THE
- - Pneumat
NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
PRESENTED BY
MRS. HENRY DRAPER














THE
THOROUGH GOOD COOK
Salo





THE
THOROUGH
GOOD COOK
A SERIES OF
CHATS ON THE CULINARY ART
AND
NINE HUNDRED RECIPES
BY
GEORGE AUGUSTUS SALA
New York
BRENTANO'S
CHICAGO
PARIS
WASHINGTON
1896


THE NEW Yü
FUELLIPRAY
687966
AETCH, LENKAN
TILOLWILL NWA IC in


PREFACE.-I.
To the General Reader.
Every one of the Recipes in this work has been carefully
studied, and tested from personal experience, and compared
with cognate formulas in the culinary manuals of such
eminent authorities as Laguipière, Beauvilliers, Ude, Carême,
Soyer, Francatelli, Urbain Dubois, Jules Gouffé, Kettner,
Chandelier (Napoleon's last. chef at St. Helena), Garlin,
Suzanne, and Durand, together with the English experts,
Hunter, Kitchiner, Brand, Simpson, and Dolby. A lady
to whom I once mentioned that I had tried prac-
tically all the dishes which I have enumerated in the
following pages, observed, with a smile, half of incredulity
and half of disdainful compassion, that it was a wonder I
had not died of apoplexy years ago; and should such a
contingency suggest itself to the minds of my readers, I may
respectfully inform them that my study of the Art of Cookery
extends over a period of fifty-five years; and that ever since
I was a boy I have been, not only theoretically but practically,
a cook. In a work of mine called “Things I have Seen and
People I have known," I incidentally remarked that my dear
mother had all her children taught systematically, to :cook, -
as an integral part of their education ; and that although,
from the circumstance of my having been a delicate chily, I was,
absolved from the ruder labours of roasting, boiling, and taking,
I was early initiated into the mysteries of preparing soups
entrées, sauces, and sweets. Further, I may just, bint that
although I fully appreciate the attributes of a gourmet, I
certainly do not wish to claim the status of a gourmand. I
delight in the genesis, as well as in the analysis and the


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
moderate degustation, of artistically concocted plats; but it so
happens that I have always had a very small appetite—that
my favourite dishes have been boiled chicken and rice, Irish
stew, macaroni, and haricot beans, and that for the last few
years I have been almost a vegetarian.
It is because I wish others to live well, and to satisfy
a cultured appetite without injuring their digestion, that I
have written this book. In composing it I have kept three
objects in view. First, to avoid padding my pages with
quasi-scientific disquisitions on the chemistry of cookery.
Nothing would be easier than to tell the public that which
they have been told over and over again—that in making
the pot-au-feu, or fundamental beef broth, the heat of the
fire swells the muscular fibres of the meat, dissolving the
gelatinous substances therein contained, and that by these
means the osmazome, which is the most savoury part of the
meat, gently adds “its unction to the broth, while the albumen,
which is the muscular part producing the scum, rises to the
surface." To harp on such a string would be not only to
waste the time but to exhaust the patience of my readers.
Nor do I intend in these pages to teach the fundamental prin-
ciples of cookery. I assume that the cook in whose hands
I earnestly hope that very many ladies will place this book
has learned the rudiments, and is able to use the minor
arts, of her trade—that she knows how to roast, boil, fry,
stew, and bake. I have not hesitated, therefore, to leave to
:'her knowledge and judgment things which I should have had
: to setorton detail if I had been writing a treatise on the
:elements of; the culinary art. It is true that now and again
I have given some simple hints with regard to braising,
• since.that: is a process only imperfectly understood by the
majority of English cooks, and not half so much used by
them as it should be.
My second object has been to make "The Thorough
Good Cook” as cosmopolitan as I possibly could, though


TO THE GENERAL READER.
vii
without attaching to avowedly foreign dishes more or less
unpronounceable titles. I have seen and tried the cookery
of every country in the civilised world—from that which
has furnished forth the tables of princes down to that which
has formed the fare of peasants and mechanics; and I do
not know any foreign kitchen from which I have not been
able to learn something, and in which I have not found
dishes easily adaptable to English tastes. Scores of dishes,
indeed, which we fondly imagine to be exclusively English
have their counterparts in the cuisines not only of France
but of Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, and even Greece
and Turkey. That we, on the other hand, have a national
English school of cookery is to me as indubitable as
that we have a national school of painting; and I main-
tain that our cuisine contains many excellent dishes, as
wholesome as they are succulent, among which I hasten
to cite turtle and mock-turtle soup, boiled leg of mutton
and caper sauce, grilled fowl and mushrooms, Irish
stew, beefsteak pie and pudding, Scotch kale and collops,
lark and quail puddings, pickled salmon, soused mackerel,
tripe and onions, ox-tail soup, liver and bacon, roast
saddle of mutton, roast sirloin of beef, and plum pudding
—which last dainty, if the directions I have given are
followed, need not be in the least indigestible. We have,
besides, the finest butcher's meat and nearly the finest
game in the whole world ; although France and the United
States beat us in the way of poultry. Finally, our Imperial
mastery of India has added to the English kitchen a large
number of splendid curries; and I seriously contend that
a well-prepared curry is not only delicious to the taste but
is also in most cases a salutary stomachic. The trouble is
that, although we have plenty of good English dishes, not one
cook in twenty knows how to prepare, artistically, edibles for
the table, and that not one cook in a hundred has the faintest
idea how even the simplest of curries should be composed.


viii
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
My final object in putting forth a work to which I have
devoted many years of hard study and labour has been to
make “The Thorough Good Cook” adaptable to very moder-
ate as well as to well-lined pockets. It does not profess to
be a manual of cookery for the working classes; because I
am well aware that a working man's wife, whose allowance
for housekeeping would not exceed fifteen shillings to a
pound a week, could not afford to purchase all the ingre-
dients prescribed in many of my least expensive recipes.
This book is meant, first for that middle class of which I
am myself a member, and next for the upper classes among
whom I have mingled, and who, even to the very grandest
of them, I have long been convinced, very often become
wearied to the point of disgust by the monotony of the
bills of fare provided for them by able and experienced chefs,
who, for all their ability and experience, are continually
travelling in a circle, instead of striking out now and again
at a tangent by borrowing dishes from alien kitchens. Over
and over again have I been asked by ladies who have had
French cooks in their employment to tell them of some
novel sauce, some unhackneyed entrée, some seldom-heard-
of salad or sweet or savoury or hors-d'ouvre, the recipes of
which they might communicate to their cooks, so that some-
thing like variety might be imparted to their luncheons or
their dinners. The help which I have been able to give
to a few I now extend to all; and I shall not, I hope, be
accused of vanity when I say that such information as will
be found in “The Thorough Good Cook” covers a rather
wide range of culinary items. “I have seen the manners of
my time and I have written this book," said, in his preface,
the author of “La Nouvelle Héloïse.” I, for my part, have
seen and essayed the cookery of two generations all over the
globe-I have a retentive memory: and that is why I have
written “The Thorough Good Cook.”
G. A. S.


PREFACE.-II.
To the Lady of the House.
DEAR MADAM,
I have explained—I hope without objectionable
iteration-in the Preface addressed to the General Reader
the objects which I have mainly endeavoured to accomplish
in this book. It remains for me respectfully and sympa-
thetically to submit to you a few hints and suggestions which
I think will be serviceable to you in establishing in your
household that permanent boon and joy—a well-appointed
kitchen. It would be altogether foreign to my purpose,
and impertinent besides, were I to give you any lectures
upon the necessity of economy, the kinds of tradesmen
with whom you should or should not deal, and the best
way of managing your servants. I have kept house myself
ever since the year 1858, and I should say that, having always
maintained a good table, not only for my wife and myself,
but-as Grollier kept his well-bound books for himself and
his friends—for my guests, I know a good deal about house-
keeping. At the same time, it is quite possible that, though
you yourself may be quite a young married lady, yet hav-
ing had the inestimable advantage of thorough training by
some experienced parent or relative, you know quite as much
about domestic economy as I do. Still, I will briefly tell you
what, in my opinion, will be of some service to you in the con-
duct of your kitchen. You will find that in “ The Thorough
Good Cook” I have made provision for “smart”—to use the
cant term of to-day—or elegant and luxurious repasts as well
A*


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
as for modest ones. I have done so because, for aught I
know, you may be a lady of the highest rank. If not,
in this commercial country it is quite within the domain of
possibility that you may be a lady of rank one of these days.
In any case, there are occasions when you will feel disposed
to ask your friends to entertainments of a more festive and
more elaborate nature than those in which you ordinarily
indulge; and it is for that reason that I have given a
good many recipes for dishes of which I have partaken
in many lands at the tables of very superlative grandees
indeed. At the same time I know perfectly well that, as a
rule, cookery comparatively simple in its nature and moderate
in its cost will be most acceptable to the majority of the
ladies whom I have the honour to address.
I have specially borne this in mind in respect to the names
of the dishes which I prescribe. If you wish to be and have
the means of being “smart,” you will usually find that I
have given the dish its French name; but I have been
careful to supply also the English one, except in cases where
no English equivalent can be found. I have endeavoured,
too, to exclude as far as ever I possibly could the French
names of culinary processes. Many cookery books over-
flow with such technical terms as marquer, masquer, faire
revenir, dégraisser, lier, passer, mouiller, faire réduire,
égoutter, and so forth; and English adapters of French
recipes either give some absurdly blundering translation of
the French technical term, or pitchfork it, untranslated, into
their English text; thus puzzling and irritating the cook.
That which I have tried to do has been to tell the culinary
artist, in the plainest English at my command, how the dish
is to be made; and I have been able to make the English
all the plainer, either because I can cook the dish myself,
or have seen it cooked over and over again by experts in
the art.
. Although, as I have said, you will find among my recipes


TO THE LADY OF THE HOUSE.
a large number of which I have made the acquaintance
at the tables of ambassadors and other grand folk, I hope
that I have avoided the absurdity of drawing up culinary
forinulas of which the following may perhaps be taken as
a typical reduction to absurdity: “Take twelve pounds of
fillet of beef, four large capons, and eight pounds of ribs of
mutton; moisten with two bottles of Chablis, one of Sauterne,
and one of red Hermitage; to which add a glass of
Curaçao and one of very old Cognac; mask the bottom of
a silver stew-pan with slices of Bayonne ham, on which place a
layer of truffles, asparagus tips, mushrooms, tomatoes, and
pineapples; on this place your meat; simmer for seven hours;
pour in two quarts of 'double' cream, a bottle of champagne,
and the juice of twelve Seville oranges, and serve in a silver
dish, with a spirit lamp beneath.” Upon my word, I have
read recipes quite as Lucullian, quite as Apician, and quite as
preposterous as the above, in a cookery book which could
be bought for half-a-crown. The explanation of the absurdity
is that the compiler of the culinary manual in question has
picked up at a bookstall some cookery books written by a
famous chef of the past—say Monsieur Vincent de la
Chapelle, who was chief cook to the witty Earl of Chesterfield,
and published his Livre de Cuisine in three volumes in 1742.
A dish of miscellaneous ingredients called an olio was then
extremely fashionable, and some of La Chapelle's olio recipes
are in a degree as extravagant as the one which for the
purpose of illustration I have invented..
Finally, throughout “The Thorough Good Cook” I have
been intent upon the endeavour to persuade English ladies
to bring about in their culinary economy that which I hold
to be a long needed and most important reform. My dear
Madam, for twenty-five or thirty pounds a year you can
get a female cook who is able to make, we will say, about
a dozen soups, and she will serve up about an equal number
of plats of fish; she will be a good roaster and boiler,


xii
· THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
and a tolerable adept with the gridiron and the frying-
pan; her pies, puddings, and sweets will be as a rule ir-
reproachable, and she will be able to give you a few simple
entreés, such as hashed mutton, stewed rump steak, haricot
mutton, veal cutlet and bacon, or minced veal. For forty
pounds or thereabouts you shall have a cook who will
be able to make a bisque of lobster or cray-fish, who can
curry tripe or eggs, who will serve up, perhaps, twenty differ-
ent entrées, who will know the difference between a chicken
salad and one à la Russe, and who will even be able to send
up a truite au bleu, a saumon à la Chambord, or a dariole
of oysters. But unless you have a cook at fifty pounds a
year or upwards, I will wager that she will be wholly un-
satisfactory as a preparer of vegetables for the table.
I am well acquainted with the cant so common in ordinary
cookery books about “the boiled potato.” The boiled potato,
the appearance of which at English tables dates from about
a hundred and thirty years ago, has been the bane of English
cookery; but let that pass. I will grant that your middle-
class cook knows how not only to boil but to fry and mash
and stew potatoes. Sometimes, but not often, she can
sauter or slightly brown them. But with regard to other
vegetables she is, in general, grossly ignorant. Our miser-
able deficiencies in this regard arise, no doubt, from our
stupid and barbarous custom, when the joint is served, of
loading the plate with three or four kinds of crudely
boiled vegetables : potatoes, carrots, and greens are all
mixed up pell-mell by the side of the meat. I have even
seen asparagus served with roast mutton. What we fail to
understand is that no dish of meat should be served with
more than one vegetable on the same dish, and that at least
one course should be composed of vegetables alone, carefully
and artistically cooked, and not brought to table reeking with
the water in which they have been boiled. For goodness'
sake, dear lady, persuade your cook to deal sensibly with the


TO THE LADY OF THE HOUSE.
xiii
products of the vegetable kingdom, and to treat the turnips,
the carrots, the broccoli, the beans, the Brussels sprouts, the
cauliflowers, and especially the artichoke, not as subordinate
adjuncts to a dish of meat or poultry, but as separate, inde-
pendent, and important dishes.
One word more, about my recipes generally. In such a
work as this, overlapping is unavoidable; and many of the
recipes might with equal propriety have been placed in any
one of three or four of the sections into which “ The Thorough
Good Cook” is divided. But in the Index to Recipes each
recipe is entered separately, under its own name, as well as
under the heading of the section to which it has been
allocated. No difficulty will therefore be found in “ turning
up” any dish for which I have thought it worth while to
give directions.
G. A. S.


PREFACE.-III.
To Mrs. Cook,
My GooD SOUL,
Many years ago we had a parlourmaid who, although
she came from an aristocratic household in Park Lane, did
not suit us very well. A short time after her departure I
found in the drawer of her bedroom a half-finished note
which she had written, apparently, to some lady-friend, to
me unknown. It was indited on what I assumed to be the
note-paper of her foriner employer—that is to say, it bore,
in violet ink, an embossed address in Park Lane, a coronet,
and a monogram. It began thus : “My dear Jane, I have
been here a fortnight; but missus and I don't hit it. It
is nothing but jor, jor, jor, from morning to night.” Here,
like the story of the bear and the fiddle, that began and
broke off in the middle, the epistle ended. Now, I have
related this short anecdote with the view of assuring you
that I have not the slightest intention of "jawing” or
pestering you with advice touching a number of matters
concerning which you very probably know quite as much
if not more than I do. I have not written this book in order
to teach the kitchenmaid or the very young and inexperi-
enced cook the rudiments of her calling. That which I
wish to do, assuming you to be a competent plain cook, is
to make you a thoroughly good one. First of all, I want
you to drive out of your head the nonsensical prejudice
against entrées, or made dishes, as being “nasty French


TO MO
XV
MRS. COOK.
messes.” No greater trouble is needed in dressing even
the most elaborate of the dishes for which I have given
directions than is required for cooking haricot mutton or
Irish stew, or for jugging a hare, or making a chicken and
ham pie. I have put down in the very plainest terms that
I can call to mind the manner of making all kinds of
dishes, complicated as well as simple. As to the exact
quantities of the ingredients used, I have thought it best
to leave you a pretty considerable discretion, only, in
one particular, I must most seriously beg you to attend
to my counsel. Always be easy with the pepper-castor,
especially in making soup. A dish too highly peppered
is hopelessly spoiled. If a little more seasoning is re-
quired, what are the salt, the pepper, and the mustard
on the table for, if not for the purpose of heightening
flavour? Remember that, in nine cases out of ten, dinner
begins with soup. If the first dish is a failure and our tongues
are smarting from the over-fiery soup, we are very apt to lose
our temper for the rest of the repast.
This remark applies quite as strongly to the making of
curry. Too much curry powder is a very grave error.
The curry, when it comes to table, should be heightened
in flavour by more or less powerful chutney, according to
the tastes of the guests. Remember that I am speaking as
an expert in this respect, since I went through, some years
ago, a regular course of curry making in Ceylon and at
Calcutta; and when I came home my curry luncheons
earned the approbation of numerous distinguished Anglo-
Indian authorities, including the late Sir Richard Burton.
I beg you to read over and over again the directions for
making curry given in the body of this book,* especially as
regards the boiling of the rice; and I ask you to do this not
only in order that you may give pleasure to your em-
ployers, but for a reason which I hope will at once come
* Pp. 28, 322-24.


xvi
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
home to you. A good curry-cook can always command
higher wages than one who does not know how to dress
curry, or dresses it clumsily. Again, my good friend, I do
most earnestly entreat you to study well that which I have
written about omelettes, * a delicious dainty which not one
English cook out of fifty knows how to prepare properly.
Always bear this golden rule in mind—that flour should
never be used in making an omelette ; and that milk
should be as rigorously excluded. Eggs are cheap enough.
Practise making omelettes whenever you have the oppor-
tunity, and induce your employers to have savoury omelettes
for breakfast and sweet omelettes at dinner. Kindly read
over and over again also that which I have said in my
second preface about cooking vegetables. Don't turn them
over to the kitchenmaid. Take them in hand yourself;
for a well-prepared dish of cauliflower or spinach or arti.
chokes should earn you as much praise as a lobster salad,
or a vol-au-vent, or an ice pudding.
And now, always abstaining from "jawing," let me in
the friendliest manner ask you to bear a few concluding
rules in mind. Serve hot-Serve hot, Mrs. Cook! A dish
sent up scalding hot will soon get cool; but there is no
hope and no cure for a dish that is lukewarm. And mind
that you see that the kitchenmaid sends up thoroughly hot
plates for hot dishes. Be clean, be clean, be clean every-
where--in your kitchen, your larder, and your scullery.
Keep the very strictest watch over the hog-tub—to use the
vulgar name—or wash-bucket. Keep an equally sharp eye
over the dustbin, and do not allow to accumulate there
fever-breeding heaps of bones, cabbage stumps, lobster shells,
etc. Many kinds of refuse can be got rid of by burning
them in the modern ranges at the end of each day; but if
you cannot get rid of them by this means, worry the
dustmen incessantly to do their duty; and if they are
See the Index to Recipes, under "Omelettes."


TO MRS. COOK.
xvii
remiss, ask your employer to write to the vestry clerk and
complain of their neglect.
In conclusion, try to keep peace and good order in
the servants' hall. Don't “row.” A “rowing ” cook is de-
struction. Be perfectly friendly with all: still, in families
where there is neither a butler nor a housekeeper, let the
other domestics know that you, Mrs. Cook, are “boss," and
must be treated with proper respect. Feed the servants
well; but don't pamper them, and never allow anyone to
enter the larder without your permission. You are account-
able for everything there, and it is not right that you
should run the risk of having your larder tampered with.
Discourage grumbling, tale-bearing, and scandal. Never allow
any of the tradespeople to come nearer your domain than
the kitchen door. Put down sternly and strongly anything
like bad language in the servants' hall. Do your best to
keep your temper-I know full well how trying young
servants are to their elders, and how heavy are the respon-
sibilities of a cook with an elaborate dinner to think out
and dress—and don't thump the kitchenmaid !
G. A. S.


CONTENTS.
CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
::::::::::::
irtir
THE GREEK CUISINE ... ...
THE RUSSIAN CUISINE
FRENCH DOMESTIC COOKERY ...
THE AMERICAN CUISINE
DELMONICO'S ...
THE KITCHEN OF THE FATHERLAND
THE SPANISH CUISINE ...
THE SCOTTISH KITCHEN
BREAKFAST DISHES ...
SALADS ... ... ... ...
MACARONI, RISOTTO, AND POLENTA
CURRY ... ... ... ... ...
WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE SCRAPS ?
HASH ... ... ... ...
OLD-FASHIONED PUDDINGS ...
CONFECTIONERY ... ... ...
PIES, PATTIES, AND TARTS
SAVOURIES AND TIT-BITS
POTATOES ...
EGGS
OYSTERS ...
.. ... ... ...
COLD Fish
PORRIDGE ... ..
CHOPS
SHOULD CHOPS BE FRIED OR BOILED
PARTRIDGES ... ...
MINCES ... ... ...
CHEESE ...
COOL DRINKS
How TO MAKE COFFEE
ICES
FOR THE CHILDREN ...
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:
: : :
: : : : :


::
2-13
322
RECIPES.
wanan
SECTION 1.-SOUPS
„ II.-FISH
III.-ENTRÉES
IV.-Roasts, ETC. ...
V.-POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
VI. ENTREMETS
VII.-CURRIES
VIII.-SAUCES
IX.-VEGETABLES
X.-SALADS ... ...
XI.-HORS-D'EUVRES AND SAVOURY DISHES...
XII.-EGGS
XIII.-CHEESE
XIV.-SWEETS
XV.-ICES AND DRINKS
XVI.--MISCELLANEOUS
INDEX TO RECIPES ... ...
GENERAL INDEX... ... ...
CES
325
353
377
::::::
387
: :
397
409
:
,,
AK
XV.
:
: :
469
:


-
---
-
--


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
The Greek Cuisine.
You are very much mistaken if you think that, in talking
about Greek cookery, I am going to descant on the black
broth of the Spartans, or that I intend to paraphrase the bill
of fare of Trimalcion's banquet, so admirably rendered in
Professor Becker's “Gallus.” It is not on the ancient Greek
cuisine that I wish here and now to give a few hints. The
cookery of which I append a brief sketch is that which is
practised in free and independent Hellas, and among Greeks
who are yet subject to Ottoman rule, in this present year of
grace. Yet I have not called this chat “modern” Greek
cookery, because I hold that the epithet “modern” is in-
sulting to the Greeks, who had a spoken and written popular
language many hundreds of years before we arrogant English
folk had any settled language at all. Let it be broadly stated
that truly excellent cookery may be found in private houses
at Athens, at Smyrna, and at. Constantinople, but that the
Hellenes as a whole have not a very copious or refined kitchen.
The staples, indeed, of the diet of the common people in
Greece comprise bread, somewhat coarse in texture and dark
in colour, grapes, and black olives. They will also eat as
much of a milky kind of cheese (turi) as they can get; and


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
they are greatly addicted to sousing nearly all their dishes
with olive oil. A common repast for a Greek peasant is a
hunch of bread, scored backwards and forwards in parallel
lines with a knife to a criss-cross pattern; this is seasoned
with pepper and salt, and drenched with oil; and is then
heartily partaken of, not only by the agricultural classes, but
by monks, sailors, and artisans.
The long and severe fasts ordained by the Greek Church
necessitate the consumption, during Lent and cognate periods
of abstinence, of vast quantities of dried fish; and in the
Greek islands at all times fish is plentiful and cheap. When
meat is eaten, it is generally beef; and the people usually
seem to prefer the vraston, or boiled meat, to the pseton, or
roast variety. Eggs, again, are in common demand; cabbage
and onions are favourite vegetables ; and in the way of
sauce the Greeks are never tired of oil and garlic. The
oleaginous product of the olive is as dear to them as ghee
to a Hindu; and in devouring garlic they surpass even the
Marseillais. In polite society in Athens, French cookery,
interiningled with a few native dishes, prevails. Among
the middle classes the cuisine is a curiously compound one.
It has a basis of radically Romaic preparations; but with
these are blended a large proportion of Italian dishes; while
the confectionery is almost wholly borrowed from the Turks.
I should here mention that the celebrated Eastern delicacy
called yaourt,* which is simply curdled cream left till it
becomes quite sour and swims in liquid of a greenish hue,
can be made very much after the fashion of Devonshire
junket. Perhaps the best substance with which to curdle
or coagulate it is rennet; but should a vitelline membrane be
difficult to procure, any druggist will give you a few drops
of some perfectly harmless acid, which will suffice to “turn”
the cream. But yaourt is rather a Djagetai Tartar than a
purely Ottoman dish. The Russians are quite as fond as
* See p. 414.


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
the Turks of sour cream, the use of which they borrowed
from the Tartar tribes of the south, and which they serve
with their national cabbage soup. But of this I shall have
to speak in the chat about Muscovite cookery.
In conclusion, I may mention that in Greek Sweet
dishes, and even in some savoury ones, a good deal of honey
is used; and this, again, is a practice learnt from the
Turkish confectioners.
The Russian Cuisine.
I want to tell you something about Russian cookery,
and to disabuse your minds of the possible impression that
the Russians are a people who chiefly support existence
on rye-bread, pickled cucumbers, caviare, and train-oil,
with a tallow candle occasionally, by way of a treat. As
a matter of fact, although the fare of the Russian peasantry
is sufficiently coarse, the cuisine enjoyed by the well-to-do
and the wealthy is a most appetising one. In the very
highest ranks of society at St. Petersburg and Moscow, the
cookery is entirely and exquisitely French, and the chef is
usually an artist from Paris. There are, however, certain
national dishes which are prepared in Russian households,
and which are regularly served at the best hotels in the
two great cities of Russia. I do not intend to worry you
with a long string of names and dishes in Russ, as I
am not anxious to make a vain show of familiarity with
foreign languages, or to print a long list of words which
many of my readers would not, I feel sure, be able to
pronounce, and which probably they would not reinember.
I may, however, just hint that the name of the cabbage
soup for which I have given a recipe* sounds precisely like
a sneeze.
* See p. 117,
B 2


THE TIIOROUGH GOOD COOK,
Of course a Russian dinner, like that of most of the
Northern nations, is preceded by a “snack,” or rather, a
variety of “snacks,” served on a large tray, which is some-
times placed on the sideboard of the dining-room, and
sometimes on a table in the back drawing - room, where
the guests are received. The “snacks” or relishes may
consist of fresh caviare, raw herrings, smoked salmon, sun-
dried sturgeon, raw smoked goose, radishes, cheese, sliced
sausages, cod - sounds, raw ham, and bread and butter.
With these appear tiny liqueur glasses of kümmel, kirsch-
wasser, maraschino, anisette, and vodka, or corn brandy.
Among the soups is a cold one, the stock of half-
fermented rye or barley-beer, with pieces of herring,
cucumber, meat, and ice floating in it. For the iced
spinach and sorrel soup I have also given a recipe.* There
is another capital hot soup, to which I must fain give its
Russian name, which is casy to remember. This is “Borsch.”
Prepare a pot-au-feu, with a piece of brisket of beef, vege-
tables, and a piece of smoked bacon, which has first been
blanched. When the meat is nearly done, add a mince,
composed of raw beetroot, onions, leeks, quarter of a white
cabbage head, and a piece of celery root; fry the whole in
butter on a moderate fire; then season your vegetables
and moisten with two quarts of broth. Let the liquid
boil over a moderate fire; last of all, add the meat and
the smoked bacon, cut into middling-sized squares. At
the last moment, mix into the soup a little sour juice of
beetroot, with three tablespoonfuls of raw beetroot rasped.
The Russians are fond, too, of smoked fish, from
which the fillets are taken out, and the skin removed.
These are cut into slices, put together in their original
shape, and dished up with a genuine Russian sauce of
mustard, olive oil, and vinegar. Also they inake excel-
lent patties of the flesh of the sturgeon, and likewise of
* See r. 137.


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
isinglass. These eat very much like fishy muffins. There is,
again, a wonderful dish of fish and cabbage, which requires
a good deal of pepper to make it go down, and is a pre-
paration which I can scarcely recommend.
The Russians are much given, also, to cold boiled suck-
ing pig, and make a splendid dish of it. You must take
your pig, divide him in pieces, boil him with white wine;
let him cool, and bone him; then you encrust a mould
with pounded ice, which you endue at the bottom and
all round with poached white of egg, gherkins, and beet-
root. Dip each item in aspic jelly previously to putting
it in the mould; pour a thick layer of jelly on the
bottom of the mould; let it set, and then arrange the
pieces of boiled piggy alternated with minced gherkins
and whole capers, being careful to leave a hollow all round
the mould. Fill this hollow with cold liquid jelly, well
set. When ready to serve, dip the mould in warm water,
turn piggy out on a dish, and serve with horseradish
sauce. I make no pretence of the dish being a cheap
one; but this book is a cookery book for all, and I am
entitled, therefore, to give expensive recipes as well as
cheaper ones.
French Domestic Cookery.
There is an erroneous notion very common in England
that all French cookery is as expensive as it is difficult;
but I hold that, in many respects, the French system is
less expensive than the English one, and that in a mul-
titude of instances its variety is equalled by its simplicity.
What did the great Louis Eustache C'de say !_“It is a mis-
taken notion that good cookery is expensive; on the contrary,
it is the cheapest. By good cookery we make the most of
everything; by bad cookery, the least.”
When I first went to France, the haute cuisine bour-


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
geoise, or, as I call it, upper middle-class cookery, was in
a much better condition than it is at present in Paris, where
it has declined owing to the immense number of cheap
restaurants at which persons with moderate incomes lunch
and dine. You must go very far into the Departments,
and especially into legal, professional, and mercantile circles,
to find upper middle-class cookery in perfection. There
you will be regaled, as a standing dish, with the historical
pot-au-feu, or beef-soup—call it broth, if you will. But
now, mark : this should be immediately followed by bouilli
- the beef which has been boiled to make the soup
withal. I confess that I do not know what becomes of
the gravy-beef in this country. Possibly the cook throws
it away, after boiling it to rags in a violent, tempestuous,
and unthinking way. The French not only eat the gravy-
beef hot, but also make it, when cold, into a very nice
salad, with oil and vinegar, gherkins, and a few thin slices
of cold boiled potatoes sprinkled with finely chopped parsley.
They treat cold French beans and cauliflowers in precisely
the same manner; but the English horror of oil deters
us from utilising cold vegetables in this sensible fashion.
At home, in hot weather, I often revel in. fresh figs and
other fruit, together with salads of cold asparagus, and
cold French beans at breakfast.
Hot boiled gravy-beef, you may say, is a tasteless and
insipid viand, fit only for prisoners and paupers; but please
to bear this in mind—that in France there is served with
the bouilli a rich brown sauce, which makes the meat
very palatable ; and, moreover, the beef itself has been so
gently and carefully simmered during so many hours that
it has become thoroughly tender, without being “pappy"
or stringy, and is altogether suitable for the digestion of a
dyspeptic person.
As regards made-dishes, the most favourite ones in upper
middle-class cookery in France are mutton cutlets, either


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
plainly broiled, or egged-and-bread-crumbed. They are
cut very small; and not everybody is aware that the little
paper frill round the shank is placed there to facilitate
the action of the guest when he likes to eat his cutlet
without the aid of a knife and fork. You have heard, no
doubt, of the twenty-four cutlets which Louis XVIII. used
to devour every day for luncheon. They probably did not
represent, in dimensions, much more than twenty-four mouth-
fuls. Veal cutlets are broiled and served with a purée of
potatoes; that is to say, mashed, lubricated with butter, and
moistened with milk to the consistency of thick cream ; or
with an analogous purée of spinach, or sorrel, or chicory-
all cheap and wholesome vegetables. Button-mushrooms are
also extensively used, or champignons. As for calf's head,
our neighbours treat it very successfully, both hot and cold.
Cold, it is dressed with oil and vinegar, a salad of chopped
parsley, yolks and whites of eggs, and olives, being arranged
separately in four little pyramids at the corners of the
dish. The French also patronise fried and broiled calves'
ears, calves' brains with sharp sauce, calves' tongues, liver,
sweetbreads, hot, cold, and in aspic jelly. Another most
acceptable French made-dish is boiled fowl and rice, which
is siinply the Western form of the Pollo con arroz of the
Spaniards, and the pilaf of the Mohammedan nations.
Fowl and rice is a dish that was probably brought to
Western Europe by the Crusaders; for some reason or
another, it does not often make its appearance at English
middle-class tables.
The American Cuisine.
The American cuisine, broadly speaking, may be divided
into three classes. First, domestic cookery, as it is practised
in the Northern and Southern States; next, ordinary hotel


8
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
cookery, which may be impartially defined as a desert of
very indifferent cooking, with a few oases here and there;
and finally, the sumptuous cuisine which you find at Del-
monico's, the Brunswick, and two or three other restaurants
in New York; at the Continental Hotel, Philadelphia ; at
the Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago; and at the Palace Hotel,
San Francisco. The chefs at these renowned establishments
receive salaries of five thousand dollars a year or more; and
they serve epicures with luncheons and dinners equal to
any repasts that can be obtained at the greatest of French
restaurants, or at the London West End clubs.
The dishes I am about to mention all belong to American
doniestic cookery. First there is “gumbo," * made of
“ochra,” which is, I think, procurable in Piccadilly, not far
from Fortnum and Mason's. Ochra is the plant called
Abelmoschus esculentus, which yields a mucilaginous fruit
used in soups and pickles in America, the West Indies,
and the Isle of France. The odd name, Abelmoschus, is
supposed to be derived from the Arabic, and means
“ father of musk;" the seeds of one of the varieties of the
fruit having a musky odour. “Gumbo" is only the Indian
name for ochra, which is also called “bandikai.” Green
corn and “succotash”+ you should be able to get at almost
any co-operative store ; but let me tell you that perhaps
the most enjoyable way of consuming green corn is to eat
it from the cob, boiled and buttered. To see a pretty
young American lady take up a corn-cob in a napkin and
dexterously twirl it round and round till she has nibbled
all the grains of corn from the cob, without soiling her
fingers or her symmetrical chin, is a truly delightful
spectacle.
As for pork and beans, it is a New England dish, and a
thoroughly national one besides. There is a New England
Society both in Boston and in New York; and it is said
* See p. 376.
† See p. 454.


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
that the two associations have amicably agreed to differ as
to the exact date of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at
Plymouth Rock. They hold their annual banquets on different
days; but there is only just a sufficient interval between the
two to allow the New York society to feast on pork and
beans at Boston as well as New York; while the Bostonians
follow suit, and revel on pork and beans both in their own
State and in that of the Empire City. At a restaurant a
truly patriotic American—and what American is not pat-
riotic ?-never calls for pork and beans: he orders “Stars
and Stripes.”
Indian pudding is another distinctly American domestic
dish. It is made of sifted Indian corn-flour, scalded in boil-
ing water, and placed in a saucepan over a fire, with a quart
of milk, a quarter of a pound of butter, and a pint of molasses
or golden-syrup treacle ; six beaten eggs and a little lemon-
juice are added to the mixture, which must be stirred till
it is quite light and smooth, and it is then baked in a
moderately hot oven.
Fish pudding may be made of salmon, soles, or turbot,
seasoned with salt, pepper, finely chopped onions, and parsley,
with which the fish must be carefully rubbed. This is
placed in paste rolled half an inch thick, tied up in a
pudding-cloth, placed in boiling water, and allowed to
simmer for an hour and a half.
I don't know whether any of our caterers import the
fresh-water or tide-water tortoises called “terrapin," of
which there is a salt-water variety found in the maishes
around Charleston. There is also, by the way, a chicken tor-
toise, so named from its flatour, which is a great favourite
with American epicures. If you do get hold of terrapin, cook
them in the following manner :—They must be killed like
lobsters, by being placed in boiling water; a cruel process
no doubt, but would you like to eat lobsters with black
shells ? Skin your terrapin when killed, and cut off their


10
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
claws; wash and put them on again to boil, with a teaspoon-
ful of salt to every two. Remove the galls carefully; cut
up the meat; season with pepper, mace, and nutmeg, and
put in a stew-pan, with the juice of the meat ; and for each
brace of terrapin, three ounces of butter and flour, a glass
of sherry, and the yolks of two eggs beaten. The wine and
eggs must be added after the whole is stewed perfectly
tender. Serve in a silver dish, if you have got one, with a
lighted spirit-lamp underneath. This is a costly delicacy ;
but its English analogue, “ dressed” crab (which can be served
both hot and cold), is very toothsome, and is cheap enough,
goodness knows.
Delmonico's.
Memories of old times gathered fast and thick around
me when I opened the pages of a goodly tome, published
not long since by Messrs. Brentano, called “The Delmonico
Cook Book: How to buy food, how to cook it, and how to
serve it.”
It was in the winter of the year 1863 that I first made
my acquaintance with Delmonico's world-famous restaurants
in New York. I had had some literary business to transact.
with a great publishing firm somewhere near the bottom of
Broadway, and my interview with them had not been of a
very pleasant nature. It seemed to me that they shared
the peculiarity ascribed by Canning in matters of commerce
to the Dutch, of giving too little and asking too much.
There were three partners, but at the outset I only saw two
of them. One was a very methodical gentleman, bristling all
over with figures; the other seemed to be of somewhat a
theological tendency; but I could not make, in the way of
business, anything satisfactory of either. I left the office
in dudgeon, and was wending my way up Broadway towards


CHAT'S ABOUT COOKERY.
11
.
the Brevoort House, one of the most comfortable hotels in the
world, when I heard a quick step behind me. A hand was
laid on my arm, and I was accosted by a little stout gentle-
man, who introduced himself to me in the friendliest imagin-
able manner. “You didn't get along very well with our
people,” he remarked. “You have seen the arithmetical
partner and the pious one; I, sir, am the festive partner!
Oysters on the half-shell, and Heidsieck's dry Monopole,
white seal, at Delmonico's at once.” Delmonico then had a
branch restaurant in William Street, and to that pleasant
place of entertainment we forth with repaired; and, through
the agency of the “ festive” partner, I made a very satis-
factory business arrangement with the house of which he
was a member.
There was still another Delmonico's down town near
Wall Street, and yet another on a most palatial scale in
Fifth Avenue, corner of East Fourteenth Street ; but the
last time that I was in the Empire City I found only a single
Delmonico, installed in a magnificent mansion fronting on
Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and Twenty-sixth Street, into the
last of which thoroughfares looks out a magnificent café
with a tessellated floor, lofty ceiling, and any number of
small marble-topped tables. In this room smoking and
drinking, as well as eating, are indulged in by gentlemen.
The remaining moiety of the ground floor is occupied by a
similar apartment fronting on Fifth Avenue, and used as a
public restaurant. An elevator gives access to the second
floor; and here is a series of private apartments and dining-
rooms en suite, with a spacious and splendidly decorated ball-
room or dining-hall. On the upper floors are a limited
number of apartments for gentlemen; and in one of these
suites of chambers Dion Boucicault, the dramatist, resided
for a considerable period. The cuisine and the service at
this house are not surpassed by any restaurant in the world,
and the same may safely be said of the prices, which are


12
THE THOROUGII GOOD COOK.
commensurate with the excellence of the fare and the per-
fection with which it is served. Yet two persons can dine
modestly at Delmonico's for five dollars, or £l sterling. This
sum includes a bottle of very good claret, although it is the
cheapest on the list. It may be added that at Delmonico's
the rule obtains that a “portion” for one is quite enough
for two.
The author of “ The Delmonico Cook Book” is M. Ales-
sandro Filippini, who has been twenty-five years chef at this
historic house, and in an autograph letter which serves as a
preface, he dedicates his exhaustive work to the Delmonico
family. In five hundred closely printed pages one finds, to
begin with, ample information touching the markets of New
York; and the Britisher will derive much interesting inform-
ation concerning a large variety of edibles which are rarely
met with in this country. For example, M. Filippini men-
tions wild turkeys, “truttled grouse, commonly called par-
tridge,” squabs, robin or red-breasted snipe-oh! M. Filippini !
-sora or Virginia rail, antelope, brant, red-heads, cygnet or
young swans, with, of course, the famous canvas-back duck.
Among tish mainly strange to the English palate are
pompanos, sheep's head, red. snapper, grouper, white fish,
cisco, catfish, wall-eyed pike. Then there are green turtle and
terrapin ; followed by clams, soft-shell crabs, and twenty
varieties of oysters. M. Filippini proceeds to give a series
of menus for every day in the year; in which, among a host
of truly American dainties, you will find stuffed and devilled
crabs, sweet potatoes, fried scollops with tomato sauce,
stringed beans with cream, fish-balls, Saratoga potatoes,
pigs' feet à la Boston, Martha Washington's pie, black fish
au gratin, squash, broiled sea-bass, scrambled eggs with
asparagus tops, tender loin steak, turkey with cranberry
sauce, antelope chops, lamb steak, flat sausages with white
wine, and blue fish à l'Italienne.


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
The Kitchen of the Fatherland.
I first set foot on German soil in 1850, when I went on
a trip to Aix-la-Chapelle. I began to learn German ten
years before, and I have always been an atrociously bad
German scholar; but I have an intense admiration for the
strength, solidity, and thoroughness of the German charac-
ter: I delight in German art, and, as far as I can under-
stand it, in German literature. I like the simplicity and
truthfulness of German home-life, and I hope that I appre-
ciate the comeliness of the flaxen-haired, blue-eyed, plump,
and dimpled mädchen.
Especially do I recognise the many excellent qualities
of Teutonic cookery-a cuisine which has been half ignor-
antly and half spitefully calumniated both in France and
in England. In this country we are apt to think that the
Germans subsist chiefly on sausages, sauer-kraut, fresh
boiled beef, and suet pudding; washed down by un-
limited potations of German beer, and a modicum of
“ frightened water," as the Germans call Rhine wine, to
which we give the generic term of hock. The truth is
that the Germa: kitchen is a very copious and varied
one, differing favourably in many particulars from the
cookery of other Continental peoples; while, in its higher
branches, it rivals not wholly unsuccessfully the French
cuisine. It should not be forgotten that that much-
vaunted cuisine was originally introduced into France by
Günther von Andernach, the Lutheran physician of Francis I.
One curious instance in which Germany differs from
other nations in its modes of food preparation is apparent
in its soups. What do you say to milk soup, sweet and
savoury ; to chocolate soup, almond soup, and wine soup;
to frothod-lemon soup, and beer soup—of which last there


14
THE THOROUGII GOOD COOK.
are at least half-a-dozen varieties ? A very favourite one is
beer soup with caraway seeds; it is made with some slices of
bread boiled soft in a little water, then strained, and beaten
smooth; caraway seeds, lemon-peel, sugar, spice, and beer
are added; all is boiled together until the caraways are soft ;
then it is stirred briskly with yolks of eggs in the tureen.
There are soups, too, made of apples, pears, strawberries,
currants, and cherries, which are all sweet pottages, and
with which macaroons and Naples biscuits may be served.
There are also a large number of fish-soups: some of which
bear a strong resemblance to the fish-soups of the Russian
kitchen. In sauces, again, the Germans are very strong.
They make a capital asparagus sauce out of the yolks of
eggs with cream, a dessertspoonful of four, a little salt and
nutmeg, a piece of butter, and a sufficient quantity of the
water in which the asparagus has been boiled. This must
be stirred continually until thick; and a little lemon-juice
or vinegar may be added, but not enough to give an acid
taste to the sauce. I am not acquainted with any other
national kitchen frugal enough to utilise the water in which
asparagus has been boiled, and which has naturally absorbed
a great deal of the exquisite flavour of that delicious escu-
lent. Try it by all means, whenever the blessed vegetable
is in season.
I should say something in commendation of the Pomer-
anian sauce for wild ducks, which is made thus:-Boil the
peel of two Seville oranges until soft. Drain and cut this
into thin strips, put them in a saucepan with a glass of old
hock and a cup of clear gravy, without any flavour of spice;
squeeze in the juice of the oranges; add a little cayenne
pepper, and, if not quite acid enough, a little lemon
juice. Pour the sauce over the ducks when served.
I should applaud this sauce were it not, as I hold, that
the very best sauce for roasted wild duck, and for a salmi
of tame duck, is the sweet orange itself, simply sliced and


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
eaten bodily, rind and flesh, with the duck. The juice of
the orange only loses its flavour when it is mingled with
other ingredients, especially with wine. You want it fresh,
sharp upon your palate; and it gives in its natural state an
estimable zest to the bird itself.
In salads and salad dressings the Teutons are very
powerful; and this should be remembered--that in the
Fatherland every known vegetable, when cooked plainly,
can be used cold for salad. Potato salad may be considered
as native to German soil. The potatoes must be boiled
in their skins, and while warm must be peeled and sliced
thin; then chives, onions, and parsley are chopped very
fine and strewn over the potatoes in the salad bowl. Now
sprinkle with salt and pepper ; add three spoonfuls of oil;
moisten moderately with vinegar and water mixed, that the
salad may not be too sour. Several items may be added
to the potato salad, both for flavour and appearance.
Among these, remember pickled beetroot sliced, a fresh
cucumber sliced, a Yarmouth bloater or a Dutch herring
minced small, or a few sardines shredded.
Our Teutonic kinsmen alsɔ make excellent salads of red
cabbage and celery, of white cabbage, of succory, of peas,
beans, artichokes, cauliflowers, and young hops before they
are leafy. Some salads they make with a dressing composed
of cream instead of oil. They have a supreme salad which
they call the Polish one, which is made of cold roast game
or poultry cut into very small dice, seasoned with pepper,
salt, mustard, and finely minced chives, over which are
poured equal parts of oil and vinegar. In defence of the
equality in quantity of the second with the first moistening
ingredient, they urge that poultry and game are stronger
in flavour than green-meat, and demand a sharper or
inore acid sauce. When the Polish salad has arrived at
this stage, three eggs, boiled for three minutes, have
their yolks stirred in with the meat, while the whites are


16
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
chopped very small and added to the mixture. At the
time of serving, chopped endive or lettuce is added to
the whole.
The Spanish Cuisine.
The cookery of Spain has often been most unjustly dis-
paraged, but I hope to show in the second part of this work,
the Recipes, that the Dons can dress a goodly number of
dainty dishes. I scarcely think that there could be a
more appropriate topic for a chat on Iberian cookery, than
the weekly dietary of Don Quixote. If, however, we wish
to be accurate in this respect, it is necessary to go to the
Spanish text of Cervantes, since most of the English versions
that I possess give curiously conflicting and usually inaccu-
rate translations of the hebdomadal bill-of-fare of the Knight
of La Mancha. For example, an ornately illustrated and
quite “up-to-date” edition of the “Adventures of Don
Quixote” gives the following as the Don's menu :-
“Soup, composed of somewhat more mutton than beef,
the fragments served up cold on most nights; lentils on
Fridays; collops and eggs on Saturdays; and a pigeon by
way of addition on Sundays.” The Spanish text tells a very
different story. Therein we read that the Knight of the
Rueful Countenance fed on an olla—which is a great deal
more than a soup, and is in reality composed of different
sorts of meat and vegetables stewed together; and it takes
its name from the round eartken pot in which the mess is
usually prepared. The English translator says that in Don
Quixote's olla there was “ more mutton than beef”; but
Cervantes himself says just the contrary, namely, that there
was "more beef than mutton.” Then the translator goes
on to state that the “ fragments” of the soup were served up
“cold on most nights.” He evidently does not know how to


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
translate the Spanish word salpicon, answering to our
“salmagundi,” which is a mixture of chopped meat, eggs,
anchovies, and red pickled cabbage. You will find a
recipe for “salpicon” in this book.* Furthermore, we are
told that on Saturdays the Don regaled on “collops and
eggs,” and in another version—a very old one which I have-
instead of “collops and eggs” I find “gripes and grumblings,"
as an equivalent for the Spanish duelos y quebrantos. The
old English expression is a slightly coarse one; still it comes
nearer the author's meaning than the modern English version
does. These duelos y quebrantos were the “humbles” of
animals (you have heard of humble pie), or else the carcases
of lambs and calves which had died a natural death; and
they were thus utilised for the making of a modest stew,
at which no doubt the shepherds and other farm-servants
grumbled as sorely as English school-boys and school-girls
grumble at what they call “resurrection pie.”
In another portion of the immortal romance of Miguel de
Cervantes y Saavedra there is a description of the marriage
feast of “Camacho the Rich.” The first thing which pre-
sented itself to Sancho's sight was a whole bullock spitted
upon a large elm. In six huge pots around, entire sheep
were swallowed up, and floated like so many pigeons. Hares
ready flayed and fowls ready plucked hung upon the branches;
infinite were the wild fowl and venison hanging about.
Sancho counted three skins, each holding about twenty-
four quarts, full of generous wines ; hillocks, too, he saw
of the whitest bread, and cheeses were piled up in the
manner of bricks. Naturally, the feast being a Spanish
one, there were “two cauldrons of oil, larger than dyers' vats,"
which stood ready for frying purposes. There is a touch of
Rabelais in the whole chapter of the Nuptials of Camacho;
and Cervantes has more than once been accused of inditing
in this description of a wedding feast a sly satire on the pro-
* See p. 231.
- C


18
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
verbial frugality of his countrymen in the way of eating and
drinking, and the occasional difficulty which presented—and
still presents-itself to travellers in Spain of getting anything
to eat or drink at all. So far as my experience goes, you can
get along tolerably well in Spain, when you are travelling out
of the beaten track, if you will only contrive to reach a village
inn at the time of the midday meal, when the standing dish
is the natural puchero, for which I have given a recipe.* If
you miss your puchero, I am afraid that you will not be
able to obtain, in out-of-the-way places, anything more filling
than chocolate, bread, garlic, and grapes.
The Scottish Kitchen.
It is not without some fear and trembling that I, who,
if I am not a Saxon, am at least a cockney “pock-pudding,”
presume to devote a page in this book to the cookery of
the Land o' Cakes. The shadows of two mighty expositors
of the Scottish kitchen of the past float before me as I
address myself to my task. Memory recurs to the pages
of “Waverley”; and, in imagination, I sit at the ban-
queting board at which Fergus McIvor entertained Edward
Waverley. Fish, game, and made dishes at the upper end
of the table; lower down, immense, clumsy joints of
mutton and beef; but no pork-swine's flesh being abhorred
in the Highlands. The central dish, a yearling lamb,
called a “hog in har’st,” roasted, set upon its legs, with a
bunch of parsley in its mouth. The beverages, claret and
champagne for the chief and his guests; with whisky
and strong beer for the clansmen. Then I recall the
breakfast which Lady Margaret Bellenden gave Claverhouse
* See p. 132.


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
in the great hall at Tillietudlem. No tea, no coffee, no
variety of rolls and toast and muffins; but solid and sub-
stantial viands—the priestly ham, the knightly sirloin,
the noble baron of beef, the princely venison pasty; while
silver flagons, saved with difficulty from the claws of the
Covenanters, mantled, some with ale, some with mead,
and some with generous wines of various qualities. And
who, finally, can forget the description of the dinner, in
“Old Mortality," of the parsimonious Laird of Milnwood ?
The immense charger of broth thickened with oatmeal and
colewort, in which were indistinctly discerned by close
observers two or three short ribs of lean mutton sailing
to and fro. There were two huge baskets, one of bread
made of barley and peas, and one of oat cakes. The
presence of a large boiled salmon would nowadays have
indicated more liberal housekeeping; but, in the seven-
teenth century, it was caught in such plenty in the con-
siderable rivers of Scotland, and the servants found it so
luscious and so surfeiting, that they made it a bargain
that they should not have the royal fish oftener than five
times a week.
“He should have a lang-shafted spune that sups pottage
with the de'il,” says the old Scottish proverb; and he should
know a great deal about cookery in general, and Scottish
cookery in particular, who presumes to try conclusions
with Sir Walter Scott and with Professor Wilson. There
is a vast wealth of culinary lore scattered both through
the “Waverley Novels” and the “ Noctes Ambrosianæ.”
Indeed, it has been more than once asserted that Sir
Walter had a hand in compiling the recipes for “Meg
Dodds' Cookery Book.” Still, Southerner as I am, I scarcely
think that I am inaccurate in stating that a Scottish break-
fast table is about the best supplied one in all Europe. I
never crossed the Border but once in my life, and then it was
to pay a visit to the late Mr. Dalgleish, sometime one of the
C 2


20
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
members for Glasgow, who had a beautiful estate called
Kilmardinnie, close to the great city on the Clyde. Such
breakfasts we used to have at Kilmardinnie! Fresh trout,
game pies, cold venison, a baron of beef on the sideboard,
home-made scones, potato scones, white puddings, and Scotch
“baps,” to say nothing of Dundee marmalade and Scotch
bannocks.
Breakfast Dishes.
Before discussing the important question, What shall we
have for breakfast ? it is expedient to determine with
accuracy what is meant by the term “ breakfast” itself. There
are breakfasts and breakfasts; and it so happens that the
bravest, the honestest, the truthfullest, and the most meat-
eating peoples under the sun, the Germans and the Britons,
with their transatlantic descendants and their Australasian
brethren, are the only races who give the proper appella-
tion to the first meal of the day. We break our fast at eight
or nine a.m., and we rightly term that meal“ breakfast.”
Quite as appropriately do the Teutons call their fracture
of fast Morgenbrod. The Italians ought to say rompere il
digiuno, when they take their coffee and bread and butter
in the morning. They prefer to ask simply for their
early morning caffè, and with them breakfast is la cola-
zione. It is in reality our lunch. The lively Gaul's
déjeuner à la fourchette is also lunch, and not literally the
breaking of a fast. Stay: the Spaniards rightly give the
name of desayuno to the matutinal cup of chocolate, corrected
· by a glass of cold water and a crust of bread; but, on the other
hand, the Anglo-Indian's first meal of tea or coffee, with a
little bread and butter, or bread and jam, generally brought to
the bedside between five and six in the morning, is known as
chotahazri, which means "little breakfast.” A big breakfast,


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
comprising various curries, follows at ten, to be succeeded at
two p.m. by a copious tiffin; but at this repast, and at the
dinner, which takes place at seven or eight, it is no longer good
form, in smart Anglo-Indian society, to serve curry. But of
curry I shall have something to say presently.*
English people eat, as a rule, a great deal too much
meat and not half enough vegetables. The Australians
are literally gorgers of beef and mutton; and it is an equally
common and painful spectacle to see a little New South
Wales or a Victorian child devouring mutton chops or
rump steaks at eight or nine o'clock in the morning. The
Americans are quite as great sinners in this respect; and small
Miss Columbia or diminutive Master Birdofreedom Saurin will
think nothing of “wolfing” pork-steak, tender loin-steak, and
mutton cutlets, after the hominy or the crushed wheat, and
prior to the buckwheat cakes soaked in butter and drenched
with maple syrup. Our transatlantic cousins have also an
unholy fondness for fried potatoes at breakfast-time. Of
their equally passionate liking for hot bread I will say
nothing; because we also in this country have a penchant for
hot buttered toast and hot French rolls. I had a friend once
who prided himself on the possession of a cook unequalled in
the invention of breakfast dishes. One of these devices was
to send half a pound of prime Epping or Cambridge sausages
to the family baker, and request him to insert the sausages
in the dough of as many rolls. They came home smoking,
and saturated with the grease from the porcine compost.
My friend went to Rome; and I learned that he succeeded in
persuading the people at Nazzari’s restaurant, in the Piazza
di Spagna, to supply muffins with anchovies inside them.
This fanatic of the breakfast-table died early, and lies buried
in the Protestant cemetery at Rome hard by the pyramid of
Caius Cestius.
If we banish butchers' meat from breakfast, it remains
* See p. 28.


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
to be seen what viands I propose to put on the table
at a meal which, obeying the laws of this terrible English
climate of ours, we are bound to make a substantial one.
Frequently, when I have returned from a long Continental
journey, I have taken it into my head to ordain that the
hours of our eating should be à la Française—that is to
say, café au lait and bread and butter at eight a.m.; déjeuner
à la fourchette at noon precisely, and dinner at six. The
experiment, after a week or two, usually turned out a dis-
astrous failure; the café au lait, somehow or other, never
seemed so good as it is in France; and an hour after it was
consumed we were ravenous for food. The twelve o'clock
collation is really an enjoyable meal, and we were quite
ready for dinner at six ; only, unfortunately, if we asked
any of our friends to dine with us at that hour, they
would stare with astonishment, and perhaps plead that they
had a prior engagement. So we had to go back to our
old time-table-breakfast at nine, lunch at half-past one or
two, tea at five o'clock, and dinner at eight. We always
regarded the last as being more of a social ceremonial than
a “square” meal; the late dinner with us was an act of
thankfulness for the day's work being done, and of our
being able to throw off the cares of business, and chat cosily
and light-heartedly. We ate very little, but liked the little
to be tasty.
With regard, however, to breakfast, it should be, although
excluding chops and steaks and cold meat, a hearty one;
and nothing else will ever do to begin the day with, in
this land of fog and darkness, rain and rawness, and omni-
present smoke. Thus an English breakfast menu should
include kedgeree, at least one of ten kinds of omelettes ;
sausages; eggs, fried, boiled, poached, scrambled, and au
miroir; sinoked salmon (the Dutch is the best, smoked
by the Jews: it is horribly dear, but delicious), potted
shrimps, bloaters, or eggs and bacon, kippers, fried sardines,


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
now and then a little potted meat, dry toast (avoid buttered
toast), and plenty of bread and butter, tea, coffee, or cocoa.
When you have young and lady guests, marmalade and
honey should make their appearance at the board ; and when
you have any male friends with “hunters' appetites,” bid
Mrs. Cook send them up broiled chicken and devilled kidneys
arranged in various ways. Mushrooms and bacon are like-
wise a very favourite dish, and, of course, among the dried
fish figures the hoinely haddock, and among the fresh fish,
plain boiled sole, whiting, and mackerel — but don't eat
mackerel too often.
Finally, I must say something about breakfast which
should have been said at the beginning of this chat. Break-
fast should invariably be prefaced with fruit. I do most
firmly and abidingly hold with the Spanish proverb, that
the gifts of Pomona are gold in the morning, silver at
noon, and lead at night. Many folks cannot always afford
grapes; but oranges in their season—we are not half enough
grateful for oranges—are usually wonderfully cheap; and if
the golden fruit fail us, we have always the apple with
us, be it from Kent, from Devon, from America, or from
Tasmania—the toothsome, handsome, sociable, health-pre-
serving apple.
Salads.
About salads, one of the most delightful and the healthiest
of Heaven's gifts to man, many pages could be written;
but in this place brevity is necessary, and will be observed.
I cannot refrain, however, from referring to Sydney Smith's
oft-quoted “Recipe for a Winter Salad,” originally written
in an album at Castle Howard. All my readers may not
have read this famous formula, so I give it:-


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
“Two large potatoes, passed through kitchen sieve,
Unwonted softness to the salad give.
Of mordant mustard add a single spoon
Distrust the condiment which bites too soon-
But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault
To add a double quantity of salt.
Three times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And once with vinegar procured from town.
True flavour needs it, and your poet begs
The pounded yellow of two well-boiled eggs.
Let onion's atoms lurk within the bowl,
And, scarce suspected, animate the whole.
And lastly, on the flavoured compound toss
A magic teaspoon of anchovy sauce.”
Now, the Rev. Sydney Smith was a very witty and
amiable cleric; but I maintain, nevertheless, that his salad
is simply a barbarous mess, fit only for the consumption
of Goths, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Huns, and Vandals. Two
large potatoes passed through a kitchen sieve! Shade of
Parmentier! Mordant mustard in a salad! A double
quantity of salt, and a teaspoonful of anchovy sauce! As
for the onion atoms, lurking in the bowl, they are altogether
intolerable if ladies are to partake of the salad. For male
consumption a few spring onions may occasionally be allowed.
The French put no onions in a green salad; but they rub
a crust of bread with garlic. This, technically known as
a chapon, is placed in the salad bowl, and rapidly tossed
to and fro while the herbs are being mixed; but before
serving, the garlic-imbued chapon is removed. Although
potatoes in a green salad should be altogether tabooed, the
tuber makes an excellent salad by itself, and an equally
good and cheap soup.
Among very cheap salads, also, I recommend tomatoes
dressed with oil and vinegar and a little chopped shallot.
Fifty years ago tomatoes, or “love-apples,” were scarce and


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
1, aga mitted to still the
dear, and were usually sold, preserved in bottles, as sauce
for hot meat. At present there is usually an ample supply,
and sometimes a glut, of tomatoes, English or foreign, sold
at very reasonable prices. The fruit-vegetable—or vegetable-
fruit—has become amazingly popular with the working-
classes, who often munch them raw, as they do apples ;
but they would relish them much more, I think, if they cut
the tomatoes into slices and dressed them in a salad as
above; or if they stuffed them with a mixture of chopped
herbs, any scraps of meat, to the lowliest, that come handy,
bread-crumb, and a little egg just to bind the stuffing; and so
steam them till quite hot. And, again, there would not be
the slightest harm in putting the stuffed tomatoes under-
neath the meat which is to be roasted. They will then prove
excellent sops-in-the-pan, and a relief to the monotony of
the baked potato.
But to return to green salads, as to the dressing of which
people are apt to be very dogmatical, and occasionally very
ill-tempered. Most men have their recipe for salad dressing,
just as nearly every woman has her own recipe for a plum
pudding, which recipe is, in nine cases out of ten, that
which was used by her mother.
Some hold with simple lettuce, just moistened all over
with vinegar and dusted with sugar. Another method that
has been dogmatically insisted upon as the only orthodox
one, is to wipe each leaf of lettuce dry; then to bring plenty
of oil in contact with every part of the surface, finishing
with the smallest dash of vinegar and a dust of salt. This,
minus the salt, is my own dressing for lettuce salad; but
when I have guests I allow fantasy to have some slight sway
in the salad-bowl. A favourite Parisian top-dressing is to
place a few fresh-water crayfish on the summit of the
verdure. Crayfish form a very pretty garnish indeed for
all fish salads; but when the crayfish are scarce and dear,
decorate with shrimps or prawns.


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Macaroni, Risotto, and Polenta.
I want to expatiate briefly on three staples of Italian
good cheer-macaroni, risotto, and polenta. As a rule,
English cooks use macaroni barbarously. Usually, they
either over-boil or under-boil it; and when it comes to table
it resembles either so many tobacco pipes with the bowls.
knocked off, or so much “Stickphast” boiled, and garnished
with badly grated cheese. I have known cooks who boiled
macaroni in milk ; and, sad to say, I have had guests who
ought to have known better actually ask for mustard with
their macaroni. Benighted beings!
With respect to risotto, it may be hinted that the Milan-
ese add a little saffron to it, for the double purpose of giving
it an attractive hue, and of correcting the tendency of rice to
swell and impede digestion. The Romans often mingle with
their risotto either sausage-meat, or a mince of chicken livers,
or very finely shredded cooked bacon. You will find from the
recipes* what risotto is, and you or your cook can indulge
your fancy by adding what tasty things you like to the
fundamental preparation of rice, butter, and grated cheese.
Any cold meat you have left, or remains of made dishes, may
be utilised for risotto ; and any kind of cheese, cheap or dear,
that is hard enough to grate, will serve instead of Parmesan.
If, for example, you take the dark yellow, strong-flavoured
Gloucester cheese, you need not use so inuch saffron, which
some might object to as a kind of “ doctors stuff”; but in
any case I advise young housekeepers of moderate means
to try macaroni and risotto, the accessories to both of which
are very cheap. For the little ones, of course, macaroni
boiled in milk, or made into a sweet pudding, with custard,
and lightly baked, will prove a delicious and wholesome dish.
And, while we are on the pudding subject, let me remind
* See Index to Recipes.


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
27
mothers who wish to give their children a change in the way
of sweet diet, that a half-quartern loaf boiled in milk till it
swells to twice its size, and served with stewed prunes, is
a dish that will delight the youngsters, and be very good
for their health besides. If they “kick” at the stewed
prunes, give them stewed pears, nicely coloured with a little
cochineal.
And now for polenta. This is nothing but Indian corn-
flour, easy enough, in all conscience, to procure. Polenta is
the food of high and low througbout Italy. King Victor
Emanuel once, recovering from a severe illness, and being
asked what nourishment would be inost grateful to him, re-
plied naturally, “ A bowl of polenta.” You may cook it by drop-
ping into three pints of boiling water three-quarters of a pound
of semolina, maize, or corn-flour; then boil the liquid to the
consistency of very thick gruel; lubricate with a pat of
butter, and season with pepper and salt. The only drawback
of polenta-eating is that a couple of hours after devouring
two or three bowls of it you feel hungry again. There is a
polenta for the luxurious, in which may be mingled blanched
and fried sweetbreads, with mushrooms, and even truffles;
the whole being moistened with brown sauce and garnished
with forcemeat balls, egged-and-bread-crumbed, and lightly
fried.
A favourite way of serving polenta is in combination
with small birds, larks or thrushes for instance. The polenta
is boiled to the consistency of a batter pudding, say half an
inch thick, and is cut into the shape of a hollow circle or,
better still, of a horseshoe. On this circular band you
place your little birds at regular intervals. In the centre
of the dish put a circular medallion of polenta, with three
birds arranged in a pyramid.


CHAT'S ABOUT COOKERY.
are kinds of curry to be served; for the list of Indian
curries comprises “Lord Clive,” “ Malay,” “Dry Madras,"
“J. P.,” “Mrs. W.,” for sweetbread, prawn, lobster, fish,
vegetables, and mulligatawny, to say nothing of “pish-pash,"
"devil-pot,” and hard eggs. The serving of curry, however,
is still incomplete. It must be accompanied by chutney,
one kind of which is made of stoned raisins, garlic, shallot,
chillies, mustard, salt, and sour apples all pounded together,
with brown sugar and vinegar.
There is another chutney made of tamarinds, tomatoes,
lemon-peel, raisins, mustard, chillies, treacle, and vinegar.
There is, furthermore, an exquisite chutney made in Ceylon,
as a zest for the equally exquisite and famous Cingalese
prawn-curry, which is one of the many glories of the
capital cuisine of the Grand Oriental Hotel at Colombo.
Into the composition of this fascinating condiment, grated
cocoanut and pounded chillies enter largely; and the hue
of the engaging substance is a delicate pink. The object
of all these inventions is to heighten the temperature of
the curry itself in a greater or lesser degree, according
to taste. (English curries, by the way, are almost in-
variably too hot; they are usually as fiery as whitebait
in the “red-devil” stage.) In addition, there may be served
with the curry the carefully dried ard salted slips of fish
facetiously known as “Bombay ducks”; and again, at
Colombo, there is brought with the curry another adden-
dum, somewhat resembling the “ratafie” of the Emperor
Akbar, being a thin, almost transparent cake, about the
size of a cheese-plate, and called “popodam.” To the
uninitiated, this Cingalese dainty has a suspicious resem-
blance to a mixture of oatmeal and petroleum. It is made
really of “dhall,” or “doll” (ground pulse), and “ghee"
(liquefied butter), compounded with asafoetida, which
loses its odious smell in cooking, and could well be modified
in England by a mixture of potato flour and fresh butter.


30
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Finally, curry should never be eaten with a knife and fork,
but with a fork and spoon. If the globe-trotters returning
from the burning land of India would teach us to eat
curry as the Anglo-Indians eat it; if they would only tell
us something about Madras anchovy toast; about “ Agha's
beard,” and “country captain ”; about cocoa-nut pudding,
yam pudding, cocoa-nut soup, and cucumber preserve, they
might at least lay the foundation of an English tiffin a
hundred times more appetising and more wholesome than
the monotonous dishes which weary us at luncheon, in this
land of fogs, poor cookery, indigestion, and the “ blues.”
What shall we do with the Scraps ?
M. Octave Suzanne was once so courteous as to send me,
from the Place Parmentier, Neuilly, near Paris, a copy of a
little book of a hundred and seventy pages, purporting to be
the third series of his “ Petite Encyclopédie Culinaire," being
“ Cent Cinquante Manières d'Utiliser les Restes”; a concise
little manual for the use of housekeepers who are at a loss
to know how to make dainty dishes out of scraps. I read
the manual from beginning to end with great interest, and I
hope with some benefit to myself, in which benefit I now
wish my readers to share. The author good-naturedly tra-
verses Boileau's famous assertion—to be sure, the great
satirist made it in verse, and poets are apt to be somewhat
arbitrary in their statements—that a dinner warmed up
again was never good for anything. M. Suzanne proves to
demonstration that when a dinner, or what remains of it, is
re-cooked with skill and discrimination, “metamorphosed
with taste, and presented under an appetising form,” it can
be made quite as good, if not better than it was in its
- original shape.


CHAT'S ABOUT COOKERY.
31
·
Thus the author of the “ Little Culinary Encyclopædia”
tells us how to “accommodate” the “restes,” or scraps of
beef, mutton, veal, poultry, game, fish, and even of bread.
Let us see how he deals with the staff of life. The house-
holds must be few in which there will not be found remains
of the bread of yesterday, or of the day before yesterday.
These stale crusts may be made into “panada,” by putting
the bread broken into bits into a stew-pan, covering it with
water, and steaming it with salt and pepper. The bread
must be allowed to soak for twenty minutes ; then the stew-
pan is put on the fire, and stirred with a wooden spoon until
it boils. An ounce of butter is now added, and the “panada”
is allowed to simmer gently for an hour. Just before serving,
another piece of butter must be added, and the yolks of three
eggs. If you like, you may moisten your “panada” with
broth or with milk, instead of water.
“Klossen,” German fashion, may be made from very
stale bread soaked in hot milk, then drained and put into a
stewpan with butter. It is seasoned with salt, pepper,
and ginger; then it is made into little rolls, poached or
.steamed, and finally these are served up in the form of a
pyramid, accompanied by any one of a long list of sauces,
the composition of which M. Suzanne exactly prescribes.
You may have over your stale bread-rolls Spanish, Bécha-
mel, mayonnaise, Tartar, ravigote, mustard, mint, horse-
radish, curry, tomato, piquante, or Maître d'Hôtel sauce.
With a little hunger, which is the best sauce of all, “ Klossen"
will be found, I should say, a very appetising dish.
Finally, the stalest of stale bread can be utilised by
grating it, and passing it through a tammy for use in egging
and bread-crumbing cutlets and rissoles. M. Suzanne has in
his manual half a dozen recipes for making bread puddings,
in the French, German, and English manners. He has
also had the good sense to import into his volume a capital
recipe for that truly British dish, bubble-and-squeak, and


32
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
another for toad-in-the-hole; although, I may hint to
him, in connection with the last-named dainty, that on the
Continent I have frequently met with a mutton cutlet baked
or fried in batter, but served singly, and called a cutlet “à la
Nelson.” He seems equally well acquainted with our dry
and buttered toast, with chicken-and-ham sandwiches, and
even with water-zootje, which, he aptly observes, may, in
the case of salmon, be served cold as well as hot. I dissent,
however, from my esteemed con frère when he says that a
mayonnaise sauce should be served apart, with cold water-
zootje of salmon. If the zootje, or the liquor in which the
salmon has been boiled, with a diversity of herbs, have a
glass of white wine added to it, it will need no kind of sauce
at all beyond cayenne or Nepaul pepper. Many of these
hundred and fifty recipes for turning the scraps to account
are familiar to English plain cooks; but there are many
more which will be of the nature of a revelation to British
housekeepers.
Hash.
“In the name of the Prophet-Hash !” It should, of
course, properly be "figs, but that does not matter, since
the Turks make very nice hashes of lamb and poultry ;
but the hash with which I have to do is the dish popular
in English middle-class households, and even more widely
patronised in the United States, where, in the North, at
least, the colloquial name for what is known in England
as a “genteel boarding establishment” is a “hash-house."
It is a sufficiently curious fact, to begin with, that
although the word hash is undeniably derived from the
French hachis, and Molière speaks of a glutton who
devoured two partridges and half a leg of mutton en
hachis, the specific term rarely appears in modern French


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
bills of fare; and, indeed, old French cookery-books, in
their recipes for a hachis, prescribe what seems to be a
kind of stew of meat, cut up very small, mingled with
sausage - meat, chopped parsley, and onions, and served
with a garnish, sometimes of fried eggs, and sometimes of
tomatoes. The French kitchen also comprises boulettes
of very finely chopped meat, herbs, and seasoning, which
are browned in a stewpan and served with a rich sauce,
into the composition of which garlic largely enters. These
boulettes would seem to be cousins - german to the
American dainties known as “hash-balls,” which are com-
posed of minced cold roast meat, mixed with cold boiled
potatoes chopped; seasoned with pepper and salt, and a
little gravy, made into balls, covered with egg and bread
crumb, and fried a light brown in butter, lard, or dripping
As regards the British middle-class hash, it is fitting
that I should briefly give my own personal experiences of
the matter — experiences which go back more than fifty
years. My mother, who had a large family to keep on
very slender means, had all her children, boys and girls
alike, systematically and practically taught to cook. She
was a West Indian, and in the old slave-owning days the
West Indies were a paradise of good cookery. She was the
widow of an Italian gentleman, and there are very few
Italians who do not interest themselves in culinary matters.
I was a sickly, nervous child, and could not stand the
fierce heat of a kitchen range. The most arduous culinary
labour which I ventured to undertake was the cooking
of a couple of kidneys, or some bacon, or a spitful of larks
in a Dutch oven before the fire; but I was not a bad
hand at making sauces; and, above all, I was proficient
in the preparation of hash, which—don't be shocked—I
have cooked scores of times in our drawing-room on the
first floor of Number something, Regent's Quadrant, when
William IV. was King.
D


31
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
The way of it was this :-We often had a roast leg of
mutton on Sunday. Monday we ate it cold; Tuesday was
hash-day. My mother used to be away every day from
eleven till four, giving lessons in Italian singing to the
nobility and gentry, but before she went out on hash-days
I was put through my paces in the initial stages of hash-
making. When she saw me carefully occupied in cutting
the cold mutton into thin slices, seasoning them with salt
and pepper, and dredging a little flour over them, she would
give me a kiss and depart on her daily toil. I let the
sliced mutton rest till noon, and read my book. Then
I proceeded to cook in a stew-pan a finely minced onion,
lubricated with a bit of butter, moistened with half a pint
of beef gravy stock, or with some “glaze.” The flavouring
was sometimes a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup, or quite
as often some burnt onions, which, however, I carefully
removed from the stew-pan when the sauce was cooked.
Then my slices of mutton went into a large stew-pan,
which I simmered-oh, so gently—till the flour with which
I dredged the meat had thickened the sauce; then I
drew the stew-pan on to the hob, and left it there, still
gently, gently cooking in its various juices; and then I
read my book till my mother came home. Meanwhile,
her maid had laid the table for us two—for all my brothers
and sisters were away from home during several years of
my childhood. When my parent arrived, she took the
stew-pan from the hob, and put it on the fire to give it
that final boil up which I was too small and too inex-
perienced to impart to it. It is only the hand of the master
or mistress-cook that is skilful enough to administer that
final boil up; but I had not been wasting my tiine, for I
had carefully toasted some bread, and cut the sippets to
be placed round the hash, when it was poured into a
hot dish, to be heartily and gratefully partaken of by
the poor widowed gentlewoman and your humble servant.


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
33
This is why I have always been interested in hash,
and have ventured to tell you something about it in
my Cookery Book.
Old-Fashioned Puddings.
I was turning over the other day that very interesting
manual of cookery called “Kettner's Book of the Table,"
the recipes in which are due to the late M. Kettner, who
who was once, I believe, chef to Leopold, King of the
Belgians, and who established that very well-known re-
staurant, the Hôtel du Pavillon, in Church Street, Soho. The
literary portion of Kettner's book was contributed by my
deceased friend E. M. Dallas, of the Times, who was himselt
a technical expert in culinary matters. For the benefit of
those who are fond of chestnuts, I will give, roughly, the
recipe for a Nesselrode pudding, according to Kettner-Dallas.
So many chestnuts peeled, blanched in boiling water for
five ininutes, deprived of their thickened skin ; placed in
stew-pan with syrup and a stick of vanilla ; simmered till
the chestnuts are done, when they are drained, and pressed
through a fine hair sieve; add yolks of eggs, boiled cream,
pounded sugar, a gill of maraschino, stoned raisins; put
all in a freezing-pot on the ice, add currants and raisins,
put the pudding in an ice-mould, imbed the mould in
ice, and let it remain for two hours.*
What has all this to do with old-fashioned puddings ?
my readers may ask. Everything, I answer. Mr. Dallas
tells us that Nesselrode pudding was invented many years
ago by Mony, chef to the renowned Russian diplomatist
Count Nesselrode, the statesman who had the impu-
dence to call Italy a “geographical expression.” When
Carême heard of this, which is perhaps the most perfect
* For further details, see p. 429.
D 2


36
THE THOROUGII GOOD COOR.
of iced-puddings, he almost burst with envy. He could
not but praise the pudding; but he declared that Mony
had taken the idea of it from the chestnut pudding in-
vented by himself. As a matter of fact, neither Mony nor
Carême invented the chestnut pudding, any more than they
invented the sempstress's thimble or the mariner's compass.
I find a capital recipe for a chestnut pudding in the “ Art
of Cookery,” by dear old Mistress Hannah Glasse ; and the
first edition of her immortal work was published in the
year 1747, at least a hundred years before Nesselrode pudding
came into fashion. The only material difference between
Hannah's recipe and Kettner's is that the lady prescribes
orange-flower or rose-water in lieu of vanilla, and sack
(or sherry) instead of maraschino; and finally, her pudding
is served hot. On the other hand, were it iced, it would
be, to all intents and purposes, a Nesselrode pudding.
I don't say that even Hannah invented the chestnut-
pudding. Most of the very nicest dishes in the world's
cuisine are of such immense antiquity as utterly to baffle
the researches of the culinary antiquarian. Nobody knows
the origin of Sauce Robert; or can tell after what Queen
Potage à la Reine was first called. The original Robert
may have been Robert le Diable, and the original Queen,
Cleopatra.
The Wise Man told us ages ago that there is nothing
new under the sun; and I have long been, after sedulous
study, both theoretical and practical, of cookery and of
culinary literature, strongly of the opinion that, in the art
in question, no discoveries of any great importance have
been made since the middle of the eighteenth century,
except the general utilisation of the tomato in cookery, and
the general employment of the potato as an adjunct to
savoury dishes. Beyond these two items, with the trifling
one of sea-kale, I fail to see that we have added anything
of much moment to our culinary arsenal. The Romans


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
made extensive use of truffles, which they fantastically im-
agined to be the product of thunder; and mushrooms were
so highly esteemed by the ancients as to be called the
“food of the gods.” They were also well acquainted with
hasty pudding, made from maize and milk; and the Car-
thaginians seem to have indulged in a pudding of red
wheat flour, mixed with cream cheese, honey, and eggs.
In the modern cuisine we have probably at least two
hundred puddings to which all kinds of fancy names have
been given; but if the components of these modern
puddings are carefully analysed, it will be found, I venture
to think, that nearly all of them are only ancient puddings
with modern designations. It is the remembrance of how
many dainty dishes, which we think quite modern, are of
very antique lineage that has prompted this “chat” on
“Old-Fashioned Puddings.”
Confectionery.
One can scarcely go wrong, I should say, in prefacing a
little essay on sweetmeats with a reference to Gunter. I
have before me a trim little octavo, entitled “The Confec-
tioner's Oracle," containing recipes for dessert on the most
economical plan for private families, and all founded on the
actual experiments, during thirty years, of William Gunter.
The book is dated 1830, and the author must, consequently,
have been practising the confectioner's art ever since the
beginning of the century. The frontispiece, moreover, is the
portrait of Mr. Gunter himself, with his autograph. The
confectioner is a serene little gentleman, with mutton-chop
whiskers, and a very tall white cravat, who is sitting at a
table in his studio surrounded by dainty dishes.
It is also worthy of remark that the portrait is litho-


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
graphed by “J. Netherclift,” who possibly was the father
of the well-known expert in handwriting. Whether
this Mr. William Gunter had any connection with the
historic firm of confectioners and caterers still flourishing in
Berkeley Square and in Belgravia, I have not the remotest
idea; but his education, to judge from the preface to
his Oracle, certainly does not seem to have been neglected.
He begins his preface with the remark that “in this
country the art of confectionery has hitherto, for the
most part, been surrounded with as many mysteries as the
temple of Osiris used to be among the ancient Egyptians,
or as the craft of freemasonry is at the present day.”
Gunter quotes Virgil, Horace, and Metastasio in the
original tongues. He speaks enthusiastically of Tommy
Moore as “the exquisite Moore," and fancies that the diet
of the poet must have been composed from his childhood
of méringues, ice cream, and maraschino. “We have,” he
adds, in an off-hand manner, “a very similar thought
in Anacreon, as applied by him to an early Greek poet-I
forget the number of the ode.” But Gunter, after dallying
in his preface, and telling his readers how he was in the
habit of dining with that eccentric but amiable and intel-
ligent man, the late Dr. Kitchiner, in Warren Street, Fitzroy
Square, and how the doctor said to him, as the dessert made
its appearance,“ Gunter, my friend, for the benefit of mankind,
you ought to write a book on confectionery as a companion to
mine on the art of cookery,” becomes solidly practical, and
informs his readers how to clarify loaf-sugar, and how to
classify the different degrees of sugar as the large and
small “ thread,” the "pearl,” the “blow," the “feather,” the
“ball,” the “crack,” and the “caramel.” Then he launches
into pistachios and nut prawlings—“ prawlings” is a con-
fectionery technicality to describe articles preserved from
humidity by being covered with dry sugar. Next he waxes
eloquent on fruit pastes, harlequin candy, candied fruits,


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
39
jellies, syrups, and marmalades, grains of catechu, vanilla
cream, and especially ices, among which he mentions green
grape ice, gunpowder-tea ice, and Indian ice, which last
is made of the whipped yolks of twenty eggs, with two glasses
of liquor boiled with syrup in a pan, which is placed in a
freezing-pan lined with muslin. Gunter adds, in a footnote,
that in 1830 the “ beautiful Mrs. Palmer," in Calcutta, at
a table of extraordinary magnificence, was remarkable for
the quantity and tasteful variety of ices which she in-
troduced
The confectionery recipes which I have given* are not
exclusively from Gunter ; I have drawn on several French
and English works, ancient and modern, on the subject, and
have tried to simplify the recipes; and among the most lucid
of the books which I have consulted, I find Jarrin's “ Italian
Confectioner,” published in 1829, and “French Confectionery
Adapted for English Families,” by Miss Crawford, published
in 1853.
Pies, Patties, and Tarts.
There are only three nations in the world that know
how to make proper puddings. If in turning over your
cookery-books you chance to come across recipes for Dutch
pudding, Spanish pudding, Russian pudding, and the like,
put no trust in those formulas; they are mainly frauds.
The Briton, the Teuton, and the American alone possess
the art of pudding making. When, however, it comes to
a question of pies, patties, and tarts, I am afraid that John
Bull is equalled by some nations, and surpassed by others,
in the secret of appetisingly combining meat, game, fish, or
fruit with paste or crust.
Possibly in days gone by the English venison pasty was
* See “Sweets,” pp. 402-414.


