Part 18

Rub garlic in the dish in which lettuce, with French dressing (without onion), is to be served. Leave no pieces of the garlic--merely rubbing the dish will give flavor enough. The French often use garlic in salads. I would advise, however, the use of the simple French dressing with onion to be mixed with the lettuce leaves, and dispense with the garlic. Use the plain or the tarragon vinegar. Nasturtium blossoms have a most pleasant piquant flavor, and make a beautiful garnish for a salad.

2.

Lettuce, with water-cresses or pepper-grass mixed, and small radishes placed around for a garnish. French or _Mayonnaise_ dressing.

3.

Lettuce, with cives mixed, and olives placed around for garnish. French dressing.

4.

Lettuce, with celery mixed (most excellent). Cut the celery into pieces, an inch and a half long; then slice these lengthwise into four or five pieces. Mix with lettuce. French dressing.

5.

Lettuce and sorrel mixed. French dressing.

6.

Lettuce, with anchovies (cut into thin strips as celery) and chopped cives. To vary this dish, prawns and shrimps are used for a garnish; or the anchovies may be left out. French dressing.

7.

Endive alone. French dressing.

8.

Endive, mixed with water-cress. French dressing.

9.

Endive, with celery, beets, and hard-boiled eggs in slices. French dressing. Endive in centre, row of eggs around, then row of beets, then an edge of fringed celery.

10.

Water-cress is good mixed with cold boiled beets. Cut the beets into little dice; garnish with olives. French dressing.

11.

Lettuce and dice of cold boiled potatoes, and cold boiled beets. Potatoes piled in the centre, beets next, and lettuce around the edge of the dish. French dressing.

12. POTATO SALAD.

New small onions sliced, mixed with cold boiled potatoes cut into dice. French dressing. This potato salad is very nice.

Another way is to rub the dish with garlic in which the salad is made. Mix chopped parsley with the potatoes cut into dice. French dressing.

13.

Sliced cucumbers, and sliced new onions. French dressing.

14.

Cabbage alone, with French or _Mayonnaise_ dressing.

15. COLD SLAW.

Cut the cabbage not too fine; sprinkle pepper and salt over it, and set it on ice, or in a cool place, to keep it crisp.

_Dressing._--Beat the yolks of three eggs, or the whole of two eggs, with five table-spoonfuls of good strong vinegar, two heaping tea-spoonfuls of sugar (three, if the vinegar is very strong), half a tea-spoonful of made mustard, and butter size of an almond. Put these ingredients into a tin cup, and stir them over the fire until they are about to boil, or until they become a smooth paste. Put the mixture one side to become cold, and to remain until just before it is wanted at table; then mix it well with the cold cabbage, and garnish the top with slices of hard-boiled egg.

Cold slaw is especially nice served with fried oysters. Place it in the centre of the warm platter on a folded napkin (a too warm platter would injure it), then make a circle of fried oysters around it. This makes a nice course for dinner.

* * * * *

The salads of vegetables are generally better with the French dressing. They present a better appearance by cutting them with a small vegetable-cutter,

16. SALAD OF VEGETABLES (_Salade de Légumes_).

Mix cold boiled pease, string-beans, pieces of cauliflower, asparagus-tops, or almost any one of the small vegetables; do not cut the larger ones too fine. French dressing.

17.

Cold boiled potatoes, Lima beans, beets, carrots. French dressing.

18.

Cold baked navy beans, with _Mayonnaise_ sauce.

19. MAYONNAISE OF CAULIFLOWER.

Place some cauliflowers into just enough boiling water to cover them; add a little salt and butter to the water. When cooked, let them become cold; then season them with a marinade of a little salt and pepper, three spoonfuls of vinegar, and one spoonful of oil. Let them then remain for an hour. When ready to serve, pile them on the dish to a point; then mask them with a _Mayonnaise_ sauce.

Carême finishes this dish by placing around it a border of _croûtons_ of aspic jelly. I can not think that aspic jelly is good enough to pay for the trouble of making it, and I am a particular advocate for dishes that _taste_ well. Gouffé arranges around the dish a border of carrots, beets, turnips, or any green vegetables which have been marinated.

20. TOMATOES À LA MAYONNAISE.

This is a truly delicious dish; it would, in fact, be good every day during the tomato season.

