Admirable as are many of the Jewish cookery books already before the world, they assume the use of ingredients and processes too expensive for ordinary use. The want of an orthodox book, dealing with the preparation of economical dishes, has been keenly felt by us during the last few years, and it is this that has led us to think our little handbook may be of service.

In compiling it we have had before us three special objects: 1, To adapt it to our peculiar dietary laws; 2, To make it suitable for young housekeepers; and 3, To fit it for use in the cookery classes now fairly started in our midst.

We cannot claim absolute originality for all our recipes, and indeed have many authorities to thank for kind help in our task. We feel convinced, however, that many recipes, which have been treasured for years in manuscript, will prove new and attractive to some at least of our readers. In this hope we have overstepped one of our limitations by including a few old-fashioned, high-class recipes, and some special hints on Passover and Invalid cookery.

We have stated in all cases the approximate time required for the preparation of each dish; but it must be remembered that, under different conditions, the time will vary.

iv The Appendix is based on our experience in actual teaching in schools, and will, we hope, be of use in the formation of new cookery centres.

As “the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” we only ask that judgment may be suspended till some of our recipes have been tried.

December, 1888.

PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.

The really unexpected success of our little book has induced us to thoroughly revise it, and add to it a large number of new recipes. We trust that this will increase its usefulness, and give our readers as much pleasure in referring to the book as we have had in altering it and bringing it up to date.

January, 1897.

1. In making soups or gravies which require colouring the outer skins of the onion should be left on. Mushroom skins are also useful for this purpose, and impart a pleasant flavour.

2. When thickening soups, gravies, etc., mix the flour, cornflour, arrowroot, etc., to a smooth cream with cold liquid first, then stir continually from the bottom and against the sides of the saucepan or other vessel to prevent lumps.

3. The dripping from roast mutton, when used for making pastry, sometimes has an unpleasant flavour. If a few drops of vinegar and of oil be beaten up with it, it will be found quite as good as beef dripping.

4. Home-dried herbs are much cheaper than bought ones. About June buy the herbs, rinse them slightly in cold water, strip off the leaves, place the various kinds of herbs on separate pieces of white paper, in the oven or on top of it. When the leaves are quite crisp, rub them through a wire sieve, and bottle them up tight.

5. When chopping onions, let cold water run on the wrists for a minute. This will prevent the eyes from watering.

6. When the juice of lemons is required, and the lemons are hard, place them on a baking sheet in the oven for a few minutes; they will become quite soft. To keep them from getting mouldy, wrap each one in tissue paper, and keep separate.

x 7. Stale scraps of bread should be put in a tin in the oven, and baked a nice brown. When quite crisp, they should be pounded and bottled. These “raspings” will be found very useful.

8. Bread should be kept in a glazed earthenware pan, which should have a cover, and must be cleaned frequently.

9. To disguise the disagreeable odours which often ascend from the kitchen during the process of cooking, throw a handful of cedar dust on the top of the grate. (This—called “Dust of Lebanon”—may be obtained of most stationers at about 4d. per packet.)

10. Milk is the best thing for removing fresh ink stains, but it must be applied immediately, and the stained part washed.

11. A little powdered sugar sprinkled on a fire, which is almost out, will invariably revive it. Salt sprinkled on a fire clears it for grilling, roasting, etc.

12. House flannels should be herringboned all round before they are used. This ensures their lasting longer, and prevents sinks being stopped up by the ravellings.

13. It is a decided economy to order soap in large quantities. It should be cut up when new, and stored for several weeks in a warm place to dry. Candles also last longer if kept some weeks.

14. All stores should be kept in air-tight tins or glazed jars.

15. Liquid browning, for colouring soups and gravies, should be made as follows, and kept in a bottle for use:—Put 2 oz. pounded loaf sugar in a small iron saucepan; let it melt, stirring with an iron spoon; when very dark (but not black), add ½ pint hot water; let it boil up, and when cool, bottle it. A few drops are sufficient to colour a quart of liquid.

Leviticus, ch. xvii. 10, 11:—“And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood.”

When purchasing meat, care must be taken to see that all veins of blood, forbidden fat, and the prohibited sinew have been removed. It is the custom in London to affix a label marked “Porged” on joints from the hind-quarters, which have been prepared in accordance with our ordinances.

