The Cook Book by “Oscar” of the Waldorf

Three thousand recipes from the maitre d'hotel of the Waldorf — the hotel kitchen that taught Gilded Age America how to dine, from beef tea to watermelon with champagne.

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Chartreuse of Pigeons

Peel an equal quantity of carrots and turnips and cut them into small balls with a vegetable cutter and boil them separately in salt and water, keeping them a little firm. Drain, wipe them on a cloth and leave them till cold. Cut the fillets off some young pigeons, trim away the sinewy skin, beat them lightly, season with salt and pepper and lay them in a buttered sautepan. Thickly butter a plain border mould, arrange the vegetable balls in circles alternately round the sides, fill the hollow of the mould with potatoes that have been boiled and mashed with a little butter and stand the mould in a bain-marie for an hour. When ready, fry the fillets over a quick fire, turning them. After they are cooked, drain off the butter, pour over two or three tablespoonfuls of glaze, and keep them hot. Turn the decorated border out of the mould onto a hot dish and fill the center with some chopped and cooked vegetables that have been mixed with some bechamel sauce. Arrange the fillets almost upright on the border letting them slightly overlap each other, and serve with a sauceboatful of brown sauce which has been prepared with the legs and trimmings of the pigeons.

Curried Pigeons, Indian Put four teaspoonfuls of ground onions, a teaspoonful each of ground chillies and turmeric, half a teaspoonful of ground ginger and one-fourth teaspoonful of ground garlic into a saucepan with two ounces of boiling fat and cook until the ingredients are slightly browned; add four young pigeons each cut up into quarters and about a teaspoonful of salt, and cook until they are browned; then add two breakfast cupfuls of water and continue to cook slowly till the pigeons are tender. Turn the curry out on a hot dish, and serve very hot.

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