Make a little syrup ; cut the rhubarb — after
wiping with a clean cloth — into inch lengths.
Drop the pieces into the syrup and cook until
they show signs of breaking. Remove the fruit
to a dish. Add a few drops of lemon juice✪ Compote of Rhubarb to
the syrup^ boil it until it becomes reduced, and
pour over the rhubarb.
When making a compote of strawberries use
red currant juice instead of water for the syrup.
It is generally sufficient to pour a boiling
syrup over ripe strawberries✪ Compote of Strawberries, having the berries
in a dish which will not break, and letting them
lie in the syrup until perfectly cold before re-
moving to their proper dish.
CHAPTER IX.
WniLE, in tlie present degenerate clays,
^' fast days" are but little observed in
comparison with the fasliion of keeping them in
the old times, when the ''cures'^ held undisputed
sway, still, amongst fairly good Catholics, Friday
is set apart as a day when no meat shall appear
on the table — while the weeks of Lent are the
butcher's holiday time.
Good Friday is rigidly kept as a day of absti-
nence by all classes; almost superstitiously
kept, indeed, for to cat meat or any animal fat
on that day would be regarded as a wilful
courting of calamity. Even eggs and butter
are excluded from the menu of the good
Catholic on that occasion.
As a rule, to " faire maigre " is merely to
abstain from meat, its place being taken by
fLsli. During the Lenten season it is somewhat
lor,
''MAIGRE'' DISHES. 107
difficult to find vegetables to make separate
dislies froui; the winter's supply being nearly
exhausted, or becoming tough, while it is still
too early in the year to look for fresh ones.
The ^^ menagere/^ therefore, looks to her fowl
pen as her great resource, and, fortunately, eggs
are by then both good and plentiful and fairjy
cheap. Fish is generally abundant at that
time, and a good choice to be had.
Almost all vegetable soups come under the
title of ^^maigre," but "potage an lait'^ is
eminently entitled to do so. In the best
" cuisines ^^ it is made after this fashion.
A quart of milk is boiled for a little time to
extract the flavour from a small piece of lemon
rind, a few coriander seeds, and a small piece
of stick cinnamon ; a pinch of salt and several
lumps of sugar. It is then strained, and a
small quantity poured over the soft part of a
thick slice of bread cut into dice, and put in
the tureen.
This is placed wdiere it will keep hot, and
into the remainder of the milk two yolks of
eggs should be stirred, and then allowed to boil
till they slightly thicken the milk, when it also
is poured into the tureen and served immedi-
ately.
io8 ''MAIGRE'' DISHES.
" Bisque/^ made from crab, is generally
thought to be a rather rare dish, but it can be
made with very little trouble.
From a cooked crab all the fleshy part should
be taken and carefully pounded in a mortar
with an equal quantity of boiled rice, a little
water, and cayenne pepper; pass it through a
tamis, and add a sufficient quantity of boiling
milk or cream; then pour into a hot tureen.
A very small quantity of lobster butter (which
is simply the coral of a lobster pounded with
butter), if stirred in, will turn it a bright red,
and make a very pretty dish.
Page 36 · 2 recipe records on this page
Presented as published in 1894. 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
Make a little syrup ; cut the rhubarb — after wiping with a clean cloth — into inch lengths. Drop the pieces into the syrup and cook until they show signs of breaking. Remove the fruit to a dish. Add a few drops of lemon juice to the syrup, boil it until it becomes reduced, and pour over the rhubarb.
When making a compote of strawberries use red currant juice instead of water for the syrup.
It is generally sufficient to pour a boiling syrup over ripe strawberries, having the berries in a dish which will not break, and letting them lie in the syrup until perfectly cold before removing to their proper dish.
CHAPTER IX.
While, in the present degenerate days, ^' fast days" are but little observed in comparison with the fasliion of keeping them in the old times,when the "cures"^ held undisputed sway, still, amongst fairly good Catholics, Friday is set apart as a day when no meat shall appear on the table — while the weeks of Lent are the butcher's holiday time.
Good Friday is rigidly kept as a day of abstinence by all classes; almost superstitiously kept, indeed, for to cat meat or any animal fat on that day would be regarded as a wilful courting of calamity. Even eggs and butter are excluded from the menu of the good Catholic on that occasion.
As a rule, to "faire maigre" is merely to abstain from meat, its place being taken by fLsli. Dduring the Lenten season it is somewhat
difficult to find vegetables to make separate dislies froui; the winter's supply being nearly exhausted, or becoming tough, while it is still too early in the year to look for fresh ones.
The "ménagère" therefore, looks to her fowl pen as her great resource, and, fortunately, eggs are by then both good and plentiful and fairjy cheap. Fish is generally abundant at that time, and a good choice to be had.
Almost all vegetable soups come under the title of "maigre," but "potage au lait" is eminently entitled to do so. In the best "cuisines" it is made after this fashion.
A quart of milk is boiled for a little time to extract the flavour from a small piece of lemon rind, a few coriander seeds, and a small piece of stick cinnamon ; a pinch of salt and several lumps of sugar. It is then strained, and a small quantity poured over the soft part of a thick slice of bread cut into dice, and put in the tureen.
This is placed where it will keep hot, and into the remainder of the milk two yolks of eggs should be stirred, and then allowed to boil till they slightly thicken the milk, when it also is poured into the tureen and served immediately.
108 "MAIGRE" DISHES.
"Bisque" made from crab, is generally thought to be a rather rare dish, but it can be made with very little trouble.
From a cooked crab all the fleshy part should be taken and carefully pounded in a mortar with an equal quantity of boiled rice, a little water, and cayenne pepper; pass it through a tamis, and add a sufficient quantity of boiling milk or cream; then pour into a hot tureen.
A very small quantity of lobster butter (which is simply the coral of a lobster pounded with butter), if stirred in, will turn it a bright red, and make a very pretty dish.
Records on this page
Compote of RhubarbCompote of Strawberries