Twenty-four Little French Dinners and How to Cook and Serve Them

Chapter 3

Chapter 34,316 wordsPublic domain

=Beignets des Pêches.=--Peel, stone and cut in halves some firm peaches. Toss about in a bowl with sugar, being careful not to break. Put a pound of flour in a basin and stir in gradually half a pint of water. Mix the whites of two stiffly beaten eggs with this batter and then add one and a quarter ounces of melted butter. Bring olive oil to a good heat in a frying pan, dip each piece of peach in the batter and fry in the fat. When lightly browned drain on a cloth or paper, lay on a baking dish, sift powdered sugar over and glaze by placing in a hot oven a few minutes. Arrange in pyramid shape on a folded napkin on a hot dish and serve immediately. Canned peaches, if firm, may, of course, be substituted for the fresh fruit.

Côtelettes de Saumon, à l'Anglaise Pommes de Terre, Marquise Petits Pois à la Paysanne Salade Américaine Choux au Chocolat

=Côtelettes de Saumon, Anglaise.=--Divide slices of salmon into shape of cutlets, sprinkle with pepper and salt and put into a saucepan with a small amount of butter and toss over the fire. When cooked take out and drain, place on a hot dish and serve with the following sauce: Put three tablespoonfuls of velouté sauce into a saucepan, reduce slightly and add one egg, four ounces of butter, a little salt, cayenne, some finely minced parsley and the juice of half a lemon. Mix together well over the fire till the ingredients are blended and it is ready.

=Pommes de Terre, Marquise.=--Boil potatoes in salted water and pass through a sieve. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, chopped parsley and a little chopped thyme. Moisten with some good gravy or stock and form into small balls. Dip each in well beaten egg and fry to a light brown in butter.

=Petits Pois à la Paysanne.=--Take fresh green peas, or canned ones if the former are not available, put over the fire in a saucepan with plenty of butter and stir frequently. Cut one or two rashers of bacon in very small dice and toss them in a saucepan over the fire. When the bacon is well fried, mix in with the peas and let the two finish cooking together, seasoning with pepper, salt and a little sugar.

=Salade Américaine.=--Cut in rounds resembling a quarter-dollar equal quantities of new potatoes, carrots and beet root, all previously cooked. Then add a sour apple, cut in the same shape, and a few anchovies cut in small pieces. Pour over this a dressing of three parts oil to one of vinegar, add pepper, salt, mustard and chopped parsley. Pile the salad up and surround with cress.

=Choux au Chocolat.=--Into a small saucepan put half a cup of water with two ounces of butter and one of sugar. When boiling add gradually two and a half ounces of finely sifted flour and stir till the mixture is stiff. Take from the fire, stir some more, then add two eggs, one at a time, beat the whole well, and leave to cool. Butter a baking sheet, lay the paste on it in round balls the size of a plum and bake in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes. Allow to cool and then make an incision in the side of each and fill with whipped cream slightly flavored with vanilla or with jam. Just before serving glaze each chou slightly with a chocolate icing.

Consommé Duchesse Saumon, Sauce Piquante Rissolettes de Bœuf Salade à la Reine Crème Noyau

=Duchesse Consommé.=--Boil four tablespoonfuls of rice (ground) in four cups of water for fifteen minutes, adding half a teaspoonful each of salt and sugar. When the rice is soft and just before serving add a quart of warmed milk, bring to a boil, adding lastly a dash of pepper and paprika.

=Saumon, Sauce Piquante.=--Take slices of salmon about three-quarters of an inch in thickness and place in a saucepan with hot fish broth mixed with a small quantity of wine. Allow to simmer for fifteen minutes. When cooked remove and wipe free from broth, place on a hot platter and serve with a sauce made as follows: Melt a quantity of butter, flavor to taste with tarragon vinegar, pepper, mustard, fennel and such spices as are liked. Stir over the fire till cooked, move to the side of the stove, thicken with the yolk of an egg and serve.

=Rissolettes de Bœuf.=--With four cups of finely minced beef mix one cup of breadcrumbs, adding one boiled onion, a little essence of anchovies, salt, pepper and a raw egg. Make into balls, roll in breadcrumbs and fry slowly. Prepare a gravy by boiling the trimmings of the meat in the water in which the onion was boiled, thicken with flour or cornstarch, add three teaspoonfuls of lemon juice and pour over the rissolettes which should be arranged on a heated platter around a heap of mashed potatoes.

