The rules of menu-making are built primarily around the utilization of flavor and texture, particularly of such Characteristics as tart or sweet, strong or delicate, crisp or smooth, firm or soft, to achieve interesting and delecte combinations. There is also, of course, the need for good common sense.
Let us start our little lesson in menu-making with common sense. This involves such mailers as selecting foods appropriate to a place or a season—hot soups and hearty entrees in cold weather, chilled dishes when the thermometer is climbing to uncomforte heights. It means that the host or hostess who is also the cook should decide upon dishes that can be prepared and served with comparative ease—certainly not more than one complicated spécialté in a menu, certainly some dishes that can be made or started ahead, perhaps the day before. Common sense reminds you that a few perfect courses are always to be preferred to a profusion of poorly prepared dishes. And when guests have been invited, common sense warns you against recipes that are inconvenient, if not impossible, to prepare and serve well because enough time, or a special skill, or unusual equipment is lacking, It also tells you to avoid foods that may be unaccepted to guests even though they are favorites of yours; kidneys, brains, even certain root vegetables, for example, are borderline foods for many American tastes.
In building a menu from beginning to end, it is best to decide first on the pièce de résistance or main course and then select foods that are both contrasting and harmonious to precede and to follow it. Try to alternate courses that are mild flavored and smooth in texture with those that are piquant and crisp, or have a contrasting texture. Sautéed, fish, for example, can follow a cream soup, and a green salad is right just before a rich frozen mousse. In a long menu of many courses, the fact that a good menu does not include the same kind of meat or fish in more than one course should be obvious. But less obvious to some people is the fact that no type of food should be repeated too often through a meal, a rule which applies to everything, from highly spiced foods or creamed mixtures to fruits. Par example, a dinner that starts with a fruit appetizer, includes a fruit accompaniment with the main dish, and then ends with a fruit dessert, has not been wisely planned. In the same way, the profusion of delicious creamed dishes there is to choose from makes it only too easy to forget that a cream soup, cream sauce, creamy salad dressing and a crème dessert in one menu will not do. Also, one must be very careful to avoid having too many rich sauces in a meal. If the fish entrée is richly sauced, serve the meat au jus. But if you have decided upon a richly sauced main entrée, such as beef filet with Madeira mushroom sauce, then serve the fish with just a little brown butter and a sprinkling of lemon juice.
The menus that I am giving you here are all suite for the Easier season, and typical of the classic French cuisine. The dishes should not tax the abilities of those who have been following the classes in this series, because all the cooking principles involved in making them properly have been covered.
EASTER DINNER I
Potage Crème d'Epinards
Truite de Rivière Meunière
Caneton Bonne Femme
Pommes de Terre Persillées
Salade Verte Mélangée
Soufflé au Cbocolat
Petits Fours
Demitasse
Potage Crème d'Epinards (Cream of Spinach Soup)
Cook ½ pound fresh well-cleaned spinach leaves in a little salted boiling wafer for 5 to 6 minutes. Cool the spinach by adding cold water to the pan, drain it thoroughly, and rub it through a sieve. Add the spinach puree to 2 quarts hot cream of chicken base (March, 1957) and bring the soup to a boil, mixing it well. Mix 2 beaten egg yolks with 1 cup cream, and add the mixture to the soup. Heat the soup for a few minutes, stirring constantly, but do not allow it to boiL If the soup is too thick, add a little hot milk or cream. Correct the seasoning with salt.
Truite dc Rivière Meiniière (Brook Trout Meunière)
Allow one trout for each serving. Clean the fish and remove the tails and side fins. Make two or three shallow diagonal CUES through the skin on each side of the fish, to keep them from curling up in conking. Dip each fish in milk, then in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Heat ¼ inch of salad oil in a frying pan until it just begins to smoke. Reduce the heat and cook the fish in the oil, for 5 to 7 minutes for each side, until it is golden brown. Test the fish to see if it is done by lifting the head carefully; the flesh underneath should separate easily. Remove the trout to a serving dish and sprinkle them with salt, freshly ground pepper, and a few drops of lemon juice. For each serving, brown lightly 1 tablespoon butter and pour this beurre noisette over the fish. Sprinkle with a little chopped parsley and garnish with a slice of peeled lemon.
Canton aux Petits Pois et Carottes (Duckling with Peas and Carrots)
Clean and singe a 5- to 6-pound duckling and truss the legs and wings close to the body. Season the bird with salt, put it in a casserole and cook, uncovered, 30 minutes in a hot oven (400° P.). Remove the duckling from the casserole and pour off the fat. Add to the casserole 2 cups shelled green peas, 1 cup carrots, cut in dice or small rounds, ½ cup diced fat salt pork that has been parboiled, drained, and sautéed Until crisp, 3 or 4 green lettuce leaves, chopped, and 6 to 8 small onions. Add a bouquet garni of 3 sprigs each of parsley and chervil and 1 piece celery, tied together, and ½ cup water. Lay the duckling on top of the vegetables, cover the casserole, return it to the oven and continue to cook for 45 minutes or until the duckling is done. Remove the bird to a serving dish. Skim all fat from the cooking liquid, correct the seasoning with salt, and thicken the juices with manié butter made by creaming together 1 tablespoon butter and 1 teaspoon flour. Carve the duckling, and pour the vegetes and the sauce around it.
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