HACHEE
SAUCE A sauce of ancient origin, so called because all the ingredients are
chopped and appear as separate pieces in the finished sauce. It can accompany
roast red meat or venision. Careme gives this receipt:
Put 2 tablespoons vinegar into a
saucepan. Add I level tablespoon chopped mushrooms, half this quantity of
parsley, 2 chopped shallots, a little garlic, a fragment of thyme and bay leaf,
2 cloves, a generous pinch of white pepper and a little grated nutmeg. Cook
this seasoning over a low heat. Remove the thyme, bay leaf and cloves, and add
2 tablespoons consommé and 2 tablespoons espagnole sauce. Boil down to reduce and
transfer to a bain marie. Just before serving, stir in a small piece of anchovy
butter, 2 small gherkins, chopped very finely, and some capers.
HACHUA
A Basque dish made from sirloin of beef and fat ham, braised for several hours
in white wine with carrots, onions and a bouquet garni. Hachua is also the name
of a ragout of veal or beef braised with diced Bayonne ham, peppers and onions.
HADDOCK
eglefin A fish belonging to the cod
family but generally smaller than cod. up to 1 m (3 ft) long and weighing 2-3
kg (4 ½ - 6 ½ lb). When sold whole and gutted (cleaned), fresh haddock can be
recognized by its brownish-grey colour, with a dark lateral line and a black
mark under its first dorsal fin. The fresh is white and delicate. Haddock is
also sold in filters.
Fresh haddock is prepared and cooked
in the same way as cod, both fish lending themselves to a great number of
culinary treatments.
Smoked haddock is prepared by
splitting the fish lengthways as soon as it is caught, rubbing it lightly with
salt, hanging it by the tail, and leaving it to smoke for 24 hours. Smoked
haddock is usually poached in milk and served either with boiled potatoes and
leaf spinach or with a poached egg and covered with a white cream sauce. Other
members of the cod family, especially cod itself, may be lightly smoked in the
same way as haddock, but they have neither the texture nor the subtle flavour.
The following recipes are for smoked
haddock.
RECIPES
curried
haddock
soak the smoked haddock in cold milk for 2-3
hours. Prepared a curry sauce. Drain and dry the haddock thoroughly, then bone,
skin, and dice the fresh. Cook thinly sliced large onions in butter, allowing 2
onions per 450 g (1 lb) fish. Cool. Add the haddock to the onions, moisten with
the curry sauce, then cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Serve with boiled
rice.
grilled
haddock
place
the smoked haddock in a dish, cover it with cold milk, and leave for 2-3 hours.
Dry the fish thoroughly, brush with melted butter or oil, and grill (broil)
gently. Serve with melted butter seasoned with pepper and lemon juice, but no
salt, accompanied by boiled potatoes or buttered spinach.
haddock
gateau
boil
1 kg (2 ¼ lb) potatoes in their skins. Clean and slice the white part of 5
leeks and braise them in a littler water and 40 g (1 ½ oz, 3 tablespoons)
butter for 8 minutes. Thinly slice 2 smoked haddock fillets weighing about 350
g (12oz) each. Clean 150 g (5 oz, 2 cups) mushrooms and slice them thinly. Peel
the potatoes and cut them into thick slices. Spread two-thirds of the haddock
in the bottom of a buttered ovenproof mould and cover with the mushrooms,
potatoes, leeks and the remaining haddock. Top with 6 tablespoons crème
fraiche. Sprinkle with pepper, but no salt. Cover the mould with foil and cook
in a bain marie in a preheated oven at 240C (475 F, gas 9) for 30 minutes.
Unmould the gateau and retain the juices that will have formed. Cook I chopped
shallot in 10 g (¼ oz, 1 ½ teaspoons) butter, add the juices, and boil down
until reduced by one-third. Add 6 tablespoons single (light) cream. Pour this
sauce over the gateau.
haddock
rillettes
poach
900 g (2 lb) smoked haddock in a mixture of unsalted water and milk for 3
minutes. Simmer very gently , but do not boil, remove the fish and drain well.
Using a food processor, mix together 5 hardboiled (hard-cooked) eggs, 40 g (1 ½
oz, 3 tablespoons) butter, 3 tablespoons parsley and 2 tablespoons chopped
chives. Then add the haddock, the juice of half a lemon and 6 tablespoons olive
oil, and mix together very rapidly. Place the mixture in a bowl. Feel and seed
2 large tomatoes and place in a food processor or blender. Add the juice of
half a lemon, 3 finely chopped shallots, 6 tablespoons olive oil, salt and
pepper. Blend to a smooth sauce. Cover the bottom of each plate with 3
tablespoons of this sauce. Arrange 3 ovals of the haddock mixture (formed with
a spoon) in a star pattern on the sauce. Serve with toast.
poached
haddock
Soak
the smoked haddock in cold milk for 2-3 hours, then remove it. Bring the milk
to the boil, add the haddock, and poach without boiling (otherwise it will
become stringy) for 6-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Serve
with melted butter strongly flavoured with lemon juice and chopped parsley,
accompanied by boiled potatoes.
HAGGIS
A Scottish national dish, a type of spicy offal sausage, traditionally
consisting of a sheep’s stomach stuffed with a spicy mixture of the animal’s
heart, liver and lungs, onions, spices, oatmeal and mutton fat. The haggis is
poached in stock or water and served with mashed swede (rutabaga). The
traditional accompaniment is malt whisky or strong beer. It is served on high
days and holidays, such as the anniversary of the birth of the Scottish poet
Robert Burns (25 January), who wrote an Address to a Haggis and Hogmanay.
The name probably comes from the verb
haggen (to hack), although some authorities suggest that it is derived from the
words an guil’an neuf (mistletoe for the New Tear), the cry of the mistletoe
sellers in the Middle Ages, possibly inspired by a vague memory of ancient
Druidic ceremonies.
The best haggis are still prepared in
a stomach casing, but good examples are commonly available in synthetic casing.
Although its description is not immediately appearing, haggis has an excellent
nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour. It is especially good with a
simple veloute sauce of rich chicken or lamb stock flavoured with a generous
quantity of whisky, refreshed by stirring in a handful of chopped parsley. This
accompaniment may not be traditional but it complements the haggis and buttery
swedes.
HAKE
merlu A sea fish that has a long cylindrical body with two dorsal fins, one
anal fin and no barbs. It belong to the genus Merluccius and there are about
ten species. In France the fish is called colin in many recipes and even by
fishmongers. Small hake are called merlucbons
The hake measure up to 1 m (39 in) and
weigh up to about 4 kg (9 lb). The head and back are dark grey (hence the
French name colin, which comes from the Dutch koolvisch, meaning coal fish) the
undersurface is silvery white. It has a mild flavour and few bones and these
are easy to remove. Although it is intensively fished, it is always expensive.
Before the opening up of North Atlantic fishing, hake was salted and used
instead of salt cod in European markets. Medium-sized fish are sold whole (in
which case there is 40% waste). Larger fish are sold in sections or steaks. The
piece of hake just behind the head tastes the best, but its appearance is less
pleasing. The head itself, which is cartilaginous, imparts a smooth texture to
fish soups.
Hake should always be cooked for a
short time, particularly when poached, and care should be taken to ensure that
the flesh not disintegrated. There are numerous ways of preparing hake, both hot
au gratin with delicate sauce such us caper or Mornay, and cold with mayonnaise
or sauce verte. All recipes for cod are suitable for hake.
RECIPES
hake
a la boulangere
Season
a piece of hake weighing 1 kg (2 ¼ lb), taken from the middle of the fish. Put
it into a greased gratin dish and coat with melted butter. Arrange 800 g (1 ¾
lb) thinly sliced potatoes and 200 g (7 oz, 1 ¾ cups) sliced onions around the
fish. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme and powdered bay leaf. Pour 25 g (1 oz,
2 tablespoons) melted butter over the top. Place the dish in a preheated oven
at about 200°C (400°F, gas 6)and cook, for 30-35 minutes. Sprinkle the fish
with a little water several times during cooking. Serve in the gratin dish
garnished with chopped parsley.
hake
cosquera
Cut
a 1 kg (2 ¼ lb) hake into thick slices. Wash 24 clams. Heat 2-3 tablespoons
olive oil in an earthenware casserole and cook the fish steaks for 6 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper. As soon as the juices from the fish become
colourless, add the clams. Sprinkle with chopped garlic and parsley and
continue to cook briefly until the shellfish open. Serve immediately.
hake
mere Joseph
Dress
a hake weighing about 1 kg. (2 ¼ lb). Remove the head and cut the body into 4
pieces. Dry then and rub each piece thoroughly with the cut surface of a lemon
half. Sprinkle with pepper, and brown them in lard in flameproof casserole. Add
3-4 chopped shallots and allow them to brown slightly. Blend 1 tablespoon
tomato puree (paste) with 1 tablespoon brandy and add to the casserole. Season
with salt, cover, and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes.
hake
steaks a la duxelles
Clean
and chop 500g (18 oz, 4 ½ cups) button mushrooms and 2 shallots and mix
together with 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Fry the mixture in 20 g (¾ oz, 1 ½ tablespoons)
butter over a high heat for 5 minutes. Line a greased gratin dish with the
mushroom duxelles and arrange 4 hake steaks on top. Add 250 ml (8 fl oz, 1 cup)
white wine and 250 ml (8 fl oz, 1 cup) fish stock, or 500 ml (17 fl oz, 2 cups)
fish fumet. Top with small pieces of butter, season and add a bouquet garni.
Place in preheated oven at 240°C (475°F, gas 9) and cook for 25 minutes.
Moisten with small quantities of water during cooking. Drain the fish and keep
warm. Reduce the cooking liquid, replace the fish in the dish, pour over some
cream and return to the oven for 5-6 minutes.
Hake
steaks a la koskera
Flour
4 hake steaks. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a deep, non-stick frying pan.
Add the fish steaks and brown them on both sides, then add 2 chopped garlic
cloves. Add 250 ml (8 fl 0z, 1 cup) white wine, 250 ml (8 fl, 1 cup) of the
liquid from a can of a asparagus, 100 g
(4 oz, 1 cup) petits pois cooked in water, 200 g (7 oz) clams and ½ chopped
sun-dried red pepper. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the fish and
vegetables are cooked. Add plenty of parsley and adjust the seasoning. Arrange
in a dish, garnish with asparagus tips and quarters of hard-boiled
(hard-cooked) eggs.
HALEVY
The name given to two dishes, one of poached of soft-boiled eggs, the other of
poached fish (cod, turbot or halibut), both dedicated to the French lyric
composer lacques Halevy and his nephew Ludovic, who wrote the librette for
various comic operas (particularly by Offenbach). These dishes, now seldom
prepared, are unusual in using two different sauces for the same dish. Eggs
Halevy are served in pairs, sometimes in tartlet cases filled with chicken in a
veloute sauce. One egg is coated with either allemande sauce or supreme sauce
and garnished with chopped truffles; the other is coated with tomato sauce and
garnished with chopped egg yolk. Cod Halevy is surrounded by a border of
duchess potatoes and served with the same sauces as for the eggs, each sauce
covering one half of the dish. Turbot Halevy is also bordered with duchess
potatoes, but one half is covered with a white wine sauce and chopped truffles
and the other half with a Nantua sauce and chopped egg white.
HALIBUT
fletan de l’Atlantique Flat sea fish, member of the Pleuronectidae family,
which lives in cold, deep Atlantic waters. It can be up to 2.5 m (8 ft) long
weigh up to 350 kg (800 lb); the flesh is very lean, white and similar to
turbot. It can be grilled (broiled) or poached like brill. The black halibut
(fletan noir) has a white, boneless flesh.
HALICOT a mutton stew, whose name is derived from the
Old French verb balicoter (to cut into small pieces). The dish is also known as
haricot de mouton even though it did not originally contain beans; it is
mentioned in the recipes of Taillevent and La Verenne before the haricot (navy)
bean was introduced into France. Today the stew is made with chopped meat,
turnips, onions, potatoes and sometimes haricot beans.
