The Cooks Decameron
m«
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the Cornell University Library.
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FROM THE LIBRARY OF
James B. Herndon, Jr.
PRESENTED BY HIM TO THE
School of Hotel
A dministration
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
A GUIDE TO MODERN COOKERY
By A. Escoffibr.
Demy Svo. 12s. 6d. net.
'The congratulations of happy diners, the respects
of the cognoscenti, the glory of being the greatest
artist of one's time — these are reflected in Mr. EscofHer's
Preface to a volume which must be unique of its kind.'
—Daily Telegraph.
THE COMPLETE INDIAN
HOUSEKEEPER AND COOK
By F. A. Steel and Grace Gardiner.
Crown 8vo. 6s. net.
' The best work ever produced on Indian House-
keeping and Cookery.' — Saturday Rtvivm.
THE
COOK'S DECAMERON
A STUDY IN TASTE
CONTAINING
t
OVER TWO HUNDRED RECIPES FOR
ITALIAN DISHES
BY
MRS. W. G. WATERS
"Show me another pleasure like dinner, which comes every
day and lasts an hour." — Talleyrand (?)
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN
ft*
1^0
Printed in Groat Britain
. t\As
4'4~
rL
Ml right' rnitvrd
TO
A. V.
IN MEMORY OF
CERTAIN AUSONIAN FEASTS
PREFACE
Montaigne in one of his essays 1 mentions the
high excellence Italian cookery had attained in
his day. " I have entered into this Discourse
upon the Occasion of an Italian I lately receiv'd
into my Service, and who was Clerk of the
Kitchen to the late Cardinal Caraffa till his
Death. I put this Fellow upon an Account of
his office : Where he fell to Discourse of this
Palate- Science, with such a settled Countenance
and Magisterial Gravity, as if he had been
handling some profound Point of Divinity. He
made a Learned Distinction of the several sorts
of Appetites, of that of a Man before he begins
to eat, and of those after the second and third
Service : The Means simply to satisfy the first,
and then to raise and acuate the other two : The
ordering of the Sawces, first in general, and then
proceeded to the Qualities of the Ingredients,
and their Effects : The Differences of Sallets,
1 L ..5i-
viii PREFACE
according to their seasons, which ought to be
serv'd up hot, and which cold : The Manner of
their Garnishment and Decoration, to render
them yet more acceptable to the Eye? after
which he 'entered upon the Order of the whole
Service, full of weighty and important Considera-
tions."
It is consistent with Montaigne's large-minded
habit thus to applaud ihe gifts of this master of
his art who happened not to be a Frenchman.
It is a canon of belief with the modern English-
man that the French alone can achieve excellence i
in the art of cookery, and when once a notion
of this sort shall have found a lodgment in an
Englishman's brain, the task of removing it will
be a hard one. Not for a moment is it suggested
that Englishmen or any one else should cease to
recognise the sovereign merits of French cookery;
all that is entreated is toleration, and perchance
approval, of cookery of other schools. But the
favourable consideration of any plea of this sort
is hindered by the fact that the vast majority of
Englishmen when they go abroad find no other
school of cookery by the testing of which they
may form a comparison, This universal preva-
lence of French cookery may be held to be a
proof of its supreme excellence — that it is first,
and the rest nowhere ; but the victory is not so
PREFACE ix
complete as it seems, and the facts would bring
grief and humiliation rather than patriotic pride
to the heart of a Frenchman like Brillat Savarin.
For the cookery we meet in the hotels of the
great European cities, though it may be based on
French traditions, is not the genuine thing, but'
a bastard, cosmopolitan growth, the same every-
where, and generally vapid and uninteresting.
French cookery of the grand school suffers by
being associated with such commonplace achieve-
ments. It is noted in the following pages how
rarely English people on their travels penetrate
where true Italian cookery may be tasted, where-
fore it has seemed worth while to place within
the reach of English housewives some Italian
recipes which are especially fitted for the presen-
tation of English fare to English palates under a
different and not unappetising guise. Most of
them will be found simple and inexpensive, and
special care has been taken to include those
recipes which enable the less esteemed portions
of meat and the cheaper vegetables and fish to be
treated more elaborately than they have hitherto
been treated by English cooks.
The author wishes to tender her acknowledg-
ments to her husband for certain suggestions and
emendations made in the revision of the intro-
duction, and for his courage in dining, "greatly
x PREFACE
daring," off many of the dishes. He still lives
and thrives. Also to Mrs. Mitchell, her cook,
for the interest and enthusiasm she has shown in
the work, for her valuable advice, and for the care
taken in testing the recipes.
CONTENTS
MGE
Prologue i
The First Day 16
The Second Day 21
The Third Day 28
The Fourth Day 35
The Fifth Day . .42
The Sixth Day 49
The Seventh Day 56
The Eighth Day 61
The Ninth Day 71
The Tenth Day 78
Sauces
NO.
1. Espagnole or Brown
Sauce ....
2. Velut£ Sauce . .
3. Bechamel Sauce .
4. Mirepoix Sauce (for
masking) 98
5. Genoese Sauce
6. Italian Sauce . .
7. Ham Sauce (Salsa di
Prosciutto) . . .
PART II
RECIPES
, NO.
PAGE
8. Tarragon Sauce . . .
99
PAGE
9. Tomato Sauce ....
99
10. Tomato Sauce Piquante
100
97
1 1. Mushroom Sauce . . .
100
97
12. Neapolitan Sauce . . .
100
98
13. Neapolitan Anchovy
IOI
98
14. Roman Sauce (Salsa
98
Agro-dolce) ....
IOI
99
15. Roman Sauce (another
16. Supreme Sauce . . .
IOI
99
102
XII
CONTENTS
NO. PAGE
17. Pasta Marinata (for
masking Italian Frys) 102
18. White Villeroy ... 102
19.
20.
21.
22.
23-
24.
*5-
26.
2
29.
30.
3i-
32-
33-
34-
Soups
Clear Soup 103
Zuppa Primaverile
(Spring Soup) ... 103
Soup alia Lombard* . . 103
Tuscan Soup .... 104
Venetian Soup . . . 104.
Roman Soup .... 104
Soup alia Nazionale . . 104
Soup alia Modanese . . 105
Crotopo Soup .... 105
Soup all' Imperatrice . ioj
Neapolitan Soup . . . 105
Soup with Risotto . . 106
Soup alia Canavese . . 106
Soup alia Maria Pia . . 106
Zuppa d' Erbe (Lettuce
Soup) 107
Zuppa Regina di Riso
(Queen's Soup)
107
MlNESTRE
3J. A Condiment for Season-
ing Minestre, &c. . . 108
36. Minestra alia Casalinga . 108
37. Minestra of Rice and
Turnips 108
38. Minestra alia Capucina . 109
39. Minestra of Semolina . 109
Minestrone alia Milanese 109
Minestra of Rice and
Cabbage no
Minestra of Rice and
Celery no
40.
41.
42,
Fish
43. Anguilla alia Milanese
(Eels) in
44. Filletti di Pesce alia
Villeroy (Fillets of
Fish) m
45. Astachi all' Italiana
(Lobster) ill
46. Baccala alia Giardiniera
(Cod) 112
NO.
47. Triglie alia Marmara
(Mullet)
48. Mullet alia Tolosa . .
49. Mullet alia Triestina
50. Whiting alia Genovese .
5 1. Merluzzo in Bianco (Cod)
52. Merluzzo in Salamoia
(Cod) ......
5 3. Baccala in Istufato (Had-
dock) .'
54. Naselh con Piselli (Whit-
°tag) ......
55- Ostriche alia Livornese
(Oysters)
56. Ostriche alia Napolitana
(Oysters)
57. Ostriche alia Veneziana
(Oysters)
58. Pesci diversi alia Casa-
linga (Fish) ....
59. Pesce alia Genovese
(Sole or Turbot) . .
60. Sogliole in Zimino (Sole)
61. Sogliole al tegame(Sole)
62. Sogliole alia Livornese
(Sole)
63. Sogliole alia Veneziana
(Sole)
64. Sogliole alia Parmigiana
(Sole)
65. Salmone alia Genovese
(Salmon)
66. Salmone alia Perigo
(Salmon)
67. Salmone alia giardiniera
(Salmon)
68. Salmone alia Famese
(Salmon) . \ . . .
69. Salmone alia Santa Fior-
entina (Salmon) . .
70. Salmone alia Francesca
(Salmon) . . . . .
71. Fillets of Salmon in Papi-
liotte
Beef, Mutton, Vbal, Lamb, &c.
72. Manzo alia Certosina
(Fillet of Beef ) . . . 12*
CONTENTS
NO. FAGB
73. Stufato alia Fiorentina
(Stewed Beef) ... 121
74. Coscia d i Manzo al Forno
(Rump Steak) ... 122
75- Polpettine alia Salsa Pic-
cante (Beef Olives) . 122
76. Stufato alia Milanese
(Stewed Beef) . . , 12a
77. Manzo Marinato Arrosto
(Marinated Beef) . . 122
78. Manzo con sugo di Bar-
babietole (Fillet of
Beef) 123
79. Manzo in Insalata (Mari-
nated Beef) .... 123
80. Filetto di Bue con Pis-
tacchi (Fillets of Beef
with Pistacchios) . . 123
81. Scalopini di Riso (Beef
with Risotto) . . . 124
82. Tenerumi alia Piemon-
tese (Tendons of
Veal) 124
83. Bragiuole di Vitello
(Veal Cutlets) ... 124
84. Costolette alia Monza
(Veal Cutlets) ... 125
85. Vitello alia Pellegrina
(Breast of Veal) . . 125
86. Frittura Piccata al Mar-
sala (Fillet of Veal) . 125
87. Polpettine Distese (Veal
Olives) 126
88. Coste di Vitello Imbor-
acciate (Ribs of Veal) 126
89. Costolette di Montone
alia Nizzarda (Mutton
Cutlets) 126
90. Petto di Castrato all'
Italiana (Breast of
Mutton) 127
91. Petto di Castrato alia
Salsa piccante (Breast
of Mutton) .... 127
92. Tenerumi d' Agnello alia
Villeroy (Tendons of
Lamb) 127
93. Tenerumi d' Agnello alia
Veneziana (Tendons of
Lamb) 127
NO. MGE
94. Costolette d'Agnello alia
Costanza (Lamb Cut-
lets) ...... 128
Tongue, Sweetbread, Calf's
Head, Liver, Sucking Pig, &c.
95. Timballo alia Romana . 129
96. Timballo alia Lombarda 129
97. Lingua alia Visconti
(Tongue) 130
98. Lingua di Manzo ai Cit-
riuoli (Tongue with
Cucumber) ....
99. Lingue di Castrato alia
Cuciniera (Sheep's
Tongues) 130
100. Lingue di Vitello all'
Italiana (Calves' Ton-
gues) ......
101. Porcelletto alia Corra-
dino (Sucking Pig) .
102. Porcelletto da Latte in
Galantina (Sucking
Kg)
103. Ateletti alia Sarda . .
104. Ateletti alia Genovese .
105. Testa di Vitello alia Sor-
rentina (Calfs Head)
106. Testa di Vitello con
Salsa Napoletana
(Calf's Head) . . .
107. Testa di Vitello alia Pom-
padour (Calf's Head)
108. Testa di Vitello alia
Sanseverino (Calf's
Head)
109. Testa di Vitello in Frit-
tata (Calf's Head) . .
no. Zampetti (Calves' Feet)
in. Bodini Marinati . . .
112. Animelle alia Parme-
giana (Sweetbread) .
113. Animelle in Cartoccio
(Sweetbread) . . .
114. Animelle all' Italiana
(Sweetbread) . . .
115. Animelle Lardellate
(Sweetbread) . . . 137
13°
131
131
132
132
'33
134
'34
'34
135
'35
135
136
136
136
137
XIV
CONTENTS
NO. PACE
116. Frittura di Bottoni e di
Animelle (Sweetbread
and Mushrooms) . . 137
117. Cervello in Filiserbe
(Calf's Brains) . . . 13S
118. Cervello alia Milanese
(Calf s Brains) ... 138
119. Cervello alia Villeroy
(Calf's Brains) ... 138
120. Frittura of Liver and
Brains 138
121. Cervello in FrittataMon-
tano (Calf's Brains) . 138
122. Marinata di Cervello
alia Villeroy (Calf's
Brains) 139
123. Minuta alia Milanese
(Lamb's Sweetbread) 139
124. Animelle al Sapor di
Targone (Lamb's Fry) 139
125. Fritto Misto alia Villeroy 140
126. Fritto Misto alia Pie-
montese 140
127. Minuta di Fegatini (Ra-
gout of Fowls' Livers) 141
128. Minuta alia Visconti
(Chickens' Livers) . 141
129. Croutons alia Princi-
pesca 141
130. Croutons alia Romana . 142
Fowl, Dock, Game, Hare,
Rabbit, &c.
131. Soffiato di Cappone
(FowlSouffte) ... 143
132. Polio alia Fiorentina
(Chicken) .... 143
133. Polio all' Oliva(Chicken) 144
134. Polio alia Villereccia
(Chicken) .... 144
135. Polio alia Cacciatora
(Chicken) .... 144
136. Poll astro alia Lorenese
I (Fowl) 144
137. Pollastro in Fricassea al
Burro (Fowl) ... 145
138. Pollastro in istufa di
Pomidoro (Braised
Fowl) 145
NO. PAGE
139. Cappone con Riso
(Capon with Rice) . 145
140. Dindo Arrosto alia
Milanese (Roast
Turkey) 145
141. Tacchinotto all' Istriona
(Turkey Poult) ... 146
142. Fagiano alia Napoletana
(Pheasant) .... 146
143. Fagiano alia Perigo
(Pheasant) .... 146
144. Anitra Selvatica (Wild
Duck) 147
145. Perniciotti alia Gastalda
(Partridges) .... 147
146. Beccaccini alia Diplo-
matica (Snipe) . . . 148
147. Piccioni alia minuta
(Pigeons) . . . _ . . 149
148. Piccioni in Ripieno
(Stuffed Pigeons) . . 149
149. Lepre in istufato (Stewed
Hare) 149
150. Lepre Agrodolce (Hare) 150
151. Coniglio alia Provenzale
(Rabbit) 150
152. Coniglio arrostito alia
Corradino (Roast
Rabbit) 150
153. Coniglio in salsa Pic-
cante (Rabbit) . . . 151
Vegetables
154. Asparagi alia salsa Sup-
rema (Asparagus) . . 152
155. Cavoli di Bruxelles alia
Savoiarda (Brussels
Sprouts) 152
156. Barbabietola alia Parmi-
giana (Beetroot) . . 152
157. Fave alia Savoiarda
(Beans) 153
158. Verze alia Capuccina
(Cabbage) . . . . 153
159. Cavoli fiori alia Lionese
(Cauliflower) . . . 153
160. Cavoli fiori fritti (Cauli-
flower) 153
CONTENTS
XV
HO. FACE
161; Cauliflower alia Parmi-
giana 153
162. Cavoli Fiori Ripieni . . 154
163. Sedani alia Parmigiana
(Celery) 154
164. Sedani fritti all' italiana
(Celery) . . . . . 154
165. Cetriuoli alia Parmigiana
(Cucumber) . . . . 154
166. Cetriuoli alia Borghese
(Cucumber) .... 155
167. Carote al sughillo
(Carrots) 155
168. Carote e piselli alia panna
(Carrots and Peas) . 155
169. Verze alia Certosina
(Cabbage) . . . . 155
170. Lattughe al sugo (Lettuce) 156
171. Lattughe farcite alia
Genovese (Lettuce) . 156
172. Funghi cappelle infarcite
(Stuffed Mushrooms) . 156
173. Verdure miste (Mace*-
doine of Vegetables) . 157
174. Patate alia crema (Pota-
toes in cream) . . . 157
175. Cestelline di patate alia
giardiniera (Potatoes) 157
176. Patate al Pomidoro
(Potatoes with Tomato
Sauce) 157
177. Spinaci alia Milanese
(Spinach) 158
178. Insalatadi patate (Potato ,
salad) ...... 158
179. Insalata alia Navarino
(Salad) 158
180. Insalata di pomidoro
(Tomato Salad) . . 159
181. Tartufi alia Dino (Truf-
fles) 159
Macaroni, Rice, Polenta, and
other Italian Pastes
182. Macaroni with Tomatoes 160
183. Macaroni alia Casalinga 160
184. Macaroni al Sughillo . 160
185. Macaroni alia Livornese 161
»o.
186. Tagliarelle and Lobster
187. Polenta
188. Polenta Pasticciata .
189. Battuffoli ....
190. Risotto all' Italiana .
191. Risotto alia Genovese
192. Risotto alia Spagnuola
193. Risotto alia Capuccina
194. Risotto alia Parigina
195.- Ravioli
196. Ravioli alia Fiorentina
197. Gnbcchi alia Romana
198. Gnocchi alia Lombarda
199. Frittata di Riso (Savoury
Rice Pancake) . . .
PAGE
l6l
l6l
I6l
162
162
l62 1
I63
163
163
I64
1 164
I6 S |
I6S
«65
Omelettes and other Egg
Dishes
200.
Uova ai Tartufi
with Truffles)
Uova al Pomidoro (Eggs
and Tomatoes) . .
Uova ripiene (Canape:
ofEgg) ....
Uova alia Fiorentina
(Eggs) . .
Uova in fili (Egg Can
apes) . . .
Frittata di funghi (Mush
room Omelette)
Frittata cofi Pomidoro
(Tomato Omelette)
Frittata con Asparagi
(Asparagus Omelette)
Frittata con erbe (Ome-
lette with Herbs)
Frittata Montata (Ome
lette Souffle) .
210. Frittata di Prosciutto
(Ham Omelette)
Sweets and Cakes
203.
204.
205.
206.
207.
208.
209.
167
167
167
168
168
169
169
169
169
170
170
211. Bodino of Semolina . . 171
212. Crema rappresa (Coffee
Cream) 171
XVI
CONTENTS
NO.
21 3-
214.
215.
216.
217.
PAGE
Crema Montata alle
Fragole (Strawberry
Cream) . , . . . 172
Croccante di Mandorle
(Cream Nougat) . . 172
Crema tartara alia Cara-
mella(CaramelCream) 172
Cremona Cake . . . 173
Cake alia Tolentina . . 173
218. Riso all' Imperatrice
219. Amaretti leggieri (Al
mond Cakes) . .
220. Cakes alia Livornese
221. Genoese Pastry . .
222. Zabajone ....
223. Iced Zabajone. . .
224. Pan-forte di Siena (Sien
ese Hardbake) . .
TAGS
173
174
174
174
175
175
176
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
PROLOGUE
The Marchesa di Sant' Andrea finished her early
morning cup of tea, and then took up the batch
of correspondence which her maid had placed
on the tray. The world had a way of treating
her in kindly fashion, and hostile or troublesome
letters rarely veiled their ugly faces under the
envelopes addressed to her ; wherefore the per-
fection of that pleasant half-hour lying between
the last sip of tea and the first step to meet the
new day was seldom marred by the perusal of
her morning budget. The apartment which she
graced with her seemly presence was a choice
one in the Mayfair Hotel, one which she had
occupied for the past four or five years during
her spring visit to London ; a visit undertaken
to keep alive a number of pleasant English
friendships which had begun in Rome or Malta.
London had for her the peculiar attraction it has
2 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
for so many Italians, and the weeks she spent
upon its stones were commonly the happiest of
the year.
The review she took of her letters before
breaking the seals first puzzled her, and then
roused certain misgivings in her heart. She
recognised the handwriting of each of the nine
addresses, and at the same time recalled the fact
that she was engaged to dine with every one of
the correspondents of this particular morning.
Why should they all be writing to her ? She
had uneasy forebodings of postponement, and
she hated to have her engagements disturbed ;
but it was useless to prolong suspense, so she
began by opening the envelope addressed in the
familiar handwriting of Sir John Oglethorpe, and
this was what Sir John had to say —
"My dear Marchesa, — Words, whether written
or spoken, are powerless to express my present
state of mind. In the first place, our dinner on
Thursday is impossible, and in the second, I have
lost Narcisse — -and for ever. You commented
favourably upon that supreme of lobster and the
Ris de veau a la Renaissance we tasted last week,
but never again will you meet the handiwork
of Narcisse. He came to me with admirable
testimonials as to his artistic excellence; with
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 3
regard to his moral past I was, I fear, culpably
negligent, for I now learn that all the time he
presided over my stewpans he was wanted by
the French police on a charge of murdering his
wife. A young lady seems to have helped him,
so I fear Narcisse has broken more than one of
the commandments in this final escapade. The
truly great have ever been subject to these
momentary aberrations, and Narcisse being now
in the hands of justice — so called — our dinner
must needs stand over, though not, I hope, for
long. Meantime the only consolation I can per-
ceive is the chance of a cup of tea with you this
afternoon. J. O."
Sir John Oglethorpe had been her husband's
oldest and best friend. He and the Marchese
had first met in' Sardinia, where they had both
of them gone in pursuit of woodcock, and since
the Marchesa had been a widow, she and Sir John
had met either in Rome or in London every
year. The dinner so tragically manqud had been
arranged to assemble a number of Anglo-Italian
friends ; and, as Sir John was as perfect as a host
as Narcisse was as a cook, the disappointment
was a heavy one. She threw aside the letter
with a gesture of vexation, and opened the
next
4 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
" Sweetest Marchesa," it began, " how can I
tell you my grief at having to postpone our
dinner for Friday. My wretched cook (I gave
her seventy-five pounds a year), whom I have long
suspected of intemperate habits, was hopelessly
inebriated last night, and had to be conveyed out
of the house by my husband and a dear, devoted
friend who happened to be dining with us, and
deposited in a four-wheeler. May I look in to-
morrow afternoon and pour out my grief to you ?
— Yours cordially,
" Pamela St. Aubyn Fothergill."
When the Marchesa had opened four more
letters, one from Lady Considine, one from Mrs.
Sinclair, one from Miss Macdonnell, and one
from Mrs. Wilding, and found that all these
ladies were obliged to postpone their dinners on
account of the misdeeds of their cooks, she felt
that the laws of average were all adrift. Surely
the three remaining letters must contain news of
a character to counterbalance what had already
been revealed, but the event showed that, on this
particular morning, Fortune was in a mood to
strike hard. Colonel Trestrail, who gave in his
chambers carefully devised banquets, compounded
by a Bengali who was undoubtedly something of
a genius, wrote to say that this personage had
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 5
left at a day's notice, in order to embrace
Christianity and marry a lady's-maid who had
just come into a legacy of a thousand pounds
under the will of her late mistress. Another
correspondent, Mrs. Gradinger, wrote that her
German cook had announced that the dignity of
womanhood was, in her opinion, slighted by the
obligation to prepare food for others in exchange
for mere pecuniary compensation. Only on con-
dition of the grant of perfect social equality
would she consent to stay, and Mrs. Gradinger,
though she held advanced opinions, was hardly
advanced far enough to accept this suggestion.
Last of all, Mr. Sebastian van der Roet was"
desolate to announce that his cook, a Japanese,
whose dishes were, in his employer's estimation,
absolute inspirations, had decamped and taken
with him everything of value he could lay hold
of; and more than desolate, that he was forced
to postpone the pleasure of welcoming the Mar-
chesa di Sant' Andrea at his table.
When she had finished reading this last
note, the Marchesa gathered the whole mass
of her morning's correspondence together, and
uttering a few Italian words which need not
be translated, rolled it into a ball and hurled
the same to the farthest corner of the room.
"How is it," she ejaculated, "that these
6 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
English, who dominate the world abroad, cannot
get their food properly cooked at home? I
suppose it is because they, in their lofty way,
look upon cookery as a non-essential, and conse-
quently fall victims to gout and dyspepsia, or into
the clutches of some international brigandaccio,
who declares he is a cordon bleu. One hears
now and again pleasant remarks about the worn-
out Latin races, but I know of one Latin race
which can do better than this in cookery." And
having thus delivered herself, the Marchesa
lay back on the pillows and reviewed the situa-
tion.
She was sorry in a way to miss the Colonel's
dinner. The dishes which the Bengali cook
turned out were excellent, but the host himself
was a trifle dictatorial and too fond of the sound
of his own voice, while certain of the inevitable
guests were still worse. Mrs. Gradinger's letter
came as a relief ; indeed the Marchesa had been
wondering why she had ever consented to go
and pretend to enjoy herself by eating an ill-
cooked dinner in company with social reformers
and educational prigs. She really went because
she liked Mr. Gradinger, who was as unlike his
wife as possible, a stout youth of forty, with a
breezy manner and a decided fondness for sport.
Lady Considine's dinners were indifferent, and
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 7
the guests were apt to be a bit too smart and
too redolent of last season's Monte Carlo odour.
The Sinclairs gave good dinners to perfectly
selected guests, and by reason of this virtue —
one not too common — the host and hostess might
be pardoned for being a little too well satisfied
with themselves and with their last new bibelot.
The FothergiH dinners were like all other dinners
given by the Fothergills of society. They were
costly, utterly undistinguished, and invariably
graced by the presence of certain guests who
seemed to have been called in out of the street
at the last moment. Van der Roet's Japanese
menus were curious, and at times inimical to
digestion, but the personality of the host was
charming. As to Sir John Oglethorpe, the
question of the dinner postponed troubled her
little : another repast, the finest that London's
finest restaurant could furnish, would certainly
be forthcoming before long. In Sir John's case,
her discomposure took the form of sympathy
for her friend in his recent bereavement. He
had been searching all his life for a perfect cook,
and he had found, or believed he had found, such
an one in Narcisse ; wherefore the Marchesa was
fully persuaded that, if that artist should evade
the guillotine, she would again taste his incom-
parable handiwork, even though he were sus-
8 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
pected of murdering his whole family as well as
the -partner of his joys.
That same afternoon a number of the balked
entertainers foregathered in the Marchesa's draw-
ing-room, the dominant subject of discourse being
the approaching dissolution of London society
from the refusal of one human to cook food for
another. Those present were gathered in two
groups. In one the Colonel, in spite of the
recent desertion of his Oriental, was asserting
that the Government should be required to bring
over consignments of perfectly trained Indian
cooks, and thus trim the balance between dining-
room' and kitchen ; and to the other Mrs. Grad-
inger, a gaunt, ill-dressed lady in spectacles, with
a commanding nose and dull, wispy hair, was
proclaiming in a steady metallic voice, that it
was absolutely necessary to double the school-
rate at once in order to convert all the girls,
and some of the boys as well, into perfectly
equipped food-cooking animals ; but her audience
gradually fell away, and in an interval of silence
the voice of the hostess was heard giving utter-
ance to a tentative suggestion.
" But, my dear, it is inconceivable that the
comfort and the movement of society should
depend on the humours of its servants. I don't
blame them for refusing to cook if they dislike
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 9
cooking, and can find other work as light and as
well paid ; but, things being as they are, I would
suggest that we set to work somehow to make
ourselves independent of cooks."
" That 'somehow ' is the crux, my dear Livia,"
said Mrs. Sinclair. " I have a plan of my own,
but I dare not breathe it, for I'm sure Mrs.
Gradinger would call it 'anti-social,' whatever
that may mean."
" I should imagine that it is a term which
might be applied to any scheme which robs
society of the ministrations of its cooks," said
Sir John.
" I have heard mathematicians declare that
what is true of the whole is true of its parts,"
said the Marehesa. " I daresay it is, but I never
stopped to inquire. I will amplify on my own
account, and lay down that what is true of the
parts must be true of the whole. I'm sure that
sounds quite right. Now I, as a unit of society,
am independent of cooks because I can cook
myself, and if all the other units were independ-
ent, society itself would be independent — ecco ! "
"To speak in this tone of a serious science
like Euclid seems rather frivolous," said Mrs.
-Gradinger. " I may observe — " but here merci-
fully the observation was checked by the entry
of Mrs. St. Aubyn Fothergill.
io THE COOK'S DECAMERON
She was a handsome, woman, always dominated
by an air of serious preoccupation, sumptuously,
but not tastefully dressed. In the social struggle
upwards, wealth was the only weapon she pos-
sessed, and wealth without dexterity has been
known to fail before this. She made efforts,
indeed, to imitate Mrs. Sinclair in the elegancies
of mSnage, and to pose as a woman of mind after
the pattern of Mrs. Gradinger ; but the task first
named required too much tact, and the other
powers of endurance which she did not possess.
"You'll have some tea, Mrs. Fothergill ?" said
the Marchesa. "It's so good of you to have
come.' 1
" No, really, I can't take any tea ; in fact, I
couldn't 4ake any lunch out of vexation at having
to put you off, my dear Marchesa."
" Oh, these accidents will occur. We were just
discussing the best way of getting round them,"
said the Marchesa. "Now, dear" — speaking to
Mrs. Sinclair — " let's have your plan. Mrs. Grad-
inger has fastened like a leech on the Canon
and Mrs. Wilding, and won't hear a word of
what you have to say."
" Well, my scheme is just an amplification of
your mathematical illustration's, that we should all
learn to cook for ourselves. I regard it no longer
as impossible, or even difficult, since you have
THE COOK'S DECAMERON n
informed us that you are a mistress of the art.
We'll start a new school of cookery, and you shall
teach us all you know."
" Ah, my dear Laura, you are like certain
English women in the hunting field. You are
inclined to rush your fences," said the Marchesa
with a deprecatory gesture. " And just look at
the people gathered here in this room. Wouldn't
they — to continue the horsey metaphor — be rather
an awkward team to drive ? "
" Not at all, if you had them in suitable sur-
roundings. Now, supposing some beneficent
millionaire were to lend us for a month or so a
nice country house, we might instal you there as
Mistress of the stewpans, and sit at your feet as
disciples," said Mrs. Sinclair.
" The idea seems first-rate," said Van der
Roet; "and I suppose, if we are good little
boys and girls, and learn our lessons properly,
we may be allowed to taste some of our own
dishes."
" Might not that lead to a confusion between
rewards and punishments ? " said Sir John.
" If ever it comes to that," said Miss Macdonnell
with a mischievous glance out of a pair of dark,
flashing Celtic eyes, " I hope that our mistress
will inspect carefully all pupils' work before we
are asked to eat it. I don't want to sit down to
12 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
another of Mr. Van der Roet's Japanese salads
made of periwinkles and wallflowers."
" And we must first catch our millionaire," said
the Colonel.
During these remarks Mrs. Fothergill had been
standing " with parted lips and straining eyes,"
the eyes of one who is seeking to " cut in." Now
came her chance. " What a delightful idea dear
Mrs. Sinclair's is. We have been dreadfully ex-
travagant this year over buying pictures, and
have doubled our charitable subscriptions, but I
believe I can still promise to act in a humble way
the part of Mrs. Sinclair's millionaire. We have
just finished doing up the ' Laurestinas,' a little
place we bought last year, and it is quite at
your service, Marchesa, as soon as you like to
occupy it."
This unlooked-for proposition almost took away
the Marchesa's breath. "Ah, Mrs. Fothergill,"
she said, " it was Mrs. Sinclair's plan, not mine.
She kindly wishes to turn me into a cook for I
know not how long, just at the hottest season of
the year, a fate I should hardly have chosen for
myself."
"My dear, it would be a new sensation, and
one you would enjoy beyond everything. I am
sure it is a scheme every one here will hail with
acclamation," said Mrs. Sinclair. All other con-
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 13
versation had now ceased, and the eyes of the
rest of the company were fixed on the speaker.
" Ladies and gentlemen," she went on, "you have
heard my suggestion, and you have heard Mrs.
Fothergill's most kind and opportune offer of her
country house as the seat of our school of cookery.
Such an opportunity is one in ten thousand. Surely
all of us — even the Marchesa — must see that it is
one not to be neglected."
" I approve thoroughly," said Mrs. Gradinger ;
" the acquisition of knowledge, even in so material
a field as that of cookery, is always a clear gain."
"It will give Gradinger a chance to- put in a
couple of days at Ascot," whispered Van der
Roet.
"Where Mrs. Gradinger leads, all must follow,"
said Miss Macdonnell. " Take the sense of the
meeting, Mrs. Sinclair, before the Marchesa has
time to enter a protest."
" And is the proposed instructress to have
no voice in the matter ? " said the Marchesa,
laughing.
" None at all, except to consent," said Mrs.
Sinclair ; " you are going to be absolute mistress
over us for the next fortnight, so you surely might
obey just this once."
