by Tom Stobart
Additives. *Saltpetre, *Chile saltpetre, *sal prunella, sodium or potassium nitrite (see nitrites) – any of these may be added to brines, especially to those for meat and fish, not only for their cosmetic action of turning meat pink, but also for their preservative effect.
Sugar is added to meat cures because it counteracts the hardening effect of saltpetre and makes the meat taste sweeter and less salty. If brown sugars, molasses or syrups are used, they add their flavour. An important action of sugar is to encourage the growth of bacteria which create a little acidity, helping preservation and improving the flavour. Vinegar is used particularly in basting cures for meat but is also usual with vegetables. Spices used for flavour have also some preservative action. The most common in brines are black pepper, allspice, juniper berries, ginger, mace, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves.
Brine strength. The preservative effect of brine is related to its strength. Because fluids diffuse out of the foods being preserved, it may be necessary to fortify them with more salt, and some method of checking becomes necessary, especially if the brine is to be used more than once. The easiest way to think of brine strength is as a straight percentage by weight, because that is the way we make it up. 100 g salt in 1 It water is 10% brine. Since an Imperial gallon of water weighs 10 lb, 1lb (450 g) of salt in 8 pt (4.5 It) is also 10%. Old recipes call for brine strong enough ‘to float an egg’. It must be a fresh egg, which lies on the bottom of fresh water and not one already starting to take off. It should just rise to the surface of the brine, not float proud. Although pretty inaccurate, this method has served farmers’ wives for centuries (a potato is another object they used), but any hydrometer, even a home-made one, will do a better job. See brinometer.
Saturated brine is the strongest brine it is possible to make. At room temperature, water will dissolve about 35% salt (350 g per 1 It or 3½ lb per 8 pt), but as solubility increases with temperature, boiling water will dissolve 40% (400 g per 1 It or 4 lb per 8 pt). Excess will crystallize out again on cooling. Saturated brine is too strong and crude for most purposes (as the art of all salting is to use no more than is necessary and so make a delicate product), but it is used for preserving limes and lemons.
Indian Brined limes
Wash and dry the fruit, and cut into quarters but not completely through. Boil it in saturated brine for 5 minutes. Pack the fruit in hot bottles and fill them with boiling brine. Seal immediately.
A Standard Butcher’s Brine for Tongue, Bacon and Meat
This is a 20% brine, which contains 25 It (40 pt) water, 5 kg (11 lb) salt, 100 g (3½ oz) saltpetre, 300 g (11 oz) sugar and a spice-bag. Boil the ingredients for 20 minutes, adding a spice-bag towards the end. (A good spice-bag used by butchers is made of equal weights of coriander and allspice with a half weight of juniper berries. Use 25 g per 4.5 It [1 oz per 8 pt], but do not follow the formula slavishly, to allow for individual taste and the quality of the spices.) Cool the brine, remove the spice-bag, throw in a slice of bacon (to start the denitrifying bacteria) and sink the meat under the pickle. An old rule of thumb says you should leave the meat in the pickle 1 day for every 500 g (1 lb) of meat, but thin pieces obviously take less time than thick ones of the same weight.
Brine for Holding Vegetables
This is a 15% brine, which contains 25 It (40 pt) water (soft water or rain water for preference), 3.75 kg (8¼ lb) sea salt or cooking salt and 1.5 It (2½ pt) vinegar. Boil the water with the salt for 20 minutes and then add the vinegar. Boil it for a minute or so and then let it cool. The vegetables which are put into this brine must be fresh and free from blemishes. Keep them below the surface of the liquid and remove any trapped pockets of air. Later, because the brine strength will be reduced by water extracted from the vegetables, check the solution and raise it once more back to strength by adding extra salt. Roughly 2 kg (4½ lb) of salt per 10 kg (22 lb) of vegetables will be required (though it is better to measure); it may be added as saturated brine or simply put on the board covering the vegetables to diffuse slowly into the pickle. (If the salt is tipped in, it sinks to the bottom, leaving the top layers under strength.) Vegetables brined this way need soaking to remove salt before they are cooked, but may be made directly into pickles. This brine is suitable for holding large pieces of vegetables, such as cauliflower and for small carrots, green beans, etc.
