The Cook's Decameron: A Study in Taste: Containing Over Two Hundred Recipes For Italian Dishes

Part 2 out of 3

the Marchesa has to teach."

"My dear Colonel Trestrail," said the Marchesa, "an education in
cookery does not mean the teaching of a certain number of recipes.
Education, I maintain, is something far higher than the mere
imparting of facts; my notion of it is the teaching of people to
teach themselves, and this is what I have tried to do in the
kitchen. With some of you I am sure I have succeeded, and a book
containing the recipe of every dish we have tried will be given to
every pupil when we break up."

"I think the most valuable lesson I have learnt is that cookery is
a matter for serious study," said Mrs. Sinclair. "The popular
English view seems to be that it is one of those things which gets
itself done. The food is subjected to the action of heat, a little
butter, or pepper, or onion, being added by way of flavouring, and
the process is complete. To put it bluntly, it requires at least
as much mental application to roast a fowl as to cut a bodice; but
it does not strike the average Englishwoman in this way, for she
will spend hours in thinking and talking about dressmaking (which
is generally as ill done as her cooking), while she will be
reluctant to give ten minutes to the consideration as to how a
luncheon or supper dish shall be prepared. The English middle
classes are most culpably negligent about the food they eat, and as
a consequence they get exactly the sort of cooks they deserve to
get. I do not blame the cooks; if they can get paid for cooking
ill, why should they trouble to learn to cook well?"

"I agree entirely," said Mrs. Wilding. "That saying, 'What I like
is good plain roast and boiled, and none of your foreign
kickshaws,' is, as every one knows, the stock utterance of John
Bull on the stage or in the novel; and, though John Bull is not in
the least like his fictitious presentment, this form of words is
largely responsible for the waste and want of variety in the
English kitchen. The plain roast and boiled means a joint every
day, and this arrangement the good plain cook finds an admirable
one for several reasons: it means little trouble, and it means
also lots of scraps and bones and waste pieces. The good plain
cook brings all the forces of obstruction to bear whenever the
mistress suggests made dishes; and, should this suggestion ever be
carried out, she takes care that the achievement shall be of a
character not likely to invite repetition. Not long ago a friend
of mine was questioning a cook as to soups, whereupon the cook
answered that she had never been required to make such things where
she had lived; all soups were bought in tins or bottles, and had
simply to be warmed up. Cakes, too, were outside her repertoire,
having always been 'had in' from the confectioner's, while
'entrys' were in her opinion, and in the opinion of her various
mistresses, 'un'ealthy' and not worth making."

"My experience is that, if a mistress takes an interest in cooking,
she will generally have a fairly efficient cook," said Mrs. Fothergill.
"I agree with Mrs. Sinclair that our English cooks are spoilt by
neglect; and I think it is hard upon them, as a class, that so many
inefficient women should be able to pose as cooks while they are
unable to boil a potato properly."

"And the so-called schools of cookery are quite useless in what
they teach," said Miss Macdonnell. "I once sent a cook of mine to
one to learn how to make a clear soup, and when she came back, she
sent up, as an evidence of her progress, a potato pie coloured pink
and green, a most poisonous-looking dish--and her clear soups were
as bad as ever."

Said the Colonel, "I will beg leave to enter a protest against the
imperfections of that repast which is supposed to be the peculiar
delight of the ladies, I allude to afternoon tea. I want to know
why it is that unless I happen to call just when the tea is brought
up--I grant, I know of a few houses which are honourable
exceptions--I am fated to drink that most abominable of all
decoctions, stewed lukewarm tea. 'Will you have some tea? I'm
afraid it isn't quite fresh,' the hostess will remark without a
blush. What would she think if her husband at dinner were to say,
'Colonel, take a glass of that champagne. It was opened the day
before yesterday, and I daresay the fizz has gone off a little'?
Tea is cheap enough, and yet the hostess seldom or never thinks of
ordering up a fresh pot. I believe it is because she is afraid of
the butler."

"I sympathise with you fully, Colonel," said Lady Considine, "and
my withers are unwrung. You do not often honour me with your
presence on Tuesdays, but I am sure I may claim to be one of your
honourable exceptions."

"Indeed you may," said the Colonel. "Perhaps men ought not to
intrude on these occasions; but I have a preference for taking tea
in a pretty drawing-room, with a lot of agreeable women, rather
than in a club surrounded by old chaps growling over the latest job
at the War Office, and a younger brigade chattering about the
latest tape prices, and the weights for the spring handicaps."

"All these little imperfections go to prove that we are not a
nation of cooks," said Van der Roet. "We can't be everything.
Heine once said that the Romans would never have found time to
conquer the world if they had been obliged to learn the Latin
grammar; and it is the same with us. We can't expect to found an
empire all over the planet, and cook as well as the French, who--
perhaps wisely--never willingly emerge from the four corners of
their own land."

"There is energy enough left in us when we set about some purely
utilitarian task," said Mrs. Wilding, "but we never throw ourselves
into the arts with the enthusiasm of the Latin races. I was
reading the other day of a French costumier who rushed to inform a
lady, who had ordered a turban, of his success, exclaiming,
'Madame, apres trots nun's d'insomnie les plumes vent placees.' And
every one knows the story of Vatel's suicide because the fish
failed to arrive. No Englishman would be capable of flights like
these."

"Really, this indictment of English cookery makes me a little
nervous," said Lady Considine "I have promised to join in a driving
tour through the southern counties. I shudder to think of the
dinners I shall have to eat at the commercial hotels and posting-
houses on our route."

"English country inns are not what they ought to be, but now and
then you come across one which is very good indeed, as good, if not
better, than anything you could find in any other country; but I
fear I must admit that, charges considered, the balance is
against us," said Sir John.

"When you start you ought to secure Sir John's services as courier,
Lady Considine," said the Marchesa. "I once had the pleasure of
driving for a week through the Apennines in a party under his
guidance, and I can assure you we found him quite honest and
obliging."

"Ah, Marchesa, I was thinking of that happy time this very
morning," said Sir John. "Of Arezzo, where we were kept for three
days by rain, which I believe is falling there still. Of Cortona,
with that wonderful little restaurant on the edge of the cliff,
whence you see Thrasumene lying like a silver mirror in the plain
below. Of Perugia, the august, of Gubbio, Citta di Castello, Borgo
San Sepolcro, Urbino, and divers others. If you go for a drive in
Italy, you still may meet with humours of the road such as
travellers of old were wont to enjoy. I well remember on the road
between Perugia and Gubbio we began to realise we were indeed
traversing mountain paths. On a sudden the driver got down, waved
his arms, and howled to some peasants working in a field below.
These, on their part, responded with more arm-waving and howling,
directed apparently towards a village farther up the hill,
whereupon we were assailed with visions of brigands, and amputated
ears, and ransom. But at a turn of the road we came upon two
magnificent white oxen, which, being harnessed on in front, drew
us, and our carriages and horses as well, up five miles of steep
incline. These beautiful fellows, it seemed, were what the driver
was signalling for, and not for brigands. Again, every inn we
stayed at supplied us with some representative touch of local life
and habit. Here the whole personnel of the inn, reinforced by a
goodly contingent of the townsfolk, would accompany us even into
our bedrooms, and display the keenest interest in the unpacking of
our luggage. There the cook would come and take personal
instructions as to the coming meal, throwing out suggestions the
while as to the merits of this or that particular dish, and in one
place the ancient chambermaid insisted that one of the ladies, who
had got a slight cold, should have the prete put into her bed for a
short time to warm it. You need not look shocked, Colonel. The
prete in question was merely a wooden frame, in the midst of which
hangs a scaldino filled with burning ashes--a most comforting
ecclesiastic, I can assure you. All the inns we visited had
certain characteristics in common. The entrance is always dirty,
and the staircase too, the dining rooms fairly comfortable, the
bedrooms always clean and good, and the food much better than you
would expect to find in such out-of-the-way places; indeed I cannot
think of any inn where it was not good and wholesome, while often
it was delicious. In short, Lady Considine, I strongly advise you
to take a drive in Italy next spring, and if I am free I shall be
delighted to act as courier."

"Sir John has forgotten one or two touches I must fill in," said
the Marchesa. "It was often difficult to arrange a stopping-place
for lunch, so we always stocked our basket before starting. After
the first day's experience we decided that it was vastly more
pleasant to take our meal while going uphill at a foot-pace, than
in the swing and jolt of a descent, so the route and the pace of
the horses had to be regulated in order to give us a good hour's
ascent about noon. Fortunately hills are plentiful in this part of
Italy, and in the keen air we generally made an end of the vast
store of provisions we laid in, and the generous fiascho was always
empty a little too soon. Our drive came to an end at Fano, whither
we had gone on account of a strange romantic desire of Sir John to
look upon an angel which Browning had named in one of his poems.
Ah! how vividly I can recall our pursuit of that picture. It was a
wet, melancholy day. The people of Fano were careless of the fame
of their angel, for no one knew the church which it graced. At
last we came upon it by the merest chance, and Sir John led the
procession up to the shrine, where we all stood for a time in
positions of mock admiration. Sir John tried hard to keep up the
imposition, but something, either his innate honesty or the
chilling environment of disapproval of Guercino's handiwork, was
too much for him. He did his best to admire, but the task was
beyond his powers, and he raised no protest when some scoffer
affirmed that, though Browning might be a great poet, he was a
mighty poor judge of painting, when he gave in his beautiful poem
immortality to this tawdry theatrical canvas. 'I think,' said Sir
John, 'we had better go back to the hotel and order lunch. It
would have been wiser to have ordered it before we left.' We were
all so much touched by his penitence that no one had the heart to
remind him how a proposition as to lunch had been made by our
leading Philistine as soon as we arrived, a proposition waved aside
by Sir John as inadmissible until the 'Guardian Angel' should have
been seen and admired."

"I plead guilty," said Sir John. "I think this experience gave a
death-blow to my career as an appreciator. Anyhow, I quite forget
what the angel was like, and for reminiscences of Fano have to fall
back upon the excellent colazione we ate in the externally
unattractive, but internally admirable, Albergo del Moro."

Menu -- Lunch.

Astachi all'Italiana. Lobster all'Italiana
Filetto di bue alla Napolitana. Fillet of beef with Neapolitan sauce.
Risotto alla spagnuola. Savoury rice.

Menu -- Dinner.

Zuppa alla Romana. Soup with quenelles.
Salmone alla Genovese. Salmon alla Genovese.
Costolette in agro-dolce. Mutton cutlets with Roman sauce.
Flano di spinacci. Spinach in a mould.
Cappone con rive. Capon with rice.
Croccante di mandorle. Almond sweet.
Ostriche alla Napolitana. Oyster savoury.

The Ninth Day

"Since I have been associated with the production of a dinner, I
have had my eyes opened as to the complicated nature of the task,
and the numerous strings which have to be pulled in order to ensure
success," said the Colonel; "but, seeing that a dinner-party with
well-chosen sympathetic guests and distinguished dishes represents
one of the consummate triumphs of civilisation, there is no reason
to wonder. To achieve a triumph of any sort demands an effort."

