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Figs, Stewed, and Custard
Take one pound of figs, and stew them slowly for one hour in just sufficient water to cover them, along with a strip of lemon-peel, two ounces of sugar, and a glass of sherry. The juice should then be rich and rather thick. Serve with them custard in cups, with a spoonful of whipped white of egg on top. Probable cost, 2s.
FINDON OR "FINNAN" HADDOCKS.
These haddocks are held in great esteem for their peculiar and delicate flavour. The genuine Finnan may be known by its odour and creamy yellow colour. Strip off the skin, and broil before the fire or over a quick, clear one. Rub the fish over with butter, and serve hot. Some persons prefer to cut them in pieces and steam them in a basin of boiling water or milk. Heat the basin first, pour boiling water or milk on them, and cover closely with a plate; if kept on a hot stove, they will require from ten to fifteen minutes, and when drained, should be placed on a hot dish and rubbed over with butter. Serve hot. Excellent as a breakfast relish.
Two entries have run together on this page: a stewed dried-fig compote with custard, and a short reference note on Finnan haddock. Both are workable, but the units and the fish itself need translating.
- The figs are driedA pound of figs in a Victorian larder means dried figs, sold pressed in blocks or strung. Fresh figs collapse to jam in a fraction of the hour given here; use dried, and expect them to plump to roughly double their bulk.
- "A glass of sherry"A wine glass of the period is usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz, so a scant quarter cup. The figure is genuinely elastic in these books, and anything from 2 to 4 fl oz will work; a medium or oloroso suits the fruit better than a dry fino.
- Water level and the hourBarely cover the fruit and hold it at a bare simmer, uncovered or partly covered, so the liquid reduces to syrup as the figs soften. If it threatens to dry out before the hour is up, add water a spoonful at a time rather than at the start, or the juice will never thicken.
- "Custard in cups"Most likely a stirred egg-and-milk pouring custard served in small cups alongside the fruit, though a lightly set custard in cups cannot be ruled out from the wording. Any creme anglaise stands in.
- The whipped whiteAn unsweetened raw egg white beaten to soft peaks, spooned on as a cloud. It is not cooked at any point, so use pasteurised white if serving anyone pregnant, elderly or immune-compromised, and add it only at the moment of serving or it weeps.
- YieldA pound of dried figs with custard will stretch to around six as a dessert, though the recipe gives no number. The "probable cost, 2s." is the book's running price guide, not a measurement.
- Finnan haddock todayCold-smoked, lightly salted haddock associated with Findon in Aberdeenshire, still sold as finnan haddie or smoked haddock on the bone. It is smoked but raw, so it must be cooked through. The book's test of odour and creamy yellow colour is still useful; modern dyed smoked haddock tends to a hard bright yellow, though the book itself does not mention dye.
- "A quick, clear fire"A fierce fire with no smoke or flame, i.e. glowing coals. Under a modern grill or broiler set high, 4 to 5 inches from the element, a skinned fillet takes 4 to 6 minutes; the 10 to 15 minutes the book gives applies only to the gentler basin-steaming method.
Dried figs reached British kitchens in quantity from Smyrna and the western Mediterranean, arriving pressed into drums and cheap enough by the later nineteenth century to be a staple of nursery and family puddings rather than a luxury; stewing them with lemon peel, sugar and a little wine is the standard Victorian treatment for any hard dried fruit. The custard served beside it, and the raw whipped white on top, follow the period's habit of finishing a plain compote with something rich and something light. The Finnan haddock note that follows takes its name from Findon, a fishing village south of Aberdeen, where the cold-smoking of split haddock is traditionally said to have originated; by the time Cassell's was compiled the name had spread to smoked haddock generally, which is why the entry bothers to tell readers how to recognise the genuine article by smell and colour.