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diff --git a/old/ckdec10.txt b/old/ckdec10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab8ddec --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ckdec10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6129 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Cook's Decameron: A Study in Taste: +Containing Over Two Hundred Recipes For Italian Dishes +by Mrs. W. G. Water + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association/Carnegie-Mellon + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Carnegie-Mellon University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +The Cook's Decameron: A Study In Taste + +Containing Over Two Hundred Recipes For Italian Dishes + +By + +Mrs. W. G. Waters + +"Show me a pleasure like dinner, which comes every day and lasts an +hour." -- Talleyrand circa 1901 + + + +To + +A. V. + +In memory of Certain Ausonian Feasts + + + +Preface + +Montaigne in one of his essays* mentions the high excellence +Italian cookery had attained in his day. "I have entered into this +Discourse upon the Occasion of an Italian I lately receiv'd into my +Service, and who was Clerk of the Kitchen to the late Cardinal +Caraffa till his Death. I put this Fellow upon an Account of his +office: Where he fell to Discourse of this Palate-Science, with +such a settled Countenance and Magisterial Gravity, as if he had +been handling some profound Point of Divinity. He made a Learned +Distinction of the several sorts of Appetites, of that of a Man +before he begins to eat, and of those after the second and third +Service: The Means simply to satisfy the first, and then to raise +and acute the other two: The ordering of the Sauces, first in +general, and then proceeded to the Qualities of the Ingredients, +and their Effects: The Differences of Sallets, according to their +seasons, which ought to be serv'd up hot, and which cold: The +Manner of their Garnishment and Decoration, to render them yet more +acceptable to the Eye after which he entered upon the Order of the +whole Service, full of weighty and important Considerations." + +It is consistent with Montaigne's large-minded habit thus to +applaud the gifts of this master of his art who happened not to be +a Frenchman. It is a canon of belief with the modern Englishman +that the French alone can achieve excellence in the art of cookery, +and when once a notion of this sort shall have found a lodgment in +an Englishman's brain, the task of removing it will be a hard one. +Not for a moment is it suggested that Englishmen or any one else +should cease to recognise the sovereign merits of French cookery; +all that is entreated is toleration, and perchance approval, of +cookery of other schools. But the favourable consideration of any +plea of this sort is hindered by the fact that the vast majority of +Englishmen when they go abroad find no other school of cookery by +the testing of which they may form a comparison. This universal +prevalence of French cookery may be held to be a proof of its +supreme excellence--that it is first, and the rest nowhere; +but the victory is not so complete as it seems, and the facts would +bring grief and humiliation rather than patriotic pride to the +heart of a Frenchman like Brillat-Savarin. For the cookery we meet +in the hotels of the great European cities, though it may be based +on French traditions, is not the genuine thing, but a bastard, +cosmopolitan growth, the same everywhere, and generally vapid and +uninteresting. French cookery of the grand school suffers by being +associated with such commonplace achievements. It is noted in the +following pages how rarely English people on their travels +penetrate where true Italian cookery may be tasted, wherefore it +has seemed worth while to place within the reach of English +housewives some Italian recipes which are especially fitted for the +presentation of English fare to English palates under a different +and not unappetising guise. Most of them will be found simple and +inexpensive, and special care has been taken to include those +recipes which enable the less esteemed portions of meat and the +cheaper vegetables and fish to be treated more elaborately than +they have hitherto been treated by English cooks. + +The author wishes to tender her acknowledgments to her husband for +certain suggestions and emendations made in the revision of the +introduction, and for his courage in dining, "greatly daring," off +many of the dishes. He still lives and thrives. Also to Mrs. +Mitchell, her cook, for the interest and enthusiasm she has shown +in the work, for her valuable advice, and for the care taken in +testing the recipes. + + + +Contents + + + +Prologue + + + +Part I + +The First Day +The Second Day. +The Third Day. +The Fourth Day +The Fifth Day. +The Sixth Day. +The Seventh Day +The Eighth Day +The Ninth Day. +The Tenth Day. + + + +Part II -- Recipes + +Sauces + +No. + + 1. Espagnole or Brown Sauce. + + 2. Velute Sauce. + + 3. Bechamel Sauce. + + 4. Mirepoix Sauce (for masking). + + 5. Genoese Sauce. + + 6. Italian Sauce. + + 7. Ham Sauce (Salsa di Prosciutto). + + 8. Tarragon Sauce. + + 9. Tomato Sauce. + + 10. Tomato Sauce Piquante. + + 11. Mushroom Sauce. + + 12. Neapolitan Sauce. + + 13. Neapolitan Anchovy Sauce. + + 14. Roman Sauce (Salsa Agro-dolce). + + 15. Roman Sauce (another way). + + 16. Supreme Sauce. + + 17. Pasta marinate (for masking Italian Frys). + + 18. White Villeroy. + + + +Soups + + 19. Clear Soup. + + 20. Zuppa Primaverile (Spring Soup). + + 21. Soup alla Lombarda. + + 22. Tuscan Soup. + + 23. Venetian Soup. + + 24. Roman Soup. + + 25. Soup alla Nazionale. + + 26. Soup alla Modanese. + + 27. Crotopo Soup. + + 28. Soup all'Imperatrice. + + 29. Neapolitan Soup. + + 30. Soup with Risotto. + + 31. Soup alla Canavese. + + 32. Soup alla Maria l'ia. + + 33. Zuppa d'Erbe (Lettuce Soup). + + 34. Zuppa Regina di Riso (Queen's soup). + + + +Minestre + + 35. A Condiment for Seasoning Minestre, &c. + + 36. Minestra alla Casalinga. + + 37. Minestra of Rice and Turnips. + + 38. Minestra alla Capucina. + + 39. Minestra of Semolina. + + 40. Minestrone alla Milanese. + + 41. Minestra of Rice and Cabbage. + + 42. Minestra of Rice and Celery. + + 43. Anguilla alla Milanese (Eels). + + 44. Filletti di Pesce alla Villeroy (Fillets of Fish). + + 45. Astachi all'Italiana (Lobster). + + 46. Baccala alla Giardiniera (Cod). + + 47. Triglie alla Marinara (Mullet). + + 48. Mullet alla Tolosa. + + 49. Mullet alla Triestina. + + 50. Whiting alla Genovese. + + 51. Merluzzo in Bianco (Cod). + + 52. Merluzzo in Salamoia (Cod). + + 53. Baccala in Istufato (Haddock). + + 54. Naselli con Piselli (Whiting). + + 55. Ostriche alla Livornese (Oysters). + + 56. Ostriche alla Napolitana (Oysters). + + 57. Ostriche alla Neneziana (Oysters). + + 58. Pesci diversi alla Casalinga (Fish). + + 59. Pesce alla Genovese (Sole or Turbot). + + 60. Sogliole in Zimino (Sole). + + 61. Sogliole al tegame (Sole). + + 62. Sogliole alla Livornese (Sole). + + 63. Sogliole alla Veneziana (Sole). + + 64. Sogliole alla parmigiana (Sole). + + 65. Salmone alla Genovese (Salmon). + + 66. Salmone alla Perigo (Salmon). + + 67. Salmone alla giardiniera (Salmon). + + 68. Salmone alla Farnese (Salmon). + + 69. Salmone alla Santa Fiorentina (Salmon). + + 70. Salmone alla Francesca (Salmon). + + 71. Fillets of Salmon in Papiliotte. + + + +Beef, Mutton, Veal, Lamb, &c. + + 72. Manzo alla Certosina (Fillet of Beef). + + 73. Stufato alla Fiorentina (Stewed Beef). + + 74. Coscia di Manzo al Forno (Rump Steak). + + 75. Polpettine alla Salsa Piccante (Beef Olives). + + 76. Stufato alla Milanese (Stewed Beef). + + 77. Manzo Marinato Arrosto (Marinated Beef). + + 78. Manzo con sugo di Barbabietole (Fillet of Beef). + + 79. Manzo in Insalata (Marinated Beef). + + 80. Filetto di Bue con Pistacchi (Fillets of Beef with Pistacchios). + + 81. Scalopini di Rizo (Beef with Risotto). + + 82. Tenerumi alla Piemontese (Tendons of Veal). + + 83. Bragiuole di Vitello (Veal Cutlets). + + 84. Costolette alla Monza (Veal Cutlets). + + 85. Vitello alla Pellegrina (Breast of Veal). + + 86. Frittura Piccata al Marsala (Fillet of Veal). + + 87. Polpettine Distese (Veal Olives). + + 88. Coste di Vitello Imboracciate (Ribs of Veal). + + 89. Costolette di Montone alla Nizzarda (Mutton Cutlets). + + 90. Petto di Castrato all'Italiana (Breast of Mutton). + + 91. Petto di Castrato alla Salsa piccante (Breast of Mutton). + + 92. Tenerumi d' Agnello alla Villeroy (Tendons of Lamb). + + 93. Tenerumi d' Agnello alla Veneziana (Tendons of Lamb). + + 94. Costoletto d'Agnello alla Costanza (Lamb Cutlets). + + + +Tongue, Sweetbread, Calf's Head, Liver, Sucking Pig, &c. + + 95. Timballo alla Romana. + + 96. Timballo alla Lombarda. + + 97. Lingua alla Visconti (Tongue). + + 98. Lingua di Manzo al Citriuoli (Tongue with Cucumber). + + 99. Lingue di Castrato alla Cuciniera (Sheep's Tongues). + + 100.. Lingue di Vitello all'Italiana (Calves' Tongues). + + 101. Porcelletto alla Corradino (Sucking Pig). + + 102. Porcelletto da Latte in Galantina (Sucking Pig). + + 103. Ateletti alla Sarda. + + 1O4. Ateletti alla Genovese. + + 105. Testa di Vitello alla Sorrentina (Calf's Head). + + 106. Testa di Vitello con Salsa Napoletana (Calf's head). + + 107. Testa di Vitello alla Pompadour (Calf's Head). + + 108. Testa di Vitello alla Sanseverino (Calf's Head). + + 109. Testa di Vitello in Frittata (Calf's Head). + + 110. Zampetti (Calves' Feet). + + 111. Bodini Marinati. + + 112. Animelle alla Parmegiana (Sweetbread). + + 113. Animelle in Cartoccio (Sweetbread). + + 114. Animelle all'Italiana (Sweetbread). + + 115. Animelle Lardellate (Sweetbread). + + 116. Frittura di Bottoni e di Animelle (Sweetbreads and +Mushrooms). + + 117. Cervello in Filiserbe (Calf's Brains). + + 118. Cervello alla Milanese (Calf's Brains). + + 119. Cervello alla Villeroy (Calf's Brains). + + 120. Frittuta of Cervello (Calf's Brains). + + 121. Cervello alla Frittata Montano (Calf's Brains). + + 122. Marinata di Cervello alla Villeroy (Calf's Brains). + + 123. Minuta alla Milanese (Lamb's Sweetbread). + + 124. Animelle al Sapor di Targone (Lamb's Fry). + + 125. Fritto Misto alla Villeroy. + + 126. Fritto Misto alla Piemontese. + + 127. Minuta di Fegatini (Ragout of Fowls' Livers). + + 128. Minuta alla Visconti (Chickens' Livers). + + 129. Croutons alla Principessa. + + 130. Croutons alla Romana. + + + +Fowl, Duck, Game, Hare, Rabbit, &c. + + 131. Soffiato di Cappone (Fowl Souffle). + + 132. Pollo alla Fiorentina (Chicken). + + 133. Pollo ali'Oliva (Chicken). + + 134. Pollo alla Villereccia (Chicken). + + 135. Pollo alla Cacciatora (Chicken). + + 136. Pollastro alla Lorenese (Fowl). + + 137. Pollastro in Fricassea al Burro (Fowl). + + 138. Pollastro in istufa di Pomidoro (Braized Fowl). + + 139. Cappone con Riso (Capon with Rice). + + 140. Dindo Arrosto alla Milanese (Roast Turkey). + + 141. Tacchinotto all'Istriona (Turkey Poult). + + 142. Fagiano alla Napoletana (Pheasant). + + 143. Fagiano alla Perigo (Pheasant). + + 144. Anitra Selvatica (Wild Duck). + + 145. Perniciotti alla Gastalda (Partridges). + + 146. Piccioni alla Diplomatica (Snipe). + + 147. Piccioni alla minute (Pigeons) + + 148. Piccioni in Ripieno (Stuffed Pigeons). + + 149. Lepre in istufato (Stewed Hare). + + 150. Lepre Agro-dolce (Hare). + + 151. Coniglio alla Provenzale (Rabbit). + + 152. Coniglio arrostito alla Corradino (Roast Rabbit). + + 153. Coniglio in salsa Piccante (Rabbit). + + + +Vegetables + + 154. Asparagi alla salsa Suprema (Asparagus). + + 155. Cavoli di Bruxelles alla Savoiarda (Brussels Sprouts). + + 156. Barbabietola alla Parmigiana (Beetroot). + + 157. Fave alla Savoiarda (Beans). + + 158. Verze alla Capuccina (Cabbage). + + 159. Cavoli fiori alla Lionese (Cauliflower). + + 160. Cavoli fiori fritti (Cauliflower). + + 161. Cauliflower alla Parmigiana. + + 162. Cavoli Fiori Ripieni. + + 163. Sedani alla l'armigiana (Celery). + + 164. Sedani Fritti all'Italiana (Celery). + + 165. Cetriuoli alla Parmigiana (Cucumber). + + 166. Cetriuoli alla Borghese (Cucumber). + + 167. Carote al sughillo (Carrots). + + 168. Carote e piselli alla panna (Carrots and peas). + + 169. Verze alla Certosina (Cabbage). + + 170. Lattughe al sugo (Lettuce). + + 171. Lattughe farcite alla Genovese (Lettuce). + + 172. Funghi cappelle infarcite (Stuffed Mushrooms). + + 173. Verdure miste (Macedoine of Vegetables). + + 174. Patate alla crema (Potatoes in cream). + + 175. Cestelline cli patate alla giardiniera (Potatoes). + + 176. Patate al Pomidoro (Potatoes with Tomato Sauce). + + 177. Spinaci alla Milanese (Spinach). + + 178. Insalata di patate (Potato salad). + + 179. Insalata alla Navarino (Salad). + + 180. Insalata di pomidoro (Tomato Salad). + + 181. Tartufi alla Dino (Truffles). + + + +Macaroni, Rice, Polenta, All Other Italian Pastes + + 182. Macaroni with Tomatoes Macaroni alla Casalinga. + + 183. Macaroni al Sughillo. + + 184. Macaroni alla Livornese. + + 186. Tagliarelle and Lobster. + + 187. Polenta. + + 188. Polenta Pasticciata. + + 189. Battuffoli. + + 190. Risotto all'Italiana. + + 191. Risotto alla Genoxese. + + 192. Risotto alla Spagnuola. + + 193. Risotto alla Capuccina. + + 194. Risotto alla Parigina. + + 195. Ravioli. + + 196. Ravioli alla Fiorentina. + + 197. Gnoechi alla Romana. + + 198. Gnoechi alla Lombarda. + + 199. Frittata di Riso (Savoury Rice Pancake). + + + +Omelettes and Other Egg Dishes + + 200. Uova ai Tartufi (Eggs with Truffles). + + 201. Uova al Pomidoro (Eggs and Tomatoes). + + 202. Uova ripiene (Canapes of Egg). + + 203. Uova alla Fiorentina (Eggs). + + 204. Uova in fili (Egg Canapes). + + 205. Frittata di funghi (Mushroom Omelette). + + 206. Frittata eon Pomidoro (Tomato Omelette). + + 207. Frittata con Asparagi (Asparagus Omelette). + + 208. Frittata eon erbe (Omelette with Herbs). + + 209. Frittata Montata (Omelette Souffle'). + + 210. Frittata di Proseiutto (Ham Omelette). + + + +Sweets and Cakes + + 211. Bodino off Semolina. + + 212. Crema rappresa (Coffee Cream). + + 213. Crema Montata alle Fragole (Strawberry Cream). + + 214. Croccante di Mandorle (Cream Nougat). + + 215. Crema tartara alla Caramella (Caramel Cream). + + 216. Cremona Cake. + + 217. Cake alla Tolentina. + + 218. Riso all'Imperatrice. + + 219. Amaretti leggier (Almond Cakes). + + 220. Cakes alla Livornese. + + 221. Genoese Pastry. + + 222. Zabajone. + + 223. Iced Zabajone. + + 224. Panforte di Siena (Sienese Hardbake). + + + +New Century Sauce + + 225. Fish Sauce. + + 226. Sauce Piquante (for Meat, Fowl, Game, Rabbit, &c.). + + 227. Sauce for Venison, Hare, &c. + + 228. Tomato Sauce Piquante. + + 229. Sauce for Roast Pork, Ham, &c. + + 230. For masking Cutlets, &c. + + + +Part I + +The Cook's Decameron + +Prologue + +The Marchesa di Sant'Andrea finished her early morning cup of tea, +and then took up the batch of correspondence which her maid had +placed on the tray. The world had a way of treating her in kindly +fashion, and hostile or troublesome letters rarely veiled their +ugly faces under the envelopes addressed to her; wherefore the +perfection of that pleasant half-hour lying between the last sip of +tea and the first step to meet the new day was seldom marred by the +perusal of her morning budget. The apartment which she graced with her +seemly presence was a choice one in the Mayfair Hotel, one +which she had occupied for the past four or five years during her +spring visit to London; a visit undertaken to keep alive a number +of pleasant English friendships which had begun in Rome or Malta. +London had for her the peculiar attraction it has for so many +Italians, and the weeks she spent upon its stones were commonly the +happiest of the year. + +The review she took of her letters before breaking the seals first +puzzled her, and then roused certain misgivings in her heart. She +recognised the handwriting of each of the nine addresses, and at +the same time recalled the fact that she was engaged to dine with +every one of the correspondents of this particular morning. Why +should they all be writing to her? She had uneasy forebodings of +postponement, and she hated to have her engagements disturbed; but +it was useless to prolong suspense, so she began by opening the +envelope addressed in the familiar handwriting of Sir John +Oglethorpe, and this was what Sir John had to say-- + +"My Dear Marchesa, words, whether written or spoken, are powerless +to express my present state of mind. In the first place, our +dinner on Thursday is impossible, and in the second, I have lost +Narcisse and forever. You commented favourably upon that supreme +of lobster and the Ris de Veau a la Renaissance we tasted last +week, but never again will you meet the handiwork of Narcisse. He +came to me with admirable testimonials as to his artistic +excellence; with regard to his moral past I was, I fear, culpably +negligent, for I now learn that all the time he presided over my +stewpans he was wanted by the French police on a charge of +murdering his wife. A young lady seems to have helped him; so I +fear Narcisse has broken more than one of the commandments in this +final escapade. The truly great have ever been subject to these +momentary aberrations, and Narcisse being now in the hands of +justice--so called--our dinner must needs stand over, though not, I +hope, for long. Meantime the only consolation I can perceive is +the chance of a cup of tea with you this afternoon. + + J. O." + +Sir John Oglethorpe had been her husband's oldest and best friend. +He and the Marchesa had first met in Sardinia, where they had both +of them gone in pursuit of woodcock, and since the Marchesa had +been a widow, she and Sir John had met either in Rome or in London +every year. The dinner so tragically manque had been arranged to +assemble a number of Anglo-Italian friends; and, as Sir John was as +perfect as a host as Narcisse was as a cook, the disappointment was +a heavy one. She threw aside the letter with a gesture of +vexation, and opened the next. + +"Sweetest Marchesa," it began, "how can I tell you my grief at +having to postpone our dinner for Friday. My wretched cook (I gave +her seventy-five pounds a year), whom I have long suspected of +intemperate habits, was hopelessly inebriated last night, and had +to be conveyed out of the house by my husband and a dear, devoted +friend who happened to be dining with us, and deposited in a four- +wheeler. May I look in tomorrow afternoon and pour out my grief to +you? Yours cordially, + +"Pamela St. Aubyn Fothergill." + +When the Marchesa had opened four more letters, one from Lady +Considine, one from Mrs. Sinclair, one from Miss Macdonnell, and +one from Mrs. Wilding, and found that all these ladies were obliged +to postpone their dinners on account of the misdeeds of their +cooks, she felt that the laws of average were all adrift. Surely +the three remaining letters must contain news of a character to +counterbalance what had already been revealed, but the event showed +that, on this particular morning, Fortune was in a mood to strike +hard. Colonel Trestrail, who gave in his chambers carefully devised +banquets, compounded by a Bengali who was undoubtedly something of +a genius, wrote to say that this personage had left at a day's +notice, in order to embrace Christianity and marry a lady's-maid +who had just come into a legacy of a thousand pounds under the will +of her late mistress. Another correspondent, Mrs. Gradinger, wrote +that her German cook had announced that the dignity of womanhood +was, in her opinion, slighted by the obligation to prepare food for +others in exchange for mere pecuniary compensation. Only on +condition of the grant of perfect social equality would she consent +to stay, and Mrs. Gradinger, though she held advanced opinions, was +hardly advanced far enough to accept this suggestion. Last of all, +Mr. Sebastian van der Roet was desolate to announce that his cook, +a Japanese, whose dishes were, in his employer's estimation, +absolute inspirations, had decamped and taken with him everything +of value he could lay hold of; and more than desolate, that he was +forced to postpone the pleasure of welcoming the Marchesa di +Sant' Andrea at his table. + +When she had finished reading this last note, the Marchesa gathered +the whole mass of her morning's correspondence together, and +uttering a few Italian words which need not be translated, rolled +it into a ball and hurled the same to the farthest corner of the +room. "How is it," she ejaculated, "that these English, who +dominate the world abroad, cannot get their food properly cooked at +home? I suppose it is because they, in their lofty way, look upon +cookery as a non-essential, and consequently fall victims to gout +and dyspepsia, or into the clutches of some international +brigandaccio, who declares he is a cordon bleu. One hears now and +again pleasant remarks about the worn-out Latin races, but I know +of one Latin race which can do better than this in cookery." And +having thus delivered herself, the Marchesa lay back on the pillows +and reviewed the situation. + +She was sorry in a way to miss the Colonel's dinner. The dishes +which the Bengali cook turned out were excellent, but the host +himself was a trifle dictatorial and too fond of the sound of his +own voice, while certain of the inevitable guests were still worse. +Mrs. Gradinger's letter came as a relief; indeed the Marchesa had +been wondering why she had ever consented to go and pretend to +enjoy herself by eating an ill-cooked dinner in company with social +reformers and educational prigs. She really went because she liked +Mr. Gradinger, who was as unlike his wife as possible, a stout +youth of forty, with a breezy manner and a decided fondness for +sport. Lady Considine's dinners were indifferent, and the guests +were apt to be a bit too smart and too redolent of last season's +Monte Carlo odour. The Sinclairs gave good dinners to perfectly +selected guests, and by reason of this virtue, one not too common, +the host and hostess might be pardoned for being a little too well +satisfied with themselves and with their last new bibelot. The +Fothergill dinners were like all other dinners given by the +Fothergills of society. They were costly, utterly undistinguished, +and invariably graced by the presence of certain guests who seemed +to have been called in out of the street at the last moment. Van +der Roet's Japanese menus were curious, and at times inimical to +digestion, but the personality of the host was charming. As to Sir +John Oglethorpe, the question of the dinner postponed troubled her +little: another repast, the finest that London's finest restaurant +could furnish, would certainly be forthcoming before long. In Sir +John's case, her discomposure took the form of sympathy for her +friend in his recent bereavement. He had been searching all his +life for a perfect cook, and he had found, or believed he had +found, such an one in Narcisse; wherefore the Marchesa was fully +persuaded that, if that artist should evade the guillotine, she +would again taste his incomparable handiwork, even though he were +suspected of murdering his whole family as well as the partner of +his joys. + +That same afternoon a number of the balked entertainers +foregathered in the Marchesa's drawing-room, the dominant subject +of discourse being the approaching dissolution of London society +from the refusal of one human to cook food for another. Those +present were gathered in two groups. In one the Colonel, in spite +of the recent desertion of his Oriental, was asserting that the +Government should be required to bring over consignments of +perfectly trained Indian cooks, and thus trim the balance between +dining room and kitchen; and to the other Mrs. Gradinger, a gaunt, +ill-dressed lady in spectacles, with a commanding nose and dull, +wispy hair, was proclaiming in a steady metallic voice, that it was +absolutely necessary to double the school rate at once in order to +convert all the girls and some of the boys as well, into perfectly +equipped food-cooking animals; but her audience gradually fell +away, and in an interval of silence the voice of the hostess was +heard giving utterance to a tentative suggestion. + +"But, my dear, it is inconceivable that the comfort and the +movement of society should depend on the humours of its servants. +I don't blame them for refusing to cook if they dislike cooking, +and can find other work as light and as well paid; but, things +being as they are, I would suggest that we set to work somehow to +make ourselves independent of cooks." + +"That 'somehow' is the crux, my dear Livia," said Mrs. Sinclair. +"I have a plan of my own, but I dare not breathe it, for I'm sure +Mrs. Gradinger would call it 'anti-social,' whatever that may +mean." + +"I should imagine that it is a term which might be applied to any +scheme which robs society of the ministrations of its cooks," said +Sir John. + +"I have heard mathematicians declare that what is true of the whole +is true of its parts," said the Marchesa. "I daresay it is, but I +never stopped to inquire. I will amplify on my own account, and +lay down that what is true of the parts must be true of the whole. +I'm sure that sounds quite right. Now I, as a unit of society, am +independent of cooks because I can cook myself, and if all the +other units were independent, society itself would be independent-- +ecco!" + +"To speak in this tone of a serious science like Euclid seems +rather frivolous," said Mrs. Gradinger. "I may observe--" but here +mercifully the observation was checked by the entry of Mrs. St. +Aubyn Fothergill. + +She was a handsome woman, always dominated by an air of serious +preoccupation, sumptuously, but not tastefully dressed. In the +social struggle upwards, wealth was the only weapon she possessed, +and wealth without dexterity has been known to fail before this. +She made efforts, indeed, to imitate Mrs. Sinclair in the +elegancies of menage, and to pose as a woman of mind after the +pattern of Mrs. Gradinger; but the task first named required too +much tact, and the other powers of endurance which she did not +possess. + +"You'll have some tea, Mrs. Fothergill?" said the Marchesa. "It's +so good of you to have come." + +"No, really, I can't take any tea; in fact, I couldn't take any +lunch out of vexation at having to put you off, my dear Marchesa." + +"Oh, these accidents will occur. We were just discussing the best +way of getting round them," said the Marchesa. "Now, dear," +--speaking to Mrs. Sinclair--"let's have your plan. Mrs. Gradinger +has fastened like a leech on the Canon and Mrs. Wilding, and won't +hear a word of what you have to say." + +"Well, my scheme is just an amplification of your mathematical +illustrations, that we should all learn to cook for ourselves. I +regard it no longer as impossible, or even difficult, since you +have informed us that you are a mistress of the art. We'll start a +new school of cookery, and you shall teach us all you know." + +"Ah, my dear Laura, you are like certain English women in the +hunting field. You are inclined to rush your fences," said the +Marchesa with a deprecatory gesture. "And just look at the people +gathered here in this room. Wouldn't they--to continue the horsey +metaphor--be rather an awkward team to drive?" + +"Not at all, if you had them in suitable surroundings. Now, +supposing some beneficent millionaire were to lend us for a month +or so a nice country house, we might install you there as Mistress +of the stewpans, and sit at your feet as disciples," said Mrs. +Sinclair. + +"The idea seems first-rate," said Van der Roet; "and I suppose, if +we are good little boys and girls, and learn our lessons properly, +we may be allowed to taste some of our own dishes." + +"Might not that lead to a confusion between rewards and +punishments?" said Sir John. + +"If ever it comes to that," said Miss Macdonnell with a mischievous +glance out of a pair of dark, flashing Celtic eyes, "I hope that +our mistress will inspect carefully all pupils' work before we are +asked to eat it. I don't want to sit down to another of Mr. Van der +Roet's Japanese salads made of periwinkles and wallflowers." + +"And we must first catch our millionaire," said the Colonel. + +During these remarks Mrs. Fothergill had been standing "with parted +lips and straining eyes," the eyes of one who is seeking to "cut in." +Now came her chance. "What a delightful idea dear Mrs. Sinclair's +is. We have been dreadfully extravagant this year over buying +pictures, and have doubled our charitable subscriptions, but I believe +I can still promise to act in a humble way the part of Mrs. Sinclair's +millionaire. We have just finished doing up the 'Laurestinas,' a little +place we bought last year, and it is quite at your service, Marchesa, +as soon as you liketo occupy it." + +This unlooked-for proposition almost took away the Marchesa's +breath. "Ah, Mrs. Fothergill," she said, "it was Mrs. Sinclair's +plan, not mine. She kindly wishes to turn me into a cook for I know +not how long, just at the hottest season of the year, a fate I should +hardly have chosen for myself." + +"My dear, it would be a new sensation, and one you would enjoy +beyond everything. I am sure it is a scheme every one here will hail +with acclamation," said Mrs. Sinclair. All other conversation had +now ceased, and the eyes of the rest of the company were fixed on the +speaker. "Ladies and gentlemen," she went on, "you have heard my +suggestion, and you have heard Mrs. Fothergill's most kind and +opportune offer of her country house as the seat of our school of +cookery. Such an opportunity is one in ten thousand. Surely all of +us---even the Marchesa--must see that it is one not to be neglected." + +"I approve thoroughly," said Mrs. Gradinger; "the acquisition of +knowledge, even in so material a field as that of cookery, is always +a clear gain." + +"It will give Gradinger a chance to put in a couple of days at Ascot," +whispered Van der Roet. + +"Where Mrs. Gradinger leads, all must follow," said Miss Macdonnell. +"Take the sense of the meeting, Mrs. Sinclair, before the Marchesa +has time to enter a protest." + +"And is the proposed instructress to have no voice in the matter?" +said the Marchesa, laughing. + +"None at all, except to consent," said Mrs. Sinclair; "you are going +to be absolute mistress over us for the next fortnight, so you +surely might obey just this once." + +"You have been denouncing one of our cherished institutions, +Marchesa," said Lady Considine, "so I consider you are bound to help +us to replace the British cook by something better." + +"If Mrs. Sinclair has set her heart on this interesting experiment. +You may as well consent at once, Marchesa," said the Colonel, "and +teach us how to cook, and--what may be a harder task--to teach us +to eat what other aspirants may have cooked." + +"If this scheme really comes off," said Sir John, "I would suggest +that the Marchesa should always be provided with a plate of her own +up her sleeve--if I may use such an expression--so that any void in +the menu, caused by failure on the part of the under-skilled or +over-ambitious amateur, may be filled by what will certainly be a +chef-d'oeuvre." + +"I shall back up Mrs. Sinclair's proposition with all my power," +said Mrs. Wilding. "The Canon will be in residence at Martlebridge +for the next month, and I would much rather be learning cookery +under the Marchesa than staying with my brother-in-law at Ealing." + +"You'll have to do it, Marchesa," said Van der Roet; "when a new +idea catches on like this, there's no resisting it." + +"Well, I consent on one condition--that my rule shall be absolute," +said the Marchesa, "and I begin my career as an autocrat by giving +Mrs. Fothergill a list of the educational machinery I shall want, +and commanding her to have them all ready by Tuesday morning, the +day on which I declare the school open." + +A chorus of applause went up as soon as the Marchesa ceased +speaking. + +"Everything shall be ready," said Mrs. Fothergill, radiant with +delight that her offer had been accepted, "and I will put in a full +staff of servants selected from our three other establishments." + +"Would it not be as well to send the cook home for a holiday?" said +the Colonel. "It might be safer, and lead to less broth being +spoilt." + +"It seems," said Sir John, "that we shall be ten in number, and I +would therefore propose that, after an illustrious precedent, we +limit our operations to ten days. Then if we each produce one +culinary poem a day we shall, at the end of our time, have provided +the world with a hundred new reasons for enjoying life, supposing, +of course, that we have no failures. I propose, therefore, that +our society be called the 'New Decameron.'" + +"Most appropriate," said Miss Macdonnell, "especially as it owes +its origin to an outbreak of plague--the plague in the kitchen." + + + +The First Day + +On the Tuesday morning the Marchesa travelled down to the +"Laurestinas," where she found that Mrs. Fothergill had been as +good as her word. Everything was