Brine for Fermented Vegetable Pickle
This is a 5% brine, which contains 25 It (40 pt) water, 1.25 kg (2½ lb) salt and 1.5 It (2½ pt) vinegar. Into this brine, made in the same way as the last, put cauliflower divided into florets, French beans, small carrots, beetroots, or cucumbers, turnip slices or greens. Pack the vegetables tightly, remove air bubbles, and weight the contents under the surface. A lactic acid fermentation will take place, and the acidity will increase. Aerobic organisms will form a flor (or white scum) on the surface which must be skimmed off daily. The pickle will be ready in about 10 days, depending on the kind of vegetables and on the temperature. Naturally the process takes less time in hot weather.
If it is not to be eaten immediately (it can be held for a few days in the refrigerator), the pickle should be packed in preserving jars, covered with the brine and sealed (if the jars have screw caps, loosen them half a turn for safety). Immerse them in cold water, bring them to the boil and hold them at boiling point for 30 minutes to sterilize them (screw caps then need to be tightened).This pickle does not need desalting but may be rinsed if it is too acid.
[Brine – French: saumure German: Salzwasser, Salzbrühe Italian: salamoia Spanish: salmuera]
BRINJAL. Indian name for *aubergine.
BRINOMETER. A special type of *hydrometer used by butchers to measure the percentage saturation of brine. On this scale, fresh water is 0° and saturated brine is 100°.The older *Baume scale, still often used by European butchers, takes 0° for fresh water but 20° for saturated brine. So 1° on the brinometer scale is 5° Baumé. Thus we have the following set of approximate conversions:
BRISLING. The Scandinavian name for *sprat. Brisling are often canned and treated as a substitute for sardines to which they are inferior.
BRISTOL MILK and BRISTOL CREAM. See sherry.
BRITISH GUM. See dextrin.
BROAD BEAN, shell bean (US), Windsor bean (US), field bean, fava bean or horse bean (Vicia faba).The field bean was the original bean and has been cultivated in Europe and Asia since the Stone Age. The modern broad bean is merely an improved variety. Field beans are still commonly grown as farm crops and, except for their size, are gastronomically indistinguishable from broad beans. It is easy to see why they were one of the first plants to be taken into cultivation by early man: they have a large seed (to dry and keep over the winter) and will grow almost anywhere, in any poor soil, as long as there is a suitable climate. You still see them in the more primitive places around the Mediterranean, il carne del povero, the meat of the poor.
Broad beans are the first beans for picking in spring. In Mediterranean climates, they are ready from March (having been sown the previous autumn), but in Britain they start in May, coming in a flush in June. Very young pods can be eaten whole, though the texture is a bit slimy. Young beans, which are bright green, are delicious raw with coarse salt or prosciutto crudo. After a few more days, when the skin begins to turn a greyish-pink (some varieties remain green and are considered superior), they are better boiled until tender (about 15 minutes) and eaten with chopped parsley and butter, or with a sauce made with plenty of parsley, as the flavours of beans and parsley seem to be complementary. The French combine broad beans with savory as do the Germans, but this taste is not shared by everybody.
Broad beans are disliked by most children, and in some people they cause favism (See poisoning).
When old broad beans become tough, they are hardly worth eating, even skinned, and are better left on the plant to ripen. They can then be dried and used in winter. In Spain, dried broad beans (habas secas) are particularly popular and are sold both whole and peeled (often sliced) in t
he market. Whole beans must be soaked and the skins removed before using, but the sliced beans cook quickly to a purée when simply boiled in water. The Spanish also make much use of canned broad or field beans, as bean dishes are served as an ‘appetite stopper’ (although they might not admit it) at the beginning of a meal.
Habas con Longanizas
Longanizas or longanizas blancas are the long, white, low-fat pork sausages of Cataluña, but any not-too-fatty pork sausage will do. The beans can be fresh, shelled broad beans or canned broad beans, drained. Heat ½ cup oil till it spits and then cool it a little before putting in 1 kg (2 lb) beans, a bay leaf and salt, otherwise the beans may split. Cook them on a slow fire until the beans are half cooked – about 5 minutes. Then add ½ cup water and 250 g (about ½ lb) sausage. Continue to cook on a slow fire until all the liquid has been absorbed and the sausages are ready.
[Broad bean – French: haricot large German: grosse Bohne Italian: fava Spanish: haba]
BROCCOLI. See cauliflower.
