The "Queen" cookery books: Entrees

to nature ! ” A large scale of colour may be obtained by the judicious use of coralline pepper, shrimps or prawns, tomatoes, radishes, &c., for reds ; greens of all shades, from the soft grey-green of the olive or the pale sea green of the cucumber, to the almost black green of caviar ; the black of the truffle ; the yellow and white of the hardboiled egg, &c. ; all these may justifiably be utilised, whilst dark or pale golden aspic chopped, or in cubes, adds brightness to any dish with which it may be in harmony. The recipes given in the next chapter will serve to show how these various addenda may be utilised, and an intelligent cook will very soon learn to vary her entrees almost indefinitely. Lastly come the mayonnaises. As a general principle the foundation of these is the mayonnaise sauce. For this a recipe is given in the chapter dedicated to sauces, hut it may be varied in plenty of ways ; for instance, the blending together of a gill each of rich mayonnaise, tomato puree, and just liquid aspic, with a spoonful of tarragon vinegar, produces a beautiful tomato mayonnaise, which may be made with tomato ketchup (in this case omit the subsequent vinegar), conserve de tomates, or the fresh vegetable, as you choose. If necessary, a drop or two of carmine may be permitted to bring up the colour, but for pity’s sake do not overdo this ! Remember that though every mayonnaise is more or less of a salad, a salad is not necessarily a mayonnaise. A mayonnaise is especially dear to the economic, if dainty, housewife, as by its means so many pretty dishes may be improvised at comparatively short notice out of the veriest scraps. For instance, say you have on the previous day had a duck for dinner, which, though but little has been eaten, has been decidedly mangled in the carving. Cut this duck up into the smallest and neatest joints, mix together three large tablespoonfuls of rich mayonnaise with half a pint of just liquid aspic, stirring into this as you mix it two tablespoonfuls or so of minced and blanched olives, a good dust of coralline pepper, and, if at hand, a tablespoonful of stiffly whipped cream, mask the duck joints with this, and leave them till set. Have ready some quartered cabbage lettuce, carefully removing the outer leaves ; break up these outer leaves as small as possible with your fingers (do not use a knife on any consideration), mix them M with any scrapings from the carcase of the duck, a few minced olives, some washed, honed, and filleted anchovies, and half a pint of rich mayonnaise sauce. Arrange a thick bed of this on a dish, pile the mayonnaise-covered joints on top and surround it all with the quartered lettuce, some quartered hardboiled eggs, and, if at hand, a little finely chopped aspic jelly, and you will have a dish no one need be ashamed of. A variante of this, obtained by coating the duck joints with cold Bigarade sauce mixed in the same proportions with aspic jelly as the mayonnaise, may be served on a Russian salad made of all kinds of cold cooked vegetables, anchovies, hardboiled egg, &c. Or you may make a chaufroix by dissolving |oz. of best leaf gelatine in, say, half a pint of very thick brown olive sauce, letting it boil in a quarter part, and then using as it is setting.