In this latter case the best plan is, about ten minutes after the mould has been set in the bain-marie or pan, to lift the lid of the latter very slowly and gently, and inspect it carefully. If it is rising slowly and evenly it is all right, and may be safely left to take care of itself; if on the contrary, it has by then risen well up in the paper band it is rising too fast and will infallibly fall and toughen when turned out

The right way is to stand the case containing the souffle or mousse in a pan on a doubly folded sheet of paper, pouring boiling water round it to three parts the height of the souffle case, and carefully laying a sheet of buttered paper over the souffle before patting on the lid of the outside pan, to prevent the steam condensing on this lid from falling back on to the mixture and so making it uneven and holey; the surrounding water after being brought to the boil is kept at a gentle simmer till the souffle* is cooked. If this water should by any chance boil up sharply the chances are it will boil over on to the souffle, which will in that case either curdle, or else will boil itself, when it will go into holes and become sodden. The reason for the paper under the souffle case is that as no water can get under the pan, the bottom surface of the souffle (which will later on be the top) would toughen and harden from the direct heat under it. (This point is only too often overlooked with all steamed dishes).

Next, after souffle's and mousses, come creams, a trifle more solid than the former, but still lighter than the quenelle, which also belongs to this branch of cookery. For creams you increase the proportion of pulped meat to the foundation sauce or panade, atoning for this by an extra quantity of cream or egg yolks. For ½lb. of carefully pulped raw meat (it must be raw for this) you allow a gill of foundation sauce or panade, and half a pint of cream (which may be either the thick separated cream sold in little jugs, or double cream whipped till it thickens, but without standing up in points, as stiffly frothed cream will do), and two whole unbeaten eggs, as, unlike souffles and mousses, the cream must not be spongy, but perfectly smooth in texture like a custard, however light it may (and, indeed, must) be. The moulds used for this mixture must be well buttered, never more than three-quarters filled, and both covered with, and stood on a buttered paper, whilst the cooking must be carefully watched. In the case of all these light steamed mixtures it is well to cook a tiny portion first to see if you have really got the proportions right, as this saves disappointment later.

Like souffles, etc., creams are cooked when the centre feels firm on being touched with the finger.

Be very careful in turning any of these out, for 'if this is hurried, or the paper is torn away hastily, the substance will certainly tear, whilst if a knife has to be used to loosen it at the sides it will look ragged and uneven. To turn it out properly, lift it very gently, sloping the tin or case towards yourself so that the mixture falls away from the sides and slides out from its own weight; but be very careful to keep tight hold of the tin lest it drop from your hands, and in falling crush the mixture. A steamed mould takes about the same time to cook as a baked one. The simplest of all this class of dishes is the quenelle, for which you use real panade instead of sauce, using 4oz. of panade to ½lb. of pulped meat (weighed after sieveing), 1 oz. fresh butter, one whole raw egg, and a tablespoonful of white sauce or thick cream. These are all pounded together, working the egg, butter, or cream in at the last, and pounding it till you obtain a mass of the consistency of pate de foie gras.

Season this carefully with salt, white and coralline pepper, and a very little lemon juice.

Have ready one large or several small and well buttered moulds, which may be either plain, or thickly sprinkled with lobster coral, coralline pepper, minced parsley, or truffles, etc., as you please, and rather overfill these moulds with the mixture, rounding them into a dome-shape with a hot, wet knife. As you fill these moulds strike them sharply now and again on the edge of the table to settle down the contents. These quenelles are usually poached, i.e., you place the moulds or the quenelles on a greased paper in a pan, and pour round them sufficient boiling water or stock to just (and only just) cover them; let this re-boil, then draw the pan to the side and keep the outer water steadily at the simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes, according to the size of the quenelles, without allowing this liquid to boil, or it will utterly spoil the appearance of the quenelles. If you have no suitable moulds you can shape the quenelles in the old-fashioned way with two spoons dipped into hot water, and then gently slide these shapes into the buttered pan and allow them to poach as before.

Tiny pea-sized quenelles for garnish of all kinds may be prepared by forcing the puree from a small-nozzled forcing bag on to the saute-pan buttered as before, in tiny round shapes, poaching these as in the previous recipe. Quenelles are served, when used as an independent dish, with any nice sauce poured over and round them, and a delicate vegetable garnish; if small, however, they form a very nice garnish to many entrees, such, for instance, as the vol-au-vent, timbale a la financiere, etc., while, as said above, if made into pea-shaped and sized quenelles they are admirable for soups.

