Cookery for every household

Savouries may be served either hot or cold and, as in the case of the hors-d’ceuvre, success will depend greatly on the careful and tasteful dishing, the simple and pretty decoration. In houses where a savoury of some kind is served every day a variety of little moulds or serving dishes will be found most useful. These need not be expensive, but they will help greatly towards producing something novel and artistic. Following are a few useful preliminaries, which will be found helpful in the making of various hors-d’ceuvre and savouries : PRELIMINARY RECIPES 2245. Croutes or Croutons for Savouries These may be made of fried bread or of toasted bread. The bread used should be light in texture, but without holes, and two days old if possible. HORS-D’(EUVRE and savouries For fried erofites, cut the bread from £ to £ of an inch in thickness, and then stamp it out in rounds about 2 or 2£ inches in diameter. Other shapes may be cut if preferred, and the croutes may be made larger for the more substantial savouries. Then fry these in clarified butter or fat until a golden brown colour, and drain them well on paper before using. The finest croutes „ are fried in clarified butter, but for ordinary purposes clarified fat, or deep frying fat, will serve the purpose very well. These are used for both hot and cold savouries. If for the latter, they must be as crisp as a biscuit right through. For croutes of toasted bread slice the bread as above, but toast it carefully before cutting it in shapes. Then butter the pieces while the toast is still warm. 2246. Little Croustades for Savouries (Crofites Creuses) These are somewhat similar to the above, only they are made thicker and hollowed out in the centre. Slice the bread J inch or more in thickness, and cut out rounds from 2 to 21 inches in [illustration: Croustades of Bread] diameter. Then, with a smaller cutter, cut down the centre of these rounds to about \ inch from the bottom. Fry until crisp and brown, scoop out the centre part, leaving a little hollow case, and drain well on kitchen paper. If preferred, the centres may be hollowed out before frying. 2247. Canap6s These are generally made of brown or white bread and butter cut out in rounds or fancy-shaped pieces. The bread should be rather close in texture, and the slices about J of an inch in thickness. The name canape is also applied to rounds or other shaped pieces of fried or toasted bread ; the name signifies “ a sofa,” or something that raises the savoury above the dish. 2248. Pastry Cases or Croustades Take some plain pastry without sugar, roll it out thinly, and stamp out rounds with a cutter. Grease some small round tins, deeper in shape than those used for tartlets, and line them with the pastry. Prick the pastry at the bottom, line the tins with a little paper, fill them with dry rice, and bake in a moderate oven until brown and cooked. Remove the paper and rice, and if necessary return the cases to the oven to dry the insides. These little cases can be filled with various purges or savoury mixtures, and are used either for decorating entrees or for serving as small savouries. Note. — Cheese or anchovy pastry may be used instead of plain pastry. 2249. BouchSes