Miss Parloa's New Cook Book

by Maria Parloa

Pasties of Game and Poultry.

Make three pints of force-meat. (See force-meat for game.) Cut all the solid meat from four grouse. Lard each piece with very fine strips of pork. Put half a cupful of butter and a finely-cut onion in a frying-pan. Stir until the onion is yellow; then put in the grouse, and cook slowly, with the cover on, for forty minutes. Stir occasionally. Take up the grouse, and put three table-spoonfuls of flour with the butter remaining in the pan. Stir until brown; add one quart of stock, two table-spoonfuls of glaze, a bouquet of sweet herbs, and four cloves. Simmer twenty minutes, and strain. Butter a four-quart earthen dish, and cover the bottom and sides with the force-meat. Put in a layer of the grouse, and moisten well with the gravy, which must be highly seasoned with salt and pepper; then put in the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs, and the whites, cut into rings. Moisten with gravy, and add another layer of grouse, and of eggs and gravy. Twelve eggs should be used. Make a paste as for chicken pie. Cover with this, and bake one hour and a half. Serve either hot or cold.

Any kind of meat pasties can be made in the same manner. With a veal pastie put in a few slices of cooked ham.

Cold Game Pie.

Make three pints of force-meat. (See force-meat for game.) Cut all the meat from two partridges or grouse, and put the bones on to boil with three quarts of water and three pounds of a shank of veal. Fry four large slices of fat salt pork, and as soon as brown, take up, and into the fat put one onion, cut in slices. When this begins to turn yellow, take up, and put the meat of the birds in the pan. Dredge well with salt, pepper and flour, and stir constantly for four minutes; then take up, and put away to cool. Make a crust as directed for raised pies. Butter the French pie mould very thoroughly, and line with paste. Spread upon the paste--both upon the sides and bottom of the mould--a thin layer of fat salt pork, then a layer of force-meat, one of grouse, again one of force-meat, and so on until the pie is filled. Leave a space of about half an inch at the edge of the mould, and heap the filling in the centre. Moisten with half a cupful of well-seasoned stock. Roll the remainder of the paste into the shape of the top of the mould. Wet the paste at the edge of the mould with beaten egg; then put on the top, and press the top and side parts together. Cut a small piece of paste from the centre of the top crust, add a little more paste to it, and roll a little larger than the opening, which it is to cover. Cut the edges with the jagging iron, and, with the other end of the iron, stamp leaves or flowers. Place on the top of the pie. Bake in a slow oven three hours and a half. While the pie is baking the sauce can be prepared. When the bones and veal have been cooking two hours, add two cloves, a bouquet of sweet herbs and the fried onions. Cook one hour longer; then salt and pepper well, and strain. The water should be reduced in boiling to one quart. When the pie is baked, take the centre piece from the cover, and slightly press the tunnel into the opening. Pour slowly one pint of the hot gravy through this. Put back the cover, and set away to cool. The remainder of the gravy must be turned into a flat dish and put in a cold place to harden. When the pie is served, place the mould in the oven, or steamer, for about five minutes; then draw out the wires and open it. Slip the pie on to a cold dish, and garnish with the jellied gravy and parsley. This is nice for suppers or lunches. All kinds of game and meat can be prepared in the same manner.

Pâté de Foies Gras.

