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CHAPTER XXXII.
Foreign and Jewish Cookery
FOREIGN AND JEWISH COOKERY.
We had hoped to have been able: without exceeding the prescribed limits of the present volume to have added here a somewhat extensive chapter on the cookery of other countries and to have comprised in it a section adapted to the service of the Jewish table; but we have so much enlarged in the pages on the more important subject of "Bread," and on other matters which relate to simple
English domestic economy, that we find it necessary to depart from our original intention, and to confine our receipts here to a comparatively small number. This, however, is of the less consequence as so many good and well tested foreign receipts, of which, from our own experience, we can guarantee the success, are to be found in the body of the work.
REMARKS ON JEWISH COOKERY.
From being forbidden by their usages to mingle butter, or other preparation of milk or cream with meat at any meal, the Jews have oil much used in their cookery of fish, meat, and vegetables. Pounded almonds and rich syrups of sugar and water agreeably flavoured, assist in compounding their sweet dishes, many of which are excellent, and preserve much of their oriental character; but we are credibly informed that the restrictions of which we have spoken are not at the present day very rigidly observed by the main body of Jews in this country, though they are so by those who are denominated strict.
JEWISH SMOKED BEEF.*
This is
excellent, possessing the fine flavour of a really well cured ham, and retaining it unimpaired for a very long time after it is cut or cooked, if kept in a cool larder; it is therefore a valuable and inexpensive
store for imparting savour to soups, gravies, and other preparations; and it affords also a dish of high relish for the table. An inch or two of the lean part, quite cleared from the smoked edges and divided into dice, will flavour
well a tureen of gravy, or a pint of soup: even that which has been boiled will greatly improve the flavour of Liebig's extract of beef and of any simple broth or
consommé. From the depth of fat upon it, which appears particularly rich and mellow, we think it is the thick flank of the beef of which we have made trial in various ways, and which is now in much request in several families of our acquaintance, who find it greatly superior to the common hung or Dutch beef to which they were previously accustomed.
It must be cooked in the same manner as other smoked meats, more time being allowed for it than for fresh. Drop it into boiling water, and when it has boiled quickly for ten minutes, take off the scum should any appear, add cold water sufficient to reduce it to mere
scalding heat, bring it again gently to boil, and simmer it until the lean appears quite tender when probed with a sharp skewer ; then lift it on a drainer and serve it hot or cold, and garnished in either case with vegetables or otherwise at pleasure.
Beef, 6 lbs.; 3 hours or more.
CHORISSA (OR JEWISH SAUSAGE) WITH RICE.
The chorissa is s peculiar kind of smoked sausage much served at Jewish tables
* as an accompaniment to boiled poultry, &c. It seems to be in great part composed of delicate pounded meat, intermingled with suet and with a small portion o some highly-cured preparation, and with herbs or spices which impart to it an agreeable aromatic flavour.
Drop the
chorissa into warm water, heat it gently, boil it for about twenty minutes, and serve it surrounded with rice prepared as for currie. It will be found very good broiled in slices after the previous boiling: it should be cold before it is again laid to the fire. In all cases it will, we think, be found both more easy of digestion and more agreeable if half-boiled at least before it is broiled, toasted, or warmed in the oven for table. It is a good addition to forcemeat, and pounded savoury preparations, if used in moderation.
TO FRY SALMON AND OTHER FISH IN OIL.
(To Serve Cold.)
Turn into a
small deep frying-pan, which should be ket for the purpose, a flask of fresh olive oil, place it over a clear fire, and as soon as it ceases to bubble lay in a pound and a half of delicate salmon properly cleansed and well dried in a cloth, and fry it gently until it is cooked quite through. The surface should be only lightly browned, and when the proper colour is attained the pan must be lifted so high from the fire as to prevent it being deepened, as we have directed in Chapter IX. in the general instructions for frying. Drain the fish well when it is done, and when it is perfectly cold, dish, and garnish it with light foliage. The Jews have col fried fish much served at their repasts. Fillets of soles, plaice, brill, small turbots, or other flat fish, may be fried as above, and arranged in a symmetrical form round a portion of à larger fish, or by themselves. We would recommend as an accompaniment one of the
Mauritian chutnies which are to be found in this chapter.
Olive oil, 1 small flask ; salmon, about 1 1/2 lb.: 1/2 hour or rather more. Fillets of fish 5 to 10 minutes.
