A guide to modern cookery

This done, drain, remove string, and cut to the shape required. Lay them in a sautépan, and, if they are to be served soon, cover them with their reduced stock from which the grease has been removed. If they are prepared in advance, simply put them aside in suitable basins, cover them with their cooking-liquor, which should be strained over them, boiling, and without its grease removed, and cover with buttered paper. ADJUNCTS TO BRAISED VEGETABLES According to the case, the adjunct is either the braising-liquor, reduced and with all grease removed, or the same completed by means of an addition of meat-glaze. Occasionally, it may be the braising-liquor slightly thickened with half-glaze and finished with butter and the juice of a lemon. 276—LEASON OF GREEN VEGETABLES WITH BUTTER First thoroughly drain the vegetables and toss them over the fire for a few minutes, in order to completely rid them of their moisture. Season according to the kind of vegetable; add the butter away from the fire, and slightly toss, rolling the saucepan meanwhile on the stove with the view of effecting the leason by means of the mixing of the butter with the treated vegetables. 277—LEASON OF VEGETABLES WITH CREAM Vegetables to be treated in this way must be kept somewhat firm. After having thoroughly drained them, put them into a saucepan with enough boiling fresh cream to well moisten without covering them. Finish their cooking process in the cream, stirring occasionally the while. When the cream is almost entirely reduced, finish, away from the fire, with a little butter. _ The leason may be slightly stiffened, if necessary, by means of a few tablespoonfuls of cream sauce. 278—VEGETABLE CREAMS AND PUREES Purées of dry and farinaceous vegetables may be obtained by rubbing the latter through a sieve. Put the purée into a sautépan, and dry it over a brisk fire, adding one and one-half oz. of butter per pint of purée; then add milk or cream in small quantities at a time, until the purée has reached the required degree of consistence. For purées of aqueous vegetables, such as French beans, cauliflowers, celery, &c., a quarter of their volume of mashed potatoes should be added to them in order to effect their leason. In the case of vegetable creams, substitute for the thickening of mashed potatoes an equivalent quantity of succulent and stiff Béchamel sauce. 279—_GARNISHES In cookery, although garnishes only play a minor part, they are, nevertheless, very important, for, besides being the principal accompaniments to dishes, they are very often the adornment thereof, while it frequently happens that their harmonious arrangement considerably helps to throw the beauty of a fine joint or bird into relief. A garnish may consist of one or more products. Be this as it may, its name, as a rule, distinctly denotes, in a word, what it is and how it is made. In any case, it should always bear some relation to the piece it accompanies, either in the constituents of its preparation or with regard to the size of the piece constituting the dish. I merely add that, since the constituents of garnishes are strictly denoted by the name the latter bear, any addition of products foreign to their nature would be a grave mistake. Likewise, the omission of any constituent is to be avoided, as the garnish would thereby be out of kecping with its specified character. Only in very exceptional circumstances should any change of this kind be allowed to take place.