Part 5

Half a pound of mushrooms (cleansed, peeled, and minced), 2 ozs. butter, 4 ozs. bread, 1 oz. onion (scalded and minced) 2 eggs, 1 gill cream, ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful parsley, seasoning, macaroni.

_Method._--Fry the mushrooms in one ounce of butter with the onion for a quarter of an hour, stirring it frequently. Heat the cream to boiling point, and pour it over the bread (the crumb from a milk loaf or French roll is best), add the remaining ounce of butter and beat it to a paste, then add the mushrooms, parsley, and one egg; season with salt, pepper, and a little mace, and turn on to a flat dish to cool. When cold, take a small portion at a time and form on a floured board into cutlet shape; insert a piece of macaroni at the pointed end, brush the cutlets over with beaten egg, and cover them thickly with fine, dried breadcrumbs; put aside for about half an hour and then fry in oil or deep, boiling fat until the crumbs are crisp and nicely browned. Serve the cutlets either on a support of fried bread or mashed potato, with a purée of lettuce in the middle.

NUT CUTLETS

Six ounces of ground nuts (pine kernels and Brazil), 2 ozs. onion, 3¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 6 ozs. brown bread, 1¹⁄₂ gills milk stock, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoonful parsley, 1 tablespoonful tomato sauce, browning, seasoning, Maggi’s vegetable essence, dried breadcrumbs, Plasmon.

_Method._--Wash the pine kernels thoroughly in boiling water, and pass them with the Brazil nuts twice through a fine mincer (or nut-mill); boil the onion for a few minutes, then drain it and mince it. Melt two ounces of butter in an omelet pan and fry the onion and nuts gently for ten minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the onion from becoming too brown. Put the brown bread, sieved, into a saucepan with the milk stock, and stir over the fire until a thick paste is formed, then add one and a half ounces of butter, pound in a mortar for five minutes, and put aside on a plate. Turn the fried nuts and onion into the mortar and pound well, then add the bread paste by degrees (pounding steadily all the time), and when it is thoroughly mixed with the nuts, season with salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and nutmeg and stir in the parsley, tomato sauce, one egg (not beaten), sufficient browning to colour the mixture, and a few drops of Maggi’s essence. Divide the mixture on a floured board and form it into neat cutlets; dip them into beaten egg, cover thickly with crumbs and Plasmon powder (in equal proportions), and after allowing time for the egg to dry, fry the cutlets and serve them with fried bananas or any suitable vegetable.

NUT FILLETS STEWED

Nut forcemeat as for cutlets (_see_ page 75), ¹⁄₂ pint cooked butter beans, 3 or 4 large carrots (parboiled and sliced), ¹⁄₂ onion (minced), 1 pint thick brown sauce, butter, parsley.

_Method._--Make some little round fillets with the forcemeat, flour them and fry them in a sauté pan with butter until they are lightly browned on both sides, and put aside on a plate. Fry the onion and carrots until the former is a golden colour, add the beans and pour in the sauce, cover with a greased paper and let the vegetables stew gently until the carrots are quite tender. About a quarter of an hour before they are ready, add the fillets and cover the pan as before; serve them in the middle of a hot dish with parsley sprinkled over them and surround with the vegetables and sauce.

NUT RISSOLETTES

Six ounces ground mixed nuts, 3 ozs. sieved brown bread, ¹⁄₂ gill milk, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 1 teaspoonful chopped onion, 1 dessertspoonful tomato catsup, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne, lemon-juice, 1 egg, small quantity finely crushed vermicelli, 1¹⁄₂ tablespoonfuls Plasmon powder, ¹⁄₂ lb. short paste.

_Method._--Fry the nuts and onion in one ounce of butter for ten minutes, taking care they do not acquire more than a golden colour, then turn them into a mortar and pound until they are smooth. While the nuts are cooking, boil the bread and milk together for a few minutes, and beat it to a light paste; then add the remaining half ounce of butter and the tomato catsup, season well, and pound with the nuts until the whole is thoroughly mixed. Beat the egg until it forms a thick froth, add half of it to the nut mixture and also a few drops of lemon-juice, then turn it from the mortar on to a floured board and divide into ten or twelve (according to the size required) equal portions; roll these into little cork-shaped rissoles and envelope them neatly in a thin coating of short paste. Brush the rissolettes over with the remainder of the beaten egg, then cover them with the vermicelli and Plasmon, and, after allowing time for the egg to dry, fry them in an abundance of clear, boiling fat. The rissolettes make an excellent cold supper dish, but they should be made the same day they are required, otherwise the pastry will lose its crispness. The same mixture can be masked with egg and breadcrumbs, instead of being covered with paste, and served hot or cold as ordinary rissoles.

