Forcemeat

Forcemeat is used in many of the choicest entrées. It is used either alone or in combination with salpicon. When used alone it may be cooked in a border or cylindrical mould, in individual timbale moulds, or as quenelles. When combined in cooking with salpicon it may be used as the lining of a large mould, or of individual moulds, with a filling of salpicon.

Of forcemeat there are two varieties, cream forcemeat, very delicate in composition, and quenelle forcemeat, in which a bread or flour panada adds firmness to the preparation. Raw pulp of meat, or fish scraped from the fibre, pounded smooth in a mortar and passed through a purée sieve, is the foundation of the cream forcemeat. The meat or fish pulp, prepared as before, mixed with panada, and passed a second time through the sieve, is the foundation of quenelle forcemeat. As the pulp must be forcibly pressed through the purée sieve, the sieve must stand very firmly. A sieve fitted tightly into the lower part of a double-boiler has proved a good arrangement for home use. The purée needs be scraped from time to time from the lower part of the sieve.