[605]CHAPTER XVIIROASTS AND SALADSInthe first part of this work I explained the fundamental principles governing the treatment of Roasts, and I now have to add only a few words to what has already been said. Recipes may be consummate in detail and in accuracy, and still they will be found wanting in the matter of Roasts; for experience alone can tell the operator whether the joint he is treating be old or young, fresh or stale; whether it must be cooked quickly or slowly, and all the theories that I might advance on this subject, though perhaps they might not be useless, would at least prove impracticable nine times out of ten.I shall not prescribe any limit of time for Roasts, except in very special cases, and even so that limit will only be approximate.Nothing can be made precise in the matter; long practice alone, away from books, will teach it; for book-rules can only be understood when the light of practical knowledge is focussed upon them.1942—ACCOMPANIMENT OF ROASTSIt struck me as desirable that I should give in this chapter the recipes of the various preparations which, in England, are served withRoasts:—Yorkshire Pudding, Veal Stuffing, &c. Having treated of the accompanying sauces to Roasts in Part I, I need only recall them here.1943—YORKSHIRE PUDDING (For Beef Roasts)Mix one-half lb. of sifted flour with six eggs and one quart of boiled milk, adding the eggs one by one and the milk little by little. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.Pour this preparation into a deep baking-pan, containing some very hot dripping, and bake in the oven. If the joint be roasted on the spit, put the Yorkshire pudding under it, on taking the former out of the oven, and let it thus become saturated with the gravy and fat that fall from the roast.[606]Cut into squares or lozenges, and set these round the Roast or serve them separately.1944—SAGE AND ONIONS STUFFING(For Turkeys, Ducks and Geese)Bake four large onions in the oven with their skins on. This done, peel them and finely chop them; fry them in butter with a pinch of dry green chopped sage. Add bread-crumbs, soaked in milk and pressed, equal in weight to the onions, and half the weight of chopped veal fat.1945—VEAL STUFFING (For Veal and Pork)This stuffing is made from equal quantities of chopped suet, sifted bread-crumbs, and chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper as for an ordinary forcemeat, and be liberal with the nutmeg.Cohere this forcemeat with three small eggs per two lbs. of the above preparation.1946—ROASTS OF BUTCHER’S MEATI must remind the reader of this principle, viz.: that however natural it may seem in a dinner to serve a roasted joint as a Remove, a piece of butcher’s meat must never stand as a Roast.Roasts really only compriseFowlandFeathered Game, provided the menu only announces one roast. If two are announced, the second generally consists of some kind of crustacean, such as aLobster, aSpiny LobsterorCrayfish, generally served in the form of aMousse; or of a preparation of foie gras,i.e.: either aPâté, aTerrine, aMousseor a Parfait; sometimes, too, by a very good ham or a derivative preparation thereof.Beef Roasts1947—ROAST RIBS OF BEEFClear the joint of the vertebræ and the yellow ligaments. Roast before a moderately fierce fire, and place the joint if possible in an uncovered braising-pan, the sides of which may protect the meat during the cooking process.1948—ROAST UPPER-FILLETBreak the projecting bones of the vertebræ, and sever the yellow ligament at various points. For this joint the heat should be fiercer than in the previous case, the limit of time being less.[607]1949—ROAST SIRLOINThese enormous pieces are scarcely trimmed; the excess of flank alone is suppressed; but the fillet must remain covered by a considerable thickness of fat, which protects it while roasting.Without this precautionary measure, the under-cut would be cooked long before the upper-fillet, and would dry up.The fire should be concentrated, regular and not too fierce for this joint. The flat bones of the vertebræ must be broken at their base, but not detached.1950—FILLET OF BEEFFillet of beef intended for roasting should be carefully cleared of its two sinewy envelopes. But, since this trimming tends to let it dry while cooking, were the meat left as it stands, it is customary to lard it with strips of fresh fat bacon, which protect it; or it may be wrapped in slices of bacon. In certain circumstances, it is covered on top and beneath with slices of beef fat, flattened to the thickness of a rasher of bacon by means of a beater, and tied on with string.Fillet of beef should be cooked with a somewhat fierce fire, and, in England, it is usually kept underdone towards the centre.N.B.—Large roast joints of beef are always accompanied by Yorkshire pudding, grated Horse-radish or Horse-radish sauce (No.119or138).1951—RÔTIS DE VEAU (Veal Roasts)In my opinion, the spit does not suit veal, whatever be the quality of the latter.Poëling(No.250) is preferable and suits it better.The quality of meat can but be enhanced under the treatment I suggest, more particularly as thepoëling-liquor constitutes a much richer gravy than that which generally accompanies veal roasted on the spit. In English cookery roast veal is always accompanied by boiled ham or breast of bacon.Veal Stuffing(No.1945) poached in steam in a special mould, and cut into slices, is sent at the same time.Roast joints of veal are generallythe Loin, the best end, theNeckor theFillet.Sometimes, too, but more rarely,the Cushionis roasted.1952—MUTTON AND LAMB ROASTSMutton and Lamb are the best possible meats to roast, and, as far as they are concerned, the culinary treatment might be limited to roasting.[608]True, good results are obtained from poaching mutton andpoëlinghome-lamb; but it is advisable only to have recourse to these methods when a menu requires varying.The Mutton joints roasted arethe Leg,the Double or Pair of Hind-legs,the Baronor (Hindquarters),the Saddleandthe Neck.The Shoulder also makes an excellent roast, but it may only appear on more or less unimportant menus.Roast joints of mutton and lamb are always accompanied by Mint Sauce (No.136).1953—PORK ROASTSPork roasts may only appear on very ordinary menus, and really belong to domestic cookery. The pork joints for roasting arethe Legs,the Fillets, andthe Neck.The joints selected should be those derived from very young animals, and the rind should be left upon them, and cut deeply in criss-cross lines, so as to form a lozenge pattern.Pork should always be roasted before a fierce fire, and it is accompanied by its gravy and Sage and Onions (No.1944) or Apple sauce (No.112). Sometimes Apple sauce is replaced by Cranberry sauce (No.115); while Roberts sauce Escoffier is also admirably suited to these roasts.1954—VENISON ROASTSI have already pointed out that Roebuck is not very much eaten in England, and that this excellent ground game must be used without having beenmarinaded. Every piece of roebuck must be trimmed and cleared of tendons, larded with larding bacon, or, at least, carefully wrapped in the latter; and roasted before a fierce fire and kept underdone towards the centre.The joints of roebuck most commonly roasted arethe Legsandthe Saddle.The fallow Deerandthe Stagsupply the greater part of the Venison consumed in England; and when these animals are of good quality their flesh is covered by a thick coat of white fat, which is very highly esteemed by connoisseurs. Only the neck and the haunch are roasted, and the latter consists of one leg with half of the saddle attached.This venison is nevermarinaded, but it should be kept for as long as possible in a dry and well-aired place, that the meat may be gamy.Before hanging the joint, dredge it well with a mixture of flour and pepper, that it may keep dry and free from the flies.