"Effort," said Miss Macdonnell. "Yes, effort is the word I
associate with so many middle-class English dinners. It is an
effort to the hosts, who regard the whole business as a mere paying
off of debts; and an effort to the guests, who, as they go to
dress, recall grisly memories of former similar experiences. It
often astonishes me that dinner-giving of this character should
still flourish."

"The explanation is easy," said Van der Roet; "it flourishes
because it gives a mark of distinction. It is a delicious moment
for Mrs. Johnson when she is able to say to Mrs. Thompson, 'My
dear, I am quite worn-out; we dined out every day last week, and
have four more dinners in the next five days.' These good people
show their British grit by the persistency with which they go on
with their penitential hospitality, and their lack of ideas in
never attempting to modify it so as to make it a pleasure instead
of a disagreeable duty."

"It won't do to generalise too widely, Van der Roet," said Sir
John. "Some of these good people surely enjoy their party-giving;
and, from my own experience of one or two houses of this sort, I
can assure you the food is quite respectable. The great
imperfection seems to lie in the utter want of consideration in the
choice of guests. A certain number of people and a certain
quantity of food shot into a room, that is their notion of a
dinner-party."

"Of course we understand that the success of a dinner depends much
more on the character of the guests than on the character of the
food," said Mrs. Sinclair; "and most of us, I take it, are able to
fill our tables with pleasant friends; but what of the dull people
who know none but dull people? What gain will they get by taking
counsel how they shall fill their tables?"

"More, perhaps, than you think, dear Mrs. Sinclair," said Sir John.
"Dull people often enjoy themselves immensely when they meet dull
people only. The frost comes when the host unwisely mixes in one
or two guests of another sort--people who give themselves airs of
finding more pleasure in reading Stevenson than the sixpenny
magazines, and who don't know where Hurlingham is. Then the sheep
begin to segregate themselves from the goats, and the feast is
manque."

"Considering what a trouble and anxiety a dinner-party must be to
the hostess, even under the most favouring conditions, I am always
at a loss to discover why so many women take so much pains, and
spend a considerable sum of money as well, over details which are
unessential, or even noxious," said Mrs. Wilding. "A few flowers
on the table are all very well--one bowl in the centre is enough--
but in many houses the cost of the flowers equals, if it does not
outrun, the cost of all the rest of the entertainment. A few roses
or chrysanthemums are perfect as accessories, but to load a table
with flowers of heavy or pungent scent is an outrage. Lilies of
the valley are lovely in proper surroundings, but on a dinner-table
they are anathema. And then the mass of paper monstrosities which
crowd every corner. Swans, nautilus shells, and even wild boars
are used to hold up the menu. Once my menu was printed on a satin
flag, and during the war the universal khaki invaded the dinner
table. Ices are served in frilled baskets of paper, which have a
tendency to dissolve and amalgamate with the sweet. The only paper
on the table should be the menu, writ plain on a handsome card."

"No one can complain of papery ices here," said the Marchesa.
"Ices may be innocuous, but I don't favour them, and no one seems
to have felt the want of them; at least, to adopt the phrase of the
London shopkeeper, 'I have had no complaints.' And even the ice,
the very emblem of purity, has not escaped the touch of the dinner-
table decorator. Only a few days ago I helped myself with my
fingers to what looked like a lovely peach, and let it flop down
into the lap of a bishop who was sitting next to me. This was the
hostess's pretty taste in ices."

"They are generally made in the shape of camelias this season,"
said Van der Roet. "I knew a man who took one and stuck it in his
buttonhole."

"I must say I enjoy an ice at dinner," said Lady Considine. "I
know the doctors abuse them, but I notice they always eat them when
they get the chance."

"Ah, that is merely human inconsistency," said Sir John. "I am
inclined to agree with the Marchesa that ice at dinner is an
incongruity, and may well be dispensed with. I think I am correct,
Marchesa, in assuming that Italy, which has showered so many boons
upon us, gave us also the taste for ices."

"I fear I must agree," said the Marchesa. "I now feel what a
blessing it would have been for you English if you had learnt from
us instead the art of cooking the admirable vegetables your gardens
produce. How is it that English cookery has never found any better
treatment for vegetables than to boil them quite plain? French
beans so treated are tender, and of a pleasant texture on the
palate, but I have never been able to find any taste in them. They
are tasteless largely because the cook persists in shredding them
into minute bits, and I maintain that they ought to be cooked
whole--certainly when they are young--and sautez, a perfectly plain
and easy process, which is hard to beat. Plain boiled cauliflower
is doubtless good, but cooked alla crema it is far better; indeed,
it is one of the best vegetable dishes I know. But perhaps the
greatest discovery in cookery we Italians ever made was the
combination of vegetables and cheese. There are a dozen excellent
methods of cooking cauliflower with cheese, and one of these has
come to you through France, choux-fleurs au gratin, and has become
popular. Jerusalem artichokes treated in the same fashion are
excellent; and the cucumber, nearly always eaten raw in England,
holds a first place as a vegetable for cooking. I seem to remember
that every one was loud in its praises when we tasted it as an
adjunct to Manzo alla Certosina. Why is it that celery is for the
most part only eaten raw with cheese? We have numberless methods of
cooking it in Italy, and beetroot and lettuce as well. There is no
spinach so good as English, and nowhere is it so badly cooked; it
is always coarse and gritty because so little trouble is taken with
it, and I can assure you that the smooth, delicate dish which we
call Flano di spinacci is not produced merely by boiling and
chopping it, and turning it out into a dish."

Menu -- Lunch

Minestrone alla Milanese. Vegetable broth.
Coniglio alla Provenzale. Rabbit alla Provenzale.
Insalata di pomidoro. Tomato salad.

Menu -- Dinner.

Zuppa alla Maria Pia. Soup alla Maria Pia.
Anguilla con ortaggi alla Milanese. Eels with vegetables.
Manzo con sugo di barbabietoli. Fillet of beef with beetroot sauce.
Animelle alla parmegiana. Sweetbread with parmesan.
Perniciotti alla Gastalda. Partridges alla Gastalda.
Uova ripiani. Stuffed eggs.

The Tenth Day

The sun rose on the tenth and last day at the "Laurestinas" as he
was wont to rise on less eventful mornings. At breakfast the
Marchesa proposed that the lunch that day should be a little more
ornate than usual, and the dinner somewhat simpler. She
requisitioned the services of six of the company to prepare the
lunch, and at the same time announced that they would all have a
holiday in the afternoon except Mrs. Sinclair, whom she warned to
be ready to spend the afternoon in the kitchen helping prepare the
last dinner.

Four dishes, all admirable, appeared at lunch, and several of the
party expressed regret that the heat of the weather forbade them
from tasting every one; but Sir John was not of these. He ate
steadily through the menu, and when he finally laid down his knife
and fork he heaved a sigh, whether of satisfaction or regret it
were hard to say.

"It is a commonplace of the deepest dye to remark that ingratitude
is inherent in mankind," he began; "I am compelled to utter it,
however, by the sudden longing I feel for a plate from the hand of
the late lamented Narcisse after I have eaten one of the best
luncheons ever put on a table."

"Experience of one school of excellence has caused a hankering
after the triumphs of another," said Miss Macdonnell "There is one
glory of the Marchesa, there is, or was, another of Narcisse, and
the taste of the Marchesa's handiwork has stimulated the desire of
comparision. Never mind, Sir John, perhaps in another world
Narcisse may cook you--"

"Oh stop, stop, for goodness' sake," cried Sir John, "I doubt
whether even he could make me into a dainty dish to set before the
King of Tartarus, though the stove would no doubt be fitted with
the latest improvements and the fuel abundant."

"Really, Sir John, I'm not sure I ought not to rise and protest,"
said Mrs. Wilding, "and I think I would if it weren't our last
day."

"Make a note of Sir John's wickedness, and pass it on to the Canon
for use in a sermon," said Van der Roet.

"I can only allow you half-an-hour, Laura," said the Marchesa to
Mrs. Sinclair, "then you must come and work with me for the
delectation of these idle people, who are going to spend the
afternoon talking scandal under the chestnuts."

"I am quite ready to join you if I can be of any help," said Mrs.
Gradinger. "When knowledge is to be acquired, I am always loath to
stand aside, not for my own sake so much as for the sake of others
less fortunate, to whom I might possibly impart it hereafter."

"You are very good," said the Marchesa, "but I think I must adhere
to my original scheme of having Mrs. Sinclair by herself. I see
coffee is now being taken into the garden, so we will adjourn, if
you please."

After the two workers had departed for the kitchen, an unwonted
silence fell on the party under the chestnuts. Probably every one
was pondering over the imminent dissolution of the company, and
wondering whether to regret or rejoice. The peace had been kept
marvellously well, considering the composition of the company.
Mrs. Fothergill at times had made a show of posing as the
beneficent patron, and Mrs. Gradinger had essayed to teach what
nobody wanted to learn; but firm and judicious snubbing had kept
these persons in their proper places. Nearly every one was sorry
that the end had come. It had been real repose to Mrs. Wilding to
pass ten days in an atmosphere entirely free from all perfume of
the cathedral close. Lady Considine had been spending freely of
late, and ten days' cessation of tradesmen's calls, and servants on
board wages, had come as a welcome relief. Sir John had gained a
respite from the task he dreaded, the task of going in quest of a
successor to Narcisse. Now as he sat consuming his cigarette in
the leisurely fashion so characteristic of his enjoyment--and those
who knew him best were wont to say that Sir John practiced few arts
so studiously as that of enjoyment--he could not banish the figure
of Narcisse from his reverie. A horrible thought assailed him that
this obsession might spring from the fact that on this very morning
Narcisse might have taken his last brief walk out of the door of La
Roquette, and that his disembodied spirit might be hovering around.
Admirable as the cookery of the Marchesa had been, and fully as he
had appreciated it, he felt he would give a good deal to be assured
that on this the last evening of the New Decameron he might sit
down to a dinner prepared by the hand of his departed chef.

That evening the guests gathered round the table with more
empressement than usual. The Marchesa seemed a little flurried,
and Mrs. Sinclair, in a way, shared her excitement. The menu, for
the first time, was written in French, a fact which did not escape
Sir John's eye. He made no remark as to the soup; it was the best
of its kind, and its French name made it no better than the other
triumphs in the same field which the Marchesa had achieved. But
when Sir John tasted the first mouthful of the fish he paused, and
after a reflective and regretful look at his plate, he cast his eye
round the table. All the others, however, were too busily intent
in consuming the Turbot la Vatel to heed his interrogative glance,
so he followed suit, and after he had finished his portion, asked,
sotto voce, for another bit.

