by Unknown
‘And then come along a brace of palombes or wild doves and then the other half of the hare, well grilled…
‘The sweet-meats, the entremets, will be, as always, the weakest part of this rustic meal. Better eat some home-made jam and fresh cream and then tackle the cheeses of the country. Roquefort is their glory and although there are not here such magnificent soft cheeses as Brie and Camembert (at their best) still, the strong and subtle cheeses of the South are worthy of all respect.
‘Down here, after all, one is near the Lot and it may well be that the wine is the fruity, purple southern vintage of Cahors, city of Popes and prelates and prunes and memories of pomp. Nearly all the Coteaux du Lot are interesting and well sustain the Perigord cooking that ranks with those of Burgundy, Provence, Bresse and Béarn as the best in the French provinces.’
Cross-Channel
by Alan Houghton Brodrick
LIÈVRE À LA ROYALE
This famous recipe for lièvre à la royale was invented by Senator Couteaux, who contributed regular articles to the Paris newspaper Le Temps. On November 29,1898, instead of his usual political column, appeared this remarkable recipe. M. Couteaux related at length how he had spent a week in Poitou hunting the right kind of hare; how, the exactly suitable animal at last in his hands, he instantly took the train to Paris, sent out his invitations, and hurried off to consult his friend Spüller, who ran a well-known restaurant in the Rue Favart, to arrange the preparation and cooking of his hare for the following day. The dish takes from noon until 7 o’clock to prepare and cook, and Senator Couteaux tells how by 6 o’clock the exquisite aroma had penetrated the doors of Spüller’s restaurant, floated down the street and out into the boulevard, where the passers-by sniffed the scented air; an excitable crowd gathered, and the whole quartier was ‘mis en émoi’. If you ever feel like devoting the time (perhaps you need not after all spend a week catching your hare) and the ingredients to cooking this dish you will see that the senator was not exaggerating.
I have translated the recipe as faithfully as possible. It is very lengthy and there are repetitions. But in those days there was plenty of space to fill up; and from the senator’s precise instructions one can well imagine the delightful old gentleman bending over his ‘daubière’, and the pride with which he presented this beautiful creation to his gourmet friends.
‘Ingredients
‘You require a male hare, with red fur, killed if possible in mountainous country; of fine French descent (characterized by the light nervous elegance of head and limbs), weighing from 5 to 6 pounds, that is to say older than a leveret but still adolescent. The important thing is that the hare should have been cleanly killed and so not have lost a drop of blood.
‘The fat to cook it: 2 or 3 tablespoons of goose fat, ¼ lb of fat bacon rashers; ¼ lb of bacon in one piece.
‘Liquid: 6 oz of good red wine vinegar. Two bottles of Macon or Médoc, whichever you please, but in any case not less than 2 years old.
‘Utensils: A daubière, or oblong stewing pan, of well-tinned copper, 8 inches high, 15 inches long, 8 inches wide and possessed of a hermetically closing cover; a small bowl in which to preserve the blood of the hare, and later to stir it when it comes to incorporating it in the sauce; a double-handled vegetable chopper; a large shallow serving dish; a sieve; a small wooden pestle.
‘The wine to serve: Preferably a St Julien or Moulin à Vent.
‘Preliminary Preparations
‘Skin and clean the hare. Keep aside the heart, the liver, and the lungs. Keep aside also and with great care the blood. (It is traditional to add 2 or 3 small glasses of fine old cognac to the blood; but this is not indispensable; M. Couteaux finally decided against this addition.)
‘In the usual way prepare a medium-sized carrot, cut into four; 4 medium onions each stuck with a clove; 20 cloves of garlic; 40 cloves of shallot; a bouquet garni, composed of a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, and some pieces of parsley.
‘Get ready some charcoal, in large pieces, which you will presently be needing, burning fast.
‘First Operation (from half-past twelve until four o’clock)*
‘At 12.30 coat the bottom and sides of the stewpan with the goose fat; then at the bottom of the pan arrange a bed of rashers of bacon.
‘Cut off the head and neck of the hare: leaving only the back and the legs. Then place the hare at full length on the bed of bacon, on its back. Cover it with another layer of bacon. Now all your bacon rashers are used up.
