Chapter III: Part 3

Take some mutton cutlets from which all the fat has been removed. Put them into a frying pan with a little good dripping and some finely sliced onion. Fry to a light brown. Cut into dice one or more sound turnips and a carrot and put into a small saucepan together with one or two stoned olives or mushrooms cut up, unless the button ones are used. Add the fried meat and onion and if possible a little strong meat gravy to just cover the whole. (The stones of the olives should be put in as well and removed before serving). Add pepper and salt and allow to stew gently an hour and a half. Thicken with a little smoothly mixed flour and water stirred into it. Bring to a boil and serve in a deep dish.

_89. Hot Pot_

Take about two and half pounds of best end of neck of mutton and after removing the bones (which will make mutton stock) cut the meat in two (each cutlet); have two sound turnips and two carrots cut into dice and one large onion finely sliced. Put the vegetables in a pile in the centre of a stone (deep) saucepan. Place the meat round it and add pepper and salt. Pour in a small breakfast cup of cold water and cover the whole with slices of partly cooked boiled potato. Spread liberally with some good beef dripping and cover with the saucepan lid. Put into a good oven and allow two and a half hours for it to cook. Then remove the lid and leave to brown, when it will be ready to serve. It is best served in the saucepan with a white serviette wrapped round it.

_90. Hashed Mutton_

Take the remains of cold roast mutton. Remove the fat and cut the meat into nice small slices not too thin. Fry lightly a large onion cut into thin slices, a little diced turnip, and half a dozen dry chillies. Put all together into an enamelled saucepan and if possible a little mutton stock made from the bone. Stew gently for an hour, add two tablespoonfuls of washed rice, thicken with a little flour and water mixed smooth, and serve hot.

_100. Stewed Lamb and Green Peas_

Take two and a half pounds of lean lamb cutlets; put them into an enamelled saucepan with an onion cut into thin slices, one or two fresh young turnips peeled and cut into squares, salt and pepper, and a piece of loaf sugar. Stew gently for an hour, add a breakfast-cupful of freshly shelled green peas and let them boil all together for twenty minutes. Thicken with a little smoothly mixed flour and water. Serve very hot with a little chopped parsley dusted over the top.

_Roast Lamb_

To roast lamb proceed as for mutton, only the joints, being smaller, will not require so long to cook. A nice way to serve a leg of lamb is as follows: have some bacon lard cut into strips about an inch long, cut little slits in the outside of the leg and insert a piece of bacon lard in each. Cook in a nice steady oven, allowing about an hour and a half for a leg of four pounds.

If you wish to serve a leg of lamb or any other joint cold it is well to choose a joint not too large for your purpose and to cook it the day before it is required. Avoid cutting it while it is hot. In this way the gravy should run freely when the cold joint is cut and the flavour will be much better. The same applies to any joint intended to be used cold.

The proper sauce for roast lamb is the mint sauce. Take twenty-four leaves of mint chopped very fine, a teacupful of vinegar, and two good teaspoonfuls of powdered sugar. Dissolve the sugar in vinegar and put it with the mint into a sauce boat.

VEAL AND PORK

_Roasting. Boiling_

_General Remarks_

Fillet 5 to 6 lbs. 2 to 2½ hours.
Shoulder half shoulder from 7 to 9 lbs. 2 to 2¾ hrs.
Loin 4 lbs. 1 hour.

If fillet piece is too large to cook for one joint you may cut off a slice one and a half inches thick, horizontally, to be used later either as veal cutlets or for veal olives.

For dishing and obtaining gravy and dripping proceed as for beef.

Generally speaking, a piece of veal wants a longer time for cooking than a piece of beef or mutton of the same size.

_101. Veal Cutlets_

Chop off the long bones of two pounds of veal cutlets and put them to stew in a stone saucepan with a little salt to make gravy. Melt an ounce of fresh butter or dripping in an enamelled frying pan in the stove with the top off and lay the cutlets in it. Fry briskly for ten minutes turning once or twice. Replace the stove top and cook for another twenty minutes. Place on a dish, pour the gravy already made over them, and serve.

_102. Stuffed Fillet of Veal_

Take about three pounds of veal cut rather flat, score it several times with a sharp knife. Lay the sage and onion stuffing (as per recipe 40) on it and cover with flare or a buttered paper. Tie it with string, put it into a baking tin, and bake for one and a half hours. Place on a hot dish and pour the gravy over.

_103. Roast Pork_

A small leg of pork or about four pounds of loin must be scored on the outside with a sharp knife. Put it into a baking tin and put in the oven for two to two and a half hours. Dish up and treat the dripping as directed for beef or mutton. Serve with onion or apple sauce.

_104. Boiled Shoulder of Pork_

Put into boiling water without salt, and boil for one and a half hours if only half a shoulder; for two hours if whole.

_105. Boiled Ham_

Must be put into boiling water. If a whole ham, boil for three to three and a half hours. Let it steam for a few minutes on a dish (with a strainer under it) and then roll in baked breadcrumbs. Never put the paper collar on the knuckle till thoroughly cold.