in perfect order. The Marchesa +had notified to her pupils that they must report themselves that +same evening at dinner, and she took down with her her maid, one of +those marvellous Italian servants who combine fidelity with +efficiency in a degree strange to the denizens of more progressive +lands. Now, with Angelina's assistance, she proposed to set before +the company their first dinner all'Italiana, and the last they +would taste without having participated in the preparation. The +real work was to begin the following morning. + +The dinner was both a revelation and a surprise to the majority of +the company. All were well travelled, and all had eaten of the +mongrel French dishes given at the "Grand" hotels of the principal +Italian cities, and some of them, in search of adventures, had +dined at London restaurants with Italian names over the doors, +where--with certain honourable exceptions--the cookery was +French, and not of the best, certain Italian plates being included +in the carte for a regular clientele, dishes which would always be +passed over by the English investigator, because he now read, or +tried to read, their names for the first time. Few of the +Marchesa's pupils had ever wandered away from the arid table d'hote +in Milan, or Florence, or Rome, in search of the ristorante at +which the better class of townsfolk were wont to take their +colazione. Indeed, whenever an Englishman does break fresh ground +in this direction, he rarely finds sufficient presence of mind to +controvert the suggestions of the smiling minister who, having +spotted his Inglese, at once marks down an omelette aux fines +herbes and a biftek aux pommes as the only food such a creature can +consume. Thus the culinary experiences of Englishmen in Italy have +led to the perpetuation of the legend that the traveller can indeed +find decent food in the large towns, "because the cooking there is +all French, you know," but that, if he should deviate from the +beaten track, unutterable horrors, swimming in oil and reeking with +garlic, would be his portion. Oil and garlic are in popular +English belief the inseparable accidents of Italian cookery, which +is supposed to gather its solitary claim to individuality from the +never-failing presence of these admirable, but easily abused, gifts +of Nature. + +"You have given us a delicious dinner, Marchesa," said Mrs. Wilding +as the coffee appeared. "You mustn't think me captious in my +remarks--indeed it would be most ungracious to look a gift-dinner +in the--What are you laughing at, Sir John? I suppose I've done +something awful with my metaphors--mixed them up somehow." + +"Everything Mrs. Wilding mixes will be mixed admirably, as +admirably, say, as that sauce which was served with the Manzo alla +Certosina," Sir John replied. + +"That is said in your best style, Sir John," replied Mrs. Wilding; +"but what I was going to remark was, that I, as a poor parson's +wife, shall ask for some instruction in inexpensive cooking before +we separate. The dinner we have just eaten is surely only within +the reach of rich people." + +"I wish some of the rich people I dine with could manage now and +then to reach a dinner as good," said the Colonel. + +"I believe it is a generally received maxim, that if you want a +truth to be accepted you must repeat the same in season and out, +whenever you have the opportunity," said the Marchesa. "The +particular truth I have now in mind is the fact that Italian +cookery is the cookery of a poor nation, of people who have scant +means wherewith to purchase the very inferior materials they must +needs work with; and that they produce palatable food at all is, I +maintain, a proof that they bring high intelligence to the task. +Italian culinary methods have been developed in the struggle when +the cook, working with an allowance upon which an English cook +would resign at once, has succeeded by careful manipulation and the +study of flavouring in turning out excellent dishes made of fish +and meat confessedly inferior. Now, if we loosen the purse-strings +a little, and use the best English materials, I affirm that we +shall achieve a result excellent enough to prove that Italian +cookery is worthy to take its stand beside its great French rival. +I am glad Mrs. Wilding has given me an opportunity to impress upon +you all that its main characteristics are simplicity and cheapness, +and I can assure her that, even if she should reproduce the most +costly dishes of our course, she will not find any serious increase +in her weekly bills. When I use the word simplicity, I allude, of +course, to everyday cooking. Dishes of luxury in any school require +elaboration, care, and watchfulness." + + + + Menu -- Dinner* + + Zuppa d'uova alla Toscana. Tuscan egg-soup. + Sogliole alla Livornese. Sole alla Livornese. + Manzo alla Certosina. Fillet of beef, Certosina sauce. + Minuta alla Milanese. Chickens' livers alla Milanese. + Cavoli fiodi ripieni. Cauliflower with forcemeat. + Cappone arrosto con insalata. Roast capon with salad. + Zabajone. Spiced custard. + Uova al pomidoro. Eggs and tomatoes. + +----------------------------------------- + +*The recipes for the dishes contained in all these menus will be +found in the second part of the book. The limits of the seasons +have necessarily been ignored. + + + +The Second Day + +Wednesday's luncheon was anticipated with some curiosity, or even +searchings of heart, as in it would appear the first-fruits of the +hand of the amateur. The Marchesa wisely restricted it to two +dishes, for the compounding of which she requisitioned the services +of Lady Considine, Mrs. Sinclair, and the Colonel. The others she +sent to watch Angelina and her circle while they were preparing the +vegetables and the dinner entrees. After the luncheon dishes had +been discussed, they were both proclaimed admirable. It was a true +bit of Italian finesse on the part of the Marchesa to lay a share +of the responsibility of the first meal upon the Colonel, who was +notoriously the most captious and the hardest to please of all the +company; and she did even more than make him jointly responsible, +for she authorised him to see to the production of a special curry +of his own invention, the recipe for which he always carried in his +pocket-book, thus letting India share with Italy in the honours of +the first luncheon. + +"My congratulations to you on your curry, Colonel Trestrail," said +Miss Macdonnell. "You haven't followed the English fashion of +flavouring a curry by emptying the pepper-pot into the dish?" + +"Pepper properly used is the most admirable of condiments," the +Colonel said. + +"Why this association of the Colonel and pepper?" said Van der +Roet. "In this society we ought to be as nice in our phraseology +as in our flavourings, and be careful to eschew the incongruous. +You are coughing, Mrs. Wilding. Let me give you some water." + +"I think it must have been one of those rare grains of the +Colonel's pepper, for you must have a little pepper in a curry, +mustn't you, Colonel? Though, as Miss Macdonnell says, English +cooks generally overdo it." + +"Vander is in one of his pleasant witty moods," said the Colonel, +"but I fancy I know as much about the use of pepper as he does +about the use of oil colours; and now we have, got upon art +criticism, I may remark, my dear Vander, I have been reminded that +you have been poaching on my ground. I saw a landscape of yours +the other day, which looked as if some of my curry powder had got +into the sunset. I mean the one poor blind old Wilkins bought at +your last show." + +"Ah, but that sunset was an inspiration, Colonel, and consequently +beyond your comprehension." + +"It is easy to talk of inspiration," said Sir John, "and, perhaps, +now that we are debating a matter of real importance, we might +spend our time more profitably than in discussing what is and what +is not a good picture. Some inspiration has been brought into our +symposium, I venture to affirm that the brain which devised and the +hand which executed the Tenerumi di Vitello we have just tasted, +were both of them inspired. In the construction of this dish there +is to be recognised a breath of the same afflatus which gave us the +Florentine campanile, and the Medici tombs, and the portrait of +Monna Lisa. When we stand before any one of these masterpieces, we +realise at a glance how keen must have been the primal insight, and +how strenuous the effort necessary for the evolution of so +consummate an achievement; and, with the savour of the Tenerumi di +Vitello still fresh, I feel that it deserves to be added to the +list of Italian capo lavori. Now, as I was not fortunate enough to +be included in the pupils' class this morning, I must beg the next +time the dish is presented to us -- and I imagine all present will +hail its renaissance with joy -- that I may be allowed to lend a +hand, or even a finger, in its preparation." + +"Veal, with the possible exception of Lombard beef, is the best +meat we get in Italy," said the Marchesa, "so an Italian cook, when +he wants to produce a meat dish of the highest excellence, +generally turns to veal as a basis. I must say that the breast of +veal, which is the part we had for lunch today, is a somewhat +insipid dish when cooked English fashion. That we have been able +to put it before you in more palatable form, and to win for it the +approval of such a connoisseur as Sir John Oglethorpe, is largely +owing to the judicious use of that Italian terror--more dire to +many English than paper-money or brigands--garlic." + +"The quantity used was infinitesimal," said Mrs. Sinclair, "but it +seems to have been enough to subdue what I once heard Sir John +describe as the pallid solidity of the innocent calf." + +"I fear the vein of incongruity in our discourse, lately noted by +Van der Roet, is not quite exhausted," said Sir John. "The Colonel +was up in arms on account of a too intimate association of his name +with pepper, and now Mrs. Sinclair has bracketed me with the calf, +a most useful animal, I grant, but scarcely one I should have +chosen as a yokefellow; but this is a digression. To return to our +veal. I had a notion that garlic had something to do with the +triumph of the Tenerumi, and, this being the case, I think it would +be well if the Marchesa were to give us a dissertation on the use +of this invaluable product." + +"As Mrs. Sinclair says, the admixture of garlic in the dish in +question was a very small one, and English people somehow never +seem to realise that garlic must always be used sparingly. The +chief positive idea they have of its characteristics is that which +they gather from the odour of a French or Italian crowd of peasants +at a railway station. The effect of garlic, eaten in lumps as an +accompaniment to bread and cheese, is naturally awful, but garlic +used as it should be used is the soul, the divine essence, of +cookery. The palate delights in it without being able to identify +it, and the surest proof of its charm is manifested by the flatness +and insipidity which will infallibly characterise any dish usually +flavoured with it, if by chance this dish should be prepared +without it. The cook who can employ it successfully will be found +to possess the delicacy of perception, the accuracy of judgment, +and the dexterity of hand, which go to the formation of a great +artist. It is a primary maxim, and one which cannot be repeated +too often, that garlic must never be cut up and used as part of the +material of any dish. One small incision should be made in the +clove, which should be put into the dish during the process of +cooking, and allowed to remain there until the cook's palate gives +warning that flavour enough has been extracted. Then it must be +taken out at once. This rule does not apply in equal degree to the +use of the onion, the large mild varieties of which may be cooked +and eaten in many excellent bourgeois dishes; but in all fine +cooking, where the onion flavour is wanted, the same treatment +which I have prescribed for garlic must be followed." + +The Marchesa gave the Colonel and Lady Considine a holiday that +afternoon, and requested Mrs. Gradinger and Van der Roet to attend +in the kitchen to help with the dinner. In the first few days of +the session the main portion of the work naturally fell upon the +Marchesa and Angelina, and in spite of the inroads made upon their +time by the necessary directions to the neophytes, and of the +occasional eccentricities of the neophytes' energies, the dinners +and luncheons were all that could be desired. The Colonel was not +quite satisfied with the flavour of one particular soup, and Mrs. +Gradinger was of opinion that one of the entrees, which she wanted +to superintend herself, but which the Marchesa handed over to Mrs. +Sinclair, had a great deal too much butter in its composition. +Her conscience revolted at the action of consuming in one dish +enough butter to solace the breakfast-table of an honest working +man for two or three days; but the faintness of these criticisms +seemed to prove that every one was well satisfied with the +rendering of the menu of the day. + + + + Menu -- Lunch + + Tenerumi di Vitello. Breast of veal. + Piccione alla minute. Pigeons, braized with liver, &c. + Curry + + Menu -- Dinner + + Zuppa alla nazionale. Soup alla nazionale. + Salmone alla Genovese. Salmon alla Genovese. + Costolette alla Costanza. Mutton cutlets alla Costanza. + Fritto misto alla Villeroy. Lamb's fry alla Villeroy. + Lattughe al sugo. Stuffed Lettuce. + Dindo arrosto alla Milanese. Roast turkey alla Milanese. + Crema montata alle fragole. Strawberry cream. + Tartufi alla Dino. Truffles alla Dino. + + + +The Third Day + +"I observe, dear Marchesa," said Mrs. Fothergill at breakfast on +Thursday morning, "that we still follow the English fashion in our +breakfast dishes. I have a notion that, in this particular +especially, we gross English show our inferiority to the more +spirituelles nations of the Continent, and I always feel a new +being after the light meal of delicious coffee and crisp bread and +delicate butter the first morning I awake in dear Paris." + +"I wonder how it happens, then, that two goes of fish, a plateful +of omelette, and a round and a half of toast and marmalade are +necessary to repair the waste of tissue in dear England?" Van der +Roet whispered to Miss Macdonnell. + +"It must be the gross air of England or the gross nature of the--" + +The rest of Miss Macdonnell's remark was lost, as the Marchesa +cried out in answer to Mrs. Fothergill, "But why should we have +anything but English breakfast dishes in England? The defects of +English cookery are manifest enough, but breakfast fare is not +amongst them. In these England stands supreme; there is nothing to +compare with them, and they possess the crowning merit of being +entirely compatible with English life. I cannot say whether it may +be the effect of the crossing, or of the climate on this side, or +that the air of England is charged with some subtle stimulating +quality, given off in the rush and strain of strenuous national +life, but the fact remains that as soon as I find myself across the +Channel I want an English breakfast. It seems that I am more +English than certain of the English themselves, and I am sorry that +Mrs. Fothergill has been deprived of her French roll and butter. I +will see that you have it to-morrow, Mrs. Fothergill, and to make +the illusion complete, I will order it to be sent to your room." + +"Oh no, Marchesa, that would be giving too much trouble, and I am +sure you want all the help in the house to carry out the service as +exquisitely as you do," said Mrs. Fothergill hurriedly, and +blushing as well as her artistic complexion would allow. + +"I fancy," said Mrs. Sinclair, "that foreigners are taking to +English breakfasts as well as English clothes. I noticed when I +was last in Milan that almost every German or Italian ate his two +boiled eggs for breakfast, the sign whereby the Englishman used to +be marked for a certainty." + +"The German would probably call for boiled eggs when abroad on +account of the impossibility of getting such things in his own +country. No matter how often you send to the kitchen for properly +boiled eggs in Germany, the result is always the same cold slush," +said Mrs. Wilding; "and I regret to find that the same plague is +creeping into the English hotels which are served by German +waiters." + +"That is quite true," said the Marchesa; "but in England we have no +time to concern ourselves with mere boiled eggs, delicious as they +are. The roll of delicacies is long enough, or even too long +without them. When I am in England, I always lament that we have +only seven days a week and one breakfast a day, and when I am in +Italy I declare that the reason why the English have overrun the +world is because they eat such mighty breakfasts. Considering how +good the dishes are, I wonder the breakfasts are not mightier than +they are." + +"It always strikes me that our national barrenness of ideas appears +as plainly in our breakfasts as anywhere," said Mrs. Gradinger. +"There is a monotony about them which--" + +"Monotony!" interrupted the Colonel. "Why, I could dish you up a +fresh breakfast every day for a month. Your conservative +tendencies must be very strong, Mrs. Gradinger, if they lead you to +this conclusion." + +"Conservative! On the contrary, I--that is, my husband--always +votes for Progressive candidates at every election," said Mrs. +Gradinger, dropping into her platform intonation, at the sound of +which consternation arose in every breast. "I have, moreover, a +theory that we might reform our diet radically, as well as all +other institutions; but before I expound this, I should like to say +a few words on the waste of wholesome food which goes on. For +instance, I went for a walk in the woods yesterday afternoon, where +I came upon a vast quantity of fungi which our ignorant middle +classes would pronounce to be poisonous, but which I--in common +with every child of the intelligent working-man educated in a board +school where botany is properly taught--knew to be good for food." + +"Excuse me one moment," said Sir John, "but do they really use +board-school children as tests to see whether toadstools are +poisonous or not?" + +"I do not think anything I said justified such an inference," said +Mrs. Gradinger in the same solemn drawl; "but I may remark that the +children are taught from illustrated manuals accurately drawn and +coloured. Well, to come back to the fungi, I took the trouble to +measure the plot on which they were growing, and found it just ten +yards square. The average weight of edible fungus per square yard +was just an ounce, or a hundred and twelve pounds per acre. Now, +there must be at least twenty millions of acres in the United +Kingdom capable of producing these fungi without causing the +smallest damage to any other crop, wherefore it seems that, owing +to our lack of instruction, we are wasting some million tons of +good food per annum; and I may remark that this calculation pre- +supposes, that each fungus springs only once in the season; but I +have reason to believe that certain varieties would give five or +six gatherings between May and October, so the weight produced +would be enormously greater than the quantity I have named." + +Here Mrs. Gradinger paused to finish her coffee, which was getting +cold, and before she could resume, Sir John had taken up the +parole. "I think the smaller weight will suffice for the present, +until the taste for strange fungi has developed, or the pressure of +population increased. And before stimulating a vastly increased +supply, it will be necessary to extirpate the belief that all +fungi, except the familiar mushroom, are poisonous, and perhaps to +appoint an army of inspectors to see that only the right sort are +brought to market." + +"Yes, and that will give pleasant and congenial employment to those +youths of the working-classes who are ambitious of a higher career +than that of their fathers," said Lady Considine, "and the +ratepayers will rejoice, no doubt, that they are participating in +the general elevation of the masses." + +"Perhaps Mrs. Gradinger will gather a few of her less deadly fungi, +and cook them and eat them herself, pour encourager les autres," +said Miss Macdonnell. "Then, if she doesn't die in agonies, we may +all forswear beef and live on toadstools." + +"I certainly will," said Mrs. Gradinger; "and before we rise from +table I should like--" + +"I fear we must hear your remarks at dinner, Mrs. Gradinger," said +the Marchesa. "Time is getting on, and some of the dishes to-day +are rather elaborate, so now to the kitchen." + + + + Menu -- Lunch. + + Risotto alla Genovese. Savoury rice. + Pollo alla Villereccia. Chicken alla Villereccia. + Lingue di Castrato alla cucinira. Sheeps' tongues alla cucinira. + + Menu -- Dinner + + Zuppa alla Veneziana. Venetian soup. + Sogliole alla giardiniera. Sole with Vegetables. + Timballo alla Romana. Roman pie. + Petto di Castrato alla salsa di burro. Breast of mutton with butter sauce. + Verdure miste. Mixed vegetables. + Crema rappresa. Coffee cream. + Ostriche alla Veneziana. Oyster savoury. + + + +THE FOURTH DAY + +THE Colonel was certainly the most severely critical member of the +company. Up to the present juncture he had been sparing of +censure, and sparing of praise likewise, but on this day, after +lunch, he broke forth into loud praise of the dish of beef which +appeared in the menu. After specially commending this dish he went +on-- + +"It seems to me that the dinner of yesterday and to-day's +lunch bear the cachet of a fresh and admirable school of cookery. +In saying this I don't wish to disparage the traditions which have +governed the preparation of the delicious dishes put before us up +to that date, which I have referred to as the parting of the ways, +the date when the palate of the expert might detect a new hand upon +the keys, a phrase once employed, I believe, with regard to some +man who wrote poetry. To meet an old friend, or a thoroughly +tested dish, is always pleasant, but old friends die or fall out, +and old favourite dishes may come to pall at last; and for this +reason I hold that the day which brings us a new friend or a new +dish ought to be marked with white chalk." + +"And I think some wise man once remarked," said Sir John, "that +the discovery of a dish is vastly more important than the discovery +of a star, for we have already as many stars as we can possibly +require, but we can never have too many dishes." + +"I was wondering whether any one would detect the variations I +made yesterday, but I need not have wondered, with such an expert +at table as Colonel Trestrail," said the Marchesa with a laugh. +"Well, the Colonel has found me out; but from the tone of his +remarks I think I may hope for his approval. At any rate, I'm sure +he won't move a vote of censure." + +"If he does, we'll pack him off to town, and sentence him to dine +at his club every day for a month," said Lady Considine. + +"What crime has this particular club committed?" said Mrs. +Sinclair in a whisper. + +"Vote of censure! Certainly not," said the Colonel, with an angry +ring in his voice. Mrs. Sinclair did not love him, and had +calculated accurately the carrying power of her whisper. "That +would be the basest ingratitude. I must, however, plead guilty to +an attack of curiosity, and therefore I beg you, Marchesa, to let +us into the secret of your latest inspiration." + +"Its origin was commonplace enough," said the Marchesa, "but in a +way interesting. Once upon a time--more years ago than I care to +remember--I was strolling about the Piazza Navona in Rome, and +amusing myself by going from one barrow to another, and turning +over the heaps of rubbish with which they were stocked. All the +while I was innocently plagiarising that fateful walk of Browning's +round the Riccardi Palace in Florence, the day when he bought for a +lira the Romana homocidiorum. The world knows what was the outcome +of Browning's purchase, but it will probably never fathom the full +effect of mine. How do his lines run?" + + "These + I picked the book from. Five compeers in flank + Stood left and right of it as tempting more-- + A dog's-eared Spicilegium, the fond tale + O' the frail one of the Flower, by young Dumas, + Vulgarised Horace for the use of schools, + The Life, Death, Miracles of Saint Somebody, + Saint Somebody Else, his Miracles, Death and Life." + +"Well, the choice which lay before me on one particular barrow was +fully as wide, or perhaps wider than that which met the poet's eye, +but after I had espied a little yellow paper-covered book with the +title La Cucina Partenopea, overo il Paradiso dei gastronomi, I +looked no farther. What infinite possibilities of pleasure might +lie hidden under such a name. I secured it, together with the +Story of Barlaam and Josaphat, for thirty-five centesimi, and +handed over the coins to the hungry-eyed old man in charge, who +regretted, I am sure, when he saw the eager look upon my face, that +he had not marked the books a lira at least. I should now be a +rich woman if I had spent all the money I have spent as profitably +as those seven sold. Besides being a master in the art of cookery, +the author was a moral philosopher as well; and he addresses his +reader in prefatory words which bespeak a profound knowledge of +life. He writes: 'Though the time of man here on earth is passed +in a never-ending turmoil, which must make him often curse the +moment when he opened his eyes on such a world; though life itself +must often become irksome or even intolerable, nevertheless, by +God's blessing, one supreme consolation remains for this wretched +body of ours. I allude to that moment when, the forces being spent +and the stomach craving support, the wearied mortal sits down to +face a good dinner. Here is to be found an effectual balm for the +ills of life: something to drown all remembrance of our ill- +humours, the worries of business, or even family quarrels. In +sooth, it is only at table that a man may bid the devil fly away +with Solomon and all his wisdom, and give himself up to an earthly +delight, which is a pleasure and a profit at the same time.'" + +"The circumstances under which this precious book was found seem to +suggest a culinary poem on the model of the 'Ring and the Book,"' +said Mrs. Sinclair, "or we might deal with the story in practical +shape by letting every one of us prepare the same dish. I fancy +the individual renderings of the same recipe would vary quite as +widely as the versions of the unsavoury story set forth in Mr. +Browning's little poem." + +"I think we had better have a supplementary day for a trial of the +sort Mrs. Sinclair suggests," said Miss Macdonnell. "I speak with +the memory of a preparation of liver I tasted yesterday in the +kitchen--one of the dishes which did not appear at dinner." + +"That is rather hard on the Colonel," said Van der Roet; "he did +his best, and now, see how hard he is trying to look as if he +didn't know what you are alluding to!" + +"I never in all my life--" the Colonel began; but the Marchesa, +fearing a storm, interfered. "I have a lot more to tell you about +my little Neapolitan book," she went on, "and I will begin by +saying that, for the future, we cannot do better than make free use +of it. The author opens with an announcement that he means to give +exact quantities for every dish, and then, like a true Neapolitan, +lets quantities go entirely, and adopts the rule-of-thumb system. +And I must say I always find the question of quantities a difficult +one. Some books give exact measures, each dish being reckoned +enough for four persons, with instructions to increase the measures +in proportion to the additional number of diners but here a rigid +rule is impossible, for a dish which is to serve by itself, as a +supper or a lunch, must necessarily be bigger than one which merely +fills one place in a dinner menu. Quantities can be given +approximately in many cases, but flavouring must always be a +question of individual taste. Latitude must be allowed, for all +cooks who can turn out distinguished work will be found to be +endowed with imagination, and these, being artists, will never +consent to follow a rigid rule of quantity. To put it briefly, +cooks who need to be told everything, will never cook properly, +even if they be told more than everything. And after all, no one +takes seriously the quantities given by the chef of a millionaire +or a prince; witness the cook of the Prince de Soubise, who +demanded fifty hams for the sauces and garnitures of a single +supper, and when the Prince protested that there could not possibly +be found space for them all on the table, offered to put them all +into a glass bottle no bigger than his thumb. Some of +Francatelli's quantities are also prodigious, as, for instance, +when to make a simple glaze he calls for three pounds of gravy +beef, the best part of a ham, a knuckle of veal, an old hen, and +two partridges." + + Menu -- Lunch + + Maccheroni al sugillo. Macaroni with sausage and tomatoes. + Manzo in insalata. Beef, pressed and marinated. + Lingue di vitello all'Italiana. Calves' tongues. + + Menu -- Dinner. + + Zuppa alla Modanese. Modenese soup. + Merluzzo in salamoia. Cod with sauce piquante. + Pollastro in istufa di pomidoro. Stewed chicken with tomatoes. + Porcelletto farcito alla Corradino. Stuffed suckling pig. + Insalata alla Navarino. Navarino salad. + Bodino di semolino. Semolina pudding. + Frittura di cocozze. Fried cucumber. + + + +The Fifth Day + +The following day was very warm, and some half-dozen of the party +wandered into the garden after lunch and took their coffee under a +big chestnut tree on the lawn. "And this is the 16th of June," +said Lady Considine. "Last year, on this very day, I started for +Hombourg. I can't say I feel like starting for Hombourg, or any +other place, just at present." + +"But why should any one of us want to go to Hombourg?" said Sir +John. "Nobody can be afraid of gout with the admirable diet we +enjoy here." + +"I beg you to speak for yourself, Sir John," said Lady Considine. +"I have never yet gone to Hombourg on account of gout." + +"Of course not, my dear friend, of course not; there are so many +reasons for going to Hombourg. There's the early rising, and the +band, and the new people one may meet there, and the change of +diet--especially the change of diet. But, you see, we have found +our change of diet within an hour of London, so why--as I before +remarked--should we want to rush off to Hombourg?" + +"I am a firm believer in that change of diet," said Mrs. Wilding, +"though in the most respectable circles the true-bred Briton still +talks about foreign messes, and affirms that anything else than +plain British fare ruins the digestion. I must say my own +digestion is none the worse for the holiday I am having from the +preparations of my own 'treasure.' I think we all look remarkably +well; and we don't quarrel or snap at each other, and it would be +hard to find a better proof of wholesome diet than that." + +"But I fancied Mrs. Gradinger looked a little out of sorts this +morning, and I'm sure she was more than a little out of temper when +I asked her how soon we were to taste her dish of toadstools," said +Miss Macdonnell. + +"I expect she had been making a trial of the British fungi in her +bedroom," said Van der Roet; "and then, you see, our conversation +isn't quite 'high toned' enough for her taste. We aren't +sufficiently awake to the claims of the masses. Can any one +explain to me why the people who are so full of mercy for the mass, +are so merciless to the unit?" + +"That is her system of proselytising," said the Colonel, "and if +she is content with outward conversion, it isn't a bad one. I +often feel inclined to agree to any proposition she likes to put +forward, and I would, if I could stop her talking by my +submission." + +"You wouldn't do that, Colonel, even in your suavest mood," said +Van der Roet; "but I hope somebody will succeed in checking her +flow of discourse before long. I'm getting worn to a shadow by the +grind of that awful voice." + +"I thought your clothes were getting a bit loose," said the +Colonel, "but I put that phenomenon down to another reason. In +spite of Mrs. Wilding's praise of our present style of cooking, I +don't believe our friend Vander finds it substantial enough to +sustain his manly bulk, and I'll tell you the grounds of my belief. +A few mornings ago, when I was shaving, I saw the butcher bring +into the house a splendid sirloin, and as no sirloin has appeared +at table, I venture to infer that this joint was a private affair +of Vander's, and that he, as well as Mrs. Gradinger, has been going +in for bedroom cookery. Here comes the Marchesa; we'll ask her to +solve the mystery." + +"I can account for the missing sirloin," said the Marchesa. "The +Colonel is wrong for once. It went duly into the kitchen, and not +to Mr. Van