Domestic French Cookery, 4th ed Part 10

Boil twelve eggs hard. Take off the sh.e.l.l, and cut each egg in half.

Take out the yolks, and pound them in a mortar with a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter; a nutmeg; some grated bread that has been soaked in milk; a little salt; and if you choose, some minced sweet-herbs. Fill the whites of the eggs with this stuffing, heaping it up, and smoothing it into a round even shape. b.u.t.ter a dish, and spread over the inside a thin layer of the stuffing. Arrange in it all your halves of eggs, the bottoms downwards. Put them into an oven, the lid of which must be hot. Let them set about five minutes, and then send them to table.

EGG SNOW.

Take a quart of milk, and stir into it two spoonfuls of rose-water, and a quarter of a pound of white sugar, with a powdered nutmeg. Add by degrees the yolks of twelve eggs well beaten. Boil the whole together, stirring it all the time, so as to make a thick smooth custard. If you keep it too long on the fire, it will be lumpy. Set it away to get cold in a deep dish. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth that will stand alone, adding to it twelve drops of essence of lemon. Heap it on the dish of custard so as to look like a pile of snow; or you may drop it with a large spoon, so as to form separate b.a.l.l.s. On the top of each ball you may lay a tea-spoonful of stiff currant-jelly.

PANCAKES.

Beat together a quart of sifted flour, six eggs, a table-spoonful of brandy, a grated nutmeg, a little salt, and sufficient water to make a thin batter. Melt a piece of b.u.t.ter in a frying-pan, or subst.i.tute a little sweet-oil. Pour in a ladleful of the batter, and let it spread into a circular form. When it is slightly brown on one side, turn it carefully on the other. Serve them up with white sugar grated over each.

You may color them pink, by stirring into the mixture some of the juice of a beet-root, which has been boiled and then beaten in a mortar.

OMELETS.

_Cheese Omelet._--Grate some rich cheese, and mix it gradually with your eggs while beating them. Season with salt and pepper. Melt some b.u.t.ter in a frying-pan. Put in your omelet, and fry it first on one side, and then on the other. When you dish it up, fold it over in half.

_Bread Omelet._--Put two handfuls or more of bread crumbs into half a pint of cream, with a grated nutmeg and a little salt. When the bread has absorbed all the cream, stir it into the eggs as you beat them for the omelet. Fry it in b.u.t.ter, and when dished, fold one half over the other.

_Lobster Omelet._--Beat in a mortar the flesh of a boiled lobster, adding, at times, a little b.u.t.ter; and season it with pepper and salt.

Stir it gradually into the eggs while beating them. Fry it in b.u.t.ter.

_Onion Omelet._--Boil some onions; mince them fine, and moisten them with milk. Stir them into the eggs as you beat them.

_Ham Omelet._--Is made with grated cold ham, stirred into the eggs while beating.

Omelets may be seasoned in the same manner with parsley, chopped sweet-herbs, or mushrooms. Also with minced oysters.

MACCARONI.

Boil half a pound of maccaroni with two ounces of b.u.t.ter, some whole pepper, and a little salt. Do not let it boil long enough for the maccaroni to lose its shape. When done, mix with it a quarter of a pound of rich cheese, sc.r.a.ped or grated. b.u.t.ter a deep dish, and put the mixture into it. Then set it for a quarter of an hour in the oven. Brown the top with a red-hot shovel.

MACCARONI PIE.

Take half a pound of maccaroni, and put it into a stew-pan with an ounce of b.u.t.ter, a little salt and pepper, and water enough to cover it. Stew it till dry. Then grate a quarter of a pound of fine cheese, and mix it with the maccaroni, adding another ounce of b.u.t.ter. Set it away to get cold.

Take another pan, which must be very deep, with a flat bottom, and nearly the shape of a drum. b.u.t.ter the inside. Make a good paste, and cover with it the whole interior of the pan, sides and bottom. Put in the maccaroni. Cover the pie with a lid of paste. Bake it at least half an hour. When done, loosen it from the pan and turn it out on a dish. It will be in the form of a drum, if the pan was of that shape.

BLANCMANGE IN EGGS.

Take two ounces of sh.e.l.led sweet almonds, and one ounce of sh.e.l.led bitter almonds. Blanch them by throwing them into scalding water to make the skins peel off easily; then put them in cold water; wipe them dry afterwards, and pound them in a mortar, adding at times a little rose-water.