40
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
supreme in its excellence. Pepys, who was a thoroughgoing
epicure, makes frequent allusions in his Diary to a veni-
son pasty as the solitary dish at a dinner which he distinctly
states to have been a very good one; but in modern England
the venison pasty is scarcely ever seen, save at hunting
breakfasts, at the seats of country squires. The raised pie,
when it does find a place in the modern bill of fare, is
usually of game or of foie gras truffled. Turkey pie, again, a
very noble form of pasty, is all but obsolete; and the same
may be said of that once universal favourite, goose pie. King
George IV., according to the Chronique Scandaleuse, was
lunching on goose pie and Dublin whisky on board the Royal
yacht in Kingstown Harbour when a messenger from London
entered the cabin and informed his Majesty that Queen
Caroline was dead. “Is she? by Jove!” exclaimed the
ainiable monarch, and went on eating goose-pie.
Although raised pies have in ordinary life been almost
entirely superseded by pies made in dishes and covered with
a cupola of crust, the castellated pie, or “coffin,” as our
ancestors used to call it, still holds its own at the hunting
breakfasts aforesaid and at fashionable suppers; while
curiously enough, our old partiality for the raised pasty
as a kind of national dish still dimly survives in those most
convenient and palatable edibles, the Watling and Melton-
Mowbray pork pies, which are really pasties or raised
pies in miniature. In one respect they may be considered
more relishable than their mediæval prototypes, since the
cheap and modest little pork pie up-to-date—an entire one
may be purchased for eightpence—contains between the
undercrust and the pork itself a layer of aspic or jelly, which
does not seem to have been an ingredient in the ancient
pasties.
The American pie, when composed of meat, is, of course,
covered with a crust; and pigeon pie, or one made of
“ squabs,” is a standing dish at most transatlantic table


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
d'hôtes. The transatlantic fruit pie, on the other hand, is
rarely covered, although the Americans persist in calling
it pie or “poy,” and are passionately fond of it. Britishers
would usually call it a tart with a thick under-crust.
Pumpkin pie may be considered as the essentially national
type of pastry and fruit in which brother Jonathan delights,
unless indeed you question the right of the pumpkin to be
called a fruit at all; in which case I must bring to your
notice huckleberry-pie, cranberry-pie, and pear-pie, all of
which we should term fruit tarts.
In noticing, however, the decline and fall of the venison
pasty, it would be unjust to ignore the Continental survival of
the raised pie in the shape of the always welcome “ Vol-au-
Vent,” a piece of pastry for which, since it presents consider-
able difficulty to the cook, I append here a seriously
thought-out recipe. Having prepared your puff paste with a
pound of flour and the same of butter, give it five turns,
moisten the surface of the paste, fold it in two, let it rest five
minutes, then place it on a floured sheet of paper, and cut
it to the size required for your "Vol-au-Vent.” The paste
should be cut to a shape for which the cover of a stew-pan
will serve very well. When cut, turn it out on a baking
sheet, flute the sides, and make a circular incision on the top,
half an inch from the circumference, then bake for thirty-five
minutes. When of a golden brown colour, take it out, open,
and empty it, slip on a hot dish, and fill your crust with a
ragoût composed of lamb's or calf's sweetbreads in slices,
scollops of fat liver, sliced truffles, mushrooms, cock’s-combs,
and quenelles. Put your ragoût in by layers, basting with
brown sauce and half a glass of Madeira. Then put on the
top, which Mrs. Cook may decorate according to her taste and
fancy. Let the “ Vol-au-Vent” have just another whiff of the
oven, and then serve it hot. The quenelles of which I speak
are merely a forcemeat of minced chicken mixed with eggs,
made into small shapes, and poached in boiling water.


TIIE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Savouries and Tit-Bits.
I venture to think that there is a mild kind of madness
prevailing among people who like nice dinners touching
savouries, and especially in connection with the stage of the
repast at which the zests in question should be served. Over
and over again have I said in print that when you have
consumed a well-cooked dinner, and have passed gently and
satisfactorily from the soup to the fish, thence to an entrée,
thence to a joint or some game, thence to a special dish of
vegetables, and finally to the sweets, it is in a sense mon-
strous to indulge in a savoury, the very taste of which must
necessarily spoil your appetite for dessert. How on earth can
you enjoy the exquisite flavour of peaches and grapes and
pine-apples, or good sound British apples, when your tongue
has only a minute or two previously been excited by cayenne
pepper or curry powder, or some other condiment used in
confecting these confounded savouries? Why do you eat
them? Our fathers used to devour devilled toast and pick
the burnt flesh from devilled bones after dinner and while
they were drinking their wine, and they did so in order to
provoke an artificial thirst which would stimulate them to
drink more wine. But delicate ladies and moderately drink-
ing gentlemen, who have not the slightest desire to swill
wine after dessert, have surely no need of savouries at the
end of dinner.
I know perfectly well, however, that when a lady has
made up her mind to anything, that thing has got to be
done; and so I have carefully selected some recipes for
savouries. To discover them in the best sources of culinary
information has been no easy task. They are almost entirely
ignored by such illustrious masters of the gastronomic art as
Ude and Carême. Even in a work so modern as Kettner's


: CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
“Book of the Table,” the late Mr. Dallas observes, on
the subject of hors d'ouvres or savouries, “There was a
time when these little articles demanded a good deal of
attention, but they are now of the smallest account, and
are little more than the trifles—prawns, olives, radishes, an-
chovies—which keep the customer occupied at the restaurant
while the dinner he has ordered is getting ready." Kettner's
“ Book of the Table” was published about twenty years ago,
but the fashion in savouries has changed in a most capricious
manner since Mr. Dallas's time. If you dine at a grand hotel,
say at the Albemarle, the Berkeley, or the Royal Palace Hotel,
Kensington, your relishes—anchovies, radishes, olives, Italian
salads, and what not—will be served as a prelude to your
dinner ; but at dinners in private life, the, to me, objection-
able savoury comes between the sweet and the dessert. In
the name of common sense, why? When I have friends
to dinner I feel compelled to submit myself to this silly
fashion, simply because it is my endeavour to study other
people's tastes rather than my own, and I shrink from laying
down laws which I am well aware would be only reluctantly
obeyed, if they were obeyed at all.
If you like to be sensible and take your relishes as an
overture and not a finale to your dinner, as the French, the
Germans, the Scandinavians, and the Russians do, let ine
recommend, in summer-time, as an admirable zest, a good
slice of melon, not dressed with sugar, but with pepper and
salt. Likewise, allow me most strongly to direct your atten-
tion to pickled tunny. They will give you tunny as a hors
d'auvre at the “Star and Garter” at Richmond, and at the
“ Greyhound," Hampton Court, and you should be able to
procure the article itself at Barto Valle's, or at any good
Italian warehouse.
There is also a favourite hot hors d'œuvre, to be served
at the end of dinner, called the “ Madison Canapé,” which will
be found in that great treasure-house of culinary lore, the


4+
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
“ Delmonico Cook Book," of which I have already spoken.
“ Madison canapés” are little slices of toast, covered with
thin slices of lean cooked ham, over which is spread a
little mustard. Then you add a layer of garnishing of
“à la Provençale," a little butter with a dash of white
wine. More grated Parmesan is dredged on the canapé, and
fresh bread-crumbs and a little more butter are strewn over
all. Place in a hot oven for ten minutes, and serve on a
folded napkin.
Potatoes.
Madame de Staël said that she did not believe in
ghosts, but that she was afraid of them. Not much more
paradoxical is it, I hope, for me to say that, although I do
not believe in potatoes, I recognise their great value in
the alimentation of humanity. The potato has, I suppose,
some nourishing qualities. Cobbett denied that fact alto-
gether, and called the potato “hogs' food.” Still, it is
sufficiently filling as an article of human diet. Its taste,
although insipid, is not disagreeable; and it is wholesome
when it is eaten ripe.
New potatoes should be cautiously dealt with, since they
contain an appreciable quantity of solanine — a vegetable
alkaloid very bitter and acrid, and highly poisonous. I
have heard, too, that what is called Elbe sherry is distilled
from potatoes. So the tuber which I so heartily detest
has its potable as well as its edible properties. I candidly
admit that my dislike for this particular vegetable has
become, in my mind, somewhat of a craze. I happened to
belong to a very delightful little club in London where you
have the advantage, if you choose to avail yourself of it,
of seeing your dinner cooked. This club has amongst its


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
45
-
members a goodly number of accomplished gourmets, and
I fear I have been designedly teased into a state of exas-
peration by references among my friends to a boiled potato.
It is to me what the red rag is to a bull.
The potato as an article of food in England, is, com-
paratively speaking, a modern innovation. We have heard
all about Sir Walter Raleigh's plantations in Ireland; but
I prefer to read how Raleigh, having planted potatoes in
his garden at Youghal, was the cause of bitter disappoint-
ment to his gardener, who, on tasting the apples of the fine
American fruit, found them very nasty. He subsequently
discovered that the tubers were edible, and he was there-
upon desired by his master to “throw away the useless
weeds.” Would that he had thrown them away for good
and all !
Moreover, at the period when Shakespeare spoke of "the
sky raining potatoes,” they were never used as an accom-
paniment to butcher's meat, or poultry, or any other favourite
dish. Gerard, the Elizabethan herbalist, who had himself
procured the plant from Virginia, especially recommends it
as the basis for delicate conserves and restorative sweet-
meats, with the assurance that its flatulent effects may be
infallibly corrected by having the roots sopped in wine;
adding that, to give the tubers the greater grace in eating,
they should be boiled with prunes.
Wishing, however, to be altogether impartial, and trans-
posing the old proverbial axiom, I fully recognise the fact
that what may be one man's poison may be another's
meat. Thus, for the benefit of those who like potatoes, I
have given a few recipes for the dressing of them, which
I think will be serviceable.* Let me add here another mode
of dressing potatoes as they have, for a hundred years past,
been served at Lyons, in France. Cut your potatoes in slices
of the circumference of a halfpenny, but twice as thick as
* See Index to Recipes.


46
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
that coin. Put half a pound of butter in a sauté-pan with
thirty button onions cut in rings. Place on the fire, and
when the onions take a golden colour, put in your potatoes,
seasoned with chopped parsley, salt, lemon - juice, and a
good pinch of black pepper. Stir while they fry; when
they become a deep yellow, serve.
Eggs.
Victor Hugo was accustomed to say that there were few
things more inherently equivocal than an egg, and that he
never broke the shell of one without a dim apprehension
that the unexpected might suddenly make its appearance.
It is certain that very strange things have from time to time
come out of eggs, in addition to the chicken which they
should normally produce.
When the luxury of the Second Empire was at its
height, and the practice of giving Easter eggs was carried
to an unheard-of degree of extravagance, it is said
that Mademoiselle Hortense Schneider, the once renowned
heroine of opéra-bouffe, received a Paschal present pur-
porting to be an egg, of such huge dimensions that it had
to be carried upstairs by two stout porters. On being opened
it was found to contain an elegant Victoria drawn by two
cream-coloured ponies.
But it is only of eggs in connection with cookery that
I am at present treating, and I am bound solemnly to admit
that English people rarely do sufficient culinary justice to
the appetising offerings of Dame Partlet the hen. Boiled
eggs for breakfast, fried or poached with bacon or ham,
hard-boiled eggs in salad, and in sauce for salt fish, scrambled
or mixed with rice in kedgeree—when one has mentioned


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
thes3 the catalogue of egg preparations has been pretty
well exhausted.
Eggs are, of course, used to a prodigious extent in the
making of cakes and puddings; but our neighbours the
French probably use millions more of eggs every year for
the making of those omelettes in the confection of which
very few English cooks are even tolerably proficient. A
simple omelette should be made solely and exclusively of
eggs; but in England there exists a preposterous delusion
that milk, and even flour, may be added to the mixture
in the pan, the result being the production of a stodgy,
lumpy, indigestible mass, which is frequently fried a dingy
brown instead of being of a delicate pale golden hue.
I have given some carefully - thought-out recipes for
savoury egg dishes ;* but when I tell you that the chef to
the Duke of Bedford once sent me a little book of his
composition in which there were at least a hundred and
fifty recipes for dressing eggs, you will be able to form an
idea of the variety and skill with which the French dress
this eminently palatable and nourishing food.
rin
Oysters.
To talk of oysters as an important factor in cooking at
a period when there is practically an oyster famine, and
when at some of the most noted shell-fish shops in London
and at the watering-places the proprietors sorrowfully inform
you that, owing to the almost prohibitive price of natives, they
do a much larger trade in crabs, lobsters, haddocks, potted
shrimps, and even in dried sprats from Norway and pickled
anchovies, than they do in Colchesters or Whitstables,
seems almost like a mockery. I have ventured, however,
* See pp. 389-396.


48
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
to give a few recipes of oyster cookery * out of the very
large number of such formulas which I have collected, in
the hope that the exorbitant price of this delicious and
wholesome food will, ere long, be reduced to something like
moderate proportions—and moderation in the oyster tariff
is to be represented by two shillings a dozen for natives,
eighteenpence for middling, and one shilling for cooking
oysters: that is to say, such bivalves as are used in making
oyster sauce, oyster soup, and oyster patties. Large oysters,
too, can be advantageously used for pickling
An ingenious artist once painted a picture representing
the first discovery of the oyster by man. But who the
first man was who met an oyster on the seashore, and how he
opened it, and how he ate it, the wisest of us cannot tell.
The Pontiffs of Pagan Rome caused oysters, so we are told, to
be served at every repast; but the delicacy must have been
very expensive, since a basket of oysters cost the equi-
valent of £9 sterling. They were served raw, and were
dexterously opened by a slave at a side table at the beginning
of the dinner. The inhabitants of the sea-coast of ancient
Italy preferred large oysters, not so large, I hope as those
American varieties of the species—huge, long, and grey in
hue-the consumption of which once made Mr. Thackeray
observe that he felt as though he had swallowed a baby,
and which another traveller in the United States likened
to the tongue of an indisposed giant.
There is a story told of an astute Roman epicure named
Fulvius Hirpinus, who constructed on his estate, close to
the seashore, a fish - pond where he stored or “parked ”
oysters, which he fattened with paste and cooked wine,
worked to the consistency of honey. I say that he was
astute, since, after he had regaled himself and friends on
these artificially fattened oysters, he drove a roaring trade
in selling them wholesale and retail to the nobility and gentry
* See Index to Recipes.


CHATS ABOUT COORERY.
49
of Rome. Oddly enough, in a comparatively modern cookery-
book-that of “Will Rabisha ”_I find a direction—which
seems to be a pretty ferocious one—that while oysters are
undergoing the process of broiling they should be fed with
white wine and grated bread. Of course many ways were
adopted in those days for the feeding of oysters; but a paste
of oatmeal and water seems to have been the staple of the
sustenance given to the creatures before they were considered
to be fit for the table.
I remember once receiving a letter from a gentleman
belonging to the Bureau of Education at Washington, U.S.A.,
who gave me the following formula for steaming oysters :-
“The oysters are steamed in their shells. When their
mouths open it is an indication that the festive bivalves
are ready to tickle the epicurean palates of the average
American legislator. A hot soup-plate is then taken, well larded
with fresh butter, seasoned with black pepper and fresh
salt, and the oysters are thrown into the sauce. A peculiar
kind of 'chow-chow' is eaten with the steamed oyster,
very highly seasoned. It is prepared by Harvey especially
for the purpose. Beer is the beverage to be imbibed on
this important occasion, and I should advise Milwaukee beer
by all means.” My correspondent added that “ Oliver
Wendell Holmes says in one of his books that two immense
oysters should be carved in marble and placed on top of
the Washington monument in Baltimore, instead of the
statue of the immortal George. I am not in favour of re-
moving the Father of his Country from off his imposing
pedestal, but should like to compromise matters by making
him sit on a pile of oyster-shells in lieu of a curule chair.”


50
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Cold Fish.
The late Viscountess Combermere, whose friendship I had
the privilege to enjoy for more than fifty years, was in
many respects a remarkable lady. She was an accom-
plished musician, a fluent writer, a delightfully humorous
artist, a sprightly sayer of epigrammatic things; and she
was accustomed to give at her hospitable mansion in Belgrave
Square dinners and luncheons which were second to none
in the fashionable world of London as regarded the fault-
less quality of the cuisine and the spice of novelty which
the noble hostess scarcely ever failed to impart to her
entertainments. For example, towards the close of a wonder-
fully varied luncheon, a dish of Hampshire bacon boiled with
Windsor broad beans would make its welcome appearance-
a dish altogether after Sir Henry Thompson's heart; and I
have even seen a boiled leg of pork—a very small one, be it
said-figure on the bill of fare at one of the Belgravian dinners.
In very hot summer weather Lady Combermere would
often give dinners which, with the exception of the soup, were
entirely cold—cold fish, cold entrées, cold joint, cold vegetables,
cold removes, cold sweets. On the eve of one of her feasts, at
which I knew the Russian Ambassador would be present, I
did my best to persuade her to have a cold soup “à la Russe,”
a pottage in which pieces of cold fish, cucumber, and ice
form part of the ingredients; but, after long hesitation,
my proposal met with a reluctant veto. She was afraid, so
Lady Combermere said, of that very ancient individual,
British Prejudice. Of the cold fishes served at her table,
I have always preserved the liveliest remembrance; and
occasionally, when we have an un-English summer, that
is to say, a hot and sunny one, we give a quiet little dinner of
six or eight, at which everything, save the soup, is cold.
But even under these circumstances, I confess that I cannot
persuade my partner—who is not aged, and who has few


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
51
prejudices—to tolerate cold soup “à la Russe.” She has read
all the recipes for these frigid potages, and declares them to
be “nasty messes.” However, reserving my own opinion
in the matter, I find that as regards cold fish in summer,
we are perfectly in accord, and it is for this reason that
I have given some recipes for cooking and serving it.
aporte
Porridge.
I am not a porridge eater myself; that kind of food being
productive in my case more of distension than of delight;
but extensive observation in many lands during many years
has led me to adopt the conclusion that civilised nations
may, from a culinary point of view, be divided into two broad
sections—the nations who habitually eat porridge, and those
who do not care for it as an ordinary article of diet. The
French are certainly not porridge eaters ; they infinitely pre-
fer their beloved pot-au-feu to any kind of gruel ; although
when they are in poor health they will swallow with tolerable
gusto the preparation called panada, for which I have given a
recipe.* The ancient Romans were moderately fond of oat
soup. They took white oats and put them in the oven.
When sufficiently dried, these were fanned, cleaned, and
carried to a mill, the grinders of which were finely sharpened.
The miller took care to hold the oats a little way off, in order
that the grain might not be crushed. Curiously enough,
this oat-soup, the grain being lubricated by thickened milk,
is still a favourite dish in Normandy and Lower Brittany.
The Greeks had several kinds of porridge, including a barley
gruel called alphiton; to the barley was added linseed meal,
with coriander seeds, salt, and the requisite quantity of water.
As to the famous black broth of the Spartans, my own
opinion is that it was a porridge made either of dark-coloured
* See p. 31.
E 2


52
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
lentils, or of those black beans which are known in Mexico as
frigoles. The frumenta, or gruels, of the ancient Romans
distinctly survive in the “polenta,” or porridge made from
red and yellow maize flour, which is greedily consumed
throughout the Italian peninsula, but especially in Piedmont
and Tuscany. The American mush, for which you will find a
recipe,* is nothing but a very simple preparation of polenta, or
maize flour; but you may make it a great deal more appetis-
ing if you dress it with butter, or with grated cheese. The
Neapolitans mix their polenta to the consistence of a stiff
pudding, and dress it with cheese, butter, and gravy; while
at Nice it is often allowed to get cold, being afterwards cut
into slices, garnished with cheese or scraped ham, or sausage
meat with a little garlic, and then placed in the oven to
be baked for about twelve minutes. The Americans have
at least twenty different kinds of porridge, to which they
are inordinately addicted as breakfast dishes. Mush, hominy,
burgoo, crushed wheat, crushed millet, lentils, and beans
are among the pottages which they consume.
The Germans occasionally eat potato porridge ; and it
is almost superfluous to say that the Scotch are tremendous
porridge or “ parritch” eaters. The best way of making
real Scotch porridge does not very much differ from the
American mode of preparing mush. The water must be
boiling; you must let the oatmeal trickle slowly and steadily
through your fingers into the water, stirring all the time
with a “spirtle” or porridge-stick till the entire preparation
becomes a homogeneous, bubbling mass. Season your Scotch
porridge with salt only. There is a good deal of porridge eaten
in the North of England; and even in London and other
large towns, frugal parents often bring up their children on
what they term “the porridge system.” The oatmeal is
nourishing enough, no doubt; but, taken regularly in con-
siderable quantities by very young people, is apt to overheat
* See p. 462.


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
53
the blood. I think that barley or millet porridge for children
would be better than continual oatmeal. For the rest, so
far as my experience goes, I believe that the majority of
London working people heartily detest all kinds of porridge.
They associate it with “skilly," and they hate it because
to their minds it represents the diet of the workhouse
and the gaol.
Jligentnich
Chops.
Is a steak a convertible term for a chop? I ask; because
I have under my eye, as I am writing, dear old Hannah
Glasse's recipe for “baked mutton chops.” “ Take,” says
Hannah, “a loin or neck of mutton; cut it into steaks ;
then take a quart of milk, six eggs beat up fine, and four
spoonfuls of four; beat your flour and eggs with a little
milk first, and then put the rest to it; put in a little beaten
ginger and a little salt; pour all this over the steaks and
send it to the oven. An hour and a half will bake it."
It will be clear to the intelligent reader that this recipe
for “baked mutton chops” is that which is at present known
as the formula of "toad-in-the-hole.” Who first gave that
name to baked mutton chops? But why do Hannah's
“chops” become “steaks” when they are laid in the pie-
dish? It strikes me, from the point of view of culinary
philology, that the chop is something that must be smartly
severed with a hatchet; whereas a steak is a piece of meat
which is to be cut or sliced off the surface of a joint. Douglas
Jerrold once put the case very neatly when, speaking of the
execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, he remarked that the
poor lady had for supper her last steak, prior to her final
“chop” the next morning. Chops are, to my thinking, an
almost exclusively English dish. There are, I know, in New
York certain taverns where you can get mutton chops
ho
no )


54
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
l'Anglaise—that is to say, thick chops with curly tails; and
for the washing down of these professedly British dainties,
real English half-and-half, which the Americans always care-
fully counsel their countrymen to pronounce “arf-an'-arf,"
is provided. Still, travelling through the States and dining
at different hotels and restaurants you will often be asked
if you will take mutton, pork, or beef “steaks.”
It is, moreover, a curious circumstance that, although next
to roast beef the mutton chop is held to be the most de-
lectable item in the diet of John Bull, the chop, so called,
is not to be found in very old English cookery-books. For
example, in Dr. Salinon's “Family Dictionary and Household
Companion,” published in 1710, thirty-seven years before
the appearance of Mrs. Glasse's work, no mention whatever
occurs of chops. My theory is, that in the old English
cuisine, chops were known as “collops"; meaning slices
or lumps of flesh that had been beaten prior to their being
cooked. The word itself is derived from the English “clap,"
or the Danish “kloppen,” to beat. You know that in the
Book of Job allusion is made to the wicked man who
“maketh collops of fat on his flanks”; and Shakespeare
speaks of a “collop of Aesh”; while old Fuller alludes to “cut-
ting good collops out of Crown land.” On the other hand, my
Scotch readers will know that in Caledonia collops mean
minced beef cooked in a stew-pan and kept moving, so that
the mince shall not become coagulated into lumps.
Touching the beating of the old English collop, it is as
well to warn all and sundry not by any means to apply the
bastinado to mutton chops before they are laid on the
gridiron. Mutton is not so noble a meat as beef; still, its
best parts should be protected from the indignity of verbera-
tion. Hear on this subject the wise Francatelli:—“Chops must
never be batted or beaten.” But I hear distracted female cooks
urge, “How shall we treat the meat when it is tough ?" You
should not choose tough meat, Madame Cook. The French,


· CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
55
whose meat, with the exception of the “ Châteaubriand” and
the veal chop, is nearly always tough, cure the normal leatheri-
ness of their beef or mutton by laying it for some hours in a
very mild marinade of wine-vinegar, cloves, mace, pepper-
corns, and a little salt; but the English cook would indig.
nantly declare that she could never consent to send up
“pickled chops ” or steaks to the table.
A mutton chop of the sort I have mentioned, thick, fat-
tailed, and so judiciously broiled as to be done through, but
not to exhaust its gravy, is an incomparably good lunch for
busy people up to the age of fifty. The cook should be very
careful to broil chops over a clear fire, and to turn them
frequently, so that they may retain the gravy aforesaid. A
dish of mutton chops is a deplorable solecism. Each chop
should be served separately on its own hot plate, and if you
can afford a silver hot-water plate, so much the better. The
addition of a mite of minced shallot-for gentlemen only
and a morsel of fresh butter placed underneath each chop,
may be recommended by way of relish ; and if the natural
gravy is for some reason or another scanty, you may pour-
observing great discretion—a little Harvey sauce into your
plate. Worcestershire sauce, in many cases admirable, is too
potent for a hot mutton chop, and interferes with the balmi-
ness of its flavour. You know that I hate potatoes; but a
large, well-boiled, and mealy potato may be tolerated in the
case of a fine chop“ with a curly tail.”
Should Chops be Fried or Broiled ?
The Marchioness of Londonderry is strongly of opinion
that the gridiron is the only culinary utensil with which
to cook a chop; and in the sensible advice which she has
given to the wives of the colliers on the estate, she strongly


THE TEGEOTGH GOOD CIJE
inch the capsietes, o the gross of cleaniness and
mnm, of the preparation of chops S: Lastende fashion,
and in 10 other way. (zlinary doctors, hoserer, like
medical ons, are rasionally apt to diter; and the Var-
chimea has found critics who are not by any Leans satisfied
with her rem endation of the grill to the working classes.
(ne correspondent of a newspaper asks her if she has
ever tried to grill a chop over a tiny kitchener, such as is
to be found in small houses of the present das; and he ren-
tures to think that those who have done so will agree with
hinn that smoke and sinut will, under these circumstances,
always accompany the grilled chop. Finally, he asks the
Marchiones to make her choice between a chop properly fried
in a clean pan, and a chop imperfectly grilled over a poky
kitchener. This censor forgets that coals are cheap at the
pit's mouth, and that a collier's wife whose husband's wages
do not exceed twenty-five shillings per week can afford to
keep a much better "open" fire than can be maintained by
the working man's wife in places where there are no collieries.
Moreover, the wife of the working man, whether he earns his
livelihood above or below ground, should be taught to broil a
chop as thoroughly as she should be instructed in the art of
boiling a potato. The gridiron should be greased with a
piece of fat before the chop is placed upon it, and the fire
should be a perfectly clear one. The chop or steak should be
frequently turned while it is cooking; and if an excessive
amount of fat falls into the fire, the blaze should be at once
abated by a handful of salt. If these details are properly
attended to, I fail to see where the contingency of smoke
and soot occurs.
The recipes for cooking plain mutton chops are curiously
numorous; and Dr. Kitchiner, in his “ Cook's Oracle,” tolerates
ooth the broiling and frying of chops, giving, in the case of
tho grill, tho sensible advice to the cook to set the gridiron
slanting, to prevent the fat from dropping on the coals and so


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
57
making a smoke. In a culinary manual, published less than
twenty years ago, both the broiling and the frying of chops
are prescribed. In the first instance, the cook is directed to
brush the cutlet over lightly with clarified butter to preserve
the juice. The chop is to be turned four times, and when
half-done it is to be seasoned with a mixture of salt and
pepper. It is to be served on a hot dish with a thin slice
of butter on the chop, and a tablespoonful of mushroom
catsup or Chili vinegar; and, finally, it may be gar-
nished with sliced lemon. When chops are fried, they
are not to be dressed au naturel, but are dipped in egg
and bread-crumbs, and to the butter in the frying-pan must
be added a small quantity of stock or gravy. There is not
much to be said against this mode of dressing chops, but
most lovers of the delicacy would, we should say, regard
the prescription of Chili vinegar in lieu of mushroom
catsup as rank heresy; and although the garnish of sliced
lemon may look as pretty as a border of parsley to a
dish of sandwiches, the lemon is clearly an impertinence.
The chop, let me repeat, should be neatly trimmed, very
thick, with a proper allowance of fat, and so cooked that in
the centre of the chop there should be a stratuin of under-
done meat: a fount of natural gravy.
As some epicures do not object to a little very finely minced
shallot being sprinkled over their chop, so others are partial
to chops with tomato sauce, an addendum which has become
very rare in these days, when we have come to appreciate
the excellent qualities of the “love-apple,” and eat the
delicious fruit-vegetable either hot and stuffed, or raw as a
salad. Unless the mutton chop is partaken of in a grill-
room, where it comes straight from the gridiron to the table
of the guest, an experienced gastronome will not be satisfied
unless his chop is served on a hot-water plate ; for fat is a
treacherous substance, and has a fatal tendency to get cold
before the meat to which it belongs is half eaten.


58
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
This is the English chop in its beautiful simplicity; and
although I have not one word to say against the world-
famed roast beef of old England, it must be remembered that
there are persons to whom beef is too potent and stimulating
a meat, and whose constitution and palate are more efficiently
administered to by the plainly cooked chop. No special ex-
ception need be taken to walnut pickles as a relish, but the
article itself possesses so characteristic and so delightful a
flavour of its own that it seems superfluous to mar its
savour with the conflicting taste of vinegar.
The old English cooks sometimes played sad tricks with
their mutton “steaks.” One Mrs. Mason, in her “ Ladies'
Assistant,” published in 1787, seasoned her chops with pepper
and salt, placed them in a buttered dish with milk, eggs, and
flour, sprinkled some beaten ginger over the mass, and baked
it in an oven. The good lady was scarcely aware that her
mutton steaks baked would, as I have said, come down to pos-
terity as a “ toad-in-the-hole”-a dish which has long since
been banished from refined English society, but which an
ironical fate has transplanted to the French cuisine as la côte-
lette à la Nelson ; but Mistress Mason herself was not above
borrowing from France, since her mutton chops in disguise,
rubbed in pepper, salt, nutmeg, and chopped herbs, rolled in
sheets of well-buttered white paper, and sautéd in a stew-pan
and served with brown gravy, are only an English adaptation
of the côtelettes à la Maintenon, invented at the instigation
of the morganatic wife of Louis XIV. by Fagon his physician
to stimulate the jaded appetite of the septuagenarian Grand
Monarque. At a few first-class Parisian restaurants the carte
comprises a dish professing to be a plain mutton chop, that
goes by the name of côtelette au naturel, but it is at its best
à poor, meagre, shrivelled affair, which, when contrasted with
the splendidly juicy English chop with the curly tail, reminds
the Briton of the old satirical couplet which declared that
“Pitt was to Addington what London was to Paddington.”


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
59
The only tolerable French côtelettes au naturel are the tiny
neck chops, each providing not inore than a couple of
mouthfuls, which, as I have said before, are furnished with a
little paper ruffle round the shanks, so that they may be
despatched without the aid of knife or fork.
On the other hand, although in unadorned chops the
French are unable to approach us, they are exceedingly
deft, tasteful, and versatile in their preparation of cutlets.
Côtelettes à la Vicomtesse are egged and bread-crumbed,
fried in a sauté-pan, garnished with quenelles of veal, dished
on a border of mashed potatoes, and served with rich sauce.
Côtelettes à la Westphalienne are covered with chopped
Westphalia ham instead of bread crumbs ; côtelettes à la
Provençale are fried in oil and seasoned with scraped garlic.
Côtelettes à la Bohémienne are marinaded or pickled for
three or four days before they are cooked, and are served
with a sauce in which currant jelly and minced gherkins
predominate. Then there are côtelettes à la Palestine,
dressed with Jerusalem artichokes; cutlets with asparagus
tips; with cauliflower; with sauce à la Soubise, à la financière,
à la Marseillaise, and many other modes; while the famous
côtelettes à la Réforme were invented either by Alexis Soyer
when chef of the Reform Club, or by his friend and patron Lord
Marcus Hill, the consummate gastronome.
Let it be noted that while in all these frying operations
the French use a sauté-pan admirably, they scarcely recog-
nise a frying-pan in our sense of the term; and that there
is no risk of either smoke or soot getting into their pans.
For the rest, while holding an even balance between Lady
Londonderry's defence of broiling, and the opposite advocacy
of frying, I may point out that both processes involve the
waste of dripping. The most economical and perhaps the
best way of cooking the British chop is to roast it in a
Dutch oven before à clear fire, where it can be done “to
a turn,” and all the dripping can be saved.


60
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Partridges.
In an old family album, on which I chanced the other
day, I found a pen-and-ink drawing, made, I should say,
by my father, very early in the present century. It repre-
sents a female cook with a knife in one hand and Goethe's
“Sorrows of Werther" in the other, and she is blubbering
in a manner distressful to behold. Beneath was written,
“Oh, Charlotte, Charlotte! oh, Werther, Werther! I must
go and skin these (adjective) eels.” The remembrance of
this humorous drawing is an obvious warning to me to
abstain from any moralising reflections as to the cruelty of
battues, the injustice of the game laws, and the hard-hearted-
ness and selfishness of calling the bird which we so
ruthlessly slaughter “Saint Partridge,” and speaking of the
First of September as the “Glorious First.” The eels had
got to be skinned by the sentimental cook who wept over
the sorrows of Werther, and the partridges have got to be
killed by somebody; and the fact that I have no kind of
inclination for field sports, and if I went out shooting should
probably pepper my next neighbour or myself, does not
entitle me, I apprehend, to preach even the briefest of
sermons against the undue preservation of game and the
barbarity of “warm corners.” Only this I will say, and firmly
hold to:—That men should hunt and shoot is right and proper;
we have been hunters and shooters for many centuries. But I
do maintain that it is revolting and unwoman-like for any lady
to shoot at birds. I don't care what costume the tailor may
drape la sportswoman in. I don't care whether she goes out
on a shooting tramp in knickerbockers and gaiters, or in
skirts lined with leather, or in jack-boots; she has no right
to go out shooting at all. Killing is no part of the vocation
of a woman, and least of all should a lady slaughter par-
tridges. The hen partridge is the kindest and most devoted


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
61
mother in the whole feathered world. When she is in
charge of her little brood, she endeavours to put them out
of danger and to draw the intruder aside by the exercise
of many a crafty wile. But, should the enemy come upon
the brood too suddenly to be deceived by cunning, the
mother partridge will boldly dash at the foe, and with self-
sacrificing valour attack with beak, foot, and wing, until the
enemy has left the ground or she herself is killed ; knowing
that her young charges are taking advantage of the time
to place themselves in safety. It is sickening to think of
English women, created by Providence to be wives and mothers,
forgetting the gentleness and the compassionateness of their
sex, and butchering birds.
Among the recipes which I have given you for par-
tridges, I entreat you not to overlook braised partridge with
cabbage.* It is the French perdrix aux choux, which the
Paris correspondent of a daily newspaper seems to think
to be a dish exclusively patronised by the French bour-
geoisie. As a matter of fact, the partridge braised with
cabbage has been for many generations an aristocratic plat;
and the late E. M. Dallas, in his “Book of the Table,” says
that French cooks “ elaborate with extraordinary care the
ingredients of this preparation, and lavish immense ingenuity
on it.” I will not indulge in such hyperbole, but will ask
you to try partridge with cabbage.
Minces.
In the earlier strains of the minstrels whose chief
musical instruments are the banjo, the bones, the tambourine,
and the accordion, there is a ditty of which the hero is
a certain “Uncle Ned,” who was exceedingly fond of
* See Index to Recipes,


62
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
corn-cake, but having attained so advanced a period of life
as to have lost all the molars and incisors requisite for the
mastication of solid food, “ he had to let the corn-cake be.”
It was possibly some remote ancestor of “Uncle Ned,” or,
at all events, some individual in far-off antiquity, who,
through loss of teeth, and the dentist's art being yet in its
infancy, invented the culinary process known as mincing.
The earliest product of this device was in all probability
the sausage. The ancient Greeks, as we learn from the
comedies of Aristophanes, were much addicted to sausages,
and even to black puddings; and the skill of the Greek
cooks in making these, to me, abhorrent dainties, was
emulated by the cordons Bleus of old Rome. The cookery-
book attributed authentically or apocryphally to Apicius
contains a number of recipes for sausages. One is made
from the minced liver of a pig that has been fed exclu-
sively on figs; then there are bacon sausages, with the
mince of which pepper, cummin, and winter savoury pounded
in a mortar with pine-nuts, were used. Soyer, in his
“Pantrophion,” tells of sausages composed of pork chopped
into very small pieces, with which was pounded the finest
white bread well soaked with wine and seasoned with pepper
and decorticated myrtle leaves. The Romans also had
chicken sausages; and one of their favourite hors d'auvres
was a very small sausage made of hard-boiled egg, mush-
rooms, and anchovies pounded together and well seasoned.
Self and partner occasionally try precisely such a relish at
home; only, instead of putting the mincemeat into skins, we
stone some olives and dexterously stuff them with the mix-
ture, serving them at the beginning, and not at the end, of
the repast, on little discs of thin toast, delicately endued
with anchovy butter.
A mince, as we ordinarily understand it, is practically
a sausage “at large,” that is to say, emancipated from its
skin, served hot with a little gravy, and in most cases


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
accompanied by a poached egg, and garnished with sippets
round the dish. Alexandre Dumas the elder, in his “Dic-
tionary of Cookery," defines minces as minutely chopped
meat with a border round it of chicory, prepared with
cream, and says that minced roebuck should make its appear-
ance at table with a purée of mushrooms; but we do not
habitually mince venison in England. We hash it, and the
French have no exact equivalent for our hash. To minced
beef, Alexandre very properly assigns a sauce piquante.
Here is the recipe, not from Dumas, but from my own
culinary pharmacopæia :— Two tablespoonfuls of chopped
onions in a stew-pan, with four of good malt vinegar (see
that you get it) and a small piece of glaze ; boil together
a few minutes, then add a pint of brown sauce and half
a pint of broth; stir quickly over a sharp fire till the
sauce adheres to the back of the spoon; then add a tea-
spoonful of chopped mushrooms and a tablespoonful of
chopped gherkins; it is now ready to use. This sauce
must be seasoned rather highly with Nepaul pepper, and
salt, and a little sugar. Don't pour it over your minced
beef, which should be served not very moist, and accom-
panied by the usual poached eggs; but have your sauce
separately in a boat. Some ladies will not tolerate the
chopped gherkins, the onions, the pepper.
When boiled beef is minced, the French call it a
miroiton, a term which they also apply to stewed fruit.
Cheese.
David, we all know, carried loaves and cheese to his
brethren, and perhaps the cheese gave him additional vigour
when he encountered Goliath of Gath. I suppose there
has rarely been a period in the world's history, since it has
had any history to speak of, when cheese has not been


64
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
eaten in some form or another; but I maintain that although
we English people consume every year an enormous quantity
of cheese, we are miserably behind foreign nations in em-
ploying this succulent and wholesome article of food in our
cookery ; and it is for this reason that I have given some
cheese recipes.*
It is true, of course, that children eat large quantities
of cheese-cakes, which are made, as a rule, without any
cheese at all; although in one kind of home-made cheese-
cakes we begin by putting four well-beaten eggs into a
saucepan containing a pint of boiling milk, and let it
remain on the fire until it curdles; then we pour off the
whey, put the curd on an inverted sieve to drain, and,
when quite dry, add the other and sweet ingredients.
There is a savoury cheesecake, too, made of well - drained
curds, butter, eggs, with the addition of some grated Par-
mesan and a little salt and pepper. But cheesecakes,
after all, are frivolous things, scarcely calling for the notice
of the serious student of cookery. We do make very
excellent toasted cheese ; but the delicacy is evidently not
of Saxon but of ancient British extraction, as Theodore Hook
well showed in telling the story of the Welsh school-boy who
declared that one of his ancestors gave a banquet at which
five hundred cooks were employed; upon which a malicious
Sassenach suggested that the boy's ancestor only presided
at a feast of five hundred guests, and that every man
brought and toasted his own cheese.
With regard to the Welsh rabbit, or rare-bit, it is
amusing to remember that M. Jules Gouffé, the distin-
guished author of “Le Livre de Cuisine ”—perhaps one of
the best French cookery-books of modern times — paid us
the compliment, in his “Livre des Soupes," to admit
“that we at least possess one national potage”_cheese
soup, to wit—and he proceeded to specify with the utmost
* See pp. 397-101,


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
65
gravity the ingredients and the mode of preparing a Welsh
rabbit. There is indeed an English cheese soup which
can be made without toast. You may grate very finely as
much dry Gruyère or any other light-coloured cheese as
you require ; strew a layer of it at the bottom of the soup-
tureen ; over this place some very thin slices of the stale un-
toasted crumb of bread. Repeat this process until the cheese
is used, when one-fourth of the depth of the tureen should
be occupied. Then you put a piece of fresh butter into a
saucepan ; let it melt, and stir into it a tablespoonful of
flour, and keep it on the fire, stirring constantly tillit
browns. Then throw in two tablespoonfuls of finely minced
onions; when they are browned, stir in gradually a quart
of water ; let it boil, season with pepper and salt. Allow the
soup to stand a couple of minutes before the fire to soak
the bread and cheese, and when that is done, serve.
ni
Cool Drinks.
What should we drink in broiling summer weather ?
The most philosophic reply to the question is that we
should drink as little as ever we possibly can, either of
an alcoholic or a non-alcoholic nature, for there is danger,
when the thermometer is at 85°, in gulping down draughts
of cold water, especially if it is iced ; and in any case,
touching aqueous potations, Falstaff very cogently ob-
serves that “water swells a man.” Old and experienced
travellers will, I think, agree with me that in exceedingly
sultry weather, and in stress of water, thirst may be
staved off by sucking gum Arabic; and in far-dis-
tant days, when I was campaigning with Garibaldi in
the Tyrol, we did very well, when the coffee ran out, by
sucking chocolate drops, which gave us a strange sustaining
l'alstaff
try weatz4, I thin Wells a


66
THE THOROUGII GOOD COOK.
power. If you can get water, and have some doubts about
its purity, you may qualify it either with a tiny admixture
of cognac or whisky, or of Spanish liquorice, or molasses,
or—if you do not object to bitters-of gentian, and a few
drops of syrup of ginger. These ingredients, indeed, added
to Rosbach, with some sal-volatile, will form what is known
as a pick-me-up, and with a lump of ice superadded will
be found delicious.
Civilised society, however, in a state of peace, requires
“
a vast number of cooling drinks of a more or less luxurious
quality. Cider-cup you will find I have given a recipe for,*
Sindicam
and ladies may find much solace in perry-cup, which I
consider to be equal in dulcet pleasantness to Moselle-cup,
and nearly equal to the king of all white-wine cups,
chainpagne. Cold tea is a most delicious and refreshing
beverage in hot weather, but I doubt whether it should be
taken pure. It is much better both for the palate and
the nerves of the drinker to mingle it with milk and
sugar. That is the way in which the Australian miner
takes it when he prepares to descend the shaft and his
wife hands him, just before the basket or cradle is set
going, his “billy” of tea. The Russians drink amazing
quantities of tea, both in winter and summer; but they
never drink it cold. The tea is poured from a samovar,
a large brass urn; through the centre of this runs a tube
in which heated charcoal or a red-hot metal cylinder
is placed to keep the water warm ; and the tea is then
poured from a tap, not into cups, but tumblers. Milk and
sugar are eschewed; but the tea—which is usually five times
better than any tea procurable in Western Europe or in
America—is flavoured with a slice of lemon. I have heard
of artfully contrived samovars divided into two separate
compartments and moving on a pivot. The guests who
“know the ropes” are aware that one compartment
* See p. 449,


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
67
ge, not ind this chillin.
contains innocent hot tea, and the other wicked hot
punch. The machine has a tap on each side, and the
non-abstaining Muscovite can easily twirl the samovar round
and turn on the punch-tap. Obviously, however, neither
hot tea nor hot punch should be regarded in warm weather
as a cooling drink.
Heat, however, should not be entirely disregarded as an
element in two exceptionally cool and refreshing beverages.
In the morning, instead of drinking your coffee hot, try it as
a chaudfroid. Pour your café au lait into a soda-water
glass in which you have placed a couple of very big
lumps of ice. When you first grasp the glass in your
fingers the heat will be scarcely tolerable, but by degrees,
as you drink, you will experience an enchanting sensation
of velvet-like softness, and gradually increased chilliness
in the coffee; and in the end you will find that you are
sipping a completely cold beverage, not violently iced, but
gently, gradually, and completely refrigerated. A chaudfroid
of tea in the afternoon is quite as delightful and quite as
thirst-quenching. Iced milk I grant to be appetising, but
save at very early morning, and then qualified by a dash of
the best Jamaica rum, I doubt the prudence of gulping down,
say, half a pint of milk at a draught. It lies heavy on the
stomach, and is not easily digested. When children are
thirsty, and curds and whey are not procurable, I think
that in summer they might with advantage drink lemonade,
thoroughly cooled, but not actually iced. I don't mean the
so-called lemonade sold in bottles. This drink is, as a rule,
only so much aërated water with an infusion of acetic acid.
Real lemonade—which is made in the Italian penny ice-shops
far better than it is in the houses of polite society-should
be made from boiling water poured on slices of real lemon,
well sweetened, and cooled first by placing wet cloths round
the bottle, and next by surrounding it by pounded ice till
the refrigerating, not the freezing, point has been attained,
F 2


68
U
THE KA
GOOD COOK.
THOROUGH How to make Coffee.
On the principle of every man thinking his own geese
swans, I believe that we make as good coffee in our house at
Brighton as is to be met with in most middle-class families
where the master and mistress know something about cookery;
so I will tell you in a very few words how our coffee is
made. We allow a tablespoonful and a half for each break-
fast-cup; and we use the best coffee that we can get.
Formerly we had a coffee-mill, and ground the so-called
beans, which are really the seeds of the coffee-berry, at
home; but now we are content to use good colonial coffee,
with a very small quantity of chicory in it. To make the
delicious beverage, we use that simple percolator of block
tin which I have seen used for fifty years. In the upper
cylinder of the percolator we place the coffee, closing the
top with a perforated block-tin disc to prevent the aroma
from escaping during the process of infusion and the water
from falling with a rush on the coffee, then we pour in
a sufficiency of boiling water, and the infusion percolates
into the lower cylinder, and is in due time poured out
from the spout, strong, and clear as a bell. That is all.
Stay: the percolator must be kept from boiling again, which
would be fatal to its flavour and its clearness; but it must
be placed on a “hot plate,” to prevent it from becoming
tepid. Lukewarm coffee is an abomination which should
be administered only to spiteful cats and human miscreants.
In case you should think my coffee recipe too rough-
and-ready, I have given a number of recipes for the
making of it,* culled from long acknowledged authori-
ties on the subject. There are a hundred and one
ways of making coffee ; but I have found ours palatable
not only to ourselves, but to our friends. In the morning,
* See pp. 452-45+.


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
at breakfast, we drink café au lait-one part of coffee to
three parts of boiling milk. After lunch and after dinner,
and altogether against the advice of my medical attendant,
I drink black coffee without milk and with a little sugar.
At luncheon I take no petit verre with my coffee; after
dinner I have a liqueur glass of green Chartreuse with my
café noir, and it does me good. My medical attendant
says that it does not. My medical attendant may go
to Hong-Kong; and I have not the slightest doubt that
when he dines at the Æsculapian Club he never fails
to take his petit verre with his coffee. I remember dining
once with no less than nine doctors; they all ate turtle
soup, they all took curry, they all drank champagne and
port afterwards, they all had liqueurs with their demie-
tasse, and they all smoked. I was not present, either at
the post-mortem or at the inquest.
It is amusing to read what some old culinary authorities
have to say about coffee. Worthy Dr. Kitchiner, in his
“ Cook’s Oracle” (1827), observes that coffee, as used on
the Continent, serves the double purpose of an agreeable
tonic and an exhilarating beverage, without the unpleasant
effects of wine; but as drunk in England, it debilitates
the stomach, and produces nausea, being usually made from
bad coffee served up tepid and muddy, and drowned in a
deluge of water, sometimes deserving the title given to it
in “The Petition against Coffee, à black, base, thick,
nasty, bitter, stinking puddle-water.” For making coffee,
the doctor recommended—nearly seventy years ago, you
will remember—the use of the “German filter,” which was
only a simple percolator; and he adds that not less than four
shillings a pound must be paid for the coffee, and that at
least an ounce should be allowed for two breakfast-cups.
As to making coffee in the ordinary coffee-pot, the old-
fashioned mode of boiling and clearing the liquid, it is
simply abominable. I have read one recipe where you are


70
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
told that before you make your coffee you should put it
into a basin and break into it an egg-white, yolk, shell
and all. This compost being put into the pot, it is to be
boiled up three times. It will then, says the prescriber of
this nastiness, be as clear as amber, and “the egg will give
it a rich taste.” Sometimes the dried skin of sole or cod-
fish, scraped, washed, and dried, and cut in pieces an inch
square, was used for settling the coffee, and isinglass was
another favourite "clearer.” I once knew a cook who main-
tained that the only possible way of clearing coffee was to
throw a live coal into the pot after its final boil. That
cook, I am sure, came to a bad end.
Ices.
I once asked good old Lady Combermere, the relict of
the famous Field-Marshal of that name, and who lived to
be nearly ninety, and preserved almost to the last her
brilliant mental faculties, whether she could remember the
period when ices first became popular in English society.
She replied that, so far as she could recollect, both water
and cream ices became fashionable about 1817; but that they
were at first somewhat mistrusted by the beau monde, in-
asmuch as they made its stomach ache.
There is even at the present day a dim suspicion among
otherwise intelligent people that ices are more or less in-
digestible; but looking at the fact that fruit ices are
prepared with fruit-juices strained and mixed with thick
cold syrup, juice of lemon and orange, and a little of their
peel, and that ice-creams are only so much syrup, cream,
and fruit, or other flavouring, carefully frozen, it would not
appear that these delicious dainties contain any indigestible
or otherwise unwholesome element.


: CHATS ABOUT COOKERY..
71
Children are, as a rule, passionately fond of ices; but
when their parents delight the little ones' hearts and palates
with these delicacies, they should be very careful not to
let Master Tommy or Miss Effie eat an ice when he or she
happens to be over-heated. Ices are best eaten in the cool
of the evening of summer days, or at the conclusion of a
well-prepared repast, when an equal temperature reigns
throughout the frame. Adults, as well as juveniles, should
avoid ices when they are perspiring through the sultriness
of the season or of an over-crowded and ill-ventilated room,
just as they should avoid, under similar conditions, drinking
a glass of iced, or even of very cold, water.
Touching the precise period at which ices, either cream
or water ones, were first introduced into England, I am
inclined to think that the epoch suggested by Lady
Combermere was only that of a revival, and that ices in
some shape or another had been consumed, with intervals
of capricious unpopularity, ever since the days of the
Restoration. Lord Chesterfield's cook de la chapelle was an
excellent hand at ice making; and the process of freezing
is very accurately described by Mrs. Hannah Glasse, and
does not to any material extent differ from the processes
employed at the present day.
There is no earthly reason why ices should be con-
sidered an expensive delicacy, quite unfitted for the eco-
nomical scheme of a small family with moderate means.
The necessary apparatus can be purchased for a very reason-
able sum, and half a dozen lessons from a confectioner would
teach a plain cook most of the mysteries of ice making.
You have only to imbed your circular metal ice-box in
salted ice; when this is well set, your prepared liquor is
poured into it, and it must be then incessantly worked until
it is thick; but in order to make the ices quite smooth,
a rotary motion must be given to the ice cylinder. It must
not be forgotten that the more they are worked the smoother,


72
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOR.
mellower, and more elastic they will become. While you
are turning the cylinder in its bed of salted ice, be very
careful to strip off any bits of ice which may adhere to
the sides or the bottom of the metal box. If you do not
attend to this, there will always be a peril of the pre-
paration within becoming more hardly frozen in one part
than in another; in other words, your ice will be lumpy,
and a lumpy ice is confusion.
If you can afford to indulge occasionally in a little
picturesqueness and elegance in the service of your table,
get some pewter fruit moulds imitating pineapples, small
melons, pears, peaches, and so forth. Each species of mould
should be filled with a preparation in accordance with its
nature and colour. When the moulds are filled, they should
be well closed, wrapped each in a sheet of paper, set on a
thick layer of pounded ice, strongly salted and sulphuretted,
and then covered over with another thick layer of the
same mixture. In an hour's time the fruit-ices should be
sufficiently frozen. Free the moulds from the paper, dip
them in cold water, carefully open them, and dish your
fruit-ices with such elegant surroundings as may suggest
themselves to you. The tuft of the pineapple may be
imitated with angelica.
Of course you have heard of “surprises” in ice-creams.
I have seen some astonishingly ingenious things done in this
way at Vienna, where they will send you up ices simulating
with marvellous closeness lobsters, oysters, bundles of as-
paragus, and even mutton cutlets and small hams. One
year, having a little birthday dinner at Brighton, to which
a few very old friends were invited, we tried, with the
brightest success, a cream-ice “surprise,” the recipe of which
I now freely offer to the great body of my readers. Tell
your cook to obtain as many large long potatoes as you in-
tend to invite guests. Let the potatoes be baked a very
dark brown, so that their skins shall be rather corrugated


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
than smooth. Then cut the potatoes in halves, scoop them
out thoroughly, wipe the inside of the skins quite dry,
and varnish with white of egg; fill each half with ice,
make it perfectly level at the top, flatten it, join the halves
together, and serve the seeming “praties” on a napkin in
a dish. Of course you will announce them in the bill of
fare as “baked potatoes à la tin can.” We managed at the
outset to deceive every one of our guests; we even heard
murmurs of “Oh! really!” “I could not possibly!” “Who
ever heard of such a thing !” and I am afraid that one lady
said “Shocking!” But one wily male guest said he would
try a “pratie.” He touched one with the forefinger of his
dexter hand, nodded his head sagaciously, and winked a
knowing wink. He duly opened his surprise potato and
revealed the ice within; there was a roar of laughter, and
ten baked skins were at once emptied of their contents.
How had he discovered the trick ? we afterwards asked
him. “Baked potatoes,” he sententiously replied, “ are not
served cold; and the guests, when potatoes come round, do
not have glass plates with ice spoons set before thein.”
For the Children.
The well-being, as well as the good behaviour, of children
depends to a very large extent on the dietary prepared for
them. They should not-whether they be inclined to be
bons vivants or not-be tempted by the sight of food which
is not suitable to their tender years and to their tender
digestions; but they should take their meals chiefly apart
from their elders until they are at least ten years old. My
experience in catering for young people has not been large,
but I am enabled to speak from the experiences related to


174
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
me by many friends whose olive-branches have been and
are numerous.
Now let me think. The blinds are drawn up in the
nurseries, and the youngsters are all wide awake; and, like
their elders, their first desire upon waking is not to have a
bath, but to have something to eat and drink. I hear some
of my readers exclaim, “ Something to eat and to drink before
they are washed and dressed! Ridiculous !” But I repeat
that their first desire upon waking is to have something to
eat and to drink; and that desire I maintain should be
satisfied. Give your children, wise mothers, upon waking,
a wine-glassful of home-made lemonade, a Marie biscuit,
and some fruit—a few grapes, a pear, an apple, an orange,
or a few figs. Let the little ones enjoy this early “snack"
every day upon waking, and you will find that their general
health will be very much the better for it, and it will go
far to decrease your chemist's bill. Bread and milk should
constitute the staple diet for breakfast; but beware of
porridge more than once, or, at the outside, twice a week.
Too much oatmeal porridge is apt to have a bad effect on
the skin. With some children it brings about a roughness,
and with others absolute soreness, of the skin. When given
at breakfast it should be prepared with milk, and the con-
sistency should be only that of arrowroot or corn-flour,
and not resemble in thickness a “bran mash” or linseed
poultice, as I have frequently seen it served. Brown sugar,
and not white, should be served with porridge.
There is no necessity for me to tell how bread and milk
should be prepared, as we all know that; but there are
two ways of serving up even this homely fare, an appetis-
ing and a non-appetising way. I have had bread and
milk for my morning meal for months together during
times of sickness, so I ought to know something about the
appetising aspect of it. A nice cottage, not a tinned,
loaf should be chosen, cut into even squares, care being


CHATS ABOUT COOKERY.
taken to leave nice bright little edges of crust for this
matutinal dish; next be careful to pour boiling, and not
lukewarm, water on the bread; drain it off quickly so as
not to allow the bread to be reduced to a pap; set the
bowls-always have white bowls—on a warm plate, and pour
on to the bread the hot fresh milk in a few seconds, just
as it is on the point of boiling. Don't wait until the milk
actually boils, or it may become brown and burnt in a
moment, and will entirely spoil the repast. A nice dish of
buttered toast, made from tinned loaves, should follow, with
a cup of chocolate made from cocoa-nibs.
The next day bread and butter, hot buttered toast, and
boiled or poached eggs should be the fare, with glasses of
cold milk or café au lait. No tea, please. For dinner
have mutton or chickens broiled, or roast, but beef only in
croquettes or minced, with plenty of nice fruit, custard,
and rice puddings; use plain vegetables such as cauliflower,
Brussels sprouts, and cabbage and turnips, and have fish
once a week. I say “once a week,” for fish impoverishes
the blood of children. If the doctor allows cheese, it should
be taken grated, either on a buttered biscuit, or eaten with
boiled macaroni. Soup I should not recommend for children,
as it requires to be highly flavoured to be altogether
palatable; but occasionally good beef gravy over potatoes is
to be commended as being nutritious. For the evening meal
chocolate is better than tea, and if chocolate fails to meet
with approval, I should give cold milk in summer or hot
in winter, as tea is too astringent in its effects for children.
Plenty of good bread and butter, home-made preserves, and
plum and seed cakes; and occasionally chicken and ham, or
egg sandwiches, should find favour for this last meal of the day.
For children who are not very robust, I would recommend
a little cold chicken broth, or a spoonful or two of beef-jelly
on a biscuit just before bedtime; but strong and healthy
children require absolutely nothing, as a rule, after their


76
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
schoolroom tea. Pastry should, in my opinion, be wholly
avoided, and a watchful eye should be kept on the consump-
tion of the contents of those fascinating boxes of bon-bons
which so inany children receive nowadays as presents from
their admiring friends. After children have passed their
twelfth year they require à more generous diet; but it is
of young children that I now write.


· 77
RECIPES.
SECTION I.-SOUPS.
1. Beef Broth (Pot-au-Feu).
(The Foundation of Flesh Cookery.)
BEEF, which should always be chosen fresh-killed, makes
the best “pot-au-feu” or broth. Veal is not so good, except
in cases of sickness, as it is of a pale colour and weakens
the broth. The same may be said of poultry. Pork broth
is only useful in the making of split-pea soup.
Put your meat into cold water, and set the pot upon a
good fire; salt and skim it carefully. When the scum is
entirely removed, put in carrots, turnips, leeks, celery, parsley,
a bay-leaf, a burnt onion, and simmer-ah! so gently—until
the meat is quite done; and you will have an excellent and
wholesome beef soup. Next to the quantity and the quality
of the meat, that which contributes most to the making of
good broth is to take care that it cooks over a slow fire, with-
out ceasing one minute. Six hours' simmering is sufficient to
make a good soup, but a longer period is better. The pro-
portion is three pounds of meat to four quarts of water. For
the use of the gravy beef, or broth, see the chat on French
Domestic Cookery (p. 6).
-rain
2. Consommé (White Stock).
The leg is the most useful part of veal for this purpose,
though, for large dinners, there are other pieces which can also


78
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
be used with it. The inside part of the leg is a fleshy
fillet without sinews; this should be taken out when you
wish to serve a fricandeau, the remainder of the leg of veal cut
in pieces, with about two pounds of lean ham ; if you have
a fowl that is too old for any other purpose, it will add to
the excellence of the broth; put the whole into a stew-
pan, with a quart of not too strong beef broth ; set the
stew-pan over a charcoal fire to soak the juice out of the
ineat, which operation should take about an hour's time, and,
of course, is to be regulated by the fire kept under it; especial
attention must be paid that it does not burn; frequently
shake the stew-pan, that the contents may not stick to
any part of it; when the juice is reduced to the consistence
of glaze, of a nice rich colour, fill up the stew-pan with
clear beef broth, and let it boil slowly by the side of the
fire for three hours; remove all the fat, and pass the
consommé through a napkin or fine cloth into one or two
basins. If the weather is warm, it is better to divide the
broth, for by keeping too great a quantity in one vessel, it
is apt to grow sour before it is cold.
Clear, light stock is a highly important preparation in
cookery, any failure in which proves fatal to the whole dinner,
therefore no care or attention should be spared in order that
it may be had in perfection.
1+1
3. Beef Tea.
Take two pounds of fresh lean beef, let it be free from
all sinews, fat, and skin ; put the beef, cut in pieces, into
a stew-pan, cover the meat with cold water; have another
stew-pan, in which you place the one containing the beef,
pour water round to come nearly to the top of the inner stew-
pan; set over the fire, and let the water boil briskly for
two hours; then take out the inner stew-pan, and let it stand


SOUPS.
79
for ten minutes, that the tea may settle ; place a napkin over
a basin, and carefully pass the tea through it.
4. Mutton Tea.
Take two pounds of the lean part of a leg or loin of
mutton, without fat or skin ; put this into a stew-pan and
cover it with water, and proceed in the same way as directed
in No. 3. Those persons who have not the convenience of
stew-pans may put the meat into an earthen pot, cover it
up quite close, and set it in a saucepan, with water boiling
round it.
nar
5. Veal Tea or Broth.
Take two pounds of the fleshy part of a leg of veal, free
from fat, cut it into small pieces, put it into a stew-pan, with
as much water as will cover the meat, and proceed, as in
No. 3, by putting one stew-pan in another; but it will
require an hour longer in the bath, as the juice of young meat
is not so readily extracted. This broth may be made more
nourishing by the addition of a calf's foot, taking out the long
bone.
ar
6. Chicken Broth
Is also to be prepared precisely in the same way as
the veal, but remember to skin the chicken before it is used.
To any of the broths thus made you may add vermicelli,
macaroni, rice, sago, etc., first boiled in water, then put
into the broth, and made tender by setting the stew-pan in
a hot-water bath.


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOR.
• 7. Chicken Broth for the Consumptive.
Put a young fowl, cut up as usual, into a small, well-
tinned stew-pan, with two spoonfuls of rice, and two quarts
of water; having skimmed it, add some coriander seed and
two pinches of poppy grains; boil it gently for two hours;
add six or eight crayfish, and give it twenty minutes' boiling ;
then throw in a handful of borage leaves; cover it, and take
the pan from the fire to infuse for a quarter of an hour.
In putting the fowl on, add two spoonfuls of pearl barley,
and when passed through a sieve, add two ounces of barley-
sugar (sugar boiled with an infusion of marsh-mallows);
when this is dissolved, use it lukewarm and perfectly
skimmed. Capons are prepared for broths and teas like
chickens, but they are inuch more nutritious, and are more
suitable for men than for women and children.
I may add that I have known wondrous benefit to result
from the use of this chicken broth.
8. Julienne Soap.
A carrot, turnips, onions, leeks, and celery, according to
quantity required; cut the carrots in thin slices; cut them
again across into small thin strips; if the carrots are old,
peel off only the parts that are red; slice all your vegetables
equally ; put three ounces of butter into a stew-pan; when it
is melted put in the onions, and fry for four minutes; add the
remainder of your vegetables, pass them quickly with a
tablespoonful of powdered sugar, and keep continually tossing
them so that they shall not catch. When they are beginning
to look somewhat dry, add a quart of clarified consommé ; let
it boil gently at the corner of the fire for twenty minutes, and
be very careful to skim it well. A greasy Julienne is


SOUPS.
81
destruction; only, the vegetables must be lightly fried, or rather
browned, in the butter, else your soup will not be a Julienne
at all. Some cooks add sorrel leaves and cabbage-lettuce, and
a little picked chervil, cut small; but to my mind these
additions make a highly artistic soup a rude mess of pottage.
Serve it—as indeed you should serve all soups and all warm
dishes—as hot as ever you possibly can. The heat, Mrs.
Cook, should be in the dishing-up and in the plates, not in
the seasoning
9. French Brown Soup (Brunoise).
To clear broth (No. 2) add carrots and turnips, cut into
dice, straws, or like small pears, etc., and first slightly fried and
drained if young; if old, blanched. Soak toasted sippets in a
basin of broth, and put them into the tureen after the soup
is dished, lest they crumble and spoil the clearness of the soup.
This is essential whenever bread is used. Skim off the fat
from the tureen and serve. You may cut leeks and celery in
lozenges, the turnips and carrots in ribands, and with these,
cooked, you have a second kind of Julienne soup.
If gravy-soup is not sufficiently clear, it may be improved
by the whites of two or three eggs, well whisked, being boiled
up with it before it is strained a second time. This is one of
the “secrets of the kitchen ” with which all experienced cooks
should be familiar; if there be any impurities in the soup, they
will gather in a kind of ragged ball about the whites of
the eggs, and this ball you throw away.
10. Autumn Soup.
Cut, as for a Julienne (No. 8), the white parts of four
leeks, the same of two heads of celery, and a lettuce; wash,


82
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
and throw them into boiling broth; add a pint of young
peas, a little sugar and pepper, two large spoonfuls of
flour, mixed thinly and smooth, with some cold stock; stir
the broth with a tablespoon to render it smooth, and after
boiling it an hour and a half, pour it into the tureen with
crusts dried as usual (see No. 12).
non
11. Spring Soap (Potage Printanier).
Mix in your broth the white of an egg beaten up with
a little cold beef stock, to clarify it; after twenty minutes'
boiling, strain it through a napkin, and again set it to
boil, mixing with it the roots and vegetables as follows :-
The red part of a large carrot cut in small sticks half an
inch long with a cutter a quarter of an inch wide, a turnip,
a head of celery, and two leeks cut in the same manner,
with twelve small white onions; wash and put them into
the boiling broth; then add lettuce, sorrel, and chervil
blanched sufficiently, and serve in a tureen containing three
tablespoonfuls of green peas and three of asparagus tips
blanched; add a little sugar and some small crusts of a
French roll rasped, cut round three-quarters of an inch
wide, without the least appearance of crumb, and dried in
the hot-closet. A dear soup, but not extravagantly so.
This soup may also be served à la Parisienne, à la Régence,
à la Chasseur, or with small forcemeat balls of fowl or game.
You will perceive that it is fundamentally a Julienne : only
there is a greater variety of vegetables, and they are not
fried.
You will please to observe that I am adhering to my
rule of not using French terms where English ones will
do quite as well; but when I have to describe a “smart”
dinner for “smart” people, it is necessary to indulge in a


SOUPS.
little “cooks' French,” which is about the worst French
with which I am acquainted.
on
12. Sorrel Soup.
Cut and wash a handful of sorrel, a lettuce, and some
chervil ; pass them, with a little fresh bacon scraped, melted,
and strained, through a tammy. The scraped bacon is
cheaper than butter. Place your mixture in a clear meat
stock; add a pinch of sugar, and skim the soup. Boil
gently for an hour and a half. Just before serving add
four yolks of eggs, with two small pieces of fresh butter;
let it boil up, but keep it stirring, that the egg mixture
may mingle smoothly with it; serve it, not with toasted
sippets, but with little “crusts” of bread fried in dripping,
but carefully dried in the hot closet, so that they shall be
crisp and not greasy.
13. Green Pea Soup (St. Germain).
Take three pints of green peas, mature, but not too
old, and let them sweat thoroughly in stock on the fire
with a bunch of green onions, parsley, a little mint, and a
quarter of a pound of ham. When done, pound and
moisten them with white stock to about the same con-
sistence as other thick soups. Set this to boil gently for
about twenty minutes at the corner of the stove, and skim
well. When about to serve, colour your soup with a little
parsley—or spinach-green, as dry as you can obtain it, by
squeezing between two napkins. Mix your green with
about two ounces of butter, well worked in a cloth, that
no moisture may remain in it: if any wet particles remain
either in the green or the butter, it will cause them to
curdle in the soup instead of producing a smooth opaque
green. Put your green and butter in a round-bottomed
G
2


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
basin ; stir them with a wooden spoon, while you gradually
moisten with soup, till the whole forms one and the same
body. Serve immediately with fried sippets. Green-pea
soup should be velvet-smooth. Just before serving, you
may put into it a few whole peas which have been boiled
separately; but when you do this you must leave out the
sippets.
14. Soup of Brussels Sprouts.
Sort out about fifty Brussels sprouts nearly of a size
and as small as you can get them ; boil them perfectly tender
and green in salt and water, drain them thoroughly on a
napkin, and when you serve the dinner, boil them for five
minutes in two quarts of clear consommé (No. 2); add a small
lump of sugar and salt, if required; fried crusts of French
roll may be added.
woon
15. Aurora Soup.
This soup can only be made in perfection when the
carrots are young and juicy. Take carrots, the reddest that
can be found, scrape them and wash them; then remove
the outside, as far as it is red, and put it into a stew-pan
with a quarter of a pound of butter and half a pound of
the lean of good-flavoured ham cut in pieces; set the
stew-pan over a very slow fire to soak. When the carrots
are tender, add two quarts of light consommé (No. 2), and
let the whole boil for an hour; then rub it through a
tammy, boil the soup again, and if it is too thick, add
more consominé; skim it carefully, for this soup should be
a clear light red colour; fry some squares of bread in
clarified butter, and put them into the soup just before
it is served ; season with a little cayenne pepper, salt, and
sugar.


SOUPS.
16. Young Carrot Soup.
Scrape and wash a bundle of young carrots, grate off
the red parts only without touching the hearts; put the
red gratings into a stew-pan with an ounce of fresh butter, a
little lean ham or bacon, an onion, a turnip, and a bunch
of leeks and celery. Sweat the roots gently over a slow
firy, stirring them with a wooden spoon, in order that they
may all take the same colour; add a sufficient quantity
of stock, and let the whole boil slowly for an hour and
three-quarters; take out the ham and the roots, but strain
the carrots through a sieve; pound them in a mortar,
return them to their liquor, and rub all through a tammy.
Add some more stock and boil over a quick fire; when it
boils, set it at the corner of the stove and skim perfectly;
add a pinch of sugar to soften the favour of the roots.
When thoroughly clarified, serve in a tureen with bread-
dice lightly fried. This is one of the wholesomest and
most palatable summer soups I know. I call it, “Do-
without-the-doctor soup.” If for a dinner-party you want
a fancy name for this soup, you may christen it “Cardinal,”
or “Mazarin,” or “Richelieu ;” because red is the distinctive
colour of the vestments of the Princes of the Roman
Church. Remember also that any dish—soup, fish, or
entrée-dressed with tomatoes, may be styled “à la Portu-
guaise;" because we seem to have borrowed the delicious
fruit-vegetable in question from the Portuguese kitchen.
17. Potato or Parmentier Soup.
I have given an alternative “fancy” title to this excellent
pottage in remembrance of the philanthropist who was the
first to introduce the potato into French cookery. Parmentier
was a military apothecary, who, late in the last century, had
learnt to believe in the dietetic value of the potato while


86
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
serving with the French armies in Germany. At the outset
he had to encounter the bitterest opposition both from the
French Academy of Sciences and the French clergy. The
first declared the tuber to be poisonous; the latter denounced
it as a “Protestant” vegetable. Parmentier, however, suc-
ceeded in obtaining the support of Benjamin Franklin and
of Lavoisier; but his triumph was completed when he induced
Marie Antoinette to accept and wear in her bosom a bouquet
of potato flowers. “La Liberté et les Patatas ”-“Liberty
and Potatoes ”—was a popular cry in Paris in the early days
of the French Revolution; and the strip of ornamental garden
of the Palace of the Tuileries was planted with seed potatoes.
Slice ten large potatoes (kidneys are the best), blanch
them; stew them in stock with two leeks and a head of
celery tied up, and the crumb of a French roll; when they
break under the pressure of the finger, take out the bunch of
herbs, and rub the potatoes through a tammy; mix with
a sufficient quantity of stock, clarify the whole, add a pinch
of sugar and a little nutmeg. When serving, just after
boiling point, mix in a pint of milk-nursery milk if you
can get it and if you can afford it-a third of a pint of
double cream and a pat of fresh butter. Pour the soup into
a tureen with some blanched chervil; fried crusts as usual, to
make it more toothsome. This is a cheap soup without the
cream, and eminently relishable.
You may also make a clear Parmentier soup by using
finely shredded potatoes mingled with shredded onions in the
broth, and leaving out the milk and cream.
Grain
18. Old-Fashioned Pea Soup,
The foundation of this capital and thoroughly English
(and sea-going) soup is the stock, otherwise a liquor in which
a knuckle of veal or leg of mutton or pork has been boiled.
But pork liquor is the best; and by all means, if possible,


SOUPS.
add to your stock a ham-bone. You should let the stock
get quite cold and perfectly clarified. Taste it, and if too
salt, add a little water. If you find it too weak, from the
savoury point of view, boil down in it any bones you may
have in the house, or a bit of neck or shin of beef. So soon
as this liquor boils, add your split peas in the proportion of
one pint of peas to one quart of stock. Then simmer, and
pulp the whole through a colander. Having done this,
simmer for a full hour with the ordinary soup vegetables.
Then strain again. Serve with dried mint finely powdered
and handed round separately. The seasoning (pepper and
salt) should be very moderate.
The only drawback to pea-soup is that it is said to be
slightly flatulent. In this connection I remember the case of
a negro sailor with the curious name of Napoleon Bonaparte
who was brought up at the Thames Police Court by the
captain of a merchantman lying in the London Docks, for
refusing to do his work. Asked what he had to say in answer
to the charge, the darkey pleaded that he was insufficiently
fed; to which his skipper replied that he had a good dinner
of roast beef and potatoes every day. “Me no want rob beef,”
passionately exclaimed Napoleon Bonaparte, “me want pea-
soup to blow um belly out!” Savages think nothing of food
that does not distend the abdomen.
19. Pease Pudding.
Pease pudding is so close an analogue to pea soup that I
have not hesitated to introduce it in this place.
Marrowy “melters,” whether whole or split, are far the
best peas for this good dish. Boil them tied loosely in
a cloth till they will pulp through a colander; add salt,
pepper, two beaten yolks of eggs, a good piece of butter;
tie up firmly, and boil (with pork if boiling) for another


E8
TAE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
half-hour, or hang the cloth before the fire till the pudding
gets firm, then turn it out. If you are not too refined, and
have a stalwart stomach, use dripping instead of butter. It
will impart a marvellous zest to the pudding. And if you
wish to make it closely and pleasantly akin to the Italian
risotto, add some finely minced beef, liver, or kidney.
nin
20. French Split Pea Soap.
Having picked three pints of green split peas, put them in
a stock-pot with a little salt, a piece of fresh butter, and the
necessary cold water. Add a little lean ham, and simmer
thein for nearly two hours ; take away the ham, and pass
the soup through a tammy, adding a little broth. Mix
afterwards the rest of the broth prepared as usual, and boil
the soup for an hour only ; to clarify, add a little sugar and
butter when taken from the fire ; turn it afterwards by a
little at a time into the tureen, where you have put a colouring
of spinach rubbed through a tammy, to give a fine green
tint. Serve on a plate some bread cut into small dice, and
fried a light colour in butter.
As this soup of dried peas can be used in winter, if care-
fully prepared, the roots of the brunoise or julienne, sorrel, or
chervil, can be added to it, but it is not sufficiently rich
to receive the garnitures used in the soups of young peas,
although the experiment may be made. In winter there
are, for variety, cream of rice and pearl barley, and the
purées of fowl and game.
21. Green Asparagus Soup.
Make this as you do green-pea soup (No. 13). Slice and
pulp part of the asparagus, put the other part, cut into nice
points and dressed, into the strained soup before serving ; or


90
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
The crumb of two penny rolls may be boiled in the water
instead of the potato flour; but it must then be strained.
Add bread sippets fried, and thicken with the beaten yolks of
four eggs.
nown
25. Benedictine Soap Maigre.
Melt a half-pound of butter very slowly, and add to it
four onions sliced, a head of celery, and a carrot and turnip
cut down. When the vegetables have fried in the butter for
a quarter of an hour, and are browned on all sides, put to
them nearly four quarts of boiling water and a pint and a half
of young peas, with plenty of ground black and Jamaica
pepper. When the vegetables are quite tender, let the soup
stand to clear from the sediment and strain it into a clean
stew-pan. If not yet sufficiently transparent, let it stand
an hour, and turn it carefully over. When it boils, add to
it three onions shredded, or five young ones; a head of celery
cut in bits, carrots sliced and cut as wheels or stars, and
turnips scooped the size of pigeons' eggs or turnip-radishes.
When the vegetables are done enough without the liquid
getting ropy from their dissolution, the soup is finished.
This, like all vegetable soups, is the better for a spice of
cayenne.
in
26. Pumpkin Soup Maigre.
Cut your pumpkin into slices, and put it in boiling water
for five minutes, with some salt; take it out; pound it to a
pulp, and put it into a saucepan with some melted butter,
with which warm it up. Put into a tureen some crusts of
bread spread with butter and sugar; add the pumpkin pulp ;
pour in some boiling milk, mix the whole, and serve after you
have let it simmer for ten minutes longer. Or you may make
your pumpkin soup a savoury one with veal stock.


SOUPS.
This interesting vegetable is shamefully neglected by
English cooks. Boiled or fried pumpkin is caten with roast
meat in Australia; and pumpkin-pie is one of the nicest of
American sweet dishes.
-rom
27. Another Soup Maigre.
Cut small four ounces of sorrel, sixteen ounces of celery,
and six or eight onions. Fry them in six ounces of butter,
and stew them three or four hours in three quarts of water.
Season with pepper, salt, and a little mace, and thicken
with a tablespoonful of flour, mixed with a teacupful of
the soup. Beat up the yolks of two eggs in half a pint of
cream, put it into the tureen, with a large slice of bread
toasted and cut into dice, and then pour in the stewed in-
gredients.
Whenever I prescribe cream, consult your dairyman's
book. In a inultitude of cases good, pure milk will do
quite as well.
re
28. Yet Another Soup Maigre.
Brown half a pound of butter in a saucepan, and stew
it for a quarter of an hour with the following ingredients,
all washed clean and chopped small :-Four cabbage-lettuces,
two handfuls of spinach, the same of chervil, one handful
of white beet-leaves, and one of sorrel, three carrots scraped
down, some pepper and salt; add five pints of boiling water,
and a large slice of the crumb of bread cut thin and dried
before the fire. Stew gently for two hours, and a little
before serving thicken with the beaten yolks of three eggs,
and half a pint of cream or good milk. A pint of green peas
and the tops of asparagus may be added.


THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
29. Leek Soup, or Cock-a-Leekie.
Wash and clean three or four dozen leeks; cut the white
and tender green part in bits about an inch long, wash
them again, and put them to drain in a colander or sieve.
Have ready boiling four quarts of stock, made from beef,
seasoned with pepper and salt; put in the leeks, and boil
them gently for three hours, adding a fowl in time to
allow it to be well boiled, and serve in the tureen.
-1
lira
30. Cabbage Soup.
Take three white cabbages, which split, blanch, and place
in cold water; then cut the white leaves into pieces
about an inch square, avoiding the stems as much as
possible. Boil them in salt and water, with a piece of
fresh butter as large as an egg. When tender, drain thein
well on a sieve, and pour over two quarts of clear brown
stock, moderately seasoned with black pepper. Serve with
the crust of a French roll, cut in pieces of the size of a
halfpenny.
31. Scotch Kale Soup.
Put barley on in cold water, and when it boils take off
the scum; put in any piece of fresh beef and a little salt;
let it boil three hours; have ready a colander full of kale,
cut small, and boil it tender. Two or three leeks may be
added with the greens if the flavour is approved of.
This broth is also made with salted beef, which must be
put in water overnight to soak.
virta
32. Cucumber and Pea Soup.
Prepare the broth as usual, and pour it quite boiling
into a tureen containing a pint of peas dressed à la


SOUPS.
Française (that is to say, stewed in broth, butter, and sugar),
also two cucumbers cut in scollops, as for an entrée, and
dressed in a demi-glaze with a pinch more sugar.
wireless
33. Braised Lettuce Soup.
Blanch twenty young lettuces; let them cool, and squeeze
out the water; divide each in two without entirely separating ;
season them slightly with pepper and salt ; fold them up
again, and arrange them in a stew-pan containing a ladleful of
veal stock (No.2) and one of beef broth (No.1), a small bunch of
parsley, with a clove, a piece of bay-leaf and thyme, an onion,
and a small carrot; cover them with a sheet of buttered
paper, and let them boil gently for two hours ; drain them on
a napkin; trim them neatly; cut each in two, and place
them in the tureen with small crusts prepared as usual.
When serving, pour in the broth, to which add the liquor
from the lettuces; but the bunch of herbs boiled with them
should afford no high degree of flavour.
34. Another Braised Lettuce Soup.
Prepare twenty lettuces, and when divided, but not entirely
separated, place in each a small spoonful of forcemeat of
fowl, to which add a little chopped chervil. Surround this
stuffing with the leaves, giving the lettuces a long shape;
tie them with pack-thread to keep them so, and arrange
them carefully in a stew-pan; boil them two hours, and serve.
It is usual in braising lettuces to put slices of bacon
beneath and above them; but if for soup, they are better
dressed in broth only, and the necessity for draining and
pressing them is avoided.


94
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
35. Cauliflower Soup (Potage à la Purée de Chouxieurs).
Boil three large white cauliflowers in slightly salted water
until quite tender; chop them very fine; put a quarter of
a pound of butter into a stew-pan; one leek, one head of
celery (in slices), a quarter of a pound of ham, and two bay-
leavés; pass them ten minutes over a quick fire; add the
cauliflowers and three tablespoonfuls of flour; mix well; add
three quarts of white stock, and one ditto of boiled milk;
stir it until boiling; rub it through a tammy; boil, and
skim well; season with a teaspoonful of sugar, half ditto
of salt, finish with an “alliance” of two yolks of eggs, mixed
with a gill of cream ; pour the soup into the tureen; have
a cauliflower boiled, and cut into twenty small sprigs; put
these into the soup, but be sure not to break them.
Sretan
36. Cauliflower, Green Broccoli, and Parsley Soup.
White or brown stock as preferred. Blanch a head of
cauliflower, put it in in small pieces, give them a few boils,
and having cooled and drained them, let them boil in
broth with some parsley blanched. When serving, turn
it into the tureen containing two heads of broccoli blanched
by themselves in a preserving pan, to give them a slight
violet colour, then add the broth and fried crusts.
roton
37. Bean Soup with Ham or Bacon.
About a pound of lean ham or bacon must be well soaked.
Pare away the under yellow skin, and boil it an hour.
Meanwhile, have boiled some kidney beans, quite soft. They
must have been soaked the night before. Mash half of
then through a coarse sieve, and add them to the boiling
bacon, with an onion, or chives, celery, chervil, etc. Take
out the bacon, peel the rind off, cut up the meat into thin


SOUPS.
slices; return this, with the unbruised beans, to the pot,
and give all a boil up together. The same quantity of
fresh or salted pork, unsmoked, is, by some, preferred. —
Good, satisfying, and cheap.
rew
38. Turnip Soap.
Slice one-fourth of a Swedish turnip, sweat it in fresh
butter, and keep it stirring with a wooden spoon to colour it
equally of a light brown; then let it simmer in some broth
for nearly two hours, and rub it through a tammy; add
broth of fowl prepared in the usual manner; skim the
purée to clarify it, and add a pinch of sugar. Serve with
it fried bread on a plate separately.
irroir
39. Tomato Soup.
Boil some tomatoes and pass them through a sieve.
Brown some butter with a dessert-spoonful of flour. Pour in
some stock; then put in the tomatoes, with pepper and salt.
When the whole has boiled up thoroughly, add a wineglassful
of pale sherry and a small quantity of Nepaul pepper, pour
the whole on to some crusts which you have fried in butter,
and serve.
Sinar
40. Haricot Bean Soap à la Condé.
Pick and wash three pints of dried red haricots, and stew
them with a plump young partridge as you would lentils
(No. 41); skim, and when the partridge is done, take it out,
with the ham and roots. Rub the purée through a tammy,


SOUPS.
97
43. The Basis of Fish Soups.
The “stock," as it is technically called, may be made either
of fish or of meat. The former is perhaps the more elegant,
and is, besides, suited to meagre days; the latter is supposed
to be the more rich and nourishing. Beef, veal, or the lean
of mutton, may all be used for fish-stock. When made of
fish, a skate, a cod's head, haddocks, whitings, eels, gudgeons,
flounders, and other white fish are used, and also the heads,
fins, and trimmings of the fish which are to be dressed. As
fish-stock soon becomes sour, it should not be made till it
is to be used. Boil the fish of which you make the stock
in two quarts of water, with a couple of onions, a piece of
lemon-peel, and a faggot of sweet herbs. Skim the liquor
carefully, and strain it. If the fish soup is to be brown, the
fish which makes the stock may be browned in a frying-pan
before boiling. Catsup is generally put to brown fish soup.
44. Fish Soap.
Procure three pounds of very fresh grey mullet, clean them
well, and sprinkle a little salt over them; then put six ounces
of the best olive oil into a stew-pan, with a pound-and-a-
quarter of finely chopped onions, and sufficient salt; put
the pan on the fire till the onions are partly browned ;
then add a handful of washed parsley, and the same of
mint, both chopped fine, and fry them a little, together with
the onions ; now add a pint of the best wine-vinegar, and
two or three pints of hot or cold water, and boil for
twenty or thirty minutes; then pass the liquor through a
sieve into another saucepan, and place the fish in it; put
it on the fire, and let it simmer till the fish is done; then
take it out and extract all the bones, cut the fish in pieces
and put these into the tureen; pass the liquor again
through a cloth into a stew-pan; put into a basin the
H


98
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
yolks of three or four eggs, the juice of one or two lemons,
and half a teacupful of water previously coloured with two
drachms of saffron: beat up all together, and add it gradu-
Atacams o salon: bens moge
ally to the liquor; set it on a moderate fire for ten or
fifteen minutes, stirring it all the time with a wooden spoon,
and without permitting it to boil; then pour it over the
fish, sprinkle a little cinnamon and a pinch of Nepaul
pepper over, and serve. Turbots, soles, and flounders, may
be done the same way.-Good, but dear.
sintown
45. Fish Soap à la Parisienne.
- Make, with the flesh of a large whiting, some forcemeat
balls; take off the fillets of two soles, and an eel; trim them
into scollops, and throw a little salt over them; make an
essence with the usual roots, herbs, and spices, and add the
trimmings of the fish, with half a bottle of Chablis or Grave
wine, and two large spoonfuls of fish broth; when boiled
nearly an hour, strain it into a sauté-pan, slightly buttered,
in which you have placed the scollops of fish, having first
washed and drained them on a napkin ; let them boil ten
minutes, take out the fillets of soles, and lay them in the
tureen, but let the eels cook for five minutes longer ; then drain
and add these to the soles, to which also add the forcemeat
moulded in a teaspoon, with thirty crayfish tails, and the
same number of small mushrooms. Strain through a silk
tammy the liquor in which the fish were done, and add
to it some broth prepared as usual; let it boil for some
minutes, and skim it, taking away the slight film occasioned
by the wine in which the fish were dressed. Add some
blanched chervil, and serve.


SOUPS.
99
46. Bisque of Crayfish.
This is a pottage which is sent to table on gala days only,
when you are obliged to make a change of soups.
Take the best crayfish you can procure, according to the
quantity you may want. (Five or six dozen at least are
generally requisite.) If you boil the crayfish expressly for the
occasion, you must not put vinegar. Lay aside two dozen and a
half of the finest tails that remain whole; the rest, with all the
meat and fleshy parts of the inside, pound in a mortar with the
flesh of the breast of two roasted fowls or chickens. Pre-
viously have soaked or boiled in rich broth the crumb of two
French penny rolls; put that also in the mortar, with the
yolks of three eggs boiled hard. Pound the whole together.
Next put the shells of the cray-fish to boil in a little broth;
then take some of the liquor to dilute the soup with, which
rub through a tammy. Now boil a pint and a half of cream,
which you keep continually stirring round, in order to pre-
vent a scum from rising. Pour that creain into the pottage,
and season it well. Have, the red spawn of a lobster well
pounded, dilute it with some of the broth, and mix it with
your soup, or pottage. Keep it hot without letting it boil.
Soak a few rounds of bread, which lay at the bottom of the
tureen. Pour your bisque into the tureen, over the bread;
place all round the tureen over the soup the tails that you
have laid aside previously, and serve up hot. Take care that
the soup is not too thick; and season it of a good flavour.
10+
47. Lobster Soup.
Take three fine lively young hen lobsters, and boil them;
when cold, split the tails, take out the flesh, crack the claws,
and cut the meat into mouthfuls; take out the coral and
soft part of the body, and bruise part of the coral in a mortar ;
h 2
687966


100
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
pick out the flesh from the chines; beat part of it with the
coral; and with this make forcemeat balls, finely flavoured
with mace or nutmeg, a little grated lemon-peel, anchovy,
and cayenne; pound these with the yolk of an egg. Have
three quarts of veal broth; bruise the sinall legs and the
chines, and put them into it to boil for twenty minutes ;
afterwards strain it; and then, to thicken it, take the
spawn and bruise it in a mortar with a little butter and
flour, rub it through a sieve, and add it to the soup, with
the meat of the lobsters and the remaining coral; let it
simmer very gently for ten minutes; do not let it boil, or
its fine red colour will immediately fade. Turn into a tureen,
add the juice of a lemon, and a little essence of anchovy.
You will see that with the exception of the almond
flavouring and the cream, this soup is twin sister (soup, in
French, is feminine) to crayfish soup, or “Bisque d'écrévisses”
(No. 46). Call this, if you like, “ Bisque de homard.”
48. Another Lobster Soup.
(A most difficult one, and only fit for persons of perfect digestion.)
Have three middle-sized, or five small lobsters-hen
lobsters if possible-ready boiled, and five pints of veal
gravy, though beef or mutton stock will answer very well.
Break off and bruise in a mortar the small claws and fins,
with an anchovy, a piece of lemon-peel, and a couple of
onions. Put these to the stock, and simmer till you have
obtained all the strength and flavour they contain. Strain
off the stock. Split the tails, crack without mangling the
great claws and carefully take out the meat, cutting it into
small pieces, and lay it aside. Pick the meat from the chine,
and take part of the coral, the soft part of a few oysters, an
anchovy, the quarter of a nutmeg, a blade of mace, a little


SOUPS.
101
cayenne, and a teaspoonful of lemon-peel grated. Put these
in a mortar, beat them up with the yolks of two eggs and a
very little flour; make of this a dozen or more small force-
meat balls for the soup. Next bruise the spawn in the
mortar with a little flour, and, rubbing it through a sieve,
put the balls, with the meat of the claws and tails and the
coral left from the forcemeat, into the soup. Fry the force-
meat balls first, if you like, or brown them in a Dutch oven;
after putting them in, the soup may simmer for a quarter
of an hour, but must not boil. Squeeze the juice of a lemon
or a Seville orange through a strainer into the tureen, and
serve.
iran
49. A Cheaper Lobster Soup.
Make a good stock of a piece of beef, a slice of ham,
butter, a good many onions, and some pepper, and any fish
and lobster trimmings you may have. Strain the stock,
pulping the onions; pound the spawn and body of the
lobster as above, and stir into the soup. Mix it smoothly
with the stock; season with cayenne and white pepper--a
glass of sherry, if you like—skim off the scum, and add the
cut bits of the tail and claws as directed above.
50. Lady Morgan Soup. .
Lady Morgan (wife of Sir Charles Morgan, a physician)
was popular between 1820 and 1835 as a lively novelist. She
was a great friend of the famous Carême, who invented this
soup in her honour.
Raise the fillets from a middle-sized plaice, a sole, and a
small eel; cut up the bones and trimmings of the fillets, which
put in a stew-pan, adding half a bottle of champagne, the


102
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
and poach' mould it into of the fresh butige
flesh of a lemon, the skins of a pound of truffles, a pottle
of mushrooms, two onions, a carrot, a head of celery, and two
leeks, the whole sliced; half a bay-leaf, a little thyme, basil,
savoury marjoram, a little grated nutmeg and cayenne
pepper, two cloves, two anchovies washed, and a little salt;
simmer these for an hour, and strain through a silk sieve,
to add afterwards to some veal stock. Now "jump" the
fillets of the fish, and trim them in scollops ; make a large
whiting into forcemeat, using instead of the fresh butter
a butter of crayfish, mould it into small balls with
teaspoons, and poach them in some broth. Cut the
truffles that were skinned and dressed in stock with a
root-cutter one inch in diameter, to scollop them after-
wards, one-sixth of an inch in thickness. When about to
serve, strain the forcemeat balls, lay them in the tureen with
the scollops of fish drained on a napkin, as also the truffles, and
twenty mushrooms turned, two dozen oysters, as usually
prepared, as many tails of prawns, and the crayfish tails, from
the shells of which the butter is composed; clarify the
broth for the soup, having added to it the trimmings of
the fish and their stock, as also the stock in which the
forcemeat and truffles were dressed, the liquor from the
mushrooms, and a tablespoonful of the oyster liquor.
When serving, pour the soup boiling into the tureen garn-
ished as above.
Lorin
51. Fisherman's Soup (Potage de Poisson à la Marinière).
Clean a sinall pike, a tench, a carp, and a middling-sized
eel, cut them in small lengths, and throw over them a little
sea-salt to cleanse and salt them at the same time; an hour
after, wash and drain them on a napkin ; then lay each fish
separately in a sauté-pan, containing two onions, two carrots,
and a pottle of mushrooms, sliced, come parsley roots, bay-


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103
leaf, basil, thyme, two cloves, a clove of garlic, a pinch of
pepper, and grated nutmeg, half a pint of Marsala, and a
ladleful of broth; let them simmer for ten minutes, take
out the carp, and ten minutes afterwards drain the remaining
fishes on a baking sheet, observing that no fragment of
the seasoning remains about them; lay them gradually in
the tureen, which cover and place in the hot closet; strain the
essence of the fishes through a sieve; add it to some brown
broth; clarify it, and pour it into the tureen while boiling,
mingling with it roots dressed in broth.
I commend this dish (which is a kind of fresh-water
" bouillabaisse”) to dwellers in houseboats, and anglers in the
backwaters of the Upper Thames—if there are any fish left
in the Upper Thames !
rin
:
52. Soap Curry of Fish.
Prepare a white broth with fish (see No. 43), and to
this add eight ounces of rice that has been blanched; boil
the soup till the rice is tender, triin some fillets of lampreys,
or eels, into small scollops, and lay them on a buttered
sauté-pan; make forcemeat balls of salmon ; pour over the
scollops half a pint of Chablis, and the same quantity
of white broth, and let them simmer slowly for a quarter of
an hour; drain them, and arrange them with the quenelles
at the bottom of the tureen, strain the liquor the scollops
were done in into the soup, skim, and pour it into the tureen.
53. Oyster Soup.
Take two quarts of strong clear stock, whether of fish
or veal or chicken ; add the hard-boiled yolks of six eggs,
and the hard parts of a quart of fresh juicy oysters,


104
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
previously well pounded in a mortar; simmer for half an hour,
and strain into a fresh stew-pan, in which have the
remainder of the quart of oysters, cleared from the beards,
and washed; season with mace and cayenne, and let the
oysters simmer for eight minutes, when the yolks of three
eggs well beaten may be stirred into a little of the cool
soup, and gradually mixed with the whole quantity, drawing
aside the stew-pan and constantly stirring, lest the eggs
curdle. When smooth and thick, serve in a tureen, and
keep stirring the soup for a minute, to prevent curdling.
Bear in mind that there are always cheap “cooking” oysters
as well as costly ones. I am not such a simpleton as to
advise anybody save nabobs to use “natives” in making this
delicious pottage. Please to remember, Mrs. Working Man's
Wife, if I may go out of my way to give you a hint, that you
can make a most succulent soup from periwinkles or from
whelks. You like hot eel soup, don't you? Well, try a hot
decoction of “winkles” or whelks. I am sure that your
husband will like it when he comes home from work.
54. Conger Eel Soup.
Put a bunch of savoury herbs into a saucepan, with a
large carrot sliced, two large onions, and two bay-leaves.
Fry them to a light brown, then add four quarts of water.
Let it boil, skim it well, season it with one ounce of salt
and half an ounce of pepper, and put into it five pounds of
the head and tail part of a conger-eel. Simmer gently and
continuously for two hours, strain the soup, and add to
it a pint of green peas. A few minutes before it is served
put in a pint of new milk. This is sufficient for five pints
of soup.—You are not, if you please, to condemn conger eel.
Well dressed, it is a valuable adjunct to the table.


SOUPS.
105
55. Fish Chowder.
(Boston Style.)
Take a nice cod-fish of about six pounds, cut the head
off and remove all the bones, then cut the fish into square
pieces, place them in a bowl, and add half a pinch of salt and
à pint of cold water, so as to have the flesh firm. Take
the head and bones, place them in a saucepan with two quarts
of white broth on the stove, and, as soon as it comes to
the boil, skim well. Season with one pinch of salt and half a
pinch of pepper. Let it boil for twenty minutes. Peel and
slice very fine one small onion, place it in a saucepan with
one ounce of butter, half an ounce of salt pork cut in small
dice-shaped pieces, let boil for five minutes, then add
two tablespoonfuls of flour. Stir well together for three
minutes on a brisk fire, being careful not to let it get brown.
Strain the broth into a bowl, and add it to the flour, stirring
well until all the broth is added. Let it boil for ten minutes.
Cut two good-sized sound potatoes into small dice-shaped
pieces, add them to the soup. Boil five minutes. Drain
the cod-fish, wash it once more, and add it to the soup. Boil
five minutes more; add half a pint of cold milk, being very
careful not to allow to boil again; sprinkle a teaspoonful of
chopped parsley over, and serve very hot.
56. Mock Turtle Soup.
Parboil half a calf's head, take off the skin, and cut it in
pieces about an inch and a half square; cut the fleshy parts
in morsels ; take out the black parts of the eyes, and cut the
rest in rings; skin the tongue, and cut in slices; add it
all to three pints of good stock, and season with a little
cayenne, two blades of mace, salt, the peel of the quarter
of a lemon, and a quarter of a pint of sherry, with a dozen of


106
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
forcemeat balls ; stew all this three-quarters of an hour; rub
down with a little cold water, a tablespoonful of flour; inix
carefully with it a quarter of a pint of the soup, and then
stir into the pot; put in the juice of a quarter of a large
lemon, and the hard-boiled yolks of four eggs; let it simmer
for ten minutes, and then put it all in the tureen.
If eggs are scarce, boil two hard ; pound the yolks in
a mortar with a pinch of salt, adding the yolk of a raw egg ;
when mixed together, put them on a table dusted with
flour, roll them in the form of a small sausage, and cut them
into very small equal parts; round every piece in the palm
of the hand with a little flour, and put them on a plate as
they are done ; give them a boil in boiling water, then put
in fresh cold water. Drain them through a tammy before
putting them into the soup, ragout, or any dressed dish.
Sinan
57. Mock Turtle à l'Amiral Duperre.
(From the French Admiral of that name.)
Take the fillets from a sole, cut them in scollops, and
brown them lightly in butter with a little pepper and salt;
put the fragments of the sole, with the butter from the
frying-pan, into a stewpan with the trimmings from a small
slice of salmon (the flesh of which make into a forcemeat ball
with butter), a pottle of mushrooms, two onions, and two
carrots sliced ; a little whole parsley, two anchovies washed,
a little lean ham minced, half a clove of garlic, a pinch of
pepper, allspice, cayenne, mace, two cloves, half a pint of
Chablis, and two ladlefuls of broth; boil these slowly for
an hour; squeeze through a tammy, and add the essence of
a Spanish sauce; pour into the tureen containing the scollops
of soles the balls of salmon moulded into a teaspoon, two
sweetbreads cut in scollops, also mushrooms and cocks'.


SOUPS.
107
combs. Serve.—This is an expensive dish, and becomes
even costlier when sliced truffles are added.
Obs.—It is a curious fact that while the majority of French
gourmets will willingly partake of “ fausse tortue,” or mock
turtle, they usually regard real turtle with abhorrence.
58. Parisian Mock Turtle.
Take a fat calf's head (choose the thickest skin); let it
disgorge that it may be very white, bone and cut it in four
pieces, and remove the ears and the fleshy parts; then stew
it and drain it afterwards on a baking sheet, and lay upon it
a large stew-pan cover, on which place a weight of ten pounds;
when it is cold, cut it with a round iron cutter one inch in
diameter, and take from each piece any flesh or fat that
adheres to it. Put the head thus prepared into a sauté-plate,
with twelve fine combs, twenty-four cocks' kidneys, and as
many small white mushrooms; add half a pint of dry Madeira,
and simmer the whole over a slow fire for ten minutes; then
put it into a Spanish sauce well made and well clarified
(this sauce should constitute the body of the soup, instead
of the usual broth), to which add an essence thus pre-
pared: Put in a stewpan two carrots, two onions, a pottle
of mushrooms cut up, a little whole parsley, half a bay-leaf,
a little thyme, basil, rosemary, marjoram, a little lean ham
cut into dice, three anchovies washed and boned, a pinch of
cayenne pepper, the same of allspice, two cloves, and a little
mace; add a ladleful of broth, and half a pint of
Madeira; simmer for an hour, and then rub the essence
through a tammy. Add this to the soup, let it boil for a
quarter of an hour, skim off the light skin from the top, and
pour it into the tureen containing a plateful of small force-
ineat balls of chicken, in one half of which you put a little


108
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
parsley, chopped and blanched, while in the other half a
few mushrooms, chopped very fine and squeezed in the corner
of a napkin, must be mingled. This is emphatically “a
dish to set before a king.”
It is to be remarked that none of the spices should pre-
vail except the cayenne pepper; and even this should scarcely
make itself felt. Many persons add a wine-glass of Madeira
just before taking the soup from the stove, and others put
slices of lemon; that depends on the taste. “But I never
put them,” says M. Carême.
59. Sheep's Head Broth.
Take a fat young head and a “gang ” of trotters, all
carefully singed. Wash and scrape them well, and let
them soak in cold water for an hour or two. Take out
the eyes, split the head into halves and remove the brains.
Shorten the jawbones where there is no flesh, and cut out
the gristle inside the nose. Prepare the trotters for dressing ;
wash and brush the feet once more, and leave them in water
till wanted. Put the two halves of the head together and
tie a string round to keep the brains and the tongue in
their proper positions. Lay it in a saucepan with a pound
of the scrag-end of a neck of mutton, a large cupful of
barley, and about half a pint of dried peas which have
been well soaked for twenty-four hours in cold water. Pour
over all a gallon of water, and add a little salt; boil the
contents of the stew-pan very gently, and carefully remove
the scum as it rises. When the head has boiled an hour,
put in the trotters, and at the end of two hours add two
carrots, two turnips, and two onions, all sliced together, with
a few sticks of celery if liked. Boil the head three hours
or three hours and a half longer, and remember that the


SOUPS.
109
more slowly it is boiled the better will be the broth, head,
and soup. Serve the head on a dish with the trotters round it.
I fear that this most wholesome and appetising dish will
never reach the tables of the great. But, when they are
satiated with Potage à la Reine, Purée d'asperges, and so forth,
they might give sheep's head broth (for which, of course, we
are indebted to Scotland) a trial.
60. Queen Soup (Potage à la Reine).
Skin and clean two rabbits; let them be washed in warm
water; stew for an hour with sufficient strong veal broth
to cover the meat, and a bunch of parsley. Take out the
rabbits, and soak the crumb of a penny loaf in the liquor;
cut the meat off and pound the flesh in a mortar, adding
the soaked crumb and the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs;
rub this through a coarse sieve or tammy, and add to it
a quart of nursery milk that has been previously boiled.
This is the cheapest form of one of the most ancient
and most delicate of soups. Why it should be known in
France as Potage à la Reine has long been a mystery; but.
I venture to surmise that the Sovereign in question was
Mary Queen of Scots. At all events, it has long been highly
popular as “Queen” soup in Scotland.
61. Another Old Scotch White Soup (Potage à la Reine).
Take a large knuckle of the whitest veal that you can
get; but in these days, for humanitarian reasons, calves are
no longer “bled,” and the meat is two or three shades
darker than was formerly the case. Let the knuckle be well
broken and soaked; then take a fowl skinned, or two chickens ;
a quarter of a pound of well-coloured lean undressed bacon ;


110
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
lemon-thyme, onions, carrot, celery, and a turnip, a few white
peppercorns, and two blades of mace. Boil for about two
hours; skimming repeatedly and carefully during that time.
When the stock is well flavoured, strain it off. It should form
a jelly. When to be used, take off the upper layer of fat,
clear off the sediment, and put the jelly into a tin saucepan,
or a stew-pan well tinned; boil for half an hour, and serve
on a couple of rounds of a small French roll; or with
macaroni previously soaked and stewed in the soup till
perfectly soft; or vermicelli. This is an excellent plain
white soup; it is promoted to an à la Reine soup as
follows:-
Take half a pound of sweet almonds, blanched (that is,
scalded, and the husks rubbed off), the hard-boiled yolks
of three eggs, and the skinned breast and white parts of a
cold roast fowl; beat the almonds to a paste in a mortar,
with a little water, to prevent their oiling; mince very finely
the fowl and eggs, and some bread-crumbs. Add to this a
pint or more of the stock; lemon-peel, and a scrape of
nutmeg; bring it to the boil, and put to it a pint of boiling
sweet cream and the rest of the stock. Let it for a con-
siderable time be on the very verge of boiling, that it may
thicken, but take care it does not boil, lest the cream curdle.
Strain through a sieve. Yolks of eggs will do for half the
quantity of cream.
62. Another and more artistic way :-the supreme way, in
short.
Put into a saucepan two quarts of water, two large onions
halved, a little of the white part of some celery, thyme, and
bay-leaf, two ounces of butter, and a little salt. Bring this
to the boil; then put in one or two fowls, according to the
amount of soup required; cover the saucepan, then boil till
the ingredients are thoroughly cooked, and let it cool.


SOUPS.
111
Blanch forty sweet almonds; take some bread-crumb soaked
in milk, and make it into a ball; remove the flesh of the
fowls from the bones, chop it very finely ; pound the almonds
in a mortar, then add the meat of the fowls and the bread.
crumb, and pound it all together; moisten with a little
chicken broth or some white stock; skim off the fat, pass
through a hair-sieve, and keep it hot without boiling. Just
before serving, place some crusts fried in butter and moist-
ened with bioth, a pint of boiling cream or good milk,
and a little white sugar in the tureen, and pour the chicken
broth on to them. Here you have a more elaborate and
expensive soup.
This is the potage à la Reine which Napoleon, when in
exile at St. Helena, could always eat with appetite. It was
served in a small silver tureen. On one occasion when in
order to spite Sir Hudson Lowe) he pretended to be in
pecuniary distress, although he had 140,000 francs of gold in
his strong-box at the time, he sent down a quantity of his
plate to Longwood to be sold. But his attendants had the
thoughtful tact to reserve the soup tureen, and it was with
peculiar gratification that the exile ate his potage à la Reine
that evening from the accustomed silver bowl, inscribed with
the initial “N” and the Imperial arms.
Sirror
63. Ox-rump or Ox-tail Soup.
According to Mr. Gladstone, it was the French Huguenots
who took refuge in England after the revocation of the Edict
of Nantes who taught English working people how to make
ox-tail soup. I greatly doubt this.
Two tails, or, if small, three, will make a large tureen of
soup. Let the butcher divide them at the joints. Rub thein
with salt, and soak them well in lukewarm water. Place


112
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
them in a stew-pan with four onions, a bunch of parsley,
two dozen of Jamaica and black peppercorns (or half an
ounce, if high peppering is wanted), a turnip and a carrot
or two sliced, with three quarts of water. When the meat
is tender, which will be in two hours and a half, lift it out,
and cut it into small mouthfuls. Thicken the soup with a
little browned flour, rubbed up with a ladleful of top-fat;
strain it into a fresh stew-pan, put in the cut meat, boil
up, and skim, and finish with a spoonful of mushroom
catsup, and pepper to taste.
Obs.-Ox-tail makes an excellent onion soup by
adding to it, when strained, a dozen fried onions pulped,
and thickening it with potato flour. The tails, cut in bits,
may be put to boil at once. Some cooks add red wine :
then no catsup is needed. For a party of gentlemen with
hearty appetites you should procure only large tails with
plenty of meat on them; and this meat must not be cut
off the joints, but left on. Some hostesses, when they know
that their guests have “hunters' appetites,” place minia-
ture cheese-plates by the side of the soup-plates, and to the
first-named the joints of ox-tail may be transferred with a
knife and fork, a miniature mustard-pot and salt-cellar
flanking each plate.
There used formerly to be procurable at a well-known
hotel under the Piazzas, Covent Garden, a soup known as
“thick ox-tail,” which was simply ordinary ox-tail with a
little thickening in the stock and a liberal quantity of
various vegetables.
64. Soup and Stew à la Bouchée.
By the above name the reader is to understand all soups
and broths in which meat, fowl, or fish, cut in mouthfuls, is
dressed and served. Such, for example, are mock-turtle


SOUPS...
113
soup, lobster soup, oyster soup, and others for which I have
given directions. This important section, it should be noted,
comprises not only the Oriental mulligatawny and the ole-
aginous ox-tail, but even the spicy and luscious turtle.
Gnomo
65. Old Scotch Brown Soup.
Make the stock as directed for beef broth (No. 17), but
brown the meat a little more, and, when ready, put with
it two pounds of rump steak, cut rather small and browned
in a frying-pan, but drained from the frying-fat. Simmer
the steak in the soup for an hour; strain it; add a small
glassful of catsup, with salt, pepper, and a dust of cayenne;
slip toasted sippets into the tureen, and skim off the fat.
Serve the soup with the steak in it. Without the steak, this
is plain brown soup.
66. Lord Warden Soup.
Take a knuckle of veal, or two or three short shanks;
boil about four hours, with some whole white pepper, a little
mace, salt, two onions, and a small slice of lean ham; strain
it, and, when cold, take off all the fat and sediment; beat
up the yolks of six eggs, and mix them with a pint of cream
or good rich milk; then pour the boiling soup upon-it by
degrees, stirring well; and if the gristle is liked, add the
best part of it.
nim
67. Potage à la Diable.
Having prepared a broth, fortify it, not with cayenne
pepper or curry powder, but with whole chillies tied up in


114
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK,
a silk bag, which boil up with the stock. Meanwhile,
prepare as many slices, including crust, of a French roll as
there are guests; plunge these circular slices of bread in
the broth for a minute or two, and press out excessive
moisture with the flat of a knife; butter them well on both
sides, and sprinkle them plentifully with grated Parmesan
cheese; then place them in a stew-pan with just enough
butter to prevent them from burning, and "jump" them (to
“jump” is equivalent to the French term sauter ") lightly
till they begin to take colour. Then place them in the
bottom of a tureen and pour the broth over them.
man
68. Beef and Cabbage Soup.
This is the natural soup of the whole of European Russia,
eaten by all classes. There is an expensive and there is a
cheap way of preparing it. You have already been told (page
3) that this soup has a name the pronunciation of which,
in Russ, sounds precisely like a sneeze. Its name is “Stcht.”
Prepare a good stock-pot of broth made of beef and
bacon, and a duck; chop two onions, which fry with butter
in a stew-pan; mix with two tablespoonfuls of flour, which
fry for five minutes; dilute with the prepared broth, which
you have previously passed through a tammy; then stir the
liquid until boiling; remove it to a corner of the stove, skim
the fat, and let it slowly cook for an hour. Meanwhile,
blanch two fine crisp cabbages, cut in quarters, put into a
stew-pan, the bottom of which is spread with moderately fat
bacon; add a few young carrots and parsley, and a leek or
two cut into oblong pieces ; let them braise together in the
bacon fat. When done, drain them carefully through a sieve
and put them into the tureen with the remainder of the
broth, with a few fillets of duck and some little blocks of the


SOUPS.
115
boiled beef and lean bacon. Skim your fat off the soup, and
add three pinches of chopped green fennel; have ready a
butter-boat of half-sour cream, which pour into the soup
when served.
If you are afraid of the cholera, you can, of course,
omit the sour cream.
intim
69. The Jacobin's Pottage.
This sounds like an ultra-democratic dish ; but it is in
reality a conventual one. Prior to the first Revolution it was
a standing dish on high days and holidays at the Monastery
of the Jacobins in Paris.
Take the flesh of a cold capon or turkey; mince it as
small as you can; then grate into the meat two or three
ounces of Parmesan or old Dutch cheese ; season it with
beaten cloves, nutmeg, mace, and salt; then take the bottoms
and tops of four or five French rolls, dry them before the fire
or in an oven; next put them into a dish ; set it upon the
fire, wet your bread with a ladleful of strong broth, and a
ladleful of mutton broth; then throw on your minced
meat all of an equal thickness in each place, stick twelve
or eighteen pieces of marrow as big as walnuts, and pour
on a ladleful of mutton broth; cover your dish close,
and as it stews add now and then some mutton broth;
thrust your knife sometimes to the bottom, to keep the bread
from sticking to the dish; let it continue to stew till you
are ready to dish it up; and when you serve it, squeeze
in the juice of two or three oranges. This is a dear and
rather gluttonous dish.
I 2


115
TIIE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
70. Hotch-Potch.
This is a kind of English “ Jacobin.” Cut into dice a
liberal quantity of young turnips and carrots, with one or two
lettuces cut very small, the tops of some cauliflowers, and a
pint of full-grown peas; boil them gently in four quarts of
boiling water for two hours; cut into neat chops a loin, or
the best end of a leg of mutton, add them to the vegetables,
with salt, pepper, and some onions cut small; let the whole
boil an hour and a half, then add three pints of green peas,
and boil half an hour longer, when it is ready to serve.
More
71. Ravioli Soup.
Take the breast of a roast fowl, chopped and pounded
with an ounce of Parmesan, a yolk of egy, a tablespoonful
of the white, and a few boiled parsley leaves to colour it.
Season with cayenne, a little salt, and a very small piece
of garlic. Roll out a sheet of paste made of macaroni flour,
about a line in thickness, and big enough to cut out with
a fluted cutter a dozen and a half round pieces as big as a
native oyster-shell. On each piece place a little of your
stuffing, not exactly in the middle, and fold the paste over it,
so that the edges come together; wet the edges and press them
together; and with the point of the knife make a small hole
at the top. Blanch these in broth that is boiling; they
will be done in about eight minutes; after which take them
carefully out, drain them on a napkin, and put them into
two quarts of good brown broth, which keep for ten minutes
on the stove. A plate of Parmesan is served with the soup.
Giriwa
72. Mulligatawny Soup.
Put into a stewpan about a quarter of a pound of butter,
an onion, two apples, a few shallots, and two ounces of


SOUPS.
117
ham, all sliced; fry them a little with an ounce of curry-
powder, a teaspoonful of turmeric, a tablespoonful of flour,
to form a thickening, which dilute with three pints of white
broth; take two small chickens, which cut up as for a
fricassée, and put them into your stew-pan, stirring until
it boils; your soup must not be thick, or it will not throw
up the scum; skim it carefully. As soon as the chickens
are done, take them out and trim them; put them into
another stew-pan, to which transfer the soup, rubbed through
a tammy. A plate of hot boiled rice is always sent up
with this soup.
irtir
73. White Mulligatawny Soup.'
Mix the above gradually with a liquor formed of six
yolks of eggs, half a pint of cream, and the same quantity
of almond milk, with a lump of butter the size of a walnut
broken in small pieces. If to be kept hot, put it in the bain-
marie or metal bath.
74. Another Mulligatawny Soup.
Break and wash a knuckle of veal, and put it to boil
in three quarts of water, with a quarter of an ounce of
Jamaica peppercorns. Place skewers at the bottom of your
stew-pan to prevent the meat from sticking. Add a
few slices of lean bacon. ^ Skim the stock carefully when
it comes to the boil, and let it simmer an hour and a half
before straining it. Cut three pounds of breast of veal
into small pieces, adding the trimming, bones, and gristle of
the breast to the water in which the knuckle is put to
boil. Fry the pieces of veal and six sliced onions in a deep
stewpan to a golden brown. Put the strained stock to these ;
skim carefully; and when the soup and meat have simmered


118
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
three-quarters of an hour, mix two dessertspoonfuls of curry
powder, and the same quantity of lightly browned flour, mixed
to a smooth batter, with salt and cayenne to taste. Add
these to the soup, and stew and siinmer till the meat is
quite tender.
This soup may be made of fowls cut in pieces; of rabbits,
or mutton cutlets; but is best when made of well-fed veal.
For East Indian palates, shallots, mace, and ginger may be
employed; but the quantity must be left to the discretion
of the cook. Curry or Mulligatawny soup may be varied
in fifty ways. Good stocks and the curry seasonings are the
essentials; and next, the carefully boiled rice which should
always be served with the soup.
rin
75. Rabbit Soup.
Cut an old rabbit into pieces, put these into a quart
of water, boil it well; take out all the bones, and beat the
meat in a marble mortar, as for potting; add a little salt,
mace, and white pepper, to your taste; stir it into the liquor
the rabbit was boiled in, with the addition of some cream.
This is the cheapest form of my beloved “Potage à la
Reine” (Nos. 60, 61, 62). You ought to be able to get a
good enough rabbit for tenpence.
76. Ivory Soup (Potage à l'Ivoire).
Remove the lungs, the heart, and the liver from a fowl;
then put it into a saucepan with some white stock ; skim and
put in two carrots stuck with cloves, celery, a leek, with a
little salt. Boil gently for an hour and a quarter ; then
drain off all the vegetables and clarify the liquor. Remove


SOUPS.
119
the flesh from the bones of the fowl, pound the meat, adding
a few potatoes previously boiled, and pass through the
sieve. Moisten with a little of the liquor, till the soup is
of the consistence of cream ; when ready for serving, with
or without crusts, add a good-sized piece of fresh butter.
This, you will perceive, minus the potatoes, is only another
form of the ancient “ Queen soup” or “Potage à la Reine"
(Nos. 60, 61, 62).
18
77. Purée of Fowl à la Monglas.
(So named from the Inventor.)
I have abstained, as much as I possibly could, from using
French terms in this work; but I am absolutely compelled
to employ the French word “purée;" because “purée” means
a thick, in contradistinction to a clear soup. This soup is
prepared precisely as “Potage à la Reine” (Nos. 60, 61, 62)
is made. Serve it with a scollop of fat livers, prepared as
follows: Disgorge a fat liver from Strasburg, blanch it for
a second ; when cold, dry it and surround it with slices of
fat bacon, and dress it in a “mirepoix.” (Now, both the
General Reader, the Lady of the House, and Mrs. Cook may
ask what a "mirepoix ” may be. The word is rarely found in
Anglo-French dictionaries. A “mirepoix” is simply rich
gravy of white and brown stock thickened with herbs and
seasoned with condiments in which meat is slowly stewed.
“Mirepoix” is not a technical culinary term. It was mani-
festly coined under the Ancien Régime by a chef in the
service of the Duc de Mirepoix.) Simmer it for half an
hour, and let it cool in the mirepoix ; then drain, and trim it
neatly into scollops, one inch in diameter and a quarter of
an inch in thickness, which lay in the tureen with a very
little boiling broth, and five minutes after pour in the
purée of fowl, with which you have mixed the consommé
of fowl.


120
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
78. Purée of Hare Soup.
Cut up the remains of a hare that has been roasted
for a former dinner; put a few slices of ham into a stew-
pan, then the hare, two whole onions, a blade of mace, two
quarts of stock, and a faggot composed of a sprig of thyme,
parsley, a little basil, and two cloves; set it on a stove
to simmer two hours or more; strain it off, pull all the
meat from the bones, and pound it with a lean ham boiled
with it, and the crust of two French rolls which have been
soaked in broth; rub the whole through a tammy, with a
pint of boiled claret or port, and enough broth to bring it
to the consistence of creain ; put it in a stew-pan surrounded
by a larger one of boiling water. Work a little butter into
it, and serve with sippets.
79. Purée of White Beans.
Chop some onions and fry them lightly in a little butter
and flour, and moisten with a teaspoonful of broth; let the
onions be done; boil the beans in this for half an hour,
season them well, use white pepper, and strain them through
a tammy; reduce the purée over a brisk fire, take off the
white scum, and before you serve refine it with a morsel of
fresh butter and two teaspoonfuls of thick cream; garnish it
with fried crusts of bread.
80. Purée of Game.
Roast either partridges or pheasants, or both may be
used together, they should not be too much roasted, and
while they are warm, take off the meat from the bones and
pound it immediately in a marble mortar; put the bones
into a stew-pan, cover them with consommé (No. 2), put in


.
121
: SOUPS.
two onions, a carrot, and a turnip; boil all together for
half an hour, then strain it through a silk sieve, skim off
the fat, mix it by degrees with the pounded meat, and rub
it through a tammy; it is then to be put into a clean soup
pot, and the soup warmed in a bain-marie, to prevent
it boiling.
Obs.- No spice should be used, but preserve as much
as possible the flavour of the game.
Linn
81. Purée of Partridges,
Pick the meat from the remains of partridges, and chop
and pound it; make a brown sauce (p. 328), and moisten it,
half with white wine and half with bouillon. Add the bones
of the birds, a bunch of mixed herbs, pepper, salt, and nut-
meg, and stew the whole an hour; pass it through a tammy
or sieve. With this sauce dilute the purée, strain it, keep it
hot without boiling, and serve it with poached eggs above.
The purée is also served in small croustades of bread,
prepared as follows:-Cut some large crusts of bread round
with a knife, hollow them out, and fry them; and when
done, fill them with the purée.
iran
82. Purée of Game-Hunter's Mode (Potage de Purée de
Gibier à la Chasseur).
Roast four partridges, surrounded with slices of fat bacon ;
take off all the meat, and thoroughly pound it; then mingle
it with one ounce of rice dressed in broth, and two
ounces of the crumb of a French roll; beat these together,
and add two spoonfuls of Béchamel sauce (p. 327), one of
Spanish (p. 347), and eight of stock; make the soup hot over


122
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
a slow fire, and rub it through a tammy. When serving,
mingle the broth by degrees, to which broth, being masked
as usual, the carcases of the partridges should have been
added, and put into the soup a plateful of crusts in small
dice, and fried of a light brown colour in butter.
83. Game Soup.
In the game season it is easy for a cook to prepare
a really good soup at a very small expense by taking
the meat off the breasts of any cold birds which have
been left the preceding day, pounding them in a mortar,
beating to pieces the legs and bones, and boiling the
whole in some broth for an hour. Then boil six turnips,
mash them, and strain them through a tammy with the
meat that has been pounded; strain your broth, and put
a little of it at a time into the tammy to help you to strain
all of it through. Put your soup-kettle near the fire, but
do not let it boil. When ready to dish, have six yolks
of eggs mixed with half a pint of cream; strain through a
sieve, put your soup on the fire, and, as it is coming to
the boil, put in the eggs and stir well with a wooden spoon;
do not let it boil, or it will curdle.
do not" put in thoup on
re
84. Game Soup à la Rossini.
(So named from the celebrated Composer, who was famous as a gourmet.)
Dress in a braising pan twelve quails ; let them get cold
in it; then raise and trim the fillets, which put in the
tureen with some middling-sized cocks' combs, sheep's
kidneys, a dozen small inushrooms, and as many truffles
turned as olives ; pour upon these a purée of pheasants.


SOUPS.
123
85. Scotch Hare Soup.
Skin the hare, taking care to preserve the blood; cut the
hare in pieces, wash it clean, cut off the fleshy parts of the
back and hind legs; put all the rest in a stew-pan with a
tablespoonful of butter; keep the cover on close, and let it
stew half an hour; stir it now and then. In another sauce-
pan put about two ounces of butter, and three tablespoonfuls
of flour; brown it nicely. Mix the blood with four quarts
of cold water, strain it, and, with the rest of the meat, put
it to the hare which is stewing, and add one carrot, one head
of celery, and three large onions cut sinall; season with
pepper and salt. Let it boil froin two hours to two hours
and a half, according as the hare may be young or old. Just
before serving, pick out all the bones, the carrots, and celery.
I do not think that either the French or the Americans
are very partial to hare. Among the five thousand recipes
in Mrs. Ellet's “ Practical Housekeeper" (U.S.A.) there are
not more than three for dressing a hare-roasted, jugged,
and potted.
86. English Hare Soup.
Cut down the hare into nice pieces and stew them with
four onions, stuck with four cloves, four blades of mace, a bay-
leaf or two, a faggot of parsley, with two or three sprigs
of basil, thyme, marjoram, and a head of celery. Simmer
slowly in a little strong stock-broth, and when the juices
are well drawn out, put more broth, till the whole quantity
required is in. Simmer for another hour at least, and strain
the soup. Take the best of the meat from the bones, pound
it, moistening with a little of the soup. Pound also some
soaked crumb of bread or the dry mealy part of potatoes
and put this to the soup, which must now be seasoned


124
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
to your taste with pepper, salt, cayenne, and catsup. Or
keep the best pieces, if the hare be large, to serve
whole in the tureen, cut into mouthfuls, and pound
and pulp the others, which will make the soup have quite
enough of consistence. The best pieces to serve are the
fillets cut off along the backbone, which need not be boiled
so long as the other parts, if they are to be thus served.
-irtan
87. Grouse Soup.
Roast for a quarter of an hour two fine grouse; then
take the best parts and lay them aside; break up the bones
and put them with what is left into a pot with two quarts
of good veal (No. 2) or beef stock (No. 1) unseasoned.
Stew gently for three hours, then strain and rub through
a sieve. Skin the meat laid aside, pound it in a mortar,
add two tablespoonfuls of hard toasted bread-crumbs; put
this paste, made into little balls, to the soup, together with
a tablespoonful and a half of salt, a drachm of Nepaul
pepper, and serve.
Lirian
88. Poacher's Soup, or Soup à la Meg Merrilies.
This savoury and highly relishing stew-soup (our great
grandmothers would have called it a “cullis ”) may be made
of anything or everything known by the name of game.
Take from two to four pounds of the trimmings or coarse
parts of venison, shin of beef, or shanks or lean scrag of good
mutton—all fresh. If game is plentiful, then use no meat.
Break the bones and boil them with celery, a couple of
carrots and turnips, four onions, a bunch of parsley and a
quarter of an ounce of peppercorns—the larger proportion
Jamaica pepper. Strain this stock when it has boiled for


SOUPS.
125
three hours. Cut down and skin a blackcock or woodcock,
a pheasant, half a hare or a rabbit, a brace of partridges or
grouse, and season the pieces with mixed spices. These may
be floured and browned in a frying-pan; but as this is a
process dictated by the eye as much as by the palate, it is
not really necessary. Put the game to the strained stock
with a dozen of small onions, a couple of heads of celery
sliced, half a dozen peeled potatoes, and, when it boils,
a small white cabbage quartered; black pepper, allspice, and
salt to taste. Let the soup simmer till the game is tender,
but not overdone ; and that it may not be, the vegetables
may be put in half an hour before the flesh.
This soup may be coloured and flavoured with red wine
and two spoonfuls of mushroomn catsup, and enriched with
forcemeat balls. Soups in which catsup is mixed should not
be salted till that ingredient is added, as catsup contains so
much salt itself.
sinan
89. Vermicelli Soup.
A pound and a half of lean veal cut into dice; a turnip,
a faggot of vegetables, and about two ounces of ham ; a
head of celery, an onion stuck with cloves, a few white
peppercorns, a blade of mace, and a quarter of a pound of
butter; let the whole sweat over a brisk stove; then
thicken with three spoonfuls of semolina flour diluted
with two quarts of white broth. This must be done by
degrees, so that the soup be not lumpy. Add a handful of
mushroom-trimmings; as soon as it boils, draw it to the
corner of the fire, that the scum and fat may rise, which
carefully remove. Strain this through a tammy on the
vermicelli. On serving, you may throw in a few chervil
leaves well blanched and very green, but I prefer that this
soup should be only so much broth or white stock, as clear
as sherry and well-boiled vermicelli.


126
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
90. Sweet Milk Soup.
(4 favourite German Dish, and very nice for Children.)
Three pints of milk, the yolks of two eggs, a table-
spoonful of semolina flour, a couple of peach leaves or
some lemon-peel, a little salt, and sugar to taste. Keep
these stirred over the fire till on the point of boiling over.
Have the whites of the eggs whisked to a stiff snow, with
a little sugar. When the soup is poured into the tureen,
take dessertspoonfuls of the snow, sprinkle powdered cin-
namon over, throw them into the soup, and serve directly.
ruire
91. Macaroni Soup.
Boil four ounces of the macaroni till three-fourths cooked.
Have prepared strong gravy soup; take care that the
macaroni does not get into lumps. Boil up. Serve rasped
Parmesan in a glass dish or on a plate. Many strew it on the
soup. This may be made a sort of white soup by thickening
it with white sauce, and adding hot cream gradually when
to be served, giving it first a boil up.
There are at least half a dozen soups made from dif-
ferent kinds of “ Italian 'paste;" and the rules which I have
given for macaroni soup will apply to them all. Let me hint
that there will be no harm in mixing the grated Parmesan
with a little Gruyère, or even double Gloucester.
rin
92. Spaghetti.
Boil this small macaroni just to the point; drain ; mix
with butter, grated Parmesan, pepper, and salt, and moisten
with Liebig's Extract or any kind of gravy you like to use,
Please remember this :-All forms of macaroni and risotto


SOUPS.
127
must be served very hot, and must be eaten directly they
are ready.
93. Nouille Soup.
“Nouilles”-any English cook can pronounce the name-
are simply a paste of any kind of very fine flour “ bound”
with yolks of eggs; the ingredients most carefully incor-
porated and rolled out thin and flat on a pieboard. The paste
is then cut into ribands or any other attractive shapes, or
folded up, with mincemeat or minced herbs between, for
boiling or stewing purposes. For nouille soup roll a sheet
of paste out very thin, which cut in strips about a sixth
of an inch broad, and these cut in pieces three-fourths of
an inch long; you may fold your paste, lightly dusted with
flour, which will enable you to cut several at a time ; blanch
them in boiling water, after which drain and cool them;
put them into a stew-pan with a ladleful of broth, to stew on
a slow fire twenty minutes; strain, and add as much broth
as may be wanted. Grated Parmesan should be handed
round.
retina
94. Rice Soup.
Wash and blanch three ounces of Carolina rice; stew
it in some broth with two ounces of fresh butter and a
pinch of pepper, but leave it firm; then mix with it two
ounces of Parmesan cheese grated, and three yolks of
eggs; when cold, form it into balls as large as filberts; ten
minutes before serving, roll these in a sauté-plate containing
two eggs well beaten up; drain them, and put one by one
into a stew-pan of clean hot lard to give them a fine colour ;
drain them on a napkin; put them in a tureen containing


128
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
the broth prepared and thickened with an “alliance” of eggs
and Parmesan.
95. Bread Soap.
Cut up the bread (stale) in pieces; put it into cold
water, and let it come to the boil, with some salt and a little
butter. Boil slowly for half an hour. At the moment of
serving, put three yolks of eggs into the tureen with two
ounces of fresh butter, more or less, according to the
quantity of soup. Pour in the bread on the eggs, stirring
all the time.
96. Sago Soup with Turnips.
Prepare a purée of turnips, then put into it six ounces of
sago, picked and washed, stirring it that it may not be
lumpy; boil for nearly an hour. Skim perfectly and serve.
Sago, tapioca, and Italian paste may equally be added
to the purées of lentils, of red or white haricots, of roots,
turnips, or dried peas, giving the soups their names, as, for
example: “Potage de Tapioca à la Créci,” etc. If a quarter
of a pound of the crumb of a French roll, or two spoonfuls
of four, be mixed into a thin paste with some cold stock
and added to the purées, they will acquire a remarkable
smoothness.
-
97. Scotch Barley Broth with Boiled Mutton or Beef.
To from three to six pounds of beef or mutton, according
to the quantity of broth wanted, put cold water in the pro-
portion of a quart to a pound; a quarter of a pound of Scotch
barley, more or less, as may suit the meat and the water;
and a spoonful of salt. To this add a large cupful of soaked


SOUPS.
129
white peas, or split grey peas. Skim very carefully as long as
any scum rises; then draw aside the pot, and let the broth
boil slowly for an hour; after which time add to it two young
carrots and turnips cut into dice, and two or three onions
sliced. A quarter of an hour before the broth is ready, add a
little parsley picked and chopped; or the bottom part of three
leeks may be used instead of onions, and a head of celery
sliced, instead of the parsley seasoning; but celery requires
longer boiling.
If there is danger of the meat being overdone before the
broth is properly completed, it may be taken up, covered
for a half-hour, and returned into the pot to heat through
before it is dished. Garnish with the carrots and turnips
boiled in the broth; or with nasturtiums heated in melted
butter or in a little clear broth. Serve the broth in a tureen,
removing any film of fat that may gather upon the surface.
Sirene
98. Chestnut Nesselrode Soup.
The broth being prepared as usual, take fifty chestnuts,
boil them for a few minutes in salt and water, and as soon
as the under-skin quits with the pressure of the finger, skin
them; simmer them gently with some broth, a little butter,
and a pinch of sugar; after boiling two hours, run them
down to a glaze, and put them into the tureen with crusts
dried as usual. Add the broth, in which you have boiled an
onion cut into dice and previously fried of a light colour
in fresh butter. Add blanched parsley and a little pepper.
It is necessary to add a little sugar to soups of roots
and vegetables, to mollify their sharpness, and to render
them more agreeable. To such soups as this many others
may be added, according to fancy, such as those of leeks,
radishes, endive, artichoke bottoms, etc.; but they are very


130
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
rarely served, and when asked for, their favour is given
by boiling them gently in some broth, and pouring it
afterwards into the tureen, garnished with crusts as usual
99. Cocoa-nut Soap.
Scrape or grate the inside of a couple of ripe cocoa-nuts
very fine, place it in a saucepan, adding to it a couple of
quarts of clear white stock, with a blade of mace; set it to
simmer gently for half an hour, and then strain it through
a fine sieve; have ready beaten the yolks of four eggs,
with a little stock and sufficient arrowroot or ground rice
to thicken the soup; mix this into a smooth batter,
adding it by degrees to the soup, and let simmer gently,
stirring it carefully till it is done. It should not be allowed
to boil, or it may curdle. Half a pint of cream may be
used instead of eggs.
inom
100. Macaroni and Cheese Soup.
Boil macaroni in plenty of salted water until quite soft.
Drain and cut it into smaller lengths, and throw it into
good soup. To give additional richness, have the yolks of
two or three eggs in the tureen, and stir them as the boil-
ing soup is poured in. Hand grated cheese at table.
Gran
101. Cheese Soup à la Biberon.
Peel and slice six onions, cut half a pound of lean ham
in slices, and two ounces of butter; put them into a stew-
pan over the fire, and rub with a spoon till the onions
become a little brown; add half a pound of bread-crumbs,


SOUPS.
131
and three pints of good broth, a little cayenne pepper, and
a blade of mace; let this boil for half an hour, then add
a quarter of a pound of grated Parmesan cheese, and pass
the soup through a tammy, put it into a clean soup pot,
make the soup hot without boiling, and thicken it with the
yolks of six eggs, mixed with a little broth, putting this in
at the last moment. This is a good winter soup.
Unless you are giving a dinner-party you need not put“ à
la Biberon ” on your bill of fare. The soup, I should say,
derived its name from some cook or cook’s patron, since the
word “ biberon” means merely a feeding-bottle.
fi-
102. German Cheese Soup.
Take about half a pound of bread-crumbs, sifted through
a colander, and a quarter of a pound of grated Swiss or
Parmesan cheese ; simmer them together in a stew-pan with
some vegetable broth until the bread and cheese are well
stewed. Mix three or four yolks of eggs in a saucepan with
as many spoonfuls of broth, stir it over a slow fire or stove
till well mixed, without boiling ; when the soup is taken
off the fire, stir in the egg, and serve it immediately
with toasted bread on a dish, in small squares. Add pepper
and salt, or any other seasoning, according to taste.
Jules Gouffé, in his “Livre des Soupes," seems to be
under the impression, as I have said in my "chat" about
Cheese, that we English have only one soup, and for this he
gives a recipe—“Soupe au Fromage.” With amused amaze-
ment I read that a quarter of a pint of old ale is to be added
before the soup is dished up; that is, its consistency was to
be very thick, and that it is to be served on squares of soft
toast and eaten with mustard. The poor dear man had
mistaken our “Welsh rarebit” for a soup! As a matter of
fact, I claim, as British soups, kale brose, cock-a-leekie,
J 2


132
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
mutton broth, ox-tail and giblet, split pea, mulligatawny
(Anglo-Indian), and grouse.
anon
103. Puchero.
Puchero is the Spanish analogue for that French pot-
au-feu which was once so unjustly maligned in the “ English
Wives” correspondence in a London daily newspaper.
Two pounds of lean beef placed in the stock-pot with
a pig's ear, the giblets of a fowl—if you can eat giblets;
I cannot—six ounces of blanched ham or salt pork, and
three handfuls of well-soaked garbanzos, or chick-peas.
Moisten your meat with a sufficiency of water; put your pot
on the fire; skim carefully, and when it comes to boiling
point set it on the hob. Let it simmer for two hours ; then
add two leeks, a bunch of chervil, a little wild mint, and a
large carrot or a head of cabbage-lettuce. A large slice of
puinpkin, freed from the peel and seed, will be also very
succulent in the soup. At the expiration of another hour,
add little pork sausages, called by the Spaniards chorizos,
and continue to simmer. Before serving, pass the soup
through a sieve into a stew-pan, and then pour it into a
tureen. Take the leeks and lettuces, however, from the sieve,
and garnish the meat with them, together with some slices
of fried toast. The soup is served in the tureen, and the
meat, which now corresponds with the French bouilli, on
a dish separately.
“Puchero,” radically, is the pot in which the beef soup
is concocted, and preferably the pot should be an earthen
one.
irin
104. Mexican Puchero.
This does not differ much from the Spanish dainty,
save in the circumstance that for the garbanzos, or chick-


SOUPS.
133
peas, are substituted frijoles, or kidney-beans, with shining
black skins; and, again, the Mexicans, who are very fond
of highly spiced dishes, are accustomed to stew whole
chillies in the puchero.
nain
105. Calabrian Sonp.
Chop up an onion ; fry to a golden colour in a stew-pan;
add four ounces of lean raw ham, grated ; a bunch of parsley
stuck with cloves and peppercorns; two minutes afterwards,
add six tomatoes sliced, and freed from the skins and pips.
As soon as the tomatoes have lost their moisture in the
pan, pour over a little melted glaze and some reduced brown
sauce; boil for a few minutes, and pass all through a sieve.
Have ready a pound and a half of Naples macaroni, cooked
as directed above; pour it into the pan and mix with six
ounces of butter; keep rolling the pan so that the butter
and the macaroni shall get well mingled; finish with a
pinch of pepper, dress it in a deep dish or a tureen by
layers, sprinkling each layer with grated cheese, and pour
over it a little of the sauce previously prepared; more sauce
and more Parmesan must crown the whole; and you may
serve separately a tureen of well-clarified broth. The maca-
roni without the broth will be found quite as tasty.
A most enjoyable summer soup, and a cheap one.
Sauce previo the whole ; . The maca
106. German Soup.
Take veal-stuffing and make it into small circular puddings;
boil them in water, and drain them on a sieve ; then cut the
hearts of two cabbages fine, and blanch them in salt and
water for ten minutes; squeeze the water from them, and
put them into a stew-pan with a piece of butter, a little salt


134
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
and sugar, and simmer the cabbages for an hour over a
slow fire; then put as much broth as may be required to
make the mixture of a good consistence; let it boil, skim
off the fat, and rub it through a tammy; then boil up the
soup, and put into it the small puddings. This may be
highly seasoned.
107. Flemish Soup.
Slice six onions, cut six heads of celery into small pieces,
and slice about twelve potatoes. Put about a quarter of a
pound of butter with two ounces of ham into a stewpan,
with a little white stock; set it to stew slowly for half an
hour; then fill up with broth ; let it boil on gently half
an hour more, or until the potatoes are dissolved ; then rub it
through a tammy with the crumb of half a French roll
soaked in the broth, and add half a pint of cream that
has been boiled, and a mixture of four yolks of eggs. Work a
little fresh butter in the soup previous to serving.
Sev
108. Austrian Soup.
Cut a fat chicken in pieces; fry in butter with sweet
herbs; boil in clear broth, and then roll in cruinbs of
bread and Parmesan cheese; colour with the salamander;
lay thin slices of bread with grated cheese on them; then a
layer of cabbages with more slices of bread; add the broth,
and stew till it catches a little at bottom; grate on a little
more cheese, brown it; add a little more broth, and serve
the pieces of chicken on the top.


SOUPS.
135
109. Minestra Soup (Italian).
Cut up all together into fine pieces two carrots, half
a turnip, two leeks, a quarter of a cabbage, half an onion,
and a stalk of celery, and steam them in about two ounces
of butter for about ten minutes in a covered saucepan ;
moisten with three pints of white broth; season with half
a teaspoonful of salt and a teaspoonful of pepper, and add
one tablespoonful of raw rice. Let it simmer until half-
cooked, then throw in one ounce of pieces of macaroni and
half a tomato. Boil again for ten minutes, and serve with
two tablespoonfuls of grated cheese separately.
18+
110. Minestrone.
(Milan Fashion.)
Chop six or eight ounces of bacon, put it into a stew-pan
with a piece of raw ham, a savoy cabbage shredded large, and
two or three handfuls of fresh haricot beans, either white or
green; moisten all these vegetables with three quarts of
broth, and place the stew-pan on a brisk fire. After it has
boiled ten minutes, add to the liquid four tablespoonfuls of
tender celery roots cut into small dice, the same of cabbage,
and again the same of haricot beans, cut in pieces. Eight
or ten minutes after, add two handfuls of fresh broad beans,
the same of green peas and asparagus heads, a chopped
tomato, twelve or fourteen ounces of Piedmont rice (not
washed), as well as two or three smoked Milan sausages.
Continue boiling until the rice be done: twelve or fourteen
minutes will be long enough. At the last moment, add to
the soup a handful of grated Parmesan ; then take out the
ham and sausages ; pour the broth and vegetables into the
soup tureen ; cut the sausages and put them into the soup,
which serve.


136
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
The Milanese, be it remarked, are undoubtedly the best
cooks in Italy.
non
111. German Wine Soap.
Put some water, some sugar, and some cinnamon-bark
into a saucepan. Boil, and add wine equal in quantity to
the water. As soon as the soup gets very hot, but not
boiling, pour it into the tureen on some fried bread or
some biscuits.
sroom
112. Currant Juice Soup for Children.
Put into a saucepan as much water as you require
soup. When the water boils, throw in some vermicelli
and a little salt. Mix a small quantity of potato flour in
some cold water; when quite smooth, pour it into the sauce-
pan, stirring slowly. As soon as the vermicelli is cooked,
add the currant-juice and the necessary amount of sugar.
nin
113. A Simple Soup with Eggs.
This extremely primitive soup is made of garlic fried
in olive oil or beef-dripping, and moistened with beef-
stock, or, on fast days, simply with water. Just before
serving, as many eggs as there are guests are mingled raw
with the soup, which is then boiled up, seasoned with pepper
and salt, and served with sippets of toasted bread. Or, if
the guests are exceptionally fond of garlic, put in large
slices of bread, to be soaked in the soup, which, it will be
clear to culinary experts, bears a certain resemblance to
the fundamental seasoning of the Provençal Bouillabaisse.


SOUPS.
137
114. Cold Soap.
Allow to blanch, separately, in a pan, four handfuls of
spinach and two handfuls of sorrel ; drain and pass through
a sieve, inix the vegetables and place in a pan, diluting with
a quart of very well clarified veal or chicken stock. The
Russians use as stock“ kvas,” a beverage made of partially
fermented rye or barley; but this I do not think English
people would like any more than they do the German “ beer-
soup.” Put your stock and vegetables into a large pan;
cut into thin slices some cooked and cold salmon, or any
other fish that comes handy. Prepare and cut into dice a
small cucumber, slightly salted; also pare a few crayfish; add
a small quantity of grated horseradish, and keep your pan on
the ice till it is time to serve. Then mix in the soup some
pieces of Wenham Lake ice.
If you will only take care to have your stock so thoroughly
clarified as to be altogether free from fat, you will find this
cold soup in summer most refreshing and most palatable.
Our chief culinary sin is that we do not suit our dishes to
our seasons.
115. A Pepper-Pot.
This is now understood in England to be a sort of clear
soup—a highly seasoned Saturday's dinner dish, composed of
all sorts of shreds and patches. It ought properly, if fine
cookery is attempted, to be an “olio," composed of a due
admixture of meat, fish, fowl, vegetables, and roots.
For so-called West Indian Pepper-Pot, to three quarts of
water put two pounds of whatever vegetables are plentiful (a
good proportion being onions), and two pounds of mutton
scrag, cut into three or four pieces ; or a fowl, or veal, or a
piece of lean bacon; and a little rice. Skim it, and, when
nearly finished, add the meat of a lobster or crab, cut in bits,


133
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
or the soft part of a few oysters or hard-boiled yolks of eggs.
Take off all the fat that rises, and season highly with pepper
and cayenne. Serve in a deep dish.
I happen to be on my mother's side of West Indian
parentage; and I must fain say something of the genuine
tropical dish. The fundamental ingredient in real West
Indian Pepper-Pot is casaripe, the inspissated juice of the
bitter cassava, or manioc. “Inspissated” means thickening
a liquid by boiling, or by evaporation. All kinds of
vegetables and meats may be put into pepper-pot (which
is best made in an earthen pipkin); and through its very
high seasoning with casaripe and other condiments, it may
in the tropics (with occasional replenishment) be kept
“going ” for months. For a very old form of this dainty
(“Manners and Customs in the West India Islands," 1888)
I find this recipe : “A small piece of pork or beef, sliced ; a
fowl dissected; ochras, yams, plantains, calilvo,' and plenty
of fire-balls' or red pepper.” (See under ENTREMETS, p. 319.)
Soon
116. Sharp Soup.
Cut up soine mutton into pieces the size of small
walnuts; wash and put them in a stew-pan, with sufficient
salt, and as much water as the quantity of soup required;
put the pan on the fire. When boiling, skim it well, and
let it simmer until the pieces of meat are tender, and skim
off the fat; then put in a basin sufficient flour, which mix
with water to form a smooth batter, but not too thick,
and add to it the broth by degrees, stirring at the same
time, so as to prevent it froin getting lumpy ; let it simmer
till the smell of flour has dispersed, and take it off.
Then beat up the yolks of three eggs in a sinall saucepan
with sufficient wine-vinegar or lemon-juice, set it on a small
charcoal fire, and keep it stirring with a wooden spoon


SOUPS.
139
until a little thick; take it off, and add it gradually to
the soup, stirring it quickly at the same time, to prevent
the eggs from curdling; then pour it in a tureen, sprinkle
a little pepper and cinnamon over, and serve.
son
117. “Crusts” for Thick Soups.
Cut up some bread-crumb into small dice. Melt and
clarity two ounces of butter. Fry the dice in the
butter till of a nice light brown. If you wish to garnish
spinach or an entrée of game, cut a slice of bread a quarter
of an inch thick; divide it in two, lengthwise. Cut away the
crust, then cut the crumb in zig-zag pieces either in cubes
or lozenges, and fry in butter till of a nice brown colour.


140
SECTION II.-FISH.
--
-
-
1. Forcemeat for Stews of Fish, etc.
BEAT the flesh and soft parts of a boiled lobster in a
inortar, with a boned anchovy, the yolks of three eggs hard-
boiled, and a head of boiled celery chopped. Put to this a
handful of bread-crumbs, cayenne, mace, a spoonful of mush-
room catsup, a quarter-pound of melted butter, a large spoon-
ful of oyster liquor, or some oyster pickle, and two or more
eggs well beaten, to cement the composition. Mix it well,
and form into small egg-shaped balls, which fry, or brown in
a Dutch oven. Or the fish that makes the stock for soups
may bo pounded for forcemeat.
pickle, anà a large sp.
ment the
2. Fish Forcemeat, or Quenelles.
Take dressed or undressed fish of any sort, chop it fine,
and beat it well in a mortar with the yolks of some hard-
boiled eggs; then add an equal quantity of bread-crumbs
soaked in hot milk and well drained, with as much fresh
butter as forcemeat. Next, a little salt, grated nutmeg, the
yolks of three or four eggs, one by one, and a little chopped
parsley. Beat the whites of the eggs to snow, taking one
white less than you have yolks. This forcemeat may be
used to stuff anything you please, or to make quenelles
for soup. Take a teaspoon, or a dessertspoon, according to
the size you wish the balls to be, fill this with forcemeat,
shape it with a knife dipped in warm water, so that the upper
side has the same form as that in the spoon ; take it out with
another spoon dipped in water, and put it on a paper well


FISH.
141
buttered. When you have made them all, slip the paper
gently into the saucepan of soup; as soon as they are
detached, withdraw the paper; they must have plenty of
room to swim in. If you have no soup, boil them in water,
with a little piece of butter and salt, for ten minutes over
a gentle fire. They may be used to garnish dishes, or you
may roll them in four or bread-crumbs and fry them; but
flour injures their delicacy.
Girona
3. To Fry Parsley, Herbs, Bread-crumbs, etc.
Fill the frying-pan with very hot dripping or lard.
Have young parsley nicely picked, washed, drained, and
then rubbed lightly between the folds of a cloth to dry.
It must be fried quickly, to get crisp. The moment it is done,
lift it with a slice, and place it before the fire on a sieve
reversed, to drain and become more crisp; or it may be
crisped in a Dutch oven before the fire. This is used for
garnishing not only fish, but also lamb chops, liver, and
anything to which the flavour of parsley is suitable. Many
things are served on fried parsley.
Bread-crumbs are fried and drained in the same inanner,
taking care that the fat is perfectly clear, and the bread not
burned. Sippets may be cut in the form of stars, the Maltese
cross, triangles, diamonds, etc. etc., and nicely fried and
drained before the fire to serve for garnishing. Fried bread
is a most useful article for garnishing, as it never fails to
be eaten with the dish it is employed to ornament.
4. To Collar Salmon.
Split, scale, and bone as much of the fish as will make
a handsome collar of about six inches diameter. Season it


142
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
highly with beaten mace, cloves, pepper and salt, and having
rolled it firmly up and bandaged it, bake it with vinegar
and butter; or simmer it in vinegar and water. Serve with
melted butter and anchovy sauce. The liquor in which the
collar was boiled or baked may be boiled up with salt,
vinegar, and a few bay-leaves, and poured over the fish to
preserve it.
5. To Roll Salmon.
Take a side of salmon, split, the bone taken out and
scalded. Strew over the inside some pepper, salt, nutmeg,
mace, a few chopped oysters, parsley, and crumbs of bread.
Roll it up tight, put it into a deep pot, and bake it in a
quick oven. Make the common fish sauce, and pour over it.
6. Salmon Cutlets.
French cooks dress slices of fresh salmon as cutlets “in
curl paper,” by seasoning them with mixed spices, dipped in
salad oil, and broiling them.
7. Cutlets of Salmon à la Maitre d'Hôtel.
Cut some slices of salmon into the shape of chops. Put
them into a sauté-pan with some clarified dripping or butter,
pepper, and salt, and“ toss” them, when dinner-time is come,
over an equal fire. Drain the butter well, and dish the
slices of salmon in a pyramid.
For salmon you must not use any cream, as this fish
is already heavy for the stomach. Put into a stew-pan
three spoonfuls of brown sauce well reduced ; add to it a


FISH.
143
thickening of one egg, and refine with a quarter of a pound
of butter, some salt, a little cayenne, the juice of half a
lemon, and some parsley chopped very fine; work the sauce
very fine, and use as wanted.
intim
8. To Pot Salmon.
Split, scale, and clean by wiping, for water must not
touch it. Rub with salt; drain off the moisture, and season
the salmon with pounded mace, cloves, and black pepper.
Cut it into shapely pieces, lay them in a pan, and cover
them with oiled butter. Bake them ; drain off the fat, and
put them into potting cans, which must then be covered
with clarified butter.
Siretom
9. Caveach Salmon.
Boil, in two quarts of vinegar, three heads of shallots, half
an ounce of black pepper, three cloves, two blades of mace,
and a little salt. Cut the fish in slices, and fry these of a
light brown colour in fine oil, or clarified dripping; put them,
when cold, into a pan; pour over them the vinegar and
spices, and put on the top eight or ten spoonfuls of oil.
10. Salmon à la Génevoise.
Put into a stew-pan a good slice of salmon, with mush-
rooms, shallots, and parsley chopped fine, salt, and spice;
add a little red wine and some broth. When stewed put into
another stew-pan a piece of butter, rolled in two spoonfuls
of flour, which moisten with the liquor of the salmon, and


11+
TIIE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
let it boil till reduced; pour it over the fish, and serve. A
little anchovy butter will improve this sauce.
Sirom
11. Slices of Crimped Salmon Broiled, with Caper Sauce.
Marinade or soak your slices of salmon in a little olive
oil, with salt and pepper. Three-quarters of an hour before
you send up, broil them on a very slow fire, on both sides.
When they are done, take off the skins and drain them on
a clean towel to draw out all the oil. Dish, and cover
with the caper sauce. Let it be understood that your
gridiron must be put on a slope, with a false bottom under
the fore-feet to receive the oil, for if this should fall into
the fire, the smoke would spoil the fish, besides filling the
kitchen with stench.
Girom
12. Crimped Salmon au Naturel.
Have two quarts of water boiling in a stew-pan, with six
ounces of salt, in which place two slices of crimped salmon ;
if more than two are wanted, a proportionate addition must
be made to the water. Boil quickly for eighteen ininutes ;
try the bone in the middle, and if it leaves easily, your fish is
done; don't leave it soddening in the water after it is done,
or it will lose its aroma; but if you are not quite ready to
dish it up, cover it with a wet unstarched napkin and stand
it in your hot-closet. Dish it up prettily garnished with
fresh parsley; but if I were you, I would dish it up neither
on a starched napkin nor on paper. I don't like starch
in a dissolved or sticky form. The fish looks quite as well
on a strainer. You can serve either lobster or shrimp sauce
with it.
I have given one of the simplest recipes for dressing this
I dont up neit.
ky form. piper:


FISH,
145
splendid fish, because, as a rule, you will begin to eat salmon
about the end of April, and your taste will then be innocent
enough to enjoy it in its most unadorned form. But if you
dine out, or give dinners frequently during the season, your
palate will become more and more cloyed, until about the
beginning of July you will get satiated with and sick of
salmon altogether.
13. Salmon au Bleu.
Put some slices of salınon in a fish-kettle with half a
pint of port wine, carrots cut in slices, onions also sliced,
four cloves, a couple of bay-leaves, a handful of parsley, a
few sprigs of thyme, salt, and pepper; let it boil very gently;
it is done when the flesh will easily leave the bone. It
must be covered by the liquor in which it is boiled. If
served as an entrée, take off the skin when the fish is done,
and mask it with a good butter sauce, in which put capers,
sliced gherkins, and a little anchovy butter.
-noir
14. Salmon Fritters.
Cut some cold boiled salmon; pound some boiled
potatoes, moistened with cream, and the yolk of an egg
beaten; mix all together and make it into small fritters,
and fry these of a light brown in fresh lard, or beef-dripping;
serve them with hard-boiled eggs, cut in quarters. For
sauce, melt two ounces of butter, with a little cream and
flour mixed, and add, when it is hot, a dessertspoonful of
soy, and two of mushroom catsup.


