by Tom Stobart
French oysters are usually known by their place of origin. Thus Arcachonnaises are very white Portuguese oysters (Portugasies) from the basin of Arcachon. Belons are rather pink oysters named after the Belon River in Finistère. Bouziques are Portugaises from near Sète, Herault – on the Mediterranean. Marennes, from the Vendée near Rochefort, may be green or white. The greens (vertes) are particularly famous for their colour and the special taste they develop (whether they are locally bred or brought in at 2-3 years from elsewhere) when they are fattened in deep pits or claires connected by channels to the sea. In these claires grows a particular type of green alga and the oysters become full of it. Brittany oysters or Bretons are flat oysters like the British natives and so are not in season in the summer. Bretons are excellent oysters, which are usually cultivated on limed tiles. They are often used for re-laying elsewhere, after which they cease to be Bretons and adopt the local flavour. The Cornish ‘Helford River’, Devon ‘Yealm’ and Essex ‘Roach’ have been re-laid with Bretons, as also the beds of Holland, which were restocked after disease had wiped out the existing stock.
Natives is the name given in Britain to oysters from the Essex and Kentish beds; correctly, they come from between the North Foreland and Orford Ness. This includes Colchester and Whitstable oysters but often other dud or illegitimate flat oysters steal into the act. Royal Whitstables or Royals are from the Whitstable Oyster Company (to which the word Royal – in the context of oysters – is exclusive) and are true natives although mostly re-laid from France. Pearly and with a small beard, they have a reputation for sweetness of taste (to some of us, any oyster is sweet). Colchester Pyefleets are from Pyefleet creek in the Caine estuary in Essex, one of the finest fattening grounds. Caine oysters have been famous since Roman times. The borough of Colchester has a charter from Richard I confirming its rights over Colchester Pyefleets, which are defined as coming from an area between North Bridge and West Ness. Duchy oysters are Helford River oysters from the Duchy of Cornwall.
Mediterranean oysters are more expensive and less good than those of the Atlantic. Off beat oysters, like the spiny oyster (Spondylus gaderopus, a member of another family), which skin divers can break off the rocks in many places, are considered good eating if they are taken from places (if they still exist) where pollution is not a problem. Their flavour is apt to be strongly of iodine and takes some getting used to. Still, I know people who greedily gobble up any shellfish.
American oysters. The Atlantic coast of North America is very rich in oysters. The main species is Crassostrea virginica which like the Portuguese oyster is not troubled by an R-in-the-month problem (although oysters are better outside the breeding season). Best known outside America are Bluepoints from the Atlantic coast of Long Island, but there are dozens of others with intriguing names and excellent flavours, such as Rappahannocks, Choptanks and Fire Island Salts. Some come from deep water, as much as 60 feet, others from shallow estuaries.
Pacific oysters. The Pacific coast of America is less fortunate in its oysters than the East Coast; the indigenous Olympia oyster is small. So as soon as the first railway to the Pacific coast was completed, the East Coast Virginia oyster was brought across and introduced. (There was no difficulty in doing so, as oysters live well for a number of days if they are packed in seaweed and kept moist.) The Japanese or Pacific oyster (Ostrea laperoust) is established in Puget Sound. The Japanese and Chinese have been eating and cultivating oysters for several thousand years.
Australian and New Zealand oysters. The rock oysters of New South Wales were re-laid from New Zealand and have taken on a local character from the waters in which they rest. The warm water oyster which lives on the northern part of North Island of New Zealand is Ostrea crassostrea, a rock oyster rather like the American and Portuguese ones. It lives high enough up to be exposed by the tides; as a result, it will keep fresh and alive for long periods. The oyster of colder Pacific water is Ostrea sinuata, a deep water oyster that is fished off the South Island of New Zealand.
[Oyster – French: huître German: Auster Italian: ostrica Spanish: ostra]
OYSTER PLANT. See salsify.
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PAK-CHOI. See Chinese cabbage.
