LUNCH DISHES

Cheese crusts (110)
Parisian sole (187)
Muttongues in macedonia (277)
Geneva eggplant (213)
Toad pigeons (246)
Chilled rice with candied fruit (278)

DINNER DISHES

Royal soup (279)
Portuguese eggs (166)
Rabbit in jelly (72)
Salsify with chicken (280)
Chicken with fine herbs (281)
Apple aspic (282)

277. Mutton tongues in macedonia.
Four sheep tongues, an onion, two or three carrots, a few turnips, a few small potatoes, a bouquet garni, a mayonnaise, a pinch of cayenne, green beans, one or two tomatoes.
Take the sheep tongues and clean them, after having soaked them in cold water for an hour; you put them to cook, like a pot-au-feu, with an onion, two or three carrots, a few turnips, a few small potatoes and a bouquet garni. When the tongues are very tender, that is after cooking for two or three hours, remove them, peel them and put them to cool as well as the vegetables and the cooking.
Then slice the vegetables as for making a macedoine, and sprinkle them with a nice thick mayonnaise seasoned with a pinch of cayenne. Add one or two tomatoes also sliced, then green beans. You can use vegetables left over from the day before; the more varied the macedoine, the better it will be. Arrange it in the middle of a round dish and surround it with the thinly sliced ​​lamb tongues. To make the dish prettier, put the mayonnaise alone in the middle of the dish, arrange the vegetables in small piles all around, alternating the different colors. To finish, arrange the slices of tongue surrounded by curly parsley in a crown.

278. Iced rice with candied fruit.
A liter of milk, a vanilla stick, four tablespoons of Caroline rice, four tablespoons of powdered sugar, five to six gelatin leaves, a few pieces of citron, angelica, orange peel, a small glass of kirsch, half a liter of whipped cream, redcurrant jam.
Put a liter of milk and a vanilla stick in a saucepan; as soon as it boils, pour in four tablespoons of beautiful Caroline rice and stir constantly until it is perfectly cooked. Then add four tablespoons of powdered sugar; pour into a bowl, remove the vanilla and mix in five to six sheets of gelatin that you have previously softened in cold water and melted over the heat. Add a few pieces of citron, angelica, orange peel, or other candied fruit, cut into small cubes, and a small glass of kirsch. Leave to cool. When the mixture is barely warm, mix in half a liter of whipped cream, very firm and sweetened. Pour into a well-buttered cake tin; refrigerate for twelve hours and unmold, quickly dipping the tin in hot water. Fill the central hole with redcurrant jam. The dessert will be delicious if it can be iced.

279. Royal soup
Four beautiful chicories, two liters of salted water, 100 grams of butter, flour, half a liter of broth, salt, pepper, two beautiful potatoes, nutmeg, four egg yolks, half a liter of milk, a pinch of chervil, a large glass of crème fraîche.
Peel four beautiful chicories, wash them in several waters and plunge them into two liters of boiling salted water. Let boil for about 10 minutes; drain them and squeeze them firmly between your hands to extract all the water. Then put the chicories back in a saucepan with 60 grams of butter; stir for a few minutes, over high heat, to evaporate the excess moisture; sprinkle with a spoonful of flour, mix well, add half a liter of broth, salt, pepper and let cook on the side of the fire.
On the other hand, cook two beautiful potatoes, very floury; peel them, strain them and work this kind of dough with salt, pepper, a little nutmeg, incorporating, little by little, 30 grams of butter, a small spoonful of flour and two egg yolks. When this preparation is homogeneous and almost elastic, turn it out onto a table sprinkled with flour, roll it into a sausage shape and divide it into small parts which you will give the shape of small long quenelles. As you go, arrange them on a floured cloth.
Then pass your chicory through a sieve and dilute the broth with half a liter of boiling milk. Separately, drop all your quenelles into a saucepan of boiling salted water for a few seconds. And, at the time of serving, put in your soup tureen a good pinch of chopped chervil, a large glass of crème fraîche in which you have diluted two egg yolks and a knob of butter. Pour gently, stirring constantly, your soup, and add the quenelles, after having drained them well.

280. Salsify with chicken.
A packet of salsify, acidulated water, a little flour, milk, salt, pepper, two egg yolks, a large knob of butter or Végétaline", a lemon juice.
Rake the salsify and throw them, as you prepare them, in a saucepan where you have put slightly acidulated water. Remove them and plunge them into boiling salted water, in which you dilute a little flour.
When they are sufficiently cooked, drain them. Then dilute in a little milk, salted and peppered, two good spoonfuls of flour; let cook for ten minutes, stop boiling; add two egg yolks, diluted in a little water, a large knob of butter and a lemon juice. Add your salsify and serve.

