Cold Quails

1901—CHAUD-FROID DE CAILLES EN BELLE-VUE

The quails should be boned for a chaud-froid, and stuffed with _gratin_ forcemeat of game with a rod of foie gras and another of truffle set in the middle. This done, reshape them; wrap them each in a square of muslin; poach them for twenty minutes in an excellent veal stock, and let them cool therein.

When they are quite cold, dry them; and dip them, so as to veneer them all over, in a good brown chaud-froid sauce (No. 34), prepared with quail _fumet_. Decorate the breast of each quail elegantly with bits of truffle and poached white of egg; sprinkle with cold melted savoury jelly, so as to fix the decoration; and leave to set.

Remove the excess of sauce from around the quails; set them in a square, deep dish; cover them with very good limpid savoury jelly, and place them in a refrigerator until they are required.

1902—CAILLES EN CAISSES

Prepare the quails as for a chaud-froid, as above; but set each in an oval, pleated case of delicate porcelain or paper. Border with a thin thread of chopped jelly, and on each quail set a head, the eyes of which may be imitated by means of a ring of white of egg and a central spot of truffle.

1903—CAILLES GLACÉES AU GRANITÉ

I shall only give a few recipes of this class; for the series is a long one, and I recommend them more particularly on account of their quaintness. These dishes, wherein a sugary and glazed preparation is introduced, are highly esteemed in summer; but they really belong to the culinary repertory of hot countries.

1904—CAILLES GLACÉES CERISETTE. Prepare the quails as for an entrée and poach them for 12 minutes in a strong veal stock, with Champagne. This done, put them each into a small, oval mould; fill up these moulds with cooking-liquor, cleared of all grease and strained, and leave them to set on ice.

This preliminary procedure applies to all quail dishes in this series.

Now prepare a Granité with cherry juice (see No. 2930).

Set this Granité in a pyramid on a dish incrusted in ice. Turn out the quails and place them round the Granité; fill up the gaps between them with small heaps of stoned cherries, poached in syrup for a few minutes and quite cold.

1905—CAILLES GLACÉES CARMEN. Prepare the quails as above, and place them round a rock of Granité made from pomegranates.

1906—CAILLES GLACÉES MARYLAND. Set them round a rock of Granité made with pineapple.

1907—CAILLES GLACÉES REINE AMELIE. Prepare the quails in the usual way, and lay them round a rock of Granité prepared with tomatoes.

1908—CAILLES GLACÉES AU ROMANÉE. Poach the quails in stock combined with Romanée wine, and set them round a rock of Granité made with verjuice.

1909—FILETS DE CAILLES AUX POMMES D’OR. Raise the quails’ _suprêmes_, after having poached and cooled them. Set these _suprêmes_ in the rinds of small oranges or tangerines, and fill up the rinds with jelly prepared with Port. When about to serve, deck each orange or tangerine, by means of the piping-bag, with a small ornament of Granité, prepared with the juice of the fruit used.

1910—CAILLES CECILIA

Roast the quails, keeping them juicy, and leave them to cool.

This done, raise their fillets and skin these; then, with the remains of the meat and an equal quantity of foie gras, prepare a purée.

Set each fillet of quail on a similarly-shaped slice of liver, causing it to adhere by means of the prepared purée, and coat with brown chaud-froid sauce.

When the sauce has quite set, place these fillets in an even border-mould, _clothed_ with very limpid aspic, and decorated with truffles. Fill up the mould with the same aspic jelly, and let the latter set.

When about to serve, turn out on a napkin, after the manner of an aspic.

1911—CAILLES AU CHÂTEAU-YQUEM

Prepare the quails like those “à la Richelieu” (No. 1895). After having added the _julienne_, sprinkle them with Château-Yquem; cover; reduce, and complete their cooking as directed.

When they are poached, transfer them to another saucepan; add ten slices of truffle per quail; strain their cooking-liquor, through muslin, over them, and poach them for a further two minutes.

This done, place the quails in a timbale; cover them with the cooking-liquor cleared of all grease; leave it to set, and serve on a block of ice.

