Summer's the time when gourmets are apt to be what the French call grincheux, meaning not in very good humor. It's the heat, particularly sultry heat, that docs it. Appetites are dulled and nothing seems to taste right. This conspires to make summer an extra-busy time for chefs because it is up to them to provide the appetite-provoking dishes needed to tempt their guests. Perhaps if it hadn't been for out-of-humor, or grincheux, gourmets these hard working artisans of the kitchen might not have come up with so many wonderful summer spécialisés in different ways of using fresh fruits, the delectable cold soups now so popular in hot weather, and scores of cold entrées and unusual salads.
Actually, July's food treasures are far from limited and many can be put in the class of really elegant foods. Chickens, ducks and guinea hens, hatched in the spring and now poised on the thresh-old of maturity, have a rather special succulent plumpness. And in the later-maturing. larger type of birds like turkeys and geese a fine grained tenderness is found. Oison au romarin, which is a tiny summer goose roasted with fresh rosemary inside, is a treat too few people have had the opportunity to try. Salmon is excellent, as are sea-bass, lobster and numbers of other fish and shellfish. Tomatoes are taking on a firm mealiness that is deep and red, raspberries are big and juicy, and there are few times of the year when melons are any better than they are right now.
The menu I've given should bring back joie de vivre, or maybe I should say joie de manger, to even the most apathetic guest. Discriminating gourmets will find these five courses make an elegant lunch or supper, or an equally fine dinner for a hot night. But if you prefer a lighter meal or one that requires less rime to prepare the caneton Montmorency en gelée can be eliminated.
Few people want very many heavy foods in hot weather, but most doctors frown on the completely cold meal, believing that something hot—at least one dish—is important for good digestion. Well, French gourmets feel the same way about a meal with all cold courses. Not that they worry particularly how good if is for you. With them it is a matter of wanting a truly satisfying meal. For some reason a completely cold dinner usually proves disappointing. There's the feeling chat something vital is lacking. At any rate a menu classique would certainly include at least one hot dish no matter how hot the weather is.
For the hot dish in this particular menu I have selected one that is typically French, a veal dish. The recipe happens to be one my mother used in preparing braised veal. When I was a boy, went to school, I remember that I always hoped they would be used for veau braisé because 1 was so fond of it. There are many different braised veal recipes, however, and any one of them would be a good summer choice for the hot dish, because they are neither too rich nor too hearty in character. Furthermore, braised veal makes excellent cold meat to serve with a salad on another day.
Thinking of ways to tempt lagging summer appetites kept my mind and my hands busy many and many a hot July day. But then I would turn out something that pleased everyone so much that all the work that 1 had put into the dish was forgotten in the satisfaction it gave me. Filets de sole à Porisentale is one of those dishes. Our cold fish entrées were always popular in summer, but most of them were made on a mayonnaise base. I thought we should have something new and entirely different on our menu. A new sauce was what I wanted and, after some experimenting, I decided that a combination of portugaise and améiricaiue was the best. A little added saffron gave just the flavor I was trying to achieve and aspic the perfect consistency. For more than twenty years it was a spéciaité du Ritz Carlton that appeared regularly on the summer menus.
For this menu I'd suggest the following wines: With the fish one of the Barsacs of 1949 or a Château Latour Blanche 1947; then follow with a red Beaujolais 1947 or 1950, or a Saint-Estèphe 1947 or 1949 for the veal. Then a Gevrey-Chambertin 1949 or one of the Vosne-Romanée 1947 to drink with the duckling. There is nothing nicer than champagne with the fruit dessert and, if the day is really hot, that is all you may want to finish the meal. Otherwise the finishing touch would be the few sips of cognac or liqueur with which so many people like-to end a good dinner.
Melon au Porto ( MeIon with Port Wine)
Select 1 or 2 large melons, depending on the number of people to be served For good pink meat, large cantaloupes or Canadian melons are generally the best in July. With a sharp knife carefully cut a round opening 1 ½ to 2 inches in diameter in the stem end. Remove this circular plug, and set it aside. With a long-handled spoon empty out the seeds and fibre. If the melon is not too sweet, sprinkle in 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, but for a very sweet melon omit the sugar. Pour in 1 cup port wine and replace the plug. Set the melon in a bowl, surround it with cracked ice, and put in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Melons prepared this way are not cut in slices. To serve, cut an opening in the top large enough to permit spooning out the meat. Serve in small deep dishes with some of the wine.
