 Section 5 of the Book of Household Management This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Book of the Household Management by Isabella Beaton. Chapter 3. Arrangement and Economy at the Kitchen, Part 2 74. To be acquainted with the periods when things are in season is one of the most essential pieces of knowledge which enter into the art of cookery. We have, therefore, compiled the following list, which will serve to show that every month in the year, the times when things are in season. January Fish Barbell Brill Carp Cod Crabs Crayfish Dace Eels Flounders Haddocks Herrings Landpraise Lobsters Mussels Oysters Perch Pike Place Prawns Shrimps Skate Smelts Souls Sprats Sturgeon Tench Turbo Whittings Meat Beef House Lamb Mutton Pork Veal Venison Poultry Capons Fails Tone Pigeons Pullets Rabbits Turkeys Game Grouse Heirs Partridges Pheasants Snipe Wildfowl Woodcock Vegetables Beetroot Broccoli Cabbage Carrots Celery Chevelle Cresses Cucumbers Forced Endive Lettuces Parsnips Potatoes Savoies Spinach Turnips Various herbs Fruit Apples Grape Medlar Nuts Oranges Pears Walnuts Crystallize Preserves Foran Dried fruits Such as almonds and raisins French and Spanish plums Prunes Figs Dates February Fish Barbell Brill Carp Cod may be bought But is not so good as in January Crabs Crayfish Dace Eels Plounders Haddocks Hearings Lampereys Lobsters Mussels Oysters Perch Pike Prawns Shrimps Skate Smelts Souls Sprats Sturgeon Tinch Thornback Turbo Whiting Meat Beef House lamb Mutton Pork Veal Poultry Capons Chickens Ducklings Tame and wild pigeons Pullets With eggs Turkeys Wild fowl Though now, not in full season Game Grouse Heirs Partridges Peasants Snipes Woodcock Vegetables Beetroot Broccoli Purple and white Brussels Sprouts Cabbage Carrots Celery Chaville Cresces Cucumbers Forced Endive Kidney beans Lettuces Parsnips Potatoes Savoies Spinach Turnips Various herbs Fruit Apples Golden and Dutch Pippins Grapes Medlar Nuts Oranges Pears Bonchritian Walnuts Dried fruits Foran Such as Almonds and raisins French and Spanish plums Prunes, figs Dates Crystallized preserves March Fish Barbell Brill Carp Crabs Crayfish Dice Eels Flounders Haddocks Herrings Landpraise Lobsters Mussels Oysters Perch Pike Place Prawns Shrimps Skate Smelts Souls Sprats Sturgeon Trench Thornback Turbo Whiting Meat Beef House lamb Mutton Pork Veal Poultry Capons Chickens Ducklings Tame and wild pigeons Pullets With eggs Turkeys Wild fowl Though now Not in full season Game Grouse Heirs Partridges Pheasants Snipes Woodcock Vegetables Beetroot Broccoli Purple and white Brussels sprouts Cabbage Carrots Celery Chaville Cresces Cucumbers Forced Endive Kidney beans Lettuces Parsnips Potatoes Zvoies C-Cale Spinach Turnips Various herbs Fruit Apples Golden Dutch Pippins Grape Medallars Nuts Oranges Pears Bonfiretien Walnuts Dried fruits Foran Such as Almonds and raisins French and Spanish plums Prunes Figs Dates Crystallized Preserves April Fish Cucumbers Cucumbers April Fish Grill Carp Cockles Crabs Dory Flounders Ling Lobsters Red and grey mullet Mussels Oysters Perch Prawns Salmon But rather scarce and expensive Shad Shrimps Skate Smelts Solves Tinch Turbo Whittings Meat Beef Lamb Mutton Veal Poultry Chickens Ducklings Vowels Liberets Pigeons Pullets Rabbits Game Heirs Vegetables Broccoli Celery Lettuces Young Onions Parsnips Radishes Small salad Sea kale Spinach Sprouts Various herbs Herbs Fruit Apples Nuts Pears Forced cherries For example Fattats Rubarb Dried fruits Crystallized preserves May Fish Carp Chub Crabs Crafish Dory Herrings Lobsters Mackerel Red and grey mullet Prawns Salmon Shad Smell Souls Trout Turbo Meat Beef Lamb Mutton Veal Poultry Chickens Ducklings Vowels Green geese Liberets Pullets Rabbits Vegetables Asparagus Beans Early cabbages Carrots Cauliflower Cucumbers Lettuces Peas Cucumber Cucumber Cucumbers Lettuces Peas Early potatoes Salads Sea kale Various herbs Fruit Apples Green apricots Cherries Currants Fattats Gooseberries Malans Pears Rubarb Strawberries Dune Fish Carp Crafish Herrings Lobsters Mackerel Mullet Pike Prawns Salmon Souls Tinch Trout Turbo Meat Beef Lamb Mutton Veal Buck Venison Poultry Chickens Ducklings Vowels Green geese Liberets Plovers Pullets Rabbits Turkey Pults Wheaties Vegetables Artichokes Asparagus Beans Cabbage Carrots Cucumbers Lettuces Onions Parsnips Peas Potatoes Radishes Small Salads Sea kale Spinach Various herbs Fruit Apricots Cherries Currants Gooseberries Malans Nectarines Peaches Pears Pineapples Raspberries Rhubarb Strawberries July Fish Carp Crayfish Dory Flounders Haddock Herrings Lobsters Mackerel Mullet Pike Place Prawns Salmon Shrimps Souls Sturgeon Tinch Thornback Meat Beef Lamb Mutton Veal Venison Poultry Chickens Ducklings Fails Green Geese Liberates Plovers Pullets Rabbits Turkey Pulse Wheaties Wild Ducks Cog Flappers Vegetables Artichokes Asparagus Beans Cabbage Carrots Cauliflower Celery Crises Endive Lettuces Mushrooms Cucumbers Cucumbers Lettuces Mushrooms Onions Peas Radishes Small Saladine Sea Kale Sprouts Turnips Vegetable Marrow Various Herbs Fruit Apricots Cherries Currants Thigs Gooseberries Malons Nectarines Pears Pineapples Plums Raspberry Strawberries Warm Nuts In High Season And Pickled August Fish Brill Carp Chubb Crayfish Crabs Dory Eels Flounders Grigs Herrings Lobsters Mullet Pike Prawns Salmon Shrimps Skate Souls Sturgeon Thornback Trout Turbo Meat Beef Lamb Mutton Veal Buck Venison Poultry Chickens Ducklings Fowls Green Geese Pigeons Plovers Pullets Rabbits Turkey Pulse Wheat Ears Wild Gucks Game Liberate Grouse Blackcock Vegetables Artichokes Is Very Good Meat Beef Lamb Mutton Cokes Is Very Good Beans Carrots Cabbage Cauliflower Celery Cresces Endive Lettuces Mushrooms Onions Peas Potatoes Radishes Small Salading Sprouts Turnips Various Kitchen Herbs Vegetable Marrows Fruit Currants Figs Filberts Gooseberries Grapes Malons Mulberries Nectarines Peaches Pears Pineapples Plums Raspberries Walnuts September Fish Brill Carp Cod Eels Flounders Lobsters Mullet Oysters Plays Prawns Skate Solves Turbo Whiting Meat Beef Lamb Mutton Pork Veal Poultry Chickens Ducks Fails Geese Larks Pigeons Pullets Rabbits Teal Turkeys Game Blackcock Buck Venison Grass Heirs Partridges Pheasants Vegetables Artichokes Asparagus Beans Cabbage sprouts Carrots Celery Lettuces Mushrooms Onions Peas Potatoes Saladine Sea kale Sprouts Tomatoes Turnips Vegetable Marrows Various Herbs Fruit Bulases Damsons Figs Filberts Grapes Malons Morralla Cherries Mulberries Nectarines Peaches Pears Plums Quintas Walnuts October Fish Barbell Brill Cod Crabs Eels Flounders Guggins Haddocks Lobsters Mullet Oysters Plays Prawns Skate Solves Tinch Turbo Whiting Meat Meat Beef Mutton Pork Veal Venison Poultry Chickens Vows Geese Larks Pigeons Pullets Rabbits Teal Turkeys Widgens Wild Ducks