Although at first I had some difficulty with this receipt, I can now see the variety to which it leads, as the same process answers for fowls, green geese, ducklings, pheasants, grouse, partridges, &c., using game with the veal or pork for the interior, and stewing them according to their size, the bones of game being stewed with the stock would give the flavor to the savory jelly.
608. _To Clarify Meat Jelly._--Having pa.s.sed the stock (made as in the last) through a sieve into a basin, leave it until quite cold; then take off all the fat very carefully, ascertain if sufficiently or too stiff by putting a small piece upon ice; savory jelly requires to be rather stiffer than sweet, if too stiff add a little more broth, if the contrary, the stock must be reduced upon the fire until of the proper consistency. When the stock is boiling, and you are perfectly a.s.sured of its strength, have the white of four eggs with their sh.e.l.ls in a basin, with half a pint of water, two spoonfuls of tarragon or common vinegar, and a gla.s.s of sherry, whisk all together; then whisk the stock quickly a few seconds, and pour in the other ingredients whilst whisking, continue whisking a few minutes until again upon the point but not boiling; then take it from the fire, and taste if palatable, place a cover upon the stewpan, which stand a little distance from the fire, putting a few red-hot cinders upon the lid for five minutes, tie a napkin by the four corners upon a jelly stand, through which pa.s.s the jelly, having a basin beneath to catch it, pour the first that runs through again into the napkin until it runs quite clear; when all through, pour it in a plain mould or saute-pan, which place upon ice until the jelly is quite firm; then dip the bottom of the mould in hot water, turn the jelly out upon a cloth, and cut it into whatever shapes you please, to garnish and ornament any cold savory dish; the jelly when warm might be divided, one part kept white, and the other colored with a little brown gravy or coloring, thus enabling you to variegate in garnishing.
Should the jelly be required to ornament tongues, hams, pies, salads, or any article when no galantine is made; then to make the stock, cut the veal into small pieces, and split the calf"s foot in two, put a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter in a convenient-sized stewpan, with the veal, foot, a small piece of lean ham, and the other ingredients as directed for galantine, pour in half a pint of water, put on the lid and stand it upon the fire until the bottom of the stewpan is covered with a white glaze; then add a gallon of water, let simmer three hours, keeping it well skimmed; then pa.s.s and clarify as above.
The knuckle of veal and foot may be served hot with a little parsley and b.u.t.ter, for a dinner previous to your party, with a little fried bacon separately, but for my own part I prefer them plain as they leave the stewpan.
609. _Cold Ham._--Procure a very nice but small ham of about nine pounds in weight, which soak about ten hours in cold water, and simmer three hours in plenty of water; when done, take out and let remain until cold; then cut off the skin as thinly as possible, but without leaving the marks of it; let a piece remain upon the knuckle about two inches and a half in breadth, which either festoon or vand.y.k.e, carve the fat neatly to form a sh.e.l.l, and glaze it over lightly, serve with a paper frill upon the knuckle, and garnish with savory jelly, or if plain with a few bunches of fresh green parsley. A handful of fresh hay put in the water when boiling is an improvement.
610. _Cold Tongue._--Boil a nice ox tongue for three hours, and, when done, take off all the skin, and truss it of a good shape, by placing the root against some fixture, and running a fork through the middle of the thin part into the board upon which it stands; when cold trim and glaze it lightly over, cutting off the greater part of the root, place it upon a dish, garnished either with savory jelly or fresh sprigs of parsley.
611. _Galantine of Veal._--When I do not like to go to the expense of a turkey or other poultry for a galantine, I procure a small breast of veal, and take out the tendons, which I stew; take out the remaining bones, and trim the meat to about fifteen inches in length and eight in width, using the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs for a ragout; season the interior of the breast, and proceed to lay on the forcemeat veal, ham, and bacon, as directed for the galantine of turkey, roll and sew it up, tie in a cloth, braise, and afterwards press it in precisely the same manner; when quite cold, glaze it nicely and serve, garnished with savory jelly; or, if for a large supper, six or eight small dishes might be made from it by cutting it into thin slices crosswise, and dressing six pieces in a border upon each dish, with a little jelly in the middle, or if no jelly, a sprig of parsley or water-cresses; but if served in the latter way, I introduce two ounces of blanched pistachios. When making the galantine, of course, the dishes must be placed at a distance from each other at various parts of the table. I have also made a galantine of a shoulder of lamb in the same way, previously taking out the bones.
612. _Cold Fillet of Veal._--Roast braise as No. 358; when cold, trim neatly, and garnish with jelly or parsley.
A loin of veal larded through the fleshy part with raw ham, and fat bacon, and roasted as above, makes a very delicate dish.
