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HOME COOKERY

IN

WAR-TIME

HOME COOKERY
IN
By

WAR-TIME

ERNEST OLDMEADOW

LONDON: GRANT RICHARDS LTD.

PUBLISHERS
: :
: :

MDCCCCXV

PRINTED BY THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED

EDINBURGH

INTRODUCTION

A CHARMING lady, who is also

writer,

a good cook and a clear

had promised to write for the publisher of this volume a little manual of Home Cookery in Wartime.

The Red Cross called her away before the first page was written and I am bidden to step into the breach. For a man who is one year too old to join anything more important than a Home Defence corps,
;

some consolation to try and serve his countrymen in another way. Cuisine c'esi mtdecine, said Michelet; and good cookery is a cure for the mind's as well as
it is

the body's

ills,

besides being cheaper in the end.

must explain
will

at the outset the class of readers

which
fish

chapters.

be addressed throughout the following It is silly to go angling in waters where no

has ever been

known

to bite

and

I shall there-

fore exclude

from consideration the cooks in luxurious households. Speaking broadly, the servants in great houses are the last to respond when an appeal for thrift and frugality is made. Even during sieges and famines, waste goes on in rich kitchens. I admit
gladly that there are magnificent exceptions
;

but the

sad truth remains that the servants of the wealthy

are generally selfish parasites and that it would be a waste of breath to preach economy to them so long as opportunities for extravagance exist. Happily, many

INTRODUCTION

heads of families are turning off the pampered and strapping footmen who ought to be bearing arms, and are attempting to reform their establishments on lines which will give employment where it is most needed. But thousands of wasteful cooks will go on in the old way; and I shall not lose time on suggestions for

economy in the sphere which they inhabit. With reluctance and regret, I must pass by the humblest households also. There could be no more useful or patriotic work than to knead better ideals and sounder practices of cookery into the hearts and
minds of the working
classes.

Up

to the present,

however, the task has been hardly begun. We know that well-meaning philanthropists and social doctrinaires have laboured long and unselfishly to this end,

but their industry and zeal have made little impression. It is not enough to ascertain the quantities and proportions of proteids, and carbohydrates and
every day by a laundress, or a navvy, or a stoker, or a nursing mother, and to prescribe the cheapest dietary in which these quantities and proportions would be found. The wealthier classes do not conduct their cooking and their eating
fats

and

salts required

on such principles
sisters are still

humbler brothers and more stoutly resolved not to do so.

;

and

their

We

standard of cookery among the poor until we have informed ourselves more correctly about the poor man's palate and about the attitude of the poor man's wife to processes which require more elbow-room and more detachment of purpose than nine out of ten poor women actually command. Let nobody imagine that I am writing without symshall not raise the

pathy

for those

who

toil

hard with their hands.

But

INTRODUCTION
it

7
will

is

necessary to be practical and to recognise the

futility of addressing

men and women who

it

not

read this book and would regard

almost as a docu-

language if it were forced upon them. my audience to consist of those who are cursed neither by poverty nor by riches. So far
in a foreign
I shall

ment

assume

as

Home

Cookery

is

concerned, the most receptive

men and women

of experiences

are such as cultivate a wide variety

on the strength of moderate incomes. I am thinking of the scores of thousands who are the salt of England the people who, without forgetting to help the poor and to provide for the future, seem to who bring a wholesome get the most out of life into and curiosity play, are always picking up lore worth having who spend their bits of money intelligently on every occasion, whether it be the choice of a book or the planning of a holiday or anything else through which the old grooves have been worn too In writing this book, I have kept in mind the well. ladies of slender means who maintain a certain dignity of housekeeping on resources which would barely pay
;

for

a stockbroker's cigars.

am

thinking of the
so pleasantly
visitors, al-

generous hostesses

who keep open house

for the benefit of all sorts of

unhomely

though their own means are small. I am thinking too of mothers who, with many mouths to feed, are none the less determined to keep the flag flying and
never to subside into slovenliness in the kitchen or at table. Nor do I forget the young wives whose fitful
resolves

towards old-fashioned domestic efficiency are so little encouraged under modern conditions.
Last of
all,

remember the many men who more or

cookery
is

less clearly perceive that

an honourable

art,

INTRODUCTION

with nothing effeminate about it. Although " the gentlemen " in mid- Victorian times usually looked down upon a man who could cook, many of the deepest scholars and strongest men of action in history have been keen on cooking. This is mainly a book for women but men may learn from it how to be less In short, it gives advice to all those who helpless. take a direct part in the operations of their kitchens. Some of my readers may have a dozen servants, and others may have no more than a woman or young girl who comes in for a few hours to do the rougher work. I take it for granted, however, that they are all alike in wielding, or wishing to wield, supreme
;

power in their own kitchens and larders and that they are not above the preparing of a dish from start
;

to finish.

Unfriendly
that
it is

critics

may plausibly say of this manual

;

disorderly

that

it

abounds

in repetitions

and that some matters are discussed

answer
is

at length while

others equally important are hardly mentioned.

The

that I have not tried to write anything like

a systematic and complete cookery-book. Indeed I assume throughout that every reader possesses one

and knows how to use it. I have aimed rather at sending housekeepers back to their cookery-books with a new zeal for tasks in which they may have grown stale. While the following pages contain at least a hundred practical recipes, they are mainly devoted to stating and illustrating the great facts and principles from which all worthy recipes have been evolved. The woman or man who
of the regular cookery-books

INTRODUCTION
covers
is

peruses and applies the advice given between these

certain to go

on stud3dng with the aid of

other and larger works.

As

for the omission of

many

dishes which were entitled to be described, I can only

say that

my

choice has been guided

Some

dishes are already so well

by known

experience.
in English

kitchens that there was no need to discuss

others are natural

and obvious variations recipes I have given and a third large group comprises dishes which rarely give satisfaction, although their names sound well and the directions look pro;

them upon the

mising on paper.
merits

Again,

many

familiar flats are

expensive or troublesome out of proportion to their

;

or they are not wholesome

or they are the

seductive enemies of a palate in course of education.

Most of

my

omissions

fall

under these heads.

As

for

the others, they are to be explained

ness or ignorance.

by

my
will

carelesswill
it

But the design

all.

of the

book

become apparent only to those who

through, repetitions and
particular recipes as occasions arise.

read

They can turn back

to

on Invalid Cookery, it is partly because I do not presume to compete with the writers who have specialised in such work. There is, however, another reason. Careful observations, made during an illness of my own and many illnesses of my friends, convince me that the best cookery for invalids is simply the best ordinary cookery. With an intelligent doctor to hoist the danger signals, a sick man comes through
If

have said

little

that

is

explicit

his sickness the

more quickly

if

we

are not perpetually

10

INTRODUCTION
:

reminding him, by a special diet, that he is ill. This does not apply to certain grave cases but I fear that Invalid Cookery has not always helped the doctor and the nurse. When an intelligent cook grasps the nature of a patient's malady and remembers that he is lying warm, without exercise or hard work, it should be easy to back up the medicine by means of a plain or scanty but varied and attractive diet.
E. O.

Feast of St Denis of France,

1914.

CONTENTS
I.

CHAPTER

THE ROOTS OF THE MATTER

Hardly had

the Belgian and

German guns

at Liege

begun their awful dialogue before England was loud with voices telling the non-combatant how to comport
himself in war-time.

The advertising agents

keepers with the cry
usual:
citizens
:

instantly primed the shop" Live as usual Spend as

:

Pay as usual." We were told that only bad would cease to play golf, to follow the fashions,
" Live as usual."
It aims and men and women

to enjoy hoUdays, to eat daintily, to dance, to shop,

to go to the play.

This advice

is

not wholly bad.

at keeping
in

money
ment.

in circulation

employ-

But many
it

writers of letters to the papers are

pressing

too

far.

They seem

to argue that every

and extravagance is a sacrosanct vested interest which must be kept in If we have been accustomed to eat caviare being. at a guinea a pound we must go on eating it, so that the caviare merchant shall not be ruined. If it has
well-established habit of luxury

been our practice to buy half-a-dozen pairs of white kid gloves every week, we must pity the poor glover and go on buying. And. so on. Now the truth is that War is an unusual state of life which demands unusual arrangements. Since the last days of July, twenty million men have been rushed away from the farms and fisheries and mills and
13

14

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

Europe to fight. Fifty strokes of a dozen pens have changed twenty miUion producers into twenty miUion consumers. In other words, Europe is not living as usual, and we must adjust ourselves to
forges of

her

new Even

life.
if

we could be
and

sure that there will be no

scarcity of food

fuel

and raiment, most

of us

would

still

be unwilling to live our usual comfortable

lives while scores of

faring roughly in the

is

thousands of Englishmen are field. More. A time of War a time for bracing up the whole life of a nation.
too self-indulgent.

The Enghsh had become

Too

have been living right up to or beyond our incomes. In proportion to our numbers and responsibilities, we have had too many purveyors of luxuries, too many entertainers, too many actors and actresses and funny-men and musicians and novelists and painters and paid reformers and professional sportsmen. To take a single illustration, we have had too many pale young men in " the drapery " and not enough strapping fellows in the Army. When the War is over, we ought to be tougher, simpler, and
of us

many

therefore stronger.

Those who

find

these

arguments superfine

will

perhaps listen to one more reason against "living as usual " namely, that most of us will lack the

money. Directly and indirectly, this War will cost England hundreds perhaps thousands of millions Incomes will be smaller and taxes bigger of pounds. and there will be appeals for the sick and wounded, for the \vidow and the orphan, which only hearts of

flint will resist.

These are the principal reasons

for publishing

THE ROOTS OF THE MATTER

short

15

Cookery in War-time, such as may put us on sounder terms with both our consciences and our purses.
of

manual

Home

taken for granted throughout the following pages that the reader knows the A B C of cookery already, and that nobody is to expect much more than a number of sound hints on the departures from
It is

ordinary kitchen routine which the

War may demand.

sir-

Let nobody therefore open this book in order to learn

how

to peel a potato or trim a chop or choose a

I

assume from the outset that I am who already possess an elementary all-round cookery-book, even if it be no bigger than the shilling edition of Mrs Beeton's justly admired work. The first principles of boiling and frying and baking and braising and steaming will be
loin of beef.

speaking to housewives

discussed only in so far as

believe that they are

misunderstood in England.

Although we may learn much from France, this is an English book for English homes. France is, without doubt, the seat of the finest cookery in the world, and this praise applies not only to the haute cuisine but also to the wonderful cuisine hourgeoise. All the same, we must keep our heads. Englishwomen often return from holidays in France (where they have been whetting tr^ir appetites in the sea air and were in a mood to be ^ased with everything), and straightway set about Fi chifying both their kitchens and their tables. They /ush to buy books which purport to
^

i6

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
;

expound French cookery to the Enghsh housewife and, in forty-nine cases out of fifty, they end by throwing up the experiment after making themselves and everybody else miserable. To take one example only, thousands of happy homes have been temporarily blighted by the tyranny of the stock-pot. Young wives find it writ large in the books that no kitchen is complete without a stock-pot, and that it is next
door to downright sin not to keep one in constant use. Now a stock-pot is all that was ever claimed for it,
provided the cook is to the manner born and that it is used in what may be called stock-pot conditions. In a country house, or farm, where rude plenty is the
order of the day, a stock-pot
is all

to the good.

It

costs nothing for fuel, because the big kitchen fire

is

always burning.

Every day there

are

many mouths

to feed

and a large quantity of stock is an unmixed But the case is altogether different when one turns to the small kitchen of a modern English house or London flat, where the gas stove has estabblessing.

lished itself so firmly that the kitchen range remains

unkindled for six months out of twelve.

kitchens the stock-pot takes

In such

up

precious
all

room and

adds to the gas

bill

an amount out of

proportion to

the value of the stock.

small establishment
nearly so

Further, the mistress of a soon finds that she has not

many odds and ends to throw into the stockIn these days the butcher trims

pot as she expected.

the meat more thoroughly than of yore and his ex-

ample

is

followed,

purveyors of their housekeeping in vastly different

more or less, by all the other eatables. Our grandmothers conducted

conditions.

The huge

joints for their large families, the poultry

THE ROOTS OF THE MATTER

17

and game which were skinned or plucked and cleaned in their own kitchens, and their wealth of raw and rough materials of every kind yielded them a constant supply of good by-products which were too often wasted although such scraps would have rejoiced a Frenchwoman's heart. Nowadays the poulterer cleans and trusses our birds, too often taking away the parts that would yield many a delicacy, such as a Cock-a-leekie a la Franfuise (Leek Soup with giblets) or a Risotto au foie de volatile. The poulterer fillets our fish, the greengrocer often delivers

only the choicest hearts of cabbage or cauliflower or

lettuce, while the grocer sells us

most

of his goods in

and tins and packets which contain nothing over and above what can be directly consumed. So let the superstition of the stock-pot as a universal obligation go and with it let us bury most of the nonsense about two pennyworth of bones. Soup for twopence has a plausible sound but when one reckons the cost of the gas and
bottles

and

jars

the flavourings,

it

will generally

be found that a small

new vegetable extracts (put up like Liebig's) costs no more money and gives a better result for less trouble. The disquantity of one of the admirable
coverer of bone-soup a hundred years ago was patted

on the head by kings and even by a Pope, but bare bones as now chopped up and simmered are a delusion and a snare. I have made grand stock from a ham-bone, correcting its saltiness by omitting all salt from the vegetables afterwards added but that ham-bone had something on it and in it. Instead of worrying with an unwieldy stock-pot, the good housewife will use the beaux restes of her
:

i8

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
and for entrees of them to augment a Without running a

game and poultry

for special soups

distinction instead of sacrificing

gallon of characterless

stock.

stock-pot three hundred and sixty-five days a year,

stock can be
all else fails,

made

frequently from clean odds and

ends, or from cheap meat,

and used

right up.

When

foundations can be

made cheaply and

and
their

cleanly from beans.

Butter beans and their like

yield light-coloured stock, while flageolets

brethren will give stock of darker hue.

stocks can be bottled and kept for

These bean

vided they are

up.

some time, prooccasionally poured out and heated

Some people will feel that the foregoing paragraphs promise poorly so far as economy is concerned. Like rustics who believe that medicine must taste nasty if it is to do you good, they are persuaded that we must put up with unattractive food if we are to save money in war-time. This is a deadly error deadly because it soon drives back those who hold it into Men and women who have their old extravagance.

been accustomed to eat pleasantly and daintily will not succeed in making an abrupt change to coarse and unpleasant diet without injury to their health and tempers which will be found expensive in the long run. Everybody has heard of things that are " Cheap and Nasty " but the cook's motto in war-time will be Cheap and Tasty.
;

Cheapness and tastiness, however, are not everything. A dish might cost little, and look appetising,

THE ROOTS OF THE MATTER

and
taste good, while at the

19

same time

it

might be

indigestible or without value as nourishment.

We
not

must have Foods that

feed.

But these pages

lists of

will

be extended by means of long

foods arranged

under elaborate headings in scientific terms. The few housekeepers who concern themselves with academic dietetics have not waited for the appearance of this little book in order to learn about proteids and starch and nitrogen and carbohydrates and they know the chief points of " Food Values " already. As for the majority, they would either skip such information or read it and forget it a minute after:

wards.
to say

But there
it,

is

a more practical reason for

It

omitting scientific tables.

sounds old-fashioned
still

but in matters of diet we

get on best

without too

much

theory.

A
tell

day
us so

will

dawn when
our

the analyst will be able to

in
dietetics

much about

food that the art of medicine will be almost absorbed

but that day has not dawned yet. according to food tables certainly do not always convince us that they have found the golden secret of health and happiness. In the present state of chemistry, all the food tables ever printed are worth less than the old saw, " One man's meat is another man's poison." To certain constitutions certain foods are almost venomous. The writer knows a woman who can eat practically everything save honey and a man who has the digestion of an ostrich for all other foods, but is upset by capers. To many people, some allowance of cereals and milk
;

People

who

live

and sugar seems

hate
fresh
all

of vital importance, while others

such things and keep alive on lean red meat,

green vegetables and sharp wine.

Through


HOME COOKERY
IN WAR-TIME

20

not recognising these wide variations of constitution, most of the authors who have given us instruction in cheap cookery have done as much harm as good.

They

prescribe messes of pottage in which spHt peas

and lentils and all kinds of pulse predominate to such an extent that there is positive danger to those whose
bodies are not built for such diet.
It

follows that the Compleat

Cook must underThis will help

stand not only the food but the feeders.

her to steer clear of

many

a disappointment.

Now

and then
because

it will call
it

for the taking of additional pains,

be necessary to provide two small dishes instead of one large. On the other hand, it will often help towards economy, because beaux restes

may

one but not enough for two. Many a housewife, in the intimacy of a small home, wiU urge her son or husband to finish some small remnant on the ground that it is not worth keeping and that it would " only have to be thrown away." The son or husband has probably already eaten
are often

enough

for

good for him otherwise he would have asked for what is left on the dish but he accepts the morsel and overfeeds himself. Once let a housewife accept the notion of occasionally making up a tiny entree, enough for one person only, and she will often find the problem of an informal home dinner half solved. The Brute wiU get something he likes while she herself, for a
quite as
as
is
;

much

change, will be able to enjoy a

little

dish

all

her very

own, according to her

the staff
is

mood and
is

appetite.

small (and this book

Where written first and

foremost for modest establishments) wives are usually averse from any multiphcation of entrees on the

THE ROOTS OF THE MATTER

21

ground that they make so much washing-up. This, however, is a hardship that must be faced. It will be faced the more easily when one examines it fairly. A choice of entrees does not increase the washing-up so frightfully, after all. In any case, the cook who
is

willing to lose the

charm

of variety

and the

satis-

faction of

economy merely
of

to save fifty or sixty

seconds in the washing-up had better put this book

down and read no more

it.

But

let

her

first

examine her conscience and ascertain whether her horror of washing-up may not be due to her skimping the dry-soap and the clean dry towels.

Food values bring to the mind the whole question of Food Fads. The War has stirred up scores of wellmeaning enthusiasts, who are convinced that the Kaiser is really doing us a good turn, because England will be led to solve her food problem by vegetarianism,
or

paper-bag cookery,
is

or

" unfired

diet,"

or

the
fair.

steady munching of nuts.

Let

us be

quite

There

something useful at the heart of every fad, just as there is truth buried inside nearly every error. We shall therefore do wisely to profit by the kernel of any fad that is thrust upon us, so long as we throw the husks away. Vegetarianism, for example, has a good deal in it, just as there is a good deal in " Temperance." The true wisdom is to steer between the Scylla of excess and the Charybdis of total abstinence. By combining the more liberal use of vegetables with some of the flavourings and strengthenings of ordinary cookery (such as good gravy or meat broth) we could often save money and increase our enjoyment. As

22
for

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

" natural " and " unfired " food, it is true that uncooked food, such as apples and pears and salads, can do nothing but good to those who use them wisely. The paper bag, which was known to cooks long before
the oldest
for

EngHshman now living was born, is excellent

dishes,
;

always provided that the right kind of paper is chosen and that it is used in the right way but the cook who tries to use paper bags for everything has become a faddist to be pitied and avoided. As for nuts, they certainly have a high food value, and all the best-known monkeys do exceedingly well on them so long as they can get insects and reptiles also but only a minority of human beings, bred and born as

some

can exist upon them as a staple food. If nuts should abound in our copses this year, we ought to thank Providence and see that none are wasted; but there must be something besides a sack of nuts in the pantry. Other fads, especially the proprietary and much-advertised fad foods which claim to have

we

are,

been predigested, and to contain the nourishing elements of eggs or milk or meat or wheat in a highly concentrated form, are not to be received with our arms too widely open. The human body has been fitted, through long ages, to receive new life from foods which are not concentrated at all. Their bodybuilding and heat-making and blood-enriching and bone-forming and nerve-strengthening elements are
dispersed in vehicles (or " inert " substances) which
call

for

mastication and for consumption in such

bulk that, without being a glutton, one escapes the sensation of an empty stomach. It may be quite
true that a spoonful of this or that or the other patent

preparation

is

equal in food value, from the analyst's

THE ROOTS OF THE MATTER

point of view, to a nice
little

23

lamb

cutlet with green

It

peas and a couple of

new

potatoes.

may

also be

true that the spoonful of essence can be swallowed

in ten seconds, while the

lamb

cutlet requires ten

with its too swift and local onslaught upon the system, will be found to do the consumer worlds less good. " A " Lunch in a Tea-spoon " and a " Two-minute Dinner
minutes.

Nevertheless

the

essence,

are the ideals of

many serious
if

persons

who

tell

us that

we should
however,

eat to live

and not

live to eat.

No man,

he becomes a miserable creature. To sit decently over a snowy cloth and to treat respectfully the good gifts of God as they come
is

living aright

before us in all their variety cannot fairly be called " Living to Eat." Indeed such a meal, enlivened

by

talk, is a refining
is all

and

spiritualising of the act of

feeding and

on the side of progress.

[The con-

centrated fad-foods are often useful in emergencies,

and original cook can turn them to For the most part, however, they are dear, because the purchaser must pay not only

and a

really clever

all

sorts of uses.

for the contents of the packet

but for a proportion of

in adver-

the enormous

sums which have been spent

tising the brand.]

To

those

who have decided by

I

this

time that

am

a reactionary empiric,

give the advice that they

should hurry back to the shop of the unprincipled bookseller who sold them this deplorable work and
that (after tendering the shilling or so of difference
in price) they should insist

on

his

exchanging

it

for the

popular edition of Sir Henry Thompson's " Food

24

HOME COOKERY
Sir
I

IN WAR-TIME
is

and Feeding."
book.
its

Henry Thompson's do not say that a novice would

a good

arise

from

perusal a Compleat Cook, as Minerva sprang fullarmed from the brain of Jove. But " Food and

Feeding "

human. Its analyses of food values are both scientific and practical.
is

sane

and learned and

must

here

warn
Only

beginners
this

against

certain

statements as to food values in the propaganda of

Food Reformers.

morning

encountered

some
of

perilous advice about Brazil nuts, "the kernels

which contain over ninety per nutriment. A little knowledge is to those who do not know how to meet a young man, with a fine
eaters,"

cent." of outright

dangerous indeed apply it. I often

scorn for " flesh-

who

is

overfeeding himself so grossly on

nuts and sugary dried fruits that he would be more temperate if he ate a pound of beef every day.

Too much

dietetic doctrine rivets his chains

I

firmly than ever on the hypochondriac.

more remember

obtaining leave one day from an indulgent hostess in a house on the south coast to make some horseradish cream my own way. Now all persons who have rubbed a large fresh-pulled horse-radish on a small and worn-out nutmeg grater know the price that must be paid in smarting eyes and scalding tears and they will not blame me for having felt annoyed
:

when a dear

old gentleman, of conservative tempera-

ment, at the luncheon-table, refused my cream on the ground that he didn't see any reason for changing the Perceiving, however, that he was a h3^oold recipe.
chondriac, I let drop the remark that horse-radish

THE ROOTS OF THE MATTER

was good
for the heart.
:

25

He continued to eat his but it is literally true that, late in the day, I stumbled on the same dear old gentleman, in a grandfather's chair, eating the remains of my cream with a spoon.
roast beef plain

bought and read, men and women are over-nourished rather than underfed. This means that meals of high " food value" may do more harm than good. Grown-up persons do not need much feeding. Indeed the first and best hint for saving money on our food in war-time is as plain as a haystack because it is merely Let us eat less. Watch some men, especially city men, at their midday lunch, and you will see that each mouthful is too large and that it is swallowed too quickly. Without running into the other extreme, and mincing like Victorian schoolgirls, we ought to eat and drink temperately, deliberately for in no other way can we fully enjoy our food and benefit
is
:
:

In the houses where this kind of book

by

it.

will

Smaller quantities and cheaper qualities of food not mean a blunting "of the reasonable pleasure of

the table, so long as

we have

variety.

One reason

why
is

so

many Englishmen

insist

on having always

the prime joints of meat and the dearest cuts of bacon

to be found in the
is

monotony

of their diet.

When

there

the palate finds

no charm of surprise to whet the appetite, its satisfaction in superfine and therefore expensive quality. That cat meant well which

26

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

brought Sir Walter Raleigh a pigeon every day while " he was writing his unreadable " History of the World in the Tower of London, but I do not doubt that the prisoner became dreadfully peevish on the days when
the pigeons were not
I

count

plump and tender. among my friends an interesting couple who

library
:

firmly believe that they are enthusiasts for cookery.

Their

culinary

certainly

contains

seven

thousand recipes
Variety
sense,
it is

but they do not eat seventy

and, controlled

different dishes in a year.

is

charming

by common-

cheap.

wit once wrote a parody on a cookery-book and began one of his recipes with the words, " Take about
eight ounces of anything

you have got." He wrote more wisely than he knew. If I were asked to state
:

fundamental rule for Home '* Cookery in War-time I should say Plan your In the chapter on dishes with what you have." " Going to Market " I shall try to bring out this truth from another point of view but it is so important that it had better begin to be hammered into the reader here and now. Cook with what you have, or with what you can most easily
in a single sentence the
;

obtain.

Perhaps

I shall

be allowed to illustrate this point

by a simple personal experience. One Sunday afternoon I found myself alone in a tiny house just outside London. The " cook-general " had been called away immediately after serving a conventional British Sunday midday meal consisting of roast beef,

THE ROOTS OF THE MATTER

boiled potatoes

27

and white cabbage.

The house was

one where I knew that I could do just as I pleased without offending my hostess and her family, who had stated that they would return about half-past

homely supper of cold beef and pickled walnuts and red wine. It was January, and a sharp frost prevailed. Cold beef and pickles had a shivery sound. Could nothing be improvised that would
eight for a

give a

warmer welcome ? I looked round the pantry and found little beyond a fine Spanish onion, a couple of turnips and the remains of the midday meal. On
a shelf, however, there stood a little white pot of the vegetable extract called " Marmite," which tastes

like Liebig or Bovril,

though meat has nothing to do

in a large enamelled stew-

with

it.

I sliced

the Spanish onion into the thinnest

possible slices

and put them

stove, with
in freely,
I

pan on the gas

them

to

move

enough boiling water for and set them to boil. Having

prepared the turnips,

cut these also into quite small

more quickly. Meanwhile I foraged in other cupboards and found some tomato catsup, some Worcestershire sauce, some tapioca and about a tablespoonful of Burgundy at the bottom of a decanter. As soon as the pieces of onion and turnip showed that they were half cooked, 1 put a teaspoonful of the Marmite at the bottom of a basin and poured on the water from the stewpan. After this had been well stirred, the basin contained a quite respectable broth which I seasoned and poured back over the turnips and onion. While the cooking of these vegetables in the broth continued, I cut up the cold white cabbage, of which there was quite a considerable quantity, as too much had been boiled in
pieces so that they should cook

28
the

HOME COOKERY
first

IN WAR-TIME

cabbage were transferred to the stewpan, together with some of the gravy of the beef and a meagre handful of tapioca. By this time it was possible to turn down the gas under the briskly boiling stewpan and to add a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce and about six times the quantity of the tomato catsup. The cold potatoes were broken up with a fork and stirred in with the other things. These operations were taken in hand at about five o'clock, and they occupied less than half-anhour. The pan, with the lid on, remained over the smallest possible flame for about three hours. If my friends had returned an hour late, no harm would have been done. Of course I interrupted my reading and writing occasionally to stir the stuff with a wooden spoon and to taste it from time to time. The tastings proved the need for a little more salt and pepper. About eight o'clock I added the glass of
instance.
strips of

The

wine

was warmed and cheered by the most savoury and com;

but, long before this time, the frosty air

fortable of odours.

Soup-plates were laid to

warm

in

a bowl of hot water, while I cut some slices of bread and butter in the country fashion, not too thin, and each piece the whole breadth of the "household loaf."

This rather close-grained bread, when it is a day old, carries a surface of butter delightfully as compared with the square loaves baked in tins. My mess of pottage it was certainly a mess ^had been intended merely as a piping-hot prelude to the

but everybody came up for a second helping and the beef went away untouched. The contents of the stewpan seemed to be inexhaustible.
cold beef
;

Of course the

bottle of

Macon made

a difference, as

THE ROOTS OF THE MATTER

the pottage was not fluid like a soup.

29

One ate it with a fork and a spoon. This is a rather long account of a very rough-andready experiment, but it will serve to bring out the
principal doctrine of these pages.

Among

those

who

devoured the dish so heartily sat a woman who hates onions, and a man who loathes tapioca, and a child with a horror of Worcestershire sauce yet not one
;

of these persons discerned their abominations.

The

onion had boiled down into a perfect unity with the broth, and the tapioca survived only as a slight
thickening, suggestive of the kind of stock which cools

good jelly. The cabbage maintained its texture, as had been intended. But let it be most clearly understood that the whole thing was carried through as a homely rustic supper, as far from restaurant ideals as the South Pole is from the Equator. When the lady who hated onions asked me for the recipe, I was careful to explain that recipes belonged
into

to entirely different undertakings.

A recipe expresses
and
it

the best possible

way

of cooking a certain dish,

all

presupposes that the cook will obtain

the specified

ingredients in their given proportions.

My

modest
:

pottage was arrived at by an exact reversal of recipe methods. In carrying out a recipe, one says "I

must get together the necessary things." On that nipping Sunday " Here are certain things night, however, I said what can be best done with them for some hungry people returning from a cold journey ? " If there had been carrots in the house instead of turnips, or if the remains of the cabbage had been scanty, or if the cold sirloin had been more undercooked, no doubt I
:

want to make a certain soup

:

30

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

should have prepared something entirely different. Any merit that there was, lay in the adjustment of means to ends. And if the housekeepers of England will accept this principle and apply it they will have acquired half the art of Home Cookery in War-time.

CHAPTER

II

THE KITCHEN AND THE LARDER

When

a battleship clears for action,

all

sorts of things

are pitched overboard.

Down

into the green depths

go the piano and all the landlubbers' tables and And, if we are to take up the simplifying of chairs. our daily lives in real earnest and with a determination not to drift back into our old ways, we shall do well to go through our larders and our kitchens and to put them, so to speak, on a War footing. For example,
almost every pantry contains tinned and bottled and jarred provisions, and oddments of dripping and
long enough.
light

condiments, which have been on the shelves quite Let these be brought out into the day-

and examined. On the principle laid down at the end of the foregoing chapter, it should be found possible to get rid of some of them by working them up into unconventional combinations which will have the charm of novelty and perhaps even the excitement of discovery. But of course no prudent storekeeper will use her tinned fruits and tinned vegetables and tinned fishes while the fresh article is cheap and abundant. Only an hour or two before writing this paragraph I have had the deplorable experience of eating some tinned French beans in a house where the new crop of the same vegetable can and I be bought for twopence-halfpenny a pound
;

learn that preserved pears were served yesterday at a

31

32

HOME /COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

luncheon given by some high-minded ladies to discuss this very question of cheap food in time of War. In overhauHng the shelves it will probably be found that there has been waste in buying. When servants are allowed to go shopping, or to give orders at the door to the tradesman's assistant, or to draw up lists of requirements, they almost always buy extravagantly. Sometimes out of a mere desire to be important, sometimes from a much lower motive, they ask for the
largest bottles of vinegar

and

of

oil,

the biggest tins

and enough pepper to make a whole parish sneeze. Before these things are half consumed the vinegar develops ropy dregs, the oil turns bad, and the pepper becomes all meek and mild. Now is the time to make rough estimates of the weekly consumption and to see that money is saved in such a way
of mustard,

as to heighten rather than lower the quality of one's

stores.

Forgotten jars will come to

light.
it

It

may

be that

the price of fruit will be so low that

will still

pay to

make

large quantities of jam, in spite of the higher

price of sugar,

and every

jar or

wide-mouthed bottle
is

may come
able.

in useful.

Indeed sugar

not indispens-

Bottled fruits are exceedingly cheap to prepare

and

children

more useful than jam, except where there are and people with a sweet tooth. Those who do not possess the proper equipment for fruit -bottling
are

may

simply place the

fruit in bottles

(taking care

that they are perfectly dry) and then put the full
bottles for a quarter of an hour in a hot oven, finally
filhng

them up with

boiling water.

And

this is the

place for a useful hint.

stopper of mutton fat will

solve the almost hopeless problem of finding bungs or

THE KITCHEN AND THE LARDER

metal tops to
fit

33

the jars and bottles.

is

Mutton
glad to

fat is

very cheap indeed, and the butcher

Pickles should not be forgotten.

sell it.

When

they are

to the very simple directions cookery books, they are nearly always in the regular relished, and they send down many a piece of cold meat which would otherwise be a penance. Nasturtium seeds are excellent when pickled, and they

home-made according

put a wonderful amount of

naise, or boiled cod, or

life

into all sorts of dishes,

although few cooks serve them except with mayon-

mutton.

In the kitchen and the scullery a similar stocktaking should be made, and utensils which have been long disused should be either furbished up and brought

packed away in a box to be given to the most suitable Relief Committee, or to poor persons who have a genuine use for them. At the same time perhaps it will be necessary to spend a few shillings on earthenware cooking-pots. This is not a time for laying out money lightly, but the cost of a few casseroles, large, small and medium, will soon be recouped.
into action, or
successful

Indeed such vessels are absolutely necessary to the practice of cheap and nourishing and

appetising cookery.

which most people

What we call roast joints mean joints baked in an oven)

(by
are

not cheap as a rule, and they are often unattractive

after the first day.

Besides, quite apart from the

question of economy, meat is far better when it is cooked slowly at a more moderate temperature. For those who live in or near London the best and cheapest region in which to buy a casserole is Soho,

34

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

where the right article is in constant demand by The shopFrench menag^res and restaurateurs. it is generally willing to tell the keeper who sells English novice all sorts of curious things about the wrong and right use of a casserole. For example, he will probably advise that it should be rubbed all over with half of a raw onion before its first exposure to the fire, as he believes that it will last much longer after such treatment. Any enamelled saucepan which has failed to keep a whole skin must be sentenced to death. It is not to be given to the charwoman or even thrown into the dustbin. If a saucepan with a bald patch in the lining is dangerous to you and your family, it will be equally dangerous to the charwoman's son Clarence If you are or to the dustman's little daughter Eva. dead against waste, you can save the saucepan for a day when you wish to relieve a fit of bad temper and you can then bash it out of shape with your largest hammer. In short, you may do anything you like with it except allow it to be used for cooking. One day last week I took a lot of trouble telling some friends how to prepare a new Friday soup, with milk, cocoanut butter, fish stock, a minced onion, a packet of dried fish in flakes, and some small pieces of macaroni. In working out this novelty I had been attentive to details and it was hard to see how my friends could go wrong. They chose, however, to effect the cooking in a large enamelled stewpan from which the enamel had disappeared in the most vital spot. Of course the pieces of macaroni stuck to the bare metal and the whole mixture was ruined, although I had succeeded beyond my hopes a day or two

THE KITCHEN AND THE LARDER

before

35

by using exactly

similar materials in a

sound

vessel. [Some of the worst of the cheap enamelled goods came from Germany, and it is to be hoped that we shall not try to capture this branch of Germany's trade.] There is one kind of saucepan which I

cannot help recommending by name.

If

bears the

well-known "

Gourmet

"

seem to be able to get it. and the bottom) is enamelled internally and there is an extra bottom with a fireproof lining so that the contents of the pan cannot burn. I am not referring to an ordinary double-cooker, in which the foodreceptacle fits into a lower pan of boiling water. There ought, however, to be a double-cooker in every good kitchen, as well as arrangements for
doing the work of a bain-marie. In short, there must be an all-round equipment for the kinds of

mark and most ironmongers The lid (as well as the sides

cookery
heat.

which

avoid

close

contact

with

fierce

A
it is

cheap steamer ought to be in every kitchen, but sometimes missing even in houses which contain

all

sorts of expensive

and

foolish little futilities for

making mayonnaise or cutting up cucumbers. Most kinds of fish and vegetables are far better steamed
than boiled, while a much greater proportion of their most valuable elements is retained. I remember once being allowed to taste the convicts' dinner at Portland. It included some steamed potatoes so delicious that (having wrestled with an infamously boiled potato at the hotel only an hour or two before) I could no longer believe that the way of the transgressor
is

hard.
is

frying-pan

a tool to be mentioned with circum-

36

HOME COOKERY
Of
late

IN WAR-TIME

spection.

years a saying has been going

round to the effect that if you want to get rid of indigestion your first act must be to throw the fryingpan away. To those people who are too lazy or too obstinate to learn the true method of frying, such advice is excellent, because most of the fried food served in England is indigestible in the extreme. True frying, however, is quite a different thing from
the flinging of slices of fresh or cured flesh or cylinders
of sausage

meat

to be scorched with a little grease in

a shallow pan.

The sound way

is

to use a

enough to hold a bath

tions

of boiling fat in

pan deep which the food

Full direc-

to be fried can be completely immersed.

found in every standard cookery book and must be studied by every cook who has not mastered them already. As boiling fat is nearly twice as hot as boiling water, it is obvious that wonders can be worked with its aid because a film forms instantly on the food placed in the bath and all the finest juices and flavours are prevented from escaping. A little practice with white blotting-paper or a cloth will soon enable any handy and intelligent person to rid the finished friture of greasiness, because the frying-fat at its hottest is not at all sticky but comes away with surprising ease. Cooking oil, which need not be the purest pressings from the olives of Provence, but should not be of too low a grade, is the best frying medium. Of course it can be used over and over again, provided one watches for the little danger-signal of smoke so that it never overthis point will be
;

on

passes the safe

also

maximum

of heat.

Beef dripping

is

an excellent frying fat, and it seems easier to procure than of old. Indeed the most famous of

THE KITCHEN AND THE LARDER

Mayfair purveyors has begun to
sell

37

the highest

quality of beef dripping at sixpence a pound.

Turning from the kitchen to the china closet, it will be seemly to put away the thinnest glass and the most costly china. During the War we shall hate the idea of drinking expensive Champagne and rare vintages of Burgundy and Claret and we shall be equally impatient of elaborate and ceremonious dinners. So let the fine things be hoarded against the day of victory. We shall enjoy our less luxurious fare all the more if we eat it from plain white or willow-pattern plates preferably the plain white. And let the most exquisite of our napery be stored up with the finest of our glass and china. When our relatives and friends come back from the War, we shall like them to know that we have not been clothing ourselves in purple and fine linen and faring sumptuously every day, but that we have tried to share, afar off, what St Paul would have called " the fellowship of their

sufferings."

CHAPTER

III

GOING TO MARKET
can make an omelette without breaking eggs, or grill a steak when he has no steak to grill, or braise a Spanish onion which he does not possess. The fame of Mrs Glasse survives solely in the misquotation which advises you to " First catch your hare and then cook it." In these days we are no longer pot-hunters. Having acquired money in a struggle for existence fiercer than any cave-dweller's, we go to the men who
sell

No man

birds and beasts and fishes and eggs and butter and vegetables and fruits. They also are struggling

even in Peace-time, that we should watch them keenly.

for existence, and,

it is

necessary

The English

are not a thrifty nation.

With the
most

exception of a small minority,

made up

for the

part of self-made people, everybody lives

up

to his

income.

husbands out of three are convinced that their households ought to be run more cheaply and forty-nine wives out of fifty honestly believe that no other woman could perform the marvels of parsimony which they accomplish every day. This is a curious state of things. Nearly all wives are loyal and nearly all of them find it hard to make both ends yet the year's menus in a typical English meet home would suggest that a nice little sum is being saved up for a rainy day. The explanation is twofold. Enghsh housekeepers rarely get the most out of
;

Two

3S

GOING TO MARKET
what they buy
advantage.
;

39
to

and they rarely buy

chapter
is

the best

This

concerned

with

the

question of buying.

lived six years ago in a house so situated that

was a wide choice of routes to London. To reach one of the tram-lines I had to pass through a quarter inhabited by the upper working class, who favoured
there
in the semicircular

bay-windowed houses, all alike, with plaster horses windows over the front doors and with tinny pianos or raucous harmoniums in the neverventilated parlours. Sometimes I went in the opposite direction, to a station, and walked up leafy avenues where every house lacked a number and was dubbed

"Sans

Souci," or

"The Wigwam,"

or worse.
sight.

And

I saw the same sad Neither Mrs Smith of 749 Jubilee Road nor Mrs Smythe of " The Rowans," Beechcroft Avenue, seemed to realise that she ought to go to market. She expected the market to come to her. In Jubilee Road the market took the form of a coster's barrow in charge of a beery gentleman whose voice was the worse for wear. In Beechcroft Avenue the market was represented by a pert young man in a ready-made blue suit, who always had enough time on his hands to exchange gallantries with Mrs Smythe's housemaid. I do not doubt that both Mrs Smith and Mrs Smythe truly loved their husbands and that they would have given

every morning

their little fingers to avoid the

discussions which soured

at

life

at "

recurring financial The Rowans " and

No. 749. It simply did not occur to them that a market which comes to one's door is no market at all.


40
I

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

have lost sight of both these equally estimable ladies, but I do not doubt that they are being hurried to their graves by the houndings of monetary worry. '* As this book is written more for " The Rowans than for Jubilee Road (where literature is not habitually encouraged), it will be practical to confine ourShortly after the selves to the errors of Mrs Smythe.
departure of
"

Mr Smythe
is

to the city, his spouse hears

met by her servant with the words The butcher, mum." Now what takes She tells herself that place in Mrs Smythe's mind ? she had ribs of beef on Sunday that she ordered veal that a beef steak was cutlets for Tuesday night that Friday will be a fish on Wednesday bought day and that therefore to-day, Thursday, it would be nice to have half-a-leg of mutton the shank end. Accordingly she says " Tell him to send half-a-leg
the bell ringing and
:

the shank end

mutton, not too big." Sometimes, by good luck, this turns out to be a happy shot. But on other occasions it will not do at all. The young man in the blue suit passes from " The Rowans " to
of
*'

The Lindens," and thence to " The Hollies " and " The Beeches " and all the other trees of the forest.

he returns to the shop, his notebook is an awkward document. If divine Providence had only been pleased to give mankind a sheep with nine legs and only one shoulder, the butcher's task would be easy but this, after all, would not solve the problem, as the next day's orders might require a sheep consisting entirely of chump chops. The butcher does his but, like soldiers and other men of blood and best steel, butchers are usually men of few words, and
; ;

When

they have a deep-seated horror of ladies' tongues.