_106. Blanquette de Veau_

Take two pounds of breast of veal, cut it in squares about two inches, put into a saucepan, cover with cold water, add a large pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then skim carefully. Add one whole onion stuck with four cloves, one carrot cut in halves, a teacupful of white wine, a bouquet of laurel, thyme, and parsley. Cook for half an hour, then strain the meat and keep the stock boiling. Mix two ounces of butter with the same of flour quite smoothly, stir it in the boiling stock while over the fire. The resulting sauce must be perfectly smooth and not too thick. Put the meat without the vegetables or herbs back into the saucepan and continue to cook for an hour and a half till quite tender, taking the greatest care that it should not burn. Stir the yolks of two eggs and half an ounce of butter and the juice of a lemon together and add it to the meat in the saucepan. Bring to a boil. Arrange the meat in a deep dish and pour the sauce over it. Surround the whole with six croutons of bread cut in the form of triangles and fried a golden brown, in butter.

_107. Calf’s Head_

Half a calf’s head is more than enough for three or four persons. The best plan is to soak the head in a bowl of cold water and a little salt all night, previously removing the brains. It will take from two and a half to three hours’ gentle boiling and care must be taken that the cooking vessel is large enough to allow the head to lie flat and the water to cover it. It must be put into cold water with a good piece of salt, a knob of loaf sugar, one onion (large and whole), two carrots (whole), and two teacupfuls of white wine. Serve with the meat carefully removed from the bone, either cold with ravigote sauce or with the cooked vegetables cut into small squares and a few button mushrooms which have been cooked in the stock. Arrange this on the dish and pour over it the following brown gravy: Fry lightly two slices of onion in a little butter allowing it to get brown a little. Add some of the stock from the head, a few drops of A. 1. sauce, and a good teaspoonful of bovril, or meat juice from some other joint. Thicken with a little mixed flour and water, pour into the frying pan, bring to a boil and strain over the meat and vegetables in the dish. The brains may be cooked separately and beaten into this gravy after it is strained.

_108. Calf’s Feet_

Calf’s feet are of great use in the cooking for invalids. Soak as for calf’s head over night. Put into a saucepan with cold water and a good piece of salt, one onion whole and one whole carrot. This will make an excellent soup served with the meat cut into nice little pieces and the vegetables cut as directed for calf’s head. But if the feet are intended for jelly it is better to omit the vegetables. Half a pint of good port wine can be added to the stock after it is cooked. Before straining add a teacupful of cold water to clear it.

_109. Pig’s Trotters_

Pig’s trotters can be served as an addition to a dish of tripe and onions in which case they require soaking over night as they would be already salted. Boil them without salt until tender and add to the cooked tripe. As a separate dish you must, when cooked, roll them in a freshly beaten egg and then in baked breadcrumbs and fry a golden brown in a little butter.

FISH

_Frying. Boiling_

_General Remarks_

Raw fish should be kept in an uncovered dish in the icebox. Always wash in a little vinegar and water before cooking. _Smoked fish_ such as haddock should be boiled always in a deep frying pan allowing the water to cover it.

_Kippers_ are difficult to cook without smell and to keep moist. The best way is to lay the kipper on its back in a flat meat dish. A small piece of butter should be always put into the dish first and a larger piece on the open side of the kipper, with a little white paper. Put into a quick oven for fifteen to twenty minutes. There will be no smell.

_Dried Sprats_, to be treated in the same way but they require only twelve to fifteen minutes in the oven, and a little more butter.

_Bloaters_, like kippers, after removing the head and cleaning and wiping on a damp cloth.

_110. Boiled Fish and Melted Butter_

_Plaice._ Lay your fish on a perforated white stone strainer in a fish kettle. Cover with cold water, add a teaspoonful of salt and a teaspoonful of vinegar. Put over a quick fire, bring to a boil and keep it boiling for about fifteen minutes. Have ready the following sauce:--

Mix one dessertspoonful of flour smoothly with one ounce of butter. Add sufficient boiling milk to make up to half a pint, and a little salt. Put it into a double saucepan the bottom half containing boiling water. Stir with a spoon always the same way until it thickens. Chop about six sprigs of parsley (not stalk) and add to the sauce. Dish the fish in a flat dish and serve the sauce in a sauce boat.

_Cod_ may be cooked in the same way only it must boil for fully half an hour after it has been brought to the boil.

_Hake._ As for cod but boil only for twenty-five minutes.

_Halibut._ Is seldom bought whole. Buy say two pounds and boil for twenty-five to forty minutes according to the thickness.

_Turbot._ Say two pounds. Must be put into _boiling_ water and boiled gently for thirty minutes. Oyster sauce, foundation as above, only the oysters (each cut in two) must be added after the sauce has thickened and kept stirred for four to five minutes.

_111. Fried Fish_

_Plaice._ Cut about two pounds of filleted plaice into four pieces. Beat an egg in a plate, white and yolk together. Put the fish into it and then into rolled rusk crumbs. Have ready in an enamelled frying pan about half a pound of best tub lard and when thoroughly hot (it can be found out by dropping a crumb into the fat when it will sizzle) it is ready for the dish. Lay the fish into it and fry for ten to fifteen minutes. Dish with a slice on a flat dish and serve with a garniture of lemon.

