Feathered-Game Roasts

1969—FAISAN RÔTI

Everything I said in the preceding chapter concerning the classification of feathered game applies in this instance.

All birds intended for roasting should be young, plump, and fat. They should also be high in the case of pheasants, partridges, and the various kinds of woodcock and snipe.

A pheasant for roasting should always be covered with slices of bacon.

An excellent practice which greatly improves the bird is that of stuffing it with a piece of fresh pork fat, pounded with peelings of fresh truffles, if possible.

Instead of well-pounded fresh pork fat, an equal weight of fresh butter may be used.

This fatty substance impregnates the meat when it melts, and keeps the bird from becoming dry while cooking. The method also applies to partridge. Roast pheasant is generally accompanied by two trimmed half-lemons and a dish of potato chips. The gravy, which should be fat, is served in a sauceboat, and bread sauce or some bread-crumbs fried in butter are sent at the same time.

1970—FAISAN RÔTI A LA PERIGOURDINE

Stuff the pheasant with two oz. of pounded fresh pork fat, two oz. of foie-gras trimmings, and a similar quantity of raw-truffle parings, the whole pounded together and combined with one-half lb. of raw truffles, cut into large dice.

After having covered the pheasant with slices of bacon, roast it in accordance with the directions given under Truffled Pullet. It is better, however, to cook and serve it in a _cocotte_.

1971—FAISAN A LA GUNZBOURG

Bone two fine snipes; empty them of their intestines; fry these in butter, and crush them on a plate. Chop up the meat of the snipes, combining half its weight of cream with it, and as much butter; season with salt and pepper, and add the crushed intestines and four oz. of truffles cut into large dice.

Stuff a fine pheasant with this preparation; roast it “_en casserole_,” or rather in a _cocotte_.

At the last moment sprinkle with a little _fumet_, prepared from the snipes’ carcasses.

1972—PARTRIDGES

The above recipes, dealing with pheasants, may be applied to partridges.

1973—QUAILS

Select them white, very fat, and with the fat firm.

Wrap them in a buttered vine-leaf and a thin slice of bacon, and roast them before a fierce fire for ten or twelve minutes.

Dish on small bread-crumb _croûtons_, fried in butter with half-lemons.

Serve their gravy, which, of course, should be very short, separately.

1974—ROAST ORTOLANS

Wrap each in a vine-leaf; set them on a tray, moistened with salted water, and cause them to set in a fierce oven for four or five minutes.

The small amount of water lying on the bottom of the utensil produces an evaporation which prevents the ortolans’ fat from melting; consequently there is no need of slices of bacon, butter, or gravy.

Each ortolan may be served in a half-lemon, shaped like a basket.

N.B.—The ortolan is sufficient in itself, and it ought only to be eaten roasted. The products sometimes served as adjuncts to it, such as truffles and foie gras, are deleterious, if anything, to its quality, for they modify the delicacy of its flavour, and this modification is more particularly noticeable the more highly flavoured the adjunctive products may be.

With its accompaniments it becomes a sumptuous dish, for the simple reason that it is expensive; but it does not follow that the true connoisseur will like it; it must be plainly roasted to suit him.

1975—ORTOLANS AUX QUESTCHES

Cut two large questches into halves, and allow one half for each ortolan. Garnish the inside of each with a piece of butter the size of a hazel-nut; set them on a tray, and put them in the oven. When they are almost cooked, on each half of the questches place a moistened ortolan, wrapped in a vine-leaf, and bake them in a very hot oven for four minutes.

Salt them when taking them out of the oven, and sprinkle them, by means of a brush, with verjuice.

Serve them as they stand, but the questches are not eaten; they only serve as a support for the ortolan.

1976—ORTOLANS AU SUC D’ANANAS

Heat some fresh butter in a flat, earthenware _cocotte_, and allow one-quarter oz. of it to each ortolan. Roll the previously salted ortolans in this butter, and put them in a very hot oven for three minutes.

When taking them out of the oven, sprinkle them with a few tablespoonfuls of very cold pine-apple juice. Cover the _cocotte_, and serve immediately.

The _cocotte_ should be just large enough to hold the ortolans.

