Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-24
CELEBRATED DISHES.
Receipts For Some That Tickled the
Palates of the Great.
ONE OF ALEXANDRA DUMAS BEST.
A Goldfish Chowder That Was the Delight
of Daniel Webster.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A NAME
rwR,rrrx ron THE prspAroH.1

their paternity, but also because each one
OF them is relatively simple. capable of be-
ing produced readily, and is of real worth.
The first Of them retains Its French name
Of pot-au-feu, word which in that lam
guage accurately and very sufficiently
designates it. It means, according to Pierre
Blot-''the meat. the vegetables. the season.
ings, the spices and the pot or
soup kettle itself-that is, every
thing made use of in making BROTH"
According to the same authority the various
articles Of food furnished the French army
are used in this way, and that daily-and
that with bread, wine and fruit, it composes
the family dinner Of the working classes.
The recipe Tor the pot-au-feu here given is
that OF Alexander Dumas, the eminent man
Of letters, and a very Frenchman indeed.
He was regarded rightly as one of the finest
of amateur cooks. His last literary produc-
ton was the "Dictionaire de Cuisine"
large work and one of much labor, which
was published after his death.
HE HAD HELP.
1t is said that, with the exception of a
small number of dishes, which are as in
separately connected with his name as "The
Three Guardsmen" or "The Count of
Monte Crlsto," be depended for his recipes
on AN old friend OF his, who was the pro-
prietor of a house of entertainment at st.
Cloud, suburb of Paris. Dumas, for this
work, furnished the anecdotes, the gossip,
and the literary Punishment, but his friend,
Vuillemot, furnished the recipes.
The French, who were the first Of modern
people to reduce cooking to a science, have
made the fact apparent to all the rest of the
world by identi wing the dishes with their
own language. One may travel from San
Francisco to st. Petersburg and he shall
everywhere find the menus of all prominent
hotels designated by their French names.
Thus it is that a high-sounding word is
frequently used to express the name oil
very ordinary dish, or otherwise q COM
pound OF very common ingredients Bouil-
labalsse is the name given to what in En-
glish means literally fish soup. Sir Henry
Thompson, one of the most DISTINGUISHED Of
scientific physicians, in his Food and
Feeding" gives the recipe which is here
reproduced. What he says about 1t il also
well worth repeating.
A PHYSICIANS OPINION.
Nutritious and palata5le soups may also
be made from fish, the cheaper sorts being
available for stock, while the better sorts are
applicable as garnish. When we (he is speak
Rhg OF the British isles, but it is applicable
as well to America) possess an adequate,
and therefore cheap supply-an event which,
with the enormous resources oil this country,
can only be a question of time-valuable
soups and stews of fish and OF shell fish, will
be available for the poorer classes, whose
tastes only require educating in order to ap-
preoiate them, doubtless also work OF some
little time. need only to refer to oyster
SOUPS, to the much esteemed bisques, term
usually denoting highly favored purees of
crayfsh, and to that delicious Gish bouil-
labaisse, eaten in perfection at at Marseilles,
as among the most agreeable products of
culinary art in this direction"
Sir Henry also takes occasion to say that
Thackeray does not exaggerate the good quail
tiles OF this soup when in his rhyme he calls
it mobile DISH" Thackeray was a great
lover of she'll fish, especially Of oysters, and
when he went back to England alter his
visit to America, he carried with him the
most endearing recoilections of numberless
suppers in which Saddle Backs or Blue
Points figured conspicuously. The verse
alluded to is from ''The Ballads"
ALEXANDRA DUMAS RECIPE.
The basis of a good pot-au-feu is beef.
Choose the freshest and juiciest meat you can
find; let it be thick; for if thin it will be ex-
hausted in the cooking; do not wash it, or you
Will rod IL OF q portion OF It's Juice.
When the meat has been separated from the
bones tie' it up so that it may keep its shape,
and put it in the pot with pint Of water to
every pound of meat.
We have advised you to separate the bones
from the meat, not indeed because we Danish
them from the pot-au-feu; on the contrary, we
reserve them for separate place, only we
break them up we'll with mallet because the
more they are broken the more effectually Is
the gelatine extracted from them.
Then we place them In horsehair bag with
any scraps of fowl-rabbit. partridge or roast
pigeon-which may be found in the larder; in
fact, the remains of yesterdays dinner.
Next, put your pot on the fire; you are doubt
less aware that an earthenware pot is prefera-
BILE to an iron pot; heat it gently; otherwise, if
the meat is attacked by too high a temperature
the albumen will coagulate in the interior and
the o-mazome will be prevented from becoming
dissolved, and the broth will be wanting In
favor.
When the broth has been well skinned and
has begun to boil. put in some salt and, accord
ing to the quantity, three or four carrots three
or Tour turn,ps, couple Of parsnips, a bunch |
of celery and leeks tied together, and lastly
three onions. one of which should have a head
Of garlic stuck in it, the other two having . |
Glove each.
r. following the bent Of your caprice or q |
long established habit, you like to add piece
of mutton or veal to the Ingredients we have
named. roast or grill it first Ito deprive it of
grease).
Seven hours of gentle and regular boiling
are necessary to give the broth all the desired
qualities
SIR HENRY THoMPsoN's s sBoUILLABAIssE,
Take three or four pounds Of fish; whiting.
SOLE small haddock, red mullet, and following
the Marseilles receipt strictly throughout, |
very small Conger eel or portion of one. All |
these are TO be cleaned, cut in slices and their |
bones removed; TWO dozen OF mussels to be |
added.
Put into stew pan two onions sliced, two |
ata a in q
coarse net bag, the following: Two bay leaves, |
two slices of lemon, half the zesf of Seville
orange, two cloves, little thyme. several
sprigs of parsley. a Glove of garlic, two red |
capsicums cut, and little saffron; add salt
and pepper and little pimento.
Place the pieces OF 1sh over these, pour In
six tablespoonfuls of olive oil; add three pints
of water, with two or three glasses of white
French wine; cover and let all boil well to-
gether for half an hour.
Serve the whole in a soup tureen with slices |
of toasted bread placed in the tureen before
filling.
THACKERAY's RHYME.
This Bouilabasse noble dish is
A sort Of soup, or broth. or brew,
Or hoi oich-potch of all sorts of fishes
That Greenwich never could outdo:
Green herbs; red peppers mussels, saffern,
SoIes. onions, garlic, roach and dace;
All these you eat at Jerres tavern
In that one dish Of BouillabaIsse.
The ballads.
CHRISTOPHER NoRTH's MEAT SAUCE.
Throw into small basin heaped saltspoon-
full of cayenne pepper. half the quantity of salt,
and small desserrspoonful of sifted sugar;
mix thoroughly; pour in tablespoonful Of the
strained Juice of fresh lemon, two of Har-
vey's sauce, teaspoonful Of the best mush-
room catsup and small wineglassful OF port
vine.
Serve it directly it is ready with geese or
iucks. roast pork, venison, fawn, grilled
olade-bone or any other broil.