Goose (Oie)
The principal value of the goose from the culinary point of view lies in the fact that it supplies the best, most delicate and firmest foie gras.
Apart from this property, the preciousness of which is truly inestimable, goose is really only served at bourgeois or family tables.
[1722b—OISON A L’ALLEMANDE]
Completely bone the gosling’s breast; season it inside, and stuff it with quartered, peeled and cored apples, half-cooked in butter.
Sew up the openings, and braise gently, basting with fat the while.
When the gosling is cooked, dish it and surround it with peeled apples, cored by means of the tube-cutter, cooked in butter, and garnished with red-currant jelly. Drain away three-quarters of the grease; swill the braising-pan with the required quantity of good gravy for roasts; strain this gravy, and serve it separately.
[1722c—OISON A L’ALSACIENNE]
Stuff the gosling with very good sausage-meat; truss; colour in butter and [poële]. Dish and surround with sauerkraut braised in goose grease, and rectangles of lean bacon, cooked with the sauerkraut.
[1723—OISON A L’ANGLAISE]
Cook one lb. of unpeeled onions in the oven. When they are cold, peel them; chop them, and add to them an equal weight of soaked and pressed bread, one oz. of fresh or chopped sage, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Stuff the gosling with this preparation; truss it, and roast it on the spit or in the oven.
Dish it; surround it with the gravy, which should be somewhat fat, and serve a sauceboat of slightly-sugared, stewed apples, separately.
[1724—OISON EN CIVET]
When killing the gosling, carefully collect its blood. Add the juice of a lemon and beat it, so as to prevent coagulation, until it is quite cold.
[547]
]Cut the gosling into pieces and proceed exactly as for “Civet de Lièvre” (No. [1821]).
[1725—OISON AU RAIFORT]
Braise the gosling.
Dish it and surround it, either with noodles with butter, or rice au gras (No. [2252]). Besprinkle the garnish with the reduced braising-liquor, and serve a horse-radish sauce with cream (No. [138]), separately.
N.B.—Besides these various recipes, goslings may also be prepared like young turkeys, i.e., with chestnuts, à la [Chipolata], en Daube; or with turnips, peas, and “en Salmis,” like Duck.
[1726—FOIE GRAS]
Foies gras are supplied either by geese or ducks. Goose’s liver is larger, firmer and less readily melted than that of the duck. As a rule the former should be selected in preference, more particularly in the matter of hot dishes. Nevertheless, failing goose’s liver, duck’s liver may be used and with very good results when its quality is good.
Foies gras are used in the preparation of [terrines], raised pies, parfaits and [mousses], which are among the most delicate and richest of cold dishes.
They may also be used as a garnishing ingredient, in the form of collops or [mousseline] quenelles. Finally, they may also be served as hot entrées.
When a whole foie gras is to be served hot, it must first be trimmed, studded with raw truffles which have been previously peeled, quartered, seasoned with salt and pepper, stiffened in a glassful of brandy, together with a bay-leaf, and cooled in a thoroughly closed terrine.
When the foie gras has been studded with truffles, wrap it in thin slices of bacon or a piece of pig’s caul, and set it in a thoroughly-sealed terrine before cooking it.
The best way to cook foie gras, when it is to be served whole and hot, is to bake it in a crust of paste that can absorb the excess of grease produced by the melting of the liver. For this purpose prepare two layers of patty paste, a little larger than the liver.
On one of these layers, set the liver wrapped in slices of bacon; and, if possible, surround it with whole fair-sized truffles, peeled. Set half a bay-leaf on the liver; moisten the edges of the paste; cover the whole with the other layer of paste; seal it down with the thumb, and fold over the edges of the paste to form a regular, ornamented border which, besides [548] ]finishing off the preparation, also increases the strength of the welding.
[Gild] the top; streak; make a slit in the top for the escape of the steam; and, in the case of a medium-sized liver, cook in a good, moderate oven for from forty to forty-five minutes.
Serve this crust as it stands, and send the garnish separately.
In the dining-room, the waiter in charge removes the top of the crust, cuts out the liver with a spoon, setting a piece on each plate, and arranges around each piece the garnish mentioned on the menu.
I am not partial to the cooking of foie gras in a terrine when it is to be served hot. In any case the method described above strikes me as being much the best, whatever be the garnish that is served with the liver.
I particularly recommend a garnish of noodles, macaroni, lazagnes, spaghetti and even rice, with hot foie gras.
These pastes should simply be cooked in water and finished with cream.
This accompaniment makes the foie gras much more digestible and palatable. The best garnishes for hot foie gras, besides those given above, are truffles, whole or in slices, or a Financière. In the matter of brown sauces, a Madeira sauce suits admirably, provided it be of great delicacy and not overcharged with Madeira; but a very light buttered, veal or chicken glaze, combined with a little old Sherry or old Port, is even superior. A Hongroise sauce with paprika or an excellent suprême sauce may also be served when the garnish admits of it.
[1727—FOIE GRAS CUIT DANS UNE BRIOCHE]
For this dish the foie gras is cooked differently; the result is almost the same as that yielded by the crust prescribed above, except that it is much more delicate. This method, moreover, allows of obtaining a foie gras clear of all grease (the latter being completely absorbed by the paste), and is therefore best suited to cold dishing.
After having studded the foie gras with truffles and placed it in a closed terrine as above, wrap it in slices of bacon, set it to poach in a moderate oven for twenty minutes, and leave it to cool.
Line a buttered timbale-mould, of a size in proportion to that of the liver, with a thick layer of ordinary unsugared brioche paste (No. [2370]).
