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

The vol-au-vent case should then be placed in the oven, and as soon as the pastry gets hot through it can be served. Remember that if you were to pour the ragout into the vol-au-vent case cold the whole of the pastry would be burnt and destroyed before the ragout got hot through. Housekeepers, I dare say, will remember the troubles and trials they have experienced in serving up savoury pies got from the pastrycook’s, through the cook being forgetful of the fact that it takes a long time to warm up a little piece of forcemeat in the centre of a quantity of pastry, and the pates have been sent to table a mass of hot pastry with a small lump of almost cold forcemeat in the middle. A volau-vent always looks best when served up ona silver dish. Suppose we have got a vol-au-vent say eight inches in diameter. This should be placed in the centre of the dish, and a little of the ragout, which the cook should have kept in reserve, can be poured on at the last moment, and the top or lid lightly placed on the whole. The base of the dish can be ornamented with a few red crayfish and some fried parsley. Financiere ragout can be used as a garnish to a large number of what may be termed high-class dishes. Good cookery-books will contain receipts for making salmi of partridge a la financiere, and also woodcock a. la financiere. In these very delicious dishes two or three woodcocks are larded and braised. They are then glazed and served on the dish leaning against a pyramid of fried bread known as croustard. The financiere ragout is then placed round the base. A large capon is often surmounted with financiere ragout. Pheasants and chickens are also served a la financiere. Of course, cooks can always use their own discretion in increasing the financiere in quantity. Small pieces of the white part of rabbits or chickens can be added to the ragout as well as sweetbread. When the ragout is served separate, or used for garnishing, it is, of course, advisable to arrange the pieces of black truffle and white cock’s-comb so as to bring them into prominence. Sometimes a bottle of financiere ragout can be used in conjunction ■with other things to make small vol-aux-vcnts. When this is done one piece of cock’scomb and one piece of truffle should be placed in each little vol-au-vcnt, and one vol-au-vent served to each person. The remainder of the contents of the vol-auxvents can be made of scallops of sweetbread or scallops of chicken, rabbit, etc., cut up with the mushrooms. Some cooks think it an improvement to add a few stoned olives to the ragout. When the mushrooms are large they should always be chopped up when intended for small vol-aux-vents. Some cooks also add a little chopped ham or chopped tongue. This is, of course, purely a matter of taste. Vol-aux-vents a. la Financiere as well as A la Toulouse are always favourite dishes, whether made in one large vol-au-vcnt or divided into several small ones. I know of no entree which at tables-d’hotes or dinner-parties gives such general satisfaction. I remember some years ago being at a large table-d'hOte in Paris, and noticing the fact that every one present, at least so far as I could see, accepted vol-au-vent a la Toulouse. The ragout, as sold in bottles, will keep good for years till they are opened.