Select large fine tomatoes and place them in the ice-chest; the colder they are, the better, if not frozen; skin them without the use of hot water, and slice them, still retaining the form of the whole tomato. Arrange them in uniform order on a dish, with a spoonful of _Mayonnaise_ sauce thick as a jelly on the top of each tomato. Garnish the dish with leaves of any kind. Parsley is very pretty.

Some marinate the tomato slices, _i. e._, dip them into a mixture of three spoonfuls of vinegar to one spoonful of oil, pepper, and salt; and then, after draining well, mix them in the _Mayonnaise_ sauce.

STRING-BEANS IN SALAD (_French Cook_).

String the beans and boil them whole; when boiled tender, and they have become cold, slice them lengthwise, cutting each bean into four long slices; place them neatly, the slices all lying in one direction, crosswise on a platter. Season them an hour or two before serving, with a marinade of a little pepper, salt, and three spoonfuls of vinegar to one spoonful of oil. Just before serving, drain from them any drops that may have collected, and carefully mix them with a French dressing. This makes a delicious salad.

CHICKEN SALAD.

Boil a young tender chicken, and when cold separate the meat from the bones; cut it into little square blocks or dice; do not mince it. Cut white tender stalks of celery into about three quarter-inch lengths, saving the outside green stalks for soups; mix the chicken and celery together; and then stir well into them a mixture in the proportion of three table-spoonfuls of vinegar to one table-spoonful of oil, with pepper, salt, and a little mustard to taste. Put this aside for an hour or two, or until just before serving; this is called marinating the chicken; it will absorb the vinegar, etc. When about to serve, mix the celery and chicken with a _Mayonnaise_ sauce, leaving a portion of the sauce to mask the top. Reserve several fresh ends or leaves of celery with which to garnish the dish. Stick a little bouquet of these tops in the centre of the salad, then a row of them around it. From the centre to each of the four sides sprinkle rows of capers. Sometimes slices or little cut diamonds of hard-boiled eggs are used for garnishing.

Chicken salad is often made with lettuce instead of celery. Marinate the chicken alone; add it to the small tender leaves (uncut) of the lettuce the last moment before serving; then pour _Mayonnaise_ dressing over the top. Garnish with little centre-heads of lettuce, capers, cold chopped red beets if you choose, or sliced hard-boiled eggs. Sometimes little strips of anchovy are added for a garnish. When on the table it should all be mixed together. Many may profit by this receipt for chicken salad; for it is astonishing how few understand making so common a dish. It is generally minced, and mixed with hard-boiled eggs, etc., for a dressing.

CHICKEN SALAD (_Carême’s Receipt_).

Take some tender pullets; fry them in the sauté pan, or roast them; when cold, cut them up, skinning and trimming them neatly. Put the pieces into a tureen, with some salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, some sprigs of parsley, and an onion cut into slices; mix all well together; cover, and let stand for some hours; then, just before serving, drain the salad, taking care to remove all bits of onion, etc., and place it tastefully on lettuce-leaves, with the hearts of the lettuce on top, and cover with a _Mayonnaise_ dressing.

MAYONNAISE OF SALMON.

Remove the skin and bones from a piece of salmon, boiled and cooled, and cut it into pieces two inches long. Marinate them, _i. e._, place them in a dish, and season them with salt, pepper, a little oil, and, in this case, plenty of vinegar, some parsley, and a little onion cut up; then cover, and let them stand two or three hours. In the mean time, cut up some hard-boiled eggs into four or eight pieces for a border. Cover the bottom of the salad-dish with lettuce-leaves, seasoned with a French dressing; place your salmon slices in a ring on the lettuce, pouring in the centre a _Mayonnaise_ sauce. Sprinkle capers over the whole.

Other kinds of fish, such as pike, blue-fish, and flounders, make very good salads, arranged in the same way. Carême, Gouffé, and Francatelli fry their fish and fowl in a _sauté_ pan, instead of boiling them. If you do not make use of remnants of salmon left from the table, you can form better-shaped slices by cutting the fish into little shapes before it is boiled. If you wish to boil them, immerse them in warm water (with vinegar and salt added) in a wire basket, or drainer.

