Cookery and housekeeping

The meat is pounded in a marble mortar, and half its weight of the fat part of a ham or of boiled bacon is worked in ; and after passing through a sieve, cream is added to soften the mixture, with pepper and salt in very moderate quantities. Instead of the fat of bacon, beef suet may be used, and a small quantity of milk. Both these modes will produce very fair quenelle meat, but the most dainty quenelle meat is made by using cream, or the larger proportion of cream, instead of bacon and suet. Test the quenelle meat by poaching a very small portion in hot water for a a few minutes. Open the sample, and thus ascertain if it is smooth, light, yet firm. The quenelle meat is either placed in small dariole moulds and steamed in a bain-marie, or it is moulded with two tablespoons into the shape of a flattened egg ; it is poached in broth or stock of a pale colour for about ten minutes in the same pan. The quenelles are then arranged on the entree dish and surrounded with rich brown sauce, or a puree of mushrooms. As quenelles contain either cream, or substitutes for cream, it is false taste to add a cream sauce. A variety of quenelle is made by giving to each quenelle a core of dark meat made by chopping up ham or tongue, mushrooms, or truffles. i84 QUENELLES. Quenelles. No. 2. One pound of lean veal cut from the leg. Scrape it with a knife ; pound it, and rub it through a wire sieve on to a plate. Steep i lb. of bread in tepid water, and wring it in a cloth to get out the moisture. Put it in a stevvpan with i oz. of butter and a little salt. Stir it over the fire with a wooden spoon until it ceases to stick to the pan and forms a smooth paste. Place it between two plates to cool. Put in a mortar 12 ozs. of the prepared veal, 6 ozs. of fresh butter, and 8 ozs. of the bread panada. Pound these well together ; mix in gradually three whole eggs and two tablespoonsful of good white sauce and the yolks of two more eggs. Season with pepper and salt ; and when the forcemeat has been well mixed by pounding it into a smooth compact body, take it out of the mortar, put it into a basin, and keep in the cool until required for use. QUENELLES. Form the quenelles with two tablespoons, poach them in the ordinary way, dish them in a circle, and garnish the centre with any vegetable, or mushrooms, &c. Very small quenelles about the size of an almond are used in clear soups, taking the place of vegetables. SWEETBREADS. 185 custard-mixture, &c. The allowance is two or three to each soup plate. Sweetbreads. A sweetbread is so tender if simply dressed that the attempt to improve it by braising only destroys its flavour. It should be parboiled as soon as it comes from the butcher, as it is liable to turn sour. Sweetbreads are a dainty and not very expensive dish in the country. They are so dear in towns as to be only used where cost is no object. The sweetbread is to be cut into pieces about three-quarters of an inch thick, egged, and breadcrumbed, and fried a golden brown. Crisp fried parsley must be ready. The pieces of sweetbread are dressed in a circle on a napkin, and the parsley is placed in the centre. Slices of lemon may be handed round or used as a garnish.