This recipe applies to soles--unless the sole is very thick, when it must fry for twenty minutes. Whiting for twenty minutes and halibut for twenty-five minutes.

_112. Fried Smelts_

Make a batter of one teacupful of flour mixed carefully with milk till it is quite thin enough to run. Add a pinch of salt. Have ready in an enamelled frying pan a quarter pound of best tub lard boiling. Dip each smelt well into the batter and fry in the hot lard for ten to fifteen minutes.

_113. Whitebait_

Are treated like smelts but the batter must be only half as thick and the time required for cooking is from seven to ten minutes. Take up the fish from the batter with a slice and scatter into the boiling fat. Do not crowd the pan on any account.

_114. Stewed Eels_

Two or three freshly skinned eels cut into small pieces about two inches long. Put into a stone saucepan with a little salt and a piece of loaf sugar, one claret glass of white claret or cooking sherry, and about a teacupful of good beef stock. Cover the eels with water and slice a small Spanish onion into it. Stew gently for three-quarters of an hour, thicken with a little flour mixed with water and serve in the stone saucepan. Care must be taken not to break the fish when stirring in the thickening.

_115. Salmon or Cod Cutlets_

One and a half to two pounds in three or four cutlets, dip into a beaten egg and then roll in crumbs, made preferably of German rusks. Have ready a quarter of a pound of best tub lard in an enamelled frying pan and when hot put the fish in and fry for a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes, turning over once. To ascertain if properly cooked pass the knife down by the side of the bone and if cooked the knife will pass quite easily. Dish with a slice on a flat dish and garnish with parsley and lemon cut in quarters.

_116. Sole for an Invalid_

Lay a filleted sole in a rather deep meat dish and cover with milk and a little salt and a piece of butter the size of a walnut. This will make the sauce. Cover with another dish (flat) and bake in a quick oven for about half an hour. Serve very hot with the sauce and a little chopped parsley sprinkled over it.

_117. Crimped Skate and Black Butter_

Take about one and a half pounds of crimped skate. Have ready in an enamelled frying pan about two ounces of butter made hot and a tablespoonful of vinegar. Put it over the fire and let it slightly burn. Fry the skate in it for twenty minutes and then serve on a hot dish with a few slices of lemon laid round it.

_118. Pickled Herrings or Mackerel_

Have eight fresh herrings or four large mackerel cleaned and remove the heads. Lay not very closely together with the backs upwards in a pie-dish. Fill the dish with vinegar and a few peppercorns, a little salt, an onion (sliced), and a piece of butter about the size of a walnut. Bake in a moderately quick oven for about one and a half hours. Serve in a glass dish and strain the vinegar over them.

_119. Herrings in Paper_

Have ready cleaned and beheaded say six herrings with soft roes if possible. Lay six pieces of paper (buttered) on the hot shelf of the oven to melt the butter, then wrap each fish in a piece of paper. Have ready about a quarter of a pound of tub lard melted in an enamelled frying pan and lay the fish in the papers in the boiling fat. The fire must not be too fierce. Fry for about twenty or twenty-five minutes over a brisk fire. Dish up and serve in the papers.

_120. Red Mullet_

Take for four persons two good-sized mullets. (Remove the head if desired; never split them open.) Have a deep enamelled frying pan ready. Put into it three ounces of butter, four or five wafer-thin slices of onion, two tablespoonfuls of bottled tomato sauce or catsup. Bring to a boil and lay the fish gently in the hot pan. Keep the butter boiling lightly round the fish. Baste frequently with a large spoon; then carefully turn the fish, taking care not to tear the skin (thus spoiling the appearance). Generally it will take from thirty to forty minutes to cook the fish through. This can be easily ascertained by passing the blade of a fine knife gently through the fish by the side of the bone. Have a little more butter and tomato catsup melted together in a basin. Place the fish on a hot dish and pour the melted butter and tomato sauce you have ready over the fish and serve very hot. It should never be allowed to brown, so as to retain its pretty red colour.

FOWLS AND GAME BIRDS

_Roasting and Between Boiling_

_General Remarks_

In roasting birds the great point is to avoid dryness.

Butter should be put _into_ the bird as well as outside.

The fowl should never be washed with water after being trussed but wiped with a damp cloth.

On no account should a fowl intended for roasting be floured on the outside. It is an abominable practice, causing the skin to become leathery and thick.

Fowls or any birds already plucked and trussed cannot be kept for more than two days. But before trussing they may be kept _hanging_ for three or four days providing the weather is not thundery or hot.

_121. Roast Goose_

Have a goose of seven or eight pounds trussed for roasting. Stuff with sage and onion stuffing (rec: 40), butter the breast well and cook in a quick but not fierce oven for three and a half hours. Garnish with sausages.

_122. Roast Duck_

If not stuffed put a piece of butter inside and butter the breast liberally. Cook in a quick oven for one and a half hours. Dish as for roast fowl and serve with green peas as per recipe. If stuffed it must be cooked for one and three quarters hours.

_123. Wild Duck_

Put some butter inside the duck, butter the breast, and fasten a slice of very fat bacon to the breast with a skewer. Bake in a quick oven for one and a half hours. Serve garnished with parsley.

