The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book. Victor Hirtzler
Fill individual baking dishes, and sprinkle the top liberally with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake in an oven until the top is an even brown.
Crab meat, Gourmet. Put a quarter of a pound of picked shrimps in a saucepan, add one ounce of butter and one-half whiskey-glassful of dry sherry wine. Simmer for five minutes, then add the meat of one crab, prepared Monza.
Crab meat, Suzette. Bake four good-sized potatoes, and cut off one side like the cover of a box. Scoop the insides out with a spoon, and fill with the meat of one crab prepared in cream. Sprinkle some grated Parmesan or Swiss cheese on top, and bake in oven until nice and brown. Serve on napkins, garnished with parsley in branches and quartered lemons.
Oysters or crab, à la Poulette. If for oysters, boil them in their own liquid for about five minutes. If the small California oysters are used boil for half that time. Into this liquid of, say, a pint of oysters, stir a heaping teaspoonful of corn starch mixed with a half pint of white wine. Then beat the yolks of two eggs with half a cup of cream, and stir slowly into the above, add two large spoonfuls of butter, and keep on the stove but do not let it boil. Finally squeeze in the juice of half a small lemon. If crab is used, cut the meat in small pieces, and make the sauce in the same manner, but instead of beginning with the juice of oysters for the foundation of the sauce, begin with a cup and a half of cream and water in equal proportions, thicken with corn starch, then add the yolks of eggs, etc., as above. The oysters or the crab meat should be added last.
Crab meat, à la Louise. Have the crab meat thoroughly chilled, and allow one crab to three or four people, according to the size of the fish. Use small fancy fish plates, or salad plates. Lay on each plate some slices of the white hearts of firm heads of lettuce. Lay on top some canned Spanish pimentos, using the brilliant red variety, which is sweet. On top of this place the crab meat, taking care not to break it too small. Over all pour French dressing made with tarragon vinegar, well-seasoned with freshly-ground black pepper.
MARCH 23
| BREAKFAST | LUNCHEON | ||||
| Hominy and cream | Sardines with lemon | ||||
| Ham and eggs | Clam broth in cups | ||||
| Rolls | Sand dabs, meunière | ||||
| Coffee | Plain boiled potatoes | ||||
| Asparagus, vinaigrette | |||||
| Edam cheese and crackers | |||||
| Coffee | |||||
| DINNER | SUPPER | ||||
| Potage Coquelin | Eggs Pocahontas | ||||
| Radishes and olives | |||||
| Broiled pompano, Havanaise | |||||
| Leg of mutton, Clamart | |||||
| Rissolées potatoes | |||||
| Lettuce and tomato salad | |||||
| Fancy ice cream | |||||
| Assorted cakes | |||||
| Coffee | |||||
Eggs Pocahontas. Fry six strips of bacon, and two dozen California, or one dozen Blue Point, oysters. Scramble ten eggs and mix with the above. Season well.
Potage Coquelin. Garnish purée of pea soup with chicken and leeks cut Julienne style, and boiled in broth.
Broiled pompano, Havanaise. Serve broiled pompano with a Colbert sauce, to which has been added two red peppers (pimentos), cut Julienne style. Pour the sauce over the fish, or serve separate, as desired.
Leg of mutton, Clamart. Roast leg of mutton garnished with purée of peas. Serve brown gravy.
Lettuce and tomato salad. Put the leaves of a head of lettuce in a salad bowl. In the center place four peeled and sliced, or quartered, tomatoes. Pour one-half cup of French dressing or mayonnaise over the tomatoes.
Crab meat, Belle Helene. Put six whole tomatoes in hot water for fifteen seconds, then cool immediately, and remove the skins. Cut a hole in the tops the size of a quarter of a dollar, scoop out the insides, season the inside of the shells with salt and pepper, fill with crab meat Monza, and bake in oven for ten minutes. Serve on platters, garnished with parsley and quartered lemons.
Prune soufflé. Wash a cupful of prunes thoroughly, and soak them over night. Boil them in the water in which they were soaked, flavoring with half of a vanilla bean, and sweetened with a cupful of sugar. When done pour off and save the juice. Strain the pulp through a colander or wire sieve, making a good firm purée, and about a cupful in quantity. Whip the whites of six eggs until dry, then whip in the prune pulp, and bake in the same manner as an omelette soufflé. Bake on a platter, formed into a symmetrical mound; or in a buttered pudding mould. Serve hot or cold, with a sauce made of the flavored juice in which the prunes were cooked, or it may be served with whipped cream. Other fruit may be prepared in the same manner, if desired.
Salt codfish, Nova Scotia. Soak two pounds of salt codfish in cold water for six hours. Then put in casserole in one pint of water, boil for ten minutes, drain, add one pint of Créole sauce, boil slowly for five minutes, and serve hot with fresh-boiled rice.
MARCH 24
| BREAKFAST | LUNCHEON | ||||
| Stewed prunes | Crab cocktail, Victor | ||||
| Boiled eggs | Broiled shad roe, ravigote | ||||
| Buttered toast | Tripe sauté, Lyonnaise | ||||
| English breakfast tea | Château potatoes | ||||
| Escarole salad | |||||
| Caroline cake | |||||
| Coffee | |||||
| DINNER | |||||
| Clam chowder, Boston style | |||||
| Fillet of sole, under glass | |||||
| Roast chicken | |||||
| Julienne potatoes | |||||
| Asparagus, Hollandaise | |||||
| Baked Alaska | |||||
| Coffee | |||||
Broiled shad roe, ravigote. Broil the roe, place on a platter, and cover with a sauce made by mixing one-half cup of maître d'hôtel sauce with two chopped vinegar pickles and one teaspoonful of French mustard.
Fillet of sole under glass. Cut the fillets into pieces two inches square. Into a buttered shirred egg dish put a piece of toast; on top of this place the fish, season with salt and pepper, put three fresh mushroom heads on each portion of fish, add a piece of butter about the size of an egg, and over all squeeze the juice of half a lemon, and sprinkle with finely-chopped parsley. Cover with a glass cover, such as used for mushrooms, put in a moderate oven and cook for twenty minutes; being careful that the oven is not hot enough to burn the toast. Then take from the oven, pour velouté sauce and a spoonful of white wine over each portion, and return, to cook for another five minutes. Any other fish may be substituted for sole, if desired.
Clam chowder, Boston style. Put fifty clams, with their liquid, into a saucepan and boil for three minutes. Then set the clams aside, strain the broth and return to the fire. Chop fine, a medium-sized onion, and cut into dice four slices of salt pork. Put a piece of butter into a pan, and fry the pork and onion until light brown in color; stir in two tablespoonfuls of flour and cook thoroughly, add the clam juice, a half pint of rich soup stock, and the same amount of cream, a couple of diced potatoes, and a bit of thyme if the flavor is liked. Cook for about ten minutes. Chop the clams, and add last of all, as they do not require much cooking. Just before serving add a few hard crackers broken into bits.