The Cook's Decameron | by W. G. Waters
A study in taste. Containing over two hundred recipes for italian dishes.
| Title | The Cook's Decameron |
| Author | W. G. Waters |
| Publisher | Brentanos |
| Year | 1920 |
| Copyright | 1920, Brentanos |
| Amazon | The Cook's Decameron |
"Show me another pleasure like dinner, which comes every day and lasts an hour." - Talleyrand (?)
To A. V. In Memory Of Certain Ausonian Feasts
Preface- Montaigne in one of his essays 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 Servi...
- 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 fa...
- Prologue. Part 2
- 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 voi...
- Prologue. Part 3
- Not at all, if you had them in suitable surroundings. 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 s...
- 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 t...
- 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 dishe...
- 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 especia...
- The Fourth Day
- The Colonel was certainly the most severely critical member of the company. Up to the present juncture he had been sparing of censure, and sparing of praise likewise, but on this day, after lunch, he ...
- 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...
- 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, h...
- 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 ce...
- 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 th...
- The Eighth Day. Continued
- 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...
- The Ninth Day
- Since I have been associated with the production 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 s...
- 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 ...
- The Tenth Day. Part 2
- 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 sceptic...
- The Tenth Day. Part 3
- He was not going to propose a formal vote of thanks, because anything he could say would be entirely insufficient to express the gratitude he felt, and because he deemed that each individual could bes...
- Part II. Recipes. How To Make Sauces
- As the three chief foundation sauces in cookery, Espagnole or brown sauce, Velut or white sauce, and Béchamel, are alluded to so often in these pages, it will be well to give simple Italian recipes fo...
- How To Make 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 onion...
- How To Make Soups. Continued
- No. 31. Soup alla 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, ...
- How To Make Minestra
- No. 35. A Condiment for Seasoning Minestre, etc. Ingredients: Onions, celery, carrots, butter, salt, stock, tomatoes, mushrooms. Cut up an onion, a stick of celery, and a carrot; fry them in but...
- How To Cook Fish
- No. 43. Anguilla alla Milanese (Eels) Ingredients: Eels, butter, flour, stock, bay leaves, salt, pepper, Chablis, a macedoine of vegetables. Cut up a big eel and fry it in two ounces of butter, ...
- How To Cook Fish. Continued
- No. 49. Mullet alla 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 ...
- How To Cook Cod
- No. 51. Merluzzo in Bianco (Cod) Ingredients: Cod or whiting, salt, onions, parsley, cloves, turnips, marjoram, chervil, milk. Boil gently in a big cupful of salted water two onions, one turnip,...
- How To Cook Oysters
- No. 55. Ostriche alla Livornese (Oysters) Ingredients: Oysters, parsley, shallot, anchovies, fennel, pepper, bread crumbs, cream, lemon. Detach the oysters from their shells and put them into ch...
- How To Cook Sole Fish
- No. 60. Sogliole in Zimino (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...
- How To Cook Salmon
- No. 65. Salmone alla 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 ad...
- How To Cook Beef
- No. 72. Manzo alla 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 o...
- How To Cook Veal
- No. 82. Tenerumi alla 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 w...
- How To Cook Mutton
- No. 89. Costolette di Montone alla Nizzarda (Mutton Cutlets) Ingredients: Mutton cutlets, butter, olives, mushrooms, cucumbers. Trim as many cutlets as you require, and marinate them in vinegar,...
- How To Cook Lamb
- No. 92. Tenerumi d' Agnello alla Villeroy (Tendons of Lamb) Ingredients: Tendons of lamb, eggs, bread crumbs, truffles, butter, stock, Villeroy sauce. Slightly cook the tendons (the part of the ...
- How To Cook Tongue
- No. 95. Timballo alla 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 ...
- How To Cook Sucking Pig
- No. 101. Porcelletto alla Corradino (Sucking Pig) Ingredients: Sucking pig, ham, eggs, Parmesan, truffles, mushrooms, garlic, bay leaves, coriander seeds, pistacchio nuts, veal forcemeat, suet, bac...
- How To Cook Calf's Head
- No. 105. Testa di Vitello alla Sorrentina (Calf's Head) Ingredients: Calf's head, veal, sweetbread, truffles, mushrooms, pistacchio nuts, eggs, herbs, spice, stock, bacon, ham. Boil a half calf'...