In the interval before the service of the next dish Sir John made
several vain attempts to catch the Marchesa's eye, and more than
once tried to get in a word; but she kept up a forced and rather
nervous conversation with Lady Considine and Van der Roet, and
refused to listen. As Sir John helped himself to the next dish,
Venaison sauce Grand Veneur, the feeling of astonishment which had
seized him when he first tasted the fish deepened into something
like Consternation. Had his palate indeed deceived him, or had the
Marchesa, by some subtle effort of experimental genius, divined the
secret of Narcisse--the secret of that incomparable sauce, the
recipe of which was safely bestowed in his pocket-book?
Occasionally he had taken a brief nap under the verandah after
lunch: was it possible that in his sleep he might have murmured,
in her hearing, words which gave the key of the mystery, and the
description of those ingredients which often haunted his dreams?
One thing was certain, that tile savour which rose from the venison
before him was the same which haunted his memory as the parting
effort of the ill-starred Narcisse.

Sir John was the least superstitious of mortals, still here he was
face to face with one of these conjunctions of affairs which the
credulous accept as manifestations of some hidden power, and
sceptics as coincidences and nothing more. All the afternoon he
had been thinking of Narcisse, and yearning beyond measure for
something suggestive of his art; and here, on his plate before him,
was food which might have been touched by the vanished hand. The
same subtle influence pervaded the Chartreuse a la cardinal, the
roast capon and salad, and the sweet. At last, when the dinner was
nearly over, and when the Marchesa had apparently said all she had
to say to Van der Roet, he lifted up his voice and said,
"Marchesa, who gave you the recipe for the sauce with which the
venison was served this evening?"

The Marchesa glanced at Mrs. Sinclair, and then struck a hand-bell
on the table. The door opened, and a little man, habited in a
cook's dress of spotless white, entered and came forward. "M.
Narcisse," said the Marchesa, "Sir John wants to know what sauce
was used in dressing the venison; perhaps you can tell him."

Here the Marchesa rose and left the room, and all the rest followed
her, feeling it was unmeet that such a reunion should be witnessed
by other eyes, however friendly they might be.

* * * * * * *

"Now, you must tell us all about it," said Lady Considine, as soon
as they got into the drawing-room, "and how you ever managed to get
him out of this scrape."

"Oh, there isn't much to tell," said the Marchesa. "Narcisse was
condemned, indeed, but no one ever believed he would be executed.
One of my oldest friends is married to an official high up in the
Ministry of Justice, and I heard from her last week that Narcisse
would certainly be reprieved; but I never expected a free pardon.
Indeed, he got this entirely because it was discovered that
Mademoiselle Sidonie, his accomplice, was really a Miss Adah
Levine, who had graduated at a music-hall in East London, and that
she had announced her intention of retiring to the land of her
birth, and ascending to the apex of her profession on the strength
of her Parisian reputation. Then it was that the reaction in
favour of Narcisse set in; the boulevards could not stand this.
The journals dealt with this new outrage in their best Fashoda
style; the cafes rang with it: another insult cast upon unhappy
France, whose destiny was, it seemed, to weep tears of blood to the
end of time. There were rumours of an interpellation in the
Chamber, the position of the Minister of the Interior was spoken of
as precarious, indeed the Eclaireur reported one evening that he
had resigned. Pockets were picked under the eyes of sergents de
ville, who were absorbed in proclaiming to each other their
conviction of the innocence of Narcisse, and the guilt of cette
coquine Anglaise. Cabmen en course ran down pedestrians by the
dozen, as they discussed l'affaire Narcisse to an accompaniment of
whip-cracking. In front of the Cafe des Automobiles a belated
organ-grinder began to grind the air of Mademoiselle Sidonie's
great song Bonjour Coco, whereupon the whole company rose with
howls and cries of, 'A bas les Anglais, a bas les Juifs. 'Conspuez
Coco.' In less than five minutes the organ was disintegrated, and
the luckless minstrel flying with torn trousers down a side street.
For the next few days la haute gomme promenaded with fragments of
the piano organ suspended from watch chains as trophies of victory.
But this was not all. Paris broke out into poetry over l'affaire
Narcisse, and here is a journal sent to me by my friend which
contains a poem in forty-nine stanzas by Aristophane le Beletier,
the cher maitre of the 'Moribonds,' the very newest school of
poetry in Paris. I won't inflict the whole of it on you, but two
stanzas I must read--

"'Puisse-je te rappeler loin des brouillards maudits.
Vers la France, sainte mere et nourrice!
Reviens a Lutece, de l'art vrai paradis,
Je t'evoque, O Monsieur Narcisse!

Quitte les saignants bifteks, de tes mains sublimes
Gueris le sein meurtri de ta mere!
Detourne ton glaive trenchant de tes freles victimes
Vers l'Albion et sa triste Megere.'"

"Dear me, it sounds a little like some other Parisian odes I have
read recently," said Lady Considine. "The triste Megere, I take
it, is poor old Britannia, but what does he mean by his freles
victimes?"

"No doubt they are the pigeons and the rabbits, and the chickens
and the capons which Narcisse is supposed to have slaughtered in
hecatombs, in order to gorge the brutal appetite of his English
employer," said Miss Macdonnell. "After disregarding such an
appeal as this M. Narcisse had better keep clear of Paris for the
future, for if he should go back and be recognised I fancy it would
be a case of 'conspuvez Narcisse."'

"The French seem to have lost all sense of exactness," said Mrs.
Gradinger, "for the lines you have just read would not pass muster
as classic. In the penultimate line there are two syllables in
excess of the true Alexandrine metre, and the last line seems too
long by one. Neither Racine nor Voltaire would have taken such
liberties with prosody. I remember a speech in Phaedre of more
than a hundred lines which is an admirable example of what I mean.
I dare say some of you know it. It begins:--

"Perfide! oses-tu bien te montrer devant moi? Monstre,"

but before the reciter could get fairly under way the door
mercifully opened, and Sir John entered. He advanced towards the
Marchesa, and shook her warmly by the hand, but said nothing; his
heart was evidently yet too full to allow him to testify his relief
in words. He was followed closely by the Colonel, who, taking his
stand on the hearth-rug, treated the company to a few remarks,
couched in a strain of unwonted eulogy. In the whole course of his
life he had never passed a more pleasant ten days, though, to be
sure, he had been a little mistrustful at first. As to the outcome
of the experiment, if they all made even moderate use of the
counsels they had received from the Marchesa, the future of cookery
in England was now safe. He was not going to propose a formal vote
of thanks, because anything he could say would be entirely
insufficient to express the gratitude he felt, and because he
deemed that each individual could best thank the Marchesa on his or
her behalf.

There was a momentary silence when the Colonel ceased, and then a
clearing of the throat and a preliminary movement of the arms gave
warning that Mrs. Gradinger was going to speak. The unspoken
passage from Racine evidently sat heavily on her chest. Abstracted
and overwrought as he was, these symptoms aroused in Sir John a
consciousness of impending danger, and he rushed, incontinent, into
the breach, before the lady's opening sentence was ready.

"As Colonel Trestrail has just remarked, we, all of us, are in debt
to the Marchesa in no small degree; but, in my case, the debt is
tenfold. I am sure you all understand why. As a slight
acknowledgment of the sympathy I have received from every one here,
during my late trial, I beg to ask you all to dine with me this day
week, when I will try to set before you a repast a la Francaise,
which I hope may equal, I cannot hope that it will excel, the
dinners all'Italiana we have tasted in this happy retreat.
Narcisse and I have already settled the menu."

"I am delighted to accept," said the Marchesa. "I have no
engagement, and if I had I would throw my best friend over."

"And this day fortnight you must all dine with me," said Mrs.
Sinclair. "I will spend the intervening days in teaching my new
cook how to reproduce the Marchesa's dishes. Then, perhaps, we may
be in a better position to decide on the success of the Marchesa's
experiment."

* * * * * * *

The next morning witnessed the dispersal of the party. Sir John
and Narcisse left by an early train, and for the next few days the
reforming hand of the last-named was active in the kitchen. He
arrived before the departure of the temporary aide, and had not
been half-an-hour in the house before there came an outbreak which
might easily have ended in the second appearance of Narcisse at the
bar of justice, as homicide, this time to be dealt with by a
prosaic British jury, which would probably have doomed him to the
halter. Sir John listened over the balusters to the shrieks and
howls of his recovered treasure, and wisely decided to lunch at his
club. But the club lunch, admirable as it was, seemed flat and
unappetising after the dainty yet simple dishes he had recently
tasted; and the following day he set forth to search for one of
those Italian restaurants, of which he had heard vague reports.
Certainly the repast would not be the same as at the "Laurestinas,"
but it might serve for once. Alas! Sir John did not find the right
place, for there are "right places" amongst the Italian restaurants
of London. He beat a hasty retreat from the first he entered, when
the officious proprietor assured him that he would serve up a
dejeuner in the best French style. At the second he chose a dish
with an Italian name, but the name was the only Italian thing about
it. The experiment had failed. It seemed as if Italian
restaurateurs were sworn not to cook Italian dishes, and the next
day he went to do as best he could at the club.

But before he reached the club door he recalled how, many years
ago, he and other young bloods used to go for chops to Morton's, a
queer little house at the back of St. James' Street, and towards
Morton's he now turned his steps. As he entered it, it seemed as
if it was only yesterday that he was there. He beheld the waiter,
with mouth all awry, through calling down the tube. The same old
mahogany partitions to the boxes, and the same horse-hair benches.
Sir John seated himself in a box, where there was one other luncher
in the corner, deeply absorbed over a paper. This luncher raised
his head and Sir John recognised Van der Roet.

"My dear Vander, whatever brought you here, where nothing is to be
had but chops? I didn't know you could eat a chop."

"I didn't know it myself till to-day," said Van der Roet, with a
hungry glance at the waiter, who rushed by with a plate of smoking
chops in each hand. "The fact is, I've had a sort of hankering
after an Italian lunch, and I went out to find one, but I didn't
exactly hit on the right shop, so I came here, where I've been told
you can get a chop properly cooked, if you don't mind waiting."

"Ah! I see," said Sir John, laughing. "We've both been on the same
quest, and have been equally unlucky. Well, we shall satisfy our
hunger here at any rate, and not unpleasantly either."

"I went to one place," said Van der Roet "and before ordering I
asked the waiter if there was any garlic in the dish I had ordered.
'Garlic, aglio, no, sir, never.' Whereupon I thought I would go
somewhere else. Next I entered the establishment of Baldassare
Romanelli. How could a man with such a name serve anything else
than the purest Italian cookery, I reasoned, so I ordered,
unquestioning, a piatio with an ideal Italian name, Manzo alla
Terracina. Alas! the beef used in the composition thereof must
have come in a refrigerating chamber from pastures more remote than
those of Terracina, and the sauce served with it was simply fried
onions. In short, my dish was beefsteak and onions, and very bad
at that. So in despair I fell back upon the trusty British chop."

As Van der Roet ceased speaking another guest entered the room, and
he and Sir John listened attentively while the new-comer gave his
order. There was no mistaking the Colonel's strident voice. "Now,
look here! I want a chop underdone, underdone, you understand, with
a potato, and a small glass of Scotch whisky, and I'll sit here."