A small shoulder of veal might be boned the same as a shoulder of lamb, and made into a galantine.
613. _Ribs of Beef larded._--Choose a piece of beef with about four ribs, and cut very long, carefully take away the bones, lard the fleshy part through with strips of fat bacon, well seasoned with pepper, salt, and chopped parsley; spread some veal stuffing over, and roll it round, keeping the stuffing in the interior, tie it up with string, and roast in vegetables as in the last article, leaving it to cool in the vegetables; when cold, glaze and serve, garnished with sprigs of parsley.
The beef well rubbed with garlic and well seasoned with salt and pepper, previous to spreading on the stuffing, would be a great improvement.
I sometimes leave the bones in the meat, lard the fleshy part, and afterwards roast it in vegetables to serve cold.
614. _Pressed Beef._--Procure a piece of brisket of beef, cut off the bones, and salt it as directed (No. 615), but adding a little extra sal prunella to the brine and a little spice; let the beef remain in pickle rather better than a week: when ready to cook, roll it round, tie it in a cloth, and let it simmer gently in plenty of water, about seven hours if a whole one, but four hours if only the thin end; when done take it up, remove the string, and tie the cloth at each end, put it upon a dish with another dish over, upon which place half a hundred-weight, leaving it until quite cold, then take the meat from the cloth, trim and glaze it lightly, and serve garnished with a few sprigs of fresh parsley.
615. _Pickle for Beef a la Garrick._--Take twenty pounds of salt, three quarters of a pound of saltpetre, four cakes of sal prunella, two pounds of moist sugar, two cloves of garlic, with which rub the meat well, and leave it rather more than a week, rubbing and turning it over every day.
This pickle is adapted for anything that is required red.
616. _Spiced Beef._--Procure a piece of thin flank of beef about ten pounds in weight, which salt as the last for about a week; when ready, split it open with a knife and lay it out flat upon a dresser, having previously prepared six onions chopped very fine, with about ten sprigs of parsley, and the leaves of ten sprigs of thyme, the same of marjoram, two ounces of mixed spice (without cinnamon), and half an ounce of black pepper, mix altogether, spread half upon the beef as it lays before you, then fold it over to its original shape, lay on the remainder of the preparation, roll it up tightly in a cloth, boil, press, and serve as directed in the last article.
617. _Pig"s Head in imitation of Wild Boar"s Head._--This you will say is not only a difficult dish to do, but a very expensive one.
You are right when you are obliged to buy the pig to possess the head; but in a small farm-house where they kill a pig perhaps once a year at Christmas, the head can be very easily cut off for this purpose. Being on a visit some years since at a farm-house, I had the opportunity of having one, and trying my skill upon it; it was much approved of, both for its ferocious appearance, and its flavor, and it lasted good for three weeks.
The following is the way you should do it: procure the head with as much of the neck attached to it as possible (the hog must have been stabbed in the neck, not hit on the head as that would have broken the skull); then singe it well over the flame of a fire, then wipe it with a cloth, sc.r.a.pe well with a knife without scratching the skin, and place it on a cloth upon its skull; open it very carefully without piercing the skin, leaving no flesh whatever upon the bones; bone the neck of the pig, and cut it into small fillets two inches long, place the head on a board and rub it with half a pound of brown sugar, let it remain for one hour; then place it in a salting tub, and throw over it six pounds of salt, place in two quarts of ale, four bay-leaves, half an ounce of peppercorns, a quarter ditto of cloves, six blades of mace, eight sliced onions, ten sprigs of thyme, ten of winter savory, and two sliced carrots; stir it well up, and let it remain for two hours; then pour over the head, which turn every day for eight or ten days, rubbing it well; when sufficiently salted, take it out and dry it on a cloth, lay the head straight before you, skin side upwards; have ready six or eight pounds of forcemeat, but using pork instead of veal, with which cover the head an inch in thickness at the thinnest part; put the fillets cut from the neck in a layer lengthwise in the head, with a long piece of fat bacon, half an inch square, between each, sprinkle a little chopped eschalots, pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg over, and continue filling with forcemeat and the other ingredients until you have used the whole, finishing by covering forcemeat over; join the two cheeks together with the above in the interior, sew it up with pack-thread, giving it the shape of the head as much as possible, and fold it in one or two large thin cloths, leaving the ears out and upright.
