LUNCH DISHES

Scallops (1)
Hard-boiled eggs au gratin (42)
Macaroni croquettes (43)
Italian calf's liver (8)
American-style stuffed cabbage (44)
Apple fritters (15)

DINNER DISHES

Parmentier soup (16)
Omelette à la royale (45)
Rice with ham (46)
Chicken à la bordelaise (35)
Cauliflower mayonnaise (47)
Muslin cake (36)

42. Hard-boiled eggs au gratin.
Four eggs, 40 grams of butter, 40 grams of grated Gruyère cheese, 40 grams of grated Parmesan, 20 grams of flour, half a liter of milk, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs.
Mix, over low heat, 20 grams of butter and the flour; cook without browning, for six to eight minutes. Moisten with the milk and bring to the boil while stirring. Salt, pepper and remove over low heat. Boil, in a thick saucepan, salted water at 20 grams per liter. Plunge the eggs into it and boil for ten minutes.
Refresh and shell the eggs; put, in the bottom of a gratin dish, a layer of sauce, then a layer of eggs cut into thin slices, sprinkle with cheese, Gruyère and Parmesan mixed, add another layer of sauce, eggs and cheese, and so on. Finish with a layer of cheese; sprinkle with breadcrumbs; add, on top, the rest of the divided butter and put in the oven to brown for a few minutes. Serve very hot.

43. Macaroni croquettes.
100 grams of macaroni, a quarter of a liter of milk, 100 grams of grated Gruyère cheese, 10 grams of flour, 30 grams of butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg, an egg, breadcrumbs.
Break the macaroni into small pieces and throw it into the boiling salted water. Bring it back to the boil, cover and remove to the corner of the oven to poach for half an hour.
Mix, over low heat, 15 grams of butter with the flour, cook for two or three minutes, stirring. Moisten with the milk and bring to the boil. Salt, pepper and sprinkle with nutmeg. Drain the macaroni. Mix it with the sauce and add the rest of the divided butter and the cheese. Spread in a dish and leave to cool.
Form croquettes, roll them in the beaten egg, salted, peppered and added with two tablespoons of water. Dip in breadcrumbs and brown for three minutes in hot frying; drain on a cloth and serve in a pyramid.

44. American-style stuffed cabbage.
A beautiful white cabbage, 200 grams of rice, 200 grams of cold minced meat, a tablespoon of chopped parsley, a quarter of a lemon, 40 grams of butter, 20 grams of flour, half a liter of broth, salt, pepper.
Throw the rice into boiling salted water and cook, over moderate heat, for twenty-five minutes. Cut the cabbage core, remove the spoiled leaves and plunge it into the boiling water, the tail underneath. Bring to the boil, remove and cook, over moderate heat, for half an hour.
Mix, over low heat, 20 grams of butter and the flour for eight to ten minutes, stirring. Moisten with five deciliters of broth, bring to the boil, salt, pepper and remove on low heat, to simmer and skin until ready to serve. Drain the rice and spread it on a plate, to dry it at the entrance of the oven.
Mince the cold meat - boiled or roasted - and chop the parsley. Mix the minced meat with the rice and parsley; dilute, if necessary, with a little broth; drain the cabbage, plunge it into cold water and squeeze it to express the water; open the cabbage, except the tight part of the heart, and place, between the rows of leaves, a layer of stuffing. Reform the cabbage and tie it up.
Place the cabbage, tail side down, in a saucepan in which you have melted the rest of the butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, wrap in buttered paper, close tightly and let it simmer, on the corner of the fire, for an hour and a half to two hours. Uncover from time to time and baste with the cooking. Add, little by little, a few spoonfuls of broth. Untie and serve with the sauce sent separately, in a sauceboat.

45. Omelette à la royale.
Three eggs, 100 grams of York ham, two tablespoons of cream, two tablespoons of milk, 70 grams of butter, salt, pepper, nutmeg.
Chop the ham very finely and pound it in a mortar with 30 grams of butter, add the cream, salt, a little pepper and grated nutmeg.
When you are ready to make the omelette, break the eggs into a deep plate. Add the milk, 10 grams of butter, salt and pepper. Put the rest of the butter in the frying pan, which you will place on the red hotplate of the stove. Beat the eggs with an iron fork until they are frothy. Throw them into the frying pan as soon as the butter stops singing and spread the cream and ham over the eggs.
Put back on the heat and move the iron fork around, pricking the eggs in a circular motion, from the edge of the frying pan towards the centre. After half a minute of cooking, tilt the pan so that the omelette browns, for half a minute, barely, towards the center only; lift the pan with your left hand, and give, with your right hand, a sharp blow on the tail to slide the omelette to this side. Fold, towards the middle, the side of the omelette that has slipped. Give a second blow on the tail of the pan to slide the omelette again. Fold the side opposite the tail on the side already folded. Slide the omelette into a dish, turning it over, pour a Béchamel sauce around it and serve.

46. Rice in dolmas. Rice with ham.
200 grams of rice, 100 grams of lean ham cut into cubes, 20 grams of butter, one liter of broth, two tablespoons of tomato puree, salt, pepper.. Wash the rice and drain it. Throw it in a saucepan of boiling salted water and let it boil frankly for eight minutes. Drain it and let it cool. Heat the butter in a sauté pan and gently brown the diced ham for five minutes. Moisten with the stock and bring to the boil. Add the rice and remove over a very moderate heat to cook slowly for three quarters of an hour without stirring. The stock should be completely absorbed. Add the tomato puree, bring to the boil and serve.

47. Cauliflower in mayonnaise.
One cauliflower, salt, pepper, two tablespoons of vinegar, four tablespoons of oil, one tablespoon of chopped tarragon and parsley.
For the sauce: One egg yolk, two deciliters of olive oil, one tablespoon of vinegar, salt, pepper, one tablespoon of chopped herbs.
Divide the cauliflower into small florets and wash them in cold water. Plunge them into boiling salted water at 10 grams per liter and cook for eight minutes. Drain them and let them cool. Put them in a bowl and season them with salt, pepper, oil and vinegar. Sprinkle them with chopped parsley and tarragon. Let them marinate for an hour.
Prepare a mayonnaise sauce, by diluting the egg yolk with the olive oil. Salt, pepper, add the vinegar and the herbs.

THE FIREPLACE CRICKET.