Filets De Boeuf A La Chasseur

Sautez the fillets (or use grenadins or fillets as you please, varying the name accordingly) which should have been larded and marinaded in the venison marinade for a few hours beforehand, and serve round a pile of souffle* potatoes, with the sauce given for cutlets a la Soyer round them; or the real Reform sauce and garnish, can be used, and gives its name to the dish; or olives stoned and stewed in good brown sauce may be used as the centre garnish.

Filets De Boeuf A La Raifort Aux Oeufs

Bat out and trim some neat round fillets, and broil these over a clear fire after brushing them over with oil or liquid butter; have ready some rounds of bread fried a delicate brown and brushed over with liquid glaze; also as many nicely poached eggs as you have fillets (mind these are nicely trimmed so as to have only a very tiny rim of white round them; indeed, many cooks use the yolk only for this purpose), then place a fillet of beef on each crouton, a poached egg on the beef and lastly a tiny heap of "Spring's horseradish cream "on top of all. Strictly speaking, any savoury butter can be used in this way, but this particular novelty is so very delicious it deserves special mention. Remember that when liquid glaze is mentioned, Liebig and Co.'s extract of beef is a particularly effective substitute for home-made glaze, always being at hand, and in good condition, which is more than can be said for the home-made glaze in every case. A small teaspoonful of this extract added to any sauce is an immense improvement, and will give strength and value to even second stock.

For the sauces a reduction it is particularly valuable.

Lastly, there are what may be classed as stuffed fillets, or filets fourres, i.e., when the piece of meat, of whatever shape you please (though usually a round form is preferred), is cut thick enough to allow of its being sliced (as for filets de boeuf aux huitres), any farce or stuffing being then introduced, as for example, a la St. James, when a slice of foie gras or liver farce is placed between the sides of the tiny steak, which is saute, and finished off with a compote of cherries (see escalopes de lievre aux cerises), and a rich mushroom sauce; or a la Grande Bretagne, when the meat is stuffed with a mixture of rather thick horseradish sauce, grated Parmesan cheese, and cooked macaroni cut into tiny rings, the fillets, when sautes, being served with fried potato straws, and a good brown sauce; or a la Riga, when a little delicate ■sausage meat is placed between the sliced meat, which is braised, and lastly served with brown sauce round, a garnish of sliced and broiled tomatoes, and a pile of peas, asparagus points, or any other nice vegetable in the centre; or a la Perigueux, i.e., stuffed with a ragout of truffles sliced and tossed in a little wine, sautes, and served with a rich tomato sauce.

In short, they may be varied almost ad infinitum, for if nicely sautes, or broiled, filets de boeuf may be served with almost any sauce, if care be taken as to the accompanying garnish, as, for instance, a la Nemours, i.e., stuffed with a delicate chicken forcemeat, and dished alternately with small slices of nicely broiled ham, and a rich allemande sauce. It may be mentioned that sometimes fillets of beef thus prepared are egged, breadcrumbed, and fried, the farce having been previously laid on the side of the fillet. (Cutlets are also very good served in this way.). Finally, there is the Chateaubriand steak, which was originally a piece of rump or fillet steak cut about l½in. thick and placed between two pieces of ordinary steak about ½in. thick, this being then broiled until the outside meat was all but a cinder, when it was. served with the outer meat removed, and was found cooked just to perfection. This is, however, now simply an extra thick steak or filet, of which the outer sides are fairly scorched over a clear grill fire,. leaving the centre rather underdone and very juicy;. it is then served with a tiny ball of maitre d'hotel butter placed on a hot dish underneath it, a similar ball being placed on top of each filet, and a demi-glace thickened with maitre d'hotel butter being served round it, together with souffle or straw potatoes.

