Palestinian chicken

(c) Kokaly

"Musakhan (Arabic: مسخّن‎) is a Palestinian dish composed of roasted chicken baked with onions, sumac, allspice, saffron, and fried pine nuts served over taboon bread.
The dish is simple to make and the ingredients needed are easily obtainable, which may account for the dish's popularity. Many of the ingredients used: olive oil, sumac and pine nuts are frequently found in Palestinian cuisine.
Musakhan is a dish that one typically eats with one's hands. It is usually presented with the chicken on top of the bread, and could be served with soup. The term 'musakhan' literally means 'something that is heated'."

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Notes: For a change, this recipe is taken not from a historical cookbook, but from the comments on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm on the discussion board at www.avclub.com, following a classic episode called “Palestinian Chicken”. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it.

• Recipes for making musakhan are to be found at the Wikipedia link.

Indian Pickle

Lay a pound of white ginger in water one night; then scrape, slice and lay it in salt in a pan till the other ingredients are ready.

Peel, slice and salt a pound of garlick three days, then put it in the sun to dry. Salt and dry long pepper in the same way.

Prepare various sorts of vegetables thus:

Quarter small white cabbages, salt them three days, squeeze, and set them in the sun to dry.

Cauliflowers cut in their branches; take off the green from radishes; cut celery in three-inch lengths; ditto young French beans whole, likewise the shoots of elder, which will look like bamboo. Apples and cucumbers, choose of the least seedy sort; cut them in slices, or quarters if not too large. All must be salted, drained, and dried in the sun, except the latter; over which you must pour boiling vinegar, and in twelve hours drain them, but no salt must be used.

Put the spice, garlick, a quarter of a pound of mustard-seed, and as much vinegar as you think enough for the quantity you are to pickle, into a large stone jar, and one ounce of turmeric, to be ready against the vegetables shall be dried. When they are ready, observe the following directions: Put some of them into a two quart stone jar, and pour over them one quart of boiling vinegar. Next day take out those vegetables; and when drained, put them into a large stock jar, and boiling the vinegar, pour it over some more of the vegetables, let them lie a night, and do as above. Thus proceed until you have cleansed each set from the dust which must inevitably fall on them by being so long in doing; then, to every gallon of vinegar put two ounces of flour of mustard, mixing, by degrees, with a little of it boiling hot. The whole of the vinegar should have been previously scalded, but set to be cool before it was put to the spice. Stop the jar tight.

This pickle will not be ready for a year; but you may make a small jar for eating in a fortnight, only by giving the cauliflower one scald in water, after salting and drying as above, but without the preparative vinegar; then pour the vinegar, that has the spice and garlick boiling-hot over. If at any time it be found that the vegetables have not swelled properly; boiling the pickle, and pouring it over them hot, will plump them.

From The American Domestic Cookery (1823) by A Lady (Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell)

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Notes: This is a later edition of a book published in London in 1806 or 1807, and in Boston in 1807. A first edition may have been published in Baltimore in 1800. 

• The instructions are not as clear as they might be, especially the business of washing some dust off with boiling vinegar. I'm particularly unappreciative of recipes presented out of chronological order. Don't wait until the second-last paragraph to tell me I needed to scald the vinegar before I started.

• The decision as to whether the vegetables have “swelled properly” is left to the reader.

• This is of course a recipe for what we call piccalilli, originally referred to in 1758 by Hannah Glass as “Paco-Lilla, or India Pickle”. I don't think we would use cabbage nowadays, nor apples, though the other vegetables seem reasonable, and the mustard and turmeric seasoning is standard. Cabbage, as well as peppers, are commonly found in chow-chow, however, which according to Wikipedia is a distant cousin of piccalilli found in the Southern US.

 

Calipee

Wikimedia

Take a quarter of the under part of a turtle of sixty pounds weight, and scald it, and when done, take the shoulder bone out and fill the cavity with a good high seasoned forcemeat made with the lean of the turtle; put it into a stewpan, and add a pint of madeira wine, cayenne pepper, salt, lemon juice, a clove of garlick, a little mace, a few cloves, and allspice tied in a bag, a bunch of sweet herbs, some whole onions, and three quarts of good beef stock. Stew gently till three parts done; then take the turtle and put it into another stewpan, with some of the entrails boiled and some egg balls; add a little thickening of flour and butter to the liquor, let it boil, and strain it to the turtle, &c. then stew it till tender, and the liquor almost reduced to a glaize. Serve it up in a deep dish pasted round as a callipash, ornamented and baked.

NB I think the above mode of serving it up in a dish the best, as it frequently happens that the shell of the callipee is not properly baked.