Game Black Cop Grouse Heirs Partridges Pheasants Snipes Woodcocks Doe Venison Vegetables Artichokes Beets Cabbage Cauliflower Carrots Celery Lettuces Mushrooms Onions Potatoes Sprouts Tomatoes Turnips Vegetable Marrows Various Herbs Fruit Apples Black and White Bullets Damsons Figs Filberts Grapes Pears Potatoes Potatoes Potatoes Potatoes Pears Quencers Walnuts November Fish Brill Carp Cod Crabs Eels Gunjins Haddocks Oysters Pike Souls Tinch Turbo Whiting Meat Beef Mutton Veal Doe Venison Poultry Chickens Vows Geese Onions Bullets Rabbits Teal Turkeys Widgens Wild Duck Game Heirs Partridges Pheasants Snipes Woodcocks Vegetables Beetroot Cabbage Carrots Celery Lettuces Lake Cucumbers Onions Potatoes Saladings Spinach Sprouts Various Herbs Fruit Apples Bulloases Chestnuts Filberts Groups Pears Walnuts December Fish Barbell Brill Carp Cod Crabs Eels Dace Gunjins Haddocks Herrings Lobsters Oysters Pike Shrimps Skate Sprats Souls Tinch Cornback Turbo Whiting Meat Beef House Lamb Mutton Pork Venison Poultry Capons Chickens Fowls Geese Pigeons Pullets Rabbits Teal Turkeys Widgens Wild Duck Game Heirs Partridges Pheasants Snipes Woodcocks Vegetables Broccoli Cabbage Carrots Celery Leeks Onions Potatoes Parsnips Scotch Kale Turnips Winter Spinach Fruit Apples Chestnuts Filberts Grates Medlar Oranges Pears Walnuts Gried Fruits Such as Onions Grates Grates Grates Grates Fruits Such as Almonds And raisins Figs Dates Etc Crystallized Preserves Seventy-five When fuel and food are procured, the next consideration is how the latter may be best preserved, with a view to its being suitably dressed. More waste is often occasioned by the want of judgement or of necessary care in this particular than by any other cause. In the absence of proper places for keeping provisions, a hanging soap suspended in an airy situation is the best substitute. A well-ventilated larder, dry and shady, is better for meat and poultry, which require to be kept for some time, and the utmost skill in the culinary art will not compensate for the want of proper attention to this particular. Though it is advisable that annual food should be hung up in the open air, till its fibres have lost some degree of their toughness. Yet, if it is kept till it loses its natural sweetness, its flavour has become deteriorated, and as a wholesome comes to ball, it has lost many of its qualities conducive to health. As soon, therefore, as the slightest trace of putrescent is detected, it has reached its highest degree of tenderness, and it should be dressed immediately. During the sultry summer months, it is difficult to procure meat that is not either tough or tainted. It should, therefore, be well examined when it comes in, and if flies have touched it, the part must be cut off, and the remainder well washed. In very cold weather, meat and vegetables touched by the frost should be brought into the kitchen early in the morning, and soaked in cold water. In loins of meat, the long pipe that runs by the bone should be taken out as it is apt to taint, as also the kernels of beef. Rumps and edge bones of beef, when bruised, should not be purchased. All these things ought to enter into the consideration of every household manager, and great care should be taken that nothing is thrown away. Or suffered to be wasted in the kitchen, which might, by proper management, be turned to a good account. The shank bones of mutton, so little esteemed in general, give richness to soups or gravies if well soaked and brushed before they are added to the boiling. They are also particularly nourishing for sick persons. Roast beef bones or shank bones of ham make excellent stock for pea soup. When the whites of eggs are used for jelly, confectionery, or other purposes, a pudding or a custard should be made, that the yolks may be used. All things likely to be wanted should be in readiness, sugars of different sorts, currents washed, picked, and perfectly dry. Spices pounded and kept in very small bottles, closely cooked, or in canisters, as we have already directed, 72. Not more of these should be purchased at a time than are likely to be used in the course of a month. Much waste is always prevented by keeping every article in the place best suited to it. Vegetables keep best on a stone floor if the air be excluded. Meat in a cold dry place as also salt, sugar, sweet meats, candles, dried meats, and hands. Rice and all sorts of seeds for puddings should be closely covered to preserve them from insects, but even this will not prevent them from being affected by these destroyers if they are long and carelessly kept. End of Section 5 Section 6 of the Book of Household Management This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Corrie Samuel The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beaton Chapter 4 Introduction to Cookery 76. As in the fine arts, the progress of mankind from barbarism to civilisation is marked by a gradual succession of triumphs over the rude materialities of nature. So in the art of cookery is the progress gradual from the earliest and simplest modes to those of the most complicated and refined. Plain or rudely carved stones, tummily, or mounds of earth, are the monuments by which barbarous tribes denote the events of their history. To be succeeded only in the long course of a series of ages, by beautifully proportioned columns, gracefully sculptured statues, triumphal arches, coins, medals, and the higher efforts of the pencil and the pen, this man advances by culture and observation to the perfection of his facilities. So it is with the art of cookery. Man, in his primitive state, lives upon roots and the fruits of the earth, until, by degrees, he is driven to seek for new means by which his wants may be supplied and enlarged. He then becomes a hunter and a fisher. As his species increases, greater necessities come upon him when he gradually abandons the roving life of the savage for the more stationary pursuits of the herdsmen. These baguettes still more settled habits, when he begins the practice of agriculture, forms ideas of the rights of property, and has his own both defined and secured. The forest, the stream, and the sea are now no longer his only resources for food. He sows and he reaps, pastures and breeds cattle, lives on the cultivated produce of his fields, and revels in the luxuries of the dairy, raises flocks for clothing, and assumes, to all intents and purposes, the habits of permanent life, and the comfortable condition of a farmer. This is the fourth stage of social progress, up to which the useful or mechanical arts have been incidentally developing themselves when trade and commerce begin. Through these various phases, only to live has been the great object of mankind, but, by and by, comforts are multiplied, and