The Cookery Blue Book Part 2

To 3 pints of bubbling, salted water, add 1 pint of the best vermicelli; boil briskly ten minutes, drain off all the water and serve hot with b.u.t.ter and cream.

FISH.

=Fish a la Creme.=

3 pounds of sturgeon or any solid white fish boiled until tender. Remove bone, mince fine, and season with salt, pepper, wine and lemon juice. 1 quart milk, boiled with two good-sized onions until they are in shreds.

Rub to a cream 1/2 pound b.u.t.ter and two large tablespoonfuls of flour.

Strain the boiling milk with this and return to the stew-pan and boil again, taking care to stir to prevent lumps and burning. Grate the rind of one lemon, with juice and one tumbler of wine and mix thoroughly through the fish. Take one loaf of bread, removing all crust, and pa.s.s through the colander. Have dish very hot, putting fish and crumbs in layers, bringing crumbs on top. Place in hot oven for a few minutes. A nice lunch dish.

=A Norwegian Fish Dish.=

Take a fresh codfish weighing about 4 pounds; do not wash it, but wipe with a soft cloth wrung out in cold water. Sc.r.a.pe all the flesh from skin and bone; and put the head, bones and skin on to boil, and when thoroughly cooked, strain. Take equal parts of sc.r.a.ped fish and chopped suet, one tablespoon of salt and pound to a paste. Add 2 eggs, 2 tablespoonfuls of flour, a little mace and ginger. Boil some cream, and when cold, gradually add enough to make a soft batter. Try a little of this in the boiling stock to see if the consistency is right. Then put in a b.u.t.tered, breaded mould and cook two hours. If some of the batter is left, form in b.a.l.l.s and cook in the fish stock and serve as soup.

=Finnan haddies (from Delmonico's).=

1/2 pound of fish picked up and braized in b.u.t.ter and cooked in the following sauce: 1 cup of cream over hard boiled egg cut in squares; the yolk of 1 raw egg; a tablespoonful of Edan cheese, a little flour to thicken; a little pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Serve on toast.

=Stuffed Smelt.=

Ingredients of stuffing: 1/4 cup of melted b.u.t.ter; 1 cup of bread crumbs, 1 teaspoonful of chopped onion; 1/4 spoon of salt; 1/4 spoon of pepper and a few herbs. Bone the smelt, stuff and sew up. Roll in melted b.u.t.ter and fine bread crumbs. Bake about fifteen minutes.

SAUCE.--1/2 cup b.u.t.ter worked to a cream; yolks of 3 eggs beaten in one by one; juice of 1/2 a lemon; 1/2 teaspoonful salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/2 cup boiling water. Beat and put on stove in a saucepan of boiling water to thicken.

=Brown Fish Chowder.=

1 onion fried in b.u.t.ter. Cut any white fish in small pieces and fry in this after first rolling the fish in flour. Take the fish out and lay on brown paper. Put into a saucepan 2 tablespoonfuls dry flour and stir until it is brown; then gradually stir in a quart of water. When this has boiled, add the fish and seasoning.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

ENTREES.

=Chicken Terrapin--No. 1.=

Chop the meat of a cold chicken and 1 parboiled sweet-bread quite fine.

Make a cream sauce, with 1 cup of sweet cream, a quarter of a cup of b.u.t.ter and 2 tablespoonfuls of flour. Put in the chicken and sweet-breads. Keep it hot in a double boiler and just before serving add the yolks of 2 eggs and a wine-gla.s.s of sherry wine.

=Chicken Terrapin No. 2.=

Cut a cold boiled chicken in small squares, removing all the skin. Put into a skillet with 1/2 pint of cream and 1/4 pound of b.u.t.ter, rolled in 1 tablespoonful of flour, seasoned with salt and red pepper. Have ready 3 hard boiled eggs chopped fine. When the chicken has reached a boil, stir in a large gla.s.s of sherry with the egg, and serve hot.

