Is There a Nutmeg in the House? (26 page)

The
Manual
includes no detailed prescription for the salted and smoked goose (an excellent recipe for a similar dish, brined goose as prepared in certain parts of Sweden is given by Sir Harry Luke in his very original and informative
The Tenth Muse
) but Mrs Johnstone gives illuminating notes on the wood used for smoking, and the salt and spices then in common use for the curing of meats: ‘green birch, oak, or the odoriferous woods, as juniper etc., are an immense improvement to all dried meats. And no sort
of meat’, she adds, ‘is more improved by smoking with aromatic woods than mutton.’

From the following recipes the clarity of Mrs Johnstone’s style can be appreciated; her directions are precise and still perfectly practical; she describes the appearance of a dish and the pitfalls to be avoided, and adds the little details so important to the successful presentation of her food, a precaution seldom observed by the experts of her time.

To boil Salmon and other Fish
. There are many excellent ways of dressing this favourite fish, but perhaps none equal to plain boiling when well performed. Scale and clean the fish without unnecessary washing or handling, and without cutting it too much open. Have a roomy and well-scoured fish-kettle, and if the salmon be large and thick, when you have placed it on the strainer and in the kettle, fill up and amply cover it with cold spring water, that it may heat gradually. Throw in a handful of salt. If a jole or quarter is boiled, it may be put in with warm water. In both cases take off the scum carefully, and let the fish boil slowly, allowing twelve minutes to the pound [500 g]; but it is even more difficult to fix the time fish should boil than the length of time that meat requires. Experience, and those symptoms which the eye of a practised cook alone can discern, must fix the point, and nothing is more disgusting and unwholesome than underdone fish. It may be probed.

The minute the boiling of any fish is completed, the fish-strainer must be lifted and rested across the pan, to drain the fish. Throw a soft cloth or flannel in several folds over it. It would become soft if permitted to soak in the hot water. Dish on a hot fish-plate under a napkin.

Besides the essences to be used at discretion, which are now found on every sideboard of any pretension, shrimp, anchovy and lobster sauce are served with salmon; also plain melted butter; and where the fish is got fresh, and served in what is esteemed by some the greatest perfection – crisp, curdy and creamy – it is the practice to send in a sauce-tureen of the plain liquor in which it was boiled. Fennel and butter are still heard of for salmon, but are nearly obsolete. Garnish with a fringe of curled green parsley and slices of lemon. The carver must help a slice of the thick part with a smaller one of the thin, which is the fattest, and the
best-liked by those in the secret. Sliced cucumber is often served with salmon, and indeed with all boiled fish.

To fry Venison Collops
. Cut oblong slices from the haunch, or slices neatly trimmed from the neck or loin. Have a gravy drawn from the bones and trimmings, ready thickened with butter rolled in lightly-browned flour. Strain into a small stew-pan, boil, and add a squeeze of lemon or orange, and a small glass of claret. Pepper, to taste, a salt-spoonful of salt, the size of a pin’s head of cayenne and a scrape of nutmeg. Fry and dish the collops hot, and pour this sauce over them. Garnish with fried crumbs. This is a very excellent way of dressing venison, particularly when it is not fat enough to roast well.

Cock-a-Leekie
. Boil from 4–6 lb [2–3 kg] of good shin-beef, well broken, till the liquor is very good. Strain it, and put to it a capon, or large fowl, trussed for boiling, and, when it boils, half the quantity of blanched leeks intended to be used, well cleaned, and cut in inch-lengths [2 cm], or longer. Skim this carefully. In a half-hour add the remaining part of the leeks, and a seasoning of pepper and salt. The soup must be very thick of leeks, and the first part of them must be boiled down into the soup till it becomes a green lubricous compound. Sometimes the capon is served in the tureen with the cock-a-leekie. This is a good leek-soup without a fowl.

Some people thicken cock-a-leekie with the fine part of oatmeal. Those who dislike so much of the leeks may substitute shred greens, or spinach and parsley, for one half of them. Reject the coarse green part of the leeks.

