Stewed Breast (Blanquette).—(a) Put a breast of veal, after being blanched, into a stewpan, with a bunch of herbs, onions, cloves, pepper, salt, a blade of mace, some lemon peel, a good piece of butter (about 2-3 oz.). Let it simmer gently, then add a pint of veal broth, or hot water; when almost tender take it out, put it in a dish, get out the long bones, and strain the liquor to the veal again. If liked, add some fresh mushrooms, or some oysters blanched in their own liquor. Thicken it when done with a little flour, butter, some very thick cream, and the yolks of 2 eggs; stir it well together. It must not boil, but simmer, for fear the sauce should curdle. Squeeze some lemon juice just as you serve it, and stir it well. Garnish the dish with sliced lemon or fried oysters.
(b) Take 3-4 lb. breast of veal, cut it up into pieces 2 in. long, and put them into a saucepan with 2 carrots, an onion, and a head of celery cut into small pieces; add parsley, thyme, bay leaves, cloves, pepper and salt to taste, and sufficient stock or water to cover the meat. Simmer about an hour, or until quite tender. Take out the piece of veal and strain the gravy through a colander. Melt in a saucepan 1 oz. butter, and add 1 oz. flour; mix well, and put in as much liquor from the veal, well freed from fat, as will make sufficient sauce; let it get quite hot, then stir in, off the fire, the yolks of two eggs beaten up with a little lemon juice and strained. Put in the piece of veal, when quite hot add a little chopped parsley and a few mushrooms, and serve.
Suet Pudding (baked or boiled).—Chop ½ lb. veal suet, put it into 1 qt. rich milk, set it upon the fire, and when pretty hot pour it upon 8 oz. bread crumbs and sugar to your taste; add ½ lb. currants washed and dried, and 3 well-beaten eggs; put it into a floured cloth or buttered dish, and either boil or bake it an hour.
Sweetbread (Ris).—(a) Prepare the sweetbreads in the usual way for cooking. Place them on the fire in a saucepan with a piece of butter, sprinkle them with flour, stir and moisten with a little water, add salt and pepper, and a bunch of parsley. Cook them gently, and just before serving add some small onions and some mushrooms which have been previously cooked. Thicken the gravy with the yolk of 2 eggs and a little lemon juice, and serve hot.
(b) When well washed and cleared from skin, they may be larded with delicate strips of very fresh bacon or not, according to taste. Boil till nearly done, then put them into a thickly buttered deep dish which will stand the oven (metal or earthenware), strewing the bottom of the dish with thin slices of carrot and onion, add a ladlefull of good broth, salt and pepper, and brown in the oven till of a dark golden colour. Take out the sweetbreads, strain the juice, adding some good veal stock and a few drops of lemon juice, and serve.
(c) Butter a stewpan or good-sized saucepan thickly, line it with slices of carrot and onion, put in the sweetbreads prepared as above, i.e. washed and freed from skins, and larded, but not boiled. Let them brown well over a brisk oven, shaking occasionally to prevent adherence, and turning. When of a deep golden hue all over, moisten with 3-4 tablespoonsfuls thick cream, or cream of the previous day, slightly on the turn, add enough veal stock to nearly cover the sweetbreads, cover hermetically, and put charcoal on the lid; place over a moderate fire, as it were between 2 fires, which is the French equivalent for our oven-cooking, and let them stew gently for nearly an hour. To serve them, strain the sauce, add a little lemon juice. They are very good done in this way also, and served upon fresh young peas, spinach, or sorrel, done in the French way. It is essential that the stock used should be blond de veau or veal stock, because one of the first rules of all good cookery is that all meats should be cooked in their own sauces, i.e. that the sauce should be of the same meat as the thing cooked.
(d) Stewed.—Trim some sweetbreads, and soak them in warm water till quite white, blanch in boiling water, and then put them in cold water for a short time. When cold, dry them, and put them in some well-flavoured white stock, stew for ½ hour. Beat up the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs with some cream, a little finely-minced parsley, and grated nutmeg, pepper and salt to taste; add this to the sauce, put it on the fire to get quite hot; dish the sweetbreads, pour the sauce over, and serve.
Tea.—Cut into small dice 1 lb. lean meat, place on the fire with 2 tablespoonfuls water, 1 teaspoonful salt; stir this gently until the gravy is drawn, then add 1 qt. boiling water, simmer slowly for ¾ hour, skimming off the fat; when done strain through a sieve. It may be made richer and more tasty by adding, when first warming the meat, a little butter, onion, and parsley.
Vol-au-vent.—Roll out a sufficient quantity of good puff paste 1 in. thick, and stamp it out with a fluted cutter to the size of the dish upon which it is to come to table. Mark it out with another of a smaller size, leaving about 1½ in. at the edge of the paste, which brush over with a beaten-up egg. Put it into a quick oven to rise and become a good colour. When done, remove with the point of a knife the piece marked out for the top, and scoop out all the soft part from the inside; then turn upon a piece of writing paper to dry. Fill it with minced veal and a small quantity of white sauce. As it is only a professed cook who can make a vol-au-vent, it is much best to order it from a confectioner’s and only fill it at home.