The French Menu Cookbook: The Food and Wine of France - Season by Delicious Season. Richard Olney
be made exactly like the veal stock, substituting gelatinous pieces of beef (tail, shank, chuck) for the veal.
The petite marmite, or poule au pot, one or the other sometimes garnished by the appellation “Henri-IV,” is merely a pot-au-feu to which a hen has been added. A classical consommé is a petite marmite moistened with a pot-au-feu bouillon, completely degreased, and clarified by an additional couple of hours’ cooking with a mixture of egg whites and lean ground beef. Although it is truly ambrosial in character, none of the soup recipes in this book will require an equivalent expenditure of time or material.
MIREPOIX
Plats cuisinés (which means, vaguely, those preparations that contain a number of elements and require a more or less involved cooking process—the term might be translated, “dishes cooked with art”) rest generally on an aromatic foundation of onions, carrots, thyme and bay leaf. Other aromas, quite as valuable, may too often be excluded, but these mentioned, in any case, lend the primary support to all stocks, court-bouillons and braised preparations, and, although the latter often require a stock as braising liquid, it is nonetheless reinforced by a new addition of these same elements. For those preparations in which the carrots remain as part of the garnish, the vegetables are simply cut up, but for the many dishes that are garnished otherwise, or only sauced, a mirepoix (or matignon, which is the same thing except that the vegetables are finely sliced rather than chopped) is used as the aromatic base. Some recipes (none in this book) call for an addition of chopped ham or salt pork. For preparations in which the sauce is passed separately, the vegetables may be chopped more coarsely. If the mirepoix is to remain in the body of the sauce, the vegetables should be chopped very finely and the woody core of the carrots should be first removed. The mirepoix may be prepared in quantity and kept in the refrigerator, but the preparation is so simple that it seems hardly worthwhile. I personally feel that it gains by a substitution of mixed herbs for thyme, but that is an affair of taste, and the following recipe is classic.
Mirepoix
2 large carrots (approximately 4–5 ounces) with cores removed
2 onions (equivalent weight to the carrots)
½ bay leaf and a large pinch of thyme, ground to powder in a mortar, or merely crumbled if the sauce is to be passed through a sieve. (Do not use herbs already powdered—they have no flavor)
1 heaping tablespoon finely chopped parsley (including roots, if possible)
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) butter
pinch of salt
Peel the carrots and the onions and chop them finely. To chop the carrots, cut them in two lengthwise, pry out the core with the help of a small knife, and slice each half lengthwise as finely as possible. Flatten these slices out on the chopping board and continue slicing through them lengthwise until they are reduced to tiny sticks, then, holding them together, slice finely crosswise. Rechop this mass several times until very fine. For those who dislike chopping there is a useful device, a mouli-julienne, through which the carrots may first be passed, then chopped through a couple of times.
Melt the butter in a small, heavy saucepan, add all the ingredients and cook very gently, stirring regularly, for about ½ hour. The mirepoix should be thoroughly cooked, but absolutely not browned. If it is to be stored in the refrigerator, pack it into a glass or small jar, pressing well with a fork to eliminate all air pockets, and cover the surface with a buttered round of kitchen paper, aluminum foil or wax paper.
DUXELLES
Duxelles is occasionally used, like mirepoix, as an aromatic braising element, but more often as a stuffing, either alone or as one of several ingredients in a forcemeat, and as the base for sauce duxelles (boiled with white wine, reduced, brought to consistency with tomato purée and half-glaze and buttered away from the heat). It, too, may be prepared in advance and kept in the same way as mirepoix, if desired. To save time and effort, the mushrooms are often passed through a grinder. The result is still flavorful, but the fine, clean texture that may be attained only by chopping with a sharp knife is sacrificed to that of a mashed, coarse purée.
Duxelles is usually made with cultivated mushrooms, but they may be replaced advantageously by any wild mushroom. For reasons of economy, stems alone may be used (the heads, if not designed to serve immediately, may be boiled for 3 or 4 minutes with ¼ cup of water, a chunk of butter, salt, pepper, and a bit of lemon juice, and kept in their cooking liquid, which is also a valuable flavoring agent). A particularly elegant duxelles is that made of truffle peelings. It should be subjected to a shorter and less violent cooking process.
Duxelles
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil (or 4 tablespoons butter)
½ pound mushrooms or mushroom stems, finely chopped
salt, freshly ground pepper
1 heaping tablespoon finely chopped parsley
nutmeg
a few drops of lemon juice
Cook the chopped onion in the fat until it is soft and yellowed in color. Add the mushrooms and turn the flame up. Stir and toss until their liquid has evaporated and the mixture is fairly stiff. Turn the flame low again, salt and pepper to taste, stir in the parsley, and continue to cook for a minute or two, stirring regularly. Grate in a tiny bit of nutmeg, add the lemon juice and remove from the heat. If the duxelles is to be stored, eliminate the lemon juice, which may be added just before using.
THE PREPARATION OF ARTICHOKE BOTTOMS
Artichoke bottoms may be cooked and kept submerged in their cooking liquid for several days before using (if they are to be canned, the cooking time should be reduced to a minimum since they must be sterilized afterward). Served cold, the following recipe represents the complete cooking process. Served hot, artichokes always gain in flavor by a final cooking in butter. (If one has the luck to find them young and tender, they may be cooked directly in butter after having been rubbed with lemon.) The lemon—both the rubbing and its presence in the cooking liquid—is designed to keep them from turning dark, but should not be overdone, for although a slight lemon flavor is agreeable, a delicately flavored grayish artichoke is preferable to one that is acid in flavor, though impeccable in color. Also, to avoid discoloration, artichokes should not be cooked in any metal except stainless steel or enamelware, nor “turned” (pared in spiral fashion) with a carbon knife.
Artichoke Bottoms
artichokes
lemon halves for rubbing them
Cooking liquid:
for 1 quart water, the juice of ½ lemon, pinch of thyme, salt
Break off the stems, which permits any fibrous strings to be pulled out. If the stems are sliced off, the strings remain in the bottom. Tear off all the tough outer leaves, pulling each backward, then down toward the base. When the leaves appear white and tender at the base, cut across the artichoke, leaving the tender bases attached to the bottom. Using a small, well-sharpened stainless steel knife, neatly pare the bottoms where the stem has been torn off, then continue, in a spiral fashion, all the way round to the top, removing all dark green parts. The finished product will be a pale-green and white flattened sphere. The pared surface of an artichoke darkens rapidly in contact with air, and, unless one’s work methods