Choice Cookery Part 4

To fry, you require a stewpan or iron kettle; those called Scotch kettles are best, as they set into the range readily. A frying-pan is only useful for sauteing in little fat. Articles to be fried must be immersed in fat, and no frying-pan is deep enough to do this safely. Put two to three pounds of clarified dripping or lard into the kettle, and let it get very hot. This will be after it ceases to sputter--some time after, perhaps; but you must now begin to watch for smoke to rise from the _centre_. Have near you some little squares of bread crumb; drop one in from time to time; only when it colors _immediately_ is the fat hot enough. At this point no time must be lost, and your frying begins.

Of course you will have the articles you intend to fry right at hand.

You will also need a large dish, in which you lay common butcher's wrapping-paper (often called "kitchen paper") and a perforated skimmer--some like a frying-basket, and for very small things it is an a.s.sistance; but for croquettes, cutlets, etc., it is not necessary: they can be laid on the skimmer and dropped in the fat.

The easiest and safest way to fry is to use a cooking thermometer (pyrometers or frimometers they are sometimes called), and let the fat be 380 for croquettes, oysters, and articles that only require two minutes' cooking; 360 for cutlets and heavier articles.

The time required for articles to cook in the frying-kettle seems astonishingly short. For instance, a breaded chop will be cooked to a medium degree in two and a half minutes, well done in three minutes; but it must be remembered the heat is intense. Croquettes must never be left longer than two minutes, while whitebait (which, however, require special instruction to fry without getting them into a cake) need less than a minute. Potatoes require longer than most things; but the fat need not be cooler at first, as would seem necessary, because they are so full of water, even when well dried, that they cool the fat rapidly.

_Sauteing_ (a word that would be expressive of the process in English would be a boon to writers on cooking).--The process generally meant by "frying" is really sauteing; yet so general has been the misconception among all but professed cooks, that one has to take the precaution in giving directions for frying to say, "Fry _in deep_ fat." It ought to be understood that to fry is to _immerse_ in hot fat. If some term suitable for kitchen use could be found, half the difficulty would be over. In old English books a very fair translation was used; they told you to "toss the article in b.u.t.ter," but though it rendered saute "jump"

fairly, it did not express the process. There is neither tossing nor jumping about it, unless an occasional shake to the pan be called so; and as "flat frying," "dry frying," are awkward, the sooner we boldly take saute into common use, and let it become a kitchen word as familiar as frica.s.see (which surely must have been very unfamiliar once), the better.

To saute--although every Bridget or Gretchen fancies she can do it--requires nicety and care to do it well, and is far more difficult than "frying in deep fat." The pan requires to be hot, also the fat or b.u.t.ter used, which should cover the bottom of the pan; a bright fire is required. Things that take long to cook require more fat than those that require but a short time. Effort must be made to adjust the proportion, as adding cold fat prevents browning. Veal cutlets and many other things are far better sauted than fried. The articles sauted require to be watched that they do not burn; yet they must not be too often turned, or they will not brown--except, of course, such things as are chopped, which require frequent stirring up.

In speaking of chilling articles coated with sauce to be fried, I omitted to give the caution that, in the case of meats, care must be taken not to leave them long enough to freeze the meat.

FOOTNOTES:

[88-*] See No. IV.

[89-*] See No. V.

[90-*] See No. II.

[90-] See No. IV.

XI.

ENTReES OF MUTTON CUTLETS OR CHOPS.

_Mutton Cutlets a la d.u.c.h.esse._--Take as many cutlets (or French chops) as required. Stew them in stock, with a small bouquet of herbs, very gently until they are perfectly tender. Take them up, skim the stock, and strain it; return to a small saucepan, and reduce the liquid to a glaze; dip each cutlet in the glaze and lay it aside. Have ready what cooks now call a "panada," made of a gill of thick white sauce, two yolks of eggs stirred into it and allowed to approach the boiling-point, but not to boil (this, of course, must be done in a double boiler), or the eggs will curdle; chop a dessertspoonful of parsley very fine; parboil and chop also very fine three onions; pound thoroughly in a mortar eight mushrooms; stir these all into the thick sauce, with a saltspoonful of salt and a quarter one of pepper. Roll each cutlet in this force-meat (if found too stiff to adhere properly, moisten with a little cream or a little liquor from the mushrooms), lay them on a fire-proof dish, and cover with bread crumbs and bits of b.u.t.ter. Bake them until they are a golden brown. Serve with brown Soubise sauce.

