French dishes for American tables

into a saucepan an onion chopped very fine, with a tablespoonful of oil. When beginning to color slightly, cut in slices half a pound of pike, the same of perch, flounder, eel, and lobster, which wash and clean well. Place them in a saucepan with parsley, two chopped cloves of garlic, some pepper and salt, a little nutmeg, and a pinch of saffron, which mix in two tablespoonfuls of water, and strain into your saucepan. Moisten with three pints of fish-broth (see Art. 4), two tablespoonfuls of oil, and a wineglass of sherry. Boil on a quick fire for twenty minutes. Take some rather thick pieces of bread, over which pour the liquid in which your fish was boiled, and serve the fish on a separate dish. PUREES. 56. Puree of Sorrel. Proceed as for clear sorrel soup (Art. 12), except with the addition of four yolks of eggs, mixed in a little water, just before serving the soup and when it has entirely ceased boiling. Serve with it some square pieces of bread fried in butter. 57. Cream of Sorrel. Boil one quart of sorrel, drain it, put it in cold water, and press it through a sieve. Put it in a saucepan with not quite a quart of consomme (stock), and the same of cream ; salt, pepper, and an ounce of butter. Boil for a few moments, and then remove the saucepan to the back of the range. When it has ceased boiling, take the yolks of four eggs, which mix in a little water ; add to your soup, and serve. 58. Puree of Green Peas. Take a quart of green peas and put them in a saucepan with boiling water, adding some parsley and a little salt. Boil rapidly, until the peas are thoroughly done, then drain them and remove the parsley. Pound them, and press them through a sieve, and return them to the fire, in a saucepan, with a pint and a half of consomme and the same of cream. When boiling, add an ounce of butter, a little salt, a pinch of sugar, and serve with small squares of bread fried in butter. 59. Puree of Peas a la Princesse. Boil a chicken in a little more than three pints of consomme (stock, Art. 1). If an ordinary chicken, it will take forty minutes ; if an old one, two hours. After it is done, let it become cold, and cut it in pieces to serve in your soup. Make the pur£e of peas like the preceding ; add to it the consomme- in which the chicken was cooked, and serve with small squares of bread fried in butter. 60. Split-Pea Soup. Take a pint of split peas, which, having washed well, place in a saucepan with an onion, a clove, half an ounce of ham, and two quarts of cold water. Boil until the peas are very soft, press them through a sieve, put them again on the fire, with the addition of an ounce of butter, three pints of consomme* (stock, Art. 1), and serve with some small pieces of bread fried in butter. 6 1. Puree of Lentils. Take a quart of lentils, wash them well, and put them in a saucepan with a slice of lean ham, the carcass of a partridge, a carrot, an onion, a few branches of parsley, a few pieces of celery, and add three pints of consomme" (stock). Boil until the lentils are thoroughly cooked, drain, remove the ham, partridge, and parsley, press through a sieve, place on the fire again, adding one ounce of butter, boil for a moment, and serve with small squares of bread fried in butter.