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Salpicons

Salpicons are elegant little trifles composed of poultry, game, fish, forcemeat, sweetbreads, ham, tongue, or foie gras, together with mushrooms, truffles, artichokes, etc. The various materials should be cooked separately, cut into dice, and heated in thick brown or white sauce, whichever is most suitable for them. The remains of meat and vegetables are frequently served in this way. Salpicons may either be served in a dish, with the different ingredients divided by small sippets into compartments, then covered over with bread-crumbs, and browned; or they may be put into little patties, and served on a napkin neatly garnished with parsley. The latter is the more usual method. To prepare these patties, make some good puffpaste; with a cutter stamp it into small rounds, two inches in diameter, put these on ice for a few minutes, then brush them over with beaten egg to glaze them. Dip a smaller cutter into hot water, and stamp the rounds through one-third of the thickness of the pastry. Bake the patties in a quick oven. When they are done, lift off the cover which was formed by the smaller cutter, and smooth the pastry. Have ready whatever is to form the contents of the patties. Heat it in sauce, but on no account allow it to boil, or the meat will be hard; fill the patties, put on the covers again, and serve. In large families, where a number of dishes are constantly prepared, the cost of salpicons consists principally in the trouble they take to prepare. Time to bake, fifteen to twenty minutes.