Yesterdaymy starting point was The Art of NamingDishes on Bills of Fare (New York, 1920) by L. Schumacher. I want to giveyou a little more from this book today, and tomorrow will move on to anothertopic.
As wefound yesterday, Mr. Schumacher found much fault with menu descriptions of thetime, which he felt were often unintelligible to the restaurant customer. Heoffered some suggestions towards the solution of the problem in the chapterentitled Rules for the Naming of Dishes.
In naming dishes two main factorsare recommended: to mention their main ingredients and the way they areprepared. Secondary designations, such as geographical or personal names canthen follow. Let us consider the soups. Before giving them a seconddesignation, the main elements, snch as meats, vegetables, etc., should betaken into consideration, as there are meat soup, vegetable soup, fruit soup,etc.
When soupsare prepared mainly or entirely out of a certain kind of meat, vegetable, etc.,they have to be named as chicken soup, pea soup, tomato soup, cherry soup, etc.When soups are prepared in a particular way they must be called pea puree soup(strained pea soup), chicken cream soup, thick tomato soup, beef consomme,clear turtle soup, etc. All ingredients with few exceptions are considered as substitutedesignations and are seldom mentioned, but expressed by style names as Choiseulstyle, Royal style, Manhattan style, etc. Simple soups which contain mainly oneingredient like dumplings, semola, etc., can be named with their contents ascherry soup w. dumplings, wine soup w. semola, etc. That it is absolutely necessaryto name soups, as other dishes with their main ingredients and their manner ofpreparation is shown by different soups which have the same style ofdesignation as for instance: — Clearchicken soup, Choiseul; Chicken cream soup, Choiseul; Chicken consomme,Choiseul. If they were all called simply Soup, Choiseul, one could not tellwhich kind was meant, and there is certainly a big difference between each one.
It is thesame with all other dishes. First mention the main ingredients (elements) and thenthe manner of preparation as boiled, baked, roasted, braised, stewed, rolled,mixed, filled, stuffed, larded, etc., before any minor title is given. Anexception to this are dishes which have names that already include a certainstyle of preparation such as fricassee, stew, ragout, etc., but the principalelement (ingredient) should be given as chicken fricassee, veal fricassee, vealragout, beef ragout, etc. Also other dishes such as peas, carrots, spinach,etc., when prepared plain, do not need any special designation as everybodyknows they are prepared in the plain customary way. If they are prepared in aspecial way, then it is to the advantage of every restaurateur to mention it,as for instance: Creamed carrots, Spinachwith egg, Puree of peas, etc. If the preparation is a complicated one sothat a short name cannot be given besides that of the main contents of a dish,then the proper names should be quoted as: Carrots,English: Spinach, Monroe; etc.
Theserecommendations of course only apply when the goal is absolute consistency ofinterpretation of classical dishes, and the corollary of complete absence ofinnovation. Sadly, this does not help with my issue of the style of many modernrestaurant bills of fare with their extremely lengthy, tedious, and – let’sface it – pretentious style. Or am I the only person feeling this way?
As therecipe for the day, I give you PotageChoiseul, from Auguste Escoffier’s AGuide to Modern Cookery (1907.)
Potage Choiseul.
Prepare a “purée Conti” (No. 640)with an excellent fumet of game.
Garnish with two tablespoonfulsof sorrel, ciseled, and cooked in butter, and two tablespoonfuls of poachedrice.
Puree de Lentilles, otherwise Conti
Soak three-quarters of a pint oflentils in lukewarm water for two hours. Put them in a stewpan with two oz. ofvery lean breast of bacon, blanched,cooled, and cut into dice, and one quart of white consommé. Set to boil, skim,add three oz. of carrots, one onion, and one fa*ggot, and cook very gently.
Drain thelentils, pound them together with the bacon, moisten the purée with a fewtablespoonfuls of cooking-liquor, and rub through tammy. Rectify theconsistence with some reserved cooking-liquor, then treat the purée in theusual way and add butter when about to serve.
Garnishwith two tablespoonfuls of bread dice fried in butter and a pinch of chervil pluches.
N.B. — Itshould be borne in mind that the aromatic garnish used in cooking dryvegetables of what kind soever should be withdrawn before pounding the latter,that they may be rubbed through tammy.