Obs.—The oil should be strained through a sieve, and set aside as the fish is done; it will serve many times for frying if this be observed.
JEWISH ALMOND PUDDING.
We have not thought it necessary to test this receipt ourselves, as we have tasted the puddings made by it more than once, and have received the exact directions for them from the Jewish lady at whose house they were made. They are extremely delicate and excellent. The almonds for them were procured ready ground from a Jew confectioner, but when they cannot be thus obtained they must be pounded in the usual manner. With half a pound of sweet, mingle six of seven bitter almonds, half a pound of sifted sugar, a little fine orange-flower water, with the yolk of ten and the whites of seven well whisked eggs, and when the whole of the ingredients are immediately blended, bake the pudding in a rather quick oven for half an hour, or longer should it not be then sufficiently firm to turn out of the dish. Sift sugar thickly over, or pour round it a rich syrup flavoured with orange-lower water,
noyau or
maraschino.
Obs.—We think a
fruit syrup—pine-apple or other—or a compôte of fruit would be an excellent accompaniment to this pudding, which may be served hot or cold. We conclude that the dish in which it is baked, if not
well buttered, must be rubbed with oil. The above proportions will make two puddings of sufficient size for a small party.
THE LADY'S OR INVALID'S NEW BAKED APPLE PUDDING.
(Author's Original Receipt. Appropriate to the Jewish table.)
This pudding, which contains no butter, is most excellent when made
with exactness by the directions which follow, but any variation from them will probably be attended with entire failure, especially in the crust, which if properly made will be solid but very light and crisp; whereas, if the proportion of sugar for it be diminished, the bread will not form a compact mass, but will fall into crumbs when it is served. First weight six ounces of the crumb of a light stale loaf, and grate it down small; then add to, and mix thoroughly with it three ounces and a half of pounded sugar, and a slight pinch of of salt. Next, take from a pound to a pound and a quarter of russets, or of any other
good baking apples; pare, and then take them off the cores in quarters without cutting the fruit asunder, as they will then, from the form given to them, lie more compactly in the dish. Arrange them in close layers in a deep tart-dish which holds about a pint and a half, and strew amongst them four ounces of sugar an the grated rind of a fine fresh lemon; add the strained juice of the lemon, and pour the bread-crumbs softly in a heap upon the apples in the centre cf the dish and with the back of a spoon level them gently into a very smooth layer of equal thickness, pressing them lightly down upon the fruit, which must all be perfectly covered with them. Sift powdered sugar over, wipe the edge of the dish and bake the pudding in a somewhat quick oven for rather more than three-quarters of an hour. We have had it several times baked quite successfully in a baker's oven, of which the heat is in general too great for puddings of a delicate kind. Very pale brown sugar will answer for it almost as well as pounded. For the nursery, some crumbs of bread may be strewed between the layers of fruit, and nutmeg or cinnamon may be used instead of lemon.
Obs.—We insert this receipt here because the pudding has been so much liked, and found so wholesome by many persons who have partaken of it at different times that we think it will be acceptable to some of our readers, but it belongs properly to another work which we have in progress, and from which we extract it now for the present volume. An ounce or more of ratafias crushed to powder, may be added to the crust, or strewed over the pudding before it is served, when they are considered an improvement.
A FEW GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE JEWISH TABLE.
As a substitute for milk, in the composition of
soufflés, puddings, and sweet dishes,
almond-cream as it is called, will be found to answer excellently. To prepare it, blanch and pound the almonds by the directions of page 542, and then pour very gradually to them boiling water in the proportion directed below; turn them into a strong cloth or tammy, and wring it from them with powerful pressure, to extract as much as possible of it from them again.
The fruit custards of page 482, and the
méringues of fruit of page 485, are perfectly suited to the tables of Jewish families; and sweet or savoury
croustades or fried patties may be supplied to them from the receipts in the present work, by substituting clarified marrow (see page 388) for the butter used for them in general cookery. The reader will easily discover in addition, numerous dishes distributed through this volume which may be served to them without departing from their peculiar usages.
Almond-cream: (for puddings, &c.) almonds, 4 oz.; water, 1 pint. For blancmanges, and rich
soufflés, creams and custards: almonds, 1/2 to whole pound; water, 1 to 1 1/2 pints.
Obs.—As every cook may not be quite aware of the articles of food strictly prohibited by the Mosaic law, it may be well to specify them here. Pork in every form; all varieties of shell-fish, without exception; hares, rabbits, and swans.
