Part 3

_Method._--Line a buttered pie-dish with the paste rolled out fairly thin. Let the milk simmer for a quarter of an hour with the onion, two or three pieces of parsley, and a small blade of mace, then cook the butter and flour together for a few minutes and, when quite smooth, moisten gradually with the milk (strained), and stir quickly until the sauce has boiled and thickened. Remove the pan from the stove and add the yolks of the eggs, one tablespoonful of grated cheese, the parsley, and celeriac, then whisk the whites of the eggs to a very stiff froth, stir them into the mixture, and turn it into the lined pie-dish and bake for half an hour in a well-heated oven. This dish is equally nice served hot or cold; if the latter, it should be turned out of the pie-dish intact in the pastry case.

CELERY AND MACARONI TIMBALE

Half a pint of sieved (cooked) celery, ¹⁄₄ pint thick white sauce, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoonful grated cheese, 6 large champignons (if practicable), seasoning, 4 ozs. boiled macaroni, butter, tomato sauce.

_Method._--Stir the celery into a saucepan containing the sauce, which should be nicely flavoured with onion, etc., and as soon as it is thoroughly hot add the yolks of the eggs, and when they are well blended with the other ingredients, remove the pan from the stove and stir in the grated cheese (which should be mild and dry), the champignons, cut into moderately thin slices, half an ounce of butter, and some salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Butter a soufflé mould (or basin) of suitable size and line it neatly with the macaroni, which may be used in long pieces, or if the thick kind is used it may be cut into pieces of about half an inch in length. Add a pinch of salt to the whites of the eggs, whisk them to a very stiff froth, and stir them lightly into the celery mixture, then fill the lined mould; place a piece of buttered paper over the top, then cover closely with a saucer and place the mould in a saucepan containing sufficient boiling water to about three parts cover it, and let the timbale steam gently and steadily for three quarters of an hour. When it is done let it stand on the kitchen table for two or three minutes, then turn it from the mould and surround with tomato sauce, or, if preferred, a thick brown vegetable sauce may be used.

CHEESE OMELET WITH FRENCH BEANS

Three eggs, 2 ozs. grated Parmesan cheese, 1¹⁄₄ ozs. butter, celery salt, pepper, nutmeg.

_Method._--Break the eggs into a basin and beat them well with a patent beater, season with celery salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and add the cheese and a quarter of an ounce of butter in tiny pieces. Melt one ounce of butter in an omelet pan over a very clear fire, and directly it begins to bubble pour in the egg mixture; prick it all over with a fork to let the uncooked mixture come in contact with the hot pan; loosen it round the sides when it begins to set, and keep shaking the pan to prevent the omelet from sticking; directly it is sufficiently set (it should be still creamy on the top) fold it over in half and turn it on to a hot dish. Have ready some beans prepared according to the directions given below, arrange them quickly round the omelet, and serve it with as little delay as possible. Boil some very young French beans whole, after pinching off the little piece at each end; drain them very thoroughly and put them into a hot saucepan; season them with salt, pepper, and a tiny dust of sugar, and add by degrees some maître d’hôtel butter--allowing about two ounces for a medium-sized dish of beans; a recipe for it will be found on page 102.

CHESTNUT CURRY

One pound chestnuts, 2 ozs. butter, 4 ozs. onion, 2 tomatoes, 1 sweet apple, 1 dessertspoonful curry powder, 1 dessertspoonful flour, 1 dessertspoonful sweet chutney, 2 tablespoonfuls grated cocoanut, 1 teaspoonful tarragon vinegar, 2 teaspoonfuls lemon-juice, ³⁄₄ pint brown vegetable stock, ¹⁄₄ pint boiling water, salt, pepper.

_Method._--Cut a small piece from the pointed end of the chestnuts and boil them until they are sufficiently soft to be pierced with a very fine skewer. Then remove the outer and inner skins, and put the nuts into a sauce made according to the directions given below; cover the curry with a thick piece of greased paper before putting on the lid of the pan, and simmer very gently in a moderate oven for an hour. Serve the curry surrounded by carefully-boiled rice which should be garnished with little pieces of pickled red cabbage and gherkin. For the sauce fry the onion (thinly sliced), the tomatoes, and apple (also sliced) in the butter until the onion shows signs of changing colour, then add the curry powder, and draw the pan to the side of the stove and let the contents simmer for twelve minutes. Pour the boiling water on to the cocoanut (preferably freshly grated, but desiccated can be used) and steep by the side of the stove until required. At the end of the time named stir the flour into the pan, and when it is smoothly mixed with the butter, etc., pour in the stock and stir over the fire until it has boiled and thickened; then add the chutney, vinegar, lemon-juice and let the sauce simmer gently for half an hour, when it should be strained through a sieve into a stewpan; stir the cocoanut, and strain the liquid from it into the curry; then add the chestnuts and cook as directed above. A salad composed of sliced tomatoes and small pieces of crisp, white celery, with a plain oil and vinegar dressing, should be served with the curry.

