The "Queen" cookery books: Entrees

the pan evaporates. It is now allowed to cool a little, sliced and served with any sauce or garnish to taste. This of course is when it is to be served as escalopes. It can also be served whole, either cooked as above, with any garnish to taste, or after blanching and pressing it may be larded and then braised as above. In this case, when taken out of the paper, it is usually brushed over with liquid glaze and set for a minute or two in the oven to crisp and brown the lardoons before dishing it on the puree (whether of mushroom, sorrel, tomato, &c.) with which it is to be served. Or it can, when braised, be sliced down, and dipped in egg and breadcrumb, or in good frying batter, and lightly fried ; or it may be sliced down as before, and dished like fillets of beef, on a border of mashed potato, and served with supreme, or any other rich white sauce poured over and round it. An average sweetbread takes about an hour’s gentle cooking to be in perfection. A variety of meat can be served as fillets or escalopes, which hardly come under the heading of cutlets (though that name too is occasionally applied to them), as, for instance, liver, which, like ham or foie gras, when cut into long narrow fillets, or even slices, is also known as tranches or lames, of whatever the meat. These names are simply given to explain their use on foreigu menus ; for ordinary purposes the description can be omitted altogether, and simply the name of the meat used, as for instance, foie de veau a Vitalienne, a very favourite French dish, which, as will be seen when the description is given, is not nearly so pretentious as its name would imply. Foie gras is usually known as escalopes, cliiefly from the shape of the slices, which are mostly scooped out in a concave shape with a silver spoon. Lastly, there is a form of fillet known to French chefs as filet contise, of which Fig. 9 gives a clear idea. (Fig. 10 shows the fillet Fig. 9. Fig. 10. ready for cooking ; Fig. 9 showing it cut ready for inserting the garnish.) The fillet is lifted clear off from the breast-bone of the bird, or the backbone of a hare or rabbit, and instead of being sliced down as described above, each fillet forms one portion (except in the case of a hare or large rabbit, when • each side fillet can be halved, cut, and trimmed into shape). This pear shaped piece of meat is then . gashed right across horizontally three or four times, D a slice of red pickled tongue, or a fillet of truffle, &c., being fixed in each gash, the pointed end being then gently trimmed and pressed round with a wet knife, into a rather spiral form. These fillets are more solid than the usual ones, and are particularly good when the meat has been marinaded, as it allows the flavouring to permeate the flesh thoroughly. But their preparation demands much deftness and care on the part of the cook, for their appearance depends entirely on their regularity, CHAPTEK III. CUTLETS, FILLETS, &c. (Continued).