If you dress the chickens English fashion, you
will need the liver and gizzard to tuck under the wings ;
in this case, stew only the feet and throat, using a little
meat of any kind, if you have it, to take their place ;
but on no account fail to use the feet, as they are as rich
in jelly as calves' feet in proportion to their size.
General Management in Small Families. 49
The jelly laid aside will be enough to ornament and
give relish to a little dish of cold chicken, and changes
it from a dry and commonplace thing to a reciter cM one.
If two chickens are cooked it is more economical than
one ; there is, then, double the amount of gravy, gener-
ally sufficient, if you lay some very nice pieces of cold
chicken in a bowl, to pour over it and leave it enveloped
in jelly ; you still then, if from dinner for two people,
have perhaps joints enough to make a dish of curry or
fricassee, or any of the many ways in which cold chicken
may be used, for which see chapter on ''Warming Over.^^
For small households large joints are to be avoided,
but even a small roast is a large joint when there are but
two or three to eat it. For this reason it is a good plan
to buy such joints as divide well. A sirloin of beef is
better made into two fine dishes than into one roast,
and then warmed over twice. Every one knows that
''Filet de hceuf Chateaubriand^^ is one of the classical
dishes of the French table, that to a Frenchman luxury
can go no further ; but every one does not know how
entirely within his power it is to have that dish as often
as he has roast beef ; how convenient it would be to so
have it. Here it is : When your sirloin roast comes from
the butcher, take out the tenderloin or fillets, which you
must always choose thick ; cut it across into steaks an
inch thick, trim them, cover them with a coat of butter
(or oil, which is much better), and broil them ten min-
utes, turning them often ; garnish with fried potatoes,
and serve with miice Chateaubriand, as follows : Put a
gill of white wine (or claret will do if you have no
white) into a saucepan, with a piece of glaze, weighing
an ounce and a half ; add three quarters of a pint of
espagnoUy and simmer fifteen minutes ; when ready to
8
50 Culture and Cooking.
serye, thicken with two ounces of maitre dHiotel butter
in which a dessert-spoonful of flour has been worked.
That is how Jules Gouff e's recipe runs ; but, as no small
family will keep espagnole ready made, allow a little more
glaze (of course the recipe as giyen may be divided to
half or quarter, provided the correct proportions are
retained), and use a tablespoonful of roux and the maitre
dliotel butter, both of which you have probably in your
store-room ; if not, brown a little flour, chop some pars-
ley, and add to two ounces of butter ; work them to-
gether, then let them dissolve in the sauce, for which
purpose let it go off the boil ; let the sauce simmer a
minute, skim, and serve.
The sirloin of beef, denuded of its fillet, is still a good
roast ; and as you can't have your cake and eat it too,
and hot fresh roast beef is better than the same warmed
over, warm ye never so wisely, I think this plan may
commend itself to those who like nice little dinners.
Page 28
Presented as published in 1885. 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
If you dress the chickens English fashion, you will need the liver and gizzard to tuck under the wings ; in this case, stew only the feet and throat, using a little meat of any kind, if you have it, to take their place ; but on no account fail to use the feet, as they are as rich in jelly as calves' feet in proportion to their size.
General Management in Small Families. 49
The jelly laid aside will be enough to ornament and give relish to a little dish of cold chicken, and changes it from a dry and commonplace thing to a reciter cM one. If two chickens are cooked it is more economical than one ; there is, then, double the amount of gravy, generally sufficient, if you lay some very nice pieces of cold chicken in a bowl, to pour over it and leave it enveloped in jelly ; you still then, if from dinner for two people, have perhaps joints enough to make a dish of curry or fricassee, or any of the many ways in which cold chicken may be used, for which see chapter on ''Warming Over.^^
For small households large joints are to be avoided, but even a small roast is a large joint when there are but two or three to eat it. For this reason it is a good plan to buy such joints as divide well. A sirloin of beef is better made into two fine dishes than into one roast, and then warmed over twice. Every one knows that ''Filet de hceuf Chateaubriand^^ is one of the classical dishes of the French table, that to a Frenchman luxury can go no further ; but every one does not know how entirely within his power it is to have that dish as often as he has roast beef ; how convenient it would be to so have it. Here it is : When your sirloin roast comes from the butcher, take out the tenderloin or fillets, which you must always choose thick ; cut it across into steaks an inch thick, trim them, cover them with a coat of butter (or oil, which is much better), and broil them ten minutes, turning them often ; garnish with fried potatoes, and serve with sauce Chateaubriand, as follows : Put a gill of white wine (or claret will do if you have no white) into a saucepan, with a piece of glaze, weighing an ounce and a half ; add three quarters of a pint of espagnole and simmer fifteen minutes ; when ready to
50 Culture and Cooking.
serye, thicken with two ounces of maitre dHiotel butter in which a dessert-spoonful of flour has been worked. That is how Jules Gouff e's recipe runs ; but, as no small family will keep espagnole ready made, allow a little more glaze (of course the recipe as given may be divided to half or quarter, provided the correct proportions are retained), and use a tablespoonful of roux and the maitre d'hôtel butter, both of which you have probably in your store-room ; if not, brown a little flour, chop some parsley, and add to two ounces of butter ; work them together, then let them dissolve in the sauce, for which purpose let it go off the boil ; let the sauce simmer a minute, skim, and serve.
The sirloin of beef, denuded of its fillet, is still a good roast ; and as you can't have your cake and eat it too, and hot fresh roast beef is better than the same warmed over, warm ye never so wisely, I think this plan may commend itself to those who like nice little dinners.