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Figs, Stewed
Dissolve in an enamelled saucepan a quarter of a pound of fine sugar with a pint of cold water; add to it anything to flavour-orange, lemon, or almond, if preferred. Put into this one pound of the best Turkey figs, let them have very little heat, so that they may swell; if properly done this compote will be excellent, but the figs must be stewed very slowly, and when tender, a glass or two of port wine and a little lemon-juice should be added. When eaten hot, serve with a border of rice; when cold, send to table on a glass dish. The thin rind of a large lemon boiled with the figs will flavour this dish well. Time, about two hours and a half to stew gently.
A slow syrup compote of dried figs, straightforward once the units and the pace are clear.
- The hinge: barely any heatThe figs must never simmer briskly. Held just below a simmer they swell and absorb syrup; boiled, the skins split and the flesh collapses into jam. A bare tremble on the surface of the syrup for two to two and a half hours is what the recipe means by "very little heat".
- Quantities in modern termsA quarter pound of sugar is about 1/2 cup (115 g); a pint here is the British 20 fl oz, so roughly 2 1/2 cups (570 ml). One pound of dried figs is about 450 g, or 20-24 whole fruit depending on size.
- "Turkey figs"Dried figs from Turkey, long the main source for the British market — pale, flattened Smyrna-style fruit. Any good soft dried fig works; if yours are hard and leathery, the two-and-a-half-hour stew will still soften them, but check at the two-hour mark.
- Enamelled saucepanSpecified because bare iron or copper discolours fruit and reacts with the lemon juice and wine. Stainless steel or any modern non-reactive pan does the same job.
- "A glass or two" of portA wine glass of the period runs roughly 2 to 2 1/2 fl oz, so this is about 1/4 to 2/3 cup (60-150 ml). Add it at the end as directed — long cooking would drive off the aroma that is the point of it.
- Flavouring choicesPick one direction rather than layering them: lemon rind (pared thin, no white pith) is the version the recipe itself recommends. For the almond option, a drop or two of almond extract is enough.
- Yield and servingProbably enough for about six as a dessert. Hot, the "border of rice" is a ring of plain boiled short-grain rice or a simple rice pudding with the figs and syrup spooned into the centre. Cold, it will keep several days refrigerated and the syrup thickens as it sits.
Stewed dried figs sat in a long European tradition of compotes fruit poached in sugar syrup and served at the close of a meal and they earned their place in Victorian cookery books partly because dried fruit was available all year when fresh was not. Turkish figs reached Britain in quantity through the trade in Smyrna (Izmir) produce, and by the time Cassell's Dictionary was compiled in the 1870s, boxes of pressed dried figs were a standard grocer's line and a common Christmas item. The port and lemon finish is characteristically British: the same pairing turns up in the period's stewed prunes and stewed pears. Figs also carried a reputation as a gentle laxative, which is one reason they appear so persistently in Victorian invalid and nursery cookery alongside their role as a dessert.