Remember: fruit- and vegetable-based compound salads can be served as side salads with a main course in place of vegetables. Fish- and meat-based compound salads are usually served as an hors d’oeuvre or on buffets of all types.
H O T S A L A D S
Hot salads have been found on menus for more than a hundred years, but in the past few years they have gained new popularity, especially at lunchtime and with women, by whom they are considered a less filling meals. Some examples of modern hot salads are given in Plate 3.13. The question may perhaps be posed as to whether they are really a salad or more of a hot entrée?
Basically, the hot salad consists of a largish plate with mixed leaves plus some, cucumbers, shredded carrots, tomatoes, slices of red or spring onion etc.
The fish, poultry and meats to be used should be of very good quality, cut into neat strips and are best marinated before cooking (see marinades below). The foods are then sautéed in butter, drained and placed on the salad at the very last moment before serving.
C O L D S A U C E S Les sauces froides
This section concerns itself with the various types of cold sauces as well as coulis which have become so much a part of modern food presentation, and the cold savoury butters served with grilled fish, poultry and meats.
We shall start with the most famous of the cold sauces, the mayonnaise. If the Hollandaise is called the Queen of all sauces, the mayonnaise is most certainly the Princess of the cold sauces. As we have seen, it is used as a base for some of the dressings above and as base for many other sauces.
M A Y O N N A I S E
Basic Mayonnaise (see Plate 3.14)
Ingredients (12–16 portions) 8 yolks of eggs
2 tbsp vinegar 2 tsp English Mustard 1 litre oil (olive or other) 1 tsp caster sugar 500 ml lemon juice 2 tbsp hot water Salt and ground white
pepper
Method
1 Place eggs yolks into a bowl or food processor, add vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper, mix well
2 Gradually add in the oil, first a drop at a time, stirring all the time. If using a
processor use the pulse button. When half the oil has been added, add the rest of the oil more boldly
3 Finally add the lemon juice and hot water mix and correct the seasoning
4 The sauce should be thick and like butter of piping consistency for piping through a piping bag for decoration of cold foods. For other purposes the mayonnaise can be thinned down with water
Variations on mayonnaise (see Plate 3.15b,c,d )
Sauce
Tartare Sauce
Rémoulade Sauce
Method
Add 150 g of sweet and sour cucumber/
gherkins, 50 g of capers and 50 g of parsley all finely chopped to mayonnaise above, mix well, leave to stand
Add 150 g of sweet and sour cucumber/
gherkins, 50 g of capers and 50 g of parsley, anchovy fillet and 3 hard-boiled egg, all finely chopped, to mayonnaise above, mix well, leave to stand*
Continued
Variations on mayonnaise (see Plate 3.15b,c,d )—cont’d
Sauce Andalouse
Sauce
Method
To 750 ml of mayonnaise plus 250 ml of tomato ketchup add 200 g of finely diced and blanched red peppers, mix well, leave to stand
Green Sauce/
Sauce verte
Add 150 g of mixed herbs, parsley, dill, chives, chervil, tarragon, all finely chopped, to mayonnaise above;
100 g of freshly cooked and cooled finely sieved spinach can much improve the colour, especially at a time when dried herbs have to be used
Gribiche Sauce
To 1 litre of Tartare sauce above add 3 finely chopped hard-boiled eggs*
Mayonnaise Colée
Strain 6 leaves of gelatine dissolved in a little hot water to the above basic recipe, allow to cool and set.
Use for covering cold fish and egg portions
*For the Rémoulade and Gribiche sauces, in the old days sieved cooked egg yolks were used in place of raw egg yolks, following the method for mayonnaise above. This practice is seldom followed today.
C O C K T A I L S A U C E(see plate 3.15a)
There are three methods of preparing cocktail sauces, all equally good and popular.