GOING TO MARKET
41

It follows that Mrs Smythe, who is a good customer, pa5ang promptly and never complaining, may not get her shank end after all, but has to put up with the upper half of the leg, while the chatelaine of " Kenilworth," who spends thre^-and-ninepence a week and is always threatening to go to another butcher, gets the pick of the shop. Meanwhile the butcher is loaded up with fore-quarters and saddles which no-

body wants.
legs

Further, as he has delivered

all

the half-

he has to take the risk of never getting his three-and-ninepence from " Kenilworth," which means that " The Rowans " must pay perhaps a halfcredit,

on

penny a pound more. Also, somebody must pay for the young man's blue suit and for his modest expenditure when he takes Mrs Smythe's maid out on Sunday afternoons. In short, the whole affair is what the learned would call an uneconomic transaction.

And when

it is

extended to the fishmonger,

is

the greengrocer, the Italian warehouseman and the

provision merchant, the wonder

how Mr Smythe

has kept a roof over Mrs Smythe's head.

row of shops the very shops from which the blue young man and And there his colleagues went forth every morning. or thereabouts I often saw an edifying sight. A young
the
to station stood a

On

way

my

matron, a neighbour of the lady whom I have called Mrs Smythe, though her superior in birth and social standing, was to be met every day, like a Frenchwoman with her bonne, going to market. She was

always prettily but sensibly dressed in blue linen always or old-fashioned print always unfiurried
; ;

beaming and healthy.

Once or twice

I
I

happened to
noticed that

be in shops while she was shopping.

42

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
her Httle bag in

she never took a

memorandum from

order to buy the materials for a premeditated menu. The market came first and the menu afterwards.

Holding to the great principle that what is cheapest and most abundant in the market is generally what is best, she seemed to get the pick of everything at about
two-thirds

by her stay-at-home neighbours for less desirable purchases. Yet there was no beating down or chaffering in the French manner. Her rosy little servant received the purchases into a net bag there and then, thus ending all risk of underweight and overcharge and changing, not
the
prices

paid

to mention the ugly dangers of corrupt manoeuvres

on the part of the young man in blue. No doubt this clever woman had acquired a general sense of menumaking which enabled her to resist the seductions of mere cheapness, so that she would not, for example, have combined salmon, and duck, and strawberriesand-cream in one short dinner but her obvious rule was to base her cuisine upon the market. I invoke her gracious image as I write and beseech her to be
;

the patron saint of this chapter.

am bound

to

warn

my

docile readers that

when

they put these counsels into practice they will not enjoy their first shopping expeditions. In some places it still requires a little courage to go out with one's servant and to come back with one's dinner. But this War will be a poor affair if it does not blow away the remains of snobbery from all decent people. The idea that nobody of gentle birth can be seen carrying a parcel is not quite dead, but the War

GOING TO MARKET
should
kill it.

43
a

Thousands
it

of the best of our race are

carrying heavy knapsacks at this

moment under

scorching sun, and

will

not disgrace their sisters to

bear

home a whiting
it

or even a cauliflower.
little

Some
;

of the tradesmen will sniff a

superciliously

but,

when one thinks

importance.

over, such sniffs are not of the first

Besides,

the

sniffs

sometimes

that the tradesman discerns the beginnings of

mean a new

relationship in which he will be obliged to treat his

customer with more punctilious fairness. The housewife with common-sense will soon distinguish between tradesmen who are white and tradesmen who are shady. Among the shops to avoid is the shop with two prices for the same article. Some tradesmen will sell you, without a word of haggling, for elevenpence, a pound of bacon for which they will ask another customer tenpence or a shilling, and there is the same risk with all goods at fluctuating prices. No doubt it is to avoid this danger that thousands of people have given up shopping altogether and have
decided to
" Order

everything from

the stores."
;

The

best stores give good value

all

and

careful service

but, with

respect to them, better

and cheaper

cookery can be achieved by the housekeeper who will learn the ways of her local market. Happily, almost every part of London is now blessed with a few good shops where the prices of perishable foods are pro-

minently displayed. Many of the fishmongers, for example, exhibit blackboards on which they chalk the prices of the day, sometimes adding the information that such

and such a
state

fish is

cheap.

The

largest

greengrocers

also

their

prices
it is

plainly.

But

when one turns

to the butcher

rare to see price

44

HOME COOKERY
omission
the

IN WAR-TIME
For
partial

tickets, except in the low-grade establishments.

this

butcher has a unreasonable in their ideas of boning and trimming a piece of meat at the butcher's expense, and they will often, after deciding on a joint, say that it is rather more than they want and that they cannot
excuse.

People are a

little

take

it

unless

it is

reduced in
Still,

size

an operation which
is

may mean

loss.

the butcher

man who

wants careful watching.

you have decided which butcher seems likely to suit you best, it is well to treat him openly and to trust him so long as he plays the game. It is quite a mistake to think that he despises everybody who does not buy sirloins of beef, legs of lamb, fillet steaks and the other prime cuts. The truth is that

As soon

as

he

is

quite glad to

sell,

at half the price of the

prime

cuts, the brisket

and the flank which hardly anybody

asks

for,

by
of

processes explained in

although these parts can be made delicious Necks all cookery books.
beef,

mutton and stewing

which are better

for

many

purposes than legs and

sirloins, are

part of the

butcher's stock

and he wants to sell them. When one has become a fairly good and regular
it is fair

customer,

to insist that the butcher shall not

be disobhging with such things as calf's liver, sweetbread, tongues and ox-tails. In some shops the request for these things is always met by a smile and

a shake of the head, sometimes accompanied by valuable anatomical information to the effect that an ox has only one tail and that everybody cannot
expect to get
it.

An

ox-tail is a

most desirable pur-


GOING TO MARKET
chase, especially in cold weather,

45

and no housekeeper ought to accept constant refusals. As for the sweetbread and the pick of the calf's liver, I remember a town where an English resident could hardly get these
delicacies

at

the

principal

butcher's.

Frenchas
for

woman, always alluded to with great reverence " Maddum," doggedly insisted on having them
her rather extensive entertaining, and,
if

the butcher

presumed to disappoint
again.

her,

he was promptly and

sharply told that she would not darken his shop door

but selfishness This was an extreme case almost as great is to be found in every locality, and it is one's duty gently to insist that greedy people shall
;

not be rewarded for their meanness.

A good
wise
if

you ask his advice, provided that you do so

butcher will be rather flattered than otherat a

slack time of his day.

He

will pickle or

marinate the

cheaper cuts for you and, when he finds that you are
not a grumbler and that you want him to have his fair profit, he will give you the advantage on stocks

which he wants to sell. He does not like suspicions expressed about the origin of this or the other joint, but when he is fairly and openly asked if he can supply chilled South American beef (which is often excellent), or the admirable New Zealand lamb known as " Canterbury," he will answer you honestly. Should he sell you any chilled meat, it will be as well to consult him about thawing it, as sad things have happened through a neglect of this precaution. I write this page a day or two after meeting with a case in point. A body of Red Cross workers, most of whom hold
certificates for proficiency in cooking, sat

down

to

their

own

dinner after a laborious day.

Their joint

46

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
oven smelling ador-

a leg of lamb
ably.
It

came out
of

of the

was browned and apparently a little overcooked, in the way which nearly every woman loves.
But,

when

the carver's knife laid

it

open, the inside

raw meat and, when touched with the finger, struck almost as cold as meat that had not been cooked at all. The certificated cooks pounced on all the fr^dng-pans they could find and

had the appearance

made a
boy to

dinner of slices fried in the English style.

deliver but should be taken straight

Smaller purchases should not be left for the butcher's

home.

Larger cuts ought always to be weighed as soon as

they arrive because the weight sometimes fails to agree with what was charged for. And here and there a butcher will be found trying to play the meanest of all mean tricks, such as sending home the hoof of a full-grown sheep with the leg of a baa-lamb, and adding to the bones and fat which you have asked him to remove from your joint some bones and fat belonging to an entirely different beast. A little
:

observation suffices to teach anybody of intelligence

whether he is being made to carry more than his burden of fat and bones.

fair

At the fishmonger's, marketing is easier than at the butcher's. In these days of abundant ice all the year round, bad fish is a rarity. Among the good fish it requires skill and experience to choose out those which have been most lately caught. Most housewives are forced, therefore, to depend upon the fishmonger's good faith, and happily they may often do so
without disaster.

Should a beginner read these

lines,

GOING TO MARKET
I

47

can only warn her to see that the

flesh of her fish is

not flabby, that the eyes are bright and not sunken,

and that there is no stale odour. On some days cod is very cheap.

It is

a fish which

many

people find insipid, because

it is

so often served

sodden from a pan of boiling water, with plain potatoes and a so-called sauce which would do admirably for bill-posting but for little else. Steaks of cod, nicely grilled, are delightful. A large piece of steamed cod can also be made attractive, and what remains of it should be pounded smooth, and flavoured and
potted for breakfast.

Herrings are likely to figure

blessings while the

among our

principal

War

lasts.

Large quantities of

them used
the benefit
If

Germany, and we shall have of what the Germans must now do without.
to be sent to

herrings were caught in only one bight or sea-lough

gourmets would cheerfully pay a crown apiece for them and would give herring dinners in the most expensive restaurants. But, these fish being absurdly cheap, an idea has got about that they are slightly vulgar and one has had to be a bold man to include the herring in the menu of a
in all the world,

At formal dinners, salmon, lobster, trout, turbot and soles especially soles have had it nearly all their own way. Some diners-out come to hate the sight of salmon by the third week of the season, and would be filled with secret joy if they could exchange a portion which has cost the hostess a shilling for a small fresh herring which would cost a penny or less. Herrings require some surgical skill and patience, because of the bones but many other delicacies, such as quails and walnuts, demand deft
formal dinner.

48

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
be an almost

handling,

and we do not shun them on that account.

A grilled herring with potatoes is said to

perfect food,

and when the peasantry of Munster and Connaught can add buttermilk to this diet they seem to be the happiest and healthiest of men. Of recent years the fishmongers have begun to sell a fish called rock salmon, which is remarkably cheap and very good eating. After pursuing some painstaking studies, I find that the

appears to be called rock-salmon because it is not salmon and has nothing to do with rocks. Its true name is " catfish," and when encountered in the water it certainly has a cattish head which is less attractive than
fish

that of a smoke-blue Persian pussy at a show.

fish
;

It is

indeed its head is by no means an unclean furnished with an arrangement which enables it to crack open oysters and to feed upon them. One

might almost say that in buying sixpenny-worth of rock salmon one is sometimes getting oysters to the value of about five shillings thrown in. When no
third party
for cat-fish
is

Hstening, I generally ask the fishmonger

by its proper name, but some of the rising generation of fishmongers do not know what is meant. Rock salmon can be served in many ways, but I find it best steamed and served with a rosy sauce.^ Whiting, " the chicken of the sea," when fried in a
deep bath of oil or dripping, make a pleasant change at a low price. Skate, which is heartily despised by hundreds of thousands of people, will delight the
After writing the above lines, my attention was drawn to a cookery book in which rock salmon is identified with hake ; but I bought one weighin the London shops it is certainly cat-fish. 8th September 1914. ing nearly four pounds for a shilling on
^

GOING TO MARKET
palates of hundreds of thousands of others

49

when

it is

prepared au beurre noir that is to say, with butter melted and turned dark by means of a few drops of
vinegar and some capers.
will like skate,

And

nearly everybody
is

d VIndienne, which
in curry sauce.

practically a

curry, the fish being served amidst

rice

some

well-boiled

and drowned

going to the fishmonger's instead of letting his assistant come bicycling round to your tradesmen's
entrance for orders, you will often be able to
finer

By

buy the
is

kinds of

fish

at
I

low

prices.

The market

occasionally glutted.

could

name

a restaurant in

was in the habit of passing off halibut for turbot in some of the made dishes, such as Coquilles de Turbot and Turbot Mornay. Through inattention to the market he served these impostures two or three days running when turbot was selling much more cheaply than halibut. And I have known a day when a stay-at-

London

where a low-principled proprietor

cod to her family at a price which would have bought (allowing for the more concentrated nature of the richer fish) an equal
\fas giving

home housewife

ration of salmon.

limandes (generally spoken of as lemon soles) and other second-class fish are sometimes dear out of proportion to their merits. But mackerel is always a good purchase when there is no doubt about
Plaice,
its freshness.

Indeed mackerel

is

often

much more
it

enjoyable than salmon

when

hot,

and

is

also a

tasty and satisfying cold luncheon dish when it has been " soused." Fresh haddock must not be over-

looked

but some of the richly coloured objects which are passed off as fillets of haddock are dis;

50

HOME COOKERY
and butter
in

IN WAR-TIME
fillet

appointing.
fully in milk

The genuine smoked

stews beauti;

an earthenware pot

but

the wrong article can only be

commended

to those

who

eat fish as a penance.

Shellfish are often cheap. Great care needs to be taken with mussels, but when you have the right specimens and know how to prepare them they are hailed with joy by those who like them, especially when marinated in the French way, with a sauce like a fish soup, which one can eat with a spoon. A few mussels are also necessary when one wants to improve

some steamed fillets of rather tasteless fish by dressing them in the mode which all cookery books describe under the name of Normande. As for scallops, there is nothing much more distinguished than a Coquille St Jacques. The scallop shells ought not to be thrown away, and the hot scallops should be served
therein.

The

papers, especially the religious weeklies, usually

contain brief advertisements in which certain Grimsby

firms offer to send by Parcel Post small packages of
fresh fish already prepared for cooking.

They some-

times give the purchaser quite a large quantity for a couple of shillings. In the long run, however, most people find this no cheaper than buying fish locally.

Where
precept

there
is

are large

closely

families and the church's obeyed on days of abstinence, these

Grimsby packages may be taken regularly with advantage but in small households there would
;

often be waste unless the cook

is

clever at potting

the surplus.

What

has been said about carrying

home

one's

smaller purchases from the butcher applies to the

GOING TO MARKET
fishmonger as well.
of the fish
I

51
of sole

have seen

fillets

which
Still,

could not possibly have been fitted to the skeletons

which

had chosen and paid

for.

well

on the whole, the fishmonger will treat you fairly if you are reasonable with him and are not above

taking his advice.

At the
over.

poulterer's, a patriotic housewife will

deny

herself the

We

luxury of young chickens until the War is ought to let most of the chickens grow

up to lay eggs for us. Eggs will be dear. By increasing our home output, we may succeed in permanently
securing a larger share of the egg trade for our
population.

own

As

for the bigger chickens, these should

be kept as

much

as possible for the sick

and wounded.

Chicken broth and little pieces from the breast are tempting to many a convalescent, although their
food value
is

slightly overrated.

By

casting a glance every

counter you are sure to pick

time to time. have seen rabbits, poultry and grouse at such low prices that they have often been cheaper than mutton

day at the poulterer's up great bargains from During the first month of the War I

Probably we must expect a great shrinkage in the imports of the frozen and rather tasteless game birds from the East but, on the other hand, English game birds may be cheap, as thousands of brace which would have been shot to give away will drift into the market. One may express the hope that venison will also come into its own again during the War. Provided that people will get away from the loathsome superstition that venison must be outrageously high
beef.
;

and

52
before

HOME COOKERY
it is fit

IN WAR-TIME

to eat,

tlie

national larder can be en-

riched to a great extent with this meat.

A haunch of

venison with a puree of chestnuts, some diamonds of scarlet runners, and a little red-currant jelly will make

a meal

full of

old-world charm and often twenty per

than an equally ample repast of mutton or beef or veal. Indeed the whole question of venison cookery, which would require a book as large as this for its proper discussion, is well worth going into, and every housekeeper should risk a few
cent, cheaper

experiments.

and trusses a bird for you, ought not to keep the liver and the giblets. Indeed, by watching every point, you may find birds almost the most economical food you can buy. I bought a brace of black game the other day for three shillings and threepence. They served six persons on two nights first as a roast and second as a salmis, and I made some soup from them the
poulterer,

The

when he plucks and

cleans

third day.

Under the ugly name of the greengrocer there is in every town and suburb a man who buys and sells the most beautiful of all our foodstuffs. Nobody will claim that a butcher's is a gallery of pictures or that fish out of water provoke gaiety. But a well-stocked greengrocer's is a thing of beauty and a joy until closing time. Apples as rosy as the cheek of a country wench, peaches with a bloom that the most exquisite dame must envy, grapes like great beads of amber, and oranges and lemons like a windfall of tiny suns
and moons keep company with
scarlet

tomatoes.

GOING TO MARKET

53

with yellow bananas, with purple beets and with every shape and size and hue of leafage and
rootage.

would be an exaggeration to say that greengrocers without exception have lived up to the
It

splendours of their wares

leisure.

nor does

it

often transpire

that they are poets and painters in their scanty

Until the twentieth century

came

in,

the

vegetable shop was generally an unlovely place.

At

the top of the scale there were a few vegetable dealers

but whose stocks were well kept and well shown one had to pay what might be called florists' prices, as if everything had been grown under glass or Things imported in tissue paper and cotton-wool. greengrocers, Many better. for the have changed whose prices are almost as low as the lowest, make a point of dressing their fronts with so much richness and abundance that one is thrilled as by the sight of a huge cornucopia outpoured. The interior of the shop cannot be as spotless as a high-class dairy, because earth is always being liberated from tubers and soiled leaves are constantly being torn from Still, a well-managed greengrocer's ought greens. to be pleasant both outside and inside. When it is found to be slovenly, a housekeeper will usually be She should beware, however, safe in leaving it alone. of expecting the standard of the fruit and vegetable
;

tents at a big flower show.

ful to

Prize exhibits are beauti-

but they are often second-rate when one tries to eat them. If the greengrocer should cleanse away every speck of Mother Earth from his turnips and horse-radishes and potatoes, he would have to raise his prices, and at the same time he would
look
at,

54

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
it

rob the stuff of a coat which protects contaminations of street air.

of close observation.
for so

from the many

Vegetables need and will repay a lifelong course

Some cooks
carrots

will

calmly ask

many carrots and so many turnips to compound

if

and turnips are as unYet there is a world of alterable as half bricks. difference between one carrot and another carrot, one turnip and another turnip. Some turnips might almost have been turned by a lathe out of white wood, and some carrots are limp, with a colour more
a certain stew, as

yellow than red.

And

these remarks apply to

all

other vegetables in greater or less degree.

It follows

that the recipes in cookery-books are often no more

than indications of an

ideal,

and that they must be

modified in practice according to the stronger or

weaker
in the

flavours,

the more tough or more tender

fibres of the ingredients.

Again, a point

is

reached

growth of most vegetables when they become unpleasant. French beans and scarlet runners are sometimes sold in a state which no reasonable amount of boiling can correct, and radishes are still marketed

when

all

their briskness has given place to a faded

flabbiness.

The

less

honest or less able greengrocer

stocks his shop with stuff that his colleagues will not

touch.

In some parts of London one comes upon what looks like a row of costers' barrows but is really an
open-air fruit market.
If

any reader

of this

book

should
vised,

Soho to buy would not be a waste of time to walk along Little Pulteney Street, which runs westward from Wardour Street. On Fridays and Saturdays especivisit

a casserole, as already ad-

it

GOING TO MARKET
ally the fruit
sight.

55
a wonderful

and vegetable market

is

Those who are willing to put on old clothes, and to leave all airs and graces at home, will be recompensed for any ungentle little bustlings and jostlings. One must be a bit of a linguist, a working acquaintance with the Cockney language being almost essential. And one must muzzle one's sense of the ridiculous. A few months ago I used to buy in this street enormous grape-fruits, of a ripeness and flavour unknown to me elsewhere. I paid on an average three-halfpence each. When cut in half and properly prepared, each fruit was enough for two persons. Unhappily, however, I tried to do the proprietor of the barrow a good turn by pointing out the defects in his placard, which read

GRAIPE FRUIT THE ONLY FRUIT IN THE WORLD CONTANING 150 PER SENT OF QUININE
Whether the scribe thought that I was going to indict him under the Food and Drugs' Act I cannot say, but he flew into a hot rage and challenged me to produce the man or woman or babe unborn that had ever known him acting not straight or fair. I have also
learnt, as soon as I see

grand globe artichokes in Little Pulteney Street at tenpence a dozen, to buy them without a smile when the proprietor commends them as "These 'ere chokes," and to be equally discreet when, in the asparagus season, I receive sporting offers of " Grass." The barrows are a guide to the


56

HOME COOKERY
And

IN WAR-TIME When
a given
it

waxing and waning of seasons.

entirely.

fruit

or vegetable has passed its hey-day,

disappears

yet

many

exotics find their

I

way

into

this unlovely thoroughfare, where

beautiful boxes of fresh purple figs

for sixpence the

have bought and mandarins

box

of

apples are also to be found,

as one might expect.

two or three dozen. Pinethough not so abundantly

a pine -apple
is full-ripe

When

and even shows in one spot an over-maturity which would spoil it for a West End fruiterer's window, it is I shall explain in at its best for immediate eating.
the proper place a

way

of serving

it.

Still,

we ought
long

to trade with our local greengrocer as a

as he behaves himself.

rule, so

no rates or
rich

rent.

The man with the barrow pays He would fall dead at the mere
is

suggestion of paying income tax, although he

often

enough to buy up two or three men who pay it regularly. Besides, the local man is at hand for our convenience in wet weather or fine, and this ought not
to be forgotten.

One

of the greatest mistakes of the ordinary house-

keeper, from the point of view of the gourmet,

and one

of the chief reasons for the expensiveness of her

housekeeping,
last

is

the habit of visiting the greengrocer

when marketing.
first

Nearly every English cook

and the vegetables afterwards hardly ever the vegetables first and the meat to suit I think this is one more sound explanation of the it. monotony of English menus, and I recommend an occasional reversal of the order. By going now and
chooses the meat

then to the greengrocer

of ideas.

first

one

will start a

new

train

For instance, there are days when small white cab-

GOING TO MARKET
them might
one
for

57

bages are at their best and cheapest, and the sight of

well suggest cabbages cunningly stuffed,

each person. encounters a new-dug

Again,
pile of

one's eye sometimes

Jerusalem artichokes. [These very cheap tubers are certainly not artichokes, and they have no connection with Jerusalem, their English name being corrupted from girasol which

means that the plants try to turn themselves towards the sun.] With the good and sound Jerusalem artichokes a cook makes a Crdme Palestine and a dinner which begins with Creme Palestine must be so care;

fully thought out, with a

view to a proper sequence

and textures and flavours, that all the other buying for the day may turn on this pivot. Occasionally there is an abundance of fresh mushrooms at a low price, and, when this happens, a cook
of colours
will not neglect her

and contrast

opportunity.

Another shopman

whom we must

visit

now and

then calls himself rather arrogantly the Provision Merchant. He sells Cheshire cheese and York ham

bacon and new-laid eggs '' from his own farm," as well as some cheese and ham and bacon and eggs which have made rather longer journeys. In these days he is constantly adding other " lines," such as poultry. New Zealand lamb, tinned fish, and jam. He is also adopting, in many cases when he ought to know better, undignified methods of pushing the sale of "overweight " nut butter and margarine, a pound and a half being sold at the price of a pound, with perhaps an aluminium butter-knife thrown in. In his Cheddar cheese department there are often clear
Irish

and

58

HOME COOKERY
is

IN WAR-TIME
free

proofs that he

an Imperialist,

from parish-

pump

narrowness, and that he feels bound to encour-

age the nascent agriculture of Canada and our other

great dominions overseas.

Happily, some of his tribe

carry on their business honourably, and

when

these

are found their customers will naturally stick to them.

The good

provision merchant generally prefers a

quiet window, furnished with a stack of flitches of bacon and a few cheeses but his baser rival loves a garish front and is usually trumpeting some couponscheme so as to reconcile you to his coarse sardines and rank tea.
;

Of the twentieth-century grocer it is hard to speak with brotherly love. At one time the epicier (or " spicer "), as the French call him, was something of
an artist. With the peculiarities of the local water supply before him, he blended tea so sensitively that no packet tea would have had a chance against it. He received many of his materials in the rough and Turning a great wheel adorned with in the unready.
gilded lions or dragons, his apprentices cut loaves of sugar in cubes, while the sons of bishops and the nephews of admirals stared in through the window

and

bitterly cursed the

hard fate which had caused

them
grocer

to be born too high in the social scale.

The

had blue and white jars, and lacquered boxes, and baby drawers, and scoops big and little. As you looked at his stock it was hard to believe that it had not been brought to him in an argosy or on pack-mules. To-day's grocer is not out of the same batch. All that his young men know of the particular packet of

GOING TO MARKET
jar or tin
;

59

can which they are selling is that it is " eleven three farthings " that the packers are
;

splendid people

that they are selling quite a lot of it and that they have another kind at " ten and a half."

This sort of young

spice gardens
eyes, his

man

has memorised a

price-list

but instead of having

all

the seas and orchards and

and cornfields of the world before his mental picture gallery is furnished with nothing but labels and show cards. In some books on housekeeping it is recommended that one ought to search out the grocers who still do their work in the old way, and some trustful young matrons therefore patronise none but shops with nice A few genuine placards concerning Our own blend. old grocers' shops survive which may be almost infallibly distinguished by their atmosphere when one But most is not guided to them by their reputation. Most of of the " Own blend " shops are delusions. them. Not all. The exceptional grocers who put skill and conscience into the choice of their own brands (even though they may do the actual bu3ang and blending and packing by proxy) give the best value
'
' ' '

in the world.

and when a tradesman

The proof is in the eating and drinking of this kind has convinced you that he is a man of brains and character you ought, as I have advised in the foregoing pages, to trust him and to make use of his experience.
;

one kind of grocer from whom I have never obtained, and never expect to obtain, any satisfaction.

There

is

I refer

to the kind of

ness.

When

"a,

seems to revel in uglinew neighbourhood," as he would

man who

call it, is

opened up by the speculative builder, this kind of grocer-man is one of the first to arrive upon

6o

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

His chosen pitch may be close to an old grey bridge or a timber cottage or a grand grove of elms but this makes no difference. Up go his yellow
the scene.
;

bricks

and

his blue slates,

and

in goes his sheet of

is

plate glass, behind which he

yearning to show
tins

P5n:amids

of

orange-coloured cartons, tomato

labelled in flaming scarlet,

milk-white letters
royal blue.
If

and show cards with skimon backgrounds of the most odious

a man should propose to preoccupy the

ground with a whitewashed inn, where nut-brown ale and brown bread and honest cheese would be sold to the pleasant swinging of a signboard with a running horse on it, he would not be allowed to move an inch without the permission of the Bench. Surely there ought to be some sort of a Bench to license the grocer and to see that he neither disfigures the landscape nor poisons the inhabitants. More often than not these shops I beg their pardon, these " stores " are stocked with " lines " chosen merely as " sellers " at the very lowest prices. When there has been no other grocer to turn to, I have sometimes bought stuff at these places. The proprietors generally exhibit a certain proportion of well-known brands, partly because some of their customers insist on these and partly to make a respectable show, but they are always endeavouring to sell the just as good. Fortunately the " just as good " has to conform to the law, and I have often found words in small type on the labels which have been useful as clues to the nature of the shop. The strawberry jam is made from the " choicest Kent strawberries (large type) " improved (small type) with ** other choice fruits." The mustard turns out to be "blended with the choicest farine,'*

same

bit of

GOING TO MARKET
and so
on, until one gets the impression that
if

6i
it

were not for the Food and Drugs Act hardly an honest The poor are cruelly article would cross the counter.

imposed upon at this kind of shop. To save a penny in the shilling they let themselves be cheated out of threepence, and, in some cases, they get deleterious ingredients into the bargain. Even educated housewives often fail to read labels and to use commonsense. I have seen baking powders and vinegars which
might have been the deadly inventions of German spies improving on the slow old process of poisoning the wells. Fortunately, however, demand governs
supply, and there are so
will

many

sensible

women who

with shams and rubbish that it is possible nearly everywhere to find a grocery stocked with good things. Indeed I have heard a grocer say quite cynically that he had tried both methods and that honesty was the only paying policy for a highnot be put
off

class trade.

housekeeper, having found the best shop, should often visit it herself. All kinds of new imports keep

coming along, as well as all kinds of new sauces and materials for sweets and savouries. As she walks about the shop, waiting for change or for some informaa notion will strike the resourceful cook. Forgotten stores in her own pantry come back to her
tion,

many

mind, or she remembers once favourite dishes which she has somehow ceased to serve. It is for some such reason as this that I have never myself felt quite happy in dealing with the huge Stores. As soon as a housekeeper finally loses all patience with small

and personally-managed

and decides to order everything by telephone or post card from the

local shops,


62

HOME COOKERY
from
all-alive

IN WAR-TIME
little

Stores, she saves herself

herself off

many

worries, but cuts

housekeeping and drifts nine times out of ten into the monotony which is the chief defect of our English cuisine.

The baker follows a calling of exceeding dignity. In London and our greater towns hardly anybody kneads and bakes in her own house to-day. It is through the baker that we can eat each day our daily bread, and it would be ungenerous to deny that he often does his best. While millers and bakers are not
always as white as they are dusted, I think their inner blackness has been exaggerated, and that few of them spend the silent night in adding chalk to the flour and sand to the household bread. But while there are not vast numbers of knaves among them, it must be admitted that they do not all bake well. Should any reader of this book be so unlucky as to live in a place without a good baker, I urge her not to sit down too meekly under the loss. Good bread is of such obvious importance that I must almost apologise for saying so. Where good household bread is not to be got, let the housewife try to get into touch with somebody who supplies yeast, and let her set about that hard but honourable task which will fill her soul with just pride and her cupboard with honest loaves. Failing yeast, one can fall back on German barm which, by the way, is not all made in Germany. Failing the barm, the chemist must be asked for three ounces of bicarbonate of soda and two ounces of tartaric acid, which must be well mixed in three ounces If kept dry this baking of ordinary arrowroot.

GOING TO MARKET

63

powder will be found all that is desirable, and it will enable any careful cook to turn out wholesome bread. Such bread should be made of a mixture of four parts of wheat meal (not too coarse) to one part of fine flour. Suppose you are using two pounds of the mixture. Along with a heaped tablespoonful of baking powder and a little salt there ought to be about two ounces of butter. Use either milk and water or milk alone to make an almost liquid dough which should be baked in very shallow round tins not much more than an inch high. The baking powder (like a Seidlitz powder) generates innumerable little bubbles which
give lightness to the bread.
It is essential therefore

to begin the baking in a hot oven, so that the outside

of the fiat loaf or cake

may

prisoning the bubbles.

be sealed hard, thus im[Although it is nothing to do

say in this place that the

with bakers or baking,

to

I will

principle of sealing applies to grilling also,

and indeed

many actions in

cookery.]

The foregoing directions are borrowed from Sir Henry Thompson, with one addition. The otherwise admirable Sir Henry does not appear to have been a practical cook, and he therefore wrote " Mix with a
:

sufficient

quantity of baking powder."

I

Such vague

expressions as " a sufficient quantity " are the despair

of the novice.
I shall often

admit that, in the following chapters, use vague language myself, but only as
of

regards seasonings, and degrees

richness, or

in

connection with materials which (unlike our baking

powder) are of varying strength. In buying flour from the baker it is a good thing to tell him quite candidly what you do and do not want. The much-despised finest white flour still has many

; ;

64

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

uses in the kitchen, despite its low nutritive value

but for your bread you require such flour as used to be called seconds and is now more generally spoken of

under the names of " standard " and " household." The finest oatmeal, and other flours not ground from wheat, are important but they can only be used
;

confidently after several experiments.

In our
wasted.

own day and

generation bread

is

too often

Years ago an almost religious reverence surrounded bread. You could waste other things but never bread. My own childhood was embittered as the result of my having thrown away in a moment of petulance a horrible slice of bread, with crust burnt almost black and a doughy crumb. My brothers and sisters could throw away apples over the hedge after sampling them with a single bite or they could leave half-a-slice of roast sirloin on the plate, with impunity but my sin in throwing away that piece of bread was never allowed to die. When an old Welsh nurse called to see me after a few years of absence one of her
;
;

first

questions was directed to this hateful subject, and

she did not go

narrative

away without telling me a blood-chilling about a boy who threw away a piece of

bread and perished miserably a few months afterwards, on a raft in the Indian Ocean, without so much Nevertheless I do not wholly as a ship's biscuit. succeed in despising this old sentiment. Bread, quite
apart from
its

high use in the Christian mysteries, has

a human sanctity as the stoutest staff of life. To waste it at any time is not good. To waste it in wartime is an unspiritual as well as a selfish action. Frangois Coppee brought out this feeling very beautifully in his httle story of the siege of Paris called
**
:

Morsel of a siege of London, but let us take our bread-pans seriously all It is far better to calculate the bread conthe same. sumption beforehand than to find the bowl littered with fragments which have to be worked off by some of the worst makeshifts of cookery. In many houses the surplus bread is got rid of in the form of bread-andbutter

GOING TO MARKET Bread." We do not expect

65

pudding.
I

In
that

denouncing

bread-and-butter

pudding

know

I shall fall foul of

many

people,

including those

who have
is

lately been advertising the

currant trade.
bread,

But bread-and-butter pudding, and

a whole
sli-ce

soups in which there

present

of

soddened

a serious danger. Those who eat them, especially children, are prone to bolt such
soft food

without proper mastication.

well

Now

it

is

an

established fact that starchy substances like bread

must be

worked

(salivated) in the

mouth

before

they are swallowed. From some points of view it is less dangerous to bolt small lumps of beef or mutton than equal lumps of cake or bread. A bread-andbutter pudding, made with currants that are not too skinny and with good milk, can be a valuable diet to the few who will eat it properly but it is generally
;

better to avoid the need for

making it by a more jealous

watch over the buying of bread. There will be an overplus sometimes and then the breadcrumb is best used in a steamed suet pudding where it is lighter than flour. Flavoured with marmalade, or ginger, or chocolate, such puddings are good.
;

The dairyman is hedged about with legal enact ments which ought to keep him straight. The law,
E

66

HOME COOKERY
minimum
him in the event

IN WAR-TIME

however, allows him a certain amount of elbow-room

as regards the
of solids in milk, so as to

protect

of his receiving in

good faith

an unusually poor milk from the farmer. The baser sort of dair37man always waters down the milk to this minimum, while the better sort gives his customers
with more cream, at the same price per quart. Milk, like bread, is often bought wastefuUy. Still, some waste is bound to occur in houses
a far purer
article,

where daily habits are not absolutely regular. As the milkman is early astir with a fast white horse and great
brass milk-cans, shining in the early sunshine like

burnished helmets, he must be able to depend upon a certain regular round of customers. Thus it would

head out of the bathroom window once or twice a week and to countermand the little standing order. Even when the mistress of a tiny household suddenly decides that she and her consort will drink China tea instead of cafe au lait, it is she and not the milkman who ought to find a way of disposing of the unwanted pint of milk. In too many houses it is placed aside, and when the cream has been skimmed from it a few hours later it is allowed to go sour. Sour milk can be used for certain kinds of hot cakes but this disposes of very
not be
fair to thrust one's
;

small quantities only.

It

is

therefore far better to

use any surplus milk while

excellent

it is

sweet.

good

rice

pudding with or without stewed

fruit or preserve is

home

food.

Milk

is

also

wanted
it

for so

many

soups and sauces that not a drop of

need be

lost.

Happy is

the housewife

who never has

a disappoint-

GOING TO MARKET
ment with her
to offer her
wishes.

67
not attempt

butter

and her
I

eggs.

I shall

much more than my sympathy and good

say that slightly salted butter is often better value than any other. Some of the cooking butters at about a shilling a pound are not cheap in the long run indeed the best professional cooks have been known to say that they find it more
;

But perhaps

may

economical to buy cooking butter at a higher price

than the ordinary fresh dairy butter, which they make into little pats for the table. This remark, however, applies more to classical dishes than to the kind of cookery contemplated throughout this book. Butter should be bought in small quantities. I have used various patent contrivances for keeping it sweet in hot weather, and have found them good in theory, especially one which sucks up cold water into a muslin cover but day-by-day buying is the best plan. It goes without saying that, even when it is kept in a larder for not more than a few hours, butter should not be placed near any foods which smell strongly.
;

Intelligent

and well-reared people

tell

me

that the

best

makes

of margarine are so

much

better than their

all

predecessors that they can be used for nearly

the

purposes of dairy butter.

My own

experience has

been less fortunate, but, if the North Sea should have to be closed to Danish and Scandinavian vessels by
reason of further

might become necessary for most of us to give margarine another trial. I am referring to its use for cut bread and butter and for dishes served in butter newly melted, where margarine may fail horribly. Meanwhile, however, every housewife ought to be using in ordinary cookery the vegetable butters which are
mine-laying,
it

German

68

HOME COOKERY

IN

WAR-TIME
in

no dearer than lard and are

several respects.
Marseilles,

less objectionable

I used to buy a butter of this kind which from was as white as driven snow. It seems to be no longer generally sold in England but there are British brands, such as cocoanut butters, which any first -class grocer can supply. Eggs are eggs, according to an inscrutable proverb. Why the egg should have been thus chosen to express fixity and certainty I cannot guess because eggs were deceivers ever. " New laid " may mean laid " Fresh " this morning or laid last Saturday week. means in most shops an egg not fresh enough to be basketed with the oldest of the " new laid." And even when the question of age has been decided it does not follow that two lots of eggs, both laid on the same day, ought to be sold at the same price. Buy
;
:

three separate dozens of new-laid eggs at three separate

shops, paying the

same money at each, and weigh your purchases at home. You may find that you have obtained three or four pennyworth more egg-value at the best shop than at the worst.

The many
tities for

substitutes

for

eggs are useful

when

custards have to be provided cheaply in large quan-

But if you have a wounded or convalescent soldier in the house, of course you will not use these things. Speaking never found anything for myself, I have else to do the work of an egg and when eggs are too dear it is better to abandon all dishes in which they have to
;

healthy and hungry children.

be used freely.

In thousands of houses breakfast eggs are

still

cooked in boiling water. They are easier to digest and better to eat if they are laid in cold water and

GOING TO MARKET
brought gradually to the boiling point.

69

One

or

two

experiments (which will need modifying according to the age and size of the eg) will soon teach you how many seconds the egg should be left in the water after
it

has begun to boil and bubble.

So much for Going to Market. The chapter would have been shorter if I had not paused here and there to give hints for cooking rather than for shopping but I have noticed that remarks made in passing are
:

remembered when formal

recipes are forgotten.

CHAPTER
When

IV

HORS d'CEUVRE
he heard that there was to be a chapter in
d'ceuvre, a
it

kind friend who has been teUing me how not to write this book completely lost his patience. He appeared to think that hors d'ceuvre

on hors

in war-time

were about as decent as nigger minstrels

at a funeral.

As others

-v^dll

share his feeling, I take

leave to relate at this stage a Moral Tale.

About twelve years ago the two nephews of a worthy couple in Shropshire were married in the same month to the two maidens of their choice. Although
these were not their names, I will say that Reginald

married Janet and that Wilfred married Dorothy. Both young couples established their Earthly Paradises in London, whither the Worthy Couple came to visit them every spring. Janet's house was solidly and sombrely furnished with " everything good." And " everything good " was the governing motto of Janet's table. Her soups were so strongly prepared from gravy-beef that they took away your appetite for the rest of the dinner which was a serious matter, as the dishes which followed were all equally " good," while the brown sherry and almost black Burgundy were chosen to match. Dorothy's house, on the other hand, was light and bright. When she
;

70

HORS D'CEUVRE

71

was trotting about the town furnishing it, this lively damsel shocked more than one tradesman by telling him that the articles which would " last a lifetime " v/ere just what she didn't want. Dorothy spent less than half as much as Janet at the outset, and kept a tidy sum in the bank against the day when she would get sick of some of her chairs and tables. It was noticed that the Worthy Couple invariably
found their sojourn with Janet something of a trial, and that they generally produced a pretext for migrating to Dorothy's about the middle of the second week. During their stay at Dorothy's they even seemed to

Yet somehow the Worthy Couple, when they returned to Shropshire, always expressed satisfaction with Janet and some uneasiness in regard to Dorothy. They were persuaded that Janet and her husband would never give them a moment's anxiety but they seemed to be inwardly convinced that Dorothy and Wilfrid were on the paths which lead slowly to the two disreputable Courts I once made bold to of Bankruptcy and Divorce.

become a

little

younger.

ask the better half of the

situation.

Worthy Couple

(during the

absence of the worse half) for light upon this curious

I

learned that Janet (who, to

my

certain

an unpunctual and unhappy and dull was " always so sensible and reliable," while Dorothy (whom I know to be a woman who gets through an enormous amount of her own and other people's work without fuss) was " awfully W^hen I expressed surnice but such a butterfly," prise, I was given an illustration of Dorothy's flippancy and extravagance. It appeared that the Worthy Couple had lately dined at Dorothy's house and had
knowledge,
is

and

useless lady)

72

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

enjoyed themselves as usual. They had protested, however, against so much kind fuss being made in honour of their visit, and had especially deplored the wheretroublesome though delicious hors d'oeuvre
;

upon Dorothy had instantly retorted

I

"

We

have

hors d'oeuvre every night except Sunday."

upon myself to argue that Dorothy's gay so full of pleasant and wholesome variety, with their accompaniment of well-bought and well-served cheap and brisk wines, must certainly cost Dorothy much less than she would have to spend on giving such dinners as Janet's. But my words were vain, and I was made to feel that it was not quite nice for a mere man to pretend to understand housekeeping and cookery. When the Worthy Couple died (with faithful unanimity) a year or two later, they left ii,ooo to the Janet household and 1000 to Dorothy and her husband having previously explained to
took
it

little

dinners,

their solicitor that they hated to

tinction, but that
it

make such a

dis-

would be more harmful than kind to leave money where it would only be frittered away.

