The Pre]}arations of Capon are in most respects parallel
to those of fowls. The plain-hoilcd capon is by French
cooks called chapon Q,io gros sel, because they put a pinch
of crystallized rough salt✪ Capon Preparation on the stomach of the animal
when it is on the dish for being carved. This putting of
rough salt upon plain-boiled meat of all kinds, particularly
beef, was formerly very common, perhaps universal, in
established kitchens ; as regards the boiled capon, it survives
as an atavistic habit, and a sign to the eaters that the
capon is plain-boiled, not stuffed, and to be eaten with
concentrated broth of beef. A capon will take an hour to
boil ; to ascertain its complete coction, pinch the wing be-
tween two fingers. Capon stciocd loith Bice and stuffed
with Tnoffles, roasted, are favourite forms of preparation.
Like fowl, it is also made into a galantine.
Breasts or Fillets of Foiols are a subject regarding which
many culinary writers become sentimental on behalf of
their readers’ pockets, for dishes made with fillets are ex-
pensive, the fillets alone costing about four shillings a pound.
They then append to their regrets consoling considerations,
to the effect that the parts of the fowls not withdrawn for
fillets could be used in the preparation of other dishes.
This shows that a good cook will reach the limits of the
patience of even the largest purse, and more particularly
by means of the fillets of fowls. No doubt that with un-
limited fillets a chef may produce charming entrees, from
the simplest rm supr&me to the most complicated poularde
en bigarure after the receipt of Vincent de la Chapelle. Of
this the many existing formulaj for supremes are evidence.
But for the diner these dishes have the disadvantage that
they spoil the liking of the palate for more vigox’ous food.
486
THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY
and by a certain monotony compel the cook to vary them
in that forced manner which ends in disguises of which the
true a3sthetical gastronomer is not likely to approve.
In the preparation of the supreme, care must be taken to
remove the tendinous or aponeurotic envelopes, particularly
the one which separates the main from the minion hllet.
The fillets are then fried white in butter, and after re-
moval of the excess of butter, covered with supreme sauce,
garnished with button mushrooms✪ Supreme of Fowls, and sent to table. The
variations are many, and consist mostly in additions.
When cuttings of red tongue are placed between the
fillets, the dish may be termed d Vecarlate. The cook
may separate the minion from the main fillet, and treat
them a little differently, e.cj., stud them with truffles, and
then you have supreme of fillets of foiols cm trujfes. When
the fillets are arranged round a ragoiit, they receive the
title of this latter. This toying with small variations,
leading only to the construction of new paragraphs and
titles in cookery-books, becomes ultimately transcendental,
when a few slices of steioed cucicmber, practically a rather
tasteless and indifferent dish, must furnish the means for
varying, under the surname of d la Bellevue, the beauty
and quality of a preparation which Beauvilliers first
described in his practical manner.
Page 306 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
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The Pre]}arations of Capon are in most respects parallel
to those of fowls. The plain-hoilcd capon is by French
cooks called chapon Q,io gros sel, because they put a pinch
of crystallized rough salt on the stomach of the animal
when it is on the dish for being carved. This putting of
rough salt upon plain-boiled meat of all kinds, particularly
beef, was formerly very common, perhaps universal, in
established kitchens ; as regards the boiled capon, it survives
as an atavistic habit, and a sign to the eaters that the
capon is plain-boiled, not stuffed, and to be eaten with
concentrated broth of beef. A capon will take an hour to
boil ; to ascertain its complete coction, pinch the wing be-
tween two fingers. Capon stciocd loith Bice and stuffed
with Tnoffles, roasted, are favourite forms of preparation.
Like fowl, it is also made into a galantine.
Breasts or Fillets of Foiols are a subject regarding which
many culinary writers become sentimental on behalf of
their readers’ pockets, for dishes made with fillets are ex-
pensive, the fillets alone costing about four shillings a pound.
They then append to their regrets consoling considerations,
to the effect that the parts of the fowls not withdrawn for
fillets could be used in the preparation of other dishes.
This shows that a good cook will reach the limits of the
patience of even the largest purse, and more particularly
by means of the fillets of fowls. No doubt that with un-
limited fillets a chef may produce charming entrees, from
the simplest rm supr&me to the most complicated poularde
en bigarure after the receipt of Vincent de la Chapelle. Of
this the many existing formulaj for supremes are evidence.
But for the diner these dishes have the disadvantage that
they spoil the liking of the palate for more vigox’ous food.
486
THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY
and by a certain monotony compel the cook to vary them
in that forced manner which ends in disguises of which the
true a3sthetical gastronomer is not likely to approve.
In the preparation of the supreme, care must be taken to
remove the tendinous or aponeurotic envelopes, particularly
the one which separates the main from the minion hllet.
The fillets are then fried white in butter, and after re-
moval of the excess of butter, covered with supreme sauce,
garnished with button mushrooms, and sent to table. The
variations are many, and consist mostly in additions.
When cuttings of red tongue are placed between the
fillets, the dish may be termed d Vecarlate. The cook
may separate the minion from the main fillet, and treat
them a little differently, e.cj., stud them with truffles, and
then you have supreme of fillets of foiols cm trujfes. When
the fillets are arranged round a ragoiit, they receive the
title of this latter. This toying with small variations,
leading only to the construction of new paragraphs and
titles in cookery-books, becomes ultimately transcendental,
when a few slices of steioed cucicmber, practically a rather
tasteless and indifferent dish, must furnish the means for
varying, under the surname of d la Bellevue, the beauty
and quality of a preparation which Beauvilliers first
described in his practical manner.