Cassell's dictionary of cookery

screw-jack, which may be fastened upon any mantelshelf when wanted, and unscrewed when done with. It requires a little more watching than the ordinary bottle-jack, but if a key be hung upon the hook with six or seven thicknesses of worsted wound round it, one end of which is fastened to the meat-hook, the twisting and untwisting of the worsted cord will cause a rotatory motion like that produced by the more expensive bottle-jack. Probable cost : Bottle-jack, from 7s. 6d. to 12s. 6d. ; screen, from £1 10s. to £3 10s. ; bottle-jack and screen in one, r2s. 6d. to 2os. ; cliimney screw-jack. Is. 6d. to 2s. Bouille a Baisse, or Bouillabesse. — Any kind of fish may be used for this dish : gurnard, haddock, whiting, mackerel, carp, red and grey mullet, soles, plaice, or lobsters, all do admirably for a bouillabesse. Chop two onions and put them with a piece of butter in a stewpan, and let them brown without burning, then arrange the fish (which has been previously cut into small pieces) in the pan, allowing half a pound of fish for each person. Add a small quantity of the best ohvc-oil, a clove of garlic, two bay-leaves, a few slices of lemon, two or three tomatoes, or a little tomato sauce, as much powdered saffron as will go on the point of a table-knife, and, lastly, a glass of white wine or Madeira. Put in sufficient stock to cover the whole, and boil from ten to fifteen minutes, skimming carefully the whole time. When ready to serve, throw in a handful of chopped parsley. This quantity of fiavouring is intended for six pounds of fish. On the Continent it is usually sent to table in two separate dishes, that is to say, the fish in one, and the sauce in a small deep dish, but we think the whole would look better served on a large or in a deep entree dish. Brain Cakes. — Boil the brains of a calf for ten minutes, and blanch them in cold water; then pound them to a paste with a tea-spoonful of chopped sage, quarter of a tea-spoonful of mace and cayenne, salt, pepper, and two well-beaten eggs. ]\Iake the paste into balls about the size of a florin ; when flattened, dip them into egg and fine bread-crumb, and fry brown. They are appropriate as a garnish for calf's head a la tortue. Braise, To. — To braise meat is to cook it in a braisière, or closed stewpan, so formed tliat live embers can be held in the cover, and the heat necessary for cooking communicated from above as well as below. As there is BRAISING-PAK. no evaporation the meat imbibes the flavour of the vegetables, &c., with which it is cooked, and care should be taken that these are in accordance with the nature of the meat and added in proper quantities. Before putting the meat into the pan, either lard it or cover it with thick slices of fat bacon. When sufficiently cooked, take it out and keep it hot, strain the gravj- and free it entirely from fat (this is most effectually done by plunging the basin which contains BRA (75) BBA it into cold water, and thus causing the fat to settle on the top). Boil it quickly until very thick, and serve it in the dish with the meat, or boil it longer until it is thick enough to adhere to it. As braisieres are not very usual in ordinary kitchens, we may say that almost as good an effect is produced, if the meat is bouud in slices of fat bacon, and gently stewed in rich gravy.