[609]When about to prepare this Venison, scrape off the coating of flour; wrap it in an envelope of firm suet dough. Cover the whole with oiled paper, tied on with string; and place the joint before a regular, red fire, concentrated and fierce.When the joint is thought to be cooked, peel off its envelope; season it with salt; sprinkle it with a few pinches of flour, and plenty of melted butter, and brown it as quickly as possible.Large joints of Venison allow of the followingadjuncts:—Poivrade sauceand its derivatives, such asVenison sauceandGrand-Veneur sauce; alsothe CumberlandandOxfordsauces of English cookery. Generally a sauceboat of red-currant jelly is sent with these joints, unless the accompanying sauce already contains some of it.Fowl Roasts1955—PULLETSLarge birds, when roasted, should always be salted inside, trussed and covered with slices of bacon. They should be cooked before a concentrated and moderately fierce fire. About ten minutes before unhooking them, remove their covering of bacon, that their breasts may colour.A bird is known to be cooked when the juice which issues from it, if it be held over a plate, is white. Having ascertained that it is cooked, set it on a very hot dish and serve it instantly.In England it is customary to surround the fowl with grilled sausages or slices of bacon, and to send a sauceboat of bread sauce (No.113) at the same time as the gravy.1956—TRUFFLED PULLETEmpty the pullet intended for truffling, by means of a little hole on the side of the belly, and remember to keep the skin of the neck whole. This done, remove the collar bone at the summit of the breast, and detach the skin from the whole of the breast.For a fine pullet, there will be needed one and one-half lbs. of truffles.After having well brushed and washed the truffles, carefully peel them; select one of the largest; cut it into slices, and put these aside.Now quarter the other, letting each piece weigh about three oz.Pound the truffle peel with two lbs. of very fresh pork fat, and rub the whole through a sieve. Take about one-half lb. of this fat; melt it, together with a bay-leaf; and, when it is quite[610]liquid, add the quartered truffles to it (seasoned with salt and pepper), and simmer the whole for about ten minutes.This done, take it off the fire; leave to cool almost entirely under cover, and mix with what remains of the truffled fat.Stuff the pullet with this preparation, and slip between the bird’s skin and the flesh of its breast some thin slices of bacon. Upon the slices of bacon place the reserved slice of truffle; carefully sew up all the openings in the pullet with very thin string; wrap it in one or two sheets of buttered paper; put it on the spit, and stand it before a concentrated fire which should be kept at an even heat throughout the process of roasting.About one-quarter of an hour before serving, remove the paper and the slices of bacon, that the breast may colour. Set on a hot dish, and send the gravy, which should be kept rather fat, separately.The time allowed for roasting a fine fowl is somewhere between one and one-quarter to one and one-half hours.1957—CHICKENA LA REINEAND SPRING CHICKENSThe directions given for the pullet also apply to other kinds of fowl, provided the difference in size be taken into account.1958—SPRING CHICKENSA LA RUSSETruss the chicken and soak its breast for five minutes in boiling water, that the flesh and the skin may be stiff.Lard it with thin strips of bacon and anchovy fillets; fill it with smooth, truffled sausage-meat, and roast it on the spit.At the last moment, when the bird is cooked, baste it by means of a special paper horn, with burning melted bacon fat, which should frizzle the fowl’s skin as it falls upon it.Serve a Rémoulade sauce separately.1959—ROAST CHICKSThese birds should, if possible, be cooked “à la casserole.”1960—ROAST YOUNG TURKEYSBefore trussing the young turkey, clear its legs of all tendons; an operation effected by means of two incisions made on the inside of the legs, above and below the last joint. Seize the tendons one by one; fasten them to a braiding needle, and gently turn the latter, thus rolling the tendons round it.Young turkey is covered with slices of bacon and roasted like the Pullet.It may be stuffed with Sage and Onions (No.1944), or it may be accompanied by Veal Stuffing (No.1945), poached in[611]steam in a special mould, and cut into slices set around the bird.It is often accompanied, also, by boiled or grilled bacon, or grilled sausages.A Bread sauceora Cranberry saucemay be served in addition to the gravy.1961—TRUFFLED YOUNG TURKEYProceed as for truffled pullet, after taking the difference of size into account in order to increase the quantity of truffles and fat, as also the time limit.1962—ROAST GOSLINGThe Gosling, in order to be roasted, should just have reached its full growth. In England the bird is stuffed with Sage and Onions (No.1944), and it is always accompanied by Apple Sauce (No.112).This roast must not stand waiting, and ought to be served very hot.1963—CANETON RÔTI (Roast Duckling)Aylesbury duckling, which is equal to the Nantes variety, is generally stuffed with Sage and Onions before being roasted.Its most usual adjunct is Apple Sauce, which is sometimes replaced by melted, red-currant jelly or a Cranberry Sauce.1964—CANETON ROUENNAISSee the various recipes dealing with this bird (Nos.1761and1762).1965—PINTADE (Guinea Fowl)This bird is only roasted when quite young, and it is treated like the pheasant, with which it has some points in common.1966—YOUNG PIGEONS (Squabs)Select them fresh from the nest and very plump. They must be roasted before a very fierce fire and only just done. Their skin must be kept crisp.Ground-Game Roasts1967—HAREThe piece supplied by the hare for roasting is the “Râble” (the back), which constitutes that part of the animal reaching from the root of the neck to the tail, the latter being included.The “Râble” should be cleared of all tendons, and delicately larded with bacon.Roast before a fierce fire for twenty minutes, and have it only just done. The usual adjunct to this piece is Poivrade Sauce. In Northern countries, the adjunct is most commonly some slightly-sugared, stewed apples, or red currant jelly.[612]In Germany, the pan in which theRâbleis roasted is swilled with sour cream, and this cream constitutes the accompaniment. Sometimes a few drops of lemon juice or a tablespoon of melted meat glaze is added.1968—YOUNG RABBITThe various recipes for Hare also apply to the young wild rabbit.Feathered-Game Roasts1969—FAISAN RÔTIEverything I said in the preceding chapter concerning the classification of feathered game applies in this instance.All birds intended for roasting should be young, plump, and fat. They should also be high in the case of pheasants, partridges, and the various kinds of woodcock and snipe.A pheasant for roasting should always be covered with slices of bacon.An excellent practice which greatly improves the bird is that of stuffing it with a piece of fresh pork fat, pounded with peelings of fresh truffles, if possible.Instead of well-pounded fresh pork fat, an equal weight of fresh butter may be used.This fatty substance impregnates the meat when it melts, and keeps the bird from becoming dry while cooking. The method also applies to partridge. Roast pheasant is generally accompanied by two trimmed half-lemons and a dish of potato chips. The gravy, which should be fat, is served in a sauceboat, and bread sauce or some bread-crumbs fried in butter are sent at the same time.1970—FAISAN RÔTIA LA PERIGOURDINEStuff the pheasant with two oz. of pounded fresh pork fat, two oz. of foie-gras trimmings, and a similar quantity of raw-truffle parings, the whole pounded together and combined with one-half lb. of raw truffles, cut into large dice.After having covered the pheasant with slices of bacon, roast it in accordance with the directions given under Truffled Pullet. It is better, however, to cook and serve it in acocotte.1971—FAISANA LA GUNZBOURGBone two fine snipes; empty them of their intestines; fry these in butter, and crush them on a plate. Chop up the meat of the snipes, combining half its weight of cream with it, and as much butter; season with salt and pepper, and add the crushed intestines and four oz. of truffles cut into large dice.[613]Stuff a fine pheasant with this preparation; roast it “en casserole,” or rather in acocotte.At the last moment sprinkle with a littlefumet, prepared from the snipes’ carcasses.1972—PARTRIDGESThe above recipes, dealing with pheasants, may be applied to partridges.1973—QUAILSSelect them white, very fat, and with the fat firm.Wrap them in a buttered vine-leaf and a thin slice of bacon, and roast them before a fierce fire for ten or twelve minutes.Dish on small bread-crumbcroûtons, fried in butter with half-lemons.Serve their gravy, which, of course, should be very short, separately.1974—ROAST ORTOLANSWrap each in a vine-leaf; set them on a tray, moistened with salted water, and cause them to set in a fierce oven for four or five minutes.The small amount of water lying on the bottom of the utensil produces an evaporation which prevents the ortolans’ fat from melting; consequently there is no need of slices of bacon, butter, or gravy.Each ortolan may be served in a half-lemon, shaped like a basket.N.B.—The ortolan is sufficient in itself, and it ought only to be eaten roasted. The products sometimes served as adjuncts to it, such as truffles and foie gras, are deleterious, if anything, to its quality, for they modify the delicacy of its flavour, and this modification is more particularly noticeable the more highly flavoured the adjunctive products may be.With its accompaniments it becomes a sumptuous dish, for the simple reason that it is expensive; but it does not follow that the true connoisseur will like it; it must be plainly roasted to suit him.1975—ORTOLANS AUX QUESTCHESCut two large questches into halves, and allow one half for each ortolan. Garnish the inside of each with a piece of butter the size of a hazel-nut; set them on a tray, and put them in the oven. When they are almost cooked, on each half of the questches place a moistened ortolan, wrapped in a vine-leaf, and bake them in a very hot oven for four minutes.Salt them when taking them out of the oven, and sprinkle them, by means of a brush, with verjuice.