Hand-Book of Practical Cookery for Ladies and Professional Cooks Part 7

Hang in the shade, under a shed, or in a garret, and in a clean and dry place, some small bunches of parsley, chervil, celery, etc., the roots upward; leave them thus till perfectly dry, then place them in your spice-box for winter use.

The best time for drying them is at the end of October or the beginning of November; dig them up in fine and dry weather, so as to have them clean without washing.

Soak in cold water half an hour before using.

WHITE PEPPER.

This is black pepper decorticated.

Put peppercorns in a bowl, cover with cold water, and leave thus till the skin is tender; then drain. Take the skin off, let it dry, grind it; place with your other spices, and use where directed. It takes many days for the skin to become tender.

QUALITY OF MEAT, FISH, VEGETABLES, FRUIT, ETC.

The quality of meat depends entirely on the quality of food with which the animal has been fed.

For fish, the taste or quality is according to the kind of water in which they have lived; fish from a muddy pond smell of mud, while fish from a clear brook are delicious.

The same difference exists in vegetables and fruit; their quality is according to the quality or nature of the ground in which they have been grown.

PASTRY-BAG.

A bag for pastry is made with thick, strong linen; of a conical shape, about one foot long, eight inches broad at one end when spread on a flat surface, and which makes about sixteen inches in circ.u.mference, and only one inch and a quarter at the other end, and in which latter end a tin tube is placed, so that the smaller end of the tin tube will come out of the smaller end of the bag. Putting then some mixture into the bag and by pressing from the upper end downward, the mixture will come out of the tin tube.

RAW MATERIALS.

If American cookery is inferior to any other generally, it is not on account of a want of the first two requisites--raw materials and money to buy them; so there is no excuse for it, both are given to the cooks.

Here, where markets rival the best markets of Europe and even surpa.s.s them in abundance, it is really a pity to live as many do live.

SCALLOPED KNIFE.

This knife is used to cut beets, carrots, turnip-rooted celery, potatoes, radishes, and turnips; in slices, round, oblong, or of any other shape; either to decorate dishes, or to be served alone or with something else, or to be fried.

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The annexed cuts will give an idea of what can be done with it. It is understood that the vegetables are peeled first.

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SHALLOTS.

Shallots come from Syria. Shallot is stronger than garlic and onion; a real Tartar sauce cannot be made without shallot. The small, green onion is a good subst.i.tute for it.

SKEWERS.

The cuts below are skewers. The common ones are used to fasten pieces of meat together; to roast or bake small birds, liver in _brochette_, etc., etc.

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Those to decorate are only used with different flowers or vegetables, and stuck inside of different pieces of meat as a decoration. They are removed just before carving.

The use of them is explained in the different receipts. They may be different from those seen in the cuts.

SPICES.

The cooks of this country generally have a queer idea of what they call French cookery and French spices.

Some honestly believe that to make a French dish a great deal of pepper and other strong seasonings must be put in.

Many other persons, who have not been in Europe, really believe also, that French cookery is what is called highly-seasoned. There never was a greater mistake.

If French cooks use several kinds of spices, and may-be more than American cooks, they are not the same; or if some are the same, such as pepper, they use them in much smaller proportions.

They generally use thyme, parsley, bay-leaf, chervil, tarragon, etc., which are aromatic; but never use (in this climate) ginger, curry, cayenne pepper, pimento, catsups, variegated colored pickles made with pyroligneous acids, etc., and which are very exciting and irritating.

Some of our readers may naturally ask: How is it that French cookery is believed by many to be the contrary of what it really is?

Because every eating-house, of no matter what size, pretends to be a first-rate one or a fashionable one--and to be first-rate or fashionable must, as a matter of course, have French cooks, or at least cook French dishes.

You enter the place, ask for a French dish; or, ask if you can have such a dish, _a la Francaise_?

You are politely and emphatically answered in the affirmative; and very often the polite waiter says that a French cook presides in the kitchen.

Result!--the cook, be he from the Green Isle or of African descent, receiving the order to prepare a French dish, puts a handful of pepper in the already too much peppered, old-fashioned prepared dish, and sends it to the confident customer as a genuine French dish.

Said customer never asks a second time for a French dish, and p.r.o.nounces French cookery to be--abominable!

STIRRING.

Never use any spoon but a wooden one to stir any thing on the fire or in a warm state.

STRAINING.

To strain, is to pa.s.s a sauce or any thing else through a sieve, a strainer, or a piece of cloth, in order to have it freed from particles of every kind.

Broth is strained to make soup, so as to remove the small pieces of bones that may be in it, etc.

SUGAR.