[83]
]Pound the bacon, veal, and liver quickly and finely, while adding consecutively six oz. of butter, the yolks of six eggs, the gravy that has been put aside, one-third pint of cold, reduced Espagnole, and the Madeira used for swilling.
Strain through a sieve, place in a tureen, and smooth with the wooden spoon.
N.B.—To make a [gratin] forcemeat with game, substitute for the veal that game-meat which may happen to be required.
[203—PIKE FORCEMEAT FOR QUENELLES A LA LYONNAISE]
Forcemeats prepared with the flesh of the pike are extremely delicate. Subject to circumstances, they may be prepared according to any one of the three formulæ (Nos. [193], [194], [195]). There is another excellent method of preparing this forcemeat which I shall submit here, as it is specially used for the preparation of pike forcemeat à la Lyonnaise.
Pound in a mortar one lb. of the meat of a pike, without the skin or bones; combine with this one-half lb. of stiff frangipan, season with salt and nutmeg, pass through a sieve, and put back into the mortar.
Vigorously work the forcemeat in order to make it cohere, and gradually add to it one-half lb. of melted beef-fat. The whole half-pound, however, need not necessarily be beef-fat; beef-marrow or butter may form part of it in the proportion of half the weight of the beef-fat.
When the forcemeat is very fine and smooth, withdraw it from the mortar and place it in a bowl surrounded with ice until wanted.
[204—SPECIAL STUFFINGS FOR FISH]
These preparations diverge slightly from the forcemeats given above, and they are of two kinds. They are used to stuff such fish as mackerel, herring, shad, &c., to which they lend a condimentary touch that makes these fish more agreeable to the taste, and certainly more digestible.