Cut up a pound of sweet fresh butter, and dissolve it gently over a clear fire; take off the scum which will gather thickly upon it, and when it has simmered for three or four minutes, draw it from the fire, and let it stand until all the buttermilk has subsided; pour it softly from this upon six ounces of ready-pared sound French truffles, cut into small, but rather thick, slices, and laid into a delicately clean enamelled saucepan; add a full seasoning of freshly pounded mace and fine cayenne, a small saltspoonful of salt, and half a not large nutmeg. When the butter has become quite cold, proceed to heat the truffles slowly, shaking the saucepan often briskly round, and stew them as gently as possible for twenty minutes, or longer should they not then be very tender. If allowed to heat, and to boil quickly, they will become hard, and the preparation, as regards the truffles, will be a comparative failure. Lift them with a spoon into quite dry earthen or china pans, and pour the butter on them; or add to them sufficient of it only to cover them well and to exclude the air, and pot the remainder of the butter apart: it will be finely flavoured, and may be eaten by delicate persons to whom the truffle itself would be injurious. It may also be used in compounding savoury sauces, and for moistening small croustades before they are fried or baked. The truffles themselves will remain good for months when thus prepared, if kept free from damp; and in flavour they will be found excellent. The parings taken from them will also impart a very agreeable savour to the butter, and will serve extremely well for it for immediate use. They will also be valuable as additions to gravies or to soups.
We should observe, that the juice which will have exuded from the truffles in the stewing will cause the preparation to become mouldy, or otherwise injure it, if it be put into the pans either with them or with the butter. The truffles must be well drained from it when they are taken from the saucepan, and the butter must remain undisturbed for a few minutes, when it can be poured clear from the juice, which will have subsided to the bottom of the pan. We have given here the result of our first experiment, which we found on further trial to answer perfectly.
ENGLISH SALADS.
The herbs and vegetables for a salad cannot be too freshly gathered; they should be carefully cleared from insects and washed with scrupulous nicety; they are better when not prepared until near the time of sending them to table, and should not be sauced until the instant before they are served. Tender lettuces, of which the stems should be cut off, and the outer leaves be stripped away, mustard and cress, young radishes, and occasionally chives or small green onions (when the taste of a party is in favour of these last) are the usual ingredients of summer salads. (In early spring, as we have stated in another chapter, the young white leaves of the dandelion will supply a very wholesome and excellent salad, of which the slight bitterness is to many persons as agreeable as that of the endive.) Half-grown cucumbers sliced thin, and mixed with them, are a favourite addition with many persons. In England it is customary to cut the lettuces extremely fine; the French, who object to the flavour of the knife, which they fancy this mode imparts, break them small instead. Young celery alone, sliced and dressed with a rich salad mixture, is excellent: it is still in some families served thus always with roast pheasants.
Beet-root, baked or boiled, blanched endive, small salad-herbs which are easily raised at any time of the year, celery, and hardy lettuces, with any ready-dressed vegetable, will supply salads through the winter. Cucumber vinegar is an agreeable addition to these.
FRENCH SALAD.
In winter this is made principally of beautifully-blanched endive, washed delicately clean and broken into small branches with the fingers, then taken from the water and shaken dry in a basket of peculiar form, appropriated to the purpose,[[62]] or in a fine cloth; then arranged in the salad bowl, and strewed with herbs (tarragon generally, when in season) minced small: the dressing is not added until just before the salad is eaten. In summer, young lettuces are substituted for the endive, and intermixed with a variety of herbs, some of which are not generally cultivated in England.
[62]. Salad-baskets are also to be found in many good English kitchens, but they are not in such general use here as on the continent.
FRENCH SALAD DRESSING.
Stir a saltspoonful of salt and half as much pepper into a large spoonful of oil, and when the salt is dissolved, mix with them four additional spoonsful of oil, and pour the whole over the salad; let it be well turned, and then add a couple of spoonsful of tarragon vinegar; mix the whole thoroughly, and serve it without delay. The salad should not be dressed in this way until the instant before it is wanted for table: the proportions of salt and pepper can be increased at pleasure, and common or cucumber vinegar may be substituted for the tarragon, which, however, is more frequently used in France than any other.