To

the shallow and unthinking this Moral Tale

seem to show that if we eschew hors be thousands of pounds in pocket. The true moral, however, will be plain enough to ninety-nine readers
out of a hundred.

may d'oeuvre we may

What

shall

it

profit a

Janet or

any other woman to inherit a lot of money and lead a dismal and dyspeptic Hfe ? And what shall a Dorothy or any other woman give in exchange for
her soul
?

My tale about

hors d'oeuvre

is

to be taken as itself


HORS D'CEUVRE
a kind of hors d'oeuvre, ushering in this and

73

my

re-

maining chapters.
d'oeuvre cost

The point

is

that Dorothy's hors

If

her practically nothing.

she

had

found the recipes in a cookery-book and had bought the ingredients expressly they would have cost her but, although they perhaps two or three shillings were good and looked almost extravagant, they added nothing to her expenses as a hostess. Every one of
;

them was what might be

general

called a by-product of the

housekeeping.
fish

Besides,

knowing that the

hors d'oeuvre would be enjoyed, this clever hostess

provided

and meat a

thus saved the cost

the hors d'oeuvre.
principles
of this

more sparingly and of the condiments and butter in In short, she worked upon the
little

which were laid down in an earlier chapter book as the foundation of economical housekeeping both in peace-time and in war-time the great principles of using what you have rather than what you haven't and of working from the market to the menu rather than from the menu to the market.

Hors
will also

d'oeuvre, while helping a housewife to save,

take the sting out of the economies.

have

noticed scores of

times

the pleasure and eagerness

fall

with which English people

upon the hors d'oeuvre

when they go
ant
;

to lunch or dine at a fixed-price restaur-

yet the

same people

rarely eat such things in

their

own homes.

After the

War we

shall

be more

friendly than ever with the Russians and the French two peoples who understand hors d'oeuvre thoroughly and we might as well begin to adopt their best

practices at once.


HOME COOKERY
It

74

IN WAR-TIME

has been explained in earlier passages that this book is not a substitute for the ordinary cookery-

books wherein scores of hors d'ceuvre are described. I shall therefore give about half-a-dozen recipes only, every one of which presupposes the existence of small
portions of left-over food in the larder.
shall

The

first

be Cucumber Cups. Perhaps you had on Friday some salmon and cucumber. You did not cut up and serve the whole of the cucumber there and then, but

you

left

half of

it

the

half with the stalk

end

standing point downwards in a jar of water.

On

Saturday you could take this remaining half and, having peeled it, you could cut it into a few sections, the shape of drums. That is to say, instead of
cutting a piece of cucumber five inches long into
forty or fifty thin slices,
pieces
only.

sections, after

you cut it into four or five By standing up these drum-shaped steaming them until they are tender
it is

without being sloppy,

easy to scoop out the seeds and to bevel the apertures to the shape of a cup or a funnel. The next step is to apply our great principle of using

what you have rather than

something especially to complete the example, if a little of the Friday salmon remains, it can be mixed with some mayonnaise and laid inside the cucumber. Or some tiny pieces of chicken, too tiny for any other purpose, can be similarly mixed with mayonnaise and put in the cups. Or some of
the potted
fish

buying dish. For

of

already recommended will do.

Set the

cups aside and serve them quite cold.

As you

will not

want to turn every half-cucumber

HORS D (EUVRE
you may have into cucumber cups, or
sometimes lack
in such a
fish

75
as

you

may

or chicken to put inside,

slices of

must learn how to serve simple

you cucumber

way that they will be found digestible even by people who are generally afraid of this cooling
vegetable.

Having peeled and

slices in a

sliced

your cucumber, lay the

saucer with a sprinkling of salt and let

them stand until a good brine has formed. Pour away this brine, and with it you will get rid of the elements
that are injurious.

Pepper the

slices.

Do

not salt

them

Pour over them some pure olive oil again. and turn them over and over in it. Just before serving, add a little good vinegar and turn them over and over again. On a day of abstinence, you can make a fine show
with salads in this manner. Fully ripe but still firm tomatoes can be neatly sliced with a sharp knife but and served with pepper, salt, oil and vinegar in this case the dressing should be well mixed to;

gether in a cup and poured over the slices of tomato,

which would break up into an unattractive mess

if

you

tried to turn

them over

in the oil

and vinegar.

Cold French beans are excellent in this style, but the

proportion of vinegar should be rather greater than

in

Neat sprigs of cold boiled cauliflower can be served in the same way, though it is better to keep a fairly large piece of the cauliflower unbroken and to cover it with mayonnaise. To extend your colour scheme, you can make also a salad of beetroot. To do this you cut a boiled beet into sn; all dice, sprinkle a little chopped parsley over it, and add a mixture of three parts of oil to two of

most other

salads.

76

HOME COOKERY
Many
of herring

IN WAR-TIME

vinegar.
fillets

people add a few fragments from

and also a finely chopped onion to this salad, but it must be remembered that raw onion cannot be offered to everybody. I ought to add that a beetroot salad is said to be a little fattening and gouty, by reason of the sugar in the beet and the oil in the dressing, but there are no bad effects unless it is devoured excessively. If you do not eat all these salad hors d'oeuvre at one meal, they can be mixed together (adding the tomato last) with any large pieces of cold steamed fish, or with little squares cut from a ham or a sirloin which has already been carved down almost to the bone, or with pieces (not too large) from such cheap cold meats as the flank and brisket mentioned on a preceding page. A few slices of cold potato, which must be kept in shape like the tomato, ought to be added to the salad when pieces of meat
are in
it.

This combination salad, however, although

made from your hors d'oeuvre (which in their own turn were made from your cold vegetables) is not
itself

to be served as hors d'oeuvre, because

it

will

be big and important enough for the central dish in a famify luncheon on any warm day.

Although
shall not

I have bewailed the dearness of eggs, I be deemed extravagant if I try to suggest

two simple and picturesque hors d'oeu^Te which

require only one egg for the pair.
it

will

Boil the egg hard. lengthwise and pound open Shell up the yolk with good butter (softened on the stove) und with a little good essence of anchovies, or anchovy sauce, which I assume you keep in the house
carefully, cut
it

HORS D'OEUVRE
to serve with the

77
This

more

insipid kinds of fish.

anchovy paste or butter can be made so mild that will do for afternoon-tea sandwiches and will it
delight the

many

ladies

who

hate ordinary anchovies

taste.

and look upon them as a man's

For use as hors d'oeuvre the paste can be served in a dozen ways or it can be held back for a savoury. And now for the other hors d'oeuvre. I said a few lines back that the hard-boiled egg should be neatly shelled and cut open lengthwise, so that when the yolk has been taken out the two halves will be like two little The boats can be filled with any tasty titboats. bits which you may have on hand. You can chop up a gherkin from the pickle bottle and combine it with potted fish or potted meat. If you have in the house some of the cheap sheets of rice-paper which are used for the bottom of a cake, you can place a little mast upright in the middle of the laden
boat,

You

with a square inch of rice-paper for a sail. prick sharply two tiny holes in the rice-paper

and thread through them a mast cut from a wooden match or broken off from a piece of spaghetti. This
hors d'oeuvre
fascinates
children,

whom

it

is

our

duty to amuse occasionally even in times when we may feel disinclined to do so.

of

war

Against the day when we

to

may

be receiving con-

valescent soldiers into our homes, every cook ought

know how to make old-fashioned calf's-foot jelly, and when it is about to be made, there will be a chance
veau.

of varying her hors d'oeuvre with a salade de pied de

In the same category I

may mention

a salade

y^
de

HOME COOKERY
museau de
boeuf.

IN WAR-TIME

This sounds better in French than in EngUsh, as an ox-cheek was thought vulgar as long ago as the day when Goldsmith's incomparaOx-cheek, able Mr Tibbs invited a lord to dinner.

however, after being cooked tender, will furnish a good little dish, with oil and vinegar. I ought to say at this stage that the oft-despised gelatinous parts of the ox and the calf have value as food.

cut

Should a cold sausage exist in your pantry you may it into small drums and garnish the top of each drum with a neat little dab of horse-radish cream or apple chutney. And fragments of cold boiled ham can be rolled into the shape of cornettes, having been first lightly touched inside with a smear of mustard into which you have put a few drops of vinegar.

So much

for hors d'oeuvre

worked up from odds

it

and ends.

In war-time, however,

may

often suit a

housekeeper to amplify the hors d'oeuvre and to omit soup and fish, so as to go straight on to a good ragout
or navarin, which,

and a little for anybody.

expense.
I

when followed by some fresh fruit cheese, would make a good enough meal

On

such occasions quite a large quan-

tity of hors d'oeuvre can be provided without

much

sometimes take an ordinary dinner-plate (or, better still, a white plaque which is slightly concave and has no brim) and upon it I arrange a dozen or two of the very cheap little fish known as Norwegian

smoked

sardines.

arrange them after the pattern

of a rimless wheel,

with the

tails of

the fish meeting

HORS D'CEUVRE
and touching
in

79

a ring at the

hub and with the

This

shoulders pointing towards the circumferance.

wheel of fish has a handsome and important appearance. Should some of the sardines be left uneaten, they
should be laid at the bottom of a soup-plate and
covered with their

own

or

any other good

oil.

tin of filets d'hareng is useful.

little oil will

it

preserve the contents a long time after

has been

opened.

and black, are worth more than the money they cost. I have often been
dishes of olives, green
told that they soon dry up, but this difficulty
is

Two

got

over by keeping them in salted water and by buying them in small quantities only. Olives are not only

themEvery housekeeper should learn to turn an olive that is to say, how to remove the stone. You cut off a small piece from the stalk
delightful cleansers of the palate but they lend

selves

to

many

uses.

end, so that the olive can stand upright.

point,

Then,

taking a penknife with a narrow blade and a sharp

you begin to peel the olive, pretty much as you would peel an apple, so as to disengage the stone. You should learn to " turn " the olive in about three folds of the spiral. If you have done the job properly, the olive will resume its shape after the stone comes away, and you can stuff it with a rolled fillet of anchovy or with anything else that is suitable.

Salted nuts are nearly always popular and,

when

consumed

in moderation,

to a prudent dietary.

they are a valuable addition It is better to salt your own

8o

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

nuts than to buy them ready-made in a shop. Blanch your almonds, or whatever the nuts may be, and dry

them
the
oil

well.

olive oil into a perfectly clean baking-tin

Pour about a dessertspoonful and

itself

of

fine

see that

spreads

out evenly.

Lay the blanched

kernels in the tin and put

them

in a fairly hot oven.

Turn them over several times until they take a pleasant brown hue. Turn them out upon a sheet of white paper (to absorb the oil) and dust them over with perfectly dry table-salt. So long as you protect them from damp, they will keep a long time in a tin box or a stoppered bottle. When Brazil nuts are at their best, from March to September, I prepare them in a similar manner. With a little practice, Brazil
nuts can be cracked without breaking the kernel. After the blanching, I cut fine white slices with a sharp knife and submit them to the process of browning

and

salting already described.

Such hors d'oeuvre

will strike

as stuffed olives

and salted Brazil nuts

many

people as wickedly extravagant luxuries, but

they are really cheaper than

many less

nutritious

and

more commonplace

foods.

%
A
plate of radishes looks well
It is

and

is

good

for our
is

health.

a pity to trim the radishes more than

necessary, as the colours of their roots and leaves

are large parts of their charm. Tiny pats of butter ought to accompany them. For a few pence one can buy a plated tool which, after a dip in hot water, enables even a child to make pats of butter in the

pretty shell-shape of the great restaurants.

Speaking with bated breath,

must record the


HORS D'CEUVRE
onions goes very well with radishes.

8i

indisputable fact that a dish of the youngest spring

admit that there are still polite raw onions must not be named. So here is a way of presenting onions in such a manner that they will lose all their disadvantages while keeping nearly all their attractions. Take a fire-proof dish and put in it a mixture of oil and vinegar with such herbs as you may possess. Bring the oil and vinegar to boiling point. Then lay in the dish some fine round onions the small kind, such as one uses with chickens cooked in a casserole. These onions ought not to be more than an inch in diameter. Of course their outside Maintain skins are removed before you cook them. the contents of the dish at boiling point for a minute or two then draw it to the side of the fire or put it over the smallest possible jet of gas and keep it simmering. No exact time for the whole operation can be given, as some onions are tougher than others. Indeed, a tough onion may require the adding of a little water to the vinegar and oil. As soon as the
time
I
;

At the same circles where

onions are tender, transfer the contents of the

proof dish to a glass bowl,
oil

fire-

and

let

the onions become quite cold.

and vinegar and all, The next day

p.

they

will

be delicious.

have seen a

woman who
will

has

a horror of onions take three helpings from this dish

of hors d'ceuvre.

Onions thus cooked

keep three

or four days in the liquor.

This

little

book

will

have

failed of its object

if it

does not stimulate readers to invent hors d'ceuvre and other dishes of their own. So we will pass on.
F

82

HOME COOKERY
so I

IN

WAR-TIME

But before doing

d'oeuvre in this

must point out that the hors chapter would displease professional

cooks and restaurateurs for a very simple reason.

In the regular cookery-books hors d'oeuvre are defined
as dainty little snacks to whet the appetite.
are, in the

They

world of solids, what aperitifs are in the world of liquids. But, as this is not a book for the pampering of great people, I have preferred to describe those hors d'oeuvre which do not whet appetites but satisfy them. I could write a good deal about canapes, and smoked salmon from the Lurlei rock, and about caviare, and plovers' eggs but these prescriptions must be reserved for another book on " Home Cookery in the Time of Victory."
;

CHAPTER V
SOUPS

Not everyone who buys

from the
first

this

book

will

read

it

through

page to the last. Despite the v/arning in the preface, some will take it from the shelf, and open it at this chapter or that, in order to find the sumtotal of

human wisdom on
refers.
I

the matter to which the

chapter-heading
to repeat over
is

am

therefore

compelled

and over again that this little volume not a substitute for the more orderly and detailed
It is in

cookery-book.

the nature of a tract, recalling

indifferent cooks

who have

lapsed from grace to the

more fervid practice of their high calling, and stirring up those who have never cooked to begin cooking now.

important paragraph about soups will not contain a recipe. It will be, and hereby is, an entreaty to take

My most

down a good cookery-book and

the

to run
this

rapidly through

chapter on
pencil in

soups.

Let

quick perusal be
likely soups
I

made

hand and

let the

be marked with a cross.

By

the likely

mean

those which are easily prepared from acces-

sible,

materials.

inexpensive, nutritious and appetising For example, a cook who reads all about soups in October will not mark as a matter of urgency a soup which can be made only with fresh green peas. Nor will a wise cook grow excited over a plan for using
fresh,

83

84

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

lentils or split

peas or dried haricot beans at a time

sorrel,

when
celery

the markets are overflowing with artichokes,

cauliflower,
cress,

carrots,

leeks,

lettuce,

and

turnips.

Most

cookery-books

contain

which you would never dream of making, just as most bookshops contain hundreds of books which you would never dream of reading. Get into your mind the comparatively small number of timely and practicable soups. Then, instead of deciding that you will immediately set about making a particular soup irrespective of its convenience, look round your pantry or set out for
recipes for hundreds of concoctions

the market.

If

the pantry, for instance, should con-

tain the remains of a chicken, your

way

is

plain.

If,

however, the cupboard

is

bare and you find at the

greengrocer's shop that fine cauliflowers are unusually

cheap, there will flash into your

mind the recipe for a Creme Dubarry. Or you may remember that you have some cream to spare, skimmed from a surplus
which event it wiU be easy to make a very healthy and satisfying sorrel soup [At a house near Hampstead, or a Creme de Sante. where the garden is not much bigger than the diningroom, I once had the pleasure of finding enough sorrel to make a Creme de Sante which was more than a success.] Perhaps you have been boiling a fish, and you have some fish stock which you do not know what to do with. By shredding up about half-apound of raw white fish and by adding the shells and whites of two eggs, and by beating the mixture of stock and fish and eggs over the fire until a froth rises, you wiU have gone a long way towards making an unconventional consomme of fish. This soup is a
of the morning's milk, in

SOUPS
little
;

85

troublesome, because it has to be strained through

but if your muslin and heated up again afterwards fish stock is good to begin with, and if you have been
so fortunate as to have a glass of Chablis or

any other
not be

good dry white wine to throw

in,

you

will

ashamed
or larder

of the result.

In short,

we

are back for the

fourth or fifth time to our root principle of the market

first

and the choice

of dishes afterwards.

one or two soups which your English cookery-book may not teach you
Before setting
for

down some hints

must try

to

make

so well, I

to explain

why soup

has

not been popular in England. English soups are generally either too poor or too " good.'' When soup
is is

made

for distribution

from charitable kitchens,

it

too often a crude production most trying to the

stomachs of the poor creatures who have been short of their usual solid food. Far too reckless a use is made of dry pulse. I assisted some years ago at the free distribution of soup in a London parish, and was shocked to find that it was made on the same formula every day, until the recipients, in spite of their hunger, began to hate the sight of it. With no greater expenditure for materials, it would have been possible to have avoided this disgust while enormously
increasing the dietetic value of the gifts.

At the other
soup which
is

extreme,

we

find people despising every

not the quintessence of the most costly materials.

In some quarters soup must be

made from

real turtle,

or from the pick of prime beef, or from fresh lobsters, or from whole chickens before they will look at
I
it.

know men,

especially city

men, who have no use

86

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

French soup which stimulates the gastric juices and launches the whole dinner on its proper voyage. Yet these same men are highly pleased when they are given a plateful of appetitekilling meat-essence in which some leathery oysters or a poached egg can be seen floating horribly, like jelly-fish in the tide. By a *' good " soup our English cooks too often mean a soup which has been made as if no other dish of fish, flesh or fowl is to follow it.
at all for a perfect little

Speaking generally, the housekeeper who relies large reserves of soups from the grocer's, either dry in packets or wet in bottles, is in a pitiable condition. I grant that in flats or cottages, where the staff is very small, one may do worse than keep in reserve for emergencies a bottle or two of soup made by a first-class English house or a tin of the delicious tomato soup packed by an American house whose name everybody knows. There are also some squares of soup in packets, costing about sixpence each, which are useful to meet a sudden call. But, with the exception of the tiny gelatine tubes of concentrated consomme, I have never found any of the very cheap ready-made soups worth even the small amount of money they cost The low-priced dry soups in packets yield a soup with a deadly defect for which I can think of no better name than " stuffiness." It is a common idea that if you evaporate moisture from meat and

upon

make them portable, and then swell out again with water from a tap, you restore them them to their original condition. There is no greater
vegetables to
error.

The moisture

in a fresh

pea

is

not the same

SOUPS
as that

^7

which Water Board.

is

distributed

by the Metropolitan

Your cookery-book will tell you a good deal about the most important soup in all France and therefore namely, the Pot-au-feu. But this in all the world

is

the best

moment

for

me

to point out that I

am
full

assuming your cookery-book to be a good one,

of saving doctrine and undefiled

by the ranker heresies In order that you may test your of English cooking. book, I suggest here and now that you compare its prescription for Pot-au-feu with what immediately follows. Do not expect your book to use the same words as mine and do not be put o by trivial or even
but, if your considerable differences of procedure book be found, so to speak, to belong to another world so far as Pot-au-feu is concerned, you had better go and buy a new one.
;

Even those who have forgotten most of their French know that " feu " means " fire " and that " pot " means " pot." So we will begin with a few words about the pot and a few more about the fire. Our pot, or marmite, or casserole, must be of fire-proof clay, and roomy enough to hold the fowl which Henry IV. wished every Frenchman to have in the pot on because the a Sunday. The lid must fit closely simmering will be protracted through six long hours, and not more than a teacupful of liquid should escape as vapour from start to finish. The fire (or gas-jets) must be so managed that the
:

88

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

heat will be both gentle and even. If we use gas, we should choose one of the larger rings, with the flame

turned down very low, thus distributing the heat aU

over the bottom of the pot. On some gas-stoves it is necessary to raise the pot a little above the usual grid,

by supporting it on two bits of metal, such as pokers. The essential point is that the pot-au-feu must never It must simmer aU the time. boil.

Now for the

ingredients.

pot-au-feu being primi-

tive fare, water is the next element to

mention after the pot of earth and the slow fire. We will pour into the casserole two quarts of water, and we will immediately add three pounds of shin (or round) of beef, tied neatly with white tape or clean string. We will put on the lid and set the pot over gentle heat. Now we will prepare two large carrots, two turnips
of

medium

size,

and,

if

possible, a small parsnip

and

four sticks of celery.

or cubes.
If

We

will cut all these into discs

we have

four leeks,

we

will

trim them

and cut up the white parts. two good onions. We shall

if

Failing leeks,
also

we

will

use

want two dozen black

peppercorns, three or four cloves, a blade of mace, and,

we

are French, a garlic clove as well.

of

At the end

about an hour we must begin watching

the liquor which drowns the bit of beef in the pot.

As

soon as a white scum appears, no time must be lost in skimming it entirely away. When the skimming is finished, we replace the lid till the simmering begins again. We can now add our vegetables and seasonings,

not

forgetting

small

teaspoonful

of

salt.

From

must go on, very slowly, Finally, we lift out the piece of for four hours more. meat, we remove the vegetables, we skim off any
this point the cooking

SOUPS
additional

89
is

grease

and

there

our

pot-au-feu.

[Some cooks

facilitate the

removal of the vegetables

by tying them in muslin before putting them in the casserole.] The pot-au-feu does not need to be eaten the same day. When wanted it can be seasoned and eaten as a soup, or it can be made the foundation of all kinds of important dishes. We must beware, however, of cooking a cabbage in it, if we want the pot-aufeu to remain good for more than twenty-four hours.

Like every other bright light, the glory of Pot-aufeu casts a shadow.
is left

The

piece of boiled beef

which

over has to be eaten in thrifty households, and

it is

the day for eating

regarded by French papas as a kind of Black Monday, just as the English Monday's cold beef or mutton was a penance to the London

husband when he his midday meal

days a week.

still

lived over his shop

and took

in the

bosom

of his family seven

by

boiled carrots

The French boiled beef is accompanied and large rough grains of a special

salt,

but neither the carrots nor the gros sel can reIt is one more concile the Frenchman to his hard lot.
proof of the excessive benevolence of Providence to

males that all kinds of business appointments crop up on a boiled-beef day, thus enabling the French
citizen to eat at a restaurant

and to leave Madame and

the

little

Jules and the

with the dish. are to have the authentic Pot-au-feu we must face the boiled beef as well. And if the beef was good to start with if we have not allowed it to become black and dry through being only partially submerged in the
:

Madeleine to wrestle In England and in war-time, if we

little

90
broth

HOME COOKERY
:

IN WAR-TIME

and if we

will eat

it

with a small white cabbage

which has been cut in half and cooked tender in the then our pot-au-feu itself for about forty minutes penance will not be too hard for us to bear.
:

In the introductory chapter I advised those readers who have small establishments to escape from the
t5n:anny of the
all-the-year-round stock-pot.
It
is

taken for granted, however, that stock will be frequently made and that nothing suitable for its preparation will be wasted. In practice, nevertheless, my
advice for the makingof particular lots of stock, instead

on the stock-pot generally, will be justified an extent that even the occasional throwing to such away of an ounce or two of scraps may turn out to be
of carrying

true

in the end. soon you are in possession of stock from a hare, as As or a partridge, or the bone of a boiled ham, or any other stock-yielding substance, you must proceed to

economy

apply the oft-reiterated rule of this book and to build upwards and onwards therefrom. Some stocks are
practically flavourless

and

to these

you may add

anything you like. Others, especially those made from the remains of roast game, are often so flavoury that they require nothing more than a thickening.

With the leavings of a hare and a thickening of red haricots you can make a wonderful soup, and it may
be worth your while to try the experiment of adding it some heated (not boiled) milk just before it is served. I have tasted a soup of this kind which sufficed for six persons, although very little meat
to

remained on the bones of the hare before they were

SOUPS

91

taken in hand for soup. The milk would have been wasted if this use had not been found for it. So would the hare's bones. This meant that the cost to the household for the haricots and the fuel worked out at about a halfpenny for each person, the tureenful of fine soup therefore costing threepence.

As most
more

of the

great

cookery-books have been

written in countries where the abstinence days are

or less observed, they nearly all contain elaborate directions for

making purely vegetable

is
;

stocks.

My

own

practice

to prepare vegetable stocks myself,

when vegetables are at hand but it is not always worth while to buy the materials expressly for stock. In an earlier chapter I referred to the modern vegetable extracts such as " Marmite."
infer,

[As most readers

whenever they see a proprietary article mentioned in a cookery-book that the writer has received an enormous cheque for his puff, I take leave to state " that I do not know the proprietor of " Marmite from Adam and that he has never given me so much
;

as the smallest-sized pot of his preparation.]

sibly there are already
sort,

Pos-

but

have

still

some better things to meet with them.

kind of extract at hand, the whole art soup-making is opened to the least experienced. I am bound, however, to recognise the fact that you will sometimes find yourself overburdened with vegetables suitable for stock-making
directions for using them.
;

same With this or mystery of

of the

so here are brief

For a light-coloured stock use white haricot beans, for a dark one use red haricots butter beans, or peas
;


HOME COOKERY
Soak the

92

IN WAR-TIME
some hours, put them

or lentils.

cereals for

which they were soaked) along with carrots, parsnips, celery and onions, prepared and cut up into little squares, and a bouquet
in a casserole (in the water in

of herbs.

Simmer them for many hours. Strain the stock into a jar, and reheat it from time to time if you cannot use it at once. A less cheap method is to slice up some celery and onions and carrots and turnips, and to fry them in butter with some sweet herbs. When they are nicely fried they must be put in a
saucepan of cold water. After they have been brought to the boil they must be simmered down for an hour or two until one-third of the water is gone. As in the other process, the stock is finally strained and put

away.

As this, however, is a book in praise of thrift, it must be made plain that we do not always need such
There is a rough-andready rule in frugal circles which declares that we ought not to throw away the water in which any food has been boiled, with the exception of water that has been used for boiling eggs. It goes without saying that the rule is not to be insisted upon when any dirt appears in the water, as it is apt to do sometimes StiU, for example, in the cooking of certain tubers.
stocks as have been described.

speaking broadly, the advice is good. I know that some readers will be filled with horror at the idea of using the water in which cauliflowers have been boiled,

be well to give plain directions whereby this matter may be brought to the test. To-day, being a Friday, I have lunched mainly from
so
it

will

SOUPS
Hollandaise sauce.
To-night,
if I

93

a cauliflower, served whole except for the leaves, with

can spare the time, I shall take the cauliflower water as the beginning of a soup which, without bragging, I should not feel

England. Of coiu'se my cauliflower was stripped of greenery and was boiled without soda, but the water held plenty
offer to the first

ashamed to

gourmet

in

of salt.
I shall

melt in a stewpan over a very gentle heat

I shall

about two ounces of butter and

four fairly large onions cut
will

add three or

up

into rings.

The

lid

be replaced tightly and the rings of onion will

as possible for a full hour.

simmer as slowly
understand that

You will

if

the lid fitted too loosely the vapours

would escape and the onions would begin to fry, which would spoil everything. When the hour is fully run out I shall add the cauliflower water, having first
brought it exactly to the boiling point. From my bread-bowl I shall take what fragments I can find of stale bread and shall break them up small and throw

them

be replaced and the simmering will go on for at least another hour.

into the stewpan.
lid will

The

When

the second hour has passed I shall examine

a spoonful of the soup in a cup and shall

make up my

mind whether

any more salt, which will be unlikely, as the cauliflower water was salted already. With a wooden spoon I shall finally rub the soup through a sieve, thus breaking and crushing the bread and the onions and keeping back everything tough or lumpy. If the liquid which comes through the sieve is too thin I shall pour it back into the stewpan and let it go on simmering until it becomes smaller in quantity and therefore less watery. If, on the other
it

requires

94
hand,

HOME COOKERY
it is

IN WAR-TIME

add the proper quantity of milk. And, when it is served, nobody who is out of the secret will guess that a cauliflower or an onion or pieces of stale bread have had anything to do with it. As this soup is practically the famous Soubise of the French cuisine, it can be made part of a formal menu and is by no means to be regarded as an
too thick
I shall

amateur's cheap mess. In cold print it looks worse than unpromising but in the hot soup-plate it tastes
;

almost too good to be true. Frenchwomen throw in bacon rinds for the last hour of simmering.

When the Expeditionary Force returns from France,

our soldiers will probably have made acquaintance with
Potage Potiron, because pumpkins are in season while they are fighting on French soil. In the French quarter of London you can buy pieces of pumpkin by

As soon as you have acquired a pound of pumpkin, peel it and clean it, and put it for a little while in boiling water. Meanwhile you ought to have been frying in butter a leek and an onion cut up into small pieces. You place the pumpkin (which must also be cut up into small pieces) with the leek and onion in a saucepan, pepper and salt them and then drown them in warm water. With the lid on the pan, they must cook slowly throughout a long hour. Cut up three or four mediumsized potatoes and put them with the other vegetables After thirty or forty minutes more of in the pan. slow cooking, the soup will be ready to eat. [Some people fry slices of carrot with the onion and the leek, but I am shy of recommending this course to everycheese.

the pound, as you

buy

SOUPS
one, as

95
not take pains to see
condition.

many

housewives
are
in

will

that

the

carrots

first-class

poor carrot has brought

many

a good dish to a

bad end.] This pumpkin soup ought to cost about a penny a portion, allowing nearly half-a-pint to
each person.

With
will

these models in view, the intelligent cook

be able to

make use

of the vegetables in her

garden

or within reach of her purse, without the expense of conforming exactly to the proportions laid down in cookery-books. The basis of an onion [or of the white

part of a leek] fried in butter

is

an immensely valuit

able secret, and the ignorance or neglect of

largely

accounts for the unpopularity of soups in England. There is a foolish idea that the onion or leek will continue to assert
itself

unpleasantly.

fair trial will

dispose of this error at once.

In my directions for a Soubise I spoke of simmering my onions in butter because I was presupposing the

need

for a

Friday soup.

may now explain that good

dripping will serve the same purpose and that the

quantity of dripping can be rather less than the

quantity of butrer.

Mr Peter Gallina, the brilliant young restaurateur who directs the " Rendezvous " in Soho, pubHshed
a year or two ago a thin paper-covered book called " Eighteen Simple Menus." As a rule, I should not go to Mr GalHna as a teacher of economical cookery
for he is shockingly

open-handed with eggs and butter

96

HOME COOKERY

IN

WAR-TIME

But there are two or three recipes for soups in his book which will not strain the resources of the most careful housewife, and I will transcribe them here. They prove once more that everyone who is the master of an art knows how to be simple when simplicity is called for.
and cream.

" Creme Parmentier.

Put

a piece of butter in a
;

saucepan with a tablespoonful of flour let it cook for a few minutes and moisten it with a tumbler of
milk.

Add two

pints of water,

two or three peeled

two leeks, and one onion cut into small Season to taste with salt and pepper, let the whole boil for fifteen or twenty minutes, then take a strainer and whisk it so that the whole goes through.
potatoes,
pieces.

Put in a tureen, with a piece of butter (a little cream can be added). Stir and serve. " Should the soup get too thick, add a little more water, or milk. This soup is sufficient for four persons.

" Creme St Germain.

of

Put a piece of butter the

;

size

an egg in a saucepan when reduced, add one onion and one carrot cut in small squares, also one leek cut small, half a bay leaf and a sprig of thyme cook for about one minute and add half-a-pound of green split peas, three pints of stock or water, salt, pepper and nutmeg one potato, thinly cut to bind the soup, can also be added. Let boil steadily for about one hour, then strain through a fine sieve, finally adding
; ;

a piece of fresh butter.

SOUPS
" Creme Ambassadeur.
St Germain.

97
for the

Proceed as
in

Creme

Cook separately

salted water one

the soup
rice.

handful of rice for ten or twelve minutes, and when is strained and ready to be served add the

" Crfeme Sante.

Cut one onion

and one leek

finely,

put in a stewpan with butter, cook them but do not let them brown, add six medium potatoes, cut finely, and three pints of water, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, boil gently for half-an-hour and strain through a fine sieve. Have another small saucepan with a
little

butter

when warm put a

little

fresh sorrel well

washed and cut "julienne" shape, let it cook one minute and add to soup, finally adding a little cream, a piece of butter, and the yolk of an eg all well mixed together.

Cr^me Cressoniere. Prepare in the same way as for Creme Sante, only garnish differently get a nice green bunch of watercress, pick off the leaves and wash stalks cleanly, add stalks to soup, cook for halfan-hour and strain. Boil the leaves of the watercress in water for a few seconds and then add them to the soup. Finally add a piece of butter, a little cream, and the yolk of an egg.
"
;

"

Cr^me

Solferino.

Put a piece of butter

in a stew-

pan, add one carrot and one onion cut into small dice,
also one

bay leaf, a

sprig of thyme,

and a few pepper-

98
corns
;

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

cook for a minute and add a pinch of flour. When mixed add half-a-pint of tomato puree, also two pints of stock or water A let simmer for an hour. flavouring bunch consisting of one leek, one stick of celery, and a few sprigs of parsley should be added, then season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and serve. A few peas can be added at the moment of serving. The flavouring bunch should be removed before sending the soup to table.
;

Creme Dubarry. Cut one onion finely, also the white part of one leek, put them in a stewpan with a
piece of butter

"

and fry them, without letting them colour, for two minutes add two spoonfuls of flour, mix and let cook for a minute, add one pint of boiling milk and three pints of water, mix well together with a whisk, put on a moderate fire to boil, taking care to take a cauliflower and remove all stir continually season with leaves, cut it in pieces and add to soup salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg let boil steadily for twenty-five minutes, strain, and finally add a little
; ;

cream.

Potage Bonne Femme. Cut two onions and two leeks finely, put them in a saucepan with a piece of
*'

butter, cook for a minute,

add

five pints of water,

little

eight potatoes cut in dice, salt and pepper and a

nutmeg.

Cook

for

ful of vermicelli,

twenty minutes, then add a handboil for three minutes, and serve."

All the soups just explained have familiar names and are cheap, tasty and wholesome.

SOUPS
Before
passing

99
Fish
I

on from

Soup to

had

better say something about the fish stock which will

be mentioned several times in a later chapter. reason will be given against having too much
of
it

A
fish

stock on one's hands, but there will often be plenty

in the house.

Fish soups are rarely served in

for their rarity

England.
tried to

One excuse
sell

may

be found

in the foolishness of certain enthusiasts

who have
it is

make and

the famous bouillabaisse while

lacking the Mediterranean fishes without which

bound

to disappoint

the eater.

shall

therefore

write only a few lines about fish soup,

describe the simplest of

and

shall

them

all.

Your
it

fish

stock being well strained, put a quart of

in a clean stewpan.

Mix a tablespoonful

of corn-

flour carefully in half-a-pint of milk, taking care that

there are no lumps.

Add

the milk and cornflour to

the stock and bring the contents of the pan to the

boiling-point, stirring all the time.

You

will season

the mixture with pepper

point
as

and

salt

according to the
After the boiling-

saltiness or otherwise of the stock.

is

it is

simmer the soup for a few minutes, necessary in this and every other dish to beattained,
stuff as cornflour until it is pro-

ware of eating such

perly cooked.

Now take
it

a bowl or a soup tureen and

put at the bottom of

the soup in very slowly, never ceasing to

an egg well beaten up. Pour stir and stir

and stir. As the fish stock costs you nothing and the cornflour is an almost negligible expense, you will get this soup for practically the price of one egg and a tumblerful of

milk.

In order that those

who

eat

it

may

treat

it

as a food

and not swallow

it

as a liquid (which

100
is

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

dangerous where cornflour and all other starch is concerned) little pieces of toast should be thrown in at the last moment. At my own modest table I do not use toast but as my little innovations would
;

take too long to explain, the reader must be

left to

work out his own ideas, always remembering use of what might otherwise be wasted.

to

make

CHAPTER
SAUCES

VI

Everybody has heard

is

of Voltaire's gibe that

England

the country of a hundred religions and only one

sauce.

But everybody has not

tried to analyse the

causes of our national shortcomings so far as sauces

are concerned.

As
it

point

out in other chapters,

the English prefer to confine themselves to the best

materials,

and

follows that they do not care to veil

the perfections of their sirloins and saddles under

trimmings.

There

is,

however,

another

reason.

During the years when the great sauces were being brought to perfection in France, the English were entering upon an epoch of neo-Puritanism. I am speaking of the eighteenth century and of the Evangelical Revival.

The Evangelicals

certainly did not

mortify themselves after the fashion of the mediaeval

saints.

Indeed,
It is

choicely.

disliked

they ate and drank amply and beyond dispute, however, that they a show of extravagance and luxury, and
fell is

therefore they

out of the running so far as the

concerned.

higher cookery
sists

And

their error perfor

up

to this day.

When

an enthusiast

cookery describes some happy discovery in company, he usually finds at least one of his hearers looking at him with a pained smile of polite reproach, " Thank God we don't all worship our as if to say
:

good a mixed

luncheon and dinner

10

like this."

102

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

commonly believed that wide ranges of sauces are demanded by the glutton alone. Now, so far as my own experience goes, sauces have an entirely different function and effect. The men and women in England who eat too much and acquire
It is quite

gout or indigestion or liver complaints are not the

lovers of a varied
are the people

and skilfully-sauced
eat their

diet.

They

who

way through

the fifty-

two weeks bacon and

of the year

eggs, hot joints, occasional

a dozen different

on a narrow programme of game, about vegetables at the most in twelve

months, few salads, and large quantities of pastries In fifty years a man of this type probably eats at least a ton more food than is consumed in the same period by a reasonable gourmet. He derives less energy and pleasure from his meals and his food costs him more.

and sweets.

I will

grant, in fairness, that there are

many sauces

which every right-minded man must pronounce sinful luxuries. A sauce which requires a whole day's labour to prepare about a pint, and costs as much as would keep a labourer's family for a month, ought to stick in one's throat [except when it is made to maintain culinary standards at their highest and as an exercise in the utmost professional skill]. These wildly extravagant sauces, however, are more talked about than made. Most of the restaurants where they flourished have shut their doors, and there are few people left, outside the new-rich of the United States,
to support the chefs in these pretensions.

In old cookery-books one sometimes found recipes

SAUCES
for sauces

103

which caused the earnest reader to lift up his hands in horror. For example, I have come across one which required six bottles of good wine, twelve pounds of prime beef, four capons and ten game birds for the extraction of just enough sauce to fill an ordinary sauce-boat. But it is probable that such directions as these were never once carried out. They were intended to hoodwink the public. We know that the sauce-makers in old Paris were banded together in a guild and that they guarded their mystery with the most jealous care. Sauce Espagnole was a dead secret. Chefs refused to prepare it until the other servants had gone to bed and, when they were pressed for the recipe by personages who could hardly be refused, they seem to have invented monstrous prescriptions which both discouraged the inquirer and helped to justify the cook's lavish expenditure in his pantry and kitchen. It is to be understood, therefore, that we have to do in this and chapter with the use of sauces, not their abuse that we can put all freak sauces on one side.
; ;

The true use of sauce is soundly stated by Dr " Solid varieties of food, Thudichum, who says soluble only by digestion, are not rarely dry in sub:

stance, or unattractive in taste, or insufficiently or

too

strongly

flavoured.
it,

To make such dry

and
thus aid in

food
to

moister, to lubricate

its use,

increase the attractiveness of the taste

of flavours

by

additions
additions
of

and juxtaposition
flavours,

of contrast, to hide or

mask

excessive

certain

liquid

have been

invented which pass

by the name

104

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
p. 223.

sauces" ["The Spirit of Cookery,"

1895].

London,

The best sauce is well known to be Hunger. Those German stragglers who were captured after the battle of the Mame with nothing but raw beets and raw oats in their poor stomachs had got down the stuff and, if they had not with the help of this sauce bolted the beets but had masticated them well, they might have eaten worse food. Next to Hunger comes Salt. Of course, most of us would call salt a condi;

ment, not a sauce.

the word salsa.
will perceive

It

is

instructive, however, to

note that the word sauce has been worn

Even the

least learned,

down from by grouping

together the words " salt," " salsa " and " salivation,"
the ancient origins of the true philosophy
of sauce.

All this
of the

may seem

a lengthy preamble.

But

it is

utmost importance that the cook who wants to get out of narrow ways, and to keep house on cheaper and pleasanter and healthier lines, should
disabuse her
in kitchen

mind

entirely of the belief that sauces

are merely luxuries.

Having grasped

their true place

economy, opened to her. The cheaper kinds of fish and the second and third cuts of meat can be brought up to the level of the best fish and the prime cuts as soon as the cook is willing to spend on ingredients for sauce
bihties

she will find a vast field of possi-

a part (not

all)

of the

money

she has saved at the

fishmonger's and the butcher's.

SAUCES
To some

105

extent, sauces are already recognised, even most in the humdrum and monotonous kitchens. The cook who simply stews down a large cooking apple to take away the richness of a goose or a duck or a piece of fresh pork,
is

using sauce in one of

its

most necessary applications. Our plain cooks have also some dim perception of what is called Melted
Butter.

This

is

the sauce that Voltaire jeered at,

certainly

most unfortunate. Every writer on cookery hates it. Over and over again in jotting down recipes, where one would naturally write of a little melted butter in a stewpan (meaning some butter newly melted and nothing else), one has to guard against some reader thinking of the socalled melted butter which is used as a sauce. And, too often, this sauce is even more hateful than its name. Cooks think that it is easy to make yet
is
;

and the name

the truth
or of

is

that the preparation of this sort of sauce,

its sisters

Sauce Blanche and Sauce Blonde

skill

is

considered a test of

among

those

who know what

they are talking about.

