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Mixed Spice
Pound two ounces each of allspice, cloves and cinnamon, one-half ounce each of ginger and nutmeg and two ounces of coriander-seeds. When well powdered they must be kept in a tightly-corked bottle.
A house blend from the Waldorf pantry, given by weight rather than volume — the only sensible way to measure spice. It converts easily and keeps well if you respect the one thing the recipe insists on: an airtight seal.
- The weights, convertedTwo ounces each of allspice, cloves and cinnamon, half an ounce each of ginger and nutmeg, two ounces of coriander seed — about 255 g of whole spice in total, yielding roughly two to two and a half cups ground. Use a kitchen scale; volume measures of whole cloves versus cinnamon bark will throw the ratio badly off.
- Scale it downNine ounces of ground spice is a restaurant quantity and will fade long before a home cook uses it. A quarter batch — 15 g each of allspice, cloves and cinnamon and coriander, 4 g each of ginger and nutmeg — is more realistic.
- Buy whole, not groundThe recipe assumes whole spices pounded fresh, which is where the whole point lies. Pre-ground cinnamon and coriander have already lost most of their volatile oil, and the blend will taste flat and dusty.
- GrindingA spice mill or clean coffee grinder does in well under a minute what a mortar takes many minutes to do. Cloves and coriander grind readily; cinnamon bark and nutmeg are harder — break the bark first and grate the nutmeg separately on a fine rasp before combining.
- Sieve it"Well powdered" means uniform. Pass the ground mixture through a fine sieve and regrind whatever stays behind, or the coarse fragments will settle to the bottom of the jar and the last spoonfuls will be all coriander husk.
- Toasting is optionalWarming the coriander and allspice in a dry pan until fragrant, then cooling before grinding, deepens the flavour. Do not toast the cinnamon or cloves, which scorch quickly and turn bitter.
- StorageA tightly corked bottle was the period's best defence against air; a screw-top jar in a dark cupboard is better. Expect good flavour for three to four months and a noticeable decline after six.
- How to use itThis is a sweet-leaning blend for mincemeat, plum pudding, fruitcake, gingerbread and spiced syrups, and it also seasons pâtés and potted meats. Start at half a teaspoon per pound of fruit or meat — the clove and allspice dominate quickly.
Blends of this kind were standing pantry items in nineteenth-century professional kitchens, saving the cook from weighing out five or six spices every time a mincemeat or a pudding was made. The English called the sweet version mixed spice or pudding spice; the French kept a savoury cousin, quatre épices, weighted toward pepper and used for charcuterie. Oscar Tschirky, who ran the dining rooms of the Waldorf and then the Waldorf-Astoria from the 1890s, compiled his 1896 Cook Book in a form often taken to reflect how that kitchen did things, which is why entries like this one — a pantry preparation rather than a dish — sit alongside the finished recipes. The generous coriander here is the blend's distinguishing note; it lends a faintly citrus, almost floral edge that keeps the cloves from taking over.