Mayonnaise again is, if possible, more inexplicable
still, and is spelt in all sorts of ways by all sorts of
authorities. Mayonnaise (said to be derived either
from a duke of Mayenne at the time of the Fronde) ;
Mahonnaise (from the town of Mahon), Magnon-
naise (from an old Prove^ale word meaning to
labour, or to tiro, from the fact that the proper
mixing of the sauce and the salad herbs with which
it was prepared was a tiresome operation ; a fact still
remembered in the technical French term for mixing
a salad, i.e., fatiguer la salade, whence as salads were
usually mixed and stirred by the youngest lady
present — generally with her hands — she was called
la magnonnaise or tirer) ; are some of the variations
CHAUFROIX, &c.
155
of the word, which appears, however, nowadays to
have crystallised into the phrase mayonnaise, and to
be referred most usually to the actual sauce or
dressing. Broadly speaking chaufroix are pieces of
meat covered, or masked over, with an appropriate
sauce, thickened by boiling in, or reduction, till it
has become an actual glaze. The great chefs of old
were famous for their sauces a reduction, to produce
which they boiled down joints and carcases to an
essence, or fumet, as a strong glaze-like sauce is still
called in the French cuisine. This, however, was
necessarily a somewhat costly method of preparing
sauces, and only suited to the households of such as
could afford to postpone considerations of economy
to the gratification of their palates. So as demo-
cracy spread even into the kitchen, cooks learnt first
to utilise stiff meat jelly (made from inferior joints
and bones) for the foundation of their sauces, and
thus diminished the boiling-in process needed to
ensure the density of the preparation ; and then
latterly, even well known chefs availed themselves of
the stiffening properties of isinglass, and later on of
the finest leaf gelatine. Prepared as they taught,
sauces stiffened with either isinglass or the finest
leaf gelatine, betrayed no trace of the strengthening
medium which they carefully dissolved in the sauce, i
and boiled down with it till the desired consistency, and
the perfect cooking of the gelatinous matter, was f
secured. Of itself, if of good quality, the stiffening *
medium possesses no distinctive flavour, and if
cooked to the point of dissolution and smoothly
blended with whatever it is mixed, leaves no trace of
ENTREES.
156
1
its presence beyond the dainty firmness, and the
delicate glazy surface it imparts. But this delicacy
is the outcome of knowledge and care, and as its use
descended to those who possessed neither that know-
ledge nor that care, only the result, i.e., the stiffness
of such sauces, was noted, and as to such persons
gelatine was gelatine, and cost was a consideration,
sufficient attention was not bestowed on the quality
of the stiffening substance ; so when carelessly melted
(more or less) in boiling sauce, it was discovered
to be lumpy, and very often distressingly rough and
gluey in flavour ; accordingly a substitute was
sought for and discovered in the bottled aspic jelly
offered by various enterprising firms as a garnish,
in which the rough taste of the gelatine was
hidden by the flavouring. This being convenient,
was accordingly added recklessly to any sauce that
was to be used cold, regardless of the nature of the
latter.✪ Meat Jelly
Page 75 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1901. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Mayonnaise again is, if possible, more inexplicable still, and is spelt in all sorts of ways by all sorts of authorities. Mayonnaise (said to be derived either from a duke of Mayenne at the time of the Fronde) ; Mahonnaise (from the town of Mahon), Magnonnaise (from an old Provençale word meaning to labour, or to tire, from the fact that the proper mixing of the sauce and the salad herbs with which it was prepared was a tiresome operation ; a fact still remembered in the technical French term for mixing a salad, i.e., fatiguer la salade, whence as salads were usually mixed and stirred by the youngest lady present — generally with her hands — she was called la magnonnaise or tirer) ; are some of the variations
of the word, which appears, however, nowadays to have crystallised into the phrase mayonnaise, and to be referred most usually to the actual sauce or dressing. Broadly speaking chaufroix are pieces of meat covered, or masked over, with an appropriate sauce, thickened by boiling in, or reduction, till it has become an actual glaze. The great chefs of old were famous for their sauces a reduction, to produce which they boiled down joints and carcases to an essence, or fumet, as a strong glaze-like sauce is still called in the French cuisine. This, however, was necessarily a somewhat costly method of preparing sauces, and only suited to the households of such as could afford to postpone considerations of economy to the gratification of their palates. So as democracy spread even into the kitchen, cooks learnt first to utilise stiff meat jelly (made from inferior joints and bones) for the foundation of their sauces, and thus diminished the boiling-in process needed to ensure the density of the preparation ; and then latterly, even well known chefs availed themselves of the stiffening properties of isinglass, and later on of the finest leaf gelatine. Prepared as they taught, sauces stiffened with either isinglass or the finest leaf gelatine, betrayed no trace of the strengthening medium which they carefully dissolved in the sauce, i and boiled down with it till the desired consistency, and the perfect cooking of the gelatinous matter, was f secured. Of itself, if of good quality, the stiffening * medium possesses no distinctive flavour, and if cooked to the point of dissolution and smoothly blended with whatever it is mixed, leaves no trace of
its presence beyond the dainty firmness, and the delicate glazy surface it imparts. But this delicacy is the outcome of knowledge and care, and as its use descended to those who possessed neither that knowledge nor that care, only the result, i.e., the stiffness of such sauces, was noted, and as to such persons gelatine was gelatine, and cost was a consideration, sufficient attention was not bestowed on the quality of the stiffening substance ; so when carelessly melted (more or less) in boiling sauce, it was discovered to be lumpy, and very often distressingly rough and gluey in flavour ; accordingly a substitute was sought for and discovered in the bottled aspic jelly offered by various enterprising firms as a garnish, in which the rough taste of the gelatine was hidden by the flavouring. This being convenient, was accordingly added recklessly to any sauce that was to be used cold, regardless of the nature of the latter.
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Meat Jelly