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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Anchois - anchovy

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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.

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.

Bécasses - Woodcock

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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.

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!

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.

Aloyau -- Sirloin

Sirloin 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.

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.