2251—RIZ AU BLANC (For Fowls and Eggs)
Wash one-half lb. of Carolina rice; put it into a saucepan; cover it with plenty of cold water; salt it, and parboil it for one-quarter hour.
[667]
This done, drain it and put it into a sautépan with two and
one-half oz. of butter cut into small pieces. Mix with a fork;
cover, and place in a moderate oven for fifteen minutes.
2252—RIZ AU GRAS
Parboil one-half lb. of Carolina rice; drain it; fry it in butter, and moisten it with twice as much white and rather fat consommé as would be needed just to cover it. Set to boil, and then cook it gently in the oven for fifteen minutes.
2253—RIZ A LA GRECQUE
Prepare some “Pilaff” rice. Add to it, per lb. of its weight one half-onion, chopped and fried in butter, together with two oz. of fat sausage-meat, divided into small portions, and two oz. of ciseled lettuce; cook the whole, and complete with one-quarter pint of peas, cooked “à la Française,” and one and one-half oz. of red capsicums cut into dice.
This garnish is mixed with the rice seven or eight minutes before serving.
2254—RIZ A L’INDIENNE
Parboil one-half lb. of Patna rice in salted water, for fifteen minutes; stirring it from time to time the while.
Drain it; wash it in several cold waters; lay it on a napkin, and set the latter on a tray or on a sieve. Dry for fifteen minutes in a steamer or in a very moderate oven.
2255—RIZ PILAFF
Fry one chopped half-onion and one-half lb. of Carolina rice in two oz. of butter. Stir over the fire, until the rice is well affected all over; moisten with one quart of white consommé; cover, and cook in a moderate oven for eighteen minutes. Transfer it to another saucepan as soon as it is cooked.
2256—PILAFF RICE (For the Stuffing of Fowls)
Pilaff rice is frequently used in stuffing fowls.
For this purpose, when it is cooked, it is combined (per quart) with a little cream, four oz. of foie-gras dice, and as much truffle, also in dice. The rice should only be three-parts cooked for stuffings; for it completes its cooking inside the bird. For this reason the cream is added, that the rice may absorb it while its cooking is being completed.
2257—RIZ PILAFF A LA TURQUE
Prepare some pilaff rice as directed under No. 2255, and, while it is cooking, add to it enough saffron to make it of a nice, golden colour. When cooked, add four oz. of peeled and concassed tomatoes to it.
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2258—RIZOTTO A LA PIÉMONTAISE
Fry a medium-sized onion in butter, and add to it one-half lb. of Piedmont rice. Put the rice on the side of the stove; add some saffron to it and stir it until it is well saturated with butter. Moisten the rice with about one quart of consommé per lb. The consommé should be added to the rice in seven or eight instalments, and as fast as it becomes absorbed, a fresh supply should be forthcoming. When adding the liquor, stir the rice with a wooden spoon.
Cook the rice under cover, and, to the resulting preparation, which should thus be creamy, add a few pieces of fresh butter and some grated Parmesan.
The dish may be finished, either with shavings of white truffles or ham cut into dice.
2259—SALSIFY or OYSTER PLANT (Salsifis)
There are two kinds of salsify:—the white and the black, which is also called “viper’s grass.”
After having carefully scraped and washed it, cook it in a blanc. The same preparations suit the two kinds.
2260—FRIED SALSIFY
After having thoroughly drained it, cut it into three and one-half lengths, and put these on a dish.
Season with salt and pepper; add lemon juice, a few drops of oil, some chopped parsley, and leave to marinade for from twenty-five to thirty minutes, taking care to toss the salsify from time to time. This done, drain the lengths of salsify, dip them in some thin batter; plunge them in very hot fat, and drain them when the batter is quite dry. Dish them on a napkin with fried parsley.
N.B.—It is not absolutely necessary to marinade salsify; the question is one of taste.
2261—SALSIFIS SAUTÉ
Cut it into two-inch lengths; dry them very well, and toss these in butter in an omelet-pan, until they are of a nice golden colour. Season, and dish in a timbale with fried parsley.
2262—SALSIFIS A LA CRÈME
Proceed as directed in the case of other vegetables prepared in this way.
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Tomatoes
2263—GRILLED TOMATOES
Take some whole tomatoes, if possible; oil them copiously, and grill them gently.