"You have been denouncing one of our
cherished institutions, Marchesa," said Lady
i 4 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
Considine, " so I consider you are bound to
help us to replace the British cook by some-
thing better."
" If Mrs. Sinclair has set her heart on this
interesting experiment, you may as well consent
at once, Marchesa," said the Colonel, "and
teach us how to cook, and — what may be a
harder task — to teach us to eat what other
aspirants may have cooked."
" If this scheme really comes off," said Sir
John, " I would suggest that the Marchesa
should always be provided with a plat of her
own up her sleeve — if I may use such an ex-
pression — so that any void in the menu, caused
by failure on the part of the under-skilled or
over-ambitious amateur, may be filled by what
will certainly be a chef-d'oeuvre."
" I shall back up Mrs. Sinclair's proposition
with all my power," said Mrs. Wilding. " The
Canon will be in residence at Martlebridge for
the next month, and I would much rather be
learning cookery under the Marchesa than stay-
ing with my brother-in-law at Ealing."
" You'll have to do it, Marchesa," said Van
der Roet ; " when a new idea catches on like this,
there's no resisting it."
" Well, I consent on one condition — that my
rule shall be absolute," said the Marchesa, " and
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 15
I begin my career as an autocrat by giving Mrs.
Fothergill a list of the educational machinery I
shall want, and commanding her to have them all
ready by Tuesday morning, the day on which I
declare the school open."
A chorus of applause went up as soon as
the Marchesa ceased speaking.
" Everything shall be ready," said Mrs. Fother-
gill, radiant with delight that her offer had been
accepted, " and I will put in a full staff of
servants selected from our three other establish-
ments."
" Would it not be as well to send the cook home
for a holiday ? " said the Colonel. " It might be
safer, and lead to less broth being spoilt."
" It seems," said Sir John, " that we shall be ten
in number, and I would therefore propose that,
after an illustrious precedent, we limit our opera-
tions to ten days. Then if we each produce one
culinary poem a day we shall, at the end of our
time, have provided the world with a hundred
new reasons for enjoying life— supposing, of
course, that we have no failures. I propose,
therefore, that our society be called the ' New
Decameron.' "
*' Most appropriate," said Miss Macdonnell,
" especially as it owes its origin to an outbreak of
plague — the plague in the kitchen."
THE FIRST DAY
On the Tuesday morning the Marchesa travelled
down to the " Laurestinas," where she found that
Mrs. Fothergill had been as good as her word.
Everything was in perfect order. The Marchesa
had notified to her pupils that they must report
themselves that same evening at dinner, and she
took down with her her maid, one of those
marvellous Italian servants who combine fidelity
with efficiency in a degree strange to the denizens
of more progressive lands. Now, with Ange-
lina's assistance, she proposed to set before the
company their first dinner all' Italiana, and the
last they would taste without having participated
in the preparation. The real work was to begin
the following morning.
The dinner was both a revelation and a sur-
prise to the majority of the company. All were
well travelled, and all had eaten of the mongrel
French dishes given at the "Grand" hotels of
the principal Italian cities, and some of them,
in search of adventures, had dined at London
restaurants with Italian names over the doors,
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 17
where — with certain honourable exceptions — the
cookery was French, and not of the best, certain
Italian plats being included in the carte for a
regular clientele, dishes which would always be
passed over by the English investigator, because
he now read, or tried to read, their names for the
first time. Few of the Marchesa's pupils had ever
wandered away from the arid table a"hdte in Milan,
or Florence, or Rome, in search of the risto-
rante at which the better class of townsfolk were
wont to take their colazione. Indeed, whenever
an Englishman does break fresh ground in this
direction, he rarely finds sufficient presence of
mind to controvert the suggestions of the smiling
minister who, having spotted his Inglese, at once
marks down an omelette aux fines herbes and a
biftek aux pommes as the only food such a creature
can consume. Thus the culinary experiences of
Englishmen in Italy have led to the perpetuation
of the legend that the traveller can indeed find
decent food in the large towns, "because the
cooking there is all French, you know," but that,
if he should deviate from the beaten track, un-
utterable horrors, swimming in oil and reeking
with garlic, would be his portion. Oil and garlic
are in popular English belief the inseparable
accidents of Italian cookery, which is supposed to
gather its solitary claim to individuality from the
1 8 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
never-failing presence of these admirable, but
easily abused, gifts of Nature.
" You have given us a delicious dinner,
Marchesa," said Mrs. Wilding as the coffee
appeared. "You mustn't think me captious
in my remarks — indeed it would be most un-
gracious to look a gift-dinner in the — What
are you laughing at, Sir John? I suppose I've
done something awful with my metaphors —
mixed them up somehow."
" Everything Mrs. Wilding mixes will be mixed
admirably, as admirably, say, as that sauce which
was served with the Manzo alia Certosina," Sir
John replied.
" That is said in your best style, Sir John,"
replied Mrs. Wilding ; "but what I was going to
remark was, that I, as a poor parson's wife, shall
ask for some instruction in inexpensive cooking
before we separate. The dinner we have just
eaten is surely only within the reach of rich
people."
" I wish some of the rich people I dine with
could manage now and then to reach a dinner as
good," said the Colonel.
" I believe it is a generally received maxim,
that if you want a truth to be accepted you must
repeat the same in season and out, whenever you
have the opportunity," said the Marchesa. " The
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 19
particular truth I have now in mind is the fact
that Italian cookery is the cookery of a poor
nation, of people who have scant means where-
with to purchase the very inferior materials they
must needs work with ; and that they produce
palatable food at all is, I maintain, a proof that
they bring high intelligence to the task. Italian
culinary methods have been developed in the
struggle when the cook, working with an allow-
ance upon which an English cook would resign
at once, has succeeded by careful manipulation
and the study of flavouring in turning out excel-
lent dishes made of fish and meat confessedly
inferior. Now, if we loosen the purse-strings a
little, and use the best English materials, I affirm
that we shall achieve a result excellent enough to
prove that Italian cookery is worthy to take its
stand beside its great French rival. I am glad
Mrs. Wilding has given me an opportunity to
impress upon you all that its main characteristics
are simplicity and cheapness, and I can assure
her that, even if she should reproduce the most
costly dishes of our course, she will not find any
serious increase in her weekly bills. When I
use the word simplicity, I allude, of course, to
everyday cooking. Dishes of luxury in any
school require elaboration, care, and watch-
fulness."
20
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
Menu — Dinner
Zuppa d'uova alia Toscana.
Sogliole alia Livornese.
Manzo alia Certosina.
Minuta alia Milanese.
Cavoli fiori ripieni.
Cappone airosto con insalata.
Zabajone.
Uoya al pomidoro.
Tuscan egg-soup.
Sole alia Livornese.
Fillet of beef, Certosina sauce.
Chickens' livers alia Milanese.
Cauliflower with forcemeat.
Roast capon with salad.
Spiced custard.
Eggs and tomatoes.
1 The recipes for the dishes contained in all these menus will be
found in the second part of the book. The limits of the'seasons
have necessarily been ignored.
THE SECOND DAY
Wednesday's luncheon was anticipated with some
curiosity, or even searchings of heart, as in it
would appear the first-fruits of the hand of the
amateur. The Marchesa wisely restricted it to
two dishes, for the compounding of which she
requisitioned the services of Lady Considine,
Mrs. Sinclair, and the Colonel. The others she
sent to watch Angelina and her circle while they
were preparing the vegetables and the dinner
entrees. After the luncheon dishes had been
discussed, they were both proclaimed admirable.
It was a true bit of Italian finesse on the part of
the Marchesa to lay a share of the responsibility
of the first meal upon the Colonel, who was noto-
riously the most captious and the hardest to please
of all the company ; and she did even more than
make him jointly responsible, for she authorised
him to see to the production of a special curry of
his own invention, the recipe for which he always
carried in his pocket-book, thus letting India share
with Italy in the honours pi the first luncheon.
"My congratulations to you on your curry,
22 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
Colonel Trestrail," said Miss Macdonnell. "You
haven't followed the English fashion of flavour-
ing a curry by emptying the pepper-pot into the
dish."
"Pepper properly used is the most admirable
of condiments," the Colonel said.
"Why this association of the Colonel and
pepper?" said Van der Roet. "In this society
we ought to be as nice in our phraseology as in
our flavourings, and be careful to eschew the in-
congruous. You are coughing, Mrs. Wilding;
let me give you some water."
" I think it must have been one of those rare
grains of the Colonel's pepper, for you must have
a little pepper in a curry, mustn't you, Colonel?
Though, as Miss Macdonnell says, English cooks
generally overdo it."
"Vander is in one of his pleasant witty
moods," said the Colonel, " but I fancy I know as
much about the use of pepper as he does about
the use of oil colours ; and now we have got upon
art criticism, I may remark, my dear Vander, I
have been reminded that you have been poaching
on my ground. I saw a landscape of yours the
other day, which looked as if some of my curry
powder had got into the sunset. I mean the one
poor blind old Wilkins bought at your last show."
"Ah, but that sunset was an inspiration,
THE COOK'S DECAMERON i'3
Colonel, and consequently beyond your compre-
hension."
" It is easy to talk of inspiration," said Sir
John, "and, perhaps, now that we are debating a
matter of real importance, we might spend our
time more profitably than in discussing what is
and what is not a good picture. Since inspiration
has been brought into our symposium, I venture
to affirm that the brain which devised and the
hand which executed the Tenerumi di Vitello we
have just tasted, were both of them inspired. In
the construction of this dish there is to be recog-
nised a breath of the same afflatus which gave us
the Florentine campanile, and the Medici tombs,
and the portrait of Monna Lisa. When we
stand before any one of these masterpieces, we
realise at a glance how keen must have been
the primal insight, and how strenuous the effort
necessary for the evolution of so consummate
an achievement ; and, with the savour of the
Tenerumi di Vitello still fresh, I feel that it de-
serves to be added to the list of Italian capo lavori.
Now, as I was not fortunate enough to be in-
cluded in the pupils' class this morning, I must
beg the next time the dish is presented to us —
and I imagine all present will hail its renaissance
with joy — that I may be allowed to lend a hand,
or even a finger, in its preparation."
24 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
" Veal, with the possible exception of Lombard
beef, is the best meat we get in Italy," said the
Marchesa, " so an Italian cook, when he wants to
produce a meat dish of the highest excellence,
generally turns to veal as a basis. I must say
that the breast of veal, which is the part we had
for lunch to-day, is a somewhat insipid dish when
cooked English fashion. That we have been able
to put it before you in more palatable form, and
to win for it the approval of such a connoisseur as
Sir John Oglethorpe, is largely owing to the
judicious use of that Italian terror — more dire to
many English than paper-money or brigands-
garlic."
"The quantity used was infinitesimal," said
Mrs. Sinclair, " but it seems to have been enough
to subdue what I once heard Sir John describe
as the pallid solidity of the innocent calf."
" I fear the vein of incongruity in our dis-
course, lately noted by Van der Roet, is not quite
exhausted," said Sir John. " The Colonel was
up in arms on account of a too intimate associa-
tion of his name with pepper, and now Mrs.
Sinclair has bracketed me with the calf, a most
useful animal, I grant, but scarcely one I should
have chosen as a yokefellow ; but this is a digres-
sion. To return to our veal. I had a notion that
garlic had something to do with the triumph of
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 25
the Tenerumi, and, this being the case, I think
it would be well if the Marchesa were to give
us a dissertation on the use of this invaluable
product."
"As Mrs. Sinclair says, the admixture of garlic
in the dish in question was a very small one, and
English people somehow never seem to realise
that garlic must always be used sparingly. The
chief positive idea they have of its characteristics
is that which they gather from the odour of a
French or Italian crowd of peasants at a railway
station. The effect of garlic, eaten in lumps as
an accompaniment to bread and cheese, is natu-
rally awful, but garlic used as it should be used
is the soul, the divine essence, of cookery. The
palate delights in it without being able to identify
it, and the surest proof of its charm is manifested
by the flatness and insipidity which will infallibly
characterise any dish usually flavoured with it, if
by chance this dish should be prepared without it.
The cook who can employ it successfully will be
found to possess the delicacy of perception, the
accuracy of judgment, and the dexterity of hand,
which go to the formation of a great artist. It
is a primary maxim, and one which cannot be
repeated too often, that garlic must never be cut
up and used as part of the material of any dish.
One small incision should be made in the clove,
26 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
which should be put into the dish during the
process of cooking, and allowed to remain there
until the cook's palate gives warning that flavour
enough has been extracted. Then it must be
taken out at once. This rule does not apply in
equal degree to the use of the onion, the large
mild varieties of which may be cooked and eaten
in many excellent bourgeois dishes ; but in all fine
cooking, where the onion flavour is wanted, the
same treatment which I have prescribed for garlic
must be followed."
The Marchesa gave the Colonel and Lady
Considine a holiday that afternoon, and requested
Mrs. Gradinger and Van der Roet to attend in
the kitchen to help with the dinner. In the first
few days of the session the main portion of the
work naturally fell upon the Marchesa and Ange-
lina, and in spite of the inroads made upon their
time by the necessary directions to the neophytes,
and of the occasional eccentricities of the neo-
phytes' energies, the dinners and luncheons were
all that could be desired. The Colonel was not
quite satisfied with the flavour of one particular
soup, and Mrs. Gradinger was of opinion that
one of the entrees, which she wanted to super-
intend herself, but which the Marchesa handed
over to Mrs. Sinclair, had a great deal too much
butter in its composition. Her conscience re-
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 27
volted at the action of consuming in one dish
enough butter to solace the breakfast-table of an
honest working man for two or three days ; but
the faintness of these criticisms seemed to prove
that every one was well satisfied with the render-
ing of the menu of the day.
Menu — Lunch.
Tenerumi di Vitello. Breast of veal.
Piccione alia minuta. Pigeons, braized with liver, &c.
Curry.
Menu — Dinner.
Zuppa alia nazionale. Soup alia nazionale.
Salmone alia Genovese. Salmon alia Genovese.
Costolette alia Costanza. Mutton cutlets alia Costanza
Fritto misto alia Villeroy. Lamb's fry alia Villeroy.
Lattughe al sugo. Stuffed lettuce.
Dindo arrosto alia Milanese. Roast turkey alia Milanese.
Crema montata alle fragole. Strawberry cream.
. Tartufi alia Dino. Truffles alia Dino.
THE THIRD DAY
" I observe, dear Marchesa," said Mrs. Fother-
gill at breakfast on Thursday morning, " that we
still follow the English fashion in our breakfast
dishes. I have a notion that, in this particular
especially, we gross English show our inferiority
to the more spirituelles nations of the Continent,
and I always feel a new being after the light
meal of delicious coffee and crisp bread and deli-
cate butter the first morning I awake in dear
Paris."
" I wonder how it happens, then, that two goes
of fish, a plateful of omelette, and a round and
a half of toast and marmalade are necessary to
repair the waste of tissue in dear England ? " Van
der Roet whispered to Miss Macdonnell.
"It must be the gross air of England or the
gross nature of the "
The rest of Miss Macdonnell's remark was lost,
as the Marchesa cried out in answer to Mrs.
Fothergill, " But why should we have anything
but English breakfast dishes in England ? The
defects of English cookery are manifest enough,
38
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 29
but breakfast fare is not amongst them. In these
England stands supreme ; there is nothing to
compare with them, and they possess the crown-
ing merit of being entirely compatible with Eng-
lish life. I cannot say whether it may be the
effect of the crossing, or of the climate on this
side, or that the air of England is charged with
some subtle stimulating quality, given off in the
rush and strain of strenuous national life, but the
fact remains that as soon as I find myself across
the Channel I want an English breakfast. It
seems that I am more English than certain of the
English themselves, and I am sorry that Mrs.
Fothergill has been deprived of her French roll
and butter. I will see that you have it to-morrow,
Mrs. Fothergill, and to make the illusion com-
plete, I will order it to be sent to your room."
"Oh no, Marchesa, that would be giving too
much trouble, and I am sure you want all the help
in the house to carry out the service as exquisitely
as you do," said Mrs. Fothergill hurriedly, and
blushing as well as her artistic complexion would
allow.
"I fancy," said Mrs. Sinclair, "that foreigners
are taking to English breakfasts as well as Eng-
lish clothes. I noticed when I was last in Milan
that almost every German or Italian ate his two
boiled eggs for breakfast, the sign whereby
30 . THE COOK'S DECAMERON
the Englishman used to be marked for a cer-
tainty."
" The German would probably call for boiled
eggs when abroad on account of the impossi-
bility of getting such things in his own country.
No matter how often you send to the kitchen
for properly boiled eggs in Germany, the result
is always the same — cold slush," said Mrs. Wild-
ing ; "and I regret to find that the same plague
is creeping into the English hotels which are
served by German waiters."
" That is quite true," said the Marchesa ; " but
in England we have no time to concern our-
-selves with mere boiled eggs, delicious as they
are. The roll of delicacies is long enough, or
even too long without them. When I am in 4
England, I always lament that we have only
seven days a week and one breakfast a day, and
when I am in Italy I declare that the reason
why the English have overrun the world is
because they eat such mighty breakfasts.. Con-
sidering how good the dishes are, I wonder the
breakfasts are not mightier than they are."
"It always strikes me that our national bar-
renness of ideas appears as plainly in our break-
fasts as anywhere," said Mrs. Gradinger. " There
is a monotony about them which "
" Monotony!" interrupted the Colonel. " Why,
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 31
I could dish you up a fresh breakfast every day
for a month. Your conservative tendencies must
be very strong, Mrs. Gradinger, if they lead
you to this conclusion."
"Conservative! On the contrary, I — that is,
my husband — always votes for Progressive candi-
dates at every election," said Mrs. Gradinger,
dropping into her platform intonation, at the
sound of which consternation arose in every
breast. " I have, moreover, a theory that we
might reform our diet radically, as well as all
other institutions ; but before I expound this, I
should like to say a few words on the waste of
wholesome food which goes on. For instance,
I went for a walk in the woods yesterday after-
noon, where I came upon a vast quantity of
fungi which our ignorant middle classes would
pronounce to be poisonous, but which I — in
common with every child of the intelligent work-
ing-man educated in a board school where
botany is properly taught — knew to be good for
food."
" Excuse me one moment," said Sir John,
" but do they really use board-school children* as
tests to see whether toadstools are poisonous or
not?"
" I do not think anything I said justified such
an inference," said Mrs. Gradinger in the same
32 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
solemn drawl ; " but I may remark that the
children are taught from illustrated manuals
accurately drawn and coloured. Well, to come
back to the fungi, I took the trouble to measure
the plot on which they were growing, and found
it just ten yards square. The average weight
of edible fungus per square yard was just an
ounce, or a hundred and twelve pounds per acre.
Now, there must be at least twenty millions of
acres in the United Kingdom capable of pro-
ducing these fungi without causing the smallest
damage to any other crop, wherefore it seems
that, owing to our lack of instruction, we are
wasting some million tons of good food per
annum ; and I may remark that this calcula-
tion pre-supposes, that each fungus springs only
once in the ^season ; but I have reason to be-
lieve that certain varieties would give five or
six gatherings between May and October, so the
weight produced would be enormously greater
than the quantity I have named."
Here Mrs. Gradinger paused to finish her
coffee, which was getting cold, and before she
could resume, Sir John had taken up the parole.
" I think the smaller weight will suffice for the
present, until the taste for strange fungi has
developed, or the pressure of population in-
creased. And before stimulating a vastly in-
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 33
creased supply, it will be necessary to extirpate
the belief that all fungi, except the familiar
mushroom, are poisonous, and perhaps to appoint
an army of inspectors to see that only the right
sort are brought to market."
"Yes, and that will give pleasant and con-
genial employment to those youths of the work-
ing-classes who are ambitious of a higher career
than that of their fathers," said Lady Considine,
"and the ratepayers will rejoice, no doubt, that
they are participating in the general elevation
of the masses."
" Perhaps Mrs. Gradinger will gather a few
of her less deadly fungi, and cook them and eat
them herself, pour encourager les autres" said Miss
Macdonnell. " Then, if she doesn't die in agonies,
we may all forswear beef and live on toadstools."
"I certainly will," said Mrs. Gradinger; "and
before we rise from table I should like ''
" I fear we must hear your remarks at dinner,
Mrs. Gradinger," said the Marchesa. "Time is
getting on, and some of the dishes to-day are
rather elaborate, so now to the kitchen."
Menu — Lunch.
Risotto alia Genovese. Savoury rice.
Polio alia Villereccia. Chicken alia Villereccia.
Lingue di Castrato alia cuci- " Sheeps' tongues alia cuciniera.
niera.
C
34
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
Menu — Dinner.
Zuppa alia Veneziana.
Sogliole alia giardiniera.
Timballo alia Romana.
Petto di Castrato alia salsa di
burro.
Verdure miste.
Crema rappresa.
Ostriche alia Veneziana.
Venetian soup.
Sole with vegetables.
Roman pie-
Breast of mutton with butter
sauce.
Mixed vegetables.
Coffee cream.
Oyster savoury.
THE FOURTH DAY
The Colonel was certainly the most severely
critical member of the company. Up to the pre-
sent juncture he had been sparing of censure, and
sparing of praise likewise, but on this day, after
lunch, he broke forth into loud praise of the dish
of beef which appeared in the menu. After spe-
cially commending this dish he went on —
" It seems to me that the dinner of yesterday
and to-day's lunch bear the cachet of a fresh and
admirable school of cookery. In saying this I
don't wish to disparage the traditions which have
governed the preparation of the delicious dishes
put before us up to that date, which I have re-
ferred to as the parting of the ways, the date when
the palate of the expert might detect a new hand
upon the keys, a phrase once employed, I believe,
with regard to some man who wrote poetry. To
meet an old friend, or a thoroughly tested dish, is
always pleasant, but old friends die or fall out, and
old favourite dishes may come to pall at last ; and
for this reason I hold that the day which brings us
36 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
a new friend or a new dish ought to be marked
with white chalk."
"And I think some wise man once remarked,"
said Sir John, "that the discovery of a dish is
vastly more important than the discovery of a
star, for we have already as many stars as we
can possibly require, but we can never have too
many dishes."
" I was wondering whether any one would
detect the variations I made yesterday, but I
need not have wondered, with such an expert at
table as Colonel Trestrail," said the Marchesa
with a laugh. " Well, the Colonel has found
me out ; but from the tone of his remarks I
think I may hope for his approval. At any
rate, I'm sure he won't move a vote of cen-
sure."
"If he does, we'll pack him off to town, and
sentence him to dine at his club every day for a
month," said Lady Considine.
"What crime has this particular club com-
mitted ? " said Mrs. Sinclair in a whisper.
"Vote of censure! Certainly not," said the
Colonel, with an angry ring in his voice. Mrs.
Sinclair did not love him, and had calculated
accurately the carrying power of her whisper.
" That would be the basest ingratitude. I must,
however, plead guilty to an attack of curiosity,
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 37
and therefore I beg you, Marchesa, to let us into
the secret of your latest inspiration."
" Its origin was commonplace enough," said
the Marchesa, "but in a way interesting. Once
upon a time — more years ago than I care to
remember — I was strolling about the Piazza
Navona in Rome, and amusing myself by going
from one barrow to another, and turning over
the heaps of rubbish with which they were
stocked. All the while I was innocently plagiar-
ising that fateful walk of Browning's round the
Riccardi Palace in Florence, the day when he
bought for a lira the Romano, homocidiorum.
The world knows what was the outcome of
Browning's purchase, but it will probably never
fathom the full effect of mine. How do his
lines run ?
"'These
I picked the book from. Five compeers in flank
Stood left and right of it as tempting more —
A dog's-eared Spicilegium, the fond tale
O' the frail one of the Flower, by young Dumas,
Vulgarised Horace for the use of schools,
The Life, Death, Miracles of Saint Somebody,
Saint Somebody Else, his Miracles, Death and Life.'
" Well, the choice which lay before me on one
particular barrow was fully as wide, or perhaps
wider than that which met the poet's eye, but
after I had espied a little yellow paper-covered
38 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
book with the title La Cucina Partenopea, owero
il Paradiso dei gastronomi, I looked no farther.
What infinite possibilities of pleasure might lie
hidden under such a name. I secured it, together
with the Story of Barlaam and Josaphat, for
thirty-five centesimi, and handed over the coins
to the hungry-eyed old man in charge, who re-
gretted, I am sure, when he saw the eager look
upon my face, that he had not marked the books
a lira at least. I should now be a rich woman if
I had spent all the money I have spent as profit-
ably as those seven soldi. Besides being a master
in the art of cookery, the author was a moral philo-
sopher as well ; and he addresses his reader in
prefatory words which bespeak a profound know-
ledge of life. He writes : ' Though the time of man
here on earth is passed in a never-ending turmoil,
which must make him often curse the moment
when he opened his eyes on such a world ; though
life itself must often become irksome or even
intolerable, nevertheless, by God's blessing, one
supreme consolation remains for this wretched
body of ours. I allude to that moment when, the
forces being spent and the stomach craving sup-
port, the wearied mortal sits down to face a good
dinner. Here is to be found an effectual balm
for the ills of life : something to drown all re-
membrance of our ill-humours, the worries of
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 39
business, or even family quarrels. In sooth, it is
only at table that a man may bid. the devil fly
away with Solomon and all his wisdom, and give
himself up to an earthly delight, which is a
pleasure and a profit at the same time.'"
" The circumstances under which this precious
book Was found seem to suggest a culinary poem
on the model of the ' Ring and the Book,' " said
Mrs. Sinclair, "or we might deal with the story
in practical shape by letting every one of us
prepare the same dish. I fancy the individual
renderings of the same recipe would vary quite
as widely as the versions of the unsavoury story
set forth in Mr. Browning's little poem."
" I think we had better have a supplementary
day for a trial of the sort Mrs. Sinclair sug-
gests," said Miss Macdonnell. " I speak with the
memory of a preparation of liver I tasted yester-
day in the kitchen — one of the dishes which did
not appear at dinner."
"That is rather hard on the Colonel," said
Van der Roet ; " he did his best, and now, see how
hard he is trying to look as if he didn't know
what you are alluding to ! "
" I never in all my life—" the Colonel began ;
but the Marchesa, fearing a storm, interfered.
" I have a lot more to tell you about my little
Neapolitan book," she went on, "and I will begin
4 o THE COOK'S DECAMERON
by saying that, for the future, we cannot do better
than make free use of it. The author opens with
an announcement that he means to give exact
quantities for every dish, and then, like a true
Neapolitan, lets quantities go entirely, and adopts
the rule-of-thumb system. And I must say I
always find the question of quantities a difficult
one. Some books give exact measures, each
dish being reckoned enough for four persons,
with instructions to increase the measures in
proportion to the additional number of diners ;
but here a rigid rule is impossible, for a dish
which is to serve by itself, as a supper or a lunch
must necessarily be bigger than one which merely
fills one place in a dinner menu. Quantities can
be given approximately in many cases, but
flavouring must always be a question of in-
dividual taste. Latitude must be allowed, for
all cooks who can turn out distinguished work
will be found to be endowed with imagination,
and these, being artists, will never consent to
follow a rigid rule of quantity. To put it briefly,
cooks who need to be told everything, will never
cook properly, even if they be told more than
everything. And after all, no one takes seriously
the quantities given by the chef of a millionaire
or a prince ; witness the cook of the Prince de
Soubise, who demanded fifty hams for the sauces
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
4i
and garnitures of a single supper, and when the
Prince protested that there could not possibly be
found space for them all on the table, offered to
put them all into a glass bottle no bigger than his
thumb. Some of Francatelli's quantities are also
prodigious, as, for instance, when to make a simple
glaze he calls for three pounds of gravy beef, the
best part of a ham, a knuckle of veal, an old hen,
and two partridges."
Menu — Lunch.
Maccheroni al sugillo.
Manzo in insalata.
Lingue di vitello all' Italiana.
Macaroni with sausage and
tomatoes.
Beef, pressed and marinated.
Calves' tongues.
Menu— Dinner.
Zuppa alia Modanese.
Merluzzo in salamoia.
Pollastro in istufa di pomi-
doro. v
Porcelletto farcito alia Corra-
dino.
Insalata alia Navarino.
Bodino di semolino.
Frittura di cocozze.
Modenese soup.
Cod with sauce piquante.
Stewed chicken with toma-
toes.
Stuffed sucking pig.
Navarino salad.
Semolina pudding.
Fried cucumber.
THE FIFTH DAY
The following day was very warm, and some
half-dozen of the party wandered into the garden
after lunch and took their coffee under a big
chestnut tree on the lawn. " And this is the
26th of June," said Lady Considine. " Last
year, on this very day, I started for Hombourg.
I can't say I feel like starjting for Hombourg, or
any other place, just at present."
" But why should any one of us want to go to
Hombourg?" said Sir John. "Nobody can be
afraid of gout with the admirable diet we enjoy
here."
" I beg you to speak for yourself, Sir John,"
said Lady Considine. " I have never yet gone
to Hombourg on account of gout."
" Of course not, my dear friend, of course not ;
there are so many reasons for going to Hom-
bourg. There's the early rising, and the band,
and the new people one may meet there, and the
change of diet — especially the change of diet.
But, you see, we have found our change of diet
within an hour of London, so why — as I before
4*
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 43
remarked — should we want to rush off to Hom-
bourg?"
" I am a firm believer in that change of diet,"
said Mrs. Wilding, " though in the most respect-
able circles the true-bred Briton still talks about
foreign messes, and affirms that anything else
than plain British fare ruins the digestion. I
must say my own digestion is none the worse
for the holiday I am having from the prepara-
tions of my own 'treasure.' I think we all look
remarkably well ; and we don't quarrel or snap
at each other, and it would be hard to find a
better proof of wholesome diet than that."
" But I fancied Mrs. Gradinger looked a little
out of sorts this morning, and I'm sure she was
more than a. little out of temper when I asked
her how soon we were to taste her dish of toad-
stools," said Miss Macdonnell.
" I expect she had been making a trial of the
British fungi in her bedroom," said Van der Roet ;
"and then, you see, our conversation isn't quite
'high toned' enough for her taste. We aren't
sufficiently awake to the claims of the masses.
Can any one explain to me why the people who
are so full of mercy for the mass, are so merciless
to the unit ? "
" That is her system of proselytising," said the
Colonel, " and if she is content with outward con-
44 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
version, it isn't a bad one. I often feel inclined
to agree to any proposition she likes to put for-
ward, and I would, if I could stop her talking
by my submission."
" You wouldn't do that,' Colonel, even in your
suavest mood," said Van der Roet ; "but I hope
somebody will succeed in checking her flow of
discourse before long. I'm getting worn to a
shadow by the grind of that awful voice."
" I thought your clothes were getting a bit
loose," said the Colonel, " but I put that pheno-
menon down to another reason. In spite of Mrs.
Wilding's praise of our present style of cooking,
I don't believe our friend Vander finds it sub-
stantial enough to sustain his manly bulk, and
I'll tell you the grounds of my belief. A few
mornings ago, when I was shaving, I saw the
butcher bring into the house a splendid sirloin,
and as no sirloin has appeared at table, I venture
to infer that this joint was a private affair of
Vander's, and that he, as well as Mrs. Gradinger,
has been going in for bedroom cookery. Here
comes the Marchesa ; we'll ask her to solve the
mystery."
" I can account for the missing sirloin," said
the Marchesa. " The Colonel is wrong for once.
It went duly into the kitchen, and not to Mr.
Van der Roet's bedroom ; but I must begin with
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 45
a slight explanation, or rather apology. Next to
trial by jury, and the reverence paid to rank, and
the horror of all things which, as poor Corney
Grain used to say, ' are not nice,' I reckon the
Sunday sirloin, cooked and served, one and in-
divisible, as the typical fetish of the great English
middle class. With this fact before my eyes, I
can assure you I did not lightly lay a hand on its
integrity. My friends, you have eaten that sir-
loin without knowing it. You may remember
that yesterday after lunch the Colonel was loud
in praise of a dish of beef. Well, that beef was
a portion of the same, and not the best portion.