The following are the Jewish regulations for koshering meat and poultry:—

The meat is put into a pan, specially reserved for the purpose, and is then entirely covered with cold water, and left in it for half-an-hour. Before removing the meat from the water, every clot of blood must be washed off. It should then be put upon the salting board (a wooden board perforated with holes), or a basket lid, placed in a slanting position, so that the water may run off. Finely powdered salt is then sprinkled profusely over every part of the meat. The meat must remain in salt for one hour. It is then removed, held over a sink or pan, and well rinsed with cold water three times, so that all the salt is washed off. Then it is placed in a clean cloth, and thoroughly dried.

xii The heart and the lungs must be cut open before being soaked, so that the blood may flow out. The liver must be prepared apart from other meat. It must be cut open, washed in cold water, fried over the fire on a shovel, and, whilst frying, it must be salted. When fried the blood must be well washed from it.

The head and feet of an animal may be koshered with the hair or skin adhering thereto. The head should, however, be cut open, the brain removed and koshered separately. The ends of the claws and hoofs must be cut off before the feet are koshered.

Poultry is koshered in the same way as meat, taking care that previous to the soaking in water the whole of the inside be completely removed.

Hints on Making Soups and Stock.

Every housewife should bear in mind that a stock-pot always on the fire is a great aid to economy. Any odd pieces, trimmings, cooked bones, the liquor in which meat or poultry has been boiled (commonly known as pot-liquor ), should be thrown in, and the pot kept about three parts full of water. When soup or gravy is required the stock should be well skimmed, and poured into a clean saucepan. The pot may be of brown earthenware with a cover and must be cleaned frequently. It should often be looked over, soft bones removed and fresh ones added.

In preparing soups:—

1. Allow plenty of time, so that all the goodness of the ingredients may be thoroughly extracted. To do this effectually always put soup-meat into cold water, so that the outside may not be hardened, and the flow of the juices may not be checked.

2. Make the stock the day before the soup is wanted.

3. Let the stock boil once; remove the scum, and draw the saucepan to the side of the fire to simmer only.

4. When the stock is made pour it at once into a clean basin and leave it uncovered. Remove the fat from the top next morning.

5. Bread fried in boiling oil or fat, and cut into small squares, should be served with all thick soups.

Order a melt (cost 8d.) from the butcher. After koshering, skin it, and notch it across several times; add 2 quarts of cold water, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 onion stuffed with whole peppers and cloves, salt, and simmer about 5 hours. This will make about 3 pints of good stock, and is more economical than any other soup-meat.

Another way of Making Fresh Stock. Time—5 hours.

2 lbs. shin of beef, 1 turnip, 1 carrot, 1 onion, ½ head celery, 1 teaspoonful salt, ½ teaspoonful pepper, 2 quarts cold water.

Cut the meat into pieces, break up the bones, add the cold water and the salt. Bring to the boil and skim well. Prepare the vegetables, cut them into pieces, and add them. Simmer 5 hours. This will make about 3 pints of good stock.

White Stock.

Same as above, using knuckle of veal and poultry-bones instead of beef.

To Clear Soup. Time—1 hour.

3 pints stock, ½ lb. gravy beef, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 onion.

Chop up the beef fine; clean the vegetables and cut them into small pieces. After removing all the fat from the stock, which should now be in the form of jelly, place it in a stew-pan with the meat and vegetables. Whisk it over the fire until just on boiling point, when it should be left to boil up well. It should now be clear. Fix a clean kitchen-cloth on the legs of a chair, placed with its seat on a table; pour boiling water several times through the cloth into a basin, and then let the soup run twice slowly through the cloth.

Another Way. —Use 2 whites of eggs whisked in ½ pint cold water, instead of the gravy beef.

1 pint green peas, 1 quart stock, a few sprigs parsley, a small bunch of mint, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tablespoonful flour.

Put the stock on, and when it boils add the salt, peas and other ingredients. When the vegetables are tender pass them through a sieve with the stock they were boiled in; boil it up again in a clean stew-pan; thicken it carefully with flour, and cook 10 minutes.

