A guide to modern cookery

This is a typically luxurious hors-d’ceuvre. Cook some little tartlet crusts for hors-d’ceuvre (No. 387). When about to dish up, garnish these with a tablespoonful of fine, fresh caviare; make a hollow in the latter and place therein a fine Whitstable oyster (cleared of its beard), seasoned with a little powdered pepper and a drop of lemon-juice. 156 GUIDE TO MODERN COOKERY 365—SMOKED BREAST OF GOOSE Cut it into the thinnest possible slices, and garnish with very green parsley. 366—PLAIN OLIVES Olives of all kinds are suitable for hors-d’ceuvres, and they are served plain. Three or four varieties are known, all of which are excellent, provided they be fleshy, firm, very green, and moderately salted. 367—-STUFFED OLIVES For this purpose, select large Spanish olives and stone them, either by cutting them spirally, or by means of a special machine. In the place of the stone, put one of the butters or creams for hors-d’ceuvres (Nos. 280 to 299). Before serving these olives, it is well to let them rest awhile in a moderately warm atmosphere. For, since stuffed olives are generally kept in the cool, immersed in oil with which they become thoroughly saturated, it follows that the moment they are put into contact with a slightly higher temperature they will exude that oil. Wherefore, if the above precaution were not observed, by the time the olives reached the table they would, more often than not, be swimming in oil, when they would be neither nice nor appetising. 368—PLAIN LAPWINGS’ AND PLOVERS’ EGGS Though the lapwing and the plover are different in respect of their plumage, they are, nevertheless, birds of similar habits and haunts, and their eggs are remarkably alike. The latter, which are a little larger than pigeons’ eggs, have a light- green shell covered with black spots. When cooked, the albuminous portions acquire a milky colour, and never assume the solidity of the whites of other eggs. When served as a hors-d’ceuvre, these eggs are always boiled hard. Put them in a saucepan of cold water, and leave them to cook for eight minutes after the boil is reached. Cool them, shell their pointed ends, and serve them in a nest com- posed of watercress or curled-leaf parsley. N.B.—Test the freshness of the eggs before boiling them by plunging them in a bowl of cold water. If they float, their freshness is doubtful, and they should be discarded. HORS-D’GEUVRES 157 369—LAPWINGS’ EGGS IN ASPIC Decorate a border-mould according to taste, and let a thin coating of very clear aspic jelly set on the bottom of the utensil. Besprinkle the articles used in decorating with a few drops of melted jelly, in order to keep them from shifting; then cover them with a few tablespoonfuls of jelly, and let it set. On this coating of jelly arrange the shelled, hard-boiled lapwings’ eggs with their points downwards, so that they may appear upright when the aspic is withdrawn from the mould. Fill up the mould by means of successive layers of melted jelly. When about to serve, dip the mould into hot water; quickly wipe it, and then turn the aspic out on to a folded napkin lying on a dish. 370—LAPWINGS’ EGGS A LA MODERNE Boil the eggs soft; mould them in dariole-moulds, coated with jelly, and garnished in Chartreuse fashion. Heap a vegetable-salad, thickened with mayonnaise, in the middle of the dish, and place the eggs removed from their moulds all round. 371—LAPWINGS’ EGGS A LA CHRISTIANA Cook the eggs as above; shell them; slice a piece off their thicker ends to make them stand, and arrange them on a dish, placing them upon little tartlet-crusts, garnished with a foie- gras purée.