Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (52 page)

1 lark or similar bird

1 truffle

1 deciliter (about 1/3 of a cup) of Marsala

Remove the beak and feet from the bird, and put it on the fire with the butter, veal, pork, chicken breast, and lastly, the chicken liver. Moisten with the Marsala, then with broth, and cook until done. Before straining, put the truffle in for a little while. Toss the bread into the liquid left in the pan, and make a mash. Put the mash in a mortar with the small bird, an egg yolk, about 1/4 of the veal and pork, and pound to make a mixture that you will then pass through an iron-wire sieve. If the mixture turns out too thick, dilute it with broth.

Dice all of the remaining meat, the ham, the tongue, the liver, and the truffle into cubes the size of hazelnuts and blend all this together with the pureed mixture. Now take a round pasticcio mold, and line it with the dough described in recipe 372. But after you have lined the bottom and sides of the mold with dough, line it again with paper-thin slices of salt pork. After you have filled the mold,
make a cover for the pie, and in every other respect follow the instructions in recipe 370 for game pie.

If you want to make a more elegant pie, do not fill it all the way to the top. After it is cooked, fill the empty space with a little of the aspic described in recipe 3, and serve it cold with more aspic on the side.

These amounts serve eight people.

If you do not have strong arms, do not attempt to make this pasticcio. This animal’s tough flesh and many bones require a tremendous effort to extract all the usable meat, without which you could not make anything really good.

What I am about to describe was made in my presence, with these amounts. If you use them as your guide, I think your money will have been well spent.

1/2 a bare, weighing 1 kilogram (about 2 pounds) without the head and feet

230 grams (about 8 ounces) of lean milk-fed veal

90 grams (about 3 ounces) of butter

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of salted tongue

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of prosciutto fat

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of untrimmed prosciutto, sliced half a finger wide

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of untrimmed prosciutto, sliced thinly

60 grams (about 2 ounces) of black truffles

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of flour for the béchamel sauce

3 deciliters (about 1-1/4 cups) of Marsala

2 eggs

1/2 a glass of milk

broth, as needed

After cleaning and drying the hare, take 80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of lean meat from the fillet or other parts and set it aside.
Then strip the bones to remove the meat, break them, and set them aside as well. Chop the meat and put it, along with the 80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of meat from the fillet, which you will leave whole, in a marinade consisting of about 2/3 of the Marsala with the following ingredients, coarsely chopped: one quarter of a large onion, half a carrot, one rib of celery as long as the palm of your hand, several sprigs of parsley, and two bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper, mix everything well, and let it sit for several hours. In the meantime, remove any membrane from the veal, mince it with a knife, and grind it in a mortar as fine as you can.

Strain the meat and the seasonings from the Marsala wine in which they were marinating, and place them in a saucepan along with all of the bones, the prosciutto fat cut into small pieces, and 30 grams (about 1 ounce) of butter. Cover the saucepan and brown the meat over a high flame, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. When the meat begins to dry, moisten it with Marsala wine (you can use the Marsala left over from the marinade if you want) and then broth until it is completely cooked. Then separate the meat and the bones again, and put the 80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of lean hare meat aside. Use this, along with the 50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of prosciutto and salted tongue, to prepare a number of strips slightly more than half a finger wide.

Grind all of the remaining hare meat in a mortar, moistening it from time to time with the rest of the Marsala and some broth to make it softer, but not too watery; then pass it through a sieve. Then crush the bones and try to pass as much as you can from them through a sieve. Remember, you will need an iron-wire sieve to do this.

Now make a béchamel sauce with 30 grams (about 1 ounce) of butter, the flour, and the milk, and when it is cooked pour all of the pureed meat (both hare and veal) into the same saucepan; add the two eggs, mix well, and taste the mixture to see if the seasoning is right. Add salt and the rest of the butter if necessary.

Now make the pie with the dough described here below and follow the instructions in recipe 370 to fill it. Slice the truffles into pieces the diameter of hazelnuts, and arrange them in layers with the strips of prosciutto, lean hare meat, and tongue, alternating this with the pureed meat mixture. Press the mixture down firmly so that the strips are spread out evenly and will look nice when the pie
is cut. Lastly, arrange the 30 grams (about 1 ounce) of thinly sliced prosciutto over the top, and cover.

You can cover it with the dough described in recipe 155, or with the following:

250 grams (about 8-4/5 ounces) of flour

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of butter

2 teaspoons of wine spirits

2 teaspoons of sugar

2 egg yolks

the juice from a lemon wedge

5 grams (about 1/5 of an ounce) of salt

cold water, if needed

With a few variations, you can use this recipe to make other pasticci with game, such as wild boar or venison. I think that it should be enough to serve up to twenty people.