Sauce
Cocktail Sauce (mayonnaise-based)
Method
To 1 litre of mayonnaise add 250 ml of tomato ketchup, a little cayenne and Worcestershire sauce and a little water, combine well and use as required. Must be running but covering at a same time
Cocktail Sauce (cream-based)
Whip 1 litre of cream,* add 250 ml of tomato ketchup, a little cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper, combine well and use as required
Cocktail Sauce (cream/
mayonnaise)
To 750 ml mayonnaise add 250 ml cream,* 250 ml ketchup, a little cayenne and Worcestershire sauce and a little grated horseradish, salt and pepper, combine well and use as required
*Of late crème fraîche is often used in place of normal cream.
T H E C O U L I S
Coulis are Small Sauces made from fruits and vegetables. They have a long history but were almost forgotten or underused until they came into renewed use with the advent of the plated service associated with cuisine nouvelle.
Sweet or sharp, or often a combination of the two (think of the famous Cumberland Sauce), they should always be of a succulent flavour. They are served as a sauce–
dressing with all manner of food, such as hot or cold savoury fish and meat dishes, mousses and salads.
Others are sweeter made with the addition of extra sugar, and piped or ladled around sweets such as cakes, pancakes, gateaux, cheese cakes, stewed fruit etc.
In both cases they can give extra flavour and useful contrast for our modern plated presentation. 2 tbsp olive oil 250 ml white wine 4 tbsp double cream 1 clove garlic A little lemon juice Salt and pepper
Method
1 Cook shallots in oil, cool, add asparagus cut in small pieces, garlic, lemon
juice, white wine and salt and pepper
2 Cut to a fine puree in a processor, or force through a sieve
3 When cold, add cream and correct seasoning
Suitable to be served with cold salmon and other cold fish portions, fish mousses, smoked trout, eel, cold ham, tongue etc.
and salads
Apricot Coulis
Ingredients (10–12 portions) 500 g dried apricots
100 g shallots 2 tbsp olive oil 500 ml white wine 4 tbsp double cream 1 clove of garlic A little lemon juice Salt, pepper, cayenne
Method
1 Place apricots in pan with garlic, lemon juice and white wine, cayenne and salt and pepper, cook until tender, cool
2 Cook shallots in oil, cool
3 Cut shallots with apricot mixture to a fine puree in a food processor, or force through a sieve
4 When cold add cream and correct seasoning
Suitable to be served with cold meats, game and poultry of all types, roast hot meats, and entrées, e.g. fillet, medallion etc. and salads
Cucumber Coulis
Ingredients (10–12 portions) 2 cucumbers
150 g shallots 2 tbsp olive oil 500 ml white wine 4 tbsp double cream 1 clove of garlic A little lemon juice Salt, pepper, cayenne
Method
1 Cook shallots in oil, cool
2 Peel and cut cucumbers in half, lengthwise, remove pips, cut in small chunks
3 Add to shallots with garlic, lemon juice and white wine, cayenne and salt and pepper, and cut to a fine puree in a food processor or force through a sieve, add cream and correct seasoning
Suitable to be served with poached salmon, smoked trout, eel, mackerel etc. and salads
Plum Coulis
Ingredients (10–12 portions) 750 g stoned plums
100 g shallots 2 tbsp olive oil 250 ml white wine 4 tbsp double cream 1 clove garlic
1 tsp English mustard A little lemon juice Salt and pepper A little lemon juice Salt and pepper
Method
1 Place plums in pan with garlic, lemon juice and white wine, cayenne and salt and pepper, cook until tender, drain most cooking liquor, cool
2 Cook shallots in oil, cool
3 Cut shallots with plums to puree in a food processor, when cold add cream, mustard and plum liquor to get a covering
consistency, correct seasoning
Suitable to be served with cold meats, game and poultry of all types, roast hot meats and entrées, e.g. fillet, medallions etc.
