[Illustration]
As I have mentioned before, a fillet of beef is generally served with
mushrooms; sometimes with different vegetables _à la jardinière_;
sometimes with French pease; sometimes with potatoes cut into little
round balls, and fried in boiling lard, called potatoes _à la
Parisienne_ on a French bill of fare; sometimes with stuffed tomatoes;
sometimes skewers are put in stuck through a turnip carved into a cup,
and this cup holds horse-radish. But some people say skewers remind them
of steamboat cooking; then some people are not easily pleased, anyway;
and who remembers of having seen so many skewers on steamboats, after
all? Not that I am particularly advocating skewers, but I think dishes
_taste_ better, as a general thing, when they are decorated in almost
any manner. I once saw at a dinner in Paris hot slices of roast or baked
fillet of beef, tastefully arranged on a platter, with _sauce
Hollandaise_ (rather thick) poured over each slice in the form of a
ring. It was a success.
The manner of garnishing a fillet of beef _à la Godard_ and _à la
Provençale_, etc., with truffles, _quenelles_, livers, olives, etc., all
stewed with wines, stocks, etc., I will not explain. It is enough to
make one groan to think of learning to make them, and more than ever to
eat them.