=Salade à la Reine.=--Lay strips of endive lengthwise on the salad plates and cross them with peeled tomatoes cut in sections like an orange. Dress with a French salad dressing.

=Crème Noyau.=--Pound in a mortar together a quarter pound of Jordan and an ounce of bitter almonds with a scant half cup of cream and two ounces of sugar. Rub through a sieve into a bowl, add a pint of whipped cream flavored with Noyau and then an ounce of gelatine dissolved. Pour into a mould to set. Serve with champagne wafers.

Consommé à la Madrilène Perches aux Fines Herbes Filets Mignons aux Pommes de Terre Aubergines Farcies Omelette au Rhum

=Consommé à la Madrilène.=--Put through a medium sieve five or six boiled ripe tomatoes, or a can of tomatoes, allow to cool and pack in a freezer. Add to a cold consommé and serve in cups.

=Perches aux Fines Herbes.=--Prepare six fresh perch and marinade them with two tablespoonfuls of olive oil, a sprig of parsley, a little pepper and salt and allspice, bayleaf and other strong spices chopped fine. Keep the fish in this for about an hour, remove and roll in breadcrumbs lightly flavored with spices. Grill over a low fire till a golden brown in color and serve with butter sauce.

=Filets Mignons aux Pommes de Terre.=--Marinade the required number of small filets mignon of mutton in butter seasoned with salt and chervil. Leave for an hour or more and just before they are to be served, grill them, basting frequently with the butter. Flavor with lemon juice and serve with buttered fried potatoes.

=Aubergines Farcies.=--Cut eggplants in halves lengthwise, remove the inside and of this make a farcie by mixing it with chopped parsley, two chopped onions and salt and pepper. Stuff the eggplant halves with this mixture and put the combination into a casserole containing a good quantity of melted butter and allow to simmer over a slow fire till all is thoroughly done. Cover the tops with breadcrumbs, add a drop of oil or a little melted butter and keep piping hot till served.

=Omelette au Rhum.=--Prepare an omelette as for any sweet omelette and just before serving place on a hot platter, pour rum over, ignite and carry to the table blazing.

XII

Potage Riz, Creçy Canapés de Saumon Fumé Paupiettes de Porc, Sauce Piquante Asperges en Petits Pois Tarte à la Turque

=Potage Riz, Creçy.=--Cut several firm, red carrots lengthwise, using only the red part. Place in a casserole with a good bouillon and allow to simmer over a slow fire. Pass through a sieve when the carrots are soft, and put back in the bouillon. Add a cupful of cooked rice, bring to a boil and serve.

=Canapés de Saumon Fumé.=--Cut a smoked salmon into slices and spread them with butter, adding pepper and salt and a pinch of nutmeg. Heat over a crisp fire, place on a hot dish, cover with croutons and serve.

=Paupiettes de Porc, Sauce Piquante.=--Take small slices of cold roast pork and spread them with sausage meat. Roll them and fasten with skewers, then cover with a thin coating of lard or with oiled paper and cook them over a low fire in a casserole. When thoroughly done, take off the papers, cover with breadcrumbs and brown. Serve with a piquant sauce.

=Asperges en Petits Pois.=--Cut up the green part of two bunches of asparagus, roll in butter and add a little salt. Heat a cupful of flour, being careful not to allow it to color, and dredge the asparagus with it. Put into a saucepan with sufficient milk and water in equal parts to cover, add a bouquet of herbs and allow the whole to simmer till the asparagus is cooked. Season with white pepper and serve.

=Tarte à la Turque.=--Boil a cupful of rice till thick in milk to which has been added a stick of cinnamon, a little lemon juice and sugar. When the rice is cooked allow to cool. Make a border of it on a buttered plate and fill the center with a marmalade made as follows: Cut the peeled stalks of a bunch of rhubarb into dice and allow them to simmer in a small amount of water till they are of the consistency of marmalade. Add three or four teaspoonfuls of sugar, a lump of butter and the rind of a lemon. Take from the fire and immediately add the beaten yolks of two eggs. Arrange, as stated, in the middle of the rice, sprinkle with a little more sugar and set in the oven for fifteen minutes or more before serving.

XIII

Potage à la Chicorée Allumettes d'Anchois Bœuf Bouilli en Vinaigrette Pommes Maire Salade de Tomates Crème Brulée

=Potage à la Chicorée.=--Pick carefully and wash two or three heads of chicory, cut into shreds and pass through a little heated butter without allowing to take color. Then add sufficient of the water in which the Pommes Maire (below) were boiled to make the required quantity of soup, add pepper and salt, simmer for an hour. Just after taking from the fire add the beaten yolk of an egg. Pour into the tureen over toasted slices of stale bread.

