Straight to the recipe Prepared ‘à la braise’ A delicious dish from the nineteenth century that is easy to prepare. How delicious exactly, depends on the poultry (a real capon -mouthwatering but expensive-, a good poularde -very tasty as well-, or the watery pale poor industrial chicken -bleh-) and the stock you use (homemade chicken stock or a…
sauce
Roux and Béchamel sauce
The basis for al kinds of sauces Some of the recipes on Coquinaria describe how a soup, sauce or ragout is thickened with a roux. Many sauces in the classic French cuisine are based on this technique. Making a roux is not difficult. Just remember that the amounts of butter and flour must be the…
Sauce espagnole
Straigh to the recipe The first new historical recipe of 2018 concerns small chicken pies from nineteenth-century French cook Carême. The stuffing is seasoned with one spoonful of sauce espagnole. That will be easy, I thought, just look up what Carême has to say about this sauce and prepare it. But things were slightly more…
Salmon in red wine-sauce
Straight to the recipe A recipe from the French Golden Age The first really new cookbooks since the Middle Ages did not appear before 1650. In France these cookbooks were the first onset to the development of the classical French “haute cuisine”. Up til the middle of the seventeenth century medieval classics Le Ménagier de Paris and Le…
Mustard-dill sauce
Very good with fish For example with hot-smoked salmon I got this recipe nearly forty years ago from someone who was married to a Swede. For about 2.5 decilter (1 cup) sauce; preparation 10 minutes. 2 Tbsp mustard 2 Tbsp sugar 2 Tbsp white vinegar 6½ Tbsp sunflower oil (or other neutral-tasting vegetable oil) 6½…
Mussels in antiquity
Straight to the recipe As the Romans liked to eat them The months around Thanksgiving and Christmas are filled with good wining and dining. Give yourself a break from stuffed turkeys and roasted gammon, and have some humble shellfish. The mussel has been eaten ever since the stone age. The historical recipe on this page…