TOMATA AND OTHER CHATNIES.
(Mauritian Receipts.)
The composition of these favourite oriental sauces varies but little except in the ingredient which forms the basis of each. The same piquant or stimulating auxiliaries are intermingled with all of them in greater or less proportion. These are, young onions, chilies (sometimes with green ginger), oil, vinegar, and salt ; and occasionally a little garlic or full grown onion, which in England might be superseded by a small portion of minced eschalot. Green peaches, mangoes, and other unripe fruits, crushed to pulp on the stone roller, shown at the head of this chapter; ripe bananas, tomatas roasted or raw, and also reduced to a smooth pulp ; potatoes cooked and mashed; the fruit of the egg-plant boiled and reduced to a paste ; fish, fresh, salted, or smoked, and boiled or grilled, taken in small fragments from the bones and skin, and torn into minute shreds, or pounded, are all in their turn used in their preparation.
* Mingle with any one of these as much of the green onions and chilies chopped up small, as will give it a strong flavour; add salt if needed, and as much olive oil, of pure quality, with a third as much of vinegar, as will bring it to the consistence of a thick sauce. Serve it with carrie, cutlets, steaks, pork, cold meat, or fish, or aught else to which it would be an acceptable accompaniment.
INDIAN LOBSTER-CUTLETS.
A really excellent and elegant receipt; for lobster-cutLets has already been given in previous editions of the present work, and is now to be found at page 91 of Chapter III.; but the subjoined is one which may be more readily and expeditiously prepared, and may consequently, be preferred by some of our readers for that reason: it has also the recommendation of being new. In India, these cutlets are made from the flesh of prawns, which are there of enormous size, but lobsters, unless quite overgrown, answer for them as well, or better. Select fish of good size and take out the tails entire; slice them about the third of an inch thick, dip them into beaten egg, and then into very fine crumbs of bread seasoned rather highly with cayenne, and moderately with salt, grated nutmeg, and pounded mace. Egg and crumb them twice, press the bread upon them with the blade of a knife, and when all are ready, fry them quickly in good butter to a light brown. Serve them as dry as possible, arranged in a chain round a hot dish, and pour into the centre, or send to table with them in a tureen, some sauce made with the flesh of the claws heated in some rich melted butter, flavoured with a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies, one of strong chili vinegar, a little salt and mace, and coloured with the coral of the fish, should they contain any. A few shrimps may be added with good effect; or the sauce may be made of these entirely, either whole or pounded, when they are preferred. In either case, they should only be heated in it, and not allowed to boil. East or West Indian mangoes, or other hot pickle, should accompany the dish. The cutlets may likewise be dipped into light French batter, and fried ; but the egg and bread-crumbs are somewhat preferable. It is an advantage to have lobsters little more than parboiled for them. Herbs can be added to the crumbs at pleasure; the writer does not, however, recommend them.
AN INDIAN BURDWAN.
(Entrée.)
This is an Oriental dish of high savour, which may be made either with a young fowl or chicken parboiled for the purpose, or with the remains of such as have already been sent to table. First, put into a stewpan about a tablespoonful of very mild onion finely minced, or à larger proportion with a mixture of eschalots, for persons whose taste is in favour of so strong a flavour; add rather more than a quarter of a pint of cold water, about an ounce of butter smoothy blended with a very small teaspoonful of flour, a moderate seasoning of cayenne, and a tablespoonful of essence of anchovies. Shake or stir this sauce over a clear fire until it boils, then let it stand aside and merely simmer for ten or fifteen minutes, or until the onion is quite tender, then pour to it a couple of wineglasaesful of Madeira (Sherry or Tenerife will do), and a tablespoonful of chili-vinegar. Lay in the fowl after having carved it neatly, divided all the joints, and stripped of the skin; and let it remain close to the fire, but without boiling, until it is perfectly heated through; bring it to the point of boiling and send it immediately to table. A dish of rice, boiled as for currie, is often, but not invariably, served with it. Should the fowl have been parboiled only—that is to say, boiled for a quarter of an hour—it must be gently stewed in the sauce for fifteen or twenty minutes; longer, even, should it not then be quite tender. Col lamb, or veal, or calf's-head, or a delicate young rabbit, may be very advantageously served as a
rechauffé, in a sauce compounded as above. The various condiments contained in this can be differently apportioned at pleasure; and pickled capsicum, or chilies minced, can be added to it at choice either in lieu of, or in addition to the chili-vinegar. The juice of a fresh lime should, if possible, be thrown into it before it is served. Except for a quite plain family dinner, only the superior joints of poultry should be used for this dish. Care should be taken not to allow the essence of anchovies to predominate too powerfully in it.
