Cook's Encyclopaedia

by Tom Stobart

  [Goat – French: chèvre German: Ziege Italian: capra, capro Spanish: cabra, carbon]

  GOAT’S BEARD. See salsify.

  GOFIO. A flour made of toasted cereal – wheat, maize or barley – and a speciality of the Canary Islands. It is sold as a health food throughout Spain. The flavour is nutty, and in many ways it is very similar to tsampa and satu of the Himalayas and Tibet. In the Canaries it is commonly eaten as a gruel or fried in cakes and used as a substitute for bread.

  GOLD. Generally regarded as a rather useless metal except to give in exchange for something else, it is nonetheless remarkable in its resistance to corrosion, being unaffected by air, water, acids or alkalis and so requiring no cleaning. It is, therefore, an excellent metal for plating. Although pure 24 carat gold is too soft to be practical, lower carat gold, often laced with copper, is harder and more useful. Gold was a component of early medicines, and its use to decorate gingerbread was a survival from medieval days when gingerbread was also considered medicinal. In cooking, it was a part of the Italian Renaissance extravagance. Both gold leaf and silver leaf were harmlessly used by the cooks to Mogul emperors and wealthy maharajas in India as a food decoration. They are still used on occasion in Indian tandoori kitchens. Elizabeth David remembers a wedding in Delhi at which the food was literally smothered in gold leaf. In Indian cookery, the use of gold and silver leaf today is mainly in sweetmeats. The only time I used silver leaf on a party pilau, most of the guests thought I had been careless with a foil wrapper. Tiny flakes of gold leaf are also put into Danziger Goldwasser and other liqueurs for show.

  [Gold – French: or German: Gold Italian: oro Spanish: oro]

  GOLDENBERRY. Synonym for Cape gooseberry. See physalis fruit.

  GOLDEN CUTLET. See Finnan haddock.

  GOLDEN SYRUP is a thick syrup or pale, golden treacle, famous as the accompaniment to British suet pudding and, in its way, as important to Britons as maple syrup is to Americans. This syrup is a trade secret of Tate & Lyle and was devised by Abram Lyle, a sugar refiner from Scotland, in the 1880s. At that time, a by-product of sugar refining was an uncrystallizable syrup, which was thrown away, as no use was known for it. After some experiment, Lyle found that further refining would produce a delicious golden syrup. He sold this locally and it immediately became popular. However, Lyle was not yet satisfied and continued to experiment and to refine the product still further. Ten years later, he had produced a syrup so clear that one dissatisfied customer described it as looking like castor oil. He had to backtrack.

  It is actually the impurities in the syrup which give it both colour and taste – a lesson to all technicians. The basic analysis is 24% glucose, 23% fructose and 33% sucrose. There are no starch-conversion products, such as dextrins, which are found in *corn syrup but there are small amounts of inorganic compounds of calcium, iron and phosphoric acid. The high sugar content makes it impossible for any spoilage organisms to grow.

  A tip worth knowing is that if Golden Syrup is applied quickly to burns, it reduces the pain and disperses the blisters. (British Medical Journal, 4th May 1935).

  GOLDWASSER. See liqueurs and cordials.

  GOMOST. See whey.

  GOOD KING HENRY. See spinach.

  GOOSE. The goose is the adult female, the gander the adult male, and the young up to six months are goslings. The Greylag goose (Anser anser), from which present day breeds are descended, was reared in numbers by the Romans, who even force-fed them to fatten the livers, as is done today for *foie gras. The goose has never become domesticated and tamed to the extent of the duck or the domestic hen. Geese do not adapt to modern intensive rearing and do not produce eggs endlessly. Even the best-laying Chinese geese do not lay more than a hundred eggs a year, while most table breeds lay no more than 30 or 40. Geese like to forage for themselves on green grass in fields – another problem, as they make a nasty mess, and other animals do not like to graze with them.

  In Britain, farmyards used always to have a few geese, but they are now less commonly kept. You can still seem them en masse in the parts of France where pâté de foie gras is made, in parts of Germany where they still like goose for Christmas, and in Yugoslavia, Hungary and Romania. There can be few more picturesque sights than children minding a flock of geese, something that takes you straight back to the old fairy-story books.

