Salads, Sandwiches and Chafing-Dish Dainties Part 37

Beat six eggs without separating, add a scant teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, twenty drops of onion juice and one cup and a half of rich milk. Stir till well mixed. b.u.t.ter small-sized timbale moulds and fill two-thirds full with the mixture.

Place moulds in the blazer, pour boiling water about them three-fourths to the tops of the moulds, and let cook about twenty minutes, or till the centres are firm; turn out of the moulds on to a warm platter, and pour about them a thin bread sauce.

=BREAD SAUCE.=

To one pint of milk add half a cup of fine, stale bread crumbs, a small onion with six cloves stuck in it, half a teaspoonful of salt and a few grains of cayenne. Cook in the double boiler for about an hour; stir occasionally. Remove the onion, beat well, and add one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter. Put one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter over the fire in a small saucepan; when hot add two-thirds a cup of rather coa.r.s.e bread crumbs; stir over a hot fire till they are brown and crisp. Sprinkle over the timbales and sauce. Add a sprig of parsley to the top of each timbale.

=Pan-Broiling.=

Chops, birds, venison, hamburg, sirloin and other steaks, even spring chickens, may be cooked successfully in the chafing-dish; but they are not the dishes upon which an amateur should begin his experiments. Heat the blazer very hot, brush over the surface with a brush dipped in olive oil (or use a b.u.t.ter-ball and a fork), lay in the article to be cooked, sear upon one side, turn and sear upon the other; repeat, turning and cooking until done to taste; five minutes will suffice for small lamb chops. Serve with

=Maitre d'Hotel b.u.t.ter.=

Beat four tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter to a cream; add half a teaspoonful of salt and a few grains of pepper, also one tablespoonful of parsley, chopped very fine, and one tablespoonful of lemon juice, very slowly.

=Fillets of Beef, Mushroom Sauce.=

Have half a dozen slices cut crosswise from a neatly trimmed fillet of beef. The slices may be cut of any thickness desired, but from half to three-fourths an inch is preferable for chafing-dish cookery. Melt two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter in a hot blazer; lay in the meat, and cook four or five minutes, turning every ten seconds. The heat should be well maintained throughout the cooking. Season with salt when half cooked. In another blazer make a cup of brown sauce; brown two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, add four tablespoonfuls of flour, and, when this is well browned, add half a cup of very rich brown stock and half a cup of liquid from the mushroom can. Season to taste with Kitchen Bouquet, salt, and a few drops of tabasco sauce, then add half a bottle of mushrooms, cut in halves. Serve as soon as the mushrooms are hot.

=Fillets of Lamb, Cherry Sauce.=

For the fillets use either the fillet from the loin or the top of a "best end of a loin" boned. Cut the meat in slices or rounds, and saute in hot b.u.t.ter in the blazer. Season with salt and pepper and pour into the blazer half a cup of maraschino cherries with half a cup of the liquid from the bottle. Candied cherries that have stood half an hour in half a cup of boiling water, on the back of the range, and then mixed with half a cup of sherry wine, may be used in place of the maraschino cherries. This sauce may also be used with fillets of beef or young turkey.

=Ham Timbales.=

INGREDIENTS.

1-1/2 cups of milk or thin cream.

1 cup of cold, cooked ham, chopped fine.

1/4 a cup of fine bread crumbs.

The yolks of 2 "hard-boiled" eggs.

Two raw eggs.

A few drops of tabasco sauce.

1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.

Take the bread crumbs from the centre of a stale loaf. Pa.s.s the cooked yolks of eggs through a sieve. Add the ham, crumbs, yolks, salt and tabasco to the raw eggs beaten and mixed with the milk. When thoroughly mixed turn into timbale moulds very carefully b.u.t.tered. Fit papers into the bottoms of the moulds before b.u.t.tering. Set these in the blazer, surround with hot water, letting it come half way to the top of the moulds. Heat the water to the boiling-point, then set the blazer into the hot-water pan partly filled with boiling water, cover and cook until the mixture is firm in the centre. Serve, turned from the moulds, with cream or tomato sauce, flavored with onion, or with peas heated in a cream sauce.

