Consomme aux ocufs poches.
Pomfrct au puree de grandes crevettes.
Filet de ba^uf an puree d'oscillc.
Pommes de terre a 1' Americaine.
Canard sanvage.
Charlotte de pommes.
Fromage, hors d'ceuvres.
Dessert.
1. — This is a very simple method of turning an ordinary
clear gi'avy soup into a recherche pot-
ported egg»°'' "'"' "?«• Tho eggs (one for each person)
must however be carefully poached,
neither too lightly nor too hard, then trimmed neatly
leaving as little margin of white as possible, and served
with the soup. A few leaves of dried tarragon flavour the
consomme very pleasantly, and grated Parmesan should be
handed round on a separate plate. If you have no tar-
ragon leaves, try a little of the vinegar.
Note this : — In order to make sure of not breaking the
eggs in the tureen, — order your butler to heat the soup
plates and place the poached eggs in them, before he
serves the soup : he can then pour the soup over the eggs,
instead of having to ladle them out of the soup, which is
always an operation requiring much delicacy of touch, and
a broken egg spoils the appearance of the consomme.
MENU FOR A LITTLE HOME DINNER. 483
2. — Boil the pomfret. The prawn sauce that I recom-
mend is not the ordinary one eom-
pifr^^'^^"^'*"^ ^'^'^'' P'^s^^ 0^ melted butter (sauce hlancJie)
and lumps of prawn mixed with it.
The composition I think very much nicer is a creamy
puree of the shell-fish, a little thicker than ordinary
mayonnaise sauce, made thus : — A dozen fair sized prawns,
boiled, and cleaned, pounded to a paste in a mortar,
flavoured with an anchovy, a little spice, pepper, and salt,
and then worked with melted butter, floui', and a little
broth, to the consistency I have mentioned. It should be
served as hot as possible.
3. — I would stew the steak with a few nice vegetables,
and dress the sorrel independently.
Beef steak with Before you proceed to cook the steak,
sorrel puree. j i ^ »
make some gravy with scraps and
trimmings : it would be as well indeed to order a little
extra meat for that purpose, when you have got this to
your mind, strain it off and keep it handy. Now take a
frying-pan, melt a piece of butter at the bottom of it, and
shred an onion therein ; lay the steak upon it, and turn it
about until it is well browned on both sides ; now lift it
up and place it in your stew-pan, with the gravy and
vegetables, to simmer gently till done, which you can test
with a fork. It ought to be as tender as possible if you
are only careful enough to prevent galloping, that is, fast
cooking : the slow simmering process is the thing needful.
The vegetables cooked with the steak may be strained
from the gravy, and cut up into neat dice, to garnish the
top of the steak : the gravy must be saved for the sorrel
which you must cook as follows : —
Put two good handfuls of carefully picked sorrel in
plenty of boiling water, with a little salt, and a pinch of
soda, blanch for five minutes, drain, and chop the leaves
small on a board. Melt two ounces of butter in a sauce=
484 MENU FOR A LITTLE HOME DINNER. ✪ Prawn Sauce
Page 266 · 2 recipe records on this page
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
Consomme aux ocufs poches. Pomfrct au puree de grandes crevettes. Filet de boeuf au puree d'oseille. Pommes de terre a 1' Americaine. Canard sanvage. Charlotte de pommes. Fromage, hors d'ceuvres. Dessert. 1. — This is a very simple method of turning an ordinary clear gravy soup into a recherche poached egg»°'' "'"' "?«• Tho eggs (one for each person) must however be carefully poached, neither too lightly nor too hard, then trimmed neatly leaving as little margin of white as possible, and served with the soup. A few leaves of dried tarragon flavour the consomme very pleasantly, and grated Parmesan should be handed round on a separate plate. If you have no tarragon leaves, try a little of the vinegar.
Note this : — In order to make sure of not breaking the eggs in the tureen, — order your butler to heat the soup plates and place the poached eggs in them, before he serves the soup : he can then pour the soup over the eggs, instead of having to ladle them out of the soup, which is always an operation requiring much delicacy of touch, and a broken egg spoils the appearance of the consomme.
2. — Boil the pomfret. The prawn sauce that I recommend is not the ordinary one composed^^'^^"^'*"^ ^'^'^'' P'^s^^ 0^ melted butter (sauce hlancJie) and lumps of prawn mixed with it. The composition I think very much nicer is a creamy puree of the shell-fish, a little thicker than ordinary mayonnaise sauce, made thus : — A dozen fair sized prawns, boiled, and cleaned, pounded to a paste in a mortar, flavoured with an anchovy, a little spice, pepper, and salt, and then worked with melted butter, floui', and a little broth, to the consistency I have mentioned. It should be served as hot as possible.
3. — I would stew the steak with a few nice vegetables,
and dress the sorrel independently.
Beef steak with Before you proceed to cook the steak,
sorrel puree. j i ^ »
make some gravy with scraps and
trimmings : it would be as well indeed to order a little
extra meat for that purpose, when you have got this to
your mind, strain it off and keep it handy. Now take a
frying-pan, melt a piece of butter at the bottom of it, and
shred an onion therein ; lay the steak upon it, and turn it
about until it is well browned on both sides ; now lift it
up and place it in your stew-pan, with the gravy and
vegetables, to simmer gently till done, which you can test
with a fork. It ought to be as tender as possible if you
are only careful enough to prevent galloping, that is, fast
cooking : the slow simmering process is the thing needful.
The vegetables cooked with the steak may be strained
from the gravy, and cut up into neat dice, to garnish the
top of the steak : the gravy must be saved for the sorrel
which you must cook as follows : —
Put two good handfuls of carefully picked sorrel in plenty of boiling water, with a little salt, and a pinch of soda, blanch for five minutes, drain, and chop the leaves small on a board. Melt two ounces of butter in a sauce-
Records on this page
Prawn SauceBeef Steak with Sorrel Puree