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Gravy, to Improve the Flavour or Strength Of
When gravies are wanting in flavour, they may be improved by being boiled quickly in an uncovered saucepan, and by the addition of a little ketchup, or any of the best prepared sauces. If this is not sufficient, take two or three ounces of the lean of uncooked ham or bacon, cut it into small pieces, and put them into a saucepan with a piece of butter the size of an egg, two shallots finely minced, a piece of parsley root, two allspice berries, three cloves, and a bunch of savoury herbs. Keep these ingredients over a gentle fire, shaking them often to prevent burning, for about half an hour, or until the pan is coloured with a bright red glaze; add, very slowly, a pint and a half of the gravy, and simmer gently for half an hour longer. Fish gravy must be flavoured judiciously with anchovy or herring brine, soy, and walnut ketchup. Sufficient for a pint and a half of gravy. Probable cost, 6d., for the flavouring.
This is a repair technique rather than a dish: a concentrated ham-and-aromatic base built in the pan, then let down with weak gravy. Everything depends on the browning stage.
- The hinge is the glazeThe half-hour over gentle heat is there to drive off moisture from the ham and butter until the sugars and proteins stick to the pan as a "bright red glaze" — the fond. Shake and scrape often; if it goes past mahogany to black the whole batch turns bitter and cannot be rescued.
- Add the liquid slowly, off the boilAdd the liquid slowly -- "Very slowly" means a splash at a time, stirring so the glaze dissolves rather than seizing. Dumping in a pint and a half at once cools the pan and leaves the colour welded to the metal.
- "Ketchup" is not tomatoIn a book of this date, unqualified ketchup means mushroom or walnut ketchup — a thin, dark, salty, vinegar-sharp condiment. Tomato ketchup will make the gravy sweet. Worcestershire sauce, mushroom ketchup or a spoon of soy is the nearest thing on a modern shelf.
- Butter the size of an eggAbout 2 oz, or 4 tablespoons. Victorian books often measured fat by comparison to eggs, walnuts and hazelnuts as well as by weight.
- Parsley rootA pale, parsnip-shaped root sold as Hamburg parsley, common in Central European markets and now uncommon in British and American shops. A two-inch length of parsnip plus a few parsley stalks gives a fair approximation of its earthy-green flavour.
- SaltRaw ham or bacon, ketchup, soy and anchovy are all salt-heavy, and reducing the gravy uncovered concentrates what is already there. Season only at the very end, after the second half-hour of simmering.
- The fish versionAnchovy, soy and walnut ketchup are the Victorian umami kit for fish sauces. "Judiciously" is the operative word: half a teaspoon at a time, tasting between additions, since anchovy and herring brine will take over a delicate sauce quickly.
- YieldA pint and a half, about three and a half cups. Strain through a fine sieve before serving; the allspice, cloves and herb bunch are flavouring only.
- Probable costSixpence for the flavourings. Cassell's gave a probable cost for most entries, which suggests the book was aimed at households keeping accounts.
Cassell's belongs to the great age of the English brown sauce, when a kitchen's reputation rested on a stockpot and a well-made glaze, and when nothing that had already been paid for was thrown away. The method here is a domestic shorthand for what a professional kitchen achieved with glace de viande: brown a little cured pork and aromatics hard enough to leave a caramelised film on the pan, then dissolve that film into a weak liquid to give it body and colour. The bottled flavourings named — mushroom and walnut ketchup, anchovy essence, soy — were the standard Victorian savoury arsenal, sold by grocers in stoppered bottles and used much as cooks now use stock concentrate or fish sauce. Soy had reached British tables through the East India trade well before this book appeared, and by the middle of the nineteenth century it sat unremarkably beside walnut ketchup in the store cupboard.