The Frenchman, following the moods of the seasons, likes to take his case in August. You recognize this everywhere you go. In Paris almost all the shopkeepers and proprietors of small eating places put out the sign Ferme ture annuelle jusqu' au mois de Septembre, and close their doors. Many of the larger establishments do this too. The city takes on a dreamy, Sunday sort of aspect. And where do they all go? Alors, some who have come to the cities to seek their fortunes go back to visit their families in the country sections where they were raised, and which they still think of as mon pays, my countryside.
August is a month when all fine eating places dramatize their cold specialties and show off their artistic skills with such decorative assets as truffles, tarragon leaves, chervil, pimientos and so on, all carefully secured in aspic or mayonnaise collée. It is a great treat just to look at these cold buffets with their beautifully prepared and garnished dishes; a greater pleasure, of course, to eat them. At this season of the year most of the formal dinners include a few cold favorites such as the saumon froid and mousse de jambon which I have suggested in our menu classique for August.
The king of the buffet has long been salmon, and in this country August is the end of its season of abundance. In trance, where it is also a summer favorite, salmon has always been considered a luxury fish, for until recent years it was not overly plentiful and consequently was quite expensive. But after the last war, Canada sent many thousands of salmon eggs to France to be distributed for propagation in the Allier, the Loire and other rivers. And because salmon return eventually to the place where they were born to bring forth another generation, these French rivers are now full of fine salmon every spring. Vive le roi du buffet!
But the real August treat for connoisseurs comes when the first game of the season, the Scotch grouse, makes its appearance in this country the second week of the month. Until the outbreak of World War II. the first shipment of grouse to leave Great Britain after the opening of the season was consigned to New York' s old Ritz-Carlton.
As chef of the Ritz my responsibilities in securing the first of each kind of game as it came into season, and serving it properly prepared, could never be taken lightly. The owner of the Ritz, Mr. Robert Walton Goelet, was a famous hunter and fisherman as well as a great connoisseur of food and cooking. Once when he was fishing in Canada, he suddenly remembered it was about time for the first grouse to be coming into New York so. on the spur of the moment, he got on the train and came down. He walked into the lobby of the Ritz at about six o' clock on an August evening, a strange sight in his fishing togs, shabby old hat and clothes and boots—so strange that no one, not even the manager, recognized him, much to his amusement and the manager' s embarrassment. But as usual Mr. Goelet was right about the date, and in no time at all he was dressed for dinner and arranging with me the details of a grouse dinner for which he was gathering together a group of friends. Two days later we had to cook all the grouse left in our cold room and send them down to the ship he was taking to France. He thought grouse was just as delicious cold as hot, but didn' t trust too many chefs to cook them for him.
The consommé suggested in this menu will be long remembered by your guests, who may wonder how you have achieved the rich celery flavor. Not many people realize that a strong, fresh flavor of celery is not obtained by boiling the vegetable in the consomme: The trick is to let it infuse as you do in making tea—letting it stand, however, for a longer time. Another trick you must remember is that in clarifying soup you stir the egg white and soup mixture constantly until it starts to boil. but stop stirring the minute it reaches a boil. This consommé is also particularly good when served cold and jellied.
Wines for this dinner should be fairly light in character. For the cold salmon I can heartily recommend a cool bottle of Pouilly-Fuissé 1949 or 1950, unless you prefer a slightly sweeter wine. Then I' d suggest a Barsac 1947 or 1949- A pleasant accompaniment for the sweetbreads would be cither a Château Pontet-Canet 1943 or 1945 or a Chateau Léo- ville-Barton. But when you come to the grouse. I' m sure you will appreciate a more robust wine: a Burgundy, a Pommard or a bottle of Clos de Vougeot 1937, 1943 or 1945. And certainly nothing is better in summer than the refreshing sparkle of a good champagne with dessert
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