Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1

by Julia Child

  ½ cup (4 ounces) melted butter

  Then add the melted butter and blend several seconds more.

  A fairly fine-meshed sieve

  A wooden spoon

  Salt and pepper

  Force the mixture through the sieve and taste carefully for seasoning.

  A decorative bowl or jar Waxed paper

  Pack into the bowl or jar, cover with waxed paper, and chill for 2 to 3 hours. Or chill until almost set, then pack into a mold lined with jelly as described; chill for several hours before unmolding.

  MOUSSELINE DE VOLAILLE

  [Mousse of Chicken, Turkey, Duck, or Game]

  This is an excellent way to use up cold fowl, and you may mix several kinds together if you wish. Foie gras, liver pâté, or chicken livers, a good stock, wine, and careful seasoning give character to the blandness of the meat. If you do not have an electric blender, purée the ingredients with a meat grinder.

  For about 6 cups serving 8 to 10 people

  3 Tb minced shallots or green onions

  1 Tb butter

  A 4-cup saucepan

  2 cups well flavored poultry stock or white stock;

  OR, canned chicken broth simmered for 20 minutes with ¼ cup of thinly sliced carrots, celery, and onions, and an herb bouquet, then strained

  2 Tb (2 envelopes) gelatin softened in ¼ cup dry white wine or vermouth

  An electric blender

  Cook the shallots or onions slowly with the butter in the saucepan for 2 minutes without browning. Add the stock and the gelatin mixture, and simmer for 1 minute. Pour into the blender jar.

  2 tightly packed cups chopped, cooked chicken, turkey, duck, or game-bird meat

  ⅓ cup foie gras (goose liver), or liver paste; OR ½ cup chicken livers lightly sautéed in butter

  A 3-quart mixing bowl

  Add the poultry meat and foie gras, liver paste, or sautéed livers to the blender. Cover and blend at top speed for a minute or two until the ingredients are puréed. Pour into the bowl.

  2 to 3 Tb cognac or Madeira Salt and pepper Pinch of nutmeg

  Beat in the cognac or wine to taste, and overseason slightly as the cream, which comes later, will mask the flavor a bit. Cover and chill until almost set, stirring occasionally.

  ¾ cup chilled whipping cream

  A chilled bowl

  A chilled wire whip

  Optional: 1 or 2 minced truffles

  A 6-cup mold, lightly oiled OR an 8-cup mold lined with jelly

  Following directions beat the cream until it has doubled in volume and holds its shape softly. Fold the cream and optional truffles into the cold chicken mixture. Pack into the mold. Cover with waxed paper and chill for several hours before un-molding.

  VARIATIONS

  Mousse de Jambon

  [Ham Mousse]

  Use the same recipe and ingredients as for the preceding chicken mousse, but substitute 2⅓ cups of lean, chopped, boiled ham for the chicken and foie gras; a tablespoon of tomato paste may be added for color. Either 1 or 2 diced truffles or ½ cup minced mushrooms sautéed in butter may be folded into the mousse with the cream.

  Mousse de Saumon

  [Salmon Mousse]

  Use the same recipe and ingredients as for the master recipe, chicken mousse, but with 2⅓ cups of cooked or canned salmon instead of chicken and foie gras, and use a white-wine fish stock, instead of white stock.

  MOUSSELINE DE POISSON, BLANCHE NEIGE

  [Fish Mousse—with shellfish and chaud-froid sauce]

  This is a handsome cold dish for a first course or luncheon, and looks well on a cold buffet table. It is important, however, that you season the mixture with care, and use an excellent stock for your jelly, or the flavor of the mousse will not be interesting. Instead of molding the mousse, you may heap it into individual serving shells, then sauce and decorate them as suggested in the recipe.

  If you do not have an electric blender, purée the cooked fish in a food mill.