=Allumettes d'Anchois.=--Make a fritter paste with flour and oil, omitting salt. Soften with white wine. Wash the desired number of anchovies, remove the bones and draw out the salt by soaking in milk. Dip into the paste and fry.

=Bœuf Bouilli en Vinaigrette.=--Cut cold, lean beef into narrow, thin slices. Place it in a bowl with a finely chopped onion and some chervil, a few cut-up gherkins, a teaspoonful of capers, pour oil, a little vinegar and the juice of half a lemon over, add pepper and salt, toss well together and serve at once.

=Pommes Maire.=--Use "kidney" potatoes if procurable; if not, ordinary potatoes of small size. Boil in salt water and peel while still hot, then cut in thick chips and place in a casserole and cover with boiling milk. Season with pepper and salt and allow to boil, turning with a fork till the milk has boiled away. Remove from the fire, pour over a cup of rich milk, season again and serve.

=Salade de Tomates.=--Cut a pound of not too ripe tomatoes into one inch cubes, add salt, pepper, vinegar and oil to taste and then toss together with a minced onion. Serve right away. If desired, cold boiled beef in dainty slices may be added.

=Crème Brulée.=--Blend a tablespoonful of flour with the yolks of three eggs and place in a casserole. Pour slowly in a pint or more of milk, add a pinch of cinnamon, a few drops of extract of lemon or any flavor desired, and stir constantly over the fire. When the cream is cooked, make a caramel sauce in a porcelain pot by melting five or six lumps of sugar and cooking to the browning point. Pour this into a serving dish, pour the cream over it and allow to cool.

XIV

Bisque d'Herbes Turbot à la Rachel Choufleur au Gratin Salade Barbe de Capucin Gâteau de Frangipane

=Bisque d'Herbes.=--Chop together about a handful each of lettuce, sorrel, spinach, also a small onion, a little celery and some chervil and cook all with an egg-sized piece of butter for fifteen minutes, stirring constantly. Then add three tablespoonfuls of flour made smooth with a little stock, stir in four cupfuls of the cauliflower water (which you will have from a recipe following) into which has been beaten the yolk of an egg. Serve very hot with croutons.

=Turbot à la Rachel.=--Boil the fish in salted water. Whitefish or haddock will serve as well as turbot. Make the following sauce: Smooth and brown together two tablespoonfuls of flour and two ounces of butter and stir in five gills of water in which the fish was boiled, adding a teaspoonful each of anchovy essence and mushroom catsup. Remove from the fire and beat in the yolks of two eggs and the juice of one lemon. Color with liquid carmine or a few drops of cochineal and pour over the fish.

=Choufleur au Gratin.=--Dip the cauliflower into ice water, then plunge it into boiling salted water to cook fifteen minutes. Cut a slice off the stalk, remove the leaves, lay on a flat dish and cover with a cream sauce. Sprinkle with grated breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan cheese, brown in the oven and serve.

=Salade Barbe de Capucin.=--Lay the stalks of American endive in a dish and cut into small pieces a medium shallot. Mix, add a French dressing and sprinkle with finely chopped tarragon leaves.

=Gâteau de Frangipane.=--Whisk together a quarter of a pound of powdered sugar and the whites of three eggs, then beat in three tablespoonfuls of milk, the grated peel of a lemon and a dash of salt. Then stir in half a pound of flour. Bake in patty tins and when done scoop a piece out of the top of each patty and fill with jam. Then pour over a sauce made as follows: Put two wineglassfuls of white wine into a small saucepan and stir in a cupful of orange marmalade with the juice of a lemon. Thicken with a little corn-starch.

Potage Bisque Canard à la Pertinset Pommes de Terre à la Crème Choufleur au Beurre Noir Salade de Lentilles Pêches au Vin

=Potage Bisque.=--Boil as many crabs as are needed in water, adding salt, pepper, two good sized onions and equal quantities of carrots and chives. Remove the crabs and take the meat from the claws. Mash the vegetables until they form a purée and add a good sized lump of butter. Place over the fire with water or bouillon and allow to come to a boil. Serve very hot with croutons and the meat from the crab claws.

