This section is from the book "The Epicurean", by Charles Ranhofer. Also available from Amazon: The Epicurean, a Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies on the Culinary Art.
Peel medium-sized onions, each one weighing two ounces; boil them in salted water, and when done, drain, wipe carefully, and dress them in clusters or in a row, covering over with Hollandaise sauce( No. 477) or a well-buttered soubise sauce (No. 543).
Peel eighteen onions, weighing an ounce and a half each, being careful not to break them; cut off the stalks and roots and make a crosswise incision on the root end; saute them in butter or fat with salt and a pinch of sugar, browning slightly; then range them in a sautoir with bards of fat pork; moisten with a little veal blond stock (No. 423), just sufficient to cover, and cook slowly while reducing the liquid. Dress in a vegetable dish and pour the stock over, or else cover with matelote sauce (No. 498), having reduced it with the stock.
Take either common white onions or Bermudas of medium size, each weighing about three ounces; plunge those selected into boiling water for two minutes, then drain and peel off the outer skin; empty the insides with a vegetable spoon (Fig. 91), blanch for a few moments, drain and stuff them with chicken forcemeat (No. 79), incorporating as much cooked fine herbs (No. 385); bestrew the tops with bread-crumbs, pour butter over and lay them in a sautoir lined with fat pork; moisten to a third of their height with broth (No. 194a), then cook until they attain a color in a moderate oven; dress on a half-glaze sauce (No. 413) and serve.
 
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