[COLD MEAT COOKERY.] _Ingredients._—The remains of cold roast or boiled
fowl, ½ pint of Béchamel, or white sauce. _Mode._—Strip off the skin
from the fowl; cut the meat into thin slices, and warm them in about
½ pint, or rather more, of Béchamel, or white sauce. When quite hot,
serve, and garnish the dish with rolled ham or bacon toasted. _Time._—1
minute to simmer the slices of fowl. _Seasonable_ at any time.
FRENCH TERMS used in modern Household Cookery, explained.
ASPIC.—A savoury jelly, used as an exterior moulding for cold game,
poultry, fish, &c. This, being of a transparent nature, allows the
article which it covers to be seen through it. This may also be used
for decorating or garnishing.
ASSIETTE (plate).—_Assiettes_ are the small _entrées_ and
_hors-d’œuvres_, the quantity of which does not exceed what a plate
will hold. At dessert, fruits, cheese, chestnuts, biscuits, &c., if
served upon a plate, are termed _assiettes_.—ASSIETTE VOLANTE is a dish
which a servant hands round to the guests, but is not placed upon the
table. Small cheese soufflés and different dishes, which ought to be
served very hot, are frequently made _assiettes volantes_.
AU-BLEU.—Fish dressed in such a manner as to have a _bluish_ appearance.
BAIN-MARIE.—An open saucepan or kettle of nearly boiling water, in
which a smaller vessel can be set for cooking and warming. This is
very useful for keeping articles hot, without altering their quantity
or quality. If you keep sauce, broth, or soup by the fireside, the
soup reduces and becomes too strong, and the sauce thickens as well as
reduces; but this is prevented by using the _bain-marie_, in which the
water should be very hot, but not boiling.
BÉCHAMEL.—French white sauce, now frequently used in English cookery.
BLANCH.—To whiten poultry, vegetables, fruit, &c., by plunging them
into boiling water for a short time, and afterwards plunging them into
cold water, there to remain until they are cold.
BLANQUETTE.—A sort of fricassee.
BOUILLI.—Beef or other meat boiled; but, generally speaking, boiled
beef is understood by the term.
BOUILLIE.—A French dish resembling hasty-pudding.
BOUILLON.—A thin broth or soup.
BRAISE.—To stew meat with fat bacon until it is tender, it having
previously been blanched.
BRAISIÈRE.—A saucepan having a lid with ledges, to put fire on the top.
BRIDER.—To pass a packthread through poultry, game, &c., to keep
together their members.
CARAMEL (burnt sugar).—This is made with a piece of sugar, of the size
of a nut, browned in the bottom of a saucepan; upon which a cupful of
stock is gradually poured, stirring all the time, and adding the broth
little by little. It may be used with the feather of a quill, to colour
meats, such as the upper part of fricandeaux; and to impart colour to
sauces. Caramel made with water instead of stock may be used to colour
_compôtes_ and other _entremets_.
CASSEROLE.—A crust of rice, which, after having been moulded into the
form of a pie, is baked, and then filled with a fricassee of white meat
or a purée of game.
COMPÔTE.—A stew, as of fruit or pigeons.
CONSOMMÉ.—Rich stock, or gravy.
CROQUETTE.—Ball of fried rice or potatoes.
CROÛTONS.—Sippets of bread.
DAUBIÈRE.—An oval stewpan, in which _daubes_ are cooked; _daubes_ being
meat or fowl stewed in sauce.
DÉSOSSER.—To _bone_, or take out the bones from poultry, game, or fish.
This is an operation requiring considerable experience.
ENTRÉES.—Small side or corner dishes served with the first course.
ENTREMETS.—Small side or corner dishes served with the second course.
ESCALOPES.—Collops; small, round, thin pieces of tender meat, or of
fish, beaten with the handle of a strong knife to make them tender.
FEUILLETAGE.—Puff-paste.
FLAMBER.—To singe fowl or game, after they have been picked.
FONCER.—To put in the bottom of a saucepan slices of ham, veal, or thin
broad slices of bacon.
GALETTE.—A broad thin cake.
GÂTEAU.—A cake, correctly speaking; but used sometimes to denote a
pudding and a kind of tart.
GLACER.—To glaze, or spread upon hot meats, or larded fowl, a thick and
rich sauce or gravy, called _glaze_. This is laid on with a feather or
brush, and in confectionary the term means to ice fruits and pastry
with sugar, which glistens on hardening.
