Cook's Encyclopaedia

by Tom Stobart

  The byssus should be gently pulled out. Any shells that gape should be thrown out, as should any that feel very heavy – they are likely to be full of mud. Use only fresh, live mussels, which pull their shells together strongly when disturbed. There are commercial methods of cleansing using recirculated water under ultraviolet light – the mussels are sick and thus their stomachs are emptied.

  The clean mussels are opened by putting them wet into a pan – not a deep layer, and cooking on a high heat with the pan lid on tight. It may be necessary to add a few spoons of water or a dash of white wine (according to the recipe), but they should not be swamped with liquid. The moment the mussels are all open (it takes only a couple of minutes), they must be removed. Strain the juice through a cloth to remove any sand and use the liquid for sauce. To overcook mussels is to shrink and toughen them. Cold mussels can be served on the half-shell with mayonnaise. If sprinkled with lemon juice, covered with garlic butter and heated briefly in the oven, they make a delicious hors d’oeuvre. The recipes for mussels range from the relatively straightforward moules marinière (white wine and shallot) and moules à Ia crème (in cream) of Normandy to mitili ripieni alla spezzina (mussels stuffed with a mixture of spinach, minced meat, ham and Parmesan cheese, bound with egg and cooked in a light tomato sauce), a speciality of the Italian Riviera.

  Smoked mussels can mainly be bought preserved in oil. They are made as follows: cooked mussels are removed from their shells and soaked for five minutes in a brine of 250 g salt per litre water (40 oz per gallon).They are then dipped in oil and smoked on mesh trays, in Britain for 30 minutes at 82°C (180°F) – elsewhere they are sometimes dried for 25 minutes, then smoked for a further 25 minutes at 71°C (160°F) – before being packed into jars, covered with oil and heat-processed in water at 121°C (250°F or 15 lb per sq in. pressure in a pressure cooker). A 225 g (8 oz) jar requires some 15 minutes. Smoked mussels are rather sweet. Though they are sometimes served as part of an hors d’oeuvre or as a cocktail snack, smoked mussels are perhaps better in combination than alone.

  [Mussel – French: moule German: Muschel Italian: mitilo, muscolo Spanish: mejillón]

  MUSTARD. The three species of mustard plant are all crucifers related to the cabbage, but they have quite different characteristics.

  The exceedingly pungent Black mustard (Brassica nigra) is probably a native of Europe and grows wild as an escape in North America. The plant is very big – it can grow up to 2 m (6 ft) high – and as it drops its seeds very easily, it is not suitable for mechanical farming. It is thus grown less today than it was in the past, although it is the traditional seed to use in making condiment mustard.

  White mustard (Sinapis alba) is also probably a native of Mediterranean Europe and is the mustard of mustard and cress (although rape seed is now often substituted).The seed is large, pale yellow and much milder in flavour than Black mustard. lt has a characteristic taste which you can recognize quickly as being typical of American mustards. A little White mustard is used in English mustard, but it is forbidden in Dijon mustard.

  Brown mustard, sometimes also called Indian mustard (Brassica juncea), has seed which looks rather like that of Black mustard but is a lighter brown or reddish. Although it is not as hot as Black mustard, Brown mustard has tended to replace it in condiment mustards in recent years because it can be harvested mechanically. Varieties of Brassica juncea from India have a rather rough taste if they are used for making European mustards, but their use is correct in Indian cooking, and after frying their taste is merely nutty. Mustard oil (see fats and oils) is important in Indian cooking.

  The pungency of mustard comes from an essential oil which forms through enzyme action when ground mustard seed is mixed with water. (Hence if the enzymes are destroyed by heat no hotness is produced.)

  When mustard powder is mixed, it must be left for 10-15 minutes before it develops its full strength. Mixing mustard powder with vinegar, salt or boiling water is inadvisable, since the treatment destroys part of the enzymes and may leave unconverted glucosides which are bitter, though vinegar and salt may be added after the taste has developed. White mustard seed, though not so well flavoured as black, can be useful because it contains enzymes that are less easily inactivated than those of black mustard. White mustard is also strongly preservative, which is why it is often included in the spices for pickle.

