Huîtres à l'Echalote
Croûte au Pol à la Moelle
Bars de Mer et Coquilles à la Poulette
Perdreaux aux Raisins
Choux de Bruxelles Ménagère
Selle d'Agneau de Pré-Salé Rôtie
Pommes de Terre Lorette
Salade de Laitue aux Fines Herbes
Coeur Flottant Merveilleux aux Fraises
Friandises
Mocha
As soon as the month of October appears on the calendar, the French connoisseur sets his palate for heartier fare. And since this month is the height of the hunting season, you can be certain that his first fall dinner party will feature game. For what indeed has he been waiting for during spring and summer if not to savor the first tender young partridge, or to inhale the aromatic fragrance of a steaming civet of hare, or, as the season advances, to bite into flavorful, rich venison? In fact, he will plan his menu—and the details of each course, and its wine—with as much thought as he gives his most important business matters, spending hours either with the maître d'hôtel or the chef of his favorite restaurant, or with his own cook.
Planning the menu for a fine meal, such as the one above, requires a sound knowledge of foods and the many ways of preparing them. It also requires good judgment and careful attention to details. I have often been asked to give the rules of menu-making, but I as often reply that there are no hard and fast rules in making menus. There are, of course, certain principles, but many people, particularly those with keen and adventurous tastes, even vary these considerably. However, certain principles are fairly obvious, if you will stop to think of them, The trouble too often is that many people, with only a slight knowledge of foods and limited taste, just do not stop to think. And this is as unfortunate in planning menus as in, planning any other important work.
Perhaps the most common fault people commit in planning menus is including all the dishes they personally like without ever considering whether or not the menu progresses gastronomically. All menus, French and otherwise, have a common purpose—to satisfy the physiological state of hunger. The French, through long experience and experimenting, have found that the best way to satisfy, but not satiate, this need is through a balance of foods. And they do this by harmonizing and contrasting their courses. They may begin with a fairly simple food that whets or piques the appetite, and build up to more rich and complex dishes. The climax of the French menu may be the fish, the entree, or the roast. Whichever it is, the courses that follow it are usually not as rich. Many gourmets today feel that once the richest course of the meal has been reached, the succeeding ones should be very few and very light, or even be dismissed altogether and the dessert brought on. That, of course, is an individual preference.
A well-arranged dinner of the more or less formal type still includes several well defined courses: hors d'oeuvre, which is very often some kind of shellfish; soup, whether it is light or heavy depends on the succeeding courses; a fish dish, and whether it is shellfish or fin fish will depend on what was Served for the hors-d'oeuvre; a hot entrée, which may be and often is the richest course in the meal; the roast; salad; dessert; and coffee. Very often a cold dish follows the roast to refresh and rest the palate. In elaborate banquets there will usually be several more courses than these seven that I have mentioned. However, in our streamlined living and eating today the trend is away from the lengthy mentis that were so popular before the first World War.
There are, nonetheless, important principles in menu making that apply to informal and formal meals. And these principles the French try conscientiously to uphold. In the first place, as I have said, there should be a balance of harmony and contrast in the flavor, texture, and appearance of foods. Sameness should be avoided. There is nothing so tiresome, so unimaginative, and so deadening to the palate as the eating of the same fish or meat in two courses. The number of sauces to include in the menu and the richness of them depend naturally on the type of meal you are planning and even on the season of the year. If hollandaise is chosen for one dish, then béarnaise or any of the rich butter sauces should not accompany other dishes. Some people even feel that if a cream sauce is used with the entree or fish, a cream dessert or a dessert with a cream sauce should not be chosen for the final course, 1 would say, however, that two cream preparations may be included as long as the courses in which they appear are sufficiently far apart. Again this is a personal preference.
In the menu I have selected I have tried to show how variation is achieved through a careful selection of foods, their methods of preparation and their sauces. If this menu is to be prepared in your own home, you may want to shorten it, for it is far better to prepare fewer courses to perfection than to serve a long succession of dishes that so overtax the cook that nothing is done really well.
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.
Perdreaux aux Raisins (Young Partridges with Grapes)
Clean 6 young partridges and truss the wings and legs close to the bodies. If the birds are large, 3 may be sufficient, ' serving one-hall to each person. Cover the breasts with slices of fat salt pork or bacon and tie the slices in place. Season with Salt, place the birds on their sides in a roasting pan, and spread them with good fat or butter. Roast the birds in a hot oven (425' F.) for 15 minutes, turning them to the Other side after 7 minutes and basting frequently. Then turn the partridges on their 'backs, cover each breast with a couple of grape leaves, and continue to cook, lusting frequently, for 15 to 20 minutes longer. Remove the birds from the oven, discard the trussing strings, and place each bird on a piece of toast spread with rouennaise. Place a grape leaf on top and a slice of the pork or bacon that was used to cover the breasts.
Peel 6 to 8 dozen red or white grapes. Pour off the fat from the roasting pan but do not wash the pan. Add the grapes, ¼ cup cognac, and 1/3 cup white Burguudy wine and cook lor a few minutes, stirring in all the brown crustiness around the pan. Stir in ¼ to ½ cup veal or chicken gravy and 1 tablespoon butter. Correct the seasoning with salt and serve the sauce with the partridges.
