_FISH._
115. =Boiled Striped Bass à la Venétienne.= Clean a striped bass of
about four pounds. Cut off the fins with a scissors. Then wash your
fish well, put it in a fish-kettle with four ounces of salt, and enough
water to cover the fish. Simmer gently, and when beginning to boil
remove it to the back of the range, to simmer for half an hour. Then
serve with a sauce Venétienne (Art. 100).
116. =Boiled Red Snapper with Butter Sauce.= Proceed as for the
foregoing, and serve with a white sauce (Art. 84).
117. =Boiled Salmon, Madeira Sauce.= Boil four pounds of salmon as in
Art. 115, adding half a bottle of white wine, then serve with Spanish
sauce (Art. 80), adding a glass of madeira or sherry. Salmon may also
be served with the following sauces: Italian sauce (Art. 93), sauce
Hollandaise (Art. 85), sauce Génevoise (Art. 108), or cold with sauce
Tartare (Art. 114), sauce ravigote (Art. 112), or sauce remoulade (Art.
109).
118. =Halibut, Lobster Sauce.= Boil four pounds of halibut, and serve
with a lobster sauce (Art. 106).
119. =Boiled Codfish, Oyster Sauce.= Boil a codfish. Stew two dozen
oysters, which drain, and add to a white sauce (Art. 84). Boiled
codfish may also be served with caper sauce, sauce Hollandaise (Art.
85), and other white sauces.
120. =Sheep's Head, Shrimp Sauce.= Boil a sheep's head, and serve with
a shrimp sauce (Art. 107).
121. =Salmon-Trout, Sauce Hollandaise.= Boil a salmon-trout, and serve
with sauce Hollandaise (Art. 85).
122. =Pickerel, Anchovy Sauce.= Clean a pickerel of four pounds and
put it in a fish-kettle with enough water to cover it; add four ounces
of salt, a carrot cut in slices, an onion, six branches of thyme, six
cloves, six pepper-corns, some parsley-roots, and a tablespoonful of
vinegar. When beginning to boil remove the fish-kettle to the back of
the range for about half an hour. Take half a pint of Spanish sauce
(Art. 80), into which mix two teaspoonfuls of anchovy sauce, and, when
boiling, serve with your fish.
123. =Black Bass, Burgundy Sauce.= Clean a black bass of four pounds,
put it in the fish-kettle to boil, adding half a bottle of claret.
Then let it simmer for half an hour at the back of the range. Take
half a pint of Spanish sauce (Art. 80), put it in a saucepan with two
wineglasses of red wine, reduce one quarter, and serve with your fish.
124. =Baked Blue-Fish, Tomato Sauce.= Clean a blue-fish of four pounds
and place it in a buttered pan. Cover the fish with tomato sauce (Art.
90), on top of which put some bread-crumbs and a few little pieces of
butter. Place in the oven for about forty minutes, or until you see
that the flesh is detached from the backbone, and serve with tomato
sauce around it.
125. =Baked Fillet of Sole (or Flounder).= Cut a flounder of four
pounds into fillets, that is, in pieces of about five inches long and
four in width, tapering to a point at each end. Each piece should be
not quite an inch thick. Put them in a buttered pan, cover with sauce
Allemande (Art. 81), on top of which sprinkle some bread-crumbs and a
few small pieces of butter. Put into the oven until well browned. Place
half a pint of sauce Allemande in a saucepan, with the addition of a
wineglass of sherry, boil ten minutes, pour it around your fish, and
serve.
126. =Weak-Fish, Italian Sauce.= Cut a weak-fish of four pounds in
fillets, as described in the foregoing, and place them in a saucepan
with a little melted butter, salt, pepper, a little nutmeg, and two
tablespoonfuls of madeira (or sherry). Simmer gently for twenty
minutes, arrange your fish neatly on a dish, one piece overlapping the
other, and serve with an Italian sauce (Art. 93).
127. =Chicken Halibut aux Fines Herbes.= Chop a little parsley, six
mushrooms, and a shallot; add to them a little salt, pepper, and
nutmeg, and place all together in a saucepan on the fire for five
minutes, with half a pint of white wine. Then put these ingredients
on a dish, and place on top of them four pounds of chicken halibut.
Send to a moderate oven for about thirty minutes, taking care from time
to time to pour with a spoon some of the liquid in the dish over your
fish. Put half a pint of Spanish sauce (Art. 80) in another saucepan on
the fire, reduce your sauce for about seven or eight minutes, adding
the juice of a lemon, and serve it around your fish.
