Saturday, December 29, 2007

Oeuf Cocotte au Foie Gras - Baked Eggs and Foie Gras on Toast

I think unctuousness must now be my favorite word. On a cold day of rain after snow, curling up with a cocotte fresh from the oven from which I can dip warm eggs, cream and foie gras to spread on toast has to be a pleasant way to appease my hunger.

Recipe: place a slice of foie gras in bottom of cocotte, carefully break 1 or 2 eggs over the foie gras and top with 2 tablespoons of cream and sprinkle with truffle salt. Place cocotte in another oven dish and surround with warm water. Bake for 15 minutes at 350ºF. Serve with toast or brioche. Enjoy.

Recommended: Mire Poix USA fois gras and truffle salt

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Poudin cuit au four - Baked Mincemeat Pudding - SHF#38

Zorra hosts this month's Sugar High Friday, "The Proof is in the Pudding."

Fat around the kidneys [suet] is specifically proscribed from use, as is fat from ox, sheep and goats [Lev 3:3-5], so I use butter in the preparation of my puddings.

Baked Mincemeat Pudding
2 cups mincemeat [I used homemade, brandied mincemeat]
4 eggs
1/2 cup [1 stick] butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Optional: chopped nuts, about 1/2 cup [I did not use]

Cream butter and sugar; beat in one egg at a time. Sift dry ingredients and stir into creamed mixture. Fold in mincemeat and nuts, if using. Butter and sugar a baking dish [charlotte mold works well] and pour batter in. Cover with a piece of greased paper to fit top of dish. Set dish into another larger dish and surround with boiling water [bain marie], place in moderate oven [350ºF] and bake for at least one hour.

Continue to check for doneness by inserting a broom straw in the middle--if it comes out clean, the pudding is done. Remove from water bath and allow to cool before running a knife around the edge and slipping from the pan onto a serving platter.

Can douse with more brandy and flambé or serve with dessert sauce [Sabayon: 1 egg yolk, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup Marsala. Whip over a boiling water bath (Bain Marie) until thick. Serve over pudding slices.] Pudding texture and taste improves with age.

See also my post on boiled pudding, steamed fig pudding and 18thC French Puddings.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Poudin bouilli - Boiled Pudding SHF#38

Zorra hosts this month's Sugar High Friday, "The Proof is in the Pudding."

Fat around the kidneys [suet] is specifically proscribed from use, as is fat from ox, sheep and goats [Lev 3:3-5], so I use butter in the preparation of my puddings.

Poudin bouilli.
Boiled Pudding
1 cup chopped, candied citrus peel [I used grapefruit, lemon and orange]
1 cup currants [Zantes not Ribes]
2 cups raisins [regular or golden]
2 Tablespoons brandy [I used vin noix]
1 cup butter [2 sticks]
2 cups sugar [either brown or white or mixture]
5 eggs
1 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon white pepper
¼ teaspoon galingale
½ teaspoon ginger
3-5 cups day-old bread crumbs, crusts removed

Blanche for 30 seconds in boiling water your dried currants and remove to a bowl and cover with brandy.

Cream butter and sugar and add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Sift dry ingredients together, except crumbs, and stir into creamed mixture. Fold in peels, raisins, currants and 3 ½ cups of crumbs. Let mixture sit for one half hour. If mixture appears to be too moist, fold in more bread crumbs until mixture looks right to your eye.

In the meanwhile, boil your pudding cloth [1 yard cotton muslin] for half an hour to remove soap residue and to sterilize cloth. Wring out cloth and flour heavily in the center, pour your batter onto cloth and tie your pudding up. Suspend inside kettle of boiling water and tie to handles of kettle to keep pudding from settling on the bottom. Keep the kettle filled with boiling water and boil pudding for about 2 hours or until done. Hang pudding in cloth for about 15 minutes, then cut string invert onto serving platter and carefully peel back pudding cloth. Allow to cool before serving. The outside of the pudding will darken with time.

If you wish to keep if for several days, cover with cheesecloth and drizzle with brandy to keep moist and fresh.

See also my posts on baked mincemeat pudding, steamed fig pudding and 18thC French puddings.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Artichauts - Artichokes

How to Eat Artichokes According to La Varenne, artichoke bottoms should be eaten by taking off all the leaves as far as the choke, and then boiling the bottoms in acidulated [lemon juice or vinegar added] water. Then serve them with butter and salt and a sauce made of very fresh butter, vinegar, nutmeg and the yolk of an egg. I believe this is such a waste. I do cook the entire artichoke in acidulated water, anywhere from 35-45 minutes, or until tender all the way through. I make the sauce he suggests but then I remove each leaf, dipping it in the unctuous sauce and cleaning the "meat" of each off with my teeth--I can't bear to waste the tidbits of flesh found on each leaf. Artichokes were such a popular item of food that fabulous faïence [majolica] dishes were created for their service.

The French Cook, François Pierre La Varenne, Englished in 1653, p. 95, recipe #62.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Poudin - Pudding Boiled & Baked

This month's Sugar High Friday focuses on Pudding in all its forms.

PUDDING: type of pastry made of grease, raisins, eggs & sugar.

Boiled Pudding. Do it more or less like the preceding. Butter and flour a towel, put the pudding in, & tie it. Cook it for three hours, with boiling water. Drain & draw it from the towel; sprinkle it with melted butter and with much caster sugar, & serve for dessert.

Baked Pudding. Take four pounds of beef suet, the peels of two candied lemons and chop well with the suet, a pound of currants, and as much Spanish raisins from which you’ve removed the stem ends. Add fifteen raw egg yolks, half a pound of bread crumbs soaked in hot milk, but drained well, half a pound of caster sugar; mix the whole, & put it in a well buttered pan; bake with the furnace for two hours, or with a tart plate with coals above and below. Draw it up and reverse onto a dish; sprinkle it with powdered sugar and serve for dessert.

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POUDIN: espece de patisserie faite de graisse, raisins sec, œufs & sucre.

Poudin bouilli. Faites-le comme le precedent plus ou moins fort. Beurrez ou farinez une serviette, mettez dessus le poudin, & le nouez. Faites le cuire pendant trois heures, à l’eau bouillante. Egouttez & le tirez de la serviette; dresses & l’arrosez de beurre fondu avec beaucoup de sucre en poudre, & servez de meme, pour entremets.

Poudin cuit au four. Prenez quatre livres de graisse de bœuf, l’écorce de deux citrons confits que vous hacherez bien avec la graisse, une livre de raisin de Corinthe, autant de raisin d’Espagne. Otez en les pépins, quinze juanes d’œufs cruds, une demi-livre de mie de pain trempée dans du lait chaud, mais bien égouttée, une demi-livre de sucre en poudre; mêlez le tout, & le mettez dans une casserole bien beurrée; faites cuire au four, pendant deux heures, ou avec un couvercle de tourtiere, entre deux feux. Dressez-le, en le renversant sur un plat; poudre de sucre fin, & servez pour entremets.


Dictionnaire Portatif de Cuisine, d'Office, et de Distillation. Chez Vincent, Paris 1767, p. 225-226.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Blog-appétit #12 - Potiron Confiture - Pumpkin Marmelade

Cette édition, Blog-Appétit #12, accentue la conservation de nourriture-bloque, des chutney, sauces. J'ai pris un potiron accroître sur ma vigne ceci qu'année-il est entré dans le sol ainsi tard-mais j'ai eu beaucoup de fleurs à bourrer et faire frire. Il y avait juste assez de viande dans le potiron pour faire un groupe de la confiture. La recette de Christine Farber pour la confiture de vanille de potiron est potiron très bon-juste, jus d'orange, un haricot de vanille et un citron. La confiture est ainsi frais-échantillon et demeure une si belle couleur.

This edition, Blog-Appétit #12, highlights preservation of food—jams, chutneys, sauces. I had one pumpkin grow on my vine this year—it went into the ground so late—but I did have many blossoms to stuff and fry. There was just enough meat in the pumpkin to make one batch of jam. Christine Farber’s recipe for Pumpkin Vanilla Jam is very good—just pumpkin, orange juice, a vanilla bean and one lemon. The jam is so fresh-tasting and remains such a lovely color.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Thinking Blogger Award …

My thanks to Segolene, of Boire et manger, quelle Histoire!, for nominating me as a Thinking Blogger. The following bloggers have inspired me to do what I do better.

Danno, from Detroit, cooks New Orleans French. His cuisine is exemplified by Louisiane, in southernmost Nouvelle France.

Peter, of à la carte, provides incredible detail and information on traditional French techniques. His boudin blanc is superb!

Kate Hill uses lovely old French kitchenware for recipes both old and new. I feel like I'm in France strolling down the lane to the daily market as I read her blog.

Carole Gillot's Paris Breakfasts paints Parisian dreams for me. I can "have" coffee in the local shops and "buy" macarons from Laduree.

Lucy Vanet's Kitchen Notebook, although a modern blog, looks old-fashioned in its food pictures and inspires me to plate my food in French ways.

Thank you one and all--French cuisine is so much better for your efforts!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Selle de Chevreuil – Saddle of Venison

Image Source

Quickly sear and brown all over a saddle of venison in a large covered pot in graisse. Remove saddle from the heat and cool to the touch. Drain pot of excess fat, but do not disturb the crusty bits on the bottom of the pan.

Stir together a portion of butter and a dollop of prepared mustard. Slather all over roast and roll to coat in finely minced carrot, apple, squash or pumpkin. Sprinkle with freshly cracked pepper.

