A guide to modern cookery

and set the gratin to form in a fierce oven. 271—LIGHT GRATIN This is proper to farinaceous products, such as macaroni, lazagnes, noodles, gnocchi, &c., and consists of a combination of grated cheese, raspings, and butter. In this case, again, the only end in view is the formation of the _gratin_ coating, which must be evenly coloured, and is the result of the cheese melting. A moderate heat is all that is wanted for this kind of _gratin_. Also considered as light _gratins_ are those which serve as the complement of stuffed vegetables such as tomatoes, mushrooms, egg-plant, and cucumber. With these the _gratin_ is composed of raspings sprinkled with butter or oil, and it is placed in a more or less fierce heat according to whether the vegetables have already been cooked or partially cooked, or are quite raw. 272—GLAZINGS These are of two kinds—they either consist of a heavily buttered sauce, or they form from a sprinkling of cheese upon the sauce with which the object to be glazed is covered. In the first case, after having poured sauce over the object to be treated, place the dish on another dish containing a little water. This is to prevent the sauce decomposing and boiling. The greater the quantity of butter used, the more intense will be the heat required, in order that a slight golden film may form almost instantaneously. In the second case, the sauce used is always a Mornay (No. 91). Cover the object under treatment with the sauce, besprinkle with grated cheese and melted butter, and place in fairly intense heat, so that a slight golden crust may form almost immediately, this crust being the result of the combined cheese and butter. 273—BLANCHINGS The essentially unsuitable term blanchings is applied in the culinary technology of France to three classes of operations which entirely differ one from the other in the end they have in view. 1. The blanching of meats. 2. The blanching, or, better, the parboiling of certain vegetables. 3. The blanching of certain other vegetables, which in reality amounts to a process of