128. =Eels à la Tartare.= Broil your eels on a gridiron. When the skin
detaches itself on one side, turn them on the other. When done, with
a napkin take off all the skin, cut the eels in pieces three inches
long, remove the insides, and put the eels in a saucepan with a little
salt, pepper, six cloves, six pepper-corns, two parsley-roots, a little
thyme, four bay-leaves, and two tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Add enough
water to cover your eels, and, after boiling fifteen minutes, take them
off the fire, let them cool in the liquid in which they were cooked,
and then wipe them dry with a cloth. Break in a bowl two eggs, which
mix thoroughly with half an ounce of melted butter; pour this over
your fish, and sprinkle lightly with bread-crumbs. Broil them on a
very gentle fire. When they are a nice brown, serve them with a sauce
Tartare (Art. 114).
129. =King-Fish, Sherry Sauce.= Clean four medium-sized king-fish,
split them in two, and broil them on a gentle fire. Put half a pint of
Spanish sauce (Art. 80) in a saucepan, add a wineglass of sherry, boil
fifteen minutes, pour it around your fish, and serve.
130. =Fillet of Shad, with Purée of Sorrel.= After cleaning your shad,
cut it in equal pieces, leaving the skin underneath. Put them on a
plate, and sprinkle a little salt on them, add the juice of a lemon,
and a few branches of parsley. A few moments before they are required
to be served put them in a saucepan on a gentle fire for fifteen
minutes, with a glass of white wine and an ounce of butter. Pick and
clean a quart of sorrel, which blanch in boiling water, drain, and
press it through a sieve. Put an ounce of butter in a saucepan with
half an ounce of flour, a little salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and, when
beginning to color slightly, add your purée of sorrel and half a glass
of cream. Simmer gently ten minutes, when add the yolks of two eggs
which you have mixed in a little milk. Boil five minutes longer, pour
over your fish, and serve.
131. =Broiled Shad à la Maître d'Hôtel.= Clean a shad, without removing
the skin, split it in two, and put the roes on a buttered pan, which
send to the oven until brown. Then broil the shad, and when done put
it on a dish together with the roes. Melt an ounce of butter, in which
put a little salt and pepper, a little chopped parsley, and the juice
of a lemon. Mix well together, pour over your shad, and serve. Porgies,
mackerel, and other broiling fish, may be served in the same manner.
132. =Long Island Brook-Trout.= Clean and wash a trout of about four
pounds, and put it in a fish-kettle with four ounces of salt. When
beginning to boil remove your fish-kettle to the back of the range for
twenty-five minutes. Blanch four roes of shad in a little boiling water
and a little salt, drain, and cut them in small pieces, as also a dozen
mushrooms. Add these, with the juice of a lemon, to a pint of sauce
Allemande (Art. 81), and boil ten minutes. Serve the fish garnished
with sprigs of parsley, and the sauce in a separate dish.
133. =Trout à la Génevoise.= Clean four little trout, cut off the
gills, and put your fish in an earthen pot for four hours, with a
little thyme, four bay-leaves, two shallots cut in pieces, five
branches of parsley, a little pepper and salt, and the juice of two
lemons, after which drain, and place them in a saucepan on the fire,
with a chopped onion, a clove of garlic, and a little nutmeg. Add
enough red wine to cover your fish, and boil gently for twenty minutes.
Take half a pint of Spanish sauce (Art. 80), boil for about an hour
with one half of the liquid in which the foregoing ingredients were
boiled. Chop four mushrooms and truffles, a little parsley, and add to
your sauce. Put your fish on a dish, garnish with parsley, and serve
with your sauce on a separate dish.
134. =Scallops of Trout.= Prepare as the foregoing a medium-sized
trout, which cut in round pieces, or in the shape of an egg, and
about three inches in length, and put into a saucepan in which you
have previously melted two ounces of butter; add a little salt, white
pepper, the juice of a lemon; and when they are done on one side, turn
them on the other; mash some potatoes, and with them form a border on
a plate, which may go to the oven. Moisten your potatoes lightly with
some melted butter, and send them to the oven to brown. When done,
arrange your scallops of fish in the middle of the potatoes, and pour
over all a sauce béchamel (Art. 83).
