The complete Indian housekeeper & cook

3. Compote of Pigeons. — Lay some slices of bacon in a stewpan with a little butter. Fry and place your pigeons on the bacon, turning them round till set all over. Then cut the pigeons in two, lay round the stewpan, and cover with strong stock, and add a carrot and onion or two and a faggot of herbs. Simmer gently for an hour. Strain the gravy, thicken with flour, 1 unit to 15, and pour over the pigeons, which should be dressed on a masked potato border with a ragout of mushrooms or any other suitable garnishings. 4. Creams. — A number of pretty cold entrees can be made with whipped cream, adding to it pounded lobster or chicken. As an instance of what a little thouglit can produce, we give the following charming dish for hot weatlier : Take eight tomatoes e.xactly the same size and shape, cnt off the tops about one-fourth of the depth of the fruit, and carefully scoop out the seeds. Take some llarataria prawns, cut into smallish bits, and mix with a cream mayonnaise sauce. Sprinkle the inside of the tomatoes with salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, and half fill with the prawns. Pound the rest of the prawns to a paste, and moisten with the red pulp of the tomatoes. Mix sufficient whipped cream to make it pale pink and stiff. With more cream mix salt, a dro]) of pepper, sauce, and a spoonful of pounded pistachio nuts. If not green enough, add a little spinach juice. Take a slice off’ a large cucumber, cut it with a round fluted cutter, and stick it upright in the centre of the tomato ; fill one 270 The Complete Indian side with pink cream and tiie otlier with green. Dish up round a mould of very clear aspic jelly containing prawn quenelles, 'llie foundation of all these cold side-dishes is the same, the variant is ingenuity and care. 5. Custards. — Beat the meat of a raw chicken or rabbit, pheasant, 01 mutton, or beef to a pulp and rub it through a sieve several times. To every unit of pulp add 2 units of pure milk or thin cream. Mi.\ thoroughly, and rub through the sieve again. Butter small moulds and steam the custards. Ihis is simply a perfect recipe, and practically does away with all need for panade sauce, hutter, and eggs. Any sauce may be poured round the custards ; they may be made any shape, and flavoured in a thousand ways. 6. Cutlets, Braised, — Do not use a chopper to cut with, but a saw and a very sharp knife. Do not pound or mince the cutlets, simply cut them into shape and trim the bones. The spine bone should be sawn off and the rib bones sawn across before the cutlets are divided. When neatly trimmed, lay the cutlets in any kind of seasoning^ for an hour. Then place in a stewpan with some butter or fat. Fry brown on both sides ; sprinkle over a little flour, fry for a minute or two, then add sufficient stock to cover and braise for half-an-hour. Cutlets done this way are the foundation of many dishes called by different names according to the garniture anil sauce with which they are served.