The Manzo in insalata, which pleased the Colonel's
palate, was that thin piece at the lower end, the
chief function of which, when the sirloin is cooked
whole, seems to lie in keeping the joint steady on
the dish while paterfamilias carves it. It is never
eaten in the dining-room hot, because every one
justly prefers and goes for the under cut ; neither
does it find favour at lunch next day, for the
reason that, as cold beef, the upper cut is un-
approachable. I have never heard that the
kitchen hankers after it inordinately ; indeed, its
ultimate destination is one of the unexplained
mysteries of housekeeping. I hold that never,
under any circumstances, should it be cooked
with the sirloin, but always cut off and marinated
46 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
and braized as we had it yesterday. Thus yoi
get two hot dishes ; our particular sirloin has
given us three. The parts of this joint vary
greatly in flavour, and in texture as well, anc
by accentuating this variation by treatment ir
the kitchen, you escape that monotony which is
prone to pervade the table so long as the sirloir
remains in the house. Mrs. Sinclair is sufficient!)
experienced as a housekeeper to know that the
dish of fillets we had for dinner last night wa:
not made from the under cut of one sirloin. Ii
was by borrowing a little from the upper par
that I managed to fill the dish, and I'm sun
that any one who may have got one of the upper
cut fillets had no cause to grumble. The FiletU
di Bue, which we had for lunch to-day was th<
residue of the upper cut, and, admirable as is ;
slice of cold beef taken from this part of th<
joint I think it is an excellent variation to mak<
a hot dish of it sometimes. On the score o
economy, I am sure that a sirloin treated in thi
fashion goes a long way further."
" The Marchesa demolishes one after anothe
of our venerable institutions with so charming ;
despatch that we can scarcely grieve for them,
said Sir John. " I am not philosopher enoug]
to divine what change may come over the Britisi
character when every man sits down every da
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 47
to a perfectly cooked dinner. It is sometimes
said that our barbarian forefathers left their
northern solitudes because they hankered after
the wine and delicate meats of the south, and
perhaps the modern Briton may have been led
to overrun the world by the hope of finding a
greater variety of diet than he gets at home. It
may mean, Marchesa, that this movement of
yours for the suppression of English plain cook-
ing will mark the close of our national expan-
sion."
" My dear Sir John, ycu may rest assured that
your national expansion, as well as your national
cookery, will continue in spite of anything we
may accomplish here, and I say good luck to
them both. When have I ever denied the
merits of English cookery ? " said the Marchesa.
" Many of its dishes are unsurpassed. These
islands produce materials so fine, that no art or
elaboration can improve them. They are best
when they are cooked quite plainly, and this is
the reason why simplicity is the key-note of
English cookery. A fine joint of mutton roasted
to a turn, a plain fried sole with anchovy butter,
a broiled chop or steak or kidney, fowls or game
cooked English fashion, potatoes baked in their
skins and eaten with butter and sak, a rasher of
Wiltshire bacon and a new-laid egg, where will
48 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
you beat these ? I will go so far as to say no
country can produce a bourgeois dish which can
be compared with steak and kidney pudding.
But the point I want to press home is that
Italian cookery comes to the aid of those who
cannot well afford to buy those prime qualities of
meat and fish which allow of this perfectly plain
treatment. It is, as I have already said, the
cookery of a nation short of cash and unblessed
with such excellent meat and fish and vegetables
as you lucky islanders enjoy. But it is rich in
clever devices of flavouring, and in combinations,
and I am sure that by its help English people
of moderate means may fare better and spend
less than they spend now — if only they will take
a little trouble."
Menu — Lunch.
Gnocchi alia Romana. Semolina with parmesan.
Filetto di Bue ai pistacchi. Fillet of beef with pistachios.
Bodini marinati. Marinated rissoles.
Menu — Dinner.
Zuppa Crotopb. Croute au pot soup.
Sogliole alia Veneziana. Fillets of sole.
Ateletti alia Sarda. Atelets of ox-palates, &c.
Costolette di Montone alia Mutton cutlets.
Nizzarda.
Polio alia Fiorentina. Fowl with macaroni.
Crema tartara alia Caramella. Caramel cream.
Uova rimescolati ai tartufi. Eggs with truffles.
THE SIXTH DAY
The following morning, at breakfast, a servant
announced that Sir John Oglethorpe was taking
his breakfast in his room, and that there was no
need to keep anything in reserve for him. It
was stated, however, that Sir John was in no
way indisposed, and that he would join the party
at lunch.
He seated himself in his usual place, placid
and fresh as ever ; but, unharmed as he was
physically, it was evident to all the company
that he was suffering from some mental dis-
composure. Miss Macdonnell, with a frank
curiosity which might have been trying in any
one else, asked him point-blank the reason of his
absence from the meal for which, in spite of his
partiality for French cookery, he had a true
Englishman's devotion.
" I feel I owe the company some apology for
my apparent churlishness," he said ; " but the
fact is, that I have received some very harrowing,
but at the same time very interesting, news this
morning. I think I told you the other day how
So. THE COOK'S DECAMERON
the vacancy in my kitchen has led up to a very
real tragedy, and that the abhorred Fury was
already hovering terribly near the head of poor
Narcisse. Well, I have just received from a
friend in Paris journals containing a full account
of the trial of Narcisse and of his fair accomplice.
The worst has come to pass, and Narcisse has
been doomed to sneeze into the basket like a
mere aristocrat or politician during the Terror.
I was greatly upset by this news, but I was
interested, and in a measure consoled, to find an
enclosure amongst the other papers, an envelope
addressed to me in the handwriting of the con-
demned man. This voix d? outre tombe, I rejoice
to say, confides to me the secret of that in-
comparable sauce of his, a secret which I feared
might be buried with Narcisse in the 'prison
ditch."
The Marchesa sighed as she listened. The
recipe of the sauce was safe indeed, but she
knew by experience how wide might be the gulf
between the actual work of an artist and the
product of another hand guided by his counsels,
let the hand be ever so dexterous, and the
counsels ever so clear. " Will it be too much,"
she said, " to ask you to give us the details of
this painful tragedy ? "
"It will not," Sir John replied reflectively.
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 51
" The last words of many a so-called genius have
been enshrined in literature : probably no one will
ever know the parting objurgation of Narcisse.
I will endeavour, however, to give you some
notion as to what occurred, from the budget I
have just read. I fear the tragedy was a squalid
one. Madame, the victim, was elderly, unattrac-
tive in person, exacting in temper, and the owner
of considerable wealth — at least, this is what came
out at the trial. It was one of those tangles in
which a fatal denouement is inevitable ; and, if
this had not come through Mademoiselle Sidonie,
it would have come through somebody else.
The lovers plotted to remove Madame by first
drugging her, then breaking her skull with the
wood chopper, and then pitching her downstairs
so as to produce the impression that she had met
her death in this fashion. . But either the arm of
Mademoiselle* Sidonie — who was told off to do
the hammering — was unskilled in such work, or
the opiate was too weak, for the victim began to
shriek before she gave up the ghost. Detection
seemed imminent, so Narcisse, in whom the
quality of discretion was evidently .predominant,
bolted at once and got out of the country. But
the facts were absolutely clear. The victim lived
long enough to depose that Mademoiselle Sid-
onie attacked her with the wood chopper, while
52 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
Narcisse watched the door. The advocate of
Narcisse did his work like a man. He shed the
regulation measure of tears ; he drew graphic
pictures of the innocent youth of Narcisse, of his
rise to eminence, and of his filial piety as evi-
denced by the frequent 'despatch of money and
comestibles to his venerable mother, who was still
living near Bourges. Once a year, too, this in-
comparable artist found time to renew his youth
by a sojourn in the simple cottage which saw his
birth, and by embracing the giver of his life.
Was it possible that a man who treated one
woman with such devotion and reverence could
take the life of another? He adduced various
and picturesque reasons to show that such an
event must be impossible, but the jury took the
opposite view. Some one had to be guillotined,
and the intelligent jury decided that Paris could
spare Narcisse better than it could spare Made-
moiselle Sidonie. I fear the fact that he had
deigned to sell his services to a brutal islander
may have helped them to come to this conclusion,
but there were other and more weighty reasons.
Of the supreme excellence of Narcisse as an
artist the jury knew nothing, so they let him go
hang — or worse — but of Mademoiselle Sidonie
they knew a good deal, and their knowledge, I
believe, is shared by certain English visitors to
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 53
Paris. She is one of the attractions of the
Fantasies d'Arcadie, and her latest song, Bon-
jour Coco, is sung and whistled in every capital
of Europe ; so the jury, thrusting aside as mere
pedantry the evidence of facts, set to work to find
some verdict which would not eclipse the gaiety
of La Ville Lumtire by cutting short the career
of Mademoiselle Sidonie. The art of the chef
appealed to only a few, and he dies a mute, but
by no means inglorious martyr : the art of the
chanteuse appeals to the million, the voice of the
many carries the day, and Narcisse must die."
" It is a revolting story," said Mrs. Gradinger,
"and one possible only in a corrupted and cor-
rupting society. It is wonderful, as Sir John
remarks, how the conquering streams of tendency
manifest themselves even in an affair like this.
Ours is a democratic age, and the wants and
desires of the many, who find delight in this
woman's singing, override the whims of the
pampered few, the employers of such costly
luxuries as men cooks."
"You see you are a mere worm, Sir John,"
laughed Miss Macdonnell, "and you had better
lay out your length to be trampled on."
" Yes, I have long foreseen our fate, we who
happen to possess what our poor brother hankers
after. Well, perhaps I may take up the worm's
54 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
r61e at once and ' turn ' — that is, burn the recipe
of Narcisse."
" O Sir John, Sir John," cried Mrs. Sinclair,
"any such burning would remind me irresistibly
of Mr. Mantalini's attempts at suicide. There
would be an accurate copy in your pocket-book,
and besides this you would probably have learnt
off the recipe by heart."
"Yes, we know our Sir John better than that,
don't we?" said the Marchesa; "but, joking
apart, Sir John, you might let me have the recipe
at once. It would go admirably with one of our
lunch dishes for to-morrow."
But on the subject of the sauce, Sir John — like
the younger Mr. Small weed on the subject of
gravy — was adamant. The wound caused by the
loss of Narcisse was, he declared, yet too recent :
the very odour of the sauce would provoke a
thousand agonising regrets. And then the hideous
injustice of it all : Narcisse the artist, compara-
tively innocent (for to artists' a certain latitude
must be allowed), to moulder in quicklime, and
this greedy, sordid murderess to go on ogling
and posturing with superadded popularity before
an idiot crowd unable to distinguish a Remoulade
from a Ravigolte ! " No, my dear Marchesa,"
he said, "the secret of Narcisse must be kept a
little longer, for.^to tell the truth, I have an
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 55
idea. I remember that ere this fortunes have
been made out of sauces, and if this sauce be
properly handled and put before the public, it
may counteract my falling, or rather disappear-
ing rents. If only I could hit upon a fetching
name, and find twenty thousand pounds to
spend in advertising, I might be able once
more to live on my acres."
"Oh, surely we shall be able to find you a
name between us," said Mrs. Wilding ; " money,
and things of that sort are to be procured in
the city, I believe ; and I daresay Mr. Van der
Roet will design a pretty label for the sauce
bottles."
Menu — Lunch.
Polio all' oliva. Fowl with olives.
Scaloppine di riso. Veal cutlets with rice.
Sedani alia parmigiana. Stewed celery.
Menu — Dinner.
Zuppa primaverile. Spring soup.
Sote di Salmone ai funghi. Salmon with mushrooms.
Tenerumi d'Agnello alia vene- Breast of lamb alia Veneziana.
ziana.
Testa di Vitello alia sorren- Calf's head alia Sorrentina.
tina.
Fagiano alia perigb. Pheasant with truffles.
Torta alia cremonese. Cremona tart.
Uova alia fiorentina. Egg savoury.
THE SEVENTH DAY
" It seems invidious to give special praise where
everything is so good," said Mrs. Sinclair next day
at lunch, " but I must say a word about that clear
soup we had at dinner last night. I have never
ceased to regret that my regard for manners for-
bade me ask for a second helping."
" See what it is to have no manners," said
Van der Roet. " I plunged boldly for another
portion of that admirable preparation of calfs
head at dinner. If I hadn't, I should have re-
gretted it for ever after. Now, I'm sure you are
just as curious about the construction of these
masterpieces as I am, Mrs. Sinclair, so we'll beg
the Marchesa to let us into the secret."
"Mrs. Sinclair herself had a hand in the calfs-
head dish, ' Testa di Vitello alia sorrentina,'
so perhaps I may hand over that part of the
question to her. I am very proud that one of
my pupils should have won praise from such a
distinguished expert as Mr. Van der Roet, and I
leave her to expound the mystery of its charm.
I think I may without presumption claim the
56
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 57
clear soup as a triumph, and it is a discovery
of my own. The same calfs head which Mrs.
Sinclair has treated with such consummate skill,
served also as the foundation for the stock of the
clear soup. This stock certainly derived its dis-
tinction from the addition of the liquor in which
the head was boiled. A good consommd can no
doubt be made with stock-meat alone, but the
best soup thus made will be inferior to that we
had for dinner last night. Without the calfs
head you will never get such softness, combined
with full roundness on the tongue, and the great
merit of calfs head is that it lets you attain this
excellence without any sacrifice of transparency."
" I have marvelled often at the clearness of
your soups, Marchesa," said the Colonel. " What
clearing do you use to make them look like pale
sherry ? ''
" No one has any claim to be called a cook
who cannot make soup without artificial clear-
ing," said the Marchesa. " Like the poet, the
consontmd is born, not made. It must be clear
from the beginning, an achievement which needs
care and trouble like every other artistic effort,
but one nevertheless well within the reach of any
student who means to succeed. To clear a soup
by the ordinary medium of white of egg or minced
beef is to destroy all flavour and individuality.
58 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
If thefstock be kept from boiling until it has been
strained, it will develop into a perfectly clear soup
under the hands of a careful and intelligent cook.
The fleeting delicate aroma which, as every gour-
met will admit, gives such grateful aid to the
palate, is the breath of garden herbs and of herbs
alone, and here I have a charge to bring against
contemporary cookery. I mean the neglect of
natural in favour of manufactured flavourings.
With regard to herbs, this could not always have
been the rule, for I never go into an old English
garden without finding there a border with all
the good old-fashioned pot herbs growing lustily,
I do not say that the use of herbs is unknown,
for of course the best cookery is impossible with-
out them, but I fear that sage mixed with onion
is about the only one which ever tickles the palate
of the great English middle-class. And simul-
taneously with the use of herb flavouring in soup
has arisen the practice of adding wine, which to
me seems a very questionable one. If wine is
put in soup at all, it must be used so sparingly as
to render its presence imperceptible. Why then
use it at all? In some sauces wine is necessary,
but in all cases it is as difficult to regulate as
garlic, and requires the utmost vigilance on the
part of the cook."
" My last cook, who was very stout and a little
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 59
middle-aged, would always use flavouring sauces
from the grocer's rather than walk up to the
garden, where we have a most seductive herb
bed," said Mrs. Wilding; "and then, again, the
love of the English for pungent-made sauces is
another reason for this makeshift practice. ' Oh,
a table-spoonful of somebody's sauce will do for
the flavouring,' and in goes the sauce, and the
flavouring is supposed to be complete. People
who eat their chops, and steaks, and fish, and
game, after having smothered the natural flavour
with the same harsh condiment, may be satisfied
with a cuisine of this sort, but to an unvitiated
palate the result is nauseous."
"Yet as a Churchwoman, Mrs. Wilding, you
ought to speak with respect of English sauces.
I think I have heard how a libation of one of
them, which was poured over a certain cathedral,
has made it look as good as new," said Miss
Macdonnell, "and we have lately learned that
one of the most distinguished of our party is
ambitious to enter the same career."
" I would suggest that Sir John should devote
all that money he proposes to make by the aid
of his familiar spirit — the ghost of Narcisse — to
the building of a temple in honour of the tenth
muse, the muse of cookery," said Mrs. Sinclair ;
"and what do you think, Sir John, of a name I
6o
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
dreamt of last night for your sauce, ' The New
Century Sauce ' ? How will that do ? "
"Admirably," said Sir John after a moment's
pause; "admirably enough to allow me to offer
you a royalty on every bottle sold. ' The New
Century Sauce ' — that's the name for me ; and
now to set to work to build the factory, and to
order plans for the temple of the tenth muse."
Menu — Lunch.
Maccheroni al pbmidoro.
Vitello al pellegrina.
Animelle al sapor di targone.
Macaroni with tomatoes.
Veal cutlets alia pellegrina.
Sweetbread with tarragon
sauce.
Menu — Dinner.
Zuppa alia Canavese.
Naselli con piselli.
Coscia di manzo al forno.
Lingua alia Visconti.
Anitra selvatica.
Zabajone ghiacciato.
Crostatini alia capucinai
Soup alia Canavese.
Whiting with peas.
Braized ribs of beef.
Tongue with grapes.
Wild duck.
Iced syllabub.
Savoury of rice, truffles, &c.
THE EIGHTH DAY
"We are getting unpleasantly near the end of
our time," said the Colonel, "but I am sure not
one of us has learnt one tithe of what the Mar-
chesa has to teach."
" My dear Colonel Trestrail," said the Mar-
chesa, "an .education in cookery does not mean
the Reaching of a certain number of recipes.
Education, I maintain, is something far higher
than the mere imparting of facts ; my notion of
it is the teaching of people to teach themselves,
and this is what I have tried to do in the kitchen.
With some of you I am sure I have succeeded,
and a book containing the recipe of every dish
we have tried will be given to every pupil when
we break up."
" I think the most valuable lesson I have learnt
is that cookery is a matter for serious study," said
Mrs. Sinclair. "The popular English view seems
to be that it is one of those things which gets
itself done. The food is subjected to the action
of heat, a little butter, or pepper, or onion, being
added by way of flavouring, and the process is
61
62 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
complete. To put it bluntly, it requires at lea;
as much mental application to roast a fowl as 1
cut a bodice ; ' but it does not strike the averag
Englishwoman in this way, for she will spen
hours in thinking and talking about dressmakin
(which is generally as ill done as her cooking
while she will be reluctant to give ten minutes 1
the consideration as to how a luncheon or supp<
dish shall be prepared. The English middl<
classes are most culpably negligent about tr
food they eat, "and as a consequence they g<
exactly the sort of cooks they deserve to ge
I do not blame the cooks ; if they can get pai
for cooking ill, why should they trouble to leai
to cook well ? "
" I agree entirely," said Mrs. Wilding. ' " Th;
saying, ' What I like is good plain roast ar
boiled, and none of your foreign kickshaws,' i
as every one knows, the stock utterance of Jot
Bull on the stage or in the novel ; and, thoug
John Bull is not in the least like his fictttioi
presentment, this form of words is largely r<
sponsible for the waste and want of variety in tl
English kitchen. The plain roast and boile
means a joint every day, and this arrangemei
the good plain cook finds an admirable one f<
several reasons : it means little trouble, and
means also lots of scraps and bones and was
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 63
pieces. The good plain cook brings all the
forces of obstruction to bear whenever the mis-
tress suggests made dishes; and, should this
suggestion ever be carried out, she takes care
that the achievement shall be of a character
not likely to invite repetition. Not long ago
a friend of mine was questioning a cook as to
soups, whereupon the cook answered' that she
had never been required to make such things
where she had lived ; all soups were bought in
tins or bottles, and had simply to be warmed
up. Cakes, too, were outside her repertoire,
having always been ' had in ' from the con-
fectioner's, while 'entrys' were in her opinion,
and in the opinion of her various mistresses,
'un'ealthy' and not worth making."
" My experience is that, if a mistress takes
an interest in cooking, she will generally have a
fairly efficient cook," said Mrs. Fothergill.. " I
agree with Mrs. Sinclair that our English cooks
are spoilt by neglect ; and I think it is hard
upon them, as a class, that so many inefficient
women should be able to pose as cooks while
they are unable to boil a potato properly."
"And the so-called schools of cookery are
quite useless in what they teach," said Miss
Macdonnell. " I once sent a cook of mine to
one to learn how to make a clear soup, and
64 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
when she came back, she sent up, as an evi-
dence of her progress, a potato pie coloured
pink and green — a most poisonous-looking dish
— and her clear soups were as bad as ever."
Said the Colonel, " I will beg leave to enter
a protest against the imperfections of that re-
past which is supposed to be the peculiar delight
of the ladies — I allude to afternoon tea. I want
to" know why it is that unless I happen to call just
when the tea is brought up — I grant, I know of a
few houses which are honourable exceptions — I
am fated to drink that most abominable of all
decoctions, stewed lukewarm tea. 'Will you
have some tea? I'm afraid it isn't quite fresh,'
the hostess will remark without a blush. What
would she think if her husband at dinner were to
say, 'Colonel, take a glass of that champagne.
It was opened the day before yesterday, and
I daresay the fizz has gone off a little ' ? Tea is
cheap enough, and yet the hostess seldom or never
thinks of ordering up a fresh pot. I believe it is
because she is afraid of the butler."
" I sympathise with you fully, Colonel," said
Lady Considine, " and my withers are unwrung.
You do not often honour me with your presence
on Tuesdays, but I am sure I may claim to be
one of your honourable exceptions."
" Indeed you may," said the Colonel. " Perhaps
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 65 .
men ought not to intrude on these occasions ;
but I have a preference for taking tea in a pretty
drawing-room, with a lot of agreeable women,
rather than in a club surrounded by old chaps
growling over the latest job at the War Office,
and a younger brigade chattering' about the latest
tape prices, and the weights for the spring
handicaps."
" All these little imperfections go to prove that
we are not a nation of cooks," said Van der Roet.
" We can't be everything. Heine once said that
the Romans would never have found ..time to
conquer the world if they had been obliged to
learn the Latin grammar; and it is the same
with us. We can't expect to found an empire
all over the planet, and "" cook as well as the
French, who — perhaps wisely — never willingly
emerge from the four corners of their own land."
"There is energy enough left in us when we
set about some purely utilitarian task," said Mrs.
Wilding, " but we never throw ourselves into the
arts with the enthusiasm of the Latin races. I
was reading the other day of a French costumier
who rushed to inform a lady, who had ordered
a turban, of his success, exclaiming, ' Madame,
apres trois nuits d'insomnie les plumes sont
placees.' And every one knows the story of
Vatel's suicide because the fish failed to arrive.
E
66 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
No Englishman would be capable of flights like
these."
"Really, this indictment of English cookery
makes me a little nervous," said Lady Considine.
" I have promised to join in a driving tour through
the southern counties. I shudder to think of the
dinners I shall have to eat at the commercial
hotels and posting-houses on our route."
" English country inns are not what they ought
to be, but now and then you come across one
which is very good indeed, as good, if not better,
than anything you could find in any other coun-
try ; but I fear I must admit that, charges consi-
dered, the balance is against us," said Sir John.
"When you start you ought to secure Sir
John's services as courier, Lady Considine," said
the Marchesa. " I once had the pleasure of
driving for a week through the Apennines in a
party under his guidance, and I can assure you
we found him quite honest and obliging."
" Ah, Marchesa, I was thinking of that happy
time this very morning," said Sir John. "Of
Arezzo, where we were kept for three days by
rain, which I believe is falling there still. Of
Cortona, with that wonderful little restaurant on
the edge of the cliff, whence you see Thrasymene
lying like a silver mirror in the plain below. Of
Perugia, the august, of Gubbio, Citta di Castello,
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 67
Borgo San Sepolcro, Urbino, and divers others.
If you go for a drive in Italy, you still may meet
with humours of the road such as travellers of
old were wont to enjoy. I well remember on the
road between Perugia and Gubbio we began to
realise we were indeed traversing mountain paths.
On a sudden the driver got down, waved his
arms, and howled to some peasants working in a
field below. These, on their part, responded with
more arm-waving and howling, directed appa-
rently towards a village farther up the hill,
whereupon we were assailed with visions of bri-
gands, and amputated ears, and ransom. But
at a turn of the road we came upon two magnifi-
cent white oxen, which, being harnessed on in
front, drew us, and our carriages and horses as
well, up five miles of steep incline. These beau-
tiful fellows, it seemed, were what the driver was
signalling for, and not for brigands. Again, every
inn we stayed at supplied us with some represen-
tative touch of local life and habit. Here the
whole personnel of the inn, reinforced by a goodly
contingent of the townsfolk, would accompany
us even into our bedrooms, and display the
keenest interest in the unpacking of our luggage.
There the cook would come and take personal
instructions as to the coming meal, throwing out
suggestions the while as to the merits of thisor
68 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
that particular dish, and in one place the ancient
chambermaid insisted that one of the ladies, Who
had got a slight cold, should have the prete put
into her bed for a short time to warm it. You
need not look shocked, Colonel. The prete in
question was merely a wooden frame, in the midst
of which hangs a scaldino filled with burning
ashes — a most comforting ecclesiastic, I can
assure you. All the inns we visited had certain
characteristics in common. The entrance is
always dirty, and the staircase too, the dining-
rooms fairly comfortable, the bedrooms always
clean and good, and the food much better than
you would expect to find in such out-of-the-way
places- ; indeed I cannot think of any inn where it
was not good and wholesome, while often it was
delicious. In short, Lady Considine, I strongly
advise you to take a drive in Italy next spring,
and if I am free I shall be delighted to act as
courier."
" Sir John has forgotten one or two touches 1
must fill in," said the Marchesa. " It was often
difficult to arrange a stopping-place for lunch, so
we always stocked our basket before starting.
After the first day's experience we decided that it
was vastly more pleasant to take our meal while
.going uphill at a foot-pace, than in the swing and
jolt of a descent, so the route and the pace of the
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 69
horses had to be regulated in order to give us a
good hour's ascent about noon. Fortunately hills
are plentiful in this part of Italy, and in the keen
air we generally made an end of the vast store of
provisions we laid in, and the generous fiascho was
always empty a little too soon. Our drive came to
an end at Fano, whither we had gone on account
of a strange romantic desire of Sir John to look
upon an angel which Browning had named in one
of his poems. Ah ! how vividly I can recall our
pursuit of that picture. It was a wet, melancholy
day. The people of Fano were careless of the
fame of their angel, for no one knew the church
which it graced. At last We came upon it by the
merest chance, and Sir John led the procession
up to the shrine, where we all stood for a time in
positions of mock admiration. Sir John tried
hard to keep up the imposition, but something,
either his innate honesty or the chilling environ-
ment of disapproval of Guercino's handiwork, was
too much for him. He did his best to admire,
but the task was beyond his powers, and he
raised no protest when some scoffer affirmed that,
though Browning might be a great poet, he was
a mighty poor judge of painting, when he gave in
his beautiful poem immortality to this tawdry
theatrical canvas. ' I think,' said Sir John, "we
had better go back to the hotel and order lunch.
70 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
It would have been wiser to have ordered it be-
fore we left.' We were all so much touched by
his penitence that no one had the heart to re-
mind him how a proposition as to lunch had been
made by our leading Philistine as soon as we
arrived, a proposition waved aside by Sir John as
inadmissible until the ' Guardian Angel ' should
have been seen and admired."
" I plead guilty," said Sir John. " I think this
experience gave a death-blow to my career as an
appreciator. Anyhow, I quite forget what the
angel was like, and for reminiscences of Fano
have to fall back upon the excellent colazione we
ate in the externally unattractive, but internally
admirable, Albergo del Moro."
Menu — Lunch.
Astachi all' italiana. Lobster all' Italiana.
Filetto di bue alia napolitana. Fillet of beef with Neapolitan
sauce.
Risotto alia spagnuola. Savoury rice.
Menu — Dinner.
Zuppa alia Romana. Soup with quenelles.
Salmone alia Genovese. , Salmon alia Gtenovese.
Costolette in agro-dolce. Mutton cutlets with Roman
sauce.
Flano di spinacci. Spinach in a mould.
Cappone con riso. Capon with rice.
Croccante di mandorle. Almond sweet.
Ostriche alia Napolitana. Oyster savoury. *
THE NINTH DAY
"Since I have been associated with the pro-
duction of a dinner, I have had my eyes opened
as to the complicated nature of the task, and the
numerous strings which have to be pulled in
order to ensure success," said the Colonel; "but,
seeing that a dinner-party with well-chosen sym-
pathetic guests and distinguished dishes re-
presents one of the consummate triumphs of
civilisation, there is no reason to wonder. To
achieve a triumph of any sort , demands an
effort."
" Effort," said Miss Macdonnell. " Yes, effort
is the word I associate with so many middle-class
English dinners. It is an effort to the hostsi
who regard the whole business as a mere pay-
ing off of debts ; and an effort to the guests,
who, as they go to dress, recall grisly memories of
former similar experiences. It often astonishes
me that dinner-giving of this character should
still flourish."
" The explanation is easy," said Van der Roet ;
" it flourishes because it gives a mark of distinc-
72 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
tion. It is a delicious moment for Mrs. Johnson
when she is able to say to Mrs. Thompson, ' My
dear, I am quite worn-out ; we dined out every
day last week, and have four more dinners in
the next five days.' These good people show
their British grit by the persistency with which
they go on with their penitential hospitality, and
their lack of ideas in never attempting to modify
it so as to make it a pleasure instead of a dis-
agreeable duty."
"It won't do to generalise too widely, Van
der Roet," said Sir John. "Some of these
good people surely enjoy their party-giving;
and, from my ojrn experience of one or two
houses of this sort, I can assure you the
food is quite respectable. The great imperfec-
tion seems to lie in the utter want of con-
sideration in the choice of guests. A certain
number of people and a certain quantity of
food shot into a room, that is their notion of a
dinner-party."
"Of course we understand that the success
of a dinner depends much more on the character
of the guests than on the character of the
food," said Mrs. Sinclair; "and most of us, I
take it, are able to fill our tables with pleasant
friends ; but what of the dull people who know
none but dull people? What gain will they get
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 73
by taking counsel how they shall fill their
tables?"
"More, perhaps, than you think, dear Mrs.
Sinclair," said Sir John. " Dull people often
enjoy themselves immensely when they meet
dull people only. The frost comes when the
host unwisely mixes in one or two guests of
another sort — people who give themselves airs
of finding more pleasure in reading Stevenson
than the sixpenny magazines, and who don't
know where Hurlingham is. Then the sheep
begin to segregate themselves from the goats,
and the feast is manqud"
"Considering what a trouble and anxiety a
dinner-party must be to the hostess, even under
the most favouring conditions, I am always at a
loss to discover why so many women take so
much pains, and spend a considerable sum of
money as Well, over details which are unessen-
tial, or even noxious," said Mrs. Wilding. "A
few flowers on the table are all very well— one
bowl in the centre is enough— but in many houses
the cost of the flowers equals, if it does not out-
run, the cost of all the rest of the entertainment.
A few roses Or chrysanthemums are perfect as
accessories, but to loacf a table with flowers of
heavy or pungent scent is an outrage. Lilies of
the valley are lovely in proper surroundings, but
74 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
on a dinner-table they are anathema. And then
the mass of paper monstrosities which crowd
every corner. Swans, nautilus shells, and even
wild boars are used to hold up the menu. Once
my menu was printed on a satin flag, and during
the war the universal khaki invaded the dinner
table. Ices are served in frilled baskets of paper,
which have a tendency to dissolve and amalga-
mate with the sweet. The only paper on the
table should be the menu, writ plain on a hand-
some card."
" No one can complain of papery ices here,"
said the Marchesa. " Ices may be innocuous,
but I don't favour them, and no one seems to
have felt the want of them ; at least, to adopt
the phrase of the London shopkeeper, ' I have
had no complaints.' And even the ice, the very
emblem of purity, has not escaped the touch of
the dinner-table decorator. Only a few days
ago I helped myself with my fingers to what
looked like a lovely peach, and let it flop down
into the lap of a bishop who was sitting next
to me. This was the hostess's pretty taste in
ices.
"They are generally made in the shape of
camelias this season," said Van der Roet. " I
knew a man who took one and stuck it in his
buttonhole."
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 75
" I must say I enjoy an ice at dinner," said
Lady Considine. " I know the doctors abuse
them, but I notice they always eat them when
they get the chance."
" Ah, that is merely human inconsistency," said
Sir John. " I am inclined to agree with the
Marchesa that ice at dinner is an incongruity,
and may well be dispensed with. I think I am
correct, Marchesa, in assuming that Italy, which
has showered so many boons upon us, gave us
also the taste for ices."