  Mustard has been used as a spice for thousands of years. In Shakespeare’s day, the mustard used in England was in the form of a thick sauce; it was later sold as a powder. A particularly fine quality was developed by Jeremiah Colman in Norwich during the 19th century, so much so that today English powdered mustard is virtually synonomous with the name of Colman. It contains wheat flour and turmeric as well as powdered huskless mustard seed. Mustard powder is the mustard to use in English recipes, for fish sauces, and sauces for vegetables – particularly vegetables of the cabbage family – for Welsh rarebit, and so on. A little powdered mustard in mayonnaise helps to stabilize the emulsion, as well as adding its flavour, but the practice is not universally approved of as it spoils the taste.

  In recent years, mixed mustards have once more become popular in Britain as they have been for a long time on the Continent and in America. Of French mustards, the best known in England used to be the dark Bordeaux mustard (an imitation of it still seems to be every steak bar’s idea of French mustard); Bordeaux was the port from which it was easily exported. Bordeaux mustard is mild and rather dark, because the whole seed, including the seed coat, is ground up to make it. It contains vinegar, sugar, tarragon and other herbs and spices and has a rather mild flavour. It is suitable for eating with foods that need a pickle-like complement, such as sliced sausages. It is not surprising, then, that German mustards, though quite distinctive, are generally of the Bordeaux type. Dijon mustard, on the other hand, is pale in colour (the seed coat is removed) much more pungent and with a cleaner taste of mustard. It is the mustard to eat with foods when it has to bring out and not mask their natural flavour (steaks, for instance, should never be eaten with Bordeaux mustard). It is also the type of mustard to be used in French recipes unless otherwise specified. American mustard (such as is eaten with hot-dogs) is very mild and consists mostly of ground white mustard and turmeric. An English mixed mustard, Savora, developed at the turn of the century, is very popular in South America and France, but is too sweet and slimy for some tastes. More recently, dozens of other mustard types have been developed, some red, some bright green, mostly rather mild and very aromatic.

  The most striking development in recent years, though, has been the vogue for grainy mustards. This has been traced to a mention in the back of Elizabeth David’s Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen (Grub Street): ‘If you ever see a French mustard in a grey stoneware jar, with a label bearing the name Pommery, buy it.’ Inspired by these words, a fledgling entrepreneur brought a small truckload of this Moutarde de Meaux back from France and started a fashion for mustards made with whole crushed mustard seeds. Many other moutardes à l’ancienne have followed. Some are nice; others are beastly.

  [Mustard – French: moutarde German: Senf Italian: senape, mostarda Spanish: mostaza]

  MUSTARD GREENS. See Chinese cabbage.

  MUTTON and LAMB. Sheep and *goats have been domesticated for many thousands of years. They are very closely related, and indeed, as travellers will know, it is not always easy to tell them apart. Sheep, however, are of very much greater importance as a source of meat and very much less important in Europe as a source of milk; the most celebrated use of ewe’s milk is in Roquefort cheese. In Britain alone, there used to be 30 breeds of sheep, from the mature ewes weighing about 25 kg (55 lb) of sheep to the enormous Oxford Down with ewes weighing 110 kg (240 lb). In the Middle East there are the goat-like sheep of the deserts, the fat-tailed sheep, and even the fat-bottomed steatopygous sheep. The small sheep with orange spots in Islamic countries are not naturally spotted. The spots are painted on them with henna, and they are a
waiting sacrifice for some feast.

  Since the beginning of the last century, there has been a great change of opinion over the relative merits of mutton and lamb. Victorians considered young sheep tasteless and preferred mutton of 3-6 years old. ‘Mutton of two years old is flabby, pale and savourless’ is hardly an opinion one would read today. ‘To suit the palate of an epicure, a sheep should never be killed earlier than its third or later than its fifth year, at which age the mutton will be firm and succulent, dark coloured and full of the richest gravy.’ In these days, people are so afraid of mutton being tough that in some places it cannot be sold as mutton but has inaccurately to be called lamb. Technically, a lamb is under a year – modern breeds put on weight very quickly. Indeed it is not economic for farmers to sell mutton any more because of the extra feed required, unless they can charge much more for it than for lamb. But the public expects to pay less for mutton than for lamb, and the mutton offered is mostly from old breeding ewes, which are killed at 3-4 years, before they need false teeth. Ewe mutton is likely to be too tough for roasting but is lovely boiled with herbs and eaten with onion, soubise or caper sauce, or pressure cooked and minced or curried. Fine mutton, reared to eat, is an expensive luxury and difficult to get. It is usually killed at 15-18 months.

