The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book Part 13

=Calf's head, vinaigrette.= Dish up on a napkin some boiled calf's head with the brains and the tongue sliced. Garnish the platter with pickles, pickled beets, quartered lemons, parsley in branches, and two hard-boiled eggs cut in two. Serve vinaigrette sauce separate.

=Strained gumbo soup, in cups.= Make a chicken okra soup, strain through cheese cloth, and serve in cups.

=Stuffed capon, Bruxelloise.= Soak half of a loaf of white bread in milk, then squeeze out the milk, mince fine, add salt and pepper, a little chopped parsley, one pound of finely chopped salted almonds, and one egg. Mix well together and fill the capon. Tie a slice of fresh fat pork over the breast, and roast in the same manner as chicken or other fowl.

=Layer cake.= Eight eggs, one-half pound of flour, one-quarter pound of melted b.u.t.ter, and a few drops of vanilla extract. Beat the eggs with the sugar over a slow fire until thoroughly warm, then take off the range and continue beating until cold. Put in the flour, mixing lightly, and add the melted b.u.t.ter and vanilla extract. Bake in b.u.t.tered flat tin cake moulds, for about ten minutes.

=French layer cake.= The same as above with the exception that it is baked in one thick cake and then cut into layers.

=Chocolate layer cake.= Use three or four layers, filling between with chocolate cream. Glace with chocolate frosting, and decorate the top with glace fruits. See pastry cream for directions for filling.

=Apricot layer cake.= Same as chocolate layer cake, but fill with apricot marmalade, glace the top with vanilla frosting, and decorate with glace fruit.

FEBRUARY 28

BREAKFAST Shredded wheat with cream Crescents Cocoa

LUNCHEON Eggs a la Reine Tripe a la mode de Caen Camembert cheese and crackers Coffee

DINNER Consomme d'Orleans Celery Fillet of sole, Victoria Leg of mutton, Reforme Carrots, Vichy Potato salad Peach Melba a.s.sorted cakes Coffee

=Poached eggs, a la Reine.= Spread some puree de foie gras on a piece of toast. Put a poached egg on top, cover with cream sauce, and sprinkle with finely chopped truffles. After the truffles have been chopped put in a napkin and squeeze out the juice, and then chop again. They will then be dry, and easy to sprinkle.

=Fillet of sole, Victoria.= Put four fillets in a b.u.t.tered saute pan, season with salt and pepper, add one-half gla.s.s of white wine. When done put on platter and pour a lobster sauce over the fish, with lobster and truffles cut in small squares, in it.

=Leg of mutton, Reforme.= Roast a leg of mutton, and serve the following sauce separate: Ham, tongue, pickles, mushrooms, and chicken in equal parts, cut Julienne style, and mixed with sauce poivrade.

=Sauce poivrade.= Crush one-half cup of black pepper berries and put in vessel with one dozen chopped shallots, a little parsley, and one pint of white wine vinegar. Boil and reduce until nearly dry, then add one quart of brown sauce, or sauce Madere, and boil for five minutes, then strain, and stir in three ounces of sweet b.u.t.ter slowly.

=Tripe a la mode de Caen.= Parboil eight pounds of raw tripe and four ox feet. Cut both the tripe and the feet in pieces two inches square. Chop one pound of raw beef suet and four large onions very fine. Put in an earthen pot half of the suet and onions, then half of the tripe and feet, then the remainder of the suet and onions, followed by the rest of the tripe and feet. Season with salt and pepper, add one bouquet garni, one-half pint of brandy, one pint of white wine, and fill the remainder of the s.p.a.ce in the pot with water. Put a cover on the pot and seal with any kind of paste or dough, so that no air or steam can escape. Then put the pot in a moderate oven and leave for about eight hours; then take out of oven, take off the cover, and remove the bouquet garni. If there should be too much fat on top a little may be taken off. Ordinarily there will not be too much. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add one-half pint of dry apple cider and one gla.s.s of brandy, and boil for two minutes. Serve hot. The proper way to serve tripe a la mode de Caen is in small individual earthen pots, on a large plate, with red-hot ashes under the pot.