accumulating riches creates new wants. The object, then, is not only to live, but to live economically, agreeably, tastefully, and well. Accordingly, the art of cookery commences, and although the fruits of the earth, the fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, and the fish of the sea, are still the only food of mankind. Yet these are so prepared, improved, and dressed, by skill and ingenuity, that they are the means of immeasurably extending the boundaries of human enjoyments. Everything that is edible, and passes under the hands of the cook, is more or less changed, and assumes new forms. Hence the influence of that functionary is immense upon the happiness of a household. In order that the duties of the cook may be properly performed, and that he may be able to reproduce esteemed dishes with certainty, all terms of indecision should be banished from his art. Accordingly, what is known only to him, will, in these pages, be made known to others. In them, all those indecisive terms expressed by a bit of this, some of that, a small piece of that, and a handful of the other, shall never be made use of, but all quantities be precisely and explicitly stated. With the desire also, that all ignorance on this most essential part of the culinary art should disappear, and that a uniform system of weights and measures should be adopted, we give an account of the weights which answer to certain measures. A table spoonful is frequently mentioned in a recipe, in the prescriptions of medical men, and also in medical, chemical, and gastronomical works. By it is generally meant and understood, a measure or bulk equal to that which would be produced by half an ounce of water. A dessert spoonful is the half of a table spoonful, that is to say, by it is meant a measure or bulk equal to a quarter of an ounce of water. A tea spoonful is equal in quantity to a dram of water. A drop. This is the name of a vague kind of measure, and is so called on account of the liquid being dropped from the mouth of the bottle. Its quantity, however, will vary, either from the consistency of the liquid or the size and shape of the mouth of the bottle. The College of Physicians determined the quantity of a drop to be one grain, sixty drops making one fluid dram. Their drop, or sixtieth part of a fluid dram, is called a minim. Graduated glass measures can be obtained at any chemists, and they save much trouble. One of these, containing a wine pint, is divided into sixteen ounces, and the ounce into sixteen drams of water, by which any certain weight mentioned in a recipe can be accurately measured out. Homemade measures of this kind can readily be formed by weighing the water contained in any given measure, and marking on any tall glass the space it occupies. This mark can easily be made with a file. It will be interesting to many readers to know the basis on which the French found their system of weights and measures, for it certainly possesses the grandeur of simplicity. The meter, which is the basis of the whole system of French weights and measures, is the exact measurement of one forty-millionth part of a meridian of the earth, seventy-eight. Excellence in the art of cookery, as in all things, is only attainable by practice and experience. In proportion, therefore, to the opportunities which a cook has had of these, so will be his excellence in the art. It is in the large establishments of princes, noblemen, and very affluent families alone, that the man cook is found in this country. He also superintends the kitchens of large hotels, clubs, and public institutions, where he, usually, makes out the bills of fare which are generally submitted to the principal for approval. To be able to do this, therefore, it is absolutely necessary that he should be a judge of the season of every dish, as well as know perfectly the state of every article he undertakes to prepare. He must also be a great judge of every article he buys, for no skill, however great it may be, will enable him to make good that which is really bad. On him rests the responsibility of the cooking generally, whilst a speciality of his department is to prepare the rich soups, stews, ragus, and other dishes as enter into the more refined and complicated portions of his art, and such as are not usually understood by ordinary professors. He, therefore, holds a high position in a household, being inferior in rank, as already shown, only to the house steward, the valet, and the butler. In the luxurious ages of Grecian antiquity, Sicilian cooks were the most esteemed and received high rewards for their services. Among them, one called Trimalcio was such an adept in his art that he could impart to common fish both the form and flavour of the most esteemed of the Piscatory tribes. A chief cook in the palmy days of Roman voluptuousness had about eight hundred pounds a year, and Antony rewarded the one that cooked the supper which pleased Cleopatra with the present of a city. With the fall of the empire the culinary art sank into less consideration. In the Middle Ages cooks laboured to acquire a reputation for their sources which they composed of strange combinations for the sake of novelty as well as singularity. Seventy-nine. The duties of the cook, the kitchen, and the scullery-maids are so intimately associated that they can hardly be treated off separately. The cook, however, is at the head of the kitchen, and in proportion to her possession of the qualities of cleanliness, neatness, order, regularity, and celerity of action, so will her influence appear in the conduct of those who are under her, as it is upon her that the whole responsibility of the business of the kitchen rests, whilst the others must lend her both a ready and a willing assistance and be especially tidy in their appearance and active in their movements. In the larger establishments of the Middle Ages cooks, with the authority of feudal chiefs, gave their orders from a high chair in which they ensconced themselves and commanded a view of all that was going on throughout their several domains. Each held a long wooden spoon with which he tasted, without leaving his seat, the various commestibles that were cooking on the stoves, and which he frequently used as a rod of punishment on the backs of those whose idleness and gluttony too largely predominated over their diligence and temperance. Eighty. If, as we have said, the quality of early rising be of the first importance to the mistress, what must it be to the servant? Let it therefore be taken as a long-proved truism, that without it, in every domestic, the effect of all things else, so far as work is concerned, may, in a great measure, be neutralised. In a cook this quality is most essential, for an hour lost in the morning will keep