—Prepare three fillets exactly as in No. 503, and one minute before they are cooked, lightly devil them on both sides; then broil half a minute on each side.
Chop very fine one small, well-peeled, sound shallot, place it in a small saucepan on the hot range with a teaspoonful of butter, fry for one minute; then add half a glassful of good white wine, and reduce to one half. Add one medium-sized, sound pickle, and one sweet pepper cut into small dice-shaped pieces. Season with half a pinch of salt and half a saltspoonful of red pepper; add half a gill of Spanish sauce (No. 151). Cook for one minute rather briskly, then pour the sauce on a hot serving-dish, dress the fillets over it; arrange six heart-shaped croûtons (No. 133) around the dish, place a slice of truffle on top of each croûton, then a round slice of Spanish sweet pepper, cut with a tube, over each slice of truffle, and send to the table.
—Chop very fine one medium-sized, sound, peeled shallot, place it in a small saucepan on the hot range, with a teaspoonful of very good butter; heat well for one minute without browning; add half a wine-glassful of good Madeira wine, boil for two minutes, then add half a teaspoonful of freshly chopped tarragon, one good-sized sweet pepper cut in small dice-shaped pieces, twelve stoned and stuffed olives, six whole mushrooms, and one artichoke-bottom, cut in dice-shape, also a gill of sauce Espagnole (No. 151). Season with half a pinch of salt and half a saltspoonful of red pepper. Cook for three minutes and a half, then pour this garnishing on a hot serving-dish. Nicely dress over it six freshly cooked mignons filets as in No. 509, one overlapping another; decorate the dish with six heart-shaped croûtons (No. 133), and serve.
—Prepare and broil three fine, tender grouse, precisely the same as for No. 854, but one minute before they are cooked, lightly devil them, and then gently broil again for half a minute on each side.
Place in a small saucepan on the hot range one medium-sized, sound, peeled, and finely chopped shallot, with a tablespoonful of good butter; cook for one minute, then add two chopped mushrooms, one chopped pickle; moisten with a tablespoonful of English sauce; add a light teaspoonful of English mustard; mix all well together. Season with half a pinch of salt and half a saltspoonful of red pepper. Cook for one minute and a quarter. Pour the sauce on a hot serving-dish, place the grouse over it, decorate the dish with six slices of broiled bacon (No. 754), six thin half slices of lemon; arrange six slices of truffles in the centre of the slices of lemon, and serve very hot.
—This will be found a superior and pleasantly stimulating summer beverage for ladies, as well as for the sterner sex.
Prepare the same quantity of coffee as in No. 1349. Have six goblets half filled with clean ice, pour in the coffee, evenly divided; add a pony of good cognac to each glass, mix thoroughly with a teaspoon, and serve.
The above is a delicious and healthful after-dinner summer drink, and is enjoyed in nearly all the large cities of Europe, especially by military men, who prefer it to the usual after-dinner demi-tasse, or “gloria,” as they call it in Paris.
The name is derived from the village of Mazagran, Province d’Oran, Algeria, famous for a long and heroic siege in 1840, wherein one hundred and twenty-three French soldiers were victorious against twelve thousand Arabs.
—The same as above, only substituting a pony of Swiss kirsch instead of cognac.
—Wash well, and thoroughly dry, eighteen fine, fresh Long Island smelts. Split them right along the backbone in the centre; remove the backbone of each. Season with a pinch of salt and half a pinch of pepper; sprinkle them with half an ounce of flour, then place them in a pan with one ounce of good butter on the hot range, and fry for two minutes on each side, or until they obtain a good light brown color. Dress them on a hot dish; place in a pan one ounce of good butter, fry it until it becomes of a good nut-brown color; add to it a tablespoonful of vinegar, then pour over the smelts; decorate the dish all around with parsley-greens, and serve.
—Wash in cold water six fine, red, sound, equal-sized tomatoes, wipe them dry, then cut off the top of each tomato (keeping them on a plate until needed); remove the seeds of the tomatoes with a vegetable-scoop. Season the inside of each with half a pinch of pepper and half a pinch of salt.
Place them in a well-buttered pan. Place two ounces of well-picked rice in a cup or in a dish, add to it one teaspoonful of melted butter, half a medium-sized, sound, peeled, and finely chopped shallot; season with half a pinch of salt only, mix all well together, then put into each tomato one teaspoonful of rice; place the tops on as a cover, sprinkle a little clarified butter over, and then cover them with a well-buttered paper. Bake them in a moderate oven for thirty minutes.
Thoroughly wash six large, fresh mushrooms. Cut off the stalks, chop up very fine half a sound, peeled shallot, as well as the mushroom stalks, place in a pan with a tablespoonful of good butter and two drops of lemon juice. Season with half a pinch of salt and half a saltspoonful of pepper. Cook five minutes, without browning, then add the mushroom-tops, with half a glassful of Madeira wine; reduce for two minutes; add now half a gill of demi-glace (No. 185); let cook for five minutes longer.
Dress the tomatoes on a hot serving-dish, place one head of mushroom on top of each tomato, upside down, pour a little of the sauce over the six mushrooms, and the rest on the dish around the tomatoes; arrange a thin slice of truffle on top of each head of mushroom, and send to the table.
The art of cookery and carving is an old one. During the Roman Empire it was taught by professors in the schools, and had at that time attained a high standard. France leads all nations in the art of cooking and carving, although the United States is not far behind in this respect.
Good cooking and carving go hand in hand. It is no trifle to prepare and cook a good dinner; but it is an easy matter to spoil the effect, if not the entire dinner, by negligent carving.
The first and most important factor is a strong and very sharp knife.
