The "Queen" cookery books: Entrees

alf a gill of separately cooked and shred young vegetables, such as young carrots, turnips, peas, cucumber, &c.). For game use Richelieu or Espagnole stiffened with leaf gelatine ; whilst for beef or mutton few things beat tomato mayonnaise Or Gorgona sauce (i.e., tartare into which you have mixed a spoonful of essence of anchovies, a spoonful each of minced parsley and chives, and of tarragon vinegar, a washed and minced anchovy or two, the pulp of two raw tomatoes, and a gill of aspic jelly for each gill of tartare) . The coquilles or cases may be served in either china or silver shells or cases, or in paper cases as you please, and consist of all sorts of tiny scraps of meat, sucli as chicken, game, cold roast meat, brown or white, cold cooked brains, sweetbread, ham, tongue, &c., according to what you have, mixed with capers, minced olives, young cold cooked vegetables, fillets of anchovy, minced truffles, &c. In short all and every kind of scraps, but depending for their success entirely on the way the said scraps are harmonised and mixed with the sauce, and garnished. A recipe or two for this kind of dish will be given in the next chapter. The only thing to remember with these pretty little dishes is that though distinctly economical, they need foresight, and in this as in every case the woman who cannot pay with her purse must pay with her person, as the French say. Whenever by any chance there is a surplus in the domestic budget, employ some of this in the judicious purchase of a few odds and ends, such as a bottle of good olives, another of anchovies in brine, or the same fish in oil, some stuffed olives, a pot or two of any nice paste, such as anchovy, cod’s roe, shrimp, &c., a bottle or two of capei’s, and last but not least, some pretty moulds, and china or paper cases in profusion. It is a great stimulus to the cook who has really done her best with homely tools, to bring her in, say, a dozen of any pretty little moulds of a fancy shape ; a pastry rack for masking her chaufroix on ; some little knives for “turning” (i.e., cutting vegetables artistically), a potato slicer, &c. ; such things bought singly do not run into much money individually, and add enormously to the comfort of the cook, and the using of otherwise wasted scraps. Well do I remember finding one day in the larder a saucerful of tiny morsels of flaked fish flanked by some skin and the bones and trimmings of the fish. “ Why, you have forgotten to give Pussy her supper last night ! ” I observed. “ Pussy’s supper, ma’am, indeed no ! She had it all right enough ; why that’s my savoury for to-night, ma’am ! ” and sure enough, up came some tiny little souffles that evening evolved from scraps I should have thought any cook justified in emptying into Pussy’s plate.