PALM. A member of the family Palmae, and there are at least 4000 species, mostly in tropical and subtropical countries. Only one, the Dwarf fan palm (Chamaerops humilis), a very spiny denizen of Mediterranean hillsides, is a native of Europe, although many species are grown ornamentally in the warmer areas. Palms are typically tall, unbranched trees, with a crown of leaves at the top. Some smaller types are branched and there are even a few climbers, of which the most famous is the rattan palm (Calamus rotang), which has edible shoots and seeds but is important as the source of cane for making chair seats and baskets; local ropes made from it are used for tying wild elephants after capture. To palms we owe *dates, *coconuts, *betel nuts, palm oil (see fats) *sago and palm *sugar.
Toddy is the fermented juice of various palms, tapped by cutting off a flowering shoot and suspending a pot under it to catch the drips. After a day in the tropical heat, it is already fermented. Palm juice concentrated by boiling gives palm sugar.
The hearts, that is the terminal buds, of many species of palm are edible. Their flavour is usually mild and not very definite, but the texture is firm and delicious. One well-known species is the Cabbage palm, or Palmetto (Sabal palmetto), which grows, amongst other places, on the coast in the south-eastern parts of the US, and Mexico. This palm is used for brushes, especially those required to remain stiff in hot water, but the cabbages – i.e. hearts – are also eaten, hence the name. Palm hearts are usually boiled until they are just tender and eaten as a vegetable or cold as a salad with mayonnaise or vinaigrette. Some kinds are eaten raw and then only the tender centre is used.
Palm hearts of various kinds are eaten in the tropical countries where they grow. In the Caribbean, hearts of palmito or chou polmiste (depending on whether the place is Spanish or French speaking) are cooked in many ways, e.g. stuffed, fried in fritters or served in a cream sauce. In India and Bangladesh, the men working in the mangrove forests cut the hearts out of the exceedingly prickly hetal palm and eat its refreshing centre, raw or curried. Cutting out the terminal buds of palms in many cases destroys the plant – one reason why palm hearts are a luxury. People living outside the tropics have to be content with canned palm hearts, which are very satisfactory. Any hearts that are not for immediate use when the can is opened can be kept for about ten days in the refrigerator, providing they are in the canning liquid in a glass jar.
[Palm – French: palme German: Palme Italian: palma Spanish: palma]
PALO CORTADO. See sherry.
PAN or betel. Chewing betel is an ancient habit in the East. The red spit marks that greet the European traveller on street corners in India and Pakistan are symptomatic of betel chewing and not of tuberculosis.
Basic essentials for a pan are a *betel leaf (of which there are several varieties), which is filled and folded into a parcel, usually held together with a clove (which is not always eaten).The filling consists of *betel nut,*catechu (which gives the red colour) and *lime – the chemical, not the fruit – as a digestive. However, the contents are highly variable and street pan sellers make up the packet to the customer’s requirements.
PANCHETTA. See bacon.
PANELA. See sugar.
PANIR and CHANNA are more or less the same: milk curds that hardly warrant the name of cheese. Channa is much used in India for making sweetmeats such as rassgullas and sandesh, and panir is for frying and currying; it is often mixed with peas (matar panir).
To make panir and channa, bring milk to the boil and then add respectively some lemon juice or sour yoghurt. As soon as the milk curdles, pour it into a clean cloth and hang it up to drain overnight. If you are in a hurry, take down the cloth after 10 minutes and immerse it in ice-water. When the curd is cold, squeeze out the water by pressing the bag. To ensure that the curd does not have an acid taste, use as
little of the coagulating agent as possible – just enough to cause coagulation – and do not leave the mixture hanging long enough for the milk to go sour. After draining it, press the panir between boards or plates to consolidate it and to remove the last liquid. Leave it to dry, then cut it in squares or knead it according to the use to which it is to be put. Always use panir fresh.
PAO YÜ. See abalone.
PAPAIN is an enzyme, a vegetable *pepsin extracted from the *papaya. Although similar to pepsin in breaking down protein, it acts best in an alkaline or neutral medium, while pepsin prefers an acid one. lt is presented in the form of a cream-coloured powder, often used as a meat tenderizer, and usually has a rather pungent smell. The best grade will tenderize (partly digest) up to 300 times its weight of lean meat, ordinary grades as little as 35 times. Papain is also used for clearing liquids which are hazy with protein – 80% of the beer made in the US is cleared with it.