_124. Roast Fowl_

Put inside a properly trussed fowl about an ounce of butter and spread butter also over the breast. Do not flour your fowl. Bake in a quick oven for one and a quarter hours (roast one and a half hours). When the fowl is done lay on a dish, strain the butter out of the meat tin, boil up a little water in it to make gravy and pour over the fowl in the dish. If to be stuffed see recipe: 41.

_125. Roast Pheasant_

Should be cooked in the same way as chicken and served with cranberry sauce or black currant jelly. To make cranberry sauce take half a pound of cranberries, a good teacupful of powdered sugar and just cover with hot water. Boil gently for an hour. Sometimes the sugar is omitted.

_126. Snipe and Quail_

Snipe must not be trussed, but quail is always trussed. Butter the breasts; a quail should have a piece of butter inside as well. Bake in a quick oven for half an hour. Lay the birds on slices of thick buttered toast. Serve them on toast with red or black currant jelly.

_127. Roast Partridge_

Butter the breast and inside. Bake in a tin in the oven for three-quarters of an hour. Lay the bird on a thick slice of toast. Pour the fat out of the tin, boil up in it a very little water and serve the gravy thus made in a sauce boat.

The best toast for all game birds is made as follows: Remove the crust from as many pieces of bread as required. When the birds are cooked place them in another tin or dish and bring the fat in which they have been cooked to a boil on the stove. Place the slices of bread in the boiling fat and fry till they are a crisp brown.

_128. Roast Pigeons_

Take say two pigeons trussed for roasting. Put a good-sized piece of butter into each and liberally butter the breasts. Put into a baking tin and bake for half an hour to three-quarters. For dishing, split in halves down the breast (it will be easy if the birds are well done) and lay on hot buttered toast. Strain the fat out of the tin and put a little good meat juice into it. Stir in a little well-mixed flour and water and serve with green peas.

_129. Boiled Fowl_

Take a lean fowl and fasten a slice of lean bacon over the breast with a small skewer. Put into a saucepan, with enough boiling water to cover it, with an onion and a little white wine. Stew gently for an hour. Remove the fowl whole and serve with melted butter sauce as for fish without the parsley. The liquid in which it boiled should make excellent soup if you boil in it any remains of chicken carcass just for flavouring, or add some good beef stock.

_130. Venison_

Melt an ounce of butter or dripping in a baking tin and when hot lay in it about three pounds of venison not too fat. Bake in a fairly quick oven for two hours, basting it from time to time with the butter out of the tin. Make the gravy as for beef. Serve with red currant jelly.

_131. Roast Turkey_

Have ready a turkey of about seven pounds trussed for roasting. Stuff it with the best sausage meat and some truffles cut up very small. Butter the breast very liberally and bake in a quick oven for three hours. Garnish with sausages.

_132. Chicken Jelly_

Take an old fowl trussed and slash it well across the breast and thighs with a sharp knife. Place it in a large saucepan, cover with cold water, add a little salt, two big pieces of loaf sugar, and one whole onion. Stew gently for three hours, strain from the fowl into a deep basin, add quickly a teacupful of cold water and set it to get cold. It can be used either as chicken broth or, with the addition of a glass of good white wine, as a jelly in which to serve a young roast fowl.

_133. Chicken Rissoles_

Mince finely the remains of cold chicken with a slice of onion. Make a little sauce, stirring smoothly one ounce of fresh butter into a tablespoonful of flour, and pouring half a pint of boiling milk into it. Return it to the saucepan and allow it to boil (a double saucepan is best for all milk cooking); it will then thicken; put the chicken into it, with a pinch of salt. Make some deep light pastry cases and put a thick finger of larded bread into each till the pastry is cooked. If the top edge of the pastry is moistened with a little milk, the lid can be easily removed when cooked. Put the chicken mixture into the cases after removing the bread, replace the top, and serve very hot, in a meat dish.

VEGETABLES AND SALADS

_Green Vegetables_

_Always_ boil without a lid on.

_Always_ put straight into boiling water.

_Never_ add salt or soda till the vegetables are in the water.

_Never_ have green vegetables lying in cold water more than half an hour before they are to be cooked.

Cabbage, savoy, cauliflower should be steeped for ten minutes in a pan of cold water with a good tablespoonful of salt. Time to boil twenty-five to thirty minutes.

Potatoes must lie in cold water without salt.

Onions should never lie in water or be wet before being used.

Turnips, carrots, and parsnips should be washed but never allowed to lie in cold water.

Celery should be treated like cabbage.

Spinach, on the contrary, requires to be washed in seven different lots of cold water and only the last lot without salt.

Fresh beans or peas should never pass through any cold water.

_134. Dry Vegetables_

Haricot beans should be put to soak for at least twelve hours in cold water--pint of beans to three pints of cold water. No salt.

Dry peas (not split) the same.

