comes to table, the carver has merely to pass the knife in the usual manner to take up the wings and legs, and finds no resistance; the same at the breast and the back, where it may easily be seen whilst carving that it has already been prepared.
Three minutes is about the time taken by this new process to cut into ten parts an ordinary fowl.
For a Turkey or a Goose, the sinews are divided as above, and in the act of carving, instead of cutting the fillets in a straight line with the breast-bone, you separate them obliquely, and all other parts as usual.
Pheasants, Ducks, and all Wild Fowl especially, must be prepared in a similar manner.
A Hare or Rabbit may also have the sinews and back-bone divided; to effect this you lay the hare upon its back, and give six cuts nearly through the back-bone, holding the Separator with both hands, through the belly part; then you truss it for roasting. If it should happen to be a very large hare, the fillets only are carved, and they ought to be cut in thin slices in an oblique direction, instead of straight along the back.
The half of a Fowl with the flesh on.The half of a Fowl dissected.
The half of a Fowl with the flesh on.The half of a Fowl dissected.
The half of a Fowl with the flesh on.The half of a Fowl dissected.
My motive for introducing the directions for larding at the commencement of this work, is to give it the importance which it deserves, it having in all former works been generally omitted, or lost amongst a multitude of receipts, which has made me desirous of placing it in a conspicuous place, in the hope that many families in the middle classes of society may be able to partake of that very inexpensive luxury.
Nothing but experience and practice would enable a person to lard well, I have, therefore, given the few following directions, so that a person might improve himself after once commencing. I have been induced to do so from the fact of having had many female cooks with me for improvement, many of whom could send up very good dinners, but few of them have scarcely known, or had any idea of larding, being in the habit of having it done by their poulterer whilst in London, and in the country avoiding it entirely: I shall, therefore, endeavour to explain, first, the choice of the bacon; secondly, the manner of cutting it; and lastly, the best mode of larding.
Choose the firmest bacon you can obtain, quite fat, and not at all red, or it would break and cause a deal of trouble. To cut it, take off the piece of lean at the bottom, lay it upon a board with the rind upwards, and beat gently with a cutlet-bat, trim the sides, and cut it into bands the breadth that you may require your lardons in length; if for a fillet of beef, two inches; for fricandeau, turkey, poularde, fowl, pheasant, or sweetbread, an inch and a half; and for lamb’s sweatbreads much smaller. Take one of the bands, place it before you with the rind downwards, and with a sharp knife cut it in slices, (but not separating it from the rind), of the thickness you require for the article you are about to lard, then place your hand at the top, press lightly, and draw your knife straight along as if cutting the bacon in slices, so as to form the lardons square at each end, commencing cutting from the heel of the knife, and finishing at the point.
To lard, the French method is so familiar to me that I cannot but recommend it, especially to inexperienced hands. If a fricandeau, lay it lengthwise upon a clean napkin across your hand, forming a kind of bridge with your thumb at the part you are about to commence at, having previously taken all the skin from the veal with a knife, then with the point of your larding-needle make three distinct lines across, half an inch apart, run your needle into the third line (at the further side of the fricandeau), and bring it out at the first, placing one of the lardons in it, draw the needle through, leaving out a quarter of an inch of the end of the bacon at each line: proceed thus to the end of the row; then make another line half an inch distant, stick in another row of lardons, bringing them out at the second line, leaving the ends of the bacon out all of the same length; make the next row again at the same distance, bringing the ends out between the lardons of the first row, proceeding in like manner until you have larded the whole surface in chequered rows: proceed in a similar way with everything you lard, the difference being only in the size of the lardons, and in the case of poultry or game, previously scald the breasts. By following closely the above simple directions any cook may be able, if not to lard well, at any rate to lard well enough for every-day use, which would give practice, and likewise competence, to lard articles required upon more particular occasions.
A FEW THINGS I OBJECT TO, THAT IS, NOT TO USE IN COOKERY COMESTIBLES WHEN OUT OF, OR BEFORE, THEIR PROPER SEASON.
ForButcher’s Meat, see page 637, Kitchen at Home.
In Poultry.I never use turkeys before Michaelmas, and not after the latter end of March.
Ditto turkey poults before the end of June, and not after September.
Capons, poulardes, pullets, and fowls, I use all the year round. I begin about March with the spring chickens, till the beginning of July.
Geese are in season almost all the year round.
Goslings, or green geese, commence early in the spring, and are called so till the end of September, thus there is hardly any difference between them and the Michaelmas geese.
Ducks and ducklings the same.
Rabbits and pigeons may be used all the year round; but it is only in the early part of the spring that I use tame rabbits.
