Method.—Split open the kidneys lengthwise.

Flour them and fry them slowly in the butter or dripping for about four minutes.

Dish them on pieces of toast.

Pour the gravy into the pan; stir and boil for a minute, and then strain round the kidneys.

Kidneys Toasted.

Ingredients—Some kidneys. Toasted bread.

Method.—Split open the kidneys lengthwise.

Toast them before a clear fire; when the gravy ceases to drop red they will be sufficiently cooked.

A hot dish should be placed under them to catch the gravy.

Place the toast on the dish and put the kidneys on it, and sprinkle over them a little pepper and salt.

Stewed Kidneys.

Ingredients—2 or 3 kidneys. pint of nice gravy. 1 dessertspoonful of flour. Pepper and salt to taste. Lemon juice.

Method.—Mix the flour smoothly with the gravy.

Put it into a stewpan, and boil well for three minutes.

Put in the kidneys cut in slices, and simmer gently for about fifteen minutes.

Add a squeeze of lemon juice; pepper and salt to taste.

Serve on a piece of toast, and pour the gravy over.

Stuffed Kidneys.

Ingredients—3 or 4 kidneys. oz. of butter. Half a shalot, chopped finely. 1 dessertspoonful of parsley. 1 tablespoonful of bread crumbs. A few drops of lemon juice. A little cayenne. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Toast or broil the kidneys and split them open.

Fry the shalot in the butter.

Mix in the bread crumbs and parsley; add lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and salt.

Lay a little of the stuffing in each kidney and fold it over.

Serve very hot.

Kidneys la Tartare.

Ingredients—A few kidneys. pint of Tartare sauce.

Method.—Split the kidneys open, and toast or broil them nicely.

Serve on toasted bread with Tartare sauce in a tureen.

Fried Sausages.

Ingredients—Sausages. A little butter or dripping. Some toasted bread.

Method.—Prick the sausages with a fork, and fry them with butter or dripping, turning them that they get browned equally.

Serve them on toasted bread, with some nice gravy in a sauceboat.

Some people like the toast soaked in the fat in the pan, but this is a matter of taste.

Baked Sausages.

Prick the sausages, and place them on a greased baking-sheet.

Bake until they are nicely browned.

Serve on toast, with gravy in a sauceboat.

If liked, the toast can be soaked in the fat that runs from the sausages.

Oxford Sausages.

Remove the sausage-meat from the skins, and place it in little rough heaps on a greased baking-sheet.

Bake in a quick oven until browned.

Serve on toast.

Tomatoes stuffed with Sausage Meat.

Ingredients—Some nice ripe tomatoes. Some sausage meat.

Method.—Cut the stalks from the tomatoes, but do not take out any of the inside.

Heap a little sausage meat on the top of each tomato.

Put them on a greased baking-sheet, and bake in a moderate oven for about fifteen minutes.

Croustards with Minced Meat.

Ingredients—Some stale bread. Scraps of cold meat. A little nice gravy. A little mushroom catsup. Pepper and salt to taste.

Method.—Cut the bread into slices three-quarters of an inch in thickness.

Stamp it into rounds with a circular cutter.

Mark the middle with a cutter two sizes smaller, and scoop out the inside, making little nests of them, and taking care not to break the bottom or sides.

Fry the cases in hot fat (see French Frying); drain them and put them inside the oven to keep hot.

Mince the meat nicely, removing skin and gristle.

Make a little gravy hot in a stewpan.

Put in the mince, and make it hot without letting it boil.

Flavour to taste with catsup, pepper and salt.

Fill the croustard cases and serve immediately: they should be placed on a folded napkin, and garnished with parsley.

Mince la Reine.

Ingredients—1 dozen mushrooms. Some slices of cold meat. (Cold game or chicken are excellent for this purpose). 6 eggs. Some rounds of bread, toasted or fried. 1 pint of good gravy. Pepper and salt to taste.

Method.—Peel the mushrooms.

Wash and dry them well, and cut them in slices.

Put them in a stewpan with part of the gravy, to stew for about thirty minutes, until they are tender.

Mince the meat and make it hot in a saucepan, with enough gravy to moisten it, adding pepper and salt to taste.

Poach the eggs nicely, and fry or toast the bread (fried bread is best).

Put the slices of fried bread on a hot dish; cover each piece with the minced meat, and lay an egg on each.

Pour the gravy and mushrooms round, and serve very hot.

As a decoration, a tiny pinch of finely-chopped parsley might be put on the top of each egg.

Sheep's Head Moulded.

Ingredients—1 sheep's head. 2 hard-boiled eggs. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Clean, and then boil the head until the flesh will leave the bones easily.

Take out all the bones; cut the meat into pieces an inch in size, and season them well with pepper and salt.

Cut the eggs into slices, and place them round the top of a cake-tin or basin.

Put in the head, and put a weight on it to press it down.

When cold turn it out; serve garnished with parsley.

Veal Cake.

Ingredients—Remains of cooked veal. Slices of ham. 2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs. Some nice second stock. A little gelatine. Some forcemeat balls.

Method.—Butter well a plain mould or basin.

Decorate it with slices of egg, and balls made of veal forcemeat.

Cut the ham and the veal into neat pieces.

Season them well with pepper and salt, and, if liked, a little chopped parsley.

Place them in the mould, and fill it up with stiff second stock.

If the stock is not stiff enough, mix with it a little melted gelatine.

Cover the mould, and bake for one hour in a moderate oven.

Let it get cold, and then turn it on to a dish.

Brawn.

Ingredients—1 pig's head. 2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs. 2 onions. 6 cloves. 1 blade of mace. 2 dozen peppercorns. 1 sprig of parsley, thyme, and marjoram.

Method.—Clean the head well, and pickle it for three days (see Pickle for Meat).

Then put it in enough cold water to cover it, and boil it gently for three hours or more, until the flesh will leave the bones easily.

Take out the tongue, skin it, and cut it in slices.

Stamp them into fancy shapes with a paste cutter; wet a plain round mould and decorate it with them and the eggs cut in slices.

Remove the meat from the bone, and cut it into large dice.

Take one quart of the liquor in which the head was boiled; put the bones into it, with the peppercorns, cloves, onions, and herbs; boil down for half an hour with the lid off the saucepan.

Then strain one pint of the broth into another saucepan.

Season the pieces of meat with pepper, and a little salt if necessary; put them into the broth.

Let it come to the boil, and then pour it into the decorated mould.

When set, turn it on to a dish.

Scalloped Eggs.

Ingredients—Some eggs. Bread-crumbs. A little onion, chopped as finely as possible (this may be omitted, if liked). A little finely-chopped parsley. Pepper and salt to taste.

Method.—Grease some deep scallop shells.

Dust them over with bread crumbs, mixed with the parsley and onion.

Put an egg into each shell, and sprinkle with more crumbs, parsley, onion, pepper and salt.

Put them into a brisk oven until set.

Eggs sur le Plat.

Ingredients—4 eggs. oz. of butter. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Take a dish that will stand the heat of the oven; melt the butter in it.

Break the eggs on to it very carefully.

Pepper and salt them, and put them into the oven until they are set.

They must be served on the same dish.

Buttered Eggs.

Ingredients—1 piece of fried or toasted bread. 1 tablespoonful of gravy. 1oz. of butter. Pepper and salt. 4 eggs.

Method.—Break the eggs into a basin, and add to them the gravy, pepper, and salt.

Melt the butter in a small frying or omelet pan; pour in the eggs, and stir quickly up from the bottom of the pan, until the whole is a soft yellow mass.

Spread on the toast, and serve very quickly.

Egg Croustards.

Ingredients—Some slices of stale bread, about inch in thickness. Some eggs. Some nicely-flavoured gravy.

Method.—Stamp out some rounds of bread with a circular paste-cutter.

Mark the middle with one a size smaller.

Then with a knife scoop out the inside, making little nests of bread, taking care not to break the bottom or sides.

Fry these cases in hot fat (see French Frying).

When fried, drain them on kitchen paper, and keep them hot.

Make some water boiling hot in a stewpan; add to it a little lemon juice.

Put into it the eggs broken gently into cups.

Poach until the whites are set, then remove them carefully with a fish slice, and put an egg into each croustard.

Place them on a hot dish, and pour gravy boiling hot over them.

Eggs and Anchovy.

Ingredients—2 eggs. 1 slice of fried or toasted bread. A little anchovy paste. 1oz. of butter. Pepper and salt to taste.

Method.—Let the fried or toasted bread be quite hot (fried bread is the best), and spread it thinly with anchovy paste.

Make the butter quite hot in a frying or omelet pan.

Break the eggs into it, add pepper and salt, and stir very quickly, until they are a soft yellow mass.

Spread it quickly over the toast, and serve immediately.

Eggs in Cases.

Ingredients—4 tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs. 1 dessertspoonful of finely-chopped parsley. Pepper and salt. If liked, a boiled onion very finely chopped. 6 eggs. 6 paper cases.

Method.—Butter well some paper cases; mix the crumbs, parsley, onion, pepper, and salt together; put a little at the bottom of each case.

Break the eggs gently, and put one egg into each case.

Cover each with some of the crumbs and seasoning, and put the cases in a quick oven to bake until the eggs are set.

Broiled Mushrooms.

Choose nice large mushrooms; peel and wash them, and wipe them dry.

Cut out the stems, and put them, with the top of the mushrooms downwards, on a gridiron.

Put a small piece of butter on each, and broil for ten minutes slowly.

Remove them carefully, as the mushrooms will be by that time full of delicious gravy.

Broiled Dried Haddock.

Soak it in cold water for an hour before using.

Broil it slowly over a clear fire until it is quite hot, turning occasionally.

Rub some butter over it, and serve it at once.

Bloaters.

Cut the bloaters open down the back, and bone them.

Lay them one on the other with the insides together.

Broil them slowly over a clear fire, turning occasionally.

Serve very hot, with a little butter rubbed over them.

If preferred, they may be broiled unboned.

Red Herrings.

Remove their heads and tails.

Slit them open down the back and remove the bone.

Egg and bread-crumb them, and broil them over a clear fire.

If preferred, they may be broiled unboned.

Tea.

Measure a teaspoonful of tea for each person, and one teaspoonful over.

Make the teapot quite hot by filling it with boiling water; let it stand in it for three minutes; then empty the teapot.

Put in the tea, and pour boiling water over it.

Cover it with a tea-cosy, and let it infuse for five minutes before using. The longer it stands, the darker it will get; but for people of weak digestions, it should be used after five minutes' infusion only.

The water should be fresh spring water, and should be used as soon as it boils. Water that has been boiled for any length of time is flat from the loss of its gases.

Coffee.

To have coffee to perfection it should be freshly roasted and ground, as coffee quickly loses its flavour. If this is not possible, use the best French coffee sold in tins. The water should be freshly boiled; the coffee itself should not be boiled, but only infused in the boiling water. Boiling disperses the aroma. It can, however, be made more economically if boiled, and therefore recipes are given for its preparation in this manner. Chicory is generally used with coffee in the proportion of two ounces of chicory to one pound of coffee.

Coffee (Soyer's method.)

Ingredients—3oz. of coffee. 1 pint of boiling water.

Method.—Put the coffee into a clean stewpan.

Stir over the fire until it smokes, but do not let it burn.

Then pour in the boiling water.

Cover close, and set by the side of the fire for ten minutes.

Strain through thick muslin.

Coffee (another method).