146
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
15. Baked Salmon.
Clean, and cut the fish into slices; put it in a dish,
and make the following sauce :-Melt an ounce of butter,
kneaded in flour, in a pint and half of gravy, with two
glasses of port wine, two tablespoonfuls of catsup, two an-
chovies, and a little cayenne. When the anchovies are dis-
solved, strain and pour the sauce over the fish, tie a sheet
of buttered paper over the dish, and bake in an oven.
Trout answer well dressed in this way.
16. Roast Salmon.
Get a sufficient quantity of salmon in one piece, remove
the bones, and cut it in pieces the size of an egg; sprinkle
sufficient salt and pepper over, with a handful or two of
parsley chopped fine, and let them remain for about an
hour, then pass them on skewers with a bay-leaf between
each piece, put them before a moderate fire, and turn until
they are nicely browned ; dish up tastefully, with some
parsley and one or two lemons cut in quarters round them,
and serve hot. Other fish may be cooked in the same way.
rom
17. Salmon, Matelote Sance.
Make a marinade, in which stew the salmon. When it is
done, pick off the scales carefully. Pour the marinade over
the salmon to keep it hot. Then make a sauce in the
following manner :-Put a good bit of butter and two
spoonfuls of flour in a stew-pan, and make a brown sauce.
When it begins to colour, throw four or six onions into your
sauce, and let them melt; keep stirring with a wooden spoon.
Then moisten with a pint of red wine; add a few spoonfuls


FISH.
147
of the marinade in which you have stewed the salmon, some
trimmings of mushrooms, a bunch of parsley and green
onions well seasoned, and a small piece of glaze ; season the
whole, and put a little sugar to correct the acidity of the
wine ; skim the grease, and keep the sauce thick. In case it
should not be thick enough to cover the fish, add a small bit
of butter kneaded with flour, a quarter of a pound of fresh
butter, some essence of anchovies, the juice of a lemon, and
some salt and pepper. Drain your fish, and cover it with the
sauce, after having strained it through a tammy.
Lauan
18. Salmon with Sweet Herbs.
Mix a piece of butter with some chopped parsley, shallots,
sweet herbs, mushrooms, pepper and salt. Put some of this
in the bottom of the dish you intend to send to table; then
some thin slices of salmon upon it, and the remainder of the
butter and herbs upon the salmon. Strew it over with bread-
crumbs, then baste it with butter and bake it in the oven.
When it is done, drain the fat from it, and serve it up
with a clear relishing sauce.
with a nis done, dra with butter
-roin
19. Salmon à la Tartare.
Marinade and broil the salmon ; mix six yolks of eggs
in a round-bottomed basin, with half a tablespoonful of
made mustard and a little salt; place it on ice, and work
in gradually about a pint of the finest olive oil: this
would serve for two or three slices; add by degrees a table-
spoonful of tarragon vinegar, and one of Chili vinegar,
with cayenne pepper and lemon-juice. This sauce should be
very sharp, but, above all, do not let it be thin, as it must be
worked on the ice till it is sufficiently stiff to bear the weight
K 2


143
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
of the salmon; cover the dish about half an inch thick
with the sauce, within half an inch of the edge all round;
glaze the salmon as you take it from the gridiron, place it
on the sauce, and serve. Bear in mind that the dish must
be kept cold.
Sinan
20. Salmon à la Braise.
Slit a large eel open, take out the bone and remove the
meat from it. Chop the meat fine with two anchovies, some
leinon-peel cut fine, a little pepper and grated nutmeg, with
some parsley and thyme cut small, and the yolk of an egg
boiled hard. Mix them all together, and roll them up in a
piece of butter. Then take a large piece of fine salmon, or a
salmon trout, and put this forcemeat into the belly of the
fish. Sew it up, and lay it in an oval stew-pan that will just
hold it. Next put half a pound of fresh butter into a stew-
pan, and when it is melted shake in a little flour. Stir it
till it is a little brown, and put to it a pint of fish broth
and a pint of Madeira. Season with pepper, salt, mace,
and cloves, and put in an onion and a bunch of sweet herbs.
Stir all together and put it to the fish ; cover it very close,
and let it stew. When the fish is almost done, put in some
fresh and pickled mushrooms, truffles, or inorels, cut in pieces,
and let them stew till the fish is quite done. Take up
the salmon carefully, lay it in a dish, and put the sauce
over it.
Lirin
21. Salmon Souchet.
Scale and wash the fish in cold water with a little salt,
then cut it in slices about a quarter of an inch thick,
place them in a saucepan and cover with good fish stock.
Put to them some sliced onions and a bunch of herbs, and


FISH.
149
simmer gently for eight or ten minutes. Strain the liquor,
and boil it down to half the quantity; then clarify it, and
add aspic, also a little carrot and turnip, cut as if for Julienne
soup (p. 80). Blanch them till tender, and mask the fillets
with them. Then sprinkle with chervil and tarragon, and
dish on a border of aspic jelly.
The best salmon souchet in the world is served at the
Ship Hotel, Greenwich.
irano
22. Salmon Pudding.
Take a pound and a half of salmon, pound and pass
through a sieve. Have ready mixed some bread-crumbs, two
ounces of butter, three eggs; add this to the pounded fish;
also half a pint of cream; season, and place in a buttered
mould. Steam for twenty minutes, turn out, and serve with
a good sauce, and garnish with prawns.
nam
23. Fillets of Turbot à la Crême.
This is a splendid entrée of desserte. When your turbot is
returned from table, immediately take up the fillets and skin
them ; you must do this while they are hot, as it will occasion
a great waste to trim them when cold. The next day you
must scollop your fillets as equally as possible. Have a
white cream quite hot; put the fillets into it, keep them
hot, and in due time send them up in a dish garnished with
a bordering of puff paste, or in a vol-au-vent.
The cream sauce may be made in two different ways:
First, if you have Béchamel in the larder, put into a stew-pan
three spoonfuls of it, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter,
two spoonfuls of very good cream, some salt and a little
Nepaul pepper ; inix the whole well, and put either the sauce


150
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
over the fish or the fish into the sauce, if it is for a vol.
au-vent. If you have no Béchamel, put into a stew-pan a
tablespoonful of flour, a quarter of a pound of butter, two
or three spoonfuls of cream, a little pepper, and a small
bit of glaze. Do not let this sauce boil—only heat it till
it is thick.
24. Gratin of Fillets of Turbot.
Cut a few slices of bread, one inch broad and a quarter
of an inch thick. Dip them into an omelette of a single
egg. Stick them on the border of a dish, which lay on
the corner of a little stove. Turn the dish when you
have completed the circle, put a spoonful or two of
smooth brown sauce, and let it “gratin " in the centre of
the dish. Next take more of the same sauce, to which
you add a quarter of a pound of butter, and mix this on
the stove without boiling. Keep this sauce thick; pour
into it a little thick cream ; season it well; put your
scollops into the sauce, and the whole into the dish in
which you have “gratined” the sauce. Now level with
your knife, and strew crumbs of bread over the scollops
equally; heat a bored ladle, put a lump of butter into it,
and baste the scollops with it; give them another coat
of crumbs of bread, baste them again, and let them get a
good colour with the salamander. When the “gratin"
has got a good colour, take off the slices of bread that
you had previously stuck round the dish, to make room for
others that have been fried in butter of a fine colour. If you
have a deep dish, the first border will not be wanted: only
the second, which makes the dish look better. If you trim
and fry your bread nicely, it makes a handsome entrée.


FISH.
151
25. To Dress a Turbot with Capers.
Having washed and dried a small turbot well, put into a
stew-pan some thyme, parsley, sweet herbs, and an onion
sliced. Then lay the turbot in a stew-pan, which should
be just large enough to hold it, and strew over the fish the
same herbs that are under it, with some chives and sweet
basil. Then pour in an equal quantity of white wine and
white-wine vinegar, till the fish is covered. Strew in a little
bay-salt with some whole pepper, and set the stew-pan over
a gentle stove, increasing the heat by degrees till the fish is
done. Then take it off the fire, but do not take out the
turbot. Set a saucepan on the fire with a pound of butter,
two anchovies split, boned, and washed, two tablespoonfuls
of capers cut small, some whole chives, pepper, salt, grated
nutmeg, a little flour, a spoonful of vinegar, and a small
quantity of water; keep shaking the saucepan round for
some time. Having then put on the turbot to make it hot,
place it in a dish and pour some of the sauce over it. Lay
horseradish round it, and pour what sauce remains into a
boat.
In the same way you may dress soles, flounders, large
plaice, or dabs.
26. Vol-au-vent d'Escalopes de Turbot au Bon Beurre.
A long name, suited only for the bill-of-fare at a very
“smart” dinner party. In plain English it is scollops of
turbot on puff paste.
This is an excellent entrée of desserte. Be particular to
skin the fillets of the turbot when returned from table, as
directed in No. 23. Cut them in scollops and put them into
a stew-pan, well covered, to prevent their getting dry. With
regard to the sauce, take six spoonfuls of “turned” sauce,
which reduce with two spoonfuls of broth. When the sauce
is reduced, thicken it with the yolks of two eggs, and


152
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
refine it with at least a quarter of a pound of the best
butter. If you should have any thick cream, introduce a
little, as it will make the sauce mellower. Lastly, season
well; put the scollops with the sauce, keep them hot, and
send up the whole to table in a vol-au-vent.
nar
27. Petites Timballes of Fillets of Turbot à la Vénétienne.
This is an entrée of desserte held in high estimation.
It requires but very little fish to make it. Cut what-
ever is left of the turbot into dice, as small as possible.
For the sauce take three spoonfuls of Béchamel, to which
add a good lump of butter, salt, white pepper, a little parsley
chopped very fine, and well squeezed in a napkin, that it
may not give a green colour to the sauce. Then put a
little cavice—that of Mackay's, which is the best, is the
composition which agrees the most with all fish sauces,
particularly when kept many years. Keep stirring your
sauce, which is generally called “working” it. The French
call it vanner-taking up the sauce in a ladle, and pouring
it perpendicularly into the stew-pan, repeating the operation
frequently and very quickly, to make the liquid transparent.
When it is mellow and of a good taste, throw in the small
dice of turbot, keep them hot, and when ready to send up
to table, garnish the little timbales with the turbot. Let
them lie for a moment in the oven, and serve them up
hot. If you have no Béchamel, you must make use of
melted butter enriched with a little cream.
28. John Dory Boiled with Lobster Sauce.
John Dory is boiled exactly the same as turbot, and the
process in either case is so simple that I need not describe it.
Put parsley round the fish, particularly in the opening of
the head.


FISH.
153
29. Fillets of Soles à l'Orlie.
Fillet two soles, and cut them in halves, lengthwise; then
lay them in a basin with an onion cut in slices, a little
parsley, thyme, bay-leaf, two wine-glasses of vinegar, and a
little pepper and salt; let them reinain thus two hours, then
dry them in a cloth; flour, egg, and bread-crumb them, and
fry in oil; dish them round without a napkin; then put
four tablespoonfuls of tomato sauce in a stew-pan with one of
Harvey sauce and two of good stock; boil three minutes;
finish with a little sugar, and pour it in a dish, but not over
the fish. This sauce requires to be rather thin.
I have never been able to discover the meaning of
“ Orli,” “Orlie,” or “ Orly.” The great French lexicographer,
Littré, is wholly silent on the subject. Perhaps “Orli” or
“ Orly” was a French grand seigneur.
ritare
30. Fillets of Soles au Gratin.
Fillet two soles, egg-and-bread-crumb, and fry as above;
dish then on a thin border of mashed potatoes, pour the
following sauce over them, and cover with bread-crumbs :-
Put twelve tablespoonfuls of brown sauce in a stew-pan,
and, when it boils, add a tablespoonful of chopped mush-
rooms, one ditto of Worcester sauce, and one of essence of
anchovies ; let it boil five minutes, season with a little sugar;
add two yolks of eggs, put it in the oven for ten minutes,
pass the salamander over it, and serve very hot.
iran
31. Fillets of Soles Fried.
Cut off the fins of the sole and dip it in flour, then egg-
and-bread-crumb it, but do not put it in the lard unless


154
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
it is quite hot, which you may easily ascertain by throwing a
drop of water in it: if it is hot enough you will hear a
hissing sound; allow the sole ten minutes to fry, or less,
according to the size ; dish it upon a napkin (a strainer is
better), garnish with parsley, and serve with shrimp sauce.
32. Fillets of Soles à la Maitre d'Hôtel.
Fillet a pair of soles (but neither cut them nor egg-and-
bread crumb them); rub an ounce of butter into a sauté-pan,
lay in the fillets, the skin-side downwards, and sprinkle
chopped parsley, pepper, salt, and the juice of a lemon over
them; then place them over a slow fire ; turn them when
about half done (they must be kept quite white). When
done, lay the fillets on a cloth, cut them in halves slantingly,
dish them round without a napkin, and place them in the
hot closet. Then put ten tablespoonfuls of melted butter and
two ditto of white sauce into the sauté-pan, with a little
more lemon-juice and chopped parsley; boil it two minutes ;
add two pats of butter, a little sugar and salt, and four table-
spoonfuls of milk ; pour over the fillets, and serve directly.
33. Mayonnaise of Fillets of Soles.
Simmer the fillets of two soles in a sauté-pan with a little
butter, lemon-juice, pepper, and salt; and when done, put
them in a press between two dishes; when cold, divide each
fillet into collops two and a half inches long; trim them
neatly, season them with vinegar, oil, pepper, and salt, and dish
them in pyramidal rows on a bed of shredded lettuce, or any
other salad; cover them with mayonnaise sauce (see p. 338)
coloured with some spinach greening, or merely with plenty


FISH.
155
of very finely chopped tarragon and chervil ; garnish round
the base of the salad with a border of hard-boiled eggs,
and serve.
L-irin
34. Sole à la Colbert.
Make an incision in the back of a sole from the head
nearly to the tail ; then break the bone in three pieces; bread-
crumb, and fry as in No. 31. When done, take out the
pieces of bone and fill with the following :-Lay two ounces
of butter on a plate with half a teaspoonful of chopped
tarragon and chervil, two ditto of lemon-juice, and a little
pepper and salt; put about three parts of it into the sole,
and mix the remainder with two tablespoonfuls of melted
butter, pouring this round the fish, which is dished without
a napkin; put in the oven a few minutes, and serve very hot.
Gintar
35. Sole à la Meunière.
Cut the fins off a sole and crimp it on each side by
making incisions across it; then rub half a tablespoonful of
salt and chopped onions well into it; dip it in flour and
broil it over a slow fire. Have ready four pats of butter
mixed with the juice of a lemon and a little cayenne pepper;
rub this over the sole, which is previously dished up without
a napkin, turn the sole over once or twice, put it in the oven
a minute, and serve very hot.
36. Soles à la Française.
Skin and clean a pair of soles, and put them into an
earthen dish, with a quart of water, and half a pint of vinegar.


156
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Let them lie two hours, and then take them out and dry
them with a cloth. Next place them in a stew-pan with a
pint of white wine, a quarter of a pint of water, a very little
thyme, a little sweet marjoram, winter savoury, and an onion
stuck with four cloves. Put in the soles, sprinkle in a very
little bay-salt, cover them close, and let them simmer very
gently till they are done. Then take them out, and lay
them in a warm dish before the fire. Strain the liquor,
put into it a piece of butter rolled in flour, and let it boil
till of a proper thickness. Lay the soles in a dish, and pour
the sauce over them.
In the same manner you may dress a small turbot, or
any flat fish.
ruan
37. Fried Soles, Tartar Sauce.
As a postulate, please to remember, Madame Housekeeper
and Mrs. Cook, that one sauce should never be followed
by another of the same colour. To do so is as false blazonry
as it is in heraldry to put tincture on tincture or metal
on metal.
Your sole should be plainly fried. It is perhaps better
to fry it in a mixture of lard and oil, since the milk
remaining in the butter is sure to burn. The only way
to use butter for frying is to clarify it, but that costs
money. Lard by itself is quite good enough ; but be careful
that it is entirely clean, and that it does not burn. If you
will get over your prejudices you can fry your sole, and
indeed, any kind of fish, in oil, as the Italians and the
Jews do. The Jews, by the way, fry fish better than any
other people in the world. They turn out, fried, not only
soles, but dabs, plaice, whiting, brill, smelts, etc., of a beautiful
golden tint. Be careful to procure the very best Lucca salad
oil from a first-class Italian warehouse.
Begin by cutting off the fins of your sole, and dipping it


FISH.
157
in flour; then egg-and-bread-crumb it, but don't put it in
grease until this is boiling hot; allow the sole ten minutes
to fry or less, according to size. (For the Tartar Sauce,
see p. 348.)
38. To Stew Soles.
Take the flesh from the bones of your soles, and cut
each of them into eight pieces. Put a quart of boiled gravy
into a stew-pan, a quarter of a pint of any white wine,
some white pepper pounded, grated nutmeg, and a piece of
lemon-peel. Stew these together nearly an hour, and add
some cream, and a piece of butter mixed in flour. Keep
the sauce stirring till it boils, put in the fish, and stew it
a quarter of an hour. Take out the lemon-peel, and squeeze
in some lemon-juice. The fish may be stewed whole in
the same sauce; or it may be cut as before directed, and
a little gravy made with the bones and head.
- now
39, Sole Pudding.
Split a pair of soles from the bone, and cut the fins
close ; season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and pounded mace,
and place the whole in layers, with half a hundred of oysters.
Put the liquor of the oysters in the dish, with two or
three spoonfuls of broth and some butter. Add a little
thick cream, on this place a layer of mashed potatoes, and
bake for about half an hour.
40. To Boil a Cod's Head.
Wash it clean; tie it up and dry it with a cloth. Allow
for every three measures of water one of salt; when it


158
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
boils, take off the scum, put in the fish, and keep it boiling
very fast for twenty-five minutes. Serve with it the roe
cut into slices and fried with the chitterlings; garnish with
curled parsley and horseradish.
Sauces: Oyster, melted butter, or anchovy and butter.
When the cod is to be kept for two or three days, cleanse
it thoroughly and sprinkle it with nearly equal proportions
of salt and sugar; and before it is boiled, cut it into slices
three inches thick ; lay these in salt and water for two hours,
changing the water once; tie them in a cloth, and keep
thein in boiling salt and water for fifteen minutes.
rin
41. Cod's Head and shoulders.
Wash the head and shoulders well; cut off the fins ;
lay it on a dish ; pour some boiling water over part of the
fish, and instantly scrape off all the black scales, taking
care not to break the skin; repeat this till every part of
the fish looks white, and then wash it in cold water. Put
it on in boiling salt and water, and boil it for a quarter of
an hour; then lay it on a dish, rub it all over with the
yolks of two or three beaten eggs, and strew it thickly
with grated bread-crumbs mixed with pepper and minced
parsley; stick it all over with little bits of butter, and put it
in an oven to brown. Mix a tablespoonful of flour with
a quarter of a pound of butter, a quart of gravy, a teacupful
of white wine, some pepper, salt, and a little grated nutmeg.
Mince the white meat of a lobster; slightly brown three dozen
oysters in a frying-pan, and put them with half the liquor
and the lobster to the gravy and the other things; heat it
up, and pour it round the fish. Garnish with cut lemon. It
is not necessary to have oysters and lobsters, but the dish
is the better for both.
To dress the same dish with a white sauce, the stock


FISH.
159
should be made of veal, or of an old fowl, and seasoned with
white pepper and inace.
intim
42. To Bake Cod, or Haddock.
Take the middle piece of the fish, and skin it; make a
stuffing with a little of the roe parboiled, a piece of butter,
the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, some grated bread-crumbs,
pepper, salt, grated lemon-peel, and nutmeg ; bind this with
the beaten white of an egg; put it into the fish, and sew the
latter up. Place the whole in a tin dish, with bits of butter
over the top of it, and bake it for an hour in a Dutch oven;
turn and baste it frequently. Garnish with fried roe, or
oysters.
Sauces :-Melted butter, oyster, or shrimp sauce.
iftar
43. To Stew Cod.
Season some slices of cod with grated nutmeg, pepper,
salt, a bunch of sweet herbs, and an onion stuck with cloves.
Put them into a stew-pan, with half a pint of white wine
and a quarter of a pint of water. Cover them close, and
let them simmer five or six minutes. Then squeeze in the
juice of a lemon, put in a few oysters, with their liquid
strained, a piece of butter rolled in flour, and a blade or
two of mace. Cover them close, and let them stew gently.
Shake the pan often, to prevent from burning. When the
fish is cooked, take out the onions and sweet herbs, lay
the cod in a warm dish, pour the sauce over it, and send
it up to table.


160
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
44. Cod with Oyster Sauce.
After having emptied the cod, you inust open the sound
or white skin of the belly and wash it carefully all along the
bone, that there may be no blood left; be sure that the fish
is absolutely white. Then lay it on a fish-plate, and put it
into the kettle with salt and boiling spring water; as soon
as you see the fish boiling fast, slacken, and let it boil more
gently, or else the outside will be done and the middle will
be raw; as it is not easy to fix the time that it ought to
remain in the water, you must judge according to the size
of the fish ; when done, drain it, and serve it on a napkin
garnished with green parsley. For the Oyster Sauce, you
will find a recipe on p. 340.
-intan
45. Cod with White Sauce (Cabillaud à la Béchamel).
Boil two nice, well-cut slices of cod; dish them without
a napkin, and have ready the following sauce :-Put nearly
a quart of Béchamel in a stew-pan, with a quarter of a
pint of white stock; stir it over the fire, to reduce, ten
minutes; then add two teaspoonfuls of essence of anchovies,
a little cayenne pepper, and sugar; finish with a gill of
whipped cream, and pour over the fish.
wn
46. Salt Cod à la Maitre d'Hôtel.
The black-skinned ones are generally reckoned the best.
Be particular to have the salt well soaked out, put the fish
into cold water, and place on the fire. Let it be cooked in
a large vessel, that it may have plenty of room. The moment
it is beginning to boil, take it off the fire, and keep it in the
water well covered ; it will then be tender, but if it should
boil, it will be tough and thready. Make a Maître d'Hôtel,


FISH.
161
with half a pound of butter, a spoonful of flour, four or
five spoonfuls of water, and a little salt. When the sauce
begins to thicken, work it well, that it may be more mellow.
Have some parsley chopped very fine, mix a pinch of it
with a little glaze, and the juice of a lemon; then taste
the sauce. If it be too brown in colour, a little thick
cream will make it both whiter and more mellow. Take
away the skin and bones of the fish, and put them into the
sauce, shaking it gently for fear of breaking them. Send
it up either in a vol-au-vent or in a deep dish with crusts.
of puff paste.
47. Salt Cod à la Provençale.
After having drawn out the salt by soaking, and done the
fish as above, pound two or three heads of garlic, which throw
into a stew-pan with two spoonfuls of oil, a quarter of a pound
of butter, a little salt, and some coarse pepper. Continue
shaking the stew-pan with its contents. Put in the salt
fish quite hot, and keep shaking till the whole is well mixed
together. If you should find that it is not mellow enough,
add a little oil, and, if you like, a spoonful or so of
smooth white sauce. Such entrées as this require to be
highly seasoned, and will induce the guests to send the
bottle round freely.
Iron
48. Salt Cod à la Bonne Femme.
This is nearly the same thing as the foregoing, only boil
some potatoes, and let them stand until they are cold ; turn
them into corks, and then cut them into round slices much
about the size of a half-crown piece, which put with the
sauce and salt fish. Taste, and season well.


162
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
49. Salt Cod with Parsnips.
Let your fish remain in water all night to soak, and if
you put a glass of vinegar to it, this will draw out the salt
and make it eat fresh. Boil it the next day, and when
it is done, break it into flakes on the dish. Pour over it
parsnips boiled and beaten fine with butter and cream.
Egg sauce, however, is more generally used, and the parsnips
are treated as an independent vegetable.
50. Scollops of Cod.
This is a good entrée. If you have any cod left,
take up all the flakes, being careful to leave no skin nor
bones. Have a cream sauce ready, or else take three spoon-
fuls of Béchamel and a good bit of butter; work these
over the stove, and season with pepper and salt. When
the sauce is well mixed with the butter, put in the scollops
and stir them well, that they may absorb the sauce
properly. Let the fish stand a minute till it is cold, then
make a bordering round the dish with slices of fried bread.
Dish the scollops, level them smooth with your knife, dust
them over with crumbs of bread, and baste them with
butter; repeat both these operations; use the salamander
to give the fish a colour, and serve up with toasts of
bread, one round, one oblong, alternately, for the sake of
ornament.
Giron
51. Cod with Cheese.
Prepare some Béchamel sauce (p. 327) for the cod, add
some Gruyère and Parmesan cheese, grated; dress the fish
on the dish, and spread over it grated cheese and bread;
moisten it with butter in little pats, and brown it in the
Dutch oven.


FISH.
163
52. Whiting Pudding.
Cut up in pieces a pound of fish, free from skin and bones,
and pass through a sieve; mix with eight ounces of rice flour
a little salt, and an ounce of butter. This mixture should
be added by gentle degrees to the fish; and the whole should
be well pounded in a mortar, adding, meanwhile, two ounces
of butter and the yolks of three raw eggs. Then turn out;
season in a basin with pepper and salt; press your puddings
into as many small moulds as you require, or knead them
into egg form. Steam or poach in a bain-marie pan, which
is simply a large, rectangular, deepish pan, filled with water,
which you put on the hot stove while you poach or steam
the contents of smaller stew-pans. Sprinkle the tops of your
puddings lightly with the coral of a lobster. Serve with
a white, creamy Béchamel, omitting the ham, and using
a fish-stock instead of a veal one.
This is a famous dish at the “Ship,” Greenwich.
ruan
53. Puddings of Whitings à l'Ude.
Take the spawn of a lobster, which pound well with a
little butter, and strain through a sieve. Mix the whole
well with forcemeat. Then mould two puddings of the
diameter of your dish. Poach them. When they are done,
drain them on a clean towel, then have the tail of a very
red lobster and scollop it into several pieces. Next slit
the puddings, cover them with white Béchamel, and intro-
duce the pieces of lobster, taking care to put the red part
upward. When the puddings are equally decorated, lay
them in a dish, cover them hermetically, and put them for
a moment in the hot-closet to keep them hot.
The sauce may be made as follows:- Take two spoonfuls
of white sauce, which reduce with an equal quantity of broth
L 2


164
THE THGROUGH GOOD COTE
and a thickening of two yolks of ErZS Work a quarter of
a pound of bitter, barn with a very little carende, some
salt, and a little lesson-juice. Keep it ra:her liquid, in order
to cover the intervals between the slices of lotster. If you
pay proper attention to the making of this dish, it will
not merely afford a pleasing appearance, but will also be
found a relish for the epicure.
54. Broiled Whitings.
Empty the whitings, scale them, but mind that you
preserve the liver, which is very delicate. When you have
washed and wiped them clean, slit the back, on both sides.
Beat the yolk of an egg with a little salt and pepper, and
rub some of it over the whitings with a brush. Then dip
the fish into crumbs of bread, next into clarified butter,
and then into crumbs of bread again. Broil them of a fine
colour, and serve up. The sauce is to be sent up separately
in a boat, whether it is a Maître d'Hôtel, anchovy sauce,
or melted butter; for if you were to pour it over the fish,
the whiting would not prove palatable, and the sauce would
get too thick,
mm
55. Whiting an Gratin.
Have the whitings skinned, with their tails turned into
their mouths; butter a sauté-pan, and put in the fish,
with a tablespoonful of chopped onions and four table-
spoonfuls of brown sauce over each ; sprinkle bread-crumbs
over them, and a little clarified butter, and put them in a
moderate oven half an hour; take them out and dress them
on a dish without a napkin; then put twelve tablespoonfuls
more of brown sauce into a sauté-pan, with a teaspoonful of


· FISH.
165
chopped mushrooms, one ditto chopped parsley, one ditto
essence of anchovy, a little pepper, salt, and sugar; boil
ten minutes, pour round the fish, and pass the salamander
over them.
Girar
56. Quenelles (Forcemeat Balls) of Whitings.
The same process as for other quenelles. The mixtures
are the same. You may make a vast number of entrées
with quenelles of whitings, such as “Quenelles à l'Allemande,"
in a vol-au-vent, a “casserole au ris,” and “ boudins," either
à l'Ude or à la Richelieu, which you have poached and
cooked. Brush then over with crumbs of bread, and fry
them. Serve under an Italian sauce, refined with a good
lump of butter. All entrées of fish require some additional
butter in the sauce.
intain
57. Fillets of Whiting Broiled à la Maître d'Hôtel.
Take up the fillets of four whitings, after having washed
them clean. Cut each fillet in two, brush them with yolks of
eggs, season with pepper and salt, and dip them into crumbs
of bread, and next into clarified butter. Broil them of a fine
brown, dish them en miroton, and sauce them with the
Maître d'Hôtel.
Fillets of whitings never answer when sauté, as they
have not substance enough; and indeed I do not in any
sense approve of their being dressed in that style.
58. Whitebait.
Strew some four on a cloth, and nothing else. Eggs
are vanity. Take the “ bait” out of the water with your


166
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
hands and drain them. Never mind fingering them. When
well drained, roll them on the floured cloth, of which take
up the corners successively, and shake your fish as though
they were so many tiny Sancho Panzas that were being
tossed in a blanket. Shake them again over a sieve, to relieve
them of the superfluous flour. Put them in a wire basket
and dip into a frying-kettle full of very hot fat. Let them
remain two minutes on the fire. Then give the pan a shake,
and let it cook for another half minute, and so on. At the
end of two and a half minutes the “bait ” ought to be done.
They must be grey, not brown, when they come to table. Of
course, towards August, when the “ bait" run large, they will
take a little longer time to fry. You may crisp them before
the fire before serving, but don't let them get too brittle.
Broken whitebait might just as well be so much sawdust.
Sprinkle lightly with salt; pepper, not too highly, with white
pepper, and serve with thin brown bread and butter, and
lemons cut in quarters.
Cooks have a pernicious habit of over-frying whitebait,
which indeed can never be had at home in the perfection
in which you get them at Greenwich, where they are dressed
as soon as caught and by persons in constant practice.
-nar
59. Devilled Whitebait.
This is simply the previous whitebait re-heated for a
minute or two, and sprinkled either with red or black
pepper.
1raine
60. Red Mullets à l'Italienne.
Of all fish this is one of the most sought after by male
epicures, who consider it a “game” fish, and affectionately
style it “the woodcock of the ocean.” It is not customary


FISH.
167
to “ draw” or gut it. When in good order, it is of a nice
red colour, and the eyes look very bright. Make a paper
box the length of the fish, then oil the box and lay in the
fish, season them with a little pepper, salt, chopped parsley,
and lemon-juice, and pour two tablespoonfuls of white sauce
over each, then put them on in a moderate oven, and bake
twenty minutes or half an hour, according to the size, and
when done slightly brown them with the salainander; serve
them in the paper boxes, with a rich brown sauce poured
over them.
61. Red Mullets with Sweet Herbs.
Place the mullets in a pan with an ounce of butter, a little
“A 1” sauce, anchovy, and a glass of port wine ; bake them
in the oven, or else covered up over a slow fire; and when
done, remove the fish on to the dish ; add to their liquor
some finely chopped mushrooms, parsley, a little shallot, nut-
ineg, the juice of half a lemon, and a little four; stir these
ingredients together over a slow fire for a few minutes; pour
the sauce over the mullets, and serve very hot.
62. Red Mullets à la Ravigote.
Put the mullets in boxes and make the sauce thus:-
Place a quarter of a pound of fresh butter on a plate with
a tablespoonful of chopped tarragon, one ditto of chopped
chervil, one ditto of lemon-juice, and a little pepper, salt,
and sugar. Mix all well together; have ten tablespoonfuls
of white sauce boiling in a stew-pan, and throw the other
ingredients into it, stir it over the fire till quite smooth,


168
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
and pour it over your mullets in the paper boxes. If too
thick, add a little milk.
63. Brill.
This is a very delicate and very luscious eating fish,
for which caper sauce is suitable. It is cooked like turbot,
and is almost as good. When very fresh, you may use it
for fillets (see No. 23).
-
e-
64. Dublin Bay Haddock, Baked.
Fill the belly of the fish with stuffing, sew it up with
pack-thread, and truss it with its tail in its mouth ; rub
a quarter of a pound of butter over it, set it on a baking-
sheet, put it in a warmish oven and bake it three-quarters
of an hour; when done, dress it on a dish without a napkin,
and pour a sharp sauce round it.
65. Haddock Pudding.
Take a haddock weighing four pounds, one quart of milk,
two tablespoonfuls of flour, one of butter, one small slice of
onion, two sprigs of parsley, salt, and pepper. Put the fish
on in boiling water-enough to cover, and containing one
tablespoonful of salt. Cook gently twenty minutes, then
lift out of the water, but let it remain on the tray. Now
carefully remove the top skin and the head, then turn the
fish over into the dish in which it is to be served (it
should be stone china), and scrape off the skin from the
other side. Pick out all the small bones. You will find
them the whole length of the back, and a few in the


FISH.
169
lower part of the fish, near the tail. They are in rows
like pins in a paper, and if you start all right it will take
but a few minutes to remove them. Then take out the
backbone, starting at the head and working gently down
towards the tail. Great care must be taken that the fish
may keep its shape. Cover with the cream (for which a
recipe is given below), and bake about ten minutes, just to
brown it a little. Garnish with parsley or little puff paste
cakes, or you can cover it with the whites of three eggs,
beaten to a stiff froth, and then slightly browned.
This is a most excellent dish; and haddock is cheap.
It would be more esteemed if it were dearer.
intim
66. To Prepare Cream for Haddock Pudding.
Put the milk, parsley, and onion on to boil, reserving half
a cupful of milk to mix with the flour. When it boils, stir
in the flour, which has been mixed smoothly with the milk.
Cook eight minutes. Season highly with salt and pepper ;
add the butter, strain on the fish, and proceed as directed.
iran
67. Herrings with Mustard Sauce.
Having gutted and wiped your herrings quite clean, melt
some butter and add to it chopped parsley, shallots,
green onions, pepper, and salt. Dip the herrings in this,
and roll them in bread-crumbs. Then broil them and serve
them with a sauce made of melted butter, flour, broth, a little
vinegar, pepper, and salt. When done, put to them as much
mustard as you think proper.
This is a thoroughly English dish, for the reason that
English mustard is the very best procurable. All foreign


170
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
mustards are feeble, and have to be fortified with other
condiments.
68. Flounders Water-Souchet (or Zootje).
A Dutch dainty, for which we are indebted to Williain III.
You rarely get it good, save at Greenwich. Why, I cannot
say. Read the following recipe, and you will find that it is
by no means difficult to make :—Put a pint of water into
a deep sauté-pan, with half a tablespoonful of salt and a little
pepper, and forty small sprigs of parsley; when nearly boiling,
have ready six small flounders (cut in halves in a slanting
direction), and put them into the sauté-pan ; let them simmer
for about twelve minutes ; take them up and dress them on
a dish without a napkin ; then add a little sugar to the liquor
they were boiled in, reduce it five minutes, and pour over
the fish. Half broth may be used, with half a pint of water
instead of a pint.
Girar
69. Another Water-Souchet.
Take some parsley roots, and cut them into thin strips
about an inch long. Put your roots into water, with a
bunch of parsley, a few young onions, and a moderate
quantity of salt. Let this liquor stew for an hour. Then put
in your fish, and stew till done. Have ready leaves of parsley
(without the stalks), which have been blanched separately
in salt and water. Drain your fish; and take care to preserve
the parsley roots cut in slips as above. Then put the fish in
a deep dish (not a tureen), with some of the liquor in which
they have been stewed, and which you strain through a
silk tammy. Throw in your parsley roots, and the leaves
as well; and send up the souchet with thin slices of brown
bread and butter, and in a separate plate.


FISH.
171
Fish for water-souchet: Salmon, soles, whiting, flounders,
or char. The salmon should be cut in small blocks; the
other fish in pieces of convenient size. The fish broth
should be rather salt.
re
70. Fricasséed Flounders and Plaice.
Having cleaned the fish, and taken off the black skin but
not the white, cut the flesh from the bones into long slices,
and dip these into yolk of egg. Strew over them some
bread raspings, and fry them in clarified butter. When they
are cooked lay them upon a plate, and keep them hot.
To make your sauce: Take the bones of the fish, and boil
them in some water. Then put in an anchovy, some thyme,
parsley, a little pepper, salt, cloves, and mace. Let these
siminer till the anchovy is dissolved, and then take the
butter the fish was fried in, and put it into a pan over the
fire. Shake some flour into it, and keep stirring it mean-
while. Then strain the liquor into it, and let it boil till
it is thick. Squeeze some lemon-juice into it, put the fish
into a dish, and pour the sauce over them.
71. Alose (Shad).
This fish is held in high estimation in France, and espe-
cially in Paris: it is also frequently served at American
tables. It must be scalded, emptied, and nicely washed.
Next it is to be marinaded in a little oil, with pepper and
salt. It is necessary to split it, that the salt inay pene-
trate. Broil it on both sides over a slow fire. When it is
done, let it be served with caper sauce, or with sorrel—not
purée, but what is called farce.


172
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
72. Shad, Broiled Maître d'Hôtel.
Pare and cut a small shad in two, scale it and remove
the backbone; lay it on a dish, sprinkling it over with a
pinch of salt, and baste with one tablespoonful of oil. Leave
it for a few moments, then broil it on a slow fire in a double
broiler for about fifteen minutes on the flesh side, and for
one minute on the skin side, leaving the roe inside. Put
it on a hot dish, spread a gill of good Maître d'Hôtel sauce
(p. 348) over, and serve with six slices of lemon.
Sretan
73. Mackerel with Brown Butter.
Broil the fish; dish it up; put some butter into the
frying-pan, fry in it some parsley, and pour the whole upon
the mackerel. Then warm in the pan a spoonful of vinegar,
some salt, and pepper; pour this also upon the fish, and
.serve hot.
74. To Bake Mackerel.
Clean them; cut off the heads and tails; put them into a
deep dish, and pour over them equal quantities of water and
vinegar, some whole black pepper, a little mace, salt, one
or two bay-leaves, and a small quantity of port wine; tie
over the dish a sheet of thick white paper which you have
buttered.
Another way is to season them with pepper, salt, and
mace, all finely powdered, putting bits of butter into the
bottom of the dish, and a little more upon the mackerel.
They may be eaten hot or cold; if cold, with vinegar; if
hot, serve with parsley and butter, or melted butter with
catsup and soy.


FISU.
173
75. To Broil Mackerel.
First clean your mackerel well, then split it down
the back, and season it with pepper, salt, some mint,
parsley, and fennel, all chopped very fine. Flour it,
and fry them of a fine light brown, and put them on a.
dish and strainer. Use fennel and butter for sauce, and
garnish with parsley.
76. Mackerel à la Maitre d'Hôtel.
Clean the mackerel and wipe it dry; then split it down
the back and marinade it at least half an hour-or an hour
or two, if there be time—in a little oil, seasoned with pepper
and salt; broil it, and baste it with the marinade. Dish it
up; garnish the inside with fresh butter rolled in parsley,
salt, and pepper; slightly warm the dish, and serve with
lemon-juice, or with a dash of vinegar over it. In order to
prevent the mackerel from breaking while it is being boiled,
you had better wrap it with the marinade in good oiled
paper.
77. Mackerel à la Maitre d'Hôtel: Another Way.
Choose a large fresh mackerel with a soft roe; cut out
the gills; cut off the fins; make an incision an inch deep down
the back, lay the fish on a dish, strew salt and pepper over
with an ounce of butter, an onion cut in rings, and whole
parsley. Roll the butter from time to time in this mixture;
and half an hour before serving rub your gridiron with butter,
wipe your mackerel, dust it with a little salt, and lay it on
the gridiron until of a good colour; then turn it till it is
of an equally good colour on the opposite side. Lay the
fish on its back for five minutes, then dish it and open


174
THE TIOROUGH GOOD COOK.
the flesh of the back with a spoon and introduce your
Maître d'Hôtel butter, which is only butter worked up
with salt, pepper, chopped parsley, and the juice of a
lemon.
Gintar
78. Mackerel au Beurre Noir.
Open your mackerel at the back, season with pepper
and salt, butter all over, and lay quite flat on the grid-
iron; broil it about a quarter of an hour over a moderate
fire, and lay it in a dish without a napkin. Then put
half a pound of butter in a stew-pan, place it over a sharp
fire till it becomes black (but not burnt); throw in half
a handful of picked parsley, fry it crisp, and pour it over
the fish. Next put four tablespoonfuls of common vinegar
into the stew-pan, boil it half a minute, season with pepper
and salt; and pour likewise over the fish. All that you
have now to do is to put the whole into the oven for
five minutes, and serve very hot.
Concerning “ black butter," see p. 147.
- tam
79. Forcemeat of Eels.
Take two fine eels, boil them till they are nearly done
enough; then put them into cold water ; broil a perch ; when
it is nearly done, lay it to cool ; take the meat from the bones
of both fish and mince it, and add to it the liver of a cod,
minced also; then season it with pepper and salt; add
sweet herbs, picked from the stalks, some small onions
minced, some scraped bacon, a little veal suet, a few bread-
crumbs, and a piece of butter; put the whole into a mortar
and beat it to a paste. It is used for fish pies, and adds a fine
relish to all made dishes of fish. It may also be rolled up
into balls, and fried or stewed.


FISH.
175
A most assuringly appetising concoction. Almost as
great a favourite as potted shrimps with my dear deceased
friend, Montagu Williams, Q.C.
80. Fried Eels.
If your eels are small, they should be curled round and
dipped into egg, and then carefully fried. If of a good size,
cut them into pieces ; season them with pepper, salt, and
nutmeg; flour them; fry them in butter.
Some people are prejudiced against eels. Combat the
prejudice; subdue it. Consult Sir Henry Thompson. Conger-
eel, in particular, is as nourishing as turtle.
bin
8. Fricassée of Eels.
Skin three or four large eels, and notch them from end
to end. Cut each of them into four or five pieces, and lay
them for half an hour to crimp in spring water; dry them in
a cloth and put them in a pan, with a bit of fresh butter,
a green onion or two, and a little chopped parsley. Set the
pan on the fire, and shake them about for a few minutes ;
put in half a pint of white wine, and the same quantity
of stock, with pepper, salt, and a blade of mace; stew all
together about half an hour; then add the yolks of four
or five eggs; beat smooth a little grated nutmeg and some
chopped parsley. Stir all well together, and let it simmer for
a few minutes; then squeeze in the juice of a lemon, give
the whole a good shake, pour it into the dish, and serve very
hot. Garnish your dish with lemon.


176
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
82. Eel Pie.
Skin and clean the eels; cut them in pieces about two
inches in length; pass them with chopped parsley and
shallots, a little grated nutmeg, pepper, salt, and lemon-juice,
for five minutes; then lay a little light forcemeat at the
bottom of a deep dish ; put the eels over it; cover it with
puff paste; bake it, and put into it either Béchamel sauce
(p. 327) or brown gravy.
re
83. Larded Eel.
Lard an eel along the back with small pieces of bacon;
roll, and tie it up; put it into a pan with a cooked marinade.
When it has lain some time in this, cover it with bread-
crumbs and bake it.
18
84. Matelote of Eels.
Skin a pound and a half of eels, and cut thein into
pieces two inches in length. When well washed, put them
in a stew-pan with a tablespoonful of batter; fry them for
two minutes ; add a glassful of red wine, a third of a pinch
of nutmeg, half a pinch of salt, and a third of a pinch of
pepper ; also a faggot of herbs, a glassful of fish stock, or white
broth, and three tablespoonfuls of mushroom liquor. Add
six small glazed onions, and six mushroom buttons. Cook
for thirty minutes, then put in a tablespoonful of brown gravy;
stir well while cooking two minutes longer, and serve with
six fried pieces of bread garnished with onion sauce (p. 339).
I do not know an English synonym for “ matelote,” but
Mrs. Cook can pronounce the word, even as she can pronounce
“purée.” Still, there is no rule without an exception. We
once had a cook who always called a “purée” a “pleurey."


FISH.
177
85. Entrée of Eels.
Take two large eels, bone them, and lay them flat; put
light forcemeat, well seasoned, upon each ; roll them up
separately; bind them round with tape; put them in a stew-
pan with a gill of sherry, one clove of garlic, half a bay-leaf,
four peeled shallots, a little thyme, and a pint of veal broth.
Let them stew till done, then strain the liquor, skim it free
from fat, season to the palate, thicken with flour and butter,
reducing it to half a pint ; put the eels into a deep dish, glaze
the tops, and serve them up with the sauce under, and pieces
of fried bread round the dish.
Once for all, “The Thorough Good Cook” is written for
abstainers as well as non-abstainers. In culinary inatters I
am Catholic. If you object to alcohol in your cookery, leave
it out. Exactly the same observation will apply to garlic.
Many English ladies have an absolute abhorrence of garlic
(one of the four pillars of cookery—the others being the
lemon, the anchovy, and the egg) in consequence of its
offensive odour. But garlic, cooked, is wholly inoffensive.
rretor
86. Another Entrée of Eels.
Skin and cleanse your eels, bone them, and cut them into
pieces about a finger in length; pass them over a slow fire
in a small quantity of sweet herbs, shallots, pepper, salt,
butter, and lemon-juice. When they are three-parts done, put
them on a dish; dip each piece in the liquor; bread-crumb
them, and broil over a clear fire. Serve with anchovy sauce.
87. Broiled Eels.
Skin and cleanse your eels, rub them with the yolk of
an egg; strew bread-crumbs over them, chopped parsley,
M


178
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
sage, pepper, and salt. Baste them well with butter, and
put them in a dripping-pan. Roast or broil them, and serve
them up with parsley and butter.
now
88. Broiled Eels à l'Italienne.
If for an entrée, choose two moderate-sized eels, take off
the skin, wash, bone and dry them thoroughly; toss them
in an egg beaten up with pepper and salt; then fry them
of a good brown colour. Serve with a good Italian sauce
under them.
_inin
89. To Spitchcock Eels.
Having skinned, gutted, and washed your eels, dry them
with a cloth. Sprinkle them with pepper, salt, and a little
dried sage; turn them backwards, and skewer them. Rub
your gridiron with beef suet, broil them of a good brown;
put them on your dish with melted butter, and garnish with
fried parsley.
ar
90. Another way to Spitchcock Eels.
Skin, slit up the eel, and bone it: wash and dry it, cut
it in pieces three or four inches long; dredge these with
flour, which is to be wiped off so as to leave all dry. Dip the
pieces in a thick batter made of melted butter, yolk of eggs,
minced parsley, sage, shallot (very little shallot), pepper, and
salt. Roll them next in fine bread-crumbs. Dip them in
the batter again, and roll them again in the bread-crumbs.
The pieces may now, to justify the name of spitchcock, be
impaled on small spits. But whether thus impaled or not,
they are to be broiled on or before a clear fire to a light.


180
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Pound the whole well; then rub gently one or two spoonfuls
of fine Lucca oil and a little vinegar. Pass this sauce through
a fine tammy, and add the yolk of a raw egg, to prevent it
turning oily. If you wish the sauce to be green, use extract
of spinach (see p. 352), and some scented vinegar, such as
tarragon or elder.
Lusteri
93. Collops of Eels à la Poulette.
There are some people who cook eels “à la poulette”
in the same manner as a fricassée of chickens; it is better,
however, to stew them in a marinade, and then to make
the sauce separately. On taking them from the marinade,
drain them, put them into the sauce, and keep them there
for ten minutes before you send the dinner up to table.
If you should have no “turned” sauce, make a little
white stock; moisten with either water or broth, to which
add a bunch of parsley, and green onions, pepper, salt, a
small white onion, a few mushrooms, and a little glaze.
When the mixture has been boiling for half an hour (this is
none too long if the flour is to be well done), take out the
parsley and onions, skim the sauce, mix a little chopped
parsley and the juice of a lemon with the thickening, and
serve up hot.
irt
94. Eel en Canapé.
Cut an eеl into pieces about two or three inches long, and
take out the backbone for use. Make a farce with some of
the meat cut into small dice, with mushrooms and carp-roes
(if any), a little butter, chopped parsley, shallots, pepper, and
salt. Make likewise a fine forcemeat with some of the flesh
and bread-crumbs soaked in cream, parsley and mushrooms
chopped fine, pepper, and salt, mixed with the yolks of two


FISH.
181
or three eggs. Cut bread-crumb and the backbone into
pieces of equal length and about two inches wide; lay some
of the fine forcemeat upon the pieces of bread, and on
these place the pieces of backbone covered with the other
farce; then some of the fine farce again, laid smoothly over
with a knife dipped in egg; now strew with crumbs and
small bits of butter; bake in a moderate oven or under a
braising-pan cover, and serve with any sauce you may
like best.
95. Eel Pudding.
Skin and cleanse three good-sized eels, which cut into
pieces about two inches in length; put a good-sized bunch of
parsley, thyme, and three bay-leaves, all tied together, into
a stew-pan, with an onion into which you have stuck four
cloves), a glass of port wine, and a pint of broth ; lay in
the pieces of eels, and set them upon the fire to simmer
for ten minutes; take them out, laying them upon a cloth to
drain ; skim off all the fat from the stock the eels were
cooked in, to which add rather more than half a pint of
brown sauce; let the whole boil until reduced to three parts
of a pint, when dress the pieces of eels up in a pie-dish, strain
the sauce over a sieve, and let stand till cold. Place over
the fish a thick layer of mashed potatoes ; put the dish
back in a slow oven and bake for about an hour. Cover
the pie with a sheet of notepaper, so that it may not brown
before being thoroughly cooked through.
Iran


182
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
96. Conger Eel.
Wash the fish in several waters, and dry it in a cloth;
cut it into slices, rather thick, and sprinkle them with salt;
broil them over a slow fire, and serve them with a Tartar
sauce, or with black butter, as you do with skate; also,
with white caper sauce or sliced gherkins.
97. Oyster Loaves,
Cut off the top of some small French rolls, take out
the crumb, and fry them brown and crisp with clarified
butter; then fry some bread-crumbs, stew the requisite
quantity of oysters, bearded and cut into two, in their own
liquor, with a little white wine, some gravy, and seasoned
with grated lemon-peel, pounded mace, pepper, and salt ;
add a bit of butter; fill the rolls with the oysters, and serve
them with the fried bread-crumbs in the dish.
98. Fried Oysters.
Make a batter as for pancakes, seasoned with grated nut-
meg, white pepper, and salt, and add some finely grated
bread-crumbs, dip in the oysters, and fry them of a light
brown in beef dripping.
nar
99. Fried Oysters: Another Way.
Dip them into the white of an egg beaten up, roll
them in finely-grated bread-crumbs, seasoned with grated
nutmeg, pepper, salt, and proceed as directed above.


FISH.
183
:::
100. Stewed Oysters.
With a quart of oysters and their liquor strained, put
a glass of white wine, one anchovy bruised, seasoning with
white pepper, salt, a little mace, and a bunch of sweet
herbs ; let all stew gently for a quarter of an hour. Pick
out the bunch of herbs, add a quarter of a pound of
fresh butter, kneaded in a tablespoonful of flour, and
stew the oysters ten or twelve minutes. Serve them garn-
ished with bread sippets and cut lemon. Or they may be
stewed simply in their own liquor, seasoned with salt,
pepper, and grated nutmeg, and thickened with cream,
flour, and butter.
Line
101. Roast Oysters.
Large oysters, not opened. A few minutes before they are
wanted, put them on a gridiron over a moderate fire. When
done, they will open ; do not lose the liquor that is in the
shell with the oyster. Serve them hot on a napkin.
pan
102. Broiled Oysters.
Dip twenty-four large and freshly opened oysters in half
bread-crumbs and half biscuit powder; flatten them with the
hand, and broil them on a well-greased gridiron for two
minutes on each side ; then salt them slightly, and serve on
six pieces of toast ; lightly glaze them with Maître d'Hôtel
sauce (p. 348) on the top.
ran
103. Oyster Hâtelets (a Polish term for Skewers).
Cut into small pieces a sweetbread and a slice or two
of bacon; beard some large oysters, and season all highly
with chopped parsley, a shallot, a little thyme, pepper, and


184
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
salt. Then fasten them upon wire skewers (silver ones are
best); put sifted bread-crumbs over them, and broil or fry
them of a light brown colour. Take them off the skewers
and serve them with some rich gravy, to which add a little
catsup and lemon pickle.
104. Hatelets : Another Way.
Fry some sweet herbs in butter, with a little flour and
oyster liquor; season this sauce well; reduce and thicken
it with the yolks of three eggs. Have ready some oysters
blanched in their own liquor; place them on skewers, and, the
above sauce being cold, spread it completely over the oysters;
roll them in bread-crumbs, dip them in beaten eggs, bread-
crumb them a second time, and fry them of a nice colour.
105. Oyster Sausages.
Take half a pound of lean beef or mutton, three-quarters of
a pound of beef suet, two score of oysters bearded and scalded
in their own liquor, then dried; chop all together, adding
bread-crumbs and yolks of eggs to " bind.” Season well with
salt, white pepper, mace, and a grate of nutmeg; or if you
wish to make the mixture very savoury, leave out the
mace and nutmeg, but add a little cayenne, with a minced
shallot and a spoonful of garlic vinegar. The mince inay be
either made into sausages or fried in shapes.
iron
106. Little Oyster Soufilés.
Beard a dozen sauce oysters, and cut them into little
square pieces ; strain their liquor into a cup. Put two ounces


FISH.
185
of fine flour into a stew-pan with two ounces of butter, a tiny
dust of cayenne pepper, a pinch of salt, three raw yolks of
eggs, and barely half a pint of cold milk; mix well together,
and stir over the fire until it boils ; add the cut-up oysters
and their liquor. Whip four whites of eggs and a pinch of
salt till very stiff, and put this to the above; mix well
together, and fill some little paper cases which have been
oiled and dried (china cases can be used if liked); put
a few browned bread-crumbs on the top of each soufflé, and a
tiny piece of butter to keep it moist, and bake in a moderate
oven for about fifteen minutes.
-nar
107. Rissoles of Oysters.
Prepare two dozen of blanched oysters as directed for
scolloped oysters (No. 111), but cutting each oyster into six
pieces; turn them out upon a dish, where leave them until
quite cold; then have the trimmings of some puff paste,
which roll very thin; put the pieces of oysters upon it, fold
them over with the paste, which cut out with a round cutter,
giving each of the rissoles the shape of a turnover; egg with
a paste-brush and throw them into bread-crumbs ; cover well;
have ready a stew-pan in which there is some very hot lard,
and in this fry your rissoles of a light brown colour; dress
upon a napkin in a plate; garnish with fried parsley, and
serve to be handed round the table.
sirom
108. Oysters à la Villeroi.
Blanch twenty-four large oysters in their own liquor for
two minutes, then drain them; take some chicken forcemeat,
spread it over both sides of the oysters, dip them in egg and
fresh bread-crumbs, then fry them in hot lard for three
minutes, and serve with fried parsley.


186
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
109. Angels on Horseback.
Cut some little round pieces of bread about a quarter
of an inch thick and two inches in diameter; fry them in
clarified butter to a golden brown, then spread over them a
purée of anchovies, and on this purée place a little slice of
crisply fried bacon; on the bacon put a bearded oyster which
has been simply warmed in the oven between two plates, with
a little butter and its liquor, and seasoned with a tiny dust
of nutmeg; then sprinkle over the top a little chopped
parsley, and dish the crusts up in a row ; pour the oyster
liquor round them, and serve for a savoury or breakfast dish.
Toast can be used instead of the “ crusts.”
im
110. Bearded Oysters.
Scoop out the crumb from a small loaf, or some small
rolls, and place in the cavity oysters stewed with butter and
mace, and a little of their liquor, with two or three spoonfuls
of rich milk added as they are done. Place on the top of
the rolls the pieces sliced off; set thein in the oven a few
minutes, and serve on a dish, hot.
-10
111. Scolloped Oysters.
Beard the oysters; wash in their own liquor; steep bread-
crumbs in the latter ; put these with the oysters into scollop
shells, with a bit of butter and a seasoning of salt, pepper, and
a little grated nutmeg; make a compost of bread-crumbs and
butter, cover, and roast before the fire or in an oven.
ret


FISH.
187
112. Pickled Oysters.
Procure four dozen of the largest sort of oysters, and wash
them in their liquor ; wipe them dry, strain the liquor off ;
add to it a teaspoonful of pepper, two blades of mace, three
tablespoonfuls of white wine, and four of vinegar, and if
the liquor is not very salt, you may put one tablespoonful
of salt; simmer the oysters for a few minutes in this liquor,
then put them into small jars and boil up the pickle, skim it,
and, when cold, pour it over the oysters; keep them closely
covered.
Sretan
113. Oyster Fritters.
Having blanched the oysters in their own liquor, soak
them for some time in vinegar and water, with salt, shredded
parsley, and small white onions, sliced; then dry them well,
dip each in batter, and fry them.
Loan
114. Oysters and Eggs.
Put into a stew-pan half a pound of fresh butter, some
parsley, scallions, and morels, shredded small; season with
pepper, salt, and nutmeg; when the butter is melted, put in
about four dozen oysters with their liquor, make them quite
hot, and add to them five or six hard-boiled eggs cut in
slices; let the whole simmer for a quarter of an hour, and
fill the oyster shells with it; cover each with raspings, and
colour them in the oven or with a salamander.
iron
115. Oyster Patties.
Take twenty.four medium-sized oysters, put them in a
stew pan with their own liquor, and add half a pinch of


188
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
pepper; cover, and let cook for two minutes. Then take
half the liquor out, and add to the oysters three-quarters of
a pint of Béchamel (p. 327), and a very little grated nutmeg ;
simmer for two minutes, but do not let boil. Take six hot
patties, fill them up with four oysters each, pour the sauce
over, and place the covers on top. Serve on a dish with a
folded napkin.
116. Oyster Pudding.
In opening the oysters, take care of the liquor. Strain,
beard and parboil the fish; soak and parboil sweetbreads,
which must be cut in slices and disposed with the oysters in
layers in a buttered mould, and lightly seasoned with salt,
pepper, and mace. Put half a teacupful of the liquor, and
as much gravy, into the mould, and steam for half an hour.
On turning out the pudding, pour over it a sauce made of a
teacupful of cream, some more oyster liquor, and a cupful of
white gravy, warm, but not boiling.
117. Oyster Pie.
Open your oysters, being careful to save the liquor;
Pota
strain, beard, and parboil them.
hao sam 94.
Then soak and parboil
sweetbreads, cut them in slices, and place them and the
oysters in alternate layers in a dish, with a slight seasoning
of mace, salt, and pepper, together with half a teacupful of
gravy and the same quantity of the liquor; cover with
crust, and bake the pie in a slow oven. On taking it out,
add a teacupful of cream, some more oyster liquor, and a
cupful of white gravy, warm, but not boiling.
now


FISH.
.
189
118. Mock Oysters.
Boil a calf's sweetbread in salted water. Wash some lower
oyster shells in cold water, and on each one lay a little finely
minced herring—the Dutch herring is the best. Cut the
sweetbread into small pieces, and dip these in bread-crumbs
seasoned with salt, ample pepper, and a little nutmeg. Lay
each piece in a shell. Sprinkle sufficient of the crumbs over
them, with here and there a tiny piece of herring, and put a
little butter on each. Give them a delicate browning before
the fire.
ron
119. Crab Omelette.
Make your omelette thus :-Break six eggs in a basin,
season with salt and pepper, and beat with a fork. Put
two ounces of butter in an oval-shaped pan; and as soon
as the butter melts pour in your eggs, stirring lightly with
a fork, and taking care that the eggs do not catch the pan.
While “ doing,” add a due proportion of the finely shredded
flesh of a crab, with a touch of vinegar, a little more salt,
and a dust of cayenne. Some cooks add a little minutely
minced parsley. When your omelette is half set, toss or
turn it till fully set. Don't let it take a brown colour. It
must be pale gold. There are two ways of turning out
the omelette on the dish. Either slant your pan down-
wards from the handle and roll the omelette downwards
till it takes the shape of a long oval, and so slide it gently
on to the dish; or simply fold over the omelette on both
sides to the proper elliptical shape. In any case, when
you beat your eggs before pouring them into the pan, be
very careful that the operation does not take longer than one
minute. If you are longer about it your eggs will cook
"watery” instead of “marrowy." And if anybody tells you
that either milk or flour should be added to an omelette-


190
THE THOROUGII GOOD COOK.
there are twenty ways of spelling the word, and nobody has
found the right one-tell him he doesn't know what he is
talking about. If a female, beg her pardon, and ask her to
amend the evil of her ways. You should avoid both the one
and the other as you would avoid strychnine or Greek acid.
Obs.-Crab omelette should be served with a rich crayfish
sauce, coloured with lobster coral.
ran
120. Lobster Pie.
Boil two large or three small lobsters, remove the tails, cut
the fish in two, take out the gut, divide each into four pieces,
and lay them in a small dish; then put in the meat of the
claws, and that which has been picked from the body. Clear
the latter of the furry parts, and take out the substance; beat
the spawn in a mortar, do the same by the shells; set these
on to stew with some water, two or three spoonfuls of vinegar,
pepper, salt, and pounded mace, and add a piece of butter
rolled in flour; when the goodness of the shells is extracted
give the whole a good boiling, and strain it into the dish,
strew some crumbs over it, and cover it with a paste. Bake it
slowly, but take it out as soon as the crust is done.
121. Lobster à la Braise.
Pound the meat of a large lobster very fine with two
ounces of butter, and season it with grated nutmeg, salt,
and white pepper; add a little grated bread; beat up two
eggs; reserve part to put over the meat, and with the rest
make the meat up into the form of a lobster. Pound the
spawn and red part, and spread it over the meat; bake it a
quarter of an hour, and just before serving lay over it the


FISH.
191
tail and body shell, with the small claws put underneath to
resemble a lobster.
Linu
122. To Fricassée Lobster.
Break the shells and carefully take out the meat; cut it,
and the red part, or coral, into pieces, adding the spawn;
thicken with flour and butter some white stock, with which
the shells have been boiled; season it with white pepper,
mace, and salt; put in the lobster and heat up. Just
before serving, add a little lemon-juice, or lemon pickle. The
stock may be made with the shells only, boiled in a pint of
water, with some white pepper, salt, and a little mace,
thickened with cream, flour, and butter.
-reme
123. Lobster Balls.
A choice “Greenwich” dish. Chop up fine the meat of
a lobster, to which add the coral. “Red as a rose” should
be the amalgamated mince. Add, in the proportion of one-
fourth, bread crumbled very fine, with a tablespoonful of
cream, and season with a little anchovy sauce, pepper, a
“point” of nutmeg, and the juice of half a lemon. Heat
the whole in a stew-pan. Remove it from the fire; stir in
the yolk of an egg ; lay it out on a plate to cool, roll it
into balls, brush it over with egg, dip in bread-crumbs, fry
in hot fat, and garnish with parsley fried very crisp. No
sauce.
retime
124. Lobster à la Soulevard.
Line small walnut moulds with aspic jelly and cover
over with a little brown chaudfroid sauce (for which I have
given a recipe on p. 329); let them set; then fill them with
a purée of lobster, and have ready a little salad garnish.
n


192
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
125. Lobster Mayonnaise with Aspic Jelly.
Remove the meat from a fresh lobster ; cut the back
into neat pieces—the claws may be left whole or cut up as
preferred; place the pieces on a dish or tin, and sprinkle
half of them with chopped parsley or tarragon and chervil,
and the other half with the lobster coral; lightly cover the
pieces with liquid aspic jelly, and when it is set, dish up
the pieces, with the coral and parsley alternating, on a border
of aspic jelly; tastefully arrange on the dish some fresh
crisp lettuce, a little tarragon and chervil, French capers,
turned olives, filleted anchovies, quarters of hard-boiled eggs,
and garnish the whole with thick, smooth mayonnaise sauce
(see p. 338).
G row
126. Crayfish Pudding.
Take half a hundred crayfish and boil them in broth;
remove the shell from the claws and tail, and suppress that
of the bodies; dry the former, pound and make a butter of
it. Cut the tails into dice, put them into a stew-pan with
the spawn ; take the white of a fowl minced fine, panada of
cream very dry, some roasted onions, some fat livers cut
in slices and also into dice; mingle with the butter some
spoonfuls of rich gravy, fine spices, and salt; mix all well
together; tie up, and cook as white puddings (p. 238).
127. Broiled Carp with Caper Sauce.
You must never use fresh-water fish unless it is alive, and
you kill it yourself. When you have given a few strokes on
the carp's head with a large knife, thrust your knife under
the scales, beginning at the tail, and proceed to cut right and
left. All the scales on one side must come off at once, in


FISIT.
193
a piece. Then do the same on the other side, and about the
belly. When the scales have been taken off properly, and
none are left, the carp will be white; then take off the
gills, without damaging the tongue, which is one of the most
delicate parts of the fish. Make a small incision in the neck,
as if you were going to cut off the head ; make another in
the belly, but in a contrary direction, and as small as possible.
Then with your forefinger draw out the roe, intestines, etc.
Wash the carp till there is no blood left, and wipe it
well; slit both sides of the back, and let it marinade in
a little oil, salt, and pepper for about an hour, or rather longer.
Now lay it on a gridiron over a very slow fire, that it may
have time to be well done through. When broiled on both
sides, serve it with caper sauce, into which you have put a
spoonful of essence of anchovies. If the carp has a soft roe
put it back into the body with a little chopped parsley, mixed
with a small lump of fresh butter, salt, pepper; then sew the
belly up, for fear the contents should drop out, and broil all
together. When the carp is done, cut off the thread and
mask the fish with caper sauce.
There are plenty of carp at Hampton Court Palace and
in the fishponds of many country houses, but the fish is not
much sought after by modern epicures. It has sometimes
a muddy flavour. However, I have given the recipe for the
benefit of fresh-water fishermen.
Roach, dace, tench, perch, and all other fresh-water fish
are dressed as a kind of “bouillabaisse," or stew, omitting
the oil and the garlic; but with plenty of small onions and
high seasoning to suppress the possibly muddy taste.
room
128. Carp au Bleu au Court Bouillon.
Take a very fine carp: cut off the gills, but keep the
tongue; then make as small an opening as possible to


194
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
empty it, and wash it well till no blood is left. Now boil
some vinegar, and when boiling-hot pour it over the fish, that
the scales may crisp. Next wrap the carp up in a cloth, and
stew it in brown broth. When done, drain it, and serve it
with anchovy sauce and capers.
129. To Stew Carp.
Scale and clean a brace of carp, reserving the liver
and roe; pour over the fish in a deep pan a pint of
vinegar, which may be elder vinegar, if the flavour is
preferred, with a little mace, three cloves, some salt and
Jamaica pepper, two onions sliced, a faggot of parsley, basil,
thyme, and marjoram; let the fish soak an hour, then
put them in a stew-pan with the vinegar and other things,
the liver chopped, a pint of Madeira, and three pints of
veal stock; stew them an hour or two, according to their
size; take them out and put them over a pan of hot
water to keep warm while a sauce is made thus :-Strain
the liquor, and add the yolks of three beaten eggs, half
a pint of cream, a large spoonful of flour and a quarter
of a pound of butter; stir it constantly, and just before
putting it over the carp, squeeze in the juice of a lemon.
Boil or fry the roe.
This sauce may also be served with plain boiled carp
dished in a napkin.
130. Roast Pike.
Wash, clean, and scrape off the scales, cut off the fins,
and carefully take out the inside; stuff the fish with the
crumb of two rolls, a quarter of a pound of butter, pepper,


FISH.
195
salt, grated nutmeg, and lemon-peel, with an egg to bind
it; baste it well with butter. When dished, stick upon
the back oblong bits of fried toast, and serve with the
following sauce : - Dissolve an anchovy in some highly
seasoned gravy, thicken it with butter mixed with flour,
and a tablespoonful of cream; add a little coratch, cayenne,
vinegar, walnut catsup, and soy. Lobster sauce may also
be served with roast pike.
ron
131. Baked Pike.
Scrape the scales off a large pike, take out the gills,
and clean it, without breaking the skin. Stuff the fish
with a forcemeat made of two handfuls of grated bread,
one of finely minced suet, some chopped parsley, and a
little fresh butter, seasoned with pepper, salt, mace, grated
lemon-peel and nutmeg, pounded all together in a mortar,
with two whole eggs. Fasten the tail of the pike into
its mouth with a skewer, and then dip it, first into a well-
beaten egg, and then into grated bread, which repeat twice,
baste it over with butter, and bake it in an oven. If two of
them are to be served, make one of them of a green colour by
mixing a quantity of finely minced parsley with the grated
bread. When the fish is browned, cover it with paper until
it is done. Serve with a Dutch sauce (p. 332) in a tureen.
Limano
132. Baked Pike.
(French Way.)
Prepare the pike as usual, but, instead of stuffing it with
the farce prescribed in No. 131, stuff it with forcemeat balls.
Be careful to bind the head, which is liable to break. Make
N 2


196
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
a marinade- a small quantity will do, as it is improper that
pike should be smothered in it: indeed, there will be quite
enough if it reaches the middle of the fish. Baste the fish fre-
quently with some of the moistening, that it may take a fine
colour, which is not easily obtained, as you are not using
crumbs of bread. When it is done, drain it. Take some of
the marinade to make a butter sauce in this way :—Put a
good lump of butter and a spoonful of flour into a stew-pan;
moisten with the marinade, but do not allow the sauce to
boil. Add to this a spoonful of essence of anchovies and the
juice of a lemon. Serve the sauce under the fish without
masking it. If the pike is not of a good colour, you should
add some fine capers to the sauce: and in this case, mask
the fish with it.
133. To Cook Trout.
This is the method of the woods, and in the woods I
learned it. The trout must be cooked in the open air
by a wood fire on the ground, or a charcoal fire in a
small Boston furnace. Clean and scale your fish ; open,
clean, and wash the inside ; then take two small skewers,
say of red cedar wood; upon each thread a piece of fat
salt pork, half an inch square; with these fix the belly
of the fish asunder; annex it by the tail to a twig of
pliant wood, which suffer to bend over the fire so as to bring
the fish opposite to the blaze; place a large biscuit or a
thin slice of dry toast under the drip of the gravy; cook
quickly. For a two-pound fish ten minutes will suffice; dish
with the biscuit under it, and eat with salt and lemon-
juice, or with shrimp or lobster sauce, or a dash of Worcester
or of Harvey's.


FISH.
197
134. Haddock Pudding.
Bone and skin two raw fresh haddocks, pound them in
a marble mortar, and rub them through a hair sieve; then put
the fish again into the mortar with two eggs, a little parsley,
and an onion cut small, some white pepper and salt, a slice of
bread in crumbs, and a quarter of a pound of veal suet, or
marrow. Pound all well together, put it into a shape and
boil it an hour. The veal suet, or marrow, may be omitted.
iran
135. Little Fish Puddings.
Bone and skin two haddocks : pound them smooth. Boil
the same quantity of bread and milk as there is of fish, with a
little parsley, mix it with the fish, and rub through a sieve;
put in two eggs and the yolk of a third, some salt and pepper;
stir all well together, and add the white of the third
egg well beaten; roll into the form of small sausages,
flour these, and boil fifteen minutes in boiling salt and water.
Have ready the following brown sauce to serve in the dish
with them :-In a pint and a half of water boil the heads,
fins, and bones of the haddocks, with a bunch of parsley,
an onion, salt and pepper, and a bit of toasted bread;
when it has boiled nearly an hour, strain it, and thicken it
with flour and butter; add a tablespoonful of catsup, half
a tablespoonful of soy, and a little cayenne.
136. Dried Fish Pudding.
Boil the fish, remove the skin, and take out the bones;
pound it, and add to it an equal quantity of mashed potatoes
inoistened with good milk and a bit of butter ; put it in
a dish, smooth it with a knife, stick here and there little


198
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
bits of butter, and brown it in a Dutch oven; serve it
with egg sauce; round the edge of the dish may be put
a potato paste.
137. Fish Cake.
Take the meat from the bones of any kind of cold fish,
and put the bones with the head and fins into a stew-pan with
a pint of water, a little salt, pepper, an onion, and a faggot
of sweet herbs, to stew for gravy. Mince the meat, and
mix it well with crumbs of bread and cold potatoes (equal
parts), a little parsley and seasoning. Make into a cake,
with the white of an egg, or a little butter or milk; egg
it over and cover with bread-crumbs, then fry a delicate
brown. Pour the gravy over, and stew gently fifteen minutes,
stirring it carefully twice or thrice. Serve hot, and garnish
with slices of lemon or with parsley.
Groom
138. Salt Fish Pie.
The thickest part must be chosen, and put in cold water
to soak the night before wanted; then boil it well, take it
up, remove the bones and skin, set it on a fish-drainer
to get cold; in the meantime, boil four eggs hard, peel
and slice them very thin; the same quantity of onions
sliced thin; line the bottom of a fish pie-dish with
fish forcemeat, or a layer of potatoes sliced thin—then
a layer of onions, then of fish, and of eggs, and so on till
the dish is full; season each layer with a little pepper; then
mix a teaspoonful of made mustard, the same of essence
of anchovy, a little mushroom catsup in a gill of cold
water, place in the dish, on the top an ounce of fresh butter
broken in bits, cover with puff paste, and bake for one
hour.


FISH.
199
139. Salt Fish Pudding.
One pint of finely chopped cooked salt-fish, eight good-
sized potatoes, three-fourths of a cupful of milk or cream,
four eggs, salt, pepper, and two generous tablespoonfuls of
butter. Pare the potatoes and boil thirty minutes. Drain the
water from them, and mash very fine; then mix thoroughly
with the fish. Add the butter, seasoning, and milk or cream.
Have two of the eggs well beaten, which stir into the mixture,
and heap this in the dish in which it is to be served. Place
in the oven for ten minutes. Beat the whites of the two
remaining eggs to a stiff froth, and add a quarter of a tea-
spoonful of salt; then put in the yolks. Spread this over
the fish, return to the oven to brown, and serve.
A good and cheap dish. Salt fish should not (for hygienic
reasons) be eaten very often; and the same, in degree, may be
said of all salted meats, with the exception of fat bacon.
But the use which we inake at present of salt fish is simply
ridiculous. We eat it with boiled parsnips and egg sauce on
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday: and there an end!
votom
140. Mock Anchovies.
To a peck of perfectly fresh sprats just taken out of
the water, and neither washed nor wiped, allow the following
quantity of ingredients, all to be finely pounded, and well
mixed together:-Two pounds of common salt, a quarter of a
pound of bay-salt, four ounces of saltpetre, two ounces of
prunella salt, and a small portion of cochineal. Place alter-
nately in a earthenware pan, till it be full, a layer of the
sprats and a layer of the prepared mixture; press the whole
well down, and cover the pan closely. They will require to
stand six months before they are used.


FISH.
201
144. Baked Sprats.
Having rubbed your sprats with salt and pepper, to every
two pints of vinegar put one pint of red wine. Dissolve
a pennyworth of cochineal, and lay your sprats in a deep
earthen dish. Pour in as much red wine, vinegar, and
cochineal, as will cover them. Tie a paper over them, and
set them in an oven all night. They will keep some time,
and eat well.
145. Roast Gurnet.
Fill the belly of the fish with stuffing, sew it up with
packthread, and truss it with its tail in its inouth; butter
a sauté-pan, and put two tablespoonfuls of chopped shallots
and a glass of sherry into it; egg the fish with a paste-
brush, bread-crumb, and lay a few pieces of butter upon
it; then put it in the sauté-pan and place it in the oven
for half an hour, or longer if required. When done, dish it
without a napkin, first drawing out the packthread; then
put twelve tablespoonfuls of brown sauce in the sauté-pan,
with four ditto of broth, a quarter ditto of sugar, and a half
ditto of essence of anchovy; boil this five minutes, pour it
round the fish, pass the salamander over, and serve.
iran
146. Skate with Liver Sauce.
Crimp or cut the skate into pieces, boil, and serve on
it a sauce made as follows:-Put into a saucepan parsley,
chibbols, mushrooms, a clove of garlic, all finely minced, and
a little butter; give it a turn or two on the fire, and add
a good dust of flour, then a bit of butter, capers, and a
minced anchovy, with the liver of the skate, first boiled and
bruised, and pepper and salt; moisten with gravy or water,
and thicken on the fire. Leave out the garlic, if you like.


202
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK. ,
beurre noir” is, 1
butter, direction butter is e
147. Skate au Beurre Noir.
Boil the skate as above, drain it well and dish it with-
out a napkin. Put half a pound of butter in a stew-pan,
and set it on the fire till it gets quite black; then fry in
it half a handful of parsley (that has been well washed
and picked) quite crisp, and pour over the fish; put
five tablespoonfuls of vinegar, with a little pepper and salt,
into the same stew-pan, boil it a minute, pour over the
fish, put into the oven five minutes, and serve very hot.
“Beurre noir" is, literally, “ black” butter. It should be
darker than the “burnt” butter, directions for making which
I have given you below (No. 148). Black butter is easy to
make, and is far from expensive; yet, in the course of more
than fifty years' dining out in London, I have rarely, if ever,
met with " black” or “burnt" sauce for white fish at middle-
class English dinner-tables; or, for the matter of that, at
aristocratic dinner-tables, either. If you want “ beurre noir"
you must go to a second-rate French or Italian restaurant
in Soho. Why? Because the eternal melted butter is still
the prevailing curse of the English kitchen. “Fifty religions
and one sauce!”
retorno
148. Crimped Skate with Burnt Butter.
Boil the skate in water, with vinegar and salt added, and a
few slices of onions. Only let it just boil up. When done,
serve it with burnt butter made thus :—Boil two good spoon-
fuls of vinegar, with salt and pepper ; at the same time fry
some butter till it becomes very brown, and pour it on the
vinegar. Garnish with fried parsley.
roton
149. Fresh Sturgeon.
The best mode of dressing the fish is to cut it in thin slices
like veal cutlets and broil it. Serve very hot, and eat with a
ve


FISH.
203
squeeze of lemon juice. Great care, however, must be taken
to cut off the skin before it is broiled, as the oil in the skin,
if burnt, imparts a disagreeable flavour to the fish. The flesh
is very fine, and comes nearer to veal, perhaps, than does
even turtle. I prefer this mode of dressing it to the more
savoury one of stewing it in rich gravy.
This "royal” fish is, I believe, occasionally to be met with
at a few West-End fishmongers', and is sold at a reasonable
price; but although I have repeatedly partaken of sturgeon
(“sterlet”) in Russia, I do not remember to have ever seen it in
the bill-of-fare of an English dinner-party, public or private.


204
SECTION III.-ENTRÉES.
In orthodox French cookery the “pièce de resistance”
—the joint or big poultry—should come immediately after
the soup and fish. The idea was that the guests should
“ take the edge off their appetites” on the joints and big
poultry, and subsequently be enabled to trifle at elegant
leisure with the entrées. The Duke (when Earl) of Fife
once made a gallant effort to revive the orthodox inode of
serving; but his guests preferred to devour the entrées and
trifle with the joint. To the same distinguished nobleman
belongs the honour of having been the benefactor who pro-
vided his guests with “elevated soup plates." Only those
persons who are short-sighted, or who have “two left hands,"
can understand the agony of having to dip your spoon into a
plate a long way down at the risk of horribly staining your
shirt front. It is all very well to say “Tuck a napkin under
your chin,” but the napkin has an uncomfortable habit of
slipping off. Lord Fife put his soup-plates on silver plateaus
on legs, within convenient distance of the lips of his guests.
-nin
1. Forcemeat Balls.
Cut fine half a pound of veal and the same quantity
of suet, and beat them in a mortar. Shred fine a few
sweet herbs, a little dried mace, a small nutmeg grated, a
little lemon-peel cut very fine, some pepper and salt, and
the yolks of two eggs. Mix all well together, then roll
t, and half a pounat comeat Ball
-
--
-----


ENTRÉES.
205
some of it into small balls, and some into long pieces.
Roll both in flour, and fry them of a nice brown. If they are
to be used with white sauce, instead of frying them pour a
little water into a stew-pan, and when it boils put them in,
and they will be done in a few minutes.
2. Sausage-Meat (Plain).
Take any quantity of lean beef or pork, with half the
quantity of fat, and having freed the lean of every particle
of skin, sinews, and gristle, mince both it and the fat as
fine as possible, adding for each pound of meat a large
teaspoonful of pepper and the same quantity of salt; strew
this on the meat and mix the whole thoroughly together,
as a stock for further seasoning.
roman
Another Way.
To the meat of a leg of pork of about four pounds weight,
add two pounds of fat from the fore loin; chop both very
fine; then add two nutmegs grated, twenty cloves, a teaspoon-
ful of pounded or grated lemon-peel, two or three blades
of mace pounded, one ounce of the best salt, and half an
ounce of black pepper; mix all together. This sausage-meat
would be much improved by pounding the meat, and mixing
it with one-third of its bulk of white bread soaked in
milk and also pounded, blending the whole together with
beaten egg.
vrtom
3. Batter for Frying.
Moisten twelve ounces of sifted flour with lukewarm
water in which you have melted two ounces of butter.


206
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Pour in enough water to form a rather thin paste without
lumps; then add enough water to form a batter. It should
be sufficiently thick to cover whatever is dipped into it,
but should run freely. Add a little salt, and two whites
of eggs, well whipped.
soon
4. Fricassée of Fowl.
Pick, draw, and singe a fowl; cut it into pieces and
soak them for one or two hours in cold water, to whiten
the meat; then drain them. Put into a saucepan a piece
of butter and a spoonful of flour; stir it till the butter
is melted, when moisten it with a glass of water; add
salt, pepper, grated nutmeg, a sprig of parsley, and chives;
put in the fowl, and let it stew three-quarters of an
hour; thicken the sauce with the yolks of three eggs,
and add some lemon-juice, and also a dash of vinegar.
When two-thirds done, put in some mushrooms, and add,
if you like, some button onions and bottoms of artichokes
at the same time that you put in the fowl. A few cray-
fish may be placed round the dish, as well as some crusts
and cocks'-combs. To keep the meat white, it is neces-
sary to rub it with the lemon-juice, and cover it during
the cooking with some buttered paper placed on the fricassée,
inside the saucepan.
iro
5. Fowl, Country Captain.
Cut a fowl in pieces ; shred an onion small and fry it
brown in butter ; sprinkle the fowl with fine salt and curry-
powder, and fry it brown with fried butter; then put it into
a saucepan with a pint of broth; stew slowly down to a half,
and serve with rice.


