Stand them in a pan of hot water, cover with oiled paper and cook in the oven, small molds twenty-five minutes, a large mold thirty-five. Serve hot, with cream mushroom sauce.

This quant.i.ty in small molds should serve twelve people; in a large mold, ten.

CREAM MUSHROOM SAUCE

1 can of mushrooms 2 level tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter 1/2 pint of milk 2 level tablespoonfuls of flour 1/2 teaspoonful of salt 1 saltspoonful of pepper

Rub the b.u.t.ter and flour together, and add the milk, stir until boiling, add the seasoning, and the mushrooms, cut into halves. When hot it is ready to use.

COLD DISHES

POULET EN BELLEVUE

1/2 box of gelatin 1 pint of chicken stock 1 bay leaf 1 onion The white meat of two chickens Salt and pepper

Remove the white meat carefully from two boiled chickens; split the b.r.e.a.s.t.s into halves, long ways. Cover the gelatin with a half cupful of cold water to soak for a half hour. Add the seasonings to the stock or bouillon, bring to a boil, add the gelatin, and if not clear, clarify with the white of an egg. Add the juice of a lemon and strain. Take small oblong china or tin molds, garnish the bottoms with fancy bits of good red pepper and chopped truffles, baste over a little of the hot aspic, and let them stand until very cold. Cool the remaining aspic, but do not allow it to become solid.

Put on top of each mold a half breast of chicken, dust with salt and pepper, pour over the cold aspic and stand them aside over night. At serving time dip the molds quickly into hot water, turn out the cutlets, dish them on luncheon plates, and garnish with hearts of lettuce. Pa.s.s mayonnaise dressing.

This will make eight molds and serve eight persons. Use the dark meat for frica.s.see or stew of chicken.

TOMATOES a l'ALGERIENNE

The white meat of one chicken 24 perfect tomatoes 1/4 box of gelatin 1/2 pint of chicken stock 1/2 pint of cream 1 teaspoonful of anchovy paste 3 heads of fine lettuce 1/2 pint of mayonnaise

Peel the tomatoes, cut off the stem end and scoop out the hard portion and the seeds; put the tomatoes on the ice. Put the meat of the chicken through the meat grinder, season it with the anchovy paste, if you have it, and salt and pepper. Soak the gelatin in a half cupful of cold water, add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, add a half teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, and the juice of half a lemon. Mix a part of this with the chicken.

Whip the cream, stir it into the chicken mixture, and fill it into the tomatoes, making them smooth on top. When the tomatoes are very cold and the aspic is cool, but not thick, baste just a little over the top, dust thickly with chopped parsley and finely chopped almonds, and stand them in a cold place for several hours. Arrange each tomato in a little nest of lettuce leaves, and pa.s.s with them mayonnaise dressing. If these are made well, they are the most sightly of the small cold dishes, and cost almost nothing.

This, of course, will be served to twenty-four persons.

Tongue, sardines, lobster, crab meat or cold left-over meat may be subst.i.tuted for chicken.

GALANTINE OF CHICKEN

2 chickens 1/2 pound of boiled ham 1/4 pound of larding pork 1 can of mushrooms 2 teaspoonfuls of salt 1 egg 1 pound of lean veal 2 truffles Salt and pepper

Singe the chickens, and remove the head and feet; place the chicken on the table with the breast down. Take a small, sharp-pointed sabatier knife and cut the skin from neck to rump right down the back bone. Carefully and slowly run the knife between the bones and the flesh, keeping it always close to the bone. Take out first the wings, then loosen the carca.s.s, and then take out the legs. Unjoint and separate each bone, and take it out as you come to it. Do not take the small bones from the wings; they may be cut off. When you have removed all the flesh from the bones, keeping it perfectly whole, and without breaking the skin, wipe the skin and put it on the table; draw the legs and the wings inside. Take all the raw meat from the other chicken, rejecting the skin and bones, but you do not have to bone this one carefully. Put it in the meat grinder, with half the ham, all the veal and half the bacon. When chopped, season it with two teaspoonfuls of salt, and two saltspoonfuls of white pepper; add the egg and mix thoroughly. Put a thin layer of this into the boned chicken, put in here and there long pieces of the remaining ham and bacon, a layer of mushrooms, blocks of truffles, then another layer of the forcemeat, and so continue until you have used all the ingredients. Pull up the skin and sew it down the back, making a perfect roll. Tie the neck and rump. Roll this in cheese cloth, fasten it securely, and sew the cheese cloth so that the roll will be perfect when done.

Put all the bones in the soup kettle, add a sliced onion, a bay leaf, and sufficient cold water to come just to the top of the bones. Bring to boiling point, and put in the "galantine," as the chicken roll is called.

Cover the kettle, and boil continuously for four hours. When done, slightly cool, remove the cloth, and stand it away until perfectly cold. Strain the water, which should measure two quarts; add to it a box of gelatin that has been soaked in a cupful of water for an hour. Bring this to boiling point, season it with salt and pepper, add the juice of a lemon and the whites of two eggs, slightly beaten. Boil five minutes, and strain through two thicknesses of cheese cloth. Select a long round pudding mold, or a regular boned chicken mold, something like a large melon mold; baste the mold inside with this liquid jelly, decorate it in patterns or unconventional designs, using green and red pepper, the hard boiled white of egg and peas.

