by Tom Stobart
Pasteurization usually kills about 99% of the micro-organisms, including those of all the diseases which can be transmitted through milk: undulant or Malta fever, foot and mouth disease, typhoid, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, diphtheria, septic sore throat, polio, dysentery and summer diarrhoea.
Pasteurization is also used in wine-making to improve the keeping qualities of the wine (particularly wine with a low alcohol content) and as a remedy for various maladies that wine can develop.
[Pasteurization – French: pasteuriser German: pasteurisieren Italian: pastorizzare Spanish: pasterizar]
PASTIS. See liqueurs and cordials.
PTÉ, literally a pie; an apple pie in French is a pâté de pommes. The word has also come to mean what you might call a meat pie without a crust (although it is often enclosed in bards of bacon or pork fat), for which an alternative name is terrine. The French names have a certain refinement not possessed by the Anglo-Saxon equivalent, meat loaf. The borderline between pâté and some sausages, potted meats and meat pastes is ill defined. For instance, the Danish leverpostej or liver paste, used in smørrebrød, is a pâté. However, it is the French who produce by far the greatest range of pâtés.
There are many regional specialities and much variation from charcutier to charcutier, with products ranging from simple pâté de foie de porc or pig’s liver, which is among the cheapest of meat dishes, through chicken, rabbit and duck to highly-truffled delicacies and the legendary pâtés of larks. The most renowned of all is pâté de *foie gras. I can only repeat Jane Grigson’s advice: ‘When you go into a strange charcuterie be brave. Take your time and buy small amounts of all the pâtés. Her book, Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery (Grub Street) is highly recommended for those who wish to make their own pâtés. Essentially, pâtés consist of minced, chopped or slivered meat with roughly an equal amount of fat, flavourings (onion, garlic, truffle, salt, pepper, nutmeg and or any spice mixture, wine or brandy) and often natural meat jelly. Eggs, flour, and white sauces are used as binders. Most pâtés need to be given one or two days to mature after making. If they are sealed while hot with a layer of fat, they will keep, like potted meat, for some weeks in the refrigerator.
Pâte without the final accent is a paste as in pâte feuilletée (puff paste), pâte à crêpes (pancake batter), and also pâte d’amandes (almond paste), pâte de coignes (quince paste), pâte d’anchois (anchovy paste), etc. Les pâtes alimentaires are pasta. But pâtée is a dog’s dinner or a mash for cramming into geese or chickens.
PAUNCHING. The paunch is the belly, and paunching is removing the guts – usually of rabbit or hare. To paunch either, hold it with one hand by the back legs. Insert the point of a sharp knife in the underside between the back legs and slit forward as far as the rib-cage, cutting through skin and belly wall only. (Make sure you do not cut into the intestine or stomach by mistake.) Put a finger and thumb into the front end of the slit and grasp the pipe (oesophagus) that runs forward from the stomach. Pull it free, and the rest of the guts will fall out cleanly. After that the animal is usually hung in the skin (see hanging). Rabbits should be paunched as soon as possible after the animal is killed, but hares are usually hung for up to a week (according to age) before being paunched (or skinned).
PAWPAW. See papaya.
PAYOUSNAYA. See caviar.
PEA. Probably native to the Near East, peas have been cultivated as food since at least the Bronze Age and occur in the excavations of Swiss lake dwellings. They were an important pulse and a good source of protein. The name of Garden peas is not an advertising gimmick, but distinguishes the modern sweet varieties (Pisum sativum) from the old Field peas (P. arvense, which is sometimes considered just a variety of P. sativum), which were commonly eaten up to the Middle Ages. These were not grown as a green vegetable, but were dried, perhaps split, and kept for winter. After soaking, they were lengthily cooked to make pease puddings or soups. They were a necessary staple.