From The Art of Cookery made easy and refined, comprising ample directions for preparing every article requisite for furnishing the tables of the Nobleman, Gentleman, and Tradesman (1802) by John Mollard

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Notes: Callipash – “the fatty gelatinous dull-greenish substance found under the upper shell of a turtle and esteemed as a delicacy” from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calipash

• Callipee – “the fatty gelatinous light-yellow substance found immediately over the lower shell of a turtle and esteemed as a delicacy” from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calipee

Of garden stuff

(c) Pixabay.com

To fry Artichoke Bottoms

First blanch them in water, then flour them; fry them in fresh butter, lay them in your dish, and pour melted butter over them. Or you may put a little red wine into the butter and season with nutmeg, pepper, and salt.

To fry Cauliflowers

Take two fine cauliflowers, boil them in milk and water, then leave one whole and pull the other to pieces; take half a pound of butter, with two spoonfuls of water, a little dust of flour, and melt the butter in a stew pan; then put in the whole cauliflower, cut in two, and the other pulled to pieces, and fry it till it is of a very light brown. Season it with pepper and salt. When it is enough, lay the two halves in the middle, and pour the rest all over.

To fry Celery

Take six or eight heads of celery; cut off the green tops, and take off the outside stalks; wash them clean, then have ready half a pint of white wine, the yelks of three eggs, beat fine, and a little salt and nutmeg; mix all well together, with flour, into a batter, and fry them in butter. When enough, lay them in the dish and put melted butter over them.

To fry Potatoes

Cut them into thin slices, as big as a crown piece, fry them brown, lay them in the plate or dish, pour melted butter, sack and sugar over them. These are a pretty corner plate.

To fry Onions

Take some large onions, peel them, and cut them into slices, about a quarter of an inch thick; then dip these slices into batter, or an egg beaten, without breaking them, and fry them of a nice brown.

To fry Parsley

Pick the parsley very clean, and see that it be young. Then put a little butter into a clean pan, and when it is very hot, put in the parsley; keep it stirring with a knife knife till it be crisp, then take it out, and use it as garnish for fried lamb, &C.

From The frugal housewife: or, Complete woman cook: Wherein the art of dressing all sorts of viands, with cleanliness, decency, and elegance, is explained in five hundred approved receipts ... Together with the best methods of potting, collaring, preserving, drying, candying, pickling, and making domestic wines. To which are added, various bills of fare, and a proper arrangement of dinners, two courses, for every month in the year (1796) by Susannah Carter

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Notes: “yelks” and “knife knife” appear thus in the original.

• As Mrs Carter writes, no crowns have been issued in Britain since 1751 because of a shortage of silver, and none would be issued until 1818. The George III crown piece she mentions would have been 39mm in diameter. 

Macaroni

(c) Antilived

After having stewed the macaroni in stock, leave a sufficient quantity of it to make the macaroni thick. Add four ounces of butter and one pound of grated cheese. Parmesan, Gruyere, or common cheese may be used. Pepper this, and mix it together on a dish which has been well buttered. Powder the surface with the cheese. Put the dish on a stove of gentle heat. Cover it with a four de campagne or dress it with a salamander.




Macaroni

Take half a pound of good macaroni. Dress it in broth. Drain it in a sieve. Put into a pan half a pound of grated cheese – equal parts of Parmesan and Gruyere, or other cheese may be used – with rather less than two ounces of butter, some peppercorns, and nutmeg. Put the macaroni into this, with two or three spoonfuls of cream. When the macaroni may be drawn up in a thread it is done. Put it into the dish in which it is to be served. Place a four de campagne on it for three quarters of an hour, and serve it when it is of a good colour.

Macaroni en timbale

Prepare the macaroni by the first receipt, with the difference that instead of putting it on a buttered dish it is placed in a buttered mould, with a paste (see paste) of about the thickness of a florin at the bottom and sides. This mould is put over a gentle fire. It may be cooked in an oven, or with a stove and a four de campagne. It is served when it is of a good colom being turned out of the mould.

Macaroni au gratin

Prepare the macaroni by the second receipt. Put into a larded dish a layer of cheese and of butter, and a layer of macaroni and so continue. Dress it in an oven.

Macaroni and chestnuts, or macaroni aux marrons

Take twenty newly dressed chestnuts. Take off the peels and the skins on the inside, and mix them with the macaroni, of which there should be a third less than required, on account of the chestnuts.

From Treasury of French Cookery: A Collection of the Best French Recipes Arranged and Adapted for English Households (1866) by Harriett Toogood

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Notes: Mrs Toogood's idea of macaroni appears to correspond more to something like spaghetti or even tagliatelle than what we think of now, from her instruction to consider it ready when it “may be drawn up in a thread”. Goodness knows what an Italian would make of her recipes, or what a modern cook would think of her reliance on butter and cream.
• A four de campagne (meaning “military campaign” rather than “countryside”) was an earthenware or metal device which could be filled with coals then covered with a lid, allowing the food inside to be cooked more indirectly that directly over the fire. In this case, she is using the heated lid alone to heat the dish from above, just like the salamander she mentions, and which is still in use in most professional kitchens. Nowadays we would simply use the oven, but in her day most homes would not have been equipped with a domestic oven.
• A florin was a British coin worth two shillings, or one-tenth of one pound. At the time of publication, the unusual Gothic florin was in circulation, so called because all of the inscriptions appeared in Gothic script. The coin measured 30mm in diameter and weighed 11.3g, but nobody seems to have an idea how thick it was. As thick as a coin, let's say for simplicity's sake.
• The reference to "paste" is never picked up again, however she uses the word to mean pasta, pastry and simply paste. In this case she appears to have pastry in mind.
• In her introduction, Mrs Toogood explains her receipts (a common word for recipes) are translated from two French works, which she nonetheless neglects to identify. This book runs to 280 pages, and thousands of receipts in her remarkably spare style. I feel we shall be returning to her often.