der Roet's bedroom; but I must begin with a slight +explanation, or rather apology. Next to trial by jury, and the +reverence paid to rank, and the horror of all things which, as poor +Corney Grain used to say, 'are not nice,' I reckon the Sunday +sirloin, cooked and served, one and indivisible as the typical +fetish of the great English middle class. With this fact before my +eyes, I can assure you I did not lightly lay a hand on its +integrity. My friends, you have eaten that sirloin without knowing +it. You may remember that yesterday after lunch the Colonel was +loud in praise of a dish of beef. Well, that beef was a portion of +the same, and not the best portion. The Manzo in insalata, which +pleased the Colonel's palate, was that thin piece at the lower end, +the chief function of which, when the sirloin is cooked whole, +seems to lie in keeping the joint steady on the dish while +paterfamilias carves it. It is never eaten in the dining-room hot, +because every one justly prefers and goes for the under cut; +neither does it find favour at lunch next day, for the reason that, +as cold beef, the upper cut is unapproachable. I have never heard +that the kitchen hankers after it inordinately; indeed, its +ultimate destination is one of the unexplained mysteries of +housekeeping. I hold that never, under any circumstances, should +it be cooked with the sirloin, but always cut off and marinated and +braized as we had it yesterday. Thus you get two hot dishes; our +particular sirloin has given us three. The parts of this joint +vary greatly in flavour, and in texture as well, and by +accentuating this variation by treatment in the kitchen, you escape +that monotony which is prone to pervade the table so long as the +sirloin remains in the house. Mrs. Sinclair is sufficiently +experienced as a housekeeper to know that the dish of fillets we +had for dinner last night was not made from the under cut of one +sirloin. It was by borrowing a little from the upper part that I +managed to fill the dish, and I'm sure that any one who may have +got one of the uppercut fillets had no cause to grumble. The +Filetto di Bue which we had for lunch to-day was the residue of the +upper cut, and, admirable as is a slice of cold beef taken from +this part of the joint, I think it is an excellent variation to +make a hot dish of it sometimes. On the score of economy, I am +sure that a sirloin treated in this fashion goes a long way +further." + +"The Marchesa demolishes one after another of our venerable +institutions with so charming a despatch that we can scarcely +grieve for them," said Sir John. "I am not philosopher enough to +divine what change may come over the British character when every +man sits down every day to a perfectly cooked dinner. It is +sometimes said that our barbarian forefathers left their northern +solitudes because they hankered after the wine and delicate meats +of the south, and perhaps the modern Briton may have been led to +overrun the world by the hope of finding a greater variety of diet +than he gets at home. It may mean, Marchesa, that this movement of +yours for the suppression of English plain cooking will mark the +close of our national expansion." + +"My dear Sir John, you may rest assured that your national +expansion, as well as your national cookery, will continue in spite +of anything we may accomplish here, and I say good luck to them +both. When have I ever denied the merits of English cookery?" +said the Marchesa. "Many of its dishes are unsurpassed. These +islands produce materials so fine, that no art or elaboration can +improve them. They are best when they are cooked quite plainly, +and this is the reason why simplicity is the key-note of English +cookery. A fine joint of mutton roasted to a turn, a plain fried +sole with anchovy butter a broiled chop or steak or kidney, fowls +or game cooked English fashion, potatoes baked in their skins and +eaten with butter and salt, a rasher of Wiltshire bacon and a new- +laid egg, where will you beat these? I will go so far as to say no +country can produce a bourgeoises dish which can be compared with +steak and kidney pudding. But the point I want to press home is +that Italian cookery comes to the aid of those who cannot well +afford to buy those prime qualities of meat and fish which allow of +this perfectly plain treatment. It is, as I have already said, the +cookery of a nation short of cash and unblessed with such excellent +meat and fish and vegetables as you lucky islanders enjoy. But it +is rich in clever devices of flavouring, and in combinations, and I +am sure that by its help English people of moderate means may fare +better and spend less than they spend now, if only they will take a +little trouble." + + + + Menu -- Lunch + + Gnocchi alla Romana. Semolina with parmesan. + Filetto di Bue al pistacchi. Fillet of beef with pistachios + Bodini marinati. Marinated rissoles. + + Menu -- Dinner. + + Zuppa Crotopo. Croute au pot soup. + Sogliole alla Veneziana. Fillets of sole. + Ateletti alla Sarda. Atelets of ox-palates, &c. + Costolette di Montone alla Nizzarda. Mutton cutlets. + Pollo alla Fiorentina. Fowl with macaroni. + Crema tartara alla Caramella. Caramel cream. + Uova rimescolati al tartufi. Eggs with truffles. + + + +The Sixth Day + +The following morning, at breakfast, a servant announced that Sir +John Oglethorpe was taking his breakfast in his room, and that +there was no need to keep anything in reserve for him. It was +stated, however, that Sir John was in no way indisposed, and that +he would join the party at lunch. + +He seated himself in his usual place, placid and fresh as ever; +but, unharmed as he was physically, it was evident to all the +company that he was suffering from some mental discomposure. Miss +Macdonnell, with a frank curiosity which might have been trying in +any one else, asked him point-blank the reason of his absence from +the meal for which, in spite of his partiality for French cookery, +he had a true Englishman's devotion. + +"I feel I owe the company some apology for my apparent +churlishness," he said; "but the fact is, that I have received some +very harrowing, but at the same time very interesting, news this +morning. I think I told you the other day how the vacancy in my +kitchen has led up to a very real tragedy, and that the abhorred +Fury was already hovering terribly near the head of poor Narcisse. +Well, I have just received from a friend in Paris journals +containing a full account of the trial of Narcisse and of his fair +accomplice. The worst has come to pass, and Narcisse has been +doomed to sneeze into the basket like a mere aristocrat or +politician during the Terror I was greatly upset by this news, but +I was interested, and in a measure consoled, to find an enclosure +amongst the other papers, an envelope addressed to me in the +handwriting of the condemned man. This voix d'outre tombe, I +rejoice to say, confides to me the secret of that incomparable +sauce of his, a secret which I feared might be buried with Narcisse +in the prison ditch." + +The Marchesa sighed as she listened. The recipe of the sauce was +safe indeed, but she knew by experience how wide might be the gulf +between the actual work of an artist and the product of another +hand guided by his counsels, let the hand be ever so dexterous, and +the counsels ever so clear. "Will it be too much," she said, "to +ask you to give us the details of this painful tragedy ?" + +"It will not," Sir John replied reflectively. "The last words of +many a so-called genius have been enshrined in literature: +probably no one will ever know the parting objurgation +of Narcisse. I will endeavour, however, to give you some notion as +to what occurred, from the budget I have just read. I fear the +tragedy was a squalid one. Madame, the victim, was elderly, +unattractive in person, exacting in temper, and the owner of +considerable wealth--at least, this is what came out at the trial. +It was one of those tangles in which a fatal denouement is +inevitable; and, if this had not come through Mademoiselle Sidonie, +it would have come through somebody else. The lovers plotted to +remove madame by first drugging her, then breaking her skull with +the wood chopper, and then pitching her downstairs so as to produce +the impression that she had met her death in this fashion. But +either the arm of Mademoiselle Sidonie--who was told off to do the +hammering--was unskilled in such work, or the opiate was too weak, +for the victim began to shriek before she gave up the ghost. +Detection seemed imminent, so Narcisse, in whom the quality of +discretion was evidently predominant, bolted at once and got out of +the country. But the facts were absolutely clear. The victim +lived long enough to depose that Mademoiselle Sidonie attacked her +with the wood chopper, while Narcisse watched the door. The +advocate of Narcisse did his work like a man. He shed the +regulation measure of tears; he drew graphic pictures of the +innocent youth of Narcisse, of his rise to eminence, and of his +filial piety as evidenced by the frequent despatch of money and +comestibles to his venerable mother, who was still living near +Bourges. Once a year, too, this incomparable artist found time to +renew his youth by a sojourn in the simple cottage which saw his +birth, and by embracing the giver of his life. Was it possible +that a man who treated one woman with such devotion and reverence +could take the life of another? He adduced various and picturesque +reasons to show that such an event must be impossible, but the jury +took the opposite view. Some one had to be guillotined, and the +intelligent jury decided that Paris could spare Narcisse better +than it could spare Mademoiselle Sidonie. I fear the fact that he +had deigned to sell his services to a brutal islander may have +helped them to come to this conclusion, but there were other and +more weighty reasons. Of the supreme excellence of Narcisse as an +artist the jury knew nothing, so they let him go hang--or worse-- +but of Mademoiselle Sidonie they knew a good deal, and their +knowledge, I believe, is shared by certain English visitors to +Paris. She is one of the attractions of the Fantasies d'Arcadie, +and her latest song, Bonjour Coco, is sung and whistled in every +capital of Europe; so the jury, thrusting aside as mere pedantry +the evidence of facts, set to work to find some verdict which would +not eclipse the gaiety of La Ville Lumiere by cutting short the +career of Mademoiselle Sidonie. The art of the chef appealed to +only a few, and he dies a mute, but by no means inglorious martyr: +the art of the chanteuse appeals to the million, the voice of the +many carries the day, and Narcisse must die." + +"It is a revolting story," said Mrs. Gradinger, "and one possible +only in a corrupted and corrupting society. It is wonderful, as +Sir John remarks, how the conquering streams of tendency manifest +themselves even in an affair like this. Ours is a democratic age, +and the wants and desires of the many, who find delight in this +woman's singing, override the whims of the pampered few, the +employers of such costly luxuries as men cooks." + +"You see you are a mere worm, Sir John," laughed Miss Macdonnell, +"and you had better lay out your length to be trampled on." + +"Yes, I have long foreseen our fate, we who happen to possess what +our poor brother hankers after. Well, perhaps I may take up the +worm's role at once and 'turn', that is, burn the recipe of +Narcisse." + +"O Sir John, Sir John," cried Mrs. Sinclair "any such burning would +remind me irresistibly of Mr. Mantalini's attempts at suicide. +There would be an accurate copy in your pocket-book, and besides +this you would probably have learnt off the recipe by heart." + +"Yes, we know our Sir John better than that, don't we?" said the +Marchesa; "but, joking apart, Sir John, you might let me have the +recipe at once. It would go admirably with one of our lunch dishes +for to-morrow." + +But on the subject of the sauce, Sir John--like the younger Mr. +Smallweed on the subject of gravy--was adamant. The wound caused +by the loss of Narcisse was, he declared, yet too recent: the very +odour of the sauce would provoke a thousand agonising regrets. And +then the hideous injustice of it all: Narcisse the artist, +comparatively innocent (for to artists a certain latitude must be +allowed), to moulder in quicklime, and this greedy, sordid +murderess to go on ogling and posturing with superadded popularity +before an idiot crowd unable to distinguish a Remoulade from a +Ravigotte! "No, my dear Marchesa," he said, "the secret of Narcisse +must be kept a little longer, for, to tell the truth, I have an +idea. I remember that ere this fortunes have been made out of +sauces, and if this sauce be properly handled and put before the +public, it may counteract my falling, or rather disappearing rents. +If only I could hit upon a fetching name, and find twenty thousand +pounds to spend in advertising, I might be able once more to live +on my acres." + +"Oh, surely we shall be able to find you a name between us," said +Mrs. Wilding; "money, and things of that sort are to be procured in +the city, I believe; and I daresay Mr. Van der Roet will design a +pretty label for the sauce bottles." + + Menu -- Lunch. + + Pollo all'olive. Fowl with olives. + Scaloppine di rive. Veal cutlets with rice. + Sedani alla parmigiana. Stewed celery. + + Menu -- Dinner. + + Zuppa primaverile. Spring soup + Sote di Salmone al funghi. Salmon with mushrooms. + Tenerumi d'Agnello alla veneziana. Breast of lamb alla Veneziana. + Testa di Vitello alla sorrentina. Calf's head alla Sorrentina. + Fagiano alla perigo. Pheasant with truffles. + Torta alla cremonese. Cremona tart. + Uova alla fiorentina, Egg savoury. + + + +The Seventh Day + +"It seems invidious to give special praise where everything is so +good," said Mrs. Sinclair next day at lunch, "but I must say a word +about that clear soup we had at dinner last night. I have never +ceased to regret that my regard for manners forbade me ask for a +second helping." + +"See what it is to have no manners," said Van der Roet. "I plunged +boldly for another portion of that admirable preparation of calf's +head at dinner. If I hadn't, I should have regretted it for ever +after. Now, I'm sure you are just as curious about the +construction of these masterpieces as I am, Mrs. Sinclair, so we'll +beg the Marchesa to let us into the secret." + +"Mrs. Sinclair herself had a hand in the calf's-head dish, 'Testa +di Vitello alla sorrentina,' so perhaps I may hand over that part +of the question to her. I am very proud that one of my pupils +should have won praise from such a distinguished expert as Mr. Van +der Roet, and I leave her to expound the mystery of its charm. I +think I may without presumption claim the clear soup as a triumph, +and it is a discovery of my own. The same calf's head which Mrs. +Sinclair has treated with such consummate skill, served also as the +foundation for the stock of the clear soup. This stock certainly +derived its distinction from the addition of the liquor in which +the head was boiled. A good consomme can no doubt be made with +stock-meat alone, but the best soup thus made will be inferior to +that we had for dinner last night. Without the calf's head you +will never get such softness, combined with full roundness on the +tongue, and the great merit of calf's head is that it lets you +attain this excellence without any sacrifice of transparency." + +"I have marvelled often at the clearness of your soups, Marchesa," +said the Colonel. "What clearing do you use to make them look like +pale sherry?" + +"No one has any claim to be called a cook who cannot make soup +without artificial clearing," said the Marchesa. "Like the poet, +the consomme is born, not made. It must be clear from the +beginning, an achievement which needs care and trouble like every +other artistic effort, but one nevertheless well within the reach +of any student who means to succeed. To clear a soup by the +ordinary medium of white of egg or minced beef is to destroy all +flavour and individuality. If the stock be kept from boiling until +it has been strained, it will develop into a perfectly clear soup +under the hands of a careful and intelligent cook. The fleeting +delicate aroma which, as every gourmet will admit, gives such +grateful aid to the palate, is the breath of garden herbs and of +herbs alone, and here I have a charge to bring against contemporary +cookery. I mean the neglect of natural in favour of manufactured +flavourings. With regard to herbs, this could not always have been +the rule, for I never go into an old English garden without finding +there a border with all the good old-fashioned pot herbs growing +lustily. I do not say that the use of herbs is unknown, for of +course the best cookery is impossible without them, but I fear that +sage mixed with onion is about the only one which ever tickles the +palate of the great English middle-class. And simultaneously with +the use of herb flavouring in soup has arisen the practice of +adding wine, which to me seems a very questionable one. If wine is +put in soup at all, it must be used so sparingly as to render its +presence imperceptible. Why then use it at all? In some sauces +wine is necessary, but in all cases it is as difficult to regulate +as garlic, and requires the utmost vigilance on the part of the +cook." + +"My last cook, who was very stout and a little middle-aged, would +always use flavouring sauces from the grocer's rather than walk up +to the garden, where we have a most seductive herb bed," said Mrs. +Wilding; "and then, again, the love of the English for pungent-made +sauces is another reason for this makeshift practice. 'Oh, a +table-spoonful of somebody's sauce will do for the flavouring,' and +in goes the sauce, and the flavouring is supposed to be complete. +People who eat their chops, and steaks, and fish, and game, after +having smothered the natural flavour with the same harsh condiment, +may be satisfied with a cuisine of this sort, but to an unvitiated +palate the result is nauseous." + +"Yet as a Churchwoman, Mrs. Wilding, you ought to speak with +respect of English sauces. I think I have heard how a libation of +one of them, which was poured over a certain cathedral, has made it +look as good as new," said Miss Macdonnell, "and we have lately +learned that one of the most distinguished of our party is +ambitious to enter the same career." + +"I would suggest that Sir John should devote all that money he +proposes to make by the aid of his familiar spirit--the ghost of +Narcisse--to the building of a temple in honour of the tenth muse, +the muse of cookery," said Mrs. Sinclair; "and what do you think, +Sir John, of a name I dreamt of last night for your sauce, 'The New +Century Sauce'? How will that do?" + +"Admirably," said Sir John after a moment's pause; "admirably +enough to allow me to offer you a royalty on every bottle sold. +'The New Century Sauce', that's the name for me; and now to set to +work to build the factory, and to order plans for the temple of the +tenth muse." + + Menu -- Lunch. + + Maccheroni al pomidoro. Macaroni with tomatoes, + Vitello alla pellegrina. Veal cutlets alla pellegrina. + Animelle al sapor di targone. Sweetbread with tarragon sauce. + + Menu -- Dinner. + + Zuppa alla Canavese. Soup alla Canavese + Naselli con piselli. Whiting with peas. + Coscia di manzo al forno. Braized ribs of beef. + Lingua alla Visconti. Tongue with grapes. + Anitra selvatica. Wild duck. + Zabajone ghiacciato. Iced syllabub. + Crostatini alla capucina. Savoury of rice, truffles, &c. + + + +The Eighth Day + +"We are getting unpleasantly near the end of our time," said the +Colonel, "but I am sure not one of us has learnt one tithe of what +the Marchesa has to teach." + +"My dear Colonel Trestrail," said the Marchesa, "an education in +cookery does not mean the teaching of a certain number of recipes. +Education, I maintain, is something far higher than the mere +imparting of facts; my notion of it is the teaching of people to +teach themselves, and this is what I have tried to do in the +kitchen. With some of you I am sure I have succeeded, and a book +containing the recipe of every dish we have tried will be given to +every pupil when we break up." + +"I think the most valuable lesson I have learnt is that cookery is +a matter for serious study," said Mrs. Sinclair. "The popular +English view seems to be that it is one of those things which gets +itself done. The food is subjected to the action of heat, a little +butter, or pepper, or onion, being added by way of flavouring, and +the process is complete. To put it bluntly, it requires at least +as much mental application to roast a fowl as to cut a bodice; but +it does not strike the average Englishwoman in this way, for she +will spend hours in thinking and talking about dressmaking (which +is generally as ill done as her cooking), while she will be +reluctant to give ten minutes to the consideration as to how a +luncheon or supper dish shall be prepared. The English middle +classes are most culpably negligent about the food they eat, and as +a consequence they get exactly the sort of cooks they deserve to +get. I do not blame the cooks; if they can get paid for cooking +ill, why should they trouble to learn to cook well?" + +"I agree entirely," said Mrs. Wilding. "That saying, 'What I like +is good plain roast and boiled, and none of your foreign +kickshaws,' is, as every one knows, the stock utterance of John +Bull on the stage or in the novel; and, though John Bull is not in +the least like his fictitious presentment, this form of words is +largely responsible for the waste and want of variety in the +English kitchen. The plain roast and boiled means a joint every +day, and this arrangement the good plain cook finds an admirable +one for several reasons: it means little trouble, and it means +also lots of scraps and bones and waste pieces. The good plain +cook brings all the forces of obstruction to bear whenever the +mistress suggests made dishes; and, should this suggestion ever be +carried out, she takes care that the achievement shall be of a +character not likely to invite repetition. Not long ago a friend +of mine was questioning a cook as to soups, whereupon the cook +answered that she had never been required to make such things where +she had lived; all soups were bought in tins or bottles, and had +simply to be warmed up. Cakes, too, were outside her repertoire, +having always been 'had in' from the confectioner's, while +'entrys' were in her opinion, and in the opinion of her various +mistresses, 'un'ealthy' and not worth making." + +"My experience is that, if a mistress takes an interest in cooking, +she will generally have a fairly efficient cook," said Mrs. Fothergill. +"I agree with Mrs. Sinclair that our English cooks are spoilt by +neglect; and I think it is hard upon them, as a class, that so many +inefficient women should be able to pose as cooks while they are +unable to boil a potato properly." + +"And the so-called schools of cookery are quite useless in what +they teach," said Miss Macdonnell. "I once sent a cook of mine to +one to learn how to make a clear soup, and when she came back, she +sent up, as an evidence of her progress, a potato pie coloured pink +and green, a most poisonous-looking dish--and her clear soups were +as bad as ever." + +Said the Colonel, "I will beg leave to enter a protest against the +imperfections of that repast which is supposed to be the peculiar +delight of the ladies, I allude to afternoon tea. I want to know +why it is that unless I happen to call just when the tea is brought +up--I grant, I know of a few houses which are honourable +exceptions--I am fated to drink that most abominable of all +decoctions, stewed lukewarm tea. 'Will you have some tea? I'm +afraid it isn't quite fresh,' the hostess will remark without a +blush. What would she think if her husband at dinner were to say, +'Colonel, take a glass of that champagne. It was opened the day +before yesterday, and I daresay the fizz has gone off a little'? +Tea is cheap enough, and yet the hostess seldom or never thinks of +ordering up a fresh pot. I believe it is because she is afraid of +the butler." + +"I sympathise with you fully, Colonel," said Lady Considine, "and +my withers are unwrung. You do not often honour me with your +presence on Tuesdays, but I am sure I may claim to be one of your +honourable exceptions." + +"Indeed you may," said the Colonel. "Perhaps men ought not to +intrude on these occasions; but I have a preference for taking tea +in a pretty drawing-room, with a lot of agreeable women, rather +than in a club surrounded by old chaps growling over the latest job +at the War Office, and a younger brigade chattering about the +latest tape prices, and the weights for the spring handicaps." + +"All these little imperfections go to prove that we are not a +nation of cooks," said Van der Roet. "We can't be everything. +Heine once said that the Romans would never have found time to +conquer the world if they had been obliged to learn the Latin +grammar; and it is the same with us. We can't expect to found an +empire all over the planet, and cook as well as the French, who-- +perhaps wisely--never willingly emerge from the four corners of +their own land." + +"There is energy enough left in us when we set about some purely +utilitarian task," said Mrs. Wilding, "but we never throw ourselves +into the arts with the enthusiasm of the Latin races. I was +reading the other day of a French costumier who rushed to inform a +lady, who had ordered a turban, of his success, exclaiming, +'Madame, apres trots nun's d'insomnie les plumes vent placees.' And +every one knows the story of Vatel's suicide because the fish +failed to arrive. No Englishman would be capable of flights like +these." + +"Really, this indictment of English cookery makes me a little +nervous," said Lady Considine "I have promised to join in a driving +tour through the southern counties. I shudder to think of the +dinners I shall have to eat at the commercial hotels and posting- +houses on our route." + +"English country inns are not what they ought to be, but now and +then you come across one which is very good indeed, as good, if not +better, than anything you could find in any other country; but I +fear I must admit that, charges considered, the balance is +against us," said Sir John. + +"When you start you ought to secure Sir John's services as courier, +Lady Considine," said the Marchesa. "I once had the pleasure of +driving for a week through the Apennines in a party under his +guidance, and I can assure you we found him quite honest and +obliging." + +"Ah, Marchesa, I was thinking of that happy time this very +morning," said Sir John. "Of Arezzo, where we were kept for three +days by rain, which I believe is falling there still. Of Cortona, +with that wonderful little restaurant on the edge of the cliff, +whence you see Thrasumene lying like a silver mirror in the plain +below. Of Perugia, the august, of Gubbio, Citta di Castello, Borgo +San Sepolcro, Urbino, and divers others. If you go for a drive in +Italy, you still may meet with humours of the road such as +travellers of old were wont to enjoy. I well remember on the road +between Perugia and Gubbio we began to realise we were indeed +traversing mountain paths. On a sudden the driver got down, waved +his arms, and howled to some peasants working in a field below. +These, on their part, responded with more arm-waving and howling, +directed apparently towards a village farther up the hill, +whereupon we were assailed with visions of brigands, and amputated +ears, and ransom. But at a turn of the road we came upon two +magnificent white oxen, which, being harnessed on in front, drew +us, and our carriages and horses as well, up five miles of steep +incline. These beautiful fellows, it seemed, were what the driver +was signalling for, and not for brigands. Again, every inn we +stayed at supplied us with some representative touch of local life +and habit. Here the whole personnel of the inn, reinforced by a +goodly contingent of the townsfolk, would accompany us even into +our bedrooms, and display the keenest interest in the unpacking of +our luggage. There the cook would come and take personal +instructions as to the coming meal, throwing out suggestions the +while as to the merits of this or that particular dish, and in one +place the ancient chambermaid insisted that one of the ladies, who +had got a slight cold, should have the prete put into her bed for a +short time to warm it. You need not look shocked, Colonel. The +prete in question was merely a wooden frame, in the midst of which +hangs a scaldino filled with burning ashes--a most comforting +ecclesiastic, I can assure you. All the inns we visited had +certain characteristics in common. The entrance is always dirty, +and the staircase too, the dining rooms fairly comfortable, the +bedrooms always clean and good, and the food much better than you +would expect to find in such out-of-the-way places; indeed I cannot +think of any inn where it was not good and wholesome, while often +it was delicious. In short, Lady Considine, I strongly advise you +to take a drive in Italy next spring, and if I am free I shall be +delighted to act as courier." + +"Sir John has forgotten one or two touches I must fill in," said +the Marchesa. "It was often difficult to arrange a stopping-place +for lunch, so we always stocked our basket before starting. After +the first day's experience we decided that it was vastly more +pleasant to take our meal while going uphill at a foot-pace, than +in the swing and jolt of a descent, so the route and the pace of +the horses had to be regulated in order to give us a good hour's +ascent about noon. Fortunately hills are plentiful in this part of +Italy, and in the keen air we generally made an end of the vast +store of provisions we laid in, and the generous fiascho was always +empty a little too soon. Our drive came to an end at Fano, whither +we had gone on account of a strange romantic desire of Sir John to +look upon an angel which Browning had named in one of his poems. +Ah! how vividly I can recall our pursuit of that picture. It was a +wet, melancholy day. The people of Fano were careless of the fame +of their angel, for no one knew the church which it graced. At +last we came upon it by the merest chance, and Sir John led the +procession up to the shrine, where we all stood for a time in +positions of mock admiration. Sir John tried hard to keep up the +imposition, but something, either his innate honesty or the +chilling environment of disapproval of Guercino's handiwork, was +too much for him. He did his best to admire, but the task was +beyond his powers, and he raised no protest when some scoffer +affirmed that, though Browning might be a great poet, he was a +mighty poor judge of painting, when he gave in his beautiful poem +immortality to this tawdry theatrical canvas. 