135. =Halibut, Sauce Suprême.= Take four pounds of halibut, which cut
in square pieces; soak them for an hour in four wineglasses of madeira
(or sherry); turn them over from time to time, first on one side and
then on the other. Just before serving, put them into a saucepan, in
which you have melted two ounces of butter; add a little salt and
pepper, put them on the fire for a few moments, and then send to the
oven for twenty minutes. Arrange your fish on a dish, and pour over
them a sauce suprême (Art. 99).
136. =Scallops of White-Fish à la Provençale.= Cut a white-fish of
four pounds into round pieces, or in the shape of an egg, and about
three inches in length; put them in a dish with a clove of garlic, a
little thyme, three bay-leaves, two roots of parsley, an onion cut in
thin slices, salt and pepper, and moisten them with a sherry-glass
of oil: then peel three white onions, which cut in slices, blanch
them in boiling water, with a little salt; drain them and put them
in a frying-pan on the fire, with a wineglass of oil, which heat
thoroughly, and, when beginning to color slightly, drain off the oil,
and moisten with half a bottle of white wine. Then drain your fish,
which put in the saucepan with your onions. Simmer gently for thirty
minutes, drain, and in the liquor in which your fish was cooked put a
tablespoonful of tomato sauce, reduce gently about one third, pour over
your fish, and serve.
137. =Eels en Matelote.= Clean an eel, a pike, and a perch; cut them
in slices; place them in a saucepan with a clove of garlic, two
bay-leaves, two branches of thyme, three cloves, a little basil, and
a few branches of parsley; add enough red wine to cover your fish.
Put them on a very gentle fire, and, when beginning to boil, add a
wineglass of brandy. Shake gently, so as not to break your fish, and,
after boiling fifteen minutes, drain off your fish, and keep them hot.
Put on a table half an ounce of flour and an ounce of butter; mix well
together with the blade of a knife, and add to the liquid in which your
fish was boiled. Peel and press through a sieve twenty small white
onions, which put in a frying-pan, with a little butter, on a very
gentle fire; add them, with a dozen mushrooms, to your fish, which heat
up again. Take the ingredients in which your fish was first cooked,
and place them in a dish, your fish on top. Garnish with some boiled
crawfish, and some pieces of bread cut in triangles, and fried in
butter.
138. =Red Snapper à la Chambord.= Take a red snapper, about four pounds
in weight. Remove the scales, and on one side of the fish cut a square
in the skin, which take out, and in the flesh insert two dozen pieces
of truffles, cut in squares, and pointed at one end. Over this tie a
thin piece of larding pork. Put your fish in a fish-kettle, surround
it with a sliced carrot and onion, three cloves of garlic, six
bay-leaves, six cloves, six branches of thyme, four parsley-roots, and
cover the fish with half a bottle of white wine and a quart of consommé
(stock, Art. 1); put it on the fire until boiling, and then send it to
a gentle oven to cook slowly for an hour, basting it often with its own
liquor, on the side studded with truffles. Take half a pint of Spanish
sauce (Art. 80), to which add two wineglasses of the liquid in which
your fish was cooked, put your sauce on the fire to boil, skim off
the grease, and strain; then put it back again on the fire for a few
moments, adding a dozen mushrooms, a dozen quenelles (Art. 11), as many
truffles cut in quarters, a dozen crawfish, and the same of chicken's
kidneys which you have previously blanched in hot water, with a little
salt, for ten minutes. Lay your fish on a dish, pour your sauce around
it, and serve.
139. =Ray, with Caper Sauce.= Cook your fish as the foregoing, with the
exception of the truffles, and serve with it a white sauce (Art. 84),
to which add some capers.
140. =Ray, au Beurre Noir.= Cut in moderate-sized pieces four pounds
of ray-fish, which put in a saucepan with an onion cut in slices,
three parsley-roots, four cloves, six pepper-corns, half an ounce of
salt, and four tablespoonfuls of vinegar. When beginning to boil, put
your saucepan at the back of the range for thirty minutes, so as not
to boil. Then take off the skin from both sides of your fish, which
put in the saucepan with your other ingredients to keep hot. Put in a
frying-pan four ounces of butter, and, when colored black, fry a dozen
sprigs of parsley for a moment, remove them, and add to your butter two
tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Strain your fish, which arrange on a dish,
garnish with the fried parsley, pour the black butter over the fish,
and serve.
