Chapter M: E. James: ‘How to Decorate our Ceilings, Walls, and Floors.’ (23)

Braised.--Truss the turkey as for boiling; stuff it with truffle and chestnut stuffing. Line the bottom of a braising pan with slices of bacon; lay the turkey on these, and place more slices of bacon on the top of it. Put in 2 carrots and 2 onions cut in slices, and sweet herbs, parsley, bay leaf, a clove of garlic, and whole pepper, and salt to taste; moisten with some stock and a tumblerful of sherry. Lay a round of buttered paper on the top, put on the lid, and braise on a moderate fire for about four hours, then serve with the gravy strained and freed from excess of fat. _Truffle and Chestnut Stuffing._--Remove the outer skin from a quantity of chestnuts, set them to boil in salted water with a handful of coriander seeds and 2 bay leaves. When nearly done, drain off the water, and remove the inner skin of the chestnuts. Mince 1 lb. fat bacon and 2 shallots, give them a turn on the fire in a saucepan, then put in 1 lb. of the chestnuts (boiled and peeled) and ½ lb. truffles, both cut up into moderate-sized pieces; add pepper, salt, and spices to taste, a little powdered thyme and marjoram; give the mixture another turn or two on the fire, and it is ready. A simple form of stuffing can be made by omitting the truffle. _Chestnut Stuffing._--Boil the chestnuts as above. When cooked (they must be rather underdone), drain and remove the inner skin, sprinkle with pepper, salt, and spices, and stuff the turkey, inserting while so doing ½ lb. butter (or beef suet) cut into small pieces. An onion, chopped finely, may be added to the stuffing.

Devilled.--Take a cooked leg of turkey or large fowl, cut it all over to the bone, pepper and salt it well, using black pepper and cayenne, then get some mixed mustard, mix it with about a third its quantity of flour, and plaster the leg over with this mixture as thick as it will stick, also stuffing the gashes with it. When this is done, put it on a gridiron on a clear fire, serve hot.

Galantine.--Take a turkey, bone and trim it. Take 1 lb. veal and ½ lb. fat bacon, pound them together in a mortar, season with powdered spice and sweet herbs, pepper and salt to taste, then pass the mixture through a wire sieve. Cut ½ lb. boiled tongue in pieces about 1 in. square, cut 6 truffles each into 3 or 4 pieces; lay the prepared turkey, skin downwards, on the table, sprinkle it with pepper, salt, and powdered spices; lay the pounded meat, the truffles, and the tongue on it, then roll it up neatly as a roly-poly pudding, and tie it up tightly in a cloth; put all the trimmings of the turkey into a saucepan large enough to hold the galantine; add a calf’s foot cut in pieces, the trimmings of the bacon (mind they are perfectly sweet), 2 or 3 onions, 2 carrots cut in pieces, a clove of garlic, a bundle of sweet herbs (thyme, marjoram, parsley, and bay leaf), cloves, whole pepper, mace, and salt in proportions according to taste; fill up with such a quantity of cold water as will leave room for the galantine to be put in, set the saucepan on the fire, and boil for 2 hours, strain, and when the liquor boils put in the galantine, let it boil 2-2½ hours; then lift it out, put it on a plate, and when it has cooled a little take off the cloth, tie it up afresh, and lay it between 2 dishes with a moderate weight upon it, to remain till cold. Care must be taken in this last operation that the “seam” of the galantine be made to come undermost. When quite cold, glaze the galantine, and garnish it with aspic jelly. _Aspic Jelly._--Pack into a stewpan 2 calves’ feet, chopped in small pieces, a few slices of ham, and the carcase of a fowl, with 2 onions and 2 carrots cut into slices, a head of celery, 1 shallot, and parsley, sweet herbs, spices, pepper, and salt to taste; fill up with the liquor in which the galantine was boiled or with any other common stock, and set the whole to simmer gently for 3-4 hours. Strain off the liquor into a basin, and when cold carefully remove all the fat. Then put the jelly into a saucepan, and add to it as much _suc colorant_ as may be required to give it the proper colour. Put the saucepan on the fire, and when the jelly is melted whisk into it the whites of 2 eggs and a wineglassful of tarragon vinegar; let it come to boiling point, and strain it through a jelly bag. If not quite clear warm it again, and strain it a second time. _Glaze._--Take a small quantity of the above jelly, freed from fat and strained, but not clarified; set it on the fire to reduce till it presents the appearance of treacle, and keep on skimming it all the time, then lay it on hot with a paste brush. _Boning._--There are two ways of boning. Knives are sold for the purpose, but a sharp pocket-knife will do. Lay the bird on its breast, and cut through the skin along the middle of the back. Keep the knife always close to the bone, and cut away the flesh on either side, turning it back as you go. Cut through the joints of the leg and wing bones, and keep cutting till you have separated the breast-bone, when the whole of the body will come out intact. The legs and wings are rather more difficult, but the only thing is to cut very carefully, and on no account to pierce the skin, turning the skin and flesh inside out, like a stocking, as you go along. The legs should be cut off at the first joint, and the last bone of the wing is sometimes left in. When all the bones are out, fill the bird with tongue, stuffing, chestnuts, or whatever else you may have, remaking it, as far as may be, into the shape of an unboned bird. Some persons prefer to lay it flat and roll it round, tying it with string. Another way is to make an incision at the back or the neck only, just as if the fowl were to be drawn, and to take all the bones out there, turning the skin back from the body, as directed above as for the limbs. The slits, whether intentional or accidental (and a beginner will probably have a few of these latter) should be sewn up with fine cotton.--(E. A. B.)

