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French Dishes

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Potato and beef match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,051 recipes mention both. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, soy, fish, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: lobster, clam

Directions

  1. little cayenne. Boil, and then remove your sauce- pan to the back of the range to simmer gently. Take off all grease most carefully, and, when your hare is thoroughly done, strain your consomme and serve with the hare.

  2. 52. Soup of Sturgeon a la Pierre Legrand. Take one pound of pike, one of perch, and the same of eels, which put into a saucepan, with an onion cut in slices, a carrot, a clove of garlic, a very little thyme, and a bay-leaf. Cut up your fish, add four wine-glasses of sherry, boil until all moisture is ab- sorbed, add three pints of consomme (stock, Art. 1), boil for one hour, and press through a sieve. Take two pounds of sturgeon, and boil gently with a carrot, an onion, a slice of ham, salt, pepper, a small garlic, a pint of consomme^ and a glass of sherry. Make a farce of quenelles (see Art. 11), form in small balls, which poach in hot water. Add them to the slices of sturgeon, also the ends of a bunch of asparagus, previously boiled, and two tablespoon- fuls of chervil, chopped very fine. Strain the liquid in which your sturgeon was boiled, add to the essence of fish prepared above, boil for a few moments, and serve.

  3. 53. Clam Chowder a la Thayer. Put half a pound of fat salt pork in a saucepan, let it fry slow- ly, and then remove it from the fire and put it aside to cool. Chop up fine fifty large hard-clams, also half a can of tomatoes, a handful of celery, the same of parsley, a quart of onions, half a dozen pilot- biscuit, a little thyme, and two quarts of potatoes

  4. SOUPS. 25

  5. cut up in pieces about as large as a five-cent piece. Put the saucepan in which you have your pork again on the fire, add first the onions, and then the other ingredients, with the juice of the clams, and enough water to cover. Add black pepper, a little salt, and an eighth of a pint of Worcestershire sauce. Stir from the bottom so as to avoid burning, and simmer gently until the potatoes are thoroughly done. When the chowder begins to boil, you may add boilmg water if you find it too thick. Five minutes before serving, add half a lemon sliced thin.

  6. 54. Olla Podrida (Spanish Soup). Put in a saucepan two pounds of beef, a pint of dwarf or chick peas, which you have previously soaked in water for six hours. Then blanch in boiling water for twenty minutes half a pound of bacon and half a pound of raw ham, which add to the other ingre- dients, with enough water to cover them. Skim care- fully, and, after boiling gently two hours, add a fowl, a carrot, an onion, a clove of garlic, two cloves, and two bay-leaves, which inclose in some branches of parsley, tying all together. Boil again for an hour, adding two smoked sausages (choricos), which may be found at any Italian grocery, and a cabbage pre- viously blanched. Continue boiling gently for two hours ; soak a pinch of saffron in water, strain it into your soup on the fire, and boil thirty minutes longer, until the ingredients become yellow. Strain your soup, remove the meats, drain, arrange as neatly as possible on a dish, and serve with the soup.

  7. 55. Bouillabaisse a la Marseillaise. Put

  8. into a saucepan an onion chopped very fine, with a tablespoonful of oil. When beginning to color slight- ly, cut in slices half a pound of pike, the same of perch, flounder, eel, and lobster, which wash and clean well. Place them in a saucepan with parsley, two chopped cloves of garlic, some pepper and salt, a little nutmeg, and a pinch of saffron, which mix in two tablespoonfuls of water, and strain into your saucepan. Moisten with three pints of fish-broth (see Art. 4), two tablespoonfuls of oil, and a wine- glass of sherry. Boil on a quick fire for twenty minutes. Take some rather thick pieces of bread, over which pour the liquid in which your fish was boiled, and serve the fish on a separate dish.

  9. 56. Puree of Sorrel. Proceed as for clear sorrel soup (Art. 12), except with the addition of four yolks of eggs, mixed in a little water, just before serving the soup and when it has entirely ceased boiling. Serve with it some square pieces of bread fried in butter.

  10. 57. Cream of Sorrel. Boil one quart of sor- rel, drain it, put it in cold water, and press it through a sieve. Put it in a saucepan with not quite a quart of consomme (stock), and the same of cream ; salt, pepper, and an ounce of butter. Boil for a few mo- ments, and then remove the saucepan to the back of the range. When it has ceased boiling, take the yolks of four eggs, which mix in a little water ; add to your soup, and serve.