CHICORY MOULD WITH MACARONI

One pound of chicory, butter, 1 pint white sauce (for recipe _see_ page 106), 3 eggs, 3 ozs. Swiss egg macaroni, ¹⁄₂ pint brown sauce (for recipe _see_ page 103), seasoning.

_Method._--Partly cook the chicory in boiling water, drain it well; cut it into small pieces and put it into a buttered stewpan. Season with salt, pepper, a dust of castor sugar, and a sprinkle of dry grated cheese and cover it with half the white sauce, then put on the lid of the pan and let it cook in a slow oven for about an hour, or rather longer. On taking it from the oven stir the chicory and the remaining sauce into a basin containing three stiffly whisked eggs; turn the mixture into a buttered soufflé mould; place the latter in a stewpan of boiling water, in the oven, for half an hour or until the contents are set. Let the mould stand on the kitchen table for two minutes before turning out the chicory, and serve it surrounded by macaroni prepared as follows: Break the macaroni into small pieces and cook in boiling salted water until it is tender; drain well and put it into a hot pipkin containing some warm butter; season it with salt, pepper, and nutmeg; cover it with the brown sauce and put it into the oven for a quarter of an hour. Sea-kale or celery may be prepared in the same way as the chicory.

COLD CURRY SHAPE

Three ounces each of Brazil nuts and pine kernels, 3 ozs. sieved brown bread, ¹⁄₂ gill milk, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, ¹⁄₂ oz. chopped onion, salt, pepper, nutmeg, ¹⁄₂ pint curry sauce (_see_ page 104), 1 tablespoonful tomato catsup, 1 gill aspic jelly, 3 ozs. boiled rice, aspic jelly and parsley for garnishing.

_Method._--Wash the pine kernels two or three times in boiling water and remove any which are not good, and pass them with the Brazil nuts (from which every particle of brown skin must be removed) once through a mincer. Melt one ounce of butter in a small stewpan, add the onion and nuts, and let them cook gently for ten minutes, stirring them sufficiently often to prevent them from becoming more than a pale golden colour. Put the bread into a saucepan with the milk and remaining half ounce of butter, season well with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and stir it over the fire until a smooth, thick paste is formed. When the nuts are ready add the bread paste to them and then stir the curry sauce in gradually; cover the pan and let the curry simmer by the side of the stove for a quarter of an hour. Then pour in the tomato catsup and a gill of nicely flavoured aspic jelly (which is still liquid), and when these are thoroughly blended with the curry put it aside to cool. Butter a plain china mould (1 pint size) and cover it thickly and evenly with the boiled rice (which should be cold), and before the curry is quite cold put it into the mould, pressing it down well, but taking care not to displace the rice, and when the mould is full put it into a cold place until the following day. Turn the curry from the mould and cover the top with chopped aspic jelly sprinkled with finely minced parsley, and surround it with little heaps of chopped jelly.

CORNETS WITH CELERY CREAM

Some light puff paste, 4 ozs. celery, cooked and sieved, ¹⁄₄ pint thick white sauce, made with half cream and half milk stock, 2 hard-boiled eggs (coarsely chopped), 1 raw egg, minced parsley, Parmesan, seasoning.

_Method._--Mix the celery, sauce, and eggs in a basin, ascertain if more seasoning is required, and place the basin on the stove in a stewpan of hot water. Roll out the paste thinly, cut it into rounds of a suitable size, and wrap it neatly round some buttered cornet-moulds; moisten the edges of the paste and join them, then brush the paste over with beaten egg and bake at once in a well-heated oven. When done, slip the cornets off the moulds and fill them with the prepared celery; scatter a little grated Parmesan and parsley, mixed together, over the filling, and serve with as little delay as possible, garnished with fried parsley. Salsify, asparagus, or peas can be served in the same way.