" I fear I must agree," said the Marchesa. " I
now feel what a blessing it would have been for
you English if you had learnt from us instead
the art of cooking the admirable vegetables
your gardens produce. How is it that English
cookery has never found any better treatment for
vegetables than to boil them quite plain ? French
beans so treated are tender, and of a pleasant
texture on the palate, but I have never been
able to find any taste in them. They are taste-
less largely because the cook persists in shredding
them into minute bits, and I maintain that they
ought to be cooked whole — certainly when they
are young — and saute, a perfectly plain and easy
process, which is hard to beat. Plain boiled cauli-
flower is doubtless good, but cooked alia crema
it is far better ; indeed, it is one of the best vege-
76 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
table dishes I know. But perhaps the greatest
discovery in cookery we Italians ever made was
the combination of vegetables and cheese. There
are a dozen excellent methods of cooking cauli-
flower with cheese, and one of these has come to
you through France, choux-fleurs au gratin, and
has become popular. Jerusalem artichokes treated
in the same fashion are excellent ; and the cucum-
ber, nearly always eaten raw in England, holds a
first place as a vegetable for cooking. I seem to
remember that every one was loud in its praises
when we tasted it as an adjunct to Manzo alia
Certosina. Why is it that celery is for the most
part only eaten raw with cheese? We have
numberless methods of cooking it in Italy, and
beetroot and lettuce as well. There is no spin-
ach so good as English, and nowhere is it so
badly cooked ; it is always coarse and gritty
because so little trouble, is taken with it, and
I can assure you that the smooth, delicate
dish which we call Flano di spinacci is not pro-
duced merely by boiling and chopping it, and
turning it out into a dish."
Menu — Lunch.
Minestrone alia Milanese. Vegetable broth.
Coniglio alia Provenzale. Rabbit alia Provenzale.
Insalata di pomidoro. Tomato salad.
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
77
Menu — Dinner.
Zuppa alia Maria Pia.
Anguilla con ortaggi alia Mila-
nese.
Manzo con sugo di barba
bietoli.
Animelle alia parmegiana.
Perniciotti alia Gastalda.
Uova ripieni.
Soup alia Maria Pia.
Eels with vegetables.
Fillet of beef with beetroot
sauce.
Sweetbread with parmesan.
Partridges alia Gastalda.
Stuffed eggs.
THE TENTH DAY
The sun rose on the tenth and last day at the
" Laurestinas " as he was wont to rise on less
eventful mornings. At breakfast the Marchesa
proposed that the lunch that day should be a little
more ornate than usual, and the dinner somewhat
simpler. She requisitioned the services of six of
the company to prepare the lunch, and at the
same time announced that they would all have a
holiday in the afternoon except Mrs. Sinclair,
whom she warned to be ready to spend the after-
noon in the kitchen helping prepare the last
dinner.
Four dishes, all admirable, appeared at lunch,
and several of the party expressed regret that
the heat of the weather forbade them from tast-
ing every one ; but Sir John was not of these.
He ate steadily through the menu, and when he
finally laid down his knife and fork he heaved
a sigh, whether of satisfaction or regret it were
hard to say.
"It is a commonplace of the deepest dye to
remark that ingratitude is inherent in mankind,"
7 8
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 79
he began ; "I am compelled to utter it, however,
by the sudden longing I feel for a plat from the
hand of the late lamented Narcisse after I have
eaten one. of the best luncheons ever put on a
table."
" Experience of one school of excellence has
caused a hankering after the triumphs of
another," said Miss Macdonnell. " There is
one glory of the Marchesa, there is, or was,
another of Narcisse, and the taste of the Mar-
chesa's handiwork has stimulated the desire of
eomparison. Never mind, Sir John, perhaps in
another world Narcisse may cook you "
" Oh stop, stop, for goodness' sake," cried Sir
John, " I doubt whether even he could make me
into a dainty dish to set before the King of
Tartarus, though the stove would no doubt be
fitted with the latest improvements and the fuel
abundant."
" Really, Sir John, I'm not sure I ought not
to rise and protest," said Mrs. Wilding, " and I
think I would if it weren't our last day."
" Make a note of Sir John's wickedness, and
pass it on to the Canon for use in a sermon,"
said Van der Roet.
" I can only allow you half-an-hour, Laura,"
said the Marchesa to Mrs. Sinclair, "then you
must come and work with me for the delectation
So THE COOK'S DECAMERON
of these Idle people, who are going to spend the
afternoon talking scandal under the chestnuts."
" I am quite ready to join you if I can be of
any help," said Mrs. Gradinger. " When know-
ledge is to be acquired, I am always loth to stand
aside, not for my own sake so much as for the
sake of others less fortunate, to whom I might
possibly impart it hereafter."
"You are very good," said the Marchesa,
" but I think I must adhere to my original
scheme of having Mrs. Sinclair by herself. I see
coffee is now being taken into the garden, so we
will adjourn, if you please."
After the two workers had departed for the
kitchen, an unwonted silence fell on the party
under the chestnuts. Probably every one was
pondering over the imminent dissolution of the
company, and wondering whether to regret or
rejoice. The peace had been kept marvellously
well, considering the composition of the company.
Mrs. Fothergill at times had made a show of
posing as the beneficent patron, and Mrs. Grad-
inger had essayed to teach what nobody wanted
to learn ; but firm and judicious snubbing had kept
these persons in their proper places. Nearly
every one was sorry that the end had come. It
had been real repose to Mrs. Wilding to pass ten
days in an atmosphere entirely free from all per-
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 81
fume of the cathedral close. Lady Considine
had been spending freely of late, and ten days'
cessation of tradesmen's calls, and servants on
board wages, had come as a welcome relief. Sir
John had gained a respite from the task he
dreaded, the task of going in quest of a suc-
cessor to Narcisse. Now as he sat consuming
his cigarette in the leisurely fashion so charac-
teristic of his enjoyment — and those who knew
him best were wont to say that Sir John practised
few arts so studiously as that of enjoyment — he
could not banish the figure of Narcisse from his
reverie. A horrible thought assailed him that
this obsession might spring from the fact that on
this very morning Narcisse might have taken his
last brief walk out of the door of La Roquette,
and that his disembodied spirit might be hover-
ing around. Admirable as the cookery of the
Marchesa' had been, and fully as he had appre-
ciated it, he felt he would give a good deal to
be assured that on this the last evening of the
New Decameron he might sit down to a dinner
prepared by the hand of his departed chef.
That evening the guests gathered round the
table with more empressement than usual. The
Marchesa seemed a little flurried, and Mrs.
Sinclair, in a way, shared her excitement. The
menu, for the first time, was written in French,
F
82 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
a fact which did not escape Sir John's eye. He
made no remark as to the soup ; it was the best
of its kind, and its French name made it no
better than the other triumphs in the same field
which the Marchesa had achieved. But when
Sir John tasted the first mouthful of the fish he
paused, and after a reflective and regretful look
at his plate, he cast his eye round the table. All
the others, however, were too busily intent in
consuming the Turbot d la VatelX.o heed his in-
terrogative glance, so he followed suit, and after
he had finished his portion, asked, sotto voce, for
another bit.
In the interval before the service' of the next
dish Sir John made several vain attempts to
catch the Marchesa's eye, and more than once
tried to get in a word ; but she kept up a forced
and rather nervous conversation with Lady Con-
sidine and Van der Roet, and refused to listen.
As Sir John helped himself to the next dish,
Venaison, sauce Grand Veneur, the feeling of as-
tonishment which had seized him when he first
tasted the fish deepened into something like con-
sternation. Had his palate indeed deceived
him, or had the Marchesa, by some subtle effort
of experimental genius, divined the secret of
Narcisse — the secret of that incomparable sauce,
the recipe of which was safely bestowed in his
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 83
pocket-book ? Occasionally he had taken a brief
nap under the verandah after lunch : was it pos-
sible that in his sleep he might have murmured,
in her hearing, words which gave the key of the
mystery, and the description of those ingredients
which often haunted his dreams? One thing
was certain, that the savour which rose from the
venison before him was the same which haunted
his memory as the parting effort of the ill-starred
Narcisse.
Sir John was the least superstitious of mortals,
still here he was face to face with one of these
conjunctions of affairs which the credulous accept
as manifestations of some hidden power, and
sceptics as coincidences and nothing more. All the
afternoon he had been thinking of Narcisse, and
yearning beyond measure for something sugges-
tive of his art ; and here, on his plate before him,
was food which might have been touched by the
vanished hand. The same subtle influence per-
vaded the Chartreuse a la cardinal, the roast
capon and salad, and the sweet. At last, when
the dinner was nearly over, and when the
Marchesa had apparently said all she had to
say to Van der Roet, he lifted up his voice and
said, " Marchesa, who gave you the recipe for
the sauce with which the venison was served
this evening?"
84 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
The Marchesa glanced at Mrs. Sinclair, and
then struck a hand-bell on the table. The
door opened, and a Iktle man, habited in a
cook's dress of spotless white, entered and
came forward. "J^f. Narcisse," said the Mar-
chesa, " Sir John wants to know what sauce
was used in dressing the venison ; perhaps you
can tell him."
Here the Marchesa rose and left the room, and
all the rest followed her, feeling it was unmeet
that such a reunion should be witnessed by other
eyes, however friendly they might be.
" Now, you must tell us all about it," said
Lady Considine, as soon as they got into the
drawirig-room, " and how you ever managed to
get him out of this scrape."
" Oh, there isn't much to tell," said the
Marchesa. " Narcisse was condemned, indeed,
but no one ever believed he would be executed.
One of my oldest friends is married to an official
high up in the Ministry of Justice, and I heard
from her last week that Narcisse would certainly
be reprieved ; but I never expected a free pardon.
Indeed, he got this entirely because it was dis-
covered that Mademoiselle Sidonie, his accom-
plice, was really a Miss Adah Levine, who had
graduated at a music-hall in East London, and
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 85
that she had announced her intention of retiring
to the land of her birth, and ascending to the
apex of her profession on the strength of her
Parisian reputation. Then it was that the re-
action in favour of Narcisse set in ; the boule-
vards could not stand this. The journals dealt
with this new outrage in their best Fashoda style ;
the cafds rang with it : another insult cast upon
unhappy France, whose destiny was, it seemed, to
weep tears of blood to the end of time. There
were rumours of an interpellation in the Chamber,
the position of the Minister of the Interior was
spoken of as precarious, indeed the Eclaireur
reported one evening that he had resigned.
Pockets were picked under the eyes of sergents
de ville, who were absorbed in proclaiming to
each other their conviction of the innocence of
Narcisse, and the guilt of cette coquine Anglaise.
Cabmen en course ran down pedestrians by the
dozen, as they discussed l' affaire Narcisse to an
accompaniment of whip-cracking. In front of
the Caf6 des Automobiles a belated organ-grinder
began to grind the air of Mademoiselle Sidonie J s
great song Bonjour Coco, whereupon the whole
company rose with howls and cries of, ' A bas
les Anglais, a bas les Juifs.' 'Conspuez Coco.'
In less than five minutes the organ was dis-
integrated, and the luckless minstrel flying with
86 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
torn trousers down a side street. For the next
few days la haute gomme promenaded with frag- ,
ments of the piano organ suspended from watch
chains as trophies of victory. But this was not
all. Paris broke out into poetry over I'affaire
Narcisse, and here is a journal sent to me by
my friend which contains a poem in forty-nine
stanzas by Aristophane le Beletier, the cher
maitre of the ' Moribonds,' the very newest
school of poetry in Paris. I won't inflict the
whole of it on you, but two stanzas I must
read —
" ' Puiss6-je te rappeler loin des brouillards maudits
Vers la France, sainte mere et nourrice 1
Reviens a Lutece, de Fart vrai paradis,
Je t'evoque, O Monsieur Narcisse !
Quitte les saignants bifteks, de tes mains sublimes
Gueris le sein meurtri de ta mere !
De'tourne ton glaive tranchant de tes freles victimes
Vers 1' Albion et sa triste Megere.' "
" Dear me, it sounds a little like some other
Parisian odes I have read recently," said Lady
Considine. " The triste Mttgere, I take it, is pooi
old Britannia, but what does he mean by his
f riles victimes ? "
"No doubt they are the pigeons and the
rabbits, and the chickens and the capons which
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 87
Narcisse is supposed to have slaughtered in heca-
tombs, in order to gorge the brutal appetite of his
English employer," said Miss Macdonnell. "After
disregarding such an appeal as this M. Narcisse
had better keep clear of Paris for the future,
for if he should go back and be recognised I
fancy it would be a case of ' conspuez Narcisse' "
"The French seem to have lost all sense of
exactness," said Mrs. Gradinger, " for the lines
you have just read would not pass muster as
classic. In the penultimate line there are two
syllables in excess of the true Alexandrine metre,
and the last line seems too long by one. Neither
Racine nor Voltaire would have taken such
liberties with prosody. I remember a speech
in PhZdre of more than a hundred lines which
is an admirable example of what I mean. I dare
say some of you know it. It begins : —
" Perfide ! oses-tu bien te montrer devant moi ?
Monstre — "
but before the reciter could get fairly under way
the door mercifully opened, and Sir John entered.
He advanced towards the Marchesa, and shook
her warmly by the hand, but said nothing ; his
heart was evidently yet too full to allow him to
testify his relief in words. He was followed
closely by the Colonel, who, taking his stand on
88 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
the hearth-rug, treated the company to a few re-
marks, couched in a strain of unwonted eulogy.
In the whole course of his life he had never
passed a more pleasant ten days, though, to be
sure, he had been a little mistrustful at first. As
to the outcome of the experiment, if they all
made even moderate use of the counsels they
had received from the Marchesa, the future of
cookery in England was now safe. He was not
going to propose a formal vote of thanks, because
anything he could say would be entirely insuf-
ficient to express the gratitude he felt, and be-
cause he deemed that each individual could best
thank the Marchesa on his or her behalf.
There was a momentary silence when the
Colonel ceased, and then a clearing of the throat
and a preliminary movement of the arms gave
warning that Mrs. Gradinger was going to speak.
The unspoken passage from Racine evidently sat
heavily on her chest. Abstracted and over-
wrought as he was, these symptoms aroused in
Sir John a consciousness of impending danger,
and he rushed, incontinent, into the breach, before
the lady's opening sentence was ready.
"As Colonel Trestrail has just remarked, we,
all of us, are in debt to the Marchesa in no small
degree ; but, in my case, the debt is tenfold. I
am sure you all understand why. As a slight
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 89
acknowledgment of the sympathy I have re-
ceived from every one here, during my late trial,
I beg to ask you all to dine with me this day
week, when I will try to set before you a repast
d la Frangqise, which I hope may equal —
I cannot hope that it will excel — the dinners
air Italiana we have tasted in this happy re-
treat. Narcisse and I have already settled the
menu."
" I am delighted to accept," said the Marchesa.
" I have no engagement, and if I had I would
throw my best friend over."
" And this day fortnight you must all dine
with me," said Mrs. Sirclair. " I will spend the
intervening days in teaching my new cook how
to reproduce the Marchesa's dishes. Then, per-
haps, we may be in a better position to decide
on the success of the Marchesa's experiment."
The next morning witnessed the dispersal of
the party^ Sir John and Narcisse left by an
early train, and for the next few days the
reforming hand of the last-named was active
in the kitchen. He arrived before the departure
of the temporary aide, and had not been half-
an-hour in the house before there came an
outbreak which might easily have ended in the
second appearance of Narcisse at the bar of
90 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
justice, as homicide, this time to be dealt with
by a prosaic British jury, which would probably
have doomed him to the halter. Sir John
listened over the balusters to the shrieks and
howls of his recovered treasure, and wisely de-
cided to lunch at his club. But the club lunch,
admirable as it was, seemed flat and unappe-
tising after the dainty yet simple dishes he
had recently tasted ; and the following day he
set forth to search for one of those Italian
restaurants, of which he had heard vague reports.
Certainly the repast would not be the same as
at the " Laurestinas," but it might serve for once.
Alas! Sir John did not find the right place —
for there are "right places" amongst the Italian
restaurants of London. He beat a hasty retreat
from the first he entered, when the officious pro-
prietor assured him that he would serve up a
ddjeuner in the best French style. At the second
he chose a dish with an Italian name, but the
name was the only Italian thing about it. The
experiment had failed. It seemed as if Italian
restaurateurs were sworn not to cook Italian
dishes, and the next day he went to do as best
he could at the club.
But before he reached the club door he re-
called how, many years ago, he and other young
bloods used to go for chops to Morton's, a
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 91
queer little house at the back of St. James'
Street, and towards Morton's he now turned
his steps. As he entered it it seemed as if it
was only yesterday that he was there. He
beheld the waiter, with mouth all awry, through
calling down the tube. The same old mahogany
partitions to the boxes, and the same horse-hair
benches. Sir John seated himself in a box, where
there was one other luncher in the corner,
deeply absorbed over a paper. This luncher
raised his head and Sir John recognised Van
der Roet.
" My dear Vander, whatever brought you here,
where nothing is to be had but chops? I didn't
know you could eat a chop."
"I didn't know it myself till to-day," said
Van der Roet, with a hungry glance at the waiter,
who rushed by with a plate of smoking chops
in each hand. "The fact is, I've had a sort of
hankering after an Italian lunch, and 1 went out
to find one, but I didn't exactly hit on the right
shop, so I came here, where I've been told you
can get a chop properly cooked, if you don't mind
waiting."
" Ah ! I see," said Sir John, laughing. " We've
both been on the same quest, and have been
equally unlucky. Well, we shall satisfy our hun-
ger here at any rate, arid not unpleasantly either."
92 THE COOK'S DECAMERON
"I went to one place," said Van der Roet,
"and before ordering I asked the waiter if there
was any garlic in the dish I had ordered. ' Gar-
lic, aglio, no, sir, never.' Whereupon I thought I
would go somewhere else. Next I entered the
establishment of Baldassare Romanelli. How
could a man with such a name serve anything
else than the purest Italian cookery, I reasoned,
so I ordered, unquestioning, a piatto with an
ideal Italian name, Manzo alia Terracina. Alas!
the beef used in the composition thereof must
have come in a refrigerating chamber from pas-
tures more remote than those of Terracina, and
the sauce served with it was simply fried onions.
In short, my dish was beefsteak and onions, and
very bad at that. So in despair I fell back upon
the trusty British chop."
As Van der Roet ceased speaking another
guest entered the room, and he and Sir John
listened attentively while the new-comer gave his
order. There was no mistaking the Colonel's
strident voice. " Now, look here ! I want a chop
underdone — underdone, you understand, with a
potato, and a small glass of Scotch whisky —
and I'll sit here."
" The Colonel, by Jove," said Sir John ; " I ex-
pect he's been restaurant-hunting too."
" Hallo ! " said the Colonel, as he recognised the
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 93
other two, " I never thought I should meet you
here : fact is, I've been reading about agricultural
depression, and how it is the duty of everybody
to eat chops so as to encourage the mutton trade,
and that sort of thing."
"Oh, Colonel, Colonel," said Van der Roet.
" You know you've been hungering after the
cookery of Italy, and trying to find a genuine
Italian lunch, and have failed, just as Sir John
and I failed, and have come here in despair. But
never mind, just wait for a year or so, until the
'Cook's Decameron' has had a fair run for its'
money, and then you'll find you'll fare as well at
the ordinary Italian restaurant as you did at the
' Laurestinas,' and that's saying a good deal."
PART I-T
RECIPES
SAUCES
As the three chief foundation sauces in cookery, Espagnole
or brown sauce, Velut or white sauce, and Bdchamel, are
alluded to so often in these pages, it will be well to give simple
Italian recipes for them.
Australian wines may be used in all recipes where wine is
mentioned : Harvest Burgundy for red, and . Chasselas for
Chablis.
No. i. Espagnole or
Brown Sauce
The chief ingredient of this
useful sauce is good stock, to
which add any remnants and
bones of fowl or game. Butter
the bottom of a stewpan with
at least two ounces of butter,
and in it put slices of lean
veal, ham, bacon, cuttings of
beef, fowl, or game trimmings,
three peppercorns, mushroom
trimmings, a tomato, a carrot,
and a turnip cut up, an onion
■^uck with two cloves, a bay
leaf, a sprig of thyme, parsley y
and marjoram. Put the lid
on the stewpan and braize
well for fifteen minutes, then
stir in a tablespoonful of
flour, and pour in a quarter
pint of good boiling stock
and boil very gently for fifteen
minutes, then strain through
a tamis, skim off all the
grease, pour the sauce into an
earthenware vessel, and let it
get cold. If it is not rich
enough, add a little Liebig or
glaze. Pass, through a sieve
again before using.
No. 2. Velut6 Sauce
The same as above, but use
white stock, no beef, and only
pheasant or fowl trimmings,
button mushrooms, cream in-
stead of glaze, and a chopped
shallot.
98
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
No. 3. Bechamel Sauce
Ingredients : Butter, ham,
veal, carrots, shallot, celery,
bay leaf, cloves, thyme, pepper-
corns, potato flour, cream,
fowl stock.
Prepare a mirepoix by mix-
ing two ounces of butter,
trimmings of lean veal and
ham, a carrot, a shallot, a
little celery, all cut into dice,
a bay leaf, two cloves, four
peppercorns, and a little
thyme. Put this on a moder-
ate fire so as not to let it
colour, arid when all the
moisture is absorbed add a
tablespoonful of potato flour.
Mix well, and gradually add
equal quantities of cream and
fowl stock, and stir till it
boils. Then let it simmer
gently. Stir occasionally, and
if it gets too thick, add more
cream and white stock. After
two hours pass it twice slowly
through a tamis so as to get
the sauce very smooth.
No. 4. Mirepoix Sauce
(for masking)
Ingredients: Bacon, onions,
carrots, ham, a bunch of herbs,
parsley, mushrooms, cloves,
peppercorns, stock, Chablis.
Put the following ingredi-
ents into a stewpan: Some
bits of bacon and lean ham,
a carrot, all cut into dice,
half an onion, a bunch of
herbs, a few mushroom cut-
tings, two cloves, and foHr
peppercorns. To this add
one and a quarter pint of good
stock arid a glass of Chablis,
boil rapidly for ten minutes,
then simmer till it is reduced
to a third. Pass through a
sieve and use for masking
meat, fowl, fish, &c.
No. 5. Genoese Sauce
Ingredients : Onion, butter,
Burgundy, mushrooms, truf-
fles, parsley, bay leaf, Espag-
nole sauce (No. 1), blond of
veal, essence of fish, anchovy
butter, crayfish or lobster
butter.
Cut up a small onion and
fry it in butter, add a glass of
Burgundy, some cuttings of
mushrooms and truffles, a
pinch of chopped parsley and
half a bay leaf. Reduce half.
In another saucepan put two
cups of Espagnole sauce, one
cup of veal stock, and a table-
spoonful of essence of fish,
reduce one-third and add it
to the other saucepan, skim
off all the grease, boil for a
few minutes, and pass through
a sieve. Then stir it over the
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
99
fire, and add half a teaspoon-
ful of crayfish and half of
anchovy butter.
No. 6. Italian Sauce
Ingredients: Chablis, mush-
rooms, leeks, a bunch of herbs,
peppercorns, Espagnole sauce,
game gravy or stock, lemon.
Put into a stewpan two
glasses of Chablis, two table-
spoonsful of mushroom trim-
mings, a leek cut up, a bunch
of herbs, five peppercorns,
and boil till it is reduced to
half. In another stewpan
mix two glasses of Espagnole
(No. i) or Velute* sauce (No.
2) and half a glass of game
gravy, boil for a few minutes,
then blend the contents of the
two stewpans, pass through a
sieve, and add the juice of a
lemon.
No. 7. Ham Sauce,
Salsa di Prosciutto
Ingredients : Ham, Muscat
or sweet port, vinegar, basil,
spice.
Cut up an ounce of ham
and pound it in a mortar,
then mix it with three dessert-
spoonsful of port or Muscat
and a teaspoonful of vinegar,
a little dried basil and a pinch
of spice. Boil it up, and then
pass it through a sieve and
warm it up in a bain-marie.
Serve with roast meats. If
you cannot get a sweet wine
add half a teaspoonful of
sugar. Australian Muscat is
a good wine to use. .
No. 8. Tarragon Sauce
Ingredients : Tarragon,
stock, butter, flour.
To half a pint of good
stock add two good sprays
of fresh tarragon, simmer
for quarter of an hour in a
stewpan and keep the lid on.
In another stewpan melt one
ounce of butter and mix it
with three dessertspoonsful of
flour, then gradually pour the
stock from the first stewpan
over it, but take out the
tarragon. Mix well, add a
teaspoonful of finely chopped
tarragon and boil for two
minutes.
No. 9. Tomato Sauce
Ingredients : Tomatoes,
ham, onions, basil, salt, oil,
garlic, spices.
Broil three tomatoes, skin
them and mix them with a
tablespoonful of chopped ham,
half an onion, salt a dessert-
100
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
spoonful of oil, a little pounded
spice and basil. Then boil
and pass through a sieve.
Whilst the sauce is boiling,
put in a clove of garlic with
a cut, but remove it before
you pass the sauce through
the sieve.
No. io. Tomato Sauce
Piquante
Ingredients : Ham, butter,
onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf,
thyme, cloves, peppercorns,
vinegar, Chablis, stock, toma-
toes, Velute" or Espagnole
sauce, castor sugar, lemon.
Cut up an ounce of ham,
half an onion, half a carrot, half
a stick of celery very fine, and
fry them in butter together
with a bay leaf, a sprig of
thyme, one clove and four
peppercorns. Over this pour
a third of a cup of vinegar,
and when the liquid is all
absorbed, add half a glass of
Chablis and a cup of stock.
Then add six tomatoes cut
up and strained of all their
liquid. Cook this in a covered
stewpan and pass it through
a sieve, but see that k none of
the bay leaf or thyme goes
through. Mix this sauce with
an equal quantity of Velute"
(No. 2) or Espagnole sauce,
(No. 1), let it boil and pass
through a sieve again and at
the last add a teaspoonful of
castor sugar, the juice of half
a lemon, and an ounce of fresh
butter. (Another tomato sauce
may be made like this, but
use stock instead of vinegar
and leave out the lemon juice
and sugar.)
No. 11. Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients : Velute" sauce,
essence of mushrooms, butter.
Mix two dessert-spoonsful
of essence of mushrooms with
a cupful of Velute sauce (No.
2), reduce, keep on stirring,
and just before serving add
an ounce of butter. This
sauce can be made with
essence of truffle, or game,
or shallot.
No. 12. Neapolitan Sauce
Ingredients : Onions, ham,
butter, Marsala, blond of veal,
thyme, bay leaf,, peppercorns,
cloves, mushrooms, Espag-
nole sauce (No. 1), tomato
sauce, game stock or essence.
Fry an onion in butter with
some bits of cut-up ham, then
pour a glass of Marsala over
it, and another of blond of
veal, add a sprig of thyme, a
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
101
bay leaf, four peppercorns,
a clove, a tablespoonful of
mushroom cuttings, and re-
duce half. In another sauce-
pan put two cups of Espagnole
sauce, one cupful of tomato
sauce, and half a cup of game
stock or essence. Reduce a
third, and add the contents
of the first saucepan, boil the
sauce a few minutes, and pass
it through a sieve. Warm it up
in a bain-marie before using.
No. 13. Neapolitan
Anchovy Sauce
Ingredients : Anchovies,
fennel, flour, spices, parsley,
marjoram, garlic, lemon juice,
vinegar, cream.
Wash three anchovies in
vinegar, bone and pound
them in a mortar with a tea-
spoonful of chopped fennel
and a pinch of cinnamon.
Then mix in a teaspoonful of
chopped parsley and mar-
joram, a squeeze of lemon
juice, a teaspoonful of flour,
half a gill of boiled cream and
the bones of the fish for which
you will use this sauce. Pass
through a sieve, add a clove
of garlic with a cut in it, and
boil. If the fish you are
using is cooked in the oven,
add a little of the liquor in
which it has been cooked to
the sauce. Take out the
garlic before serving. In-
stead ,of anchovies you may
use caviar, pickled tunny, or
any other pickled fish.
No. 14. Roman Sauce
(Salsa Agro-dolce)
Ingredients : Espagnole
sauce, stock, burnt sugar,
vinegar, raisins, pine nuts or
almonds.
Mix two spoonsful of burnt
sugar with one of vinegar, and
dilute with a little good stock.
Then add two cups of Espag-
nole sauce (No. 1), a few
stoned raisins, and a few
pinocchi 1 (pine nuts) or
shredded almonds. Keep
this hot in a bain-marie, and
serve with cutlets, calf s head
or feet or tongue.
No. 15. Roman Sauce
(another way)
Ingredients : Espagnole
sauce, an onion, butter, flour,
lemon, herbs, nutmeg, raisins,
pine nuts or almonds, burnt
sugar.
Cut up a small bit of onion,
1 The pinocchi which Italians
use instead of almonds can be
bought in London when in season.
102
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
fry it slightly in butter and a
little flour, add the juice of a
lemon and a little of the peel
grated, a bouquet of herbs, a
pinch of nutmeg, a few stoned
raisins, shredded almonds or
pinocchi, and a tablespoonful
of burnt sugar. Add this to
a good Espagnole (No. i),
and warm it up in a bain-
marie.
No. 16. Supreme Sauce
Ingredients : White sauce,
"fowl stock, butter.
Put three-quarters of a
pint of white sauce into a
saucepan, and when it is nearly
boiling add half a cup of
concentrated fowl stock. Re-
duce until the sauce is quite
thick, and when about to
serve pass it through a tamis
into a bain-marie and add two
tablespoonsful of cream.
No. 17. Pasta Marinata
(For masking Italian Frys)
Ingredients: Semolinaflour,
eggs, salt, butter (or olive oil),
vinegar, water.
Mix the following ingre-
dients well together : Five
ounces of semolina flour, the
yolks of two eggs, a little salt,
and two ounces of melted
butter. Add a glass of water
so as to form a liquid sub-
stance. At the last add the
whites of two eggs beaten up
to a snow. This will make a
good paste for masking meat,
fish, vegetables, or sweets
which are to be fried in the
Italian manner, but if for
meat or vegetables add a few
drops of vinegar or a little
lemon juice.
No. 18. White Villeroy
Ingredients : Butter, flour,
eggs, cream, nutmeg, white
stock.
Make a light-coloured roux
by frying two ounces of
butter and two ounces of
flour, stir in some whfte stock
and keep it very smooth. Let
it boil, and add the yolks of
three eggs, mixed with two
tablespoonsful of cream and
a pinch of nutmeg. Pass it
through a sieve and use for
masking cutlets, fish, &c.
SOUPS
No. 19. Clear Soup
Ingredients : Stock meat,
water, a bunch of herbs
(thyme, parsley, chervil, bay
leaf, basil, marjoram), three
carrots, three turnips, three
onions, three cloves stuck in
the onions, onejblade of mace.
Cut up three pounds of
stock meat small and put it in
a stock pot with two quarts of
cold water, three carrots, and
three turnips cut up, three
onions with a clove stuck in
each one, a bunch of herbs and
a blade of mace. Let it come
to the boil and then draw it
off, at once skim off all the
scum, and keep it gently
simmering, and occasionally
add two or three tablespoons-
ful of cold water. Let it sim-
mer all day, and then strain
it through a fine cloth.
Some of the liquor in which
a calf's head has been cooked,
or even a calf's foot, will
greatly improve a clear soup.
The stock should never be
allowed to boil as long as the
meat and vegetables are in
the stock pot.
No. 20. Zuppa Prima-
verile (Spring Soup)
Ingredients : Clear soup,
vegetables.
Any fresh spring vegetables
will do for this soup, but they
must all be cooked separately
and put into the soup at the
last minute. -It is best made
with fresh peas, asparagus tips,
and a few strips of tarragon.
No. 21. Soup alia
Lombarda
Ingredients : Clear soup,
fowl forcemeat, Bdchamel (No.
3), peas, lobster butter, eggs,
asparagus.
Make a firm forcemeat of
fowl and divide it into three
parts, to the first add two
spoonsful of cream Bechamel,
to the second four spoonsful
of puree of green peas, to the
third two spoonsful of lobster
butter and the volk of an egg;
103
104
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
thus you will have the Italian
colours — red, white, and green.
Butter a pie dish and make
little quenelles of the force-
meat. Just before serving
boil them for four minutes in
boiling stock, take them out
carefully and put them in a
warm soup tureen with two
spoonsful of cooked green
peas and pour a very fresh
clear soup over them. Hand
little croutons fried in lobster
butter separately.
No. 22. Tuscan Soup
Ingredients : Stock, eggs.
