When people today complain of New York's summertime heat, dust, and noise, I can't help but think of my first years here, the summers of 1911 to 1913. Mon Dieu, they were hot! Nowhere that I had ever lived in Europe had been quite so hot air conditioning, naturellement, hadn't been thought of. Even electric fans were an almost unobtainable luxury at that time. New York, especially the midtown Madison Avenue area, was frightfully dusty because the great cut that would bring trains into the new Grand Central Station had been opened up and work was going on there. And noisy? Well, just try to imagine horse-drawn traffic on streets paved with cobblestones. Yet in summer the Ritz was well filled and the timing rooms crowded every noon and evening just as they were during the rest of the year.
But there was no getting around the fact that both the mirror-lined Oval Room (our more formal dining room on the main floor) and the less formal Oak Room downstairs were hot. too hot for relaxed dining. This situation worried Robert Goeler, who built the Ritz as well as the neighboring Carlton House. Together, these two formed the famous New York Ritz-Carlton. which presented an unbroken façade on Madison Avenue. However, farther back between the two buildings was an open court almost like a huge breezeway. Mr. Goelet knew the popularity of the terrasse in French eating places and decided to put the open court to use. His architects devised a Japanese garden plan because it would best fit the area available. Its focal point, a tiny grass-edged brook, flowed lazily through the transformed courtyard. Wooden walks were laid for the tables, dwarf trees were planted, and birds fluttered and preened themselves in swinging cages. Bamboo awnings and screens and other Japanese architectural details completed the picture. And specially designed menus carried out the motif.
Only Mr. Goelet remained unsatisfied. Charming as the Japanese Garden was for luncheon and tea, he considered it a little informal for dinner. He solved the problem by adding two new rooms, the Crystal Garden for late-evening parties and the great ballroom just above it. The roof of the new wing became a roof-garden restaurant, the first restaurant of its kind, I believe, in New York.
As chef de cuisine at the Ritz, I worked out special menus for these summer restaurants, introducing new and unusual dishes. Many of our spécialitiés continue to be popular in quality restaurants. Some of them, such as vichys-soise, have become quite famous. Our cold buffet table, with its array of beautifully decorated and garnished foods, caused wide comment, as it was an innovation for New York restaurants.
In preparing this article, I tried to analyze these striking displays of cold summer foods to determine what made them so individual. The secret lies in the cook. He must take the trouble to arrange an attractive buffet and to make sure that each dish will taste as good as it looks. The actual foods are those you have been learning to cook in my primer lessons. One point I remember well: At the Old New York Ritz, cold egg and chicken dishes ranked high in popularity On our summer menus. The lightness and delicacy of these foods make them very desirable in hot weather.
In cooking eggs, the most important rule is to avoid excessive heat and overcooking, either of which toughens the white and darkens the yolk. Over-cooking explains the purplish ring that sometimes forms around the yolks of hard-cooked eggs. Most people want to know how to keep the white of a hard-cooked egg from sticking to the shell. because the egg then has an unattractive pitted look when peeled. The trick is to transfer the cooked eggs immediately from the boiling water to a bowl of cold water, and to shell them as soon as they're cool enough to be handled. The moisture condensing between egg and shell separates the two and the shell slips off easily.
I'm sure everyone knows that hard-cooked eggs are the traditional garnish for salads of fish, shellfish, chicken, and many combination chef's salad bowls. When garnishes include both hard-cooked eggs and tomatoes, the two are usually cut in the same fashion; both are sliced or quartered. If the chef slices them, he frequently places a slice of egg on top of each slice of tomato and sprinkles the yolk with a few capers or fines herbes consisting of chervil, tarragon, and parsley.
