[599]Cold Quails1901—CHAUD-FROID DE CAILLES EN BELLE-VUEThe quails should be boned for a chaud-froid, and stuffed withgratinforcemeat of game with a rod of foie gras and another of truffle set in the middle. This done, reshape them; wrap them each in a square of muslin; poach them for twenty minutes in an excellent veal stock, and let them cool therein.When they are quite cold, dry them; and dip them, so as to veneer them all over, in a good brown chaud-froid sauce (No.34), prepared with quailfumet. Decorate the breast of each quail elegantly with bits of truffle and poached white of egg; sprinkle with cold melted savoury jelly, so as to fix the decoration; and leave to set.Remove the excess of sauce from around the quails; set them in a square, deep dish; cover them with very good limpid savoury jelly, and place them in a refrigerator until they are required.1902—CAILLES EN CAISSESPrepare the quails as for a chaud-froid, as above; but set each in an oval, pleated case of delicate porcelain or paper. Border with a thin thread of chopped jelly, and on each quail set a head, the eyes of which may be imitated by means of a ring of white of egg and a central spot of truffle.1903—CAILLES GLACÉES AU GRANITÉI shall only give a few recipes of this class; for the series is a long one, and I recommend them more particularly on account of their quaintness. These dishes, wherein a sugary and glazed preparation is introduced, are highly esteemed in summer; but they really belong to the culinary repertory of hot countries.1904—CAILLES GLACÉES CERISETTE.Prepare the quails as for an entrée and poach them for 12 minutes in a strong veal stock, with Champagne. This done, put them each into a small, oval mould; fill up these moulds with cooking-liquor, cleared of all grease and strained, and leave them to set on ice.This preliminary procedure applies to all quail dishes in this series.Now prepare a Granité with cherry juice (see No.2930).Set this Granité in a pyramid on a dish incrusted in ice. Turn out the quails and place them round the Granité; fill up the gaps between them with small heaps of stoned cherries, poached in syrup for a few minutes and quite cold.[600]1905—CAILLES GLACÉES CARMEN.Prepare the quails as above, and place them round a rock of Granité made from pomegranates.1906—CAILLES GLACÉES MARYLAND.Set them round a rock of Granité made with pineapple.1907—CAILLES GLACÉES REINE AMELIE.Prepare the quails in the usual way, and lay them round a rock of Granité prepared with tomatoes.1908—CAILLES GLACÉESAU ROMANÉE.Poach the quails in stock combined with Romanée wine, and set them round a rock of Granité made with verjuice.1909—FILETS DE CAILLES AUX POMMES D’OR.Raise the quails’suprêmes, after having poached and cooled them. Set thesesuprêmesin the rinds of small oranges or tangerines, and fill up the rinds with jelly prepared with Port. When about to serve, deck each orange or tangerine, by means of the piping-bag, with a small ornament of Granité, prepared with the juice of the fruit used.1910—CAILLES CECILIARoast the quails, keeping them juicy, and leave them to cool.This done, raise their fillets and skin these; then, with the remains of the meat and an equal quantity of foie gras, prepare a purée.Set each fillet of quail on a similarly-shaped slice of liver, causing it to adhere by means of the prepared purée, and coat with brown chaud-froid sauce.When the sauce has quite set, place these fillets in an even border-mould,clothedwith very limpid aspic, and decorated with truffles. Fill up the mould with the same aspic jelly, and let the latter set.When about to serve, turn out on a napkin, after the manner of an aspic.1911—CAILLES AU CHÂTEAU-YQUEMPrepare the quails like those “à la Richelieu” (No.1895). After having added thejulienne, sprinkle them with Château-Yquem; cover; reduce, and complete their cooking as directed.When they are poached, transfer them to another saucepan; add ten slices of truffle per quail; strain their cooking-liquor, through muslin, over them, and poach them for a further two minutes.This done, place the quails in a timbale; cover them with the cooking-liquor cleared of all grease; leave it to set, and serve on a block of ice.