FoodNetArchive

The encyclopædia of practical cookery

1890

Page 160 · 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.
Carrageen Farina.— Put lib. of Carrageen in water, and let it macerate to extract the bitterness. Take it out, drain it dry, and boil in a saucepan with a little water for an hour, pass it through a fine sieve, let it settle, and decant it ; then add lib. of caster sugar, and evaporate the moisture of For details respecting Culinary Processes, Utensils, Sauces, e be., referred to, see under their special heads. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL COOKERY. 303 Carrageen — continued. it by putting it over a gentle heat, stirring constantly. When quite dry it may be reduced to a powder, in which state it is portable, and readily mixed with water for invalid use. Carrageen Water. — Put loz. of Carrageen into a bowl of water, wash it well, put it into another bowl with 1 pint of water, and let it soak for ten minutes. Turn it with the water into a saucepan, add double the quantity more of water, a stick of cinnamon, and 2oz. of sugarCarrageen Water, and boil over a moderate fire until the whole has the consistency of cream. Pass it through a fine sieve, add more sugar to moisten if desired, and serve while quite warm. CARROTS (Fr. Carottes; Ger. Carotten). — This famous vegetable was not known in Great Britain until it was introduced to us by the Flemings in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The ancient Greeks used it as a vegetable before the Christian era, and to them it was known as stapliylinos, frequent mention being made of it by old authors. In the reigns of James I. and Charles I. ladies were in the habit of decorating their head-dresses with the leaves, which are exceedingly delicate, feathery, and fern-like ; indeed, the leaves of the Carrot are frequently used by cooks to decorate a table. The tops of the Carrot are cut off about lin. below the crest, and stood in a saucer of water. In due time a very ornamental tuft of fine leaves will grow out and spring up, requiring but very little further ingenuity to adapt them. As to the nutritive value of the Carrot, considerable difference of opinion exists amongst chemists, it being generally ad- mitted that it is less nutritious than the potato ; but as a flavouring vegetable we have apparently none other of such widely accepted utility. Scarce a soup, ragout, hash, or savoury of any kind would be considered perfect unless the flavour of the Carrot entered into its com- binations ; and so accustomed are we now to its use, that boiled beef without Carrots would be an unwelcome dish. Fig. 342. Early Short-horn Fig. 343. Late Long-horn Carrot. Carrot. Sir Humphry Davy tells us concerning the Carrot that the greater part of the alimentary portion of it consists of saccharine matter, which may in a considerable degree account for its antiseptic qualities. The quantity of nutritive matter is nearly 10 per cent, in the whole weight of Carrot, being 98 parts in a 1000, and of these three are starch or mucilage, and the remaining 95 sac- charine matter. The quantity of ready-formed saccharine matter in Carrots is much greater than in any of the cerealia, being 2 b per cent, more than in barley, and about six times more than the quantity contained in potatoes. It is presumed, therefore, that Carrots are much better adapted than the latter for the distillery. Dr. Hunter, in the “ Georgical Essays,” details experiments made to prepare from Carrots a beverage resembling beer, and subsequently a spirituous liquor.