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Pilau, Indian
Take three pounds of the neck or loin of mutton or lamb, and divide it into cutlets; or, if preferred take a chicken, and cut it into neat joints. Chop three large onions, and fry them in two ounces of butter, with an Indian mango, cut up small. If the mango cannot be had, four ounces of Sultana raisins and a quarter of a clove of garlic may be substituted; and in this case, two table-spoonfuls of curry-powder may be mixed with the butter. Stir the ingredients over the fire for ten minutes, sprinkle a little salt over, and simmer all gently together for three-quarters of an hour. Whilst the meat is simmering, boil the rice according to the directions given for Rice for a Pilau (see PILAU, RICE FOR A). Pile it on a dish, lay the pieces of meat upon it, pour the sauce over, and serve very hot. Instead of preparing the rice as previously mentioned, it may be dressed as follows. Wash three-quarters of a pound of rice, and boil it gently for a quarter of an hour in a pint of stock. Pour off the gravy, add three ounces of fresh butter to the rice, and stir over a quick fire until it is brightly and equally coloured. Moisten with a little stock, season with a pinch of mixed sweet herbs, a pinch of grated nutmeg, and the thin rind of half a lemon. Simmer again until the rice is quite tender without being broken. Lift out the lemon-rind, and add a quarter of a pint of thick cream. Spread half the rice on a hot dish, lay the pieces of meat upon it, squeeze a little lemon-juice over them, and cover with the remainder of the rice. Time, three-quarters of an hour to stew the meat and simmer the rice. Probable cost, 3s. 4d., if made with mutton and without cream. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A late-Victorian British pilau: meat stewed with onion, curry powder and dried fruit, then piled with rice. The instructions assume a cook who already knows what is missing from them.
- Add liquid to the stewThe recipe says to fry, salt, and then "simmer all gently together for three-quarters of an hour" without ever mentioning liquid. Three pounds of cutlets in two ounces of butter will scorch; add stock or water to come halfway up the meat and keep it at a bare tremble.
- "An Indian mango"Probably not a fresh mango. In British cookery of this period the phrase often refers to preserved mango -- pickle or chutney -- rather than the fresh fruit, which was rarely available. A few tablespoons of a good mango pickle, chopped, is a reasonable reading; sultanas plus curry powder is the book's own admitted substitute.
- A quarter of a clove of garlicGenuinely ambiguous. Read literally it is a negligible amount. Either way the dish is not meant to taste of garlic; one small clove is as far as the recipe's own logic goes.
- Curry-powderVictorian commercial curry powder was turmeric-heavy, coriander-forward and mild. Two tablespoons of a modern Madras blend will read hotter and rawer, so bloom it in the butter with the onions for a minute before the liquid goes in, as the recipe implies.
- Cutlets, not chunksThree pounds of neck or loin cut into cutlets carries a good deal of bone and fat, which is where the flavour comes from. Neck of lamb is the closest modern equivalent; boneless shoulder cut in large pieces also works. Chicken jointed on the bone will be done well inside the stated three-quarters of an hour.
- The second rice methodThis is a pilau proper: rice parboiled about 15 minutes in a pint of stock, drained, then fried in three ounces of butter until evenly coloured, and finished with more stock. Stir gently once the grains are hot, or the "without being broken" instruction goes out the window.
- Quantities and timingThree-quarters of a pound of rice is roughly 1¾ US cups dry, and a pint here is the British 20 fl oz, about 2½ US cups of stock. A quarter of a pint of cream is 5 imperial fl oz, a generous half US cup.
- Yield and costFour to five people, as stated. The "3s. 4d." is for the whole dish, not per head, and the book gives it for the mutton version made without cream.
Pilau, pilaf, pulao and pilaff are generally traced back to Persian pilāw, reaching English by way of Turkish and Indian usage, and the dish reached British tables twice over: through Ottoman and Levantine cookery, and far more forcefully through the Anglo-Indian households of the Raj, whose returning families brought curry powder, chutney and mango pickle into the ordinary English kitchen. Cassell's treats it as thoroughly domesticated, which is why the entry can casually offer sultanas and curry powder as a stand-in for pickled mango: the seasoning had been reduced to something buyable at a grocer's. The second rice method, with butter, sweet herbs, nutmeg, lemon rind and cream, shows the other half of the transaction, an Indian dish reworked through the conventions of the Victorian kitchen until the rice tastes rather more of the English larder than of Lucknow.