Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus Part 5

In shaping the croquettes take about a tablespoonful of the mixture and handling gently and carefully, press gently into whatever shape is desired. Have ready a board sprinkled lightly with bread or cracker crumbs, and roll the croquettes lightly in this, taking care not to exert pressure sufficient to break them. Coat the croquettes with some slightly salted beaten egg. Then roll again in the crumbs. Fry in deep hot fat, a few at a time, then drain on paper.

-CHICKEN POT PIE---Cut a fowl into pieces to serve and cook in water to cover until the bones will come out easily. Before taking them out drop dumplings in, cover closely and cook ten minutes without lifting the cover. The liquid should be boiling rapidly when the dough is put in and kept boiling until the end. For the dumplings sift two cups of flour twice with half a level teaspoon of salt and four level teaspoons of baking powder. Mix with about seven-eighths cup of milk, turn out on a well floured board and pat out half an inch thick. Cut into small cakes.

If this soft dough is put into the kettle in spoonfuls the time of cooking must be doubled. The bones and meat will keep the dough from settling into the liquid and becoming soggy. Arrange the meat in the center with dumplings around the edge and a sprig of parsley between each. Thicken the liquid and season with salt and pepper as needed and a rounding tablespoon of b.u.t.ter.

-CHICKEN TIMBALES---Mix three-fourths of a cupful of flour with a half teaspoonful of salt. Add gradually while stirring constantly, one-half cupful of milk and one well beaten egg and one tablespoonful of olive oil. Shape, using a hot Swedish timbale iron, and cook in deep fat until delicately brown. Take from the iron and invert on brown paper to drain.

To make the filling for a dozen timbales, remove bones and skin from a pint bowlful of the white or white and dark meat mixed of cold boiled or roasted chicken, and cut in half inch pieces. Put over the first in a saucepan two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and two of flour and when melted and blended add milk and chicken broth, a cupful and a half or more as desired to make a rich cream sauce. Season with salt and pepper, add the chicken and, if preferred, one-half cupful of mushrooms cut in pieces the same size as the chicken. Then brown in b.u.t.ter before adding to the sauce. Fill the timbales.

-DEVILED CHICKEN---Split the chickens down the back and broil until done, lay on a hot dripping pan and spread on a sauce, scatter fine crumbs over and set in a quick oven to brown. For the sauce beat a rounding tablespoon of b.u.t.ter light with one-half teaspoon of mixed mustard, one teaspoon of vinegar and a pinch of cayenne.

-FRICa.s.sED TURKEY OR GOOSE GIBLETS---Scald and pick giblets. Put them in a saucepan with a piece of b.u.t.ter, a bunch of parsley, green onions, thyme, bay-leaf and a few mushrooms; warm these over the fire, with a sprinkle of flour moistened with stock or water, adding salt and pepper to taste. Reduce to a thick sauce, adding to it the yolks of two eggs, and let simmer without boiling. Serve with sprinkling of vinegar.

-FRIED CHICKEN---Cut up two chickens. Put a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter, mixed with a spoonful of flour, into a saucepan with pepper, salt, little vinegar, parsley, green onions, carrots and turnips, into a saucepan and heat. Steep the chicken in this marinade three hours, having dried the pieces and floured them. Fry a good brown. Garnish with fried parsley.

-JELLIED CHICKEN---For jellied chicken have on hand three pounds of chicken that has been boiled and cut from the bone in strips. Mix a quart of rich chicken stock that has been boiled down and cleared with a teaspoonful each of lemon juice, chopped parsley, a dash of celery salt and a quarter teaspoonful each of salt and paprika. At the last stir in a teaspoonful of granulated gelatin that has been dissolved. When the jelly begins to thicken add the chicken and turn it into a mold. To have the chicken scattered evenly through the jelly, stand the dish containing the jelly in a pan of ice and turn in the jelly layer by layer, covering each with chicken as soon as it begins to thicken.

-MARBLED CHICKEN---Steam a young fowl until tender or cook it gently in a small amount of water. Cut all the meat from the bones, keeping the white and dark meat separate. Chop the meat with a sharp knife, but do not grind it, season with salt and pepper. Press into a mold making alternate layers of light and dark meat. Strain the broth in which the fowl was cooked and which should be reduced by cooking to a small amount, season with salt and pepper, add a tablespoon of b.u.t.ter after skimming clear of all fat. Pour this broth over the meat and set all in the ice chest until cold and firm. Unmold and cut in thin slices with a sharp knife, then if liked garnish with cress and sliced lemon and serve.

-POTTED CHICKEN---Truss a small broiler in shape and lay in ca.s.serole.

Brush it generously with melted b.u.t.ter, put on the cover, and cook twenty minutes. Now add one cup of rich stock or beef extract dissolved in hot water to make a good strength. Cover and finish cooking. Serve uncovered in the same dish with spoonfuls of potato b.a.l.l.s, small carrots sliced and tiny string beans laid alternately round the chicken. The vegetables should each be cooked separately.