Ingredients—3oz. of coffee. 1 pint of boiling water.

Method.—Make a jug hot.

Put the coffee in it, and pour over the boiling water.

Let it stand in a hot place for half an hour.

Then strain through thick muslin.

Caf au Lait.

Half fill a cup with nicely-made coffee, and pour in the same quantity of boiled milk.

Coffee (economical method).

Ingredients—lb. of coffee. 2 quarts of cold water.

Method.—Make a bag of rather thick muslin, and put the coffee into it. The bag should be rather large, so that the coffee will have plenty of room.

Tie the ends of the bag securely.

Put it into a saucepan with the water; bring to the boil, and boil steadily for one hour.

Strain through thick muslin.

This will make strong coffee, which can be diluted with boiling water as required.

Coffee made in a Percolator.

Ingredients—3oz. of coffee. 1 pint of boiling water.

Method.—Make the percolator hot.

Put the coffee in it, and pour on the boiling water.

Let it stand in a hot place for about ten minutes.

Cocoa.

This is best, especially for invalids, if prepared from the nibs; these should be perfectly fresh.

Put a quarter of a pound of nibs into two quarts of cold water; simmer for five hours and then strain.

When cold remove the fat; heat it as required.

Cocoa may also be made from any of the different preparations.

Make it according to directions given on the canisters, and be very careful to mix it thoroughly. Nothing is so unpleasant as to have the sides and bottom of the cup coated with cocoa.

It is better to prepare it in a small saucepan; it should be boiled for two or three minutes.

It is more nourishing if mixed with milk instead of water.

Chocolate.

This is only a thicker preparation of cocoa, and may be made in the same way.



COLD MEAT COOKERY.

Hash.

Ingredients—The remains of cold meat. Some nice stock or gravy. Flour, in the proportion of oz. to every pint of gravy. Pepper and salt, and, if liked, a little catsup, or Harvey's sauce. Toasted or fried bread.

Method.—Cut the meat into neat pieces.

Mix the flour smoothly with the gravy, and boil for three minutes, stirring all the time.

Add seasoning and catsup or a little sauce.

Then put the pieces of meat into the gravy and let them warm through; but do not let the gravy boil when the meat is in it, as that would toughen it.

Tinned oysters make a nice addition to a hash.

For serving, put the hash on a hot dish and garnish with sippets of fried or toasted bread.

If no gravy or stock is available, make some by breaking up any bones from the meat; boil them in a sufficient quantity of water, with a piece of carrot, turnip, onion, celery, and a small bunch of herbs.

Boil for quite an hour, and then strain the liquor.

Minced Meat.

Ingredients—Some scraps of cold meat. A little gravy. Some boiled rice or potatoes. Pepper and salt to taste.

Method.—Mince the meat finely with a knife, or mincing machine (the flavour is nicer if a knife is used).

Mix with sufficient gravy to moisten the meat, and stir over the fire until hot; but do not let the gravy boil.

Serve with a border of boiled rice, or mashed potatoes round it.

If veal or chicken is minced, squeeze in a few drops of lemon juice, and serve with sliced lemon.

A little cooked ham should be added to these minces, to give them flavour; minced beef is improved by the addition of a few oysters.

Mince (with Eggs).

Prepare some mince, as in preceding recipe, and serve with very nicely poached eggs on the top of it; garnish with sippets of fried or toasted bread.

Curry of Cold Meat.

Ingredients—Some scraps of cold meat. Some stock or gravy. Curry powder and flour in the proportion of a dessertspoonful of each to every half pint of gravy. 1 small onion. 1 small apple. oz. of dripping. A few drops of lemon juice. Salt. Some boiled rice.

Method.—Slice the onion and apple, and fry them in the dripping.

When fried, rub them lightly through a hair sieve.

Mix the curry powder and flour smoothly with the stock.

Stir and cook well over the fire.

Add the onion, apple, lemon juice, and salt.

Then lay in the meat, and let it warm through, being careful that the sauce does not boil.

Serve with nicely boiled rice.

Shepherd's Pie.

Ingredients—Slices of cold meat. Boiled potatoes. Butter or dripping. A little gravy. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Season the pieces of meat with pepper and salt, and lay them in a pie-dish with a little gravy.

Mash the potatoes smoothly with butter or dripping; and pepper and salt to taste.

Spread the potatoes over the meat in the form of a pie-crust, and smooth them with a knife dipped in hot water.

Bake for half an hour.

Patties.

Ingredients—Some scraps of cold meat. A little gravy. Pepper and salt. Pastry. 1 egg.

Method.—Mince the meat and moisten with the gravy, adding pepper and salt to taste.

If veal or chicken are used, mince a little ham with them, and add a few drops of lemon juice.

Roll out the pastry, and stamp it into rounds with a fluted cutter.

Lay half the rounds on greased pattypans.

Brush round the edges of the paste with a little beaten egg, and put a little mince on each round.

Cover them with the remaining rounds of paste, pressing the edges lightly together.

Glaze with the beaten egg, and bake in a quick oven for about 15 minutes.

Fritters.

Ingredients—Some cold meat. Some nice gravy. Some Kromesky batter.

Method.—Cut the meat into neat pieces; dip them in the batter and fry in hot fat until lightly browned (see French Frying).

Pile on a hot dish, and serve, if possible, with a nice gravy poured round them.

Rissoles.

Ingredients—Some boiled potatoes. Cold meat. A little butter. 2 eggs. Bread-crumbs. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Take equal quantities of boiled potatoes and cold meat.

Mash the potatoes with butter, and add the meat finely minced.

Mix this thoroughly with a beaten egg, adding pepper and salt to taste.

Form into balls or egg shapes.

Egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them in hot fat (see French Frying).

Dish on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley.

Cold Meat with Pure of Tomatoes.

Ingredients—Slices of cold meat. 4 or 5 tomatoes. 1 small slice of bacon. 1 bay leaf. 1 piece of carrot, turnip, and onion. 1 sprig of parsley. Thyme and marjoram. 1 teaspoonful of vinegar. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Cut the bacon into dice, and fry it.

As soon as the fat melts, put in the tomatoes and other vegetables, cut in slices; stir them, and fry lightly, and then rub through a hair sieve.

Add the vinegar and pepper and salt.

Make the pure hot in a saucepan, and lay the pieces of meat in it to warm through.

Serve in a hot dish, with a border of boiled rice or macaroni.

Cold-meat Pie.

Ingredients—Slices of cold meat. (If liked, slices of cold boiled potatoes). Some stock or gravy. Pepper and salt. Some plain pastry.

Method.—Roll out the paste, and cut a piece large enough for the cover.

Roll out the scraps, and from them cut a band an inch wide.

Wet the edge of the dish and place this round it.

Season the meat with pepper and salt, and lay the slices in the dish alternately with the potatoes.

Raise them in the middle of the dish in a dome-like shape, and pour in some gravy.

Wet the edges of the band of paste, and lay the cover over.

Trim round neatly, and make a hole in the middle of the crust.

Brush over with beaten egg, and decorate with paste leaves.

Bake in a quick oven for half an hour.

Cold Meat and Macaroni.

Ingredients—Slices of cold meat. Macaroni. Stock. Bread-crumbs. And, if possible, 2 or 3 tomatoes.

Method.—Put the macaroni in boiling water, and boil it 20 minutes.

Then pour away the water, and stew it in the stock until tender.

Put a layer of macaroni in the bottom of a greased pie-dish.

Lay on it the meat, and cover it with another layer of macaroni, seasoning with pepper and salt.

Proceed in this way, until the dish is full (the top layer must be macaroni).

If tomatoes are used, slice them, and lay over the top; sprinkle with brown crumbs, and bake for about 20 or 30 minutes.

Mayonnaise of Cold Meat.

Ingredients—Slices of cold meat. Green salad. Beetroot. Hard-boiled egg. Some Mayonnaise sauce.

Method.—Slice the salad, and mix the meat with it.

Heap it high on a glass or silver dish.

Garnish with beetroot and hard-boiled egg, and pour Mayonnaise sauce over (see Sauces).

Beef and Mushrooms.

Ingredients—1lb. cold roast beef. 1 dozen mushrooms. 1 shalot or small onion, very finely chopped. 2oz. of butter. pint of beef gravy. 1 dessertspoonful of vinegar. Pepper and salt to taste.

Method.—Cut the beef into neat slices, and wash and peel the mushrooms.

Season the meat with pepper and salt, and lay half of it in the bottom of a pie-dish.

Place some of the mushrooms on the top of it.

Put 1oz. of butter, in pieces, about them.

Then put in the remaining pieces of beef, and the mushrooms and butter in the same way.

Pour in the gravy and vinegar, and cover closely.

Put it into a moderate oven to bake for three-quarters of an hour.

Beef Scalloped.

Ingredients—Some cold roast beef minced. 1 boiled onion, very finely chopped. Some mashed potatoes. Butter. Pepper and salt. 1 egg. A little gravy and mushroom catsup.

Method.—Mince the beef finely, and moisten it with a little nice gravy.

Add the onion to it, and season nicely with catsup.

Mix the mashed potatoes with plenty of butter, and the egg well beaten, pepper and salt.

Place the mince in greased scallop shells, and cover with the potatoes.

Bake in a quick oven until lightly browned.

When economy has to be studied, leave out the eggs and substitute clarified dripping for the butter. The mixture can be baked in a pie-dish, if more convenient.

Cold Beef Olives.

Ingredients—Some cold roast beef. Some veal forcemeat, omitting the suet. Some gravy. Flour. Pepper and salt. Some mashed potatoes.

Method.—Take slices of cold beef, and cut them into strips 1 inches in width.

Lay on each a little veal stuffing; roll them round it, and tie them with string.

Put them into a stewpan close together; pour the gravy over them, and simmer them gently for ten minutes.

Dish them on a border of mashed potatoes.

Thicken the gravy with a little flour, and pour it over them.



ENTRES.

Quenelles of Veal.

Ingredients—1lb. of fillet of veal. 1oz. of butter. 2oz. of flour. 1 gill of water. A few drops of lemon juice. 2 eggs. Seasoning.

Method.—Scrape the veal finely.

Melt the butter in a saucepan; mix in the flour.

Then add the water and cook well.

Put this panada into a mortar with the veal, eggs, lemon juice, and seasoning, and pound thoroughly.

Then rub through a wire sieve.

Shape the mixture somewhat like eggs with dessertspoons and a knife dipped in hot water.

Poach them gently in a greased frying-pan, or saut pan, for ten minutes.

Dish them on a border of mashed potatoes, and pour white sauce over them.

Garnish with chopped truffle and ham.

Cooked green peas, mushrooms, or other vegetables, may be placed in the centre.

Mutton Cutlets la Macdoine.

Ingredients—Part of best end of neck of mutton. 1 egg. Bread-crumbs. 3oz. of clarified butter. Seasoning.

Method.—Saw off the chine bone, and the ends of the rib bones, leaving the cutlet bone three inches in length.

Cut the cutlets with a bone to each, and beat them with a cutlet bat to about half an inch in thickness.

Trim them, and leave half an inch of the rib bone bare.

Season, egg and bread-crumb, and fry in clarified butter in a saut pan for five or seven minutes.

Dish on a border of mashed potatoes, put a macdoine of vegetables in the centre, and pour brown sauce round them.

Mutton Cutlets la Rachel.

Ingredients—Some mutton cutlets. Foie gras. Brown sauce. Macdoine of vegetables. Mashed potatoes. Truffle. Pigs' caul.