Grills.--For grilled fowl and turkey legs. Let them stand 10 minutes in boiling water, so as to get quite hot through, then well pepper them, and fry them in lard until they are nicely browned. (E. M. K.)

Patties.--A nice way of using up the small pieces of turkey. Mince some of the meat with grated lemon peel, nutmeg, a little salt, white pepper, cream and butter warmed, fill the patties, and bake as usual.

Roast.--Pluck, singe, draw, wipe thoroughly, and truss a fine turkey, stuff it with plain forcemeat, pack it up in some thin slices of fat bacon, and over that a sheet of buttered paper, roast before a clear fire, basting frequently with butter. ¼ hour before it is done, remove the paper and slices of bacon. Sprinkle with salt, just before serving. Garnish with pork sausages, and serve with a boat of gravy. Time of roasting 2-3 hours. _Forcemeat._--(1) Take 1 part finely-shredded suet and 2 of breadcrumbs, season with pepper, salt, powered spices, sweet herbs, and finely minced parsley; mix all well together; then add as many eggs as will bind the ingredients together into a stiff paste. (2) Pound to a paste in a mortar, slightly rubbed with garlic, equal parts of veal and fat ham or bacon, then pass them through a wire sieve, and return them to the mortar. Work into the paste thus obtained ¼ its bulk of butter, and about the same quantity of breadcrumbs, soaked in milk or in stock, with the yolks of one or more eggs, according to quantity. Add minced parsley and pepper, salt, spices, and powdered sweet herbs to taste. _Gravy._--Mince an onion finely, fry it in butter to a dark brown, then add ¾ pint of good stock, pepper and salt to taste, a small piece of ham minced small, a sprig of thyme, one of parsley, and a little Worcester sauce. Let the whole boil 5-10 minutes put it by till wanted, then strain it into a sauce boat.

With Mushrooms.--Open a tin of turkey, set in boiling water to melt the jelly, pour the melted jelly into a saucepan, slightly thicken it with cornflour and sufficient mushroom ketchup to make it a good flavour, season it, and keep hot while the turkey is being freed from bone and minced. Open a small tin of mushrooms, and mince them with the meat; mix well in the gravy; keep the mince hot for 10 minutes, and then serve on rounds of toast for breakfast. The turkey can be simply sliced, and the mushrooms left whole, if preferred.

With Oysters.--Open a tin of oysters and mince them finely, saving the liquor, and mix well together with them 5 oz. grated breadcrumbs, 1 oz. fresh butter slightly melted, the rind of ½ lemon chopped small, 1 tablespoonful minced parsley, a pinch of cayenne, a small teaspoonful of salt, and ½ teaspoonful white pepper. Cut into neat pieces the contents of a tin of turkey, leaving the bones in; butter a pie-dish, and put alternate layers of turkey and oyster forcemeat. Put a teacupful of the oyster liquor into a saucepan, melt a large teaspoonful of butter in it, and thicken with cornflour. Pour over the turkey and oysters, and bake 15 minutes in a hot oven.

To use up a Turkey.--If roasted, stuff it with pork sausage meat. Instead of paying 10_d._ per lb. for a mixture of pork, bread, and water, buy 1 lb. trimmings, and let the cook mince it herself. Roast turkey comes in cold several times in a small family. Sometimes the legs may be devilled. The meat should be carefully picked off the wing bones, back, &c. Let it be minced very finely, stewed in milk, a little pounded mace, salt, and thickening; then let it get cold, and make a top-and-bottom-crust pie of it. If economy be the order of the day, make the crust of “fleed” or “flick,” in this way: Pull all the skin off, beat it well with a mallet or rolling-pin till about the consistency of lard, then, having made 1 lb. flour into paste with water, roll it out, and dot the “flick” over it; give it a good coat of flour; repeat this process till you have put in ¾ lb. of “flick;” bake in a quick oven. If for tarts, 1 lb. “flick” to 1 lb. flour. Now comes the most important part of all. Take all the bones that have not been on the plates, break up the back and breast bones, put them in a saucepan with 2 qt. water, a carrot, a turnip, a few peppercorns, a little bit of mace, lemon peel, a little bit of ham, &c.; let it boil hard all day till reduced to 1 qt., strain through muslin or fine flannel; put it into a clean saucepan, have ready nearly a breakfast cupful of batter, not too thick. While boiling hard pour in the batter with one hand, stir quickly with the other. Let it boil for a few minutes, strain through a sieve into the tureen. Excellent soup.