-PRESSED CHICKEN---Cut as for a stew. Skin the feet and place in the bottom of a stew pan. Arrange the fowl on top, just cover with water, and cook slowly until tender. Do not let the meat brown. Separate the dark and light meat and throw away the feet, from which the gluten has been extracted. Chop liver, skin, heart and gizzard fine. Add these chopped giblets to a dressing of stale bread crumbs seasoned and moistened with a little hot water and b.u.t.ter. Arrange the large pieces of meat around the sides and bottom of a baking dish, alternating dark and light, and fill alternately with dressing and chicken until the dish is full. Remove the fat from the water in which the chicken was cooked, heat boiling hot and pour over the chicken. Put into a press for several hours and when cold slice.

-ROAST CHICKEN---Having drawn and trussed the chicken put it between some slices of bacon, take care to fasten the feet to the spit to keep it together, baste it with its gravy, when well done through, serve with cress round the dish, season with salt and vinegar. The chicken and bacon should be covered with b.u.t.tered paper, until five minutes of the bird being done, then take off the paper, and finish the roasting by a very bright fire.

-STUFFED CHICKEN---Put a pint of milk into a saucepan with a good handful of crumbs of bread and boil until very thick. Set away to cool.

Add to this parsley, chopped green onion, thyme, salt, pepper, piece of b.u.t.ter and the yolks of four eggs, and place in body of chicken, sewing up the opening. Roast the chicken between rashers of bacon.

-TURKEY GIBLETS A LA BOURGEOISE---The giblets of turkey consist of the pinions, feet, neck and gizzard. After having scalded pick them well and put in a saucepan with a piece of b.u.t.ter, some parsley, green onions, clove of garlic, sprig of thyme, bay-leaf, a spoonful of flour moistened with stock, salt and pepper. Brown to a good color.

-TURKEY TRUFFLES---Take a fat turkey, clean and singe it. Take three or four pounds of truffles, chopping up a handful with some fat bacon and put into a saucepan, together with the whole truffles, salt, pepper, spices and a bay-leaf. Let these ingredients cook over a slow fire for three-quarters of a hour, take off, stir and let cool. When quite cold place in body of turkey, sew up the opening and let the turkey imbibe the flavor of the truffles by remaining in a day or two, if the season permits. Cover the bird with slices of bacon and roast.

-ANCHOVY STUFFING---Put some large fine chopped onions into a frying pan with a little oil or b.u.t.ter and fry them to a light brown. Put them in a basin and add some breadcrumbs that have been dipped in water and squeeze quite dry. Then add a small piece of liver of the bird to be stuffed. The filling of seven or eight salted anchovies, a pinch of parsley, with a few chopped capers. Work these well together, sprinkle over a little pepper and thicken the mixture with yolks of eggs, when it is ready for use.

-CHESTNUT STUFFING---Peel a sound good-sized shallot, chop it up fine, place it in a saucepan on a hot fire with one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter and heat it for three minutes without browning. Then add one-fourth pound of sausage meat and cook for five minutes longer. Add ten finely chopped mushrooms and a dozen well pounded cooked peeled chestnuts and stir all well together, season with one pinch of salt, half pinch of pepper, one-half saltspoon of powdered thyme, and one teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley. Let this come to a boil, add one half ounce of sifted bread crumbs and twenty-five or thirty whole cooked and sh.e.l.led chestnuts and mix all well together, being careful not to break the chestnuts. Allow to cool and then is ready for use.

-CHESTNUT STUFFING FOR TURKEY---Put a dozen or fifteen large chestnuts into a saucepan of water, and boil them until they are quite tender, then take off the sh.e.l.ls and skins, put into a mortar and pound them.

Put four ounces of shredded beef suet into a basin, stir in one-half pound of bread crumbs, season with salt and pepper to taste, and squeeze in a little lemon juice. Mix in a pound of chestnuts and stuffing will be ready for use.

-CHESTNUT STUFFING WITH TRUFFLES---Remove the dark or outer skins from some chestnuts, immerse in boiling water for a few minutes, remove the light skins and boil for about twenty minutes, put in a saucepan one pound of fat bacon and two shallots, and keep these over the fire for a few minutes. Then add the whole chestnuts, also one-half pound of chestnuts previously cut out into small pieces, put in pepper, spices and salt to taste, and a small quant.i.ty of powdered margoram and thyme.

Hold it over the fire a little longer, turning it occasionally. It is then ready for use.

-CHICKEN LIVER STUFFING FOR BIRDS---Chop a half pound of fat chicken livers in small pieces and put them in a frying pan, with two finely chopped shallots, two ounces of fat ham, also chopped thyme, grated nutmeg, pepper, salt and a small lump of b.u.t.ter. Toss it about over the fire until partly cooked. Then take it off and leave it until cold.

Pound in a mortar, then it is ready to use.

-CHICKEN STUFFING---Take the heart, liver, and gizzard of a fowl, chop fine, season to taste and mix with boiled rice, worked up with a little b.u.t.ter. Stuff the chicken with this.

-GIBLET STUFFING FOR TURKEY---Put the giblets in a saucepan over the fire with boiling water to cover, sprinkle over a teaspoonful of salt and a quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper and boil gently until tender.

