The essentially unsuitable term blanchings is applied in the culinary technology of France to three classes of operations which entirely differ one from the other in the end they have in view.
1. The blanching of meats.
2. The blanching, or, better, the parboiling of certain vegetables.
3. The blanching of certain other vegetables, which in reality amounts to a process of cooking.
The blanching of meats obtains mostly in the case of calf’s head and foot and the sweet-bread of veal, sheep’s and lambs’ [130] ]trotters, and lamb’s sweet-bread. These meats are first set to soak in cold, running water until they have quite got rid of the blood with which they are naturally saturated. They are then placed on the fire in a saucepan containing enough cold water to abundantly cover them, and the water is gradually brought to the boil.
For calf’s head or feet, boiling may last for fifteen or twenty minutes; veal sweet-bread must not boil for more than ten or twelve minutes; while lamb sweet-bread is withdrawn the moment the boil is reached.
As soon as blanched, the meats are cooled in plenty of fresh water before undergoing their final treatment.
The blanching of cocks’ combs is exceptional in this, namely, that after the combs have been cleansed of blood—that is to say, soaked in cold water, they are placed on the fire in cold water, the temperature of which must be carefully kept below 113° F. When this degree is approached, take the saucepan off the fire and rub each comb with a cloth, dusted with table-salt, in order to remove the skins; then cool the combs with fresh water before cooking them.
Many people use the blanching process with meats intended for “blanquette” or “fricassée.” I regard this procedure as quite erroneous, as also the preliminary soaking in cold water.
If the meats or pieces of poultry intended for the above-mentioned preparations be of a good quality (and no others should be used), they need only be set to cook in cold water, or cold stock, and gradually brought to the boil, being stirred repeatedly the while. The scum formed should be carefully removed, and, in this way, perfectly white meats and stock, with all their savour, are obtained.