  For about 6 cups serving 8 to 10 people

  3¼ cups very good white-wine fish stock (note that 1¼ cups are to be reserved for sauce at end of recipe)

  ¾ cup skinless and boneless sole or flounder filets

  A small herb bouquet: 2 parsley sprigs, ⅓ bay leaf, and ⅛ tsp thyme tied in cheesecloth

  A 2½-quart enameled saucepan

  Place 2 cups of the fish stock with the fish and herb bouquet in the saucepan. Bring slowly almost to the simmer, cover, and poach the fish at just below the simmer for about 8 minutes, or until just tender when pierced with a fork.

  An electric blender

  A slotted spoon

  Remove the fish to the blender jar with a slotted spoon. Discard herb bouquet.

  ½ lb. diced fresh mushrooms

  Add the mushrooms to the fish stock in the saucepan. Boil slowly for 8 minutes. Strain, set mushrooms aside, and return liquid to saucepan.

  2 Tb (2 envelopes) gelatin softened in 4 Tb dry white vermouth

  Salt and white pepper

  A 2½-quart mixing bowl

  Stir the gelatin mixture into the liquid in the saucepan and simmer a moment to dissolve the gelatin completely. Pour into the blender jar with the fish. Cover and blend at top speed for a minute or two until puréed. Taste very carefully for seasoning. Pour into a bowl, stir in the mushrooms, and chill. Stir occasionally until cold and almost set.

  ¾ cup chilled whipping cream, lightly beaten

  A 6-cup, lightly oiled ring mold

  A chilled serving platter

  Fold the whipped cream into the cold fish mixture, and turn into the oiled mold. Cover with waxed paper and chill for several hours to set. When ready to decorate, unmold the mousse on the platter and cover with the following sauce.

  Sauce chaud-froid, blanche neige (2 cups)

  The remaining fish stock from first paragraph (1¼ cups)

  1¼ cups whipping cream

  ¼ tsp tarragon

  1 Tb (1 envelope) gelatin softened in 3 Tb dry white vermouth

  Salt and white pepper

  A bowl of cracked ice

  Simmer the stock, cream, and tarragon in a saucepan until reduced to 2 cups. Stir in the gelatin mixture and simmer a moment to dissolve it completely. Correct seasoning, and strain. Stir over cracked ice until the sauce thickens lightly and is about to set.

  1½ cups cooked shrimp, lobster, or crab meat warmed in ¼ cup dry white wine or vermouth, seasoned with salt and pepper, then chilled

  Thin slices of truffle or any of the decorative suggestions

  Fold ½ cup of the sauce into the chilled shellfish, and place in the center of the mousse. Coat the mousse and shellfish with several spoonfuls of sauce. Chill for 10 minutes, and repeat with layers of almost-set sauce. Immediately after the last application of sauce, decorate the mousse with truffles or whatever else you have chosen. Chill until serving time.

  VARIATION

  Mousseline de Crustacés, Blanche Neige

  [Shellfish Mousse]

  Substitute cooked shellfish meat for the sole or flounder in the preceding recipe, but omit the simmering of fish in stock, paragraph one.

  PTÉS AND TERRINES

  Pâtés et Terrines

  The memory of a good French pâté can haunt you for years. Fortunately they are easy to make, and you can even develop your own special pâté maison. Do not expect a top-notch mixture to be inexpensive, however, for it will contain ground pork, pork fat, and usually veal, as well as cognac, port, or Madeira, spices, strips or cubes of other meats, game, or liver, and often truffles. If the mixture is cooked and served cold in its baking dish it is called either a terrine or a pâté. If it is molded in a pastry crust, it is a pâté en croûte. A boned chicken, turkey, or duck filled with the same type of mixture is a galantine. Pâtés and terrines will keep for about 10 days under refrigeration; they are fine to have on hand for cold impromptu meals, since all you need to serve with them are a salad and French bread.

  Wines to serve with pâtés inc
lude the dry whites such as Chablis or Mâcon, rosés, or one of the light regional red wines such as Beaujolais or Chinon, or a good domestic wine of the same general types.

