Part 65

Stew.--(_a_) Shoulder and breast of venison are rarely roasted, it being far more artistic to stew them or put them into a pasty. To stew a breast or shoulder of venison the skin and bones should first be carefully removed and the meat rolled or skewered together: then put into a stewpan with 1 qt. water, ½ pint red wine, a bundle of sweet herbs, cloves and mace in a bag, and a little pepper and salt, and stew very gently for about 3 hours. Then take out the meat, skim off the fat, take out the spice and herbs, throw in a piece of butter rolled in flour, and boil till it is thick and smooth; then season with a _soupçon_ of cayenne pepper, put in the meat again, make it hot and serve in a hot dish with the sauce over. Currant jelly should be served with this very nice and inexpensive dish.

(_b_) Venison may also be cut into steaks or chops and broiled on a well anointed gridiron, but although very wholesome, it is not so toothsome in any way as when roasted or stewed. A neck of venison may also be divided into cutlets, which should be beaten with a cutlet bat, pared neatly and larded with finely-cut bacon. Next a stewpan is lined with bacon and bacon trimmings and minced vegetables, the cutlets are put in and covered with good stock. The liquid should be allowed to boil up and diminish to one-half. When the cutlets are done they may be taken out, and the sauce strengthened with a little port wine strained and poured over the cutlets, which may be served on a cushion of tomato sauce.

_Wildfowl_ (Canard, Halbran). Grilled.--Take a tender fat young mallard or pintail, or a brace of widgeon, split down the back, after removing the head, neck, and wing bones, truss as for a spatchcock, carefully take out the breast bone, rub the inside with mushroom powder, chop up small the bones and trimmings, simmer slowly with the gizzard and liver for about ½ hour in a little good brown stock, add 1 teaspoonful made mustard, 2 large teaspoonfuls port wine, a little pepper and salt, and either some cayenne or else Chili vinegar; let it boil for a short time and strain. Grill the birds over a clear fire--a mallard or pintail will take about 20 minutes, widgeon 15 minutes--serve very hot, pour the boiling gravy over, first squeezing into it the juice of half a lemon.

Roast.--Wild duck should not be dressed too soon after being killed. In cold, dry weather it will be more tender and finer flavoured after keeping 7-8 days. Roast before a quick, clear fire, ardent enough to throw out a great heat. Let it remain without basting, for 5-6 minutes, to keep the gravy in, afterwards baste incessantly with plenty of butter. A few minutes before serving lightly dredge with flour, then baste and send to table brown and frothed. Wild duck, if overdone, loses its flavour; 20-25 minutes before the right kind of fire, will be sufficient. Serve on a very hot, dry dish. If dressed to perfection, the duck will give sufficient gravy. Send to table as hot as possible, with a cut lemon and sauce.

Salmis.--(_a_) Cut up any cold wildfowl, draw the gravy from the bones and trimmings by simmering in brown stock seasoned with minced shallot, pepper and salt; let it do slowly for ½ hour, then add 2 glasses port wine or claret, 1 teaspoonful Chili vinegar, 1 tablespoonful mushroom ketchup, and 1 of Worcester sauce, let it boil 10-15 minutes longer and then strain; pour the gravy over the cold bird in another stewpan, bring gently to the boil, add a little cayenne and lemon juice and serve very hot.

(_b_) Take any kind of wildfowl, half roast them, when cold cut into nice pieces, removing the skin; place the meat on one side. Then take the trimmings, head, neck, wings, bones, liver and gizzard, back, &c. Break all up small, place in a stewpan with some pepper and salt, a green chili, or if not procurable a little cayenne pepper, 2 shallots minced fine, and some good brown stock, simmer slowly for 1 hour, then add 1 oz. butter, into which a little flour has been rubbed, let it thicken, then strain; put the game into another stewpan, pour over the gravy, adding ½ pint button mushrooms or a small tin of champignons, boil up slowly and serve very hot, with a few slices of lemon and fried sippets for garnish.

_Woodcock._ Roast.--Remove the gizzard from each bird, truss and wrap the birds in bacon, and roast them at a brisk fire, basting them continually with butter. Place a slice of toast in the dripping pan to catch the trail, and serve the birds on that toast. Plain white sauce to be served in a boat with them. Time of roasting 10-15 minutes.

Toast.--See Snipe.