"The Colonel, by Jove," said Sir John; "I expect he's been
restaurant-hunting too."

"Hallo!" said the Colonel, as he recognised the other two, "I
never thought I should meet you here: fact is, I've been reading
about agricultural depression' and how it is the duty of everybody
to eat chops so as to encourage the mutton trade, and that sort of
thing."

"Oh, Colonel, Colonel," said Van der Roet. "You know you've been
hungering after the cookery of Italy, and trying to find a genuine
Italian lunch, and have failed, just as Sir John and I failed, and
have come here in despair. But never mind, just wait for a year or
so, until the 'Cook's Decameron' has had a fair run for its money,
and then you'll find you'll fare as well at the ordinary Italian
restaurant as you did at the 'Laurestinas,' and that's saying a
good deal."

Part II -- Recipes

Sauces

As the three chief foundation sauces in cookery, Espagnole or brown
sauce, Velute or white sauce, and Bechamel, are alluded to so often
in these pages, it will be well to give simple Italian recipes for
them.

Australian wines may be used in all recipes where wine is
mentioned: Harvest Burgundy for red, and Chasselas for Chablis.

No. 1. Espagnole, or Brown Sauce

The chief ingredient of this useful sauce is good stock, to which
add any remnants and bones of fowl or game. Butter the bottom of a
stewpan with at least two ounces of butter, and in it put slices of
lean veal, ham, bacon, cuttings of beef, fowl, or game trimmings,
three peppercorns, mushroom trimmings, a tomato, a carrot and a
turnip cut up, an onion stuck with two cloves, a bay leaf, a sprig
of thyme, parsley and marjoram. Put the lid on the stewpan and
braize well for fifteen minutes, then stir in a tablespoonful of
flour, and pour in a quarter pint of good boiling stock and boil
very gently for fifteen minutes, then strain through a tamis, skim
off all the grease, pour the sauce into an earthenware vessel, and
let it get cold. If it is not rich enough, add a little Liebig or
glaze. Pass through a sieve again before using.

No. 2. Velute Sauce

The same as above, but use white stock, no beef, and only
pheasant or fowl trimmings, button mushrooms, cream instead of
glaze, and a chopped shallot.

No. 3. Bechamel Sauce

Ingredients: Butter, ham, veal, carrots, shallot, celery bay leaf,
cloves, thyme, peppercorns, potato flour, cream, fowl stock.

Prepare a mirepoix by mixing two ounces of butter, trimmings of
lean veal and ham, a carrot, a shallot, a little celery, all cut
into dice, a bay leaf, two cloves, four peppercorns, and a little
thyme. Put this on a moderate fire so as not to let it colour, and
when all the moisture is absorbed add a tablespoonful of potato
flour. Mix well, and gradually add equal quantities of cream and
fowl stock, and stir till it boils. Then let it simmer gently.
Stir occasionally, and if it gets too thick, add more cream and
white stock. After two hours pass it twice slowly through a tamis
so as to get the sauce very smooth.

No. 4. Mirepoix Sauce (for masking)

Ingredients: Bacon, onions, carrots, ham, a bunch of herbs,
parsley, mushrooms, cloves, peppercorns, stock, Chablis.

Put the following ingredients into a stewpan: Some bits of bacon
and lean ham, a carrot, all cut into dice, half an onion, a bunch
of herbs, a few mushroom cuttings, two cloves, and four
peppercorns. To this add one and a quarter pint of good stock and
a glass of Chablis, boil rapidly for ten minutes then simmer till
it is reduced to a third. Pass through a sieve and use for masking
meat, fowl, fish, &c.

No. 5. Genoese Sauce

Ingredients: Onion, butter, Burgundy, mushrooms, truffles,
parsley, bay leaf, Espagnole sauce (No.1), blond of veal, essence
of fish, anchovy butter, crayfish or lobster butter.

Cut up a small onion and fry it in butter, add a glass of Burgundy,
some cuttings of mushrooms and truffles, a pinch of chopped parsley
and half a bay leaf. Reduce half. In another saucepan put two
cups of Espagnole sauce, one cup of veal stock, and a tablespoonful
of essence of fish, reduce one-third and add it to the other
saucepan, skim off all the grease, boil for a few minutes, and pass
through a sieve. Then stir it over the fire, and add half a
teaspoonful of crayfish and half of anchovy butter.

No. 6. Italian Sauce

Ingredients: Chablis, mushrooms, leeks, a bunch of herbs,
peppercorns, Espagnole sauce, game gravy or stock, lemon.

Put into a stewpan two glasses of Chablis, two tablespoonsful of
mushroom trimmings, a leek cut up, a bunch of herbs, five
peppercorns, and boil till it is reduced to half. In another
stewpan mix two glasses of Espagnole (No. 1) or Velute sauce (No 2)
and half a glass of game gravy, boil for a few minutes then blend
the contents of the two stewpans, pass through a sieve, and add the
juice of a lemon.

No. 7. Ham Sauce, Salsa di Prosciutto

Ingredients: Ham, Musca or sweet port, vinegar, basil spice.

Cut up an ounce of ham and pound it in a mortar then mix it with
three dessert spoonsful of port or Musca and a teaspoonful of
vinegar a little dried basil and a pinch of spice. Boil it up, and
then pass it through a sieve and warm it up in a bain-marie. Serve
with roast meats. If you cannot get a sweet wine add half a
teaspoonful of sugar. Australian Muscat is a good wine to use.

No. 8. Tarragon Sauce

Ingredients: Tarragon, stock, butter, flour.

To half a pint of good stock add two good sprays of fresh tarragon,
simmer for quarter of an hour in a stewpan and keep the lid on. In
another stewpan melt one ounce of butter and mix it with three
dessert-spoonsful of flour, then gradually pour the stock from the
first stewpan over it, but take out the tarragon. Mix well, add a
teaspoonful of finely chopped tarragon and boil for two minutes.

No. 9. Tomato Sauce

Ingredients: Tomatoes, ham, onions, basil, salt, oil, garlic,
spices.

Broil three tomatoes, skin them and mix them with a tablespoonful
of chopped ham, half an onion, salt, a dessert-spoonful of oil, a
little pounded spice and basil. Then boil and pass through a
sieve. Whilst the sauce is boiling, put in a clove of garlic with
a cut, but remove it before you pass the sauce through the sieve.

No. 10. Tomato Sauce Piquante

Ingredients: Ham, butter, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, thyme,
cloves, peppercorns, vinegar, Chablis, stock, tomatoes, Velute or
Espagnole sauce, castor sugar, lemon.

Cut up an ounce of ham, half an onion, half a carrot, half a stick
of celery very fine, and fry them in butter together with a bay
leaf, a sprig of thyme, one clove and four peppercorns. Over this
pour a third of a cup of vinegar, and when the liquid is all
absorbed, add half a glass of Chablis and a cup of stock. Then add
six tomatoes cut up and strained of all their liquid. Cook this in
a covered stewpan and pass it through a sieve, but see that none of
the bay leaf or thyme goes through. Mix this sauce with an equal
quantity of Velute (No. 2) or Espagnole sauce, (No. 1), let it boil
and pass through a sieve again and at the last add a teaspoonful of
castor sugar, the juice of half a lemon, and an ounce of fresh
butter. (Another tomato sauce may be made like this, but use stock
instead of vinegar and leave out the lemon juice and sugar.)

No. 11. Mushroom Sauce

Ingredients: Velute sauce, essence of mushrooms, butter.

Mix two dessert-spoonsful of essence of mushrooms with a cupful of
Velute sauce (No. 2), reduce, keep on stirring, and just before
serving add an ounce of butter. This sauce can be made with
essence of truffle, or game, or shallot.

No. 12. Neapolitan Sauce

Ingredients: Onions, ham, butter, Marsala, blond of veal, thyme,
bay leaf, peppercorns, cloves, mushrooms, Espagnole sauce (No. 1),
tomato sauce, game stock or essence.

Fry an onion in butter with some bits of cut-up ham, then pour a
glass of Marsala over it, and another of blond of veal, add a sprig
of thyme, a bay leaf, four peppercorns, a clove, a tablespoonful of
mushroom cuttings, and reduce half. In another saucepan put two
cups of Espagnole sauce, one cupful of tomato sauce, and half a cup
of game stock or essence. Reduce a third, and add the contents of
the first saucepan, boil the sauce a few minutes, and pass it
through a sieve. Warm it up in a bain-marie before using.

No. 13. Neapolitan Anchovy Sauce

Ingredients: Anchovies, fennel, flour, spices, parsley, marjoram,
garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, cream.

Wash three anchovies in vinegar, bone and pound them in a mortar
with a teaspoonful of chopped fennel and a pinch of cinnamon. Then
mix in a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and marjoram, a squeeze of
lemon juice, a teaspoonful of flour, half a gill of boiled cream
and the bones of the fish for which you will use this sauce. Pass
through a sieve, add a clove of garlic with a cut in it, and boil.
If the fish you are using is cooked in the oven, add a little of
the liquor in which it has been cooked to the sauce. Take out the
garlic before serving. Instead of anchovies you may use caviar,
pickled tunny, or any other pickled fish.

No. 14. Roman Sauce (Salsa Agro-dolce)

Ingredients: Espagnole sauce, stock, burnt sugar, vinegar,
raisins, pine nuts or almonds.

Mix two spoonsful of burnt sugar with one of vinegar, and dilute
with a little good stock. Then add two cups of Espagnole sauce
(No. 1), a few stoned raisins, and a few pinocchi* (pine nuts) or
shredded almonds. Keep this hot in a bain-marie, and serve with
cutlets, calf's head or feet or tongue.

*The pinocchi which Italians use instead of almonds can be bought
in London when in season.

No. 15. Roman Sauce (another way)

Ingredients: Espagnole sauce, an onion, butter, flour, lemon,
herbs, nutmeg, raisins, pine nuts or almonds, burnt sugar.

Cut up a small bit of onion, fry it slightly in butter and a little
flour, add the juice of a lemon and a little of the peel grated, a
bouquet of herbs, a pinch of nutmeg, a few stoned raisins, shredded
almonds or pinocchi, and a tablespoonful of burnt sugar. Add this
to a good Espagnole (No. 1), and warm it up in a bain-marie.

No. 16. Supreme Sauce

Ingredients: White sauce, fowl stock, butter.

Put three-quarters of a pint of white sauce into a saucepan, and
when it is nearly boiling add half a cup of concentrated fowl
stock. Reduce until the sauce is quite thick, and when about to
serve pass it through a tamis into a bain-marie and add two
tablespoonsful of cream.

No. 17. Pasta marinate (For masking Italian Frys)

Ingredients: Semolina flour, eggs, salt, butter (or olive oil),
vinegar, water.

Mix the following ingredients well together: two ounces of
semolina flour, the yolks of two eggs, a little salt, and two
ounces of melted butter. Add a glass of water so as to form a
liquid substance. At the last add the whites of two eggs beaten up
to a snow. This will make a good paste for masking meat, fish,
vegetables, or sweets which are to be fried in the Italian manner,
but if for meat or vegetables add a few drops of vinegar or a
little lemon juice.