_133. Salads and Their Dressings_

There are many green salads, and a salad is always a very welcome addition to a meal if there should be cold meat or fowl in any form. Lettuce, endive, watercress, corn salad, chicory or tomato, can be dressed as follows: Having washed and dried the salad (by means of a wire salad basket swung vigorously), place it in the salad bowl with a little chopped onion or several young spring onions according to the season. To two salad-spoonfuls of vinegar dissolve one salt-spoonful of salt and a little pepper, turn into the salad and add three salad-spoonfuls of best salad oil. Turn the salad over for five minutes with the spoon and fork. The bowl should then appear quite dry, the dressing having been taken up on the green salad. If dressing tomatoes alone, place the tomatoes which must be firm and sound in a large basin and pour over them some boiling water. The skin will then peel off easily leaving the fruit whole. Cut them into slices, put into a glass dish and sprinkle over them a little freshly chopped onion. Mix in a breakfast cup the oil and vinegar, salt and pepper (always taking care to add the oil last); stir well and pour over the tomatoes in the dish. It is best not to attempt to turn this salad as the tomatoes so easily get broken and the appearance of the salad is then spoiled. Sprinkle over all a little finely chopped parsley.

_Potato Salad._ Take some boiled potatoes, cut into slices not too thin and a little chopped onion. Place in a salad bowl. Mix the oil and vinegar as before directed only allow exactly double the quantity of dressing as the potatoes absorb it. Turn over well before serving.

_Chicory as Salad._ Will need the dressing prepared as for tomato.

_Russian Salad._ Any remains of cold beans, peas, carrots, beet-root, etc., with the addition of one hard-boiled egg, the white chopped separately from the yolk and added to the salad only after it is dressed. Put into a large basin all the cold vegetables it is intended to use together with a little finely chopped onion. Mix in a cup the raw yolk of one egg, two teaspoonfuls of cream if possible, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, and three of oil, pepper, and salt. Work all together and add a teaspoonful of powdered sugar. Turn it into the vegetables and turn the salad very carefully once or twice. Sprinkle the chopped egg over all.

_136. Asparagus_

This delightful vegetable is a welcome and useful addition to either a lunch or dinner and can be served either hot or cold. If cold, then with a nice mayonnaise sauce or with oil and vinegar. If hot, then as follows: Prepare the asparagus, carefully cutting each stick slanting thus removing about an inch from each. (These short ends can be washed and put into stock to flavour it for asparagus soup. A few of the tops being added for the sake of appearance.) Boil in plenty of water till tender, strain carefully and serve with melted butter in which a few dry brown breadcrumbs have been added, or quite clear butter as desired. If any asparagus is left over from the meal it should be used in an omelette.

_137. Indian Corn_

Take the corn and after cutting the stump end close to the green leaf, put into a saucepan of boiling water sufficient to cover it and boil gently with a good piece of salt for four hours. When cooked, pare off the green leaves and serve on a clean serviette with melted butter in a sauce boat.

_138. Salsify_

Carefully wash and remove shoots from the salsify. Place it in boiling stock and boil till tender. Serve very hot in a vegetable dish either with a white sauce or with a little melted butter over it in two lots as they must not be crowded.

_139. New Potatoes_

Carefully select potatoes about the same size, have them scraped and put into boiling water with a little piece of mint and some salt. Boil for fifteen to twenty minutes or until quite tender, turn into a vegetable dish and put a piece of butter the size of a walnut melted over the potatoes, and dust a little finely chopped parsley over them.

_140. Potatoes Sautés_

Take some potatoes which have been boiled and cut them into thin slices. Melt in a frying pan about an ounce of fresh butter and when this boils lay the potatoes in it, not on top of each other but perfectly flat, while the pan stands on the stove. Allow the potatoes to brown first one side and then the other. Dish with a slice into a vegetable dish and dust over with a little finely chopped parsley.

_141. Mashed Potatoes_

Boil the potatoes carefully, strain, and shake vigorously with the lid on. Break them up then and beat with a carving fork, with two ounces of fresh butter; then add fresh milk and continue beating till they attain the consistency of very thick cream. They will then be ready to serve with cutlets or as a bed for sausages.

_142. Stuffed Potatoes_

Peel your potatoes and cut the ends so that they are flat. Scrape the centre out of each potato leaving a wall of about a quarter of an inch thick all round. Mince finely any cold beef, mutton, or veal you may have by you with one large ring of Spanish onion chopped very small, pepper and salt, and a little mushroom if possible. Moisten slightly with a little meat juice. Fill in each potato with this mixture. Melt in a baking tin sufficient beef dripping, a quarter of a pound to every six or eight potatoes would be right, and when boiling, but not beyond boiling point, stand the potatoes in it. The baking tin should be small enough to allow the dripping to come well up the sides of the potatoes. Cook in a fairly quick oven from thirty to forty minutes. When cooked brush very lightly over the top with the beaten white of an egg. Dish very carefully so as not to take up the fat.

_143. French Fried Potatoes_

Cut your peeled potatoes into long strips about half an inch in thickness and leave them in the cold water. Melt about half a pound of tub lard (not bladder lard as this has always flour mixed with it which causes the things to burn in the frying pan). When the lard is hot, drop a small crumb into it and if the fat sizzles round it is ready for the potatoes. Put the pan over a brisk fire and drop the potatoes as you take them out of the water straight into the pan. If the pan is not large enough to take them all flat, cook in two lots.