=Vegetables.=--_Artichokes._--Boiled.--Parboil the artichokes for 10 minutes in water, with vinegar or lemon juice and salt to taste. Take them out, cutting off all the leaves and removing the “choke,” trim them neatly in the shape of diminutive pattypans. Lay them in a saucepan with plain white stock, and let them simmer gently till done. Drain them on a cloth. Arrange them on their dish, and pour over them some white sauce, made as follows: Mix in a saucepan 1½ oz. butter and 1 tablespoonful flour, stir in ½ tumblerful white stock or even hot water, add pepper and salt to taste, then stir in off the fire the yolks of 2 eggs, beaten up with the juice of a lemon and strained.

Fried.--Cut 2 green artichokes into 8 or more “quarters,” according to the size of the artichoke, and trim off all that is uneatable from each, putting them as they are trimmed in cold water with the juice of a lemon squeezed into it to prevent their turning black. When the “quarters” are all done, dip them in batter, see that each piece is well coated with it, and fry them in plenty of boiling lard; serve piled on a napkin and garnished with fried parsley.

Stewed.--Prepare the artichoke quarters as for fried. Boil them in salt and water, with a lemon squeezed into it, till nearly done. Melt 2 oz. butter in a saucepan, mix with it 1 tablespoonful flour, add as much water as will make sufficient sauce, then pepper, salt, and a little powdered nutmeg to taste; lay the artichokes in this, and when quite done stir in, off the fire, the yolks of 2 eggs strained and beaten up with the juice of a lemon.

Stuffed.--Fill each with as much of the following forcemeat as it will hold: Pound to a paste, in a mortar slightly rubbed with garlic, equal parts of raw veal and ham, then pass them through a wire sieve and return them to the mortar; work into the paste thus obtained a fourth of its bulk of butter, and about the same quantity of breadcrumbs soaked in milk, with the yolks of one or more eggs, according to quantity; add, according to taste, pepper, salt, and a little grated nutmeg. Lay them all in a well-buttered saucepan, pour round as much tomato sauce as may be necessary, and let them simmer gently on a slow fire till done; or they may be cooked in a baking dish in the oven, in which case a buttered paper should be laid over them.

_Asparagus._--Boiled.--Scrape each head with the back of a knife and tie the asparagus in small bundles of 1 doz. heads each; cut off the ends evenly. Put them into a panful of fast-boiling water, with plenty of salt, and in about 10 minutes they will be done. Drain at once, untie the bundles, and serve on a napkin with the following sauce in a boat: 3 parts olive oil, 1 of tarragon vinegar, a little mustard, plenty of pepper and salt to taste, beaten up with a fork until perfectly amalgamated.

_Beetroot._--Baked.--Wash, but be careful not to cut them; put them into a very slack oven for about 8 hours. When cold peel them and dress them as follows: Chop ½ onion finely, put it into a saucepan with a piece of butter. When it begins to take colour, add the beetroot, cut up into large dice, pepper and salt to taste, and 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls tarragon vinegar. When quite hot serve.

Boiled.--Wash the beetroot as for baked, and put it into fast-boiling salted water, to boil 1-2 hours, according to size, then dress as baked.

With Cream Sauce.--Boil the beetroot, and when cold peel and slice it; stew the slices until quite hot in some well-flavoured white stock well freed from grease; strain off the stock, and stir into it, off the fire, the yolk of an egg beaten up with a little milk or cream. Arrange the beetroot in a dish, pour the sauce over, and serve; or serve plainly, boiled with a cream sauce made without stock. If wanted cold, serve with a mayonnaise sauce, or with a little plain cream poured over, and with a seasoning of pepper and salt.

_Broad Beans._--Boiled.--Shell very young and newly gathered beans as much as possible all of a size. Boil them in plenty of fast-boiling salted water, with a sprig or two of savoury. When quite done, which is to be ascertained by tasting one, drain them and serve with the following sauce, either in a sauce-boat, or poured over them. Mix 2 oz. butter in a saucepan with 1 tablespoonful flour, add 1 tumblerful boiling water, pepper and salt to taste, and plenty of minced parsley; stir well until the sauce boils.