MARCH 1

BREAKFAST Strawberries with cream Boiled eggs Dry toast Coffee

LUNCHEON Grapefruit en supreme Consomme in cups Cheese straws Sweet-and-sour beef tongue String beans Mashed potatoes Chocolate eclairs Coffee

DINNER Oysters on half sh.e.l.l Onion soup au gratin Kingfish saute, meuniere Roast chicken Succotash Potato cakes Escarole salad Corn meal pudding Coffee

=Sweet-and-sour sauce.= Procure one-half pound of unsweetened spiced fish cake from your grocer, break it in small pieces, put in a bowl, cover with one pint of vinegar and one pound of brown sugar. Soak for about an hour, then stir well, and add one cup of fish broth or meat stock, depending upon whether it is to be used for fish or meat. Season with salt and a little Cayenne pepper, then add one pound of seedless raisins, and boil again for five minutes.

=Sweet-and-sour beef tongue.= Boil a fresh beef tongue in the same manner as boiled beef. When done cut in thin slices, put in a flat pan, cover with sweet-and-sour sauce, and simmer for five minutes. Serve on a platter covered with the sauce.

=Omelette Suzanne.= Cut six macaroons in four and mix with a little whipped cream. Cut six lady fingers in two and sprinkle with powdered cocoa and powdered sugar. Melt some Bar le Duc jelly. Make an omelet in the usual manner, powder with plenty of sugar, and burn bands across the top with a hot iron. At one end of the omelet place the lady fingers, at the other end the macaroons, and pour some of the Bar le Duc jelly on each side. Pour a pony of Chartreuse over the omelet, then a pony of fine champagne, and light it.

=Cheese straws.= Roll out some puff paste (a good way to utilize any tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs you may have) very thin, about one-eighth inch. Wash the top with eggs and spread with grated Parmesan cheese mixed with a little Cayenne pepper. Cut in narrow strips, one-half inch by six, lay on a baking pan and bake in a moderate oven until brown and crisp.

=Onion soup, au gratin.= Slice three onions very fine, put in a ca.s.serole with three ounces of b.u.t.ter, put on the cover, and simmer until of a golden color. Then add one quart of consomme, stock or any good broth (consomme preferred), season well, and boil for five minutes.

Slice three rolls very thin and put in oven and allow to remain until brown and dry, like toast. Put the soup in an earthen ca.s.serole, float the slices of rolls on top, spread a cup of grated cheese over the bread, put in a hot oven and cook until brown on top. Serve very hot.

=Potato cakes.= Whenever there is mashed potatoes left over, make into little cakes about one inch thick and two inches in diameter, roll in flour, and fry in pan with a little b.u.t.ter, until brown on both sides.

If the potato should be too thin add the raw yolk of an egg.

MARCH 2

BREAKFAST Oatmeal with cream Broiled finnan haddie Lyonnaise potatoes Rolls Coffee

LUNCHEON Eggs Bordelaise Lamb chops, Victor Hugo Julienne potatoes Stewed tomatoes Brie cheese, crackers Coffee

DINNER Cream of lettuce Radishes Scallops, Mornay Croustades financiere Roast leg of mutton, currant jelly Potato croquettes Cold asparagus, mustard sauce Fruit salad, au marasquin Lady fingers Coffee

=Eggs Bordelaise.= Fry the eggs in oil, put on toast, cover with Bordelaise sauce, and lay two slices of truffle on each egg.

=Lamb chops, Victor Hugo.= Broil or saute six lamb chops on one side only, and allow to become cold. Grate two horseradish roots and put in a sauce pot with two ounces of b.u.t.ter, and simmer. Then add one cup of thick cream sauce, and bring to a boil; season well and bind with the yolks of two eggs. When this stuffing is cold put on top of the chops, make smooth with a knife, sprinkle with a little grated Parmesan cheese mixed with bread crumbs, put small bits of b.u.t.ter on each chop, place on a b.u.t.tered pan, and put in a hot oven, so they will cook from the bottom. Cook until the tops are nice and brown, and serve on a platter with brown gravy, and two slices of truffle on each.

