A new month is underway, and if we want to eat seasonally, we
may need to get some local information. I have some advice for you on this
topic from The Magazine of Domestic
Economy, and Family Review (London, 1843) - although it comes with the
caveat for my Southern Hemisphere family and friends that of course, this temperate-climate,
Northern Hemisphere advice is completely inappropriate for those of us in the
other half of the globe who are moving towards a tropical summer. Save these
suggestions for May, my Down-Under friends!
THE
LARDER AND KITCHEN
FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER.
Fastidientis est stomachi
multa degustaro.—Seneca.
Good cheer,
as it is called, but, more correctly speaking, strong animal food, being now
less injurious to the stomach, may be indulged in rather more freely than
during the hot weather. The pretext of field-sports brings numerous guests to
partake of the hospitality at the castles and mansions of the high-born and the
wealthy; whilst among those who have migrated to fashionable watering-places,
or to inhale the sea-air upon the coast, dinner-parties are frequent.
Unfortunately, moderation in food is very rare among
"persons of a certain age:" instead of " the feast of reason and
the flow of soul” they have the feast of turtle and game, and the flow of
champagne. What is the consequence? The foundation of gout and indigestion is
laid; and upon it a superstructure of disturbance is gradually raised, until
the climax, at Christmas, determines those attacks which, during the spring
months, confine many a middle-aged Sybarite to the solitude of his apartment,
his back propped with pillows, his aching legs reposing upon cushions of the
softest down, and the torture he is compelled to endure souring the most placid
temper. …
...
Meantime, we recommend our readers to read our dissertations
on Cookery published in the first volume of the Magazine of Domestic Economy.
The larder, this month, is stored with a variety of good
things, which we shall enumerate,
1. FISH.—Turbot,
cod, haddocks, skate, plaice, flounders, soles, eels, congers, and herrings,
are very cheap and abundant. The autumn mackerel have been particularly fine
during the last month, and there has been, and continues to be, a plentiful
supply, but at a rather high price. It is with very great regret that we see
salmon still brought to market; for it is of such questionable quality, that we
warn our readers against purchasing it, if they would keep themselves free from
disease. Oysters are plentiful and very cheap at Billingsgate market. The large
tea-oyster may now be bought for pickling, and also for making oyster-ketchup,
for the preparation of which see volume I. page 42. Crabs and lobsters, though
still pretty abundant, fetch a high price. The large crawfish, which is
much cheaper, is equally good for sauce, and for curry. Shrimps are cheap
and plentiful.
2. BUTCHER'S MEAT AND VENISON.—There
is an excellent supply of butcher's meat in the market. Beef is very prime; the
salting pieces are most seasonable. Hung beef may be advantageously cured this
month, according to the receipt in volume IV. page 147; hunting beef, also, the
mode of preparing which will be found in vol. I. page 71 ; and Dutch beef, as
explained in vol. II, page 215. Beef to be eaten grated upon bread and butter
may now also be cured for winter. The meat, free from fat, a piece of the
buttock in preference, must be salted during twenty-four hours, then wiped and
put into the Suffolk-ham pickle (vol. IV. p. 117), in which it must remain six
weeks. The beef is then taken out and boiled, after which it is put by during a
fortnight. It is then fit for grating, and will keep for any length of
time—care being taken to grate, each time, only so much as is required for
immediate consumption.
Mutton is in prime order—Southdown, Scotch, and Welsh. The
fine Dartmoor mutton, equal, in our estimation, to venison, can be obtained, in
the greatest perfection, at the Devonshire warehouses in town, and sent from
thence to any part of the country. Indeed, the supply of this dainty is more
certain from the London houses than if it were ordered at Exeter, or even at
Oakhampton, whence it is generally forwarded to the Metropolis. We ourselves
usually obtain it from Tucker's in the Strand, whence we send it to our friends
in the country. The date of its being killed is written upon a bit of paper or
parchment attached to each haunch.
