piquancy
of taste. The French are perfect masters of the use of the Stewpan. And we shall find that, as all cookery is but an aid to digestion, the operations of the Stewpan resemble the action of the stomach very closely. The stomach is a close sac, in which solids and fluids are mixed together, macerated in the gastric juice, and dissolved by the aid of heat and motion, occasioned by the continual contractions and relaxations of the coats of the stomach during the action of digestion. This is more closely resembled by the process of stewing than by any other of our culinary methods.
1032. Various Processes of Cooking
1033. Utility of the Kitchen
"In the hands of an expert cook," says Majendie, "alimentary substances are made almost entirely to change their nature, their form, consistence, odour, savour, colour, chemical composition, &c.; everything is so modified, that it is often impossible for the most exquisite sense of taste to recognise the substance which makes up the basis of certain dishes. The greatest utility of the kitchen consists in making the food agreeable to the senses, and rendering it easy of digestion."
1034. Theory of Cooking
To some extent the claims of either process of cooking depend upon the taste of the individual. Some persons may esteem the peculiar flavour of fried meats, while others will prefer broils or stews. It is important, however, to understand the
theory
of each method of cooking, so that whichever may be adopted, may be done well. Bad cooking, though by a good method, is far inferior to good cooking by a bad method.
1035. Roasting—Beef
A sirloin of about fifteen pounds (if much more in weight the outside will be done too much before the inner side is sufficiently roasted), will require to be before the fire about three and a half or four hours. Take care to spit it evenly, that it may not be heavier on one side than the other; put a little clean dripping into the dripping pan (tie a sheet of paper over it to preserve the fat) baste it well as soon as it is put down, and every quarter of an hour all the time it is roasting, till the last half-hour; then take off the paper and make some gravy for it, stir the fire and make it clear; to brown and froth it, sprinkle a little salt over it, baste it with butter, and dredge it with flour; let it go a few minutes longer, till the froth rises, take it up, put it on the dish, &c. Garnish it with horseradish, scraped as fine as possible with a very sharp knife.
Vice is the Most Hurtful of All.
1036. Yorkshire Pudding
A Yorkshire Pudding is an excellent accompaniment to roast beef.
1037. Ribs of Beef
The first three ribs, of fifteen or twenty pounds, will take three hours, or three and a half; the fourth and fifth ribs will take as long, managed in the same way as the sirloin. Paper the fat and the thin part, or it will be done too much, before the thick part is done enough.
1038. Ribs of Beef boned and rolled
Keep two or three ribs of beef till quite tender, take out the bones, and skewer the meat as round as possible, like a fillet of veal. Some cooks egg it, and sprinkle it with veal stuffing before rolling it. As the meat is in a solid mass, it will require more time at the fire than ribs of beef with the bones: a piece of ten or twelve pounds weight will not be well and thoroughly roasted in less than four and a half or five hours. For the first half-hour it should not be less than twelve inches from the fire, that it may get gradually warm to the centre; the last half-hour before it is finished, sprinkle a little salt over it, and, if you like, flour it, to froth it.
1039. Mutton
As beef requires a large sound fire, mutton must have a brisk and sharp one: if you wish to have mutton tender it should be hung as long as it will keep, and then good eight-tooth (
i. e.
,four years old) mutton, is as good eating as venison.
1040. The Leg, Haunch, and Saddle
The leg, haunch, and saddle, will be the better for being hung up in a cool airy place for four or five days, at least; in temperate weather, a week: in cold weather, ten days, A leg of eight pounds will take about two hours; let it be well basted.
1041. A Chine or Saddle
i. e.
the two loins, of ten or eleven pounds —two hours and a half. It is the business of the butcher to take off the skin and skewer it on again, to defend the meat from extreme heat, and preserve its succulence. If this is neglected, tie a sheet of paper over it; baste the strings you tie it on with directly, or they will burn. About a quarter of an hour before you think it will be done, take off the skin or paper, that it may get a pale brown colour, and then baste it, and flour it lightly to froth it.
1042. A Shoulder
A shoulder, of seven pounds, an hour and three-quarters, or even two hours. If a spit is used, put it in close to the shank-bone, and run it along the blade-bone.
1043. A Loin of Mutton
A loin of mutton, from an hour and a half to an hour and three-quarters. The most elegant way of carving this is to cut it lengthwise, as you do a saddle. A neck, about the same time as a loin. It must be carefully jointed to prevent any difficulty in carving.
1044. The Neck and Breast
The neck and breast are, in small families, commonly roasted together. The cook will then crack the bones across the middle before they are put down to roast. If this is not done carefully, the joint is very troublesome to carve. Time for a breast, an hour and a quarter. The breast when eaten by itself is better stewed. It may be boned, rolled, and then roasted. A belly of pork is excellent in this way, when boned, stuffed, and roasted.
