BOUILLABAISSE
Cut into pieces and remove the bones from three pounds of fish, add six shrimps or one lobster or two crabs, cooked, and cut into large pieces; add one-half pint of olive-oil; fry lightly, and add one lemon and two tomatoes, one onion, and one carrot, all sliced, one pinch of saffron--as much as lies on a ten-cent piece,--a bay-leaf, and some parsley. A bean of garlic is used, unless the ca.s.serole is rubbed with it before cooking. Stir for ten minutes, add one cupful of stock and one winegla.s.sful of white wine or cider. Cook for fifteen minutes longer, pour out into a bowl, place slices of toast in the ca.s.serole, and cover with the fish and vegetables, allowing the sauce sufficient time to soak into the toast, and adding salt and pepper to taste.
FISH CHOPS
Mix cold cooked fish with a little very thick Cream Sauce, and season with lemon-juice and minced parsley. Shape into chops, dip in egg and crumbs, and fry in deep fat. Stick a small piece of macaroni in the small end of each chop to represent the bone. Serve with Tartar Sauce.
FISH a LA CReOLE
Chop an onion and a clove of garlic and fry in lard. Add three tablespoonfuls of flour, cook and stir until brown, and add one can of strained tomatoes. Have the fish cut into convenient pieces for serving, dredge with seasoned flour, and saute in b.u.t.ter until brown.
Pour the sauce over, simmer until done, and serve.
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY WAYS TO COOK MEAT AND POULTRY
_BEEF_
BROILED SIRLOIN STEAK
Have the steak cut thick and trim off the tough end. Broil carefully on a b.u.t.tered gridiron, dot with b.u.t.ter, and serve.
BEEFSTEAK WITH FRENCH-FRIED ONIONS
Slice the onions thin, season with salt and pepper, and dredge thoroughly with flour. Put into a frying-basket and plunge into deep fat. Fry brown and crisp, drain, and serve with broiled steak.
STEAK BORDELAISE
Select a thick steak and broil carefully on a b.u.t.tered gridiron. Chop a peeled clove of garlic very fine, or grate it. It cannot be too fine. Mix with three times the quant.i.ty of parsley finely minced and made to a smooth paste with melted b.u.t.ter. Spread over the steak and put in the oven for two minutes before serving.
BEEFSTEAK WITH OYSTER BLANQUETTE
Heat one quart of oysters with their own liquor, skim, and cook until the edges of the oysters curl. Thicken with flour cooked in b.u.t.ter, pour over a broiled steak, and serve very hot.
BEEFSTEAK WITH FRIED BANANAS
Broil the steak and put on the serving-platter. Dot with b.u.t.ter, sprinkle with minced parsley, and surround with bananas cut into quarters lengthwise and fried in b.u.t.ter. The bananas may be baked in the oven, basting with b.u.t.ter and sugar.
FRIED HAMBURG STEAK
Season chopped raw beef with grated onion, salt, minced sweet pepper and minced parsley. Mix with raw egg to bind and shape into flat cakes. Roll in crumbs, saute in b.u.t.ter or drippings, and serve with Tomato Sauce.
SPANISH STEAK
Chop two large onions fine and fry brown in b.u.t.ter. Fry a flank steak in the same fat, seasoning with pepper only. Take up, put into a b.u.t.tered baking-pan or ca.s.serole, sprinkle with salt, spread with onion, pour over a can of tomatoes, and add a green pepper seeded and shredded. Cover tightly and cook slowly for an hour or more. Thicken the remaining liquid with browned flour to make a gravy.
STEWED STEAK WITH OYSTERS
Have two pounds of rump steak cut into small squares. Fry brown in b.u.t.ter, take up the meat, and cook a tablespoonful of flour in the fat remaining in the pan. Add a cupful of water or stock and the liquor drained from one pint of oysters. Cook until smooth and thick, stirring constantly, and put the steak into the sauce. Cover and cook until the steak is tender, then add a pint of oysters and cook until the edges curl. Take from the fire, add a tablespoonful of lemon-juice, and serve.
BRAISED FLANK STEAK
Pound a large flank steak flat. Make a dressing of seasoned crumbs and chopped salt pork or suet, moistening with melted b.u.t.ter or beaten egg. Spread on the steak, roll up, and tie in shape. Cut fine a carrot, a turnip, an onion, and a small bunch of parsley. Spread the roll of meat thickly with b.u.t.ter, season with pepper and salt and pour over and cook slowly in a very hot oven. Rub the vegetables through a sieve, skim off the fat, and make gravy, adding more stock or water if required.
STUFFED FLANK STEAK
Pound a large flank steak flat. Make a stuffing of equal parts of sausage meat and bread crumbs, seasoning with minced onion and thyme.
Roll up, tie into shape, brown in hot fat, cover with stock or water, and let simmer for two hours. Skim and strain the gravy, thicken with flour browned in b.u.t.ter or in a little of the fat, season with mushroom catsup, and pour over the meat or serve separately.
STUFFED PRESSED STEAK
Pound a large round steak flat and tender. Spread with highly seasoned stuffing, roll into shape, and sew tightly in cheese-cloth. Boil for three hours, in salted water, take out and press under a heavy weight until cold. Take off the cloth, cut in thin slices, and serve with horseradish or made mustard.
ROAST BEEF
Have a rib roast of beef cut standing--that is, with the bones left in. Put into a hot oven without seasoning and when the outside is seared enough to prevent the escape of the juices, reduce the heat and cook slowly until done, basting frequently with the dripping. During the last half hour of cooking, dredge with salt, pepper, and flour.
Skim the drippings and thicken for gravy, adding more liquid if required.
POT ROAST
Put a round of beef into a deep pot, add a small onion sliced, and a cupful of boiling water. Cover and cook slowly, allowing ten minutes to the pound. Take up the meat, rub with b.u.t.ter, dredge with flour, and brown it in a hot oven. Strain the gravy left in the pan, season with salt, pepper, and mushroom catsup, and thicken with flour browned in b.u.t.ter. Pour over the meat and serve.
ReCHAUFFe OF BEEF a L"ESPAGNOLE
Cook together a can of tomatoes, a chopped onion, half a dozen sweet green peppers, seeded and cut into rings, and a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter. Simmer for an hour. Reheat in the sauce thin slices of rare roast beef and thicken with one or two beaten eggs.
CANNELON OF BEEF