Roast Ortolans

Ingredients

• Take eight ortolans
• into which you have poured a little salted water

Method

1. 1

   Wrap each ortolan in a vine leaf and place in a baking tin with salted water.

2. 2

   Roast in a fierce oven for about five minutes.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Banquets of the nations (1911) by Robert H. Christie, page 268. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Roast Ortolans Salad Baba au Rhum Savoury Gr£ce Fruit 671 BANQUETS OF THE NATIONS Clear Soup. Take a small knuckle of veal, same of venison and rough hough, five pounds in all, and half a dozen large giblets ; put in a pot and skim very carefully when coming to the boil. Boil gently but steadily for five or six hours, with a head of celery, a sliced carrot, half a turnip, a couple of sliced onions, a bunch of parsley, a bunch of chervil, a couple of bay leaves, two knots of lump sugar, with a seasoning of pepper and salt. Pour through a colander and let stand till cold, then remove the fat. Take a slice of ham, a sliced carrot and onion, and a piece of butter ; fry these till a thick glaze gathers on bottom of pan ; remove vegetables and ham, pour in a little stock to melt glaze. Strain and put in pot with the stock, along with one and a half breakfast- cupfuls of fish stock made as follows : — Put the bones and trimmings of two good-sized soles (any white fish will do), in a pot with two quarts water, bring to the boil, and skim carefully ; then add half a pint white wine, a bunch of fine herbs, an onion stuck with four cloves, a teaspoonful of coriander seeds, half a carrot, and two ounces ham which has been fried very crisp and pounded to a powder. Boil quickly for a good hour. Strain and put on fire again, and reduce till quantity is only one and a half breakfastcupfuls. Boil up, clearing in the usual way with whites of eggs and shells. Put a glass of sherry and the squeeze of a quarter of lemon in the soup tureen before pouring in the soup. 67a R.H.C.'s Fillet of Sole a la Financier. Fillet a couple of good thick English soles. Butter a pan, in which place the fillets. Season with pepper and salt, pour half a pint of sound cider over them, place buttered paper on top, and push into the oven for ten minutes. Rich Fish Sauce Financier. Make a rich sauce with three ounces of fresh butter, one ounce of strong shrimp butter, one teaspoonful of flour, three tablespoonfuls of medium cream, two breakfastcupfuls of the strained liquor the fish was cooked in, the strained liquor of twelve oysters, and season with pepper, salt, and a grate of nutmeg. Bring all to the boil, stirring continually the one way all the time of cooking. Remove the pot from the fire and put it in a pan of boiling water. Then put the yolks of four eggs into the mixture and stir carefully till cooked. If too thin add the yolk of another egg, or if too thick add a little more liquor from the fish. Be careful not to boil the sauce after the eggs are added. Then add a half-pint bottle of cocks' combs, truffles, and champignons, a dozen raw oysters without the beards, and a dozen small balls about the size of a marble made of lobster forcemeat. Heat up thoroughly, again taking care not to boil, and pour over the fillets, which have been kept hot on a silver dish. Steak Larded with Truffles and Oysters. Get. a very tender rump steak weighing about two pounds, and at least one and a half inches thick. Make 673 2 u BANQUETS OF THE NATIONS an incision in the side to near the centre, and put in a fresh oyster which has been plumped in boiling water for three seconds, and a small piece of truffle in another incision close to the oyster. Do this all round as close as possible without dividing the steak. Place on a double griller a thin slice of second steak same size as rump steak, and place the latter on top ; then put another slice of second steak on top of that again, and grill for six minutes on one side ; then turn and grill the other side for six minutes also. Remove outer slices of steak and brown rump steak for three minutes on each side in front of a clear fire. See that the gravy has been saved, which put in a pan with two table- spoonfuls of good brown stock, the juice of a tomato, a teaspoonful of Worcester sauce, a heaped teaspoonful of flour, and the juice of a quarter of a lemon ; bring all to the boil, and strain over the steak. Put a piece of Maitre d'Hotel butter on top of steak and garnish with French beans, cauliflower, green peas, and pyramid potatoes. If desired, the steak may be prepared as above (without the two outside slices), put in a greased paper bag placed on the grid bars of a hot oven and cooked for fifteen minutes. Maitre d'Hotel Butter. Put a quarter-pound of fresh butter upon a plate with one good tablespoonful of chopped parsley, the juice of two lemons, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a quarter 674 R.H.C.'s teaspoonful of white pepper. Mix all well together and keep in a cool place. Potato Pyramids. Slice some raw peeled potatoes about a-quarter of an inch thick, then with a pastry cutter stamp out rounds like five-shilling pieces, half-crowns, and shillings. Dip each size in melted butter, sprinkle with salt, and place one on top of the other like a pyramid. Butter a baking tin and put them on it, and bake in the oven for an hour. They ought to be dark brown. Iced Asparagus and Cream. Boil a bunch of asparagus in the usual manner, after which place it on a sieve, and when thoroughly drained and cold place the sieve on top of ice till grass very cold, and serve with whipped cream in a separate sauce- bowl which has also been iced. Roast Ortolans. Take eight ortolans and wrap each in a vine leaf and place on a baking tin into which you have poured a little salted water

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.