by Tom Stobart
[Condensed milk – French: lait condensé German: Kondensmilch Italian: latte condensate Spanish: leche condensada]
CONDIMENT. Salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar, spice, pickle or relish. The word, from the Latin condimentum (pickle or seasoning), has very little exact meaning, except that we understand condiments to be taken to table rather than added in the kitchen. (Seasoning is what the cook does in the kitchen.) Condiments are also always salty, spicy, piquant or stimulating. We would not usually call sugar a condiment nor redcurrant jelly, but we would include horseradish and mustard, and we may certainly copy the French and include *nuocnam. We also include ketchups and bottled sauces. Powdered dried lime or *sumac are other possibles, and I often feel the need for such sour powders as are used in some countries of the Middle East for sprinkling on rice; their use might well be more widely adopted.
[Condiment – French: condiment German: Wurze Italian: condimento Spanish: condimento]
CONGER EEL (Conger conger) is a marine fish which is widely distributed throughout the world. Congers grow to a very large size – monsters are 3 m (9 ft) long and weigh over 70 kg (160 lb).They are gifted with the same tenacity of life as common eels. Large ones are formidable creatures and give a very severe bite. Fishermen usually kill them in the boat. Congers have some superficial resemblance to the adult common eel as caught in the sea, but the eyes and gill openings are much larger, and the conger is without scales, while the common eel has scales embedded in the skin. Although the conger is a good fish and not bony, it lacks the richness and oiliness of the common eel and is not regarded as a delicacy. Conger is much used in soups, for instance in the Genoese burrida, in French bouillabaisse, cotriade and so on. Its flesh is firm but avoid using the bony tail end which is particularly unpleasant. It is abundant off rocky coasts in the winter months from September to April.
[Conger eel – French: congre German: Seeaal, Meeraal Italian: grongo Spanish: congrio]
CONSOMMÉ. See broth.
CONTREXÉVILLE. See water (mineral water).
CONVERSIONS. Although official tables offer conversions between units that are accurate to six places of decimals, the inaccuracy of most kitchen-measuring equipment will invalidate any pretensions to scientific accuracy. The conversions given below are quite accurate enough for the kitchen and are, I hope, reasonably easy to handle.
Temperature
Fahrenheit to Centigrade (Celsius): subtract 32, multiply by 5 and divide by 9. Centigrade (Celsius) to Fahrenheit multiply by 9, divide by 5 and add 32.
Weight
Pounds to kilograms: multiply by 5 and divide by 11. Kilograms to pounds: multiply by 11 and divide by 5. Ounces to grams: multiply by 25 or 30 (the exact conversion is 28.3). Grams to ounces: divide by 25 or 30.
Volume: British/Metric
Gallons to litres: multiply by 9 and divide by 2. Litres to gallons: multiply by 2 and divide by 9. Pints to litres: multiply by 4 and divide by 7. Litres to pints: multiply by 7 and divide by 4. Fluid ounces to millilitres: multiply by 25 or 30. Millilitres to fluid ounces: divide by 25 or 30.
Volume: American/Metric
Gallons to litres: multiply by 4. Litres to gallons: divide by 4. Liquid pints to litres: divide by 2. Litre to liquid pints: multiply by 2. Fluid ounces to millilitres: multiply by 30. Millilitres to fluid ounces: divide by 30.
Volume: British/American
There are rich possibilities for confusion here because the US dry pint and the US liquid pint represent different volumes. Effectively the US dry pint is the same as the UK pint, while the US liquid pint is smaller (16 fluid ounces instead of 20). Thus: Liquid pint and gallon, UK to US: multiply by 5 and divide by 6. Liquid pint and gallon, US to UK: multiply by 6 and divide by 5. UK and US fluid ounces are effectively the same (though the US fluid ounce actually equals 1.04 UK fluid ounces).
Volume: US Cups & Spoons/British
US cups to fluid ounces: multiply by 8. Fluid ounces to US cups: divide by 8. Tablespoons to fluid ounces: divide by 2. Fluid ounces to tablespoons: multiply by 2. Teaspoons to fluid ounces: divide by 6. Fluid ounces to teaspoons: divide by 6.
Volume: US Cups & Spoons/Metric
US cups to litres: divide by 4. Litres to US cups: multiply by 4. US tablespoons to millilitres: multiply by 15. Millilitres to US tablespoons: divide by 15. US teaspoons to millilitres: multiply by 5. Millilitres to US teaspoons: divide by 5.