=Canard à la Pertinset.=--Place a carefully prepared duck in a casserole and dredge it with a lump of melted butter, add two onions, one clove, a dash of garlic. Put in the oven but do not allow the onions to become too brown before removing the duck. Then add five or six tomatoes, one glass of white wine, a glass of bouillon, a few cloves and a bayleaf. Let this boil over a low fire, then mash the tomatoes and onions, put back the duck into the casserole and boil for forty minutes.

=Pommes de Terre à la Crème.=--Put into a casserole a lump of butter, a pinch of flour, salt and pepper, nutmeg and a young onion. Mix well and add a cup of rich milk. Place on the fire, stir constantly, and remove as soon as the mixture comes to a boil. Meanwhile boil as many potatoes as are required in salted water. Peel and cut into slices, add to the sauce and serve.

=Choufleur au Beurre Noir.=--Boil a cauliflower and drain. Add a pinch of salt, nutmeg and a dash of vinegar to a pint of the water in which the cauliflower was cooked. Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter and when it is a light brown add it to the mixture. Pour over the cauliflower on a hot platter.

=Salade de Lentilles.=--Having boiled two cupfuls of lentils till they are tender, season them either hot or cold with a little garlic cut up fine, or with chives and serve in lettuce leaves with a French dressing.

=Pêches au Vin.=--Put peaches into a stewpan and cover them with water. In ten minutes remove the skins. Then place them in a shallow dish and cover them either with Madeira or Moselle wine and allow them to stand for at least two hours. Then drain them, place them in the dish in which they are to be served and cover them with vanilla sugar. Set the wine in which they have been soaked on the fire, add sugar to taste, and pour the sauce boiling over the peaches.

XVI

Sardines Grillées Chapon à l'Indienne Pommes de Terre en Matelote Salade Beaucaire Crème Fouettée

=Sardines Grillées.=--Grill half a dozen sardines, or as many as desired, for a few minutes. Melt butter in a frying-pan, stir in a little flour and moisten with hot water, then add a few drops of vinegar, a dash of mustard, salt and pepper. Pour this very hot over the sardines.

=Chapon à l'Indienne.=--Prepare and truss a capon as for roasting, rub all over with butter and place in a casserole with a good sized slice of salt pork. Cook over a slow fire for three hours. In the meantime cook a cupful of rice, season it with a little curry powder and pimento, and place around the capon on the platter on which it is served.

=Pommes de Terre en Matelote.=--Slice freshly boiled potatoes and cook en casserole with seasoning of pepper and salt, two or three sliced onions, a sprig of chopped parsley, a lump of butter and a small amount of flour and water. Cook till all the ingredients are well blended and when heaped on a platter and ready for the table, pour over a glass or two of wine.

=Salade Beaucaire.=--Chop coarsely celery and endive together, season with oil, vinegar and mustard an hour before using. Just before taking to the table, add chopped boiled ham, a sour apple, diced, moistened with a little tarragon and mayonnaise. Surround the salad with a border of small potatoes, boiled and sliced, alternated with slices of beet.

=Crème Fouettée.=--Whip cream till it is very thick or make about a quart of custard. Mash thoroughly a pound of cherries or raspberries, or both with powdered sugar. Mix with the cream or custard, beat again and serve immediately. In summer this may be iced with good results.

XVII

Potage Macédoine Homards et Champignons Côtelettes de Mouton à la Brunoise Petits Pois à la Française Choux à la Crème

=Potage Macédoine.=--Place thin pieces of ham in the bottom of a saucepan and then put in three each of turnips, potatoes and onions, all cut up small. Pour in some stock, season with pepper and salt and simmer till the ham and vegetables are cooked. Add a quart of milk and bring almost to a boil, strain and serve immediately.

=Homards et Champignons.=--Cut an equal quantity of lobster meat and mushrooms into dice. Boil some velouté sauce together with some essence of mushrooms till somewhat reduced, then thicken and mix with the lobster and mushrooms. Fill ramekin cases with the preparation, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, pour over a little melted butter and bake in the oven till browned. Serve piping hot.

=Côtelettes de Mouton à la Brunoise.=--Trim mutton cutlets neatly, cutting away all fat, and place side by side in a large stewpan. Cover with well-flavored stock and leave to simmer, well covered, for an hour and a half. Take equal quantities of turnips, onions and celery and double the amount of carrots, cut all into quarter-inch cubes and fry in butter till they begin to color, putting in first the carrots, then the celery, then the onions and last the turnips. When all are done, drain and allow them to simmer gently in a little common stock. A little while before the cutlets are done drain off all the surplus stock from the vegetables, or boil it down quickly over a hot fire. Dress the cutlets on the rim of a platter, heap the vegetables in the center and pour the gravy all over them. Accompany with mashed potatoes.

