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Mushroom Ragout
Put in a stewpan 3 cupfuls of good stock, either chicken or brown stock as desired; add 1 spoonful of vinegar, 1 spoonful of finely chopped parsley, 2 small onions sliced thin. Add salt and paprika, a little mace or nutmeg. Bring to a boil and put in 1 pint of well-cleaned mushrooms. Cook very slowly until the mushrooms are tender--no longer; beat the yolks of 2 eggs, mix it with a little milk or some of the broth of the ragout. Pour it in gradually, stirring quickly, and remove from the fire and serve. It must not boil after the eggs are added.
A simple stewed-mushroom dish thickened with egg yolk rather than flour. Everything hangs on the last thirty seconds.
- The hinge: no boiling after the yolksEgg yolk sets into curds well below boiling. Take the pan off the heat before the liaison goes in, add it in a thin stream while stirring, and return it only to a bare steam if it still seems thin. If it curdles it cannot be brought back.
- "Spoonful"The book does not distinguish tea- from tablespoon here. A tablespoon of vinegar and a tablespoon of chopped parsley suit three cups of stock; the recipe does not say what kind of vinegar, and a cider or white wine vinegar is a reasonable choice.
- A pint of mushroomsMeasured by volume, whole: roughly 8 oz / 225 g of button or cremini mushrooms, trimmed and halved if large. Wipe rather than soak them.
- Cooking time"Until tender--no longer" gives no clock time; at the very slow simmer the recipe calls for, expect something in the range of 5 to 10 minutes and judge by the mushrooms. Held longer they shed water and shrink.
- StewpanAny wide, heavy-bottomed saucepan or sauté pan with a lid. Width matters more than depth so the mushrooms sit in a shallow layer of stock.
- Mace and paprikaThe recipe allows either mace or nutmeg; mace is the more delicate and floral of the two, and a pinch is enough for three cups. The paprika is presumably a mild sweet type, used as much for colour as heat.
- StockUse unsalted or lightly salted stock and season at the end, since three cups reduce somewhat during the simmer and the yolks add no salt of their own.
- Yield and servingServes three to four as a side or light course. The sauce stays loose, closer to a rich broth than a gravy, so serve it in shallow dishes over toast, rice or boiled potatoes.