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CUTLETS (a la Maintenon)

Cutlets were, it is said, first served in this way under the direction of Madame de Maintenon, to tempt the failing appetite of Louis XIV. According to the original recipe they should be dressed en papillote. Cut up and trim the cutlets, removing as much as possible of the fat. Next chop up finely a little raw ham, some button mushrooms, a small piece of shallot, parsley, and a pinch of thyme; add pepper and salt. Take the cutlets and brown them quickly on both sides in a very hot frying-pan slightly greased, and wrap them up two or three at a time in some well-oiled paper with a dessert-spoonful of the chopped mixture and about the same quantity of butter. Cook them in a brisk oven for about ten minutes, and serve them in the paper, the object of which is to keep in and impregnate the cutlets with the flavour. These cutlets are supposed, properly speaking, to be cooked on a grill over a charcoal fire. French cooks mark the paper with a hot iron to resemble the marking of the gridiron.