Chapter 2

In the first place every French chef keeps three kinds of what he calls _roux_ on hand, ready for making meat and fish sauces. These are made by cooking together eight ounces of butter and nine ounces of flour. That intended for use with brown meats is stirred together till it becomes a medium brown in shade; white _roux_ is cooked only sufficiently to banish the raw taste and not allowed to color, while pale _roux_ is kept over the fire just long enough to attain a deep cream color. These are mixed with milk, soup stock, water or gravy as the case may be when a sauce for fish, meat or vegetables is needed.

For instance, to make _Sauce à la Crème_, for use with white entrées, take two tablespoonfuls of the white _roux_ in a saucepan with a cup of milk and a tablespoonful each of finely chopped parsley, shallots and chives. Boil fifteen minutes, pass through a colander into another saucepan, add a small lump of butter, more finely chopped parsley and salt and pepper. Mix well with a wooden spoon and it is ready for the table.

To make a favorite _Sauce Piquante_, cut two onions into slices, also a carrot and two shallots and put into a saucepan with a scant tablespoonful of butter. While heating over a moderate fire, add a sprig of thyme, a tablespoonful of minced parsley, a bayleaf and two or three cloves. When the onions are golden brown add a tablespoonful of flour, a little plain stock and a tablespoonful of vinegar. Boil again, pass through a sieve and season with salt and pepper.

A simple sauce is that _Maître d'Hôtel_, which is rarely made at home though so generally liked. Put a lump of butter into a small saucepan over a moderate fire and add to it chopped parsley and chives, or parsley alone. Season with salt and pepper and a little lemon juice and while it is sizzling pour over the hot steak or fish.

_Sauce d'Anchois_, than which there isn't anything better with baked fish, is also easy to make. Take three or four anchovies and mash them up well with two tablespoonfuls of butter. Now make about a pint of brown sauce with brown _roux_ and milk, and stir the anchovy butter into it. Just before taking from the fire add the juice of half a lemon or more, according to taste.

_Sauce Bearnaise_ was a favorite of Henry of Navarre, and it is excellent with steaks, chops and, particularly, roast beef. To make it beat the yolks of three or four eggs in a saucepan, add a tablespoonful of butter and a little salt. Stir over a slow fire till the eggs begin to thicken, then remove and stir in two more tablespoonfuls of butter, stirring till the butter is dissolved. Season with chopped fine herbs and parsley and pour in a teaspoonful of French vinegar.

In many parts of France they have a favorite dressing for boiled fish called _Sauce Ravigote_. To make it mix half a pint of stock in a saucepan with a small amount of white wine or cider, then chop fine herbs such as chervil, tarragon, chives and parsley, or whatever other herbs are in season, to the amount of about three tablespoonfuls, and mix with the stock, adding salt and pepper. Stew gently for about twenty minutes, then blend a tablespoonful each of flour and butter, stir into the sauce and continue to stir till thick. Just before serving squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.

The word "_Ravigote_" means, literally, "pick me up," and it is applied to minced tarragon, chervil, chives and parsley, the herbs being kept separate and served with salad on four little saucers. _Ravigote_ butter, made by kneading butter with the four herbs and adding pepper, salt and lemon juice, spread between thin slices of bread, makes delicious sandwiches.

To make the very generally liked _Sauce Blanquette_, which is used to raise cold meats to the dignity of a fricassée, take about four ounces of pale _roux_, thin slightly with boiling water added by degrees, then put in a bunch of sweet herbs, cooked button mushrooms and small onions and pepper and salt to taste. Put in whatever cold meat you have, cook till it is well heated and serve.

The following is called _Sauce d'Havre_, and through the use of it it will be discovered that the taste of curry is an agreeable one in many another case than in connection with the veal and rice arrangement to which most American cooks restrict it. Peel and slice four onions and two apples and place in a stewpan with four ounces of butter, six peppercorns, a sprig of thyme, two bayleaves and a blade of mace. When the onions have become slightly brown over the moderate fire, stir in a mixture of two tablespoonfuls of flour and the same amount of curry powder, shortly afterward adding six gills of white stock and half a pint of white sauce. Season with salt and half a teaspoonful of moist sugar, boil for a quarter of an hour, adding more white stock if necessary, and stirring constantly. Put through a strainer into another saucepan, boil up again, skim, and use when required.

