Practical household cookery

Roast a partridge, cut the meat in small dice, and pound it in a mortar; put the bones and carcass in a quart of chicken broth, boil for ten minutes, skdm, and pass it through a fine cloth ; then put it back into the stewpan on the fire. When boiling, pour half a pound of rice into it and boil for an hour and a quarter ; after which, pass it through a fine wire sieve and tammy. Return the cream to the stewpan on the fire, then mix gradually the puree of partridge with it, boil it, give it an occasional stir, and serve with croutons fried in butter. 1119. RICE CREAM WITH PHEASANT. Proceed for this as in the "Reale," and then add six quenelles of pheasant, well poached, and serve.. 120. RICE AU GRATIN. Pour three pints of good broth into a stewpan, and set it on the fire. When boiling, throw in one pound of clean rice, and let it boil for twenty minutes, giving it an occasional stir; then season with salt and pepper, add a few allspice, sprinkle two ounces of grated cheese and a gill of good gravy, mix the contents well together, and pour it into a pie-dish, the inside of which must be well buttered. Sprinkle the top with a few bread-crumbs, making a hole in the centre with a spoon, fill it with chicken stuffing or financiere, place the pie-dish in a moderately heated oven till the top has taken a nice brown colour and become crisp, and then serve with a little grated cheese on a plate apart. 121. RISOTTO A LA MENAGERE OR HOUSEWIFE STYLE. Boil in a saucepan three pints of broth, throw in one pound of rice, boil for twenty minutes, stir occasionally, then add one ounce and a half of grated cheese, the same quantity of butter, season in the usual way, pour a gill of hot gravy, mix the contents well together, add a few slices of truffies or fresh mushrooms stewed in butter, pour it into a hot dish ; and serve with a little grated cheese on a plate apart. 122. RICE WITH MILK. Pour three pints of milk into a saucepan, let it boil, throw in one pound of rice, a small piece of sugar, and a bay-leaf; boil for twenty minutes, stir in the usual way to prevent burning, and just before serving mix the yolk of an egg and a little grated nutmeg with it. 123. BISQUE OF CRAYFISH AND RICE. This soup is as much recommended for its delicacy as for its excellence, and can be obtained in different ways ; but after long study, the following is, I believe, the best and easiest mode of all for its preparation : — Wash in several waters thirty-five or forty live crayfish of medium size, put them in a saucepan with a handful of salt, a pinch of pepper, a bottle of dry white wine, a " bouquet garni," an onion, carrot, and half a head of celery all shred fine; moisten the lot with cold water, cover the saucepan and boil on a good fire for about twenty minutes, then strain the broth into a stewpan, let it boil, and pour a quarter of a pound of clean rice into it, which must boil for about an hour. Meantime take the tails of the crayfish out of their shells with your fingers, put them apart on a plate, pound the shells and inside residue in a mortar with two ounces of butter, put the puree in a stewpan with three pints of good broth, salt and pepper to taste, and let it boil for fifteen minutes. After which, strain it through a fine hair sieve, return it to the stewpan, and set by the side of the fire to let the scum rise, when it must be skimmed off. When the rice is properly cooked, strain, and pour it into a mortar with the half of the crayfish-tails, pound the lot nicely, and add it to thicken the broth with the remainder of the crayfish ; boil it ; stir and mix well ; boil for about ten minutes; then pour it into a soup-tureen with a few quenelles of chicken or croutons fried in butter, and serve.