Method.—Plainly fry some mutton cutlets, coat one side of each cutlet with the foie gras, smoothing it with a knife dipped in hot water.

Lay a small piece of truffle on each cutlet and cover them with pigs' caul.

Put them on a baking-sheet in a moderate oven for about a quarter of an hour.

Dish them on a border of mashed potatoes.

Pour brown sauce round them, and put a macdoine of vegetables in the middle.

Epigrammes.

Ingredients—The rib part, which was sawn off the mutton cutlets. Egg and bread-crumbs.

Method.—Boil the mutton until the bones can be easily removed.

Press it, and, when cold, cut it into cutlets or other shapes.

Egg and bread-crumb twice, and fry in hot fat (345) in a frying-basket.

Dish on a border of mashed potatoes, and pour brown sauce round them.

Any cooked vegetables can be put in the centre for a garnish.

Chicken Croquettes.

Ingredients—2oz. of cooked chicken. 1oz. of cooked ham. 1oz. of butter. oz. of flour. 1 gill of stock. gill of cream. 6 button mushrooms. A few drops of lemon juice. Seasoning. Pastry.

Method.—Mince the chicken, ham, and mushrooms.

Melt the butter in a small stewpan.

Mix in the flour.

Pour in the stock, and cook well.

Then add cream, lemon juice, and seasoning; lastly, the chicken, ham, and mushrooms.

Spread on a plate to cool.

Roll out some paste as thin as possible.

Cut into rounds.

Put a little of the mixture on each, and egg round the edges.

Fold them over, egg and bread-crumb the croquettes, and fry in a frying-basket in hot fat (see French Frying).

Garnish with fried parsley.

Veal Cutlets la Talleyrand.

Ingredients—7 or 8 veal cutlets. 1oz. butter. 3 button mushrooms, chopped. 1 small shalot, chopped. A teaspoonful of chopped parsley. The yolks of 2 eggs. 2 tablespoonfuls of cream. A few drops of lemon juice. 1 gill of white sauce (see Sauces). Some mashed potatoes. A few green peas. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Fry the cutlets in the butter, sprinkling the mushroom, shalot, and parsley under and over them.

When the cutlets are cooked, remove them from the pan and pour in the white sauce and cream.

Stir briskly over the fire.

Then add the yolks of the eggs; let them thicken in the sauce, but be careful not to curdle them.

Take the pan off the fire, and add the lemon juice and seasoning as required.

Dish the cutlets on a border of mashed potatoes.

Pour the sauce over them, and put a few nicely cooked peas, or other appropriate vegetables, in the middle.

Fillets of Beef la Barnaise.

Ingredients—7 or 8 nice little fillets. 1oz. of butter. Mashed potatoes. pint of brown sauce (see Sauces), or good gravy. Some good Barnaise sauce (see Sauces).

Method.—Fry the fillets in the butter.

Dish them on a border of mashed potatoes.

Pour brown sauce or gravy round them, and put the Barnaise sauce in the middle of the fillets.

Rabbits la Tartare.

Ingredients—1 rabbit. Some browned bread-crumbs. 1 egg. pint of Tartare sauce (see Sauces).

Method.—Cut the rabbit into joints.

Dry them well.

Egg and bread-crumb them.

Put them on a greased baking-sheet, with pieces of butter on them.

Bake for half an hour, being careful not to dry them up too much.

Pour the sauce on a dish and pile up the rabbit in the middle of it.

Chicken la Tartare.

Proceed as in the foregoing recipe, substituting a chicken for a rabbit.

Pigeons Stewed l'Italienne.

Ingredients—3 pigeons. 1 piece of carrot, turnip, and onion. 1 pint of stock. 1 sprig of parsley, thyme, and marjoram. 1 bay leaf. If possible, 1 or 2 tomatoes. 1 wineglass of sherry. 2oz. of butter. 1oz. of flour. Some mashed potatoes. A macdoine of vegetables.

Method.—Have the pigeons trussed as for stewing.

Cut them in two, and fry them in the butter.

Then remove the pigeons, and fry the vegetables.

Stir the flour, and when that is a little brown, pour in the stock or sherry. Put in the pigeons and stew gently until they are tender.

Dish them in a circle on a border of mashed potatoes.

Strain the gravy over, and put a macdoine of vegetables in the centre.

Croustards la Reine.

Ingredients—Some puff pastry. A little quenelle meat (see Quenelles of Veal). 1 gill of white sauce. 3oz. of cold chicken minced. 1oz. of cooked ham minced. 2 or 3 button mushrooms finely chopped. 2 tablespoonfuls of cream. A little thick white sauce. Ham or truffle for decoration.

Method.—Line some little tartlet tins with some puff paste, put a piece of dough in each, and bake them.

Mix the chicken, ham, and mushrooms with the white sauce and cream. Add pepper and salt to taste.

Remove the paste cases from the tins, take the dough from the middle, and fill them with the chicken mixture.

Cover the top of each with the quenelle meat spread like butter, put them into the oven for a few minutes to cook the quenelle meat.

When dishing them up, spread a little thick white sauce on the top of each, and ornament them with ham and truffle.

Sweetbreads la Bchamel.

Ingredients—1 dozen lambs' heart sweetbreads. 1 pint of veal stock. 1oz. of butter. 1oz. of flour. A small piece of carrot, turnip, and onion. 1 sprig of parsley. 2 tablespoonfuls of cream. A slice of lean ham. A few drops of lemon juice. Some mashed potatoes. A few green peas nicely boiled. A little finely-chopped cooked ham. Some parsley or truffle. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Trim the sweetbreads, and soak them in cold water for two hours.

Then throw them into boiling water, and simmer them gently for five minutes.

Soak them again in cold water for twenty minutes.

Then put them in a stewpan with the stock, carrot, turnip, onion, parsley, and ham.

Simmer gently until the sweetbreads are quite tender.

Then remove them, and add to the stock the flour mixed thoroughly with butter.

Stir and boil well, to cook the flour.

Add the cream, lemon juice, and seasoning.

Strain the sauce through a fine strainer or tammy-cloth.

Dish the sweetbreads in a circle on a border of mashed potatoes.

Pour the sauce over them.

Put on each sweetbread a tiny pinch of finely-chopped parsley, ham, or truffle; or use all three, placing them alternately.

The green peas should be put in the centre of the dish.

Braised Sweetbreads.

Ingredients—2 calves' sweetbreads. 1 pint of strong second stock. A piece of carrot, turnip, and onion. 1 sprig of parsley, thyme, and marjoram. 1 bay leaf. Some larding bacon. Some carrots and turnips cut in fancy shapes.

Method.—Soak the sweetbreads in cold water for quite two hours.

Then put them in boiling water, and simmer them for ten minutes to make them firm.

Soak them again in cold water for twenty minutes, and then lard them nicely.

Put the vegetables, cut in pieces, in the bottom of a stewpan.

Lay the sweetbreads on them, and pour in the stock; it should come half way up the sweetbreads.

Cover them with buttered paper, and put the lid on the stewpan.

Simmer gently until the sweetbreads are tender.

Then put them on a baking-tin, and put them in the oven to brown.

Strain the stock they were cooked in into a large saucepan, and boil it rapidly down to a glaze.

Put the sweetbreads on a hot dish, and pour the glaze over.

Carrots and turnips may be cut in fancy shapes, and nicely boiled to garnish the dish.

If preferred, the sweetbreads can be cooked without being larded; a slice of very thin bacon being laid on the top of each.

If a proper braising-pan is used, the sweetbreads need not be browned in the oven.

Lambs' sweetbreads can be cooked the same way. One dozen will be wanted for a small dish.

Sweetbreads la Parisienne.

Ingredients—1 dozen lambs' heart sweetbreads. 1 pint of good second stock. 2oz. of butter. 1oz. of flour. A piece of carrot, turnip, and onion. 1 sprig of parsley. 1 dessertspoonful of mushroom catsup. 1 wineglass of sherry. A few drops of lemon juice. Pepper and salt. Some mashed potatoes. Green peas nicely cooked.

Method.—Trim the sweetbreads and soak them for two hours; throw them in boiling water, and simmer them gently for five minutes; then soak them in cold water for twenty minutes.

Simmer them in the stock until they are quite tender.

Then make the butter quite hot in a stewpan.

Fry the sweetbreads in it until nicely browned.

Remove them and fry the flour; then pour in the stock, and stir, and cook well; add the catsup, wine, and lemon juice.

Dish the sweetbreads on a border of mashed potatoes, and pour the same over them.

Put a garnish of nicely cooked green peas in the middle.

Minced Sweetbread.

Ingredients—The remains of dressed sweetbreads. 2 or 3 mushrooms. Enough stock to moisten nicely. 1 teaspoonful of flour. A slice of cooked ham. A few drops of lemon juice. 1oz. of butter. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Mince the sweetbreads, mushrooms, and ham.

Melt the butter in a stewpan, and fry the mushrooms in it.

Put in the flour, and mix it smoothly with the butter.

Then put in the sweetbread and ham, and enough stock to mix nicely.

Add lemon juice, pepper, and salt, to taste.

Make it hot, and then put the mixture into oiled-paper cases.

Sprinkle over the top of each a few browned crumbs and put in the oven for a few minutes.

Fried Sweetbread.

Ingredients—1 dozen lambs' heart sweetbreads. 1 pint of good stock. 1oz. of butter. 1oz. of flour. A few drops of lemon juice. If liked, wineglass of sherry. Eggs and bread-crumbs. Some mashed potatoes and green peas.

Method.—Trim the sweetbreads, and soak them in cold water for two hours.

Then throw them into the boiling stock, and simmer them for half an hour or more until quite tender.

If possible, let them get cold in the stock.

Then egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them in a frying basket in hot fat (see French Frying).

To make a sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan.

Mix in the flour smoothly, pour in the stock, and stir and cook well; add lemon juice, pepper, and salt to taste, and, if liked, a little sherry.

Dish the sweetbreads on the potatoes; pour the sauce round them, and put the peas in the centre.

The sauce should be made before the sweetbreads are fried, that there may be no delay in serving.

If calves' sweetbreads are used, proceed in the same way, cutting them in neat slices before frying.

Cutlets of Veal with Tomato Sauce.

Ingredients—2lb. of fillet of veal. 2 or 3oz. of butter, or some of the fat skimmed from the stock-pot. 1 pint of tomato sauce. lb. macaroni, nicely stewed in milk and seasoned with Parmesan cheese. Some mashed potatoes. 1 uncooked tomato.

Method.—Cut the veal into neat little cutlets, and fry them nicely in the butter or skimming.

Dish them in a circle on a border of potatoes.

Pile the macaroni high in the middle.

Pour tomato sauce round, and garnish the macaroni with small strips of uncooked tomato.

Beef Olives.

Ingredients—1lb. of thick beefsteak. Some veal stuffing. 1 pint of stock. 1oz. of butter. 1oz. of flour. A few drops of lemon juice. Pepper and salt. Some mashed potatoes. A few carrots and turnips, cut in fancy shapes, and nicely cooked.

Method.—Cut the beef into thin strips, lay a little forcemeat on each, and roll them up.

Tie each roll with a little fine string.

Put them in a stewpan close together, and cover them with the stock.

Stew them gently for two or three hours until quite tender.

Then place them in a circle on a border of mashed potatoes.

Remove any fat from the stock, and stir in the butter and flour thoroughly mixed together.