RECIPE
Halicot
of mutton
Cut
about 800 g (1¾ lb) neck or breast of mutton into pieces. Season and put into a
casserole with 4 tablespoons oil. Add a large sliced onion, 1 teaspoon
granulated sugar and 3 level tablespoons plain (all-purpose) flour. Stir
thoroughly. Then add 3 tablespoons tomato puree (paste) diluted with a little
stock. Completely cover the meat with more stock, stir well, add a small
crushed garlic clove and bouquet garni, and cook for 45 minutes., Skim the fat
from the sauce and add 500 g (18oz) potatoes cut into quarters or neat oval
shapes, 400 g (14 oz) small turnips and 200 g (7 oz) small peeled onions. Add
sufficient stock to cover the vegetables and continue to cook for about 40
minutes.
HALLES,
LES one of the main market places in central Paris, dating back to the reign of
Philip Augustus in 1183. The other important markets were the corn and flour
market (established in 1765) and the fresh fish and oyster market (in the Rue
Montorgueil). Until 1969 all the wholesale food markets of central Paris were
grouped together under metal pavilions that were constructed by the architect
Victor Baltard in the reign of Napoleon III (1852-70). These pavilions, known
as umbrellas, replaced the stalls and booths that had stood on this site, which
was called Les Champeaux, since the time of Louis de Gros. In the 15th
century the market halls of Less Champeaux were reserved exclusively for food
trading. In 1958 an enquiry was opened into the possibility of moving Les
Halles from their central position to a site on the outskirts of Paris, and in
1973 the wholesale markets for meat and poultry moved to Rungis.
HALVA
HALVA
Also known as halvah. An Eastern sweetmeat based on roasted sesame seeds, which
are ground into a smooth paste and mixed with boiled sugar. It has a high fat
content and, although very sweet, a slightly bitter taste. Other types of halva
can be aerated and whipped, and cream or crystallized (candied) fruit may be
added.
HAM A leg of pork, cured in various ways. The ham
may be sold whole or sliced, cooked (for example, Paris ham of York ham) or raw
– that is pickled in brine, dried, and sometimes smoked (for example, the hams
of Bayionne, Auvergne, Westphalia, Parma, Prague). A good ham should be plump,
with an ample, though not too thick, layer of fat under the rind. Pork shoulder
is cured in the same way, but it is not entitled to be called “ham” the flavour
is not as good, but it can be used in cooked ham dishes.
Ham
is cut from the leg and then brined. Gammon is also from the leg but it is
cured while still on the side of the carcass. It may be smoked separately or left
unsmoked. In French cookery the term jambon means not only ham but also a leg
of fresh pork. This cut can be cooked in a great many ways, either whole or
divided into smaller cuts. It is also used as an ingredient for stuffing and in
various manufactured pork products.
The
salting and smoking of pork to produce ham is of Fresh origin,. It was the
Gauls, subjected the pork to the smoke of certain selected woods for two days.
They then rubbed the meat with oil and vinegar, and hung it up to dry and
preserve it. The Gauls are ham either at the beginning of a meal to sharpen
their appetites, or at the end to induce thirst.
Salting
is also an ancient method of preserving meat all over Europe. Pigs, in
particular, were ideal animals for home rearing and they wre kept in town
gardens as well as country cottages. The meat from animals slaughtered in early
autumn was salted and hung for winter use. This method is also used in China
where Yunnan is known for fine-quality ham.
Modern Curing Today the curing of ham involves
two main operations, salting and smoking. The hams are salted in brine or dry
salt; rubbed with dry salt, saltpeter and sugar and left for three days well
covered with this mixture; or have brine injected into the veins before they
are boned. The salted joints are then put into brine, washed, brushed and
dried. Finally, the hams are smoked in special chambers, starting with a light
smoke, which grows denser as the operation proceeds. This treatment varies
according to the type of ham and whether it is to be eaten cooked or raw.
Formerly,
the characteristic flavours of hams varied with the type of salt, the curing
process and the breed, diet and age of the pig; hence their regional names. In
many cases these names still designate a local product, but others merely
described a method of curing and are applied to hams from any breed of pig or
place of origin. This is the case with York ham, Prague ham and even Bayonne
ham.
Ham served cooked York ham is the
best-known variety. After dry salting. It is lightly smoked. It is cooked o the
bone either in stock or steamed. It can be served hot or cold.
Paris
ham is pressed in a mould and steamed to give it its oblong or cylindrical
shape. It is unsmoked and lightly salted, with a delicate flavour.
Prague
ham is soaked in sweetened brine and may also be smoked. It is sold
ready-cooked, or ready for cooking, either by poaching or by baking in a pastry
case.
In
the United States high-quality hams are referred to as country-cured and most
of them are produced in Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia . The
best-known is Snutfield, a dark, lean Virginia ham. Mass-produced hams are
called urban or city hams, and are not of the same quality.
Raw
hams These hams are usually served finely sliced. They are cured, matured and
dried; They may be smoked. Although they are suitable for serving raw, they may
be used in cooked dishes. The various trade names are not usually protected.
Traditionally the ham is treated by repeatedly rubbing salt into the meat, but
not by injecting brine (though this may be done to certain ‘mountain’ or
‘country’ hams); the most important aspect of the curing process is the
maturing period.
Bayonne
ham is manufactured all over France, although the original product was made in
that region and is still made of Orthez and Peyrehorade. The red seal
guarantees that the ham comes from good-quality carcasses, has been rubbed with
a mixture of salt from Salies-de-Bearn, saltpeter, sugar, pepper and aromatic
herbs, and has been dried for 130-180 days.
Hams
from the Alps, the Morvan, the Causses, Savoy and the Ardennes are all smoked
to some extent, and are of varying quality. The injection of brine and
polyphosphates along the length of the bone hastens the curing and the ham can
be sold two months after processing, but its keeping quality is poor and the
flavour insipid. If, however, it has been produced by local tradesmen supplied
direct from the farms, then it is full of flavour. It is eaten in thin slices,
either raw or fried with eggs, or it may form part of one of the regional
dishes.
Parma
ham (prosciutto di Parma) is particularly tasty, being matured for 8-10 months.
Connoisseurs are very fond of the ham from san Daniele. It is eaten very thinly
sliced, with melon or fresh figs.
Serrano
ham, from Spain, is an unsmoked ham from white pigs.
Westphalian
ham is protected by trademark. It is dry-salted, brined, desalted and
cold-smoked over strongly resinous wood, then dried. Mainz ham is brined
desalted, soaked in brandy or wine lees, and smoked for a long period. Both
these German products are excellent.
A
leg of wild boar is also called a ham; it is soaked in a sweet-and-sour
marinade, then braised in the same liquid, often with fruit such as prunes,
raisins or candied orange peel.
Other
specialties include Reims ham (prepared with pieces of cooked shoulder and ham,
covered with aspic and pressed in a mould), which is traditionally sold coated
with breadcrumbs; jambon persille from Burgundy or the Morvan, also made with
cooked shoulder and ham, with cooked shoulder and ham, with jelly and a large
proportion of parsley added before moulding. According to Austin de Croze, the
very best of all hams is from Artigues-de-Lussac, cooked but not smoked fried
with garlic and vinegar, left in the vinegar for 24 hours, and served very
cold.
Cooking ham Hams to be served cooked and
cured by traditional methods, with a high salt content, have to be soaked for
several hours before cooking. However, the majority of hams cured by
contemporary processes are far less salty and do not require soaking, which can
make them tasteless.Check with the supplier or on the label for information.
The
drained ham should be brought to the boil in fresh water. Just as the water
boils, it should be drained away and fresh water added. When the water boils
and scum has been skimmed off, flavouring ingredients, such as onions,
vegetables, a bouquet garni, cloves, coriander seeds and peppercorns are added.
The ham is then simmered gently. Alternatively, many mild, lightly salted hams
can be baked. A combination of boiling for half of the time and then baking
gives excellent results. As a guide, cooking times are calculated at 40 minutes
per 1 kg. or 20 minutes per 1 lb, plus an extra 40 or 20 minutes.
BRAISED HAM
A few hours before cooking a fresh ham
(or a corner of middle gammon), rub it with salt mixed with powdered thyme and
bay leaf. When ready to cook, wipe the ham dry, then brown it lightkly in 50g
(2oz, ¼ cup) butter. Prepare a meatless matignon* with 250 g (9oz, 1½ cups) peeled,
finely diced and cored carrots, 100g (4oz) celery sticks with the strings
removed, and 50 g (2oz, 1/3 cup) coarsely chopped onions. Cook these vegetables
gently in 50 g (2 oz, ¼ cup) butter, in a covered pan, with a bay leaf, a sprig
of thyme, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar, for about 30 minutes. Then add 20
ml (7fl oz, ¾ cup) Madeira or 200 ml (7fl oz, ¾ cup) Meursault or Riesing and
let it reduce with the lid off until the vegetables are soft and all the liquid
has been used up.
Put
the ham in a roasting tin (pan), coat it with the marignon and sprinkle it with
melted butter, then cover with buttered greaseproof (wax) paper. Cook in a
preheated oven at 200 oC (400 oF, gas 6), allowing 20-25
minutes per 450 g (1 lb), basting frequently with the cooking butter (if this
seems to be getting too brown, add a few tablespoons of stock). When the ham is
cooked, remove the greaseproof paper and the matignon and place the ham on a
hot serving dish. Deglaze the roasting tin with a mixture of one-third Madeira
and two-thirds stock, and reduce by half. Put the matignon and the cooking
juices through a blender and pour this sauce over the ham.
Braised ham a la bayonnaise
Soak a Bayonne ham in cold water for at
least 6 hours to remove the salt, then poach it in salted water until it is
three-quarters cooked (the meat should still resist a trussing needle stuck
into it). Drain and skin it by removing the rind and excess fat, leaving about
1 cm (½ in) of fat on the ham. Complete the cooking as for braised ham. When it
is cooked, put it on an ovenproof serving dish, with a little of the strained
cooking juices poured over, and glaze in the oven.
Meanwhile,
prepare a well-seasoned rice pilaf, adding chopped tomatoes (use slightly less
water to cook the rice, as tomatoes are very watery). Sprinkle some cleaned
button mushrooms with lemon juice and cook them gently in butter. Fry some very
thin chipolata sausages in butter. Mix the rice and the mushrooms, and arrange
this garnish around the ham, with the chipolatas around the edge of the dish.
Serve the rest of the cooking juices separately in a sauceboat.
Braised
ham a la crème
Cover a fresh ham with water and cook
until three-quarters done ( the meat should still resist a trussing needle
stuck into it). Remove the rind and surplus fat, leaving about 1 cm (½ in) of
fat on the ham. Prepare a mirepoix* with 200 g (8oz) peeled and cored carrots,
125 g (4½oz) onions, 75g (3oz) celery sticks and 125 g(4oz) raw ham or blanched
belly pork. Melt 50 g (2oz, ¼ cup) butter in a saucepan and add the mirepoix
with a sprig of thyme and a few sprigs of chopped parsley; cook very gently
with the lid on until the vegetables are quite soft.
Spread
the mirepoix in a roasting tin (pan) and place the skinned ham on top; pour
over 6 tablespoons stock, 50 g (2oz, ¼ cup) melted butter and 200 ml (7fl oz, ¾
cup) Madeira. Cover the ham with buttered greaseproof (wax) paper and cook in a
preheated oven at 200 oC (400 oF, gas 6) for about 1½
hours, basting frequently with the cooking juices and adding a little stock if
necessary to keep it moist. When cooked, drain the ham and place it on a hot
serving dish.
Reduce
the cooking liquid a little, then add 500 ml (17 fl oz, 2 cups) crème fraiche
and reduce by one third. Put this sauce through a blender and serve it with the
ham.