_Venison_ (Venaison).--This is of 3 kinds. The fallow deer, the red deer, and the roebuck supply venison of very different qualities. In the opinion of most competent judges, English park-fed buck venison is the best and richest, and is followed in order of excellence by the red deer venisons of Scotland and Germany, slightly coarser in fibre, and less abundantly supplied with fat. A great fuss is made on the Continent about the roe-deer or _chevreuil_, but this pretty little animal supplies rather poor venison--good as to flavour--but dry, and as a rule destitute of fat. A fat buck is usually divided into haunch, neck, shoulder, and breast. The haunch and neck are generally roasted, the shoulder and breast being reserved for pasties, stews, or chops. In buying venison for immediate cooking great caution should be observed, as if it has been hanging long enough to permit serious disintegration of the tissue, it will be uneatable. Its condition may be ascertained by running a skewer under the bone. If it smells sweet the meat is good. Venison may be hung 10-15 days, according to the weather, and should on no account be kept so long as to render overcooking necessary, as it is best cooked of all when, without being actually underdone, the meat still retains its gravy. While hanging--if possible in a clear draught of air--venison should be wiped and peppered occasionally, especially on the “cut” parts. The haunch, both on account of its size and the delicate quality of its fat, requires great care in cooking. It should be wiped, almost washed, rubbed over with butter, and sprinkled with salt. The next operation is to cover the haunch with a large sheet of buttered paper all over it, again covering with a sheet of common water paste about ½ in. thick. When the paste has been carefully applied and thoroughly joined, 3 sheets of buttered paper should be securely fastened with string over all. Placed then in a cradle-spit before a large fire, a fine haunch will take about 3-3½ hours roasting. It should be frequently basted. When done the paper and paste must be taken off, and the haunch salted, basted with butter, dredged with flour till it assumes a brown colour, and served on a hot-water dish. The best sauce for venison is made with a little of the gravy, ½ lb. red currant jelly, 2 or 3 knobs of sugar, and 1 gill red wine simmered together till the jelly is melted. Jelly should also be served separately. Roast venison may be accompanied by French beans, white haricots, or perhaps, best of all, with stuffed tomatoes. The neck is dressed in the same manner as the haunch, pasted and papered, and requires in roasting about ¼ hour to 1 lb. Venison should be carved as quickly as possible on to silver or hot-water plates.

Collops.--Venison collops or minced collops are both excellent, and must be made from the uncooked meat as follows: Cut the meat into collops (small thin cutlets or _emincés_, or mince it if you wish “minced” collops), and season this with pepper, salt, and mixed spices. Throw some butter into a stewpan, put in the collops, brown them and then add equal quantities of good brown gravy and red wine. Add to this a little fine sugar, a dash of vinegar, and a spoonful of ketchup. Stew slowly till done. Then take out the collops, strain the sauce and serve quickly. These collops may be served within a wall of well cooked white haricots, garnished with baked tomatoes.

Roast Haunch.--(_a_) Trim the joint neatly, wipe it well with a cloth, rub it over with butter, and sprinkle it with salt; then wrap it up in a sheet of buttered kitchen paper Make a paste with flour and water, roll it out to the thickness of ½ in., wrap the joint in this, and close up all the openings carefully by wetting the edges of the sheet of paste; lastly, pack up the haunch into a final sheet of well-buttered paper; put it to roast at a good fire for about 3 hours, basting it occasionally; then remove the paste and paper coverings, baste the haunch plentifully with butter, and when nearly done dredge some flour over it and some salt. Serve on a hot-water dish.

(_b_) As roe-deer is very dry, a haunch of it is much improved by being closely larded with fat bacon and then placed to marinade in equal parts of oil and red wine, with sliced carrots and onions and judicious flavourings of whole pepper, cloves, salt, chopped parsley, and sweet herbs. The joint may be left in this pickle for some days, and should be well basted with it. Then wrap the joint up in oiled or buttered paper, and baste it well while roasting before a clear fire. When nearly cooked remove the oiled paper to let the meat take colour, glaze the joint, and serve with rich gravy and with red currant jelly. Roe-deer also may be braised, in which case it should also be well larded. The neck may be jugged like hare, or it can be made into cutlets, haricot, &c.

Hashed.--Hashed venison is a very popular dish, and the modes of preparing it are many. The following is a good plan: Cut some cold haunch or neck of venison into thin slices, and put these aside. Put any of the venison gravy that may be left, the bones and trimmings, ½ pint red wine, and a little stock into a stewpan, with 4 shallots chopped very fine, 4 cloves, and 2 spoonfuls of ketchup. Let it simmer very slowly for 1½ hour, and strain it off. Put a piece of butter rolled in flour into a stewpan, add the gravy, pepper, and salt, and let it gradually advance to a boil; then take it off the fire, and when almost cold put in the venison; let it get quite hot through without boiling (or the meat may be hardened), and put it into a hot dish garnished with forcemeat balls or sippets. This method may also be very successfully applied to cold mutton. Red currant jelly should be served with either dish.

Pasty.--Venison pasty may be made in 2 ways, either by stewing the venison first, and then putting it into a pie, or in the following fashion: Take the breast and shoulder of a buck, remove all the bones and every particle of skin and sinew, wash thoroughly, and cut the venison into handsome pieces, saving the fat to put at the top. Should the venison be short of fat, mutton fat may supply its place if it be laid in a marinade of vinegar and red wine for 12 hours. Next proceed to make the paste, by rubbing 2 lb. butter into ½ a peck flour, and mixing it into a paste with cold water till it is moderately stiff. Cover the edge and sides of a pasty dish, and lay in the venison closely, peppering and salting each piece, and put in 1 gill water. Cover the pie with a piece of paste ½ in. thick, leaving a hole at the top, and then take the remainder of the paste, roll it out, add to it ½ lb. butter in lumps, sprinkle some flour on it, double it and roll it out 4 times; then wet the paste which already covers the pie, and apply the second paste over it. Make a round place at the top, and put on a rose, or any ornament you may think of: put a sheet of paper over the top, and bake for 4 hours in a sharp oven. When it is done, lift up the rose, and pour in 1 pint venison gravy; shake it about and serve.

Stew.--(_a_) Shoulder and breast of venison are rarely roasted, it being far more artistic to stew them or put them into a pasty. To stew a breast or shoulder of venison the skin and bones should first be carefully removed and the meat rolled or skewered together: then put into a stewpan with 1 qt. water, ½ pint red wine, a bundle of sweet herbs, cloves and mace in a bag, and a little pepper and salt, and stew very gently for about 3 hours. Then take out the meat, skim off the fat, take out the spice and herbs, throw in a piece of butter rolled in flour, and boil till it is thick and smooth; then season with a _soupçon_ of cayenne pepper, put in the meat again, make it hot and serve in a hot dish with the sauce over. Currant jelly should be served with this very nice and inexpensive dish.

