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Bacon with Macaroni
Place a couple of ounces of macaroni with a little well seasoned stock in a saucepan, and simmer gently on the side of the fire until quite tender, which will take about an hour, but care should be taken that it is not allowed to become overdone or pulpy. Add a little streaky bacon boiled and cut into squares, and a small lump of butter. Toss the pan over the fire for a few moments, seasoning with salt and pepper, then turn onto a dish, and serve very hot.
A one-pan supper dish from the era when macaroni came as thick, hard-dried tubes that took real time to soften. The method still works; the timing does not.
- The hour is wrong for modern pastaNineteenth-century macaroni was extruded thick and dried hard, and an hour of gentle simmering was honest. Contemporary dried macaroni is tender in 8-12 minutes, and simmering it for an hour in stock gives exactly the pulp Oscar warns against.
- "On the side of the fire"A coal range was hottest over the firebox and cooler at the edges, so this means the gentlest possible simmer. On a gas or induction hob, the lowest setting with the barest movement in the liquid.
- Stock, not waterThe pasta is cooked in seasoned stock rather than salted water, so it absorbs the flavour as it swells. Use just enough to keep the macaroni covered and let most of it be taken up; do not drain away what is left.
- Streaky baconThe British term for what an American market sells as regular sliced bacon, from the belly. It is called for boiled here rather than fried, which keeps it soft rather than crisp; if your bacon is heavily cured, the boiling water will also pull out some salt.
- Season at the endBetween the stock, the bacon and the butter there is a good deal of salt already in the pan. Taste before adding any more.
- Tossing the panThe final few moments over the heat are what emulsify the butter with the residual stock into a light coating sauce. Keep the pan moving rather than stirring with a spoon, and serve at once, since it stiffens as it cools.
- YieldThe recipe specifies no number of servings; a couple of ounces of dry macaroni suggests one portion. Scale at roughly 2-3 oz per person and increase the bacon and butter in step.
Oscar Tschirky's collection was published in 1896, by which time macaroni was widely available in American shops, commonly sold in long tubes to be broken to size by the cook. Cooking pasta in stock rather than boiling it in water and draining has a parallel in dishes cooked risotto-fashion. The book's range is worth noting: alongside terrapin and canvasback duck sit plain, cheap plates like this one.