- How To Cook Sweetbreads
- No. 111. Bodini Marinati Ingredients: Veal forcemeat, truffles, sweetbread, mushrooms, herbs, flour, pasta marinata (No. 17), tongue, butter. Make a mixture of truffles, tongue, sweetbread, mush...
- How To Cook Calf's Brains
- No. 117. Cervello in Fili-serbe (Calf's Brains) Ingredients: Calf's brains, stock, butter, parsley, lemon. Boil half a calf's brain in good stock for ten minutes, then drain and pour a little me...
- How To Cook Liver
- No. 123. Minuta alla Milanese (Lamb's Sweetbread) Ingredients: Lamb's sweetbread, butter, onions, stock, Chablis, salt, lemon, herbs, cocks' combs, fowls' livers. Cut up equal quantities of lamb...
- How To Cook Chicken
- No. 132. Polio alla Fior-entina (Chicken) Ingredients: Fowl, butter, vegetables, rice or macaroni, peppercorns, stock, ham, tomatoes, bay leaves, onions, cloves, Liebig. Roll up a fowl in butter...
- How To Cook Fowl
- No. 131. Soffiato di Cappone (Fowl Souffle) Ingredients: Fowl, Béchamel, stock, semolina flour, potatoes, salt, eggs, butter, smoked tongue or ham. Prepare a puree of fowl or turkey and a small ...
- How To Cook Turkey
- No. 140. Dindo Arrosto alla Milanese (Roast Turkey) Ingredients: Turkey, sausage meat, prunes, chestnuts, a pear, butter, Marsala, salt, rosemary, bacon, carrot, onion, turnip, garlic. Blanch fo...
- How To Cook Pheasant
- No. 142. Fagiano alla Napoletana (Pheasant) Ingredients: Pheasant, macaroni, gravy, butter, Parmesan, tomatoes. Lard a pheasant, roast it, and serve it on a layer of macaroni cooked with good re...
- How To Cook Duck, Partridge, Snipe, Pigeon
- No. 144. Anitra Selvatica (Wild Duck) Ingredients: Wild duck, butter, fowls' livers, Marsala, gravy, turnips, carrots, parsley, mushrooms. Cut a wild duck into quarters and put it into a stewpan...
- How To Cook Rabbit, Hare
- 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 bu...
- How To Cook Vegetables
- No. 154. Asparagi alla salsa Suprema (Asparagus) Ingredients: Asparagus, butter, nutmeg, salt, suprême sauce (No. 16), gravy, lemon, Parmesan. Cut some asparagus into pieces about an inch long a...
- How To Cook Vegetables. Continued
- 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 u...
- How To Cook Potatoes
- No. 174. Patate alla crema (Potatoes in cream) Ingredients: Potatoes, butter, Parmesan, white stock, cream, pepper, salt. Boil two pounds of potatoes in salted water for a quarter of an hour, pe...
- How To Cook Macaroni
- 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 co...
- How To Cook Rice, Polenta, And Other Italian Pastes
- 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 st...
- How To Cook Risotto
- 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, ...
- How To Cook Ravioli
- No. 195. Ravioli Ingredients: Flour, eggs, butter, salt, forcemeat, Parmesan, gravy or stock. Make a paste with a quarter pound of flour, the yolk of two eggs, a little salt and two ounces of bu...
- How To Cook Gnocchi
- No. 197. Gnocchi alla Romana Ingredients: Semolina, butter, Parmesan, eggs, nutmeg, milk, cream. Boil half a pint of milk in a saucepan, then add two ounces of butter, four ounces of semolina, t...
- How To Cook Omelettes And Other Egg Dishes
- No. 200. Uova ai Tartufi (Eggs with Truffles) Ingredients: Eggs, butter, cream, truffles, Veluté sauce, croûtons. Beat up six eggs, pass them through a sieve, and put them into a saucepan with t...
- How To Cook Sweets And Cakes
- No. 211. 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 cast...
- Cook Books
- A Guide To Modern Cookery By A. Escoffier. Demy 8vo. 12s. 6d. net. 'The congratulations of happy diners, the respects of the cognoscenti, the glory of being the greatest artist of one's time ...
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