LUNCH DISHES

Fish shells (169)
Jellied rabbit (72)
Venetian sea bream (235)
Turkish tomatoes (236)
Venison leg of mutton (237)
Chocolate praline cream (136)

DINNER DISHES

Périgord soup (238)
Russian poached eggs (96)
Sheep brains in Chartreuse (133)
Artichoke confit (148)
Rabbit à la Marengo (239)
Soufflé pudding (240)

235. Venetian sea bream. A sea bream, a few spoonfuls of oil, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, a deciliter of vinegar, 2 deciliters of white wine, a bouquet garni, 2 deciliters of velouté, a pinch of cayenne, 100 grams of spinach butter.
Scale, gut, wash a sea bream, remove the gills, trim the fins, dry it. With a very fine knife, slightly slit the skin along the back, without cutting into the flesh. In a dish containing a few spoonfuls of oil or butter, salt and pepper, place the sea bream; drizzle with oil or butter, add a little salt, pepper, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and cook in a moderate oven for thirty or forty minutes, depending on the size of the fish. While it is cooking, make your Venetian sauce.

Put in a saucepan a deciliter of tarragon vinegar, two deciliters of white wine, a bouquet garni; put on high heat, let reduce by half, then add 2 deciliters of velouté, a pinch of cayenne, let finish cooking on low heat, stirring very often. When serving, mix, in small portions, 100 grams of spinach butter. Remove the sea bream, place it on the hot serving dish, cover it with the Venetian.

236. Turkish tomatoes. Four beautiful, very red and fleshy tomatoes, salt, pepper, oil, parsley, a sweet Spanish pepper, broth, 100 grams of rice.
Cut the tomatoes in half in the direction of their roundness, which gives you eight pieces to garnish. Remove the seeds well, salt and pepper, then baste the entire inside with oil. Arrange them in a fireproof dish. Finely chop some parsley and a sweet Spanish pepper, sprinkle them over the tomatoes and put in the oven. In good broth, cook 100 grams of rice; as soon as the grains swell, add pepper, remove from the heat, cover the pan. When the tomatoes have released their water, in their baking dish, remove the dish from the oven, and garnish each tomato well with the rice, which must be well swollen and dry. Baste with the water that the tomatoes have released, put back in the oven. Baste again, let it finish cooking. When the sauce is a beautiful yellow-brown, the rice is a little golden toasted, remove from the heat and serve.

237. Leg of mutton in venison. A very small leg of mutton, short, stocky, with fine, marbled skin, two glasses of good red wine, half a glass of vinegar, a small glass of cognac, about twenty peppercorns, a little salt, a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, an onion, three or four cloves, butter, a tablespoon of flour, two spoonfuls of tomato sauce, two or three gherkins, a shallot, a sprig of parsley, three or four chicken livers, a tablespoon of mustard.

Trim the leg and remove the bone from the rump. Put the red wine, vinegar, cognac, pepper, salt, bay leaf, thyme, onion cut into thin slices, and cloves in a deep dish. Put the leg of mutton in this marinade; cover it with oiled paper, wrapping it well.

Turn it once or twice a day, and let it marinate for three days. When ready to cook, remove it from the marinade, dry it well, bard it like a poultry and on both sides; tie it without tightening it, because it can swell during cooking. Skewer it and cook it over high heat, basting it with butter. Do not allow more than twelve minutes of cooking per 500 grams of meat. During cooking, prepare the sauce.

Put a piece of fresh butter in a saucepan, add a tablespoon of flour; brown it; moisten with the marinade from the leg of lamb; let it cook and reduce over moderate heat, add two spoonfuls of tomato sauce, and let it cook.

Chop two or three gherkins, a shallot, a sprig of parsley, and, if possible, three or four chicken livers. When the sauce is well reduced and there is only the value of a glass and a half left, add this hash; simmer over a very low heat for a few minutes; pepper strongly, mix a tablespoon of prepared mustard, a few spoonfuls of the sauce, cooking the leg. This sauce must be very spicy. Five minutes before serving, remove the strips from the leg; bring it close to the fire, so that it browns; this high heat firms up the flesh, which the marinade has softened; serve on a very hot dish, accompanied by the sauce strained and served in a very hot sauceboat.

238. Périgord Soup. One and a half liters of broth, 20 grams of beef marrow, four chicken livers, 20 grams of mushrooms, 20 grams of butter, 80 grams of rice.
Start by peeling the marrow well, so that there are no skins or fibers left; melt it over a very low heat in two or three spoonfuls of water, and when it is liquid, strain it so that no small bones remain. Throw the chicken livers into the hot water for two minutes, remove them, chop them; peel the mushrooms, wash them and chop them as well. In half a liter of broth, cook 80 grams of rice; when it is well cooked, strain it by pounding it with the potato masher. Add the marrow to this rice puree; work with the wooden spoon, in order to mix it well, then add the chopped livers and mushrooms, and continue to mix everything well. Put back on the heat and add, little by little, the rest of the broth; let it simmer very gently. You should have 1 liter of soup left.

When serving, brown four small croutons of bread; butter them well, place them in the soup tureen, pour the boiling broth over them, cover the soup tureen.

239. Rabbit à la Marengo.. A young rabbit fed with aromatic plants eight days before killing it (wild thyme, thyme, sage), a good knob of butter, a few spoonfuls of oil, bacon, three tablespoons of tomato sauce, a tablespoon of flour, broth, dry white wine, a bay leaf, thyme, parsley, garlic, small onions, a teaspoon of powdered sugar, white mushrooms, butter, tomatoes, a lemon.

Kill, skin and gut the rabbit, set the liver and blood aside; cut it up, taking care to cut the pieces at the joints, to avoid finding small broken bones in the sauce. Put a large knob of butter, a few spoonfuls of oil, bacon cut into pieces, then the rabbit in a saucepan. Cook and brown it. Then add two tablespoons of tomato sauce, reduce and brown; sprinkle with flour, turn the pieces and, when they are brown, moisten with hot broth, add dry white wine, counting one glass of wine for two glasses of broth. In a muslin, put bay leaf, thyme, garlic, parsley, tie the muslin and put in the sauce. Let it cook over moderate heat. During this cooking, brown small onions in the pan. Put butter or oil in the pan, add the onions, cover the pan so that they cook a little; as soon as they are soft under the fork, uncover and sprinkle with powdered sugar to brown them better. Ten minutes before serving, add very white mushrooms cut into slices to the rabbit, then the onions. Stir very gently. When everything is ready, taste and salt and pepper. Chop the liver, knead it with a little butter, add it to the sauce, as well as the blood; squeeze the juice of a lemon, bind everything well and remove from the heat. Place the rabbit on the dish, the prettiest pieces on top, pour the sauce over the rabbit. Serve fried tomatoes around the dish, sprinkled with parsley.

240. Pudding soufflé. Four beautiful ripe peaches, 150 grams of caster sugar, 100 grams of butter, four eggs, 60 grams of rice cream, a small glass of good curaçao.

In a horsehair sieve, with the wood mushroom, crush, then pass the flesh of the peaches. In a hot salad bowl, put the butter, then beat it until it becomes cream; add to this butter an egg yolk and a spoonful of peach puree; whisk always, and add another egg and a spoonful of puree, until the end of your four eggs; then mix the sugar; when it is well melted, add the rice cream. Beat the four egg whites until stiff, pour them into the peach cream, mixing everything well with the wooden spatula, because the contact with the iron would make the peach cream grayish. Pour the mixture into a buttered and floured sponge cake mold and bake in a moderate oven for forty minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle well with orange-flavored sugar.

THE HOUSEHOLD'S CRICKET.