789—Coulibiac de Saumon

Preparation.—Have ready two lbs. of ordinary brioche paste without sugar (No. 2368, Ordinary Brioche Paste). Stiffen in butter one and one-half lbs. of small salmon collops, and prepare one-sixth lb. of mushrooms and one chopped onion (both of which should be fried in butter), one-half lb. of semolina kache (No. 2292, Kache de Semoule pour Coulibiac) or the same weight of rice cooked in consommé; two hard-boiled eggs, chopped; and one lb. of vesiga, roughly chopped and cooked in consommé.

For this weight of cooked vesiga about two and one-half oz. of dried vesiga will be needed, which should be soaked for at least four hours in cold water, and then cooked for three and one-half hours in white consommé. It may also be cooked in water.

Roll the brioche paste into rectangles twelve inches long by eight inches wide, and spread thereon in successive layers the kache or the rice, the collops of salmon, the chopped vesiga, the eggs, the mushrooms, and the onion, and finish with a layer of kache or rice. Moisten the edges of the paste and draw the longest ends of it towards each other over the enumerated layers of garnish, and join them so as to properly enclose the latter.

Now fold the two remaining ends over to the centre in a similar way. Place the coulibiac thus formed on a baking-tray, and take care to turn it over in order that the joining parts of the paste lie underneath.

Set the paste to rise for twenty-five minutes, sprinkle some melted butter over the coulibiac, sprinkle with some very fine raspings, make a slit in the top for the escape of vapour, and bake in a moderate oven for forty-five or fifty minutes. Fill the coulibiac with freshly-melted butter when withdrawing it from the oven.