Crab-coral butter, and lobster butter may be made ex-
actly as the foregoing : in the case of the former, I would
put in a couple of anchovies, as the coral is rather taste-
less ; and in that of the latter, I would wash the lobster
clean, getting rid of all oily, tinny juices. To do this,
turn the contents of tin out upon a sieve, with a bowl un-
der it to catch the liquor ; when the lobster meat drips no
longer, pour over it a good jugful of clean cold watei-
turning the pieces so that they may all come under the
stream, then dry and pound it.
Hard-boiled yolks of eggs may be passed through the
sieve, and be made to form a jiart of any fancy butter .
they tint plain butter yellow, and make a tasty pat if fla-
voured with soft herring roes, or cod's roes, peppered, and
sharpened with a few capers.
Fish that is very salt must, of course, be soaked in water
before it can be used : anchovies in oil do not need that
treatment. Dorgona anchovies, on the other hand, must
be freed from brine by steeping.
Home-made potted meats, if carefully made, so far sur-
])ass those which you get in tins, that I can hardly under-
stand why they are so rarely attempted. Really good
butter, and a very little pure gravy, attentively extracted
from some fresh meat and bones, are the chief corner-
vStones in such compositions. Ramasamy invariably over-
spices his potted meat, cooks it over the fire in some strange
way, and the less we enquire into the class of butter he
uses the better.
Potted prawns should be made precisely as laid down
for prawn butter, omitting the final amalgamation with
MORS D'CEUVRES. 219
batter. I will select home-made potted tongue as a trust-
worthy method of using up meat advantageously : —
Take one pound weight of tongue, home-cured, (do not
hesitate to pay eight or ten annas for it when fresh : the
sum w411 not ruin you, and you will get you money's
worth) four ounces of the best butter, a salt-spoonful
of pounded mace, a coffee-cup of beef gravy, a tea- spoonful
of " spiced peppe✪ Home-made Potted Tonguer" (q. v. page 111), and work them in
this manner : — cut off the hard skin of the tongue, and
pass the meat through your mincing machine : after that,
pound it thoroughly in your mortar, adding the butter
and gravy during the operation : press the meat through
youi' wire-sieve to get rid of gristle, and lumps, work the
spiced pepper and mace into it, and pat it down tightly in
a jar : smooth the surface : melt a table- spoonful of the
same sort of butter in a sauce-pan, and pour it over the
surface ; let it get cold, and the work will be completed.
This receipt is practicable, as to quantities, with cold corned
beef, chicken and tongue (half and half), cold roast beef,
and even mutton. Roast-beef, and mutton, require aboiit
three anchovies to the pound, as they have not the flavour
of salted meat.
Potted snipe, hare, partridges, &c., are excellent.
Don't forget the livers when you are potting birds,
and turn back to page 70 for my recipe for "/oie gras
forcemeat," a little of which will encourage your game
'pate exceedingly. If you happen to have any spare atoms
of truffles handy, slip them into the potted meat, and no
man will blame you.
Page 123 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1885. 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
Crab-coral butter, and lobster butter may be made exactly as the foregoing : in the case of the former, I would put in a couple of anchovies, as the coral is rather tasteless ; and in that of the latter, I would wash the lobster clean, getting rid of all oily, tinny juices. To do this, turn the contents of tin out upon a sieve, with a bowl under it to catch the liquor ; when the lobster meat drips no longer, pour over it a good jugful of clean cold water, turning the pieces so that they may all come under the stream, then dry and pound it.
Hard-boiled yolks of eggs may be passed through the sieve, and be made to form a part of any fancy butter . they tint plain butter yellow, and make a tasty pat if flavoured with soft herring roes, or cod's roes, peppered, and sharpened with a few capers.
Fish that is very salt must, of course, be soaked in water before it can be used : anchovies in oil do not need that treatment. Dorgona anchovies, on the other hand, must be freed from brine by steeping.
Home-made potted meats, if carefully made, so far sur- ])ass those which you get in tins, that I can hardly understand why they are so rarely attempted. Really good butter, and a very little pure gravy, attentively extracted from some fresh meat and bones, are the chief cornerstones in such compositions. Ramasamy invariably overspices his potted meat, cooks it over the fire in some strange way, and the less we enquire into the class of butter he uses the better.
Potted prawns should be made precisely as laid down for prawn butter, omitting the final amalgamation with
batter. I will select home-made potted tongue as a trustworthy method of using up meat advantageously : —
Take one pound weight of tongue, home-cured, (do not hesitate to pay eight or ten annas for it when fresh : the sum will not ruin you, and you will get you money's worth) four ounces of the best butter, a salt-spoonful of pounded mace, a coffee-cup of beef gravy, a tea- spoonful of " spiced pepper" (q. v. page 111), and work them in this manner : — cut off the hard skin of the tongue, and pass the meat through your mincing machine : after that, pound it thoroughly in your mortar, adding the butter and gravy during the operation : press the meat through your wire-sieve to get rid of gristle, and lumps, work the spiced pepper and mace into it, and pat it down tightly in a jar : smooth the surface : melt a table- spoonful of the same sort of butter in a sauce-pan, and pour it over the surface ; let it get cold, and the work will be completed. This receipt is practicable, as to quantities, with cold corned beef, chicken and tongue (half and half), cold roast beef, and even mutton. Roast-beef, and mutton, require about three anchovies to the pound, as they have not the flavour of salted meat.
Potted snipe, hare, partridges, &c., are excellent. Don't forget the livers when you are potting birds, and turn back to page 70 for my recipe for "/oie gras forcemeat," a little of which will encourage your game 'pate exceedingly. If you happen to have any spare atoms of truffles handy, slip them into the potted meat, and no man will blame you.
Records on this page
Home-made Potted Tongue