FoodNet

The spirit of cookery

1895

Page 228 · 3 recipe records on this page

Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
The quantity of garlic which may be used safely so as not to make the diner perceptible as a sufferer from culinary coarseness is so small that in France it goes by the expres- sion of soupqon, or a suspicion. But in Latin countries garlic is used broadly. ProvenQal cookery is said to be based on garlic, and, as already mentioned, the very air of the land is said to be perfumed with its odour. It is the main condiment of the unmitigated bouillabaisse, and of the principal sauces, and, as related of Gascony, the ‘ capon ’ in the salad in the Dauphine also. Pounded with oil, it yields a kind of mayonnaise, aillolis, which the people eat with fish and snails. The lower classes in the Proven9e flavour their bread by rubbing some garlic on, and pouring oil over ic. We once relished garlic of a particular kind as garnish to mutton chops while travelling in Spain. Other forms share in our taste the sentiment of Greek polite society. 360 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY Appendix. Particular Vegetables grown and* obtainable in India for Use there. Of so-called country vegetables suitable for cooking in India, the following are useful : Brinjals (binegitm), the fruit of the solanaceous plant already alluded to above ; bandekai {bhindi) ; greens (bhagee) ; podolonghai (cJmchoonda) ; moringakai {mooring a) ; varmis beans; country cucumber, a variety differing from the European ; small tomato, prac- tically only an ornamental toy ; maize {mucka cholum in Tamil); sorrel ; pumi)kin ; yams; large and small onions; and street potatoes. Indian corn, or maize — in Hindostanee boota — is suitable for being treated in the American manner, namely, stripped from the young pod while unripe and tender, boiled in water, and, after having been drained, being tossed in melted butter, spiced with tincture of pepper, and salted. Plenty of hutter is essential to ensure the richness of the dish. The corn may be stripped off the stalks after the whole pod has been boiled, and treated as just described. All country beans, from the Duffin bean downwards, may be cooked, when tender and young, like broad beans [fives de marais) ; boiled, with plenty of saltCountry Beans Preparation in the water, till the skins crack ; then peeled and tossed in butter ; or they may be worked into a stiff pur4e. The water in which the beans are to be cooked should he boiling when they are put in. Madrassee beans may be treated in this manner, and receive an addition of standard broth, or glace, or coulis. The country greens should he treated like spinach, sorrel, endive, or turnip-tops. At Madras, in the hot season, a vegetable can always be got called mollay, the tender branches of which [mollay-keeray) are edible. It may be treated like asparagus, provided the stalks he young and fresh. The 36t VEGETABLES PECULIAR TO INDIA young leaves of this plant can also be used as spinach. Young immphins {dil imssuncl), or gourds, gathered when they are of the size of ducks’ eggs, of an age analogous to that of gherkins, may be boiled and served like artichoke bottoms. Purees of sweet potatoes and yams should be accommodated with cream. These tubers may be treated artistically by marinading in brandy and lime-juice, dipping in batter, and frying. Yams are suitable for several forms of treatment which fit potatoes. {Gf. ‘Wyvern,’ loc. cit., pp. 126, 162 et seq.) •CHAPTEE XXIX. VARIETIES OF FLOUR-PASTE USED IN CULINARY / OPERATIONS.