Okra or Gumbo, Garnished with Barley Bechamel Croustades

Procure young and tender okras; cut off both ends, keeping the gumbo two inches long; blanch them in a copper pan with boiling salted water, drain and lay them in a sautoir one beside the other; moisten to their height with mirepoix stock (No. 419), let simmer until cooked and the stock reduced to a glaze; dress, cover over with well-buttered bechamel sauce (No. 409), garnishing around with barley bechamel croustades, made according to the following directions.

Barley Bechamel Croustades.—Boil some pearl barley in salted water for three hours, drain, put into a sautoir, and dilute with a well-buttered and highly seasoned sauce. Fill some hollow croustade tartlets with this, forming a cover with a round piece of savarin (No. 148) an inch and a quarter in diameter and three-eighths of an inch thick, having it buttered and glazed in the oven.