Braised ham with pineapple
Put a fresh ham weighing about 5 kg (11
lb) into cold water, bring to the boil, and simmer very gently for 2 hours.
Drain the ham and leave until cold, then remove the rind, leaving a 1 cm (½ in)
layer of fat on the ham. Stud the ham with cloves and sprinkle with 125 g (4½
oz, ½ cup) caster (superfine) sugar. Place in a roasting tin (pan) and bake in
a preheated oven at 220 oC (425 oC, gas 7) for 1½ hours.
Heat
about 12 canned pineapple slice in their syrup. Put 250 ml (8fl oz, 1 cup) wine
vinegar and 20 peppercorns into a saucepan, bring to the boil, and then add 500
ml (17 fl oz, 2 cups) stock. Prepare a pale caramel with 125 g (4½ oz, ½ cup)
caster sugar and strain the flavoured stock on to the caramel. Add 2 glasses of
sherry and reduce until syrupy; pour into a sauceboat. Put the ham on a hot
dish and surround it with the drained slices of pineapple; serve the sauce
separately.
Cold ham mousse
Mince (grind) 500 g (18oz) cooked bean
ham, adding 200 ml (7 fl oz, ¾ cup) cold thick veloute* sauce. Puree in a
blender, then put it into the bowl and stand it on ice; season and stir with a
spatula for a few minutes, adding 150 ml (¼ pint, 2/3 cup) liquid aspic, a
little at a time. Finally, gently cold in 400 ml (14 fl oz, 1¾ cups) double
(heavy) cream whipped until fairly stiff. Pour into a mould lined with aspic,
and chill until set. Turn out on to the serving dish and garnish with chopped
aspic.
Glazed ham
Soak a medium-sized ham in cold water
for at least 6 hours, then scrub it and bone it at the loin eng. Pout it in a
large sauce pan with plenty of cold water but no seasoning. As soon as the
water boils, reduce the heat and let it simmer very gently, allowing no more
than 20 minutes per 450g (1lb). After draining and skinning the ham, put it in
a roasting tin (pan), sprinkle with icing (confectioner’s) sugar and glaze in a
preheated oven at 180 oC (350 oF, gas 4) for about 30
minutes. As it caramelizes, the sugar turns into a sort of golden lacquer, enhancing
the appearance and flavour of the ham.
Glazed ham reine pedauque
Poach a middle or corner gammon in
Meursault for 20 minutes per 450g (1 lb). Cut it into thin slices and leave
until cold. Spread each slice with a layer of foiegras mixed with diced truffle,
and put the slices together to re-form the original shape. Coat with a
port-flavoured chaud-froid sauce. Garnish with slices of truffle and glaze with
port-flavoured aspic. Place the glazed ham on a long serving dish and surround
it with little squares of aspic.
Ham a la chablisienne
Remove the stalks from 1.5 kg. (3 ¼ lb)
spinach, wash the leaves and cook them briskly in salted boiling water until
wilted. Cool them down in iced water, then squeeze out all the water. Finely
chop 1 small shallot and sweat in a saucepan in 10 g (¼ oz, 1 ½ teaspoons)
butter, without letting it brown. Add 200 ml (7 fl. Oz, ¾ cup) Chablis and
reduce to 4 teaspoons. Add 200 ml (7 ft. oz, ¾ cup) chicken stock and reduce by
half. Pour in 200 ml. (7 fl. Oz, ¾ cup) double (heavy) cream and cook until it
thickens slightly. Season with salt and pepper, in another saucepan, heat 50 g
(2 oz, ¼ cup) butter until it turns brown. Add the spinach and stir with a fork
spiked with a peeled garlic clove. Adjust the seasoning. Place the spinach in
an ovenproof dish. On top arrange 4 thick slices of ham previously warmed in
stock and then drained. Pour the sauce on top and put in a preheated oven at
180°C (350°F, gas 4) for a few minutes.
Poached ham in pastry à l’ ancienne
Poach a York ham in water until it is two-thirds cooked, then drain.
Remove the skin and glaze on one side with caramel, then let it get cold.
Prepare 575 g (1 ¼ lb) lining pastry (see short pastry), about 225 g ( 8 oz)
vegetable mirepoix and 3 tablespoons mushroom duxelles. Mix the mirepoix and
the duxelles together, adding 1 chopped truffle.
Roll
out the pastry to a thickness of about 4 mm (¼ in) and spread the vegetables
mixture over an area in the center about the same size as the ham. Place the
ham on the vegetables, glazed side down, wrap it in the pastry and seal the
edges. Put it in a buttered roasting tin
(pan), sealed side down. Brush the top of the pastry with beaten egg yolk and
garnish with shapes cut from the pastry trimming. Make a hole in the top for the
steam to escape and cook in a preheated oven at 180-200°C (350-400°F, gas 4-6)
for about 1 hour. Place the ham on a serving dish. Of liked, a few spoonfuls of
Perigueux sauce can be poured in through the opening.
Other recipes See aspic, canapé, cornet,
crepe, fig, pate, pea porte-maillot, quiche.
HAMBURGER Minced (ground) beef shaped
into a flat round patty and grilled (broiled) or fried. The name is an
abbreviation of Hamburger steak – beef grilled in the Hamburg style. Originally
introduced into the United States by German immigrants, the American style
of hamburger has been exported around
the world. It is usually sandwiched in a round bread roll and may be garnished
with tomato ketchup, mayonnaise, lettuce, pickles and slice of tomato. It may
also be topped with various other foods, including cheese (a cheeseburger),
olives (olive burger), mushrooms (mushroom burger) or chilli (chilli burger).
RECIPE
Hamburgers
Mix 400 g (14 oz) best-quality minced
(ground) beef with 50 g (2 oz, 1/3 cup) chopped onion, 2 beaten eggs, salt,
pepper and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley if liked. Shape the mixture into 4
thick flat round patties and fry in very hot clarified butter or grill (broil).
They are cooked when droplets of blood appear on the surface. Fry 100 g (4 oz,
2/3 cup) chopped onion in the same butte to garnish the hamburgers. Serve very
hot in a round bun.
HANAP A large drinking goblet with no
handle. Used in France in the Middle Ages. It was made of wood, pewter, silver
or even hard polished stone.
HANGING The operation of leaving red
meat, especially game, in a cool place for a varying length of time to make
fresh more tender and improve the flavour.
The
French word is derived from faisan (pheasant). When it is fresh, pheasant is
tough and without much flavour. It grows tender and its aroma develops after it
has been hung, the length of time depending upon the temperature. In
Brillat-Savarin’s time, pheasant was not considered fit for the gastronome’s
table except in a state of complete putrefaction. This authority recommends, in
effect, that it should be kept, unplucked, until its breast turns green, so
that for roasting on the spit it has to be held together by a slice of bread
tied on with string. Nowadays, game and meat are no longer hung until they are
high.
Game
that is wounded in the belly or damaged by lead shot should never be hung, as
it will not very quickly. Woodcock and certain other game birds are not drawn,
but large game should be drawn as quickly as possible. Game birds are wrapped
in muslin (cheesecloth) or a cloth and suspended by the legs in a cool, dry,
and preferably well-ventilated place. Woodcock needs to be left fort the
longest time, followed by wild duck, pheasant and partridge. Small birds are
generally not hung. Game animals are hung for 2-4 days. Both winged game and
ground game when hung acquire a similar flavour to that of pheasant.
Meat
should be hung in a cool, airy place. In theory, beef needs to be hung for 3-4
weeks at –1.5oC (29 oF), 15 days at 0 oC (32
oF), 2 days at 20 oC (68 oF) or 1 day at 43 oC
(109 oF). In practice, however, it is hung in a cold room at 2
oC (35 oF) for 5-6 days.
HARE A game animal belonging to the same
family as the rabbit, but larger and having dark flesh. The male is called
‘buck’, the female a ‘doe’. The best French wild hares are found in Beauce,
Champagne, Brie, Nortmandy, Poitou, Gascony and Perigord (the last being the
region where the most famous French hare dish, a la royale, originated). The
meat is highly flavoured and excellent, the mountain variety having a more
delicate flavour than that of the plains.
Hare
meat is cooked in different ways according to its age. A leveret (2-4 months)
weighs about 1.5 kg (3¼ lb) and is usually roasted. A 1-year-old hare (called a
trios-quarts in France) weighs 2.5-3 kg (5½-6½ lb) and yields excellent saddles
for roasting and meat for sautéing. Hares more than 1 year old (known in France
as capucins), weighing 4-6 kg (9-13 lb), are mostly made into civets (jugged
hare). A year-old hare is best of the table. If it is much older, it should be
made into a terrine or cooked en daube.
Hare
are not hung, since they deteriorate after about 48 hours. A marinade based on
a rough red wine is used for civets. Hare fillets and legs are sometimes used
for specific recipes. Hares with cherries is a German speciality.
RECIPES
Preparation of fillets of hare
Separate the saddle from the
forequarters of a hare as far behind the ribs as possible, and place the saddle
on its back. With a pointed kniefe, cut away the meat on both sides of the
backbone. Ease off the flesh to halfway up the backbone, then place the blade
of a very heavy knife against the backbone and, by tapping on the blade,
complete the separation of the fillets. Do the same on the other side. Separate
the fillets from each other, then lard them with fat bacon. Season with salt,
pepper and a pinch of cayenne; pour over a dash of brandy and leave to marinate
until the time for cooking.
Fillets of hare on croutes
Prepare the fillets and place them in a
buttered roasting dish. Pour over melted butter and cook them in a preheated
oven at 240 oC (475 oF, gas 9), covering them with foil
once they are browned. Serve on bread croutes fried I butter and cot with
financiere of Pergueux sauce, or a fruit sauce (cranberry or redcurrant).
Hare cutlets with mushrooms
Finely chop a boned hare. Add one-third
of its weight of bread soaked in cream and an equal quantity of chopped
mushrooms, parsley and shallots. Season with salt and pepper, add a pinch of
quatreepices (a mixture of white peppercorns, nutmeg, cinnamon or ginger, and
cloves), and blend all the ingredients together into a firm paste. Divide the
mixture into portions 50-65 g (2-2½ oz), roll into balls, then flatten into
cutlets. Coat with flour and fry in clarified butter. Serve with a game sascue,
such as poivrade.
Hare mousse
Remove the sinews from 450 g (1 lb) hare
meat and chop the meat very finely in a food processor. (A few chopped truffle
skins may be added.) Sprinkle with 1¼ teaspoons table salt and a large pinch of
white pepper. Gradually incorporate 2-3 egg whites, still in the processor,
then rub the mixture through a sieve. Stir the sieved mixture in a shallow
frying pan over a low heat until it is quite smooth, then transfer it to a
bowl; refrigerate for 2 hours.
Stand
the chilled bowl in a bowl of ice cubes and gradually add 750 ml (1¼ pints, 3¼
cups) double (heavy) cream, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Put it
back in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Butter some dariole moulds and fill with
the mousse. Put the moulds in a bain marie, bring to the boil, cover with foil,
and cook them in a preheated oven at 200 oC (400 oF, gas
6) for 25-30 minutes ( a fine needle inserted in the mousse should come out
clean). Serve with a Perigueux sauce.
Hare pate
Bone a hare and set aside the fillets
(including the filets mignons) and the thigh meat. Remove the sinews from these
cuts, lard the meat, and season with salt, pepper and a little mixed spice.
Then marinate them in brandy together with an equal weight of thin slices of
lean unsmoked ham, fat bacon and quartered truffles. Prepare a game forcemeat
with the rest of the meat; rub it through a sieve and then thicken it with the
hare’s blood.
