French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [59]
Poivrons See Piments doux.
Pourpier PURSLANE Purslane leaves are used raw in salads, or cooked like spinach, or made into a sort of pickle with vinegar, in the same way in which samphire used to be used in English cookery.
Quatre-épices See Poivre de la Jamaïque.
Raifort HORSERADISH Delicious horseradish sauces are served in the eastern provinces of France, with beef and with sausages. Instead of the hot pungent flavour of this root being further aggravated by the addition of vinegar, as is the English custom, the horseradish sauces of Alsace and Lorraine are made with cream. When fresh horseradish is unobtainable, I recommend an excellent Swedish import—little packs of plain, very white and finely grated horseradish which makes first-class sauces. To be found in delicatessen shops. (See page 228.)
Riz RICE The long-grained rice which we call Patna is usually known in France as riz caroline.
Riz, Crème de RICE FLOUR or VERY FINE GROUND RICE.
Riz du Piémont Italian round-grained rice with a hard central core. Anti-Italian prejudice has caused a number of French cookery writers to state that this is an inferior type of rice. It is, of course, a rice of the very highest quality and the most delicious flavour.
Rocambole A member of the onion family, resembling the shallot, but also known as Spanish garlic.
Romarin ROSEMARY A beautiful plant with a powerful aromatic scent, which must be used in cooking only with the utmost care. When rosemary leaves come into contact with heat, they give out a very strong and rather acrid tasting oil, so they should never be added to any stock which is destined to become a consommé or a jelly. Sprigs of rosemary are often used to flavour roast veal and grilled fish but should always be removed before the dish is served, for they spell ruination to every other flavour if you get the spiky little leaves in your mouth.
Roquette ROCKET A plant resembling spinach, the leaves of which have a strong and peppery flavour. They are used in small quantities for salads and as a soup herb.
Safran SAFFRON The origin of the use of saffron in the bouillabaisse of Marseille and other Provençal dishes has been attributed to the Phoenicians, who are said to have been inordinately fond of this pungent, spicy condiment which spreads its beautiful yellow stain to the foods with which it is mixed. Saffron comes from the pistils of the autumn-flowering crocus sativus, and it is reckoned that 500,000 pistils, or about 170,000 flowers, go to make up one kilo of dried saffron, which goes to show why saffron is so expensive and why it has often been falsified. On the whole, it is advisable to buy it in pistil form rather than powdered, for then one can be certain that no extraneous substance has been mixed with it. However, it is not a spice which one needs very often, and an infinitesimal quantity goes quite a long way. To use saffron in pistil form, you simply pound up about half a dozen of the little threads, mix them with a couple of tablespoons of the stock from whatever dish the saffron is to flavour, or with water, and leave it to steep until the mixture is an intense bright orange. Then drain this into your rice, soup or whatever it may be and it will dye the whole dish a beautiful pale yellow. It is not a flavouring to be overdone.
Saindoux LARD Technically, saindoux is rendered back pork fat. The raw fat is cut into small cubes and melted extremely slowly in a deep covered saucepan with a small proportion of water, about one-eighth of a pint to a pound, in order to prevent the fat catching. When all the