I’ve become a little obsessed by the savoury section of Mrs A.B.Marshall’s Cookery Book published in 1889. The savoury course no longer appears on most menus, except as cheese and biscuits; it was usually a little more complex than that, a properly cooked little dish, usually but not always served hot, and was usually fishy or cheesy. I began to wonder what preceded a dinner, if a savoury completed it, and I looked at Agnes Bertha Marshall’s hors d’œuvres selection.
She recommends oysters simply served, or Bologna sausage sliced thin, the mysterious Luxette which was her own recipe and seems to be a savoury paste, anchovies, and olives. She has a set of instructions on how to stuff an olive with anchovies to be served on shredded lettuce on a little plate, glass or paper case, six per person – but, she adds ‘olives for this dish can be purchased in bottles already prepared with the anchovy’ – much more simple! Caviar is another suggestion with several different ways of serving it, sardines, salmon, mussels, herring fillets, herring roe, Lyons sausage with egg, and of course, Luxette… I must find out what this is!
Two recipes are illustrated – there are 125 illustrations in the book, line drawings but I cannot find out who the artist was, no credit at all!
Olives á la Turenne
- stoned olives (1 per person)
- Luxette
- round croûtons of fried bread (one per olive) buttered and sprinkled with chopped parsley
- shredded cooked white of egg
- shredded gherkin, red chilli, truffle
- unset aspic jelly
- shredded celery (kept in cold water until required)
- dressing of eschalot, coralline pepper, salt and oil
- turn the olives and stuff with Luxette
- stand on the croûtons and cover entirely with white of egg, gherkin, red chilli, truffle
- set with the aspic
- drain the celery and season with eschalot, coralline pepper, salt and oil
Olives á la St. Augustine
- Spanish olives, one per person
- pâté de fois gras, passed through a sieve
- aspic jelly
- sprigs of chervil
- round croûtons of fried bread (one per olive) buttered
- chopped ham, tongue or coralline pepper
- turn the olives and pipe using a forcing bag with the pâté de fois gras
- stand each olive in a bouche cup, fixing with aspic jelly
- fill the moulds with apsic jelly and garnish with chervil
- mask the croûtons with the ham, tongue or coralline pepper
- when set, turn out of the moulds and set on the croûtons
- serve on a dish-paper
Olives á la St. Augustine
Lois Elsden 