Chapter II: Part 2

_Method._--Wash the pine kernels two or three times in boiling water and remove any which are not good, and pass them with the Brazil nuts (from which every particle of brown skin must be removed) once through a mincer. Melt one ounce of butter in a small stewpan, add the onion and nuts, and let them cook gently for ten minutes, stirring them sufficiently often to prevent them from becoming more than a pale golden colour. Put the bread into a saucepan with the milk and remaining half ounce of butter, season well with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and stir it over the fire until a smooth, thick paste is formed. When the nuts are ready add the bread paste to them and then stir the curry sauce in gradually; cover the pan and let the curry simmer by the side of the stove for a quarter of an hour. Then pour in the tomato catsup and a gill of nicely flavoured aspic jelly (which is still liquid), and when these are thoroughly blended with the curry put it aside to cool. Butter a plain china mould (1 pint size) and cover it thickly and evenly with the boiled rice (which should be cold), and before the curry is quite cold put it into the mould, pressing it down well, but taking care not to displace the rice, and when the mould is full put it into a cold place until the following day. Turn the curry from the mould and cover the top with chopped aspic jelly sprinkled with finely minced parsley, and surround it with little heaps of chopped jelly.

CORNETS WITH CELERY CREAM

Some light puff paste, 4 ozs. celery, cooked and sieved, ¹⁄₄ pint thick white sauce, made with half cream and half milk stock, 2 hard-boiled eggs (coarsely chopped), 1 raw egg, minced parsley, Parmesan, seasoning.

_Method._--Mix the celery, sauce, and eggs in a basin, ascertain if more seasoning is required, and place the basin on the stove in a stewpan of hot water. Roll out the paste thinly, cut it into rounds of a suitable size, and wrap it neatly round some buttered cornet-moulds; moisten the edges of the paste and join them, then brush the paste over with beaten egg and bake at once in a well-heated oven. When done, slip the cornets off the moulds and fill them with the prepared celery; scatter a little grated Parmesan and parsley, mixed together, over the filling, and serve with as little delay as possible, garnished with fried parsley. Salsify, asparagus, or peas can be served in the same way.

CUCUMBER FILLED WITH NUT FORCEMEAT

One and a half ounces of onion (peeled), 1¹⁄₂ oz. butter, 3 ozs. pine kernels, 2 mushrooms, 1 oz. crumb from a milk loaf, ¹⁄₂ gill milk, 1 egg, seasoning, 1 large cucumber, soup vegetables for braising, brown vegetable stock, brown sauce.

_Method._--Wash the pine kernels thoroughly in boiling water, changing it two or three times, then pass them through a nut-mill, or mincer; boil the onion for six minutes; drain it and chop it very finely; cleanse, peel, and mince the mushrooms. Melt one ounce of butter in an omelet (or sauté) pan, and fry the kernels, onion, and mushrooms together for ten minutes, stirring constantly. Melt half an ounce of butter in the milk; add the breadcrumb and cook gently until it is reduced to a paste, then mix it with the fried ingredients and pound all together in a mortar until thoroughly blended and very light; season with salt, pepper, and a little powdered mace, and after pounding an egg into the forcemeat pass it through a wire sieve. Peel the cucumber carefully, so that not a piece of skin is left (as this would give a bitter taste), and cut it through the middle with a sharp knife; remove the seeds with a large apple-corer and partly cook the cucumber in boiling, salted water, to which an atom of soda has been added. Then drain it very thoroughly on a soft cloth and fill the hollow space in the middle with the prepared forcemeat; put the pieces together neatly, wrap the cucumber in buttered muslin, securing it with narrow tape at the ends and in the middle, and place it in a stewpan which has been buttered and prepared with a layer of sliced soup vegetables; fry over a gentle heat for six minutes, then add two and a half gills of vegetable stock; cover the pan closely and braise the cucumber in the oven until it is tender. When done remove the muslin and serve the cucumber with chopped parsley sprinkled over it and surrounded by brown sauce flavoured with sherry.

CUCUMBER STUFFED

Half a pint milk, 1 small onion, a few pieces of parsley, a thin strip of lemon-peel, 1 oz. flour, 1 oz. butter, 1 dessertspoonful grated cheese, 1 teaspoonful tomato catsup, 1 dessertspoonful ground sweet almonds, 2 ozs. large straight macaroni, some chopped parsley, 1 medium-sized cucumber, seasoning.

_Method._--Peel the cucumber, taking care to remove every particle of green skin, and cut it into pieces of about two inches thick and cook until tender in boiling, salted water to which a tiny piece of soda has been added; directly it is ready (it must not be left in the water after it is done), drain the pieces and carefully remove the seeds. Have ready some macaroni prepared according to the instructions given below, and quickly fill the cucumber cases with it; place in the oven to re-heat the cases and serve surrounded by thick tomato sauce (see page 106). Boil the macaroni thoroughly (keeping it boiling steadily from the time it goes into the saucepan until it is done), drain it on a soft cloth and cut it on a board into pieces of about a quarter of an inch thick. Put the milk into a saucepan, when the macaroni is put on to boil, with the onion, lemon-peel, parsley, almonds, and some salt and pepper, and let it boil up and then simmer gently for half an hour. Melt the butter in another saucepan, mix the flour smoothly with it, and add the flavoured milk (after straining it) by degrees and stir until the sauce is perfectly smooth and thick; add the macaroni, catsup, and cheese and it will be ready to use; scatter a little chopped parsley over the surface of the macaroni.

CUCUMBER WITH POULETTE SAUCE

One or two cucumbers (according to the size), 1 oz. butter, ¹⁄₂ pint white sauce, 1 raw yolk of egg, 1 tablespoonful cream, 2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped parsley, lemon, seasoning, pastry case.

