Skin, open, and cleanse one fine eel (or more), cut it into finger-lengths, rub it with a mixed seasoning of salt and white pepper, and leave it for half an hour. Wipe it dry, wrap each length in sage leaves, fasten them round it with coarse thread, roll the eel in good salad oil or clarified butter, lay it on the gridiron, squeeze lemon-juice over, and broil it gently until it is browned in every part. Send it to table with a sauce made of two or three ounces of butter, a tablespoonful of chili, tarragon, or common vinegar, and one of water, with a little salt; to keep this smooth, proceed as for the Norfolk sauce of Chapter [V.] Broiled fish is frequently served without any sauce. A quite simple one may supply the place of that which we have indicated above: eels being of so rich a nature, require no other.
A SWISS MAYONNAISE.
Beat half a pound of butter to a cream, and then add it very gradually to the hard-boiled yolks of six fresh eggs which have been cut into quarters, separated carefully from the whites, and pounded to a perfect paste; when these are blended into a smooth sauce add, a few drops at a time, some of the finest salad oil that can be procured, and work the mixture in the same manner as the mayonnaise of Chapter [VI.] until no particle of it remains visible: a small quantity of salt also must be thrown in, and sufficient good vinegar in very small portions, to give an agreeable acidity to the preparation. (Fresh lemon-juice might be substituted in part for this, and a little fine cayenne used with it; but though we suggest this, we adhere to our original Swiss receipt for this excellent dish, even when we think it might be slightly improved in flavour.)
Carve very neatly two delicate boiled fowls, and trim the joints into handsome form. Lay the inferior parts upon a large plate, and spread a portion of the sauce, which should be very thick, upon them; arrange them in a flat layer in the dish in which they are to be served; then sauce in the same way more of the joints, and arrange them symmetrically over the others. Proceed thus to build a sort of pyramid with the whole; and decorate it with the whites of the eggs, and the hearts of small lettuces cut in halves. Place these last round the base alternately with whole bantams’ or plovers’ eggs, boiled hard, a small slice must be cut from the large end of each of these to admit of their being placed upright. A slight branch of parsley, or other foliage, may be stuck in the tops. Roast chickens divested entirely of the skin, can always be substituted for boiled ones in a mayonnaise: they should all be separated into single joints with the exception of the wings. The quite inferior parts need not be used at all.
The same sauce rather highly flavoured with cayenne, and other condiments, and more or less, to the taste, with essence of anchovies or anchovy butter, and coloured with lobster-coral, will make an excellent fish-salad, with alternate slices of lobster,—cut obliquely to increase their size,—and of cold turbot or large soles. These can be raised into a high border or chain round a dish when more convenient, and the centre filled with young fresh salad, sauced at the instant it is sent to table.
A French mayonnaise does not vary much from the preceding, except in the composition of the sauce, for which see Chapter [VI]. It should always be kept very thick. A little rich cold white sauce is sometimes mixed with it.
TENDRONS DE VEAU.
The tendrons (or gristles) which lie under the flesh of the brisket of a breast of veal are much used in foreign countries, and frequently now in this, to supply a variety of the dishes called entrées. When long stewed they become perfectly tender, and yield a large amount of gelatine; but they are quite devoid of flavour, and require therefore to be cooked and served with such additions as shall render them palatable.
With a very sharp knife detach the flesh from them without separating it from the joint, and turn it back, so as to allow the gristles to be divided easily from the long bones. Cut away the chine-bone from their outer edge, and then proceed first to soak them, that they may be very white, and to boil them gently for several hours,[[191]] either quite simply, in good broth, or with additions of bacon, spice, and vegetables. Foreign cooks braise them somewhat expensively, and then serve them in many different forms; but as they make, after all, but a rather unpretending entrée, some economy in their preparation would generally be desirable. They may be divided at the joints, and cut obliquely into thin slices before they are stewed, when they will require but four hours simmering; or they may be left entire and braised, when they will require, while still warm, to be pressed between two dishes with a heavy weight on the top, to bring them into good shape before they are divided for table. They are then sometimes dipped into egg and bread-crumbs, and fried in thin slices of uniform size; or stewed tender, then well drained, and glazed, dished in a circle, and served with peas à la Française in the centre, or with a thick purée of tomatas, or of other vegetables. They are also often used to fill vol-au-vents, for which purpose they must be kept very white, and mixed with a good béchamel-sauce. We recommend their being highly curried, either in conjunction with plenty of vegetables, or with a portion of other meat, after they have been baked or stewed as tender as possible.
[191]. We think that in the pasted jar which we have described in Chapter [IX.], in the section of Baking, they might be well and easily cooked, but we have not tried it.