_Lamb Cutlets en Concombre._--Trim and cut six lamb cutlets three quarters of an inch thick, flatten them a little to make them of equal size and thickness; flour them, and saute them in b.u.t.ter five minutes.

The fire must be sharp, because they must be a nice brown on both sides.

Arrange them round an entree dish, with a gill of brown sauce poured outside, and a pint of fillets of cuc.u.mber in the centre.

_To Prepare Fillets of Cuc.u.mber._--Cut firm fresh cuc.u.mbers lengthwise through the middle, remove seeds and all soft parts, cut into inch lengths and into olive shapes all the same size. Put them into a stewpan with an ounce of b.u.t.ter, a pinch of pepper, a saltspoonful of sugar and one of salt, and let them stew until quite tender, without acquiring any color. To do this the stewpan must be closely covered and frequently shaken.

_Lamb Cutlets with a Puree of Mushrooms._--Trim and cook and serve the cutlets as in the foregoing recipe, only in place of the cuc.u.mbers make a puree of mushrooms in the following way: stew half a pint of b.u.t.ton mushrooms and part of their liquor in half a pint of white sauce until they are very tender (taking care the sauce does not burn), pound them in a mortar, then force them through a vegetable strainer; then add enough of the white sauce in which they were stewed to make the puree the substance of very thick cream.

_Cold Lamb Cutlets in Mint Jelly._--Roast a piece of what butchers call the rack of lamb, which is really the neck and ribs. Let it get cold; cut from it six cutlets, which trim just as if they were uncooked; that is to say, remove meat and fat from the bone, and sc.r.a.pe it. Mask each of the cutlets in mint jelly[101-*] warmed enough to be half fluid.

Arrange very carefully round an entree dish when they are perfectly set, so that the jelly will not come off. Have a Russian salad in the centre.

_How to Prepare the Salad._--To prepare this you require two or three small vegetable cutters of pretty shape; use them to trim carrots, white turnips, and cuc.u.mbers into small, attractive forms; boil these in separate waters till tender; also green peas, sprays of cauliflower, and very tiny young string-beans. Throw each vegetable as it is cooked into ice-cold water to keep the color. Have some red beet-root boiled _before_ it is cut into shapes. Use equal quant.i.ties of each vegetable.

Arrange them with peas in the centre, and the others in circles round, studying the effect of color; then dress, but do not mask, them with green mayonnaise.

At seasons when materials for Russian salad cannot readily be obtained the chops may be served with a centre of cuc.u.mber salad, or one made of the small white leaves of lettuce.

_Cutlets Chaudfroid a la Russe._--For this cold dish mutton cutlets are used. They must be of the finest quality, and from mutton not newly killed. Cut as many cutlets as required, trim, and sc.r.a.pe the bone.

Braise for an hour in a moderate oven till the meat is very tender, remove, and press between two dishes until they are cold. Then trim each cutlet into perfect shape. Boil a quart of strong stock (which already jellies) down to less than half a pint; dip each chop into this glaze once or twice, till they look "varnished." You now require a pint of stiff aspic jelly; turn it out of the bowl, cut one or two slices a quarter of an inch thick from it, to be cut into shapes (or croutons) with a cutter to garnish the cutlets. Chop the rest of the aspic, lay it round the dish, and the cutlets against it, with the croutons of aspic to form the outer edge. The centre must be filled with a Russian salad, in this case stirred up with very thick mayonnaise, instead of being formally arranged. The mayonnaise must be only sufficient to dress the vegetables, none to run into the other materials, and beet-root must be added last, as it discolors the sauce if stirred up in it.

ENTReES OF SWEETBREADS.

_Sweetbreads a la Supreme._--Take two plump sweetbreads, lay them an hour in strong salt and water, then boil them for ten minutes in fresh water; put them between two plates to flatten till cold. Cut off all the gristle and loose skin from underneath; put them to stew _very gently_ in half a pint of good-flavored stock. Take them up, drain well, and stew them in half a pint of sauce supreme, with a dozen small mushrooms, for ten minutes.

