* Native oysters, prepared as for sauce, may be curried by the receipt for
eggs or sweetbreads, with the addition of their liquor.
CHAP. XVI. ]
CURRIES, POTTED MEATS, ETC.
803
very large proportions of them which are acceptable to some eaters,
preventing others altogether from partaking of the dish. Slice, and
fry gently in a little good butter, from two to six large onions (with
a bit of garlic, and four or five eschalots, or none of either), when
they are coloured equally of a fine yellow-brown, lift them on to a
sieve reversed to drain ; put them into a clean saucepan, add a pint
and a half of good gravy, with a couple of ounces of rasped cocoa-
nut, or of any of the other condiments we have already specified,
which may require as much stewing as the onions (an apple or two,
for instance), and simmer them softly from half to three quarters of
an hour, or until the onion is sufficiently tender to be pressed
through a strainer. We would recommend that for a delicate
currie this should always be done; for a common one it is not
necessary ; and many persons prefer to have the whole of it left in
this last. After the gravy has been worked through the strainer,
and again boils, add to it from three to four dessertspoonsful of
currie- powder, and one of flo^r, with as much salt as the gravy may
require, the whole mixed to a smooth batter with a small cupful of
good cream✪ Curried Gravy. ^ Simmer it from fifteen to twenty minutes, and. it will
be ready for use. Lobster, prawns, shrimps, maccaroni, hard-boiled
eggs, cold calf’s head, and various other meats may be heated and
served in it with advantage. For ail of these, and indeed for every
kind of currie, acid of some sort should be added. Chili vinegar
answers well when no fresh lemon-juice is at hand.
Onions, 2 to 6 (garlic, 1 clove, or eschalots, 4 to 5, or neither) ;
fried a light brown. Gravy, 1± pint ; cocoa-nut, 2 oz. (3, if very
young) : £ to f hour. Currie-powder, 3 to 4 dessertspoonsful ; flour,
1 dessertspoonful; salt, as needed; cream, 1 small cupful: 15 to 20
minutes.
Ohs. — In India, curds are frequently added to curries, but that may
possibly be from their abounding much more than sweet cream in
so hot a climate.
POTTED MEATS.
Any tender and well-roasted meat, taken free of fat, skin, and
gristle, as well as from the dry outsides, will answer for potting ad-
mirably, better indeed than that which is generally baked for the
purpose, and which is usually quite deprived of its juices by the
process. Spiced or corned beef also is excellent when thus prepared ;
and any of these will remain good a long time if mixed with cold
fresh butter, instead of that which is clarified ; but no addition that
can be made to it will render the meat eatable, unless it be thoroughly
pounded ; reduced, in fact, to the smoothest possible paste, free from a
* This must be added only just before the currie is dished, when any acid
fruit has been boiled in the sravy: it may then be first blended with a' small
portion of arrow-root, or flourf
804
MODERN COOKERY.
[c:iap. xvi.
Page 279 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1884. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
* Native oysters, prepared as for sauce, may be curried by the receipt for eggs or sweetbreads, with the addition of their liquor.
CURRIES, POTTED MEATS, ETC.
very large proportions of them which are acceptable to some eaters, preventing others altogether from partaking of the dish. Slice, and fry gently in a little good butter, from two to six large onions (with a bit of garlic, and four or five eschalots, or none of either), when they are coloured equally of a fine yellow-brown, lift them on to a sieve reversed to drain ; put them into a clean saucepan, add a pint and a half of good gravy, with a couple of ounces of rasped cocoanut, or of any of the other condiments we have already specified, which may require as much stewing as the onions (an apple or two, for instance), and simmer them softly from half to three quarters of an hour, or until the onion is sufficiently tender to be pressed through a strainer. We would recommend that for a delicate currie this should always be done; for a common one it is not necessary ; and many persons prefer to have the whole of it left in this last. After the gravy has been worked through the strainer, and again boils, add to it from three to four dessertspoonsful of currie-powder, and one of flour, with as much salt as the gravy may require, the whole mixed to a smooth batter with a small cupful of good cream. ^ Simmer it from fifteen to twenty minutes, and. it will be ready for use. Lobster, prawns, shrimps, maccaroni, hard-boiled eggs, cold calf’s head, and various other meats may be heated and served in it with advantage. For ail of these, and indeed for every kind of currie, acid of some sort should be added. Chili vinegar answers well when no fresh lemon-juice is at hand.
Onions, 2 to 6 (garlic, 1 clove, or eschalots, 4 to 5, or neither) ; fried a light brown. Gravy, 1± pint ; cocoa-nut, 2 oz. (3, if very young) : £ to f hour. Currie-powder, 3 to 4 dessertspoonsful ; flour, 1 dessertspoonful; salt, as needed; cream, 1 small cupful: 15 to 20 minutes.
Ohs. — In India, curds are frequently added to curries, but that may possibly be from their abounding much more than sweet cream in so hot a climate.
POTTED MEATS.
Any tender and well-roasted meat, taken free of fat, skin, and gristle, as well as from the dry outsides, will answer for potting admirably, better indeed than that which is generally baked for the purpose, and which is usually quite deprived of its juices by the process. Spiced or corned beef also is excellent when thus prepared ; and any of these will remain good a long time if mixed with cold fresh butter, instead of that which is clarified ; but no addition that can be made to it will render the meat eatable, unless it be thoroughly pounded ; reduced, in fact, to the smoothest possible paste, free from a
* This must be added only just before the currie is dished, when any acid fruit has been boiled in the sravy: it may then be first blended with a' small portion of arrow-root, or flourf
[c:iap. xvi.
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Curried Gravy