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Shrimps and Prawns
These are dressed in Rissoles or Petits pâtés in the same way as lobster. They are called Rissoles or Petits pâtés, de crevettes-of shrimps, de chevrettes -of prawns. Friantines de crevettes are fritters of shrimps.
The preparations of shellfish generally appear as entrées, but such dishes as crab or lobster, scalloped, in aspic, or as a Mayonnaise, may be substituted for a roast or dressed vegetable in the second course.
Fish entrées can be made with almost any kind of fish. They may be prepared in any of the ways given for shellfish, and take their name from the fish of which the dish is composed; or they may be called simply Petits pains, etc., de poisson.
In addition to those already enumerated, the following are suggested. In each case the name of the fish used may be substituted for "poisson."
Poisson au suprême. Pieces of fish with white sauce in a potato border, decorated with hard-boiled egg, etc.
Pain, or Boudin, de poisson à la Turque is a steamed mould of fish dressed with rice, etc. À la Milanaise, it is dressed with macaroni.
Gâteau de poisson à la Palerme is a fish cake baked or steamed in a mould, and served in a brown sauce with lemon juice and shreds of lemon peel. The same preparation of fish steamed in little moulds is served as Petits boudins, or timbales, de poisson à la Cardinal-with Cardinal sauce, à la Vénitienne-with Venetian sauce, à la Tartare-with Tartare sauce. À l'aspic, they are served cold, set in aspic, or on a border of aspic with a salad garnish.
Petits pains de poisson à la Mazarine are little fish cakes made with anchovy cream and served with anchovy sauce.
Poisson en ballotines are little fish balls, poached or fried.
Crème de poisson is a cream made of pounded fish with eggs, and cream or panada-a preparation of butter, water, and flour. It is steamed in a mould, or in several small moulds. Cold fish creams, set in moulds, or served in little cases, are sometimes called Petites mousses de poisson.
Côtelettes de poisson à la Bergen are cutlet moulds
Half a page on shrimps, and then something more useful: the rule for inventing fish entrées. Take any fish, prepare it in any of the ways given for shellfish, and name the dish after the fish. The book hands over the system rather than more entries.
- Crevettes and chevrettesThe page separates them, crevettes for shrimps and chevrettes for prawns. Modern French uses crevettes for both and distinguishes by size and colour, crevettes grises for the small brown ones and crevettes roses for the pink. Chevrette has dropped out of use.
- Where these dishes sat in the mealThe page says it plainly: shellfish preparations generally appear as entrées, but scalloped crab or lobster, or lobster in aspic or as a mayonnaise, may be substituted for a roast or a dressed vegetable in the second course. That is menu architecture, and it is the thing no recipe book tells you — which dish can stand in for which.
- Panada is a flour paste hereCrème de poisson is pounded fish with eggs and either cream or panada, and the page defines panada as butter, water and flour. A modern forcemeat uses bread soaked in milk for the same job. The flour version is firmer and blander and sets harder in a mould.
- Pounding, and what replaced itPain, boudin, crème, mousse, ballotine, côtelette: all of them are the same pounded fish paste in a different vessel. It was made in a mortar and pushed through a sieve. A food processor does it, and the thing to watch is temperature, because warm fish and warm cream separate.
- Moulds are the missing equipmentSteamed in a mould, in several small moulds, in little cases, set in aspic, on a border of aspic. The page assumes a cupboard of tinned shapes and the time to turn things out of them. Dariole moulds and ramekins cover most of it, and a bain-marie in a low oven is steadier than a steamer.
- Petits pains de poisson are fish cakesThe name means little breads of fish. They are fish paste with anchovy cream, cooked in small shapes and served with anchovy sauce. Calling them fish cakes is accurate and takes the mystery out of a third of the page.
This page shows the machinery of the book working in the open. Having listed shellfish dishes at length, the author stops and explains that the pattern itself is transferable: the same preparations, the same sauces, the same moulds, with the name of whatever fish you happen to have dropped into the slot where poisson stands. It is a passage written for a cook working from what the fishmonger had that morning, in a household where the menu was often settled before the shopping was done, and it quietly admits that the elaborate French nomenclature of the surrounding chapters is a grid with interchangeable parts.