her toiling, absolutely toiling, all day, to overtake that which might otherwise have been achieved with ease. In large establishments, six is a good hour to rise in the summer, and seven in the winter. Eighty-one. Her first duty, in large establishments, and where it is requisite, should be to set her dough for the breakfast rolls, provided this has not been done on a previous night, and then to engage herself with those numerous little preliminary occupations, which may not, inappropriately, be termed laying out her duties for the day. This will bring in the breakfast hour of eight, after which directions must be given, and preparations made, for the different dinners of the household and family. Eighty-two. In those numerous households, where a cook and housemaid only are kept, the general custom is that the cook shall have the charge of the dining room. The hall, the lamps, and the doorstep are also committed to her care, and any other work there may be on the outside of the house. In establishments of this kind, the cook will, after having lighted her kitchen fire, carefully brushed the range, and cleaned the hearth, proceed to prepare for breakfast. She will thoroughly rinse the kettle, and, filling it with fresh water, will put it on the fire to boil. She will then go to the breakfast room, or parlour, and there make all things ready for the breakfast of the family. Her attention will next be directed to the hall, which she will sweep and wipe. The kitchen stairs, if there be any, will now be swept, and the hall mats, which have been removed and shaken, will again be put in their places. The cleaning of the kitchen, pantry, passages, and kitchen stairs must always be over before breakfast, so that it may not interfere with the other business of the day. Everything should be ready, and the whole house should wear a comfortable aspect when the heads of the house and members of the family make their appearance. Nothing, it may be depended on, will so please the mistress of an establishment, as to notice that, although she has not been present to see that the work was done, attention to smaller matters has been carefully paid, with a view to giving her satisfaction, and increasing her comfort. Eighty-three By the time that the cook has performed the duties mentioned above, and well swept, brushed, and dusted her kitchen, the breakfast bell will most likely summon her to the parlour to bring in the breakfast. It is the cook's department, generally, in the smaller establishments, to wait at breakfast, as the housemaid by this time has gone upstairs into the bedrooms and has there applied herself to her various duties. The cook usually answers the bells and single knocks at the door in the early part of the morning, as the tradesmen, with whom it is her more special business to speak, call at these hours. Eighty-four It is in her preparation of the dinner that the cook begins to feel the weight and responsibility of her situation, as she must take upon herself all the dressing and the serving of the principal dishes, which her skill and ingenuity have mostly prepared. Whilst these, however, are cooking, she must be ready with her pastry, soups, gravies, ragus, etc. Stock, or what the French call consomme, being the basis of most maid dishes, must be always at hand, in conjunction with her sweet herbs and spices for seasoning. A place for everything, and everything in its place, must be her rule, in order that time may not be wasted in looking for things when they are wanted, and in order that the whole apparatus of cooking may move with the regularity and precision of a well-adjusted machine, all must go on simultaneously. The vegetables and sauces must be ready with the dishes there to accompany, and in order that they may be suitable, the smallest oversight must not be made in their preparation. When the dinner-hour has arrived, it is the duty of the cook to dish up such dishes as may, without injury, stand for some time covered on the hot plate or in the hot closet, but such as are of a more important or recherche kind, must be delayed until the order to serve is given from the drawing-room. Then comes haste, but there must be no hurry, all must work with order. The cook takes charge of the fish, soups and poultry, and the kitchen-maid of the vegetables, sauces and gravies. These she puts into their appropriate dishes, whilst the scullery-maid waits on and assists the cook. Everything must be timed, so as to prevent its getting cold, whilst great care should be taken that, between the first and second courses, no more time is allowed to elapse than is necessary, and fear that the company in the dining-room lose all relish for what has yet come of the dinner. When the dinner has been served, the most important feature in the daily life of the cook is at an end. She must, however, now begin to look to the contents of her larder, taking care to keep everything sweet and clean, so that no disagreeable smells may arise from the gravies, milk or meat that may be there. These are the principal duties of a cook in a first-rate establishment. In smaller establishments, the housekeeper often conducts the higher department of cooking, and the cook, with the assistance of a scullery-maid, performs some of the subordinate duties of the kitchen-maid. When circumstances render it necessary, the cook engages to perform the whole of the work of the kitchen, and, in some places, a portion of the housework also. 85 Whilst the cook is engaged with her morning duties, the kitchen-maid is also occupied with hers. Her first duty, after the fire is lighted, is to sweep and clean the kitchen, and the various offices belonging to it. This she does every morning, besides cleaning the stone-steps at the entrance of the house, the halls, the passages, and the stairs which lead to the kitchen. Her general duties, besides these, are to wash and scour all these places twice a week, with the tables, shelves and cupboards. She has also to dress the nursery and servants' hall dinners, to prepare all fish, poultry and vegetables, trim meat joints and cutlets, and do all such duties as may be considered to enter into the cook's department in a subordinate degree. 