_Method._--Peel the cucumber and parboil it in salted water, then drain it and cut it into moderately small pieces and put it into a saucepan containing an ounce of butter, which has been flavoured with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a dust of castor sugar, and let it simmer for ten minutes, then add the sauce and continue the simmering for about a quarter of an hour, when the cucumber should be quite tender. Beat the yolk of egg with a tablespoonful of cream and stir it into the sauce, add a squeeze of lemon-juice, and when the egg has thickened (take care the sauce does not boil after it is added), pour the cucumber into a round pastry case (which should be hot) and garnish round the edge with quarters of hard-boiled egg (hot) and sprinkle the parsley over the cucumber.

DEVILLED NUT FILLETS

Some nut forcemeat as for nut cutlets (_see_ page 75), ¹⁄₂ gill thick brown sauce, 1 dessertspoonful chutney paste, 1 teaspoonful Worcester sauce, ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful French mustard, 1 teaspoonful curry paste, ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful Chili vinegar, butter, flour, seasoning.

_Method._--Make the forcemeat into little round fillets and dust them with flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Mix the brown sauce, which should be just warm, with the chutney, Worcester sauce, French mustard, curry paste, and Chili vinegar; then mask the fillets with it and place them on a buttered gratin dish; pour a few drops of warm butter over each, and cook them in a quick oven for fifteen minutes. Serve the fillets on the same dish in which they were cooked with a mound of potato chips in the middle.

DRESDEN PATTIES

Some forcemeat prepared according to the directions given for Nut Rissolettes on page 77, slices of bread fully an inch thick, milk, 1 egg, Plasmon, seasoning, chopped parsley.

_Method._--Stamp out some rounds from the slices of bread with a medium-sized cutter, and with a smaller cutter mark the bread in the middle but without cutting it through; dip the rounds quickly into milk, then brush them over with beaten egg and cover them thickly with dry Plasmon powder and fry at once in deep, boiling fat, but only sufficiently long for them to get lightly brown and not hard. After draining them on paper remove the marked portion and fill up the hollow with the forcemeat, which should be ready heated in a small saucepan with a little butter; scatter the parsley over the surface of the patties and serve them garnished with watercress. If a more substantial dish is required a neatly trimmed poached egg can be placed on the top of the forcemeat.

EGGS IN JELLY WITH CHEESE CREAM

Five hard-boiled eggs cut into quarters, small bottle French macedoine vegetables, 1 pint nicely flavoured aspic jelly, 1 tablespoonful sherry, 1¹⁄₂ gills stiffly whipped cream, 1¹⁄₂ tablespoonfuls grated Parmesan, or dry Cheddar, cheese, seasoning, salad.

_Method._--Pour a shallow layer of the aspic jelly (previously mixed with the wine) into a plain-border mould, and when it is set arrange some of the quarters of the hard-boiled eggs on it with a few of the macedoine vegetables between; then pour a little of the remaining aspic (which should be cold but liquid) over, and stand the mould in a basin of cold water until the jelly is firm; then continue to use the eggs, vegetables, and jelly in the same manner until the mould is full. When the jelly is sufficiently set, turn the border out of the mould and fill the middle with whipped cream seasoned with a little salt and curry powder and mixed with the grated cheese. Any of the vegetables left over should be mixed with some crisp lettuce, finely-shred, and dressed with a plain salad mixture, and the surface of the salad should be garnished with little heaps of freshly-ground walnuts.

EGGS STUFFED WITH ASPARAGUS

As many hard-boiled eggs as are required, butter, seasoning, shallot vinegar, one or two tablespoonfuls of asparagus, 1 raw egg, breadcrumbs, some blanched almonds, mashed potato.

_Method._--Bake some potatoes in their skins, then open them, remove the inside and pass it through a potato-presser into a basin; season well with celery salt, pepper, and nutmeg, add a small quantity of milk and a liberal quantity of warm butter, and beat the potatoes with a wooden spoon until they are very light. Then press them firmly into a round cake-tin, which has been well buttered, and bake in a quick oven for half an hour; when done the potato cake should be nicely browned on both sides. Cut the eggs through the middle length-ways, and take out the yolks; pass the latter through a sieve (or pointed gravy-strainer) and beat them to a fairly soft paste with some warm butter; season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a few drops of shallot vinegar (or tomato vinegar), then mix in one or two tablespoonfuls of cooked asparagus heads and fill the whites with the mixture, moulding it into the form of a dome. Dip the eggs into beaten egg and cover them thickly with fine, dried breadcrumbs, mixed with an equal proportion of blanched almonds, which have been cut into very fine little splinters, and fry in deep, boiling fat. Arrange the eggs on the potato cake and garnish with watercress or parsley.

EGG BALLS IN POTATO CASE

Two pounds of cooked potatoes, cream (or milk), 3 ozs. butter,
2 raw eggs, ¹⁄₂ pint tomato pulp, 3 hard-boiled eggs, 1 oz.
onion (scalded and chopped), 1 oz. white breadcrumbs,
shallot vinegar, or lemon-juice, 3 ozs. finely-ground nuts,
pine kernels, Brazil or Cashu (in either case blanched),
seasoning.