No. 18. White Villeroy

Ingredients: Butter, flour, eggs, cream, nutmeg, white stock.

Make a light-coloured roux by frying two ounces of butter and two
ounces of flour, stir in some white stock and keep it very smooth.
Let it boil, and add the yolks of three eggs, mixed with two
tablespoonsful of cream and a pinch of nutmeg. Pass it through a
sieve and use for masking cutlets, fish, &c.

Soups

No. 19. Clear Soup

Ingredients: Stock meat, water, a bunch of herbs (thyme, parsley,
chervil, bay leaf, basil, marjoram), three carrots, three turnips,
three onions, three cloves stuck in the onions, one blade of mace.

Cut up three pounds of stock meat small and put it in a stock pot
with two quarts of cold water, three carrots, and three turnips cut
up, three onions with a clove stuck in each one, a bunch of herbs
and a blade of mace. Let it come to the boil and then draw it off,
at once skim off all the scum, and keep it gently simmering, and
occasionally add two or three tablespoonsful of cold water. Let it
simmer all day, and then strain it through a fine cloth.

Some of the liquor in which a calf's head has been cooked, or even
a calf's foot, will greatly improve a clear soup.

The stock should never be allowed to boil as long as the meat and
vegetables are in the stock pot.

No. 20. Zuppa Primaverile (Spring Soup)

Ingredients: Clear soup, vegetables.

Any fresh spring vegetables will do for this soup, but they must
all be cooked separately and put into the soup at the last minute.
It is best made with fresh peas, asparagus tips, and a few strips
of tarragon.

No. 21. Soup alla Lombarda

Ingredients: Clear soup, fowl forcemeat, Bechamel (No. 3), peas,
lobster butter, eggs, asparagus.

Make a firm forcemeat of fowl and divide it into three parts, to
the first add two spoonsful of cream Bechamel, to the second four
spoonsful of puree of green peas, to the third two spoonsful of
lobster butter and the yolk of an egg; thus you will have the
Italian colours, red, white, and green. Butter a pie dish and make
little quenelles of the forcemeat. Just before serving boil them
for four minutes in boiling stock, take them out carefully and put
them in a warm soup tureen with two spoonsful of cooked green peas
and pour a very fresh clear soup over them. Hand little croutons
fried in lobster butter separately.

No. 22. Tuscan Soup

Ingredients: Stock, eggs.

Whip up three or four eggs, gradually add good stock to them, and
keep on whisking them up until they begin to curdle. Keep the soup
hot in a bain-marie.

No. 23. Venetian Soup

Ingredients: Clear soup, butter, flour, Parmesan, eggs.

Make a roux by frying two ounces of butter and two ounces of flour,
add an ounce of grated cheese and half a cup of good stock. Mix up
well so as to form a paste, and then take it off the fire and add
the yolks of four eggs, mix again and form the again and form the
paste into little quenelles. Boil these in a little soup, strain
off, put them into the tureen and pour a good clear soup over them.

No. 24. Roman Soup

Ingredients: Stock, butter, eggs, salt, crumb of bread, parsley,
nutmeg, flour, Parmesan.

Mix three and a half ounces of butter with two eggs and four ounces
of crumbs of bread soaked in stock, a little chopped parsley, salt,
and a pinch of nutmeg. Reduce this and add two tablespoonsful of
flour and one of grated Parmesan. Form this into little quenelles
and boil them in stock for a few minutes put them into a tureen and
pour a good clear soup over them.

No. 25. Soup alla Nazionale

Ingredients: Clear soup, savoury custard.

Make a savoury custard and divide it into three parts, one to be
left white, another coloured red with tomato, and the third green
with spinach. Put a layer of each in a buttered saucepan and cook
for about ten minutes, cut it into dice, so that you have the three
Italian colours (red, white, and green) together, then put the
custard into a soup tureen and pour a good clear soup over it.

No. 26. Soup alla Modanese

Ingredients: Stock, spinach, butter, salt, eggs, Parmesan,
nutmeg, croutons.

Wash one pound of spinach in five or six waters, then chop it very
fine and mix it with three ounces of butter, salt it and warm it
up. Then let it get cold, pass through a hair sieve, and add two
eggs, a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan, and very little nutmeg.
Add this to some boiling stock in a copper saucepan, put on the
lid, and on the top put some hot coals so that the eggs may curdle
and help to thicken the soup. Serve with fried croutons.

No. 27. Crotopo Soup

Ingredients: Clear soup, veal, ham, eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg,
rolls.

Pound half a pound of lean veal in a mortar, then add three ounces
of cooked ham with some fat in it, the yolk of an egg, salt,
pepper, and very little nutmeg. Pass through a sieve, cut some
small French rolls into slices, spread them with the above mixture,
and colour them in the oven. Then cut them in halves or quarters,
put them into a tureen, and just before serving pour a very good
clear soup over them.

No. 28. Soup all'Imperatrice

Ingredients: Breast of fowl, eggs, salt, pepper, ground rice,
nutmeg, clear stock.

Pound the breast of a fowl in a mortar, and add to it a teaspoonful
of ground rice, the yolk of an egg, salt, pepper, and a pinch of
nutmeg. Pass this through a sieve, form quenelles with it, and
pour a good clear soup over them.

No. 29. Neapolitan Soup

Ingredients: Fowl, potato flour, eggs, Bechamel sauce, peas,
asparagus, spinach, clear soup.

Mix a quarter pound of forcemeat of fowl with a tablespoonful of
potato flour, a tablespoonful of Bechamel sauce (No. 3), and the
yolk of an egg; put this into a tube about the size round of an
ordinary macaroni; twenty minutes before serving squirt the
forcemeat into a saucepan with boiling stock, and nip off the
forcemeat as it comes through the pipe into pieces about an inch
and a half long. Let it simmer, and add boiled peas and asparagus
tips. If you like to have the fowl macaroni white and green, you
can colour half the forcemeat with a spoonful of spinach colouring.
Serve in a good clear soup.

No. 30. Soup with Risotto

Ingredients: Risotto (No. 189), eggs, bread crumbs, clear or brown
soup.

If you have some good risotto left, you can use it up by making it
into little balls the size of small nuts. Egg and bread crumb and
fry them in butter; dry them and put them into a soup tureen with
hot soup. The soup may be either clear or brown.

No. 31. Soup alla Canavese

Ingredients: White stock, butter, onions, carrot, celery, tomato,
cauliflower, fat bacon, parsley, sage, Parmesan, salt, pepper.

Chop up half an onion, half a carrot, half a stick of celery, a
small bit of fat bacon, and fry them in two ounces of butter. Then
cover them with good white stock, boil for a few minutes, pass
through a sieve, and add two tablespoonsful of tomato puree. Then
blanch half a cauliflower in salted water, let it get cold, drain
all the water out of it, and break it up into little bunches and
put them into a stock pot with the stock, a small leaf of dried
sage, crumbled up, and a little chopped parsley, and let it all
boil; add a pinch of grated cheese and some pepper. Serve with
grated Parmesan handed separately.

No. 32. Soup alla Maria Pia

Ingredients: White stock, eggs, butter, peas, white beans, carrot,
onion, leeks, celery, cream croutons.

Soak one pound of white beans for twelve hours, then put them into
a stock pot with a little salt, butter, and water, add a carrot, an
onion, two leeks, and a stick of celery, and simmer until the
vegetables are well cooked; then take out all the fresh vegetables,
drain the beans and pass them through a sieve, but first dilute
them with good stock. Put this puree into a stock pot with good
white stock, and when it has boiled keep it hot in a bain-marie
until you are about to serve; then mix the yolk of three eggs in a
cup of cream, and add this to the soup. Pour the soup into a warm
tureen, add some boiled green peas, and serve with fried croutons
handed separately.

No. 33. Zuppa d' Erbe (Lettuce Soup)

Ingredients: Stock, sorrel, endive, lettuce, chervil, celery,
carrot, onion, French roll, Parmesan cheese.

Boil the following vegetables and herbs in very good stock for an
hour: Two small bunches of sorrel, a bunch of endive, a lettuce, a
small bunch of chervil, a stick of celery, a carrot and an onion,
all well washed and cut up. Then put some slices of toasted French
roll into a tureen and pour the above soup over them. Serve with
grated Parmesan handed separately.

No. 34. Zuppa Regina di Riso (Queen's Soup)

Ingredients: Fowl stock, ground rice, milk, butter.

Put a tablespoonful of ground rice into a saucepan and gradually
add half a pint of milk, boil it gently for twelve minutes in a
bainmarie, but stir the whole time, so as to get it very smooth.
Just before serving add an ounce of butter, pass it through a
sieve, and mix it with good fowl stock.

Minestre

Minestra is a thick broth, very much like hotch-potch, only
thicker. In Italy it is often served at the beginning of dinner
instead of soup; it also makes an excellent lunch dish. Two or
three tablespoonsful of No. 35 will be found a great improvement to
any of these minestre.

No. 35. A Condiment for Seasoning Minestre, &c.

Ingredients: Onions, celery, carrots, butter, salt, stock,
tomatoes, mushrooms.

Cut up an onion, a stick of celery, and a carrot; fry them in
butter and salt; add a few bits of cooked ham and veal cut up, two
mushrooms, and the pulp of a tomato. Cook for a quarter of an
hour, and add a little stock occasionally to keep it moist. Pass
through a sieve, and use for seasoning minestre, macaroni, rice,
&c. It should be added when the dish is nearly cooked.

No. 36. Minestra alla Casalinga

Ingredients: Rice, butter, stock, vegetables.

All sorts of vegetables will serve for this dish. Blanch them in
boiling salted water, then drain and fry them in butter. Add
plenty of good stock, and put them on a slow fire. Boil four
ounces of rice in stock, and when it is well done add the stock
with the vegetables. Season with two or three spoonsful of No. 35,
and serve with grated cheese handed separately.

No. 37. Minestra of Rice and Turnips

Ingredients: Rice, turnips, butter, gravy, tomatoes.

Cut three or four young turnips into slices and put them on a dish,
strew a little salt over them, cover them with another dish, and
let them stand for about two hours until the water has run out of
them. Then drain the slices, put them in a frying-pan and fry them
slightly in butter. Add some good gravy and mashed-up tomatoes,
and after having cooked this for a few minutes pour it into good
boiling stock. Add three ounces of well-washed rice, and boil for
half-an-hour.

Minestra loses its flavour if it is boiled too long. In Lombardy,
however, rice, macaroni, &c., are rarely boiled enough for English
tastes.

No. 38. Minestra alla Capucina

Ingredients: Rice, anchovies, butter, stock, and onions.

Scale an anchovy, pound it, and fry it in butter together with a
small onion cut across, and four ounces of boiled rice. Add a
little salt, and when the rice is a golden brown, take out the
onion and gradually add some good stock until the dish is of the
consistency of rice pudding.

