Farces and Garnitures
Called Also Garnish and Garnishing, Used to Decorate or Ornament Dishes
With Bread.—Put in a tureen about a pound of the soft part of bread, and cover with broth; when it has absorbed the broth, place it in a stewpan, set it on a slow fire, and leave till it becomes a thick paste; stir now and then, then mix well with it three yolks of eggs, and it is ready for use.
With Cabbage.—Throw into boiling water a little salt and a middling-sized cabbage; boil it half an hour, take it from the kettle with a skimmer, throw it in cold water, and drain it, pressing it a little in the drainer to force the water out; cut off the stump, and chop the cabbage fine. Have in a stewpan on the fire, three or four ounces of fresh butter; put the cabbage in when the butter is half melted, sprinkling on while stirring a teaspoonful of flour; pour on it, little by little, some broth, stirring the while, and when it has a fine brownish color, wet with broth enough to boil it; season with salt, a little grated nutmeg, and four pepper-corns; boil gently till the sauce is thick enough, take away the pepper-corns, and use.
With Combs of Chicken.—Soak the combs over night in cold water, and then clean them well by wiping roughly with a coarse towel, wetted and salted; wash and drain them; put a dozen of them in a saucepan with two sweetbreads blanched, cover the whole with broth, and boil till done; then add salt, pepper, a few drops of lemon-juice, and it is ready for use.
With Cauliflowers.—Proceed as for cabbage in every particular, except that it does not require as long doing.
With Croutons.—Cut pieces of soft part of stale bread in different shapes, and fry them on both sides in butter or fat.
For potage, they are cut in dice, but for decorating dishes, they are cut either round, square, oblong, or of a heart, star-like, half moon, butterfly, or flower shape, and about one-quarter of an inch thick. Take them off with a skimmer, and turn into a colander to drain.
The cut d is used for potage, and a, b, c, etc., are used to decorate.
Duxelle.—Make a fines-herbes sauce, and when ready to be used, add half a gill of gravy, and give one boil; add also two or three yolks of eggs, simmer one minute, and use warm.
Mushrooms, whole or in slices, may be added at the same time the yolks of eggs are added.
With Eggs.—Mash and mix well together six hard-boiled yolks of eggs with three yolks not cooked, salt and pepper. Put the mixture in parts on the paste-board, which must be previously dusted with flour; roll each part and give it the shape of a small egg (a pigeon’s egg or a little larger). When the whole is thus prepared, drop in boiling water, boil till cooked, and use to decorate meat or fish.
Financière.—A garniture financière is the same as a garniture with combs of chicken, to which are added some mushrooms and truffles, both cut in slices.
It is generally served with a roast chicken.
With Livers.—Geese livers are the best, being the fattest. Drop two geese livers in boiling water and a little salt, boil three minutes and drain. Put in a saucepan one gill of broth, same of white wine, Sauterne or Catawba, a tablespoonful of gravy, six pepper-corns, two or three stalks of parsley, salt, and the livers; set on the fire and boil gently for about twenty-five minutes. Take off the livers, boil a few minutes longer to thicken the sauce, turn it over the livers through a strainer, and it is ready.
The same may be done with the livers of poultry or any other kind of birds; the seasonings are the same, and the proportion is according to the size or to the number of livers.
Besides being used as garnishing, it may be served as a breakfast dish.
Macédoine.—Blanch a dozen of Brussels cabbages. Blanch also half a dozen asparagus cut in pieces about an inch long. Put four ounces of butter in a saucepan on the fire, and when melted put it into a gill of carrots, same of turnips, both cut with a vegetable spoon, also a dozen small onions; stir now and then till the whole is about half done, when add a little over a pint of broth and the Brussels cabbages; boil about ten minutes. Then add again the blanched asparagus, half a dozen mushrooms, broth just enough to cover the whole, simmer till every thing is done, salt and pepper to taste, a pinch of sugar and it is ready for use.