BROILING. In Victorian kitchens, one broiled a steak on a broiler, but today the word broil has fallen into disuse in Britain and has been replaced by the word grill. In America one still broils.
[Broiling – French: griller German: rösten Italian: arrostire sulla graticula Spanish: asar]
BROTH. The liquid in which any bones, meat or vegetables have been boiled. It is usually concentrated, flavoured and salted to make a soup, but is always unclarified. Bouillon (French for broth) is concentrated, also usually unclarified, and likely to be made from beef or veal. Consommé is both concentrated and clarified. *Stock is also made by boiling bones, meat, fish or vegetables in water. It is never a finished dish, but only a basic material from which soups or sauces are made.
[Broth – French: bouillon German: Fleischbrühe Italian: brodo Spanish: caldo]
BROWNING, black jack or kitchen caramel. This was previously considered a kitchen essential, when roasts and brown gravies to go with them were more common than now; it can still be bought ready made. lt consisted of caramelized sugar and water. When badly made, it was nasty and bitter. To make it, melt 225 g (½ lb) of sugar in a thick pan with just a little water (a tablespoon) over a very low flame. Take off any scum and leave the mixture on the lowest flame for several hours until it has become a dark brown colour – when the bubbles have turned from red to blue – then add about 500 ml (1 pt) water. Let the liquid boil on the fire until a solution has been formed. Bottle it for use. Browning should have little taste; it is a kitchen cosmetic.
BRUSSELS SPROUT. Sprouts are a variety of the *cabbage species (Brassica oleracea, var. gemmifera) which originated, as far as is known, in the early 13th century near Brussels, but did not become popular in Britain until the 19th century. They are only gradually becoming a common winter vegetable in Spain and Italy. Modern varieties of Brussels sprouts produce regular and tight buds which require little trimming. The small ‘cabbage’ at the top of the long, sprout-bearing stem is used as greens (sprout tops). It is generally believed in Britain that a frost is necessary to make sprouts sweet, but certainly with modern varieties this is not necessary. Some types are naturally sweeter than others. The purple-red sprouts often taste as sweet as the chestnuts with which they are sometimes cooked. Loose, blown sprouts are cheap, but often take a lot of cleaning and are therefore wasteful. If sprouts are yellowish, they will be stale, have a horrible smell and taste, and should not be bought under any circumstances.
[Brussels sprout – French: chou de Bruxelles German: Rosenkohl Italian: cavolino di Brusselle Spanish: col de Bruselas]
BUAL. See madeira.
BUCKLING. See herring.
BUCKWHEAT, beechwheat, brank or Saracen corn. Being the seed of a starch plant (Fagopyrum esculentum) which belongs to the same family as rhubarb, sorrel and dock (Polygonaceae), buckwheat is not a true cereal, although it is treated as such. The plant has pink or white flowers (which are good for honey), reddish stems and long, pointed, heart-shaped leaves. It is a native of Asiatic Russia, where it is still found growing wild in its original form (which usually means that it has been taken into cultivation very late in history – it is said, under 1,000 years ago); it did not reach Europe until the 15th century. It grows very rapidly, even on poor soil, and so will smother weeds.
Buckwheat gets its name through the Dutch boek-weit, meaning beech wheat, because the grain is shaped like a beechnut, though smaller. It is an important staple in Russia, but is also grown extensively both for its grain and as green fodder in the US, Germany, France, Japan and elsewhere. It can now be found on sale in health-food shops as a result of the discovery that buckwheat contains rutin, a glucoside first isolated from rue (and named after it), which is beneficial in some cases of high blood pressure.
As a food, buckwheat has a distinctive flavour. Buckwheat flour, either plain or mixed with wheat flour, is the basis for buckwheat pancakes, a well-known winter breakfast favourite in parts of the US. Recipes vary from a simple type of girdle cake leavened with baking powder to more elaborate versions based on yeast. The famous Russian, yeast-leavened pancakes, blinis, are also often made with a mixture containing buckwheat flour, and savoury crêpes are made wholly or partly with buckwheat. Whole, husked buckwheat is the basis for kasha in Russian cookery. It can be made into a porridge or cakes, or cooked in loose grains, when it may be compared to rice. Traditionally, buckwheat goes with borstch and with shchi (thick vegetable soups). It is used as a stuffing for both fish (like carp and trout) and meat (including pork and goose). Many prefer it to rice with beef Stroganoff, gulash, or other meats cooked in a sauce.