  11. SOUPS. 27

  12. 58. Puree of Green Peas. Take a quart of green peas and put them in a saucepan with boiling water, adding some parsley and a little salt. Boil rapidly, until the peas are thoroughly done, then drain them and remove the parsley. Pound them, and press them through a sieve, and return them to the fire, in a saucepan, with a pint and a half of con- somme and the same of cream. When boiling, add an ounce of butter, a little salt, a pinch of sugar, and serve with small squares of bread fried in butter.

  13. 59. Puree of Peas a la Princesse. Boil a chicken in a little more than three pints of con- somme (stock, Art. 1). If an ordinary chicken, it will take forty minutes ; if an old one, two hours. After it is done, let it become cold, and cut it in pieces to serve in your soup. Make the pur£e of peas like the preceding ; add to it the consomme- in which the chicken was cooked, and serve with small squares of bread fried in butter.

  14. 60. Split-Pea Soup. Take a pint of split peas, which, having washed well, place in a saucepan with an onion, a clove, half an ounce of ham, and two quarts of cold water. Boil until the peas are very soft, press them through a sieve, put them again on the fire, with the addition of an ounce of butter, three pints of consomme* (stock, Art. 1), and serve with some small pieces of bread fried in butter.

  15. 6 1. Puree of Lentils. Take a quart of lentils, wash them well, and put them in a saucepan with a slice of lean ham, the carcass of a partridge, a carrot, an onion, a few branches of parsley, a few pieces of

  16. celery, and add three pints of consomme" (stock). Boil until the lentils are thoroughly cooked, drain, remove the ham, partridge, and parsley, press through a sieve, place on the fire again, adding one ounce of butter, boil for a moment, and serve with small squares of bread fried in butter.

  17. 62. Puree of White Beans. Take one pint of white beans, which wash well, and boil thoroughly in three pints of consomme (stock, Art. 1). When the beans are done, press them through a sieve, put them again on the fire, adding one ounce of butter, a pinch of sugar, boil for a moment, and serve with small squares of bread fried in butter. This soup can be varied by adding a plateful of string-beans boiled separately with a little salt and a very little soda, after which put in cold water for a moment, and then cut in diamonds. Chop a teaspoonful of parsley, and serve with the string-beans in your soup.

  18. 63. Puree of Asparagus. Take a bunch of asparagus, separate the heads from the stalks, wash them, and then boil them with a little salt and a very little soda, after which put them in cold water for a moment. Put into a saucepan one ounce of but- ter, two ounces of flour, a little salt, a pinch of sugar, and add the heads of asparagus, a pint and a half of cream, the same of consomme" (stock, Art. 1). Stir all together until boiling, strain, put back on the fire for a few moments, and, adding an ounce of butter, serve.

  19. 64. Puree of Rice. Take half a pound of rice, which wash well in several waters, boil for a few mo-

  20. ments, then put in cold water, drain, and place in a saucepan with one quart of consomme" (stock), and boil for about an hour. Press through a sieve, and put back on the fire until it begins to boil, then add one pint of cream and an ounce of butter ; serve.

  21. 65. Rice Soup a la Crecy. Take two very red carrots, a turnip, and an onion, which cut in slices, and a clove. Boil these in not quite a quart of consomme (stock, Art. 1) for about an hour. Press through a sieve. Then boil four ounces of rice, after which drain and put it in cold water for a moment ; drain again, and boil for three quarters of an hour in nearly a quart of consomme. Add the puree of veg- etables, and, when beginning to boil up again, add one ounce of butter, and serve.

  22. 66. Puree of Barley. Take half a pound of barley, which boil for about five minutes, then put in cold water. Drain, and add it to three pints of consomme" (stock, Art. 1), boil about two hours, press through a sieve and put back on the fire until it be- gins to boil, adding one ounce of butter and two tablespoonfuls of green peas, previously boiled ; serve.

  23. 67. Puree of Celery. Take a bunch of celery, and wash it well ; cut it in pieces and place it in a saucepan with water, a little salt, and boil thoroughly, drain, and put it in cold water. In another sauce- pan put an ounce of butter (which melt), one ounce of flour, salt, pepper, and a very little nutmeg ; mix all together, adding the celery, not quite a quart of consomme" (stock), and the same of cream. Put it

By Caron, Pierre, fl. 1886-1899. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Potato + beeftop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,051 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Potato + beanstop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together655 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41,494 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Fish + buttertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Beef + beanstop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,133 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, potato, beef, fish, butter, flour, cream):

  1. Peasabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Beansthe original
  3. Almondabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Walnutabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, potato, beef, fish, butter, flour, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).