NUT SOUFFLÉ

Two ounces peeled onion, 2 ozs. butter, 6 ozs. pine kernels, 2 ozs. crumb from a milk loaf, ¹⁄₄ pint milk, 2 eggs, seasoning, 1 teaspoonful lemon-juice.

_Method._--Boil the onion in a small quantity of water for six minutes, drain it well and chop it very finely. Wash the kernels thoroughly in boiling water, changing it two or three times, and rinse them in a colander under the cold water tap, and pass them twice through a fine mincer. Melt one ounce of butter in a small omelet pan and fry the onion and kernels very gently until the former begins to turn a golden colour. At the same time boil the bread and the milk together until a smooth paste is formed; add one ounce of butter, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and mix with the ingredients in the omelet pan, then pound the mixture in a mortar until it is of a very light consistency and white (like chicken cream) in appearance, and season well. Add the yolks of the eggs, one at a time, pounding each in turn into the ingredients, then the lemon-juice, and when the pounding is satisfactorily accomplished, pass the mixture through a fine wire sieve and add the whites of the eggs whisked to a very stiff froth. Place at once in a buttered soufflé mould, smooth the surface, and bake in a quick oven for about twenty minutes; serve the soufflé in the mould accompanied by potato rissoles and a tureen of good brown sauce, which has been flavoured with Maggi’s vegetable essence.

QUENELLES À LA REINE

Two ounces of crumb from a milk loaf, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 1 oz. peeled onion, 1 large teaspoonful chopped parsley, 4 ozs. pine kernels, 1¹⁄₂ gills milk, yolk of 1 raw egg, 1 pint thick white sauce, seasoning, sippets.

_Method._--Wash the pine kernels two or three times in boiling water and pass them twice through a nut-mill or fine mincer; boil the onion for six minutes, drain it and mince it; melt one ounce of butter in a small omelet pan, put in the onion and nuts and fry very gently until the onion is a golden colour. While this is being done, cook the breadcrumb in the milk with the remaining half ounce of butter; as soon as it is reduced to a paste, take it from the stove, beat it well, and add the chopped parsley, then pound the onion and nuts in a mortar for a few minutes; add the bread paste, and as soon as the mixture is very light and white in appearance, put in the yolk; season with salt, pepper, a little mace, and a squeeze of lemon juice, and complete the pounding. Pass the mixture through a fine wire sieve into a basin, then turn it on to a floured board, roll it into the shape of a long sausage, and divide it into seven equal portions; butter seven little quenelle moulds and put in the mixture, smooth the top with a knife which has been dipped into hot water and poach the quenelles in the white sauce, which should be boiling, for fifteen minutes. Arrange some carefully-prepared mashed potato on a hot silver dish, so that it forms an even surround with rather a deep hollow in the middle. Unmould the quenelles, put them in the middle of the potato, and pour the sauce over them, and garnish with little kite-shaped sippets of fried bread.

RICE FRITTERS WITH BROAD BEANS

Four ounces rice, vegetable stock (white), seasoning, batter for frying, broad beans, maître d’hôtel sauce, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoonful grated cheese, 1 oz. onion, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter.

_Method._--Put the rice into cold salted water, and when it reaches boiling point keep it boiling steadily for six minutes, then drain it and put it into a saucepan containing sufficient boiling vegetable stock to cover it and cook until it is very tender. Fry the onion in one ounce of butter until it is just cooked, but do not let it become brown, add the rice to it, season with salt, pepper, a dust of curry powder, and the grated cheese, then add half an ounce of butter and a well-beaten egg, and spread out on a dish to get cold. Take a small quantity of the rice at a time and form it into little flat cakes rather larger than a five shilling piece; dip these into a thick batter and fry them in plenty of boiling oil or vegetable fat; arrange the fritters in a circle on a hot dish and fill the middle with some very young broad beans covered with a sauce made as follows: Make half a pint of thick white sauce; add a tablespoonful of finely-chopped parsley, a dessertspoonful of lemon-juice, a little cayenne pepper, and half an ounce of fresh butter in small pieces, and it will be ready for use.

