The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual Part 52

_Browning_,--(No. 322.)

Is a convenient article to colour those soups or sauces of which it is supposed their deep brown complexion denotes the strength and savouriness of the composition.

Burned sugar is also a favourite ingredient with the brewers, who use it under the name of "essentia bina" to colour their beer: it is also employed by the brandy-makers, in considerable quant.i.ty, to colour brandy; to which, besides enriching its complexion, it gives that sweetish taste, and fulness in the mouth, which custom has taught brandy drinkers to admire, and prefer to the finest Cognac in its genuine state.

When employed for culinary purposes, this is sometimes made with strong gravy, or walnut catchup. Those who like a _gout_ of acid may add a little walnut pickle.

It will hardly be told from what is commonly called "genuine j.a.panese soy"[246-*] (for which it is a very good subst.i.tute). Burned treacle or sugar, the peels of walnut, Cayenne pepper, or capsic.u.ms, or Chilies, vinegar, garlic, and pickled herrings (especially the Dutch), Sardinias, or sprats, appear to be the bases of almost all the sauces which now (to use the maker's phrase) stand unrivalled.

Although indefatigable research and experiment have put us in possession of these compositions, it would not be quite fair to enrich the cook at the expense of the oilman, &c.; we hope we have said enough on these subjects to satisfy "the rational epicure."

Put half a pound of pounded lump-sugar, and a table-spoonful of water, into a clean iron saucepan, set it over a slow fire, and keep stirring it with a wooden spoon till it becomes a bright brown colour, and begins to smoke; then add to it an ounce of salt, and dilute it by degrees with water, till it is the thickness of soy; let it boil, take off the sc.u.m, and strain the liquor into bottles, which must be well stopped: if you have not any of this by you, and you wish to darken the colour of your sauces, pound a tea-spoonful of lump-sugar, and put it into an iron spoon, with as much water as will dissolve it; hold it over a quick fire till it becomes of a very dark brown colour; mix it with the soup, &c.

while it is hot.

_Obs._ Most of the preparations under this t.i.tle are a medley of burned b.u.t.ter, spices, catchup, wine, &c. We recommend the rational epicure to be content with the natural colour of soups and sauces, which, to a well-educated palate, are much more agreeable, without any of these empyreumatic additions; however they may please the eye, they plague the stomach most grievously; so "open your mouth and shut your eyes."

For the sake of producing a pretty colour, "cheese," "Cayenne" (No.

404), "essence of anchovy" (No. 433), &c. are frequently adulterated with a colouring matter containing red lead!! See ACc.u.m _on the Adulteration of Food_, 2d edit. 12mo. 1820.

A scientific "_homme de bouche de France_" observes: "The generality of cooks calcine bones, till they are as black as a coal, and throw them hissing hot into the stew-pan, to give a brown colour to their broths.

These ingredients, under the appearance of a nouris.h.i.+ng gravy, envelope our food with stimulating acid and corrosive poison.

"Roux, or thickening (No. 257), if not made very carefully, produces exactly the same effect; and the juices of beef or veal, burned over a hot fire, to give a rich colour to soup or sauces, grievously offend the stomach, and create the most distressing indigestions.

"The judicious cook will refuse the help of these incendiary articles, which ignorance or quackery only employ; not only at the expense of the credit of the cook, but the health of her employers."

N.B. The best browning is good home-made glaze (No. 252), mushroom catchup (No. 439), or claret, or port wine. See also No. 257; or cut meat into slices, and broil them brown, and then stew them.

_Gravy for roast Meat._--(No. 326.)

Most joints will afford sufficient tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, &c. to make half a pint of plain gravy, which you may colour with a few drops of No. 322: for those that do not, about half an hour before you think the meat will be done, mix a salt-spoonful of salt, with a full quarter pint of boiling water; drop this by degrees on the brown parts of the joint; set a dish under to catch it (the meat will soon brown again); set it by; as it cools, the fat will float on the surface; when the meat is ready, carefully remove the fat, and warm up the gravy, and pour it into the dish.

The common method is, when the meat is in the dish you intend to send it up in, to mix half a tea-spoonful of salt in a quarter pint of boiling water, and to drop some of this over the corners and underside of the meat, and to pour the rest through the hole the spit came out of: some pierce the inferior parts of the joints with a sharp skewer.

The following receipt was given us by a very good cook: You may make good browning for roast meat and poultry, by saving the brown bits of roast meat or broiled; cut them small, put them into a basin, cover them with boiling water, and put them away till next day; then put it into a saucepan, let it boil two or three minutes, strain it through a sieve into a basin, and put it away for use. When you want gravy for roast meat, put two table-spoonfuls into half a pint of boiling water with a little salt: if for roasted veal, put three table-spoonfuls into half a pint of thin melted b.u.t.ter.

N.B. The gravy which comes down in the dish, the cook (if she is a good housewife) will preserve to enrich hashes or little made dishes, &c.

_Obs._ Some culinary professors, who think nothing can be excellent that is not extravagant, call this "Scots' gravy;" not, I believe, intending it, as it certainly is, a compliment to the laudable and rational frugality of that intelligent and sober-minded people.

N.B. This gravy should be brought to table in a sauce-boat; preserve the intrinsic gravy which flows from the meat in the Argyll.

_Gravy for boiled Meat_,--(No. 327.)

May be made with parings and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs; or pour from a quarter to half a pint of the liquor in which the meat was boiled, into the dish with it, and pierce the inferior part of the joint with a sharp skewer.

_Wow wow Sauce for stewed or bouilli Beef._--(No. 328.)

