Handbook of practical cookery

Salad a-la-Russe. — One boiled carrot, one boiled turnip, two boiled potatoes, one-third of a head of fresh celery, one boiled beet, four olives, four anchovies, yolks of two eggs, one table-spoonful of vinegar, one tea-spoonful of tarragon vinegar, one tea-spoonful of salt, one half tea-spoonful of pepper. First put into a small bowl the yolks of eggs, and drop upon them the salad oil, drop by drop, beating this to a cream as the oil is dropped in. Stir in both the vinegar and tarragon vinegar, and season with a little of the pepper and salt. Cut the carrot, turnip, potato, and celery into small dice, arrange these dice in pyramidal form upon a flat platter, and pour over them the mayonnaise dressing. Cut the boiled beet into regular round slices, and place them around the dish, lapping one upon the other. At each corner place one of the four olives, around each of which must be twisted one of the anchovies ; sprinkle over all the remainder of the pepper and salt, and. serve. NOTES. — Hard-boiled eggs may be used for garnishing salads as the fancy or taste may dictate. Olives are frequently used in chicken, turkey, and lobster salad, and for those who have a fondness for this relish they may be used at discretion. Potato salad may be made, if desired, with a simple vinegar dressing instead of the mayonnaise. CROQUETTES. Potato Croquettes. — Oue pound of mashed potatoes, one ounce of butter, two table-spoonfuls of milk, one half tea-spoonful of pepper, two eggs, four table-spoonfuls of bread crumbs, one grain of cayenne, one half tea-spoonful of salt. First melt the butter in a sauce-pan, add to it the milk, and bring them together to the boiling-point. Pass the mashed potatoes through a sieve, and add them to the boiling milk and butter. Beat all well together until the potatoes are very hot, when the sauce-pan must be taken from the fire, the pepper, salt, and cayenne thrown in ; then drop in the yolks of eggs, and stir until the heat of the potato dries the egg. Roll this mixture into small balls, using a little flour to prevent it sticking to the hands, beat up the whites of the eggs and roll each ball therein. Place the bread crumbs upon a sheet of kitchen-paper, and putting the balls one by one into this, roll them from side to side until covered with the crumbs, when they must be put into hot clarified fat or lard and fried for two minutes. NOTE. — The yolks of egg are mixed with the potato in order to bind it together, and to give the croquette a rich yellow colour. If the whites were put in also, difficulty would be experienced in forming the croquettes, and the colour would not be so fine. Chicken Croquettes. — One half of a chicken, three ounces of butter, two ounces of cold tongue, seven ounces of CHICKEN CROQUETTES — RICE CROQUETTES. 127 flour, one salt-spoonful of grated nutmeg, one tea-spoonful of salt, one half salt-spoonful of pepper, the rind of one lemon, one half tea-spoonful of lemon-juice, one egg, six table-spoonfuls of bread crumbs, one half gill of cold water. First bone the chicken, remove the skin, and chop the meat very finely. Chop the tongue finely also, and mix it with the chicken. Flavour this with the rind of lemon grated and the nutmeg ; season with the pepper and nearly all of the salt.