CUCUMBER FILLED WITH NUT FORCEMEAT

One and a half ounces of onion (peeled), 1¹⁄₂ oz. butter, 3 ozs. pine kernels, 2 mushrooms, 1 oz. crumb from a milk loaf, ¹⁄₂ gill milk, 1 egg, seasoning, 1 large cucumber, soup vegetables for braising, brown vegetable stock, brown sauce.

_Method._--Wash the pine kernels thoroughly in boiling water, changing it two or three times, then pass them through a nut-mill, or mincer; boil the onion for six minutes; drain it and chop it very finely; cleanse, peel, and mince the mushrooms. Melt one ounce of butter in an omelet (or sauté) pan, and fry the kernels, onion, and mushrooms together for ten minutes, stirring constantly. Melt half an ounce of butter in the milk; add the breadcrumb and cook gently until it is reduced to a paste, then mix it with the fried ingredients and pound all together in a mortar until thoroughly blended and very light; season with salt, pepper, and a little powdered mace, and after pounding an egg into the forcemeat pass it through a wire sieve. Peel the cucumber carefully, so that not a piece of skin is left (as this would give a bitter taste), and cut it through the middle with a sharp knife; remove the seeds with a large apple-corer and partly cook the cucumber in boiling, salted water, to which an atom of soda has been added. Then drain it very thoroughly on a soft cloth and fill the hollow space in the middle with the prepared forcemeat; put the pieces together neatly, wrap the cucumber in buttered muslin, securing it with narrow tape at the ends and in the middle, and place it in a stewpan which has been buttered and prepared with a layer of sliced soup vegetables; fry over a gentle heat for six minutes, then add two and a half gills of vegetable stock; cover the pan closely and braise the cucumber in the oven until it is tender. When done remove the muslin and serve the cucumber with chopped parsley sprinkled over it and surrounded by brown sauce flavoured with sherry.

CUCUMBER STUFFED

Half a pint milk, 1 small onion, a few pieces of parsley, a thin strip of lemon-peel, 1 oz. flour, 1 oz. butter, 1 dessertspoonful grated cheese, 1 teaspoonful tomato catsup, 1 dessertspoonful ground sweet almonds, 2 ozs. large straight macaroni, some chopped parsley, 1 medium-sized cucumber, seasoning.

_Method._--Peel the cucumber, taking care to remove every particle of green skin, and cut it into pieces of about two inches thick and cook until tender in boiling, salted water to which a tiny piece of soda has been added; directly it is ready (it must not be left in the water after it is done), drain the pieces and carefully remove the seeds. Have ready some macaroni prepared according to the instructions given below, and quickly fill the cucumber cases with it; place in the oven to re-heat the cases and serve surrounded by thick tomato sauce (see page 106). Boil the macaroni thoroughly (keeping it boiling steadily from the time it goes into the saucepan until it is done), drain it on a soft cloth and cut it on a board into pieces of about a quarter of an inch thick. Put the milk into a saucepan, when the macaroni is put on to boil, with the onion, lemon-peel, parsley, almonds, and some salt and pepper, and let it boil up and then simmer gently for half an hour. Melt the butter in another saucepan, mix the flour smoothly with it, and add the flavoured milk (after straining it) by degrees and stir until the sauce is perfectly smooth and thick; add the macaroni, catsup, and cheese and it will be ready to use; scatter a little chopped parsley over the surface of the macaroni.

CUCUMBER WITH POULETTE SAUCE

One or two cucumbers (according to the size), 1 oz. butter, ¹⁄₂ pint white sauce, 1 raw yolk of egg, 1 tablespoonful cream, 2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped parsley, lemon, seasoning, pastry case.

_Method._--Peel the cucumber and parboil it in salted water, then drain it and cut it into moderately small pieces and put it into a saucepan containing an ounce of butter, which has been flavoured with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a dust of castor sugar, and let it simmer for ten minutes, then add the sauce and continue the simmering for about a quarter of an hour, when the cucumber should be quite tender. Beat the yolk of egg with a tablespoonful of cream and stir it into the sauce, add a squeeze of lemon-juice, and when the egg has thickened (take care the sauce does not boil after it is added), pour the cucumber into a round pastry case (which should be hot) and garnish round the edge with quarters of hard-boiled egg (hot) and sprinkle the parsley over the cucumber.

