Work forwards, from you, and draw out the point about two inches from the place at which you in- serted it. Draw the lardoon through, leaving a piece of it sticking out at each end. Thread the needle again, and repeat the larding at intervals of one inch, keeping every successive lardoon in line with the first. Then work another line of lardoons, if required, into the spaces between the first lines. The ends of the lardoons should be neatly trimmed with scissors to equal lengths when the larding is finished. Two lines of i6o MINOR MATTERS larding are enough for cutlets or fillets ; if they are very small one line, rather closely sewn, will do. Birds are larded on either side of the breastbone, hares and rabbits on either side of the spine, the larding in each case being worked towards the neck. Chaud-froids and Masking-. — Nothing is more useful nor more generally popular than a good Ghaud-froid properly masked, and either brown or white. Masking requires great neatness, as well as judgment in seizing the moment when the sauce is at the right temperature. Of course, all Chaud-froids were hot when previously cooked ; when masked and when served they must be perfectly cold. A simple masking for a couple of boiled chickens is given by Wyvern. Boil the fowls very gently and do not over-cook them. Boil with them six ounces of carrots and of onions, two ounces of celery, a bunch of herbs, pepper and salt. The eau due cuisson forms the foundation of the white masking. When the chickens are cooked there should be at least three pints of broth. With this make a good sauce blonde , see p. 130, using for the roux three ounces of butter and the same of flour. Melt an ounce of gelatine✪ Chaud-froid for Boiled Chickens in warm broth, and then stir this into the hot sauce, and pass the whole through a sieve. See that the chickens are quite cold before you begin to make the sauce for the masking, and set them, well apart, on a roomy dish. Masking ought to be done in one operation, and should not be repeated a second time. It must be even and smooth. Every- thing depends upon the temperature of the sauce, which should flow evenly like treacle or honey, and be quite free from lumps. If the sauce is too cold it will be lumpy, and if too warm it will give too thin a coat. Try a little by dipping a spoon into the sauce ; if it coats the back of the spoon well, it is right. The sauce gradually sets as it cools, so that just the right moment must be chosen for using it. Pour the sauce gently over the chickens through a funnel, working over the whole surface, and being most careful to leave no bare places. Some cooks set the basin of sauce in warm water whilst this is being done, in order to keep the sauce at the proper temperature. An ivory or yellow colour may be given to the sauce by using yolks of eggs, CHAUD-FROIDS AND MASKING 161 and the sauce may be enriched by adding cream, in the propor- tion of a dessertspoonful of cream to a pint of sauce, as a finishing touch. After the sauce has become quite firm trim off with a slice any that may have overflowed upon the dish. Garnish with bright yellow aspic jelly, cut or broken, and bunches of parsley or watercress. On no account decorate the chickens with patterns of coloured jelly, or chervil leaves, or of different coloured vegetables cut into little bits.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Work forwards, from you, and draw out the point about two inches from the place at which you inserted it. Draw the lardoon through, leaving a piece of it sticking out at each end. Thread the needle again, and repeat the larding at intervals of one inch, keeping every successive lardoon in line with the first. Then work another line of lardoons, if required, into the spaces between the first lines. The ends of the lardoons should be neatly trimmed with scissors to equal lengths when the larding is finished. Two lines of i6o MINOR MATTERS larding are enough for cutlets or fillets ; if they are very small one line, rather closely sewn, will do. Birds are larded on either side of the breastbone, hares and rabbits on either side of the spine, the larding in each case being worked towards the neck. Chaud-froids and Masking. — Nothing is more useful nor more generally popular than a good Chaud-froid properly masked, and either brown or white. Masking requires great neatness, as well as judgment in seizing the moment when the sauce is at the right temperature. Of course, all Chaud-froids were hot when previously cooked ; when masked and when served they must be perfectly cold. A simple masking for a couple of boiled chickens is given by Wyvern. Boil the fowls very gently and do not over-cook them. Boil with them six ounces of carrots and of onions, two ounces of celery, a bunch of herbs, pepper and salt. The eau due cuisson forms the foundation of the white masking. When the chickens are cooked there should be at least three pints of broth. With this make a good sauce blonde, see p. 130, using for the roux three ounces of butter and the same of flour. Melt an ounce of gelatine in warm broth, and then stir this into the hot sauce, and pass the whole through a sieve. See that the chickens are quite cold before you begin to make the sauce for the masking, and set them, well apart, on a roomy dish. Masking ought to be done in one operation, and should not be repeated a second time. It must be even and smooth. Everything depends upon the temperature of the sauce, which should flow evenly like treacle or honey, and be quite free from lumps. If the sauce is too cold it will be lumpy, and if too warm it will give too thin a coat. Try a little by dipping a spoon into the sauce ; if it coats the back of the spoon well, it is right. The sauce gradually sets as it cools, so that just the right moment must be chosen for using it. Pour the sauce gently over the chickens through a funnel, working over the whole surface, and being most careful to leave no bare places. Some cooks set the basin of sauce in warm water whilst this is being done, in order to keep the sauce at the proper temperature. An ivory or yellow colour may be given to the sauce by using yolks of eggs, CHAUD-FROIDS AND MASKING and the sauce may be enriched by adding cream, in the proportion of a dessertspoonful of cream to a pint of sauce, as a finishing touch. After the sauce has become quite firm trim off with a slice any that may have overflowed upon the dish. Garnish with bright yellow aspic jelly, cut or broken, and bunches of parsley or watercress. On no account decorate the chickens with patterns of coloured jelly, or chervil leaves, or of different coloured vegetables cut into little bits.

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Chaud-froid for Boiled Chickens

Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book