  Another speciality is milk-fed baby lamb, 3-4 weeks old and weighing 4-5 kg (9-11 lb), the ovine equivalent of sucking pig. This is technically known as ‘house lamb’ in Britain; it is a lamb born in winter, raised in shelter in a house or barn, and fed on milk. In France, such a lamb is the agnelet or Pauillac lamb. In Italy, roasted abbacchio or agnello di lotte is a famous Roman dish, (some find kid, capretto di latte, even better).These very young animals may be rather tasteless and lacking in fat for some tastes.

  Milk lamb should be eaten fresh, without hanging. Young lamb loses flavour after 3-4 days and is best after 2-3 days, depending on the weather. It used to be hung for three weeks. When a ‘high’ taste was generally liked, cooks went further and used mutton to imitate venison by making a gravy of woodcocks or other game birds that had gone too far to be roasted for table. Mutton is hung for a week.

  Grass-fed lambs do not have much flavour at two months, when they weigh 7-8 Kg (15-18 lb), and the ideal lamb is 3-4 months old and weighs at least 10 kg (22 lb). Big lambs can be 8-9 months old. The traditional season for lamb in Britain started at Easter and went on through the summer, with lambs coming from further and further north; by July and August, the lambs were coming from Scotland, and the season ended in November with lamb from the Hebrides. The top season was June and July. Nowadays, the old seasons do not have the same meaning, because of freezing and the evolution of breeds such as the Dorset Horn which lamb twice a year. However, autumn-born lambs do not have the flavour of spring-born ones as they have not been fed on fresh spring flowers and grass. Frozen lamb, which began to come from Australia and New Zealand during the 19th century, can now be so good as to be preferable to home-grown lamb during the off-season in winter.

  Mountain breeds of sheep are in general rather active creatures and even the lambs can be tougher than those of lowland breeds, but they have a fine flavour. ‘The mountain sheep are sweeter but the valley sheep are fatter.’ Other famous mountain breeds are the Herdwick from Cumberland, the Cheviot and the Scottish black-face. On the other hand, yearlings raised on salt meadows near the sea have a very special flavour and are famous in gastronomy as pré-salé. The hardy little sheep from the Scottish islands, such as Soays, are also getting a reputation for excellence of flavour.

  It is worth defining a few farming terms for sheep which will not trouble you in the butchers but might affect cooks who buy whole carcases for the freezer. Hoggets and tegs are sheep that are over a year old – and therefore mutton – but less than two. Wethers are castrated male sheep, which have more meat compared to bone than young ewes but are not reckoned to be as sweet and moist.

  There is disagreement over the best cuts, just as there is over the best age. In Victorian times, the front half of the sheep was regarded more highly than the rear, and many will agree that, though it is difficult to carve (and less meaty), the shoulder is nearly always better than the leg, while the often-despised breast is the tastiest part of all. Nowadays, lamb, like most other meat, is bred to have little fat – too little for the best taste. In Britain, the traditional accompaniment is mint sauce and in the US, mint jelly, but mutton and lamb combine well with many herbs and spices. Garlic and rosemary have been known even in Britain for many years, but another method is to rub the joint with powdered ginger before roasting it. Welsh mountain lamb – one of the best – is traditionally served with *laver. Another possibility is redcurrant jelly or alternatively rowan jelly. Boiled lamb would more likely be eaten with onion or caper sauce, but pickled samphire is also traditional and good. Other countries offer a whole gamut of lamb and mutton recipes, particularly in the Middle East, where they often contain cinnamon, which goes well with mutton. (See also qawwrama.)

  Mutton hams are produced in many places. In Britain, they are traditionally made in the Border country between England and Scotland, and they are also made in several Muslim countries where eating pork is forbidden. There is even mutton bacon.