French pot au feu

(c) Jack1956

(This may also be done in the iron saucepan, stewpan, or baking-pan)

I cannot expect that this truly national soup of France can be made to perfection, or done with so much care as in that country, therefore I have simplified it, and shall call it The French Cottage Pot au Feu or French Soup
97 Put a gallon of water in the pot, put four pounds of the buttock of beef, or shin, or five pounds of the thick part of the leg, three teaspoonfuls of salt, one of pepper, four onions, four leeks cut in pieces, two carrots, and two good sized turnips, three cloves, one burnt onion, or three spoonfuls of colouring; set it on the fire; when beginning to scum, skim it, and place the pot on one side of the fire. Add now and then a drop of cold water; it will make it clear. Boil four hours. Bread sliced, put into the tureen, and pour the broth, with some of the vegetables, over; serve the meat separate, and the remaining vegetables round.

If this simple receipt is well attended to, you will find it a very good soup and bouilli. If you run short of any of the vegetables make it good with others. If he burnt onions or colouring, the soup will be white, instead of a sherry colour; but still it will be good. In France they always put in half a pound of ox liver to every four pounds of meat. I am sure they are too good judges, over the water, to spoil their soup; in fact, there the ox liver costs as much as the meat – sixpence per pound – therefore it is not with a view of saving, but to make it better.

From A shilling cookery for the people (1854) by Alexis Benoir Soyer

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Note: Bouilli refers to boiled meat, usually beef. The resulting liquid in turn is bouillon.
• “Alexis Benoist Soyer (4 February 1810 – 5 August 1858) was a French chef who became the most celebrated cook in Victorian England and was arguably the first celebrity chef. He also tried to alleviate suffering of the Irish poor in the Great Irish Famine (1845–1849), and improve the food provided to British soldiers in the Crimean War.”

Soyer (pictured) seems to be most respectful of the French. Not surprisingly, as he was one of them.

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A cheap green peas soup

Wash very clean and throw into an equal quantity of boiling water salted as for peas, three quarts of the shells, and in from twenty to thirty minutes, when they will be quite tender, turn the whole into a large strainer, and press the pods strongly with a wooden spoon. Measure the liquor, put two quarts of it into a clean deep saucepan, and when it boils add to it a quart of full grown peas, two or even three large cucumbers, as many moderate sized lettuces freed from the coarser leaves and cut small, one large onion (or more if liked) sliced extremely thin and stewed for half an hour in a morsel of butter before it is added to the soup, or gently fried without being allowed to brown; a branch or two of parsley, and, when the flavour is liked, a dozen leaves of mint. Stew these softly for an hour, with the addition of a small teaspoonful, or a larger quantity if required of salt, and a good seasoning of fine white pepper or of cayenne; then work the whole of the vegetables with the soup through a hair-sieve, heat it afresh, and send it to table with a dish of small fried sippets. The colour will not be be bright as that of the more expensive soups which precede it, but it will be excellent in flavour.

Pea shells, 3 quarts; water, 3 quarts: 20 to 30 minutes. Liquor from these, 2 quarts; full sized green peas, 1 quart; large cucumbers, 2 or 3; lettuces, 3; onion, 1 (or more); little parsley; mint, 12 leaves; seasoning of salt and pepper or cayenne: stewed 1 hour.

Obs – The cucumbers should be pared, quartered, and freed from the seeds before they are added to the soup. The peas, as we have said already more than once, should not be old, but taken at their full growth, before they lose their colour: the youngest of the shells ought to be selected for the liquor.

From Modern Cookery, for Private Families: Reduced to a System of Easy Practice, in a Series of Carefully Tested Receipts, in which the Principles of Baron Liebig and Other Eminent Writers Have Been as Much as Possible Applied and Explained (1868) by Eliza Acton

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Notes: This book was the first cookbook designed for domestic use, rather than the professional kitchen. It also introduced the idea of listing ingredients, and contains the first ever published recipe for Brussels sprouts. For more on Eliza Acton see here.
• Sippets are nothing more complicated than stale bread fried in butter with fresh herbs, a rather more luxurious alternative to croutons.
• Baron Liebig was an eminent chemist who also developed a process for making beef extracts. More here.