The French Menu Cookbook: The Food and Wine of France - Season by Delicious Season. Richard Olney

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      THE PREPARATION OF ARTICHOKE BOTTOMS

      Artichoke bottoms may be cooked and kept submerged in their cooking liquid for several days before using (if they are to be canned, the cooking time should be reduced to a minimum since they must be sterilized afterward). Served cold, the following recipe represents the complete cooking process. Served hot, artichokes always gain in flavor by a final cooking in butter. (If one has the luck to find them young and tender, they may be cooked directly in butter after having been rubbed with lemon.) The lemon—both the rubbing and its presence in the cooking liquid—is designed to keep them from turning dark, but should not be overdone, for although a slight lemon flavor is agreeable, a delicately flavored grayish artichoke is preferable to one that is acid in flavor, though impeccable in color. Also, to avoid discoloration, artichokes should not be cooked in any metal except stainless steel or enamelware, nor “turned” (pared in spiral fashion) with a carbon knife.

       Artichoke Bottoms

       artichokes

       lemon halves for rubbing them

      Cooking liquid:

      for 1 quart water, the juice of ½ lemon, pinch of thyme, salt

      Break off the stems, which permits any fibrous strings to be pulled out. If the stems are sliced off, the strings remain in the bottom. Tear off all the tough outer leaves, pulling each backward, then down toward the base. When the leaves appear white and tender at the base, cut across the artichoke, leaving the tender bases attached to the bottom. Using a small, well-sharpened stainless steel knife, neatly pare the bottoms where the stem has been torn off, then continue, in a spiral fashion, all the way round to the top, removing all dark green parts. The finished product will be a pale-green and white flattened sphere. The pared surface of an artichoke darkens rapidly in contact with air, and, unless one’s work methods are extremely efficient, it is best to rub it with the cut surface of a half lemon several times during the process. Don’t worry about the chokes at this point.

      Plunge them into the boiling liquid and cook, covered, at a simmer. The cooking time may vary from 10 to 40 minutes depending on the qualities of the artichokes. They are done when the flesh no longer resists a sharply pointed knife. They should remain firm, for they will continue to cook slightly while cooling in their liquid and, unless they are to be served cold, they will be subjected later to an additional cooking. Cool them in their liquid and keep them well submerged, the receptacle covered, refrigerated, until ready for use. Before using them, carefully remove the chokes, using a teaspoon to gently pry them loose, and sponge the artichoke bottoms dry with a towel.

      MOUSSELINE FORCEMEAT

      A mousseline forcemeat is the ultimate in a stuffing. It is most often made from fish (such as pike, sole, flounder, whiting, salmon, lobster), chicken, veal, feathered game, wild rabbit, or hare. The first time one launches oneself into its preparation it may seem complicated, but the basic principles are simple. It is a fine purée of raw flesh, bound by a bit of egg white and mounted with heavy cream.

      The younger and fresher the flesh, the less albuminous support is required in the form of egg white. The less egg white used and the more cream—up to a certain point—the finer the result. The trick is to find the point at which the farce still holds, and the usual method is to decide on a given amount of egg white, and to then test it 2 or 3 times while adding the cream by poaching a tiny quenelle in a pan of simmering water that is kept ready. As long as the little dumpling poaches firmly, more cream can be added. With an excess of egg white, all the delicacy is lost, and the stuffing is heavy and rubbery. With too little egg white, or too much cream, it collapses during the poaching process. Quenelles that are poached in hot water require more egg white than those that are poached “dry” in a gentle oven, or than a molded mousseline forcemeat. Fish can support more egg white than chicken—a young chicken, freshly killed, needs none at all.

      The testing method will, no doubt, seem discouraging to the reader, as it often does to me, and the following recipe is a good, standard one that takes no chances. There is, perhaps, particularly for chicken or veal, a bit too much egg white, and most materials may support a bit more cream than the quantity given. Assuming the cream to be absolutely fresh, which is no problem in America, and the instructions followed to the letter, it cannot go wrong.

       Mousseline Forcemeat

      ½ pound raw meat, fish or poultry

       salt, freshly ground pepper, nutmeg

      1 egg white

      1 cup heavy cream

      Remove any traces of skin or fat from the flesh, scrape strips or fillets with the blade of a sharp knife, holding the tip with the other hand and scraping away from you, with the grain of the flesh, removing all the ligaments and membranous material possible—it is impossible to eliminate it entirely, but the more is removed at this point, the easier will be the final passage through the sieve. After scraping it to shreds, pound the flesh in a mortar until it is completely reduced to a purée—the more it is pounded, the better. Add salt, pepper and the slightest suspicion of freshly grated nutmeg, and continue working the purée with a pestle, adding the egg white, in very small amounts at a time. When the final addition has been completely incorporated into the mixture, start passing it, about a tablespoonful at a time, through a fine-meshed nylon drum sieve, using the plastic disk (corne); scrape all the debris (nervous, membranous material) from the surface after each passage.

      Pack the purée into a bowl (if time presses, it will chill more rapidly in a metal bowl—an hour on cracked ice is sufficient), smooth the surface of the purée, cover the bowl and embed it in cracked ice. Put into the refrigerator until needed.

      Mount the purée, keeping the bowl still on ice (having poured off the water and replaced it by more ice, if necessary), by adding the cream, well chilled, in small amounts at a time and working it vigorously with a wooden spoon. At first it is hard to work, for the mixture is very stiff, then it becomes somewhat more supple, and, though it is still firm, it is possible to beat it. After the addition of about ½ cup of cream, it should be quite malleable. At this point, whip the remaining cream until fairly firm, but not stiff, and stir and fold it gently into the mass until the whole is intimately combined. It is ready to use.

      RICE

      Plain rice is the automatic accompaniment to numerous stews or other dishes whose sauces are generally either tomato-flavored or creamed, and often thickened with egg yolks. Assuming the rice to be of quality, any of the methods of preparation are good. Do not use precooked or “treated” rice. The latter, in particular, is slippery-textured and distinctly chemical in flavor. A rice with a large, long grain and a mat surface usually seems to be the best. In France, the best rice available comes from Madagascar; in America, Carolina rice may be the best on the market. The short, round-grained Piedmont rice can be of excellent quality, but requires a special risotto treatment. For my purposes, I have found a pilaf type of preparation to be the simplest and the most satisfactory: The rice need neither be washed before cooking nor dried (steamed) after; its natural flavor remains intact and its grains separate; it may be kept warm for long periods of time without suffering any loss in quality. Classically, chopped onion is first cooked in the butter to heighten the flavor, and the rice is moistened with a bouillon or stock, but these seem questionable СКАЧАТЬ