LUNCH DISHES

Beef liver pâté (128)
Sea fish stew (80)
Braised lamb with chicory (163)
Provençal eggplant (164)
Duck with turnips (165)
Cherry pudding (139)

DINNER DISHES

Vaubonne Soup (131)
Portuguese Eggs (166)
Italian Red Mullet (167)
Peas in Juice (156)
Flemish Pigeons (130)
Rhubarb Tart (168)

163. Braised Lamb with Chicory.
A shoulder of lamb, butter, thyme, salt, pepper, bacon, a deciliter of stock, four heads of curly endive, lemon.

Debone the shoulder of lamb. Put a knob of butter, a small sprig of thyme, salt and pepper inside. Roll. Put a large strip of bacon, 100 grams of butter, a deciliter of stock in a braising pan. Place the shoulder on the strip. Cover and sear over high heat. After a few minutes of cooking, cook over moderate heat and let brown without letting the juice brown and dry out. To do this, moisten from time to time with a spoonful of water or broth.

Peel four beautiful heads of curly chicory; wash them and cook them in boiling salted water for twenty minutes; drain, chop finely and cook with butter; salt and pepper.

Once the cooked shoulder is cooked, place it on a very hot dish; strain the cooking juices and deglaze the braising pan well. Baste the chicory with this juice; serve it in a deep dish or vegetable dish, the rest of the juice in a sauceboat. Place the shoulder on a dish accompanied by lemon wedges.

164. Provençal eggplants.
Four eggplants, two large tomatoes, a clove of garlic, five tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, parsley.

Dip the tomatoes in boiling water for a few seconds and remove the skin; cut them in half, discard the seeds; chop them lightly and sprinkle with salt. Cut the head and tail of the eggplants, peel them lengthwise, removing as little flesh as possible; cut them into rounds the thickness of a ten-cent coin.

Put the oil in the pan; heat it gently; put flour on a cloth, put the eggplants in it and sprinkle with flour; shake the cloth vigorously so that the eggplants are well soaked in flour; throw them into the smoking oil; sauté them immediately so that the top goes underneath to soak up the oil, cover and leave for two minutes. Sauté them again after the same time two more times; add the whole garlic and tomatoes; cover and push into the oven on a baking sheet.

In five minutes, sauté them; repeat two more times at five-minute intervals; remove the clove of garlic, salt and pepper, sauté them to mix the seasoning, sprinkle with chopped parsley, pour into a vegetable dish and serve on warmed plates.

165. Duck with turnips.

One duck, roast fat in butter, twelve small turnips, a little starch, vinegar.

Empty, flambé and truss the duck as usual. Put it in a saucepan with roast fat or butter; place on the fire and brown it in all directions. Drain the fat into a frying pan, pour into the saucepan a soup ladle of broth or juice; cover, cook, basting from time to time.

Meanwhile, peel the small turnips; if they are large, divide them and trim them lightly. Blanch them for a moment only to remove their bitterness; drain them and brown them a little in the pan where you drained the fat; add them to the duck. If the duck is young, three quarters of an hour of cooking is enough.

Remove the duck to a plate, unbridle it, skim the fat from the sauce, reduce it if necessary, and thicken with a little cornstarch, diluted cold; sauce the duck and serve.

166. Portuguese Eggs.
Two nice tomatoes, oil, parsley, salt and pepper, four eggs.

Cut the tomatoes in half, in the direction of the roundness; with the handle of a teaspoon, remove the seeds well, but do not peel the tomatoes. Place the four tomatoes in a serving dish that is safe for the stove; drizzle with oil, sprinkle very lightly with parsley, salt and pepper, then put in the oven to cook.

When the tomatoes are cooked through, remove the dish from the oven; crack a very fresh egg into each tomato, salt and pepper. Put back in the oven until the eggs turn milky and cloudy. Remove immediately, serve immediately in the baking dish.

