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Barbel

A historical recipe from Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-Day Cookery The "All About It" Books, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary).

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A historical recipe

Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-Day Cookery The "All About It" Books, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary). Project Gutenberg eBook #50191.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards. Its words name: preserving or pickling. Check current food-safety guidance before following this.

  • Preserving. Old preserving methods may not make food safe to keep. Use current tested guidance.

Ingredients 5 ingredients

  1. ½ pint of port wine
  2. a saltspoonful of salt
  3. 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar
  4. 1 pint of syrup
  5. 2 sliced onions

Possible health benefits

General information, not medical advice.

  1. Syrup Source of iron

    Source of iron · 3.6 mg per 100 g, 26% of the reference intake per 100 g

    • Iron contributes to normal cognitive function.
    • Iron contributes to normal energy-yielding metabolism.
    • Iron contributes to normal formation of red blood cells and haemoglobin.
    4 more authorised claims
    • Iron contributes to normal oxygen transport in the body.
    • Iron contributes to the normal function of the immune system.
    • Iron contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue.
    • Iron has a role in the process of cell division.

    Iron is a mineral that the body needs for growth and development. Your body uses iron to make hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body, and myoglobin, a protein that provides oxygen to muscles. NIH fact sheet

    Nutrients per 100 g of “Syrup, Cane”, USDA FoodData Central.

Claims: EU Register of health claims (Regulation (EU) No 432/2012, © European Union, CC BY 4.0), shown only where the ingredient meets the claim's conditions (Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006). Nutrients: USDA FoodData Central (CC0). Facts: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (public domain).

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. Ingredients.—½ pint of port wine, a saltspoonful of salt, 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, 2 sliced onions, a faggot of sweet herbs, nutmeg and mace to taste, the juice of a lemon, 2 anchovies;
  2. 1 or 2 barbels, according to size.
  3. Mode.—Boil the barbels in salt and water till done;
  4. pour off some of the water, and to the remainder put the ingredients mentioned above.
  5. Simmer gently for ½ hour or rather more, and strain.
  6. Put in the fish, heat it gradually, but do not let it boil, or it will be broken.
  7. Time.—Altogether 1 hour.
  8. Sufficient for 4 persons.
  9. Seasonable from September to November.
  10. BARBERRIES (Berberis vulgaris).
  11. A fruit of such great acidity, that even birds refuse to eat it.
  12. In this respect, it nearly approaches the tamarind.
  13. When boiled with sugar, it makes a very agreeable preserve or jelly, according to the different modes of preparing it.
  14. Barberries are also used as a dry sweetmeat, and in sugarplums or comfits;
  15. are pickled with vinegar, and are used for various culinary purposes.
  16. They are well calculated to allay heat and thirst in persons afflicted with fevers.
  17. The berries, arranged on bunches of nicely curled parsley, make an exceedingly pretty garnish for supper dishes, particularly for white meats, like boiled fowl à la Béchamel, the three colours, scarlet, green, and white, contrasting well, and producing a very good effect.
  18. BARBERRIES, to preserve in Bunches.
  19. Ingredients.—1 pint of syrup, barberries.
  20. Mode.—Prepare some small pieces of clean white wood, 3 inches long and ¼ inch wide, and tie the fruit on to these in nice bunches.
  21. Have ready some clear syrup (see SYRUP);
  22. put in the barberries, and simmer them in it for 2 successive days, boiling them for nearly ½ hour each day, and covering them each time with the syrup when cold.
  23. When the fruit looks perfectly clear it is sufficiently done, and should be stowed away in pots, with the syrup poured over, or the fruit may be candied.
  24. Time.—½ hour to simmer each day.
  25. Seasonable in autumn.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Saucepan
  • Chef's knife
  • Cutting board
  • Sieve
Source Public domain in the USA
Credit

From Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-Day Cookery The "All About It" Books, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #50191 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50191). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.