BRIDER.--To pass a packthread through poultry, game, &c., to keep together their members.CARAMEL (burnt sugar).--This is made with a piece of sugar, of the size of a nut, browned in the bottom of a saucepan; upon which a cupful of stock is gradually poured, stirring all the time a glass of broth, little by little. It may be used with the feather of a quill, to colour meats, such as the upper part of fricandeaux; and to impart colour to sauces. Caramel made with water instead of stock may be used to colour compotes and other entremets.
CASSEROLE.--A crust of rice, which, after having been moulded into the form of a pie, is baked, and then filled with a fricassee of white meat or a puree of game.
COMPOTE.--A stew, as of fruit or pigeons. CONSOMME.--Rich stock, or gravy. CROQUETTE.--Ball of fried rice or potatoes. CROUTONS.--Sippets of bread.
DAUBIERE.--An oval stewpan, in which daubes are cooked; daubes being meat or fowl stewed in sauce.
DESOSSER.--To bone, or take out the bones from poultry, game, or fish.
This is an operation requiring considerable experience.
ENTREES.--Small side or corner dishes, served with the first course.
ENTREMETS.--Small side or corner dishes, served with the second course.
ESCALOPES.--Collops; small, round, thin pieces of tender meat, or of fish, beaten with the handle of a strong knife to make them
tender.
FEUILLETAGE.--Puff-paste.
FLAMBER.--To singe fowl or game, after they have been picked.
FONCER.--To put in the bottom of a saucepan slices of ham, veal, or thin broad slices of bacon. GALETTE.--A broad thin cake.
GATEAU.--A cake, correctly speaking; but used sometimes to denote a pudding and a kind of tart.
GLACER.--To glaze, or spread upon hot meats, or larded fowl, a thick and rich sauce or gravy, called glaze. This is laid on with a feather or brush, and in confectionary the term means to ice fruits and pastry with sugar, which glistens on hardening.
HORS-D'OEUVRES.--Small dishes, or assiettes volantes of sardines, anchovies, and other relishes of this kind, served to the
guests during the first course. (See ASSIETTES VOLANTES.)
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LIT.--A bed or layer; articles in thin slices are placed in layers, other articles, or seasoning, being laid between them. MAIGRE.--Broth, soup, or gravy, made without meat.
MATELOTE.--A rich fish-stew, which is generally composed of carp, eels, trout, or barbel. It is made with wine.
MAYONNAISE.--Cold sauce, or salad dressing. MENU.--The bill of fare.
MERINGUE.--A kind of icing, made of whites of eggs and sugar, well beaten.
MIROTON.--Larger slices of meat than collops; such as slices of beef for a vinaigrette, or ragout or stew of onions. MOUILLER.--To add water, broth, or other liquid, during the cooking.
PANER.--To cover over with very fine crumbs of bread, meats, or any other articles to be cooked on the gridiron, in the oven, or
fryingpan.
PIQUER.--To lard with strips of fat bacon, poultry, game, meat, &c. This should always be done according to the vein of the meat, so that in carving you slice the bacon across as well as the meat.
POELEE.--Stock used instead of water for boiling turkeys, sweetbreads, fowls, and vegetables, to render them less insipid. This is rather an expensive preparation.
PUREE.--Vegetables, or meat reduced to a very smooth pulp, which is afterwards mixed with enough liquid to make it of the consistency of very thick soup.
RAGOUT.--Stew or hash. REMOULADE.--Salad dressing.
RISSOLES.--Pastry, made of light puff-paste, and cut into various forms, and fried. They may be filled with fish, meat, or sweets.
ROUX.--Brown and white; French thickening. SALMI.--Ragout of game previously roasted.
SAUCE PIQUANTE.--A sharp sauce, in which somewhat of a vinegar flavour predominates.
SAUTER.--To dress with sauce in a saucepan, repeatedly moving it about.
TAMIS.--Tammy, a sort of open cloth or sieve through which to strain broth and sauces, so as to rid them of small bones, froth,
&c.
TOURTE.--Tart. Fruit pie.
TROUSSER.--To truss a bird; to put together the body and tie the wings and thighs, in order to round it for roasting or boiling, each being tied then with packthread, to keep it in the required form.
VOL-AU-VENT.--A rich crust of very fine puff-paste, which may be filled with various delicate ragouts or fricassees, of fish, flesh,
or fowl. Fruit may also be inclosed in a vol-au-vent. [Illustration]
SOUPS.
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CHAPTER V.
GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING SOUPS.
88. LEAN, JUICY BEEF, MUTTON, AND VEAL, form the basis of all good soups; therefore it is advisable to procure those pieces which afford the richest succulence, and such as are fresh-killed. Stale meat renders them bad, and fat is not so well adapted for making them. The principal art in composing good rich soup, is so to proportion the several ingredients that the flavour of one shall not predominate over another, and that all the articles of which it is composed, shall form an agreeable whole. To accomplish
this, care must be taken that the roots and herbs are perfectly well cleaned, and that the water is proportioned to the quantity of meat and other ingredients. Generally a quart of water may be allowed to a pound of meat for soups, and half the quantity for gravies.
In making soups or gravies, gentle stewing or simmering is incomparably the best. It may be remarked, however, that a really good soup can never be made but in a well-closed vessel, although, perhaps, greater wholesomeness is obtained by an occasional exposure to the air. Soups will, in general, take from three to six hours doing, and are much better prepared the day before they are wanted. When the soup is cold, the fat may be much more easily and completely removed; and when it is poured off, care must be taken not to disturb the settlings at the bottom of the vessel, which are so fine that they will escape through a sieve. A tamis is the best strainer, and if the soup is strained while it is hot, let the tamis or cloth be previously soaked in cold water. Clear soups must be perfectly transparent, and thickened soups about the consistence of cream. To thicken and give body to soups and gravies, potato-mucilage, arrowroot, bread-raspings, isinglass, flour and butter, barley, rice, or oatmeal, in a little water rubbed well together, are used. A piece of boiled beef pounded to a pulp, with a bit of butter and flour, and rubbed through a sieve, and gradually incorporated with the soup, will be found an excellent addition. When the soup appears to be too thin or too weak, the cover of the boiler should be taken off, and the contents allowed to boil till some of the watery parts have evaporated; or some of the thickening materials, above mentioned, should be added. When soups and gravies are kept from day to day in hot weather, they should be warmed up every day, and put into fresh scalded pans or tureens, and placed in a cool cellar. In temperate weather,