Cook the flour well, and then add the lemon juice and seasoning.

Strain the sauce over the olives, and put the vegetables in the centre.

Veal la Bchamel.

Ingredients—1lb. of cold cooked veal. lb. of button mushrooms. pint of Bchamel sauce. The yolks of 2 eggs. Some fried sippets of bread.

Method.—Cut the veal into large dice.

Clean the mushrooms and stew them in the sauce until tender.

Then add the yolks of two eggs well beaten.

Stir over the fire until they thicken, but on no account let the sauce boil, as that might curdle the eggs.

Last of all, put in the pieces of veal, and let the saucepan remain by the fire until they are thoroughly heated.

Serve garnished with fried sippets of bread.

Grenadines of Veal.

Ingredients—2lb. of veal. Some larding bacon. Some good second stock. 1 piece of carrot, turnip, onion. 1 sprig of parsley, thyme, and marjoram. Some nicely boiled green peas.

Method.—Cut the fillet into nice oval-shaped cutlets, about half an inch in thickness, and lard them.

Put the vegetables, cut in small pieces, at the bottom of the stewpan.

Lay the cutlets on them, and pour in sufficient stock to come half way up the cutlets.

Cover them with buttered paper, and put them on a slow fire to simmer gently until tender.

Then put them on a baking-tin in the oven to brown.

Strain the stock and boil it with a half-pint more to a strong glaze.

Dish the grenadines on a border of mashed potatoes.

Pour a little glaze over each, and put the green peas in the middle.

Mayonnaise of Fowl.

Cold Entre for Suppers.

Ingredients—2 fowls. pint of mayonnaise sauce. A cucumber. 4 hard-boiled eggs. 1 pint of aspic jelly. A beetroot.

Method.—Boil the fowls and cut them into neat joints.

Put them in a dish in a circle, the one leaning on the other.

Place in the middle a bunch of endive, and coat the pieces of chicken with mayonnaise sauce.

Cut the hard-boiled eggs in quarters, and lay them round the chicken with slices of cucumber and beetroot, and garnish with a border of chopped aspic.

Veal Cutlets.

Ingredients—2lb. of veal cutlet. Egg and bread-crumbs. 3oz. of clarified butter. oz. of flour. pint of nice stock. Some mashed potatoes.

Method.—Beat the cutlet well to break the fibre of the meat, and then cut it into neat oval or round shapes.

Brush them with the egg and cover them with fine bread-crumbs.

Fry them in a cutlet-pan in the butter.

When they are cooked pour some of the butter from the pan.

Stir in the flour smoothly.

Pour in the stock, and cook well.

Add pepper and salt and a few drops of lemon juice.

Dish the cutlets in a circle on a border of mashed potatoes.

Strain the gravy round them, and put some nice little rolls of bacon in the middle.

To cook the bacon, cut it in thin slices; roll them, and put them on a skewer, they may be either toasted or baked.

Veal Cutlets l'Italienne.

Ingredients—1lb. of fillet of veal. Cut into neat cutlets. 2oz. of butter. Egg and bread-crumbs. Some carrot and turnip, cut in fancy shapes and boiled. pint of Italian sauce.

Method.—Egg and bread-crumb the cutlets and fry them in the butter.

Dish them on a border of mashed potatoes.

Pour Italian sauce over, and put the vegetables in the middle.

Make the Italian sauce with the butter the cutlets are fried in.

Fillets of Chicken.

Ingredients—Some little fillets of chicken cut from the breast. Some streaky bacon. pint of Bchamel sauce, made with white stock. Some mashed potatoes.

Method.—Lay the fillet on a greased baking-tin.

Cover with buttered paper and put them into a moderate oven for ten or fifteen minutes.

Dish them on a border of mashed potatoes.

Pour the sauce over and put little rolls of nicely cooked bacon in the middle.

To cook the bacon, cut it into very thin strips and roll them, run a skewer through, and toast them before the fire.

Chicken la Marengo.

Ingredients—1 chicken. 1 pint of second stock. 3 tomatoes. 1 piece of carrot, turnip, and onion. 1 sprig of parsley, thyme, marjoram. 2oz. of butter. 1oz. of flour. A few drops of lemon juice.

Method.—Cut the chicken into neat joints and fry them in the butter.

Then remove them and fry the vegetables.

Add the flour and fry that.

Then pour in the stock; stir and boil for three minutes.

Then put in the chicken and the tomato, sliced.

Simmer for about thirty minutes, until the chicken is quite tender.

Then put the chicken on to an entre dish.

Add some lemon juice to the gravy, and strain over it.

Chicken la Cardinal.

Ingredients—1 chicken. 1 pint of Bchamel sauce. 4 ripe tomatoes.

Method.—Cut the chicken into joints and put them in a stewpan with the sauce and tomatoes, sliced.

Simmer gently until the chicken is quite tender.

Then place them on a hot entre dish and strain the sauce over them.

Kidneys and Mushrooms.

Ingredients—2 dozen medium sized mushrooms. 6 sheep's kidneys. 1 pint of second stock. 1oz. of butter. 1oz. of flour. 2 tablespoonfuls of cream. A few drops of lemon juice.

Method.—Peel the mushrooms, cut off the stalks, and wash them.

Wipe the kidneys and slice them, put them in a stewpan with the stock and mushrooms.

Simmer them gently for thirty minutes or more, until quite tender.

Mix the butter and flour very smoothly, stir them in and boil for about three minutes.

Add the cream and let it boil, season to taste, and squeeze in a few drops of lemon juice.

Curried Rabbit.

Ingredients—1 apple. 1 onion. 2 dessertspoonfuls of curry powder. 1 pint of second stock. 2 tablespoonfuls of cream. 2oz. of butter. 2 dessertspoonfuls of flour. Salt. A few drops of lemon juice.

Method.—Cut the rabbit into neat joints and fry them in the butter.

Then remove them and fry the onion and apple, sliced.

Mix the curry powder and flour smoothly with the stock.

Put it into a stewpan; stir and boil three minutes.

Put in the rabbit and add the onion and apple, which should be rubbed through a hair sieve.

Simmer gently for thirty minutes or more, until the rabbit is tender.

Add the cream and let it boil in the sauce.

Squeeze in the lemon juice and add salt.

If a dry curry is liked, remove the rabbit when tender, and boil and reduce the sauce to half the quantity, leaving only sufficient to coat the pieces of rabbit well.

Serve nicely cooked rice with the curry (see Rice for Curry).

Curried Chicken.

Make according to the directions in the preceding recipe, using white stock or boiled milk.

Mutton Cutlets la Milanaise.

Ingredients—7 or more mutton cutlets. 2 eggs, white bread-crumbs. 3oz. Parmesan cheese, grated. A little boiled macaroni. pint brown sauce. Some mashed potatoes. 2oz. clarified butter, or the fat skimming of the stock-pot.

Method.—Trim the cutlets neatly.

Brush them with egg and cover them with bread-crumbs mixed with 2oz. of the grated cheese.

Fry them for about five minutes in a cutlet pan.

Dish them on a border of mashed potatoes and put some nicely-cooked macaroni in the centre with 1oz. of grated cheese.

Pour the brown sauce round them and serve very hot.

Chaud-froid Chicken.

Cold Entre for Suppers and Luncheons.

Ingredients—The best joints of 2 chickens. 1 pint of Bchamel sauce. oz. of Swinborne's or Nelson's Gelatine. Some aspic jelly. Endive and lettuce.

Method.—Melt the gelatine and mix it with the sauce.

Coat the pieces of chicken carefully with it, giving them each two coats if they require it.

When the sauce is firm, place them in a circle on an entre dish.

Put some lettuce, nicely mixed with salad dressing, in the centre, and garnish prettily with the endive.

A border of aspic jelly should be placed round the chicken.

If liked, the chicken may be decorated with truffle or ham.

Rissoles of Game.

Ingredients—Some scraps of cold game. Some very stiff second stock. Lemon juice, pepper, salt. Egg and bread-crumbs.

Method.—Mince the game finely.

Melt the stock and moisten the game well with it.

Add pepper and salt, and a few drops of lemon juice.

Spread the mixture on a plate to get cold.

When cold it will be quite firm.

Mould it into balls or egg shapes.

Cover them with egg and bread-crumbs, and fry them in hot fat (see French Frying).

Serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley.

Podovies.

Ingredients—Some cooked beef, minced finely. A little thick gravy, lemon juice. A little pastry. Pepper and salt. Some crushed vermicelli and one or two eggs.

Method.—Mix the beef with the gravy; season it with pepper and salt.

Roll out the pastry as thin as possible.

Cut it into rounds with a good-sized cutter.

Brush the edges of the rounds with beaten egg, and put a little of the minced meat in the middle of each.

Fold them over, pressing the edges well together.

Cover with the egg, and then with the vermicelli.

Drop them into hot fat (see French Frying) and fry them a golden brown. As they will rise to the top of the fat, it will be necessary to keep them under with a wire basket or spoon. Dish on a folded napkin and garnish with fried parsley.



FISH COOKERY.

To Boil Fish.

Be very careful that the fish is thoroughly cleansed, then place it on the fish-strainer, and tie a cloth, or piece of muslin, over it. (This is to prevent any scum settling on the fish to disfigure it, or spoil its colour.) Immerse it in boiling water, to which two tablespoonfuls of salt, and two of vinegar, have been added; boil it for three minutes to set the albumen on the outside, and so form a casing to keep in the juices and flavour of the fish. Then draw the kettle to the side of the fire and simmer gently until the fish is cooked. For a thick piece of fish, six minutes to each pound, and six minutes over, is the time usually allowed; but no hard-and-fast rule can be laid down, as the time it will take to cook depends on the size and shape, as well as on the weight of the fish. When the fish is cooked, it will have an opaque appearance; and on being pulled, will leave the bone readily. Care must be taken to cook it sufficiently but not to over-boil it. Under-done fish is very unpleasant, while over-cooked fish is flavourless, and breaks to pieces.

Salt fish is put into lukewarm water for the purpose of drawing out some of the salt, and must be simmered until tender. Mackerel should also be put into lukewarm water, as the skin is very tender, and boiling water would break it.

When the fish is cooked, remove the cloth, or muslin, and place the strainer across the kettle that the fish may get well drained. Cover it with a hot cover, and leave it in that position for a few minutes. Then dish, on a folded napkin; or on a strainer, if sauce is poured over it. Garnish tastefully, and serve with an appropriate sauce. Small cod, or salmon, if boiled whole, should be trussed in the form of the letter S.

Baked Fish.

The oven should be kept at a moderate heat, that the fish may not be dried up. Small fish may be cooked with great advantage in the oven, if carefully covered with buttered paper, which will keep them moist, and prevent any baked flavour.

Fried Fish.

Small fish, such as whiting, smelts, &c., are generally fried whole. Larger fish, such as cod and salmon, are fried in the shape of cutlets. Fish to be fried, must be covered with egg and crumbs, or batter. A stewpan, half full of fat, and not a frying-pan, should be used for the purpose (see French Frying), except in the case of the sole; and for that, the new fish-fryer, with a wire strainer, is far better than the old-fashioned pan. The bread-crumbs, for fish, should be prepared by rubbing stale bread through a wire sieve.

Boiled Turbot.

Boil it according to the directions for boiling fish. It usually takes from half an hour to an hour, according to its size. It should be dished on a folded napkin, with the white side uppermost; and garnished with cut lemon, parsley, and coral. Serve with it lobster, shrimp, or anchovy sauce.