(_b_) Venison may also be cut into steaks or chops and broiled on a well anointed gridiron, but although very wholesome, it is not so toothsome in any way as when roasted or stewed. A neck of venison may also be divided into cutlets, which should be beaten with a cutlet bat, pared neatly and larded with finely-cut bacon. Next a stewpan is lined with bacon and bacon trimmings and minced vegetables, the cutlets are put in and covered with good stock. The liquid should be allowed to boil up and diminish to one-half. When the cutlets are done they may be taken out, and the sauce strengthened with a little port wine strained and poured over the cutlets, which may be served on a cushion of tomato sauce.

_Wildfowl_ (Canard, Halbran). Grilled.--Take a tender fat young mallard or pintail, or a brace of widgeon, split down the back, after removing the head, neck, and wing bones, truss as for a spatchcock, carefully take out the breast bone, rub the inside with mushroom powder, chop up small the bones and trimmings, simmer slowly with the gizzard and liver for about ½ hour in a little good brown stock, add 1 teaspoonful made mustard, 2 large teaspoonfuls port wine, a little pepper and salt, and either some cayenne or else Chili vinegar; let it boil for a short time and strain. Grill the birds over a clear fire--a mallard or pintail will take about 20 minutes, widgeon 15 minutes--serve very hot, pour the boiling gravy over, first squeezing into it the juice of half a lemon.

Roast.--Wild duck should not be dressed too soon after being killed. In cold, dry weather it will be more tender and finer flavoured after keeping 7-8 days. Roast before a quick, clear fire, ardent enough to throw out a great heat. Let it remain without basting, for 5-6 minutes, to keep the gravy in, afterwards baste incessantly with plenty of butter. A few minutes before serving lightly dredge with flour, then baste and send to table brown and frothed. Wild duck, if overdone, loses its flavour; 20-25 minutes before the right kind of fire, will be sufficient. Serve on a very hot, dry dish. If dressed to perfection, the duck will give sufficient gravy. Send to table as hot as possible, with a cut lemon and sauce.

Salmis.--(_a_) Cut up any cold wildfowl, draw the gravy from the bones and trimmings by simmering in brown stock seasoned with minced shallot, pepper and salt; let it do slowly for ½ hour, then add 2 glasses port wine or claret, 1 teaspoonful Chili vinegar, 1 tablespoonful mushroom ketchup, and 1 of Worcester sauce, let it boil 10-15 minutes longer and then strain; pour the gravy over the cold bird in another stewpan, bring gently to the boil, add a little cayenne and lemon juice and serve very hot.

(_b_) Take any kind of wildfowl, half roast them, when cold cut into nice pieces, removing the skin; place the meat on one side. Then take the trimmings, head, neck, wings, bones, liver and gizzard, back, &c. Break all up small, place in a stewpan with some pepper and salt, a green chili, or if not procurable a little cayenne pepper, 2 shallots minced fine, and some good brown stock, simmer slowly for 1 hour, then add 1 oz. butter, into which a little flour has been rubbed, let it thicken, then strain; put the game into another stewpan, pour over the gravy, adding ½ pint button mushrooms or a small tin of champignons, boil up slowly and serve very hot, with a few slices of lemon and fried sippets for garnish.

_Woodcock._ Roast.--Remove the gizzard from each bird, truss and wrap the birds in bacon, and roast them at a brisk fire, basting them continually with butter. Place a slice of toast in the dripping pan to catch the trail, and serve the birds on that toast. Plain white sauce to be served in a boat with them. Time of roasting 10-15 minutes.

Toast.--See Snipe.

=Vegetables.=--_Artichokes._--Boiled.--Parboil the artichokes for 10 minutes in water, with vinegar or lemon juice and salt to taste. Take them out, cutting off all the leaves and removing the “choke,” trim them neatly in the shape of diminutive pattypans. Lay them in a saucepan with plain white stock, and let them simmer gently till done. Drain them on a cloth. Arrange them on their dish, and pour over them some white sauce, made as follows: Mix in a saucepan 1½ oz. butter and 1 tablespoonful flour, stir in ½ tumblerful white stock or even hot water, add pepper and salt to taste, then stir in off the fire the yolks of 2 eggs, beaten up with the juice of a lemon and strained.

Fried.--Cut 2 green artichokes into 8 or more “quarters,” according to the size of the artichoke, and trim off all that is uneatable from each, putting them as they are trimmed in cold water with the juice of a lemon squeezed into it to prevent their turning black. When the “quarters” are all done, dip them in batter, see that each piece is well coated with it, and fry them in plenty of boiling lard; serve piled on a napkin and garnished with fried parsley.

Stewed.--Prepare the artichoke quarters as for fried. Boil them in salt and water, with a lemon squeezed into it, till nearly done. Melt 2 oz. butter in a saucepan, mix with it 1 tablespoonful flour, add as much water as will make sufficient sauce, then pepper, salt, and a little powdered nutmeg to taste; lay the artichokes in this, and when quite done stir in, off the fire, the yolks of 2 eggs strained and beaten up with the juice of a lemon.

