FoodNet

The spirit of cookery

1895

Page 419

Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Api : name in Languedoc of celery, Apinni gravcolens, L. = fU'//A q.v. Api, pommes d’. ,See Pommes. Apple postilla : pulp of baked sour ajiples, c.g., codlins, beaten with honey nr sugar, and baked in thin ]a)-er.s one s])read over the oilier. The pul]) to be beaten during four hours, the mixture DICTIONARY OF CULINARY TERMS 665 during' four hours more. Succe.ss in the b.^kiug depends upon the previous beating. The name poslilla seems to be the Latin adverb, used by Plautus and Terence, instead of posica, after, so that the whole indicates a dish of apples to be eaten after some- thing else. Aspic : French, a savour}’ jelly, to be eaten by itself or with meat. Aspiquer: French, a modern Parisian culinarism, meaning to put lemon-juice, or ‘ reduced vinegar,’ into a jelly, a sauce, ora grav}’ (Gouffe); the e.xpression is therefore misleading; the proper verb to use would be acidulating, to acidulate. Attereau, sometimes spelled hdtereau: a popular ragout at home in Bretagne. Aumelette synonym of omelette, q.v. B Baba : a kind of rich cake, of the brioche class, of Polish origin. Baigaets : a kind of pancakes ; German, anuer Ritter, Scluuarn. Bain-marie: a water-bath to make or keep saucepans and their con- tents hot. Ballotine : F'rench name for a .shoulder of lamb, boned, stuffed, larded, and braised (not in dictionary — little used). Bardes de lard : flat slices of bacon for covering meat to be braised. Baudroie : French name of a fish (not in dictionary). Bechamel : veloute white sauce, mixed with an equal volume of cream ; named from a Marquis of Bechamel. Biscottes : thin .slices of brioche, gently dried in the oven, buttered and sugared and given with tea. Biscuit, in P'rench and German, is the sponge or savoy cake of the Knglish. Bisque: soup made of crawfish ; soups made of other shellfish and soups made by similar proce.sse.s, i.e., soup-sauce.s, have also been termed so. Bisquotin: obsolete sweetmeat formerly made by nuns (U.D., 241). Blanc : hVench, a white mirepoix, consisting of fat, broth, and vegetables, for braising meat. Blanc-manger : originally a soup made of milk of almond.s, con- somme of lean meat without vegetables, spiced with cinnamon and clove, minced and pounded roast fowl, or veal, and panada, etc., as stated in a recipe by Dr. F'agon given to Madame de Maintenon (see her letter). Nowadays a jelly made with calf’s foot or gelatine and milk of almonds. Many modern recipes for blanc-manger are content with a mixture of milk and starch, which, when boiled and cooled, becomes an opaque jelly, properlv called a Jlummery. Othens, again, destroy the character of the dish .still more by adding colouring matter.s, such as chocolate or grenetine, barbarisms to be avoided. Blanch, to : to scald or parboil almonds to remove their .skin.s, ])cels, or hu.sks to make them white; extended to the scalding of vegetables which do not become white, though ])alc, and to that of calf’s head and feet, and skinii}' parts of the ]iig. Blanquette : French, a mince of chickeiu warmed in veloutd sauce pointe<l with butter and lemon-juice. 666 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY Borage : French bourmchc, Borneo officivalis, L., a plant with rough spiny leaves ami blue flower, excellent for flavouring lettuce salads. The name ‘borago’ is conjectured to be a modi- fication of the verb cora^o, ‘ I rejoice the heart.’