Make one quart of aspic jelly. Set the plain border mould (see rice border, under Entries) in a pan with a little ice and water. Pour enough of the liquid jelly into the mould to make a layer half an inch deep. Let this get hard. When hard, decorate with cooked carrot and beet, and the white of a hard-boiled egg. These must all be cut in pretty shapes with the vegetable cutter, and arranged on the jelly. Very carefully add two table-spoonfuls of jelly, and let it harden. Fill with the remainder of the jelly, and set away to harden. At serving time put the mould for half a minute in a pan of warm water. Wipe it, and turn the jelly on a cold flat dish. Fill the centre with salad, boned fowl, or anything else you choose.
To make a tomato salad you must not slice the fruit in a dish and then pour on it a little vinegar and then a little oil; that is not salad --that is ignorance. Take some red tomatoes, and, if you can procure them, some golden ones also. Plunge each for a moment in boiling water, peel off the skin, but carefully, so as not to cut through the flesh with the juice. Take some raw onion cut in slices; if you do not like the strong taste, use shallot; and lay four or five flat slices on the bottom of the salad dish. Put the tomato slices over them, sprinkle with salt and just a dust of castor sugar. In four hours lift the tomatoes and remove the onions altogether. Make in a cup the following sauce: Dissolve a salt-spoonful of salt in a teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar. Stir in a dessert-spoonful of oil, dropping it slowly in, add a very little mustard, some pepper and a sprinkle of chopped chervil. Some people like chopped chives. Pour this over the tomato salad and leave it for an hour at least before serving it.
Sometimes one has a few leeks, a half cauliflower, a handful each of peas and beans. Instead of currying these vegetables (which removes all distinctive flavor from them) cook them gently, and toss them when cold in a good salad dressing. If you can give the yolk of an egg to it, so much the better. Any cold meat is improved by a side dish of this sort. The vegetables that one can curry with advantage are large marrows, cut into cubes, turnips, potatoes, parsnips. [Marguerite Leblanc.]
Endive is generally used as a salad, but is very nice served as a vegetable, stewed. White-heart endives should be chosen, and several heads will be required for a dish, as they shrink very much in cooking. Wash and clean the endives very carefully in salt and water first, as they often contain insects. Boil them in slightly salted water till they are tender, then drain them off, and thoroughly extract the moisture; put them in a stew-pan with a little butter, pepper, salt, and nutmeg, let them stew for some little time; add the juice of a lemon, and serve. It will make the dish much prettier if you reserve one head of endive boiled whole. Place the stewed endive on a dish, and sprinkle some chopped blanched parsley over it, then place the single head of endive upright in the centre, and place some fried bread round the edge.
10 lbs. Thick Brisket of Beef, Corned or Fresh--1s. 6d.
1 fagot of Herbs
1 stalk Celery--1/2d.
1 Onion
2 Carrots
1 Turnip
40 Peppercorns--1 1/2d.
Total Cost--1s. 8d.
Time--Four Hours
Bind the beef with tapes to keep it a good shape. If it is corned, put it on in cold water; if fresh, in hot stock or water, and bring to the boil, then skim carefully and put in the vegetables and peppercorns. Simmer very gently indeed for four hours, then take it up. Take off the tapes, slip out the bones, and put it into a dish; place a piece of board on the top and some heavy weights and leave till the next day, then turn out and serve with a salad. If fresh meat is used for this dish the liquor may be used for soup, or the bones may be put back when removed from the meat and boiled without the lid very quickly for an hour. Then strain off and stand away till the next day; it should then be in a strong jelly. This may be cut into blocks and put round the meat.
Calves' feet that have been boiled down for jelly make a good salad. They must, of course, be boiled very thoroughly for at least eight hours. Strain off the stock, remove the bones, and put the meat on one side till quite cold. Then cut up into neat pieces and put into a salad bowl. Pour over a salad dressing or just oil and vinegar; shred over it a nice white lettuce, and garnish with sliced beetroot.
Prepare the asparagus as before directed. Season a quart of cooked salmon with one teaspoonful of salt, one-third of a teaspoonful of pepper, three table-spoonfuls of oil, one of vinegar and two of lemon juice. Let this stand in the ice chest at least two hours. Arrange the salmon in the centre of the dish and the asparagus points around it. Cover the fish with one cupful of mayonnaise dressing. Garnish the dish with points of lemon. Green peas can be used instead of asparagus.
One pint of flour, half a pint of milk, one table-spoonful of salad oil or butter, one teaspoonful of salt, two eggs. Beat the eggs light. Add the milk and salt to them. Pour half of this mixture on the flour, and when beaten light and smooth, add the remainder and the oil. Fry in boiling fat. Sprinkle with sugar, and serve on a hot dish. This batter is nice for all kinds of fritters.
Prepare a sauce with the coral of a fine, new lobster, boiled fresh for about half an hour. Pound and rub it smooth, and mix very gradually with a dressing made from the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, a tablespoonful of made mustard, three of salad oil, two of vinegar, one of white powdered sugar, a small teaspoonful of salt, as much black pepper, a pinch of cayenne and yolks of two fresh eggs. Next fill your salad bowl with some shred lettuce, the better part of two leaving the small curled centre to garnish your dish with. Mingle with this the flesh of your lobster, torn, broken or cut into bits seasoned with salt and pepper and a small portion of the dressing. Pour over the whole the rest of the dressing; put your lettuce-hearts down the centre and arrange upon the sides slices of hard-boiled eggs.
Take some slices of cold corned beef, dip them in a salad dressing, and lay them in a dish with alternate layers of lettuce leaves. Garnish with hard boiled eggs cut in slices.