Mustard Sauce and Caper Sauce and Parsley Sauce are frequently found to be no more than melted butter sauce mixed with mustard
is used game. Mint Sauce is generally well made, and this also is used in the right way. But there are not many other sauces which can be safely asked for in ordinary homes. The Hollandaise, in two cases out of three, is a debacle of good eggs and good butter, and it often reminds me of a friend, both a cook and a scholar, who, when trying to consume with me an infamous Hollandaise which had cost a
is

or capers or chopped parsley.

Bread Sauce

often good in England

and

intelligently in relation to

io6

HOME COOKERY
is

IN WAR-TIME
:

shilling for

a very smaU boatful, moaned

" Some-

thing

here for tears."

be reasonable and not attempt to imitate in small kitchens the achievements of the sauce-cooks in great houses and in first-class Many a housewife has been discouraged restaurants.
must, none the
less,

We

in her attempts to turn over a

new

leaf

by being

told

that serious cookery

is

tains constant supplies of the

impossible unless one mainfamous " mother sauces."

Writers on cookery

tell

us that there are two great

foundation sauces, "the

Espagnole, which
;

Adam and Eve

of cookery,

whence most others have sprung."

is

These sauces are a brown sauce, and Veloutee,

which is white and nearly all other sauces are supposed to be formed by additions to these two. Other I writers speak of three foundations, or even five. do not propose to reproduce the well-worn arguments.

Nor will it be possible to give in detail instructions for making the grand sauces, either mothers or daughters. That they are beyond the reach of ordinary housekeepers became plain to me one night when I was
watching the preparation of my own little dinner in the kitchen of a restaurant where the proprietors were Rightly or wrongly, the chef had well known to me. been dismissed an hour before. The kitchen staff was cosmopolitan, and, as it was a time of International crisis, there was a good deal of strong feeling all round. I noticed that the manager was anxious and that he was spending more time in the kitchen than was turned out that he had fears for his It usual. "foundations," which he valued at nearly 50;

SAUCES

107

because, some years before, a sudden change of staff had been attended by an " accident " to these

mother sauces.

The
honour
it is

great foundations are entitled to the utmost

;

and,

when one goes

to a good restaurant,

generally a pity to ask for plain dishes instead of

and entrees with which the famous sauces are and let the professional served. Let home be home restaurateur show us that he is a professional who knows his work.
fish
;

Now

for

version of

some sauces. White Sauce.

We

will

begin with a simple

take
it

I shall

for

granted

that you have a good, small, enamelled saucepan,

with the enamel entirely unbroken, and that you possess a wooden spoon which is not too clumsy.
Melt rather less than an ounce of butter in the pan

and cook therein some

the butter.
It

flour,

weighing a

trifle less

than

goes without saying that, as you are

aiming at a white sauce, you will not let the mixture become brown. When the flour and butter are cooked, draw the saucepan to the side of the stove and add two gills of good white stock made from the remains of a chicken or from some veal. Stir it up well and replace it over the fire, continuing to stir
until
it

boils.

After the boiling-point

is

reached, go

on cooking the mixture slowly for nearly a quarter of an hour. Then season it with pepper and salt (varied according to the saltiness of the stock) and with a little lemon juice. Strain the sauce through a hair or through a pointed strainer. I take it for sieve, granted that you possess a perforated spoon and that

io8

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

you will always skim sauces and all other preparations on which a scum rises. If you wish the sauce to be beautifully smooth, you wiU wring it through a
cloth instead of sieving

that this is not a

it. You are to understand complete sauce, but a very simple

foundation.

am tempted to give you directions

for a

much more
but So we

satisfactory white foundation

this is a
will

true Velout^e

handbook

of economical cookery.

go on to a simple Sauce Espagnole, or smooth brown sauce. You will make it on a day when you

have some trimmings of ham or veal in the house, or some good scraps of birds or ground game. Cut up three sound carrots, as well as an onion and a clove. Butter the bottom of a saucepan with about an ounce of butter and add your scraps of game and meat with the vegetables. Put the lid on the pan and cook the contents on a slow fire. When they have
turned a light brown, stir in a tablespoonful of flour and just enough hot stock to moisten the mixture

do not know how much game and meat I cannot define the quantity of stock exactly, but it must be enough to make the stirring of the mixture quite easy. You must stir Introduce all the time you are pouring in the stock. a bouquet as described on page 145. Replace the lid once more, and simmer the sauce as gently as Finally, skim it and possible for about four hours. Pour it into a jar and let it get cold. sieve it. Then cover the jar, and the sauce will keep for some
well.

As

you

will

be using,

time.

SAUCES
A
Sauce Bechamel
is

109

considered a mother sauce

I

by

many authorities,
on vegetables

and, as

prescribe

it

in the chapter

for a Choufleur

au

gratin, I will give

Begin as before by melting an ounce of butter in the pan and cooking in it a dessertspoonful of flour without letting it begin to turn brown. Add salt, mace and pepper white
simple directions for making
it.

pepper, because this

is

to be a whitish sauce.

Add

gills of hot milk, stirring it all the time as you pour it in, and then a little finely minced parsley. Go on stirring until the mixture boils. After the boiling-

two

point

is

reached, the further boiling

must proceed

very gently indeed and for not more than two or three
minutes.

You

can improve this sauce very

[This
is

much by

putting in some cream as well as hot milk.

requires straining.

The sauce

a poor man's Bechamel

little

without mushrooms.

Use very

mace.]

Sauce Hollandaise is considered rather luxurious, but it will often be found cheap in the end, as it carries off inexpensive materials in the grand style.

To make it you will require the yolks of three eggs. You will put them in a saucepan with two ounces of
butter, a dessertspoonful of flour, a dusting of nut-

meg and a Add a gill

little

salt.

Mix
quite

all

these well together.

of

cold water.

Bring them almost to

the boiling-point
It is of great

not

stirring all the

time.

importance not to bring the mixture to full boihng. As soon as boiling is imminent, draw the saucepan away from the fire and stir in another ounce of butter. You must stir on until the sauce
is

beautifully smooth.

Finally,

add the

juice of a

110

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

good lemon and serve the Sauce Hollandaise as hot

as possible.

times be required.

more distinguished Sauce Hollandaise may someIf you are a beginner in cookery you had better take two saucepans. Pour some hot water into the larger pan and place the smaller pan therein. Assemble your ingredients. You require two
bare tablespoonfuls of vinegar, the well-beaten yolks
of three eggs,

some

salt,

some pepper, and rather

it

less

than a quarter of a pound of butter.

vinegar in the inner pan and reduce
its

First put the

to about half

Take the pan off the fire and let the vinegar two minutes, then mix into it the beaten yolks of eggs, salted and peppered. Put it back over a moderate heat and cook it for two minutes, never ceasing to stir it. Little by little, introduce an ounce and a half of butter, which you ought to have weighed beforehand. You may take the pan off the fire to put Return it to the fire, still stirring it. in this butter. As soon as you perceive that the butter is thoroughly
bulk.
cool for

incorporated with the other ingredients, again

the pan from the
stirring,
fire

lift

and work

in,

with ceaseless

another two ounces of butter.

fire

Put

it

back

and cook jt very gently for another ten it will be found smooth and creamy. In this recipe, whenever I speak of putting the pan back over the fire, I mean (if you are using two pans) the inner pan only, and I take it for granted that the water in the outer pan will be boiling, though not
over the
minutes,

when

boiling fiercely.

It is better to

learn to dispense with

the outer pan for the earlier stages of the operation,

but the last ten minutes of cooking are always safer with the outer pan of boiling water. If you are

SAUCES

III

determined to follow the examples of many cooks and to turn out a disgraceful Hollandaise, let the sauce
boil.

Sauce Mornay enables a cook to make use of cheap white fish, or even remains of fish from an earlier meal, without appearing to be parsimonious. Heat
gills of good white Without letting it come to the boil, work in gradually two tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese and an ounce of butter, not in one lump but^ little bit by little bit. Cream will do instead of butter, the quantity of cream to be the same as the quantity of grated cheese. The sauce must not boil, but it must be very hot.

thoroughly in a small saucepan two

sauce.

For a Sauce Soubise, one wants two gills of the simpler Bechamel Sauce, with some cream and three or four onions. The onions are cooked in salted water, boiling briskly, until they are quite tender. This may mean a full hour. When the onions are cooked through, they are to be thoroughly drained, chopped up small, and put through a hair sieve. The puree which comes through the sieve is mixed in a saucepan with the Bechamel Sauce and is brought to the boil. It is then seasoned with salt and white pepper and some people dust in a few grains of cayenne and a thimbleful of powdered sugar. The cream, if you can spare any, is added last of all. This is a very useful sauce for entrees. For example, it enables a housekeeper of modest resources to serve Cotelettes ^ la
;

112

HOME COOKERY
which

IN

WAR-TIME
cooks wrongly

Soubise,

many

professional

describe as Cotelettes a la Maintenon.

As we

are

not

pretending to

practise

la

haute

attempt an orderly exposition of the famous sauces which are built up from the great foundations. The directions just given can be applied by anybody with ordinary intelligence to the concuisine, I shall not

ventional recipes in the regular cookery-books, so as to simplify and cheapen

them where
all

necessary.

The

ordinary books will

Mushroom

you Onion Sauce, Parsley Sauce, Shrimp Sauce, Tomato Sauce, Sauce Mousseline, Sauce Normande, Sauce Poivrade, Sauce Ravigote, Sauce Supreme, Sauce Venitienne, Sauce Remoulade, Sauce Tartare, and the various sweet sauces for use with puddings. I shall therefore close this chapter with one or two prescriptions which, though they may be found in other books, are so useful in good and economical cookery that it will do no harm to give
tell

about Egg Sauce,

Sauce,

them prominence.

No man
best

or

woman
are

will

make

progress in cookery
is

while cherishing the idea that

recipes

it

arbitrar}^

The

the

best

recipes,

simply because
I

experience proves that there are no better ways of

reaching

the

desired

results.

While

was

first

fumbling and blundering in cookery, I found myself

one day groping after the right sauce to serve with the remains of a goose. With the materials which were
at hand, I

produced a sauce which served

its

purpose

SAUCES
quite well,

113

thought I had made a discovery until an accomplished cook burst out laughing and told me that my supposed novelty was practically the same

and

chop up two or three big EngHsh or French onions and cook them with two ounces of butter, in a closed pan, for about a quarter of an hour. Take the lid off the pan, throw in a little flour, and continue the cooking, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the contents of the pan go down to a brown pulp. Pour in about a gill of good stock, previously heated, and season the mixture with a teaspoonful of made mustard, a teaspoonful of wine vinegar and some salt and pepper. Reduce the sauce
as a Sauce Robert.
this sauce,

To make

by

further boiling without ceasing to stir

it.

Many

a commonplace entree

may

be redeemed

by

a dish of potatoes with Sauce Maitre d'Hotel. Melt an ounce of butter in a pan and add to it almost its own bulk of chopped parsley, with a dessertspoonful
of

and some white pepper. The lemon juice must not be thrown in all at once but must be mixed gradually with the butter and the parsley. Add some cooked potatoes cut in very thin slices, put on the lid of the pan, and
lemon
juice,
salt

a taste of nutmeg, some

shake the
gredients.

slices of

potato in the sauce

well

till

they are
in-

warmed through and

It is

mixed with the other

obvious that the potatoes should be of

kind.

good tablespoonful of cream or white stock, put in at the same time as the slices of potato, will be a great improvement. I have given the formula for this sauce as part of a recipe for potatoes, but it can be applied to pieces of
the firm or

waxy

114
fish or

HOME COOKERY
game

IN WAR-TIME

or meat, as well as to potatoes, with good

results.

expensive, and it Here are directions recoups its cost in many ways. Put into a basin the for making a small quantity. yolk of an eg. In hot weather you may require two yolks, unless you are able to stand the basin on a block

Mayonnaise

is

not

so

very

of ice.
is

Add

at least a dessertspoonful of vinegar.

It

best to

mix equal

quantities of Tarragon vinegar

and French white-wine vinegar. the vinegar and a teaspoonful salt and pepper well together

Mix the yolk

of in the basin.

of egg,

dry mustard and

Some

people sprinkle in a few grains of sugar. The mixing must be very thoroughly done with an egg-whisk or a

wooden spoon.
of

Next add, drop by

drop, half-a-giU

good oHve oil. I repeat, drop by drop. The working in of olive oil, drop by drop, is troublesome to the mayonnaise-maker, and certain ingenious persons have tried to ease his burden. A few years ago I bought in a French town a contrivance for regulating the flow of the oil, but I wish I had spent my francs and centimes on a good old French dinner. The best trick I know for adding the oil is to cut a While the drops of hole in the cork of the oil bottle.
oil

are falHng, the stirring

must never stop

until the

sauce becomes very thick and smooth.

taste the sauce
it

You

will

and you may find that requires a few more drops of vinegar, which must

now and

again,

be stirred in as diUgently as the drops of oil. The making of mayonnaise is a dehcate operation,
contingent upon the temperature, upon the day's

SAUCES

115

humidity, and also upon the nature of the materials.

Sometimes you will fail to obtain a thick mayonnaise on the lines just laid down. Should this misfortune befall, melt a little butter, let it cool again, and work it into the sauce. In this way you will obtain a mayonnaise good enough to use, although it will be below the professional level.

two gills of brown sauce as a foundation. One begins by chopping up two shalots and putting them into a pan with about a tablespoonful of olive oil. They must be cooked but not browned. Next, one must add half- a- gill of Marsala, the two gills of brown sauce, a dessertspoonful of chopped parsley, a tablespoonful of chopped mushrooms, a bay leaf and a sprig of thyme. This mixture must be simmered very slowly for a quarter Should scum rise to the surface, of course of an hour. Some people mix finely it must be skimmed away. chopped ham with the parsley and mushrooms, in which case the skimming will become still more necessary. Before the sauce is served, the thyme and the bay-leaf must be withdrawn.

The useful Sauce

Italienne requires

Sauce Italienne is poured over Macaroni after it over has been boiled tender and well drained braised liver or sUces of braised meat, and over many other dishes which would otherwise be unattractive.
;

There
lines

more sauce recipes. But a few must be spared for some parting advice. Alis

no room

for

though sauces have been studied

for

thousands of

ii6
years,

HOME COOKERY
it

IN WAR-TIME
we now

was not

until the seventeenth century that

cooks began to prepare the great sauces as

understand them.

And,

just as those cooks

improved

upon
ideas

their predecessors, the cooks of to-day ought not

still.

to stand

Our

ideas of a good dinner are not the

which prevailed in the reign of le Grand Monarque, and our sauces should not be the same as those which were prepared by Vatel. We command a greater variety of materials than Vatel ever knew,
while

our notions

are

less

vulgar.

school

of

but simple sauce-making will arise if this generation will apply itself to the problem. We ought to be neither irreverent nor servile towards the past and we ought to be neither complicated nor
brilliant
;

indolent in our

The destiny of " nations," said Brillat Savarin, depends on the manner in which they take their food " and, as the
departures.
;

new

"

basic processes of cookery are everlasting,

it

is

in

sauces and in garnishes that reform and progress

must be achieved. I saw an old sauce-boat the other day in the shape of an unrigged galleon and, as I
;

looked, I thought that sauce-boats were barques to

carry mankind on and on.

CHAPTER
FISH

VII

on Fish on the morrow of the Admiralty's announcement that our Grand Fleet has swept the whole of the North Sea without meeting a single German ship. While it may be too much to hope that the enemy will be completely thwarted in further mine-laying and that their submarines will never be heard of again, it is safe to assume that fish wiU still be caught in British nets and brought to
I

BEGIN

this chapter

British

markets.

Indeed,

there
fish

are

well-informed

people

be landed more plentifully and sold more cheaply than ever. A great quantity of fish is eaten in England but it
believe that
will
;

who

is

amazing that the

If

total

is

not twice as great.

Fish

is

the only important food that can be

had

for the

mere taking.

the present expanse of the North

Sea were suddenly upheaved and became dry land covered with pastures and orchards in which one could find corn without having to plough and sow, and fruit

without having to plant and prune, and sheep and oxen without having to breed and rear, there would
be great public satisfaction.

But we

are not

much

impressed by the familiar knowledge that millions of tons of fish are waiting to be caught, in fine and plump
condition, without our having
in hatching

had to spend a farthing

a fresh

and feeding them. Bacon, which is not meat and is expensive to produce, seems to be

117

ii8

HOME COOKERY
who have been
it

IN WAR-TIME

regarded in almost innumerable English homes as a If fish were in equal demand, the daily necessity.

merchants,

criticised,

not quite justly,

I

could arrange to give

better condition,

to us in larger quantities, in

and

at lower prices.

do not say

that the fish supply could be organised as closely as the

milk supply and the bread supply; because storms and fogs and the vagaries of the fish themselves are
disturbing factors
steadfast in

do say that, if we were calling for cheaper fish and more of it,
;

but

we should

certainly get

it.

Some
vation

years ago I tried to find out

by

direct obser-

and inquiry the truth about our Enghsh

I

attitude towards a fish diet.

finer fishes are highly prized,

gathered that the

and that they are generally well cooked, in the best houses and clubs and restaurants. At the other end of the scale, I found among the lower classes an apparent enthusiasm for fish which did not, however, stand closer investigation. Our poorer quarters abound in establishments called and it is fried-fish shops which do a roaring trade not uncommon to see young beauties, who, in the uncertain gaslight, seem fashionably dressed, walking along London's eastern highways consuming dark brown slabs of fish and wedges of fried potatoes to match, these delicacies being wrapped in a back number of a newspaper whose contents are read
;

under obvious difficulties. It appears, however, from the testimony of those who are in the confidence
of these lovely creatures, that the fish is

much

less

liked than the " fry."

Indeed

it

may

be said that

FISH
fried fish of this
fish diet,

119
of

kind

is

more

the frying vehicle being rarely

an animal than of a oil and nearly

always animal fat. Among those of the same class who have homes and kitchens of their own, the popular fish are kippers and bloaters, which give
satisfaction largely because of the slight scorching of

the surface
fish
is

by which they

are cooked.

The smoked

now known
is

which used to be best prepared at Findhorn, and to the Cockney housewife as a " finny
also relished largely because of the taste
fire.

haddie,"
of the

smoke and the

I

Omitting working-class
this social

households where the wife, before marriage, was in

domestic service,

have rarely found in

grade the habit of eating fish for fish's sake. Where even the simplest sauces are unattempted, because they are thought to be too much trouble, a delicate fish has no chance against two pork sausages or a slice of meat almost blackened in a frying-pan with rings of raw onion. Among the middle classes, fish is patronOwing to the horror of washing-up, ised fitfully. which I have already mentioned, an English housekeeper prefers to give two helpings from one dish
rather than one helping from each of two.
If

she

is

intending to spend three

shillings

on the principal

materials for a dinner, she would rather lay out half -a-

crown on meat than spend one-and-sixpence at the butcher's and eightpence or ninepence at the fishmonger's. And even in fairly well - maintained middle-class kitchens there is an unwillingness to take trouble with the sauces and garnishes so essential to good fish cookery. It must be admitted, however, that some men are I have heard a grossly unfair in their expectations.

120

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

husband, after being chided for objecting to fish at home, make the lofty retort that he would consent to
eat his wife's fish dishes
if

she would bring

them up
In

to

the standard of his favourite restaurant.

many

departments of cookery, even a modest private kitchen can beat the utmost efforts of a hotel kitchen,

where too

many vapours accumulate and

combine.

The great fish dishes, however, would be so wasteful if made privately in small quantities that I should hesitate to press them on simple cooks at any time,
they are unthinkable. At a restaurant, for example, when the bill of fare gives prominence to a sole in a sauce of white wine with tips of asparagus, there is no waste. The whole tin of asparagus tips is used and the whole bottle of cheap white wine follows it. In a private house there may be very good reasons why neither the asparagus nor the wine can be all used while they are still fresh. White wine does not suit everybody and a dinner with asparagus in it twice over would be an offence against good design. Let nobody therefore insist on
while
in

war-time

the restaurant standard.

of

On

the other hand, let no

housewife imagine that she has done the whole duty

woman towards fish by simply ringing the changes on fillets fried in breadcrumb, middle cuts boiled, and lobster mayonnaise. With the exception of such fish as salmon and mackerel, many items of fish diet are deficient in natural fat, and sauce is therefore demanded to make good the defect as well as to
please the palate.

Hints have already been thrown out here and there

FISH
in this

121
better than boihng for

book that steaming

kinds of
fish.

is

many

It is fair to say,

however, that

some thoroughly accomplished cooks prefer boiling. They argue that fishes, although they live in weak
need salt. This is true. Indeed it will help us to cook them more successfully if we will get it into our minds that fishes, after all, are not so vastly unlike the land animals which we cook and eat. Many people still have an idea that a fish must be watery, forgetting that he breathes air as we do. A fish contains almost as high a percentage of solids as an ox, and he no more tastes of sea-salt than a calf tastes of cowslips. The process of boiling admits of the convenient salting of fish, while steaming presents a difficulty in this respect. Assuming, as I do throughout this book, that only small quantities of food have to be cooked at one and the same time, I recommend a simple process. Butter a plate. Lay your cleaned and trimmed fish in the middle of it. Salt and otherwise season the fish to your taste. Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice over it, if you wish to do so. Butter or grease a sheet of clean white paper. Place this on top of the fish and keep it in position by putting the saucepan lid over everything. Having meanwhile brought some water to the boil in the saucepan, place the plate with its contents on top of the saucepan and let the boiling continue for a little more or less than half-an-hour, according to the kind and size of fish. This is not exactly what is meant by steaming, although it is certainly cooking by steam without letting the water touch the fish. Out-and-out steaming is effected an open-work steamer through which the steam plays freely.
brine, often

122

HOME COOKERY
is

IN WAR-TIME
if

In Holland, fish

boiled in sea-water.

experiment

should like to

make

an lived on a rocky
This
is

island in the midst of

an absolutely unpolluted

sea,

have never screwed up my courage to use such sea- water as has been available.
but
I

If you are determined to boil your fish, put about an ounce of salt to each quart of water less rather than more. A teaspoonful of vinegar or lemon juice may also be added to each quart of water, to keep the flesh firm and of good colour. After you have boiled your fish, you will have a chance of per-

look upon boiling as wasteful. Set the liquor on one side and you will often find that it
ceiving
I

why

will cool into a jelly,

owing to the large amount of natural gelatine which has been boiled out of the

fish.

You cannot
and
it is

devise uses for large supplies of

therefore better, on the whole, to

fish stock,

steam the fish, thus retaining all its goodness. Ten days ago I came across a bad instance of wastefulness in the cooking of

Some charitable people were engaged in feeding a large number of the poor and destitute. They had more than a dozen fine
fish.

cod-fish for the purpose,

and

their first action after

cleaning the fish was to cut

off

the twelve heads and

throw them into the dustbin. A wise cook, even if he had been cooking for rich people, would have retained the heads (of course, taking out the eyes) and would have secured a much better result. When the dozen of fish had been boiled, the water was poured down a drain, although it was so gelatinous that you could have stood a wooden spoon in it when it was

FISH
cold.

123

took place during the first month of the War, when the Germans were still having it
All
this

nearly

all

their

own way

in

France and the outlook

was sombre.

have open fires, I can suggest nothing better than the cooking of fish in an oldfashioned Dutch oven. The fish must be hghtly
those
still

To

who

buttered

all

over before

it

is

set

before the

fire.

Housekeepers who have nothing but a gas-stove, or closed range, can do wonders by baking fish in a moderate oven. I find a fireproof dish best and I use the same dish, which has a pleasant old-fashioned look, at the table without risking the breaking up
it to another vessel. Of must be well buttered before the fish is laid in it and it should be covered with buttered paper. If you like, 3/ou can poach your fish, especi-

of the fish

by

transferring

course, the dish

ally
will

fillets,

in a clean baking-tin well buttered.

You

pour in just enough fish stock to cover them. You can add a little white wine to the stock, and make experiments with other flavourings. Like baked fish, a poached fish is covered over with buttered paper. Sometimes you will not wish to heat the oven just for one or two fillets, and in this case you can poach them in a shallow saucepan at the top of the stove. They do not require more than a few minutes to cook. When you have lifted them out and drained them well, you should be ready to use some of the hot stock as part of a sauce to serve with them. Learn to reduce fish liquor for sauce. As for stewing, frying, grilling and other ways of cooking

124
fish,

HOME COOKERY
you
will find

IN WAR-TIME
is

out the best ways from your regular

cookery-book, or you will infer them from what

said in other chapters of this manual.

have referred to the cheapness of herrings. It pay you well, if you have not the time or skill yourself, to talk the cleaning and filleting over with your fishmonger so that this may be properly done. Herrings are so low priced that it would not be
I
will

reasonable to expect the fishmonger, at the busiest

time of the day, to occupy himself with your requirements unless you are a fairly regular customer for other kinds of fish on which he can recoup himself. I say this because some housewives will never learn to prepare herrings themselves, and, as they are sensitive about giving trouble to shop people, they practically drop this fish out of their scheme of life. If it were a question of the skate or the eel, I could understand a certain squeamishness. Those fish have not the beauty of Venus rising from the sea. Speaking for myself, I have never quite conquered my horror of the eel, although he is so cooked by the villagers on the banks of the Lower Seine as to make

one of the most delicate dishes And the skate is an ugly brute.

have ever eaten. But the herring is

a sweet creature to handle. When he is fresh, his There silver armour is like Lohengrin's in the opera.
is

nothing loathsome about him, inside or out.

shaU therefore apologise for him no more but shall take it for granted that my readers will use him freely
in war-time,

Now

for

and try to learn to clean him themselves. ways of cooking him.

FISH

125

Having stripped two long fillets from a fresh herring, wipe them with a cloth. Salt them and pepper them, and squeeze over them a little lemon juice. Put them in a cold place until the next day. When you want to eat them, coat them with egg and breadcrumbs and fry them in a deep bath of boiling oil
or fat according to the general rule about frying

already laid down.

Drain the grease from them, and serve them very hot with some chopped parsley

and some more lemon

juice.

On some
and
fins of

other occasion, cut off the heads and

tails

open and take out as many bones as you can, big and little. Close the fishes again, as you would close a book, and sprinkle over them lemon juice and salt and pepper. Lemon juice is mentioned in this herring cookery because the herring is an oily fish and its oiliness needs correcting. After they have lain for about an hour, dip them in oatmeal until they are thickly mealed on both sides. Take your largest frying-pan and melt in it an ounce or two of the best dripping. As the dripping begins to smoke, transfer the herrings to it, opened, with the flesh downwards and the oatmeal upwards. As soon as the lower side is browned, turn the herrings over and brown them on the mealed side Drain them thoroughly and serve them very hot This is the best way of frying herrings but if you prefer a simpler way you need not split them open. You can merely trim and wash and clean them, scrape and score the skin with a knife, dip them into flour which has been touched up with pepper and salt, and fry them.
herrings, split the fish
.

some

126

HOME COOKERY
prepare

IN
it,

WAR-TIME

even better than the you cut off the head same fish fried. To and fins and you scrape off the scales but you do not split the fish open. You score it, smear it over with a little oil or butter, and pepper and salt it. Then you cook the fish for eight or nine minutes under
grilled or broiled herring is
;

the deflecting
bright

griller of

a gas-stove or before a hot,

fire, if you have no gridiron. Mustard sauce and a plain boiled potato go well with a grilled herring.

In frying or

grilling herrings, it is

always necessary

to score diagonal lines in the skin, so that the fish

shall not shrink

and

curl.

For herrings to be eaten cold, wash, clean and trim the fish and scrape the skins. Take off, from each herring, two long fillets. Dip these fillets in flour, peppered and salted. Butter a fireproof dish. Roll up each fillet of herring, beginning with the thick end and working to the stump of the tail. Put these rolls rather closely in the fireproof dish and half fill it with a mixture of water and brown vinegar. Add a little of whatever you may possess in the way of peppercorns and mace. Put little bits of butter here and there on the fish, and bake the whole thing for an hour in a moderate oven. Serve the dish as soon as it is
cold.

Steamed cod is looked upon as very plain feeding, but it can be made highly attractive by a cook who will vary the sauces from time to time. A good way
of using this fish
is

to bake

it

in slices.

Butter a

FISH
all

127

baking-tin and scatter tiny choppings of raw^.onion

over the bottom.

Lay a slice

tion.

Pour over the fish with pepper and salt and some lemon juice. quantity of lemon juice will be according to
it

cod on this foundaa yolk of egg, beaten up

of

The
taste,

but

should not be stinted.

Dab

tiny pieces of

butter over the egg and lemon juice.

or

Bake the

fish

until the top takes a pleasant golden hue.

moment

two before serving, transfer the fish to the dish on which it will be sent to table taking care that the dish is very hot and pour a gill of brown sauce into the tin. Stir the brown sauce for a moment or two,

so as to

mix

it

well with

all
;

that

is left

in the tin

bring

it

to the boiling-point

the

slice of fish.

and then pour it over These instructions can be applied

cutlets

to hake, halibut,
of rock salmon.

and to small thick steaks or

Some people have a strong objection to plaice, and should certainly agree with them if I were doomed
fish,

to eat nothing but a daily ration of this

boiled.
It is,

plain

however, so
to try to
is

that

we ought

much make the

cheaper than soles

best of
it.

Here

is

a method which

certainly not the worst.

Buy
:

good thick plaice with plenty of flesh on its bones. Clean it. Remove the dark skin if you can if you can't, the fishmonger will do it for you. Butter a fireproof dish, and sprinkle plenty of fine breadcrumbs and some parsley, chopped very small, all over the butter, with some pepper and salt and a chopped mushroom. I will say, in passing, that if you are buying regularly from the same greengrocer, he ought

128
to let

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

you have mushrooms in quite small quantities without always expecting you to embarrass yourself with more than you require. Lay the plaice in the dish and cover it with more butter, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and parsley and, if possible, mushroom. Bake the fish for twenty minutes and serve it in the same dish.

Fried

fillets

of plaice are universally

known.

In giving directions to prepare a plaice after the

fashion of a sole au gratin, I

must make

it

plain that

The
in

every careless cook ought to skip this paragraph. dish requires close attention. As cookery is still

an unscientific stage, culinary writers are obliged to use certain rough-and-ready expressions. For example, I shall have to speak merely of a quick oven
;

because,

if I

should try to give the exact degree of heat

required, I should be wasting

my time,
So
let

as

oven therthe
it will

mometers
reader

are rarely to be seen.

is

me warn

who

going to cook this dish that

be

wise to keep some extra stock at hand, in case the

fish and the dressing should dry up at the critical moment. The plaice must be thick and plump. And, of course, you will clean it properly, taking off the head and the fins and the dark skin. Make your oven hot. Chop up some parsley, a small shalot, one or two mushrooms according to size, and about an ounce of bacon the fat only. Mix all these with some very fine breadcrumbs, and season them with pepper and

FISH
salt.

129

At the bottom of a fireproof dish, dab tiny Over the butter spread some of the pieces of butter. On seasoning, and on the seasoning lay the fish.
top of the
fish

spread the rest of the seasoning.

any sound white wine that is not very sweet, together with half-a-gill of good white stock. Grate some dry bread or sprinkle some fine crumbs over everything and lay one or two pellets of butter, no bigger than peas, here and there on the top. Bake the whole combination in a quick oven for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. Use your best judgment as to the suitable heat. On the one hand, you must not be opening the oven door repeatedly, and, on the other hand, you must not risk
half-a-gill of

Add about

either too slow or too rapid baking.

In the undesir-

able and unlikely but

still

possible event of the sauce

little

drying up, you will have a

hot stock at hand to

moisten
This

it.

is

the true

au

gratin.

method of cooking a sole or plaice For some reason, or none at all, there is an
must be a
final

idea in certain kitchens that in order to prepare a

dish au gratin there

browning under a
;

salamandre, always with a top skin of grated cheese

and

it is

the sober truth that

have met people who

is

think that the word gratin equals grated cheese in

French.
of

Of course the true meaning

until
it

the browning

a dish

takes

a crispness,

above and

below.

am

going to speak of one more

way

of using

plaice which may seem to be a little foolish, but it is worth knowing. When devising an economical menu,

130

HOME COOKERY

IN

WAR-TIME

a housekeeper sometimes wants, at the stage when fish usually appears, an interesting and tasty but not

ample item. If plaice or lemon sole happens to be cheap, it wiU often be possible to buy a quite small
fillet

for almost nothing.

and size of aU over as

in

This can be cut to the shape The pieces must be floured lightly as possible, and must then be fried
line whitebait.

them properly a cheap wire frying basket, which will pay for itself over and over again, ought to be at hand. To make a good job of it, the
deep
fat.

To

fry

little

pieces of fish should be fried twice.

After a

first

frying for about two minutes, they before they have turned

must be lifted out brown and must be drained

having been again raised to boiling-point, the strips of fish can be fried till they are crisp and golden. They must be drained
fat

on paper.

The

again and salted.

[This,

of

course,

is

the correct
If

way

of cooking real whitebait also.]

the

sham

whitebait are served with care, slices of lemon and

brown bread and butter not

able a parody.

being grudged, the

imitation of the real article will not be too lament-

know

that some housekeepers wiU feel shy about

asking the fishmonger for very small portions of cheap fish, and that they wiU be unlikely to try the imita-

do not suggest a way out. Let us some more fish is bought at the same time and that it is not wanted until the next day. The surplus can be cooked at once and put on one side to be treated according to one or other of the methods now to be described.
tion whitebait
if I

therefore suppose that

FISH

131

For hot weather a good salad of fish is more pleasant than a friture. I take from a little book called *' Tasty Ways of Cooldng Fish " (which seems to be
given

away

at

Fislimongers' Hall

by the National

Sea Fisheries Protection Association) this recipe for

Fish Salad by

Mr

C.

Herman Senn

one potato (mashed), one lettuce, two tablespoonfuls salad oil, one tablespoonful vinegar, one hard-boiled e^g, one teaspoonful made mustard, one tablespoonful milk, one piece cooked
i lb.

"Take

cold

fish,

beetroot,

two pickled gherkins, parsley, salt, pepper, a pinch of castor sugar. Break up the fish into small pieces, removing the skin and bones. Wash the salad (lettuce or endive), tear into small pieces, and dry Mix the mashed potato with the milk, stir in a cloth. into it the oil and vinegar, season with mustard, pepper, Mix v/ell, to produce a smooth dresssalt and sugar. Mix the salad v^ith the fish, season well with ing. the prepared dressing. Pile up on a dish or salad bowl garnish Vvdth slices of gherkins, quarters of hard-boiled eg and slices of beetroot, and serve."
;

Housekeepers who are likely to make frequent use of fish salads may simplify the work by keeping on hand some salad cream or mayonnaise. In a cool and dark place mayonnaise wiU remain good for nearly a week.

In cold weather,
people.

But

would annoy many nearly everybody enjoys cold fish

fish

salads

132

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

.warmed up k la Russe. Free the fish from skin and bone, and fiake it with two fish forks. Chop up about a dozen capers and mix them with tv/o gills of white sauce which you have flavoured with some essence of anchovies. I am assuming that you are using up about a pound of cold fish, in which case a dessertspoonful of anchovy essence will be required. While you are doing these things, some rice should be boiling on the fire, according to the directions given in the chapter on Entrees. Butter a fireproof dish and spread a layer of fish at the bottom of it. Over the fish spread rice and some of your sauce. Next lay on the sauce some slices of hard-boiled egg, as thin as you can cut them without breaking them up. Repeat these strata of fish, rice, sauce and shced eggs until the dish is full. You must take care to plan the matter so that slices of egg will be on top, as it would not do to finish with rice or fish. Here and there among the uppermost shoes of egg drop some good pellets of butter. Bake the whole for about twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Including the prime cost of the fish, the cost ought not to be more than about eighteenpence the lot, or about threepence for each good portion.

Recipes for steamed

for Kedgeree,

fish puddings, for

Kromeskies,

and

for Fish Rissoles are well

and truly
It is poslittle fish

set forth in the ordinary cookery-books.

however, that few readers have made puddings after the fashion of custards.
sible,

To make

these

without skin or bone.

you must chop up half-a-pound of cold fish, You will want about a dozen

FISH
little

133

moulds or basins, but if your family is small you can use moulds or basins for four or five custards only, and put the rest of your fish in a small pie-dish. Half fill the receptacles with the chopped fish. Now make a custard by beating up five yolks of eggs and
the whites of three of the eggs in a basin,

adding
will

about three
season
it

gills

of milk.

It

should go without saying

that you will not sweeten this custard.

You

essence of anchovies

salt and with some your cold fish was of some cheap and insipid kind. Pour this custard on the chopped fish till the moulds are nearly full. Place the moulds in a tin containing boiling water to the depth of about two inches. Lay little covers of greased paper over the moulds and bake them until
;

with pepper and

if

set. Of course you will have greased your moulds at the outset and you should have no difficulty in turning out the custards without breaking them. I do not recommend this dish except when eggs are cheap, although it must be borne in mind that

the custards are

two

of the whites are available for other purposes.

In the

month

of April I

made

fish custards like these

at a cost of about a shilling for ten,

fry the whites of the eggs as a bed for

and was able to some hop-shoots,

which cost

me

nothing at

all.

The hop-shoots were

like lightning

boiled in salted water until they were tender, and,

after being tossed in butter,

were served

on white

of egg fried at the table,

A fish pie with macaroni or with potatoes is a very cheap dish and there is no reason why it should be unattractive. In houses where the habit of making good though simple sauces does not exist, a fish pie
is

often a trial to the appetite

but when a house-

134

HOME COOKERY
fish,

IN WAR-TIME
delightful.

keeper finds that some sauce remains over, as weU as

some cold
all

her pie
is

may become

A
The

simple procedure over

it

to butter a pie-dish

and to spread

the cold fish broken into morsels.

remains of sauce should be poured over the fish with some lemon juice and some pepper and salt. Some

cooked potatoes, smoothly mashed with milk and seasonings and a little butter or even good dripping, must be laid on top of the fish and pressed well down with the blade of a broad knife. If an egg can be spared, let it be beaten up and let the top of the mashed potato be well brushed over with it. The pie must be baked in a moderate oven until it browns. Macaroni, as an ingredient in a fish pie, requires a It must be boiled in a large pan, little more skill. room to move, until it is quite tender. with plenty of When it has been drained and cut up small and mixed with whatever sauce may be on hand, it is to be laid
over the pieces of
that
it

fish.

The

best plan

is

to divide

all

the ingredients for this kind of pie into two parts, so

be in layers twice repeated. Breadcrumbs are sprinkled over the top, with small pieces of butter,
will

and the

pie

is

baked a nice brown.

Turning back from these devices for using cold fish, and resuming the main business, I must refer the reader to the systematic cook-books for a hundred

ways of handling familiar fish. But I am bound to draw attention to one or two neglected methods which, even when they are mentioned by British writers, are If we were to rarely practised in British kitchens. spend a year in a French household we should fre-

FISH

135

quently hear talk about fish cooked in court bouillon. " Court bouillon " may be literally translated " Short
to say, broth made in a very short Perhaps the simplest form of it is that which one meets with in some parts of Brittany. You mix water and milk in equal quantities, add a Turbot little salt, and bring the liquid to the boil.
is

Broth "

that

space of time.

cooked in

this broth

makes a good

invalid diet.

After

laying the fish in the liquid, bring the court bouillon

once more to the

until
it is

boil,

then draw the fish-kettle to the

side of the fire with the lid on,

and simmer the

fish

tender.

The

court bouillon should cover the

but should not drown it too deeply. more elaborate but still cheap court bouillon is made by measuring out enough water to cover the piece of fish and mixing with it some light dry white
fish entirely,

wine (or half the quantity of white wine vinegar), a sliced onion, a thinly sliced carrot, some cloves, some peppercorns, and salt according to the kind of
fish.

You must
a

boil all these things together for fifteen

little

minutes, putting in the water a

containing

mushn bag

bouquet of herbs. Meanwhile you sprinkle a little lemon juice over the fish, lay it on the
tray of the fish-kettle, and,
ready, you lower
it

when
lid

the court bouillon

is

into the liquid, of course taking

on the kettle and cook Should it is done. the scum rise to the surface of the broth, you must either skim it oH or expect it to spoil the look of your fish when you raise it from its bath. French cooks sometimes vary the foregoing recipe by using red wine instead of white. The court bouillon bleu is supposed to give a beautiful tint to
out the bouquet.
fish

Put the

gently in the broth

till

136

HOME COOKERY
fish,

IN WAR-TIME
and
in others

certain
like

in

some

cases blue

more

mother-of-pearl.

The

eminent

Jules

Gouffe

might be strengthened by the addition of some bones and trimmings from the fish. Court bouillon, made with either red wine or white wine, can be kept in a jar and used several times over. Like frying fat, which requires to be clarified and purged of any little fragments of batter or fish which may fall into it, court bouillon gives the cook a little trouble but it enables first-class results to be achieved at an insignificant cost.
taught that this red
(or bleu) court bouillon
;

Fish that has been skinned, and soaked in salted

milk,

and coated hghtly with

flour,

can be laid in

butter in a fireproof dish and seasoned with salt and

pepper, and browned.

The butter should be cooked

to a golden colour before the fish

the fish has

itself

on both sides, juice, and afterwards with more

It is to

After is put in it. taken the same golden-brown colour it should be moistened with lemon
of the

brown

butter.

be served with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and some very thin slices of lemon. A sole cooked in
this

way

is

a Sole k la Meuniere.

Paper-bag cookery is explained in the chapter on Entrees, where a recipe will be found for Red
mullet.