Butter
an oval hinged mould and line with lining pastry. Cover the pastry with very
this slices of fat bacon and spread a layer with very thin slices of fat bacon
and spread a layer of forcemeat over the bottom and up the sides. Arrange a
layer of marinated hare fillets in the mould and cover with a layer of
forcemeat. Continue to fill the mould with alternate layers of hare and
forcemeat, finishing with a layer of forcemeat. Cover with slices of fat bacon,
then with a layer of pastry, inserting a chimney in the center to allow the
steam to escape during cooking. Seal well around the edges. Shape the crust
with pastry crimper and garnish the top with pastry shapes. Brush with beaten
egg and cook in a preheated oven at 190 oC (375 oF, gas
5), allowing 35 minutes per 1kg (15 minutes per 1 lb.)
Let
the pate cool in the mould. When it is cold, pour a few spoonfuls of
Madeira-flavoured aspic through the central hole (or, if the pate is to be kept
for any length of time, a mixture of melted butter and lard). The pate should
be prepared at least 24 hours before serving.
Hare with chocolate
Skin a hare, detach the saddle and
thighs, season these with salt and pepper, and marinate for 3 days in oil.
Break up the rib cage, the forelimbs and the offal, and marinate these for 3
days in a marinade offal, and marinate these for 3 days in a marinade made with
2 bottles of red wine, 2 onions, a garlic head (bulb) broken into cloves, 2
carrots and a leek (coarsely chopped), thyme, bay leaves, grated nutmeg,
pepper, the juice of 1 lemon, chopped root ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
After
3 days, strain the marinade and sauté the pieces of carcass in olive oil until
brown. Remove the fat. Add a little of the marinade and a calf’s foot. Cook
very gently for 4 hours, then remove the fat. Strain the sauce obtained and
thicken it with 50 g (2oz) bitter (bittersweet) chocolate and 100 g (4 oz, ½
cup) butter. Heat the juice of 1 lemon with 3 tablespoons poultry blood without
boiling, and add to the sauce. Cook the saddle and thighs in butter in a
casserole (the meat should remain pink). Cut into portions. Pour over the sauce
and serve with spiced pears sautéed in butter.
Roast hare en saugrenee
Let the hare hang, unskinned, in a cool
place for 24 hours, then joint it and reserve the blood and liver. Place the
joints ina dish containing 250 ml (8 fl oz, 1 cup) cider, 4 tablespoons olive
oil, 1 onion and 1 carrot (finely chopped), 6 juniper berries, 12 shallots and
a pinch of spice. Leave to marinate for 12 hours.
Blanch
the shallots form the marinade and put them in a roasting dish with a slice of
fat bacon. Place the hare on top and roast in a preheated oven at 200 oC
(400 oF, gas 6) for 30-40 minutes. Prepare the hearts of 2 celery
heads, wash them, blanch them in salted water and drain. Braise the celery for
40 minutes in a buttered dish, moistened with stock.
Place the cooked hare in a warm dish.
Deglaze the roasting dish with I small ladle of stock and 1 tablespoon brandy.
Remove from the heat and thicken carefully with the pureed liver of the hare
and the reserved blood. Pour this sauce over the hare. Serve the celery
separately.
Other
recipes See cherry (savoury dishes), saddle.
HARICOT See halicot
HARICOT BEANS, DRIED Legume produced
basically for its dry seed. (See beans, dried.) Some varieties, which are
shelled and dried before they are sold, are very highly regarded.
· FLAGEOLETS
Very delicate, white or green, and with little starch, these kidney-shaped
beans are grown in the regions of Arpajon, Brittany, and in the north of
France. Also known as chevriers, they are picked from April to September before
they are mature; they are sold after they have been dried under cover, canned
or frozen.
· LINGOTS
Large, thin very white beans grown in the north of France and the Vendee. Sold
dried, they keep a long time.
Produced in smaller quantities,
soissons, rognons de coq (cock’s kidney beans), Suisse blancs (Swiss white
beans), and cocos blancs are all good as well. Like fresh beans, dried haricot
beans are used in various characteristic regional dishes. Flageolets are a
traditional accompaniment for leg or shoulder of pork, and are excellent with
lamb.
Cooking dried haricot beans Soak the
beans in plenty of cold water for at least 2 hours or, preferably, overnight.
Drain them put in a large saucepan and cover with plenty of water. Bring to the
boil, then skim and boil for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat so that the water
simmers. Add 1 bouquet garni, 1 peeled onion stuck with 2 cloves, 1 peeled
garlic clove and 1 diced carrot. Cover and cook for 1½-2½ hours at a gentle
simmer, until the beans are tender. Check the water level during cooking and
add more, if necessary, to keep the beans covered. When the beans are
thoroughly cooked, season them to taste. Do not add salt earlier in the cooking
process, as this will harden the beans and prevent them from becoming tender.
HARICOT BEANS, FRESH See beans, fresh
HARISSA A condiment from North Africa
and the Middle East. It is a past (tabal) made fro chillies, oil, garlic and
coriander. Pounded with cumin or coriander and sometimes with dried mint or
verbena leaves. The harissa must be left for 12 hours before using. Covered
with olive oil, it keeps well in a sealed container. It is diluted with a
little stock and added to couscous, soups and dried meat. It is also served as
a table condiment.
HASH A preparation of finely chopped raw
or cooked meat, poultry, fish or vegetables. Hashes are nearly always prepared
from leftovers and usually either piled in the centre of a ring of duchess
potatoes and browned in the oven, or accompanied by a pilaf of rice or a
risotto. The classic example of this dish is hachis Parmetier, in which finely
chopped beef it topped with mashed potato, then with breadcrumbs and butter,
and browned in the oven.
A
puree of vegetables, such as aubergines (eggplants), tomatoes, courgettes
(zucchini) or pumpkin, can be substituted for the potato. Diced beef, mutton,
rabbit or pork is sometimes enriched with mushrooms, and diced veal or poultry
is often mixed with cream. Béchamel sauce or Mornay sauce (see moussaka).
Finely chopped or minced (ground) meat is also used for meatballs, croquettes
and fricadelles. Pork is used for certain regional dishes, such as caillettes
and attignoles.
Fish
for hashes should be firm-fleshed (such as tuna, swordfish or cod) and it is
best to use only one variety of fish.
RECIPES
Beef Hash
All the recipes for beef hash can also
be used for mutton or lamb. They can also be used for leftovers of pork if the
meat has been braised. If it has been boiled or roasted, use the recipes for
veal hash.
Beef hash a I’italienne
Sauté 3 tablespoons chopped onion in 3
tablespoons olive oil until slightly brown, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon floour
and mix well. The add 200 ml (7fl oz, ¾ cup) water or stock, 3 tablespoons
tomato puree (paste) diluted with 6 tablespoons stock, a bouquet garni and a
crushed garlic clove. Cook gently for about 30 minutes. Remove the bouquet
garni and allow to cool. Add some of this sauce to some finely chopped braised
or boiled beef and reheat gently. Serve with tagliatelle and the remainder of
the sauce.
Beef has with aubergines au gratin
Prepare and cook the sauce as for beef
has a I’italienne, then add the finely chopped beef together with 1 tablespoon
chopped parsley. Slice some aubergines (eggplants) into rounds, sauté them in
oil and arrange them in a buttered gratin dish. Pour in the beef in its sauce,
smooth the surface, sprinkle with mixture of grated Parmesan cheese and
breadcrumbs, pour over a little olive oil and brown in a preheated oven at 230oC
(450 oF, gas 8).
Boiled beef hash
Chop very finely (by hand or in a food
processor) 500 g (18oz) boiled beef. Cook 2 large finely chopped onions in 15 g
(½ oz, 1 tablespoon) butter until tender. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon flour and
cook until golden brown. Add 200 ml ( 7 fl oz, ¾ cup) stock, season with salt
and pepper, and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Allow to cool, add the boiled beef, and cook in a covered dish in a preheated
oven at 200 oC (400 oF, gas 6) for 25 minutes.
Chicken Has
Small hot entrees with chicken hash
Make one of the following sauces;
allemande, béchamel, cream or veloute. Dice poached, braised or roast chicken
meat very finely and mix it with the tepid sauce. Heat the mixture thoroughly
ion a saucepan. Chicken hash can be used to stuff mushroom caps, artichoke
hearts or hard-boiled (hard-cooked) eggs (mix the crushed yolks into the hash):
sprinkle with grated Gruyere cheese, cover with melted butter and brown in the
oven. The hash can also be used to fill warmed croutes, croustades or
vol-au-vent cases.
Veal Hash
Veal hash a I’allemande
Prepare an allemande sauce and allow it
to cool. Mix it with finely diced leftover roast or sautéed veal. Pour the
mixture into a sauté pan and heat gently but thoroughly. The hash may be served
in a flaky pastry case or with fresh pasta.
Veal hash a la Mornay
Finely dice leftover roast or sautéed
veal. Prepare a well-seasoned béchamel sauce and add a little crème fraiche.
Divide the sauce into 2 equal portions. Add some chopped fines herbes to one
portion and some grated Gruyere cheese to the other. Mix the sauce containing
the herbs with the diced veal and pour into a buttered gratin dish. Smooth the
surface and cover with the cheese sauce. Sprinkle with more grated Gruyere,
pour melted butter over the top, and brown in a preheated oven at 240 oC
(475 oF, gas 9). Sliced mushrooms, braised in butter with a little
lemon juice, can be added if desired.
HAUSER, GAYELORD (born Helmut Eugene
Benjamin Gellert Hauser) American nutritionist (born Tubingen,
Baden-Wurttemberg, 1895; died Los Angeles, 1984). He suffered from tuberculosis
of the hip but was cured by following the advice of a Swiss Doctor, who
convince him of the power of natural foods such as wholewheat flour, brewer’s
yeast, yogurt, dried pulses, cereals and soya. Having written Message of Health
and a Dictionary of Foods, Hauser achieved worldwide recognition with Live
Young, Live longer (1950). In this book he propounds several basic theories
concerning a balanced diet, discusses the importance of fruit diets and aromatic
herbs, and suggests cooking methods that preserve vitamins and mineral salts.
Various dietetic products have been marketed under his name.
HAUT-MEDOC. The southern part of the
Medoc district of Bordeaux. Within this region- the birthplace of such world-famous
clarets as Chateaux Lafite-Rothschild, Latour. Mouton-Rothschild and
Margaux-there are various parishes, each having its own AOC. For example, the
first three of the estates mentioned above are AOC here are Margaux, St-Julien
and St-Estephe. Wines not included in these AOC’s may be labeled under the
Haut-Medoc appellation.
HAUT-POITOU WINES Red, white, and rose
wines produced in the Vienne and Deux-Sevre. Mainly produced by a local
co-operative, the whites, made from either the Sauvignon Blane or the
Chardonnay grape, and the reds, from a blend of Gamay and Cabernels Sauvignon
and Franc, are good value.
HAVIR A French culinary term that
originally meant to cook the outside of a dish at a very high temperature to
sear or seal it. Nowadays it is more likely that anything described as hawi
will be burnt on the outside and raw on the inside.
HAWTHORN A thorny shrub or small tree of
the rose family that grows throughout Europe, North America and Asia. Its
leaves and flowers are used for tisanes, as it is traditionally thought to have
a calming action on the heart. A Mediterranean species of hawthorn, known as
the Mediterranean or Neapolitan medlar, is very widespread in the south of
France; its red fleshy fruits have a tart flavour and are used to make jellies
and jams.
HAZEL GROUSE gelinotte A game bird of
the grouse family. It is also called hazel hen or wood grouse and is about the
size of a partridge. The hazel grouse has succulent flesh and is cooked like
partridge; it can be hung briefly, but not until high. When the hazel grouse
has fed on fir cones, its fresh tastes of resin. This flavour can be made less
strong by soaking the bird in milk.
HAZELNUT A hard-shelled nut with an oval
or round kernel that is produced by one of several species of hazel tree.
Harvested in August and September, the nuts can be eaten fresh but are usually
dried.