THE KING OF OUDE'S OMLET.
Whisk up very lightly, after having cleared them in the usual way, five fine fresh eggs; add to them two dessertspoonsful of milk or cream, a small teaspoonful of salt, one—or half that quantity for English eaters—of cayenne pepper, three of minced mint, and two dessertspoonful of young leeks, or of mild onions chopped small. Dissolve an ounce and a half of good butter in a frying pan about the size of a plate, or should à larger one of necessity be used, raise the handle so as to throw the omlet entirely to the opposite side; pour in the eggs, and when the omlet, which should be kept as thick as possible, is well risen and quite firm, and of a fine light brown underneath, slide it on to a very hot dish, and fold it together "like a turnover," the brown side uppermost: six or seven minutes will fry it. This receipt is given to the reader in a very modified form, the fiery original which we transcribe being likely to find but few admirers here we apprehend : the proportion of leeks or onions might still be much diminished with advantage:—"Five eggs, two tolahs of milk, one masha of salt, two mashas of cayenne pepper, three of mint, and two tolahs of leeks."
KEDGEREE OR KIDGEREE AN INDIAN BREAKFAST DISH.
Boil four ounces of rice tender and dry as for currie, and when it is cooled down put it into a saucepan with nearly an equal quantity of cold fish taken clear of skin and bone, and divided into very small flakes or scallops. Cut up an ounce or two of fresh butter and add it, with a full seasoning of cayenne, and as much salt as may be required. Stir the kedgeree constantly over a clear fire until it is very hot; then mingle quickly with it two slightly beaten eggs. Do not let it boil after these are stirred in ; but serve the dish when they are just
set. A Mauritian chantey may be sent to table with it. The butter may be omitted, and its place supplied by an additional egg or more.
Cold turbot, brill, salmon, soles, John Dory, and shrimps, may all be served in this form.
A SIMPLE SYRIAN PILAW.
Drop gradually into three pints of boiling water one pint of rice which has been shaken in a cullender to free it from the dust and then well wiped in a soft clean cloth. The boiling should not be checked by the addition of the rice, which if well managed will require no stirring, and which will entirely absorb the water. It should be placed above the fire where the heat will reach it equally from below; and it should boil gently that the grain may become quite tender and dry. When it is so, and the surface is full of holes, pour in two or three ounces of clarified butter, or merely add some, cut up small; throw in a seasoning of salt and white pepper, or cayenne ; stir the whole up well, and serve it immediately. An onion, when the flavour is liked, may be boiled in the water, which should afterwards be strained, before the rice is added; there should be three pints of it when the grain is dropped in.
Small fried sausages or sausage-cakes may be served with it at pleasure for English eaters. The rice may be well washed and thoroughly dried in a cloth when time will permit.
SIMPLE TURKISH OR ARABIAN PILAW.
(From Mr. Lane, the Oriental Traveller.)
"
Piláw or
piláu is made by boiling rice in plenty of water for about twenty minutes, so that the water drains off easily, leaving the grains whole, and with some degree of hardness ; then stirring it up with a little butter, just enough to make the grains separate easily, and seasoning it with salt and pepper. Often a fowl, boiled almost to rags, is laid upon the top. Sometimes small morsels of fried or roasted mutton or lamb are mixed up with it; and there are many other additions; but generally the Turks and Arabs add nothing to the rice but the butter, and salt, and pepper."
Obs.—We are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Lane for this receipt, which was procured from him for us by one of his friends.
A REAL INDIAN PILAW.
Boil three pounds of bacon in the usual manner; take it out and drop into the same pan a pair of fowls compactly trussed as for boiling. In three quarters of an hour, unless very large, they will be sufficiently cooked ; but they should be thoroughly boiled. When they are so, lift them out, and place a hot cover and thick cloth over them. Take three pints and a half of the liquor in which they were boiled, and add to it when it again boils, nearly two pounds of well washed Patna rice, three onions, a quarter of an ounce each of cloves and pepper-corns, with half as much of allspice, tied loosely in a bit of muslin. Stew these together very gently for three quarters of an hour. Do not stir them as it breaks the rice. Take out the spice and onions; lay in the fowls if necessary, to heat them quite through, and dish them neatly with the rice heaped smoothly over them. Garnish the pilaw with hot hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters, or with fried forcemeat-balls, or with half rings of onion fried extremely dry. The bacon, heated apart, should be served in a separate dish.