_Broccoli and Cauliflower._--Au Gratin.--Boil a cauliflower, previously well washed and trimmed, in plenty of water, with a due quantity of salt; be careful not to overboil it; about 10 minutes will do it. Try the stem with a thin iron skewer, and the moment it, is soft remove the saucepan from the fire, and put the cauliflower to drain on a hair sieve. When it is quite cold, cut it up neatly and carefully, place the roughest pieces flat on a well-buttered dish, so as to form a sort of foundation; sprinkle this with pepper and salt, a little nutmeg, and cover it well with grated Parmesan cheese, dispose the remaining and best pieces on the top, add more pepper, salt, and nutmeg, cover with grated Parmesan, add a few baked breadcrumbs, and pour over all a little liquefied butter; bake in a quick oven 15-20 minutes, and serve. Rubbing the dish with garlic is an improvement.

Dressed.--Trim and boil a nice firm cauliflower; it should not be over large, and should be boiled with care, that it may be tender without being broken. To secure this it should not boil too quickly, and there should be put into the water used either a little common or a little soda carbonate and 1 tablespoonful salt. When done, take up carefully on a sieve to drain, and keep warm while you make the following sauce: Put into a clean stewpan 3 oz. fresh butter; let it dissolve on the stove, but do not let it get so hot that it will oil. Now mix with it 1 dessertspoonful cornflour, and pour on it ¼ pint boiling water and a little cream and let it boil up. Now put into it 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley and ¼ teaspoonful chopped onion. Let these boil 1 minute; take from the fire and stir into the sauce the beaten yolks of 2 or 3 fresh eggs, 1 tablespoonful chili vinegar, and a little salt. Divide the cauliflower into tufts, and arrange neatly on a dish. Pour the sauce over, put some sippets of toast round, and serve.

With White Sauce.--Pick out all the green leaves from a couple of broccoli, and cut off the stalks close. Put them head downwards into a saucepan full of boiling salted water. When done pick them out into sprigs and arrange them head downwards in a pudding basin, which must have been made quite hot. Press them in gently, then turn them out dexterously on a dish, and pour over them the following sauce, boiling hot: Melt 1½ oz. butter in a saucepan, mix with it 1 tablespoonful flour, and then add ½ pint boiling water; stir till it thickens; add salt and white pepper to taste; then take the saucepan off the fire and stir in the yolks of 2 eggs beaten up with the juice of a lemon and strained.

_Brussels Sprouts._--Boiled.--(_a_) Take about 1 qt. sprouts all of a size, not larger than walnuts, throw them into salt and water for 10 minutes, then put them in fast-boiling water, in which you have put a small piece of soda to preserve the green colour. When nearly done pour off the water, and put in as much fresh butter as you can lift on a teaspoon; toss the pan gently, but do not stir and keep the lid on by the side of the fire until you have prepared the sauce, which must be made of good stock, with some of the red gravy from roast beef added; take a breakfastcupful, and bring it to a boil, then mix a teaspoonful of cornflour in cold water; add a little browning and some Harvey’s sauce, or any other brown sauce, then pour the boiling stock on; give one boil up, and strain the sauce into the pan with the Brussels sprouts. Let them remain closely covered, and, when dishing up, squeeze a little lemon juice into the sauce.

(_b_) Trim each sprout neatly, and wash them in several waters. Put them to boil in plenty of boiling salted water, and, when almost done, strain them and dry them in a cloth. Put them in a saucepan with a large piece of butter, pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg to taste. Toss them gently on the fire until they are quite cooked.

_Cabbage._--Boiled.--(_a_) Take 2 summer cabbages, trim off all the outer leaves, cut the cabbages in half lengthwise, and steep them in salted water for an hour, then throw them into fast-boiling water, and when they have boiled 20 minutes change the water for fresh boiling water, salted to taste. Let them boil till quite done. Put them on a sieve in the screen to drain all the water from them, and serve.

(_b_) First boil it very well, then chop it up with a little butter, add a small quantity of vinegar and pepper, and then fry it for 2 minutes; grate a little Parmesan cheese, and when ready to serve pour some melted butter over the cabbage and sprinkle the grated cheese over it.

Cold Slaugh.--Cut a head of hard white cabbage into very fine shavings; it is seldom shaved fine enough. For 1 qt. cabbage take the yolks of 3 eggs, beat them well; stir into 1½ tumbler vinegar 2 spoonfuls loaf sugar, 1 tablespoonful olive oil, 1 of thick sweet cream, or a piece of butter as large as a walnut, 1 heaped teaspoonful mustard, salt and pepper to taste; mix with the egg, and put this sauce into a stewpan; when hot add the cabbage, stew until thoroughly hot, which will only require 4-5 minutes. Toss it up from the bottom with a silver or wooden fork; take it up and set where it will become perfectly cold--on ice is best. The quantity of vinegar would depend upon its strength.

