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Mushroom Under Glass
Fry the mushrooms, and then broil them; put them on a piece of toast, and cover with a good rich cream; place glass bell over the whole, and cook in oven about ten minutes.
A restaurant flourish written down for the home cook, with almost every quantity left out. The hinge is the glass bell: it traps the steam and the mushroom perfume so the dish arrives smelling of the oven rather than the dining room.
- The glass bellThis is a cloche — a bell-shaped glass dome set over the toast in its dish, both going into the oven together and coming to the table still covered. Modern equivalents are an oven-safe glass dome or an inverted heatproof bowl; ordinary antique bells and thin decorative glass are not tempered and can crack from thermal shock.
- Oven temperatureNone is given. A moderate oven, around 350F, is a reasonable choice: the mushrooms are already cooked and the ten minutes is only to heat the cream through and scent the enclosed air.
- Fry, then broilThe sequence sounds redundant and largely is. Frying in butter drives off water and concentrates flavour; the broiling adds colour and a little char. One thorough sauté in butter over high heat until browned and dry does the same work.
- QuantitiesAssume large flat mushrooms, three or four per serving, or a generous handful of caps. This is a one-portion assembly repeated as needed rather than a batch dish.
- "A good rich cream"Heavy cream, two to three tablespoons per serving, or the pan juices loosened with cream and reduced slightly. Half-and-half and light cream will thin out and soak the toast.
- The toastCut it thick and toast it dry and hard. A soft slice collapses under cream in a covered dish in ten minutes; the toast is meant to be a plate, not a garnish.
- ServingThe dome comes off at the table. Serve immediately — one round of toast per person, as a first course or a light supper with a salad.
Cooking and serving sous cloche was a hotel and club affair in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when a covered glass dome lifted at the table let the diner meet the aroma before the food. Mushrooms under glass was a familiar American restaurant dish of that era. Mushrooms were commonly proposed as a meat substitute in vegetarian cookery of the period, their savour and dense texture being offered as a stand-in for beefsteak.