The "Queen" cookery books: Entrees

Aspic aux Tomates a V Americaine. — Prepare a richly coloured tomato aspic, and with it line a border mould pretty thickly ; then fill the latter with a mixture of shred chicken, ham, tongue, sweetbread, &c., as you please, covering it with a finishing layer of tomato aspic, and put it aside till set ; when it is turned out and the centre filled up with a mixture of celery (cut up into strips and thrown into water to crisp) and blanched walnuts, using one-third the quantity of walnuts that you have of celery, and moistening the whole with white mayonnaise. Garnish the outside of the aspic mould with quartered cabbage lettuce and either plover’s eggs or quartered hard boiled eggs. (The bottled plover’s eggs come in well for this.) Another version of this dish is made by filling the savoury jelly-lined mould with chicken cream (made as for creme de volatile), setting it with more of the savoury jelly (which should be rather stiff for this purpose, allowing loz. of leaf gelatine to each pint of strong chicken stock), and filling in the centre with an oyster mayonnaise, garnishing it outside with bunches of seasoned watercress and sliced tomato. This dish is one that any intelligent cook can vary to any extent, as any meat can be used in this way. Aspic de Volatile aux Huitres. — Blanch some good oysters in their own liquor till plump and frilly, then drain them and leave till dry ; cut the white meat of a cold cooked chicken into neat pieces, either dice or rounds, and shred and crisp two-thirds as much celery as you have chicken, and blanch half the bulk of good walnuts ; now line a plain charlotte mould with jelly cream ( i.e ., a gill of thick double cream carefully stirred with half a pint rather stiff savoury jelly; or if preferred, use a rich creamy bechamel sauce stiffened with |oz. of best leaf gelatine to the pint of bechamel), and then fill up -with the chicken, celery, walnuts, and oyster, mixed with a little good mayonnaise aspic, and serve garnished with prawns, caviar, and chopped aspic jelly. Aspic d la Menagere. — This is very much the same as the previous recipe, only the mould is lined with a brown chaufroix sauce (prepared by mixing together half a pint aspic jelly and a gill each of tomato and brown sauce, with a wineglassful of sherry, |oz. of glaze or Liebig Co.’s extract, and a dust of coralline pepper), and fill up the mould with minced underdone beef or mutton, mixed with tomato mayonnaise, washed, boned, and filleted anchovies, minced olives or capers, &c., and serve garnished with any nice salad of cold cooked vegetables set with aspic in little cups or dariole moulds.