141. =Fried Smelts.= Clean about two dozen smelts, cut off the gills,
wash them well in cold water, and dry them thoroughly. Put a pinch
of salt and pepper in a little milk, into which dip your smelts, and
then roll them in flour. Put in a frying-pan about a pound and a half
of lard, in which, when very hot, fry your smelts a light brown. Also
fry some parsley, which place around your fish, and serve with a sauce
Tartare (Art. 112).
142. =Farcied Smelts.= Prepare your smelts as the foregoing. Split them
in two, taking care to make the opening in the under part of the fish,
and, beginning at the tail, make the incision the length of the fish,
without disturbing the head. Then take some chicken farce (Art. 11),
and add to it half a dozen very finely chopped mushrooms, and a very
little chopped parsley. Lay this on one side of your smelts, and cover
with the other half. Place them in a buttered pan, cover each one with
a very little melted butter, sprinkle some bread-crumbs lightly over
them, and send them to the oven for about fifteen minutes. Take half a
pint of Spanish sauce (Art. 80), add a sherry-glass of white wine, boil
for fifteen minutes, add a little chopped parsley to your sauce, which
pour over your fish, and serve.
143. =Oysters à la Poulette.= Take fifty oysters, which blanch in
boiling water, then drain them, preserving part of the liquid in which
they were boiled. Take half a pint of béchamel sauce (Art. 83), add a
little of the liquid in which your oysters were boiled, a little salt
and pepper, a little chopped parsley, and, when your sauce has ceased
boiling, the yolks of three eggs well mixed in a little water. Serve
your oysters hot in the sauce.
144. =Farcied Oysters à l'Africaine.= Take twenty very large oysters,
which blanch and then drain. Also take some chicken farce (Art. 11),
chopping three truffles very fine, and mix with your farce, with which
cover your oysters on both sides, and dip in bread-crumbs. Then beat up
four eggs, the yolks and whites together, with a little salt, pepper,
and very little nutmeg added, and spread over your oysters, which dip
again into bread-crumbs. Put the oysters in a buttered pan, and send to
the oven for about fifteen minutes, a very little melted butter on each
oyster. Take half a pint of Spanish sauce (Art. 80), add to it a glass
of sherry, and, after boiling twenty minutes, chop up two truffles, put
them in your sauce, and serve with your oysters.
145. =Fried Oysters.= Take fifty large oysters, dip them in beaten
eggs, in which you have put a little salt and pepper; then roll them in
bread-crumbs, and, if your oysters should not be very large, dip them
again in beaten eggs, and again roll them in bread-crumbs. Fry them in
very hot lard, drain off the grease, and serve very hot. Garnish with
slices of lemon.
146. =Broiled Oysters.= Take fifty large oysters, which drain and dip
in four beaten eggs, to which you have added a little salt and pepper.
Roll them in bread-crumbs, dip them again in eggs, and again roll them
in bread-crumbs. Put a few drops of melted butter on each, broil them
on a gridiron a light brown, and serve very hot.
147. =Cromesqui of Oysters.= Boil fifty oysters for about five minutes,
drain them, and chop them fine. Put in a saucepan on the fire an ounce
of butter, the same of flour, a pinch of salt, the same of pepper and
nutmeg, and mix all well together. Add the juice of your oysters, and
half a glass of milk, and stir with a wooden spoon until just before
beginning to boil, then remove it from the fire; add two yolks of eggs
mixed in about a tablespoonful of water, and then your oysters. Put
this mixture on ice until cold, form it into balls about the size of
a small egg, and wrap up each one in a very thin piece of pork. Break
three eggs in a bowl, add six ounces of flour, and a little water, so
as to make a smooth and very soft paste, but sufficiently solid to
adhere to your cromesqui. Then mix a teaspoonful of soda with your
paste, with which cover each one, and fry in very hot lard. When a
bright yellow, drain, and serve hot.
148. =Oysters on Toast.= Put fifty oysters in a frying-pan with their
liquor, toss them on the fire for about ten minutes, and sprinkle with
chopped parsley. Put the oysters on eight pieces of toast, the juice
poured over them. Serve very hot.
149. =Oysters a la Mosely.= Take fifty oysters, the third of which put
in a deep dish with a little pepper, salt, a little melted butter, and
cover with bread-crumbs. Then put half of the remaining oysters on top.
Proceed as above, add a third layer, pour in enough sherry to reach
the top of your oysters, cover with bread-crumbs, and a little melted
butter, and send to a moderate oven until colored a light brown. Serve
very hot.