Water may be used instead of broth, but is inferior.
A macédoine may be served with any meat—roasted, baked, or broiled.
With Mushrooms.—Chop fine half a pint of fresh mushrooms and two tablespoonfuls of parsley. Set a saucepan on the fire with two ounces of fat grated salt pork in it, as much butter, and as soon as the butter is melted put the mushrooms and parsley in; season with salt, pepper, a little grated nutmeg, and a quarter of a pint of white wine; let boil gently till reduced to a jelly, and use.
When done, three or four yolks of eggs may be mixed with it.
With Onions.—Put a dozen onions in a crockery saucepan and half cover them with broth. Cover the pan as well as possible, simmer till cooked, then add a teaspoonful of sugar, salt, simmer again for about ten minutes, basting now and then, and serve warm with beef, mutton, or venison.
Quenelles.—Chop fine one pound of fresh veal, half lean and half fat—the fat nearest the kidney is the best; then pound it well and mash it through a sieve. Mix two yolks of eggs with it, and season to taste with salt, pepper, nutmeg grated, and powdered cinnamon. Spread flour on the paste-board, put a teaspoonful of meat here and there; roll gently each part into small balls, using as little flour as possible. They may also be rolled of an olive shape. Throw the balls into boiling broth or boiling water at the first boiling, boil five minutes and drain. As soon as cold they are ready for use.
Boulettes, fricadelles, godiveau, and quenelles are one and the same thing.
Whole eggs may be used instead of the yolks only, add also a few bread-crumbs. To the seasonings above some parsley chopped fine may be added.
Make quenelles with any kind of meat—butcher’s meat, poultry, and game, also with fish well boned.
To the lean meat add the same weight of fat veal, as above directed, or, in its stead, beef suet.
Truffles or mushrooms, or both, may be added to the mixture, either of meat or of fish.
Quenelles are used for garnitures, etc. They may be fried instead of boiled.
Salpicon.—Cut in dice an equal quantity of each, and to weigh altogether about one pound and a half, calf sweetbreads, livers, or flesh of fowls, and ham—three kinds in all; also two mushrooms and two truffles; all must be nearly cooked in water beforehand. Put them in a stewpan, season with salt, pepper, a bay-leaf, a clove of garlic, an onion, a sprig of parsley, and one of thyme; cover with half a pint of broth, and as much of white wine; set on a slow fire; it must not boil, but simmer gently; stir now and then till the whole is well cooked; take out the bay-leaf, onion, garlic, parsley, and thyme. In case the sauce should not be thick enough, add a little fecula, stir, and leave awhile longer on the fire, and it is ready for use.
With Truffles.—Slice the truffles and put them in a saucepan with a pinch of sugar, broth and claret wine enough to cover them, half of each, simmer for about twenty minutes, add a little potato starch, boil gently till it begins to thicken, and use.
Lobster Butter.—Put the flesh of the two large claws of a boiled lobster with a little of the inside, about a tablespoonful, in a mortar and pound well. Add about the same volume of good butter and pound again till the whole is well mixed. It is then mashed through a fine sieve, and is ready for use. When the lobster has coral, it is pounded with the rest, and gives a fine color to the butter.
If the lobster has no coral, a piece of the reddest part of the shell is pounded with the rest, when the butter is to be colored.
This butter may be used instead of ordinary butter for fish-sauces, or for making a maître d’hôtel for boiled fish, or for garnishing the same.
To clarify it, just put the butter into a bowl when made, put the bowl in a boiling bain-marie for about half an hour, take off and immediately turn it through a cloth into a bowl half full of cold water. The cloth must be rather twisted, to cause the butter to run through. When it is in the bowl, stir it till rather hard; work it in a ball, and wipe it dry.
Thus clarified it is finer than when used merely mixed.
The same butter may be made, and in the same way, with craw-fish, prawns, and shrimps.
Horse-radish Butter.—Grate some horse-radish and mix it well with about the same volume of butter, mash through a sieve, and it is ready for use.
