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Sippets of Bread to Garnish Hashes
342. May be made by simply toasting slices of bread an inch in thickness; paring off the crusts, and cutting the slices into angular pieces. Or, by cutting the bread in the shape of common sippets, soaking them for three quarters of an hour with a spoonful of cream gently dropped upon each, and then frying them in butter of a light brown; after which they must be drained on a cloth by the fire, and served hot and dry. If as an ornamental garnish, they may be cut in shapes with a paste-cutter.
FRIED BREAD CRUMBS AN ACCOMPANIMENT TO ROAST PHEASANTS,
Sippets are the Victorian fried or toasted bread points that were laid round a hash, mince or stew. Two methods are given here: dry toast cut into shapes, and bread enriched with cream then fried in butter.
- What a sippet isA small, neat piece of bread — usually a triangle, finger or narrow wedge — set round the edge of a dish of hash. Modern croutons are the same idea at a smaller scale.
- Bread to useA firm, close-crumbed white loaf. The inch thickness is specified for the toasted version; the fried version only says the bread is cut 'in the shape of common sippets'. Soft supermarket sandwich bread collapses when the cream goes on; use a day-old crusty white or a good pain de mie.
- The cream soakA spoonful dropped on each slice and left three quarters of an hour. The recipe gives no more than that; the small quantity suggests the cream is absorbed slowly rather than soaking the bread through, and bread wetted right through is likely to fall apart in the pan.
- Frying temperatureButter alone browns and burns quickly at the heat needed for crisp bread. Keep the pan at a steady medium and turn the sippets once they are light brown, or use butter with a little neutral oil to raise the smoke point.
- Draining"Drained on a cloth by the fire" means kept warm while surplus butter is absorbed. A rack in a very low oven serves the same purpose and keeps them dry rather than steaming.
- Paste-cutter shapesA paste-cutter is a pastry cutter. The recipe does not say which shapes; cut them before soaking, as damp bread tears.
- QuantityNo yield is given, and no guidance on how many to a dish. Fry them at the last moment, as they lose their crispness on standing.