Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches by Eliza Leslie Published: 1840
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STORE FISH SAUCES.
GENERAL REMARKS.
Store fish sauces if properly made will keep for many months. They
may be brought to table in fish castors, but a customary mode is
to send them round in the small black bottles in which they have
been originally deposited. They are in great variety, and may be
purchased of the grocers that sell oil, pickles, anchovies, &c. In
making them at home, the few following receipts may be found
useful.
The usual way of eating these sauces is to pour a little on your
plate, and mix it with the melted butter. They give flavour to
fish that would otherwise be insipid, and are in general use at
genteel tables.
Two table-spoonfuls of any of these sauces may be added to the
melted butter a minute before you take it from the fire. But if
brought to table in bottles, the company can use it or omit it as
they please.
SCOTCH SAUCE.
Take fifteen anchovies, chop them fine, and steep them in vinegar
for a week, keeping the vessel closely covered. Then put them into
a pint of claret or port wine. Scrape fine a large stick of
horseradish, and chop two onions, a handful of parsley, a tea-spoonful
of the leaves of lemon-thyme, and two large peach leaves.
Add a nutmeg, six or eight blades of mace, nine cloves, and a tea-spoonful
of black pepper, all slightly pounded in a mortar. Put
all these ingredients into a silver or block tin sauce-pan, or
into an earthen pipkin, and add a few grains of cochineal to
colour it. Pour in a large half pint of the best vinegar, and
simmer it slowly till the bones of the anchovies are entirely
dissolved.
Strain the liquor through a sieve, and when quite cold put it away
for use in small bottles; the corks dipped in melted rosin, and
well-secured by pieces of leather tied closely over them. Fill
each bottle quite full, as it will keep the better for leaving no
vacancy.
This sauce will give a fine flavour to melted butter.
QUIN'S SAUCE.
Pound in a mortar six large anchovies, moistening them with their
own pickle. Then chop and pound six small onions. Mix them with a
little black pepper and a little cayenne, half a glass of soy,
four glasses of mushroom catchup, two glasses of claret, and two
of black walnut pickle. Put the mixture into a small sauce-pan or
earthen pipkin, and let it simmer slowly till all the bones of the
anchovies are dissolved. Strain it, and when cold, bottle it for
use; dipping the cork in melted rosin, and tying leather over it.
Fill the bottles quite full.
KITCHINER'S FISH SAUCE.
Mix together a pint of claret, a pint of mushroom catchup, and
half a pint of walnut pickle, four ounces of pounded anchovy, an
ounce of fresh lemon-peel pared thin, and the same quantity of
shalot or small onion. Also an ounce of scraped horseradish, half
an ounce of black pepper, and half an ounce of allspice mixed, and
the same quantity of cayenne and celery-seed. Infuse these
ingredients in a wide-mouthed bottle (closely stopped) for a
fortnight, shaking the mixture every day. Then strain and bottle
it for use. Put it up in small bottles, filling them quite full.
HARVEY'S SAUCE.
Dissolve six anchovies in a pint of strong vinegar, and then add
to them three table-spoonfuls of India soy, and three table-spoonfuls
of mushroom catchup, two heads of garlic bruised small,
and a quarter of an ounce of cayenne. Add sufficient cochineal
powder to colour the mixture red. Let all these ingredients infuse
in the vinegar for a fortnight, shaking it every day, and then
strain and bottle it for use. Let the bottles be small, and cover
the corks with leather.
GENERAL SAUCE.
Chop six shalots or small onions, a clove of garlic, two peach
leaves, a few sprigs of lemon-thyme and of sweet basil, and a few
bits of fresh orange-peel. Bruise in a mortar a quarter of an
ounce of cloves, a quarter of an ounce of mace, and half an ounce
of long pepper. Mix two ounces of salt, a jill of vinegar, the
juice of two lemons, and a pint of Madeira. Put the whole of these
ingredients together in a stone jar, very closely covered. Let it
stand all night over embers by the side of the fire. In the
morning pour off the liquid quickly and carefully from the lees or
settlings, strain it and put it into small bottles, dipping the
corks in melted rosin.
This sauce is intended to flavour melted butter or gravy, for
every sort of fish and meat.
PINK SAUCE.
Mix together half a pint of port wine, half a pint of strong
vinegar, the juice and grated peel of two large lemons, a quarter
of an ounce of cayenne, a dozen blades of mace, and a quarter of
an ounce of powdered cochineal. Let it infuse a fortnight,
stirring it several times a day. Then boil it ten minutes, strain
it, and bottle it for use.
Eat it with any sort of fish or game. It will give a fine pink
tinge to melted butter.
CATCHUPS.
LOBSTER CATCHUP.
This catchup, warmed in melted butter, is an excellent substitute
for fresh lobster sauce at seasons when the fish cannot he
procured, as, if properly made, it will keep a year.
Take a fine lobster that weighs about three pounds. Put it into
boiling water, and cook it thoroughly. When it is cold break it
up, and extract all the flesh from the shell. Pound the red part
or coral in a marble mortar, and when it is well bruised, add the
white meat by degrees, and pound that also; seasoning it with a
tea-spoonful of cayenne, and moistening it gradually with sherry
wine. When it is beaten to a smooth paste, mix it well with the
remainder of the bottle of sherry. Put it into wide-mouthed
bottles, and on the top of each lay a dessert-spoonful of whole
pepper. Dip the corks in melted rosin, and secure them well by
tying leather over them.
In using this catchup allow four table-spoonfuls to a common-sized
sauce-boat of melted butter. Put in the catchup at the last, and
hold it over the fire just long enough to be thoroughly heated.
