Previously I described the menu for my March Folly Regency dinner party held March 28th. Today’s post shows more photos of the cooked dishes I chose from John Mollard’s 1802 cookbook, The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined, Comprising Ample Directions for Preparing Every Article Requisite for Furnishing the Tables of the Nobleman, Gentleman, and Tradesman. My husband and I were totally time-challenged during the preparation phase—but it was worth it.
First, Egg Balls—Next, a Cullis
In last week’s post I described how we served our friends an Entreé of Soles recipe from Mollard’s first course in his March menu. The recipe called for cooking, first, egg balls (which recipe can be found in my previous post) and then preparing a “good strong cullis colored with lobster spawn.” What is a cullis? Mollard’s book describes it as a thick gravy made with ham and veal. Hmm. Who serves white fish in a ham and veal gravy? I’m not an expert on sauces, although I recognize a good one when I taste it, but nestling stewed scrod in a thick brown gravy seemed mad. We left off the cullis and simmered the fish in chicken broth, butter and lemon juice to perfect doneness. To serve we placed pickled vegetables, an egg ball and a dab of caviar alongside the fish. I think Mollard might have approved the final result, shown in the photo above.
Fillet of Pork Roasted
The second course of Mollard’s March menu was our party’s main course. We served roasted pork and two sides: haricot vert and plain mashed potatoes. The marinade Mollard called for was made with gravy, vinegar, black pepper, a few bay leaves, sliced onions, a garlic clove and a little thyme. Here again, the idea of marinating the pork in gravy seemed odd, although it would have worked. Rather than use gravy, we rubbed the pork with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and herbs; sprinkled sliced garlic cloves on the top; and roasted the loins in a 500 degree F oven for 30 minutes. The result: lovely!
We chose this roasting method because we didn’t know how to start with a piece of back pork, from which we should “cut the chine bone from the under part,” as described in Mollard’s recipe. We didn’t have a lark spit or a large fireplace for roasting a big slab of back pork. We could have covered the pork loins with paper, but chose not to. We did, however, spend two days making the Robert sauce.
Robert Sauce
Making Mollard’s Robert sauce started with preparing a cullis, which involves simmering ham and veal (we nixed the veal), turnips, celery, onions, leeks, sweet herbs, allspice, black pepper, mace and lemon peel until the mixture is drawn down to a light brown color. As directed, we discharged the cullis with beef stock, let it boil gently for 45 minutes, skimmed the fat off, and strained it. This recipe resembles a demi-glace, except that it was based on pork, not veal.
The next day we made the Robert sauce by mixing the cullis with a bay leaf, a sliced onion, a blade of mace, a little mustard, and a gill of rhenish wine. In other words, we added about 4 oz (a US gill) of white wine. This mixture was boiled, strained and reduced to a “glaize.” The result? Perfectly rich, smooth and wonderful.
Teamwork Needed in the Kitchen
My dear husband, who is very good at logistics, drew up a master timetable for what had to be done when—both before and after our guests arrived. It all came together as planned, from the simmering stewed fish with egg balls to the bouillie soup to the roasted pork with haricot vert and mashed potatoes. Teamwork was needed to have everything ready at the right time and served up hot. No spills. No fuss. Before we all sat down to enjoy the main meal, the third-course dessert—pippins and rice—went into the oven. Pippins are a type of yellow and red apple. Since we couldn’t find Pippins here, we stuffed Piñata apples with a cinnamon-rice mixture and baked them. The baked apples were the perfect ending to a surprisingly tasty meal. Finally, we could relax with our friends, who were good sports from start to finish.
Up next on April 23: 5 Things I Learned about Regency Cooking
Source:
1Mollard, John. The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined, Comprising Ample Directions for Preparing Every Article Requisite for Furnishing the Tables of the Nobleman, Gentleman, and Tradesman (London, 1802), pp. 2-3, 55 (PDF pp. 57-58, 110).