1977—ROAST WOODCOCK

It should be just sufficiently high. Remove its gizzard; truss it, piercing the legs with the beak, after having drawn the eyes; cover it with slices of bacon, and cook it before a good fire for from fifteen to eighteen minutes. Dish on a cushion of fried bread, and serve the swilling-liquor separately, which in this case should be brandy and a few drops of good game gravy.

1978—SNIPES AND BECOTS

For the preparation, proceed as for the woodcock.

Cause to set before a fierce fire, and cook for nine minutes.

1979—GRIVES ET MERLES DE CORSE (Thrushes and Corsican Blackbirds)

Truss them, and wrap them in slices of bacon. Insert a juniper berry into the thrushes. Roast before a moderately fierce fire for ten or twelve minutes, and dish on small cushions of fried bread.

Serve a very short gravy separately.

1980—MAUVIETTES (Larks)

Wrap them in very thin slices of bacon, and impale them on a skewer, or discard the slices of bacon, and merely impale them on a skewer, separating them by _blanched_ squares of breast of bacon.

Roast for ten minutes before a fierce fire.

Dish on small fried _croûtons_, with quarters of lemon and bunches of watercress all round.

1981—CANARDS SAUVAGES (Wild Duck) SARCELLES (Teal) PILETS (Widgeons and Pintails)

These birds are not covered with slices of bacon, and are roasted before a fierce fire.

_Wild duck_ must be kept underdone, and, in view of this, twenty minutes suffice for the roasting. Dish with lemons and bunches of watercress all round.

_Wild duck, roasted English-fashion._—Treat it as above; send an apple sauce to the table with it.

_Wild duck à la Bigarrade._—This is roasted in a similar manner.

Surround it with sections of orange, skinned raw, and serve a clear Bigarrade sauce separately.

The _teal_, which is a small, wild duck, is roasted before a fierce fire for from ten to twelve minutes, and is surrounded with lemons and watercress.

_Widgeons_ and _pintails_ are treated like the teal, but they are allowed three or four minutes more in the roasting.

1982—PLUVIERS DORÉS (Golden Plover) VANNEAUX (Lapwings) CHEVALIERS DIVERS (Various Sandpipers)

These birds are not covered with slices of bacon; they must be roasted before a very fierce fire, and kept somewhat underdone. They must be served as soon as ready, as waiting is prejudicial to them.

They admit of no accompaniment or garnish, except a very short gravy.

1983—GROUSES, COQS DE BRUYÈRE (Black Game) GELINOTTES (Hazel-hens)

These birds must be very fresh when roasted, and should be kept moderately underdone.

They allow of the same adjuncts as pheasant, _i.e._, bread sauce, bread-crumbs, potato chips, and gravy; and their breasts alone are served as a rule. Grouse and hazel-hens, when they are young, make incomparably fine roasts.

Salads are of two kinds: simple, or compound. Simple, or raw salads always accompany hot roasts; compound salads, which generally consist of cooked vegetables, accompany cold roasts.

1984—THE SEASONING OF SALADS

1. _Oil seasoning_ may be applied to all salads, and is made up of three parts of oil to one part of vinegar, with salt and pepper.

2. _Cream seasoning_ is particularly well suited to salads of early-season lettuce and cos lettuce, and is made up of three parts of very fresh and not very thick cream to one part of vinegar.

3. _Egg seasoning_ is prepared from crushed hard-boiled yolks of egg, mixed in the salad-bowl with oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. The whites of egg, cut into thin strips, are added to the salad. This seasoning may also be a light mayonnaise sauce.

4. _Bacon seasoning_ is used especially for dandelion, red-cabbage, and corn salads. In this case the oil is replaced by the grease of the bacon dice, which are melted and frizzled in the omelet-pan. This grease is poured, while hot, with the bacon dice, over the salad, which should be in a hot salad-bowl and already seasoned with salt, pepper, and the vinegar which has served in swilling the omelet-pan.

5. _Mustard with cream seasoning_ is used particularly with beetroot salads, with salads of celeriac, and with green salads wherein beetroot plays a major part. It is made up of a small tablespoonful of mustard, mixed with one-third pint of fresh and somewhat thin cream, the juice of a fair-sized lemon, salt, and pepper.

N.B.—I should like to point out that mayonnaise sauce must only be used in very small quantities in the seasoning of salads. It is indigestible, and many constitutions cannot suffer it, especially at night at the end of a dinner.