Roucnnaise
Heat 7 tablespoons rendered salt pork fat. Add 1 cup chicken or duck livers, a pinch of thyme, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon salt, a little pepper. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes over a hot fire, Add 3 tablespoons cognac or sherry. Mix all together, pounding well, and rub through a sieve to make a paste.
Brussels sprouts are the vegetable accompaniment to the partridge, This vegetable, like most members of the cabbage family, has its own strong, definite flavor, but in this case, conked with salt pork and butter, it acquires a slightly meaty flavor which both contrasts and points up the flavor of the game.
Ghoux de Bruxelles Ménagère (Brussels Sprouts)
Trim and wash 2 quarts of Brussels sprouts. Cook the sprouts in boiling, salted water for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they are done but are not soft, Drain well. Dice 2 or 3 slices of bacon or salt pork and sauté the dice in 2 tablespoons butter until golden brown. Add the sprouts and mix all together. Season with salt and popper, sprinkle with parsley, and serve with the partridge.
Lamb that has been properly fed during the summer and early fall should be very good by October. By this time, when it is six or eight months old, it will have developed its own characterise flavor. Of course you must buy the kind of lamb that is available where you live, but no Frenchman when Speaking of lamb can avoid mentioning the présaté lamb. This is an excellent type raised on the salt meadows of France and England, but as far as I know, nowhere else in the world. For a formal dinner, the choicest cut of lamb is the saddle, and for lamb roasted J point. serve a red Bordeaux, dry, fragrant, and suave, perhaps a Château Margaux.
Selle d'Aguvau Rôtie (Roast Saddle of Lamb)
Season a saddle of lamb with salt, place it in a roasting pan, and cover the meat with good fat. Roast the saddle in a hot oven (425° F.), basting frequently, until done. Allow 15 to IS minutes per pound for medium rare, or 30 minutes per pound fur well done. Place the lamb on a serving platter, Remove the fat from the pan, add to the pan a little stock or water, and cook for a few minutes, stirring in all the brown Crustiness around the pan. Finish the sauce by swirling in 1 tablespoon butler.
Many French meat dishes have their own vegetable garnish, but if they do nor, potatoes are a favorite substitute. Few foods so set off the flavor and texture of meat as the potato, and this unusual way of preparing it goes well with the lamb and its simple pan juices.
Pommel tie Terre Lorelle (Potatoes Lorette)
Mix together equal quantities of pommes dachesse and pâte à choux. Slip the baiter off a spoon into hoc deep fat (390° F.) and fry until the potatoes are puffed and brown. Remove them from the fat and drain on absorbent paper.
Pommes Duchesse
Boil and mash enough potatoes to make 2 cups. Combine the poratoes with 2 egg yolks, mix well, and season to taste with salt.
Pâle à Cboux (Cream Puff Paste)
Bring 1 cup water, or milk, or half of each, to a boil with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ cup butter. Add 1 cup flour and stir until the mixture is Smooth and rolls away from the sides of the pan. Remove the paste from the heat and add 4 eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each.
A Frenchman would have to have a very good reason indeed for omitting the salad from a meal. The salad course has a definite purpose and place in the French menu: Coining after the heavy dishes of fish, game, and meat, it serves to cleanse the palate, and it contrasts both with what has preceded and with what follows. Unfortunately. in recent years, many fine restaurants have succumbed to the practice of serving salad before or after the soup or with the entrée, regarding it as a stimulant to the appetite or as an extra vegetable to the main dish.
Salade de Laitue aux Fines Herbes (Lettuce Salad with Herbs)
Wash and drain enough lettuce leaves for six servings, then dry well by swinging them in a salad basket or towel, taking care, however, not to bruise the leaves. Prepare French dressing in the salad bowl by mixing together 2 tablespoons vinegar, 6 tablespoons olive oil, a little salt, pepper, and dry mustard. Add the lettuce leaves, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon mixed chopped tarragon, Chervil, and chives and toss all together until every leaf is well coated.
Goeur flottant is a rich cream dessert, and it is heightened in taste, texture. and appearance by chocolate, strawberries, a fruit liqueur, and a rich custard sauce. This of course is a strong contrast to the salad, and it should satisfy the insistent craving that most people have for a sweet at the end of the meal. A demi-sec champagne, not too dry yet not sweet, domestic or imported, should be the wine for this course. A demitasse of strong black coffee, preferably that made from the dark-roast coffee allied “Continental” roast, will finish what I hope you will find to be an interesting and rewarding meal.
Coeur Flottant Merveilleux aux Praises (Heart of Cream with Strawberries)
Beat 6 egg yolks with ½ cup sugar until the mixture is very thick and pale in color. Flavor with vanilla extract or add the seeds from the inside of a 1-inch piece of vanilla Wan. Fold in 3 cups whipped cream. Fill a heart-shaped mold and place it in the refrigerator freezing unit or home freezer. Macaroons or ladyfingers sprinkled with a liqueur may be put in the center of the cream in the mold. When ready to serve, dip the mold for an instant in hot water, turn out the cream into a rather deep serving plate, and decorate it with chocolate leaves, Surround the cream with strawberries, washed, hulled, and sprinkled with kirsch, and pour a rich vanilla custard sauce over them.
Vanilla Custard Sauce
Beat 4 egg yolks lightly with a fork. Four over this 1 ½ cups hot milk in which 2 tablespoons sugar and a pinch of salt are dissolved. Cook the mixture over hot but not boiling water, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, or until thickened. Add vanilla to taste.