_144. Savoury Potatoes_

Have the potatoes boiled and not broken. Cut into dice some fat bacon. Put a piece of butter into a small enamelled frying pan and when melted put the bacon fat into it and let it brown slightly. Pour over the potatoes in the dish and serve at once. This is a good way to serve potatoes with cold meat.

_145. Potato Croquettes_

Have ready about two or three breakfast-cups of nicely mashed potato. Form into either small round cakes or sausage-shaped ones. Roll in a plate of well-beaten egg and some fine crumbs made from rolled rusk crumbs; fry a light brown in some good dripping or lard, and serve piled up in a dish, garnished with a little fresh parsley.

_146. Baked Potatoes_

Cut your peeled potatoes in four pieces lengthwise. Melt in a baking tin half a pound of beef or veal dripping (mutton dripping will not do) on the top of the stove, and when boiling put the potatoes into it. Turn them once and only then sprinkle with a little salt. Place in a brisk oven and bake for twenty minutes or half an hour. Dish with a slice.

_147. Green Peas_

Put into a saucepan of boiling water half a vegetable dish of green peas. Add two lumps of loaf sugar, a small sprig of mint, a pinch of soda, and a flat teaspoonful of salt. Young peas should cook from twenty to thirty minutes over a clear fire with the saucepan lid off. Strain through a cullender and when dished sprinkle with a good dessertspoonful of powdered sugar; add a piece of butter about the size of a walnut and turn over with a spoon several times before serving.

Bottled peas treated in this manner very closely resemble fresh peas. They must be washed in three waters before cooking.

_148. Scarlet Runner and Broad Beans_

Have four pounds of beans, trim them all round with a knife to remove all the string and cut them lengthwise into thin slices. Do not put them into cold water. Have ready the saucepan three parts full of boiling water. Put in the beans with a little salt and a tiny piece of soda. Boil for twenty minutes if the beans are young and a little longer if they are not quite fresh. Strain into a cullender then into a vegetable dish.

Broad beans should be treated in the same way after shucking them. Add a piece of butter when dished and sprinkle over with a little chopped parsley.

Never allow vegetables of any kind to be prepared over night. It will be found that peas or beans will be hard, cabbage or other greens offensive, and potatoes become flabby.

_149. Cauliflower_

Take a young cauliflower with a firm head. Take off the thick outside leaves and cut a cross on the bottom of the stump. Stand it in boiling water with the flower uppermost allowing the water to come right over it. Add some salt and a tiny bit of soda. Boil until tender (from fifteen to twenty minutes). Dish without breaking, upright in the dish. Pour half a teacupful of clarified butter over the cauliflower and dust a few rolled breadcrumbs, which have been browned in the oven, over the top.

_150. Boiled Onions and White Sauce_

Cut eight Spanish onions into rings. Put them into a saucepan three parts full of boiling water with a dessertspoonful of salt and boil for one hour. Strain into a cullender.

Take two large tablespoonfuls of flour and mix smoothly with one and a half tablespoonfuls of butter. Add boiling milk to the paste, about half a pint, return it to the saucepan and stir till it boils; then turn the onions into the sauce and serve very hot.

_151. Mushroom Rissoles_

Cut half a pound of fresh mushrooms into very small pieces. Put into a small enamelled saucepan with one slice of Spanish onion chopped very fine, a pinch of salt and a little pepper. Add a little meat juice and a teacup of water and stew gently until the mushrooms have absorbed all the moisture. Turn out into a plate and allow to cool. Prepare some light paste, cut out with a teacup into rounds, brush the rims of each round with a little milk. Put a small teaspoonful of the mushrooms into each and fold over into lozenge shape. Take the shelf out of the oven while it is hot and lay upon it a sheet of paper (white) which has been previously buttered. As soon as the butter has melted lay the rissoles on and bake in quick oven from fifteen to twenty minutes. To be eaten hot.

_152. Stuffed Tomatoes_

Cut a thin slice off eight large tomatoes. Remove part of the inside with a teaspoon. Put half an ounce of fresh butter into a frying pan (must be fresh butter). Take one large rasher of bacon, fat and lean, and half a Spanish onion; chop very fine, add a pinch of mixed herbs, pepper and salt, and the inside of the tomatoes. Make the butter hot in the pan and place the tomatoes (the cut side downwards) in it and stand on the stove with the top on. Leave for one minute and a half. Turn them and place the stuffing in the corner of the pan. Cook both together in this way for ten minutes more taking care not to let burn. Take out the tomatoes with a slice and place on a fairly deep meat dish; fill them with the stuffing, having carefully taken it up with the slice so as to avoid grease. Pour over all about half a small teacupful of meat juice.

_153. Bubble and Squeak_

Chop lightly with a knife in a dish any cold greens and potatoes you may have left. Melt in an enamelled frying pan one ounce more or less of fresh butter. Turn the vegetables into it. While cooking use a large dinner fork to press the vegetables into a smooth paste, turning it over and over with the fork all the time to prevent it sticking to the pan. Vegetables so treated should work into a perfectly smooth, stiff paste and leave the pan as clean as when they went into it. Add a little pepper and salt.

Be careful to remove all stumps of cabbage before using.