Allow the remaining jelly to cool, but not stiffen. After you finish the decorations, baste them carefully with, cold gelatin and stand the mold on ice. Then put in a little more cold jelly, until you have a good base upon which to rest the "galantine." Put it in, breast side down, and pour over the remaining gelatin. Stand in a cold place for twenty-four hours. When ready to serve, wipe the mold with a warm cloth, and turn the "galantine"

on to a long platter. Garnish the platter with hearts of lettuce. To serve, cut the "galantine" in the thinnest possible slices, and serve it with a salad, either celery, or mixed vegetables, or plain lettuce; or it may be served with a sauce tartar or plain mayonnaise dressing. This is one of the most elegant of cold dishes, and will serve twenty-five persons.

CHICKEN MOUSSE

1 pint of cooked chopped chicken 1/2 pint of milk 2 level tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter 1 teaspoonful of salt 1 level tablespoonful of flour 1 tablespoonful of granulated gelatin 1 saltspoonful of white pepper 1/2 pint of cream

Rub the b.u.t.ter and the flour together over the fire, add the milk, stir until boiling, and add the gelatin that has been soaked in a couple of tablespoonfuls of cold water for fifteen minutes. Add the salt, pepper and chicken, mix thoroughly and stand it aside to cool. Beat the cream to a stiff froth. Make a half cupful of mayonnaise from the yolk of one egg and eight tablespoonfuls of olive oil; stir the cream gradually into the mayonnaise and then add it carefully to the cold chicken mixture. Turn it into an ordinary melon pudding mold, cover closely and stand it in a bucket of cracked ice and salt. It is wise to bind the cover seam to keep out the salt water. When slightly frozen, which will take about two hours, remove the lid, turn out the mousse, cover the top with first a ring of hard boiled whites, chopped fine, then a ring of finely chopped parsley, inside this a ring of the yolks of the eggs pressed through a sieve, and right in the centre a sprig of curly parsley. Send at once to the table. Lobster, crab flakes and cold roasted game may be used according to this recipe.

This will serve eight persons at a reception. At a luncheon only six persons.

PATE-DE-FOIE-GRAS IN ASPIC

1 box of granulated gelatin 1 teaspoonful of beef extract 1 small onion 1 bay leaf 1 blade of mace 1 truffle 1 carrot 1 green pepper 1 red pepper 1 lemon 1 tureen of foie-gras

Cover the gelatin with a half cupful of cold water to soak for a half hour.

Put all the vegetables and seasoning in one quart of cold water, bring to boiling point, simmer gently twenty minutes, add the beef extract, one teaspoonful of salt and a saltspoonful of black pepper. Add the gelatin, stir until the gelatin is dissolved, and strain. Add the juice of the lemon and the whites of two eggs, slightly beaten. Bring to boiling point, boil rapidly for five minutes, and strain through two thicknesses of cheese cloth. Cut the peppers into fancy shapes. Chop the truffle fine. Select a dozen dariole molds, moisten them in cold water, baste them with the aspic, and, when cold, garnish the bottoms handsomely with a pepper and truffle.

Put in another layer of aspic, which must be cold, but not thick; on top of this place a slice of pate-de-foie-gras, cover them carefully with the aspic, filling the mold to the top. Stand these away over night. Serve on crisp lettuce leaves, and pa.s.s with them a mayonnaise. These are the handsomest of all the cold aspic dishes.

A single large mold may be used for ball suppers or large receptions. To serve, cut it into slices, and pa.s.s mayonnaise of celery.

This will serve twelve persons.

BONED TURKEY

Turkey is boned precisely the same as you bone a "galantine" of chicken.

Use for the stuffing:

2 chickens 1 pound of sausage meat 1 pound of veal 3 truffles 1 can of mushrooms 1 pound of ham

Take six hours to cook the turkey. When cold put it in a boned turkey mold that has been garnished, and fill with aspic.

Cut in very thin slices to serve thirty persons.

BONED QUAIL

Purchase twenty-four quails. Split them down the back and remove the bones, keeping your knife close to the bone. Do not break the skin nor tear the flesh. Spread them out, skin side down, on a board and stuff them with the seasoned sausage meat. Put them into shape, sew them down the back, cover the breast of each with a slice of bacon, put them in a baking pan, add a half pint of hot stock, and bake in a quick oven forty minutes, dusting with pepper and basting frequently. When cold, remove the string from the back.

For a dozen quails use:

1 box of gelatin 1 quart of milk 1 tablespoonful of grated onion 2 truffles 4 level tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter 4 level tablespoonfuls of flour 2 teaspoonfuls of salt 1 saltspoonful of white pepper

Soak the gelatin in the milk a half hour. Rub the b.u.t.ter and flour together, then add the milk and gelatin, stir until boiling, and add all the seasoning and strain. Stand aside until cool, but not thick. Place the birds on a tin sheet or a large platter, and baste them with this cold white sauce. As soon as the first basting has hardened, baste them again.

This time decorate the b.r.e.a.s.t.s with the truffles cut into fancy shapes.

To serve, arrange them around a large mound of mayonnaise of celery. Use either a meat platter, or two round chop dishes. Have the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the birds down, and the back slightly pressed into the salad. In between each bird put a pretty bunch of curly parsley, and garnish the top of the mound with Spanish peppers cut into strips. Serve one to each person.