A guide to modern cookery by A. Escoffier

especially when the latter is stuffed. The fowl, or whatever it may be, is known to be cooked when, after pricking the thick of the leg close to the “drumstick,” the issuing liquid is white. _Remarks._—(_a_) The need of poaching poultry in a receptacle just large enough to hold the piece is accounted for as follows: (1) The piece must be wholly immersed in the stock during the cooking process. (2) As the liquor used is afterwards served as an accompanying sauce to the dish, the less there is of it the more saturated does it become with the juices of the meat, and, consequently, the better it is. (_b_) (1) The white stock used in poaching should be prepared beforehand, and be very clear. (2) If the piece of poultry were set to cook with the products constituting the stock, even if these were more than liberally apportioned, the result would be bad, for inasmuch as a fowl, for example, can only take one and one-half hours, at the most, to cook, and the time required for extracting the nutritious and aromatic principles from the constituents of the stock would be at least six hours, it follows that the fowl would be cooking in little more than hot water, and the resulting sauce would be quite devoid of savour. 250—POËLINGS Poëlings are, practically speaking, roasts, for the cooking periods of each are the same, except that the former are cooked entirely or almost entirely with butter. They represent a simplified process of old cookery, which consisted in enveloping the object to be treated, after frying it, in a thick coating of _Matignon_. It was then wrapped with thin slices of pork fat, covered with buttered paper, placed in the oven or on a spit, and basted with melted butter while it cooked. This done, its grease was drained away, and the vegetables of the _matignon_ were inserted in the braising-pan wherein the piece had cooked, or in a saucepan, and were moistened with excellent Madeira or highly seasoned stock. Then, when the liquor had thoroughly absorbed the aroma of the vegetables, it was strained, and its grease was removed just before dishing up. This excellent method is worthy of continued use in the case of large pieces of poultry. _Preparation of Poëled Meats._—Place in the bottom of a deep and thick receptacle, just large enough to hold the piece to be poëled, a layer of raw _matignon_ (No. 227). The meat or piece of poultry is placed on the vegetables after it has been well seasoned, and is copiously sprinkled with melted butter; cover the utensil, and push it into an oven whose heat is not too fierce. Set it to cook gently in this way, after the manner of a stew, and frequently sprinkle with melted butter. When the meats or the pieces of poultry are cooked, the utensil is uncovered so that the former may acquire a fine colour; then they are transferred to a dish which should be kept covered until taken to the table. Now add to the vegetables (which must not be burned) a sufficient quantity of brown veal stock (No. 9), transparent and highly seasoned; set the whole to boil gently for ten minutes, strain through a serviette, carefully remove all grease from the poëling stock and send it to the table in a sauceboat at the same time as the meat or poultry, which, by the bye, is generally garnished. _Remarks on Poëlings._—It is of paramount importance that these be not moistened during the process of cooking, for in that case their savour would be the same as that of braised white meats. Nevertheless, an exception may be made in the case of such feathered game as pheasants, partridges, and quails, to which is added, when nearly cooked, a small quantity of burnt brandy. It is also very important that the vegetables should not have their grease removed before their moistening stock is added to them. The butter used in the cooking absorbs a large proportion of the savour of both the vegetables and the meat under treatment, and, to make good this loss, it is essential that the moistening stock remain at least ten minutes in contact with the butter. At the end of this time it may be removed without in the least impairing the aroma of the stock. _Special Poëlings known as “En Casserole,” or “En Cocotte.”_—The preparations of butcher’s meats, of poultry, or game, known as “en casserole” or “en cocotte,” are actual poëlings cooked in special earthenware utensils and served in the same. Generally, preparations known as “en casserole” are simply cooked in butter, without the addition of vegetables. When the cooking is done, the piece under treatment is withdrawn for a moment, and some excellent brown veal stock (No. 9) is poured into the utensil. This is left to simmer for a few minutes; the superfluous butter is then removed; the piece is returned to the earthenware utensil, and it is kept hot, without being allowed to boil, until it is dished up. For preparations termed “en cocotte,” the procedure is the same, except that the piece is garnished with such vegetables as mushrooms, the bottoms of artichokes, small onions, carrots, turnips, &c., which are either turned or regularly pared, and half cooked in butter before being used. One should endeavour to use only fresh vegetables, and these should be added to the piece constituting the dish in such wise as to complete their cooking with it. The earthenware utensils used for this purpose improve with use, provided they be cleaned with clean, fresh water, without any soda or soap. If new utensils have to be used, these should be filled with water, which is set to boil, and they should then undergo at least twelve hours’ soaking. For the prescribed time this water should be kept gently boiling, and then the utensil should be well wiped and soaked anew, in