Obs.—This is a highly approved receipt supplied to us by a friend who had long experience of it in India; but we would suggest that to be
really cooked so as to render it wholesome in this country, à larger quantity of liquid should be added to it, as one pint (or pound) will absorb three pints of water or broth: and the time allowed for stewing it appears to us insufficient for it to become really tender.
A Persian Pillow is made much in the same manner, sometimes with morsels of fried kid mixed with the rice.
Bacon, 3 lbs., 1 1/2 to 2 hours; fowls, 2. Rice, nearly 2 lbs. Broth from bacon and fowls, 3 1/2 pints; onions, 3; cloves and peppercorns, 1/4 oz. each; allspice, 1 drachm: 3/4 hour.
INDIAN RECEIPT FOR CURRIED FISH.
Take the fish from the bones, and cut it into inch and half squares; lay it into a stewpan with sufficient hot water to barely cover it; sprinkle some salt over, and boil it gently until it is about half cooked. Lift it out with a fish-slice, pour the liquor into a basin, and clear off any scum which may be on it. Should there be three or four pounds of the fish, dissolve a quarter of a pound of butter in a stewpan, and when it has become a little brown, add two cloves of garlic and à large onion finely minced or sliced very thin ; fry them until they are well coloured, then add the fish ; strew equally over it, and stir it well up with from two to three tablespoonsful of Bengal currie powder; cover the pan, and shake it often until the fish is nicely browned; next add by degrees the liquor in which it was stewed, and simmer it until it is perfectly done, but not so as to fall into fragments. Add a moderate quantity of lemon-juice or chili vinegar, an serve it very hot.
BRNGAL CURRIE POWDER.
No. 1.
Mix thoroughly the following ingredients after they have been separately reduced to the finest powder and passed through a fine hair or lawn sieve:—
6 oz. coriander seed.
3 oz. black pepper.
1 oz. cumin-seed.
1 1/2 oz. fenugreek-seed.
3/4 oz. cayenne pepper.
3 oz. best pale turmeric.
Set the powder before the fire to dry, and turn it often; then withdraw it, let it become cold, and bottle it immediately. Keep it closely corked.
Obs.—We cannot think à large proportion of black pepper a desirable addition to currie powder, as it gives a strong coarse flavour : but as it may be liked by persons who are accustomed to it, we give the preceding and the following receipt without varying either: the second appears to us the best.
Coriander-seed. . . . . 8 oz.
Chinese turmeric . . . . 4 oz.
Black pepper. . . . . . 2 oz.
Cassia . . . . . . . . 1/2 oz.
White ginger . . . . . . 1 oz.
Cayenne pepper . . . . 1/2 oz.
RISOTTO à la MILANESE.
Slice à large onion very thin, and divide it into shreds; then fry, it slowly until it is equally but not too deeply browned; take it out and strain the butter, and fry it about three ounces of rice for every person who is to partake of it. As the grain easily burns, it should be put into the butter when it begins to simmer, and be very gently coloured to a bright yellow tint over a slow fire. Add it to some good boiling broth lightly tinged with saffron, and stew it softly in a copper pan for fifteen or twenty minutes. Stir to it two or three ounces of butter mixed with a small portion of flour, a moderate seasoning of pepper or cayenne, and as much grated Parmesan cheese as will flavour it throughly. Boil the whole gently for ten minutes, and serve it very hot, at the commencement of dinner as a
potage.
Obs.—The reader should bear in mind what we have so often repeated in this volume, that rice should always
be perfectly cooked, and that it will not become tender with less than three times its bulk of liquid.
STUFATO.
(A Neapolitan Receipt.)