HORS-D’ŒVRES.—Small dishes, or _assiettes volantes_ of sardines,
anchovies, and other relishes of this kind, served to the guests during
the first course. (_See_ ASSIETTES VOLANTES.)
LIT.—A bed or layer; articles in thin slices are placed in layers,
other articles, or seasoning, being laid between them.
MAIGRE.—Broth, soup, or gravy, made without meat.
MATELOTE.—A rich fish-stew, which is generally composed of carp, eels,
trout, or barbel. It is made with wine.
MAYONNAISE.—Cold sauce, or salad dressing.
MENU.—The bill of fare.
MERINGUE.—A kind of icing, made of whites of eggs and sugar, well
beaten.
MIROTON.—Larger slices of meat than collops; such as slices of beef for
a vinaigrette, or ragoût or stew of onions.
MOUILLER.—To add water, broth, or other liquid, during the cooking.
PANER.—To cover with very fine crumbs of bread, meats, or any other
articles to be cooked on the gridiron, in the oven, or frying-pan.
PIQUER.—To lard with strips of fat bacon, poultry, game, meat, &c. This
should always be done according to the vein of the meat, so that in
carving you slice the bacon across as well as the meat.
POELÉE.—Stock used instead of water for boiling turkeys, sweetbreads,
fowls, and vegetables, to render them less insipid.—This is rather an
expensive preparation.
PURÉE.—Vegetables or meat reduced to a very smooth pulp, which is
afterwards mixed with enough liquid to make it of the consistency of
very thick soup.
RAGOÛT.—Stew or hash.
REMOULADE.—Salad dressing.
RISSOLES.—Pastry, made of light puff-paste, and cut into various forms,
and fried. They may be filled with fish, meat, or sweets.
ROUX.—Brown and white; French thickening.
SALMI.—Ragoût of game previously roasted.
SAUCE PIQUANTE.—A sharp sauce, in which somewhat of a vinegar flavour
predominates.
SAUTER.—To dress with sauce in a saucepan, repeatedly moving it about.
TAMIS.—Tammy, a sort of open cloth or sieve through which to strain
broth and sauces, so as to rid them of small bones, froth, &c.
TOURTE.—Tart. Fruit pie.
TROUSSER.—To truss a bird; to put together the body and tie the wings
and thighs, in order to round it for roasting or boiling, each being
tied then with packthread, to keep it in the required form.
VOL-AU-VENT.—A rich crust of very fine puff-paste, which may be filled
with various delicate ragoûts or fricassees, of fish, flesh, or fowl.
Fruit may also be inclosed in a _vol-au-vent_.
FRITTERS, Indian.
_Ingredients._—3 tablespoonfuls of flour, boiling water, the yolks of 4
eggs, the whites of 2, hot lard or clarified dripping, jam. _Mode._—Put
the flour into a basin, and pour over it sufficient _boiling_ water
to make it into a stiff paste, taking care to stir and beat it well,
to prevent it getting lumpy. Leave it a little time to cool, and then
break into it (_without beating them at first_) the yolks of 4 eggs
and the whites of 2, and stir and beat all well together. Have ready
some boiling lard or butter; drop a dessertspoonful of batter in at
a time, and fry the fritters of a light brown. They should rise so
much as to be almost like balls. Serve on a dish, with a spoonful of
preserve or marmalade dropped in between each fritter. This is an
excellent dish for a hasty addition to dinner, if a guest unexpectedly
arrives, it being so easily and quickly made, and it is always a great
favourite. _Time._—From 5 to 8 minutes to fry the fritters. _Average
cost_, exclusive of the jam, 5_d._ _Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.
_Seasonable_ at any time.
FRITTERS, Plain.
_Ingredients._—3 oz. of flour, 3 eggs, 1/3 pint of milk. _Mode._—Mix
the flour to a smooth batter with a small quantity of the milk; stir
in the eggs, which should be well whisked, and then the remainder of
the milk; beat the whole to a perfectly smooth batter, and should it
be found not quite thin enough, add two or three tablespoonfuls more
milk. Have ready a frying-pan, with plenty of boiling lard in it; drop
in rather more than a tablespoonful at a time of the batter and fry
the fritters a nice brown, turning them when sufficiently cooked on
one side. Drain them well from the greasy moisture by placing them
upon a piece of blotting-paper before the fire; dish them on a white
d’oyley, sprinkle over them sifted sugar, and send to table with them
a cut lemon and plenty of pounded sugar. _Time._—From 6 to 8 minutes.
_Average cost_, 4_d._ _Sufficient_ for 3 or 4 persons. _Seasonable_ at
any time.