Whip up three or four
eggs, gradually add good
stock to them, and keep on
whisking them up until they
begin to curdle. Keep the
soup hot in a bain-marie.
No. 23. Venetian Soup
Ingredients : Clear soup,
butter, flour, Parmesan, eggs.
Make a roux by frying two
ounces of butter and two
ounces of flour, add an ounce
of grated cheese and half a
cup of good stock. Mix up
well so as to form a paste,
and then take it off the fire
and add the yolks , of four
eggs, mix again and form the
paste into little quenelles.
Boil these in a little soup,
strain off, put them into the
tureen and pour a good clear
soup over them.
t
No. 24. Roman Soup
Ingredients : Stock, butter,
eggs, salt, crumb of bread,
parsley, nutmeg, flour, Par-
mesan.
Mix three and a half ounces
of butter with two eggs and
four ounces of crumb of bread
soaked in stock, a little
chopped parsley, salt, and a
pinch of nutmeg. Reduce
this and add two tablespoons-
ful of flour and one of grated
Parmesan. Form this into
little quenelles and boil them
in stock for a few minutes,
put them into a tureen and
pour a good clear soup over
them.
No. 25. Soup alia
Nazionale
Ingredients : Clear soup,
savoury custard.
Make a savoury custard and
divide it into three parts, one
to be left white, another
coloured red" with tomato, and
the third green with spinach.
Put a layer of each in a
THE COOK'S DECAMERON 105
buttered saucepan and cook
for about ten minutes, cut
it into dice, so that you have
the three Italian colour? (red,
white, and green) together,
then put the custard into a
soup tureen and pbur a good
clear soup over it.
No. 26. Soup alia
Modanese
Ingredients: Stock, spinach,
butter, salt, eggs, Parmesan,
nutmeg, croutons.
Wash one pound of spinach
in five or six waters, then
chop it very fine and mix it
with three ounces of butter,
salt it and warm it up.
Then let it get cold, pass'
through a hair sieve, and add
two eggs, a tablespoonful of
grated Parmesan, and very
little nutmeg. Add this to
some boiling stock in a copper
saucepan, put on the lid, and
on the top put some hot
coals so that the eggs may
curdle and help to thicken
the soup. Serve with fried
croutons.
- No. 27. Crotopb Soup
Ingredients : Clear soup,
veal, ham, eggs, salt, pepper,
nutmeg, rolls.
Pound half a pound of lean
veal in a mortar, then add
three ounces of cooked ham
with some fat in it, the yolk
of an egg, salt, pepper, and
very little nutmeg. Pass
through a sieve, cut some
small French rolls into slices,
spread them with the above
mixture, and colour them
in the oven. Then cut
them in halves or quarters,
put them into a tureen, and
just before serving pour a
very good clear soup over
them.
No. 28. Soup all' Impera-
trice
Ingredients : Breast of fowl,
eggs, salt, pepper, ground rice,
nutmeg, clear stock.
Pound the breast of a fowl
in a mortar, and add to it a
teaspoonful^ of ground rice,
the yolk of an egg, salt,
pepper, and a pinch of nut-
meg. Pass this through a
sieve, form quenelles with it,
and pour a good clear soup
over them.
No. 29. Neapolitan Soup
Ingredients : Fowl, potato
flour, eggs, Bechamel sauce,
peas, asparagus, spinach, clear
soup.
io6
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
Mix a quarter pound of
forcemeat of fowl with a
tablespoonful of potato flour K _
a tablespoonful of Bechamel
sauce (No. 3), and the yolk
of an egg; put this into a
tube about the size round
of an ordinary macaroni;
twenty minutes before serving
squirt the forcemeat into a
saucepan with boiling stock,
and nip off the forcemeat
as it comes through the
pipe into pieces about ■ an
inch and a half long. Let
it simmer, and add boiled
peas and asparagus tips. If
you like to have the fowl
macaroni white and green,
you can colour half the force-
meat with a spoonful of
spinach colouring. Serve in
a good clear soup.
No. 30. Soup with Risotto
Ingredients : Risotto (No.
189), eggs, bread crumbs,
clear or brown soup.
If you have some good
risotto left, you can use it up
by making it into little balls
the size of small nuts. Egg
and bread crumb and fry
them in butter ; dry them and
put them into a soup tureen
with hot soup. The soup
may be either clear or brown.
No. 31. Soup alia
Canavese
Ingredients: White stock,
butter, onions, carrot, celery,
tomato, cauliflower, fat bacon,
parsley, sage, Parmesan, salt,
pepper.
Chop up half an onion, half
a carrot, half a stick of celery,
a small bit of fat bacon, and
fry them-4n two ounces of
butter. Then cover them
with good white stock, boil for
a few minutes, pass through
a sieve, and add two table-
spoonsful of tomato puree.
Then blanch half a cauli-
flower in salted water, let it
get cold, drain all the water
out of it, and break it up into
little bunches and put them
into a stock pot with the
stock, a small leaf of dried
sage, crumbled -up, and a
little chopped parsley, and let
it all boil; add a pinch of
grated cheese and some pep-
per. Serve with grated Par-
mesan handed separately.
No. 32. Soup alia Maria
Pja
Ingredients: White stock,
eggs, butter, peas, white beans,
carrot, onion, leeks, celery,
cream croutons.
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
107
Soak one pound of white
beans for twelve hours, then
put them into a stock pot with
a little salt, butter, and water,
add a carrot, an onion, two
leeks, and a stick of celery,
and simmer until the veget-
ables are well cooked; then
take out all the fresh veget-
ables, drain the beans and
pass them through a sieve, but
first dilute them with good
stock. Put this puree into a
stock, pot with good white
stock, and when it has boiled
keep it hot in a bain-marie
until you are about to serve ;
then mix the yolk of three
eggs in a cup of cream, and
add this to the soup. Pour
the soup into a warm tureen,
add some boiled green peas,
and serve with fried croutons
handed separately.
No. 33. Zuppa d' Erbe
(Lettuce Soup)
Ingredients : Stock, sorrel,
endive, lettuce, chervil, celery,
carrot, onion, French roll,
Parmesan cheese.
Boil the- following veget-
ables and herbs in very good
stock for an hour : Two small
bunches of sorrel, a bunch of
endive, a lettuce, a small
bunch of chervil, a stick of
celery, a carrot and an onion,
all well washed and cut up.
Then put some slices of
toasted French roll into a
tureen , and pour the above
soup over them. Serve with
grated Parmesan handed
separately.
No. 34. Zuppa Regina di
Riso (Queen's Soup)
Ingredients : Fowl stock,
ground rice, milk, butter.
Put a tablespoonful of
ground^ rice into a saucepan
and gradually add half a pint
of milk, boil it gently for
twelve minutes in a bain-
marie, but stir the whole time,
so as to get it very smooth.
Just before serving add an
ounce of butter, pass it,
through a sieve, and mix it
with good fowl stock.
MINESTRE
Minestra is a thick broth, very much like hotch-potch, only
thicker. In Italy it is often served at the beginning of dinner
instead of soup ; it also makes an excellent lunch dish. Two
or three tablespoonsful of No. 35 will be found a great im-
provement to any of these minestre.
No. 35. A Condiment for
Seasoning Minestre, &c.
Ingredients : Onions,
celery, carrots, butter, salt,
stock, tomatoes, mushrooms.
Cut up an onion, a stick of
celery, and a carrot ; fry them
in butter and salt ; add a few
bits of cooked ham and veal
cut up, two mushrooms, and
the pulp of a tomato. Cook
for a quarter of an hour, and
add a little stock occasionally
to keep it moist. Pass through
a sieve, and use for seasoning
minestre, macaroni, rice, &c.
It should be added when the
dish is nearly cooked.
No. 36. Minestra alia
Casalinga
Ingredients : Rice, butter,
stock, vegetables.
All sorts of vegetables will
serve for this dish. Blanch
them in boiling salted water,
then drain and fry them in
butter. Add plenty of good
stock, and put them on a slow
fire. Boil four ounces of rice
in stock, and when it is well
done add the stock with the
vegetables. Season with two
or three spoonsful of No. 35,
and serve with grated cheese
handed separately.
No. 37. Minestra of Rice
and Turnips
Ingredients: Rice, turnips,
butter, gravy, tomatoes.
Cut three or four young
turnips into slices and put
them on a dish, strew a little
salt over them, cover them
with another dish, and let
108
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
109
them stand for about two
hours until the water has run
out of them. Then drain
the slices, put them in a
frying-pan and fry them
slightly in butter. Add some
good gravy and mashed -up
tomatoes, and after having
cooked this for a few minutes
pour it into good boiling
stock. Add three ounces of
well-washed rice, and boil for
half-an-hour.
; Minestra loses its flavour
if it is boiled too long. In
Lombardy, however, rice,
macaroni, &c, are rarely
boiled enough for English
tastes.
No. 38. Minestra alia
Capucina
Ingredients : Rice, an-
chovies, butter, stock, and
onions.
Scale an anchovy, pound
it, and fry it in butter to-
gether with a small onion cut
across, and four ounces of
boiled rice. Add a little salt,
and when the rice is a golden
brown, take out the onion
and gradually add some
good stock until the dish is
of the consistency of rice
pudding.
No. 39. Minestra of
Semolina
Ingredients : Stock, semo-
lina, Parmesan.
Put as much stock as you
require into a saucepan, and
when it begins to boil add
semolina very gradually, and
stir to keep it from getting
lumpy. Cook it until the
semolina is soft, and serve
with grated Parmesan handed
separately. To one quart of
soup use three ounces of semo-
lina.
No. 40. Minestrone alia
Milanese
Ingredients : Rice or ma-
caroni, ham, bacon, stock,
all sorts of vegetables.
Minestrone is a favourite
dish in Lombardy when vege-
tables are plentiful. Boil all
sorts of vegetables in stock,
and add bits of bacon, ham,
onions braized in butter,
chopped parsley, a clove of
garlic with two cuts, and rice
or macaroni. Put in those
vegetables first which require
most cooking, and do not
make the broth too thin.
Leave the garlic in for a quar-
ter of an hour only.
no
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
No, 41. Minestra of Rice
and Cabbage
Ingredients: Rice, cabbage,
stock, ham, tomato sauce.
Cut, off the stalk and all
the hard outside leaves of a
cabbage, wash it and cut it
up, but not too small, then
drain and cook it in good
stock and add two ounces of
boiled rice. This minestra
is improved by adding a
little chopped ham and
a few spoonsful of tomato
sauce.
No. 42. Minestra of Rice
and Celery
Ingredients : Celery, rice,
stock.-
Cut up a head of celery
and remove all the green
parts, then boil it in good
stock and add two ounces of
rice, and boil till it is well
cooked.
FISH
No. 43. Anguilla alia
Milanese (Eels)
Ingredients : Eels, butter,
flour, stock, bay leaves, salt,
pepper, Chablts, a macedoine
of vegetables.
Cut up a big eel and fry
it in two ounces of butter,
and when it is a good colour
add a tablespoonful of flour,
about half a pint of stock, a
glass of Chablis, a bay leaf,
pepper, and salt, and boil till
it is well cooked. In the
meantime boil separately all
sorts of vegetables, such as
carrots, cauliflower, celery,
beans, tomatoes, &c. Take
out the pieces of eel, but keep
them hot, whilst you pass the
liquor, which forms the sauce
through a sieve and add the
vegetables to this. Let them
boil a little longer una arrange
them in a dish; place the
pieces of eel on them and
cover with the sauce. It is
most, important that the eels
should be served very hot.
Any sort of fish will do as
well for this dish.
No. 44. Filletti di Pesce
alia Villeroy (Fillets
of Fish)
Ingredients : Fish, flour,
butter, Villeroy.
Any sort of fish will do,
turbot, sole, trout, &c. Cut
it into fillets, flour them over
and cook them in butter in a
covered stewpan; then make
a Villeroy (No. 18), dip the
fillets into it and fry them in
clarified butter.
No. 45. Astachi all'
Italiana (Lobster)
Ingredients: Lobsters,
Velute sauce, Marsala, butter,
forcemeat of fish, olives,
anchovy batter, button mush-
rooms, truffles, lemon, cray-
fish, Italian sauce.
Two boiled lobsters are
necessary. Cut all the flesh of
one of the lobsters into fillets
112
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
and put them into a saucepan
with half a cup of Velut£
sauce (No. 2) and half a glass
of Marsala, and boil for a few
minutes. Put a crouton of
fried bread on an oval dish
and cover it with a forcemeat
of fish, and on this place the
whole lobster, cover it with
buttered paper, and put it in
a moderate oven just long
enough to cook the force-
meat. Then make some
quenelles of anchovy butter,
olives, and button mush-
rooms, mix them with Italian
sauce (No. 6), and garnish
the dish with them, and
round the crodton arrange
the fillets of lobster with a
garnish of slices of truffle.
Add a dessert-spoonful of
crayfish butter and a good
squeeze of lemon juice to the
sauce, and serve.
No. 46. Baccala alia
Giardiniera (Cod)
Ingredients : Cod dr hake,
carrots, turnips, butter, herbs.
Boil a piece of cod or hake
and break it up into flakes,
then cut up two carrots and a
turnip ; boil them gently, and
when they are half boiled
drain and put them into a
stewpan with an ounce of
butter, half a teacup of boil-
ing water, salt, and herbs.
When they are well cooked
add the fish and serve. Fillets
of lemon soles may also be
cooked this way.
No. 47. Triglie alia
Marinara (Mullet)
Ingredients: Mullet, salt,
pepper, onions, parsley, oil,
water.
Cut a mullet into pieces
and put it into a stewpan-
(with the lid on), with salt,
pepper, a cut-up onion, some
chopped parsley, half a wine-
glass of the finest olive oil
and half a pint of water, and
in this cook the fish gently.
Arrange the fillets on a dish,
■ pour a little of the broth over
them, and add the onion and
parsley. Instead of mullet
you can use cod, hake,
whiting, lemon sole, &c.
No. 48. Mullet alia
Tolosa
Ingredients: Mullet, butter,
salt, onions, parsley, almonds,
anchoyies, button mushrooms,
tomatoes.
Cut off the fins and gills
of a mullet, put it in
a fireproof dish with two
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
"3
ounces of butter and salt. Cut
up a small bit of onion, a sprig
of parsley, a few blanched
almonds, one anchovy, and
a few button mushrooms, pre-
viously softened in hot water,
and put them over the fish
and bake for twenty minutes.
Then add two tablespoonsful
of tomato sauce or puree, and
when cooked serve. If you
like, use sole instead of
mullet.
No. 49. Mullet alia
Triestina
Ingredients : Mullet (or
sole or turbot), butter, salt,
half a lemon, Chablis.
Put the fish in a fireproof
dish with one and a half ounce
of butter, salt, a squeeze of
lemon juice, and half a glass
of Chablis. Put it on a very
slow fire and turn the fish
when necessary. When it is
cooked serve in the dish.
No. 50. Whiting alia
Genovese
Ingredients : Whiting,
butter, pepper, salt, bay leaf,
claret, parsley, onions, garlic,
capers, vinegar, Espagnole
sauce, mushrooms, anchovies.
Put one or two whiting into
a stewpan with two ounces of
butter, salt, pepper, two bay
leaves, and a glass of claret
or Burgundy ; cook on a hot
fire and turn the fish when
necessary. Have ready before-
hand a remoulade sauce made
in the following manner: —
Put in a saucepan i£ ounce
of butter, half a teaspoonful
of chopped parsley, half an
onion, a clove of garlic (with
one cut), four ' capers, one
anchovy, all chopped up
except the garlic. Then
add three tablespoonsful of
vinegar and reduce the sauce.
Add two glasses of Espagnole
sauce (No. 1) and a little
good stock; boil it all up
(take out the garlic and bay
leaves) and pass through a
sieve, then pour it over the
whiting. Boil it all again for
a few minutes, and before
serving garnish with a few
button mushrooms cooked
separately. The remoulade
sauce will be much better if
made some hours before-
hand.
No. 51. Merluzzo in
Bianco (Cod)
Ingredients : Cod or whit-
ing, salt, onions, parsley,
H
ii 4
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
cloves, turnips, marjoram,
chervil, milk.
Boil gently in a big cupful
of salted water two onions, one
turnip, a pinch of chopped
parsley, chervil, and mar-
joram and four cloves. After
half an hour pass this through
a sieve (but first take out the
cloves), and add an equal
quantity of milk and a little
cream, and in this cook the
fish and serve with the sauce
over it.
No. 52. Merluzzo in
Salamoia (Cod)
Ingredients : Cod, hake,
whiting or red mullet, onions,
parsley, mint, marjoram, tur-
nips,, mushrooms, chervil,
cloves, salt, milk, cream,
eggs.
Put a saltspoonful of salt,
two onions, a little parsley,
marjoram, mint, chervil, a
turnip, a mushroom, and the
heads of two cloves into a stew-
pan and simmer in a cupful
of milk for half an hour, then
let all the ingredients settle at
the bottom, and pass the broth
through a hair sieve, and add
to it an equal quantity of milk
or cream, and in it cook your
fish on a slow fire. When the
fish is quite cooked, pour off
the sauce, but leave a little on
the fish to keep it warm ; re-
duce the rest in a bain-marie ;
stir all the time, so that the
milk may not curdle. Thicken
the sauce with the yolk of an
egg, and when about to serve
pour it over the fish.
No. 53. Baccala in
Istufato (Haddock)
Ingredients : Haddock or
lemon sole, carrots, anchovies,
lemon, pepper, butter, onions,
flour, white wine, stock.
Stuff a haddock (or filleted
lemon sole) with some slices
of carrot which have been
masked with a paste made of
pounded anchovies, very little
chopped lemon peel, salt and
pepper. Then fry an onion
with two cuts across it in
butter. Take out the onion
as soon as it has become a
golden colour, flour the fish
and put it in the butter, and
whe"n it has been well fried on
both sides pour a glass of
Marsala over it, and when
it is all absorbed add a cup
of fowl or veal stock and let
it simmer for half an hour,
then skim and reduce the
sauce, pour it over the fish
and serve.
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
"5
No. 54. Naselli con
Piselli (Whiting)
Ingredients: Whiting,
onions, parsley, peas, toma-
toes, butter, Parmesan, Bech-
amel sauce.
Cut a big whiting into
two or three pieces and fry
them slightly in butter, add a
small bit of onion, a tea-
spoonful of chopped parsley,
and fry for a few minutes
more. Then add some peas
which have been cooked in
salted water, three table-
spoonsful of Bechamel sauce
(No. 3), and three of tomato
puree, and cook all together
on a moderate fire.
No. 55. Ostriche alia
Livornese (Oysters)
Ingredients : Oysters, pars-
ley, shallot, anchovies, fennel,
pepper, bread crumbs, cream,
lemon.
Detach the oysters from
their shells and put them
into china shells with their
own liquor. Have ready a
dessert-spoonful of parsley,
shallot, anchovy and very little
fennel, add a tablespoonful of
bread crumbs and a little
pepper, and mix the whole
with a little cream. Put some
of this mixture on each oyster
and then bake them in a
moderate fire for a quarter of
an hour. At the last minute
add a squeeze of lemon juice
to each oyster and serve on a
folded napkin.
No. 56. Ostriche alia
Napolitana (Oysters)
Ingredients : Oysters, pars-
ley, celery, thyme, pepper,
garlic, oil, lemon.
Prepare the oysters as
above, but rub each shell
with a little garlic. Put on
each oyster a mixture made
of chopped parsley, a little
thyme, pepper, and bread
crumbs. Then pour a few
drops of oil on each shell,
put them on the gridiron on
an open fire, grill for a few
minutes, and add a little lemon
juice before serving.
No. 57. Ostriche alia
Veneziana (Oysters)
Ingredients : Oysters, but-
ter, shallots, truffles, lemon
juice, forcemeat of fish.
Take several oysters out of
their shells and cook them in
butter, a little chopped shallot,
and their own liquor, add a
little lemon juice and then put
n6
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
in each of the deeper shells a
layer of forcemeat made of
fish and chopped truffles,
then an oyster or two, and
over this again another layer of
the forcemeat, cover up with
the top shell and put them in
a fish kettle and steam them.
Then remove the top shell
and arrange the shells with the
oysters on a napkin and serve.
No. 58. Pesci diversi alia
Casalinga (Fish)
Ingredients : Any sort of
fish, celery, parsley, carrots,
garlic, onion, anchovies,- al-
monds, capers, mushrooms,
butter, salt, pepper, flour,
tomatoes.
Chop up a stick of celery,
a sprig of parsley, a carrot,
an onion. Pound up an an-
chovy in brine (well cleaned,
boned, and scaled), four
shredded almonds, three
capers and two mushrooms.
Put all this into a saucepan
with one ounce of butter, salt
and pepper, and fry for a
few minutes, then add a few
spoonsful of hot water and a
tablespoonful of flour and boil
gently for ten minutes, put
in the fish and cook it until
it is done. If you like, you
may add a little tomato sauce.
No. 59. Pesce alia Geno-
vese (Sole or Turbot)
Ingredients : Fish (sole,
mullet, or turbot), butter, salt,
onion, garlic, carrots, celery,
parsley, nutmeg, pepper, spice,
mushrooms, tomatoes, flour,
anchovies.
Try an onion slightly in one
and a half ounces of butter,
add a small cut-up carrot,
half a stick of celery, a sprig
of parsley, and a salt anchovy
(scaled), which will dissolve in
the butter. Into this put the
fish cut up in pieces, a pinch
of spice and pepper, and let
it simmer for a few minutes,
then add two cut-up mush-
rooms, a tomato mashed up,
and a little flour. Mix all
together, and cook for twenty
minutes.
No. 60. Sogliole in
Ziraino (Sole)
Ingredients : Sole, onion,
beetroot, butter, celery, tomato
sauce or white wine. "
Cut up a small onion and
fry it slightly in one ounce of
butter, then add some slices
of beetroot (well washed and
drained), and a little celery
cut up; to this add fillets of
sole or haddock, salt and
pepper. Boil on a moderate
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
117
fire and keep the cover on
the fish kettle. When the
beetroot is nearly cooked add
two tablespoonsful of tomato
pure'e and boil till all is well
cooked. Instead of the to-
mato you may use half a glass
of Chablis.
No. 61. Sogliole al
tegame (Sole)
Ingredients : Sole (or mul"
let), butter, anchovies, parsleyi
garlic, capers, eggs.
Put an ounce of butter and
an anchovy in a saucepan
together with a sole or
mullet. Fry lightly for a few
minutes, then strew a little
pepper and chopped- parsley
over it, put in a clove of g; die
with one cut, and cook for
half an hour, but turn the fish
over when one side is suffici-
ently done. A few minutes
before taking it off the fire
add three capers and stir in
the yolk of an egg at the last
minute. Do not leave the
garlic in more than five min-
utes.
No. 62. Sogliole alia
Livornese (Sole)
Ingredients: Sole, butter,
garlic, pepper, salt, tomatoes,
fennel.
Fillet a sole and put it in
a saute"-pan with one and a
half ounces of butter and a
clove of garlic with one cut
in it, then sprinkle over it a
little chopped fennel, salt and
pepper, and let it cook for a
few minutes. Turn over the
fillets when they are suffici-
ently cooked on one side, take
out the garlic and cover the
fish with a pure'e of tomatoes
at the last.
No. 63. Sogliole alia
Veneziana (Sole)
Ingredients : Sole, an-
chovies, butter, bacon, onion,
stock, Chablis, salt, nutmeg,
parsley, Spanish olives, one
bay leaf.
Fillet a sole and interlard
each piece with a bit of an-
chovy. Tie up the fillets and
put them in a saute"-pan with
two ounces of butter, a slice
of bacon or ham, and a few
small slices of onion. Cover
half over with good stock and
a glass of Chablis, and add
salt, a pinch of nutmeg, a
bunch of parsley, and a bay
leaf. Cover with buttered
paper, and cook on a slow
fire for about an hour. Drain
the fish, pass the liquor
through a sieve, reduce it to
n8
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
the consistency of a thick
sauce, and pour it over the
fish. Garnish each fillet with '
a Spanish olive stuffed with
anchovy.
No. 64. Sogliole alia -
Parmigiana (Sole) l
Ingredients : Sole, Par-
mesan, butter, cream, cayenne.
Fillet a sole and wipe each
piece with a clean cloth, then
place them in a fireproof dish,
and put a small piece of butter
on each fillet. Then make a
good white sauce, and mix it
with two t'ablespoonsful of
grated Parmesan and half a
gill of cream. Cover the fish
well with the sauce, and bake
in a moderate oven for twenty
minutes.
No. 65. Salmone alia
Genovese (Salmon)
Ingredients : Salmon'
Genoese sauce (No. 5), butter,
lemon.
Boil a bit of salmon, drain
it, take off the skin, and mask
it with a Genoese sauce, to
which add a spoonful of the
water in which the salmon
has been boiled, and at the
1 Lemon soles may be used in
any of the above-named dishes.
last add a pat of fresh butter
and a squeeze of lemon juice.
No. 66. Salmone alia
Perig6 (Salmon)
Ingredients : Salmon, force-
meat of fish, truffles, butter^
Madeira, croutons of bread,
crayfish tails, anchovy butter.
Cut a bit of salmon into
well-shaped fillets, and mari-
nate them in lemon juice
and a bunch of herbs for
two hours, wipe them, put
a layer of forcemeat of fish
over each, and decorate them
with slices of truffle. Then
put them into a well-buttered
sautd-pan with half a cup of
stock and a glass of Madeira
or Marsala, cover with but-
tered paper, and put them into
a moderate oven for twenty
minutes. Arrange the fillets
in a circle on croutons of
bread, garnish the centre with
crayfish tails and with 'truffles
cut into dice, a quarter of a
pint of Velute' sauce (No. 2),
and half a teaspoonful of
anchovy butter. Glaze the
fillets and serve.
No. 67. Salmone alia
. giardiniera (Salmon)
Ingredients : Salmon, force-
meat offish, vegetables, butter,
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
ii 9
Bechamel, and Espagnole
sauce.
Prepare the fillets as above
(No. 66), and put on each a
layer of white forcemeat of
fish. Cook a macedoine of
vegetables separately, and gar-
nish each fillet with some of*
it, then cook them in a
covered stewpan. Put a
crouton of bread in an entree
dish and garnish it with
cooked peas, mixed with
Bechamel sauce (No. 3),
stock, and butter. Round
this place the fillets of fish,
leaving the centre with the
peas uncovered. Pour some
rich Espagnole sauce (No. 1)
round the fillets and serve.
No. 68. Salmone alia
Farnese (Salmon)
Ingredients : Salmon, oil,
lemon juice, thyme, salt,
pepper, nutmeg, mayonnaise
sauce, lobster butter, gela-
tine, Velute sauce, olives,
anchovy butter, white truffles,
mushrooms in oil, crayfish.
Boil a piece of salmon, and
when cold cut it into fillets and
marinate them for two hours
in oil, lemon juice, salt, thyme,
pepper, and nutmeg. Then
make a good mayonnaise and
add to it some lobster butter
mixed with a little dissolved
leaf gelatine and Velute' sauce
(No. 2). Wipe the fillets and
arrange them in a circle on a
dish, and pour the mayonnaise
over them. Then decorate
the border of the dish with
aspic jelly, and in the centre
put some stoned Spanish
olives stuffed with anchovy
butter, truffles, mushrooms in
oil, and crayfish tails.
No. 60. Salmone alia
Santa Fiorentina
(Salmon)
Ingredients : Salmon, eggs,
mayonnaise, parsley, flour.
Marinate a piece of boiled
salmon for an hour ; take out
the bone and cut the fish into
fillets, wipe them, roll them
in flour and dip them in eggs
beaten up or in mayonnaise
sauce, and fry them a good
colour. Arrange in a circle
on the dish, garnish with
fried parsley, and serve with
Dutch or mayonnaise sauce.
Any fillets of fish may be
cooked in this manner.
No. 70. Salmone alia
Francesca (Salmon)
Ingredients : Salmon, but-
ter, onions, parsley, salt, pep-
per, nutmeg, stock, Chablis,
120
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
Espagnole sauce (No. i),
mushrooms, anchovy butter,
lemon.
Put a firm piece of salmon in
a stewpan with one and a half
ounces of butter, an onion cut
up, a teaspoonful of chopped
parsley (blanched), salt, pep-
per, very little nutmeg, a cup
of stock, and a glass of Chab-
lis. Cook for half an hour on
a hot fire, turn the salmon
occasionally, and if it gets
dry, add a cup of Espagnole
sauce. Let it boil until
sufficiently cooked, and then
put it on a dish. Into the
-sauce put four mushrooms
cooked in white sauce, half a
teaspoonful of anchovy butter,
and a little lemon juice.
Pour the sauce over the
salmon and serve.
No. 71. Fillets of Sal-
mon in Papiliotte
Ingredients : Salmon, oil,
lemon juice, salt, pepper, nut-
meg, herbs.
. Cut a piece of salmon into
fillets, marinate them in oil,
lemon juice, salt, pepper,
nutmeg, and herbs for two
hours. Wipe and put them
into paper souffle' cases with
a little oil, butter, and herbs.
Cook them on a gridiron, and
serve with a sauce piquante
made in the following manner:
Half a pint of rich Espagnole
sauce (No. 1) and a dessert-
spoonful of Tomato No. 10
sauce, warmed up in a bain-
marie.
BEEF, MUTTON, VEAL, LAMB, &c.
No. 72. Manzo alia Cer-
tosina (Fillet of Beef)
Ingredients: Fillet of beef
or rump steak, bacon, olive
oil, salt, nutmeg, anchovies,
herbs, stock, garlic.
Put a piece of very tender
rump steak or fillet of beef
into a stewpan with two slices
of fat bacon and three tea-
spoonsful of the finest olive
oil ; season with , salt and a
tiny pinch of nutmeg ; let it
cook uncovered, and turn
the meat over occasionally.
When it is nicely browned
add an anchovy minced and
mixed with chopped herbs,
and a small clove of garlic
with one cut across it. Then
cover the whole with good
stock, put the cover on the
stewpan, and when it is all
sufficiently cooked, skim the
grease off the sauce, pass it
through a sieve, and pour it
over the beef. Leave the
garlic in for five minutes
only.
No. 73. Stufato alia Fio-
rentina (Stewed Beef)
Ingredients : Beef, mut-
ton, or veal, onions, rose-
mary, Burgundy, tomatoes,
stock, potatoes, butter, gar-
lic.
Cut up an onion and three
leaves of rosemary, fry them
slightlyin an ounce of butter,
then add meat (beef, mutton,
or veal), cut into fair-sized
pieces, salt it and fry it a little,
then pour half a glass of Bur-
gundy over it, and add two
tablespoonsful of tomato con-
serve, or better still, fresh
tomatoes in a puree. Cover
up the stewpan and cook
gently, stir occasionally, and
add some stock if the stew
gets too dry. If you like to
add potatoes, cut them up,
put them in the stewpan an
hour before serving, and cook
them with the meat. A
clove of garlic with one cut
may be added for five min-
utes.
122
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
No. 74. Coscia di Manzo
al Forno (Rump Steak)
Ingredients : Rump steak,
ham, salt, pepper, spice, fat
bacon, onion, stock, white
wine.
Lard a bit of good rump
steak with bits of lean ham, and
season it with salt, pepper, and
a little spice, slightly brown it
in butter for a few minutes,
then cover it with three or
four slices of fat bacon and
put it into a stewpan with an
onion chopped up, a cup of
good stock, and half a glass
of white wine ; cook with the
cover on the stewpan for about
an hour. You may add a
clove of garlic for ten minntes.
No. 75. Polpettine alia
Salsa Piccante (Beef
Olives)
Ingredients : Beef steak,
butter, onions, stock, sausage
meat.
Cut some thin slices of beef
steak, and on each place a
little forcemeat of fowl or veal,
to which add a little sausage
meat : roll up the slices of
beef and cook them with
butter and onions, and when
they are well browned pour
some stock over them, and
let them absorb it. Serve
with a tomato sauce (No. 10),
or sauce piquante made with
a quarter of a pint of rich
' Espagnole (No. 1), and a des-
sert-spoonful of New Century
sauce (see No. 71, note).
No. 76. Stufato alia Mil-
anese (Stewed Beef)
Ingredients : Rump steak,
bacon, ham, salt, pepper, cin-
namon, cloves, butter, onions,
Burgundy.