Boiled Brill.

This fish is cooked like turbot; garnished in the same way, and served with the same sauces.

Boiled Salmon.

Boil according to the directions given for boiling fish. Truss a small salmon in the form of the letter S. Dish on a folded napkin; and garnish with parsley and coral. Serve with lobster, shrimp, anchovy, or tartare sauce.

Boiled Cod.

Boil according to directions given for boiling fish. A small piece is often served with thick egg-sauce poured over it, and garnished with the yolk of an egg rubbed through a wire sieve.

Salt Cod, Haddock, Plaice, and any Fish,

May be boiled according to directions given for boiling fish, and served with egg, anchovy, or any other appropriate sauce.

Curried Fish.

Ingredients—1lb. of cold boiled fish. 1 small onion. 1 small apple. pint of second stock. A few drops of lemon juice. 1oz. of butter. 1 dessertspoonful of curry powder. 1 dessertspoonful of flour. Salt.

Method.—Slice the onion and apple; fry them in the butter, and then rub them through a hair sieve.

Mix the flour and curry powder smoothly with the stock.

Stir over the fire and boil well.

Then add the onion, apple, lemon juice, and salt.

Break the fish into pieces, and remove the bones.

Put it into the sauce, and let it warm through.

Serve with a border of rice round it.

Kedgeree.

Ingredients—The remains of cooked fish. An equal quantity of boiled rice. 2 hard-boiled eggs. A little butter. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Break the fish into flakes, removing all the bones.

Melt a little butter in a saucepan.

Put in the rice, fish, and the whites of the eggs cut small, pepper and salt.

Stir over the fire until quite hot.

Heap it on a hot dish in the form of a pyramid, and sprinkle over it the yolks of the eggs, rubbed through a wire sieve.

Baked Herrings.

Ingredients—A few herrings. Browned bread-crumbs. A little butter or dripping. Parsley.

Method.—Split open the herrings, and remove the back-bone.

Roll them up, and place them with their roes on a greased baking-sheet.

Cover them with greased paper, and put them into a moderate oven for ten or fifteen minutes until cooked.

Place the rolls on a folded napkin, and sprinkle some brown bread-crumbs in a straight line on each.

Garnish with the roes and sprigs of parsley.

Herrings baked in Vinegar.

Ingredients—A few herrings. 1 dessertspoonful of finely-chopped parsley. 1 small onion. Vinegar. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Grease a pie-dish, and put some herrings at the bottom.

Sprinkle them with the parsley and onion finely chopped, and the pepper and salt.

Put another layer of herrings on the top, and sprinkle them similarly.

Proceed in the same way until the dish is full.

Cover them with vinegar.

Place over them a dish, and bake in a slow oven for three or four hours.

Herrings cooked in this way are used cold.

Smelts Fried.

Ingredients—Smelts. Egg. Bread-crumbs. Parsley.

Method.—Dry the smelts well, and fix their tails in their mouths.

Cover them with egg and bread-crumbs, and fry them a golden brown in a frying-basket in hot fat (see French Frying).

Garnish with fried parsley, and serve with melted butter or other suitable sauce.

Smelts au gratin.

Ingredients—Some smelts. A few button mushrooms. 1 shalot. 1 sprig of parsley. Lemon juice. Pepper and salt. Browned bread crumbs. Glaze.

Method.—Lay the smelts on a greased baking-sheet.

Sprinkle under and over them the parsley, shalot, and mushrooms, finely chopped, with lemon juice, pepper, and salt.

Cover them with browned bread-crumbs, and put little bits of butter over them.

Bake them in a moderate oven for seven or ten minutes. Put them on a hot dish, and pour melted glaze over them.

Ling and Hake.

These two fish may be cooked according to any of the recipes given for dressing cod.

Salmon la Tartare.

Ingredients—A piece of salmon. Some tartare sauce. Chopped parsley. Coral.

Method.—Boil the salmon carefully according to the directions given for boiling fish.

Garnish with coral and parsley, and serve with tartare sauce (see Sauces).

If the salmon is served cold, the tartare sauce is poured over it. If hot, it is served in a sauce-boat.

A slice of salmon is frequently grilled, and served with tartare sauce.

Pickled Salmon.

Ingredients—Some boiled salmon. 1 dozen peppercorns. 2 saltspoonfuls of salt. 3 bay leaves. Equal quantities of vinegar and the liquor the fish was boiled in.

Method.—Lay the salmon in a deep pan or pie-dish.

Boil the fish liquor, vinegar, and other ingredients for a quarter of an hour.

Let it get cold, and then pour over the salmon, which should be allowed to remain in the pickle until the next day.

Whitebait.

Ingredients—Whitebait. Flour.

Method.—Put plenty of oil or fat into a stewpan, and make it hot (see French Frying). The heat of the fat for whitebait should be 400.

Have a good heap of flour on a cloth.

As soon as the fat is hot, throw the whitebait into the flour, and, taking the cloth by each end, shake the whitebait rapidly until they are well floured.

Turn them quickly into a frying-basket.

Shake the basket well for the loose flour to drop off, and throw the whitebait into the fat for a minute.

As soon as they rise to the surface, remove them with a fish-slice, and drain them on kitchen paper.

Serve them with brown bread and butter, and slices of lemon.

Oyster Patties.

Ingredients—6 patty cases. 2 dozen oysters. 1oz. of butter. 1oz. of flour. pint of milk. pint of cream. A few drops of lemon juice. Pepper and salt. A little cayenne.

Method.—Beard the oysters, and cut off the hard white part; cut each oyster in two.

Strain the oyster liquor through muslin.

Put the beards into the milk, and simmer them in it to extract the flavour.

Then melt the butter in a saucepan, and mix in the flour smoothly.

Strain in the milk, and add the oyster liquor. Stir and cook well.

Then add the cream, and let it boil in the sauce.

Lastly, add the pepper, salt, cayenne, and the oysters.

Fill the patty cases with the mixture.

Put the lid on each, and decorate with powdered lobster coral.

Serve hot or cold.

Scalloped Oysters.

Ingredients—Some oysters. A little butter, and bread-crumbs.

Method.—Grease some scallop shells, and place on each two or three oysters.

Cover them with broad-crumbs, and put a little piece of butter on each.

Brown them in a quick oven, and serve very hot.

Scalloped Oysters la Franaise.

Ingredients—2 dozen oysters. 1oz. of butter. 1oz. of flour. pint of milk. 2 tablespoonfuls of cream. A few drops of lemon juice. Pepper and salt. Some bread crumbs.

Method.—Beard the oysters, and cut them in two.

Strain the oyster liquor through muslin.

Simmer the beards in the milk.

Melt the butter in a small stewpan, and mix in the flour smoothly.

Strain in the milk, add the oyster liquor, stir, and cook well.

Then add the cream, and let it boil in the sauce.

Lastly, add lemon juice, pepper, salt, cayenne, and oysters.

Grease some scallop shells, and sprinkle them with bread-crumbs.

Fill them with the mixture, and sprinkle some more crumbs over them.

Brown in a quick oven.

Serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with parsley and cut lemon.

Mackerel la Normande.

Ingredients—1 dessertspoonful of bread-crumbs. 2 mackerel. Half a shalot, chopped finely. 1 teaspoonful of finely-chopped parsley. teaspoonful dried and powdered herbs. oz. of butter or dripping. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Split open the mackerel, and remove the back-bones as cleanly as possible.

Grease a baking-tin, and lay one of the mackerel, skin downwards, on it.

Mix the herbs, parsley, shalot, and bread-crumbs together with pepper and salt, and sprinkle them over the fish.

Lay the other mackerel on the top, with the skin uppermost.

Put little bits of butter or dripping about it, and bake from ten minutes to a quarter of an hour.

For serving, sprinkle over a few brown bread-crumbs.

Haddock Stuffed.

Ingredients—1 haddock. 3 tablespoonfuls of bread-crumbs. 1 dessertspoonful of finely-chopped parsley. 1 teaspoonful of dried and powdered herbs. Pepper and salt. Part of an egg, or a little milk, to bind the stuffing.

Method.—Mix the crumbs, parsley, herbs, pepper and salt, with the egg or milk.

Put the stuffing in the haddock, and fasten it with a small skewer.

Then truss it with string, or two skewers, in the form of the letter S.

Place it on a greased baking-tin; and put a few pieces of butter or dripping on it.

Bake it in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes.

To serve, place it on a dish and remove the skewers.

Garnish with parsley.

Cutlets of Cod.

Ingredients—The tail of a cod. 1 egg. Bread-crumbs. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Cut the tail of a cod into neat cutlets.

Season them with pepper and salt, and cover them with egg and bread-crumbs.

Fry them in a frying-basket in hot fat (see French Frying).

Serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley.

Cutlets of Cod l'Italienne.

Ingredients—The tail of a cod. A little butter. Lemon juice. Pepper and salt. Some Italian sauce.

Method.—Divide the cod into neat cutlets.

Place them on a greased baking-sheet.

Sprinkle over them a few drops of lemon juice, pepper, and salt, and cover them with buttered paper.

Bake them in a moderate oven from ten to twelve minutes.

Dish them in a circle, and pour over them some Italian sauce (see Sauces).

Garnish with coral and truffle.

Cutlets of Cod la Genoise.

Cook some cod cutlets as in preceding recipe, and serve with Genoise sauce (see Sauces). Garnish with coral and truffle.

Cod with Tomatoes.

Ingredients—1lb. of cod cutlets. 5 or 6 tomatoes. 1 tablespoonful of vinegar. Cayenne pepper and salt.

Method.—Rub the tomatoes through a hair sieve.

Then put the pure thus obtained into a saucepan, and lay the pieces of cod in it. There should be enough tomato pure to cover the cod.

Simmer gently until the cod is tender.

Add the vinegar and seasoning, dish in a circle, and pour the tomato over.

Cod Fricassee.

Ingredients—Some boiled cod, either hot or cold. Plain white sauce (see Sauces). 2 hard-boiled eggs.

Method.—Break the fish into flakes.

Make the sauce quite hot.

Put the fish into it, and warm it through.

There should be just enough sauce to moisten the cod.

Heap it in a pyramid shape on a hot dish.

Garnish it with rings cut from the hard-boiled eggs.

Sprinkle over the top of the cod the yolks rubbed through a wire sieve or strainer.

Cod Sounds Boiled.

Ingredients—Some cod sounds; milk; water. Bchamel sauce. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Soak the sounds in water for about six hours.

Then boil them in milk and water for half an hour or more until quite tender.

Cut them in pieces about two inches square, and make them hot in some Bchamel sauce.

Pile them on a dish in the form of a pyramid, with slices of hard-boiled egg, cut lemon, and parsley.

Marinaded Cod Sounds.

Ingredients—Cod sounds. Milk. Water. Oil. Vinegar. Shalot. Parsley. Pepper and salt. Butter.

Method.—Soak the cod sounds in water for about six hours, and then boil them in milk and water until tender.

Cut them in pieces an inch and a half square.

Mix together equal quantities of oil and vinegar, and add to them a shalot and some parsley, very finely chopped; pepper, and salt.

Steep the sounds in the marinade.

Just before serving, dip each one in Kromesky batter, and fry in hot fat (see French Frying).

Dish in a circle, and pour over them some piquant sauce.

Decorate with truffle and coral.

Cod Stuffed and Baked.