150. =Oysters au Gratin.= Take three dozen rather small oysters,
blanch them, and drain them. Make a rather thick béchamel sauce (Art.
83), to which add two yolks of eggs well mixed in a little water.
When beginning to boil, add your oysters, a little salt, pepper, and
a little nutmeg. Mix all well together, and then put them, with your
sauce, in the shells. Cover them lightly with bread-crumbs, and a few
drops of melted butter on top. Send them to the oven, and serve when
nicely browned.
151. =Lobster au Naturel.= Put in a saucepan two sliced onions, a few
green onions, some parsley, four cloves, four branches of thyme, one of
sage, a pinch of mace, a little piece of green pepper, two ounces of
salt, and enough water to cover them. Boil them for twenty minutes, and
then allow them to cool, after which add four medium-sized lobsters,
boil for half an hour; take them off the fire, and let them become
cold in their liquor. Then drain them, split them in two, break their
claws, and serve them garnished with parsley.
152. =Lobster à la Havraise.= Take three small live lobsters, cut off
the claws, break them, and separate your lobsters in two, cutting
each lobster in eight pieces. Put into a frying-pan three very finely
chopped shallots, with a tablespoonful of oil. When beginning to
color lightly, add your pieces of lobster, and, after cooking fifteen
minutes, add half a pint of Spanish sauce (Art. 80), a glass of sherry,
about ten mushrooms, a little chopped parsley, a little salt, pepper,
and a very little nutmeg. Mix well together, boil five minutes longer,
and serve.
153. =Croquettes of Lobster.= Chop fine the meat of two boiled lobsters
and add half a pint of béchamel sauce (Art. 83), to which you have
added the yolks of two eggs well mixed in a little water. Then add
two tablespoonfuls of tomato sauce, a little pepper, salt, and a very
little nutmeg, and _put on the ice until perfectly cold_--this is of
the utmost importance. When thoroughly cold, form them into croquettes
and roll them in bread-crumbs; beat three eggs (the yolks and whites
together), into which dip your croquettes and roll them again in
bread-crumbs. Put about two pounds of lard in a frying-pan, and, when
very hot, fry your croquettes, which, when a light brown, drain, and
serve.
154. =Broiled Lobster.= Take four chicken lobsters (uncooked and
perfectly fresh), separate them in two, lengthwise, put a little melted
butter upon them, salt, pepper, and some bread-crumbs. Broil them on a
gentle fire, and, just before serving, sprinkle over them some chopped
parsley. You may serve with them, if desired, a sauce Tartare (Art.
112) or a sauce remoulade (Art. 109).
155. =Deviled Lobster.= Prepare the mixture as described in Art. 153
for lobster croquettes, and mix with it a teaspoonful of mustard. Clean
the shells of your lobsters, fill them with the above mixture, which
cover lightly with mustard, on top of which sprinkle some bread-crumbs
and a very little melted butter. Put them in the oven, and, when
colored a light brown, serve.
156. =Lobster à la Bordelaise.= Take the meat of three boiled lobsters,
which cut in medium-sized pieces, and put them in a saucepan on the
fire for about five minutes, with half a pint of sauce Bordelaise (Art.
101), and serve.
157. =Crawfish à la Bordelaise.= Boil four dozen crawfish as directed
in Art. 77, drain, and put them in a saucepan on the fire for about
five minutes, with half a pint of sauce Bordelaise (Art. 101), and
serve.
158. =Farcied Lobster.= Prepare the mixture as for lobster croquettes
(Art. 153), adding a little chopped parsley, and with it fill the
shells of two or three lobsters which you have previously washed.
Sprinkle some bread-crumbs on top, and a very small quantity of melted
butter. Send to the oven, and, when colored a light brown, serve.
159. =Lobster à l'Indienne.= Take two boiled lobsters, divide them in
two, and remove the meat from the shells and claws. Wash half a pound
of rice, boil it five minutes in boiling water, then put it in cold
water for a moment. Drain, and place it in a saucepan with three pints
of water, and boil forty minutes. Take half a pint of sauce Veloutée
(Art. 82), add your lobsters, place your saucepan at the side of the
range so as not to boil, and mix with your sauce a teaspoonful of
curry. Drain off your rice, form it in a border on a dish, and place
your lobster and sauce in the center.
