by Tom Stobart
American cups and spoons
Can sizes. Most cans these days are well labelled to show how much they contain. However, American recipes may confuse non- American readers by specifying quantities of canned ingredients in US can sizes, which are as follows:
8 oz = 1 cup (US)
Buffet = 1 cup
Picnic = 1 ¼ cups
No 300 = 1¾ cups
No 1 tall = 2 cups
No 303 = 2 cups
No 2 = 2½ cups
No 2½ = 3½ cups
No 3 cylinder = 5¾ cups
No 10 = 12-13 cups.
Shop and market measures. In the past, many solid foods were sold by volume measure.
The measure itself is cheap and portable, while the measuring itself is easy and quick Things bought by the measure included not only seeds like grains of wheat. which will pour, but less manageable things like mussels and shrimps. As long as the commodity was reasonably cheap, the inaccuracies inherent in the system did not matter and were more than offset by the pleasure of being able to buy a measure of absolutely fresh shrimps straight from the boat. The larger measures on both sides of the Atlantic are:
4 quarts = 1 gallon
2 gallons = 1 peck
4 pecks = 1 bushel
8 bushels = 1 quarter
36 bushels = 1 chaldron
However, it is easy to cheat in filling a measure, and therefore many of the traditional volumes were defined legally in terms of weights of particular commodities. The following list contains some of these and some other old measures.
Bushel Wheat 60 lb(UK and US)
Barley 56 lb (UK)
48 lb (US, but 32-50 lb in various states)
Oats 39 lb (UK)
32 lb (US)
Rye 60 lb (UK)
56 lb (US)
Corn (maize) 56 lb (US, but 52-56 lb in various states)
Potatoes 60 lb (US, but 56 lb in North Carolina & West Virginia)
Quarter Wheat 480 lb (UK)
Peck Flour 14 lb
Bag Cocoa 112 lb
Coffee 140-148 lb
Sugar 112-196 lb
Rice 168 lb
Black pepper 316 lb
White pepper 168 lb
Hops 280 lb
Sago 112 lb
Sack Flour 280 lb
Potatoes 168 lb
Chest Tea 84 lb
Cloves 200 lb
Matt Cloves 80 lb
Pocket Hops 168-224 lb
Hogshead Sugar 13-16 cwt
Barrel Anchovies 30 lb
Butter 2241b (or 4 firkins)
Raisins 256 lb
Beef 200 lb
Flour 196.lb (US)
Some commodities had their own elaborate vocabulary of measures. For example, a cran of herrings in Scotland was 37½ gallons; a maze of herrings in Ireland and the Isle of Man was 615 fish; a warp was 4 herrings; a long hundred was 33 warps or 132 herrings; ten hundred was 1320 herrings.
Other weights and measures. European cookery books rarely devote space to defining exactly what they mean by a glass, a cup or a spoon. On the occasions when greater accuracy is needed, a measure is qualified by an exact metric weight. More often, spoons are used, as a measure and the pinch, the knife point and the drop seem adequate to convey small amounts. European women seem on the whole to be more confident and more familiar with their own cooking traditions than their English speaking counterparts. They do not feel the need for hair-splitting measures. As one Italian chef put it, ‘cooking is a living art and so recipes should not become fixed.’ After all, different conductors give markedly different renderings of Beethoven even though they may be using the same score. In cooking, we must avoid the soulless metro-nome beat of fussy weighing.
There are a few terms that may require explanation. In France, a bonne livre (i.e. a good pound) means 500 g (the livre was one of the old measures in use up to the French Revolution; it weighed 489.5 g and was 16 onces, so that an once was 30.6 g –the system was like avoirdupois although the quantities were not identical). A cuillerée is a spoonful, and a cuiller or cuillère (spoon) can be taken to be a tablespoon but may be more accurately defined as une cuillière à bouche (a tablespoon), as opposed to une cuilliere à café (a teaspoon). Other rough measures are une tasse (a cup), une tasse à thé (a teacup), un verre (a glass) and un verre à liqueur (a liqueur glass).
