About a Bain-Marie.
A Bain-Marie is a large copper pan placed on the fire, and containing boiling water in which are put smaller pans with anything to be kept hot, or cooked without boiling. Milk is better cooked in Bain-Marie, than in a sauce-pan on the fire.
RECIPES
Artichokes ‘alla Barigoul.’
Clean and cut straight the under leaves of three large French artichokes, boil them sufficiently to be able to take out the chokes, and put them in cold water for five minutes. Drain thoroughly, then fill the hole left by the choke with forcemeat made of half an ounce of minced salt pork, two shallots, six mushrooms minced, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, a little pepper, and grated nutmeg, mixed well together. Tie up the artichokes with string, heat three tablespoonfuls of good olive oil in a pan, and brown them well on both sides. Then place your artichokes in a sauté-pan, and put a small slice of fresh pork, or a bit of good butter, on the top of each; add a tumbler of broth, bake for forty minutes in oven, then place on a hot dish, and serve, pouring the sauce in the pan over them.
Artichokes ‘alla Barigoul’ (maigre).
Parboil three fine French artichokes for three minutes, drain, pare the tips and the bottoms, and remove the chokes. Then place them in a sauce-pan with a tablespoonful of fresh butter, a carrot and an onion sliced up, and very little salt. Cook a shallot (minced up) with a tablespoonful of butter for three minutes (being careful not to let it brown), add ten minced mushrooms, a tablespoonful of chopped-up parsley, a teaspoonful of chopped-up chervil, and a little salt and pepper; cook for five minutes, stirring often. Stuff the artichokes with this, and put a whole mushroom on the top of each artichoke. Bake in a hot oven, adding a wine-glassful of white wine and a tumbler of vegetable soup; close the pan and cook for forty minutes. Add a quarter of a pint of sauce ‘Vellutata’ (see Sauces, p. [127]) to the sauce of the artichokes, heat, but do not boil; strain, and serve in a sauce-boat separately.
Artichokes ‘Farciti.’
Boil and drain twelve young artichokes. Chop up four ounces of boiled ham and one pound of chicken-meat fine, add two tablespoonfuls of cream, one teaspoonful of chopped parsley, a little pepper and salt, and some grated nutmeg. Fill each artichoke with this compound, put into a well-buttered frying-pan, and bake for a quarter of an hour in a hot oven. Serve hot with ‘Alla Panna’ sauce (see Sauces, p. [125]).