The Decadent Cookbook by Jerome Fletcher Alex Martin Medlar Lucan Durian Gray Read Free Book Online Page A

baked in a specially shaped container. When cooked the meat is unmolded and filled with little birds in a ragout; they in turn are hidden under planking made of veal. From each side of the ship project skewers laden with sweetbreads, cockscombs, meaty bacon, and foies gras. The mast is a larger skewer that flies a cockscomb pennant, and it is festooned with sausage-hung rigging.
    (B ARBARA K ETCHAM W HEATON, S AVOURING THE P AST , 1983)

    The last familiar example of these ancient ornaments must be the English wedding-cake, the three-tiered ones having, in fact, something in common with the old eighteenth century Chinese temple, which was really a sort of pagoda. It is perhaps some memory of these obsolete conceits which makes chefs produce the inedible fantasies one sees at modern catering exhibitions… the loving representations of Swan Lake in aspic and mutton fat, the Bands of HM Grenadier Guards composed entirely of boiled lobsters…
    (S HEILA H UTCHINS, E NGLISH R ECIPES, 1967)

    We start with some simple recipes.
T HE M ONSTER E GG

( OR B OILED E GG G ARGANTUA )
    12-24 EGGS
    2 VERY CLEAN PIGS’ BLADDERS
    ( ONE SMALL, ONE LARGE )

    ‘Break a dozen or two of eggs, separating the whites from the yolks. Tie up the yolks in a pig’s bladder, boil them hard, and take them out again. In a still larger bladder place the whites; into the midst of this put the yolk [it will float to the middle automatically]; tie up the bladder tight; and boil the whole till the white hardens. Uncover the monster egg, and serve it on a bed of spinach or other vegetable. This is a French jest in imitation of the great Madagascar eggs of the Epiornis Maximus, which would contain about twelve dozen hens’ eggs.’
    (K ETTNER’S B OOK OF THE T ABLE )
C ARPET B AG S TEAKS

    1 LB (450 G ) FILLET STEAK
    6 OYSTERS
    BUTTER
    STRING

    Slit the steak to make a pouch and stuff in the oysters. Sew up with string and fry for around 10 minutes each side in butter, quickly at first then more gently. Take the string out of the carpet bag, and serve in the cooking juices, garnished with watercress.
    A variation, known as Fillet of Beef Prince of Wales, was created for the young Edward VII. This substitutes pâté de foie gras studded with truffles for the oysters.
C ABBIE C LAW

A WIND-SCULPTURE FROM S COTLAND
    A FRESH 2-3 LB COD
    A DRAUGHTY PASSAGE
    P ARSLEY
    H ORSE RADISH

    Skin the cod, and remove the guts. Wash, wipe, sprinkle with salt inside and out. Leave overnight. Next day hang in an open, breezy place but away from the sun (if you can find any) and out of reach of cats. Hang for 48 hours or longer, depending how high you like your cabbie claw to be. Poach in water with parsley and scraped horseradish. Bone, flake and serve with mashed potato and egg sauce, ornamented with parsley and cayenne pepper. The connection with London taxi-drivers is fortuitous, unless you take a cab to the fishmongers to buy your cod.
I ÇLI K ÖFTE

    This is a Turkish dish, sometimes translated as ‘crusted meatballs’ - which gives a fair idea of the texture but none at all of the possible shapes. Avoid the predictable sphere/sausage morphology, and try making giant olives, small domes, pyramids, buttocks, horses’ heads, sphinxes….

    3 ONIONS, CHOPPED FINE
    1 TABLESPOON PINE NUTS
    1 LB 10 OZ (750 G ) FINELY MINCED LAMB OR BEEF
    12 OZ (300 G ) BULGUR WHEAT
    1 EGG
    1 OZ (25 G ) CRUSHED WALNUTS
    1 TABLESPOON CURRANTS
    25 CL OIL
    1 TEASPOON SALT
    1 TEASPOON PEPPER
    1 TEASPOON CUMIN
    ½ TEASPOON PAPRIKA
    A HANDFUL OF PARSLEY, CHOPPED

    Brown the onions in oil with the pine nuts. Add half the meat and cook till dry. Take the pan off the heat, and mix the contents with salt, pepper, cumin, walnuts, currants, parsley. This will be the filling for the meatballs. Now for the ‘crusted’ bit. In a separate bowl mix the bulgur and the remaining meat, then add egg, salt, pepper, paprika. Knead, adding a little water occasionally. Take an egg-sized blob of the resulting