Length
Inches to centimetres: multiply by 10 and divide by 4. Centimetres to inches: multiply by 4 and divide by 10. Feet to metres: multiply by 3 and divide by 10. Metres to feet: multiply by 10 and divide by 3.
COPPA. This is usually coppa cruda (raw), but there is also coppa cotta (cooked) which is of less gastronomic importance.
Coppa cruda consists of cured collar (neck) of pig, pressed raw – whole or in large pieces – into sausage skins (bladder or large gut) and hung to dry and mature for 2-4 months. Although it is a typical product of Emilia-Romagna from around Piacenza, Parma and Langhirano, it is also made traditionally in neighbouring Tuscany and Umbria – there is a version from Perugia. It may also be known as bondiolo or capocolla. Thin slices of coppa cruda are a classic part of an Italian antipasto (hors d’oeuvre) of cold meats. Coppa is also made in Corsica.
Coppa cotta is typical of central Italy, where it is made of the cooked and pressed meat of pig’s head and tongue, flavoured with pepper, bay and spices. In Rome, it is something like brawn, though more solid, but in Venice it may be more like a mould of cooked ham and tongue. lt is not usually enclosed in a skin.
COPPER (Cu) is a necessary element in the diet, and lack of it causes serious health problems. It is needed, for instance, for the formation of red blood cells. The daily intake for most people is adequate but not handsomely so.
The richest dietary sources of copper are oysters and crustaceans, which can contain as much as 400 parts per million, but ordinary fish are low in copper. Other good sources are yeast (50-100 ppm), liver (50-100 ppm), gelatine (25 ppm), cocoa, chocolate, tea and coffee (10-20 ppm), currants (17 ppm) and nuts (10 ppm). Meat, eggs, milk, cheese, fruit and vegetables are all low in copper. Copper salts in large quantities are poisonous to animals and plants.
Unlined copper vessels were once common, and they served well as long as they were in continual use and kept scrupulously clean. A copper water jug even had the advantage that since copper is lethal for bacteria, even in tiny quantities, it made the water safer to drink. However, when copper pots were used spasmodically and verdigris (a green coating of copper carbonate) was allowed to develop or when common kitchen acids, such as vinegar, were stood or boiled in copper pans, there were cases of poisoning. This led to the lining of copper pots with other metals, first lead or a 50:50 mixture of tin and lead, and finally tin with only a little lead. This last was used until quite recently and still is in some countries, but in the last few years pure tin with lead present only as a trace is usually specified by law. As such pure tin is very costly, it is one of the reasons why tinned copper utensils are so expensive. (Tinning these days seems to be done better in France than in England.) Tinned copper is unsuitable only for cooking curry, as this pits and discolours the tin lining. Untinned copper pans are still used for bowls for beating egg whites – French chefs insist on it when they can – for sugar-boiling pans (tin would be on the verge of melting at the temperatures that may have to be reached) and for jam pans.
There are two reasons for the excellence of copper pans, which far offsets the bother of keeping them clean. One is that copper is a superb conductor of heat. Copper pans heat evenly over their whole surface and do not burn (pans of stainless steel – a bad conductor of heat – are often given copper bottoms to spread the heat). The other reason is that copper has a low specific heat which means that copper pans heat up quickly and, conversely, quickly cool down. It is therefore easy to control the rate of cooking. Also, there is little damage that can be done to a copper pan that cannot be repaired. They can be re-tinned, and h
ammered into shape if dented; handles can be re-riveted if they become loose, and splits in the copper can be sealed.
In air, copper becomes dull, and when moist will develop the green coating of copper carbonate. To clean copper, rub it with a mixture of vinegar (or lemon juice) and salt rinsing it thoroughly afterwards. Never use an abrasive cleaner on the tin lining, as it will wear the tin away. Above all, do not overheat the pan; it will melt the tin.
[Copper – French: cuivre German: Kupfer Italian: rame Spanish: cobre]
CORIANDER (Coriandrum sativum), also called Chinese and Japanese parsley and cilantro (US), is the world’s most commonly used herb in spite of the fact that the name comes from the Greek, koris – a bug. There is a supposed similarity between the smell of the green leaves and the smell of bed bugs. A green umbelliferous herb, it takes the place of parsley, not only in China and Japan, but also in South East Asia, India, the Middle East, Mexico and Spanish America. Its peculiar taste grows on one until it is difficult to do without it. It combines especially well with green chilli. The seed is also an important spice seed. ‘And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.’ (Exodus XVI: 31).