  A NOTE ON PORK FAT

  Fresh pork fat is an essential ingredient for the type of meat mixture which goes into a pâté. Blended with the meats, it prevents them from being dry and gives them a lighter texture. Cut into thin sheets, bardes de lard, it is used to line the inside of the baking dish. The best type is fat back—lard gras. This comes from the back of the pig next to the skin. It is firm and does not disintegrate as easily as fat from other parts of the animal. Fresh fat back is unfortunately difficult to find in America outside of areas catering to special clienteles. Alternatives are fat salt pork simmered for 10 minutes in water to freshen it and remove the salt, or fat trimmed from fresh ham, or from around a fresh pork loin. Thick strips of fat bacon, simmered for 10 minutes in water to remove the smoky taste, may be used to line a baking dish.

  BAKING DISHES

  Pâtés may be cooked in almost any kind of a baking dish from a special rectangular or oval mold called a terrine, to a soufflé dish, casserole, or bread pan. The best materials are glazed pottery, porcelain, enameled iron, or pyrex. Cover the meat mixture with aluminum foil, and the dish with a heavy lid; old recipes call for a cover held in place with a thick band of flour and water paste.

  STORAGE

  Pâtés, terrines, and galantines may be frozen, but they will never again have their original texture. Once you have compared the two, you will always recognize the somewhat damp quality of thawed pâté. If a pâté is to be kept for 10 days or more under refrigeration, it should be unmolded after it has been chilled and the meat jelly wiped off its surface. It then may be wrapped airtight in waxed paper and foil, or returned to its terrine and covered with melted pork fat.

  ASPIC

  (Recipes for aspics; instructions for lining and decorating molds start on this page.)

  To serve a pâté in aspic unmold the pâté after it has been chilled, and scrape off the layer of pork fat surrounding it. Line the bottom of a slightly larger mold with a ⅛-inch layer of jellied stock and chill until set. Place the pâté in the mold, and pour almost-set jellied stock around and over it. Chill. Unmold on a chilled platter.

  Another system is to slice the chilled pâté, arrange it on a platter lined with jellied stock, and then glaze the slices with jelly as for the boeuf mode en gelée.

  FARCE POUR PTÉS, TERRINES, ET GALANTINES

  [Pork and Veal Stuffing]

  This good general-purpose meat mixture we shall refer to as a stuffing, for that is a translation of the French generic term farce. It can be used as the basis for any type of pâté, terrine, or galantine you wish. Mixed with chestnuts, it can also serve as a filling for roast goose or turkey. The pork gives flavor, the veal gives lightness. The proportions may be changed according to your own ideas, and sautéed liver, ground poultry, or game may be beaten into it. Minced truffles are always a good addition, and you can include such things as pistachios, or strips or cubes of pork fat, tongue, or ham to give a pattern to the meat when it is sliced.

  For about 4 cups

  ½ cup very finely minced onions

  2 Tb butter

  A large mixing bowl

  Cook the onions slowly with the butter in a small skillet for 8 to 10 minutes until they are tender and translucent but not browned. Scrape them into the mixing bowl.

  ½ cup port, Madeira, or cognac

  Pour the wine into the skillet and boil it down until reduced by half. Scrape it into the mixing bowl.

  ¾ lb. (about 1½ cups) each, lean pork and lean veal and ½ lb. (1 cup) fresh pork fat, all finely ground together

  2 lightly beaten eggs

  1½ tsp salt

  ⅛ tsp pepper

  Big pinch of allspice

  ½ tsp thyme

  Optional: 1 clove mashed garlic

  A wooden spoon

  Add all the ingredients to the left, and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until the mixture has lightened in texture and is thoroughly blended. Sauté a small spoonful and taste. Then beat in whatever additions you feel are necessary. It should be perfectly flavored. If not to be used immediately, cover and refrigerate.

  TERRINE DE PORC, VEAU, ET JAMBON

  [Pork and Veal Pâté with Ham]

  A pork and veal pâté with decorative strips of veal and ham buried in its slices is the most classic of all pâté mixtures; the three elements blend themselves in a very savory manner.

