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Capsicum, Essence Of
To one pint of brandy or rectified spirits of wine add one ounce of the best cayenne pepper. Let it infuse for three weeks, then pour off the clear liquid, and bottle for use. It is very convenient to have this essence for the flavouring of sauces, etc., as the taste is equally and quickly diffused by stirring a little with some boiling sauce. Cayenne varies so much in strength that the quantity to be put with each pint of sauce or gravy must be regulated by the taste of the cook.
A cold alcohol infusion of cayenne, made once and kept on the shelf as a liquid heat source. It works because capsaicin is far more soluble in ethanol than in water, so the spirit strips the heat out of the pepper and holds it in suspension.
- Rectified spirits of wineThis means high-strength drinkable ethanol, roughly 95 per cent, of the kind sold today as neutral grain spirit. It is not methylated or denatured spirit, which contains methanol and is poisonous; never substitute anything sold as surgical, methylated or cleaning alcohol.
- Brandy or spiritBrandy gives a softer, faintly fruity result and is the friendlier choice for gravies and brown sauces. Neutral spirit extracts more heat and tastes of nothing, which suits delicate or pale sauces.
- QuantitiesOne pint is 20 fl oz in a British book of this date, about 570 ml, with one ounce (28 g) of cayenne. Scaled down, that is roughly 12 g of cayenne to a cup (240 ml) of spirit.
- Cayenne then and nowVictorian cayenne was variable in both species and grind, which is exactly why the recipe refuses to give a dose. Modern cayenne is usually quoted at around 30,000-50,000 Scoville units, though brands still vary, so test each batch before relying on it.
- The infusionThree weeks in a sealed jar at room temperature, out of direct light, shaking every few days. Shorter steeps will give less heat; longer ones are unlikely to add much.
- Pouring off the clear liquidLet the jar stand undisturbed for a day first, then decant carefully and finish through a coffee filter. Any cayenne solids left in the bottle will keep settling out and clouding the essence.
- DosingStart at a few drops per pint of sauce, stirred in off the heat at the end, and taste before adding more. The alcohol carries the burn straight onto the palate, so it reads hotter than the same weight of dry cayenne stirred into a simmering pan.
- KeepingAt this alcohol strength the essence keeps for years in a tightly stoppered dark bottle. Colour will fade over a year or two; the heat holds up much better.
Concentrated pepper essences belong to the nineteenth-century store-cupboard tradition of bottled flavourings that sat alongside anchovy essence, mushroom ketchup and the various commercial "store sauces" that a cook kept ready-made. Capsicums are a New World plant, and the cayenne sold in Britain is generally said to have arrived by way of the colonial trade, with Caribbean and West African sources supplying much of it; by the time Cassell's was compiled it was a standard hot seasoning of English cookery, used in devilled dishes, curry powders and the peppering of soups. The appeal of an alcohol extract was practical: dry cayenne stirred into a finished sauce tends to sit in gritty specks and needs cooking out, while the essence disperses instantly and evenly, which is precisely the argument the entry makes for itself. Tincture of capsicum also appeared in period pharmacopoeias, generally as a stimulant and a counter-irritant rather than a seasoning.