Cucumbers A La Poulette

Cut some cucumbers in the shape of half-crown pieces, marinade them for half an hour in a little salt and vinegar; next drain them in a towel, and lay them in a stew-pan with half a quarter of a pound of butter. Fry them white over a brisk fire, and then powder them over with a little flour. Next moisten with a little broth, and let them be reduced without breaking. When sufficiently reduced, add a little chopped parsley, a little sugar, and a thickening of three eggs or more, according to the quantity of the cucumbers, together with a little salt; you may also put a little pepper if you like it. It would be useless to recommend the necessity of seasoning, as it is known to constitute the difference between good and bad cookery. Either salt or sugar must predominate in some respects. Mind to skim off all the butter before you reduce.

* Cucumbers are a very cool plant, but of very great use in cookery; they are useful in first and second courses, and may be dressed in a great many different ways; they are of very easy digestion, and must be recommended as very healthy food.

Cucumbers Cardon Fashion

Cut cucumbers lengthways of the size of the dish; empty the seed, and slit the outside, that it may bear the appearance of a cardoon; blanch them in boiling water; next stew them in some consomme with two or three spoonfuls of Espagnole. Let them boil over a large fire, and take care the sauce does not become skinny. If the cucumbers should give a bitter taste, put in a little sugar. This dish is a very wholesome one for weak stomachs.

How To Cook Sea-Kale & Brocoli

Sea-Kale

This plant is not known in France. It is to be boiled in salt and water, and after being well drained, sent up with either a sauce blanche, a veloute, or an Espagnole; it has a great resemblance to asparagus* but is only used for second courses.

Brocoli

Brocoli are no other than green cauliflowers. They are dressed in the same manner, and sent up with the same sauce. (See Cauliflowers, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, pages 307, 308.)

How To Cook Potatoes

Potatoes A La Maitre D'Hotel

Wash the potatoes clean, and boil them with the skin in salt and water. (When they are done, let them cool, then turn them in the shape of big corks, and cut them into slices as thick as twopenny pieces, for if the slices were too thin, they would break in the sauce. (For the Maitre d'Hotel, see Sauces.) If you should have no sauce ready, make a butter sauce, and instead of water, moisten with milk, mix with it a little chopped parsley, pepper, salt, a little glaze, and the juice of a lemon, if acid is required.

Mind that the sauce is neither curdled nor too thick.

Fried Potatoes

These are to be turned when raw, and cut of the same thickness as in No. 1; then fry them in clarified butter. If you should have any goose dripping, it would do better. When the potatoes are fried of a fine brown colour, and crisp, drain all the grease on a towel, and serve them quite hot on a napkin or in a deep dish, for this entremets cannot be dished nicely in any other way. Do not forget to sprinkle them over with a little pounded salt.

Puree Of Potatoes

Take some potatoes well boiled and well drained, pound them in the mortar, moisten with good broth and salt, then rub them through a sieve; when done, put the puree to warm in a stew-pan, and add a quartern of fresh butter to it; puree must be thinner than mash ; put fried bread round it. Sometimes you may use cream instead of broth; but it is not so healthy, and is much dearer.

Croquettes Of Potatoes

After having boiled the potatoes in water, to take off the tartness, boil a pint of milk, in which infuse half the peel of a lemon, a lump of sugar, and a little salt. It is hardly possible to determine exactly what quantity of potatoes is requisite for a pint of milk; however, the mash must be made rather thick. Let it cool, and then roll it in the shape you like best, either corks, pears, or balls. Then crumb them as other croquettes; with an omelette and a little salt; and then crumbs of bread, repeating both operations twice. Give them a pleasing form, fry them of a fine colour, and send them up, but without any fried parsley. In this dish sugar must predominate, as it is one of the class of sweet dishes.

Casserole Of Potatoes

Instead of a rice casserole, make a casserole of potatoes. The potatoes must be well done; then mix some butter and cream well with a little salt, and make the whole into a thick mash. Dish it, and make an opening that you may empty the centre. After having given it a fine brown colour in the oven, empty the centre, wipe your dish clean, and pour in the ragout, macaroni, or fricassee, etc.