With these typical prescriptions in her mind, and with the aid of the chapters on sauces and vegetables, an aspiring cook will have no difficulty in giving her

FISH

137

household a widely varied succession of fish dishes throughout the year. I warn her once more, however, against putting forward a large

and plain piece

It is

of fish as practically the whole of a meal.

because

they remember some dinner in boyhood, consisting of nothing but a boiled cod, with potatoes and parsley butter, that many Englishmen do not greatly care to taste another fish so long as they live.

CHAPTER

VIII

ENTREES
hoped that the greater simphcity of living imposed upon us by the War will lead to the simplifying of dinner-table terms. Cooks have never been as bad as gardeners, who give the ughest names they can think of to the loveliest flowers. Still, there While Soup and Fish is room for improvement. for anybody, it is good words are enough Roast and impossible to feel grateful for such terms as Hors They d'oeuvre. Entrees, Releves and Entremets.
It
is

to be

are

far-fetched names,

invented to express extra-

vagances and elaborations steadily outgrowing.

which

we have been

not going to waste time discussing the derivaIt is necestion and history of the word " entree."
I

am

have an understanding with the reader as to the sense in which the term will be used By an entree I mean the made in this chapter. tables, in itself, which, on modern complete dish, In the older follows the fish and precedes the roast. practice, four entrees were supposed to be served, one of fish, one of flesh-meat, one of game and one of pastry. We will brush all this kind of thing on one
sary, however, to

side
of

and confine ourselves almost entirely to entrees meat and game. Before most of us were born,
13S

ENTRIES
entries

139

there were supposed to be fully a thousand different

known

to professional cooks

dreds have been invented in

all

and some hunour own days. We have

;

heard that, although scores of so-called comic papers appear every week, there are not more than a and dozen or twenty distinct jokes in existence something similar might be said about entrees. Under hundreds of different names they are found to be
;

mostly shght variations upon the same culinary themes. Patrons and cooks in their vanity have hungered after immortality through the invention of a new entree but, like untrained explorers, they
;

have too often given their names to

covered long^before.

territories dis-

In this chapter
the

I shall

attempt nothing more than

making good

of one or

routine of ordinary people.

explain,

two defects in the kitchen That is to say, I shall

by

describing

principles

on which

few typical dishes, the innumerable entrees may be

a

achieved.

has just been stated that an entree is a dish complete in itself. This means that it is exceedingly
It

handy
able.

in

houses where only modest service is obtaingood entree may call for the taking of con;

siderable pains
is

but the pains are taken when there

The hot lady whom we call a plain cook in England will sometimes tell you that " ontrays " are beyond her, and that she does not profess Now, where there is a to go be37ond roast joints.
time to spare.

140

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
still,

single-handed cook, or, worse

a cook-general,

the proper finishing off and serving up of a hot joint with gravy and vegetables is a far more formidable

good entree. Indeed, when I see a cook-general engaged in the operation of serving the conventional Sunday dinner of the middle classes, I feel almost ashamed to satisfy my hunger at the expense of so great a trial to a fellowThe hot creature's wits and strength and temper. joint is an institution more in need of reform than the House of Lords. For a very large family or house party, who can eat it down to the bare bone, a hot but unfortunjoint is fine and wholesome feeding ately it enslaves little households and sentences them to a weekly misery of cold meat, and more cold meat, and finally hash. With no more trouble, and at much less expense, three or four entries, one each day, can replace a single joint with far more gains than losses to the general health and happiness. Success in entree-making will often require the carrying out of at least two distinct processes, and this is where the English cook grows impatient. Take, for example, the operation of frying vegetables and pieces of meat before putting them in the casserole or stewpan. By this action the cook seals the outsides of her materials so that their juices and flavours
business than the
of a
;

making

are not lost, or

mixed with everything

else.

In

many

English ragouts this practice is neglected, with the result that one obtains an excellent gravy or broth containing meat and vegetables like tasteless rags.
I

must warn the reader that any indolent skipping

frying in recipes

of

the prehminary

will invariably result in failure.

where it is appointed The cook who " can't

ENTREES

141

be bothered " to make an entree properly had better go on scorching her cheeks on Sunday over the hot
joint,

and shivering on Monday over the

plateful of

cold mutton.

By

reason of a defect in the English language, I

in the foregoing

have been forced to speak of frying

paragraph, although the process in question differs

from the true frying in a deep bath of fat so often referred to in other chapters. The deep bath of clear fat at a high temperature is not what is wanted when we set about to fry (or, as the French say, jaire revenir) our meat and vegetables for a ragout. Without speculating on the origin of the curious French
phrase, I will try to explain
it

practically.

When

cook melts some butter or good dripping in a pan and, as soon as the fat is hot, lightly cooks her pieces of meat and vegetable therein, just long enough for

them
faire

to take a nice
revenir the

brown

colour,

she

is

said to
this,
I

ingredients.

shall

rely

on the

reader to

Having said know what

mean

whenever I refer to frying as a preliminary process, and not to use the deep bath except for dishes which
are
fried out-and-out,

such as fried

fillets

of

fish

or apple fritters.^

Our

first

entrees shall be of the order of stews,

one of beef and one of mutton.

*

Both

of

them

will

writers get over the difficulty by speaking of " dry " wet frying," the " wet " frying being the frying in a deep bath. I think " wet frying " is a dangerous expression, as we are fighting the Enghsh tendency towards

Some

frying "

and

soddenness.

142
be

HOME COOKERY
made
in

IN

WAR-TIME

far better

an earthenware casserole than

in an enamelled stewpan.

The

casserole allows slower

stick to the

cooking and the meat

is

much less likely to

bottom.

Besides, the casserole can be carried straight

to the table, thus saving the trouble of dishing up.

A steaming

on a cold day has a homely look and puts everybody into the right mood. Buy about two pounds of the parts of beef known Free them from skin and as stewing beef or skirting. fat. Cut them up, salt them, pepper them and dip them in flour. Take some good turnips and carrots and onions, prepare them, cut them up, season them, and dip these also in flour. Having melted some good beef dripping in a pan, you must now proceed to fry {faire revenir) all the pieces till they take the desired brown
casserole
colour.

Meanwhile, a small kettleful of water should

have been rising to the boiling-point. Take the pieces of meat and vegetables out of the pan and lay them There will at the bottom of a warmed casserole. remain in the pan the relics of the dripping and the Pour over these some boiling water from the flour. kettle and work them up into a gravy, scraping everything from the bottom of the pan and mixing it with the water as much as possible. Pour this gravy into the casserole with some mace and cinnamon and a bouquet of herbs. There should be just enough of the gravy to cover the vegetables and meat. Let
the contents of the casserole come for a bare second to the boil, then draw the casserole to the side of the
fire

or leave

it

over the feeblest heat of which your

gas-stove allows.

The slower the cooking the

better

indeed, the lucky person with a range or an old-

fashioned hob

may let

the cooking continue for four

ENTREES
or five hours.

143

From time

to time,

examine the mess

with a wooden spoon and make sure that nothing is sticking. \Miile the cooking must never cease, the heat must be much lower than boihng-point, in accordance with the old rule
spoiled."
:

"A
down

stew boiled

is

a stew

When you

sit

to eat this entree, so flavoury that

will find the will

meat and vegetables

you you

wish never again to eat the too familiar stew in

which everything has gone to rags. Probably those who eat it with you will finish the meat and most of the vegetables, but some of the liquid may remain. You can make use of this on the morrow in dozens of ways, according to the materials which are on your hands. For example, you can boil some macaroni for not more than five minutes in plenty of boihng water, and, after draining it, transfer it to your thick broth and let it cook slowly, until it is impregnated with fine flavours and perfectly tender. Or, having fried more pieces of vegetables and meat, you can add them, with the new supply of gravy which results from the frying, to whatever is left in the casserole, of course bringing the old to the same heat as the new before mixing the two. As you will not wish to have similar dishes two days running, you can add a little red wine on the second day or let the contents of the casserole be accompanied by a puree of potatoes, or Jerusalem artichokes, or of
;

turnips, served in a separate dish.

The stew of beef just described is a very homely one for family use, and it can be made cheaper or dearer by varying the proportions of meat and vegetables. I have known a clever housewife with a
large family

who kept a stew

of this kind in being for


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IN

144

WAR-TIME

five days without anybody beginning to feel that it was monotonous. On the last day it contained practically no meat, but was made substantial with some dried peas and haricot beans which had been soaked and swollen for twenty-four hours. Of course she dissembled her economy by serving the stew in different receptacles on three days and in the casserole itself on the other two.

We

will I

turn from a ragout of beef to a ragout of

do not doubt that, at one time or another, a small loin of mutton finds its way into almost every house. At one end of the loin the chops are nearly all meat, but at the other end they degenerate into a big bone. I suggest that this bone-end of the loin be
mutton.
cut
off

and treated

as follows

Peel half-a-dozen potatoes of middling size.

Then

make a roux and prepare a bouquet. You ought to know the meaning of both these terms, but, in case
you were never taught or have forgotten them, I will briefly explain them both. A roux is made of flour
fried in

downright good dripping or in butter.

am

not referring to the

fat

method

of frying in a

deep bath of

but to frying in a pan.

While the frying goes on,

all

the cook stirs the mixture

the time to prevent the

forming of lumps. You must use a wooden spoon. For a brown roux you put an ounce of butter to one dessertspoonful of flour. Melt the butter in a stewpan on a moderate fire, add the flour, stir briskly, and as soon as the colour shows quite brown, pour in little by little half-a-pint of stock. If you have no stock, water will do. If you are in a hurry, cold water or

ENTREES
cold stock can be used, though I think
All the time
it is

145
better hot.

you

are pouring in the hot or cold stock

or water go on stirring, stirring, stirring, until the

roux is quite smooth. To make a white roux you ought to have a rather gentler heat than for a brown
roux.

Do

not

let

the flour and butter become dark.

Avoid browning, avoid lumpiness, and use a white stock made from the remains of a fowl, or from white dried haricots. For what is called by professional cooks a roux blond, cook the flour and butter not much beyond a biscuit colour and use water or white
stock.

A bouquet

consists of a small

bay

leaf,

one or two sprigs of parsley, and, if You tie these tightly basil and some marjoram. Some people add a strip together with white cotton. of lemon peel. I admit that this sounds troublesome, but, when a housekeeper has once got into the

some thyme, possible, some

way

of using a bouquet,

it

will

seem as natural as

using salt and pepper.

Of course the tying of the

bouquet with cotton is intended to facilitate its removal after it has done its work. If you cannot get a bouquet such as I have described, you can use dried but you must herbs tied up in a piece of muslin take care that your dried herbs have not lost their
;

savour.

buy dried herbs in foolish little cardboard boxes which seem to have been invented for the purpose of making them dryer
housekeepers

Many

than ever. It will be far cheaper in the end to buy good herbs and to keep them in little air-tight
tins.

Having reached a good understanding about the roux and the bouquet, we can return to our mutton. K

146

HOME COOKERY

IN

WAR-TIME
;

or Put half-a-pint of brown roux into a stewpan rather make the roux in the stewpan there and then. Bring it to the boil. Put in your piece of mutton, with an onion (not too large), the bouquet, some pepper and salt and a clove. Boil all these things gently for half-an-hour. Then add your peeled potatoes and let the boiling go on for half-an-hour longer. For everybody who likes a potato, this homely dish is delightful. As for those who are satisfied with nothing but huge helpings of the best meat, they must not expect to lift more meat out of the stewpan than was put in. The directions just given will apply to a knuckle of ham, with one exception. The ham being salt, you must omit the salt which was prescribed for the mutton. For this stew, whether of mutton or of ham, you do not " faire revenir " the meat. The meat is too poor to seal and you let it give its virtues to the

potatoes.

I will

now be very

bold indeed and will recommend

an entree which, at the first blush, will strike you as both difficult and extravagant. It is neither and it has the charm of antiquity. Indeed it is one of the oldest dishes in the French cuisine and is called a Historians differ as to the true GalimaGalimafree. free, and I will not be dogmatic about it. Some say that it was a ragout of sheep's head and pluck others that it was made from a steak of ham, about an inch
;
;

thick, served with a great

number
;

of tender vegetables

and moistened with white wine

others again, that

ENTREES
fowls were the principal ingredients
describe
I

147

am

going to

an entirely different Galimafree. Buy a small shoulder of mutton weighing not more than about three pounds and a half. If you feel that the task will be beyond you, ask the butcher to separate the skin from the flesh, making it plain to him that the skin is to be lifted all in one piece, so that it can be put back in its place. As his knives are sharper than yours, ask him at the same time to cut off the meat from the bone entirely. At this stage he will probably wish to argue with you, and will tell you that what you really wish him to do is to bone the mutton. Now the boning of mutton that is to say, the clever separation of the meat from the principal bone is a trick worth knowing, because it enables many excellent methods to be foUowed, especiaUy with the leg of mutton but it is not what you want for a Galimafree, where the skin is detached from the meat as well as the meat from the bone, and where it is not necessary for the meat to come away in one piece.

When
will

these surgical operations are finished, you mince the meat finely, you wilJ mix with it a little chopped bacon, some chopped lemon peel and some fine herbs, and you will cook the mixture, moistened with a little stock in a pan, keeping it well stirred. Of course you will take care that it is not in the least sloppy. When, by taste and smell and sight, you perceive that it is cooked, you wiU build it into what
^

As

old-fasliioned

Frenchmen

still

express their contempt

a rambhng sermon or speech by calling it a " galimafree," I suspect that the word could be applied in cookery to any hotchIn my recipe, the name is appropriate because the potch. meat is cut up and mixed with flavoury morsels and herbs.
for

148
I

HOME COOKERY
the

IN WAR-TIME

your shoulder of mutton, the bone forming a support. You wiU very carefully bring back the skin to its original position and will Flour it all over and bake tie it in place with a string.
shell of
it

may call

empty

in the oven just long enough for the floured skin to take a good colour, so that the whole appears to be an ordinary roasted or baked joint. This last stage of

the process will be quite short, as the meat has been

separately cooked.
of Galimafree
I
It

would appear that

this

kind

was served with a sauce

like Ravigote.

am

quite prepared to hear that the foregoing

provoke mirth, and that most readers will flatly dechne to spoil a good shoulder of mutton on such lines. But, as a suitable shoulder can be bought for half-a-crown, and sometimes for less, the dish is surely worth trying once in a lifetime. When I go on
recipe will

to say that

it

is

economical, the scoffer will agree

with me on the ground that a very little of it wiU go a very long way. In a sense, he is right. This dish admits of being eaten along with an exceptional because the herbs and proportion of vegetables
;

lemon

and bacon, and the retention of all the gravy in the meat itself, make it very fiavoury. In practice I find it both distinguished and economical
juice

but of course this

is

a recipe to be followed only once

or twice in the year.

should have found it easier to describe the Gahmafree if I could have used the words mince or hash as but unhappily the the French understand them
I
;

mince and the hash are terms with evil associations So perhaps this will be a in English households.

ENTREES
the true mince, in which

149

good place for some short notes on the true hash and

economy

is

practised without

causing disgust.

Indeed the true mince is thoroughly relevant to this book, because it lends itself remarkably well to our great principle of economising by

making intelligent use of what is already in the larder. Whatever your remains of meat may be, flesh or fowl boiled or roasted, grilled or stewed, you can go
ahead.

My
make
clean

first

advice to an English cook

is

who wants
away
in a

to

a good mince
it

to take her mincing machine, to

it

thoroughly, and then to lock

box

or a drawer for the rest of the morning.

Old-fashioned

cutting and chopping and mincing with a knife

may

seem more troublesome, but when the quantity of material is small, it is really not much more bother
than
ing
is

required for mounting the machine and workfinally cleaning

it.

Without the machine, one is much more careful to reject gristle and skin and the disagreeable mushiness of the ordinary mince Chop up what you have. Add to it is avoided. some pepper and salt and breadcrumbs, using one dessertspoonful of breadcrumbs to nine of your chopped meat and varying the salt and pepper according to the quantities used when the meat or game was first cooked. Take care that there is a If you should have in the little fat in your mixture. house an uncooked sausage, you would do well to draw the sausage meat out of the skin and to add it to your mince, taking care that you have at least five or six times as much mince as sausage meat. Chop up some parsley and a shalot if you have one but do not mix the shalot with the mince at first. Melt
it

and

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HOME COOKERY
it

IN WAR-TIME
stir
;

a piece of butter in a stewpan and

shalot in
until
it

the minced

begins to brown

then throw in

the whole of the mince, add a teaspoonful of flour

and go on stirring for fully five minutes. You should have made ready a little good broth, or gravy, or the best stock you have managed to extract. Pour this in very slowly, using only a very small quantity I cannot say how much, because I do not know how much mince you will be making, but not enough to make the mince look
parsley,

and the chopped

Now let the cooking continue for half-anhour over a very slow fire or a very small gas-jet, keeping the lid on the pan. You will understand that no mince can be much better than the meat or game from which it is made. But the trouble with lazy or incompetent cooks is that their minces nearly always turn out much worse than their ingredients. With a good mince, dozens of fine things can be done. For example, on a cold day, few things are more comforting than a mince with mashed A good old-fashioned English way is to potatoes. prepare some mashed potatoes, varying the butter and pepper and salt according to the fatness or leanness of your mince, and to build the potatoes up in a high ring in a round fireproof dish. By a ring I mean something like the circular forts of sand which children make on the seashore, with room to stand inside.
sodden.

The mashed potatoes are carefully raised up in this fashion, and the mince is neatly packed within it.

By browning

the whole affair in the oven, one produces something of the effect of a raised meat pie, but with a casing of potatoes instead of more expensive and
less digestible

pie-crust.

ENTREES
I
self

151
her-

come

to braising.

The cook who has made

is

mistress of braising

in a position to practise the

utmost economies, while producing some of the most covetable dishes. Braising is one of the most ancient
of culinary processes.

\\Tien prehistoric

man came

home

to his cave with the kid which he had stolen, or

with the wild piglet which his arrow had pierced, prehistoric woman soon learned to braise a dinner with herbs in a clay pot. She covered the pot with a rough hd of clay and heaped smouldering embers above it. True braising must always maintain the

same old
rising

principles,

and the best

results are not to be

obtained without the beating

down
lid of

as well as the

up
is

of a steady heat.

The

a true braising-

vessel

so

made

that

it

will contain

glowing charcoal,

which causes the meat and vegetables to be caught

between two
fires.

I recognise, hov/ever, the uselessness of

upholding
I
is

standards which few readers will

follow.

must
absent

therefore assume that a true braising-pan

from most English kitchens and that the housekeepers who buy this book will not trot off to the ironmonger's to make good the defect. We must do the best we can with our stev/pans and casseroles. The Germans speak of braising by a name equivalent to our word " smothering," by which they mean that braised meats are smothered in an aromatic sauce and in an atmosphere of steam which cannot escape.
It follows that the lid of the vessel

must

fit

well.

When
of the

the vessel

is

heat strikes

down

placed in an oven, a great deal of from the oven-top, thus doing some
in

work performed by the glowing charcoal

true braising-pot.

There are times, however, when

152

HOME COOKERY
may

IN WAR-TIME

the top heat

suffice

be dispensed with, and when it will to apply bottom heat only from a gas-jet to

a well-covered vessel.

At

this point

we

are

principle in cookery

on the threshold of a great which will enable the novice to

I will try to express

escape

many

a familiar disaster.

the principle by roughly stating the great difference between a " sealed " ragout and a dish of braised meat.

In a sealed ragout, as I have already explained, we

fry our pieces of
their juices.

meat and vegetables so as to seal up When braising, on the other hand, we endeavour to impregnate our slices of meat with the
flavours of a kind of sauce which
is

called a braise

A braise or mirepoix is a strong and important blend of gravy, both animal and vegetable, while the liquid in a ragout is generally mere water or a stock of no marked flavour. In a ragout we keep the surrounding liquid out ^ in a braised dish the meat gently draws it in.
or a mirepoix.
;

I will give a simple illustration of braising.

One

night a friend asked

him to his house, The house stood right out in the country, and there was no inn within two or three miles. Knowing that, after making his round of the little property, we should have an hour or two to kill before we could get a train back to town and to a decent meal, my friend took with him from
to go with

me

which had been closed

for a

week.

The kind

as

it

of ragout called an Irish stew aims at giving flavour to the potatoes.

is

an exception,

ENTREES
London a neat packet
of

153

ham

sandwiches.

We un-

locked the cottage and opened the windows, but had hardly finished our inspection before the sky darkened

and a cold
sandwiches.

rain began to

fall.

We

unpacked our

They had been cut in the kitchen of a well-known hotel and no less than half-a-crown had been charged for them but those sandwiches looked extremely dreary in the chilly twihght. A happy thought came to me. In the kitchen I had noticed a small, shallow casserole. While my accomplice broke up an empty packing-case and kindled a merry
;

little

fire,

foraged in the pantry and the

store

The shelves were almost bare, but I stumbled upon a bottle of Marsala. The cork had evidently been first drawn nine or ten days before, but this was a powerful Marsala and was still fit to drink. I found also some tomato catsup perhaps a tablespoonful and a half, at the bottom of a screwstoppered bottle. We washed some plates and dismembered the sandwiches, putting each man's breadcupboard.

little pile, and forking together the ham. I chopped up finely a little of the fat of the ham and put it at the bottom of the casserole to melt. The melting was not entirely satisfactory, but it might have been worse. By leaning out of the

and-butter in a

slices of

kitchen

window

I easily

gathered three or four nastur-

tium seeds which were still young and tender. These seeds were minced up finely and were thrown into the casserole with a mixture of Marsala and tomato catsup. We laid in the liquid a slice of ham, and covered it with a crisp little curling leaf from a lettuce which was growing not half-a-dozen yards from the Upon the lettuce we laid more ham scullery door.

154

HOME COOKERY
lettuce until no

IN WAR-TIME

and more

this time the fire

more ham remained. By had been coaxed into good order and

was burning, or rather smouldering, quietly. The heat needed keeping up with bits of less dry wood, but we managed to do this without letting it blaze. Although the lid of the casserole fitted well, the kitchen soon grew homely with goodly vapours. When the pot was opened, our hearts began to sing. The escape of steam had been small, and the ham had played a fine game of give-and-take with the sauce. The sauce had cut away the grossness from the fat ham, and the ham had softened the sharp temper of the sauce. Two hours later, when we were safely back in town, we made the experiment of ordering for supper some jamhon braise au Madere but it was not to be compared with what we had eaten at a deal
;

table, with the rain

drumming on the
casserole lid,

leaves in the

windless twihght.

and had filled it with red-hot embers, our dish would have been an example of the truest braising. The reason why we did not use top as weU as bottom heat was that the result would not have repaid the extra trouble. The top heat is wanted for fairly large pieces of meat, or for birds, rather than for meat in sHces. Towards the end of the process of braising, which must be as long and slow as possible, the sauce or mirepoix is reduced in volume and the top of the meat appears above the surface, like the summit of Mount Ararat
If

we had reversed the

after the Deluge.

If,

at this stage, the

top heat

is

applied,

browns the meat and gives to it that very slight caramel-like taste of fire which is acceptable to the palate of every woman and of nearly all men.
it

ENTREES
In

155

my own

practice, I use the simple

all

method

of

braising just described for

kinds of materials and

on all sorts of occasions. It turns many a poor and dry little slice of meat into a dish fit for a queen, or even for a prima donna. Still, I know that braising is conducted on rather different lines by cooks far more intelligent and accomplished than I can hope to become. These cooks give directions which should often be followed, especially when one is dealing with larger pieces of meat or game which cannot be sliced or cut small. Melt a little bacon or butter or good dripping at the bottom of a roomy stewpan. While
it is

slowly liquefying,

mix together a number

of

little

which have been cut from a turnip, some carrots, a big onion and a stick of celery. The usual advice is to have equal quantities of dice from all four vegedice

have often varied them and have added from Jerusalem artichokes, from leeks, from Lay these sea-kale, from salsify and from tomatoes. dice to a depth of nearly two inches in the bottom of the stewpan, tie up a mixture of herbs in muslin and throw the little bag, with reasonable pepper and salt, on top of the dice. Before putting the meat to rest in this fragrant bed, trim it carefully and give it a dusting of flour. [Some pieces of meat will require tying round neatly with tape, in which case you will, of course, use a tape that has not been injuriously coloured.] Heap more dice on the meat. Put the pan on a fire that is not too slow, and cook the contents for twelve or fifteen minutes, the pan being covered with the lid. Taking a wooden spoon, you must occasionally prevent the dice of vegetables from sticking to the bottom of the pan, unless you have
tables, but I

dice cut

156

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

a wrist strong and skilful enough to give the right kind of a shake, which is better than stirring with a spoon. As soon as the meat shows by its brown colour that
the cooking has well begun, pour in some broth, or

broth and wine, or plain stock, or even water, using no more than will just drown the bottom layer of
vegetables.

Replace the lid and let the cooking go on for three or four or even five hours, according to the size and kind of meat you are using. Remember that while on the one hand the cooking must not cease for a moment, on the other hand it must never go beyond the gentlest possible simmering. A range with a coal fire is better than a gas-stove for braising, as a far
gentler simmering can be effected in a

pan drawn

almost away from

the

fire.

Further, I find a casserole

worlds better than any other vessel. If you conduct the braising in an oven, so as to benefit by the top
heat from the oven roof, you are advised by the best cooks to cover the top of the meat with a sheet of
greased paper.
I have never been in love with this is not always all one would like it to paper device, as I use a rather deeper casserole than is usual, be. with plenty of head room for the vapours and I do not find my little messes any the worse. Of course I take care to glance at the meat now and then and to

baste

it

with the liquid whenever

the braising
is

it

shows signs of

becoming too dry.

meat must be In a clean and much smaller lifted out of the sauce. brought to the boil and kept must be pan, the sauce
finished, the

When

at boiling-point for a few minutes.

Some hot water

or stock can be added

if

the original sauce has become

ENTREES
excessively reduced.

157

The

boiling will bring the grease

to the top.

As soon as the grease has been skimmed away, the sauce is poured over the meat, which is at last ready for eating.

With these two ways

ends, your shopping will
to a

of braising at

your

fingers'

become a new experience.

to confine yourself
will find yourself

Where you have been accustomed

narrow range
of materials,

you

yearning to

books will mutton, and liver, and sheep's tongues, and many another neglected cut or morsel. But, over and above
the books, ideas will come to you.

make new experiments. The cookerytell you how to braise the cheaper cuts of

Of course you will not braise greasy materials. Salmon, for example, does not invite braising. Yet

some kinds

of fish, after

ing as they took to water

turbot, which

they are caught, take to braiswhen they were alive. One

night I ate with some friends a turbotin, or chicken

had been braised in Chambertin. It was served with a cream of mushrooms sharpened by a few drops of lemon juice. This sounds extravagant but an almost equally good result could be cheaply obtained with a shillingsworth of fish and mushrooms and a few pennyworth of sound Macon
;

Ordinaire.

The housekeeper who will take the trouble stand the use of curry and the boiling of rice
travelled a long

to underwill

have
It is

way on

the path of wisdom.

important to go to a good shop and to get genuine

158

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

curry and to study the directions which the shopman

nearly always ready to give you. Some years ago an Anglo- Indian advised me always to cook curry powder in a pan with a little butter and flour just before using it, and I have never regi'etted following his advice. Too many cookery-books treat curry as if it is to be merely thrown into any appropriate concoction, as one throws in a small handful of salt. And not less important than the curry powder is the rice. Colonel Kenney-Herbert, who wrote several valuable books about cookery, learned in India the best way of boiling rice. His method is simple. Having prepared three ounces of good rice, by sifting it and washing it well, put it into a pan where a quart of water is already boiling. If you add to the water
is

the juice of a quarter of a lemon you will get a whiter

mess of
as
is

rice in the end.

Do

not oversalt the water,

usually done in England.

teaspoonful for
lid off the
is

the quantity

we

are discussing should be the maxi-

mum.
pan.

The

rice

must be boiled with the

Introduce frequently a wooden fork, such as

used for salads, and stir the rice so that it wiU move freely in the water and will not stick to the pan. In rather less than a quarter of an hour the rice should be cooked. Test it by taking a grain and squeezing it. The grain should be tender without losing its form. The moment you find that the boihng has gone
far enough, stop
it

by throwing

in a cupful of water.

Drain away all the water, leaving the rice in the pan. Put the pan back on a gentle heat and cover it with
a napkin, so that the heat will be retained while the moisture is absorbed. Give another occasional stirring, so as to

keep the grains well separated.

If

you

ENTREES

159

have performed this simple operation properly, and namely, the if you have used the right kind of rice Patna rice,^ which is white and large-grained and

shapely

you

will

be looking at a beautiful sight as

well as at a cheap

and useful

food.

Almost every kind

curried
dishes

of food can be curried.

And
for

lend

themselves to
a curry
it

economy

further reason.

When
it,

is

served, there ought

to be plenty of

but
I

should not be followed by

have been present at a long meal in which the curried entree was followed by a delicate roast and an admirable champagne of the 1900 vintage, both the food and the drink being ruined by the curry. We can quite properly lead up to a curry, through hors d'ceuvre and soup but we cannot follow it except with refreshing fruit or with a savoury A housekeeper with a as ardent as the curry itself. good instinct for her work will therefore serve curries
other cooked dishes.
;

not too often but,

when the

occasion comes, lavishly

else,

and to the exclusion of almost everything

saving both labour and expense.
I

thus

have found the following materials wonderfully good when they are curried: aubergine, beef, cauliflower, chicken, crab, eggs, most kinds of fish, mutton,

rabbits, cold turkey, turnips,

and

veal.

Although

a_

Salmis of
it

game

often figures in

menus

at restaurants,
1

is

too rarely met with in English

In 1911-12 a caterer, who wished to do the right thing, was found by a friend of mine to be buying both Patna and CaroUna rice; but he used the "Patna for Puddings" and " CaroUna for Curries " with lamentable results.

i6o

HOME COOKERY
cookery.

IN

WAR-TIME
roasted

home
it

It is essential to a true salmis that

should be

made
If

of

game which has been

first

beforehand.

you should follow the

directions about

to be given without having

roasted your game,

result,

you might produce an enjoyable

not be a salmis.

but

it

would

By

visiting the poulterer regularly

you and

be able to buy game as cheaply as meat, game, when worked up into a true salmis, will go along way, besides satisfying your reasonable desire And there is another for variety and distinction. respect in which a salmis becomes a money -saver. Let us suppose that somebody has sent you a brace of
will often

this

and that, after being served roasted, a fair amount of meat remains on the bones when they come back from the table. By buying and roasting one more small bird (not necessarily of the same species) at the cost of about a shilling, you can make a salmis Again, if you happen large enough for four persons. to have a httle roast mutton you may cut this up into rather thick pieces and it will so take the flavour of the game as to make the salmis quite good enough
birds
for six persons.

Here is the method. At the bottom of your stewpan put at least two ounces of butter and add a tablespoonful of flour. Cook them, stirring them all the time, until they melt together and take a good brown colour. Pour in very gradually a gill of stock and a gill of good wine. [I must explain that, if you are able to do it, the stock should be well made from the skeleton of another bird. The wine must be red wine if the flesh of your game is dark, and white if the flesh be light.] Next, add pepper and salt, a bouquet of herbs, two shalots (not cut

ENTREES
you have carefully cut the limbs and
insignificant size.
all

i6i

up) and the carcass of your game-bird, from which

the meat,

except such as could only be detached in pieces of

You do

not at this stage put in

is

the meat and limbs, but you boil everything that the stewpan for half-an-hour, taking care that
it

in

does

Then you pour the contents pan through a colander not a sieve so that the shalots and bouquet and bones remain behind. Pour the liquid back into the pan, and bring At the first bubbling, it once more to boiUng-point. drop in all the good pieces of game and withdraw the stewpan immediately from the fire. Squeeze a little lemon juice into the liquid, replace the pan lid without delay, and stand the pan where it will keep warm but will not even sinomer. The reason why simmeringpoint must not be reached is that everything by this time is cooked, because your game had been roasted It before you dropped it into the boiling gravy. would not do, however, to serve the salmis immediIt must stand on the warm hob or in a tin of ately.
not boil at
all fiercely.

of the pot or

hot water for half-an-hour longer, so that the pieces

of cold roast game may be warmed through by the surrounding gravy and so that they may become impregnated with the flavours of the wine and the herbs and the shalots and the condiments. The finished salmis
is

often served with a good decorative

no extra expense, each wing or leg or other good piece of game being placed on a rather thick piece of toast. The toasts are arranged on a very hot dish and the gravy, which is smooth and thick, is poured over them, with crimped shces of lemon encircling the whole.
effect, at practically

i62

HOME COOKERY

IN

WAR-TIME

In homely and unceremonious circumstances you

can apply the principles of a salmis to roast meat or to a mixture of roast meat with such cheap game A week before I began to write this as rabbits. book, I helped to eat a salmis of rabbit and veal which did not cost more than fourpence for each person, although the portions were ample and the finish of the
salmis was worthy of a professional cook.

be worth while to glance back over this chapter and to note the resemblances and differences in
It
will

the directions for the various stews, braises and similar

have told you of a stew in which about the solid ingredients are sealed by frying another stew in which the meat is not sealed but yields about some its juices and flavours to some potatoes braised meats which absorb the sauce in which they are cooked and about a salmis of unsealed but roasted After meat warmed up in a gravy and flavoured by it reflecting on these points, an intelligent cook will discern the why and wherefore of some of the most important processes and she will become more and more independent of those closely detailed recipes which have discouraged so many beginners.
preparations.
I
;

While

cannot include paper-bag cookery

great processes, I

recommend

it

to ladies

among the who wish to

are de-

do their own cooking

in flats or in very small houses.

The odours proceeding from a good kitchen

lightful at the right time

and

in the right place,

but
it

nobody wants the smell

of cooking,

however good

ENTREES
may

163

be, to invade a drawing-room or a bedroom. Paper bags certainly score so far as smells are concerned. It is also fairly claimed for them that they involve less labom*, and that the food cooked in them

loses little of its weight.

All the same, I

am

sorry

when I find anybody making a fetich of the paper bag. As Mr Soyer himself admits, cooking in paper is no novelty. The first act of cookery which I committed in my green youth was simply the \vrapping up of a
newly caught and cleaned fish in a sheet of buttered paper and the cooking thereof in a kind of oven roughly formed of slabs of stone by the side of a lake. From that day onwards I have loved fish cooked in paper, and I think Mr Soyer did a good work when he introduced his special bags made of a paper which is tasteless and odourless and harmless.

few red mullet will lend themselves admirably to paper-bag cookery, because this fish may be said to provide its own sauce when it is baked. From the liver of a red mullet there comes a gravy which no sauce cook could excel. Into a buttered bag you simply put the mullet with an additional large pellet

and a little salt. You cook the fish for about twenty minutes. The other kinds of fish may require more seasoning, such as chopped parsley, mushrooms, tomatoes and the like. A good paper bag will hold liquids also, and this means that you can use it even when you wish to cook a fish in
of butter

sauce or stock or white wine.

Directions for paper-bag cookery are usually given

with the bags and there

is

no need to repeat them

i64
here.

HOME COOKERY
I
is

IN WAR-TIME
absolutely essential and

must, however, remind the reader emphatic-

ally that the use of a grid

that disaster will follow the placing of a bag on a

solid oven-shelf.

you have no bags in the house, you can fall back on the method which good cooks used before we were born. Cut a sheet of white paper, of good quality,
If

into the shape of a heart.

Place the paper with the

point of the heart pointing towards you.

Having
it

on the right-hand side of the heart. Of course you will have greased the paper all over. Fold the left-hand side over the chop and twist the edges of the paper together where they meet. Bake the bag and its contents on a grid, in a hot oven, for a quarter of an hour. You can apply the same method to steaks, to veal cutlets, to kidneys, to liver and bacon and to all But get it sorts of cuts of meat and fish and game. out of your mind that paper bags can take the place You must not, for example, of all pots and pans. use them for cauliflowers or cabbages or beans or
say, a loin chop, lay

trimmed and seasoned,

artichokes or macaroni.

With the great processes well rooted in your mind, and with the paper bag for a change, you will soon be
able to contrive a markedly different entree for every

day in the month. And if you \vill master the rudiments of good sauce-making, and will grasp the
principles of garnishing entrees, I

make bold

to say

that you will be able to achieve a different entree for

every day in the year. This would be too great a variety, as it would rob you of the pleasure of repeat-

ENTREES
ing a favourite dish
;

165

but you might do worse than

ideal.

keep

it

before

you as an

Having

referred to garnishes, I will try very briefly

to guide your studies.

When you open

a serious

cookery-book by one of the great masters, you may be inclined to smile at the almost endless lists of dishes. On examining the recipes you will find that the variety is worked out from three opportunities. The culinary inventor's first opportunity lies in the great variety of materials, animal and vegetable the second comes through the variety of methods of cooking them the third (and this is the biggest of all) flows from the possibility of accompanying the cooked food with garnishes or sauces or a combination of both. When a housekeeper whose ignorance of cooking is almost complete decorates a plate of cold ham from a shop with a few sprigs of parsley, she has made a
;

true garnish.

When
;

she goes further, and arranges

is

squares or lozenges of toast around a hash, she

garnishing again

French chef surrounds a Poularde Wellington with twenty little pyramids of vegetables all different, or presents a fish in a sauce made of wine and mushrooms and mussels and prawns and asparagus tips, he too is garnishing. As soon as we call to mind the enormous number of greenstuffs, and gherkins, and shell-fish, and small roots (such as radishes), and vegetables, big and little, and tit-bits (such as the livers of fowls), and mint and horse-radish, and literally hundreds of other things, we must cease to marvel at the thousands of combinations which are defined in the great manuals
millionaire's

and when a

i66

HOME COOKERY
and we

IN WAR-TIME

of cookery,

shall cease to smile incredulously

when we hear that new dishes are always being devised. Of course I am now alluding to genuine practice, and not to the sham novelties of advertising restaurateurs.

We

shall best reach this book's goal of

if

economy

without stodginess

we continue

to invoke our prin-

ciple of using only those materials

which we possess
Let
it is

already in the larder, or can most easily obtain.

the chapter on Sauces be read, and, as
slight in a

necessarily

volume

of this kind, let

it

be regarded as

merely the beginning of study. Let the much fuller chapter on Vegetables be glanced through from time to time. Let the shelves of the pantry be scanned for
pickles or capers or bottled sauces or Italian pastes,

or remainders of the day's milk or breadcrumbs that

would otherwise be wasted. And then, with stewed or braised or baked or roasted or boiled or steamed meat
or
fish or

game

for the centre,

it

will

be easy to vary

one's

entrees cheaply,

pleasantly, healthfully

and

almost without end.

CHAPTER IX
VEGETABLES

Vegetables were defined by a pert child at an examination as " The food eaten by Vegetarians." " If the pert child meant to use the word " vegetables in its widest sense, so as to include nuts and grains,
he was right
tables as
;

but
it

if

his

thoughts ran only on vegethe definition

commonly understood,
.

had

precious little in

My experience is that vegetarians

do not eat ordinary vegetables much more largel}^ than do we who prefer a mixed dietary. I have tried vegetarianism, as a young man, with a predisposition in its favour, and have eaten at least a hundred vegetarian meals under the auspices of true believers.

On

the whole,
in

believe that vegetables are better

cooked
kitchen.

meat-eater's

than in a vegetarian's
fall

Should this book happen to

into the

hands of any reasonable vegetarian, I hope he will glance without prejudice through the pages next following, and give my recipes a trial as I have given
his.

English methods of vegetable cookery have been

denounced rather more warmly than they deserve. In so far as we have a national "high cookery" in
rivalry with la haute cuisine Frangaise,
it

is

based

upon our preference

167

for the finest materials simply

i68

HOME COOKERY
This preference

IN WAR-TIME
connotes a dislike for

presented.

sauces and garnishes which might distract the palate

from the prime joint or fine sole or freshly taken salmon which is being eaten. I do not intend, therefore, to blame our cooks for serving, with the best meats, plain water-boiled vegetables, provided they
prepare
fishes

them

carefully.

This

book,

however,

is

written in the hope that the most costly meats and

and birds

will

be bought

less frequently,

follows that a different touch

and it must play upon the

vegetables.

Unfortunately, as soon as they perceive our national

most young housewives fly too decidedly to the French extreme, and they cease serving plain vegetables almost entirely. Every pea or French bean must be saute every inch of celery must be au jus. Every cabbage must be enriched with butter, and every cauliflower must be hidden under yellow sauce. This is a grand error. When they are at their youngest and tenderest, peas and French beans are best in the English way, by which I mean gentle cooking in not much more vapour than that which they themselves will supply. [I do not mean the stupid and lazy practice of throwing every vegetable into about the same quantity of boiling water, without regard to its age and condition.] Celery too can sometimes improve a dinner much more decidedly in its natural state, with the cheese, than when it is braised in gravy, although both ways have their merits. A perfectly grown cauliflower is better plain than dressed, when it accompanies an entree or joint
defects,
;

VEGETABLES

169

which boasts a good sauce or gravy. And as for potatoes, if I were asked to recall the occasions on which I have enjoyed them most, I should pick out two without hesitation. The first was at a tiny cottage where small new potatoes were taken straight out of the ground, plainly boiled, and served with nothing but a little butter. The second occasion was when I lunched one day from four older but

sound potatoes baked not too quickly in the oven. With these I did not even eat butter. Salt was the only extra, although it would be uncandid to conceal the fact that half-a-bottle of good St EmiHon was emptied at the same time.

do not propose in this chapter, any more than in

the other chapters, to repeat what every cook knows

or can easily learn from the books already in her
possession.

So

I will

lead out with instructions for

is

preparing a vegetable which

too

much

neglected in

England, although it is tasty and cheap. I speak of the red cabbage. This vegetable is seldom found in England except as a pickle and, even as a pickle, it is more often than not eaten in a tough and indigestible Having bought a sound and fresh red cabbage, state. I tear off and throw away the soiled and untidy outside leaves, exposing a firm and purple orb. With a sharp long knife I cut this orb into two equal halves. These halves when laid open are a pretty sight, the white hearts and the purple crinklings of the close;

set leaves contrasting bravely.