ROASTED POTATOES WITH MUSHROOMS

Six medium-sized potatoes (of uniform shape), vegetable butter, 3 ozs. minced mushrooms, 1 slice onion (scalded and minced), 1 oz. dairy butter, 2 ozs. finely-sieved Hovis breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 egg, seasoning, thick brown sauce, parsley for garnishing.

_Method._--Trim the potatoes, after peeling them, so that they are round and as nearly the same size as possible (the trimmings can be used for soup), and cut a piece from one end so that they will stand upright; put them into a baking tin containing some hot vegetable butter and bake in a well-heated oven until they are nicely browned, basting them frequently. When done remove the centre of the inside with an apple corer or small tubular-shaped cutter and fill the cavity with mushrooms, prepared as below. Replace the potatoes in the oven for about ten minutes, and serve them surrounded by some thick brown sauce flavoured with a few drops of Maggi’s essence, and a little piece of parsley on the top of each. For the stuffing, fry the mushrooms and onion in the butter for ten minutes, stirring gently all the time, then add the breadcrumbs and the chopped parsley, season with salt, pepper, and a little mace or nutmeg, and stir over the fire for six minutes more; remove the pan at the end of the time and moisten the mixture with sufficient beaten egg to bring it to a fairly stiff paste and use as directed.

ROMAN PIE

Half a pound puff paste, 2 ozs. cooked macaroni (the large, straight kind), ¹⁄₂ pint salsify (cooked, and cut into small pieces), six champignons, ¹⁄₄ pint cooked Japanese artichokes, 1 gill thick white sauce, parsley, lemon, 1 teaspoonful onion (scalded and minced), grated Parmesan, brown sauce.

_Method._--Line a buttered mould with the paste rolled out to a moderate thickness, and fill it with alternate layers of the macaroni, cut into small pieces, salsify, and artichokes, and over each layer scatter a few slices of champignons, a little grated cheese, a few drops of lemon-juice, and season with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and nutmeg. When the mould is full, pour in as much sauce, mixed with some of the liquor in which the champignons were preserved, as is required, then cover in with a round of paste and bake in a moderately quick oven for from three-quarters to one hour; turn out carefully on to a hot dish and surround with brown sauce.

SALSIFY OMELET

Four ounces salsify, colourless vegetable stock, small quantity very thick white sauce, 3 eggs, 1³⁄₄ ozs. butter, seasoning, fried breadcrumbs.

_Method._--Prepare the salsify (freshly cut) in the usual way and cook it until tender in the stock, then drain thoroughly, cut it into pieces of about an inch in length, and put into a saucepan containing a quarter of an ounce of butter seasoned with salt, pepper, cayenne, and lemon-juice; cover it with the white sauce and keep it hot by the side of the stove until the omelet is made. To prepare the latter, break the eggs, which should be new laid, into a basin, season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and whisk them well, then add half an ounce of butter cut into tiny pieces. Melt one ounce of butter in an omelet pan of suitable size and, directly it is hot, pour in the eggs; draw the pan to the hottest part of the stove (the fire should be clear and brisk) and stir the mixture with a fork until it begins to set; then loosen it round the sides and thrust the fork through it in two or three places to prevent the omelet sticking and to allow the unset portion to come into contact with the hot pan; when it is almost set enough, spread the salsify over one half of the omelet and fold the other half over and carefully turn it on to a hot dish, surround it with fried breadcrumbs (prepared in the same way as for game), and serve at once. The appearance of the omelet will be improved if the uppermost side is brushed over with warm butter and sprinkled with parsley.

SALSIFY PATTIES

Salsify (also named vegetable oyster), white sauce, cream, lemon-juice, seasoning, puff-paste pattie-cases, white stock, butter.

_Method._--Scrape the salsify thoroughly, wash it, and cook it until tender in colourless vegetable stock; drain well and cut it into pieces of about two inches in length, pour over them a small quantity of warm butter which has been seasoned with lemon-juice, black pepper, and salt, and leave until the butter is cold. Make a small quantity of nicely-flavoured thick white sauce and mix it with an equal quantity of boiling cream (if practicable); season with salt, black pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne, and add a squeeze of lemon-juice, then put the pieces of salsify into the sauce and heat them gradually. Have ready the requisite number of pattie cases; fill them with the salsify, put them into the oven for a few moments, and serve as soon as they are thoroughly hot.