_Sweetbreads with Oysters._--Prepare the sweetbreads as in the foregoing recipe, quarter them, and put them in a stewpan with a gill of white stock, the strained liquor from two dozen oysters, a saltspoonful of salt, a pinch of pepper, and a suspicion of nutmeg. Put two ounces of b.u.t.ter in a stewpan over the fire, stir into it one tablespoonful of fine flour; let them bubble together, stirring the while, one minute.

When the sweetbreads have been simmering twenty minutes, pour the gravy from them to the sauce; stir quickly till smooth. If thicker than very thick cream, add a little more stock. In five minutes add the oysters.

Keep _at boiling-point_, but not boiling, till the oysters are firm and plump. Do not leave them in the sauce a minute beyond this, or they will begin to shrink. Take them and the sweetbreads up, and if the sauce is too thin to bear a winegla.s.s of cream, boil it rapidly down till _very thick_; then skim, and just before pouring over the sweetbreads stir in a winegla.s.s of thick cream. If it goes in earlier it may curdle.

It has been explained before, but I repeat it here, that there must never be too much sauce, however good, to any dish, and that the consistency is most important: it must be thick enough to mask a spoon, yet run from it freely. Nothing can be worse than a dab of white mush being served as sauce, unless it be a quant.i.ty of thin, milky soup floating on every plate. This is where the happy medium must be struck.

It is perfectly easy to give exact proportions to produce certain degrees of thickness, and this has been done in the chapters on sauces; but where these sauces are used as a medium in which to cook, for instance, sweetbreads, a certain amount of liquid must be added to prevent burning. Now it is impossible to say how fast this added liquid will diminish if the simmering is as slow as it should be, it may lose hardly at all, in which case the articles stewed must be taken out, and a few minutes' hard boiling given to evaporate the liquid and bring the sauce back to the proper point.

_Sweetbreads in Cases._--Prepare two sweetbreads as directed in the foregoing recipes. Put them in a stewpan with a thin slice of fat boiled ham, half a carrot, half a turnip, and a small onion, all cut small, and laid as a bed under the sweetbreads; put in a gill of broth, a bouquet of herbs, and half a saltspoonful of salt, with a pinch of pepper. Let them stew, closely covered, one hour, turning them after the first half-hour. When done, take them up and drain them. When cold, cover with thick d'Uxelles sauce; sprinkle thickly with very fine bread crumbs.

Make two rough paper cases, b.u.t.ter each liberally, and very carefully lay each sweetbread in one, crumbed side uppermost. Put them in a quick oven till pale brown. Have ready proper sweetbread cases, slip them neatly into them, and serve.

These are excellent cold, in which event they should not be shifted from the rough case until ready to serve.

FOOTNOTES:

[101-*] For recipe, see No. V.

XII.

ON THE MANNER OF PREPARING CROQUETTES, CUTLETS, KROMESKIES, RISSOLES, AND CIGARETTES.

Although these ever-popular dishes are all or may all be prepared from one mixture, there is a difference in the manner of using it which I will here explain.

_Croquettes_ are made from a soft creamy mixture chilled on ice till firm enough to mould, then simply dipped into egg and crumbs and fried in very hot fat.

_Cutlets_ are the same (of course fancy cutlets are meant, not the French chops, so called), only they are shaped to imitate a real cutlet, with a little bone inserted; or, in the case of lobster cutlets, a small claw is used to simulate the chop bone. Many only stick a sprig of parsley where the bone should be, to keep up the fiction.

_Kromeskies_ are rolls of the same mixture enveloped in very thin slices (hardly thicker than paper) of fat larding pork; a small toothpick holds the pork in place. The rolls are then egged, crumbed, and fried.

_Rissoles_ are the same thing, only rather easier to prepare, being rolled in very thin pastry instead of pork.

_Cigarettes_, the newest variation of the favorite entree, and most dainty of them all in appearance, are thin rolls of croquette mixture (or, better still, quenelle meat) not thicker than a small cigar. These are rolled in pastry, thoroughly deadened, pinched very securely, and fried a very pale brown.

As the manner of making the mixture is about the same for all kinds of meats, fish, or game, varying only in flavor--a little wine, a little onion, or sweet herbs taking the place of the mushrooms in some cases--I will give exact directions for making sweetbread cutlets; chicken, game, or fish may be subst.i.tuted for the sweetbreads, naming them accordingly.

The ham may always be omitted where the flavor is objected to. For those who like it, it adds very much to sweetbreads, but would be out of place with game, which should depend on its own individual flavor.