No. 39. Minestra of Semolina

Ingredients: Stock, semolina, Parmesan.

Put as much stock as you require into a saucepan, and when it
begins to boil add semolina very gradually, and stir to keep it
from getting lumpy Cook it until the semolina is soft, and serve
with grated Parmesan handed separately. To one quart of soup use
three ounces of semolina.

No. 40. Minestrone alla Milanese

Ingredients: Rice or macaroni, ham, bacon, stock, all sorts of
vegetables.

Minestrone is a favourite dish in Lombardy when vegetables are
plentiful. Boil all sorts of vegetables in stock, and add bits of
bacon, ham, onions braized in butter, chopped parsley, a clove of
garlic with two cuts, and rice or macaroni. Put in those
vegetables first which require most cooking, and do not make the
broth too thin. Leave the garlic in for a quarter of an hour only.

No. 41. Minestra of Rice and Cabbage

Ingredients: Rice, cabbage, stock, ham, tomato sauce.

Cut off the stalk and all the hard outside leaves of a cabbage,
wash it and cut it up, but not too small, then drain and cook it in
good stock and add two ounces of boiled rice. This minestre is
improved by adding a little chopped ham and a few spoonsful of
tomato sauce.

No. 42. Minestra of Rice and Celery

Ingredients: Celery, rice, stock.

Cut up a head of celery and remove all the green parts, then boil
it in good stock and add two ounces of rice, and boil till it is
well cooked.

Fish

No. 43. Anguilla alla Milanese (Eels).

Ingredients: Eels, butter, flour, stock, bay leaves, salt, pepper,
Chablis, a macedoine of vegetables.

Cut up a big eel and fry it in two ounces of butter, and when it is
a good colour add a tablespoonful of flour, about half a pint of
stock, a glass of Chablis, a bay leaf, pepper, and salt, and boil
till it is well cooked. In the meantime boil separately all sorts
of vegetables, such as carrots, cauliflower, celery, beans,
tomatoes, &c. Take out the pieces of eel, but keep them hot,
whilst you pass the liquor which forms the sauce through a sieve
and add the vegetables to this. Let them boil a little longer and
arrange them in a dish; place the pieces of eel on them and cover
with the sauce. It is most important that the eels should be
served very hot.

Any sort of fish will do as well for this dish.

No. 44. Filletti di Pesce alla Villeroy (Fillets of Fish)

Ingredients: Fish, flour, butter, Villeroy.

Any sort of fish will do, turbot, sole, trout, &c. Cut it into
fillets, flour them over and cook them in butter in a covered
stewpan; then make a Villeroy (No. 18), dip the fillets into it and
fry them in clarified butter.

No. 45. Astachi all'Italiana (Lobster)

Ingredients: Lobsters, Velute sauce, Marsala, butter, forcemeat of
fish, olives, anchovy butter, button mushrooms, truffles, lemon,
crayfish, Italian sauce.

Two boiled lobsters are necessary. Cut all the flesh of one of the
lobsters into fillets and put them into a saucepan with half a cup
of Velute sauce (No. 2) and half a glass of Marsala, and boil for a
few minutes. Put a crouton of fried bread on an oval dish and
cover it with a forcemeat of fish, and on this place the whole
lobster, cover it with buttered paper, and put it in a moderate
oven just long enough to cook the forcemeat. Then make some
quenelles of anchovy butter, olives, and button mushrooms, mix them
with Italian sauce (No. 6), and garnish the dish with them, and
round the crouton arrange the fillets of lobster with a garnish of
slices of truffle. Add a dessert-spoonful of crayfish butter and a
good squeeze of lemon juice to the sauce, and serve.

No. 46. Baccala alla Giardiniera (Cod)

Ingredients: Cod or hake, carrots, turnips, butter, herbs.

Boil a piece of cod or hake and break it up into flakes, then cut
up two carrots and a turnip; boil them gently, and when they are
half boiled drain and put them into a stewpan with an ounce of
butter, half a teacup of boiling water, salt, and herbs. When they
are well cooked add the fish and serve. Fillets of lemon soles may
also be cooked this way.

No. 47. Triglie alla Marinara (Mullet)

Ingredients: Mullet, salt, pepper, onions, parsley, oil, water.

Cut a mullet into pieces and put it into a stewpan (with the lid
on), with salt, pepper, a cut-up onion, some chopped parsley, half
a wineglass of the finest olive oil and half a pint of water, and
in this cook the fish gently. Arrange the fillets on a dish, pour
a little of the broth over them, and add the onion and parsley.
Instead of mullet you can use cod, hake, whiting, lemon sole, &c.

No. 48. Mullet alla Tolosa

Ingredients: Mullet, butter, salt, onions, parsley, almonds,
anchovies, button mushrooms, tomatoes.

Cut off the fins and gills of a mullet, put it in a fireproof dish
with two ounces of butter and salt. Cut up a small bit of onion, a
sprig of parsley, a few blanched almonds, one anchovy, and a few
button mushrooms, previously softened in hot water, and put them
over the fish and bake for twenty minutes Then add two
tablespoonsful of tomato sauce or puree, and when cooked serve. If
you like, use sole instead of mullet.

No. 49. Mullet alla Triestina

Ingredients: Mullet (or sole or turbot), butter, salt half a
lemon, Chablis.

Put the fish in a fireproof dish with one and a half ounces of
butter, salt, a squeeze of lemon juice, and half a glass of
Chablis. Put it on a very, slow fire and turn the fish when
necessary. When it is cooked serve in the dish.

No. 50. Whiting alla Genovese

Ingredients: Whiting, butter, pepper, salt, bay leaf claret,
parsley, onions, garlic capers, vinegar, Espagnole sauce,
mushrooms, anchovies.

Put one or two whiting into a stewpan with two ounces of butter,
salt, pepper, two bay leaves, and a glass of claret or Burgundy;
cook on a hot fire and turn the fish when necessary. Have ready
beforehand a remoulade sauce made in the following manner: Put in
a saucepan 1 1/2 ounces of butter, half a teaspoonful of chopped
parsley, half an onion, a clove of garlic (with one cut), four
capers, one anchovy, all chopped up except the garlic. Then add
three tablespoonsful of vinegar and reduce the sauce. Add two
glasses of Espagnole sauce (No. 1) and a little good stock; boil it
all up (take out the garlic and bay leaves) and pass through a
sieve, then pour it over the whiting. Boil it all again for a few
minutes, and before serving garnish with a few button mushrooms
cooked separately. The remoulade sauce will be much better if made
some hours beforehand.

No. 51. Merluzzo in Bianco (Cod)

Ingredients: Cod or whiting, salt, onions, parsley, cloves,
turnips, marjoram, chervil, milk.

Boil gently in a big cupful of salted water two onions, one turnip,
a pinch of chopped parsley, chervil, and marjoram and four cloves.
After half an hour pass this through a sieve (but first take out
the cloves), and add an equal quantity of milk and a little cream,
and in this cook the fish and serve with the sauce over it.

No. 52. Merluzzo in Salamoia (Cod)

Ingredients: Cod, hake, whiting or red mullet, onions, parsley,
mint, marjoram, turnips, mushrooms, chervil, cloves, salt, milk,
cream, eggs.

Put a salt-spoonful of salt, two onions, a little parsley,
marjoram, mint, chervil, a turnip, a mushroom, and the heads of two
cloves into a stewpan and simmer in a cupful of milk for half an
hour, then let all the ingredients settle at the bottom, and pass
the broth through a hair sieve, and add to it an equal quantity of
milk or cream, and in it cook your fish on a slow fire. When the
fish is quite cooked, pour off the sauce, but leave a little on the
fish to keep it warm; reduce the rest in a bain-marie; stir all
the time, so that the milk may not curdle. Thicken the sauce with
the yolk of an egg, and when about to serve pour it over the fish.

No. 53. Baccala in Istufato (Haddock)

Ingredients: Haddock or lemon sole, carrots, anchovies, lemon,
pepper, butter, onions, flour, white wine, stock.

Stuff a haddock (or filleted lemon sole) with some slices of carrot
which have been masked with a paste made of pounded anchovies, very
little chopped lemon peel, salt and pepper. Then fry an onion with
two cuts across it in butter. Take out the onion as soon as it has
become a golden colour, flour the fish and put it in the butter,
and when it has been well fried on both sides pour a glass of
Marsala over it, and when it is all absorbed add a cup of fowl or
veal stock and let it simmer for half an hour, then skim and reduce
the sauce, pour it over the fish and serve.

No. 54. Naselli con Piselli (Whiting)

Ingredients: Whiting, onions, parsley, peas, tomatoes, butter,
Parmesan, Bechamel sauce.

Cut a big whiting into two or three pieces and fry them slightly in
butter, add a small bit of onion, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley
and fry for a few minutes more. Then add some peas which have been
cooked in salted water, three tablespoonsful of Bechamel sauce (No.
3), and three of tomato puree, and cook all together on a moderate
fire.

No. 55. Ostriche alla Livornese (Oysters)

Ingredients: Oysters, parsley, shallot, anchovies, fennel pepper,
bread crumbs, cream, lemon.

Detach the oysters from their shells and put then into china shells
with their own liquor. Have ready a dessert-spoonful of parsley,
shallot, anchovy and very little fennel, add a tablespoonful of
bread crumbs and a little pepper, and mix the whole with a little
cream. Put some of this mixture on each oyster, and then bake them
in a moderate fire for a quarter of an hour. At the last minute
add a squeeze of lemon juice to each oyster and serve on a folded
napkin.

No. 56. Ostriche alla Napolitana (Oysters)

Ingredients: Oysters, parsley, celery, thyme, pepper, garlic, oil,
lemon.

Prepare the oysters as above, but rub each shell with a little
garlic. Put on each oyster a mixture made of chopped parsley, a
little thyme, pepper, and bread crumbs. Then pour a few drops of
oil on each shell, put them on the gridiron on an open fire, grill
for a few minutes, and add a little lemon juice before serving.

No. 57. Ostriche alla Veneziana (Oysters)

Ingredients: Oysters, butter, shallots, truffles, lemon juice,
forcemeat of fish.

Take several oysters out of their shells and cook them in butter, a
little chopped shallot, and their own liquor, add a little lemon
juice and then put in each of the deeper shells a layer of
forcemeat made of fish and chopped truffles, then an oyster or two,
and over this again another layer of the forcemeat, cover up with
the top shell and put them in a fish kettle and steam them. Then
remove the top shell and arrange the shells with the oysters on a
napkin and serve.

No. 58. Pesci diversi alla Casalinga (Fish)

Ingredients: Any sort of fish, celery, parsley, carrots, garlic,
onion, anchovies, almonds, capers, mushrooms, butter, salt, pepper,
flour, tomatoes.