Tarragon and garlic butter are made as the above.
If the butter be found too strong, use more butter and less of garlic, etc.
Ravigote Butter (called also Beurre de Montpellier).—Blanch the following spices: parsley, tarragon, chives, chervil—parsley and chervil in equal proportion and about half as much of the two others, about two handfuls altogether—drain dry and put them in a mortar with two anchovies boned, one shallot chopped and bruised in a coarse towel, half a dozen capers, a rather small piece of pickled cucumber, four ounces of butter, two hard-boiled yolks of eggs, and the juice of half a lemon. Pound the whole well together, then add a tablespoonful of essence of spinach, mix well, mash through a sieve, and use.
This butter is excellent to decorate and to eat with cold fish. It is sometimes used with cold birds.
Hazel-nut Butter.—Pound some hazel-nuts or filberts and then mix throughly with good butter, mash through a sieve, and use as ordinary butter. The proportion according to taste. It is easily prepared, and is delicious.
Do the same with pea-nuts, or any other nut.
Melted Butter.—Put butter in a crockery vessel and place it above a pan of water or some other liquid, heated but not boiling, so that the butter will melt slowly and gradually. Sometimes the butter may be wanted soft only, or what is called melted soft, or thoroughly melted. It is easy to obtain those different states above with heated liquor, and the butter, though melted, is more firm than when melted on the fire.
Scented Butter.—Whenever a certain flavor is desired with butter, put a piece of firm and good butter in a bowl with a few drops of essence, knead well, and then mash through a sieve.
Purées
Purées are made with vegetables, but when the flesh or poultry or other birds is mashed through a sieve after being cooked, it is sometimes called a purée also.
The bones of a ham, after the flesh is disposed of, is the most excellent thing you can put with the vegetables to boil them in order to make purées.
One-third of the bones of a middling-sized ham is enough for about a quart of vegetables.
When you have no ham bones, use four ounces of good salt pork, as lean as possible; but never use smoked pork, it gives a disagreeable taste to the purée.
Of Dry Beans, white or colored, Kidney, Lima, or any other kind.—Dry beans must be soaked in cold water, or even in lukewarm water, when in a hurry. According to the nature of the beans, they must be soaked for from six to twenty-four hours.
Soak a quart of beans as directed above; drain and put them in a saucepan with one-third of the bones of a ham, or about four ounces of salt pork; cover with cold water, season with a bay-leaf, a sprig of thyme, two of parsley, two middling-sized onions, with two cloves stuck in them, and a carrot cut in pieces; when the whole is well cooked, throw away thyme, bay-leaf, onions, and cloves; mash well through a colander all the rest except the bacon.
While mashing them through the colander, wet them with some of the water in which they have boiled, else it would be difficult and long.
When mashed, put them in a saucepan with a little broth or water, salt, and two ounces of butter; stir now and then till the butter is melted and thoroughly mixed with the rest, and it is ready for use. The quantity of broth or water is according to how thick or thin they are wanted. The salt pork is good to eat.
Of Lentils.—It is made in the same way as that of beans, except that they do not require to be soaked more than five or six hours in cold water.
Of Peas (dry or split).—Proceed as for lentils in every particular.
Of Chestnuts.—Remove the skin of a quart of chestnuts and drop them in boiling water, with a little salt. As soon as the under skin comes off easily, take them from the fire, drain, drop them in cold water, and then remove the under or white skin; put them in a saucepan with about one quart of broth, set on the fire and boil gently till well done, and mash through a colander.
Then put the chestnuts, and what is left of the broth, in a saucepan, set on the fire, stir, add a pinch of sugar and an ounce of butter; give one boil, and it is made.
Of Green Peas.—Wash a quart of green peas in cold water, and drain; put two quarts of cold water on the fire in a saucepan, with a little salt, and at the first boil throw the peas in, season with three or four sprigs of parsley, one of thyme, two onions, and two cloves, a carrot in slices, salt, and pepper; boil till tender. It may take only two minutes, or it may require half an hour, according to how tender the peas are.