ENTRÉES.
207
6. Braised Fowl.
Bone the breast, and fill it with forcemeat. Lay the
bones and the other poultry trimmings in a stew-pan,
and the fowl on them. Put to them an onion, a bundle
of herbs, three blades of mace, a pint of stock, and a glass
of sherry. Mask the fowl with slices of bacon, and sprinkle
with white pepper; cover the whole close, and put it on
a slow stove for an hour. Then take it up; strain the
braise, carefully skim off the fat, and set it on to boil
very quickly to a glaze, which put over the fowl with a
brush. Before glazing, put the fowl into the oven for a
few minutes, to give a little colour. If you are an abstainer,
leave out the sherry; but practically there is no harm
whatever in using a little wine in cookery. All the alcohol
evaporates in boiling, and only the flavour remains.
7. Chickens with Macédoine of Spring Roots.
Prepare for boiling two fat chickons of an equal size, and
rub the breasts over with butter; slice a lemon without the
rind, lay a few pieces on the breasts of the chickens, and
completely cover them with slices of fat bacon, tied closely
round; place them in a stew-pan, fill up with poêlé; let them
boil for half an hour; when you dish them, shake the water
out and wipe off the fat. They should be served with a
delicate Macédoine, made thus:-Boil some very young
carrots, cut them of a neat shape ; also some turnips, cut the
same; a few French beans, cut; and some asparagus points
boiled quite green; have boiling a very clear rich Spanish
sauce, and a few minutes before you serve the chickens throw
these roots into the sauce ; let them boil up, then skim the
sauce, and add a little sugar and salt.
boileá lew French Leat shape ; ala


203
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
8. Epigram of Chicken Cutlets (Epigram do Poalet).
Why “Epigram” I know not. Take the fillets out of a
chicken, flatten and pare them neatly, remove small bones
of the pinions, scrape it clean and force it into the pointed
end of the fillets; lay them on the dresser and shake a
little pepper and salt over both sides, brush them over with
the yolk of egg, dip them into bread-crumbs, and then
into clarified butter, and again lightly into bread-crumbs;
they are to be broiled in a double gridiron, but not till
the last moment. Cut the inside fillets into scollops, place
them on a sauté-pan, fry as lightly as possible, and put
them into a Béchamel sauce (p. 327), with some mushrooms
which have been passed; dish the cutlets, and serve the
scollops in the centre.
wroom
9. Chicken in Savoury Jelly.
Choose a very small spring chicken, which is to be
boiled as white as possible, then put it away to get cold;
melt some aspic jelly, pour a little into a mould that will
just hold the chicken, cut some garniture with whites of
hard-boiled eggs and truffles, decorate the bottom, set the
mould on ice, and add by degrees a little aspic to set the
decoration; when it is perfectly secure, lay in the chicken,
the breast downwards, and pour a little more aspic, which
should not be warm, only just in a liquid state; continue
pouring in the aspic at intervals till it comes up level with
the back of the chicken; keep the mould surrounded with
ice till it is to be dished, then dip it in hot water and
turn it out on the dish.
10. Chicken Patties with Purée à la Reine.
Take eight or ten dariole moulds and line them with
paste, fill them with trimmings of paste, cut tops of the


ENTRÉES.
209
1
same paste, rub them over with the yolks of eggs, bake
them and then take out the inside. Cut off all the white
meat from two roasted fowls, pound in a mortar until it
can be passed though a fine hair-sieve; then reduce some
Béchamel, or white sauce, which should be well flavoured with
mushrooms, mix the chickening with the sauce, and season
it before you fill the patties. Do not suffer the purée to boil,
which would totally spoil it.
11. Compote of Quails.
Six quails will be required for this entrée. Truss them
in the same way as chickens for boiling; place them in a
stew-pan sufficiently large to hold them; put in a piece of
butter, a small bunch of green onions, a little parsley, a
sprig of marjoram, a few cloves, and a leaf of mace; set
the stew-pan over the stove for ten minutes, throw in a
tablespoonful of flour, and shake it about in the pan
until mixed ; add as much good broth as will cover
the birds, and keep moving the stew-pan over the stove
until the sauce boils; then remove it to the corner, and
throw in some parings of mushrooms, and a glass of
Madeira wine; try the birds occasionally, and when they
are tender put them into a clean stew-pan, and should the
sauce not be thick enough reduce it a little more; skim
off all the grease, and pass it through a tammy to the
quails ; have ready some button mushrooms and some small
forcemeat balls, throw them in and give the whole a boil
up; dish the quails, and pour the sauce over them. For
garnish you may put between each quail a piece of bread
cut and fried, or a small pudding of forcemeat.


210
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
12. Scollops of Rabbits.
Take three rabbits (or any number, according to the
number of guests: this recipe will serve as well for one as for
six rabbits); detach the fillets, tear off the sinews; then
scollop the fillets, keeping your knife on a slope; flatten
them with the handle of your knife; put the scollops
into a sauté pan with some clarified butter; have ready
some truffles peeled and cut into slices of the same size
as the scollops; mix them with the rabbits in the butter,
with salt and pepper. “Toss” the whole a little while before
dinner-time, drain the butter, and put the scollops into
the sauce, in order that the truffles may give their flavour
to it, and likewise to the meat. You may procure preserved
truffles in bottles at any good Italian warehouse; still, I am
rather chary of prescribing them. Unless they are forwarded
directly from abroad, and cased in the earth from which they
have been dug, they rarely possess any distinctive flavour.
Garnish the edges of the dish with sippets.
18. "Kickshaws” of Rabbit, Italian Sance.
Roast lightly three or four young rabbits, and pick off
all the white meat; mince it very finely with a sharp
knife, that it may not be ragged; reduce four spoonfuls of
white sauce with a spoonful of cream, season it with a little
cayenne pepper and salt; throw in the rabbit while the
sauce is hot, set it to cool, then beat up six yolks of eggs
with a teaspoonful of cream; pass the eggs through a
colander to the rabbit, and mix thoroughly; butter eight
or ten small moulds, and put a piece of white paper at the
bottom of each ; fill each mould with mince, and half an
hour before dinner set them in a stew-pan; pour boiling
water round them, about half the height of the mould,


ENTRÉES.
211
cover the stew-pan close, set it over a stove, and put some
lighted charcoal on the cover; when done, turn the “kick-
shaws” on the dish, and put over them a clear brown Italian
sauce.
Why “kickshaws ” ? you may ask. Well; turn to Justice
Shallow's instructions to William the cook in the second part
of “ King Henry IV.” (Act V., Scene 1), and you will see that
at any rate the word is an old one. French cooks call the
above dish “Paupetons de Lapereau,” an exceptionally com-
manding phrase ; but I prefer “kickshaws,” which is at least
Shakespearian, although it is manifestly a corruption of the
French quelque chose.
Inom
14. Rabbit Pudding.
Roast a young rabbit; take off the flesh and pick out the
sinews ; hash it with the liver very fine. Break the bones and
put them into a stew-pan, moisten with rich stock; let it boil
to draw the flavour, and use for the panada. Pound the
meat and panada together; add a third of the bulk of
butter, that is to say use an equal part of the three elements;
add also fine minced onions that have been stewed in gravy,
six raw yolks of eggs, reduced cold cream, as much as is
necessary; bring the whole to the consistency of pudding.
Before finishing add fine spices, salt, and nutmeg.
Grain
15. Rabbit Galantine.
Bone a rabbit entirely (except the head); take away the
meat of the thick part of the thighs; lard with seasoned
bacon tips; mince the meat taken off with the fillets of two
other rabbits; take an equal quantity of bacon, ninced,
mix the minces together, add salt, pepper, and pounded
spice; lay the rabbit open on a cloth; season, and
spread a layer of the forcemeat all over it; on this place
o 2


212
THE THOROUGH. GOOD COOK.
red tongue and bacon tips, in small pieces; proceed
thus alternately until the rabbit is quite full; then form
it as well as you can ; tie slices of bacon all over it, wrap
it in the cloth, and tie it again; lay slices of bacon in a
braising-pan, put in the rabbit, a knuckle of veal, the bones
of the rabbit, two carrots, three onions (one stuck with
cloves), two bay-leaves, a little thyme, parsley, scallions,
half a bottle of white wine, a ladleful of stock, and a little
salt; set the pan on the fire to simmer for two hours,
then remove from the fire, and in half an hour's time care-
fully withdraw the rabbit. When quite cold, take it out
of the cloth, glaze and serve it.—A superb dish, but pretty
dear.
Liron
16. Turban of Fillets of Rabbits.
Take four young rabbits; detach the fillets, also the inside
fillets; the eight large ones should be neatly larded with
bacon, and the eight smaller garnished with truffles, according
to fancy, or thus :-Lay them on the table, and with a very
sharp knife make slanting incisions from one end to the
other; then take a round cutter the width of the fillet, and
scoop some pieces out of large truffles, and with a sharp
knife slice them as thin as possible; place in each incision a
round piece of truffle, and press the flesh close—the truffle
will then remain in place. Make a farce of the flesh of the
legs of the rabbit; then cut a piece of bread for the centre
of the dish, cover the bread with slices of fat bacon-it will
be more easily removed, when the turban is done, if the
bread is divided into four pieces; raise the farce equally
round the bread on the dish it is to be served on, form it into
the shape of a turban, then place the eight large fillets in a
slanting form all round the turban, equally divided, and
between each a small fillet with truffles; press them lightly
to make them secure, cover the whole with layers of bacon


ENTRÉES.
213
and thin white paper, and tie string round the paper; then
bake in an oven, not too hot. When you think the farce is
sufficiently set, remove the bread which is inside (before you
take off the bacon) by taking out one quarter at a time, and
then take off the outside covering; glaze the fillets, and
insert a ragoût of cocks'-combs, truffles, and mushrooms in
the opening where the bread was taken out.
Laiptain
17. Young Rabbits in Carl Papers.
Take off the legs of tender young rabbits, and put them
to soak some hours with parsley, chives, mushrooms, half
a clove of garlic, the whole chopped fine and mixed
with salt, pepper, a little tarragon vinegar, and a table-
spoonful of Lucca oil; wrap up each piece with a portion
of this seasoning, and a small slice of bacon, in white
paper, well buttered inside ; broil them over a gentle fire,
and serve them quite hot in the paper. If you are
squeamish touching oil and garlic, leave out those ingre-
dients, but season a little inore highly.
irtin
18. Galantine of Turkey.
Bone the turkey, draw the skin of the legs and wings
inside ; spread the boned bird flat upon the table; season
with pepper and salt and a little aromatic spice; spread
a layer of sausage - meat an inch thick upon this, add
some long squares of red tongue or ham, some small black
truffles, and a few pistachio kernels; repeat the sausage-
meat, the seasoning, and the tongue, etc.; and having
sufficiently filled up the galantine, sew it up with twine,
roll it in a buttered napkin, fasten the ends with string,


214
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
and set it to braise in some well-seasoned veal and calf's-
foot stock for about an hour and a half. When done, the
galantine must be allowed to become partially cold in its own
stock, in order that it may thus preserve its mellowness
and flavour. It must then be put in press between dishes,
with a fourteen-pound weight on the top, and when quite
cold, removed from the napkin; lastly, glaze it, and the
string taken out, place it on its dish, and ornament it with
aspic jelly.
19. Gratin of Pigeon à la Périgord.
Bone six small pigeons; cut a piece of bread about
two inches high, surround it with a thin slice of fat bacon,
then cover it with forcemeat, sloping off to the edge of the
dish ; season the pigeons with pepper and salt, fill them with
the stuffing, so as to give them their original shape ; place
them with the breasts upwards on the forcemeat, put a little
more stuffing on the birds, so as to leave the breasts only
bare; cover these with a thin slice of fat bacon, and bake
in a moderately heated oven for about three-quarters of
an hour. When done, take out the bread, and with a napkin
soak up all the fat; filling the cavity with whole truffles,
mushrooms, and Spanish sauce.
20. Potted Hare.
Cut up the hare into joints or pieces, and set them aside
on a plate; next, cut up two pounds of streaky bacon into
square picces about the size of walnuts, and fry these in a
stew-pan; add the pieces of hare, and fry them with the
bacon; add also a handful of mushrooms, two bay-leaves, some


ENTRÉES.
216
thyme, basil, and winter savoury, two cloves of garlic, twenty
cloves, three blades of mace, a teaspoonful of black pepper-
corns, a tablespoonful of salt, a pint of sherry (strict abstainers
may leave out the wine), and a pinch of Nepaul; put on the lid,
and set all to simmer very gently in the oven for an hour and a
half. The hare must then be strained from its liquor; all the
meat removed from the bones, chopped, and pounded; all the
grease and bacon added and the whole pounded into a smooth
pulp, then rubbed through a wire-sieve on to a dish, and
afterwards put into a large kitchen pan to be mixed up with
the liquor from the hare. If the liquor or stock from the
hare measures more than a pint, it should be boiled down to
that quantity, and about four ounces of good glaze added.
Fill some ordinary preserving pie pans with the preparation,
cover them over with common flour and water paste; set the
pans in deep sauté-pans, or baking-sheets, with a little water
at the bottom, and put them to bake in an oven of moderate
heat for about an hour. They must now be taken out, the
meat pressed down level with a spoon, and some clarified butter
or lard poured over the top in sufficient quantity to cover the
ineat. As soon as they become cold, let the pans be covered
with strong white paper, moistened on one side with white
of egg; and when perfectly dry, oil the surface of the paper
over with a brush and put the potted hare in a very cool
place, to be kept for use as occasion requires.
-Ion
21. Venison Pie à l'Americaine.
Have three pounds of venison cut into small squares ; place
them in a saucepan with an ounce of butter; brown them
well for six minutes, then add one tablespoonful of flour;
stir well, and moisten with a quart of white broth; throw
in six small glazed white onions, (a bouquet, two pinches


216
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
of salt, one pinch of pepper, and the third of a pinch of
nutmeg. Let cook on the stove for forty-five minutes with
the lid on, and when done, lay the stew in a deep dish;
cover with a good pie-crust, carefully wetting the edges; egg
the surface with beaten egg, make two incisions on each
side and a small hole in the centre, then bake in the oven
for forty minutes. Prepare a dish with a folded napkin, lay
upon this the dish containing the pie, and serve cold.
22. Sweetbread Pie.
Lay a puff paste, half an inch thick, at the bottom of a
dish, and forcemeat round the sides. Cut the sweetbreads in
pieces according to the size of the pie, place them in first,
then some artichoke bottoms cut into four pieces each ;
next some cocks’-combs and morels, tops of asparagus, and
fresh mushrooms, yolks of hard eggs, and forcemeat balls.
Season the whole with pepper and salt. Put in plenty of
water, cover the pie, and bake it two hours. On taking it out,
pour in some rich veal gravy, thickened with cream and flour.
retuin
23. Scollops of Sweetbreads with Green Peas.
Take four sweetbreads, let them disgorge, and blanch
them thoroughly. Next cut them into scollops, as large as
possible. Cover them in a frying-pan with clarified butter
and a little salt. A quarter of an hour before you send
up, "toss” them over a stove with a clear fire, turn them
round, and when done, drain the butter, and put a little
glaze into the sauté-pan. Keep stirring the sweetbreads
in the glaze; dish them in a circle, and send up the
peas in the middle.


ENTREES.
217
When you have some remains of sweetbreads, cut them
into scollops, make them hot in a little light glaze, and
after having dished them in circular form cover them with
the peas. Scollops of sweetbreads are easier to dress when
you put between them a slice of fried bread, cut round,
and the green peas in the middle; without the fried bread
they will not keep the shape in which you have dished
them.
cintain
24. Scollops of Sweetbreads in Cases.
Let the sweetbreads disgorge and be blanched. When
they have been lying for a time in cold water, make some
small scollops of them, and mix them with a preparation
which is to be made in the following way :- Take half a pint
of mushrooms, four or five shallots, a little parsley, and
chop the whole very fine, separately. Next rasp a little fat
bacon, to which add a small lump of fresh butter. Stew
the herbs over a slow fire, and put the scollops with them,
seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little pounded spice. When
done, drain all the fat; put the scollops into small paper
cases fried in butter, and add a liberal amount of herb
seasoning. Then strew over them a few crumbs of bread
fried in butter. Lay the paper cases for a moment in the
oven, and when you are going to serve up, pour into each
of them a little thin brown gravy, and squeeze over the juice
of a lemon; drain off all the fat.
irton
25. Sweetbreads "Dauphin” Fashion.
Select good-sized sweetbreads. Pare off the sinews and
the fat; throw them into warm water to draw out the
blood, and blanch. When thoroughly disgorged, blanch them
again a little in boiling water to make them firm, in order


218
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
to lard them with great facility. As soon as they are
larded, rub the inside of a stew-pan all over with butter;
cover this with thin slices of fat bacon; lay the sweet-
breads on the bacon ; sprinkle with salt, and braise them
with plenty of red-hot ashes on the top of the pan, and
very little fire beneath. When they are of a fine brown,
cover them with a round of paper, and lessen the fire on
the top. Being large, they will require three-quarters of
an hour to do. If they are too much done, they become
soft, and are not so palatable. When properly cooked,
drain them, and place them in a pan with some glaze,
and the bacon beneath. Leave them in the glaze till
dinner-time; then drain them afresh, and glaze them of
a fine brown. Serve them up with sorrel or endive sauce.
drain are not they are the
26. Red Ox Tongue (à l'Ecarlate).
Wash the tongue thoroughly, and leave it to soak during
two days, after which rub it with saltpetre and a little
brown sugar; season it with whole pepper, and add a little
cold salted water; leave it to soak in this four days, taking
care to turn it every day; then put it on to boil in water,
to which you may add a little of the brine, an onion, a
carrot, a bay-leaf, and a little parsley. When the tongue
is done, skin it, place it in a deep dish, and pour the
liquor over it, after passing the latter through the tammy.
The tongue is of a better flavour when left to get cold in
the gravy.
retire
27. Tongues with Stewed Endive.
Take sheeps' tongues that have been slightly pickled; boil
them till tender, and remove the skin; for the centre of the
dish you are to serve them in cut a piece of bread in the form


ENTRÉES.
219
of a vase, which is to be fried of a nice colour ; then make it
firm on the dish by a little paste of flour and white of egg
mixed, of which you put a little between the bread and the
dish, and set it over the stove to fix the bread; have ready
fried some bread, cut in the shape of cocks’-combs, and secure
these also in the same way round the dish, leaving room
between each for a tongue, the point of which is to rest
upon the bread in the centre of the dish. Glaze the tongues,
and serve a purée of endives round them.
i
intam
28. Minced Beef.
Take some cold roasted fillet of beef; cut out all the
fat and suet, then chop the meat as fine as possible, and
put it into a reduced Spanish sauce (p. 347) made boiling
hot; when ready to serve, add a bit of butter. Serve your
mince with soft-boiled eggs round it, or with pieces of toasted
bread.
29. Minced Beef with Cucumbers.
Take a rump steak undressed, and with a sharp
knife shred it very fine. Put it into a stew-pan with a
little clarified butter and some salt; stir it over a quick
fire for some minutes, then add half a pint of beef
gravy; let it boil gently till it becomes of a proper
thickness. Cut two large cucumbers in slices the thick-
ness of a crown piece, and put them into a stew-pan with
an onion sliced, some clarified butter, a little vinegar, a
lump of sugar, and fry them of a bright brown colour; add
some plain sauce ; let simmer gently till sufficiently done;
then lay the mince in the dish, and proceed to pour the
cucumber over it. You may, if you please, thicken the


ENTRÉES.
221
brown in a little butter and flour; put this into the stew-
pan with the gravy, stew gently twenty minutes, and strain ;
lay the mince in the stew-pan, pour over it the strained
gravy; add a dessertspoonful of walnut catsup, or any pre-
ferred sauce, with seasoning; simmer until the meat is hot
through. Serve with sippets round the dish, and with a
poached egg in the centre of the mince, if you like.
noir
82. Bacon Fraise.
Beat eight eggs into a batter, with a little cream and flour;
fry thin slices of bacon, and dip them in it; then lay them
in a frying-pan, and pour a little batter over them; when
one side is done, turn and pour more butter over them.
When both sides are of a good colour, lay them on a dish
and serve hot.
iron
33. Beans and Bacon.
Windsor beans should be served young, and fresh
gathered. Boil them in salt and water; when done, drain
them, and lay the bacon over the beans without any sauce.
The bacon should be fat, and nicely boiled. Send up
separately, in a sauce-boat, chopped parsley in melted
butter.
Beans are likewise an excellent garnish to a ham ; serve
them plain around it. Duffin beans are a very good sub-
stitute for Windsor, only skin them before boiling.
re
34. Peas and Bacon.
Cut half a pound of bacon or ham into dice, and parboil
them; put some butter into a saucepan, and fry the bacon


222
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
in it to a brown colour. Put a quart of green peas into
a deep dish, with a piece of butter the size of a walnut;
roll them with the hand, and pour over them some water,
in which leave them for twenty minutes, that they may
become tender; drain them in a colander, put them into
a stew-pan, and gently cook them on the fire. While very
green, moisten them with broth gravy, and add the pieces
of bacon or ham, a bunch of parsley and chives; let them
just boil together, and then finish the cooking over a mild
fire; skim off the fat, put in a little sugar if they be too
salt, and serve. Or the peas may be dressed much more
simply by stewing the bacon in the butter, adding the peas,
moistening them with water, and letting them cook with
a bunch of herbs and seasoning.
intim
35. York Ham with Spinach (Jambon d'Yorck aux
Epinards).
Scrape and trim the hain, and put it in a large pan
or pot with enough cold water to make it swim. Add a
.couple of carrots, onions, celery, a dozen cloves, mace,
thyme, and bay-leaves, and boil the ham very slowly
indeed for about four or five hours, according to size and
weight; and when it is done, allow it to become cold in
its own liquor. When cold, remove the rind by gently
slipping the ends of the fingers of both hands under the
skin of the round, thick end of the ham, and by this
means detach it gradually without displacing any of the
fat. Trim the surface of the fat smoothly with a knife.
When wanted hot, place it in a baking-dish covered with
a greased paper; add just enough of its own liquor to
reach up to the edge of the fat, bake it for about half an
hour, glaze, and garnish with spinach.


ENTREES.
223
Some cooks are allowed to boil the ham in champagne.
This process is to me simply senseless. The alcohol neces-
sarily evaporates in the boiling, and the saccharine residuum
may be easily (and cheaply) replaced by a little sugar.
There is no harm, however, in serving a champagne sauce
with the dish.
rreon .
36. Veal and Ham Patties
Are prepared by chopping small six ounces of lean dressed
veal, three of ham ; put this into a stew-pan, with an ounce
of butter rolled in flour, half a gill of cream, and the same
quantity of veal stock, a little grated nutmeg and lemon-peel,
some cayenne pepper and salt, a spoonful of the essence
of ham, and lemon-juice. Stir the whole over the fire some
time, and then make the patties as before directed (p. 208).
The white meat of the breasts of chickens or fowls may be
substituted for the veal.
irrin
37. Veal and Ham Pie.
Take two pounds of veal cutlets, divide them into small
pieces, and season with pepper and salt. Then take a pound
of raw or dressed ham, cut it into slices. Lay both alternately
in the dish, and put some forcemeat or sausage meat over
all, with stewed mushrooms, the yolks of three hard eggs,
and a glass of water. The best end of a neck of veal cut
into chops is the most approved part for a pie.
-
retain
38. Raised Ham Pie.
Lay a small ham to soak four or five hours, then wash and
scrape it well; cut off the knuckle, and boil it half an hour.


224
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Take it up and trim it neatly, clear the rind, and put it into
a stew-pan with a pint of Marsala or sherry, and a sufficient
quantity of veal stock to cover it. Stew for two hours, or
until it is three parts done, then take it out and set it to cool.
Raise a crust large enough to receive the ham, round which
put some forcemeat, and bake it in a slow oven. When done,
remove the cover, glaze the top, and pour in a sauce made
as follows :—Take the liquor the ham was stewed in, skim it
clear, thicken it with flour and butter, add a little browning
and some cayenne pepper.
intom
39. Hottentot Pie.
Bone two calf's feet; boil and chop small some chitter-
lings; take two chicken, cut them up as for eating; put
all into a stew-pan, with two sweetbreads, a quart of veal
gravy, half an ounce of morels, cayenne pepper, and salt;
stew over a gentle fire for an hour, then add six or eight
forcemeat balls that have been boiled, and the yolks of four
hard eggs; lay the whole in a good raised crust, previously
baked for the purpose. Strew over the top some green peas
or asparagus tops, and send to table without a cover.
40. Lamb and Pork Chops
Are both fried in the same manner-either plain, or egged,
rolled in bread-crumbs, and, when dished, garnished with
slices of lemon or crisped parsley. I have dealt with chops
elsewhere (see pp. 300-1), and will only say in this place
that, like steaks and cutlets, they should be neatly trimmed
when they are not cut into a good shape.
non


ENTRÉES.
225
41. Veal Cutlets.
Veal cutlets should be cut from the neck in the same
shape as mutton cutlets—as many cutlets as there are guests,
but let them be very small. They must be prettily larded
on one side, like a sweetbread; braise them—don't fry them
until they have become quite tender; glaze lightly, and
salamander to the colour of old gold. Have ready boiled a
pint of green peas (fresh ones, if you can afford them ; but
peas are capitally preserved nowadays); put them in a stew.
pan with two pats of butter, a little salt, and, if your guests
are accustomed to Continental cookery, a teaspoonful of
powdered sugar. When boiled, finish with an“ alliance” of one
yolk of egg mixed with a tablespoonful of cream ; pour into
the dish, and dress the cutlets neatly in an oval ring. You
may have a little mould of mashed potatoes, if you like, in
the middle.
These tasty cutlets, braised and larded, may be served
quite as advantageously with “sauce à la jardinière," with
turnips browned, with asparagus tips, with cucumbers, or
with tomatoes. The plain English way is to fry them in
egg and bread-crumbs, with a slice of bacon to each in little
rolls, and the dish is served with brown sauce.
42. Pork Cutlets and Tomato Sauce.
Take a neck of pork—it should be young meat, with
small bones—flatten the cutlets, and trim them, lay them
on the table, and season them on both sides with pepper
and salt. Clarify some fresh butter, and mix a little of it
with two yolks of eggs; dip the cutlets in, one at a time,
and then into bread-crumbs, until they are all done; pour
the remainder of the clarified butter into a cutlet-pan, and
shape the cutlets with a knife; wipe the bone free from


226
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
crumbs, and lay them on the sauté-pan, the curve of each
bone the same way. At dinner-time fry them over a brisk
fire, and serve with tomato sauce.
43. Catlets in Aspic.
Braise the neck of nutton or lamb whole, then set it
aside to cool. When quite cold cut off the cutlets, trim
neatly, and glaze. Have ready some nicely-made aspic, set
them in it in a sauté-pan, shape them with a cutter, and
when set, dish with a Macédoine of vegetables,
-noir
44. Queen Blanche Stew.
Cut as much as is wanted of mutton in pieces the size
of walnuts, wash and place them in a stew-pan with a little
salt and pepper; cover them with water, put on a slow fire,
and let boil for about twenty minutes; skim well ; add
half a pint of chick-peas, previously scalded in water, two
or three onions sliced, and a pint of milk or cream, and
let it simmer until it forms a nice thick gravy at the bottom
of the pan, and the meat and peas are tender; then dish it
up with two or three slices of toasted bread on the bottom
of the dish, and serve whilst hot.
This is really a fricassée, and the recipe is applicable to
veal, rabbit, and poultry.
45. Kidneys Stewed.
Cut a fresh ox kidney into slices the eighth of an inch
in thickness; soak them for a few minutes in lukewarm
water, drain and dry them thoroughly in a cloth. Season


ENTRÉES.
227
them with a little pepper, dredge flour thickly over them,
and fry them in three ounces of hot butter, until they are
brightly browned. Pour the third of a pint of boiling water
or stock over them, and add a dessertspoonful of vinegar in
which onions have been pickled, or, if this is not at hand,
plain vinegar or lemon-juice; a finely minced shallot, a table-
spoonful of chopped parsley, and a little salt and cayenne.
Thicken the gravy before serving, and garnish with fried
parsley. Half a teaspoonful of mixed mustard may be
stirred into the sauce before it is taken from the fire, if this
is liked. The stewing will take about two hours. Sheep's
kidneys can be cooked in the same manner.
rolna
46. Rissoles.
Take half a pound of puff paste, give it three turns or
folds, roll it out to the thickness of a penny piece. Place
small balls of forcemeat at distances of about two inches
from each other; moisten the paste round these with a
brush dipped in water; fold the flap of the front part of
the paste over the balls; press all round them with the edge
of the thumb, or dot them with the blunt end of a thin
pencil; cut them out with a fluted round tin cutter, and, as
you do so, place them upon a toured dish. Having thus
cut out a sufficient number for your purpose, fry them in
hot fat, dish them up with crisp fried parsley, on a napkin,
and serve hot.
Another Way.
Pick from the bones the flesh of any kind of cold poultry,
and skin it; weigh it, and add one-third of grated bread-
crumbs, a little cold melted butter, a small onion (previously
boiled and finely minced), pepper, salt, and the yolks of two
eggs, to bind it together. Roll out thin some trimmings of
P 2


ENTRÉES.
229
49. Vol-au-Vent of Lambs' Tails.
Cut out of puff-paste a “vol-au-vent” to correspond with
the chartreuse, bake it of a nice colour, and take out the
inside (the soft part). Have scalded half a dozen lambs' tails,
cut them about an inch in length, put them into a stew-pan,
with a bunch of green onions, parsley, a blade of mace, and
a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, or white fat of veal;
cover them with boiling water, and let them stew till quite
tender; then take them upon a napkin, wipe all the grease
from them, and put them into a little clear Béchamel (p. 327);
give them a boil up, and just before serving them put into
the sauce two yolks of eggs, and beat up with a spoonful
of cream. Put the “vol-au-vent” on the dish, lay the tails
in, and pour the sauce over them. Have some sprigs of
parsley boiled particularly green, and put into the sauce
the last moment before serving.
rin
50. Wild Boar's Head.
If you are out of wild boars, tame pig's-head will do
quite as well. Cut the head, with the neck, as long as
possible; when it is clean, bone it and split it underneath ;
leave it in salt for four days; after which drain it, steep
it in cold water, and put it into a marinade or mild pickle
of vegetables, spices, and any cheap red wine, for three days
longer. Then drain the head, which stuff with a forcemeat
of fat bacon, sausage-meat, pounded spices, and cooked
fine herbs; when this is done, sew it up; close the opening
of the neck with a large piece of fresh pork rind; tie the
head with string to give it the right form ; wrap it up tightly
in a cloth, keeping the ears upright; wall it up with three
thin pieces of wood, one underneath and two on the sides,
so as to keep it straight; then place it in a braising-pan;
moisten liberally with vinegar and water ; let it boil five
hours; drain it on a dish ; take it out of the cloth, in which


230
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
wrap it again to cool; when cool, unpack it, pare, glaze,
and dish it up; set round with aspic jelly.
This is a famous dish for luncheons and suppers. The
only forms in which we dress pig's-head are as “ brawn,” as
“ Bath-chap,” and as “collared.” Try this Russian recipe.
51. Braised Beef, Parsley Sauce.
Take a piece of thin flank weighing about eight pounds-
it should be cut as nearly square as possible-lay it out
flat, and strike it all over with a cutlet bat. Next roll it
up tightly and tie; place the roll in a braising-pan, with
carrots, onions, celery; a bunch made with parsley, thyme,
and bay-leaf; six cloves, a bit of mace, and stock or water
sufficient to cover the meat; simmer gently over a slow fire
for about four hours; and when done tender, take it up,
without undoing the string, and put the roll of beef in press
between two dishes, with a fourteen-pound weight on the
top. When the beef is nearly cold, remove the string, trim
it free from any rough or discoloured parts, and set it to
warm in a baking-pan with a little of its own stock. When
ready to serve, pour over it parsley sauce, and garnish round
the base with glazed carrots and onions.
52. Kromeskies à la Monglas.
Chop neatly any kind of meat, tongue, ham; mushrooms
or truffles may be added; put this into a sauté-pan with
a small portion of white sauce, three yolks of eggs, nutmeg,
pepper and salt, and a pinch of chopped chives or shallot;
stir over the fire for a few minutes so as to set the eggs in
the croquet meat; and then spread it out an inch thick upon


ENTRÉES.
231
a plate, and set it in a cool place to get cold and firm. It must
next be divided into parts resembling large walnuts, rolled in
bread-crumbs to enable you to shape them into the form
of corks or balls ; again dipped in bread-crumbs, placed in
a wire frying-basket, fried in hot frying fat of a light colour,
and served with Monglas sauce (p. 339).
53. Shoulder of Veal à la Bourgeoise.
Bone the veal, and season it with salt, pepper, and a
little grated nutmeg; roll and shape it into an oblong
form, then tie it up; put it into an oval braising-pan,
with a piece of butter, and stew it over a slow fire; let
it take a fine light colour, then add a glass of water,
sprinkle it with a little salt, and add a bay-leaf; place fire
above and below till a glaze is formed. Dress the shoulder
on the dish, and drain the butter which is in the stew-
pan; detach what remains with a spoonful of broth, and
pour this gravy over the veal. Take off the string before
serving
noun
54. Sheep's Trotters, with Cheese.
Bone some boiled sheep's trotters, cut them in two, and
put them into a stew-pan; mix in some butter, mushrooms,
parsley, chives, and a clove ; pour over them some broth,
and add pepper and salt; let the whole simmer till the
sauce is much reduced ; add a dash of vinegar, and dress
your trotters on the dish ; cover them with a forcemeat of
the thickness of a crown-piece; spread them half with
bread-crumbs and half with grated Gruyère cheese ; let
them brown in a Dutch oven, and serve. Pigs' feet may
be served in the same way.


232
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
55. A Neat's-Foot Pudding.
Take a pound of neat's-foot finely shredded, three-quarters
of a pound of suet shredded as small, a whole nutmeg grated,
candied orange minced, some salt, and some currants, a
little grated bread, and seven eggs (leave out half the
whites); flour the bag, and boil two hours and a half at
least. The sauce is sherry, sugar, and melted butter.
irtan
56. Aspic, or Savoury Jelly.
This is a most important item in the dressing of cold
entrées. Boil a handful of burnet, chervil, and tarragon in
white vinegar till this is well impregnated with the aroma
of the herbs; then pour into the stew-pan some chicken-
stock reduced. When your jelly is well seasoned, beat the
whites of four eggs with a whisk in an earthen pan, into
which throw the aspic; put the whole in a stew-pan, and
place it on the fire ; continually beat and stir the jelly till
it becomes white; it then nearly boils. Now draw it to the
corner of the stove, and on the stew-pan put a cover, with
some red embers upon it; when perfectly transparent,
strain it through a napkin or jelly-bag, a sieve being too
coarse. When to be used for decorations, such as borders,
etc., the aspic must be sufficiently stiff. For this purpose
take two or more ladlefuls of strong brown stock, well
seasoned with roots and aromatic herbs. Put this in a
stew-pan, with two spoonfuls of tarragon vinegar, a little
isinglass, and four whites of eggs, some salt and pepper;
whisk the whole on the fire till it nearly curdles, then
draw it to the corner of the stove, covered with a few red
embers on the top. When perfectly clear, strain it for use
as an aspic; otherwise omit the vinegar, as jelly for a
pie or galantine requires no acid.


ENTRÉES.
233
57. Another Aspic.
Take a knuckle of veal, a knuckle of ham, a thick slice of
beef, and if these will not make your jelly stiff enough,
add two calf's feet; put them into a saucepan with a
pint of rich stock, and sweat over a stove till reduced
to a glaze, then moisten with stock, boil, and skim well.
Add two onions, two carrots, salt, parsley, four cloves,
two bay-leaves, and a clove of garlic; let the whole stew
for seven hours, then strain off the liquor. Break
four eggs into a stew-pan, and put to them the broth
when cold, the juice of two lemons, and two spoonfuls of
tarragon, and beat the whole with a whisk over the fire
till near boiling, then remove your stew-pan to a smaller
fire, and place fire on the lid for half an hour; now
pass it through a jelly-bag, or wet napkin doubled, taking
care to return back to the bag the jelly that first runs
out. If the jelly is not sufficiently clear, clarify it a second
time.
Put a layer of this jelly, about half an inch thick, at
the bottom of an aspic mould, garnish it with truffles, whites
of eggs, sprigs of parsley, etc., according to your taste, pour in
another half-inch of the jelly, while liquid, with great care, so
as not to discompose your garnish, then put either calf's
brains, breasts of fowls, veal sweetbreads, cocks'-combs,
kidneys, fat livers, or game. Be sure, whatever you may use,
to lay it as equally and smoothly as possible. Then fill up
your mould with jelly, and let it stand till set. When
wanted, dip the mould in hot water an instant; place your
dish on the top, and turn over.—A splendid lunch and
supper dish.
intiin
58. Aspic (Clear).
Put a little mirepoix, a glass of vinegar, a little whole
pepper, and a handful of tarragon into a saucepan ; boil


234
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
them to a jelly, and then dilute it with two ladlefuls of
fowl broth ; set it by the side of the stove, taking off the
fat; clarify it with an egg and a little cold water, and pass
it through a double napkin. Put the aspic in a bain-marie.
Serve it with blanched tarragon leaves cut in lozenges. It
is used as a sauce for fowls, fried fish, etc.
Iran
59. Scotch Beef Collops with Onions.
Cut the meat rather thinner than for broiling; make the
butter hot, and place the collops in the pan, with sliced
onions—two middle-sized ones for each half-pound. If the
butter be salt, pepper alone is used, without any additional
salt. Cover the pan with a close lid, or plate reversed.
When done, the collops may be drawn aside, and a little
oyster pickle or walnut catsup and boiling water added
to the onion-gravy sauce in the pan. Dish, and serve hot.
Ten minutes will be long enough to dress them.
This is too heavy for luncheon, but forms a first-rate
supper dish, in winter.
ran
60. Scotch Minced Collops.
Put two ounces of fresh butter into a stew-pan, and inix
a tablespoonful of flour smoothly with it; keep stirring the
paste till it is lightly browned, then add a little pepper and
salt. When nicely browned, put with it a pound and a half
of steak finely minced. Move it about with a fork to prevent
its getting lumpy, and when it is quite hot, pour into it
a breakfast-cupful of boiling water. Simmer very gently for
ten minutes. Before serving, add a tablespoonful of mush-
room catsup


ENTRÉES.
235
61. Brewis.
Cut some bread in thin slices (toasted, if preferred) into
a basin; pour boiling water upon it, and cover it with a
plate; let it remain a few minutes, and then stir in a
piece of butter and a little salt. Oat-cake toasted and
cut in pieces is frequently used.
62. Scots Kail
Is chiefly made of inutton, either fresh or salted; beef is
only used when mutton cannot conveniently be had. Three
or four pounds of meat should be put to a gallon of cold
water, along with two ounces of pearl barley, with leeks or
onions, and allowed to stew until tender (if salted, put the
meat into water overnight, changing it once before boiling).
Then have ready the hearts of two cabbages cut small, or
greens if cabbages are not in season; put these into the
broth, which must be allowed to boil up uncovered until
reduced to two quarts. It should only be seasoned with
pepper and salt, but will be much improved by the addition
of a couple of onions fried in butter; indeed, both carrots and
turnips are also sometimes used, but their addition deprives
the soup of the title of “kail,” which is derived from the
greens usually employed. The meat is served with the soup,
and, like the “olla” of the Spaniards, or the “pot-au-feu”
of the French, is the standing household dish among the
middle-classes in Scotland.
Gintar
63. A Scotch Haggis.
Take the stomach of a sheep; wash it with cold water
until perfectly clean ; turn it inside out, scald it; scrape it
with a knife quickly, and then put it into cold salt and water


236
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
till wanted. Take the liver, lights, and heart, and parboil
them ; grate the liver, and mince the other parts quite fine ;
mince also half a pound of suet and three or four onions; toast
half a pound of oatmeal cakes before the fire, and pound them
into powder, which is to be thickly sprinkled over the mince ;
mix all well together ; season with pepper and salt ; then fill
the bag, and before sewing, it up, introduce a large tea-
cupful of any kind of broth or gravy. Put the bay into a
pan with enough of boiling water to cover it, and a small
plate under it; prick it over with a needle to prevent its
bursting, and let it boil four or five hours, keeping it con-
stantly covered with boiling water. A haggis should be sent
to table as hot as possible, and neither sauce nor gravy should
be served with it. Some Scottish epicures use wheaten
biscuit-powder instead of pulverised oat-cake.
name
64, Punshki.
I give this dish its Russian name because I cannot invent
another designation for it. Chop and fry one onion ; add
to it the meat of sliced fillet of veal; fry, season, take it
off the fire to cool; then chop it fine, and add two or three
chopped hard-boiled eggs and a pinch of parsley. Thicken
the preparation with a little reduced sauce, portable soup,
or glaze. Roll out a pound and a quarter of light pie-paste;
cut out of the flat, with a cutter an inch and a half in
diameter, as many rounds as you want. Make your patties,
press them all round, and place them on a floured napkin
to let the paste rise to the temperature of the kitchen. A
few minutes before serving, plunge them in hot lard, and fry
a nice brown. Dish on a folded napkin.


ENTRÉES.
237
65. Omelette, Plain.
Break six eggs into a bowl, season them with pepper
and salt, and beat them with a fork. Put two ounces of
butter into an omelette-pan, and as soon as it melts, pour
in the eggs. When half set, toss the omelette, and keep
stirring it till it is all set. The finishing operation is
performed in one of two ways. Practised hands slant the
pan downwards from the handle, taking care, however, that
the best of the fire is beneath the upper or handle hand;
they then roll the omelette downwards till it takes the form
of an elongated oval. A more simple plan is to fold over
the omelette on both sides to the proper shape. In either
case the operation must be performed rapidly.
Gintain
66. Omelette with Bacon.
Cut into dice some streaky bacon which has been boiled
for half an hour, and fry with a bit of butter. When it
begins to get crisp, pour into the frying-pan a dozen eggs
(previously beaten), stir them well with the bacon, gather
up the edges of the omelette, to keep it of a proper thickness,
and season with pepper.
Linares
67. Omelette with Kidneys.
Cut up a couple of kidneys into dice, or into thin slices.
Put them into the omelette-pan with butter and some of the
kidney fat. When the butter and the fat are melted, and
the pieces of kidney are quite hot, pour in the beaten eggs
(No. 65) and proceed as in No. 66.
finns
68. Omelette with Fine Herbs.
Beat the eggs (see No. 65) with a tablespoonful of chopped
parsley, and, if the flavour is admired, with a chopped shallot


238
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
A
little gravy added to this
which has been blanched.
makes a pleasant change.
69. White Padding in Skins.
After washing half a pound of rice in warm water, boil
it in milk till tender; then put it into a sieve to drain.
In the meantime beat up half a pound of sweet almonds
very fine, with rosewater, wash and dry a pound of currants,
cut a pound of hog's lard small, beat up six eggs, half a
pound of sugar, a nutmeg grated, a stick of cinnamon, some
mace, and salt. Mix this with the rice, put it into the
skins, and boil them.
Another Way.
Take four pounds of beef suet shredded fine, three pounds
of grated bread, and two pounds of currants picked and
washed ; a quarter of an ounce each of cloves, mace, and
cinnamon finely beaten; salt, a pound and a half of sugar,
a pint of wine, a quart of cream, some rosewater, and twenty
eggs well beaten with half the whites. Mix these well, half
fill the skins, boil them a little and prick them, take them
up when done, and lay them to dry.
on
70. Casserole of Rice.
Boil one pound of rice tender, with one quart of milk
and a quarter of a pound of butter; let it come to a stiff
paste, stirring it frequently over a slow fire; form this
paste in a mould, or on a dish, leaving a hole in the
middle for a ragoût of any sort. If wanted brown, bake
it in a mould. When done, take out enough of the inside
to admit the ragoût.


ENTRÉES.
239
(the Team one middline.co (Neapolitan
71. Risotto (Neapolitan way).
Chop one middling-sized onion, which fry in dripping
(the Italians use oil) in a stew-pan. When it gets slightly
coloured, add a pound of rice, which must be moistened to
three times its height with veal stock; add a chopped tomato,
pepper and salt, and boil for twenty ininutes ; then take it
off the fire, add butter and grated cheese, just as you would
for macaroni. It should be a light grey in colour; and, if
you choose, you may put it in a mould and serve it in a
handsome shape.
non
72, Meagre Risotto.
This excellent dish is for fast days; and, take my word
for it, whichever day of the week you elect to abstain from
animal food, you will be all the better for it. For Meagre
Risotto, proceed as in the last recipe; but use water-zootje
-a fish broth—instead of meat stock. When you have
added your grated cheese, pour over a nice sauce made of
crayfish tails, oysters, and mushrooms, all of which have
been cut into dice and carefully stewed; or instead of the
somewhat costly crayfish, oysters, and mushrooms, make
your sauce of shrimps and little pieces of dried haddock.
73. Timbale of Macaroni.
Boil one pound of macaroni tender in two quarts of milk
and water, and a quarter of a pound of butter; when tender,
dry it with a cloth ; line a mould with slices of fat bacon,
mix a couple of eggs (well beaten up) with the macaroni,
and some pepper and salt; put some in the mould, and a
ragoût of sweetbreads in the middle; fill up with macaroni
and bake or boil the timbale for an hour. Serve it with
white or brown sauce, and take the bacon off.


240
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
74. Leghorn Macaroni.
Put a pound of macaroni into two quarts of boiling water
with a little salt; drain when sufficiently soft. The cook
must use her own judgment as to the exact time re-
quired for boiling; twenty minutes, under ordinary circum-
stances, should be enough; but beware of letting your
macaroni get too “pappy," and don't break it into short
pieces, as it would then be likely to stick together. Now
place your macaroni in a stew-pan, and moisten with a
few tablespoonfuls of Béchamel (p. 327); season with white
pepper and a point of nutmeg; take the stew-pan off the
fire, and add to it three ounces of fresh butter, in little
bits, and four ounces of grated Parmesan cheese. A smaller
quantity of Parmesan will do if eked out by Cheddar. When
well thickened and creamy, arrange your macaroni in layers
in a deep dish ; cover each layer with a purée of tomatoes,
which purée is simply tomatoes stewed in beef or veal
stock; but you may save yourself the trouble of additional
cooking by heating some “made” tomato sauce.
rar
75. Italian Macaroni.
This is the simplest form of dressing macaroni, and is
common all over the Peninsula. Simply boil your macaroni
in very long pieces, as directed in the foregoing recipe. Then
put in your butter in little bits; season with a little salt and
pepper, and mix in your grated cheese; carefully and tenderly
lifting the mass upwards and from side to side with a wooden
fork and spoon, as though you were dressing a salad. Every
stick of the macaroni should be well indued with butter and
cheese. This dish may be rendered much more appetising, if
you want a change, by serving it au gratin–that is to say,
browned in the oven or with a salamander.


ENTRÉES.
241
76. Vegetable Hash.
Chop, not very fine, the boiled vegetables left from
dinner, and season them with salt and pepper. To each
quart of the chopped vegetables, add half a cupful of stock
and one tablespoonful of butter. Heat slowly in the frying-
pan. Turn into a hot dish when done, and serve imme-
diately. If vinegar is liked, two or more tablespoonfuls of
it can be stirred into the hash while it is heating.
-
retom
77. German Toast.
Take the remainder of any fricassée or ragoût-any
quantity will do; chop it fine, add a little chopped parsley,
and a little bit of shallot or chive, mix it up with one or
two eggs beaten, according to the quantity. Put the whole
with its gravy into a stew-pan, and let it reduce and
thicken on the fire. Remove it, and when it is cold, cut
pieces of bread, toast them, and lay the mixture thickly
upon them. Boil an egg hard, cut it into small pieces,
and stick them on the top; brush the whole with an egg
beaten up, sift bread-crumbs over, and bake in the oven;
squeeze a little lemon-juice on the top.
78. French Panada.
Cut a stale penny roll in pieces; put it in a saucepan
with just sufficient water to cover the bread; stir it well
over the fire, allowing it to boil five minutes; then add
half a teaspoonful of salt and one ounce of fresh butter;
mix, and take it from the fire ; beat the yolk of an egg
with two tablespoonfuls of milk or water, and pour it
into the panada, stirring very quickly half a minute. Any


242.
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
other nice light bread would answer the purpose. Panada
should be rather thicker than gruel, and may be made
of milk, but water is on the whole preferable, being lighter
and more digestible.
I have already had something to say of this economical
dish in my chat on “ What shall we do with the Scraps ?”
but I return to it here in order to give a more formal recipe.
ro
79. Pudding Français.
To make this pudding it is necessary to have a dome-
shaped mould, four inches deep and six in diameter, and
a cover to fit the top, completely lined with a thin layer
of paste, which must turn over its edges. Take two pounds
of very round truffles, and cut them into circular pieces a
quarter of an inch thick ; fry these lightly in a quarter
of a pound of warm butter, with a large spoonful of fowl
glaze, half a glass of Madeira, a pinch of fine herbs, a little
grated nutmeg, and a proper quantity of salt. Then arrange
the truffles in your lined mould, pour in all the ingredients,
turn the edges of the paste over them, and cover it besides
with a layer of paste; put on the lid of the mould, tie it
in a cloth, and boil it for an hour and a half. The saucepan
should be quite full of boiling water. Serve the pudding
as quickly as possible after it is taken up.
[For other ENTRÉES, see Index to RECIPES.)


243
SECTION IV.-ROASTS, ETC.
1. Roast Sucking Pig.
Fill the paunch of the sucking pig with stuffing prepared
as follows, viz. :-Chop fine four onions and a dozen sage
leaves; fry these with two ounces of butter over a slow
fire for a few minutes, then add half a pound of bread-
crumbs, two yolks of eggs, pepper, and salt. The pig
thus being stuffed, and the paunch sewn up securely
roast it before a brisk fire for about two hours, basting it
frequently by means of a paste-brush dipped in salad oil.
When it is done, and before removing it from the spit,
cut off the head, and divide the pig into halves by
sawing it straight down the spine. Dish up the pig with
brown gravy; to some of the stuffing add the brains, and
a few spoonfuls of melted butter, and serve this sauce
separately. Or the pig may be served whole. Some people,
however, prefer to cut it up before bringing to table, as
they declare the expression on poor little piggy's face is
too harrowing to their feelings, since he invariably appears
with two big, fat tears, partially congealed, rolling down his
visage.
nan
of melted buttifting add the the pig with
2. Leg of Mutton : Polish Way.
Choose a good leg, hung till tender, pare the thin-end
bone, and lay it in an earthen pan, just deep and large
enough to hold it. Mince two or three onions, the same
of carrots and celery roots; fry with clarified fat, moisten
with three glassfuls of vinegar, and the same of water; let
Q2


244
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
the liquid boil, add to it some sprigs of aromatics, thyme,
bay-leaf, basil, two cloves of garlic, parsley, cloves, and
peppercorns; continue boiling for twenty minutes. Then
take the stew-pan off the fire, let the marinade stock become
nearly cool, pour it over the leg of mutton, which macerate
therein for twenty-four hours, turning several times. Drain
the leg, wipe it on a cloth, put into a roasting-pan with a
good piece of butter, and place in an oven not too hot ;
half an hour afterwards baste with two gills of the marin-
ade stock and a pint of sour cream ; finish cooking the
leg, basting frequently; then place it on a dish, strain
the cooking stock, reduce it at the fire until nearly thick-
ened, then pour it over the leg, and put a little ruffle to
the bone.
sinin
3. Loin of Matton, Rolled and Stuffed.
Remove any superfluous fat from the joint, and take out
the bones ; lay it on the table, and beat it out; season inside
with black pepper, salt, some herbs, and a finely-chopped
onion, with a little chopped lean ham or raw bacon. Place a
layer of herbs on the seasoning, and roll up the meat, fasten-
ing it securely with a string; then put it in the oven, with
greased paper, in a baking tin with a little fat, for about half
an hour; take up, and remove the paper ; brush over with a
whole egg beaten up, and roll it in browned bread-crumbs ;
put it into the oven again for about three-quarters of an
hour, keeping it carefully basted. When cooked, draw out
the string, place the meat on a dish, and serve with brown
caper sauce.
-nin
4. Roast Neck of Venison.
Saw off the spine bone, and remove the small flat
bones which cover the fillet part of the neck; shorten the


ROASTS, ETC.
245
ribs by sawing them across without cutting through the
fat, which, after the upper bones are removed, must be
rolled over the ribs; wrap your neck, thus trimmed, in
greased paper, and then cover it with a crust of paste
of flour and water; finally, envelop it in greased paper
securely tied on with a string, and roast it in a cradle-spit
before a moderate fire for about an hour and three-quarters.
When you take it up from the fire, carefully remove the
paste and the paper. Sprinkle salt over it, dredge it with
dissolved butter, and froth it by means of a red-hot sala-
mander or the kitchen shovel. Dish up with a rich brown
gravy, and serve currant jelly in a sauce-boat. French
beans are the only vegetables that should be eaten with
venison.
Giron
ander or the
currant jelly
should be eat
5. Fillet of Beef, Roasted and Larded.
Trim your fillet; lard it fine, and let it soak for twelve
hours in a marinade made of good oil, salt, pepper, nutmeg,
sweet herbs, a bay-leaf, and an onion cut in slices. After it
has soaked, take it out, and put it on the spit before a quick
fire. It must not be too much done, but should be taken
off the spit with the gravy in it. Serve it with a sauce made
of its own gravy, a little vinegar, shallots, salt, and pepper,
put into a sauce-boat.
ran
6. Roast Ham.
After partially boiling a good ham, strain it and let it get
cold; put a skewer right through it and wrap it in an oiled
sheet of paper. Then place on it a layer of cut-up carrots
and onions, a few cloves and a bay-leaf, and roll the whole
into a second paper; tie up firmly with string, roast, and
serve with any sauce you like.


246
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
7. Roast Tripe.
Cut the tripe into two oblong pieces; make a forcemeat
of bread-crumbs and chopped parsley, seasoned with pepper
and salt; bind this with the yolks of two eggs, and spread
it upon the fat side of the tripe; then roll very tightly,
and tie up with packthread. Roast, and baste it with
butter; it will take an hour or an hour and a half to
do. Serve it with melted butter, into which put a table-
spoonful of catsup and one of lemon pickle.
[For ROAST POULTRY, GAME, etc., see Index.)


247
SECTION V.-POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
1. Pigeons à la Crapaudine.
Pick the pigeons, cut off the claws, truss them with
the legs inwards, and then with your left hand press on
the breast, and scollop one half of the flesh of the breast;
turn this down on the table, flatten it with your knife, dust
it over with salt and pepper; break the yolks of two eggs
into a plate, brush the pigeons all over with them, then dip
them into crumbs of bread, next into melted butter, then
into crumbs of bread again, which you level as smooth as
possible. Now broil the pigeons on a slow fire, that they
may get thoroughly done without being burnt. Ascertain
when they are done enough by thrusting the point of your
knife into the fleshy part of the leg. If no blood issues,
then they are done. Serve under them an Italian (p. 336),
or some rich gravy.
Your sauce may be prepared in the following way:-
Chop a dozen of shallots, and put them into a stew-pan
with two spoonfuls of vinegar; boil them till there is no
vinegar left; then put in a little broth or gravy of roast
meat, with raspings of bread, salt, pepper, etc. Let this
boil for a short time, pour it over the pigeons, and send
up hot. If you put to it a small bit of glaze or portable
soup, it will improve the flavour.


248
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
2. To Roast Pigeons.
Let them be cropped and drawn as soon as killed, and
wiped inside as well as possible. They will be ready for
the spit in from twelve to forty-eight hours, according to
the weather; and are in full season from June to November.
If kept too long, they lose their flavour. When they are to
be dressed, they must be well washed in several waters.
Then stuff with parsley parboiled and chopped, and butter
about the size of a nutmeg for each bird, a few bread-
cruinbs, and the liver chopped if it is liked. Season rather
highly with pepper and salt. Twenty to twenty-five minutes
will roast them. Dust with flour, and froth with fresh
butter. Parsley and butter, or plain melted butter, is served
in the dish, and is more suitable for mild-flavoured birds of
all kinds than meat gravy, which has so strong a predominat-
ing flavour of its own. Garnish with fried bread-crumbs,
or slices of bitter orange. Bread-sauce, orange gravy sauce,
or rice sauce. Serve with dressed French beans, or asparagus,
or cucumber.
3. Pigeons on the Skewer.
Take as many pigeons as you require to be cooked, and
after properly cleaning them, being careful to remove the
entrails, salt and pepper them inside ; then encase them in
slices of fat bacon; roll round them sage leaves; tie each
pigeon up tightly with string; put them on the skewer and
roast them.'
par
4. Pigeon Pie.
Put a few thin slices of beef into a dish, and the pigeons
over them, well seasoned with salt, pepper, and spices, the


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
249
yolks of a few eggs within the intervals, and a spoonful of
broth; cover the whole with plain paste, or with puff
paste, etc.
5. Pigeon Pudding.
Line a basin with rich paste half an inch thick; put in
three pigeons, with about half a pound of beef-steak from
well-hung meat, the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs, salt,
pepper, and spices; and pour in gravy from the bones or
trimmings, with brown stock as a foundation, to half the
depth ; cover with paste, and tie in a cloth. The pudding
will require about three hours' boiling.
6. Cutlets of Fillets of Fowl, with Crumbs of Bread
à la Maréchale.
Take four small fowls ; cut off the fillets without injuring
the small fillets; cut the merry-thoughts in two. Take off
the small fillets; pare them into the shape of hearts; stick
the merry-thought bones into the point of the hearts, to give
them the appearance of chops; and do the same with the
other fillets. Season them with pepper and salt; then brush
them over with yolks of eggs, and dip them into crumbs
of bread; next dip them into clarified butter, and then
into crumbs again. Use your knife to level the bread, and
broil the fillets over a brisk fire. The fillets, being very
thin, require only to be lightly browned. Serve under them
some thin Spanish sauce, well seasoned. .
I must here observe to young or inexperienced cooks
that when they have something thin to broil, the fire must
be very sharp; and when something thick, the fire must be
moderate, as the flesh takes more time to be done through.


250
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
7. Scollops of Pat Pullets à la Conti, with Truffles.
Prepare the scollops in the ordinary way, but at the
moment when you throw the scollops into the butter, the
truffles must be ready, peeled and cut of the same round form
and dimensions as the scollops. Season with a little salt;
“ toss” the truffles and scollops a few moments before dinner-
time; put them into a smooth sauce (p. 347), to which you
have added a little reduction of truffles, made as follows :-
The trimmings of truffles are to be reduced in a little
broth; introduce some of this glaze into the scollops, and
as it is always brown, add three or four spoonfuls of thick
cream to the sauté to make the sauce white; season it
according to your palate. Do not forget to put the sauce
through a tammy, to have it very bright.
rain
8. Fowl à la Cardinal.
Take a nice white fowl, singe it, and cut out the bones
without destroying the skin. Next have a farce into which
you have introduced a little lobster spawn, well pounded, to
make it very red. This farce, being made rather liquid, is to
be injected, first between the skin and the flesh of the fowl,
and then inside the body. Now mould the fowl into an
agreeable shape ; put it into an oval stew-pan well trimmed
with slices of bacon, and pour some poêle (see No. 10) over
it; leave it on the fire for an hour and a half. As it has
no bones left, it requires more time before it is done.
Serve it up with a German sauce (p. 333), to which you
add some of the lobster spawn, or a little tomato sauce.
num


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
251
9. Hachis, or Minced Fowl à la Polonaise.
If you have any remnants of fowl, mince them, and put
the mince into a good Béchamel (p. 327), without suffer-
ing it to boil. Sometimes you may put the whole into a
vol-au-vent, at another time into patties; or you may sur-
round it with a bordering of paste, with poached eggs over
the minced meat. By these means you obtain a variety of
dishes. You may likewise send it up in croustades, but
these croustades bear the appearance of a dish of the
second course.
10. Fowl à la Villeroi.
Take a fine fowl, which may be known to connois-
seurs by a skin of bluish hue marbled with grey. Having
been emptied and singed, let it be trussed, the legs turned
down outwards; inside the body introduce a small quantity
of butter kneaded with salt and lemon-juice. Put the fowl
into an oval stew-pan, with a layer of fat bacon ; next pour
some poêle over it. Things which are poêlé, requiring to
preserve their whiteness, are not to be kept on the fire so
long as others. It requires only three-quarters of an hour for
a fowl to be done in this style. A capon, however, would
require fully an hour.
Observation, to be particularly attended to by the cook.
As a poêle has no translation, I retain the name. It is
indispensable in fine cookery, and is made as follows :-
Take one pound of beef suet, one pound of quite fresh
butter, and one pound of very fat bacon; cut the suet
and the bacon into very large dice; put them into a stew-
pan with two pounds of veal cut in the same manner;
fry till the veal becomes very white, and then moisten
with about three pints of boiling water, a handful of
salt, one bay-leaf, a few sprigs of thyme, one onion stuck


252
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
with three cloves, and a great bunch of parsley and green
onions ; let the whole boil gently till the onion is done,
then drain it through a hair sieve, and use for anything
that may want poêle. The use of poêle is to make every-
thing boiled in it very white and tasty. In the winter it
keeps for a week, and is very useful in the larder.
Obs.—This is almost the same operation as braising ; the
only difference is that what is poêle must be underdone,
and a braise must be done through.
-star
11. Fowl à la Tartare.
Take a fine fowl, turn in the legs as usual, then cut it
in two ; take the bones off from the back, cut off the breast-
bones, break those of the legs, flatten the fowl with the back
of your knife, and season it with salt and pepper; then
dip it into clarified butter, and next into crumbs of bread,
equally on all sides. Now broil it up to a fine colour,
on a slow fire, that it may be done thoroughly. Thrust
your knife into it to ascertain if it is well done; it requires
an hour, or at least three-quarters, to be done properly. .
12. Fowl à la Dubaril.
This must be a fowl of desserte, but yet very white.
Begin by taking off the breast. Then take the fleshy part
of a second nice white roast fowl, which you cut into small
square pieces of an equal size; you also cut some tongue
the same; put these slices of fowl and tongue into a pretty
thick Béchamel. Keep your fowl very hot. The moment
you are going to serve it, pour the mince inside the body
of the fowl. Thin slices of tongue, cut, of the shape of


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
253
cocks’-combs, should be put round the mince on the top
of the fowl; serve under it a ragoût à l'Allemande, and
poached eggs on the top of the mince.
13. Fowl à la Turque.
Empty a fine fowl, and be particular in washing the
inside of it with very hot water; if you leave any blood
in it, the rice will be full of scum. Your rice having
boiled a sufficient time in rich broth, season it with
salt, and introduce some into the body of the fowl, which
you next roast, well wrapped up in layers of bacon and in
paper; it requires an hour to be sufficiently done. Send
it up with rice round the fowl, like that you have used
to put inside, only add to it two spoonfuls of very good
Béchamel, well seasoned-do not let it be too thin, and
pour a little smooth sauce over the bird. Take particular
care to keep the fowl white.
inom
14. Fowl à la Monglas.
This is another cold fowl of desserte. Take off the
breast, as in No. 12. You must have ready either a mince
or a salpicon pretty thick, which is to be introduced, cold,
into the body of the fowl. Beat the yolks of two eggs with
a little fresh melted butter; then cover the breast of the
fowl only with crumbs of bread, basted with clarified butter;
next give it a colour with the salamander, but you must
be careful to see that it does not get brown too soon ;
now baste it with a little butter again; take the red-hot
shovel to give the fowl a good brown colour on all sides;
serve a brown sauce under it if you have applied a salpicon,


254
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
and a smooth sauce if you have used a mince. It may also
be called a “poularde en surprise.”
The mince or the salpicon may be made with the same
sauce. Salpicon is a composition of different ingredients, and
mince (émincé) is all of one sort.
Salpicon.-Cut into small dice some mushrooms, tongue,
truffles, and fillets of fowl; the truffles and mushrooms
inust be ready done, as well as the tongue and fowl; put
all this into a very reduced Béchamel, and when cold use
as directed.
Emincé is only the fleshy part of either fowl or game
minced and put into some well-seasoned Béchamel. When
you have a short allowance of meat you are obliged to
mince, as this requires no shape. Salpicon is in general
brown; minced fowl always white.
nov
15. Fowl with Olives.
Singe and prepare a fine fowl; then take some olives,
which are to be blanched till they are no longer briny. Next
boil them in a thin Spanish sauce. Skim the sauce, add
a little lemon-juice, and pour it under the fowl. Serve
up with some stuffed olives, which you have turned with
your knife, so as to take out the stones and leave the olives
whole.
now
16. Fowl with Tarragon.
Chop finely some tarragon, and roll it in butter; place
this in the carcase of a fowl, sew it up and truss it, put it
into a saucepan half filled with water, with salt, carrots, two
large onions, bacon, a clove, a very little thyme, a very
small sprig of tarragon without leaves, as long as a finger ;


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
255
let the whole stew till the fowl be very white. Then take
some of the liquor, and reduce it to a glaze, to make a
brown sauce; add a little water to the rest of the liquor;
thicken it with a little flour; put in some leaves of tarragon
cut into quarters, and boil up. Serve the fowl very white,
the sauce over it very brown, and garnish the sides of the
dish with leaves of tarragon.
irroir
17. Ragoût of Fowl.
Put into a stew-pan a dessertspoonful of flour, fine herbs,
and mushrooms chopped finely; warm it five minutes; add
a glass of white wine; let it simmer a quarter of an hour,
and then warm in it some limbs of roast fowl. Toast some
slices of bread, with which line the dish. Just before serving,
add to the sauce two spoonfuls of olive oil, which pour
into the saucepan, taking care to let the sauce warm without
boiling; then pour it over the toasted bread, and place the
limbs of fowl upon the bread.
ruar
18. Forcemeat Balls of Fowl.
According to the quantity of forcemeat that you wish
made, take of undressed fowl meat; remove all the fibres,
chop and pound it; add the same quantity of calf's udder,
boiled and cold; or, instead, some butter, and the same
quantity of bread-crumbs soaked in milk, well drained, and
pressed in a linen cloth. Beat the whole well together,
adding the yolk of an egg; then two other yolks, with
pepper, salt, and a little grated nutmeg. Strain the force-
meat in a quenelle-tammy; incorporate with it the whites
of two eggs beaten to snow. Mould a small quenelle on a
table sprinkled with flour; boil or poach it in a little broth


256
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
or water; taste it, to know if it be well seasoned. These
quenelles may be poached in the spoon instead of rolled on
the table. They serve for garnish, and they may also be
made of meat, veal, or game. If a little of the flesh of
conger-eel be added, it will give them a very delicate flavour.
now
19. Chicken à la Marengo.
Cut up some young fowls as for a fricassée; put them
into a frying-pan with some rasped fat bacon and a slice
of ham ; add to this some slices of onion ; season with salt
and pepper; fry till the fowls and onions are of a nice colour;
remove the fat, add a little lemon-juice, and serve.
Sinan
20. Chicken à la Girenflot.
Prepare the bird for roasting; when on the spit baste
it constantly with butter, into which you have mixed bacon
and shallot, both chopped fine. When the chicken is of
a fine golden colour, put one or two good slices of toast
into the dripping-pan. Dish the bird on the toast, and serve
with all the savoury contents of the dripping-pan.
-iro
21. Capons à la Turque.
Take two white capons, empty them, and put them
into warm water that they may disgorge the blood. Have
ready some rice which has boiled till soft in rich broth; put
this rice, well seasoned, into the bodies of the capons; then
truss them, cover them with layers of bacon, wrap them
up in paper, and spit them; they must be an hour roasting.


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
257
When done, dish them with a garnish of soft rice, and a
smooth sauce.
cromo
22. Capon à la Nantaise.
Make a farce with the liver, a dozen roasted chestnuts,
a piece of butter, parsley, green onions, a very little garlic,
two yolks of eggs, salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg. Roast
the capon, after having filled it with the farce, and cover
it with buttered paper; when it is done, brush it over with
the yolk of an egg diluted in a little lukewarm water;
sprinkle bread-crumbs all over it; let it brown well, and
serve it with a sharp sauce.
intan
23. To Boil a Capon Larded with Limins.
Truss a fairly good capon ; boil it by itself in water, with
a little oatmeal. Then take mutton broth and half a pint
of white wine, a bundle of herbs, whole mace; season with
verjuice; put marrow and dates; season with sugar. Cut up
preserved limins; with a larding-pin lard them in; put the
capon in a deep dish ; thicken your broth with almonds, and
pour it on the bird.
irrin
24. Chicken Paddings à l'Ude.
Make these puddings with forcemeat-balls, like those à la
Richelieu (No. 25); dip them into crumbs of bread, and fry
them of a light brown; make at the top an oblong opening,
empty the puddings, taking care to preserve, however, a coat
thick enough to admit a salpicon of chickens, truffles, and
mushrooms, cut into small dice and thrown into a well-
seasoned Béchamel; take six small fillets, three being


258
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
wanted for each pudding; give them the shape of a handle of
a basket, after having larded them with bacon and decorated
them “en conti,” as it is called. Then take a very large carrot,
cut it of the same size as the puddings, wrap it up in thin
layers of bacon, put the small fillets over the carrot, and
dust a little salt over them; place the whole in an oven;
do not let it be too much done, but of a light brown only.
Glaze them when ready to send up to dinner; pour the
salpicon into the puddings, with the sham basket handles at
an equal distance over the puddings; and see that the fillets
are not thrust in too far, that they may really look like basket
handles. This dish is for a grand dinner, when common
dishes are not to make their appearance.
inom
25. Chicken Puddings à la Richelieu.
These puddings are the same thing as a farce à quenelles,
made of either veal, fowl, rabbits, whitings, carp, etc. Sweat
some white onions that are cut into small dice; when well
done, drain them in a hair-sieve, in order that there may
not be the least particle of butter; work the farce with a
wooden spoon before you put them in, to prevent them
from breaking, for it is requisite that they should remain
entire. Let this farce stand to cool. When it is quite cold,
roll it into the shape of puddings of the length of the
dish, and poach them in the following manner :- Rub with
butter a stew-pan which is large enough to contain the
puddings with ease; lay them over the butter; pour some
boiling water with a little salt into the stew-pan and let
them boil gently, till you see they are properly swelled ;
then drain, and let them cool. When cold, mould them cf
an equal size, dip them into yolks of eggs well beaten, with
a little salt, and then slightly into crumbs of bread ; fry
them on a clear fire until they are of a fine colour; drain


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
259
them with a clean towel; dish them, and pour over them
an Italian sauce (p. 336).
Some people make use of the Sauce Hâtelets (p. 335); in
this case it must be poured hot over the puddings. When
they are cold and the sauce begins to cool, put an equal
quantity on each square with your knife, taking care that
they are made into regular squares. Dip them into crumbs
of bread. Then prepare an omelette, by which is meant
yolks and whites of eggs, beaten up with a little salt. The
puddings are to be dipped only once into this preparation ;
give them a good colour by frying in very hot dripping. You
may serve them sometimes with crumbs of bread, and some-
times white, without the crumbs, just at the instant they
are poached.
room
26. Soufilé of Chickens à la Crême.
This dish is made of the remnants of roasted chickens.
Take off the white flesh and mince it very small, pound it in
a inortar with a little Béchamel (p. 327), a good lump of fresh
butter, and salt and pepper; with this mix the yolks of four
eggs. Strain the whole through a tammy, or a hair-sieve;
then beat the whites of five eggs till they form a single body;
mix these with the former preparation, and put the whole in
a dish " à souffler," or in a croustade that has been raised like
the crust of a pâté chaud. It will be done in a quarter of an
hour or twenty minutes, according to the quantity. It is to
be observed that if the oven is too hot, the outside of the
soufflé will be burnt, although the inside is not done enough.
This, therefore, must be carefully attended to.
Sirusin
27. Financière pour Vol-au-vent.
Cut up in small pieces a cooked chicken, and put them
into a smooth sauce with some mushrooms, sweetbreads,
R 2


260
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
forcemeat-balls, cocks’-combs and cocks-kidneys. When you
have to boil a fowl so as to garnish the financière, use the
liquor to make the smooth sauce, with a little clarified gravy
and the juice of mushrooms,
in
28. Fricassée of Chicken in Ten Minates.
Warm the limbs in a stew-pan with butter; then take
them out, and put into the butter remaining in the stew-pan
some mushrooms, parsley, shallots chopped up, salt, and
spice; set this over the fire; pour in some white wine,
and reduce the sauce over a brisk fire. Put in the chickens,
to keep them hot, without letting the sauce boil, and dress
them on the dish.
intor
into very come greed togethe
29. Brown Fricasséed Chicken or Rabbit,
You must take your young rabbit or chicken and skin
it; then cut it into very small pieces, and rub these with
yolks of egg. Have ready some grated bread, a little beaten
mace, and a little grated nutmeg mixed together; roll the meat
in it. Place a little butter in your stew-pan, and when it
is melted, put in your meat; fry it to a fine brown colour,
and take care that none sticks to the bottom of the pan;
then pour the butter away, and introduce half a pint
of gravy, a glass of red wine, a few mushrooms, a little salt,
and a piece of butter rolled in flour. When the whole is of
due thickness, dish it up and send it to table.
30. White Fricasséed Chicken or Rabbit.
Take your chicken or rabbit, skin it, and cut it into
small pieces; place them in warm water to draw out the


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
261
blood, and then lay them in a clean cloth to dry. Put them
into a stew-pan with milk and water, stew them till they
are tender. Then take a clean pan, put in half a pint
of cream and a quarter of a pound of butter; stir it together
till the butter is melted—you must be sure to keep it
stirring all the time, or it will be greasy. Then with a fork
take the chicken or rabbit out of the stew-pan, and put it
into a saucepan with the butter and cream. Have ready
a little inace, dried and beaten fine, a very little nutmeg,
a few mushrooms; shake all together for a minute or two,
and dish up. Lamb and veal may be done in the same way.
31. Chicken Padding.
Take of the flesh of rabbits or capons, two pounds; of
suet, one pound. Add parsley, thyme, marjoram, cloves, mace,
and nutmeg. Chop all very fine on a chopping-board; then
put in four spoonfuls of grated bread, mixed with cream
and the yolk of an egg; mix all well together, and therewith
fill the bodies of chickens (not too full, lest they break in
boiling), which boil in milk and water, with a blade or two
of mace, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a little salt. Make the
sauce with sweet butter and juice of oranges, beaten well
together.
_iran
32. Chicken Pie.
Cover the bottom of a pie-dish with slices of raw ham or
veal; season with salt and pepper; over this place two young
raw chickens; cut each into four parts; season likewise
with pepper and salt; add six yolks of eggs, boiled hard, and
moisten with a gill of gravy; cover the pie with a flat of
puff paste ; adorn it, egg it, and bake it in a moderate oven


262
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
for one hour and a half. If the pie is to be eaten cold,
you can mix in the gravy two leaves of dissolved gelatine.
+1
33. Chicken Pot-Pie.
Take a fine chicken, from three to four pounds, draw,
wipe well, and cut into twelve pieces. Put these in a
pan, and cover them with cold water; leave them for thirty
minutes, then wash well, drain, and return them to the
saucepan. Cover again with fresh water, season with two
pinches of salt, one pinch of pepper, and a third of a pinch
of nutmeg ; add a bunch of six small onions, and four
ounces of salt pork, cut into square pieces. Cook for three-
quarters of an hour, taking care to skim well; then add
one pint of raw potatoes and three tablespoonfuls of flour
diluted with a cupful of water. Stir until it boils, then
let cook for ten minutes. Remove the bouquet, and transfer
the whole to a deep baking-dish; moisten the edges slightly
with water, and cover the top with a good pie-crust. Egg
the surface, make a few transverse lines on the paste with
a fork, and cut a hole in the centre. Bake in a brisk oven
for twenty minutes, and when quite cold, serve.
Snow
34. Capilotade of Duck.
If you have any roasted ducks left, and are called upon
for one entrée more, cut them up as for eating; flay them, and
let them simmer in a thin Italian sauce. Fry a few slices
of bread cut into the shape of a kite, and send up with the
juice of a lemon. If you should not have any Italian sauce
ready, mince a few shallots, boil them in vinegar; make a
little browning (roux), which you moisten with broth, or


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
263
even water, and mix a little glaze seasoned with salt and
pepper; put the shallots into this sauce; let it boil a few
minutes; then put the duck into the sauce to heat, but
without boiling, and give it a high seasoning. Such common
dishes are always to be highly seasoned.
Siretor
35. Duck with Olives.
This entrée is admired only by the Italians. Poêle the
ducks (see No. 10). Pour over them olive sauce, which,
in my humble opinion, is no very great treat. Take a
bottle of French or Italian olives, cut the kernel out, but
preserve the shape of the olive; blanch them in boiling
water to take off the salt; if they are not too briny
put them into a very good Spanish sauce, with the juice
of a lemon and a little cayenne. Serve this sauce with
duck only.
36. Duck with Turnips.
After having emptied, trussed, and singed the duck,
mask it between layers of bacon, and moisten either with
å poêle (No. 10) or broth, with a little salt. Stew the duck
for three-quarters of an hour if it is a young one; if old
or tough, for an hour; when done, drain it, and let it
simmer in turnip sauce to take the taste of turnips. (When
ducks begin to grow old, by keeping them a few days they
become tender.) Roast the bird to a nice colour. When
underdone, cut it in five parts: the two wings, the two legs,
and the breast. Now cut six turnips in the shape of olives,
fry them in butter with a little powdered sugar, to give them
a good colour, mix a tablespoonful of flour with them ;
moisten with half broth and half gravy of veal ; season with


264
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
salt and a little pepper, a bundle of parsley and green onions ;
skim; when the turnips are done, put them into a stew-
pan separately, and add to them a very little sauce. In the
remainder of the sauce boil the duck till well done; then
skim off the fat, reduce the sauce, and serve all together.
Kroon
37. Canvas-Back Ducks, Roasted.
• Procure two fine fat canvas-back ducks, pick, singe,
draw, and wipe carefully; throw a light pinch of salt
inside, run in the head from the end of the neck to the
back, truss nicely, and place in a roasting-pan. Sprinkle
a little salt over, put them in a brisk oven, and let cook
for eighteen minutes; arrange on a very hot dish, untruss,
throw two tablespoonfuls of white broth into each duck,
and serve with six slices of fried hominy and currant jelly.
rean
38. Wild Ducks à la Chasseur.
Truss the ducks by twisting each leg at the knuckle
and resting the claws on each side of the breast, fixing them
with a skewer run through the thighs and pinion of the
wings. Rub the liver over the breast, and roast underdone.
Cut the breast in slices without detaching them, catching
in a saucepan the gravy that escapes ; add a piece of glaze
the size of a walnut, place on the fire, and when hot
add four pats of butter, half a glass of port wine, a little
mignonette pepper, and the juice of half a lemon; shake
all over the fire, and when the butter is melted, sauce over,
and serve when perfectly cold.


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
265
39. Hot Raised Pies of Larks.
Bone the larks; dress the pie-crust; put the farce
in the bottom and the birds over the farce; then fill
the paste with farce, close the pie, but leave a little hole
at the top to prevent the crust from breaking. Let it be
cooked of a light-brown colour. When done, take it out
of the oven, take off likewise the top crust or cover; then
pour a financière ragoût into the pie, after you have drained
the fat, if there is any. Do not put the top crust on again ;
send up hot with high seasoning, which brown entrées require
more than white ones.
40. Caisses of Larks.
Bone the larks, and stuff them with fine farce. Have
ready small paper cases dipped into warm oil. Give the
larks a round shape, put into the cases some of the farce, and
place over this the larks. Next, put them on a false bottom
with some buttered paper over them, for fear they should
dry while baking. When baked enough, dish them. If there
is room enough, pour into the cases a little Spanish sauce
(p. 347) and lemon-juice. You must be very careful to drain
out all the fat.
rom
41. Larks in Croustade.
This dish would find few admirers, as birds in croustade,
and even hot raised pies, are very seldom called for. The
gentry of this country like to see what they are eating;
they fear to meet with something they do not like in a hot
raised pie, which they seldom touch. The reason of it is
obvious, and justifies their aversion : the aforesaid hot pies
being generally economical entrées, made of legs or other


266
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
inferior parts of either fowl or game, and not of the fillets.
Larks for croustades must be done beforehand. Put the birds
into croustades fried of a light brown, the inside part of
which take out with a cutter; into the vacuity put first a
little farce, and the lark over it. Keep the birds hot till you
serve up.
Ioan
42. Larks au Gratin.
Take eighteen larks, as fat as possible; pick and bone
them; next, season them with salt and pepper, and stuff
them with a farce fine, or a farce à quenelles; the former,
however, is preferable. Dish them nicely, and put some of
the farce into the dish. Insert slices of fried bread, cut
whimsically, between the birds. When the larks are laid
all round the dish, put into the middle any that may
be left; these latter are to be raised higher than the
rest. Cover the whole with layers of bacon, and leave it
in the oven for twenty minutes. Then take off the bacon,
drain the fat, and serve up with a Spanish sauce (p. 347)
of a nice colour, and well seasoned.
inn
43. To Roast Larks and Wheatears.
When well cleaned, dip them in yolk of egg, and roll
them in bread-crumbs. Put a small bit of butter in each
bird. Spit on a lark-spit, and fasten that to the spit. Baste
with plenty of good butter, which is most essential in
roasting all the smaller birds. Strew sifted bread-crumbs
over the birds as they roast. From twelve to fifteen minutes
will do them. Serve fried bread-crumbs, and garnish with
fried crumbs or crisp parsley.
Some good cooks put a thin, small slice of bacon between
the birds when they are spitted, to nourish them. This is
a good practice.


