FIFTH OR SEVENTH COURSE
ENTRÉES
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ENTRÉES
Rissoles
Vol-au-vent
Sweetbreads, Baked
Sweetbreads, Glazed
Sweetbreads, Coquilles of
Calf’s Brains à la Poulette
Calf’s Brains à l’Aurore
Calf’s Brains with Hollandaise Sauce
Calf’s Brains with Black Butter
Croquettes
Timbales of Chicken
Timbales of Liver
Mushrooms, Baked
Mushrooms, Stuffed
Tomatoes, Stuffed
Green Peppers, Stuffed
Baked Tomatoes and Fontage Cups
Jardinière
Vegetarian Dish
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[Illustration: NO. 49. RISSOLES.]
RISSOLES
Roll puff paste about one eighth of an inch thick. Put a teaspoonful of
meat of any kind at intervals on the paste, about three inches from the
edge. Moisten the paste around the meat-ball, fold over the paste, and
press it lightly around the meat. Stamp it with a fluted biscuit-cutter
into half circles, leaving the meat on the straight side and an inch of
paste around the meat on the round side. Egg the top and bake from
fifteen to twenty minutes in a hot oven.
[Illustration: NO. 50. VOL-AU-VENT.]
VOL-AU-VENT
Roll puff paste (see page 154) three quarters of an inch to an inch in
thickness. Stamp it with a cutter, or if this is not convenient use a
tin, of the size desired, for a gage; lay the tin lightly on the paste,
and with a sharp knife cut around it with a quick, firm stroke so as to
press the paste as little as possible; then with a sharp-pointed knife
cut a ring around the form, leaving a border about an inch wide, and do
not let the knife penetrate the paste more than an eighth of an inch.
Brush the top with the yolk of an egg, diluted with a little water, and
set it away to cool. Bake it in a hot oven as directed for puff paste
for thirty minutes, and do not open the oven door during the first
fifteen minutes. It should rise to about three times its original
thickness. When it is well dried and a good light-brown color, remove it
from the oven and let it stand for a few minutes, then carefully lift
out the centerpiece and remove all the uncooked paste. Set it in the
oven again to dry the inside. The uncooked pieces can also be returned
to the oven for a few minutes, and when dry be put back into the shell.
Although puff paste is better when used at once, it will keep very well
for several days, and will be perfectly crisp and tender if well heated
in the oven just before being used.
When ready to serve fill the center with any salpicon, place the little
cover on top, and set the vol-au-vent on a lace-paper. The filling must
not be put in until just before sending it to the table, as it will
soften the pastry if it stands in it for any length of time.
SALPICON
For filling vol-au-vent or patty shells.
Salpicon is made of cooked chicken, sweetbreads, veal, or calf’s brains
cut into small dice, mixed with mushrooms, a little chopped truffle and
chopped tongue. One meat alone, or a combination of two or more, may be
used. The mixture is then combined with enough good sauce to make it
creamy. A white sauce should be used with white meats; a brown sauce
when the dark meat and livers of chicken are used. (See “Century Cook
Book,” pages 80-299.)
A plain white sauce is made as follows: Put a tablespoonful of butter in
a saucepan. When the butter is hot add a tablespoonful of flour and cook
them together for a few minutes, not letting them brown; remove from the
fire and add a cupful of stock. Add the liquor very slowly at first,
stirring constantly to keep it smooth. Return the sauce to the fire, add
a teaspoonful of salt, a quarter teaspoonful of pepper, and a little
cream, if convenient. Stir constantly until the sauce is thickened.
Lastly, add the beaten yolks of one or two eggs to the sauce after it
has been taken off the fire.
SWEETBREADS
Sweetbreads are the thymus gland and the pancreas of calves and lambs.
They are commonly called by butchers the throat and the stomach, or
heart, sweetbreads. The former is the larger, the latter is the whiter,
rounder, and more delicate.
TO PREPARE SWEETBREADS
Soak the sweetbreads in cold water for two hours, changing the water
several times. Put them on the fire in cold water. When they are
whitened and firm to the touch, or parboiled, remove and immerse them
again in cold water to blanch them. Remove all the pipes, fibers, and
fatty substance. Roll each one in a piece of cheese-cloth, draw the
cloth tight and tie it at the ends, pressing the sweetbread into an oval
shape. Place them under a light weight for several hours.
[Illustration: NO. 51. BAKED SWEETBREADS WITH SALT PORK ON TOP.]
