Nelson's Home Comforts Part 3

Let the butcher break up a marrow-bone. Take out the marrow in as large pieces as possible, and put them into a stewpan with a little boiling water, rather highly salted. When the marrow has boiled for a minute, drain the water away through a fine strainer. Have ready a slice of lightly-toasted bread, place the marrow on it, and put it into a Dutch oven before the fire for five minutes, or until it is done. Sprinkle over it a little pepper and salt, and a small teaspoonful of parsley, chopped fine. The toast must be served very hot.

CHICKEN IN ASPIC JELLY.

Cut the white part of a cold boiled chicken, and as many similar pieces of cold ham, into neat rounds, not larger than a florin. Run a little aspic jelly into a fancy border mould, allow it to set, and arrange a decoration of boiled carrot and white savoury custard cut crescent shape, dipping each piece in melted aspic. Pour in a very little more jelly, and when it is set place the chicken and ham round alternately, with a sprig of chervil, or small salad, here and there. Put in a very small quant.i.ty of aspic to keep this in place, then, when nearly set, sufficient to cover it. Arrange another layer, this time first of ham then of chicken, fix them in the same way, and fill up the mould with aspic jelly. When the dish is turned out fill the centre with cold green peas, nicely seasoned, and garnish round with chopped aspic and little stars of savoury custard. To make this, soak a quarter of an ounce of Nelson's Gelatine in a gill of milk, dissolve it over the fire, and stir in a gill of thick cream, season to taste with cayenne pepper and salt, and, if liked, a little grate of nutmeg. Pour the custard on to a large dish, and when cold cut it into the required shapes.

VEAL CUTLETS IN WHITE SAUCE.

Cut six or seven cutlets, about half-an-inch thick, from a neck of veal, braise them in half-a-pint of good white stock with an onion, a small bunch of herbs, a bacon bone, and two or three peppercorns, until they are done. Let the cutlets get cool in the liquor, then drain them.

Strain the liquor and make a white sauce with it; add a tablespoonful of thick cream and a quarter of an ounce of Nelson's Gelatine, dissolved in a gill of milk; season with salt and cayenne pepper, stirring occasionally until quite cold. Dip the cutlets in, smoothly coating one side, and before the sauce sets decorate them with very narrow strips of truffle in the form of a star. Cut as many pieces of cooked tongue or ham as there are cutlets, dish them alternately in a circle on a border of aspic, fill the centre with a salad composed of all kinds of cold cooked vegetables, cut with a pea-shaped cutter and seasoned with oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt. Garnish with aspic jelly cut lozenge shape and sprigs of chervil.

KIDNEYS SAUTeS.

Like many other articles of diet, kidneys within the last ten years have been doubled in price, and are so scarce as to be regarded as luxuries.

The method of cooking them generally in use is extravagant, and renders them tasteless and indigestible. Kidneys should never be cooked rapidly, and those persons who cannot eat them slightly underdone should forego them. One kidney dressed as directed in the following recipe will go as far as two cooked in the ordinary manner--an instance, if one were needed, of the economy of well-prepared food.

Choose fine large kidneys, skin them and cut each the round way into thin slices: each kidney should yield from ten to twelve slices. Have ready a tablespoonful of flour highly seasoned with pepper and salt and well mixed together; dip each piece of kidney in it. Cut some neat thin squares of streaked bacon, fry them _very slowly_ in a little b.u.t.ter; when done, put them on the dish for serving, and keep hot whilst you _saute_ the kidneys, which put into the fat the bacon was cooked in. In about a minute the gravy will begin to rise on the upper side, then turn the kidneys and let them finish cooking slowly; when they are done, as they will be in three to four minutes, the gravy will again begin to rise on the side which is uppermost. Put the kidneys on the dish with the bacon, and pour over them a spoonful or two of plain beef gravy, or water thickened with a little flour, boiled and mixed with the fat and gravy from the kidneys in the frying-pan. If there is too much fat in the pan, pour it away before boiling up the gravy. Serve the kidneys on a hot-water dish.

TINNED KIDNEYS WITH MUSHROOMS.

(_Tomoana Brand._)

Dry a half-tin of champignons in a cloth, or, if convenient, prepare a similar quant.i.ty of fresh b.u.t.ton mushrooms; add to these a few pieces of dried mushrooms, previously soaked for ten minutes in tepid water, put them into a stewpan with a slice of b.u.t.ter, and stir constantly for six minutes, then add two or three kidneys cut in small neat pieces, in the shape of dice is best, and continue stirring until the kidneys are hot through, taking care to do them slowly; at the last moment season with pepper and salt, and serve very hot. Garnish the dish with fried sippets of bread.

KIDNEYS WITH PICCALILLI SAUCE.

(_Tomoana Brand._)

Take the kidneys out of the gravy, and cut them into six slices. Mix a small teaspoonful of curry powder with three teaspoonfuls of fine flour and a small pinch of salt. Dip each slice in this mixture, and when all are done put them in the frying-pan with a little b.u.t.ter, and let them get slowly hot through. When done, put the kidneys in the centre of a hot dish, and pour round them a sauce made as follows: Boil up the gravy of the kidneys, and stir into it sufficient minced piccalilli pickles to make it quite thick, add a teaspoonful of flour to a tablespoonful of the piccalilli vinegar, stir into the sauce, and when all has boiled up together, pour it round the kidneys.