SALAD À LA FILLEY.

Ingredients: Cottage cheese, hard-boiled egg, cives.

Arrange cives on a salad-dish in such a manner as to form a nest; put into the nest whole hard-boiled eggs (shelled), one for each person at table, alternated with little round cakes of cottage cheese. In serving, place upon each plate an egg, a cake of cottage cheese, and some of the cives. Each person cuts all together, and puts on the French dressing of oil, vinegar, pepper and salt.

FRITTERS.

FRENCH FRITTER BATTER (_French Cook_), No. 1.

Put a heaping cupful of flour into a bowl; add two yolks of eggs, a table-spoonful of olive oil, which is better than melted butter, and one or two table-spoonfuls of brandy, wine, or lemon-juice.[E] Stir it well, adding, little by little, water enough to give it the thickness of ordinary batter. This may be used at once; but it is better to put it away for a day, or even for a week. At the moment of cooking, stir in well the whites of two eggs beaten to a very stiff froth.

FRITTER BATTER (No. 2).

Ingredients: One pint of milk, three eggs, a little salt, one pint of flour. It can be made with or without a tea-spoonful of baking-powder.

Beat the eggs well; add part of the milk and salt, then the flour and milk alternately, beating it all quickly, and cooking it immediately, dropping it by the spoonful into boiling-hot lard. The fritters are improved by using prepared flour, Horsford’s or Hecker’s being especially good.

PINE-APPLE, APPLE PRESERVE, OR PEACH FRITTERS.

Add a pint or less of any of these fruits, cut into small pieces, to either of the above receipts. When done, sprinkle sugar over the tops.

OYSTER OR CLAM FRITTERS (No. 1).

Chop, not too fine, twenty-five of either clams or oysters (bearded or not), and mix them in the fritter batter of either of the above receipts.

CLAM FRITTERS (No. 2).

Strain one pint of clams, saving the juice; add to this juice sufficient water to make one pint; mix into it one egg, well beaten, and sufficient _prepared_ flour to make a light batter, also the clams chopped, and some salt. Drop by the spoonful into boiling-hot lard.

KENTISH FRITTERS (_Mrs. Acton_).

Beat up the whites of three eggs and the yolks of six, with half a pound of flour, a cupful of milk, and a large tea-spoonful of yeast. Put the mixture into a jar, and set it near the stove until the next day; then add to the batter two large apples chopped. Drop this by the spoonful into boiling lard. Sprinkle over sugar.

FRIED CREAM (_Crême Frite_).

Every one should try this receipt: It will surprise many to know how soft cream could be enveloped in the crust, while it is an exceedingly good dish for a dinner course, or for lunch or tea. When the pudding is hard, it can be rolled in the egg and bread-crumbs. The moment the egg touches the hot lard it hardens and secures the pudding, which softens to a creamy substance very delicious.

Ingredients: One pint of milk, five ounces of sugar (little more than half a cupful), butter the size of a hickory-nut, yolks of three eggs, two table-spoonfuls of corn starch, and one table-spoonful of flour (a generous half cupful altogether), stick of cinnamon one inch long, one half tea-spoonful of vanilla.

Put the cinnamon into the milk, and when it is just about to boil stir in the sugar, and the corn starch and flour, the two latter rubbed smooth with two or three table-spoonfuls of extra cold milk; stir it over the fire for fully two minutes, to cook well the starch and flour; take it from the fire, stir in the beaten yolks of the eggs, and return it a few moments to set them; now, again taking it from the fire, remove the cinnamon, stir in the butter and vanilla, and pour it on a buttered platter until one-third of an inch high. When cold and stiff, cut the pudding into parallelograms, about three inches long and two inches wide; roll these carefully, first in sifted cracker-crumbs, then in eggs (slightly beaten and sweetened), then again in the cracker-crumbs. Dip these into boiling-hot lard (a wire basket should be used if convenient), and when of fine color take them out, and place them in the oven for four or five minutes to better soften the pudding. Sprinkle over pulverized sugar, and serve immediately.

PEACH, APRICOT, OR APPLE FRITTÉRS (_French Cook_).