2264—TOMATES FARCIES
If the tomatoes to be stuffed be large, cut them in two laterally; if they be medium-sized or small, a lateral slice cut from their stem-ends is sufficient. In any case, press them slightly in order to exude their juice and seeds; season them inside with salt and pepper; set them on an oiled tray, and half-cook them in the oven.
Finally, stuff them as their designation on the menu requires.
2265—TOMATES FARCIES AU GRATIN
Having prepared the tomatoes as above, stuff them with somewhat stiff Duxelles; sprinkle with raspings and a few drops of oil, and set the gratin to form in a hot oven.
On taking the dish out of the oven, surround the tomatoes with a thread of clear tomatéd half-glaze sauce.
2266—TOMATES FARCIES A LA PROVENÇALE
Prepare the tomatoes as follows:—Cut them in two; remove their seeds; season them, and place them, cut side undermost, in an omelet-pan containing very hot oil. Turn them over when they are half-cooked; cook them for a little while longer; lay them on a gratin-dish, and stuff them with the following preparation:—For six tomatoes, fry two tablespoonfuls of chopped onion in oil; add four peeled, pressed, and concassed tomatoes, a pinch of chopped parsley, and a crushed clove of garlic, and cook under cover for twelve minutes. Complete with four tablespoonfuls of bread-crumbs, soaked in consommé and rubbed through a sieve; two anchovies also rubbed through a sieve, and finish with some somewhat fat, braised-beef gravy. When the tomatoes are stuffed, sprinkle them with bread-crumbs combined with grated cheese; sprinkle with oil, and set the gratin to form.
These tomatoes may be served either hot or cold.
2267—TOMATES FARCIES A LA PORTUGAISE
Stuff the tomatoes with pilaff rice combined with a quarter of its volume of concassed tomatoes. Dish this rice in the shape of a regular dome, and sprinkle it with chopped parsley.
N.B.—In addition to the above recipes, tomatoes prepared as already directed may also be garnished with minced chicken [670] or lamb meat, or with scrambled eggs, sprinkled with grated Parmesan, and then set to glaze at the salamander.
2268—TOMATES SAUTÉES A LA PROVENÇALE
Having halved, pressed, and seasoned the tomatoes, put them, cut side undermost, in an omelet-pan containing very hot oil. Turn them over when they are half-cooked, and sprinkle them with a little chopped parsley, together with a mite of garlic, and some bread-crumbs. Place them in a moderate oven in order to finish their cooking, and dish the tomatoes the moment they are withdrawn from the oven.
2269—PURÉE DE TOMATES
See Tomato Sauce (No. 29).
2270—SOUFFLÉ DE TOMATES A LA NAPOLITAINE
Prepare one-half pint of very reduced tomato purée, and combine therewith two oz. of grated Parmesan, two tablespoonfuls of very stiff Béchamel sauce, and the yolks of three eggs.
Add the three whites, beaten to a stiff froth, and spread the preparation in layers in a buttered, soufflé timbale; setting upon each layer a litter of freshly-cooked macaroni, cohered with butter and grated Parmesan. Cook like an ordinary soufflé.
Jerusalem Artichokes (Topinambours)
2271—TOPINAMBOURS A L’ANGLAISE
Cut the Jerusalem artichokes to the shape of large olives, and gently cook them in butter, without colouration. Season them, and cohere them with a little thin Béchamel sauce.
2272—TOPINAMBOURS FRITS
Peel and cut the Jerusalem artichokes into thick slices. Cook these in butter; dip them in batter, and fry them at the last moment.
2273—PURÉE DE TOPINAMBOURS
Peel, slice, and cook the Jerusalem artichokes in butter. Rub them through a sieve, and work the purée over the fire, with two oz. of butter per lb. Add enough mashed potatoes to thicken the preparation, and complete with a few tablespoonfuls of boiling milk.
2274—SOUFFLÉ DE TOPINAMBOURS
Proceed as for No. 2250.
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Truffles (Truffes)
Truffles are used especially as a garnish; but they may also be served as a vegetable or a hors-d’œuvre.
When so served, they should be prepared very simply; for they require no refining treatment to make them perfect.
