A guide to modern cookery

As to meats or pieces of poultry of an inferior quality, no soaking and no blanching can make good their defects. Whichever way they are treated they remain dry, gray, and savourless. It is therefore simpler and better to use only the finest quality goods. An excellent proof of the futility of soaking and blanching meats intended for ‘‘fricassées’’ and ‘‘ blanquettes”’ lies in) the fact that these very meats, if of good quality, are always perfectly white when they are braised, poéled, or roasted, notwithstanding the fact that these three operations are less calcu-_ lated to preserve their whiteness than the kind of treatment’ they are subjected to in the case of ‘‘blanquettes’’ and’ ** fricassées.”” | Mere routine alone can account for this practice of soaking and blanching meats—a practice that is absolutely condemned by common sense. The term ‘‘ blanching ’’ is wrongly applied to the cooking of green vegetables, such as French beans, green peas, Brussels sprouts, spinach, &c. TThe cooking of these, which is effected by means of boiling salted water, ought really to be termed "à l'anglaise." All the details of the procedure, however, will be given when I deal with the vegetables to which the latter apply. Lastly, under the name of ‘‘ blanching,’’ there exists another operation which consists in partly cooking certain vegetables in plenty of water, in order to rid them of any bitter or pungent flavour they may possess. The time allowed for this blanching varies according to the age of the vegetables, but when the latter are young and in season, it amounts to little more than a mere scalding. Blanching is chiefly resorted to for lettuce, chicory, endives, celery, artichokes, cabbages, and the green vegetables; carrots, turnips, and small onions when they are out of season. In respect of vegetable-marrows, cucumbers, and chow-chow, blanching is often left to the definite cooking process, which should then come under the head of the "à l'anglaise" cooking.. _ After the process of blanching, the vegetables I have just enumerated are always cooled—that is to say, steeped in cold water until they are barely lukewarm. They are then left to drain on a sieve, previous to undergoing the final cooking process to which they are best suited, this generally being braising, 6. VEGETABLES AND GARNISHES Various Preparations. 274—THE TREATMENT OF DRY VEGETABLES It is wrong to soak dry vegetables. If they are of good quality, and the produce of the year, they need only be put into a saucepan with enough cold water to completely cover them, and with one oz. of salt per five quarts of water. Set to boil gently, skim, add the aromatic garnish, quartered carrots, onions, with or without garlic cloves, and a faggot, and set to cook gently with lid on. Remarks.—If the vegetables used are old or inferior in quality, they might be put to soak in soft water; but this only long enough to swell them slightly, 2.e., about one and one-half hours. A prolonged soaking of dry vegetables may give rise to incipient germination, and this, by impairing the principles of the vegetables, depreciates the value of the food, and may even cause some harm to the consumer. 275—BRAISED VEGETABLES Vegetables to be braised must be first blanched, cooled, pared, and strung. Garnish the bottom of a saucepan with blanched pork-rind, sliced carrots and onions, and a faggot, and cover the sides of the utensil with thin slices of bacon. Lay the vegetables upon the prepared litter, and leave them to sweat in the oven for about ten minutes with lid on. The object of this ovensweating is to expel the water. Now moisten enough to cover with white stock, and set to cook gently.