The Book of Household Management Part 185

_Mode_.--Rub the sugar on the lemon-rind, and pound it in a mortar until quite fine, and beat up the white of the egg until quite stiff; put the cream into a large bowl, with the sugar, wine, and beaten egg, and whip it to a froth; as fast as the froth rises, take it off with a skimmer, and put it on a sieve to drain, in a cool place. This should be made the day before it is wanted, as the whip is then so much firmer. The cream should be whipped in a cool place, and in summer, over ice, if it is obtainable. A plain whipped cream may be served on a gla.s.s dish, and garnished with strips of angelica, or pastry leaves, or pieces of bright-coloured jelly: it makes a very pretty addition to the supper-table.

_Time_.--About 1 hour to whip the cream.

_Average cost_, with cream at 1s. per pint, 1s. 9d.

_Sufficient_ for 1 dish or 1 trifle.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

WHIPPED SYLLABUBS.

1493. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 pint of cream, 1/4 pint of sherry, half that quant.i.ty of brandy, the juice of 1/2 lemon, a little grated nutmeg, 3 oz. of pounded sugar, whipped cream the same as for trifle No. 1489.

_Mode_.--Mix all the ingredients together, put the syllabub into gla.s.ses, and over the top of them heap a little whipped cream, made in the same manner as for trifle No. 1489. Solid syllabub is made by whisking or milling the mixture to a stiff froth, and putting it in the gla.s.ses, without the whipped cream at the top.

_Average cost_, 1s. 8d.

_Sufficient_ to fill 8 or 9 gla.s.ses.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

THE CURE'S OMELET.

"Every one knows," says Brillat Savarin, in his "Physiology of Taste,"

"that for twenty years Madame Recamier was the most beautiful woman in Paris. It is also well known that she was exceedingly charitable, and took a great interest in every benevolent work. Wis.h.i.+ng to consult the Cure of ---- respecting the working of an inst.i.tution, she went to his house at five o'clock in the afternoon, and was much astonished at finding him already at his dinner-table.

"Madame Recamier wished to retire, but the Cure would not hear of it. A neat white cloth covered the table; some good old wine sparkled in a crystal decanter; the porcelain was of the best; the plates had heaters of boiling water beneath them; a neatly-costumed maid-servant was in attendance. The repast was a compromise between frugality and luxury.

The crawfish-soup had just been removed, and there was on the table a salmon-trout, an omelet, and a salad.

"'My dinner will tell you,' said the worthy Cure, with a smile, 'that it is fast-day, according to our Church's regulations.' Madame Recamier and her host attacked the trout, the sauce served with which betrayed a skilful hand, the countenance of the Cure the while showing satisfaction.

"And now they fell upon the omelet, which was round, sufficiently thick, and cooked, so to speak, to a hair's-breadth.

"As the spoon entered the omelet, a thick rich juice issued from it, pleasant to the eye as well as to the smell; the dish became full of it; and our fair friend owns that, between the perfume and the sight, it made her mouth water.

"'It is an _omelette au thon_' (that is to say, a tunny omelet), said the Cure, noticing, with the greatest delight, the emotion of Madame Recamier, 'and few people taste it without lavis.h.i.+ng praises on it.'

"'It surprises me not at all,' returned the beauty; 'never has so enticing an omelet met my gaze at any of our lay tables.'

"'My cook understands them well, I think.'

"'Yes,' added Madame, 'I never ate anything so delightful.'"

Then came the salad, which Savarin recommends to all who place confidence in him. It refreshes without exciting; and he has a theory that it makes people younger.

Amidst pleasant converse the dessert arrived. It consisted of three apples, cheese, and a plate of preserves; and then upon a little round table was served the Mocha coffee, for which France has been, and is, so justly famous.

"'I never,' said the Cure, 'take spirits; I always offer liqueurs to my guests but reserve the use of them, myself, to my old age, if it should please Providence to grant me that.'

"Finally, the charming Madame Recamier took her leave, and told all her friends of the delicious omelet which she had seen and partaken of."

And Brillat Savarin, in his capacity as the Layard of the concealed treasures of Gastronomia, has succeeded in withdrawing from obscurity the details of the preparation of which so much had been said, and which he imagines to be as wholesome as it was agreeable.

Here follows the recipe:--

OMELETTE AU THON.

1494. Take, for 6 persons, the roes of 2 carp; [Footnote: An American writer says he has followed this recipe, subst.i.tuting pike, shad, &c., in the place of carp, and can recommend all these also, with a quiet conscience. Any fish, indeed, may be used with success.] bleach them, by putting them, for 5 minutes, in boiling water slightly salted. Take a piece of fresh tunny about the size of a hen's egg, to which add a small shalot already chopped; hash up together the roe and the tunny, so as to mix them well, and throw the whole into a saucepan, with a sufficient quant.i.ty of very good b.u.t.ter: whip it up until the b.u.t.ter is melted!