'I think,' said Sir +John, 'we had better go back to the hotel and order lunch. It +would have been wiser to have ordered it before we left.' We were +all so much touched by his penitence that no one had the heart to +remind him how a proposition as to lunch had been made by our +leading Philistine as soon as we arrived, a proposition waved aside +by Sir John as inadmissible until the 'Guardian Angel' should have +been seen and admired." + +"I plead guilty," said Sir John. "I think this experience gave a +death-blow to my career as an appreciator. Anyhow, I quite forget +what the angel was like, and for reminiscences of Fano have to fall +back upon the excellent colazione we ate in the externally +unattractive, but internally admirable, Albergo del Moro." + + + + Menu -- Lunch. + + Astachi all'Italiana. Lobster all'Italiana + Filetto di bue alla Napolitana. Fillet of beef with Neapolitan sauce. + Risotto alla spagnuola. Savoury rice. + + Menu -- Dinner. + + Zuppa alla Romana. Soup with quenelles. + Salmone alla Genovese. Salmon alla Genovese. + Costolette in agro-dolce. Mutton cutlets with Roman sauce. + Flano di spinacci. Spinach in a mould. + Cappone con rive. Capon with rice. + Croccante di mandorle. Almond sweet. + Ostriche alla Napolitana. Oyster savoury. + + + +The Ninth Day + +"Since I have been associated with the production of a dinner, I +have had my eyes opened as to the complicated nature of the task, +and the numerous strings which have to be pulled in order to ensure +success," said the Colonel; "but, seeing that a dinner-party with +well-chosen sympathetic guests and distinguished dishes represents +one of the consummate triumphs of civilisation, there is no reason +to wonder. To achieve a triumph of any sort demands an effort." + +"Effort," said Miss Macdonnell. "Yes, effort is the word I +associate with so many middle-class English dinners. It is an +effort to the hosts, who regard the whole business as a mere paying +off of debts; and an effort to the guests, who, as they go to +dress, recall grisly memories of former similar experiences. It +often astonishes me that dinner-giving of this character should +still flourish." + +"The explanation is easy," said Van der Roet; "it flourishes +because it gives a mark of distinction. It is a delicious moment +for Mrs. Johnson when she is able to say to Mrs. Thompson, 'My +dear, I am quite worn-out; we dined out every day last week, and +have four more dinners in the next five days.' These good people +show their British grit by the persistency with which they go on +with their penitential hospitality, and their lack of ideas in +never attempting to modify it so as to make it a pleasure instead +of a disagreeable duty." + +"It won't do to generalise too widely, Van der Roet," said Sir +John. "Some of these good people surely enjoy their party-giving; +and, from my own experience of one or two houses of this sort, I +can assure you the food is quite respectable. The great +imperfection seems to lie in the utter want of consideration in the +choice of guests. A certain number of people and a certain +quantity of food shot into a room, that is their notion of a +dinner-party." + +"Of course we understand that the success of a dinner depends much +more on the character of the guests than on the character of the +food," said Mrs. Sinclair; "and most of us, I take it, are able to +fill our tables with pleasant friends; but what of the dull people +who know none but dull people? What gain will they get by taking +counsel how they shall fill their tables?" + +"More, perhaps, than you think, dear Mrs. Sinclair," said Sir John. +"Dull people often enjoy themselves immensely when they meet dull +people only. The frost comes when the host unwisely mixes in one +or two guests of another sort--people who give themselves airs of +finding more pleasure in reading Stevenson than the sixpenny +magazines, and who don't know where Hurlingham is. Then the sheep +begin to segregate themselves from the goats, and the feast is +manque." + +"Considering what a trouble and anxiety a dinner-party must be to +the hostess, even under the most favouring conditions, I am always +at a loss to discover why so many women take so much pains, and +spend a considerable sum of money as well, over details which are +unessential, or even noxious," said Mrs. Wilding. "A few flowers +on the table are all very well--one bowl in the centre is enough-- +but in many houses the cost of the flowers equals, if it does not +outrun, the cost of all the rest of the entertainment. A few roses +or chrysanthemums are perfect as accessories, but to load a table +with flowers of heavy or pungent scent is an outrage. Lilies of +the valley are lovely in proper surroundings, but on a dinner-table +they are anathema. And then the mass of paper monstrosities which +crowd every corner. Swans, nautilus shells, and even wild boars +are used to hold up the menu. Once my menu was printed on a satin +flag, and during the war the universal khaki invaded the dinner +table. Ices are served in frilled baskets of paper, which have a +tendency to dissolve and amalgamate with the sweet. The only paper +on the table should be the menu, writ plain on a handsome card." + +"No one can complain of papery ices here," said the Marchesa. +"Ices may be innocuous, but I don't favour them, and no one seems +to have felt the want of them; at least, to adopt the phrase of the +London shopkeeper, 'I have had no complaints.' And even the ice, +the very emblem of purity, has not escaped the touch of the dinner- +table decorator. Only a few days ago I helped myself with my +fingers to what looked like a lovely peach, and let it flop down +into the lap of a bishop who was sitting next to me. This was the +hostess's pretty taste in ices." + +"They are generally made in the shape of camelias this season," +said Van der Roet. "I knew a man who took one and stuck it in his +buttonhole." + +"I must say I enjoy an ice at dinner," said Lady Considine. "I +know the doctors abuse them, but I notice they always eat them when +they get the chance." + +"Ah, that is merely human inconsistency," said Sir John. "I am +inclined to agree with the Marchesa that ice at dinner is an +incongruity, and may well be dispensed with. I think I am correct, +Marchesa, in assuming that Italy, which has showered so many boons +upon us, gave us also the taste for ices." + +"I fear I must agree," said the Marchesa. "I now feel what a +blessing it would have been for you English if you had learnt from +us instead the art of cooking the admirable vegetables your gardens +produce. How is it that English cookery has never found any better +treatment for vegetables than to boil them quite plain? French +beans so treated are tender, and of a pleasant texture on the +palate, but I have never been able to find any taste in them. They +are tasteless largely because the cook persists in shredding them +into minute bits, and I maintain that they ought to be cooked +whole--certainly when they are young--and sautez, a perfectly plain +and easy process, which is hard to beat. Plain boiled cauliflower +is doubtless good, but cooked alla crema it is far better; indeed, +it is one of the best vegetable dishes I know. But perhaps the +greatest discovery in cookery we Italians ever made was the +combination of vegetables and cheese. There are a dozen excellent +methods of cooking cauliflower with cheese, and one of these has +come to you through France, choux-fleurs au gratin, and has become +popular. Jerusalem artichokes treated in the same fashion are +excellent; and the cucumber, nearly always eaten raw in England, +holds a first place as a vegetable for cooking. I seem to remember +that every one was loud in its praises when we tasted it as an +adjunct to Manzo alla Certosina. Why is it that celery is for the +most part only eaten raw with cheese? We have numberless methods of +cooking it in Italy, and beetroot and lettuce as well. There is no +spinach so good as English, and nowhere is it so badly cooked; it +is always coarse and gritty because so little trouble is taken with +it, and I can assure you that the smooth, delicate dish which we +call Flano di spinacci is not produced merely by boiling and +chopping it, and turning it out into a dish." + + + + Menu -- Lunch + + Minestrone alla Milanese. Vegetable broth. + Coniglio alla Provenzale. Rabbit alla Provenzale. + Insalata di pomidoro. Tomato salad. + + Menu -- Dinner. + + Zuppa alla Maria Pia. Soup alla Maria Pia. + Anguilla con ortaggi alla Milanese. Eels with vegetables. + Manzo con sugo di barbabietoli. Fillet of beef with beetroot sauce. + Animelle alla parmegiana. Sweetbread with parmesan. + Perniciotti alla Gastalda. Partridges alla Gastalda. + Uova ripiani. Stuffed eggs. + + + +The Tenth Day + +The sun rose on the tenth and last day at the "Laurestinas" as he +was wont to rise on less eventful mornings. At breakfast the +Marchesa proposed that the lunch that day should be a little more +ornate than usual, and the dinner somewhat simpler. She +requisitioned the services of six of the company to prepare the +lunch, and at the same time announced that they would all have a +holiday in the afternoon except Mrs. Sinclair, whom she warned to +be ready to spend the afternoon in the kitchen helping prepare the +last dinner. + +Four dishes, all admirable, appeared at lunch, and several of the +party expressed regret that the heat of the weather forbade them +from tasting every one; but Sir John was not of these. He ate +steadily through the menu, and when he finally laid down his knife +and fork he heaved a sigh, whether of satisfaction or regret it +were hard to say. + +"It is a commonplace of the deepest dye to remark that ingratitude +is inherent in mankind," he began; "I am compelled to utter it, +however, by the sudden longing I feel for a plate from the hand of +the late lamented Narcisse after I have eaten one of the best +luncheons ever put on a table." + +"Experience of one school of excellence has caused a hankering +after the triumphs of another," said Miss Macdonnell "There is one +glory of the Marchesa, there is, or was, another of Narcisse, and +the taste of the Marchesa's handiwork has stimulated the desire of +comparision. Never mind, Sir John, perhaps in another world +Narcisse may cook you--" + +"Oh stop, stop, for goodness' sake," cried Sir John, "I doubt +whether even he could make me into a dainty dish to set before the +King of Tartarus, though the stove would no doubt be fitted with +the latest improvements and the fuel abundant." + +"Really, Sir John, I'm not sure I ought not to rise and protest," +said Mrs. Wilding, "and I think I would if it weren't our last +day." + +"Make a note of Sir John's wickedness, and pass it on to the Canon +for use in a sermon," said Van der Roet. + +"I can only allow you half-an-hour, Laura," said the Marchesa to +Mrs. Sinclair, "then you must come and work with me for the +delectation of these idle people, who are going to spend the +afternoon talking scandal under the chestnuts." + +"I am quite ready to join you if I can be of any help," said Mrs. +Gradinger. "When knowledge is to be acquired, I am always loath to +stand aside, not for my own sake so much as for the sake of others +less fortunate, to whom I might possibly impart it hereafter." + +"You are very good," said the Marchesa, "but I think I must adhere +to my original scheme of having Mrs. Sinclair by herself. I see +coffee is now being taken into the garden, so we will adjourn, if +you please." + +After the two workers had departed for the kitchen, an unwonted +silence fell on the party under the chestnuts. Probably every one +was pondering over the imminent dissolution of the company, and +wondering whether to regret or rejoice. The peace had been kept +marvellously well, considering the composition of the company. +Mrs. Fothergill at times had made a show of posing as the +beneficent patron, and Mrs. Gradinger had essayed to teach what +nobody wanted to learn; but firm and judicious snubbing had kept +these persons in their proper places. Nearly every one was sorry +that the end had come. It had been real repose to Mrs. Wilding to +pass ten days in an atmosphere entirely free from all perfume of +the cathedral close. Lady Considine had been spending freely of +late, and ten days' cessation of tradesmen's calls, and servants on +board wages, had come as a welcome relief. Sir John had gained a +respite from the task he dreaded, the task of going in quest of a +successor to Narcisse. Now as he sat consuming his cigarette in +the leisurely fashion so characteristic of his enjoyment--and those +who knew him best were wont to say that Sir John practiced few arts +so studiously as that of enjoyment--he could not banish the figure +of Narcisse from his reverie. A horrible thought assailed him that +this obsession might spring from the fact that on this very morning +Narcisse might have taken his last brief walk out of the door of La +Roquette, and that his disembodied spirit might be hovering around. +Admirable as the cookery of the Marchesa had been, and fully as he +had appreciated it, he felt he would give a good deal to be assured +that on this the last evening of the New Decameron he might sit +down to a dinner prepared by the hand of his departed chef. + +That evening the guests gathered round the table with more +empressement than usual. The Marchesa seemed a little flurried, +and Mrs. Sinclair, in a way, shared her excitement. The menu, for +the first time, was written in French, a fact which did not escape +Sir John's eye. He made no remark as to the soup; it was the best +of its kind, and its French name made it no better than the other +triumphs in the same field which the Marchesa had achieved. But +when Sir John tasted the first mouthful of the fish he paused, and +after a reflective and regretful look at his plate, he cast his eye +round the table. All the others, however, were too busily intent +in consuming the Turbot la Vatel to heed his interrogative glance, +so he followed suit, and after he had finished his portion, asked, +sotto voce, for another bit. + +In the interval before the service of the next dish Sir John made +several vain attempts to catch the Marchesa's eye, and more than +once tried to get in a word; but she kept up a forced and rather +nervous conversation with Lady Considine and Van der Roet, and +refused to listen. As Sir John helped himself to the next dish, +Venaison sauce Grand Veneur, the feeling of astonishment which had +seized him when he first tasted the fish deepened into something +like Consternation. Had his palate indeed deceived him, or had the +Marchesa, by some subtle effort of experimental genius, divined the +secret of Narcisse--the secret of that incomparable sauce, the +recipe of which was safely bestowed in his pocket-book? +Occasionally he had taken a brief nap under the verandah after +lunch: was it possible that in his sleep he might have murmured, +in her hearing, words which gave the key of the mystery, and the +description of those ingredients which often haunted his dreams? +One thing was certain, that tile savour which rose from the venison +before him was the same which haunted his memory as the parting +effort of the ill-starred Narcisse. + +Sir John was the least superstitious of mortals, still here he was +face to face with one of these conjunctions of affairs which the +credulous accept as manifestations of some hidden power, and +sceptics as coincidences and nothing more. All the afternoon he +had been thinking of Narcisse, and yearning beyond measure for +something suggestive of his art; and here, on his plate before him, +was food which might have been touched by the vanished hand. The +same subtle influence pervaded the Chartreuse a la cardinal, the +roast capon and salad, and the sweet. At last, when the dinner was +nearly over, and when the Marchesa had apparently said all she had +to say to Van der Roet, he lifted up his voice and said, +"Marchesa, who gave you the recipe for the sauce with which the +venison was served this evening?" + +The Marchesa glanced at Mrs. Sinclair, and then struck a hand-bell +on the table. The door opened, and a little man, habited in a +cook's dress of spotless white, entered and came forward. "M. +Narcisse," said the Marchesa, "Sir John wants to know what sauce +was used in dressing the venison; perhaps you can tell him." + +Here the Marchesa rose and left the room, and all the rest followed +her, feeling it was unmeet that such a reunion should be witnessed +by other eyes, however friendly they might be. + + * * * * * * * + +"Now, you must tell us all about it," said Lady Considine, as soon +as they got into the drawing-room, "and how you ever managed to get +him out of this scrape." + +"Oh, there isn't much to tell," said the Marchesa. "Narcisse was +condemned, indeed, but no one ever believed he would be executed. +One of my oldest friends is married to an official high up in the +Ministry of Justice, and I heard from her last week that Narcisse +would certainly be reprieved; but I never expected a free pardon. +Indeed, he got this entirely because it was discovered that +Mademoiselle Sidonie, his accomplice, was really a Miss Adah +Levine, who had graduated at a music-hall in East London, and that +she had announced her intention of retiring to the land of her +birth, and ascending to the apex of her profession on the strength +of her Parisian reputation. Then it was that the reaction in +favour of Narcisse set in; the boulevards could not stand this. +The journals dealt with this new outrage in their best Fashoda +style; the cafes rang with it: another insult cast upon unhappy +France, whose destiny was, it seemed, to weep tears of blood to the +end of time. There were rumours of an interpellation in the +Chamber, the position of the Minister of the Interior was spoken of +as precarious, indeed the Eclaireur reported one evening that he +had resigned. Pockets were picked under the eyes of sergents de +ville, who were absorbed in proclaiming to each other their +conviction of the innocence of Narcisse, and the guilt of cette +coquine Anglaise. Cabmen en course ran down pedestrians by the +dozen, as they discussed l'affaire Narcisse to an accompaniment of +whip-cracking. In front of the Cafe des Automobiles a belated +organ-grinder began to grind the air of Mademoiselle Sidonie's +great song Bonjour Coco, whereupon the whole company rose with +howls and cries of, 'A bas les Anglais, a bas les Juifs. 'Conspuez +Coco.' In less than five minutes the organ was disintegrated, and +the luckless minstrel flying with torn trousers down a side street. +For the next few days la haute gomme promenaded with fragments of +the piano organ suspended from watch chains as trophies of victory. +But this was not all. Paris broke out into poetry over l'affaire +Narcisse, and here is a journal sent to me by my friend which +contains a poem in forty-nine stanzas by Aristophane le Beletier, +the cher maitre of the 'Moribonds,' the very newest school of +poetry in Paris. I won't inflict the whole of it on you, but two +stanzas I must read-- + + "'Puisse-je te rappeler loin des brouillards maudits. + Vers la France, sainte mere et nourrice! + Reviens a Lutece, de l'art vrai paradis, + Je t'evoque, O Monsieur Narcisse! + + Quitte les saignants bifteks, de tes mains sublimes + Gueris le sein meurtri de ta mere! + Detourne ton glaive trenchant de tes freles victimes + Vers l'Albion et sa triste Megere.'" + +"Dear me, it sounds a little like some other Parisian odes I have +read recently," said Lady Considine. "The triste Megere, I take +it, is poor old Britannia, but what does he mean by his freles +victimes?" + +"No doubt they are the pigeons and the rabbits, and the chickens +and the capons which Narcisse is supposed to have slaughtered in +hecatombs, in order to gorge the brutal appetite of his English +employer," said Miss Macdonnell. "After disregarding such an +appeal as this M. Narcisse had better keep clear of Paris for the +future, for if he should go back and be recognised I fancy it would +be a case of 'conspuvez Narcisse."' + +"The French seem to have lost all sense of exactness," said Mrs. +Gradinger, "for the lines you have just read would not pass muster +as classic. In the penultimate line there are two syllables in +excess of the true Alexandrine metre, and the last line seems too +long by one. Neither Racine nor Voltaire would have taken such +liberties with prosody. I remember a speech in Phaedre of more +than a hundred lines which is an admirable example of what I mean. +I dare say some of you know it. It begins:-- + + "Perfide! oses-tu bien te montrer devant moi? Monstre," + +but before the reciter could get fairly under way the door +mercifully opened, and Sir John entered. He advanced towards the +Marchesa, and shook her warmly by the hand, but said nothing; his +heart was evidently yet too full to allow him to testify his relief +in words. He was followed closely by the Colonel, who, taking his +stand on the hearth-rug, treated the company to a few remarks, +couched in a strain of unwonted eulogy. In the whole course of his +life he had never passed a more pleasant ten days, though, to be +sure, he had been a little mistrustful at first. As to the outcome +of the experiment, if they all made even moderate use of the +counsels they had received from the Marchesa, the future of cookery +in England was now safe. He was not going to propose a formal vote +of thanks, because anything he could say would be entirely +insufficient to express the gratitude he felt, and because he +deemed that each individual could best thank the Marchesa on his or +her behalf. + +There was a momentary silence when the Colonel ceased, and then a +clearing of the throat and a preliminary movement of the arms gave +warning that Mrs. Gradinger was going to speak. The unspoken +passage from Racine evidently sat heavily on her chest. Abstracted +and overwrought as he was, these symptoms aroused in Sir John a +consciousness of impending danger, and he rushed, incontinent, into +the breach, before the lady's opening sentence was ready. + +"As Colonel Trestrail has just remarked, we, all of us, are in debt +to the Marchesa in no small degree; but, in my case, the debt is +tenfold. I am sure you all understand why. As a slight +acknowledgment of the sympathy I have received from every one here, +during my late trial, I beg to ask you all to dine with me this day +week, when I will try to set before you a repast a la Francaise, +which I hope may equal, I cannot hope that it will excel, the +dinners all'Italiana we have tasted in this happy retreat. +Narcisse and I have already settled the menu." + +"I am delighted to accept," said the Marchesa. "I have no +engagement, and if I had I would throw my best friend over." + +"And this day fortnight you must all dine with me," said Mrs. +Sinclair. "I will spend the intervening days in teaching my new +cook how to reproduce the Marchesa's dishes. Then, perhaps, we may +be in a better position to decide on the success of the Marchesa's +experiment." + + * * * * * * * + +The next morning witnessed the dispersal of the party. Sir John +and Narcisse left by an early train, and for the next few days the +reforming hand of the last-named was active in the kitchen. He +arrived before the departure of the temporary aide, and had not +been half-an-hour in the house before there came an outbreak which +might easily have ended in the second appearance of Narcisse at the +bar of justice, as homicide, this time to be dealt with by a +prosaic British jury, which would probably have doomed him to the +halter. Sir John listened over the balusters to the shrieks and +howls of his recovered treasure, and wisely decided to lunch at his +club. But the club lunch, admirable as it was, seemed flat and +unappetising after the dainty yet simple dishes he had recently +tasted; and the following day he set forth to search for one of +those Italian restaurants, of which he had heard vague reports. +Certainly the repast would not be the same as at the "Laurestinas," +but it might serve for once. Alas! Sir John did not find the right +place, for there are "right places" amongst the Italian restaurants +of London. He beat a hasty retreat from the first he entered, when +the officious proprietor assured him that he would serve up a +dejeuner in the best French style. At the second he chose a dish +with an Italian name, but the name was the only Italian thing about +it. The experiment had failed. It seemed as if Italian +restaurateurs were sworn not to cook Italian dishes, and the next +day he went to do as best he could at the club. + +But before he reached the club door he recalled how, many years +ago, he and other young bloods used to go for chops to Morton's, a +queer little house at the back of St. James' Street, and towards +Morton's he now turned his steps. As he entered it, it seemed as +if it was only yesterday that he was there. He beheld the waiter, +with mouth all awry, through calling down the tube. The same old +mahogany partitions to the boxes, and the same horse-hair benches. +Sir John seated himself in a box, where there was one other luncher +in the corner, deeply absorbed over a paper. This luncher raised +his head and Sir John recognised Van der Roet. + +"My dear Vander, whatever brought you here, where nothing is to be +had but chops? I didn't know you could eat a chop." + +"I didn't know it myself till to-day," said Van der Roet, with a +hungry glance at the waiter, who rushed by with a plate of smoking +chops in each hand. "The fact is, I've had a sort of hankering +after an Italian lunch, and I went out to find one, but I didn't +exactly hit on the right shop, so I came here, where I've been told +you can get a chop properly cooked, if you don't mind waiting." + +"Ah! I see," said Sir John, laughing. "We've both been on the same +quest, and have been equally unlucky. Well, we shall satisfy our +hunger here at any rate, and not unpleasantly either." + +"I went to one place," said Van der Roet "and before ordering I +asked the waiter if there was any garlic in the dish I had ordered. +'Garlic, aglio, no, sir, never.' Whereupon I thought I would go +somewhere else. Next I entered the establishment of Baldassare +Romanelli. How could a man with such a name serve anything else +than the purest Italian cookery, I reasoned, so I ordered, +unquestioning, a piatio with an ideal Italian name, Manzo alla +Terracina. Alas! the beef used in the composition thereof must +have come in a refrigerating chamber from pastures more remote than +those of Terracina, and the sauce served with it was simply fried +onions. In short, my dish was beefsteak and onions, and very bad +at that. So in despair I fell back upon the trusty British chop." + +As Van der Roet ceased speaking another guest entered the room, and +he and Sir John listened attentively while the new-comer gave his +order. There was no mistaking the Colonel's strident voice. "Now, +look here! I want a chop underdone, underdone, you understand, with +a potato, and a small glass of Scotch whisky, and I'll sit here." + +"The Colonel, by Jove," said Sir John; "I expect he's been +restaurant-hunting too." + +"Hallo!" said the Colonel, as he recognised the other two, "I +never thought I should meet you here: fact is, I've been reading +about agricultural depression' and how it is the duty of everybody +to eat chops so as to encourage the mutton trade, and that sort of +thing." + +"Oh, Colonel, Colonel," said Van der Roet. "You know you've been +hungering after the cookery of Italy, and trying to find a genuine +Italian lunch, and have failed, just as Sir John and I failed, and +have come here in despair. But never mind, just wait for a year or +so, until the 'Cook's Decameron' has had a fair run for its money, +and then you'll find you'll fare as well at the ordinary Italian +restaurant as you did at the 'Laurestinas,' and that's saying a +good deal." + + + +Part II -- Recipes + +Sauces + +As the three chief foundation sauces in cookery, Espagnole or brown +sauce, Velute or white sauce, and Bechamel, are alluded to so often +in these pages, it will be well to give simple Italian recipes for +them. + +Australian wines may be used in all recipes where wine is +mentioned: Harvest Burgundy for red, and Chasselas for Chablis. + +No. 1. Espagnole, or Brown Sauce + +The chief ingredient of this useful sauce is good stock, to which +add any remnants and bones of fowl or game. Butter the bottom of a +stewpan with at least two ounces of butter, and in it put slices of +lean veal, ham, bacon, cuttings of beef, fowl, or game trimmings, +three peppercorns, mushroom trimmings, a tomato, a carrot and a +turnip cut up, an onion stuck with two cloves, a bay leaf, a sprig +of thyme, parsley and marjoram. Put the lid on the stewpan and +braize well for fifteen minutes, then stir in a tablespoonful of +flour, and pour in a quarter pint of good boiling stock and boil +very gently for fifteen minutes, then strain through a tamis, skim +off all the grease, pour the sauce into an earthenware vessel, and +let it get cold. If it is not rich enough, add a little Liebig or +glaze. Pass through a sieve again before using. + +No. 2. Velute Sauce + +The same as above, but use white stock, no beef, and only +pheasant or fowl trimmings, button mushrooms, cream instead of +glaze, and a chopped shallot. + +No. 3. Bechamel Sauce + +Ingredients: Butter, ham, veal, carrots, shallot, celery bay leaf, +cloves, thyme, peppercorns, potato flour, cream, fowl stock. + +Prepare a mirepoix by mixing two ounces of butter, trimmings of +lean veal and ham, a carrot, a shallot, a little celery, all cut +into dice, a bay leaf, two cloves, four peppercorns, and a little +thyme. Put this on a moderate fire so as not to let it colour, and +when all the moisture is absorbed add a tablespoonful of potato +flour. Mix well, and gradually add equal quantities of cream and +fowl stock, and stir till it boils. Then let it simmer gently. +Stir occasionally, and if it gets too thick, add more cream and +white stock. After two hours pass it twice slowly through a tamis +so as to get the sauce very smooth. + +No. 4. Mirepoix Sauce (for masking) + +Ingredients: Bacon, onions, carrots, ham, a bunch of herbs, +parsley, mushrooms, cloves, peppercorns, stock, Chablis. + +Put the following ingredients into a stewpan: Some bits of bacon +and lean ham, a carrot, all cut into dice, half an onion, a bunch +of herbs, a few mushroom cuttings, two cloves, and four +peppercorns. To this add one and a quarter pint of good stock and +a glass of Chablis, boil rapidly for ten minutes then simmer till +it is reduced to a third. Pass through a sieve and use for masking +meat, fowl, fish, &c. + +No. 5. Genoese Sauce + +Ingredients: Onion, butter, Burgundy, mushrooms, truffles, +parsley, bay leaf, Espagnole sauce (No.1), blond of veal, essence +of fish, anchovy butter, crayfish or lobster butter. + +Cut up a small onion and fry it in butter, add a glass of Burgundy, +some cuttings of mushrooms and truffles, a pinch of chopped parsley +and half a bay leaf. Reduce half. In another saucepan put two +cups of Espagnole sauce, one cup of veal stock, and a tablespoonful +of essence of fish, reduce one-third and add it to the other +saucepan, skim off all the grease, boil for a few minutes, and pass +through a sieve. Then stir it over the fire, and add half a +teaspoonful of crayfish and half of anchovy butter. + +No. 6. Italian Sauce + +Ingredients: Chablis, mushrooms, leeks, a bunch of herbs, +peppercorns, Espagnole sauce, game gravy or stock, lemon. + +Put into a stewpan two glasses of Chablis, two tablespoonsful of +mushroom trimmings, a leek cut up, a bunch of herbs, five +peppercorns, and boil till it is reduced to half. In another +stewpan mix two glasses of Espagnole (No. 1) or Velute sauce (No 2) +and half a glass of game gravy, boil for a few minutes then blend +the contents of the two stewpans, pass through a sieve, and add the +juice of a lemon. + +No. 7. Ham Sauce, Salsa di Prosciutto + +Ingredients: Ham, Musca or sweet port, vinegar, basil spice. + +Cut up an ounce of ham and pound it in a mortar then mix it with +three dessert spoonsful of port or Musca and a teaspoonful of +vinegar a little dried basil and a pinch of spice. Boil it up, and +then pass it through a sieve and warm it up in a bain-marie. Serve +with roast meats. If you cannot get a sweet wine add half a +teaspoonful of sugar. Australian Muscat is a good wine to use. + +No. 8. Tarragon Sauce + +Ingredients: Tarragon, stock, butter, flour. + +To half a pint of good stock add two good sprays of fresh tarragon, +simmer for quarter of an hour in a stewpan and keep the lid on. In +another stewpan melt one ounce of butter and mix it with three +dessert-spoonsful of flour, then gradually pour the stock from the +first stewpan over it, but take out the tarragon. Mix well, add a +teaspoonful of finely chopped tarragon and boil for two minutes. + +No. 9. Tomato Sauce + +Ingredients: Tomatoes, ham, onions, basil, salt, oil, garlic, +spices. + +Broil three tomatoes, skin them and mix them with a tablespoonful +of chopped ham, half an onion, salt, a dessert-spoonful of oil, a +little pounded spice and basil. Then boil and pass through a +sieve. Whilst the sauce is boiling, put in a clove of garlic with +a cut, but remove it before you pass the sauce through the sieve. + +No. 10. Tomato Sauce Piquante + +Ingredients: Ham, butter, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, thyme, +cloves, peppercorns, vinegar, Chablis, stock, tomatoes, Velute or +Espagnole sauce, castor sugar, lemon. + +Cut up an ounce of ham, half an onion, half a carrot, half a stick +of celery very fine, and fry them in butter together with a bay +leaf, a sprig of thyme, one clove and four peppercorns. Over this +pour a third of a cup of vinegar, and when the liquid is all +absorbed, add half a glass of Chablis and a cup of stock. Then add +six tomatoes cut up and strained of all their liquid. Cook this in +a covered stewpan and pass it through a sieve, but see that none of +the bay leaf or thyme goes through. Mix this sauce with an equal +quantity of Velute (No. 2) or Espagnole sauce, (No. 1), let it boil +and pass through a sieve again and at the last add a teaspoonful of +castor sugar, the juice of half a lemon, and an ounce of fresh +butter. (Another tomato sauce may be made like this, but use stock +instead of vinegar and leave out the lemon juice and sugar.) + +No. 11. Mushroom Sauce + +Ingredients: Velute sauce, essence of mushrooms, butter. + +Mix two dessert-spoonsful of essence of mushrooms with a cupful of +Velute sauce (No. 2), reduce, keep on stirring, and just before +serving add an ounce of butter. This sauce can be made with +essence of truffle, or game, or shallot. + +No. 12. Neapolitan Sauce + +Ingredients: Onions, ham, butter, Marsala, blond of veal, thyme, +bay leaf, peppercorns, cloves, mushrooms, Espagnole sauce (No. 1), +tomato sauce, game stock or essence. + +Fry an onion in butter with some