_Method._--Fry the onion and nuts together for six minutes in one ounce of butter; moisten the breadcrumbs with boiling cream (or milk), beat them to a paste, and pass the eggs through a sieve. Pound the contents of the frying pan for a few minutes, then add the bread, eggs, and one ounce of butter, and continue the pounding until the mixture is quite smooth; then add the yolk of a raw egg, a few drops of shallot vinegar (or lemon-juice), and season with salt, pepper, and a dust of curry powder. Pass the mixture through the same sieve used for the eggs, and turn it on to a floured board; divide it into little balls (the size of a rissole), dip them into beaten egg, then cover them with finely-crushed vermicelli, fry in deep, boiling fat, and serve in a potato case prepared as follows: Pass the potatoes through a sieve into a basin containing one ounce of warm butter, add two tablespoonfuls of cream, and beat until they are quite light, then stir in half a pint of tomato pulp, and season with celery salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cayenne, and beat again until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Then mould the potato on a flat, fireproof dish into a neat, round case, leaving room in the middle for the egg balls, mark the outside with a fork and bake it in a quick oven for about twenty minutes, or rather less if the heat is fierce; pile the balls up in the case and garnish them with fried parsley. Care should be taken to fry them quickly as they should be soft and creamy inside, but crisp outside.

EGG CROQUETTES

Four hard-boiled eggs, 2 ozs. coarsely-minced champignons, 1 oz. minced pickled gherkin (or olives), ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful onion (which has been scalded and minced), 1 teaspoonful ground sweet almonds, 1 dessertspoonful chopped parsley, seasoning, 1 oz. butter, ³⁄₄ oz. flour, ¹⁄₄ pint cream (or milk), some light, short paste, 1 raw egg, breadcrumbs, artichoke chips.

_Method._--Melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the onion and let it cook (without acquiring any colour) for two or three minutes, then stir in the flour and almonds, and when they are smoothly mixed, add the cream and stir until it has thickened; then season with celery salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and pour into a basin. Mix the eggs, which have been passed through a sieve, with the sauce, add the champignons and gherkin and a teaspoonful of the liquor in which the champignons were preserved, and leave until cool. Roll out the paste very thinly and cut it into rounds of a suitable size; take up a small portion of the egg mixture at a time and form it on a floured board into a little round cake, then place it on one half of a round of paste, moisten the edge with beaten egg, then fold the paste over the filling and pinch the edges together; when a sufficient number of croquettes have been made thus, dip them into beaten egg and cover them with fine breadcrumbs and fry in a bath of boiling fat. The artichoke chips are prepared as follows: Wash and peel the artichokes in the usual way, then cut them into thin slices, dry on a floured cloth (as potato chips), and fry in boiling fat.

EGGS IN CUCUMBER CASES

One medium-sized cucumber, white vegetable stock, 3 eggs, 1 yolk, butter, 1 dessertspoonful tomato catsup, 2 teaspoonfuls chopped parsley, 1 gill cream, seasoning, some fried breadcrumbs.

_Method._--Peel the cucumber, taking care not to leave any of the skin, or it will taste bitter, cut it into pieces of about two inches thick, and with a sharp cutter of suitable size remove the seeds from the middle. Arrange the cucumber cases in a shallow stewpan, which has been lightly spread with butter, and pour in enough boiling stock to about half cover them; close the lid securely, and let them cook until tender, care being taken that they do not get too soft or they will not stand properly. Beat the three eggs thoroughly with a patent egg-beater, season them with salt, pepper, and a little curry powder, add the tomato catsup, and pour them into a saucepan containing one ounce of warm butter, and stir until the eggs begin to set, then fill the cucumber cases with them; sprinkle some fried breadcrumbs over the top and keep hot for a few moments while the sauce is made thus: Boil up the stock in which the cases were cooked, stir in the yolk of egg beaten up with the cream, and continue to stir until the sauce has thickened, add a few drops of lemon-juice and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and pour it round the dish containing the cucumber. Serve accompanied by a dish of sauté potatoes.

EGG CUTLETS WITH ASPARAGUS

Half a pint milk, ¹⁄₂ small onion, a strip of lemon-peel, parsley, 2 ozs. butter, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. flour, 4 hard-boiled eggs, 2 tablespoonfuls cooked asparagus (cut into small pieces), seasoning, 1 raw egg, breadcrumbs, a few pieces of raw macaroni.

_Method._--Put the milk into a saucepan with the onion, lemon-peel, two or three little pieces of parsley, and some salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and let it simmer very gently for twenty minutes, then strain into a basin. Cook the butter and flour together until a perfectly smooth paste is formed, and moisten it gradually, stirring rapidly all the time, with the flavoured milk, and continue stirring until the sauce is very thick, when the pan should be removed from the stove. Pass the hard-boiled eggs through a wire sieve while the milk is simmering, and add them to the prepared sauce, then the asparagus and a little more seasoning, and spread the mixture out on a flat dish. When it is cold, take about a dessertspoonful at a time and form it, on a floured board, into the shape of a cutlet. When all the mixture has been used, insert a small piece of macaroni at the narrow end of the cutlets to represent the bone, and after brushing them over with beaten egg, cover them thickly with fine breadcrumbs and put aside for about half an hour for the crumbs to harden; then fry the cutlets in deep, boiling fat until they are a golden brown; serve them on a support of fried bread and garnish the dish at intervals with little heaps of potato-chips, and send them to the table accompanied by a tureen of thick Madeira sauce.

EGG AND FORCEMEAT CROUSTADES

Four ounces of breadcrumbs (from a milk loaf), 2¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 4 raw eggs, 3 tablespoonfuls cream, 1 dessertspoonful chopped parsley, a pinch of mixed herbs, 1 teaspoonful grated onion, seasoning.

_Method._--Put the breadcrumbs into a basin, add the parsley, herbs, onion, and season with celery salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and a little powdered mace, then stir in the cream, which should be hot, and one and a half ounces of butter, which should be melted; mix thoroughly and add about half a beaten egg. Turn the mixture on to a floured board, divide it into equal portions, and form into little flat cakes, which should be moderately thick. Make a hollow in the middle of each, then dip them into beaten egg and cover thickly with fine breadcrumbs and fry in deep, boiling fat. Beat three eggs until they are quite frothy with a patent beater, season them with celery salt, pepper, and a dust of curry powder, and pour into a saucepan containing one ounce of butter, stir quickly until the eggs begin to set, then remove the pan from the stove and pile the mixture neatly on the croustades and garnish the dish with fried tomatoes and potato straws (potatoes cut into fine strips and fried until crisp) arranged in little heaps.