Friar’s Chicken
. Make a clear stock of veal, or mutton-shanks, or trimmings of fowls. Strain this into a very nice saucepan, and put a fine white chicken, or young fowl or two, cut down for curry, into it. Season with salt, white pepper, mace and shred parsley. Thicken, when the soup is finished, with the beat yolks of two eggs, and take great care that they do not curdle. Serve with the carved chicken in the soup.

The stock may be simply made of butter, and the meat may be nicely browned in the frying-pan before it is added to the soup. Rabbits make this very well. Some like the egg curdled, and egg
in great quantity, making the dish a sort of
ragout
of eggs and chicken.

It is interesting that neither Meg Dods nor any other of the notable cookery books of the period mentions the scones, girdle cakes, bannocks and pancakes which are universally considered part of Scotland’s gastronomical heritage. Here are two recipes quickly made, excellent for hungry breakfasts and hearty teas.

Scotch Pancakes or Drop Scones
. 250 g (8 oz) of plain flour, ½ teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda, ½ teaspoonful of cream of tartar, 60 g (2 oz) of granulated sugar, 2 eggs, 300 ml (½ pint) of sour milk (fresh milk can be used but sour milk makes the scones lighter). Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar. Add the sugar, then the beaten eggs and the sour milk, gradually. Stir quickly until the batter is the consistency of very thick cream. The scones should be cooked on a girdle, the advantage of which is that it is quite flat and so several can be done at once, but a heavy frying-pan can be used. Dip a screw of kitchen paper into good dripping and rub the girdle or the pan with it, so that there is the merest film of fat. Let it get warm but not too hot. Drop tablespoons of the mixture on to the girdle and cook about 2 minutes. Then lift them up with a palette knife and put them under the grill to toast the upper side. If you have no grill they can be turned over on the girdle or pan. They should be buttered at once and eaten hot. Take care not to let the girdle get too hot as the cooking progresses, as the underside will get burnt before they are sufficiently cooked inside. These quantities will make 20–24 scones.

Scotch Oatcakes
. 250 g (½ lb) coarse oatmeal, 30 g (1 oz) of butter or dripping, 1 teaspoonful of salt, a pinch of bicarbonate of soda, 150 ml (¼ pint) of boiling water. Rub the butter into the oatmeal, add the salt and the bicarbonate of soda. Pour the boiling water on to the mixture and mix to a stiff paste. Roll out thinly on a floured board, cut into rounds and cook them on a greased girdle, on one side only. When they are to be eaten, toast the top side under the grill. They have a pleasant smoky flavour which goes well with bacon. Enough for a dozen oatcakes.

Harper’s Bazaar
, August 1951, with additional unpublished paragraphs

Kedgeree

Among the famous rice dishes of the world, from the beautiful and simple saffron risotto of Lombardy to the reckless blend of fish, chicken, vegetables and rice which makes the Spanish paella, from the spiced pilafs of the Near East to the delicious Chinese sticky fried rice, one English invention, the kedgeree, holds a very high place. For English it is, despite its name. The Indian kitchri from which it derived its name is an entirely different dish, a mixture of lentils, rice and spices; and to English cooks must go the credit of having thought of combining smoked haddock with rice and eggs to make one of the best breakfast and supper dishes.

SPICED KEDGEREE

Cut a medium-sized smoked haddock in 6 slices, put it in a deep dish, pour over sufficient boiling water to cover it completely, cover the dish and leave for 10 minutes. Then drain off the water and flake the fish, removing all skin and bone. Boil 200–250 g (7–8 oz) Patna rice in a large amount of boiling salted water for 10 minutes and strain it.

In the top half of a double boiler melt a lump of butter. Add a sliced onion, previously fried, a teacupful of raisins soaked in water, and the haddock. Into the rice stir either a little grated green ginger or a teaspoon of turmeric. Pile the rice lightly on top of the fish, add 2 tablespoons of melted butter, put a folded teacloth over, then the lid of the pan and steam until the rice is tender, about 30 minutes. Turn out on to a hot dish so that the fish, raisins and onions come out on the top, and decorate with 2 sliced hard-boiled eggs. Serve with halves of lemon and chutney.

