French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [63]
Vermouth An apéritif made on a basis of white wine in which various bitter and aromatic herbs and spices and roots are infused; the wine is then clarified and fortified with eau de vie. The best Vermouth in France is considered to be that of Chambéry. Vermouth may be used in cookery in the same way as other wines. (See the section on ‘Wine for the Kitchen.’)
Verveine VERBENA The leaves of verbena are used to flavour infusions and liqueurs, particularly the well-known Verveine du Velay, made in the district of Le Puy.
Vigne, Feuilles de VINE LEAVES Often used for wrapping round small game birds such as partridges, quails and thrushes for roasting, and occasionally also for fish. Vine leaves stuffed with rice are a great feature of Turkish and Balkan cookery.
Vigne, Sarments de VINE CUTTINGS Used for burning on open grills in wine-growing areas.
Vinaigre de Vin WINE VINEGAR Red or white wine vinegars, sometimes tarragon flavoured, are used in France for all cooking purposes and for salads. They vary a good deal in strength and the flavour depends both upon the wine used and upon the care with which they have been made. Many varieties of wine vinegars are to be found in England and there can be no possible reason for using the savage English malt vinegar for any purpose unless you actually prefer it to wine vinegar. Those who consider the extra expense of wine vinegar excessive could perhaps try cider vinegar, of which there are several and very inexpensive varieties now on the English market. Orléans vinegar is the name given to wine vinegar made by a special process.
Vinaigrette An oil and vinegar dressing or sauce, which may or may not also contain chopped parsley and other herbs.
Vins The use of wines for cooking is explained in the section ‘Wine for the Kitchen,’ pages 79-83.
Zeste de citron, d’orange LEMON AND ORANGE RIND Thinly pared, these are much used to flavour creams and ices; grated, for cakes and stuffings.
Weights and Measures
‘THE dangerous person in the kitchen is the one who goes rigidly by weights, measurements, thermometers and scales.
‘I would say once more that all these scientific implements are not of much use, the only exception being for making pastry and jams, where exact weights are important.’ So wrote Marcel Boulestin.6 But while I am sure he is right in so far as rigid adherence to the rules cannot in itself guarantee anything but the most routine sort of cooking, I do think that even an experienced cook needs at least an approximate guide to quantities and timing. One has to know roughly what the rules are before one can afford to disregard them.
The tradition of French cookery writers, with a few notable exceptions, is to give only rather vague directions as to quantities, oven temperatures and timing. American cookery writers are inclined to err in the other direction, specifying to the last drop and the ultimate grain the quantities of salt, sugar, powdered herbs, spices and so on, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination or discretion of the cook. I have aimed at steering a medium course between these two systems. English cooks like to be instructed as to the quantities of the basic ingredients of a dish, so that at least they can go out shopping with a fair idea of what they should buy, but do not on the whole require to be told how many leaves of parsley or drops of lemon juice they are to add to a stew or a soup. Seasonings and flavourings are surely a question of taste; they are the elements which give individual character to each person’s cookery. And then there is always the question of what happens to be available. One cook will trudge for miles to buy a sprig of thyme because the directions for a stew tell her to include a ‘bouquet of thyme, parsley and bayleaf.’ Another will cheerfully leave it out. A third will substitute some other herb, a fourth will abandon the whole project as being too much worry and trouble, a fifth will be careful always to have a small supply of at least