1912—MANDARINES DE CAILLES

Slice the tangerine rinds at their stem-ends with an even round cutter; remove the sections; put them to dry, and skin them raw.

Three-parts garnish the tangerine rinds with a quail _Mousse_, combined with foie gras, cut into dice; set a roasted quail’s fillet on the _Mousse_; coat with brown chaud-froid sauce, and cover with the sections of tangerine, glazed with aspic jelly. Keep in the cool for some time and dish on a napkin.

1913—CAILLES NILLSON

Proceed as for “Cailles au Château-Yquem,” and set each quail in a small, silver _cassolette_. Cover with the cooking-liquor, cleared of grease and strained, and surround each quail with four small very white cocks’ kidneys.

1914—CAILLES RICHELIEU FROIDES

Prepare these like the “Hot Cailles Richelieu”; place them in a square, deep dish; cover with the cooking-liquor and the garnish and let them cool until the cooking-liquor sets. Then clear the dish of all grease and serve on a block of ice.

1915—TIMBALE DE CAILLES TZARINE

Line a round pie-dish with ordinary paste, and coat it inside with slices of bacon. In the middle, place a fresh foie gras seasoned with salt, pepper and allspice, and surround it with quails, stuffed with quarters of truffles, set upright with their breasts against the bacon.

Fill up the timbale with whole raw and peeled truffles; cover with a round slice of bacon; close the timbale with a layer of paste sealed down round the edges; make a slit in the top, and bake in a hot oven for one and one-quarter hours.

When withdrawing the timbale from the oven, pour into it some veal stock flavoured with Madeira, and let it be sufficiently gelatinous to set like a jelly.

Keep the timbale in the cool for one or two days before serving it.

1916—CAILLES A LA VENDANGEUSE

Roast the quails; let them cool, and set them, each in a little dosser of dry paste, resting against a cushion lying on a round dish. On top of the cushion plant a leafy vine-shoot bearing grapes. Surround the quails with white and black grapes (peeled and pipped) and cover with a slightly gelatinous aspic jelly, prepared with liqueur brandy.

1917—MOUSSES DE CAILLES

See the various remarks made concerning this subject, under Pheasant, Partridge and Woodcock.

1918—LAND RAIL, ROI DE CAILLES OU RÂLE DE GENÊTS

The Land Rail, which must not be confused with the Water Rail, is most often served roasted, but all the quail recipes, hot or cold (except those in which Granité forms an accompaniment) may be applied to it.

1919—HAZEL-HENS 1920—BLACK GAME 1921—PRAIRIE-HENS 1922—PTARMIGAN 1923—GROUSE 1924—GANGAS

These birds, one or two of which, such as grouse and the hazel-hen, are of incomparable delicacy and high culinary value, are mostly served roasted.

_Mousses_, _Mousselines_ and Salmis are also prepared from them, after the directions already given. But I must remind the reader that when they serve in the preparation of a salmis, their skins and legs, which are bitter, must be discarded.

All these birds must be treated while still very fresh.

1925—GRIVES ET MERLES DE CORSE (Thrushes and Corsican Blackbirds)

The greater part of the quail recipes, more particularly the “en casserole” and “sous la cendre” ones, may be applied to these excellent birds.

The two following recipes are proper to them.

1926—GRIVES OU MERLES A LA BONNE-FEMME

Cook the birds in butter, with one oz. of very small dice of salted breast of bacon to each bird. Put them into a hot _cocotte_ with two-thirds oz. of butter per bird; heat; add some square _croûtons_ fried in butter; sprinkle with the saucepan-swillings, which should be a few drops of brandy; cover, and serve very hot immediately.

1927—GRIVES OU MERLES A LA LIÉGEOISE

Cook the birds in butter on the stove, in an uncovered earthenware saucepan. When they are nearly done, sprinkle them with two finely-chopped juniper berries per bird; add some round _croûtons_ of bread-crumb fried in butter; cover, and serve very hot.

This procedure particularly suits thrushes, more especially when these come from the Ardennes.

1928—GRIVES ET MERLES FROIDS

The various, cold preparations of quails, except those comprising a Granité, may be applied to thrushes.