Garden peas are eaten immature. There are now hundreds of varieties, and vast quantities are grown for freezing and canning. The gardeners’ distinction between dwarf and climbing varieties does not affect the peas themselves or therefore the cook. Seed coats may be wrinkled or smooth; wrinkled ones are reckoned sweeter. Garden peas should be young and fresh – choose firm pods which rustle when scooped up. When a trial pod is opened (if the greengrocer refuses, suspect him), the peas should taste fresh and tender. The very best frozen peas, because they are picked at exactly the right moment, are often better than stale peas bought in the market. Nobody would claim, though, that they were as good as peas straight from the garden. Pea pods are edible when the fibrous part is removed, but a special type of pea, known variously as the sugar pea, snow pea or mange-tout (var. saccaratum) is grown in many countries; the pods are eaten whole when they are young and still flat. As these are popular with Chinese cooks, they are sometimes called Chinese peas.
Dried peas may be whole or split, bright green or yellow. They need to be soaked, usually overnight, before being cooked, although they can be reduced to a purée in a pressure cooker.
Other legumes to which the term pea is applied include *asparagus pea, *chick pea, *cowpea and *pigeon pea.
[Pea – French: pois German: Erbse Italian: pisello Spanish: guisanto]
PEA BEAN. A type of *kidney bean.
PEACH. Originally cultivated in China (where peach blossom symbolizes long life), the peach came to Europe thousands of years ago via Persia (hence the scientific name, Prunus persica) and was grown by the Romans. Trees from ancient stocks have often gone wild. There are many varieties, thousands it is reckoned, which may be simply classified into those with yellow and those with white flesh (of which the white-fleshed are usually the better for eating), into freestone, in which the flesh is separate from the stone, and clingstone in which it is attached. The semi-clingstones come in between. Finally, there are special varieties of peach such as nectarines (var. nectarina) which have a smooth, rather than downy, skin and a very rich flavour. Greengrocers are often not aware of the variety they are selling, and there is great variation in the quality of the same variety grown in different areas. In North America, where the peach is the third most important fruit, after the orange and the apple, peaches are put through a machine which removes their down at the same time as it washes them.
Among the best peaches I ever ate were in a peach orchard in Ontario during a strike of pickers. Told to help myself to the fruits which were already past the moment for commercial picking, I sat down on the grass in the drowsy, hot afternoon and listened to the plop, plop, plop of perfectly ripe peaches falling. Occasionally, I marked one that had just dropped and ate it while it was still warm from the sun. Such perfectly ripe peaches would not stand shipment; for that, they have to be picked when just mature but still firm. Bought peaches may benefit by keeping on a soft bed of cotton wool at home, but although they get softer, they do not get sweeter, and if they are greenish when bought they will never ripen at home. A peach with a pretty red blush may have an underlying green tinge and be unripe. You should look more for an underlying cream to yellow colour. When peaches are ripe, they may be put into the refrigerator, and if they are unwashed and perfect, they may keep for up to a fortnight. Many people like their peaches chilled (although that is not the best way to taste them), as a chilled peach is very refreshing. Some peaches peel easily, while others do not, depending partly on the variety. A knife rubbed gently along the skin helps to free it. For cooking, peaches can also be peeled like tomatoes, after a quick dunk into boiling water. (In commercial canneries, they may be peeled after immersion for a specified time in caustic soda solution.) Another way to deal with a peach skin is to dip the fruit into sugar boiling at hard crack, so you have a glazed peach, something equivalent to a super toffee-apple.
[Peach – French: pêche German: Pfirsich Italian: pesca Spanish: melocotón]
PEACOCK. In India, peacocks (Pavo cristatus) can be seen wild around the villages and are holy b
irds; they were once much prized for the table in Europe. The breast is as big as that of the turkey, to which the meat is really very similar. However, peacocks may have an unpleasant taste and smell if they have been feeding on certain buds. In India, when turkeys were unobtainable, I twice ate peacock for Christmas, and found it an excellent substitute.
[Peacock – French: paon German: Pfau Italian: pavone Spanish: pavo real, pavón]
PEANUT, groundnut, or monkey nut (Arachis hypogaea). The peanut is well named: it is a legume, and the nuts are the peas in the pod. It gets the name of groundnut because the plant pushes its pods into the earth, which must be loose enough for the ‘peg’ to push into it; otherwise there will be no nuts. Ripe peanuts have to be dug out like potatoes.