Fricasseed chicken takes on a new glory when it is prepared with _Sauce Lyons_. This is made by stirring gradually three well-beaten eggs into half a pint of plain white sauce, then placing the mixture in a jar and standing in boiling water till the sauce thickens. Just prior to pouring over the chicken add the strained juice of half a lemon.

TWENTY-FOUR LITTLE FRENCH DINNERS

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Potage à la Duchesse Cabillaud à la Bechamel Pommes de Terre, Genevoise Salade Celeri Pouding à la Vanille

=Potage à la Duchesse.=--Butter a baking sheet, cover with four ounces of chou paste, cook in the oven for six minutes, then cover the paste with forcemeat in small lumps, a little distance apart. Cut the paste into twelve equal sized pieces, each piece holding a lump of the forcemeat, place in a tureen, pour over a quart of piping hot consommé and serve.

=Cabillaud à la Bechamel.=--Mix an ounce of flour with an ounce and a half of butter melted in a saucepan, then gradually add a pint of milk which has been allowed previously to simmer with a minced onion and carrot in it, also a bunch of sweet herbs, two or three cloves, a grating of nutmeg and pepper and salt. Bring to a boil, add two or three tablespoonfuls of cream, strain and put back into the saucepan. Now put in two or three pounds of cod, previously boiled and flaked, being thoroughly free from skin and bones. Shake all together very gently and when all is thoroughly hot, turn out onto a silver dish and garnish with sliced hard-boiled eggs.

=Pommes de Terre, Genevoise.=--Shred four medium sized boiled potatoes, season with a little salt and pepper. Butter lightly half a dozen tartlet moulds, cover the bottoms with grated Parmesan cheese, arrange in each a layer of potatoes, then another sprinkling of cheese, and so on till the moulds are filled. Put a little butter on top. Place on a very hot stove or in a very hot oven for fifteen minutes to half an hour. Serve on a hot dish in the moulds.

=Salade Celeri.=--Trim two or three heads of celery, cut into short shreds, wash thoroughly in cold water and drain. Place in a salad bowl, season with a little salt, a very little pepper and one or two tablespoonfuls each of oil and vinegar. Add several sprigs of pepper-grass and serve at once.

=Pouding à la Vanille.=--Place a vanilla bean in a mortar together with half a pound of sugar and pound well together and sift. Separate the whites from the yolks of three eggs, beat the yolks well, stir them in with a pint of cream and mix in with the vanilla sugar. Whisk the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth and mix lightly in with the other ingredients. Butter a pudding mould, pour in the mixture and cover with a sheet of oiled paper. Stand the mould in a saucepan of boiling water and steam the pudding for half an hour. In the meantime prepare the following sauce: Pour a breakfast cupful of canned or fresh pineapple juice into a lined pan with the juice of a lemon. Put this on the fire till it boils, then pour it over a tablespoonful of arrowroot, stirring all the time. Return the sauce to the saucepan and stir till it thickens over the fire. When the pudding is cooked, turn it out onto a hot dish, strain the sauce over it and serve. Be careful that no water enters the mould containing the pudding while it is cooking, or it will be spoiled.

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Consommé à la Napolitaine Cabillaud à la Financière Pommes de Terre en Rubans Beignets à la Printemps Choufleur au Gratin Bavaroise au Café

=Consommé à la Napolitaine.=--Place in a saucepan with a lump of butter equal quantities of finely minced carrots, turnips, a head of lettuce and one of endive with a little chervil. Add a quart of the water in which the cauliflower in this dinner was cooked, pepper and salt, and simmer for an hour. Just before serving stir in the beaten yolk of an egg and half a pint of milk.

=Cabillaud à la Financière.=--Cook a piece of cod weighing three pounds in salted water for twenty minutes, drain a place on a serving platter covered with the following sauce: Put two glasses of Madeira wine and a small piece of meat glaze in a saucepan with a pint of Spanish sauce and a gill each of essence of mushrooms and truffles. Boil till it coats the spoon.

=Pommes de Terre en Rubans.=--Take large, smooth, pared potatoes and cut round and round in spirals about an eighth of an inch thick. Keep covered with a damp napkin till all are cut, place in a frying basket and fry in very hot fat till a light straw color. Sprinkle freely with salt and serve immediately.

