Notes

The menus have been thoroughly revised and corrected. They are all susceptible of being doubled for larger parties than those for which they have been designed; and though each of them is given in French, the English names of all the dishes will be found in the margin of the detail of instructions.

Those who are anxious to adopt the more modern form of menu will find a note at the end of each of the larger bills-of-fare showing what alteration is necessary to effect their object.

I have not attempted to treat of sweet dishes in this work, but the entremets sucres chosen for each bill-of-fare have been carefully described.

For hors d'oeuvres, please consult the chapter I (The Menu) have devoted to them.

The recipes given for the treatment of fish apply, it will be found, to the varieties of the finny tribe best known and esteemed at Madras, viz. : - the seer, pomfret, sole, grey mullet, and whiting.

Of these the first being a large salmon-shaped fish, which is cut up and sold much in the same manner as salmon, is susceptible of being similarly cooked. Small seer are flabby and unfit for the table.

The pomfret may, as far as its flavour and the texture of its flesh are concerned, be best compared perhaps with the turbot or brill, but as it never reaches as great a size as either of those fish, it can be trimmed when desired in fillets, and cooked like soles.

The sole and whiting can be treated exactly like the fishes of the same name at home. The only difference being that the Indian sole is, as a rule, wanting in the depth of flesh possessed by the European variety when in proper season.

The mullet is a far larger fish than the English grey mullet, and not nearly as rich. If taken in back-waters, it requires very careful cleaning to rid it of the muddy taste it acquires in such circumstances.

Remembering the peculiarities of these fish, a little reflection will enable my readers in other parts of India to apply the recipes I have given to almost any fish that may be at their disposal.

A fish that can be easily dressed in fillets may be treated as a pomfret or sole. One that is large and firm enough to be sliced can be cooked as the seer. Long trout-shaped fish may be served as mullet, and can be baked whole, or roasted a la broche. Bony fish are best prepared in the form of puree: - boiled, passed through the sieve, and sent up as a souffle, or a creme. The becktie of Calcutta seems specially adapted to treatment as codfish ; at the same time it may be cooked in almost every way laid down for seer fish. The hilsa, again, approaches very closely if it does not surpass the mackerel, and may be dressed similarly.

Those who may try to use this book in England should remember that ordinary eggs in India are far smaller than those at home. I calculate that five Indian eggs equal three English. Again: the cream so often propounded in my recipes is not nearly as thick and rich as English cream: the use therefore of cream may be tempered with discretion.

Wyvern