=Fillets of Chicken.=

(_Chafing-dish Style._)

Remove the breast from a plump and tender chicken and separate from the bone and skin. Detach the small fillets, then cut each side into two or three lengthwise slices the size of the small fillets. Keep covered closely until ready to cook. Heat the blazer very hot, b.u.t.ter slightly, and in it lay the fillets and sprinkle with the juice of half a lemon, salt and white pepper; add, also, one-third a cup of chicken stock and a tablespoonful of sherry. Cover and let cook about ten minutes. In the meantime prepare a sauce in a second chafing-dish, using two tablespoonfuls, each, of b.u.t.ter and flour, a dash of salt and pepper, and one cup of stock, in making which a small piece of ham or bacon was used. Add also a tablespoonful of mushroom or tomato catsup and a tablespoonful of sherry wine.

=Mutton Rechauffe.=

(_Creole Style._)

Melt three tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter in the blazer and saute in this a tablespoonful, each, of green pepper and onion, chopped fine; add three tablespoonfuls of flour and half a teaspoonful of salt, and stir and cook until frothy; then add, gradually, one cup of brown stock and half a cup of tomato puree (cooked tomato strained). Let boil two or three minutes, then set over hot water and stir in one cup of cold roast mutton cut in strips or cubes, and half a cup of cooked macaroni, blanched and drained. Two or three mushrooms or a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup improves this dish.

=Baba or Wine Cake.=

This cake may be made some days in advance, and when wished reheated in a sauce made in the chafing-dish. Baba is baked in a large mould and cut in slices, or in individual cylindrical or baba moulds.

=BABA.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 lb. of flour.

1 cake of compressed yeast.

1/2 a cup of water.

10 oz. of b.u.t.ter (1-1/4 cups).

1/4 a teaspoonful of salt.

1/2 a cup of sugar.

8 eggs.

1/2 a cup of currants, sultanas or sliced citron.

Make a sponge of the yeast, softened in the water, and flour to knead.

Knead the little ball of dough until elastic, and put into a small saucepan of lukewarm water. Meanwhile add the b.u.t.ter, sugar, salt and three of the eggs to the rest of the flour, and beat with the hand until all are evenly blended; then add the rest of the eggs, one after another. When the ball of dough rises to the top of the water and is light, remove from the water with a skimmer and beat it into the egg paste; beat for some minutes, then beat in the fruit. Turn the mixture into the mould or moulds, leaving room for the cake to double in bulk.

Let rise in a temperature of 68 F. When nearly doubled in bulk, bake from twenty to fifty minutes.

=SAUCE FOR BABA.=

Let two cups of sugar and one cup of water boil in the blazer about six minutes, then add one-fourth a cup, or more, of maraschino, rum or sherry wine. Lay the baba, sliced or in individual forms, into the hot syrup and let stand a few minutes, basting the cake with the syrup. When hot, serve with or without whipped cream. Half a cup of apricot or quince marmalade may be added with the wine.

=Fig Toast.=

(See cut facing page 198.)

Wash carefully and cook in boiling water half a pound of pulled figs until tender; add one fourth a cup of sugar and the grated rind and juice of half a lemon. Cook until the syrup is well reduced. Cut the crust from a thick slice of bread and saute to a golden brown, first on one side, then on the other, in two tablespoonfuls of hot b.u.t.ter. Drain the bread on soft paper; then heap the figs upon it, cover with two-thirds a cup of thick cream and a scant fourth a cup of sugar, beaten until stiff. Serve at once. Prunes, apricots, peaches, pears, or strawberry preserves, may be prepared in the same manner. If preserves be used, omit the sugar from the cream. Sponge cake may be used in the place of bread.

=Pineapple Sponge.=

Heat one pint of grated pineapple over hot water, sprinkle into it one-third a cup of fine tapioca (a quick-cooking kind), mixed with two-thirds a cup of sugar, and half a teaspoonful of salt; when the tapioca is transparent, add the juice of a lemon, and fold in the whites of two eggs, beaten until dry. Serve with cream and sugar.

=Tapioca-and-Banana Sponge.=