Julienne Soup. Time—2 hours.

1 large carrot, 1 small turnip, 2 leeks, 1 onion, ½ head celery, 2 oz. dripping, 1 cabbage-lettuce, a little tarragon and chervil, 1 teaspoonful sugar, salt to taste, 3 pints stock.

Shred all the vegetables to the same length and size; fry all except the lettuce, tarragon and chervil, a light brown in the dripping in the stew-pan. Clear the stock as directed on page 2 ; boil it and add it with the sugar and salt to the vegetables; skim well until all grease is removed, add the lettuce, tarragon, and chervil; let it boil a few minutes, and serve.

Kugel.

1 pint dried green peas, 1 quart large haricot beans, both soaked over-night; 2 lbs. clod, 1 large onion stuffed with cloves, 1 tablespoonful flour; salt and pepper to taste.

Pudding.

2 eggs, ¼ lb. suet, ½ lb. flour, ¼ lb. brown sugar, ¼ lb. currants, ¼ lb. raisins or sultanas, 2 oz. candied peel: spice to taste.

Shred the suet and candied peel, wash and dry the currants, stone the raisins, mix all the dry ingredients together, add the eggs, well-beaten, place in a greased basin and tie a cloth over. Put the basin at the bottom of a large earthenware pan; place a plate on the top of the basin and the meat on this. Throw the peas, beans, onion, pepper, salt and flour into the pan, cover all with water, and tie a piece of brown paper over the pan. Put it in the oven when the cooking is finished on Friday, and dish up when required on Saturday, serving the soup, meat, and pudding as separate courses.

1 quart pot-liquor, 6 oz. liver, 1 egg, 3 oz. dripping, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, half small roll; pepper and salt to taste.

Brown the flour in the dripping; add the liver cut in small pieces, the egg and bread, and let all brown in the pan until thoroughly done a good dark colour. Pound it, and return to the saucepan with the pepper, salt, and pot-liquor, to simmer about 1 hour.

Mock Turtle Soup. Time—1½ hour.

1 bullock’s foot, 2 lbs. shin of beef, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 1 small head celery, 1 leek, 1 onion, 6 oz. dripping, ½ lb. flour; bay-leaves, cloves, cayenne, and ground mace; 1 wineglassful sherry.

The day before the soup is required cut up the foot and put it in a saucepan with 2 quarts of cold water; simmer 5 hours, then strain; cut all the flesh off the bones and chop it up into neat pieces. Put on the shin separately in 2 quarts of cold water, and simmer 4 or 5 hours. Prepare the vegetables, cut them up, fry them in the fat in a large stew-pan; when soft add the flour, and stir till rather brown. Add the stock from the foot, then that from the shin, the bay-leaves and all the other ingredients. When it boils pass it all through a sieve, add the pieces of bullock’s foot, and simmer ½ hour. A little soy may be added if required. Before serving pour the wine into the bottom of the tureen.

Mulligatawny Soup. Time—2 hours.

2 oz. dripping, 2 onions, 2 apples, 2 or 3 carrots, 1 turnip, a few sticks celery, a bunch of herbs, 2 quarts stock or pot-liquor, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, 1 tablespoonful curry powder, 1 dessertspoonful curry paste, 1 gill water, 1 teaspoonful salt.

Prepare the vegetables, fry the onions in hot dripping in the stew-pan; when brown add the apples cut up and cored, carrots, turnip, celery, herbs and salt. Boil these in the stock. Mix the flour, curry paste and powder into a smooth paste with the water, pour into the soup, and stir till it boils. The fat should be skimmed off as it rises. Boil at least 1 hour, and then strain through a sieve. Serve with well-boiled rice (see page 35 ).

2 lbs. scrag of mutton, 2 oz. pearl barley or rice, 1 turnip, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 leek, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 quart water.

Cut the meat into small pieces (removing the fat), and put it into a saucepan with the bones, cold water and salt; bring to the boil. Draw to the side of the fire as soon as the broth boils, skim well. Simmer for 1½ hour, skimming occasionally. Prepare the vegetables and rice, add them and let all simmer ½ hour till the vegetables are tender. Add the parsley just before serving.

Ox-tail Soup. Time—4 hours.