This const.i.tutes the specialty of the omelet. Take a second piece of b.u.t.ter, _a discretion_, mix it with parsley and herbs, place it in a long-shaped dish destined to receive the omelet; squeeze the juice of a lemon over it, and place it on hot embers. Beat up 12 eggs (the fresher the better); throw up the saute of roe and tunny, stirring it so as to mix all well together; then make your omelet in the usual manner, endeavouring to turn it out long, thick, and soft. Spread it carefully on the dish prepared for it, and serve at once. This dish ought to be reserved for recherche dejeners, or for a.s.semblies where amateurs meet who know how to eat well; washed down with a good old wine, it will work wonders.

_Note_.--The roe and the tunny must be beaten up (saute) without allowing them to boil, to prevent their hardening, which would prevent them mixing well with the eggs. Your dish should be hollowed towards the centre, to allow the gravy to concentrate, that it may be helped with a spoon. The dish ought to be slightly heated, otherwise the cold china will extract all the heat from the omelet.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER x.x.x.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON PRESERVES, CONFECTIONARY, ICES, AND DESSERT DISHES.

PRESERVES.

1495. From the nature of vegetable substances, and chiefly from their not pa.s.sing so rapidly into the putrescent state as animal bodies, the mode of preserving them is somewhat different, although the general principles are the same. All the means of preservation are put in practice occasionally for fruits and the various parts of vegetables, according to the nature of the species, the climate, the uses to which they are applied, &c. Some are dried, as nuts, raisins, sweet herbs, &c.; others are preserved by means of sugar, such as many fruits whose delicate juices would be lost by drying; some are preserved by means of vinegar, and chiefly used as condiments or pickles; a few also by salting, as French beans; while others are preserved in spirits. We have, however, in this place to treat of the best methods of preserving fruits. Fruit is a most important item in the economy of health; the epicurean can scarcely be said to have any luxuries without it; therefore, as it is so invaluable, when we cannot have it fresh, we must have it preserved. It has long been a desideratum to preserve fruits by some cheap method, yet by such as would keep them fit for the various culinary purposes, as making tarts and other similar dishes. The expense of preserving them with sugar is a serious objection; for, except the sugar is used in considerable quant.i.ties, the success is very uncertain.

Sugar also overpowers and destroys the sub-acid taste so desirable in many fruits: these which are preserved in this manner are chiefly intended for the dessert. Fruits intended for preservation should be gathered in the morning, in dry weather, with the morning sun upon them, if possible; they will then have their fullest flavour, and keep in good condition longer than when gathered at any other time. Until fruit can be used, it should be placed in the dairy, an ice-house, or a refrigerator. In an icehouse it will remain fresh and plump for several days. Fruit gathered in wet or foggy weather will soon be mildewed, and be of no service for preserves.

1496. Having secured the first and most important contribution to the manufacture of preserves,--the fruit, the next consideration is the preparation of the syrup in which the fruit is to be suspended; and this requires much care. In the confectioner's art there is a great nicety in proportioning the degree of concentration of the syrup very exactly to each particular case; and they know this by signs, and express it by certain technical terms. But to distinguish these properly requires very great attention and considerable experience. The princ.i.p.al thing to be acquainted with is the fact, that, in proportion as the syrup is longer boiled, its water will become evaporated, and its consistency will be thicker. Great care must be taken in the management of the fire, that the syrup does not boil over, and that the boiling is not carried to such an extent as to burn the sugar.

1497. The first degree of consistency is called _the thread_, which is subdivided into the little and great thread. If you dip the finger into the syrup and apply it to the thumb, the tenacity of the syrup will, on separating the finger and thumb, afford a thread, which shortly breaks: this is the little thread. If the thread, from the greater tenacity, and, consequently, greater strength of the syrup, admits of a greater extension of the finger and thumb, it is called the great thread. There are half a dozen other terms and experiments for testing the various thickness of the boiling sugar towards the consistency called _caramel_; but that degree of sugar-boiling belongs to the confectioner. A solution of sugar prepared by dissolving two parts of double-refined sugar (the best sugar is the most economical for preserves) in one of water, and boiling this a little, affords a syrup of the right degree of strength, and which neither ferments nor crystallizes. This appears to be the degree called _smooth_ by the confectioners, and is proper to be used for the purposes of preserves. The syrup employed should sometimes be clarified, which is done in the following manner:--Dissolve 2 lbs. of loaf sugar in a pint of water; add to this solution the white of an egg, and beat it well. Put the preserving-pan upon the fire with the solution; stir it with a wooden spatula, and, when it begins to swell and boil up, throw in some cold water or a little oil, to damp the boiling; for, as it rises suddenly, if it should boil over, it would take fire, being of a very inflammable nature. Let it boil up again; then take it off, and remove carefully the sc.u.m that has risen. Boil the solution again, throw in a little more cold water, remove the sc.u.m, and so on for three or four times successively; then strain it. It is considered to be sufficiently boiled when some taken up in a spoon pours out like oil.