=Cream of lettuce.= Take the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of six heads of lettuce, in volume about the same as two heads of lettuce, wash well and cut in small bits. Take two quarts of chicken broth, or any kind of clear broth or stock, add the lettuce to it and boil for thirty minutes. Put in a separate vessel four ounces of b.u.t.ter, and heat; add three spoonfuls of flour and heat again; add the broth containing the lettuce and boil for ten minutes. Boil a pint of cream, mix with the soup, and strain through a fine sieve. Put back in vessel, add two or three ounces of sweet b.u.t.ter, and stir until the b.u.t.ter is melted. Season with salt and a little Cayenne pepper.

=Scallops, Mornay.= Put one pint of scallops in a saute pan with an ounce of b.u.t.ter, season with salt and pepper, and heat through. Then remove the juice and add one cup of thick cream sauce, mix well, put in a deep dish, sprinkle with grated Parmesan or Swiss cheese, put small bits of b.u.t.ter on top, and bake in hot oven until brown.

=Croustades financiere.= Make a financiere, but cut a little smaller than for garniture. Fill the croustades, and serve on napkin with parsley in branches.

=Financiere (garniture).= Cut two parboiled sweetbreads in slices, and saute in b.u.t.ter; add one-half can of French mushrooms, or one-quarter pound of fresh mushrooms cut in two and sauteed, rooster combs and kidneys, sliced truffles, small chicken dumplings, and a few green olives with the stones removed. Put all in a ca.s.serole, season well, add a pint of good Madeira sauce, and serve hot. This garnish may be used for filling croustades, vol au vents, small patties, or as an entree.

MARCH 3

BREAKFAST Griddle cakes with maple syrup b.u.t.tered toast Oolong tea

LUNCHEON Poached eggs, Monnet Sully Imported Frankfort sausages Sauerkraut Boiled potatoes Limberger cheese and crackers Coffee

DINNER Toke Point oysters Pannade soup Boiled sea ba.s.s, Hollandaise Potatoes nature Chicken saute, Salonika Peas au cerfeuil Chiffonnade salad Biscuit glace a.s.sorted cakes Coffee

SUPPER Golden buck

=Poached eggs, Monnet Sully.= Place a poached egg on a canape of chicken and pour Bearnaise sauce over it.

=Canape of chicken.= Take the breast of a boiled fowl and chop very fine, season with salt and pepper, mix well with two ounces of sweet b.u.t.ter, and spread on fresh toast.

=Pannade soup.= Take a half loaf of stale white bread, or some rolls, and put in a pot with three pints of water, season with salt and pepper, add one-quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter, cover, and boil slowly for one hour. It will then be of the consistency of gruel. Mix the yolks of two eggs with a cup of cream and a half cup of milk, and stir slowly into the boiling soup. This is an excellent plain soup, and fine for the digestion.

=Peas au cerfeuil.= Put three ounces of b.u.t.ter in a ca.s.serole, add one quart of parboiled peas, some chopped chervil (cerfeuil), season with salt and a pinch of sugar, and simmer for five minutes.

=Boiled sea ba.s.s, Hollandaise.= Put a whole sea ba.s.s, including the head and tail, in a fish kettle, in cold water. Season with salt, some whole black pepper berries, and a bouquet garni. Add one sliced onion, and one carrot, bring to a boil and then set on the side for fifteen minutes.

Serve on a napkin with small boiled potatoes, quartered lemons and parsley. Hollandaise sauce separate.

=Fried artichokes.= Trim the bottoms of six boiled artichokes, cut in four, put in flour, then in milk, then in beaten egg, then in fresh bread crumbs, and fry in swimming fat. Serve on napkin with lemon and parsley.