=Chicken Terrapin--No. 3.=

Boil chicken in salted water. 1 quart of cold cooked chicken cut into dice; cooked livers of 1 or 2 chickens; 3 hard-boiled eggs; yolks of 2 raw eggs; 1 cup of chicken stock; 1 cup cream; slight grating of nutmeg; 1/3 teaspoon pepper; 1 level teaspoon salt; 4 tablespoons sherry; 3 tablespoons b.u.t.ter; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Chop hard-boiled eggs and add to chicken; sprinkle with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add flour to melted b.u.t.ter and stock and stir for three minutes.

Add cream after reserving 4 tablespoonfuls. Stir one minute. Add chicken mixture and let it simmer for ten minutes. Beat yolks well and add cream; pour into mixture and stir one minute. Remove from fire, and add wine and lemon juice.

=Chicken for Lunch.=

Cut up 2 chickens; fry each piece quickly in bacon fat to a nice brown (not cooking them). Then stew them slowly with gumbo, a little pork, celery and 1/2 an onion till tender. Thicken with brown flour and dish, garnishing with parsley and sliced hard-boiled eggs.

=Pressed Chicken (a nice luncheon dish).=

Boil a chicken, in as little water as possible, till the bones slip out and the gristly portions are soft. Remove the skin, pick the meat apart, and mix the dark and white meat. Remove the fat, and season the liquor highly with salt and pepper; also with celery, salt and lemon juice, if you desire. Boil down to 1 cup, and mix with the meat. b.u.t.ter a mould and decorate the bottom and sides with slices of hard-boiled eggs; also with thin slices of tongue or ham cut in fancy shapes. Pack the meat in and set away to cool with a weight on the meat. When ready to serve, dip mould in warm water and turn out carefully. Garnish with parsley, strips of lettuce or celery leaves and radishes or beets. The eggs and tongue can be dispensed with if a plain dish is desired.

=Beef Loaf.=

3-1/2 pounds fine chopped beef; 1/2 pound pork; 3 eggs; 1 large spoonful of salt; 1 teaspoon pepper; 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg; 4 large spoonfuls milk; 10 soda crackers rolled fine, saving out 1 to rub on the top. Put bits of b.u.t.ter over the top. Press the meat several times with your hand to make into a thin loaf. Bake in a quick oven one hour, putting water in pan. It requires no basting.

=Beef Roll.=

Lean beef chopped fine; 1/2 cup bread crumbs; a slice of onion chopped; chopped parsley; the yolk of 1 egg; a little b.u.t.ter and lemon juice. Mix all thoroughly. Form in an oblong loaf, put in pan and bake half hour in a hot oven, basting two or three times with melted b.u.t.ter. Served with a brown sauce.

=To Fry. Soft-sh.e.l.led Crabs.=

Use them only when very fresh, as the sh.e.l.ls harden after twenty-four hours. Cut the ends of the small legs off; take off the gills and tucks; wash and drain well upon a cloth. A few minutes before serving dip them one after another in 2 eggs beaten as for an omelet; then in crumbs of rolled cracker made very fine and fry them in very hot lard; not too many at a time. Serve hot, with a garnish of parsley and pieces of lemon.

=Deviled Crab.=

Pick the meat from one large crab and chop a little. Add 2 green peppers, chopped fine, and mix with cracker crumbs. Add sufficient soup stock to moisten and season to taste. Clean the sh.e.l.l and put in 1 layer of the ingredients. Add pieces of b.u.t.ter, then another layer, and so on, till sh.e.l.l is full. Then bake fifteen minutes, and serve.

=Crab Creole (for four persons).=

1 crab; 1 good-sized onion; 1/2 can of tomatoes; 1 Chili pepper or pinch of cayenne; b.u.t.ter the size of a walnut; 2 tablespoonfuls of water; 1/2 cup of cream; salt and pepper, and 1 tablespoonful of corn starch. Shred up crab, not too fine, cut up onion and chili pepper and put in a pan with the 2 tablespoonfuls of water. Boil briskly fifteen minutes; then add 1/2 can of tomatoes. Boil ten minutes, or until soft. Strain, put juice back on fire. Add the b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt, and thicken with 1 tablespoonful of corn starch. Add crab and cream. When all is hot, serve with toast.

=Canapie Lorenzo.=

One-third New York cheese, one-third dessicated soft-sh.e.l.l crab, one-sixth green peppers chopped very fine. Make in pates about the size of a hand and bake brown.