_154. To Use up Cold Vegetables_

Cold boiled French beans, cold carrots, cabbage, and a little chopped onion may be put into an enamelled frying pan in which one and a half ounces of fresh butter has been melted. Fry the vegetables very lightly, not making them brown. Turn into a deep dish and pour a little meat gravy over them. This may be served as a dish by itself or with cold meat.

_155. Spinach as a Separate Dish_

Wash through several waters, into which a little salt has been added, four pounds of fresh spinach after having removed all stalks. The last water should be without salt. The spinach would have absorbed enough moisture to cook it in but nevertheless have ready a saucepan half full of boiling water and put the spinach into it. This will prevent a most disagreeable smell being emitted while the spinach is cooking. Boil for twenty minutes, keeping the spinach pressed down with a fork. It should then be quite tender; if it is not so, boil for five minutes longer. Strain through a cullender, pressing hard with a plate or wooden vegetable press to get all the water out; put into a bowl and beat well with a fork and then work it into another bowl through a hair sieve using a large wooden spoon. Then work in half a gill of cream, a small piece of butter and a little milk. The spinach ought then to have the consistency of thick cream. Put it into a dish and serve with croutons of lightly fried French roll or garnished with hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters.

PASTRIES, SWEETS, AND CAKES

_General Remarks_

For Tarts the fruit of all kinds must always be cooked first by itself. Bottled fruits should also be brought to a boil with sugar before being put into the pastry, except for baked apple dumplings.

For Puddings the fruit should not be cooked before. Suet crust should be mixed with water with just the chill off but not hot.

Milk puddings always require to be cooked in a very slow oven.

Never use brown sugar for sweetening except for Christmas pudding and apple pudding.

_156. Pastry for Meat Pies_

For meat pies, sausage rolls, etc., the following pastry is recommended. Put two and a half cupfuls of flour into a bowl and work into it a quarter of a pound of butter. Mix with a little tepid water. Roll out on the board and spread it thickly with a quarter of a pound of lard (half at a time). Turn over the ends of the pastry, roll out again and spread the rest of the lard. Turn in the ends again and roll finally for the crust of your pie.

_157. Pastry for Puddings_

Put into the pastry bowl two and a half to three breakfast-cupfuls of flour and half a teaspoonful of baking powder (unless self-raising flour is being used in which case no baking powder is necessary). Have a quarter of a pound of beef suet carefully separated from all skin and chopped very finely. Work the suet smoothly into the flour, add a pinch of salt, and mix to a good stiff paste with a little tepid water. Roll out on the board to the thickness required. Carefully butter the basin before putting the pastry into it, and moisten the edge of the paste at the top of the basin to make the top crust adhere and thus enclose the meat or fruit securely. Place over the basin a wet pudding cloth and tie firmly with a string. Use always a pudding basin that has a good groove round it to prevent the string from slipping off. The best material for a pudding cloth is a new piece of unbleached calico that has been well scalded to remove all the dressing from it, and the easiest way to keep it clean is to place it in a bowl of cold water to soak each time it has been used. Scrape off with a knife any particles of paste that may remain on it and rinse well through several warm waters. No soap must be used. Dry thoroughly and pass through a mangle.

_158. Pastry for Pies and Tarts_

Three breakfast-cupfuls of self-raising flour, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and two ounces of lard. Work the butter and lard into the flour with a good pinch of salt and mix to a smooth elastic paste with milk (sour milk may be used with advantage). Roll the paste on the board about half an inch thick. Rub a little butter lightly round the rim of the dish and put a border of paste round it. Brush a little milk on the top of that to allow the other crust to stick to it. Roll out an amount of paste sufficient to form a crust over the top, press the edges well together, allowing plenty of room in the paste so that it does not slip off at the edges. Pare with a floured knife round the rim the edges of the pastry and cook for three quarters of an hour in a brisk oven.

_159. Chocolate Pudding_

A nice, fresh moulded sponge cake, half a pound of chocolate, in blocks, the whites of four eggs, and half a small teacupful of powdered sugar. Put half the chocolate into a stone or enamelled saucepan, just cover it with cold water and let it cook for ten minutes. Then add two tablespoonfuls of water, place on the stove and work it with a dessert spoon to a stiff paste. Turn this into a small bowl to get cold. Cut the sponge cake into slices and spread between the pieces all of the chocolate paste. Beat then the whites of the four eggs in a plate with a knife to a stiff froth and, after having added the sugar to the remaining chocolate which has been grated into powder, work it smooth, pour it with the whites into the bowl, stir for fifteen minutes and then pour over the moulded cake.

_Note._ The four yokes can be used either for custard or mayonnaise on the same day. They would keep till next day if covered closely in a cup.

_160. Apples in Syrup_

Take a half pound tin of golden syrup, put it in an enamelled saucepan, rinse the tin with half a tin of boiling water. Bring to a boil, add two teaspoonfuls of raspberry essence. Carefully peel and core six or seven sound apples. Drop them, cut in halves, into the boiling syrup and stew gently without the lid for a good half hour or longer if not quite soft. The pieces should remain whole and be almost transparent.