Guinea-fowls are used when pheasants go out, which is about the latter end of January, and are used till the end of May. Their eggs are very good, more delicate than the common ones.
I never use grouse before the 14th Aug., nor after the 22d December.
Black cocks and gray hens about the same time as grouse, but they are more uncertain.
Ptarmigans are sent from Norway about the middle of January, and continue till March, but that depends upon the weather.
Though the shooting season for partridges is the first of September, and lasts till the end of January, I never cook one before the 3d, except being desired to do so, but I often keep some for three weeks after the shooting season is over.
The same with pheasants, which begins from the 1st of October till the end of January. By hanging them by the necks and putting a piece of garlic in the beak and a little cayenne, I one cold winter kept one six weeks after the shooting time had expired, which I afterwards presented to a party of real gourmets, who said it was the best they had partaken of during the season.
I always use wild ducks, widgeons, teal, pintails, larks, golden plovers, snipes, woodcocks from the commencement of November till the end of March, after which the flesh becomes rank and unfit for table.
Young pea-fowls are very good, and make a noble roast, see p. 401, and are in season from January till June, but they are very uncertain.
Plovers’ eggs, my favorite, an unparalleled delicacy, come about the middle of March, and are not considered good after the latter end of May; but when I can get them fresh in June, I do not discontinue their use, because they are, in my estimation, worthy of the patronage of the greatest gourmet. I have paid for them, at the beginning of the season, three shillings and sixpence each; they are the black plover or peweet’s eggs.
For the last few years there has been quite an alteration in the seasons for these golden and silvery inhabitants of the deep.
Except the Cod-fish, which come in September, and by strictness of rule must disappear in March, the season for all other sea-fish becomes a puzzle; but the method I follow during the season is as follows:
Crimped Gloucester is plentiful in June and part of July, but it may be procured almost all the year round.
Common Salmon from March to July.
Salmon Peale from June to July.
Spey Trout from May to July.
Sturgeon, though not thought much of, is very good in June.
Turbot are in season all the year round.
John Dories depend entirely upon chance, but may be procured all the year round for the epicure, May excepted.
The original season of Yarmouth Mackerel is from the 12th of May till the end of July; now we have Christmas mackerel; then the west of England mackerel, which are good at the beginning of April.
Haddock and Whiting all the year round.
Skate all the winter.
Smelts from the Medway are the best, and are winter fish, the Yarmouth and Carlisle are good, but rather large; the Dutch are also very large, which often lose in the estimation of the epicure.
Brill is like turbot as to season.
Slips are similar to soles, good all the year round.
Gurnets are rather a spring fish.
Flounders and Diamond Plaice, are in full season from June to July.
Red Mullets vary very much now, but the beginning of the season was formerly the 12th of May; we had none this year except at a very extravagant price. I always use them when they are to be obtained.
Fresh Herrings are in season from November to January.
River Eels all the year round.
Lobsters in the spring and part of the summer. Prawns ditto.
Crabs are best in May.
Oysters begin in August, but are not very good till September.
Barrelled Oysters begin on the 15th of September, and last till the end of February.
Barrelled Cod, Lent fish, are best in winter or about March.
Sprats come in about the 8th of November.
Crawfish is a very favorite dish of the greatest epicures of France, and also of a few of the English; the author regrets that in fulfilment of an agreement between himself and M. Sampayo he is restricted from giving the receipt of Crawfish à la Sampayo, which has appeared in his Bill of Fare, No. 609. The reason of the enormous expense of this dish is that two large bottles of truffes du Périgord, which do not cost less than four guineas, are stewed with them in champagne.
The seasons for these delicacies are the principal guide for the epicure; but though either can be obtained by artificial means at a great expense, they do not repay in flavour their exorbitant price.
All clear soup must not be too strong of meat, and must be of a light brown, sherry, or straw colour.
All white or brown thick soups must be rather thinnish, lightly adhering to the back of the spoon.
All purées must adhere little more to the back of the spoon.
Any Italian paste must be very clear, rather strong, and the colour of pale sherry.
All kinds of fish sauce should be thicker for boiled fish than for broiled or fried.
Brown sauce should be a little thinnish and the colour of a horse-chesnut.
White sauce should be of the colour of ivory, and thicker than brown sauce.
Cream, or Dutch sauce, must be rather thick, and cannot be too white.
Demi-glace requires to be rather thin, but yet sufficiently reduced to envelope any pieces of meat, game, poultry, &c., with which it is served.
Every description of fish should be well done, but not over-boiled, broiled, stewed, or fried.
Beef and mutton must be underdone even for joints, removes, and entrees.
