Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-04
NOTED PARIS DISHES
DeIicacies Named After Fa-
nous Personages.
MARQUIS De DIoN's sNAILs
Editor Henri Rochefort and His
Chateaubriand.
SOME GRAND OLD GoURMETs
The James Hyde Peach and the Boni
de Castellane Potato-cook-
ing the Dishes.
Special Correspondence Of The Star.

snail and the graveyard snail the latter fat,
and both wholesome. though not tender:
but the snail they give you In great Paris
restaurants is the snail of the French wine
districts. and the Marquis de Dion has the
reputation of being its most consummate
connosseur
He prefers. by far. the little gray Bor-
deaux variety. Though the big Burgundians
are larger and more highly favored, tender
ness in snails Is more than flavor The
marquis has also thoroughly investigated
the champagne snail. delicate and clean
feeding beast, tender but lacking body. To
get all the elusive perfume from red Bur-
gundy wine-whioh does not go with oysters
you must eat the Bordeaux snail (for
| tendernessl. fraudnientIy introduced into
the big Burgundy shell tfor the illusion)
When neatly polished the shells look like
yellow vine leaves. crlmpled, on which the
animal feeds.
boil your snails ten minutes" says the
MARQUIS Take them from their shells
and let them stand in a dish of salt water
Dram again. Into a saucepan put five
quarts of water. three of white wine, with
salt, pepper. bay leaves thyme onions car
rots and garlic. Cook slowly two hours,
and then--my secret process-let them lie
| hours"
The snaiis are then put back into their
shells with simple stuffing of butter,
chopped shallots. garlic, pepper and pars-
ley Or they may be Dreaded. spitted grill
ed and served with maitre d'hotel sauce.
If you like Burgundy and don't like
snails," the marquis says. 1T Is because
you never tasted them together
Dishes Worthy of Personages.
In these high Paris restaurants, when
| dish is perfect. they will tell you it is
worthy Of this or that parsonage. Per-
| feet snails are worthy of De Dion. perfect
ChateaubrIand is worthy of Rochefort, a
perfect pate de foe gras in its crisp pie
| crust Is worthy of Massa a perfect bouil-
| labaisse Is worthy OF Prince Galitzine a
perfect Reuen duck Is worthy of Coqueln
aine and SO on. There is race of gour-
NETS still alive in Paris
Rochefort is one of those oid-style Paris
editors whose whole days work is done
when they have written their article Daily
the wonderful old man visits studios. pic
ture dealers, book stores, museums drives
| In the Bots beside his fair young Wife
shows at teas and garden parties-and reg
ulariy at lunch time he has no idea yet
what his daily article will be.
There are lots of men who cannot work
on wine.s but Rochefort can. At Cham
Bpeaux, where he meets bourse men and poll
tfcians, at Voisn's, among clubmen actors
and foreigners of the James Hyde type or
at Durands. in the heart of boulevard Cos
sip. he dips his crust into his scrambled
eggs-and-shrimps, sips his Bordeaux, lis
tens. sips again. and then launches into
some great diatribe, which will become his
article
But chiefly the rich juices of that great
French steak, the Chateaubriand, stir and
sustain the brain cells Of that brilliant in
tellect- Seventy-five years ago the Cham
peaux of the time invented it for the great
writer and statesman, Chateaubriand him
self 1t is a thick piece of filet grilled be-
tween two thinner pieces of rumpsteak
These latter yield their gravy to the flet
and give 1t a tenderness obtained no other
way Then they are thrown away the
flet the Chateaubriand = alone being
served after being passed quickly over a
phenomenally bright fire to "singe" it's
outer surface. Exactly how they do it is
another restaurant secret
Once the fried potatoes that go with
Rocheforts Chateaubriand were a restau-
rant mystery. They say that Rochefort in
vented them In England, and that he con-
siders when he brought them back with
him from his long exile he bestowed boon
on France well worth his ransom
For ten and more years past these Roch-
Effort fried potatoes have been the delight
and wonderment of tourists. for their Sc
cret In reality preceded him across the
channel. They come in big slices. as we in
America slice sweet potatoes but each slice
is swelled up like a ballooni
How the Potatoes Cooked.
Hot air! Yes. but how do they get the
hot air into the slice of fried potato? /
nave seen leiiUef lildlueHS ana CaSG-laru-
ened housewives receive wondering the in
formation that each slice Is blown up
with a silver-pointed bellows: but the
swelling up is really brought about In the
process of cooking. You must first a little
more than half cook the sliced potatoes in
moderately hot lard over slow fire. Then
dry and let them cool a trhe Last. Jump
them brusquely into sizzling smoking hot
lard-where they swell and swell and SWELL
This Is gourmantiise in great simplicity
not gluttony; but what would you think of
a young man not forty who, at a feast
where he serves his guests with ployers'
eggs and empress breads. mousses of foie-
gras- and-game. salmon trout with green
seuce, princess lamb chops Rouen duck.
cherry brandy SPOONS, woodcock ortoiaus
Ice cream in hot souff1e and fruits from
Belgian hot houses, practically makes his
own meal out of single terrible dish OF
Sleeps head?
It is the Grand Duke Boris: and his
gastronomic motto Is: One person. one
sleeps headf' Stuffed with a barbarous
stuf1ing, in which forcemem is mixed with
sun flower seeds and dried raspberries from
the Cossack pampas, the sheep's head ia
baked slowly during hours.
The next worse thing to eating 1t is to see
some one eat tia sight Boris does not
spare his intimates. particularly ladies and
dependents. King Milan, who had some
thing of the same Tartar ancestry, taught
Paris chefs to make the dish, and it Is on
constant enough demand by Russian
princes, ana TURKISH, Bulgarian and even
Hungarian mobiles seeing Paris 1t is
atavism. Seven hundred years ago their
Tartar ancestors. in the shade Of their
tents. thrust their hand into the bake pot
and brought up the same morsels-here an
ear-tip, there an eye, all good.
Note. they do not call it Sheep s-head
Boris nor are you or likely to get Il at
Maxim's or Paiiard's, where the chefs are
ashamed when they concoct It for its vo-
taries.
The dishes they name after customers are
dishes to be proud of. Certain restaurants
go very far In this direction, and mono
moro so than Frederic's, called the Tour
dArgent,
Great Chef Of Paris.
Frederic IL the impressionist chef of
Paris. saky-blu sauces, pearl-gray purees.
flushing Into crimson. Nile-green soups and
pala purple stu1inss are things that he
wondering fearfuliy II the whislers are
makes every day. Personally he looks
enormously like Ibsen; and he IL the only
Paris cook who dares TO wear hair on his
face. Proud-stomached ladies shudder.
In tight when he hends over their duck to
concoct the hell-1re sauce. But Frederic 10
not only proprietor OF his whlskerz. but OF
tho Tout fArgent also and does az he
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