The Beet-root soup called Barszez or Barch is the national dish of Poland. It is made by putting the siftings of rye into a barrel, and filling it with warm water in the proportion of three quarts of siftings to four or five gallons of water. The barrel is set in a warm closet heated to about 70°, and soon begins to ferment. In twelve hours it is ready for use. The liquor is then strained off, and set near the fire, with any meat or poultry that may be required. When the meat is sufficiently stewed it is taken out of the soup, which, after it has been well skimmed and strained, is mixed with a pint of cream in which four table-spoonfuls of flour have been beaten up, and into which a red beet-root has been grated. The soup is then set on the fire for a minute, and when quite hot it is served up. The meat is served on a separate dish, and it is garnished with another beet-root cut in slices, and dried mushrooms which have been previously boiled in a separate saucepan. Another much superior kind of barch, (which may be called a beet purée,) is made by boiling several roots of beet, taking care not to break the skin, so that they may preserve their bright red. When quite soft they are taken out of the water, peeled, and rubbed through a sieve. Half a pound of flour is mixed with a quart of thick sour cream, and added to five or six pounds' weight of pulp, and this is thinned with stock from any kind of meat previously boiled and strained. The whole is then suffered to simmer till the raw taste of the flour is gone off, and it is then served quite hot. It should be of the colour and consistency of raspberry cream, and, when properly made, it is delicious. Both these receipts were given to me by an English lady now residing in Poland, so that you may rely upon them as being genuine; and the following receipts for Spanish dishes were procured for me by a friend from a gentleman who is a native of Spain.
The Olla Podrida is decidedly the national dish of Spain, and, prepared according to the receipt I am going to give you, it is really excellent. It is composed of the following ingredients:—a fowl, pieces of beef, mutton, veal, and bacon; half a Spanish sausage, and some garvanzos (Spanish peas). The garvanzos should be soaked all night in, warm water and a little salt. Next morning the whole of the above are to be slowly boiled together for three hours or more; add some onion, one or two cloves, salt, carrot, garlic, and open cabbages. Pour the soup upon very thin pieces of bread, not toasted. After the soup, the vegetables, bacon, and sausage are served on one dish, and the fowl and meat on another. Sometimes vermicelli or rice is put into the soup instead of the thin pieces of bread; but the bread appears to be most generally used.
To make a Puchero, put from two to six pounds of beef into a stew-pan, adding a quart of water for every pound of meat. Place the saucepan on a moderate fire, which should be gradually increased in force so that the scum may be carefully removed, which should be done as it rises to the surface until no more of it appears. The saucepan is then to be left on a fire, kept uniformly moderate, for the space of four hours. When it has boiled two hours, put into it three carrots of moderate size, two turnips, four leeks, and a parsnep, each cut in half, a handful of parsley, more or less, a roasted onion pierced with two or three cloves, and a good proportion of salt. Warm water must be occasionally added, according as the soup evaporates. The above, with the addition of a whole fowl, or even the half of a chicken only, the giblets of a turkey, or a bone of roast lamb, makes an excellent dish in the class of plain cooking. There should be put in this dish some garvanzos soaked in warm water the previous night, and put into the saucepan as soon as the soup begins to get warm. A piece of ham or bacon, or a piece of the Spanish sausage, should be put in at the same time as the vegetables.
A Scotch haggis. Take the large stomach of a sheep. After being nicely cleaned, put it to soak in cold water for a night. Boil the pluck of a sheep till it becomes very tender; mince it small, together with a large portion of suet, and season with white pepper, salt, and a little onion shred small; add a quart of the liquor in which the pluck was boiled, and as much oatmeal, previously browned before the fire, as will make the mixture as thick as batter. The ingredients are then put into the stomach, which must be firmly sewed, to keep out the water; and, after boiling for three hours, it is served up in a deep dish. Though the pluck is here mentioned generally, we must observe that neither the liver, nor what is called the cat's-piece or spleen, is to be used. When the haggis comes to table a portion of the skin where it is sewed is taken up with a fork, and a hole is made by cutting the skin all round it. If the haggis has been properly made the gravy will spurt out to a great height the moment the skin is pierced.
Scotch barley broth is considered best when made with a sheep's head, the wool from which has been singed off with a red-hot iron. This operation requires great care, as every particle of the wool should be removed, and yet no impression should be made on the skin. When singed the head should be soaked in water all night. In the morning it is scraped and washed, and then it is split open, and the brains taken out. Some persons rub the brains over the skin of the head to remove the blackness; but others do not like either the broth or the head unless both are black. When properly prepared it is put into a kettle with some turnips and carrots cut small, some onions, and some salt; and a gallon of water should be added, in which a teacupful of Scotch or pearl barley has been boiled slowly for half an hour. The whole should then be boiled very gently for two or three hours, or longer, in a close kettle. When served the soup should not be strained, but only the head should be taken out and served on a separate dish, and the broth should be sent to table with the barley and vegetables in it. The meat on the head should be quite tender and thoroughly done. If the taste of the head be disliked, the soup may be made by adding to the stewed barley, the vegetables, and three pounds of the lean end of a neck of mutton, instead of the head. A pint of green peas may also be added, if in season.
A Scotch hotch-potch. Take equal quantities of fresh beef and mutton, a pound and a half of each to three pints of water; chop them finely, and let them simmer gently in a stew-pan. When the meat is tender, season with salt and pepper, and add a peck of green peas, three or four or more carrots, two cauliflowers, a few onions, and any other vegetable that may be in season, cutting them small, and dredging them with flour. The whole should stew gradually till the vegetables are tender, when it should be served without straining. In the winter, when other vegetables are scarce, potatoes may be substituted for some of them; but carrots should always be most abundant.
For an Irish stew. Take four pounds of potatoes, and a pound and a half of meat, with a few onions, and one carrot, which will make a good stew for six or seven persons. The meat must be cut into small pieces; if it is half mutton it will be all the better; add about three pints of water. When the greater portion of the potatoes are in pulp, it will be done. Season it with salt and pepper.
The English national dishes are, I suppose, roast beef and plum pudding. I need not tell you how to roast your beef, but I may give you a receipt for a pudding under it, as I think puddings of that kind are peculiar to England.
For an excellent Yorkshire pudding, take six eggs, six heaped table-spoonfuls of flour, and one tea-spoonful of salt. Beat the eggs well, strain them, and mix them with the flour, and then add gradually about a pint of milk, so as to make the whole into a rather thin batter. Warm the pan, and rub it with dripping or butter before the batter is poured into it, and let the batter be about an inch thick. When the pudding is browned on one side cut it into quarters, or eight pieces, and turn them to brown the other. In some places the pudding is made very thin, and not turned; and sometimes currants are added. A plainer pudding may be made with half a pound of flour, a tea-spoonful of salt, three eggs, and a pint of milk.