SAVOURY MACARONI

Three ounces of Swiss egg macaroni, rather more than 1 pint brown vegetable stock, grated cheese, ¹⁄₂ oz. flour, 1 oz. butter, 1 tablespoonful tomato catsup, seasoning.

_Method._--Put the macaroni into boiling salted water for ten minutes, then drain it, put it into a stewpan, cover with the brown stock, which should be boiling, and cook steadily until it is done. Then drain it and pile it up on a hot dish; let the stock in which it was cooked boil up and thicken it by stirring in the butter, which should be worked up smoothly with the flour; add the tomato catsup and strain over the macaroni; scatter a little dry, grated cheese over the top and surround by some carefully cooked Brussels sprouts, which have been finished with some warm, seasoned butter and a squeeze of lemon-juice.

SAVOURY MINCE WITH SPINACH

Three ounces finely-ground Brazil nuts (taking care they are fresh), 4 ozs. cooked rice, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. onion (scalded and chopped), 1 teaspoonful minced parsley, a little lemon-thyme if the flavour is liked, 1 pint good brown sauce flavoured with a few drops of Maggi’s essence, 2 ozs. butter, seasoning, spinach, sippets.

_Method._--Fry the nuts with the onion and butter for eight minutes, taking care they do not become brown, then add the rice and herbs and moisten with three-quarters of a pint of the sauce; cover with a greased paper and put the mince into the oven for half an hour; if the rice absorbs too much sauce, so as to leave the mince dry, add some of the remaining sauce and a few drops of browning if it is not a nice rich colour, and serve in the middle of a surround of spinach garnished with fried sippets of bread. Cabbage can be substituted for spinach if preferred, and if prepared in the same way will answer the purpose very well.

SAVOURY PASTIES

Two ounces breadcrumbs, 1 gill cream, 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls thick brown sauce, 3 ozs. finely-ground pine kernels (previously blanched), ¹⁄₂ oz. chopped onion, 1 teaspoonful parsley, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, lemon-juice, seasoning, 6 ozs. short paste.

_Method._--Fry the onion and nuts together in one ounce of butter for six or eight minutes, then pour the cream, which should be boiling, over the bread and beat it to a paste, add the remainder of the butter and the fried nuts, parsley, a few drops of lemon-juice, salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and moisten with a few tablespoonfuls of thick brown sauce. Roll out the paste to about the eighth of an inch in thickness and cut it into rounds of about the size of a claret glass; spread half the rounds with the mince and cover it with the remainder of the pieces of paste; wet the edges and pinch them together, brush over the top of the pasties with beaten egg, and bake them in a quick oven.

SAVOURY ROLL

Six ounces of finely-ground pine kernels (blanched), 4 ozs. butter, 3 ozs. onion (scalded and chopped), 1 tablespoonful parsley, 6 ozs. breadcrumb, ¹⁄₂ gill thick white sauce, 2 eggs, 2 minced mushrooms, seasoning, some thick brown sauce flavoured with sherry.

_Method._--Fry the nuts and onion together in two ounces of butter until the onion begins to change colour, then turn the mixture into a mortar and pound to a smooth consistency. Make the white sauce hot and pour it on the breadcrumbs; add one and a half ounces of warm butter and beat it to a paste, then put in the fried nuts, parsley, and mushrooms and season with salt, pepper, a little powdered mace, and moisten it with the eggs, adding first one and then the other, and pound very thoroughly for five minutes. Turn the mixture on to a floured board and form it into a smooth, compact roll; brush it over with the remaining half ounce of butter (warmed) and place it on a well-buttered baking tin and cook in the oven until nicely browned. Serve the roll surrounded by the brown sauce and accompanied by a dish of potatoes in sauce. The same mixture can be wrapped in buttered muslin (like a galantine), cooked in boiling vegetable stock, and served with mushroom sauce, or it can be stewed in a casserole with a thick brown sauce. The potatoes should be prepared in the following manner: Peel four or five potatoes, cut them into moderately thin slices, and wrap them in a floured cloth for a short time before they are cooked. Melt two ounces of palmine, or dairy butter, in a stewpan and stir in one ounce of flour by degrees; then add a pint of colourless vegetable stock, and when the sauce has boiled and thickened, season it, add a teaspoonful of lemon-juice and a teaspoonful of shallot vinegar, and then put in the sliced potatoes. Cover the pan closely, and let them cook gently until they are tender, then put the potatoes (not the sauce) into a hot vegetable dish and place it in the oven for a few minutes. Beat the yolk of an egg with a tablespoonful of cream and stir into the sauce, which should be boiling, scatter in a large teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and pour at once over the potatoes.