BAKED SWEETBREADS
Parboil and blanch the sweetbreads. Marinate them by standing them for
two hours in a mixture of one beaten egg, a teaspoonful of onion juice,
one half teaspoonful of salt, one quarter teaspoonful of pepper, and one
tablespoonful of chopped parsley. Turn them in the marinade occasionally
so they will absorb the seasoning. Roll them in cracker dust and place
them in a pan on very thin slices of salt pork, and place a thin slice
of pork on top of each one. Bake in a hot oven fifteen or twenty
minutes, or until they are tender and brown. The pork will crisp and the
sweetbread will brown around it.
Serve with a sauce made as follows: Brown a little flour in the
drippings left in the pan, then add a little water or stock, a little
lemon juice, and what is left of the marinade. Stir it until it has the
consistency of thick cream and strain it on to the platter. Place the
sweetbreads upon the sauce.
[Illustration: NO. 52. GLAZED SWEETBREADS.]
GLAZED SWEETBREADS
Place sweetbreads, prepared as directed on page 73, in a sauté-pan with
butter and a few slices of onion. Sauté them for a few minutes on both
sides, then place them in the oven to finish cooking. Put a little stock
in the baking-pan and baste them frequently to brown and glaze them.
Serve them as in illustration, or place them around a pile of green
peas.
COQUILLES OF SWEETBREADS
Parboil one pair of sweetbreads. Trim and put them under a light weight
to cool. When they are cold and firm cut them into dice. Sauté them in a
tablespoonful of butter for a few minutes, then add a cupful of button
mushrooms cut in quarters, a tablespoonful of white wine or of lemon
juice, a dash of pepper, a saltspoonful of salt, and cook them until
tender, then add a white sauce as given below, and turn over the mixture
until it is creamy. Fill shells with the mixture, cover the tops with
white bread crumbs wet with melted butter, and place them in the oven to
brown.
[Illustration: NO. 53. COQUILLES OF SWEETBREADS.]
Chicken, turkey, or veal can be used instead of sweetbreads in the same
way.
Sauce: Put a tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan; when it bubbles, add
a tablespoonful of flour. Cook the flour a few minutes, but do not let
it brown. Remove it from the fire and add, while stirring all the time,
a half cupful of stock, chicken stock preferred, a dash of nutmeg and of
pepper, and a saltspoonful of salt. Put the saucepan on the fire again
and stir until the sauce has thickened, then add two tablespoonfuls of
cream.
Any pretty bivalve shell of suitable size may be used for holding this
or other creamed mixtures. The illustration shows pecten and cardium
shells.
TO PREPARE CALF’S BRAINS
Calf’s brains, in whatever way they are to be served, must be prepared
in the following manner: Soak the brains in cold water for some time to
extract all the blood. Trim them, removing the membranes and fibers,
without breaking the brains apart. Place them in hot water with a
bay-leaf, soup vegetables, a few peppercorns, a teaspoonful of salt, and
a tablespoonful of vinegar. Cook them for half an hour, letting the
water simmer only. When done immerse them in cold water to blanch them.
CALF’S BRAINS
No. 1. =À la poulette.= Cut the brains in halves or quarters. Arrange
them in a circle around mushrooms and pour over the whole a white
sauce made partly of stock, and the beaten yolks of two eggs with
a little cream added after the sauce is taken from the fire.
Garnish with croutons or cut the brains into large dice, mix them
with the same sauce, and serve them in individual cups.
No. 2. =À l’aurore.= Cut the brains into dice; add the chopped whites of
three or four hard-boiled eggs to each pair of brains. Add a
teaspoonful of parsley chopped very fine, and a saltspoonful of
salt. Moisten with white sauce and place the mixture in a
baking-dish. Cover the top with crumbed yolks, and over the yolks
spread a thin layer of white bread crumbs wet with butter. Set the
dish in the oven to brown the crumbs.
No. 3. =With Hollandaise sauce.= Cut the brains in halves. Place each
piece on a round of bread which has been browned in butter. Pour
over the whole a Hollandaise sauce, or a white sauce to which has
been added, after taking it from the fire, the beaten yolk of an
egg and a tablespoonful of parsley chopped very fine.
No. 4. =With black butter.= Cut the brains into thick slices. Cook two
tablespoonfuls of butter in a sauté-pan until it is brown. Lay in
the slices of brains and color them on both sides. Arrange them in
a dish, sprinkle them with chopped parsley, pepper, and salt. Add
a teaspoonful of vinegar to the butter, and strain it over the
brains.
CROQUETTES
Croquettes can be made of chicken or turkey or veal, alone, but are much
nicer when the meat is mixed with sweetbreads or calf’s brains and
mushrooms. The meat mixture must be chopped very fine.
Make a sauce as follows:
Put a tablespoonful of butter and a half teaspoonful of onion juice into
a saucepan. When it bubbles add two tablespoonfuls of flour and cook it
a few minutes without browning, then add slowly, so as to keep it
smooth,
A cupful of jellied stock,
1 teaspoonful of salt,
1 saltspoonful of pepper,
A dash of paprika,
A dash of celery salt,
A dash of nutmeg.