DEVILLED NUT FILLETS

Some nut forcemeat as for nut cutlets (_see_ page 75), ¹⁄₂ gill thick brown sauce, 1 dessertspoonful chutney paste, 1 teaspoonful Worcester sauce, ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful French mustard, 1 teaspoonful curry paste, ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful Chili vinegar, butter, flour, seasoning.

_Method._--Make the forcemeat into little round fillets and dust them with flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Mix the brown sauce, which should be just warm, with the chutney, Worcester sauce, French mustard, curry paste, and Chili vinegar; then mask the fillets with it and place them on a buttered gratin dish; pour a few drops of warm butter over each, and cook them in a quick oven for fifteen minutes. Serve the fillets on the same dish in which they were cooked with a mound of potato chips in the middle.

DRESDEN PATTIES

Some forcemeat prepared according to the directions given for Nut Rissolettes on page 77, slices of bread fully an inch thick, milk, 1 egg, Plasmon, seasoning, chopped parsley.

_Method._--Stamp out some rounds from the slices of bread with a medium-sized cutter, and with a smaller cutter mark the bread in the middle but without cutting it through; dip the rounds quickly into milk, then brush them over with beaten egg and cover them thickly with dry Plasmon powder and fry at once in deep, boiling fat, but only sufficiently long for them to get lightly brown and not hard. After draining them on paper remove the marked portion and fill up the hollow with the forcemeat, which should be ready heated in a small saucepan with a little butter; scatter the parsley over the surface of the patties and serve them garnished with watercress. If a more substantial dish is required a neatly trimmed poached egg can be placed on the top of the forcemeat.

EGGS IN JELLY WITH CHEESE CREAM

Five hard-boiled eggs cut into quarters, small bottle French macedoine vegetables, 1 pint nicely flavoured aspic jelly, 1 tablespoonful sherry, 1¹⁄₂ gills stiffly whipped cream, 1¹⁄₂ tablespoonfuls grated Parmesan, or dry Cheddar, cheese, seasoning, salad.

_Method._--Pour a shallow layer of the aspic jelly (previously mixed with the wine) into a plain-border mould, and when it is set arrange some of the quarters of the hard-boiled eggs on it with a few of the macedoine vegetables between; then pour a little of the remaining aspic (which should be cold but liquid) over, and stand the mould in a basin of cold water until the jelly is firm; then continue to use the eggs, vegetables, and jelly in the same manner until the mould is full. When the jelly is sufficiently set, turn the border out of the mould and fill the middle with whipped cream seasoned with a little salt and curry powder and mixed with the grated cheese. Any of the vegetables left over should be mixed with some crisp lettuce, finely-shred, and dressed with a plain salad mixture, and the surface of the salad should be garnished with little heaps of freshly-ground walnuts.

EGGS STUFFED WITH ASPARAGUS

As many hard-boiled eggs as are required, butter, seasoning, shallot vinegar, one or two tablespoonfuls of asparagus, 1 raw egg, breadcrumbs, some blanched almonds, mashed potato.

_Method._--Bake some potatoes in their skins, then open them, remove the inside and pass it through a potato-presser into a basin; season well with celery salt, pepper, and nutmeg, add a small quantity of milk and a liberal quantity of warm butter, and beat the potatoes with a wooden spoon until they are very light. Then press them firmly into a round cake-tin, which has been well buttered, and bake in a quick oven for half an hour; when done the potato cake should be nicely browned on both sides. Cut the eggs through the middle length-ways, and take out the yolks; pass the latter through a sieve (or pointed gravy-strainer) and beat them to a fairly soft paste with some warm butter; season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a few drops of shallot vinegar (or tomato vinegar), then mix in one or two tablespoonfuls of cooked asparagus heads and fill the whites with the mixture, moulding it into the form of a dome. Dip the eggs into beaten egg and cover them thickly with fine, dried breadcrumbs, mixed with an equal proportion of blanched almonds, which have been cut into very fine little splinters, and fry in deep, boiling fat. Arrange the eggs on the potato cake and garnish with watercress or parsley.

EGG BALLS IN POTATO CASE

Two pounds of cooked potatoes, cream (or milk), 3 ozs. butter, 2 raw eggs, ¹⁄₂ pint tomato pulp, 3 hard-boiled eggs, 1 oz. onion (scalded and chopped), 1 oz. white breadcrumbs, shallot vinegar, or lemon-juice, 3 ozs. finely-ground nuts, pine kernels, Brazil or Cashu (in either case blanched), seasoning.