[614]Serve them as they stand, but the questches are not eaten; they only serve as a support for the ortolan.1976—ORTOLANS AU SUC D’ANANASHeat some fresh butter in a flat, earthenwarecocotte, and allow one-quarter oz. of it to each ortolan. Roll the previously salted ortolans in this butter, and put them in a very hot oven for three minutes.When taking them out of the oven, sprinkle them with a few tablespoonfuls of very cold pine-apple juice. Cover thecocotte, and serve immediately.Thecocotteshould be just large enough to hold the ortolans.1977—ROAST WOODCOCKIt should be just sufficiently high. Remove its gizzard; truss it, piercing the legs with the beak, after having drawn the eyes; cover it with slices of bacon, and cook it before a good fire for from fifteen to eighteen minutes. Dish on a cushion of fried bread, and serve the swilling-liquor separately, which in this case should be brandy and a few drops of good game gravy.1978—SNIPES AND BECOTSFor the preparation, proceed as for the woodcock.Cause to set before a fierce fire, and cook for nine minutes.1979—GRIVES ET MERLES DE CORSE(Thrushes and Corsican Blackbirds)Truss them, and wrap them in slices of bacon. Insert a juniper berry into the thrushes. Roast before a moderately fierce fire for ten or twelve minutes, and dish on small cushions of fried bread.Serve a very short gravy separately.1980—MAUVIETTES (Larks)Wrap them in very thin slices of bacon, and impale them on a skewer, or discard the slices of bacon, and merely impale them on a skewer, separating them byblanchedsquares of breast of bacon.Roast for ten minutes before a fierce fire.Dish on small friedcroûtons, with quarters of lemon and bunches of watercress all round.1981—CANARDS SAUVAGES(Wild Duck)1981—SARCELLES (Teal)1981—PILETS(Widgeons and Pintails)These birds are not covered with slices of bacon, and are roasted before a fierce fire.[615]Wild duckmust be kept underdone, and, in view of this, twenty minutes suffice for the roasting. Dish with lemons and bunches of watercress all round.Wild duck, roasted English-fashion.—Treat it as above; send an apple sauce to the table with it.Wild duck à la Bigarrade.—This is roasted in a similar manner.Surround it with sections of orange, skinned raw, and serve a clear Bigarrade sauce separately.Theteal, which is a small, wild duck, is roasted before a fierce fire for from ten to twelve minutes, and is surrounded with lemons and watercress.Widgeonsandpintailsare treated like the teal, but they are allowed three or four minutes more in the roasting.1982—PLUVIERS DORÉS(Golden Plover)1982—VANNEAUX (Lapwings)1982—CHEVALIERS DIVERS(Various Sandpipers)These birds are not covered with slices of bacon; they must be roasted before a very fierce fire, and kept somewhat underdone. They must be served as soon as ready, as waiting is prejudicial to them.They admit of no accompaniment or garnish, except a very short gravy.1983—GROUSES, COQS DE BRUYÈRE(Black Game)1983—GELINOTTES(Hazel-hens)These birds must be very fresh when roasted, and should be kept moderately underdone.They allow of the same adjuncts as pheasant,i.e., bread sauce, bread-crumbs, potato chips, and gravy; and their breasts alone are served as a rule. Grouse and hazel-hens, when they are young, make incomparably fine roasts.SALADSSalads are of two kinds: simple, or compound. Simple, or raw salads always accompany hot roasts; compound salads, which generally consist of cooked vegetables, accompany cold roasts.1984—THE SEASONING OF SALADS1.Oil seasoningmay be applied to all salads, and is made up of three parts of oil to one part of vinegar, with salt and pepper.2.Cream seasoningis particularly well suited to salads of[616]early-season lettuce and cos lettuce, and is made up of three parts of very fresh and not very thick cream to one part of vinegar.3.Egg seasoningis prepared from crushed hard-boiled yolks of egg, mixed in the salad-bowl with oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. The whites of egg, cut into thin strips, are added to the salad. This seasoning may also be a light mayonnaise sauce.4.Bacon seasoningis used especially for dandelion, red-cabbage, and corn salads. In this case the oil is replaced by the grease of the bacon dice, which are melted and frizzled in the omelet-pan. This grease is poured, while hot, with the bacon dice, over the salad, which should be in a hot salad-bowl and already seasoned with salt, pepper, and the vinegar which has served in swilling the omelet-pan.5.Mustard with cream seasoningis used particularly with beetroot salads, with salads of celeriac, and with green salads wherein beetroot plays a major part. It is made up of a small tablespoonful of mustard, mixed with one-third pint of fresh and somewhat thin cream, the juice of a fair-sized lemon, salt, and pepper.N.B.—I should like to point out that mayonnaise sauce must only be used in very small quantities in the seasoning of salads. It is indigestible, and many constitutions cannot suffer it, especially at night at the end of a dinner.Raw onion should likewise only be used in salads with great moderation, in view of the fact that so many do not like it. In any case, it should be finelyciseled, washed in fresh water, and pressed in the corner of a towel.1985—SIMPLE SALADSThey comprise, in the first place, those salads known under the name of green salads. Such are lettuce, cos lettuce, chicory, endive, batavia, celery, corn-salad, dandelion, purslain, dittander, rampion, salsify leaves, white dandelion, &c.1986—SALADS DE BETTERAVE(Beetroot Salad)Beetroot is really the accompaniment of compound and simple salads, and it is always best to cook it in the oven. If it be prepared specially as a salad, cut it into ajulienneor into thin roundels; flavour it with onions, first baked in cinders and then finely chopped, and season it with mustard sauce or with oil, according to fancy. Always add some chopped herbs.[617]1987—CELERY SALADFor salads, only the fibreless, white celery is used—commonly known as English celery. Cut it into pieces, andciselthese into very thin strips without altogether separating the latter at their base. Place in cold water for a few hours, that the strips may curl; drain and season with a mustard sauce with cream.1988—CELERIAC SALADCut the celeriac into a finejulienneorpaysanne.Season, according to fancy, with a mustard sauce with cream, or a clear mayonnaise sauce containing plenty of mustard.1989—CAULIFLOWER SALADDivide the cooked and somewhat firm cauliflowers into small bunches, cleared of all stalk. Season with oil and vinegar, and flavour with chopped chervil.1990—RED-CABBAGE SALADSuppress the midribs of the leaves; cut the leaves into ajulienne, and season them with oil and vinegar six hours in advance. Thejulienneof cabbages may be parboiled for a few minutes to modify the rawness of the vegetable; it should then be cooled and seasoned as above.1991—CUCUMBER SALADPeel and thinly slice them; sprinkle the slices with table-salt, and let them stand for two hours. Dry, and season them with oil, vinegar, and chopped chervil.1992—HARICOT BEANS AND LENTIL SALADS, ETC.Thoroughly drain the vegetable, whatever be its kind; season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped parsley. Serve separately some thinly-ciseled, washed, and pressed onion.1993—POTATO SALADCut some long, fair-sized potatoes, cooked in salted water and lukewarm, to the shape of corks, and divide up the latter into thin roundels.Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped herbs.1994—POTATO SALADA LA PARISIENNESelect potatoes which do not crumble, such as the vitelottes or new kidney potatoes. Cook them in salted water; cut them to the shape of corks, and slice them (while still lukewarm) into thin roundels. Put them into a salad-bowl, and sprinkle them with two-thirds pint of white wine per two lbs. of potatoes.