Lamb requires to be more done.
Veal and pork must be well done.
Venison must be underdone, red in the middle, and full of gravy, but not raw.
Poultry, either broiled, stewed, boiled, or roasted, must be done thoroughly, not cutting in the least red, but must be still full of gravy.
Pheasants and partridges must be well done through, yet full of gravy.
Grouse, black cocks, gray hens, and ptarmigans, must cut reddish, with plenty of gravy, but not too much underdone.
All kinds of water-fowl must be very much underdone, so that the blood and gravy follow the knife in carving.
Plovers must be rather underdone, but done through.
Rabbits and pigeons must be well done.
Second-course savoury dishes must be rather highly seasoned, but with a little moderation.
Pastry should, when baked, be clear, light, and transparent, and of a beautiful straw colour; the body of a croustade the same.
Large pies, timbales, and casseroles of rice must be of a yellowish brown colour.
Jellies require to be rather white and transparent for fruits, and not too firm, but better so than too delicate.
Orange jellies should be of a deep orange colour, and all fruit jellies as near as possible to the colour of the fruit.
Creams should be very light and delicate, but fruit creams must be kept of the colour of the fruits they are made of.
For all the demi-glacé removes the ice must be firm, but not the least hard.
All kinds of soufflé or fondu must be well done through, or they would be very indigestible, clog the delicate palate, and prevent the degustation of the generous claret which flows so freely after dinner on the table of the real epicure.
I recommend sugar in almost all savoury dishes, as it greatly facilitates digestion and invigorates the palate, but always increase or diminish the quantity according to the taste of your employer.
I often introduce onions, eschalots, or even a little garlic in some of my most delicate dishes, but so well blended with other flavours that I never have a single objection even by those who have a great dislike to it.
Horseradish and herbs of every description may always be used with discretion to great advantage.
Contrary to the expressed opinion of every other previous publication, I say that too much seasoning is preferable to too little, as your employer can correct you by saying there is too much of this or that, and you can soon get it to his taste; but while you fear over-seasoning you produce no flavour at all; by allowing each guest to season for himself, your sauce attains a diversity of flavours. The cook must season for the guest, not the guest for the cook.
I have always found great advantage in dressing the greatest part of my entrées on a thin roll of mashed potatoes;[2]this has never been found objectionable, as it is so thin that it is imperceptible when covered with the sauces, and serves to prevent any entrées dressed in crown from being upset, before going on table, by the carelessness of the servant; for large removes, as turkey à la Nelson (No. 510), &c., after forming the ship (see engraving), egg, bread-crumb, and set in a moderate oven to brown, fix in your croustade, and dish up; the potatoes may be eaten, but not the croustade, which is merely an embellishment. Borders may also be made of forcemeat, as for ris de veau (No. 673), but gives much more trouble without being better; also of rice, by preparing it as for casserole au riz (p. 260); it may be used as mashed potatoes. Make but few preserves, only those that are indispensable; you will have a continual enjoyment of earlier stock, as Nature closely watches our wants and liberally supplies our wishes. The real gourmet, though anxious to produce novelty, never attempts to over-force the produce of the various seasons.
Peel and wash two onions, one carrot, one turnip, cut them in thin slices, also a little celery, a bunch of parsley, two bay-leaves, lay three sheets of paper on the table, spread your vegetables, and pour over them two or three tablespoonfuls of oil; have your turkey, or poularde, trussed the same as for boiling; cover the breast with thin slices of bacon, and lay the back of the bird on the vegetables; cut a few slices of lemon, which you lay on the breast to keep it white, tie the paper round with string, then pass the spit and set it before the fire; pour plenty of fat over to moisten the paper and prevent from burning, roast three hours at a pretty good distance from the fire: capons will take two hours, poulardes one hour and a half, fowls one hour, and chickens half an hour.
Take three fine sweetbreads, clean them well with milk and water, in order to make them as white as possible; do them gradually in a stewpan with good white gravy, some onion, carrot, and celery, with a little mace; then stuff them well with pistachio nuts nicely bruised; put them “en papillote” (that is, to oil or butter a piece of paper, which you fasten round by twisting it along the edge) and give them a nice wholesome colour; they will require from twenty to twenty-five minutes to bring them to a proper state of excellence, with the good, fine, wholesome colour they may be served up, with white endive, or celery sauce aux pistaches, after the above manner.
Make some very good and highly-flavoured calf’s-head soup, with a good abundance of egg and forcemeat balls, and some sausage-meat introduced therein; the pieces of calf’s-head should not be cut larger than an inch square. When this soup is properly prepared and ripe, pour it into several milkpans, to the depth of about two inches; let it stand in this way to cool and stiffen, for the next day’s use.