Hot Slaugh.--Take a fine hard head of white or red cabbage, shred it very finely, and put it into a stewpan with a piece of butter the size of an egg, salt, pepper, 1 tablespoonful chili and 1 of tarragon vinegar. Cover the stewpan and toss gently for about 5 minutes, when the cabbage should be thoroughly hot through. Care must be taken not to overcook hot slaugh, as it should be borne in mind that this very agreeable dish is a hot salad, and not stewed cabbage, and should therefore retain its crispness.

Stuffed.--Parboil a small cabbage or savoy, leaving it whole. Mince very finely any remains of cold meat, and half the quantity of beef suet, add a small quantity of chopped shallot, pepper, salt and minced herbs to taste, the same quantity of fine breadcrumbs as of suet, and the yolks of 2 or more eggs. Make an incision on the top of the cabbage, open the leaves lightly, insert the forcemeat and tie up the cabbage with thread. Line a saucepan with bacon, lay in the cabbage with a little stock or broth; simmer on the fire for 2-3 hours. At the time of serving, remove the thread from the cabbage; strain the sauce, free it from excess of fat, thicken with butter and flour, and pour it over the dish.

_Cardoons._--Boiled.--Cut the stalks into convenient lengths, remove the prickles on either side of them, and parboil them for 15 minutes in salted water; drain them, and scrape and rub off the outer skin from each piece, putting them into cold water as they are done. When they are all ready, finish cooking them as artichokes.

_Carrots._--À la Maître D’Hôtel.--Trim each carrot neatly, cut it in half, and boil them in salted water; when done drain off the water, add a piece of butter to the carrots, some parsley finely minced, a dust of pepper, a little powdered sugar, and a squeeze of lemon. Give the saucepan a toss or two on the fire to keep the contents hot till wanted.

À la Flamande.--When parboiled and drained, put the carrots into a saucepan with a piece of butter, a pinch of sugar, and as much water as may be necessary for sauce, add some finely minced parsley and white pepper and salt to taste. Let the carrots simmer till done (about 15 minutes), shaking them occasionally. Beat up together the yolks of 2 eggs and ½ gill cream, stir this into the carrots off the fire and serve.

À la Nivernaise.--Cut out the red portion of some carrots to the shape of olives, parboil and then put them into a saucepan with plenty of butter, a little pounded loaf sugar, pepper, and salt; add a little stock to prevent their burning, and keep shaking the saucepan till they are cooked.

_Celeriac._--Boiled.--Peel the roots, and cut them into quarters or in slices; throw them into boiling salted water, and let them boil till quite done; drain them, and serve with white sauce.

_Celery._--Boiled.--Trim the roots, and cut to the same length (about 6 in.) 3 heads celery, wash them carefully, tie them together with string; put them in a saucepan with an onion, a blade of mace, some whole pepper, salt, and sufficient boiling water to cover them. Let them boil till quite done, then drain them, remove the string, and serve with the following sauce over them: Melt 1 oz. butter in a saucepan, and mix with it 1 dessertspoonful flour, add as much of the water in which the celery was boiled as is wanted to make the sauce, put in salt to taste, and stir in off the fire the yolk of an egg beaten up with the juice of a lemon, and strained.

On Toast.--Trim the roots, and cut to the same length (about 6 in.) 3 heads of celery, wash them carefully, tie them together with string, parboil them a few minutes, and drain them. Put a layer of bacon in a saucepan, lay the celery on this, with an onion and a carrot sliced, a bunch of sweet herbs, pepper, salt, a blade of mace, or a few cloves; fill up with enough stock just to cover the celery, and let it gently simmer till done. Take some of the liquor well freed from fat, thicken it with a little flour and butter; pour it on a dish. Have ready a number of slices of bread cut to a uniform shape, and fried in butter; arrange them on the sauce in a circle, disposing half a head of celery on each.

Stewed.--Trim and cut to the same length a number of heads of celery, split them in two lengthwise, tie them in bundles with thread, and parboil them for 10 minutes in salted water. Drain them, and arrange them in a saucepan over slices of bacon, with a bundle of sweet herbs, 2 onions, pepper and salt to taste, and a blade of mace. Add enough stock just to cover the contents, and simmer gently till the celery is quite tender. Having removed the string, dispose the celery neatly on a dish; take some of the stock in which it has been stewed, remove all fat from it, add a small piece of fresh butter, pour it over the celery, and serve.