=Petits Pois à la Française.=--Cook a pint of shelled peas till tender, drain and place on the back of the fire with not quite a gill of the water in which they have been boiled, a little flour and an ounce of butter. Simmer for five minutes, adding pepper and salt to taste and just before taking from the fire add the yolk of an egg mixed with a tablespoonful and a half of cream. Serve very hot in china or paper cases.

=Choux à la Crème.=--Put a small piece of butter in a saucepan with half a pint of water, a teaspoonful of sugar, a piece of lemon peel and a little salt. Boil well together, stir in two tablespoonfuls of flour and stir till thick and cooked. Allow this paste to cool and then work into it two eggs and sufficient milk to make it thin enough to drop from a spoon. Heat lard in a deep frying pan, not quite to the point of boiling, and with a spoon drop the paste into it in lumps about the size of a hen's egg. When slightly brown and well swollen, remove the cakes, drain them well, scoop out a little of the top of each to form a hollow and allow them to cool. Whip cream to a stiff froth and put a small amount into the hollow of each chou, arrange on a fancy dish and serve. The chou may be filled with jelly or preserves if preferred.

XVIII

Potage à la Printanière Paupiettes de Veau Pommes de Terre, Maître d'Hôtel Salade de Laitue Feuillantines

=Potage à la Printanière.=--Cut two carrots and one turnip into shapes with a vegetable scoop, simmer for twenty minutes in salted water, drain and place in a quart of the water in which the potatoes (in this same menu) were boiled. Add a handful of chiffonade, cook five minutes and serve.

=Paupiettes de Veau.=--Cut thin cutlets from a fillet of veal and beat them flat and even. Also mince a small quantity of the veal very fine, mix it with some of the kidney fat, also minced fine, and half a dozen minced anchovies, adding a little salt, ginger and powdered mace. Place this mixture over the slices of veal and roll them up. Beat up an egg, dip the rolled slices in it and then in sifted breadcrumbs. Let them stand for fifteen or twenty minutes, egg them again, roll in breadcrumbs and fry to a golden brown in boiling lard or clarified dripping, or stew them in some rich gravy with half a pint of white wine and a small quantity of walnut pickle.

=Pommes de Terre, Maître d'Hôtel.=--Cut up carefully selected, underboiled and cold potatoes in rather thick slices. Dredge half a tablespoonful of flour in a saucepan with a lump of butter and when smooth add gradually a cupful of broth, stirring till it boils. Place in the potatoes along with a tablespoonful of chopped parsley and pepper and salt. Stew for three or four minutes, remove the pan to the side of the fire and add quickly the yolk of an egg previously well beaten with a teaspoonful of cold water and a little lemon juice. When the egg has become thickened, turn the potatoes with their sauce on a flat dish and serve.

=Salade de Laitue.=--Select fine lettuces, remove the coarse outer leaves, wash and wipe, place in a salad bowl and sprinkle over a tablespoonful of chopped chives, half a teaspoonful each of chopped chervil and tarragon. Season with a pinch of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar and a tablespoonful and a half of oil. Mix thoroughly and serve.

=Feuillantines.=--Prepare some puff paste; roll out to about a third of an inch thick and cut into strips an inch wide and two inches long. Spread a baking dish thick with butter, arrange the pieces of paste on it, placing them upon their sides and leaving a small space between them. Put them in the oven and when they are firm and their sides have spread, glaze them with white of egg and dust with powdered sugar. As the feuillantines are cooked set them on paper and drain off any extra grease. Now mask them separately with small quantities of different colored jams. Arrange on fancy edged dish-paper or a folded napkin on a dish and serve.

XIX

Potage Crème d'Orge Bœuf à la Mode Pommes de Terre, Sautées Salade de Romaine Soufflé au Chocolat

=Potage Crème d'Orge.=--Mix in a saucepan a teacupful of barley, an onion, a small piece of cinnamon, half a blade of mace and three pints of water in which potatoes have been boiled. When the mixture boils remove from the center of the fire and allow to simmer slowly for three hours or more. Pass through a fine sieve and return to saucepan. Mix in two tablespoonfuls of butter and half a pint of boiling milk, season with pepper and salt. Beat an egg yolk in a teacupful of milk, mix in the soup but do not allow to boil after egg is added. Serve with croutons.