160. =Fried Frogs' Legs.= Put three dozen frogs' legs in an earthen
jar, with salt, thyme, six bay-leaves, three branches of parsley, an
onion cut in thin slices, the juice of a lemon, and three or four
tablespoonfuls of oil; turn them over on one side, then on the other,
several times during an hour; then drain them, dip them in milk, in
which you have put a little salt and pepper, roll them in flour, and
fry them a light brown, in very hot lard. Serve them with some fried
parsley.
161. =Frogs' Legs à la Poulette.= Put three dozen frogs' legs in a
saucepan, with an ounce of butter, a claret-glass of white wine, and
half a cupful of consommé (stock, Art. 1), an onion sliced thin,
a little thyme, bay-leaf, parsley, a pinch of salt, pepper, and a
very little nutmeg. Boil for ten minutes, and then drain. Put a
tablespoonful of flour in a saucepan, with an ounce of butter, and mix
well together. Strain the liquid in which your frogs' legs were cooked,
add to it two yolks of eggs well mixed in about a tablespoonful of
water, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley; boil three or four minutes,
and serve.
162. =Frogs' Legs à la Marinière.= Put three dozen frogs' legs in a
saucepan, with a dozen chopped mushrooms, four shallots also chopped,
and two ounces of butter, and toss them on the fire for five or six
minutes; then add a tablespoonful of flour, a little salt, pepper, a
nutmeg, and moisten with a claret-glass of white wine and a glass of
consommé (Art. 1); boil ten minutes. Mix the yolks of four eggs with
two tablespoonfuls of cream, remove your frogs' legs from the fire,
and, when boiling has ceased, add your eggs, stirring continually until
thoroughly mixed, and serve.
163. =Frogs' Legs à la Maître d'Hôtel.= Boil in water two dozen frogs'
legs for about twelve minutes, with a pinch of salt, pepper, and the
juice of a lemon. Drain them, and pour over them some melted butter
to which you have added the juice of a lemon and a tablespoonful of
chopped parsley; serve very hot.
164. =Soft-Shell Crabs.= Take eight soft-shell crabs, remove the
gills and the sand. Wash them, then dry them with a cloth, dip them
in a little milk, and roll them in flour. Put plenty of lard in a
frying-pan, in which, when very hot, fry your crabs. Five minutes will
suffice. Serve with them some fried parsley. You may also dip the crabs
in beaten eggs, and sprinkle with bread-crumbs before frying.
165. =Farcied Crabs.= Remove the meat from four dozen boiled
hard-shelled crabs and chop up fine. Put in a saucepan an onion cut
in pieces, and an ounce of butter. When beginning to color slightly,
add a dozen chopped mushrooms, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley,
and four ounces of bread-crumbs, which you have previously soaked in
consommé, and then pressed almost dry; a pinch of salt and pepper, a
little cayenne, and half a gill of tomato sauce (Art. 90). Mix all well
together on the fire, and cook for five minutes. Wash your shells and
fill them with the foregoing, cover them with bread-crumbs, and a _very
little_ melted butter on top; send to the oven and color a light brown.
166. =Deviled Crabs.= Proceed as for the foregoing, putting a
tablespoonful of mustard in the above mixture, and a layer of mustard
on top of each crab before covering with bread-crumbs.
167. =Clam Fritters.= Take fifteen clams, which chop very fine, and
put in a bowl with two ounces of flour, two eggs, a pinch of salt
and pepper, and a tablespoonful of parsley, which chop fine. Mix all
thoroughly together. Put some lard in a frying-pan, into which, when
very hot, throw a tablespoonful of your mixture at a time, until you
have used the entire quantity; fry on both sides, and serve.
168. =Oyster Fritters.= Prepare as the foregoing.
169. =Fish-Balls.= Wash and peel six potatoes, boil them in a pint of
water, with salt, drain them, mash them thoroughly; add an ounce of
butter, a pinch of salt and pepper, and an egg; mix all well together,
adding six ounces of boiled codfish from which you have removed the
bones; mix your fish well with your other ingredients, form into balls
about the size of a very small apple, roll them lightly and evenly in
flour; fry them on both sides in about half their height of very hot
lard, drain off the grease, and serve them very hot.
170. =Codfish au Gratin.= Take two pounds of boiled codfish, from which
you have removed the bones, put in a dish with half a pint of béchamel
sauce (Art. 83), in which you have mixed four ounces of American
cheese. Sprinkle it on top with bread-crumbs and a little melted
butter, and send to the oven until colored a bright yellow. Serve. You
may, instead of the cheese, mix some chopped mushrooms with your fish.