_Dandelions._--Pick before they blossom, and cut roots off just below the leaves, thus keeping them together. They should be picked over well, washed in cold spring water, chopped up into ½ in. lengths, and boiled with a little salted water, or steamed over salted water; the latter method is preferable. Spread a cloth over a colander, drain the dandelions through it, and squeeze out all the water; chop up fine, and put into a saucepan with a small lump of butter and some salt; stir it over the fire for a few minutes, then turn on to a hot dish, put a soup plate over it and set it over steam for a few seconds, remove the soup plate, cut it or mark it in squares like spinach, garnish with sippets and serve. Dandelions will be found more bitter in taste than spinach; if lemon juice is added to them while cooking, and a very little powdered white sugar, this bitterness will be counteracted. (Eliot-James.)

_Egg-Plant Fruit._--Boil the fruit until tender, halve them lengthwise, and scoop out the inside, leaving a shell about ½ in. thick. Take a small quantity of any kind of meat or poultry previously cooked and well freed from fat, skin, and gristle; mince it finely, and then pound it quite smooth with the pulp of the vegetable (not the seeds), and with some sweet herbs, chopped mushrooms, or any flavouring preferred; season the whole with pepper and salt, toss it for a few minutes in a saucepan with a piece of butter, and a little stock to moisten it (if necessary), fill the cavities with this mixture, add a layer of fried breadcrumbs, pour over them some liquefied butter, put them into the oven for a few minutes, and serve very hot.

_French Beans._--The nice flavour of this wholesome vegetable depends not only on its freshness, but also on the mode of cooking. When very young and very small, it is better not to cut them, but simply take off the tops and tails, and a thin stringy strip at each side of the bean, then wash, but do not leave them in water. Throw them into a saucepan of fast-boiling water, with 1 tablespoonful salt to each ½ gal. water. Boil quickly, with lid off, till tender, and at once drain in a colander, taking care to shake or press gently with a wooden spoon, every drop of water from them; serve very hot, with pieces of fresh butter between each layer of beans. When the beans are not so young or so small, they should be cut into thin, slanting strips, and dressed in the same way.

_Haricot Beans._--(_a_) Soak them for 12 hours, put them in a saucepan of cold water, let it come gradually to the boil, then simmer till quite tender; drain and put them at once into a stewpan, with some fresh butter, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and a little lemon juice, toss them well, and serve very hot.

(_b_) The usual way in America for cooking white haricot beans is in the old-fashioned New England dish, “pork and beans.” Parboil a piece of the middling of salt pork, and score the skin. Allow 1 lb. to 1 qt. of the dried beans which must be soaked overnight in lukewarm water. In the morning put them on to boil in cold water; when they are soft drain off the water, put the beans in a deep dish, half bury the pork in the middle, adding a very little warm water. Bake a nice brown. Some like a dessertspoonful of sugar mixed in with the beans before placing them in the dish.

_Jerusalem Artichokes._--Wash them well, peel and shape them to a uniform size; throw them into boiling salted water, and let them boil 15-20 minutes; drain them at once thoroughly; put them on a dish and serve with the following sauce poured over them: Mix over the fire 1½ oz. butter, with 1 tablespoonful flour; add ½ pint boiling water, white pepper, and salt to taste; stir till the sauce thickens, then take the saucepan off the fire, and stir in the yolks of 2 eggs, beaten up with ½ gill cream.

_Laver_ or _Sloke_.--Only good during the winter months. After being gathered and washed and picked clean, put it with water into an iron pot, and boil it until it is a pulp. If too thick, add a little more water, taking care it does not burn. It cannot be boiled too much, and the darker the colour the better laver it is. It will keep fresh for a week, and when wanted for table it must be heated, with a lump of butter put in, and served in a silver saucepan, which is kept hot by the fire. Laver is eaten with roast meat, with pepper and vinegar. Lemon juice is preferable to vinegar.

_Lentils._--(_a_) Soak in cold water for 24 hours. Boil in plain water for 2½ hours, drain off the water, put with the lentils in the saucepan a small lump of butter, a little pepper and salt; stir well together and serve hot. Another way is to soak as above, and stew in good beef tea, gravy, or thin soup for 2½ hours. The German lentils are the best.