The fresh or the canned fruit may be used. If fresh, pare, core, and cut them in halves. In either case, let them remain two or three hours in brandy, rum, or wine, with plenty of sugar sprinkled over, with some grated lemon peel or zest. When they have absorbed the flavor of these surroundings, drain, and dip them into the fritter batter (No. 1). If rum is used for marinating the fruit, it should be also used in the batter. When the fritters are done and well drained, sprinkle powdered sugar over them.

BREAD FRITTERS.

Having cut off the crust, cut the bread into any shape preferred, such as squares, circles, diamonds, etc. Let it soak in custard (milk, one or two eggs, sugar, and a flavoring of either lemon-zest, or vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, rose-water, brandy, or wine). When well soaked (not enough, however, to break into pieces), roll it first in bread crumbs, then in beaten egg (sweetened and flavored), and again in bread or cracker crumbs, and fry in boiling lard. Serve the fritters sprinkled with powdered sugar, with or without a sweet sauce.

PORK FRITTERS (see page 164).

CORN FRITTERS.

Ingredients: The corn cut from seven ears, one pint of milk, one egg beaten, salt, _prepared_ flour enough to make a light batter. Drop by the table-spoonful into boiling-hot lard.

APPLE FRITTERS.

Pare some fine apples, and with an apple-corer cut out the core from the centre of each; now cut them across in slices, about one-third of an inch thick, having the round opening in the centre; dip these in either fritter batter No. 1 or No. 2; fry in boiling lard; sprinkle over sugar, and serve in a circle, one overlapping the other, with or without a sweet sauce in the centre.

PASTRY.

Professional cooks use butter for pastry. Puff paste should never be attempted with lard or a half mixture of it. If lard or clarified beef suet is used, the pastry of an indifferent cook will be improved by adding a little baking-powder to the flour and rolling the paste very thin.

It is not difficult to make puff paste. In winter, when it is freezing outdoors, or in summer, when a refrigerator with ice in it is at hand, it is very little more trouble to make puff paste than any other kind. The simple rolling of the dough to form layers requires very little practice. The only secret left, after using cold water and butter cold enough not to penetrate the dough, is to have it almost at a freezing-point, or at least thoroughly chilled, as it is put into a hot oven.

The _vols-au-vent_ of strawberries, or berries of any kind, or of jellies, or of lemon paste (see page 244), and also _rissoles_, are especially fine, and are quickly made.

As hundreds of different dishes can be made with pastry, and as Carême has devoted a good-sized volume to the subject, I will copy his receipt for puff paste. It is not modest, perhaps, to put my own first; but it is for the benefit of more ordinary cooks, who will never take extra trouble to make a thing perfect.

PUFF PASTE.

Ingredients: One pound of flour, three-quarters of a pound of butter, yolks of two eggs, a little salt, a sprinkle of sugar, a little very cold (or, better, ice-cold) water. (All the professional cooks use a pound of butter to a pound of flour. I think it makes the pastry too rich, and prefer three-quarters of a pound of butter to a pound of flour.)

Sift and weigh the flour, and put it on the board or marble slab; sprinkle a little salt and a very little sugar over it. Beat the yolks of the eggs, and then stir into them a few spoonfuls of ice-cold water; pour this slowly into the centre of the flour with the left hand, working it at the same time well into the mass with the tips of the fingers of the right hand. Continue to work it, turning the fingers round and round on the board, until you have a well-worked, smooth, and firm paste. Now roll it out into a rectangular form, being particular to have the edges quite straight. Much of success depends upon the even folding of the paste. Work the butter (which should be kept some minutes in very cold water if it is at all soft) until the moisture and salt are wiped out, and it is quite supple; care must be taken, however, to keep the butter from getting too soft, as in this condition it would ruin the paste. Divide it into three equal parts; spread one part as flatly and evenly as possible over half of the crust, turn the other half over it, folding it a second time from right to left. Roll this out to the same rectangular form as before; spread the second portion of the butter on half of the crust; fold and roll it out again as before, repeating the same process with the third portion of butter. The paste has now been given what they call three turns; it should be given six turns, turning and rolling the paste after the butter is in. However, after the first three turns, or after the butter is all in, the paste should be placed on the ice, or in a cold place, to remain about ten or fifteen minutes between each of the last three turns: this will prevent the butter getting soft enough to penetrate the dough. Each time before the dough is folded, it should be turned half round, so as to roll it in a different direction each time; this makes the layers more even. In order to turn the paste, the end may be held to the rolling-pin; then, rolling the pin, the dough will fold loosely around it; the board may be sprinkled with flour; then the dough can be unrolled in the side direction. This is better than to turn it with the hands, as it should be handled as little as possible. When folded the last time, put the paste on a platter, cover, and place it on the ice for half an hour, or where it may become thoroughly chilled; then roll it out for immediate use; or, so long as it is kept in a half-frozen state, it may be kept for one or two days. Firm, solid butter should be selected for puff paste; a light, crumbling butter would be very unsuitable. After the pies, patties, or other articles are made (as in receipts), the scraps may be used for making rissoles. Always select the coolest place possible for making puff paste. In winter it is well to make it by an open window.