It is a native of southern Europe and its use is very ancient. For Mexican or Indian cooking, it is sufficient to sow the seed you buy as a spice; provided it is fresh, it will germinate. The plants can be used chopped as soon as they are a few centimetres high. Not only is green coriander delicious, but it is also highly nutritious.
The seeds have a flavour somewhat reminiscent of oranges, and quite unlike that of the green leaves. They are round and easily split in two, but are difficult to grind finely unless they have first been slightly dry-roasted to be crisp, but not to spoil the delicate taste. The seed, unlike the green leaf, is much used in European cooking, in anything à Ia grecque, in pickles and on roast meat; it is the secret of a fine steak and kidney pudding. In the Middle East, taklia, an Arab flavouring for spinach, chick peas, meat balls, etc., is made by gently frying 3 cloves of garlic which have been crushed with salt together with a teaspoon of ground coriander until the mixture gives off an aromatic smell. The taklia is added to the dish at the end of cooking. In India, coriander is one of the foundation spices of curry. It is an essential spice to have on the shelf and has even been used in sweet dishes.
Although coriander is used both as seed and, above all, as a green herb in South East Asian food, it is the use of the root as a flavouring that is a unique feature of Thai cooking, as is described in Rosemary Brissenden’s South East Asian Food (Penguin). In Costa Rica and Dominica, cilantro is used as the name for another herb with a rather similar flavour which has the scientific name Geringium foetidum; this is also used in southern Mexico.
[Coriander – French: coriandre German: Koriander Italian: coriandolo Spanish: coriandro]
CORN means grain – any grain – depending where you are, and what is the common cereal in the region. Thus, in England it means *wheat (to farmers at least) and in Scotland, *oats. In the US, it means *maize. To add to the possible confusion, the British have adopted American usage of sweetcorn and corn on the cob.
[Corn – French: grain German: Korn, Getreide Italian: grano Spanish: grano]
CORNED BEEF is beef that has been cured – with salt, sugar and saltpetre – and is so named probably because coarse grains or ‘corns’ of salt were in the past used in the cure. In Britain, corned beef is normally understood to be cured, cooked pieces of beef held together by their gelatinous material and fat when pressed or moulded in a tin and allowed to go cold. It is more or less synonymous with bully beef. In America, as it used to be in Britain, corned beef is whole pieces of salted meat, such as the corned beef used in the New England boiled dinner. It is what the British would now call salt beef.
Pressed beef is another similar preparation, a piece – usually of brisket – cured, boiled and, while it cools, pressed. Afterwards it is usually glazed, and, of course, served cold. Bully beef is canned corned beef, and its name (a corruption of the French bouilli; boiled) we owe to the British Army. It was a ration for the French Army in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 and was used extensively by British troops in World Wars I and II. Until recently, when it became expensive, it was a great standby for everyone who could afford to keep a tin the cupboard. Corned beef can be made from the most hard-bitten Queensland cattle and a lot of animals that could scarcely be eaten in any other form. A Belgian friend, who worked in a corned beef factory in France just after the war, almost put me off eating it, although, on expeditions, I have depended on it for months on end. True, in the early days, when cans were sealed with blobs of solder, there were many bad ones, and even lead poisoning came from some. Today, bad cans are rare, and it is kept as an emergency store even in France.
Corned Beef
Cures vary a great deal. As an example, a dry cure might be made of 1 kg (2 lb) salt, 25 g (1 oz) saltpetre, 150 g (5 oz) brown sugar and 1 teaspoon black pepper, the mixture should be rubbed into the piece of beef twice a day for 8 days.
To make a brine pickle, add to each 10 It (18 pt) water, 2 kg (4½ lb) salt, 1 kg (2 lb) sugar and 60 g (2¼ oz) saltpetre. The meat should remain in the pickle for about 2 days per kg (1 day per pound). To cook it, boil it in unsalted water for about 40 minutes per kg (20 mins per lb).
Gimmer Bully
Among the dozens of desperation recipes for disguising canned corned beef is this one which I invented in Langdale many years ago. After a days climbing on Gimmer Crag (from the name it should have been made of Cumberland mutton), it tasted good, and ways of varying outdoor rations are sometimes useful.