1498. Although sugar pa.s.ses so easily into the state of fermentation, and is, in fact, the only substance capable of undergoing the vinous stage of that process, yet it will not ferment at all if the quant.i.ty be sufficient to const.i.tute a very strong syrup: hence, syrups are used to preserve fruits and other vegetable substances from the changes they would undergo if left to themselves. Before sugar was in use, honey was employed to preserve many vegetable productions, though this substance has now given way to the juice of the sugar-cane.

1499. The fruits that are the most fit for preservation in syrup are, apricots, peaches, nectarines, apples, greengages, plums of all kinds, and pears. As an example, take some apricots not too ripe, make a small slit at the stem end, and push out the stone; simmer them in water till they are softened and about half done, and afterwards throw them into cold water. When they have cooled, take them out and drain them. Put the apricots into the pie-serving-pan with sufficient syrup to cover them; let them boil up three or four times, and then skim them; remove them from the fire, pour them into an earthen pan, and let them cool till next day. Boil them up three days successively, skimming each time, and they will then be finished and in a state fit to be put into pots for use. After each bailing, it is proper to examine into the state of the syrup when cold; if too thin, it will bear additional boiling; if too thick, it may be lowered with more syrup of the usual standard. The reason why the fruit is emptied out of the preserving-pan into an earthen pan is, that the acid of the fruit acts upon the copper, of which the preserving-pans are usually made. From this example the process of preserving fruits by syrup will be easily comprehended. The first object is to soften the fruit by blanching or boiling it in water, in order that the syrup by which it is preserved may penetrate through its substance.

1500. Many fruits, when preserved by boiling, lose much of their peculiar and delicate flavour, as, for instance, pine-apples; and this inconvenience may, in some instances, be remedied by preserving them without heat. Cut the fruit in slices about one fifth of an inch thick, strew powdered loaf sugar an eighth of an inch thick on the bottom of a jar, and put the slices on it. Put more sugar on this, and then another layer of the slices, and so on till the jar is full. Place the jar with the fruit up to the neck in boiling water, and keep it there till the sugar is completely dissolved, which may take half an hour, removing the sc.u.m as it rises. Lastly, tie a wet bladder over the mouth of the jar, or cork and wax it.

1501. Any of the fruits that have been preserved in syrup may be converted into dry preserves, by first draining them from the syrup, and then drying them in a stove or very moderate oven, adding to them a quant.i.ty of powdered loaf sugar, which will gradually penetrate the fruit, while the fluid parts of the syrup gently evaporate. They should be dried in the stove or oven on a sieve, and turned every six or eight hours, fresh powdered sugar being sifted over them every time they are turned. Afterwards, they are to be kept in a dry situation, in drawers or boxes. Currants and cherries preserved whole in this manner, in bunches, are extremely elegant, and have a fine flavour. In this way it is, also, that orange and lemon chips are preserved.

1502. Marmalades, jams, and fruit pastes are of the same nature, and are now in very general request. They are prepared without difficulty, by attending to a very few directions; they are somewhat expensive, but may be kept without spoiling for a considerable time. Marmalades and jams differ little from each other: they are preserves of a half-liquid consistency, made by boiling the pulp of fruits, and sometimes part of the rinds, with sugar. The appellation of marmalade is applied to those confitures which are composed of the firmer fruits, as pineapples or the rinds of oranges; whereas jams are made of the more juicy berries, such as strawberries, raspberries, currants, mulberries, &c. Fruit pastes are a kind of marmalades, consisting of the pulp of fruits, first evaporated to a proper consistency, and afterwards boiled with sugar. The mixture is then poured into a mould, or spread on sheets of tin, and subsequently dried in the oven or stove till it has acquired the state of a paste. From a sheet of this paste, strips may be cut and formed into any shape that may be desired, as knots, rings, &c. Jams require the same care and attention in the boiling as marmalade; the slightest degree of burning communicates a disagreeable empyreumatic taste, and if they are not boiled sufficiently, they will not keep. That they may keep, it is necessary not to be sparing of sugar.

1503. In all the operations for preserve-making, when the preserving-pan is used, it should not be placed on the fire, but on a trivet, unless the jam is made on a hot plate, when this is not necessary. If the pan is placed close on to the fire, the preserve is very liable to burn, and the colour and flavour be consequently spoiled.