The Belgian Cookbook Part 7

VEAL CAKE, EXCELLENT FOR SUPPER

Take some chopped veal and with it an equal quant.i.ty of chopped beef, and one-quarter the quant.i.ty of breadcrumbs from a fresh loaf. Bind all with a raw egg, adding salt and pepper, and, if wished, some blanched and chopped almonds. (Put a large piece of b.u.t.ter both above and below.) Shape the meat into the form of a loaf and put it in a dish, with a large slice of b.u.t.ter above and below it. Cook it for about half-an-hour.

[_Mme. Gabrielle Janssens_.]

BREAST OF VEAL

(A good and inexpensive dish)

Cook the breast of veal in stock or in a little meat extract and water, with sliced carrots and onions, thyme, pepper, salt, three bay-leaves and three cloves. Let it stew for one hour in this, and then take it out. Take out also the vegetables, and strain the liquor. Make a bechamel sauce and add it to the liquor, giving it all a sharp taste with the juice of half a lemon. Put back the breast of veal in this sauce and when hot again serve them together.

[_Mdlle. Spinette_.]

OX TONGUE

Cook the ox tongue in stock or in meat extract and water. Make the hunters' sauce, as for a hare, but sprinkle into it some chopped sultanas. Take the tongue out of the stock and skin it, cut it in neat pieces if you wish, and let it heat in your sauce.

[_Mdlle. Spinette_.]

VEAL a LA MILANAISE

Egg and breadcrumb some thick slices of veal; fry and garnish with boiled macaroni cut in small pieces, with ham, mushrooms, truffles, all cut in Julienne strips, pepper, salt, and a little tomato sauce. Mix all these well together, and serve very hot.

STUFFED VEAL LIVER, OR LIVER a LA PANIER D'OR

The _Panier d'Or_ is a hotel in Bruges, much frequented before the war by the English.

Take the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, a bit of bread the same size, and crumble them together; rub in some chopped parsley and onion and moisten it with gravy or with milk; season highly with salt, cayenne, and a little vinegar or mustard. Take your liver, if possible in one rather large flat slice. Make deep cuts in it, parallel to each other, and lying closely together. Press your stuffing into these cuts. Put a bit of b.u.t.ter the size of a walnut into a pan, or fireproof dish. Take your liver and tie it round with a slice of fat bacon or fat pork. Lay it in the dish and let it cook for an hour in a moderate oven. When done, remove the slice of bacon, if there is any left, and serve the liver in its own juice.

VEAL a LA CReME

Take a piece of veal suitable for roasting, and put it in vinegar for twenty-four hours.

Roast it with b.u.t.ter, pepper and salt, with a few slices of onion. Baste it well, and when it is finished crush the onions in the gravy and add some cream. Mix together with flour so as to thicken.

[_Mdlle. Spreakers_.]

_This is the demi-glaze Sauce which is used for all brown Sauces._

Take one pound of flour, dry it in the oven on a tray till it is the color of cocoa; pa.s.s it through a sieve into a saucepan, moisten it with stock, mixing very carefully. Boil it up two or three times during forty-eight hours, adding two carrots, two onions, thyme, bay, all cut up, which you have colored in the frying-pan, also some salt and peppercorns. When it is all cooked, pa.s.s it through a cloth or sieve.

When it is reduced the first time, you should add some stock, but by the time it is finished it should be fairly thick. It will keep for a fortnight.

[_G. Goffaux_.]

DUTCH SAUCE FOR FISH

Take a tablespoonful of flour and three of water; make it boil and add the yolks of three eggs; melt one-half pound of b.u.t.ter and beat it gently into your first mixture, add salt, the juice of half a lemon and a pinch of grated nutmeg. Keep the sauce very hot in a _bain-marie_ or in a double saucepan. If you have neither, keep it in a large cup placed in a saucepan of hot water.

[_Mrs. Emelie Jones_.]

BEARNAISE SAUCE

(Very good with stewed meat)

Put some onions to cook in tarragon vinegar and water; when they are half done, add more water and throw in a little thyme and a leaf or two of bay; let it cook for one hour and pa.s.s it through a sieve. Melt some b.u.t.ter in a pan and thicken it with flour; put your vinegar to it and more water if you think it necessary; stir in salt and pepper and the yolks of two eggs or more, according to the quant.i.ty that you wish to make. Let it get thick, and just as you take it off the fire add a sprinkle of chopped parsley and a pat of b.u.t.ter. This is a useful sauce and it well repays the trouble.

[_Mme. Spinette_.]

MUSLIN SAUCE

Melt a piece of b.u.t.ter the size of an egg, sprinkle and stir in some flour, adding water if it becomes too thick. Keep stirring over the fire for five minutes, and, still stirring, add pepper and salt and the yolks of two eggs. You may add the yolks of three or four eggs if you wish for a rich sauce. The last item is the juice of a lemon to your taste. This is a very popular addition to meat.

[_Mme. Spinette_.]

SAUCE BORDELAISE

Two shallots, ten tarragon leaves all chopped, are put into a very small saucepan. Add a large gla.s.s of claret, a dessert-spoonful of b.u.t.ter, and let it all reduce together. Add salt, pepper, three dessert-spoonfuls of demi-glaze, let it come to the boil, and stir in two dessert-spoonfuls of b.u.t.ter. [_Georges Goffaux_.]