Clarified Suet
Source: Anonymous, 1846
History
"To Clarify Suet" appears in Chapter IV ("Directions for Various Ways of Dressing Meat and Poultry") of The Jewish Manual (London, 1846), which is generally regarded as the first Anglo-Jewish cookbook. The book was published anonymously, credited only to "a Lady". The identity of that lady was unknown at publication and was only later attributed — by scholarly inference rather than firm proof — to Judith Cohen Montefiore, who is described as "the author, or coauthor" of the book; the traditional attribution should be treated as probable, not certain.
The recipe directs the cook to melt down fine fresh beef or veal suet with care, put it in a jar set in a stew-pan of water to boil, add "a sprig of rosemary, or a little orange flower water while melting," and beat it "till quite light with a wooden fork." The book presents the result as a preparation that, "if adopted in English kitchens," will "answer the purpose of lard" and is "far more delicate and wholesome".
That comparison to lard is meaningful in a kosher kitchen: lard is rendered pork fat, and pork is among the foods forbidden under the Mosaic dietary laws the Montefiore household observed. The Jewish Manual accordingly offered permitted stand-ins for non-kosher cooking fats — for example olive oil in place of dripping or lard, and almond-cream in place of dairy cream. Clarified suet gave a kosher cook a firm animal fat to substitute for the lard used in ordinary English kitchens.
Beyond this, the historical record consulted does not document who ate this particular preparation or any social standing attached to it, and the book itself gives no reason for adding the rosemary or orange flower water — it lists them only as optional additions "while melting".
Ingredients
- suet
- 1 sprig rosemary
- orange flower water
Instructions
- Melt down with care fine fresh suet, either beef or veal.
- Put it into a jar and set it in a stew-pan of water to boil, putting in a sprig of rosemary, or a little orange flower water, while melting.
- This is a very useful preparation, and will be found, if adopted in English kitchens, to answer the purpose of lard, and is far more delicate and wholesome.
- It should be well beaten till quite light with a wooden fork.