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Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

1898

Page 100 · 1 recipe record on this page

Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
The usual marinade for mutton cutlets, fillets of beef, etc., is made in the proportion of four tablespoonfuls of salad oil to one of vinegar, with one sliced shallot or small onion, six cloves, a bay leaf, twelve peppercorns, a saltspoonful of salt, two teaspoonfuls of dried thyme or marjoram, and a table- spoonful of minced parsley. Some cooks add a strip or two of very finely-pared lemon peelMarinade for Meat, but this requires care, as lemon peel has a very pungent flavour. French cooks of course add g-arlic to their marinade ; if this flavour is liked it should be added according to Mrs. Earle’s method (see Garlic). There is no need to make a great quantity of marinade ; all that is wanted is that it should cover the bottom of the dish in which the cut- lets are placed. They must not only soak in the marinade, but must be turned about in it and basted with it several times during the day. A clever cook will vary the flavour of the *5* FRYING marinade , and it can be kept going on regularly, a little more oil or vinegar being added as required. Veal cutlets and fillets of rabbit are wonderfully improved by a well-flavoured marinade. When the cutlets are wanted they should be lifted out of the dish one by one, drained for a minute or two, and then cooked. Special marinades for hashed venison, mutton, and hare are given elsewhere. In these cases the marinade is not kept for future use, but is strained and added to the thick sauce in which the meat is simmered. Another marinade is given for fresh venison — a method which answers far better than hanging it. Frying1. — There is no doubt that Oil is by far the best medium for frying. But there is often a strong prejudice against it in England, arising partly from a recollection of the two intolerably nauseous oils used in medicine, and partly from the fact that Olive Oil is somewhat expensive. Olive Oil, however, is being more and more used in English kitchens, and is in consequence less expensive than it was. The best Oil should always be bought, and it should be procured from a first-rate shop, where the Oil is sure to be fresh as well as pure.* The finest Olive Oil comes from Provence, the next best from Florence, and the third quality from Lucca. Olive Oil should be of a pale greenish-yellow colour, and tasteless, except for a slightly sweet nutty flavour. If Oil is not good it has a brownish colour, and a disagreeable smell. It is not generally known that vast quantities of Cotton-Seed Oil are now exported from Turkey and other Eastern countries to the South of France, and from thence re-exported as pure Olive Oil. One great advantage of using Olive Oil for frying is, that if slowly heated it can rise to a temperature of 600° without burning, whilst fat gets over-heated at 400°, and butter burns at a far less temperature. Whitebait and Potato Chips must be fried at a temperature of 400°, or they will not be crisp. Anything protected by a * Messrs. De Castro, 66 Piccadilly, import pure Olive Oil in large earthenware jars, and bottle it off. FRYING *53