2275—TRUFFES SOUS LA CENDRE
Take some large truffles, and clean them well. Season them with salt and pepper and a few drops of liqueur brandy; completely enclose them in a layer of patty paste, and bake them in the oven from twenty-five to thirty minutes.
Serve them in their case of paste.
2276—TRUFFES AU CHAMPAGNE
Take some fine, well-cleaned truffles; season them, and cook them, with lid on, in champagne.
This done, set them in a timbale, or in small silver saucepans.
Almost completely reduce the champagne; add thereto a little thin, strong, veal stock; strain the whole through muslin; pour it over the truffles, and place these on the side of the stove for ten minutes without allowing the stock to boil.
2277—TRUFFES A LA CRÈME
Cut one lb. of raw, peeled truffles into thick slices. Season them with salt and pepper, and cook them very gently in two oz. of butter and a few drops of burnt liqueur brandy.
Reduce to a stiff consistence one-half pint of cream with three tablespoonfuls of Béchamel sauce; add some truffle cooking-liquor and the necessary quantity of cream; complete with two oz. of best butter; mix the truffles with this sauce, and serve in a vol-au-vent crust.
2278—TRUFFES A LA SERVIETTE
Under this head are served “Truffes au Champagne,” the recipe for which is given above, but the champagne should be replaced by Madeira.
Dish them in a timbale, set in a napkin folded to represent an artichoke. But it would be very much more reasonable to serve “Truffes à la cendre” under this head, serving them under a folded napkin, as for “Pommes de terre en robe de chambre” (potatoes in their skins).
2279—TIMBALE DE TRUFFES
Line a buttered timbale mould with ordinary patty paste.
Garnish its bottom and sides with slices of bacon, and fill [672] up the mould with raw, peeled truffles, seasoned with salt and pepper.
Add a glassful of Madeira, two tablespoonfuls of pale chicken or veal glaze; cover with a slice of bacon, and close up the timbale, in the usual way, with a layer of paste.
Gild with beaten eggs, and bake in a hot oven for fifty minutes. When about to serve, turn out and dish on a napkin.
Farinaceous Products
2280—GNOCHI AU GRATIN
Prepare a “pâte à choux” after recipe No. 2374, from the following ingredients:—one pint of milk, a pinch of salt, and a little nutmeg, four oz. of butter, two-thirds lb. of flour, and six eggs. When the paste is ready, combine with it four oz. of grated Parmesan. Divide this paste into portions the size of walnuts; drop them into boiling, salted water, and poach them.
As soon as the gnochi rise to the surface of the water, and seem resilient to the touch, drain them on a piece of linen.
Coat the bottom of a gratin-dish with Mornay sauce; set the gnochi upon the latter; cover them with the same sauce; sprinkle with grated cheese and melted butter, and set the gratin to form in a moderate oven for from fifteen to twenty minutes.
2281—GNOCHI A LA ROMAINE
Scatter two-thirds lb. of semolina over a quart of boiling milk. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and cook gently for twenty minutes. Take the utensil off the fire; thicken the semolina with the yolks of two eggs, and spread it on a moistened tray, in a layer one-half in. thick.
When it is quite cold stamp it out with a round cutter, two in. in diameter. Set the gnochi in shallow, buttered timbales; sprinkle with grated Gruyère and Parmesan, and with a little melted butter, and set the gratin to form.
2282—GNOCHI DE POMMES DE TERRE
Cook two lbs. of potatoes in the English way. Drain them as soon as they are cooked, and work the purée, while it is very hot, with one and one-half oz. of butter, two small eggs, two egg-yolks, one-third lb. of flour, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Divide up this preparation into portions the size of walnuts; roll them into balls; press upon them lightly with a fork to give them a criss-cross pattern, and poach them in boiling water.
Drain them on a piece of linen; dish them in layers, sprinkling [673] some grated cheese between each layer; sprinkle some grated cheese over the top surface; bedew liberally with melted butter, and set the gratin to form in a hot oven.
2283—NOQUES AU PARMESAN
Put into a previously-heated basin one-half lb. of manied butter, and work the latter with salt, pepper, and nutmeg; adding to it, little by little, two eggs and two well-beaten egg-yolks, five oz. of flour, and the white of an egg, also beaten to a stiff froth.
Divide up the preparation into portions the size of hazel-nuts; drop these portions into a sautépan of boiling, salted water, and let them poach.