[601]1912—MANDARINES DE CAILLESSlice the tangerine rinds at their stem-ends with an even round cutter; remove the sections; put them to dry, and skin them raw.Three-parts garnish the tangerine rinds with a quailMousse, combined with foie gras, cut into dice; set a roasted quail’s fillet on theMousse; coat with brown chaud-froid sauce, and cover with the sections of tangerine, glazed with aspic jelly. Keep in the cool for some time and dish on a napkin.1913—CAILLES NILLSONProceed as for “Cailles au Château-Yquem,” and set each quail in a small, silvercassolette. Cover with the cooking-liquor, cleared of grease and strained, and surround each quail with four small very white cocks’ kidneys.1914—CAILLES RICHELIEU FROIDESPrepare these like the “Hot Cailles Richelieu”; place them in a square, deep dish; cover with the cooking-liquor and the garnish and let them cool until the cooking-liquor sets. Then clear the dish of all grease and serve on a block of ice.1915—TIMBALE DE CAILLES TZARINELine a round pie-dish with ordinary paste, and coat it inside with slices of bacon. In the middle, place a fresh foie gras seasoned with salt, pepper and allspice, and surround it with quails, stuffed with quarters of truffles, set upright with their breasts against the bacon.Fill up the timbale with whole raw and peeled truffles; cover with a round slice of bacon; close the timbale with a layer of paste sealed down round the edges; make a slit in the top, and bake in a hot oven for one and one-quarter hours.When withdrawing the timbale from the oven, pour into it some veal stock flavoured with Madeira, and let it be sufficiently gelatinous to set like a jelly.Keep the timbale in the cool for one or two days before serving it.1916—CAILLESA LA VENDANGEUSERoast the quails; let them cool, and set them, each in a little dosser of dry paste, resting against a cushion lying on a round dish. On top of the cushion plant a leafy vine-shoot bearing grapes. Surround the quails with white and black grapes (peeled and pipped) and cover with a slightly gelatinous aspic jelly, prepared with liqueur brandy.[602]1917—MOUSSES DE CAILLESSee the various remarks made concerning this subject, under Pheasant, Partridge and Woodcock.1918—LAND RAIL, ROI DE CAILLES OURÂLE DE GENÊTSThe Land Rail, which must not be confused with the Water Rail, is most often served roasted, but all the quail recipes, hot or cold (except those in which Granité forms an accompaniment) may be applied to it.1919—HAZEL-HENS1920—BLACK GAME1921—PRAIRIE-HENS1922—PTARMIGAN1923—GROUSE1924—GANGASThese birds, one or two of which, such as grouse and the hazel-hen, are of incomparable delicacy and high culinary value, are mostly served roasted.Mousses,Mousselinesand Salmis are also prepared from them, after the directions already given. But I must remind the reader that when they serve in the preparation of a salmis, their skins and legs, which are bitter, must be discarded.All these birds must be treated while still very fresh.1925—GRIVES ET MERLES DE CORSE(Thrushes and Corsican Blackbirds)The greater part of the quail recipes, more particularly the “en casserole” and “sous la cendre” ones, may be applied to these excellent birds.The two following recipes are proper to them.1926—GRIVES OU MERLESA LA BONNE-FEMMECook the birds in butter, with one oz. of very small dice of salted breast of bacon to each bird. Put them into a hotcocottewith two-thirds oz. of butter per bird; heat; add some squarecroûtonsfried in butter; sprinkle with the saucepan-swillings, which should be a few drops of brandy; cover, and serve very hot immediately.1927—GRIVES OU MERLESA LA LIÉGEOISECook the birds in butter on the stove, in an uncovered earthenware saucepan. When they are nearly done, sprinkle them with two finely-chopped juniper berries per bird; add some roundcroûtonsof bread-crumb fried in butter; cover, and serve very hot.This procedure particularly suits thrushes, more especially when these come from the Ardennes.[603]1928—GRIVES ET MERLES FROIDSThe various, cold preparations of quails, except those comprising a Granité, may be applied to thrushes.Alouettes ou Mauviettes (Larks)These birds are generally served to the number of two or three for each person.1929—MAUVIETTESA LA BONNE-FEMMEProceed exactly as directed for the thrushes.1930—MAUVIETTESA LA MÈRE MARIANNESlice some peeled and cored russet apples, and three-parts cook them in butter. Spread this stew in thick layers on a buttered dish.Simply stiffen the seasoned larks in nut-brown butter, and place them upon the stewed apples, pressing them slightly into the latter. Sprinkle with very fine bread-crumbs and melted butter, and set to glaze in the oven or at the Salamander, just long enough to complete the cooking of the larks.1931—ALOUETTES DU PÈRE PHILIPPEClean some fine, medium-sized potatoes, allowing one to each lark; and cut a cover from each, which thin down until it is only one-sixth inch thick. With a root-spoon, hollow out the potatoes in such wise as to allow of their each enclosing a lark.Stiffen