Place saddle back into large pot, cover and set into the slow coals at the back or side of the fireplace (375ºF oven). Do not remove cover for at least an hour. Begin to check on the doneness of the roast, and baste carefully with any juices that have collected on the bottom of the pot. When the roast has cooked to your desired taste, remove to a platter and keep warm. Degrease the pot and add enough verjus or vinegar to deglaze pot. Push pan juices through a sieve and serve over slices of roast.

The vegetable or fruit coating keeps the roast moist without the addition of barding and adds an indefinable something to the gravy. The amount of butter and mustard may preclude the use of salt, but adjust seasoning to your taste.

Venison available here.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Anchois - anchovy

image source

Anchovy, a small fish of the sea, usually preserved in salt in small barrels; one usually makes salads of them--it is the most common way to eat them; wash [soak] them in wine or water, then split them in two [at this point you may have to clean them if they were preserved whole--innards & fins] & remove fillets; properly arrange them on small lettuces & garnish with fresh chervil. Puréed anchovy is used in ragouts, as well for fat [days] as for thin [fast days]. Fry them if you want crisp anchovies for hors d’œuvres after dipping them in a batter made with water, flour, an egg, a little salt & pepper; serve with a drizzle of orange juice & [sprinkle with] fried parsley.

La nouvelle maison rustique, ou, Économie generale de tous les biens de campagne: la manière de les entretenir & de les multiplier : donée ci-devant au public / par le Sieur Louis Liger. Paris : Saugrain, 1755, Tome II, IV. Part. LIV. IV. Chap. I. La Cuisine. B., p. 795-796.

Anchois, petits poissons de mer qu’on apporte tout confits au sel dans de petits barils; on en fait ordinairement des salades, & c’est la façon la plus commune de les manger; on les lave pour cela dans du vin ou de l’eau, puis on les fend en deux & on leve l’arrête du milieu; on les arrange proprement sur de petites laitues & l’on garnit de jeune cerfeuil. On fait aussi un coulis d’anchois, & il entre dans plusieurs ragouts, tant gras que maigres. On frit si l’on veut les arêttes d’anchois qui ont servi, après les avoir trempés dans une pâte faite avec de l’eau, de la farine, un œuf, un peu de sel & poivre; ils servent de garnitures ou hors-d’œures, avec oranges & persil frit.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Boulanger - World Bread Baking Day 2007

Today is World Bread Baking Day 2007, hosted by Zorra. For those of you who do not bake, or who do not have an oven, a trip to the local bakery will allow you to purchase breads in the sizes and shapes of those of the 18th Century. Breads are still raised on a couche or in baskets prior to being shoveled into the oven with a peel. Very hot ovens and bursts of steam create that crackly crust we are so familiar with, and a frugal cook will save all those crumbs for additions to broiled toppings and extenders for use with ground meat dishes.

North American women have always made their own bread; each individual farmstead had its own bread oven. This was not so in France where picking up a fresh loaf from the baker was a daily occurence.

New bakeries, no matter the expertise of the baker, do not produce as fine a loaf as they will as they age. The secret? The more that yeasts are encouraged through the process of dough making, rising and baking, the better the quality of wild yeasts present in the space and, therefore, the better the bread.

So in celebration of this World Bread Baking Day 2007, I urge you to either stop by the corner bakery and pick up a loaf, from dark peasant rye to the whitest baguette, to eat with your soup, or if you do bake, try Bernard Clayton, Jr's books of recipes for French breads, loaves just like those eaten in the 18thC! And Zorra's roundup of World Bread Baking Day 2007 will surely present you with many delectible bread variations with which to try your hand at bread baking.

Monday, October 08, 2007

Bécasses - Woodcock

image source

This recipe is an example of how different modern cooking is from the “old ways.” My French readers will have to comment on the current addition of innards [other than cooked, mashed liver to act as a liaison] and faisandée techniques as still in use today—in America, I do not believe they are the norm.

Woodcocks with wine. Divide the woodcocks in four, remove the insides [*see note following] & put them aside to thicken the sauce; put your woodcocks in a pan with sliced truffles, calf sweetbreads, mushrooms & will foam [a type of mushroom], & brown them altogether in melted fat, & moisten it with ox juice [sweated meat, cooked slowly to remove the juice—think bouillon or consommé]; season with salt, pepper, Welsh onion [scallions], & add two glasses of wine; bring to boil & when that is well cooked, stir into the sauce the insides* of the woodcocks which you have reserved to bind the sauce, & serve hot with the juice of lemon or orange which you will press above [at the last minute].

*innards as thickening or binder [La Cuisine, Raymond Oliver. Tudor, New York, 1969: p. 526-528] “Pluck the snipe [or woodcock] without drawing it [not removing innards] and bard it [prick it—wrap in bacon--I use turkey or beef bacon or chicken or goose fat pounded and tied around bird] … cook it … Remove gizzard from the bird’s innards and discard it. Put the [rest of the] innards on a plate and mash them with a work. … simmer with smashed bones, strain and serve over meat. … Do not draw the plucked snipe [woodcock], but bard it and tie them, place on spit. Fry bread slices in goose fat, rub with garlic and place in a dripping pan under spit or rotisserie pin, so that the juices from the roasting bird[s] will fall on the bread. The bird is cooked when its interior juices start flowing, that is, in about 15 minutes. Remove from spit and remove bard and innards. Throw away the gizzard, but mince the other innards and spread them on the fingers of toasted bread [from the dripping pan]. Season slices with salt and pepper and fry slices again, spread side down, in a little butter or goose fat. Put bird on a very hot dish, and flame with rum. Cut into halves and put each half on a slice of the fried bread that absorbed the cooking juices. Serve immediately. … Pluck and draw the bird. Discard gizzard; mince the rest of the innards and combine with salt pork [turkey or beef bacon] and … and stuff bird with this mixture, sew it closed and truss it.

La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange, translated Paul Aratow. Ten Speed Press, 2005:p. 397-8. “Woodcock and snipe is only roasted or prepared in a salmi. To develop ita aroma, it should be lightly “cured” (faisandée – it must hang for several days between killing and cooking [it implies the point just before mortification immediately preceding the extreme state of decomposition). … Do not gut the woodcock [but do pull the gizzard through the neck of the bird before spitting]. … bard and cook … heat butter in a small saucepan; add the intestines and season lightly; cook on gentle heat. Then smash them into a purée. Spread this purée on the fried crouton [as in Oliver’s description above]. Deglaze pan with cognac and strain sauce through a chinois and serve with game.

Bécasses au vin. Coupez les bécassess en quatre, ôtez-en les dedans & les mettez à part pour en faire une liaison, mettez ensuite vos bécasses dans une casserole avec des truffes coupées par tranches, des ris de veau, des champignons, des mousserons, & passez le tout ensemble avec lard fondu, & le mouillez de jus de bœuf; assaisonnez le tout de sel, poivre, ciboule, & y mettez deux verres de vin; faites bouillir le tout, & quand cela sera bien cuit, vous délayerez bien dans la sauce le dedans bécasses que vous avez reserve pour lier la sauce, & vous les servirez chaudement avec un jus de citron ou jus d’orange que vous presserez dessus.
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Woodcocks in Salmi [ragout of game previously roasted]. Roast them with the pin [rotisserie], & when they are half-cooked, cut them in pieces & put them in a pan with wine, according to the quantity of the woodcocks; there add chopped truffles & mushrooms, a little anchovy & capers, good seasoning [salt & pepper], & cook until done: draw up the woodcocks [onto serving plate] & keep warm while binding the sauce with some good purée [of previously cooked and reduced and puréed vegetables and their seasoning juices]. Squeeze the juice of an orange into the sauce and serve warm.

Bécasses en Salmi. Faites-les rôtir à la broche, & quand elles seront à demi-cuites, coupez-les par morceaux & les mettez dans une casserole avec du vin, y en mettant ce qu’il en faut suivant la quantité des bécasses; ajoutez-y des truffes & des champignons hachés, un peu d’anchois & de câpres, bon assaisonnement, & faites cuire le tout: étant cuit, liez la sauce avec quelque bon coulis; ensuite dressez les bécasses & les tenez chaudement sans qu’elles bouillent. Auparavant que de servir, vous y presserez un jus d’orange, & servirez chaudement.

La nouvelle maison rustique, ou, Économie generale de tous les biens de campagne: la manière de les entretenir & de les multiplier : donée ci-devant au public / par le Sieur Louis Liger. Paris : Saugrain, 1755, Tome II, IV. Part. LIV. IV. Chap. I. La Cuisine. B., p. 799-800.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

La nouvelle maison rustique -
New Country House

An amazingly popular French version 'L'agriculture et maison rustique' was first published in Paris 1564, it became a Renaissance bestseller with at least 80 editions by the fall of Napoleon. The work was translated into the English, German, Dutch, Italian and Scandinavian languages. It is a veritable encyclopedia of country living, with large sections on orchards and fruit.

"This work contains all that relates to the goods of countryside, the means of improving them, of increasing, of maintaining and of putting forward. Choice, acquisition, masonry, different productions, and all that is relative; grounds, wood, meadows, vines, etc; horses, cattle and other animals. Best culture of the grounds and the gardens; the most essential matters of the rural right; hunting; fishing, and recreations of the countryside; a small treaty of botany and pharmacy, with simple and easy remedies. Finally practical operations and of arts and the trades most useful for the countryside. The whole enriched by figures, and made more useful, even essential to the owners of the grounds, the amateurs, administrators, managers and farmers." cited 10-4-07 http://www.histoire-genealogie.com/spip.php?article669

A true handbook of agriculture, the New Country House proposes to answer all the questions of an owner concerning the maintenance of his field and the art of controlling its personnel.