86 The duties of the scullery-maid are to assist the cook, to keep the scullery clean, and all the metallic as well as earthenware kitchen utensils. The position of scullery-maid is not, of course, one of high rank, nor is the payment for her services large. But if she be fortunate enough to have over her a good kitchen-maid and clever cook, she may very soon learn to perform various little duties connected with cooking operations, which may be of considerable service in fitting her for a more responsible place. Now it will be doubtless thought by the majority of our readers that the fascinations connected with the position of the scullery-maid are not so great as to induce many people to leave a comfortable home in order to work in the scullery. But we are acquainted with one instance in which the desire on the part of a young girl was so strong to become connected with the kitchen and cookery that she absolutely left her parents and engaged herself as a scullery-maid in a gentleman's house. Here she showed herself so active and intelligent that she very quickly rose to the rank of kitchen-maid and from this so great was her gastronomical genius she became, in a short space of time, one of the best women cooks in England. After this we think it must be allowed that a cook like a poet, nascata non fit 87 Modern Cookery Modern Cookery stands so greatly indebted to the gastronomic propensities of our French neighbours that many of their terms are adopted and applied by English artists to the same as well as similar preparations of their own. A vocabulary of these is, therefore, indispensable in a work of this kind. Accordingly the following will be found sufficiently complete for all ordinary purposes explanation of French terms used in modern household cookery. Aspic A savoury jelly used as an exterior moulding for cold game, poultry, fish, etc. This, being of a transparent nature, allows the bird which it covers to be seen through it. This may also be used for decorating or garnishing. Asiat Plate Asiat are the small entree and hors d'oeuvre, the quantity of which does not exceed what a plate will hold. At dessert, fruits, cheese, chestnuts, biscuits, etc. if served upon a plate are termed asiat. Asiat volant is a dish which a servant hands round to the guests but is not placed upon the table. Small cheese soufflés and different dishes, which ought to be served very hot, are frequently made asiat volant. Au bleu. Fish dressed in such a manner as to have a bluish appearance. Ban marie An open saucepan or kettle of nearly boiling water in which a smaller vessel can be set for cooking and warming. This is very useful for keeping articles hot without altering their quantity or quality. If you keep sauce, broth, or soup by the fireside, the soup produces and becomes too strong and the sauce thickens as well as reduces. But this is prevented by using the ban marie in which the water should be very hot but not boiling. Bechamel French white sauce, now frequently used in English cookery. Blanche To whiten poultry, vegetables, fruit, etc. by plunging them into boiling water for a short time and afterwards plunging them into cold water, there to remain until they are cold. Blanquette A sort of fricassee. Bouillée Beef or other meat boiled. But generally speaking, boiled beef is understood by the term. Bouillée A French dish resembling hasty pudding. Bouillon A thin broth or soup. Braise To stew meat with fat bacon until it is tender, it having previously been blanched. Braise the air. A saucepan having a lid with ledges to put fire on the top. Bride air. To pass a pack thread through poultry, game, etc. to keep together their members. Caramel Burnt sugar This is made with a piece of sugar, of the size of a nut, browned in the bottom of a saucepan, upon which a cup full of stock is gradually poured, stirring all the time a glass of broth little by little. It may be used with the feather of a quill to colour meats, such as the upper part of fricando, and to impart colour to sauces. Caramel made with water instead of stock may be used to colour compote and other entremet. Casserole A crust of rice, which, after having been moulded into the form of a pie, is baked, and then filled with a fricassee of white meat or a puree of game. Compote A stew, as of fruit or pigeons. Consomme Rich stock or gravy. Croquette A bowl of fried rice or potatoes. Crouton Sippets of bread Dobbier An oval stewpan, in which, dob, are cooked, dob being meat or foul stewed in sauce. De saucé To bone, or take out the bones from poultry, game, or fish. This is an operation requiring considerable experience. Entrée Small side or corner dishes, served with the first course. Entremet Small side or corner dishes, served with the second course. Escalop Collaps Small round, thin pieces of tender meat, or a fish, beaten with the handle of a strong knife to make them tender. Foiletage Puff paste Flambe To singe, foul, or game, after they have been picked. Fonce To put in the bottom of a saucepan, slices of ham, veal, or thin, broad slices of bacon. Gallet A broad, thin cake. Gâteau A cake, correctly speaking, but used sometimes to denote a pudding and a kind of tart. Glacé To glaze, or spread upon hot meats, or larded foul, a thick and rich sauce or gravy, called glaze. This is laid on with a feather or brush, and in confectionery the term means to ice fruits and pastry with sugar, which glistens on hardening. Orderve Small dishes, or assiette volante, of sardines, anchovies, and other relishes of this kind, served to the guests during the first course. Lits A bed, or lair. Articles in thin slices are placed in lairs, other articles, or seasoning, being laid between them. Meagres Broth, soup, or gravy, made without meat. Matalotte A rich fish stew, which is generally composed of carp, eels, trout, or barbell. It is made with wine. Mayonnaise Cold sauce, or salad dressing. Menu The Bill of Fair Meringue A kind of icing, made of whites of eggs and sugar, well beaten. Larger slices of meat than collops, such as slices of beef for a vinaigrette, or ragout, or stew of onions. Mouillet To add water, broth, or other liquid during the cooking. Panet To cover over with very fine crumbs of bread, meats, or any other articles to be cooked on the gridiron, in the oven, or frying pan. Piquet To lard with strips of fat bacon, poultry, game, meat, etc. This should always be done according to the vein of the meat, so that in carving you slice the bacon across as well as the meat. Pouillet Stock used instead of water for boiling turkeys, sweet breads, vows, and vegetables, to render them less insipid. This is rather an expensive preparation. Puree Vegetables, or meat, reduced to a very smooth pulp, which is afterwards mixed with enough liquid to make it off the consistency of very thick soup. Ragout Stew, or hash Ramoulade Salad dressing Rissels Pastry, made of light puff paste, and cut into various forms and fried. They may be filled with fish, meat, or sweets. Rue Brown and white, French thickening. Salmi Ragout of game previously roasted. Sauce piquant A sharp sauce, in which somewhat of a vinegar flavour predominates. Sorte To dress with sauce in a saucepan, repeatedly moving it about. Tami A sort of open cloth or sieve, through which to strain broth and sauces, so as to remove them of small