179—Peeled, Channelled, and Zested Lemons

Lemons are greatly used in cookery, as dish and comestible garnish. When a whole lemon is used for No. 168, Cooked Marinade for Venison of fish, for the “blancs,” &c., it is well to peel it to the pulp, i.e., to remove the peel and the whole of the underlying white. The lemon is then cut into more or less large slices, according to the use for which it is intended.

The rind of a lemon thus peeled may be cut into bits and used in this form as the necessity arises. When cutting it up, flatten the rind inside uppermost on the table, and, with a very sharp and flexible knife, remove all the white; then slice the remaining peel (which constitutes what is called zest) into strips about one inch wide, and cut these laterally in fine julienne-fashion.

Scald the resulting bits for five minutes, cool them, drain them carefully, and put them aside until wanted. Sometimes, instead of cutting julienne-fashion, the zest may be finely chopped, but the rest of the process remains the same.

Lemons are channelled by means of a little knife, or a special instrument for the purpose, which excises parallel ribbons from the surface of the rind and lays the white bare. A lemon channelled in this way is cut in two, lengthwise with the core; its two extremities are removed, and the two halves are cut laterally into thin, regular slices to look like serrated half-discs.

The lemon may also be cut at right angles to the core.

Fried fish, oysters, and certain game are generally garnished with lemon slices fashioned according to the taste of the cook; but the simplest, and perhaps the best, way is to cut the lemon through the centre, after having trimmed the two ends quite straight, and then to remove the rind roughly from the edge.

For whatever purpose the lemon be intended, it should be, as far as possible, only prepared at the last moment. If it must be prepared beforehand, it would be well to keep it in a bowl of fresh water.