Dissolve an ounce of isingla.s.s in warm water, and then stir it into a quart of cream. Add a quarter of a pound of broken loaf-sugar, and a wine-gla.s.s of rose-water. Boil it hard for a quarter of an hour, and stir it all the time. Then strain it through a linen bag, and put it into egg-cups, or into the halves of egg-sh.e.l.ls nicely and evenly trimmed, and set it away in a cold place to congeal.

Have ready some calves-feet jelly (made according to the directions given in the article "Chickens in Jelly"); and when the blancmange is firm, take out a small piece from the middle of each cupful, and replace it with a lump of the jelly, put in so as to look like the yolk of the egg. Or if more convenient, you need not put in the jelly till you have taken the blancmange out of the cups or egg-sh.e.l.ls, which must be done by wetting the moulds with warm water on the outside.

The jelly for this purpose must be very high-colored, by means of brandy, or dark sweet wine.

If nicely managed, the blancmange and jelly will look like eggs cut in half. Lay them in a circle round a dish that contains something high and ornamental,--for instance, a pyramid of ice-cream.

PART THE SIXTH.

PASTRY, CAKES, &c.

FRENCH PASTE.

Sift a quart of flour, and lay it in a pan. Make a hole in the middle, and put into it the white of an egg slightly beaten, a piece of b.u.t.ter the size of an egg, and a very little salt. Pour in gradually as much cold water as will moisten it. Mix it well with your hands, as rapidly as possible, and see that no lumps are left in it. Set it away to cool, and in a quarter of an hour roll it out, and spread over it half a pound of b.u.t.ter which has been kept in ice. Then fold up the paste with the four sides laid one over another, so as entirely to inclose the b.u.t.ter, and set it for half an hour in a cool place. Then roll it again; fold it, and give it another roll. Set it away again; and in half an hour roll it out twice more, and it will be fit for use.

PUFF PASTE.

May be made with a pound of b.u.t.ter, and a pound and a quarter of sifted flour. The b.u.t.ter must be washed in cold water, and then squeezed very hard, and made up into a lump. Divide it into eight parts. Mix one part of the b.u.t.ter with the flour, adding just enough of water to moisten it.

Roll it out; spread over it a second portion of the b.u.t.ter; flour it; fold it up, and roll it out again, adding another division of the b.u.t.ter. Repeat this till you get in all the b.u.t.ter, a piece at a time, folding and rolling the paste with each separate portion of the b.u.t.ter.

Then set it away to cool. If it sets several hours, it will be the better for it; and better still if the paste is made the night before it is wanted; always keeping it in a cold place.

While b.u.t.tering and rolling, do every thing as quickly as possible.

Before you put it into the dishes, roll it out once more. It is difficult in warm weather to make good puff paste without a marble table, or slab, to roll it on.

CREAM TARTS.

Mix together a quart of flour, half a pound of b.u.t.ter, a little salt, and two beaten eggs. Add a little cold water; make it into a paste, and set it away to cool. Then roll it out again. Cut it into round shapes with the edge of a tumbler. Lay round each a rim made of an even strip of the paste, and notch it handsomely. Bake them for a quarter of an hour, and then take them from the oven. Beat together a pint of cream, four eggs, and four table-spoonfuls of powdered sugar. Fill the tarts with this mixture, grate nutmeg over each, and bake them again for a quarter of an hour.

ALMOND TARTS.

Blanch half a pound of sh.e.l.led sweet almonds and three ounces of sh.e.l.led bitter almonds. Beat them, a few at a time, in a mortar, mixing them well, and adding at times a little rose-water. When done, mix with them a quarter of a pound of loaf-sugar powdered, and the juice and grated peel of half a lemon.

Have ready some fine paste. Cut it into circular pieces about the size and thickness of a dollar. Put into each piece of paste some of the almond mixture, heaping it up in the centre. Cover them with lids of the same, and crimp the edges very neatly. Bake them about half an hour, and grate sugar over them when done.

RISSOLES.

Make some fine paste, and cut it out with the edge of a tumbler. Have ready some minced veal, seasoned in the best manner, or some chopped oysters, or any sort of force-meat, and lay some of it on one half of each piece of paste. Then turn over it the other half, so as to inclose the meat. Crimp the edges. Put some b.u.t.ter into a frying-pan. Lay the rissoles into it, and fry them of a light brown.