SCALLOPED CURRY

Almost any kind of cooked vegetables cut into neat pieces (including potatoes), 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls cooked white haricot beans, curry sauce (_see_ page 104), boiled rice, butter, breadcrumbs.

_Method._--Let the vegetables simmer gently in a small quantity of butter (seasoning them with salt, pepper, and a dust of sugar) for fifteen minutes, then pour the curry sauce over them and let them cook in a moderate oven for half an hour. Fill some buttered china scallop shells with the curry; cover the top with rice, place some small pieces of butter on it, and scatter with finely-sieved dried breadcrumbs, and bake in a quick oven for about a quarter of an hour.

SCOTCH EGGS

Three hard-boiled eggs, nut mixture as for Rissolettes (page 77), 1 raw egg, breadcrumbs, mashed potato, French beans, Dutch sauce (_see_ page 104).

_Method._--Take the shells from the eggs and dust them lightly with flour, then cover them evenly with the nut mixture, brush them over with beaten egg, and cover them thickly with finely sifted breadcrumbs. Have ready a pan of deep, boiling fat; fry the eggs in it until they are nicely browned and drain them on taking them from the fat; cut each through the middle with a sharp knife, arrange the pieces on a border of mashed potato, and fill the middle of the dish with some carefully boiled French beans (or any other suitable vegetable) masked with Dutch sauce.

SPAGHETTI A L’ITALIENNE

Three ounces of spaghetti, 2 ozs. butter, 3 ozs. grated Parmesan cheese, tomato conserve, croutons, seasoning.

_Method._--Cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water until it is tender, then drain it well and put it into a saucepan containing one ounce of warm butter; season it with salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a little cayenne, and stir over the fire for a few minutes, then add sufficient tomato conserve to moisten the spaghetti, and the remaining ounce of butter divided into small pieces; when it is thoroughly hot scatter in the cheese, turning the spaghetti lightly and quickly with a fork while doing so, and directly the cheese “spins” into long threads, turn it on to a hot dish and serve at once garnished with little croutons of fried bread.

STUFFED POTATOES

Six medium-sized potatoes, some quenelle forcemeat (_see_ page 79), 1 truffle (coarsely minced), 3 olives (also minced), 1 oz. butter, small quantity cream (or milk), seasoning.

_Method._--Wash the potatoes thoroughly and bake them, without removing the skins, until they are well cooked. Cut a small piece from the top of each, remove the inside, taking care not to break the skin, and pass it through a potato presser into a basin; add the butter, a little cream or milk, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and beat the potato with a wooden spoon until it is very light and quite white. Then carefully replace some of it in the skins, pressing it back against the sides with the handle of a small spoon, thus leaving the middle hollow; prepare a forcemeat according to the recipe given for Quenelles à la Reine, and after passing it through the sieve add the truffle and olives and use it for filling the centre of the potatoes. Add sufficient carmine to the potato left over to colour it a pretty clear red, fill a forcer (with a small rose pipe) with it and make a rose on the top of each potato sufficiently large to cover the hole; put the potatoes into a hot oven for fifteen minutes, and serve them garnished with watercress and accompanied by a watercress, tomato, and celery salad.

STUFFED VEGETABLE MARROW

A small marrow, 3 ozs. freshly-sieved breadcrumbs, 3 tablespoonfuls cream, 1 tablespoonful minced parsley, ¹⁄₄ teaspoonful mixed herbs (if the flavour is not disliked), 1 saltspoonful grated lemon-peel, 1 oz. onion (scalded and minced), 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 3 ozs. finely ground pine kernels (Cashu, or Brazil nuts) (blanched), 1 tablespoonful grated Parmesan cheese, 1 egg, ¹⁄₂ pint thick tomato or white sauce, seasoning.