Chop some parsley-leaves very fine; quarter two or three pickled cuc.u.mbers, or walnuts, and divide them into small squares, and set them by ready: put into a saucepan a bit of b.u.t.ter as big as an egg; when it is melted, stir to it a table-spoonful of fine flour, and about half a pint of the broth in which the beef was boiled; add a table-spoonful of vinegar, the like quant.i.ty of mushroom catchup, or port wine, or both, and a tea-spoonful of made mustard; let it simmer together till it is as thick as you wish it; put in the parsley and pickles to get warm, and pour it over the beef; or rather send it up in a sauce-tureen.

_Obs._ If you think the above not sufficiently _piquante_, add to it some capers, or a minced eschalot, or one or two tea-spoonfuls of eschalot wine (No. 402), or essence of anchovy, or basil (No. 397), elder, or tarragon (No. 396), or horseradish (No. 399*), or burnet vinegar; or strew over the meat carrots and turnips cut into dice, minced capers, walnuts, red cabbage, pickled cuc.u.mbers, or French beans, &c.

_Beef-gravy Sauce_--(No. 329), _or Brown Sauce for Ragout, Game, Poultry, Fish, &c._

If you want gravy immediately, see No. 307, or No. 252. If you have time enough, furnish a thick and well-tinned stew-pan with a thin slice of fat ham or bacon, or an ounce of b.u.t.ter, and a middling-sized onion; on this lay a pound of nice, juicy gravy beef, (as the object in making gravy is to extract the nutritious succulence of the meat, it must be beaten to comminute the containing vessels, and scored to augment the surface to the action of the water); cover the stew-pan, and set it on a slow fire; when the meat begins to brown, turn it about, and let it get slightly browned (but take care it is not at all burned): then pour in a pint and a half of boiling water; set the pan on the fire; when it boils, carefully catch the sc.u.m, and then put in a crust of bread toasted brown (don't burn it), a sprig of winter savoury, or lemon-thyme and parsley, a roll of thin-cut lemon-peel, a dozen berries of allspice, and a dozen of black pepper; cover the stew-pan close, let it stew very gently for about two hours, then strain it through a sieve into a basin.

If you wish to thicken it, set a clean stew-pan over a slow fire, with about an ounce of b.u.t.ter in it; when it is melted, dredge to it (by degrees) as much flour as will dry it up, stirring them well together; when thoroughly mixed, pour in a little of the gravy; stir it well together, and add the remainder by degrees; set it over the fire, let it simmer gently for fifteen or twenty minutes longer, and skim off the fat, &c. as it rises; when it is about as thick as cream, squeeze it through a tamis, or fine sieve, and you will have a fine, rich brown sauce, at a very moderate expense, and without much trouble.

_Obs._ If you wish to make it still more relis.h.i.+ng, if it is for poultry, you may pound the liver with a bit of b.u.t.ter, rub it through a sieve, and stir it into the sauce when you put in the thickening.

For a ragout or game, add at the same time a table-spoonful of mushroom catchup, or No. 343,[250-*] or No. 429, or a few drops of 422, the juice of half a lemon, and a roll of the rind pared thin, a table-spoonful of port, or other wine (claret is best), and a few grains of Cayenne pepper; or use double the quant.i.ty of meat; or add a bit of glaze, or portable soup (No. 252), to it.

You may vary the flavour, by sometimes adding a little basil, or burnet wine (No. 397), tarragon vinegar (No. 396), or a wine-gla.s.s of quintessence of mushrooms (No. 450).

See the Magazine of Taste (No. 462).

N.B. This is an excellent gravy; and at a large dinner, a pint of it should be placed at each end of the table; you may make it equal to the most costly _consomme_ of the Parisian kitchen.

Those families who are frequently in want of gravy, sauces, &c. (without plenty of which no cook can support the credit of her kitchen), should keep a stock of portable soup or glaze (No. 252): this will make gravy immediately.

_Game Gravy._--(No. 337.)

See _Obs._ to No. 329.

_Orange-gravy Sauce, for wild Ducks, Woodc.o.c.ks, Snipes, Widgeon, and Teal, &c._--(No. 338.)

Set on a saucepan with half a pint of veal gravy (No. 192), add to it half a dozen leaves of basil, a small onion, and a roll of orange or lemon-peel, and let it boil up for a few minutes, and strain it off. Put to the clear gravy the juice of a Seville orange, or lemon, half a tea-spoonful of salt, the same of pepper, and a gla.s.s of red wine; send it up hot. Eschalot and Cayenne may be added.

_Obs._--This is an excellent sauce for all kinds of wild water-fowl.

The common way of gas.h.i.+ng the breast and squeezing in an orange, cools and hardens the flesh, and compels every one to eat duck that way: some people like wild fowl very little done, and without any sauce.

Gravies should always be sent up in a covered boat: they keep hot longer; and it leaves it to the choice of the company to partake of them or not,

_Bonne Bouche for Goose, Duck, or roast Pork._--(No. 341.)

Mix a tea-spoonful of made mustard, a salt-spoonful of salt, and a few grains of Cayenne, in a large wine-gla.s.sful of claret or port wine;[251-*] pour it into the goose by a slit in the ap.r.o.n just before serving up;[251-+] or, as all the company may not like it, stir it into a quarter of a pint of thick melted b.u.t.ter, or thickened gravy, and send it up in a boat. See also Sage and Onion Sauce, No. 300. _Or_,

A favourite relish for roast pork or geese, &c. is, two ounces of leaves of green sage, an ounce of fresh lemon-peel pared thin, same of salt, minced eschalot, and half a drachm of Cayenne pepper, ditto of citric acid, steeped for a fortnight in a pint of claret; shake it up well every day; let it stand a day to settle, and decant the clear liquor; bottle it, and cork it close; a table-spoonful or more in a quarter pint of gravy, or melted b.u.t.ter.

_Robert Sauce for roast Pork, or Geese, &c._--(No. 342.)