A guide to modern cookery

Season some cooked young shoots of hops with salt and freshly-ground pepper; add thereto some chopped parsley and chervil, and a purée of plainly-cooked tomatoes combined with just sufficient jelly to ensure the cohesion of the hops. Mould in oiled tartlet-moulds. © 0 2 Coat some well-dried, cold, poached eggs with white chaudfroid sauce; garnish with pieces of tarragon leaves, and glaze with jelly. Turn out the tartlet-moulds; set an egg on each of the mouldings, and arrange them in a circle on a dish, placing between each egg a piece of very clear jelly, cut to the shape of a cock’s comb. Garnish the centre of the dish with chopped jelly. CHAPTER XIII Soups are divided into two leading classes, viz. :— 1. Clear soups, which include plain and garnished consommés. 2. Thick soups, which comprise the Purées, Veloutés, and Creams. A third class, which is independent of either of the above, inasmuch as it forms part of plain, household cookery, embraces vegetable soups and Garbures or gratined soups. But in important dinners—by this I mean rich dinners—only the first two classes are recognised. When a menu contains two soups, one must be clear and the other thick. If only one is to be served, it may be either clear or thick, in which case the two kinds are represented alternately at different meals. In Part I. of this work I indicated the general mode of procedure for consommés and thick soups; I explained how the latter might be converted from plain purées into veloutés or creams, or from veloutés into creams; and all that now remains is to reveal the recipes proper to each of those soups. Remarks.—In the course of the recipes for consommés, given hereafter, the use of Royales (Nos. 206 to 213) and of Quenelles, variously prepared (Nos. 193 to 195 and 205), will often be enjoined. For the preparation of these garnishes, therefore, the reader will have to refer to the numbers indicated. The quantities for the clear soups that follow are all calculated to be sufficient for a standard number of six people, and the quantity of Royales is always given in so many dariolemoulds, which contain about one-eighth pint, or baba-moulds, which hold about one-fifth pint. Of course, it will be understood that the poaching need not necessarily have been effected in these moulds, for very small “Charlotte” moulds would do quite as well. But I had recourse to the particular utensils mentioned above, in order that there might be no sort of doubt as to the exact quantity of royale it would be necessary to prepare for any one of the soups. CLEAR SOUPS AND GARNISHED CONSOMMES 539 -CONSOMME ALEXANDRA Have a quart of excellent chicken consommé ready; add thereto, in order to thicken it slightly, three tablespoonfuls of poached tapioca, strained through muslin, and very clear. Put the following garnish into the soup-tureen: One tablespoonful of white chicken-meat cut in fine julienne-fashion, one tablespoonful of small chicken quenelles, grooved and long in shape, and one tablespoonful of lettuce chiffonade. Pour the boiling consommé upon this garnish, and send to the table immediately. 540—CONSOMME AMBASSADRICE Have one quart of chicken consommé ready; also there should have been prepared beforehand, with the view of using them quite cold, three different kinds of royales, consisting respectively of truffle purée, tomato purée, and purée of peas, each of which should have been poached in a dariole-mould. Cut these royales up into regular dice, and put them in the soup-tureen with one tablespoonful of chicken fillet and an equal quantity of small, freshly-cooked mushrooms, finely minced. Pour the boiling consommé over these garnishes, and serve at once. 541—CONSOMME ANDALOUSE