Slice corned beef generously and make neat sandwiches, sprinkling the inside of each sandwich with some mixed herbs.
Make a white sauce with flour, good butter and good milk from the farm. Season it well with pepper and cook until the raw taste goes. Then put it aside. Quickly fry the sandwiches on both sides in butter till the bread is crisp. Put on the plates, smother with the sauce. Eat at once while there is the contrasting texture between the crisp fried bread and the unctuous sauce. For variation the sauce can be flavoured with mustard pickles, capers, mustard, or cheese, but with good ingredients the herbs and good butter are enough.
CORNFLOUR or cornstarch (US). Commercially, cornflour is made as follows. Maize is soaked in water with a small percentage of sulphurous acid to prevent fermentation and to soften the maize kernels, which facilitates easy separation of the components. The soaked corn is then ground in such a way as to keep the germ intact and the bran in flakes, as these must be separated from the starch. Finally the very finely ground, starchy part of the grain is mixed with water and the milky liquid run on to inclined trays, where the starch settles and the water is run off. The starch can then be collected and dried in kilns. Cornflour is therefore almost pure starch and in this respect differs from corn meal (polenta) and masa.
Cornflour differs from ordinary flour in containing no gluten. Because this decreases its tendency to form lumps, it makes a better thickener than flour. When mixed into a cream with water, and boiled, it forms a gelatinous, rather clear jelly – though not as clear as *arrowroot. Like arrowroot, cornflour has little taste.
[Cornflour – French: farine de maïs German: Maismehl Italian: farina di granturco Spanish: harina de maíz]
CORN HUSKS. See maize.
CORNISH CREAM. See clotted cream.
CORN SALAD. See salad.
CORNSTARCH. See cornflour.
CORN SUGAR. See glucose.
CORN SYRUP is a sweet, *glucose syrup made commercially by heating cornstarch and water under pressure with a little sulphuric acid or hydrochloric acid to convert the starch to simple sugars. Hydrolysis may also be achieved by the use of enzymes or by a combination of enzyme and acid treatments. The acid is subsequently neutralized by adding an alkali, and the syrup is then decolourized with charcoal. (In Europe, glucose is mainly made
from potato starch.) Corn syrup is much used in the US for commercial purposes (brewing and confectionery), and also as a table syrup, sometimes flavoured or mixed with maple syrup, brown sugar, honey or molasses.
COSTMARY, alecost or bibleleaf (US). A perennial, hardy herb (Chrysanthemum balsamita) of the daisy family, with yellow button-like flowers; a close relative of tansy. This plant was well known to the ancients, and the name alecost was given it because it was one of the herbs used to flavour beer. It can be used as a flavouring herb in soups and in stuffings for poultry, veal, etc. Although I have come across it in recipes from northern Italy, it is not a commonly-used herb in these days.
[Costmary – French: balsamite German: Balsamkraut Italian: balsamite Spanish: balsamita]
COTECHINO. A speciality of Emilia-Romagna, a cotechino is a large succulent sausage with a filling similar to *zampone, which includes pork skin – mainly the soft rind of head and snout, this is what makes the sausage gelatinous after boiling. (Cotenna, – as the French couenne, – means pig skin, hence cotechino.) Normally, this sausage is flavoured with salt and pepper, but there are varieties with garlic and even vanilla, moistened with white wine. Cotechino is eaten boiled (soak, prick, and cook very slowly for about 2 hours) – never raw – and is usually served with a purée of lentils or as part of a bollito misto (mixed boiled meats).The bondiane and malette are similar, but of different shape. The most famous cotechini are made in Modena and Reggio Emilia.
COTIGNAC. See quince.
COTTON-SEED OIL. A good vegetable oil. However, up to 1880, the cotton seeds from which the oil is expressed, were treated as waste. Today huge amounts of cotton-seed oil are made in all cotton-producing countries, particularly the US. Cotton seed is hulled, crushed, heated and pressed to obtain the oil which, when refined, is a good cooking and salad oil. Most of it goes as an important raw material for margarine and hydrogenated cooking fats, for salad dressings and creams, as an olive oil substitute in packing sardines, and for the commercial frying of potato chips and doughnuts. Although known to cause allergies, it is wholesome to most people. Cotton-seed oil is much used in Egypt as a cooking oil and, like all except highly refined cooking oils and fats, gives a regional flavour to food cooked in it.