The Century Cook Book Part 60

Place pieces of hot boiled calf's head in the center of a dish; split the tongue in two and lay it across two sides of the dish, and the brains on the opposite sides; garnish with parsley and serve with a Vinaigrette sauce, or with a Piquante sauce.

=Vinaigrette Sauce= (COLD): Three tablespoonfuls of oil, one tablespoonful of vinegar, one teaspoonful each of grated onion, chopped parsley, and capers, one saltspoonful each of salt and pepper.

=FALSE TERRAPIN=

Cut boiled calf's head (see page 175) into pieces one inch square; break into pieces the boiled brains. Make a brown roux; add to it water in which the calf's head was boiled, in the same proportion as for white sauce; season with salt, pepper, and cayenne, and add a cupful of cream; then put in the pieces of meat, three or four chopped hard-boiled eggs, a few small egg b.a.l.l.s, and a gla.s.s of sherry; serve very hot; there should be a half more sauce than meat.

=CALF'S HEAD a LA POULETTE=

Cut boiled calf's head into pieces one inch square; heat them in hot water; drain and pile them in the center of a hot dish; sprinkle over them a few small egg b.a.l.l.s, and pour over the whole a Poulette sauce, using for the sauce water in which the calf's head was boiled in the place of chicken stock.

=OYSTER CASES=

Line b.u.t.tered paper cases, or china individual cups, with a layer of fish quenelle forcemeat (page 298), or with the fish preparation given in receipt for fish pudding (page 123); scald some oysters in their own liquor until the gills curl; cut each oyster into four pieces and fill the center of the cup with them; pour over them a tablespoonful of Bechamel sauce, made with oyster-liquor in place of stock; cover the top with forcemeat, brush it over with b.u.t.ter and bake in a moderate oven for fifteen minutes.

Cases of other combinations may be made in the same way; using mashed potato for the lining and any creamed meat for filling; or use hominy or rice with chicken, mushrooms, etc.

=LIVER LOAF, OR FALSE PaTe DE FOIE GRAS=

Cut a calf's liver in pieces; pound it in a mortar and press it through a sieve; add to one cupful of liver pulp one quarter cupful of flour panada, one teaspoonful each of b.u.t.ter and salt; one half teaspoonful of pepper; dash each of cayenne and of nutmeg and allspice, and two eggs. Mix well together and pa.s.s it again through the sieve. Put the mixture into a well-b.u.t.tered pint mold; place it in a pan of hot water in the oven for forty-five minutes or more. An ice-cream brick-mold makes a loaf of convenient shape. It may be served hot with a brown sauce; but is better cold with salad, or used like pate de foie gras. A loaf of any game may be made in the same way. The loaf may be made very ornamental by decorating it with pieces of truffle, ham, and white of hard-boiled eggs cut into diamond shapes and fitted together to look like blocks. To arrange this decoration use two molds of the same size; b.u.t.ter one of them and apply carefully the decoration; line the other with thin slices of larding pork and cook the liver or game mixture in it; when it is cold remove the pork, and this will leave it small enough to fit into the decorated mold. Fill the s.p.a.ce between them with aspic jelly and let it become well set before unmolding the form.

=CHICKEN LIVERS=

Cut the gall carefully off the livers; dry them with a cloth and cut them in two or more pieces. Place them in a frying-pan with a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, and saute until cooked, or about five minutes.

Turn them often, so they will not burn, and dredge them with a little flour; add one cupful of Espagnole, or of brown sauce, and one half cupful of Madeira; season with salt and pepper and let simmer slowly for ten minutes. If the color is not dark enough, add a few drops of caramel or of kitchen bouquet; serve with croutons around the dish, or in a croustade, or in fontage cups.

=STUFFED MUSHROOMS=

Take off the stalks from one pound of fresh mushrooms, peel the cups, using a silver knife, and drop them into cold water to keep them white (if exposed to the air they discolor). If they have to stand for some time put a little lemon-juice in the water; sc.r.a.pe the stalks, chop them and put them into a saucepan with one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter and one half onion sliced; cook slowly for ten minutes, then add one tablespoonful of flour and cook that five minutes; add one cupful of stock and one half cupful of bread crumbs; season with salt, pepper, and a dash of cayenne. Fill the cups of the mushrooms with this mixture; sprinkle with crumbs and place them on circles of toasted bread one quarter of an inch thick and the size of the mushroom. Bake in moderate oven for fifteen minutes.

=CHICKEN PUReE=

Chop cooked chicken very fine; pound it to as much of a paste as possible; season with salt and pepper; mix it with half its quant.i.ty of Chaudfroid sauce (see page 281). Coat a mold with jelly (see page 323), and fill it with the mixture, which must be cold and beginning to set; when it has hardened, turn it onto a dish; garnish with lettuce and serve with it a Mayonnaise or a Bearnaise sauce. Game may be used in the same way. Ornamented individual timbale cups may also be used for molding the puree.

