Truffles may be minced, fried, gratinated, excavated and stuffed loith farce, baked hi slices with Parma cheese, or boiled and roasted on a spit while being basted with oil, lemon-juice, and spices. They ma,y be made into a ragodt with any sauce, espagnole being the most suitable, some varieties being called d V Italienne, d la PiOnontaise, and d la POdgueux, or formed into a pudding in glace, i.e., savoury jelly; mixed with mushrooms, etc. The white Piedmontese truffles do not require to be cooked, but, after having been thinly sliced, may be dropped in any hot sauce or garnish with which they are to be associated. A technically distinct preparation to be mentioned in this place is D'Uxclles, which may be termed a ragofit, but is, perhaps, more properly termed a vegetable farce, consisting of minced mushrooms, parsley, shallots, butter, and spices. RAGOUTS, jrUXELLES, SAL PICONS 303 all fried ; it is to be used as an ingredient for sauces or as a stuffing for tomatoes. A ragout is defined as a rich compound, consisting of quenelles, mushrooms, truffles, fat livers, etc., mixed with a rich sauce, and used for garnishing highly-finished removes and entrees. It is therefore not really a dish hy itself, hut a complement or garnish for other preparations, though these, when so garnished, are also termed ragouts. It was particularly by ragouts that the ancient French art of cooking gained the esteem of the world, and by contrast it is in the matter of ragovlts that most culinary enormities are committed in modern kitchens both in and out of France. One of the oldest ragouts that have preserved a specific name is the saljpicon. It may consist of any kind of meat and vegetables, sweetbread, truffles, mushrooms, artichoke bottoms, etc., all to be stewed, separately or in groups, as they require different periods for coction. The French word salidicon, spelled saliincon up to 1740, is alleged to be derived from sal, salt, and piquar, and to signify, and have anciently signified, a dish made of gherkins, ham, truffles, etc., flavoured with vinegar (Heyse, ‘ Etym. Diet.’). Con- sidering the original meaning of the word ragoiit—it is derived from ragouter, to give again taste {goiU) to a matter, or cause new appetite to a person— namely, a meat- dish, made more savoury by sauce, we can accept the definition of salpicon. It is also contended that ragorit was constructed to signify a dish which consisted of materials which had been cooked and on the table before in another form, and came now in a new form, not merely warmed up, but reconstituted. But we do not find this meaning in the Academic Dictionary, where ragoiit is a stew, and ragoiltsr is defined as meaning to restore the appetite, to stimulate, etc., whence this particular stew would be a dish intended to stimulate the appetite quite irrespective of the fresh or rechauffe nature of its ingredients. 3C4 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY A common salpicon would contain sweetbread and fat livers, with fungi, or quenelles, or godiveau, white meat of fowls previously roasted, cocks’ combs, and artichoke bottoms, all with espagnole sauce. Most ragouts admit of being presented in a white modi- fication— i.c., with veloute sauce; or a brown form — i.e., with espagnole. Of the great number of ragouts to be found in magiric literature, we shall mention -only the characteristic or important ones :

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Truffles may be minced, fried, gratinated, excavated and stuffed with farce, baked in slices with Parma cheese, or boiled and roasted on a spit while being basted with oil, lemon-juice, and spices. They may be made into a ragout with any sauce, espagnole being the most suitable, some varieties being called à l'Italienne, à la Piémontaise, and à la Périgueux, or formed into a pudding in glace, i.e., savoury jelly; mixed with mushrooms, etc. The white Piedmontese truffles do not require to be cooked, but, after having been thinly sliced, may be dropped in any hot sauce or garnish with which they are to be associated. A technically distinct preparation to be mentioned in this place is D'Uxclles, which may be termed a ragout, but is, perhaps, more properly termed a vegetable farce, consisting of minced mushrooms, parsley, shallots, butter, and spices. RAGOUTS, D'UXELLES, SAL PICONS all fried ; it is to be used as an ingredient for sauces or as a stuffing for tomatoes. A ragout is defined as a rich compound, consisting of quenelles, mushrooms, truffles, fat livers, etc., mixed with a rich sauce, and used for garnishing highly-finished removes and entrees. It is therefore not really a dish hy itself, hut a complement or garnish for other preparations, though these, when so garnished, are also termed ragouts. It was particularly by ragouts that the ancient French art of cooking gained the esteem of the world, and by contrast it is in the matter of ragouts that most culinary enormities are committed in modern kitchens both in and out of France. One of the oldest ragouts that have preserved a specific name is the saljpicon. It may consist of any kind of meat and vegetables, sweetbread, truffles, mushrooms, artichoke bottoms, etc., all to be stewed, separately or in groups, as they require different periods for coction. The French word salpicon, spelled salpicon up to 1740, is alleged to be derived from sal, salt, and piquar, and to signify, and have anciently signified, a dish made of gherkins, ham, truffles, etc., flavoured with vinegar (Heyse, ‘ Etym. Diet.’). Considering the original meaning of the word ragout—it is derived from ragouter, to give again taste {goût) to a matter, or cause new appetite to a person— namely, a meatdish, made more savoury by sauce, we can accept the definition of salpicon. It is also contended that ragout was constructed to signify a dish which consisted of materials which had been cooked and on the table before in another form, and came now in a new form, not merely warmed up, but reconstituted. But we do not find this meaning in the Academic Dictionary, where ragout is a stew, and ragoutser is defined as meaning to restore the appetite, to stimulate, etc., whence this particular stew would be a dish intended to stimulate the appetite quite irrespective of the fresh or rechauffe nature of its ingredients. A common salpicon would contain sweetbread and fat livers, with fungi, or quenelles, or godiveau, white meat of fowls previously roasted, cocks’ combs, and artichoke bottoms, all with espagnole sauce. Most ragouts admit of being presented in a white modification— i.e., with veloute sauce; or a brown form — i.e., with espagnole. Of the great number of ragouts to be found in magiric literature, we shall mention -only the characteristic or important ones :

The spirit of cookery