_Braise_ as follows: Put half a pound of b.u.t.ter in a large braising-pan or stock-pot, over which put four pounds of tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of pork or knuckle of veal, eight onions, two carrots, four turnips, eight bay-leaves, a tablespoonful of peppercorns, twelve cloves, ten sprigs of thyme, ten of marjoram, four blades of mace, half a bottle of bucellas wine, and four calf"s feet, place it upon a sharp fire, stirring it occasionally, until the bottom is covered with a clearish glaze, then add four gallons of water and half a pound of salt; when boiling draw it to the corner of the stove, skim, and put in the head, the ears uppermost, and let simmer seven or eight hours, or according to the size and age of the pig; but the better plan would be to try it with a trussing-needle; if tender it is done; skim the stock, in which leave the head until half cold, when take it out, partly undo the cloths, and tie it again tighter if possible, and press it in a cover or upon a baking-sheet with three flat pieces of wood, one at each side, with a weight against them, and one upon the top between the ears, on which place a fourteen pounds weight, let it remain all night until quite cold, when take it out of the cloths, detach the thread it was sewn up with, cut a piece an inch in thickness from behind the ears (from which part it must be carved in as thin slices as possible), it will have a marbled appearance; trim the head a little, setting the ears in a proper position, glaze it with a brownish glaze, form the eyes with a little lard and a few black currants round, and the tusks with paste, baking them; have some very fresh tulips and roses, which stick tastefully in the ears and some around, but leaving s.p.a.ce to carve; garnish boldly with croutons, aspic, made from the stock clarified as directed (No.
608); the meat and the calf"s foot may be used for different dishes, see receipts.
The second one I had I boiled plainer, merely a little salt and a few vegetables; it was very good, but not so rich in flavor as the other; thus saving expense and trouble. They should be eaten with the following sauce:
_Boar"s Head Sauce._--Cut the rind (free from pith) of two Seville oranges into very thin strips half an inch in length, which blanch in boiling water, drain them upon a sieve, and put them into a basin, with a spoonful of mixed English mustard, four of currant jelly, a little pepper, salt (mix well together), and half a pint of good port wine.
LETTER No. XV
DEAR ELOISE,--To you, who are so fond of lobster, the following receipt will, I am confident, prove most valuable. To make sure of its quality, buy one heavy in proportion to its size; or, perhaps, _entre nous_, you would prefer to wait until a friend presented you with one.
LOBSTER.--This fish, which is continually before our eyes, and only looked upon as an article of food, is, without doubt, one of the wonders of the creation. A creature dest.i.tute of bones, yet furnished with a stomach capable of digesting the hardest substances, even its own sh.e.l.l, which it doffs once a year, when it is too small for it; without blood circulating through its body, yet strong and active. This is only one of those wonders of the mighty deep that we cannot but regard with awe and veneration, and yet the princ.i.p.al interest they do excite is when we visit a sh.e.l.l-fish shop to choose the largest and best for the smallest price. They are, without doubt, a very nourishing aliment, and are by many supposed to have a particular season, but which I believe not to be the case, as I have known them in and out of season on the same ground. When out of season, the pea or sp.a.w.n is very large, and about being hatched; immediately after which it sheds its sh.e.l.l, and not its stomach, as is by many supposed. When in season, and fine-flavored, it should have no sp.a.w.n, or very little, under the tail; and when its body is squeezed between the fingers it should not give, but be hard; its weight will also be a test, as it is a fish which wastes very much when kept long alive without food: great care must be observed in the boiling of it. A number should be placed at one time in a basket, and that placed in boiling water, adding half a pound of salt to every gallon of water, with a heavy weight upon it; if overdone, they eat tough and thready; if underdone, unwholesome and unpalatable. One weighing a pound will take fifteen minutes, and so on in proportion.
618. _Gratin of Lobster._--Procure a good-sized lobster, cut it in half, detaching the head from the body; take out all the meat, and save the four sh.e.l.ls; cut the meat into slices, then take a teaspoonful of chopped eschalots in a stewpan, with a piece of b.u.t.ter the size of two walnuts, pa.s.s them a few minutes over the fire, add a tablespoonful of flour (mix well in), half a pint of milk, stir over the fire, boiling about five minutes, then add the lobster, which season with a little cayenne, salt, chopped parsley, and essence of anchovies; stand it again upon the fire, stirring until boiling, then stir in the yolk of an egg; take off the fire, fill the sh.e.l.ls of the lobster, sprinkle bread-crumbs over, with a little b.u.t.ter, put in the oven for twenty minutes; dish on a napkin and serve. To give it a nice color, use the salamander.
619. _Miroton Salad of Lobster._--Prepare and ornament a border of eggs, like for that of game, put a thick layer of fresh salad in the centre, and dress over it in a crown, the lobster interspersed with slices of eggs and gherkins. The lobster must be divided in two across the back, extract the meat carefully out of it, and cut it in a round or slanting direction to the thickness of a crown piece, break the claws and cut the same way, and place on salad as above, so as to form a thick crown near the border of eggs, then take the interior of the lobster, pound it and pa.s.s it through a fine sieve, add to your sauce.
