The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally. Mrs. Loudon
egg, and then fried; after which they are served with a little gravy or sauce of any kind, or covered with parsley put before the fire till it is quite crisp. Cold potatoes may also be cut in slices and warmed in a casserole, with some butter mixed first in a plate with a little flour, some parsley cut very fine, pepper and salt, and a very little lemon-juice or vinegar: this is called à la maître d'hôtel. They may also be cut in slices and fried, and then served with sauce blanche.
Sauce blanche is made by mixing butter with some flour on a plate, and then putting it into a casserole with a little water. It should be held over the fire, and frequently shaken, till it boils; it is then taken off the fire, and a little salt and vinegar thrown in; after which it is again shaken, and held over the fire till it is quite hot, but not boiling, when it is served. Some cooks add a little of the yolk of eggs, well beaten up with the salt and vinegar. Carrots are very good boiled, and then cut in slices, and dressed à la maître d'hôtel, or fried and served with sauce blanche like potatoes. Carrots are also very good cut into small pieces and stewed till they are tender, with a little butter, and only just enough water or gravy to prevent them from burning. A sauce is made of the yolk of an egg beaten up with some cream, a little salt being added, and it is poured on the carrots; the saucepan is then again put on the fire, and when the whole is quite hot it is served.
It may be useful here to mention two or three kinds of sauce which may be used either for cold meat or fish; and also some of the ways the French have of dressing cold fowl or veal, which are very nice.
Dutch sour sauce. Take the yolks of two eggs, a lump of butter, a little bit of mace, and a table-spoonful of good white-wine vinegar. Put all together into a saucepan over a gentle fire, and keep stirring all one way till the sauce is thick enough for use.
Onion sauce. Melt some butter in a little thick cream, but add neither water nor flour. Boil the onions, and take two coats from their outsides. Chop the inside smooth, and put them into the melted butter, with salt to the taste. Stir one way over the fire for a quarter of an hour, and send up the sauce quite hot. Another way is to boil the onions soft, and to rub their pulp through a cullender or coarse sieve before adding it to the butter.
Sauce à la Bechamel is made by putting sliced onions and carrots into a saucepan with a little butter and flour and a pint of cream; pepper, salt, and nutmeg are added, with mushrooms and finely chopped parsley, if desired. The whole is suffered to stew gently three quarters of an hour, and then it is strained and thickened with a liaison of yolks of eggs. Another kind is made by adding an equal quantity of veal stock to the cream; and dressing any dish à la bechamel means serving it up with a white sauce; either made as above or in any other way, provided it consists principally of cream or thickened milk.
Sauce velouté is a white sauce, the base of which is veal stock instead of cream.
A Liaison of eggs is made by taking some fresh eggs (it is essential that they should be quite fresh), and separating the white carefully from the yolk. The yolks are then beaten up, and two or three spoonfuls of the liquor they are wanted to thicken is added to them, stirring them carefully. The saucepan is then taken off the fire while the eggs are gradually mixed with its contents, and only put on the fire again for a minute, carefully stirring the contents so as to make them quite hot, but not boiling, before they are served up.
Sauce à la Tartare is mixed by putting shallots and other herbs cut very fine, with mustard, salt, pepper, oil, and a little vinegar. The ingredients are all mixed well together and served cold, or they may be made hot for fish.
A Blanquette is made by cutting cold meat into thin slices, and then putting it into a saucepan with a lump of butter, a little flour, pepper, salt, a bunch of sweet herbs, and a little gravy. Simmer it gently five minutes, and then put the meat into a dish; and after thickening the sauce with the yolks of eggs beaten up with a very small quantity of vinegar, and putting it over the fire for a minute, pour it quite hot over the meat.
A Marinade is made by stewing the remains of a fowl or slices of cold meat with butter or oil, vinegar, pepper, salt, onions, and sweet herbs; and then draining the pieces, dipping them in white of egg, and flouring them or covering them with bread crumbs, and frying them.
A Capilotade is a brown fricassée or hash, and a Terrine is a pie baked in a dish, but without crust.
Croustades are pieces of stale, firm bread, cut like sippets, but much thicker, and hollowed out into the centre, keeping the piece cut out to serve as a lid. The croustades are then fried a fine brown, and while hot they are filled with minced fowl or veal; or if a sweet dish is required, with some kind of marmalade or jam made hot.
Omelettes are always a great addition to a dinner table, and they are easily made. The following is the French receipt for the Omelettes aux fines herbes. Take any quantity of eggs and beat them well, adding pepper, salt, parsley, and any other herbs, with a few shallots or small onions chopped very fine. Melt enough butter in a frying-pan to cover the bottom of the frying-pan with liquid, and when it is boiling pour in the omelette, and fry it till it becomes a fine brown. When served, fold it so that only the brown side may be seen, and pour over it a kind of sauce made by putting a little butter, flour, and catsup in the pan, and shaking it for a few minutes over the fire; or a little gravy may be heated and poured over it. The frying-pan should not be too large, as an omelette should always be rather thick. About six or eight eggs will make an omelette of the ordinary size, and about two ounces of butter will be required for frying it. Other omelettes may be made by omitting the herbs, and adding mushrooms cut very small, or mushroom-powder, grated ham, grated cheese, or, in fact, any other substance that may be thought desirable.
Dr. Hunter gives the following receipt for a Potato omelette. Take three ounces of potatoes mashed, and add to them the yolks of five eggs, and the whites of three. Add white pepper, salt, and nutmeg to the taste. Fry in butter, and serve up with clear gravy, to which some add a little lemon-juice. Sweet omelettes may be made by adding to the eggs orange-flower water, and sugar, or grated lemon-peel and sugar, or marmalade of apples or apricots, or raspberry or currant jam. The omelette is then fried in the usual way; but it is usually served without doubling it up, sugar being grated over the upper side after it is put in the dish, which is then set in front of the fire for a few minutes, or the omelette is browned by holding over it a flat red-hot iron called a salamander.
The following is a receipt for making an Omelette soufflée, taken from a French cookery book. Break six eggs; separate the whites from the yolks, and beat up the latter with four ounces of grated lump-sugar, and a little orange-flower water, or the rind of a lemon cut very fine, or grated. Then beat the whites of the eggs into a froth, and mix them quickly with the yolks, and pour them into a dish in which two ounces of butter have been melted, and which is quite hot; hold a salamander over the eggs for about five minutes, when they will rise in blisters; then, sprinkling a little powdered sugar over the dish, serve it quite hot, without losing a moment, as, if it be allowed to cool, the puffed up part will fall, and the appearance of the dish will be spoiled. When this dish is made in England, the butter is generally melted in a frying-pan, into which the eggs are poured, and suffered to fry for a minute or two, after which the omelette is put into a hot dish, and set in the oven to rise. A little grated sugar is then sprinkled over it, and it is served immediately.
Apples and apricots cut in slices and dipped in a light batter make a very agreeable addition to a small dinner; and the flowers of the Judas tree, and vine leaves, sugared and steeped in brandy, and the young shoots of the vegetable marrow, all make nice dishes when dipped in batter and fried.
Frangipane is made by beating up two or three eggs, and then adding to them two spoonfuls of flour, mixed quite smooth with a little milk. Put the whole into a casserole, and set it on the fire for a quarter of an hour, shaking it continually that the frangipane may not burn. The dish may be flavoured with sugar, orange-flower water, or crushed macaroons; and it is eaten with tarts or preserved fruit.
Fromage à la crème is a very elegant addition to the dessert. It is made by taking a pint of new milk, and adding to it a spoonful