Papain is obtained by making several cuts with a stainless steel knife or wooden spike, in the unripe fruit and collecting the latex which drips out in glass, porcelain or plastic containers. Tapping is usually limited to five times as the yield decreases each time. The juice is then dried either in the sun or in a dryer, but the temperature must remain below 50-60°C (122-140°F), above which the papain is damaged. The best drying temperature is 30-40°C (86-104°F). Commercial papain is often preserved with salt.
PAPAW (Asimina triloba) is a small tree of temperate North America (from New York to Florida and as far west as Nebraska), locally known as the Michigan banana or the custard apple. Indeed, it is the only member of the custard apple family, the Anonaceae, that grows outside the tropics. The fruit is kidney-shaped with a smooth yellowish skin; it contains large brown seeds surrounded by a sweet, yellowish pulp. Ripening papaws have a heavy, cloying scent and a taste that has been described as a mixture of bananas and pears. They are eaten by children and are often gathered after they have fallen to the ground. Sometimes they are roasted or made into a purée and used in pies. *Papayas are also called pawpaws, which leads to unnecessary confusion.
PAPAYA or pawpaw (Carico papaya) is among the most important tropical fruits, and one that you miss when returning to colder climates. The papaya is a native of tropical America, but had already been introduced to India by 1600. It is now one of the commonest fruits in all tropical countries. The plant grows to 7½ m (25 ft) high, with the papayas clustered like giant Brussels sprouts around the main stem. There are separate male and female trees, as well as trees which are hermaphrodite or change sex from male to female.
As a crop, the papaya has a number of advantages: the tree begins bearing in a year, it gives both the highest production of fruit per acre and an income next only to the banana in tropical climates. It is very sensitive to frost. Papayas look, at first sight, like smooth, green melons with more pointed ends; the similarity continues when the fruit is cut, except that the seeds are black or grey, lying free in a hollow centre. They are semi-transparent, like caviar in appearance but like mustard and cress in taste, and are sometimes used as a condiment.
Unripe papayas are sometimes cooked as a vegetable or made into pickles. Ripe ones are much more important and are eaten raw as a fruit. The flesh is much finer in texture than that of a melon and ranges from orange to yellow in colour. The flavour is sweet, delicately perfumed and sometimes faintly sickly. The lack of acidity that is common in tropical fruits can be corrected with a squeeze of lime juice. At the beginning of a hot day, a papaya makes the best possible breakfast. The plant is also the source of the tenderizer *papain and so the juice and leaves are used locally for tenderizing in cookery.
[Papaya – French: papaye German: Papaija, Melonenfrucht Italian: papaia Spanish: papaya]
PAPRIKA is an orange-red powder made by drying and grinding special varieties of *sweet pepper that are said to have been taken to Hungary by the Turks. Although these peppers are pointed in shape, they do not have the pungency of chillies. The core and seeds of the peppers are usually removed before they are dried. Paprika is now produced in many countries apart from its native Hungary – Spanish pimentón is essentially the same spice, though the flavour is perceptibly different. Many non-Hungarian paprikas are of poor quality, but at least they will not be adulterated with red lead, as they were said to have been on occasion in the past. Paprika is the essential flavouring of many Hungarian dishes including goulash and chicken paprikás; it is meant to be used in generous quantities rather than those that would usually be appropriate for black pepper or cayenne. lt is a mild, sweet spice that in Hungary comes in varying grades – noble sweet, semi-sweet, rose, strong and commercial, in descending order of quality. Paprika, like most ground spices, does not keep for ever – if it is a dirty brown colour, it is probably stale.
PARAGUAY TEA. See maté.
PARA NUT and PARADISE NUT. See Brazil nut.
PARBOILING. A stage further than *blanching; half-cooking food in water before finishing in another way, usually by baking or frying. Food is parboiled either because the higher temperature of fat would dry it out or brown it too much before it was cooked through, or because it prepares the surface for the penetration of fat and flavour, as, for instance, when potatoes are roasted in meat juices.
[Parboiling – French: faire bouillir, frire à demi German: halbkochen Italian: far bollire a metà Spanish: sancochar]
PARFAIT AMOUR. See liqueurs and cordials.