  As always with meat, differences in cuts between countries can cause confusion. Thus, if both back legs are joined together and include the loin, then we have a joint for a grand occasion, a baron. Half the baron, i.e. one back leg with half the loin is a quarter. The shoulder can be whole, boned and rolled, or turned into fancy cuts, such as the American mock duck.

  Essentially, the body apart from the limbs and their attachments can be divided into the back to the rear of the ribs and the back over the ribs, leading to the neck. The division is marked by the diaphragm, which separates the abdominal cavity from the chest. The back to the rear of the ribs is the loin. The back over the ribs is divided in Britain into best end of neck (the bit to the rear) and middle neck (leading to the scrag or neck). The whole part in the US is more simply called the ribs. As the middle neck chops lie under the shoulder blade, the chops from under the ribs are called ‘uncovered’ (découvertes). Each side of the back over the ribs is a carre, and two of them put together inside out in a circle make an American cut, the crown roast. In France, the long bony rib bit of the chops is removed as a flat, ribby piece, the haute de côtelettes. A not very attractive square of bone, periosteum and intercostal muscle, it nevertheless is excellent for a tasty ragoût.

  Fat-tailed sheep and fat-bottomed sheep. The tails of most sheep are docked when they are lambs, because in long-wool breeds the tail gets clogged with manure and encourages flies. The shepherd fills his basket with lamb’s tails and testicles as he goes through the flock; although this collection was the basis for a tasty shepherd’s dish in times past, the tails were otherwise of no importance in Britain. However, fat-tailed sheep are bred for their enormously fat tails. Tails can weigh as much as 35 kg (80 lb). As the sheep have to drag their tails, the shepherds tie boards under them to protect them from the stoney ground; they sometimes even use wheels. Fat-tailed sheep are commonly reared in many countries of the Middle East, although usually not to the excessive state I have described. There was also a Cape breed of fat-tailed sheep. In the fat-bottomed sheep, the tail is reduced to a mere stump sticking out of an enlarged backside. ln fact, both peculiarities are adaptations of nature to store food in hard, desert conditions and are equivalent to the camel’s hump – bushmen living in the Kalahari desert also grew enormous fat bottoms at certain seasons. The meat of fat-tailed sheep usually has a strong but delicious taste, perhaps given it by the desert herbs.

  [Mutton – French: mouton German: Hommelfleisch Italian: montane Spanish: carnero

  Lamb – French: agneau German: junges Hommelfleisch Italian: agnello Spanish: cordero]

  MYRTLE (Myrtus communis) is a plant with fragrant white flowers and leaves which grows wild in Mediterranean countries. Leaves are used for wrapping pork or stuffing small birds to
impart its aroma after roasting and while the food is waiting to come to table. The black berries are edible, and can be eaten on a walk or dried and used in the same way as juniper, although they are milder. The Sardinians make oil from the ripe berries and, according to Elizabeth David, claim that it is superior to olive oil for frying fish.

  [Myrtle – French: myrte German: Myrte Italian: mirto, mortella Spanish: arrayán, mirto]

  MYRTLE PEPPER. See allspice.

  MYSOST. See whey.

  n

  NAM PLA. The salty, matured fish sauce of Thailand, the equivalent of other ‘rotten fish’ sauces from South East Asian countries, such as *ngapi. It is used both in cooking and as a condiment. The taste is much less fishy than the liquid from salted anchovies. In fact, if you didn’t know what it was, you would probably think it was rather salty soy sauce.

  NAPLES MEDLAR. See rowan.

  NARA NUT. See butternut.

  NASEBERRY. See sapodilla.

  NASTOIKA. See galangal.

  NASTURTIUM or Indian cress (Tropaeolum majus).This well-known garden plant, a native of Peru, has leaves with a cress-like flavour and can be used in salads. The flowers are also good to eat and for making nasturtium vinegar. The large fruits, when still green and tender, can be pickled by putting them in well-salted vinegar as they form, and they make a very nice, slightly pungent pickle, which can be used in a similar way to capers, although the taste is not identical.

  [Nasturtium – French: capucine, cresson d’lnde German: Kapuzinerkresse Italian: nasturzio Spanish: capuchina, nasturcia]