=Beignets à la Printemps.=--Make a sauce of two ounces of butter, four ounces of flour, a tablespoonful of brandy, a pinch of salt, sufficient water to make a creamy paste. Cook and, removing from the stove, work in the whites of two eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Cut into pieces any fruit desired, dip them in the batter and fry in butter to a light golden brown. Drain well, place in a serving dish, sprinkle well with powdered sugar and serve. If the fruit is not fully ripe, parboil in syrup before using.

=Choufleur au Gratin.=--Soak a cauliflower in water with plenty of salt, then boil in plenty of salted water for fifteen minutes. Remove and take away all the green leaves, lay it on a flat buttered dish, previously rubbed with an onion, and pour over it a sauce made as follows: Melt an ounce and a half of butter in a saucepan, add a dessertspoonful of flour, mix and add a cup of milk. Stir till it thickens, add pepper and salt and add two or three tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese. Mix well and after pouring over the cauliflower sprinkle all over with breadcrumbs and place the dish in the oven till nicely browned.

=Bavaroise au Café.=--Mix the beaten yolks of two eggs with a pint of milk and a cup of very strong black coffee. Bring to a boil in a saucepan, remove from the fire and allow to get cold, stirring occasionally. Add the yolks of two more eggs beaten stiff with two ounces of sugar. Mix well and then add the stiffly beaten whites of the four eggs along with half an ounce of dissolved gelatin. Pour into a mould and turn out when set.

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Filet de Sole à la Provençal Poulet Sauté à l'Estragon Artichauts à la Barigoule Petit Petac Soufflé Georgette

=Filets des Soles à la Provençal.=--Sprinkle the filets with pepper and salt and a little allspice and fry in salad oil with a finely chopped onion and a little chopped parsley. Serve with a slice of lemon on each filet.

=Poulet Sauté à l'Estragon.=--Sprinkle the pieces of a cut up raw chicken with pepper and salt and cook in a saucepan with a little oil. Make a gravy of a cupful of clear stock in which tarragon stalks have been boiled for an hour, dish up the fowl on a hot platter, pour over the sauce, straining it, and sprinkle on top tarragon leaves blanched and coarsely chopped.

=Artichauts à la Barigoule.=--Cut off the tops and leaves of the artichokes and boil the bottoms in plenty of slightly salted water till tender. Scoop out the fibrous interior. Grate some cooked bacon into a saucepan with a gill of fine herbs and a cupful of broth. Cook for five minutes. Put a little of this mixture in each artichoke, cover the opening with a slice of lemon and bake in a sauté-pan in the oven for twenty minutes.

=Petit Petac.=--Peel tiny new potatoes and sauté in oil till a golden brown. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

=Soufflé Georgette.=--Grate a half-dozen stale macaroons into a half-cup of brandy, add a pint of cream and two teaspoonfuls of dissolved gelatine. Whip in a dozen maraschino cherries and turn into a mould to harden. Serve with macaroons dipped into the liquid that comes around the maraschino cherries. A custard may be used in this recipe instead of the cream.

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Potage au Riz Rougets en Papillotes Veau à la Suzette Demi tasse

=Potage au Riz.=--Put half a pound of well-washed rice into a saucepan with two quarts of vegetable stock and boil till tender. When the rice is cooked move the saucepan to the side of the fire and mix in a cupful of stewed tomatoes and an ounce and a half of butter. Serve with sippets of toast or croutons that have been fried in butter.

=Rougets en Papillotes.=--This recipe is for mullets, but any small, plump fish may be used. Make a paper case for each fish with a sheet of well-oiled notepaper and put the cases into the oven for a few minutes to harden. Sprinkle the under sides of the fish with pepper and salt and lay them in their cases with a small piece of butter under and over each. Place the cases in a baking-dish and cook for about twenty minutes in the oven, or more if the fish are otherwise than small. Sprinkle well with lemon juice just before serving.

=Veau à la Suzette.=--Trim saddle of veal neatly and put it into a saucepan with a good sized piece of butter. Turn it constantly on the fire till it is a rich golden color all over, then put it onto a dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add more butter to the gravy in the saucepan and put in raw potatoes cut up in sections like oranges. Cover the saucepan and cook, shaking frequently, till the potatoes have a good color. Add an onion, finely minced, and when it is browned, a clove of garlic, minced very fine; next put in a tablespoonful of flour followed, when the flour is brown, by about two cupfuls of stock. Stir well and put back the meat and any juice that may have oozed from it. Lastly add a bouquet of herbs, simmer for an hour at least and serve the meat surrounded by the potatoes with the sauce poured over the whole.

