FoodNetArchive

Soyer's standard cookery

1912

Page 272 · 4 recipe records on this page

Presented as published in 1912. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Take a quart of claret and place it in a saucepan with a quarter of a pound of sugar, a small stick of cinnamon, and the juice of three oranges and two lemonsBordeaux Punch. Raise to boiling point and then pour into a bowl, adding two slices of orange and two of lemon, and a bunch of mint sprinkled with sifted sugar. This should be served as hot as possible. Rhubarb Water. Boil gently seven sliced stalks of green rhubarb and a quar- ter of a pound of chopped figs or raisins in three pints of waterRhubarb Water for half an hour. Then strain through muslin and add a few drops of orange-flower water and lemon or orange syrup to taste. Ice before serving. Koumiss. Fill a quart bottle three-quarters full with new milk, adding a tablespoonful of fresh yeast and a teaspoonful of sugarKoumiss. Shake until the ingredients are mixed, then fill up the bottle with milk and shake again. Cork very tightly and tie or wire STANDARD COOKERY. 401 in order that the cork may not be blown out. Let the bottle stand upright in a cool place for three days, then turn it on its side until required. It must be kept in a dark cellar or other place where the temperature does not rise above fifty-five de- grees. Very strong bottles are necessary for this purpose — cham- pagne bottles for preference — and it is well to place the Koumiss where no great harm will be done if the bottle bursts. Care must be taken in decanting as the cork is expelled with great force; the better plan being to use a champagne tap, so that the liquor can be withdrawn without uncorking the bottle. Racahout. Mix thoroughly together two tablespoonfuls of ground rice, a tablespoonful of sifted sugar, one teaspoonful of choco- late powder, and half a tablespoonful of arrowroot. Take two dessertspoonfuls of this mixture and make into a smooth paste with a cup of water. Then stir it slowly into a quart of hot milkRacahout and boil for five minutes. This should be drunk as hot as possible. 402 STANDARD COOKERY. COFFEE AND COCOA. COFFEE. The coffee-tree is native to Abyssinia, but is now grown in all tropical countries. It belongs to the genus Coffea, of which there are about twenty-two species. The seeds or berries of coffee-trees constitute the coffee of commerce. Each berry contains two seeds, with exception of maleberry, which is a single round seed. In their natural state they are almost taste- less; therefore color, shape, and size determine value. For- merly, coffee was cured by exposure to the sun; but on account of warm climate and sudden rainfalls, coffee was often in- jured. By the new method coffee is washed, and then dried by steam heat. In coffee plantations, trees are planted in parallel rows, from six to eight feet apart, and are pruned so as never to exceed six feet in height. Brazil produces about two-thirds the coffee used. Central America, Java, and Arabia are also coffee centers.