There is another point to watch when choosing your
entrees, and that is their general relationship with each
other, or with the other dishes that compose your menu.
Artists in ordering dinners go as far as to say that nothing
should be repeated. You must not give, for instance, a
consomme de volaille, and presently follow it with croquettes
de volaille, or even fowl as a rot. Mutton appearing in a
side-dish must not be seen again in any form. Two white
meats ought not to be introduced side by side. Though
following this maxim to the best of our power, we cannot
always rely on being able to carry it out thoroughly in
Madras. The market supply is alas ! too meagTC, as a
rule, for us to pick and choose as we might wish.
To return to our class list of entrees, I cannot too strongly
urge you to go in for dishes from class one more than
you do. Can anything be more acceptable than a nice
juicy little chop from a necJc of mutton, on whose sides
the marks of the grid-iron are plainly visible, reposing
against a circle of really well-mashed potatoes, or of
savoury rice, holding in its centre a puree of celery, petits
pois, or sauce souhise ? The grid-iron is invaluable : the
64 CULINARY JOTTINGS FOR MADRAS.
chop comes to table full of gravy, yet not underdone ; it
has, to use a kitchen phrase, " seen the fire" (browned) in
places, and is absolutely free from the grease which so
often mars a dish of chops cooked in the frying pan. For
the little Club-dinner, this class of entree is always popular.
I noticed that a plain cutlet such as I have described, or a
plain fillet of beef, figured in almost every Club menu, I
had the pleasure of discussing when last at home. Plea-
sing variety can be secured by the cook if he will change
his sauce, or his puree. Choose the nech chops for these
entrees.
The fillet of mutton is that tender strip of meat which
runs down the inside of the saddle under the kidney. If
of sufficient thickness, this delicate morsel, cut into nice
pieces, and broiled over a clear fire, is worthy of Lucullus
himself. It is the thing for an invalid, or one coming
round after an illness.
The fillet of beef is the undercut of the sirloin, which
the butcher will cut out for you in the market here if you
wish it. But I have found good fillets produced thus : —
Buy a really good joint of the ribs of beef, and cut out
lengthways the good tender meat near the end of the
bone, with any fat there may be attached to it. Bones,
and flap, and trimmings can be counted in the allowance
of gravy-meat, and the tender meat you have cut out will
trim into capital fillets /or entrees, or cook whole as du filet
de boeuf pique, aux champignons, au puree d'oseille, S^c, as a
relet' e.
Fillets of fowls and game are formed by cutting oft'
neatly the whole of the breast meat right down to the
wing joint ; this you can divide into fillets according to the
size you requii'e.
The hare and rabbit fillet is produced by cutting out
the long strip of good meat which runs down either side
HINTS ABOUT ENTREES. 65
of the back bone. Well larded with fat bacon, and
cooked grenadin-ioo^hion, with Espagnole, or sauce souhise,
you may do worse than present a dish of these fillets to
your best friend.
Page 37
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
There is another point to watch when choosing your entrees, and that is their general relationship with each other, or with the other dishes that compose your menu. Artists in ordering dinners go as far as to say that nothing should be repeated. You must not give, for instance, a consomme de volaille, and presently follow it with croquettes de volaille, or even fowl as a rot. Mutton appearing in a side-dish must not be seen again in any form. Two white meats ought not to be introduced side by side. Though following this maxim to the best of our power, we cannot always rely on being able to carry it out thoroughly in Madras. The market supply is alas ! too meagre, as a rule, for us to pick and choose as we might wish.
To return to our class list of entrees, I cannot too strongly urge you to go in for dishes from class one more than you do. Can anything be more acceptable than a nice juicy little chop from a neck of mutton, on whose sides the marks of the grid-iron are plainly visible, reposing against a circle of really well-mashed potatoes, or of savoury rice, holding in its centre a puree of celery, petits pois, or sauce souhise ? The grid-iron is invaluable : the
chop comes to table full of gravy, yet not underdone ; it has, to use a kitchen phrase, " seen the fire" (browned) in places, and is absolutely free from the grease which so often mars a dish of chops cooked in the frying pan. For the little Club-dinner, this class of entree is always popular. I noticed that a plain cutlet such as I have described, or a plain fillet of beef, figured in almost every Club menu, I had the pleasure of discussing when last at home. Pleasing variety can be secured by the cook if he will change his sauce, or his puree. Choose the nech chops for these entrees.
The fillet of mutton is that tender strip of meat which runs down the inside of the saddle under the kidney. If of sufficient thickness, this delicate morsel, cut into nice pieces, and broiled over a clear fire, is worthy of Lucullus himself. It is the thing for an invalid, or one coming round after an illness.
The fillet of beef is the undercut of the sirloin, which the butcher will cut out for you in the market here if you wish it. But I have found good fillets produced thus : — Buy a really good joint of the ribs of beef, and cut out lengthways the good tender meat near the end of the bone, with any fat there may be attached to it. Bones, and flap, and trimmings can be counted in the allowance of gravy-meat, and the tender meat you have cut out will trim into capital fillets /or entrees, or cook whole as du filet de boeuf pique, aux champignons, au puree d'oseille, S^c, as a relet' e.
Fillets of fowls and game are formed by cutting oft' neatly the whole of the breast meat right down to the wing joint ; this you can divide into fillets according to the size you requii'e.
The hare and rabbit fillet is produced by cutting out the long strip of good meat which runs down either side
of the back bone. Well larded with fat bacon, and cooked grenadin-fashion, with Espagnole, or sauce souhise, you may do worse than present a dish of these fillets to your best friend.