[618]Then season with oil and vinegar, add some chopped chervil and parsley, and stir with care lest the roundels break.1995—TOMATO SALADSelect some medium-sized and rather firm tomatoes, and scald them. Then skin them; cut them in two crosswise; press them to clear them of juice and seeds; cut them into thin strips; season them with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped tarragon.1996—COMPOUND SALADSUnless they leave the kitchen to be served immediately, compound salads are dished without their constituents being mixed. As the latter are generally of various colours, they are seasoned and dished in distinct heaps of contrasted shades.The dishing of compound salads is finished by means of borders consisting of pieces of very red beetroot, gherkins, truffles, roundels of potatoes, and radishes. The method of arranging these vegetables constitutes the decoration, and the latter, being subject to no rules, is merely a matter of taste.I do not advise the moulding of compound salads, for the increased sightliness resulting therefrom is small compared with the loss in the taste of the preparation. The simplest form of dishing is the best, and fancifulness should not be indulged in, beyond the arrangement of the vegetables in a pyramid, surrounded by a decorated border of jelly.1997—SALADE ALLEMANDETake equal quantities of potatoes and apples, gherkins, and herring-fillets, all cut into dice and arranged in heaps. Season with hard-boiled egg sauce, and decorate with very red beetroot.1998—SALADE AMÉRICAINEPeel and press some tomatoes, and cut them into thin slices; cut some potatoes into thin roundels, and prepare a shortjulienneof celery.Decorate with roundels of hard-boiled eggs and thin onion rings.Season with oil and vinegar.1999—SALADE ANDALOUSEPeel and quarter some small tomatoes; cut some mild capsicumsjulienne-fashion; cook some rice plainly in salted water, keeping each grain separate; add a little crushed garlic and chopped onion and parsley.Season with oil and vinegar.[619]2000—SALADE BELLE-FERMIÈREThis salad consists of curled celery and equal quantities of plain-boiled potatoes, beetroot, and capsicum—all these vegetables cutjulienne-fashion, the celery measuring one-third, and the other ingredients two-thirds of the whole.Season with mustard sauce with cream.2001—SALADE CRESSONNIÈREThis consists of potatoes à la Parisienne (No.2017) and watercress leaves, in equal quantities. Sprinkle with parsley, chervil, and hard-boiled egg, mixed.2002—SALADE ISABELLEThinly slice equal quantities of raw mushrooms, celery, cooked potatoes, and artichoke-bottoms. Dish in distinct heaps.Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped chervil.2003—SALADE DANICHEFFTake equal quantities of sliced andblanchedceleriac, thin roundels of potatoes, slices of artichoke-bottoms, strips of raw mushrooms, and green asparagus-heads, and arrange them in heaps.Deck with crayfishes’ tails, hard-boiled eggs, and truffles. Season with mayonnaise sauce.2004—SALADE DEMI-DEUILTake equal quantities of ajulienneof potatoes and ajulienneof very black truffles. Decorate with rings of truffle girding small roundels of potato, and rings of potato girding small roundels of truffle. Alternate the two forms of rings.Season with a mustard sauce with cream.2005—SALADE D’ESTRÉESTake equal quantities of curled celery and a moderately smalljulienneof raw truffles. Season, when about to dish up, with a mayonnaise sauce with mustard, slightly flavoured with cayenne.2006—SALADEA LA FLAMANDEThis consists of a coarsejulienneof endives, a similarjulienneof potatoes, an onion baked in its skin, cooled, peeled, and chopped, and some fillets of herring cut into dice, the quantities being in the proportion of one-half of the whole for the endives, one-quarter of the whole for the potatoes, and the remaining quarter for the onion and fillets of herring.Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped parsley and chervil.[620]2007—SALADE FRANCILLONTake some potato salad “à la Parisienne” (No.2017), previouslymarinadedin Chablis wine, some mussels (cleared of their beards, and poached with celery), and slices of very black truffle, the three constituents being in the proportion of one-half, one-quarter, and one-quarter respectively.Set the potato salad on the bottom of the salad bowl, and lay thereon, by way of decoration, the mussels and the truffles in alternate layers.2008—SALADE ITALIENNETake equal quantities of carrots, turnips, potatoes, tomatoes, and French beans—all cut into regular dice; also peas, small stoned olives, capers, anchovy fillets in small dice, and herbs for the seasoning.Use hard-boiled eggs for the decoration.Season with mayonnaise sauce.2009—JOCKEY-CLUB SALADTake equal quantities of asparagus-heads and ajulienneof raw truffles; the two should be seasoned separately some time in advance.Cohere, when about to dish, with a very little highly-seasoned mayonnaise sauce.2010—SALADE LACMÉTake equal quantities of red capsicums and tomato sauce; plain-boiled rice, kept very white, and with each grain distinct; andciseled, washed, and pressed onion.Season with oil and vinegar, and flavour with curry.2011—SALADE DE LEGUMESTake equal quantities of carrots and turnips, raised by means of a grooved spoon-cutter; potato dice; French beans cut lozenge-form; peas; small flageolets, and asparagus-heads; arrange them in distinct heaps, and set a fine bunch of cauliflower in the middle.Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped parsley and chervil.N.B.—For vegetable salad, use freshly-cooked and uncooled vegetables as much as possible.2012—SALADE LORETTETake equal quantities of corn salad, and ajulienneof beetroot and celery. Season with oil and vinegar.[621]2013—SALADE MIGNONTake equal quantities of shelled shrimps’ tails, artichoke-bottoms, cut into dice, and very thin slices of black truffle arranged to form a border. Season with highly-seasoned mayonnaise sauce with cream.2014—SALADE MONTE-CRISTOTake equal quantities of lobster-meat, cooked truffles, and potatoes and hard-boiled eggs in dice, and arrange them in distinct heaps.In their midst place the very white heart of a lettuce. Season with mayonnaise sauce with mustard, and add some chopped tarragon.2015—SALADE NIÇOISETake equal quantities of French beans, potato dice, and quartered tomatoes. Decorate with capers, small, stoned olives, and anchovy fillets.Season with oil and vinegar.2016—SALADE OPÉRATake equal quantities of white chicken meat, very red tongue, celery-sticks cutjulienne-fashion, and ajulienneof truffles. Arrange these constituents in very regular heaps, and in the middle of them set a heap of asparagus-heads. Decorate with a border consisting of roundels of cocks’ kidneys and roundels of gherkins, laid alternately.Season with very thin mayonnaise sauce.2017—SALADE PARISIENNEClothea Charlotte-mould with very clear jelly, and garnish its bottom and sides with thin collops of spiny-lobster’s tail decked with truffles. Fill the mould with a vegetable salad (No.2011) combined with a quarter of its volume of lobster or spiny-lobster remains, cut into dice, and cohered by means of a cleared mayonnaise.Leave to set in the cool, and, when about to serve, turn out on a napkin.2018—SALADE MASCOTTETake some green asparagus-heads, some hard-boiled lapwings’ eggs, some sliced cocks’ kidneys, some slices of truffle, and some crayfishes’ tails.Decorate according to fancy, making use of the ingredients of the salad for the purpose.Season with mustard sauce with cream.[622]2019—SALADE RACHELTake equal quantities of sticks of celery, raw artichoke-bottoms, truffles, potatoes, and asparagus-heads, all, except the latter, being cutjulienne-fashion.Slightly cohere the salad with mayonnaise sauce.2020—SALADE RÉGENCETake equal quantities of sliced cocks’ kidneys, shavings of raw truffles, asparagus-heads, and celery cut lengthwise into extremely thin strips.Season strongly with oil and lemon juice.2021—SALADE RUSSETake equal quantities of carrots, potatoes, French beans, peas, truffles, capers, gherkins, sliced and cooked mushrooms, lobster meat, and lean ham—all cutjulienne-fashion, and add some anchovy fillets.Cohere the whole with mayonnaise sauce; dish, and decorate with some of the ingredients of the salad, together with beetroot and caviare.2022—SALADE SICILIENNETake equal quantities of celeriac, russet apples, tomatoes, and artichoke-bottoms—all four cut into dice.Season with oil and lemon juice.2023—SALADE TREDERNTake twenty-four crayfishes’ tails, cooked as for bisque, and cut lengthwise; twenty-four oysters (cleared of their beards), poached in lemon juice; and three tablespoonfuls of asparagus-heads. The three constituents should have barely cooled. Complete with fine shavings of raw truffles.Season with condimented mayonnaise sauce, combined with a purée made from the crayfishes’ carcasses, pounded with two tablespoonfuls of fresh cream.2024—SALADE DE TRUFFESCut some raw, peeled truffles into very thin shavings.Season with a sauce consisting of hard-boiled egg-yolks, seasoned with salt and freshly-ground pepper, and finished with oil and lemon juice.2025—SALADE DE TRUFFES BLANCHESCut some raw, white, Piedmont truffles into thin shavings.Season with a sauce consisting of hard-boiled egg-yolks seasoned with salt and pepper, and finished with mustard, oil, and vinegar.[623]2026—SALADE VICTORIATake equal quantities of spiny-lobster trimmings, asparagus-heads, truffles, and cucumbers—all cut into dice.Season with a mayonnaise sauce, combined with the spiny-lobster’s creamy parts and a purée of coral.2027—SALADE WALDORFTake equal quantities of russet apples and celeriac, both cut into dice, and halved and peeled walnuts, soaked in fresh water for one-quarter hour, and well drained.Season with clear mayonnaise sauce.