1045. A Haunch.
i. e.
, the leg and part of the loin of mutton. Send up two sauce-boats with it; one of rich-drawn mutton gravy, made without spice or herbs, and the other of sweet sauce. A haunch generally weighs about fifteen pounds, and requires about three hours and a half to roast it.
Thought is the Most Swift of All.
1046. Mutton (Venison fashion)
Take a neck of good four or five-year-old Southdown wether mutton, cut long in the bones; let it hang in mild weather, at least a week. Two days before you dress it, take allspice and black pepper, ground and pounded fine, a quarter of an ounce each, rub them together and then rub your mutton well with this mixture twice a day. When you dress it, wash off the spice with warm water, and roast it in paste.
1047. Veal
Veal requires particular care to roast it a nice brown. Let the fire be the same as for beef; a sound large fire for a large joint, and a brisker for a smaller; put it at some distance from the fire to soak thoroughly, and then draw it nearer to finish it brown. When first laid down it is to be basted; baste it again occasionally. When the veal is on the dish, pour over it half a pint of melted butter; if you have a little brown gravy by you, add that to the butter. With those joints which are not stuffed, send up forcemeat in balls, or rolled into sausages, as garnish to the dish, or fried pork sausages. Bacon is always eaten with veal.
1048. Fillet of Veal
Fillet of veal of from twelve to sixteen pounds, will require from four to five hours at a good fire: make some stuffing or forcemeat, and put it under the flap, that there may be some left to eat cold, or to season a hash: brown it, and pour good melted butter over it. Garnish with thin slices of lemon, and cakes or balls of stuffing, or duck stuffing, or fried pork sausages, curry sauce, bacon, &c.
1049. A Loin
A loin is the best part of the calf, and will take about three hours roasting. Paper the kidney fat, and the back: some cooks send it up on a toast, which is eaten with the kidney and the fat of this part, which is more delicate than any marrow, &c. If there is more of it than you think will be eaten with the veal, before you roast it cut it out, it will make an excellent suet pudding: take care to have your fire long enough to brown the ends.
1050. A Shoulder of Veal
A shoulder of veal, from three hours to three hours and a half: stuff it with the forcemeat ordered for the fillet of veal, in the under side.
1051. Neck
Neck, best end, will take two hours. The scrag part is best made into a pie or broth. Breast, from an hour and a half to two hours. Let the caul remain till it is almost done, then take it off to brown the meat; baste, flour, and froth it.
1052. Veal Sweetbread.
Trim a fine sweetbread—it cannot be too fresh; parboil it for five minutes, and throw it into a basin of cold water; roast it plain, or beat up the yolk of an egg, and prepare some fine bread-crumbs. Or when the sweetbread is cold, dry it thoroughly in a cloth, run a lark spit or a skewer through it, and tie it on the ordinary spit; egg it with a paste brush, powder it well with bread-crumbs, and roast it. For sauce, put fried bread-crumbs round it, and melted butter with a little mushroom ketchup and lemon juice, or serve on buttered toast, garnished with egg sauce, or with gravy.
1053. Lamb
Lamb is a delicate, and commonly considered tender meat; but those who talk of tender lamb, while they are thinking of the age of the animal, forget that even a chicken must be kept a proper time after it has been killed, or it will be tough eating. To the usual accompaniments of roast meat, green mint sauce or a salad is commonly added: and some cooks, about five minutes before it is done, sprinkle it with a little minced parsley.
1054. Grass-Lamb
Grass-Lamb is in season from Easter to Michaelmas.
1055. House-Lamb
House-lamb from Christmas to Lady-day.
1056. Mint
When green mint cannot be got, mint vinegar is an acceptable substitute for it.
1057. Roasting a Hind-Quarter
Hind-quarter of eight pounds will take from an hour and three-quarters to two hours; baste and froth it.
1058. Roasting a Fore-Quarter
Fore-quarter of ten pounds, about two hours.
1059. Preparation
It is a pretty general custom, when you take off the shoulder from the ribs, to rub them with a lump of butter, and then to squeeze a lemon or Seville orange over them, and sprinkle them with a little pepper and salt.
Hope is the Most Common of All.
1060. Roasting a Leg
Leg of five pounds, from an hour to an hour and a half.
1061. Roasting a Shoulder
Shoulder, with a quick fire, an hour.
1062. Roasting Ribs
Ribs, about an hour to an hour and a quarter; joint it nicely; crack the ribs across, and bend them up to make it easy for the carver.