bits of cut-up ham, then pour a +glass of Marsala over it, and another of blond of veal, add a sprig +of thyme, a bay leaf, four peppercorns, a clove, a tablespoonful of +mushroom cuttings, and reduce half. In another saucepan put two +cups of Espagnole sauce, one cupful of tomato sauce, and half a cup +of game stock or essence. Reduce a third, and add the contents of +the first saucepan, boil the sauce a few minutes, and pass it +through a sieve. Warm it up in a bain-marie before using. + +No. 13. Neapolitan Anchovy Sauce + +Ingredients: Anchovies, fennel, flour, spices, parsley, marjoram, +garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, cream. + +Wash three anchovies in vinegar, bone and pound them in a mortar +with a teaspoonful of chopped fennel and a pinch of cinnamon. Then +mix in a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and marjoram, a squeeze of +lemon juice, a teaspoonful of flour, half a gill of boiled cream +and the bones of the fish for which you will use this sauce. Pass +through a sieve, add a clove of garlic with a cut in it, and boil. +If the fish you are using is cooked in the oven, add a little of +the liquor in which it has been cooked to the sauce. Take out the +garlic before serving. Instead of anchovies you may use caviar, +pickled tunny, or any other pickled fish. + +No. 14. Roman Sauce (Salsa Agro-dolce) + +Ingredients: Espagnole sauce, stock, burnt sugar, vinegar, +raisins, pine nuts or almonds. + +Mix two spoonsful of burnt sugar with one of vinegar, and dilute +with a little good stock. Then add two cups of Espagnole sauce +(No. 1), a few stoned raisins, and a few pinocchi* (pine nuts) or +shredded almonds. Keep this hot in a bain-marie, and serve with +cutlets, calf's head or feet or tongue. + +*The pinocchi which Italians use instead of almonds can be bought +in London when in season. + +No. 15. Roman Sauce (another way) + +Ingredients: Espagnole sauce, an onion, butter, flour, lemon, +herbs, nutmeg, raisins, pine nuts or almonds, burnt sugar. + +Cut up a small bit of onion, fry it slightly in butter and a little +flour, add the juice of a lemon and a little of the peel grated, a +bouquet of herbs, a pinch of nutmeg, a few stoned raisins, shredded +almonds or pinocchi, and a tablespoonful of burnt sugar. Add this +to a good Espagnole (No. 1), and warm it up in a bain-marie. + +No. 16. Supreme Sauce + +Ingredients: White sauce, fowl stock, butter. + +Put three-quarters of a pint of white sauce into a saucepan, and +when it is nearly boiling add half a cup of concentrated fowl +stock. Reduce until the sauce is quite thick, and when about to +serve pass it through a tamis into a bain-marie and add two +tablespoonsful of cream. + +No. 17. Pasta marinate (For masking Italian Frys) + +Ingredients: Semolina flour, eggs, salt, butter (or olive oil), +vinegar, water. + +Mix the following ingredients well together: two ounces of +semolina flour, the yolks of two eggs, a little salt, and two +ounces of melted butter. Add a glass of water so as to form a +liquid substance. At the last add the whites of two eggs beaten up +to a snow. This will make a good paste for masking meat, fish, +vegetables, or sweets which are to be fried in the Italian manner, +but if for meat or vegetables add a few drops of vinegar or a +little lemon juice. + +No. 18. White Villeroy + +Ingredients: Butter, flour, eggs, cream, nutmeg, white stock. + +Make a light-coloured roux by frying two ounces of butter and two +ounces of flour, stir in some white stock and keep it very smooth. +Let it boil, and add the yolks of three eggs, mixed with two +tablespoonsful of cream and a pinch of nutmeg. Pass it through a +sieve and use for masking cutlets, fish, &c. + + + +Soups + +No. 19. Clear Soup + +Ingredients: Stock meat, water, a bunch of herbs (thyme, parsley, +chervil, bay leaf, basil, marjoram), three carrots, three turnips, +three onions, three cloves stuck in the onions, one blade of mace. + +Cut up three pounds of stock meat small and put it in a stock pot +with two quarts of cold water, three carrots, and three turnips cut +up, three onions with a clove stuck in each one, a bunch of herbs +and a blade of mace. Let it come to the boil and then draw it off, +at once skim off all the scum, and keep it gently simmering, and +occasionally add two or three tablespoonsful of cold water. Let it +simmer all day, and then strain it through a fine cloth. + +Some of the liquor in which a calf's head has been cooked, or even +a calf's foot, will greatly improve a clear soup. + +The stock should never be allowed to boil as long as the meat and +vegetables are in the stock pot. + +No. 20. Zuppa Primaverile (Spring Soup) + +Ingredients: Clear soup, vegetables. + +Any fresh spring vegetables will do for this soup, but they must +all be cooked separately and put into the soup at the last minute. +It is best made with fresh peas, asparagus tips, and a few strips +of tarragon. + +No. 21. Soup alla Lombarda + +Ingredients: Clear soup, fowl forcemeat, Bechamel (No. 3), peas, +lobster butter, eggs, asparagus. + +Make a firm forcemeat of fowl and divide it into three parts, to +the first add two spoonsful of cream Bechamel, to the second four +spoonsful of puree of green peas, to the third two spoonsful of +lobster butter and the yolk of an egg; thus you will have the +Italian colours, red, white, and green. Butter a pie dish and make +little quenelles of the forcemeat. Just before serving boil them +for four minutes in boiling stock, take them out carefully and put +them in a warm soup tureen with two spoonsful of cooked green peas +and pour a very fresh clear soup over them. Hand little croutons +fried in lobster butter separately. + +No. 22. Tuscan Soup + +Ingredients: Stock, eggs. + +Whip up three or four eggs, gradually add good stock to them, and +keep on whisking them up until they begin to curdle. Keep the soup +hot in a bain-marie. + +No. 23. Venetian Soup + +Ingredients: Clear soup, butter, flour, Parmesan, eggs. + +Make a roux by frying two ounces of butter and two ounces of flour, +add an ounce of grated cheese and half a cup of good stock. Mix up +well so as to form a paste, and then take it off the fire and add +the yolks of four eggs, mix again and form the again and form the +paste into little quenelles. Boil these in a little soup, strain +off, put them into the tureen and pour a good clear soup over them. + +No. 24. Roman Soup + +Ingredients: Stock, butter, eggs, salt, crumb of bread, parsley, +nutmeg, flour, Parmesan. + +Mix three and a half ounces of butter with two eggs and four ounces +of crumbs of bread soaked in stock, a little chopped parsley, salt, +and a pinch of nutmeg. Reduce this and add two tablespoonsful of +flour and one of grated Parmesan. Form this into little quenelles +and boil them in stock for a few minutes put them into a tureen and +pour a good clear soup over them. + +No. 25. Soup alla Nazionale + +Ingredients: Clear soup, savoury custard. + +Make a savoury custard and divide it into three parts, one to be +left white, another coloured red with tomato, and the third green +with spinach. Put a layer of each in a buttered saucepan and cook +for about ten minutes, cut it into dice, so that you have the three +Italian colours (red, white, and green) together, then put the +custard into a soup tureen and pour a good clear soup over it. + +No. 26. Soup alla Modanese + +Ingredients: Stock, spinach, butter, salt, eggs, Parmesan, +nutmeg, croutons. + +Wash one pound of spinach in five or six waters, then chop it very +fine and mix it with three ounces of butter, salt it and warm it +up. Then let it get cold, pass through a hair sieve, and add two +eggs, a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan, and very little nutmeg. +Add this to some boiling stock in a copper saucepan, put on the +lid, and on the top put some hot coals so that the eggs may curdle +and help to thicken the soup. Serve with fried croutons. + +No. 27. Crotopo Soup + +Ingredients: Clear soup, veal, ham, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, +rolls. + +Pound half a pound of lean veal in a mortar, then add three ounces +of cooked ham with some fat in it, the yolk of an egg, salt, +pepper, and very little nutmeg. Pass through a sieve, cut some +small French rolls into slices, spread them with the above mixture, +and colour them in the oven. Then cut them in halves or quarters, +put them into a tureen, and just before serving pour a very good +clear soup over them. + +No. 28. Soup all'Imperatrice + +Ingredients: Breast of fowl, eggs, salt, pepper, ground rice, +nutmeg, clear stock. + +Pound the breast of a fowl in a mortar, and add to it a teaspoonful +of ground rice, the yolk of an egg, salt, pepper, and a pinch of +nutmeg. Pass this through a sieve, form quenelles with it, and +pour a good clear soup over them. + +No. 29. Neapolitan Soup + +Ingredients: Fowl, potato flour, eggs, Bechamel sauce, peas, +asparagus, spinach, clear soup. + +Mix a quarter pound of forcemeat of fowl with a tablespoonful of +potato flour, a tablespoonful of Bechamel sauce (No. 3), and the +yolk of an egg; put this into a tube about the size round of an +ordinary macaroni; twenty minutes before serving squirt the +forcemeat into a saucepan with boiling stock, and nip off the +forcemeat as it comes through the pipe into pieces about an inch +and a half long. Let it simmer, and add boiled peas and asparagus +tips. If you like to have the fowl macaroni white and green, you +can colour half the forcemeat with a spoonful of spinach colouring. +Serve in a good clear soup. + +No. 30. Soup with Risotto + +Ingredients: Risotto (No. 189), eggs, bread crumbs, clear or brown +soup. + +If you have some good risotto left, you can use it up by making it +into little balls the size of small nuts. Egg and bread crumb and +fry them in butter; dry them and put them into a soup tureen with +hot soup. The soup may be either clear or brown. + +No. 31. Soup alla Canavese + +Ingredients: White stock, butter, onions, carrot, celery, tomato, +cauliflower, fat bacon, parsley, sage, Parmesan, salt, pepper. + +Chop up half an onion, half a carrot, half a stick of celery, a +small bit of fat bacon, and fry them in two ounces of butter. Then +cover them with good white stock, boil for a few minutes, pass +through a sieve, and add two tablespoonsful of tomato puree. Then +blanch half a cauliflower in salted water, let it get cold, drain +all the water out of it, and break it up into little bunches and +put them into a stock pot with the stock, a small leaf of dried +sage, crumbled up, and a little chopped parsley, and let it all +boil; add a pinch of grated cheese and some pepper. Serve with +grated Parmesan handed separately. + +No. 32. Soup alla Maria Pia + +Ingredients: White stock, eggs, butter, peas, white beans, carrot, +onion, leeks, celery, cream croutons. + +Soak one pound of white beans for twelve hours, then put them into +a stock pot with a little salt, butter, and water, add a carrot, an +onion, two leeks, and a stick of celery, and simmer until the +vegetables are well cooked; then take out all the fresh vegetables, +drain the beans and pass them through a sieve, but first dilute +them with good stock. Put this puree into a stock pot with good +white stock, and when it has boiled keep it hot in a bain-marie +until you are about to serve; then mix the yolk of three eggs in a +cup of cream, and add this to the soup. Pour the soup into a warm +tureen, add some boiled green peas, and serve with fried croutons +handed separately. + +No. 33. Zuppa d' Erbe (Lettuce Soup) + +Ingredients: Stock, sorrel, endive, lettuce, chervil, celery, +carrot, onion, French roll, Parmesan cheese. + +Boil the following vegetables and herbs in very good stock for an +hour: Two small bunches of sorrel, a bunch of endive, a lettuce, a +small bunch of chervil, a stick of celery, a carrot and an onion, +all well washed and cut up. Then put some slices of toasted French +roll into a tureen and pour the above soup over them. Serve with +grated Parmesan handed separately. + +No. 34. Zuppa Regina di Riso (Queen's Soup) + +Ingredients: Fowl stock, ground rice, milk, butter. + +Put a tablespoonful of ground rice into a saucepan and gradually +add half a pint of milk, boil it gently for twelve minutes in a +bainmarie, but stir the whole time, so as to get it very smooth. +Just before serving add an ounce of butter, pass it through a +sieve, and mix it with good fowl stock. + + + +Minestre + +Minestra is a thick broth, very much like hotch-potch, only +thicker. In Italy it is often served at the beginning of dinner +instead of soup; it also makes an excellent lunch dish. Two or +three tablespoonsful of No. 35 will be found a great improvement to +any of these minestre. + +No. 35. A Condiment for Seasoning Minestre, &c. + +Ingredients: Onions, celery, carrots, butter, salt, stock, +tomatoes, mushrooms. + +Cut up an onion, a stick of celery, and a carrot; fry them in +butter and salt; add a few bits of cooked ham and veal cut up, two +mushrooms, and the pulp of a tomato. Cook for a quarter of an +hour, and add a little stock occasionally to keep it moist. Pass +through a sieve, and use for seasoning minestre, macaroni, rice, +&c. It should be added when the dish is nearly cooked. + +No. 36. Minestra alla Casalinga + +Ingredients: Rice, butter, stock, vegetables. + +All sorts of vegetables will serve for this dish. Blanch them in +boiling salted water, then drain and fry them in butter. Add +plenty of good stock, and put them on a slow fire. Boil four +ounces of rice in stock, and when it is well done add the stock +with the vegetables. Season with two or three spoonsful of No. 35, +and serve with grated cheese handed separately. + +No. 37. Minestra of Rice and Turnips + +Ingredients: Rice, turnips, butter, gravy, tomatoes. + +Cut three or four young turnips into slices and put them on a dish, +strew a little salt over them, cover them with another dish, and +let them stand for about two hours until the water has run out of +them. Then drain the slices, put them in a frying-pan and fry them +slightly in butter. Add some good gravy and mashed-up tomatoes, +and after having cooked this for a few minutes pour it into good +boiling stock. Add three ounces of well-washed rice, and boil for +half-an-hour. + +Minestra loses its flavour if it is boiled too long. In Lombardy, +however, rice, macaroni, &c., are rarely boiled enough for English +tastes. + +No. 38. Minestra alla Capucina + +Ingredients: Rice, anchovies, butter, stock, and onions. + +Scale an anchovy, pound it, and fry it in butter together with a +small onion cut across, and four ounces of boiled rice. Add a +little salt, and when the rice is a golden brown, take out the +onion and gradually add some good stock until the dish is of the +consistency of rice pudding. + +No. 39. Minestra of Semolina + +Ingredients: Stock, semolina, Parmesan. + +Put as much stock as you require into a saucepan, and when it +begins to boil add semolina very gradually, and stir to keep it +from getting lumpy Cook it until the semolina is soft, and serve +with grated Parmesan handed separately. To one quart of soup use +three ounces of semolina. + +No. 40. Minestrone alla Milanese + +Ingredients: Rice or macaroni, ham, bacon, stock, all sorts of +vegetables. + +Minestrone is a favourite dish in Lombardy when vegetables are +plentiful. Boil all sorts of vegetables in stock, and add bits of +bacon, ham, onions braized in butter, chopped parsley, a clove of +garlic with two cuts, and rice or macaroni. Put in those +vegetables first which require most cooking, and do not make the +broth too thin. Leave the garlic in for a quarter of an hour only. + +No. 41. Minestra of Rice and Cabbage + +Ingredients: Rice, cabbage, stock, ham, tomato sauce. + +Cut off the stalk and all the hard outside leaves of a cabbage, +wash it and cut it up, but not too small, then drain and cook it in +good stock and add two ounces of boiled rice. This minestre is +improved by adding a little chopped ham and a few spoonsful of +tomato sauce. + +No. 42. Minestra of Rice and Celery + +Ingredients: Celery, rice, stock. + +Cut up a head of celery and remove all the green parts, then boil +it in good stock and add two ounces of rice, and boil till it is +well cooked. + + + +Fish + +No. 43. Anguilla alla Milanese (Eels). + +Ingredients: Eels, butter, flour, stock, bay leaves, salt, pepper, +Chablis, a macedoine of vegetables. + +Cut up a big eel and fry it in two ounces of butter, and when it is +a good colour add a tablespoonful of flour, about half a pint of +stock, a glass of Chablis, a bay leaf, pepper, and salt, and boil +till it is well cooked. In the meantime boil separately all sorts +of vegetables, such as carrots, cauliflower, celery, beans, +tomatoes, &c. Take out the pieces of eel, but keep them hot, +whilst you pass the liquor which forms the sauce through a sieve +and add the vegetables to this. Let them boil a little longer and +arrange them in a dish; place the pieces of eel on them and cover +with the sauce. It is most important that the eels should be +served very hot. + +Any sort of fish will do as well for this dish. + +No. 44. Filletti di Pesce alla Villeroy (Fillets of Fish) + +Ingredients: Fish, flour, butter, Villeroy. + +Any sort of fish will do, turbot, sole, trout, &c. Cut it into +fillets, flour them over and cook them in butter in a covered +stewpan; then make a Villeroy (No. 18), dip the fillets into it and +fry them in clarified butter. + +No. 45. Astachi all'Italiana (Lobster) + +Ingredients: Lobsters, Velute sauce, Marsala, butter, forcemeat of +fish, olives, anchovy butter, button mushrooms, truffles, lemon, +crayfish, Italian sauce. + +Two boiled lobsters are necessary. Cut all the flesh of one of the +lobsters into fillets and put them into a saucepan with half a cup +of Velute sauce (No. 2) and half a glass of Marsala, and boil for a +few minutes. Put a crouton of fried bread on an oval dish and +cover it with a forcemeat of fish, and on this place the whole +lobster, cover it with buttered paper, and put it in a moderate +oven just long enough to cook the forcemeat. Then make some +quenelles of anchovy butter, olives, and button mushrooms, mix them +with Italian sauce (No. 6), and garnish the dish with them, and +round the crouton arrange the fillets of lobster with a garnish of +slices of truffle. Add a dessert-spoonful of crayfish butter and a +good squeeze of lemon juice to the sauce, and serve. + +No. 46. Baccala alla Giardiniera (Cod) + +Ingredients: Cod or hake, carrots, turnips, butter, herbs. + +Boil a piece of cod or hake and break it up into flakes, then cut +up two carrots and a turnip; boil them gently, and when they are +half boiled drain and put them into a stewpan with an ounce of +butter, half a teacup of boiling water, salt, and herbs. When they +are well cooked add the fish and serve. Fillets of lemon soles may +also be cooked this way. + +No. 47. Triglie alla Marinara (Mullet) + +Ingredients: Mullet, salt, pepper, onions, parsley, oil, water. + +Cut a mullet into pieces and put it into a stewpan (with the lid +on), with salt, pepper, a cut-up onion, some chopped parsley, half +a wineglass of the finest olive oil and half a pint of water, and +in this cook the fish gently. Arrange the fillets on a dish, pour +a little of the broth over them, and add the onion and parsley. +Instead of mullet you can use cod, hake, whiting, lemon sole, &c. + +No. 48. Mullet alla Tolosa + +Ingredients: Mullet, butter, salt, onions, parsley, almonds, +anchovies, button mushrooms, tomatoes. + +Cut off the fins and gills of a mullet, put it in a fireproof dish +with two ounces of butter and salt. Cut up a small bit of onion, a +sprig of parsley, a few blanched almonds, one anchovy, and a few +button mushrooms, previously softened in hot water, and put them +over the fish and bake for twenty minutes Then add two +tablespoonsful of tomato sauce or puree, and when cooked serve. If +you like, use sole instead of mullet. + +No. 49. Mullet alla Triestina + +Ingredients: Mullet (or sole or turbot), butter, salt half a +lemon, Chablis. + +Put the fish in a fireproof dish with one and a half ounces of +butter, salt, a squeeze of lemon juice, and half a glass of +Chablis. Put it on a very, slow fire and turn the fish when +necessary. When it is cooked serve in the dish. + +No. 50. Whiting alla Genovese + +Ingredients: Whiting, butter, pepper, salt, bay leaf claret, +parsley, onions, garlic capers, vinegar, Espagnole sauce, +mushrooms, anchovies. + +Put one or two whiting into a stewpan with two ounces of butter, +salt, pepper, two bay leaves, and a glass of claret or Burgundy; +cook on a hot fire and turn the fish when necessary. Have ready +beforehand a remoulade sauce made in the following manner: Put in +a saucepan 1 1/2 ounces of butter, half a teaspoonful of chopped +parsley, half an onion, a clove of garlic (with one cut), four +capers, one anchovy, all chopped up except the garlic. Then add +three tablespoonsful of vinegar and reduce the sauce. Add two +glasses of Espagnole sauce (No. 1) and a little good stock; boil it +all up (take out the garlic and bay leaves) and pass through a +sieve, then pour it over the whiting. Boil it all again for a few +minutes, and before serving garnish with a few button mushrooms +cooked separately. The remoulade sauce will be much better if made +some hours beforehand. + +No. 51. Merluzzo in Bianco (Cod) + +Ingredients: Cod or whiting, salt, onions, parsley, cloves, +turnips, marjoram, chervil, milk. + +Boil gently in a big cupful of salted water two onions, one turnip, +a pinch of chopped parsley, chervil, and marjoram and four cloves. +After half an hour pass this through a sieve (but first take out +the cloves), and add an equal quantity of milk and a little cream, +and in this cook the fish and serve with the sauce over it. + +No. 52. Merluzzo in Salamoia (Cod) + +Ingredients: Cod, hake, whiting or red mullet, onions, parsley, +mint, marjoram, turnips, mushrooms, chervil, cloves, salt, milk, +cream, eggs. + +Put a salt-spoonful of salt, two onions, a little parsley, +marjoram, mint, chervil, a turnip, a mushroom, and the heads of two +cloves into a stewpan and simmer in a cupful of milk for half an +hour, then let all the ingredients settle at the bottom, and pass +the broth through a hair sieve, and add to it an equal quantity of +milk or cream, and in it cook your fish on a slow fire. When the +fish is quite cooked, pour off the sauce, but leave a little on the +fish to keep it warm; reduce the rest in a bain-marie; stir all +the time, so that the milk may not curdle. Thicken the sauce with +the yolk of an egg, and when about to serve pour it over the fish. + +No. 53. Baccala in Istufato (Haddock) + +Ingredients: Haddock or lemon sole, carrots, anchovies, lemon, +pepper, butter, onions, flour, white wine, stock. + +Stuff a haddock (or filleted lemon sole) with some slices of carrot +which have been masked with a paste made of pounded anchovies, very +little chopped lemon peel, salt and pepper. Then fry an onion with +two cuts across it in butter. Take out the onion as soon as it has +become a golden colour, flour the fish and put it in the butter, +and when it has been well fried on both sides pour a glass of +Marsala over it, and when it is all absorbed add a cup of fowl or +veal stock and let it simmer for half an hour, then skim and reduce +the sauce, pour it over the fish and serve. + +No. 54. Naselli con Piselli (Whiting) + +Ingredients: Whiting, onions, parsley, peas, tomatoes, butter, +Parmesan, Bechamel sauce. + +Cut a big whiting into two or three pieces and fry them slightly in +butter, add a small bit of onion, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley +and fry for a few minutes more. Then add some peas which have been +cooked in salted water, three tablespoonsful of Bechamel sauce (No. +3), and three of tomato puree, and cook all together on a moderate +fire. + +No. 55. Ostriche alla Livornese (Oysters) + +Ingredients: Oysters, parsley, shallot, anchovies, fennel pepper, +bread crumbs, cream, lemon. + +Detach the oysters from their shells and put then into china shells +with their own liquor. Have ready a dessert-spoonful of parsley, +shallot, anchovy and very little fennel, add a tablespoonful of +bread crumbs and a little pepper, and mix the whole with a little +cream. Put some of this mixture on each oyster, and then bake them +in a moderate fire for a quarter of an hour. At the last minute +add a squeeze of lemon juice to each oyster and serve on a folded +napkin. + +No. 56. Ostriche alla Napolitana (Oysters) + +Ingredients: Oysters, parsley, celery, thyme, pepper, garlic, oil, +lemon. + +Prepare the oysters as above, but rub each shell with a little +garlic. Put on each oyster a mixture made of chopped parsley, a +little thyme, pepper, and bread crumbs. Then pour a few drops of +oil on each shell, put them on the gridiron on an open fire, grill +for a few minutes, and add a little lemon juice before serving. + +No. 57. Ostriche alla Veneziana (Oysters) + +Ingredients: Oysters, butter, shallots, truffles, lemon juice, +forcemeat of fish. + +Take several oysters out of their shells and cook them in butter, a +little chopped shallot, and their own liquor, add a little lemon +juice and then put in each of the deeper shells a layer of +forcemeat made of fish and chopped truffles, then an oyster or two, +and over this again another layer of the forcemeat, cover up with +the top shell and put them in a fish kettle and steam them. Then +remove the top shell and arrange the shells with the oysters on a +napkin and serve. + +No. 58. Pesci diversi alla Casalinga (Fish) + +Ingredients: Any sort of fish, celery, parsley, carrots, garlic, +onion, anchovies, almonds, capers, mushrooms, butter, salt, pepper, +flour, tomatoes. + +Chop up a stick of celery, a sprig of parsley, a carrot, an onion. +Pound up an anchovy in brine (well cleaned, boned, and scaled), +four shredded almonds, three capers and two mushrooms. Put all +this into a saucepan with one ounce of butter, salt and pepper, and +fry for a few minutes, then add a few spoonsful of hot water and a +tablespoonful of flour and boil gently for ten minutes, put in the +fish and cook it until it is done. If you like, you may add a +little tomato sauce. + +No. 59. Pesce alla Genovese (Sole or Turbot) + +Ingredients: Fish (sole, mullet, or turbot), butter, salt, onion, +garlic, carrots, celery, parsley, nutmeg, pepper, spice, mushrooms, +tomatoes, flour, anchovies. + +Fry an onion slightly in one and a half ounces of butter, add a +small cut-up carrot, half a stick of celery, a sprig of parsley, +and a salt anchovy (scaled), which will dissolve in the butter. +Into this put the fish cut up in pieces, a pinch of spice and +pepper, and let it simmer for a few minutes, then add two cut-up +mushrooms, a tomato mashed up, and a little flour. Mix all +together, and cook for twenty minutes. + +No. 60. Sogliole in Zimino (Sole) + +Ingredients: Sole, onion, beetroot, butter, celery, tomato sauce +or white wine. + +Cut up a small onion and fry it slightly in one ounce of butter, +then add some slices of beetroot (well-washed and drained), and a +little celery cut up; to this add fillets of sole or haddock, salt +and pepper. Boil on a moderate on the fish kettle. When the +beetroot is nearly cooked add two tablespoonsful of tomato puree +and boil till all is well cooked. Instead of the tomato you may +use half a glass of Chablis. + +No. 61. Sogliole al tegame (Sole) + +Ingredients: Sole (or mullet), butter, anchovies, parsley, garlic, +capers, eggs. + +Put an ounce of butter and an anchovy in a saucepan together with a +sole or mullet. Fry lightly for a few minutes, then strew a little +pepper and chopped parsley over it, put in a clove of garlic with +one cut, and cook for half an hour, but turn the fish over when one +side is sufficiently done. A few minutes before taking it off the +fire add three capers and stir in the yolk of an egg at the last +minute. Do not leave the garlic in more than five minutes. + +No. 62. Sogliole alla Livornese (Sole) + +Ingredients: Sole, butter, garlic, pepper, salt, tomatoes, fennel. + +Fillet a sole and put it in a saute-pan with one and a half ounces +of butter and a clove of garlic with one cut in it, then sprinkle +over it a little chopped fennel, salt and pepper, and let it cook +for a few minutes. Turn over the fillets w hen they are +sufficiently cooked on one side, take out the garlic and cover the +fish with a puree of tomatoes at the last. + +No. 63. Sogliole alla Veneziana (Sole) + +Ingredients: Sole, anchovies, butter, bacon, onion, stock, +Chablis, salt, nutmeg, parsley, Spanish olives, one bay leaf. + +Fillet a sole and interlard each piece with a bit of anchovy. Tie +up the fillets and put them in a saute-pan with two ounces of +butter, a slice of bacon or ham, and a few small slices of onion. +Cover half over with good stock and a glass of Chablis, and add +salt, a pinch of nutmeg, a bunch of parsley, and a bay leaf. Cover +with buttered paper, and cook on a slow fire for about an hour. +Drain the fish, pass the liquor through a sieve, reduce it to the +consistency of a thick sauce, and pour it over the fish. Garnish +each fillet with a Spanish olive stuffed with anchovy. + +No. 64. Sogliole alla Parmigiana (Sole).