Put the foie gras upright in the mould, which it should almost fill; close the timbale with a cover of the same paste; [549] ]make a slit in the top; surround the top of the mould with a band of strong, buttered paper, that the paste may be prevented from running over, and let it rest for about thirty minutes in a temperature of 86° F. to allow the paste to work.
Bake in a rather hot oven, until a needle inserted through the centre withdraws quite clean.
Serve the dish as it stands with one of the ordinary foie-gras garnishes.
[1728—ESCALOPES DE FOIE GRAS A LA PÉRIGUEUX[!-- TN: acute invisible --]
Cut some slices two and one-half oz. in weight from a raw foie gras. Season them with salt and pepper; dip in beaten egg; roll in finely-chopped truffle, and [sauté] in clarified butter.
Dish in a circle, and, in the middle, pour a Madeira sauce flavoured with truffle essence.
[1729—ESCALOPES DE FOIE GRAS A LA RAVIGNAN]
From a layer of unsugared brioche paste, one-third in. thick, cut twenty roundels two and one-half in. in diameter. On ten of these roundels, spread a coating of chicken forcemeat, leaving a margin one-third in. wide of bare paste on each roundel.
Set a slice of truffle in the middle, a thick roundel of raw foie gras on the truffle, another slice of truffle upon that, a coat of forcemeat over the whole; and cover with the ten remaining roundels, after having slightly moistened the latter, that the two edges of paste may be sealed. Press with the back of a round cutter; [gild], and cook in a hot oven for fifteen minutes.
Dish in a circle, and serve a Périgueux sauce at the same time.
[1730—ESCALOPES DE FOIE GRAS A LA TALLEYRAND]
Prepare: (1) a crust made in a flawn-mould, six in. in diameter; (2) a garnish of [blanched] macaroni, cut into lengths of one in., cohered with four oz. of grated Gruyère and Parmesan cheese per lb. of macaroni, and combined with two oz. of butter, four oz. of a [julienne] of truffles and four oz. of foie gras cut into large dice.
Dish in a circle in the crust ten collops of foie gras [sautéd] in butter, alternating them with fine slices of truffle. Put the macaroni in the middle, shaping it like a dome, sprinkle with grated cheese and glaze quickly.
Dish on a napkin, and serve separately a clear chicken glaze, flavoured with truffles and well buttered.
[550]
][1731—SOUFFLÉ DE FOIE GRAS]
Rub two-thirds lb. of foie gras and three and one-half oz. of raw truffles through a fine sieve. Mix the two purées in a basin, and add two-thirds lb. of raw chicken-meat, pounded with the whites of four eggs, and rubbed through a fine sieve. Season; work the preparation on ice, and add to it, little by little, one-half pint of rich, thick, and very fresh cream, then the well-stiffened whites of four eggs.
Dish in a buttered soufflé saucepan, and poach under cover in the [bain-marie] for from thirty to thirty-five minutes.
Serve a Madeira sauce, flavoured with truffle essence, separately.
[1732—TIMBALE DE FOIE GRAS A L’ALSACIENNE]
Prepare an ordinary timbale crust. When about to serve, fill it with layers of noodles with cream, separated by alternate layers of foie-gras collops, [sautéd] in butter, and slices of truffles. Complete with some raw noodles, tossed in butter and distributed over the last layer of cohered noodles.
Cover the timbale, and serve a suprême sauce, flavoured with truffle essence, separately.
[1733—TIMBALE DE FOIE GRAS CAMBACÉRÈS[!-- TN: original reads "CAMBACERÈS" --]
Line a buttered dome-mould with rings of large poached macaroni.
These rings should be one-fifth inch thick, and should be garnished inside with very black truffle purée, cohered by means of a little forcemeat.
When the mould is lined, coat it inside with a layer of chicken forcemeat combined with truffle purée. Put the mould for a few minutes in a moderate oven, that the forcemeat may poach.
Reduce one-third pint of Béchamel sauce, combined with four to five tablespoonfuls of truffle and chicken essence, to half; mix therewith one-half lb. of poached macaroni, cut into lengths of one inch, and four tablespoonfuls of foie-gras and truffle purée, made from trimmings. Mix the whole thoroughly.
Garnish the timbale with this macaroni, spreading it in layers, separated by other alternate layers of foie-gras collops, poached in Madeira, and slices of truffle. Cover the garnish with a layer of forcemeat, and poach in the [bain-marie], allowing forty-five minutes for a quart-mould.
Let the mould stand for a few minutes before emptying it; turn out the timbale upon a round dish; surround it with a [551] ]border of Périgueux sauce, and serve a sauceboat of Périgueux sauce separately.
[1734—TIMBALE DE FOIE GRAS MONTESQUIEU]
Spread a very even layer, one-third inch thick, of chicken forcemeat upon a sheet of buttered paper. Moisten the surface with some white of egg; sprinkle with chopped truffle, and press on the latter by means of the flat of a knife.
Set to poach gently; cool, and then stamp out with a round, even cutter, one inch in diameter. With the resulting roundels, garnish the bottom and sides of a Charlotte mould, placing their truffled sides against the mould. Then, with the view of binding these roundels together, as they are to constitute the outside of the timbale, coat the whole of the mould inside with some fairly firm chicken forcemeat, combined with a quarter of its bulk of foie-gras purée.
Fill the mould with a foie-gras Parfait with truffles cut into very large dice and cohered by means of [mousseline] chicken forcemeat.
Cover the whole with a layer of the same forcemeat as that used for the purpose of binding the roundels, and set to poach under cover.
Turn out, following the same precautions as above; surround the timbale with a border of nice, pink, Hungarian sauce with paprika, and send a sauceboat of this sauce to the table at the same time.