the larks in butter, and add thereto some salted breast of bacon, cut into small dice andblanched, and in the proportion of one-third oz. per lark. Place a lark in each potato, together with a few bacon dice and some of the cooking-fat; return cover of each potato to its place; fix it there by means of cotton, and wrap each potato in oiled paper.Lay them on the hearth, cover them with hot cinders, and cook for about forty minutes, taking care to renew the cinders from time to time.1932—MAUVIETTES FROIDESWhen cold, larks may be prepared in plain chaud-froid fashion, in cases, in Belle-vue, in Aspic, asMousses, &c., in pursuance of the directions given under these various recipes.1933—ORTOLANSServe ortolans as plainly as possible; but the best method of preparing them is roasting. However, for the sake of variety, they may be prepared asfollows:—[604]1934—SYLPHIDES D’ORTOLANSButter some very small porcelain or silvercassolettes, and garnish them half-full withmousselineforcemeat of ortolans prepared with truffle essence.Set thesecassolettesin the front of the oven, that the forcemeat may poach. Cook in butter, for three minutes only, as many ortolans as there are garnishedcassolettes, and proceed so as to have them just ready when the forcemeat is poached.Place an ortolan in eachcassolette, and sprinkle them with nut-brown butter, combined with a little pale melted glaze and pineapple juice.1935—BECS-FIGUES ET BEGUINETTES(Fig Peckers)These birds are not met with in English markets; it is therefore useless to give the recipes concerning them. I will only say that they may be prepared like the larks.1936—CANARDS SAUVAGES (Wild Duck)1937—SARCELLES (Teal)1938—PILETS (Pintails and Widgeons)Birds of this class are mostly served roasted.They may, however, be used in preparing excellent Salmis, which may be made after “Salmis de Faisan” (No.1847) or after “Salmis à la Rouennaise” (No.1763).They may also be prepared after all the recipes of “Caneton à la Rouennaise.”1939—PLUVIERS DORÉS (Golden Plover)1940—VANNEAUX (Lapwings)1941—CHEVALIERS DIVERS (Various Sandpipers)These various birds are generally served roasted.They may also be served “en Salmis,” but in that case the skin must be discarded in the preparation of the cullis.They only appear on very ordinary menus, and could not be served at an important dinner.
[599]Cold Quails1901—CHAUD-FROID DE CAILLES EN BELLE-VUEThe quails should be boned for a chaud-froid, and stuffed withgratinforcemeat of game with a rod of foie gras and another of truffle set in the middle. This done, reshape them; wrap them each in a square of muslin; poach them for twenty minutes in an excellent veal stock, and let them cool therein.When they are quite cold, dry them; and dip them, so as to veneer them all over, in a good brown chaud-froid sauce (No.34), prepared with quailfumet. Decorate the breast of each quail elegantly with bits of truffle and poached white of egg; sprinkle with cold melted savoury jelly, so as to fix the decoration; and leave to set.Remove the excess of sauce from around the quails; set them in a square, deep dish; cover them with very good limpid savoury jelly, and place them in a refrigerator until they are required.
The quails should be boned for a chaud-froid, and stuffed withgratinforcemeat of game with a rod of foie gras and another of truffle set in the middle. This done, reshape them; wrap them each in a square of muslin; poach them for twenty minutes in an excellent veal stock, and let them cool therein.
When they are quite cold, dry them; and dip them, so as to veneer them all over, in a good brown chaud-froid sauce (No.34), prepared with quailfumet. Decorate the breast of each quail elegantly with bits of truffle and poached white of egg; sprinkle with cold melted savoury jelly, so as to fix the decoration; and leave to set.
Remove the excess of sauce from around the quails; set them in a square, deep dish; cover them with very good limpid savoury jelly, and place them in a refrigerator until they are required.
Prepare the quails as for a chaud-froid, as above; but set each in an oval, pleated case of delicate porcelain or paper. Border with a thin thread of chopped jelly, and on each quail set a head, the eyes of which may be imitated by means of a ring of white of egg and a central spot of truffle.
I shall only give a few recipes of this class; for the series is a long one, and I recommend them more particularly on account of their quaintness. These dishes, wherein a sugary and glazed preparation is introduced, are highly esteemed in summer; but they really belong to the culinary repertory of hot countries.
