Instant Gourmet Cookery

No Bachelor who has invited a sweet young thing up to his apartment for dinner wants to spend most of his time in the kitchen fiddling over a hot stove. Even if he has promised her a meal fit for Escoffier, the idea is for our man to be out where the action is and not rattling around the scullery looking for a wire whisk.

Quickness of cooking by itself isn't the complete answer. The chef who has mastered the art of table for two-ing knows that ease of preparation counts for more than just speed for the sake of speed. Nothing could take less time than simply dropping a pouch of frozen lobster newburg into a pot of boiling water and then waiting a few moments until the seafood reaches the bubbling point. The lass at your side might be pleased by your menu selection, but the pouch in which it came could give her the idea that you don't think her palate is worth the wooing.

There's a far better way for a man with a maiden. In a chafing dish, sauté chunks of freshly boiled lobster meat in butter, blaze them with brandy and sherry, simmer them with sweet cream and thicken the velvety newburg sauce with egg yolks. Thus you will spin out a warm bevy of aromas in a matter of minutes that both flatters and surprises her. What makes the ritual so easy with the chafing dish is the cooked fresh lobster which you can now buy at any respectable fish or seafood stall. Lobster is just one of a growing parade of freshly cooked viands that emancipate the bachelor from shelling, boiling, steaming, braising and countless other culinary chores. Gourmet counters are now piled to the groaning point: turkeys--smoked, roasted or rolled; chickens--rolled, sliced or right off the rotisserie; cooked and shelled jumbo shrimp; fresh crab lump; boiled ox tongue; prime corned-beef brisket; roast beef and roast pork--all on Lucullan display. So many members of the ham fraternity are sold cooked that in many markets it's all you can do to find a raw one any more. And that's no loss to those who remember the 24-to-18 hours' soaking, six hours' boiling and two hours' baking and glazing that used to be required. Beefeaters should not expect that the cold roast beef on the counter, although useful at the proper time, will take the place of the prime ribs they roast in their own ovens. But then, roasting beef is one of those few cooking assignments where, happily, your main job is sitting around, sipping gibsons and dipping into the caviar, while waiting for the oven bell to ring. The proper approach is to choose a meal in such a way that either you can prepare it in a trice or it can quite literally cook itself while you busy yourself with the more enjoyable task of socializing, ready to turn on a second's notice into an instant gourmet.

In the imaginative chef's hands, a simple thing like cooked shrimp, normally used for shrimp cocktail, opens up haughty hors-d'oeuvre possibilities. The most obvious ploy, but still a very good one, is to combine the shrimp with fresh crab meat or lobster or both in an elegant seafood cocktail. Parboiled scallops or cooked shrimps are the basic ingredients of another delightful introductory course. Use the small bay scallops or cut the sea scallops into halves or thirds; marinate them in French dressing for about an hour and drain before serving cold on toothpicks. Or you can join your shrimps with diced ripe avocado sprinkled with lime and onion juices and with raw sliced mushrooms previously marinated in French dressing, before adding the prepared cocktail sauce. Shrimps are a delicate delight with diced apple, diced crisp cucumber, tiny artichoke hearts in oil or crisp water chestnuts. Take the prepared bottled cocktail sauce (be sure it's ice-cold) and stir in two or three tablespoons of sweet cream and a tablespoon of chopped chives to each cup. The cream gives a certain roundness to the sauce and the chives add zest. Instead of serving the shrimps in seafood cocktail glasses, place them in puff-paste tart shells, which can be bought already made in most quality groceries, and cover the shrimps with curried mayonnaise and chopped hard egg. Note that in each instance you're hardly cooking in the conventional sense at all, but using your wits and skills beforehand to give your guests appetizers that are a simple blend of the accustomed and the exotic.

Remember, too, that the ready-to-eat foods in the better shops aren't leftovers that have seen a better day and somehow or other must be resurrected, but are carefully planned for the culinarian who likes to ad-lib at the casserole, the sandwich board, the chafing dish or the salad bowl. The sliced chicken roll is a perfect example of one of the newer foods designed to coddle the palate with little or no cooking. It's as moist as a poulard right out of the pot. You can handle the slices as easily as you would a deck of cards without fear of crumbling. For something as simple as a club sandwich, you merely assemble the sliced chicken with crisp bacon, lettuce and mayonnaise between slices of hot buttered toast. Do you find solace in creamed chicken hash, so beloved by the traditional clubman? The chicken roll seems tailor-made not only for this, but fills the sustaining spot equally well in quickly preparable chicken terrapin, chicken a la king, tomatoes stuffed with chicken au gratin, spaghetti with chicken tetrazzini, and so on.