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Potage à l'Américaine Filet d'Eglefin Gigot de Mouton aux Épinards Chou de Mer au Fromage Petites Crèmes au Chocolat

=Potage à l'Américaine.=--Parboil a medium sized cauliflower in salted water, change the water and boil till done. Drain well and press through a sieve. Dilute with consommé or broth. Boil a few minutes more, stirring well. Beat up in a basin the yolk of an egg with three tablespoonfuls of cream, add this to a few tablespoonfuls of the cauliflower mixture, then, taking the saucepan containing the soup from the fire, add the egg and cream mixture and stir together. Add half an ounce of butter and serve with croutons.

=Filet d'Eglefin.=--Cut a haddock into fillets, trimming into pieces about six inches long. Dip them in well beaten egg and then into sifted breadcrumbs and plunge into deep, well-boiling fat, frying to a rich color, turning occasionally to cook both sides evenly. Remove, drain, put on a cloth spread over a hot dish and serve with a simple white sauce.

=Gigot de Mouton aux Épinards.=--Roast a small leg of mutton, putting some salt and a small quantity of water at the bottom of the tin. When half cooked, remove the meat and carefully skim the gravy of all fat. Return the mutton to the tin, pour gravy over it and surround it with potatoes cut to the size of walnuts. Put back in the oven, letting the potatoes cook in the juice of the meat. Meanwhile cook about three pounds of spinach, drain, squeeze out all water and pass through a sieve. Return to a saucepan in which about two ounces of butter has been heated and season with pepper and salt. Add a tablespoonful of gravy from the mutton and allow the spinach to simmer till the meat is done. Then pile the spinach with the potatoes about the meat and serve, having the gravy in a sauceboat.

=Chou de Mer au Fromage.=--Carefully wash sea-kale to remove grit, remove any black parts from the roots and tie up the shoots in small bundles. Cook in boiling salted water for twenty minutes, drain and keep hot. Mix on the fire an ounce of butter and a tablespoonful of flour, moisten with half a cup of water in which the kale was cooked, bring to a boil and mix in two or three tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese. Take from the fire and add the beaten yolk of an egg. Arrange the kale on a hot dish, pour the sauce over and serve immediately.

=Petites Crèmes au Chocolat.=--Mix two tablespoonfuls of chocolate or cocoa in a cup of boiling milk and sweeten to taste. When nearly cold add to this the yolks of two eggs, well beaten, and a gill of heavy cream. Mix thoroughly and strain into china cases. Place these in a large shallow stewpan containing just sufficient water to reach half way up on the cases. Let steam for twenty minutes, when the custard ought to be firm. The water should be boiling when the cases are first put in, but afterwards may simmer. Put the cases on ice, and serve as cold as possible with little sponge cakes or lady fingers.

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Potage purée de Pois Secs Saumon à la Hollandaise Pommes de Terre, Barigoule Haricots verts au riz tomate

=Potage Purée de Pois Secs.=--Boil a pint of green peas in three pints of water with a piece of fat ham or bacon, two carrots, an onion, a leek, a bayleaf, some parsley, pepper and salt. Allow to simmer two or three hours, stirring occasionally. Pass the peas and onions through a hair sieve and add the strained liquor. Return to the saucepan, boil up, add some whole cooked peas with a little mint and serve.

=Saumon à la Hollandaise.=--Cut a piece of salmon from the middle of the fish, cover in the kettle with cold water and plenty of salt. Bring slowly to a boil, removing scum, and allow to simmer till the fish is done. Drain thoroughly and serve with the following sauce in a boat: Take three ounces of butter, the yolks of two eggs and put them in a double boiler over the fire, stirring briskly till the butter is dissolved. Mix in a scant ounce of flour, stir well and add the juice of a lemon, half a pint of milk, a little grated nutmeg and pepper and salt. Stir constantly till the sauce thickens to the consistency of a custard.