Dress a nice light salad of mustard and cress, with endive and a slight sprinkle of well-cut celery; take this salad from the bowl (in which it has been dressed), lightly with a fork, and form in a pyramid in the centre of a dish, around which place tastefully-ornamented slices of the cold and substantial soup, cut into slices about the size and thickness of calf’s liver that is usually served up with bacon. Garnish with slices of hard-boiled eggs and lemon. This, if properly managed, forms not only a pretty-looking spring dish, but a most excellent one.
Take three pounds of beef, beat fine in a mortar,Put it into the Swan—that is, when you’ve caught her;Some pepper, salt, mace, some nutmeg, an onion,Will heighten the flavour in Gourmand’s opinion;Then tie it up tight with a small piece of tape,That the gravy and other things may not escape.A meal-paste (rather stiff) should be laid on the breast,And some whited-brown paper should cover the rest.Fifteen minutes at least ere the Swan you take down,Pull the paste off the bird, that the breast may get brown.
Take three pounds of beef, beat fine in a mortar,Put it into the Swan—that is, when you’ve caught her;Some pepper, salt, mace, some nutmeg, an onion,Will heighten the flavour in Gourmand’s opinion;Then tie it up tight with a small piece of tape,That the gravy and other things may not escape.A meal-paste (rather stiff) should be laid on the breast,And some whited-brown paper should cover the rest.Fifteen minutes at least ere the Swan you take down,Pull the paste off the bird, that the breast may get brown.
Take three pounds of beef, beat fine in a mortar,Put it into the Swan—that is, when you’ve caught her;Some pepper, salt, mace, some nutmeg, an onion,Will heighten the flavour in Gourmand’s opinion;Then tie it up tight with a small piece of tape,That the gravy and other things may not escape.A meal-paste (rather stiff) should be laid on the breast,And some whited-brown paper should cover the rest.Fifteen minutes at least ere the Swan you take down,Pull the paste off the bird, that the breast may get brown.
To a gravy of beef (good and strong) I opineYou’ll be right if you add half a pint of port wine:Pour this through the Swan—yes, quite through the belly:Then serve the whole up with some hot currant jelly.
To a gravy of beef (good and strong) I opineYou’ll be right if you add half a pint of port wine:Pour this through the Swan—yes, quite through the belly:Then serve the whole up with some hot currant jelly.
To a gravy of beef (good and strong) I opineYou’ll be right if you add half a pint of port wine:Pour this through the Swan—yes, quite through the belly:Then serve the whole up with some hot currant jelly.
N. B.—The Swan mustnotbe skinned.
Take two pounds of rump steak, chop it fine, season well with spice, a piece of onion, or eschalot, and butter. Rub the breast both inside and outside with beaten cloves, then stuff with the above, taking care to sew the bird up carefully, and to tie it very tightly on the spit, so that the gravy may not escape. Inclose the breast of the swan in a meal-paste, after which cover the whole bird with paper well greased with beef dripping. About a quarter of an hour before the bird is taken up, remove the paper and the paste, baste well with butter and flour till brown andfrothy. A swan of fifteen pounds weight requires about two hours roasting with a fire not too fierce.
Take the giblets and a piece of beef, with a pint of port wine, and make a good gravy. Pour some of this through the body of the swan when dished. Some red currant jelly and port wine should be made hot and served up likewise.
N. B.—The swan isnotto be skinned.
To some good stock made the previous night from an old fowl, or of veal, add three pounds of the white part of the leeks, and let the whole boil slowly for three hours, then add a skinned fowl (old or young), cut into neat pieces, and three dozen of good prunes. Let all simmer together for one hour longer. Season with salt and white pepper, and you will have good cock a leekie.
N. B.—In frost the leeks require less boiling.
This very seasonable novelty originated with M. Soyer, “the Gastronomic Regenerator,” of the Reform Club; and, like everything which emanates from his inventive brain, is distinguished by its taste and utility. This is, indeed, a picturesque mode of keeping game, so as to make them ornamental until they become useful—at table. The lovers of “still life” pictures cannot but admire this “Bouquet;” and it is not unworthy of our painters’ attention. The several articles of game, &c., are secured between branches of laurel and other evergreens, set off with dried and coloured flowers, “everlastings,” &c. The handsome specimen we have engraved bears the following, arranged in the order here denoted:
The brilliancy of the plovers and of the pheasant, and the brightness of the wild-duck, backed by the sombre green, and the whole variegated and relieved by multicoloured flowers, is really very effective.