Tomato Coulis
Ingredients (10–12 portions) 1 kg tomatoes for concassé 150 g shallots
2 tbsp olive oil 250 ml white wine 1 clove garlic 50 g tomato puree A little sugar
Salt and pepper, cayenne A little Worcestershire
sauce
Method
1 Cook shallots in oil, add tomato puree, sweat, cool
2 Blanch, cool and peel tomatoes, cut in quar-ters, wash away pips, cut into dice, add to shallots, wine, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper in pan, bring to the boil for a few minutes 3 Place all in a food processor and cut to a fine puree or force through a sieve, cool, correct seasoning and add Worcestershire sauce
Suitable to be served with cold meats, game and poultry of all types and salads
D I V E R S C O L D S A U C E S
We have a number of different cold sauces, sometimes called the English Sauces, although they are not all of English origin. The list below gives a number of the best known.
Cumberland Sauce
Ingredients (12–16 portions) 2 jars redcurrant jelly 250 ml port
4 tsp English mustard 100 g shallots
3 oranges 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange Salt and milled pepper
Method
1 With a peeler, peel oranges, cut peel into fine julienne, blanch
2 Squeeze juice from oranges
3 Warm and melt jelly with orange juice, reduce somewhat
4 Add shallots, bring to point of boil, cool slightly
5 In a bowl mix English mustard with lemon juice, add the still warm jelly mixture, salt and pepper, and finally the julienne 6 Correct seasoning, should be sharp and
sweet
Serve with cold meats, e.g. ham, tongue, roast game, beef and lamb
Horseradish Sauce
Ingredients (12–16 portions) 500 g freshly grated
horseradish 250 g fresh white
breadcrumbs 500 ml milk 500 ml cream A little cayenne Salt and white pepper
Method
1 Soak breadcrumbs in milk
2 Grate horseradish, place in bowl with cream, add breadcrumbs
3 Mix well, season with cayenne, salt and pepper
Serve with warm smoked fish, e.g. trout, eel, mackerel, and roast beef
Horseradish Sauce 2 Ingredients (12–16 portions) 2 jars ready horseradish 500 ml whipping cream A little cayenne
Salt and white pepper
Method
1 Whip cream medium firm, add ready horseradish, fold in well
2 Correct seasoning with cayenne, salt and pepper
Serve with warm smoked fish, e.g. trout, eel, mackerel, and roast beef
Ingredients (12–16 portions) 3 bunches of fresh mint 250 g caster sugar 250 ml vinegar 250 ml water Pinch of salt
Method
1 Place water and2/3sugar in a pan, bring to boil and dissolve, set aside and cool 2 Pick leaves off stalks, chop very fine on
board with1/3of sugar, or in a processor 3 Mix mint with sugar syrup, add vinegar to
required sweetness, and correct salt to taste
Serve with roast lamb
Oxford Sauce
Ingredients (12–16 portions) As for Cumberland Sauce
but replacing oranges with lemon, and using only 2 lemons for both juice and julienne
Method
Proceed as for Cumberland Sauce
Mustard (Scandinavian) Sauce
Ingredients (12–16 portions) 1 bunch fresh dill
500 ml vegetable oil 125 ml wine vinegar 1 small jar Dijon mustard 1 tbsp sugar
Salt and milled pepper
Method
1 Place mustard, salt, pepper, sugar and vinegar into a bowl and mix well
2 Gradually work in the oil, should be slightly thickening
3 Remove stalks from dill, chop dill leaves very fine
4 Add chopped dill to sauce, stand for 1 hour, may need seasoning correction. Sauce can separate, give an occasional stir before serving
Serve with Gravad Lax and other cold fish
Niçoise Sauce
Ingredients (12–16 portions) 1 litre French dressing 50 g capers
100 g stoned olives 150 g tomato concassée 50 g parsley
2 cloves garlic
Method
1 Chop capers, parsley, olives, garlic reasonably fine, place in a bowl 2 Add French dressing and tomato
concassée, mix well and correct seasoning Serve with cold meats, fish and eggs, use
as a dressing for meats or poultry salads
Ravigote
Ingredients (12–16 portions) 1 basic vinaigrette
150 g finely diced shallots 100 g mixed chopped herbs,
parsley, chervil, tarragon 2 hard-boiled eggs
8 anchovy fillets
2 tbsp anchovy essence Pinch of sugar
Method
1 Blanch copped shallots, drain and cool 2 Chop anchovy and capers, sieve eggs
through coarse sieve
3 Mix all ingredients in a bowl, add sugar and correct seasoning