bones, froth, etc. Tot Tarte Fruit pie Trusse To truss a bird, to put together the body and tie the wings and thighs, in order to round it for roasting or boiling, each being tied then with packed thread to keep it in a required form. Vollevant A rich crust of very fine puff paste, which may be filled with various delicate ragout or fricassee, of fish, flesh, or fowl. Fruit may also be enclosed in a volleyball. End of Section 6 Section 7 of the Book of Household Management This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Cara Schallenberg. The Book of Household Management by Isabella Beaton Chapter 5 General Directions for Making Soups Eighty-eight Lean, juicy beef, mutton, and veal form the basis of all good soups. Therefore it is advisable to procure those pieces which afford the richest succulents, and such as are fresh killed. Stale meat renders them bad, and fat is not so well adapted for making them. The principal art in composing good, rich soup is so to proportion the several ingredients that the flavor of one shall not predominate over another, and that all the articles of which it is composed shall form an agreeable whole. To accomplish this, care must be taken that the roots and herbs are perfectly well cleaned, and that the water is proportioned to the quantity of meat and other ingredients. Generally a quart of water may be allowed to a pound of meat for soups, and half the quantity for gravies. In making soups or gravies, gentle stewing or simmering is incomparably the best. It may be remarked, however, that a really good soup can never be made but in a well-closed vessel, although perhaps greater wholesomeness is obtained by an occasional exposure to the air. Soups will in general take from three to six hours doing, and are much better prepared the day before they are wanted. When the soup is cold, the fat may be much more easily and completely removed, and when it is poured off, care must be taken not to disturb the settlings at the bottom of the vessel, which are so fine that they will escape through a sieve. A tamas is the best strainer, and if the soup is strained while it is hot, let the tamas or cloth be previously soaked in cold water. Clear soups must be perfectly transparent and thickened soups about the consistency of cream. To thicken and give body to soups and gravies, potato musselage, arrowroot, bread raspings, eisenglass, flour and butter, barley, rice or oatmeal, in a little water rubbed well together are used. A piece of boiled beef pounded to a pulp with a bit of butter and flour and rubbed through a sieve and gradually incorporated with the soup will be found an excellent addition. When the soup appears to be too thin or too weak, the cover of the boiler should be taken off and the contents allowed to boil till some of the watery parts have evaporated, or some of the thickening materials, above mentioned, should be added. When soups and gravies are kept from day to day in hot weather, they should be warmed up every day and put into fresh, scalded pans or tereens and placed in a cool cellar. In temperate weather every other day may be sufficient. 89. Various herbs and vegetables are required for the purpose of making soups and gravies. Of these the principle are scotch barley, pearl barley, wheat flour, oatmeal, bread raspings, peas, beans, rice, vermicelli, macaroni, eisenglass, potato musselage, mushroom or mushroom ketchup, champignons, parsnips, carrots, beetroot, turnips, garlic, shallots, and onions. Sliced onions fried with butter and flour till they are brown and then rubbed through a sieve are excellent to heighten the colour and flavour of brown soups and sauces and form the basis of many of the fine relishes furnished by the cook. The older and drier the onion the stronger will be its flavour. Leeks, cucumber or burnet vinegar, celery or celery seed pounded. The latter, though equally strong, does not impart the delicate sweetness of the fresh vegetable and when used as a substitute its flavour should be corrected by the addition of a bit of sugar. Crest seed, parsley, common thyme, lemon thyme, orange thyme, knotted marjoram, sage, mint, winter savoury, and basil. As fresh green basil is seldom to be procured and its fine flavour is soon lost the best way of preserving the extract is by pouring wine on the fresh leaves. Ninety. For the seasoning of soups, bay leaves, tomato, tarragon, shervle, burnet, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, mace, black and white pepper, essence of anchovy, lemon peel and juice, and saville orange juice are all taken. The latter imparts a finer flavour than the lemon and the acid is much milder. These materials, with wine, mushroom ketchup, Harvey's sauce, tomato sauce combined in various proportions are with other ingredients manipulated into an almost endless variety of excellent soups and gravies. Soups, which are intended to constitute the principal part of a meal certainly ought not to be flavoured like sauces, which are only designed to give a relish to some particular dish. Soup, broth, and bullion. Ninety-one. It has been asserted that English cookery is, nationally speaking, far from being the best in the world. More than this, we have been frequently told by brilliant foreign writers, half philosophers, half chefs, that we are the worst cooks on the face of the earth, and that the proverb, which alludes to the divine origin of food and the precisely opposite origin of its preparers, is peculiarly applicable to us islanders. Not, however, to the inhabitants of the whole island, for it is stated in a work which treats the culinary operations north of the Tweed that the broth of Scotland claims, for excellence and wholesomeness, a very close second place to the bullion or common soup of France. Three hot meals of broth and meat, for about the price of one roasting joint, our Scottish brothers and sisters get, they say, and we hasten to ascent to what we think is now a very well ascertained fact. We are glad to note, however, that soups of vegetables, fish, meat, and game are now very frequently found in the homes of the English middle classes, as well as in the mansions of the wealthier and more aristocratic. And we take this to be one evidence that we are on the right road to an improvement in our system of cookery. One great cause of many of the spoiled dishes and badly cooked meats which are brought to our tables arises, we think, and most will agree with us, from a non-acquaintance with common everyday things. Entertaining this view, we intend to preface the chapters of this work with a simple scientific resume of all those causes and circumstances which relate to the food we have to prepare, and the theory and chemistry of the various culinary operations. Accordingly, this is the proper