EGG FRITTERS

Three hard-boiled eggs, 1 oz. butter, 1 dessertspoonful ground pine kernels, ¹⁄₂ minced shallot (which has been scalded and fried until just coloured), 1 teaspoonful minced parsley, 1 teaspoonful tomato conserve, seasoning, frying batter.

_Method._--Pass the eggs through a sieve and pound them in a mortar with the other ingredients (excepting the batter) seasoning them with a teaspoonful of grated Parmesan cheese, celery salt, black and Nepaul pepper. Turn the mixture on to a floured board, take a small portion at a time and form it into a moderately thick little cake of about the size of half a crown; when a sufficient number have been made dip them separately into a thick batter and fry in deep, boiling fat until each fritter is a golden brown; drain them and serve them piled upon a hot dish garnished with little bunches of fried parsley and send to the table accompanied by cauliflower au gratin prepared as follows: Put a fairly large, compact cauliflower into a saucepan containing plenty of cold, salted water; bring it gradually to boiling point, and when it has boiled, rapidly pour off the water and rinse the cauliflower in cold water, then put it again into the saucepan, which this time should contain sufficient boiling milk and water to cover it and let it cook gently until it is done. Drain the cauliflower on a soft cloth, and put it on to a buttered fireproof china dish; thicken the milk in which it was cooked with flour, add a liberal amount of butter, a tablespoonful of cream (if practicable), and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower, then cover it thickly with breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan or Gruyère cheese (mixed in equal quantities) and bake in a quick oven until evenly browned.

EGG PATTIES

One ounce butter, 1 shallot, 2 large mushrooms, 1 teaspoonful minced parsley, 2 hard-boiled eggs, 1 raw egg, a small quantity thick white sauce, seasoning, 8 ozs. short paste.

_Method._--Fry the shallot (minced) and the mushrooms (also minced) in the butter, seasoning them with salt, pepper, and nutmeg; then remove the pan from the stove and add the parsley and the hard-boiled eggs, coarsely chopped, and moisten the mixture with a small quantity of thick white sauce which has been nicely flavoured with vegetables. Roll out the short paste to rather less than a quarter of an inch in thickness, and with a round cutter of suitable size stamp out six pieces, then with a cutter a size larger stamp out an equal number of rounds; place a portion of the prepared mince in the middle of the smaller rounds; moisten the edges with beaten egg and cover in the mince with the larger pieces of paste, making the edges meet neatly and pressing them together. Select a cutter about two sizes smaller than that first used, invert it, and press it gently on the top of the patties, which will bring the middle up into the shape of a little dome; brush them over with egg and bake in a quick oven.

EGGS POACHED AND FRIED WITH TOMATOES

As many eggs as are required for a dish, small quantity thick, white sauce, small quantity sieved onion sauce, half as many tomatoes as there are eggs, some savoury rice, 1 raw egg, breadcrumbs, seasoning.

_Method._--Mix some quite thick white sauce (which has been well-flavoured with vegetables) with some creamy onion sauce in the proportion of one-third of the latter to two-thirds of the former, and use when just warm. Poach the eggs very carefully in boiling water to which a small quantity of vinegar, or lemon-juice, has been added; trim them neatly with a round cutter, mask them with the prepared sauce, and let them get cold. Dust them lightly with flour, brush them over with beaten egg, and cover with plenty of fine, dried breadcrumbs seasoned with salt and pepper, and fry them quickly in a bath of boiling fat. Have ready some large tomatoes which have been cut in half, freed from seeds, baked, and filled with savoury, or curried, rice; place an egg on each piece and serve on rounds of fried bread in a circle, and fill the middle of the dish with fried potatoes.

EGGS POACHED AND FRIED WITH VEGETABLE MARROW

Four or five eggs, 1 small vegetable marrow, ³⁄₄ pint thick tomato sauce, 1 tablespoonful Parmesan cheese, rounds of fried bread, 1 raw egg, breadcrumbs, seasoning.

_Method._--Cut four or five pieces of about two inches in thickness from a small, peeled marrow, and boil them in salted water until they are tender; when done lift them from the stewpan with an egg slice; drain them thoroughly on a soft cloth, dip them into warm butter, and place on rounds of fried bread, which should be of moderate thickness. Prepare some eggs as in the foregoing recipe, but instead of coating them with the white sauce, use thick tomato sauce, which has been seasoned with Parmesan cheese, and surround the marrow with the remainder of the sauce.

EGGS POACHED WITH TOMATO SAUCE

Four ounces of rice, 1 oz. butter, white vegetable stock, ¹⁄₄ pint tomato sauce, seasoning, 4 or 5 poached eggs, breadcrumbs, 1 raw egg, watercress.

_Method._--Put the rice into a saucepan with some cold salted water; bring it to boiling point and keep it boiling for ten minutes, then wash it in cold water and put it into a saucepan containing plenty of boiling stock and let it boil steadily until it is done. Drain the rice thoroughly and put it back into the saucepan for a few minutes to dry by the side of the stove; then season it with salt, freshly-ground black pepper, a dust of curry powder, and a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan cheese, and spread it out on a flat dish. When cold, take about a heaped dessertspoonful of the rice at a time and form it into four or five little round cakes, capable of taking a poached egg; brush the rice cakes over with egg, then cover them with fine, dried breadcrumbs, and fry them in a bath of boiling fat until they are a deep gold in colour. Have ready four or five poached eggs, which have been neatly trimmed, place one on each rice cake and pour a tablespoonful of hot tomato sauce over the eggs, and serve garnished with watercress which has been dressed with oil and vinegar.