Serve with cold meats and fish, calfs head or use as a dressing for beef salad
Persillade Sauce
Ingredients (12–16 portions) As for Ravigotte with the
addition of garlic
Method
Proceed as for Ravigotte
Serve with cold meats, fish and eggs or use as a dressing for meats or poultry salads
Swedish Sauce
Ingredients (12–16 portions) 1 kg apples, not too sweet 500 ml white wine
150 g grated horseradish 1 lemon juice
100 g sugar 250 ml mayonnaise
Method
1 Peel, core and quarter apples, place in pan with lemon juice, wine and sugar 2 Bring to the boil, cook until tender, set
aside and cool
3 Grate horseradish or use equivalent from ready jar
4 Place with apples in a food processor, or pass through a sieve to a fine puree, cool 5 When cold add mayonnaise, correct
seasoning
Serve with warm smoked fish, e.g. trout, eel, mackerel, and cold meats
Aioli (see Plate 3.16)
Ingredients (12–16 portions) 6 egg yolks
3 large cloves of garlic 500 ml olive oil
Method
1 Crush garlic to a fine puree with the salt 2 Add egg yolks and pepper
Continued
Aioli (see Plate 3.16)—cont’d
Ingredients (12–16 portions) Salt and ground white
pepper to taste
Method 3 Mix in well
4 Gradually whisk in the olive oil Larger amounts can be made in a food
processor
Use as a dip or like mayonnaise for dishes such as grilled fish
C O M P O U N D B U T T E R S Beurres composés
Compound butters are a very useful addition to the flavouring and presentation of our dishes, particularly in the case of grilled fish and meats, where they take the place of sauces.
Parsley Butter or Beurre Maître d’hôtel is the best known. However, they come in two types, mainly those with a savoury flavour and a few with the addition of sugar for sweet dishes such as pancakes. The preparation of the most popular types is given below.
Parsley Butter Beurre Maître d’hôtel (see Plate 3.17)
Ingredients (for 1 kg butter, gives 24–36 portions) 1 kg soft butter Juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce A little salt and milled pepper 150 g finely chopped parsley
Method
1 Combine all ingredients in a bowl or food processor, mix well and correct seasoning 2 Divide into 3–4 batches, place on wet
greaseproof paper, wrap and roll into a neat roll about 5 cm in diameter, twist ends to create sausage shape. Place in fridge to harden
3 Cut into 1–2 slices per portion
Serve with grilled fish and steaks of all types
Butter
Dill Butter/Beurre l’aneth
Method
As above, replacing parsley with equal amount of chopped dill
Serve with grilled fish and veal Tarragon Butter/Beurre
estragon
As above, replacing parsley with equal amount of chopped tarragon
Serve with grilled fish, veal, lamb
Continued
Butter Method Mixed Herb Butter/Beurre
fines herbes
As above, replacing parsley with equal amount of chopped freshly chopped mixed herbs, e.g. parsley, chives, tarragon, basil, chervil Serve with grilled fish, veal, lamb and all steaks Anchovy Butter/Beurre
anchois
As above, replacing parsley with 15–20 anchovy fillets finely chopped or forced through a sieve, mix well, proceed as above
Serve with all grilled fish and some meats Lemon Butter/Beurre au
citron
As above, replacing parsley with 2 further lemons (3 in all). Wash, dry and grate zest of all lemons, place with butter and all other ingredients in bowl then add the juice of all lemons and mix well. Proceed as for first recipe
Serve with grilled fish English Mustard Butter/
Beurre moutard Anglaise
Add 2–3 tbsp English mustard to recipe ingredients
Add 4–5 tbsp French mustard to recipe ingredients
French Mustard Butter/
Beurre moutard Française
Omit parsley in both cases
Serve with grilled herring and other grilled fish Horseradish Butter/Beurre
Raifort
As basic recipe but replacing parsley with 150 g freshly grated horseradish or 250 g ready horseradish. Mix well and proceed as above
Serve with grilled fish and steaks of all types Red Wine Butter/Beurre
vin rouge
Cook 500 g of chopped shallots in 750 ml red wine until almost dry and cool. Add these now dark red shallots to butter with all other ingredients but omitting the parsley. Proceed as above
Serve with grilled or fried fish, steaks, cutlets, medallions, escalopes etc.