place to treat of the quality of the flesh of animals and describe some of the circumstances which influence it for good or bad. We will, therefore, commence with the circumstance of age and examine how far this affects the quality of meat. 92. During the period between the birth and maturity of animals, their flesh undergoes very considerable changes. For instance, when the animal is young, the fluids which the tissues of the muscles contain possess a large proportion of what is called albumin. This albumin, which is also the chief component of the white of eggs, possesses the peculiarity of coagulating or hardening at a certain temperature, like the white of a boiled egg, into a soft white fluid, no longer soluble, or capable of being dissolved in water. As animals grow older, this peculiar animal matter gradually decreases in proportion to the other constituents of the juice of the flesh. Thus, the reason why veal, lamb, and young pork are white and without gravy when cooked is that the large quantity of albumin they contain hardens or becomes coagulated. On the other hand, the reason why beef and mutton are brown and have gravy is that the proportion of albumin they contain is small in comparison with the greater quantity of fluid which is soluble and not coagulable. 93. The quality of the flesh of an animal is considerably influenced by the nature of the food on which it has been fed, for the food supplies the material which produces the flesh. If the food be not suitable and good, the meat cannot be good either, just as the paper on which these words are printed could not be good if the rags from which it is made were not of a fine quality. To the experienced in this matter it is well known that the flesh of animals fed on perinaceous produce, such as corn, pulse, et cetera, is firm, well-flavored, and also economical in the cooking, that the flesh of those fed on succulent and pulpy substances, such as roots, possesses these qualities in a somewhat less degree, whilst the flesh of those whose food contains fixed oil as linseed is greasy, high-coloured, and gross in the fat, and if the food has been used in large quantities, it is possessed of a rank-flavour. 94. It is indispensable to the good quality of meat that the animal should be perfectly healthy at the time of its slaughter. However slight the disease in an animal may be, inferiority in the quality of its flesh, as food, is certain to be produced. In most cases, indeed, as the flesh of diseased animals has a tendency to very rapid putrification, it becomes not only unwholesome but absolutely poisonous on account of the absorption of the virus of the unsound meat into the systems of those who partake of it. The external indications of good and bad meat will be described under its own particular head, but we may hear premise that the layer of all wholesome meat when freshly killed adheres firmly to the bone. 95. Another circumstance greatly affecting the quality of meat is the animal's treatment before it is slaughtered. This influences its value and wholesomeness in no inconsiderable degree. It will be easy to understand this when we reflect on those leading principles by which the life of an animal is supported and maintained. These are the digestion of its food and the assimilation of that food into its substance. Nature, in effecting this process, first reduces the food in the stomach to a state of pulp, under the name of chyme, which passes into the intestines and is there divided into two principles, each distinct from the other. One, a milk-white fluid, the nutritive portion, is absorbed by innumerable vessels which open upon the mucus membrane or inner coat of the intestines. These vessels, or absorbents, discharge the fluid into a common duct or road along which it is conveyed to the large veins in the neighborhood of the heart. Here it is mixed with the venous blood, which is black and impure, returning from every part of the body, and then it supplies the waste which is occasioned in the circulating stream by the arterial or pure blood, having furnished matter for the substance of the animal. The blood of the animal, having completed its course through all parts and having had its waste recruited by the digested food, is now received into the heart and by the action of that organ it is urged through the lungs, there to receive its purification from the air which the animal inhales. Again returning to the heart it is forced through the arteries and thence distributed by innumerable ramifications called capillaries, bestowing to every part of the animal life and nutriment. The other principle, the in-nutritive portion, passes from the intestines and is thus got rid of. It will now be readily understood how flesh is affected for bad when flesh is slaughtered when the circulation of its blood has been increased by over-driving ill usage or other causes of excitement to such a degree of rapidity as to be too great for the capillaries to perform their functions and causing the blood to be congealed in its minuter vessels. Where this has been the case the meat will be dark-colored and become rapidly putrid so that self-interest and humanity alike dictate kind and gentle treatment destined to serve as food for man. The chemistry and economy of soup-making. 96. Stock being the basis of all meat-soops and also of all the principal sauces it is essential to the success of these culinary operations to know the most complete and economical method of extracting from a certain quantity of meat the best possible stock or broth. The theory and philosophy we will therefore explain and then proceed to show the practical course to be adopted. 97. As all meat is principally composed of fibers, fat, gelatin, osmosome, and albumin it is requisite to know that the fibers are inseparable constituting almost all that remains of the meat after it has undergone a long boiling. 98. Fat is dissolved by boiling as it is contained in cells covered by a very fine membrane which never dissolves, a portion of it always adheres to the fibers. The other portion rises to the surface of the stock and is that which has escaped from the cells which were not whole or which have burst by boiling. 99. Gelatin is soluble it is the basis and the nutritious portion of the stock. When there is an abundance of it it causes the stock, when cold, to be jelly. 100. Osmosome is soluble even when cold and is that part of the meat which gives flavor and perfume to the stock. The flesh of old animals contains more osmosome than that of young ones. Brown meats contain more than white and the former make the stock more fragrant. By roasting meat the osmosome appears to acquire higher properties so by putting the remains of roast meats into your stockpot you obtain a better flavor. 