My copy of the 10th edition, 1755, has at the very end of Tome II a small section on recipes from which I will share some of the best dishes that can still be replicated today--enjoy!

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Biche - Hind [female red deer]

Hind is good only when it is quite young; its flesh is rather delicate & agreeable: it has [as] much [flesh] in ratio to the flesh of the stag & is cooked in the same way; but it is softer & more insipid flesh. It is eaten roasted, & for that soak in a marinade after having pricked it [larded or wrapped] with a little bacon. Baste it while roasting; & when cooked put capers & a little flour in the drippings with a little lemon, & simmer the sauce. It can also be eaten with a sweet sauce, made with vinegar [to deglaze the pan], pepper, cinnamon & sugar, & one whole shallot.

La nouvelle maison rustique, ou, Économie generale de tous les biens de campagne: la manière de les entretenir & de les multiplier : donée ci-devant au public / par le Sieur Louis Liger. Paris : Saugrain, 1755, Tome II, IV. Part. LIV. IV. Chap. I. La Cuisine. B., p. 800.

Biche, n’est bonne que quand elle est bien jeune; sa chair est assez delicate & agreeable: elle a beaucoup de rapport à la chair du cerf & s’accommode de même; mais elle a la chair plus molle & plus fade. On la mange rôtie, & pour cela on la fait tremper dans une marinade après l’avoir piquée de menu lard. On l’arrose en la faisant rôtir; & étant cuite on met des câpres & un peu de farine dans son dégoût avec un peu de citron verd, & on la fait mitonner dans la sauce. On la mange si l’on veut à la sauce douce, avec vinaigre, poivre, canella & sucre, & une échalotte entiere.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Aloyau -- Sirloin

Beef Cuts chart courtesy WikipediaSirloin in ragout. Take a sirloin of the first part, degrease [cut off extra fat] & prick it [wrap it with well seasoned bacon], cook it with the pin [rotisserie]; being half-cooked, remove it from the pin & put it in a pot with juice of ox [jus--which see], some mushrooms, truffles, morels, artichoke bottoms—all well chopped, season with salt & pepper to taste & add a bouquet of sweet herbs; cover the pot & cook gently on embers: when cooked to desired doneness, slice the sirloin & serve it with a ragout of calf sweetbread, foie gras, truffles, mushrooms, morels, willfoam [mushrooms], artichoke bottoms, asparagus tips & salt and pepper to taste; pour a coulis [made from pan drippings, jus and puréed vegetables] above your sirloin & serve warm.

La nouvelle maison rustique, ou, Économie generale de tous les biens de campagne: la manière de les entretenir & de les multiplier : donée ci-devant au public / par le Sieur Louis Liger. Paris : Saugrain, 1755, Tome II, IV. Part. LIV. IV. Chap. I. La Cuisine. B., p. 795.

Aloyau en ragout. Ayez un aloyau de la premiere piece, dégraissez-le & le piquez du côté du filet de gros lard bien assaisonné, faites-le cuire à la broche; étant à demi-cuit, vous le retirerez & le mettrez dans une marmite avec jus de bœuf, un peu de champignons, un peu de truffes, morilles, de quelques culs d’artichaux, le tout haché, assaisonné de sel, poivre & un bouquet de fines herbes seulement pour donner gout; on couvre la marmite & on le laisse cuire ainsi doucement sur la braise: étant cuit à propos, on tire l’aloyau, & on le sert avec un ragout de ris de veau, de foies gras, de truffes, champignons, morilles, mousserons, culs d’artichaux, crêtes & points d’asperges & bon assaisonnement, le tout bien lié d’un bon coulis & de bon gout; vous le jettez dessus votre aloyau & le servez chaudement.
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Stuffed sirloin. When your sirloin is almost cooked with the pin, take some of the flesh of the middle and chop quite small with bacon, beef marrow, sweet herbs & good trimmings, as one has just explained to the ragout above, & good seasoning; then you stuff them your sirloin between the skin & the bone; & repin upon the rotisserie properly, for fear the flesh does not fall into the dripping pan while completing cooking: when fully cooked & being table ready, remove the skins [bacon wrappings] to have freedom to eat it with a fork or spoon.

Aloyau farci. Votre aloyau étant Presque cuit à la broche, vous prenez la chair du milieu que vous hachez bien menue avec du lard, moëlle de bœuf, fines herbes & bonnes garnitures, comme on vient d’expliquer au ragout ci-dessus, & bon assaisonnement; ensuite vous en farcissez votre aloyau entre la peau & l’os; & le recousez proprement, de peur que la chair ne tombe dans la léchefrite en achevant de cuire: étant cuit à propos & servi sur la table, on ôte les peaux pour avoir la liberté de la manger avec une fourchette ou cuiller.
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Roast sirloin. Have a sirloin of such size as you wish, cook it with the pin, take care that it is not cooked too much, for fear it does not lose its juice--if you want to eat it rare & red in its juice. Those which do not like it quite so rare, cut it by sections and place slices in a [chafing] dish, then add a little water, pepper, salt, a dash of vinegar & some chopped chives, & make it boil [in the chafing dish]; then serve. Some, who leave it on the pin, eat it with a caper sauce & with the anchovies, which is done thus: One washes well three or four anchovies [removes the salt], and the edges [fins], & chops them, then puts them in a pan with capers & well seasoned ox jus; one only heats this sauce & serves it under the sirloin.

Aloyau rôti. Ayez un aloyau de telle grosseur qu’il vous plaira, faites-le cuire à la broche, prenez garde qu’il ne soit trop cuit, de crainte qu’il ne perde son suc: il veut être mange saigneaux & rouge dans son jus. Ceux qui ne l’aiment point si peu cuit, le coupent par tranches dans un plat, puis y mettent un peu d’eau, du poivre, du sel, un filet de vinaigre & quelques ciboulettes hachées, & le font bouillir un moment sur le réchaut; on le set ainsi. Quelquez-uns, au sortir de la broche, le mangent avec une sauce aux câpres & aux achois, qui se fait ainsi. On lave bien trios ou quatre anchois, on en ôte les arêtes, & on les hache, ensuite on les met dans une casserole avec des câpres & du jus de bœuf assaisonné de sel & de poivre; on fait seulement chauffer cette sauce & on la sert sous l’aloyau.
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The ox juice [jus] is made this manner. Take a piece of beef rump, cut it by sections & lay it in a pot, cover well with a lid, then put paste around [seal with a paste of water and flour], so that it is air-tight; put it on a small fire & one lets it sweat [cook very slowly in the embers] two hours; then [use a knife to cut the flour seal open] & draw the juice to use as needed.

Le jus de bœuf se fait de cette maniere. Prenez un morceau de bœuf de cimier, coupez-le par tranches & le jettez dans une terrine que vous couvrirez bien de son couvercle, puis mettez de la pâte autour, en sorte qu’il n’y ait point d’air du tout; on le met sur un petit feu & on le laisse suer pendent deux heures; en-suite on tire le jus & on s’en sert dans le besoin.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Boucons - rolled veal fillets with mushroom ragout

Boucons, is a ragout which is done as follows: take small sections of fillet of veal a little long & thin & flatten by pounding; then take as many raw ham & bacon plugs as fillets and arrange them perpendicularly on your sections, putting a bacon plug & one of ham on each, sprinkle on a little parsley & chopped Welsh onions [scallions], & season them with fine spices & sweet herbs [traditionally a blend of four herbs — Parsley, Chervil, Chives and Tarragon]. Roll them properly [tie securely] & sear until well browned & add liquid for braising--cover pot: when cooked and tender, degrease, remove to a hot dish to keep warm. Prepare a mushroom ragout in the pan drippings and serve ragout over boucons.
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Boucons, est un ragout qui se fait ainsi: vous prenez de petites tranches de rouelle de veau un peu longues & minces & vous les applatissez sur une table; ensuite vous prenez de gros lardons de lard & autant de jambon crud, rangez-les en travers sur vos tranches, y mettant un lardon de lard & un de jambon, poudrez-les d’un peu persil & de ciboules hachés, & assaisonnez-les de fines épices & de fines herbes. Vos tranches étant garnies de ces lardons, vous les roulez proprement & les mettez cuire dans une marmite à la braise: étant cuites, vous en égouttez la graisse, vous les dressez dans un plat, puis vous les servez avec un ragout de champignons par-dessus.

La nouvelle maison rustique, ou, Économie generale de tous les biens de campagne: la manière de les entretenir & de les multiplier : donée ci-devant au public / par le Sieur Louis Liger. Paris : Saugrain, 1755, Tome II, IV. Part. LIV. IV. Chap. I. La Cuisine. B., p. 802.

fillet of veal image

rouelle de veau paupiette image La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange,translated by Paul Aratow. Ten Spreed Press, 2005, p. 280.


Today, Bouc[h]ons are known variously as corks or rammers or jammers, or beggars' purses. They are a bite-sized morsel, usually cooked [sometimes steamed] in a casing of dough, as in dumpling, or in a mold. Restaurants, paricularly in Lyon, where one can get a quick bite are also called bouchons. And for all you chocoholics, there are cork shaped chocolates filled with marc.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Champignons ragoût - mushroom ragout


Mushroom Ragout. After they are well cleansed [brushed off], pass them in the pan with very fresh butter, parsley and chibol [scallions] minced, season and stove [cook] them, and when you are ready to serve, put into it the juice and peel of lemon and serve.