Stuffed.--Fill each with as much of the following forcemeat as it will hold: Pound to a paste, in a mortar slightly rubbed with garlic, equal parts of raw veal and ham, then pass them through a wire sieve and return them to the mortar; work into the paste thus obtained a fourth of its bulk of butter, and about the same quantity of breadcrumbs soaked in milk, with the yolks of one or more eggs, according to quantity; add, according to taste, pepper, salt, and a little grated nutmeg. Lay them all in a well-buttered saucepan, pour round as much tomato sauce as may be necessary, and let them simmer gently on a slow fire till done; or they may be cooked in a baking dish in the oven, in which case a buttered paper should be laid over them.

_Asparagus._--Boiled.--Scrape each head with the back of a knife and tie the asparagus in small bundles of 1 doz. heads each; cut off the ends evenly. Put them into a panful of fast-boiling water, with plenty of salt, and in about 10 minutes they will be done. Drain at once, untie the bundles, and serve on a napkin with the following sauce in a boat: 3 parts olive oil, 1 of tarragon vinegar, a little mustard, plenty of pepper and salt to taste, beaten up with a fork until perfectly amalgamated.

_Beetroot._--Baked.--Wash, but be careful not to cut them; put them into a very slack oven for about 8 hours. When cold peel them and dress them as follows: Chop ½ onion finely, put it into a saucepan with a piece of butter. When it begins to take colour, add the beetroot, cut up into large dice, pepper and salt to taste, and 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls tarragon vinegar. When quite hot serve.

Boiled.--Wash the beetroot as for baked, and put it into fast-boiling salted water, to boil 1-2 hours, according to size, then dress as baked.

With Cream Sauce.--Boil the beetroot, and when cold peel and slice it; stew the slices until quite hot in some well-flavoured white stock well freed from grease; strain off the stock, and stir into it, off the fire, the yolk of an egg beaten up with a little milk or cream. Arrange the beetroot in a dish, pour the sauce over, and serve; or serve plainly, boiled with a cream sauce made without stock. If wanted cold, serve with a mayonnaise sauce, or with a little plain cream poured over, and with a seasoning of pepper and salt.

_Broad Beans._--Boiled.--Shell very young and newly gathered beans as much as possible all of a size. Boil them in plenty of fast-boiling salted water, with a sprig or two of savoury. When quite done, which is to be ascertained by tasting one, drain them and serve with the following sauce, either in a sauce-boat, or poured over them. Mix 2 oz. butter in a saucepan with 1 tablespoonful flour, add 1 tumblerful boiling water, pepper and salt to taste, and plenty of minced parsley; stir well until the sauce boils.

_Broccoli and Cauliflower._--Au Gratin.--Boil a cauliflower, previously well washed and trimmed, in plenty of water, with a due quantity of salt; be careful not to overboil it; about 10 minutes will do it. Try the stem with a thin iron skewer, and the moment it, is soft remove the saucepan from the fire, and put the cauliflower to drain on a hair sieve. When it is quite cold, cut it up neatly and carefully, place the roughest pieces flat on a well-buttered dish, so as to form a sort of foundation; sprinkle this with pepper and salt, a little nutmeg, and cover it well with grated Parmesan cheese, dispose the remaining and best pieces on the top, add more pepper, salt, and nutmeg, cover with grated Parmesan, add a few baked breadcrumbs, and pour over all a little liquefied butter; bake in a quick oven 15-20 minutes, and serve. Rubbing the dish with garlic is an improvement.

Dressed.--Trim and boil a nice firm cauliflower; it should not be over large, and should be boiled with care, that it may be tender without being broken. To secure this it should not boil too quickly, and there should be put into the water used either a little common or a little soda carbonate and 1 tablespoonful salt. When done, take up carefully on a sieve to drain, and keep warm while you make the following sauce: Put into a clean stewpan 3 oz. fresh butter; let it dissolve on the stove, but do not let it get so hot that it will oil. Now mix with it 1 dessertspoonful cornflour, and pour on it ¼ pint boiling water and a little cream and let it boil up. Now put into it 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley and ¼ teaspoonful chopped onion. Let these boil 1 minute; take from the fire and stir into the sauce the beaten yolks of 2 or 3 fresh eggs, 1 tablespoonful chili vinegar, and a little salt. Divide the cauliflower into tufts, and arrange neatly on a dish. Pour the sauce over, put some sippets of toast round, and serve.

With White Sauce.--Pick out all the green leaves from a couple of broccoli, and cut off the stalks close. Put them head downwards into a saucepan full of boiling salted water. When done pick them out into sprigs and arrange them head downwards in a pudding basin, which must have been made quite hot. Press them in gently, then turn them out dexterously on a dish, and pour over them the following sauce, boiling hot: Melt 1½ oz. butter in a saucepan, mix with it 1 tablespoonful flour, and then add ½ pint boiling water; stir till it thickens; add salt and white pepper to taste; then take the saucepan off the fire and stir in the yolks of 2 eggs beaten up with the juice of a lemon and strained.

_Brussels Sprouts._--Boiled.--(_a_) Take about 1 qt. sprouts all of a size, not larger than walnuts, throw them into salt and water for 10 minutes, then put them in fast-boiling water, in which you have put a small piece of soda to preserve the green colour. When nearly done pour off the water, and put in as much fresh butter as you can lift on a teaspoon; toss the pan gently, but do not stir and keep the lid on by the side of the fire until you have prepared the sauce, which must be made of good stock, with some of the red gravy from roast beef added; take a breakfastcupful, and bring it to a boil, then mix a teaspoonful of cornflour in cold water; add a little browning and some Harvey’s sauce, or any other brown sauce, then pour the boiling stock on; give one boil up, and strain the sauce into the pan with the Brussels sprouts. Let them remain closely covered, and, when dishing up, squeeze a little lemon juice into the sauce.