Raw onion should likewise only be used in salads with great moderation, in view of the fact that so many do not like it. In any case, it should be finely _ciseled_, washed in fresh water, and pressed in the corner of a towel.

1985—SIMPLE SALADS

They comprise, in the first place, those salads known under the name of green salads. Such are lettuce, cos lettuce, chicory, endive, batavia, celery, corn-salad, dandelion, purslain, dittander, rampion, salsify leaves, white dandelion, &c.

1986—SALADS DE BETTERAVE (Beetroot Salad)

Beetroot is really the accompaniment of compound and simple salads, and it is always best to cook it in the oven. If it be prepared specially as a salad, cut it into a _julienne_ or into thin roundels; flavour it with onions, first baked in cinders and then finely chopped, and season it with mustard sauce or with oil, according to fancy. Always add some chopped herbs.

1987—CELERY SALAD

For salads, only the fibreless, white celery is used—commonly known as English celery. Cut it into pieces, and _cisel_ these into very thin strips without altogether separating the latter at their base. Place in cold water for a few hours, that the strips may curl; drain and season with a mustard sauce with cream.

1988—CELERIAC SALAD

Cut the celeriac into a fine _julienne_ or _paysanne_.

Season, according to fancy, with a mustard sauce with cream, or a clear mayonnaise sauce containing plenty of mustard.

1989—CAULIFLOWER SALAD

Divide the cooked and somewhat firm cauliflowers into small bunches, cleared of all stalk. Season with oil and vinegar, and flavour with chopped chervil.

1990—RED-CABBAGE SALAD

Suppress the midribs of the leaves; cut the leaves into a _julienne_, and season them with oil and vinegar six hours in advance. The _julienne_ of cabbages may be parboiled for a few minutes to modify the rawness of the vegetable; it should then be cooled and seasoned as above.

1991—CUCUMBER SALAD

Peel and thinly slice them; sprinkle the slices with table-salt, and let them stand for two hours. Dry, and season them with oil, vinegar, and chopped chervil.

1992—HARICOT BEANS AND LENTIL SALADS, ETC.

Thoroughly drain the vegetable, whatever be its kind; season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped parsley. Serve separately some thinly-_ciseled_, washed, and pressed onion.

1993—POTATO SALAD

Cut some long, fair-sized potatoes, cooked in salted water and lukewarm, to the shape of corks, and divide up the latter into thin roundels.

Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped herbs.

1994—POTATO SALAD A LA PARISIENNE

Select potatoes which do not crumble, such as the vitelottes or new kidney potatoes. Cook them in salted water; cut them to the shape of corks, and slice them (while still lukewarm) into thin roundels. Put them into a salad-bowl, and sprinkle them with two-thirds pint of white wine per two lbs. of potatoes. Then season with oil and vinegar, add some chopped chervil and parsley, and stir with care lest the roundels break.

1995—TOMATO SALAD

Select some medium-sized and rather firm tomatoes, and scald them. Then skin them; cut them in two crosswise; press them to clear them of juice and seeds; cut them into thin strips; season them with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped tarragon.

1996—COMPOUND SALADS

Unless they leave the kitchen to be served immediately, compound salads are dished without their constituents being mixed. As the latter are generally of various colours, they are seasoned and dished in distinct heaps of contrasted shades.

The dishing of compound salads is finished by means of borders consisting of pieces of very red beetroot, gherkins, truffles, roundels of potatoes, and radishes. The method of arranging these vegetables constitutes the decoration, and the latter, being subject to no rules, is merely a matter of taste.

I do not advise the moulding of compound salads, for the increased sightliness resulting therefrom is small compared with the loss in the taste of the preparation. The simplest form of dishing is the best, and fancifulness should not be indulged in, beyond the arrangement of the vegetables in a pyramid, surrounded by a decorated border of jelly.

1997—SALADE ALLEMANDE

Take equal quantities of potatoes and apples, gherkins, and herring-fillets, all cut into dice and arranged in heaps. Season with hard-boiled egg sauce, and decorate with very red beetroot.

1998—SALADE AMÉRICAINE

Peel and press some tomatoes, and cut them into thin slices; cut some potatoes into thin roundels, and prepare a short _julienne_ of celery.

Decorate with roundels of hard-boiled eggs and thin onion rings.

Season with oil and vinegar.

