MENU FOR A CHRISTMAS DINNER
from Godey's Lady's Book, December
1890
Raw Oysters
Bouillon
Fried smelts.................................Sauce
tartare
Potatoes a la Maitre d' Hotel
Sweetbread Pates............................Peas
Roast Turkey..................Cranberry
Sauce
Roman Punch
Quail with Truffles.............Rice
Croquettes
Parisian Salad
Crackers and Cheese
Nesselrode Pudding.............Fancy
Cakes
Fruit......................Coffee
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RAW OYSTERS
Have blue-point oysters; serve
upon the half shell, the shells being laid upon oyster plates filled with
cracked ice; six oysters and a thick slice of lemon being served upon each
plate.
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BOUILLON
Put into a pot three pounds of
shin beef, one pound of knuckle of veal, and three quarts of water, and
simmer gently. As soon as the scum begins to rise, skim carefully until
it quite ceases to appear. Then add salt, two carrots, the same of onions,
turnips, and a little celery. Simmer gently four hours, strain, and serve
in buillon cups to each guest.
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FRIED SMELTS. SAUCE TARTARE
Clean about two dozen smelts, cut
off the gills, wash them well in cold water, and then dry them thoroughly.
Put in a pinch of salt and pepper in a little milk, into which dip your
smelts, and then roll them in cracker dust. Put into a frying pan some
lard, in which, when very hot, fry your smelts a light brown. Also fry
some parsley, which place around your fish, and serve with sauce tartare.
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SAUCE TARTARE
Put the yolks of two eggs in a
bowl with salt, pepper, the juice of a lemon, and one teaspoonful of dry
mustard. Stir with a wooden spoon, and add by degrees-- in very small quantities,
and stirring continuously-- a tablespoonful of vinegar; then, a few drops
at a time, some good oil, stirring rapidly all the time, until your sauce
thicken, and a half a pint of oil has been absorbed. Chop one pickle and
a tablespoonful of capers, also chop a green onion and a few taragon leaves,
and mix with your sauce.
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POTATOES A la MAITRE d'HOTEL
Wash eight potatoes, and boil them
in cold water with a pinch of salt. When thoroughly done, peel them cut
them in thin round slices; put them--with three ounces of butter, a pinch
of salt, pepper and a nutmeg, the juice of a lemon, and a tablespoonful
of chopped parsley--in a saucepan on the fire, and, when very hot, serve.
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SWEETBREAD PATES
Boil four sweetbreads, and let
them become cold; then chop them very fine, add about ten mushrooms, also
chopped fine. Mix with these a quarter pound of butter, half a pint of
milk, a little flour, pepper, salt, and a little grated nutmeg. Put upon
the fire, stir until it begins to thicken, then put in puff-paste that
has been prepared, and bake until light brown.
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PEAS
Open a can of peas, soak in clear
water for half an hour, then put upon the fire in clean water, let them
boil up hard, drain well and serve with butter, pepper and salt.
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ROAST TURKEY
Clean and prepare a medium sized
turkey for roasting. Cut two onions in pieces, and put them in a saucepan
with two ounces of butter, and color them slightly. Grate a pound of bread
into fine crumbs, add the bread to your onions, the turkey's heart and
liver chopped very fine, quarter of a pound of butter, salt, pepper, a
pinch of thyme, and mix all well together. Stuff the turkey with this mixture,
sew up the opening through which you have introduced the stuffing, and
put it to roast, with a little butter on top and a wineglassful of water;
roast an hour and a half; strain your liquor in the pan, pour over your
turkey, and serve.
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CRANBERRY SAUCE
Take one quart of cranberries,
pick and wash carefully, put upon the fire with half a teacupful of water,
let them stew until thoroughly broken up, then strain and add one pound
and a quarter of sugar; put into a mould and turn out when cold.
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ROMAN PUNCH
Put in a saucepan on the fire three-quarters
of a pound of sugar with three pints of water, boil ten minutes, then put
aside to become cold. Put in a freezer, and when nearly frozen, stir into
it rapidly a gill of rum and the juice of four lemons. Serve in small glasses.
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RICE CROQUETTES
Take one cupful of rice, wash and
boil it, and let it get thoroughly cold. Beat up with it one egg, a teaspoonful
of sugar and the same of melted butter, salt and a little nutmeg. Work
this mixture into the rice, stirring until all is well mixed and the lumps
worked out. Make, with floured hands, into oblong rolls about three inches
in length, and half an inch in diamenter. Coat these thickly with flour,
and set them in a cold place until needed. Fry a few at a time in hot lard,
rolling them over as they begin to brown to preserve their shape. As each
is taken from the fire, put into a colander to drain and dry.
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PARISIAN SALAD
Cut in small pieces six cold boiled
potatoes, the same quantity of beets, and also of boiled celery--both cold.
Mix the yolks of four hard boiled eggs with two tablespoonfuls of anchovy
sauce, press through a sieve; add, little by little, four tablespoonfuls
of oil, one tablespoonful of mustard, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, a
few taragon leaves chopped fine, two pinches of salt, two of pepper, and
the whites of four hard boiled eggs, cut in pieces, mix all well together,
and serve.
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CRACKERS AND CHEESE
Place on separate dishes, and serve
with the salad.
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NESSELRODE PUDDING
Remove the shells from two dozen
French chestnuts, which put in a saucepan with a little water, then peel
off the skin, and put the chestnuts in a saucepan on the fire with a pint
of water and one pound of sugar. Boil them until very soft, then press
them through a sieve; the put them in a saucepan with one pint of cream,
in which you mix the yolks of four eggs. Just before boiling put your mixture
through a sieve, add an ounce of stoned raisins, an ounce of currants,
two sherryglasses of sherry wine, and freeze it like ice-cream. When frozen,
cut four candied apricots, four candied green gages, half an ounce of citron
in small pieces, three ounces of candied cherries; mix them thoroughly
into the pudding, which is put into a mould, a thick piece of paper on
top, and the cover securely shut down upon it. Put some cracked ice, mixed
with two handfuls of rock salt, into a bowl, in the middle of which put
your mould, covering it entirely with ice and salt; let it remain two hours,
then turn it out of the mould, first dipping it into warm water.
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MACAROONS
Put half a pound of almonds in
boiling water, remove the skins, then put the almonds in cold water, then
put them in the oven to dry. Pound them to a paste, adding the white of
an egg; then add a pound and a half of powdered sugar, again pound well,
adding the whites of two eggs. Spread on a pan a sheet of white paper,
pour the mixture into little rounds somewhat smaller than a fifty cent
piece, place them on top of the paper in your pan, about an inch and a
half apart. Put them in a gentle oven for twelve minutes, the door of the
oven shut; at the end of that time, if they are well colored, remove them
from the oven, let them become cold, turn the paper upside down, moisten
it with a little water and remove the macaroons.
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FRUIT
Arrange grapes, apples, bananas
and oranges upon fancy dishes, with gayly colored leaves and ivy branches
around them.
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COFFEE
Take one quart of boiling water,
one even cupful of freshly ground coffee, wet with half a cupful of cold
water, white and shell of one egg. Stir into the wet coffee the white and
shell, the latter broken up small. Put the mixture into the coffee pot,
shake up and down six or seven times hard, to insure thorough incorporation
of the ingredients, and pour in the boiling water. Boil steadily twelve
minutes, pour in half a cupful of cold water, and remove instantly to the
side to settle. Leave it there five minutes; lift and pour off gently the
clear coffee. Serve in small cups, and put no sugar in the coffee. Lay,
instead, a lump in each saucer, to be used as the drinker likes.
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