CARÊME’S RECEIPT FOR PUFF PASTE.

Ingredients: Twelve ounces of fine sifted flour, twelve ounces of butter, two drams of fine salt, and the yolks of two eggs beaten.

Manner of working: Having placed twelve ounces of flour on the board, make a small hole in the middle, into which put two drams of fine salt, the yolks of two eggs, and nearly a glass of water. With the ends of the fingers gradually mix the flour with the ingredients, adding a little water when necessary, till the paste is of a proper consistence--rather firm than otherwise. Then lean your hand on the board, and work it for some minutes, when the paste will become soft to the touch and glossy in appearance.

Care must be taken, in mixing the flour with the liquid ingredients, that they do not escape, and that the paste be very lightly gathered together, to prevent it from forming into lumps, which render it stiff, and very difficult to be worked, thereby in some degree causing a failure, which is easily ascertained by the paste, when drawn out, immediately receding, which arises from its having been clumsily and irregularly mixed. To remedy this, let it be carefully rolled out, placing here and there five or six pieces of butter, each the size of a nutmeg, when, after working it as before, it will acquire the degree of softness necessary. It is of importance to observe that this paste should be neither too soft nor too hard, but of a proper medium; yet it is better to be a little too soft than too stiff. One should not choose a hot place in which to make paste: for this reason, summer renders the operation quite difficult. If one can not find a cool place, the paste might be slightly stiffer in summer than in winter.

When the paste has been made as above, take three-quarters of a pound of butter in pieces, which has been twenty minutes in ice-water, well washed and pounded. Squeeze and work it well in a napkin, in order to separate the water from it, and at the same time to render it soft, and, above all, of an equal consistence; then, as quickly as possible, roll the paste into a square on a marble slab (the ends must be perfectly even, as much success depends upon folding); place the butter in the middle; spread it over half the paste, immediately turning over the other half of the paste to cover it. Then roll the paste out about three feet in length; fold it into three parts by doubling one part over the other; after which roll it out again, and fold it once more into three equal parts; now roll it to a greater length, fold it, and put it quickly on a plate sprinkled with flour. Place this upon ten pounds of pounded ice, then, covering it with a second plate, put upon that one pound of broken ice. This plate serves to keep the surface of the paste cool, and also to prevent its becoming soft by the action of the air. After two or three minutes, remove the plate, and turn the paste upside down, instantly covering it as before. After about fifteen minutes, roll it out, and use it as expeditiously as possible.

Thus, in less than half an hour, it is possible to make very fine puff paste, having previously every thing ready--the ice pounded, the butter frozen, and the oven quite hot; for otherwise it can not be done. This is all-important, as it is sometimes an hour before the oven can be made hot. When the oven is half heated, begin to make the paste.

The great variety of elegant and delicate forms[F] this paste is made to assume justifies one for giving such explicit instructions, and repays one for all necessary pains to make it.

FOR PIES.

I mean Yankee pies. Our English cousins, when speaking of pies, mean only meat-pies, calling our pies tarts. When the paste is fitted over the pie-plate, cut round the edge of it with a sharp knife dipped in flour. Now cut a long curved strip, about three-quarters of an inch wide, wet slightly the top of the paste on the pie-plate near the edge (_not the edge_), and fit the strip around the pie, the edges coming together. Fill the pie, and place in the oven as soon as possible.

PIE PASTE OF LARD AND BUTTER (_Mrs. Treat_).