A guide to modern cookery

Changes may be effected in the preparation by altering the constituents of the salad and its dishing. It may, for instance, be made in small cucumber or beetroot barquettes, while the caviare, instead of being laid in hard-boiled eggs, may be served in little pleated cases, As these preparations, however, are based neither on fixed principles nor on classical rules, I shall refrain from giving them. 962—MAYONNAISE DE HOMARD Proceed as for Mayonnaise de Saumon—that is to say, garnish the bottom of a salad-bowl with ciseled lettuce leaves, and season them moderately. Upon this salad lay the remains of the lobster, and upon the latter place the thin slices of the tail. Cover with mayon- ' naise sauce, and decorate with strips of anchovy fillets, capers, olives, hard-boiled eggs, roundels of pink radishes, the hearts of lettuce, &c. N.B.—I have already pointed out the futility of prescribing a decorative design. Asa rule, the matter is so intimately connected with the taste and fancy of the individual, and the products used for the purpose lend themselves to such indefinite variation, that I prefer merely to enumerate these products, and to leave the question of their arrangement to the artistic ingenuity of the operator. 963—SALADE DE HOMARD See ‘‘Salade de Saumon’”’ (No. 810). As the preparation and seasoning of the latter are identical with those of the dish under consideration, all that is needed is to replace the salmon of recipe No. 810 by the collops of lobster. Spiny LossTers. (LANGOUSTE.) All culinary preparations dealing with lobsters may be adapted to spiny lobsters. There is, therefore, no need to repeat them here. Of the cold recipes, two are much better suited to the spiny than to the ordinary kind, though, as they are used for both specimens, I gave them earlier in the book. The two recipes referred to are :— 964—LANGOUSTE A LA PARISIENNE; see LOBSTER, recipe 960. 965—LANGOUSTE A LA RUSSE ; see LOBSTER, recipe 961 CRAYFISH. (ECREVISSES.) When crayfish are prepared after one of the recipes most commonly used on the Continent, 7.e., whole, they are not much relished in England. This is doubtless accounted for by the fact that ladies, dining in evening dress, find them somewhat difficult to manage. They are therefore only served in the form of an aspic, * mousse, mousselines, timbales, &c., or as the garnish of some other fish; for in all these cases they are shelled. Be all this as it may, I give below the various recipes relating to them, and from among these it ought to be possible to choose one which will meet the requirements of any particular case. 966—ECREVISSES A LA BORDELAISE N.B.—Whatever be their mode of preparation, crayfish should always be thoroughly cleansed and cleared of their intestines, the extreme end of which is to be found under the middle of the tail. In order to remove the intestines, take the telson or tail-segment between the point of a small knife and the thumb, and pull gently. If this were not done, the intestines, especially in the breeding season, might render the crayfish disagreeably bitter. As soon as their intestines have been removed, the crayfish should be set to cook, otherwise, 1.e., if they be left to wait, their juices escape through the anal wound, and they empty. For twelve crayfish, after having cleaned and eviscerated them, put them into a vegetable-pan with one tablespoonful of very fine mirepoix, completely cooked beforehand, and twothirds oz. of butter. Toss them over an open fire until the shells have acquired a fine, red colour. Moisten with three tablespoonfuls of burnt brandy and one-quarter pint of white wine; reduce by a third, and complete with one tablespoonful of Espagnole, two tablespoonfuls of fish fumet, the same quantity of tomato purée, and one spoonful of special mirepoix (No. 229).