Drain the noques on a piece of linen; dish them in a timbale; sprinkle them copiously with grated cheese and with nut-brown butter.
2284—MACARONI
Under this head are included all tubular pastes from Spaghetti, the size of which is not larger than thick vermicelli, to canneloni, the bore of which is one-half in. in diameter.
All these pastes are cooked in boiling water, salted to the extent of one-third oz. per quart. Macaroni, like other pastes of a similar nature, should not be cooled.
The most one can do, if the cooking has to be stopped at a given moment, is to pour a little cold water into the saucepan and then to take it off the fire.
2285—MACARONI A L’ITALIENNE
Cook the macaroni in boiling water; completely drain it; put it into a sautépan, and toss it over the fire to dry.
Season it with salt, pepper and nutmeg; cohere it with five oz. of grated Gruyère and Parmesan, in equal quantities, and two oz. of butter, cut into small pieces, per lb. of macaroni. Sauté the whole well to ensure the leason, and dish in a timbale.
2286—MACARONI AU GRATIN
Prepare the macaroni after No. 2285, adding to it a little Béchamel sauce; and set it on a buttered gratin-dish, besprinkled with grated cheese. Sprinkle the surface of the preparation with grated cheese and raspings, mixed, and with melted butter, and set the gratin to form in a fierce oven.
2287—MACARONI AU JUS
Parboil the macaroni in salted water, keeping it somewhat firm: drain it, cut it into short lengths, and simmer it in beef [674] braising-liquor, until the macaroni has almost entirely absorbed the latter.
Dish in a timbale, and sprinkle with a few tablespoonfuls of the same liquor.
2288—MACARONI A LA NANTUA
Having cooked, drained and dried the macaroni, cohere it with crayfish cream, and mix therewith twenty-four crayfishes’ tails per lb. of macaroni.
Dish in a timbale, and cover the macaroni with a julienne of very black truffles.
2289—MACARONI A LA NAPOLITAINE
Prepare a beef estouffade with red wine and tomatoes; cook it for from ten to twelve hours, that it may be reduced to a purée.
Rub this estouffade through a sieve and put it aside.
Parboil some thick macaroni, keeping it somewhat firm; drain it; cut it into short lengths, and cohere it with butter.
Sprinkle the bottom of a timbale with grated cheese; cover with a layer of estouffade purée; spread a layer of macaroni upon the latter, and proceed in the same order until the timbale is full. Serve the preparation as it stands.
2290—MACARONI AUX TRUFFES BLANCHES
Prepare the macaroni as directed under No. 2285, and add to it six oz. of white Piedmont truffles (cut into thin shavings), per lb. of macaroni.
Leave the preparation covered for five minutes and dish in a timbale.
2291—NOODLES (Nouilles)
These are generally bought ready-made. If one wish to prepare them oneself, the constituents of the paste are:—one lb. of flour, one-half oz. of salt, three whole eggs, and five egg-yolks. Moisten as for an ordinary paste, roll it out twice on a board, and leave it to stand for one or two hours before cutting it up.
All macaroni recipes may be applied to noodles.
For “Nouilles à l’Alsacienne,” it is usual, when the preparation is ready in the timbale, to distribute over it a few raw noodles sautéd in butter and kept very crisp.
Kache
Kache is not a vegetable; but since this preparation has appeared either as a constituent or an accompaniment of certain [675] Russian dishes which occur in this work, I am obliged to refer to it.
2292—KACHE DE SEMOULE POUR COULIBIAC
Take some coarse, yellow semolina, and scatter it over three times its bulk of boiling consommé. Cook it gently for twenty-five minutes; drain it on a sieve; spread it on a tray, and place it in a moderate oven to dry. This done, rub it lightly through a coarse sieve with the view of separating the grains, and put it aside in the dry until wanted.
2293—KACHE DE SARRASIN POUR POTAGES
Moisten one lb. of concassed buckwheat with enough tepid water to make a stiff paste; add the necessary salt, and put this paste in a large Charlotte-mould. Bake in a hot oven for two hours. Then remove the thick crust which has formed upon the preparation, and transfer what remains, by means of a spoon, to a basin. Mix therewith two oz. of butter while it is still hot.