(_b_) Trim each sprout neatly, and wash them in several waters. Put them to boil in plenty of boiling salted water, and, when almost done, strain them and dry them in a cloth. Put them in a saucepan with a large piece of butter, pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg to taste. Toss them gently on the fire until they are quite cooked.

_Cabbage._--Boiled.--(_a_) Take 2 summer cabbages, trim off all the outer leaves, cut the cabbages in half lengthwise, and steep them in salted water for an hour, then throw them into fast-boiling water, and when they have boiled 20 minutes change the water for fresh boiling water, salted to taste. Let them boil till quite done. Put them on a sieve in the screen to drain all the water from them, and serve.

(_b_) First boil it very well, then chop it up with a little butter, add a small quantity of vinegar and pepper, and then fry it for 2 minutes; grate a little Parmesan cheese, and when ready to serve pour some melted butter over the cabbage and sprinkle the grated cheese over it.

Cold Slaugh.--Cut a head of hard white cabbage into very fine shavings; it is seldom shaved fine enough. For 1 qt. cabbage take the yolks of 3 eggs, beat them well; stir into 1½ tumbler vinegar 2 spoonfuls loaf sugar, 1 tablespoonful olive oil, 1 of thick sweet cream, or a piece of butter as large as a walnut, 1 heaped teaspoonful mustard, salt and pepper to taste; mix with the egg, and put this sauce into a stewpan; when hot add the cabbage, stew until thoroughly hot, which will only require 4-5 minutes. Toss it up from the bottom with a silver or wooden fork; take it up and set where it will become perfectly cold--on ice is best. The quantity of vinegar would depend upon its strength.

Hot Slaugh.--Take a fine hard head of white or red cabbage, shred it very finely, and put it into a stewpan with a piece of butter the size of an egg, salt, pepper, 1 tablespoonful chili and 1 of tarragon vinegar. Cover the stewpan and toss gently for about 5 minutes, when the cabbage should be thoroughly hot through. Care must be taken not to overcook hot slaugh, as it should be borne in mind that this very agreeable dish is a hot salad, and not stewed cabbage, and should therefore retain its crispness.

Stuffed.--Parboil a small cabbage or savoy, leaving it whole. Mince very finely any remains of cold meat, and half the quantity of beef suet, add a small quantity of chopped shallot, pepper, salt and minced herbs to taste, the same quantity of fine breadcrumbs as of suet, and the yolks of 2 or more eggs. Make an incision on the top of the cabbage, open the leaves lightly, insert the forcemeat and tie up the cabbage with thread. Line a saucepan with bacon, lay in the cabbage with a little stock or broth; simmer on the fire for 2-3 hours. At the time of serving, remove the thread from the cabbage; strain the sauce, free it from excess of fat, thicken with butter and flour, and pour it over the dish.

_Cardoons._--Boiled.--Cut the stalks into convenient lengths, remove the prickles on either side of them, and parboil them for 15 minutes in salted water; drain them, and scrape and rub off the outer skin from each piece, putting them into cold water as they are done. When they are all ready, finish cooking them as artichokes.

_Carrots._--À la Maître D’Hôtel.--Trim each carrot neatly, cut it in half, and boil them in salted water; when done drain off the water, add a piece of butter to the carrots, some parsley finely minced, a dust of pepper, a little powdered sugar, and a squeeze of lemon. Give the saucepan a toss or two on the fire to keep the contents hot till wanted.

À la Flamande.--When parboiled and drained, put the carrots into a saucepan with a piece of butter, a pinch of sugar, and as much water as may be necessary for sauce, add some finely minced parsley and white pepper and salt to taste. Let the carrots simmer till done (about 15 minutes), shaking them occasionally. Beat up together the yolks of 2 eggs and ½ gill cream, stir this into the carrots off the fire and serve.

À la Nivernaise.--Cut out the red portion of some carrots to the shape of olives, parboil and then put them into a saucepan with plenty of butter, a little pounded loaf sugar, pepper, and salt; add a little stock to prevent their burning, and keep shaking the saucepan till they are cooked.

_Celeriac._--Boiled.--Peel the roots, and cut them into quarters or in slices; throw them into boiling salted water, and let them boil till quite done; drain them, and serve with white sauce.

_Celery._--Boiled.--Trim the roots, and cut to the same length (about 6 in.) 3 heads celery, wash them carefully, tie them together with string; put them in a saucepan with an onion, a blade of mace, some whole pepper, salt, and sufficient boiling water to cover them. Let them boil till quite done, then drain them, remove the string, and serve with the following sauce over them: Melt 1 oz. butter in a saucepan, and mix with it 1 dessertspoonful flour, add as much of the water in which the celery was boiled as is wanted to make the sauce, put in salt to taste, and stir in off the fire the yolk of an egg beaten up with the juice of a lemon, and strained.

On Toast.--Trim the roots, and cut to the same length (about 6 in.) 3 heads of celery, wash them carefully, tie them together with string, parboil them a few minutes, and drain them. Put a layer of bacon in a saucepan, lay the celery on this, with an onion and a carrot sliced, a bunch of sweet herbs, pepper, salt, a blade of mace, or a few cloves; fill up with enough stock just to cover the celery, and let it gently simmer till done. Take some of the liquor well freed from fat, thicken it with a little flour and butter; pour it on a dish. Have ready a number of slices of bread cut to a uniform shape, and fried in butter; arrange them on the sauce in a circle, disposing half a head of celery on each.

