Shad has always been considered one of the great fish delicacies. Its season is short and so we must make the most of it. It has one really difficult feature, the great number of bones—so many, in fact, that the fish dealer may charge for boning a shad. The recipe here is a typically French way of cooking this fish, a change from the conventional broiling. Sorrel, also in season in May, sets off the shad very well. In France, every garden has its row of sorrel waiting to be cut, and it can be found in all the markets there at this time of year.
Our dessert for this May luncheon à la française is known to Americans as snow eggs. At home, when I was a boy, we considered this dessert a great treat, much as American children think of ice cream. It was served at holiday meals and I still remember vividly the huge bowls of it that both my mother and grandmother made for these occasions. This airy dessert was also very popular at the old New York Ritz. We put it on our menu during the hotel's early years and so many people asked for it that we never took it off again. We used to vary our oeufs à la neige by putting different fruits in season into the custard and then we often topped the meringues with shredded chocolate and candied violets.
I think two wines are sufficient for this luncheon, a white wine with the fish and a red one with the meat, saving a little of the latter in your glass to drink with your cheese. You might like to try a Chablis for the white wine, a 1947, 1949 or 1950, or a Meursault of those same years, or perhaps a Traminer or Riesling 1950. For the red either a Médoc such as Château Léoville-Barton 1943 or 1947 or Mouton-Rothschild 1947; another happy choice would be a St. Julien 1945 or 1947 or a Mâcon 1945, 1947 or 1949.
Pâté Maison
Cut ½ pound each of lean veal and fresh pork into thin slices. Put the slices in a bowl and cover them with a marinade made by mixing together ½ cup dry white wine, 2 tablespoons brandy, 1 teaspoon salt, a pinch of poultry seasoning, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add 1 onion, sliced, 2 small cloves of garlic, and 3 sprigs of parsley. Cover and let the sliced meat marinate in the refrigerator overnight, or for 12 hours.
In another bowl mix the same amount of the marinade used for the pork and veal and add to it 1 ½ pounds of fat meat, pork and veal, using more pork than veal, which has been run through the fine blade of a meat grinder. Put the same amount of onion, garlic and parsley on top of it and let the ground meat marinate in the refrigerator overnight. or for 12 hours.
Prepare a dough as follows: To 4 cups flour, sifted with 1 teaspoon salt. Add 1 cup each of butter and vegetable shortening and cut it in with a pastry blender or two knives. Stir in 1 egg, beaten, and about ½ cup cold water, or enough to make a firm dough. Chill the dough in the refrigerator overnight, or for 12 hours.
When ready to make the pâté, roll out the dough 1/8 to ¼ inch thick into a rectangle large enough to fit into the bottom and sides of an oblong pâté mold or bread pan, leaving an edge about ¾ inch wide around the top of the pan. Fit the dough into the pan. Discard the onion, garlic, and parsley from both bowls of meat and mix the marinade with the meat in each bowl. Spread ½ the ground meat mixture in the bottom of the lined pan, put the pieces of marinated meat on top, and cover with the remaining ground meat mixture. Large julienne of cooked ham, goose liver and truffles may also be added to the meat in the center layer. Cover the pâté With a thin layer of dough, fitting it carefully over the top of the pâté, Moisten the edge of the lower dough and seal top and edge of dough wall, pinching or crimping it attractively. Cover the top with a second thin layer of dough, make a hole in the center about as big as a dime, and insert a roll of white paper in the hole for the Steam to escape. The pâté may be decorated with flowers and leaves cut from puff paste. Bake in a moderately hot oven (400° F.) for 15 to 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 375° F. and bake for about 1 ½ to 1 ¾ hours, or until the liquid boils up in the paper chimney set in the hole on top. This pâté may be served hot, medium hot or cold. If it is to be served cold, pour into the hole in the top 1 cup good liquid aspic to which 2 tablespoons Madeira have been added.
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