  For about 7 cups

  Marinating the veal strips

  ½ lb. lean veal from the round or filet cut into strips ¼ inch thick

  Optional: 2 or 3 canned truffles cut into ¼-inch dice, and juice from can

  A bowl

  3 Tb cognac

  Big pinch of salt and pepper

  Pinch of thyme

  Pinch of allspice

  1 Tb finely minced shallots or green onions

  Marinate the veal and optional truffles and their juice in a bowl with the cognac and seasonings while preparing the other ingredients. Before using, drain the strips, and reserve the marinade.

  Molding the pâté

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  An 8-cup rectangular or oval terrine, baking dish, casserole, or loaf pan

  Sheets of fresh pork fat back ⅛ inch thick, or blanched fat salt pork, or blanched fat bacon, this page

  4 cups of the preceding pork and veal stuffing

  ½ lb. lean boiled ham cut into strips ¼ inch thick

  1 bay leaf

  A sheet of pork fat or strips of blanched bacon to cover the pâté

  Line the bottom and sides of the terrine with the pork fat or bacon. Beat marinade into stuffing; divide stuffing into three parts. Dip your hands in cold water, and arrange the first third of the stuffing in the bottom of the terrine. Cover with half the strips of marinated veal alternating with half the strips of ham. If using diced truffles, place a row down the center. Cover with the second third of the stuffing, and a final layer of veal and ham strips, and optional truffles. Spread on the last of the meat stuffing. Lay the bay leaf on top, and cover with a sheet of pork fat or bacon strips.

  Baking the pâté

  Aluminum foil

  A heavy lid for the terrine

  A pan of boiling water

  Enclose the top of the terrine with aluminum foil, cover, and set in the pan of boiling water. The water should come about halfway up the outside of the terrine; add boiling water during cooking, as necessary. Set in lower third of preheated oven and bake for about 1½ hours depending on the shape of the terrine; a long loaf shape will cook faster than a round or oval shape. The pâté is done when it has shrunk slightly from the sides of the terrine, and the surrounding fat and juices are clear yellow with no traces of rosy color.

  Cooling and chilling

  Take the terrine from the water and set it on a plate. Remove lid, and on top of the foil covering the pâté put a piece of wood, a pan, or a casserole which will just fit into the terrine. On or in it, place a 3- to 4-lb. weight or parts of a meat grinder; this will pack the pâté into the terrine so there will be no air spaces in the meat. Allow the pâté to cool at room temperature for several hours or overnight. Then chill it, still weighted down.

  Serving

  Serve the pâté from its terrine, slicing down through it with a knife. Or unmold it and serve on a platter, or decorate in aspic as suggested.

  VARIATIONS

  Pâté de Veau et Porc avec Gibier

  [Game Pâté]

  For rabbit, hare, partridge, pheasant, duck, and other game

  1 lb. (about 2 cups) boneless, skinless, raw game

  Ingredients for the preceding pork and veal pâté, minus the veal strips and ham strips

  Following the preceding recipe, cut the game meat into strips ¼ inch wide, and marinate them in cognac and seasonings. Grind the smaller pieces and beat them into the stuffing mixture; th
en proceed with the recipe.

  Pâté de Veau et Porc avec Foie

  [Pork and Veal Pâté with Liver]

  Ingredients for the pork and veal pâté in the preceding master recipe, minus the veal strips and ham strips

  1 lb. (about 2 cups) liver: chicken, calf, lamb, pork, or beef

  Follow the master recipe, but after cooking the onions for the meat stuffing, cut the liver into ¼-inch pieces and sauté with the onions for 2 to 3 minutes until the liver is slightly stiffened but still rosy inside. Scrape into the mixing bowl, and proceed with the recipe. (The cognac and other ingredients listed in the recipe as a marinade may be beaten into your meat stuffing, if you wish.)

  A NOTE ON GALANTINES

  The boned and stuffed duck in the following recipe would be a galantine de canard rather than a canard en croûte if it were stuffed then wrapped in a damp towel, poached in meat stock, cooled with a weight over it, chilled, and glazed with jellied stock. The same system may be used also for large roasting chickens, capons, and turkeys.

  PTÉ EN CROÛTE

  [Pâté Baked in a Crust]

  Canard en Croûte