A guide to modern cookery

This is exactly the same as cooked marinade, No. 168. There need only be added one oz. of juniper berries, a few sprigs of rosemary, wild thyme, and basil, two extra garlic cloves, and one quart less of water. 171—MARINADE WITH RED WINE FOR MUTTON By substituting red wine for white in the preceding formula —the quantity of the liquid equalling that of the water—and by slightly increasing the quantity of aromatics, an excellent marinade for mutton is obtained, which in summer enables one to preserve meat, otherwise perishable, for some days. 172—BRINE Quantities Required for Fifty Quarts. 56 lbs. of gray salt. 6 Ibs. of saltpetre. 50 quarts of water. 34 Ibs. of brown sugar. Mode of Procedure.—Put the salt and the water in a tinned copper pan, and put it on an open fire. When the water boils, throw in a peeled potato, and, if the latter float, add water until it begins to sink. If, on the contrary, the potato should sink immediately, reduce the liquid until it is able to buoy the tuber up. At this stage the sugar and saltpetre are added; let them dissolve, and the brine is then removed from the fire and is allowed to cool. It is then poured into the receptacle intended for it, which must be either of slate, stone, cement, or well-jointed tiles. It is well to place in the bottom of this reservoir a wooden lattice, whereon the meats to be salted may be laid, for, were the immersed objects to lie directly on the bottom of the receptacle, the under parts would be entirely shielded from the brine. If the meats to be salted are of an appreciable size, they should be inoculated with brine by means of a special syringe. Without this measure it would be impossible to salt regularly, as the sides would already be over-saturated before the centre had even been properly reached. Eight days should be allowed for salting a piece of beef of what size soever, above eight or ten lb., since the process of inoculation equalises the salting. Ox-tongue intended for salting, besides having to be as COURT-BOUILLONS AND MARINADES 69 fresh as possible, must be trimmed of almost all the cartilage of the throat, and carefully beaten either with a beater or roller. Then it must be pricked on all sides with a stringneedle, and immersed in the liquid, where it should be slightly weighted by some means or other in order to prevent its rising to the surface. A medium-sized tongue would need about seven days’ immersion in the brine. Though brine does not turn as easily as the cooked marinades, it would be well, especially in stormy weather, to watch it and occasionally to boil it. But, as the process of boiling invariably concentrates the brine, a little water should be added to it every time it is so treated, and the test of the potato, described above, should always be resorted to. CHAPTER VII BEFORE broaching the question of the numerous preparations which constitute the various soup, relevé, and entrée garnishes, it will be necessary to give the formule of the elementary preparations, or what are technically called the mise en place. If the various operations which go to make the mise en place were not, at least summarily, discussed here, I should be compelled to repeat them in each formula for which they are required—that is to say, in almost every formula. I should thus resemble those bad operators who, having neglected their mise en place, are obliged to make it in the course of other work, and thereby not only run the risk of making it badly, but also of losing valuable time which might be used to better advantage. Elementary preparations consist of those things whereof one is constantly in need, which may be prepared in advance, and which are kept available for use at a moment’s notice. 173—ANCHOVIES (FILLETS OF) Whether they be for hors d’ceuvres or for culinary use, it is always best to have these handy.