‘Now add the carrot; the onions; the 20 cloves of garlic; the 40 cloves of shallot;* the bouquet garni.
‘Pour over the hare:
(i) the 6 oz of red wine vinegar, and
(ii) a bottle and a half of 2-year-old Macon (or Médoc).
‘Season with pepper and salt in reasonable quantity.
‘At one o’clock. The daubière being thus arranged, put on the lid and set the fire going (either a gas stove or an ordinary range). On the top of the lid place 3 or 4 large pieces of charcoal in an incandescent state, well aligbt and glowing.
‘Regulate your heat so that the hare may cook for 3 hours, over a gentle and regular fire, continuously.
‘Second Operation (to be carried out during the first cooking of the bare)
‘First chop exceedingly finely the four following ingredients, chopping each one separately:
(i) ¼ lb of bacon.
(ii) the heart, liver, and lungs of the hare,
(iii) 10 cloves of garlic,
(iv) 20 cloves of shallot.
‘The chopping of the garlic and the shallots must be so fine that each of them attain as nearly as possible a molecular state.
‘This is one of the first conditions of success of this marvellous dish, in which the multiple and diverse perfumes and aromas melt into a whole so harmonious that neither one dominates, nor discloses its particular origin, and so arouse some preconceived prejudice, however regrettable.
‘The bacon, the insides of the hare, the garlic, and shallots being chopped very fine, and separately, blend them all together thoroughly, so as to obtain an absolutely perfect mixture. Keep this mixture aside.
‘Third Operation (from four o’clock until a quarter to seven)
‘At four o’clock. Remove the stewpan from the fire. Take the hare out very delicately; put it on a dish. Then remove all the débris of the bacon, carrot, onions, garlic, shallot, which may be clinging to it; return these débris to the pan.
‘The Sauce. Now take a large deep dish and a sieve. Empty the contents of the pan into the sieve, which you have placed over the dish; with a small wooden pestle pound the contents of the sieve, extracting all the juice, which forms a coulis in the dish.
‘Mixing the coulis and the hachis (the chopped mixture). Now comes the moment to make use of the mixture which was the subject of the second operation. Incorporate this into the coulis.
‘Heat the half bottle of wine left over from the first operation. Pour this hot wine into the mixture of coulis and hachis and stir the whole well together.
‘At half-past four. Return to the stewpan:
(i) the mixture of coulis and hachis,
(ii) the hare, together with any of the bones which may have become detached during the cooking.
‘Return the pan to the stove, with the same gentle and regular fire underneath and on the top, for another 1½ hours’ cooking.
‘At six o’clock. As the excess of fat, issuing from the necessary quantity of bacon, will prevent you from judging the state of the sauce, you must now proceed to operate a first removal of the fat. Your work will not actually be completed until the sauce has become sufficiently amalgamated to attain a consistence approximating to that of a purée of potatoes; not quite, however, for if you tried to make it too thick, you would end by so reducing it that there would not be sufficient to moisten the flesh (by nature dry) of the hare.
‘Your hare having therefore had the fat removed, can continue to cook, still on a very slow fire, until the mo
ment comes for you to add the blood which you have reserved with the utmost care as has already been instructed.
‘Fourth Operation (quarter of an hour before serving)
‘At quarter to seven. The amalgamation of the sauce proceeding successfully, a fourth and last operation will finally and rapidly bring it to completion.
‘Addition of the blood to the hare. With the addition of the blood, not only will you hasten the amalgamation of the sauce but also give it a fine brown colour; the darker it is the more appetizing. This addition of the blood should not be made more than 30 minutes before serving; it must also be preceded by a second removal of the fat.
‘Therefore, effectively remove the fat; after which, without losing a minute, turn to the operation of adding the blood.
(i) Whip the blood with a fork, until, if any of it has become curdled, it is smooth again. (Note: the optional addition of the brandy mentioned at the beginning helps to prevent the curdling of the blood.)
(ii) Pour the blood into the sauce, taking care to stir the contents of the pan from top to bottom and from right to left, so that the blood will penetrate into every corner of the pan.