Stewed.--Trim and cut to the same length a number of heads of celery, split them in two lengthwise, tie them in bundles with thread, and parboil them for 10 minutes in salted water. Drain them, and arrange them in a saucepan over slices of bacon, with a bundle of sweet herbs, 2 onions, pepper and salt to taste, and a blade of mace. Add enough stock just to cover the contents, and simmer gently till the celery is quite tender. Having removed the string, dispose the celery neatly on a dish; take some of the stock in which it has been stewed, remove all fat from it, add a small piece of fresh butter, pour it over the celery, and serve.

_Dandelions._--Pick before they blossom, and cut roots off just below the leaves, thus keeping them together. They should be picked over well, washed in cold spring water, chopped up into ½ in. lengths, and boiled with a little salted water, or steamed over salted water; the latter method is preferable. Spread a cloth over a colander, drain the dandelions through it, and squeeze out all the water; chop up fine, and put into a saucepan with a small lump of butter and some salt; stir it over the fire for a few minutes, then turn on to a hot dish, put a soup plate over it and set it over steam for a few seconds, remove the soup plate, cut it or mark it in squares like spinach, garnish with sippets and serve. Dandelions will be found more bitter in taste than spinach; if lemon juice is added to them while cooking, and a very little powdered white sugar, this bitterness will be counteracted. (Eliot-James.)

_Egg-Plant Fruit._--Boil the fruit until tender, halve them lengthwise, and scoop out the inside, leaving a shell about ½ in. thick. Take a small quantity of any kind of meat or poultry previously cooked and well freed from fat, skin, and gristle; mince it finely, and then pound it quite smooth with the pulp of the vegetable (not the seeds), and with some sweet herbs, chopped mushrooms, or any flavouring preferred; season the whole with pepper and salt, toss it for a few minutes in a saucepan with a piece of butter, and a little stock to moisten it (if necessary), fill the cavities with this mixture, add a layer of fried breadcrumbs, pour over them some liquefied butter, put them into the oven for a few minutes, and serve very hot.

_French Beans._--The nice flavour of this wholesome vegetable depends not only on its freshness, but also on the mode of cooking. When very young and very small, it is better not to cut them, but simply take off the tops and tails, and a thin stringy strip at each side of the bean, then wash, but do not leave them in water. Throw them into a saucepan of fast-boiling water, with 1 tablespoonful salt to each ½ gal. water. Boil quickly, with lid off, till tender, and at once drain in a colander, taking care to shake or press gently with a wooden spoon, every drop of water from them; serve very hot, with pieces of fresh butter between each layer of beans. When the beans are not so young or so small, they should be cut into thin, slanting strips, and dressed in the same way.

_Haricot Beans._--(_a_) Soak them for 12 hours, put them in a saucepan of cold water, let it come gradually to the boil, then simmer till quite tender; drain and put them at once into a stewpan, with some fresh butter, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and a little lemon juice, toss them well, and serve very hot.

(_b_) The usual way in America for cooking white haricot beans is in the old-fashioned New England dish, “pork and beans.” Parboil a piece of the middling of salt pork, and score the skin. Allow 1 lb. to 1 qt. of the dried beans which must be soaked overnight in lukewarm water. In the morning put them on to boil in cold water; when they are soft drain off the water, put the beans in a deep dish, half bury the pork in the middle, adding a very little warm water. Bake a nice brown. Some like a dessertspoonful of sugar mixed in with the beans before placing them in the dish.

_Jerusalem Artichokes._--Wash them well, peel and shape them to a uniform size; throw them into boiling salted water, and let them boil 15-20 minutes; drain them at once thoroughly; put them on a dish and serve with the following sauce poured over them: Mix over the fire 1½ oz. butter, with 1 tablespoonful flour; add ½ pint boiling water, white pepper, and salt to taste; stir till the sauce thickens, then take the saucepan off the fire, and stir in the yolks of 2 eggs, beaten up with ½ gill cream.

_Laver_ or _Sloke_.--Only good during the winter months. After being gathered and washed and picked clean, put it with water into an iron pot, and boil it until it is a pulp. If too thick, add a little more water, taking care it does not burn. It cannot be boiled too much, and the darker the colour the better laver it is. It will keep fresh for a week, and when wanted for table it must be heated, with a lump of butter put in, and served in a silver saucepan, which is kept hot by the fire. Laver is eaten with roast meat, with pepper and vinegar. Lemon juice is preferable to vinegar.

_Lentils._--(_a_) Soak in cold water for 24 hours. Boil in plain water for 2½ hours, drain off the water, put with the lentils in the saucepan a small lump of butter, a little pepper and salt; stir well together and serve hot. Another way is to soak as above, and stew in good beef tea, gravy, or thin soup for 2½ hours. The German lentils are the best.

(_b_) Fry 3 or 4 onions sliced, in 1 oz. butter. Put into a saucepan with ½ pint red lentils, and 1 pint water; simmer 1 hour, then add 1 dessertspoonful curry powder and 1 teaspoonful lemon juice. Serve with boiled rice.