Filets de Sole à l'Orieutale eu Celêe (Filets of Sole Orientate in Aspic)
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a shallow pan large enough to hold 6 filets of sole. Add 1 teaspoon chopped shallot and arrange the filets in the pan. Add ½ cup white wine, or fish stock or water and the juice of half a lemon. Cover with a piece of buttered waxed paper cut to fit the pan, with a tiny hole in the center. Bring the liquid to a boil, cover the pan, and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the fish is done. Remove the fish to a plate to cool. Cook the liquid in the pan until it is reduced to about ¼ the original quantity and use it in making sauce orientale which combines américaine and portugaise sauces.
When the fish is cold arrange the filets side by side on a large serving platter. Remove the lobster used to make the sauce américaine from the shell, slice the body and tail meat and arrange the meat with the claws on top of the filets. Cover with sauce orientale, then coat the sauce with cold but still liquid aspic and chill until the aspic is set. Garnish the platter with small tomatoes Stuffed with cucumber salad or with lettuce leaves filled with cucumber salad.
Américine Sauce
Cut a live 1 ½- to 2-pound lobster into 8 pieces (the tail in 4 pieces, the body in 2 pieces, and the 2 claws). Remove the tomalley (that is, the liver) and set it aside to thicken the sauce. Prepare a mirepoix bordelaise in a deep saucepan as follows: Melt 1 ½ table-spoons butter, add 1 carrot and 1 onion, both finely chopped, a little thyme, 1 small bay leaf, and 1 sprig of parsley, and cook all together until lightly browned.
In a shallow pan heat ¼ cup olive oil and add the lobster. Add ¼ ten-spoon salt and sauté the lobster for about 5 minutes, or until the meat starts to become firm. Remove the lobster and place it on top of the mirepoix of vegetables. Add 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon chopped shallots, and ½ cup white wine. Add 2 tablespoons warm brandy, ignite, and let it burn out. Add 3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, ½ cup fish Stock and I cup tomato sauce or purée. Cover the pan closely and cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the lobster to a plate to cool, Strain the sauce through a fine sieve and cook until it is reduced to about ½ the original quantity. Crush the tomalley with I tablespoon soft butter and mix with ¼ teaspoon Flour and ½ clove of garlic, minced. Combine this mixture with the sauce, add 1 teaspoon chopped tarragon and chervil, and correct the seasoning with salt and a little freshly ground pepper. Mix all together well and bring just to the boiling point, stirring vigorously, but do not boil.
Portugaise Sauce
Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan, add 1 teaspoon finely chopped shallot or onion and 4 tablespoons red or while wine. Cook until the wine is reduced to 1/3 the original quantity. Add 3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, and cook until they are soft. Add 2/3 cup tomato sauce or purée and ¼ cup good beef or veal gravy, or 1 tablespoon beef extract or glace de viande. Cook until the sauce is reduced and quite thick. Add 1 tablespoon chopped parsley and salt and pepper to taste.
Orientate Sauce
Combine the américaine and portugaise sauces and add the reduced liquor in which the fish was cooked. Add 1 teaspoon saffron and ¼ cup very firm aspic jelly (see May, 1954). Stir until the aspic is melted, and cool.
Tomates Farcies avec Salad de Concombtes (Tomatoes Stuffed with Cucumber Salad)
Peel 2 or 3 fresh crisp cucumbers, cut them in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds, Slice the cucumbers very thinly, put the slices in a bowl with a little salt on top, and let stand for about 1 to 2 hours to draw out the water. Drain, spread the slices on a towel, and squeeze out the water. Return the slices to the bowl, then mix them with 2 or 3 table-spoons French dressing and 1 teaspoon each of chopped parsley and chives, and chill. Carefully peel small bright red tomatoes. Remove a small circle from the top and carefully scoop out the seeds and juice with a small spoon. Invert the tomato cups for an hour or more to permit all the watery juice to drain out. then chill them. Fill with the chilled cucumber salad.