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
267
44. Stewed Quails.
Put a little butter, worked up with flour, and a few
green onions, into a stew-pan ; when brown, put in some
quails, a glass of wine, the same of stock, some parsley,
more small onions, a bay-leaf, and two or three cloves ; stew
these till the quails are sufficiently done; garnish your
dish with cocks’-combs, artichoke bottoms, fried bread, etc.
45. Quails à l'Espagnole.
Mix the juice of a lemon with some butter, salt, and
pepper; pick and prepare eight quails; stuff them well with
the above mixture ; then fasten the legs to the body, leaving
the claws free ; truss them a good shape, and put them
into the saucepan on slices of bacon, cover them with more
slices, add a poêle (No. 10), moisten with equal portions of
white wine and stock, set them on the fire for half an
hour; then take them out, drain, and untie them; place
each on a piece of fried bread the size of the quail, and
serve with clear Spanish sauce, with the addition of a
little glaze.
46. Quails à la Chasseur,
Put the quails in a saucepan with a little butter, a bay.
leaf, sweet herbs, salt, and pepper; set them on a fierce fire
and keep shaking them until they are tender, then add a
dessertspoonful of flour, half a glass of white wine, and a little
stock; when this is thick, and quite hot without boiling, take
from the fire and serve.


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
269
50. Partridge Sauté, with Mushrooms.
Take two young partridges, each of which cut in halves,
and lay in a convenient sized stew-pan (into which you
have previously poured two or three tablespoonfuls of
salad oil), first seasoning them lightly with a little white
pepper and salt, and a sprinkle of chopped shallots; put
a cover upon the stew-pan, place this over a moderate
fire until one side of the partridges is brown, then turn
them over, and continue until they are browned on both
sides. Now pour off part of the oil, and add half a table-
spoonful of flour, which well mix in; then a glass of
sherry, half a pint of broth, and twenty small button
mushrooms (previously blanched); let simmer, skimming
off all the oil which rises to the surface, until the partridges
are tender, and the sauce is thick enough to adhere to them ;
season the sauce a little if required; dress the partridges
upon a dish, sauce over, and serve.
retnine
51. Braised Partridge, with Celery Sauce.
Singe, draw, wipe, and truss two partridges with their
wings inside. Lay a piece of pork-rind in a saucepan, adding
one carrot and one onion, both cut in slices, two bay-leaves,
one sprig of thyme, and the two partridges. Season with
one pinch of salt and half a pinch of pepper. When they
have assumed a good golden colour on the hot stove, moisten
with half a pint of white broth, then put the saucepan in
the oven, and let cook for twenty minutes. Dress them
on a serving-dish, untruss, pour a pint of hot celery sauce
over, and serve.
iran


270
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
52. Partridges, Stewed.
Truss them with the wings over the back and the legs
drawn in; cut a piece of pork or bacon in long strips, and
put these into a stew-pan with a piece of butter the size
of a walnut. Fry the bacon brown, and when quite done
put in the partridges, and keep turning them until they
are very brown, taking care that the bacon shall be as
much on the breast as possible; then add about a teacupful
of gravy and some trimmings of meat and vegetables. Have
ready a large cabbage boiled; when you have well drained
it, slice it in, adding butter, pepper, and salt; let the whole
stew gently for an hour, turning the birds frequently. Serve
up with the bacon underneath, the cabbage round them,
squeezed dry, and the sauce, which must be very carefully
skiinmed.
53. Partridge, Roasted.
Singe, draw, and wipe two fine young partridges; truss
them neatly, and cover the breasts with a thin layer of lard,
tying twice round. Lay them in a roasting-pan, spread-
ing a little butter over each, and moistening with half a
cupful of water. Put the pan in a brisk oven for twenty-
five minutes, basting the birds occasionally. Dress each
one on a bread canapé, removing the strings. Decorate the
dish with a little watercress. Strain the gravy into a sauce-
bowl, and serve it separately, with half a pint of bread-
sauce in another bowl.
cirtan
54. Partridge, Broiled.
Cut the bird down the back, break the merry-thought,
which will allow it to be made quite flat; cut off the feet


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
271
at the joint, and skewer it like a fowl to broil; dry flour and
egg it, and sprinkle it with chopped herbs and bread-crumbs,
well seasoned; broil, and serve with a little good gravy, with
a mushroom or two chopped up small.
-nan
55. Partridge au Gratin,
Cut off the legs of roast partridges ; put on the dish
you intend to serve them in, a piece of butter rolled in
bread raspings, with parsley, chives, shallots chopped finely,
salt and pepper; place the dish in a Dutch oven before the
fire, and make a gratin of the contents; add the partridge
warmed in a little broth (p. 77), and salt, pepper, parsley,
and a dash of vinegar ; serve it on the gratin, covered with
raspings.
rom
56. Chartreuse of Partridge.
Take two old partridges ; singe, draw, and wipe them
well; truss them with their wings turned inside, and lay
them on a roasting-pan with half a pinch of salt, and a
little butter well spread over the breast, and put them
on to roast for six minutes. Take a Charlotte mould which
will hold three pints; butter lightly, and decorate with
small pieces of cooked carrot and turnip, cut very evenly
with a vegetable-tube. When ready, fill the bottom with
a layer of cooked cabbage; cut the partridges into pieces,
put a layer of them on the cabbage, covering the hollow
spaces with more cabbage; lay on the top six slices of salted
pork, add the rest of the partridges, and finish by covering
the surface with cabbage, pressing it down carefully. Place
the mould on a tin baking-dish, and put it in a moderate
oven for fifteen minutes, leaving the oven-door open during


272
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
the whole time. Have a hot dish ready, turn the mould
upside down on it, and carefully draw off. Serve with
a little half-glaze sauce (p. 353).
re
57. Salmi Chaudfroid of Partridges.
Cut up two roast partridges into small joints, and use
their trimmings to prepare a stiffly reduced salmi sauce; add
thereto aspic jelly in the proportion of one-third; mix to-
gether, and use the sauce to mask the joints of the partridges,
which, after the sauce has set firm upon them, are to be
dished up in a pyramidal form, garnished with aspic jelly
and a few truffles, or prepared white cocks'-combs.
resi
58. Partridges à la Chipolata.
Brown some bacon cut into dice. Make a browning, into
which you put the limbs of partridges; pour over thein some
broth (p. 77) and a glass of white wine; add mushrooms,
the bacon, some button-onions fried in butter, and some
boiled sausage-meat with the skin removed; add a score
of grilled chestnuts, and let all stew together, with a bunch
of inixed herbs. When the fat is skimmed off and the sauce
is properly reduced, serve with fried slices of bread. Truffles
may also be added. It is necessary to pay great attention
as to the time at which the several articles are put in the
ragoût (such as button-onions, mushrooms, etc.), each being
added accordingly as it takes more or less time in cooking.
som


: POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
273
59. Partridge aux Choux, plus Distinguée.
Pick, clean, singe, and truss two partridges; put them
into a stew-pan with some butter and a pinch of flour; pour
in three glasses of broth (p. 77), add a quarter of a pound
of bacon cut into dice, with a bunch of mixed herbs; leave
the whole to stew. Put into another stew-pan a cabbage, with
three-quarters of a pound of salt pork and two spoonfuls of
fat; fill up with water, and let it boil till three-parts done.
Cut up a red carrot into round pieces about the size of half-
a-crown, and then a paler carrot and a saveloy, in a similar
fashion. Butter a saucepan and place the slices of carrot
at the bottom in circles, mixing their colours with those of
the saveloy. Cut up the pork, boiled with the cabbage, into
slices of the breadth of two fingers and the length of one,
making six pieces, which place upright at equal distances
round the second stew-pan. Drain the cabbage, and put a
layer of it over the carrots; place some also between the
upright pieces of pork and the two partridges in the middle,
and cover them again with cabbage, if there be any remain-
ing. Dilute with gravy or broth the liquor in the stew-pan in
which the partridges were stewed; strain it, and pour it into
the pan containing the partridges, and set the whole to stew
half an hour, taking care that it does not adhere to the pan.
When done, place a dish upside down over the stew-pan, and
turn up the latter. If the ragoût be not equally browned,
colour it with a little gravy or caramel.
wton
60. Minced Pheasant.
Put one or two pheasants, as required, on the spit; take
them down when three-fourths roasted. When pheasants
are plentiful, the legs are kept back for purées. Put the
other parts, nicely cut up, skinned, and trimmed, into a stew-


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
275
a pie-dish with a layer of game forcemeat, on which place
the pieces of grouse; sprinkle over a little cooked fine herbs;
fill the cavities between the pieces with a few yolks of hard-
boiled eggs, and place on the top of the grouse a few slices
of raw ham; pour in good gravy, to half the height; cover
the pie with paste, egg it, and put it in a moderate oven
for one hour and a half; when done, set it on another dish.
63. Grouse, Roasted à la Sam Ward.
Take two fine fat grouse-pick, singe, draw, and dry
them well; then truss them nicely. Place them in a
roasting-pan, putting inside of each bird a piece of broiled
toast four inches long and two wide. Drip in on each toast,
with a spoon, a small glassful of good Madeira or sherry;
season the grouse with a pinch of salt; spread a little butter
over. Put them in a brisk oven, and let cook for eighteen
minutes, taking care to baste them frequently. Lay them on
a hot dish, untruss, strain the gravy over, and decorate
with a little watercress. Serve with a little red currant
jelly, separately.
niin
64. Grouse, Roasted Plain.
Singe, draw, wipe, and truss two fine fat grouse. Place
them in a roasting-pan with half a cupful of water; spread
a little butter over each, and season with a pinch of salt.
Put them into a brisk oven and cook for eighteen minutes,
taking care to baste frequently with their own gravy; then
untruss. Have a hot serving-dish ready, place two bread
canapés (see No. 69) on it, arrange the grouse over, and
decorate the dish with a little watercress. Strain the gravy
into a sauce-bowl, and serve separately.
s
2


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
277
67. Salmi of Grouse à la Parisienne.
Singe, draw, wipe, and truss, two fine fat grouse; season
with a pinch of salt, spread a few small bits of butter on
the birds ; then place in a toasting-pan, and put them in
a brisk oven to cook for eight minutes. Untruss, and cut
away the wings, legs, and breasts. Put an ounce of good
butter into a saucepan with half a medium-sized carrot cut in
very small pieces, half an onion cut the same, a sprig of
thyme, two bay-leaves, and six whole peppercorns. Reduce
to a good golden colour for about five minutes, then hash the
bodies of the two grouse, and add them to the other in-
gredients. Moisten with a pint of good sauce, half a glassful
of good sherry, half a cupful of mushroom liquor, and the
zest of a lemon ; season with half a pinch of salt, half a pinch
of pepper, and a third of a pinch of nutmeg; let cook for
twenty minutes. Now put the wings, legs, and breasts into a
separate saucepan, and strain the above sauce over the parts,
adding six minced mushrooms and two ininced truffles. Let
cook for three minutes, then dress neatly on a hot dish, and
serve with crusts on top, and paper ruffles.
68. Salmi of Grouse with Claret.
Cut up two roast grouse in joints; skin them, and throw
the trimmings and skin into a stew-pan, with two sliced
shallots, a few mushroom parings, a clove, half a blade of
mace, a little allspice, and a few peppercorns; heat the whole
in a little broth at the side of the fire ; pour in half a pint
of brown sauce; having boiled and clarified it, add two
or three glasses of reduced claret, let the whole boil down
rather thick, and strain it over the joints of grouse. You
may ornament the dish with a few pieces of bread, fried
and glazed.


278
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
69. Canapés for Grouse.
Cut off a loaf of bread two slices about an inch and a
half thick ; trim neatly, pare off the crusts, then cut out
a piece in the centre of each, from end to end, so that
the cavity will hold the bird nicely when sending to the
table. Spread a little butter over them, place on a tin plate,
then brown in the hot oven until they obtain a good golden
colour. Remove them from the oven, arrange them on a
hot dish, and they will be ready to serve.
nii
70. Grouse Braised with Cabbage.
I have given you numerous recipes for cooking grouse, but
to these I may add one for grouse braised with cabbage. Draw
the legs as you would those of chickens for boiling; cover the
bottom of your stew-pan with fat bacon, a few shallots, a bunch
of thyme, parsley, a few blades of mace, two or three bay-
leaves ; moisten with a pint of stock, and then put in your
grouse. Blanch two cabbages cut in quarters, boil till half
done, press them in a cloth, tie each bundle up separately,
and put them in the pan with the birds. They will take
about an hour over a slow fire; when done, strain off the
liquor and skim the fat, lay a little butter in the pan, put
it over the fire, and as soon as it is melted, throw in as
much flour as will absorb it. Then put in, little by little,
the liquor in which the grouse was cooked ; keep stirring
while on the fire, and when it has boiled for a few minutes
strain it off into another pan. Season it by putting in a
little cayenne and lemon-juice. Dish your grouse with the
cabbage round it, and the sauce poured over all. The French
garnish this braise of grouse with carrots; but I prescribe
only cabbage.
If you do not see your way to dressing grouse in this
fashion, keep this recipe for the time when partridge shoot-
ing begins. Partridge with cabbage is a perfectly lovely dish


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
279
(see No. 59); but please not to run away with the notion,
inculcated by some heterodox cook, that an old and tough
bird is good enough for braising. Your partridge should
be as young and tender as “Little Billie” in Thackeray's
ballad.
I cannot pass on without remarking that although “the
way of an eagle in the air” was among the four things
which the Wise Man owned were too wonderful for him,
yet Solomon, had he studied grouse, might have been
fain to admit that the ways of this bird were even more
wonderful, in the sense of being mysterious, than those of
the eagle. The very etymology of “grouse” is doubtful,
although the learned Wedgwood thinks it is derived from
the English “grice," a moor-fowl. But then a grice means
also a little pig just one year old, and a grouse has certainly
nothing porcine about it. The French have no term for
a grouse more specific than “cock of the heath," and the
Italians call the bird “mountain cock.” The well-known
moor-fowl or red grouse of Britain is now often classed by
naturalists with the ptarmigan, apart from the members
of the genus tetrao, or true grouse ; although it is a species
to which the name is exclusively applied by British sports-
men, who are superbly ignorant of the fact that the tetrao
genus includes the capercailzie, the black cock, and the
prairie-hen of the Rocky Mountains. In America I have
often met with the ruffed grouse, which was known sometimes
as a partridge and sometimes as a phreasant. On the whole,
it is perhaps quite sufficient to know that the grouse is
one of the most delicious of edible birds, and that grouse-
shooting begins on the 12th of August.
-noin
71. Salmi of Woodcock.
The same operation is required as for the salmi of par-
tridges (No. 57). Instead of boiling the trimmings in the


280
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
sauce, take off the members, and pound the remainder, to-
gether with the trimmings, in a mortar until you are able
to strain it through a tammy. When you have skimmed
the fat from the sauce and given a good seasoning, inoisten
the pounded meat with it; then strain it through a tammy,
and put it over the legs in a metal bath. The salmi must be
made hot, but without boiling. Serve up with slices of
fried bread cut into hearts and glazed.
72. Woodcocks and Snipe.
Woodcocks, like snipes, are only good when they are
fat. The most favourite parts are the legs and the intes-
tines. The fillets of woodcocks, for those persons who do
not like their meat underdone, are tough and without savour.
They are held in high estimation when roasted, or en salmi.
A purée of woodcock is also served occasionally. Although
woodcocks and snipes are cooked in but very few ways, they
may be dressed in as many modes as young partridges.
French cooks stuff woodcocks with chopped truffles, and
either roast them or stew them with fire under and over
the pot. The trail is sometimes cooked in gravy and butter,
and poured over the toast.
irar
73. To Roast Woodcocks, Snipes, Rails, and
Ortolans.
Keep them till tender. They must not be drawn, as the
intestines are considered a delicacy. (This rule admits of
exceptions. The proverb says: “What is one man's meat
is another man's poison.") Tie them on a bird-spit, which fix
to the spit, and lay down to a clear, brisk fire. Place slices


POULTRY, GAME, ETC.
281
of toast in the dripping-pan to catch the trail. These
birds, like moor-game, require to be deluged with butter in
basting. Dish them on the toasts, pour clear brown beef
gravy, very hot, into the dish. They will take from twenty-
five to thirty minutes, in proportion to the size. Sauce :
Pleydel's sauce for wild fowl. Garnish with slices of bitter
orange, or lemon, and fried bread-crumbs.


282
SECTION VI.-ENTREMETS.
1. Rabbits and Onions.
As this dish is of the English school, it will not require
many observations; but I shall recommend that old rabbits
be never used, as they always spoil both the taste and the
look.
Take one or two rabbits, skin them and skewer them
as for boiling; put them into warm water in order to
extract all the blood; when they are very white, boil
them in boiling water and a little salt, to prevent them
from skimming. An hour is sufficient to boil them if
they are young. The sauce as follows:-Peel a dozen
white onions, take the tops and the tails off, then cut
them into six pieces, put them to boil in boiling water,
with a little salt; when nearly done, drain them on a
sieve, put them into a clean towel, squeeze out the water,
then chop them very fine on the table; put them into a
stew-pan, with half a quarter of a pound of butter; let
them fry, to drain the water away; then put half a spoon-
ful of flour, mix well together, and moisten with cream
or milk, according to your means—cream is preferable.
Next, let this sauce reduce on a sharp fire, put some salt
and pepper to it, and make it rather thick. Drain the
rabbits, and cover them with the sauce.
-noir
2. Fillets of Rabbits à la Pompadour.
Take the fillets of four young rabbits; cut each fillet
into two, lengthwise, and keep them as long as possible.


284
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
4. Rabbits à la Vénétienne.
Take three nice young rabbits; skin and empty them;
then cut them into pieces in the following manner :-
Take off the shoulders, separate the head from the neck,
and divide the back into four parts; take off the legs also,
and cut each of them into two pieces. Have ready half a
pottle of mushrooms chopped very fine, with parsley and
shallots, also chopped fine. Put a small lump of butter into
a stew-pan with a little rasped bacon ; add the sweet herbs,
etc., with a little salt, pepper and allspice ; let them stew for
a short time on a slow fire. When these are sufficiently
fried, put in the rabbits, and keep them on the fire till
they are sufficiently done. Then take the limbs out from
the seasoning, and lean the stew-pan sideways, to skim the fat
that comes uppermost ; put a spoonful of “turned” sauce,
or, if you have none, a small teaspoonful of flour, moistened
with a spoonful or two of broth ; let it boil a few minutes,
and make a thickening of the yolks of four eggs; put the
juice of a lemon and a little cayenne pepper; stir the sauce
well ; if it happens to be too thick, make it thinner with
a spoonful of broth; keep it quite hot, throw the members
into the sauce again, and send up quite hot. This sauce
must be rather highly seasoned.
5. White Gibelots of Rabbits.
Take two young rabbits and make a gibelot, but after
having dredged with flour and moistened with broth, let
the whole stew for about an hour. Next take off all the
scum and fat; shift the members into another stew-pan ;
reduce the sauce, strain it through a tammy over the
members, lay the gibelot on the fire, and when it boils,
thicken it with the yolks of four eggs and the juice of a
lemon. This sauce, although white, must be highly seasoned.


ENTREMETS.
285
Obs.—If you want to make the gibelot whiter, disgorge
the rabbits, and blanch them.
6. Mince of Rabbits au Fumet.
Take the fillets of rabbits that have been roasted, and
pare the sinews; then make a mince, but hold your knife
on the slope, that the thin slices may curl like shavings; put
the mince into a reduced smooth sauce mixed with some
glaze of game. Do not forget to pour into the mince a little
thick cream, to give it a white colour and make it mellower.
You may put the mince either in a border of puff-paste, a
vol-au-vent, a rice casserole, a turban, a grenade, a gratin,
patties, etc.
7. Croquettes of Rabbits.
Cut the meat of young roasted rabbits into dice, which
throw into a smooth sauce reduced, adding a little glaze of
game. Let this cool, then roll it into whatever shape you
please; but, in my opinion, those that are the least handled
are the best. Fry them and send up like other croquettes,
garnished with fried parsley in the middle of the dish.
ran
8. Rabbit Pie.
Take a young rabbit, three-quarters of a pound of real
cutlet a quarter of an inch thick, and three ounces of bacon
cut very thin. Cut up the rabbit, each joint making two
or three pieces. Season with the rind of half a lemon, two
saltspoonfuls of white pepper, a little nutmeg, a dash of


286
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
cayenne, and a teaspoonful of salt. Cover it with a paste,
which make out of a pound of flour, half a gill of cold
water, and the juice of half a lemon; knead it out flat; lay
in half a pound of good butter; roll it out four times, fold
it into a bolster form, and let it stand in a cool place for
a little. When you have covered the pie with it, you must
bake in a moderate oven for two hours and a quarter, or
thereabouts.
Lirir
9. Fillets of Young Rabbits à l'Orlie.
Take your rabbits; detach the fillets and little fillets ;
cut the large fillets of an equal size, marinade all in lemon-
juice, a little parsley, a shallot cut into slices, a little thyme,
a bay-leaf, salt, pepper, etc. ; leave them in the marinade
for two hours. Drain, and dip them into the white of an
egg which has been well beaten, and then into some flour
mixed with a few crumbs of bread. Fry them of a fine
brown, and serve under them a Spanish sauce of game.
You must observe particularly that the fillets are to be
underdone.
iran
10. Croquettes of Sweetbread.
Take such sweetbreads as have already been served, cut
them into as small dice as possible. Have a good smooth
reduced sauce ready. Throw the dice of sweetbreads into the
sauce and give them a boil, that they may taste of the sauce.
Then lay them on a plate to cool. When cold, roll them
into any shape you like, oval or long. Serve up with parsley,
fried green, in the middle.
Sometimes you may spread a very thin puff paste, and
wrap some of the meat of croquettes in it; put some crumbs
of bread over it, and fry it of a very good colour. This is


ENTREMETS.
287
what is called rissole. The rissole differs from the croquette
in this particular only—that the latter is wrapped up in
crumbs of bread and the former in paste.
Girona
11. Beef Kidney Pie.
Cut some kidneys into thin slices and place a layer
of them in the bottom of your pie-dish; on the top put
chopped sweet herbs, such as parsley, thyme, shallots, with
mushrooms, pepper, and salt; continue until the dish is
full, then cover the whole with slices of bacon ; finish your
pie, and bake it in the oven. When it is done, pick out the
bacon and skim off the fat; take a glass of white wine and
a tolerable quantity of cullis, and reduce to the consistence
of a good sauce; then squeeze a Seville orange into it. Serve
the pie hot.
now
12. Sheeps' Kidneys, Broiled.
Wash and dry some nice kidneys; cut them in half,
and with a small skewer keep them open in imitation of
two shells; season them with salt and pepper, and dip
them into a little fresh melted butter. Broil first the side
that is cut, and be careful not to let the gravy drop in
taking them off the gridiron. Serve them in a hot dish,
with finely chopped parsley, melted butter, the juice of a
lemon, pepper, and salt, putting a little upon each kidney.
This makes an excellent breakfast for a company of
sportsmen.
1
13. Kidneys, “Tossed” in White Wine.
Cut up a beef kidney very fine, throwing aside the cord
or sinewy part; put in a sauté-pan with a piece of butter


288
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
and place the pan over a brisk fire, adding a spoonful of
flour and half a glass of white wine, pepper, salt, parsley,
and chives, chopped small. When the sauce is reduced
to its proper thickness, serve immediately. Indeed, you
cannot send up too promptly, if the kidneys are not to
harden. Veal and mutton kidneys are prepared in the
same way.
Linn
14. Liver and Bacon.
Cut half a pound of bacon into thin rashers, and one
pound of calves' liver into slices the third of an inch
thick. Fry both sides of the bacon brown; place it round
a dish before the fire. Dredge flour on both sides of the
liver; fry it slowly till brown. Place it on the dish. Pour
away the fat; dredge a dessertspoonful of dry flour into
the frying-pan; pour in a gill of boiling water; add a
dash of pepper and half a saltspoonful of salt; shake the
pan till the gravy thickens and browns; pour it over the
liver and bacon, and serve at once.
ir
15. Venison.
The haunch of venison is usually roasted ; cover it with
fat bacon, and moisten it occasionally while roasting. Those
who like garlic can add a little. The fore-quarter is also
roasted, but after covering it with fat bacon, spit it and
baste frequently. When ready for serving, almost sever the
shoulder from the rest, and pour between a Maître d'Hôtel
sauce (p. 348).
-rom
16. Jagged Venison.
This is composed of the shoulders and the breast. Make
a sauce well browned; put to it a small quantity of sugar;


ENTREMETS.
289
thin it with water ; put in the pieces of venison, some shallots
chopped fine, a large glass of good red wine, fat bacon cut
into small squares, some salt, and a little pepper and thyme;
stew the whole together. Just before serving, skim off the
fat; set the pieces of meat on the dish, and if you like,
add a few chopped truffles to the sauce, which serve in the
middle; the darker the sauce is, the better. In serving,
put in a piece of sugar the size of a nut.
17. Jugged Hare,
In two and a half quarts of water put half a pound of
scrag of mutton, half a pound of gravy beef, half a pound
of a shank of veal, and half a slice of ham, all cut small;
one turnip, one carrot, an onion and a half chopped, a
little mace, salt, and pepper; stew these ingredients for
one and a half or two hours, and strain the soup. The next
day cut a hare into small pieces, season them with pepper,
salt, a quarter of a grated nutmeg, and half the peel of a
small lemon. Place them in a stone jar, and fill it up with
the prepared soup; put a bung in the jar, tie a bladder
and a bit of linen over, and set it in a pot of hot water;
as the water wastes, fill up with more boiling water, and
let boil for an hour and a half. When cold, take off the
fat, and pick out the lemon-peel. This quantity will make
one tureen full. When to be used it is thickened with a
tablespoonful of flour, kneaded with a small bit of butter,
and a quarter of a pint of port wine. It will keep perfectly
good for a fortnight.
are
18. Hare Pâté, en Terrine.
Bone a hare ; take one pound of fillet of veal, one pound
of fresh lean pork, a little beef fat, parsley, chives, thyme, a


290
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
bay-leaf, garlic, pepper, and clores; chop them all up very
fine; line a small, wide-mouthed dish (the lid of which
shuts closely) with slices of bacon that entirely cover it;
put in the hare, etc., mixed with half a pound of bacon
cut up into pieces ; pour over it a glass of brandy; cover it
with slices of bacon, and close up the lid carefully with
paste. Let it bake four hours.
19. Hare Pie.
With a pound of flour, half a pound of butter, salt,
and water, prepare some short paste, and lay it aside for an
hour. Skin a tender hare, draw it, slip off the shoulders
and legs from the body, and bone them. Pare the meat,
and cut it in squares, chop it with its weight of fat fresh
bacon and six ounces of raw ham ; when the whole is well
chopped, pound, season, and add to it a few tablespoonfuls
of cooked fine herbs, mushrooms, parsley, and onion. Lard
the loins, cut them up in pieces, put them into a stew-pan
with melted bacon and half cook them ; remove the meat
from the bones, and put them by. With all the bones
and the neck of the hare, a few trimmings of ham, vegetables,
aromatics, and a little wine, prepare soine good gravy; when
it is passed and skimmed of fat, reduce it to a half-glaze
with a few tablespoonfuls of Madeira, and thicken it with
a little sauce; then keep it in the metal-bath. Mask the
bottom of a large pie-dish with a layer of prepared raw
mince, whereon place a layer of good sauer-kraut, cooked
with six ounces of streaky bacon and cooled; cut up the
bacon in squares, which mix with the pieces of hare and
a few raw black truffles cut up in slices; place the meat
in a dome-like shape on the sauer-kraut, mask it with
the remainder of the mince; now moisten the rim of the


ENTREMETS.
291
dish, lay on a strip of paste, moisten the paste, and cover
the pie with a large thin flat of short crust. Bake it for
an hour and a quarter in a moderate oven. When the
pie is taken out of the oven, pour in through a hole
which should be left in the top the prepared sauce, and
dish up.
Girone
20. Boned Hare.
Bone a hare entirely, lard it with large pieces of bacon,
season with spice. Roll it up in such a manner that,
the thinner parts being under the back, it forms a kind of
ball, which tie up. Put it into a stew-pan with onions,
carrots, and a bunch of mixed herbs, which tie up with
the bones of the hare. Cover the hare with slices of bacon,
adding two glasses of white wine, the same of broth, and
a little salt; put a sheet of buttered paper over it, and let
it stew. Serve it cold or hot, with the gravy skimmed of
its fat and passed through a sieve.
ren
21. Neck of Veal à la Mirepoix.
Make a mirepoix with rasped bacon, butter, a bit of ham,
thyme, bay-leaves, pepper, salt, etc. Fry the whole on a
slow fire. When that is done, put with it the neck of veal,
fried; stew it a little, and let it cool. When it is cold, take
two sheets of white paper, butter one of them, and trim
it with layers of bacon. Then lay the mirepoix over the
bacon, and carefully close the paper. Wrap the whole up
in several sheets of paper, and bake it in an oven, which,
however, must not be too hot. It will take an hour and a
half to do. When done, remove the paper, and send up
with a Spanish (p. 347) or Italian (p. 336) sauce. Mirepoix is
T 2


ENTREMETS.
293
over it, and with which you baste it till the sauce adheres
all round. Then serve up with a smooth sauce under it.
24. Veal Cutlets à la Mayonnaise.
Trim the cutlets; lard then with cooked ham and
truffles cut in even little squares, alternately, chequer-like;
put them into a stew-pan, and let them stew; then glaze
the cutlets, place them on a dish and cover with aspic
(pp. 232-33). When all is cold, trim the cutlets again,
neatly. Lay some aspic in the bottom of an entrée dish,
place the cutlets on it in a circle; garnish the dish with
crusts of jelly, and pour into the centre of the dish a
mayonnaise à la Ravigote (pp. 338 and 342).
10
>
25. Fillet of Veal à la Bourgeoise aux Petits Pois. »
Put into a saucepan a little bacon cut into dice, or a
piece of butter; lay in the fillet, from which remove the
centre-bone; lard with slices of bacon seasoned with sweet
herbs; then powder both sides with four; let simmer slowly ;
season with sweet herbs, a carrot, a little parsley, and half
a bay-leaf; brown the meat nicely on both sides, and moisten
it with some broth or some boiling water. When half cooked
add some peas, and let it simmer till done.
26. To Dress a Fillet of Veal the Italian Way,
Take a young, tender fillet of veal, and pick away all
the skins in the fold of the flesh; after you have picked
it out clean so that nothing hard is left, put to it some


294
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
good white wine (that is not too sweet) in a bowl, and
wash it and crush it well in the wine; do so twice, then
strew upon it a powder that is called tamara in Italy, and
as much salt as will season it well; pour to it as much white
wine as will cover it when it is thrust down into a narrow
pan; lay a trencher on it and a weight to keep it down;
let it lie two nights and one day. Put a little pepper to it
when you lay it in the pan, and after it is soused so long,
take it out and put it into a pipkin with some good beef
broth; you must not use any of the pickle but only beef
broth that is sweet and not salt, flavoured, however, with a
few whole cloves and mace; cover it close and set it on the
embers, and let it stew till it be done. If you follow these
directions you will find it to be very tender, and of an excel-
lent taste. It must be served with the same broth-as much
as will cover it.
To make the sauce, take of coriander seed two ounces,
aniseed one ounce, fennel seed one ounce, cloves two ounces,
cinnamon one ounce. These must be beaten into a gross
powder, putting into it a little winter savoury, if you like
it; keep this in a close-stopped vial for use.
ru
27. Breast of Veal à la Poulette.
Cut the veal in square pieces and blanch them; put
them into a saucepan with a little butter, pepper, and salt;
when the butter is melted, add a pinch of four and some
parsley, and pour in some water or broth; stew for an
hour and a half, and then add a dash of vinegar, with
the yolks of two eggs beaten up. The pieces left may
be fried.


ENTREMETS.
295
28. Minced Veal à la Catalan,
Mince two pounds of lean veal, and brown it in a sauce-
pan with three tablespoonfuls of sweet-oil, one onion cut in
quarters, and half a pinch of green pepper. When of a fine
colour, add two tablespoonfuls of flour, and mix thoroughly.
Moisten with one pint of white broth, and season with a
heaped tablespoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of pepper; stir
briskly, add a bunch of herbs, three cloves of crushed garlic,
and a gill of tomato sauce. Cook well for twenty-five minutes,
then serve, sprinkling chopped parsley over the mince.
ar
29. Boiled Knuckle of Veal.
Put enough water over the meat to cover it. Let it
boil gently, and when it reaches boiling-point, add as
much salt as will fill a dessertspoon; keep it well skimmed,
and boil until tender. Serve with parsley and butter. If
you find it insipid, serve with slices of boiled bacon. Allow
twenty minutes for each pound of meat. Three-quarters
of a pound of rice may be boiled in it, or green peas,
cucumbers, turnips, or small spring onions, allowing them
as much time from the cooking of the veal as they
require.
-resi
30. Calves' Feet.
Stew a few calves' feet, and when they are done, drain
them. Then take a little fine stuffing-namely, a farce
made of all sorts of dressed meat, etc., eggs excepted, which
would make the whole stick together. When you have stuffed
the middle of the calves' feet with the farce, give them a
round shape, then dip them into an omelette seasoned
with pepper and salt, and into crumbs of bread, twice over,
and fry them till they are of a fine brown. Serve them


296
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
up with fried parsley very green, and send up brown sauce
in a boat.
Intre
31. Calves' Feet au Naturel.
Bone the calves' feet, remove the fat; wash them
thoroughly; tie them together with string and blanch them
in boiling-water ; then put them into a saucepan or a jar;
cover them with water and a thin, broad slice of bacon. Add
a carrot, an onion, half a bay-leaf, some slices of lemon,
and a little salt. Let boil for three hours. Before cerving,
mince separately a little parsley and some shallots. In lieu
of the shallots you can use an onion.
ru
32, Sheep's Trotters, Fried.
Clean some nice sheep's trotters; scald and wash
them in hot water, stew them in the sauce in which
calf's head, plain (p. 228), is Loiled, and bone them. Fiy,
but not till brown, in a little butter, some carrots, onions,
a little parsley-root, all cut small, thyme, a shallot, a small
bay-leaf, and a clove. When they begin to colour, inoisten
them with water and vinegar, mixed in equal parts, and
let stew till the vegetables are quite tender; season with
pepper and salt, and strain over the sheep's trotters through
a silk sieve. Then fry the trotters in this batter:—Put
nearly four tablespoonfuls of four into an earthen pan,
with a little salt, a little olive oil, and as much good
beer or water as will moisten the paste; when well mixed,
add the beaten whites of two eggs; dip the trotters into
this, and fry them instantly. The marinade, or pickle, in
which the trotters are laid, and the paste in which they
are fried, may be used for beef and other ments.
The same recipe may be followed exactly for calves' feet.


ENTREMETS.
297
33. Sheep's Tail à l'Anglaise.
Put the sheep's tail into a saucepan to boil; take it
out when cooked; egg-and-bread-crunb it and broil it till it
is of a nice colour. This dish is served also as a hors-d'ouvre.
34. Ox-Tails à la Saint Lambert.
Wash the tails in warm water, and put them into a
saucepan with some slices of bacon, salt, pepper, spice, two
carrots, two turnips, a head of celery, some onions, and a
bunch of mixed herbs. When boiled tender, take out the
tails, strain the sauce, make a purée of the vegetables, pour
the whole over the tails, and serve.
Loraine
35. Ox-tail, Crumbed and Grilled,
Cut the tail into large pieces, boil them in a saucepan
and let them get cold; season them with salt and pepper,
and having warmed some butter, soak them in it, and then
cover them with crumbs of bread; repeat the soaking and
the crumbing; then broil the pieces on a gridiron, and serve
them on a sharp sauce (p. 346).
Sinan
36. Neat's Tongue au Gratin.
Having cut up a boiled or roasted tongue into thin slices,
put into the dish in which you mean to send it to table a
little broth, a dash of vinegar, some capers, parsley, chives,
shallots, and chervil (all chopped very fine), salt, whole pep-
per, and the raspings of bread; arrange the slices of tongue
neatly on this seasoning, and put inore over it, finishing
with bread raspings; bake it in a Dutch oven. When served,
pour a little more broth over it.


298
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
37. Sheep's Tongues à la Saint Lambert,
Slice three onions, three carrots, three turnips, a head
of celery, and some mushrooms; brown them in butter,
then add salt, spice, a bunch of mixed herbs, two or three
spoonfuls of broth, and a glass of white wine. Put the
tongues into this sauce; when done, take them out and
skin them. Strain the sauce, add a purée of any vegetables,
and pour it over the tongues.
-
10
38. To Boil Tripe.
Clean it extremely well, and take off the fat; let it lie a
night in salt and water; again wash it well, and let it lie in
milk and water for the same length of time; then cut it into
small pieces; roll and tie them with thread; put them, with
a clean-washed marrow-bone, into a linen bag; tie it up,
and put it into a stew-pan that has a cover to fit quite
close; fill this up with water, and let it boil gently for six
hours. Take the tripe out of the bag, put it into a jar,
and pour over it the liquor in which it has been boiled.
When to be dressed, boil soine whole small onions in a
part of the liquor, add a little salt, then put in the tripe,
and heat it thoroughly. Or it may be fried in butter,
fricasséed, or stewed in a brown sauce.
Instead of being boiled in a bag, the tripe may be put,
with some salt and whole pepper, into a stoneware jar, which
must have a piece of linen tied over it, and a plate laid upon
the top. The pot should always be kept full of boiling water
and care should be taken that it does not boil into the jar.


ENTREMETS.
299
39. Tripe à la Bourgeoise. .
First boil the tripe, then cut it into pieces two inches
long. Put them in a saucepan with a slice of ham and a
little bacon cut up in small pieces; seaso2 with an onion, a
little garlic, and a bay-leaf; moisten with a very small
quantity of the water in which the tripe has been boiled
and let it simmer gently on a slow fire.
したい​~
40. Lamb Cutlets à la Soubise,
Trim the cutlets; lard them cross-wise and cook them.
When they are done, scrape the ends of the bones white
and place them on a dish. Serve with them Soubise sauce,
of which the ingredients are onions, cream, consommé, thick
Béchamel, salt, and peppercorns.
ri
41. Lamb Cutlets en Salpicon.
Fry the cutlets lightly, or stew them ; take some salpicon
(see p. 254) of chicken or of game; cover the cutlets with
this, and serve with Spanish sauce (p. 347).
inte
42. Resurrection Cutlets.
Take some fine, tender cabbage-leaves, throw boiling water
over them, and allow them to cool. Chop up some
cold meat of any or all kinds you may have left over ;
season with pepper, salt, and mixed herbs and onions ;
inoisten with a little meat-jelly or thick brown gravy, add a
little lump of butter, and then cut the stalks of the cabbage-
leaves ; put into each leaf a tablespoonful of mincemeat; fold


300
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
into a flat, round shape, place in a stew-pan with a little
butter, and cover up the saucepan with a napkin. Let the
contents stew until done. If you cannot get cabbage-leaves,
vegetable-marrow leaves will serve as well.
Serve ne mot get cann. Let the
D
Pepper.
43. Lamb Chops, Maison d'Or.
Pare neatly six lamb chops, make an incision in each one,
and insert therein a slice of truffle. Season with a pinch of
salt and half a pinch of pepper. Dip the chops in beaten
egg, then in fresh bread-crumbs. Fry them in a stew-pan
with two ounces of clarified butter for four minutes on each
side, and serve with six heart-shaped pieces of fried bread,
each one covered with some pâté de foie gras and a gill of
hot Madeira wine sauce. Arrange a curled paper on the end
of each chop
fresh brea
with two ,
44. Mutton Chops.
These must never be batted or beaten ; season with pepper
and salt; broil over a clear tire; turn them frequently, so that
they may retain their own gravy, and serve each chop on a
separate hot plate. The addition of a little chopped shallot
and a bit of fresh butter, placed under each chop, is no bad
thing by way of relish. (See also p. 55.)
45. Mutton Chops, Bretonne.
Pare six nice muttɔn chops, season with a teaspoonful
of salt and a teaspoonful of pepper, and pour a few drops of
oil over each. Broil four minutes on each side. Arrange
them on a dish, and serve with half a pint of purée of white


ENTREMETS.
301
beans mingled with two tablespoonfuls of good hot neat
glaze.
Intro
45. Mutton Chops, Bread-crambed.
Trim the chops; season with pepper and salt ; pat closely
some bread-crumbs on each, and then, having dipped them
separately in some clarified butter, bread-crumb them again ;
broil the chops on both sides over a clear fire ; dish them
up, and serve with plain gravy under them. They may be
served also with thick purées of peas, asparagus, turnips,
chestnuts—in fact, all kinds of dressed vegetables, and with
tomato (p. 349), Italian (p. 336), or Robert (p. 343) sauce.
47. Chops Soyer, with Potatoes.
Take five pounds of saddle of mutton, cut and saw it
into six pieces, crosswise. Flatten, pare, and trim. Season
with one tablespoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful of pepper.
Broil the chops for six minutes on each side, place them
on a hot dish, and serve with a garnishing of one pint
of fried potatoes round the dish.
nan
48. Pork Chops, Broiled.
Pork chops are cut from the neck or loin. They require
a great deal of the fire. They must be served broiling hot
and with a hot gravy, with which a teaspoonful of made
mustard and a little dry sage, pulverised, may be mixed.
Robert sauce possesses still more gusto for thoroughbred
pork-eaters. Stewed cabbage may be served with the chops.


302
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
I may here remark that bacon may be nicely broiled over
a slow fire in a sheet of paper, tucked up in form of a
small dripping-pan.
-nin
49. Beef Steak, Sauté, with Madeira.
Pick out the skin and nerves from your steaks and cut
them into equal scollops; beat them and trim them into the
form of a round; melt some butter in a sauté-pan, and lightly
cook the steaks in it. When they are done of a nice light
colour, arrange them on a dish in the forın of a crown, drain
the butter from the pan, and put the liquor by; then add a
glass of Madeira, and reduce with a little veal glaze and a
little Spanish sauce (p. 347), adding also a small quantity of
pimento butter. When your sauce is of a nice dark colour,
strain it through a sieve, and serve it with the steaks.
.
.
Laipaine
. : . 50. Chateaubriand Steak.
Cut the fillet of beef one and a half to two inches thick;
trim off all unnecessary fat, and skin; season with salt,
pepper and salad oil, and let it lie in the seasoning for at
least one hour before cooking; then put it on oiled straws,
between two thin slices froin the neck of beef, which can
afterwards be used up in other ways, and cook for twelve
or fifteen minutes over a bright fire; dish it up, and serve
with fried potatoes, and a sauce prepared thus :-Put a
glassful of white wine in a stew-pan; then mix into it one
ounce of glaze and four tablespoonfuls of brown sauce (p. 329);
boil up together, and add by degrees two ounces of fresh
butter, working it in bit by bit; when the butter has dis-
solved, mix in a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, half the


304
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
53. Beef Olives.
Cut the beef into long thin steaks. Prepare a forcemeat
made of bread-crumbs, minced beef suet, chopped parsley,
a little grated lemon-peel, nutmeg, pepper, and salt; bind
it with the yolks of beaten eggs. Put a layer of it over each
steak; roll and tie them with a thread; fry them lightly
in beef dripping; put them in a stew-pan with soine good
brown gravy, a glass of white wine and a little cayenne,
and thicken with a little flour and butter; cover the pan
closely, and let them stew gently for an hour. Before serving,
add a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup; garnish with cut
pickles.
irtan
54. Beef à la Mode.
Take a piece of beef, either off the round or off the flank;
beat it, lard it with large pieces of bacon; add half a calf's
foot, an onion, a carrot, a bunch of sweet herbs, a bay-leaf,
thyme, a head of garlic, a few cloves, salt and pepper. Pour
over the whole a glass of water, half a glass of white wine,
or a spoonful of brandy, and let it stew till the meat is very
tender. Then strain the sauce through a tammy, take off
the fat, and serve. It requires at least four hours to stew
beef à la mode, and it must be done over a gentle fire. Be
sure that the saucepan lid fits close.
Another Way.
Take the bone out of a small round of fine ox-beef.
Cut some fat bacon in long strips; dip them into common
and shallot vinegar mixed, and roll them in the following
scasoning :-Grated nutmeg, black and Jamaica pepper, one
or two cloves, and some salt, parsley, chives, lemon-thyme,
knotted marjoram, and savoury, shredded quite small. Lard
the beef very thickly, bind it firmly with tape, and rub the


ENTREMETS.
305
outside with the seasoning. Put it into a saucepan, with
the rind of a lemon, four large onions, the red part of
three or four carrots and two turnips cut into dice, a
teacupful of strong ale and one of vinegar. Let it stew
for six or eight hours, turning it two or three times. Half
an hour before serving, take out the beef and vegetables,
skim off the fat, strain the sauce, and thicken it with a
little flour and water mixed smooth. Add a teacupful of
port wine, return all into the pot, and let it boil.
Siran
55. Short or Spiced Beef.
(To be eaten cold.)
Hang up ten or twelve pounds of the middle part of a
brisket of beef for three or four days; then rub well into
it three ounces of finely-powdered saltpetre, and, if spice is
approved of, one ounce of allspice and half an ounce of
black pepper. Let it stand all night; then salt it with
three pounds of well-pounded bay-salt with half a pound of
treacle, in which let it remain ten days, rubbing it daily.
When it is to be boiled, sew it closely in a cloth ; let the
water only simmer (upon no account allowing it to boil) for
nine hours over a slow fire or upon a stove. When taken
out of the water, place two sticks across the pot, and let the
beef stand over the steam for half an hour, turning it from
side to side; then press it with a heavy weight. It must
not be taken out of the cloth till perfectly cold.
por
56. Beef à la Braise:
Take two or three ribs of beef, cut away only the fleshy
part that is next the chine, and remove all the fat; lard


306
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
it with pretty large pieces of bacon; season with spices,
sweet herbs, parsley, young onions, a small quantity of
mushrooms, and truffles, shredded very small. Then tie it
into a neat form with packthread and put it into a stew-
pan, having previously lined the bottom of the pan with
thin slices of fat bacon; over these lay slices of lean
beef about an inch thick; beat them well, and season
with spice, sweet herbs, onions, bay-leaves, salt, and pepper.
In putting in your beef, lay the fleshy side downwards,
that it may the better take the relish of the seasoning;
season the upper part as you did the lower, and lay over
it slices of beef, and over them slices of bacon, as you did
at the bottom; mask the whole with broth, then cover
the stew-pan and close it well all round; put fire on the
cover of the stew-pan as well as underneath. When the
beef is sufficiently stewed, take it up and let it drain a little;
then lay it in a dish and pour upon it a ragoût made thus:-
Take veal sweetbreads, livers of capons, mushrooms, truffles,
tops of asparagus and bottoms of artichokes; “ toss” these
with some melted bacon, moisten them with good gravy,
and thicken with a cullis made of veal and ham.
-nin
57. Fillet of Beef à l'Intendante.
Make a forcemeat with fowls' livers, grated bacon, a little
butter, parsley, shallots, mushrooms, three yolks of eggs,
and fine spices. Cut a fillet of beef into two, and flatten
it with the cleaver ; lard it through with middling slices;
then lay the forcemeat upon it, tie it in a cloth, and boil it
in broth, a glass of white wine, and a faggot of sweet herbs.
When done, serve it with a ragoût of sweetbreads, or truffles.


ENTREMETS.
307
58. Stewed Beef.
Stew in five quarts of water the middle part of a brisket
of beef, weighing ten pounds; add two onions stuck with
two cloves, one head of celery, one large carrot, two turnips
cut small, a handful of sorrel leaves, half an ounce of black
pepper, and some salt. Stew gently for six hours. Make
a strong gravy with carrots and turnips, the turnips to be
scraped and fried of a brown colour in butter; add pepper,
salt, and a little cayenne; thicken it with flour and butter
and pour it over the beef, with the carrots and turnips.
-18v
59. Beef Bonilli.
Put on three pounds of a leg or shin of beef in three
quarts of water; when it boils, skim well ; add half a table-
spoonful of whole pepper, one and a half large red onion,
and half a carrot; let simmer for three or three and a half
hours; when the meat is tender, cut off a piece of it and
lay it aside. Wash and thoroughly clean an ox-foot; blanch
it in cold water for six hours, and boil it in fresh water about
two and a half hours. The next day, take off the fat from
the strained soup, boil the soup, and add the piece of beef,
and the gristles of the ox-foot cut small, and let all boil
together for a few minutes. Serve with dry toast cut into
dice.
60. Gratin of Boiled Beef.
Take a little butter, or fat-if of poultry the better ;
rub it on the inside of a baking disk, and sprinkle with
bread raspings; lay around the dish slices of boiled beef,
cut very thin ; strew over them finely chopped parsley and
pieces of butter; pour in some broth, and bake the whole
gently in a Dutch oven.
U 2


308
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
61, To Boil a Ramp of Beef after the French Fashion.
Parboil a rump of beef, or the little end of the brisket,
for half an hour; then take it up and put it into a deep
dish; slash it in the side, that the gravy may come out;
throw a little pepper and salt between every cut; then
fill up the dish with good claret, put to it three or four
pieces of mace, set it on the coals, closely covered, and
boil it above an hour and a half, but turn it often in
the meantime; then with a spoon take off the fat and fill
up with claret; add six onions, sliced, a handful of capers
or broom buds, half a dozen hard lettuces, sliced, three
spoonfuls of wine-vinegar and as much verjuice, and set the
meat a-boiling till it be tender. Serve it up with brown
bread and sippets fried with butter, and be sure there is not
too much fat in it.
Linear
62, Vinaigrette of Beef.
Cut thin slices of dressed beef; put them into a salad
bowl, with a layer of anchovies, or red herrings, free from
bones; add some parsley, chervil, and chives, chopped fine,
and a few sliced pickled gherkins; season with pepper, salt,
and vinegar, and serve without stirring.
· 63. Scarlet Beef.
Mix together a little mace, cloves, allspice, black pepper,
and saltpetre; rub it well into two pounds of tender lean
beef; let this lie six days, turning it daily and rubbing
it with pickle; then roll and tie it firmly with tape; put
it and the pickle into a small jar, with a slice or two of
beef suet under it and over it; tic it closely, and bake it


ENTREMETS.
309
an hour. It is eaten cold, cut in thin slices and garnished
with parsley. If kept long, the colour fades.
Ginawa
64. Mutton Ham.
Cut a hind-quarter of good mutton into the shape of a
ham ; pound one ounce of saltpetre with one pound of coarse
salt and a quarter of a pound of brown sugar; rub the
ham well with this mixture, and let it lie for a fortnight,
rubbing it well with the pickle every two or three days.
Then take it out, and press it with a weight for one day;
smoke it with sawdust for ten or fifteen days, or hang it
to dry in the kitchen. If the ham is to be boiled soon
after it has been smoked, soak it one hour; if it has been
smoked any length of time, it will require to be soaked
several hours. Put it on in cold water, and boil it gently
for two hours. It is eaten cold at breakfast, luncheon, or
supper.
Obs.—A mutton ham is sometimes cured with the
above quantity of salt and sugar, with the addition of half
an ounce of white pepper, a quarter of an ounce of cloves,
and one nutmeg.
Login
65. Carbonnade of Mutton.
After having removed the middle bone, beat the meat
thoroughly with a kitchen chopper; add a slice of bacon,
season with sweet herbs, and lard the carbonnade length-
wise. Then powder it lightly with flour, and put it into
a saucepan with some melted lard or butter; brown it on
both sides; then add the bacon and seasoning, and let it
stew gently over a slow fire.
The carbonnade should be browned quickly, or the juice
of the meat will be dried up.


310
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
66. To Stew a Shoulder of Mutton.
Bone a shoulder of mutton with a sharp knife, and fill the
space with the following stuffing :-Grated bread, minced suet,
parsley, pepper, salt, and nutmeg; bind with the yolks of
two well-beaten eggs; sew or fasten with small skewers ;
brown in a frying-pan, with a bit of butter. Break the
bone, put it into a saucepan with some water, an onion,
pepper, salt, and a bunch of parsley ; let it stew till the
strength be extracted; strain and thicken with butter rolled
in flour; put this with the mutton, and a glass of port
wine, into the saucepan, which cover closely, and let stew
gently for two hours. Before serving, add two tablespoon-
fuls of mushroom catsup. Garnish with pickles.
rain
67. To Kebob a Loin of Mutton.
Bone a good-sized loin of mutton, and take off all the
fat; cut or draw off the inside skin nearly to the bottom.
With grated bread mix parsley, thyme, and shallot, finely
minced ; season with pepper and salt, pounded mace, grated
lemon-peel and nutmeg; rub the beaten yolk of an egg
over the mutton and the skin; put a layer of the stuffing,
turn the skin over, and sew it at the sides and top; rub
more egg, and strew some of the stuffing over the outside.
Baste it with butter while roasting, and dredge it three or
four times with the stuffing. Serve it with a rich gravy,
to which add a glass of port wine and some catsup.
iren
68. Skewer Kebob.
Cut five pounds of loin or leg of mutton in pieces the size
of an egg; then chop four middle-sized onions, and sprinkle


312
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
into a stew-pan with some fresh butter, and partly fry them ;
add the minced mutton, with half a handful of skinned
pistachios, the same of currants, a little salt, pepper, and
cinnamon; stir round with a spoon until the minced meat
also is partly fried; then cut a caul-fat in pieces about the
size of vine-leaves, divide the mincemeat among them, and
wrap each up in the form of a small cup, or any shape you
fancy; lay them on a baking-tin, place it in a hot oven till
nicely browned; dish up tastefully, and serve.
71. Breast of Matton, Grilled.
Stew a breast of mutton gently with broth, salt, pepper,
parsley, chives, thyme, and a bay-leaf; when it is done,
put it into oil with parsley and chives minced, salt and
pepper; cover it with bread-crumbs, grill it, and serve it
with a sharp sauce (p. 346). Instead of stewing it as above
directed, you may simply put it into a saucepan, and when
boiled, crumb and grill it.
intim
72. Leg of Mutton Braised for Seven Hours.
Take out the chump and thigh bones, but without
tearing the meat; lard it with pieces of bacon rolled in
salt and spice, but do not let the larding project beyond
the meat; tie it together, slit the joint in order to bend
it back; cut off the knuckle, that the leg may take less
room; put it into a stew-pan, with six onions, four carrots,
a bunch of parsley and sweet herbs, salt and spice, the
bones you have taken from the meat, as well as any other
trimmings you may have; also two slices of bacon, and two
glasses of water or broth. Set on the fire, and when it


ENTREMETS.
313
boils put some cinders on the lid. When it is done, take
it up, skim off the fat, and strain the gravy over the
joint. To give it a better appearance, reduce some of the
gravy, and with it glaze the meat.
Sretan
73. Haricot Mutton.
Cut the best end of a neck or loin of mutton that has
been kept till tender, into chops of equal thickness; you
may cut two chops to one bone, but it is more convenient
to help when there is only one; trim off some of the fat
and the lower end of the chine bone, scrape it clean, and
lay it in a stew-pan with an ounce of butter; set it over
a smart fire; if your fire is not sharp, the chops will be
done before they are coloured: the intention of frying them
is merely to give them a very light browning. While
the chops are browning, peel a couple of dozen of young
button onions, and boil them in three pints of water for
fifteen or twenty minutes; set them by, and pour the
liquor they were boiled in into the stew-pan with the chops;
if that is not sufficient to cover them, add as much boiling
water as will ; remove the scum as it rises, and be careful
they are not stewed too fast or too much; take out one
of thein with a fish-slice and try it; when they are tender,
which will be in about an hour and a half, pass the gravy
through a sieve into a basin and place it in the open air,
that it may get cold. You may then easily and completely
skim off the fat. In the meantime, set the meat and the
onions by the fire to keep hot, and pour some boiling water
over the latter to warm them again. Have about six ounces
of carrots and eight ounces of turnips peeled and cut into
slices, or shaped into balls about as big as a nutmeg ; boil
the carrots for half an hour, and put them on a sieve to


314
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
drain, and then place them round the dish, the last thing.
Thicken the gravy by putting an ounce of butter into a
stew-pan; when it is melted, stir in as much flour as will
stiffen it; pour the gravy to it by degrees, stir together till
it boils; strain it through a fine sieve into a stew-pan, put
in the carrots and turnips to get warm, and let it simmer
gently while you dish up the meat; lay the chops round a
dish, put the vegetables in the middle, and pour the thickened
gravy over. Some put in capers, minced gherkins, etc.
Loan
74. English Mutton-Pie.
Cut up in slices, not too thick nor too large, the thickest,
fleshiest part of a leg of mutton, or a loin (about a pound and
a half). Trim away the bones and sinewy skin, slightly beat
the slices, and season with pepper and salt. Arrange on the
bottom of a pie-dish a layer of these slices, continue filling
the dish alternately with the meat and with potatoes ; pour
over it a gill of good cold gravy, moisten the rim of the dish
all round, and apply to it a thin strip of half puff-paste of
the same size; moisten this likewise, and cover meat and
dish to the rim with a flat of the same paste ; apply it with-
out drawing, and cut off the surface, holding the knife a
little to the outside ; then channel it all round with the back
of a knife, pressing the paste with the thumb. Adorn the
top, make a hole in the centre of it, egg the pie, and bake
it in a moderate oven for an hour and a quarter, being
careful to cover the paste with paper as soon as it takes
colour.
Gintam
75. Fieldfare Pasties.
Fieldfares, snipes, woodcocks, quails, and young plovers
should be drawn for pasties, the gizzard opened to take out


ENTREMETS.
315
any grit, and all the inside put into a stew-pan with butter
to steam a little while. Then take out, and lay the birds
in to brown delicately in the butter; when they are done,
take thein out. For a pasty of half a dozen birds, make
forcemeat of a pound and a half of veal, half a pound of fat
bacon, and half a pound of calf's liver, all finely minced.
Add more butter to that in which the birds were cooked.
Beat three eggs with a teacupful of milk, and stir this into
the butter; then stir in the mince, add salt, white pepper,
and very little spice. Spread a layer of the forcemeat in
the bottom of the dish, sprinkle salt, pepper, and lemon-
juice over the birds and their trails ; arrange them on the
forcemeat, lay the rest of this over them ; put on the paste
lid, and, when baked, pour in a little rich gravy.
intar
76. Beef and Oyster Sausages.
Scald three-quarters of a pint of oysters in their own
liquor; take them out and chop them fine; mince one
pound of beef and mutton, and three-quarters of a pound
of beef-suet; add the oysters, and season with salt, pepper,
mace, and two cloves pounded; beat up two eggs, and mix
them well with the other ingredients, and pack closely
into a jar. When to be used, roll it into the form of small
sausages, dip them in the yolk of an egg beaten up,
strew grated bread-crumbs over them, or dust with flour,
and fry them in fresh dripping. Serve them upon fried
bread, hot.
ipin
77. Hessian Stew.
Cut the root of a tongue into large pieces; lay it in
a deep pan; rub well into it a handful of salt; pour over


316
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
it some hot water, and stir it round. When cool enough,
scour it well with the hands, and wash it thoroughly in cold
water; when perfectly clean, dust it with flour; fry it of
a light brown with a good quantity of small white onions;
put it into a digester with a teacupful of strong beer; rinse
out the pan with boiling-water; put this to the meat, with
three quarts more of hot water, a bead or two of garlic, some
sliced carrots and turnips ; season with ground black Jamaica
and cayenne pepper, three cloves, and some salt; let it
stew three or four hours. Half an hour before serving take
out the meat and some of the soup for gravy; add more
spices, and of mushroom catsup, soy, walnut-pickle, and
coratch, a tablespoonful each, and three of port wine; boil
all together, thicken the sauce with butter rolled in flour,
and garnish with sippets of thin toasted bread cut into a
three-cornered shape. The soup left over may be strained,
and served clear, or, if preferred, with vegetables that have
been previously boiled.
nar
78. Irish Mutton Stew.
Take two pounds of mutton chops, put them in a stew-
pan, and cover with boiling water. Add three dessert-
spoonfuls of salt and a teaspoonful of pepper; also two
carrots, two turnips, all cut up, and six small onions.
Let this cook for twenty minutes, then add half a pint
of potatoes cut in quarters, and a little more water, and
let, all stew slowly for about twenty minutes more. Now
stir all together thoroughly, and serve very hot.
creare
79. Navarin Stew.
Bone a small leg of mutton, and cut the meat into
middling-sized squares; season with salt and spices, add a


ENTREMETS.
317
bunch of aromatics, pour over half a glass of Madeira,
and let it macerate for seven or eight hours. Then drain
it, and wipe it on a cloth. Mix six ounces of fat bacon
in a stew-pan ; stir it, add to it the squares of meat and
half a pound of streaky bacon, blanched and cut in squares ;
fry over a good fire, then drain the fat off, and pour into
the stew-pan the Madeira in which the meat was macer-
ated; two minutes after, moisten to height with light-brown
sauce. Cover the stew-pan, cooking the stew on a moder-
ate fire, with hot ashes on the lid. The meats being about
done, skim the fat off the sauce, dilute it with a glass of
white wine, and mix with a garnish of good turnips, cut in
balls with a vegetable spoon, and previously coloured in
a frying-pan over a sharp fire, and seasoned. Continue
boiling gently; remembering that meats and turnips must
be done at the same time. When ready to serve, dish the
stew, the meats taking the centre and the turnips placed
all round.
ren
80. Hashed Calf's Head.
Take any of the head and tongue that remains, and
cut into squares or slices; sprinkle over the meat salt,
pepper, and nutmeg, and dredge or powder it with a little
fine flour or arrowroot. If any soup of the previous day
remains, make it up to a pint with good mutton broth,
adding a glass of red or white wine, with three tablespoon-
fuls of mushroom catsup; put the meat into this and
give it a boil up; when it is ready, squeeze in the juice
of a lemon.
Obs.—A good cook will judge how much flour is neces-
sary to thicken the gravy; much must depend upon the
remains of the calf's head.


318
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
81. Foreign Hash.
Take the meat off any cold joint, cut it in even-sized
pieces. Cut up in slices two Spanish onions, four car-
rots, two tomatoes, two large apples, fry them in dripping
or butter, and when tender add, according to the meat, a
pint or a quart of stock, poured over them. Take two
heaped-up tablespoonfuls of flour, mix into a smooth paste
with a little water; add salt, pepper, and one teaspoonful
of brown sugar, a few herbs, fresh or dried, and a clove of
garlic. Let all boil together for three hours; then place
the saucepan beside the fire, add the meat, stir well; put
in a teaspoonful of jam, and after ten minutes serve very
hot. If you cannot get tomatoes, two tablespoonfuls of
tomato-sauce will do.
irar
82. Corned-Beef Hash.
Chop rather fine some cold corned-beef. To each pint
add one pint and a half of cold boiled potatoes chopped
fine, one tablespoonful of butter, and one cupful of stock,
or, if no stock is on hand, two-thirds of a cupful of hot
water. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Put the
mixture into a frying-pan, and stir over the fire for about
eight minutes, being careful not to burn it. Spread smoothly.
Cover the pan, and set back where the hash will brown
slowly. It will take about half an hour. When done, fold
it like an omelette, and turn on to a hot dish. Garnish with
points of toast and parsley. Serve hot. If there are no cold
potatoes, the same quantity of hot mashed potatoes may
be used.


ENTREMETS.
319
83. Provençal Hotchpotch—"Cassoulic.”
Any remains of cold meat; but be careful to add some
fat bacon and some onions, minced small. Cut up your
meat into small dice. Add haricot beans which have been
well soaked and cooked the previous day in gravy. Place
meat, haricots, and gravy, properly seasoned, in a well-
buttered mould; strew bread-crumbs and little bits of
butter on top, and brown in the oven for a quarter of an
hour or twenty minutes. Turn out and serve hot. You
may substitute carefully boiled rice or cold boiled potatoes
for the haricots, if you like. This is a very economical and
toothsome dish, and one of the safeguards against explosions
of conjugal temper.
The observant housekeeper will not fail to note that
“cassoulic” is a species of Southern arabesque of the English
“ bubble and squeak.”
Girin
84. West Indian Pepper-Pot.
Procure a bottle of casaripe sauce. This sauce is sent
from the West Indies. It is thick and dark in appear-
ance, and is sold in quart bottles. Take whatever remains
of meat or poultry you have, cut them into convenient
pieces, trim them neatly, put them into a pan, and cover
them with the sauce. Make the whole hot over the fire,
and take out as much as is required for immediate use.
Further supplies of game or poultry must be covered with
additional sauce, and warmed up each time it is used. The
sauce will keep the meat quite good.
non
85. Toad-in-a-Hole.
Beat two eggs; stir in three tablespoonfuls of baked
flour, add half a saltspoonful of salt and a pint of milk ;


320
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
beat the batter for fifteen minutes. Grease the interior of
a pie-dish; put in the batter, with a pound and a half of
cutlets of mutton or beef in moderate-sized pieces; season
with salt, pepper, and chopped onion, and bake in a fairly
hot oven for an hour and three-quarters.
Any remains of cooked meat, poultry or game, cut in
pieces and seasoned, may be used in making a “toad-in-a-
hole.”
ruar
86. Bubble and Squeak.
Chop small some boiled white cabbage; season it with
pepper and salt, and fry it with a little butter; pepper
and broil some slices of cold boiled salted beef (by preference,
underdone); put the fried cabbage into a dish, lay round it
the slices of boiled beef, and serve very hot.
Sinan
87. A Cake of Pork.
The pork must be minced very fine and mixed with
chives or a little onion, salt, pepper, a little lemon-peel, and
an egg. Dredge in enough flour to bind the mince. Form
a thick round cake. Melt butter in a stew-pan; lay in the
cake; brown it on one side. Take it out, and slice onions
into the stew-pan, with more butter to thin the sauce; season
it to taste, and lay it in the cake to get hot through.
retorn
88. To Make an Outlandish Dish,
Take the liver of a hog, and cut it in pieces about
the bigness of a span; then take aniseed or French seed,
pepper and salt, and season them therewithal; lay the
pieces severally round in the caul of the hog, and so roast
them on a bird-spit.


322
SECTION VII.-CURRIES.
1. Carried Sole.
Fry (not broil) the soles delicately, overnight. At the same
time carefully boil the rice, as directed in No. 7. In the
morning, against breakfast-time, pile the rice in the middle
of the dish, and lay around it from the rim, converging to
the centre, the slices of cold sole, gently veneered with a
thin layer of Auckland curry-paste, diluted, if too stiff, with
oil or butter.
Gorm
2. Lobster Curry,
Pick the meat from the shell of a lobster and cut it into
small oblong pieces. Fry two onions to a golden-brown in
an ounce of butter; stir in one tablespoonful of curry-powder
or paste and half a pint of meat stock, and simmer till it
thickens; then put in your lobster-flesh, stew the whole for
twenty minutes, stirring occasionally; serve boiled rice with it.
son
3. Oyster Curry.
Blanch and beard your oysters, leaving them in their own
liquor; then cut two middling-sized onions into small dice,
and “toss” them in a stew-pan with an ounce of butter; when
done, mix in two teaspoonfuls of curry powder and one of
curry paste, and pass all through a tammy-it ought to be
thick; then add the oysters with their liquor, and keep
stirring over the fire until they become enveloped in a thick


CURRIES.
323
sauce, which they should simmer in for two minutes. Then
turn out on your dish, and serve with rice separately. -
Lion
4. Dressed Salmon, Carried.
Take a large onion, cut it into small pieces, and fry it
in an ounce of butter till of a light-brown colour; put it
into three-quarters of a pint of strong stock, with a table-
spoonful of curry-powder, one tablespoonful of Harvey's
sauce, and a teaspoonful of anchovy sauce, the juice of half
a lemon, cayenne and salt to taste; siinmer all gently
till the onion is tender, stirring it occasionally. Cut the
remains of any boiled salmon into small pieces, carefully
taking away all skin and bone, lay them in the stew-pan,
and let them gradually heat through, but do not allow the
curry to boil. Serve with rice separately.
Giron
5. Curried Fish or Meat.
If fish is to be curried, clean and cut it into slices; it
prawns, add them whole; crab or lobster must be picked
from the shells; fowls or chicken carefully cut up into
shreds; and butchers' meat similarly. Never send up your
meat cut in joints or slices. Place either of these in
cocoa-nut water, with a clove of garlic, and one or two
onions shredded, a dessertspoonful of turmeric pounded, six
green chillies divided in half, and a few slices of green
ginger, with a moderate portion of salt, and let it boil;
as the meat, fowl, or fish is nearly dressed, add two spoonfuls
of fresh butter, stirring all together. When the dressing is
nearly finished, add, lastly, some more cocoa-nut water, and
as the curry boils, squeeze in the juice of a lemon to give it a
proper acidity. In India a few slices of green mangoes, if
in season, may be boiled in the curry. In England, use a
V 2


324
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
zest of green apples; a few-a very few-green gooseberries
are also allowable. If the gravy appears too thin, it may
have a little flour rubbed up with the butter. Serve with
rice separately.
-lain
6. A Dry Curry Hash.
Cut one pound of beef steak or fowl into shreds, slice
one large onion, and fry in butter till of a light brown ;
then add one tablespoonful of curry-powder and the meat,
and fry all until of a dark brown; put into a stew-pan with
a teacupful of milk, the juice of a lemon, and a little salt.
Stew gently for an hour, stirring occasionally. The rice
should be served on a separate dish.
Grain
7. How to Prepare Rice for Curry.
Wash your rice, so as to have it thoroughly clean, and
then cover it to excess with either cold or boiling water,
and place upon a brisk fire, either covered or uncovered.
The main point to be considered is, neither to under- nor to
over-do the boiling. Test the rice now and again by press-
ing a grain or two between the finger and thumb. As
soon as the “bone in it” disappears, and neither sooner
nor luter, pour in a quart of cold water, and strain or
pour off what the Hindoos call the “cunjee water," which
can be used for making a meagre coup. Then place the
rice in a colander in the oven for a few minutes, or drive
off the superfluous moisture by placing the pan, shaken
occasionally, on the fire for a short time; your rice will now
be in free separate grains. To whiten it, a squeeze of lemon
or a pinch of alum added during the boiling stage will suffice.
Always use the thick broad-grained rice for boiling. The
slender-grained varieties ars the best for puddings and sweets.


325
SECTION VIII.-SAUCES.
1. À la Diable.
Misce half a dozen shallots very small, wash, and press
out all the moisture; then put them into a saucepan, with
a glass of vinegar, a clove of garlic, a bay-leaf, and some
veal glaze; reduce it nearly to a jelly; moisten it with a
little good gravy, add pimento butter and a teaspoonful
of olive oil.
non
2. À la Madeleine.
Put a few bread-crumbs, two shredded shallots, a bit of
butter, half a spoonful of vinegar, and two spoonfuls of
consommé (p. 77) into a stew-pan; set on the fire, and
boil up together; season with pepper and salt. This sauce
should not be too thick.
Sinin
3. À la Parisienne.
This sauce is composed of Béchamel sauce (No. 8), into
which are put mushrooms, blanched, and cooked truffles cut
up in very small pieces; also the tails of shrimps peeled.
Heat this, without boiling it, in a metal-bath, and see at the
moment of serving that it is well seasoned.


326
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
4. À l'Aurore.
Mix two dessertspoonfuls of lemon-juice with some
smooth sauce (No. 63), season with pepper and nutmeg; put
the mixture into a saucepan, make it quite hot. In the
meantime, rub the yolks of four hard-boiled eggs through
a colander, which put into the sauce just before serving ;
take care not to let it boil after the eggs are in.
5. Au Révérend.
Chop up some lemon-peel and two or three pickled
cucumbers; put this into a stew-pan with two spoonfuls
of cullis, a little butter rolled in flour; season with salt
and pepper; put it on the fire and make it quite hot without
boiling, stirring all the time. Make an “alliance” with the
yolks of eggs, and serve.
6. Anchovy Batter.
Pick and wipe half a dozen anchovies, which pound
with two ounces of fresh butter, and rub through a fine
hair-sieve.
Inn
7. Béarnaise.
Mix half a teaspoonful of flour with a little butter. Moisten
with mushroom juice, and let it boil for a few minutes;
thicken with the yolks of one or two eggs beaten up in
cream. Add a few mushrooms, truffles chopped up fine,
some essence of anchovy, and the juice of a lemon.


SAUCES.
327
8. Béchamel.
Put six ounces of four in a basin; moisten with half a pint
of cold milk; pour into a stew-pan, stir it on the fire ; as soon
as the mixture becomes a smooth paste, take it off the fire
and work it well with a spoon. Then add three-quarters of a
pint of boiled milk, two small onions, a bunch of parsley,
salt, peppercorns, and four ounces of raw ham in small dice;
bring it to the boil; put it back on a very slow fire, and
cook it for twenty minutes, stirring carefully from time to
tiine; pass all through a tammy.
If you think the sauce too rich for macaroni, you can
serve with the gravy of roast meat, thickened with a little
flour, and rendered more relishable with a little burnt onion.
S
retan
9. Black Butter.
Put some butter into a small saucepan or frying-pan and
let it brown; when thoroughly hot add half a glass of vinegar,
with pepper and salt.
-noir
10. Blanche.
Put into a saucepan a dessertspoonful of good flour
and four ounces of butter. Mix these two ingredients
carefully without heating them. Season with pepper and
salt, and add a pint of hot or cold water. Put the sauce-
pan on the fire, taking care to stir all the time. Let it
boil for two minutes, then remove it. Mix with it the
juice of one lemon and a little fresh butter. Stir till
the butter is melted. If the sauce is too thick—which
happens when it is a success—pour in water till it is
of the right consistence, and keep it hot without letting
it boil.


328
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
11. Blanche à l'Estragon.
Boil a handful of tarragon in salt water for two ininutes;
cool it with cold water, drain it and chop it up. At the
moment of serving put it into a Sauce Blanche (No. 10).
-ray
12. Bread.
Put a large piece of crumb from a stale loaf into a sauce-
pan, with half a pint of milk, an onion, a blade of mace,
and a few peppercorns in a bit of cloth. Boil them a few
minutes, then take out the onion and spice, mash the bread
very smooth, and add to it a piece of butter and a little
salt.
Grein
13. Bretonne.
Cut in halves four or five large onions, so as to be able
to remove the part adhering to the root, which gives a bitter
taste. Chop up these onions, lightly fry them in butter,
and moisten with a glass of beef broth or water, adding a
little thyme and bay-leaf. Let these simmer gently until
thoroughly done, then pass them through the sieve. Put
into this purée of onions two small spoonfuls of thickened
sauce, and season with pepper, salt, and a little lemon. When
you have no thickened sauce, put a pinch of four into the
onions when they are slightly browned, and moisten with
a little stock or water.
-101
14. Brown.
Take a pound or two of steaks, two or three pounds
of veal, lean ham, some pickings of fowl, carrots, and onions ;


SAUCES.
329
put all these into a saucepan with a glass of water, and
set it on a brisk fire. When scarcely any moisture remains,
put it on a brisk fire, that the jelly may take colour without
burning, and as soon as it is brown, moisten it with stock
(or water), add a bunch of parsley and green onions, two
bay-leaves, two cloves, and some champignons; salt it well,
and set it on the fire for three hours, then strain. Dilute
a little browning with your liquor, and boil it an hour over a
gentle fire; take off all the fat, and run it through a tammy.
15. Brown Chaudfroid.
Three-quarters of a pint of aspic, quarter of a pint of
tomato sauce, a few drops of carmine, half a wineglassful
of sherry, half an ounce of glaze ; reduce to a quarter of the
amount, keeping it well skimmed while boiling; then pass it
through the tammy, and use when somewhat cool.
16. Brown Gravy.
Put a piece of butter, about the size of a hen's egg, into a
saucepan, and when it is melted shake in a little flour, and
let it brown. Then by degrees stir in the following in-
gredients:—Half a pint of water and the same quantity of
ale or small beer that is not bitter, an onion and a piece
of lemon-peel cut small, three cloves, a blade of mace, soine
whole pepper, a dessertspoonful of mushroom pickle, the
same quantity of catsup, and an anchovy. Let the whole
boil together a quarter of an hour, then strain it off, and it
will be a good sauce for various purposes.


330
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
17. Brown Italian.
Chop a shallot, pass it in a stew-pan with a spoonful
of oil or a little butter, a clove, a blade of mace, a few
peppercorns, a little ham, and a small piece of bay-leaf;
when fried a little, add two tablespoonfuls of mushroom
chopped very fine, which pass also a few minutes; add
two ragoût-spoonfuls of Spanish sauce (No. 64), and one of
brown broth (p. 77); stir the whole over the fire till it boils;
draw it to the corner and let it simmer fifteen or twenty
ininutes; skim it, and strain it through a colander-spoon.
Linare
18. Brown Poivrade, or Sharp Sauce.
Put into a small stew-pan a few slices of carrot, four
shallots sliced, a sprig of parsley or a little sliced parsley-
root, half a bay-leaf, a sprig of thyme, a clove, half a blade
of mace, and about twenty peppercorns, with a small piece
of ham, and a piece of butter as large as a walnut; stir
these on the fire till lightly tinged with brown; add half
a pint of Spanish sauce (No. 64) and a ragoût-spoonful of
consommé (p. 77); stir till boiling. Draw it to the corner
of the stove till your herbs are done; skim well; add a
little sugar, to counteract any bitterness from the roots, and
pass through a tammy. (See also No. 60.)
ram
19. Cardinal.
Pound some spawn of lobster with butter, and stir it
into some “turned” sauce (No. 70), and work it well over
the stove until it becomes sinooth; season it with cayenne
pepper and salt, the juice of a lemon, and a glass of
Madeira wine; rub it through a tammy.


SAUCES.
331
20. Carrier.
Scrape a small stick of horseradish, cut an onion or two in
thin slices; put these into a sauce tureen with a little vinegar
and whole pepper, set the tureen in the dripping-pan under
a shoulder of mutton while it is roasting. Serve this sauce
quite hot with the meat.
21. Champagne.
Cut an onion, half a pottle of mushrooms, and a small
carrot, in slices, which put into a saucepan with two ounces of
butter, a few sprigs of parsley, a sprig of bay-leaf, a very little
thyme, a couple of blades of mace, two cloves, about thirty
peppercorns, and an ounce of ham cut in pieces; let the
whole sweat well over a brisk fire; do not leave off stirring;
add about two tablespoonfuls of flour; stir it two minutes
longer, bearing in mind that it must be as white as you can
make it; dilute with consommé (p. 77); bring it gradually to
the consistence of “turned ” sauce. When it is well clarified
at the side of the stove, skim it, then add three parts of a
bottle of boiling champagne. Reduce your sauce, on a quick
fire, to the consistence of melted butter; strain it through
a tammy, and finish with a piece of anchovy butter as large as
a walnut, cayenne, and lemon-juice.
_iran
22. Dutch.
A little scraped horseradish, a button onion sliced, a little
parsley or sliced parsley-root, a few peppercorns, and half
a bay-leaf. Stew these at the side of the tire, to get out the
Hlavour, in tarragon, elder, or plain vinegar, to your taste,
three dessertspoonfuls of either, with as much consommé
(p. 77). When this is done, pour the liquor into a basin


332
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
on the yolks of four or five eggs, stirring all the time; return
them to the stew-pan, which put on the fire ; keep the sauce
stirring with a whisk-it must not boil. When as thick
as double cream take it off, strain it through a tammy, and
work a little piece of fresh butter into it; add a little lemon-
juice and salt. This sauco is for immediate use.
23. Fish Gravy (Coulis de Poisson).
Put into a saucepan a piece of butter, a few slices of
onion, a carrot cut in pieces; then add the heads, the remains,
and the bones of any fish ; let the vegetables simmer without
burning, moisten with a vegetable gravy, and when it boils,
thicken in the same fashion as a meat gravy, and use it in
the same way,
arredor
24. Garlic,
Bruise in a stone mortar three or four heads of garlic,
together with a few pistachio nuts and four or five blanched
almonds; then add two boiled potatoes—or, if you do not
like potatoes, soaked bread will do; pound all well together,
adding a little salt and pepper, stir vigorously all the
ingredients, and the while pour in some olive oil and
vinegar; but be very careful not to pour in too heavily
or too fast, or you will turn your sauce sour. This sauce
can be used with almost any kind of fish or poultry.
retorn
25. Geneva.
Take a few mushrooms, onions, carrots sliced, parsley,
a sprig of thymc, a bay-leaf, two ounces of ham, two cloves,


SAUCES.
333
a blade of mace, and peppercorns; pass the whole over
the fire with a little butter. When it becomes clear, add
a tablespoonful of flour, stir it well over the fire a few
minutes, and add good consommé (p. 77) to bring it to
the consistence of cream; with this put half a bottle of
sherry or Madeira. Let the whole simmer until the roots
are done; skim it well, and strain it over whatever fish
you have occasion to dress. When the fish is done, take
it carefully up with a slice, drain it, and put the sauce
into a stew-pan; boil it, and skiin off the fat. The moisture
from the fish will thin your sauce; you will, therefore,
reduce it by boiling. Add a little flour and butter kneaded ;
finish with a little anchovy butter, lemon-juice, and cayenne,
and mask the fish with it.
26. German Sauce (Sauce Allemande).
To make this sauce, the remains of the liquor in which
fowls have been boiled, or chicken consommé, or indeed
anything which has a flavour of chicken, should be added
to an equal quantity of smooth sauce (see No. 63) and set to
siinmer till reduced; after which skim, remove the fat, add
the yolks of two or three eggs, a piece of fresh butter of the
size of a walnut, and pass tlırough a sieve.
iran
27. Gipsy.
Put two ounces of truffles, chopped very fine, to a glass
of Madeira or sherry, with half a bay-leaf and a little garlic;
fill up with brown Italian sauce (No. 17). When it has
sufficiently boiled, take out the garlic and bay-leaf, skim,
and pass through the colander-spoon.