1904—CAILLES GLACÉES CERISETTE.Prepare the quails as for an entrée and poach them for 12 minutes in a strong veal stock, with Champagne. This done, put them each into a small, oval mould; fill up these moulds with cooking-liquor, cleared of all grease and strained, and leave them to set on ice.This preliminary procedure applies to all quail dishes in this series.Now prepare a Granité with cherry juice (see No.2930).Set this Granité in a pyramid on a dish incrusted in ice. Turn out the quails and place them round the Granité; fill up the gaps between them with small heaps of stoned cherries, poached in syrup for a few minutes and quite cold.
This preliminary procedure applies to all quail dishes in this series.
Now prepare a Granité with cherry juice (see No.2930).
Set this Granité in a pyramid on a dish incrusted in ice. Turn out the quails and place them round the Granité; fill up the gaps between them with small heaps of stoned cherries, poached in syrup for a few minutes and quite cold.
[600]1905—CAILLES GLACÉES CARMEN.Prepare the quails as above, and place them round a rock of Granité made from pomegranates.
1906—CAILLES GLACÉES MARYLAND.Set them round a rock of Granité made with pineapple.
1907—CAILLES GLACÉES REINE AMELIE.Prepare the quails in the usual way, and lay them round a rock of Granité prepared with tomatoes.
1908—CAILLES GLACÉESAU ROMANÉE.Poach the quails in stock combined with Romanée wine, and set them round a rock of Granité made with verjuice.
1909—FILETS DE CAILLES AUX POMMES D’OR.Raise the quails’suprêmes, after having poached and cooled them. Set thesesuprêmesin the rinds of small oranges or tangerines, and fill up the rinds with jelly prepared with Port. When about to serve, deck each orange or tangerine, by means of the piping-bag, with a small ornament of Granité, prepared with the juice of the fruit used.
Roast the quails, keeping them juicy, and leave them to cool.
This done, raise their fillets and skin these; then, with the remains of the meat and an equal quantity of foie gras, prepare a purée.
Set each fillet of quail on a similarly-shaped slice of liver, causing it to adhere by means of the prepared purée, and coat with brown chaud-froid sauce.
When the sauce has quite set, place these fillets in an even border-mould,clothedwith very limpid aspic, and decorated with truffles. Fill up the mould with the same aspic jelly, and let the latter set.
When about to serve, turn out on a napkin, after the manner of an aspic.
Prepare the quails like those “à la Richelieu” (No.1895). After having added thejulienne, sprinkle them with Château-Yquem; cover; reduce, and complete their cooking as directed.
When they are poached, transfer them to another saucepan; add ten slices of truffle per quail; strain their cooking-liquor, through muslin, over them, and poach them for a further two minutes.
This done, place the quails in a timbale; cover them with the cooking-liquor cleared of all grease; leave it to set, and serve on a block of ice.
Slice the tangerine rinds at their stem-ends with an even round cutter; remove the sections; put them to dry, and skin them raw.
Three-parts garnish the tangerine rinds with a quailMousse, combined with foie gras, cut into dice; set a roasted quail’s fillet on theMousse; coat with brown chaud-froid sauce, and cover with the sections of tangerine, glazed with aspic jelly. Keep in the cool for some time and dish on a napkin.
Proceed as for “Cailles au Château-Yquem,” and set each quail in a small, silvercassolette. Cover with the cooking-liquor, cleared of grease and strained, and surround each quail with four small very white cocks’ kidneys.
Prepare these like the “Hot Cailles Richelieu”; place them in a square, deep dish; cover with the cooking-liquor and the garnish and let them cool until the cooking-liquor sets. Then clear the dish of all grease and serve on a block of ice.
Line a round pie-dish with ordinary paste, and coat it inside with slices of bacon. In the middle, place a fresh foie gras seasoned with salt, pepper and allspice, and surround it with quails, stuffed with quarters of truffles, set upright with their breasts against the bacon.
Fill up the timbale with whole raw and peeled truffles; cover with a round slice of bacon; close the timbale with a layer of paste sealed down round the edges; make a slit in the top, and bake in a hot oven for one and one-quarter hours.
When withdrawing the timbale from the oven, pour into it some veal stock flavoured with Madeira, and let it be sufficiently gelatinous to set like a jelly.