Make a paste with one quart of flour, as for raised pies, and put away in a cool place. Put four fat goose livers in a pint of sweet milk for two or three hours, to whiten them. Chop very fine two pounds of fresh pork, cut from the loin (it must not be too fat), and one pound of clear veal. Put one and a half cupfuls of milk on to boil with a blade of mace, an onion, two cloves, a small piece of nutmeg and a bouquet of sweet herbs. Cook all these for ten minutes; then strain the milk upon four table-spoonfuls of butter and two of flour, which have been well mixed. Add to this the chopped pork and veal and one of the livers, chopped fine; stir over the fire for ten minutes, being careful not to brown. Season well with pepper and salt, add four well-beaten eggs, and stir half a minute longer; then put away to cool. Cut half a pound of salt pork in slices as thin as shavings. Butter a French pie mould, holding about three quarts. Form three-fourths of the paste into a ball. Sprinkle the board with flour, and roll the paste out until about one-fourth of an inch thick. Take it up by the four corners and place it in the mould. Be very careful not to break it. With the hand, press the paste on the sides and bottom. The crust must come to the top of the mould. Put a layer of the pork shavings on the sides and bottom, then a thick layer of the force-meat. Split the livers, and put half of them in; over them sprinkle one table-spoonful of onion juice, salt, pepper, and, if you like, a table-spoonful of capers. Another layer of force-meat, again the liver and seasoning, and then the force-meat. On this last layer put salt pork shavings. Into the remaining paste roll three table-spoonfuls of washed butter, and roll the paste, as nearly as possible, into the shape of the top of the pie mould. Cut a small piece from the centre. The filling of the pie should have been heaped a little toward the centre, leaving a space of about one inch and a half at the edges. Brush with beaten egg the paste that is in this space. Put on the top crust, and, with the fore-finger and thumb, press the two crusts together. Roll the piece of paste cut from the centre of the cover a little larger, and cover the opening with it. From some puff-paste trimmings, cut out leaves, and decorate the cover with them. Place in a moderate oven, and bake slowly two hours. Have a pint and a half of hot veal stock (which will become jellied when cold) well seasoned with pepper, salt, whole spice and onion. When the pâté is taken from the oven, take off the small piece that was put on the centre of the cover. Insert a tunnel in the opening and pour the hot stock through it. Replace the cover, and set away to cool. When the pâté is to be served, place it in the oven for about five minutes, that it may slip from the mould easily. Draw out the wires which fasten the sides of the mould, and slide the pâté upon the platter. Garnish the dish with parsley and small strips of cucumber pickles.

Truffles and mushrooms can be cut up and put in the pâté in layers, the same as the liver and at the same time. The Strasburg fat livers (foies gras) come in little stone pots, and cost from a dollar to two dollars per pot.

Chartreuse of Chicken.

Make the force-meat as for quenelles of chicken. Simmer two large chickens in white stock for half an hour. Take up, and let cool. Have a pickled tongue boiled tender. Cut thin slices from the breast of the chickens, and cut these in squares. Cut the tongue in slices, and these in turn in squares the same size as the chicken. Butter a four-quart mould, and arrange the chicken and tongue handsomely on the bottom and sides, being careful to have the pieces fit closely together. Have note paper cut to fit the bottom and sides. Butter it well, and cover about an inch deep with the force-meat. Take up the bottom piece by the four corners and fit it into the mould, the meat side down. Pour a little hot water into any kind of a flat-bottomed tin basin, and put this in the mould and move it over the papers, to melt the butter; then lift out the paper. Place the papers on the side in the same way as on the bottom and melt the butter by rolling a bottle of hot water over them. Remove these papers, and set the mould in a cold place until the filling is ready. Cut from the tenderest part of the chicken enough meat to make two quarts. Cut four large, or six small, mushrooms and four truffles in strips. Put half a cupful of butter, half a large onion, four cloves, a blade of mace, a slice of carrot, one of turnip and a stalk of celery in a sauce-pan, and cook five minutes, stirring all the while; then add five table-spoonfuls of flour. Stir until it begins to brown, when add one quart of the stock in which the chickens were cooked, a bouquet of sweet herbs, and salt and pepper. Simmer twenty minutes; strain, and add to the chicken. Return to the fire, and simmer twenty minutes longer, and set away to cool. When cold, put a layer of the chicken in the mould, and a light layer of the truffles and mushrooms. Continue this until the form is nearly full, and then cover with the remainder of the force-meat. Spread buttered paper upon it, and put in a cool place until cooking time, when steam two hours. Turn carefully upon the dish. Brush over with three table-spoonfuls of melted glaze. Pour one pint of supreme sauce around it, and serve.