Mash through a colander, and finish like purée of beans, using either broth or water. With broth it is richer and better.
Of Lima Beans.—Proceed for green Limas as for green peas.
Of Sweet Corn.—It is made like that of green peas.
Of Asparagus.—Cut the eatable part of the asparagus in pieces, and proceed as for purée of green peas.
Of Potatoes.—Steam a quart of potatoes, and then mash them well; put them in a saucepan with half a pint of milk, two ounces of butter, and salt; set on the fire, stir now and then, take off and use. It takes about fifteen minutes after being set back on the fire.
Another way.—Proceed as above, using broth or water instead of milk.
Of Jerusalem Artichokes.—Prepared as potatoes.
Of Carrots.—Clean well, and cut in slices, a dozen middling-sized carrots; put them in a stewpan with four ounces of butter, and set on the fire; when about half fried, cover with broth or water; season with half a bay-leaf, a small sprig of thyme, one of parsley, a small onion, and a clove stuck in it; when the whole is well cooked, throw away onion, clove, bay-leaf, and thyme, mash the rest through a colander; then put back on the fire, with a little butter; simmer for about two hours, stirring occasionally, and it is made.
In case it should turn too thick, add broth or water.
The longer they are simmered, the better the taste.
Of Turnips.—Proceed as with carrots in every particular.
Of Celery.—It is always made with turnip-rooted celery. Clean the celery well, wash and cut it in pieces, and prepare as purée of carrots, adding a teaspoonful of sugar.
Of Cauliflowers.—Separate the branches, and throw them in boiling water and salt; boil two minutes and drain. Put them on the fire with broth or water, enough just to cover them, two or three stalks of parsley, and salt to season.
Boil gently till tender; remove the parsley; mash through a colander; put back on the fire with a little butter and white pepper, simmer about ten minutes, stirring now and then the while, and it is ready for use.
Instead of butter, some cream may be added.
Of Pumpkin.—Made exactly the same as that of cauliflowers, after the pumpkin is peeled and cut in pieces.
Of Squash.—Same as pumpkin.
Of Spinach.—Clean the spinach, and cut off the stem; the leaf only is good; wash and drain it; put cold water and a little salt on the fire, and throw the spinach in at the first boil. When tender, drain and drop immediately in cold water; drain again, and then chop it very fine. After being chopped, it may be mashed through a sieve, to have it finer; put it back on the fire without any water at all, and when it gets rather dry, add a little flour; stir and mix; add again a little gravy or good broth; stir, then salt to taste, and it is ready for use.
If the spinach is young and tender, it takes only two or three minutes boiling before chopping it.
From the time it is put back on the fire, it takes about five or six minutes to finish it.
Of Sorrel.—Proceed as with spinach in every particular.
Of Mushrooms.—Clean well and cut in pieces a quart of fresh mushrooms; soak them in cold water, in which you have put the juice of a lemon; drain, and chop them fine. Put a stewpan on the fire, with a piece of butter the size of a duck’s egg; when melted, put your mushrooms in; when half fried, add the juice of a lemon, finish frying, then cover with some roux-sauce; let simmer till it becomes rather thick, strain and use.
Of Onions.—Peel, quarter, and blanch for eight minutes, a dozen onions. Drain and put them in a saucepan with four or six ounces of butter, according to the size of the onions; set on a slow fire, stir now and then till well done; then season with salt, a little flour, stir for two minutes to cook the flour, and mix it thoroughly with the rest; take from the fire; add cream, little by little, stirring the while. It does not require much cream to make the purée of a proper thickness. Mash through a sieve or fine colander, add a pinch of sugar, and it is ready for use.
It makes an excellent purée, and is good served with nearly every kind of meat.
Made with white onions, and properly mashed through a sieve, it looks like cream, and is almost as white as snow.