The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual Part 61

MEM.--You cannot make essence of anchovy half so cheap as you can buy it. Thirty prime fish, weighing a pound and a quarter, and costing 4_s._ 6_d._, and two table-spoonfuls of water, made me only half a pint of essence; you may commonly buy that quant.i.ty ready-made for 2_s._, and we have seen an advertis.e.m.e.nt offering it for sale as low as 2_s._ 6_d._ per quart.

It must be kept very closely stopped; when you tap a bottle of sauce, throw away the old perforated cork, and put in a new taper velvet cork; if the air gets to it, the fish takes the rust,[281-+] and it is spoiled directly.

Essence of anchovy is sometimes coloured[281-++] with bole armeniac, Venice red, &c.; but all these additions deteriorate the flavour of the sauce, and the palate and stomach suffer for the gratification of the eye, which, in culinary concerns, will never be indulged by the sagacious gourmand at the expense of these two _primum mobiles_ of his pursuits.

? Essence of anchovy is sometimes made with sherry or Madeira wine, or good mushroom catchup (No. 439), instead of water. If you like the acid flavour, add a little citric acid, or dissolve them in good vinegar.

N.B. This is infinitely the most convenient way of using anchovy, as each guest may mix sauce for himself, and make it strong or weak, according to his own taste.

It is also much more economical, as plain melted b.u.t.ter (No. 256) serves for other purposes at table.

_Anchovy Paste, or le Beurre d'Anchois._--(No. 434.)

Pound them in a mortar; then rub it through a fine sieve; pot it, cover it with clarified b.u.t.ter, and keep it in a cool place.

N.B. If you have essence of anchovy, you may make anchovy paste extempore, by rubbing the essence with as much flour as will make a paste. _Mem._--This is merely mentioned as the means of making it immediately; it will not keep.

_Obs._--This is sometimes made stiffer and hotter by the addition of a little flour of mustard, a pickled walnut, spice (No. 460), curry powder (No. 455), or Cayenne; and it then becomes a rival to "_la veritable sauce d'enfer_" (No. 528), or _pate a la diable_ for deviling biscuits (No. 574), grills (No. 538), &c. It is an excellent garnish for fish, put in pats round the edge of the dish, or will make anchovy toast (No.

573), or devil a biscuit (No. 574), &c. in high style.

_Anchovy Powder._--(No. 435.)

Pound the fish in a mortar, rub them through a sieve, and make them into a paste with dried flour, roll it into thin cakes, and dry them in a Dutch oven before a slow fire; pounded to a fine powder, and put into a well-stopped bottle, it will keep for years; it is a very savoury relish, sprinkled on bread and b.u.t.ter for a sandwich, &c. See Oyster Powder (No. 280).

_Obs._--To this may be added a small portion of Cayenne pepper, grated lemon-peel, and citric acid.

_Walnut Catchup._--(No. 438.)

Take six half-sieves of green walnut-sh.e.l.ls, put them into a tub, mix them up well with common salt, (from two to three pounds,) let them stand for six days, frequently beating and mas.h.i.+ng them; by this time the sh.e.l.ls become soft and pulpy; then by banking it up on one side of the tub, and at the same time by raising the tub on that side, the liquor will drain clear off to the other; then take that liquor out: the mas.h.i.+ng and banking-up may be repeated as often as liquor is found. The quant.i.ty will be about six quarts. When done, let it be simmered in an iron boiler as long as any sc.u.m arises; then bruise a quarter of a pound of ginger, a quarter of a pound of allspice, two ounces of long pepper, two ounces of cloves, with the above ingredients; let it slowly boil for half an hour; when bottled, let an equal quant.i.ty of the spice go into each bottle; when corked, let the bottles be filled quite up: cork them tight, seal them over, and put them into a cool and dry place for one year before they are used.

N.B. For the above we are indebted to a respectable oilman, who has many years proved the receipt.

_Mushroom Catchup._--(No. 439.)

If you love good catchup, gentle reader, make it yourself,[283-*] after the following directions, and you will have a delicious relish for made-dishes, ragouts, soups, sauces, or hashes.

Mushroom gravy approaches the nature and flavour of meat gravy, more than any vegetable juice, and is the superlative subst.i.tute for it: in meagre soups and extempore gravies, the chemistry of the kitchen has yet contrived to agreeably awaken the palate, and encourage the appet.i.te.

A couple of quarts of double catchup, made according to the following receipt, will save you some score pounds of meat, besides a vast deal of time and trouble; as it will furnish, in a few minutes, as good sauce as can be made for either fish, flesh, or fowl. See No. 307.

I believe the following is the best way of extracting and preparing the essence of mushrooms, so as to procure and preserve their flavour for a considerable length of time.

