FoodNetArchive

Cassell's dictionary of cookery

1892

Page 400 · 1 recipe record on this page

Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
M. Soyer, the French cook's, way of making coffee 'was to warm the freshly -ground coffee, mixed with a soup(,'on of chicory, over the fire, stirring it until it was quite hot. He then poured the boiling water upon it, allowed it to stand for ten minutes, and served it with milk and sugar. Sufficient, a quarter of a pound of coffee and a quarter of an ounce of chicory for every three quarts of waterCoffee, Soyer's Mode of Making. Probable cost, 6d. per quart, with milk and sugar. Coffee, To Grind.— Coffee should not be grouad too finely, or it -will be difficult to make the liquid clear. It ought to be ground immediately before it is used. Nothing so soon loses its flavour as coffee when it is powdered, and especially if it is left uncovered. If chicory is added, two ounces ^%iU be enough for one pound of coff'ee. SmaU coffee niills for domestic use are sold everywhere. Time to grind, a few minutes. Sufficient, a pound of raw berries when roasted and ground will produce thirteen ounces of ground coffee. Coffee, To Roast.— To roast coffee properly, a suitable apparatus, which is made for the purpose, should be purchased. There are two or three different kinds, and the price varies, the cheapest being about 8s. Manyper- sons, however, who have a prejudice in favour of roasting their own coff'ee, and do not possess a " drmn," use an iron saucepan with a closely- fitting lid. If this is done, great care will be required, or the coffee will either be burnt, in which case the aroma will be destroyed, or not sufficiently roasted, and then the flavour wiU not be fiilly developed. It is a good plan to wash the berries before roasting them, it not only cleanses them, but tests their quality. Those which float on the top ef the water are not good. The berries must afterwards be carefully dried, both in a cloth ajid in the tin. To roast them, put a little piece of perfectly fresh sweet butter about the size of a walnut into tlie pan with three pounds of berries. Place the lid on, and shake the saucepan about continually, until a slight smoke arises. Then diaw the saucepan back, and stir the berries about with a wooden spoon till they are lightly and equally browned, to the colour of cinna- mon. Spread them on a flat dish, and throw a thick cloth over them. WTien quite cold put the berries into dry bottles, and cork them closely. It is a good plan t© buy a large quan- tity of raw berries, and roast two or three pounds as requii-ed. The coffee berry ought not to be roasted until it is three years old, and it im- proves with keeping. The fire should be clear and bright, but n®t fierce, or half a minute -\vill burn it. M COLANDERS. Colander. — The colander is a basin with handles, and perforated holes at the bottom and sides. It is used for straining vegetables, &c., and is brought into daily use in almost every household. Colanders are made of tin and earthenware; the tin ones are the more durable, but the earthenware are the sweeter of the two, excepting when quite new. Probable cost. Is. to 4s.