All thrifty cooks should carefully save the scraps of
trimmings, the outer flap, and the ends of bone, which
were cut off in shaping the cutlets, for from them the basis
of the sauce which is to accompany the dish can, with u
little assistance, be composed.
Veal is occasionally procurable at Madras. If you suc-
ceed in getting a nice dish of cutlets, remember that it is
downright necessary to lard them with strips of fat bacon.
Veal is apt to be dry in England where the calf is fattened
for the market. In India it is far drier, and if cooked
without the assistance of bacon, veal cutlets are positively
wooden.
N.B. — Let the sauce prepared for your entree of cutlets
be sent round, piping hot, in a, boat. If poured round the
cutlets, it makes them sodden, and loses its effect entirely.
cd:ei:j^:e"T':e:t^ x:^^.
Entrees— concluded.
jTrt TAYING discussed the general methods of cooking
(il'JL cutlets, and fillets, we ought next to consider a few
good sauces to accompany them, but as I have
resolved to devote a chapter to that branch of the cook's
art, I must ask you to follow me now in a brief resume of
wrinkles regarding the higher classes of entrees.
Under class the second we come to that very useful
style of entree which I have called the " half -rich." For
these " made-dishes" you begin to call to youi' aid the
mincing machine and mortar, and, unless your experience
be above the average, success will almost wholly depend
upon your following with accuracy every line of the recipe
you may select. A well-flavoured cassolette, croquette,
houdin, or quenelle, if nicely cooked, and served with a good
sauce, a puree, or a macSdoine de legumes, is worthy of
a place in any menu ; but the slightest slovenly work is
fatal.
Our good friend Ramasamy has been taught to believe
that cutlets must be composed of chopped meats, so he
often sends to table under that title a dish of croquettes,
with a fragment of bone inserted in each of them. I need
hardly remind my readers, for instance, of the dish of
" chicken cutlets" which forms the standing plat of the
70 CULINARY JOTTINGS FOR MADRAS.
Madras Hotel. I know that some cookery books describe
as cotelettes, certain artistic mixtures of meats, with bits
of bone introduced to make them look like true cutlets,
but I would prefer omitting the bones, and calling such
dishes by theii- proper names, for they undoubtedly belong
really to the tribe of croquettes, houdins, ^c.
Chicken, ox and sheep's tongues, tender mutton, ham,
bacon, oysters, pigeons, turkey, rabbit, the livers of all
poultry, of rabbits, and game, — whether previously cooked
or not, — provide materials out of which these entrees can
be made. It is in the judicious blending of two or more
of them together, in the thorough pounding and incorpo-
ration thereof, in the selection of the condiments he em-
ploys to improve them, and so on, that the skill of the
good cook can be detected.
If you preserve your own ox tongues in this country,
and keep one generally ready for use, you will have a
very valuable thing to fall back upon for " made" entrees.
Cured sheep's tongues, too, are very useful, and a little
lamVs liver is sometimes a good thing to have at hand in
case of need.
Page 40
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
All thrifty cooks should carefully save the scraps of trimmings, the outer flap, and the ends of bone, which were cut off in shaping the cutlets, for from them the basis of the sauce which is to accompany the dish can, with u little assistance, be composed.
Veal is occasionally procurable at Madras. If you succeed in getting a nice dish of cutlets, remember that it is downright necessary to lard them with strips of fat bacon. Veal is apt to be dry in England where the calf is fattened for the market. In India it is far drier, and if cooked without the assistance of bacon, veal cutlets are positively wooden.
N.B. — Let the sauce prepared for your entree of cutlets be sent round, piping hot, in a, boat. If poured round the cutlets, it makes them sodden, and loses its effect entirely.
Entrees— concluded.
LAYING discussed the general methods of cooking (il'JL cutlets, and fillets, we ought next to consider a few good sauces to accompany them, but as I have resolved to devote a chapter to that branch of the cook's art, I must ask you to follow me now in a brief resume of wrinkles regarding the higher classes of entrees.
Under class the second we come to that very useful style of entree which I have called the " half -rich." For these " made-dishes" you begin to call to youi' aid the mincing machine and mortar, and, unless your experience be above the average, success will almost wholly depend upon your following with accuracy every line of the recipe you may select. A well-flavoured cassolette, croquette, houdin, or quenelle, if nicely cooked, and served with a good sauce, a puree, or a macSdoine de legumes, is worthy of a place in any menu ; but the slightest slovenly work is fatal.
Our good friend Ramasamy has been taught to believe that cutlets must be composed of chopped meats, so he often sends to table under that title a dish of croquettes, with a fragment of bone inserted in each of them. I need hardly remind my readers, for instance, of the dish of " chicken cutlets" which forms the standing plat of the
Madras Hotel. I know that some cookery books describe as cotelettes, certain artistic mixtures of meats, with bits of bone introduced to make them look like true cutlets, but I would prefer omitting the bones, and calling such dishes by theii- proper names, for they undoubtedly belong really to the tribe of croquettes, houdins, ^c.
Chicken, ox and sheep's tongues, tender mutton, ham, bacon, oysters, pigeons, turkey, rabbit, the livers of all poultry, of rabbits, and game, — whether previously cooked or not, — provide materials out of which these entrees can be made. It is in the judicious blending of two or more of them together, in the thorough pounding and incorporation thereof, in the selection of the condiments he employs to improve them, and so on, that the skill of the good cook can be detected.
If you preserve your own ox tongues in this country, and keep one generally ready for use, you will have a very valuable thing to fall back upon for " made" entrees. Cured sheep's tongues, too, are very useful, and a little lamVs liver is sometimes a good thing to have at hand in case of need.