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Fresh Herbs are not obtainable
INGREDIENTS.-1 oz. of dried lemon-thyme, 1 oz. of dried winter savoury, 1 oz. of dried sweet marjoram and basil, 2 oz. of dried parsley, 1 oz. of dried lemon-peel.
Prepare and dry the herbs, piok the leaves from the stalks, pound them and sift them through a hair-sieve; mix in the above proportions, and keep in glass bottles, carefully excluding the air. This we think a far better method of keeping herbs, as the flavour and fragrance do not evaporate so much as when they are merely put in paper bags. Preparing them in this way, you have them ready for use at a moment's notice. Mint, sage, parsley, &c., dried, pounded and each put into separate bottles, will be found very useful in winter.
Herbs, To Dry (for Winter Use.) --On a very dry day gather the herbs, just before they begin to flower. If this is done when the weather is damp, the herbs will not be so good a colour. (It is very necessary to be particular in little matters like this, for trifles constitute perfection, and herbs nicely dried will be found very acceptable when frost and snow are on the ground. It is hardly necessary, however, to state that the flavour and fragrance of fresh herbs are incomparably finer.) They should be perfectly freed from dirt and dust, and be divided into small bunches, with their roots cut off. Dry them quickly in a very hot oven or before the fire, as by this means most of their flavour will be preserved, and be careful not to burn them; tie them up in paper bags and keep in a dry place. This is a very general way of preserving dried herbs; but we would recommend the plan described in the preceding recipe. HERRINGS, DRIED.
SEASONABLE. From the month of July to the end of September is the proper time for storing herbs for winter use.
Herodotus Pudding. INGREDIENTS for medium-sized pudding. lb. of bread-crumbs, 1/2 lb. of good figs, 6 oz. of suet, 6 oz. of moist sugar, saltspoonful of salt, 2 eggs, nutmeg to taste. AVERAGE COST, 1s.
Mince the suet and figs very finely; add the remaining ingredients, taking care that the eggs are well whisked; beat the mixture for a few minutes, put it into a buttered mould, tie it down with a floured cloth, and boil the pudding for 5 hours.
Serve with wine sauce.
TIME.-5 hours.
SEASONABLE at any time.
Herrings, Fresh White, Baked. - INGREDIENTS. -12 herrings, 4 bay-leaves, 12 cloves, 12 allspice, 2 small blades of mace, cayenne pepper and salt to taste, sufficient vinegar to fill up the dish.
AVERAGE COST, 1s. 2d.
Take herrings, cut off the heads, and gut them. Put them in a pie-dish, heads and tails alternately, and between each layer sprinkle over the above ingredients. Cover the fish with the vinegar, and bake for 1/2 hour, but do not use it till quite cold. The herrings may be cut down the front, the backbone taken out, and closed again.
Sprats done in this way are very delicious.
TIME. an hour.
This is a dried mixed-herb powder for the store cupboard, plus the drying method that supplies it. The proportions are given by weight, which matters here because dried leaf is very bulky.
- What an ounce of dried herb meansAn ounce of crumbled dried leaf is a large volume, roughly a cup to a cup and a half depending on the herb. The full batch as written comes to about 6 oz of powder, which is a great deal of seasoning; a quarter batch is more realistic for one household.
- An ambiguous line"1 oz. of dried sweet marjoram and basil" may mean an ounce of the two together, half of each, rather than an ounce apiece; the phrasing does not settle it. Taking it as a shared ounce gives the more restrained blend.
- Winter savouryThis is winter savory (Satureja montana), a stiff, peppery, thyme-adjacent herb still sold dried in some spice ranges. Summer savory is milder and will do; if neither can be found, extra thyme with a pinch of dried oregano approximates it.
- Hair-sieveA sieve of woven horsehair, the period's fine strainer. A fine-mesh kitchen sieve or a drum sieve does the same work. Pounding in a mortar gives a coarser, more fragrant powder than a spice grinder, which heats the leaf.
- Drying temperatureThe instruction to dry "quickly in a very hot oven" should not be taken literally with a modern oven. Herbs lose volatile oils and can scorch if dried too warm; guidance usually keeps drying below about 100-110F/40-43C. Use the lowest oven setting with the door ajar, a dehydrator, or simply hang the bunches in a dry, airy, shaded place for a few days.
- Dried lemon-peelPare the zest thin, with no white pith, and dry it until brittle before pounding. Modern waxed citrus should be scrubbed in hot water first, or use unwaxed fruit.
- StorageThe advice to bottle in glass with the air excluded is sound and still the best practice. Keep the jars dark and cool; the blend holds its character for about six months and is tired by a year.
- How to use itTreat it as a savoury seasoning powder rather than a bouquet garni: a teaspoon into forcemeats, stuffings, rissoles, meat pies, soups and gravies. Because it is sifted to a powder it disperses immediately and needs no straining out.
Mrs Beeton's household assumed a kitchen garden or a greengrocer with seasonal herbs, and both went quiet in winter, which is why she sets July to September as the season for laying in a stock. Her preference for a sifted powder in stoppered glass over the usual paper bags is a genuine improvement: bags admit air and damp, and volatile oils drift off through the paper. The blend itself is a domestic version of the seasoning mixtures sold by grocers as "mixed herbs" or "savoury herbs", and the choice of plants wo mar, marjoram, thyme, savory, basil, parsley, with lemon peel for lift, is the standard English forcemeat palette of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The aside that "trifles constitute perfection" is one of the book's recurring themes, and the equally characteristic admission that fresh herbs are "incomparably finer" shows Beeton was not selling the substitute as an equal.