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Fines Herbes Vinegar, No. 2
INGREDIENTS.
1 pint of tarragon vinegar. 2 tablespoonfuls of seeds of garden cress, bruised or crushed. 2 tablespoonfuls of celery seeds, crushed. 2 tablespoonfuls of parsley seeds, crushed. 4 capsicums, chopped fine. 2 cloves of garlic, chopped fine.
Method.- Prepare as in preceding recipe.
To Decorate Salads with Mayonnaise by Use of Pastry Bag and Tubes.
Make the dressing very thick by the addition of oil, or use "jelly mayonnaise." Put the dressing into a pastry bag with star tube attached; twist the large end of the bag with the left hand, pressing the mixture towards the tube, and with the right guide the tube as in writing, to produce the pattern desired. To form stars, hold the bag in an upright position, point downward, press out a little of the dressing, then push the tube down gently, and raise it quickly to break the flow.
A steeped seasoning vinegar rather than a dressing in itself: a spoonful or two goes into a vinaigrette, a mayonnaise, or a cold sauce. The book's cross-reference to "the preceding recipe" leaves the actual method off the page, so the working details are below.
- The missing methodThe companion recipes in this genre generally call for the bruised seeds and chopped aromatics to be put in a wide-mouthed bottle, covered with the vinegar, corked, and left to stand two to three weeks with a daily shake, then strained through muslin and rebottled; most such recipes use the vinegar cold, though some direct that it be scalded first. Since the original text here is only a pointer, treat that as the standard practice rather than as this author's exact words.
- QuantitiesA pint is 2 cups, and the finished yield is much the same less what the solids absorb. This makes a strong vinegar; a tablespoon in a cup of dressing is a reasonable starting point.
- CapsicumsIn the usage of this period "capsicum" generally means a small hot red pepper, not a bell pepper. Four fresh cayenne or similar chiles is about the intended heat level; bell peppers will give you almost nothing.
- The seedsCelery seed is still on every spice shelf. Garden cress seed and parsley seed are sold mainly as sprouting or garden seed now, so buy food-grade or untreated seed rather than anything from a nursery packet. Crush them in a mortar just before they go in the bottle, since the aroma leaves quickly once bruised.
- Garlic and safetyRaw garlic held in vinegar is a different proposition from raw garlic held in oil. The acidity of the vinegar is what keeps it safe, so do not dilute the vinegar with water or stock, and strain the garlic out when you filter the finished vinegar.
- Strain and storeLeaving the solids in indefinitely turns the vinegar muddy and bitter. Once strained into a clean bottle it keeps for a year or more in a cool cupboard; refrigeration is optional but does no harm.
- The decorating note"Jelly mayonnaise" is mayonnaise set with dissolved gelatine so it holds a piped line. Ordinary mayonnaise stiffened with extra oil pipes only briefly and slumps as it warms, so chill both the dressing and the salad if you attempt the star pattern.
Fines herbes is French kitchen shorthand for the fine-chopped soft herb mixture that flavours omelettes and sauces, and by extension for anything seasoned with it; here the name has been stretched to cover a seed-and-pepper infusion. Flavoured vinegars of this kind were the household answer to a limited winter larder: a cook with tarragon vinegar, a cress vinegar and a chili vinegar on the shelf could vary a plain oil-and-vinegar dressing all year without fresh herbs. Cookbooks of the period devote whole pages to them, usually numbered in series so that a reader could work through variations on one steeping method. The pastry-bag instructions tacked on at the end belong to the same period's enthusiasm for elaborately moulded and piped cold dishes, when a salad on a buffet was expected to be built and decorated rather than merely tossed.