Not many days since, M. Soyer presented one of his “Bouquets de Gibier” to Viscount Melbourne, at Brocket Hall; when his lordship admired the novelty exceedingly, as did also the noble party on a visit at Brocket.
Another “Bouquet” has been presented by M. Soyer to a lady of high fashion and beauty, if we may judge from the triplet which accompanied the offering:
Madam,Flora having forsaken her flowers,I quickly embraced the sport of swift Diana,To dedicate and present this bouquet to Venus.
Madam,Flora having forsaken her flowers,I quickly embraced the sport of swift Diana,To dedicate and present this bouquet to Venus.
Madam,
Flora having forsaken her flowers,I quickly embraced the sport of swift Diana,To dedicate and present this bouquet to Venus.
Count d’Orsay, thearbiter elegantiarumof our day, on the “Bouquet” being submitted to him, admired the artistical design, and suggested that Landseer would appreciate its novelty, adding, “What a beautiful trophy it would make for a sideboard or a dining-room!”
The “Bouquet,” we augur, will be popular in the approaching Christmas season; and though there is a musty old proverb about “looking at a gift-horse,” the above novelty will surely throw the old-fashioned baskets into the shade, by presenting much that is agreeable to the eye, with the proximate association of another sense of enjoyment.
Bouquet de Gibier.
Bouquet de Gibier.
Bouquet de Gibier.
A present extraordinary to the King and Queen of the French was forwarded from London to Paris on the 21st of December by the well-known Gastronomic Regenerator, M. Soyer, of the Reform Club, and was presented to their Majesties on the 24th, in the morning, at the Palace of the Tuileries. Their Majesties were so delighted with the novelty and elegance of the composition, that after a long examination the King ordered it to be carried to the apartments of her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians, who was exceedingly pleased with it, and afterwards the whole of the royal family was summoned to see this bouquet; the sight was so new and unexpected that it met with their unanimous approbation. His Majesty then observed that such a welcome and graceful present from a foreign country had never before penetrated through France to the palace of its kings. Immediately after, by the orders of his Majesty, the sporting nosegay was carried by two gentlemen porters to the council of ministers then sitting at the Tuileries, and was admired by every one. It is reported that his Majesty intends to have a similar bouquet carved in wood for ornamenting the grand sideboard of the magnificent banqueting hall of the palace. To give an idea of the composition of this splendid innovation, the following description perhaps will be interesting to the public. The length of it was about ten feet, and wide in proportion. The frame was richly covered with Christmas holly, laurels, mistletoe, and evergreen, with a great variety of winter flowers. There were twenty-two heads of game, consisting of larks, snipes, woodcocks, black peweets, teal, French and English partridges, grouse, widgeons, wild ducks, black cocks, pheasants, a leveret, a hare, and golden plovers; the interstices were lightly filled with wheat and oats, the whole ornamented with tri-coloured ribands and small flags at the top—and to give a still more pleasing effect, fancy birds of beautiful plumage, so abundant in England, were spread in every part of this magnificent nosegay.
The following letter from his Majesty the King of the French, accompanied with a beautiful pin forming a bouquet of diamonds and pearls, was sent by his Majesty’s orders to the French Ambassador, and forwarded to Monsieur Soyer at the Reform Club.
Cabinet du Roi, Château des Tuileries; 1847.Monsieur,Le Roi a reçu votre ouvrage sur l’art culinaire, et le groupe de gibier dont vous lui avez fait hommage.Je suis chargé, Monsieur, de vous transmettre les remercimens de sa Majesté pour cette double attention, et d’y joindre comme témoignage de sa satisfaction, le bijou que je m’empresse de vous remettre.Recevez je vous prie, Monsieur, mes plus parfaites salutations.Le Secrétaire du Cabinet,CAMILLE FAIN.Monsieur Alexis Soyer.
Cabinet du Roi, Château des Tuileries; 1847.
Monsieur,
Le Roi a reçu votre ouvrage sur l’art culinaire, et le groupe de gibier dont vous lui avez fait hommage.
Je suis chargé, Monsieur, de vous transmettre les remercimens de sa Majesté pour cette double attention, et d’y joindre comme témoignage de sa satisfaction, le bijou que je m’empresse de vous remettre.
Recevez je vous prie, Monsieur, mes plus parfaites salutations.
Le Secrétaire du Cabinet,CAMILLE FAIN.
Monsieur Alexis Soyer.
OR ABBREVIATED SUMMARY, REFERRING (FROM PAGE TO PAGE) TO THE VARIOUS SERIES OF DISHES, ETC.
(For General Contents see the end of the Volume.)