M A R I N A D E S
Marinades are intended to flavour all manner of fish and meats before cooking. In the olden days they were mostly applied to fish and meat portions to be grilled, especially if a little bland, such as poultry. As today we have increasingly to use more chilled and frozen fish and meats, marinating helps to give back flavour and even colour that has been lost in the defrosting process.
Marinade for fish and shellfish Ingredients
500 ml white wine 250 ml oil
Juice of 2 lemons Salt and milled pepper Parsley stalks
Method
Mix all ingredients well, brush on fish portions and prawns etc. an hour or so before cooking Ideal whether fish is to be grilled, fried or deep
fried. Prawns will much improve even for cocktails
Marinade for poultry (especially chicken and veal)
Ingredients 500 ml white wine 250 ml oil
Juice of 1 lemon 2–3 tbsp honey Salt, milled pepper,
cayenne, paprika powder
Method
Mix all ingredients well, brush on fish portions and prawns etc. an hour or so before cooking
Marinade for red meats and game
Ingredients 500 ml oil 1 glass of port
2–3 crushed cloves garlic Salt, milled pepper and
cayenne
Method
Mix all ingredients well, brush on fish portions and prawns etc. an hour or so before cooking
Brine for pickled/brined salmon (Gravad Lax) (see Plate 2.5)
Ingredients (for both sides of a 3 kg salmon)
200 g sea salt 150 g caster sugar 30 g black peppercorns,
coarsely crushed 2–3 bunches of dill stalks
only (keep most dill itself for sauce)
Method
1 Pick best dill off stalks and set aside
2 Crush dill stalks with bat (most flavour inside) 3 Mix salt, pepper and sugar well, rub into
the flesh sides of the salmon, place on top of one another into a stainless steel tray with the crushed dill stalks in between, store in fridge
4 Marinate for 48–72 hours, turning the sides several times
Serve cut in thin slices garnished with sprigs of dill and with mustard sauce
4 (Poissions, Fruits de Mer and Crustacé)
F I S H Les poissons
Most fishes are edible and the world of fish represents an enormous source of good food. Of the most nourishing types of fish, many come from the rivers, such as the eels and the lamprey family, salmon, salmon trout, trout and char, and from the sea we have mackerel, fresh herrings, turbot and the conger-eel family. Among the less nourishing are such as sole, lemon sole and bream, etc., but they are nevertheless well liked for their good taste and easy adaptation to the many different methods of preparation and cooking.
This chapter is concerned with the preparation, for cooking, and presentation of fish and fish dishes in particular and the importance of the fish course on our menu in general. In most parts of the world, and in particular in Europe, fish and shellfish have always been a valuable source of protein, whether they came from the sea or the lakes and rivers of Europe. The reasons for this are the increased popularity of fish dishes, both in the home and in restaurants, in a more prosperous and health conscious Europe, which has led to a trebling of fish consumption in less than twenty years. This need for more and more fish for the table has subsequently led to over-fishing of all types of popular fish, which in the British Isles are cod, haddock, herring, turbot, halibut, plaice and sole as well as salmon, trout and shellfish, such as crab, lobster, oysters, mussels, etc.
All these very popular fish types have trebled in price and in many cases the cost of
All these very popular fish types have trebled in price and in many cases the cost of