The French Cook, François Pierre La Varenne, Englished in 1653, p. 96.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Beignets à fleurs d'courges & Fromage



My squash and pumpkins do not realize that Fall is coming on--they are still producing a bumper crop of blossoms. Today I picked all of the ones that have not set fruit and fried them up for supper.

Fritter (Beignet) Batter
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup flour
sticks of cheese 1/2" x 2"
fresh or dried herbs, optional for flavor
salt and pepper
olive oil & butter for frying

Beat egg whites until stiff. Beat yolks separately; add salt and pepper to taste and a pinch of fresh or dried herbs. Stir whites into yolk mixture.

Stuff sticks of cheese into blossoms, dredge in flour, then into fritter batter. Fry at medium low heat in melted olive oil and butter. Serve with cold beer and crusty bread--welcome to Fall!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

World Bread Baking Day '07

World Bread Day '07 kochtopf is hosting World Bread Baking Day 2007 on Tuesday, October 16th. You can also access last year's entries. Now, where's my bench flour?

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Pain de Seigle Sisteron - BBD#3



BBD#3, Sourdough Rye Bread is a new challenge in baking bread. Here is a sourdough rye from Provence, Pain de Seigle Sisteron, or Sisteron Rye Bread. Makes two loaves.


Take a one pound lump of dough from a previous baking of white bread, known as a chef, and put it in a bowl with 2 cups of warm water [this chef contributes the sourness that we associate with rye bread]. Squish the dough ball between your fingers until mostly dissolved in the water. Add 1 package of yeast, 1 tablespoon salt, 4 cups stone ground rye flour; stir with a heavy wooden spoon until the dough is no longer sticky. Be patient--it will take quite a few turns of the spoon. Sprinkle one hand full of white flour onto bread board and dump rye dough onto the board; knead the white flour in and pat the dough into a round ball. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double in bulk.

When double, punch down and allow to rise again.

Shape dough into two flattened disks. Place on baking sheet or pan which has been greased and sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover. Allow to double in bulk once more.

Slash a circle on the middle of each loaf.

Bake at 380F for 45 minutes.

Cook's Note: As you can see from the picture, I did not have a razor blade or baker's lame (razor blade in a tool). I used a knife tip to slash a circle in my bread top after it had risen and just as it went into the oven [this caused it to deflate and didn't give it a chance to raise again]. I think I would have been better off to slash it when first shaped for the last rising--this would have allowed the circle on top to raise somewhat independently--and I think the loaf would have been prettier and would have looked more like the original loaves.

Rye bread is better eaten the next day and the day after that … The flavor increases with age. This bread is amazing!

Recipe: The Breads of France and how to bake them in your own kitchen, Bernard Clayton, Jr.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Rossoli

Most of us do not have access to stills today. I suggest pouring measured boiling water over your petals and spices in a glass jug. Cover and allow to cool. Add your cooled sugar syrup and stir; and spirits and stir again. Cover and allow to steep for several weeks. Filter and bottle; store in a cool place for several more weeks before drinking. You may leave out the carmine, but as a result, your liqueur will be only slightly pink.

Rossoli: You will take musk roses, Spanish Jasmine, orange flowers [four ounces each], cinnamon [one half ounce] & [12] cloves [if clove is too strong for you, use common garden pinks flowers {œillet}, again four ounces]. When you choose well, according to what we said, you will put the whole in the Still, according to quantities' prescribed in the receipt, with [four pints] water, & will distil these matters with simple water, on a medium fire; when this receipt is distilled, you will dissolve sugar [two and three-quarters pounds] in this distillation, & when it is molten, you will pour into this distilled syrup [one bottle] brandy, or the spirit of wine [marc], according to quality or the force [proof] which you will want to give to your liquor; this being made, you will colour your liquor a crimson red [cochinille or carmine]. [Filter and bottle; store in a cool place for several weeks before drinking.]

Dictionnaire Portatif de Cuisine, d'Office, et de Distillation. Chez Vincent, Paris 1767, p. 286.

Rossoli
Vous prendrez des roses musquées, un peu de lys, du jasmine d’Espagne, de la fleur d’orange, de la cannelle & du clou de girofle; le tout avec leurs qualités décrites dans chacun de leurs chapitres. Quand vous aurez bien choisi, selon ce que nous avons dit, vous mettrez le tout dans l’alambic, selon les qualités presecrites dans la recette, avec de l’eau; & vous distillerez ces matieres avec de l’eau simple, sur un feu tant soit peu vif: quand cette recette sera distillée, vous ferez fonder du sucre dans cette distillation; & quand il sera fondu, vous verserex dans ce syrop distillé de l; eau-de-vie, ou de l’esprit de vin, selon la qualité ou la force que vous voudrez donner à votre liqueur; ceci étant fait, vous colorerez votre liqueur un rouge cramoisi.


Cook's Note: Carmine is cochinille/cochineal, red coloring matter derived from the carapaces of beatles that chew on Cacti in the American Southwest and Mexico--used since Spanish conquest times.

Although I have reproduced the recipe as it was written in the 17-18thC, carmine/cochineal has proven to be highly allergenic today.

Cheat and use food coloring or just be happy with the light pink color from the petals.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Hypocras

Hypocras can be a refreshing drink over ice in the summer, or when heated in winter will warm the soul.

Take two pints good wine, put it into a non-reactive pot that will not cause an off-taste. Add one and one half pounds sugar or brown sugar, a little cinnamon, ginger the size of a hazel nut, two seed strands of long pepper, twelve cloves, nutmeg flower or two blades of mace, a Cox's orange pippin peeled & cut in round slices; let the whole soak approximately half an hour, covered. Then half-crush a dozen sweet almonds in a mortar with a little sugar, & add a little orange flower water. At this point if you want to add two amber grains & one musk grain, crush your amber & musk with the almonds and sugar, & place crushed nuts, sugar and flavorings into a cotton straining bag [jelly bag or cotton lined filter], & pour hypocras back forth over the grains and crushed nuts – from one pot to another; if you want to keep it more than eight days use lemon instead of apple.

Le Cuisinier François, De LaVarenne. Chez Jaquez Canier, Paris, 1680, 11 Edition, p. 384-5

Prenez de bon vin, le mettez dans quelque vaisseau bien net, & qui ne puisse pas donner de mauvais goust. Mettez dedans du sucre ou castonnade, un peu de canella, du gingembre la grosseur d’une noisette, du poivre long deux brains, douse cloux de girofle, de la fleur de muscade, ou massis deux feüilles, une pomme de reinette pelée & coupée par roüelle; laissez le tout tremper environ demie heure, tenez le couvert, puis pilez une douzaine d’amandes douces à demise pile, & les mettez dans vostre chasse quand vostre sucre sera fondu, & que vous serez prest à passer vostre hypocras, mettez dedans un peu d’eau de fleur d’orange, & le passez sur vos amandes, & le passes trios ou quatre fois: si vous le voulez ambret & musquer, broyez vostre amber & musc dans un petit mottier avec un peu de sucre en poudre, & le mettez dans du cotton, ou filasse, & l’attachez au bas de vostre chausse, & passes l’hypocras par dessus; si vous voulez le garder plus de huit jours, n’y mettez point de pomme, n’y de citron. Il faut à deux pintes de vin environ une livre & demie de sucre, deux grains d’ambre, & un grain de musc.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Lammas, Cross Quarter Day

Today, August 1st, a cross-quarter day known also as Lammas, carts wheel past my house loaded with grain for the granary. Since the grain is being harvested, now is the perfect time for bread baking. Flour ground today shouldn’t have to be sifted to remove weevils before adding to the sponge or levain to create loaves.

Bread: it is prepared in every village, that is to say wheat, or rye, or of a mixture of both, [into a] tiny well in the flour, one kneads in a little hot water, also putting in a little salt & the leaven, to cause it to rise by fermentation, a kind of homemade bread, lighter and skillfully made, artisanal without their [professional baker’s] help. It is the food of the common man, wholesome, very nutritious, & that which is appropriate for him, in all the states which one can suppose.

Dictionnaire Portatif de Cuisine, d'Office, et de Distillation. Chez Vincent, Paris 1767, p. 113.


Pain: c’est une preparation du bled, soit froment, ou seigle, ou d’un mélange des deux, réduit en farine, qu’on pétrit avec de l’eau un peu chaude, en y mettant un peu de sel & du levain, pour lui donner, par la fermentation que ces substances excitant, une sorte de cuisson anticipée, & plus de legérete qu’il n’en adroit sans leur secours. C’est d’aliment ordinaire de l’homme, le plus sain, le plus nourrissant, & celui qui lui convient le mieux, dans tous les états qu’on puisse supposer.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Cherry Ratafia

Ratafia de Cerises.
Take cherries* and their pits, & put them in a pot to crush them, & let them ferment 24 hours. Usually three pounds of cherries produce a pint of juice. When you strain them, squeeze them to extract all the juice, & put as much of eau-de-vie (brandy*) as that of juice, pint for pint; add a quarter pound of sugar per pint; i.e., on a jug of twelve pints; three pounds sugar; & to that jug; you will add a piece of cinnamon and a handful of crushed cherry pits & stopper the jug, letting it infuse six weeks. After six weeks, strain, bottle and cork, and set back in a cool place for at least 4 months. This ratafia only gets better with age.