Here is another cold dish for you:

250 grams (about 10-4/5 ounces) of lean, boneless hare

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of butter

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of flour

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of grated Parmesan cheese

6 egg yolks

1/2 a liter (about 1/2 a quart) of milk

Cut the hare in small pieces and salt it. Finely chop about 20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of prosciutto and a piece of onion and put on the fire with half the butter and the hare. When the butter is almost all gone but before the meat has browned, add some good broth and cook until done. When it is cooked, grind the hare meat in a mortar, moistening it with its own sauce, and then pass through a sieve.

Make a béchamel sauce with the flour, the rest of the butter, and the milk. When it has cooled, beat the egg yolks well and blend in, along with all the other ingredients. Place the mixture in a smooth
mold with buttered paper lining the bottom and bake in
bain-marie
. Serve cold, with aspic around and on top. But since nowadays beauty and elegance—and even a few nice surprises—are much sought after in the presentation of dishes, it would be better to serve the loaf inside a single block of aspic, which is easy to do. Take a mold larger than the one you used to make the loaf, cover the bottom with aspic, and when it has hardened place the loaf in the middle and fill the empty space around it with more liquid aspic.

This is one of the best cold dishes I know. Its delicate flavor makes it worthy of any table.

500 grams (about 1 pound) of milk-fed calf’s liver

70 grams (about 2-1/3 ounces) of butter

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of fresh crustless bread

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of grated Parmesan cheese

4 chicken livers

1 deciliter (about 2/5 of a cup) of Marsala

6 tablespoons brown stock or broth

1 whole egg

2 egg yolks

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

Cut the calf’s liver into thin slices and cut the chicken livers in half. Toss both into a pan with the bay leaf and half the butter. When the liver has absorbed the fat, add the other half of the butter and season with salt and pepper. Then add the Marsala wine, and cook over a high flame for four or five minutes (so that the liver will stay tender). Then strain the liver from the liquid and pound it in a mortar along with the bay leaf. Crumble the bread into the sauce remaining in the pan to make a mash. Toss the mash into the mortar as well, and then pass everything through a sieve. Then add the Parmesan cheese and the eggs, diluting the mixture with the 6 tablespoons of brown stock or broth. Finally place the mixture in a smooth
mold, lining the bottom with a sheet of buttered paper. Bake in
bain-marie
until done. Remove from the mold while still lukewarm, and when it has cooled completely, cover it with the aspic described in recipe 3, using a larger mold than the first one. It should serve twelve people.

Use the mixture in recipe 374, just adding 30 grams (about 1 ounce) of black truffles cut into wedges. Bring the truffles to a boil in the Marsala before sprinkling them into the liver mixture. Cover with the pasticcio dough described in recipe 372, bake in the oven or a Dutch oven, and serve cold.

This, too, should serve twelve people.

When they are not misused, vegetables are a healthy part of cooking. They thin the blood, and when served with meat, they make it easier on the stomach. But the amount of vegetables used anywhere depends to a great extent on the climate of the place.

Oregano (
Origanum vulgare
) is the fragrant seed of a small wild plant of the mint family or
Labiatae
.

Take some long zucchini—a goodly amount, since they shrink a great deal—and cut into round slices as thick as a large coin. Put a frying pan or copper skillet on the fire with a generous amount of olive oil. When the oil starts to sizzle, toss in the sliced zucchini just as they are, and cook over a high flame, stirring often. When they are halfway done, season with salt and pepper. When they look like they are beginning to brown, sprinkle a good pinch of oregano over them, and remove them immediately from the fire with a slotted spoon. They can be served by themselves or as a side dish, and they are sure to please.

Oregano is good for seasoning other foods as well, such as stewed mushrooms, fried eggs, anchovies, etc.

To stuff zucchini, you can cut them in half lengthwise, crosswise, or even leave them whole. I prefer to leave them whole, because it is more elegant and the zucchini make a better presentation that way. No matter which method you choose, they must be hollowed out to make room for the stuffing. If you leave them whole, the best way to do this is to use a tin tube inserted all the way through. If the zucchini are so large that the tube does not make a large enough cavity, use a small, thin knife to enlarge it.

To make the filling, take some lean milk-fed veal, cut it up and put it on the fire in a saucepan with some chopped onion, parsley, celery, carrot, a little finely chopped bacon, a little oil, salt, and pepper. Stir frequently with a wooden spoon, and when the meat has absorbed all the liquid and begins to brown, pour in a ladleful of water. After the meat has absorbed the water, pour in another ladleful, and after a little while yet another, to finish cooking. Make sure that some sauce is left. Then strain the sauce and set it aside.

Chop the strained meat very fine with a mezzaluna, and mix it with an egg, a little grated Parmesan cheese, some crustless bread boiled in broth or milk, and a dash of spices; this will serve as the stuffing. Fill the zucchini with this mixture and then sauté in browned butter; cook until done with the sauce that you have set aside.