FoodNetArchive

Cooking for profit

1886

Page 335 · 1 recipe record on this page

Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
THE TRUFFLE HARVEST in Italy and France. Some exceed- ingly fine truffles were shown, some, it is stated weighed 1 5^ pounds each. When absolutely fresh, as these were, the truffle is a thing to raise enthu- siasm in the mind both of the gour- mand and his cook; it has a rich, nutty flavor that is peculiarly its own and a pefume as pervading as that of a bunch of ripe bananas. It is a tuber that grows spontaneously, just below the surface of the ground; some are nearly white all through but the best are jet black. One re- commendation of the truffle in the eyes of the wealthy is its dearness, which keeps it above the reach of "common people." A dish of large truffles prepared as directed in the recipe for a fasionable dinner party fifteen or twenty might perhaps cost fifty dollars. The canned and bot- tled truffles ranging from the size of a gooseberry up, and which cost about a dollar an ounce, do serve a purpose in furnishing a name for a dish, but their intrinsic value is noth- ing at all; they are not even the ghost of the real, fresh article. NECTARINE DE FOIE GRAS A LA MOLESWORTH. By M. Alphonse Landry, of London. A cylindrical mould resting on a layer of pounded rough ice is to be lined with a bright aspic jelly, the sides being decorated with cut truffles. Line the mould a second time with white sauce chaudfroid. When set, fill the mould lightly with foie gras mixed with truffles, both cut into small dice. To set the whole, fill up the mould with a good brown sauce chaudfroid, and finish with essence of truffipsNectarine de Foie Gras à la Molesworth and aspic jelly of a good consistency. Let the mould remain in the ice until wanted, when dip it into hot water and turn out the contents on a dish. Fill the centre with truffles, and put croutons of aspic jelly round the base. Foie-gras is liver-fat or fat liver; the French language generally puts the cart before the horse that way; but it specially means the livers of fat geese that come principally from Strasbourg where a great business is made of fattening geese for the sake of the livers. Pate -de -foie 'gras means two things, it is either paste of fat liver, with truffles in it, such as comes in jars from Strasbourg, or pie of fat livers — according to the accent on the word fate. The pie or pate made of a crust baked in a raised mould is oftenest lined inside with a coating of paste of foie gras and then filled with rsivffoies gras and seasonings covered and baked; to be eaten cold. M. Landry's dish above discribed is of cooked foies gras and truffles in COOKING FOR PROFIT. 183 jelly, in a border mould, and is a cold ornamental dish. See No. 860 of this book. ORNAMENTAL SALT BLOCKS OR STANDS.