1369. Game Pie à la Levi P. Morton.
—Take one fine partridge, one grouse, and one medium-sized rabbit; pick, draw, and singe well. Thoroughly bone them. Place the fillets in a saucepan with one tablespoonful of clarified butter. Season with one pinch of salt, half a pinch of pepper, and a quarter of a pinch of thyme. Cook on a brisk fire for one minute on each side; then add half a glassful of good Madeira wine, and reduce to one half, which will take five minutes. Place in a bowl and let thoroughly cool. Chop up the bones into fine pieces; place them in a saucepan with one medium-sized, sound onion cut into slices, a small carrot cut the same, one bay-leaf, three cloves, twelve whole peppers, and a blade of thyme. Cook all together with one ounce of butter until it has obtained a light brown color; then add one glassful of Madeira wine, half a medium-sized, sound lemon cut in slices, one quart of white broth ([No. 99]), and two ounces of gelatine. Let cook one hour. Then strain through a napkin or a fine sieve into a china bowl, and lay aside to thoroughly cool. Chop up very fine a quarter of a pound of lean, raw veal, a quarter of a pound of fresh pork, and six ounces of larding-pork. Season with one good pinch of salt and half a pinch of pepper. Cut into dice-shaped pieces eight truffles, three ounces of cooked smoked beef-tongue; mix well together, and it will be ready for use. Knead well together, on a marble table, wooden board, or in a vessel, half a pound of flour with four ounces of butter, then gradually add a gill of cold water, mixing well until it is a perfect dough, for five minutes at least without ceasing. Then place it in a cool place, and let rest ten minutes before using. Lightly butter the interior of an oval-shaped mold ten inches in length, six inches wide, and four and a half high. Place the mold in an iron roasting-pan. Roll out three quarters of the dough to one quarter of an inch thick, and with it evenly line the inside of the mold, taking special care not to make any holes in the dough. Cut some very thin slices of larding-pork, and line the dough all around with it. Then place one layer of the forcemeat and one layer of the game, and so on, until all is used. Make a hole with a teaspoon right in the centre down to half the depth of the patty (pâté). Roll out the other quarter of dough to the same thickness, quarter of an inch; cut a cover out oval-shaped, and with it cover the pâté, making a small hole in the centre to connect with the other. Decorate the surface with leaves made out of the dough, glaze it with the yolk of one fresh egg and half a gill of cold water. Place in a moderate oven to cook for two hours. Remove from the oven. Put away in the ice-box for six hours. Take the pie from the ice-box, melt the prepared jelly, and then fill the game-pie through the hole in the centre; then return it to the ice-box, and let thoroughly cool for at least two hours, and it will be ready to serve. N. B.—The jelly should never be poured into the pie until it is perfectly cooled off.
1370. Plombière à la Hamilton.
—Beat up one and a half pints of sweet cream as in [No. 1254]. Let it rest for half an hour. Neatly pick one and a half pints of sound, ripe strawberries; carefully wash them in cold water, then drain them on a colander. Transfer the whipped cream into another vessel with a skimmer. Briskly beat the cream again for two minutes. Mix in three ounces of powdered sugar, one teaspoonful of vanilla flavor, and half a gill of cognac. Mix the whole well together for one minute longer. Remove the wire whip, add the prepared strawberries, and with the aid of a wooden spoon gently mix for one minute. Pour the preparation into a well-cleaned, two-quart freezer, cover, and lay it into a pail; fill the pail all around with broken ice (but no rock-salt), and let freeze for one hour. Have a fruit-stand ready, then with an ice-cream spoon dress the plombière on the stand, giving a dome shape, and immediately send to the table. The above makes a delicious dessert, also, when served without being frozen.
1371. Tutti-frutti à la Gen. Harrison.
—Line the interior of a three-pint melon-form with a pint of vanilla ice-cream ([No. 1271]). Cut four ounces of candied apricots into small pieces, also four ounces of candied cherries into halves. Mix these together. Evenly spread half the quantity of the fruits all around the ice-cream in the form. Carefully arrange a pint of raspberry water-ice ([No. 1281]) evenly around the fruits. Spread the balance of the fruits all around the water-ice; then fill the form with a pint of pistache ice-cream ([No. 1275]). Tightly cover the form. Lay it in a pail with a layer of broken ice and rock-salt at the bottom, and then fill up to the surface with the same. Let freeze for one and a half hours. Unmold the tutti-frutti; dress on a glass stand, and serve with the following sauce: put in a vessel a pint of whipped cream ([No. 1254]) with two ounces of powdered sugar and a gill of maraschino. Beat the whole well together for two minutes. Pour it over the tutti-frutti, and immediately send to the table.
1372. Frogs’ Legs à la Merrill.
—Neatly pare off the claws of half a pound of very fine, fat, fresh frogs’ legs. Cut them into pieces at each joint. Place them in a saucepan on the hot range, with half an ounce of very good butter. Season with one pinch of salt and half a saltspoonful of red pepper. Cook on a brisk fire for five minutes, then add a wineglassful of Madeira wine, with two finely minced truffles; reduce for three minutes. Crack into a bowl three egg yolks, add to it half a pint of sweet cream, beat well together one minute, pour it into the pan with the frogs, then gently shuffle the pan in opposite directions until the sauce thickens, which will take two minutes and a half. Pour into a hot soup-tureen, and serve.
1373. Strawberries.
—After selecting and thoroughly washing the berries, fill the cans and cover with a twenty-five-degree syrup, seal up, and cook five minutes. Open the vent, to let hot air out, about one minute, then close the vent and put away. The best berries are in market between June 7 and 14.