CONSUMING INTEREST
Brandied Goods
By LESLIE ADRIAN
No, much more misleading are the labels that claim that the mixture is 'flavoured with brandy' or simply say 'and brandy.' I understand that if they contained more than 2 per cent spirit they would have to be sold on licensed premises, and 2 per cent of 141 ounces is precious little brandy. To find out if anyone could tell which had the liquor and which not, we held a blindfold sniffing. Result: two Moorhouse mincemeats (2s. id. and 3s. 2d.) were both judged brandy- less, but the dearer one is stated to contain it; the two Springs (same prices) were recog- nised correctly; the Elsenham (4s. 6d. for 10f ounces) was given a negative, although it is stated to be brandied; the Bon d'Elle (4s. 6d. for 14 ounces) was judged to be redolent of the spirit claimed; and Matthew Walker's (yet another 141 ounces) was found to smell and taste strongly of brandy (2s. ld.).
Vegetarians need have little fear, mincemeat no longer contains any animal flesh except for beef suet (so I suppose that's that for the scrupulous), but teetotallers should keep a wary eye on Matthew Walker's mincemeat. They're really sloshing it about up there in Derby.
With a long Christmas weekend and every- one in an eating mood, a good reserve of pâtés and terrines is a sensible idea. They look like a lot of trouble to make, but in London, at least, there are specialists who can help. Probably the least known is Mrs Browel, of 19 Abbey Gardens, St John's Wood, NW8, who supplies the local shops, Clifford's and Webb's in Nugent Terrace, but will make you one in your own dish if you take it round: 30s. for enough for ten people, or 2s. for a one-ounce pack (it's a rich chicken-liver pâté).
Wholefoods in Baker Street and the Kings Road sells duck and liver pâtés at 3s. 10d. and 3s. 3d. a quarter, and Benoit Bulcke in Old Compton Street has an even wider range (in- cluding garlic, liver and game) at about the same prices. Both will make you a large one for a party, given a few days' notice. And there is The Cookery at 45 Gloucester Road with pâté de campagne (pork, veal and liver) at 3s. 3d. and goose liver at 4s. 6d. They also cook for parties.
Finally, most of the stores stock good pâtés, but I particularly liked the Dacor duck with orange and pork with garlic from Selfridges (both 3s. 9d. for a five-ounce dish that you
can use again; it's aluminium). Harrods sell a lusty terrine of liver and bacon for 12s. per pound, enough for eight or ten people. Inciden- tally, if you are going to buy a large amount of a 'home-made' terrine or pâté, ask to taste it first. I've tasted all the above, and bought them afterwards.
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We are really very lucky with our wine fakers. Much as we may hate being caught out paying for Volnay (though not enough) and swallowing Algerian, we do not have to expose our digestive systems to the chemical concoction like the port that Boswell felt was 'boiling in my veins' the morning after. It is something of a tacit tribute to the vine that barely a dozen pages out of more than 500 of William Younger's Gods, Men and Wine (Michael Joseph, 84s.) are devoted to adulteration.
Hugh Johnson has a nice throwaway line in his Wine (Nelson, 70s.) when he says of North African wines that they are 'chiefly used for cou page-for bolstering feeble French wines after bad harvests. No doubt we drink plenty of it unknowingly in brewers' burgundies.' Well, the breweries scored two 'possibles' out of only four awarded at the Beaujolais tasting organised by the Sunday Times, and some of the noes were levelled at family firms, shippers and such. The moral must be: learn more and cultivate a palate.
A wine library (in bindings as well as bottles) can help, but why are wine books so costly? George Rainbird's fine Sherry and the Wines of Spain (also Michael Joseph) is 63s., while Jeffs's classic on sherry is 36s. Happily, Andre Simon's The Commonsense of Wine (Wine and Food Society) is only 25s. But it is a strange catechistic book, couched all in questions like, what is Burgundy? To which the great man replies that it is a province (I don't wish to know that) and also a wine from that province.
Better are questions like `Do all Chablis wines come from Chablis?' To which the reply is, `Unfortunately the supply of genuine Chablis is very much smaller than the demand and the name has such an appeal that it is used to sell a number of white wines which have no right to the name.' I'm told that most Chablis used to be Muscadet, but that wine is now so popular that it, too, is faked. There is a nice piece of folklore about Sauternes, too : 'false Sauternes drop the final "s" and call themselves Sauterne.'
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