Look out for mushrooms from the beginning of September.

Take care they are the right sort, and fresh gathered. Full-grown flaps are to be preferred: put a layer of these at the bottom of a deep earthen pan, and sprinkle them with salt; then another layer of mushrooms, and some more salt on them; and so on alternately, salt and mushrooms: let them remain two or three hours, by which time the salt will have penetrated the mushrooms, and rendered them easy to break; then pound them in a mortar, or mash them well with your hands, and let them remain for a couple of days, not longer, stirring them up and mas.h.i.+ng them well each day; then pour them into a stone jar, and to each quart add an ounce and a half of whole black pepper, and half an ounce of allspice; stop the jar very close, and set it in a stew-pan of boiling water, and keep it boiling for two hours at least. Take out the jar, and pour the juice clear from the settlings through a hair-sieve (without squeezing[284-*] the mushrooms) into a clean stew-pan; let it boil very gently for half an hour: those who are for superlative catchup, will continue the boiling till the mushroom-juice is reduced to half the quant.i.ty; it may then be called double cat-sup or dog-sup.

There are several advantages attending this concentration; it will keep much better, and only half the quant.i.ty be required; so you can flavour sauce, &c. without thinning it: neither is this an extravagant way of making it, for merely the aqueous part is evaporated; skim it well, and pour it into a clean dry jar, or jug; cover it close, and let it stand in a cool place till next day; then pour it off as gently as possible (so as not to disturb the settlings at the bottom of the jug,) through a tamis, or thick flannel bag, till it is perfectly clear; add a table-spoonful of good brandy to each pint of catchup, and let it stand as before; a fresh sediment will be deposited, from which the catchup is to be quietly poured off, and bottled in pints or half pints (which have been washed with brandy or spirit): it is best to keep it in such quant.i.ties as are soon used.

Take especial care that it is closely corked, and sealed down, or dipped in bottle cement.

If kept in a cool, dry place, it may be preserved for a long time; but if it be badly corked, and kept in a damp place, it will soon spoil.

Examine it from time to time, by placing a strong light behind the neck of the bottle, and if any pellicle appears about it, boil it up again with a few peppercorns.

We have ordered no more spice, &c. than is absolutely necessary to feed the catchup, and keep it from fermenting, &c.

The compound, commonly called catchup, is generally an injudicious combination of so many different tastes, that the flavour of the mushroom is overpowered by a farrago of garlic, eschalot, anchovy, mustard, horseradish, lemon-peel, beer, wine, spice, &c.

_Obs._--A table-spoonful of double catchup will impregnate half a pint of sauce with the full flavour of mushroom, in much greater perfection than either pickled or powder of mushrooms.

_Quintessence of Mushrooms._--(No. 440.)

This delicate relish is made by sprinkling a little salt over either flap or b.u.t.ton mushrooms; three hours after, mash them; next day, strain off the liquor that will flow from them; put it into a stew-pan, and boil it till it is reduced to half.

It will not keep long, but is preferable to any of the catchups, which, in order to preserve them, must have spice, &c., which overpowers the flavour of the mushrooms.

An artificial mushroom bed will supply this all the year round.

To make sauce with this, see No. 307.

_Oyster Catchup._--(No. 441.)

Take fine fresh Milton oysters; wash them in their own liquor; skim it; pound them in a marble mortar; to a pint of oysters add a pint of sherry; boil them up, and add an ounce of salt, two drachms of pounded mace, and one of Cayenne; let it just boil up again; skim it, and rub it through a sieve, and when cold, bottle it, cork it well, and seal it down.

_Obs._--See also No. 280, and Obs. to No. 278.

N.B. It is the best way to pound the salt and spices, &c. with the oysters.

_Obs._--This composition very agreeably heightens the flavour of white sauces, and white made-dishes; and if you add a gla.s.s of brandy to it, it will keep good for a considerable time longer than oysters are out of season in England.

_c.o.c.kle and Muscle Catchup_,--(No. 442.)

May be made by treating them in the same way as the oysters in the preceding receipt.

_Pudding Catchup._--(No. 446.)

Half a pint of brandy, "essence of punch" (No. 479), or "Curacoa" (No.

474), or "Noyeau," a pint of sherry, an ounce of thin-pared lemon-peel, half an ounce of mace, and steep them for fourteen days, then strain it, and add a quarter of a pint of capillaire, or No. 476. This will keep for years, and, mixed with melted b.u.t.ter, is a delicious relish to puddings and sweet dishes. See Pudding Sauce, No. 269, and the Justice's Orange Syrup, No. 392.

_Potato[286-*] Starch._--(No. 448.)