Hazelnut
oil is extracted in small quantities for use as a flavouring (for example, in
salad dressings) it should not be heated. Fresh hazelnuts are always sold in
their green husks (involucres). The whole dried nuts should have shiny shells,
not too thick and free from blemishes, holes and cracks; they can be broken
only with a nutcraker. Once shelled, the kernels should be kept in an airtight
container or they will become rancid. They can be served on their own, salted
or toasted, as an appetizer; they are also used whole, grated or ground in many
dishes (for example, stuffings, terrines, with chicken, and in fish meuriere,
in the same way as almonds). They make a good flavouring for butter as well.
Their chief role, however, is in patisserie and confectionery; the noisetier (
a cake from Pontarlier), hazelnut cake and noisettine (puff pastry with
hazelnut-flavoured butter cream) are some examples.
The
filbert (aveline in French) is a variety of large cultivated hazelnut, although
he name is sometimes used loosely to describe dishes containing ordinary
hazelnuts; for example, truite aux avelines.
RECIPES
Chicken with hazelnuts
Cut an uncooked chicken into 4 pieces.
Sprinkle the pieces with salt and freshly ground pepper, dip them in flour,
then brown them in butter. Moisten with stock made from the giblets and cook
with the lid on for 30 minutes. Keep hot. Lightly toast 150 g (5oz, 1 cup)
shelled hazelnuts under the grill (broiler). Then grind them and blend with 150
g (5oz, 2/3 cup) butter. Reduce the cooking liquid from the chicken, then add
the nut butter and 4 tablespoons crème fraiche; cook for 5-6 minutes over a low
heat. Pour this sauce, to which some whole nuts can be added, over the chicken.
Hazelnut cake
Spread 50 g(2oz ½ cup) ground hazelnuts
on baking sheet and brown them lightly in a preheated oven at 140 oC
(275 oF, gas 1). Whisk 5 egg yolk with 150 g(5oz, 2/3 cup) caster
(superfine) sugar for 5 minutes, then beat in 150 g(5oz, 1¼ cups) sifted plain
(all-purpose) flour and the ground hazelnuts. Melt 90 g(3½ oz, 7 tablespoons)
butter over a very low heat, blend in the nut mixture, then carefully fold in 5
egg whites whisked to stiff peaks. Pour this mixture into a 20 cm (8in)
buttered, deep, round sandwich tin (layer cake pan) and bake in a preheated
oven at 180 oC (350 oF, gas 4) for 30-35 minutes. Turn
the cake out on to a wire rack and leave to cool.
Meanwhile,
make butter cream using 4 egg yolks, 150g (5oz, 2/3 cup) caster sugar, 175 g (6
oz, ¾ cup) butter and 50g (2 oz, ½ cup) ground hazelnuts. Then prepare the
decoration: soften 50 g (2 oz, 4 tablespoons) butter and blend in 50 g (2 oz, 4
tablespoons) caster sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar and 1 egg; using a whisk,
beat in 50 g (2 oz, ½ cup) plain flour. Roll this dough out, cut it into
small rounds with a biscuit (cookie)
cutter, and place the rounds well apart on a lightly buttered baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven at 240 oC (475 oF, gas 9).
Remove the rounds when cooked and leave to cool.
Cut
the cake into 3 equal layers, spread butter cream over each layer, then
reassemble the cake. Coat the sides with the remaining butter cream and
decorate with the baked rounds. The spaces between the rounds can be filled
with toasted hazelnuts. Store in a cool place.
Jerusalem artichoke and hazelnut salad
Peel the required quantity of Jerusalem
artichokes and cook them for about 10 minutes in salted white wine. Drain and
slice. Put the slices into a salad bowl and season with oil, mustard and lemon
juice. Chop lightly toasted hazelnuts and scatter them over the artichokes.
Other recipes. See butter (flavoured
butters), fond de patisserie.
HEAD A gelatinous variety of white offal
(variety meat). Certain part of the head are particularly appreciated and
prepared separately; brain, tongue, ears and cheeks, for example. Only calf’s
head is used whole in classic cuisine, although lamb’s or sheep’s head is
prepared whole in certain regional dishes from Auvergne and south-western
France.
Ox
head (head of beef) is always sliced or prepared as a terrine (musean de boeuf,
. made of salted ox muzzle and chin, and served with vinaigrette).
Pig’s
head is quite widely used in charcuerie for pate de tete (made with cooked boned head and cooked salted pork with the
rind). Musean de porc (boned pieces of head and tail that are cooked, pressed
and moulded), bure a la paristenne ( head and loin of pork), and tete de porc
roulee (boned pig’s head and tongue cut into cubes then cooked, set in aspic,
moulded and garnished with pressed pig’s ears; it is sliced when cold and
served with vinaigrette). It is similar to the British brawn, but in the latter
the head is cooked and then the mean removed.
Calf’s
head is always cooked in a white court bouillon. In France it is sold at the
tripe butcher’s already boned, wrapped and blanched (the flesh must be bright
pink and there must be a marked contrast
in colour between the flesh and the shite gelatinous part). Calf’s head has
always been of major importance in French cookery and can be prepared in a wide
variety of ways, either hot or cold, and served with such sauces is herb.
Madeira, caper, ravigote, tomato, gribiche and piquante. It is also cooked
stuffed, au gratin, or fried in butter. Traditionally, it was prepared en
tortue, a prestigious dish with a rich garnish of truffled quenelles,
cockscombs and kidney, calves sweetbreads and mushrooms.
RECIPES
Preparation and cooking of calf’s head
Clean the head thoroughly, soak it in
cold water, then blanch it. Prepare a white court-bouillon: mix 3 tablespoons
flour with 3 litres (5 pints, 13 cups) water in a saucepan. Season with salt
and pepper, then add the juice of half a lemon, an onion studded with 2 cloves,
and a bouquet garni. Bring to the boil and immerse the head wrapped in muslin
(cheesecloth) in this court-bouillon. Simmer very gently for about 2 hours.
Serve with the chosen garnish.
Calf’s head a Pociitane
Cut half a well-soaked calf’s head into
8 uniform pieces and cook in a white court-bouillon with the tongue. Poach the
brain separately in a highly flavoured court-bouillon. Put 4 tablespoons
chopped onion, lightly friend in butter,
into a shallow ovenproof dish and add a small quantity of grated garlic towards
the end of cooking. Arrange the pieces of calf’s head on top with the sliced
tongue and brain. Garnish with black olives, 2 peeled, seeded tomatoes crushed
and tossed in oil, and 2 hard-boiled (hard-cooked) eggs cut into fairly thick
slices. Season with salt and pepper. Pour 6 tablespoons olive oil and the juice
of half a lemon over the calf’s head and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Heat in
a bain marie, keeping the dish covered. Just before serving, baste the
garnished head with the sauce in which it was cooked.
Calf’s head in crepinettes
Cut 500 g (18oz) calf’s head cooked in a
white court-bouillon into medium-sized dice. Add one-third of its weight in
diced mushrooms, lightly fried in butter, and 5 tablespoons diced truffles.
Blend with concentrated Madeira sauce flavoured with truffle essence and allow
to cool.
Divide
the mixture into 50 g (2 oz) portions and enclose each of these in 100 g (4 oz,
½ cup) finely minced (ground) sausagemeat. Wrap each of these in a peace of
pig’s caul (caul fat), previously soaked in cold water, and roll into the shape
of flat sausage. Brush the crepinettes with clarified butter or melted lard,
roll them in fine fresh breadcrumbs and sprinkle again with fat. Grill (broil)
the crepinettes on both sides under a low heat and serve with Perigeux sauce.
HEAD DIFFUSER
Braised and may be stuffed. It may also
be cut into cubes and grilled (broiled) on skewers (like anticucbo, a popular
Peruvian dish). Heifer’s heart is more tender and is considered to be better
than ox heart. However, calf’s heart has the most flavour and may be either
roasted whole or cut into slices and fried . Pig’s or sheep’s hearts are used
to make a ragout or a civet. Poultry hearts are grilled on skewers, used in
terrines, incorporated in mixed salads or merely seared in butter.
RECIPES
Casserole of calf’s heart a bonne femme
Clean the heart, season with salt and pepper,
and brown it in butter in a casserole traditionally made of earthenware. Add
pieces of potato, small glazed onions s and strips of streaky bacon that have
been lightly fried in butter. Cook over a gentle heat for about 30 minutes.
Grilled calf’s heart skewers
Clean the heart and cut it into large
cubes. Clean some small mushrooms and marinate the heart and mushrooms in a
mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, chopped garlic, chopped parsley, salt and
pepper. Thread the cubes of heart and the mushrooms, alternately on some
skewers, finishing each skewer with a small tomato. Cook under a hot grill
(broiler).
Matelote of ox heat
Divide the heart into two and soak the
halves in cold water. Remove the blood clots and sinews, wash and wipe. Cut the
heart into large dice and marinate for 6 hours in vinegar containing salt,
pepper, thyme, cloves and a bay leaf. Drain and lightly brown the diced heart
in a casserole with 20 g (3/4 oz, 4½ teaspoons) butter and 100 g (4 oz, ½ cup)
streaky bacon, cut into small pieces. Add 15 small onions and cook until golden
brown. Stir in 1 tablespoon flour with a wooden spoon. Cover the contents of
the pan with good red wine and add salt, pepper, a bouquet garni and 1 garlic
clove. Cook gently for 3 hours. Half an hour before the end of cooking, add a
few strips of bacon and about 15 mushrooms. Remove the bouquet garni and serve
very hot.
Roast calf’s heart
Clean the heart, season with salt and
pepper, cover with oil and 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and marinate for 1 hour.
Drain and remove the heart, cut it into large slices and wrap each slice in a
piece of pig’s caul (caul fat). Put the slices on a spit or skewers and roast
for 30-35 minutes. Make a sauce from the juices in the grill (broiler) pan
mixed with a little white wine. Reduce and pour over the pieces of heart.
Sauteed calf’s heart
Clean the heart and cut it into this
slices. Season with salt and pepper. Saute the slices quickly in butter in a
frying pan. Remove, drain and keep warm. Brown some sliced mushrooms in the
same butter and mix them with the slices of heart. Deglaze the frying pan with
some Madeira. Reduce, add 15 g (½ oz, 1 tablespoon) butter, and pur the sauce
over the heat and mushrooms.
|Sauteed lambs heart
Clean the heart cut it into thin slices.
Season with salt and pepper. Sauce the slices quickly in butter in a frying
pan. Remove, drain and keep warm. Brown some sliced mushrooms in the same
butter and mix them with the slices of heart. Deglaze the frying pan with some
Madeira. Reduce, add 15 g (½ oz, 1 tablespoon) butter, and pour the sauce over
the heart and mushrooms.
Sauteed lambs’ heat
Clean the heart, season with salt and
pepper, and stuff with forcemeat (fine or mushroom). Wrap it in apiece of pig’s
caul (caul fat) and tie with string. Follow the recipe for casserole of calf’s
heart, but cook for an additional 30 minutes. Keep the heart hot on the serving
dish and make a sauce over the heart and serve with vegetables such as carrots,
turnips and glazed onions, or a printaniere of vegetables.
HEDGEHOG An insect-eating mammal, two
varities of which can be found in France: the dog hedgehog was a common dish in
Paris in the early 16th century, but nowadays it is eaten only by
gipsies, who either roast it or stew it. The meat has a stronger flavour that
wild rabbit. It is roasted by wrapping it in wet clay and cooking it in a pit
full of hot embers. When the clay has hardened, it is broken open and the
quills remain embedded in it. The hedgehog can also be skinned or scalded and
then marinated to make a civet. The gipsy niglo is eaten with a puree potatoes
cooked in red wine with diced bacon.