It is safer to

purify
al-

the halves in salted water in the ordinary way,

though the

close

growth of the outside leaves usually

170

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
The next stage

protects the cabbage from vermin.

is

to cut out the tougher parts of the heart, where the

Then, with the same sharp knife, one cuts the cabbage into large thin slices. Two large Spanish onions are freed from their outside skins and are sliced up in the same way. Next, some cooking apples, of the same total bulk as the onions, must be peeled and cored and cut up into thin pieces. Meanwhile a casserole or stewpan should have been placed over a very gentle heat, with a lump of butter in it. Over the melted butter one gently piles up the slices of cabbage and onion and apple, moistening the whole with a good spoonful of vinegar and a small tumblerful of cheap red wine. If there is claret or Burgundy in the house which has been open a day too long, it can be used with the cabbage, and if it has begun to go slightly sour the quantity of vinegar will be lessened. A little brown sugar, some pepper and a little salt are to be added. The lid is placed tightly on the vessel and the cooking goes on
stalk
for four or five hours, as slowly as possible.

was growing into the cabbage.

Now

and again the contents of the pan should be turned over with a wooden spoon so that the butter is equally distributed. When the dish is ready, the onions and apples and cabbage will be found blended together in such a way that the apple and onion will hardly be recognised, while the cabbage will taste mild and
refined.
I serve this dish

with very thin

slices

from

a hot

ham

or from a baked piece of bacon, or with

When one can get into touch with a butcher who makes beef sausages really well, they go finely with this dish of red cabbage, although
sausages on a cold day.

they are

much cheaper than good pork

sausages.

If

VEGETABLES
the cabbage
is

171

not

all

eaten at one meal

and

ought

to say that the recipe just given will yield several

can be kept until the next day, as it is greatly improved by being warmed up once or twice. Indeed I have warmed up red cabbage five
it

pounds' weight

days running, and

it

got better every day.

first,

Some
and a

people dislike this dish of red cabbage at

but those who acquire a to the end sometimes become slaves to it and eat it too often, thus running the risk of getting tired of a dish which is delightful as a change though unsuitable

few dishke
taste for

it

it

as daily fare.

By

using a firm white cabbage and white wine,

instead of a red cabbage and red wine, the foregoing

recipe can be used for a less tasty but

more soberly

coloured dish.

In

Denmark one

often meets with

something between the two, the principal ingredient

being the darker coloured greens stewed in red wine.

Cabbages of the pale varieties lend themselves to many uses over and above plain boiling. You should study, in your bigger books, the famous dish called Perdrix aux Choux and apply it to such game-birds as are cheap and suitable. And you should take a pride in making good cabbage soup. And do not forget the cold slaw mentioned in my chapter on
Salads.

Cabbages, boiled and salted, were prescribed by

Hippocrates to cure colic

cians regarded
it

and many ancient physias a remedy against all kinds of ills,

;

172

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
I believe

from paralysis to the drink habit.

they used

red cabbage more than the other kinds.

Onions are mentioned over and over again in these pages. Indeed, if Divine Providence should be pleased to grant me a long enough life, I shall hope
to write the

Book

of the Onion.

It requires

courage
gross

to

make such an announcement, because many

and selfish persons have failed to restrain themselves from munching raw or pickled onions until, in the language of Dr Thudichum, they become " bearers
of exhalations objectionable to polite society."

The
which

grossness of low persons

is

not, however, a valid argu-

ment against the

they abuse.
It

right

employment

of the foods

would disgust an Englishman to see an Eskimo greedily devouring raw fat meat, but it does not follow that the disgusted Englishman ought to turn vegetarian for the rest of his life. A drunken navvy is an ugly and pitiable sight, but a temperate man is still justified in drinking a glass of young Moselle. I shall therefore make no more apologies
for the onion.

On

the contrary, I should like to

trumpet its virtues. One of the most exalted ladies in the United Kingdom, whose youthful bloom is envied by professional beauties twenty years her junior, makes a point of eating a boiled onion every night just
a high dignitary of the Church whose face after a long life of worries is as
I

before going to bed.

know

yeoman's because no day of his life passes without a dish of onions. Not that onions are remarkably nutritious. But nutrition is not everyOnions contribute to the system certain salts thing.
fresh as a

VEGETABLES

173

and other elements of inestimable value. It used to be said that these elements dispelled fatigue after long
marching or hard riding. It was also believed that onion soup would soon restore the equilibrium of a man who had drunk too much. I have no direct experience on these points, but I am persuaded that an onion is a good gift from heaven. The large onions from Spain and Portugal are best for use as an out-and-out vegetable, while the small round onions should be used in such entrees as a Poulet en Casserole. To prepare an ordinary dish of boiled onions, cut off the roots and tops of some Portuguese or Spanish specimens, remove the dark skin, and blanch them. Blanching is effected by putting the onions in a saucepan of cold water, and bringing the water to the boil. This water is thrown away, and the onions, after being rinsed, are laid in a panful of salted water which has just reached boilingpoint. If they are very large they ought to be cut in
halves before blanching.

They must be

boiled in the

second water for two hours, or a little less if they are small. By pricking them with a fork it is easy to know when they are tender. It is necessary to drain

them well and sometimes even to put them back in the empty saucepan and let them dry by the side of the fire. They can be eaten with a lump of butter and plenty of pepper and salt, or with white or brown
minced meat. good stock make a vegetable Onions stewed entree worth eating. The cook boils them quickly
sauce, or with hot finely
in

in salted water for about five minutes, then drains

in cold water.

They

are next laid in the

them pan with a

of beef

pint or so of dark stock

and about an ounce


HOME COOKERY
for

174

IN WAR-TIME

dripping or butter.

Like plain boiled onions, they

about two hours, stewing slowly by the side of the fire. Some cooks take a little cornflour and make it into a smooth paste with some tomato sauce, stirring the paste into the stock a few minutes before the onions are to be put on the table. Of course the stock is poured over the onions and served with them. I have often stewed onions in one water only and have found that, while retaining their goodness, they lose their strong smell as much as if they had been blanched. For example, I have broken up good onions and have gradually reduced them in good white sauce almost to a cream. By rubbing the puree through a sieve I have made it perfectly smooth and have completed the illusion by adding a table spoonful or two of fresh cream from the dairy. When this puree of onions is carefully made (either blanched or unblanched) it will be fairly stiff and has a handsome appearance. In the company of a French gourmet I have eaten it spread on toast, but most people would prefer it along with a well-grilled chump chop or a small tender steak.

must cook

Although or because potatoes are eaten nearly every day in the year by British people, I shall not say much about them. Housekeepers should be reminded not to peel them too deeply, as careless
peeling wastes not only the
best of its soul.

body of the potato but the

In performing the very

common

action of boiling potatoes,

see that the boiling is fast
.

we should be careful to I have known many a poor

VEGETABLES
Irish

175

boiling potatoes, simply because she

charwoman beat a highly paid English cook at knows this secret

by

instinct.

We

must

also try to learn the

gauging

of salt for varying quantities

little

and qualities of potatoes. " boy defined salt as the stuff that makes the

potatoes taste nasty

when your mother

forgets to put

any

in."

Salt omitted in the boiling cannot be re-

placed by simply sprinkling dry salt on the potato after

serving.

On

the other hand, an excess of salt cannot

possibly be taken out.

These are obvious truths but

they are too often ignored.

Steamed potatoes retain the nutriment better than boiled potatoes. They should be sprinkled with salt and steamed in an ordinary steamer placed at the top of a saucepan and covered with the saucepan lid. The water must boil fast, so as to generate plenty of
steam.

have an excess of good dripping in the house, wash and brush and peel some potatoes and boil them for about ten minutes in enough slightly Drain them, salted boihng water to cover them. powder them all over with fine flour, and lay them carefully on some melted dripping in a baking-tin. In an oven that is not too hot, bake them till they

When you

show a handsome brown

colour.

To

ensure their

being cooked right through, turn them over once or twice during the half-hour or so of their stay in the
oven.

Do

not

let

them come

to the table greasy.

Everybody likes a potato in the jacket or, as the French say, en robe de ckamhre. I have cooked potatoes of all ages and sizes in this way, from the
tiny

new potato no
is

bigger than a marble to the giant

which

just passing out of its prime.

Of course the

176
coats

HOME COOKERY
must be
well cleaned

IN WAR-TIME

must be nipped out. a pan with enough salted boiling water to cover them, to replace the pan lid, to bring the potatoes to the boil and then to let them simmer for nearly halfan-hour, until the pushing in of a skewer shows that

and all specks and eyes One method is to put them in

they are cooked.

The water

is

poured away, and the

potatoes are drained through a hot colander.

They

are placed once more in the pan, with a folded towel over them instead of the lid, and are set beside the
fire

so that the towel can absorb

any remaining mois-

Another way (which I prefer) is to clean the and then make the potatoes perfectly dry. Next, the skins are pricked and the potatoes are put into a moderate oven until they are cooked right
ture.

skins

through.

This sounds so simple that a novice will wonder how any cook could carry out the process wrongly. Yet I have seen more failures than suc-

For some reason, many cooks lay the potatoes on the lowest sheet or grid of the gas-oven, and they sometimes leave the potatoes baking as long as the big joint which they are to accompany. The result is that the potatoes come out with toughened skins and sodden insides. It is best to place the potatoes on an upper shelf and to cook them for not much more than an hour. The skin ought to be thinner than the shell of a hard-boiled egg and ought to come
cesses.
off quite as easily,

while the potato

itself

should be

delightfully

mealy right through. Fried potatoes must be fried in the true way
in the

that

bath of fat. Some people fail with them because they do not dry them thoroughly before immersing them and do not drain them when they come
is,

VEGETABLES
out of the bath.
rods like matches.
It costs

177

no more to cut them up,

little

before frying them, into ribbons or straws or

Many

cooks, after frying potatoes

put them into an air-tight box and keep them for warming up when they are required but I have never been able to congratulate them upon their achievement. When you have some cooked potatoes left over, you may cut them in slices a quarter of an inch thick and brown them on both sides in hot butter or good hot
in these pretty forms,
;

dripping.

By shaking the pan and tossing them

until

they jrmip you obtain the true pommes sautees (of course, from the French sauter, meaning " to jiunp ") which are one of the chief dehghts of home cookery and one of the chief terrors of the cheap little restaurant. By the way, the process in this paragraph should be contrasted with that described in the paragraph preceding it as illustrating the difference between true frying and mere browning. I shall pass over the forty or fifty more famihar ways of treating potatoes as explained in the ordinary cookery-books, and shall give only one more potato hint which can be applied economically in. all kinds
of different circumstances.

In the best restaurants

of all countries there is a dish,

unknown

to the nine-

teenth century, called a Filet de Sole Otero. To make it properly one must have a Dover sole, and shrimps

and

truffles,

and Parmesan cheese and butter on a

;

rather expensive scale

in so far as
it

so I will give the recipe only

fillings.

can be used with cheaper

without wobbhng.

Pick
lie

out four large and handsome potatoes which will

on
.

their

sides

Bake them as

directed in the last paragraph but three, but let the


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IN

178
skins

WAR-TIME

become a little tougher than I have recommended for an ordinary baked potato. Cut a neat oval in the topmost side of each potato and carefully scoop out as much of the inside as you can take away without allowing the skin to break or collapse. Mash up the insides which you have removed and give them a good seasoning of pepper and salt and butter. Now
begin to
refill

the skins with the broken potato.

After

putting in a small layer, add any suitable morsels of hot fish, or well-stewed kidneys cut up small, or anything else that will not be difficult to get out again when the dish is eaten. Put in more of the seasoned

you have some good and suitable sauce Sauce Mornay, for instance pour it in. When the potato is full, it is a good thing to sprinkle a little grated cheese on the top and to brown it under a
potato.
If

salamandre or under the deflecting griller of the gasstove. This " Otero " potato can be quite a cheap
little

luxury, and

it

gives great pleasure to those

who

have never seen it before. I once made it for some children and delighted them greatly by sending the
potatoes to the table with a sprig of holly upright in

the

first,

a cutting from a fir-tree in the second, a

tiny spray of bramble leaves of magnificent autumnal

hues in the third, and a chrysanthemum in the fourth. The children had been in delicate health and were known to have wretched appetites, but they ate their
potatoes

down

to the skins.

Sea-kale

is

dearer than potatoes, but you

buy

it

in

smaller quantities, and you ought,

best, to include
it

when

it is

at its

in

your menus.

famous cook

VEGETABLES
serves
it

179
it

with Sauce Mornay, but

is

better plain

(not over-boiled) with hot butter.

Salsify, either fried or saute or

a la creme, makes a
itself.

As there are England who have never tasted this racy vegetable, its appearance on the table arouses interest and gives you a chance of
dish good enough to be eaten

by
in

still

many men and women

greater simplicity in the rest of the dinner.

That very ancient vegetable, the leek, ought to be cultivated more abundantly in England now that we are determined to raise more of our own food supplies. It is in season throughout the months when the kitchen most needs this kind of thing. The Egyptians worshiped the leek as a divinity.
it is

Some people say

it is

that

a fine plant for the liver, and that

also valuis

able in diseases of the chest.

As the leek

milder

than the onion, nobody can reasonably object to it when it is properly cooked. The oldest recipe I can find directs us to take the mildest leeks we can get, to cover them with young cabbage leaves, and to cook them under the hot embers, serving them in a dish with gravy, oil and ^vine. I do not expect every reader of this book to rise straight up and hunt for cabbage leaves indeed I am not sanguine that many people will be willing to make experiments with leek cookery in any direction. Here, however, are some instructions for the treatment of leeks in a manner which seems unknown in England. I have the recipe from a Frenchman who told me that the dish was
;

i8o

HOME COOKERY
He

IN WAR-TIME
it

called a Flamiche.

said that

was a

special dish

whether he meant the north of France or the north of Europe, and it is only since beginning to write this book that I have
of the north, but I could not find out

traced

it

in the old cuisine of Picardy.

and cut them into you want the Flamiche. Lay them in salted water, throw in a few drops of vinegar, and leave them to blanch. Next day, prepare a paste as for " short crust." Put into a casserole a good ounce of butter and a dessertspoonful of flour. add less than a Let the flour take a good colour third of a pint of boiling milk. Chop up the blanched dice of leeks finely, put them in the casserole and let them cook with the milk and butter and flour for

Take four

or five good leeks

dice the night before

about thirty minutes. You will find that the cooking reduces the liquid, but you must have ready the yolk Roll out of an egg with which to bind the mixture. thickness of the paste to the a quarter of an inch, lay it in a shallow tin, leaving plenty of overlap, pour the cooked leeks in the midst, and fold the paste over, pinching the sides together. Bake it in the oven as you would an apple turnover. This Flamiche is a boon to housekeepers in families where Friday is
religiously observed.
It is best hot.

which have been split down the middle and soaked in cold water and a little vinegar for about half-an-hour, are drained and cut up and washed in cold water and transferred to a glazed casserole in which there is enough stock to cover them. With the lid on, a gentle stewing continues until the
leeks,

Trimmed

stock has almost

all

dish of stewed leeks

The result is a needing nothing more than salt

disappeared.

VEGETABLES
and pepper, with a piece

i8i

of butter almost at the

moment

of serving.

Young French

beans,

when served with

cutlets or

roast meat, are best in the plain old English way.

This vegetable, however, is so good that it should not always be considered a mere accompaniment to something else. Boiled and drained and then returned to the saucepan, in which some butter has been melted,

French beans need only a seasoning of pepper and salt, with perhaps a little lemon juice and chopped parsley, to become a vegetable entree of the best kind. For a change, this recipe may be modified by taking the beans out of the water while they are still not quite tender. They are then to be drained and put into a pan containing some melted butter. Flour is

them a dessertspoonful of flour to a pound of beans and the pan is moved briskly about over the fire so as to toss the contents. About a quarter of a pint of milk is poured in and the beans
sprinkled over

are

gently simmered until they are quite tender.

the yolk of an egg with a
it

Some people beat up

at the last

little

water and lemon juice and mix

well with the beans

moment.

While

do not wish to scold Englishwomen unreason-

ably, I cannot help telling a little story about the tasty

and

French as Haricots I know a lady who met verts panaches aux flageolets. with this delicacy in tins at the shop of a French grocer in Soho, named Barron. She was delighted
interesting dish
in

known

i82
with

HOME COOKERY
it

IN WAR-TIME
it

and, although the price was high,

was to be

seen on her table, even

season.

when

fresh beans were in full

Suddenly

it

disappeared from her menus.

On my asking for the explanation I was told that Madam Barron had given up business and closed her
shop, and that no other French grocer in

London

kept the same brand.

of the

This story

is

characteristic

want

of analytical faculty

and resourcefulness

which partly account for the monotony of English Such haricots verts panaches make a delightful dish, but they are nothing more than French beans cooked with flageolets. I admit that fresh flageolets are rather difficult to meet with in England, but the dried kind can be bought in hundreds of shops at from sevenpence to ninepence a pound. In its native state, the flageolet is simply a little green kidney bean taken out of its pod in early childhood. Of course the dried ones must be soaked in water overnight. As the lady I have mentioned was in love with the tinned delicacy, I will base my recipe on the assumption that only tinned and dry materials are available. Having soaked some dried flageolets overnight, put them into a saucepan with enough cold water to cover them and bring the water to boiling-point. Some herbs and an onion will improve them. Let them cook until they are quite soft and then drain them, at the same time clearing away all traces of the herbs and the onion. While they are cooking, open a tin of good haricots verts, rinse them, and finally mix them with the finished flageolets. Put the mixture in a pan containing melted butter and complete the cooking on the lines of the two foregoing recipes, either with or without milk and flour and yolk of e^^, accorddiet.

VEGETABLES
ing to your taste.

183
lines,

Working along these

a dish

of haricots verts panaches aux flageolets will cost

less

much

than the proprietary packings and

will taste far

better.

Some

earnest persons,

who have heard

that this

book is being written, are anxious that great prominence shall be given to dried peas. They are mostly men without palates, who believe every word of the advertisements which state that Messrs Growem and Sellem's dried peas are in every respect equal to young peas in June. I should rejoice with great joy if this were true. Unhappily, dried peas in January are certainly not as good as new peas in May. I will give the best directions I can for the use of dried peas, but the reader must not expect a superfine result. Soak a pint of peas overnight. Drain them, and rinse them in a colander under the cold-water tap. Pour them into a saucepan with enough cold water to cover them, and bring them to the boil. Add to the water some herbs and an onion cut into pieces. Cook the peas till they are tender. Should the water boil away too soon, add some more from a kettle. Drain the peas when they are tender, taking away the onion and herbs. Replace them in the saucepan with about two ounces of butter, a teaspoonful of sugar, and a seasoning of pepper and salt. If you have some really good stock, add about half-a-teacupful. Leave them on the fire just long enough for the extra ingredients to come well together and then serve the peas very hot. Eat them in a thankful spirit, remembering that better Christians

i84

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IN WAR-TIME

than yourself have sustained life on worse food than this. Fresh peas are so good that the simpler the cooking the better. As they grow older, they can be prepared with shreds of lettuce, with spring onions, and even with thin slices of tender
carrots.

Half-way between fresh peas and dried peas we have peas preserved in tins. The very cheap brands, especially those sold by oilmen and cut-price grocers, should not be touched with a long pole. Some of the cheap Belgian marrowfat peas in tins are much more satisfactory than smaller and finer-looking peas at higher prices. But, whatever kind you buy, never

warm them

in the tin.

As

certain tinned foods bear

you to stand the tin in hot water some housewives follow this course with tinned peas. They must not do so any more. The peas must be poured into a strainer and thorlabels instructing

before opening

it,

oughly rinsed with boiling water. It follows that, after such treatment, they cannot make supremely fine eating, but it is better to lose a little flavour than to take some poison into your system. When I find myself obliged to use tinned peas, I cleanse them and then warm them in the upper part of a double pan, with a sprig of mint if I can get it, and some sugar I cook them only until they atnd butter and salt.
are quite

hot

that

is

to say,

for

two or three

minutes.

Finding herself with a few scraps won from the remains of a cold chicken, and having in the house enough " short crust " paste to line a few pat tie-pans,
a clever cook could

make

novel tartlets of peas and

VEGETABLES
vent.

185

chicken to take the place of a more expensive vol-au-

When we come to the carrot we

are on shaky ground.

According to a cookery-book published only a few months ago by a writer of repute, Miss Florence B. Jack, the carrot is one of the most useful and most nourishing of vegetables, although it is not one which It is valuable both is particularly easy of digestion. for flavouring purposes in soups and stews, and also
for serving as a separate vegetable.

ishing than the turnip,

sugar,

is

rich in

more nourboth starch and

It is

and contains many valuable mineral salts. On the other hand Dr Thudichum, who was a learned man in spite of his pedantry, wrote " The most
:

singular feature in the history of carrots

is

that, al-

though they are eaten by

man

in various

forms,

stewed, boiled, as puree in soups and in ragouts, and

introduced into most bouillons, consommes, braises,

mirepoix,
etc.,

yet they are perfectly indigestible, and

pass through the alimentary canal almost in the same

shape as that in which they have left the mouth after having been chewed. Notwithstanding their indigestibility, they are not known to cause any digestive derangement. The great affection which cooks and diners have for carrots can only be explained by their colour, which makes an impression on the eye, and
their

flavour

and sweetness, which speak to the

palate."
I

think that

not agree

Dr Thudichum was wrong. And I do with another writer who holds that the
is

principal use of a carrot

to be grated fine and used

i86

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

as a dressing for burns or chapped skin. All the same, a diet of carrots and nothing else would not produce a

race of heroes.
Carottes h la crfeme
their best.

may

be considered carrots at
large
it is

famous French cook prescribes

if

and tender
small

carrots to this end, but carrots

possible.

better to use

Blanch them for a smUez them in butter on a slow fire, season them, moisten them with some stock, and, when they are half cooked, add some parsley and a little sugar if the carrots when raw seemed to have less than their proper sweetness. Give them finally a binding of yolk of egg mixed with a little cream, or with butter and flour well worked together, and serve
few minutes in salted water,

new

them
If

at once.

Carrots in the Flemish fashion should also be new.

slices, but before done they must be blanched in boihng water for about five minutes and rinsed in cold water. The skin can easily be rubbed off with a cloth. English servants too often remove the best part of the carrot by peeling it with a knife. Of course the top and the tail are cut off and thrown away. For a pound of carrots you will require just enough boiling water to cover them, along with an ounce of butter, half-a-teaspoonful of sugar and the same quantity of salt. The carrots must be simmered, with the Hd on the casserole, until they are quite tender. If you have not made the mistake of giving them more than the minimum of water, you will be well on the way towards success. Work together some chopped parsley with the yolk of an egg and as much cream as you can spare and add it to the carrots. Stir the mixture until it

they are large they should be cut in

this is

VEGETABLES
thickens.

187

carrots

The heat must be very gentle and the must not come to the boil on any account.

What has been

said about carrots can easily be

modified by the intelligent reader to meet the case of turnips, so long as it is remembered that the addition
of salt toughens turnips

and takes away

their colour.

The ordinary English cookery-books give directions for making mashed turnips or purees of turnips, of
both colours.

At

their best the yellow turnips can

yield a most useful mash. Great care should be taken to get rid of the water. Draining through the colander is not sufficient and the vegetable should be dried for a few minutes in the pan.

Turnip tops are useful while they are young.

their very youngest they are dehcate
in salads.

At enough to use

Although I have set out to preach economy, I hope that no reader will go too far in trying to use nearly every leaf of her Brussels sprouts. Some cooks merely remove those leaves which are actually diseased, and,
after cleansing the sprouts in salted water, proceed to

and to serve them discoloured and sodden like baby cabbages that have been racketing about all night. The proper way is to trim them until only the firm and hard part remains, which should be like a handsome, closely grown miniature cabbage, about the size of a walnut. They must be put into
boil

them

to death

salted boihng water, or, better

still,

in a perforated
until,

steamer over boiling water, and cooked

without

i88

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
become tender.
Half-

losing their firmness, they have

an-hour of boiling or steaming will generally be enough. If they are to be eaten with meat and gravy, they will be simply drained dry and served hot. If, however, they are required to accompany some rather dry meat, or to be eaten as a separate dish, you must put them back into the saucepan, having first melted therein one ounce of butter to every pound of sprouts. The butter must be very hot. The pan is kept by the side of the fire or over the smallest gas-jet and is shaken now and then during six or seven minutes. The saucepan remains uncovered from the beginning to the end of these operations, even during the first boihng. If you should boil the sprouts in a closed saucepan they would not keep their pleasant
colour.
If

Brussels sprouts are lifted out of the pan or

steamer before they are quite tender, and are dried with a cloth and dusted over with salted and peppered Each sprout must be dipped flour, they can be fried. in a mixture of egg and breadcrumb till it is coated all over, and the frying must be true frying in boiling As always with fried fat at least two inches deep. tit-bits, the sprouts must be drained on paper and not a moment must be wasted in piling them on a very hot dish and sending them straight to the table.

One

of the

cauliflower.

most remarkable of vegetables is the It was probably unknown in England

which

until after the death of Oliver Cromwell.

see

some

of the overboiled messes into

it,

When I many

cooks transform

wish that they had lived in the


VEGETABLES
Commonwealth's dour and
cauliflower can be digested
full

189

cauliflowerless days.

by

invalids

and yet

it is

of

points for

the most

enterprising

gourmet.

White and compact heads should be looked out for, as the yellowy or greeny specimens are much inferior. Cut away the thick part of the stalk, taking care, however, that you do not risk the falling asunder of
the branches.
Strip

away

all

the green leaves except

the innermost and very delicate-looking curls of green.

Let the cauliflower

is

lie for

at least half-an-hour in cold

little

water in which you have mixed a

to bring out the insects

vinegar.

This

and other vermin.

cannot be too careful on this point. restaurant which was reputed to be good, I once passed through an experience which turned me

[You In a French

Take the cauliflower out of its bath and rinse it well. Lay it in a steamer over a good volume of steam and cook it until it is tender. Or you can boil the cauliflower, in which case you will keep the water to make a soup
against
cauliflowers
for

many

years.]

for

Soups.
It is

example, the Soubise described in the chapter on Take great pains to guard against over-

cooking.
ideal

must never become a mush. hard to find a word in English to describe the in this respect. The French use the word
cauliflower
little

croquant, which suggests that the teeth encounter a

pleasant

resistance, so that the cauliflower is

crunched rather than bolted. Some people pour their sauces over the cauliflower. This should only be done when the cauliflower is of

bad colour or shape.

vessel.

It

looks best served naturally,

with the Hollandaise or other sauce in a separate

igo

HOME COOKERY

IN

WAR-TIME

Your cookery-book ought to give you at least a dozen ways of dressing cauliflowers. They can be done as fritters, or curried, or baked, or souffl6, or saut6 in little sprigs. One good and unfamiliar French method, although it sacrifices the desirable
firmness

and

prettiness of the sprigs,

is

to

work a well-

steamed cauliflower through a sieve so as to get a puree, and to add to this two eggs, some thick cream, about an ounce of butter melted in a cup, and some pepper and salt. The mixture is turned into a buttered mould and is cooked in a bain-marie. Or breadcrumbs and stock may be thickened in a pan over the fire, butter and well-broken cauliflower being afterwards mixed well with them. After the mixing, the pan must be taken away from the fire and the yolk of an egg stirred in, with pepper and salt. A plain cake-tin, greased and coated nicely with breadcrumbs, should be standing ready. Froth up the white of the egg and add it to the mixture. Pour everything into the mould and bake it in a moderately hot oven. This kind of baking is best done by standing the cake-tin in a larger tin containing hot water.

After about half-an-hour's baking you will have what

the French
it

call

a cauliflower

loaf.

The egg

will
It

make

very light and tempting to an invalid. served with or without sauce.

can be

For days of abstinence, or as a comfortable extra dish on a day when you are serving very little meat, it is hard to improve upon a good Choufleur au Gratin. Ha\ang boiled a good cauliflower, drain it well, break
it

into a

number

of sprigs, arrange these in a fireproof

dish, sprinkle over

better to use half

them some grated cheese Parmesan and half Gruy^re

and
it

is

VEGETABLES
some Sauce Bechamel.

191

Powder again with grated

cheese and some grated dry bread, pour some newly

melted butter over the whole and make haste to gratiner the mixture under a deflector. This is a good method. Perhaps, however, it is more likely to succeed in a French than in an English kitchen, so I will give an alternative. Put the cauliflower (not overboiled) in a buttered fireproof dish and pour newly melted butter over the pieces. Sprinkle the mixed
grated cheese, taking care that
it is

evenly distributed.

Pour on more of the butter. Sprinkle the finest raspings or crumbs of bread that you can get, all over, again taking care that the distribution is even. Again moisten with a little butter all over. Put the dish in the oven until the contents begin to show a shght browning and serve in the same fireproof dish. Certain Enghsh cooks proceed on almost entirely different lines, using water and flour and cream, but I think my two ways are better.

Crosnes, or Japanese artichokes, are getting cheaper

England every year, as we have learned that we can grow them easily and well. In my own tiny garden I once planted a handful in an idle moment, and was rewarded by getting a dishful of poetical little crosnes, with all the lustre of mother-of-pearl. Taken straight out of the ground, they have a better taste and a more delicate appearance than when they are bought in shops. As this is not exactly an economical vegetable, I never use it with a lavish hand. A few crosnes a la crime will give distinction to otherwise commonplace grillades. Or they can be served ^auVes au beurre.
in

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IN

WAR-TIME

They should be well washed in warm water to free them from any traces of soil and plunged into boiling water. Here the handy word croquant which I had to use in speaking of cauliflowers will come to our help. The boiling of crosnes must not go so far as to take away their croquant quality. After they are well drained, they can be laid in white sauce made with cream or milk and butter, warmed thoroughly and
served as a separate dish.

Spinach is easier to digest than Brussels sprouts and cabbages, except when it is old. Most people prefer to eat it only when it has been rubbed down into a
puree and enriched with butter or cream.
will

A fair trial
better

convince most palates that spinach

is

"en
by

branches."

Gouffe and other French writers prefer

to speak of this style as Epinards ^ I'Anglaise,

which they intend a rap at our Enghsh inelegance. To cook it in this way, we must wash our spinach well
in order to get rid of the grits,

and we must

free it

ought to boil it in a very small quantity of salted water until it is tender, and serve it very hot, without mincing or sieving, with a piece of butter on top. I have tasted spinach made up into a kind of loaf or cake, but the recipe was an extravagant one, requiring four eggs as well as butter and creajn, and the result was only
ribs.

from the coarser stalks and

We

moderately good.

Sorrel

may

better

still,

be cooked on the lines of spinach, or, you can gather it in the course of your

VEGETABLES
country walks and mix
it

193

with the spinach, letting the if A good way is to wash both vegetables thoroughly to cook them in a saucepan with quite a small quantity of salted water to drain the cooked leaves and dry them well to chop them up fine to put them into a pan with some melting butter and stir the mixture over the fire till they seem to have become perfectly free from moisture to work in a dusting of nutmeg, a dusting of salt, an eggspoonful of sugar, a dusting of flour and, if you can spare it, some cream, and to let this final mixture simmer for twelve or fifteen minutes. This cream of sorrel and spinach should be eaten with little fingers of toast, like almost all soft preparations.
spinach predominate
possible.
;

Cucumbers have been discussed

hors d'oeuvre.
I

in the chapter

on

should like to point out, however,

it

that they are sometimes to be bought large and cheap.

When

this happens,

is

a good thing to try

them

fried, or as a soup, or k la cr^me, or stuffed.

A cooked

cucumber is much more easily digested than a cucumber eaten raw. The seeds must always be scooped out and if this can be done before the vegetable is cooked so much the better. To fry them you will boil drums of cucumber, having added a little salt and you will take them out after vinegar to the water about ten minutes and rinse them in cold water you will dry them in a napkin and give them a thin under garment of flour and salt and pepper and an overcoat of egg and breadcrumb. The frying must be done
:

in the

deep bath of boiling

fat.

Or, having boiled

and drained them, you can stew

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As
for the

the pieces of cucumber in stock or gravy.

stuffed cucumbers, these should not be the scraggy

kind, curved Hke a bow, but should be short

thick.

and

You take
cucumber

off

the skin and boil the whole of the

flayed

in a fish-kettle or other long vessel for

ten minutes.

Then you lay

clear out the seeds.

open lengthways and This being a watery vegetable,

it

you dry it in a warm napkin. In the long trough which formerly held the seeds, you press a stuffing made according to what you have found in your pantry. The stuffing is better made of dark than of light coloured meats and should be as flavoury as possible. The first time I stuffed a cucumber there was nothing at hand but some potted beef and some tomato catsup and some breadcrumbs, but the outcome was not a disgrace. After filling the troughs, Some people do not there is a choice of two methods. rejoin the two halves but lay them in a fireproof dish well buttered and bake the two long pieces side by side, first putting breadcrumbs and a little butter all along the upper surfaces. Others press the two halves together and tie them with a tape in two places. Then they lay the cucumbers in a tin containing some stock. They cover the tin and put it in a moderate oven, occasionally taking it out and basting the cucumber with the stock. They cut and remove the tapes at the last minute and pour a good brown
sauce over the cucumber.
If you have the right tool for worming out the seeds without cutting the cucumber open, you can introduce the stuffing after the fashion of larding but
;

in small

kitchens

it

is

better not to attempt too

much.

VEGETABLES
all

195

Tomatoes have established themselves so firmly in Enghsh households that there is no need to say much about them. When you possess some beautifully ripe and sound and well-shaped tomatoes, it is best to put them on the table in all their handsomeness of form and colour. They can be eaten raw, like pieces of fruit, or they can be peeled at the table and sliced up with oil and vinegar and pepper and salt. Tomatoes which are not fully ripe can be sliced and fried, the slices having been coated with batter, or with flour, pepper and salt first, and egg and bread-

crumb afterwards. A handsome little entree is made by cutting the tops very neatly off some large and firm tomatoes and scooping out the pulp, afterwards filling them up with a meat stuffing. The pulp, freed from seeds, is worked into the stufiing so that nothing is lost. Care must be taken at all stages to avoid breaking the tomatoes. They are to be
baked, in a buttered fireproof dish, for a quarter of an hour in a moderate oven. Some cooks sprinkle breadcrumbs on the tops of the tomatoes, adding a
little

butter and some grated cheese almost at the last

finish off this entree

moment, and

under a deflector

or salamandre.

Although we ought to keep away from tinned vegetables as much as possible, I must admit that tinned tomatoes from a good shop are an enormous help to a cook in a small house. The peeled tomatoes I are wonderful value for the small sum they cost. and thanked heaven in emergency, often, an have the Italian people for this boon. A tin of tomatoes lends itself to the making of tomato soup in at least half-a-dozen good ways, and any resourceful person

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HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

can improvise a sauce for fish or entrees when a tin of tomatoes is at hand. Of course nothing should be left in the tin after it is opened. Any surplus should be kept in an earthenware vessel. Tinned tomatoes, merely peppered and salted and warmed up with a good piece of butter in a fireproof dish, are not to be despised.

Speaking broadly and generally, cold remnants of vegetables are to be treated with respect. A tidy housewife, with a passion for clearing up, may be inclined to throw away the single sprig of cauliflower, the half-ounce of mashed potato, the dozen or so of French beans which come back from the table. She must do nothing of the kind. Let her once form the habit of modifying her cookery according to the oddments in her pantry and she will find herself saving money and gaining efficiency every day. What will not do for hors d'ceuvre may do for soup, and what will not do for soup may add not only to the bulk but to the charm of a stew or a And let it be remembered salad or a savoury. that potatoes are not the only cold vegetables which can be fried.

know

a housewife

who

is

honestly bent on

thrift.

Yet her kitchen costs her

far too

much, simply because

she lacks the right point of view towards vegetables.

At her house, one

will find a delicious leg of

It is

lamb

cost-

ing a shilling a pound.

served with about half

the due proportion of vegetables.

The

result is that,

VEGETABLES

197

on a hungry day, appetites are satisfied with meat and vegetables averaging about tenpence a pound instead of with meat and vegetables working out Let vegetables at sixpence or sevenpence all round. therefore abound both in War-time and in Peacetime. They are natural, they are refined, they are healthful, and they are cheap.

CHAPTER X
ROASTING AND GRILLING

Roasting and

grilling

have been twin

still

glories of the

understood and well practised among us but roasting is almost a lost art in town households. When we speak of roast beef we generally mean beef baked in an oven. The Baked Beef of New England eats well but it is not a roast.
English kitchen.
Grilling is
;
:

one can learn to be a And even when roasting has degenerated into baking, an innate inIn stinct for the process will go nearly all the way. old-fashioned roasting it was customary to begin by keeping the joint thirteen or fourteen inches from the fire so as to draw out enough fat and gravy to form, a little later on, when the meat was brought nearer to the heat, a brown coat. In baking a joint the same principle should be followed. Modern cookery books
Brillat Savarin said that while

cook, one

must be born a

roaster.

generally advise the immediate introduction of the

meat into a high temperature

" sealing " in the juices.
it

for the

purpose of

This is a good counsel, but were prefaced by instructions to provoke a very slight preliminary cooking in order that the sealing may be done with what I may call the right kind of wax rather than by a

would be

still

better

if it

198

ROASTING AND GRILLING

another source.

199

scorching of the outside of the meat, or with fat from

Everybody knows that roasting. But, when the

done, the basting
of the
is

basting

is

essential to

good

sealing has been improperly

almost useless, because the surface

it.

meat does not take

Joints which are about to be baked should not

rest

upon the

floor

of

the baking-tin

but

upon

an ordinary
a gas-stove.

trivet,

such as one always receives with

Without the trivet, the lower part of the meat would be standing in grease and would become sodden.

Novices sometimes dust their joints over with salt them into the oven. This is wrong, because it hardens the fibres of the meat. The salting should be done when the baking is nearly finished.
before putting

With these few hints and warnings in your mind, you cannot do better than continue to roast or bake
in the established English

way.

Do

not believe
of

all

you hear

in praise of certain patent roasting-machines

I

or baking-boxes.

have tried most

them and

have given them away to curates for jumble sales. It is true that tough meat can be made tender in some of these contrivances, but they are stuffy. The ideal roast is a beast or bird roasted before a wood fire in

200

HOME COOKERY
air.

IN

WAR TIME
;

the open

and any illventilated cooking-box or oven works dead against

This
is

not a fancy

the best principles of roasting.

performed in most houses on a gas-stove. An old-world gridiron is better but it requires skill, especially in the management of the fire. Although very few readers of this book are likely to have a gridGrilling or broiling is

nowadays by using the

deflector

and a suitable fireplace, I must try to raise the banner of the ideal once more. Rough-and-ready teachers of cookery do not attempt to expound the inmost secret of grilling. They tell you to seal both sides of your chop or steak by exposure to a rather fierce gas-heat at the outset, and then to reduce the temperature and allow the meat to remain between the trivet and the deflector until it is cooked through.
iron

This process certainly turns out a very tasty little piece of meat, but it is more like a miniature roast than a true grillade. The proper way is to coat the

meat

freshly melted butter,

on both sides with good olive oil or and to grill it under a strong but not unruly heat, turning it with a small pair of
lightly

tongs four or five times each minute.

this turning is to prevent the

The

object of

browning

of the surfaces.

Tongs must be used instead

tool with

of a fork, because, in the

is

absence of a firm sealing, a pair of tongs

the only

which one can avoid wounding the meat and allowing gravy to escape. We must, however, be practical, and I do not press this best way of grilling upon those who are perfectly satisfied with the method usually taught because
:

ROASTING AND GRILLING

know that the best way could hardly be on a smaU gas-stove.
I

201
followed

We are giving less space to roasting and grilling than

to steaming
roasts

and braising and stewing, simply because

are rarely successful except

and griUades

when

they consist of expensive cuts of meat, and this book An exception someis against such extravagances.
times occurs as regards roasting, because
it is

possible

now and then to buy good game-birds at low prices. Much of the cheap frozen game is not worth cooking or
but bargains in fresh game are to be picked up occasionally. When they present themselves, because roasted birds they should not be neglected furnish materials for the cheap but distinguished salmis so fully described in the chapter on Entrees.
eating
;

heavy initial cost for prime meat, but they become cheap food provided that the consumers are content to flavour a large quantity of vegetables with quite a small piece of prime and
Grillades represent a

succulent beef or mutton.

Take, for example, the dish as an Entrecote h la Bordelaise. This is a grilled steak on which one spreads slices of blanched beef-marrow and some butter, with salt and pepper

known

and chopped shalots and parsley and a little lemon Some of the chopped vegetables and herbs are mixed with a glass of red Bordeaux wine and the whole plat is put to finish in a fireproof dish in a good oven. Of course you must not over-grill the steak in
juice.

the

first

instance, but let

it

be underdone.

[I

am

stating the rapid

and homely recipe rather than the

202

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

which would be given by a chef.] For a about two shillings on the steak and wine and sundries and a large cauliflower, four persons can be sufficiently though not lavishly served. By using potatoes and French beans or scarlet runners or mashed turnips or Jerusalem artichokes, the dish may be made to go even further, as the gravy and
directions
total expenditure of

sauce will sufBce to

make a

liberal helping of vege-

tables quite tempting.

and the various grillades associated with the conventional EngHsh breakfast, do not need describing here. Besides, I hope that the War may lead to the simplification of our English breakfast, and that Englishmen will drop the habit of requiring cooks to work for them elaborately at the beginning of the day. Devilled meats
Grilled kidneys, grilled mushrooms,
for luncheon or as dinner savouries are

on a different footing, and, when the Allies enter Berlin, I shall be happy to give to every reader who will ask for it a copy of my very own recipe for a dish called Seven
Devils.