BROILED KIDNEYS.

These are quite an epicure's dish, and care must be taken to cook them slowly. Having skinned the kidneys (they must not be split or cut) dip them for a moment in boiling fat, place them on the gridiron over a slow fire, turning them every minute. They will take ten to fifteen minutes to cook, and will be done as soon as the gravy begins to run.

Place them on a hot dish rubbed over with b.u.t.ter, salt and pepper them rather highly. It must be understood that kidneys thus cooked ought to have the gravy in them, and that when they are cut at table it should run from them freely and in abundance.

LAMB'S FRY.

A really proper fry should consist not only of sweetbreads and liver, but of the heart, melt, brains, frill, and kidneys, each of which requires a different treatment. It is quite as easy to cook a fry properly as to flour and fry it hard and over-brown, as is too frequently done. Trim the sweetbreads neatly, and simmer them for a quarter of an hour in good white stock with an onion. When they are done take them up and put the brains in the gravy, allowing them to boil as fast as possible in order to harden them; let them get cold, then cut into slices, egg and bread-crumb them, and fry with the sweetbread in a little b.u.t.ter. After the brains are taken out of the gravy, put the slices of heart and melt in, and let them stew slowly until tender. When they are ready, flour them, and fry with the liver and frill until brown. Lastly, put the kidneys, cut in slices, into the pan, and very gently fry for about a minute. Shake a little flour onto the pan, stir it about until it begins to brown; then pour on to it the gravy, in which the sweetbreads, etc., were stewed, see it is nicely seasoned, and pour round the fry, which should be neatly arranged in the centre of the dish. Garnish with fried parsley.

LAMB'S SWEETBREADS.

These make an admirable breakfast dish, and can be partly prepared over-night. Trim and wash the sweetbreads, put them into a saucepan with sufficient well-flavoured stock to cover them, a minced onion and a sprig of lemon-thyme; boil gently for fifteen minutes, or a little longer if necessary. Take them up, drain, dip in egg and finely-sifted bread-crumbs mixed with a little flour, pepper, and salt. Fry very carefully, so as not to make it brown or hard, some small slices of bacon, keep warm whilst you fry the sweetbreads in the fat which has run from it, adding, if required, a little piece of b.u.t.ter or lard. For a breakfast dish, the sweetbreads should be served without gravy, but if for an _entree_ the liquor in which they were stewed, with slight additions and a little thickening, can be poured round them in the dish.

Calves' sweetbreads are prepared in the same manner as the above, and can either be fried, finished in a Dutch oven, or served white, with parsley and b.u.t.ter, or white sauce.

VEAL a LA Ca.s.sEROLE.

For this dish a piece of the fillet about three inches thick will be required, and weighing from two to three pounds. It should be cut from one side of the leg, without bone; but sometimes butchers object to give it, as cutting in this manner interferes with cutlets. In such a case a piece must be chosen near the knuckle, and the bone be taken out before cooking. For a larger party, a thick slice of the fillet, weighing about four pounds, will be found advantageous.

With a piece of tape tie the veal into a round shape, flour, and put it into a stewpan with a small piece of b.u.t.ter, fry until it becomes brown on all sides. Then put half a pint of good gravy, nicely seasoned with pepper and salt, cover the stewpan closely, and set it on the stove to cook very slowly for at least four hours. When done, the veal will be exquisitely tender, full of flavour, but not the least ragged. Take the meat up, and keep hot whilst the gravy is reduced, by boiling without the lid of the saucepan, to a rich glaze, which pour over the meat and serve.

BROWN FRICa.s.seE OF CHICKEN.

This is a brown frica.s.see of chicken, and is an excellent dish. No doubt the reason it is so seldom given is that, although easy enough to do, it requires care and attention in finis.h.i.+ng it. Many of the best cooks, in the preparation of chickens for frica.s.see, cut them up before cooking, but we prefer to boil them whole, and afterwards to divide them, as the flesh thus is less apt to shrink and get dry. The chicken can be slowly boiled in plain water, with salt and onions, or, as is much better, in white broth of any kind. When the chicken is tender cut it up; take the back, and the skin, pinions of the wings, and pieces which do not seem nice enough for a superior dish, and boil them in a quart of the liquor in which it was boiled. Add mushroom tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, onions, and a sprig of thyme; boil down to one-half, then strain, take off all fat, and stir over the fire with the yolk of two eggs and an ounce of fine flour until thickened. Dip each piece of chicken in some of this sauce, and when they are cold pa.s.s them through fine bread-crumbs, then in the yolk of egg, and crumb again. Fry carefully in hot fat. Dish the chicken with a border of fried parsley, and the remainder of the gravy poured round the dish. This dish is generally prepared by French cooks by frying the chicken in oil, and seasoning with garlic; but unless the taste of the guests is well known, it is safer to follow the above recipe.