Any other kind of fish, as cod fish, &c., when cold, cut or break them in slices, lay them in a basin, season over with salt, pepper, nutmeg, slices of onion, parsley, a little oil and vinegar; put it in two hours before serving, and proceed as for lobster.
If there is any fish left from the previous day, I always make a salad of it, particularly in summer; there are many who object to so much oil, in which case it may be diminished.
620. _Salad Tartar._--Make as usual the border of eggs and sauce, lay the salad in the middle and the lobster over, which has been previously cut in slices; pour over some of the same sauce as above, having added a tablespoonful of French mustard to it. Gherkins cut in slices, and a few stoned olives.
621. _Plain Salad._--Take a lobster and any kind of salad, wash it well, dry in a cloth, cut the lobster up in a salad-bowl, sprinkle over it a teaspoonful of salt, half that of pepper, one of chopped tarragon or chervil, or parsley, if nothing better, four tablespoonfuls of oil, and two of common vinegar, but only one and a half if French, add the salad, stir lightly round with a wooden knife and fork, and it is ready.
622. _Lobster served plain._--Break the tail from the body, cut the tail in two lengthwise, put the body in the middle of the dish, lay the half tail top and bottom, and the claws on the side; the sh.e.l.l previously broken, but not disfigured, and serve double parsley round.
623. _Lobster Salad._--Dress a border of hard-boiled eggs, as directed in salad of game (No. 628), fill the centre with some nice fresh salad, then take the flesh from a middling-sized lobster, which cut into as large slices as possible, which put into a basin, and season with a little pepper, salt, oil, and vinegar, after which dress them pyramidically upon the salad, and have ready the following sauce: put the yolks of two fresh eggs in a basin, with the yolk of a hard-boiled one rubbed through a sieve, add half a saltspoonful of salt, and half that quant.i.ty of white pepper, and commence stirring round with a wooden spoon with the right hand, holding a bottle of salad oil in the left, dropping it in by degrees and continually stirring, and when becoming thickish add a couple of spoonfuls of common vinegar by degrees, still keeping it stirred, then more oil, proceeding thus until you have used three parts of a pint of oil, and a corresponding quant.i.ty of vinegar, by continually working, it will form a stiffish cream-looking sauce perfectly smooth; add a little more seasoning if required, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, with half that quant.i.ty of chopped eschalots, pour over the lobster and serve. Should the sauce curdle in making, the operation must be again performed, putting a yolk of an egg into another basin, working it with a little oil until forming a stiffish paste, when stir in the curdled sauce by degrees until the whole becomes smooth; always choose a cool place to make it in.
624. _Fish Salads._--All fish salads are made precisely as in the last, but with the exception of fillets of sole salad, are made from the remains of fish from a previous dinner, especially turbot and salmon; but for fillets of soles they must be dressed thus:--
When filleted, melt an ounce of b.u.t.ter in a saute-pan, lay the fillets in, season with pepper and salt, and the juice of half a lemon; saute them on a slow fire until done, which may be from four to five minutes, and put by to get cold; cut in middle-sized pieces, and use as lobster.
625. _New Mayonnaise Sauce._--Put a quarter of a pint of melted aspic upon ice in a stewpan, which keep whisking until becoming a white froth, then add half a pint of salad oil and six spoonfuls of tarragon vinegar, by degrees, first oil and then vinegar, continually whisking until it forms a white smooth sauce, to all appearance like a cream; season with half a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter ditto of pepper, and a little sugar, whisk it a little more, and it is ready to serve; it is usually dressed pyramidically over the article it is served with. The advantage of this sauce (which is more delicate than any other) is, that you may dress it to any height you like and it will remain so for a long time; if the temperature is not too hot it will remain hours without melting or appearing greasy.
626. _Tartar Sauce._--Rub the yolk of a cold hard-boiled egg through a hair sieve into a basin, to which add the yolks of two raw eggs, with a little salt and pepper; mix all together with a wooden spoon; have a pint of good salad oil in a bottle, hold it with the left hand over the basin, dropping it in very gradually, and with the right continue stirring it round until it becomes rather thick, then moisten it with a little tarragon vinegar, still keeping it stirred, then more oil, and so on until you have used all the oil, keeping it rather thick; then add a tablespoonful of finely chopped gherkins, half a ditto of chopped capers, half a ditto of chopped eschalots, and the same of chopped parsley, two of French mustard, a little cayenne pepper, sugar, and more salt if required; it is then ready for use. This sauce requires to be rather highly seasoned. Common vinegar may be used.