fresh water, before being used. 251—THE SAUTÉS What characterises the process we call “sauté” is that the object treated is cooked _dry_—that is to say, solely by means of a fatty substance such as butter, oil, or grease. Sautés are made with cut-up fowl or game, or with butcher’s meat suitably divided up for the purpose. All products treated in this way must be frizzled—that is to say, they must be put into the fat when it is very hot in order that a hardened coating may form around them which will keep their juices within. This is more particularly desirable for red meats such as beef and mutton. The cooking of _fowl sautés_ must, after the meats have been frizzled, be completed on the stove or, with lid off, in the oven, where they should be basted with butter after the manner of a roast. The pieces are withdrawn from the utensil with a view to swilling the latter, after which, if they be put back into the sauce or accompanying garnish, they should only remain therein a few moments or just sufficiently long to become properly warm. The procedure is the same for _game sautés_. _Sautés of butcher’s meats_ (red meats), such as tournedos, kernels, cutlets, fillets, and noisettes, are always effected on the stove; the meats are frizzled and cooked with a small quantity of clarified butter. The thinner and smaller they are, the more rapidly should the frizzling process be effected. When blood appears on the surface of their raw side, they should be turned over; when drops of blood begin to bedew their other side, they are known to be cooked. The swilling of the utensil obtains in all sautés. After having withdrawn the treated product from the saucepan, remove the grease and pour the condimentary liquid (a wine), that forms part of the accompanying sauce, into the saucepan. Set to boil, so that the solidified gravy lying on the bottom may dissolve, and add the sauce; or simply add the swilling liquid to the prepared sauce or accompanying garnish of the sauté. The utensil used must always be just large enough to hold the objects to be treated. If it be too large, the parts left uncovered by the treated meats burn, and swilling is then impossible, whence there results a loss of the solidified gravy which is an important constituent in the sauce. _Sautés of white, butcher’s meats_, such as veal and lamb, must also be frizzled in hot fat, but their cooking must be completed gently on the side of the fire, and in many cases with lid on. Preparations of a mixed nature, which partly resemble sautés and partly braisings, are also called sautés. Stews, however, is their most suitable name. These dishes are made from beef, veal, lamb, game, &c., and they are to be found in Part II. under the headings Estouffade; Goulash; Sautés: Chasseur, Marengo, Bourgeoise; Navarin; Civet; &c. In the first stage of their preparation, the meats are cut up small and fried like those of the sautés; in the second, slow cooking with sauce or garnish makes them akin to braised meats. =3. Roasts, Grills, Fryings.= =Roasts.= Of the two usual methods of roasting, the spit will always be used in preference to the oven, if only on account of the conditions under which the operation is effected, and whatever be the kind of fuel used—wood, coal, or gas. The reason of this preference is clear if it be remembered that, in spite of every possible precaution during the progress of an oven roast, it is impossible to avoid an accumulation of vapour around the cooking object in a closed oven. And this steam is more particularly objectionable inasmuch as it is excessive in the case of delicately flavoured meats, which latter are almost if not entirely impaired thereby. The spitted roast, on the contrary, cooks in the open in a dry atmosphere, and by this means retains its own peculiar flavour. Hence the unquestionable superiority of spitted roasts over the oven kind, especially in respect of small feathered game. In certain circumstances and places there is no choice of means, and, _nolens volens_, the oven has to be used; but, in this case at least, all possible precautions should be observed in order to counteract the effects of the steam above mentioned. 252—LARDING BACON FOR ROASTS Poultry and game to be roasted ought generally to be partly covered with a large thin slice of larding bacon, except those pieces of game which in special cases are larded. The object and use of these slices are not only to shield the fillets of fowl and game from the severe heat of the fires but also to prevent these from drying while the legs, which the heat takes much longer to penetrate than the other parts, are cooking. The slices of bacon should therefore completely cover the breasts of fowl and game, and they should be tied on to the latter by means of string. In some cases roasts of butcher’s meat are covered with layers of veal- or beef-fat, the object of which is similar to that of the bacon prescribed above. 253—SPITTED ROASTS The whole theory of roasts on the spit might be condensed as follows:— In the case of butcher’s meat, calculate the intensity of the heat used according to the piece to be roasted, the latter’s size and quality, and the time it has hung. Experience, however, is the best guide, for any theory, whatever be its exactness, can only give the leading principles and general rules, and cannot pretend to supply the place of the practised eye and the accuracy which are the result of experience alone. Nevertheless, I do not say with Brillat Savarin that a roaster is born and not made; I merely state that one may become a good roaster with application, observation, care, and a little aptitude. The three following rules will be found to cover all the necessary directions for spitted roasts:—