The "Queen" cookery books: Entrees

can also be bare if preferred, should have been previously roasted, rather underdone, and allowed to get. perfectly cold) : put into a dish a gill each of good malt vinegar, port wine, and mushroom ketchup, in which you have previously dissolved a good spoonful of red currant or rowan jelly, with a teaspoonful of quatre epices or cook’s pepper, a saltspoonful of salt, five or six peppercorns, a sliced onion, and about a dessertspoonful of minced thyme and parsley (cold cooked meat needs only a few hours steeping, but if raw should be left in all day). This marinade is strained and added to the thick brown sauce in which the meat is to be heated ; it is then boiled up sharply all together till reduced a fourth part, when the meat is laid in and allowed to heat (not boil) very gently in the bain-marie ; then, if served round a mound of French beans with its sauce, it forms a decidedly excellent entree, though it belongs properly. to the rechauffes. For venison you use what is called a coolced marinade, prepared thus : fry together for five minutes four ounces of sliced carrot, double that of sliced onion, a good spoonful of minced mixed herbs, and double that amount of minced parsley, with an ounce of well clarified beef dripping ; then add to this a pint of vinegar, a pint of common claret, and a pint of water (or omit the wine and use a quart of water), rather more than an ounce of salt, half an ounce of freshly ground pepper, and a blade of mace ; let this all boil up, then simmer for half an hour, after which it must be strained and used at once when cold, or it can be bottled and kept till wanted. Venison should be left in this for three or four days, turning it constantly. Remember these marinades need not be made in large quantities, as all that is needed is to have the bottom of the dish in which the meat is laid covered to about half an inch in depth, as the meat to be marinaded must be frequently turned. When wanted for use just lift the meat from the liquid, let it drain for a minute or two, and then prepare it at once by whatever recipe you choose. (N.B. — Bear’s meat, lately referred to by several newspapers, is excellent if the fillets are prepared by either the marinade given for beef, or the coohed one mentioned for venison.) Sweetbread, or riz de veau, to use its French name, is usually served either in cutlets or “ en escalopes.” To begin with, sweetbreads (like brains which are often used in their stead) must be well soaked in cold salted water to cleanse them and get rid of the blood ; they are then blanched, i.e., they are put into sufficient cold water to cover them, with, if liked, a little vinegar or lemon juice, say a spoonful, two or three peppercorns, a spray of parsley, and a sliced onion ; as soon as this is brought to the boil the sweetbread is lifted out, placed between two plates, lightly pressed, and left till cold ; it is then wrapped in a thin slice of fat bacon, and next in a buttered paper and placed in a stew-pan with loz. of butter, a carrot, an onion, a blade of celery, and a bunch of herbs ; now fry it lightly for twelve or fifteen minutes, then pour on to it a gill of good white or colourless stock, and let it cook gently in the oven for an hour, adding more stock as that in