Part 204 (1/2)

1666. INGREDIENTS.--6 eggs, 6 tablespoonfuls of forcemeat No. 417, hot lard, 1/2 pint of good brown gravy.

_Mode_.--Boil the eggs for 10 minutes; strip them from the sh.e.l.ls, and cover them with forcemeat made by recipe No. 417; or subst.i.tute pounded anchovies for the ham. Fry the eggs a nice brown in boiling lard, drain them before the fire from their greasy moisture, dish them, and pour round from 1/4 to 1/2 pint of good brown gravy. To enhance the appearance of the eggs, they may be rolled in beaten egg and sprinkled with bread crumbs; but this is scarcely necessary if they are carefully fried. The flavour of the ham or anchovy in the forcemeat must preponderate, as it should be very relis.h.i.+ng.

_Time_.--10 minutes to boil the eggs, 5 to 7 minutes to fry them.

_Average cost_, 1s. 4d.

_Sufficient_ for 3 or 4 persons. _Seasonable_ at any time.

EGGS A LA TRIPE.

1667. INGREDIENTS.--8 eggs, 3/4 pint of Bechamel sauce No. 368, dessertspoonful of finely-minced parsley.

_Mode_.--Boil the eggs hard; put them into cold water, peel them, take out the yolks whole, and shred the whites. Make 3/4 pint of Bechamel sauce by recipe No. 368; add the parsley, and, when the sauce is quite hot, put the yolks of the eggs into the middle of the dish, and the shred whites round them; pour over the sauce, and garnish with leaves of puff-paste or fried crotons. There is no necessity for putting the eggs into the saucepan with the Bechamel; the sauce, being quite hot, will warm the eggs sufficiently.

_Time_.--10 minutes to boil the eggs.

_Average cost_, 1s.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON BREAD, BISCUITS, AND CAKES.

BREAD AND BREAD-MAKING.

1668. AMONG the numerous vegetable products yielding articles of food for man, the Cereals hold the first place. By means of skilful cultivation, mankind have transformed the original forms of these growths, poor and ill-flavoured as they perhaps were, into various fruitful and agreeable species, which yield an abundant and pleasant supply. Cla.s.sified according to their respective richness in alimentary elements, the Cereals stand thus:--Wheat, and its varieties, Rye, Barley, Oats, Rice, Indian Corn. Everybody knows it is wheat flour which yields the best bread. Rye-bread is viscous, hard, less easily soluble by the gastric juice, and not so rich in nutritive power. Flour produced from barley, Indian corn, or rice, is not so readily made into bread; and the article, when made, is heavy and indigestible.

1669. On examining a grain of corn from any of the numerous cereals [Footnote: _Cereal,_ a corn-producing plant; from Ceres, the G.o.ddess of agriculture.] used in the preparation of flour, such as wheat, maize, rye, barley, &c., it will be found to consist of two parts,--the husk, or exterior covering, which is generally of a dark colour, and the inner, or alb.u.minous part, which is more or less white. In grinding, these two portions are separated, and the husk being blown away in the process of winnowing, the flour remains in the form of a light brown powder, consisting princ.i.p.ally of starch and gluten. In order to render it white, it undergoes a process called ”bolting.” It is pa.s.sed through a series of fine sieves, which separate the coa.r.s.er parts, leaving behind fine white flour,--the ”fine firsts” of the corn-dealer. The process of bolting, as just described, tends to deprive flour of its gluten, the coa.r.s.er and darker portion containing much of that substance; while the lighter part is peculiarly rich in starch. Bran contains a large proportion of gluten; hence it will be seen why brown broad is so much more nutritious than white; in fact, we may lay it down as a general rule, that the whiter the bread the less nourishment it contains. Majendie proved this by feeding a dog for forty days with white wheaten bread, at the end of which time he died; while another dog, fed on brown bread made with flour mixed with bran, lived without any disturbance of his health. The ”bolting” process, then, is rather injurious than beneficial in its result; and is one of the numerous instances where fas.h.i.+on has chosen a wrong standard to go by. In ancient times, down to the Emperors, no bolted flour was known. In many parts of Germany the entire meal is used; and in no part of the world are the digestive organs of the people in a better condition. In years of famine, when corn is scarce, the use of bolted flour is most culpable, for from 18 to 20 per cent, is lost in bran. Brown bread has, of late years, become very popular; and many physicians have recommended it to invalids with weak digestions with great success. This rage for white bread has introduced adulterations of a very serious character, affecting the health of the whole community. Potatoes are added for this purpose; but this is a comparatively harmless cheat, only reducing the nutritive property of the bread; but bone-dust and alum are also put in, which are far from harmless.

1670. Bread-making is a very ancient art indeed. The a.s.syrians, Egyptians, and Greeks, used to make bread, in which oil, with aniseed and other spices, was an element; but this was unleavened. Every family used to prepare the bread for its own consumption, the _trade_ of baking not having yet taken shape. It is said, that somewhere about the beginning of the thirtieth Olympiad, the slave of an archon, at Athens, made leavened bread by accident. He had left some wheaten dough in an earthen pan, and forgotten it; some days afterwards, he lighted upon it again, and found it turning sour. His first thought was to throw it away; but, his master coming up, he mixed this now acescent dough with some fresh dough, which he was working at. The bread thus produced, by the introduction of dough in which alcoholic fermentation had begun, was found delicious by the archon and his friends; and the slave, being summoned and catechised, told the secret. It spread all over Athens; and everybody wanting leavened bread at once, certain persons set up as bread-makers, or bakers. In a short time bread-baking became quite an art, and ”Athenian bread” was quoted all over Greece as the best bread, just as the honey of Hyamettus was celebrated as the best honey.

1671. In our own times, and among civilized peoples, bread has become an article of food of the first necessity; and properly so, for it const.i.tutes of itself a complete life-sustainer, the gluten, starch, and sugar, which it contains, representing azotized and hydro-carbonated nutrients, and combining the sustaining powers of the animal and vegetable kingdoms in one product.

1672. WHEATEN BREAD.--The finest, wholesomest, and most savoury bread is made from wheaten flour. There are, of wheat, three leading qualities,-- the soft, the medium, and the hard wheat; the last of which yields a kind of bread that is not so white as that made from soft wheat, but is richer in gluten, and, consequently, more nutritive.

1673. RYE BREAD.--This comes next to wheaten bread: it is not so rich in gluten, but is said to keep fresh longer, and to have some laxative qualities.

1674. BARLEY BREAD, INDIAN-CORN BREAD, &c.--Bread made from barley, maize, oats, rice, potatoes, &c. ”rises” badly, because the grains in question contain but little gluten, which makes the bread heavy, close in texture, and difficult of digestion; in fact, corn-flour has to be added before panification can take place. In countries where wheat is scarce and maize abundant, the people make the latter a chief article of sustenance, when prepared in different forms.

BREAD-MAKING.