Make certain your cherries are ripe and mature, without being spoiled; otherwise all the spices, which one has habit to put at it, are not worth anything for ratafia.

Dictionnaire Portatif de Cuisine, d'Office, et de Distillation. Chez Vincent, Paris 1767, p. 143-144.

* * * * *


*If you use Royal Ann (Napoleon or Bigarreaux) cherries, use a white brandy (Marc, vodka). If you use a dark cherry (Bing or Black Tartarian) use dark brandy.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Noix Vertes & Cerises - Walnuts and Cherries

June 23rd is the usual day to pick green walnuts to make vin noix, chutneys and pickled walnuts. But the key is to begin picking a nut and piercing it with a darning needle to make sure the shell has not formed. Then process your nuts for each recipe.

Try Jean-Luc Odeyer’s Chutney de noix vertes if you’re in France—his is just like the taste of mine—it’s marvelous on grilled bread with goat cheese.

Cherries make a delicious aperitif, sometimes known as guignolet, and which sometimes uses cherry leaves n addition to fruit and pits. Start checking your cherry trees to make sure the robins haven’t stolen each fruit as it ripens or shows color. You might have to gather them here one, there another and hold them in the cold room until you have enough to make your wine.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Where's my passport …

My simple dish of meat and cheese tied for 7th place in a new competition for bloggers to demonstrate at the prestigious Européennes du Goût 2007. Try my rib steak with pepper sauce and cheese and onion crispy toasts to sop up the juices--bon appétit!

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Côte de Boeuf & Croûtes farcies à l’ancienne--Blog Appétit #11--Salers & Salers AOC

Cette édition de Blog Appétit #11 appareille le boeuf de Salers, bien-marbree et d'une race antique, et du fromage du lait de la vache fruitée et forte à Salers. Puisque j'habite dans Nouvelle France, je n'ai plus accès à ces variétés, mais peux rapprocher la viande par Charolaise/Longhorn métisse le boeuf ; savoureux et pas trop maigre. Une coupe 18thC de boeuf est Côte de Boeuf, bifteck de nervure avec avec os, et l'une des coupes du boeuf principales.

Je propose un plat principal de Côte de grillé Boeuf servi avec Poivrade et un côté du l'ancienne d'à de farcies de Croûtes.

Côte de Boeuf
2 biftecks de Salers
beurre non salé de 1 cuiller à soupe
sel de cuillère à café de ¼
poivre fraîchement rectifié de cuillère à café de ¼
sucre de cuillère à café de ¼ (brun ou crus)

Poivrade
Des égouttures après boeuf est grillées
1 petit oignon, haché
Vinaigre ou verjus dans la casserole de deglaze
Zeste orange
Grains de poivre fraîchement fendus

Croûtes
baguette de 4 tranches, libéralement balayée avec du beurre et grillée
Confiture d'oranges d'oignon (oignons et thym caramélisés rôtis par four)
Fromage de Salers AOC, râpé

Sel, poivre et sucre de mélange ; frottez sur des biftecks de nervure. Grillez les biftecks à votre cuisson désirée en beurre non salé dans la casserole très chaude. Recouvrez les nervures de mode en spirale au centre du plateau de portion. Couvrez lâchement et placez en four de chauffage.

Oignon haché de Sauté en égouttures dans la casserole et la casserole de deglaze avec du vinaigre (verjus). Remuez en zeste orange et poivre criqué. Versez le jus au-dessus des biftecks.

Garnissez avec Croûtes qui ont été remplis de confiture d'oranges d'oignon et complétés avec du fromage râpé de Salers AOC et le beurre fondu et brunis. Appétit de fève !
* * * * *

This edition of Blog Appétit #11 pairs Salers beef, well-marbled and from an ancient breed, and fruity, strong Salers AOC cow’s milk cheese. Because I live in Nouvelle France, I no longer have access to these varieties, but can approximate the meat by Charolaise/Longhorn crossbreed beef; tasty and not too lean. An 18thC cut of beef is Côte de Boeuf, rib steak with bone-in, and one of the prime cuts of beef.

I propose a main dish of grilled Côte de Boeuf served with Poivrade and a side of Croûtes farcies à l’ancienne.

Côte de Boeuf
2 Salers steaks
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¼ teaspoon sugar (brown or raw)

Poivrade
Drippings after beef is grilled
1 small onion, minced
Vinegar or verjus to deglaze pan
Orange zest
Freshly cracked peppercorns

Croûtes
4 slices baguette, liberally brushed with butter and toasted
Onion marmalade (oven roasted caramelized onions and thyme)
Salers AOC cheese, grated

Mix salt, pepper and sugar; rub onto Salers rib steaks. Grill steaks to your desired doneness in unsalted butter in very hot pan. Overlap ribs in spiral fashion in center of serving platter. Cover loosely and set in warming oven.

Sauté minced onion in drippings in pan and deglaze pan with vinegar (verjus). Stir in orange zest and cracked pepper. Pour jus over steaks.

Garnish with Croûtes which have been filled with onion marmalade and topped with grated Salers AOC cheese and melted butter and browned. Bon appétit!

Monday, May 14, 2007

Pissenlit or Dandelions



Dandelions (dente lion) or pissenlit (piss in bed—from its use as a diuretic) is an herb with many uses. Leaves harvested early in spring can be eaten as a salad vegetable; its blossoms make a delicate wine, jelly and syrup for flavoring drinks. Its leaves can also be cooked like spinach.

When cooking older dandelion leaves (now when they are tough, instead of waiting for fresh ones in the Fall) requires a slightly more complicated cooking technique. Gather your greens, rinse, and blanch in boiling water for 10 minutes (this will remove some of the bitterness this green is known for). Drain and continue cooking with fresh water for about 10-20 minutes, or until tender to your taste. Serve with vinegar and oil.

Dandelion greens can also be wilted in a pan of hot oil and a little minced garlic and/or onions. Again, serve with vinegar.

Hard-cooked eggs can be grated or sliced over the greens, as well. And the flavors of your vinegars and oils will change its flavor, too.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Pruneaux & Chocolat Biscotins

Inspired by David Lebovitz' French Chocolate Macarons with Prune Filling I tried my hand at Biscotins using the liquor and some mashed prunes from my Pruneaux instead of marmalade; I also added cocoa to the flour before mixing. I used the first recipe from my previous biscotins post.

I used about 1 3/4 cups of flour and 1/4 cup cocoa to the 3 egg whites [remember these old recipes seldom contain propotions, and most officers and cooks seldom shared tips--it was way too much flour!]. In my mind I was seeing Italian-type biscotti--and these cookies were definitely dry and hard when baked. If your teeth are old like mine, I highly recommend a good soaking of the cookie in coffee or other liquid before biting and chewing. However, if you have a good cup of strong coffee and some time to savour each morsel, you will not be disappointed.

Next post: more on biscotins.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Biscotins - Passover Desserts

Desserts for Passover often present a problem—how to cook something new and delicious without the addition of leavening, which is proscribed during the Days of Unleavened Bread. Following is a delightful French biscotin or dry cookie still made in artisanal bakeries in France, especially Provence.

Biscotins
Take 3 egg whites, four spoonfuls of caster sugar, & a spoonful of marmalade of anything you wish, oranges, lemons, apricots, etc; the remainder will be of flour that you will knead in until your paste is quite handy; form your biscotins of various figures, the one round, the other long, in “noose of love” better known as true lovers knot or figure-eights, & any other figure [you like]. You will bake them with small fire [slow oven]; & when you see that they are of lightly russet-red colored, withdraw them. To detach them, you moisten the paper sheet behind with water, & it should come off easily; but it should be done at once. [This implies that the biscotins have been placed on a sheet of paper and then onto the oven sole or bottom of the bake oven, instead of being placed on a baking sheet as in the following recipe. This is a common baking method.]

Another manner of Biscotins
Take a half-pound of sugar; cook it to the feather stage (Hess* identifies the temperature as 232ºF, Recipe S6, "grand soufflé or feather."). Once cooked, remove it from the fire, & weigh three-quarters [pound] of flour which you will put inside your sugar syrup, reserve some flour that you will keep to handle it on the table. Having put your flour in your syrup, you will stir it well with a spoon: when your paste is well done [all your syrup has been absorbed into the flour], take it from the stove, & put it onto a clean table [marble pastry board], where you will have strewn a little flour before; it is necessary to stir it up; at the same time you will pour out your paste, & make small balls about one inch: you must work quickly; because when the paste is cold, one cannot work with it anymore: when the balls are formed, cook in the oven without paper; on copper sheets. When they are cooked, take out of the oven, & put them in a paper cone at the drying oven.

Another manner.
You will take a pound & half wholewheat flour: cook twenty ounces of sugar to the small feather; you will pour it in a mortar; let it cool & afterwards put in the flour, six fresh eggs & a spoonful of orange flower water; pound the whole together one quarter-of-an-hour, & pour out of the mortar onto a clean table, & roll the aforementioned paste in rolls, as large as a hazel nut, & cook in an oven until hot [cooked through or set] and sweet-smelling.

Nouvelle Instruction pour les Confitures, les Liqueurs, et les Fruits, François Massialot. Chez Claude Prudhomme, Paris, 1716, pp. 194-196.