Save the water in which the giblets were boiled to use for gravy. Chop the giblets quite fine, put them in a frying pan over the fire with four ounces of b.u.t.ter, two breakfast cups of stale breadcrumbs and a good seasoning of salt, pepper and any powdered sweet herbs except sage. Stir all these ingredients together until they are of a light brown, add a wine gla.s.s of sherry or Madeira wine, and the force meat is ready for use.

-PICKLED PORK STUFFING FOR TURKEYS---Chop up very fine a quarter of a pound of fat and lean salted pork, break quite fine a couple of breakfast cupfuls of bread and put them in a frying pan over the fire with two heaping tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, fry to a brown and season with salt, pepper and any sweet herbs except sage.

-POTATO STUFFING---Cut some peeled raw potatoes into slices of moderate thickness and then cut into squares, rinse with cold water, drain and place them in a saucepan with a couple of ounces of b.u.t.ter, a chopped onion and one or two tablespoonfuls of chopped parsley, a little salt and pepper and grated nutmeg, place the lid on the pan, keeping the pan at the side of the fire and shaking contents occasionally until nearly cooked, then chop fine an equal quant.i.ty of pig's liver and stir into the potatoes a few minutes before serving.

-STUFFING FOR BIRDS---Peel two large onions, parboil them, then drain and chop them fine. Soak one breakfast cup of bread crumbs in as much milk as they will absorb without becoming too soft. Pour four ounces of b.u.t.ter in a stewpan, place it over the fire, and when the b.u.t.ter is melted put in the onions, breadcrumbs and one tablespoon of chopped parsley, pepper and salt to taste. Add a small quant.i.ty of grated nutmeg. Add the beaten yolks of two eggs and stir the mixture over the fire until it is reduced to a paste, without allowing it to boil. The stuffing is then ready. It can be made in larger or smaller quant.i.ties according to the number of the birds to be stuffed.

-STUFFING FOR BOILED TURKEY OR RABBIT---Remove the outer peel of one pound of chestnuts, then put them in boiling water until the inner skins can easily be removed, then trim them and put them into small lined saucepan, cover them with broth and boil until the pulp and the broth has been well reduced. Pa.s.s the chestnuts through a fine wire sieve.

Chop fine one-fourth pound of cold boiled fat bacon and mix it with the chestnut puree, season to taste with salt, pepper and minced lemon peel.

The stuffing will then be ready to serve.

-STUFFING FOR DUCKS---Peel a fair size onion and sour cooking apple, chop them both very fine, and mix them with six ounces of finely grated stale breadcrumbs, one scant tablespoonful of sage leaves either powdered or finely mixed, one tablespoon b.u.t.ter, a little salt and b.u.t.ter. Bind the whole together with a beaten egg and it is then ready for the ducks.

-STUFFING FOR FISH---Weigh two pounds of breadcrumbs without the crusts, and cut it into small squares, mix in one-half tablespoon of powdered curry and a liberal quant.i.ty of salt and pepper. Dissolve six ounces of b.u.t.ter in one-half pint of warm water and beat in the yolks of four eggs. Pour the liquid mixture over the bread and stir it well, but do not mash it. It is then ready to serve.

-STUFFING FOR FOWLS---Trim off the crusts from two pounds of bread, put the crumbs into a basin of cold water, soak it for five minutes then turn it onto a sieve and drain well, pressing out the water with a plate. When nearly dry cut the bread into small squares and season it well with powdered sage, salt and pepper. Warm one breakfast cupful of b.u.t.ter, beat in an egg and three teacupfuls of warm water and pour it over the bread, stirring it lightly, but not mashing it. Allow it to soak for ten minutes and the stuffing will then be ready to serve.

-STUFFING FOR GOOSE---Roast fifty chestnuts, using care not to let them burn, remove the inner and outer peels and chop them fine. Chop the goose's liver, put it in a saucepan with one-half tablespoonful of chopped parsley, shallots, chives, and a little garlic and about two ounces of b.u.t.ter, fry them for a few minutes, then put in the chopped chestnuts with one pound of sausage meat, and fry the whole for fifteen minutes longer. The stuffing is then ready for use.

-STUFFING FOR POULTRY---Put two handfuls of rice into a saucepan of water and parboil it, mix in ten or twelve chestnuts peeled or cut into small slices, one pan full of pistachio nuts and one handful of currants. Put the mixture in a saucepan with four ounces of b.u.t.ter, stir it well over the fire until thoroughly incorporated, season with pepper and salt and if liked a little ground cinnamon, and it is then ready for use. This stuffing is used for turkeys and other birds or anything else that is roasted whole.

-STUFFING FOR POULTRY GALANTINE---Cut into squares three pounds of cooked flesh of either ducks or fowls; peel and chop two hard boiled eggs and one medium-size onion. Mix all of these together with three breakfast cupfuls of stale breadcrumbs, three well beaten eggs and one-half cupful of poultry fat that has been warmed; season to taste with pepper, salt and sage. After the force meat has been spread in the boned duck, or other bird, about one cupful of chopped jelly strewn over it will be an improvement and will set in the force meat.