=OYSTER-CRABS=

Put into a saucepan two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and a gill of water, one teaspoonful of lemon-juice, a little salt and white pepper. When the liquid is warm, put a few of the crabs in at a time and cook until they begin to whiten, then skim them out and keep them in a warm place until all are cooked. The liquid must only simmer; if it is too hot the crabs will break open. The crabs should be just moistened with the sauce in which they are cooked. Serve in croustades, or in fontage cups (see page 300).

=ENTReE OF OYSTER-CRABS=

Use for this entree individual s.h.i.+rred-egg dishes. Cut slices of bread one inch thick; with a biscuit-cutter stamp it into circles one inch smaller than the egg dish, and with a smaller cutter stamp out the center, making rings of the bread one inch thick, one inch wide, and one inch smaller than the egg dishes. Place the bread rings in the dishes and moisten them with cream; fill the s.p.a.ce outside the rings with oyster-crabs cooked as directed above; spread one layer of crabs in the center of each ring and on them break an egg. Cover the whole with Bechamel sauce and sprinkle the top with grated Parmesan cheese. Place this in a hot oven just long enough to set the egg.

TERRAPIN, FROGS' LEGS

TERRAPIN

[Sidenote: Counts.]

Terrapin measuring six inches or more across the bottom sh.e.l.l are called "counts." The largest do not exceed ten inches; the average size is seven inches, and weight three to five pounds. The counts vary in price from seventeen to eighty dollars a dozen, according to size and weight.

[Sidenote: Diamond backs.]

The terrapin which are most esteemed, and which command the highest price, are the "Diamond Back," from the Chesapeake Bay. Probably it is the wild celery of this region which gives the especially prized flavor to the terrapin as well as to the Canvasback ducks taken there. Good terrapin, however, are taken in Long Island waters and all along the sea-coast.

[Sidenote: Season.]

Terrapin burrow in the mud as soon as cold weather approaches and remain there until May, during which time they grow fat.

They are caught during their season of hibernation, and are kept in cool, dark places packed in sea gra.s.s until wanted; the season for eating them being from December to April.

Terrapin taken during the summer are rank in taste and unfit for food, and are confined in pens and fed on celery.

The female terrapin is the most prized on account of its eggs, terrapin-eggs, as served in the stew, being considered a great delicacy.

[Sidenote: Cooking.]

The Maryland style of cooking terrapin is one of the most esteemed. A simple way is that of the Southern negro, who places the "bird," as he calls it, over hot coals or in the oven until cooked, when the under sh.e.l.l comes off, and, removing only the gall, he eats the whole of the contents from the inverted upper sh.e.l.l, seasoning with b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt. Before hibernating, the terrapin empties the stomach and is consequently clean, but a fastidious taste prefers to have the terrapin thoroughly washed, and the entrails and lights as well as the gall-sack removed.

[Sidenote: The gall.]

It is of the greatest importance that the gall should be very carefully removed, for, if the sack be punctured or in any way injured, so that the liquid touches the liver or meat, its disagreeable bitter taste will infect the entire dish.

=TO PREPARE TERRAPIN=

Drop the live terrapin into hot water, and let it remain until the skin can be removed from the head and feet. Then remove, wash in several changes of water, take off the skin from the head and feet by rubbing it with a cloth, and return it to fresh scalding water to cook until tender. This is shown by pressing the feet between the fingers. They should be done in forty-five minutes to an hour. If a longer time is required, the terrapin is probably not a good one, and the meat will be stringy. Remove as soon as tender. When cold, cut off the nails, remove the sh.e.l.ls, take out very carefully the gall-sack from the liver, the entrails, lights, heart, head, tail and white muscles. Separate the pieces at the joints, divide the meat into pieces an inch and a half long, and do not break the bones. Place the meat, cut into pieces, the terrapin eggs and the liver in a pan, cover with water, and boil again until the meat is ready to drop from the bones.

=STEWED TERRAPIN, MARYLAND STYLE=

Mash the yolks of eight hard-boiled eggs and mix them with two tablespoonfuls of best b.u.t.ter, rubbing them to a smooth paste. Put a pint of cream in a double boiler; when it is scalded, stir in the egg and b.u.t.ter until smooth; season with salt, white and cayenne pepper, a dash of nutmeg and allspice. Add a quart of terrapin prepared as directed above, and simmer for ten minutes, or until the terrapin is well heated. Just at the moment of serving add two tablespoonfuls of sherry or madeira; serve very hot. Terrapin is often served in individual metal cups made for the purpose, so as to insure its being hot; but with care to have all the dishes hot, the stew need not be allowed to get cold when served in ordinary deep plates.

=TERRAPIN a LA NEWBURG=

Put in a saucepan one quart of terrapin (prepared as directed, page 312), a half pint of cream, and a tablespoonful of best b.u.t.ter. Let it cook a few minutes; then draw it aside, and add the yolks of five eggs beaten with a half pint of cream. Stir until the eggs are thickened; but do not let it boil, or it will curdle. Season with salt, white pepper and paprica. At the moment of serving, add two tablespoonfuls of sherry.

Like all Newburg dishes this must be prepared only just in time to serve, or it will curdle.