EGGS IN POTATOES

Four medium-sized potatoes, 4 hard-boiled eggs, ¹⁄₄ pint thick white sauce, 1 oz. grated cheese, 1 oz. butter, cream (or milk) lemon-juice, seasoning.

_Method._--Wash the potatoes thoroughly (they should be as nearly the same size as possible) and bake them in their skins, then cut a piece from the top of each and remove the inside, taking care not to break the skin. Pass the potato through a presser, or sieve, into a basin; add an ounce of butter, about a tablespoonful of cream (or milk), and season with celery salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a few drops of lemon-juice, and beat with a wooden spoon until it is very light and creamy. Carefully replace the potato in the skins, pressing it back against the sides with the handle of a small spoon, so as to leave the middle hollow; fill them according to the directions given below, then make a rose (by means of a forcer) with the mashed potato left over, sufficiently large to cover the hole; brush the rose over with warm butter and put the potatoes into a hot oven for ten or fifteen minutes. While the white sauce (which should be rather thicker than is usually required) is still hot, add the grated cheese (preferably Gruyère) and ascertain if any more seasoning is required, then a squeeze of lemon-juice and the eggs cut into slices, and fill the potatoes with the mixture. Serve with a salad composed of lettuce, beetroot, and celery.

EGGS AND RICE

Six ounces of rice, 1 pint highly-seasoned vegetable stock, 3 ozs. butter, 3 or 4 hard-boiled eggs, fried onion, chopped parsley, minced olives or pickled gherkin, seasoning, 1 tablespoonful tomato conserve.

_Method._--Put the rice into cold salted water, bring it gradually to boiling point, and let it boil for ten minutes, then rinse it in cold water; drain it and put it into a saucepan containing a pint of colourless vegetable stock, and let it boil rapidly until the rice is cooked, stirring it occasionally. As soon as the grains are quite soft, turn the rice on to a sieve and let the stock drain from it. Melt two ounces of the butter in a stewpan, and add the rice, turning it gently with a fork over a moderate fire. When hot, season with salt, black pepper, and nutmeg, and pile upon a hot dish; arrange the halves of some eggs, prepared according to the recipe given below, at intervals round the rice, but not quite at the edge, and between them scatter some minced olives (or gherkins) which have been carefully heated in a little butter, and below them make a line with some minced fried onion, which has been dried, until crisp, in the oven. The top of the rice should be sprinkled either with chopped parsley or ground sweet almonds, which have been coloured a golden brown in the oven. The hard-boiled eggs should be cut in half, the yolks carefully removed and passed through a sieve (the whites should be kept hot over a saucepan of boiling water); a tablespoonful of butter should then be added which has been heated with a tablespoonful of tomato conserve (or sauce); the mixture must be seasoned with celery salt, pepper, and a little curry powder, and quickly and neatly put into the whites and moulded into pyramid form. The eggs should be placed in the oven for a few moments to ensure their being hot.

EGG RISSOLES

Two hard-boiled eggs, 1 oz. of crumb from a Hovis loaf, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, ¹⁄₄ pint milk, a thick slice of onion, 2 teaspoonfuls ground nuts, 1 teaspoonful grated Gruyère, or some mild cheese, a few pieces of parsley, seasoning, 1 raw egg, breadcrumbs, spinach or mashed potato for border, tomato or celery, sauce.

_Method._--Put one ounce of butter into a saucepan with the onion and fry gently for a few minutes, but without letting it become brown, then add the milk, a clove, one or two pieces of parsley, and some salt and pepper, and let the milk simmer very slowly for a quarter of an hour. Crumble the bread and stir it into the milk, and let it cook until it is quite soft and the milk is all absorbed, and either pass it through a sieve or turn it into a basin and beat it well so that the bread and onion are thoroughly mixed, but in this case the clove must be removed. Pass the hard-boiled eggs through a metal gravy-strainer, or sieve, and mix them with the prepared bread, then stir in the remaining half of an ounce of butter, the cheese, nuts, some salt, pepper, and nutmeg; turn the mixture on to a floured board, divide it into six portions, and roll them into little balls; dip them into beaten egg and cover them with fine, dried breadcrumbs, and after allowing a few minutes for the crumbs to harden, fry the rissoles in a bath of boiling fat until they are a deep golden colour. Serve them on a border of carefully-prepared spinach, and fill the middle with tomato or celery sauce.

FRENCH BEAN SALAD

Young French beans, as many hard-boiled eggs as required, tarragon and shallot vinegar, butter, seasoning, chopped parsley, 2 tablespoonfuls chopped pickled gherkin, salad oil, 1 raw yolk, 1 tablespoonful cream, watercress.

_Method._--Boil the beans whole, they should be so small that only the ends require to be pinched off; when done, drain them on a cloth and let them get cold. Cut the eggs in half, remove the yolks, and pound them with the butter, allowing a quarter of an ounce for each egg; season them with celery salt, pepper, curry powder, and a few drops of tarragon vinegar; add a small quantity of chopped parsley and fill the whites with the mixture. Put the yolk of the raw egg into a basin; add some salt, pepper, and a dust of curry powder, and stir well with a spoon, then add some salad oil, drop by drop, while using a patent beater rapidly and steadily until the mixture is as thick as beaten butter; then stir in, by degrees, a teaspoonful of tarragon and a teaspoonful of shallot vinegar. When this is thoroughly mixed, add the cream, arrange the beans in the middle of a salad bowl and pour the sauce over them, then scatter the chopped gherkin over it and surround the beans with the eggs, putting a little bunch of watercress between, which has been lightly dressed with oil and vinegar. Peas can be served in the same way, or well-boiled butter or haricot beans; if either of the latter are used, chopped beetroot may be substituted for the pickled gherkin.

