The Cook's Decameron Part 19

No. 125. Fritto Misto alla Villeroy

Ingredients: c.o.c.ks' combs, calf's brains, sweetbread, stock, truffles, mushrooms, Villeroy, eggs, bread crumbs.

Cook some big c.o.c.ks' combs, bits of calf s brains, and sweetbread in good stock, then drain them and marinate them slightly in lemon juice and herbs. Prepare a Villeroy (No. 18), and add to it cuttings of sweetbread, brains, truffles, mushrooms, &c. When it is cold, mask the c.o.c.ks' combs and other ingredients with it, egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them a golden brown.

No. 126. Fritto Misto alla Piemontese

Ingredients: Sweetbread, calf s brains, ox palate, flour, eggs, Chablis, salt, herbs b.u.t.ter.

Make a thin paste with a tablespoonful of flour, the yolks of two eggs, two Spoonsful of Chablis, and a little salt. Mix this up well, and if it is too thick add a little water. Beat up the whites of the two eggs into a snow. In the meantime blanch a sweetbread, half a calf's brain, and a few bits of cooked ox palate; boil them all up with a bunch of herbs; cut them into pieces about the size of a walnut, and dip them into the paste so that each piece is well covered, then dip them into the beaten-up whites of egg, and fry them very quickly in b.u.t.ter. This fry is generally served with a garnish of French beans, which should not be cut up, but half boiled, then dried, floured over and fried together with the other ingredients. The ox palates should be boiled for at least six hours before you use them in this dish.

No. 127. Minuta di Fegatini (Ragout of Fowls' Livers)

Ingredients: Fowls' or turkeys' livers, flour, b.u.t.ter, parsley, onions, salt, pepper, stock, Chablis.

Cut the livers in half, flour them, and fry lightly in b.u.t.ter with chopped parsley, very little chopped onion, salt and pepper, then add a quarter pint of boiling stock and half a gla.s.s of Chablis, and cook until the sauce is somewhat reduced. You can also cook the livers simply in good meat gravy, but in this case they should not be floured. Serve with a border of macaroni (No. 183), or Risotto (No. 190), or Polenta (No. 187).

No. 128. Minuta alla Visconti (Chickens' Livers)

Ingredients: Fowls' livers, eggs, cheese, b.u.t.ter, cream, cayenne pepper.

Braize two fowls' livers in b.u.t.ter, then pound them up, and mix with a little cream, a tablespoonful of grated cheese and a dust of cayenne.

Spread this rather thickly over small squares of toast, and keep them hot whilst you make a custard with half an ounce of b.u.t.ter, an egg well beaten up, and a tablespoonful of cheese. Stir it over the fire till thick and then spread it on the hot toast. Serve very hot. This makes a good savoury.

No. 129. Croutons alla Principesca

Ingredients: Croutons, tongue, sweetbread, truffles, fowl or game, Velute sauce, stock, eggs, b.u.t.ter.

Fry a bit of bread in b.u.t.ter till it is a light brown colour, then cut it into heart-shaped pieces. Prepare a ragout with bits of tongue, sweetbread, fowl or game, truffles, two or three spoonsful of well-reduced Velute sauce (No. 2), and two or three of reduced gravy.

Put a spoonful of the ragout in each crouton, and over it a layer of fowl forcemeat half an inch thick; trim the edges neatly, glaze them with the yolk of eggs beaten up, and put them in a b.u.t.tered fireproof dish in the oven for twenty minutes. Then glaze them with reduced stock and serve hot.

For a maigre dish use fish for the ragout and forcemeat.

No. 130. Croutons alla Romana

Ingredients: Bread, fowl forcemeat, tongue, truffles, herbs, cream, stock, b.u.t.ter, flour, eggs.

Cut a bit of crumb of bread into round or square shapes, and on each put a spoonful of fowl or rabbit forcemeat, a little chopped tongue, and a slight flavouring of chopped herbs; cover with a slice of bread the same shape as the underneath piece, put them in a b.u.t.tered fireproof dish, and moisten them well with cream, b.u.t.ter, and stock. Cook until all the liquor is absorbed, but turn them over so that both sides may be well cooked, then flour and dip them into beaten-up eggs; fry them a good colour and serve very hot.

For a maigre dish use forcemeat of fish or lobster, and more cream instead of stock.

Fowl, Duck, Game, Hare, Rabbit, &c.

No. 131. Soffiato di Cappone (Fowl Souffle)

Ingredients: Fowl, Bechamel, stock, semolina flour, potatoes, salt, eggs, b.u.t.ter, smoked tongue or ham.

Prepare a puree of fowl or turkey and a small quant.i.ty of grated tongue or ham, and whilst you are pounding the meat add some good gravy or stock. Then make a Bechamel sauce (No. 3) and add two table-spoonsful of semolina flour, a boiled potato and salt to taste, boil it up and add the puree of fowl, then let it get nearly cold, add yolks of eggs and the white beaten up into a snow. (For one pint of the puree use the yolks of three eggs.) Pour the whole into a b.u.t.tered souffle case, and half an hour before serving put it in a moderate oven and serve hot. You can use game instead of fowl, and serve in little souffle cases.

No. 132. Pollo alla Fiorentina (Chicken)

Ingredients: Fowl, b.u.t.ter, vegetables, rice or macaroni, peppercorns, stock, ham, tomatoes, bay leaves, onions, cloves, Liebig.

Roll up a fowl in b.u.t.tered paper and put it in the oven in a fireproof dish with all kinds of vegetables and a few peppercorns. Leave it there for about two hours, then put the fowl and vegetables into two quarts of good stock and let it simmer for one hour; serve on well-boiled rice or macaroni and pour the following sauce over it. Sauce: Two pounds tomatoes, one big cup of good stock, a quarter pound of chopped ham, three bay leaves, one onion stuck with cloves, one teaspoonful of Liebig. Simmer an hour and a half.

No. 133. Pollo all'Oliva (Chicken)

Ingredients: Fowl, onions, celery, salt, parsley, carrots, b.u.t.ter, stock, olives, tomatoes.

Cut up half an onion, a stick of celery, a sprig of parsley, a carrot, and cook them all in a quarter pound of b.u.t.ter. Into this put a fowl cut up and let it act brown all over, turn when necessary and then baste it with boiling stock. Add four Spanish olives cut up and four others pounded in a mortar, eight whole olives and three tablespoonsful of tomato puree reduced, and when the fowl is well cooked pour the sauce over it.

No. 134. Pollo alla Villereccia (Chicken)

Ingredients: Fowl, b.u.t.ter, flour, stock, bacon, ham, mushrooms, onions, cloves, eggs, cream, lemons.

Cut up a fowl into quarters and put it into a saucepan with three ounces of b.u.t.ter and a tablespoonful of flour Put it on the fire, and when it is well browned add half a pint of stock, bits of bacon and ham, b.u.t.ter, three mushrooms (previously boiled), an onion stuck with three cloves.