Domestic French Cookery, 4th ed Part 7

Or you may cook the shad whole. Make a stuffing of the above ingredients, with the addition of some grated bread; put the stuffing into the shad, and bake it, first pouring over it a gla.s.s of white wine.

Any large fresh fish may be baked in the same manner.

HASHED FISH.

Take any sort of cold fish, bone it, and then chop it with the remains of a cold omelet, and some mushrooms if you have them. Mix with it some chopped parsley, a little b.u.t.ter, a slice of bread soaked in milk, and the yolks of two or three hard-boiled eggs chopped fine. Mix all together, and season with pepper and salt. Stew it gently with a little water for half an hour.

LOBSTER PIE.

Having boiled your lobster, take out the meat from the sh.e.l.l, season it with salt, mustard, Cayenne pepper, and vinegar, and beat it well in a mortar. Then stir in a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter, the yolks of two beaten eggs, and two ounces or more of grated bread crumbs. Make some puff-paste, put in the mixture, and cover it with a lid of paste ornamented with leaves or flowers of the same. Bake it slowly.

OYSTER LOAVES.

Have ready some small loaves or rolls of bread. Cut a round piece out of the top of each, and scoop out the crumb or soft part. Take the liquor of your oysters, put into it the crumbs, with a little chopped celery, and a large piece of b.u.t.ter. As soon as it boils, pour the liquor over the oysters, and this will cook them sufficiently. Fill your loaves with the oysters, putting into each a tea-spoonful of cream. Lay on again the piece of crust that was cut out of the top of each loaf or roll, and set them in the oven for a few minutes.

PART THE FIFTH.

VEGETABLES.

STEWED LETTUCE.

Wash a fine lettuce, and tie it up with a string pa.s.sed several times round it, to keep the leaves together. Put it in boiling water, with a little salt. When the lettuce has boiled, take it out and press it to squeeze out the water, but be careful not to break it.

Having mixed, in a stew-pan, a large spoonful of b.u.t.ter with a spoonful of flour, add half a pint of cream or rich milk; put in the lettuce, with a very little salt, half a nutmeg grated, and two lumps of sugar.

Let it boil ten minutes. Take out the lettuce, stir the yolks of two beaten eggs into the sauce, and serve all up together.

STEWED SPINACH.

Take young spinach, and throw it into boiling water with some salt. When it has boiled, take it out, drain it, and lay it in cold water for a quarter of an hour. Then drain it and squeeze it. Cut it small, and put it into a stew-pan, with a large piece of b.u.t.ter. After it has stewed slowly for a quarter of an hour, add a spoonful of flour, with a little salt, sugar, and nutmeg. Moisten it with cream or milk, and let it simmer again over a slow fire for another quarter of an hour. Then serve it up, and lay on it slices of toasted bread dipped in melted b.u.t.ter.

STEWED CUc.u.mBERS.

Lay your cuc.u.mbers in cold water for half an hour; then pare them, and cut them into slips about as long as your little finger; take out the seeds; then boil the cuc.u.mbers a few minutes, with a little salt. Take them out, and drain them well.

Put into a stew-pan some b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, and a little cream.

Stew your cuc.u.mbers in it for ten minutes. When you take them off, stir in the yolks of two beaten eggs; and if you choose, a tea-spoonful of vinegar.

STEWED BEETS.

Boil some beets. Then peel and cut them into slices. Stew them for a quarter of an hour with a piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, some onion and parsley chopped fine, a little vinegar, salt and pepper, and a clove of garlic.

STEWED CARROTS.

Sc.r.a.pe and wash your carrots. Scald them in boiling water; then drain them, and cut them into long slips. Stew them in milk or cream, with a little salt, pepper, and chopped parsley. When done, take them out, stir into the sauce the yolks of one or two eggs, and a lump or two of loaf-sugar, and pour it over the carrots.

STEWED CABBAGE.

Having washed your cabbage, cut it in four, and throw it into boiling water with some salt. When it has boiled till quite tender, take it up, squeeze out the water, and put the cabbage to drain. Then lay it in a stew-pan with b.u.t.ter, salt, pepper, nutmeg, a spoonful of flour, and half a pint of cream. Stew it a quarter of an hour, and pour the sauce over it when you send it to table.

Cauliflowers may be stewed in the same manner.

STEWED PEAS.

Take two quarts of green peas; put them into a stew-pan with a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter, a bunch of parsley, and the heart of a fine lettuce cut in pieces, a bunch of mint, three or four lumps of sugar, some salt and pepper, and a very little water. Stir all together, set it on coals and let it stew gently for an hour or an hour and a half.

Having taken out the parsley, add a piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour; and stir in the yolks of two eggs just before you send it to table.

You may, if you choose, put in the lettuce without cutting it in pieces; tie it up with the bunch of parsley and two onions, and withdraw the whole before you dish the peas. Serve up the lettuce in another dish.

STEWED BEANS.

Put into a stew-pan some parsley and some chives or little onions chopped fine, some mushrooms (if you have them) chopped also, and a large piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour. Add a gla.s.s of white wine and a little water. Stir all together, and then put in as many beans as will fill a quart measure when strung and cut small; having first soaked them a quarter of an hour in cold water. Let them stew gently on hot coals till quite tender. Just before you serve them up, stir in the yolks of two eggs. You may subst.i.tute for the wine a tumbler of cream, but it must be stirred in at the last.

STEWED ONIONS.

Boil some small onions with salt, and then drain them. Lay them in a stew-pan with a piece of b.u.t.ter, and sprinkle them with flour, pepper and salt. Pour on them some cream, and then turn every onion with a spoon. Stew them ten minutes, and serve them up.

ONIONS STEWED IN WINE.

Boil twenty or thirty onions a quarter of an hour with a bunch of sweet herbs, some salt, a few cloves, and a laurel leaf. Then take out the onions, and put them into a stew-pan with some salt, a piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, and a pint of red wine. Stew them another quarter of an hour, and serve them up garnished with pieces of toast dipped in the sauce.

STEWED MUSHROOMS.

Having peeled and washed your mushrooms, drain them, and stew them with b.u.t.ter, pepper, salt, and a little chopped parsley, adding a little flour and warm water. When they are done, stir into the sauce the yolks of two or three eggs, and some cream. Toast and b.u.t.ter a slice of bread.

Lay it on the dish under the mushrooms, and pour the sauce over them.

Put in a small onion with the mushrooms, that you may know by its turning almost black, whether there is a poisonous one among them. If the onion turns black, throw away all the mushrooms.

STEWED POTATOES.