FRICASSEE OF EGGS

Two pounds of spinach, 4 hard-boiled eggs, 1 raw yolk, ³⁄₄ pint thick white sauce, 1 tablespoonful tomato sauce, 1 tablespoonful cream, ¹⁄₂ oz. butter, seasoning, sippets.

_Method._--Cook the spinach, drain it and pass it through a sieve, and re-heat it with half a gill of white sauce; season it with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a pinch of castor sugar, add half an ounce of butter and turn it on to a hot dish. Mould it into a mound and make a hollow in the centre, fill this with the fricassee, and garnish the spinach with little sippets of fried bread. Make the remainder of the white sauce hot in a stewpan, and as soon as it has boiled draw the pan to the side of the stove and stir in the yolk of egg, which has been previously beaten with the cream, then add the tomato sauce, and place the stewpan in a larger pan of hot water on the stove and put in the hard-boiled eggs, cut into slices. As soon as they are hot, the fricassee will be ready.

GREEN PEA CUTLETS

One pint of young, shelled peas, some mint, 2 small onions, 2¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 1 oz. flour, ¹⁄₄ pint milk, 1 whole egg, 1 raw yolk, breadcrumbs, 4 ozs. rice, 1 small saltspoonful powdered saffron, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. grated cheese, 1 pint colourless vegetable stock, seasoning, thick brown sauce.

_Method._--Put the peas into a saucepan of boiling water, to which a piece of mint, some salt, sugar, and a pinch of soda have been added, and let them cook steadily until they are done. Boil one onion in salted water until it is tender, then drain it well and rub it through a sieve. Melt one ounce of the butter in a sauté pan and stir in the flour; moisten by degrees with the milk, stirring quickly until the sauce is perfectly smooth and very thick, then add the yolk of egg and sieved onion; season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, add about a quarter of a teaspoonful of chopped mint, and lastly the peas (which should be well drained), and spread the mixture on a dish to get cold. Take a small portion at a time and form into the shape of a little cutlet on a floured board; insert a piece of macaroni at the end to represent the bone, and when the mixture has all been used, brush them over with beaten egg and cover with finely-sifted breadcrumbs. When the latter have had time to dry, fry the cutlets in boiling oil, and serve round a support of rice prepared as follows, and send to the table with a boat of thick brown sauce flavoured with Madeira. Put the rice into a saucepan of cold, salted water, bring it gradually to boiling point, and let it boil rapidly for six minutes, then rinse it in a colander under the cold water tap, and drain it well. Mince the remaining onion and put it into a stewpan containing one ounce of butter, and let it simmer gently until it begins to get soft, but it must not acquire any colour, then add the rice, saffron, and stock; when the latter has boiled, draw the pan to the side of the stove where the rice can simmer steadily until it is quite soft; season it well, add the cheese, which should be dry and mild, and half an ounce of butter divided into tiny pieces, and use as directed; the saffron can of course be omitted if the flavour is disliked, and some chopped parsley substituted for it.

MACARONI PIE

Three ounces of large, straight macaroni, 1 small onion stuck with 2 cloves, 1 stick celery, 4 artichokes, 1 thick slice of turnip, ¹⁄₂ pint thick tomato sauce, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 tablespoonful grated Parmesan cheese, seasoning, potato paste, beaten egg.

_Method._--Put the macaroni and vegetables in a saucepan containing some boiling water, season well and cook steadily for an hour, then drain the macaroni and cut it into small pieces; cut up the vegetables with which it was boiled, excepting the onion, and put all into a buttered pie-dish, season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, sprinkle in the cheese and parsley and pour in the sauce; cover with the potato paste, brush over the top with beaten egg and bake in a quick oven. Two or three hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters, can be added to the other ingredients if liked; serve the pie with stewed lettuce prepared thus: Wash some freshly-cut, compact lettuces, then tie each with a piece of narrow white tape, and parboil them; drain them and put them into a buttered stewpan, containing a small quantity of onion, which has been scalded and minced; season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and a dust of sugar; cover the pan and let them simmer for ten minutes, then pour in sufficient nicely-flavoured milk-stock to nearly cover them. Place a greased paper over the lettuces before putting on the lid of the pan, and let them cook in a moderate oven until tender; when done, take out the lettuces, untie them, cut them in half, and keep them hot in a vegetable dish while the sauce is being made. Thicken the stock in which the lettuces were cooked with some potato flour mixed with a small quantity of cream, and when it has thickened, add a squeeze of lemon-juice and a sprinkle of chopped parsley, and pour through a pointed strainer over the lettuce. For the potato paste put half a pound of potatoes (cooked and sieved) into a basin, add six ounces of flour, season with salt and pepper and add a teaspoonful of baking powder, then rub in three ounces of butter and moisten sufficiently with beaten egg and cold milk to form a smooth and fairly stiff paste. Knead it well and roll it out on a floured board to about half an inch in thickness, and cut into the required size and shape for the pie.

MACARONI RISSOLES

Two ounces of Swiss egg macaroni, milk, 1 oz. butter, 1 oz. flour, 1 small onion, some celery, 1 yolk, 1 tablespoonful tomato conserve, 1 tablespoonful Parmesan cheese, 1 tablespoonful minced Champignons, 1 whole egg, breadcrumbs, French beans stewed, seasoning.