Inthe first part of this work I explained the fundamental principles governing the treatment of Roasts, and I now have to add only a few words to what has already been said. Recipes may be consummate in detail and in accuracy, and still they will be found wanting in the matter of Roasts; for experience alone can tell the operator whether the joint he is treating be old or young, fresh or stale; whether it must be cooked quickly or slowly, and all the theories that I might advance on this subject, though perhaps they might not be useless, would at least prove impracticable nine times out of ten.
I shall not prescribe any limit of time for Roasts, except in very special cases, and even so that limit will only be approximate.
Nothing can be made precise in the matter; long practice alone, away from books, will teach it; for book-rules can only be understood when the light of practical knowledge is focussed upon them.
It struck me as desirable that I should give in this chapter the recipes of the various preparations which, in England, are served withRoasts:—Yorkshire Pudding, Veal Stuffing, &c. Having treated of the accompanying sauces to Roasts in Part I, I need only recall them here.
Mix one-half lb. of sifted flour with six eggs and one quart of boiled milk, adding the eggs one by one and the milk little by little. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Pour this preparation into a deep baking-pan, containing some very hot dripping, and bake in the oven. If the joint be roasted on the spit, put the Yorkshire pudding under it, on taking the former out of the oven, and let it thus become saturated with the gravy and fat that fall from the roast.
[606]Cut into squares or lozenges, and set these round the Roast or serve them separately.
Bake four large onions in the oven with their skins on. This done, peel them and finely chop them; fry them in butter with a pinch of dry green chopped sage. Add bread-crumbs, soaked in milk and pressed, equal in weight to the onions, and half the weight of chopped veal fat.
This stuffing is made from equal quantities of chopped suet, sifted bread-crumbs, and chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper as for an ordinary forcemeat, and be liberal with the nutmeg.
Cohere this forcemeat with three small eggs per two lbs. of the above preparation.
I must remind the reader of this principle, viz.: that however natural it may seem in a dinner to serve a roasted joint as a Remove, a piece of butcher’s meat must never stand as a Roast.
Roasts really only compriseFowlandFeathered Game, provided the menu only announces one roast. If two are announced, the second generally consists of some kind of crustacean, such as aLobster, aSpiny LobsterorCrayfish, generally served in the form of aMousse; or of a preparation of foie gras,i.e.: either aPâté, aTerrine, aMousseor a Parfait; sometimes, too, by a very good ham or a derivative preparation thereof.
Clear the joint of the vertebræ and the yellow ligaments. Roast before a moderately fierce fire, and place the joint if possible in an uncovered braising-pan, the sides of which may protect the meat during the cooking process.
Break the projecting bones of the vertebræ, and sever the yellow ligament at various points. For this joint the heat should be fiercer than in the previous case, the limit of time being less.
These enormous pieces are scarcely trimmed; the excess of flank alone is suppressed; but the fillet must remain covered by a considerable thickness of fat, which protects it while roasting.
Without this precautionary measure, the under-cut would be cooked long before the upper-fillet, and would dry up.
The fire should be concentrated, regular and not too fierce for this joint. The flat bones of the vertebræ must be broken at their base, but not detached.
Fillet of beef intended for roasting should be carefully cleared of its two sinewy envelopes. But, since this trimming tends to let it dry while cooking, were the meat left as it stands, it is customary to lard it with strips of fresh fat bacon, which protect it; or it may be wrapped in slices of bacon. In certain circumstances, it is covered on top and beneath with slices of beef fat, flattened to the thickness of a rasher of bacon by means of a beater, and tied on with string.
Fillet of beef should be cooked with a somewhat fierce fire, and, in England, it is usually kept underdone towards the centre.
N.B.—Large roast joints of beef are always accompanied by Yorkshire pudding, grated Horse-radish or Horse-radish sauce (No.119or138).
In my opinion, the spit does not suit veal, whatever be the quality of the latter.Poëling(No.250) is preferable and suits it better.
The quality of meat can but be enhanced under the treatment I suggest, more particularly as thepoëling-liquor constitutes a much richer gravy than that which generally accompanies veal roasted on the spit. In English cookery roast veal is always accompanied by boiled ham or breast of bacon.Veal Stuffing(No.1945) poached in steam in a special mould, and cut into slices, is sent at the same time.
Roast joints of veal are generallythe Loin, the best end, theNeckor theFillet.
Sometimes, too, but more rarely,the Cushionis roasted.
Mutton and Lamb are the best possible meats to roast, and, as far as they are concerned, the culinary treatment might be limited to roasting.
[608]True, good results are obtained from poaching mutton andpoëlinghome-lamb; but it is advisable only to have recourse to these methods when a menu requires varying.
The Mutton joints roasted arethe Leg,the Double or Pair of Hind-legs,the Baronor (Hindquarters),the Saddleandthe Neck.
The Shoulder also makes an excellent roast, but it may only appear on more or less unimportant menus.
Roast joints of mutton and lamb are always accompanied by Mint Sauce (No.136).
Pork roasts may only appear on very ordinary menus, and really belong to domestic cookery. The pork joints for roasting arethe Legs,the Fillets, andthe Neck.
The joints selected should be those derived from very young animals, and the rind should be left upon them, and cut deeply in criss-cross lines, so as to form a lozenge pattern.
Pork should always be roasted before a fierce fire, and it is accompanied by its gravy and Sage and Onions (No.1944) or Apple sauce (No.112). Sometimes Apple sauce is replaced by Cranberry sauce (No.115); while Roberts sauce Escoffier is also admirably suited to these roasts.
I have already pointed out that Roebuck is not very much eaten in England, and that this excellent ground game must be used without having beenmarinaded. Every piece of roebuck must be trimmed and cleared of tendons, larded with larding bacon, or, at least, carefully wrapped in the latter; and roasted before a fierce fire and kept underdone towards the centre.
The joints of roebuck most commonly roasted arethe Legsandthe Saddle.
The fallow Deerandthe Stagsupply the greater part of the Venison consumed in England; and when these animals are of good quality their flesh is covered by a thick coat of white fat, which is very highly esteemed by connoisseurs. Only the neck and the haunch are roasted, and the latter consists of one leg with half of the saddle attached.