SAUCES.
335
with a teacupful of gravy. Set it over a slow fire, and keep
stirring it to prevent its sticking to the bottom. When it
has been on some time, put in a bunch of sweet herbs, half
a pint of beef gravy, and some pepper. Cover it close, let
it stew over a gentle fire, and when it is done strain it off.
This is a very good sauce for any kind of veal.
31. Hâtelets.
Put some smooth sauce (No. 63) on a bit of butter into
a stew-pan, with some parsley, shallots, and champignons,
all shredded small; set them on the fire, and when they
begin to fry, add a little stock, browning, pepper, nutmeg, a
bay-leaf, and salt; reduce the whole to the consistence of
a beef broth, take out the bay-leaf, put in the yolks of three
eggs, and stir till sufficiently thick. Be careful not to let
it boil.
Ini
32. Hollandaise.
As in the Sauce Blanche (No. 10), mix a dessertspoonful
of flour and four ounces of butter. Moisten with two-
thirds of the water necessary to inake the sauce. Let it
boil for a few minutes, and take the saucepan off the
fire. Mix, while stirring, five yolks of eggs well beaten with
a little water. Put the sauce back on the fire, so as to
cook the eggs, and as soon as these are done, take the
saucepan off again. Then you must proceed as when
making the Sauce Blanche, adding the juice of one or
two lemons, eight ounces of butter, and the rest of the


336
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
water. To make this sauce well, you must prepare it
in a shallow saucepan which holds double the quantity
which you need, so as to be able to stir quickly. When
the sauce is ready, you shift it into a smaller saucepan to
keep it warm, leaving the spoon in it, so as to stir from
time to time. At the moment of serving, if too thick,
add a little water and fresh butter.
re
33. Hot Horseradish.
Fry together in a stew-pan two ounces of butter and
two ounces of four, without discolouring them; then mix
in half a pint of well-flavoured chicken stock, and half a
gill of cream, and stir all together till it boils ; add the juice
of one lemon, and two raw yolks of eggs, and stir orer
the fire again till it thickens, but do not let it boil; put
in a teaspoonful of mixed English mustard, wring through
the tammy, add a tablespoonful of French vinegar, a dust
of castor sugar, and four large tablespoonfuls of freshly-
grated horseradish sauce; mix well, and use.
Gintar
34. Italian.
Put some lemon, parsley, thyme, and mushrooms, shredded
small, into a stew-pan with a little butter and a clove of
garlic. Set on a moderate fire; as soon as the butter begins
to fry, pour in a little consommé (p. 77), and let stew till
pretty thick; then take out the garlic, add some butter sauce
and a little lemon-juice. (For Brown Italian, see No. 17.)


SAUCES.
337
35. Lemon.
Pare the rind off a lemon, cut it into slices, take the
pips out, and cut into small square bits. Blanch the
liver of a fowl and chop it fine. Mix the lemon and liver
together in a boat, pour on some hot melted butter, and
stir up.
Giron
36. Lobster.
Cut up your lobsters into good-sized dice. Pound the
spawn with a piece of butter as large as a walnut, and
rub it through a sieve; put it into a stew-pan, adding as
much melted butter as required for the sauce; season with
a teaspoonful of essence of anchovy, a little lemon-juice,
cayenne, pepper, and salt; stir it on the fire till nearly boiling,
and strain it through the tammy over your lobster. Add
a small piece of glaze.
37. Lyonnaise.
Slice three onions, which pass in a little butter with a
small piece of ham ; when nicely browned, add Spanish sauce
(No. 64), according to the quantity wanted, and a ragoût-
spoonful of consommé (p. 77); let it boil; draw it to
the corner of the stove to throw up the fat; skim well,
and pass it through a tammy; put it into another stew-
pan with button onions cut in rings, fried brown, and drained
in a cloth; let it boil five minutes. Take off any butter
which may rise, and keep your sauce hot in the metal
bath. Some call this Bretonne sauce.


338
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
38. Matelote.
Cut up twelve or eighteen small white onions, and as
many mushrooms; fry them in butter, but do not let them
brown; add two dessertspoonfuls of flour, pepper, salt, and
grated nutmeg, with half a pint of broth and a glass of
white wine. Let the whole boil gently ; beat up the yolks
of three eggs, and stir in. Add the juice of a lemon just
before serving
39. Mayonnaise.
Take a round-bottomed basin, place therein three yolks
of eggs, a little pepper and salt, and with a wooden spoon
proceed to work therein, by turning the spoon round quickly,
about half a pint of salad oil and half a gill of tarragon
vinegar; these must be incorporated by degrees, almost drop
by drop; and in order to produce the sauce in perfection,
it must present the appearance of a firm, creamy substance.
This cold sauce is especially adapted for chicken and lobster
salads.
Girone
40. Mirepoix,
Cut two pounds of fillet of veal, one pound of fat bacon,
one pound of lean ham, four carrots, four onions, all into
dice; pass off the whole with one pound of fresh butter, some
whole parsley, a handful of mushrooms, two shallots, the
least particle of garlic, a bay-leaf, a little thyme and basil,
two cloves, a blade of mace, and a little pepper. The whole
drawn over a slow fire, add the flesh of two lemons sliced thin
(removing the pips), three ladlefuls of consommé (p. 77), and
half a pint of good white wine; simmer the mirepoix for
two hours, and squeeze it through a tammy. Use this for
entrées directed to be prepared “à la mirepoix.”


SAUCES,
339
41. Monglas.
Mix till quite smooth a small spoonful of flour with
butter, and moisten with the liquor in which you have
boiled the joint with which the sauce is to be served.
Add some juice of mushroom, and let it boil for ten
minutes. Remove the saucepan from the fire. Thicken
with three yolks of eggs beaten up with milk. Then
bring it to the boil again, taking care to stir all the
time. To be really good, this sauce should be thick. Add
the juice of a lemon, some truffles cut in shreds, the tails
of cray-fish or a few shrimps, and a little parsley.
S
torm
42. Montpelier Butter,
Well wash a small handful of chervil, the leaves of a
dozen sprigs of tarragon, as much burnet, and a few small
green onions ; blanch and cool them. Boil four eggs hard ;
drain and squeeze your herbs dry, pound them with ten
anchovies, boned and wiped, a tablespoonful of capers, the
yolks of the eggs; scrape a little garlic with the point of your
knife and rub it into your butter, with a little whole pepper,
salt, and grated nutmeg; the whole well pounded. Add two
tablespoonfuls of fine olive oil and a teaspoonful of elder
or tarragon vinegar. Colour it, when thoroughly pounded,
either with spinach green (p. 352), or with red lobster spawn
pounded and mixed with it. Rub it through a hair-sieve,
and set it in ice till wanted to ornament meat or fish salads.
Let it be observed that no flavour should predominate.
rom
43. Onion.
Cut four or five large onions in slices. Simmer these
gently with four ounces of butter and four ounces of
W 2


SAUCES,
341
clean, and take off the beards. Put them into a stew-pan,
and pour the liquor over them. Add a large spoonful
of anchovy liquor, half a lemon, two blades of mace, and
thicken with butter rolled in flour. Then put in half a
pound of butter, and boil it up till the butter is melted.
Now take out the mace and lemon, and squeeze the lemon-
juice into the sauce. Give it a boil, stirring it all the
time, and pour it into your sauce-boat.
retour
47. Poor Man's Sauce.
Put a dessertspoonful of chopped shallots into half a gill
of vinegar with a blade of mace, a clove, fifteen or twenty
peppercorns, a small piece of ham, a small piece of bay-leaf, a
sprig of thyme, and a little parsley ; reduce this three-fourths;
add two ragoût-spoonfuls of Spanish sauce (No. 64), and
one of consommé (p. 77); stir it on the fire till boiling, and
draw it to the corner of the stove to imbibe flavour. Skim
it, and pass it through a colander spoon. This sauce should
be kept very thin.
-inom .
48. Portuguese.
Put into a saucepan a quarter of a pound of butter, the
yolks of two raw eggs, a dessertspoonful of lemon-juice;
salt and pepper according to taste. Set it on a moderate
fire, stirring constantly till hot. Then vannez or mill it
rapidly to unite the butter and eggs. Should it be too
thick, put a very little water to it. This sauce ought not
to be made till just as it is wanted.


342
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
49. Provençale.
Chop finely some shallots, a small leek, let these slightly
brown in a small quantity of olive oil. Then add a little
flour, and moisten with a mixture of broth and Chablis.
Chop some mushrooms (raw, or lightly fried in butter) with
some parsley. Put this into the sauce, with a pinch of pepper
and salt. Let it boil for ten minutes, and just before serving
add the juice of a lemon.
Grow
50. Ravigote Butter.
Take equal proportions of parsley, tarragon, and chervil ;
chop them very fine, season with a little pepper and salt;
rub a tablespoonful in with a quarter of a pound of fresh
butter; put it on the ice to set. If used for breakfast, or
served at the side-table, cut it with a warm cutter in pieces
of whatever shape you please. This butter may always be
used as a garnish for salads.
51. Richelieu.
Chop up very fine six ounces or so of mushrooms
lightly fried in butter, and one or two truffles peeled. Put
into a saucepan two small spoonfuls of smooth sauce (No. 63);
reduce it slightly, then take it off the fire and mix in the
mushrooms and the truffles; add three yolks of eggs, and
boil the sauce for some two or three minutes, stirring it
all the time. It is best to make this sauce in a shallow
saucepan and to pour it afterwards into a smaller one.
Just before serving mix in a piece of butter, but do not
let it boil again. This sauce should be thick ; but if it
be too thick, thin it with the juice of mushrooms or with
broth.


SAUCES.
343
52. Robert.
This is one of the most ancient of sauces, and also one
of the most appetising, only you must clear your head of the
nonsensical notion that a cuisine into which onions enter
must be of necessity a vulgar one. Indeed, the whole Temple
of Cookery, as far as flavouring is concerned, may be said
to rest on four pillars—the onion and its congeners, the lemon,
the anchovy, and the faggot of sweet herbs. The dome
of the edifice is the spice-box, and it is flanked on each side
by smaller cupolas, the salt-box and the pepper-box. Now
for Sauce Robert.
Peel and cut up four middling-sized onions into very
small cubes, which place in a stew-pan with two ounces of
butter; stir over a moderate fire till slightly brown, then
add a tablespoonful and a half of malt vinegar, and let it
boil; add half a pint of brown sauce (No. 14) with half a
pint of consommé (p. 77); simmer beside the fire for ten
minutes; skim well ; stir over a brisk fire, reduce until it is
as thick as the apple-sauce usually served with pork; finish
with two tablespoonfuls of made mustard and a little sugar
and salt, if Mrs. Cook thinks them requisite. Some prefer
French mustard ; but when Sauce Robert goes with pork, I
prefer the English.
In the South of France, Sauce Robert is made in the
Provençal fashion—two tablespoonfuls of salad oil are used
instead of the two ounces of butter, and the finishing touch
is given with a piece of scraped garlic the size of a pea. I
merely cite the dish, as there are a multitude of English
ladies who abhor the very idea of what Charles Lamb calls
“the rank and guilty garlic”—although they eat a great
deal more of it than they wot of when they dine at French
restaurants.


346
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
put in a good pinch of pepper, and let the whole boil for
ten minutes, stirring all the time.
ain
60. Sharp Sauce (Sauce Piquante).
Chop up some shallots and boil them for ten ininutes
with two or three teaspoonfuls of vinegar, a little water
or broth, a good pinch of pepper and salt. Pour in some
thick sauce. Just before serving, add a gherkin chopped up
very fine. (See also No. 18.)
Another Sharp Sauce (in a hurry).
Boil vinegar down to two-thirds of its bulk, with onions
and shallots chopped very fine, salt and pepper. Moisten
with Liebig's Extract; thicken with a little flour worked
up with butter, and after the first boil-up add minced
gherkins. A capital sauce for a cutlet, if an extra friend or
two come to luncheon.
61, Shrimp.
Put half a pint of shrimps washed very clean into a stew.
pan, with a teaspoonful of anchovy liquor, and half a pound
of butter melted thick. Boil it up for five minutes, and
squeeze in half a lemon. Toss it up, and pour it into a
sauce-boat.
aroom
62. Sicilian.
Bruise half a teaspoonful of coriander seeds and four
cloves in a mortar. Put three-quarters of a pint of good
gravy, and a quarter of a pint of essence of ham, into a stew-


SAUCES.
347
pan. Peel half a lemnon, cut it into very thin slices, and put
it in with the coriander seeds and cloves. Let them boil
up, and then add three cloves of garlic whole, a head of
celery sliced, two bay-leaves, and a little basil. Let these
boil till the liquor is reduced to half the quantity. Then
put in a glass of white wine, strain it off, and if not thick
enough, put in a piece of butter rolled in flour. This is
a good sauce for roast fowl.
noin
63. Smooth (Veloutée).
Mix quite smooth a dessertspoonful of flour with a piece
of butter. Moisten with a little consommé (see p. 77) and
a little gravy, or with the liquor in which you have boiled
a fowl, or with some clarified jelly, also mixed with a small
quantity of gravy. Moisten so that the sauce remains thick.
Stir it round, take it off, and add the yolks of three eggs
beaten in boiling milk; then place it again on the fire for
three minutes. If the sauce is too thick, thin it with a
little beef broth, the juice of mushrooms, and some boiled
milk. Salt according to taste. Add a small pinch of
pepper, and a piece of butter, which you should stir into
the sauce so that it holds together. Then pour into a jar
ready for use.
noun
64. Spanish (Espagnole).
Put into a saucepan four ounces of butter and two
small spoonfuls of flour. Warm these till the butter is
melted; then moisten with a little gravy and boil for a
quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, stirring all the while
Pass the sauce through a sieve, if necessary; leave the spoon
in it, so as to stir from time to time until it has cooled.


348
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
This sauce is the basis of all brown sauces. The
evening before a grand dinner it is as well to prepare a
sufficieat quantity of it, so as to have plenty for mixing
purposes.
now
65. Steward's (Maitre d'Hôtel).
Take three ounces of fresh butter and a teaspoonful of
flour, which knead well together in a stew-pan; add two
ragoût-spoonfuls of consommé (p. 77), and a teaspoonful of
chopped parsley. Put it on the fire, and stir it till it
nearly boils, after which take it off, and work in a small
piece of fresh butter and a little lemon-juice, seasoned with
pepper and salt.
Garrot
66. Sweet.
Put some cinnamon into a saucepan with as much water
as will cover it; set it on the fire, and when it has boiled
up once or twice, add two teaspoonfuls of powdered sugar,
a quarter of a pint of white wine, and two bay-leaves; give
the whole one boil, then strain it for table.
Larruan
67. Tartar.
Rub the yolk of a cold, hard-boiled egg through a hair-
sieve into a basin, and add the yolks of two raw eggs, with
a little salt and pepper. Most carefully mix together with
a wooden spoon; have a pint of good salad oil—you must
have oil in this case—in a bottle ; hold it in your left hand
over the basin, dropping it in very, very gradually, and
with your right continue stirring till the mixture becomes
a thick paste; then moisten with a little tarragon vinegar,
still stirring, stirring, stirring. Then more oil, and so forth,


SAUCES.
349
till you have used all the oil; still keeping the sauce
rather thick, but not stiff. Add a teaspoonful of gherkins,
chopped fine, half a dozen chopped capers, the same of
chopped shallots and parsley; two teaspoonfuls of French
mustard of the lightest colour, a dust of cayenne pepper,
a tiny bit of sugar, and more salt if required. As for salt
and pepper, I conceive it to be impertinent and useless to
prescribe the exact quantities to be used. A cook who
knows her business is quite aware of what is meant by a
“ dust” or a “pinch” of this or that condiment. If she does
not know her business, let her go and excel somewhere else.
I need only say that tartar sauce should be rather highly
seasoned.
If, Lady Housekeeper, you are rebellious against oil, as
many ladies are, send up your fried fish with shrimp sauce,
which will be pink and light enough to present a contrast
to the black butter, or any dark sauce, which may precede it.
arretan
68. Tomato.
Crush half a dozen (more or less, as required) very ripe
tomatoes, and put them into a stew-pan over a quick fire,
so as to sweat the water from them; then put them on
a sieve, that the water may drain from them; slice three
or four shallots, and put them into the stew-pan with an
ounce of ham and a dozen peppercorns; fry these a few
minutes, then add the tomatoes; stir over a brisk fire
till the moisture has evaporated; then add half a pint of
brown sauce (No. 14), with a little consommé (p. 77); let this
simmer a quarter of an hour; rub it through a tammy and
put it into a stew-pan, thinning it sufficiently with consommé
for the scum and butter to rise. When well skimmed, season
with a little glaze and a little lemon-juice.


352
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Another Thickening (Brown Roux).
As above, observing that you use six tablespoonfuls of
flour, as this must not be so thick as the other. Make it
on a rather stronger fire, and let it take a nut-brown colour
very gradually; be careful that it does not burn, for the
slightest burning would cause it to be speckled with dark
spots and embitter your sauce.
To Colour Sauces or Purées Green.
Take two or three handfuls of fresh spinach, thoroughly
wash and pound it, and squeeze the juice through a cloth, as it
discolours the tammy and makes it unfit for delicate sauces.
Put the juice in a stew-pan on the fire with a little salt,
stirring without leaving it, and the moment it curdles take off
the pan and put cold water into it. Drain your spinach
green on a hair-sieve and put it between two cloths to extract
the moisture from it. If for colouring sugar and sweetmeats,
mix it well with a little sugar passed through a silk-sieve. It
will then, with a damp paper on the top, keep two or three
weeks..
Green extract of parsley (“Verd de Persil ") is prepared
precisely in the same way as spinach green; parsley retains
a flavour required in many sauces, whereas extract of spinach
is without savour.


353
SECTION IX.-VEGETABLES.
1. Half-Glaze for Vegetables.
Put two quarts of brown sauce (p. 329) into a stew-pan with a
quart of consommé (p. 77), one ounce of glaze, four table-
spoonfuls of tomato-sauce; put it over the fire, and when
boiling place it at the corner, let it simmer very fast, skim
it well, and reduce it to a clear light glaze, with sufficient
consistence to adhere lightly to the back of a spoon; then
put it in a basin for use when wanted.
Licor
2. Glased Onions for Garnish.
Peel ten full-sized onions, taking care to keep them whole;
put them into a saucepan in which you have previously
melted some butter; add half an ounce of sugar, salt, à
glass of broth; let boil over a slow fire until the gravy
be reduced to a jelly. When done and well coloured, serve
the onions with a piece of beef or some entrée; mix the
glaze in the saucepan with a little broth, and pour it over
the onions.
non
3. Cauliflowers.
Of cauliflowers in general, it may be remarked that they
require great care in cleaning. The best way is to throw


VEGETABLES.
355
Make a stuffing with a fillet of veal, beef suet, parsley, scal-
lions, mushrooms, all chopped small, salt, pepper, and three
eggs; when these are well mixed together, put the stuffing
into the open spaces of the cauliflower, pressing it in with
the hand; season it well, and stew it with some stock.
When the sauce is consumed, turn the cauliflower out care-
fully on the dish, take away the bacon, and pour over it some
cullis, with a little butter, and serve.
6. Cauliflowers, Genoan Fashion.
After the cauliflowers are boiled and are cold, sprinkle
them with Gruyère and Parmesan cheese grated; put them
into a dish that has been buttered and strewn with cheese.
Sprinkle bread-crumbs on this, pour butter over, then more
bread-crumbs. Put the dish on hot ashes and brown the tops.
Anton
7. Cauliflowers à la Reine.
Make a sauce with a little ham and a fillet of veal cut
into dice, a little butter, chopped parsley, shallots, and a clove
of garlic; let it stew over the fire a little while, then add
a few teaspoonfuls of jelly-broth and half a pint of cream;
reduce it to a good thickness, strain part of it into your
dish, and place the cauliflower, properly prepared, therein;
pour the remaining sauce over that; garnish with bread-
crumbs and small bits of butter, and brown in the oven.
reom
8. Cauliflowers à la Mayonnaise.
The cauliflowers, thoroughly washed and cleared of their
leaves, must be put into boiling water, butter, and salt; when
x 2


356
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
they are firm, take the saucepan from the fire and let them
cool in the water. When they are cold, drain them, and
put them into oil, vinegar, salt, and a mignonette to soak for
two hours. Dish them in the form of a pyramid as high as
you can make it; mask them with a white mayonnaise, and
place round them a border of aspic jelly, cut in triangles.
--18
ra
9. Cauliflower au Gratin.
To make a gratin of a cauliflower, you must take a
cold one, carefully divide it, plentifully endue each separate
sprig with butter; build together again ; do the top with
pieces of butter, plentifully sprinkle with grated Parmesan
cheese and a few brown crumbs; place in a baking-dish,
heat in the oven, and brown of a rich golden hue with a
salamander; or if you have not got a salamander, let the
oven do the browning.
There is a cheap as well as a dear way of preparing this
delicious dish. The expensive way is to make a sauce in a
stew-pan with cream, pepper, salt, and cayenne, reducing
it over a sharp fire till it begins to get thick, adding grated
Parmesan mixed with half its weight of Gruyère cheese, and
stirring in two yolks of eggs. Then pour your sauce over
the cauliflower, garnish with egg and bread crumbs, place
in a warm oven for a quarter of an hour, salamander
and serve. For the cheap, the very cheap, and quite as
savoury way, treat your cauliflower with dripping instead
of butter, and sprinkle not with expensive Parmesan but
with Dutch or any other cheese that comes handy, which
you may grate down to the very rind.


358
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
when it is boiled just tender, throw it into a sieve to
drain. Then chop it with a knife, beat up six eggs, and
mix them with half a pint of cream and a stale roll grated
fine, a little nutmeg, and a quarter of a pound of melted
butter. Stir all well together, put it into the saucepan in
which you boiled the spinach, and keep stirring it all the
time till it begins to thicken. Then wet and flour your
cloth well, tie it up, and boil it an hour. When the
pudding is done, turn it into the dish, pour melted butter
over it, with the juice of a Seville orange, and strew on
it a little grated sugar.
--12am
14. Purée of Spinach.
Put the spinach in plenty of boiling water; when done,
throw it into cold water; squeeze it dry, and chop it fine.
Put it in a stew-pan with a little clarified butter, in which
you have fried bread, cut in triangles if for a second
course; if not, the shape is immaterial, as you only wish
to flavour your butter with the bread. Stir it about ten
minutes, that the moisture may evaporate; add a ladleful
of Spanish sauce (p. 347), season with pepper and salt; a
small piece of glaze may be added. For entrées, rub this
through the hair-sieve.
Sinan
15. Brussels Sprouts and Cucumbers.
Make a turban of cucumbers, cut and dressed in the
following manner :-Cut them in pieces about two inches
long, peel each separately, then cut the outside into three
slices, leaving the seeds in one piece in the middle. Trim
off all the edges neatly; put half a tablespoonful of sugar
into a stew-pan with an ounce of butter, a little chopped
shallot, and the pieces of cucumber; pass them over a moderate


360
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
pepper, and sliced onions. When they have lain in this
a sufficient time, take them out and press them dry in a
cloth ; put them into a saucepan with butter, smooth sauce
(p. 347), and stock, if your ragoût is to be white, with Spanish
sauce (p. 347) without butter and nutmeg if brown; add a
bunch of sweet herbs. When done, thicken with yolks of
eggs; put in a little lemon-juice, and serve.
if brown ;
herbs. When donde
eggs; put in
intim
19. Another Ragoût of Cucambers.
The cucumbers inust be pared, the inside taken out,
and then cut in pieces; lay these in a dish singly, with
half a teaspoonful of vinegar and a little salt, for two hours,
turning them frequently; by this means the juice, which
is so cold to the stomach, will be drawn out of them; then
press them in a cloth, and put them in a saucepan with
some butter; shake them over the fire; add a pinch of
flour, and moisten them with vegetable broth; let them
simmer on a slow fire till they are done enough, then
put in a thickening of yolks of eggs and a little milk;
set them on the fire again, but not to boil.
20. “Steward's" Potatoes (à la Maitre d'Hôtel).
Boil the potatoes ; before they are quite done take them
up, place them aside, and let them get cold; cut them in
slices of a moderate thickness; put into a stew-pan a lump
of fresh butter and a teaspoonful of flour; let the butter
boil, and add a teacupful of broth; boil again and add
the potatoes, which you have covered with parsley, chopped
fine, and seasoned with pepper and salt; stew them five
minutes, remove them from the fire, and beat up the yolk of
one egg with a tablespoonful of water and a little lemor-juice.
The sauce will set ; then dish up the potatoes and serve.


VEGETABLES.
361
21. Potato Staffing.
Cut up raw potatoes into little dice; drain them dry,
and put them in a stew-pan with butter, shredded onion or
shallot, also parsley, salt and pepper, and a grate of nutmeg,
if approved. Cover the stew-pan close and let steam, shak-
ing it now and then. The potatoes must not be suffered to
get soft enough to mash. Have some sausages fried, and
when cold take off the skins and cut them into thin
little slices. Mix these with the potatoes; or, instead of
sausages, mince fine the raw liver of a goose, or some
pig's liver, and stir it among the potatoes a few minutes
before the stuffing is used.
-
22. Potato Pudding.
Boil two pounds of potatoes, pound them fine in a mortar,
and beat in half a pound of melted butter; boil half an
hour; pour melted butter over, with a glass of white wine
or the juice of an orange, and throw sugar all over the
pudding and dish.
Gry
23. Potato Cake.
Pare half a pound of steamed or well-boiled dry potatoes
and pound them in a mortar; add butter and milk in which
sugar has been dissolved; when the potatoes are well-beaten
and mixed, set the paste on the fire and boil it; stir it
into a basin to cool; then put to it the yolks of eight eggs,
a sufficient quantity of sugar, the whites of four eggs beaten
to a snow, and two spoonfuls of orange-flower water. Take a
mould, butter the inside well, sprinkle the sides over with
bread-crumbs, and pour in the above preparation ; bake till
nicely coloured, when it may be turned on to a dish. Serve
with some sauce.


362
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
24. Potato Soufilé.
Take any number of large potatoes—the less eyes and
the firmer the skin the better. Clean them thoroughly,
and then bake them; after which cut a round piece not quite
so large as a half-crown out of each potato, and remove
as much of the inside as can be obtained without damage
to the skin. Mash the potato with cream, adding a little
butter, sprinkle over a little salt, and put to it half a pint
of milk; give it all a boil ; take the whites of three eggs,
whip them until they froth, add them to the potato while
it boils, and then make the potato into a paste ; return this
through the orifice in the skin until each skin is full; bake
them, and serve.
25. Potato Rissoles.
Boil the potatoes floury; mash them, seasoning with salt
and a little cayenne; mince parsley very fine, and work
up with the potatoes, adding shallot, also chopped fine;
bind with yolk of egg; roll into balls, and fry with fresh
butter over a clear fire. Meat shredded finely, including
bacon and ham, may be added.
26. Potato Omelette.
This may be made with a mashed potato and four eggs,
seasoned with pepper and salt and a little nutmeg. It
should be thick, and, being rather substantial, a squeeze
of lemon will improve it. Fry a light brown.


VEGETABLES.
363
27. Potato Fritters.
Wash and pare some potatoes ; cut them into thin slices,
which soak for half an hour in a little brandy, with the rind
of a lemon; then drain, dip them in good batter, and fry
them of a nice colour; drain them again, place the fritters
in a dish, sprinklo sugar over, and serve them hot.
Lina
28. Potato Cheese-Cakes.
Pare and boil thoroughly half a pound of the best kind of
potatoes; when quite done, rub them through a sieve, and
mix with them two eggs, well beaten, a sufficient quantity
of milk to make into a paste, a few currants, a little spice,
and grated bread. Lay this on puff-paste, like other cheese-
cakes, and bake.
arro
29. To Ragoût French Beans.
Boil some beans till tender, then take your stew-pan
and put in a piece of butter; when it is melted, dredge in
flour; then peel a large onion, slice and fry it brown in
the butter; next put in the beans, with a little pepper,
salt, and nutmeg; boil up, and add the yolk of an egg
and some cream ; stir all together for a minute or two, and
dish up.
intimo
30. French Beans in Black Butter,
When the beans are scalded, drain thein well; season
them with salt and pepper, and having placed them in
your dish, pour sone black butter over them, and serve.


564
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
31. French Beans à la Française.
Boil the beans in salt and water over a large fire, that
they may retain their colour. Drain them and lay them in
a stew-pan on the fire, to dry up all the water. When entirely
dry and quite hot, add to them a quarter of a pound of
fresh butter, a little pounded pepper and salt, and the juice
of a lemon; keep moying the stew-pan without using a spoon,
as that would break the beans. Serve hot.
32. “Steward's" French Beans (à la Maitre d'Hôtel).
Prepare your beans for boiling; put into a stew-pan
a piece of butter, shredded parsley, and fresh onions; when
the butter is melted, add the French beans, previously
boiled, turn them a few times over the fire, shake in some
flour, and moisten with a little good stock, well seasoned.
Boil till the sauce is consumed; then put in the yolks
of three eggs, beaten up with some milk, and, lastly, add a
little vinegar or verjuice. Cullis or veal gravy may be used
instead of the eggs.
33. French Beans, Brittany Fashion (à la Bretonne).
Cut an onion or two into dice, and put them with
some butter into a saucepan over a stove; when they
begin to brown, add some Spanish sauce (p. 347), or a pinch
of flour; as soon as the whole is sufficiently browned, moisten
with a ladleful of good gravy, season with salt and whole
pepper; reduce this sauce, and having boiled the beans,
put them into it and simmer all together.


VEGETABLES.
365
34. Purée of French Beans.
Take full-sized beans, string them; put them into boiling
water, with a little salt, for a quarter of an hour; strain
and throw them into cold water to preserve their colour;
drain them a second time; put a good piece of butter into
a saucepan, with salt, pepper, a tablespoonful of flour; add
the beans, and moisten them with broth; put in a bunch
of parsley and chives ; let them simmer, and rub them
through a sieve to make a purée; warm this with a
little butter, and serve.
ni
35. White Haricot Beans, Brittany Fashion (à la Bretonne).
Take one quart of fresh-shelled beans, have also two
quarts of boiling water, in which you have placed two ounces
of butter and a little salt; put in your beans and boil
them about half an hour or till tender, drain quite dry upon
a sieve, then put them into another stew-pan with a quarter
of a pound of butter and a little pepper and salt,“ toss” them
a few minutes over the fire, and when very hot turn them
out upon your dish, and serve.
Girona
· 36. Beans à la Poulette.
First boil the beans, and then put them into a stew-pan
with some butter, parsley chopped, green onions, and a little
savoury; shake them over the fire, add a little flour, a lump of
sugar, and a little stock. When done, put in the yolks of
three eggs, beaten up with a little milk.
-naire
37. Baked Beans.
Soak a quart of dried beans overnight in cold water ; drain
off the water in the morning, and stew them for balf an hour


366
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
of salt porki The pork sake for three
in a little water; put them in a deep dish with one pound
of salt pork ; cut the rind in stripes, and place in the centre
of the dish. The pork should be sunk a little below the
surface of the beans. Bake for three hours and a half.
A lump of saleratus should be thrown in while the beans
are stewing, and a pint of water added when they are put
into the baking-dish.
Lavrino
38. Parsnips with Beans.
Take two large parsnips, scrape them clean, and boil
them in water. When tender take them up, scrape all
the soft into a saucepan, add to them four teaspoonfuls of
cream, a piece of butter the size of a hen's egg, chop them
well in a saucepan, and when they are quite thick, heap
them up in the middle of the dish, with a ragoût of French
beans all round.
nan
39. Parsnip Fritters,
Boil, peel, and grate to a pulp two parsnips; beat it up
with four yolks and two whites of eggs, two tablespoonfuls
each of cream and white wine, with a little grated nutmeg.
Beat the whole till the batter is very light, then fry it, and
serve the fritters up with orange- or lemon-juice and sugar,
or with melted butter, white wine, and sugar.
nie
40. Carrot Pie.
Grate half a pound of the best part of a raw carrot
and double the quantity of bread; mix eight beaten yolks
of eggs and four of the whites with half a pint of new
milk, and melt half a pound of fresh butter with half a


VEGETABLES.
367
pint of white wine, three large spoonfuls of orange-flower
water, a grated nutmeg, and sugar. Stir it, and if too
thick, add more milk. Lay a puff-paste over the dish, and
bake it an hour. Serve it with grated sugar. This pie will
be made more delicious by substituting Naples biscuits and
cream for the bread and milk, and by adding a glass of
ratafia to the orange-flower water. Some cooks boil the
carrot, but thereby its saccharine virtue is lost.
na
41. Marrow Pie.
Grate as much bread as will fill a large breakfast-cup
quite full. Put it into a jug and pour nearly a quart of
boiling sweet milk or thin cream over it, and let it swell
and soak while you shred half a pound of marrow or suet,
and beat up four large or six small eggs. Have two ounces
of raisins stoned, and two ounces of currants plumped.
Sweeten the pudding to taste, and season it with a very
little grated nutmeg and a teaspoonful of cinnamon in
powder. Cover a stoneware flat dish on the edge with
stripes of puff-paste, and mark neatly as leaves. Bake the
pie in this dish, or plainly in a deep dish.
Grosir
42. Pumpkin Pie.
Take a ripe pumpkin, and chip off the rind or skin; halve
it, and take out the seed and puffy part in the centre, which
throw away. Cut the pumpkin into small, thin slices;
fill a pie-dish therewith; add a teaspoonful of spice and
å tablespoonful of sugar, with a small quantity of water.
Cover with a nice light paste, and bake in the ordinary
way. Pumpkin pie is greatly improved by being eaten with


368
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
clotted cream and sugar. An equal quantity of apples will
make it a still more delicious pie.
Siretor
43. Purée of Pumpkin.
Cut a pumpkin into pieces, and boil it in salt and water;
throw away the water, and pass the pumpkin through a
colander; put into the saucepan a piece of butter, with a
tablespoonful of flour: but do not let it brown; add the
purée, some pepper, and a little sugar, and boil five minutes;
beat it up with the yolks of two eggs, and a tablespoonful of
cream, if you have any; serve in a dish surrounded with fried
crusts of bread.
rain
44. Vegetables in a Mould.
Line the inside of an oval mould with rashers of bacon ;
then set upright alternately slips of cooked turnip, carrots,
celery, asparagus heads, and pickled cucumbers. Lay a
forcemeat at the bottom of the mould and round the inside
of the vegetables; fill the centre with stewed beef tails with
the bones taken out, or with small pieces of mutton or
veal passed with sweet herbs, pepper, salt, and lemon-juice.
Cover with forcemeat, wash over with egg, and bake.
When it is to be served, turn it gently out of the mould
upon a dish, take off the bacon, inake a little hole at the
top and pour in some good cullis.
45. Vegetable Pie.
Cut celery heads two inches long, turnips and carrots
into shapes, some peeled small onions, or two Spanish


VEGETABLES.
369
BES
onions, artichoke bottoms cut into quarters, pieces of cauli-
flower or heads of broccoli, heads of fine asparagus, and
any other vegetable you may think proper. Wash all these
thoroughly clean ; then boil each kind separately in just
sufficient water to cover them, and as they get tender
strain the liquor into one stew-pan and put the vegetables
into another. Then add to the liquor half a pint of
consommé (p. 77), thicken it with flour, and season it with
cayenne, salt, and lemon-juice; boil it for ten minutes,
strain it to the vegetables, and let the whole simmer together.
Serve in a raised pie-crust, or in a pie-dish with a raised
crust baked round it.
Sipan
46. Stewed Peas.
Three pints or two quarts of peas are sufficient for a
second-course dish. Peas for stewing must be quite young.
Throw them into a large pan of cold water, with two
cabbage lettuces cut up, and two ounces of fresh butter;
work the peas and butter, etc., together; take them out of the
water and put them into a clean stew-pan; tie up a bunch
of green onions with a little parsley and mint, and put with
them; cover the stew-pan close, and about an hour before
dinner set it over a stove, frequently giving the pan a
toss lest any should stick to the bottom; when the peas
are tender, and the juice nearly reduced, take out the
bunch of onions, toss up the peas with a little more
butter, a little sugar and salt, and at last pour in a
dessertspoonful of cold water, and dish them immediately.
Flour in stewed peas, though many cooks use it, is not
admissible, nor is it requisite if proper care and attention
be paid at the moment they are served.
iron


370
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
47. Asparagas, Italian Fashion,
Take the asparagus, break the tops in pieces, then boil
them soft, and drain the water from them; take a little
oil, water, and vinegar, let it boil; season it with pepper
and salt; throw in the asparagus, and thicken with the
yolks of eggs.
-
48. Forced Asparagus in French Rolls.
Take out the crumb of three French rolls by first cutting
a piece of the top crust off, and be careful that the crust
fits again the same place. Fry the rolls brown in fresh
butter; then take a pint of cream, the yolks of six eggs
beaten fine, a little salt and nutmeg ; stir these well together
over a slow fire till the mixture begins to thicken. Have
prepared a hundred of small grass boiled, but save tops suffi-
cient to stick in the rolls; cut the remainder small and put
into the cream, filling the loaves with them. Before frying
the balls, make holes thick in the top crust, and stick in the
tops you have reserved; then lay on the piece of crust, and
make the grass look as if growing.
Januar
49. Asparagas in Croustade.
Mix up the yolks of four eggs in some paste made of
macaroni flour, then form it into an under-crust, cut it into a
band nineteen inches long and two inches and a quarter wide.
With the cuttings of your paste form a circle ten inches in
diameter, and around this put your band in form of a crous-
tade, pinch up your paste into proper shape, and ornament
it lightly round; glaze it, and put it to dry in a slow oven.
This done, take a fine head of asparagus and place it, standing
upright, in the middle of your croustade; surround this with


VEGETABLES.
371
six more heads of asparagus nine inches in length, and en,
circle these with twelve more eight inches in length. Add
two more rounds of asparagus heads, the one six inches
and the other five inches in length.
int:
50, Asparagus in Cream,
Choose the finest asparagus, and dress it as usual; parboil
half a pint of cream and a little butter and flour, shake
it about, and when the butter is melted, season moderately,
and pour over the asparagus.
51. Ragoût of Asparagus.
Take one hundred grass, scrape and clean them, and
throw them into cold water; cut them as far as they
are good and green; pick and wash clean and cut very
small two heads of endive; take also a young lettuce,
clean washed and cut small, and a large onion, peeled and
cut small. Put a quarter of a pound of butter into a stew-
pan, and when it is melted, throw in the above ingredients.
Toss them about, and fry them ten minutes. Season them
with a little pepper and salt, shake in a little flour, again toss
them about, and pour in half a pint of gravy. Let them
stew till the sauce is very thick and good, and then pour
all into your dish. You may make use of a few of the
small tops of the grass for garnish.
Siriam
52. Artichokes à la St. Cload,
Trim and boil them till the chokes come out; then
drain and let them cool; have ready as many small pigeons
Y 2


372
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
stewed and well-seasoned as you have artichokes, each of
which must be stuffed with a pigeon; dip them in good
batter made of flour, eggs, a spoonful of oil, and a little
salt; fry in a very hot pan with plenty of dripping.
53. Artichokes, Bordeaux Fashion.
Trim your artichokes and blanch twenty ininutes, place
them in cold water, then scoop out the interior with the
handle of a spoon, taking out every particle from the in-
side, and have ready the following sauce :-Peel thirty large
button onions and cut them in rings, put them in a stew-
pan with a little oil, and fry of a light yellow colour; add
half a pint of white sauce and two tablespoonfuls of bread-
crumbs, mix well, then add eighteen stoned olives and
the fillets of four anchovies well washed; stew until all
is well cooked, then season with a little pepper, sugar,
and a piece of scraped garlic the size of a pea. Pour
this into the artichokes, and when done serve with a little
white sauce in each.
ram
54. Artichoke Pie.
Boil twelve artichokes, break off the chokes and leaves
and take the bottoms clear from the stalks; line the dish
with puff-paste, and lay on this four ounces of fresh butter.
Place a row of artichokes; strew over them pepper, salt,
and beaten mace; then another layer of artichokes; strew
on more spice and a quarter of pound of butter cut
in small pieces. Boil half an ounce of truffles and morels,
chopped small, in a quarter of a pint of water, and pour
into the pie, with a gill of white wine. Cover your pie
and bake.


VEGETABLES.
373
55. Jerusalem Artichokes.
Take about thirty of the best-shaped ones, as nearly
as possible of the same size; turn them into the shape of
pears, boil in salt and water, with which you have put a
quarter of a pound of butter; when tender, take them out,
drain them upon a cloth, and dress in the form of a dome;
saụce over with melted butter or tomato-sauce.
-nie
56. Grilled Mushrooms.
The mushrooms should have “ broad-brimmed hats.”
Pluck out the stalks and fill the orifices with a well-
seasoned veal stuffing, in which you have mixed the finely-
minced stalks of the mushrooms. Spread your stuffing
over the whole concavity or under part of your mushrooms.
Wrap them in buttered writing-paper, and place them on a
gridiron over a gentle fire. Take care that the paper does
not catch. Eight or ten minutes will suffice to cook them.
ini
57. Mushroom Pie, Rass Fashion.
Get large and fleshy mushrooms; trim their stalks away,
as these are generally hard; pare, and cut them in two;
put the pieces in a frying-pan with butter or oil, season
with salt and pepper, fry them on a brisk fire for a few
minutes only, diminishing their volume, and then take them
off the fire. Spread the bottom of a pie-dish with a few
slices of raw ham, whereon place the mushrooms by layers,
alternating with chopped onion, parsley, and a little fennel ;
press close together, inask the top with slices of ham,
and then baste with two tablespoonfuls of brown sauce;
cover the pie with short crust, and bake for one hour.


374
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
58. Essence of Mushrooms,
Pick some mushrooms, and put them into a bowl, sprink-
ling them with fine salt; leave them till the next day.
Press them to extract the moisture, and set them aside;
press them again, and even a third time. Make three
kinds out of these three qualities, or mix them into one.
Add pepper, spices, cloves, crushed into small pieces; let it
boil, and skim it till no more scum rises. Strain it, put
it into bottles with two cloves and a peppercorn; cork it
up, and preserve it for use as required.
: 59. Purée of Celery.
Peel and wash some full-sized roots of celery ; let them
boil, and make them into purée by passing through a
colander. Put some fresh butter into a saucepan, and add
the purée, with salt, a tablespoonful of flour, some cream,
or some beef broth and gravy, and a piece of sugar as large
as a hazel nut; then serve.
-nin
60. Purée of Onions.
Blanch onions in boiling-water, if you wish to take away
their acridity, which renders them indigestible and turns
the cream with which they are mixed; peel and cut them
asunder; put them into a saucepan with a piece of fresh
butter; simmer gently, that the purée may preserve its
whiteness. When the onions are tender, add some salt,
a large spoonful of flour, and thin with cream. No broth
is necessary. Put in a piece of sugar as large as a walnut.
Strain, and serve with meat, etc.


376
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
64. Fricassée of Beetroot. .
After boiling the beetroot in salt and water, put some
slices into a saucepan with some butter, parsley, chives, or
sweet leeks, chopped, a little garlic, a pinch of flour, salt,
pepper, and vinegar to taste; let the whole boil a quarter of
an hour.


377
SECTION X.-SALADS.
1. Partridge Salad.
Boil eight eggs hard, shell them, throw them into cold
water; cut a thin slice off the bottom to facilitate the
proper placing of them in the dish; cut each one into
four, lengthwise; make a very thin, flat border of butter
about one inch from the edge of the dish you are going
to serve them on; fix the pieces of egg upright, close to
each other, the yolk outside, or alternately the white and
yolk; place in the centre a layer of fresh salad that
may be in season, and having previously roasted a young
partridge rather underdone, which you cut into eight or
ten pieces, you prepare sauce as follows :-Put a table-
spoonful of shallots, finely chopped, in a basin, one ditto
of pounded sugar, the yolk of an egg, a teaspoonful of
chopped parsley, tarragon, or chervil, and a quarter of an
ounce of salt; mix in by degrees, with a wooden spoon,
four spoonfuls of oil and two of Chili vinegar; when all
is mixed, put it on ice or in a cold place; when ready
to serve up, whip a gill of cream rather thick, lightly mix
this with it, lay the inferior parts of the partridge on the
salad, sauce over so as to cover each piece, then lay over
the salad and the remainder of the partridge ; again sauce
over, and serve.
2. Grouse Salad.
Roast your grouse, and with the trimmings prepare a
salmi sauce (for which a recipe is given on p. 277); reduce this


378
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
stiffly, and having mixed in a third portion of aspic jelly,
use it to mask the joints of grouse with a rather thick
coating of the sauce, and set them upon a dish on rough
ice to set firm. Place a thick bed of seasoned shredded lettuce
on the centre of the dish, and upon this foundation build
up the joints of grouse ; garnish round the base with a border
of curled celery, and an outer border of quarters of hard-
boiled eggs. Pour 'some white mayonnaise sauce round
between the bottom parts of the joints of grouse and the
celery, place an ornament of aspic jelly on the top, and
serve.
3. Chicken Salad.
This is justly claimed as an American delicacy, and is
best made in the State of Massachusetts, where there are
certain negro “caterers ” who have acquired fame and
fortune by their dexterity in preparing and mixing the
dish. In reality, it is as simple as it is succulent, being
merely a salad of such herbs as are in season, moistened
with a mayonnaise sauce, and made substantial by the
addition of pieces of cold boiled chicken.
Take a young, tender chicken of not more than two and
a half pounds; boil in stock for one hour; when cooked
let it get thoroughly cold. Bone your chicken, cut it up
into small pieces, put it into a deep dish, season with a
pinch of salt, half as much pepper, one tablespoonful of
vinegar, and six leaves of chopped lettuce, with a few
leaves of the white celery cut up. Mix carefully, lightly,
and thoroughly. Place your mixture in a salad-bowl and
cover with half a table-cupful of mayonnaise. Decorate
the top with hard-boiled eggs cut in rings, capers, stoned
olives, and, if you choose, “thread ” anchovies. As for the
mayonnaise, it is tartar sauce (p. 348) made of yolks of


380
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
in the juice of two lemons, but be sure none of the lemon-
seed is left in the salad.
A very ancient recipe. Indeed, some of our very best
culinary formulas are hundreds of years old. Give salads of
smelts a trial. You will not regret it.
iftir
6. Herring Salad.
Ingredients: Four or six salted herrings that have been
steeped in cold water to draw out some of the salt; a
little cold meat—veal, mutton, or beef; three eggs boiled
hard, some boiled potatoes, two apples, some pickled
cucumbers and small pickled onions, sugar, pepper, vinegar,
and cream. Take the herring from the bones, mince it,
and lay it aside. Take the cold meat, as well as a little
beetroot, potato, apple, and cucumber (all this together
should not be more than the herring alone, so you must
judge your quantities accordingly), add it to the herring.
Put a little cream, sugar, vinegar, and pepper in a cup
together, mix, and then add them to the meat, herring,
etc. All should be of the consistency of a paste, which
lay smoothly on a flat dish and cover with minced beet-
root. The whites and yolks of the eggs mince separately,
and garnish the dish with them, some in the middle and
some as a border all round. Outside of this border is
laid a fringe of small pickled onions. The salad is served
with a sauce made of cream, vinegar, mustard, and sugar,
or with oil, vinegar, and pepper.
om
7. Potato Salad.
For Potato Salad I have already given a recipe in my
chat on German Cookery (p. 15).


381
SECTION XI.- HORS - D'EUVRES
AND SAVOURY DISHES.
1. Anchovies, Norwegian Fashion.
SCRAPE, wipe, and bone twelve or more Norwegian an-
chovies; trim the fillets neatly; have ready two hard-boiled
eggs, chop the whites and yolks separately, cover the bottom
of one or two sinall round glass dishes with a layer of
the chopped egg, forming a neat design ; sprinkle and season
with a little chopped parsley, chervil, a little sweet oil and
vinegar, and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Place the anchovy
fillets over the top in the shape of lattice-work, ornament
with fancifully cut slices of lemon and hard-boiled egg
round the sides, sprinkle with a little chopped parsley,
and serve.
2. Anchovy Canapés.
Procure a number of farthing rolls (any baker will make
them to order). Cut these rolls into equal halves, scoop
out all the crumb, and place the crust to dry in the screen.
Meanwhile, chop fine hard-boiled eggs sufficient for the number
of canapés to be filled; chop also some tarragon, chervil
and chives; and prepare some fillets or strippets of cleaned
anchovies. Put the chopped eggs and herbs into a basin,
season with salad oil and tarragon vinegar, pepper and
salt; mix together, and with this fill up the prepared
crusts; ornament them by placing the fillets of anchovies
over their surface in the fashion of lattice-work; dish up
the canapés on a napkin.


382
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
3. Tunny.
This is a fish caught only in the Mediterranean, and
it comes to this country preserved in oil ; its flesh somewhat
resembles veal, and possesses a full sweet flavour-something
between the flavour of game and salmon. Tunny is served
cut in thin slices and dished up in rows, surrounded with
chopped parsley and capers, and a little salad oil. It is a
capital hors-d'æuvre, to be eaten before your soup; and is
procurable at most Italian warehouses in the metropolis.
IC
4. Sardines à la Royale.
Take some sardines, remove the outer skins with a sharp
pointed knife, and cut out the bones. Close the fillets up,
and take some crisp leaves of chervil; place them both
on a glass dish, and garnish with strips of gherkin and
hard-boiled egg.
5. Sardines à la Provençale.
Cut some neat fingers of toasted bread, large enough to
hold a sardine, butter them slightly, wipe as many sardines as
may be required, put one on each finger of toast, dish them
up on a round dish in the form of a lattice-work, keep the
dish in a hot oven long enough to get the sardines thoroughly
hot. Have ready a sauce made as follows:-Put three well-
beaten eggs into a small saucepan, add a pat of butter, a
tablespoonful of cream, a teaspoonful of anchovy essence, and
a tablespoonful of finely-chopped boiled onions; season with
pepper and salt; stir over a fire until it thickens, pour
quickly over the dish of prepared sardines, sprinkle with


HORS-D'EUVRES AND SAVOURY DISHES.
383
a few drops of dissolved meat-glaze, dust with a pinch of
cayenne pepper, and serve.
Lintain
6. Crusts of Sardines,
Make croûtons of toast by frying them in oil; then
prepare the sardines and place them on the toast, sprinkle
cayenne pepper on them, bake in the oven till very hot,
and serve.
7. Herring Roes on Toast.
Grill your herrings, take the roes out and break them
up, adding pepper and salt to taste, and spread this mixture
on neat little pieces of hot buttered toast. Serve as a
savoury.
8. Canapés à la Turbigo.
Procure five small round dinner rolls (farthing rolls), cut
each in equal halves, scoop out the crumb, and set them to
dry. Mince coarsely about twenty prawns, together with
the white part of a small head of celery, a tablespoonful
of mixed pickles, and two small truffles; season this mix-
ture with some stiff mayonnaise sauce, into which a little
parsley, fennel leaves, tarragon leaves, and a small shallot (all
finely-chopped) have been introduced; stir gently, and add
a dessertspoonful of tomato purée and a teaspoonful of
prepared mustard. Put this mixture into the prepared rolls,
finishing with a layer of aspic or savoury jelly on each, and
garnishing the surface with strips of hard-boiled white of egg,
strips of truffles, and parsley. Serve on small round dishes.


384
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
9. Italian Sausage.
Mince two pounds of lean pork with one pound of fat
pork. Season the mixture with salt, mixed spice, coriander-
seed, and bruised aniseed. When the ingredients are
thoroughly blended, moisten the mixture with pig's blood
and white wine sufficiently to bind it together, but be careful
not to render it too moist. Cut some narrow strips from
the best part of a calf's head, mix these with the mince,
and put the preparation into sausage-skins. Tie the ends
securely, plunge the sausages into boiling water, and boil
them gently until done enough. Afterwards dry them in
a smoke-house, or in a chimney over a wood fire, till they
become hard. Time to boil, half an hour.
10. Tranches Viennoises à la Tomate.
Cut some small slices of stale brown bread about
an inch and a half square, stamp these out with a neat
shape by means of a round fancy cutter. 'Next pound in
a mortar the following ingredients :--Two ounces of cooked
white meat (veal, chicken, or rabbit), two yolks of eggs,
one ounce of fresh butter, a little each of chopped parsley,
tarragon, and chervil, and one tablespoonful of Béchamel
sauce; season to taste, work well, and pass all through a
wire-sieve. Spread the round slices of bread thinly with
butter, cover the surface of each with a thin layer of the
prepared paste, on this lay a thin slice of cooked ox-tongue,
cut a trifle smaller than the bread with a similar-shaped
cutter; on the tongue place a slice of fresh tomato not
larger than the tongue slices. Sprinkle the slices with salt
and pepper, work up the remainder of the sauce with a
tablespoonful of very stiff tomato sauce, put it in a small


386
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
13. Little Crusts of Caviare (Petites Croûtes de Caviar).
Cut out eight round or square pieces of bread about an
inch in diameter and three-quarters of an inch thickScoop
out the centre a little ; fry them in clarified butter, and drain
on a cloth. Mix carefully with a wooden spoon two ounces
of Hygienic Caviare with a teaspoonful of finely-chopped
shallots, a squeeze of lemon, and a pinch of cayenne
pepper. When the croûtes are perfectly cold, fill into the
hollow parts the caviare thus prepared, dish up on dish.
paper or folded table-napkin, and garnish with sprigs of
parsley.
Be careful never to touch caviare with any kind of
metal utensils, as it injures the flavour. Hygienic Caviare
is slightly pressed, containing less oil and less salt than
the caviare in general use.
14. Croquettes of Macaroni.
Stir half a pint of any kind of good sauce over the
fire until reduced to half its original quantity; then add
the yolks of three eggs, nutmeg, pepper, a pinch of
chopped shallot, a pinch of sugar, and the juice of half a
lemon; stir this again over the fire to set the eggs in the
sauce, and then add the following ingredients, mixed small
and neatly:-A handful of boiled Genoa macaroni, two
ounces of roast game, one ounce of lean ham, truffles,
mushrooms; incorporate these with the sauce, and when
set cold and firm, divide the preparation into equal small
portions; mould these in the form of eggs; egg-and-bread-
crumb, and fry them in hot lard, and, being dished up
with fried parsley, serve hot.
now


HORS-D'EUVRES AND SAVOURY DISHES.
387
15. Curled Butter.
To an iron hook in the wall tie two corners of a
strong napkin, make a knot with the other two ends, so
as to be able to pass a stick through it; put into this
napkin half a pound of butter, and twist it tightly over a
dish into which the butter will fall in small and pretty
strings. To serve as a hors-d'oeuvre.
non
16. Hazel-Nat Batter.
Knead some butter with parsley, chives, tarragon,
chopped small, and some hazel-nuts reduced to a paste in
a mortar. This forms a very delicate hors-d'oeuvre.
17. Devilled Biscuits.
Butter biscuits on both sides, sprinkle cayenne pepper on
the top, and send them to be grilled. This may be varied by
the addition of chopped anchovies or curry paste.
Iron
18. Langtry Sandwiches.
Cut up chicken and cooked ham in the form of small
squares and dice, in the proportion of two-thirds of chicken to
one-third of ham. Stir two tablespoonfuls of sauce with
one of Crosse and Blackwell's curry paste in a stew-pan,
and when it boils, add the chicken and ham; mix, and
with this preparation make the sandwiches in the manner
following :-Cut some thin slices of stale bread-crumb, stamp
out these with a plain round tin cutter the size of a
crown piece, and fry them with clarified butter of a light
golden brown; between two of these crusts place a thick
z
2


389
SECTION XII.-EGGS.
• 1. Eggs and Broccoli..
WHEN you boil your broccoli, which will be cooked
enough as soon as it is tender, save a large bunch for the
middle and six or eight little sprigs to stick round.
Toast a bit of bread, of what size you please, but pro-
portion it to the size of your dish. Take as many eggs
as you have occasion for, beat them well, and put them
into a saucepan with a good piece of butter and a little
salt. Keep beating them with a spoon till they are thick
enough, and then pour them on the toast. Set the largest
bunch of broccoli in the middle and the other little pieces
round them, and garnish the dish with sprigs of broccoli.
2. Curried Eggs, Bengal Fashion.
Peel three onions, cut them in very thin slices, and put
them into a stew-pan with two ounces of fat or butter,
two ounces of chopped bay-leaves, and a sprig of chopped
thyme ; fry these all together for about fifteen minutes till
of a nice golden brown; then lightly sprinkle in a tablespoon-
ful of fine four, add a teaspoonful of cardamoms, one small
scraped clove of garlic, a saltspoonful of ground allspice,
curry powder, and salt, a pinch of ground ginger, three-
quarters of a pint of any light stock or milk, and boil all
together till the mixture is almost dry. Add to it twelve


390
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
sliced hard-boiled eggs, then serve on a hot dish in a border
of plainly boiled rice, garnished with little bunches of hard-
boiled yolk of eggs that have been rubbed through a wire-
sieve, and shredded green capsicums.
no
3. Eggs with Burnt Butter.
Put into a frying-pan two ounces of butter, which melt;
as soon as it is on the point of browning, put in the eggs,
which have been previously broken in a basin and seasoned
with pepper and salt; when well set, serve, with a tea-
spoonful of vinegar over the eggs.
4. Randalled Eggs.
Twelve eggs boiled hard and halved; cut a piece from
the ends of half of them to allow them to stand ; take out
the yolks, chop them, mix with them chopped boiled ham
or tongue, seasoned with nutmeg and mace and moistened
with butter, and introduce this into the egg. Put the halves
together, and stand the joined eggs on end in the dish.
5. Eggs à la Tripe.
Take some eggs that have been boiled for seven minutes,
and shell and slice them. Butter the dish in which they
are to be served, place a thin layer of creamy Béchamel
sauce on the bottom, and on this place a layer of the sliced
eggs, sprinkling lightly with a little finely-chopped shallot
and fresh parsley; add another layer of the sauce, and
then the eggs as before, and continue in like manner until


EGGS.
391
the dish is nearly full. Let the sauce be on the top, and
sprinkle over this a few browned bread-crumbs and about
half an ounce of butter broken in tiny pieces; set the
dish in a tin containing boiling water, and stand in a hot
oven for about fifteen or twenty minutes ; then take up,
remove the dish from the tin, and sprinkle the top over
with the hard-boiled yolk of egg (that has been passed
through a fine sieve) and a little chopped parsley.
6. Eggs Brouillés.
Break four or six eggs; beat them and put them into
a saucepan with a piece of butter, a little salt, and a spoon-
ful of gravy, which will make them softer; stir them over
the fire until sufficiently thick; serve on a plate garnished
with toasted bread. To eggs dressed in this way truffles,
ham, mushrooms, etc., minced, may be added. In Ireland,
where the dish is in general use, the eggs are usually
served upon hot buttered toast, and are there called
" buttered eggs.” It is also very common in France, where
it is generally served for breakfast.
7. Eggs Fricasséed.
Boil your eggs pretty hard, slice them ; then take a little
veal gravy, a little cream and flour, and a bit of butter,
nutmeg, salt, pepper, chopped parsley, and a few pickled
mushrooms. Boil this up and pour it over the eggs. Put
a hard yolk in the middle of the dish, with toasted sippets,


392
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
8. Eggs Hashed.
Boil eggs hard, slice them, fry an onion, sliced in butter;
put in the eggs, a little good gravy, chopped parsley, pepper,
and salt. Serve them hot.
now
9. Eggs Frothed.
Beat up the yolks of eight eggs and the whites of four (set
aside the remaining whites) with a dessertspoonful of water,
some salt, sugar, and the juice of a lemon; fry this, and then
put it on a dish; whip the whites to a froth with sugar, and
place it over the yolks; bake in a Dutch oven.
roton
10. Eggs in Cases.
Cut up a sheet of paper into pieces three inches square,
turn up half an inch all round so as to form a kind of square
case; there will then remain but two inches square in the
inside. Take a small piece of butter, a pinch of fine bread-
crumbs, a little finely-chopped parsley, spring onions, salt
and pepper, and mix them together; put a little into each
case, then break one egg into each; put them on a grid-
iron, over a slow fire, and do them gently, or place them
in a dish in an oven; when well set, serve. Small, round
paper cases may be procured very cheap.
retour
11. Eggs with Black Butter.
Put one ounce of butter in a frying-pan on the fire or
the gas stove; let it heat well, but not become too brown;
break carefully into a dish six very fresh eggs ; slide carefully
into the pan, with a pinch of salt and half a pinch of
white pepper; cook slowly for three minutes. Slide the eggs


EGGS.
393
into a hot flat dish ; deal with them gently, without turning
them over or breaking them. Then put two more ounces
of butter into the same pan; place it on the fire or gas-
stove, and let the butter get a good rich, vandyke brown
colour for three minutes, dropping in two teaspoonfuls of
tarragon vinegar.
Remember that this black butter is an adınirable sauce,
not only for eggs but for all white fish, especially for
skate. Do you call this a costly sauce ?
inom
e
12. Gratin of Eggs with Cheese,
Take some grated bread, Parmesan cheese, also grated,
a small piece of butter, the yolks of two eggs, nutmeg and
pepper; mix these together, and spread them over the bottom
of the dish; set it over a gentle fire to make a gratin, on
which break ten eggs; sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the
surface, finish cooking it, and brown it with a salamander.
13. Eggs, Piedmont Fashion (à la Piémontaise).
Put a couple of anchovies and a little gravy into a
saucepan, and when they are dissolved, add the yolks of eight
and the whites of two eggs (well beaten); season them with
salt, pepper, and nutmeg; beat them well whilst they are
doing. Serve them with fried bread, grate Parmesan cheese
over, and brown it with a salamander.
Sinton
14. Hen's Nest Eggs.
Boil six or eight eggs quite hard ; when cold and firm,
cut the whites from the yolks in long thin slips; set them


394
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
aside to warm in a slow oven,, taking care every now and
then to liberally butter them. Pound up in a mortar any
cold chicken or remains of mix fish; with this the yolks
of the eggs, a little parsley, and pepper and salt to your
taste. When you have reduced all to a fine smooth paste,
mould it with your hands into egg-shaped balls. Heap these
in the centre of a dish, arrange the shredded egg around
them in imitation of a nest; put back into the oven for a
few minutes to warm, and just before serving pour over a
hot rich brown sauce.
15. Ragoât of Eggs and Mushrooms.
Take some large finushrooms, peel them and scrape them
clean, put them in a saucepan with a little salt, cover them,
and let them boil a little, then put in a gill of milk, an
ounce of butter rolled in four, seasoned with mace and
nutmeg ; boil the whole till it is of a good consistence. Have
ready six hard-boiled eggs, take out the yolks whole. Put
some toasted sippets in a dish, and the yolks upon them;
then pour over them the whole of your ragoût.
16. Eggs with Onions and Mushrooms.
When you have boiled the eggs hard, take out the
yolks whole, and cut the whites in slips, with some onions
and mushrooms. Fry the onions and mushrooms, then
add the whites, turn them about a little, dredge them
with flour, and add a little mushroom catsup. Boil this up,
then put in the yolks, and add pepper and salt. Let the
whole simmer for about a minute, then serve it up.


EGGS.
395
17. Plovers' Eggs in Aspic.
When the eggs are boiled, take off the shells, and cut
off a small slice at the broad end of the eggs, that they may
stand upright; have some aspic jelly that is very firm, turn
it out on a marble slab, and cut it in half-diamond shapes
or rings, and place these round the dish you intend to
serve the eggs on; put chopped aspic in the centre, and
the eggs on the top. Plovers' eggs may also be served in
a mould of aspic jelly, garnished with truffles and white
of eggs.
18. "Surprise” Eggs.
When I was young culinary “surprises” were common:
at present one scarcely ever meets with one; which fact
induces in my mind the conclusion that the England of
sixty years ago was a much merrier England than the ex-
isting prim, overdressed, Mrs. Grundy-ridden country of my
birth. At all events, the culinary “surprises” were as
innocent as they were clever. They made us laugh; and
every wise doctor will tell you that laughter helps digestion.
Good digestion means happiness and virtue. One-third of
the crime in this world springs from congenital causes :
the sins of the fathers are literally visited on the children.
Another third is due to the direct, although inscrutable,
instrumentality of the Devil. For the rest indigestion is
mainly responsible. Indigestion had quite as much to do
as had Madame de Maintenon in inducing the superstitious
glutton, Louis XIV., to revoke the Edict of Nantes. The
digestion of Napoleon the Great was normally deplorable;
and I should not be in the least astonished if indigestion
were, au fond, the cause of the murder of the Duc d'Enghien.
Thackeray told me that he was suffering from an atrocious
attack of indigestion when he wrote that bullying letter to


398
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK,
of strong ale, and when it boils put in the cheese; let
boil for a minute or two; then stir in a teaspoonful
of mustard; when the whole becomes a liquid, toast a
thick slice of bread, cut off the crust, butter it well and
set it before the fire to keep hot. When it is wanted,
have a dish and cover very hot, put the cheese on the
toast, and send to table iinmediately.
18+
4. Potted Cheese.
Add to a pound of grated Parmesan or Cheshire cheese,
in a mortar, three ounces of cold fresh butter, a little sifted
mace, and a teaspoonful of unustard. Mix all well, put it
into small pots, cover it with clarified butter, and set the
pots in a cold, dry place.
5. Another Potted Cheese.
Scrape and pound cheese with a piece of butter, cayenne
pepper, a few grains of pounded mace, a teaspoonful of
sifted sugar, a glass of white wine, and a little salt; press
it into your potting-jar for shape. It may be potted with
brandy.
ororo
6. Cheese à la Montmorency.
Boil a pint of cream with two ounces of sugar; when it
boils, take it off the fire and let it cool ; when cool, put in
half a teaspoonful of orange-flower water. Whip the cream,
and as the cream thickens take it off with a skimmer and
put it on a basket (with a fine cloth laid over it); continue
to whip until there is no longer any cream remaining ; let
it drain, and serve it on a plate.


CHEESE.
399
7. Cheese as Iced Butter. .
Boil for a few minutes a pint of cream with rasped lemon-
peel and a good teaspoonful of orange-flower water; when
taken off the fire, add a dozen yolks of eggs well beaten up,
and mix together without boiling ; pass through a sieve and
put into an icing-pot to freeze, working it in the same way as
ices. It must be iced in such a manner that you may take
it with a spoon to serve, like pats of butter stamped with bits
of clear ice between to appear like crystals.
inner without boilinolks of eggs we
put into an
Garotom
8. Cheese Imps.
Put a gill of milk into a stew-pan, with two ounces of
butter; when boiling, stir in two spoonfuls of flour, and
keep stirring over the fire until the bottom of the pan is
dry, then add by degrees four eggs, half a pound of Gruyère
and half a pound of grated Parmesan cheese; mix well in,
season with pepper, salt, and cayenne rather highly; mould
the paste into little balls with the forefinger against the
side of the stew-pan containing it; drop them into hot
lard; fry of a nice light brown, dress in a pyramid upon
a napkin, and serve very hot. Half of this quantity may,
of course, be made.
9. Cheese Straws.
Mix two ounces of grated Parmesan cheese, two ounces
of fresh butter, two ounces of finely-grated bread-crumbs,
and two ounces of flour, into a paste. Flavour the mixture
with cayenne, salt, and a very little pounded mace. Roll
this out rather thinly, cut it into fingers about four inches
long and half an inch wide, bake thein for a few minutes
in a quick oven, and serve cold. They should be piled
on a dish in transverse rows.


400
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
10. Macaroni and Cheese Croquettes.
Put two quarts of water, with a little salt and a small
piece of butter, into a stew-pan, and when boiling add half
à pound of macaroni, which boil until tender, drain upon
a sieve, and when cold cut into pieces a quarter of an
inch in length, putting them into a stew-pan with half a pint
of Béchamel (p. 327), a little cayenne pepper, salt, and grated
nutmeg; let simmer a few minutes until rather thick, stir-
ring it gently occasionally; then add half a pound of grated
Parmesan and Gruyère cheese (or good common cheese
may be used), turn gently a few minutes longer over the
fire, take it off, stir in the yolks of four eggs quickly, stir
another minute over the fire to set the eggs, and pour it out
upon a dish. When it is quite cold, make it into shaped
pieces rather larger than walnuts, or into pieces, in the form
of pears, the thickness of your finger; have three eggs
well beaten up on a plate; into this dip the croquettes,
roll them over, then throw them into a dish of bread-
crumbs, pat them gently with your knife, dip again into
egg and bread-crumbs, place them in a wire basket, and fry
in very hot lard.
11. Cheese Ramequins.
Put in a stew-pan a gill of water, to which add two
ounces of Gruyère and the same quantity of Parmesan
cheese grated, two ounces of butter, a little cayenne pepper,
and salt if required; set it upon the fire, and when boiling
stir in two or three spoonfuls of flour; keep stirring over
the fire until the paste becomes dryish and the bottom of
the stew-pan quite white, then add three or four eggs by
degrees, until forming a paste; butter a baking sheet well,
and lay the paste out in pieces upon it with a table-spoon,
making them long, and half the size of the bowl of the
spoon; egg over, and lay a small piece of Gruyère upon


402
SECTION XIV.-SWEETS.
1. Almond Cheese Cakes.
BLANCH and pound a quarter of a pound of sweet almonds
and eight bitter ones, with a wineglass of common or orange-
flower water. Add four ounces of sugar, a quarter of a
pint of cream, and the whites of two eggs beaten to a froth.
Mix and fill small patty-pans. Or these almond cheese-cakes
may be made by merely mixing a few beaten almonds with
common cheese-cakes.
motor
2. Almond Paste.
Blanch and pound one pound of Jordan almonds very
fine; add a spoonful of water in the pounding to keep
them from oiling, and three-quarters of a pound of fine
sifted sugar; stir all together over a gentle fire to dry off
the moisture. As it leaves the pan and becomes a stiff
paste put it in pots.
Obs.—You may add half an ounce of gum tragacanth,
soaked in water, thick.
artono
3. Almond Padding.
Take a quarter of a pound of blanched Jordan almonds,
pounded fine; four whole eggs, the whites of two; a pint
of cream, and a quarter of a pound of butter melted in
it; two ounces of flour, and the same quantity of sugar;


404
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
6. Amber Pudding.
Lay a pound of fresh butter in a stew-pan, with three
quarters of a pound of lump sugar finely pounded; melt
the butter and mix the whole well; then add the yolks
of fifteen eggs beaten, and as much candied peel as
will give it a colour and flavour, first reducing it to paste.
Line the dish with a fine crust, and cover it as you would
a pie. Bake it in a slow oven. It is equally good cold
or hot.
7. Another Amber Pudding.
Take one dozen cooking apples, a cupful of sugar, six
eggs, four tablespoonfuls of butter, the rind and juice of
two lemons, and sufficient puff-paste to line a dish. Pare and
quarter the apples and pare the lemons, taking off the thin
yellow rind only: the white would make the pudding bitter.
Put this rind, with the apples, butter, and lemon-juice, into a
stew-pan with half a cupful of water. Cover and simmer
for three-quarters of an hour; pass it through a sieve, add
the sugar, and let it cool, and then stir in the yolks of the
eggs well beaten ; put it all into a dish lined with a good
but thin paste; bake in a gentle oven for half an hour.
While it is cooking, whisk the whites of the eggs to a stiff
froth; beat into them three tablespoonfuls of powdered
sugar, cover the pudding with this; return to the oven for
ten minutes, leaving the door open. This pudding may be
served hot or cold.
rom
: ; 8. Angelica Tart.
Pare and core some golden pippins or nonpareils; then
take an equal quantity of the stalks of angelica, peel them,
and cut them into small pieces. Boil the apples in water
enough to cover them, with Temon-peel and fine sugar.


SWEETS.
405
Do them gently, till they produce a thin syrup, and then
strain it off. Put it on the fire, together with the angelica,
and let both boil ten minutes. Make a puff-paste, lay it
at the bottom of the tin, then a layer of apple and one
of angelica, till full. Pour in some syrup, put on the
cover, and bake moderately.
Sinon
9. Apple Biscuits.
• Add to two pounds of apple pulp, two and three-quarter
pounds of fine sugar, three whole eggs, and a portion of
essence of cloves; stir all well together in a pan over
a moderate fire, adding three and a quarter pounds of flour
and half a pound of corn starch in powder; when the mixture
is hot, lay it out with a large screw funnel, ice the biscuits,
and bake them.
-roton
10. Apple Charlotte.
Stew a dozen apples; butter a plain mould; take a new
loaf, the crumb of which cut in thin slices about two inches
broad and the depth of your mould, and cut two round
pieces, one for the top and the other for the bottom of the
mould. Then begin by dipping the round piece in good
clarified butter, laying it at the bottom; the thin slices place
on the side, one against the other until they meet all round;
put your apples in the mould, cover the top well over with
the other round piece, and bake for nearly an hour. A little
lemon-juice may be added to the apples if liked.
Girone
11. Apple Pudding.
Pare, core, and stew the apples in a small stew-pan, with
cinnamon, two or three cloves, and the grated rind of a


SWEETS.
407
15. Bakewell Pudding.
As may be gathered from the name, this dish hails from
Derbyshire. First, line a pie-dish with a good and light paste;
on this place a layer of any preserved fruit you may prefer
- apricots are especially good—then on this spread, in the
thinnest slices, some candied citron-peel. Make a custard
with six eggs, omitting the whites of three, six ounces of
sifted sugar, four ounces of clarified butter, and three spoon-
fuls of lemon brandy—that is, brandy in which lemon-peel
has been soaked, and mixed with lemon-juice. If other
flavouring be preferred, mix that instead of lemon with the
brandy. Pour the custard over the jam, and bake in a
moderate oven for three-quarters of an hour.
Grow
16. Banbury Cake.
Take a peck of pure wheat-flour, six pounds of currants,
half a pound of sugar, two pounds of butter, half an ounce
of cloves and mace, a pint and a half of ale yeast, and a
little rose-water; then boil as much new milk as will
serve to knead it, and when it is almost cold, put into
it as much sherry as will thicken it, and so work it alto-
gether before a fire, pulling it two or three times in pieces;
afterwards, make it up.
Sarrero
17. Barley Pudding.
Beat up the yolks of six eggs and the whites of three,
and put them into a quart of cream. Sweeten, and add
a little orange-flower or rose-water, with a pound of melted
butter, and six handfuls of French barley that has been
boiled tender in milk. Butter a dish, pour it in, and send
it to the oven.


408
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
18. Brown Bread Pudding.
· Half a pound of stale brown bread grated; ditto of
currants; ditto of shredded suet; sugar and nutmeg; mix
with four eggs, one tablespoonful of brandy and two of
cream; boil in a cloth or basin that exactly holds it for
three or four hours.
19. Buns, Little.
Beat six ounces of butter to cream. Add the yolks of
six eggs, two ounces of butter, the grated peel of a lemon,
an ounce of dried yeast mixed in a cup of warm milk, and
a pound of flour, with enough sour cream to mix the whole
into a dough of light bread consistence. Put little lumps
the size of a walnut on a buttered tin, and set them to rise.
When they are light, put in the centre of each an almond,
a raisin, or a dot of dried fruit, brush them over with egg
and sugar mixed, or with egg and coarsely-pounded sugar,
and bake them in a quick oven ten or twenty minutes.
20. Buttered Loaves.
Take the yolks of twelve eggs and six whites, and a
quarter of a pint of yeast; when you have beaten the
eggs well, strain them with the yeast into a dish, add
a little salt, and two races of ginger beaten very small;
then put flour to it till it comes to a high paste that
will not cleave; next you must roll it upon your hands,
and afterwards put it into a warm cloth, and let it lie
there a quarter of an hour; then make it up in little
loaves and bake it again; against it is baked, prepare a
pound and a half of butter, a quarter of a pint of white


SWEETS.
409
wine, and half a pound of sugar; this being melted and
beaten together with the loaves, return them to the oven
for a quarter of an hour.
21. Cake, Plain Fruit.
One loaf of bread dough, half a cupful of butter, the
same of sugar, a little syrup if liked, half a cupful of butter-
milk, half of currants, one of raisins, three eggs, and some
lemon-peel. Mix all well together, adding some spice to
taste, and bake.
iran
22. Chantilly Basket.
Stick ratafia biscuits round the dish, or make it over
a mould, with caramel sugar; have different sizes of biscuits,
and ornament with comfits or dried fruits ; fill the inside
with four sponge biscuits, six macaroons soaked in wine ;
pour over a custard, and fill up with syllabub cream. A
“ basket” may be made of almond paste, macaroons, or small
almond biscuits, and served in the same way.
23. Cheese-Cakes.
Put a spoonful of rennet into a quart of milk; when
turned, drain the curd through a coarse sieve, gently break
the curd, and rub in a quarter of a pound of butter, a quarter
of a pound of sugar, nutmeg, and two Naples biscuits grated,
the yolks of four eggs and the white of one, half an ounce
of almonds, half bitter and half sweet, well beaten in a
mortar, with two teaspoonfuls of rose water, four ounces
of currants; put in the curd, and mix together.


410
THE THOROUGII GOOD COOK.
24. Cheese-Cakes, Lemon or Orange.
Grate the rind of three lemons, and squeeze their juice
over three sponge biscuits soaked in a glass of cream. Add
to this four ounces of fresh butter, four of fine sugar, and
three eggs well beaten. Season with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Mix all these ingredients thoroughly, and bake in small
pans lined with a light thin paste. Lay a few long thin
slices of candied lemon-peel upon the top.
Another Way.
Take a large lemon or Seville orange, grate the rind,
squeeze the juice, and sweeten to taste with pounded lump
sugar; a quarter of a pound of clarified butter put in when
the thickness of cream, five eggs-only three whites; one
tablespoonful of brandy; mix well together; have good
puff-paste, and bake in patty-pans.
non
25. Cheese Fritters.
Put some milk, butter, mild Brie or Gruyère cheese, into
a saucepan; add to these ingredients flour, and afterwards
eggs and sugar; make them into a paste, of which form your
fritters; fry them of a nice colour, and serve them sprinkled
with sugar. A small quantity of orange-flower may be
added.
26. Chestnut Pudding.
Put a dozen and a half of chestnuts in a saucepan of
water, boil them a quarter of an hour, then blanch and
peel them, and beat them in a marble mortar, with a little


SWEETS.
411
rose-water and sherry, till they are a thin fine paste; now
beat up twelve eggs with half the whites, and mix them
well; grate half a nutmeg and a little salt, mix this with
three pints of cream and half a pound of melted butter,
sweeten to your palate and mix all together. When you can-
not get cream, take three pints of milk, beat up the yolks
of four eggs and stir into the milk; set it over the fire,
stirring it all the time till it is scalding hot; then mix it
in in the place of the cream.
Another Way.
Put twelve ounces of chestnut farina into a stew-pan,
add six ounces of pounded sugar, a teaspoonful of vanilla
sugar, a pinch of salt, four ounces of butter, and a pint of
milk. Stir this over the fire until it thickens, and then
quicken the motion of the spoon until the paste leaves the
sides of the pan; it must next be removed from the fire,
and the yolks of six eggs incorporated therewith; now mix
in gently the whites, whipped firm, and use this preparation
to fill a mould spread inside with butter. Place this on a
baking-sheet, and bake it. in an oven of moderate heat for
an hour or thereabouts. As soon as it done, turn it out
on its dish, pour some diluted apricot jam round it, and
serve.
Snow
27. Chocolate Puffs.
Beat and sift half a pound of double-refined sugar, scrape
into it very fine an ounce of chocolate, and mix the two
together. Beat up the white of an egg to a froth, and
strew into it the sugar and chocolate. Keep beating it
till it is as thick as paste, then sugar the paper, drop the
puffs on about the size of a sixpence, and bake them in a
slow oven.