Peanuts are unknown in the wild, but are thought to have originated and first been cultivated in South America (from evidence in Inca tombs). Portuguese slave traders carried the nuts – a convenient ration for the voyage – from Brazil to West Africa in the early 16th century, and from there peanuts were introduced to the US. During the 18th century, they were grown in Carolina and other states. Today, peanuts are an important world crop, being rich both in oil (40-50%) and protein (about 30%).
The many varieties differ in size, number of nuts, pod, and colour (which can be anything from white or cream to brown, red or even variegated red and white).The small varieties usually go for oil and the larger, less oily ones for eating. Supplies come notably from China, Java, Nigeria and other African countries, Spain and the US.
Although India claims the largest production, which is mostly needed for home consumption, there are few Indian recipes based on peanuts, which are of greater importance in West African cooking – for instance, in the form of roasted meal they are a key ingredient of groundnut chop. The Egyptians make a soup, foul sudani, from peanuts. In Indonesian and Malay cooking, roasted peanuts, pounded to a paste, are the basis for saté (skewers of grilled cubes of meat in a peanut sauce), as well as for a salad dressing (gado-gado) and other dishes. In the US, there are dozens of recipes in which peanuts are used, mainly for sweet dishes, candy, cakes and cookies. In virtually all recipes, peanuts are first roasted (although the green immature pods can also be eaten boiled, and in Java they are made into a fermented paste called onchom which is subsequently fried). Commercially, an oil is expressed from the nuts (peanut, groundnut or arachide oil). Peanuts are used as a basis for vegetarian nut meats, sauces, and even an artificial milk. They are suitable for adulterating coffee, cocoa and ground spices. Peanuts may be roasted in a very cool oven, only 115°C (240°F), until the nuts are dry, the flesh a pale brown colour and the skin brittle. A cruder way is to dry-fry the nuts in a pan over a very low heat. They must be stirred continuously. Over-roasting or burning spoils the flavour. On the other hand, roasting must be taken far enough to remove the raw flavour. Insufficiently roasted nuts do not keep.
When the roasted nuts have cooled enough to handle, rub them with your fingers to remove the brittle skins. They can then be winnowed off by dropping the nuts in front of an electric fan (or outdoors in the wind). Alternatively, the cook can use a hand fan or, less hygienically, blow away the chaff. Salt the nuts to taste.
Once the skins have been removed, it is simple to make peanut butter, using the special nut-butter plate of a nut mill. Salt, and a little vegetable oil, if necessary, are added to get the right flavour and consistency. Some varieties are oilier than others. In the absence of a nut mill, results can be obtained by quickly grinding the nuts in a whirling coffee mill, then pounding them in a mortar or even in a meat-mincing machine. Peanuts, like many other nuts, will ‘oil’ when pounded.
In theory, the most delicious results, for instance in Indonesian food, would be obtained from freshly shelled nuts, roasted and ground at home. This is a long job, especially if you have no children to husk the nuts and you do the roasting in a pan on the fire in the unsophisticated way. I do not think that the taste is worth the trouble – you can make delicious dishes with commercial peanut butter or crunchy peanut butter of a good brand – but in commercial peanut butter, the germ is removed to give better shelf life (otherwise it goes rancid), and that reduces the nutritional value.
Saté Sauce
The following tasty recipe was fabricated by the Indonesian wife of a Dutch friend, a restaurateur, who had been unable to get the correct type of ketjap in Europe. lt is easy to make and is a close approximation to the real thing.
Melt 25 g (1 oz) butter in a saucepan, then add two tablespoons vinegar and four stock cubes, preferably French poule-au-pot cubes (or three chicken stock cubes and one beef bouillon cube). Mix well over a low heat until all is melted and then add up to one tablespoon of good dark brown sugar little by little, stirring and tasting until the sauce is no longer sour. But do not add so much sugar that the salty taste is destroyed. This is important: as sugar and salt tend to cancel each other, the operation requires some judgement in balancing the sweet-sour-salty taste. We have now made an artificial substitute for an Indonesian ketjap of a particular type.