1999—SALADE ANDALOUSE

Peel and quarter some small tomatoes; cut some mild capsicums _julienne_-fashion; cook some rice plainly in salted water, keeping each grain separate; add a little crushed garlic and chopped onion and parsley.

Season with oil and vinegar.

2000—SALADE BELLE-FERMIÈRE

This salad consists of curled celery and equal quantities of plain-boiled potatoes, beetroot, and capsicum—all these vegetables cut _julienne_-fashion, the celery measuring one-third, and the other ingredients two-thirds of the whole.

Season with mustard sauce with cream.

2001—SALADE CRESSONNIÈRE

This consists of potatoes à la Parisienne (No. 2017) and watercress leaves, in equal quantities. Sprinkle with parsley, chervil, and hard-boiled egg, mixed.

2002—SALADE ISABELLE

Thinly slice equal quantities of raw mushrooms, celery, cooked potatoes, and artichoke-bottoms. Dish in distinct heaps.

Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped chervil.

2003—SALADE DANICHEFF

Take equal quantities of sliced and _blanched_ celeriac, thin roundels of potatoes, slices of artichoke-bottoms, strips of raw mushrooms, and green asparagus-heads, and arrange them in heaps.

Deck with crayfishes’ tails, hard-boiled eggs, and truffles. Season with mayonnaise sauce.

2004—SALADE DEMI-DEUIL

Take equal quantities of a _julienne_ of potatoes and a _julienne_ of very black truffles. Decorate with rings of truffle girding small roundels of potato, and rings of potato girding small roundels of truffle. Alternate the two forms of rings.

Season with a mustard sauce with cream.

2005—SALADE D’ESTRÉES

Take equal quantities of curled celery and a moderately small _julienne_ of raw truffles. Season, when about to dish up, with a mayonnaise sauce with mustard, slightly flavoured with cayenne.

2006—SALADE A LA FLAMANDE

This consists of a coarse _julienne_ of endives, a similar _julienne_ of potatoes, an onion baked in its skin, cooled, peeled, and chopped, and some fillets of herring cut into dice, the quantities being in the proportion of one-half of the whole for the endives, one-quarter of the whole for the potatoes, and the remaining quarter for the onion and fillets of herring.

Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped parsley and chervil.

2007—SALADE FRANCILLON

Take some potato salad “à la Parisienne” (No. 2017), previously _marinaded_ in Chablis wine, some mussels (cleared of their beards, and poached with celery), and slices of very black truffle, the three constituents being in the proportion of one-half, one-quarter, and one-quarter respectively.

Set the potato salad on the bottom of the salad bowl, and lay thereon, by way of decoration, the mussels and the truffles in alternate layers.

2008—SALADE ITALIENNE

Take equal quantities of carrots, turnips, potatoes, tomatoes, and French beans—all cut into regular dice; also peas, small stoned olives, capers, anchovy fillets in small dice, and herbs for the seasoning.

Use hard-boiled eggs for the decoration.

Season with mayonnaise sauce.

2009—JOCKEY-CLUB SALAD

Take equal quantities of asparagus-heads and a _julienne_ of raw truffles; the two should be seasoned separately some time in advance.

Cohere, when about to dish, with a very little highly-seasoned mayonnaise sauce.

2010—SALADE LACMÉ

Take equal quantities of red capsicums and tomato sauce; plain-boiled rice, kept very white, and with each grain distinct; and _ciseled_, washed, and pressed onion.

Season with oil and vinegar, and flavour with curry.

2011—SALADE DE LEGUMES

Take equal quantities of carrots and turnips, raised by means of a grooved spoon-cutter; potato dice; French beans cut lozenge-form; peas; small flageolets, and asparagus-heads; arrange them in distinct heaps, and set a fine bunch of cauliflower in the middle.

Season with oil and vinegar, and add some chopped parsley and chervil.

N.B.—For vegetable salad, use freshly-cooked and uncooled vegetables as much as possible.

2012—SALADE LORETTE

Take equal quantities of corn salad, and a _julienne_ of beetroot and celery. Season with oil and vinegar.

2013—SALADE MIGNON

Take equal quantities of shelled shrimps’ tails, artichoke-bottoms, cut into dice, and very thin slices of black truffle arranged to form a border. Season with highly-seasoned mayonnaise sauce with cream.