414
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
whisk it over the fire till it boils and strew till it is cold,
straining it through a sieve.
Another Way.
Have a pint of clear jelly of calves’-feet free from blacks
and fat. Clear a large cupful of strong coffee with isinglass
till bright and deeply brown. Mix it with the jelly, add
a pint of good cream, and fine sugar to taste; and after
mixing well, boil up for a few minutes till you have a
weak jelly.
36. Cream, Devonshire or Clotted.
This is made by putting the milk into a large metal or
earthenware (I prefer earthenware) pan, and allowing it to
stand without moving it for some hours—twenty-four in
winter, twelve in summer. The pan is then placed on a
stove, so that it will heat without boiling or even simmering
until a solid mass forms on the top. The pan should then
be taken to a cool dairy, and the cream lifted off when
it has become quite cold. The more slowly this is done
the better
37. Cream, Italian,
Melt an ounce of isinglass in as little water as possible ;
take one pint of double cream, whip this very lightly, adding
by degrees one of Madeira, two tablespoonfuls of brandy,
and the rind of one lemon rubbed on sugar; add also
sufficient sugar to sweeten the cream. Mix in the isinglass
when nearly cold, and immediately pour it into the mould,
which should previously be rubbed over with sweet oil.
The mould does not require to be dipped in warm water to
turn it out; for, if carefully oiled, it will deliver without
and the dish will have a much smoother appearance.


SITEETS.
415
38. Cream, Orange, without Cream.
Rub the rind of six China oranges on sugar, and scrape it
off; add the juice of three lemons, a quarter of a pound
of sugar, fourteen yolks of eggs, one wineglass of water;
whisk all together over the fire till it begins to thicken,
but not to boil, and continue to whisk till cold.-Lemon
cream is done the same way.
intim
39. Cream, Pineapple, with Jam.
Pound six ounces of preserved pineapple, one teaspoon-
ful of the pine syrup, a quarter of a pint of clarified sugar,
the juice of two lemons, a pint and a half of cream ; rub
through a sieve, and add four slices of preserved pine, cut
into small dice.
40. Card Pudding,
Rub the curd of two gallons of milk, well drained,
through a sieve; mix it with six eggs, a little cream, two
tablespoonfuls each of flour and bread-crumbs, half a pound
of currants, and the same of raisins, cut and stoned. Boil
for an hour in a thick floured cloth.
41. Curd Star.
Set a quart of new milk upon the fire with two or
three blades of mace; and when ready to boil, put to it
the yolks and whites of nine eggs, well beaten, and as
much salt as will lie upon a small knife's point. Let it
boil till the whey is clear; then drain it on a thin cloth
or hair-sieve; season it with sugar, and a little cinnamon,
rose-water, orange-flower water, or white wine, to your


SIVEETS.
417
45. Custard, Lemon.
Beat the yolks of eight eggs, as well as if for a cake,
till they are like strong cream. With this mix gradually
a pint of boiling water, and the grated rind and juice of
two lemons. Sweeten to taste, and stir it one way over
the fire till it thickens, but do not let it boil. Add a little
wine and brandy when the custard is almost ready. Stir
till cool. Serve in cups; to be eaten cold.
Garoin
46. Derbyshire Pudding.
Take a pint of milk and two tablespoonfuls of flour;
mix by degrees, boil till thick, and set by till cold; then
add three ounces of butter, beaten to a cream, a quarter
of a pound of fine sugar, a little salt, the rind of a lemon
grated, the yolks of five and whites of three eggs; mix
thoroughly, put a paste round the dish, and bake in a
quick oven. This pudding is very good cold.
47. Devonshire White-Pot.
Take a pint of cream and strain four eggs into it;
add a little salt and a little sliced nutmeg, and season with
sugar till somewhat sweet; then take fine bread sliced very
thin, and put it into a dish. The cream and the eggs being
put to it, add a handful of raisins of the sun that have
been boiled, and a little sweet butter; so bake it.
48. Duke of Cumberland's Padding.
Mix, in equal proportions, grated bread, shredded suet,
chopped apples, loaf-sugar, and cleaned currants, with six
BB


420
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
well with the rice and milk. Add thereto a pint of cream,
set it over a stove, and stir it well. Put in some pow-
dered sugar, candied lemon-peel cut small, and some fresh
grated lemon-peel. Cut off the white meat of a roasted
chicken, pull it into small shreds, and add it to the other
ingredients, stirring the whole together. This will make
a rich paste, which must be rolled out, cut into fritters,
and fried in boiling lard. Strew the bottom of the dish
with powdered sugar, put in the fritters, and throw some
more sugar over them.
ran
55. Fritters, German.
Pare, core, and quarter some apples, and cut them
into round pieces. Put a quarter of a pint of brandy, a
tablespoonful of fine sugar pounded, together with some
cinnamon, into a pan. Add the apples thereto, and set
the whole over a gentle fire, stirring them often, without
breaking them. Set on another pan with lard, and when
it boils, drain the apples, dip them in flour, and put them
into it. Strew sugar over the dish, and place it on the
fire, lay in the fritters, throw some sugar over them, and
glaze them with a red-hot salamander.
raine
56. Fritters, Plain.
These may be made of the same kind of batter as pan-
cakes by pouring a small quantity into the pan, or by
grating some crumb of bread and putting it into a pint
of milk, mixing it smooth, and, when cold, adding the yolks
of five eggs, three ounces of sifted sugar, and some grated
nutmeg. Fry the fritters, and when done pour thereon
melted butter, wine, and sugar.


SWEETS.
421
57. Gauffres.
Put into a warm basin half a pound of butter, and beat
it with a wooden spoon till it becomes like thick cream;
mix six yolks of eggs, one by one, beating them well, and
add three tablespoonfuls of four, with a little sugar rubbed
on a lemon; take half a pint of double cream well beaten
up; also whip the six whites of eggs very firm, and mix all
together very lightly. Make the gauffre irons hot on both
sides, pour in a little clarified butter for the first baking,
bake the gauffres quickly, serve them as hot as possible, and
at the last moment throw over them a little pounded
cinnamon, inised with fine sugar.
58. Gauffres, French.
Ingredients required are eight ounces of flour, four
ounces of powdered sugar, one pint of whipped cream,
eight eggs, one stick of vanilla, a little salt, and a glass of
curaçao. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in a basin, then
add the yolks of the eggs, the (pounded) vanilla, and the
curaçao, and mix these well together, gradually adding
the whipped cream just before using the batter; add the
whipped whites of eggs, and mix them in lightly, so as to
thoroughly incorporate them with it. Bake these gauffres
in irons made for the purpose, and which must have been
moistened with a little clarified butter. Fill one side of the
irons with some of the batter, handling it gently with a
spoon; close the irons, and then turn them upside down
(that the batter may run into the opposite side) and set
them over the fire. Observe, however, that the irons be
very carefully heated, and the superfluous heat allowed to
go off previously to filling them with the batter, for, owing
to the presence of sugar, the gauffres readily acquire colour.
s, and mix 17e the batten..y adding


422
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
When done, shake some vanilla sugar over them, and send
them to table. These gauffres may be spread with some
kind of preserve, such as apricot, currant, jelly, etc.
Gram
59. German Puddings.
A pint of cream, two tablespoonfuls of flour, the yolks
of five eggs, two ounces of almonds, beaten a little; the
crumb of a French roll grated, with sugar to your taste;
the peel of two lemons, grated or shredded small; and lastly,
a quarter of a pound of butter, clarified and put in cool : pour
into buttered cups, and bake as custards; when you turn
them out, pour over them melted butter, wine, and sugar.
ren
60. Green Pudding.
Of mutton and beef suet, shredded very small, three-
quarters of a pound each ; bread-crumbs, a pound and a half;
mix with a sufficient quantity of cream, and the yolks of
four and the whites of two eggs, well beaten. Parsley chopped
fine, one handful; juice of spinach, one pint; season with
salt, sweeten with loaf-sugar to taste; add grated nutmeg
and one pound of currants, with a little flour. Mix the
ingredients well together, roll up in a sheep's caul, and
bake.
pain
61. Grateful Pudding,
Take fine flour and grated bread, of each an equal
quantity; four whole eggs and four yolks, well beaten;
well sweeten with fine loaf sugar, as much cream as will
make the whole the thickness of batter; then add raisins
of the sun, stoned, and currants, of each one pound, more


SWEETS.
423
or less, according to the size of the pudding; nutmeg,
cinnamon, candied-peel at pleasure; bake three-quarters
of an hour in a dish well buttered; when done, grate fine
sugar over the pudding, and serve it with wine sauce or
sugar and lemon-juice.
62. Grateful Pudding, Another.
Take the crumb of white bread, slice thin into a dish to
a quart of cream; set it over a chafing dish of charcoal
till the bread grows dryish ; put in a piece of sweet butter,
take it off and let it get cold; beat together four yolks and
one or two whites with a little rose-water and sugar to
your palate, and add this to the former with a grated nut-
meg. Put all (being well mixed) into another dish, and
so bake it.
intim
ose.
63. Hanover Cake or Pudding.
Take half a pound of almonds blanched and beaten fine
with a little rose-water, half a pound of sifted sugar, twelve
eggs, leaving out half the whites, the rind of a lemon
grated very fine; put a few almonds in the mortar at a
time, and introduce by degrees about a teacupful of rose-
water; keep throwing in the sugar; when you have done
the almonds and the sugar together a little at a time till
they are all used up, put the mixture into your pan with
the eggs, beating them well together. In half an hour the
dish will be baked; it must be a light brown.
ram
64. Hanting Padding.
Beat eight eggs, and mix them with a pint of good
cream and a pound of flour; when beaten well together, add


424
TAE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
a pound of beef suet chopped very fine, a pound of currants
well-cleaned, half a pound of raisins stoned and chopped
small, a quarter of a pound of sifted sugar, two ounces of
candied citron, the same of candied orange, cut very small ;
grate a large nutmeg, and mix all well together with half
a gill of brandy; put the pudding in a cloth, and tie it up
close; it will take four hours to boil.
irtir
65. Italian Pudding, An.
Take a pint of cream, and slice therein as much French
roll as will make it thick ; beat up five eggs; butter the
bottom of a dish, slice eight pippins into it, and add
thereto some orange-peel, sugar, and half a pint of port
wine. Pour in the cream, bread, and eggs, lay a puff-paste
over the dish, and bake half an hour.
Vintain
66. Lady Sunderland's Pudding.
Beat up the yolks of eight eggs with the whites of three,
add five tablespoonfuls of flour and a grated nutmeg, and
put the whole into a pint of cream. Butter some small
basins, fill them half way, and bake them an hour. When
done, turn the puddings out, and pour on melted butter,
wine, and sugar.
ol
67. Lemon Puffs.
Beat and sift a pound and a quarter of double-refined
sugar, grate the rind of two lemons, and mix the same
with the sugar; then beat the whites of three new-laid
eggs, add them to the sugar and peel, and beat for an


426
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
new milk, with the addition of such sweetmeats as may
be agreeable. The dish may be lined with puff-paste;
but care must be taken that it is not baked too much.
70. Macaroni Pudding.
Take an ounce and a half of the best macaroni, and
simmer it in a pint of milk with a little cinnamon till
tender; put it into a dish with milk, three eggs (but only
one white), some sugar, and a little nutmeg.
-noir
71. Meringues.
Whisk the whites of six eggs till they are as white as
snow, add twelve ounces of powdered sugar and some grated
candied lemon-peel; whisk well together; take it by spoon-
fuls and put them on a sheet of white paper powdered
with sugar, and then in a gentle oven. When they begin
to swell and take a good colour, detach them from the
paper, hollow them a little, and fill them with cream.
Put one on the other, stick them together with white of
egg, and let them dry.
72. Mille Feuilles (Italian Pyramid).
A good puff-paste, rather thick, must be stamped out
with tin stamps or any ingenious substitutes into a number
of pieces, each less than the other, the base being of the
size of the plate in which the pyramid is to be served, and
the others gradually tapering to the top. Bake the pieces
of paste on paper laid on tins, and ice them. Pile them
up with raspberry and other jams of different colours, laid


SWEETS.
427
on the edges, and a bunch of small preserved fruit or some
other ornament on the top.
73. Mince Pies.
Take of neat's tongue or heart parboiled one pound and
a half, chopped very fine; add to it one pound and a half
of beef suet and an equal weight of currants, minced; one
large nutmeg, cloves, and blades of mace, beaten fine; a
little salt, four minced pippins, and half a pound of raisins,
stoned and chopped small; half a pint of sherry, quarter of
a pint of best brandy, quarter of a pint of verjuice, one pound
of loaf-sugar pounded; a little rose-water, the rind of a
large lemon minced small, with the juice; also candied
lemon and citron peel—of each two ounces, shredded small.
The crust should be very rich and flaky, and the meat
entirely covered above and below.
74. Mince Pies: Another Way.
Rub with salt and mixed spices a flat bullock's tongue.
Let it lie three days, and parboil ; skin, mince, or scrape it.
Mince separately three pounds of Zante currants picked,
plumped, and dried ; a dozen lemon pippin apples pared and
cored ; and a pound of blanched almonds. Mix together,
and add half a pound of candied citron and orange-peel,
minced, and an ounce of beaten cinnamon and cloves, with
the juice and grated rind of three or four lemons, half
an ounce of salt, the same quantity of allspice, and a
quarter of a pound of fine sugar pounded, a pint and a
half of Madeira, and half a pint of brandy. Line the pans
with rich puff-paste, and serve the pies hot with burnt
of finale quantito!
Madeira


428
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
brandy. The brandy is best when burnt at table as it is
used. Though the mincemeat will keep for some time, it
is better when not old. The fruit, suet, and wine may be
added when the pies are to be made (as the suet and raw
apples are apt to spoil), also the dried fruits.
75. Muffin or Cabinet Pudding.
Cut three muffins in two; pour a pint and a half of
boiling milk over them; let them stand till cold. Make
a custard of eight yolks and four whole eggs beaten up with
one pint of cream, and one glass of brandy; a quarter of
a pound of sugar, one nutmeg, and one lemon-peel, grated;
butter a mould, place some dried cherries and custard to
cover alternately with the muffins till the mould is full ;
boil it in a stew-pan, with a little water for the mould to
stand in, one hour and a half ; serve wine sauce with it.
Obs.-French plum pudding is made in the same way.
Another Way.
Boil a small piece of lemon-peel, a little cinnamon,
and sugar, for eight or ten minutes in a pint of milk.
Put three muffins into a large basin, strain over them the
milk, and when cold, mash the whole with a wooden spoon.
Pound about an ounce of blanched almonds, mix them
well in with about a quarter of a pound of any dry pre-
served fruit, as apricots, cherries, or plums, a little grated
nutmeg, three yolks of eggs beaten, and two tablespoon-
fuls each of brandy and orange-flower water. Bake the
pudding, with puff-paste round the dish; or you may
boil it, tied up in a basin. Currants may be substituted
for the preserved fruit.


SIPEETS.
429
76. Nelson Paddings.
Put into a Dutch oven six small cakes called Nelson-
balls, or rice cakes made in small teacups. When quite
hot, pour over them boiling melted butter, white wine,
and sugar; and serve.
non
77. Nesselrode Padding.
Peel forty chestnuts, blanch them in boiling water
for five minutes, peel off the second skin, and put them
in a stew-pan with a quart of syrup and a stick of vanilla.
Simmer gently till the chestnuts are done ; drain, and
press them through a fine hair-sieve. Put eight yolks of
eggs in a stew-pan with half a pound of pounded sugar,
and a quart of boiled cream ; stir over the fire without
boiling till the egg begins to thicken; add the chestnut
purée, press the whole through a tammy cloth into a basin,
and add a gill of maraschino. Stone a quarter of a pound
of raisins, and wash and pick a quarter of a pound of
currants; cook both together in one half-gill of syrup
and one gill of water; drain, and let them cool. Put a
freezing-pot on the ice, pour in the chestnut cream, and
work it with the spatula ; when it is partly frozen, add
three gills of whipped cream, and continue working with
the spatula until the cream is quite frozen; then add the
currants and raisins, and put the pudding into an ice
mould; close it, place some butter on the opening to
prevent any salt or water penetrating inside the mould,
and let it remain in ice for two hours.
To make the sauce :-Put three gills of boiled cream in
a stew-pan, with eight yolks of eggs, and about four ounces
of pounded sugar; stir over the fire without boiling till
the egg begins to thicken; take off the fire and stir for
three minutes more; strain the custard through a tammy


430
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
cloth, and add half a gill of maraschino. Put the sauce on
the ice until it is very cold, but not freezing. Turn the
pudding out of the mould on to a napkin on a dish, and
serve, with the sauce in a boat.
nar
78. Noddy Paddings.
Beat blanched almonds very fine, add one or two table-
spoonfuls of rose-water or cream, strain through a sieve,
boil it, and set it to cool. Then thicken it with beaten
eggs, sweeten with fine lump-sugar dissolved in rose-water,
and tie it up in different bags; boil the puddings half
an hour in a small saucepan, and melt butter with rose-
water and sugar for the sauce.
These curious puddings may be coloured with spinach-
juice, saffron, beet, or other articles.
Another Way.
Take two small white loaves, pare off the crust;
slice them into a dish; put to them a quart or three pints
of cream, set the dish over a chafing dish of charcoal till
the bread grows dryish; then stir in a good piece of butter,
and gradually mix in the yolks of half a dozen eggs and
the whites of three; well beat with rose-water, and sugar,
and some nutmeg grated; mix all together, and when baked,
strew fine sugar over.
inowe
79. Northumberland Paddings.
Make a thick batter by boiling and sweetening milk
and flour. When cold and firm, mash it up, and add to
it four ounces of melted butter, the same weight of currants,


SWEETS.
431
two ounces of candied lernon and orange-peel, sliced, and
a little brandy if liked. Butter teacups, and bake the
puddings in them for fifteen minutes. Turn them out on
a dish, and pour wine sauce over them if to be eaten hot.
If to make a cold ornamental supper dish, omit the wine
sauce.
irrores
80. Omelette, Sweet.
Many things go to make a good omelette, but the first
is —the eggs must be absolutely fresh; then the yolks and
whites must be beaten separately. Your pan must be per-
fectly clean, and absolutely free from damp; for this reason
some cooks never wash their omelette pans, but clean them
thoroughly with bread. Beat up the yolks of your eggs-
six make a good-sized omelette—with three ounces of butter
in your pan, which must have been warmed for a minute
over the fire before the butter goes in. Mix the whipped
whites with the other ingredients, and pour into the pan,
shaking it all the time. As soon as the under side is
nicely browned, sift powdered sugar over the top, fold it
over-remember, an omelette must never be turned-put it
for five minutes in a brisk oven. Serve immediately, before
it has time to sink. (See also p. 189.)
iltainen
81. Orange Pudding.
Take the yolks of six eggs, or as many as you like,
beat them well with half a pound of melted butter, grate in
the rind of two Seville oranges, beat in half a pound of fine
sugar, two dessertspoonfuls of orange-flower water, two of
rose-water, a gill of sherry, half a pint of cream, two
Naples biscuits, or the crumb of a halfpenny loaf (soaked
in the cream), and mix well all together. Make a thin puff-


432
THE THOROUGII GOOD COOK.
paste, and lay all over the dish and round the rim; pour
in the pudding and bake it. It will take about as long
baking as a custard.
Line a she the followin weight of sugranges till
82. Orange Tart.
Line a shallow tart dish with a good puff-paste, and
upon it pour the following mixture :—Take four Seville
oranges, and double their weight of sugar; squeeze all the
juice from the pulp, then boil the oranges till tender;
then pound them into a paste, adding the sugar, a tea-
spoonful of butter, the juice from the oranges, and a few
drops of essence of lemon ; bake till the crust is done, and
then cover with custard or cream.
83. Pancakes, Berlin,
Stir three tablespoonfuls of yeast, or an ounce and a
half of dried yeast, into half a pint of lukewarm milk; mix
this with half a pound of flour, and set it to rise. Have
a pound of flour warming in another pan; add to this the
grated peel of half a lemon, half an ounce of bitter almonds,
blanched and pounded fine, a quarter of a pound of sifted
sugar, a little nutmeg grated, a little salt, and the yolks of
three eggs. When the yeast batter has risen, add to it the
other ingredients, and use lukewarm milk enough to make
the whole as thick as a light bread dough. Now add half
a pound of warmed butter, and beat the mass at least a
quarter of an hour, until it is so smooth and light that
bubbles appear, and it drops from the spoon. Cover, and
let it partly rise, then slightly work it together again.
Take a part of it at a time on a paste-board, roll it out a
bare half-inch thick, and with a round cutter, two inches


SWEETS.
433
and a half in diameter, cut out cakes. On half of these
put a teaspoonful of some nice thick preserve, such as
plum, raspberry, or apricot, leaving a good half-inch margin
of paste round the preserve. Moisten this round, and lay
another cake on the top. Press them round, and if spread
at all, cut them out again with the same cutter. Lay them
on a floured tin, and set them in a warm place to rise, but
not too high, or they will absorb the friture in frying. The
frying-pan must be very hot, and well supplied with butter
or sweet lard. Fry as many cakes at a time as you can
conveniently turn in the pan; both sides must be done a
clear yellow brown, not dark. Lay them on a napkin when
done, that no friture may hang about them. When they
are cold, sift sugar over them, or ice them with the white
of an egg or two whisked to a snow with a little lemon-
juice, and sifted sugar enough to form a creamy icing, which
must be laid on with the paste-brush. Set the pancakes
in a cool oven or before the fire to dry a little.
Gnom
84. Pancakes, Cream.
Mix the yolks of two eggs with half a pint of cream,
two ounces of sugar, some beaten cinnamon, mace, and
nutmeg. Fry them as quickly as possible, and grate over
them some lump-sugar.
-nin
85. Pancakes, Irish.
Take a pint of cream, eight yolks and four whites of
eggs; beat the eggs with some grated nutmeg and sugar;
then melt three ounces of butter in the cream, mix it with
the rest, and add thereto about half a pint of flour smoothed
fine. Rub the pan with some butter, and fry the cakes thin
without turning. Serve several, one on another.
CC


SWEETS.
439
99. Raspberry Tart.
Select fresh, well-ripened raspberries, and place them in
layers on a tart dish, sprinkling over each of these layers
a handful of powdered sugar. Erect the fruit in a dome-
like shape above the level of the dish. Cover the dish
with a large round of paste, ornament nicely, and bake for
forty-five minutes; then let it cool.
Snow
100. Rice and Apples.
Core as many nice apples as will fill the dish; boil them
in light syrup; prepare a quarter of a pound of rice in
milk, with sugar and salt; put some of the rice into the
dish, add the apples, fill up the intervals with rice, and
bake in an oven till of a fine colour.
Liam
101. Rice Custard.
Take a quart of milk, with a small cupful of rice, and
let it simmer on a slow fire until it boils ; add sugar to
taste, and when the rice boils, beat up two yolks of eggs
with the hot milk, and pour slowly into the boiling milk
and rice, mixing the whole together, until it gets the colour
of custard. Turn it into a flat glass dish, sprinkle with
fine ground cinnamon, and serve either cold or hot.
102. Rice Flammery.
Mix two tablespoonfuls of rice flour with a little cold
milk, and add to it a large pint of boiled milk, sweet-
ened and seasoned with cinnamon and lemon-peel. Two


442
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
butter to mix with the egg, and as soon as the mixture is
cool, pour into the centre of the flour and form the paste.
Roll it thin, make up the tarts, and on setting them in
the oven, wet them over with a little water and grate on
them a small quantity of sugar.
Sinton
109. Trifle.
Take some sponge-cakes, steep them in white wine,
to which add a glass of brandy. When the cakes are
quite soaked, put them into your trifle dish, and on them
place a layer of ratafia cakes, each dipped into the wine in
which the other cakes were steeped. On the cakes put
a layer of jam rather thick, and cover this with a rich
custard, made thus :—Boil half a pint of cream and a glass
of milk with a stick of cinnamon, till it has a nice flavour;
sweeten to taste. Boil also the thin rind of a lemon with
the cream, or add four or five bitter almonds pounded.
Beat the yolks of four eggs and a little cream, put this
into a basin, and hold it in your left hand; taking the
boiling cream in the other hand, pour it on the eggs
quickly, then pour it back, and continue to pour it back-
wards and forwards as quickly as possible to mix without
curdling. When nearly cold, put the custard again on
the fire, stirring it till it nearly thickens and boils; take
it off at once and continue stirring till cool. When quite
cool, put it on your fruit. Then take cream whipped to
a froth with what you please, and put it on the trifle,
prop it up, and garnish with comfits.
S tov
110. Vacherin with Cream.
Take half a pound of sweet almonds and half a pound
of white sugar. Blanch, peel, and pound the almonds, add


SIVEETS.
443
the sugar, and moisten the mixture to a stiff paste with
white of egg. Sprinkle some powdered sugar on a pastry-
board, and roll the almond paste upon it a quarter of an
inch thick. Take a plain mould about six inches in diameter,
line the sides with a band of paste one and a half inches
deep, and join the ends securely together with white of
egg. Stamp out a round of the paste a little larger than
the bottom of the mould. Bake both in a gentle oven, remove
the band from the mould, and stick it upon the round. Put
the case again into the oven; keep it there till it becomes
slightly coloured, then let it get quite cold. When wanted,
fill it with any nicely flavoured whipped cream, piling the
cream as high as possible.
111. Vermicelli or Sago Pudding.
Boil to a paste two ounces of sago or vermicelli in a
pint and a half of milk; when cold, add one ounce of
butter, melted in half a pint of cream, six yolks and two
whole eggs, one lemon-peel, and half a nutineg, grated;
two dessertspoonfuls of orange-flower water, and half an
ounce of citron, cut; line a dish with paste, bake it half an
hour.
112. Welsh Pudding.
Melt half a pound of butter by setting it in a basin
floating in hot water, and gradually mix with it the beaten
yolks of eight eggs and whites of four. Sweeten with
finely-pounded sugar, and season with the grate of a lemon
and a little nutmeg. Bake in a dish with an ornamented
paste border; and when ready, stick slices of citron or
candied orange-peel round the edges.


446
TAE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
2. Lemon-Water Ice.
Put in a vessel half a pound of powdered sugar, with
one quart of cold water, grate in the rind of a large lemon,
or of two small ones, squeezing in the juice of three good-
sized ones, or of four if small, and with your spatula beat
well together for five minutes. Have a syrup-weigher, place
it in the centre of the preparation, and if it be twenty-one
degrees it is correct, if not, add a little more powdered sugar;
remove the weigher, mix a little more, and then strain through
a sieve into the freezer, putting on the cover, and proceed
to freeze it precisely as for vanilla cream ice (No. 1), serving it
in the same way.
-rom
3. Lemon Cream Ice.
Take from six lemons the rind, as thin as possible, and
free from pith. Squeeze the juice of the lemons into a sugar-
pan, with half a pound of sugar and half a pint of water.
Place it upon the fire and reduce it to a rather thick syrup.
Have a pint and a half of milk upon the fire, into which,
when boiling, throw the rind of the lemons; cover over, and
let remain till half cold. In another stew-pan have the yolks
of twelve eggs (to which you have added an ounce of sugar),
with which mix the milk by degrees, and stir over the fire
until it adheres to the back of the spoon, when stir in the
syrup and pass through a tammy. When cold, freeze (see
No. 1), adding a pint of whipped cream when half frozen.
4. Orange Cream Ice.
. Proceed precisely as in the last, but using the rind and
juice of ten oranges instead of six lemons, as there directed.


448:
THE THOROUGHI GOOD COOK.
degrees a little rose-water. Boil them gently in a pint of
cream till you find that it is highly flavoured with them.
Then pour the cream into a bowl, stir in half a pound of
powdered loaf-sugar, cover it, and set it away to cool gradually,
When it is cold, strain it, and then stir it, gradually but
hard, into three pints of cream. Freeze it twice. It will
be found very nice.
som
grad, adualis
"Peeze in
8. Apricot Cream Ice.
Procure a dozen and a half of fine ripe apricots, which
cut in halves; take out the stones, break them and extract
the kernels, which blanch in very hot water, and skin. Then
put them with the apricots into a sugar-pan, with half a
pound of sugar and half a glassful of water. Let them boil
until almost forming a marmalade, when put them by in
a basin. Have the yolks of twelve eggs in a stew-pan, with
which mix by degrees a pint and a half of milk. Set over
the fire, keeping it stirred until thick enough to adhere to
the back of a spoon. Then pass it through a tammy into
a basin. Add the syrup and apricots, and when cold three
glasses of noyau. Freeze as in the recipe for vanilla cream
ice (No. 1), and when half frozen add a pint of good whipped
cream.
voor
9. Chocolate Cream Ice.
This is made like vanilla cream ice (No. 1), but omitting
the vanilla, in the place of which scrape a quarter of a pound
of chocolate; place this in a stew-pan over the fire, and keep
stirring until melted. Then have ready boiling a quart of
milk, which mix with the chocolate by degrees; finish with
eggs and sugar, and freeze as in No. 1.


ICES AND DRINKS.
449
10. Punch à la Française, Hot.
Put in a saucepan on the hot range one pint of
Jamaica rum with twelve ounces of granulated sugar; stir
continually with the spatula until reduced to half the
quantity. Add the juice of three lemons and of four
sweet oranges, then set the pan on the corner of the stove
to keep hot. Put in a tea-pot one ounce of green tea,
pouring over it a pint of boiling water, and let infuse for
ten minutes, then strain into the preparation; return this
to the middle of the stove, and when about to boil, skim
thoroughly with a skimmer. Take it from the fire, pour
it into a punch-bowl, and serve.
Siroir
11. Cider Cap.
Put a slice of toasted crumb of bread at the bottom of
a large jug; grate half a small nutmeg over it, and place
on it two or three slices of thin lemon rind and half a dozen
lumps of sugar. Pour over this two wineglassfuls of sherry,
one of brandy, the juice of a lemon, a bottle of soda-water,
and, last of all, a quart of cider. Mix well, put a sprig
of borage or balm into it, and add a few lumps of pure ice.
This should be used as soon as it is made.
12. Capillaire Syrup.
Take an ounce of capillaire leaves, and put them to a
pint of boiling water; let them infuse twelve hours on a hot
hearth, then strain the liquor through a tammy, and add
to it a syrup made with a pound of sugar and a large glass
of water. Do not let it boil till all is mixed; take it off,
pour it into a jar, cover this closely, and let it stand on a
hot hearth for three days; then bottle for use.
DD


450
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK,
13. Lemon or Orange Shrub.
- Take two lemons and six Seville oranges, or, if preferred,
eight sweet oranges without lemons, grate off the rinds
and squeeze out the juice, then for each quart of juice
add three pounds of powdered loaf-sugar. Stir the sugar
till it is dissolved, and add two quarts of best Jamaica
rum for each quart of juice. Pour the mixture into a
cask, and shake it three times a day for three weeks.
Let it stand in a cool place till clear. Then filter, and
bottle for use,
-ipon
14. Lemon Syllabub.
Strain the juice of five lemons over the rind of two.
Add half a pound of loaf-sugar, and let remain for an
hour or two. Add a pint of thick cream and half a pint
of sherry or raisin wine, strain, and then whisk until
the mixture is well frothed. Pour the syllabub into glasses,
and let it stand ten or twelve hours before being served.
The whisking takes thirty or forty minutes.
arron
15. Lemon Whey.
Put a quart of milk into a saucepan. When it boils,
pour in four tablespoonfuls of lemon-juice; add more if
this does not effectually turn the milk. Let it boil up,
then put it in a bowl to settle; strain and sweeten, and
add a little hot water if the whey is too acid to be agree-
able.
- Inom


452
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Flavour the mixture with thirty drops of the essence of
lemon, and add two or three drops of any slight perfume.
Keep the powder in a closely-stoppered bottle. When wanted
for use, mix a teaspoonful in half a tumbler of water.
19. Turkish Sherbet.
Boil two pounds of loaf-sugar with a pint and a half
of water to a clear syrup. Skim carefully, and pour it into
a bowl. When cold, stir it into a pint and a half of strained
lemon-juice, and one quart of white veal stock, clear and
strong. Serve in glasses.
20. Coffee, Francatelli's Way.
The simplest, the easiest, and the most effectual means
to produce well-made coffee is to procure a percolator.
Put the coffee in the well, place the perforated presser
upon it, and then pour in the boiling water gently and
gradually, until the quantity required is completed; put
the lid on the percolator, and set it by the fire to run
through. By strict attention to the foregoing instructions,
excellent coffee will be produced in a few minutes—the
proportions being one ounce of coffee to a large breakfast-
cup of water. (See also p. 68.)
Som
21. Coffee, Soyer's Way.
Choose the coffee of a very nice brown colour, but not
black (which would denote that it was burnt, and impart
a bitter flavour); grind it at home, if possible, as you may
then depend upon the quality ; if ground in any quantity,


456
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK,
not get lost in the using. If to be sliced raw, the sausages
must hang a few weeks first. If to be cooked, put them on
the fire in cold water, and let them come slowly to a
simmer, which does not require to be continued longer
than an hour. They may then be hung to dry, and may be
cut in a day or two. Keep white paper tied over the cut
ends. In many parts these sausages are made to look a
deeper red thus:-Catch the blood at killing time, and while
it is warm, stir enough salt in it to salt it well, and keep
stirring till it is cold. Add any approved quantity to the
lean while mincing. The blood gives firmness, colour, and
richness to the sausages.
3. Lyons Sausages,
Take six pounds of lean pork from the chine, three
pounds of lean veal from the fillet, and three pounds of
pork fat. Mince the lean meat fine, pound it in a mortar
till smooth, and cut the fat into dice. Mix thoroughly,
and season the whole with ten ounces of salt, a quarter of
an ounce of saltpetre, three or four bruised shallots, half
an ounce of ground pepper, and a quarter of an ounce of
peppercorns. Leave the mixture for twenty-four hours. Pro-
cure some sausage skins, and carefully examine them to see
that they are thoroughly cleansed; press the meat tightly
into them, and fasten the ends securely with string. Lay the
sausages in an earthen pan with salt, with a small portion of
saltpetre under and over them, and let them remain for a
week; take them out, and dry them in a smoke-house or in a
chimney over a wood fire. Boil three or four bay-leaves, a
sprig of thyme, and a few sage leaves in some wine-lees,
if procurable. Dip the sausages into this, tie the ends with
fresh string, and again dry them. Wrap them in paper, and
store in a dry cool place till wanted.


MISCELLANEOUS.
457
4. St. Germains Pudding.
Cut eight or ten onions into dice, and simmer them slowly
in a quarter of a pound of lard ; when done, take them from
the fire, add to them half a pint of cream, a pint of hog's
blood, the yolks of some eggs, two pounds of bacon cut into
dice, salt, and spices; mix these ingredients together well,
put them into skins, and finish like black-puddings.
5. Italian Cheese.
Chop up together three pounds of calves' or pigs' liver,
two pounds of bacon, half a pound of fat of bacon, some
parsley, chives, salt, pepper, spice, thyme; a bay-leaf, sage,
and garlic chopped up separately. Line the bottom of the
saucepan or mould with thin slices of bacon or of pork;
cover these three fingers deep with forcemeat, then with
slices of bacon, and so on till the mould is nearly full; then
cover the whole with slices of bacon and bake it three hours;
let it get cold, then warm the mould that you may take
it out whole. Dress and garnish it with jelly, sweet herbs,
the yolks of some eggs chopped up, etc.
raine
6. American Breakfasts.
The following articles are popular in spring and summer
for breakfast on the other side of the Atlantic :—Veal cutlets ;
stewed or fried clams; cold boiled ham or tongue; clam
fritters ; broiled shad; broiled and fried fish; stewed or broiled
chickens; minced veal ; pickled salmon; fried sweet pota-
toes; fried egg-plant; green corn fritters; stewed pigeons;
broiled or sliced raw tomatoes; fish-balls; cucumbers; pepper
grass ; cresses; robins on toast; eggs; omelettes of all kinds;


458
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
tongue or ham toast ; rice cakes; batter cakes; ripe fruits ;
jam and marmalade; buckwheat cakes, piled one on the
other till a miniature Eiffel Tower is formed, with plenty
of butter between each layer, and maple syrup poured over
the whole.
Mem.-Americans at home generally begin breakfast with a
glass of iced water and a large Havana orange.
7. Mexican Omelette.
Have half a pound of smooth sauce (p. 347) in a saucepan,
place it on a moderate fire, add a piece of butter the size
of half an egg, twelve shelled and cooked shrimps, and
season with a little salt and a very little pepper. Let it
cook for two minutes, stirring it lightly; then add a quarter
of a good-sized emptied and peeled green pepper, finely
mashed; cook for one minute longer, then let it rest on
the corner of the stove. Make an omelette with six eggs,
fold up the opposite side, pour half of the preparation into
the centre, fold the other end up, and garnish both sides
with more shrimps, pouring the balance around the dish;
then send to the table.
8. Stuffed Egg Fruit.
Take a few of the egg fruits, cut off the ends, divide
them in halves, scoop out the interior, salt them,
and let them remain for an hour.' Chop up some onions
and fry them nearly black, add garlic and sage leaves, a
couple of minced tomatoes, pepper and salt, and let the
whole brown in the oven. Stuff the “eggs” with this
mixture, having first washed the salt from them, and dip
them in oil. Then place them in a stewpan with a little


460
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
over a very slow fire. Eat it with butter and molasses,
or with sugar and milk. It is considered extremely whole-
some food, especially for children and delicate persons.
Another Way.
Take one pint of hominy, three pints of milk, and a
quarter of an ounce of salt. Steep the hominy in water
twelve hours; then pour off the water not absorbed; add
the milk and salt, and set the whole in a slow oven for
two hours, till all the milk is absorbed; pour into saucers
and serve with treacle and milk.
vantar
13. Lentil Porridge.
Take three tablespoonfuls of lentil flour, one saltspoonful
of salt, and one pint of water. Mix the four with the water
and salt, and boil ten minutes, stirring all the time.
-Iron
14. Milk Porridge.
To a pint and a half of new milk put half a pint of water;
set it on the fire, and when just ready to boil, stir in about a
dessertspoonful of oatmeal and a little salt mixed to a paste
with water; cut some bread into small pieces, put it into
basins, and pour the boiling milk upon it.
Coton
15. Oatmeal Porridge.
Twelve ounces of meal, half an ounce of salt, and three
pints of water. Dissolve the salt in the boiling water; add


MISCELLANEOUS.
461
the meal, previously rubbed smooth in a little cold water,
and allow the whole to boil gently all over the surface
about twenty minutes; pour it into soup plates, and serve
with sweet milk, cream, or syrup.
16. Sago Porridge.
Take four tablespoonfuls of sago, one saltspoonful of salt,
and one quart of water. Soak the sago in cold water a
few minutes, and boil it gently about an hour, adding the
salt; pour into soup plates, and serve with molasses or sugar.
17. Sago and Rice Porridge.
This you make the same way as sago porridge, but
using half the quantity of sago, with as much rice.
18. Wheatmeal Porridge.
To one quart of boiling water add a teaspoonful of
salt; stir in gradually half a pound of wheatmeal; boil ten
minutes, and serve with milk or treacle.
inimo
19. Sowins.
One pound and a half of fine oatmeal, one tablespoonful
of white sugar, and a little salt. Steep the oatmeal in cold
water twenty-four hours, then pour off the water; add the
same quantity of fresh water, and let it remain the same
length of time; strain through a fine hair-sieve; put the meal


464
TIIE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
and salt, and fry the mixture brown, browning the top with
a hot shovel. If fried in small cakes, with a little flour
and milk stirred in to form a batter, green corn is very nice.
ro
25. Green Corn Pudding.
Twelve ears of green corn, grated; a quart of milk; four
ounces of butter; the same of sugar; four eggs beaten
lightly. Bake in a buttered dish, and eat with butter and
sugar sauce. The corn may be previously boiled, when
the pudding will bake more quickly.
irtir
26. Corn Pie.
This recipe comes from the Palace Hotel, San Francisco,
and it will serve as a very nice English breakfast dish. Four
ears of cold boiled corn (canned Indian corn can be procured
at a well-known establishment for comestibles in Piccadilly),
two eggs, one tablespoonful of butter, one of four, some
milk, half a teaspoonful of salt, a little pepper. Cut the corn
from the cobs; mix the milk gradually with the pepper; beat
the yolks and whites of the eggs separately, and add them
and the other ingredients to the flour and milk. Bake twenty
minutes in a shallow pie-dish.
non
27. Succotash.
Succotash is made by boiling young Lima beans with
green corn cut from the cob. A slice of fat pork may be
boiled with the mixture, and it must have a lump of butter
stirred in before serving. The beans should be boiled before
the corn is added, as they take longer to cook.





INDEX TO RECIPES.
.
471
Calf's Head, Boiled, 228
Hashed, 317
Calves' Feet, 295
» au Naturel, 296
Fried (see Sheep's Trotters,
Fried)
Canapés, Anchovy, 382
for Grouse, 278
, Madison, 44
, à la Turbigo, 383
Canvas-Back Ducks, Roasted, 264
Caper Sauce, White, 351
Capillaire Syrup, 449
Capilotade of Duck, 262
,, of Plovers, 268
Capon, Larded with Limins, to Boil, 257
» à la Nantaise, 257
, à la Turque, 256
Carbonnade of Mutton, 309
Cardinal Sauce, 330
Carp au Bleu au Court Bouillon, 193
,, Broiled, with Caper Sauce, 192
to Stew, 194
Carrier Sauce, 331
Carrot Pie, 366
» Soup, Young, 85
Casserole of Rice, 238
Cassoulic, 319
Cauliflower au Gratin, 356
Green Broccoli, and Parsley
Soup, 94
Loaf, 354
Soup, 94
Cauliflowers, 353, 354
and Butter, 354
Genoan Fashion, 355
à la Mayonnaise, 355
à la Reine, 355
Caveach Salmon, 143
Caviare, Little Crusts of, 386
Celery Porridge, 459
. Purée of, 374
Champagne Sauce, 331
Chantilly Basket, 409
Chartreuse with Beef Palates, 220
Chateaubriand Steak, 302
Chaudfroid of Partridges, Salmi, 272
CHEESE :
Cakes, 64, 402, 409, 410
Potato, 363
and Eggs, 401
Cod with, 162
Fondue of, 401
Fritters, 410
as Iced Butter, 399
Imps, 399
Italian, 457
and Macaroni Croquettes, 400
CHEESE (continued):
à la Montmorency, 398
Potted, 398
Ramequins, 400
Soup, 65
,, à la Biberon, 130
, German, 131
Stewed, 397
Straws, 399
Toasted, 397
Welsh Rarebit, 397
Cherries, Preserved in Syrup, 466
Chestnut Nesselrode Soup, 129
Pudding, 410, 411
Chicken Broth, 79
, for the Consumptive, 80
Brown Fricasséed, 260*
Cutlets, Epigrain of, 208
Fricassée of, 260
Fritters, 419
à la Girenflot, 256
à la Marengo, 256
Pattieswith Purée à la Reine, 208
Pie, 261
Pot-Pie, 262
Pudding, 261
Puddings à la Richelieu, 253
, à l'Ude, 257
Sala'à, 378
in Savoury Jelly, 208
White Fricasséed, 260
Chickens with Macédoine of Spring
Roots, 207
,, Soufflé of, à la Crême, 259
Children, Currant Juice Soup for, 136
Chocolate Cream Ice, 448
» Puffs, 411
Chops, Lamb, Maison d'Or, 300
Lamb and Pork, 221
Mutton, 300
Mutton, Bread-Crumbed, 301
Mutton, Bretonne, 300
Pork, Broiled, 301
Soyer, with Potatoes, 301
Chowder, Fish, 105
Cider Cup, 419
Clear Aspic, 233
Clotted Cream, 414
Cock-a-Leekie, 92
Cocoa Biscuits, 412
Cocoa-nut Soup, 130
Cod, to Bake, 159
, with Cheese, 162
with Oyster Sauce, 160
,,Scollops of, 162
,, to Stew, 159
with White Sauce, 160
,, Salt, à la Bonne Femme, 161
» » à la Maitre d'Hôtel, 160


474
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
ENTREMETS (continued) :-
Beef, Stewed, 307
» Vinaigrette of, 308
Bubble and Squeak, 320
Calf's Head, Hashed, 317
Calves' Feet, 295
» , au Naturel, 296
Cassoulic, 319
Chateaubriand Steak, 302
Chops, Soyer, with Potatoes, 301
Corned-Beef Hash, 318
Fieldfare Pasties, 314
Foreign Hash, 318
Hare, Boned, 291
, Jugged, 289
Pâté, en Terrine, 289
, Pie, 290
Haricot Mutton, 313
Hessian Stew, 315
Irish Mutton Stew, 316
Kidneys, “ Tossed” in White Wine,
287
ENTRÉES (continued):
Quenelles of Whitings, 165
Rabbit Galantine, 211
, Gratin of, 283
5. “Kickshaws" of, 210
Pudding, 211
Rabbits, Mince of, au Fumet, 285
Scollops of, 210
» Turban of Fillets of, 212
Young, in Curl Papers, 213
Raised Ham Pie, 223
Rice, Casserole of, 238
Risotto, 239
Meagre, 239
Rissoles, 227°
Salmon au Bleu, 145
Salt Cod à la Provençale, 161
Sausage-Meat, 205
Scollops of Cod, 162
Scots Kail, 235
Sheeps' Trotters, 231
Sweetbread Pie, 216
Sweetbreads “Dauphin" Fashion,
217
Scollops of, 216, 217
Tongues with Stewed Endive, 218
Turbot, Gratin of Fillets of, 150
Turkey, Galantine of, 213
Veal Cutlets, 225
, and Ham Patties, 223
, Pie, 223
5 Shoulder of, 231
Vegetable Hash, 241
Venison Pie, 215
Vol-au-Vent d'Escalopes de Tur-
bot, 151
of Lambs' Tails, 229
White Puddings in Skins, 238
Wild Boar's Head, 229
York Ham with Spinach, 222
ENTREMETS:-
Baked Mincemeat Kebob, 311
Battalia Pie, 321
Beef Balls, 303
Boiled, Gratin of, 307
à la Braise, 305
Bouilli, 307
Fillet of, à l'Intendante, 306
Kidney Pie, 287
à la Mode, 304
Olives, 304
and Oyster Sausages, 315
Rump of, to Boil, 308
Scarlet, 308
Short, 305
Spiced, 305
Steak Pie, 303
; „ Sauté, with Madeira, 302
Lamb Chops, Maison d'Or, 300
Cutlets en Salpicon, 299
, à la Soubise, 299
Liver and Bacon, 288
Milk Kebob, 311
Mutton, Breast of, Grilled, 312
Carbonnade of, 309
Chops, 300
Bread-crumbed, 301
, Bretonne, 300
Ham, 309
Haricot, 313
Loin of, to Kebob, 310
Leg of, Braised, 312
Pie, English, 314
Shoulder of,'to Stew, 310
Navarin Stew, 316
Neat’s Tongue au Gratin, 297
Outlandish Dish, 320
Ox-Tail, Crumbed and Grilled, 297
Ox-Tails à la Saint Lambert, 297
Pepper-Pot, West Indian, 319
Pork Chops, Broiled, 301
y Cake of, 320
Provençal Hotchpotch, 319
Rabbit Pie, 285
Rabbits, Croquettes of, 285
Fillets of, à la Pompadour,
Gratin of, 283
Mince of, 'au Fumet, 285
and Onions, 282
à la Vénétienne, 284
White Gibelots of, 284
Young, Fillets of, 286
Resurrection Cutlets, 299
Sheep's Kidneys, Broiled, 287
282
.
.


INDEX TO RECIPES.
475
ENTREMETS (continued) :-
Sheep's Tail à l'Anglaise, 297
Tongues à la Saint Lambert,
298
, Trotters, Fried, 296
Skewer Kebob, 310
Sweetbread, Croquettes of, 236
Toad-in-a-Hole, 319
Tripe, to Boil, 298
à la Bourgeoise, 299
Veal, Breast of, à la' Poulette, 294
Cutlets à la Mayonnaise, 293
Fillet of, à la Bourgeoise aux
Petits Pois, 293
, to Dress, 293
Knuckle of, Boiled, 295
Minced, à la Catalan, 295
, Neck of, à la Crême, 292
à la Mirepoix, 291
1 with Sweet Herbs,
292
Venison, 288
, Jugged, 288
Epigram of Chicken Cutlets, 208
Essence of Mushrooms, 374
F
Fieldfare Pasties, 314
Fig Tart, 418
Fillet of Beef à l'Intendante, 306
,, Roasted and Larded, 245
of Veal à la Bourgeoise, 293
Italian Way, 293
Fillets of Fowl, Cutlets of, 218
, of Rabbits à la Pompadour, 282
, of Soles, Fried, 153
e au Gratin, 153
à la Maitre d'Hôtel, 154
» Mayonnaise of, 154
, a l'Orlie, 153
of Turbot à la Crême, 149
of Young Rabbits, 286
;; of Whiting, Broiled, 165
Financière pour Vol-au-Vent, 259
Fiss:-
Alose, 171
Anchovies, Mock, 199
Angels on Horseback, 186
Brill, 168
Carp, au Bleu, 193
» Broiled, 192
» Stewed, 194
Cod, to Bake, 159
» to Stew, 159
,, with Cheese, 162
Oyster Sauce, 160
1White Sauce, 160
FISH (continued):
Cod, Scollops of, 162
,, Salt, à la Bonne Femme, 161
» » à la Maître d'Hôtel, 160
» » with Parsnips, 162
, à la Provençale, 161
Cod's Head, 157
. and Shoulders, 153
Crab Omelette, 189
Crayfish Pudding, 192
Curried Fish, 323
Eel, Larded, 176
,, Pie, 176
,, Pudding, 181
Eels, Broiled, 177
à l'Italienne, 178
, en Canapé, 180
is Collops of, Broiled, 179
,, à la Poulette, 180
Conger, 182
Entrée of, 177
Forcemeat of, 174
Fricassée of, 175
Fried, 175
Matelote of, 176
,, to Spitchcock, 178
to Stew, 179
Flounders Water Souchet, 170
and Plaice, Fricasséed,
171
Gurnet, Roast, 201
Haddock, to Bake, 159
Dublin Bay, Baked, 168
Puddings, 168, 197
, Cream for, 169
Herrings with Mustard Sauce, 169
John Dory, Boiled, 152
Lobster Balls, 191
à la Braise, 190
to Fricassée, 191
, Pie, 190
à la Soulevard, 191
, Mayonnaise, 192
Soup, 99-101
Mackerel, to Bake, 172
to Broil, 173
with Brown Butter, 172
à la Maitre d'Hôtel, 173
au Beurre Noir, 174
Oyster Fritters, 187
Hâtelets, 183, 184
Loaves, 182
Patties, 187:
Pie, 188
Pudding, 188
» Rissoles, 185
, Sausages, 184
, Soufflés, 184
Oysters, Bearded, 186
Chowder, 105


476
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
FISH (continued) :-
Oysters, Broiled, 183
and Eggs, 187
Fried, 182
Mock, 189
Pickled, 187
Rissoles of, 185
Roast, 183
Scolloped, 186
Stewed, 183
à la Villeroi, 185
Pike, Baked, 195
,, Roast, 194
Puddings, Dried Fish, 197
Little Fish, 197
Salt Fish, 199
Quenelles, 140
Red Mullets à l'Italienne, 166
» » à la Ravigote, 167
with Sweet Herbs, 167
Salmon, Baked, 146
au Bleu, 145
à la Braise, 148
Caveach, 143
to Collar, 141
Crimped, 144
Slices of, 144
Cutlets, 142
Fritters, 145
à la Genevoise, 143
Matelote Sauce, 146
to Pot, 143
Pudding, 119
Roast, 146
to Roll, 142
Souchet, 148
with Sweet Herbs, 147
, à la Tartare, 147
Shad, 171, 172
Skate, au Beurre Noir, 202
, Crimped, with Burnt Butter,
202
,, Liver Sauce, 201
Smelts, 200
Sole Pudding, 157
Soles à la Colbert, 155
, à la Française, 155
Fillets of, 153, 154
, Fried, 156
à la Meunière, 155
Stewed, 157
Sprats, Baked, 201
, Broiled, 200
Sturgeon, Fresh, 202
Trout, to Cook, 196
Turbot, to Dress, 151
Fillets of, 149
, Gratin of Fillets of, 150
Timbales of Fille
FISH (continued) :-
Turbot, Vol-au-Vent d'Escalopes
de, 151
Whitebait, 165
Devilled, 166
Whiting, Broiled, 164
Fillets of, 165
au Gratin, 164
Pudding, 163 :
Puddings of, à l'Ude, 163
Quenelles of, 165
Fish Cake, 198
» Forcemeat, 140
, Gravy Sauce, 332
, Pie, Salt, 198
,, Pudding, Salt, 199
,, Quenelles, 140
,, Sauce, White, 351
,, Soup, 97
»
à la Parisienne, 98
» Soups, The Basis of, 97
, Stews, Forcemeat for, 140
Fisherman's Soup, 102
Flemish Soup, 131
Floating Island, 418
Flounders Water Souchet, 170
, and Plaice, 171
Flour Porridge, 459
Forced Asparagus in French Rolls, 370
Forcemeat Balls, 204
of Fowl, 255
of Whitings, 165
of Eels, 174
Fish, 140
for Stews of Fish, 140
Foreign Hash, 318
Fowl, Braised, 207
à la Cardinal, 250
Country Captain, 206
Cutlets of Fillets of, 249
à la Dubaril, 252
Emincé, 254
Forcemeat Balls of, 255
Fricassée of, 206
Minced, à la Polonaise, 251
à la Monglas, 253
with Olives, 254
Purée of, à la Monglas, 119
Ragout of, 255
Salpicon of, 254
with Tarragon, 254
à la Tartare, 252
à la Turque, 253
à la Villeroi, 251
Fowls, Pea, 268
Français Pudding, 242
French Beans in Black Butter. 363
, Brittany Fashion, 364
, à la Française, 364
,


INDEX TO RECIPES.
477
French Beans, Purée of, 365
, to Ragoût, 363
, “Steward's,” 364
Brown Soup, 81
Gauffres, 421
Panada, 241
Paste, 419
Pudding, 419
Split Pea Soup, 88
Fresh Sturgeon, 202
Fricassée of Beetroot, 376
,, of Chicken in Ten Minutes, 260
y of Eels, 175
,, of Fowl, 206
Fricasséed Eggs, 391
, Flounders and Plaice, 171
Lobster, 191
Fried Bread-crumbs, 141
Eels, 175
Egg Plant, 459
Fillets of Soles, 153
Herbs, 141
Oysters, 182
Parsley, 141
Potatoes, 43
Sheep's Trotters, 296
Smelts, 200
Soles, Tartar Sauce, 155
Fritters, Cheese, 410
Chicken, 419
German, 420
Oyster, 187
Parsnip, 366
Plain, 120
Potato, 363
Salmon, 145
Fromage de Crême à la Glace, 447
Frothed Eggs, 392
Fruit Cake, Plain, 409
,, to Prepare for Children, 467
,, Puffs, Preserved, 436
Frumenty, 463
Frying, Batter for, 205
G
Galantine, Rabbit, 211
y of Turkey, 213
GAME (see Poultry, Game, etc.)
Game, Purée of, 120
, Hunter's Mode, 121
Soufflés, Small, 388
, Soup, 122
Garlic Sauce, 332
12. à la Rossini, 122
Gauffres, 421
, French, 421
Geneva Sauce, 332
German Cheese Soup, 131
German Fritters, 420
Puddings, 422
Sauce, 333
Soup, 133
Toast, 211
Wine Soup, 136
Gipsy Sauce, 333
Glazed Onions, for Garnish, 353
Grande Sauce, 334
Grateful Pudding, 422, 423
Gratin of Boiled Beef, 307
,, of Eggs with Cheese, 393
,, of Fillets of Turbot, 150
of Pigeon à la Périgord, 214
of Rabbits, 293
Green Asparagus Soup, 88
Corn Omelette, 463
,, Pudding, 464
Pea Soup, 83
,, Pudding, 422
Greengages, Bottled, 465
Grilled Breast of Mutton, 312
Mushrooms, 373
Grouse, Braised, with Cabbage, 278
Broiled with Bacon, 276
Canapés for, 278
à la Gun-Room, 276
Pie, 274
Roasted, Plain, 275
, à la Sam Ward, 275
Salad, 377
Salmi of, with Claret, 277
à la Parisienne, 277
Soup, 124
Gumbo, 375
Gurnet, Roast, 201
Η
Hachée Sauce, 334
Hachis, or Minced Fowl, 251
Haddock, Baked, 159
Dublin Bay, Baked, 168
Puddings, 168, 197
Cream for, 169
Haggis, Scotch, 235
Half-Glaze for Vegetables, 353
Ham or Bacon, Bean Soup with, 94
,, Pie, Raised, 223
» Roast, 245
» Sauce, 334
5 York, with Spinach, 222
Hanover Cake (or Pudding), 423
Hare, Boned, 291
Jugged, 289
Pâté, 289
Pie, 290
Potted, 214
Purée of, Soup, 120
Soup, English, 123


INDEX TO RECIPES.
479
"Ki"
for Breakfast, 200
Kebob, Mincemeat, Baked, 311
» Mutton, 310
Skewer, 310
Kedgeree, 462
“Kickshaws” of Rabbit, 210
Kidney Pie, Beef, 287
Kidneys, Omelette with, 237
* Sheeps, Boiled, 287
Stewed, 226
"Tossed " in White Wine,
287
"Klossen," 31
Knuckle of Veal, Boiled, 295
Kromeskies à la Monglas, 230
Lady Morgan Soup, 101
Lady Sunderland's Pudding, 424
Lamb Chops, Maison d'Or, 300
, Cutlets, en Salpicon, 299
, à la Soubise, 299
. Entrée of Boiled, 228
, and Pork Chops, 224
Lambs' Tails, Vol-au-Vent of, 229
Langtry Sandwiches, 387
Larded Eel, 176
Lark Pies, Hot Raised, 265
Larks, Caisses of, 265 '
» in Croustade, 265
, au Gratin, 266
and Wheatears, to Roast, 266
Leek Soup, 92
Leg of Mutton, Braised, 312
ng
Roasted (Polish Way),
243
Leghorn Macaroni, 240
Lemon Cream Ice, 416
Custard, 417
Pudding, 425
Puffs, 421
Sauce, 337
Shrub, 450
Syllabub, 450
Water Ice, 446
Whey, 450
Lemonade, Effervescing, 451
Still, 451
Lentil Porridge, 460
„ Soup, 96
Lettuce, Soup, Braised, 93
Little Buns, 408
Crusts of Caviare, 336
, Fish Puddings, 197
. Oyster Soufflés, 184
Liver and Bacon, 288
Loaves, Oyster, 182
Lobster Balls, 191
, à la Braise, 190
Lobster Curry, 322
to Fricassée, 191
Mayonnaise with Aspic Jelly,
192
Pie, 190
Sauce, 337
à la Soulevard, 19!
Soup, 99, 100, 101
Loin of Mutton, to Kebob, 310
,, Rolled and Stuffed, 244
Lord Warden Soup, 113
Lyonnaise (or Bretonne) Sauce, 337
Lyons Sausages, 456
M
Macaroni and Cheese Croquettes, 400
, Soup, 130
Croquettes of, 386
Italian, 210
» Leghorn, 240
Pudding, 426
Soup, 126
Timbale of, 239
Macaroon Custard Pudding, 425
Mackerel, to Bake, 172
au Beurre Noir, 174
to Broil, 173
with Brown Butter, 172
à la Maître d'Hotel, 173
Maigre Soups, 89, 90, 91
Maitre d'Hôtel Butter, 174
, , French Beans, 364
»
Potatoes, 360
, Sauce, 348
Marrow Pie, 367
Matelote Sauce, 338
of Eels, 176
Mayonnaise of Fillets of Soles, 154
Sauce, 338
Meagre Risotto, 239
Meat, Curried, 323
Meringues, 426
Mexican Omelette, 458
Puchero, 132
Milk Kebob, 311"
» Porridge, 460
,, Soup, Sweet, 126
Mille Feuilles (Italian Pyramid), 426
Mince Pies, 427
Minced Beef, 219
„ with Cucumbers, 219
Collops, Scotch, 234
Fowi å 'la Polonaise, 251
Mutton, 220
Pheasant, 273
Rabbits au Fumet, 285
Veal à la Catalan, 295
Mincemeat Kebob, Baked, 311
Minestra Soup, 135


.. INDEX TO RECIPES.
481
Ox-Tail Soup, 111
Ox-Tails à la Saint Lambert, 297
Ox Tongue à l'Écarlate, 218
Oyster Curry, 322
Fritters, 187
Hâtelets, 183, 184
Loaves, 182
Patties, 187
Pie, 188
Pudding, 188
Sauce, 340
Sausages, 184
, Soufflés, Little, 184
Soup, 103
Oysters, Bearded, 186
Broiled, 183
and Eggs, 187
Fried, 182
Mock, 189
Pickled, 187
Rissoles of, 185
Roast, 183
Scolloped, 186
Stewed, 183
à la Villeroi, 185
P
Panada, 31
French, 241
Pancake Pudding, 434
Pancakes, Berlin, 432
Cream, 433
Irish, 433
New England, 434
Pink-Coloured, 434
Rice, 434
Parisian Mock-Turtle Soup, 107
Parmentier Soup, 85
Parsnip Fritters, 366
Parsnips with Beans, 366
Parsley, to Fry, 141
"Green Broccoli and Cauliflower
Soup, 94
Partridge, Braised, with Celery Sauce,
269
Broiled, 270
aux Choux, plus Distinguée,
273
au Gratin, 271
Roasted, 270
Salad, 377
Sauté with Mushrooms, 269
Partridges, Chartreuse of, 271
'à la Chipolata, 272
Purée of, 121
Salmi Chaudfroid of, 272
Stewed, 270
Paste, French, 419
Pasties, Fieldfare, 314
FF
Patties, Chicken, with Pureé à la Reine,
208
, Oyster, 187
Veal and Ham, 223
Pea Fowls, 268
„ Soup, French Split, 88
? » Green, 83
, Old-fashioned, 86
Peas and Bacon, 221
,, Stewed, 369
Pease Pudding, 87
Pepper-Pot, A, 137
, West Indian, 319
Petites croutes de Caviar, 386
, Timballes of Fillets of Turbot à
la Vénétienne, 152
Petits Soufflés de Gibier, 388
Persian Sherbet, 451
Pheasant, Minced, 273
Pickled Oysters, 187
PIES AND PUDDINGS, SAVOURY :-
Artichoke Pie, 372
Battalia Pie, 321
Beef-Kidney Pie, 287
, Steak Pie, 303
Cabbage Pudding, 357
Carrot Pie, 366
Chicken Pie, 261
,, Pot Pie, 262
» Pudding, 261
'à la Richelieu, 258
à l'Uảe, 257
Corn Pie, 464
Crayfish Pudding, 192
Dried Fish Pudding, 197
Eel Pudding, 181
Français Pudding, 242
Green Corn Pudding, 464
Grouse Pie, 274
Haddock Puddings, 168, 197
to prepare Cream
for, 169
Hare Pie, 290
Hasty Pudding, 465
Hottentot Pie, 224
Lark Pies, 265
Little Fish Puddings, 197
Lobster Pie, 190
Marrow Pie, 367
Mushroom Pie, 373
Mutton Pie, 314
Neat's Foot Pudding, 232
Oyster Pie, 188
» Pudding, 188
Pease Pudding, '87
Pigeon Pie, 248
, Pudding, 249
Potato Pudding, 361


482
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
sienPuddings, 199
99
PIES AND PUDDINGS, SAVOURY (con. | PIES AND PUDDINGS, SWEET (cena
tinued):
tinued) :-
Pumpkin Pie, 367
Quaking Pudding, 438
Rabbit Pie, 285
Queen's Pudding, 438
» Pudding, 211
Raspberry Tart, 439
Raised Ham Pie, 223
Sago Pudding, 443
St. Germains Pudding, 457
Swiss Pudding, 440
Salmon Pudding, 1499
Tapioca Puddings, 441
Salt Fish Pie, 198
Transparent Pudding, 441
Vermicelli Pudding, 443
söle Pudding, 157
Welsh Pudding, 414
Spinach Pudding, 357
Yam Pudding, 444
Sweetbread Pie, 216
Pigeon, Gratin of, à la Périgord, 214
Veal and Ham Pie, 223
» Pie, 248
Vegetable Pie, 368
5 Pudding, 249
Venison Pie, 215
Pigeons à la Crapaudine, 247
White Pudding in Skins, 238
y to Roast, 247
Whiting Puddings, 163
on the Skewer, 248
» , à l'Ude, 163
Pike, Baked, 195
PIES AND PUDDINGS, SWEET :-
(French Way), 195
, Roast, 194
Almond Pudding, 402, 403
Pineapple Cream, 415
Amber Pudding, 404
Angelica Tart, 404
Ice, 447
Pink-coloured Pancakes, 434
Apple Pudding, 405, 406
Plain Boiled Calf's Head, 228
Apricot Pudding, 406
Fritters, 420
Bakewell Pudding, 407
Fruit Cake, 409
Barley Puddi
Omelette, 237
Brown Bread Pudding, 408
. Sausage-Meat, 205
Cabinet Pudding, 428
Chestnut Pudding, 411
Capilotade of, 268
Curd Pudding, 415
Plovers' Eggs in Aspic, 395
Delicious Pudding, A Very, 437 Plum Puddings, 435
Derbyshire Pudding, 417
Plums, Preserved, 466
Duke of Cumberland's Pudding, 417
Poacher's Soup, 124
Dutch Pudding, 418
Pomeranian Sauce for Wild Ducks, 14
French Pudding, 419
Poor Man's Sauce, 341
German Puddings, 422
Pork Chops, Broiled, 301
Grateful Puddings, 422, 423
Lamb and, 224
Green Pudding, 422
5. Cutlets and Tomato Sauce, 225
Hanover Pudding, 423
» Cake of, 320
Hunting Pudding, 423
Italian Pudding, 424
Porridges:
Lady Sunderland's Pudding, 425
Celery, 459
Lemon Puddings, 425
Flour, 459
Macaroni Pudding, 426
Hominy, 459, 460
Macaroon Custard Pudding, 425
Lentil, 460
Milles Feuilles (Italian Pyramid),426 Milk, 460
Mince Pies, 427
Oatmeal, 460
Muffin Pudding, 428
Sago, 461
Nelson Puddings, 429
, and Rice, 461
Nesselrode Pudding, 35, 429
Wheatmeal, 461
Noddy Puddings, 430
Portuguese Sauce, 341
Northumberland Pudding, 430 Potage à la Clermont, 89
Orange Pudding, 431
à la Diable, 113
Pancake Pudding, 434
, à l'Ivoire, 118
Plum Puddings, 435
aux Pointes d'Asperges, 89
Pudding à la Parisienne, 436
de Poisson à la Marinière, 102
Pumpion Pie, 438
» Printanier, 82
Plovers, 268


484
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK.
Preserved Strawberries, 467
Provençal Hotchpotch, 319
Provençale Sauce, 342
Puchero, 132
Mexican, 132
Pudding, A French, 419
Puddings. (See Pies and Puddings,
Savoury; also Pies and Puddings,
Sweet)
Puff Paste, Light, 437
Pullets, Scollops of Fat, 250
Pumpion Pie, 438
Pumpkin Pie, 367
Purée of, 368
Soup Maigre, 91
Punch à la Française, Hot, 449
Punshki, 236
Purée of Celery, 374
,, of Fowl à la Monglas, 119
of French Beans, 365
n of Game, 120
, Hunter's Mode, 121
of Hare Soup, 120
of Onions, 374
of Partridges, 121
, of Pumpkin, 368
of Spinach, 358
of White Beans, 120
Purées, to Colour, 352
Rabbit, White Gibelots of, 284
, 'Young, in Curl Papers, 213
Ragoût of Asparagus, 371
of Cabbages, 357
of Cucumbers, 359, 360
„ of Eggs and Mushrooms, 394
, of Fowl, 255
of French Beans, 363
Rails, to Roast, 280
Raised Ham Píe, 223
Lark Pies, 265
Randalled Eggs, 390
Raspberry Tart, 439
Ravigote Butter, 312
Ravioli Soup, 116
Red Mullets à l'Italienne, 166
» à la Ravigote, 167
with Sweet Herbs, 167
Remoulade Sauce, 179
Resurrection Cutlets, 299
Rice and Apples, 439
Casserole of, 238
for Curry, 324
,, Custard, 439
→ Flummery, 439
, Pancakes, 434
» Soup, 127
Richelieu Sauce, 342
Risotto, 239
M. Meagre, 239
Rissoles, 227
of Oysters, 185
, Potato, 362
of Sweetbread, 286-287
Roast Beef, Larded, 245
Canvas-Back Ducks, 264
Gurnet, 201
Grouse à la Sam Ward, 275
Ham, 245
Larks and Wheatears, 266
Mutton, Leg of, 243
,, Loin of, 244
Ortolans, 280
Oysters, 183
Partridge, 270
Pea Fowls, 268
Pigeons, 247
Pike, 294
Plain Grouse, 275
Plovers, 268
Rails, 280
Salmon, 146
Snipes, 280
Sucking-Pig, 243
Tripe, 246
Venison, 288
,, Neck of, 244
Woodcocks, 280
Robert Sauce, 343
Quails à la Chasseur, 267
, Compôte of, 209
5 à l'Espagnole, 267
Stewed, 267
Quaking Pudding, 438
Queen Blanche Stew, 226
,, Soup, 109
Queen's Puddings, 438
Quenelles, 140
» of Whitings, 165
Qu cen's PP 10g Cew, 226
R
Rabbit, Brown, Fricasséed, 260
Croquettes of, 285
Fillets of, à lá Pompadour, 282
» Young, à l'Orlie, 286
Galantine, 211
Gratin of, 283
“Kickshaws" of, 210
Mince of, au Fumet, 285
and Onions, 282
Pie, 285
Pudding, 211
Scollops of, 210
Soup, 118
Turban of Fillets of, 212
à la Vénétienne, 281
White, Fricasséed, 260
I


INDEX TO RECIPES.
485
Sausages, 455'
Romaine Sauce, 344 -
Sardines à la Provençale, 382
Roux, Brown, 352.
„ à la Royale, 382
9 White, 351
SAUCES, (alphabetically arranged), 325-
Rump of Beef, to Boil (French Fashion), 352
308
Sauces, to Colour, 52
Sausage, Italian, 384
Sago Porridge, 461
Sausage-Meat, Plain, 205
» Pudding, 443
,, and Rice Porridge, 461
Beef and Oyster, 315
* Soup with Turnips, 128
Bologna, 455
St. Germain Soup, 83
Lyons, 456
St. Germains Pudding, 457
Oyster, 184
Savoury Dishes. (See Hors-d'Euvres)
SALADS :-
Jelly, 232
Chicken, 378
Scarlet Beef, 308
Grouse, 377
Scolloped Oysters, 186
Herring, 380
Scollops of Cod, 162
Partridge, 377
of Fat Pullets, 250
Potato, 15, 380
of Rabbits, 210
of Salmon, 379
, of Sweetbreads in Cases, 217
of Smelts, 379
„
Salmi Chaudfroid of Partridges, 272
with Green Peas,
216
,, of Grouse with Claret, 277
Scotch Barley Broth with Boiled Mutton
, à la Parisienne, 277
or Beef, 128
Sauce, 314
Beef Collops with Onions, 234
5 of Woodcock, 279
Brown Soup, Old, 113
Salmon, Baked, 146
Hare Soup, 123
au Bleu, 145
Haggis, 235
à la Braise, 148
Kale Soup, 92
Caveach, 143
Minced Collops, 234
to Collar, 141
Shortbread, 440
Crimped, au Naturel, 144
Sowins, 462
, Slices of, Broiled with
White Soup, 109, 110
Caper Sauce, 144 Scots Kail, 236
Curried, 323
Shad, 171
Cutlets, 142
., Broiled Maître d'Hôtel, 172
of, à la Maitre d'Hôtel, Shallot Sauce, 345
142
Sharp Sauce 330, 346
Fritters, 145
Soup, 138
à la Génevoise, 143
Sheep's Head Broth, 108
Matelote Sauce, 146
Kidneys, Broiled, 287
to Pot, 143
Tail à l'Anglaise, 297
Pudding, 149
, Tongues à la Saint Lambert,
Roast, 146
298
to Roll, 142
, , with Stewed Endive,
Salad of, 379
218
Souchet, 148
, Trotters with Cheese, 231
with Sweet Herbs, 147
_, Fried, 296
à la Tartare, 147
Sherbet, Persian, 451
Salpicon of Fowl, 254
,, Turkish, 452
Salsafies with Beef Marrow, 375
Short (or Spiced) Beef, 305
Salt Cod à la Bonne Femme, 161
Shortbread, Scotch, 440
, , à la Maitre d'Hôtel, 160
Shoulder of Mutton, to Stew, 310
» , with Parsnips, 162
, of Veal à la Bourgeoise, 231
,, à la Provençale, 161
Shrimp Sauce, 346
* Fish Pie, 198
Sicilian Sauce, 346
,, Pudding, 199
Simple Soup with Eggs, A, 136
Sandwiches, Langtry, 387
Skate au Beurre Noir, 202'
Sardines, Crusts of, 383
i. „ Crimped, with Burnt Butter, 202


INDEX TO RECIPES.
487
,,
SOUPS (continued) :-
Ox-Tail, 111
Oyster, 103
Parmentier, 85
Pea and Cucumber, 92
, French Split, 88
, Green, 83
5, Old-fashioned, 86
Pepper-Pot, 137
Poacher's, 124
Potage à la Clermont, 89
, à la Diable, 113
» Printanier, 82
, •à la Reine, 109, 110"
Potato, 85
Pot-au-Feu, 77
Puchero, 132
Mexican, 132
Pumpkin Maigre, 90
Purée of Fowl, 119
„ of Gamé, 120, 121
, of Hare, 120
» of Partridges, 121
,, of White Beans, 120
Queen, 109
Rabbit, 118
Ravioli, 116
Rice, 127
Sago, with Turnips, 128
St. Germain, 83
Scotch Barley Broth, 128
» Hare, 123
» Kale, 92
Sharp, 138
Sheep's Head Broth, 108 .
Sorrel, 83
Spaghetti, 126
Spring, 82
Sweet Milk, 126
Tomato, 95
Turnip, 95
Turtle, Mock, 105-107
Veal Tea or Broth, 79
Vermicelli, 125
White Stock, 77
Young Carrot, 85
Sowins, 461
Scotch, 462
Spaghetti, 126
Spanish Crusts, 385
Spiced Beef, 305
Spinach Pudding, 357
*, Purée of, 358
Spitchcocking Eels, 178
Sprats, Baked, 201”
» Broiled, 200
Spring Soup, 82
Stcht Soup, 114
Steak, Beef, 302
» Chateaubriand, 302
Stew à la Bouché, 112
» Hessian, 315
Mutton, Irish, 316
» Navarin, 316'
„ Queen Blanche, 226
“ Steward's" French Beans, 364
1 . Potatoes, 360
Sauce, 348
Stewed Beef, 307
Carp, 194
Cheese, 397
Cod, 159
Cucumbers, 359
Eels, 179
Kidneys, 226
Oysters, 183
Partridges, 270
Peas, 369
Quails, 267
Shoulder of Mutton, 310
Stock, Consommé, 77
Strawberries, Preserved, 467
Stuffed Egg Fruit, 458
Sturgeon, Fresh, 202
Succotash, 464
Sucking Pig, Roast, 243
“Surprise Eggs, 395
“Surprises" in Ice Creams, 72, 73
Sweet Milk Soup, 126
» Omelette, 431
» Sauce, 348
SWEETS (alphabetically arranged), 402-
Sweetbread, Croquettes of, 286
'Pie, 216
Sweetbreads, "Dauphin” Fashion, 217
Rissoles of, 236-287
Scollops of, in Cases, 217
with Green
Peas, 216
Sweetmeat Tarts, 440
Swiss Pudding, 440
т
Tapioca Puddings, 441
Tart, Angelica, 404
» Fig, 418
, Orange, 432
_ Raspberry, 439
Tarts, Sweetmeat, 440
» Transparent, 441
Tartar Sauce, 348
Terrapin, 9, 10
Thickenings, 351, 352
Timbale of Macaroni, 239
Toad-in-a-Hole, 319
Toast, German, 241
444
Spanis“ Sauce, 347


INDEX TO RECIPES.
489
walaues with Beef Marrow, 375
VEGETABLES (continued):-
Pumpkin Pie, 367
1. Purée of, 368
Salsaties w
Spinach Pudding, 357
, Purée of, 358
Veloutée Sauce, 347
Venison, 288
Jugged, 288
Pie à l'Americaine, 215
Roast Neck of, 244
Vermicelli Pudding, 443
, Soup, 125
Vinaigrette of Beef, 308
Vol-au-Vent d'Escalopes de Turbot au
Bon Beurre, 161
» „ of Lambs' Tails, 229
W
Wafers, Almond, 403
Water Ice, Lemon, 446
,, Zootje (or Souchet), 170
Welsh Pudding, 443
, Rarebit, 397
West Indian Pepper-Pot, 319
Wheatears, to Roast, 266
Wheatmeal Porridge, 461
White Beans, Purée of, 120
Cakes, 414
Caper Sauce, 351
Coffee, 454
1. Fish Sauce, 351
Fricasséed Chicken, 260
Rabbit, 260
| White Gibelots of Rabbits, 284
Haricot Beans, 365
y Mulligatawny Soup, 117
. Pudding in Skins, 238
1. Roux, 351
· Soup, Old Scotch, 109, 110
... Stock, 77
Whitebait, 165
Devilled, 166
Whiting, Fillets of, Broiled à la Maitre
d'Hôtel, 165
au Gratin, 164
Pudding, 163
Whitings, Broiled, 164
Puddings of, à l'Ude, 163
Quenelles of, 165
Wild Boar's Head, 229
,, Duck, Fillets of, Sauce for, 345
Ducks à la Chasseur, 264
„ Pomeranian Sauce for, 14
Fowl, Sauce for, 345
Wine Soup, German, 136
Woodcock, Salmi of, 279
Woodcocks, to Roast, 280
" and Snipe, 280
Yam Pudding, 444
Yaourt, 2, 444
York Ham with Spinach, 222
Zootje (or Souchet), Flounders Water,
170


492
THE THOROUGH GOOD COOK..
Potato Salad, 24
Soup-plates, Elevated, 204
Potatoes, 44-46; Cobbett on, 44; care Soups made from Italian paste, rules
required with new, 44; a French • for, 126
mode of dressing, 45
Spanish Cuisine, The, 16-18; Don
Puddings, Old-fashioned, 35-37; recipe Quixote's menu, 16, 17
for Nesselrode pudding, 35; an old Sucking-pig a' favourite Russian dish,
recipe for chestnut pudding, 36
Purée of Fowl à la Monglas so named Sweet milk soup a favourite German
from the inventor, 119
dish, 126
Sydney Śmith on salads, 24
R
Risotto, 26
T
Rossini a famous gourmet, 122
Tarts, 39
Russian Cuisine, "The, 3-5; a Russian Thackeray on Oysters, 48
dinner, 4; cold boiled sucking-pig
Tide-water Tortoises, 9
a favourite dish, 5
Tit-Bits (see Savouries and Tit-Bits)
Tomato Salad, 24, 25
Tortoises, Fresh-water or Tide-water, 9
Turtle, Real, disliked by French gourmets,
Salads among the Germans, 15; Sydney
107
Smith on, 24; potato salad, 24;
tomato salad, 24, 25; lettuce salad,
25
Salpicon of fowl, 254
Vol-au-Vents, 41
Savouries and Tit-Bits, 42-44
Scottish Kitchen, The, 18-20; two
· mighty expositors of Scottish cuisine, Welsh Rabbit, or Rarebit, mistaken for
18, 19
soup, 131
Scraps, 30-32; how they may be Whelks or periwinkles, for soup, 104
utilised, 31, 32
| Wild Ducks, 14
W
PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.





AUG 29 1932