Other boiled fish may be prepared in the same manner.
171. =Snails à la Provençale.= Take four ounces of wood-ashes, which
put in a cloth, and tie securely. Then place in a saucepan with about a
quart of water, and boil fifteen minutes. Wash well four dozen snails,
and put them in your saucepan, and boil them about fifteen minutes.
Then take one out, and try with a larding-needle if you can remove it
easily from its shell, and, if so, drain the snails, and take them
out of their shells. Put into a saucepan on the fire a tablespoonful
of oil, half a dozen mushrooms chopped very fine, some parsley, a
clove of garlic, three shallots, all chopped fine, salt, a little
red pepper, and a very little nutmeg. Add a tablespoonful of flour,
and moisten with three sherry-glasses of white wine, and, as soon
as your sauce begins to boil, add your snails, and boil gently for
thirty minutes. Your sauce must be thick. Mix the yolks of three eggs
in a tablespoonful of milk, and add to your sauce when it has ceased
boiling. Put a snail in each shell, and enough sauce to fill each one.
Sprinkle bread-crumbs on top, send to the oven for about ten minutes,
and serve.
172. =Clams on Toast.= Take fifty clams and roast them very slightly,
after which take them out of their shells, chop them fine, and, with
all their juice, which you have carefully preserved, put them into a
saucepan with a little butter, and stew for a few moments. Just before
serving, season them with a little red pepper and a very little Tobasco
pepper. First serve to each person a piece of toast, and then the clams
to be poured over the toast.
173. =Soft Clams steamed.= Put some boiling water in a saucepan, in the
bottom of which lay a brick. Put fifty soft clams in a pan, or in some
utensil which may be placed inside your saucepan, and on top of the
brick, so that the water shall not touch the clams. Boil quickly about
five minutes, covering the saucepan with a lid. Then, if your clams are
done, serve them in their shells, with a sauce separately, composed of
a little chopped shallot, a little melted butter, salt, pepper, and a
little vinegar or the juice of a lemon.
174. =Clams au Gratin.= Prepare exactly as for oysters au gratin (Art.
150).
175. =Mussels à la Marinière.= Take fifty mussels in their shells,
remove the black, stringy species of moss attached to them, put them
in a covered saucepan on the fire, with about a quarter of a glass of
water; toss them for three or four minutes in the saucepan, or until
the shells are opened, then drain them, remove one shell of each,
leaving the mussel in the other half, and serve them in the following
sauce: Chop fine two shallots, which put in a saucepan on the fire,
with a tablespoonful of vinegar, reduce one half, and add a teaspoonful
of chervil and tarragon chopped fine; boil for a moment, then add half
a pint of sauce Allemande (Art. 81), and a sherry-glass of sherry.
176. =Stewed Terrapin à la Lucie.= Drop three live terrapins into
boiling water, and, if large, boil them three hours, or, if moderate
sized, two hours and a half. Then pick them, throwing away all of the
intestines, heart, head, and most of the feet; also be very particular
to cut out the gall, which will be found in the middle of the liver,
and throw it away. Scrape out all the fat and meat sticking to the
shells, and put into a saucepan with half a pound of _very good_
butter, a good deal of salt, and cayenne pepper. Simmer over a slow
fire for about two hours. Wine may be added, according to taste, after
the terrapin is served.
177. =Stewed Terrapin à la Maryland.= Pick and clean, as the foregoing,
two terrapins weighing about six to seven pounds. Boil them in some
water with a little salt for about twenty minutes. Drain them, cut
them in moderate-sized pieces, and put them in a saucepan with enough
cream to cover them, a pinch of salt, pepper, nutmeg, and three
wineglasses of sherry. Simmer gently for three quarters of an hour. Mix
four yolks of eggs with two tablespoonfuls of cream, add them to your
terrapins, and serve very hot.
178. =Stewed Terrapin= (another manner). Prepare your terrapins as the
foregoing, add to them half a pint of brandy, touch it with a lighted
match, let it burn, and serve.
179. =Glaze.= Put two quarts of consommé (Art. 1) in a saucepan on the
fire. Reduce it by _very_ gentle boiling until it becomes the color of
chocolate. Put it in a bowl on the ice, and keep it until needed.