The "Queen" cookery books: Entrees

Petit Pain de Becassines. — Prepare a brown creme mixture with the flesh of some raw snipe, using the broken up carcases to make a rich and strongly flavoured Espagnole sauce. Take the flesh from the breast of a cooked snipe and cut it into Julienne strips, and some truffles to match, moistening this with a little of the sauce made from the snipe, boiled in till thick. Now half fill some well buttered bombe moulds with the creme mixture, then put in a spoonful of the Julienne, and cover with more of the farce ; poach in the usual manner, turn out and serve with the sauce above mentioned. Pain de Volatile au Foie Gras. — Prepare a good chicken cream mixture, and with this half fill a well buttered plain mould ; turn out a small jar of pate de foie gras truffe, remove all the fat, &c., and place it in the centre of the mixture, covering it all up with more of the farce ; poach or steam in the usual way, then turn out and serve with a rich Bechamel or Supreme sauce round it. Quenelles of Grouse d la Windsor. — Take the flesh from two good grouse or blackcock, and make with them a delicate quenelle mixture ; meanwhile, prepare a strong game stock with the carcases, covered with a little ordinary stock, and let this cook for about three-quarters of an hour till strongly flavoured. Now with this moisten a brown roux, made with l^oz. of butter, and loz. of flour, season to taste with salt, a little cayenne, and some port G wine ; meanwhile, put the quenelle mixture into as many small moulds as you need; with the rest, if any be left, fill a rather shallow border mould (failing the grouse farce, use any other good quenelle mixture), and poach both the quenelles and the border mould ; then turn them out and dish the quenelles on the border, and pour the sauce over and round it, filling up the centre with small broiled mushrooms, slices of cooked tongue heated in a little stock and wine, and some poultry livers, carefully sautes in butter and sherry. Quenelles of Rabbit a la Sevigne. — Prepare a nice, not too solid, quenelle mixture with the flesh of one large or two small rabbits ; butter some small patty pans (preferably oval ones), fill them with the quenelle mixture, making a hollow in the centre of each with the handle of the spoon ; into this put a teaspoonful of rather stiff mushroom puree, cover them with the quenelle farce, smoothing this over in a dome shape with a warm, wet knife ; strew over them some finely minced truffles, pressing these well into place with a knife, and poach in the usual way for eight or ten minutes ; have ready cooked some tiny pea-shaped quenelles, drain these well, mix them in a little well reduced allemande sauce with some cooked button mushrooms and sliced truffle. Dish the quenelles with the truffled side uppermost in a fried crouton, and fill up the centre with the quenelles, &c., and serve with, if liked, a little more allemande sauce in a boat. The crouton may be either a plain slice deprived of its crust, delicately fried in butter ; or it may be SOUFFLES, MOUSSES, &c. used by hollowing out a slice 2in. thick, leaving a rim round the edge and then frying this ; drain it well, dust the edge round with coralline pepper and finely minced parsley, and dish the rabbit quenelles, &c., neatly in it. This is a particularly pretty way of serving a small entree. o 2 CHAPTER Y.