Keep the timbale in the cool for one or two days before serving it.
Roast the quails; let them cool, and set them, each in a little dosser of dry paste, resting against a cushion lying on a round dish. On top of the cushion plant a leafy vine-shoot bearing grapes. Surround the quails with white and black grapes (peeled and pipped) and cover with a slightly gelatinous aspic jelly, prepared with liqueur brandy.
See the various remarks made concerning this subject, under Pheasant, Partridge and Woodcock.
The Land Rail, which must not be confused with the Water Rail, is most often served roasted, but all the quail recipes, hot or cold (except those in which Granité forms an accompaniment) may be applied to it.
These birds, one or two of which, such as grouse and the hazel-hen, are of incomparable delicacy and high culinary value, are mostly served roasted.
Mousses,Mousselinesand Salmis are also prepared from them, after the directions already given. But I must remind the reader that when they serve in the preparation of a salmis, their skins and legs, which are bitter, must be discarded.
All these birds must be treated while still very fresh.
The greater part of the quail recipes, more particularly the “en casserole” and “sous la cendre” ones, may be applied to these excellent birds.
The two following recipes are proper to them.
Cook the birds in butter, with one oz. of very small dice of salted breast of bacon to each bird. Put them into a hotcocottewith two-thirds oz. of butter per bird; heat; add some squarecroûtonsfried in butter; sprinkle with the saucepan-swillings, which should be a few drops of brandy; cover, and serve very hot immediately.
Cook the birds in butter on the stove, in an uncovered earthenware saucepan. When they are nearly done, sprinkle them with two finely-chopped juniper berries per bird; add some roundcroûtonsof bread-crumb fried in butter; cover, and serve very hot.
This procedure particularly suits thrushes, more especially when these come from the Ardennes.
The various, cold preparations of quails, except those comprising a Granité, may be applied to thrushes.
These birds are generally served to the number of two or three for each person.
Proceed exactly as directed for the thrushes.
Slice some peeled and cored russet apples, and three-parts cook them in butter. Spread this stew in thick layers on a buttered dish.
Simply stiffen the seasoned larks in nut-brown butter, and place them upon the stewed apples, pressing them slightly into the latter. Sprinkle with very fine bread-crumbs and melted butter, and set to glaze in the oven or at the Salamander, just long enough to complete the cooking of the larks.
Clean some fine, medium-sized potatoes, allowing one to each lark; and cut a cover from each, which thin down until it is only one-sixth inch thick. With a root-spoon, hollow out the potatoes in such wise as to allow of their each enclosing a lark.
Stiffen the larks in butter, and add thereto some salted breast of bacon, cut into small dice andblanched, and in the proportion of one-third oz. per lark. Place a lark in each potato, together with a few bacon dice and some of the cooking-fat; return cover of each potato to its place; fix it there by means of cotton, and wrap each potato in oiled paper.
Lay them on the hearth, cover them with hot cinders, and cook for about forty minutes, taking care to renew the cinders from time to time.
When cold, larks may be prepared in plain chaud-froid fashion, in cases, in Belle-vue, in Aspic, asMousses, &c., in pursuance of the directions given under these various recipes.
Serve ortolans as plainly as possible; but the best method of preparing them is roasting. However, for the sake of variety, they may be prepared asfollows:—
Butter some very small porcelain or silvercassolettes, and garnish them half-full withmousselineforcemeat of ortolans prepared with truffle essence.
Set thesecassolettesin the front of the oven, that the forcemeat may poach. Cook in butter, for three minutes only, as many ortolans as there are garnishedcassolettes, and proceed so as to have them just ready when the forcemeat is poached.
Place an ortolan in eachcassolette, and sprinkle them with nut-brown butter, combined with a little pale melted glaze and pineapple juice.
These birds are not met with in English markets; it is therefore useless to give the recipes concerning them. I will only say that they may be prepared like the larks.
Birds of this class are mostly served roasted.
They may, however, be used in preparing excellent Salmis, which may be made after “Salmis de Faisan” (No.1847) or after “Salmis à la Rouennaise” (No.1763).
They may also be prepared after all the recipes of “Caneton à la Rouennaise.”
These various birds are generally served roasted.
They may also be served “en Salmis,” but in that case the skin must be discarded in the preparation of the cullis.
They only appear on very ordinary menus, and could not be served at an important dinner.