This venison is nevermarinaded, but it should be kept for as long as possible in a dry and well-aired place, that the meat may be gamy.
Before hanging the joint, dredge it well with a mixture of flour and pepper, that it may keep dry and free from the flies.
[609]When about to prepare this Venison, scrape off the coating of flour; wrap it in an envelope of firm suet dough. Cover the whole with oiled paper, tied on with string; and place the joint before a regular, red fire, concentrated and fierce.
When the joint is thought to be cooked, peel off its envelope; season it with salt; sprinkle it with a few pinches of flour, and plenty of melted butter, and brown it as quickly as possible.
Large joints of Venison allow of the followingadjuncts:—Poivrade sauceand its derivatives, such asVenison sauceandGrand-Veneur sauce; alsothe CumberlandandOxfordsauces of English cookery. Generally a sauceboat of red-currant jelly is sent with these joints, unless the accompanying sauce already contains some of it.
Large birds, when roasted, should always be salted inside, trussed and covered with slices of bacon. They should be cooked before a concentrated and moderately fierce fire. About ten minutes before unhooking them, remove their covering of bacon, that their breasts may colour.
A bird is known to be cooked when the juice which issues from it, if it be held over a plate, is white. Having ascertained that it is cooked, set it on a very hot dish and serve it instantly.
In England it is customary to surround the fowl with grilled sausages or slices of bacon, and to send a sauceboat of bread sauce (No.113) at the same time as the gravy.
Empty the pullet intended for truffling, by means of a little hole on the side of the belly, and remember to keep the skin of the neck whole. This done, remove the collar bone at the summit of the breast, and detach the skin from the whole of the breast.
For a fine pullet, there will be needed one and one-half lbs. of truffles.
After having well brushed and washed the truffles, carefully peel them; select one of the largest; cut it into slices, and put these aside.
Now quarter the other, letting each piece weigh about three oz.
Pound the truffle peel with two lbs. of very fresh pork fat, and rub the whole through a sieve. Take about one-half lb. of this fat; melt it, together with a bay-leaf; and, when it is quite[610]liquid, add the quartered truffles to it (seasoned with salt and pepper), and simmer the whole for about ten minutes.
This done, take it off the fire; leave to cool almost entirely under cover, and mix with what remains of the truffled fat.
Stuff the pullet with this preparation, and slip between the bird’s skin and the flesh of its breast some thin slices of bacon. Upon the slices of bacon place the reserved slice of truffle; carefully sew up all the openings in the pullet with very thin string; wrap it in one or two sheets of buttered paper; put it on the spit, and stand it before a concentrated fire which should be kept at an even heat throughout the process of roasting.
About one-quarter of an hour before serving, remove the paper and the slices of bacon, that the breast may colour. Set on a hot dish, and send the gravy, which should be kept rather fat, separately.
The time allowed for roasting a fine fowl is somewhere between one and one-quarter to one and one-half hours.
The directions given for the pullet also apply to other kinds of fowl, provided the difference in size be taken into account.
Truss the chicken and soak its breast for five minutes in boiling water, that the flesh and the skin may be stiff.
Lard it with thin strips of bacon and anchovy fillets; fill it with smooth, truffled sausage-meat, and roast it on the spit.
At the last moment, when the bird is cooked, baste it by means of a special paper horn, with burning melted bacon fat, which should frizzle the fowl’s skin as it falls upon it.
Serve a Rémoulade sauce separately.
These birds should, if possible, be cooked “à la casserole.”
Before trussing the young turkey, clear its legs of all tendons; an operation effected by means of two incisions made on the inside of the legs, above and below the last joint. Seize the tendons one by one; fasten them to a braiding needle, and gently turn the latter, thus rolling the tendons round it.
Young turkey is covered with slices of bacon and roasted like the Pullet.
It may be stuffed with Sage and Onions (No.1944), or it may be accompanied by Veal Stuffing (No.1945), poached in[611]steam in a special mould, and cut into slices set around the bird.
It is often accompanied, also, by boiled or grilled bacon, or grilled sausages.A Bread sauceora Cranberry saucemay be served in addition to the gravy.
Proceed as for truffled pullet, after taking the difference of size into account in order to increase the quantity of truffles and fat, as also the time limit.
The Gosling, in order to be roasted, should just have reached its full growth. In England the bird is stuffed with Sage and Onions (No.1944), and it is always accompanied by Apple Sauce (No.112).
This roast must not stand waiting, and ought to be served very hot.
Aylesbury duckling, which is equal to the Nantes variety, is generally stuffed with Sage and Onions before being roasted.
Its most usual adjunct is Apple Sauce, which is sometimes replaced by melted, red-currant jelly or a Cranberry Sauce.
See the various recipes dealing with this bird (Nos.1761and1762).
This bird is only roasted when quite young, and it is treated like the pheasant, with which it has some points in common.
Select them fresh from the nest and very plump. They must be roasted before a very fierce fire and only just done. Their skin must be kept crisp.
The piece supplied by the hare for roasting is the “Râble” (the back), which constitutes that part of the animal reaching from the root of the neck to the tail, the latter being included.
The “Râble” should be cleared of all tendons, and delicately larded with bacon.
Roast before a fierce fire for twenty minutes, and have it only just done. The usual adjunct to this piece is Poivrade Sauce. In Northern countries, the adjunct is most commonly some slightly-sugared, stewed apples, or red currant jelly.
[612]In Germany, the pan in which theRâbleis roasted is swilled with sour cream, and this cream constitutes the accompaniment. Sometimes a few drops of lemon juice or a tablespoon of melted meat glaze is added.
The various recipes for Hare also apply to the young wild rabbit.
Everything I said in the preceding chapter concerning the classification of feathered game applies in this instance.
All birds intended for roasting should be young, plump, and fat. They should also be high in the case of pheasants, partridges, and the various kinds of woodcock and snipe.
A pheasant for roasting should always be covered with slices of bacon.
An excellent practice which greatly improves the bird is that of stuffing it with a piece of fresh pork fat, pounded with peelings of fresh truffles, if possible.
Instead of well-pounded fresh pork fat, an equal weight of fresh butter may be used.
This fatty substance impregnates the meat when it melts, and keeps the bird from becoming dry while cooking. The method also applies to partridge. Roast pheasant is generally accompanied by two trimmed half-lemons and a dish of potato chips. The gravy, which should be fat, is served in a sauceboat, and bread sauce or some bread-crumbs fried in butter are sent at the same time.
Stuff the pheasant with two oz. of pounded fresh pork fat, two oz. of foie-gras trimmings, and a similar quantity of raw-truffle parings, the whole pounded together and combined with one-half lb. of raw truffles, cut into large dice.
After having covered the pheasant with slices of bacon, roast it in accordance with the directions given under Truffled Pullet. It is better, however, to cook and serve it in acocotte.
Bone two fine snipes; empty them of their intestines; fry these in butter, and crush them on a plate. Chop up the meat of the snipes, combining half its weight of cream with it, and as much butter; season with salt and pepper, and add the crushed intestines and four oz. of truffles cut into large dice.
[613]Stuff a fine pheasant with this preparation; roast it “en casserole,” or rather in acocotte.
At the last moment sprinkle with a littlefumet, prepared from the snipes’ carcasses.
The above recipes, dealing with pheasants, may be applied to partridges.
Select them white, very fat, and with the fat firm.
Wrap them in a buttered vine-leaf and a thin slice of bacon, and roast them before a fierce fire for ten or twelve minutes.
Dish on small bread-crumbcroûtons, fried in butter with half-lemons.
Serve their gravy, which, of course, should be very short, separately.
Wrap each in a vine-leaf; set them on a tray, moistened with salted water, and cause them to set in a fierce oven for four or five minutes.
The small amount of water lying on the bottom of the utensil produces an evaporation which prevents the ortolans’ fat from melting; consequently there is no need of slices of bacon, butter, or gravy.