‘Now taste; add pepper and salt if necessary. A little later (45 minutes at a maximum) get ready to serve.
‘Arrangements for serving
‘At seven o’clock. Remove from the pan your hare, whose volume by this time has naturally somewhat shrunk.
‘At any rate, in the centre of the serving dish, place all that still has the consistency of meat, the bones, entirely denuded, and now useless, being thrown away, and now finally around this hare en compote pour the admirable sauce which has been so carefully created.’
Needless to say (concludes the senator) that to use a knife to serve the hare would be a sacrilege. A spoon alone is amply sufficient.
CIVET DE LIÈVRE
This Civet consists of the whole hare carefully cut up, with a garnish of cèpes* and croûtons. Do not marinate the hare; in my opinion to do so spoils its fine flavour, and if you have an elderly animal he will do very nicely for a pâté (see p. 144).
In a heavy pan put 4 oz of fat bacon cut in squares, 2 onions finely chopped, 2 or 3 shallots and a clove of garlic, also finely chopped. When they start to turn golden, put in the pieces of hare, which you have carefully wiped. Let them brown on both sides, for about 10 minutes, and then stir in 2 oz of flour, taking care that it does not burn. Add ½ pint of red wine and ½ pint of brown stock. Cover the pan and leave it to simmer for an hour.
Clean and cut in slices ½ lb of cèpes, fry them in oil and add them to the hare (when it has cooked for an hour), and simmer a further 30 minutes. Arrange the pieces of hare in the serving dish and keep them hot. Add to the sauce in die pan the blood of the hare, to which you have mixed a teaspoon each of oil, vinegar, and wine, the pounded liver and a pinch of parsley, thyme, and rosemary.
Reheat the sauce but do not let it boil again, pour it over the hare and garnish with croûtons of fried bread.
LEPRE IN AGRODOLCE
A typical Italian way of cooking game. The chocolate sounds alarming, but serves to sweeten and darken the sauce, and in the blending of the whole the taste of chocolate does not obtrude.
A hare, cut up, vinegar, butter, onion, ham or bacon, sugar, chocolate, almonds, raisins, stock, and seasoning.
Wash the pieces of hare in vinegar, sauté them in butter with the sliced onion, ham or bacon and seasoning, and add the stock. Simmer slowly. Half fill a wineglass with sugar, and add vinegar until the glass is three-quarters full. Mix the vinegar and sugar well together and add to the hare when it is nearly cooked.
Add a dessertspoonful of grated chocolate, a handful of shredded almonds, and stoned raisins, and finish cooking.
LAPIN AU COULIS DE LENTILLES
Cut a rabbit in large pieces, sauté it with bacon and fat. Pour over a glass of white wine or cider, let it bubble a minute or two to reduce, then add seasoning and aromatic herbs. Cover the pan and simmer until the rabbit is tender. Have ready a purée of brown lentils. Mix the liquid from the rabbit into the purée, reduce until thick, add the pieces of rabbit and bacon and reheat.
Vegetables
N.B. – Many of these vegetable dishes constitute a course in themselves, and are intended to be served as such, after the meat or fish, when their full flavour will be appreciated.
The Vegetable Market at Palermo
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
‘The near end of the street was rather dark and had mostly vegetable shops. Abundance of vegetables – piles of white and green fennel, like celery, and great sheaves of young, purplish, sea-dust-coloured artichokes, nodding their buds, piles of big radishes, scarlet and bluey purple, carrots, long strings of dried figs, mountains of big oranges, scarlet large peppers, a last slice of pumpkin, a great mass of colours and vegetable freshnesses. A mountain of black-purple cauliflowers, like niggers’ heads, and a mountain of snow-white ones next to them. How the dark, greasy, night-stricken street seems to beam with these vegetables, all this fresh delicate flesh of luminous vegetables piled there in the air, and in the recesses of the windowless little caverns of the shops, and gleaming forth on the dark air, under the lamps.’
