Have in a saucepan half a finely chopped-up shallot, with a good glassful of red wine; reduce on the range to just one-half, add to it one gill of Espagnole sauce ([No. 151]), let come to a boil, squeeze in the juice of half a sound lemon, and leave on the corner of the range till required. Peel eight small, sound potatoes, give them a nice egg-shape, wash them, place in cold water with a tablespoonful of salt, and boil for about twenty minutes; drain them, lay a napkin over to keep warm.
Have twelve freshly opened medium-sized oysters, place in a sautoire with their own liquor, let them come to a boil on the range, skim well, and add a tablespoonful of good butter, with twelve small mushrooms. Cut the tail part of a small cooked lobster into half an inch square pieces, add it to the oysters, let cook together for two minutes. Lift up the fish with the lifter, let drain over the kettle for one minute, then gently slide it on a hot dish with a folded napkin over it, place a cluster of four potatoes at each end of the fish. Have either six scallop or clam shells well cleaned. Place two oysters on each shell, then two mushrooms, and equally divide the lobster on the six shells.
Add to the sauce in the pan in which the oysters were cooked, one tablespoonful of demi-glace ([No. 185]), mix a little, and then evenly pour it over the six fillets. Arrange three shells at each side of the fish. Strain the other sauce into a sauce-bowl, and send to the table separate.
1440. Cold Bass à la James Gordon Bennett.
—Procure a fine striped bass of about six pounds; scale, remove the entrails, and thoroughly wash it. Place at the bottom of a fish kettle one sliced carrot, one sliced onion, one parsley root, one bay-leaf, four cloves, and twelve whole peppers. Place the lifter over the vegetables, and then gently lay the bass straight on top of it. Completely cover the fish with cold water. Season with a handful of salt, adding a wineglassful of white wine, then let slowly heat on a moderate fire until it comes to a boil. Remove the kettle from the fire, and let it thoroughly cool off in its own broth. Remove the fish from the kettle, lay it on a cold dish, dampen a napkin in the broth, and completely cover the fish with it to prevent the bass getting dry; then place it in the ice-box until further action. Strain three quarts of the fish broth into a saucepan, add a medium-sized sound, sliced lemon, and let it reduce on the hot range to one-half, add one leaf of Peter Cooper’s clarified gelatine (if not at hand, use one ounce of the other gelatine), let thoroughly dissolve, stirring it meanwhile with a wooden spatula. Prepare in a bowl the white of two fresh eggs, including the shells; thoroughly mix together; add now a cupful of cracked ice. Remove the gelatine from the range, place it on a table; gradually add to the eggs a ladleful of the gelatine, continually stirring the eggs meanwhile; and then add this to the saucepan, stirring while adding it; place it on the corner of the range, let it slowly come to a boil, and then boil for two minutes. Remove it from the fire; strain it twice through either a wet flannel bag or a wet clean napkin into a vessel, and let cool off.
Wash well and boil two quarts of fine white hominy for thirty-five minutes; season with a tablespoonful of salt, pour it into a flat pan, and let thoroughly cool off.
Take the fish from the ice-box, remove the napkin, gently lay it over the prepared hominy. Cut with a knife a square piece of about three ounces of jelly; let it lightly dissolve in a pan on the corner of the range, stirring continually. Prepare a pint and a half of mayonnaise, as for [No. 206]; add the dissolved jelly to the mayonnaise, mixing it thoroughly, then with a wooden salad-spoon pour the mayonnaise right straight down the centre of the fish, beginning at the head right down to the tail, and continue so on until the fish is completely masked from head to tail; put it in a cool place to let the mayonnaise and jelly get firm.
Have six small cleaned timbales, one and a half inches in diameter by two inches deep; place at the bottom of each a thin, round slice of truffle, cut with a tube half an inch in diameter. Dissolve about two ounces of jelly, taking care that it is not very hot, pour a teaspoonful of the jelly at the bottom of each timbale. Have a bowl with ice-water in it, dip in each timbale without letting any water get into them; turn them gently, so as to have them completely coated inside with the jelly. Have six heaped tablespoonfuls of cooked macédoine ([No. 1032]) on a dish; season with a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of white pepper, and a teaspoonful of good wine vinegar, mix all well together, then equally divide it into the six timbales, but do not pour the vinegar remaining on the plate; pour in the balance of the dissolved jelly evenly over the macédoine in each timbale, place them in the ice-box to cool.
With a keen knife cut the hominy from all around as near the fish as possible, so that it will have exactly the same shape; remove the hominy that was cut away. Pass the palette of a cake-turner at the head part, right under the hominy, gently raise it up, and with the left hand in the centre under the hominy lift it up, and carefully lay it on a cold dish. Unmold the six timbales by lightly dipping them in warm water, so as to have them easily detached; place them at equal distances around the dish. Cut out six triangular-shaped croûtons of jelly one inch thick, two inches in length by one and a half inches in width, place one between each timbale, and it will be ready to send to the table.
It would be advisable to prepare the above fish one day before the time of serving, and dress on the dish one hour before sending it to the table. If any of the fish remains it can be utilized for patties, cutlets, or croquettes.