oarsely imitated in the benighted days of
Anglo-Saxon cookery by the English "force-meat balls." Lately, however,
not only are quenelles a great feature in high-class cookery as
additions to made dishes, but they are a most fashionable and delicious
entree, and replace with great advantage the too-frequent croquette.

To prepare quenelle meat for entrees.

_Mode No. 1._--To make quenelle meat, a mortar is indispensable, as it
must be pounded to a pulp that will go through a sieve, and I have known
a persevering woman grate the breast of chicken on a large grater, but
this is very slow work. Take the white meat from a large, young,
uncooked chicken, and remove all skin, fat, and sinew. Melt together
over the fire a scant tablespoonful of butter and one of flour; when
they are thick and smooth, stir in a gill of boiling water quickly. This
should now be a thick paste; put it away to cool. Take half as much
butter as you have of chicken, and half the quantity of paste
(technically called panada) that you have of butter. Put the paste into
a mortar; pound it well; add the butter; pound again till smooth; add
the chicken, cut up very small, and pound until the whole forms a smooth
pulp. Add one whole egg and the yolks of three, the third of a
saltspoonful of white pepper (salt must depend on whether the butter
seasons sufficiently). Work all well together, stir in half a gill of
thick cream, and pass the whole through a wire sieve. Put the whole on
ice to get firm. The quenelles should be about the size of a small egg
flattened; shape with two tablespoons dipped in flour. Have ready a
frying-pan with boiling water in which is a saltspoonful of salt, lay
each quenelle carefully in, and poach for ten minutes. The water must
boil very gently. Drain on a sieve; serve with mushroom or tomato sauce.
Have a little dried parsley and grated tongue or ham, and scatter
alternately on each quenelle.

_Mode No. 2._--One pound of lean veal cutlet; pound it thoroughly in a
mortar; then rub it through a sieve, or it may be forced (_after_ it is
pounded) through a vegetable strainer. Steep a pound of bread crumb in
tepid water; wring it in a cloth to get rid of the moisture; put it in a
stewpan with a tablespoonful of butter and a pinch of salt. Stir it over
the fire until it ceases to stick to the pan and forms a smooth paste.
Place it between two plates to cool. This is called bread panada. Put
into a mortar twelve ounces of the prepared