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Entrées: Salmis
The legs of roast ducks, in a sauce of stock and wine with shallots, etc., are served as Salmis de cuisses de canetons.
Salmis de caneton à l'Américaine is a salmis of duck in a brown sauce with black currant jelly.
Côtelettes de canetons à la Portugaise are cutlets made of minced duck, breadcrumbed and fried; served with a dressed vegetable and tomato sauce.
Rissoles de caneton à la Carême are little round rissoles of duck in brioche paste.
Timbale de caneton à la Valencienne is a steamed mould of minced duck, served in an orange sauce, garnished with slices of oranges. A la Milanaise, it is steamed in a mould lined with macaroni, and is served in a white sauce with grated cheese.
ENTRÉES.
GOOSE.
The legs of a roast goose are cut in pieces, fried with slices of onion, and served with Piquante sauce as Quartiers, or cuisses, d'oie à la Lyonnaise. Fricassée d'oie aux pommes is a fricassee of goose, served with a purée of apples in the centre.
Chaudfroid d'oie à l'Indienne is curried goose, served cold with rice.
Ragoût d'abatis à l'Orient are stewed giblets, served with savoury rice, and a curry sauce with olives and gherkins.
TURKEY.
The pinions of a Turkey as- Ailerons de dindon, or dinde, à la purée de céleris are boned, and served in a circle with a purée of celery in the centre. à la Ste. Ménehould are boiled in stock with wine, etc., coated with the sauce, breadcrumbed and broiled.
Escalopes de dinde en blanquette, or Blanquette de dinde, are slices cut from the breast of a roast turkey, served in white sauce with cream, etc. With the addition of slices of ham, it is called au jambon. Dressed with chestnuts, it is called à la Mancelle; or garnished with poached eggs, à la Reine.
Suprême de dinde à la Victoria. Little slices served in Suprême sauce, garnished with poached eggs and croûtes of fried bread.
A salmis is a dish made from a bird that has already been roasted. The page is organised around that fact: the legs of roast duck, the legs of a roast goose, slices from the breast of a roast turkey, the wing pinions, the giblets.
- The legs were the remainderSalmis de cuisses de canetons uses the legs after the breast has been carved and served. A duck leg today is bought deliberately, usually for confit, and the breast is the premium part. This page has it the other way round: the legs are what was left and had to be made into something.
- Ailerons are wing pinionsAilerons de dindon are the wing tips and the joint above them, boned and set in a circle round a purée of celery. They are mostly skin, bone and gelatine, and they are now either discarded or sold for stock.
- Giblets had a dish of their ownRagoût d’abatis à l’Orient is stewed giblets with savoury rice and a curry sauce carrying olives and gherkins. A bird then came with its neck, heart, gizzard and liver. Most birds sold now do not, so the dish begins with an ingredient the same shop will not supply.
- Curry served coldChaudfroid d’oie à l’Indienne is curried goose served cold with rice. Curry here is one sauce in the French repertoire, named and handled like the others, and as willing to be served cold as hot.
- Orange with duck, in a mouldTimbale de caneton à la Valencienne is minced duck steamed in a mould and served in an orange sauce with slices of orange. The pairing is familiar; the form is not. A steamed mould of minced meat was a standard way of turning scraps into something that could be sliced and presented whole.
The salmis belongs to a household where a roast bird came back from the dining room half carved and the cook was expected to produce a named dish from the rest of it for another meal. The order of the page follows the carving: the breast goes to the table first, then the legs, then the pinions, then the giblets. Nothing is wasted and nothing is admitted to be a leftover. By the time the duck returns as Côtelettes de canetons à la Portugaise, minced, crumbed, fried and cut to the outline of a cutlet, it has been disguised twice, once in the pan and once on the menu.