The above will give some idea of the different ways of serving fillets of beef, whilst of veal it may be said that almost any recipe given for either mutton or beef cutlets or fillets will suit veal; the following, however, is the conventional "veal cutlet": Take either the "noisettes" from the best end of the neck as described for mutton, or a slice cut from the fillet about fin. thick, and shape this into rounds, batting these out neatly; either flour these well or dip them in egg and breadcrumb, in either case frying them in clarified butter till of a pale golden brown, and perfectly cooked (underdone white meat is unpardonable), which will take from twelve to fifteen minutes according to the size of the cutlets, then lift them on to a hot dish; meanwhile add a little more butter to that in the pan, dredge in about a dessertspoonful of fine dry flour and cook these together till of a very pale fawn shade (a spoonful or two of white wine may with advantage be added to this); now add gradually from a gill to one-third of a pint of good stock, or even boiling water, seasoning this to taste with pepper, salt, and lemon juice, boil it all up together, then pour it over and round the veal cutlets, which may be further garnished with slices of lemon and tiny rashers of bacon cooked thus: Slice the bacon very thinly, catting each rasher into two or three, roll each piece up neatly and thread it on to a skewer and toast or bake these lightly till just cooked.

Some people add the finely grated peel of a small lemon to the breadcrumbs in which the veal cutlets are rolled; or, again, you may add a dessert-spoonful of best curry powder to about 2oz. of breadcrumbs, and half a small teaspoonful of salt, and roll the egged cutlets in this; when fried, serve either with good curry sauce or with the gravy made as in the preceding recipe, only using half flour and half curry powder to thicken the sauce; or again, the cutlets may be cooked as in the first recipe, and served with tomato sauce.

It must be remembered that abroad veal cutlets are also cut precisely like mutton cutlets, from the best end of the neck, and treated in pretty much the same way; or they may be served au gratin (or a la bordelaise, as it is sometimes called) thus: Cut and trim the cutlets exactly as for mutton cutlets for egg and crumbing, and dust these well on both sides with salt and quatre epices, or pepper and a very little grated nutmeg; have ready a mixture made by mincing finely a good slice of bacon, a shallot, and a spray or two of parsley and tarragon, mixing this well with one raw egg, then spread a layer of this mince over each cutlet, and brush it over afterwards with the yolk of an egg; sprinkle a well buttered baking dish with finely grated bread crumbs seasoned with a little salt and white pepper, and lay in the cutlets side by side, moistening them with half a gill each of stock and of claret, and let them bake till cooked, which they will be, when the stock, Ac, is nearly all absorbed. Three well-known German dishes must be mentioned, as they belong to the fillet and cutlet genus.

The first is Wiener schnitzel.

For these cut the veal into rather thin fillets, rub these well with pepper and salt, and dip them into a good but rather light batter (or, if preferred, beaten egg yolk), then into crushed rusks {zwieback), and fry a golden brown in plenty of butter or lard. Serve well drained, sprinkled with a squeeze of lemon juice, and a garnish of fried eggs, capers, and filletted sardines arranged in a kind of trellis over all. Gulasch: Cut about a lb. of nice fillet of veal (free from all skin, sinew, etc.) into dice; cut up two small potatoes and one apple, washed and peeled in the same way, and mince down 4oz. of bacon. Melt l½oz. fresh butter and fry in this half an onion finely minced, till slightly coloured, then lay in the minced veal, seasoning it with salt and pepper, and cook it gently for ten minutes over a clear fire (a hot oven will also do); now sprinkle it all with a dessertspoonful of flour, moistening it with a gill of veal stock and half a gill of sherry or Madeira; add about a teaspoonful of carraway seeds tied up in a piece of muslin, and let it all simmer slowly together.

Meantime fry the minced bacon, potatoes, and apple slowly in l½oz. of butter till of a pale golden brown, then pour off the fat, and stir the bacon, potatoes, etc., into the meat with a fork, being careful not to mash it as you do so. Let it all cook very gently together till the meat, etc., is thoroughly done, then lift out the carraway seeds, and serve very hot. This is an Hungarian dish, and the pepper used should be the Hungarian paprica. (Tender beefsteak is excellent also cooked thus.)