Chop up a stick of celery, a sprig of parsley, a carrot, an onion.
Pound up an anchovy in brine (well cleaned, boned, and scaled),
four shredded almonds, three capers and two mushrooms. Put all
this into a saucepan with one ounce of butter, salt and pepper, and
fry for a few minutes, then add a few spoonsful of hot water and a
tablespoonful of flour and boil gently for ten minutes, put in the
fish and cook it until it is done. If you like, you may add a
little tomato sauce.

No. 59. Pesce alla Genovese (Sole or Turbot)

Ingredients: Fish (sole, mullet, or turbot), butter, salt, onion,
garlic, carrots, celery, parsley, nutmeg, pepper, spice, mushrooms,
tomatoes, flour, anchovies.

Fry an onion slightly in one and a half ounces of butter, add a
small cut-up carrot, half a stick of celery, a sprig of parsley,
and a salt anchovy (scaled), which will dissolve in the butter.
Into this put the fish cut up in pieces, a pinch of spice and
pepper, and let it simmer for a few minutes, then add two cut-up
mushrooms, a tomato mashed up, and a little flour. Mix all
together, and cook for twenty minutes.

No. 60. Sogliole in Zimino (Sole)

Ingredients: Sole, onion, beetroot, butter, celery, tomato sauce
or white wine.

Cut up a small onion and fry it slightly in one ounce of butter,
then add some slices of beetroot (well-washed and drained), and a
little celery cut up; to this add fillets of sole or haddock, salt
and pepper. Boil on a moderate on the fish kettle. When the
beetroot is nearly cooked add two tablespoonsful of tomato puree
and boil till all is well cooked. Instead of the tomato you may
use half a glass of Chablis.

No. 61. Sogliole al tegame (Sole)

Ingredients: Sole (or mullet), butter, anchovies, parsley, garlic,
capers, eggs.

Put an ounce of butter and an anchovy in a saucepan together with a
sole or mullet. Fry lightly for a few minutes, then strew a little
pepper and chopped parsley over it, put in a clove of garlic with
one cut, and cook for half an hour, but turn the fish over when one
side is sufficiently done. A few minutes before taking it off the
fire add three capers and stir in the yolk of an egg at the last
minute. Do not leave the garlic in more than five minutes.

No. 62. Sogliole alla Livornese (Sole)

Ingredients: Sole, butter, garlic, pepper, salt, tomatoes, fennel.

Fillet a sole and put it in a saute-pan with one and a half ounces
of butter and a clove of garlic with one cut in it, then sprinkle
over it a little chopped fennel, salt and pepper, and let it cook
for a few minutes. Turn over the fillets w hen they are
sufficiently cooked on one side, take out the garlic and cover the
fish with a puree of tomatoes at the last.

No. 63. Sogliole alla Veneziana (Sole)

Ingredients: Sole, anchovies, butter, bacon, onion, stock,
Chablis, salt, nutmeg, parsley, Spanish olives, one bay leaf.

Fillet a sole and interlard each piece with a bit of anchovy. Tie
up the fillets and put them in a saute-pan with two ounces of
butter, a slice of bacon or ham, and a few small slices of onion.
Cover half over with good stock and a glass of Chablis, and add
salt, a pinch of nutmeg, a bunch of parsley, and a bay leaf. Cover
with buttered paper, and cook on a slow fire for about an hour.
Drain the fish, pass the liquor through a sieve, reduce it to the
consistency of a thick sauce, and pour it over the fish. Garnish
each fillet with a Spanish olive stuffed with anchovy.

No. 64. Sogliole alla Parmigiana (Sole).*

Ingredients: Sole, Parmesan, butter, cream, cayenne.

Fillet a sole and wipe each piece with a clean cloth, then place
them in a fireproof dish, and put a small piece of butter on each
fillet. Then make a good white sauce, and mix it with two
tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan and half a gill of cream. Cover
the fish well with the sauce, and bake in a moderate oven for
twenty minutes.

*Lemon soles may be used in any of the above-named dishes.

No. 65. Salmone alla Genovese (Salmon)

Ingredients: Salmon, Genoese sauce (No. 5), butter, lemon.

Boil a bit of salmon, drain it, take off the skin, and mask it with
a Genoese sauce, to which add a spoonful of the water in which the
salmon has been boiled, and at the last add a pat of fresh butter
and a squeeze of lemon juice.

No. 66. Salmone alla Perigo (Salmon)

Ingredients: Salmon, forcemeat of fish, truffles, butter, Madeira,
croutons of bread, crayfish tails, anchovy butter.

Cut a bit of salmon into well shaped fillets, and marinate them in
lemon juice and a bunch of herbs for two hours, wipe them, put a
layer of forcemeat of fish over each, and decorate them with slices
of truffle. When put them into a well-buttered saute-pan with half
a cup of stock and a glass of Madeira or Marsala, cover with
buttered paper, and put them into a moderate oven for twenty
minutes. Arrange the fillets in a circle on croutons of bread,
garnish the centre with crayfish tails and with truffles cut into
dice, a quarter of a pint of Velute sauce (No. 2), and half a
teaspoonful of anchovy butter. Glaze the fillets and serve.

No. 67. Salmone alla giardiniera (Salmon)

Ingredients: Salmon, forcemeat of fish, vegetables, butter,
Bechamel, and Espagnole sauce.

Prepare the fillets as above (No. 66), and put on each a layer of
white forcemeat of fish. Cook a macedoine of vegetables
separately, and garnish each fillet with some of it, then cook them
in a covered stewpan Put a crouton of bread in an entree dish and
garnish it with cooked peas, mixed with Bechamel sauce (No. 3),
stock, and butter. Around this place the fillets of fish, leaving
the centre with the peas uncovered. Pour some rich Espagnole sauce
(No. 1) round the fillets and serve.

No. 68. Salmone alla Farnese (Salmon)

Ingredients: Salmon, oil, lemon juice, thyme, salt, pepper,
nutmeg, mayonnaise sauce, lobster butter, gelatine, Velute sauce,
olives, anchovy butter, white truffles, mushrooms in oil, crayfish.

Boil a piece of salmon, and when cold cut it into fillets and
marinate them for two hours in oil, lemon juice, salt, thyme
pepper, and nutmeg. Then make a good mayonnaise and add to it some
lobster butter mixed with a little dissolved gelatine and Velute
sauce (No. 2). Wipe the fillets and arrange them in a circle on a
dish, and pour the mayonnaise over them. Then decorate the border
of the dish with aspic jelly, and in the centre put some stoned
Spanish olives stuffed with anchovy butter, truffles, mushrooms in
oil, and crayfish tails.

No. 69. Salmone alla Santa Fiorentina (Salmon)

Ingredients: Salmon, eggs, mayonnaise, parsley, flour.

Marinate a piece of boiled salmon for an hour; take out the bone
and cut the fish into fillets, wipe them, roll them in flour and
dip them in eggs beaten up or in mayonnaise sauce, and fry them a
good colour. Arrange in a circle on the dish, garnish with fried
parsley, and serve with Dutch or mayonnaise sauce. Any fillets of
fish may be cooked in this manner.

No. 70. Salmone alla Francesca (Salmon)

Ingredients: Salmon, butter, onions, parsley, salt, pepper,
nutmeg, stock, Chablis, Espagnole sauce (No.1) mushrooms, anchovy
butter, lemon.

Put a firm piece of salmon in a stewpan with one and a half ounces
of butter, an onion cut up, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley
(blanched), salt, pepper, very little nutmeg, a cup of stock, and a
glass of Chablis. Cook for half an hour over a hot fire, turn the
salmon occasionally, and if it gets dry, add a cup of Espagnole
sauce. Let it boil until sufficiently cooked, and then put it on a
dish. Into the sauce put four mushrooms cooked in white sauce,
half a teaspoonful of anchovy butter and a little lemon juice.
Pour the sauce over the salmon and serve.

No. 71. Fillets of Salmon in Papiliotte

Ingredients: Salmon, oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, nutmeg,
herbs.

Cut a piece of salmon into fillets, marinate them in oil, lemon
juice, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and herbs for two hours. Wipe and put
them into paper souffle cases with a little oil, butter, and herbs.
Cook them on a gridiron, and serve with a sauce piquante made in
the following manner: Half a pint of rich Espagnole sauce (No. 1)
and a dessert-spoonful of New Century* sauce, warmed up in a bain-
marie.

*Can be obtained at Messrs Lazenby's, Wigmoree Street, W.

Beef, Mutton, Veal, Lamb, &C.

No. 72. Manzo alla Certosina (Fillet of Beef)

Ingredients: Fillet of beef or rump steak, bacon, olive oil, salt,
nutmeg, anchovies, herbs, stock, garlic.

Put a piece of very tender rump steak or fillet of beef into a
stewpan with two slices of fat bacon and three teaspoonsful of the
finest olive oil; season with salt and a tiny pinch of nutmeg; let
it cook uncovered, and turn the meat over occasionally. When it is
nicely browned add an anchovy minced and mixed with chopped herbs,
and a small clove of garlic with one cut across it. Then cover the
whole with good stock, put the cover on the stewpan, and when it is
all sufficiently cooked, skim the grease off the sauce, pass it
through a sieve, and pour it over the beef. Leave the garlic in
for five minutes only.

No. 73. Stufato alla Florentina (Stewed Beef)

Ingredients: Beef, mutton, or veal, onions, rosemary, Burgundy,
tomatoes, stock, potatoes, butter, garlic.

Cut up an onion and three leaves of rosemary, fry them slightly in
an ounce of butter, then add meat (beef, mutton, or veal), cut into
fair-sized pieces, salt it and fry it a little, then pour half a
glass of Burgundy over it, and add two tablespoonsful of tomato
conserve, or better still, fresh tomatoes in a puree. Cover up the
stewpan and cook gently, stir occasionally, and add some stock if
the stew gets too dry. If you like to add potatoes, cut them up,
put them in the stewpan an hour before serving, and cook them with
the meat. A clove of garlic with one cut may be added for five
minutes.

No. 74. Coscia di Manzo al Forno (Rump Steak)

Ingredients: Rump steak, ham, salt, pepper, spice, fat bacon,
onion, stock, white wine.

Lard a bit of good rump steak with bits of lean ham, and season it
with salt, pepper, and a little spice, slightly brown it in butter
for a few minutes, then cover it with three or four slices of fat
bacon and put it into a stewpan with an onion chopped up, a cup of
good stock, and half a glass of white wine; cook with the cover on
the stewpan for about an hour. You may add a clove of garlic for
ten minutes.

No. 75. Polpettine alla Salsa Piccante (Beef Olives)

Ingredients: Beef steak, butter, onions, stock, sausage meat.

Cut some thin slices of beef steak, and on each place a little
forcemeat of fowl or veal, to which add a little sausage meat:
roll up the slices of beef and cook them with butter and onions,
and when they are well browned pour some stock over them, and let
them absorb it. Serve with a tomato sauce (No. 10), or sauce
piquante made with a quarter of a pint of rich Espagnole (No. 1),
and a dessert-spoonful of New Century sauce (see No. 71 note).