  Apart from its bloody-minded attitude to being mechanized, the goose for modern tastes, is considered rather fat. That surely is the whole joy of it, but to enjoy it demands a healthy appetite and a cold winter’s day. Geese are anyway at their best from the autumn through to February. Goose fat is the preferred and traditional cooking medium of the Landes and other parts of south-western France, but even so, the goose does not have great dishes based on it (to complement those based on its liver). Confit d’oie is, however, an excellent way to preserve it in its fat, and is essential to a perfect cassoulet de Toulouse.

  In Britain, goose is customarily roasted with a sage and onion stuffing; in France, the stuffing is of apples or chestnuts; in Germany, the Christmas goose is traditionally stuffed with apples and prunes, with an accompaniment of red cabbage. However, Germany has many stuffings for goose, and some include a sprig of mugwort or wormwood, a medieval custom. A sausage is made in Germany and France (where it is called cou d’oie farci) from the goose’s liver enclosed in the skin of the neck.

  Wild goose. Many species of wild goose come south in winter. Although wildfowlers have shot them as they have ducks, in Britain wild geese are generally considered poor eating compared to other game.

  North Americans cannot be of the same opinion, since over a million geese are shot every year in the US, mainly Brent, Canada, Snow and White-fronted geese, which come south to winter. The meat is dark and lean (unlike the domesticated goose). Ganders weigh 3.5-6 kg (7¾ to 13¼ lb) and the females would be a kilo (2 lb) lighter. Only those that are less than a year old are said to be good to eat.

  [Goose – French: oie German: Gans Italian: oca Spanish: ganso.

  Gosling – French: oison German: Gänschen Italian: paperino Spanish: ansarino]

  GOOSEBERRY. Gooseberries (Ribes uva-crispa) belong to the same genus as red currants. They are native to Europe and their natural habitat is damp woods and valleys. Although they have been cultivated for a long time, they are essentially plants of the north, thriving in cold damp climates and not much grown or even known in southern France. Gooseberries are not very popular in the US, where the plants do not thrive particularly well because of pests, especially the American gooseberry mildew, which is also now rife in Europe. American varieties are usually crosses of European gooseberries with local species, notably the Currant gooseberry (Ribes hirtellum) with small purple fruits and the Worcesterberry (Ribes divaricatum). The latter was at one time wrongly thought to be a cross between a black currant and a gooseberry. Neither is as yet of much importance commercially. Varieties range when ripe from green through white to yellow and red. The old rule that green varieties taste better than red and hairy ones better than smooth is not always correct. Dessert varieties are larger and sweeter than cookers; they are fine to eat raw, but when cooked do not have the same ‘gooseberry’ flavour as the cookers. Gooseberries are popular in Britain and in Germany, but in France they are mainly used in the north-west – Normandy and Brittany – and then largely in a sauce for mackerel (hence the French name, groseilles à maquereau). They are little known in Spain and Italy, and rarely seen in the markets there. In addition to being used in fools, tarts, and jam, they can be made into gooseberry jelly, gooseberry wine and gooseberry vinegar. There are old recipes for crystallized gooseberries and a dried sweet gooseberry paste on the lines of quince paste. In Germany, gooseberries have been dried as a raisin substitute.

  Chinese gooseberries or kiwi fruit (Actinidia sinensis) were first grown commercially in New Zealand and are now being cultivated in America. The fruit is covered with a furry, brown skin, inside which is a pleasant, firm, lime-green pulp. The taste is slig
htly acid, and not much like gooseberry. The fruit is supposed to have a tenderizing effect when it is rubbed onto meat, and contains ten times the vitamin C of a lemon. Opinions vary as to its gastronomic merit, probably because people do not understand it. Some find the fruit delicious and some rather insipid. I do not find kiwis very exciting – possibly I abandoned them before finding a good variety. Cape gooseberries are *physalis fruits.

  [Gooseberry – French: groseille à maquereau German: Stachelbeere Italian: uva spina, ribes Spanish: grosella blanco o verde]

  GOOSEFOOT. See spinach.

  GOURD. See marrow.