At meal's end you can always count on the rich polyflavored world of fruits and cheeses to keep even the most sated appetite sensuously alert. Combinations such as a ripe camembert or brie with fresh Bartlett or Anjou pears are always blissful stimuli. The elegant-tasting dessert known as strawberries Romanoff is simply fresh strawberries marinated in orange liqueur and orange juice, mixed or topped with vanilla-flavored whipped cream or whipped cream blended into soft ice cream. If you want a change from the convention-bound strawberry shortcake, toast slices of brioche, douse them with crème de cassis and spread with softened sweet butter. Cover the slices with both whole strawberries and sliced sweetened strawberries and top with sweetened whipped cream flavored with a dash of dark Jamaica rum.

Finally, in the easy-twist-of-the-wrist department, anyone dedicated to fine dining will want to take advantage of those culinary classics that by their very nature are easily made on a fast fire--frogs' legs, minute steaks cut from the shell of beef, calf's liver with red-wine butter, veal scaloppine, and a thousand and one omelets. No better example of the French cooking à; la minute can be cited than tournedos quickly browned in a pan. Escoffier wrote no less than 65 recipes, all built around the same tournedos, coupling them with an imaginative garnish each time--with artichoke bottoms and green peas, with stuffed onions, with tomatoes flavored with garlic and tarragon, with grilled mushrooms and peppers, with rice and white truffles, and so on.

Remember that the more sleight of hand you use in your cooking, the higher the quality of your raw stock must be. A tartar steak, which isn't cooked at all but seasoned raw chopped beef, can only be made from the finest prime ground steer beef obtainable.

In the final analysis, when you sit down to the table the real object is not to serve your guests a time sheet detailing the amount of time devoted to each dish but, more importantly, to simply dine well.

The following are time-tested recipes to keep your guests delighted and you out of the kitchen.

Crab Meat and Mushrooms Au Gratin

(Serves four)

1 lb. fresh extra-large crab lump (Frozen or canned crab meat may be substituted)

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 lb. sliced fresh mushrooms (Drained canned mushrooms may be substituted)

2 scallions, including green part, thinly sliced

1/4 cup dry rum

2 cups light cream

2 eggs, beaten

5 3/4-oz. jar Hollandaise sauce

Salt, pepper, paprika

Grated parmesan cheese

Remove any pieces of shell or cartilage from crab lump. Melt butter in skillet. Add mushrooms and sauté until just tender. Add crab lump and sauté just until heated through. Add scallions and rum. Flambé. Set mixture aside. Preheat broiler flame. Combine 1/4 cup cold cream with eggs, mixing well. Reserve for later use. Heat balance of cream in top of double boiler over simmering water. When cream is hot, slowly stir in eggs. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat back of spoon. Avoid curdling. Remove from flame, stir in Hollandaise sauce and add salt and pepper to taste. Combine crab meat and sauce in flameproof shallow casserole. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Sprinkle lightly with paprika. Place under broiler until top browns. Watch constantly to avoid burning. Turn casserole if necessary to brown evenly. Serve directly from casserole at table.

[recipe_title]Lobster Flambé, Fried Cucumbers[/recipe_title]

(Serves four)

[recipe]6 1 1/4 lb. freshly boiled Northern lobsters[/recipe]

[recipe]4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 cup cognac[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 cup dry sherry[/recipe]

[recipe]2 cups light cream[/recipe]

[recipe]Flour[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 teaspoon onion powder[/recipe]

[recipe]Salt, celery salt, pepper[/recipe]

[recipe]2 large cucumbers[/recipe]

[recipe]Salad oil[/recipe]

Have fish dealer remove meat from lobster shells. Cut meat into slices about 1/2 in. thick. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in saucepan. Add lobster and sauté just until lobster is heated through. Add cognac and sherry. When liquors are hot, flambé them. Add cream. Bring up to boiling point. Mix remaining 2 tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons flour to a smooth paste. Add to saucepan. Heat over low flame, stirring constantly, until sauce is thickened. Add onion powder and salt, celery salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm in double boiler or chafing dish until served. Peel cucumbers, cut (concluded on page 161) Instant Gourmet(continued from page 106) lengthwise in half and cut each half crosswise in thirds. Cut each third in half lengthwise. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and dip in flour, patting off excess. Heat 1/2 in. oil in skillet until first wisp of smoke appears. Sauté cucumbers until light brown. Serve with lobster.