Ingredients—A thick slice from the middle of the cod. Some veal stuffing. Browned bread-crumbs.

Method.—Fasten the stuffing securely in the cod.

Place it on a greased baking-sheet, and cover it with browned crumbs.

Place small pieces of butter or dripping about it, and bake it in a moderate oven for about half an hour, basting occasionally.

Serve with cut lemon, and garnish with parsley.

Note.—A small cod may be stuffed and cooked like a haddock.

Plaice.

This fish may be boiled, baked, or fried.

Fried Fillets of Plaice.

Fillet the plaice by cutting down the centre of the fish with a sharp knife and removing the flesh from either side.

Egg and bread-crumb the fillets, and fry in hot fat (see French Frying).

Drain on kitchen paper, serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley.

Fried Fillets of Sole.

Prepare like the fillets of plaice, with the exception that the sole should be skinned before it is filleted.

Fish Croquettes.

Ingredients—1lb. of cooked fish (haddock, cod, ling, or hake are the best for the purpose). 1oz. of butter. 2 or 3 eggs. Pepper and salt. Some white crumbs. Parsley. 1lb. of boiled potatoes.

Method.—Rub the potatoes through a sieve.

Break the fish into flakes, removing the bones.

Mix the fish and potatoes together; blend them thoroughly with the butter, pepper, salt, and a well-beaten egg.

Form the mixture into balls or cakes.

Egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them in hot fat (see French Frying).

Serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley.

Fish Pudding.

Make a mixture of fish and potatoes as in preceding recipe. Put it on a dish that will stand the heat of the oven, and mould it into the form of a fish.

Bake for half an hour.

Halibut.

This fish may be cooked and served like cod or turbot.

Red Mullets l'Italienne.

Ingredients—4 or 6 red mullets. 2 dessertspoonfuls of mushroom catsup. A little butter. Lemon juice. Pepper and salt. Some Italian sauce.

Method.—Lay the mullets in a well-buttered baking-sheet; moisten them with the catsup, and sprinkle with lemon juice, pepper, and salt.

Put some little bits of butter over them.

Bake in a moderate oven for a quarter of an hour or more until cooked.

Lay them on a hot dish.

Mix the liquor from the mullets with some Italian sauce (see Sauces), and pour over.

Garnish with truffle and coral.

Red Mullets la Genoise.

Ingredients—Red mullets. glass of port. A few drops of lemon juice. Pepper. Some Genoise sauce. A little butter.

Method.—Lay the mullets on a well-greased baking-sheet.

Moisten them with the port wine and lemon juice, and put little bits of butter about them.

Bake them in a moderate oven until cooked.

Lay them on a hot dish.

Mix the liquor from the mullets with the Genoise sauce, and pour over them.

Red Mullet in Cases.

Ingredients—4 red mullets. 1 dozen button mushrooms. 1 dessertspoonful of finely-chopped parsley. 2 shalots. Lemon-juice. Pepper and salt. Salad oil.

Method.—Chop the shalots and mushrooms, and mix them with the parsley.

Oil some pieces of foolscap paper.

Lay the mullets on them; sprinkle over them the parsley, mushroom, shalot, lemon juice, pepper and salt.

Fold them in the cases, and cook on a well-greased baking-sheet, in a moderate oven, for about twenty or thirty minutes.

Boiled Whiting.

Fasten the tail in the mouth of each whiting, and lay them on a fish strainer.

Put them into boiling water, with salt in it, and cook them gently for five minutes or more.

Dish on a folded napkin, and garnish with parsley, coral, and cut lemon.

Serve with them matre d'htel, Bchamel, Italian, Genoise, or any other suitable sauce.

Fried Whiting.

Ingredients—Some whiting. Egg. Bread-crumbs. Parsley. Lemon juice.

Method.—Skin the whiting, and fasten the tail in the mouth.

Dry them well with a cloth.

Egg and bread-crumb them, and fry them in a frying-basket, in hot fat (see French Frying).

Drain them on kitchen paper, and dish on a folded napkin.

Garnish with fried parsley and cut lemon.

Bchamel, lobster, shrimp, Italian, Genoise, or any other suitable sauce, may be served with them.

Whiting l'Italienne.

Ingredients—Whiting. Lemon-juice. Pepper and salt. A little butter. Italian sauce.

Method.—Skin and fillet the whiting.

Lay the fillets on a well-buttered baking-sheet.

Sprinkle with lemon-juice, pepper and salt, and cover them with buttered paper.

Cook them in a moderate oven, from seven to ten minutes.

Dish in a circle, and pour Italian sauce over.

Garnish with truffle and coral.

Whiting la Genoise.

Prepare the whiting as in preceding receipt, substituting Genoise for Italian sauce.

Lobster Cutlets.

Ingredients—1 hen lobster. 1oz. of butter. 1oz. of flour. 1 gill of cold water. 2 tablespoonfuls of cream. A few drops of lemon juice. Cayenne. Pepper and salt. Some spawn or coral. Egg and bread-crumbs. Parsley.

Method.—Remove the flesh from the body of the lobster, and cut it up.

Pound the coral in a mortar, with half an ounce of butter, and rub it through a hair sieve. (If spawn is used it need not be pounded.)

Melt 1oz. of butter in a stewpan.

Mix in the flour; add the water; stir until it thickens.

Then add the coral, and butter, and cook well.

Next the cream, lemon juice, cayenne, pepper, salt, and lastly the chopped lobster.

Spread the mixture on a plate to cool.

When cool, shape into cutlets.

Egg and bread-crumb, and fry in hot fat in a frying-basket.

Put a piece of the feeler in each, to represent a bone.

Garnish with fried parsley.

Lobster Cutlets in Aspic.

Shape some of the lobster-cutlet mixture into cutlets.

Roll in dried and powdered coral, and put a piece of feeler in each.

Pour a little aspic jelly into a clean Yorkshire-pudding tin, or frying-pan.

When set, lay the cutlets on it, and pour in, gently, enough aspic to cover them.

When firm, cut them out with a border of aspic to each, and serve on chopped aspic.

Fried Sole.

Ingredients—A sole. Egg. Bread-crumbs. Parsley.

Method.—Remove the dark skin, and notch the other, here and there, with a knife.

Dry the sole well in a floured cloth.

Brush over with egg, and cover with bread-crumbs.

Flatten them on with a broad-bladed knife, and fry the sole a golden brown in hot fat (for heat of fat see French Frying).

A fish-fryer, or a deep frying-pan, should be used for the purpose; and there should be sufficient fat to cover the sole, so that it will not require turning.

When cooked, drain on kitchen paper.

Dish on a folded napkin.

Garnish with fried parsley.

Sole la Parisienne.

Ingredients—1 sole. 1 wineglass of sherry. pint of good second stock. A few drops of lemon juice. 1 teaspoonful of Harvey's sauce. 1 teaspoonful of anchovy sauce. Pepper and salt to taste.

Method.—Remove the dark skin, and notch the other with a knife.

Lay the sole in a baking-pan, and pour over it the stock and sherry.

Cover with a dish, and bake for twenty or thirty minutes in a moderate oven.

Place it on a hot dish.

Boil the stock rapidly down to half the quantity.

Add to it the sauces, lemon juice, and seasoning, and pour it over the sole.

Fillets of Sole la Rouennaise.

Ingredients—2 or more soles. Lemon juice. Lobster-cutlet mixture. Some white sauce. Chopped truffle.

Method.—Remove both skins from the soles, and fillet them.

Spread some of the lobster-cutlet mixture on the half of each fillet, and fold over.

Place on a greased baking-sheet; sprinkle over lemon juice and salt, and cover with buttered paper.

Bake in a moderate oven for about twelve minutes.

Dish in a circle, and pour over white sauce, mixed with chopped truffle.

Fillets of Sole la Matre d'Htel.

Ingredients—Fillets of sole. Lemon juice and salt.

Method.—Roll or fold the fillets, and cook like the Sole la Rouennaise.

Cover them with the same sauce as in the last recipe, using chopped parsley instead of truffle.

Sole au gratin.

Ingredients—1 sole. 1 dessertspoonful of chopped parsley. 1 chopped shalot. 6 chopped button mushrooms. Lemon juice. Pepper and salt. oz. of butter. Brown bread-crumbs.

Method.—Grease a dish that will stand the heat of the oven.

Sprinkle on it half of the parsley, shalot, and mushroom, with lemon juice, pepper, and salt.

Lay the sole on the mixture, and sprinkle the remainder of the parsley, &c., over it.

Cover with brown bread-crumbs, and put half an ounce of butter about it, in small pieces.

Bake from ten to fifteen minutes, according to size, and serve-with glaze poured round it.

Gurnets baked.

Ingredients—2 or more gurnets. Some veal stuffing, omitting the suet. A little stock. wineglass of sherry. 1 or 2 dessertspoonfuls of mushroom catsup. Some brown sauce. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Remove the head and fins of the gurnets, and stuff them with veal stuffing, fastening it in with small skewers.

Lay them on a well-buttered baking-tin, and pour over them the stock, sherry, and catsup.

Bake them in a moderate oven until cooked.

Then place them on a hot dish, mix the liquor from them with the sauce and pour over.

Stewed Eels.

Ingredients—2lb. of eels. 1 pint of stock. 1 wineglass of port. 1 tablespoonful of flour. A few drops of lemon juice. Pepper. Salt. Cayenne. 2oz. of butter.

Method.—Cut the eels in pieces about 2 inches long.

Fry them brown in the butter.

Then put them in a stewpan with the stock.

Stew gently, until tender.

Then remove them from the stock, and put them in a hot dish.

Thicken the stock with the flour.

Add the wine, lemon juice, and seasoning.

Pour over the eels, and serve very hot.



PASTRY.

Few people are successful in making pastry. Yet, with a little practice, there is no reason why any one should not make it with some degree of perfection, if the following rules are carefully attended to.

Make the pastry in a cool place, not in a hot kitchen. The board, rolling-pin, and hands should be as cold as possible. Handle it very lightly. The colder pastry is kept during making, the lighter it will be, because it will contain more air; cold air occupies a much less space than warm. The colder the air, the greater, consequently, will be its expansion when the pastry is put into a very hot oven. Roll the paste lightly, and not more than necessary. Puff paste is a kind of fine sandwich. There should be a certain number of layers of dough and layers of butter. Take care, therefore, that the butter is not allowed to break through the dough; and be very careful to follow the directions given for making this pastry. Its manufacture requires patience, because, if it is not properly cooled between the turns, the friction of rolling will warm the butter, and cause it to smear into the dough. For short crust, rub the butter or fat lightly into the flour with the tips of the fingers; and do not use more water than necessary in mixing it. This is a common mistake; and too much water deprives the paste of its shortness. Short paste is the best for children and persons of weak digestion; the flour in it being more thoroughly incorporated with the fat, gets better cooked. It is, therefore, capable of more perfect mastication than puff or flaky crust, both of which are liable to be swallowed in flakes.

However well pastry is made, success will not be attained unless the oven is rightly heated. The very lightest crusts will often be totally spoiled in the baking because this important point is not attended to. If the oven is not very hot, the fat will melt and run out of the pastry before the starch grains in the flour burst; consequently, they cannot afterwards expand, however hot the oven may be made; and in this way the paste will become heavy. Take great care, therefore, that the oven is very hot when the paste is put into it.