ANCHOVY CATCHUP.
Bone two dozen anchovies, and then chop them. Put to them ten
shalots, or very small onions, cut fine, and a handful of scraped
horseradish, with a quarter of an ounce of mace. Add a lemon, cut
into slices, twelve cloves, and twelve pepper-corns. Then mix
together a pint of red wine, a quart of white wine, a pint of
water and half a pint of anchovy liquor. Put the other ingredients
into the liquid, and boil it slowly till reduced to a quart. Then
strain it, and when cold put it into small bottles, securing the
corks with leather.
OYSTER CATCHUP.
Take large salt oysters that have just been opened. Wash them in
their own liquor, and pound them, in a mortar, omitting the hard
parts. To every pint of the pounded oysters, add a half pint of
white wine or vinegar, in which you must give them a boil up,
removing the scum as it rises. Then to each quart of the boiled
oysters allow a tea-spoonful of beaten white pepper, a salt-spoonful
of pounded mace, and cayenne and salt to your taste. Let
it boil up for a few minutes, and then pass it through a sieve
into an earthen pan. When cold, put it into small bottles, filling
them quite full, as it will not keep so well if there is a vacancy
at the top. Dip the corks in melted rosin, and tie leather over
each.
WALNUT CATCHUP.
Take green walnuts that are young enough to be easily pierced
through with a large needle. Having pricked them all in several
places, throw them into an earthen pan with a large handful of
salt, and barely sufficient water to cover them. Break up and mash
them with a potato-beetle, or a rolling-pin. Keep them four days
in the salt and water, stirring and mashing them every day. The
rinds will now be quite soft. Then scald them with boiling-hot
salt and water, and raising the pan on the edge, let the walnut
liquor flow away from the shells into another pan. Put the shells
into a mortar, and pound them with vinegar, which will extract
from them all the remaining juice.
Put all the walnut liquor together, and boil and skim it, then to
every quart allow an ounce of bruised ginger, an ounce of black
pepper, half an ounce of cloves, and half an ounce of nutmeg, all
slightly beaten. Boil the spice and walnut liquor in a closely
covered vessel for three quarters of an hour. When cold, bottle it
for use, putting equal proportions of the spice into each bottle.
Secure the corks with leather.
MUSHROOM CATCHUP.
Take mushrooms that have been freshly gathered, and examine them
carefully to ascertain that they are of the right sort. Pick them
nicely, and wipe them clean, but do not wash them. Spread a layer
of them at the bottom of a deep earthen pan, and then sprinkle
them well with salt; then another layer of mushrooms, and another
layer of salt, and so on alternately. Throw a folded cloth over
the jar, and set it by the fire or in a very cool oven. Let it
remain thus for twenty-four hours, and then mash them well with
your hands. Next squeeze and strain them through a bag.
To every quart of strained liquor add an ounce and a half of whole
black pepper, and boil it slowly in a covered vessel for half an
hour. Then add a quarter of an ounce of allspice, half an ounce of
sliced ginger, a few cloves, and three or four blades of mace.
Boil it with the spice fifteen minutes longer. When it is done,
take it off, and let it stand awhile to settle. Pour it carefully
off from the sediment and put it into small bottles, filling them
to the top. Secure them well with corks dipped in melted rosin,
and leather caps tied over them.
The longer catchup is boiled, the better it will keep. You may add
cayenne and nutmeg to the spices.
The bottles should be quite small, as it soon spoils after being
opened.
TOMATA CATCHUP.
Gather the tomatas on a dry day, and when quite ripe. Peel them,
and cut them into quarters. Put them into a large earthen pan, and
mash and squeeze them till they are reduced to a pulp. Allowing
half a pint of fine salt to a hundred tomatas, put them into a
preserving kettle, and boil them gently with the salt for two
hours, stirring them frequently to prevent their burning. Then
strain them through a fine sieve, pressing them with the back of a
silver spoon. Season them to your taste with mace, cinnamon,
nutmeg, ginger, and white or red pepper, all powdered fine.
Put the tomata again over the fire with the spices, and boil it
slowly till very thick, stirring it frequently.
When cold, put it up in small bottles, secure the corks well, and
it will keep good a year or two.
LEMON CATCHUP.
Cut nine large lemons into thin slices, and take out the seeds.
Prepare, by pounding them in a mortar, two ounces of mustard seed,
half an ounce of black pepper, half an ounce of nutmeg, a quarter
of an ounce of mace, and a quarter of an ounce of cloves. Slice
thin two ounces of horseradish. Put all these ingredients
together. Strew over them three ounces of fine salt. Add a quart
of the best vinegar.
Boil the whole twenty minutes. Then put it warm into a jar, and
let it stand three weeks closely covered. Stir it up daily.
Then strain it through a sieve, and put it up in small bottles to
flavour fish and other sauces. This is sometimes called lemon
pickle.
SEA CATCHUP.
Take a gallon of stale strong beer, a pound of anchovies washed
from the pickle, a pound of peeled shalots or small onions, half
an ounce of mace, half an ounce of cloves, a quarter of an ounce
of whole pepper, three or four large pieces of ginger, and two
quarts of large mushroom-flaps rubbed to pieces. Put the whole
into a kettle closely covered, and let it simmer slowly till
reduced to one half. Then strain it through a flannel bag, and let
it stand till quite cold before you bottle it. Have small bottles
and fill them quite full of the catchup. Dip the corks in melted
rosin.
This catchup keeps well at sea, and may be carried into any part
of the world. A spoonful of it mixed in melted butter will make a
fine fish sauce. It may also be used to flavour gravy.
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