HEDIARD, FERDINAND A French grocer who
lived in the 19th century. A carpenter by trade, Hediard traveled
around France as a journeyman. In 1853. while on his travels, he was inspired
by the sight of foreign goods coming into the ports to set himself up as a
grocer in Paris. His first establishment was in the Rue St. Georges; later he
moved to the place de la Madeleine. Hediard was the first Frenchman to sell
cardamom from Ceylon, saffron from the island of Reunion (formerly Bourbon),
okra from Turkey, annona (custard apple) from the West Indies, mangosteens from
Indonesia and Chinese pork crackling. He was also the first regular importer of
bananas.
HEIFER A young cow aged between 8 and 20
months. Its meat and liver are of good quality.
HELDER A dish of small pieced of sautéed
meat garnished with noisette potatoes and thick tomato sauce. Helder was the
Dutch port that General Brune, commander-in-chief of the Dutch army, captured
from the English in 1799. A Parisian café was named after the port; it became
very popular with army officers and the students at Saint-Cyr, and it was in
the Café du Helder that the dish was created. The name is also used for a dish
of shaped chicken cutlets with tomato sauce but a different vegetable garnish.
Recipes
Shaped chicken cutlets Helder
Make a veloute from chicken cacasses ( the
white meat that has been removed is shaped into cutlets). Add tomato to the
veloute and reduce over a gentle heat. Incorporate some butter and then strain
the sauce. Season the cutlets with salt and pepper, brush with melted butter
and place them in a buttered casserole. Sprinkle with a little lemon juice,
cover and cook in preheated oven at 240 oC
(475 oF, gas 9) for 6-10 minutes. Braise some diced carrots in
butter and boil some diced artichoke hearts and mushrooms in water. Arrange the
cutlets on a warmed serving dish and garnish with the vegetables. Cover with
the tomato sauce.
Tournedos Helder
Prepare a béarnaise sauce and a very
thick tomato fondue. Also prepare noisette potatoes. Brown the steaks in
butter, drain them and keep warm. Deglaze the pan with white wine ad consommé,
and boil down to reduce to a thick syrupy consistency. Put a ribbon of
béarnaise sauce on each steak with a little tomato fondue in the center.
Garnish with the noisette potatoes. Pour the reduced pan juices over the steaks.
HELIOGABALUS Roman emperor (born 204;
died 222), who was notorious for his many excesses, particularly his culinary
extravagances. It is said that his kitchens were equipped with silver utensils.
A different-coloured dinner service appeared at every feast he gave and he serve meals composed entirely of pheasant,
chicken or pork. He also devised an itinerant feast moving around the city of
Rome, eating the hors d’oeuvre at one house, the main course at another and the
dessert at a third. These lengthy meals could take up an entire day! He also
organized mock naval battles fought out on wine-filled canals and for a single
feast he ordered 600 ostrich brains to be prepared.
HEN the female of various gallinaceous
birds, particularly the domestic fowl but also the pheasant (hen pheasant) The
word ‘he’ normally denoted a chicken kept for laying.
Hens are slaughtered between 18 months
and 2 years of age, weighing 2-3 kg ( 4½-6½ lb). Known as boiling fowl, they
have firm flesh that is always little
fatty. They are usually cooked by gentle simmering, to make them tender.
HENRI IV the name given to a dish
consisting of small pieces of grilled (broiled) or sautéed meat or offal
(kidneys), garnished with potatoes pont-neuf and béarnaise sauce. The
presentation of sauteed tournedos Henri IV is precisely defined: watercress in
the center of the dish, the steaks separated by potatoes pont-neuf arranged in
pairs crisscross fashion, each pair resting
across the oe beneth, and the sauce in a ribbon across the steaks. Artichoke
hearts stuffed with noisette potatoes sometimes replace the potatoes pont-neuf.
HERBS Various aromatic plants that are
used in cookery. Among the most common herbs used for seasoning are chervil,
thyme, rosemary, dill, tarragon, chives and parsley (see aromatic and fines
berbes). Pot herbs traditionally include sic vegetables: chard, lettuce,
orache, purslane, sorrel and spinach. They are not used only to flavour soups
and stews but also as vegetables, salad ingredients and a garnish. Herbes a soupe,
which were traditionally used to flavour soups and stews, consisted of various
green vegetables (carrot and celery tops, radish leaves, parsley stalks).
Herbes de Provence consist of a mixture of aromatic plants (thyme, rosemary,
bay, basil, savory), which are sometimes dried and are used especially to
flavour grilled (broiled) fod. Herbs venitiennes are a mixture of aromaticherbs
(tarragon, parsley, chervil and sorrel), which are finely chopped and inco
ported into beurre manie.
In
former times, the term “herbs”, when used in cookery, included all edible
plants and vegetables that grow above ground; those growing below ground were
called “roots”.
HERMITAGE AOC red and white from the
left bank of the Rhone, the vineyards being on the steepish slopes above
Tain-l’Hermitage. The young red wine can be somewhat assertive, even rough
textured, but with time it mellows admirably and is justifiably esteemed as one
of the great Cotes-du-Rhone wines. Red Hermitage is produced from Syrah alone,
which endows the wine with a wonderful bouquet, a full but fine-textured
flavour, and great length. The white wine, made mainly from the Marsanne grape,
is full-bodied and aromatic. It is dry, with slight mineral overtones of taste
(some describe its taste as what of a gun-flint). Hermitage which appears in
some reference books as “Ermitage” should not be confused with the nearby
Crozes-Hermitage vineyards, which also make first-rate red and white wines.
HERRING Any of various sea fish of the
family Clupeidae. The common herring (Clupea harengus) is seldom more than 30
cm (12 in) long; it has a tapering body, silvery bluish-green with a silver
belly. The large scales are easily removed. Herring are found mainly in the
cold waters of the Atlantic and the North Sea.
Herring
was an essential part of the European diet in the Middle Ages, especially in
northern Europe, where its economic importance rivaled that of spice. It was
because of the herring that the first maritime fishing rights were established,
and the herring trade was one of the reasons for the foundation of the
Hanseatic Laegue. It served many purposes: food, barter, ransom and gift.
There
are may varieties of herring, each one confined to its own sea are: the North
Sea and the Baltic, where the largest fish are caught; the Atlantic from
Chesapeake Bay in the west to the north of France in the east, the Atlantic or
Norwegian Sea, off the coast of Norway, and the Irish Sea. Each variety has its
own spawning season, which influences the taste and nutritional value of the
fish. A prespawning herring, caught from October to January while still
carrying its eggs (hard roe) or milt (soft roe), has the most flavour, but also
contains the most fat. When caught after spawning (January to March), the
herring is said to be “spent” it is only half the weight and the flesh is
drier.
Fresh
herring can be cooked in foil, grilled (broiled), fried, baked or stuffed. It
can also be preserved in various ways.
· BLOATER Very
lightly salted (for 1 day at most) then smoked until it becomes straw-coloured.
It will keep for 10 days in a refrigerator.
· BUCKLING
Salted for a few hours, then smoked at a high temperature, thus being partly
cooked.
· GENDARME –
Pickled or red herring Salted for 9 days and then smoked for 10-18 hours.
· KIPPER Slit
open and flattened, salted for 1-2 hours, then lightly smoked on both sides
over a wood fire. It is traditional breakfast dish in Great Britain, where it
sold fresh, frozen, canned or in ready-to-cook bags. It will keep for 24-48
hours in the refrigerators.
· ROLIMOPS AND
BALTIC HERRING (formerly Bismarck herring) Slit open like a kipper, marinated
in vinegar and spices, rolled up and secured with a silver of wood. Baltic
herring are sold as flat fillets.
· SALT HERRING
Found in two forms – the small herring from Diepepe or Boulogne, which is
salted at sea after the head is removed; and the large herring from the Baltic,
cut into thick fillets and preserved in brine.
· SMOKED (or
dried) HERRING Salted for 2-6 days, then lightly cold-smoked. Smoked herring
fillets are sold in packets.
All
north European countries have a great many recipes for serving herring; it is
an ingredients of zakouski in Russia and of smorgasbord in Scandinavia in
Berlin fresh herring is fried and eaten either hot or cold; in Norway it is
prepared in a sweet-and-sour dressing of vinegar, mustard, sugar and ginger;
and in Flanders smoked herring and warm potato salad is a classic dish, eagerly
adopted by the French.
It
was J-K Huysmans who praised the herring most highly: Your raiment, O herring, displays
the rainbow colours of the setting sun, the patina on old copper, the
golden-brown of Cordoba leather, the autumnal tints of sandalwood and saffron.
Your head, O herring, flames like a golden helmet, and your eyes are like
blacks studs in circlets of copper.
RECIPES
Preparation of herring
If fresh, scale the fish, but o not slit
them in half. Gut (clean) them through the gills, leaving the hard or soft roes
inside. Wash and dry them. If they are to be cooked whole, score the skin
lightly on both side. The fish is filleted by running a very sharp knife
between the backbone and the fillets, starting from the tail end. The fillers
can then be eased off the bone, trimmed, washed and dried.
If
the herring is smoked, take out the fillets, then skin and trim them. Before
cooking, soak them for a while in milk to remove some of the salt.
If
the fish is salted, wash the fillets and soak them in milk, or a mixture of
milk and water, to remove the salt. Drain, trim and dry them.
Fresh Herring
Fried herring
Choose small herrings weighing about 125
g (4 ½ oz). Clean, trim, score and soak them in milk for about 30 minutes.
Drain. Coat with flour and deep-fry in oil at 175oC (347oF)
for 3-4 minutes. Drain well on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and serve them
with lemon quarters.
Grilled herring
Clan and trim medium-sized herrings.
Brush them with oil or melted butter, season with pepper and cook under a
moderate grill (broiler). Sprinkle with salt and serve with maitre d’hotel
butter or a mustard sauce.
Marinated herrings
Clan and trim 12 small herrings,
sprinkle them with fine salt and leave for 6 hours. Chop 3 large onions and 3
carrots. Choose a flameproof dish just big enough to hold the herrings and
half-fill it with the chopped vegetables. Add a pinch of chopped parsley, a
pinch of pepper, 2 cloves, a bay leaf cut into small pieces, and a little
thyme. Arrange the fish in the dish and pour in enough of a mixture of half
white wine and half vinegar to just cover the fish. Top with the remaining
vegetable, cover the dish with foil and bring to the boil on the top of the
cooker (stove). Then cook in a preheated oven at 220oC (425oF,
gas 7) for about 20 minutes. Leave the herring to cool in the cooking liquid
and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Sautéed herring à la lyonnaise
Clean and trim 6 herrings. Chop 2
medium-sized onions. Season the fish with salt and pepper, coat with flour and
fry in butter until golden brown on both sides. Fry the onions until golden
brown in a separate pan. Turn the herrings over, add the onions and continue
cooking for about 10 minutes. Arrange the fish on a serving dish, cover with
the onions and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Deglaze the frying pan in which
the fish were cooked with a generous tablespoon of vinegar and pour the sauce
over the fish.
Swedish herring balls
Fillet 3 fresh herrings. Boil 3 large
floury (baking) potatoes in salted water, peel and mash. Cook 3 finely chopped
onions slowly in a covered pan about 10 minutes. Chop the herrings fillets
finely, add the potato, onions, salt, pepper and, if desired, a little grated
nutmeg. Mix everything together thoroughly and form into small balls. Fry them
in butter or oil and serve with hot cranberry sauce.
Smoked Herring
Herring fillets à la livonienne
Remove the fillets from large smoked
herrings, trim them and cut into dice. Boil potatoes in salted water peel and
slice them into rounds. Peel and halve sweet crisp apples, core them, cut into
slices and dip in lemon juice. Arrange the herring, potato rounds and apple slices
in concentric circles. Sprinkle with vinaigrette and chopped parsley, chervil
and fennel. Refrigerate until required.
Herring fillets marinated in oil
Put lightly smoked herring fillets into
an earthenware dish. Soak them in milk and leave in a cool place for 24 hours.
