FoodNetArchive

The encyclopædia of practical cookery

1890

Page 436 · 1 recipe record on this page

Presented as published in 1890. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Pried Cod’s Tongues. — Well wash eighteen fresh tongues, drain on a napkin, dip in cold milk, and then roll them one by one in flour. Put 1 teacupful of clarified butter into a frying-pan, heat it, gently lay in the tongues, keeping them separate, and cook for three minutes ; then turn them on the other side, using a fork, and cook for three minutes longer. Take them up carefully with a skimmer, put on a cloth to drain, season with 1 pinch of salt and £ pinch of pepperFried Cod’s Tongues. Dress them on a hot dish with a folded napkin, and garnish with sprigs of parsley. Serve with 1 gill of hot tomato-sauce in a sauceboat. COFFEE (Fr. Cafe; Ger. Kaffee; Ital. Caffe; Sp. Cafe). — The plant by which Coffee berries, or, more cor- rectly, seeds, are produced is of the same natural order as the trees from which quinine and cinchona bark are obtained. Hence it is not surprising to find that Coffee possesses medicinal properties of a very high order, due chiefly to its aromatic essential oil and the active prin- ciple called caffeine, a crystal alkaloid that closely resembles them (of tea), quinine, cinchonine, and others. Payen gives the following as the composition of the Coffee-berry : — Water 12'000 Woody tissue ... ... ... ... ... 34'000 Fixed fatty matters ... ... ... 10 to 13’000 Gum, sugar, and vegetable acids ... ... 15 500 Nitrogenous matter allied to legumin (vege- table casein) ... ... ... ... ... 13'000 Free caffein ... ... ... ... ... 0'800 Compound of caffein with potash ... 35 to 5'000 Solid fatty essence ... ... ... ... 0'002 Aromatic essential oil ... ... ... ... O'OOl Saline matters ... ... ... ... ... 6'697 100 000 Talleyrand wrote: “A cup of Coffee lightly tempered • with good milk detracts nothing from your intellect ; on the contrary, your stomach is freed by it, and no longer distresses your brain; it will not hamper your mind with troubles, but give freedom to its working. Suave molecules of Mocha stir up your blood, without causing excessive heat; the organ of thought receives from it a feeling of sympathy ; work becomes easier, and you will sit down without distress to your principal repast, which will restore your body, and afford you a calm delicious night.” Fig. 497. Coffee Berries and Beans. The Coffee-plant ( Caffea arabica ) is a native of Arabia, and the better kinds are generally known as “Mocha”; but it is extensively grown in the French possessions in the West Indies, the seed having been imported thither in the reign of Louis XIY. (1741) after it had been cultivated at Amsterdam, and from this seed, which was of genuine Mocha descent, the West Indian gardens were stocked. The tree frequently attains a height of from 12ft. to 15ft., its leaves are laurel-shaped, and the berries resemble cherries, each containing two “ beans ” (see Fig. 497). When dried in the sun the husks are separated from the seeds ; but in their natural (green) Coffee — continued.