Shrimp and Ham lo Mein

(Serves four)

1 lb. cooked, peeled and deveined shrimp

6 ozs. thinly sliced boiled ham

1 large Spanish onion

1/4 cup salad oil

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1-lb. can bean sprouts, drained

5-oz. can water chestnuts, drained, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese oyster sauce

1/8 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, cloves, coriander and garlic powder

1 lb. vermicelli

Cut ham into julienne strips about I in. long. Cut onion in half through stem end, then cut crosswise into thinnest possible slices. Separate slices into strips. In a large skillet heat salad oil and sesame oil. Add onion and sauté only until heated through. Add shrimp, ham, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, soy sauce, oyster sauce and spices. Stir very well. Sauté slowly until ingredients are heated through. Cook vermicelli in boiling salted water, following directions on package. Drain well. Add shrimp mixture and mix thoroughly. Serve very hot. Pass Chinese prepared mustard at table.

[recipe_title]Ox Tongue, Noodles Alfredo[/recipe_title]

(Serves six)

[recipe]1 whole cooked tongue, corned or smoked[/recipe]

[recipe]1/2 lb. medium-size or fine-size noodles[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 lb. sweet butter[/recipe]

[recipe]3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese[/recipe]

[recipe]1/4 cup heavy sweet cream[/recipe]

[recipe]Salt, freshly ground pepper[/recipe]

Wash tongue. Place in cold water, bring to a boil, reduce flame and keep at a gentle boil 20 minutes. Let tongue remain in water until carved. In another saucepan bring 2 quarts water to a rapid boil. Add 2 teaspoons salt. Add noodles and stir well. Cook just until tender, following cooking time indicated on package. Drain noodles and place them in serving casserole or chafing dish. Sprinkle with salt. Place butter and cheese on noodles. Add cream. Place casserole on trivet over spirit lamp or heat chafing dish over flame. With large serving fork and spoon, lift noodles, tossing and mixing gently until thoroughly coated with butter and cheese. Just before serving, sprinkle with pepper from pepper mill. Carve tongue. Place slices on mounds of noodles on serving dishes.

[recipe_title]Smoked Pork Chops, Cumberland Sauce[/recipe_title]

(Serves four)

[recipe]8 cooked hickory-smoked pork chops[/recipe]

[recipe]1/2 cup red currant jelly[/recipe]

[recipe]1/2 cup port wine[/recipe]

[recipe]2/3 cup orange juice[/recipe]

[recipe]1 tablespoon lemon juice[/recipe]

[recipe]2 teaspoons Dijon mustard[/recipe]

[recipe]1/2 teaspoon dried lemon verbena[/recipe]

[recipe]1 tablespoon grated orange rind[/recipe]

[recipe]1 teaspoon grated lemon rind[/recipe]

[recipe]Dash cayenne pepper[/recipe]

[recipe]1/2 teaspoon dry mustard[/recipe]

[recipe]1 teaspoon powdered ginger[/recipe]

[recipe]2 tablespoons salad oil[/recipe]

In a saucepan put jelly, wine, orange juice, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, lemon verbena, orange rind, lemon rind and cayenne pepper. Mix dry mustard and ginger with about a tablespoon of cold water to a smooth paste. Add to saucepan. Heat over very slow flame until jelly dissolves. Stir until all ingredients are well blended and hot. Preheat electric skillet at 350. Add oil and sauté pork chops until lightly browned on both sides. Pour sauce over chops and heat about a minute longer. Place chops on serving platter and cover with sauce.

[recipe_title]Toasted Roquefort and Roast Beef Sandwiches[/recipe_title]

(Serves four)

[recipe]8 slices white bread[/recipe]

[recipe]Butter[/recipe]

[recipe]1. lb. sliced rare roast beef[/recipe]

[recipe]3/4 cup roquefort cheese[/recipe]

[recipe]1 1/4 cups mayonnaise[/recipe]

[recipe]1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce[/recipe]

[recipe]Salt, pepper, paprika[/recipe]

Preheat oven at 375°. Toast bread. Spread one side generously with butter. Cut off excess fat or any hard ends of roast beef and place beef on buttered side of bread. Meat should not extend beyond rim of bread. Crumble or chop roquefort cheese into very small pieces. Mix mayonnaise, cheese and Worcestershire sauce. Spread cheese mixture on top of roast beef, covering meat completely. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and paprika. Place slices on lightly greased baking sheet or inverted bottom of roasting pan. Bake about 15 minutes or until cheese topping is puffed and brown.

A list of majestic viands that truly let you eat, drink and be easy.