Drain the fillets and wipe them dry. Wash the dish. Slice 2 onions for every
450 g (1 lb) fillets and spread half over the bottom of the dish. Arrange the
fillets on top and cover with the rest of the onion, some sliced carrot, coriander
seeds and half a bay leaf cut into pieces. Sprinkle a little thyme over the
top, pour on some groundnut (peanut) oil, cover the dish with foil and leave to
marinate for several days at the bottom of the refrigerator.
HERVE A Belgian AOP cow’s-milk cheese
with a fat content of 45%. It is soft, close-textured, pliable and
cream-coloured, with a smooth pinkish-yellow washed rind. The cheese has been
made since the 16th century on the plain of Herve, in the province
of Leige. It tastes mild and creamy after 6 weeks of ripening, but after 8
weeks the taste becomes more pronounced. Cube-shapped, each side measuring 5-10
cm (2-4 in), it is in season in summer and autum. The strong-flovoured cheese
is best eaten with brown ale, red wine or even very sweet black coffee are good
accompaniments to the mild cheese.
HIPPOCRAS A spicy drink based on red or
white wine, popular during the Middle Ages and up to the 17th
century. It was made by macerating various fruits and spices in wine; angelica
nad nutmeg; raspberries and brandy; juniper berries, fruit stones (pits),
vanilla, wormwood, citrus fruits and violets, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cloves
and ambergris. Hippocras was sweetened, then filtered, and could be serves cook
or iced as an aperitif or at the end of a meal. It was also used in cooking,
particularly by Taillevent for his partridge trimolette (a sweet-and-sour
salmis) and for poached pears. The word probably comes from a Greek verb meaning “to mix”, though an
analogy has been suggested with the name Hippocrates, the father of medicine:
the tammy cloth through which the wine was passed was called “Hippocrates”
sleeve. Today hippocras is a home-made drink.
RECIPES
Hippocras with angelica
Infuse 7 g (¼ oz) frsh angelica and a
pinch of grated nutmeg in 1 litre (1 ¾ pints, 4 1/3 cups) red or white wine for
2 days. Sweeten to taste and add a glass of brandy. Strain
Hippocras with juniper berries
Infuse 25 g (1 oz, ¼ cup) crushed
juniper berries in 1 litre (1 ¾ pints, 4 1/3 cups) red or white wine for 24
hours. Add a little powdered vanilla or vanilla essence (extract) and 75 g (3
oz, 1/3 cup) caster (superfine) sugar. Mix and strain.
HOB The name of the cooker (stove) top
or independent cooking surface on which to cook in saucepan and other pans. The
appliance may be heated by gas, electricity, oil or, less commonly, solid fuel.
It may be an integral part of the cooker or range, or a separate appliance set
in an area of work surface.
There
is a wide choice of hobs, of different finishes and sizes, with space to accommodate
from two to six pans in the average domestic appliances. Electric appliances
offer various types of heating plates and gas hobs offer different pan stands.
Combined gas and electric burners and rings are available in some appliances,
with options for fast boiling or steady simmering. Flat or ridged griddles are
a feature of larger hobs, allowing for traditional bake-stone-type cooking or
contemporary griddling, allowing fat to drain away between the ridges.
HOLLANDAISE, À LA The name given to a dish
of poached eggs, boiled vegetables (artichokes, asparagus, chard, cauliflower)
or poached fish, with hollandaise sauce either poured over or served
separately. It also describes dishes of Dutch cuisine, such as eggs in cups ā
la hollandaise.
RECIPE
Eggs in cups à la hollandaise
Butter the insides of 3 cups and coat
them with (preferably acacia honey); boil for about 2 minutes until it
thickens. Grill (broil) the aiguillettes, separately and arrange them on a warm
dish. Pour the sauce over the top and serve immediately.
Serve
with potato straws, rice or a mixture of sautéed carrots and turnips.
Caramel cream with honey
Make a caramel with 50 g (2 oz, 3
tablespoons) honey and 50 g (2 oz, ¼ cup) sugar and use to line the bottom and
sides of a charlotte mould. Mix together 8 whole eggs and 350 g (12 oz, 1 cup)
honey with a spatula. Pour 1 litre (1 1/3 pints, 4 1/3 cups) boiling milk on to
the egg and honey mixture, mix well and pour it into the mould. Cook in a bain
marie in a preheated oven at 180ºC (350ºF, gas 4) for 1 hour.
Honey pastry for tarts
Mix 3 tablespoons liquid honey with 100
g (4 oz, ½ cup) creamed butter, using a fork. Quickly blend in 1 tablespoon
crème fraiche, followed by 200 g (7 oz, 1 ¾ cups) plain (all-purpose) flour.
Set the dough aside to rest. Knead the dough again with a little flour, then
roll it out on a well-floured working surface. Line a tart plate and bake
blind. Fill the tart case with raw fruit. If the fruit is not sufficiently
sweet, add a little honey, if it is too dry, add a little puree or jam made
from the same fruit.
Landes ham with honey
Cook 450 g (1 lb, 2 cups) rice in salted
water and drain. Coat 4 slices of slightly salted raw ham on both sides with a
little liquid honey (such as chestnut honey). Butter an ovenproof dish, line it
with the rice, top with the slices of ham and sprinkle with cinnamon. Grill
(broil) for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with pepper and serve piping hot.
Onion and honey tart
Peel and thinly slice 1 kg (2 ¼ lb) new
onions. Cook in boiling water for 3 minutes and drain. Melt 25 g (1 oz, 2
tablespoons) butter in a thick-based saucepan, add the well-drained onions and
cook without allowing them to brown. Add 3 generous tablespoons mixed-flower
honey, salt, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and a little pepper. Stir thoroughly
and remove from the heat.
Line
a flan tin (pie pan) with 300 g (11 oz) thinly roled out shortcrust pastry
(basic pie dough). Fill with onions and bake in a preheated oven at 203ºC
(450ºF, gas 8). When the tart is half-cooked, cover it which foil. Serve the
tart warm either as an entrée or as a dessert.
HONEY FUNGUS armillaire couleur de miel
a mushroom (Armillaria melleat) that grows on old tree stumps from summer to
early winter. The yellow cap has brownish scales and is edible only if young
and cooked: it should be plunged in very hot oil then cooked in butter on a low
heat. The fibrous stalk should be thrown away.
HONGROISE, A LA Describing dishes that
contain paprika. Hongroise (Hungarian) sauce is based on onion, paprika and
white wine, with veloute or tomato puree (paste) added. Depending on what it is
to be served with, it is finished with Mornay sauce (for eggs) a reduced fumet thickened with
butter (for fish), demi-glace (for meat), or veloute or supreme sauce (for
poultry).
Meat
dishes a la bongroise are garnished with cauliflower florets coated with
paprika-flavoured Mornay sauce, which are arranged in duchess potato cases or
browned in the oven and served with potato fondantes.
RECIPES
Gratin of potatoes a la hongroise
Bake the potatoes in their skins in the
oven or in hot embers. Cut them in half and scrape out the insides; rub this through
a sieve. Peel and chop some onions (use half the weight of the sieved potato )
and soften them in butte in a covered pan. Season with salt, pepper and a
sprinkling of paprika, then mix with this mixture and put the stuffed potatoes
into a buttered ovenproof dish. Cover with breadcrumbs, moisten with melted
butter and brown in a preheated oven at 240oC (475 oF,
gas 9).
Hungrian omelette
Fry 150 g (5oz, generous ½ cup) diced
lean ham in butter over a very low heat. Fry 150g (5oz, 1¼ cups) diced onion in
butter. Season with salt, pepper and paprika. Lightly beat 8 eggs, season with
salt and pepper, then pour over the onions. Add the diced ham. Cook as for a
flat omelette, without folding. Serve immediately with Hungarian sauce.
Hungarian sauce
Peel and chop some onions and fry them
in butter, without browning them. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with
paprika. For 6 tablespoons cooked onion and add 250 mil (8 fl. oz, 1 cup) white
wine and a small bouquet garni. Reduce the liquid by two-thirds. Pour in 500
ml. (17 fl. oz, 2 cups) velouce sauce (with or without butter enrichment). Boil rapidly for 5
minutes, strain through a strainer lined with muslim (cheesecloth) and finish
with 50 g (2 oz, ¼ cup) butter.
Mushrooms à la hongroise
Clean and wash some mushrooms and cut
off the stalks. If the mushrooms are very small, leave them whole; if they are
larger, cut them in quarters and dip them in lemon juice. Gently sauce them in
butter without letting them colour. Pour of the butter from the sauce pan and
replace it with cream, lemon juice, paprika, salt and pepper. Reduce by half,
sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve very hot.
HOP
HOP A vigorous climbing plan that grows
in temperate regions. The female flowers are used mainly in the brewing industry
to give the bitter taste to beer.
The
flowers of the male plant, known in France as jets de boublon (hop shoots), are
edible and are used particulary in Belgian cooking; dishes including hop shoots
are termed a l’anversoise. The shoots are prepared in the same way as
asparagus: they are first boiled in salted water with lemon juice added, then
they can either be cooked in a covered pan in butter or simmered in cream, veal
juices and so on. Hop shoots in cream are the classic accompaniment to poached
eggs (plain or on fried croutons, possibly with hollandaise sauce) and poached
sole. Hops are particularly popular in central Italy, where they are called
hoppoli. In Rome they are made into soup.
Recipe
Hop shoots in cream
Put 350 g (12 oz) fresh hop shoots into
salted boiling water; remove while they are still firm. Drain them, braise in
butter in a covered pan. Then add 200 ml (7 fl oz, ¾ cup) double (heavy) cream.
Season with salt and pepper and simmer until cooked.
HORACE, QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS
Roman poet (born 65 BC; DIED 8 BC). A
friend of Virgil and Maecenas and one of
the favourites of Augustus, he preferred the simple family pleasures or rural
life to the tumult of Rome. When the fashion in cookery was for pretentious and
complicated dishes, he advocated simple straightforward meals: farm-reared
chicken, roast milk-fed kid, a salad from the garden and fruit from the
orchard.
HORN OF PLENTY craterelle A common
woodland mushroom, also called trumpet of death (in France its common names are
corne d’abondance and trompette-de-la-mort). Resembling a smoke-grey or back
funnel, it is not very fleshy and is slightly tough but is nevertheless highly
edible. It is chopped and added to sauces (poivrade with red wine), mixed with
blander mushrooms to enhance their flavour, or prepared in the same ways as the
chanterelle. It can be dried easily is ground for a condiment.
HORS D’OEUVRE The first to be served at
a meal, particularly luncheon (dinner usually starts with soup). As the hors
d’oeuvre is, by definition, additional to the menu, it should be light and
delicate, stimulating the appetite for the heavier dishes to follow. The
presentation of an hors d’oeuvre is very important: it should always look
decorative.
There
are two main types of hors d’oeuvre: cold and hot. Cold hors d/ oeuvre include
the following: fish or seafood, which can be marinated, smoked, in oil or
vinegar; vegetables a la grecque, various types of charcuterie; fish roes;
various raw vegetables; stuffed or jellied eggs; mixed salads; and prawn
(shrimps) cocktail. They are arranged in hors Germany and Scandinavia. Today
horsemeat is eaten in some European countries, including Belgium, France and
Italy: in some parts of China and Japan; and in South America. It is not eaten
in Britain or North America.
HORSE BEAN Large green bean from Quebec,
an ingredient of several specialities of this province. Horse bean soup is
traditional in the region of Saguenay. The beans are cooked for 3 hours with
pieces of salt bacon, carrots, onions, savoury herbs (a mixture of herbs
steeped in brine) and barley.
HORSE MACKEREL (JACK MACKEREL)
Chinchard A sea fish resembling
mackerel, with a body 40-50 cm (16-20 in) long, a bluish-grey back and silvery
sides. The lateral line on each side is studded with bony scales that become
more pointed nearer the tail. It is widespread in temperate seas and plentiful
in summer and autumn. It is prepared like mackerel and is very suitable for
fish soups. It is also used for canning, plain or in a tomato sauce.