CHICKEN SAUTe.

Put any of the meat of the breast or of the wings without bone into a frying-pan with a little fresh b.u.t.ter or bacon fat. Cook them very slowly, turning repeatedly; if the meat has not been previously cooked it will take ten minutes, and five minutes if a _rechauffe_. Sprinkle with pepper, and serve with mushrooms or broiled bacon. The legs of cooked chickens are excellent _sautes_, but they should be boned before they are put into the pan.

POTATO HASH.

Put some cold potatoes chopped into the frying-pan with a little fat, stir them about for five minutes, then add to them an equal quant.i.ty of cold meat, cut into neat little squares, season nicely with pepper and salt, fry gently, stirring all the time, until thoroughly hot through.

DRY CURRY.

Fry a minced onion in b.u.t.ter until lightly browned, cut up the flesh of two cooked chicken legs, or any other tender meat, into dice, mix this with the onions, and stir them together over the fire until the meat is hot through; sprinkle over it about a small teaspoonful of curry-powder, and salt to taste. Having thoroughly mixed the meat with the curry-powder, pour over it a tablespoonful of milk or cream, and stir over the fire until the moisture has dried up. Celery salt may be used instead of plain salt, and some persons add a few drops of lemon-juice when the curry is finished.

CROQUETTES.

Croquettes of all kinds, fish, game, poultry or any delicate meats, can be successfully made on the following model: Whatever material is used must be finely minced or pounded. Care is required in making the sauce, if it is too thin it is difficult to mould the croquettes, and ice will be required to set it. Croquettes of game without any flavouring, except a little salt and cayenne, are generally acceptable as a breakfast dish.

Preserved lobster makes very good croquettes for an _entree_, and small sc.r.a.ps of any kind can thus be made into a very good dish. Put one ounce of fine flour into a stewpan with half a gill of cold water, stir this over a slow fire very rapidly until it forms a paste, then add one ounce of b.u.t.ter, and stir until well incorporated. Mix in a small teaspoonful of essence of shrimps or anchovies, with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Take the stewpan off the fire, and stir the yolk of an egg briskly into the sauce; thoroughly mix it with half-a-pound of pounded fish or meat, spread it out on a plate until it is cool. Flour your hands, take a small piece of the croquette mixture, roll into a ball or into the shape of a cork, then pa.s.s it through very finely-sifted and dried bread-crumbs. Repeat the process until all the mixture is used; put the croquettes as you do them into a wire frying-basket, which shake very gently, when all are placed in it, in order to free them from superfluous crumbs. Have ready a stewpan half-full of boiling fat, dip the basket in, gently moving it about, and taking care the croquettes are covered with fat. In about a minute they will become a delicate brown, and will then be done. Turn them on a paper to absorb any superfluous fat, serve them on a napkin or ornamental dish paper. No more croquettes than will lie on the bottom of the basket without touching each other should be fried at once.

MEAT CAKES a L'ITALIENNE.

Mix very fine any kind of cold meat or chicken, taking care to have it free from skin and gristle, add to it a quarter of its weight of sifted bread-crumbs, a few drops of essence of anchovy, a little parsley, pepper and salt, and sufficient egg to moisten the whole. Flour your hands, roll the meat into little cakes about the size of a half-crown piece, then flatten the cakes with the back of a spoon, dip them in egg and fine bread-crumbs, and fry them in a little b.u.t.ter until lightly browned on the outside. Put them on a hot dish and garnish with boiled Italian paste.

RAISED PORK PIE.

Take a pound of meat, fat and lean, from the chump end of a fine fore-loin of pork, cut it into neat dice, mix a tablespoonful of water with it, and season with a large teaspoonful of salt and a small one of black pepper. To make the crust, boil a quarter of a pound of lard or clarified dripping in a gill and a half of water, and pour it hot on to one pound of flour, to which a good pinch of salt has been added. Mix into a stiff paste, pinch off enough of it to make the lid, and keep it hot. Flour your board and work the paste into a ball, then with the knuckles of your right hand press a hole in the centre, and mould the paste into a round or oval shape, taking care to keep it a proper thickness. Having put in the meat, join the lid to the pie, which raise lightly with both hands so as to keep it a good high shape, cut round the edge with a sharp knife, and make the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs into leaves to ornament the lid; and having placed these on, with a rose in the centre, put the pie on a floured baking-sheet and brush it over with yolk of egg.

The crust of the pie should be cool and set before putting it into the oven, which should be a moderate heat. When the gravy boils out the pie is done. An hour and a half will bake a pie of this size. Make a little gravy with the bones and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of the pork, and to half-a-pint of it add a quarter of an ounce of Nelson's Gelatine, and nicely season with pepper and salt. When the pie is cold remove the rose from the top, make a little hole, insert a small funnel, and pour in as much gravy as the pie will hold. Replace the rose on the top, and put the pie on a dish with a cut paper.

If preferred, the pie can be made in a tin mould; but the crust is nicer raised by the hand. A great point to observe is to begin moulding the crust whilst it is hot, and to get it finished as quickly as possible.