A guide to modern cookery

2. According to the purpose of the forcemeat, and with a view to giving it a finer flavour, one may, subject to the resources at one’s disposal, add a little raw trimmings of foie gras to it; but the latter must not, in any case, exceed one-fifth of the forcemeat in weight. 3. As a rule, forcemeat should always be rubbed through a sieve so as to ensure its being fine and even. 4. Whether the foie gras be added or not, chicken forcemeat may always be completed with two or three oz. of chopped truffles per lb. of its volume. 201—GAME FORCEMEAT FOR PIES AND TERRINES This follows the same principles as the chicken forcemeat, 1.e., the weight of the game-meat determines the quantities of the other ingredients. The proportions are precisely the same as above as regards the veal, the pork, the bacon, and the seasoning. The procedure is also the same, while the appended remarks likewise apply. 202—GRATIN FORCEMEAT FOR ORDINARY HOT, RAISED PIES | Put into a sautépan containing one oz. of very hot butter, onehalf lb. of fresh, fat bacon, cut into large cubes, brown quickly, and drain on a dish. Quickly brown in the same butter one-half Ib. of fillet of veal cut like the bacon and drain in the same way. Now rapidly brown one-half Ib. of pale, calf’s liver, also cut into large cubes. Put the veal and the bacon back into the sauté- pan with the liver, add the necessary quantity of salt and pepper, two oz. of mushroom parings, one oz. of truffle parings (raw if possible), chopped shallots, a sprig of thyme, and a fragment of bay. Put the whole on the fire for two minutes, drain the bacon, the veal, and the liver, and put the gravy aside. Swill the sauté- pan with one-quarter pint of Madeira. Pound the bacon, veal, and liver quickly and finely, while adding consecutively six oz. of butter, the yolks of six eggs, the gravy that has been put aside, one-third pint of cold, reduced Espagnole, and the Madeira used for swilling. Strain through a sieve, place in a tureen, and smooth with the wooden spoon. N.B.—To make a gratin forcemeat with game, substitute for the veal that game-meat which may happen to be required. 203—PIKE FORCEMEAT FOR QUENELLES A LA LYONNAISE Forcemeats prepared with the flesh of the pike are extremely delicate. Subject to circumstances, they may be prepared according to any one of the three formulze (Nos. 193, 194, 195). There is another excellent method of preparing this forcemeat which I shall submit here, as it is specially used for the preparation of pike forcemeat a la Lyonnaise. Pound in a mortar one Ib. of the meat of a pike, without the skin or bones; combine with this one-half lb. of stiff frangipan, season with salt and nutmeg, pass through a sieve, and put back into the mortar. Vigorously work the forcemeat in order to make it cohere, and gradually add to it one-half lb. of melted beef-fat. The whole half-pound, however, need not necessarily be beef-fat; beef-marrow or butter may form part of it in the proportion of half the weight of the beef-fat. When the forcemeat is very fine and smooth, withdraw it from the mortar and place it in a bowl surrounded with ice until wanted. 204—SPECIAL STUFFINGS FOR FISH These preparations diverge slightly from the forcemeats given above, and they are of two kinds. They are used to stuff such fish as mackerel, herring, shad, &c., to which they lend a condimentary touch that makes these fish more agreeable to the taste, and certainly more digestible. First Method.—Put into a bowl four oz. of raw, chopped milt, two oz. of bread-crumb, steeped in milk and well pressed, and one and one-half oz. of the following fine herbs, mixed in equal quantities and finely chopped :—Chives, parsley, chervil, shallots, sweet basil, half a garlic clove (crushed), then two whole eggs, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.