Watch the paste carefully that it does not take too dark a colour. When it is well thrown up and nearly cooked, it may be removed to a more moderately heated part of the oven if it should appear to be browning too quickly.

Ovens in which the heat comes from the bottom are decidedly the best for either cakes or pastry; but no one should expect to bake well in an oven they do not thoroughly understand. There is so much difference in ovens, that the hottest part of one may be the coolest in another. To bake well requires practice and experience, and no one should be discouraged by a few failures.

Puff Paste.

Ingredients—Equal quantities of Vienna flour and butter. A few drops of lemon juice. Enough water to mix the flour into a nice lithe dough.

Method.—Rub the flour through a wire sieve.

Make a well in the middle, and squeeze in a few drops of lemon juice.

Mix very gradually with very cold water, taking care that the dough is not too stiff.

Then knead and work well about until quite smooth.

Set it aside for a few minutes to get quite cold.

Squeeze the butter in a cloth to press out the water.

Roll out the dough, and place the butter, flattened to a third of its size, in the middle.

Then fold the dough from either side over it, pressing the edges together.

Turn it with its edges toward you, and roll out very gently (care must be taken that the butter does not break through the dough).

Fold it again in three, and put it aside to cool for quite a quarter of an hour. The colder it is kept the better.

Then turn its edges towards you, and roll it out again; fold evenly in three, and roll and fold again in the same manner; each roll and fold is called a turn.

Cool the paste for another quarter of an hour.

Then give it two more turns.

Let it cool again; and at the seventh roll it will probably be ready for use.

It is, however, wise to bake a small piece of the paste before using the whole quantity. If the maker has a very light hand it sometimes happens that eight or even nine turns may be necessary to roll the butter sufficiently into the flour.

Patty Cases.

Roll the puff paste, when ready, to rather more than a quarter of an inch in thickness.

Take a fluted cutter about the size of a tumbler.

Dip it in very hot water, and cut the paste into rounds with it.

Mark the middle of these rounds with a cutter about three sizes smaller.

Roll out the remains of the paste to half the thickness of the patties.

Stamp out some rounds for covers with a fluted cutter two sizes smaller than that used for the cases.

Put the cases and covers on a baking-tin, and bake in a quick oven for ten or fifteen minutes.

When cooked, lift the lid and scrape out the soft inside carefully.

Good Short Crust.

Ingredients—1lb. of flour. lb. of butter. Enough cold water to mix rather stiffly. A pinch of salt.

Method.—Rub the butter into the flour until like fine bread-crumbs.

Mix with cold water, using as little as possible (if too much is used the crust will not be short).

Roll gently to make the paste bind.

If this paste is used for tarts, add one dessertspoonful of castor sugar to the flour.

Plainer Short Crust.

Ingredients—1lb. of flour. lb. of butter. lb. of lard. 1 teaspoonful of baking powder. Water enough to bind.

Method.—Make according to directions given in preceding recipe.

Economical Short Crust.

Ingredients—1lb. of flour. lb. of clarified dripping or lard. 1 teaspoonful of baking powder. Enough water to mix.

To make this crust still plainer, a quarter of a pound only of clarified dripping or lard may be taken, and three good teaspoonfuls of baking powder.

Method.—Make according to the directions for Short Crust.

Flaky Crust.

Ingredients—1lb. of flour. lb. of butter or dripping. A pinch of salt. Enough cold water to mix the paste.

Method.—Rub one half of the butter into the flour, as for short crust.

Mix with the water, and roll it out very thinly.

Put the remainder in little pieces on the paste.

Fold in three, and then in three again.

Roll out to the size required.

Rough Puff Paste.

Ingredients—1lb. of flour. lb. of butter, lard, or dripping. Salt. Cold water.

Method.—Break the fat into the flour in pieces.

Add a pinch of salt.

Mix with a little cold water.

Turn on to a board.

Roll and fold four times.

Flaky Bread Crust.

Ingredients—1lb. of bread dough. Some butter, lard, or dripping.

Method.—Roll out the dough very thin, and spread with the fat.

Fold in two.

Spread again with fat.

Fold in two, and spread once more with fat.

Fold again, and set aside for one hour.

Then roll out and use.

Beef-steak Pie.

Ingredients—2lb. of nice beef-steak. lb. of bullock's kidney. 1lb. of flaky or rough puff paste. 1 tablespoonful of flour. pint of water. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Roll the paste to a quarter of an inch in thickness.

Invert the pie-dish, and cut the paste to the size and shape of the under side of it.

Roll out the remainder, and cut a band one inch wide.

Wet the edge of the pie-dish, and place this round it.

Cut the beef into thin strips.

Dip them in flour, and season with pepper and salt.

Roll each of the strips round a tiny piece of fat.

Put them into the pie-dish alternately with pieces of kidney.

Raise them in the middle of the dish in a dome-like form, and pour in the water.

Wet the edges of the paste lining of the dish, and lay the cover over.

Press the edges lightly together, and trim round with a knife.

Make a hole in the middle of the paste to let the gases from the meat escape.

Brush the crust with beaten egg, and decorate with leaves cut from the trimmings.

Bake for about two hours.

The pie should be put into a quick oven until the pastry is cooked; the heat must then be moderated to cook the meat thoroughly without drying up the pastry. If possible, finish cooking the meat on the top of the oven.

Some people prefer stewing the meat before using it in the pie. If this is done, it must be allowed to get cold before the pie is made.

It is an improvement to the pie to put layers of oysters, bearded, alternately with the rolls of beef.

Rabbit Pie.

Ingredients—1 rabbit. lb. of salt pork. 1lb. of rough puff or flaky paste. pint of water. 2 hard-boiled eggs. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Prepare the paste as for beef-steak pie, lining the dish in the same manner.

Cut the rabbit into neat joints.

Season them with pepper and salt.

Put them in the pie-dish alternately with the pork.

Pour in the water, and cover with the paste.

Brush over with beaten egg, and decorate with paste leaves.

Make a hole in the middle of the crust for the gases to escape.

Bake for about an hour, attending to directions given for baking beef-steak pie.

Mince Pies.

Ingredients—Puff and other pastry. Mincemeat. Castor sugar. White of 1 egg.

THE MINCEMEAT.

Ingredients—1lb. of suet. 1lb. of apples. 1lb. of sugar. 1lb. of currants. 1lb. of raisins. 1lb. of candied peel. The grated rind of 3 lemons. lb. of ratafias soaked in brandy.

Method.—Chop the suet.

Wash and dry the currants.

Stone and cut the raisins in halves.

Peel, core, and mince the apples.

Chop the candied peel.

Mix all the ingredients well together.

Put them into a stone jar; cover closely and keep for a month.

TO MAKE THE PIES.

Roll the paste out, and stamp it into rather large rounds with a fluted cutter dipped in hot water.

Lay half the rounds on patty pans.

Wet the edges of the pastry, and put some mincemeat into the middle of each round.

Cover with the remaining rounds, pressing the edges lightly together.

To glaze, brush them with a little white of egg, and dust with castor sugar.

Bake in a quick oven for ten or fifteen minutes.

Mushroom Pie.

Ingredients—Puff, flaky, or short crust. Mushrooms. Boiled potatoes. Butter. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Roll out the paste, and prepare a pie-dish as for beef-steak pie.

Mash the potatoes with butter, pepper, and salt.

Peel the mushrooms, and cut off the ends of the stalks.

Put the potatoes and mushrooms in alternate layers in the pie-dish.

Cover with the paste, and finish off and decorate like a beef-steak pie.

Bake in a quick oven for about three quarters of an hour.

Pigeon Pie.

Ingredients—4 pigeons. 1lb. of rump-steak. Yolks of 6 hard-boiled eggs. Pepper and salt. Some puff or other paste made with 1lb. of flour.

Method.—Prepare the pie-dish, and roll out the paste as for beef-steak pie.

Draw the pigeons, and cut them in halves.

Cut the steak into thin strips, the way of the grain.

Season the steak and pigeons nicely, and put them into the pie-dish with the hard-boiled yolks.

Pour in the water.

Cover with the paste, and finish like a beef-steak pie.

Wash and clean the legs of two of the pigeons, and stick them in the hole in the top of the pie.

Bake for about an hour and a half.

Veal-and-Ham Pie.

Ingredients—1lb. of veal cutlet. lb. of ham. 4 hard-boiled eggs. 1 dessertspoonful of chopped parsley. 1 lemon. Pepper and salt. Some puff, flaky, or other pastry, made with 1lb. of flour.

Method.—Roll out the paste, and prepare the dish as for beef-steak pie.

Cut the veal and ham into neat pieces.

Season them well, and sprinkle them with the parsley and lemon juice.

Put them into the pie-dish with the eggs cut in halves.

Pour in the water.

Cover with paste, and decorate like a beef-steak pie.

Bake for about two hours.

Cornish Pasties.

Ingredients—Some plain short crust. Equal quantities of beef-steak or beef-skirt and potatoes. 1 onion, finely chopped. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Cut the meat and potatoes into small dice, and mix them with the onion, pepper, and salt.

Roll out the pastry.

Stamp it into rather large rounds with the lid of a small saucepan.

Wet round the edges of the paste, and place a small heap of meat and potatoes in the middle of each round.

Double the paste, bringing the edges to the top.

Goffer round them with the fingers to form a frill.

Place the pasties on a greased baking-sheet, and bake in a quick oven from half an hour to an hour.

Sausage Rolls.

Ingredients—Some puff or flaky crust. Sausages. 1 egg.

Method.—Parboil the sausages.

Skin them, cut them in halves, and let them cool.

Roll out the paste; cut it into squares.

Brush the edges with beaten egg.

Lay a half sausage on each piece of paste, and roll the paste round it, pressing the edges together.

Brush the rolls with beaten egg.

Lay them on a greased baking-sheet.

Bake in a quick oven for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Apple Tart.

Ingredients—2lb. of apples. 3oz. of moist sugar. Some pastry. 5 cloves or the grated rind of a small lemon. pint of water.

Method.—Make some pastry according to directions given for short crust (the quantity made from lb. of flour will be sufficient).

Roll out the paste in an oval shape to a quarter of an inch in thickness.

Invert a pint pie-dish, lay the paste over it, and cut it the size and shape of the under side of the dish.

Roll out the remaining pieces, and cut in strips about one inch wide.

Wet the edges of the pie-dish, and lay them evenly round it.

Peel, core, and quarter the apples.

Put them into the pie-dish, mixing them with the sugar.

Pile them up well in the middle of the dish, pressing them to an oval shape with the hands.

Pour in the water, and sprinkle over the lemon rind or cloves.

Wet the edges of the pastry, lining the dish, and put over the piece reserved for the cover.

Press the edges lightly together, and trim with a knife.

Make a small hole with a skewer on either side of the cover to let the steam escape.

To glaze, brush over with the white of an egg, and dust with castor sugar.

Bake from half to three-quarters of an hour. The oven should be very quick at first, and moderate afterwards.

Any Fruit Tart may be made by this recipe. Sugar must be added according to the acidity of the fruit used.

Genoise Pastry.

Ingredients—6oz. of flour. 6oz. of butter. 8oz. of castor sugar. 7 eggs.

Method.—Melt the butter in a stewpan, and brush over a saut pan or shallow cake tin with it.

Line the pan with paper, and brush that also with the melted butter.

Break the eggs into a basin.

Add to them the sugar, and beat with a whisk for about twenty minutes until they rise.

The basin containing them may be placed on a saucepan of hot water; but care must be taken that the heat is not too great, as that would cook the eggs.