Cook until the sauce has thickened a little. Remove it from the fire,
stir in a beaten egg and two cupfuls of minced meat. Turn it on to a tin
platter and place it on the ice to set.
[Illustration: NO. 54. CHICKEN CROQUETTES.]
[Illustration: NO. 55. TIMBALES OF CHICKEN.]
When the mixture is set mold the croquettes into shapes pointed at one
end. Cover them with egg diluted with a very little water, to break the
stringiness of the whites, then cover them with bread crumbs. Crumbs
grated from the loaf give a better color than dried crumbs composed
partly of crusts. Fry the croquettes in smoking-hot fat to a light-brown
color, and until a thin crust is formed. Place them on paper in the open
oven to dry and keep hot until all are fried. Arrange them symmetrically
on a platter and stick a paper frill into the pointed end of each one.
These frills are fastened to a little stick. They can be bought at
confectioners’.
It is important to use for the sauce stock which jellies, as it hardens
the mixture and makes it easy to mold, while it softens when the
croquettes are fried, making them very creamy. Stock will jelly if a
knuckle of veal is used in making it. If jellied stock is not at hand,
put a level teaspoonful of soaked gelatine into a cupful of any stock or
of milk.
CHICKEN TIMBALES
Lay raw chicken breasts on a board and scrape off the meat, thus
separating it from the large fibers. Put the scraped meat in a mortar
with the white of an egg and pound it to separate it still more from the
fibers, then rub it through a purée sieve.
Soak some crumb of bread with milk, stir it to a smooth paste, and cook
it until it leaves the sides of the pan. This makes a panada.
Take a half cupful of the fine chicken meat, a quarter of a cupful of
panada, one egg, a half teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper and of
nutmeg. Beat them all well together, then fold in lightly a half cupful
of cream whipped to a stiff froth.
This quantity of material will make six individual timbales.
Butter the timbale molds well, ornament them with slices of truffle cut
into fancy shapes, or with chopped truffle sprinkled over the surface.
Put the mixture into the molds carefully with a small spoon so as not to
disarrange the decoration, and fill them to within a quarter of an inch
of the top. Set them in a pan of hot water. Cover them with a greased
paper and poach them in the oven for five to eight minutes, or until
they are firm to the touch.
Turn the timbales on to a flat dish and pour around them a white sauce
made with chicken stock and the yolks of two eggs diluted with two
tablespoonfuls of cream added the last thing. (See Allemande and
Poulette sauces, “Century Cook Book,” pages 279-280.)
LIVER TIMBALES
Cut two pounds of liver into large pieces and rub them through a grater.
Moisten a half cupful of crumbs of bread and a half cupful of flour with
a cupful of milk.
Fry the slices of half an onion in a tablespoonful of butter until they
are tender, then remove them and turn into the pan the mixture of bread,
flour, and milk. Stir until it is cooked to a smooth paste.
Put into a bowl two cupfuls of liver pulp, the bread paste, a
teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper, and a dash of paprika.
Mix them well together and add, one at a time, four eggs, beating in
each one well, then add enough cream to make rather a thin batter. Pass
the whole through a purée sieve. Beat it well again and turn it into
molds.
This amount of mixture will fill twelve individual timbale molds and one
pint mold, the latter to be used cold (see page 127).
Fill the individual timbale molds to within a quarter of an inch of the
top, set them into a pan of hot water, cover them with a greased paper,
and poach them in the oven for fifteen to twenty minutes, or until firm
to the touch.
Turn the timbales on to a flat dish and pour around them a little good
brown sauce. The molds may be ornamented, if desired, the same as
chicken timbales, using the white of hard-boiled eggs instead of
truffles.
For other timbale receipts, see “Century Cook Book,” page 296.
[Illustration: NO. 56. BAKED MUSHROOMS ON TOAST. THE BREAD STAMPED IN
LEAF SHAPES.]
BAKED MUSHROOMS
Cut the mushroom stems off even with the caps. Peel the caps and stand
them on a dish with the gills up. Sprinkle them with pepper and salt and
let them stand until moisture gathers on them. Cut sliced bread with a
biscuit-cutter into rounds, or if convenient use a fancy cutter.
Illustration shows bread cut with a leaf-shaped stamp. Dip the pieces of
bread into water to moisten them, but do not let them get soggy. Place
them on a baking-tin and sprinkle with pepper and salt and bits of
butter. Arrange the mushrooms on them, one or more according to size,
with the gills up. Bake about thirty minutes, or until tender.
Watch them carefully so they will not get overdone or too dry. Baste
with melted butter, if necessary, while they are baking.