  GRAHAM FLOUR. The American name for wholewheat flour, and the name ‘Graham’ indicates that the food (for instance, Graham crackers), are made from wholewheat flour – at least in theory. The Revd Sylvester Graham (1794-1851) was a Connecticut parson and an early health-food nut, who preached ‘brown bread and the Bible’ and said that spices caused insanity and meat inflamed the baser passions. Even tea was claimed to cause DT’s. He is said to have expected to live to 100 but was actually called to his Maker at the age of 57, having proved or disproved nothing.

  GRAINS OF PARADISE, Guinea grains or Melegueta pepper. The plant from which these come, Aframomum melegueta, is a relation of the cardamom that is found only on the coast and islands of tropical West Africa. The grains, which are used as a spice and as a substitute for pepper, are its seeds. With ginger and cinnamon, they went in the past into the spiced wine which was called hippocras. Today, they are very little used but might just be found in specialist shops.

  GRAM. From the Latin granum (a grain), via the Portuguese grao, to become, in India, the general term for small pulses other than those now called peas and beans. Gram, in Indian cooking, always means *channa, a variety of chick pea, unless otherwise indicated, as in *black gram.

  GRANA. See parmesan.

  GRANADILLA. See passion fruit.

  GRAND MARNIER. See liqueurs and cordials.

  GRAPE. The majority of grapes are varieties of the European grape (Vitis vinifera), which is one of the oldest cultivated plants. However, there are plenty of other species – little-known ones grow wild in the Himalayas, for instance, while those of North America are important because famous cultivated varieties like Concord, Catawba and Niagara are descended from them (notably from the northern Fox grape, V. labrusca) but also from the Muscadine grape (V. rotundifolia). Grapes descended from American native vines tend to be large and watery in comparison with those from the European vines, and often have a foxy tang to them, but do have thin skins which slip off easily. European vines were taken to America by the early colonists (for example in 1616 by Lord Baltimore), but none did well as the East Coast climate is rather unsuitable for them and the vines could not stand the local pests. Indeed, one of these, the root louse Phylloxera, when introduced into Europe accidentally in the last century, almost completely wiped out the European grapes. They were saved only by grafting them on to resistant American root stocks. However, the European grape varieties do thrive west of the Rockies and are grown in huge quantities in California. Of the myriad numbers of grape varieties, a rough division is made between wine grapes and dessert grapes. In general, wine grapes are small, often tough skinned and very sweet. They may be black, red or white, and they strongly influence the character of the wine made from them. In the newer wine-producing countries, which have few if any traditional names for their wines, the wines may be called after the grape – cabernet, sauvignon or reisling – and the practice, which is also usual in Alsace and Germany, is being adopted increasingly elsewhere, for example in northern Italy. Because the grape is a pineau noir, it does not follow, of course, that a wine made from it will be burgundy. It also takes the soil and climate of the Côte d’Or and generations of experience. Dessert grapes also come in hundreds of varieties, ranging over a wide spectrum of colour and quality, from the meaty muscat-flavoured Hanepoot grapes of South Africa to the wild-flavoured black Concords from the eastern US. Even the same grape variety tastes different when grown in different countries. Most grapes have seeds, but seedless grapes are becoming more popular, even though the number of varieties available is limited. In California, half the grape acreage is devoted to Thompson Seedless, a type of sultana grape. Seedless grapes are the most convenient to use in cooking (as in sole veronique); varieties with seeds must be halved and seeded, a process that is worth the trouble in the case of Muscats, which give the best flavour. Unripe sour grapes are an excellent souring agent, and the classic source of *verjuice, although that used in mustards today is often synthetic. The juice of sweet grapes is available sterilized and bottled.

  Grapes are made into jam and jelly, which can be good but often lacks flavour and acidity. Sweet grape juice can with advantage replace sugar in certain dishes, and it is in some countries boiled down to a sweet syrup, *dibs.