2014—SALADE MONTE-CRISTO

Take equal quantities of lobster-meat, cooked truffles, and potatoes and hard-boiled eggs in dice, and arrange them in distinct heaps.

In their midst place the very white heart of a lettuce. Season with mayonnaise sauce with mustard, and add some chopped tarragon.

2015—SALADE NIÇOISE

Take equal quantities of French beans, potato dice, and quartered tomatoes. Decorate with capers, small, stoned olives, and anchovy fillets.

Season with oil and vinegar.

2016—SALADE OPÉRA

Take equal quantities of white chicken meat, very red tongue, celery-sticks cut _julienne_-fashion, and a _julienne_ of truffles. Arrange these constituents in very regular heaps, and in the middle of them set a heap of asparagus-heads. Decorate with a border consisting of roundels of cocks’ kidneys and roundels of gherkins, laid alternately.

Season with very thin mayonnaise sauce.

2017—SALADE PARISIENNE

_Clothe_ a Charlotte-mould with very clear jelly, and garnish its bottom and sides with thin collops of spiny-lobster’s tail decked with truffles. Fill the mould with a vegetable salad (No. 2011) combined with a quarter of its volume of lobster or spiny-lobster remains, cut into dice, and cohered by means of a cleared mayonnaise.

Leave to set in the cool, and, when about to serve, turn out on a napkin.

2018—SALADE MASCOTTE

Take some green asparagus-heads, some hard-boiled lapwings’ eggs, some sliced cocks’ kidneys, some slices of truffle, and some crayfishes’ tails.

Decorate according to fancy, making use of the ingredients of the salad for the purpose.

Season with mustard sauce with cream.

2019—SALADE RACHEL

Take equal quantities of sticks of celery, raw artichoke-bottoms, truffles, potatoes, and asparagus-heads, all, except the latter, being cut _julienne_-fashion.

Slightly cohere the salad with mayonnaise sauce.

2020—SALADE RÉGENCE

Take equal quantities of sliced cocks’ kidneys, shavings of raw truffles, asparagus-heads, and celery cut lengthwise into extremely thin strips.

Season strongly with oil and lemon juice.

2021—SALADE RUSSE

Take equal quantities of carrots, potatoes, French beans, peas, truffles, capers, gherkins, sliced and cooked mushrooms, lobster meat, and lean ham—all cut _julienne_-fashion, and add some anchovy fillets.

Cohere the whole with mayonnaise sauce; dish, and decorate with some of the ingredients of the salad, together with beetroot and caviare.

2022—SALADE SICILIENNE

Take equal quantities of celeriac, russet apples, tomatoes, and artichoke-bottoms—all four cut into dice.

Season with oil and lemon juice.

2023—SALADE TREDERN

Take twenty-four crayfishes’ tails, cooked as for bisque, and cut lengthwise; twenty-four oysters (cleared of their beards), poached in lemon juice; and three tablespoonfuls of asparagus-heads. The three constituents should have barely cooled. Complete with fine shavings of raw truffles.

Season with condimented mayonnaise sauce, combined with a purée made from the crayfishes’ carcasses, pounded with two tablespoonfuls of fresh cream.

2024—SALADE DE TRUFFES

Cut some raw, peeled truffles into very thin shavings.

Season with a sauce consisting of hard-boiled egg-yolks, seasoned with salt and freshly-ground pepper, and finished with oil and lemon juice.

2025—SALADE DE TRUFFES BLANCHES

Cut some raw, white, Piedmont truffles into thin shavings.

Season with a sauce consisting of hard-boiled egg-yolks seasoned with salt and pepper, and finished with mustard, oil, and vinegar.

2026—SALADE VICTORIA

Take equal quantities of spiny-lobster trimmings, asparagus-heads, truffles, and cucumbers—all cut into dice.

Season with a mayonnaise sauce, combined with the spiny-lobster’s creamy parts and a purée of coral.

2027—SALADE WALDORF

Take equal quantities of russet apples and celeriac, both cut into dice, and halved and peeled walnuts, soaked in fresh water for one-quarter hour, and well drained.

Season with clear mayonnaise sauce.

CHAPTER XVIII

VEGETABLES AND FARINACEOUS PRODUCTS

The preparatory treatment of vegetables—parboiling and braising, &c.—having been explained in Chapter X., as also the preparation of purées, creams, and vegetable garnishes, it is now only necessary to deal with each vegetable separately.