Beat a piece of rump steak
to make it tender and lard it
well, cut up some bits of fat
bacon and dust them over
with salt, pepper, and a tiny
pinch of cinnamon, and put
them on the steak. Stick
three cloves into the steak,
then put it into a stewpan,
add a little of the fat of the
beef chopped up, an ounce
of butter, an onion cut up,
and some bits of lean ham.
Put in sufficient stock to cover
the steak, add a glass of Bur-
gundy, and stew gently until
it is cooked.
No. 77. Manzo Marinato
<Arrosto (Marinated
Beef)
Ingredients: Beef, salt, lard-
ing bacon, Burgundy, vinegar,
spices, herbs, flour. ^
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
123
Beat a piece of rump steak,
or fillet to make it tender;
sprinkle it well with salt and
some chopped herbs.and leave
it for an hour ; then lard it and
marinate it as follows : Half
a pint of red wine (Australian
Harvest Burgundy is best),
half a glass of vinegar, a
pinch of spice, and a bou-
quet of herbs ; leave it in
this for twenty-four hours,
then take it out, drain it well,
sprinkle it -with flour, and
roast it for twenty minutes
before a clear fire, braize it
till quite tender, then press
and glaze it. The thin end
of a sirloin is excellent
cooked this way. Serve cold.
No. 78. Manzo con sugo
di Barbabietole (Fillet
of Beef)
Ingredients : Beef, beet-
root, salt.
Cut up three raw beetroots,
put them into an earthen-
ware pot and cover them with
water. Keep them in some
warm place, and allow them
to ferment for five, six, or
eight days according to the
season j the froth at the top
of the water will indicate the
necessary fermentation. Then
take out the pieces of beet-
root, skim off all the froth,
and into the fermented liquor
put a good piece of tender
rump steak or fillet with some
salt. Braize for four hours
and serve.
No. 79. Manzo in Insa-
lata (Marinated Beef)
Ingredients : Beef, oil, salt,
pepper vinegar, parsley,
capers, mushrooms, olives,
vegetables. ■!
Cook a fillet of beef (or
the thin end of a sirloin), which
has been previously marinated
for two days in oil, salt,
pepper, vinegar, and chopped
parsley. When cold press and
glaze it, garnish it with capers,
mushrooms preserved in vine-
gar or gherkins, olives, and
any kind of vegetables mari-
nated like the beef. Serve cold.
No. 80. Filetto di Bue
con Pistacchi (Fillets of
Beef with Pistacchios)
Ingredients : Fillet of beef,
oil, salt, flour, pistacchio nuts,
gravy.
Cut a piece of tender beef
into little fillets, and put
them in a stewpan with a
tablespoonful of olive oil and
salt. After they have cooked
124
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
for a few minutes, powder
them with flour, and strew
over each fillet some chopped
pistacchio nuts. Add a few
spoonsful of very good boil-
ing gravy, and cook for another
half-hour.
N0.81. Scalopini di'Riso
(Beef with Risotto)
Ingredients : Rump steak,
butter, irice, truffles, tongue,
stock, mushrooms.
Slightly stew a bit of rump
steak with bits of tongue and
mushrooms ; let it get cold,
and cut it into scallops.
Butter a pie dish, and garnish
the bottom of it with cooked
tongue and slices of cooked
truffle, then over this put a
layer of well-cooked and sea-
soned risotto (No. 190), then
a layer of the scallops of'
beef, and then another layer
of risotto. Heat in a bain-
marie, and turn out of the
pie dish, and serve with a very
good sauce, poured round it.
No. 82. Tenerumi alia
Piemontese (Tendons
of Veal)
Ingredients : Tendons of
veal, fowl forcemeat, truffles,
risotto (No. 190), a cock's
comb, tongue.
Tendons of veal are that
part of the breast which lies
near the ribs, and forms an
opaque gristly substance.
Partly braize a fine bit of
this joint, and press it be-
tween two plates till cold.
Cut it up into fillets, and on
each spread a thin layer of
fowl forcemeat, and decorate
with stices of truffle. Put the
fillets into a stewpan, cover
them with very good stock,
and boil till the forcemeat and
truffles are quite cooked.
Prepare a risotto alt italiana
(No. 190), put it on a dish
and decorate it with bits of
red tongue cut into shapes,
and in the centre put a whole
cooked truffle and a white
cock's comb, both on a silver
skewer. Place the tendons
of veal round the dish. Add
a good Espagnole sauce (No.
1) and serve.
If you like, leave out the
risotto and serve the veal with
Espagnole sauce mixed with
cooked peas and chopped
truffle.
No. 83. Bragiuole di
Vitello (Veal Cutlets)
Ingredients : Veal, salt,
pepper, butter, bacon, carrots,
flour, Chablis, water, lemon.
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
125
Cut a bit of veal steak into
pieces the size of small cut-
lets, salt and pepper them,
and put them in a wide low
stewpan. Add two ounces of
butter, a cut-up carrot, and
some bits of bacon also cut
up. When they are browned,
add a spoonful of flour, half
a glass of Chablis, and half a
glass of water, and cook on a
slow fire for half an hour, then
take out the cutlets, reduce
the sauce, and pass it through
a sieve. Put it back on the
fire and add an ounce of
butter and a good squeeze of
lemon, and when hot pour it
over the cutlets.
No. 84. Costolette alia
Monza (Veal Cutlets)
Ingredients: Veal cutlets
(fowl or turkey cutlets), force-
meat, truffles, mushrooms,
tongue, parsley, pasta mari-
nata (No. 17).
Cut a few horizontal lines
along your cutlets, and on
each put a little veal or fowl
forcemeat, to which add in
equal quantities chopped
truffles, tongue, mushrooms,
and a little parsley. Over
this put a thin layer of
pasta marinata, and fry the
cutlets on a slow fire.
No. 85. Vitello alia Pelle-
grina (Breast of Veal)
Ingredients : Breast of veal,
butter, onions, sugar, stock,
red wine, mushrooms, bacon,
salt, flour, bay leaf.
Roast a bit of breast of
veal, then glaze over two
Spanish onions with butter
and a little sugar, and when
they are a good colour pour
a teacup of stock and a glass
of Burgundy over them, and
add a few mushrooms, a bay
leaf, some salt, and a few bits
of bacon. When the mush-
rooms and onions are cooked,
skim off the fat and thicken
the sauce with a little flour
and butter fried together ;
pour it over the veal and put
the onions and mushrooms
round the dish.
No. 86. Frittura Piccata
al Marsala (Fillet of
Veal)
Ingredients: Veal, butter,
Marsala, stock, lemon, bacon.
Cut a tender bit of veal
steak into small fillets, cut off
all the fat and stringy parts,
flour them and fry them in
butter. When they are slightly
browned add a glass of Mar-
sala and a teacup of good
stock, and fry on a very hot
126*
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
fire, so that the fillets may re-
main tender. Take them off
the fire, put a little roll of fried
bacon on each, add a squeeze
of lemon juice, and serve.
No. 87. Polpettine Distese
(Veal Olives)
Ingredients : Veal steak,
butter, bread, eggs, pis-
tacchio nuts,, spice, parsley.
Cut some slices of veal
steak very thin as for veal
olives, and spread them out
in a well-buttered stewpan.
On each slice of veal put half
a spoonful of the following
mixture : Pound some crumb
of bread and mix it with a
whole egg ; add a little salt,
some pistacchio nuts, herbs,
and parsley chopped up, and
a little butter. Roll up each
slice of veal, cover with a
sheet of buttered paper, put
the cover on the stewpan and
cook for three-quarters of an
hour in two ounces of butter
on a slow fire. Thicken the
sauce with a dessert-spoonful of
flour and butter fried together.
No. 88. Coste di Vitello
Imboracciate (Ribs of
Veal)
Ingredients: Ribs of veal,
butter, eggs, Parmesan, bread
crumbs, parsley.
Cut all the sinews from a
piece of neck or ribs of veal,
cover the meat with plenty of
butter and. half cook it on a
slow fire, then let it get cold.
When cold^egg it over and
roll it in bread crumbs mixed
with a tablespoonful of grated
Parmesan ; fry in butter and
serve with a garnish of fried
parsley and a rich sauce. A
dessert-spoonful of New Cen-
tury sauce mixed with quarter
of a pint of good thick stock
makes a good sauce. (See
No. 226.)
No. 89. Costolette di
Montone alia Nizzarda
(Mutton Cutlets)
Ingredients : Mutton cut-
lets, butter, olives, mush-
rooms, cucumbers.
Trim as many cutlets as
you require, and marinate
them in vinegar, herbs, and
spice for two hours. Before
cooking wipe them well and
then sautez them in clarified
butter, and when they are
well coloured on both sides
and resist the pressure of the
finger, drain off the butter
and pour four tablespoonsful
of Espagnole sauce (No. 1)
with a teaspoonful of vine-
gar and six bruised pepper-
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
127
corns over them. Arrange
them on a dish, putting be-
tween each cutlet a crouton of
fried bread, and garnish with
olives stuffed with chopped
mushrooms and with slices of
fried cucumber.
No. 90. Petto di Castrato
all' Italiana (Breast of
Mutton)
Ingredients: Breast of mut-
ton, veal, forcemeat, eggs,
herbs, spice, Parmesan.
Stuff a breast of mutton
with veal forcemeat mixed
with two eggs beaten up,
herbs, a little spice, and a
tablespoonful of grated Par-
mesan, braize it in stock with
a bunch of herbs and two
onions. Serve with Italian
sauce (No. 6).
No. 91. Petto di Castrato
alia Salsa piccante
(Breast of Mutton)
Ingredients : Same as No.
90.
When the breast of mutton
has been stuffed and cooked
as above, let it get cold and
then cut it into fillets, flour
them over, fry in butter, and
serve with tomato sauce
piquante (No. 10), or one
dessert - spoonful of New
Century sauce in a quarter
pint of good stock or gravy.
No. 92. Tenerumi
d' Agnello alia Villeroy
(Tendons of Lamb)
Ingredients : Tendons of
lamb, eggs, bread crumbs,
truffles, butter, stock, Villeroy
sauce.
Slightly cook the tendons
(the part of the breast near
the ribs) of lamb, press them
between two dishes till cold,
then cut into a good shape
and dip them into a Villeroy
sauce (No. 1 8) egg and bread-
crumb, and sautez them in
butter. When about to serve,
put them in a dish with very
good clear gravy. A tea-
spoonful of chopped mint and
a tablespoonful of chopped
truffles mixed with the bread
crumbs will be a great im-
provement.
No. 93. Tenerumi
d' Agnello alia Veneziana
(Tendons of Lamb)
Ingredients : Tendons of
lamb, butter, parsley, onions,
stock.
Fry the tendons of lamb
in butter together with a tea-
spoonful of chopped parsley
128
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
and an onion,
good gravy.
Serve with a
No. 94. Costolette
d' Agnello alia Costanza
(Lamb Cutlets)
Ingredients : Lamb cutlets,
butter, stock, cocks' combs,
fowl's liver, mushrooms.
Fry as many lambs' cutlets
as you require very sharply in
butter, drain off the butter
and replace it with some very
good stock or gravy. Make a
ragout of cocks' combs, bits of
fowl's liver and mushrooms
all cut up j add a white sauce
with half a gill of cream mixed
with it, and with this mask the
cutlets, and sautez them for
fifteen minutes.
TONGUE, SWEETBREAD, CALF'S
HEAD, LIVER, SUCKING PIG, &c.
No. 95. Timballo alia
Romana
Ingredients : Cold fowl»
game, or sweetbread, butter,
lard, flour, Parmesan, truffles,
» macaroni, onions, cream.
Make a light paste of two
ounces of butter, two of lard,
and half a pound of flour, and
put it in the larder for two
hours. In the meantime boil a
little macaroni and let it get
cold, then line a plain mould
with the paste, and fill it with
bits of cut-up fowl, or game, or
sweetbread, bits of truffle cut
in small dice, grated Parmesan,
and a little chopped onion.
Put these ingredients in alter-
nately, and after each layer
add enough cream to moisten.
Fill the mould quite full, then
roll out a thin paste for the
top and press it well together
at the edges to keep the cream
from boiling out. Bake it in
a moderate oven for an hour
and a half, turn it out of the
mould, and serve with a rich
brown sauce. Decorate the
top with bits of red tongue
and truffles cut into shapes
or with a little chopped pis-
tacchio nut.
No. 96. Timballo alia
Lombarda
Ingredients: Macaroni,
fowl or game, eggs, stock,
Velut£ sauce (No. 2), tongue,
butter, truffles.
Butter a smooth mould,
then boil some macaroni, but
take care that it is in long
pieces. When cold, take 'the
longest bits and line the
bottom of the mould, making
the macaroni go in circles ;
and when you come to the
end of one piece, join on the
next as closely as possible
until the whole mould is lined ;
paint it over now and then
with white of egg beaten up ;
130
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
then iriask. the whole inside
with a thin layer of forcemeat
of fowl, which should also be
put on with white of egg to
make it adhere; then cut up
the bits of macaroni which
remain, warm them up in
some good fowl stock and
Velute' sauce much reduced, a
little melted butter, some bits
of truffle cut into dice; tongue,
fowl, or game also cut up in
pieces. When the mould is
full, put on another layer of
forcemeat, steam for an hour,
then turn out and serve
with a very good brown
No. 97. Lingua alia
Visconti (Tongue)
Ingredients: Tongue,
glaze, bread, spinach, white
grapes, port.
Soak a smoked tongue in
fresh water for forty-eight
hours, then boil it till it is
tender. Peel off the skin,
cut the tongue in rather thick
slices, and glaze them. Pre-
pare an oval border of fried
bread, cover it with spinach
about two inches thick, and
on this arrange the slices of
tongue. Fill in the centre of
the dish with white grapes
cooked in port or muscat.
No. 98. Lingua di Manzo
ai Citriuoli (Tongue
with Cucumber)
Ingredients : Ox tongue,
salt, pepper, nutmeg, parsley,
bacon, veal, carrots, onions,
thyme, bay leaves, cloves,
stock.
Gently boil an ox tongue
until you can peel off the
skin, then lard it, season it
with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and
chopped parsley, and boil it
with some bits of bacon, ham,
veal, a carrot, an onion,- two
bay leaves, thyme and two
cloves. Pour some good stock
over it and let it simmer
gently until it is cooked. Put
the tongue on a dish and gar-
nish it with slices of fried
cucumber. Boil the cucum-
ber for two minutes before
you fry it, to take away the
bitter taste. Serve the tongue
with a sauce piquante, made
with one dessert-spoonful of
New Century sauce to a quar-
ter pint of good Espagnble
sauce (No. 1).
No. 99. Lingue di Cas-
trato alia Cuciniera
(Sheep's Tongues)
Ingredients : Sheep's ton-
gues, bacon, beef, onions,
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
131
herbs, spice, eggs, butter,
flour. °-
Cook three or four sheep's
tongues in good stock, and
add some slices of bacon, bits
of beef, two onions, a bunch
of herbs, and a pinch of spice.
Let them get cold, flour them
and mask them with egg beaten
up and fry quickly in butter.
Serve with Italian sauce (No.
6).
No. 100. LinguediVitello
all' Italiana (Calves'
Tongues)
Ingredients : Calves' ton-
gues, salt, butter, stock, water,
glaze, potatoes, ham, truffles,
sauce piquante.
Rub a good handful of salt
into two or three calves'
tongues and leave them for
twenty-four hours, then wash
off all the salt and soak them
in fresh water for two hours.
Stew them gently till tender,
take them out, skin and braize
them in butter and good stock
for half an hour. Let them get
cold and cut them into slices
about half an inch thick; put
the slices into a buttered sautd-
pan and cover them with a
good thick glaze; let them get
quite hot and then arrange
them on a border of potatoes
and garnish each slice with
round shapes of cooked ham
and truffle. Fill the centre
with any vegetables you like ;
fried cucumber is excellent,
but if you use it do not forget
to boil it -for five minutes
before you fry it to take away
the bitter taste. Serve with
a sauce piquante (No. 10, or
No. 226).
No. 101. Porcelletto alia
Corradino (Sucking Pig)
Ingredients : Sucking pig,
ham, eggs, Parmesan, truffles,
mushrooms, garlic, bay leaves,
coriander seeds, pistacchio
nuts, veal forcemeat, suet,
bacon, herbs, spice.
Bone a sucking pig, remove
all the inside and fill it with
a stuffing made of veal force-
meat mixed with a little chop-
ped suet, ham, bacon, herbs,
two tablespoonsful of finely
chopped pistacchio nuts, a
pinch of spice, six coriander
seeds, two tablespoonsful of
grated Parmesan, cuttings
of truffles and mushrooms
all bound together with eggs.
Sew the pig up and braize it
in a big stewpan with bits of
bacon, a clove of garlic with
two cuts, a bunch of herbs,
and one bay leaf, for half an
132
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
hour. Then pour off the
gravy, cover the pig with well-
buttered paper, and finish
cooking it in the oven.' Gar-
nish the top with vegetables
and truffles cut into shapes,
slices of lemon and sprigs of
parsley. Serve with a good
sauce piquante (No. 229). Do
not leave the garlic in for
more than ten minutes.
No. 102. Porcelletto da
Latte in Galantina
(Sucking Pig)
Ingredients: Sucking pig,
forcemeat of fowl, bacon,
truffles, pistacchio nuts, ham,
lemon, veal, bay leaves, salt,
carrots, onions, shallots, pars-
ley, stock, Chablis, gravy.
Bone a sucking pig all
except its feet, but be careful
not to cut the skin on its
back. Lay it out on a
napkin and line it inside with
a forcemeat of, fowl and veal
about an inch thick, over
this put a layer of bits of
marinated bacon, slices of
truffle, pistacchio nuts, cooked
ham, and some of the flesh
of the pig, then another layer
of forcemeat until the pig's
skin' is fairly filled. Keep its
shape by sewing it lightly to-
gether, then rub it all over
with lemon juice and cover it
with slices of fat bacon, roll it
up and stitch it in a pudding-
cloth. Then put the bones
and cuttings into a stewpan
with bits of bacon and veal
steak cut up, two bay leaves,
salt, a carrot, an onion, a
shallot, and a bunch of
parsley. Into this put the
pig with a bottle of white
wine and sufficient stock to
cover it, and cook on a slow
fire for three hours. Then
take it out, and when cold
take off the pudding-cloth.
Pass the liquor through a
hair sieve, and, if necessary,
add some stock j reduce and
clarify it. Decorate the dish
with this jelly and serve cold.
No. 103. Ateletti alia
Sarda
Ingredients : Veal or fowl,
ox palates, stock, tongue,
truffles, butter, mushrooms,
sweetbread.
Soak two ox palates in
salted water for four hours,
then boil them until the
rough skin comes off, and
cook them in good stock for
six hours, press them between
two plates and let them get
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
'33
cold. Roll some forcemeat
of veal or fowl in flour, cut
it into small pieces about the
size of a cork, boil them in
salted water, let them get
cold and cut them into
circular pieces. Cut the ox
palates also into circular
pieces the same size as the
bits of forcemeat, then thin-
ner circles of cooked tongue
and truffles. String these
pieces alternately on small
silver skewers. Reduce to half
its quantity a pint of Velute"
sauce (No. 2), and add the
cuttings of the truffles, mush-
room 1 trimmings, bits of
sweetbread, and a squeeze of
lemon juice. Let it get cold
and then mask the atelets (or
skewers with the forcemeat,
&c.) with it, and fry them
quickly in butter. Fry a
large oval crouton of bread,
scoop out the centre and
fill it with fried slices of
cucumber and truffles boiled
in a little Chablis. Stick
the skewers into the crou-
ton and pour the sauce
round it. ,
For a maigre dish use fillets
of fish, truffles, mushrooms,
and Bechamel sauce (No. 3).
The cucumber should be
boiled for five minutes before
it is fried.
No. 104. Ateletti alia
Genovese
Ingredients : Veal, sweet-
bread, calf's brains, ox palates,
mushrooms, fonds d'arti-
chauds, cocks' combs, eggs,
Parmesan, bread crumbs.
Cook two ox palates' as in
the last recipe, then take
equal quantities of veal steak,
sweetbread, calfs brains, equal
quantities of mushrooms,
fonds d'artichauds, and cocks'
combs. Fry them all in
butter except the palates,
but be careful to put the veal
in first, as it requires longer
cooking; the brains should
go in last. Then put all
these ingredients on a cut-
ting •'board and add the
palates (cooked separately);
cut them all into pieces of
equal size, either round or
square, but keep the in-
gredients separate, and string
them alternately on silver
skewers, as in the last recipe.
Then pound up all the cut-
tings and add a little crumb
of bread soaked in stock, the
yolks of three eggs, the whites
of two well beaten up, two
dessert- spoonsful of grated
Parmesan, salt to taste, and
chopped truffles. Mix all
this well together and mask
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
134
the atelets with it; egg and
bread crumb them and fry in
"butter. When they are a
good colour, serve with fried
parsley.
No. 105. Testa di Vitello
alia Sorrentina (Calf's
Head)
Ingredients : Calf's head,
veal, sweetbread, truffles,
mushrooms, pistacchio nuts,
eggs, herbs, spice, stock,
bacon, ham.
Boil a half calf's head well,
and when it is half cold, bone
it and fill it with a stuffing of
veal, the calf's brains, sweet-
bread, truffles, mushrooms,
pistacchio nuts, the yolks of
two eggs, herbs, and a little
' spice. Then stitch it up and
braize it in good stock, with
some slices of bacon, ham,
and a bunch of herbs. Serve
with brain sauce mixed with
cream.
No. 106. Testa di Vitello
con Salsa Napoletana
(Calf's Head)
Ingredients : Calf's head,
calf's liver, bacon, suet,
truffles, almonds, olives, calf's
brains, capers, spice, coriander
seeds, herbs, ham, stock.
Boil half a calf's head, bone
it and fill it with a stuffing
made of four ounces of calf's
liver, well chopped up and
pounded in a mortar; two
ounces of bacon, one ounce of
suet, three truffles, sixalmonds,
three olives, six coriander
seeds, six capers, the calf's
brains, a pinch of spice and a
teaspoonful of chopped herbs.
Roll up the head, tie it up
and put it into a stewpan
with some bits of bacon, ham,
and very good stock, and
stew it slowly. Serve with
Neapolitan sauce (No. 1 2), or
with ..tomato sauce piquante
(No. 10).
No. 107. Testa di Vitello
alia Pompadour (Calf's
Head)
Ingredients: Calf's head,
calf's brains, cream, eggs,
truffles, cinnamon, stock,
butter, Parmesan.
Boil and bone half a calf's
head and fill it with a stuffing
made of the calPs brains,
a gill of cream, the yolks of
two eggs, two truffles cut up,
a little chopped ham, and
a tiny pinch of cinnamon.
Boil it in good, stock, and
when it is sufficiently cooked
take it out and mask it all
over with a mixture of butter,
yolk of egg, and a tablespoon-
ful of grated Parmesan, then
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
i35
brown it in the oven and
serve hot.
No. 108. Testa di Vitello
alia Sanseverino (Calf's
Head)
Ingredients: Calf's head,
sweetbread, fowl's liver, an-
chovies, herbs, capers, garlic,
bacon, ham, Malmsey or
Muscat.
Boil and bone half a calf's
head, and fill it with a stuff-
ing made of half a pound of
sweetbread, a fowl's liver, two
anchovies, a teaspoonful of
chopped herbs, a few chopped
capers, and the calf's brains.
Roll the head up, stitch it to-
gether and braize it in half
a tumbler of Malmsey or Aus-
tralian Muscat (Burgoyne's),
half a cup of very good white
stock, some bits of ham and
bacon, and a clove of garlic
with two cuts. Cook it gently
for four hours and serve it
with its own sauce. Do not
leave the garlic in longer than
ten minutes.
No. 109. Testa di Vitello
in Frittata (Calf's
Head)
Ingredients: Calf's head,
eggs, Parmesan, ham, pepper,
butter, croutons.
A good rechauffe of calf's
head may be made in the
following manner : — After the
head has been well boiled in
good stock, cut it into slices
and mask these with a mix-
ture of eggs well beaten up,
grated Parmesan, pepper, and
chopped ham. Fry in butter,
and garnish with fried parsley
and fried croutons. Serve
with a sauce made of a quarter
of a pint of good Bechamel
(No. 3) and a dessert-spoonful
of New Century sauce.
1
No. no. Zampetti
(Calves' Feet)
Ingredients : Calves' or
pigs' feet, butter, leeks or
small onions, parsley, salt,
pepper, stock, tomatoes, eggs,
cheese, cinnamon.
Blanch and bone two or
more calves' or pigs' feet and
put them into a stewpan with
butter, leeks, or onions,
chopped parsley, salt, pepper,
and a little stock. Let them
boil till the liquid is some-
what reduced, then add good
meat gravy and .two table-
spoonsful of tomato puree,
and just before taking the
stewpan off the fire, add the
yolks of two eggs beaten
up, a tablespoonful of grated
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
136
cheese, and a tiny pinch of
cinnamon. Mix all well to-
gether and serve very hot.
No. in. Bodini
Marinati
Ingredients: Veal force-
meat, truffles, sweetbread,
mushrooms, herbs, flour, pasta
marinata (No. 17), tongue,
butter.
Make a mixture of truffles,
tongue, sweetbread, mush-
rooms, and herbs, all chopped
up, and add it to a forcemeat
of veal, the proportions being
two-thirds veal forcemeat and
the other ingredients one-
third. Mix this well and
form it into little balls about
the size of a pigeon's egg,
flour them and mask them all
over with pasta marinata
(No. 17). Fry them in but-
ter over a slow fire, so that
the balls may be well cooked .
through, and when they are
the right colour dry them in a
napkin and serve very hot.
These bodini may be made
with various ingredients ;
they will be most delicate
with a forcemeat of fowl
and bits of brain mixed with
herbs, truffle, cooked ham, or
tongue. They are also ex-
cellent made with fish (sole,
mullet, turbot, &c), either
cooked or raw, and marinated
in lemon, salt, pepper, oil,
nutmeg, and parsley.
No. 112. Animelle alia
Parmegiana (Sweet-
bread)
Ingredients : Sweetbread,
bread crumbs, Parmesan,
butter.
Blanch as many sweet-
breads as you require, and
then roll them in bread crumbs
mixed with grated iParmesan,
salt, and pepper; wrap them
up in buttered grease-proof
paper and grill them. When
they are cooked, take off the
paper, and serve with a good
sauce in a sauce-boat.
No. 113. Animelle in
Cartoccio (Sweetbread)
Ingredients : Sweetbread,
butter, herbs, salt, pepper,
bread crumbs, Parmesan,
lemons, gravy, tomatoes.
Blanch a pound of sweet-
bread cuttings, mix it with two
ounces of melted butter,
chopped herbs, salt, and pep-
per, and put it into paper
souffle' cases. Then strew
over each some bread crumbs
mixed with grated Parmesan,
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
137
put the cases in the oven, and
when they are browned serve
either with good gravy and
lemon juice or with tomato
sauce (No. 9).
No. 114. Animelle all'
Italiana (Sweetbread)
Ingredients : Sweetbread,
butter, onions, salt, herbs,
eggs, glaze, Risotto (No. 190),
truffles, quenelles of fowl,
Espagnole sauce, white sauce.
Blanch as many sweet-
breads as you require, cut
them into quarters and sautez
them in butter with a small
onion cut up, salt, and a
bunch of herbs. Then pour
over them two cups of white
sauce and cook gently for
twenty minutes ; take out the
sweetbreads and put them
in a stewpan. Reduce the
sauce, and add to it a mix-
ture made of the yolks of
four eggs, one and a half ounce
of butter and a teaspoonful
of glaze; pass it through a
sieve, pour it over the sweet-
breads, and keep them warm
in a bain-marie. Have ready
a good Risotto all' Italiana
(No. 190), and put it into a
border mould (but first de-
corate the inside of the mould
with slices of truffle), put it
in a moderate oven, and when ,
it is firm turn it out on a dish.
Place the sweetbreads on the
risotto and fill in the centre
with quenelles of fowl and
Espagnole sauce (No. 1).
No. 115. Animelle Lar-
dellate (Sweetbread)
Ingredients : Sweetbreads,
larding, bacon, stock, a mace"-
doine of vegetables.
Blanch two sweetbreads,
lard them, and cook them
very slowly in good stock.
Skim the stock and reduce it
to a glaze to cover the sweet-
breads. Then cut them into
three or four pieces and
arrange them round a dish,
but see that the larding is well
glazed over. In the centre of
the dish place a piece of
bread in the shape of a cup
and fill this with a mace'doine
of vegetables.
No. 116. Frittura di
Bottoni e di Animelle
(Sweetbread and Mush-
rooms)
Ingredients : Sweetbread, »
fresh button mushrooms,
flour, bread crumbs, salt,
pepper, parsley, butter,
lemons.
i38
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
Peel some button mush-
rooms and cut them ir* halves.
Boil a sweetbread, and cut it
into pieces about the same
size as the mushrooms, flour,
egg, and bread crumb them,
and fry in butter; then
serve with a garnish of fried
parsley. Hand cut lemons
with this dish.
No. 117. Cervello in Fili-
serbe (Calf's Brains)
Ingredients: Calfs brains,
stock, butter, parsley, lemon.
Boil half a calfs brain in
good stock for ten minutes,
then drain and pour a little
melted butter and the juice of
half a lemon over the brain ;
add some chopped parsley
fried-for one minute in butter,
and serve as hot as possible.
No. 118. Cervello alia
Milanese (Calfs Brains)
Ingredients : Calfs brains>
eggs, bread crumbs, butter.
Scald a calfs brain and let
it get cold. Wipe it on a
cloth, and get it as dry as
possible, then cut it into
pieces about the size of a
walnut, egg and bread crumb
them, fry in butter, and strew
a little salt over them.
No. 119. Cervello alia
Villeroy (Calf's Brains)
Ingredients: Calfs brains,
eggs, flour, mushrooms, Velute -
sauce.
Scald a calfs brain, and
when cold cut it up and mask
each piece with a thick sauce
made of well-reduced Velute"
(No. 2), mixed with chopped
cooked mushrooms ; flour
them over and dip them into
the yolk of an egg, and fry as
quickly as possible.
No; 120. Frittura of Liver
and Brains
Ingredients : Calfs liver
and brains (or lamb's or pig's
fry), butter, ham, flour, puff
pastry.
Cut up half a pound of
liver in small slices, flour and
fry them in butter or dripping^
together with a calfs or pig's
or sheep's brain, previously
scalded and also cut up.
Serve with bits of fried ham
and little diamond - shaped
pieces of puff pastry.
No. 121. Cervello in Frit-
tata Montano (Calfs
Brains)
Ingredients: Calfs brains,
stock, cream, eggs, spice,
Parmesan butter.
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
*39
Boil a calf's brain in good
stock for ten minutes, let it
get cold, cut it up into little
balls, and mask each piece
with a mixture made of half a
gill of cream, the yolks of two
eggs, a little spice, a table-
spoonful of grated Parmesan,
and the whites of -two eggs
well beaten up. Fry the balls
in butter, and serve as hot as
possible. You may mask and
cook the calf s brain without
cutting it up, if you prefer it so.
No. 122. Marinata di
Cervello alia Villeroy
(Calfs Brains)
Ingredients : Calfs brains,
stock, Bechamel sauce, eggs,
butter, lemon, forcemeat of
fowl, flour.
Boil a calfs or sheep's
brain in good stock, wipe it
well, and cut it up. Reduce
a pint of Bechamel (No. 3),
and add to it the yolks of
three eggs, an ounce of butter,
and the juice of a lemon.
When it boils throw in the
cut-up brain ; let it cool, then
take out the brain and form
it into little balls about the
size of a small walnut. Make
a forcemeat of fowl, and add
a dessert-spoonful of flour to
it, and spread it out very thin
on : a paste-board, and into
this wrap the balls of brain,
each separately. Dip them
into a pasta marinata (No.
17), and fry them a golden
brown.
No. 123. Minuta alia Mil-
anese (Lamb's Sweet-
bread)
Ingredients : Lamb's sweet-
bread, butter, onions, stock,
Chablis, salt, lemon, herbs,
cocks' combs, fowls' livers.
Cut up equal quantities of
lamb's sweetbreads, cocks'
combs, fowls' livers in pieces
about the size of a filbert,
flour and fry them slightly in
butter and a small bit of
onion, add half a glass of
Chablis, a cup of good stock,
and a bunch of herbs. Re-
duce the sauce, and thicken
it with a tablespoonful of
butter and flour fried together.
