Ingredients.—4 oz. of vermicelli, 1½ pint of milk, ½ pint of cream, 3 oz. of butter, 3 oz. of sugar, 4 eggs. Mode.—Boil the vermicelli in the milk until it is tender; then stir in the remaining ingredients, omitting the cream, if not obtainable. Flavour the mixture with grated lemon-rind, essence of bitter almonds, or vanilla; butter a pie-dish; line the edges with puff-paste, put in the pudding, and bake in a moderate oven for about ¾ hour. Time.—¾ hour. Average cost, 1s. 2d. without cream. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable at any time.
VERMICELLI SOUP.
Ingredients.—1½ lb. of bacon, stuck with cloves; ½ oz. of butter, worked up in flour; 1 small fowl, trussed for boiling; 2 oz. of vermicelli, 2 quarts of white stock. Mode.—Put the stock, bacon, butter, and fowl, into the stewpan, and stew for ¾ of an hour. Take the vermicelli, add it to a little of the stock, and set it on the fire, till it is quite tender. When the soup is ready, take out the fowl and bacon, and put the bacon on a dish. Skim the soup as clean as possible; pour it, with the vermicelli, over the fowl. Cut some bread thin, put in the soup, and serve. Time.—2 hours. Average cost, exclusive of the fowl and bacon, 10d. per quart. Seasonable in winter. Sufficient for 4 persons.
VERMICELLI SOUP.
Ingredients.—¼ lb. of vermicelli, 2 quarts of clear gravy stock. Mode.—Put the vermicelli in the soup, boiling; simmer very gently for ½ an hour, and stir frequently. Time.—½ an hour. Average cost, 1s. 3d. per quart. Seasonable all the year. Sufficient for 8 persons.
VOL-AU-VENT (an Entrée).
Ingredients.—¾ to 1 lb. of puff-paste, fricasseed chickens, rabbits, ragoûts, or the remains of cold fish, flaked and warmed in thick white sauce. Mode.—Make from ¾ to 1 lb. of puff-paste, taking care that it is very evenly rolled out each time, to ensure its rising properly; and if the paste is not extremely light, and put into a good hot oven, this cannot be accomplished, and the vol-au-vent will look very badly. Roll out the paste to the thickness of about 1½ inch, and, with a fluted cutter, stamp it out to the desired shape, either round or oval, and, with the point of a small knife, make a slight incision in the paste all round the top, about an inch from the edge, which, when baked, forms the lid. Put the vol-au-vent into a good brisk oven, and keep the door shut for a few minutes after it is put in. Particular attention should be paid to the heating of the oven, for the paste cannot rise without a tolerable degree of heat. When of a nice colour, without being scorched, withdraw it from the oven, instantly remove the cover where it was marked, and detach all the soft crumb from the centre: in doing this, be careful not to break the edges of the vol-au-vent; but should they look thin in places, stop them with small flakes of the inside paste, stuck on with the white of an egg. This precaution is necessary to prevent the fricassee or ragoût from bursting the case, and so spoiling the appearance of the dish. Fill the vol-au-vent with a rich mince, or fricassee, or ragoût, or the remains of cold fish flaked and warmed in a good white sauce, and do not make them very liquid, for fear of the gravy bursting the crust: replace the lid, and serve. To improve the appearance of the crust, brush it over with the yolk of an egg after it has risen properly. Time.—¾ hour to bake the vol-au-vent. Average cost, exclusive of the interior, 1s. 6d. Seasonable at any time.
VOL-AU-VENT.
Note.—Small vol-au-vents may be made like those shown in the engraving, and filled with minced veal, chicken, &c. They should be made of the same paste as the larger ones, and stamped out with a small fluted cutter.