1222. Mayonaise Of Chickens

Roast two chickens, and when cold, cut them up into small joints; remove the skin, trim them neatly, and steep them in a basin with oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt. Prepare a decorated aspic-border, as directed in the preceding article; when this has been turned out on its dish, pile up the pieces of chickens in the centre upon some shred lettuces in a conical form; mask them with some white May-onaise sauce (No. 97), garnish with lettuce-hearts and quarters of egg boiled hard, or with plover's-eggs; crown the Mayonaise with some chopped aspic or a crouton of jelly.

1223. Darne, Or Slice Of Salmon, A La Montpellier

Procure a prime cut (four inches thick) from an unsplit salmon of good size; slip the blade of a sharp knife under the skin, and detach this without removing it; fill out the vent with a piece of carrot covered with fat bacon ; wrap the slice of salmon in layers of fat bacon, and tie them on with string. Place the fish on its drainer in a stewpan, moisten with some mirepoix (No. 236), and set it to boil very gently over a moderate fire for about three-quarters of an hour; then remove it, and allow the fish to remain in its own liquor until it is nearly cold; drain it upon an earthen dish, and set it aside to become firm. The dame must then be freed from its skin, etc, trimmed, and lightly masked over with glaze mixed with some lobster-coral. Cut out a round or oval piece of crumb of bread, about the size of the salmon, and an inch thick, and fry it of a light color; spread this all over with some Montpellier butter (No. 183), smooth the surface with a knife dipped in warm water, and put it on the bottom of the dish intended to receive the salmon. Next place the darne of salmon upon this, and spread the upper part with rather a thin coating of the Montpel-lier butter, which, after being smoothed over, must be decorated with a bold wreath of roses or laurels, composed of black truffles. Ornament the entree with aspic-jelly, by placing fancy-shaped croutons of this round the base.

1224. Trout, A La Vertpre

Boil three small trout in some mirepoix (No. 236), and when cold, remove the skins; spread them over completely with a thin coating of Montpellier butter (No. 183), and mark out the mouth, gills, and the eyes, with some narrow strips of black truffles; then, cut some of these into thin slices, and afterwards stamp them out with a circular tin-cutter, in the form of half-moons, and proceed so to arrange them upon the trout, as to imitate fish scales. Prepare a foundation of fried bread, covered with Mortpellier butter, as directed in the preceding case; place it on the dish, arrange the trout upon it in a row, and ornament them with a rich border of aspic croutons.