Make a border of Risotto all'
italiana (No. 190), and put the
sweetbread, &c, together with
the sauce in the centre.
No. 124. Animelle al
Sapor di Targone
(Lamb's Fry)
Ingredients : Lamb's fry,
ham, garlic, larding bacon,
140
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
spice, herbs, butter, flour,
stock.
The lamb's fry should be
nearly all sweetbread, and
very little liver. Lard each
piece with bacon and ham,
and roll it in chopped herbs
and a pinch of pounded
spice. Then dip it in flour
and braize in good stock,
to which add three ounces of
butter, some bits of bacon,
ham, a bay leaf, herbs, and a
clove of garlic with two cuts.
Cook until the fry is well
glazed over, and serve with
Tarragon sauce (No. 8). Do
not leave the garlic in longer
than ten minutes.
No. 125. Fritto Misto alia
Villeroy
Ingredients : Cocks' combs,
calf's brains, sweetbread, stock,
truffles, mushrooms, Villeroy,
eggs, bread crumbs.
Cook some big cocks'
combs, bits of calfs brains,
and sweetbread in good stock,
then drain them and marinate
them slightly in lemon juice
and herbs. Prepare a Ville-
roy (No. 18), and add to it
cuttings of sweetbread, brains,
truffles, mushrooms, &c.
When it is cold, mask the
cocks' combs and other in-
gredients with it, egg and
bread-crumb them, and fry
them a golden brown.
No. 126. Fritto Misto alia
Piemontese
Ingredients : Sweetbread,
calfs brains, ox palate, flour,
eggs, Chablis, salt, herbs,
butter.
Make a thin paste with a
tablespoonful of flour, the
yolks of two eggs, two spoons-
ful of Chablis, and a little
salt. Mix this up well, and
if it is too thick add a little
water. Beat up the whites of
the two eggs into a snow.
In the meantime blanch a
sweetbread, half a calfs brain,
and a few bits of cooked ox
palate ; boil them all up with
a bunch of herbs ; cut them
into pieces about the size of
a walnut, and dip them into
the paste so that each piece
is well covered, then dip them
into the beaten-up whites of
egg, and fry them very quickly
in butter. This fry is gener-
ally served with a garnish of
French beans, which should
not be cut up, but half boiled,
then dried, floured over and
fried together with the other
ingredients. The ox palates
should be boiled for at least
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
141
six hours before you use them
in this dish.
No. 127. Minuta di Fega-
tini (Ragout of Fowls'
Livers)
Ingredients : Fowls' or
turkeys' livers, flour, butter,
parsley, onions, salt, pepper,
stock, Chablis.
Cut the livers in half, flour
them, and fry lightly in butter
with chopped parsley, very
little chopped onion, salt and
pepper, then add a quarter pint
of boiling stock and half a
glass of Chablis, and cook
until the sauce is somewhat
reduced. You can also cook
the livers simply in good meat
gravy, but in this, case they
should not be floured. Serve
with a border of macaroni
(No. 183), or Risotto (No.
190), or Polenta (No. 187).
No. 128. Minuta alia Vis-
conti (Chickens' Livers)
Ingredients : Fowls' livers,
eggs, cheese, butter, cream,
cayenne pepper.
Braize two fowls' livers in
butter, then pound them up,
and mix with a little cream,
a tablespoonful of grated
cheese and a dust of cayenne.
Spread this rather thickly over
small squares of ,toast, and
keep them hot whilst you
make a custard with half an
ounce of butter, an egg well
beaten up, and a tablespoon-
ful of cheese. Stir it over
the fire till thick and then
spread it on the hot toast.
Serve very hot. This makes
a good savoury.
No. 129. Croutons alia
Principesca
Ingredients: Croutons,
tongue, sweetbread, truffles,
fowl or game, Velute" sauce,
stock/eggs, butter.
Fry a bit of bread in butter
till it is a light brown colour,
then cut it into heart-shaped
pieces. Prepare a ragout with
bits of tongue, sweetbread,
fowl or game, truffles, two or
three spoonsful of well-reduced
Velute" sauce (No. 2), and two
or three of reduced gravy.
Put a spoonful of the ragout
in each crouton, and over it
a layer of fowl forcemeat half
an inch thick ; trim the edges
neatly, glaze them with the yolk
of eggs beaten up, andlputlthem
in a buttered fire-proof dish
in the oven for twenty minutes.
Then glaze them with reduced
stock and serve hot.
142
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
For a maigre dish use fish
for the ragout and forcemeat.
V
No. 130. Croutons alia
Romana
Ingredients : Bread, fowl
forcemeat, tongue, truffles,
herbs, cream, stock, butter,
flour, eggs.
Cut a bit of crumb of bread
into round or square shapes,
and on each put a spoonfut
of fowl or rabbit forcemeat, a
little chopped tongue, and a
slight flavouring of chopped
herbs; cover with a slice of
bread the same shape as the
underneath piece, put them
in a buttered fire-proof dish,
and moisten them well with
cream, butter, and stock.
Cook until all the liquor is
absorbed, but turn them over
so that both sides may be
well cooked, then flour and
dip them into beaten-up eggs ;
fry them a good colour and
serve very hot.
For a maigre dish use force-
meat of fish or lobster, and
more cream instead of stock.
FOWL, DUCK, GAME, HARE,
RABBIT, &c.
No. 131. Soffiato di
Cappone (Fowl Souffle)
Ingredients: Fowl, Bech-
amel, stock, semolina flour,
potatoes, salt, eggs, butter,
smoked tongue or ham.
Prepare a puree of fowl or
turkey and a small quantity of
grated tongue or ham, and
whilst you are pounding the
meat add some good gravy or
stock. Then make a Bechamel
sauce (No. 3) and add two
table - spoonsful of semolina
flour, a boiled potato and salt
to taste, boil it up and add the
puree of fowl, then let it get
nearly cold, add yolks of eggs
and the white beaten up into
a snow. (For one pint of
the puree use the yolks of
three eggs.) Pourjhe whole
into a buttered souffle" case,
and half an hour before
serving put it in a moderate
oven and serve hot. You
can use game instead of fowl,
and serve in little souffle*
cases.
No. 132. Polio alia Fior-
entina (Chicken)
Ingredients : Fowl, butter,
vegetables, rice or macaroni,
peppercorns, stock, ham,
tomatoes, bay leaves, onions,
cloves, Liebig.
Roll up a fowl in buttered
paper and put it in the oven
in a fireproof dish with all
kinds of vegetables and a few
peppercorns. Leave it there
for about two hours, then put
the fowl and vegetables into
two quarts of good stock and
let it simmer for one hour;
serve on well-boiled rice or
macaroni and pour the follow-
ing sauce over it. Sauce : —
Two pounds tomatoes, one
big cup of good stock, a
quarter pound of chopped
ham, three bay leaves, one
onion stuck with cloves, one
144
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
teaspoonful of Liebig. Sim-
mer an hour and a half.
No. 133. Polio all' Oliva
(Chicken)
Ingredients : Fowl, onions,
celery, salt, parsley, carrots,
butter, stock, olives, tomatoes.
Cut up half an onion, a
stick of celery, a sprig of
parsley, a carrot, and cook
them all in a quarter pound
of butter. Into this put a
fowl cut up and let it get
brown all over, turn when-
necessary and then baste it
with boiling stock. Add
four Spanish olives cut up
and four others pounded in
a mortar, eight whole olives
and three tablespoonsful of
tomato puree reduced, and
when the fowl is well cooked
pour the sauce over it.
No. 134. Polio alia Ville-
reccia (Chicken)
Ingredients : Fowl, butter,
flour, stock, " bacon, ham,
mushrooms, onions, cloves,
eggs, cream, lemons.
Cut up a fowl into quarters
and put it into a saucepan
with three ounces of butter
and a tablespoonful'of flour.
Put it on the fire, and when
it is well browned add half a
pint of stock, bits of bacon
and ham, butter, three mush-
rooms (previously boiled), an
onion stuck with three cloves.
When this is cooked skim off
the grease, pass the sauce
through a sieve, and add the
yolks of two eggs mixed with
two tablespoonsful of cream.
Lastly, add a squeeze of lemon
juice to the sauce and pour it
over the fowl.
No. 135. Polio alia Cacci-
atora (Chicken)
Ingredients : The same as
No. 134 and tomatoes.
Cook the fowl exactly as
above, but add either a puree
of tomatoes or tomato sauce.
No. 136. Pollastro alia
Lorenese (Fowl)
Ingredients : Fowl, butter,
parsley, lemon, small onions,
bread crumbs.
Cut up a fowl and put it
into a frying-pan with two
ounces of butter, one onion
cut up and a sprig of chopped
parsley, salt and pepper ; put
it on the fire and cook it, but
turn the pieces several times ;
then take them out and roll
them whilst hot in bread
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
US
crumbs, and fry them,
with cut lemons.
Serve
No. 137. Pollastro in Fri-
cassea al Burro (Fowl)
Ingredients : Fowl, butter,
fat bacon, ham, mushrooms,
truffles, herbs, spice, gravy.
Cut up a fowl and cook it
in a fricassee of butter, bacon,
ham, herbs, mushrooms, truf-
fles, spice, and good gravy
or stock. Serve in its own
gravy.
No. 138. Pollastro in is-
tufa di Pomidoro
(Braised Fowl)
Ingredients : Fowl, bacon,
ham, bay leaf, spice, garlic,
Burgundy, tomatoes.
Braise a fowl with bits of
fat bacon, ham, a bay leaf, a
clove of garlic with one cut
in it, a pinch of spice, and a
glass of Burgundy. Only
leave the garlic in for five
minutes. When cooked serve
with tomato sauce (No. 9).
No. 139. Cappone con
Riso (Capon with Rice)
Ingredients : Capon, veal
forcemeat, fat bacon, stock,
rice, truffles, mushrooms,
cocks' combs, kidneys or
fowls' liver, supreme sauce,
milk, Chablis.
Stuff a fine capon with a
good firm forcemeat made
of veal, tongue, ham, and
chopped truffles; cover it
with larding Bacon ; tie it up
in buttered paper, and cook
it in very good white stock.
In the meantime boil four
ounces of rice in milk till
quite stiff, mix in some
chopped truffles, and make
ten little timbales of it. Take
out the capon when it is suffi-
ciently cooked and place it
on a dish; garnish it with
cooked mushrooms, cocks'
combs, kidneys, or fowls'
livers, and pour a sauce su-
preme (No. 16) over it; round
the dish place the timbales of
rice, and between each put a
whole truffle cooked in white
wine. Serve a sauce supreme
in a sauce bowl.
No. 140. Dindo Arrosto
alia Milanese (Roast
Turkey)
Ingredients : Turkey, sau-
sage meat, prunes, chestnuts,
a pear, butter, Marsala, salt,
rosemary, bacon, carrot, onion,
turnip, garlic.
Blanch for seven or eight
K
146
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
minutes three prunes, quarter
of a pound of sausage meat,
three tablespoonsful of chest-
nut purge, two small slices of
bacon, half a cooked pear,
and sautez them in butter;
chop up the liver and gizzard
of the turkey, mix them with
the other ingredients, and add
half a glass of Marsala ; use
this as a stuffing for the tur-
key, and first braize it for
three quarters of an hour with
salt, butter, a blade of rose-
mary, bits of fat bacon, a
carrot, a turnip, an onion,
three cloves, and a clove of
garlic with a cut ; then roast
it before a clear fire for about
twenty minutes ; put it back
into the sauce till it is ready ,
to serve. Only leave the
garlic in ten minutes.
No. 141. Tacchinotto all'
Istriona (Turkey
Poult)
Ingredients: A turkey
poult, ham, mace, bay leaves,
lemons, water, salt, onions,
parsley, celery,carrots,Chablis.
Truss a turkey poult, and
cover it all over with slices of
ham or bacon, put two bay
leaves and four slices of lemon
on it, and sprinkle with a
small pinch of mace, then sew
it up tight in a dishcloth, and
stew it in good stock, salt,
an onion, parsley, a stick of
celery, a carrot, and a pint
of Chablis ; cook for an hour,
take it out of the cloth, and
pour a good rich sauce over
it. It is also good cold with
aspic jelly.
No. 142. Fagiano alia
Napoletana (Pheasant)
Ingredients: Pheasant,
macaroni, gravy, butter, Par-
mesan, tomatoes.
Lard a pheasant, roast it,
and serve it on a layer of
macaroni cooked with good
reduced gravy, two ounces
of butter, a tablespoonful of
grated Parmesan, and a purge
of tomatoes. Serve with
Neapolitan sauce (No. 12)
in a sauce bowl.
No. 143. Fagiano alia
Perigb (Pheasant)
Ingredients: Pheasant,
butter, truffles, larding bacon,
Madeira.
Make a mixture of three
tablespoonsful of chopped
truffles, three ounces of butter
and a little salt, and with
this stuff a pheasant. Then
cover it with slices of fat
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
m
bacon and keep it in a cool
place till next day. A few
hours before serving roast
the pheasant and baste it
well with melted butter and
a wine-glass of Madeira or
Marsala. Make a crouton
of fried bread the shape of
your dish, and over this put
a layer of forcemeat of fowl
and a number of small fowl
quenelles; cover them with
buttered paper, then put the.
dish in the oven for a few
minutes so as to settle
the forcemeat. When the
pheasant is cooked, place it
on the crouton and garnish
it with slices of truffle which
have been previously cooked
in Madeira, and serve with a
Perigord sauce.
a cup of stock, and a cup of
Espagnole sauce (No. i), and
cook gently for ten minutes.
In the meantime shape and
blanch six young turnips and
as many young carrots, put
them into a stewpan, and
on the top of them put the
pieces of wild duck, liver, &c.
Pass the liquor through a
sieve and pour it over the
wild duck, add a bunch of
parsley and other herbs and
five little mushrooms cut up,
and cook on a slow fire for
half an hour. Skim the
sauce, pass it through a sieve
and add a pinch of sugar, i
Put the pieces of wild duck
in an entree dish, add the
vegetables, &c, pour the
sauce over and serve.
No. 144. Anitra Selvatica
(Wild Duck)
Ingredients : Wild duck,
butter, fowls' livers, Marsala,
gravy, turnips, carrots, pars-
ley, mushrooms.
Cut a wild duck into
quarters and put it into a
stewpan with two fowls' livers
cut up and fried in butter.
When the pieces of duck are
coloured on both sides, pour
off the butter, and in its
place pour a glass of Marsala,
No. 145. Perniciotti alia
Gastalda (Partridges)
Ingredients : Partridges,
cauliflower, bacon, sausage,
fowls' livers, carrots, onions,
herbs, stock, gravy, butter,
Madeira.
Cut a cauliflower into
quarters, blanch for a few
minutes, drain, and put it
into a saucepan with some
bits of bacon. Let it drain
on paper till dry, then arrange
the bits in a circle in a deep
148
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
stewpan, and in the centre
put a small bit of sausage,
the livers of the partridges,
a fowl's liver cut up, a carrot,
an bnion, and a bunch of
herbs. Cover about three-
quarters high with good stock
and gravy, put butter on the
top and boil gently for an
hour; then take out the
sausage, replace it by two or
three partridges, and simmer
for three-quarters of an hour.
In the meantime cut a sausage
in thin slices and line a
mould with it. When the
birds are cooked, take them
out, drain and cut them up,
and fill the mould with al-
ternate layers of partridge
and cauliflower, and steam
for half an hour. Five
minutes before serving turn
the mould over on a plate,
but do not take it off, so as
to let all the grease drain off.
Cut up the fowls' and par-
tridges' livers, make them
into scallops and glaze them.
Wipe off all the grease round
the mould j take it off, garnish
the dish with the scallops of
liver and serve hot with an
Espagnole sauce (No. 1) re-
duced, and add a glass of
Madeira or Marsala, and a
glass of essence of game to it.
This is an excellent way of
cooking an old partridge or
pheasant.
No. 146. Beccaccini alia
Diplomatica (Snipe)
Ingredients: Snipe, ham,
larding bacon, herbs, Mar-
sala, croutons, truffles, cocks'
combs, mushrooms, sweet-
bread, tongue.
Truss fourteen snipe and
cook them in a mirepoix made
with plenty of ham, fat bacon,
herbs, and a wine glass of
Marsala. When they are
cooked pour off the sauce,
skim off the grease and reduce
it. Take the two smallest
snipe and make a forcemeat
of them by pounding them in
a mortar with the livers of all
the snipe, then dilute this
with reduced Espagnole sauce
(No. 1) and add it to the first
sauce. Cut twelve croutons
of bread just large enough to
hold a snipe each, and fry
them in butter. Add some
chopped herbs and truffles to
the forcemeat, spread it on the
croutons, and on each place a
snipe and cover it with a bit of
fat bacon and buttered paper.
Put them in a moderate oven
for a few minutes, arrange
them on a dish, and pour
some of their own sauce over
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
149
them. Garnish the spaces
between the croutons with
white cocks' combs, mush-
rooms, and truffles. The
truffles should be scooped out
and filled with a little stuffing
of sweetbread, tongue, and
truffles mixed with a little of
the sauce of the snipe. Serve
the rest of the sauce in a
sauce-boat.
No. 147. Piccioni alia
minuta (Pigeons)
Ingredients : Pigeons,
butter, truffles, herbs, fowls'
livers, sweetbread, salt, flour,
stock, Burgundy.
Prepare two pigeons and
put them into a stewpan with
two ounces of butter, two
truffles cut up, two fowls'
livers, half-pound of sweet-
bread cuttings (boiled), a
bunch of herbs and salt. Let
them brown a little, then add
a dessert-spoonful of flour
mixed with stock, and half a
glass of Burgundy, and stew
gently for half an hour.
No. 148. Piccioni in
Ripieno (Stuffed Pigeons)
Ingredients: Pigeons,
sweetbread, parsley, onions,
carrots, salt, pepper, bacon,
stock, Chablis, fowls' livers,
and gizzards.
Cut up a sweetbread, a
fowl's liver and gizzard, an
onion, a sprig of parsley, and
add salt and pepper.' Put this
stuffing into two pigeons, tie
larding bacon over them, and
put them into a stewpan with
a glass of Chablis, a cup of
stock, an onion, and a carrot.
When cooked pass the sauce
through a sieve, skim it, add a
little more sauce, and pour it
over the pigeons.
No. 149. Lepre in istufato
(Stewed Hare)
Ingredients : Hare, butter,
onions, garlic, marjoram,
celery, ham, salt, Chablis,
stock, mushrooms, spice,
tomatoes.
Put into a stewpan three
ounces of butter, an onion cut
up, a clove of garlic with a
cut across it, a sprig of
marjoram, and a little cut-up
ham. Fry these slightly, put
the hare cut up into the same
stewpan, and let it get brown.
Then pour a glass of Chablis
and a glass of stock over it ;
add a little tomato sauce or a
mashed-up tomato, a pinch
of spice, and a few mush-
rooms j take out the garHc
i5o
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
and let the rest stew gently
for an hour or more. Keep
the cover on the stewpan, but
stir the stew occasionally.
No. 150. Lepre Agro-
dolce (Hare)
Ingredients : Hare, vinegar,
butter, onion, ham, stock,
salt, sugar, chocolate, al-
monds, raisins.
Cut up a hare and wash
the pieces in vinegar, then
cook them in butter, chopped
onion, some bits of ham,
stock and a little salt. Half
fill a wine-glass with sugar,
and add vinegar until the
glass is three - quarters full,
mix the vinegar and sugar well
together, and when the hare
is browned all over and
nearly cooked, pour the vine-
gar over it and add a dessert-
spoonful of grated chocolate,
a few shredded almonds and
stoned raisins. Mix all well
together and cook for a few
minutes more. This is a
favourite Roman dish.
No. 151. Coniglio alia
Provenzale (Rabbit)
Ingredients : Rabbit, flour,
butter, stock, Chablis, parsley,
onion, spice, mushrooms.
Cut up a rabbit, wipe the
pieces, flour them over, and
fry them in butter until they
are coloured all over. Then
pour a glass of Chablis over
them, add some chopped
parsley, half an onion, three
mushrooms, salt, and a cup
of good stock. Cover the
stewpan and cook on a
moderate fire for about three-
quarters of an hour. Should
the stew get too dry, add a
spoonful of stock occasionally.
No. 152. Coniglio arros-
tito alia Corradino
(Roast Rabbit)
Ingredients : Rabbit, pig's
fry, butter, salt, pepper, fen-
nel, bay leaf, onions.
Make a stuffing of pig's fry
(previously cooked in butter),
salt, pepper, fennel, an onion,
all chopped up, and a bay
leaf. With this stuff a rabbit
and braize it for half an hour,
then roast it before a brisk
fire and baste it well with
good gravy. If you like, put
in a clove of garlic with one
cut whilst it is being braized,
but only leave it in for five
minutes. Serve with ham
sauce (Salsa di Proscuitto,
No. 7.) A fowl may be
cooked in this way.
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
151
No. 153. Coniglio in
salsa Piccante (Rabbit)
Ingredients : Rabbit, butter>
flour, celery, parsley, onion,
carrot, mushrooms, cloves,
spices, Burgundy, stock,
capers, anchovies.
Cut up a rabbit, wipe the
pieces well on a dishcloth,
flour them over and put them
into a frying-pan with two
ounces of butter and fry for
about ten minutes. Then
add half a stick of celery,
parsley, an onion, half a
carrot, and three mushrooms,
all cut up, three cloves, a
pinch of spice and salt, a
glass of Burgundy, and the
same quantity of stock ; cover
the stewpan and cook for half
an hour, then put the pieces
of rabbit into another stew-
pan and pass the liquor
through a sieve ; press it well
with a wooden spoon, so as
to get as much through as
possible, pour this over the
rabbit and add four capers
and an anchovy in brine
pounded in a mortar, mix all
well together, let it simmer
for a few minutes, then serve
hot with a garnish of croutons
fried in butter.
VEGETABLES
No. 154. Asparagi alia
salsa Suprema (Aspar-
agus)
Ingredients : Asparagus,
butter, nutmeg, salt, supreme
sauce (No. 16), gravy, lemon,
Parmesan.
Cut some asparagus into
pieces about an inch long and
cook them in boiling water
with salt, then drain and put
them into a saute* pan with
one and a half ounce of melted
butter and sautez for a few
minutes, but first add salt, a
pinch of nutmeg, and a dust
of grated cheese. Pour a
little supreme sauce over
them, and at the last add a
little gravy, one ounce of fresh
butter, and a squeeze of lemon
juice.
No. 155. Cavoli di Brux-
elles alia Savoiarda
(Brussels Sprouts)
Ingredients: Brussels
sprouts, butter, pepper, stock,
Bechamel sauce, Parmesan,
croutons.
Take off the outside leaves
of half a pound of Brussels
sprouts, wash and boil them
in salted water. Let them
get cool, drain, and put them
in a pie-dish with two ounces
of fresh butter, a quarter pint
of very good stock, a little
pepper, and a dust of grated
Parrnesan. When they are
well glazed over, pour off the
sauce, season with three table-
spoonsful of boiling Bechamel
sauce (No. 3), and serve with
croutons fried in butter.
No. 156. Barbabietola alia
Parmigiana (Beetroot)
Ingredients : Beetroot,
white sauce, Parmesan, Ched-
dar.
Boil a beetroot till it is
quite tender, peel it, cut into
slices, put it in a fireproof dish,
and cover it with a thick white
sauce. Strew a little grated
Parmesan and Cheddar over
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
iS3
it. Put it in the oven for a
few minutes, and serve very
hot in the dish.
No. 157. Fave alia
Savoiarda (Beans)
Ingredients: Beans, stock,
a bunch of herbs, Bechamel
sauce.
Boil one»pound of broad
beans in salt and water, skin
and cook them in a saucepan
with a quarter pint of reduced
stock and a bunch of herbs.
Drain them, take out the
herbs, and season with two
glasses of Bdchamel sauce
(No. 3).
No. 158. Verze alia
Capuccina (Cabbage)
Ingredients: Cabbage
or greens, anchovies, salt,
butter, parsley, gravy, Par-
mesan.
Boil two cabbages in a good
deal of water, and cut them
into quarters. Fry two an-
chovies slightly in butter and
chopped parsley, add the cab-
bages, and at the last three
tablespoonsful of good gravy,
.two tablespoonsful of grated
Parmesan, salt and pepper,
and when cooked, serve.
No. 159. Cavoli fiori alia
Lionese (Cauliflower)
Ingredients : Cauliflower,
butter, onions, parsley, lemon,
Espagnole sauce.
Blanch a cauliflower and
boil it, but „not too much.
Cut up a small onion, fry it
slightly in butter and chopped
parsley, and when it is well
coloured, add the cauliflower
and finish cooking it, then
take it out, put it in a dish,
pour a good Espagnole sauce
(No 4 1) over it, and add a
squeeze of lemon juice.
No. 160. Cavoli fiori fritti
(Cauliflower)
Ingredients : Cauliflower ,
or broccoli, gravy, lemon, salt,
eggs, butter.
Break up a broccoli or
cauliflower into little bunches,
blanch them, and put them
on the fire in a saucepan
with good gravy for a few
minutes, then marinate them
with lemon juice and salt, let
them get cold, egg them over,
and fry in butter.
No. 161. Cauliflower alia
Parmigiana
Ingredients : Cauliflower,
butter, Parmesan, Cheddar,
Espagnole, stock.
i54
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
Boil a cauliflower in salted
water, then sautez it in butter,
but be careful not to cook it
too much. Take it off the
fire and strew grated Par-
mesan and Cheddar over it,
then put in a fire-proof dish
and add a good; 1 spoonful of
stock and one of Espagnole
(No. i), and put it in the
oven for ten minutes.
No. 162. Cavoli Fiori
Ripieni
Ingredients : Cauliflower,
butter, stock, forcemeat of
fowl, tongue, truffles, mush-
rooms, parsley, Espagnole,
eggs.
Break up a cauliflower
into separate little bunches,
blanch them, and put them
in -butter, and a quarter
pint of reduced stock.
Make a . forcemeat of fowl,
add bits of tongue, truffles,
mushrooms, and parsley, all
cut up small and mixed with
butter. With this mask the
pieces of cauliflower, egg and
breadcrumb them, fry like
croquettes, and serve with a
good Espagnole sauce (No. 1).
No. 163. Sedani alia
Parmigiana (Celery)
Ingredients : Celery, stock,
ham, salt, pepper, Parmesan.
Cut all the green off a
head of celery, trim the rest.
Cut it into pieces about four
inches long, blanch and
braize them in good stock,
ham, salt, and pepper. When
cooked, drain and arrange
them on a dish, sprinkle
with grated Parmesan and
Cheddar, and add one and a
half ounce of butter, then put
them in the oven till they
have taken a good colour,
pour a little good gravy over
them and serve.
No. 164. Sedani fritti all'
italiana (Celery)
Ingredients : Same as No.
163, eggs, bread crumbs, to-
matoes.
Prepare a head of celery as
above, and cut it up into equal
pieces. Blanch and braize as
above, and when cold egg and
breadcrumb and sautez in
butter. Serve with tomato
sauce.
No. 165. Cetriuoli alia
Parmigiana (Cucumber)
Ingredients : Cucumber,
butter, cheese, gravy, salt,
cayenne.
Cut a cucumber into slices
about half an inch thick, boil
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
i55
for five minutes in salted
water, drain in a sieve,' and
fry slightly in melted butter,
then strew a little grated
Parmesan over it, and add a
good thick gravy, put it into
the oven for ten minutes to
brown, and serve as hot as
possible.
No. 166. Cetriuoli alia
Borghese (Cucumber)
Ingredients : Cucumber,
cream, salt, Bechamel sauce,
butter, Parmesan, cayenne
pepper.
Cook a cucumber as in
No. 165, braize it for five
minutes, add to it a good rich
Bechamel (No. 3), mixed with
cream and grated Parmesan.
Spread this well over the
cucumber, and put it into
the oven for ten minutes,
keeping the rounds of cucum-
ber separate, so as to arrange
them in a circle on a very hot
dish. Care should be taken
not to cook the cucumber too
long, or it will break in pieces,
and spoil the look of the dish.
r
No. 167. Carote al sug-
hillo (Carrots)
Ingredients: Carrots, stock,
salt, butter, sausage, pepper.
Boil some young carrots
in stock, slice them up, and
put them in a stewpan with
a sausage cut up ; , cook for
quarter of an hour on a slow
fire, then stir up the fire, and
when the carrots and sausage
are a good colour add a good
Espagnole sauce (No. i), and
serve.
No. 168. Carote e piselli
alia panna (Carrots and
Peas)
Ingredients : Young carrots,
peas, cream, salt.
Half cook equal quantities
of peas and young carrots
(the carrots should be cut in
dice, and will require a little
longer cooking), then put
them together in a, stewpan
with three or four tablespoons-
ful of cream, and cook till
quite tender. Serve hot.
No. 169. Verze alia Certo-
sina (Cabbage)
Ingredients : Cabbage,
butter, salt, leeks or shallots,
sardines, cheese.
Any vegetable may be
cooked in the following simple
manner : — Boil them well,
then slightly fry a little bit of
leek or shallot and a sardine
i 5 6
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
in butter; drain the vegetables,
put them in the butter, and
cook gently so that they may
absorb all the flavour, and at
the last add a dust of grated
cheese and a tiny pinch of
spice.
No. 170. Lattughe al sugo
(Lettuce)
Ingredients: Lettuce,
Parmesan, bacon, stock,
butter, croutons of bread,
gravy.
Take off the outside leaves
of a lettuce, blanch and drain
them well. Put on each leaf
a mixture of grated Parmesan,
salt, little bits of chopped
bacon or ham, add a little
good stock, cover over with
buttered paper, and cook in
a hot oven for five minutes.
Then drain off the stock and
roll up eachleafwith the bacon,
&c, put them on croutons of
fried bread and pour some
good thick gravy over them.
No. 171. Lattughe farcite
alia Genovese (Lettuce)
Ingredients : Lettuce, force-
meat of fowl or veal, ham,
Espagnole sauce.
Prepare a lettuce as above^
and spread on each leaf a
spoonful of forcemeat of fowl
or veal, add a little cooked
ham chopped up, roll up
the leaves, and cook as
above. Drain them on a
cloth, arrange them neatly on
a dish, and pour some good
Espagnole sauce (No. 1) over
them.
No. 172. Funghi cappelle
infarcite (Stuffed
Mushrooms)
Ingredients : Mushrooms,
bread, stock, garlic, parsley,
salt, Parmesan, butter, eggs,
cream.
Choose a dozen good fresh
mushrooms, take off the stalks
and put the tops into a sauce-
pan with a little butter. See
that they lie bottom upwards.
Then cut up and mix together
half the stalks of the mush-
rooms, a little bread crumb
soaked in gravy, the merest
scrap of garlic and a little
chopped parsley. Put this
into a separate saucepan and
add to it two eggs, half a gill
of cream, salt, and two table-
spoonsful of grated Parmesan.
Mix well, so as to get a smooth
paste and fill in the cavities
of the mushrooms with it.
Then add a little more butter,
strew some bread crumbs over
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
157
each mushroom, and cook in
the oven for ten to fifteen
minutes.
No. 173. Verdure miste
(Macedoine of Vege-
tables)
Ingredients : Cauliflower,
carrots, celery, spinach, butter,
cream, pepper, Parmesan.
Boil some carrots, cauli-
flower, spinach, and celery (all
cut up) in water. Then put
them in layers in a buttered
china mould,and between each
layer add a little cream, pepper,
and a little grated Parmesan
and Cheddar. Fill the mould
in this manner, and put it in
the oven for half an hour, so
that the vegetables may cook
without adhering to the
mould. Turn out and serve.
No. 174. Patate alia
crema(Potatoes in cream)
Ingredients : Potatoes, but-
ter, Parmesan, white stock,
cream, pepper, salt.
Boil two pounds of potatoes
in salted water for a quarter
of an hour, peel and cut them
into slices about the size of a
penny, then arrange them in
layers in a very deep firepropf
dish (with a lid), and on each
layer pour a little melted
butter, a little good white
stock and a dust of grated
Parmesan. Reduce a pint
and a half of cream to half
its quantity, add a little
pepper, and pour it over the
potatoes. Put the dish in
the oven for twenty minutes.