In
the United States, jack mackerel, horse mackerel or California horse mackerel
are names given to a fish found in the Pacific, from Canada to Chile. The
Atlantic bluefish is also sometimes called horse mackerel.
HORSE MUSHROOM Large wild mushroom of
Agaricus family, the Agaricus arvensis, which can have a cap size up to 20 cm
(8 in). Gills turn from creamy white, through pink to dark brown as the cap
develops and opens, from a button mushroom to a convex shape. The flesh is firm
and white, with a slightly aniseed aroma and flavour resembling common
cultivated mushrooms.
HORSERADISH A perennial plant
originating in eastern Europe, where it grows wild; it is cultivated throughout
Europe and in the United States for its root, which is used as a condiment
Horseradish
is a traditional condiment in Scandinavia, Alsace, Russia and Germany. The root
has a grey or yellowish skin and white flesh, which is pungent, with a sharp,
hot taste and a strong smell. Wear rubber gloves and hold the root submerged in
a bowl of cold water while scrubbing and peeling it to reduce the irritation it
causes to skin and eyes. After being washed, peeled and grated, it can be with
the flavour softened by cream or by bread crumbs soaked in milk. It is
sometimes grated and dried, and then has to be reconstituted before use. It can
also be sliced. It accompanies a wide range of dishes, such as beef and pork
(boiled, braised or cold). Fish
(herrings and smoked trout), poached sausages and potato salad. Horseradish is
also an ingredient in hot or cold sauces, relishes, vinaigrettes, mustards and
flavoured butters, which are served with the dishes mentioned.
RECIPES
Cold horseradish sauce
Soak some breadcrumbs in milk, then
squeeze them dry. Add grated horseradish, salt, sugar double (heavy) cream and
vinegar (adjust the quantities of these ingredients to give the desired taste).
This
sauce can be served with smoked fish, potatoes or beetroot (beet) salad.
Hot horseradish sauce (or Albert sauce)
Cook 4 tablespoons grated horseradish in
200 ml (7 fl. oz, ¾ cup) white stock. Add 250 ml (8 fl. oz, 1 cup ) English
butter sauce*. Boil to reduce, then strain. Mix 3 tablespoons English mustard
with 3 tablespoons wine vinegar. Bind the sauce with 2 egg yolks, then add the
mustard.
This
sauce is served with boiled or braised beef.
Additional recipe. See butter (flavoured
butters).
HOTCHPOTCH A Flemish stew that can be
made with pig’s ears and tails, breast of beef, oxtail, shoulder of mutton,
salt bacon and all the usual pot vegetables (cabbage, carrots, onions leeks and
potatoes). However, it is more usually made with oxtail only. The vegetables
are served whole or mashed into a puree. Formerly, hotchpotch was made with
chopped meat, turnips and chestnuts cooked in an earthenware pot with stock, as
described in Lagronome, ou ;le Dictionnaire portative du cultivateur (1760).
The word hochepot is derived from the Old French hottison (to shake) and its
origin is obscure, especially as the tern can also be applied to a chicken
cooked in a pot with cheap cuts of beef and vegetables.
RECIPE
Oxtail hotchpotch
Cut an oxtail into uniform pieces and
put them into casserole with 2 raw pigs ear. Cover the meat with water and
bring to the boil. Skim and simmer for 2 hours. Then add a firm round cabbage
(cut into quarters and blanched), 3 diced carrots, 2 diced turnips and 10 small
onions. Simmer for a further 2 hours.
Drain
the pieces of oxtail and trotters, and arrange them in a large round deep dish
with the vegetables in the center. Surround with grilled (broiled) chipolata
sausages and the pigs ear cut into strips. Serve boiled potatoes separately.
HOT DOG A long split roll filled with a
frankfurter sausage (see sausage). The frankfurter was introduced to the United
States by German immigrants. It is steamed, boiled or grilled, and eaten in a
bun with various toppings-including mustard, onions, pickle relish, pickles,
peppers, cheese, beans and sauerkraut-and has become an American national food.
The name ‘hot dog’ was coined around 1900 by the American cartoonist T.A.
Dorcan, when he drew talking sausages resembling dachshunds.
HOTELIERE, A L’ The name given to
grilled or sautéed meat and fish dishes that are served with hotelier butter, a
creamed butter to which lemon juice chopped parsley and a dry duxelles are
added.
HOTPLATE An electric heating device
consisting of one or two heating rings sunk into an enameled metal framework.
It is used for keeping serving dishes and their contents warm at the table.
Hotplates were used in Roman times. Made
of bronze, they were filled with embers and were used to cook or reheat dishes
at the table. In the 13th century they were made from wrought iron
and mounted on wheels. In the 18t century they were even made of silver and
filled with boiling water.
Chafing
dishes can also be used as hotplates.
HOT WATER CRUST PASTRY This
closetextured, firm pastry is used as a crust for raised or moulded pies, such
as pork or game pies, or as a casing for pates. It is cooked at a lower
temperature than puff and shortcrust pastries, and often for a longer period.
When used as a casing for large pies, it may be baked for 2 hours or more. The
pastry absorbs the juices from the filling, becoming moist and full-flavoured
on the inside with a crisp crust outside.
The
dough is made from a mixture of hot milk and melted fat-traditionally lard, but
often a mixture of lard and butter – combined with the flour to make a smooth
dough that can be shaped and moulded while hot. It sets and becomes crumbly
when cold. Once made, it is kept warm in a covered bowl over a bain marie until
used.
RECIPE
Hot water crust pastry
Mix 350 g (12 oz, 1½ cups) plain
(all-purpose) flour with ½ teaspoon salt in a bowl. Heat 4 tablespoons milk and
4 tablespoons water with 100 g (4 oz, ½ cup) lard or 50 g (2 oz, ¼ cup) each of
lard and butter over gentle heat until the fat has melted completely. Then
bring the mixture to the boil and immediately pour it into the flour. Working
quickly, stir the liquid into the flour to make a dough, then knead it lightly
together by hand in the bowl. ( take care as the mixture is very hot). Do not
over-knead the dough or it will become greasy.
Press
or roll out the dough as required. If the dough is rolled out into too large a
sheet or too thinly it breaks up easily, so for lining large moulds, begin by
rolling out the dough, then press it into the mould, thinning it out evenly with the fingertips. For small pies,
allow the dough to cool and set slightly (1-2 minutes is usually enough), when
small portions can be rolled thinly and evenly to give a smooth result without
breaking.
HUMMUS An Arabic and Greek dish made
from cooked chick peas crushed with sesame paste (tahini), garlic and lemon.
Spices and parsley maybe added to season the dip. It usually accompanies hors
d’oeuvre or crudités.
RECIPE
HUMMUS
Soak 175 g (6 oz, 1 cup) chick peas
overnight. Drain and bring to the boil in fresh water (not salted), cover and
simmer for 2-2½ hours, until the chick
peas are completely tender. Drain and puree in a food processor with 2 chopped
garlic cloves until course, not completely smooth. Add 100 ml (4 fl oz, 7
tablespoons) tahini and 60 ml (2fl oz, ¼ cup) freshly squeezed lemon juice,
then process again, gradually adding 60 ml (2 fl. oz, ¼ cup) olive oil.
Transfer to a dish and stir in seasoning to taste with plenty of chopped parsley.
If
a food processor is not available, the chick peas can be mashed and the garlic
crushed, then the remaining ingredients can be beaten in by hand. The hummus
can be seasoned with ground roasted cumin seeds or ground roasted coriander
seeds.
HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD EGGS A Chinese
specialty consisting of duck eggs that are enclosed in a coating made of lime,
mud, saltpeter, fragrant herbs and rice straw, which preserves them for a very
long time. They can be eaten after the third month, but there smell grows
stronger with age. When they are broken out of their covering, the eggs are
black and shiny. They are eaten cold as they are or with slices of ginger,
cucumber or pieces of preserved chicken gizzard.
HUNGARY See opposite page.
HUNTING Once the means of providing an
essential part of the human diet, hunting became – and continues to be – a
popular sport. In France, until the abolition of such privileges, it was
reserved strictly for the nobility. All the grounds around Paris devoted to the
royal hunts were called the king’s pleasures. The game shot by the king,
princes or noblemen was sold in the market known as La Vallee on the Quai de
Grands-Augustins, and thus competed with other suppliers of meat. Official
inspectors were commissioned to draw up a written return of all the items put
up for sale, but that did not prevent poaching form flourishing.
By
analogy, the term chasse was also given to a meat course consisting solely of
roast game arranged on an enormous dish.
HURE The French word for a type of brawn
(head cheese) made with boars or pigs head.
The word is also used for the head of a
pike or a salmon.
HUSK
The tough outer casing of the seedlike fruits of cereal plants, such as wheat,
barley, rye and oats.
Grauau
is the French for husk and the French expression farine degrauau is used for
whole-wheat flour.
HUSS
Small shark, a member of the Squalidae family known as chien de mer (sea dog)
in France, from Poulogne to sables-d Olonne, and in Canada but as aiguiat in
the Mediterranean. It is called nursehound in the United States, which is
probably its orginal British name. It can be up to 1.20 m (4ft) long and is
identified by a venomous spine in front of each dorsal fin and by the absence
of an anal fin. It is a close relative of the spotted dogfish (roussette) and,
like it, is usually sold skinned. Having hardly any taste, it is eaten in fish
stew, or cold with a generous seasoned vinaigrette.
HUSARDE,
A LA The name, usually given to a dish of braised beef garnished with potatoes
and stuffed aubergines (eggplants). It is masked with a sauce made from the pan
juices deglazed with demiglace and served with grated horseradish.
Hussarde is also the name of a sauce and a
garnish. The former is an espagnole sauce with tomatoes, shallots, sliced
onions, diced ham, grated horseradish and chopped parsley. A hussarde garnish,
which is served with sautéed meat, consists of halved tomatoes stuffed with a
puree of onions and mushrooms stuffed with spinach puree, all moistened with a
tomato-flavoured demi-glaze.
HYDNUM
hydue A mushroom characterized by soft spines or pegs under the cap. The
various species grown in deciduous woods in autumn. The best are the pied de
mouton and the pink hydnum, which is more delicate. They are prepared in the
same way as chanterelles and should be cooked slowly for a long time. They go
particularly well with stuffed tomatoes and ragouts.
HYDRIA
A Greek jar or pitcher made of ceramic or bronze, originally used by women to
fetch water from the well. It has three handles; one vertical, on the neck of
the vessel, the other two lateral, on the rounded portion. The hydria had
various domestic uses, including that of wine container.
HYDROMEL A drink made
from honey and water. It was very popular with the ancient Greeks, who regarded
bees as a symbol of immorality, and was
consumed in large quantities by the Romans. The Celts, Saxons, Gauls and
Scandinavians drank as much hydromel as beer, calling it met. It was drunk up
to the 18th century.
HYGROPHORUS hygrophore
A mushroom of which there are many varieties, some of them edible. Some species
grow in November or in March, when few other mushrooms grow. Of the edible
varieties, the very delicate snow-white hygrophorus (blank de neige) is
recommended. These mushrooms should be peeled and cooked like cultivated
mushrooms. Species that are not very fleshy or have a bitter smell are mixed
with other mushrooms or used as a seasoning.
HYPHOLOMA hypholome A
mushroom often found growing in clumps on old tree stumps. The edible variety
is identifiable by the complete absence of green or yellow in the gills. It is
vital to take expect advice when picking mushrooms to avoid any possibility of
mistaking poisonous species for edible types.
HYSSOP An aromatic
plant from the Mediterranean region, with a pungent taste and a strong, rather
acrid smell. In ancient time and during the Middle Ages it was very popular as
a flavouring for soups and stuffings. Nowadays its main use is in the
distillation of liqueurs, such as Chartreuse, and the young leaves are also
used as a seasoning for oily fish and to flavour stuffings, some charcuterie
products, fruit salads and compotes.
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