1063. Roasting Loin, Neck or Breast
Loin, an hour and a quarter. Neck an hour. Breast, three-quarters of an hour.
1064. Poultry, Game, &c.
1065. Effectiveness of Roasting
Roasting, by causing the contraction of the cellular substance which contains the fat, expels more fat than boiling. The free escape of watery particles in the form of vapour, so necessary to produce flavour, must be regulated by frequent basting with the fat which has exuded from the meat, combined with a little salt and water—otherwise the meat would burn, and become hard and tasteless. A brisk fire at first will, by charring the outside, prevent the heat from penetrating, and therefore should only be employed when the meat is half roasted.
1066. The Loss by Roasting (General)
The loss by roasting is said to vary from 14-3/8ths to nearly double that rate per cent. The average loss on roasting butcher's meat is 22 percent.: and on domestic poultry, 20-1/2.
1067. The Loss by Roasting (Specific)
The loss per cent, on roasting beef, viz., on sirloins and ribs together is 19-1/6th; on mutton, viz., legs and shoulders together, 24-4/5ths, on fore-quarters of lamb, 22-1/3rd; on ducks, 27-1/5th; on turkeys, 20-1/2; on geese, 19-1/2; on chickens, 14-3/5ths. So that it will be seen by comparison with the percentage given of the loss by boiling, that roasting is not so economical; especially when we take into account that the loss of weight by boiling is not actual loss of economic materials, for we then possess the principal ingredients for soups; whereas, after roasting, the fat only remains. The average loss in boiling and and roasting together is 18 per cent. according to Donovan, and 28 per cent. according to Wallace—a difference that may be accounted for by supposing a difference in the fatness of the meat, duration and degree of heat, &c., employed.
1068. Boiling
This most simple of culinary processes is not often performed in perfection; it does not require quite so much nicety and attendance as roasting; to skim your pot well, and keep it really boiling, or rather, simmering, all the while—to know how long is required for doing the joint, &c., and to take it up at the critical moment when it is done enough—comprehends almost the whole art and mystery. This, however, demands a patient and perpetual vigilance, of which, unhappily, few persons are capable.
The cook must take especial care that the water really boils all the while she is cooking, or she will be deceived in the time; and make up a sufficient fire (a frugal cook will manage with much less fire for boiling than she uses for roasting) at first, to last all the time, without much mending or stirring, and thereby save much trouble. When the pot is coming to a boil, there will always, from the cleanest meat and clearest water, rise a scum to the top of it; proceeding partly from the foulness of the meat, and partly from the water: this must be carefully taken off, as soon as it rises. On this depends the good appearance of all boiled things—an essential matter.
When you have skimmed well, put in some cold water, which will throw up the rest of the scum. The oftener it is skimmed, and the clearer the surface of the water is kept, the cleaner will be the meat. If let alone, it soon boils down and sticks to the meat, which, instead of looking delicately white and nice, will have that coarse appearance we have too often to complain of, and the butcher and poulterer will be blamed for the carelessness of the cook, in not skimming her pot with due diligence.
Many put in milk, to make what they boil look white, but this does more harm than good; others wrap it up in a cloth; but these are needless precautions; if the scum be attentively removed, meat will have a much more delicate colour and finer flavour than it has when muffled up. This may give rather more trouble—but those we wish to excel in their art must only consider how the processes of it can be most perfectly performed: a cook who has a proper pride and pleasure in her business will make this her maxim and rule on all occasions.
Put your meat into cold water, in the proportion of about a quart of water to a pound of meat; it should be covered with water during the whole of the process of boiling, but not drowned in it; the less water, provided the meat be covered with it, the more savoury will be the meat, and the better will be the broth in every respect. The water should be heated gradually, according to the thickness, &c., of the article boiled; for instance, a leg of mutton of ten pounds weight should be placed over a moderate fire, which will gradually make the water hot without causing it to boil, for about forty minutes; if the water boils much sooner, the meat will be hardened, and shrink up as if it was scorched—by keeping the water a certain time heating without boiling, its fibres are dilated, and it yields a quantity of scum, which must be taken off as soon as it rises, for the reasons already mentioned.
"If a vessel containing water be placed over a steady fire, the water will grow continually hotter, till it reaches the limit of boiling; after which, the regular accessions of heat are wholly spent in converting it into steam: the water remains at the same pitch of temperature, however fiercely it boils. The only difference is, that with a strong fire it sooner comes to boil, and more quickly boils away, and is converted into steam."
Such are the opinions stated by Buchanan in his "Economy of Fuel." There was placed a thermometer in water in that state which cooks call gentle simmering—the heat was 212°,