* + +Ingredients: Sole, Parmesan, butter, cream, cayenne. + +Fillet a sole and wipe each piece with a clean cloth, then place +them in a fireproof dish, and put a small piece of butter on each +fillet. Then make a good white sauce, and mix it with two +tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan and half a gill of cream. Cover +the fish well with the sauce, and bake in a moderate oven for +twenty minutes. + +*Lemon soles may be used in any of the above-named dishes. + +No. 65. Salmone alla Genovese (Salmon) + +Ingredients: Salmon, Genoese sauce (No. 5), butter, lemon. + +Boil a bit of salmon, drain it, take off the skin, and mask it with +a Genoese sauce, to which add a spoonful of the water in which the +salmon has been boiled, and at the last add a pat of fresh butter +and a squeeze of lemon juice. + +No. 66. Salmone alla Perigo (Salmon) + +Ingredients: Salmon, forcemeat of fish, truffles, butter, Madeira, +croutons of bread, crayfish tails, anchovy butter. + +Cut a bit of salmon into well shaped fillets, and marinate them in +lemon juice and a bunch of herbs for two hours, wipe them, put a +layer of forcemeat of fish over each, and decorate them with slices +of truffle. When put them into a well-buttered saute-pan with half +a cup of stock and a glass of Madeira or Marsala, cover with +buttered paper, and put them into a moderate oven for twenty +minutes. Arrange the fillets in a circle on croutons of bread, +garnish the centre with crayfish tails and with truffles cut into +dice, a quarter of a pint of Velute sauce (No. 2), and half a +teaspoonful of anchovy butter. Glaze the fillets and serve. + +No. 67. Salmone alla giardiniera (Salmon) + +Ingredients: Salmon, forcemeat of fish, vegetables, butter, +Bechamel, and Espagnole sauce. + +Prepare the fillets as above (No. 66), and put on each a layer of +white forcemeat of fish. Cook a macedoine of vegetables +separately, and garnish each fillet with some of it, then cook them +in a covered stewpan Put a crouton of bread in an entree dish and +garnish it with cooked peas, mixed with Bechamel sauce (No. 3), +stock, and butter. Around this place the fillets of fish, leaving +the centre with the peas uncovered. Pour some rich Espagnole sauce +(No. 1) round the fillets and serve. + +No. 68. Salmone alla Farnese (Salmon) + +Ingredients: Salmon, oil, lemon juice, thyme, salt, pepper, +nutmeg, mayonnaise sauce, lobster butter, gelatine, Velute sauce, +olives, anchovy butter, white truffles, mushrooms in oil, crayfish. + +Boil a piece of salmon, and when cold cut it into fillets and +marinate them for two hours in oil, lemon juice, salt, thyme +pepper, and nutmeg. Then make a good mayonnaise and add to it some +lobster butter mixed with a little dissolved gelatine and Velute +sauce (No. 2). Wipe the fillets and arrange them in a circle on a +dish, and pour the mayonnaise over them. Then decorate the border +of the dish with aspic jelly, and in the centre put some stoned +Spanish olives stuffed with anchovy butter, truffles, mushrooms in +oil, and crayfish tails. + +No. 69. Salmone alla Santa Fiorentina (Salmon) + +Ingredients: Salmon, eggs, mayonnaise, parsley, flour. + +Marinate a piece of boiled salmon for an hour; take out the bone +and cut the fish into fillets, wipe them, roll them in flour and +dip them in eggs beaten up or in mayonnaise sauce, and fry them a +good colour. Arrange in a circle on the dish, garnish with fried +parsley, and serve with Dutch or mayonnaise sauce. Any fillets of +fish may be cooked in this manner. + +No. 70. Salmone alla Francesca (Salmon) + +Ingredients: Salmon, butter, onions, parsley, salt, pepper, +nutmeg, stock, Chablis, Espagnole sauce (No.1) mushrooms, anchovy +butter, lemon. + +Put a firm piece of salmon in a stewpan with one and a half ounces +of butter, an onion cut up, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley +(blanched), salt, pepper, very little nutmeg, a cup of stock, and a +glass of Chablis. Cook for half an hour over a hot fire, turn the +salmon occasionally, and if it gets dry, add a cup of Espagnole +sauce. Let it boil until sufficiently cooked, and then put it on a +dish. Into the sauce put four mushrooms cooked in white sauce, +half a teaspoonful of anchovy butter and a little lemon juice. +Pour the sauce over the salmon and serve. + +No. 71. Fillets of Salmon in Papiliotte + +Ingredients: Salmon, oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, nutmeg, +herbs. + +Cut a piece of salmon into fillets, marinate them in oil, lemon +juice, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and herbs for two hours. Wipe and put +them into paper souffle cases with a little oil, butter, and herbs. +Cook them on a gridiron, and serve with a sauce piquante made in +the following manner: Half a pint of rich Espagnole sauce (No. 1) +and a dessert-spoonful of New Century* sauce, warmed up in a bain- +marie. + +*Can be obtained at Messrs Lazenby's, Wigmoree Street, W. + + + +Beef, Mutton, Veal, Lamb, &C. + +No. 72. Manzo alla Certosina (Fillet of Beef) + +Ingredients: Fillet of beef or rump steak, bacon, olive oil, salt, +nutmeg, anchovies, herbs, stock, garlic. + +Put a piece of very tender rump steak or fillet of beef into a +stewpan with two slices of fat bacon and three teaspoonsful of the +finest olive oil; season with salt and a tiny pinch of nutmeg; let +it cook uncovered, and turn the meat over occasionally. When it is +nicely browned add an anchovy minced and mixed with chopped herbs, +and a small clove of garlic with one cut across it. Then cover the +whole with good stock, put the cover on the stewpan, and when it is +all sufficiently cooked, skim the grease off the sauce, pass it +through a sieve, and pour it over the beef. Leave the garlic in +for five minutes only. + +No. 73. Stufato alla Florentina (Stewed Beef) + +Ingredients: Beef, mutton, or veal, onions, rosemary, Burgundy, +tomatoes, stock, potatoes, butter, garlic. + +Cut up an onion and three leaves of rosemary, fry them slightly in +an ounce of butter, then add meat (beef, mutton, or veal), cut into +fair-sized pieces, salt it and fry it a little, then pour half a +glass of Burgundy over it, and add two tablespoonsful of tomato +conserve, or better still, fresh tomatoes in a puree. Cover up the +stewpan and cook gently, stir occasionally, and add some stock if +the stew gets too dry. If you like to add potatoes, cut them up, +put them in the stewpan an hour before serving, and cook them with +the meat. A clove of garlic with one cut may be added for five +minutes. + +No. 74. Coscia di Manzo al Forno (Rump Steak) + +Ingredients: Rump steak, ham, salt, pepper, spice, fat bacon, +onion, stock, white wine. + +Lard a bit of good rump steak with bits of lean ham, and season it +with salt, pepper, and a little spice, slightly brown it in butter +for a few minutes, then cover it with three or four slices of fat +bacon and put it into a stewpan with an onion chopped up, a cup of +good stock, and half a glass of white wine; cook with the cover on +the stewpan for about an hour. You may add a clove of garlic for +ten minutes. + +No. 75. Polpettine alla Salsa Piccante (Beef Olives) + +Ingredients: Beef steak, butter, onions, stock, sausage meat. + +Cut some thin slices of beef steak, and on each place a little +forcemeat of fowl or veal, to which add a little sausage meat: +roll up the slices of beef and cook them with butter and onions, +and when they are well browned pour some stock over them, and let +them absorb it. Serve with a tomato sauce (No. 10), or sauce +piquante made with a quarter of a pint of rich Espagnole (No. 1), +and a dessert-spoonful of New Century sauce (see No. 71 note). + +No. 76. Stufato alla Milanese (Stewed Beef) + +Ingredients: Rump steak, bacon, ham, salt, pepper, cinnamon, +cloves, butter, onions, Burgundy. + +Beat a piece of rump steak to make it tender and lard it well, cut +up some bits of fat bacon and dust them over with salt, pepper, and +a tiny pinch of cinnamon, and put them on the steak. Stick three +cloves into the steak, then put it into a stewpan, add a little of +the fat of the beef chopped up, an ounce of butter, an onion cut +up, and some bits of lean ham. Put in sufficient stock to cover +the steak, add a glass of Burgundy, and stew gently until it is +cooked. + +No. 77. Manzo Marinato Arrosto (Marinated Beef) + +Ingredients: Beef, salt, larding bacon, Burgundy, vinegar, spices, +herbs, flour. + +Beat a piece of rump steak, or fillet to make it tender; sprinkle +it well with salt and some chopped herbs, and leave it for an hour; +then lard it and marinate it as follows: Half a pint of red wine +(Australian Harvest Burgundy is best), half a glass of vinegar, a +pinch of spice, and a bouquet of herbs; leave it in this for +twenty-four hours then take it out, drain it well sprinkle it with +flour, and roast it for twenty minutes before a clear fire, braize +it till quite tender, then press and glaze it. The thin end of a +sirloin is excellent cooked this way. Serve cold. + +No. 78. Manzo con sugo di Barbabietole (Fillet of Beef) + +Ingredients: Beef, beetroot, salt. + +Cut up three raw beetroots put them into an earthen ware pot and +cover them with water. Keep them in some warm place, and allow +them to ferment for five, six, or eight days according to the +season; the froth at the top of the water will indicate the +necessary fermentation. The take out the pieces of beetroot, skim +off all the froth, and into the fermented liquor put a good piece +of tender rump steak or fillet with some salt. Braize for four +hours and serve. + +No. 79. Manzo in Insalata (Marinated Beef) + +Ingredients: Beef, oil, salt, pepper, vinegar, parsley, capers, +mushrooms, olives, vegetables. + +Cook a fillet of beef (or the thin end of a sirloin), which has +been previously marinated for two days in oil, salt, pepper, +vinegar, and chopped parsley. When cold press and glaze it, +garnish it with capers, mushrooms preserved in vinegar or gherkins, +olives, and any kind of vegetables marinated like the beef. Serve +cold. + +No. 80. Filetto di Bue con Pistacchi (Fillets of Beef with +Pistacchios) + +Ingredients: Fillet of beef, oil, salt, flour, pistacchio nuts, +gravy. + +Cut a piece of tender beef into little fillets, and put a them in a +stewpan with a tablespoonful of olive oil and salt. After they +have cooked for a few minutes, powder them with flour, and strew +over each fillet some chopped pistacchio nuts. Add a few spoonsful +of very good boiling gravy, and cook for another half-hour. + +No. 81. Scalopini di Riso (Beef with Risotto) + +Ingredients: Rump steak, butter, rice, truffles, tongue, stock, +mushrooms. + +Slightly stew a bit of rump steak with bits of tongue and +mushrooms; let it get cold, and cut it into scallops. Butter a pie +dish, and garnish the bottom of it with cooked tongue and slices of +cooked truffle, then over this put a layer of well-cooked and +seasoned risotto (No. 190), then a layer of the scallops of beef, +and then another layer of risotto. Heat in a bain-marie, and turn +out of the pie dish, and serve with a very good sauce poured round +it. + +No. 82. Tenerumi alla Piemontese (Tendons of Veal) + +Ingredients: Tendons of veal, fowl forcemeat, truffles, risotto +(No. 190), a cock's comb, tongue. + +Tendons of veal are that part of the breast which lies near the +ribs, and forms an opaque gristly substance. Partly braize a fine +bit of this joint, and press it between two plates till cold. Cut +it up into fillets, and on each spread a thin layer of fowl +forcemeat, and decorate with slices of truffle. Put the fillets +into a stewpan, cover them with very good stock, and boil till the +forcemeat and truffles are quite cooked. Prepare a risotto +all'Italiana (No. 190), put it on a dish and decorate it with bits +of red tongue cut into shapes, and in the centre put a whole cooked +truffle and a white cock's comb, both on a silver skewer. Place +the tendons of veal round the dish. Add a good Espagnole sauce +(No. 1) and serve. + +If you like, leave out the risotto and serve the veal with +Espagnole sauce mixed with cooked peas and chopped truffle. + +No. 83. Bragiuole di Vitello (Veal Cutlets) + +Ingredients: Veal, salt, pepper, butter, bacon, carrots, flour, +Chablis, water, lemon. + +Cut a bit of veal steak into pieces the size of small cutlets, salt +and pepper them, and put them in a wide low stewpan. Add two +ounces of butter, a cut-up carrot, and some bits of bacon also cut +up. When they are browned, add a spoonful of flour, half a glass +of Chablis, and half a glass of water, and cook on a slow fire for +half an hour, then take out the cutlets, reduce the sauce, and pass +it through a sieve. Put it back on the fire and add an ounce of +butter and a good squeeze of lemon, and when hot pour it over the +cutlets. + +No. 84. Costolette alla Manza (Veal Cutlets) + +Ingredients: Veal cutlets (fowl or turkey cutlets), forcemeat, +truffles, mushrooms, tongue, parsley, pasta marinate (No. 17). + +Cut a few horizontal lines along your cutlets, and on each put a +little veal or fowl forcemeat, to which add in equal quantities +chopped truffles, tongue, mushrooms, and a little parsley. Over +this put a thin layer of pasta marinate, and fry the cutlets on a +slow fire. + +No. 85. Vitello alla Pellegrina (Breast of Veal) + +Ingredients: Breast of veal, butter, onions, sugar, stock, red +wine, mushrooms, bacon, salt, flour, bay leaf. + +Roast a bit of breast of veal, then glaze over two Spanish onions +with butter and a little sugar, and when they arc a good colour +pour a teacup of stock and a glass of Burgundy over them, and add a +few mushrooms, a bay leaf, some salt, and a few bits of bacon. +When the mushrooms and onions are cooked, skim off the fat and +thicken the sauce with a little flour and butter fried together; +pour it over the veal and put the onions and mushrooms round the +dish. + +No. 86. Frittura Piccata al Marsala (Fillet of Veal) + +Ingredients: Veal, butter, Marsala, stock, lemon, bacon. + +Cut a tender bit of veal steak into small fillets, cut off all the +fat and stringy parts, flour them and fry them in butter. When +they are slightly browned add a glass of Marsala and a teacup of +good stock, and fry on a very hot fire, so that the fillets may +remain tender. Take them off the fire, put a little roll of fried +bacon on each, add a squeeze of lemon juice, and serve. + +No. 87. Polpettine Distese (Veal Olives) + +Ingredients: Veal steak, butter, bread, eggs, pistacchio nuts, +spice, parsley. + +Cut some slices of veal steak very thin as for veal olives, and +spread them out in a well-buttered stewpan. On each slice of veal +put half a spoonful of the following mixture: Pound some crumb of +bread and mix it with a whole egg; add a little salt, some +pistacchio nuts, herbs, and parsley chopped up, and a little +butter. Roll up each slice of veal, cover with a sheet of buttered +paper, put the cover on the stewpan and cook for three-quarters of +an hour in two ounces of butter on a slow fire. Thicken the sauce +with a dessert-spoonful of flour and butter fried together. + +No. 88. Coste di Vitello Imboracciate (Ribs of Veal) + +Ingredients: Ribs of veal, butter, eggs, Parmesan, bread crumbs, +parsley. + +Cut all the sinews from a piece of neck or ribs of veal, cover the +meat with plenty of butter and half cook it on a slow fire, then +let it get cold. When cold, egg it over and roll it in bread +crumbs mixed with a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan; fry in butter +and serve with a garnish of fried parsley and a rich sauce. A +dessert-spoonful of New Century sauce mixed with quarter of a pint +of good thick stock makes a good sauce. (See No. 226.) + +No. 89. Costolette di Montone alla Nizzarda (Mutton Cutlets) + +Ingredients: Mutton cutlets, butter, olives, mushrooms, cucumbers. + +Trim as many cutlets as you require, and marinate them in vinegar, +herbs, and spice for two hours. Before cooking wipe them well and +then saute them in clarified butter, and when they are well +coloured on both sides and resist the pressure of the finger, drain +off the butter and pour four tablespoonsful of Espagnole sauce (No. +1) with a teaspoonful of vinegar and six bruised pepper corns over +them. Arrange them on a dish, putting between each cutlet a +crouton of fried bread, and garnish with olives stuffed with +chopped mushrooms and with slices of fried cucumber. + +No. 90. Petto di Castrato all'Italiana (Breast of Mutton) + +Ingredients: Breast of mutton, veal, forcemeat, eggs, herbs, +spice, Parmesan. + +Stuff a breast of mutton with veal forcemeat mixed with two eggs +beaten up, herbs, a little spice, and a tablespoonful of grated +Parmesan, braize it in stock with a bunch of herbs and two onions. +Serve with Italian sauce (No. 6). + +No. 91. Petto di Castrato alla Salsa piccante (Breast of Mutton) + +Ingredients: Same as No. 90. + +When the breast of mutton has been stuffed and cooked as above, let +it get cold and then cut it into fillets, flour them over, fry in +butter, and serve with tomato sauce piquante (No. 10), or one +dessert-spoonful of New Century sauce in a quarter pint of good +stock or gravy. + +No. 92. Tenerumi d'Agnello alla Villeroy (Tendons of Lamb) + +Ingredients: Tendons of lamb, eggs, bread crumbs, truffles, +butter, stock, Villeroy sauce. + +Slightly cook the tendons (the part of the breast near the ribs) of +lamb, press them between two dishes till cold, then cut into a good +shape and dip them into a Villeroy sauce (No. 18) egg and bread- +crumb, and saute them in butter. When about to serve, put them in +a dish with very good clear gravy. A teaspoonful of chopped mint +and a tablespoonful of chopped truffles mixed with the bread crumbs +will be a great improvement. + +No. 93. Tenerumi d' Agnello alla Veneziana (Tendons of Lamb) + +Ingredients: Tendons of lamb, butter, parsley, onions, stock. + +Fry the tendons of lamb in butter together with a teaspoonful of +chopped parsley and an onion. Serve with good gravy. + +No. 94. Costolette d' Agnello alla Costanza (Lamb Cutlets) + +Ingredients: Lamb cutlets, butter, stock, cocks' combs, fowl's +liver, mushrooms. + +Fry as many lamb cutlets as you require very sharply in butter, +drain off the butter and replace it with some very good stock or +gravy. Make a ragout of cocks' combs, bits of fowl's liver and +mushrooms all cut up; add a white sauce with half a gill of cream +mixed with it, and with this mask the cutlets, and saute them for +fifteen minutes. + + + +Tongue, Sweetbread, Calf's Head, Liver, Sucking Pig, &C. + +No. 95. Timballo alla Romana + +Ingredients: Cold fowl, game, or sweetbread, butter, lard, flour, +Parmesan, truffles, macaroni, onions, cream. + +Make a light paste of two ounces of butter, two of lard, and half a +pound of flour, and put it in the larder for two hours. In the +meantime boil a little macaroni and let it get cold, then line a +plain mould with the paste, and fill it with bits of cut-up fowl, +or game, or sweetbread, bits of truffle cut in small dice, grated +Parmesan, and a little chopped onion. Put these ingredients in +alternately, and after each layer add enough cream to moisten. +Fill the mould quite full, then roll out a thin paste for the top +and press it well together at the edges to keep the cream from +boiling out. Bake it in a moderate oven for an hour and a half, +turn it out of the mould, and serve with a rich brown sauce. +Decorate the top with bits of red tongue and truffles cut into +shapes or with a little chopped pistacchio nut. + +No. 96. Timballo alla Lombarda + +Ingredients: Macaroni, fowl or game, eggs, stock, Velute sauce +(No. 2), tongue, butter, truffles. + +Butter a smooth mould, then boil some macaroni, but take care that +it is in long pieces. When cold, take the longest bits and line +the bottom of the mould, making the macaroni go in circles; and +when you come to the end of one piece, join on the next as closely +as possible until the whole mould is lined; paint it over now and +then with white of egg beaten up; then mask the whole inside with a +thin layer of forcemeat of fowl, which should also be put on with +white of egg to make it adhere; then cut up the bits of macaroni +which remain, warm them up in some good fowl stock and Velute sauce +much reduced, a little melted butter, some bits of truffle cut into +dice, tongue, fowl, or game also cut up in pieces. When the mould +is full, put on another layer of forcemeat, steam for an hour, then +turn out and serve with a very good brown sauce. + +No. 97. Lingua alla Visconti (Tongue) + +Ingredients: Tongue, glaze, bread, spinach, white grapes, port. + +Soak a smoked tongue in fresh water for forty-eight hours, then +boil it till it is tender. Peel off the skin, cut the tongue in +rather thick slices, and glaze them. Prepare an oval border of +fried bread, cover it with spinach about two inches thick, and on +this arrange the slices of tongue. Fill in the centre of the dish +with white grapes cooked in port or muscat. + +No. 98. Lingua di Manzo al Citriuoli (Tongue with Cucumber) + +Ingredients: Ox tongue, salt, pepper, nutmeg, parsley, bacon, veal, +carrots, onions, thyme, bay leaves, cloves, stock. + +Gently boil an ox tongue until you can peel off the skin, then lard +it, season it with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and chopped parsley, and +boil it with some bits of bacon, ham, veal, a carrot, an onion, two +bay leaves, thyme and two cloves. Pour some good stock over it and +let it simmer gently until it is cooked. Put the tongue on a dish +and garnish it with slices of fried cucumber. Boil the cucumber +for five minutes before you fry it, to take away the bitter taste. +Serve the tongue with a sauce piquante, made with one dessert- +spoonful of New Century sauce to a quarter pint of good Espangole +sauce (No. 1). + +No. 99. Lingue di Castrato alla Cuciniera (Sheep's Tongues) + +Ingredients: Sheep's tongues, bacon, beef, onions, herbs, spice, +eggs, butter, flour. + +Cook three or four sheep's tongues in good stock, and add some +slices of bacon, bits of beef, two onions, a bunch of herbs, and a +pinch of spice. Let them get cold, flour them and mask them with +egg beaten up and fry quickly in butter. Serve with Italian sauce +(No. 6) + +No. 100. Lingue di Vitello all'Italiana (Calves' Tongues) + +Ingredients: Calves' tongues, salt, butter, stock, water, glaze, +potatoes, ham, truffles, sauce piquante. + +Rub a good handful of salt into two or three calves' tongues and +leave them for twenty-four hours, then wash off all the salt and +soak them in fresh water for two hours. Stew them gently till +tender, take them out, skin and braize them in butter and good +stock for half an hour. Let them get cold and cut them into slices +about half an inch thick; put the slices into a buttered saute-pan +and cover them with a good thick glaze; let them get quite hot and +then arrange them on a border of potatoes, and garnish each slice +with round shapes of cooked ham and truffle. Fill the centre with +any vegetables you like; fried cucumber is excellent, but if you +use it do not forget to boil it for five minutes before you fry it +to take away the bitter taste. Serve with a sauce piquante (No. +10, or No. 226). + +No. 101. Porcelletto alla Corradino (Sucking Pig) + +Ingredients: Sucking pig, ham, eggs, Parmesan, truffles, +mushrooms, garlic, bay leaves, coriander seeds, pistacchio nuts, +veal forcemeat, suet, bacon, herbs, spice. + +Bone a sucking pig, remove all the inside and fill it with a +stuffing made of veal forcemeat mixed with a little chopped suet, +ham, bacon, herbs, two tablespoonsful of finely chopped pistacchio +nuts, a pinch of spice, six coriander seeds, two tablespoonsful of +grated Parmesan, cuttings of truffles and mushrooms all bound +together with eggs. Sew the pig up and braize it in a big stewpan +with bits of bacon, a clove of garlic with two cuts, a bunch of +herbs and one bay leaf, for half an hour. Then pour off the gravy, +cover the pig with well-buttered paper, and finish cooking it in +the oven. Garnish the top with vegetables and truffles cut into +shapes, slices of lemon and sprigs of parsley. Serve with a good +sauce piquante (No. 229). Do not leave the garlic in for more than +ten minutes. + +No. 102. Porcelletto da Latte in Galantina (Sucking Pig) + +Ingredients: Sucking pig, forcemeat of fowl, bacon, truffles, +pistacchio nuts, ham, lemon, veal, bay leaves, salt, carrots, +onions, shallots, parsley, stock, Chablis, gravy. + +Bone a sucking pig all except its feet, but be careful not to cut +the skin on its back. Lay it out on a napkin and line it inside +with a forcemeat of fowl and veal about an inch thick, over this +put a layer of bits of marinated bacon, slices of truffle, +pistacchio nuts, cooked ham, and some of the flesh of the pig, then +another layer of forcemeat until the pig's skin is fairly filled. +Keep its shape by sewing it lightly together, then rub it all over +with lemon juice and cover it with slices of fat bacon, roll it up +and stitch it in a pudding cloth. Then put the bones and cuttings +into a stewpan with bits of bacon and veal steak cut up, two bay +leaves, salt, a carrot, an onion, a shallot, and a bunch of +parsley. Into this put the pig with a bottle of white wine and +sufficient stock to cover it, and cook on a slow fire for three +hours. Then take it out, and when cold take off the pudding-cloth. +Pass the liquor through a hair sieve, and, if necessary, add some +stock; reduce and clarify it. Decorate the dish with this jelly +and serve cold. + +No. 103. Ateletti alla Sarda + +Ingredients: Veal or fowl, ox palates, stock, tongue, truffles, +butter, mushrooms, sweetbread. + +Soak two ox palates in salted water for four hours, then boil them +until the rough skin comes off, and cook them in good stock for six +hours, press them between two plates and let them get cold. Roll +some forcemeat of veal or fowl in flour, cut it into small pieces +about the size of a cork, boil them in salted water, let them get +cold and cut them into circular pieces. Cut the ox palates also +into circular pieces the same size as the bits of forcemeat, then +thinner circles of cooked tongue and truffles. String these pieces +alternately on small silver skewers. Reduce to half its quantity a +pint of Velute sauce (No. 2), and add the cuttings of the truffles, +mushroom trimmings, bits of sweetbread, and a squeeze of lemon +juice. Let it get cold and then mask the atelets (or skewers with +the forcemeat, &c.) with it, and fry them quickly in butter. Fry a +large oval crouton of bread, scoop out the centre and fill it with +fried slices of cucumber and truffles boiled in a little Chablis. +Stick the skewers into the crouton and pour the sauce round it. + +For a maigre dish use fillets of fish, truffles, mushrooms, and +Bechamel sauce (No. 3). The cucumber should be boiled for five +minutes before it is fried. + +No. 104. Ateletti alla Genovese + +Ingredients: Veal, sweetbread, calf's brains, ox palates, +mushrooms, fonds d'artichauds, cocks' combs, eggs, Parmesan, bread +crumbs. + +Cook two ox palates as in the last recipe, then take equal +quantities of veal steak, sweetbread, calf's brains, equal +quantities of mushrooms, fonds d'artichauds, and cocks' combs. Fry +them all in butter except the palates, but be careful to put the +veal in first, as it requires longer cooking; the brains should go +in last. Then put all these ingredients on a cutting board and add +the palates (cooked separately); cut them all into pieces of equal +size, either round or square, but keep the ingredients separate, +and string them alternately on silver skewers, as in the last +recipe. Then pound up all the cuttings and add a little crumb of +bread soaked in stock, the yolks of three eggs, the whites of two +well beaten up, two dessert-spoonsful of grated Parmesan, salt to +taste, and chopped truffles. Mix all this well together and mask +the atelets with it; egg and bread crumb them and fry in butter. +When they are a good colour, serve with fried parsley. + +No. 105. Testa di Vitello alla Sorrentina (Calf's Head) + +Ingredients: Calf's head, veal, sweetbread, truffles, mushrooms, +pistacchio nuts, eggs, herbs, spice, stock, bacon, ham. + +Boil a half calf's head well, and when it is half cold, bone it and +fill it with a stuffing of veal, the calf's brains, sweetbread, +truffles, mushrooms, pistacchio nuts, the yolks of two eggs, herbs, +and a little spice. Then stitch it up and braize it in good stock, +with some slices of bacon, ham, and a bunch of herbs. Serve with +brain sauce mixed with cream. + +No. 106. Testa di Vitello con Salsa Napoletana (Calf's Head) + +Ingredients: Calf's head, calf's liver, bacon, suet, truffles, +almonds, olives, calf's brains, capers, spice, coriander seeds, +herbs, ham, stock. + +Boil half a calf's head, bone it and fill it with a stuffing made +of four ounces of calf's liver, well chopped up and pounded in a +mortar; two ounces of bacon, one ounce of suet, three truffles, six +almonds, three olives, six coriander seeds, six capers, the calf's +brains, a pinch of spice and a teaspoonful of chopped herbs. Roll +up the head, tie it up and put it into a stewpan with some bits of +bacon, ham, and very good stock, and stew it slowly. Serve with +Neapolitan sauce (No.12), or with tomato sauce piquante (No. 10). + +No. 107. Testa di Vitello alla Pompadour (Calf's Head) + +Ingredients: Calf's head, calf's brains, cream, eggs, truffles, +cinnamon, stock, butter, Parmesan. + +Boil and bone half a calf's head and fill it with a stuffing made +of the calf's brains, a gill of cream, the yolks of two eggs, two +truffles cut up, a little chopped ham, and a tiny pinch of +cinnamon. Boil it in good stock, and when it is sufficiently +cooked take it out and mask it all over with a mixture of butter, +yolk of egg, and a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan, then brown it +in the oven and serve hot. + +No. 108. Testa di Vitello alla Sanseverino (Calf's Head) + +Ingredients: Calf's head, sweetbread, fowl's liver, anchovies, +herbs, capers, garlic, bacon, ham, Malmsey or Muscat. + +Boil and bone half a calf's head, and fill it with a stuffing made +of half a pound of sweetbread, a fowl's liver, two anchovies, a +teaspoonful of chopped herbs, a few chopped capers, and the calf's +brains. Roll the head up, stitch it together and braize it in half +a tumbler of Malmsey or Australian Muscat (Burgoyne's), half a cup +of very good white stock, some bits of ham and bacon, and a clove +of garlic with two cuts. Cook it gently for four hours and serve +it with its own sauce. Do not leave the garlic in longer than ten +minutes. + +No. 109. Testa di Vitello in Frittata (Calf's Head) + +Ingredients: Calf's head, eggs, Parmesan, ham, pepper, butter, +croutons. + +A good rechauffe' of calf's head may be made in the following +manner: After the head has been well boiled in good stock, cut it +into slices and mask these with a mixture of eggs well beaten up, +grated Parmesan, pepper, and chopped ham. Fry in butter, and +garnish with fried parsley and fried croutons. Serve with a sauce +made of a quarter of a pint of good Bechamel (No. 3) and a dessert- +spoonful of New Century sauce. + +No. 110. Zampetti (Calves' Feet) + +Ingredients: Calves' or pigs' feet, butter, leeks or small onions, +parsley, salt, pepper, stock, tomatoes, eggs, cheese, cinnamon. + +Blanch and bone two or more calves' or pigs' feet and put them into +a stewpan with butter, leeks, or onions, chopped parsley, salt, +pepper, and a little stock. Let them boil till the liquid is +somewhat reduced, then add good meat gravy and two tablespoonsful +of tomato puree, and just before taking the stewpan off the fire, +add the yolks of two eggs beaten up, a tablespoonful of grated +cheese, and a tiny pinch of cinnamon. Mix all well together and +serve very hot. + +No. 111. Bodini Marinati + +Ingredients: Veal forcemeat, truffles, sweetbread, mushrooms, +herbs, flour, pasta marinate (No. 17), tongue, butter. + +Make a mixture of truffles, tongue, sweetbread, mushrooms, and +herbs, all chopped up, and add it to a forcemeat of veal, the +proportions being two-thirds veal forcemeat and the other +ingredients one third. Mix this well and form it into little balls +about the size of a pigeon's egg, flour them and mask them all over +with pasta marinate (No. 17). Fry them in butter over a slow fire, +so that the balls may be well cooked through, and when they are the +right colour dry them in a napkin and serve very hot. + +These bodini may be made with various ingredients; they will be +most delicate with a forcemeat of fowl and bits of brain mixed with +herbs, truffle, cooked ham, or tongue. They are also excellent +made with fish (sole, mullet, turbot, &c.), either cooked or raw, +and marinated in lemon, salt, pepper, oil, nutmeg, and parsley. + +No. 112. Animelle alla Parmegiana (Sweetbread) + +Ingredients: Sweetbread, bread crumbs, Parmesan, butter. + +Blanch as many sweetbreads as you require, and then roll them in +bread crumbs mixed with grated Parmesan, salt, and pepper; wrap +them up in buttered grease-proof paper and grill them. When they +are cooked, take off the paper, and serve with a good sauce in a +sauce-boat. + +No. 113. Animelle in Cartoccio (Sweetbread) + +Ingredients: Sweetbread, butter, herbs, salt, pepper, bread +crumbs, Parmesan, lemons, gravy, tomatoes. + +Blanch a pound of sweetbread cuttings, mix it with two ounces of +melted butter, chopped herbs, salt, and pepper, and put it into +paper souffle cases. Then strew over each some bread crumbs mixed +with grated Parmesan, put the cases in the oven, and when they are +browned serve either with good gravy and lemon juice or with tomato +sauce (No. 9). + +No. 114. Animelle all'Italiana (Sweetbread) + +Ingredients: Sweetbread, butter, onions, salt, herbs, eggs, glaze, +Risotto (No. 190), truffles, quenelles of fowl, Espagnole sauce, +white sauce. + +Blanch as many sweetbreads as you require, cut them into quarters +and saute them in butter with a small onion cut up, salt, and a +bunch of herbs. Then pour over them two cups of white sauce and +cook gently for twenty minutes; take out the sweetbreads and put +them in a stewpan. Reduce the sauce, and add to it a mixture made +of the yolks of four eggs, one and a half ounce of butter and a +teaspoonful of glaze; pass it through a sieve, pour it over the +sweetbreads, and keep them warm in a bain-marie. Have ready a good +Risotto all'Italiana (No. 190), and put it into a border mould (but +first decorate the inside of the mould with slices of truffle), put +it in a moderate oven, and when it is warm turn it out on a dish. +Place the sweetbreads on the risotto and fill in the centre with +quenelles of fowl and Espagnole sauce (No. 1). + +No. 115. Animelle Lardellate (Sweetbread) + +Ingredients: Sweetbreads, larding, bacon, stock, a macedoine of +vegetables. + +Blanch two sweetbreads, lard them, and cook them very slowly in +good stock. Skim the stock and reduce it to a glaze to cover the +sweetbreads. Then cut them into three or four pieces and arrange +them round a dish, but see that the larding is well glazed over. +In the centre of the dish place a piece of bread in the shape of a +cup and fill this with a macedoine of vegetables. + +No. 116. Frittura di Bottoni e di Animelle (Sweetbread and +Mushrooms) + +Ingredients: Sweetbread, fresh button mushrooms, flour, bread +crumbs, salt, pepper, parsley, butter, lemons. + +Peel some button mushrooms and cut them in halves. Boil a +sweetbread, and cut it into pieces about the same size as the +mushrooms, flour, egg, and bread crumb them, and fry in butter; +then serve with a garnish of fried parsley. Hand cut lemons with +this dish. + +No. 117. Cervello in Fili serbe (Calf's Brains) + +Ingredients: Calf's brains, stock, butter, parsley, lemon. + +Boil half a calf's brain in good stock for ten minutes then drain +and pour a little melted butter and the juice of half a lemon over +the brain; add some chopped parsley fried for one minute in butter, +and serve as hot as possible. + +No. 118. Cervello alla Milanese (Calf's Brains) + +Ingredients: Calf s brains, eggs, bread crumbs, butter. + +Scald a calf's brain and let it get cold. Wipe it on a cloth, and +get it as dry as possible, then cut it into pieces about the size +of a walnut, egg and bread crumb them, fry in butter, and strew a +little salt over them. + +No. 119. Cervello alla Villeroy (Calf's Brains) + +Ingredients: Calf's brains, eggs, flour, mushrooms, Velute sauce. + +Scald a calf's brain, and when cold cut it up and mask each piece +with a thick sauce made of well-reduced Velute (No. 2), mixed with +chopped cooked mushrooms; flour them over and dip them into the +yolk of an egg, and fry as quickly as possible. + +No. 120. Frittura of Liver and