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Gravy for Hashes
Take the bones and trimmings of the joint from which the hash is to be made, put all into a saucepan, first breaking the bones into small pieces, and cover with some cold water. Put half a tea-spoonful of bruised celery-seed, tied in muslin, or two or three of the outside sticks of celery, which should always be kept for flavouring purposes, six peppercorns, four berries of allspice, two sprigs of parsley, one of marjoram, and one of thyme, with a pint and a half of water. Simmer gently for half an hour, then strain. Cut a small onion into slices, and fry it till lightly browned in a piece of butter the size of a walnut. Mix in, very smoothly, a table-spoonful of flour, and add gradually the strained gravy. Boil all for twenty minutes, strain once more, add half a tea-spoonful of salt, and any flavouring that may be preferred, such as ketchup, finely-minced pickles, capers, or a wine-glassful of ale or wine. When quite hot, the gravy is ready for the meat, which should only be in the pan long enough to heat through, and should on no account whatever be allowed to boil. Probable cost, 4d., exclusive of the cold meat. Sufficient for six persons.
A working brown gravy built from the bones of the roast, meant to reheat cold meat without cooking it a second time. The instructions are sound; only the units and a few ingredient names need translating.
- The hingeThe sliced cold meat goes into the finished gravy only long enough to warm through, and must never boil. Boiling squeezes the remaining juices out of already-cooked meat and turns hash into shreds of dry fibre in thin sauce. Keep the pan below a simmer, five minutes at most.
- Liquid measuresA pint and a half in an imperial British measure is 30 fl oz, or about 3 1/2 US cups (roughly 850 ml). Note that the recipe lists the water twice, once as "cover with some cold water" and again as a pint and a half; treat the pint and a half as the total.
- Butter the size of a walnutRoughly 1 oz, or 2 tablespoons. A wine-glassful of ale or wine is about 2 fl oz.
- KetchupIn a Victorian English kitchen this means mushroom or walnut ketchup, a thin, dark, salty condiment closer to Worcestershire sauce than to anything tomato-based. A teaspoon of soy or a dash of Worcestershire gives a similar effect; sweet tomato ketchup does not.
- Celery seedHalf a teaspoon of bruised celery seed is assertive. Tie it in muslin as directed so it can be lifted out, or the gravy will taste of nothing else. The outer celery ribs are the better option if you have them.
- Stock timingHalf an hour gives a light, thin bone broth rather than a proper stock. If the bones are beef or lamb, an hour or more is better; the recipe's short simmer assumes bones already roasted and already yielding, and assumes the flour-and-onion roux will supply the body.
- The rouxBrown the onion in the butter, then cook the flour in the fat for a minute or two before adding liquid, and add the strained stock a little at a time while whisking. Adding it all at once is the usual cause of lumps. The 20-minute boil afterwards is there to cook out any raw flour taste.
- YieldEnough gravy for six servings of hash; after the simmer, the twenty-minute boil and two strainings you will be left with well under the starting pint and a half. The stated cost of 4d. is for the gravy alone.