Italians use the metric system and recipes are in grammi, kilogrammi, litri and decilitri. An etto or ettogrammo is a hectogram (100 g), a common measure as are half (mezzo) and quarter (quarto) of the metric measures (e.g. un quarto di litro di vino bianco – a quarter of a litre of white wine). Una cucchiaiata is a spoonful, un cucchiaio being a spoon, again normally a tablespoon (cucchiaio de tavola). A cucchiaino is a teaspoon. Equally, Italian recipes use glasses (un bicchiere di vino blanco – a glass of white wine); you are expected to have some idea of how much wine to use in spite of the fact that this varies with the acidity of the wine, but as a basis you can take a wine glass as being a bit less than an American cup (8 fl oz). Problems come with the many Italian variants. Un bicchierino di cognac (a little glass), un pizzico or una pizzicato (a pinch) and un pezzetto (a small piece) are straightforward, but then there are una manciata (a handful) and una manciatona (a big handful). Herbs, which are much used fresh in Italian cooking, are usually given in terms such as una foglia di Iauro (a leaf of bay), un gambo di sedona (a stalk of celery), un spicchio d’aglio (a clove of garlic), un rametto di rosmarina (a sprig of rosemary). Other useful Italian quantity words are una puntina (a point – very small amount), un noce (a walnut), una scatola (a tin), una bustina (a small envelope, for example of yeast), or una fetta (a slice).
The Spanish also give their recipes in metric weights and measures, kilos, grammos, litros and decilitros but also in cucharadas (spoonfuls) and cucharaditas (teaspoonfuls) as well as vasos (glasses), tazas (cups), tacitas (little cups) and copas (small glasses). Spoons may be colmada (heaped), or escasa (scant), even muy colmada (very heaped). Hojas are leaves (un hoja de laurel is a bay leaf). For garlic, a cabeza is a head and a diente is a clove. Un trozo de cebolla is a slice of onion. Un rodaja de chorizo is a round of chorizo (sausage). A ramita is a sprig, as in a ramita de perejil (a sprig of parsley). A papelillo is a little paper or envelope, as in papelilo de azafrán (a small packet of saffron). Spanish recipes often go in for fractions of a litre as in ⅛ litro de Iece (⅛ litre of milk).Who would say 12.5 decilitres outside a laboratory?
As acceptance of the metric system spread across the globe, national systems of weights and measures were progressively eliminated. The Greeks, for example, had the oke, which was 1.27 kg (2.8 lb); the Arabs had the okieh, which was 213 g (7½ oz), and the rotl of 2-5 kg (5½ lb).In Malaysia, the basic measure of weight was the tahil of 38 g (1⅓ lb); volumes were the chupak and the quantang, respectively about a quart and about a gallon (lmperial). In India, the tola was 11 g (0.4 oz), the weight of a rupee coin, and was divided into 12 mashas. Larger units were the chattak or chitak (5 tolas), the powa, pau or pav (4 chattaks), the seer (4 powas, 2 lb or 930 g) and the maund (40 seers). Perhaps the most amazing of all measures was an Indian measure of volume, the tin, based on the cylindrical tin which was the export pack of 50 Players Navy Cut cigarettes; it held 8 fl oz and was thus the same as an American cup.
Compared to all this confusion, the delight of the metric system lies in its simplicity. Although there are a plethora of metric units, the kitchen basics of weight and volume are taken care of by just four. Volume need be thought of only in cubic centimetres (cc) or millilitres (ml) – same thing-and in litres, which are 1000 ml. Weights will be expressed in grams or Kilograms, which are 1000 g. For all practical purposes, the gram and Kilogram are the weights of respectively a millilitre and a litre of water. Life will be much simpler when we are all thinking metric, but for the moment it is useful to have simple formulae for rough *conversions.
WHALE. In the first edition of Thomas Pennant’s Natural History, published
in the 18th-century, whales are classified with fishes. We now know that they are not only mammals but highly-evolved and sensitive ones that suffer greatly from the explosive harpoons fired into their bellies. As many of the species of whale have been almost hunted to extinction, where previously they were found by the thousand, the commercial hunting of whales has been banned by most, but unfortunately not all, countries.
