678. Chaud-froid d’Hultres d la Montpellier. —12 large oysters, 1 dessertspoonful vinegar, 1 bay-leaf, 1 slice onion, 1 gill aspic jelly, 1 tablespoonful spinach puree, a few sprigs of tarragon and chervil chopped finely, ^ gill cream, 3 sheets of gelatine, 1 tea- spoonful lemon-juice, 1 gill bechamel or.veloutee sauce✪ Chaud-froid d’Hultres à la Montpellier. Remove the beards from the oysters and put both with their liquor into a stewpan, add the vinegar, bay-leaf, and onion, and heat up slowly (the oysters must not boil). Take up and put the oysters on a sieve to drain and cool. Strain the liquor, dissolve in it the gelatine, previously soaked in water, add the spinach puree, heat up and stir in the sauce, chopped tarragon and chervil. Mask twelve oyster-moulds with a thin layer of aspic jelly. Mix the remainder of aspic with the prepared sauce, and pass through a tammy cloth. When nearly cold coat the oyster-moulds with a layer of this sauce ; place an oyster in each, sprinkle over each a few drops of lemon- juice, a tiny pinch of salt and pepper (white paprika or cayenne, according to taste). Fill the moulds with chaud-froid sauce, and put them on the ice to set. Have ready on a dish a border of rice masked with white or red chaud-froid sauce, unmould the oysters, and place them neatly on the prepared border. Fill the centre with green salad, and send the dish to table. 2C4 THE NEW CENTURY COOKERY BOOK CHAPTER XIX ENTREES GEAUDES DE VI ANDES {HOT MEAT DISHES) For cold service see Chapter XXII The meaning or application of the term ‘ entree ’ has undergone con- siderable changes and modification during the last ten years, not only in this country, but alike on the continents of Europe and America. The correct meaning of the word is often confused with that of ‘ entremet ' — no doubt this is because the difference of these two names is not clearly understood by many. Again one will find a remove, releve, or even a hors d’ceuvre (side dish) served under the heading of ‘ entree.’ This I also attribute to the same cause, the want of better knowledge. There are certain laws, culinary and gastronomic rules, most of which are as yet unwritten, and I may say, unexplained, but nevertheless well understood by first-rate chefs and gourmands, which govern the culinary operations, the preparation, style of get-up (dressing), and the mode of serving those dishes known as ‘ entrees.’ It is not too much to say that on the entree or entrees of a well balanced dinner hangs the whole ordering of the entire arrange- ment. It is a matter of the greatest importance, which has been thought out with the greatest care, not only by clever chefs, but by gourmets and epicures alike, whereby the most refined artistic tastes are blended with the utmost. effect. However this may be, there still exists a number of cooks — simple and uneducated cooks — who bestow but little thought on this important branch of the profession, and forget that in preparing an entree, like almost everything else in cookery, it is quite as necessary, if not more so, to please the eye as to charm the palate, and this negligence frequently causes a dish which in other respects is well cooked to be viewed with disfavour : it lacks in proper dressing and its appropriate garnish, which more often than not forms the characteristic of entrees, whereby its merits are ignored.

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678. Chaud-froid d’Hultres d la Montpellier. —12 large oysters, 1 dessertspoonful vinegar, 1 bay-leaf, 1 slice onion, 1 gill aspic jelly, 1 tablespoonful spinach puree, a few sprigs of tarragon and chervil chopped finely, ^ gill cream, 3 sheets of gelatine, 1 tea- spoonful lemon-juice, 1 gill bechamel or.veloutee sauce. Remove the beards from the oysters and put both with their liquor into a stewpan, add the vinegar, bay-leaf, and onion, and heat up slowly (the oysters must not boil). Take up and put the oysters on a sieve to drain and cool. Strain the liquor, dissolve in it the gelatine, previously soaked in water, add the spinach puree, heat up and stir in the sauce, chopped tarragon and chervil. Mask twelve oyster-moulds with a thin layer of aspic jelly. Mix the remainder of aspic with the prepared sauce, and pass through a tammy cloth. When nearly cold coat the oyster-moulds with a layer of this sauce ; place an oyster in each, sprinkle over each a few drops of lemon- juice, a tiny pinch of salt and pepper (white paprika or cayenne, according to taste). Fill the moulds with chaud-froid sauce, and put them on the ice to set. Have ready on a dish a border of rice masked with white or red chaud-froid sauce, unmould the oysters, and place them neatly on the prepared border. Fill the centre with green salad, and send the dish to table. 2C4 THE NEW CENTURY COOKERY BOOK CHAPTER XIX ENTREES GEAUDES DE VI ANDES {HOT MEAT DISHES) For cold service see Chapter XXII The meaning or application of the term ‘ entree ’ has undergone con- siderable changes and modification during the last ten years, not only in this country, but alike on the continents of Europe and America. The correct meaning of the word is often confused with that of ‘ entremet ' — no doubt this is because the difference of these two names is not clearly understood by many. Again one will find a remove, releve, or even a hors d’ceuvre (side dish) served under the heading of ‘ entree.’ This I also attribute to the same cause, the want of better knowledge. There are certain laws, culinary and gastronomic rules, most of which are as yet unwritten, and I may say, unexplained, but nevertheless well understood by first-rate chefs and gourmands, which govern the culinary operations, the preparation, style of get-up (dressing), and the mode of serving those dishes known as ‘ entrees.’ It is not too much to say that on the entree or entrees of a well balanced dinner hangs the whole ordering of the entire arrange- ment. It is a matter of the greatest importance, which has been thought out with the greatest care, not only by clever chefs, but by gourmets and epicures alike, whereby the most refined artistic tastes are blended with the utmost. effect. However this may be, there still exists a number of cooks — simple and uneducated cooks — who bestow but little thought on this important branch of the profession, and forget that in preparing an entree, like almost everything else in cookery, it is quite as necessary, if not more so, to please the eye as to charm the palate, and this negligence frequently causes a dish which in other respects is well cooked to be viewed with disfavour : it lacks in proper dressing and its appropriate garnish, which more often than not forms the characteristic of entrees, whereby its merits are ignored.

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