281. Chicken with fine herbs.
A chicken, breadcrumbs soaked in milk, two eggs, a spoonful of tarragon, one of chervil, parsley and one of small chives, salt, pepper, 125 grams of butter, two or three strips of tard, an onion, a few carrots, a spoonful of starch, a glass of Madeira, a large spoonful of fine herbs, a small handful of watercress.
Pluck, flambé and empty the chicken. Then prepare a stuffing with the liver, a little breadcrumb soaked in milk and mixed with two whole eggs, well beaten, a spoonful of tarragon, one of chervil, parsley and one of small chives, all chopped very fine, seasoned with salt, pepper and kneaded with 75 grams of top quality butter; introduce this stuffing into the chicken and carefully sew up the opening. Truss it, surround it with two or three strips of fatty bacon and roast it like an ordinary chicken. Then, in a small saucepan, put a good knob of butter, a finely chopped onion, a few slices of carrots; sprinkle with a spoonful of starch and dilute with a glass of Madeira; add a large spoonful of herbs like those that made up the stuffing and a small handful of watercress, all finely chopped; simmer very gently for the duration of the chicken cooking. When it is cooked, unbridle it and serve it in a dish, surrounded by watercress, the sauce presented separately in a sauceboat.

282. Apple aspic.
450 grams of peeled Reinette apples, 200 grams of sugar cubes, 1 deciliter of water, the juice of half a lemon, a vanilla cream.-
Take a thick saucepan, put the water, sugar and lemon juice in it. Place over low heat to melt. Cut the apples into quarters half a centimeter thick and throw them into the melted sugar; then place over a high heat and turn carefully from time to time. Let cook briskly without covering for about twenty minutes. Keep an eye on them especially at the end. When the apples are transparent and there is no more moisture floating on the surface, pour into a turban shape and let cool for at least six hours. Serve with a vanilla cream or sauce made with two spoonfuls of redcurrant jelly, two spoonfuls of water, two spoonfuls of rum.

THE FIREPLACE CRICKET.

A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING

Meat omelette.
Finely chop the side of braised beef or boiled beef, the nice slices of which you have already used. Season well. Add two spoonfuls of milk or leftover juice, to make it less dry.
Prepare the eggs for the omelette and beat them vigorously. Pour into the pan, cover with the mince and cook like a ham omelette. Slide the omelette in, but do not fold it.

Orange syrup. Put a liter and a half of water and 24 grams of citric acid in a bowl. Rub 2 kilos of sugar in pieces on the peel of eight oranges, then melt it in the acidulated water. Leave to rest for twenty-four hours in the cellar, then filter and bottle. Macarons. To make about forty-five macaroons, take three whole eggs; separate the whites from the yolks. Take these and mix them with 150 grams of flour, 100 grams of crushed almonds, 125 grams of caster sugar and a small glass of rum. Let it warm slightly and add 125 grams of Isigny butter. Beat the egg whites until stiff, as usual, and mix everything together for a long time. Then, divide into small piles, on one or more buttered baking sheets and bake in the oven for 25 or 30 minutes.

Small instant pancakes. Mix two spoonfuls of flour with half a glass of milk in a bowl, add two egg yolks, beating vigorously and without stopping. Gradually add two egg whites beaten until stiff; beat everything together and use a small frying pan no more than twenty centimeters in diameter, and even smaller if possible.

A Letter from a Tax Collector, in the Olden Days...

The Revue du Trésor has collected, in "a merry magazine" that it does not name, the reproduction of a warning addressed to a taxpayer by a tax collector of Paris, on 8 Messidor Year II. It is certainly a curious piece:

The Private Receiver, tax collector of the 2nd arrondissement, to the citizen Plaine-Seveste, rue du Foin, in the Marais, n°145. Sir,
I would like to have to write to you only once a year to remind you of the payment of your taxes: you would save precious time, and I would find a great saving of work; but my commitments are so considerable and so close that I cannot refrain from inviting you, every three months, to send me the terms due on your various contributions.
The eagerness with which you have responded to the letters that I have had the honour of writing to you for three years is a sure guarantee of the eagerness with which you will pay the three-quarters of the year II, which are due on the first of Messidor.
I hope that this letter will have the usual effect on you, Sir, and that the good harmony between the taxpayer and the receiver will not be disturbed. I will always consider myself happy when I owe my income to your trust, to your esteem, rather than to the means of constraint that the laws give me.
I invite you to send me before the thirteenth of Messidor the amount of the sums indicated at the top of the letter. Please spare me, by your punctuality, the inconvenience that I would experience in seeing myself reduced to having to exercise proceedings against you which would be necessitated by a longer delay on your part. The urgency of my needs even forces me to ask you to send me the terms due on the first Messidor, even if your custom were to pay every four months. I have the honor to ask you, Sir, to accept my civilities. (Illegible signature.)