Ingredients.—4 oz. of Patna rice, salt, cayenne, and mace, 2 quarts of white stock. Mode.—Throw the rice into boiling water, and let it boil until tender; then pour it into a sieve, and allow it to drain well. Now add it to the stock boiling, and allow it to simmer a few minutes; season to taste. Serve quickly. Time.—1½ hour. Average cost, 1s. 3d. per quart. Sufficient for 8 persons. Seasonable all the year.
RICE SOUP.
Ingredients.—6 oz. of rice, the yolks of 4 eggs, ½ a pint of cream, rather more than two quarts of stock. Mode.—Boil the rice in the stock, and rub half of it through a tammy; put the stock in the stewpan, add all the rice, and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Beat the yolks of the eggs, mix them with the cream (previously boiled), and strain through a hair sieve; take the soup off the fire, add the eggs and cream, stirring frequently. Heat it gradually, stirring all the time; but do not let it boil, or the eggs will curdle. Time.—2 hours. Average cost, 1s. 4d. per quart. Sufficient for 8 persons. Seasonable all the year.
RICE for Curries, &c., Boiled.
Ingredients.—¾ lb. of rice, water, salt. Mode.—Pick, wash, and soak the rice in plenty of cold water; then have ready a saucepan of boiling water, drop the rice into it, and keep it boiling quickly, with the lid uncovered, until it is tender, but not soft. Take it up, drain it, and put it on a dish before the fire to dry; do not handle it much with a spoon, but shake it about a little with two forks, that it may all be equally dried, and strew over it a little salt. It is now ready to serve, and may be heaped lightly on a dish by itself, or be laid round the dish as a border, with a curry or fricassee in the centre. Some cooks smooth the rice with the back of a spoon, and then brush it over with the yolk of an egg, and set it in the oven to colour; but the rice, well boiled, white, dry, and with every grain distinct, is by far the more preferable mode of dressing it. During the process of boiling, the rice should be attentively watched, that it be not overdone, as, if this is the case, it will have a mashed and soft appearance. Time.—15 to 25 minutes, according to the quality of the rice. Average cost, 3d. Sufficient for a large dish of curry. Seasonable at any time.
RICE, To Boil, for Curries, &c. (Soyer’s Recipe.)
Ingredients.—1 lb. of the best Carolina rice, 2 quarts of water, 1½ oz. of butter, a little salt. Mode.—Wash the rice well in two waters; make 2 quarts of water boiling, and throw the rice into it; boil it until three-parts done, then drain it on a sieve. Butter the bottom and sides of a stewpan, put in the rice, place the lid on tightly, and set it by the side of the fire, until the rice is perfectly tender, occasionally shaking the pan to prevent its sticking. Prepared thus, every grain should be separate and white. Either dish it separately, or place it round the curry as a border. Time.—15 to 25 minutes. Average cost, 7d. Sufficient for 2 moderate-sized curries. Seasonable at any time.
ROASTING, Memoranda in.
The management of the fire is a point of primary importance in roasting. A radiant fire throughout the operation is absolutely necessary to insure a good result. When the article to be dressed is thin and delicate, the fire may be small; but when the joint is large the fire must fill the grate. Meat must never be put down before a hollow or exhausted fire, which may soon want recruiting; on the other hand, if the heat of the fire become too fierce, the meat must be removed to a considerable distance till it has somewhat abated. Some cooks always fail in roasting, though they succeed in nearly everything else. A French writer on the culinary art says that anybody can learn how to cook, but one must be born a roaster. According to Liebig, beef or mutton cannot be said to be sufficiently roasted, until it has acquired throughout the whole mass a temperature of 158°. But poultry may be well cooked when the inner parts have attained a temperature of 130° to 140°. This depends on the greater amount of blood which beef and mutton contain, the colouring matter of blood not being coagulable under 158°.