Each ortolan may be served in a half-lemon, shaped like a basket.
N.B.—The ortolan is sufficient in itself, and it ought only to be eaten roasted. The products sometimes served as adjuncts to it, such as truffles and foie gras, are deleterious, if anything, to its quality, for they modify the delicacy of its flavour, and this modification is more particularly noticeable the more highly flavoured the adjunctive products may be.
With its accompaniments it becomes a sumptuous dish, for the simple reason that it is expensive; but it does not follow that the true connoisseur will like it; it must be plainly roasted to suit him.
Cut two large questches into halves, and allow one half for each ortolan. Garnish the inside of each with a piece of butter the size of a hazel-nut; set them on a tray, and put them in the oven. When they are almost cooked, on each half of the questches place a moistened ortolan, wrapped in a vine-leaf, and bake them in a very hot oven for four minutes.
Salt them when taking them out of the oven, and sprinkle them, by means of a brush, with verjuice.
[614]Serve them as they stand, but the questches are not eaten; they only serve as a support for the ortolan.
Heat some fresh butter in a flat, earthenwarecocotte, and allow one-quarter oz. of it to each ortolan. Roll the previously salted ortolans in this butter, and put them in a very hot oven for three minutes.
When taking them out of the oven, sprinkle them with a few tablespoonfuls of very cold pine-apple juice. Cover thecocotte, and serve immediately.
Thecocotteshould be just large enough to hold the ortolans.
It should be just sufficiently high. Remove its gizzard; truss it, piercing the legs with the beak, after having drawn the eyes; cover it with slices of bacon, and cook it before a good fire for from fifteen to eighteen minutes. Dish on a cushion of fried bread, and serve the swilling-liquor separately, which in this case should be brandy and a few drops of good game gravy.
For the preparation, proceed as for the woodcock.
Cause to set before a fierce fire, and cook for nine minutes.
Truss them, and wrap them in slices of bacon. Insert a juniper berry into the thrushes. Roast before a moderately fierce fire for ten or twelve minutes, and dish on small cushions of fried bread.
Serve a very short gravy separately.
Wrap them in very thin slices of bacon, and impale them on a skewer, or discard the slices of bacon, and merely impale them on a skewer, separating them byblanchedsquares of breast of bacon.
Roast for ten minutes before a fierce fire.
Dish on small friedcroûtons, with quarters of lemon and bunches of watercress all round.
These birds are not covered with slices of bacon, and are roasted before a fierce fire.
[615]Wild duckmust be kept underdone, and, in view of this, twenty minutes suffice for the roasting. Dish with lemons and bunches of watercress all round.
Wild duck, roasted English-fashion.—Treat it as above; send an apple sauce to the table with it.
Wild duck à la Bigarrade.—This is roasted in a similar manner.
Surround it with sections of orange, skinned raw, and serve a clear Bigarrade sauce separately.
Theteal, which is a small, wild duck, is roasted before a fierce fire for from ten to twelve minutes, and is surrounded with lemons and watercress.
Widgeonsandpintailsare treated like the teal, but they are allowed three or four minutes more in the roasting.
These birds are not covered with slices of bacon; they must be roasted before a very fierce fire, and kept somewhat underdone. They must be served as soon as ready, as waiting is prejudicial to them.
They admit of no accompaniment or garnish, except a very short gravy.
These birds must be very fresh when roasted, and should be kept moderately underdone.
They allow of the same adjuncts as pheasant,i.e., bread sauce, bread-crumbs, potato chips, and gravy; and their breasts alone are served as a rule. Grouse and hazel-hens, when they are young, make incomparably fine roasts.
Salads are of two kinds: simple, or compound. Simple, or raw salads always accompany hot roasts; compound salads, which generally consist of cooked vegetables, accompany cold roasts.
1.Oil seasoningmay be applied to all salads, and is made up of three parts of oil to one part of vinegar, with salt and pepper.
2.Cream seasoningis particularly well suited to salads of[616]early-season lettuce and cos lettuce, and is made up of three parts of very fresh and not very thick cream to one part of vinegar.
3.Egg seasoningis prepared from crushed hard-boiled yolks of egg, mixed in the salad-bowl with oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. The whites of egg, cut into thin strips, are added to the salad. This seasoning may also be a light mayonnaise sauce.
4.Bacon seasoningis used especially for dandelion, red-cabbage, and corn salads. In this case the oil is replaced by the grease of the bacon dice, which are melted and frizzled in the omelet-pan. This grease is poured, while hot, with the bacon dice, over the salad, which should be in a hot salad-bowl and already seasoned with salt, pepper, and the vinegar which has served in swilling the omelet-pan.
5.Mustard with cream seasoningis used particularly with beetroot salads, with salads of celeriac, and with green salads wherein beetroot plays a major part. It is made up of a small tablespoonful of mustard, mixed with one-third pint of fresh and somewhat thin cream, the juice of a fair-sized lemon, salt, and pepper.
N.B.—I should like to point out that mayonnaise sauce must only be used in very small quantities in the seasoning of salads. It is indigestible, and many constitutions cannot suffer it, especially at night at the end of a dinner.
Raw onion should likewise only be used in salads with great moderation, in view of the fact that so many do not like it. In any case, it should be finelyciseled, washed in fresh water, and pressed in the corner of a towel.
They comprise, in the first place, those salads known under the name of green salads. Such are lettuce, cos lettuce, chicory, endive, batavia, celery, corn-salad, dandelion, purslain, dittander, rampion, salsify leaves, white dandelion, &c.
Beetroot is really the accompaniment of compound and simple salads, and it is always best to cook it in the oven. If it be prepared specially as a salad, cut it into ajulienneor into thin roundels; flavour it with onions, first baked in cinders and then finely chopped, and season it with mustard sauce or with oil, according to fancy. Always add some chopped herbs.
For salads, only the fibreless, white celery is used—commonly known as English celery. Cut it into pieces, andciselthese into very thin strips without altogether separating the latter at their base. Place in cold water for a few hours, that the strips may curl; drain and season with a mustard sauce with cream.
Cut the celeriac into a finejulienneorpaysanne.
Season, according to fancy, with a mustard sauce with cream, or a clear mayonnaise sauce containing plenty of mustard.
Divide the cooked and somewhat firm cauliflowers into small bunches, cleared of all stalk. Season with oil and vinegar, and flavour with chopped chervil.
Suppress the midribs of the leaves; cut the leaves into ajulienne, and season them with oil and vinegar six hours in advance. Thejulienneof cabbages may be parboiled for a few minutes to modify the rawness of the vegetable; it should then be cooled and seasoned as above.
Peel and thinly slice them; sprinkle the slices with table-salt, and let them stand for two hours. Dry, and season them with oil, vinegar, and chopped chervil.
Thoroughly drain the vegetable, whatever be its kind; season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped parsley. Serve separately some thinly-ciseled, washed, and pressed onion.
Cut some long, fair-sized potatoes, cooked in salted water and lukewarm, to the shape of corks, and divide up the latter into thin roundels.
Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped herbs.
Select potatoes which do not crumble, such as the vitelottes or new kidney potatoes. Cook them in salted water; cut them to the shape of corks, and slice them (while still lukewarm) into thin roundels. Put them into a salad-bowl, and sprinkle them with two-thirds pint of white wine per two lbs. of potatoes.[618]Then season with oil and vinegar, add some chopped chervil and parsley, and stir with care lest the roundels break.
Select some medium-sized and rather firm tomatoes, and scald them. Then skin them; cut them in two crosswise; press them to clear them of juice and seeds; cut them into thin strips; season them with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped tarragon.
Unless they leave the kitchen to be served immediately, compound salads are dished without their constituents being mixed. As the latter are generally of various colours, they are seasoned and dished in distinct heaps of contrasted shades.