No. 76. Stufato alla Milanese (Stewed Beef)

Ingredients: Rump steak, bacon, ham, salt, pepper, cinnamon,
cloves, butter, onions, Burgundy.

Beat a piece of rump steak to make it tender and lard it well, cut
up some bits of fat bacon and dust them over with salt, pepper, and
a tiny pinch of cinnamon, and put them on the steak. Stick three
cloves into the steak, then put it into a stewpan, add a little of
the fat of the beef chopped up, an ounce of butter, an onion cut
up, and some bits of lean ham. Put in sufficient stock to cover
the steak, add a glass of Burgundy, and stew gently until it is
cooked.

No. 77. Manzo Marinato Arrosto (Marinated Beef)

Ingredients: Beef, salt, larding bacon, Burgundy, vinegar, spices,
herbs, flour.

Beat a piece of rump steak, or fillet to make it tender; sprinkle
it well with salt and some chopped herbs, and leave it for an hour;
then lard it and marinate it as follows: Half a pint of red wine
(Australian Harvest Burgundy is best), half a glass of vinegar, a
pinch of spice, and a bouquet of herbs; leave it in this for
twenty-four hours then take it out, drain it well sprinkle it with
flour, and roast it for twenty minutes before a clear fire, braize
it till quite tender, then press and glaze it. The thin end of a
sirloin is excellent cooked this way. Serve cold.

No. 78. Manzo con sugo di Barbabietole (Fillet of Beef)

Ingredients: Beef, beetroot, salt.

Cut up three raw beetroots put them into an earthen ware pot and
cover them with water. Keep them in some warm place, and allow
them to ferment for five, six, or eight days according to the
season; the froth at the top of the water will indicate the
necessary fermentation. The take out the pieces of beetroot, skim
off all the froth, and into the fermented liquor put a good piece
of tender rump steak or fillet with some salt. Braize for four
hours and serve.

No. 79. Manzo in Insalata (Marinated Beef)

Ingredients: Beef, oil, salt, pepper, vinegar, parsley, capers,
mushrooms, olives, vegetables.

Cook a fillet of beef (or the thin end of a sirloin), which has
been previously marinated for two days in oil, salt, pepper,
vinegar, and chopped parsley. When cold press and glaze it,
garnish it with capers, mushrooms preserved in vinegar or gherkins,
olives, and any kind of vegetables marinated like the beef. Serve
cold.

No. 80. Filetto di Bue con Pistacchi (Fillets of Beef with
Pistacchios)

Ingredients: Fillet of beef, oil, salt, flour, pistacchio nuts,
gravy.

Cut a piece of tender beef into little fillets, and put a them in a
stewpan with a tablespoonful of olive oil and salt. After they
have cooked for a few minutes, powder them with flour, and strew
over each fillet some chopped pistacchio nuts. Add a few spoonsful
of very good boiling gravy, and cook for another half-hour.

No. 81. Scalopini di Riso (Beef with Risotto)

Ingredients: Rump steak, butter, rice, truffles, tongue, stock,
mushrooms.

Slightly stew a bit of rump steak with bits of tongue and
mushrooms; let it get cold, and cut it into scallops. Butter a pie
dish, and garnish the bottom of it with cooked tongue and slices of
cooked truffle, then over this put a layer of well-cooked and
seasoned risotto (No. 190), then a layer of the scallops of beef,
and then another layer of risotto. Heat in a bain-marie, and turn
out of the pie dish, and serve with a very good sauce poured round
it.

No. 82. Tenerumi alla Piemontese (Tendons of Veal)

Ingredients: Tendons of veal, fowl forcemeat, truffles, risotto
(No. 190), a cock's comb, tongue.

Tendons of veal are that part of the breast which lies near the
ribs, and forms an opaque gristly substance. Partly braize a fine
bit of this joint, and press it between two plates till cold. Cut
it up into fillets, and on each spread a thin layer of fowl
forcemeat, and decorate with slices of truffle. Put the fillets
into a stewpan, cover them with very good stock, and boil till the
forcemeat and truffles are quite cooked. Prepare a risotto
all'Italiana (No. 190), put it on a dish and decorate it with bits
of red tongue cut into shapes, and in the centre put a whole cooked
truffle and a white cock's comb, both on a silver skewer. Place
the tendons of veal round the dish. Add a good Espagnole sauce
(No. 1) and serve.

If you like, leave out the risotto and serve the veal with
Espagnole sauce mixed with cooked peas and chopped truffle.

No. 83. Bragiuole di Vitello (Veal Cutlets)

Ingredients: Veal, salt, pepper, butter, bacon, carrots, flour,
Chablis, water, lemon.

Cut a bit of veal steak into pieces the size of small cutlets, salt
and pepper them, and put them in a wide low stewpan. Add two
ounces of butter, a cut-up carrot, and some bits of bacon also cut
up. When they are browned, add a spoonful of flour, half a glass
of Chablis, and half a glass of water, and cook on a slow fire for
half an hour, then take out the cutlets, reduce the sauce, and pass
it through a sieve. Put it back on the fire and add an ounce of
butter and a good squeeze of lemon, and when hot pour it over the
cutlets.

No. 84. Costolette alla Manza (Veal Cutlets)

Ingredients: Veal cutlets (fowl or turkey cutlets), forcemeat,
truffles, mushrooms, tongue, parsley, pasta marinate (No. 17).

Cut a few horizontal lines along your cutlets, and on each put a
little veal or fowl forcemeat, to which add in equal quantities
chopped truffles, tongue, mushrooms, and a little parsley. Over
this put a thin layer of pasta marinate, and fry the cutlets on a
slow fire.

No. 85. Vitello alla Pellegrina (Breast of Veal)

Ingredients: Breast of veal, butter, onions, sugar, stock, red
wine, mushrooms, bacon, salt, flour, bay leaf.

Roast a bit of breast of veal, then glaze over two Spanish onions
with butter and a little sugar, and when they arc a good colour
pour a teacup of stock and a glass of Burgundy over them, and add a
few mushrooms, a bay leaf, some salt, and a few bits of bacon.
When the mushrooms and onions are cooked, skim off the fat and
thicken the sauce with a little flour and butter fried together;
pour it over the veal and put the onions and mushrooms round the
dish.

No. 86. Frittura Piccata al Marsala (Fillet of Veal)

Ingredients: Veal, butter, Marsala, stock, lemon, bacon.

Cut a tender bit of veal steak into small fillets, cut off all the
fat and stringy parts, flour them and fry them in butter. When
they are slightly browned add a glass of Marsala and a teacup of
good stock, and fry on a very hot fire, so that the fillets may
remain tender. Take them off the fire, put a little roll of fried
bacon on each, add a squeeze of lemon juice, and serve.

No. 87. Polpettine Distese (Veal Olives)

Ingredients: Veal steak, butter, bread, eggs, pistacchio nuts,
spice, parsley.

Cut some slices of veal steak very thin as for veal olives, and
spread them out in a well-buttered stewpan. On each slice of veal
put half a spoonful of the following mixture: Pound some crumb of
bread and mix it with a whole egg; add a little salt, some
pistacchio nuts, herbs, and parsley chopped up, and a little
butter. Roll up each slice of veal, cover with a sheet of buttered
paper, put the cover on the stewpan and cook for three-quarters of
an hour in two ounces of butter on a slow fire. Thicken the sauce
with a dessert-spoonful of flour and butter fried together.

No. 88. Coste di Vitello Imboracciate (Ribs of Veal)

Ingredients: Ribs of veal, butter, eggs, Parmesan, bread crumbs,
parsley.

Cut all the sinews from a piece of neck or ribs of veal, cover the
meat with plenty of butter and half cook it on a slow fire, then
let it get cold. When cold, egg it over and roll it in bread
crumbs mixed with a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan; fry in butter
and serve with a garnish of fried parsley and a rich sauce. A
dessert-spoonful of New Century sauce mixed with quarter of a pint
of good thick stock makes a good sauce. (See No. 226.)

No. 89. Costolette di Montone alla Nizzarda (Mutton Cutlets)

Ingredients: Mutton cutlets, butter, olives, mushrooms, cucumbers.

Trim as many cutlets as you require, and marinate them in vinegar,
herbs, and spice for two hours. Before cooking wipe them well and
then saute them in clarified butter, and when they are well
coloured on both sides and resist the pressure of the finger, drain
off the butter and pour four tablespoonsful of Espagnole sauce (No.
1) with a teaspoonful of vinegar and six bruised pepper corns over
them. Arrange them on a dish, putting between each cutlet a
crouton of fried bread, and garnish with olives stuffed with
chopped mushrooms and with slices of fried cucumber.

No. 90. Petto di Castrato all'Italiana (Breast of Mutton)

Ingredients: Breast of mutton, veal, forcemeat, eggs, herbs,
spice, Parmesan.

Stuff a breast of mutton with veal forcemeat mixed with two eggs
beaten up, herbs, a little spice, and a tablespoonful of grated
Parmesan, braize it in stock with a bunch of herbs and two onions.
Serve with Italian sauce (No. 6).

No. 91. Petto di Castrato alla Salsa piccante (Breast of Mutton)

Ingredients: Same as No. 90.

When the breast of mutton has been stuffed and cooked as above, let
it get cold and then cut it into fillets, flour them over, fry in
butter, and serve with tomato sauce piquante (No. 10), or one
dessert-spoonful of New Century sauce in a quarter pint of good
stock or gravy.

No. 92. Tenerumi d'Agnello alla Villeroy (Tendons of Lamb)

Ingredients: Tendons of lamb, eggs, bread crumbs, truffles,
butter, stock, Villeroy sauce.

Slightly cook the tendons (the part of the breast near the ribs) of
lamb, press them between two dishes till cold, then cut into a good
shape and dip them into a Villeroy sauce (No. 18) egg and bread-
crumb, and saute them in butter. When about to serve, put them in
a dish with very good clear gravy. A teaspoonful of chopped mint
and a tablespoonful of chopped truffles mixed with the bread crumbs
will be a great improvement.

No. 93. Tenerumi d' Agnello alla Veneziana (Tendons of Lamb)

Ingredients: Tendons of lamb, butter, parsley, onions, stock.

Fry the tendons of lamb in butter together with a teaspoonful of
chopped parsley and an onion. Serve with good gravy.

No. 94. Costolette d' Agnello alla Costanza (Lamb Cutlets)

Ingredients: Lamb cutlets, butter, stock, cocks' combs, fowl's
liver, mushrooms.

Fry as many lamb cutlets as you require very sharply in butter,
drain off the butter and replace it with some very good stock or
gravy. Make a ragout of cocks' combs, bits of fowl's liver and
mushrooms all cut up; add a white sauce with half a gill of cream
mixed with it, and with this mask the cutlets, and saute them for
fifteen minutes.

Tongue, Sweetbread, Calf's Head, Liver, Sucking Pig, &C.

No. 95. Timballo alla Romana

Ingredients: Cold fowl, game, or sweetbread, butter, lard, flour,
Parmesan, truffles, macaroni, onions, cream.

Back to Full Books