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Toulouse Ragout

Half a dozen large cockscombs with sweetbreads and truffles, in drawn-butter sauce.

From
Bohemian San Francisco
Published
1914
Yikes Scale
Iffy

Exactly as printed, 1914

OEUFS AU SOLIEL Poach eight fresh eggs then take them out and place in cold water until cool; lay them for a quarter of an hour to marinade in a glass of white wine with sweet herbs. Dry on a cloth and dip in a batter of flour mixed with equal quantities of ale and water to the consistency of double cream. Fry to light brown. EGGS WITH WINE Put three cupfuls of red wine into a casserole and add three tablespoonfuls of sugar, rind of half a lemon, raisins, and sweet almonds, blanched and chopped. When the wine boils break the eggs into it as in poaching eggs. Let them cook well and then put in serving dish. Add one tablespoonful of flour to the wine and cook to a cream then pour over the eggs. ITALIAN RISOTTO Soak two level teacups of rice. Mash two cloves of garlic and mix with a little minced parsley. Soak a dozen dried mushrooms in a little water until soft, then chop fine and drain. Cover the bottom of a saucepan with olive oil, place over the fire until quite hot, then put in the garlic, parsley, and mushrooms, add half a can of tomatoes and cook half an hour. Drain the rice and put in a saucepan, adding a little broth, half a cup at a time, to keep from burning, and add, stirring constantly, the other ingredients, cooking all together until the rice is done. Salt to taste; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. SCALLOPS OF SWEETBREAD Parboil the sweetbreads and then glaze in reduced Allemande sauce. Dip in bread crumbs and fry in butter until a light brown. When done dish in close order and fill center with Toulouse Ragout, as follows:

TOULOUSE RAGOUT Prepare half a dozen fine, large cockscombs, two dozen button mushrooms, small pieces of sweetbreads and a proportionate quantity of truffles. Place all in a stewpan and add a small ladleful of drawn butter sauce, and the juice of a lemon. Cook a few minutes.

A FEW RARE RECIPES LAMB CHOPS MARINADE Soak kidney lamb chops in the following mixture for twelve hours and then broil: Four tablespoonfuls olive oil, one tablespoonful tarragon vinegar, one small sliced onion, one mashed clove of garlic, one broken up bay leaf, twelve whole black peppers, six cloves, one saltspoon of salt, two teaspoonfuls dried thyme, strips of parsley and lemon peel. Cut up a chicken and boil until tender.


Bohemian San Francisco, 1914. Public domain; transcription unaltered.

So what happens if I make it?

Safe, classical, and now essentially unbuyable. Ragoût à la Toulousaine is a real garnish of the French repertoire, and cockscombs and sweetbreads were both ordinary luxury ingredients.

Sweetbreads are thymus and pancreas, not brain, and remain perfectly legal. The cockscombs are the part you would struggle to source.

Notes from the 21st century

  • The measures need translating. A gill is half a cup; a wineglassful is about two fluid ounces. The book uses both freely.
  • No oven temperatures anywhere. “A hot oven” is conventionally read as roughly 400–450°F. The book expects a cook who knows her range.
  • Bohemian San Francisco is a record. Published in 1914, it documents the restaurant cooking of the city before and after the fire.

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