_Method._--Fry the onion and nuts together for six minutes in one ounce of butter; moisten the breadcrumbs with boiling cream (or milk), beat them to a paste, and pass the eggs through a sieve. Pound the contents of the frying pan for a few minutes, then add the bread, eggs, and one ounce of butter, and continue the pounding until the mixture is quite smooth; then add the yolk of a raw egg, a few drops of shallot vinegar (or lemon-juice), and season with salt, pepper, and a dust of curry powder. Pass the mixture through the same sieve used for the eggs, and turn it on to a floured board; divide it into little balls (the size of a rissole), dip them into beaten egg, then cover them with finely-crushed vermicelli, fry in deep, boiling fat, and serve in a potato case prepared as follows: Pass the potatoes through a sieve into a basin containing one ounce of warm butter, add two tablespoonfuls of cream, and beat until they are quite light, then stir in half a pint of tomato pulp, and season with celery salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne, and beat again until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Then mould the potato on a flat, fireproof dish into a neat, round case, leaving room in the middle for the egg balls, mark the outside with a fork and bake it in a quick oven for about twenty minutes, or rather less if the heat is fierce; pile the balls up in the case and garnish them with fried parsley. Care should be taken to fry them quickly as they should be soft and creamy inside, but crisp outside.

EGG CROQUETTES

Four hard-boiled eggs, 2 ozs. coarsely-minced champignons, 1 oz. minced pickled gherkin (or olives), ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful onion (which has been scalded and minced), 1 teaspoonful ground sweet almonds, 1 dessertspoonful chopped parsley, seasoning, 1 oz. butter, ³⁄₄ oz. flour, ¹⁄₄ pint cream (or milk), some light, short paste, 1 raw egg, breadcrumbs, artichoke chips.

_Method._--Melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the onion and let it cook (without acquiring any colour) for two or three minutes, then stir in the flour and almonds, and when they are smoothly mixed, add the cream and stir until it has thickened; then season with celery salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and pour into a basin. Mix the eggs, which have been passed through a sieve, with the sauce, add the champignons and gherkin and a teaspoonful of the liquor in which the champignons were preserved, and leave until cool. Roll out the paste very thinly and cut it into rounds of a suitable size; take up a small portion of the egg mixture at a time and form it on a floured board into a little round cake, then place it on one half of a round of paste, moisten the edge with beaten egg, then fold the paste over the filling and pinch the edges together; when a sufficient number of croquettes have been made thus, dip them into beaten egg and cover them with fine breadcrumbs and fry in a bath of boiling fat. The artichoke chips are prepared as follows: Wash and peel the artichokes in the usual way, then cut them into thin slices, dry on a floured cloth (as potato chips), and fry in boiling fat.

EGGS IN CUCUMBER CASES

One medium-sized cucumber, white vegetable stock, 3 eggs, 1 yolk, butter, 1 dessertspoonful tomato catsup, 2 teaspoonfuls chopped parsley, 1 gill cream, seasoning, some fried breadcrumbs.

_Method._--Peel the cucumber, taking care not to leave any of the skin, or it will taste bitter, cut it into pieces of about two inches thick, and with a sharp cutter of suitable size remove the seeds from the middle. Arrange the cucumber cases in a shallow stewpan, which has been lightly spread with butter, and pour in enough boiling stock to about half cover them; close the lid securely, and let them cook until tender, care being taken that they do not get too soft or they will not stand properly. Beat the three eggs thoroughly with a patent egg-beater, season them with salt, pepper, and a little curry powder, add the tomato catsup, and pour them into a saucepan containing one ounce of warm butter, and stir until the eggs begin to set, then fill the cucumber cases with them; sprinkle some fried breadcrumbs over the top and keep hot for a few moments while the sauce is made thus: Boil up the stock in which the cases were cooked, stir in the yolk of egg beaten up with the cream, and continue to stir until the sauce has thickened, add a few drops of lemon-juice and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and pour it round the dish containing the cucumber. Serve accompanied by a dish of sauté potatoes.

EGG CUTLETS WITH ASPARAGUS

Half a pint milk, ¹⁄₂ small onion, a strip of lemon-peel, parsley, 2 ozs. butter, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. flour, 4 hard-boiled eggs, 2 tablespoonfuls cooked asparagus (cut into small pieces), seasoning, 1 raw egg, breadcrumbs, a few pieces of raw macaroni.