_Method._--Break the macaroni into small pieces and cook until tender in boiling milk and water with the onion, stuck with two cloves, a few pieces of celery (or a pinch of celery seed) and sufficient salt and pepper to season it. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour, and gradually moisten with a quarter of a pint of milk; when the sauce has boiled and thickened, remove the pan from the stove and add the tomato conserve, the cheese, yolk of egg and salt, pepper and nutmeg, then stir in the champignons and macaroni (which should be thoroughly drained) and spread out on a flat dish. When cold, form the mixture into rissoles on a floured board, then dip them into beaten egg and cover them thickly with breadcrumbs; when the latter have dried, fry the rissoles in plenty of boiling olive oil and serve them round some French beans prepared as follows: Select quite young beans, which have no fibre to remove but only the little piece from each end, and leave them whole. Butter a casserole and put in the beans; sprinkle some salt, pepper, and a dust of castor sugar over them, and pour in enough vegetable stock to cover them; put a greased paper over them before putting on the lid of the casserole, and let them cook in a moderate oven until done, adding a little more stock if necessary. Just before the beans are to be dished up place the casserole on the stove, add the yolk of an egg, which has been beaten up with a tablespoonful of cream, and stir the sauce until it thickens, then remove the casserole from the fire and add a squeeze of lemon-juice and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley and pile the beans neatly in the middle of a hot silver dish. Peas may be substituted for the beans if desired.

MOCK OYSTER CAKES

Some boiled salsify, mashed potato, seasoning, egg, Plasmon, breadcrumbs, white sauce.

_Method._--Divide the salsify into small pieces of about the size of half an oyster and mix with half as much carefully-mashed potato; season well with freshly-ground black pepper, cayenne, salt, and a squeeze of lemon-juice, and add sufficient stiff white sauce to slightly moisten the mixture and add a small quantity of beaten egg. Spread the mixture out on a flat dish for an hour or two; then take rather less than a dessertspoonful at a time and roll it into a little ball on a floured board. Flatten the balls so that they take the form of little round cakes, dip them into beaten egg, and cover thickly with dry Plasmon powder and breadcrumbs, which have been seasoned with salt, black pepper, and cayenne; press them lightly between the hands to make the powder and crumbs adhere, and after allowing about twenty minutes for the latter to dry, fry the cakes in deep, boiling oil or vegetable fat, and serve garnished with fried parsley and little pieces of lemon. The potatoes should be baked in their skins, and then sieved and beaten to a stiff paste with a little cream, as the cakes would be spoilt if the potato mixture was moist and watery.

MUSHROOM CUTLETS WITH PURÉE OF LETTUCE

Half a pound of mushrooms (cleansed, peeled, and minced), 2 ozs.
butter, 4 ozs. bread, 1 oz. onion (scalded and minced) 2 eggs,
1 gill cream, ¹⁄₂ teaspoonful parsley, seasoning, macaroni.

_Method._--Fry the mushrooms in one ounce of butter with the onion for a quarter of an hour, stirring it frequently. Heat the cream to boiling point, and pour it over the bread (the crumb from a milk loaf or French roll is best), add the remaining ounce of butter and beat it to a paste, then add the mushrooms, parsley, and one egg; season with salt, pepper, and a little mace, and turn on to a flat dish to cool. When cold, take a small portion at a time and form on a floured board into cutlet shape; insert a piece of macaroni at the pointed end, brush the cutlets over with beaten egg, and cover them thickly with fine, dried breadcrumbs; put aside for about half an hour and then fry in oil or deep, boiling fat until the crumbs are crisp and nicely browned. Serve the cutlets either on a support of fried bread or mashed potato, with a purée of lettuce in the middle.

NUT CUTLETS

Six ounces of ground nuts (pine kernels and Brazil), 2 ozs. onion, 3¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 6 ozs. brown bread, 1¹⁄₂ gills milk stock, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoonful parsley, 1 tablespoonful tomato sauce, browning, seasoning, Maggi’s vegetable essence, dried breadcrumbs, Plasmon.

_Method._--Wash the pine kernels thoroughly in boiling water, and pass them with the Brazil nuts twice through a fine mincer (or nut-mill); boil the onion for a few minutes, then drain it and mince it. Melt two ounces of butter in an omelet pan and fry the onion and nuts gently for ten minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the onion from becoming too brown. Put the brown bread, sieved, into a saucepan with the milk stock, and stir over the fire until a thick paste is formed, then add one and a half ounces of butter, pound in a mortar for five minutes, and put aside on a plate. Turn the fried nuts and onion into the mortar and pound well, then add the bread paste by degrees (pounding steadily all the time), and when it is thoroughly mixed with the nuts, season with salt, freshly-ground black pepper, and nutmeg and stir in the parsley, tomato sauce, one egg (not beaten), sufficient browning to colour the mixture, and a few drops of Maggi’s essence. Divide the mixture on a floured board and form it into neat cutlets; dip them into beaten egg, cover thickly with crumbs and Plasmon powder (in equal proportions), and after allowing time for the egg to dry, fry the cutlets and serve them with fried bananas or any suitable vegetable.

NUT FILLETS STEWED

Nut forcemeat as for cutlets (_see_ page 75), ¹⁄₂ pint cooked butter beans, 3 or 4 large carrots (parboiled and sliced), ¹⁄₂ onion (minced), 1 pint thick brown sauce, butter, parsley.

_Method._--Make some little round fillets with the forcemeat, flour them and fry them in a sauté pan with butter until they are lightly browned on both sides, and put aside on a plate. Fry the onion and carrots until the former is a golden colour, add the beans and pour in the sauce, cover with a greased paper and let the vegetables stew gently until the carrots are quite tender. About a quarter of an hour before they are ready, add the fillets and cover the pan as before; serve them in the middle of a hot dish with parsley sprinkled over them and surround with the vegetables and sauce.