Whale oil, which is obtained by rendering the blubber, was until recently an important ingredient in margarine (it is still used in Japan and Russia). After refining, it is a clear, flavourless oil, and suitable for cooking. Whale meat at its best is good-like rather coarse and porous beef On the Norsel in the Antarctic, we used to eat steaks cut from the back of a young cachalot (reputedly one of the best), but it had first been hung up for several weeks to drain, as fresh whale meat is watery. The taste was good, provided that every bit of the brown outside – where the air had caused oxidation – was removed. If any of this was left, even a tiny amount, the taste became fishy or tinny just after World War II, whale meat was often sold in Britain, but it was cut into square steaks and exposed to the air, the surest way to give it that nasty overtone. lt was, I am sure, this ignorant handling that got whale meat its bad reputation. So if for any reason you are faced with eating whale, keep the meat in large chunks – 20 kg (44 lb) is not too much – hang them in cold conditions to drain, and cut steaks only as you need them. Be very careful to trim off all brown or discoloured meat (for the dog) right down to the red meat inside, then cook immediately. Whale meat is good treated as steak and onions, and I have no doubt that some burgundy would help
[Whale – French: baleine German: Wal Italian: balena Spanish: ballena]
WHEAT has been cultivated in Eurasia for at least 6,000 years, but was unknown in America until after 1529, when it was taken to Mexico by the Spaniards. It is a staple grain of most of the world – wheat, rather than rice, is eaten in northern India and northern China. As is usual with plants that have been cultivated for thousands of years, the exact origin of wheat is uncertain. There are several species involved and many hybrids. Some ancient wheats, with romantic names like spelt and einkorn, are mainly of interest to the plant breeder, although they are still occasionally cultivated in primitive conditions or used as fodder mixed with other grasses as are emmer (Trincum dicoccum) and English wheat (T turgidum). By far the most important wheat is the Common wheat or Bread wheat (T aestivum), which may be red or white in colour, hard or soft in texture, winter or spring grown. Also of importance are the amber or durum wheats (T durum), which have long flinty grains and high protein; they are of little use for cakes or bread, but make the finest pasta. They are grown around the Mediterranean and in other parts of the world where there are similar dry conditions.
A farmer has to choose wheats which are suitable for his land and climate. He may choose winter wheat (which will stand over winter) or spring wheat (which is sown in the spring and is harvested later the same year), but from the cook’s point of view the difference is not very significant. In cooking it is the distinctions between hard and soft wheat that are important. Hard wheat consists of flinty, rather translucent grains which are relatively rich in protein and usually have good milling characteristics, whereas soft wheat grains are opaque and rather starchy; they produce fluffy, amorphous particles when milled. Although there are exceptions, flours from hard wheats tend to be strong, which is to say that they make loaves of good volume and texture. By contrast, soft wheats yield flours which are usually weak and of poorer bread-making quality, although they are best for making biscuits, cakes and pastries.
Wheat, like most other cereals, is a grass, and the grains are arranged in a tightly packed inflorescence called the ear from which they are separated during threshing, which nowadays is usually one of the processes that is done in a combine harvester. The outside of the grain consists of several different layers, which are removed as *bran during *milling. At one end of the grain there is a tuft of fine hairs known as the beard and at the other end, somewhat to the side, is the germ or embryo. The inside of the wheat grain is known as the endosperm and is the food reserve, to be used by the seed when it first sprouts. The endosperm makes up about 85% of the grain, the bran 13% and the germ only 2%.There is a crease in the wheat grain which is a nuisance to millers because it interferes with the clean removal of the bran.
Although wheat is mainly ground to a flour, it may also be boiled whole (but hulled) in milk when fresh to make into frumenty, a pudding flavoured with cinnamon, or it may be boiled and crushed to make *burgul or even sprouted to make a type of malt for brewing.
[Wheat – French: blé German: Weizen Italian: frumento, grano Spanish: trigo]
WHEAT GERM is the embryo plant, which is removed and separated from the wheat grain during the milling of white flour and is sold as a separate product. Wheat germ is rich in proteins, fats, minerals and vitamins B1, B2, B6 and E. However, health considerations apart, fresh wheat germ has a delicious flavour. It may be mixed with white flour to give its taste to bread and scones. I like to eat it raw with fresh cream or yoghurt and honey
Once a packet of wheat germ has been opened, it should be kept in the refrigerator, as the oil it contains quickly goes rancid – the reason why wholemeal flour does not keep well. Wheat-germ oil, extracted by pressing, has a powerful flavour. It is too costly to use in the kitchen, but may be beneficial as a diet supplement. It rapidly deteriorates on exposure to air, and, once opened, a bottle should be kept in the refrigerator, well closed and quickly used.
