Since this is October and oysters are again back on the market, oysters on the half shell begin this menu as the horsd'oeuvre course. Since there will be no really sharp sauce in the rest of the meal, one definitely belongs here—to whet the appetite for what is to follow.
Huîtres à l'Ecbalote (Shallot Sauce for Oysters)
Mix together ½ cup vinegar, 1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped shallots, ¼ teaspoon salt, and some finely ground fresh pepper or mignonette pepper, very finely crushed. Pass the sauce with the oysters on the half shell.
Croûte au pot a la moelle is the second course. This flavorsome broth is made from meat and chicken, but it is served only with its vegetables and a garnish of toast spread with poached marrow—a delicacy all but forgotten in most of our menus today. Strong yet thin, the soup stimulates the already awakened appetite.
Croûte au Pot à la Moelle
Put I pound of lean beef from the rump or the shoulder, I pound of plate beef, and 1 medium oxtail, cut in pieces, in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water, and transfer the meat to a deep soup kettle. Add 3 quarts stock or water and add 1 tablespoon salt if the stock has no salt in it. Bring to a boil, skim, and simmer over low heat for 1 ½ to 2 hours, skimming as needed. Parboil a small fowl or a few chicken legs for a few minutes and add to the soup kettle. Clean and cut in oliveshapes enough carrots to make 2/3 cup, turnips to make ½ cup, and enough leeks, using the white part only, in ½ to ¾-inch pieces, to make 2/3 cup. Add the vegetables to the kettle. Bring the soup back to a boil and simmer over low heat for 1 ½ to 1 ¾ hours longer, or until the meat is tender, skimming as needed. Correct the seasoning with salt. Remove the meat and chicken, put the soup where it will keep hot without boiling, and remove all the fat from the surface.
Serve the broth with the vegetables and sprinkle with chopped chervil if available. Serve separately small rounds of toast spread with poached marrow and sprinkled with parsley.
To poach marrow: Remove the marrow from the bones without breaking it. Cut the marrow into ½-inch slices, put the slices in cold water, and bring the water to the boiling point but do not let it boil. Add a little cold water to reduce the temperature and keep the marrow in a warm place until ready to serve.
The richest course in this fall menu happens to be the fish course. And at this rime of year good fish and shellfish such as bass and scallops are easy to obtain. Prepared in this poulette sauce, with its combination of fish stock, wine, cream, cream sauce, and egg yolks, the dish is quite satisfying. Like the game or meat course, it will make a good main dish for a dinner en famille during October. A dry white Burgundy such as Pouilly-Fuissé is an admirable wine for this sea food.
Bars de Met et Coquilles à la Poulette (Sea Bass and Scallops Poulette)
In a shallow pan put 2 tablespoons butter and add 1 tablespoon chopped shallot and ½ pound of mushrooms. cleaned and sliced, On this arrange filets of seabass and season with salt and a little pepper. Add 2 cups scallops and ¼ pound of mushrooms, cleaned and sliced. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon chopped paisley and add 1/3 cup dry white wine and ½ cup fish stock. Cover the fish with a circle of buttered wax paper with a small hole in the center. Bring the liquid to a boil, cover the pan, and cook slowly for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the fish is done. Discard the paper and place the fish, scallops, and mushrooms in a serving dish. Cook the liquid remaining in the pan until it is reduced to about one-third. Add 1 cup cream sauce (see January, 1953) and mix well. Beat 2 egg yolks with 2 to 3 tablespoons cream and a little of the hot sauce and stir into the sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, until the boiling point is almost reached. Correct the seasoning with salt, pour the sauce over the fish, and sprinkle with chopped chives.
The hot entree is sometimes the richest course in the menu, and often the most interesting one. If the fish course is not richly sauced, it is quite usual to select a sweetbread or breast of chicken dish richly sauced and elaborately garnished for the hot entree. However, October is the game season and this is the time to dramatize game dishes. And it is still early enough in the season for the birds to be young and tender, in which case roasting is the preferred way of conking them. Later in the season, the muscles of the birds will have developed and the meat will be tough—suitable only for salmis and chartreuse, which are delicious of course in their own way.
The roast partridge on our October menu is a robust dish that requires a robust wine such as a Moulin .. Vent, a Volnay, or a Corton. Serve it at room temperature, of course.
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