"Take about six pounds of the silver side of the round, and make several deep incisions in the inside, nearly through to the skin; stuff these with all kinds of savoury herbs, a good slice of lean ham, and half a small clove of garlic, all finely minced, and well mingled together; then bind and tie the meat closely round, so that the stuffing may not escape. Put four pounds of butter into o stewpan sufficiently large to contain something more than that quantity, and the beef in addition; so soon as it boils lay in the meat, let it just simmer for five or six hours, and turn it every half hour at least, that it may be equally done. Boil for twenty-five minutes three pounds of pipe maccaroni, drain it perfectly dry, and mix it with the gravy of the beef, without the butter, half a pint of very pure salad oil, and a pot of paste tomatas; mix these to amalgamation, without breaking the maccaroni; before serving up, sprinkle Parmesan cheese thickly on the maccaroni."
We insert this receipt exactly as it was given to us by a friend, at whose table the dish was served with great success to some Italian diplomatists. From our own slight experience of it, we should suppose that the excellence of the beef is quite a secondary consideration, as all its juices are drawn out by the mode of cooking, and appropriated to the maccaroni, of which we must observe that three pounds would make
too gigantic a dish to enter well, on ordinary occasions, into an English service.
We have somewhere seen directions for making the
stufato with the upper part of the sirloin, thickly larded with large, well seasoned lardoons of bacon, and then stewed in equal parts of rich gravy, and of red or of white wine.
BROILED EELS WITH SAGE. (ENTRÉE.)
(German Receipt.) Good.
Skin, open, and cleanse one fine eel (or more), cut it into finger—lengths, rub it with a mixed seasoning of salt and white pepper, and leave it for half an hour. Wipe it dry, wrap each length in sage leaves, fasten them round it with coarse thread, roll the eel in good salad oil or clarified butter, lay it on the gridiron, squeeze lemon juice over, and broil it gently until it is browned in every part. Sent to table with a sauce made of two or three ounces of butter, a tablespoonful of chili, tarragon, or common vinegar, and one of water, with a little salt; to keep this smooth, proceed as for the Norfolk sauce of
Chapter V. Broiled fish is frequently served without
any sauce. A quite simple one may supply the place of that which we have indicated above: eels being of so rich a nature, require no other.
A SWISS MAYONNAISE.
Beat half a pound of butter or cream, and then then add it very gradually to the hard-boiled yolks of six fresh eggs which have been cut into quarters, separated carefully from the whites, and pounded to perfect paste ; when these are blended into a smooth sauce add, a few drops at a time, some of the finest salad oil that can be procured, and work the mixture in the same manner as the
mayonnaise of
Chapter VI. until no particle of it remains visible : a small quantity of salt also must be thrown in, and sufficient good vinegar in very small portions, to give an agreeable acidity to the preparation. (Fresh lemon-juice might be substituted in part for this, and a little fine cayenne used with it; but though we suggest this, we adhere to our original Swiss receipt for this excellent dish, even when we think it might be slightly improved in
flavour.)
Carve very neatly two delicate boiled fowls, and trim the joints into handsome form. Lay the inferior parts upon à large plate, and spread a portion of the sauce, which should be very thick, upon them; arrange them in a flat layer in the dish in which they are to be served ; then sauce in the same way more of the joints, and arrange them symmetrically over the others. Proceed thus to build a sort of pyramid with the whole; and decorate it with the whites of the eggs, and the hearts of small lettuces cut in halves. Place these last round the base alternately with whole bantams' or plovers' eggs, boiled hard: a small slice must be cut from the large end of each of these to admit of their being placed upright. A slight branch of parsley, or other foliage may be stuck in the tops. Roast chickens divested entirely of the skin, can always be substituted for boiled ones in a
mayonnaise: they should all be separated into single joints with the exception of the wings. The quite inferior parts need not be used at all.
The same sauce rather highly flavoured with cayenne, and other condiments, and more or less, to the taste, with essence of anchovies or anchovy buttered coloured with lobster-coral, will make an excellent fish-salad, with alternate slices of lobster,—cut obliquely to increase their size,—and of cold turbot or large soles. These can be raised into a high border or chain round a dish when more convenient, and the centre filled with young fresh salad, sauced at the instant it is sent to table.
A French
mayonnaise does not vary much from the preceding, except in the composition of the sauce, for which see
Chapter VI. It should always be kept very thick. A little rich cold white sauce is sometimes mixed with it.
TENDRONS DE VEAU.
The
tendrons (or gristles) which lie under the flesh of the brisket of a breast of veal are much used in foreign countries, and frequently now in this, to supply a variety of the dishes called
entrées. When long stewed they become perfectly tender, and yield à large amount of gelatine; but they are quite devoid of flavour, and require therefore to be cooked and served with such additions as shall render them palatable.