167. Italian-style red mullet.
Four red mullet, six tomatoes, 125 grams of butter, a glass of Marsala, a shallot, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper, 60 grams of grated Gruyere cheese, a tablespoon of breadcrumbs.

Scale the red mullet and wipe them with a cloth (do not empty them). Chop them on both sides, arrange them in a buttered roasting dish, season them with the chopped shallot, thyme and bay leaf, salt and pepper, and the glass of Marsala. Place on the stovetop; as soon as it boils, slide the dish into the oven, covering the fish with a sheet of buttered paper. Leave for a quarter of an hour.

Meanwhile, prepare a good thick sauce with the tomatoes, in which you will pass the fish stock through a fine sieve.

The red mullet will be lined up in a gratin dish; reduce the sauce for a moment, let it cool for a few minutes, then add half of the grated Gruyere, whisk a little, and with a tablespoon coat the red mullet with all the sauce, sprinkle the remaining cheese and a small amount of breadcrumbs on top. Put back in the oven to brown lightly.

168. Rhubarb tart.
This type of tart is served a lot in England where it is eaten cold. Rhubarb stalks, brown sugar, shortcrust pastry.

Split the stalks lengthwise, all of equal size, and three to four fingers long, after removing the reddish peel that surrounds them. Arrange these pieces in a gratin dish. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Raise into a high dome.

Have some sweet shortcrust pastry, roll out the pastry to a thickness of one centimeter, cut a strip the length and width of the edge of the dish, moisten it with a little water, place this strip around it, pressing a little. Roll out the rest of the pastry a little larger than the dish, cover it and the edge of the pastry (slightly moistened); brown the top with egg, make an incision in the center of the lid to allow steam to escape. Bake in a moderately heated oven for about an hour. Halfway through cooking, moisten it again lightly, and sprinkle well with sugar or semolina, finish cooking, keeping a close eye on the tart, until it is well glazed. Since rhubarb has a fairly pronounced sour taste, don't be afraid to add a lot of brown sugar. Remove from the oven, let it cool and serve as is.

THE HOLDHOUSE'S CRICKET.

FRENCH GOOD CUISINE

Poularde aux truffles
The work of the Marquis de Cussy, Prefect of the Palace under the Empire, the recipe for the famous poularde aux truffles, the making of which conquered the heart and stomach of Napoleon, has remained with us, to the great joy of our generation and those that followed.

The Marquis de Cussy, who did not disdain to do it himself, began by passing his truffles through grated bacon seasoned with salt, pepper, four spices and a sprig of garlic. He let the truffles simmer for twenty minutes, then introduced them into the inside of the poularde, emptied but not plucked. He hung it in a cool pantry, left it there for a quarter of an hour, plucked it and flambéed it, and replaced the first truffles with new ones, prepared in the same way.
This process is based on physics, said Mr. de Cussy. By not plucking the animal, all the pores remain closed. The hot truffles combine with the palpitating flesh and the infiltration of their perfume is more active, more intimate. The truffles lose what they give: from then on, we thought that they had to be replaced by virgin truffles.
We then only have to roast the poultry, as usual. And we are sure to be conquered, since there was a great conqueror before us.

Brandade nîmoise
This is not quite the same preparation as the brandade cettoise or the brandade provençale. The Nimois find that theirs has more finesse.

First, they start by taking a Norwegian cod, that is to say, one of the most delicate. These are much smaller cod than the others and their flesh is much whiter.
They are soaked for at least twelve hours, but rather fifteen, taking care to change the water several times. The next day, the desalted fish is blanched until the flesh comes off. This flesh is then pounded very slowly, alternately pouring milk and the water in which it was prepared, as well as olive oil. The skin must be left on, which gives the cod its finesse and velvety texture.

Since the cod is very white and well bound, it is poured into a container and heated in a bain-marie. When serving, add milk and oil, white pepper and lemon juice, according to the taste of the guests. And do not neglect the good Languedoc vintages, because the brandade from Nimes makes you drink.

ROSETTE.