In writing about hard-cooked eggs, I must add a word about the famous French classic mixture, mimosa. It is used to garnish all kinds of cold dishes, both salads and hors-d'oeuvre. Mimosa is merely a combination of finely chopped egg while, the sieved yolk, and finely chopped parsley
I'd say that stuffed eggs are the most popular choice for an egg salad, an hors-d'oeuvre, or a salad garnish. Some people call them deviled eggs, By either name, they are hard-cooked eggs, with the yolks mashed or sieved and combined with other ingredients. To be sure the yolk is in the center of the egg, turn over the eggs in the box a few hours before cooking them so that they rest on the other ends. The filling should be piquant, rather sharp, and must be very smooth. You pile it high in the hollow from which you remove the yolk and give it a decorative touch by running it through a pastry bag with a star tube or swirling the top with a fork, much as you would cake icing.
Finally, we have cold eggs molded in aspic Although you may hard-cook or stuff eggs to coat with aspic, cold poached eggs or oeufs mollets are more traditional. Eggs cooked this way, with the soft yolk surrounded by firm egg white and the whole encased in firm gelatin, are a gustatory delight. Oeufs mollets are gently boiled, immediately placid in cold water to check further cooking, then shelled and used in the same fashion as poached eggs.
Cold eggs in aspic may be prepared in individual molds by pouring in a layer of aspic, letting it set, then arranging the egg and its garnish, and filling the mold with more aspic. When set, they may be unmolded on individual plates or a serving platter and edged with water cress or salad greens. Or they may be arranged with the garnish on a layer of firm aspic and covered with more aspic.
Oeufs à la Diable Froids (Cold Deviled Eggs)
Cut in half lengthwise 6 cooled hard-cooked eggs, sieve the yolks. and combine the yolks thoroughly with 4 tablespoons mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon prepared mustard, and ½ teaspoon salt. Fill the egg whites with the yolk mixture. piling it high, and arrange them on a serving platter. Coat the tops with mayonnaise or tartare mayonnaise (July, 1958) and sprinkle them with paprika. Garnish the platter with water cress.
Egg Salad
Blend thoroughly 1 cup mayonnaise. ¼ cup cream, and 1 teaspoon each of Worcestershire sauce and salt. Arrange 12 cooled hard-cooked eggs on 6 individual serving plates lined with lettuce. Pour the sauce over them, and sprinkle them with paprika.
World's Fair Eggs
Cut in half lengthwise 6 cooled hard-cooked egg, sieve the yolks, and add to the yolks an equal amount of mashed avocado. 2 tablespoons mayonnaise, and salt and pepper to taste. Blend the ingredients thoroughly and fill the whites with the yolk mixture. Arrange the eggs on a serving platter and garnish the platter with cooked ham and smoked ox tongue, both thinly sliced. Sprinkle the eggs villi a mixture of tarragon. chervil, and chives, all chopped. Coat all with aspic and chill the egg platter for 45 minutes, or until the aspic sets.
Aspic
In a saucepan combine 3 cups chicken stock, 1 cup tomato juice, 1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar. 2 tablespoons dry white wine, 4 envelopes of gelatin, Salt and pepper to taste, and the crushed shells and stiffly beaten whites of 2 eggs. Heat the mixture slowly, stirring constantly. until it boils. Remove from the heat, let it stand for 10 minutes, and strain it trough a sieve lined with a flannel cloth, dipped in cold water and wrung dry.
Deviled Egg Salad
Line 6 small molds with aspic and chill the aspic until it is set. Fill the molds with cut green beans, carrots and white turnips, both diced, and peas, all cooked and moistened with vinaigrette sauce (October, 1957). Fill the molds with aspic and chill them for 45 minutes, or until they are set. Moisten 1 small head of lettuce, shredded, with vinaigrette sauce, reserving 6 small inner leaves, and lay the lettuce on a platter. Decorate the edge of a platter with a ring of water cress, and arrange 6 deviled eggs on the lettuce. Turn out the molds on the water cress, and arrange a small lettuce leaf filled with mayonnaise between each mold.