=Pommes de Terre, Barigoule.=--Place ten potatoes in a saucepan with enough broth to cover them and boil slowly till done. Drain, taking care not to break them. Put a teacupful of olive oil into a deep frying pan, heat, put in the potatoes, tossing them till they are browned all over lightly. Place on a dish and sprinkle with salt, pepper and vinegar. Serve piping hot.

=Haricots verts au riz tomate.=--Boil rice carefully so that every grain will be separate, toss it in a little butter and moisten with tomato sauce and add the yolk of an egg, well beaten and stirred in, and a little Parmesan cheese. Make a border of the rice on a dish and pile in the center some French beans plainly boiled and tossed in a little butter with some pepper and salt.

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Potage Velouté Brochet à la Tartare Biftecks sautés aux Olives Pommes de Terre à la Lyonnaise Épinards au Gratin Beignets Soufflés

=Potage Velouté.=--Boil a cup and a half of tapioca in two quarts of water and season with salt and pepper. At the bottom of a tureen place a lump of butter, and the yolks of two eggs, pour the tapioca over while it is still boiling, add a pint of hot milk and serve.

=Brochet à la Tartare.=--Cut a fresh pike into slices and marinade each slice separately with a sauce made of sufficient olive oil, black pepper, a minced onion, finely cut mushrooms and chopped parsley. Cover the fish with breadcrumbs and broil, brushing occasionally with the marinade. When it is a golden color remove from the fire, place on a hot platter and serve sprinkled with parsley with a tartar sauce in a sauceboat.

=Biftecks sautés aux Olives.=--Cut the steak into six pieces and toss in a frying pan with lard. When well done sprinkle with seasoning and remove from the fire. Then take half a glass of white wine, a tablespoonful of consommé, two or three dozen green olives, with the pits removed, and boil together for a few minutes. Set the steak in a crown on the platter and in the center place the dressing. Pour the gravy from the frying pan over all and serve.

=Pommes de Terre à la Lyonnaise.=--Take a dozen potatoes of the same size, cut into pieces the size of a quarter of a dollar, roll in flour and put into a frying pan with boiling fat, taking them out when they are a golden brown. Also fry some thin slices of onion, mix with the potatoes, sprinkle with salt and serve garnished with parsley.

=Épinards au Gratin.=--Boil two pounds of spinach and chop very fine. Beat up two eggs to each pound of spinach, mix with it and sprinkle the whole with breadcrumbs. Pour over some olive oil or melted butter and heat thoroughly in the oven in a vegetable dish.

=Beignets Soufflés.=--Put a pound of flour, a pinch of salt, a liquor glass of rum, the yolks of three eggs and a quantity of lukewarm water into a mixing dish and beat these together till it shrinks from the dish. Then mix in the well-beaten whites of the eggs and then allow to rise for an hour or so. Have a baking dish very hot and put in the paste in pieces the size of a nut, which will triple in size while cooking. Let them cook to a golden color, remove from the fire and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve hot.

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Consommé Royale Filet de Sole à la Vénétienne Salade Barbe de Capucin Beignets de Pêches

=Consommé Royale.=--Beat two eggs and mix them with half a cup of milk and a pinch of salt. Pour into a basin, stand this in a larger one containing hot water, place in the oven and bake till the contents of the small basin are firm, renewing water in the larger dish if necessary. Allow to cool and when set cut into small well-shaped pieces, pour over them a quart of hot consommé and serve immediately.

=Filet de Sole à la Vénétienne.=--Place in a buttered tin two small or one large onion cut in thin slices, a little chopped parsley, a bayleaf, one or two whole cloves and salt and pepper. Lay the fillets of two soles on these with a generous piece of butter, pour over half a pint of white stock and a small glass of white wine. Cover the tin with oiled paper, and bake in the oven for about twelve minutes. When the fish is cooked take out all the liquor except just enough to keep the fish moist as it remains in the oven turned very low, strain it and add three-quarters of an ounce of flour and the same amount of butter. Bring the sauce to a boil, take it from the fire, add the yolk of an egg and a good amount of blanched parsley and chervil, chopped very fine. Arrange the fillets of sole on a hot dish, pour the sauce over and serve.

=Salade Barbe de Capucin.=--Carefully pick over and break into convenient pieces the required amount of chicory and place in a salad bowl well rubbed with an onion. Just before serving pour over a French dressing, remembering to be in making it "a spendthrift for oil, a miser for vinegar, a counselor for salt and a madman to stir it all up."