_161. Pears in Syrup_

Make your syrup of one and a half breakfast-cupfuls of powdered sugar and the same quantity of hot water, to which must be added eight good cloves. When boiling add your peeled pears which should retain their stalks and should not be cored. A small glass of claret or any red wine will greatly improve both taste and appearance. Cook for an hour and a half or till tender.

_162. Plum Dumplings_

Take one and a half pounds of sound big plums and make paste for dumpling as follows: One large breakfast-cup of flour mixed with a little butter, make into a stiff paste with a little water. Wrap each plum in its case using a little milk to cause the edges to stick close. Boil in a large saucepan of boiling water fifteen or twenty minutes. If care is taken the dumplings should remain whole. Dish carefully into a flat dish and serve very hot with a large bowl of well-beaten cream and sifted sugar.

_163. Boiled Apple Dumplings_

Make a good pudding crust of a large breakfast-cupful of flour and a quarter of a pound of beef suet rubbed into it. Mix to a stiff paste and roll out on a board in thin pieces. Put into each a small peeled apple, moisten the edges with a little milk, taking care that the apple is completely encased in the paste. Drop into a saucepan of boiling water and boil gently for two to three minutes. Serve very hot with a bowl of beaten cream and another of finely sifted sugar.

_164. Baked Apple Dumplings_

Make a nice piecrust as for tarts. Have ready the apples required and put one into each piece of crust. Bake in a steady oven from three to four minutes. Serve with cream and sugar.

_165. Pancakes_

Beat together two eggs, add a teacupful of milk. Mix into it one and a half ounces of flour and work it with a spoon to a smooth paste with a pinch of salt. Have your fire nice and hot and perfectly clear. Keep the top of the stove on all the time. Take a piece of best tub lard and melt it in a frying pan (kept for pancakes only), run it well over the surface of the pan when it is quite hot. Turn the fat out and pour about a third of a teacupful of the batter into the pan taking care that it runs all over the pan, which should be only about the size of a pudding plate. Loosen the edges with the blade of a knife and shake it from time to time to prevent it from sticking to the pan. Turn with a slice if unable to toss. Tossing is perfectly easy but requires some practice. It is done by a turn of the wrist, and if these directions are carefully followed the pancake should leave the pan perfectly clean. Turn on to a flat dish and serve either with jam or sugar, or if savoury pancakes are desired the following hint is a good one: Melt in a cup on the stove about an ounce of fresh butter with a little finely shredded onion in it; put it into a hot sauce boat and serve with the pancakes.

Each pancake takes from five to seven minutes to cook.

_166. Apple Pudding_

Take about a quarter of a pound of finely chopped beef suet, two and a half breakfast-cupfuls of self-raising flour, a little pinch of salt. Mix with chilled water to a stiff paste. Roll three parts of this into a large piece on the pastry board. Have ready a pudding basin buttered by putting a piece of butter the size of a walnut into it and standing it on the stove to melt. Then let it run over every part of the inside of the basin. This will prevent the paste sticking. Line the basin with the paste. Peel, say eight apples, and cut them all round the core. Fill the basin with them. Add three cloves or, if preferred, a little rind of lemon, sweeten with brown sugar (about four or five good tablespoonfuls), cover with another layer of the paste, working the ends together well so as to prevent the apples coming through. Tie a wet cloth over and stand the basin in a saucepan of boiling water to boil for three hours.

_167. Treacle or Jam Pudding in a Basin_

Have the paste ready as for apple pudding and the basin buttered as above. Roll the pastry in thin layers and line the basin with one layer, then add a layer of golden syrup or jam and repeat until the basin is full. Cover with paste, tie up in cloth and boil in a saucepan of boiling water for three and a half hours.

_168. Apple Soufflé_

Pare and cut up say eight nice-sized apples. Put them in a stone casserole with a breakfast-cupful of sugar and a piece of fresh butter the size of a nutmeg. Stir gently now and then and, when cooked, beat with a fork to break up the lumps and make all quite smooth. Take the whites of four fresh eggs and place them on a large dinner plate; beat these with a freshly _cleaned_ knife to a stiff froth which should stand up. Put the whites into the apples in the saucepan (from which the moisture should have been drained as much as possible) and stir well with a large spoon. Turn the soufflé into a rather deep dish, sprinkle about a teaspoonful of powdered sugar over the top, and place in a moderate oven. Care must be taken not to slam the oven door or place anything heavily on the top of the stove for fear the soufflé will go down. It must not remain in the oven for more than ten to fifteen minutes. Serve in the dish in which it was cooked.

_169. Apple Charlotte_

Prepare the apples as for the soufflé. Take about four rather thin slices of nice bread and cut them into diamond shapes. Put about one ounce of fresh butter in an enamelled frying pan and lightly fry the bread to a golden brown. Dust with a little powdered sugar and place the bread on the dish to form a pyramid with the apples in the centre. Put into the oven for about half an hour (slow oven) and serve on a flat dish.

_170. Apple Tart_

Take about six apples and pare finely. Do not core them but cut them in slices round the core. Put a teacupful of powdered sugar in a stone saucepan. Add a very little cold water. Stew gently for half an hour to three-quarters and turn into a pie-dish. Pastry as recipe No. 177. Fresh fruit is always better cooked first before putting into the pastry.

_171. Apple Fritters_