Brains + +Ingredients: Calf's liver and brains (or lamb's or pig's fry), +butter, ham, flour, puff pastry. + +Cut up half a pound of liver in small slices, flour and fry them in +butter or dripping, together with a calf's or pig's or sheep's +brain, previously scalded and also cut up. Serve with bits of +fried ham and little diamond-shaped pieces of puff pastry. + +No. 121. Cervello in Frittata Montano (Calf's Brains) + +Ingredients: Calf's brains, stock, cream, eggs, spice, Parmesan, +butter. + +Boil a calf's brain in good stock for ten minutes, let it get cold, +cut it up into little balls, and mask each piece with a mixture +made of half a gill of cream, the yolks of two eggs, a little +spice, a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan, and the whites of two +eggs well beaten up. Fry the balls in butter, and serve as hot as +possible. You may mask and cook the calf's brain without cutting +it up, if you prefer it so. + +No. 122. Marinata di Cervello alla Villeroy (Calf's Brains) + +Ingredients: Calf's brains, stock, Bechamel sauce, eggs, butter, +lemon, forcemeat of fowl, flour. + +Boil a calf's or sheep's brain in good stock, wipe it well, and cut +it up. Reduce a pint of Bechamel (No. 3), and add to it the yolks +of three eggs, an ounce of butter, and the juice of a lemon. When +it boils throw in the cut-up brain; let it cool, then take out the +brain and form it into little balls about the size of a small +walnut. Make a forcemeat of fowl, and add a dessert-spoonful of +flour to it, and spread it out very thin on a paste-board, and into +this wrap the balls of brain, each separately. Dip them into a +pasta marinate (No. 17), and fry them a golden brown. + +No. 123. Minuta alla Milanese (Lamb's Sweetbread) + +Ingredients: Lamb's sweetbread, butter, onions, stock, Chablis, +salt, lemon, herbs, cocks' combs, fowls' livers. + +Cut up equal quantities of lamb's sweetbreads, cocks' combs, fowls' +livers in pieces about the size of a filbert, flour and fry them +slightly in butter and a small bit of onion, add half a glass of +Chablis, a cup of good stock, and a bunch of herbs. Reduce the +sauce, and thicken it with a tablespoonful of butter and flour +fried together. Make a border of Risotto all'Italiana (No. 190), +and put the sweetbread, &c., together with the sauce in the centre. + +No. 124. Animelle al Sapor di Targone (Lamb's Fry) + +Ingredients: Lamb's fry, ham, garlic, larding bacon, spice, herbs, +butter, flour, stock. + +The lamb's fry should be nearly all sweetbread, and very little +liver. Lard each piece with bacon and ham, and roll it in chopped +herbs and a pinch of pounded spice. Then dip it in flour and +braize in good stock, to which add three ounces of butter, some +bits of bacon, ham, a bay leaf, herbs, and a clove of garlic with +two cuts. Cook until the fry is well glazed over, and serve with +Tarragon sauce (No. 8). Do not leave the garlic in longer than ten +minutes. + +No. 125. Fritto Misto alla Villeroy + +Ingredients: Cocks' combs, calf's brains, sweetbread, stock, +truffles, mushrooms, Villeroy, eggs, bread crumbs. + +Cook some big cocks' combs, bits of calf s brains, and sweetbread +in good stock, then drain them and marinate them slightly in lemon +juice and herbs. Prepare a Villeroy (No. 18), and add to it +cuttings of sweetbread, brains, truffles, mushrooms, &c. When it +is cold, mask the cocks' combs and other ingredients with it, egg +and bread-crumb them, and fry them a golden brown. + +No. 126. Fritto Misto alla Piemontese + +Ingredients: Sweetbread, calf s brains, ox palate, flour, eggs, +Chablis, salt, herbs butter. + +Make a thin paste with a tablespoonful of flour, the yolks of two +eggs, two Spoonsful of Chablis, and a little salt. Mix this up +well, and if it is too thick add a little water. Beat up the +whites of the two eggs into a snow. In the meantime blanch a +sweetbread, half a calf's brain, and a few bits of cooked ox +palate; boil them all up with a bunch of herbs; cut them into +pieces about the size of a walnut, and dip them into the paste so +that each piece is well covered, then dip them into the beaten-up +whites of egg, and fry them very quickly in butter. This fry is +generally served with a garnish of French beans, which should not +be cut up, but half boiled, then dried, floured over and fried +together with the other ingredients. The ox palates should be +boiled for at least six hours before you use them in this dish. + +No. 127. Minuta di Fegatini (Ragout of Fowls' Livers) + +Ingredients: Fowls' or turkeys' livers, flour, butter, parsley, +onions, salt, pepper, stock, Chablis. + +Cut the livers in half, flour them, and fry lightly in butter with +chopped parsley, very little chopped onion, salt and pepper, then +add a quarter pint of boiling stock and half a glass of Chablis, +and cook until the sauce is somewhat reduced. You can also cook +the livers simply in good meat gravy, but in this case they should +not be floured. Serve with a border of macaroni (No. 183), or +Risotto (No. 190), or Polenta (No. 187). + +No. 128. Minuta alla Visconti (Chickens' Livers) + +Ingredients: Fowls' livers, eggs, cheese, butter, cream, cayenne +pepper. + +Braize two fowls' livers in butter, then pound them up, and mix +with a little cream, a tablespoonful of grated cheese and a dust of +cayenne. + +Spread this rather thickly over small squares of toast, and keep +them hot whilst you make a custard with half an ounce of butter, an +egg well beaten up, and a tablespoonful of cheese. Stir it over +the fire till thick and then spread it on the hot toast. Serve +very hot. This makes a good savoury. + +No. 129. Croutons alla Principesca + +Ingredients: Croutons, tongue, sweetbread, truffles, fowl or game, +Velute sauce, stock, eggs, butter. + +Fry a bit of bread in butter till it is a light brown colour, then +cut it into heart-shaped pieces. Prepare a ragout with bits of +tongue, sweetbread, fowl or game, truffles, two or three spoonsful +of well-reduced Velute sauce (No. 2), and two or three of reduced +gravy. Put a spoonful of the ragout in each crouton, and over it a +layer of fowl forcemeat half an inch thick; trim the edges neatly, +glaze them with the yolk of eggs beaten up, and put them in a +buttered fireproof dish in the oven for twenty minutes. Then glaze +them with reduced stock and serve hot. + +For a maigre dish use fish for the ragout and forcemeat. + +No. 130. Croutons alla Romana + +Ingredients: Bread, fowl forcemeat, tongue, truffles, herbs, +cream, stock, butter, flour, eggs. + +Cut a bit of crumb of bread into round or square shapes, and on +each put a spoonful of fowl or rabbit forcemeat, a little chopped +tongue, and a slight flavouring of chopped herbs; cover with a +slice of bread the same shape as the underneath piece, put them in +a buttered fireproof dish, and moisten them well with cream, +butter, and stock. Cook until all the liquor is absorbed, but turn +them over so that both sides may be well cooked, then flour and dip +them into beaten-up eggs; fry them a good colour and serve very +hot. + +For a maigre dish use forcemeat of fish or lobster, and more cream +instead of stock. + + + +Fowl, Duck, Game, Hare, Rabbit, &c. + +No. 131. Soffiato di Cappone (Fowl Souffle) + +Ingredients: Fowl, Bechamel, stock, semolina flour, potatoes, +salt, eggs, butter, smoked tongue or ham. + +Prepare a puree of fowl or turkey and a small quantity of grated +tongue or ham, and whilst you are pounding the meat add some good +gravy or stock. Then make a Bechamel sauce (No. 3) and add two +table-spoonsful of semolina flour, a boiled potato and salt to +taste, boil it up and add the puree of fowl, then let it get nearly +cold, add yolks of eggs and the white beaten up into a snow. (For +one pint of the puree use the yolks of three eggs.) Pour the whole +into a buttered souffle case, and half an hour before serving put +it in a moderate oven and serve hot. You can use game instead of +fowl, and serve in little souffle cases. + +No. 132. Pollo alla Fiorentina (Chicken) + +Ingredients: Fowl, butter, vegetables, rice or macaroni, +peppercorns, stock, ham, tomatoes, bay leaves, onions, cloves, +Liebig. + +Roll up a fowl in buttered paper and put it in the oven in a +fireproof dish with all kinds of vegetables and a few peppercorns. +Leave it there for about two hours, then put the fowl and +vegetables into two quarts of good stock and let it simmer for one +hour; serve on well-boiled rice or macaroni and pour the following +sauce over it. Sauce: Two pounds tomatoes, one big cup of good +stock, a quarter pound of chopped ham, three bay leaves, one onion +stuck with cloves, one teaspoonful of Liebig. Simmer an hour and a +half. + +No. 133. Pollo all'Oliva (Chicken) + +Ingredients: Fowl, onions, celery, salt, parsley, carrots, butter, +stock, olives, tomatoes. + +Cut up half an onion, a stick of celery, a sprig of parsley, a +carrot, and cook them all in a quarter pound of butter. Into this +put a fowl cut up and let it act brown all over, turn when +necessary and then baste it with boiling stock. Add four Spanish +olives cut up and four others pounded in a mortar, eight whole +olives and three tablespoonsful of tomato puree reduced, and when +the fowl is well cooked pour the sauce over it. + +No. 134. Pollo alla Villereccia (Chicken) + +Ingredients: Fowl, butter, flour, stock, bacon, ham, mushrooms, +onions, cloves, eggs, cream, lemons. + +Cut up a fowl into quarters and put it into a saucepan with three +ounces of butter and a tablespoonful of flour Put it on the fire, +and when it is well browned add half a pint of stock, bits of bacon +and ham, butter, three mushrooms (previously boiled), an onion +stuck with three cloves. When this is cooked skim off the grease, +pass the sauce through a sieve, and add the yolks of two eggs mixed +with two tablespoonsful of cream. Lastly, add a squeeze of lemon +juice to the sauce and pour it over the fowl. + +No. 135. Pollo alla Cacciatora (Chicken) + +Ingredients: The same as No. 134 and tomatoes. + +Cook the fowl exactly as above, but add either a puree of tomatoes +or tomato sauce. + +No. 136. Pollastro alla Lorenese (Fowl) + +Ingredients: Fowl, butter, parsley, lemon, small onions, bread +crumbs. + +Cut up a fowl and put it into a frying pan with two ounces of +butter, one onion cut up and a sprig of chopped parsley, salt and +pepper; put it on the fire and cook it, but turn the pieces several +times: then take them out and roll them whilst hot in bread +crumbs, and fry them. Serve with cut lemons. + +No. 137. Pollastro in Fricassea al Burro (Fowl) + +Ingredients: Fowl, butter, fat bacon, ham, mushrooms, truffles, +herbs, spice, gravy. + +Cut up a fowl and cook it in a fricassee of butter, bacon, ham, +herbs, mushrooms, truffles, spice, and good gravy or stock. Serve +in its own gravy. + +No. 138. Pollastro in istufa di Pomidoro (Braized Fowl) + +Ingredients: Fowl, bacon, ham, bay leaf, spice, garlic, Burgundy, +tomatoes. + +Braize a fowl with bits of fat bacon, ham, a bay leaf, a clove of +garlic with one cut in it, a pinch of spice, and a glass of +Burgundy. Only leave the garlic in for five minutes. When cooked +serve with tomato sauce (No. 9). + +No. 139. Cappone con Riso (Capon with Rice) + +Ingredients: Capon, veal forcemeat, fat bacon, stock, rice, +truffles, mushrooms, cocks' combs, kidneys or fowls' liver, supreme +sauce, milk, Chablis. + +Stuff a fine capon with a good firm forcemeat made of veal, tongue, +ham, and chopped truffles; cover it with larding bacon; tie it up +in buttered paper, and cook it in very good white stock. In the +meantime boil four ounces of rice in milk till quite stiff, mix in +some chopped truffles, and make ten little timbales of it. Take +out the capon when it is sufficiently cooked and place it on a +dish; garnish it with cooked mushrooms, cocks' combs, kidneys, or +fowls' livers, and pour a sauce supreme (No. 16) over it; round the +dish place the timbales of rice, and between each put a whole +truffle cooked in white wine. Serve a sauce supreme in a sauce +bowl. + +No. 140. Dindo Arrosto alla Milanese (Roast Turkey) + +Ingredients: Turkey, sausage meat, prunes, chestnuts, a pear, +butter, Marsala, salt, rosemary, bacon, carrot, onion, turnip, +garlic. + +Blanch for seven or eight minutes three prunes, quarter of a pound +of sausage meat, three tablespoonsful of chestnut puree, two small +slices of bacon, half a cooked pear, and saute them in butter; chop +up the liver and gizzard of the turkey, mix them with the other +ingredients, and add half a glass of Marsala; use this as a +stuffing for the turkey, and first braize it for three quarters of +an hour with salt, butter, a blade of rosemary, bits of fat bacon, +a carrot, a turnip, an onion, three cloves, and a clove of garlic +with a cut; then roast it before a clear fire for about twenty +minutes; put it back into the sauce till it is ready to serve. +Only leave the garlic in ten minutes. + +No. 141. Tacchinotto all'Istrione (Turkey Poult) + +Ingredients: A turkey poult, ham, mace, bay leaves, lemons, water, +salt, onions, parsley, celery, carrots, Chablis. + +Truss a turkey poult, and cover it all over with slices of ham or +bacon, put two bay leaves and four slices of lemon on it, and +sprinkle with a small pinch of mace, then sew it up tight in a +dishcloth, and stew it in good stock, salt, an onion, parsley, a +stick of celery, a carrot, and a pint of Chablis; cook for an hour, +take it out of the cloth, and pour a good rich sauce over it. It +is also good cold with aspic jelly. + +No. 142. Fagiano alla Napoletana (Pheasant) + +Ingredients: Pheasant, macaroni, gravy, butter, Parmesan, +tomatoes. + +Lard a pheasant, roast it, and serve it on a layer of macaroni +cooked with good reduced gravy, two ounces of butter, a +tablespoonful of grated Parmesan, and a puree of tomatoes. Serve +with Neapolitan sauce (No. 12) in a sauce bowl. + +No. 143. Fagiano alla Perigo (Pheasant) + +Ingredients: Pheasant, butter, truffles, larding bacon, Madeira. + +Make a mixture of three tablespoonsful of chopped truffles, three +ounces of butter and a little salt, and with this stuff a pheasant. +Then cover it with slices of fat bacon and keep it in a cool place +till next day. A few hours before serving, roast the pheasant and +baste it well with melted butter and a wine-glass of Madeira or +Marsala. Make a crouton of fried bread the shape of your dish, and +over this put a Layer of forcemeat of fowl and a number of small +fowl quenelles; cover them with buttered paper, then put the dish +in the oven for a few minutes so as to settle the forcemeat. When +the pheasant is cooked, place it on the crouton and garnish it with +slices of truffle which have been previously cooked in Madeira, and +serve with a Perigord sauce. + +No. 144. Anitra Selvatica (Wild Duck) + +Ingredients: Wild duck, butter, fowls' livers, Marsala, gravy, +turnips, carrots, parsley, mushrooms. + +Cut a wild duck into quarters and put it into a stewpan with two +fowls' livers cut up and fried in butter. When the pieces of duck +are coloured on both sides, pour off the butter, and in its place +pour a glass of Marsala, a cup of stock, and a cup of Espagnole +sauce (No.1), and cook gently for ten minutes. In the meantime +shape and blanch six young turnips and as many young carrots, put +them into a stewpan, and on the top of them put the pieces of wild +duck, liver, &c. Pass the liquor through a sieve and pour it over +the wild duck, add a bunch of parsley and other herbs and five +little mushrooms cut up, and cook on a slow fire for half an hour. +Skim the sauce, pass it through a sieve and add a pinch of sugar. +Put the pieces of wild duck in an entree dish, add the vegetables, +&c., pour the sauce over and serve. + +No. 145. Perniciotti alla Gastalda (Partridges) + +Ingredients: Partridges, cauliflower, bacon, sausage, fowls' +livers, carrots, onions herbs, stock, gravy, butter, Madeira. + +Cut a cauliflower into quarters, blanch for a few minutes, drain, +and put it into a saucepan with some bits of bacon. Let it drain +on paper till dry, then arrange the bits in a circle in a deep +stewpan, and in the centre put a small bit of sausage, the livers +of the partridges, a fowl's liver cut up, a carrot, an onion, and a +bunch of herbs. Cover about three-quarters high with good stock +and gravy, put butter on the top and boil gently for an hour; then +take out the sausage, replace it by two or three partridges, and +simmer for three-quarters of an hour. In the meantime cut a +sausage in thin slices and line a mould with it. When the birds +are cooked, take them out, drain and cut them up, and fill the +mould with alternate layers of partridge and cauliflower, and steam +for half an hour. Five minutes before serving turn the mould over +on a plate, but do not take it off, so as to let all the grease +drain off. Cut up the fowls' and partridges' livers, make them +into scallops and glaze them. Wipe off all the grease round the +mould; take it off, garnish the dish with the scallops of liver and +serve hot with an Espagnole sauce (No. 1) reduced, and add a glass +of Madeira or Marsala, and a glass of essence of game to it. This +is an excellent way of cooking an old partridge or pheasant. + +No. 146. Beccaccini alla Diplomatica (Snipe) + +Ingredients: Snipe, ham, larding bacon, herbs, Marsala, croutons, +truffles, cocks' combs, mushrooms, sweetbread, tongue. + +Truss fourteen snipe and cook them in a mirepoix made with plenty +of ham, fat bacon, herbs, and a wine glass of Marsala. When they +are cooked pour off the sauce, skim off the grease and reduce it. +Take the two smallest snipe and make a forcemeat of them by +pounding them in a mortar with the livers of all the snipe, then +dilute this with reduced Espagnole sauce (No. 1) and add it to the +first sauce. Cut twelve croutons of bread just large enough to +hold a snipe each, and fry them in butter. Add some chopped herbs +and truffles to the forcemeat, spread it on the croutons, and on +each place a snipe and cover it with a bit of fat bacon and +buttered paper. Put them in a moderate oven for a few minutes, +arrange them on a dish, and pour some of their own sauce over them. +Garnish the spaces between the croutons with white cocks' combs, +mushrooms, and truffles. The truffles should be scooped out and +filled with a little stuffing of sweetbread, tongue, and truffles +mixed with a little of the sauce of the snipe. Serve the rest of +the sauce in a sauce-boat. + +No. 147. Piccioni alla minute (Pigeons) + +Ingredients: Pigeons, butter, truffles, herbs, fowls' livers, +sweetbread, salt, flour, stock, Burgundy. + +Prepare two pigeons and put them into a stewpan with two ounces of +butter, two truffles cut up, two fowls' livers, half-pound of +sweetbread cuttings (boiled), a bunch of herbs and salt. Let them +brown a little, then add a dessert-spoonful of flour mixed with +stock, and half a glass of Burgundy, and stew gently for half an +hour. + +No. 148. Piccioni in Ripieno (Stuffed Pigeons) + +Ingredients: Pigeons, sweetbread, parsley, onions, carrots, salt, +pepper, bacon, stock, Chablis, fowls' livers, and gizzards. + +Cut up a sweetbread, a fowl's liver and gizzard, an onion, a sprig +of parsley, and add salt and pepper. Put this stuffing into two +pigeons, tie larding bacon over them, and put them into a stewpan +with a glass of Chablis, a cup of stock, an onion, and a carrot. +When cooked pass the sauce through a sieve, skim it, add a little +more sauce, and pour it over the pigeons. + +No. 149. Lepre in istufato (Stewed Hare) + +Ingredients: Hare, butter, onions, garlic, marjoram, celery, ham, +salt, Chablis, stock, mushrooms, spice, tomatoes. + +Put into a stewpan three ounces of butter, an onion cut up, a clove +of garlic with a cut across it, a sprig of marjoram, and a little +cut-up ham. Fry these slightly, put the hare cut up into the same +stewpan, and let it get brown. Then pour a glass of Chablis and a +glass of stock over it; add a little tomato sauce or a mashed-up +tomato, a pinch of spice, and a few mushrooms; take out the garlic +and let the rest stew gently for an hour or more. Keep the cover +on the stewpan, but stir the stew occasionally. + +No. 150. Lepre Agro-dolce (Hare) + +Ingredients: Hare, vinegar butter, onion, ham, stock salt, sugar, +chocolate, almonds, raisins. + +Cut up a hare and wash the pieces in vinegar, then cook them in +butter, chopped onion, some bits of ham stock and a little salt. +Half fill a wine-glass with sugar and add vinegar until the glass +is three-quarters full mix the vinegar and sugar well together, and +when the hare is browned all over and nearly cooked, pour the +vinegar over it and add a dessert spoonful of grated chocolate a +few shredded almonds and stoned raisins. Mix all well together and +cook for a few minutes more. This is a favourite Roman dish. + +No. 151. Coniglio alla Provenzale (Rabbit) + +Ingredients: Rabbit, flour butter, stock, Chablis, parsley onion, +spice, mushrooms. + +Cut up a rabbit, wipe the pieces, flour them over, and fry them in +butter until they are coloured all over. Then pour a glass of +Chablis over them, add some chopped parsley, half an onion, three +mushrooms, salt, and a cup of good stock. Cover the stewpan and +cook on a moderate fire for about three-quarters of an hour. +Should the stew act too dry, add a spoonful of stock occasionally. + + +No. 152. Coniglio arrostito alla Corradino (Roast Rabbit) + +Ingredients: Rabbit, pig's fry, butter, salt, pepper, fennel, bay +leaf, onions. + +Make a stuffing of pig's fry (previously cooked in butter), salt, +pepper, fennel, an onion, all chopped up, and a bay leaf. With +this stuff a rabbit well and braize it for half an hour, then +roast it before a brisk fire and baste it well with good gravy. +If you like, put in a clove of garlic with one cut whilst it is +being braized, but only leave it in for five minutes. Serve with +ham sauce (Salsa di prosciutto, No. 7.) A fowl may be cooked in +this way. + +No. 153. Coniglio in salsa Piccante (Rabbit) + +Ingredients: Rabbit, butter, flour, celery, parsley, onion, +carrot, mushrooms, cloves, spices, Burgundy, stock, capers, +anchovies. + +Cut up a rabbit, wipe the pieces well on a dishcloth, flour them +over and put them into a frying-pan with two ounces of butter and +fry for about ten minutes. Then add half a stick of celery, +parsley, an onion, half a carrot, and three mushrooms, all cut up, +three cloves, a pinch of spice and salt, a glass of Burgundy, and +the same quantity of stock; cover the stewpan and cook for half an +hour, then put the pieces of rabbit into another stewpan and pass +the liquor through a sieve; press it well with a wooden spoon, so +as to get as much through as possible, pour this over the rabbit +and add four capers and an anchovy in brine pounded in a mortar, +mix all well together, let it simmer for a few minutes, then serve +hot with a garnish of croutons fried in butter. + + + + +Vegetables + +No. 154. Asparagi alla salsa Suprema (Asparagus) + +Ingredients: Asparagus, butter, nutmeg, salt, supreme sauce (No. +16) gravy, lemon, Parmesan. + +Cut some asparagus into pieces about an inch long and cook them in +boiling water with salt, then drain and put them into a saute pan +with one and a half ounce of melted butter and sautez for a few +minutes, but first add salt, a pinch of nutmeg, and a dust of +grated cheese. Pour a little supreme sauce over them, and at the +last add a little gravy, one ounce of fresh butter, and a squeeze +of lemon juice. + +No. 155. Cavoli di Bruxelles alla Savoiarda (Brussels Sprouts) + +Ingredients: Brussels sprouts, butter, pepper, stock, Bechamel +sauce, Parmesan, croutons. + +Take off the outside leaves of half a pound of Brussels sprouts, +wash and boil them in salted water. Let them get cool, drain, and +put them in a pie-dish with two ounces of fresh butter, a quarter +pint of very good stock, a little pepper, and a dust of grated +Parmesan. When they are well glazed over, pour off the sauce, +season with three tablespoonsful of boiling Bechamel sauce (No. 3), +and serve with croutons fried in butter. + +No. 156. Barbabietola alla Parmigiana (Beetroot) + +Ingredients: Beetroot, white sauce, Parmesan, Cheddar. + +Boil a beetroot till it is quite tender, peel it, cut into slices, +put it in a fireproof dish, and cover it with a thick white sauce. +Strew a little grated Parmesan and Cheddar over it. Put it in the +oven for a few minutes, and serve very hot in the dish. + +No. 157. Fave alla Savoiarda (Beans) + +Ingredients: Beans, stock, a bunch of herbs, Bechamel sauce. + +Boil one pound of broad beans in salt and water, skin and cook them +in a saucepan with a quarter pint of reduced stock and a hunch of +herbs. Drain them, take out the herbs, and season with two glasses +of Bechamel sauce (No. 3). + +No. 158. Verze alla Capuccina (Cabbage) + +Ingredients: Cabbage or greens, anchovies, salt, butter, parsley, +gravy, Parmesan. + +Boil two cabbages in a good deal of water, and cut them into +quarters. Fry two anchovies slightly in butter and chopped +parsley, add the cabbages, and at the last three tablespoonsful of +good gravy, two tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan, salt and pepper, +and when cooked, serve. + +No. 159. Cavoli fiodi alla Lionese (Cauliflower) + +Ingredients: Cauliflower, butter, onions, parsley, lemon, +Espagnole sauce. + +Blanch a cauliflower and boil it, but not too much. Cut up a small +onion, fry it slightly in butter and chopped parsley, and when it +is well coloured, add the cauliflower and finish cooking it, then +take it out, put it in a dish, pour a good Espagnole sauce (No. 1) +over it, and add a squeeze of lemon juice. + +No. 160. Cavoli fiodi fritti (Cauliflower) + +Ingredients: Cauliflower or broccoli, gravy, lemon, salt, eggs, +butter. + +Break up a broccoli or cauliflower into little bunches, blanch +them, and put them on the fire in a saucepan with good gravy for a +few minutes, then marinate them with lemon juice and salt, let them +get cold, egg them over, and fry in butter. + +No. 161. Cauliflower alla Parmigiana + +Ingredients: Cauliflower, butter, Parmesan, Cheddar, Espagnole, +stock. + +Boil a cauliflower in salted water, then sautez it in butter, but +be careful not to cook it too much. Take it off the fire and strew +grated Parmesan and Cheddar over it then put in a fireproof dish +and add a good spoonful of stock and one of Espagnole (No. 1), and +put it in the oven for ten minutes. + +No. 162. Cavoli Fiori Ripieni + +Ingredients: Cauliflower, butter, stock, forcemeat of fowl, +tongue, truffles, mushrooms, parsley, Espagnole, eggs. + +Break up a cauliflower into separate little bunches, blanch them, +and put them in butter, and a quarter pint of reduced stock. Make +a forcemeat of fowl, add bits of tongue, truffles, mushrooms, and +parsley, all cut up small and mixed with butter. With this mask +the pieces of cauliflower, egg and breadcrumb them, fry like +croquettes, and serve with a good Espagnole sauce (No. 1). + +No. 163. Sedani alla Parmigiana (Celery) + +Ingredients: Celery, stock, ham, salt, pepper, Cheddar, Parmesan, +butter, gravy. + +Cut all the green off a head of celery, trim the rest. Cut it into +pieces about four inches long, blanch and braize them in good +stock, ham, salt, and pepper. When cooked, drain and arrange them +on a dish, sprinkle with grated Parmesan and Cheddar, and add one +and a half ounce of butter, then put them in the oven till they +have taken a good colour, pour a little good gravy over them and +serve. + +No. 164. Sedani fritti all'Italiana (Celery) + +Ingredients: Same as No. 163, eggs, bread crumbs, tomatoes. + +Prepare a head of celery as above, and cut it up into equal pieces. +Blanch and braize as above, and when cold egg and breadcrumb and +sautez in butter. Serve with tomato sauce. + +No. 165. Cetriuoli alla Parmigiana (Cucumber) + +Ingredients: Cucumber, butter, cheese, gravy, salt, cayenne. + +Cut a cucumber into slices about half an inch thick, boil for five +minutes in salted water, drain in a sieve, and fry slightly in +melted butter, then strew a little grated Parmesan over it, and add +a good thick gravy, put it into the oven for ten minutes to brown, +and serve as hot as possible. + +No. 166. Cetriuoli alla Borghese (Cucumber) + +Ingredients: Cucumber, cream, salt, Bechamel sauce, butter, +Parmesan, cayenne pepper. + +Cook a cucumber as in No. 165, braize it for five minutes, add to +it a good rich Bechamel (No. 3), mixed with cream and grated +Parmesan Spread this well over the cucumber, and put it into the +oven for ten minutes keeping the rounds of cucumber separate, so as +to arrange them in a circle on a very hot dish. Care should be +taken not to cook the cucumber too long, or it will break in pieces +and spoil the look of the dish. + +No. 167. Carote al sughillo (Carrots) + +Ingredients: Carrots, stock, butter, sausage, pepper. + +Boil some young carrots in stock, slice them up, and put them in a +stewpan with a sausage cut up; cook for quarter of an hour on a +slow fire, then stir up the fire, and when the carrots and sausage +are a good colour add a good Espagnole sauce (No. 1), and serve. + +No. 168. Carote e piselli alla panna (Carrots and Peas) + +Ingredients: Young carrots, peas, cream, salt. + +Half cook equal quantities of peas and young carrots (the carrots +should be cut in dice, and will require a little longer cooking), +then put them together in a stewpan with three or four +tablespoonsful of cream, and cook till quite tender. Serve hot. + +No. 169. Verze alla Certosine (Cabbage) + +Ingredients: Cabbage, butter, salt, leeks or shallots, sardines, +cheese. + +Any vegetable may be cooked in the following simple manner: Boil +them well, then slightly fry a little bit of leek or shallot and a +sardine in butter; drain the vegetables, put them in the butter, +and cook gently so that they may absorb all the flavour, and at the +last add a dust of grated cheese and a tiny pinch of spice. + +No. 170. Lattughe al sugo (Lettuce) + +Ingredients: Lettuce, Parmesan, bacon, stock, butter, croutons of +bread, gravy. + +Take off the outside leaves of a lettuce, blanch and drain them +well. Put on each leaf a mixture of grated Parmesan, salt, little +bits of chopped bacon or ham, add a little good stock, cover over +with buttered paper, and cook in a hot oven for five minutes. Then +drain off the stock and roll up each leaf with the bacon, &c., put +them on croutons of fried bread and pour some good thick gravy over +them. + +No. 171 Lattughe farcite alla Genovese (Lettuce) + +Ingredients: Lettuce, forcemeat of fowl or veal, ham, Espagnole +sauce. + +Prepare a lettuce as above, and spread on each leaf a spoonful of +forcemeat of fowl or veal, add a little cooked ham chopped up, roll +up the leaves, and cook as above. Drain them on a cloth, arrange +them neatly on a dish, and pour some good Espagnole sauce (No. 1) +over them. + +No. 172. Funghi cappelle infarcite (Stuffed Mushrooms) + +Ingredients: Mushrooms, bread, stock, garlic, parsley, salt, +Parmesan, butter, eggs, cream. + +Choose a dozen good fresh mushrooms, take off the stalks and put +the tops into a saucepan with a little butter. See that they lie +bottom upwards. Then cut up and mix together half the stalks of +the mushrooms, a little bread crumb soaked in gravy, the merest +scrap of garlic and a little chopped parsley. Put this into a +separate saucepan and add to it two eggs, half a gill of cream, +salt, and two tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan. Mix well so as to +get a smooth paste and fill in the cavities of the mushrooms with +it. Then add a little more butter, strew some bread crumbs over +each mushroom, and cook in the oven for ten to fifteen minutes. + +No. 173. Verdure miste (Macedoine of Vegetables) + +Ingredients: Cauliflower, carrots, celery, spinach, butter, cream, +pepper, Parmesan. + +Boil some carrots, cauliflower, spinach, and celery (all cut up) in +water. Then put them in layers in a buttered china mould, and +between each layer add a little cream, pepper, and a little grated +Parmesan and Cheddar. Fill the mould in this manner, and put it in +the oven for half an hour, so that the vegetables may cook without +adhering to the mould. Turn out and serve. + +No. 174. Patate alla crema (Potatoes in cream) + +Ingredients: Potatoes, butter, Parmesan, white stock, cream, +pepper, salt. + +Boil two pounds of potatoes in salted water for a quarter of an +hour, peel and cut them into slices about the size of a penny, then +arrange them in layers in a very deep fireproof dish (with a lid), +and on each layer pour a little melted butter, a little good white +stock and a dust of grated Parmesan. Reduce a pint and a half of +cream to half its quantity, add a little pepper, and pour it over +the potatoes. Put the dish in the oven for twenty minutes. Serve +as hot as possible. + +No. 175. Cestelline di patate alla giardiniera (Potatoes) + +Ingredients: Potatoes, white stock, salt, butter, peas, asparagus, +sprouts, beans, &c. + +Choose some big sound potatoes, cut them in half and