Now add one finely minced large onion, two chopped cloves of garlic, a strip of lemon peel, a bay leaf, a small pinch of thyme and a good pinch each of ginger and chilli pepper. The thyme must on no account dominate. Continue to cook the mixture slowly until the onion is soft. Then remove the pan from the heat, add a small pot of peanut butter, blend well and pour in the juice (if any) from the meat. Heat gently, stirring all the time, and pour over grilled kebabs. Serve with boiled rice.
[Peanut – French: cacahuètes, arachide German: Erdnuss Italian: arachide Spanish: cacahué, cacahuete]
PEAR. The common pear (Pyrus communis) is a native of eastern Europe and the Middle East. Although there are about 20 species of pear in Europe and Asia – and some have been hybridized with the common pear – most of the good eating pears are derived from the one species. There are at least 5000 named varieties of which 20-30 are cultivated on a large scale. In Europe, France is generally regarded as the leading country for pears, but many are grown, for instance, in Belgium and Germany. Though pear trees do not stand quite the same range of climate as apples, they have deep roots and can endure stony, dry conditions which would not be tolerated by apples. Characteristic of pears, and unpleasant in some varieties, are the tiny hard grains (stone cells with woody cell walls) that make pears gritty. The best eating varieties are more or less grit-free.
Pears for sale are picked before they are quite ripe. They will ripen off the tree if they are kept in an even, nicely warm temperature, but then deteriorate very quickly. It is therefore best to buy them not quite ripe and keep them to the perfect moment which lasts at most a day. When they are ripe, they should be put in the refrigerator until eaten. Pears are ripe when pressing the neck gently shows they are just yielding. Some pears, Williams for instance, pass their peak within a matter of hours, and vigilance is necessary in obtaining perfect dessert pears. So is careful handling, as pears bruise easily. While bruised pears should not, of course, be bought, appearance, as with most fruit, is a poor guide to quality. There are some lovely looking pears (like Keiffers, imported from South Africa) which are dry and tasteless. Others, which look a bit rough, may taste wonderful. Some pears are only for cooking or bottling and not for eating. Others are for perry (the pear equivalent of cider). Many are multi-purpose. The pear for any particular use depends on season and the kinds that are available locally.
Of the many recipes for cooking pears, the best known are for poaching in syrups flavoured with red wine, vanilla, rum, almonds and so on. Cooked pears do not seem to stand up on their own but always seem to need other flavours to complement them. In general, they also lack acidity, are not even sour when unripe and tend to lose aroma on cooking.
Pears may be stored in the same way as *apples, although they need not be wrapped. As they ripen better at a higher temperature than apples, they could be kept in a cool spare room in the house before being brought into a warm room to finish ripening
.
[Pear – French: poire German: Birne Italian: pera Spanish: pera]
PEARL BARLEY. See barley.
PEARL MOSS. See carrageen.
PECAN (Coryo illinoensis) is the finest of the *hickory nuts, an American native indigenous to the Mississippi Valley and neighbouring states as far south as northern and central Mexico. It is much grown commercially in Oklahoma, Texas, Florida and Georgia. In general, it likes climates suitable for maize and cotton. In the US, the pecan does not thrive much north of the 40th parallel. Pecans have been introduced into other countries, such as South Africa, where the climate is suitable.
The pecan tree can grow to almost 61 m (200 ft) in height when conditions are favourable. The nut-producing varieties are propagated by grafting. Nuts of different types vary in size, quality and flavour.
Pecans are rather like walnuts, but have a smooth, elongated, usually rather thin shell. The flavour is also somewhat like a walnut but the pecan is oilier, in fact, it is the oiliest nut in common use, with 70% oil content being quite usual.
Nuts are harvested by knocking them off the tree with poles, and most of the crop is shelled by machinery after drying and treatment with ethylene gas to loosen the kernels. The proportion of meat to shell in the pecan is very high. The shells of nuts for dessert are frequently polished and dyed red-brown with a particularly hideous combination of dyestuffs that goes ill with the lovely natural colours of other nuts on the table.
Shelled pecans go rancid rather quickly unless they are sealed under gas or in a vacuum. The use of pecans in cakes, pies and candies is very much an American habit. Pecan pie, with loads of cream, will be part of the American-built heaven. Americans also use pecans in stuffing for turkey. The nut is now beginning to be used in Europe.