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Aromatic Seasoning of Herbs and Spices
Take an ounce and a half of thyme, one ounce of bay-leaves, an ounce of savoury, an ounce of basil, and an ounce and a half of marjoram. Dry them thoroughly, pick the leaves. Pound in a mortar a quarter of an ounce of cayenne pepper, with an ounce of peppercorns, an ounce of cloves, a clove of garlic, the thinly-peeled rind of a lemon, half an ounce of mace, and one nutmeg grated. Mix all well together, pass them through a sieve, and keep stored in well-corked bottles. Time to prepare, one hour and a half. Probable cost, 1s. 6d. for a pint bottle.
A dry seasoning blend in the French style, meant to be mixed once and used by the pinch for months. The whole thing hinges on everything being bone dry before it goes into the bottle.
- The weights in gramsThyme 42 g, bay 28 g, savory 28 g, basil 28 g, marjoram 42 g; then cayenne 7 g, peppercorns 28 g, cloves 28 g, mace 14 g, plus one grated nutmeg. Dried leaf herbs are very light, so 42 g of thyme leaf is a bulky amount — this makes a large quantity.
- Dry everything, without exceptionThe garlic clove and the lemon rind are the weak points: any residual moisture will clump the mix and can turn it mouldy in a corked bottle. Dry the pared rind until it snaps and use granulated or fully dehydrated garlic rather than a fresh clove.
- "Savoury" means summer savory"Savoury" is most likely summer savory -- probably Satureja hortensis, peppery and thyme-like, though the recipe does not specify. Winter savory is stronger and more resinous; use less if that is what you have.
- Pick the leaves properlyStripping thyme and marjoram leaves off their woody stalks is most of the labour in the stated hour and a half. Stems give bitterness and will not pass the sieve.
- GrindingA spice mill or electric grinder is far quicker than the mortar, but grind the hard spices — peppercorns, cloves, mace, bay — separately from the soft leaves, which powder almost instantly. Sieve and regrind the coarse residue.
- Cayenne is the variableGround cayenne varies widely in heat, so the finished blend is unpredictable. Start with half the quarter-ounce, taste the blend on something bland, and add the rest if it needs heat.
- Storage and shelf lifeGround blends fade fast. Use small airtight jars kept dark and cool rather than one large bottle, and expect the aromatics to be tired after three or four months.
- Yield and useAbout a pint, which is far more than most households now need — quarter the recipe. Use a scant teaspoon in forcemeats, terrines, pies, soups and stews, adding it early enough to bloom in fat or liquid.
Blends of this kind bear a family resemblance to the French épices composées or spice parisienne that professional kitchens kept ready-mixed for forcemeats, pâtés and raised pies, where a cook needed one consistent seasoning rather than a dozen jars. It is a piece of kitchen infrastructure, made in bulk on a slack afternoon and drawn on all season. The costing — 1s 6d for a pint bottle — is a reminder that pepper, cloves, mace and nutmeg were no longer the luxuries of earlier centuries but ordinary grocery stock by the late Victorian period, though 1s 6d was still a real sum in the period. The mixture is also a fair index of the British palate of the day: heavy on clove, mace and nutmeg, with garlic present in the smallest possible quantity, a single clove to roughly nine ounces of everything else.