This short section shall be closed with some directions for cooking a steak in a manner which partakes In my own kitchen this of both baking and braising.

method
so

is

frequently adopted and, nine times out of

ten, visitors say that

much

before.

they have never enjoyed a steak This way is not for hot weather.

Melt in an oval fireproof dish, two inches deep, a

bare ounce of butter.
butter

[We sometimes use a cocoanut in which the taste of the nut kind a special

ROASTING AND GRILLING

is

203

Cocoanut butter goes a long way, and half-an-ounce is enough.] Trim about a pound and a half of rump steak, but do not remove the good fat. Flour the steak on both sides and fry it, also on both sides, in the fireproof dish, on the top of the stove, until it browns nicely. Then simply cover the dish closely and put it in a good oven. Reduce the heat of the oven (if it is warmed by gas) as soon as you close the oven door. At the end of half-an-hour take out and uncover the dish. The upper side of the steak will have become darker. Turn the meat over. Add one tablespoonful of hot water, mixing the water well with the butter and gravy at the bottom of the dish. Cover the dish closely again and put it back into a slow oven for another hour at least, taking it out once or twice more
not suppressed.
to baste

and turn

it.

At the

last turning, salt

and

pepper both sides. Should the gravy be finally found scanty and sticky, it can be extended with more hot water. This is one more of the dishes which, although made from a prime and dear cut, may subserve economy. The cook who prepares it for the first time will be inclined to throw away a kind of liquid fat which will have formed in the cooking yet this fat is delicious and it makes the vegetables taste so good that not much meat is needed for each person. Mashed potatoes, or a puree (not sloppy) of turnips or Jerusalem artichokes, or a cabbage, or a cauliflower, each and aU lend themselves to moistening with the One does not throw away the liquor from liquid. good bacon, and it is just as wrong to throw away the liquor from good beef,
:

CHAPTER XI
SALADS
FULL-DRESS dinner, more than any other function exhibits the complexity of civihsation. In order to bring together the hundreds of items essential to the meal itself and to the service and surroundings, thousands of men and women have worked hard and skilfully. fisherPeasants have flogged olive-trees stooped men have braved the storm gardeners have and delved under broiling suns shepherds have watched their flocks under driving rain hunters have waited wearily for the whir of wings dairymaids have risen with the lark vignerons have fought the thousand enemies of the vine. To bring the dainties of the world to our shores, dock labourers have strained their backs, and stokers have almost melted away before ships' furnaces. Merchants have knitted their brows, shopmen have stood through long days amidst delicacies they will never taste, and boys whose hearts are on the battlefield or the high seas have trudged hither and thither bent under heavy loads. Bees have hummed in the hearts of flowers to build up the candles, or dynamos have buzzed still
;

more loudly to give floods of light. In Ulster, men and women have spun fine linen in Staffordshire and in many a German or Austrian town they have shaped and cut frail porcelain and thin glass. And these do not exhaust the great army which has toiled and
;

204

SALADS
moiled in order that half-a-dozen people
drink supremely well.

205

may eat and

In the midst of
nature.
It is like

all this artificiality

the salad, usually

served with the roast, has the charm of a return to

a picnic on the fourth or fifth day which has been feasting too royally, or it is like Marie Antoinette's Petit Trianon amidst the pomps of Versailles. Or, rather, this is what a salad ought to be. Unfortunately, English housekeepers often repeat with their salads the grand mistake which they make with their soups. That is to say, they try to work up a salad into a dish rich and elaborate enough for a complete meal, forgetting that it is almost always better as an accompaniment to something else. I have seen English salads which could not be explained on any other theory.
of a house-party

While a salad, in the middle of a long dinner, is a cool oasis of escape from the richness of cooked foods,
this is not its only attraction.

salad will help

down many

a dry slice of cold

otherwise offend the palate.

meat which would And, while pleasing

both palate and eye,

be also a valuable food. We know that nearly two thousand years ago one of the most famous of physicians used to eat the plant which we call a cabbage-lettuce nearly every evening
it

may

to induce sleep.

I often

carry out his prescription,

and and

find a cabbage-lettuce to be a
less objectionable

much more effective

soda.

As

for

nightcap than a whisky-andwatercress, its value is enormous.

2o6

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

Salad plants of one kind or another are obtainable in England all the year round at low prices and nobody has any excuse for neglecting them. If some of our

commercial
potatoes,

men would eat a and much more salad,

go with clearer
steps.

meat and they would come and skins and brighter eyes and quicker
little

less

A few weeks before the War broke

little

out, I wrote

some

notes on salad-making and they were published in a

Downman s Bulletin, which is These notes were reproduced by many newspapers in an abridged form and I have been asked to print them over again in the present volume. Here they are
periodical called

circulated privately.

L;

Wine and Oil

In ancient writings, both sacred and profane, oil and wine are linked over and over again. And in Italy,

even in this twentieth century, the wine merchant is still an oil merchant as weU. In England, culinary and edible oils have fallen among grocers and grocers in these days are more often concerned with " cheap lines than with hoary traditions of fine eating. Their
;
' '

salad oils

are generally blends of inferior oil with

the

oil

from cotton seed and various nuts.

the housewife
is

Now

who

saves sixpence on a large

bottle of salad oil

as foolish as her sister

who

saves

sixpence on a pound of tea.

of tea

If a bottle of oil or

a pound

were wholly consumed at a single meal, one could understand the housewife's wish to economise be;

SALADS
cause sixpence a day
is

207 But
:

nearly ten pounds a year.

a bottle of oil serves for

many

salads, just as a pound

of tea suffices for dozens of pots

and scores
is

of cups

and
is

it

follows that, for the sake of a farthing, a meal

being spoilt.
;

To

be exact, the farthing

not truly

saved because one must use more of poor oil or poor tea than of the better quality. The best oil better than the famous oil of Lucca or of San Remo and the best oil of is the oil of Provence Provence is that which finds its way to the markets

Bordeaux is a city of epicures because by reason of the finely educated palates of the merchants who are always tasting, tasting, tasting the almost innumerable growths and vintages of the Medoc and of the other wine-growing regions of the Gironde. This oil is pure and unmixed olive oil of the old kind, and there is nothing to beat
of

Bordeaux.

Bordeaux

flourishes

it

as food or as medicine.
oil

.prescribing olive

The doctors, who are more and more, should see to it

that their patients do not swallow a coarse blend of

oils

made from nuts and seeds. good salad means good oil.

It

means
;

also

good

and juicy lime or lemon. Wine vinegar is better than malt vinegar but it must be remembered that wine vinegar is strong and that the quantity used must be smaller than when malt vinegar
vinegar, or a fresh
is

chosen.

am

often asked to give

This, however,
is

my
art

prescription for a

salad.

an

and a science which

;

cannot be reduced to writing.

Salad vegetables vary

enormously in succulency and briskness

and the

2o8

HOME COOKERY

IN

WAR-TIME

born salad-maker is always changing his procedure. But, although nothing can take the place of an incommunicable skill and judgment, some rough-and-ready hints may be set down. In every house there ought to be a punier a salade.^ In France every peasant's wife knows how to wield one. A punier d salade is a wire basket, with a rather narrow mouth like that of an old Chinese ginger jar. After washing your cress and lettuce and other greenery, you drop the leaves into this wire basket and whirl it smartly round by the wire handle, thus causing every drop of water to fly out. It is because of the wetness
of their materials that

most makers

of salads

in

and water will never agree. Nowadays almost everybody knows that the leaves of a salad must be torn and not cut. I should hesitate to print so trite a precept if I had not had recent evidence that it is still disregarded here and there. In punishment for my sins (which are many and black, but neither many nor black enough for such reprisals) I was invited to the house of a lady with a local reputation for her salads. In a large and costly bowl I found a number of lettuces which had been cut up finely with a knife some hours before. To these there had been added hard-boiled eggs and tomatoes in quarters, and a drench of a strange cream. The mixture had a certain tastiness which was seductive, but the night watches brought insight and penitence. Not until he has tasted his salad plants can a saladfail
;

England

for oil

maker compound
^

his dressing.

Some

plants require

member

In speaking to Frenchmen, one should be caxeful to rethat a panier d salade means also a prison van, or " Black Maria."

SALADS
more
salt

209

than others, and this is not the only opening for tact. It may be said, however, that there is much " Let a miser put in the truth in the old counsel vinegar, a spendthrift the oil, and a wise man the salt." The wisdom of the wise man will be shown, for example, in giving much more salt to a tomato than
:

to a lettuce.

As

for the oil

and the vinegar, Englishthe mistake of pouring

little oil.

women

nearly always

make

out far too

that the
oil

much

vinegar and far too

They
is

are afraid that the oil will taste gross, but the truth

may

greatly exceed the vinegar

not assert

itself.

In some salads,

and still pepper and even

will

made mustard and a drop

should be added.

or so of Worcester sauce

Experiment alone

teach

how

and when and why these things should be done. To the old proverb just quoted, it is often added that a madman should stir up the whole. Madmen,
however, are better out of the way. When the salad plants are in the bowl, the dressing should be mixed in
a large wooden spoon or in a cup, and after
leaves
it

has been

beaten smooth it should be quickly poured over the and then there should be a bold and strong and rapid turning of the greenery over and over until every

leaf has

taken its share of the dressing.

until a

This operation

must be postponed
salad
is

moment

or

two before the

will

wanted.

Otherwise the plants

come
it

sodden to the table.

At

this point

my

voice sinks to a whisper,

and

is

to be understood that I
confidentially

am

speaking privately and

only.

and with bated breath to the gourmet The Almighty has given tis better tools for saladmixing than any wooden fork and spoon. In conditions of homely intimacy, a salad-maker, when all is ready,
o

210
will

HOME COOKERY
wash
his

IN

WAR-TIME

hands well and long as the moment approaches for serving the bowl. He will shun common or perfmned soaps and will use nothing but a soap made from olive oil. Having dried his hands perfectly on a warm, clean towel, he will finally whisk the cup of dressing into homogeneity, will pour its contents over the salad, and will immediately proceed to wring the leaves in the liquid as a washerwoman wrings clothes in soapy water. (How horrid !) In doing this, he will spoil the appearance of some of the leaves, but he will have a salad fit for the gods. When tomato is wanted, thin slices should be lightly sprinkled with dressing and added to a salad after the mixing with fork and spoon or with the hands. If they are added before, they will break and make the salad look messy. The young leaves of nasturtiums and the unopened flowers greatly improve an ordinary salad of lettuce and watercress. A few fully opened flowers of nasturtium may be added at the last moment for their appearance, and some of the seeds may be thrown in as well. [End of " Wine and Oil."]

To

the foregoing paragraphs I should add one or

spoonful of cream added to a salad of cabbage-lettuce is an improvement when the salad

is

two remarks.

served with lean beef or any other food which re-

quires a little fat.

[The cream would be a mistake

in a salad served with roast duck.]

Many

earnest students of table matters would not

agree with

my

advice for dressing salads.

Their

SALADS
method
is

211

accumulate their washed and dried and then to dust in the pepper and salt. Afterwards they take an oil-bottle in the They pour left hand and a wooden fork in the right. in the oil drop by drop, turning the salad plants so that all may be oiled. Finally, they add a spoonful of vinegar and proceed to " fatigue " the salad by turning
to

ingredients in a bowl

it

over and over.

When

little

pool of fine salad-dressing remains at

it

need not be wasted. Every scrap of greenery should be lifted out of it and the On hot days I dressing can then be added to a soup. learned from a muleteer it after fashion which I a use
the bottom of the bowl,

chop up a good piece of cucumber and mix it in the dressing with the crumb of a slice of household bread. This makes a wonderfully refreshing compound, like meat and drink in one. But it does not suit all tastes, and most of us are so placed that we should not find an opportunity of eating it.
in Spain.
I

A Cold Slaw is popular in Kentucky. Having blanched a firm white cabbage, the Kentucky cook cuts it up into long narrow strips, longer than matches but no thicker. Sometimes he mixes in some strips He adds (though of blanched celery, equally thin.
this
is

not indispensable)
fat

tablespoonful

of

the

melted
in

which

is

jdelded

by the
and

grilling or frjdng of

the breakfast bacon.

Finally he smothers the strips

serves

thinned

mayonnaise

the

"Slaw"

cold.

212

HOME COOKERY
salad

IN WAR-TIME
bought, the

When
often

plants

are

minimum

quantities which can be purchased to advantage will

make

too large a heap to be eaten on one day.

is

Instead of wasting what

not required, the surplus

should be used for soup or in some entree.

recipe

has already been given for watercress soup.

lettuce is excellent.

Braised

CHAPTER

XII

SWEETS AND OMELETTES

An
is

earnest person

grieved to
it.

who has seen the plan of this book know that sweets are not to be dis-

couraged in

man who

[The earnest person happens to be a hates sweets with his whole soul, but one

must charitably acquit him of selfishness and insincerity.] To some extent he is right. It is beyond doubt that most grown-up Britons would be better in health and temper if puddings and pies and tarts and cakes and meringues were more rarely seen on their For children it is a prudent as well as a kindly plates.
course to provide sweetstuff
largely
;

but older people are the

worse, in nine cases out of ten, for consuming

them

and frequently.

Sweets, in spite of this warning, cannot be omitted

from a cookery-book.

As, however, they belong to

that branch of cookery in which the English are

strong, I do not doubt that

most

of

my readers

could

teach
head.

can teach them under this my limitations and describe only a few sweets which experience has vindicated at little homely dinners for both men and women, and I shall prefer to speak of those which can be served either as sweets or savouries according to the

me more
I shall

than

therefore recognise

flavouring and seasoning.

213

214

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

Pancakes are nearly always popular. I have sometimes treated them as savouries rather than as sweets

by introducing piquant
fish or

little

choppings of meat or

vegetables instead of preserves or powdered

Such garnishes should be very sparing in quantity and should be separately heated so that there shall not be an instant's delay. They must not be too moist. A pancake costs less than an omelette, but can be nicer as a vehicle for savoury morsels.
sugar.

Although
difficulty of

omelettes,

owing

to

the

well-known

making them without breaking eggs, will be out of the programme of the thrifty as a rule, occasions may arise when they are justified. A
present of eggs

may

arrive from a country friend, or

little

eggs

may

be cheap for a

while in the shops, or

an invalid may have to be coaxed regardless of expense. I cannot do better than transcribe the directions for omelette-making from the little book by Mr Peter Gallina, already referred to. Mr Gallina owes
part of his success to his practice of inviting his

customers to make their way down into his kitchens any morning, just before the busiest moments of
lunch, to see omelettes

made by
:

professional cooks.

His advice

is

as follows

" English people nearly always

omelette.

fail

to

make

a good

Yet

this is a dish

pare, once the right

"

Have a pan

of

way is hammered

which anybody can preknown.

steel.

After making

an omelette, never wash the pan with water, but wipe it immediately with a clean cloth.

SWEETS AND OMELETTES

" Plain omelette.

215

Put a small piece of butter in the pan, on a hot stove or fire. While the butter is coming to a froth, whisk two eggs (whites and yolks together) in a basin with a little salt and pepper. When they are well mixed, pour them into the pan. As soon as the bottom of the omelette begins to set, shake the pan vigorously. Then let the contents settle flat again (which will require only a few moments) and the omelette will be ready. A hot plate must be With practice you can learn at hand to receive it. to give the pan a last shake in such a way that the omelette will fold itself neatly over without your
touching it. " Omelette au Fromage. This is made like a plain omelette, with two differences. First, you must mix some grated Parmesan cheese with the eggs before

and secondly, you must sprinkle some more Parmesan on the finished omelette. " Omelette aux Fines Herbes. Mix your fines herbes (or chopped parsley) with the eggs, then proceed exactly as if you were making a plain
cooking them
;

omelette. " Omelette Lyonnaise.

Chop an onion

finely

and

cook it in the butter till soft. Pour the beaten eggs on top, and complete as usual. " Omelette Portugaise. Cook apart some tomato in butter. Spread it, hot, on top of a plain
omelette. " Omelette aux Rognons.
sheep's)

Cut a nice veal

dice.

(or

one

kidney into small

pan.

Cook the

dice, in

butter, in a separate

Add

a teaspoonful of
it,

Madeira.

Then prepare a
inside."

plain omelette, open

and put the kidney

2i6

HOME COOKERY
we
should.

IN WAR-TIME
us return to sweets

We have wandered away from sweets into savouries,

as I said

So

let

by

way

Kirsch.

au Rhum and au For the first, warm the jam, and proceed as " for a kidney or for a tomato omelette. For " flaming
of Omelettes aux Confitures,
omelettes,

mix a small teaspoonful

beaten
eggs in the

of

castor sugar

with

the

first

instance
it

proceed as for a plain omelette.

fold the omelette,

When

is

and made,

pour over it a tablespoonful of rum, dust some more castor sugar over the top, and apply the match. The plate must be very Should your rum be too much "below proof" hot. warm it a little beforehand and it will take fire

more

readily.

easy to make, provided that there is no weakening from the standard for frying in a deep
Fritters are

bath of
deep.

fat

that
If

is

to say, a bath nearly three inches

This fat must be very hot at the moment of dropping in the fritter. To make sure that the fat is boihng, it is a good plan to test it with a tiny portion
of batter.

the fat be hot enough, the batter will

rise instantly to the surface, with a brisk frizzling.

As
to

to the composition of the fritters,

you can apply

them the principle which has just been stated for pancakes and omelettes ^that is to say, they can be

either

banana and apple and apricot and orange are known to everybody, but these do not exhaust the possibihties. I have made fritters with almost every kind of edible. Pieces of chicken, of smoked haddock, of cold fish, of cauliflower and even of young and dehcate turnips are
sweet or savoury.
Fritters
of

SWEETS AND OMELETTES

worth eating in
fritter

217

Indeed one can take a collection of choice odds and ends and decide which shall be hers d'oeuvre and which shall be savouries according to the general complexion of the dinner. Some menus would be well introduced, for example,
form.

by

a hors d'oeuvre of sprigs of cauliflower

and

oil

and

vinegar.

Other menus would be more satisfactory with no hors d'oeuvre at all, but with the same cauliIt goes without saying flower worked up into fritters.
that the fritters must not be greasy.

a cook must beware of putting too

the fat at the same time.
I

To prevent this, many fritters into

have already pointed out the importance of absolutely boiling fat, and it is obvious that, if too many raw cold fritters are suddenly introduced, the temperature of the fat will fall to such a point that the batter and frying-fat will commingle and the result will be a heavy and greasy little cannon-ball instead of a golden-brown bubble. I have sometimes made very smaU fritters containing sections of a juicy lemon, altogether unsweetened. A pinch of salt is sprinkled on them at the moment of serving and they are used as a garnish to fish or entrees. I ought to add, however, that everybody cannot be depended on to like them.

really

wholesome sweet, suitable

steamed pudding

for

young and
in a basin

old, is the boiled or

made

with flour, breadcrumbs and chopped suet and an eg, with a httle milk and some flavourings. Lemon pudding, marmalade pudding and ginger pudding
are excellent,
well

and the recipes for making them are so known to everybody that I need add no more

2i8

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
flour

than point out the superiority of

to

and breadcrumb

unmixed flour. The other kind of steamed pudding, made by lining a basin with a thin sheet of dough and covering it,
with sections of apple or other lid (or with the margins of the dough-sheet folded over), is another valuable addition to a cheap and wholesome dietary. This method can be used for meats as well as fruits, alafter
it

has been

filled

fruit,

by means

of a

dough

though it would then become a homely entree rather than a savoury, as it is a dish substantial enough for the whole meal of a hungr}^ man.

do not recommend the frequent use of jellies, custards and blanc-manges, made from the contents Towards the end of the nineof low-priced packets. teenth century such things began to be bought much too freely, with the result that many of the housewives of to-day do not know how to make jelly from a calf's There foot or to prepare an old-fashioned custard. and the is no royal road in either of these matters truthful spirit of the little George Washington does not inspire the advertisements which assert that custards and jellies made from the cheap materials in packets are as good as those with which the fatted When I calf and the clucking hen can provide us. see a jelly or a custard in an ordinary house or at a
I
;

seaside hotel

And yet jellies and custards ought to rank high among our sweets. JeUies
heart sinks.

my

flavoured with wine, and custards with or without

stewed

fruits, are

too honourable to be parodied from

the wholesale grocer's laboratory.

SWEETS AND OMELETTES

When
the art of

219

light pastry has been acopened to a multitude of good things. Pastry need not be expensive. The substitutes for butter which are made nowadays from cocoanuts and other nuts should be tried for pastry. A few experiments will be necessary, and a failure or two must not cause discouragement. These are no days for the most expensive pastes, such as the puff paste, which requires a pound of butter to a pound of flour. On the other hand, it is a mistake to starve the pastry too much. I am persuaded that a certain style of English pie crust has done almost as much harm as drink. Indeed it is a cause of drink. It provokes indigestion and bad temper, and brings so

making

quired, the door

is

much discord into the home as to drive out of it those who have the means to go elsewhere. I have seen
on a working man's table a meat pie which was to be by an apple pie. His wife's excuse was that, having the pastry and having the oven hot, it
followed

was only natural to make the two kinds of pies at the same time. Both were served hot. Good materials had been used, but with so little skill that the pastry made one wish for plenty of elbow-room and a coalhammer. The husband was a builder's foreman, with a little clerical work to do in the afternoons which was a trial to him. It is not to be wondered at that he left his wooden hut three times that afternoon for a soothing dram at the " Three Jolly Bricklayers."

With good

pastry, every stage of a dinner can be

improved, from the hors d'oeuvre to the sweets. [I do not mean pastry at more than one stage each day.]

220

HOME COOKERY
tartlets, filled

IN WAR-TIME
paste, one can

When there is a tiny remainder of

tiny
filling,

make

with potted meat or any other tasty

to serve cold

among

the hors d'oeuvre or hot

as a savoury.

Little crescents of light pastry

may

be

thrown at the last moment into suitable soups. Fish can be cooked in pastry. As for entrees, there are dozens of ways of presenting meats in light pastryshells, which should be less stodgy than the meat turnovers sometimes given to schoolboys when they go out for a day's ramble. Pies, filled with meat or birds, or ground-game, or a mixture of these with
vegetables
;

with fresh

fruit,

or with fruit preserved

are worth

according to the directions in the introductory chapter

all

these are

learning to

known to everybody and make really well.

Open
filled

tarts

can be

made

in the English fashion

and

with inexpensive preserves. The jam should not be dried up by too much heat and should be spread over the paste only a few minutes before the

baking

is

concluded.

An

apple tart in the French style

it

is

a pleasant change.

To make you must have what is called a tart ring, about one inch deep. Having buttered the inside of the ring, you roll out a sheet of pastry about a quarter You should prepare the pastry of an inch thick.
as for " short crust," using less than half-a-pound of
butter, or butter substitute, to the

Lay

the sheet of pastry over the ring

neatly

home

all

round so that

it

pound of flour. and press it makes a shallow

SWEETS AND OMELETTES

circular receptacle with perpendicular sides.

221

the top edges, not quite close.

Trim Of course you will

not be doing

all

these things without having placed

the ring on a baking-tin.

is

called a flan.
it is

some things
filling will

round case of this kind A flan admits of many uses. For best to bake it empty, so that the
[In suggesting
it

not be dried in the oven.

empty, I ought to warn you that the flan might lose its shape if you did not pack it loosely with some dry objects, such as haricot beans, which can be taken out after the flan has set.] For the French apple tart you will not bake the flan before filling it. You will take some pulp of apples which
that you should bake

This is made by cooking some apples with butter and sugar in a small pan until they subside into a pulp. You must not use the pulp until it is cold. Prick all over the bottom
the French call apple-marmalade.

a good handful of biscuit crumbs, and then add the pulp until it is filled to within about a third of an inch of the brim. Next, pick out a fine and sound apple, peel it, core it, and cut it into about sixteen crescent -shaped pieces, like the thinnest sections of an orange. Arrange these sections so as to overlap one another in a long waving
of the flan, sprinkle in
it

curve over the whole surface of the pulp. The flan and its contents must now be baked at a good heat On until the pastry is seen to be properly baked.
taking

from the oven, carefully remove the ring and the apple tart is ready. Many French cooks add a little pulp of apricots a few minutes before the baking is finished, the pulp being smeared over
it

the apples.

do not recommend this course. If the apples lack flavour, I should add grated lemon rind
I

222

HOME COOKERY

IN

WAR-TIME
when making the

to the apples and butter and sugar

pulp.

[An ingenious cook can play many variations on this recipe. I have used a pulp of plums, cutting neat sections from large Victoria plums for the top layer, and, although I have not yet made the experiments, no doubt use could be made of some of the very cheap fruits which have been sun-dried or
evaporated.]

Junkets are interesting and easy to make.

They

have the advantage of setting more quickly than jelly when one cannot command the use of a very cold larder. A good junket should be smooth and firm. Less popular than junkets, but better, in my opinion, are the jellies and creams which can be made cheaply with the aid of Irish moss. This strange sea-moss comes from the most savage spots on the coasts of Connaught. I have used it in Connemara scores of times, and have only failed when I have used too much. Irish moss as received from the gatherers requires careful cleaning, because tiny shells and seacreatures lodge in
it.

Even when

it is

obtained at a
it

shop

it

should be well washed before

it

is

used.

does sulphur and iodine in a kind of natural gum, it is supposed to be a health-giving plant, especially to those persons whose chests are not

Containing as

strong.

Whenever

I see

some

of the wretched sheets

of gelatine

which are used

beef-tea jelly

in invalid cookery, I wish

its

that Irish moss might come into

own.

The

blanc-

mange and

prepared for the sick with

the aid of gelatine would often be far better with Irish

moss, which

is

used like gelatine or isinglass.

The

SWEETS AND OMELETTES

223

various gelatines, whether natural or prepared, are

overrated except as vehicles for better nourishment.

Stewed fruits are useful, but it is a pity to make them out of fruits which are good enough to eat in the natural state. I have eaten wretched stews of

expense my hostess could have given her guests a pretty basket of cherries beautiful to behold and far better to eat. The art of cookery lifts mankind above the
cherries with imitation custards
at less
level of the savage
;

when

but

it

does not follow that

we

are obliged to cook everything

on.

Millions of fine

we can lay our hands plums and pears and apples and
find a sugary grave every

blackberries
year.
it is

and raspberries
rule, let

As a general

no

fruit

be stewed unless

not quite good enough to eat.

As

for rice

dings, I repeat the

and sago and semolina and tapioca pudwarning that these soft foods are

dangerous because children are inclined to bolt them without the salivation which they demand. If they can be served with stewed rhubarb which has not

been stewed to death or with stewed apples or pears which retain some firmness, they will be swallowed Eaten less hurriedly and may be less objectionable. properly, they are immensely valuable to nearly all children and to many grown-up persons.

The

apple lends itself admirably to the

making

of

sweets and savouries.

When

the core

is

taken out

224

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

and its place filled with a little butter and sugar, a baked apple is excellent. Instead of butter and sugar you can use a mixture of butter and apple chutney, thus turning out a savoury apple, which is not unhke the curried apples familiar to some Russian housewives. Jam also replaces the butter and sugar
successfully,

where children are concerned.

Stewed prunes are good when the prunes are not too skinny. They may be eaten with a rather stiff

and creamy rice pudding, or the stones can be taken out and the stewed prune stuffed with cream or cream
cheese.

Cheese-cakes
as the

must not be encouraged

in

War-time,

quires good eggs

lemon cheese or curd used for and plenty of them.

filling

them

re-

good brands are not to be despised by thrifty persons. Tinned pears of the best packings
Tinned
fruits of

cannot easily be beaten by the fresh fruit. They are good enough to be consumed just as they are. On
occasions of ceremony, however, a piece of a pear can

be laid at the bottom of a champagne glass and enlivened with a teaspoonful of good raspberry jam, a few drops of Kirsch, a drench of thick cream, some frothed white of egg and a crystaUised cherry. Something similar can be done with tinned peaches and
apricots.

Preserved pine-apples are useful for

fritters

and

have also

fallen

back upon them

for

the

SWEETS AND OMELETTES

fruit

225
about to

salad

or

macedoine

which

am

describe.

Open a tin of cheap pine-apple chunks from a good shop and cut them into thin sUces with a silver knife and fork. If oranges happen to be cheap and sweet and juicy, peel two of them and break them into the
smallest sections, taking care to free

them

entirely

from the white skin and pith.

sections, but this is

In taking the pips

enables the
in.

out of these bits of orange you will have to break the

an advantage, as

it

orange juice to run out and the other juices to run

If

your party is to be large, buy also one of the inexpensive little tins of peeled Muscat grapes. Lay the grapes open with a silver knife and lift out the stones. If you have a sound and very ripe and juicy pear, peel and core and slice it. Put all these ingredients in a glass dish and pour over them the juice from the pine-apple chunks and the peeled grapes, mixed with a glass of sherry or, better still, a dessertspoonful of Kirsch or Cura9ao or Maraschino. A few minutes before the salad is to be eaten, add two bananas sliced into thin discs. With a silver spoon drench the discs of banana with the juice, but do not
break them
salad as

by too much

tinrning over.

Serve the

or with a little cream. This macedoine between twopence and threepence a portion, wiU cost but it is a distinguished as well as a refreshing conit is,

clusion to a dinner.

Going to Market " I promised to explain a good way of serving a cheap ripe Take a long narrow cake-knife with a pine-apple.
In the chapter called
'''

226
"

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

saw " back. Lay the pine-apple sideways on a large meat -plate and cut off the bottom at the point where the sides begin to narrow downwards. Then cut off the top, tuft and all, at the point where the sides begin to narrow upwards. You must perform both these amputations as cleanly and straightly as possible. Put the top and bottom on one side. You will now be looking at what I may call the trunk of
the pine -apple, or the central cylinder.

Thrust in the

sharp point of the cake-knife between the flesh and the skin and work it gently up until it comes out at
the other end.

Now

begin to saw backwards just

inside the circumference of the fruit so that

you

separate the flesh from the skin.

Take

care that

you do not break through the skin at an}^ point. If you have done the work properly, you will be able
to
lift

the whole of the peel in one piece clear of the

like lifting

flesh,

up a tube four

or five inches in

appear as a cylindrical mass exuding a great deal of juice which you must not lose. Turn this mass on its side and cut it briskly into thin Then stand slices without allowing them to fall apart
diameter.

The

flesh will

the mass upright and carefully encase it again in the tube of skin. Let it go on draining for some time and
finally collect all the juice in a clear glass or silver

few minutes before dinner, place the pineapple in the middle of an epergne or any other raisedup stand and carefully restore the tufted top so as to Bank round the fit exactly in its original position. foot of the pine-apple with any dessert apples and pears and oranges which you may have in the house. If you have guests, they will look at the pine-apple throughout dinner with the usual conviction that it
jug.

SWEETS AND OMELETTES

227

is not intended to be cut and yet, although you may have paid for it no more than some conventional sweets would cost you, they will be filled with reverence for your royal hospitality. At the proper moment lift off the top and the tubular skin and you will be able to serve slices of pine-apple with no mess or fuss. The juice, which can be touched up with a little liqueur if you like, will be handed round in the glass

jug or silver boat.

I remember explaining the buying and preparing and serving of a pine-apple, on these lines, to a lady who had a weakness for giving ceremonious little

dinners out of a slender income.

After listening to

me

suspiciously she replied, to our mutual discomfort, that

my idea was beyond

principal sweet

her means.
it

A few weeks

later I

heard of one of her dinners and

turned out that her

mille

had consisted
eclairs

of a very tastefully

arranged assortment of
feuilles

and hahas and

and petits fours from a well-known confecwhich had certainly cost her more than my pine-apple cost me. To round off a dinner with ready-made wares from a pastrycook's is a hauling down of the flag which no housewife should come to
tioner's,

without shame. Besides, a plateful of pastries recalls too vividly to the mind the rude remark of Thackeray, who, on being asked by his hostess which tart he would have, replied " I think, ma'am, I should like
:

a tuppenny one."
In French families, at vintage-time,
boil
it is

usual to

some chestnuts and to eat them with a glassful of the cloudy new juice. About the end of September the little wine shops and cafes exhibit placards

228

HOME COOKERY

IN

WAR-TIME

announcing " Sweet New White Wine." We do not make wine in England, although our forefathers did but it is possible, none the less, to it pretty well celebrate the wine harvest somewhat after the French fashion. When, in the course of your marketing, you
;

notice that large white grapes are cheap,

them. They will not cost a few pence. [On the day of my writing this they are threepence a pound.] Throw out any shrivelled or rotten berries and wring the juice out of those which remain. There are many ways of doing this. One
or

two

of

buy a pound you more than

good plan

is

to break

them with a wooden

pestle

and

afterwards put the whole of the pulp in a piece of

muslin, screwing
it

tighter until every drop of juice

has come out. The juice, in spite of its cloudiness, should appear on the table in a glass jug or decanter. As for the chestnuts, try to get the Italian kind with
only one inside skin. Wash the nuts, and, if you decide on boiling them, do so in any old saucepan. a pity to use a new one, as the chestnuts would soil it.] Or you can cook the chestnuts on an old over a good fire. Or you can roast them, as shovel
[It is

in the Cat

and Monkey

written
of cats.

by a man In some houses the

which was evidently who knew more of monkeys than

fable,

peeling of the nuts

is

done at the

table, each person doing his

own work.

Many Frenchmen crumble

the chestnuts into the

well with the grape bottom of a glass, This idea of juice and eat the mess with a spoon. grape juice and chestnuts is well worth carrying out
for,

bedew them

while a chestnut
it is still

is

not so nutritious as a Brazil

nut,

a valuable food when mixed with the

juice of grapes.

SWEETS AND OMELETTES

It

229

always be convenient to buy grapes and press them. At such times chestnuts can be made into a puree and flavoured with a little cream and vanilla. But I think they are nicest simply boiled or roasted. I shall always remember one bitterly cold evening in the Portuguese highlands. It was
All Hallows' Eve.

may not

The whole dinner

reached
filled

at

my

inn was

excellent

but

it

brought

me

a tureen

climax when a Gallego with magnificent chestnuts

its

in their skins, piping hot.

A
I

bottle of old Bucellas

wine was at my elbow and keeping alive.

had

little difficulty in

Nuts sumed.

at the

end

of a

meal must be sparingly con-

From

the standpoint of the theorist,

we

ought to expect the worst results from the nut-eating of some greedy people at Christmas. Nuts and dried fruit and a glass of port are a meal in themselves, so
that the

man who

indulges in

them

after

eating

turkey and sausages and plum pudding is really beginning his meal over again. Fortunately, Brazil
nuts are not at their best at Christmas, or the worst

might happen.

CHAPTER

XIII

ITALIAN PASTES

Eighteen years ago it was linked with a friend who held

of " cutlet for cutlet."

my

misfortune to be

stoutly to the doctrine

We

were transacting some

I believe

literary business together.

that

house say a dozen times well." And I do not doubt that his reminiscences of the hospitality which he extended to me say a dozen times in a cheap Italian restaurant are, to him, equally satisfactory. He used to take me to a trattoria called " The Flora," which has disappeared. Dinners at " The Flora " were cheap and ample and bad. Nevertheless, as I sat on a velvet seat and looked at the worst mural paintings that even a modern Italian could conceive, and drank pasteurised wines, I learnt a great deal about cookery and dinners. The hors d'oeuvre always made a good show, though they were too oily to eat. The soup, though poor, was
dined at

my

I " did

when we him

though common, was fresh and clean. mutton with the cheapest tinned The peas or French beans, would have made a convict and the leg of chicken, with barely half-anweep ounce of meat between the skin and the bone, and the salad dressed with cotton-seed oil, were even worse than the entree. Yet I was able to endure these dinners because of an interlude described on the menu as farinage. Sometimes the farinage was simply
hot.

The

fish,

entree, of frozen

230

ITALIAN PASTES

231

macaroni with grated cheese. At other times the white pipes were served in the manner of Naples
or of Milan.
nouilles,

On

other evenings

with grated cheese.

we had spaghetti, or And when the dinner

was finished off with sleepy apples and unripe bananas and thick-skinned grapes and sugary raisins, I always managed to walk home with the goodly memory of
the farinage triumphing over
the coarser food.
Farinage ought not to be served seven times a
at English tables.

my

horrid souvenirs of

week

On

the other hand,

it

ought not to

be ignored.

In the cathedral city where I was brought

up

there was an

admirable grocer named Dutton.

:

He was

an out-and-out Englishman

but he preferred

and among the exotic wonders of his window was a box of macaroni. The neighbouring duke, and the travelled ladies who were married to the bishop and the dean and the canons, bought macaroni now and then but they seemed to have an imperfect knowledge of its possibilities. They used to make macaroni puddings and nasty messes of macaroni and butter and cheese Also they were accustomed to serve a soup made of vermicelli and meat-stained hot water, which was supposed
to call himself an Italian warehouseman,
;
.

to

demonstrate the
such things alone.

inferiority

of

Continental

to

English cookery.
left

But the

citizens'

wives in general

to respect.

Macaroni and the kindred Italian pastes are entitled It is important to buy good qualities only.
in

At the Continental Stores

is

man who seems

to

Dean Street, Soho, there know a good deal about


HOME COOKERY
He
sells

232

IN WAR-TIME
all

macaroni.
angels'

pastes in

kinds of shapes.

For example, he has

tresses,

I will translate the Italian

shells,

and many other shapes of macaroni. These are cheap. At a higher price he has tubes of macaroni nearly an inch in diameter, into which one can push a small sausage
bulls'

eyes,

stars,

make the delicacy beloved of all on Easter Sunday. He keeps grated Parmesan If you ask this cheese and tomato pur6e as well. excellent person for some recipes he will give them to you. I must, however, recognise the fact that all my readers do not live in London and I will therefore give them a few hints about macaroni. Buy it at a good shop. Boil it quickly in plenty of fast -boiling salted water, with the lid off the pan. [Wipe it with a dry cloth before you throw it into the boiling water, but do not soak it or wash it.] While it is boiling, stir it with a wooden spoon so that it shall not stick to the pan. Test it by squeezing a piece between the
or a stuffing so as to
Italians
finger and thumb or by eating a scrap. As the various makes of macaroni differ one from another, the exact

time for boiling cannot be stated, but the rule is that macaroni must not be cooked to the point of sloppiness. As soon as it is cooked it must be well shaken and drained through a colander or a sieve. When it is dry it can be served with butter and grated cheese, or it

may be worked with a puree of tomatoes, or it may be served au gratin, or it may be used as a plain garnish
with meat, or
it

will

do as one of the ingredients in a

vegetable soup.

Nearly related to macaroni

is

the delicacy

known

ITALIAN PASTES
as gniocchi.

233

To make

gniocchi you will need half-a-

teacupful of semolina.

Mix the semolina

to a paste

with cold milk. Then put about a pint of milk on the fire in a pan and, as soon as it boils, gradually work
in the semolina.
until the milk

Let

it boil,

stirring

it all

the time,

and the semolina have come thoroughly together. Take it off the fire and place the pan in a cold place. When the mixture is cool, spread it on a
pasteboard to a thickness of rather
inch,
less

than half-an-

and cut

it

into squares.

Lay

these squares at

the bottom of a fireproof dish and sprinkle flakes of

butter and Parmesan cheese over them.
layer of the paste with

Add

another

build on layer after layer

more butter and cheese, and till you have nothing left. Pour some gravy or really good stock into the dish and put it into a rather quick oven. Gniocchi with

braised or stewed beef will go

down extremely

well.

Although

it is

the rule to cook macaroni in plenty

throw a large handful of it (not previously boiled) into my homely soups and let it cook for an hour or two. It seems to become beautifully tender and to show its best flavour when treated in this way.
of fast-boiling water, I often

Macaroni and spaghetti make useful and cheap extensions for most grilled and braised meats and, after packing potted meat or some other stuffing into boiled shells or tubes of macaroni, you can produce a charming dish by finishing off the shells or tubes in good stock, in a moderate oven.
;

234

HOME COOKERY
of the

IN WAR-TIME

most worthless grocers sell a macaroni of a dull grey colour, or of an unholy yellow of chemical origin. As I have been asked for the best way of treating these kinds of macaroni, I have pleasure in giving two alternative methods. You must either return them to the grocer and ask for your money back or throw them into the dustbin and make up your mind to go to good shops only in future.
;

Some

CHAPTER XIV
SAVOURIES

Nineteen hundred years ago the whole course of a Roman dinner was expressed by the phrase " Fiam
:

the eggs to the apples."

believe that

My memory

is

bad, but I

some modern playwright or

novelist has

given us a

new

version in the words: " 'Twixt the

Soup and the Savoury." The Roman gourmets probably began their banquets with some kind of hors d'oeuvre, made from eggs, and wound up with fruit. The eggs were often the eggs of peahens, or they were commoner eggs formed into sausages on a foundation of minced and spiced meats.

In these days
savoury.

many men have formed

the habit of

neglecting the fruit and of finishing dinner with a

As most savouries

are like hot hors d'oeuvre,

the dinner of a twentieth-century gourmet

may

be

compared with a musical composition, which satisfies the ear by beginning and ending in the same key. But, in a book devoted to the simplifying of our habits, I shall not expand upon merely toothsome savouries. I remember hearing a man say that, towards the end of a dinner, he usually felt that there was an odd corner of his interior still empty and that a savoury filled it very snugly. I have no sympathy with such a feeling. The idea that one must not rise
235

ERRATUM
Page
for

235, last

word
read

of line 2,

"Fiam"

"From"

236

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

from the table until one cannot eat a scrap more is I shall therehateful in itself and deadly in practice. fore mention only those reasonable and useful savouries which a housekeeper would be entitled to regard as part of the solid food with which to satisfy the reasonable hunger of those who sit at her table.

This chapter can be short, because hints have already been given in the discursive chapter on sweets for the adapting of many entremets as savouries. And in the chapter on Hors d'OEuvre
suggestions were

made which apply

to savouries.