WHELK (Buccinum undatum) is a gastropod, a large marine snail, which, in rugger club folklore, was credited with gargantuan aphrodisiac powers. It is locally popular today, but for its past it will suffice to quote my grandfather’s copy of Wood’s Illustrated Natural History (1863), typical of the enthusiastic but snobbish natural history of Victorian days. The whelk ‘is one of the most carnivorous of our molluscs, and among the creatures of its own class is as destructive as the lion among the herds of antelopes ....Vast quantities of whelks are taken annually for the markets, and are consumed almost wholly by the poorer classes, who consider them in the light of a delicacy. They are however decidedly tough and stringy in texture, and, like the periwinkle, which is also largely eaten, not very digestible. The mode of taking these molluscs is very simple: large wicker baskets are baited with the refuse portions of fish, and lowered to the bottom of the sea by ropes. The ever-hungry whelks instinctively discover the feast, crowd into the basket by thousands, and are taken by merely raising the laden basket to the surface, and emptying into a tub.’
Whelks are best when they are small. An old English method for small ones is to allow them to cleanse themselves for an hour or so in water and to boil them for 45 minutes in salt water or seawater before eating with vinegar, like winkles. Large ones, according to this method, are boiled for as long as an hour and a half, taken from their shells, coated with breadcrumbs and fried. The French, on the other hand, realize that boiling any shellfish, except for a long period, makes them tough, and poach whelks for only 15 minutes. Other species apart from Buccinum undatum are sometimes sold as whelks. All these gastropods vary in toughness, but none of them is exactly tender and none can be described as a delicacy.
[Whelk – French: buccin German: Wellhornschnecke Italian: buccino, bollicina Spanish: buccino]
WHEY. When milk is curdled, either by rennet or by souring, the liquid that runs from the curd is called whey. It is regarded as healthy, as in the following example of pompous old-fashioned wisdom: ‘Whey decanted from the curds and sweetened affords a favourite sudorific draught, which may be advantageously partaken of at bedtime whenever there is a threatening of cold in the head.’ Whey contains all the ingredients of milk, except the casein and fat, but is sometimes thrown away. It can form the basis of soup – I often make gazpacho with the sour whey drained from yoghurt cheese. In Scandinavian countries, the whey drained off when other cheeses are made is turned into t
he popular whey cheese, mysost. To make this, the slightly sour whey is boiled until it is reduced to a brown, sticky mass consisting mainly of partly caramelized lactose. During the boiling, any coagulated albuminous material that forms a scum is skimmed off and kept aside to be fixed back into the cheese later. Sometimes brown sugar is added, or spices, such as caraway, cumin, even cloves, are used as flavouring When the boiling is finished, after 5-6 hours, the volume is reduced to about a quarter of the original. Now the skimmings are returned and stirred in well; stirring continues throughout the time that the mass is cooling to prevent the formation of sugar crystals which would make the cheese grainy. When it is set, the mysost is cut in blocks, waxed and wrapped.
There are many variants of this cheese. Gjetost is made from the whey of goat’s milk, primost or fløtst is softer and contains more fat, and gomost is made by the same technique but from whole milk. The flavour of whey cheese is sweet and, to most people not brought up on it. is an acquired taste. (For instance, it was endlessly on the table during the voyage south with the Norwegian-British-Swedish Antarctic expedition of which I was once a member, but I always disliked the sweetness and longed for a piece of really cheesy cheese.)
Whey
Dilute 1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar with an equal amount of water and pour it into a saucepan of boiling milk. The milk will curdle. Clear it with an egg white (whisked up with the crushed shell), strain the mixture through muslin and sweeten it to taste. Lemon juice can be used instead of vinegar to make lemon whey. If the egg is omitted, the curd can be used for tarts and so on, but the whey will not be clear. Whey can also be prepared with a dry white wine or dry sherry, both of which will curdle milk. Old fashioned curds and whey are made by adding rennet to milk and then warming it until the curds and whey separate. (If the curds set peacefully, they make junket). Curds and whey are tolerable if eaten with cream and honey or sugar, but most people find them rather tasteless.