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Nudels with Parmesan, or au Gratin
Make half a pound of flour into nudel paste, as directed in the last recipe. Cut it into strips, and boil these for ten minutes in 3 pints of water, slightly salted. Take them out, drain them, and put them into a stewpan, with 1 pint of milk or gravy, 1 ounce of butter, the eighth of a nutmeg grated, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer gently until all the liquid has been absorbed, then add another quarter of a pint of either cream or gravy, 1/4 of a pound of grated Parmesan, and another ounce of butter; shake the pan over the fire, until the cheese is melted. Pile the mixture high in a buttered dish, sprinkle over it 1 ounce of grated Parmesan, 1 tablespoonful of finely grated bread crumbs, and the yolk of 1 hard-boiled egg passed through a sieve and powdered. Place the dish in the oven for a few minutes, or hold a red-hot iron shovel over it until it is lightly colored, and serve as hot as possible. Time, altogether, an hour and a quarter. Sufficient for six or eight persons.
An early baked macaroni-style dish built on homemade egg noodles rather than dried pasta. Most of the work is in the dough; the finishing is quick.
- Nudel pasteThe dough comes from the preceding recipe in the book, which is not reproduced here; this recipe supplies only the quantity, half a pound (about 2 cups) of flour, and the instruction to cut the paste into strips. Nudel paste of the period is generally flour worked with egg into a stiff paste and rolled thin. Dried tagliatelle or fettuccine substitutes cleanly at about 8 oz.
- Boiling timeTen minutes suits the thick hand-cut noodles of the period, but fresh pasta rolled thin needs 2 to 3 minutes and dried ribbons 7 to 9. Undercook slightly here, since the noodles go on to simmer in milk or gravy.
- "Gravy" means stockIn Victorian usage this is a strong meat jus or reduced brown stock, not thickened pan gravy. Use good beef or veal stock if you want the savoury version; whole milk gives the milder one.
- Liquid quantitiesA pint here is 20 fl oz (British measure), so a pint of milk is about 2 1/2 US cups and the later quarter-pint of cream about 2/3 cup. The noodles should drink nearly all of the first addition before the cream and cheese go in.
- CheeseA quarter pound of grated Parmesan is 4 oz, roughly 1 1/2 cups loosely grated, plus another ounce for the top. Take the pan off direct heat before shaking in the cheese so it melts smoothly instead of stringing.
- The red-hot shovelThis is the household stand-in for a salamander, an iron plate heated in the fire and held over a dish to glaze it. A broiler set high, with the dish 4 to 6 inches beneath it for 2 to 3 minutes, does the same job; the recipe otherwise asks only for a few minutes in a hot oven, watched until lightly colored.
- Nutmeg and the egg yolkAn eighth of a whole nutmeg is about a quarter teaspoon grated fresh. The sieved hard-boiled yolk on top is decorative and adds a little richness to the crust; it can be left out without harm.
- Timing and yieldThe stated hour and a quarter is given as the total, presumably including the dough. The recipe calls it sufficient for six to eight persons.