When the eggs are sufficiently beaten, stir in the flour and butter very lightly.

If beaten in, the pastry will not be light.

Pour the mixture into the pan, and bake for about an hour.

Genoise Sandwiches.

Ingredients—Genoise pastry. Jam.

Method.—Cut the Genoise pastry into slices.

Spread them with jam.

Lay the slices one on the other, and cut in triangular shapes.

Genoise iced-cakes.

Ingredients—Genoise pastry. Jam. Grated cocoa-nut. Iceing.

Method.—Stamp out small cakes of Genoise pastry with a round cutter.

Spread the sides thinly with jam.

Roll the cakes in the cocoa-nut.

Ice round the top of the cakes, and put some jam in the middle of the iceing.

Genoise Preserve-cakes.

Ingredients—Uncooked Genoise pastry. Some preserve. Some syrup of sugar and water. Hundreds and thousands. Chopped pistachio kernels. Grated cocoa-nut.

Method.—Partly fill small well-buttered dariol moulds with the Genoise mixture, and bake in a moderate oven.

When done, and sufficiently cool, cut a small circular piece from the bottom of the cakes.

Scoop out some of the inside, and fill them with the preserve.

Replace the small circular piece.

Brush the cakes over with the syrup, and roll them in the hundreds and thousands, chopped pistachio, and cocoa-nut.

They should be entirely covered with the decorations.

Pile them prettily on a dish, and decorate them with holly leaves.

Almond Cakes.

Ingredients—Genoise pastry. Almonds. The white of 1 egg. 1oz. of castor sugar.

Method.—Stamp out the Genoise pastry into small cakes, with round cutters.

Beat the white of egg, mix it with the castor sugar, and spread it over the cakes.

Sprinkle them well with almonds, blanched and chopped.

Put them in a moderate oven to take a pale fawn colour.

Cheese Cakes.

Ingredients—Some remains of puff pastry. 2oz. of sugar. 2oz. of butter. 1 lemon. Half a sponge cake. 1 whole egg and 1 yolk.

Method.—Cream the butter in a basin.

Add to it the castor sugar.

Beat well together, adding one by one the yolks of the eggs.

Then mix in the grated lemon peel, and the lemon juice and the sponge cake, rubbed through a wire sieve.

Lastly, stir in lightly half the white of the egg, beaten to a stiff froth.

Roll out the pastry.

Stamp into rounds with a fluted cutter dipped in hot water.

Lay the rounds in patty pans, and put a little dummy of dough or bread in the middle of each.

Bake them in a quick oven.

When nearly cooked, remove the dummies and fill their places with the cheese-cake mixture.

Return them to the oven until the pastry is cooked and the cheese-cake mixture has taken a pale colour.

Tartlets.

Ingredients—The remains of puff paste. Some preserve.

Method.—Roll out the paste, and stamp into rounds with a fluted cutter dipped in hot water.

Lay the rounds on patty pans.

Place in the middle of each a dummy, made of dough or bread.

Bake in a quick oven.

When the pastry is cooked remove the dummies, and fill the places with jam.

Plainer tartlets may be made with short, flaky, or other pastry.

Cheese d'Artois.

Ingredients—Remains of puff paste, or some flaky crust. 1oz. of butter. 1 whole egg and 1 yolk. 2oz. of Parmesan cheese. A little cayenne. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Cream the butter well in a basin.

Beat in the eggs, and add the grated cheese.

Season with pepper, salt, and cayenne.

Divide the pastry into two portions, and roll them out as thinly as possible.

Lay one piece on a greased baking-sheet.

Spread it over with the cheese mixture, and lay the other on the top.

Mark it with the back of a knife in strips, one inch wide and three inches long.

Brush over with beaten egg, and bake in a quick oven, until the paste is cooked. Cut out the strips with a sharp knife.

Dish them on a folded napkin, and sprinkle them with grated cheese.

Cheese Straws.

Ingredients—2oz. of flour. 2oz. of butter. 2oz. of grated Parmesan cheese. The yolk of an egg. A little cayenne. Pepper and salt.

Method.—Rub the butter lightly into the flour.

Add the grated cheese and seasoning, and mix with the yolk of egg.

If necessary, add another yolk, but no water.

Roll out and cut into fingers about a quarter of an inch wide and two inches long.

Lay them on a greased baking-sheet.

Stamp out with a cutter, the size of an egg-cup, some rounds, and make them into rings by stamping out the middles with a smaller cutter.

Bake the rings and straws a pale fawn colour, and serve them with a bundle of straws placed in each ring.

Gooseberry Turnovers.

Ingredients—Some gooseberries. Sugar. Short crust.

Method.—Pick off the heads and tails of the gooseberries.

Roll out the paste and cut into rather large rounds.

Wet the edges and put some gooseberries in the middle of each round, with a teaspoonful of sugar.

Fold the paste over and press the edges together.

Decorate the edges with a fork or spoon.

Put the turnovers on a greased baking-sheet, and bake in a quick oven for fifteen minutes.

Petit Choux.

Ingredients—5oz. of flour. 2oz. of butter. 3oz. of castor sugar. 3 whole eggs. pint of water.

Method.—Rub the flour through a sieve.

Put the butter and water on to boil.

When boiling, stir in the flour and sugar.

Beat well over the fire, until the mixture leaves the sides of the saucepan, then remove the saucepan from the fire and beat in three eggs.

Shape like eggs, with two dessertspoons and a knife dipped in hot water.

Lay the pastry on a greased baking-sheet, and bake in a moderate oven for one hour.

To serve, open the cakes at the side and insert a little whipped cream or preserve.

Decorate by brushing them over with white of egg, or a syrup of sugar and water, and sprinkle with chopped pistachio kernels, grated cocoa-nut, or hundreds and thousands.

Apple Turnovers.

Make like gooseberry turnovers, substituting minced apple for gooseberries.

Apple Dumplings.

Ingredients—1 dozen apples. 1lb. of short crust. A little moist sugar.

Method.—Pare the apples and remove the cores; fill the holes with sugar.

Take pieces of paste large enough to cover the apples. Do not roll them, but draw the paste over the apples.

Wet the edges to make them join.

Place the dumplings on a greased tin and bake for about three-quarters of an hour or one hour. The length of time will depend on the kind of apples used.



PUDDINGS.

A pudding which is to be boiled should be placed in a well-greased basin, or mould, which it should quite fill. A scalded and floured cloth should be tied securely over it. Some puddings, such as suet, plum, &c., may be cooked without the basin, the mixture being firmly tied in a well-scalded and floured cloth, a little room being allowed for the pudding to swell. When cooked in this way, it is well to put a plate in the saucepan to prevent the pudding sticking to the bottom and burning.

To cook a boiled pudding successfully, the water should be kept briskly boiling during the whole of the time it is cooking, and there should be sufficient water in the saucepan to well cover it. A kettle of boiling water should be at hand to fill up the saucepan as required. In steaming puddings, unless a steamer is used, the water should not be allowed to come more than halfway up the pudding-mould, and must only gently simmer, until the pudding is cooked. The mould used need not be covered with a cloth, but a piece of greased paper should be placed over it to prevent the condensed steam dropping on the pudding. Some puddings require to be steamed very carefully, such as contain custard, for example. A custard pudding will be honeycombed (i.e. full of holes), if the water is allowed to boil; the heat of boiling will curdle the eggs.

Most baked puddings require a moderate oven, particularly such as rice, tapioca, &c.

In preparing suet for puddings, remove the skin, slice the suet, and then chop it finely, using a little flour to prevent it sticking to the knife. Currants must be well washed and dried. Sultanas should be rubbed in flour, and the stalks picked off.

Beef-steak Pudding.

Ingredients—1lb. of flour. or lb. of suet. 1lb. of beef or rump steak. lb. of bullock's kidney. Seasoning.

Method.—Chop the suet finely, mix well with the flour, adding a pinch of salt.

Mix to a paste with cold water.

Roll it out, and line a greased quart-basin, reserving one-third for the cover.

Cut the steak into thin strips, and the kidney into slices.

Mix some pepper and salt on a plate, and season the meat nicely.

Roll each piece of meat round a tiny piece of the fat, and place the rolls and the pieces of kidney in the basin.

Pour in rather more than a quarter of a pint of water.

Roll out the remaining piece of paste.

Wet the edges of that in the basin, lay the cover on, and trim round neatly.

Tie over a well-scalded and floured cloth, and boil for four hours.

Oysters are sometimes put in these puddings; they should be bearded, and the hard white part removed.

A rabbit or veal pudding may be made in the same manner. To these add a quarter of a pound of lean ham or bacon.

Where economy must be studied, less suet may be used in making the crust.

Suet Pudding.

Ingredients—1lb. of flour. 4, 6, or 8oz. of finely-chopped suet. A pinch of salt, or, if liked, a teaspoonful of baking powder.

Method.—Mix the flour and suet lightly together.

Add the salt.

Mix to a stiff paste with cold water.

Then boil in a well-scalded and floured cloth for three hours.

Sultana Pudding.

Ingredients—1lb. of flour. lb. of finely-chopped suet. lb. of sultanas. lb. of castor sugar; or, three ounces of moist sugar. 2oz. of candied peel. The grated rind of a lemon. A pinch of salt. 1 egg. A little milk.

Method.—Rub the sultanas in flour and pick off the stalks.

Cut the candied peel in small pieces.

Put all the dry ingredients into a basin, and mix with the egg, well beaten, and a little milk.

Boil in a basin or cloth three hours.

Compote of Rice.

Ingredients—lb. of rice. lb. of sugar. 1 pint or more of milk. Vanilla or other flavouring.

Method.—Boil the rice in the milk, with the sugar, for twenty minutes; if very stiff, add a little more milk or cream.

Flavour with vanilla, and put into a buttered mould with a well in the centre.

Any fruit may be put in the middle, when it is served.

If oranges are used, boil 1 gill of water with lb. of lump sugar, until it sticks to a knife like an icicle.

Peel the oranges, and roll them in it.

If apples are used, boil them gently in one pint of water, with lb. of sugar.

When tender, add a little cochineal.

Take the apples out, and reduce the syrup to less than a quarter of a pint.

Roll the apples in it.

Queen Victoria Pudding.

Ingredients—lb. of butter. lb. of castor sugar. lb. of flour. 2oz. of chopped peel. 1oz. of blanched and chopped almonds. 2 tablespoonfuls of brandy. 3 eggs.

Method.—Put the butter and sugar in a basin.

Cream them well together with a wooden spoon.

Add the yolks of the eggs one by one; then the flour, peel, almonds, and brandy.

Beat the whites of the eggs stiffly, and mix them in lightly.

Put the mixture in a well-buttered mould.

Cover with buttered paper, and steam for three hours.

Rice Bars.

Ingredients—lb. of rice. 1 pint of milk. 3oz. of castor sugar. Yolks of 2 eggs. A little lemon essence. 1 whole egg. Some bread-crumbs. Some red jam.

Method.—Boil the rice in the milk, with the sugar, for half an hour, gently stirring occasionally.

Then remove from the fire and, when cool, beat in the two yolks, and add the lemon essence.

Then spread on a flat dish to cool.

When quite cold, cut into bars.

Brush over with the beaten egg, and cover with bread-crumbs.

Fry in hot fat until lightly coloured.

There should be an equal number of bars.

Spread one half of them with jam, and lay the others on the top.

Rice Cakes.