A guide to modern cookery

Prepare a hors-d'oeuvre cream in accordance with any one of the recipes (Nos. 294 to 299). Put this cream into very small, slightly-oiled, and ornamented moulds, and leave it to set in the cool or on ice. Empty the moulds, at the moment of dishing up, either directly upon a dish, on tartlets garnished with a purée in keeping with the cream, or on toast. With these moulded creams, endless varieties of delicate and recommendable little hors-d'oeuvres may be prepared, while in their preparation the moulds used in pastry for “‘ petits fours’’ may serve a useful purpose. 336—SHRIMPS AND PRAWNS Get these very fresh and serve them on boat-shaped hors-d'oeuvre dishes, arranging them so that they overlap one another. Either garnish the middle of the dishes with curled-leaf parsley, or lay the crustacean directly upon parsley. 337—DUCHESSES This hors-d’ceuvre is almost equivalent to the Carolines (No. 325), except that the shape of the Duchesses is that of little choux, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, and that, as a rule, they are merely glazed with some melted jelly, and not covered with a chaud-froid sauce. Sprinkle them with chopped pistachios, and serve them very cold on ornamented dish-papers. 338-NANTUA DUCHESSES Stuff the little choux, referred to above, with crayfish purée, and sprinkle them, again and again, with cold, melted jelly, in order to cover them with a transparent film. 339—DUCHESSES A LA REINE Stuff the little choux with a purée of fowl with cream. Glaze with jelly, as above, and sprinkle some very black, finelychopped truffles over the jelly. 340—DUCHESSES A LA SULTANE Stuff the little choux with a purée of fowl, completed with pistachio butter. Glaze with jelly, and sprinkle a little chopped pistachio upon each little chou. 341—CAVIARE DUCHESSES Stuff with fresh caviare or caviare cream. Glaze with jelly and serve iced. 342-SMOKED-SALMON DUCHESSES Stuff the little choux with a purée of smoked salmon and butter, and glaze them with a maigre jelly. 343 NORWEGIAN DUCHESSES Stuff the choux with a purée of Kilkis and butter, and glaze with jelly. 344—KAROLY ECLAIRS These are little éclairs stuffed with a purée made from the entrails of woodcock with champagne. The purée is buttered and slightly seasoned. Cover the éclairs with a brown chaud-froid sauce, mask them with game jelly, and serve them, iced, on ornamented dish-papers. 345—CRAYFISH EN BUISSON Prepare them in accordance with the recipes ‘‘a la nage”’ or ‘‘a la mariniére,’’ and serve them very cold. 346—MARINADED SMELTS Fry some well-dried and floured smelts in oil; as soon as this is done, put them in a deep dish or a bowl. Add to the oil, per pint (which quantity should be allowed for every two lbs. of the fish), eight unpeeled garlic-cloves, an onion, and a carrot cut into thin, round slices, all of which vegetables should be slightly fried. Drain off the oil, moisten with onequarter pint of vinegar and as much water, and season with a little salt, two small pimentos, a small bay-leaf, a sprig of thyme, and a few parsley stalks. Dip the smelts for twelve minutes in this marinade, and transfer them to the dish, where they may be left to marinade for twenty-four hours. Serve very cold with a portion of the marinade. 347—FENNEL A LA GRECQUE Same process as for artichokes and celery 4 la Grecque. 348—FRESH FIGS Place them on a layer of very green leaves, and surround them with broken ice. 349—FOIE GRAS If in the form of a sausage, cut it into thin slices. If potted, shape it into little shells, after the manner in which butter is sometimes served, only a little smaller. In all cases serve it iced, and as soon as it is ready. 350—FRIVOLITIES