Oeufs Mollets
Put as many eggs as desired in boiling water, reduce the heat, and simmer them for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the eggs from the pan, plunge them immediately into cold water, and shell them. The whites will be firm but delicate, and the yolks will be soft, very much like poached eggs. Oeufs mollets may be used in any recipe calling for poached eggs.
Oeufs Pocbés Froids (Cold Poached Eggs)
Put enough water in a shallow pan to almost fill it, add 2 tablespoons vinegar, and bring the water to a boil. Break each egg onto a plate, sprinkle a little salt on the yolk, and slide it gently into the water. When all the eggs are in the water, reduce the heat and simmer them for 4 to 4 ½ minutes, carefully spooning the hot water over the cops of the eggs from time to time. Remove the poached eggs with a slotted spoon, and place them immediately in a pan of cold water, to prevent further cooking and to cool them. At serving time, drain the eggs thoroughly and trim them. Cold poached eggs are usually covered with aspic, and served with or without garnishes of spring vegetables, or slices of tongue, ham, or tomato.
Oeufs Pocbés en Gelée (Poacbed Eggs in Aspic)
Coat 6 small molds with clear aspic and chill the aspic until it is set. Decorate the center of each mold with a lily-of-the-valley, made by cutting hard-cooked egg white into flower shapes with a truffle cutter, or a sharp knife, and arranging blanched tarragon leaves for the leaves and stem. Decorate the sides of the molds with slices of truffle and hard-cooked egg whites, ham and ox tongue, both cut in julienne, and blanched tarragon leaves. Place a cold poached egg in each mold, cover it with aspic, and chill for 45 minutes, or until the aspic is set Fill the molds almost to the top with cooked peas, and green beans, carrots, and white turnips. all diced. Cover the vegetables with a layer of aspic and chill it for 45 minutes, or until the aspic is set.
Serve the eggs on individual plates and garnish each plate with chopped aspic and parsley.
Cold Egg Américaine
For each serving, coat a small mold with aspic and chill the aspic until it is set. On the aspic place a cold poached egg or an oeuf mollet, and garnish the sides of the mold with chervil, blanched tarragon leaves, and tomato slices. Fill the mold with aspic and chill it for 45 minutes, or until it is set.
Or pour a layer of aspic on a serving platter and chill it. On the aspic arrange cold poached eggs or oeufs mollets. and separate them with chervil, blanched tarragon leaves, and tomato slices. Cover all with aspic and chill for 45 minutes, or until the aspic is set.
Cold Eggs Printanière
For each serving, coat a small mold with aspic and chill the aspic until it is set. Combine equal parts of green beans, carrots, and turnips, all cooked and cut in 1-inch strips or small dice, and cooked green peas, and add just enough mayonnaise to hind the vegetables. Place a layer of the vegetable mixture in each mold, arrange a cold-poached egg or oeuf mullet on top, and fill the mold with aspic. Chill the aspic for 45 minutes, or until it is set.
Or pour a layer of aspic on a platter and chill it. On the aspic arrange 6 cold poached eggs or oeufs mollets, and top them with the vegetable-mayonnaise mixture. Cover the platter with the aspic and chill it for 45 minutes, or until it is set.
Cold Egg Strasbourgeoise
Place cold poached eggs or oeufs mollets on slices of pâté de foie gras, Coat the eggs with sauce cbaud-froid and chill it for 30 minutes, or until the sauce sets. Decorate the tops of the eggs with slices of truffle, cut in fancy shapes, and cover the whole with aspic. Chill the aspic for 45 minutes, or until it is set.
Sauce Chaud-Froid
Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a saucepan, stir in 4 tablespoons flour, and add gradually, while stirring, 2 cups hot chicken broth. Salt to taste and continue to stir until the sauce is smooth and thickened. Cook gently over a low flame for about 30 minutes. Strain the sauce, add 2 envelopes of gelatin softened in 1/3 cup cold water and 1 cup heavy cream, and stir until the gelatin is thoroughly dissolved, Cool the chaud-froid to lukewarm.