*Karen Hess Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery

* * * * *

Prenez trios blancs d’œufs, quatre cuillerées à bouche de sucre en poudre, & une cuillerée de marmalade de quoy que ce soit, oranges, citrons, abricots, etc. Le reste sera de farine, que vous pêtrirez tout ensemble jusqu’a ce que vôtre pâte soit bien maniable; & vous en dresserez des biscotins de differentes figures, les une ronds, les autres longs, en lacs d’amour, chifres & autre chose. Vous les ferez cuire à petit feu; & quand vous voyez qu’ils le sont & d’un roux un peu coloré, vous les retirez. Pour les detacher, vous humectez la feüille de papier par derriere avec de l’eau, & vous en venez à bout aisément; il faut le faire sur le champ.

Autre maniere de Biscotins
Prenez une demi-livre de sucre; faites-le cuire dans une petite poële à la plume. Etant cuit, vous l’ôterez du feu, & peserez trios quarterons de farine que vous mettrez dedans vôtre sucre, à la reserve d’une poignée que vous garderez pour la manier sur la tables. Ayant mis vôtre farine dans vôtre sucre, vous la remuërez bien avec la gâche: quand vôtre pâte sera bien délayée, vous la tirerez de la poële, & mettrez sur une table bien nette, là où vous aurez semé un peu de farine auparavant; il la faut bien remüer; en même temps vous filerez vôtre pàte, & la cou-pour en faire de petites boules grosses comme le poûce: Cela vout être travaillé promtement; car quand la pâte est froide, on n’en peut plus venire à bout: les boules étant toutes faites, on les fait cuire dans le four sans papier; sur des feüilles de cuivre. Quand elles sont cuires, on les tire du four, & on les met dans un cornet de papier à l’etuve.

Autre maniere.
Vous prendrez une livre & demie de farine de froment: vous serez cuire vingt onces de sucre à la petite plume; vous le verserez dans un mortier; le laisserez refroidir après vous y mettrez la farine, six œufs frais & une cuillerée d’eau de fleur d’orange; batter le tout ensemble un quart-d’heure, & le tiret du mortier, le mettre dessus une table bien nette, & rouler ladite pâte en de petits pains, gros comme une noisette, & les faire cuire dans un four n.oderément chaud.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Eau de Chocolat [Liqueur]

Raw chocolate is this month's Sugar High Friday, the conception of Jennifer, and hosted by Chocolate in Context.

Here is my recipe for Chocolate Liqueur, made from fresh roasted cocoa nibs and vanilla bean.

Eau de Chocolat [Liqueur]
As to what composes the chocolate, it is especially the two fruits of vanilla & the cocoa, which should be employed to make the chocolate water. It seems that [vanilla] makes the chocolate even more chocolatety, as it does with cinnamon & other cordials; but experiments showed that vanilla is best with chocolate. Thus you only need cocoa nibs & vanilla to make it. Roast them both, as if you wish to make chocolate: you will only pulverize the cocoa, & you will leave the vanilla without crushing it: you will put them together in the still, with water & brandy: you will distill them with an ordinary fire. When your spirits are ready to tap, you will mix them with syrup that you will make, usually, with sugar melted in fresh water: you will pass the liquor through a filter and when it is clear, bottle it.

Ingredients: Two ounces of cocoa [nibs], one large vanilla [bean], three & one-fourth pints of brandy, & two & three-fourths pints of water. A pound & one-half of sugar,

* * * * *


Dictionnaire Portatif de Cuisine, d'Office, et de Distillation. Chez Vincent, Paris 1767, p. 160-161.

DEMI-SETIER. s.m. Petite mesure de liqueur, qui contient le quart d'une pinte. Un demi-setier de vin.

Chocolat. (Eau de)
Comme ce qui compose le chocolat, est sur-tout la vanilla & le cacao, ce sont ces deux fruit, qu’il faut employer pour faire l’eau de chocolat. Il semble qu’il seroit plus à propos de se servir du chocolat même, puisque dans sa composition se trouvent la cannelle & d’autres drogues très-cordiales; mias l’expérience a démontré que cette façon étoit impracticable. C’est donc au cacao & à la vanilla seuls qi’il faut avoir recours. Vous ferez rôtir l’un & l’autre, comme si vous vousliez faire du chocolat: vous broyerez ensuite le cacao seulement, & vous laisserez la vanilla sans la piler: vous les mettrez ensemble dans l’alambic, avec de l’eau & de l’eau-de-vie: vous les distillerez à un feu ordinaire, & ne tirerez point de phlegmes. Quand vos esprits seront tires, vous les mettrez dans un syrop que vous ferez, à l’ordinaire, avec du sucre fondu dans de l’eau fraîche: vous passerez la liqueur à la chausse; & quand elle sera Claire, prenez deux onces de cacao, un gros de vanilla, trios pintes & un demi-septier d’eau-de-vie, une livre & demie du sucre, & deux pintes & trios demi-septiers d’eau.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Blog appétit #10, Chartreuse du poulet, du chicon et du carottes



Chartreuse : plat moulé des choux ou les laitues et la viande, les poissons ou le jeu braisés dans des couches successives.

En l'honneur été et de blog appetit--deux ingrédients choisis par Mijo--carottes et chicon ou chicorée--mon chartreuse.

Chartreuse:
Poulet et graisse crus de poulet
Épices mélangées
Miettes de pain
Eau-de-vie fine
Chicon ou chicorée
Carottes
Feuilles de chou
Sel et poivre

Sauce:
Bouillon de poulet
Échalotes découpées
Chicorée déchiquetée
Beurre
Vin blanc
La feuille de chicorée ou de crème fraîche pour garnissent

Faites cuire les carottes légèrement coupées en tranches pendant trois minutes, les immergez immédiatement dans l'eau de glace. Vidangez et arrangez dans une casserole beurrée de Charlotte en long, en laissant la tranche excessive pour draper le bord fini de la casserole. Rectifiez le poulet avec de la graisse de poulet. Remuez en miettes, épices, eau-de-vie fine et sel et poivre de pain pour goûter. Formez un disque de farce et le placez sur des carottes. Coupez la chicorée et le cuisinier pendant deux minutes dans à l'eau bouillante, le drain et les immergez immédiatement dans l'eau de glace. Avec une cuillère encochée, placez un peu de verts sur le disque du poulet. Pat un certain mélange de poulet sur un rond de feuille et d'endroit de chou sur le vert. Continuez de poser la farce de poulet, verts et le chou pousse des feuilles jusqu'à ce que le moule de Charlotte soit plein. Pliez les extrémités découpées en tranches par carotte au-dessus des couches et les pesez vers le bas avec une soucoupe. Placez dans le bain d'eau et faites cuire pour une heure ou jusqu'à fait. Enlevez du bain d'eau et si servir chaud, soigneusement unmold sur le chou blanchi part sur le plateau de portion. Faites une sauce à beurre par sautéing des échalotes et des verts déchiquetés en beurre. Ajoutez le bouillon et le vin blanc et réduisez légèrement. Ajustez l'assaisonnement avec du sel et le poivre. Versez les tranches finies de chartreuse.

Si servant le froid chartreuse, placez un poids sur le moule cuit et refroidissez. Unmold et tranche. Servez avec de un peu de la sauce et une petite cuillerée de fraîche de crème.

Vin : blanc.

* * * * *



Chartreuse of Chicken and Chicon and Carrots

In honor of Spring and blog appetit, two ingredients were chosen by Mijo--carrots and chicon or chicory--my chartreuse. This dish continues the theme of food cooked in [containers or crusts] molds, this time a charlotte, which come in sizes from tiny to large and were pictured in Diderot's Encyclopedie, 1769.

Chartreuse: molded dish of braised cabbages or lettuces and meat, fish or game in successive layers.

Chartreuse:
Raw chicken and chicken fat
Mixed spices
Bread crumbs
Brandy
Chicon or chicory
Carrots
Cabbage leaves
Salt and pepper

Sauce:
Chicken broth
Diced shallots
Shredded chicory
Butter
White wine
Chicory leaf or crème fraîche for garnish

Cook thinly sliced carrots for three minutes, immediately immerse in ice water. Drain and arrange in a buttered charlotte pan lengthwise, leaving excess slice to drape over edge of pan. Grind chicken with chicken fat. Stir in bread crumbs, spices, brandy and salt and pepper to taste. Form a disk of farce and place on carrots. Chop chicory and cook for two minutes in boiling water, drain and immediately immerse in ice water. With a slotted spoon, place a small amount of greens onto disk of chicken. Pat some chicken mixture onto a round of cabbage leaf and place on green. Continue layering chicken farce, greens and cabbage leafs until charlotte mold is full. Fold carrot sliced ends over layers and weight down with a saucer. Place in water bath and cook for one hour or until done. Remove from water bath and if serving warm, carefully unmold onto blanched cabbage leaves on serving platter. Make a butter sauce by sautéing shallots and shredded greens in butter. Add broth and white wine and reduce slightly. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Pour over slices of chartreuse.

If serving chartreuse cold, place a weight on top of the cooked mold and chill. Unmold and slice. Serve with a bit of sauce and a small dollop of crème fraîche.

Wine: white and crisp.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Timbales

Timbale—drum-shaped mold, either small or large, used to shape and bake a filling in a container [crust]. Some people believe that timbale is actually a thimble and some molds reflect this shape. Think of a large timbale being baked in a soufflé dish or a charlotte mold. Small timbales can be baked in ramekins, special molds or even oven-proof cups.

