Chapter M: G. H

=Chicken Toast.=—Take the remains of a cold chicken and chop up fine, put in a saucepan, season with salt and pepper and just a little onion, with a lump of butter; break over the meat two or three raw eggs; stir all together, pour it upon nicely-buttered toast, and serve.

=Chicken Liver en Brochette.=—Wash the livers in cold water, dry them on a towel, and cut them in two; cut slices of bacon into pieces about the same size, and put them on a skewer alternately, and broil. When done brush over them a sauce of melted butter, lemon-juice, pepper and salt.

=Braise of Duck with Turnips.=—Prepare a domestic duck as for roasting. Line a small pan, just large enough for the duck, with slices of bacon; strew over the bottom a little parsley, powdered herbs, and lemon-peel; lay in the duck, and add a carrot cut into strips, an onion stuck with a few cloves, and a dozen whole peppers; cover with stock and add a table spoonful of strong vinegar; baste frequently and simmer until done. Fry some slices of turnip in butter to a light brown, drain and add them to the stew-pan after removing the duck, which should be kept hot. When the turnips are tender remove them, strain the gravy, thickening if necessary with a little flour or arrowroot; put the duck on a dish, throw the hot gravy over it, and garnish with the turnips.

=Braise of Duck with Peas.=—Prepare and cook a duck as in the above receipt, using green peas instead of carrots and onion, and fry two onions in butter till they are of a pale brown; boil them to a thick sauce with some of the duck gravy; season with salt and pepper, and serve with the peas around the duck and the gravy thrown over.

=Salmi of Wild Duck.=—Cut up the remains of two roast, underdone wild ducks into neat pieces and set them aside. Take the bones, giblets, and ragged pieces, and put them in a stew-pan with a minced onion or shallot, a salt-spoonful salt; and a very little cayenne; add a pint of stock and a glass of port wine, boil gently half an hour, strain and thicken the sauce with a teaspoonful of prepared brown flour. Put the pieces of duck in a stew-pan, pour the sauce over them, and simmer until quite hot. Add the juice of a sour orange to the dish and serve. A garnish of olives is considered an improvement by some. Soak the olives in cold water one hour; remove the stones with a small vegetable-cutter and add them to the sauce, before taking the dish from the fire.

=Salmi of Partridge, Hunter’s Style.=—Take two cold roast partridges, cut them into joints, and lay them in a saucepan with two ounces of butter, a gill of Bordeaux or port, the grated rind and juice of a large lemon, salt, and a little cayenne; thicken with a little flour if desired; simmer gently until very hot and serve.

=Venison Epicurean.=—Cut a steak from the leg or a chop from the loin of venison, about an inch and a half thick. Put a walnut of butter, salt and pepper, into a chafing-dish; light the spirit-lamp under it, and when the butter melts put in the chop or steak; let it cook on one side a few minutes, then turn it over, and add a wineglassful of sherry or port and a tablespoonful of currant-jelly. Simmer gently about seven minutes if it is to be eaten rare, and allow twelve minutes cooking if required well done.

Hot plates and a glass of Mr. Clair’s old East India Madeira are all that is requisite to make the feast Apician in character.

=Venison Chops=, broiled and served with currant-jelly, are not to be despised. Trim the ends as you would a French lamb-chop.

=Breast of Venison= may be dressed according to the receipt given for breast of mutton.

=Venison Patties.=—Make a nicely-flavored mince of the remains of cold roast venison; moisten it with a little sherry or gravy, and warm it in a saucepan; fill the patty-shells with the meat and serve. (See oyster patty for patty-shells.)

=Broiled Tripe.=—Cut up honeycomb tripe into pieces of three to four inches wide; rub a little oil or melted butter over them, dredge them in flour, and broil over a charcoal fire; squeeze a little lemon-juice over each piece, and serve.

Never broil tripe over a hard-coal fire; the gases arising from the coal spoil the flavor of the tripe, making it indigestible and unpalatable.

=Tripe Lyonnaise.=—Take a pound of cold boiled tripe and cut it into pieces an inch square. Dissolve two ounces of butter in a frying-pan, add a sliced onion to it, and fry until it is tender. Put the pieces of tripe with the onion, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a tablespoonful of vinegar, salt, and a little cayenne; heat all gently together. Cover the bottom of a platter with tomato sauce, add the tripe and serve.

=Tripe Fricassee.=—Cut up the tripe into square pieces; put them into a stew-pan with a blade of mace, a bouquet of herbs, an onion quartered, salt, and cayenne. Cover the tripe with Rhine wine or water and a little vinegar; stew for one hour. Strain the sauce; put the tripe and sauce in a clean saucepan, with a walnut of butter rolled in flour, a gill of cream, a tablespoonful chopped parsley. Simmer ten minutes, squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and serve.

=Pork and Beans.=—Wash a quart of beans thoroughly; cover them with cold water and let them soak over-night. Change the water in the morning once or twice. Then put them in a pot and simmer slowly for three hours until they begin to crack open; pour them into a colander to drain off all the water. Heat an earthen bean-pot with hot water, and wipe it dry; place a small piece of pork on the bottom of the pot and pour in the beans. Cut the rind of another piece of pork into strips, and sink it into the beans, leaving only the rind of the pork exposed at the top. Dissolve a tablespoonful of New Orleans molasses, with a teaspoonful of salt, in a pint of warm water, and add it to the pot; set it in the oven and bake slowly for three or four hours, or place the pot in a baker’s oven over-night, instructing the baker to add a little water to the pot should the beans become dry.

Serve with Boston brown bread.

=Baked Macaroni.=—For a small dish one-half pound macaroni, boiled until soft, with a little salt in the water. Drain through a colander; then put in the baking-dish, with one pint and a half of milk, a lump of butter, pepper and salt, and grated cheese (enough to suit taste), and distribute over top. Bake in a hot oven until brown.