Kache prepared in this way may be served in a special timbale. But it is more often spread in a thin layer on a buttered tray, and left to cool.
It is then cut into roundels one in. in diameter, and these are rolled in flour and coloured on both sides in very hot, clarified butter.
2294—POLENTA
In a quart of boiling water containing one-half oz. of salt, immerse two-thirds lb. of maize flour, stirring the while with a spoon, that the two may mix. Cook for twenty-five minutes; add two oz. of butter and two and one-half oz. of grated Parmesan. If the Polenta be prepared for a vegetable or a garnish, it is spread in a thin layer on a moistened tray. When cold, it is cut into roundels or lozenges, which are first browned in butter, dished, and then sprinkled with grated cheese and nut-brown butter.
2295—SOUFFLÉ PIÉMONTAIS
Boil one pint of milk with one-fifth oz. of salt; sprinkle on it two oz. of maize flour; mix well; cover, and cook in a mild oven for twenty-five minutes.
Then transfer the paste to another saucepan; work it with one and one-half oz. of butter and as much grated Parmesan; mix therewith one egg, two egg-yolks, and the whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff froth.
Dish in a buttered timbale; sprinkle with grated cheese, and cook like an ordinary soufflé.
[676]
2295a—SOUFFLÉ AU PARMESAN
Mix one lb. of flour and two and one-half pints of milk in a saucepan. Add a little salt, pepper and nutmeg, and set the preparation to boil, stirring it constantly the while.
As soon as the boil is reached, take the saucepan off the fire, and add one lb. of grated Parmesan, three oz. of butter, and ten egg-yolks. Rub the whole through tammy and then combine with it the whites of ten eggs whisked to a stiff froth.
Mould in a silver timbale, lined with a band of buttered paper, and bake in the oven for from twenty to twenty-five minutes.
2296—RAVIOLI
Whatever be their garnish, ravioli are always prepared in the same way. The stuffings given below represent the most usual forms of garnish.
STUFFING A
Mix one-half lb. of finely-chopped, cooked chicken-meat; five oz. of cooked and crushed brains; three oz. of pressed white cheese; three oz. of chopped, pressed and blanched spinach; three oz. of parboiled green borage; a pinch of green sweet basil; five oz. of grated Parmesan; two eggs; two egg-yolks; salt, pepper and nutmeg.
STUFFING B
Mix two-thirds lb. of well-cooked, cold and finely-chopped daube of beef; two-thirds lb. of parboiled, pressed, and chopped spinach; one oz. of chopped shallots; five oz. of a purée of cooked brain; two whole eggs, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
STUFFING C
Toss one-half lb. of chickens’ livers in butter; add to it two chopped shallots, a pinch of parsley, and a little crushed garlic. Finely pound the livers, and add successively one-half lb. of parboiled, cooled and fresh spinach; two anchovy fillets; three oz. of butter; three eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a pinch of sweet basil. Rub the whole through a sieve.
2297—THE PREPARATION OF RAVIOLI
They may be made in various shapes as follows:—
(1) Roll a piece of noodle paste to a thin layer and stamp it out with a grooved cutter, two and one-half in. in diameter. Moisten the edges of each roundel of paste; garnish the centre [677] of each with a ball of one of the above stuffings, the size of a hazel-nut, and fold in slipper-form.
(2) Roll the paste into a rectangle of four-in. sides; garnish with stuffing, leaving a gap between the portions of the latter; moisten the edges of the paste, and close up by drawing these together. Finally stamp out with a grooved, crescent-shaped fancy-cutter.
(3) Prepare a square layer of paste; garnish it with lines consisting of portions of paste; leave a space of two in. between the lines. Moisten; cover with a second layer of paste, of the same dimensions as the first, and divide up, by means of the roulette, into squares of two-in. sides. Whatever be the shape of the ravioli, plunge them into a saucepan of slightly salted boiling water; poach them for from eight to ten minutes, and drain them.
Set them on a buttered gratin-dish, sprinkled with grated cheese; sprinkle them with good beef gravy; then again with grated cheese, and set the gratin to form. Or, dish the ravioli in layers, sprinkling each layer with grated cheese and gravy. Complete with some grated cheese, and set the gratin to form in the usual way.
N.B.—The ravioli may also be served, merely sprinkled with grated cheese and nut-brown butter.