A guide to modern cookery

Lemons are channelled by means of a little knife, or a special instrument for the purpose, which excises parallel ribbons from the surface of the rind and lays the white bare. A lemon channelled in this way is cut in two, lengthwise with the core; its two extremities are removed, and the two halves are cut laterally into thin, regular slices to look like serrated half-discs. The lemon may also be cut at right angles to the core. Fried fish, oysters, and certain game are generally garnished with lemon slices fashioned according to the taste of the cook; but the simplest, and perhaps the best, way is to cut the lemon through the centre, after having trimmed the two ends quite straight, and then to remove the rind roughly from the edge. For whatever purpose the lemon be intended, it should be, as far as possible, only prepared at the last moment. If it must be prepared beforehand, it would be well to keep it in a bowl of fresh water. 180 SHALLOTS Chopped Shallots.—Clean the shallots, and, by means of a very sharp knife, cut them lengthwise into thin slices; let these cling together by not allowing the knife to cut quite through them, and, this done, turn them half round and proceed in the same way at right angles to the other cuts. Finally, cut them laterally, and this will be found to produce very fine and regular, small cubes. Ciseled Shallots—The name ‘“‘ciseled shallots” is often erroneously given to those shallots resulting from the above process. But ciseled shallots are merely laterally sliced, the result of which operation is a series of thin, regular discs. Ciseled or chopped shallots should, when possible, only be prepared when required; if, however, they must be treated in advance, they should be kept somewhere in the cool until wanted. 181 —SPICES Strictly speaking, spices include cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, mace; and the many varieties of peppers and pimenta, cayenne, paprika, &c. These various condiments are found ready-made on the market, and they need only be kept dry in air-tight boxes in order to prevent the escape of their aroma. But there is another kind of preparation, in cookery, to which the name of spice or all-spice is more especially given. Nowadays several market varieties of this preparation exist, and vie with each other for custom, though in most cases they deserve it equally well. Formerly this was not so, and every chef had his own formula. The following is a recipe for the spice in question, which would be found useful if it had to be prepared at a moment’s notice :— Obtain the following, very dry. 5 oz. of bay leaves. 4 oz. of cloves. 3 oz. of thyme (half of it wild, if 3 oz. of ginger-root. possible). 3 oz. of mace. 3 oz. of coriander. 10 oz. of mixed pepper (half black 4 oz. of cinnamon. and half white). 6 oz. of nutmeg. 1 oz. of cayenne. Put all these ingredients into a mortar and pound them until they are all able to pass through a very fine sieve. Put the resulting powder into an air-tight box, which must be kept dry. Before being used, this spice is generally mixed with salt (No. 188). 182—FLOUR For whatever use the flour is intended, it is always best to sift it. This is more particularly necessary in the case of flour used for coating objects to be fried; for the latter, being first dipped into milk, must of necessity let a few drops of that liquid fall into the flour they are rolled in. Lumps would therefore form, which might adhere to the objects to be fried if the flour were not sifted. 183—HERB JUICE This is to finish or intensify certain preparations. To prepare it, throw into a small saucepan of boiling water some parsley, chervil, and tarragon and chive leaves, in equal quantities, according to the amount of juice required.