The encyclopædia of practical cookery

Put about lib. of fresh Cocks’ Combs into a saucepan, cover them with water, set the pan on a brisk fire, stir until the skins begin to rise, and then pour in sufficient cold water to prevent them cooking further. Take them out, remove the skins, trim the parts where they have been cut off the heads of the birds, put them into a bowl of salted water, and let them soak for six hours. Turn them out into cold fresh water, Fig. 483. Blanched Cocks’ Combs. changing it several times, and let them remain until they are quite white ; then put them into a saucepan with a good supply of water, add a little butter, lemon-juice, and salt, and boil them. Should they be wanted for garnishing attelettes, they will not require to be much cooked. Care must be taken to cease the cooking as soon as the skins rise, otherwise the blood will coagulate, and it will then be impossible to blanch them. See Fig. 483. Artificial Cocks’ Combs are sometimes cut out of the palates of oxen or sheep, or from the white part of a calf’s Fig. 484. Imitation Cocks’ Combs for Garnish. pluck. See Fig. 484. Having cleaned, flattened, and blanched the piece cut away for the purpose, the exact shape of a Cock’s Comb can be cut out with a sharp pair of Fig. 485. Imitation Cocks’-comb Punch. scissors, or, what is better, have a punch (see Fig. 485) made to cut out the required shape — one worked by either a lever Sauces, i tec., referred to, see under their special heads. Cocks’ Combs — continued. at the cook's service. A celebrated culinary master literally revelled in taking his clients in with them, "who," Delamere remarks, "complacently took them in themselves," quite ignorant of the deceit. Real Cocks’ Combs can readily be distinguished from those that are artificial, because both sides are studded with papillae, or little warts, which is not the case with those cut from the palate and stamped from other parts — in these there are probably no papillae at all. Cocks’ Combs with. Truffles in Aspic. — Pack a plain cylinder mould in pounded ice. Take lib. of blanched and cooked Cocks’ Combs, and the same quantity of truffles, stewed in wine and cut into rounds. Have ready some half- set aspic jelly, dip some rounds of truffles in it, arrange them in a circle against the inner sides of the mould, and put in a circle of the Cocks’ Combs, also dipping them in the jelly. Proceed in this manner until the mould is full of alternate circles of truffles and Cocks’ Combs, and then leave them until they are set. Afterwards fill the mould up carefully A* Fig. 486. Cocks’ Combs with Truffles in Aspic. with cold, but liquid, jelly, and leave in the ice for an hour or two. When quite set and hard, dip the mould into hot water to loosen the jelly, then wipe it, and turn it oh to a dish. In the middle of the dish might be fixed a small column of bread masked with fat, so that when the jelly is turned out, it fits into the hollow of the mould. A subject modelled in fat, representing a cock (see Pig. 486) or other suitable subject, might be placed on the top to give it a finish. Garnish round the base of the jelly with croutons of aspic jelly.