Of
bit

all

savouries which are entitled to be regarded as

substantial parts of a nourishing meal, a Welsh rare-

comes

first.

To make

a good Welsh rarebit, I

good crumb. The extremely smooth cheeses which many provision Let merchants sell as Cheddar are much less suitable the cheese be finely grated. Then let it be put into a saucepan with one tablespoonful of beer to two ounces of cheese. A little pepper and some made mustard should be stirred into the cheese and beer
prefer a Cheshire cheese with a
.

over the

must never cease until the cheese becomes quite smooth and begins to thicken in the pan. A yolk of an egg, worked in at the last moment, is a great improvement. The cheese ought to be spread on strips of buttered toast, toasted
fire

or stove.

The

stirring

at the last minute.

The

beer does not taste like itself after being cooked

in this

way.

may

say, however, for those

who

SAVOURIES

237

object to beer on conscientious grounds, that milk can

be used instead, although the Welsh rarebit will not be

so satisfactory.

For a change, but rarely, I have used the white of egg (which was left on my hands after mixing in the yolk) b}^ poaching it and spreading it on the buttered toast, just below the cheese. I call this a Chester
Rarebit, not because
it

is

known

in Chester but in

memory

of

many

a grand cheese which I have helped

of the Dee.

Of course a poached egg on top of the cheese is a well-known addition to a Welsh Rarebit which thereby becomes a Buck Rarebit.
to eat on the

banks

au Parmesan is served with pride at many a highly ceremonious dinner. Yet it is neither costly nor very difficult to make. When eggs are at their
Souffle

cheapest,

have provided a Souffle au Parmesan at a twopence the portion. As it took the place of sweets and cheese, it could not be called a wild
I

cost of about

extravagance.

A
Many

buttered

souffle

dish

must

first

be prepared.

cooks use small souffle dishes according to the number of guests, but this is a wasteful plan, as some persons barely taste the souffle while others want a

second helping.

If

you do not possess a regular

your fireproof basins

souffle dish, use the thinnest of

or even a cake-tin.

Grate up an ounce and a half of Cheddar or Cheshire cheese with the same quantity of Parmesan. Many

amateurs use Parmesan only, with displeasing results. Take a small saucepan and melt in it an ounce of butter with half-an-ounce of flour. Stir them well

238

HOME COOKERY
gill

IN WAR-TIME

together and pour in a

of milk, stirring vigorously

comes together and almost shrinks from the sides of the pan. Lift the pan off the fire, and put in the grated cheese, with salt and pepper. Next, beat in thoroughly the yolk of an egg.
until the mixture, so to speak,

As soon

thoroughly incorporated v^ath the mixture, repeat the process with a second yolk. Somebody should be at hand, if possible,
as this
first

yolk

is

whisking the whites of the two eggs you have used and also the white of a third egg as stiffly as possible. Add the froth of egg-whites to the mixture and give
it

a light and rapid stirring, but do not waste time or

allow the frothing to subside.

the souffle dish,

filled,

Pour the mixture into which should not be more than half
in a rather hot oven.

and put the dish

The
of the

souffle will rise

up splendidly above the rim

remaining ethereally dehcate within, will show a handsome brown crusting on the outside. It must be served instantly on very hot plates.
dish, and, while

great group of savouries

of

is

comprised under the

require
special

name

canapes.

Many

of

these

purchases of material and I shall therefore pass them

over, with the exception of one

which

have often

made cheaply but to the great satisfaction of those who have eaten it on cold nights. I buy a large tin of cheap Portuguese sardines. With an ordinary fish
and fork I open the fish lengthwise and lift out the bones, aU in one operation. Of course I cut off
knife

the

tail.

Should the skin be coarse,

it is

easy to

re-

With a wooden pestle I pound the move flesh of the sardines in a bowl and then season the mass
this also.

SAVOURIES
with
salt,

239
little

grey pepper, a pinch of cayenne, a

I

Worcestershire sauce and perhaps some drops of any

other suitable sauce which

hand. Finally I pour the oil from the tin into the bowl, with some lemon juice, and work everything together by
at

may have

means of two fish forks. I make some rather large and thick squares of toast, using a loaf of light and open crumb and taking care not to overdo the toasting.
After spreading each square liberally with the paste, to a thickness of about a third of an inch or even more,
the savoury under a salamandre Sometimes I chop finely a little mango chutney and work it into the mixture. Indeed this savoury is flexible in design, and all kinds of things
I swiftly finish off

or deflector.

can be used up in it, including tiny choppings of cooked vegetables and flakes of cold fish.
Since the

War began, a lady to whom I gave the foreand successAt a decent grocery she bought for
it

going recipe has applied

fully to herrings.

intelligently

fivepence halfpenny a tin of herrings in tomato sauce.

The brand was a reputable one and yet the tin was quite large. After the bones had been removed, the herrings were pounded in their own sauce and a small quantity of newly melted butter was added, with proper seasonings. I did not taste the savoury myself, but those who ate it were persons of ordinary
fastidiousness

The squares were

and they are said to have been delighted. large and the quantity of fish on each was lavish, but the cost worked out at not much more than a penny a head.

Herring roes on toast are cheap and good savouries,

240

HOME COOKERY

IN

WAR-TIME
whom you
are

but they are not liked by everybody, and are only safe

when you know the

providing.

tastes of those for

and potted fish on toast go well. A cook with a good palate and with a knowledge,
Potted meat
instinctive or acquired, for combinations,

may

vary

the potted meat and the potted

fish in scores of ways,

sometimes moistening them with remains of sauces, sometimes pounding in vegetables with them, sometimes chopping up and adding pickles, sometimes finishing off the whole savoury au gratin with a top dressing of breadcrumb and butter and grated
cheese.

repeat in this place the suggestion that

little tart-

cases of short crust can be filled with

many

things

jam and lemon-cheese. Pastes of meat or vegetables suit the short crust admirably, as everybody knows who has eaten a good homemade sausage-roll. I had occasion not long ago to buy a bottle of fonds d'artichauts and could use only a few of them with my tournedos. I disposed of the rest in little tart crusts which almost exactly fitted the fonds d'artichauts. Each fond rested on a little bed of potted meat and cooked cauliflower. The meat and cauliflower were well pounded together, but the Hardly anybody will fond, of course, was left entire.
besides the familiar
fish or

need telling that I did not serve these tartlets at the meal in which the tournedos and artichokes figured prominently. [The fonds were not flabby.]

SAVOURIES
Some men
are selfish

241

enough to expect savouries

which force the cook to begin very delicate operations

when she has already served a troublesome dinner. They ought not to be encouraged. Nor should regular indulgence be shown towards those who are bent upon ruining their palates with snack savouries
with curry or cayenne and anchovy. True hospitality is shown more in giving people what they ought to have than in pampering them with what they think they want.
all

on

fire

CHAPTER XV
THE TABLE

No

dish

is

completely successful until

it

has been

found so by the man who eats it. Many a cook achieves a triumph of cookery in the kitchen, only to be speedily and bitterly disappointed by the news
that nobody at the table thought much of her performance. In great houses this disaster is often due
to the stupidity or laziness or spite of the butler or of

the maids

who wait

at table

but in small estabhsh-

ments

should never occur. A housekeeper, when designing a meal, should count the cost, not only in
it

money but in labour. I have seen very clever little menus planned out, which have broken down through
some shortage of utensils or through insufficient hands to serve the food smartly. The model housewife will take care that she has not only the fish and vegetables and meat demanded by her menu, but and she will be the glass and china and silver as well equally prudent concerning the strain on herself and
;

on her servants.

Throughout

this

book

of the housekeeper

who may

have kept in mind the case be sometimes single-

handed, except for unskilled help in the rougher work I will continue to deal with such cases. of the kitchen.
First, I

recommend

that no luncheon or dinner should

242

THE TABLE

243

include more than one dish of the kind which requires

a good deal of attention at the last minute. It would be great folly, for instance, to arrange for a soup which requires sippets of toast, and a fish which

demands a sauce reduced from its own liquor, and a roast bird with the full accompaniment of sauce and breadcrumb and gravy, and a salad, and a sweet
covered with a newly frothed white of egg, all in the same meal. With ordinary foresight, even a rather long dinner can be so chosen as to run quite smoothly.

An

electrical hot-plate

does not cost

;

much and

it

enables wonders to be performed

hot-plate the hostess
will

indeed, with a

who

is

a single-handed cook
will

not need to leave the room from the hors d'oeuvre

to the almonds

and

raisins.
till

But prudence
it.

make

up

for the hot-plate

you can buy

You
for

will

never

regi'et

a few modest purchases of

special pottery and china, such as little white dishes

poached or scrambled eggs, crescent-shaped salad plates, and tiny casseroles, with lids, in which each person can have his own portion of petits pois a la Frangaise or any similar dainty. At a total expense of not more than half-a-sovereign I have gradually brought together two or three dozen quaint little jugs for custards and oddly shaped plates and bowls

and jars which make all the difference at table. Most of these I have bought from costers' barrows, and some of them were picked up at a copper or two apiece in Portugal and in Spain and at village fairs in France and Italy. When these things are not in use, they make a handsome show on shelves in the dining-

244

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
and the candle-

room where they

light bravely.

reflect the firehght

The

finest table-linen is

not necessary every day

is

have a rather long dining-room table, not quite three feet wide, and to cover it with a long strip of coarse washable material in golden-brown or blue, with hemmed napkins made from the same stuff. I am out of my depth in speaking
in the year.

good plan

to

of textile fabrics, but I think I

mean

a sort of soft

having half-a-dozen sets of cloths and napldns aU alike, the colours can be varied
Instead
of

" crash."

to suit the flowers

and

foliage

and

special crockery

which

will

be displayed upon them.

Candlesticks,

with a safe mechanism against the guttering of the candles and the burning of the shades, are also well worth the smaU sum they cost. Last winter I fitted
the right mechanism into some
bottles

empty Benedictine and used them repeatedly at table. The

leaves,

bottles were twined with vine leaves, or ivy, or sprays

of

autmnn

and had a
or entree

fine

sturdy look in con-

Under soft lights many on its piece of homely pottery looks more tempting than food costing ten times as much served in a broad glare on expensive
trast with the white candles.

a very cheap

fish

china.

The writing of a simple menu means very little trouble, and, when the meal is over, the menu may be kept for reference and will often be found useful.

When

a hostess does not like the idea of a

menu

THE TABLE
because
it

245
tell

seems too formal, she ought to

her guests

or her family in a simple

and matter-of-course way

what dishes are about to be served. Now that dinners are becoming less stereotyped, these written or spoken announcements are more necessary than ever. It is unpleasant for everybody when sweets suddenly greet the hungry gaze of a man who has eaten the entree and sparingly because he expected a roast to follow it is no less unpleasant to find that you have eaten heartily of what you thought was the principal dish when all the time something still more important
;

has been provided.

this

The

best hostess of

my acquaintmy own

ance always begins dinner by some such speech as

:

" There

is

nothing for you but a vegetable soup

made from
garden
;

sixteen different vegetables out of

;

two chickens in the Kentucky way, with a hot corn pudding a bit of old and the fruit which you see in the Cheshire cheese middle of the table. We are going to drink some Brauneberger, 191 1, and some Red Graves, 1907, and a glass of Tawny Port with the cheese." The
a sole in white wine
;

guests

know

that each item in this short

menu

will

be brought to the table in liberal quantities and that they may pass by anything that does not suit them and freely take a second large helping of what they
like best.

These frequent references to hostesses and guests may seem out of place in a book about homely meals. They apply, however, to purely family life as well as A man who never to formal dinners and luncheons. shaves except when he is going to meet strangers

246

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME
;

and the ought to be poorly thought of by his wife wife who makes an enormous difference between
supposed to be but there are too many houses merely a jocularity where the ordinary meals must be called feeding-times rather than dinners. This is a sin not only against
is
;

passing guests and her own family " Feed the Brute " of censure.

is

equally deserving

but against economy. When the pleasures of the table are concentrated in the single pleasure of sating a good appetite with succulent and toothsome food, the eater naturally eats as much as he can
civilisation

put away.

The

true pleasures of the table, however,

Refine-

include delights for the eyes and the mind.

ment

is

the

enemy

of gluttony.

grudge a few shillings pence for flowers, must often disburse many times the total of these savings to buy extra ounces of fish and meat and sweet things. Take cheese, for example.

Housekeepers who for candlesticks, and a few

At a rough family dinner, the men cut and eat the cheese as one cuts and eats it at a wayside inn after but at a delicately three or four hours of tramping
;

served dinner one-fourth the quantity

is sufficient.

must not shirk the question

of Wine.

Speaking

for myself, I hate alcoholic excess with all the heat and force of my soul, and I should be glad to see the

consumption of ardent spirits cut down to one-twelfth At the same time I am convinced its present volume. that the moderate use of cheap, light, pure wines at luncheon and dinner is desirable in the highest degree. When all is said and done, the everyday cuisine of France is the best in the world, and this cuisine pre-

THE TABLE

247

supposes an accompaniment of simple table wines. In a Yorkshire town I was once invited to the evening

meal in the house of a wealthy manufacturer. At one end of the table there was a whole salmon at the other, two boiled chickens smothered with white sauce. I have rarely met a finer salmon or more flavoury
;

chickens

but,

instead

of

well-chilled

Chablis

or

we drank tea and cream with the fish, and, instead of Medoc or St Emilion or Beaujolais with the birds, we drank the second brew of tea and more cream. Later in the evening, the men warded off trouble by helping themselves liberally to whiskyor Moselle,

Hock

and-soda, while the ladies turned over the pages of a

religious

weekly and lingered fondly upon an

illus-

trated advertisement of a cure for indigestion.

habits are very wrong.

Such

Wine is barred
wine
I
is

in

many households through incorrect

estimates of the expense.

Now
;

it is

quite true that

if

much
book
by.

dearer than tea

in

and

any reader

of this

prefers " high tea " to a civilised dinner,

can only

bow my head
But
I

pass

me

wonder and let that reader have a word to say to those of

is

sounder tastes.
I

Wine

not so very dear after

is

all.

have noticed that where wine

omitted

all

kinds

of little extra solaces are forthcoming,

cost as

and these often

and
for the

much

as the wine.

By the

time one has paid

for lime juice

and soda, or

for ginger ale,

sweet biscuits or tiny cakes or chocolates that are produced to atone for the austerity of the beverages,

no money has really been saved. Sound red and white wines from France and Spain and Portugal and Italy and Algiers can be bought at prices ranging upwards from elevenpence a bottle,

248

HOME COOKERY
much
further.

IN WAR-TIME
but
is

A bottle of wine looks dearer than a bottle of beer,

it

goes

Again, beer
is

usually gulped

more than wine, and

often the ally of practices

which lead to indigestion. When a liberal supply of a cheap drink is at his elbow, many a man is tempted to " wash down," as the ugly phrase goes, his food
therewith, instead of masticating
it

thoroughly.

As

wine
it is

is

served in smaller and more significant glasses,

treated

compared with those in malt liquors causes wine to be more deliberSo I say once more ately and attentively consumed.
of flavours
as

more respectfully, while and colours and aromas

its

greater variety

that wine
I
sell in

is

not so very dear after

all.

do not recommend the strong wines which grocers screw-stoppered flagons. These powerful juices are said to have the merit of remaining good for many but their days after the stopper is first unscrewed
;

durability

is

too often attributable to some artificiality,

sterilising.

such as fortifying or
of wine,
is

All the same, I

must

recognise the fact that a bottle, or even half-a-bottle not entirely consumed at one meal in every

household, and I therefore

of getting out of

few clean bottles

recommend a simple way the difficulty. Keep in the house a in half or quarter sizes. When you
dinner,
fill

draw a cork before

a half or quarter bottle

with the wine which you do not propose to drink that day. Push in a good soft cork and put the surplus wine in a cold place if it be white, or in a warmer spot
if it

be red. On the morrow, or even some days later, the second portion will be nearly as good as the first. This advice does not apply fully to the more highly bred French and German table wines, but it is true of cheap

Burgundy,

Claret, Graves, Sauternes

and Chablis.

THE TABLE
A
bottle of

249
dessert wine,

some cheap but authentic

such as a Marsala, at about eighteenpence a bottle, shows full value for the money it costs. A quite
small glass of Marsala with the nuts will round off a

simple dinner admirably, and this wine

in cookery.
I

is

also useful

have referred once or twice, in earlier chapters, to the use I have made of Marsala when improvising tasty dishes out of chance materials.

Rum for omelettes, and Kirsch and Cura9ao and Maraschino for macedoines of fruit, have their place in good housekeeping. We should be slow, however,
to

make much

use of brandy except for the firing and

I

saucing of the Christmas pudding.

used to know a

mischievous matron

who

invariably included terribly

drunken

trifles

and

tipsy cakes in her

menus when

teetotallers

came to dine. The teetotallers almost always took a large second helping, but, as they were mostly lifelong abstainers, of course they had no means
knowing why the
if

of

stuff tasted so nice.

Still, it

was

not right to give them a pleasure which they would

have refused

they had known

its origin.

hostess cannot be sure that there will

And, as a be no pledged

abstainers at her table, she ought not to serve sweets

like these.

Further, they are not good in themselves.

to take a short cut to favour,
rest of the

They enable a bad cook

dinner.

and they often combine badly with the

^Next
I

to wine, the best table drink

is

good

Cider.

do not mean the aerated and sweetened cider, which is one of the most deadly beverages in the world,

250

HOME COOKERY
much

IN WAR-TIME
bottled without the
,

but the

cheaper and absolutely natural juice

of the apple,

weU fermented and

addition of water or sugar or gas.

Good, cold, fresh water is a drink which every reader ought to try, if he has not done so already. It pours well out of the rough jugs which the quarrymen of the Isle of Purbeck make in winter, and is worthy This drink is less of good tumblers or thin glasses. popular than it ought to be, largely because one gets
it

for practically nothing,

it

and very

little

trouble

is

taken to serve

in perfection.
it

undistinguished wine,
the

goes

to take the coarseness of

Added to cheap and down well and seems but it is the wine away
;

them.
let

enemy of fine wines and must never be mixed with As for ice, one should be shy of putting it in

drinking water.

When

very cold water

is

wanted,
it

the water-jug stand in a pail of ice until

chilled.

is

thoroughly

Lemonade
barley water.

freshly prepared from fresh lemons

is

not excessively sweetened

a good drink.

and So is

As

for the

very cheap large bottles of

satis-

so-called mineral waters

which are hawked round the

suburbs,
factory.

it

is

obvious that they can rarely be

Natural mineral waters are often good, but

rarely so good as the vendors

would have us

believe,

considering that they are almost as dear as cheap wine.

Although

many

people refuse

it

at night, because

it

keeps them awake, good coffee should be available

THE TABLE
at the
coffee.

251

end of most dinners and all luncheons. I say Although the English amaze French good housewives by their open-handedness with butter and cream and prime cuts of meat, they are niggardly in comparison with the French when it is a question of black coffee. For half-a-pint of black coffee it is necessary to use not less than three heaped-up teaspoonfuls of coffee, freshly ground.
Several experi-

mental purchases may be necessary before you hit upon the blend that suits you best, but I may say that there is no need to pay a very high price. I think you can do as well for a florin as for half-a-crown,
if

you

will persevere in the search.

The blend should

and a French

be bought in berries.
itself,

A small coffee-mill

you buy the coffee and when you go to buy them, you should ask the coffee merchant for the best advice he can give you. Always remember that you ought to use twice as much coffee for the morning coffee as for coffee at luncheon or dinner, because you will dilute the morning coffee with milk a little chicory improves
coffee-pot are best bought where
;

caf6 au
If

lait.

you find that you have made too much coffee, you can pour the surplus into a bottle, cork it well, and use it next day but do not let anybody persuade you into the false economy of trying to use the coffee;

grounds over again.

Frown upon

liqueurs.

One more economy. If any muffish and selfindulgent young bachelor has formed the habit of

252

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

dropping in to dine with you, do not hesitate to say that you suppose he will soon be coming round to bid you good-bye and that he must be sure to look you up the moment the War is over. In this way you will save money, while Lord Kitchener will gain a creature

who may, some

day, be turned into a man.

CHAPTER XVI
SOME BOOKS
I
:

AND A BOOK
said that

THINK

it

was
will

Sir

Thomas Browne who

do the most with books is the man who would have done the most without them. This The is emphatically true of cooks and cookery-books. men and women who turn cookery-books to the most profitable account are those who would make a fairly good show, simply through their common-sense and carefulness, even if every cookery-book in the world
the

man who

were burnt and scattered to the winds.

mention a few works on cookery but it is to be understood that I do not put forward my short list with any thought of disparaging the scores of excellent manuals which are not named in it. I shall confine myself to half-a-dozen of the books in my own culinary library, which is very small, except on the antiquarian and literary side. Some people are always buying cookery-books, especially such books as are merely written to sell. I find it best to use a few books only, each book expounding the doctrines and practices of a distinct school. When I am in doubt, I compare all the recipes for cooking the given materials, from the simplest to the most elaborate. One soon forms the habit of reading
I

am about

to

recipes as musicians read printed scores.

trained

253

254

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

musician does not need to sit down at the piano, but can inwardly hear the melodies and harmonies and rhythms of a composition which is put into his hands and, similarly, an intelligent and for the first time experienced cook can enjoy many a banquet of
;

unfamihar dishes by simply giving

printed page.

his

mind

to the

The cookery-book,
which
I prize

or rather the
is

most

work on cookery, "The Spirit of Cookery," by

1895).

the late Dr

Thudichum (London,

This

is

not
art.

a book of recipes, but is a kind of grammar of the Unfortunately the learned and laborious author used
too copiously terms and phrases which most readers Those who have not alwill not easily interpret.

lowed their early Greek and Latin to fade from their minds will find delight in Dr Thudichum's admirably But everybody has not kept precise expressions. up his classical studies, and I fear that my mention of "The Spirit of Cookery " must be regarded more as a tribute to the memory of an underrated man than as a recommendation of his book to practising cooks.

Passing over a bundle of ill-printed little books which I have bought in small towns abroad, I must

name
nearly

the big tome of Jules Gouff^ called

''

Le Livre
is

de Cuisine."
fifty

The

first

edition of this

work

now

years old, and I

am

therefore glad to

possess a revision published early in the twentieth century. Gouffe divides his book into " Cookery
for

the

Household " and

''

Grand Cookery."

He

SOME BOOKS: AND A BOOK

seriously,

255

expects the reader to take the work of the kitchen

and many

of his recipes

would be

useless

to the cook
first

who has

not thoroughly mastered the

Indeed I cannot advise the ordinary housekeeper to spend money and time on French works of this class, as it is necessary to learn almost a new kind of French and a very ugly kind in order to read them with profit. The fat volumes of UrbainDubois are easier for an Englishwoman to use. One may leave on one side the expensive work, " La Cuisine
principles.

Classique," but "

Cuisine d'aujourd'hui " and " La Cuisine de tous les Pays " are well worth having.

La

in

About twenty-five years ago a French lady living England lectured and wrote under the name of " Cordon Bleu." Her book, called " French Cookery for Ladies," is unfortunately composed upon an
its

inconvenient plan, but

practical value

is

high.

volume abounds in hints which the more solemn French writers do not give, because they think nobody needs them. "Cordon Bleu" perceived that the common kitchen-lore of France was little known in England, and her writings are valuable

The

little

chiefly because she bridges the gap.

Colonel Kenney-Herbert, whose earlier books were

sent out under the
his

pseudonym

of "

Wyvern," began

important contributions to the literature of the kitchen with a book called " Culinary Jottings for Madras." On his return to England he followed up
cookery-book by a
series of small

his Anglo-Indian

256

HOME COOKERY

IN, WAR-TIME

and finished his work with " Commonsense Cookery for EngUsh Households " (London, " Common-sense Cookery " 1894, and later editions). costs six shillings, and I recommend it strongly to the student who is independent enough to pick and choose
publications

among
little

its

generally excellent contents.

I
differ,

practice

In my own " however, from " Wyvern

attempts to state the proportions of all the ingredients in his recipes with an exactitude which a medical man could hardly
in

one important respect.

He

surpass in writing a prescription for a dying patient. When he was himself learning to cook, " Wyvern "

was often maddened by instructions to " add a little " of this or that, and he made up his mind that
his

own pages should be

it

vagueness.

Whenever
author
I
is

from such tantalising Up to a certain point he was right. is possible to write a recipe precisely, an
free

bound

to see that precision

is

achieved.

have myself, in an earlier chapter, reproached Sir Henry Thompson for speaking of " a sufficient quantity of baking powder " in an otherwise exact [Sir Henry Thompson, whose book I have recipe. already commended, was a medical man as well as a surgeon, and he knew that the baking powder which he recommended had a fixed composition.] Speaking
broadly, however,
liquid constituent
it is

impossible to set

down

in cold

print the exact weight or measure of every solid or

of

a dish.

Salt,

pepper, herbs,

and nearly all other common ingredients are of widely varying savour, warmth, piquancy, sharpness, sweetness. An ounce of butter and a gill of milk from one dairy will be rarely be found to have just the same richness as equal quantities of the same
vinegar, sugar

SOME BOOKS
products from another.

AND A BOOK
Even common white

257
flour

varies considerably in its characteristics.

When we
it is

come
than
meat,

to stocks

and sauces we perceive

like

at once that,

until such preparations are standardised,

idle to

measure them out

are

worse liquid drugs as

regulated

by the pharmacopoeia.
equally
variable.

Vegetables, eggs,

One mushroom differs from another mushroom in glory. One cooking apple from the tree in the middle may be worth two
fish

apples from the tree on the right or only half-an-apple

from the tree on the

left.

And

not only are the

materials erratic, but their carrying power often varies

with the weather, as everybody knows

who makes

his

own mayonnaise. " Wyvern " gave one

recipes which I

reason for his meticulous

to discuss.

am bound

He

held that

cooks must be furnished with exact directions so that

they could have no excuse for the unclean practice of tasting a mixture and then stirring it with the same spoon. In unison with all my readers, I abhor such a dirty habit and, if I had not been assured by housekeepers that it prevails in many kitchens, I should be disposed to treat it as almost non-existent. There is, however, a remedy much simpler than " Wyvern's." Every clean and decent cook keeps at hand a jug or a basin or a large cup that is not easily overturned, and, having filled the vessel with hot water, she places her spoon therein. When the time comes for tasting, she transfers a half-spoonful of soup to a teacup, or a dab of sauce to a saucer, or a morsel from a ragout to a small plate. The spoon goes back immediately into the hot water, while the cold cup or
plate quickly chills the liquid or solid enough for
it

258

HOME COOKERY
I

IN WAR-TIME

maintain that every good cook is number of dishes which she prepares, there being few exceptions outside roasts and grills and pastry and puddings. There is another reason why tasting is necessary in home cookery. Home, Sweet Home, is trying to the temper, and one is often thankful for the truth expressed in the beautiful song which declares that
to be tasted,

bound

to taste the larger

there

is

no place

like

it.

Still,

the

Home

is

better

than the Hotel, because its inhabitants can attain in it a closer adjustment of their little fads and weaknesses, and aches and pains. When a French chef in a restaurant kitchen sends upstairs a classical dish, he deserves no great credit for having produced it with hardly any tasting during the act of cooking simply
;

because a classical dish is of fixed constitution and the customer who does not feel in the mood for it can
choose something else instead. In

Home
is

Cookery,
providing.

however,

good housekeeper bears in mind the

of

peculiarities

those for

whom

she

There are many people, for instance, who would enjoy certain wholesome sweets if the sweetening were less lavishly introduced than is usual. A little while ago I ordered a Pouding Soufil^ aux Marrons It for a small dinner where only men were present. looked so much like a vanilla soufil6 that almost but, after an explanation had everybody refused it been made, the men ventured upon tiny portions and were delighted with the result. The pudding had been made with hardly any sweetening and it would have been better still with none at all. This was at home. A week later I gave similar directions at a restaurant and the result was a
;

SOME BOOKS: AND A BOOK

failure,

259

because the entremetier did not

know our

palates.

Again, the perfect housekeeper will remember the

state of health of her charge or charges.

mind the
class.

case of a

man

have in who has been accustomed for

I
first

nearly thirty years to eat in restaurants of the

After a serious illness he finds himself unable

;

to stomach dishes into which cooked butter enters

yet he has a detestation of invalid diet and plain

cookery.

His case

is

not a rare one and

it

should not

it.

be beyond the skill of a resourceful cook to deal with But, in such circumstances, one must begin by breaking away from the exact prescriptions in printed

manuals, and must correct one's subsequent innovations

by

tasting.
is

Tasting

not as simple as
rise

it

sounds.
likes

must learn to

above her personal

good cook and dislikes,

just as a tea-taster or a wine-taster learns to judge tea or wine for the suiting of palates other than his own.

Many a conscientious cook in an English kitchen, who has worked her way up from the position of a scullery-maid, wonders why her best efforts fail to
Through her tears she will protest to sometimes the parlourmaid that she " had " herself and that " it was beautiful." some of it
please certain guests.

The trouble
palate of a

is

that she has tested her work

of

by the

a peasant, making no allowance for enormous differences of physique and education. I am not alluding to the cruder faults, but to the innimierable little touches and fine shades which accumulate into all the difference between good and

woman and

bad cookery.

Where the

art of tasting has not been

acquired, I prefer the methods of

"Wyvern"

after

all.

26o

HOME COOKERY

IN WAR-TIME

After beginning to write this book, I met with a very

volume caUed "Cookery for Every Household," by Florence B. Jack. I took a slight dislike to it, as it had the appearance of having been bulked out on
fat

artful paper so as to

seem marvellous value

it
it

for three

and sixpence.

found, however, that

was an

excellent book; indeed

would be

difficult to

name

a more suitable volume for daily use.

are neither extravagant

The

recipes

and complicated on the one hand, nor bald and rudimentary on the other.

Space allows of
cookery-books.

my
first

discussing
of

only two more

"

The

them

is

book

of

Lady Clark

of Tillypronie."

The CookeryLady Clark dis-

pensed and received a great deal of hospitality in her long life, and she made it a rule to possess herself
of the recipe for every dish

which struck her fancy,

either for its novelty or for its excellent rendering of

familiar ideas.

She

filled

sixteen books with directions

which she had jotted down on envelopes or the backs of menus or any other scraps of paper that were at After Lady Clark's death the recipes were hand. carefully classified and printed in a six-shilling volume which nobody will regret bu3dng. At a first glance, it may seem that the book is even better than it is. One opens it with bright hopes of finding in it the masterpieces of all schools, but one gradually perceives that the tastes of Lady Clark and her husband largely dominated the choice of dishes to be described. Still, it is a book to buy.

The second

of

my

last

two books has not yet

SOME BOOKS: AND A BOOK

been printed.
Perhaps
it

261

has not even begun to be written. I am thinking of the book which I want every reader of my own wretched little essay to set about
compiling.
studies

These pages, in spite of their poverty,

may
such

at least stir

up

the disappointed reader to serious

in

and experiments

the

kitchen.

If

should be

my

too rich reward, I beg each newly fired

enthusiast to

buy without delay a strongly bound

book containing about five hundred blank leaves of good and durable writing-paper, with an aiphabetical index at the beginning or the end. And in this book let there be written down, one by one, every worthy recipe which has been successfully applied in the owner's

own

kitchen.

Let notes abound, correcting

my

gross

and the httle slips of better writers. Let a thousand odds and ends of market and kitchen and pantry and table wisdom be treasiured up and written down. Let any notable menu be transcribed into the book, with any quaint domestic happening, or episode of hospitality. And when this young century is old, and the War now raging is no more to our grandchildren than the campaigns of Wellington are to us when new men and new women have begun to eat new plants and new fruits with our familiar birds and beasts and fishes in new ways then who can say that the stout book with the five hundred leaves will not be counted more precious than any romance or poem of this generation ? So let the tome be bought to-day and let the writing begin to-morrow.
errors
; ;

This
I
I

crave in
at least

my

vanity

because thus, although

cannot myself write an endming book on cookery,

may

have caused one to be written.

INDEX

INDEX
Bread - crumb
in

steamed

Abstinence days, 91 Ambassadeur Creme, 97 Anchovy butter, 76

Apples, 223

Apple
220

tart,

French

style,

Apricots, tinned, 224 Artichokes, 55

puddings, 65 Bread sauce, 105 Broiling, 200 Brussels sprouts, 187 Buck rarebit, 237 Butcher, 40, 41, 44-46 Butter, 67 Butter, cocoanut, 68, 219 pats of, 80
Butters, vegetable, 6^, 219

Asparagus, 55

"

Baked

Beef of England," 198

New

Cabbage, 57 as in Denmark, 171

pottage, extemporised dish of, 26-28

Baker, 62 Baking powder, 62 Barley water, 250 Barm, German, 62 Basting, 199 Beaux restes, 17, 20 Bechamel sauce, 109 Beef, boiled, 89 Beef, ragout of, 142
Beetroot, salad
of,

Cabbage, red, 169, 170 Calf's-foot, 77, 218 Canapes, 238 Candlesticks, 244 Caper sauce, 105
Carrots, 54, 185, 186 Casseroles, 33
Cat-fish, 48

75

Beurre noir, 49 Blanc-manges, 218 Bones, 17

Cauliflower, 168, 188-191

cold, 75 Celery, 168

Bonne femme,
Bouquet, 145

potage, 98 Bouillabaisse, 99
Braising, 151-157 Brandy in cooking, 249

Cheese, 246 Cheese-cakes, 224 Chester rarebit, 237 Chestnuts, 227 Choufleur au gratin, 109
Cider, 249 Clark, Lady, of Tillypronie,

Bread, 63-65 Bread-and-butter puddings, 65

260

265

266
Cod, 47 baked, 126

INDEX
Entrees, 138-166
definition of, 138 variety of, 139, 165, 166 Espagnole, Sauce, 103, 106, 108

head often wasted, 122

steamed, 126
Coffee, 250

Cold meat, 140 Cold slaw, 211

" Cordon bleu," 255 Costers, 54 Cotelettes a la Maintenon,

122
Cotelettes a la Soubise, 11 Court bouillon, 135 bleu, 135 Creme de Sante, 84, 97 Cressoniere, Creme, 97 Crosnes, 191 Cucumber, 171, 211 cups, 74 fried, 193
stuffed, 194 to render digestible, 75

" Faire revenir," 141 Farinage, 230 Figs, 56 Fish, 117-137 baked, 123 boiled in sea- water, 122

consomme

of,

84

custards, 133 neglect of, 11 7- 120

pie, 133 poached, 123 potted, 50, 240

Curry, 157-159 Custards, 218

salad of, 131 sauces for, 123

signs of fresh, 47 soup, 99 steamed, 121

D
Dairyman, 65, 66 Double-cooker, 35 Dripping, 36, 93, 94
Dubarry, creme (cauliflower), 84, 96, 98

warmed up a
132

la Russe,

Fishmonger, 46
Flageolets,

182
,

Flamiche

Dutch oven, 123

"

Economy without Stodgi(hors

d'oeuvre),

NESS," 166 Eggs, 68

180 Flan, 221 Flour, 63, 64 Fonds d'artichauts, 240 Food fads, 21 reformers, 24 values, 19 Foundation sauces, 106 French beans, 54, 168, 181 cold, 75
(leek turnover)

French methods not always

best, 15, 168 Fried fish shops, 118 Fritters, 216 Fruits, bottled, 32 stewed, 223 tinned, 224 Frying, 35

Egg-boats

77 Eggs, substitutes

for,

68

to boil, 68, 69

Enamelled utensils, 34 English " high cookery," 167 Entrecote a la Bordelaise, 201

INDEX
Frying,
trees,

267

preliminary, 140

for

en-

Italian pastes, 230-234 Italienne sauce, 115

Frying, so-called " dry " and " wet," 141

Galimafree, 146 Game, 51

Garnishes, 165 Gelatine, 222 Gniocchi, 233 Gouffe, Jules, 254 Grape-fruit, 55

Jack, Miss Florence B., 185, 260 (see artichokes Japanese

Crosnes), 191

218 Jerusalem artichokes, 57 Junkets, 222 " Just as Good," 60

Jellies,

Grape

juice,

228

Gratin explained, 129 Greengrocer, 52

Grilling, 198,

K
Kenney-Herbert,
158. 255

200

Colonel,

Grocer, 58-61

H
Haddock, 49
Halibut, 49 Ham braised in Marsala, 154 cold, boiled, 78 Hare soup, 90 Hareng, filets de, 79 Haricots verts panaches aux flageolets, 181 Hash, 140, 148 Herbs, dried, 145 Herrings, 47, 124
roes, 239 broiled, 126 fried fillets of, 125 on toast, 239 Hollandaise sauce, 105,

Lamb, " Canterbury," 45

Leeks, 179, 180

Lemonade, 250

Lemon

soles,

49

Lettuce, 205, 212 Liver, braised, 115

M
Macaroni, Macedoine
115, 231 of fruits, 225

109

Mackerel, 49 Maitre d'Hotel, Sauce, 113 Margarine, 67 " Marmite," 27, 91

Hors d'oeuvre, 71-82

Hot

joints,

140

Hypochondria, 24

Mayonnaise, 114 Meat, potted, on toast, 240 Melted butter, 105 Menus, 244 Milk, sour, 66

Mince of flesh-meat,
Invalid cookery,
Irish moss, 222
9,

148, 149,

10

150 Mineral waters, 250 Mint sauce, 105

268
Mirepoix, 152

INDEX
diet,
1 1

Monotonous
of.

costliness

25
sauce,

Mornay

Mother sauces, 106

Mullet, red, 163 Mussels, 50 Mustard sauce, 105

Mutton, ragout

of,

144

N
Nasturtiums, 33, 210 Nomenclature in cookery, 138
Nouilles, 231 Nutrition not everything, 172 Nuts, 22, 229 Brazil, 24 salted, 79, 80

O
Oil, 32, 36, 206 Olives, 79 Omelettes, 214-216

au Fromage, 215 aux Fines Herbes, 215 aux Rognons, 215

Lyonnaise, 215 plain, 215 Portugaise, 215 sweet, 216 Onion soup, 173 Onions, 81, 172 boiled, 173 cream of, 174 stewed in stock, 173 Otero, filet de sole, 177 Over-eating, 25 Ox-cheek, 78

Paper, old methods of using in cookery, 163, 164 Parmentier (potato) soup, 96 Parmesan cheese, 232 Parsley sauce, 105 Pastry, 219 Peaches, tinned, 224 Pears, tinned, 224 Peas, 168, 184 dried, 183 tinned, 184 Pepper, 32 Perdrix au Choux, 171 Pickles, 33 Pine-apple, 56, 225-227 tinned, 224 Plaice, 49, 127 au gratin, 129 Potatoes, 169, 174 fried, 176, 177 " in the jackets," 175, 176 Potatoes sautes. 177 steamed, 35, 175 Pot-au-feu, 87 Potiron (pumpkin) soup, 94 Predigested foods, 22 Provision merchant, 57 Prunes, 224 Pudding, steamed, 217 Pumpkin (Potiron) soup, 94

R
54, 80 Ragouts, 140, 144, 152, 162 Red cabbage, 169, 170 Red mullet, 136 Rice, 157, 158 pudding, 223 Roasting, 198 Rock salmon, 48 Roux, 144

Radishes,

Palestine Creme, 57 Pancakes, 214 Paper-bag cookery, 22, 162164

Sago pudding, 223

Salads, 204-212 Salmis, 52, 159-162

INDEX
Salsify, Salt, on
1

269
soubise,
93,

79

Soup, solferino, 97

hot joints, 199 Sardines, 78 on toast, 238 smoked, 78 Sauces, 110-116 English neglect of, 10 Sauce, Bechamel, 109 Blanche, 105 Blonde, 105 Espagnole, 103, 106, loS HoUandaise, 105 Italienne, 115 Maitre d'Hotel, 113 Mayonnaise, 114

94

St Germain, 96 bottled, 86 concentrated, 86 sometimes too " good," 85

Soup, tinned, 86 Spaghetti, 231 Spinach, 192 Steak, baked, 202 Steaming. 35 Stews, 141 St Germain, creme, 96
Stock, 17, 18, 88 Stock, vegetable, 18, 91, 92 Stock-pot, 16, 90 Sunday dinner, 140 Sweets, 213-229

Mornay, iii
Robert, 113 Soubise, iii Veloutee, 106, 108

White, 107 Sausage, cold, 78 Savouries, 235-241 Scallops, 50 Scarlet runners, 54 Sea-kale, 178 Seahng, 63, 140 Semolina pudding, 223 Seven devils, 202 Shellfish, 50 Skate, 48 Sole k la Meunidre, 136 au gratin, 128 Solferino, creme, 97 Sorrel, 192 soup, 84 Soubise soup, 93, 94
Souffle

242-252 244 Tapioca pudding, 223 Tarts, 220 Tasting, 257 Thompson, Sir Henry, 256, 257
the, linen,

Table,

24,

Thudichum,
185,

Dr,

103,

172,

254

Tinned foods, 31 Tomatoes, 75, 195 Turbot, 49 Turbot braised in wine, 157
Turnips, 187

au Parmesan, 237

Soup-kitchens, 85 Soups, 83-98 Soup, Ambassadeur, 97 Bonne Femme, 98 Cressoniere, 97 Dubarry, 84, 98 fish, 99 hare, 90 onion, 173 Parmentier, 96 pumpkin, 94 Sante, 84, 97

U
Urbain-Dubois, 255

V
Variety
of diet, 25 Vegetables, 167-197 cold remnants of, 196 tinned, 195 Vegetarianism, 21

270
Vegetarians, 167 Veloutee Sauce, 106, 108 Venison, 51 Vermicelli, 231 Vinegar, 32, 207

INDEX
Water, 250
Watercress, 205

Welsh

rarebit,

236

W
Washing-up, 21

Whitebait, imitation, 130 White sauce, 107 Whiting, 48 Wine, 246-249

Wine and
"

oil,

206

Wyvern," 255-257

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