French Coffee
A historical recipe from Domestic French Cookery, 4th ed., by Sulpice Barué (1836).
A historical recipe
Domestic French Cookery, 4th ed., by Sulpice Barué (1836). Project Gutenberg eBook #34837.
From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.
France
Known as a French recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.
Ingredients 2 ingredients
- six cups of water of
- a cup of cold water
Cook safely
Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.
- Oven and hot trays. Use dry oven gloves for trays and dishes: a hot tray looks just like a cold one. Open the oven door away from your face and let the first rush of heat out.
- 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.
Method
Chef Wood
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- Let the coffee be roasted immediately before you want to use it, as it loses much of its strength by keeping.
- Its color, when done, should be a fine bright brown;
- but by no means allow it to scorch.
- A cylindrical coffee-roaster that can be turned by a handle, and sets before the fire, is far preferable to a pot or a pan.
- Grind the coffee while warm.
- If you intend to make half a dozen cups of coffee for drinking, measure six cups of water of the same size, and put the water into the coffee-pot.
- Set it on hot coals, and when the water boils, put in two or three chips of isinglass, or the white of an egg.
- Then throw in six large tea-spoonfuls of ground coffee.
- Stir it several times while boiling, and set it several times back from the fire to diminish the boiling gradually.
- When it has boiled sufficiently, remove it entirely from the coals, pour in a cup of cold water, and then put it in a corner and let it settle for half an hour.
- Afterwards pour it off from the grounds into another pot (which must first be scalded), and set it close to the fire, but do not let it boil again.
- If you intend to serve it up with hot cream, you must make the coffee stronger.
- While the coffee is clearing, boil your cream or milk, and pour some of it hot into each cup of coffee.
Plating
Cookware for this recipe
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Saucepan
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Wooden spoon