Serve as hot as possible.
No. 175. Cestelline di
patate alia giardiniera
(Potatoes)
Ingredients: Potatoes,
white stock, salt, butter, peas,
asparagus, sprouts, beans, &c.
Choose some big sound
potatoes, cut them in half and
scoop out a little of the centre
so as to form a cavity, blanch
them in salted water and cook
for a quarter of an hour in
good white stock and a little
butter. Then fill in the
cavities with a macedoine of
cooked vegetables and add a
little cream to each.
No. 176. Patate al Pomi-
doro (Potatoes with
Tomato Sauce)
Ingredients : Potatoes,
butter, salt, tomatoes, lemon,
stock.
Peel three or four raw
i58
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
potatoes, cut them in slices
about the size of a five-shilling
piece, then put them into a
stewpan with J:wo ounces of
melted butter, and cook them
gently until they are a good
colour, add salt, drain off the
butter, then glaze them by
adding half a glass of good
stock. Arrange them on a
dish, pour some good tomato
sauce over them, and add a
little butter and a squeeze of
lemon juice.
No. 177. Spinaci alia
Milanese (Spinach)
Ingredients : Spinach, but-
ter, Velute sauce, salt, pepper,
flour, stock.
Wash three pounds of spin-
ach at least six times, boil it in
a pint of water, then mince it
up very fine, pass it through
a hair-sieve, and put it in a
saucepan with one and a half
ounces of butter, add a cup-
ful of reduced Velute" sauce
(No. 2) with cream; salt, and
pepper, add a dessert-spoon-
ful of flour and butter mixed,
and boil until the spinach is
firm enough to make into a
shape, garnish with hard-
boiled eggs cut into quarters,
and pour a good Espagnole
sauce (No. 1) round the dish.
No. 178. Insalata di patate
(Potato salad)
Ingredients : New potatoes,
oil, white vinegar, onions,
parsley, tarragon, chervil,
celery, cream, salt, pepper,
tarragon vinegar, watercress,
cucumher, truffles.
Steam as many new pota-
toes as you require until they
are well cooked, let them get
cold, cut them into slices and
pour three teaspoonsful of
salad oil and one of white
vinegar over them. Then rub
a salad bowl with onion, put
in a layer of the potato slices,
and sprinkle with chopped
parsley, tarragon, chervil, and
celery, then another layer of
potatoes until you have used
all the potatoes ; cover them
with whipped cream seasoned
with salt, pepper, and a little
tarragon vinegar, and garnish
the top with watercress, a few
thin slices of truffle cooked in
white wine, and some slices
of cooked cucumber.
No. 179. Insalata alia
Navarino (Salad)
Ingredients: Peas, beans,
onions, potatoes, tarragoa
chives, parsley, tomatoes, an,
chovies, oil, vinegar, ham.
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
*59
Mix a tablespoonful of
chopped parsley, a teaspoon-
ful of chopped onion, a tea-
spoonful of tarragon and chop
ped chives with half a gill of
oil and half a gill of vinegar.
Put this into a salad bowl
with all sorts of cooked vege-
tables — peas, haricot beans,
small onions, and potatoes cut
up, and mix them well but
gently, so as not to break the
vegetables. Then add two or
three anchovies in oil, and on
the top place three or four
ripe tomatoes cut in slices.
A little cooked smoked ham
cut in dice added to this salad
is a great improvement.
No. 180. Insalata di
pomidoro (Tomato Salad)
Ingredients : Tomatoes,
mayonnaise, shallot, horse-
radish, gherkin, anchovies,
fish, cucumber, lettuce, cher-
vil, tarragon, eggs.
Mix the following ingredi-
ents : two anchovies in oil
boned and minced, a gill of
mayonnaise sauce, a little
grated horse-radish, very little
chopped shallot, a little cold
salmon or trout, and a small
gherkin chopped. With this
mixture stuff some ripe to-
matoes. Then make a good
salad of endive or lettuce, a
teaspoonful of chopped tar-
ragon and chervil, season it
with oil, vinegar, salt, and
pepper(the proportions should
be three of oil to one of vine-
gar), put a layer of slices of
cucumber in the salad, place
the tomatoes on the top of
these, and decorate them
with hard-boiled eggs passed
through a wire sieve.
No. 181. Tartufi alia
Dino (Truffles)
Ingredients : Truffles, fowl
forcemeat, champagne.
Allow one truffle for each
person, scoop out the inside,
chop it up fine and mix with
a good forcemeat of fowl.
With this fill up the truffles,
place a thin layer of truffle
on the top of each, and cook
them in champagne in a
stewpan for about half an
hour. Then take them out,
make a rich sauce, to which
add the champagne you have
used and some of the chopped
truffle, put the truffles in this
sauce and keep hot for ten
minutes. Serve in paper
souffle' cases.
MACARONI, RICE, POLENTA, AND
OTHER ITALIAN PASTES
No. 182. Macaroni with
Tomatoes
Ingredients : Macaroni,
tomatoes, butter, onion, basil,
pepper, salt.
Fry half an onion slightly
in butter, and as soon as it
is coloured add a puree of two
big cooked tomatoes. Then
boil quarter of a pound of
macaroni separately, drain it
and put it in a deep fire-prodf
dish, add the tomato puree
and three tablespoonsful of
grated Parmesan and Cheddar
mixed, and cook gently for
a quarter of an hour before
serving. This dish may be
made with vermicelli, spa-
ghetti, or any other Italian
paste.
No. 183. Macaroni alia
Casalinga
Ingredients : Macaroni,
butter, stock, cheese, water,
salt, nutmeg.
Cut up a quarter pound of
macaroni in small pieces and
put it in boiling salted water.
When sufficiently cooked,
drain and put it into a
saucepan with two ounces of
butter, add good gravy or
stock, three tablespoonsful of
grated Parmesan and Cheddar
mixed, and a tiny pinch of
nutmeg. Stir over a brisk
fire, and serve very hot.
No. 184. Macaroni al
Sughillo
Ingredients : Macaroni,
stock, tomatoes, sausage,
' cheese.
Half cook four ounces of
macaroni, drain it and put it
in layers in a fireproof dish,
and gradually add good beef
gravy, four tablespoonsful .of
tomato puree, and thin slices
of sausage. Sprinkle with
grated Parmesan and Ched-
dar, and cook for about twenty
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
161
minutes. Before serving pass
the salamander over the top
to brown the macaroni.
No. 185. Macaroni alia
Livornese
Ingredients : Macaroni,
mushrooms, tomatoes, Par-
mesan, butter, pepper, salt,
milk.
Boil about four ounces of
macaroni, and stew four or
five mushrooms in milk with
pepper and salt. Put a layer
of the macaroni in a buttered
fire-proof dish, then a layer of
tomato purde, then a layer
of the mushrooms and an-
other layer of macaroni. Dust
it all over with grated Par-
mesan and Cheddar, put it in
the oven for half an hour, and
serve very hot.
No. 186. Tagliarelle and
Lobster
Ingredients : Tagliarelle,
lobster, cheese, butter.
Boil half a pound of
tagliarelle, and cut up a
quarter of a pound of lobster.
Butter a fire-proof dish, and
strew it well with grated Par-
mesan and Cheddar mixed,
then put in the tagliarelle
and lobster in layers, and
between each layer add a little
butter. Strew grated cheese
over the top, ptft it in the
oven for twenty minutes, and
brown the top with a sala-
mander.
No. 187. Polenta
Polenta is made of ground
Indian-corn, and may be used
either as a separate dish or
as a garnish for roast meat,
pigeons, fowl, &c. It is
made like porridge ; gradually
drop the meal with one hand
into boiling stock or water,
and stir continually with a
wooden spoon with the other
hand. In about a quarter of
an hour it will be quite thick
and smooth, then add a little
butter and grated Parmesan,
and one egg beaten up. Let
it get cold, then put it in
layers in a baking-dish, add a
little butter to each layer,
sprinkle with plenty of Par-
mesan, and bake it for about
an hour in a slow oven. Serve
hot.
No. 188. Polenta
Pasticciata
Ingredients: Polenta,
butter, cheese, mushrooms,
tomatoes.
1 62
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
Prepare a good polenta as
above, put it in layers in a
fire-proof dish, and add by
degrees one and a half ounces
of melted butter, two cooked
mushrooms cut up, and two
tablespoonsful of grated
cheese. (If you like, you may
add a good-sized tomato
mashed up.) Put the dish
in the oven, and before serv-
ing brown it over with a sala-
mander.
No. 189. Battuffoli
Ingredients : Polenta,
onion, butter, salt, stock, Par-
mesan.
Make a somewhat firm
polenta (No. 187) with half a
pound of ground maize and a
pint and a half of salted water,
add a small onion cut up and
fried in butter, and stir the
polenta until it is sufficiently
cooked. Then take it off the
fire and arrange it by spoons-
ful in a large fire-proof dish,
and give each spoonful the
shape and size of an egg.
Place them one against the
other, and when the first
layer is done, pour over it
some very good gravy or stock,
and plenty of grated Par-
mesan. Arrange it thus
layer by layer. Put it into
the oven for twenty minutes,
and serve very hot.
No. 190. Risotto all'
Italiana
Ingredients : Rice, an
onion, butter, stock, tomatoes,
cheese-
Fry a small onion slightly
in butter, then add half a pint
of very good stock. Boil four
ounces of rice, but do not
let it get pulpy, add it to the
above with three medium-sized
tomatoes in a puree. Mix it
all up well, add more stock,
and two tablespoonsful of
grated Parmesan and Ched-
dar mixed, and serve hot.
No. 191. Risotto alia
Genovese
Ingredients : Rice, beef or
veal, onions, parsley, butter,
stock, Parmesan, sweetbread
or sheep's brains.
Cut up a small onion and
fry it slightly in butter with
some chopped parsley, add to
this a little veal, also chopped
up, and a little suet. Cook
for ten minutes and then add
two ounces of rice to it. Mix
all with a wooden spoon, and
after a few minutes begin to
add boiling stock gradually;
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
163
stir with the spoon, so that
the rice whilst cooking may
absorb the stock; when it is
half cooked add a few spoons-
ful of good gravy and a
sweetbread or sheep's brains
(previously scalded and cut
up in pieces), and, if you like,
a little powdered saffron dis-
solved in a spoonful of stock
and three tablespoonsful of
grated Parmesan and Ched-
dar mixed. Stir well until
the rice is quite cooked, but
take care not to get it into
a pulp.
No. 192. Risotto alia
Spagnuola
Ingredients : Rice, pork,
ham, onions, tomatoes, butter,
stock, vegetables, Parmesan.
Put a small bit of onion
and an ounce of butter into a
saucepan, add half a pound
of tomatoes cut up and fry
for a few minutes. Then put
in some bits of loin of pork
cut into dice and some bits
of lean ham. After a time
add four ounces of rice and
good stock, and as soon as it
begins to boil put on the
cover and put the saucepan
on a moderate fire. When
the rice is half cooked add
any sort of vegetable, by pre-
ference peas, asparagus cut
up, beans, and cucumber cut
up, cook for another quarter
of an hour, and serve with
grated Parmesan and Cheddar
mixed and good gravy.
No. 193. Risotto alia
Capuccina
Ingredients : Risotto (No.
190) eggs, truffles, smoked
tongue, butter.
Make a good risotto, and
when cooked put it into a
fire-proof dish. When cold
cut into shapes with a dariole
mould and fry for a few
minutes in butter, then turn
the darioles out, scoop out a
little of each and fill it with
eggs beaten up, cover each
with a slice of truffle and
garnish with a little chopped
tongue. Put them in the
oven for ten minutes.
No. 194. Risotto alia
Parigina
Ingredients : Risotto (No.
190), game, sauce, butter.
Make a good risotto, and
when cooked pour it into a
fire-proof dish, let it get cold,
and then cut it out with a
dariole mould, or else form
it into little balls about the
164
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
size of a pigeon's egg. Fry
these in butter and serve with
a rich game sauce poured
over them.
No. 195. Ravioli
Ingredients: Flour, eggs,
butter, salt, forcemeat, Par-
mesan, gravy or stock.
Make a paste with a quarter
pound of flour, the yolk of
two eggs, a little salt and two
ounces of butter. Knead this
into a firm smooth paste and
wrap it up in a damp cloth
for half an hour, then roll it
out as thin as possible,
moisten it with a paste-brush
dipped in water, and cut it
into circular pieces about
three inches in diameter. On
each piece put about a tea-
spoonful of forcemeat of fowl,
game, or fish mixed with a
little grated Parmesan and the
yolks of one or two eggs.
Fold the paste over the force-
meat and pinch the edges
together, so as to give them
the shape of little puffs; let
them dry in the larder, then
blanch by boiling them in
stock for quarter of an hour
and drain them in a napkin.
Butter a fire-proof dish, put in
a layer of the ravioli, powder
them over with grated Par-
mesan, then another layer of
ravioli and more Parmesan.
Then add enough very good
gravy to cover them, put the
dish in the oven for about
tweity-five minutes, and serve
in the dish.
No. 196. Ravioli alia
Fiorentina
Ingredients : Beetroot, eggs,
Parmesan, milk or cream,
nutmeg, spices, salt, flour,
gravy.
Wash a beetroot and boil
it, and when it is sufficiently
cooked throw it into cold
water for a few minutes, then
drain it, chop it up and add
to it four eggs, one ounce of
grated Parmesan, one ounce
of grated Cheddar, two and a
half ounces of boiled cream
or milk, a small pinch of
nutmeg and a little salt. Mix
all well together into a smooth
firm paste, then roll into balls
about the size of a walnut,
flotfr them over well, let them
dry for half an hour, then
drop them very carefully one
by one into boiling stock and
when they float on the top
take them out with a per-
forated ladle, put them in a
deep dish, dust them over
with Parmesan and pour good
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
165
meat or game gravy over
them.
No. 197. Gnocchi alia
Romana
- Ingredients : Semolina,
butter, Parmesan, eggs, nut-
meg, milk, cream.
Boil half a pint of milk in
a saucepan, then add two
ounces of butter, four ounces
of semolina, two tablespoons-
ful of grated Parmesan, the
yolks of three eggs, and a
tiny pinch of nutmeg. Mix
all well together, then let it
cool, and spread out the
paste so that it is about the
thickness of a finger. Put a
little butter and grated Par-
mesan and two tablespoons-
ful of cream in a fire-proof
dish, cut out the semolina
paste with a small dariole
mould and put it in the dish.
Dust a little more Parmesan
over it, put it in the oven for
five minutes and serve in the
dish.
No. 198. Gnocchi alia
Lombarda
Ingredients : Potatoes,
flour, salt, Parmesan and
Gruyere cheese, butter, milk,
eggs.
Boil two or three big pota-
toes, and pass them through
a hair sieve, mix in two
tablespoonsful of flour, an
egg beaten up, and enough
milk to form a rather firm
paste; stir until it is quite
smooth. Roll it into the
shape of a German sausage,
cut it into rounds about three-
quarters of an inch thick, and
put it info the larder to dry
for about half an hour. Then
drop the gnocchi one by one
into boiling salted water and
boil for ten minutes. Take
them out with a slice, and
put them in a well-buttered
fire-proof dish, add butter be-
tween each layer, and strew
plenty of grated Parmesan
and Cheddar over them. Put
them in the oven for ten
minutes, brown the top with a
salamander, and serve very
hot.
No. 199. Frittata di Riso
(Savoury Rice Pan-
cake)
Ingredients : Rice, milk,
salt, butter, cinnamon, eggs,
Parmesan.
Boil quarter of a pound of
1 66
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
rice in milk until it is quite soft
and pulpy, drain off the milk
and add to the rice an ounce
of butter,' two tablespoonsful
of grated Parmesan, and a
pinch of cinnamon, and when
it has got rather cold, the
yolks of four eggs beaten up.
Mix all well together, and
with this make a pancake
with butter in a frying-
pan.
OMELETTES AND OTHER
EGG DISHES
No. 200. Uova ai Tartufi
(Eggs with Truffles)
Ingredients : Eggs, butter,
cream, truffles, Velute" sauce,
croutons.
Beat up six eggs, pass them
through a sieve, and put them
into a saucepan with two
ounces of butter and two
tablespoonsful of cream. Put
the saucepan in a bain-marie,
and stir so that the eggs may
not adhere. Sautez some
slices of truffle in butter,
cover them with Velute' sauce
(No. 2) and a glass of Mar-
sala, and add them to the
eggs. Serve very hot with
fried and glazed croutons.
Instead of truffles you can
use asparagus tips, peas, or
cooked ham.
No. 201. UovaalPomidoro
(Eggs and Tomatoes)
Ingredients : Eggs, salt,
tomatoes, onion, parsley, but-
ter, pepper.
Cut up three or four toma-
toes, and put them into a
stewpan with a piece of butter
the size of a walnut and a
clove of garlic with a cut in
it. Put the lid on the stew-
pan and cook till quite soft,
then take out the garlic, strain
the tomatoes through a fine
strainer into a bain-marie,
beat up two eggs and add
them to the tomatoes, and
stir till quite thick, then put
in two tablespoonsful of grated
cheese, and serve on toast.
No. 202. Uova ripiene
(Canape's of Egg)
Ingredients: Eggs, butter,
salt, pepper, nutmeg, cheese,
parsley, mushrooms, Bechamel
and Espagnole sauce, stock.
Boil as many eggs as you
want hard, and cut them in
half lengthwise ; take out the
yolks and mix them with some
fresh butter, salt, pepper, very
little nutmeg, grated cheese,
167
i68
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
a little chopped parsley, and
cooked mushrooms also chop-
ped. Then mix two table-
spoonsful of good Bechamel
sauce (No. 3) with the raw
yolk of one or two eggs and
add it to the rest. Put all in
a saucepan with an ounce of
butter and good stock, then
fill up the white halves with
the mixture, giving them a
good shape; heat them in a
bain-marie, and serve with a
very good clear Espagnole
sauce (No. 1)*
the dish, and on this place
the whites. Then in another
saucepan mix half a gill of
cream and an ounce of butter,
a dessert-spoonful of flour, salt,
and pepper; let this boil for
a minute, and then glaze over
the eggs in the dish with it,
and on the top of each egg
put a little bit of butter, and
over all a powdering of grated
cheese. Put this in the oven,
pass the salamander over the
top, and when the cheese is
coloured serve at once.
No. 203. Uova alia
Fiorentina (Eggs)
Ingredients: Eggs, butter,
Parmesan, create flour, salt,
pepper, curds.
Boil as many eggs as you
require hard, then cut them
in half and take out the yolks
and pound them in a mortar
with equal quantities of butter
and curds, a tablespoonful of
grated Parmesan, salt and
pepper. Put this in a sauce-
pan and add the yolks of
eight eggs and the white of
one (this is for twelve people),
mix all well together and re-
duce a little. With this mix-
ture fill the hard whites of the
eggs and spread the rest of
the sauce on the bottom of
No. 204. Uova in fili
(Egg Canapes)
Ingredients : Eggs, butter,
mushrooms, onions, flour,
white wine, fish or meat stock,
salt, pepper, croutons of
bread.
Put into a saucepan two
ounces of butter, three large
fresh mushrooms cut into
fillets, and an onion cut up,
fry them slightly, and when the
onion begins to colour add a
spoonful of flour, a quarter of
a glass of Chablis, salt and
pepper, and occasionally add
a spoonful of either fish or
meat stock. Let this simmer
for half an hour, so as to
reduce it to a thick sauce.
Then boil as many eggs as
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
169
you want hard; take out the
yolks, but keep them whole.
Cut up the whites into slices,
and add them to the above
sauce, pour the sauce into a
dish, and on the top of it
place the whole yolks of egg,
each on a crouton of bread.
No. 205. Frittata di funghi
(Mushroom Omelette)
Ingredients : Mushrooms,
butter, eggs, bread crumbs,
Parmesan, marjoram, garlic.
Clean four or five mush-
rooms, cut them up, and put
them into a frying-pan with
one and a half ounce of butter,
a clove of garlic with two cuts
in it, and a little salt; fry
them lightly till the mush-
rooms are nearly cooked, and
then take out the garlic. In
the meantime beat up separ-
ately the yolks and the whites
of two or three eggs, add a
little crumb of bread soaked
in water, a tablespoonful of
grated Parmesan, and two
leaves of marjoram; go on
beating all up until the crumb
of bread has become entirely
absorbed by the eggs, then
pour this mixture into the
frying-pan with the mush-
rooms, mix all well together
and make an omelette in the
usual way.
No. 206. Frittata con
Pomidoro (Tomato
Omelette)
Ingredients : Eggs, toma-
toes, butter, marjoram, pars-
ley, spice.
Peel two tomatoes and take
out the seeds ; then mix them
with an ounce of butter,
chopped marjoram, parsley,
and a tiny pinch of spice.
Add three eggs beaten up
(the yolks and whites sepa-
rately), and make an omelette.
No. 207. Frittata con
Asparagi (Asparagus
Omelette)
Ingredients : Eggs, aspara-
gus, butter, ham, herbs,
cheese.
Blanch a dozen heads of
asparagus and cook them
slightly, then cut them up
and mix with two ounces of
butter, bits of cut-up ham,
herbs, and a tablespoonful of
grated Parmesan. Add them
to three beaten-up eggs and
make an omelette.
No. 208. Frittata con
erbe (Omelette with
Herbs)
Ingredients : Eggs, onions,
sorrel, mint, parsley, aspaia-
170
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
gus, marjoram, salt, pepper,
butter.
Chop a little sorrel, a small
bit of onion, mint, parsley,
marjoram, and fry in two
ounces of butter, add some
cut-up asparagus, salt, and
pepper. Then add three eggs
beaten up and a little grated
cheese, and make your ome-
lette.
No. 209. Frittata Mon-
tata (Omelette Soufflg)
Ingredients : Eggs, Par-
mesan, pepper, parsley.
Beat up the whites of three
eggs to a froth and the yolks
separately with a tablespoonful
of grated Parmesan, chopped
parsley, and a little pepper.
Then mix them and make a
light omelette.
No. 210. Frittata di Pros-
ciutto (Ham Omelette)
Ingredients : Eggs, ham,
Parmesan, mint, pepper,
clotted cream.
Beat up three eggs and add
to them two tablespoonsful of
clotted cream, one tablespoon-
ful of chopped ham, one of
grated Parmesan, chopped
mint and a little pepper, and
make the omelette in the usual
way.
SWEETS AND CAKES
No. 2ii. Bodino of
Semolina
Ingredients: Semolina,
milk, eggs, castor sugar, lemon,
sultanas, rum, butter, cream,
or Zabajone (No. 222).
Boil one and a half pint
of milk with four ounces of
castor sugar, and gradually
add five ounces of semolina,
boil for a quarter of an hour
more and stir continually
with a wooden spoon, then
take the saucepan off the
fire, and when it is cooled
a little, add the yolks of six
and the whites of two eggs
well beaten up, a little grated
lemon peel, three-quarters of
an ounce of sultanas and two
small glasses of rum. Mix
well, so as to get it very
smooth, pour it into a but-
tered mould and serve either
hot or cold. If cold, put
whipped cream flavoured with ~
stick vanilla round the dish ;
if hot, a Zabajone (No.^222).
No. 212. Crema rappresa
(Coffee Cream)
Ingredients : Coffee, cream,
eggs, sugar, butter.
-^Bruise five ounces of freshly
roasted Mocha coffee, and
add it to three-quarters of a
pint of boiling cream; cover
the saucepan, let it simmer
for twenty minutes, then pass
through a bit of fine muslin.
In the meantime mix the
yolks of ten eggs and two
whole eggs with eight ounces
of castor sugar and a glass
of cream; add the coffee
cream to this and pass the
whole through a fine sieve
into a buttered mould. Steam
in a bain-marie for rather
more than an hour, but do
not let the water boil; then
put the cream on ice for
about an hour, and before
serving turn it out on a
dish and pour some cream
flavoured with stick vanilla
round it.
172
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
No. 213. Crema Montata
alle Fragole (Straw-
berry Cream)
Ingredients : Cream, cas-
tor sugar, Maraschino, straw-
berries or strawberry jam.
Put a pint of cream on ice,
and after two hours whip it
up. Pass three tablespoonsful
of strawberry jam through a
sieve and add two tablespoons-
ful of Maraschino; mix this
with the cream and build it
up into a pyramid. Garnish
with meringue biscuits and
serve quickly. You may use
fresh strawberries when in
season, but then add castor
sugar to taste.
No. 214. Croccante di
Mandorle (Cream
Nougat)
Ingredients:, Almonds,
sugar, lemon juice, butter,
castor sugar, pistacchios, pre-
served fruits.
Blanch half a pound of
almonds, cut them into shreds
and dry them in a slow oven
until they are a light brown
colour; then put a quarter
pound of lump sugar into a
saucepan and caramel it
lightly; stir well with a wooden
spoon. When the sugar is
dissolved, throw the hot al-
monds into it and also a little
lemon juice. Take the sauce-
pan off the fire and mix the
almonds with the sugar, pour
it into a buttered mould and
press it against the sides of
the mould with a lemon, but
remember that the casing of
sugar must be very thin.
(You may, if you like, spread
out the mixture on a flat dish
and line the mould with your
hands, but the sugar must be
kept hot.) Then take it out
of the mould and decorate it
with castor sugar, pistacchio
nuts, and preserved fruits.
Fill this case with whipped
cream and preserved fruits or
fresh strawberries.
No. 215. Crema tartara
alia Caramella (Cara-
mel Cream)
Ingredients : Cream, eggs,
caramel sugar, vanilla or lemon
flavouring.
Boil a pint of cream and
give it any flavour you like.
When cold, add the yolks of
eight eggs and two table-
spoonsful of castor sugar, mix
well and pass it through a
sieve; then burn some sugar
to a caramel, line a smooth
mould with it and pour the
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
173
cream into it. Boil in a bain-
marie for an hour and serve
hot or cold.
No. 216. Cremona Cake
Ingredients : Ground rice
ground maize, sugar, one
orange, eggs, salt, cream,
Maraschino, almonds, pre-
served cherries.
Weigh three eggs, and take
equal quantities of castor
sugar, butter, ground rice and
maize (the last two together) ;
make a light paste with them,
but only use one whole egg
and the yolks of the two
others, add the scraped peel
of an orange and a pinch of
salt. Roll this paste out to
the thickness of a five-shilling
piece, colour it with the yolk
of an egg and bake it in a
cake tin in a hot oven until
it is a good colour, then take
it out and cut it into four
equal circular pieces. Have
ready some well - whipped
cream and flavour it with
Maraschino, put a thick layer
of this on one of the rounds
of pastry, then cover it with
the next round, on which also
put a layer of cream, and so
on until you come to the last
round, which forms the top of
the cake. Then split some
almonds and colour them in
the oven, cover the top of the
cake with icing sugar flavoured
with orange, and decorate the
top with the almonds and
preserved cherries.
No. 217. Cake alia
Tolentina
Ingredients : Sponge-cake,
jam, brandy or Maraschino,
cream, pine-apple.
Make a medium - sized
sponge-cake; when cold cut
off the top and scoop out all
the middle and leave only the
brown case; cover the out-
side with a good coating of
jam or red currant jelly, and
decorate it with some of the
white of the cake cut into
fancy shapes. Soak the rest
of the crumb in brandy or
Maraschino and mix it with
quarter of a pint of whipped
cream and bits of pine-apple
cut into small dice; fill the
cake with this ; pile it up high
in the centre and decorate
the top with the brown top
cut into fancy shapes.
No. 218. Riso all'
Imperatrice
Ingredients : Rice, sugar,
milk, ice, preserved fruits,
»74
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
blanc - mange, Maraschino,
cream.
Boil two dessert -spoons-
ful of rice and one of sugar
in milk. When sufficiently
boiled, drain the rice and let
it get cold. In the mean-
time place a mould on ice,
and decorate it with slices of
preserved fruit, and fix them
to the mould with just enough
nearly cold dissolved isinglass
to keep them in place. Also
put half a pint of blanc-
mange on the ice, and stir it
till it is the right consistency,
gradually add the boiled rice,
half a glass of Maraschino,
some bits of pine-apple cut
in dice, and last of all half a
pint of whipped cream. Fill
the mould with this, and
when it is sufficiently cold,
turn it out and serve with a
garnish of glace 1 fruits or a
few brandy cherries.
No. 219. Amaretti leg-
gier! (Almond Cakes)
Ingredients: Almonds
(sweet and bitter), eggs, castor
sugar.
Blanch equal quantities of
sweet and bitter almonds, and
dry them a little in the oven,
then pound them in a mortar,
and add nearly double their
quantity of castor sugar. Mix
with the white of an egg well
beaten up into a snow, and
shape into little balls about
the size of a pigeon's egg.
Put them on a piece of stout
white paper, and bake them
in a very slow oven. They
should be very light and de-
licate in flavour.
No. 220. Cakes alia
Livornese
Ingredients: Almonds,
eggs, sugar, salt, potato flour,
butter.
Pound two ounces of al-
monds, and mix them with
the yolks of two eggs and a
spoonful of castor ^sugar
flavoured with orange juice.
Then mix two ounces of sugar
with an egg, and to this add
the alrnonds, a pinch of salt,
and gradually strew in one
and a half ounces of potato
flour. When it is all well
mixed, add one ounce of
melted butter, shape the cakes
and bake them in a slow
oven.
No. 221. Genoese Pastry
Ingredients : Eggs, sugar,
butter, flour, almonds orange
or lemon, brandy.
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
175
Weigh four eggs, and take
equal weights of castor sugar,
butter, and flour. Pound
three ounces of almonds, and
mix them with an egg, melt
the butter, and mix all the
ingredients with a wooden
spoon in a pudding basin for
ten minutes, then add a little
scraped orange or lemon peel,
and a dessert-spoonful of
brandy. Spread out the paste
in thin layers on a copper
baking sheet, cover them with
buttered paper, and bake in
a moderately hot oven.
These cakes must be cut
into shapes when they are
hot, as otherwise they will
break.
No. 222. Zabajone
Ingredients : Eggs, sugar,
Marsala, Maraschino or other
light-coloured liqueur, sponge
fingers.
Zabajone is a kind of sylla-
bub. It is made with Mar-
sala and Maraschino, or Mar-
sala and yellow Chartreuse.
Reckon the quantities as
follows : For each person the
yolks of three eggs, one tea-
spoonful of castor sugar to
each egg, and a wine-glass of
wine and liqueur mixed. Whip
up the yolks of the eggs with
the sugar, then gradually add
the wine. Put this in a bain-
marie, and stir until it has
thickened to the consistency
of a custard. Take care,
however, that it does not boil.
Serve hot in custard glasses,
and hand sponge fingers
with it.
No. 223. Iced Zabajone
Ingredients : - Eggs, castor
sugar, Marsala, cinnamon,
lemon, stick vanilla, rum,
Maraschino, butter, ice.
Mix the yolks of ten eggs,
two dessert-spoonsful of castor
sugar,and three wine-glasses of
Marsala, add half a stick of
vanilla, a small bit of whole
cinnamon, and the peel of
half a lemon cut into slices.
Whip this up lightly over a
slow fire until it is nearly
boiling and slightly frothy;
then remove it, take out the
cinnamon, vanilla, and lemon
peel, and whip up the rest for
a minute or two away from
the fire. Add a tablespoon-
ful of Maraschino and one of
rum, and, if you like, a small
quantity of dissolved isinglass.
Stir up the whole, pour it into
a silver souffle dish, and put it
on ice. Serve with sponge-
cakes or ice wafers.
176
THE COOK'S DECAMERON
No. 224. Pan-forte di
Siena(Sienese Hardbake)
Ingredients : Honey, al-
monds, filberts, candied lemon
peel, pepper, cinnamon, cho-
colate, cornflour, large wafers.
Boil half a pound of honey
in a copper vessel, and then
add to it a few blanched al-
monds and filberts cut in
halves or quarters and slightly
browned, a little candied
lemon peel, a dust of pepper
and powdered cinnamon and
a quarter pound of grated
chocolate. Mix all well to-
gether, and gradually add a
tablespoonful of cornflour and
two of ground almonds to
thicken it. Then take the
vessel off the fire, spread the
mixture on large wafers, and
make each cake about an
inch thick. Garnish them on
the top with almonds cut
in half, and dust over a little
powdered sugar and cinna-
mon, then put them in a very
slow oven for an hour.
THE END
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