Border moulds, when well buttered, are filled with a cream or a quenelle mixture, then steamed, precisely like a mousse or souffle; panade is usually preferred to sauce for these, as it makes them more substantial, but care should be taken not to overdo this or they will inevitably be stodgy, a fault only too common with quenelles as made by British cooks. For the panade put ½oz. of butter into a pan with a gill of milk, stock, or water, as you please, and bring it to the boil; now sift into it 2oz. of fine flour, and stir this altogether over the fire till it becomes thick enough to ball, when you draw the pan a little to the side of the stove (keeping it, however, on a hot part), and let it cook a few minutes longer (stirring it at intervals to prevent its catching), till the flour is thoroughly cooked. (It is, by the way, to neglect of this precaution that the unpleasant raw and pasty taste of so much melted butter is due.)

Quenelles and creams are frequently nowadays enriched with a delicate ragout of any kind, added thus: About half fill the well-buttered mould with the quenelle mixture, then with a hot wet spoon, or your thumb dipped into hot water, hollow out a cavity in the centre and fill this up with any ragout to taste, finally covering it with more farce, smoothed into a dome shape with a hot wet knife. For instance, a cube of pate de foie gras truffe or a mixture of minced cooked sweetbread, cooked meat, poultry or game, button mushrooms, truffles, ham or tongue, etc., may be stirred into a little rich veloute or bechamel, seasoned with salt and pepper, and placed in a quenelle of chicken farce, and the whole poached as advised above; or any nice ragout on these lines, or a little rather thick oyster or shrimp sauce, may be used for brown meat as you please. Sometimes, instead of putting the farce thus filled into a tinned mould, it is tied into shape in a piece of muslin, and simply poached, being when cooked turned out on to a hot dish with any rich sauce to taste poured over and round it, and a garnish of some kind served with it.

Prepared thus it is frequently known as a boudin, while if small rolls of stuffed farce are dished thus, these are often termed boudinettes.

Lastly, there is the pain, or cake, which is usually a combination of fillets of any kind of meat, and a rich quenelle or cream mixture. For instance, pain de volatile au foie gras may be prepared thus: Well butter a round charlotte mould, and arrange round the sides neat fillets of chicken, previously three parts cooked as for filets de volatile a la supreme, pressing these well against the buttered sides; now line the mould pretty thickly with creme de volatile flavoured with pate de foie gras, as described above, leaving a small hollow in the centre which you fill up with a ragout of cooked sweetbread, tongue, truffle, and foie gras, all cut into neat tubes and tossed in a thick rich bechamel sauce; then cover this down with more of the creme farce, cover with a buttered paper, and steam as described before for souffles and mousses. These meat cakes may also be made with previously cooked meat, and consequently answer admirably either as a hot rechauffe or a chaufroix. Almost any good farce can be utilised for these pains.

For instance, the homely liver and bacon will furnish an extremely palatable entree thus: Cut into dice equal parts of fresh calf's liver and parboiled fat bacon, and fry these for five minutes with one and a half to two small parboiled onions (for a pound of liver), also minced, seasoning it all with salt, coralline pepper, and finely minced parsley; then turn it into a mortar and pound it all together to a very smooth paste; now add to it some thin fillets of rather lean ham, and the yolks of two eggs beaten till light, incorporating these well with the mixture, and lastly, stir in quickly the stiffly whipped whites of three eggs; fill a well buttered plain charlotte mould with the mixture, and steam it steadily for an hour, when itis turned out and served with a good espagnole over and round it and a garnish of broiled mushrooms. Of course, if possible, this may be made with poultry livers, and is rather more delicate, and also more expensive ! This farce is also particularly good for stuffing birds, such as pigeons when to be served en chaufroix; or for larks, ortolans, quails, etc., in cases.

Quenelle meat is sometimes enriched with any good sauce to taste and truffles or foie gras, and then spoonfuls of this are first rolled in flour, shaped into the size and form of pigeon's eggs, wrapped in small pieces of caul, dipped in liquid butter, and then fried a golden brown; well drained and served with appropriate gravy as crepinettes (from crepine, caul) of whatever the foundation of the quenelle mixture may be.