Crayfish pudding

(Recipe #39, page 161)

Ingredients: 1 pound, 6 ounces of good 2-day-old white bread, ½ quart of fresh milk, 3 ounces of crayfish butter, 10 fresh eggs, ¼ pound of sieved sugar [2/3 cup], ½ ounce of ground bitter macaroons or the peel of a lemon, a scant ½ pound of finely chopped suet, and 18 minced crayfish tails.

Dainty fricassee of young spring chickens and pigeons with crayfish

(Recipe #143, page 112)

If you like, cut the chickens in quarters and the pigeons in half lengthwise to distinguish chickens from pigeons, though this is not necessary. Add some salt and a lot of fresh butter and place the tightly covered pan over moderate heat; turn the pieces over after a while; after ½ an hour add boiling bouillon, a few slices of a cored lemon, a bit of mace, and some fine zwieback crumbs and cook slowly covered until the meat is tender, being careful, however, not to let it begin to fall apart.

Hen turkey in a fricassee sauce (first or middle course)

(Recipe #139, page 111)

Prepare the turkey as for roasting; the legs can be inserted into the skin as directed in section I. Then set the turkey on the stove with cold butter and some shallots, brown it slowly covered, add some boiling meat stock or water along with lemon peel (yellow skin only), mace, some estragon, and ½ hour later a large number of mushrooms; simmer tightly covered in scant broth until tender.

Have some strong meat broth ready; ½ hour before serving, add lightly browned flour along with sweetbreads, stuffed crayfish heads, pistachios, asparagus, or cauliflower (see section I, no. 17, etc.). Boil the gravy until everything is tender but not disintegrating, skim the fat from the turkey gravy, and add the boiled gravy—which like any fricassee gravy must be well bound—along with a few seeded lemon slices. Stir in 2 egg yolks and crayfish butter and set the turkey out, garnished with dumplings of white bread, veal, or suet just boiled in salted water. Pass slices of puff pastry as a substitute for vols-au-vent.

Translated by David Green.

Veal fricassee with crayfish

(Recipe #64, page 91)

Prepare some crayfish butter, reserving the cooked tails, and make the fricassee as described above, but ¼ hour before serving instead of the additions listed add morels, mace, and a roux of butter and flour. Remove all the fat from the sauce and just before pouring it over the meat heat it with a generous amount of the crayfish butter. When serving add the crayfish tails to the sauce along with (optionally) 1–2 egg yolks.

Translated by David Green.

Fancy veal fricassee

(Recipe #62, pages 90 – 91)

Cut veal breast into small squares; to assure that the meat stays quite white, blanch it: after washing it in cold water, place it on the heat and just before the water comes to a boil dump the meat in cold water and dry it. Then place the pieces in a kettle with a generous amount of very hot fresh butter; simmer the meat slowly tightly covered for about ¼ hour, turning it once, but do not let it brown.

Sauerkraut with pike

(Recipe #57, page 64)

Cook the sauerkraut well with fat as described above. Scale the pike thoroughly, gut it, remove the head, and clamp the liver between the jaws. Place over heat with some butter, peppercorns, a few cloves and bay leaves, along with salt and enough boiling water to cover. When the head is half done, place it on a platter, cook the rest until soft, and carefully remove the bones.

Cauliflower

(Recipe #22, page 55)

Remove the stems of the cauliflower completely and use a sharp knife to remove the small leaves, but leave the heads as whole as possible and place them in water, so that any caterpillars hiding inside will come out. Then place the cauliflower in boiling salted water and cook slowly until tender. Use a slotted spoon to place it carefully in a colander to drain, to keep the florets attractive, then quickly cover. For serving, pour off the drained water, place the head upright, and nap with a thick crayfish sauce or a cream sauce.

Baby peas

(Recipe #13, pages 51 – 52)

Bring water to a boil with plenty of butter; add the freshly shelled peas a bit at a time, letting the water return to a boil after each addition. Peas must have plenty of water and cook quickly. If cooked too slowly or too long, or if left to stand for a time after they are ready, they lose their pleasant flavor.