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Brandade de Morue

A historical recipe from A guide to modern cookery, by Escoffier, A. (Auguste) (1907).

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A historical recipe

A guide to modern cookery, by Escoffier, A. (Auguste) (1907). Project Gutenberg eBook #71395.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards. Its words name: raw egg. Check current food-safety guidance before following this.

France

Known as a French recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.

  • Raw egg. Raw or lightly cooked egg carries a risk, above all for children, older people, anyone pregnant or unwell.

Ingredients 3 ingredients

  1. one lb. of morue
  2. one-half pint of oil
  3. a tablespoonful of milk

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Hot oil. Never put water on an oil fire: turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid or a damp tea towel. Pat food dry before it goes into hot oil, and lower it in gently, away from you.
  • Oven and hot trays. Use dry oven gloves for trays and dishes: a hot tray looks just like a cold one. Open the oven door away from your face and let the first rush of heat out.
  • Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. Cut one lb.
  2. of morue into pieces, and poach these for eight minutes.
  3. The eight minutes should be counted from the time the water begins to boil.
  4. Drain on a sieve, and clear the pieces of all skin and bones.
  5. Heat in a sautépan one-sixth pint of oil until the latter smokes;
  6. throw the cleaned pieces of morue into the oil;
  7. add a piece of crushed garlic the size of a haricot-bean, and stir over a brisk fire with a wooden spoon until the morue is reduced to shreds.
  8. Then take the saucepan off the fire, and, without ceasing to stir the paste, add thereto, little by little, as for a mayonnaise, about one-half pint of oil.
  9. When the paste begins to stiffen through the addition of the oil, now and again add a tablespoonful of milk.
  10. For the amount of morue used, one-quarter pint of boiling milk should thus be added by degrees.
  11. When the Brandade is finished, it should have the consistence of an ordinary potato purée.
  12. When about to serve, taste the preparation, and rectify its seasoning.
  13. Dish the Brandade in a hot timbale, building it up in the shape of a pyramid, and set thereon a crown of bread-crumb triangles fried in butter just before dishing up.
  14. N.B.—The triangles of fried bread may, with advantage, be replaced by lozenges made from puff-paste, which are baked without colouration.
  15. For the Brandade use only well-soaked Icelandic or Newfoundland morue.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Frying pan
  • Saucepan
  • Chef's knife
  • Wooden spoon
  • Sieve
Source Public domain in the USA
Credit

From A guide to modern cookery, by Escoffier, A. (Auguste) (1907). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #71395 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71395). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.