LES MERLANS BERCY (Whiting Bercy)

This is one of specialities of ILE-DE-FRANCE, and is a delicious way of cooking whiting or cod.

Ingredients :

• a few whiting
• 1/4 lb. of mushrooms
• shallots
• parsley
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• butter
• 1 bayleaf
• salt
  
• pepper

Method :

1. Put a small piece of butter, worked with chopped parsley and shallot, in each whiting, and lay the fish in a buttered fireproof dish, on a layer of chopped shallots and parsley.
2. Season with salt and pepper, add the bayleaf, the white wine, the mushrooms, previously cooked in butter and chopped.
3. Dots with pats of butter, and cook for about 20 minutes in a moderate oven.
4. Serve in the same dish in which they were cooked.

LES MOULES MARINIERES (Mussels Marinieres)

This is a most popular dish in France, and each province has its own particular way of doing it. The recipes given below, however, is one of the more usual ways of preparing mussels marinieres.

Ingredients :

• cooked mussels
• 1 shallots
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• 1 teaspoon of chopped parsley
• 6 tablespoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of fine breadcrumbs
• salt
• pepper

Method :

1. Put the chopped shallot and the white wine in a saucepan, and reduced by one-third on a quick fire.
2. Add to this 1/2 cup of the water in which the mussles were cooked, being carefull to strain it, so that it is not muddy.
3. Bring to the boil and simmer gently for a few minutes.
4. Remove the saucepan from the fire and add the butter, divided in small pieces, the fine breadcrumbs, the parsley, a little lemon juice, salt, and pepper, stirring well.
5. Put the cooked mussels in the sauce and warm up, without boiling.
6. To serve, pour the whole of the contents of the saucepan on a hot dish.

LANGOUSTE A L'ARMORICAINE (Crayfish A L'Armoricaine)

"A L'Amoricaine" must not be confused with the appellation "a l'americaine", given to the famous lobster dish. Armorique was the name of Brittany until the influx of Celts from Brittain, when Brittany was an important province and duchy. The Copper-colored crayfish or langouste is much more popular in France than in other countries; it is usually larger than a lobster, and has no pincers or claws. the meat is more delicate and tender than that of a lobster, which may be substituted in this recipes.

Ingredients :

• 1 langouste or lobster
• 2 small crabs (and when obtainable, 1 thorn-back or spider crab)
• 2 tomatoes
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• mixed herbs
• 2 shallots
• butter
• salt
• pepper
• cayenne

Method :

1. Melt 1/4 lb. of butter in an earthenware casserole, cut the pieces of lobster in round pieces about 1 inch thick, and cook on a quick fire for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Remove the pieces of lobster from the casserole, and add to the butter in which they were cooked, a paste made by pounding in a mortar the shells and meat of the crabs and rubbing through a sieve.
3. Stir this into the butter till perfectly smooth.
4. Then add the finely chopped shallots, the herbs, the tomatoes, peeled and quartered, and the wine, and seasoning with salt, pepper, and cayenne.
5. Simmer for 30 minutes and place the pieces of lobster in the sauce, and cook for a few minutes longer.

MACQUEREAUX AUX GROSEILLES (Mackerel with Gooseberry Sauce)

This simple way of serving mackerel is very popular in France, and has existed for several centuries. It is mentioned in a cookery book of the beginning of the XVIII century, and was apparently a well-known dish even at that time.

Ingredients :

• the number of mackerel required
• 1/2 lb. or more of gooseberry to each mackerel
• sugar to taste
• a little water
• a sprig or two of fennel

Method :

1. The mackerel may be either boiled in salted water with a little fennel, or grilled and sprinkled with chopped fennel.
2. There are several ways of preparing the gooseberry sauce, but in average household it consist of a puree of gooseberries, made by putting the fruit in a saucepan with 1 or 2 tablespoons of water and sugar to taste, and simmering till the gooseberries are sufficiently tender to rub through a sieve.
3. Sometimes the pureeis added to a sauce of melted butter, or to a BECHAMEL SAUCE.

TRUITE AU BLEU (Marinated Trout)

The rivers of France abound with various kinds of small trout, and one of the most popular ways of cooking them is "AU BLEU"--the boiling vinegar in which they are plunged turning them a vivid blue. But to obtain a perfect dish of "TRUITES AU BLEU", it is essential that the fish should be perfectly fresh, rapidly cleaned as soon as it is caught, and at once immersed in the boiling vinegar, without being either scaled or washed. Many a country inn throughout France is noted for this dish, and within three or four minutes of being removed from the cool water of stream or brooklet, the trout find themselves in the boiling, aromatic and highly seasoned COURTBOUILLON
For this, equal parts of water and vinegar are used, onions, a sprig of parsley, thyme, a small bayleaf, coarse salt, and a few peppercorns--the latter being added 10 minutes before the liquid is strained. Put all these ingredients in an enamel or earthenware saucepan (aluminum should never used for cooking acids), bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain through a cloth, replace in the saucepan, bring to the boil and add the fish. Simmer for 4 or 5 minues, according to the size of the fish. Remove the fish from the saucepan, and serve with a melted butter sauce, or a Hollandaise or Mousseline Sauce.
They can also be served cold, with a mayonnaise sauce.

ANGUILLE EN MATELOTE (Eel en Matelote)

There are many versions of this excellent and typical French dish, and each district boast of its special MATELOTE. I give the one which is usually served in Paris, and which is easily made.