CRAB OR PRAWN KEDGEREE

A quickly prepared version which produces a creamy rather than a dry dish. Boil 250 g (8 oz) Patna rice for about 15 minutes until just tender. Drain, spread on a shallow dish and put into a cool oven for 5 minutes to dry. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a thick saucepan, add the rice, season it with pepper, salt and nutmeg or pounded coriander seeds. Stir round with a fork, then add 125 g

(4 oz) flaked crabmeat or shelled prawns. Shake the pan and stir again with the fork until the rice and fish are mixed. Add one well-beaten egg, or two if prawns are used, and remove from the fire as soon as they show signs of thickening. Transfer to a hot dish for serving and strew the top with chopped chives or spring onion tops.

Sunday Times
, 1950s

SMOKED HADDOCK SOUFFLÉ

Make a white sauce with 30 g (1 oz) of butter, 1 heaped tablespoon of flour, 150 ml (¼ pint) of warmed milk; add half an average-sized cooked smoked haddock, boned, skinned, and flaked. Stir until well amalgamated and put through a food mill, or in the electric blender. Return to the cleaned saucepan, stir in the yolks of 2 well-beaten eggs and 60 g (2 oz) of grated Cheddar or
Gruyère. Season well with freshly milled pepper, but salt will probably not be necessary. When cooled, fold in the stiffly beaten whites of 4 eggs. Turn into a buttered 600-ml (1-pint) soufflé dish; stand the dish in a baking tin containing water. Cook in the centre of a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for 30 minutes.

This is enough for 3 people; for 6 or 7 people, double the quantities exactly and make two soufflés simultaneously. This is not a spectacular soufflé, but it is a reliable one, creamy in the centre, and with a delicate flavour.

Vogue
, March 1957

SCALLOPS WITH WHITE WINE AND BACON

Here is an excellent little scallop dish; the mixture of pork or bacon with the fish sounds odd, but it is an old-fashioned and good one.

For 2 people the ingredients are 4 large scallops, 60 g (2 oz) of streaky salt pork or unsmoked bacon, a shallot or two, butter, flour, a small glass of dry white wine, parsley.

Melt the butter in a frying pan, put in the finely chopped shallots and the pork or bacon cut into tiny cubes. Cut the cleaned scallops into larger cubes, season them with pepper but no salt, sprinkle them with flour and put them in the pan when the shallots have turned pale yellow and the pork is beginning to frizzle. Cook very gently for 2 to 3 minutes, then lift the scallops out with a slotted spoon and put them in a serving dish. Add the wine to the pan, boil to reduce a little while stirring; pour the sauce over the scallops and serve, garnished with parsley.

Sunday Times
, 1950s

MOULES À LA RAVIGOTE

Put large well-cleaned mussels into a saucepan to open over a fairly fast flame. Shell them, mix them with a vinaigrette sauce to which have been added chopped hard-boiled egg, parsley, tarragon and a little pickled cucumber. Serve cold.

Elizabeth David’s Menus and Recipes
, pamphlet presented by Lambert & Butler, n.d.

FISH LOAF

750 g (1½ lb) monkfish (gross weight) cooked approximately 45 minutes, covered, in oven at 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2 with approximately 450 ml (¾ pint) of fish stock made from fish carcase, head, etc, with garlic, saffron, white wine, (no onion), bay leaf, a few fennel seeds, water, very little salt. Stock to be strained through muslin.

When the fish is cooked, remove the central gelatinous bone and the skin. Pour off the cooking liquor into a saucepan, and reduce to concentrate it, but don’t cook for too long.

Put the cooked fish flesh into a high-speed blender with 2 small boxes of buttered shrimps, with all their butter, plus approximately 150 ml (5 fl oz) cream, 150 ml (½ pint) fish stock, 4 whole eggs. The whole lot should come to approximately 1 litre (1¾ pints). Add extra seasonings as necessary, more salt, some cayenne, lemon juice, Pernod or another aniseed liqueur, i.e. Spanish anis – this in
half-teaspoons
not tablespoons. Madeira is another possible one, instead of the anis liqueur. Grated ginger is useful too.