—Lay the roasted chicken (of three to four pounds) on its side. Stick your fork into the leg and lift it up, meanwhile holding down firmly the rest of the chicken. Then cut through the joint on the back; pressing the joint between the leg and second joint, cut through. Stick your fork into the wing so as not to interfere with the knife; cut through the joint and loosen the meat surrounding it; pull down with the fork and press firmly on the carcass with the knife. If done carefully, you can pull all the meat from the breast with the wing. Then cut each breast, crosswise, in half. Turn around, and proceed as in the first operation.
—Cut away the leg the same as with a chicken. The leg of a turkey being larger than that of a chicken, it would be advisable to cut into slices the leg and second joint. After the leg is cut off, stick your fork into the breast-bone; hold the fork firmly with the left hand; then, with the sharp knife in your right hand, starting from the outside of the breast, proceed to cut, carefully, thin slices, until you reach the bone. Then turn, and proceed the same as before.
Serve each person with a piece of the dark and a slice of the white meat.
Should the turkey be stuffed, place a little of the stuffing on each plate. A capon, large chicken, or English pheasant should be carved the same way.
—In America only the breasts of the birds are generally eaten, the legs being strong and bitter. Stick your fork straight into the breast-bone; cut one slice from the outside breast; then cut close alongside of the breast-bone and around the wing, carefully pushing all the meat from off both breasts, one after the other.
—The grouse is generally carved the same way as the partridge.
—The “King of Birds.”—The breast only is carved, served, and eaten. Stick the fork straight and firmly into the middle of the breast-bone. Commence from the neck down to the back, straight to the back-bone, and around the back; then from the point of starting, around the collar-bone. Cut the joint from off the wing. Commence cutting again from the point of starting; carefully and gently carving off the whole breast, so that no meat remains. Proceed precisely the same with the other side. When finished, there will remain only the carcass.
Red-head, black-head, mallard, teal, &c., are carved the same as the canvas-back.
Tame duck, duckling, goose, &c., are carved as a chicken, unless they are over four or five pounds, then they should be carved the same as a turkey or a capon.
For small birds, such as squab, snipe, plover, woodcock, &c., no carving is necessary, as they are generally served whole.
Saddle of Mutton, Lamb, or Venison should always be carved—especially for private families—lengthwise first, on both sides of the spinal bone, then crosswise downward. Special care should be taken to stick the fork right in the centre of the saddle, and holding it firmly while carving with a very sharp knife, and keeping as near the bone as possible, till down to the end on both sides. When all detached, cut it crosswise into small pieces of about half or three-quarters of an inch thick, and serve.
—Sirloin steak can be carved in various ways—crosswise, lengthwise, in small or large pieces, as desired.
When serving, the cut part should always be laid uppermost. I would suggest, though, carving it diagonally into six fine, even slices, till you reach the fat part. When carved this way it makes it look inviting, and has a beautiful effect. Always place a small piece of the fat on each plate when serving.
—Fillet is carved straight, in as many pieces as desired, but when serving, the cut part should always be served the same as the sirloin, uppermost.
—As soon as the rib-beef is roasted to perfection, as mentioned in No. 527, remove it from the hot oven, place it always on a hot dish, with the rib-bones downward; should it be crusty on top, cut off just a little from the surface, which is generally so hard that often it is an impediment in cutting the slices to the desired perfection. Stick in the fork-tines lengthwise, on top of the roast, near the edge, in a slanting manner, so as to avoid pricking the lean part of the roast and the resulting loss of juice or blood; hold firmly the fork with the left hand, and with a large, sharp knife in the right hand, carefully cut, in even, small slices a quarter of an inch thick, right down to the rib-bones; gently make a cut underneath, so as to have each slice separate from one another; then serve.
—If practicable, when carving a leg of mutton a patent handle should be adjusted to the end bone, which would be a substitute for the fork, and an avoidance of soiling the hands at the same time. Begin carving small, thin, even slices, about quarter of an inch in thickness, straight or diagonally down to the bone, till you come to the end bone, then lengthwise underneath to the end. On account of the much thinner meat on the other side of the leg, carve it diagonally, and serve one piece from each side.
—Is to be carved exactly the same as the leg of mutton.
MENU.
Consommé de Volaille.
Huîtres à la Poulette.
Saumon.
Truites.
Au Beurre de Montpelier.
Filets de Bœuf à la Bellevue.
Pâtés de Gibiers à la Moderne.
Pains de Lièvres Anglais Historiés.
Galantines de Dindes à la Royale.
Cochons de Lait à la Parisienne.
Terrines de Nérac aux Truffes.
Jambons de Westphalie à la Gendarme.
Longes de Boeuf à l’Ecarlate.
Mayonnaises de Volailles.
Salades d’Homards à la Russe.
Grouse.
Bécassines.
Bécasses.
Faisans.
Gélées au Madère.
Crêmes Françaises.
Petits Fours.
Macédoines de Fruits.
Glaces à la Vanille et Citron.
Charlotte Russes.
Pêches, Poires, Raisins de Serre, etc.
PIÉCES MONTÉES.
La Reine Victoria et le Prince Albert.
Le Great Eastern.
Le Vase de Flora.
Silver Fountain, etc., etc.
Delmonico.
Menu.
Consommé à la Chatelaine.
Bisque aux Quenelles.
Variés. Timbales de Gibier à la Vénitienne. Variés.
Saumon à la Livonienne.
Paupiettes de Kingfish à la Villeroi.
Selle d’Agneau aux Concombres.
Filet de Bœuf à la Pocahontas.
Suprêmes de volaille à la Dauphine.
Ballotins de Pigeons à la Lucullus.
Filets de Canetons à la Tyrolienne.
Côtelettes à la Maréchale.
Ris de Veau à la Montgomery.
Boudins à la Richelieu.
A la Dunderberg.