STUFFED MUSHROOMS
Cut the stems off close to the gills. Peel the caps. Cut the stems fine.
Sauté all the parts together in butter. Remove the caps when they are
tender and before they lose shape. After the caps are removed add six
drops of onion juice and a teaspoonful of flour. Let the flour cook a
few minutes and then add a quarter of a cupful of stock and a
tablespoonful of minced chicken or livers, pepper, and salt, and stir
until the mixture is thickened.
Place a little of this mixture on the gills of each mushroom. This
quantity is enough for six or eight large caps. Use the stuffed
mushrooms for garnishing meat dishes, or serve them separately as an
entreé on rounds of bread which have been browned in butter.
[Illustration: NO. 57. STUFFED TOMATOES.]
STUFFED TOMATOES
Select smooth, round tomatoes of equal size. Cut a slice off the stem
end. Remove carefully the pulp and fill the shells with any of the
mixtures given below. Cover the top of the stuffing with bread crumbs
moistened with melted butter. Bake them about one half hour, or until
they are tender, but not fallen out of shape. Have a little water in the
bottom of the baking-pan. Use them for garnishing meat dishes, or serve
them on rounds of browned bread as an entrée.
STUFFING FOR TOMATOES
No. 1. Chop fine a half cupful of canned mushrooms, add a half or three
quarters of a cupful of crumb of bread and the pulp taken from six
tomatoes, a tablespoonful of chopped ham or of chicken, if
convenient, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, six drops of onion
juice, a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, and a teaspoonful
of melted butter. If the mixture is not sufficiently moistened by
the tomato juice add enough stock to make it quite wet.
No. 2. Use equal parts of minced meat (chicken or veal preferred) and
crumb of bread, add the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Season with
chopped parsley, a little onion juice, pepper, and salt. Moisten
with the pulp taken from the tomatoes, or with stock, or with both
of them.
No. 3. Use boiled rice mixed with chopped green peppers, a few drops of
onion juice, pepper, and salt. Moisten with the pulp taken from
the tomato, or with stock.
No. 4. Boil macaroni, broken into half-inch lengths, until tender.
Moisten it with well-seasoned white sauce, and add some grated
cheese, a little pepper and salt, and a dash of paprika.
STUFFED GREEN PEPPERS
Select green peppers of equal size. Cut a piece off the stem end, or cut
them lengthwise. Remove the seeds and ribs. Parboil them, stuff them
with any of the mixtures given for stuffed tomatoes, using stock instead
of tomato-pulp for moistening. Bake with a little water in a pan for
fifteen to twenty minutes, or until they are tender, but not so long as
to allow them to lose their shape. Sprinkle a little parsley chopped
fine over the tops just before serving them.
[Illustration: NO. 58. BAKED STUFFED TOMATOES AND FONTAGE CUPS.]
BAKED TOMATOES AND FONTAGE CUPS
Place in the center of the dish stuffed tomatoes (see page 80) and place
around them fontage cups filled with eggs à l’aurore, as in
illustration, or with any well-seasoned vegetable, or minced meat. Put a
handle made of celery in each cup, to resemble a basket.
Eggs à l’aurore are chopped hard-boiled eggs moistened with white sauce.
[Illustration: NO. 59. JARDINIÈRE.]
JARDINIÈRE
The illustration shows a variety of vegetables served together, or à la
jardinière.
This dish can be used as a course or vegetable entrée, and is
particularly appreciated where one has an abundance of fresh vegetables
from the garden. The vegetables should be well seasoned and arranged
with regard to color so as to give a pleasing effect.
The combination used in the illustration is a cauliflower, green peas,
string beans, lima beans, corn, macedoine, and baked tomatoes.
[Illustration: NO. 60. VEGETARIAN DISH. RING OF RICE FILLED WITH CORN.
FONTAGE CUPS HOLDING LIMA BEANS.]
VEGETARIAN DISH
After boiling enough rice to fill a ring mold, steam it until it is
quite dry, and until the grains are separated. Mix the rice with enough
thick white sauce to moisten it. Butter a ring-mold well and sprinkle it
thickly with white bread crumbs (crumbs grated from the loaf). Put in
the prepared rice and place the ring in a pan, the bottom of which is
covered with a very little water. Cover the top with greased paper, and
bake for half an hour, or until the crumbs are brown. Turn the browned
ring on a platter. Fill the center with any vegetable, and place around
the outside fontage cups holding a second vegetable. In the illustration
the ring is filled with corn, and the cups hold small lima beans.
A good combination is baked tomatoes alternating with fontage cups
holding macedoine of vegetables, the ring holding green peas.
The same style of dish may be made with meat. The ring may be made with
mashed potato and hold minced creamed meat.
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