[Fricasseeing & Ragooing Contents]
White Fricassee of Chickens or Rabbits.
AFTER blanching well in water cut in quarters or joints and parboil them; then make a sauce with part of their liquor, thus: Take a bit of veal, cut it small, an onion stuffed with white pepper, a little mace, a few button mushrooms, a little salt and a bit of lemon peel; stew them gently in this till tender, lift them out and keep them hot in their proper dish while you prepare the sauce. Beat the yolks of two eggs with a tea cupful of cream, stir over the fire till scalding hot, (do not let it boil) pour it over the chickens; it is sometimes thickened with flour and butter, in which case the eggs are unnecessary.
Cold Fowl,
Whether roasted or boiled, is cut in joints and stewed with a veal gravy, then dressed with white sauce (vide chickens.)
A Loin of Veal
Is cut out in steaks, dipped in yolks of eggs, and strewed over with crumbs of bread seasoned, then fried a nice brown in dripping, drained and served with white sauce and force meat, garnished with sliced lemon. Cold veal may be prepared in like manner.
Fishes of the Flounder Species.
Procure the freshest and best fish, clean and fin them, raise the skin and flesh on each side of the bone, which take out; put the flesh of two within the skin of one, and sew up the breast. Or, cut them in pieces, wipe, dry, and dust them with flour and salt; fry them crisp in a pan of boiling dripping, drain them, clean the pan and make ready a sauce with a few oysters minced, and a little of their liquor, a few anchovies boned, a glass of white wine, some grated nutmeg, salt, and a slice of fresh butter; toss it up, put in the fish, and when thoroughly hot serve them; pour the sauce over, and garnish them with any green.
With a little variation all white fishes may be fricasseed; so that the cook, or new beginner, may draw many dishes from these few examples, when they are informed that fricasseeing is nothing but frying and then stewing the same dish in a highly seasoned sauce.
Oysters.
Scald them in their own liquor, pick them out, roll a bit of butter with flour to thicken the liquor and let it boil; beat up three eggs and mix in a few spoonfuls of the liquor, add a tea-spoonful of cinnamon powder, mace, or nutmeg, a glass of sweet wine, a few sweet and bitter almonds pounded; season with salt, put it in a stewpan with the oysters, make them scalding hot and dish them.
Ragouts.
Veal.
Cut steaks from the back ribs of fat veal, fry them a fine colour with parsley and bread crumbs; make a rich ragoo sauce either white or brown, thickened with truffles and morells, or in place of them butter and flour, or ground rice; stew the steaks in it till it is rich and serve it.
Brown Ragout Sauce,
Is made from rich beef gravy, or stock, with mixed spices, Cayenne pepper, sweet herbs and vegetables, such as carrots and turnips, with ketchup, wine, and browning.
White Sauce
Is made with veal stock, or gravy, with mixed spices, white wine, lemon pickle, mushrooms or powder, Cayenne, cauliflowers, asparagus, and artichoke bottoms, yolks of eggs beat light, truffles and morels, or butter rolled in flour and cream.
These ingredients are varied according to taste, but with all or part of them, every fricassee or ragout is dressed.