As we learned in Darioles, by mid-18thC people were becoming concerned about the necessity of baking in crusts—an added calorie count—and were looking for ways of cooking without having to eat the container. Most modern timbales reflect this continued idea, and are usually layers of cooked pastes or custards, pasta or rice and vegetables and/or meats baked in molds and inverted onto sauces when plated. Ingredients and sauces can be served either hot or cold and are especially tasty when served in season.

As an example, Dione Lucas suggests using lobster coral to line a buttered timbale mold in which to bake an egg. Both she and Julia Child suggest using crepes to line the mold and to fold over the top [which ends up being the bottom when unmolded] to contain savory ragouts.

* * * * *

Dictionnaire Portatif de Cuisine, d'Office, et de Distillation. Chez Vincent, Paris 1767, p. 350.

Name given to any sort of ragout that one locks up in a pie [either a pastry crust or other manner of food used to contain the ragout once it is cooked and will hold its shape when unmolded], & which one bakes in an oven. Only your imagination and your mold limits you in the size or [crust] or filling of your timbale—any kind of ragout can be baked in a [crust] in a timbale.

Nom qu’on a donné à toute espece de ragout qu’on enferme dans un pâté, & qu’on fait cuire au four. On en peur faire, & imaginer d’autant de façons qu’il y a de sorte de ragouts, qui peuvent se mettre en pâté.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Darioles

Whereas before mid-17thC the pastrycooks seldom revealed the trade secrets of the paste [pastry], the pastissier François reveals them all: including the fine paste which is used for pies and the tarts. However, the medieval pie of the can type [raised] remains, even if its decline starts. Darioles are of this raised pie type.

Raised pies usually used a heavy crust formed around a mold which was removed, allowing the pie crust to stand in the shape desired. It was filled and brushed with an egg wash that not only helped to act as a glue to keep the crust together but also results in the name, dorage or doré—gilded crust, dariole being a small, almost bite-sized version. But as you can see from the second recipe, dated 1767, the dariole crust was being seen as heavy and was not being eaten, hence the distinctive molds to shape and cook the custards as we see today.

Darioles
Break in a pot [bowl] seven to eight fresh eggs, & whip them well with a quart of your best white flour, add a little salt with discretion; you may add caster sugar if you wish: when that is well stirred, pour milk little-by-little stirring after each addition the quantity that is necessary, as if you want to make [pudding]: when it is well stirred, cook it on a fire like [custard pudding]: cook and stir it [until it is thickened], pour it in[to] another pot [to cool so it won’t separate], then make a fine paste [pastry crust], form the darioles any size you wish [over the outside of a mold or pinch them with your fingers as in a pinch-pot-- the pastissier François says they are to be no more than two fingers-width high], & leave them to dry & harden in the air on a shelf; when they are well dried, you will fill them with the cooked [pudding] an inch deep, & will spread it also everywhere [into the corners of the crust]; add a little piece of fresh butter on top & will bake them in the oven on greased paper or on a dusting of flour; one needs only one quarter hour to cook them: once cooked, withdraw them from the oven, powder them with sugar, & put a small drop of orange-or rose-flower water on top.

La nouvelle maison rustique, ou, Économie generale de tous les biens de campagne: la manière de les entretenir & de les multiplier : donée ci-devant au public / par le Sieur Louis Liger. Paris : Saugrain, 1755, Tome II, IV. Part. LIV. IV. Chap. I. La Cuisine. B., p. 860.

Darioles
Cassez dans une terrine sept à huit œufs frais, & les délayez bien avec un litron de fleur de farine, mettez-y du sel menu à discretion; vous pou-vey y mettre du sucre en poudre si vous souhaitez: quand cela sera bien délayé, versez-y peu-à-peu du lait la quantité qu’il en faut, comme si vous vouliez faire de la bouillie: le tout étant bien délayé, faites le cuire sur le feu aussi comme de la bouillie: étant cuite, tirez-la & la versez dans une autre terrine, puis faites une pâte fine, formez les darioles de la grandeur que vous souhaitez, & les laissez ressuyer & raffermir à l’air sur une planche; quand elles seront bien ressuyées, vous les garnirez de la farce cuite de l’épaisseur d’un pouce, & l’étnedrez également par-tout; vous mettez dessus un peu de beurre frais par petits morceaux & les ferez cuire au four sur du papier graissé de beurre ou poudré de farine; il ne faut qu’un quart-d’heure pour les cuire: étant cuites, tirez-les, poudrez-les de sucre, & mettez-y une petite goutte d’eau de fleur d’ornage ou d’eau rose.

* * * * *

Darioles a small piece of pastry.
Put in a pot a quart of flour; break two fresh eggs there; beat with a spoon, & pour there, for better softening, little-by-little some milk, salt & [sweet] butter, which you consider suitable [this preamble of stirring a dense mass helps to break up any lumps prior to stirring in the rest of the liquid]. Once it’s well softened [no lumps], still add a pint of milk, or similar quantity of almond milk; but then one needs a little more flour. When that is in consistency of cream [smooth], one fills some small tart shells made of fine paste, but well wiped & closed undercrusts [tightly formed pastry brushed with egg wash so that the filling will not leak]; cook the darioles in the oven. When they are cooked, one puts on each one a small piece of butter, powders them with sugar, & puts a little orange flower water on top. This pastry shell and all the ingredients which make it up are very healthy naturally.

Dictionnaire Portatif de Cuisine, d'Office, et de Distillation. Chez Vincent, Paris 1767, p. 213.

Darioles - Petite piece de patisserie.
Mettez dans une terrine le quart d’un litron de fleur de farine; cassez-y deux œufs frais; délayez avec une cuillere, & versez-y, pour mieux détremper, du lait petit-à-petit; du sel & beurre frais, ce que vous jugez convenable. Le tout bien détrempé, ajoûtez encore une chopine de lait, ou pareille quantité de lait d’amandes; mais alors il faut un peu plus de farine. Quand cela est en consisstance de crême, on en remplit de petites abaisses faites de pâte à tartes, mais bien essuyées & fermées; on met les darioles au four. Quand elles sont cuites, on met sur chacune un petit morceau de beurre; on les poudre de sucre, & on y met un peu d’eau de fleurs d’orange. Cetre patisserie paroît d’autant plus faine, que tous les ingrediens qui la composent sont très – sains de leur nature.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Rissoles

Take whitemeat [breast] of poultry or fillet of veal cooked, chop it on a table [cutting board] with a little parsley & Welsh onion [scallions], add a little bacon & some small mushrooms; after it’s well chopped together, crush it in the mortar while adding egg yolks to bind the forcemeat, season it well. Cut small undercrusts of fine paste [squares or triangles], & wrap each undercrust around a small nut [tablespoon] of forcemeat, & when your rissoles all are prepared, fry in lard or [graisse] which is hot like making fritters: when the crust turns golden on one side, turn the rissoles on other side with a small stick without bursting them, & when they are well [colored] on both sides, withdraw them from the fat with a skimmer, & serve warm.
On fast days, fill [rissoles] with a fish farce, & fry them in butter [fish and butter are not considered meat or meat grease, which is not allowed on a fast day].

La nouvelle maison rustique, ou, Économie generale de tous les biens de campagne: la manière de les entretenir & de les multiplier : donée ci-devant au public / par le Sieur Louis Liger. Paris : Saugrain, 1755, Tome II, IV. Part. LIV. IV. Chap. I. La Cuisine. B., p. 845.

RissolesPrenez du blanc de volaille ou de la rouelle de veau cuite, hachez-la sur une table avec un peu de persil & de ciboule, mettez-y un peu de lard & quelques petits champignons; le tout bien haché, pilez-le encore dans le mortier, mettez-y des juanes d’œufs, le tout bien assaisonné, faites de petites abaisses de pâte fine bien minces, & enveloppez dans chaque abaisse gros comme une petite noix de farce, & lorsque vos rissoles seront toutes façonnées, il faudra les frire dans du sain-doux qui soit chaud comme pour faire des beignets: quand la croûte paroîtra juane d’un côté dans le sain-doux, vous tournerez les rissoles de l’autre côté avec un petit baton sans les crever, & quand elles seront bien rissoles des deux côtés, il faudra les tirer à sec avec une écumoire, & les server chaudement.
On en peut faire en maigre avec une farce de poisson, & les frire dans du beurre.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Tourte of foie gras

Make an undercrust of fine paste & put it in a tart plate, put grated bacon on the bottom, season it with salt and pepper & a little sweet herbs, arrange the livers next & finish with tips of mushrooms, morels, will foams & truffles; season like the lower part, & cover the whole with very thin veal slices & bacon slices, cover the tourte with a second crust, gild it with eggs & put it to bake in the oven; once cooked, take it out and remove the top section of crust [carefully], remove the sections of veal & the slices of bacon [save these for hash or a farce], degrease it & add a little ham essence, replace the upper crust, reheat it & serve.

La nouvelle maison rustique, ou, Économie generale de tous les biens de campagne: la manière de les entretenir & de les multiplier : donée ci-devant au public / par le Sieur Louis Liger. Paris : Saugrain, 1755, Tome II, IV. Part. LIV. IV. Chap. I. La Cuisine. B., p. 849.