Louge de Veau Braisée à la Bourgeoise (Braised Loin of Veal Bourgeoise)
Have your butcher cut a 4-pound piece of veal from the loin or rack or the solid part of the leg. In the bottom of a deep casserole put a few veal bones, l carrot and 1 onion, both sliced, and a faggot made by tying together 1 stalk of celery, 4 sprigs of parsley, a small bay leaf, and a sprig of thyme. Place the meat, seasoned with salt and pepper, on this and spread the top of it with 2 tablespoons butter. Roast the meat in a hot oven (425° F.) for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Add 1 cup water or stock and continue to cook, basting often. When the liquid is reduced, add a little more water or stock to prevent scorching the meat and cover with a piece of buttered waxed or white paper cut to lit the inside of the casserole, with a small hole in the center to vent the steam. Cover the casserole, reduce the heat to 375° F. and cook for about 1 ½ hours, basting occasionally.
While the meat is cooking, prepare the vegetables: Peel 15 to 18 small white onions, put them in a shallow pan with 1 ½ tablespoons butter and ½ table-spoon sugar, and cook slowly, moving them around in the pan until they are golden brown and glazed all over; pare enough small new carrots to make 2 ½ cups either while or cut in large dice; shell enough fresh peas to make ½ cup; chop enough parsley to make 1 tablespoon and also chop coarsely 2 large tomatoes. Remove the meat from the casserole and set aside. There should be 1 ½ to 2 cups liquid in the casserole; if not, add water or stock, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring all the brown crustiness that is around the Sides of the pan into the liquid. Remove the bones and strain the sauce. Put the vegetables in the casserole, pour the sauce over them, and place the meat in the casserole. Cover and cook on top of the range or n hot oven (400° F) for about 40 minutes, or until the vegetables are done.
Caneton Montmorency en Gelée (Duckling in Aspic with Cherries)
Clean a duck weighing about 5 pounds and truss it to hold wings and legs close to the body. Roast the duck in a hot oven (425° F.) for 40 to 45 minutes, or until done. Set aside to cool. Remove the breasts and cut them in thin slices. Fill the carcass with foie gras mousse and cover the outside where the breasts were removed with the same mixture, reconstructing the duck to give it its natural form Then carefully lay the thin slices of breast meat over the mousse, overlapping them neatly to cover it When well set. cover with chicken aspic (see June, 1954) flavored with port or Madeira and colored a light pink with a drop or two of vegetable coloring. Arrange the duck on a flat oval serving platter, surround it with chopped aspic, and decorate it with pitted red Cherries, If desired, slices of orange may be alternated with the cherries.
If preferred, the mousse can be arranged in a mound in an entree dish and the slices of duck placed on it, then the whole coated with aspic and garnished with cherries.
Mousse de Foie Gras (for duckling)
Prepare a rouennaise as follows: In a small saucepan brown 2 tablespoons fat salt pork, cut in small dice. Add 1 cup chicken livers, a little thyme, a smallbay leaf. ½ teaspoon salt and a little pepper, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons cognac. Mix all together well, crushing the livers to make a paste, and then pasteugh a fine sieve. Combine the rouennaise with an equal amount of sweet butter that has been worked until creamy and three times the amount of purée of goose liver as follows: Work the goose liver with a wooden spoon until it is very light, then gradually work in the rouennaise, Pass the mixture through a very fine sieve into a bowl or saucepan set on a bed of cracked ice. If the mousse is to be eaten right away, add about the same amount of whipped cream as butter. The mousse can be kept for a few days, but in this case the cream should be omitted.
Framboises des Gourmets (Raspberries for Gourmets)
Clean the raspberries and drain thoroughly. Put servings of pineapple ice in individual serving dishes and arrange the berries on top of the ice. Cover with parisienne sauce flavored with prunelle liqueur and decorate with whipped cream. In restaurants this dessert is usually masked with spun sugar.
Sauce Parisienne
Make vanilla sauce as follows: In the top of a double boiler scald ½ cup milk and ½ cup cream with half a vanilla bean. Combine 2 egg yolks (or three if the eggs are small)and ¼ cup sugar and whip together until the mixture becomes very light. Combine the eggs with the milk and cream, and cook over gently boiling water, stirring constantly with a whip or slotted Spoon until the sauce is as thick as custard. It should just coat the outside of the spoon as it is withdrawn. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve or cheesecloth. Cool, whipping from time to time to keep it Smooth.This sauce can be kept for a couple of days in the refrigerator. When ready to use mix the sauce with ½ cup strawberry purée and 3 table-spoons pruneiie liqueur Fold in 1 cup whipped cream.