The "Queen" cookery books: Entrees

bread, tongue, truffle, and foie gras, all cut into neat tubes and tossed in a thick rich bechamel sauce ; then cover this down with more of the creme farce, cover with a buttered paper, and steam as described before for souffles and mousses. These meat cakes may also be made with previously cooked meat, and consequently answer admirably either as a hot rechauffe or a chaufroix. Almost any good farce can be utilised for these pains. For instance, the homely liver and bacon will furnish an extremely palatable entree thus ; Cut into dice equal parts of fresh calf’s liver and parboiled fat bacon, and fry these for five minutes with one and a half to two small parboiled onions (for a pound of liver), also minced, seasoning it all with salt, coralline pepper, and finely minced parsley ; then turn it into a mortar and pound it all together to a very smooth paste; now add to it some thin fillets of rather lean ham, and the yolks of two eggs beaten till light, incorporating these well with the mixture, and lastly, stir in quickly the stiffly whipped whites of three eggs ; fill a well buttered plain charlotte mould with the mixture, and steam it steadily for an hour, when it is turned out and served with a good espagnole over and round it and a garnish of broiled mushrooms. Of course, if possible, this may be made with poultry livers, and is rather more delicate, and also more expensive ! This farce is also particularly good for stuffing birds, such as pigeons when to be served en chaufroix ; or for larks, ortolans, quails, &c., in cases. Quenelle meat is sometimes enriched with any good sauce to taste and truffles or foie gras, and then spoonfuls of this are first rolled in flour, shaped into the size and form of pigeon’s eggs, wrapped in small pieces of caul, dipped in liquid butter, and then fried a golden brown ; well drained and served with appropriate gravy as crepinettes (from crepine, caul) of whatever the foundation of the quenelle mixture may be. Boudins a la Czarina. — Take about half a pound of chicken farce, as prepared for chicken creams, and fill with it a small baking tin about 8in. by 12in., lay over this a sheet of buttered paper and poach it in the usual way from six to eight minutes ; then leave this till cold, when you divide it in half lengthways, dividing these two strips each into eight, mask these with a rich bechamel sauce, reduced by rapid boiling to the consistency of very thick melted butter, and dip in breadcrumbs twice, fry in plenty of fresh boiling fat, and serve decorated with fried parsley, and send a rich bechamel sauce to table in a boat. Boudins of Pheasant a la Prinz Karl. — Prepare some quenelle farce with pheasant, mix with it about a sixth of its bulk of minced truffles, and let it stand on ice for a little to set it ; when firm take off pieces the size of a small egg and with your well floured hands give these an oval shape slightly flattened at the sides (this is the real houdin shape), being careful they all match in size and shape ; now poach in boiling water, as described above for quenelles, for a few minutes, after which drain them well and leave them till cold, when you dip them