PARMESAN. This name is used outside Italy for the group of cheeses the Italians call grana, of which the archetype is parmigiano. These cheeses, which are hard and old, have a special strong taste and are mainly grated for flavouring. Grana and other grated cheeses are indispensable in Italian cooking, in which they are one of the most common flavourings. Authentic cheeses from the region around Parma have PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO stamped on them.
The cheeses are very large – 25-35 kg (50-80 lb) is normal – and, being expensive, are bought in pieces. For cooking, the cheeses should be at least three years old, and get better up to four years. If kept longer than that, the cheese starts to go powdery. Today, a large amount of this cheese type is sold relatively fresh. lt is cheaper, sweeter and softer, intended for eating, not cooking. The Bolognese find fresh grana goes particularly well with pears and have the saying ‘Don’t tell your wife how good cheese is with pears,’ a fine example of Italian male chauvinist piggery. Parmesan is often sold grated in packets, but this does not compare with cheese that has been freshly grated.
PARSLEY (Petroselinum crispum) is an umbellifer of Mediterranean origin. It is the most commonly used herb in European and American cooking and second only to green coriander in the rest of the world. There are four main varieties of parsley, two of which are only locally common.
The least known is Neapolitan parsley, from southern Italy, which is grown for its leaf stalks rather in the same way as celery. The rather better known Hamburg parsley is grown for its root and is also called turnip-rooted or parsnip-rooted parsley. It was once popular in England, and is still grown in Germany and Switzerland as one of the root vegetables for flavouring soups.
The usual type grown in northern countries as a herb is Curly or Moss-curled parsley, which has dense, crinkly leaves. Mediterranean countries more often have the single leaved, plain or Italian parsley, which is not as decorative but stands sun, and indeed rain and snow, much better. I do not accept claims that the single-leaved type has a superior flavour, in fact, it is different, and ideally one would have both. The presence or absence of parsley in the local greengrocers can be taken as indicating the standard of local cooking, as a few fanatics are not enough to make them stock it. But parsley is not difficult to grow in window boxes of good compost (though it is slow to germinate). It can be kept going right through the winter with suitable protection and prevented from seeding by removal of the flowering stems.
Parsley can be frozen in bunches after being quickly dipped in boiling water to blanch it. Modern dried parsley is quite acceptab
le as an emergency substitute; it has been greatly improved in recent years. Home dried parsley usually has a hay-like flavour. A bunch of parsley and a means of chopping it quickly is a necessity in every kitchen.
Parsley oil, which is extracted by the steam distillation of parsley seed, is used as a flavouring in a variety of commercial products from ice-cream to condiments.
[Parsley – French: persil German: Petersilie Italian: prezzemolo Spanish: perejil]
PARSNIP (Pastinaca sativa), like carrot, is an umbellifer. The thin, acrid roots of the wild parsnip, which is native to Europe, are inedible, but cultivated parsnips have been known for at least 2000 years – what unknown genius chose them for development or found the original mutation? Perhaps the roots were first used as a flavouring in soups, as they still are in Europe. They were an important ingredient of medieval English and European cookery, in which they were used as a sweetmeat (e.g. preserved in honey or made into fritters) and for medicinal purposes, for instance in syrups and as a cough remedy. Parsnips reached the West Indies in 1564 and Virginia in 1609. A century later, they were being grown by the North American Indians. The plant has now gone wild in the US and reverted to its original inedible state. Apparently though, these escapes, when given the benefit of horticulture, gradually resume the cultivated form.
Parsnips are winter vegetables – at one time, it was believed they had to be frosted to be edible. Up to a point, the later they are harvested the sweeter they are, but left too long, they may grow to a huge size and develop a woody core. Young parsnips need only be scraped; old ones have to be peeled and cut in pieces. When buying, look out for brown, rotten patches which may mean that most of the root is spoiled. Parsnips are usually boiled before they are dressed in a variety of ways (for example, roasted). They cook more quickly than carrots. Parsnips are sweet – they contain enough sugar to be used for wine-making – but have a peculiar taste that children in particular may not like. While parsnips are usually to be found among the winter roots in the shops, they are not very popular in Britain or the US. They are eaten in the countries of northern Europe to some extent, but hardly at all further south, or only as a flavouring in soups and occasionally as a garnish.