With a very sharp knife detach the flesh from them without separating it from the joint, and turn it back, so as to allow the gristles to be divided easily from the long bones. Cut away the chine-bone from their outer edge, and then proceed first to soak them, that they may be very white, and to boil them gently for several hours,
* either quite simply, in good broth, or with additions of bacon, spice, and vegetables. Foreign cooks
braise them somewhat expensively, and then serve them in many different forms; but as they make, after all, but a rather unpretending
entrée, some economy in their preparation would generally be desirable. They may be divided at the joints, and cut obliquely into thin slices before they are stewed, when they will require but four hours simmering; or they may be left entire and braised, when they will require, while still warm, to be pressed between two dishes with a heavy weight on the top, to bring them into good shape before they are divided for table. They are then sometimes dipped into egg and bread-crumbs, and fried in thin slices of uniform size; or stewed tender, then well drained, and glazed, dished in a circle, and served with peas
à la Française in the centre, or with a thick
purée of tomatas, or of other vegetables. They are also often used to fill
vol-au-vents, for which purpose they must be kept very white, and mixed with a good
béchamel-sauce. We recommend their being highly curried, either in conjunction with plenty of vegetables, or with a portion of other meat, after they have been baked or stewed as tender as possible.
POITRINE DE VEAU GLACÉE.
(Breast of Veal Stewed and Glazed.)
When the gristles have been removed from a breast of veal, the joint will still make an excellent roast, or serve to stew or braise. Take out the long-bones,
* beat the veal with the flat side of a cleaver, or with a cutlet-bat, and when it is quite even, cut it square, and sprinkle over it a moderate seasoning of fine salt, cayenne, and mace. Make some forcemeat by either of the receipts Nos. 1, 2, 3, or 7, of
Chapter VIII., but increase the ingredients to three or four times the quantity, according to the size of the joint. Lay over the veal, or not, as is most convenient, thin slices of half-boiled bacon, or of ham; press the forcemeat into the form of a short compact
rouleau and lay it in the centre of one side of the breast; then roll it up and skewer the ends closely with small skewers, and bind the joint firmly in good form with tape or twine. When thus prepared, it may be slowly stewed in very good veal stock until it is tender quite through, and which should be
hot when is laid in; or embedded in the usual ingredients for braising (see
Chapter IX., page 180), an sent to table glazed, sauced with am
Espagnole, or other gravy, and garnished with carrots
à la Windsor (see page 335), or with sweet-bread cutlets, also glazed.
BREAST OF VEAL. SIMPLY STEWED.†
Omit the forcemeat from the preceding receipt, and stew the joint tender in good veal broth, or shin of beef stock. Drain, and dish it. Pour a little rich gravy round it, and garnish it with nicely fried balls of the forcemeat No 1,
Chapter VIII., or with mushroom-forcemeat (No. 7). Mushroom-sauce is always an excellent accompaniment to a joint of veal. The liquor in which the breast is stewed or braised is too fat to serve as sauce until it has been cooled and cleared. The veal can be cooked without boning, but will have but an indifferent appearance. It should in that case be slowly brought to boil, and very gently simmered : about two hours and a half will stew it tender. The sweetbread, after being scalded, may be stewed with it for half the time, and served upon it.
Obs.—The breast without the gristles, boned and filled with forcemeat, makes a superior roast. It may also be boiled on occasion, and served with balls of oyster-forcemeat in the dish; or with white mushroom-sauce instead.
COMPOTE DE PIGEONS (STEWED PIGEONS.)
The French in much of their cookery use more bacon than would generally be suited to a very delicate taste, we think. This bacon, from being cured without saltpetre, and from not being smoked, rather resembles salt pork in flavour: we explain this that the reader may, when so disposed, adapt the receipts we give here to an English table by omitting it. Cut into dice from half to three quarters of a pound of streaked bacon, and fry it gently in à large stewpan with a morsel of butter until it is very highly browned; lift it out, and put in three or four young pigeons trussed as for boiling. When they have become firm, and lightly coloured, lift them out, and stir à large tablespoonful of flour to the fat. When this thickening (
roux) is also slightly browned, add gradually to it a pint, or something more, of boiling veal-stock or strong broth; put back the birds and the bacon, with a few small button-onions when their flavour is liked, and stew the whole very gently for three quarters of an hour. Dish the pigeons neatly with the bacon and onions laid between them; skim all the fat from the sauce, reduce it quickly, and strain it over them. The birds should be laid into the stewpan with the breasts downwards.