Ingredients :

• 2 lbs. of eel
• 1/2 pints of red wine
• 1/2 cup of STOCK or water
• 3/4 cup sliced onions
• 1/2 clove of garlic
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• mixed herbs
• salt
• pepper

For Garnish

• 1/4 lb. of mushrooms
• 12 pickling onions
• a few shrimps
• croutons of fried bread

Method :

1. Put the sliced onions in a alrge saucepan with the fish, cut in 3 inch lengths, the chopped herbs, agrlic, and a little salt.
2. Cover with the wine and STOCK or water, put the lid on the saucepan, bring to boil, and boil moderately fast for 15 minutes.
3. Remove the pieces of eel from the liquid, and starin the latter through a sieve into another saucepan. Let it boil till reduced by one-third.
4. Now add the butter and flour, which should have beend well worked together, the mushrooms, previously cooked, and the onions, cooked in butter to a golden color.
5. Cook for a few minutes longer.
6. To dish up, pile the pieces of eel in the center of the dish, pour the sauce over them, and garnish with the mushrooms, onions, and croutons of fried bread.

L'AIOLI GARNI (Garnished Aioli)

Although many people in this country have a strong prejudice against garlic, even those who not tasted it, no book of national French Cookery would be complete without a recipe of AIOLI, which is more or less just a garlic mayonnaise. To those who like the flavor of the precious bulb, it is one of the most delicious things France has produced and, although other countries have their versions of AIOLI, the French one remains the most perfect.

Ingredients :

For the AIOLI

• 2 cloves of garlic for each person
• 1 yolk of egg to every two people
• salad oil
• a few drops of lemon juice
• a pinch of salt

• dry salt cod
• potatoes boiled in their skins
• boiled carrots
• a little fennel
• 2 or 3 cloves

Method :

1. Soak and cook the fish as in the LA BRANDADE DE MORUE (Brandade of Dry Salt Cod) recipe.
2. When done, drain, put on a dish, surround with the carrots and potatoes and sprinkle with the fennel.
3. To make the AIOLI, peel the cloves of garlic, and pound them in mortar, add the yolk of egg and mix thoroughly.
4. Add a few drops of water.
5. Then proceed exactly as in the making of mayonnaise.
6. Pour in the oil drop by drop, stirring in the same direction all the time with wooden spoon.
7. When of the consistency of thick mayonnaise, add a pinch of salt, and few drops of lemon juice.

LA BRANDADE DE MORUE (Brandade of Dry Salt Cod)

This is a most popular dish throughout France, and hails from Nimes. It is often called "THE GLORY OF NIMES" and you will be told there that nowhere else can you get a perfect BRANDADE, but I have had equally delicious ones in Paris, and elsewhere.

Ingredients :

• 1 lb. of dry salt cod
• 1/2 cup of salad oil
• 1/2 cup of milk
• the juice of 1 lemon
• 1 clove of garlic
• white pepper
• a pinch of grated nutmeg
• small slices of fried bread

Method :

1. Soak the cod for 12 hours in cold water.
2. Scale the fish, cut it up in several pieces, and put in a saucepan of cold water.
3. Bring to boil, and remove at once from the water.
4. Skin the pieces of the fish and remove all the bones.
5. Replace the fish in a saucepan, on a very slow fire--this is an essential factor in the succes of the BRANDADE--and stir in, with a wooden spoon, first a tablespoon of warm oil, to which the pounded garlic has been added, then one of warm milk and so on, till all the oil and milk are used up, and till the BRANDADE presents the appearance of a thick and smooth white puree.
6. Season with pepper, nutmeg, the juice of 1 lemon, and a little salt if necessary.
7. Put on a hot dish and garnish with thin slices of bread, previously fried in butter.

LA SOLE FECAMPOISE (Fillets of Sole Fecampoise)

Ingredients :

• The number of fillets of sole required
• 12 or more mussles
• 1/2 pints or more of shrimps
• BECHAMEL SAUCE
• 3 or 4 tablespoons of cream
• puff pastry
• salt
• pepper

Method :

1. The fillets are poached in boiling salted water for a few minutes, till tender, well drained and arranged neatly on a dish.
2. Cover with following sauce: Put 2 1/2 tablespoons of chopped onion and the same of carrots in a small saucepan with 2 tablespoons of butter and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the saucepan and set aside.
4. Put 4 tablespoons of butter in the same saucepan, and when melted add 6 tablespoons of flour, and work to a smooth paste.
5. Add gradually 1/2 pint of boiling milk, and keep stirring.
6. Season with salt and pepper, add the onion and carrot, and simmer very gently for 3/4 hour, without boiling.
7. Meanwhile, shell the shrimp, and pound the shells to a smooth paste in a mortar, with a little over half their weight in butter, and then rub through a sieve.
8. Now strain the BECHAMEL SAUCE, put it in a saucepan and add the cream.
9. Stir till it thickens.
10. Remove from the fire and stir in the shrimp butter, adding it gradually.
11. When quite dissolved, add a dash of cayenne pepper, pour over the fish, and garnish with the cooked mussels, the shrimps, and small fancy shapes of puff pastry.

LES FILLETS DE SOLE AU CIDRE (Fillets of Sole With Cider)

This recipe, which contains cider, comes, of course, from Normandy. Cider is used as much in cooking in Normandy as white wine in other district of France, and is a very good substitute for wine.

Ingredients :

• The number of fillets of sole required
• 2 or 3 shallots
• 1 or 2 cups of cider according to the number of fillets
• flour
• butter
• salt
• pepper

Method :

1. Put the fillets in a fire-proof dish, season them with salt and pepper, sprinkle with the chopped shallots,
2. and pour the cider over them.
3. Cook in a moderate oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, or till the fish is tender.
4. When done, put the cider in a small saucepan, add 3 or 4 tablespoons of butter, a little flour, stir well, till it begins to thicken slightly and is perfectly smooth, add 1 teaspoon of chopped parsley, and pour over the fish.