Cut hard-boiled eggs in two lengthwise. Take out carefully the yolks, mash them, and mix them with some chicken or other meat minced fine.

Season the mixture with pepper and salt. Moisten it with a little of any kind of sauce or gravy, and add a little raw egg. Chopped truffles and mushrooms may be added to the stuffing if convenient. Fill the s.p.a.ces in the whites of the eggs with the mixture; smooth it even with the top; rub a little raw white of egg over the pieces, and press two halves together. Roll the stuffed eggs in egg and crumbs, and fry in hot fat to a lemon color. Serve the eggs on a napkin, and pa.s.s with them a white, Bechamel, tomato, or any other sauce.

=STUFFED EGGS No. 2=

Cut hard-boiled eggs in halves. Take out the yolks, leaving two cup-shaped pieces. Mix the yolks with an equal quant.i.ty of softened bread; season with salt, pepper, and parsley. Add a little raw egg to bind the mixture, and fill the s.p.a.ces from which the yolks were taken.

Round it on top to give the appearance of a whole yolk. Cut a little slice off the bottom of the egg, so it will stand firm. Place them in the oven just long enough to heat, and serve standing, on a dish covered with white sauce.

=EGG CROQUETTES=

Cut some hard-boiled eggs into quarter-inch dice. Mix with them some chopped mushrooms. Stir them carefully into a well-reduced Bechamel or white sauce made as directed for croquettes (page 293). Turn the mixture onto a cold dish to cool and stiffen. Mold into croquettes, and fry in hot fat. See directions for croquettes (page 293).

=OTHER WAYS OF SERVING HARD-BOILED EGGS=

(LUNCHEON DISHES)

No. 1. Cut hard-boiled eggs in two lengthwise. Arrange them symmetrically on a flat dish, and pour over them a giblet sauce made of chicken or turkey gravy.

No. 2. Cut hard-boiled eggs into quarters. Make a ring form of boiled rice; fill the center with the eggs; pour over them some Bechamel sauce.

Sprinkle the whole with bread-crumbs and grated cheese. Moisten the top with melted b.u.t.ter, and place in the oven to brown. Serve on the dish in which they are browned.

=TOMATOES STUFFED WITH EGGS=

Select round tomatoes of uniform size; remove the skins. Cut a slice off the tops, and take out the seeds and soft pulp. Drop into each one a raw egg, and replace the cover. Set the tomatoes into a b.u.t.tered pan or into a baking-dish which can be sent to the table, and place in the oven for about ten minutes, or until the egg has set. Serve on the same dish and with a brown or a Bechamel sauce.

=EGGS a LA REINE=

DOWN TOWN CLUB

Make croustades, three inches in diameter and half an inch thick, from stale American bread. Dip them in good melted b.u.t.ter, put them on a pan in the oven until they are a nice light-brown color; then take out the center of each croustade and fill with foie gras. On the top of each put a poached egg; then pour over a cream sauce, sprinkle with truffles chopped fine, and serve immediately.

=EGGS LIVINGSTON=

DOWN TOWN CLUB. (FOR SIX PERSONS)

Take twelve raw eggs, half a pint of rich cream; beat well together, add salt and pepper. Put the mixture in a flat saucepan well b.u.t.tered, and scramble; then add three quarters of a pint of well-cooked tomato meat and three truffles hashed (not too fine). Dress on toast covered with pate de foie gras. Serve very hot.

=EGGS AU BEURRE NOIR=

Poach or fry the number of eggs desired and place them on a flat dish.

Pour over them enough brown b.u.t.ter sauce to well moisten them. (See page 291.)

=SPANISH OMELET=

Make a plain French omelet, using four eggs (see page 264). Just before it is done place in the center a veal kidney, which has been well soaked, then cut into half-inch dice and sauted until tender in a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter. Do not cook the kidney too long or it will toughen.

Fold the omelet and turn it onto a dish. Pour around the omelet a tomato sauce (see page 285). Spread over the top of the omelet a sweet green pepper, which has been boiled until tender and then cut into narrow strips.

The sauce, the kidney and the pepper should be prepared first, as the omelet must be served as soon as the eggs are cooked.

CHAPTER XI

SAUCES

"There are many sauces besides hunger."

[Sidenote: General directions.]

The basis of most sauces is b.u.t.ter and flour cooked together, which makes a roux or thickening. If for a white sauce, the flour is not colored; if for a brown sauce, the flour is cooked until brown. To this basis are added the flavor and seasoning suited to the dish with which it is to be served.

For meats, it is the flavor of meat, vegetables, spices, and herbs; for entrees, it is the flavor of meat or chicken, and cream; for vegetables it is b.u.t.ter, cream or milk, and eggs; for fish, the same, with a little lemon-juice or vinegar to give piquancy. The basis of pudding sauces is b.u.t.ter and sugar.

[Sidenote: Uses and variations of the white sauce.]

Sauces are easily made, and greatly improve the dishes they accompany. Many dishes depend upon sauces to make them palatable, and many made-over dishes are very acceptable when served with a good sauce. The first and most simple one to learn is the white sauce, and this is used for very many dishes. It is made by melting a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, and then adding a tablespoonful of flour. To this roux is added a half pint (one cupful) of milk for white sauce, or of cream for cream sauce. If a cupful of stock (or half stock and half milk) is used it becomes a Bechamel sauce; then, if a couple of egg-yolks are added, it makes a poulette sauce, which is the one generally used with chicken, sweetbreads, oysters, etc.

The superiority of French cooking is largely in the variety of their sauces, to the preparation of which much care is given.

It cannot be too strongly urged that every housekeeper will give attention to this important branch of cooking.

[Sidenote: Stock for sauces.]

Every kitchen can produce a stock made from odds and ends unsuitable for other purposes than the stock-pot, and this stock is most useful in preparing sauces, giving a flavor not obtained in specially prepared stock.

A French cook keeps at hand the different essences required to combine in sauces, such as a Mirepoix (vegetable flavor), which is made by cutting into dice an onion, carrot, and turnip, celery, parsley, bay-leaf and bits of meat, frying them in fat pork or b.u.t.ter, then adding a little water, and simmering an hour, or until the flavor of the vegetables is extracted; a Spanish sauce, made by adding stock instead of water to the fried vegetables; a veal or white stock; a brown and a white roux, and glaze.

[Sidenote: General directions.]

The flavor of vegetables can easily be obtained by frying them in the b.u.t.ter used in making the roux, before the flour is added. In preparing sauces with milk, use a double boiler, or set a small saucepan into a larger one containing water. The milk will be scalded when the water boils in the double boiler. Brown sauces need long slow cooking to blend the flavors. If the b.u.t.ter rises to the top add a little more stock or milk; stir it well until it boils, and it will then become smooth again. Do this just before serving. Have always a small strainer at hand, and strain sauces so there will be no lumps in them. If stock is not at hand, subst.i.tute beef extract, which comes in jars, using it in the proportion of one teaspoonful of extract to a cupful of hot water. In this case fry vegetables in the roux.

=GLAZE=

Glaze is much used in high-cla.s.s cooking. It gives to meats a smooth and polished surface. Cold meats to be garnished for suppers are much improved in appearance by being glazed. Glaze is also added to sauces to give them richness and flavor.

To make glaze: Take good consomme of beef (or a white stock, when it is to be used for fowls or white meat), clear it, and reduce it to one quarter (or one quart of stock to one cupful). It will quickly boil down in an open saucepan and become like a thick paste. It will keep some time if closed in a preserve jar and kept in a cool place. When used, heat it in a double saucepan and apply it with a brush.