The third, or half of a pottle of small mushrooms is sometimes added to this dish. It may be converted into a
compote aux petits pois by adding to the pigeons when the broth, in which they are laid, first begin to boil, a pint and a half of young peas. For these, a ping and a quarter, at the least, of liquid will be required, and a full hour's stewing. The economist can substitute water for the broth. When the birds can be had at little cost, one, two, or more, according to circumstances, should be stewed down to make broth or sauce for the others.
Obs.—Pigeons are excellent filled with the mushrooms
au beurre, of page 329, and either roasted or stewed. To broil them proceed as directed for partridge (French receipt), page 290.
MAI TRANK (MAY-DRINK).
(German.)
Put into à large deep jug one pint of light white wine to two of red, and dissolve it in sufficient sugar to sweeten it agreeably. Wipe a sound China orange, cut it in rather thick slices, without paring it, and add it to the wine; then throw in some small bunches or faggots of the fragrant little plant called
woodruff; cover the jug closely to exclude the air and leave it until the following day. Serve it to all
May-day visitors. One orange will be sufficient for three pints of wine. The woodruff should be washed and well drained before it is thrown into the jug; and the quantity of it used should not be
very large, or the flavour of the beverage will be rather injured than improved by it. We have tried this receipt on a small scale with lemon-rind instead of oranges, and the mixture was very agreeable. Rheinish wine should properly be used for it; but this is expensive in England. The woodruff is more odorous when dried gradually in the shade than when it is fresh gathered, and imparts a peasant fragrance to linen, as lavender does. It grows wild in Kent, Surrey, and other parts of England, and flourishes in many suburban gardens in the neighbourhood of London.
A VIENNESE SOUFFLÉ-PUDDING, CALLED SALZBURGER NOCKERL.
At the moment of going to press, we have received direct from Vienna the following receipt, which we cannot resist offering to the reader for trial, as we are assured that the dish is one of the most delicate and delicious soufflé-puddings that can be made.
(A) Take butter, four ounces; sugar in powder, three ounces; fine flour, one ounce and a half or two ounces; and the yellow of eight eggs; beat these together in a convenient sized basin till the mixture gets frothy. (The butter should probably first be beaten to cream.)
(B) Beat to snow the whites of the eight eggs.
(C) Take three pounds (or pints) of new milk, put it in an open stewpan over a gentle fire, and let it boil.
(D) Next, prepare a china casserole (enamelled stewpan — a copper one will do) by greasing its internal surface.
As soon as the milk boils, mix gently
a and
b together, and with a small spoon take portions of this shape and size and lay them over the surface of the boiling milk till it is entirely covered with them. Let them boil for four or five minutes to cook them; then put them in convenient order on the ground of the greased
casserole (stewpan). Go on putting in the same manner small portions of the mixture on the surface of the boiling milk, and when cooked, place a new layer of them in the stewpan over the first; and continue the same operation until the mixture is all consumed. Take now the remainder of the milk, and add it to the beaten bellow (yolks) of two eggs, some sugar, and some powdered vanilla. Pour this over the cooked pastry in the stewpan, and set it into a gently heated oven. Leave it there until it gets brown; then powder it with vanilla-sugar, and send it to the table.
Author's Note.—The preceding directions were written by a physician of Vienna, at whose table the dish was served. It was turned out of the casserole, and served with the greatest expedition; but we think it would perhaps answer more generally here, to bake it in a
soufflé dish, and to leave it undisturbed. We would also suggest, that the yolk of a third egg might sometimes be needed to bind the mixture well tougher. A good and experienced cook would easily ascertain the best mode of ensuring the success of the preparation.
We must observe, that the form of the enamelled
stewpans made commonly in this country prevents their being well adapted for use in the present receipt : those of copper are better suited to it.
Half the proportion of the ingredients might, by way of experiment, be prepared and baked in a tart-dish, as our puddings frequently are; or in a small round cake mould, with a band of writing paper fastened round the top.
The vanilla sugar is prepared by cutting the bean up small, and pounding it with some sugar in a mortar, and then passing it through a very fine sieve.
The "cooked portion" of which the soufflé is principally composed are the shape, and about half the size of the inside of an egg-spoon. If somewhat larger, they would
possibly answer as well.