_Mushrooms._--(_a_) Chop up half a small punnet of mushrooms, having first taken off the skins and stalks; also a handful of washed parsley and 3 small shallots. Scrape ¼ lb. ham, of which the proportions of fat and lean should be about equal; if the ham be too lean, some fat of bacon can be used with it. Also chop a little thyme. Mix all well together, seasoning with pepper and salt, and fry them over the fire for a few minutes, and until done; then mix in the yolks of 3 eggs, and set it aside while the mushrooms are preparing (these must be large ones); take off the skins and stalks, and, having trimmed the edges neatly, fill each one with some of the above preparation. Spread a sautépan thickly with butter, place the mushrooms in it side by side, shake some raspings of bread plentifully over them, and set them in the oven for about ¼ hour; they should be nicely browned. Arrange them on a dish in the form of a pyramid, and pour round them a little of the following sauce, which must have been previously prepared and be waiting hot and ready for use: Chop 2 shallots, wash them in several waters to take away the strong taste, wring them dry in the corner of a napkin, and put them into a stewpan with about 1 doz. small white mushrooms finely minced; add a little thyme, a small bay leaf, and a dessertspoonful of salad oil; shake these together over the fire for 5 minutes; add 1 small wineglassful white French wine, and then set it on to reduce to half its quantity; moisten this with a little good white sauce; let it boil up, free it from the oil, take out thyme and bay leaf. Let it be of the consistency of ordinary sauces, which can be regulated by adding a little white stock if too thick, or boiling up to reduce if too thin. When ready, set it aside in a small stewpan to keep hot till wanted.

(_b_) Pick and peel ½ pint mushrooms, wash them well, put them into a lined saucepan with ½ pint plain white sauce, made with rice, new milk, and well seasoned with mace, salt and paper, white or cayenne as preferred. Let the mushrooms stew until quite tender, then add 1 spoonful butter rolled in arrowroot sufficient to thicken it; simmer a few minutes longer and serve.

(_c_) Skin and wash the mushrooms, then dry in a cloth; butter each one on the inside, sprinkle salt and pepper over, and grill until tender.

(_d_) Peel 1 pint mushrooms and cut off their stalks; boil these and the parings; when ready, strain. Put the mushrooms, chopped fine, into a stewpan; pour in the gravy, add some chopped parsley, season well with pepper and salt, and stew the whole gently for 40 minutes over a moderate fire. Beat up 6 eggs, mix with the other ingredients; have ready some buttered cups, pour the mixture into them, and bake quickly; turn out on to a hot dish, and serve with white sauce. (Eliot-James.)

_Nettles._--In some parts of Scotland the young shoots of nettles are used as greens, but chiefly by the poor. This is probably the result of prejudice. The following recipes will be found excellent as a vegetable: (_a_) Select the light green tops and leaves of the nettles, wash them carefully in 2 waters; a little salt and a small piece of soda should be dissolved in the second water. Boil till quite tender, then turn them into a colander and press them quite dry. Place on a hot vegetable or entrée dish, scoring them backwards and forwards 3 or 4 times. Place a small piece of butter the size of a walnut in the centre, and pepper and salt and send very hot to table. Melted butter can be served separately if desired. (_b_) A more savoury way of dressing the nettle tops would be the following. Wash and prepare the tops as before, drain and dry them, then chop them into a fine mince. Put this mince into a stewpan, in which has been placed a little good stock or gravy; add to this a pinch of salt, a little pepper and powdered sugar, and a squeeze of lemon juice, or, if liked, a little finely chopped onion. When ready to serve thicken with a little flour and butter, and a teaspoonful of cream. Place on toast, and serve very hot with poached eggs, or garnish with hard-boiled eggs cut in slices.

_Olives._--Stir some chopped parsley and scallions into some butter melted over the fire. Moisten with some gravy or good broth, a glass of white wine, some capers, and an anchovy pounded in a spoonful of olive oil. Put into this sauce some olives, which have previously been stoned by peeling the fruit spirally off the nuts with a sharp knife. Bring it to the boil, and thicken the sauce with a little light colouring of butter and flour, made separately. If liked, the stones of the olives can be replaced by a veal stuffing, which has been cooked first.

_Onions._--(_a_) Cut off the roots close of 2 Spanish onions, and remove the outer peels or any that are in the least dry, then parboil them in salted water for 10 minutes; dry them in a cloth, and cut them in half lengthwise. Put them in a saucepan over a slice of fat bacon, add a faggot of sweet herbs, 2 or 3 cloves, and some whole pepper, with salt to taste; pour in a sufficient quantity of very good stock to just cover them, and let them stew gently for 2 hours. Strain off a portion of the liquor, free it from superfluous fat, reduce it by letting it boil for ¼ hour, dish up the onions, pour the reduced sauce over, and serve.

(_b_) Peel off the very outer skins, cut off the pointed ends like a cigar, put them in a deep dish, and put a piece of butter and a little salt and pepper on the place where the point has been cut off, cover them with a plate or dish, and let them bake for not less than 3 hours. They will throw out a delicious gravy.

_Parsnips._--(_a_) Scrape and boil some parsnips, then cut each lengthwise in 4, and fry them very brown, and dish in twos and twos. There is no vegetable so nourishing as parsnip, and when done in this way is much more tasty than the English way.

(_b_) Boil 4 or 5 parsnips till tender, mash them up, and add 1 teaspoonful flour, 1 beaten egg, and a little salt; make the mixture into small cakes with a spoon, and fry them in butter a delicate brown. Serve on a napkin.

_Peas._--Melt ¼ lb. butter in a saucepan, then add 1½ pint young peas, pepper and salt to taste, 2 small onions (whole), a small bunch of parsley, and half a head of lettuce, tied up together, and a pinch of sugar. Toss on a slow fire till the peas are cooked, then remove the parsley, lettuce, and onions, and serve with a little finely minced parsley mixed in the peas.

_Potatoes._--(_a_) With Cream.--Put into a stewpan a piece of butter rolled in flour, 1 gill cream, pepper, salt, and a very little nutmeg, also the juice of half a lemon; stir these over the fire till boiling. Then add slices of freshly boiled new potatoes, and after warming them up in the above sauce, serve very hot.