NUT RISSOLETTES

Six ounces ground mixed nuts, 3 ozs. sieved brown bread, ¹⁄₂ gill milk, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 1 teaspoonful chopped onion, 1 dessertspoonful tomato catsup, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne, lemon-juice, 1 egg, small quantity finely crushed vermicelli, 1¹⁄₂ tablespoonfuls Plasmon powder, ¹⁄₂ lb. short paste.

_Method._--Fry the nuts and onion in one ounce of butter for ten minutes, taking care they do not acquire more than a golden colour, then turn them into a mortar and pound until they are smooth. While the nuts are cooking, boil the bread and milk together for a few minutes, and beat it to a light paste; then add the remaining half ounce of butter and the tomato catsup, season well, and pound with the nuts until the whole is thoroughly mixed. Beat the egg until it forms a thick froth, add half of it to the nut mixture and also a few drops of lemon-juice, then turn it from the mortar on to a floured board and divide into ten or twelve (according to the size required) equal portions; roll these into little cork-shaped rissoles and envelope them neatly in a thin coating of short paste. Brush the rissolettes over with the remainder of the beaten egg, then cover them with the vermicelli and Plasmon, and, after allowing time for the egg to dry, fry them in an abundance of clear, boiling fat. The rissolettes make an excellent cold supper dish, but they should be made the same day they are required, otherwise the pastry will lose its crispness. The same mixture can be masked with egg and breadcrumbs, instead of being covered with paste, and served hot or cold as ordinary rissoles.

NUT SOUFFLÉ

Two ounces peeled onion, 2 ozs. butter, 6 ozs. pine kernels, 2 ozs. crumb from a milk loaf, ¹⁄₄ pint milk, 2 eggs, seasoning, 1 teaspoonful lemon-juice.

_Method._--Boil the onion in a small quantity of water for six minutes, drain it well and chop it very finely. Wash the kernels thoroughly in boiling water, changing it two or three times, and rinse them in a colander under the cold water tap, and pass them twice through a fine mincer. Melt one ounce of butter in a small omelet pan and fry the onion and kernels very gently until the former begins to turn a golden colour. At the same time boil the bread and the milk together until a smooth paste is formed; add one ounce of butter, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and mix with the ingredients in the omelet pan, then pound the mixture in a mortar until it is of a very light consistency and white (like chicken cream) in appearance, and season well. Add the yolks of the eggs, one at a time, pounding each in turn into the ingredients, then the lemon-juice, and when the pounding is satisfactorily accomplished, pass the mixture through a fine wire sieve and add the whites of the eggs whisked to a very stiff froth. Place at once in a buttered soufflé mould, smooth the surface, and bake in a quick oven for about twenty minutes; serve the soufflé in the mould accompanied by potato rissoles and a tureen of good brown sauce, which has been flavoured with Maggi’s vegetable essence.

QUENELLES À LA REINE

Two ounces of crumb from a milk loaf, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter, 1 oz. peeled onion, 1 large teaspoonful chopped parsley, 4 ozs. pine kernels, 1¹⁄₂ gills milk, yolk of 1 raw egg, 1 pint thick white sauce, seasoning, sippets.

_Method._--Wash the pine kernels two or three times in boiling water and pass them twice through a nut-mill or fine mincer; boil the onion for six minutes, drain it and mince it; melt one ounce of butter in a small omelet pan, put in the onion and nuts and fry very gently until the onion is a golden colour. While this is being done, cook the breadcrumb in the milk with the remaining half ounce of butter; as soon as it is reduced to a paste, take it from the stove, beat it well, and add the chopped parsley, then pound the onion and nuts in a mortar for a few minutes; add the bread paste, and as soon as the mixture is very light and white in appearance, put in the yolk; season with salt, pepper, a little mace, and a squeeze of lemon juice, and complete the pounding. Pass the mixture through a fine wire sieve into a basin, then turn it on to a floured board, roll it into the shape of a long sausage, and divide it into seven equal portions; butter seven little quenelle moulds and put in the mixture, smooth the top with a knife which has been dipped into hot water and poach the quenelles in the white sauce, which should be boiling, for fifteen minutes. Arrange some carefully-prepared mashed potato on a hot silver dish, so that it forms an even surround with rather a deep hollow in the middle. Unmould the quenelles, put them in the middle of the potato, and pour the sauce over them, and garnish with little kite-shaped sippets of fried bread.

RICE FRITTERS WITH BROAD BEANS

Four ounces rice, vegetable stock (white), seasoning, batter for frying, broad beans, maître d’hôtel sauce, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoonful grated cheese, 1 oz. onion, 1¹⁄₂ ozs. butter.

_Method._--Put the rice into cold salted water, and when it reaches boiling point keep it boiling steadily for six minutes, then drain it and put it into a saucepan containing sufficient boiling vegetable stock to cover it and cook until it is very tender. Fry the onion in one ounce of butter until it is just cooked, but do not let it become brown, add the rice to it, season with salt, pepper, a dust of curry powder, and the grated cheese, then add half an ounce of butter and a well-beaten egg, and spread out on a dish to get cold. Take a small quantity of the rice at a time and form it into little flat cakes rather larger than a five shilling piece; dip these into a thick batter and fry them in plenty of boiling oil or vegetable fat; arrange the fritters in a circle on a hot dish and fill the middle with some very young broad beans covered with a sauce made as follows: Make half a pint of thick white sauce; add a tablespoonful of finely-chopped parsley, a dessertspoonful of lemon-juice, a little cayenne pepper, and half an ounce of fresh butter in small pieces, and it will be ready for use.

ROASTED POTATOES WITH MUSHROOMS

Six medium-sized potatoes (of uniform shape), vegetable butter, 3 ozs. minced mushrooms, 1 slice onion (scalded and minced), 1 oz. dairy butter, 2 ozs. finely-sieved Hovis breadcrumbs, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 egg, seasoning, thick brown sauce, parsley for garnishing.