scoop out a +little of the centre so as to form a cavity, blanch them in salted +water and cook for a quarter of an hour in good white stock and a +little butter. Then fill in the cavities with a macedoine of +cooked vegetables and add a little cream to each. + +No. 176. Patate al Pomidoro (Potatoes with Tomato Sauce) + +Ingredients: Potatoes, butter, salt, tomatoes, lemon, stock. + +Peel three or four raw potatoes, cut them in slices about the size +of a five-shilling piece, then put them into a stewpan with two +ounces of melted butter, and cook them gently until they are a good +colour, add salt, drain off the butter, then glaze them by adding +half a glass of good stock. Arrange them on a dish, pour some good +tomato sauce over them, and add a little butter and a squeeze of +lemon juice. + +No. 177. Spinaci alla Milanese (Spinach) + +Ingredients: Spinach, butter, Velute sauce, salt, pepper, flour, +stock. + +Wash three pounds of spinach at least six times, boil it in a pint +of water, then mince it up very fine, pass it through a hair-sieve, +and put it in a saucepan with one and a half ounces of butter, add +a cupful of reduced Velute sauce (No. 2) with cream, salt, and +pepper, add a dessert-spoonful of flour and butter mixed, and boil +until the spinach is firm enough to make into a shape, garnish with +hardboiled eggs cut into quarters, and pour a good Espagnole sauce +(No. 1) round the dish. + +No. 178. Insalata di patate (Potato salad) + +Ingredients: New potatoes, oil, white vinegar, onions, parsley, +tarragon, chervil, celery, cream, salt, pepper, tarragon vinegar, +watercress, cucumber, truffles. + +Steam as many new potatoes as you require until they are well +cooked, let them get cold, cut them into slices and pour three +teaspoonsful of salad oil and one of white vinegar over them. Then +rub a salad bowl with onion, put in a layer of the potato slices, +and sprinkle with chopped parsley, tarragon, chervil, and celery, +then another layer of potatoes until you have used all the +potatoes; cover them with whipped cream seasoned with salt, pepper, +and a little tarragon vinegar, and garnish the top with watercress, +a few thin slices of truffle cooked in white wine, and some slices +of cooked cucumber. + +No. 179. Insalata alla Navarino (Salad) + +Ingredients: Peas, bean onions, potatoes, tarragon, chives, +parsley, tomatoes, anchovies, oil, vinegar, ham. + +Mix a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a teaspoonful of chopped +onion, a teaspoonful of tarragon and chopped chives with half a +gill of oil and half a gill of vinegar. Put this into a salad bowl +with all sorts of cooked vegetables: peas, haricot beans, small +onions, and potatoes cut up, and mix them w ell but gently, so as +not to break the vegetables. Then add two or three anchovies in +oil, and on the top place three or four ripe tomatoes cut in +slices. A little cooked smoked ham cut in dice added to this +salad is a great improvement. + +No. 180. Insalata di pomidoro (Tomato Salad) + +Ingredients: Tomatoes, mayonnaise, shallot, horseradish, gherkin, +anchovies, fish, cucumber, lettuce, chervil, tarragon, eggs. + +Mix the following ingredients: two anchovies in oil boned and +minced, a gill of mayonnaise sauce, a little grated horseradish, +very little chopped shallot, a little cold salmon or trout, and a +small gherkin chopped. With this mixture stuff some ripe tomatoes. +Then make a good salad of endive or lettuce, a teaspoonful of +chopped tarragon and chervil, season it with oil, vinegar, salt, +and pepper (the proportions should be three of oil to one of +vinegar), put a layer of slices of cucumber in the salad, place the +tomatoes on the top of these, and decorate them with hard-boiled +eggs passed through a wire sieve. + +No. 181. Tartufi alla Dino (Truffles) + +Ingredients: Truffles, fowl forcemeat, champagne. + +Allow one truffle for each person, scoop out the inside, chop it up +fine and mix with a good forcemeat of fowl. With this fill up the +truffles, place a thin layer of truffle on the top of each, and +cook them in champagne in a stewpan for about half an hour. Then +take them out, make a rich sauce, to which add the champagne you +have used and some of the chopped truffle, put the truffles in this +sauce and keep hot for ten minutes. Serve in paper souffle cases. + + + +Macaroni, Rice, Polenta, and Other Italian Pastes* + +*Italian pastes of the best quality can be obtained at Cosenza's, +Wigmore Street, NW. For the following dishes, tagliarelle and +spaghetti are recommended. + +No. 182. Macaroni with Tomatoes + +Ingredients: Macaroni, tomatoes, butter, onion, basil, pepper, +salt. + +Fry half an onion slightly in butter, and as soon as it is coloured +add a puree of two big cooked tomatoes. Then boil quarter of a +pound of macaroni separately, drain it and put it in a deep +fireproof dish, add the tomato puree and three tablespoonsful of +grated Parmesan and Cheddar mixed, and cook gently for a quarter of +an hour before serving. This dish may be made with vermicelli, +spaghetti, or any other Italian paste. + +No. 183. Macaroni alla Casalinga + +Ingredients: Macaroni, butter, stock, cheese, water, salt, nutmeg. + +Cut up a quarter pound of macaroni in small pieces and put it in +boiling salted water. When sufficiently cooked, drain and put it +into a saucepan with two ounces of butter, add good gravy or stock, +three tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan and Cheddar mixed, and a +tiny pinch of nutmeg. Stir over a brisk fire, and serve very hot. + +No. 184. Macaroni al Sughillo + +Ingredients: Macaroni, stock, tomatoes, sausage, cheese. + +Half cook four ounces of macaroni, drain it and put it in layers in +a fireproof dish, and gradually add good beef gravy, four +tablespoonsful of tomato puree, and thin slices of sausage. +Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and Cheddar, and cook for about +twenty minutes. Before serving pass the salamander over the top to +brown the macaroni. + +No. 185. Macaroni alla Livornese + +Ingredients: Macaroni, mushrooms, tomatoes, Parmesan, butter, +pepper, salt, milk. + +Boil about four ounces of macaroni, and stew four or five mushrooms +in milk with pepper and salt. Put a layer of the macaroni in a +buttered fireproof dish, then a layer of tomato puree, then a layer +of the mushrooms and another layer of macaroni. Dust it all over +with grated Parmesan and Cheddar, put it in the oven for half an +hour, and serve very hot. + +No. 186. Tagliarelle and Lobster + +Ingredients: Tagliarelle, lobster, cheese, butter. + +Boil half a pound of tagliarelle, and cut up a quarter of a pound +of lobster. Butter a fireproof dish, and strew it well with grated +Parmesan and Cheddar mixed, then put in the tagliarelle and lobster +in layers, and between each layer add a little butter. Strew +grated cheese over the top, put it in the oven for twenty minutes, +and brown the top with a salamander. + +No. 187. Polenta + +Polenta is made of ground Indian-corn, and may be used either as a +separate dish or as a garnish for roast meat, pigeons, fowl, &c. +It is made like porridge; gradually drop the meal with one hand +into boiling stock or water, and stir continually with a wooden +spoon with the other hand. In about a quarter of an hour it will +be quite thick and smooth, then add a little butter and grated +Parmesan, and one egg beaten up. Let it get cold, then put it in +layers in a baking-dish, add a little butter to each layer, +sprinkle with plenty of Parmesan, and bake it for about an hour in +a slow oven. Serve hot. + +No. 188. Polenta Pasticciata + +Ingredients: Polenta, butter, cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes. + +Prepare a good polenta as above, put it in layers in a fireproof +dish, and add by degrees one and a half ounces of melted butter, +two cooked mushrooms cut up, and two tablespoonsful of grated +cheese. (If you like, you may add a good-sized tomato mashed up.) +Put the dish in the oven, and before serving brown it over with +salamander. + +No. 189. Battuffoli + +Ingredients: Polenta, onion, butter, salt, stock, Parmesan. + +Make a somewhat firm polenta (No. 187) with half a pound of ground +maize and a pint and a half of salted water, add a small onion cut +up and fried in butter, and stir the polenta until it is +sufficiently cooked. Then take it off the fire and arrange it by +spoonsful in a large fireproof dish, and give each spoonful the +shape and size of an egg. Place them one against the other, and +when the first layer is done, pour over it some very good gravy or +stock, and plenty of grated Parmesan. Arrange it thus layer by +layer. Put it into the oven for twenty minutes, and serve very +hot. + +No. 190. Risotto all'Italiana + +Ingredients: Rice, an onion, butter, stock, tomatoes, cheese. + +Fry a small onion slightly in butter, then add half a pint of very +good stock. Boil four ounces of rice, but do not let it get pulpy, +add it to the above with three medium-sized tomatoes in a puree. +Mix it all up well, add more stock, and two tablespoonsful of +grated Parmesan and Cheddar mixed, and serve hot. + +No. 191. Risotto alla Genovese + +Ingredients: Rice, beef or veal, onions, parsley, butter, stock, +Parmesan, sweetbread or sheep's brains. + +Cut up a small onion and fry it slightly in butter with some +chopped parsley, add to this a little veal, also chopped up, and a +little suet. Cook for ten minutes and then add two ounces of rice +to it. Mix all with a wooden spoon, and after a few minutes begin +to add boiling stock gradually; stir with the spoon, so that the +rice whilst cooking may absorb the stock; when it is half cooked +add a few spoonsful of good gravy and a sweetbread or sheep's +brains (previously scalded and cut up in pieces), and, if you like, +a little powdered saffron dissolved in a spoonful of stock and +three tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan and Cheddar mixed. Stir +well until the rice is quite cooked, but take care not to get it +into a pulp. + +No. 192. Risotto alla Spagnuola + +Ingredients: Rice, pork, ham, onions, tomatoes, butter, stock, +vegetables, Parmesan. + +Put a small bit of onion and an ounce of butter into a saucepan, +add half a pound of tomatoes cut up and fry for a few minutes. +Then put in some bits of loin of pork cut into dice and some bits +of lean ham. After a time add four ounces of rice and good stock, +and as soon as it begins to boil put on the cover and put the +saucepan on a moderate fire. When the rice is half cooked add any +sort of vegetable, by preference peas, asparagus cut up, beans, and +cucumber cut up, cook for another quarter of an hour, and serve +with grated Parmesan and Cheddar mixed and good gravy. + +No. 193. Risotto alla Capuccina + +Ingredients: Risotto (No. 190) eggs, truffles, smoked tongue, +butter. + +Make a good risotto, and when cooked put it into a fireproof dish. +When cold cut into shapes with a dariole mould and fry for a few +minutes in butter, then turn the darioles out, scoop out a little +of each and fill it with eggs beaten up, cover each with a slice of +truffle and garnish with a little chopped tongue. Put them in the +oven for ten minutes. + +No. 194. Risotto alla Parigina + +Ingredients: Risotto (No. 190), game, sauce, butter. + +Make a good risotto, and when cooked pour it into a fireproof dish, +let it get cold, and then cut it out with a dariole mould, or else +form it into little balls about the size of a pigeon's egg. Fry +these in butter and serve with a rich game sauce poured over them. + +No. 195. Ravioli + +Ingredients: Flour, eggs, butter, salt, forcemeat, Parmesan, gravy +or stock. + +Make a paste with a quarter pound of flour, the yolk of two eggs, a +little salt and two ounces of butter. Knead this into a firm +smooth paste and wrap it up in a damp cloth for half an hour, then +roll it out as thin as possible, moisten it with a paste-brush +dipped in water, and cut it into circular pieces about three inches +in diameter. On each piece put about a teaspoonful of forcemeat of +fowl, game, or fish mixed with a little grated Parmesan and the +yolks of one or two eggs. Fold the paste over the forcemeat and +pinch the edges together, so as to give them the shape of little +puffs; let them dry in the larder, then blanch by boiling them in +stock for quarter of an hour and drain them in a napkin. Butter a +fireproof dish, put in a layer of the ravioli, powder them over +with grated Parmesan, then another layer of ravioli and more +Parmesan. Then add enough very good gravy to cover them, put the +dish in the oven for about twenty-five minutes, and serve in the +dish. + +No. 196. Ravioli alla Fiorentina + +Ingredients: Beetroot, eggs, Parmesan, milk or cream, nutmeg, +spices, salt, flour, gravy. + +Wash a beetroot and boil it, and when it is sufficiently cooked +throw it into cold water for a few minutes, then drain it, chop it +up and add to it four eggs, one ounce of grated Parmesan, one ounce +of grated Cheddar, two and a half ounces of boiled cream or milk, a +small pinch of nutmeg and a little salt. Mix all well together +into a smooth firm paste, then roll into balls about the size of a +walnut, flour them over well, let them dry for half an hour, then +drop them very carefully one by one into boiling stock and when +they float on the top take them out with a perforated ladle, put +them in a deep dish, dust them over with Parmesan and pour good +meat or game gravy over them. + +No. 197. Gnocchi alla Romana + +Ingredients: Semolina, butter, Parmesan, eggs, nutmeg, milk, +cream. + +Boil half a pint of milk in a saucepan, then add two ounces of +butter, four ounces of semolina, two tablespoonsful of grated +Parmesan, the yolks of three eggs, and a tiny pinch of nutmeg. Mix +all well together, then let it cool, and spread out the paste so +that it is about the thickness of a finger. Put a little butter +and grated Parmesan and two tablespoonsful of cream in a fireproof +dish, cut out the semolina paste with a small dariole mould and put +it in the dish. Dust a little more Parmesan over it, put it in the +oven for five minutes and serve in the dish. + +No. 198. Gnocchi alla Lombarda + +Ingredients: Potatoes, flour, salt, Parmesan and Gruyere cheese, +butter, milk, eggs. + +Boil two or three big potatoes, and pass them through a hair sieve, +mix in two tablespoonsful of flour, an egg beaten up, and enough +milk to form a rather firm paste; stir until it is quite smooth. +Roll it into the shape of a German sausage, cut it into rounds +about three quarters of an inch thick, and put it into the larder +to dry for about half an hour. Then drop the gnocchi one by one +into boiling salted water and boil for ten minutes. Take them out +with a slice, and put them in a well-buttered fireproof dish, add +butter between each layer, and strew plenty of grated Parmesan and +Cheddar over them. Put them in the oven for ten minutes, brown the +top with a salamander, and serve very hot. + +No. 199. Frittata di Riso (Savoury Rice Pancake) + +Ingredients: Rice, milk, salt, butter, cinnamon, eggs, Parmesan. + +Boil quarter of a pound of rice in milk until it is quite soft and +pulpy, drain off the milk and add to the rice an ounce of butter, +two tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan, and a pinch of cinnamon, and +when it has got rather cold, the yolks of four eggs beaten up. Mix +all well together, and with this make a pancake with butter in a +frying pan. + + + +Omelettes And Other Egg Dishes + +No. 200. Uova al Tartufi (Eggs with Truffles) + +Ingredients: Eggs, butter, cream, truffles, Velute sauce, +croutons. + +Beat up six eggs, pass them through a sieve, and put them into a +saucepan with two ounces of butter and two tablespoonsful of cream. +Put the saucepan in a bain-marie, and stir so that the eggs may not +adhere. Sautez some slices of truffle in butter, cover them with +Velute sauce (No. 2) and a glass of Marsala, and add them to the +eggs. Serve very hot with fried and glazed croutons. Instead of +truffles you can use asparagus tips, peas, or cooked ham. + +No. 201. Uova al Pomidoro (Eggs and Tomatoes) + +Ingredients: Eggs, salt, tomatoes, onion, parsley, butter, pepper. + +Cut up three or four tomatoes, and put them into a stewpan with a +piece of butter the size of a walnut and a clove of garlic with a +cut in it. Put the lid on the stewpan and cook till quite soft, +then take out the garlic, strain the tomatoes through a fine +strainer into a bain-marie, beat up two eggs and add them to the +tomatoes, and stir till quite thick, then put in two tablespoonsful +of grated cheese, and serve on toast. + +No. 202. Uova ripiene (Canapes of Egg) + +Ingredients: Eggs, butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cheese, parsley, +mushrooms, Bechamel and Espagnole sauce, stock. + +Boil as many eggs as you want hard, and cut them in half +lengthwise; take out the yolks and mix them with some fresh butter, +salt, pepper, very little nutmeg, grated cheese, a little chopped +parsley, and cooked mushrooms also chopped. Then mix two +tablespoonsful of good Bechamel sauce (No. 3) with the raw yolk of +one or two eggs and add it to the rest. Put all in a saucepan with +an ounce of butter and good stock, then fill up the white halves +with the mixture, giving them a good shape; heat them in a bain- +marie, and serve with a very good clear Espagnole sauce (No. 1). + +No. 203. Uova alla Fiorentina (Eggs) + +Ingredients: Eggs, butter, Parmesan, cream, flour, salt, pepper, +curds. + +Boil as many eggs as you require hard, then cut them in half and +take out the yolks and pound them in a mortar with equal quantities +of butter and curds, a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan, salt and +pepper. Put this in a saucepan and add the yolks of eight eggs and +the white of one (this is for twelve people), mix all well together +and reduce a little. With this mixture fill the hard whites of the +eggs and spread the rest of the sauce on the bottom of the dish, +and on this place the whites. Then in another saucepan mix half a +gill of cream and an ounce of butter, a dessert-spoonful of flour, +salt, and pepper; let this boil for a minute, and then glaze over +the eggs in the dish with it, and on the top of each egg put a +little bit of butter, and over all a powdering of grated cheese. +Put this in the oven, pass the salamander over the top, and when +the cheese is coloured serve at once. + +No. 204. Uova in fili (Egg Canapes) + +Ingredients: Eggs, butter, mushrooms, onions, flour, white wine, +fish or meat stock, salt, pepper, croutons of bread. + +Put into a saucepan two ounces of butter, three large fresh +mushrooms cut into slices, and an onion cut up, fry them slightly, +and when the onion begins to colour add a spoonful of flour, a +quarter of a glass of Chablis, salt and pepper, and occasionally +add a spoonful of either fish or meat stock. Let this simmer for +half an hour, so as to reduce it to a thick sauce. Then boil as +many eggs as you want hard; take out the yolks, but keep them +whole. Cut up the whites into slices, and add them to the above +sauce, pour the sauce into a dish, and on the top of it place the +whole yolks of egg, each on a crouton of bread. + +No. 205. Frittata di funghi (Mushroom Omelette) + +Ingredients: Mushrooms, butter, eggs, bread crumbs, Parmesan, +marjoram, garlic. + +Clean four or five mushrooms, cut them up, and put them into a +frying-pan with one and a half ounces of butter, a clove of garlic +with two cuts in it, and a little salt; fry them lightly till the +mushrooms are nearly cooked, and then take out the garlic. In the +meantime beat up separately the yolks and the whites of two or +three eggs, add a little crumb of bread soaked in water, a +tablespoonful of grated Parmesan, and two leaves of marjoram; go on +beating all up until the crumb of bread has become entirely +absorbed by the eggs, then pour this mixture into the frying-pan +with the mushrooms, mix all well together and make an omelette in +the usual way. + +No. 206. Frittata con Pomidoro (Tomato Omelette) + +Ingredients: Eggs, tomatoes, butter, marjoram, parsley, spice. + +Peel two tomatoes and take out the seeds; then mix them with an +ounce of butter, chopped marjoram, parsley, and a tiny pinch of +spice. Add three eggs beaten up (the yolks and whites separately), +and make an omelette. + +No. 207. Frittata con Asparagi (Asparagus Omelette) + +Ingredients: Eggs, asparagus, butter, ham, herbs, cheese. + +Blanch a dozen heads of asparagus and cook them slightly, then cut +them up and mix with two ounces of butter, bits of cut-up ham, +herbs, and a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan. Add them to three +beaten-up eggs and make an omelette. + +No. 208. Frittata con erbe (Omelette with Herbs) + +Ingredients: Eggs, onions, sorrel, mint, parsley, asparagus, +marjoram, salt, pepper, butter. + +Chop a little sorrel, a small bit of onion, mint, parsley, +marjoram, and fry in two ounces of butter, add some cut-up +asparagus, salt, and pepper. Then add three eggs beaten up and a +little grated cheese, and make your omelette. + +No. 209. Frittata Montata (Omelette Souffle) + +Ingredients: Eggs, Parmesan, pepper, parsley. + +Beat up the whites of three eggs to a froth and the yolks +separately with a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan, chopped +parsley, and a little pepper. Then mix them and make a light +omelette. + +No. 210. Frittata di Prosciutto (Ham Omelette) + +Ingredients: Eggs, ham, Parmesan, mint, pepper, clotted cream. + +Beat up three eggs and add to them two tablespoonsful of clotted +cream, one tablespoonful of chopped ham, one of grated Parmesan, +chopped mint and a little pepper, and make the omelette in the +usual way. + + + +Sweets and Cakes + +No. 211. Bodino of Semolina + +Ingredients: Semolina, milk, eggs, castor sugar, lemon, sultanas, +rum, butter, cream, or Zabajone (No. 222). + +Boil one and a half pints of milk with four ounces of castor sugar, +and gradually add five ounces of semolina, boil for a quarter of an +hour more and stir continually with a wooden spoon, then take the +saucepan off the fire, and when it is cooled a little, add the +yolks of six and the whites of two eggs well beaten up, a little +grated lemon peel, three-quarters of an ounce of sultanas and two +small glasses of rum. Mix well, so as to get it very smooth, pour +it into a buttered mould and serve either hot or cold. If cold, +put whipped cream flavoured with stick vanilla round the dish; if +hot, a Zabajone (No. 222). + +No. 212. Crema rappresa (Coffee Cream) + +Ingredients: Coffee, cream, eggs, sugar, butter. + +Bruise five ounces of freshly roasted Mocha coffee, and add it to +three-quarters of a pint of boiling cream; cover the saucepan, let +it simmer for twenty minutes, then pass through a bit of fine +muslin. In the meantime mix the yolks of ten eggs and two whole +eggs with eight ounces of castor sugar and a glass of cream; add +the coffee cream to this and pass the whole through a fine sieve +into a buttered mould. Steam in a bain-marie for rather more than +an hour, but do not let the water boil; then put the cream on ice +for about an hour, and before serving turn it out on a dish and +pour some cream flavoured with stick vanilla round it. + +No. 213. Crema Montata alle Fragole (Strawberry Cream) + +Ingredients: Cream, castor sugar, Maraschino, strawberries or +strawberry jam. + +Put a pint of cream on ice, and after two hours whip it up. Pass +three tablespoonsful of strawberry jam through a sieve and add two +tablespoonsful of Maraschino; mix this with the cream and build it +up into a pyramid. Garnish with meringue biscuits and serve +quickly. You may use fresh strawberries when in season, but then +add castor sugar to taste. + +No. 214. Croccante di Mandorle (Cream Nougat) + +Ingredients: Almonds, sugar, lemon juice, butter, castor sugar, +pistachios, preserved fruits. + +Blanch half a pound of almonds, cut them into shreds and dry them +in a slow oven until they are a light brown colour; then put a +quarter pound of lump sugar into a saucepan and caramel it lightly; +stir well with a wooden spoon. When the sugar is dissolved, throw +the hot almonds into it and also a little lemon juice. Take the +saucepan off the fire and mix the almonds with the sugar, pour it +into a buttered mould and press it against the sides of the mould +with a lemon, but remember that the casing of sugar must be very +thin. (You may, if you like, spread out the mixture on a flat dish +and line the mould with your hands, but the sugar must be kept +hot.) Then take it out of the mould and decorate it with castor +sugar, pistacchio nuts, and preserved fruits. Fill this case with +whipped cream and preserved fruits or fresh strawberries. + +No. 215. Crema tartara alla Caramella (Caramel Cream) + +Ingredients: Cream, eggs, caramel sugar, vanilla or lemon +flavouring. + +Boil a pint of cream and give it any flavour you like. When cold, +add the yolks of eight eggs and two tablespoonsful of castor sugar, +mix well and pass it through a sieve; then burn some sugar to a +caramel, line a smooth mould with it and pour the cream into it. +Boil in a bain-marie for an hour and serve hot or cold. + +No. 216. Cremona Cake + +Ingredients: Ground rice, ground maize, sugar, one orange, eggs, +salt, cream, Maraschino, almonds, preserved cherries. + +Weigh three eggs, and take equal quantities of castor sugar, +butter, ground rice and maize (the last two together); make a light +paste with them, but only use one whole egg and the yolks of the +two others, add the scraped peel of an orange and a pinch of salt. +Roll this paste out to the thickness of a five-shilling piece, +colour it with the yolk of an egg and bake it in a cake tin in a +hot oven until it is a good colour, then take it out and cut it +into four equal circular pieces. Have ready some well-whipped +cream and flavour it with Maraschino, put a thick layer of this on +one of the rounds of pastry, then cover it with: the next round, +on which also put a layer of cream, and so on until you come to the +last round, which forms the top of the cake. Then split some +almonds and colour them in the oven, cover the top of the cake with +icing sugar flavoured with orange, and decorate the top with the +almonds and preserved cherries. + +No. 217. Cake alla Tolentina + +Ingredients: Sponge-cake, jam, brandy or Maraschino, cream, pine- +apple. + +Make a medium-sized sponge-cake; when cold cut off the top and +scoop out all the middle and leave only the brown case; cover the +outside with a good coating of jam or red currant jelly, and +decorate it with some of the white of the cake cut into fancy +shapes. Soak the rest of the crumb in brandy or Maraschino and mix +it with quarter of a pint of whipped cream and bits of pineapple +cut into small dice; fill the cake with this; pile it up high in +the centre and decorate the top with the brown top cut into fancy +shapes. + +No. 218. Riso all'Imperatrice + +Ingredients: Rice, sugar, milk, ice, preserved fruits, blanc- +mange, Maraschino, cream. + +Boil two dessert-spoonsful of rice and one of sugar in milk. When +sufficiently boiled, drain the rice and let it get cold. In the +meantime place a mould on ice, and decorate it with slices of +preserved fruit, and fix them to the mould with just enough nearly +cold dissolved isinglass to keep them in place. Also put half a +pint of blanc-mange on the ice, and stir it till it is the right +consistency, gradually add the boiled rice, half a glass of +Maraschino, some bits of pineapple cut in dice, and last of all +half a pint of whipped cream. Fill the mould with this, and when +it is sufficiently cold, turn it out and serve with a garnish of +glace fruits or a few brandy cherries. + +No. 219. Amaretti leggieri (Almond Cakes) + +Ingredients: Almonds (sweet and bitter), eggs, castor sugar. + +Blanch equal quantities of sweet and bitter almonds, and dry them a +little in the oven, then pound them in a mortar, and add nearly +double their quantity of castor sugar. Mix with the white of an +egg well beaten up into a snow, and shape into little balls about +the size of a pigeon's egg. Put them on a piece of stout white +paper, and bake them in a very slow oven. They should be very +light and delicate in flavour. + +No. 220. Cakes alla Livornese + +Ingredients: Almonds, eggs, sugar, salt, potato flour, butter. + +Pound two ounces of almonds, and mix them with the yolks of two +eggs and a spoonful of castor sugar flavoured with orange juice. +Then mix two ounces of sugar with an egg, and to this add the +almonds, a pinch of salt, and gradually strew in one and a half +ounces of potato flour. When it is all well mixed, add one ounce +of melted butter, shape the cakes and bake them in a slow oven. + +No. 221. Genoese Pastry + +Ingredients: Eggs, sugar, butter, flour, almonds, orange or lemon, +brandy. + +Weigh four eggs, and take equal weights of castor sugar, butter, +and flour. Pound three ounces of almonds, and mix them with an +egg, melt the butter, and mix all the ingredients with a wooden +spoon in a pudding basin for ten minutes, then add a little scraped +orange or lemon peel, and a dessert-spoonful of brandy. Spread out +the paste in thin layers on a copper baking sheet, cover them with +buttered paper, and bake in a moderately hot oven. + +These cakes must be cut into shapes when they are hot, as otherwise +they will break. + +No. 222. Zabajone + +Ingredients: Eggs, sugar, Marsala, Maraschino or other light- +coloured liqueur, sponge fingers. + +Zabajone is a kind of syllabub. It is made with Marsala and +Maraschino, or Marsala and yellow Chartreuse. Reckon the +quantities as follows: for each person the yolks of three eggs, +one teaspoonful of castor sugar to each egg, and a wine-glass of +wine and liqueur mixed. Whip up the yolks of the eggs with the +sugar, then gradually add the wine. Put this in a bain-marie, and +stir until it has thickened to the consistency of a custard. Take +care, however, that it does not boil. Serve hot in custard +glasses, and hand sponge fingers with it. + +No. 223. Iced Zabajone + +Ingredients: Eggs, castor sugar, Marsala, cinnamon, lemon, stick +vanilla, rum, Maraschino, butter, ice. + +Mix the yolks of ten eggs, two dessert-spoonsful of castor sugar, +and three wine- glasses of Marsala, add half a stick of vanilla, a +small bit of whole cinnamon, and the peel of half a lemon cut into +slices. + +Whip this up lightly over a slow fire until it is nearly boiling +and slightly frothy; then remove it, take out the cinnamon, +vanilla, and lemon pool, and whip up the rest for a minute or two +away from the fire. Add a tablespoonful of Maraschino and one of +rum, and, if you like, a small quantity of dissolved isinglass. +Stir up the whole, pour it into a silver souffle dish, and put it +on ice. Serve with sponge cakes or iced wafers. + +No. 224. Pan-forte di Siena (Sienese Hardbake) + +Ingredients: Honey, almonds, filberts, candied lemon peel, pepper, +cinnamon, chocolate, corn flour, large wafers. + +Boil half a pound of honey in a copper vessel, and then add to it a +few blanched almonds and filberts cut in halves or quarters and +slightly browned, a little candied lemon peel, a dust of pepper and +powdered cinnamon and a quarter pound of grated chocolate. Mix all +well together, and gradually add a tablespoonful of corn flour end +two of ground almonds to thicken it. Then take the vessel off the +fire, spread the mixture on large wafers, and make each cake about +an inch thick. Garnish them on the top with almonds cut in half, +and dust over a little powdered sugar and cinnamon, then put them +in a very slow oven for an hour. + + + +NEW CENTURY SAUCE * * The New Century Sauce may be bought at +Messrs. Lazenby's, Wigmore Street, W + +No. 225. Fish Sauce + +Add one dessert-spoonful of the sauce to a quarter pint of melted +butter sauce. + +No. 226. Sauce Piquante (for Meat, Fowl, Game, Rabbit, &c.) + +One dessert-spoonful to a quarter pint of ordinary brown or white +stock. It may be thickened by a roux made by frying two ounces of +butter with two ounces of flour. + +No. 227. Sauce for Venison, Hare, &c. + +Two dessert-spoonsful of New Century Sauce to half a pint of game +gravy or sauce, and a small teaspoonful of red currant jelly. + +No. 228. Tomato Sauce Piquante + +Fry three medium-sized tomatoes in one and a half ounce of butter. +Pass this through a sieve, then boil it up in a bain-marie till it +thickens, and add one dessertspoonful of New Century Sauce. + +No. 229. Sauce for Roast Pork, Ham, &c. + +Add to any ordinary white or brown sauce one dessert-spoonful of +New Century Sauce and two of port or Burgundy if the sauce is +brown, two of Chablis if white. + +No. 230. For masking Cutlets, &c. + +Making a roux by frying two ounces of butter with two ounces of +flour, and add two tablespoonsful of boiling stock. Stir in one +dessert-spoonful of New Century Sauce. Let it get cold, and it +will then be quite firm and ready for masking cutlets, &c. + +End Project Gutenberg Etext of A Cook's Decameron. + + |