Lamb is also in the market, but is getting rather out of
season. There is an abundant supply of veal for those who like it. In our
estimation, English veal is not very wholesome. In a former article we have
stated why. Dairy-fed pork b now of excellent quality, and sold at a reasonable
price.
Venison is at present so cheap, that all parts except the
prime haunches are sold at the price of butcher's meat. A good haunch still
maintains its price of from two to three guineas. Fawns are to be had at seven
or eight shillings each. Kids are very scarce, because there is no encouragement,
in this country, for continuing the supply. The kid is only a chance dainty,
and makes its appearance at very few tables exclusively English.
3. POULTRY AND GAME.—The
market and the poulterers' shops are most abundantly supplied with capons,
fowls, chickens, geese, full-grown turkeys, pigeons, green and golden plovers,
and larks. Game is also in great plenty: pheasants, partridges, grouse and moor
fowls. This month ushers in also woodcocks and snipes. That rare bird the
ptarmigan also makes its appearance in North Britain; and the Metropolitan
markets are well supplied with wild ducks, widgeon, teal, curlews, and all
other kinds of wild fowl. Hares, rabbits, and roasting pigs are plentiful and
in high season.
4. VEGETABLES AND FRUITS.—Vegetables
of all kinds are cheap and abundant, except green peas, which fetch a very high
price, though they are without flavour. Cabbages, cauliflowers, and kidney
beans are of particularly excellent quality, owing to the fine weather and
genial temperature which have prevailed ever since the commencement of the
autumn.
Though exotic and hothouse fruits are dear, there is a cheap
abundance of native produce. Apples for boiling and baking, pears for the same
purposes, are exceedingly good and of reasonable price. There is a large crop
of nuts and filberts this year, as well as of walnuts; and now is the time to
lay in a winter store of all three. They should be preserved in jars, in
alternate layers of nuts and sawdust,—the latter baked in a slack oven until
quite dry, and used when cold. The jars should be closed so as totally to
exclude the air.
It is very necessary, this month, to examine carefully the
apples laid up for winter store, separating for immediate consumption those
bearing the smallest spot, or otherwise showing the least symptom of
decay. The good ones should be well wiped with dry cloths, for the purpose of
removing the moisture which has exuded from them in the form of perspiration,
and with which they are usually covered. It is recommended to pack them in hampers
or chests, in alternate layers of clean straw and fruit, so that the air may be
excluded from the latter. We much doubt the efficacy of this
plan. We ourselves always keep them in open bins without straw, each
particular sort being heaped in a bin by itself. The straw is liable to be
decomposed, and to impart the putrid ferment to the fruit.
With regard to the finer kinds of pears intended to be kept
until February, they should not be placed upon one another, as they are of too
frail a texture to bear any weight. Great care should be taken, also, that
their stalks be not bruised. Each pear should be encased in fine paper, and
laid in rows upon shelves. Both the apples and pears should be examined and
wiped, from time to time, throughout the winter.
THE KITCHEN.
Soups.—In
addition to the soups already mentioned in the preceding articles, we beg to
recommend one which is now in season, and which is relished by all lovers of
vegetables.
Cabbage Soup.—Cut
three or four cabbages into quarters, and blanch them in boiling water salted.
Let them boil dining fire minutes, then drain and press them. Put them into a
stewpan, with a couple of carrots cut into bits, two large onions, one turnip
cut into slices, and a piece of bacon, or the knuckle bone of a boiled ham from
which all the meat has been removed. Fill the stewpan two-thirds full of hot
water. Lot the whole boil until the vegetables are tender. Then remove the
bacon, which may be served up with veal or fowls, or kept and warmed for
another day. If, instead of bacon, you have a ham bone, remove it in like
manner. Now add a wineglassful or more of mushroom ketchup, and a good
thickening of flour and water. Boil gently during a quarter of an hour longer,
then serve up in a soup tureen, with toasted bread in a dish. To give a colour
to this soup, you may use a little burnt sugar, or a small bit of bread toasted
as if for toast-and-water.
[more
recipes follow]
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