101. Albiumen is of the nature of the white of eggs. It can be dissolved in cold or tepid water but coagulates when it is put into water not quite at the boiling point. From this property in Albiumen it is evident that if the meat is put into the stockpot when the water boils or after this is made to boil up quickly the Albiumen in both cases hardens. First it rises to the surface in the second it remains in the meat but in both it prevents the gelatin and osmosome from dissolving and hence a thin and tasteless stock will be obtained. It ought to be known too that the coagulation of the Albiumen in the meat always takes place more or less according to the size of the piece as the parts farthest from the surface always acquire that degree of heat which congeals it before entirely 102 Bones ought always to form a component part of the stockpot they are composed of an earthy substance to which they owe their solidity of gelatin and a fatty fluid something like marrow. Two ounces of them contain as much gelatin as one pound of meat but in them this is so encased in the earthy substance that boiling water can dissolve only the surface of whole bones by breaking them however you can dissolve more because you multiply their surfaces and by reducing them to powder or paste you can dissolve them entirely but you must not grind them dry. We have said, 99, that gelatin forms the basis of stock but this though very nourishing is entirely without taste and to make the stock savoury it must contain osmosome. Of this bones do not contain a particle and that is the reason why stock made entirely of them is not liked but when you add meat to the broken or pulverized bones the osmosome contained in it makes the stock sufficiently savoury. 103 In concluding this part of our subject the following condensed hints and directions should be attended to in the economy of soup making. One, beef makes the best stock. Veal stock has less color and taste whilst mutton sometimes gives it a tallowy smell far from agreeable unless the meat has been previously roasted or broiled. Fowls add very little to the flavor of stock unless they be old and fat. Pigeons when they are old add the most flavor to it and a rabbit or partridge is also a great improvement. From the freshest meat the best stock is obtained. Two, if the meat be boiled solely to make stock it must be cut up into the smallest possible pieces but generally speaking if it is desired to have good stock and a piece of savoury meat as well it is necessary to put a rather large piece into the stock pot say sufficient for two or three days during which time the stock will keep well in all weathers. Choose the freshest meat and have it cut as thick as possible for if it is a thin flat piece it will not look well and will be boiled by the boiling. Three, never wash meat as it deprives its surface of all its juices separate it from the bones and tie it round with tape so that its shape may be preserved then put it into the stock pot and for each pound of meat let there be one pint of water press it down with the hand to allow the air which it contains to escape and which often raises it to the top of the water. Four, put the stock pot on a gentle fire so that it may heat gradually. The albumin will first dissolve afterwards coagulate and as it is in this state lighter than the liquid it will rise to the surface bringing with it all its impurities it is this which makes the scum the rising of the hardened albumin has the same effect in clarifying stock as the white of eggs and as a rule it may be said that the more scum there is the clearer will be the stock. Always take care that the fire is very regular. Five, remove the scum when it rises thickly and do not let the stock boil because then one portion of the scum will be dissolved and the other go to the bottom of the pot thus rendering it very difficult to obtain a clear broth. If the fire is regular it will not be necessary to add cold water in order to make the scum rise the fire is too large at first it will then be necessary to do so. Six, when the stock is well skimmed and begins to boil put in salt and vegetables which may be two or three carrots, two turnips one parsnip, a bunch of leeks and celery tied together. You can add according to taste a piece of cabbage, two or three cloves stuck in an onion and a tomato. The latter gives a very agreeable taste. If fried onion be added it ought according to the advice of a famous French chef to be tied in a little bag. Without this precaution the color of the stock is liable to be clouded. Seven, by this time we will now suppose that you have chopped the bones which were separated from the meat and those which were left from the roast meat of the day before. Remember, as was before pointed out, that the more these are broken the best way to break them up is to pound them roughly in an iron mortar adding from time to time a little water to prevent them getting heated. It is a great saving thus to make use of the bones of meat which in too many English families we fear are entirely wasted. For it is certain as previously stated number 102 that two ounces of bone contain as much gelatin, which is the nutritive portion of the stock, as one pound of meat. In their broken state tie them up in a bag and put them in the stockpot adding the grisly parts of cold meat and trimmings which can be used for no other purpose. If to make up the weight you have received from the butcher a piece of mutton or veal broil it slightly over a clear fire before putting it in the stockpot and be very careful that it does not contract the least taste of being smoked or burnt. Eight, three, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, seven, nine, nine, ten, ten, ten, ten, cover it. After six hours' slow and gentle simmering the stock is done, and it should not be continued on the fire longer than is necessary, or it will tend to incipidity. Note. It is on a good stock, or first good broth and sauce, that excellence in cookery depends. If the preparation of this basis of the culinary art is entrusted to negligent ignorant persons and the stock is not well skimmed, but indifferent results will be obtained. The stock will never be clear, and when it is obliged to be clarified it is deteriorated both in quality and flavor. In the proper management of the stock pot an immense deal of trouble is saved, in as much as one stock, in a small dinner, serves for all purposes. Above all things, the greatest economy, consistent with excellence, should be practiced, and the price of everything which enters the kitchen correctly ascertained. The theory of this part of household management may appear trifling, but its practice is extensive, and therefore it requires the best attention.