Tourte de foies gras
Dressez une abaisse de pâte fine & la mettez dans une tourtiere, mettez dessus du lard rapé, l’assaisonnez de sel, de poivre & un peu de fines herbes, rangez les foies dessus & garnissez de crêtes, de champignons, morilles, mousserons & truffes assasisonnés comme le dessous, & couvrez le tout de tranches de veau bien minces & bardes de lard, couvrez la tourte de l’autre abaisse, dorez-la d’œufs & la mettez cuire au four; étant cuite, tirez-la & la découvrez, ôtez-en les tranches de veau & les bardes de lard, dégraissez-la & y mettez un peu d’essence de jambon, recouvrez-la & la servez chaudement.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Middle-class Soups - Potages Bourgeois

Cover a good piece of beef [a haunch or a slice], with water in a cooking pot, & when the pot boils half an hour, after skimming the foam, add mutton, a knuckle of veal, & poultry as much as you want; also add salt & three cloves, & let it boil [again until meats are tender]. One hour or half an hour before serving, add herbs with a few cucumbers or root vegetables according to the season, & [some] verjuice: *[ladle] soup onto croutons or [slices or pieces] of dried bread in a serving bowl, simmer on embers [slowly re-warm], & add bouillon as it is consumed [the bread absorbs it].

*Before adding soup to bread, one can add to [hot] soup two egg yolks [beaten] with half-glass of verjuice & a little bouillon, stirring them in well to set the egg.

The title of this soup, middle-class or Bourgeois, infers that there is a difference in the soup of the lower class. This is, indeed, true. This soup has meat, in fact, more than one type of meat. Although this soup would be usual at the table of the gentry living in the country (as the title of the book implies [The New Country House]), the servants or the lower class would most likely not have meat(s) in their soups, but simple fare of vegetables and grains. Notice though that the gentry also sop up the last drop of broth with bread, using bread as an integral part of the soup. Waste not, want not.

La nouvelle maison rustique, ou, Économie generale de tous les biens de campagne: la manière de les entretenir & de les multiplier : donée ci-devant au public / par le Sieur Louis Liger. Paris : Saugrain, 1755, Tome II, IV. Part. LIV. IV. Chap. I. La Cuisine. B., p. 840.

Potages Bourgeois
Mettez de l’eau dans une marmite avec un bon morceau de bœuf de cimier ou de tranche, faites-la écumer, & quand le pot aura bouilli une demi-heure, mettez-y du mouton, un jarret de veau, & une volaille se vous en voulez; ajoutez-y du sel & trios clous de girofle, & le laissez bouillir. Une heure ou demi-heure avant que de dresser, vous mettrez des herbes avec un peu de concombres ou de raciness suivant la saison, & du verjus en grain: ayant dressé le potage sur des croutons ou du pain séché, faites-le mitonner sur de la braise, & mettez du bouillon à mesure qu’il sera consommé. On peut ajouter au potage deux jaunes d’œufs délayés avec demi-verre du verjus & un peu de bouillon, les ayant fait un peu blanchir auparavant sur le feu, & les verser sur le potage.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Chocolat - From Bean to Confection

US Department of Agriculture photo
Chocolate is dry paste, made with cocoa beans, & sugar, to which vanilla or an infinity of ingredients that the inventive Americans add. One makes and stores tablettes [of prepared chocolate] in the [pantry]; one drinks it; one employs it to make creams. The chocolate cannot succeed, if one did not choose mature cocoa pods; the best known pods are of gall color [ripe and brown; inside the pod are beans both brown color & dark crimson; those which are red are not worth anything: they are the hard & bitter chocolate; but the quality of the cocoa will only be known after it is roasted; because then it is seen whether there are many of these red grains]. It is necessary that the cocoa is roasted in order to find the taste & the color of chocolate you desire.

To roast the chocolate to the appropriate color, put it [chocolate beans removed from the pulp] in a pan of copper or iron, or in an unglazed terracotta pot, and put it on the fire & stir it up constantly until it is black on the outside, like roasted chestnuts; for this first time, one cannot brown too much; then the cocoa should be peeled, & winnowed well [to remove the outsides of the seeds]; to see if it is roasted enough, it is best to make a test of it; take one ounce of cocoa, & an half-ounce of sugar, which you reduce to a paste to better distinguish the taste & the color; because if it is not brown enough, & if it does not feel roasted enough, one shouldn’t fear to roast it once again, but carefully, because once its bark is removed, it is burned easily; & takes a malicious taste.

When one reaches the proper color, smell and taste, one crushes it with the mortar, so that it is a rather tiny grained masse when some is put on a plate. When the paste of the chocolate approaches this fine grain, it is necessary to add to it vanilla*, & a little powdered cinnamon[or other spice and flavor]; the quantity depends on the will. The whole being mixed together, you add to it three quarters or a pound sugar, for a pound of cocoa; mix your sugar in well and put the mixture back into your mortar, and put it back in the mortar or put it on the stone [metate] or the iron pan heated below with a chafing dish or small fire; also get the roller [mano]: then reduce this compound powder until very fine, a paste will develop with pressure and heat; pass the roller above little-by-little, until it is fine when it does not crunch on the teeth; then tablettes of one ounce are formed, or rolls of a quarter or of half-pound.

*It is necessary to choose strong vanilla, not too dry, nor too fatty; because they are often mixed with oil of balsam [to preserve them], pare them to make sure they are good & fresh: they are very difficult to reduce to a powder; but after having cut them in small pieces with scissors, pulverize them & pass them by the sieve [before adding to the mortar].

Dictionnaire Portatif de Cuisine, d'Office, et de Distillation. Chez Vincent, Paris 1767, p. 156-158.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Casserole [Stuffed Bread]

An interesting dish--I suppose it would depend upon the shape of your loaf of bread and whether you had a casserole or skillet to fit it--an oval or round dish would seem to work best.


Casserole [Stuffed Bread]
Take a [loaf of] soft bread whose crust is browned [implied here is a tough, chewy well-colored crust], & cut off the very bottom of the loaf and remove the soft insides, & reserve the crust [shell]: then mince [chop not shred] roast chicken or a fattened poulet [female or hen], with another kind of cooked meat; heat it [meats] in the pan, with [a little] good gravy & good seasoning, as if it were to prepare minced meat [in other words, a dry mixture, not soupy]: once it is heated through, carefully spoon some into the breadcrust [shell] which you will have dried completely on the inside by placing it in an oven & continue to put a little of this mince, layered with some of the soft bread insides torn in pieces and also dried in the oven, & completely fill with this mince & small crusts, then close [cover] it with the same part that you have removed by slicing off the bottom of it to remove the crumb of it. Take then a pan which is not larger than your bread, put on the bottom bacon bards [a slice of fatty meat or very well butter or grease the pan], & then the bread on the side which it was stuffed [turn right side up so the top of the filled bread is now uppermost], simmer in this manner with good gravy, made so that it cooks slowly and does not simmer [boil] too much, so that it is all entire [bread crust or what is now a bread bowl within the pan] and does not come apart, keeping it well covered [with gravy]. A little before serving, pour it onto a [serving] dish or platter, remove the bards [if used], drain off any grease & cover [pour over] your bread [garnish the plate] with a good ragout of calf sweetbreads, artichoke bottoms, truffles & asparagus tips around, according to the season.

Casserole au fromage
[Cheese Stuffed Bread]
It is prepared just as above, in the stuffed bread one puts a little grated Parmesan or other cheeses [layered with torn bits of bread instead of the minced meats]; & when the bread is cooked [in good gravy] & placed on its serving platter, one still powders [sprinkles over] it some of the same cheese of which one [stuffed it], & one makes him take a little color in the furnace [pass a red hot fire shovel over it or put it under the broiler], & when one is ready to serve, one puts the ragout around & one serves it warmly.

La nouvelle maison rustique, ou, Économie generale de tous les biens de campagne: la manière de les entretenir & de les multiplier : donée ci-devant au public / par le Sieur Louis Liger. Paris : Saugrain, 1755, Tome II, IV. Part. LIV. IV. Chap. I. La Cuisine. B., p. 806-7.


Casserole
Prenez un pain mollet dont la croûte soit dorée, & ne le chapelez point dessus, percez-le par dessous, & en ôtez la mie: ensuite ayez un bon hachis de poulets rôtis ou de poulardes, au autre sorte de viande cuite; passez-le à la casserole, avec bon jus & bon assaisonnement, comme si c’étoit pour faire un hachis: étant passé, il faut, avec une cuiller en mettre dans le pain que vous aurez fait sécher à l’air du feu du côté de la mie; & après y avoir mis un peu de ce hachis, vous y mettrez quelques petites croûtes de pain par morceaux, & l’acheverez de remplir de ce hachis & de petites croûtes, puis vous le fermerez de la même piéce que vous avez ôtez en le perçant pour en ôter la mie. Prenez ensuite une casserole qui ne soit pas plus grande que votre pain, mettez au fond des bares de lard, & ensuite le pain du côté qu’il a été farci, faites-le mitonner de cette maniere avec de bon jus, faites en sorte qu’il ne soit pas trop pressé ni trop mitonné, de façon qu’il soit tout entire, le tout bien couvert. Un peu auparavant que de server, versez-le sur un plat avec adresse, ôtez les bardes, égouttez un peu la graisse & couvrez votre pain d’un bon ragout de ris de veau, culs d’artichauts, truffes & pointes d’asperges autour, selon la saison.

Casserole au fromage
On l’apprête de même que ci-dessus, hors que dans le pain farci on y met un peu parmesan rapé ou d’autres fromages; & quand le pain est cuit & qu’on l’a dressé dans son plat, on le poudre encore du même fromage dont on s’est servi, & on lui fait prendre un peu de couleur dans le four, & lorsqu’on est prêt à server, on met le ragout autour & on le sert chaudement.
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