The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c

PIQUANT SAUCE. — Piquant sauce is sold in bottles, but must not be confounded with Sauce Piquante, made from gherkins and capers, to be served with cutlets. It is simply a sauce used to be eaten with cold meat, and may be added to hashes, stews, gravies, etc., when a slight acidity is not objected to. Sauce piquante bottled does not contain any solid matter, but is simply an agreeable sauce to be eaten with cold meat. It is also well adapted as a fish sauce, to be eaten with fried soles, and is particularly good with cold fried fish. PISTACHIO KERNELS. — Pistachio kernels are a well-known delicacy, but their use is confined to what may be termed high-class cooking. Perhaps one of the most delicate of sweets that is ever served is pistachio cream. To make pistachio cream, the cook should bear in mind as much as possible to preserve the delicate flavour of the pistachio kernel, and that any other flavour added to it, unless carefully chosen, will overpower the flavour of the pistachio kernels themselves. Take say eight ounces of pistachio kernels, throw them into boiling water, and rub them so as to remove the outer skin. Then place them in cold water in order to preserve their colour. Take them out of the cold water when cold and dry them in a cloth. Now pound them in a pestle and mortar, and mix with them a spoonful of orange-flower water, till they become a bright smooth paste. Next add six ounces of white sugar, and also mix in about an ounce and a half of clarified isinglass — that is, isinglass that has been dissolved in water and clarified with white of egg. As a rule the green colour of the pistachio kernel itself will not be sufficient to impart colour to the cream. The cook should therefore Add a teaspoonful of spinach juice, or, still better, a teaspoonful of green colouring matter, sold in bottles, such as Breton’s colouring. Now mix the whole in with a pint of well whipped cream. When thoroughly mixed place it all in an oiled mould, and embed the mould in rough ice till the cream is set. It is of course needless to say that the isinglass should have been added warm. This is indeed a delicate and delicious cream. Pistachio kernels are very often used in cooking, and are well adapted to be placed in the middle of a dish such as galantine. They are also often used in boar’s head, such as galantine of boar’s head when truffle is used, and are of very great importance, not only to the appearance but the flavour. 'The little green kernels of the pistachio nut make a nice bright contrast with the red tongue and black truffle. I cannot too often impress on the minds of all cooks how very greatly these three colours, when mixed, improve the appearance of any dish. Pistachio kernels are also used in making several delicate rich dishes, that might be called Italian dishes. Space will not allow me to enter into the various dishes that can be made with the assistance of pistachio kernels, but I would particularly mention Spongadadi Roma, and Spongada di Vcnezza. PLOVER PATE, TRUFFLED.— A very