Sea and Sardinia
by D. H. Lawrence
POTATO KEPHTÉDÉS (a favourite Greek dish)
Sieve 1 lb cold boiled potatoes, add ½ oz of melted butter, salt, pepper, chopped parsley, a little chopped green onion and 2 finely chopped tomatoes (without the peel), and 2 oz flour. Knead lightly, roll out and shape into rounds. Fry them in a little hot fat or oil, or put them on a greased tin in the oven until golden brown. They should be very soft inside.
POMMES ANNA
A recipe often found in cookery books but less frequently upon the tables of either restaurants or private houses. It is not a southern dish, but makes a very good accompaniment to rich Mediterranean dishes of beef, mutton, hare or other game cooked with wine and herbs. They also make the ideal accompaniment to a Tournedos, or a roast bird of any kind.
For 4 people you need about 1½ lb of potatoes (1 rather large potato per person), an earthenware terrine or metal pan of 1 pint capacity with a close-fitting lid, 3 oz of butter, salt and pepper.
Peel and wash the potatoes. Slice them all the same size, about the thickness of a penny. This is important, in order that they should all be cooked at the same time, and it is laborious to do unless you have a cutter. The perfect instrument is a wooden board with an arrangement of blades. It is called a mandolin. It can be found in the shops which sell imported French kitchen utensils, and is also invaluable for slicing cucumbers thin for salads.
Having sliced your potatoes, wash them well (this does away with any starchy taste) and dry them in a cloth. Coat the inside of your terrine with butter and arrange the potatoes carefully in layers, building up from the bottom and round the sides, so that the slices are evenly distributed, placing small pats of butter and seasoning with a little salt and pepper at intervals. Over the top place a piece of buttered paper and put the cover on.
Cook them in a slow oven (Regulo 2 or 3) for 40 minutes to an hour. They can either be turned out on to a dish or served from the terrine.
It must be admitted that modern English commercially grown potatoes are not very successful for dishes such as pommes Anna. Yellow-fleshed, waxy kidney potatoes should be used.
POMMES DE TERRE EN MATELOTE
Cut hot boiled potatoes in half, put them in a casserole with butter, parsley, chives, pepper, and salt, cover with stock or water and a glass of wine. Cook about 10 minutes. Bind the sauce with a yolk of egg.
POMMES DE TERRE À LA MANIÈRE D’APT
Potatoes cut in ¼ inch rounds, 3 tablespoons olive oil, 5 tablespoons fresh tomato purée, salt, pepper, a bay leaf, 6 stoned black olives, breadcrumbs.
Put the olive oil into a shallow gratin dish, add the tomato purée, the potatoes, salt, pepper, and bay leaf, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Barely
cover the potatoes with boiling water, and simmer another 30 minutes. Now add the black olives, and cover with a layer of breadcrumbs.
Put in a moderate oven for another 30 minutes.
Serve in the same dish.
SWEET POTATOES (Patátés)
When there was a shortage of potatoes in the Middle East during the war, the Army cooks made the fatal mistake of cooking sweet potatoes like chips, with the result that the whole of the Eighth Army grew to detest these vegetables, and it is true that they are not good when treated as an ordinary potato and served as an adjunct to meat.
They should be baked in their skins, and eaten as a separate course with butter and salt, and they are simply delicious.
The Greeks slice them and make them into sweet fritters, served with a honey sauce.
CAROTTES AU BLANC
Blanch carrots in boiling water, slice them and put them in a casserole with butter, salt, pepper, and parsley. Cover them with milk. When they are cooked bind the sauce with the yolk of an egg.
COURGETTES AUX TOMATES
Slice the courgettes (very young marrows), peeling them only if they are large or blemished. Salt them and leave to stand for 30 minutes. Put them in a fireproof dish with plenty of butter and 2 sliced and peeled tomatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes on a very low flame.
BEIGNETS D’AUBERGINES (1)
In the big markets of Marseille and Toulon there are always one or two stalls selling cooked food, such as socca and panisse (different sorts of pancakes made of semolina or maize flour), little anchovy pâtés, and these beignets, smoking hot from the pan. They are quite excellent.
Without peeling the aubergines, slice them lengthwise very thinly. Salt them and leave them to drain on a plate for an hour.
Squeeze out the water, dip the slices in frying batter (see p. 50) and fry them in very hot oil.