  Dessert grapes should be bought with care. Grapes are best when they have ripened on the vine, although bunches that have ripened in transit may improve a bit if they are hung in the sun. The fruit is perishable and should be put into the refrigerator if it is not to be eaten immediately. For full flavour, a grape should be sun-warm and not icy, though on a hot day, cold grapes can be delicious. In Europe most people wash grapes by dunking them at the table. They know that the fruit has been sprayed and the spray has possibly not been cleaned off by rain. But wet grapes are of doubtful gastronomic value, and it is better to wash the grapes and let them dry beforehand. A pair of scissors or clippers should accompany grapes which are served as dessert so that small bunches can be clipped off, or the division into manageable bunches can be accomplished less elegantly in the kitchen. Bunches of grapes are often offered for sale enclosed in bags to prevent dropping and damage in handling. They are among the few fruits that may benefit from such packaging, as grapes tend to drop badly when they have been fully ripened on the vine. Grapes for export are picked when barely ripe, packed carefully in boxes and refrigerated, which is why northern countries can enjoy grapes grown in the Southern hemisphere. Dried grapes are *raisins, *sultanas and *currants.

  From the culinary point of view perhaps the most important part of the vine is not the grape (except for wine) but the *vine leaves. Even the prunings of vine are used for making a flavourful fire for a barbecue, or for grilling spring onions. Grape seed oil is used for frying.

  [Grape – French: raisin German: Traube Italian: uva Spanish: uva]

  GRAPEFRUIT. When you contemplate that most dreary of all openings to a meal, you may sometimes wish that the grapefruit had never been invented. After oranges, grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) are the most grown citrus fruit in the world today. Their origin is still in doubt, but it is thought they arose as a mutation from the *shaddock in the West Indies. The first mention was in the 18th century, when they were referred to as the ‘Forbidden Fruit of Barbados’, and it was not until 1814 that the word ‘grapefruit’ first appeared (in Lunan’s Hortus Jamaicensis). Grapefruit travelled from the West Indies to Florida in 1809 and were grown there by one Odet Philippe, a surgeon who had served with Napoleon and whose name is remembered by growers to this day. Florida is now by far the world’s largest producer of grapefruit, although a lot are grown in Texas, California and Arizona. Outside the US, the West Indies, South Africa and South America are large producers. Grapefruit also grow well in Mediterranean countries – Cyprus and Israel produce a lot, for instance – and in parts of India.

  The tree is large for a citrus and the fruits vary in size, sweetness and flesh colour. Some varieties have pink flesh and some are seedless. Skins are yellow, sometimes flushed, and may be smooth or slightly rough. They are often waxed and polished for sale. Grapefruit did not come into commercial production until 1885 and were not generally known except in Florida until well into this century. Cookery books written at the end of Victorian times may mention the shaddock but not the grapefruit. Today, however, the fresh fruit is available all the year round, the sections are canned, and the juice
is canned, frozen and condensed. The fruit are not very perishable and can be kept for some time in the refrigerator. They can remain on the tree for months like lemons, gradually getting sweeter.

  Grapefruit is a dangerous fruit to mix with others in fruit salads as it is assertive, and most of the ‘starters’ in which grapefruit segments are mixed with shrimps, mayonnaise, and almost anything the magazine cookery writer can devise, are better forgotten. Grapefruit does not go with wine, which hardly matters at breakfast. It freshens a furred palate and it is supposed to be healthy and slimming.

  When buying grapefruit, look for dense, heavy fruit which are likely to be juicy and not to be dried out or to have a thick and pithy skin. Avoid rough skins and shrivelled fruit.

  [Grapefruit – French: pamplemousse German: Pampelmuse Italian: pompelmo Spanish: pomelo, toronja]

  GRAPPA is the Italian equivalent of *marc, distilled from the refuse left after pressing out the wine grapes. It is the great speciality of Bassano in the province of Treviso. Grappa has a strong, individual flavour, a taste for which one could say is acquired rather than bestowed by Providence. Con ruta on the bottle and a leafy sprig inside means that the grappa is flavoured with rue. Some Italian recipes, mainly from the northern provinces, call for grappa. For instance, faraona al vino rosso (guinea fowl in red wine) from the Veneto, uses it, as do such sweets and cakes as the zelten of Trentino and fave dei morti of Lombardy, and the small cheese fritters known as sciatt from the Valtellina.