The dishing of compound salads is finished by means of borders consisting of pieces of very red beetroot, gherkins, truffles, roundels of potatoes, and radishes. The method of arranging these vegetables constitutes the decoration, and the latter, being subject to no rules, is merely a matter of taste.
I do not advise the moulding of compound salads, for the increased sightliness resulting therefrom is small compared with the loss in the taste of the preparation. The simplest form of dishing is the best, and fancifulness should not be indulged in, beyond the arrangement of the vegetables in a pyramid, surrounded by a decorated border of jelly.
Take equal quantities of potatoes and apples, gherkins, and herring-fillets, all cut into dice and arranged in heaps. Season with hard-boiled egg sauce, and decorate with very red beetroot.
Peel and press some tomatoes, and cut them into thin slices; cut some potatoes into thin roundels, and prepare a shortjulienneof celery.
Decorate with roundels of hard-boiled eggs and thin onion rings.
Season with oil and vinegar.
Peel and quarter some small tomatoes; cut some mild capsicumsjulienne-fashion; cook some rice plainly in salted water, keeping each grain separate; add a little crushed garlic and chopped onion and parsley.
Season with oil and vinegar.
This salad consists of curled celery and equal quantities of plain-boiled potatoes, beetroot, and capsicum—all these vegetables cutjulienne-fashion, the celery measuring one-third, and the other ingredients two-thirds of the whole.
Season with mustard sauce with cream.
This consists of potatoes à la Parisienne (No.2017) and watercress leaves, in equal quantities. Sprinkle with parsley, chervil, and hard-boiled egg, mixed.
Thinly slice equal quantities of raw mushrooms, celery, cooked potatoes, and artichoke-bottoms. Dish in distinct heaps.
Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped chervil.
Take equal quantities of sliced andblanchedceleriac, thin roundels of potatoes, slices of artichoke-bottoms, strips of raw mushrooms, and green asparagus-heads, and arrange them in heaps.
Deck with crayfishes’ tails, hard-boiled eggs, and truffles. Season with mayonnaise sauce.
Take equal quantities of ajulienneof potatoes and ajulienneof very black truffles. Decorate with rings of truffle girding small roundels of potato, and rings of potato girding small roundels of truffle. Alternate the two forms of rings.
Season with a mustard sauce with cream.
Take equal quantities of curled celery and a moderately smalljulienneof raw truffles. Season, when about to dish up, with a mayonnaise sauce with mustard, slightly flavoured with cayenne.
This consists of a coarsejulienneof endives, a similarjulienneof potatoes, an onion baked in its skin, cooled, peeled, and chopped, and some fillets of herring cut into dice, the quantities being in the proportion of one-half of the whole for the endives, one-quarter of the whole for the potatoes, and the remaining quarter for the onion and fillets of herring.
Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped parsley and chervil.
Take some potato salad “à la Parisienne” (No.2017), previouslymarinadedin Chablis wine, some mussels (cleared of their beards, and poached with celery), and slices of very black truffle, the three constituents being in the proportion of one-half, one-quarter, and one-quarter respectively.
Set the potato salad on the bottom of the salad bowl, and lay thereon, by way of decoration, the mussels and the truffles in alternate layers.
Take equal quantities of carrots, turnips, potatoes, tomatoes, and French beans—all cut into regular dice; also peas, small stoned olives, capers, anchovy fillets in small dice, and herbs for the seasoning.
Use hard-boiled eggs for the decoration.
Season with mayonnaise sauce.
Take equal quantities of asparagus-heads and ajulienneof raw truffles; the two should be seasoned separately some time in advance.
Cohere, when about to dish, with a very little highly-seasoned mayonnaise sauce.
Take equal quantities of red capsicums and tomato sauce; plain-boiled rice, kept very white, and with each grain distinct; andciseled, washed, and pressed onion.
Season with oil and vinegar, and flavour with curry.
Take equal quantities of carrots and turnips, raised by means of a grooved spoon-cutter; potato dice; French beans cut lozenge-form; peas; small flageolets, and asparagus-heads; arrange them in distinct heaps, and set a fine bunch of cauliflower in the middle.
Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped parsley and chervil.
N.B.—For vegetable salad, use freshly-cooked and uncooled vegetables as much as possible.
Take equal quantities of corn salad, and ajulienneof beetroot and celery. Season with oil and vinegar.
Take equal quantities of shelled shrimps’ tails, artichoke-bottoms, cut into dice, and very thin slices of black truffle arranged to form a border. Season with highly-seasoned mayonnaise sauce with cream.
Take equal quantities of lobster-meat, cooked truffles, and potatoes and hard-boiled eggs in dice, and arrange them in distinct heaps.
In their midst place the very white heart of a lettuce. Season with mayonnaise sauce with mustard, and add some chopped tarragon.
Take equal quantities of French beans, potato dice, and quartered tomatoes. Decorate with capers, small, stoned olives, and anchovy fillets.
Season with oil and vinegar.
Take equal quantities of white chicken meat, very red tongue, celery-sticks cutjulienne-fashion, and ajulienneof truffles. Arrange these constituents in very regular heaps, and in the middle of them set a heap of asparagus-heads. Decorate with a border consisting of roundels of cocks’ kidneys and roundels of gherkins, laid alternately.
Season with very thin mayonnaise sauce.
Clothea Charlotte-mould with very clear jelly, and garnish its bottom and sides with thin collops of spiny-lobster’s tail decked with truffles. Fill the mould with a vegetable salad (No.2011) combined with a quarter of its volume of lobster or spiny-lobster remains, cut into dice, and cohered by means of a cleared mayonnaise.
Leave to set in the cool, and, when about to serve, turn out on a napkin.
Take some green asparagus-heads, some hard-boiled lapwings’ eggs, some sliced cocks’ kidneys, some slices of truffle, and some crayfishes’ tails.
Decorate according to fancy, making use of the ingredients of the salad for the purpose.
Season with mustard sauce with cream.
Take equal quantities of sticks of celery, raw artichoke-bottoms, truffles, potatoes, and asparagus-heads, all, except the latter, being cutjulienne-fashion.
Slightly cohere the salad with mayonnaise sauce.
Take equal quantities of sliced cocks’ kidneys, shavings of raw truffles, asparagus-heads, and celery cut lengthwise into extremely thin strips.
Season strongly with oil and lemon juice.
Take equal quantities of carrots, potatoes, French beans, peas, truffles, capers, gherkins, sliced and cooked mushrooms, lobster meat, and lean ham—all cutjulienne-fashion, and add some anchovy fillets.
Cohere the whole with mayonnaise sauce; dish, and decorate with some of the ingredients of the salad, together with beetroot and caviare.
Take equal quantities of celeriac, russet apples, tomatoes, and artichoke-bottoms—all four cut into dice.
Season with oil and lemon juice.
Take twenty-four crayfishes’ tails, cooked as for bisque, and cut lengthwise; twenty-four oysters (cleared of their beards), poached in lemon juice; and three tablespoonfuls of asparagus-heads. The three constituents should have barely cooled. Complete with fine shavings of raw truffles.
Season with condimented mayonnaise sauce, combined with a purée made from the crayfishes’ carcasses, pounded with two tablespoonfuls of fresh cream.
Cut some raw, peeled truffles into very thin shavings.
Season with a sauce consisting of hard-boiled egg-yolks, seasoned with salt and freshly-ground pepper, and finished with oil and lemon juice.
Cut some raw, white, Piedmont truffles into thin shavings.
Season with a sauce consisting of hard-boiled egg-yolks seasoned with salt and pepper, and finished with mustard, oil, and vinegar.
Take equal quantities of spiny-lobster trimmings, asparagus-heads, truffles, and cucumbers—all cut into dice.
Season with a mayonnaise sauce, combined with the spiny-lobster’s creamy parts and a purée of coral.
Take equal quantities of russet apples and celeriac, both cut into dice, and halved and peeled walnuts, soaked in fresh water for one-quarter hour, and well drained.
Season with clear mayonnaise sauce.