Kasha
Measure the required amount of husked buckwheat grain and pick it over to remove husks and any unhusked grains. Roast the grain with care in an ungreased frying pan, stirring and shaking it continually, until the grain begins to pop. Now turn it into an ovenproof dish with a lid, or into a double boiler, and add 1½-2 times the volume of boiling, salted water. Cook in the oven at moderate heat (180°C, 350°F Gas Mark 4) or in a double boiler, for about ¾ hour, or until the grains are soft but not soggy. Add plenty of butter, fluff it with a fork and serve.
[Buckwheat – French: sarrasin, blé noir German: Buchweizen Italian: grana saraceno Spanish: trigo negro]
BULGAR WHEAT. See burghul.
BULLACE. A small wild variety of the European *plum (Prunus domestica, ssp. insititia), the bullace tree looks very like the blackthorn, but the bark of the twigs is brown, not black, and the tree is less thorny. The fruits also look very like sloes, though they are a little larger, they have the same blue bloom, but there are also yellow varieties. Wild bullaces are locally common in hedgerows and at the edges of woods in England.
Bullaces, though less sour and astringent than sloes, are of greatest use for similar purposes – to make bullace wine and bullace gin. They can also be made into jam and even, given enough sugar, used as stewed fruit. Although gastronomically intermediate between sloes and damsons, they lack the incomparable flavour of the latter. Bullace is not often planted nowadays, although cultivated varieties are very prolific and fairly sweet, especially if they are left on the trees well into the autumn, after the leaves have fallen.
[Bullace – French: crèque German: Pflaumenschlehe Italian: susmo selvatico Spanish: endrina grande]
BULLOCK’S HEART. See custard apple.
BULLY BEEF. Canned *corned beef.
BUMMALO. See Bombay duck.
BUNDNERFLEISCH. Swiss cured and dried beef, similar to the *bresaola from neighbouring districts of Italy, and traditionally made in the Grisons in winter. In other areas, such as the Bernese-Oberland, the beef is smoked, but not in the Grisons. It is an expensive delicacy, which is served in very thin slices as an appetizer.
A Swiss woman, whose mother used to make it at home, says that a pickle was made with all sorts of chopped vegetables, mountain herbs, onions, chives, parsley, thyme and so on mixed with coarse salt (gros sel). First the meat was dipped in white wine, th
en rubbed with the salt mixture (and very little saltpetre for colour), and put in a barrel in a cool cellar. The juice extracted by the salt was drained off, and the meat again rubbed with the mixture, a process which was repeated until no more juice flowed out. After that, the pieces of meat were hung to dry in an attic ‘where we had a little tower, Ia tournalette, for the purpose.’ The windows, covered with wire mesh to keep out the flies, were left open, but if it was cold at night someone had to go up to shut them and prevent the meat from freezing. The finished bundnerfleisch was taken down when thoroughly dried.
In a more cynical modern vein, a butcher says that it used to be made in the Grisons in winter, but that now, with air conditioning, any salami manufacturer can make it all the year round.
BURGHUL, bulgar wheat, bourgouri or pourgouri. Often described as cracked wheat, burghul is cracked by boiling, not mechanically. It is a staple in the Middle East, especially in Syria and in the Lebanon, and is the essential basis of tabbouleh and kibbeh. lt can be bought ready-made from specialist shops or made at home as follows:
Burghul
Take good-quality wholewheat and, if necessary, pick it over and wash it. Put the wheat in a saucepan and cover it with water. Boil it until it is somewhat soft and begins to crack open. Then drain well and dry in the sun or in a very low oven. The dried burghul must then be ground in a hand grinder (or coffee mill if only small quantities are needed) and sieved. The fine burghul is used for kibbeh and tabbouleh, the coarse for other dishes (kishk and pilau).
Tabbouleh
Soak 225 g (8 oz) burghul for about an hour in cold water, until it has softened but gives a little resistance to the bite. Drain the water from it thoroughly, then spread it on a tea towel and press further moisture out of it. Put the wheat in a bowl and add 4-6 dessertspoons olive oil and 1 medium onion, several sprigs of mint, a large handful of parsley, all finely chopped. Stir everything together, keeping the mixture light, and season it with the juice of a juicy lemon, salt and pepper. If you wish, add shredded lettuce and pieces of cucumber.