1 ox-tail, 2 oz. dripping, 1 carrot, 1 small turnip, 2 onions, 2 shalots, 1 tooth garlic or 1 leek, a bunch of herbs, a few sticks celery, a little mace, cinnamon, and 2 cloves, 2 quarts water or pot-liquor, salt, 2 or 3 mushrooms, 1 gill sherry or chablis.

Prepare the vegetables, cut them up, wash and wipe the ox-tail, cut it in pieces and fry all in hot dripping in a large stew pan. Add the herbs, spice, seasoning and water. When boiling skim off the fat and then stew gently for 3 hours; strain it into a basin, putting the pieces of ox-tail into the tureen with the sherry or chablis. Pour the soup into a stew-pan, stir till it boils. Add the mushrooms, and cook from 10 to 15 minutes, skimming off any scum; strain the soup and pour over the ox-tail.

Tomato Soup. Time—1½ hour.

2 quarts stock, 2 lbs. tomatoes or 1 tin tomatoes, 2 leeks, 2 carrots, 2 turnips; pepper and salt to taste; thyme, and half a bay-leaf, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 oz. dripping, 2 tablespoonfuls flour.

Prepare and cut up the vegetables, boil all for half an hour in ½ pint water, and then pulp through a sieve. Warm the dripping in a stew-pan, stir the flour in smoothly, pour the pulped vegetables and stock on to it slowly, and let all thicken over the fire.

Vermicelli, macaroni, sago, Italian paste, or semolina, may be thrown into any clear soup, when boiling, about ¼ hour before it is served.

Frimsels. Time—¾ hour.

1 egg, salt, flour.

Beat up the egg well, add a pinch of salt, then, with a knife, work in as much flour as possible. Flour the board thoroughly, roll out the paste very thin, cut into three, and roll out each piece till nearly transparent; then fold into three, let it dry for ¼ of an hour, and with a sharp knife shave off extremely fine strips. Let these dry, and add them to the soup when boiling ¼ of an hour before serving.

Drop Dumplings. Time—½ hour.

1 tablespoonful beef dripping, 1 egg, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, nutmeg, 1 dessertspoonful chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

Beat up the dripping till quite white; pour some boiling water over the egg, then break it into the dripping; stir these together, then add the flour, seasoning, a little grated nutmeg, and the parsley. Drop pieces the size of a large walnut, into the boiling soup, and cook about 15 minutes.

Savoury Custard. Time—40 minutes.

3 yolks of eggs, 2 whites of eggs, 1 gill of stock, a little salt.

Beat up the eggs with the stock and salt; strain into a well-greased gallipot, cover it with a piece of greased paper, stand it in a saucepan of boiling water and steam very gently for 30 minutes (the custard would be full of holes if steamed quickly). When the custard is set, take the gallipot out of the saucepan, let it get cool, turn the custard out and cut it up into fancy shapes.

Artichoke or Turnip Soup. Time—1 hour.

1½ lb. sliced artichokes or turnips, 1 oz. butter, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1½ pint hot milk, 1½ pint hot water, a little cream or good butter, salt, pepper, and a little sugar.

Heat the butter in a stew-pan, put in the vegetables, turn them about, add the salt, flour, milk and water, stirring them in slowly. When the vegetables are done rub them through a sieve, put them back into a clean stew-pan, add sugar and more seasoning if required and heat thoroughly. A little cream or good butter may be put into the tureen, and the soup stirred into it.

Cabbage Soup. Time—1 hour.

1 cabbage, 1 tablespoonful parsley, 1 oz. butter, 1 shalot or onion, 1 pint milk, 1¼ pint boiling water, 2 tablespoonfuls semolina, 1 teaspoonful salt, ¼ teaspoonful pepper.

Put on a large saucepan of water to boil; shred the cabbage and put it into the boiling water to blanch for 5 minutes. Strain the cabbage, return it to the saucepan with 1¼ pint boiling water, the milk, onion, chopped parsley, butter, and seasoning. Bring this to the boil and cook 15 minutes; then shake in the semolina and boil 10 minutes.

Celery Soup. Time—6 hours.

4 heads celery, 1 small onion, 1 pint water, 1 pint milk, 1 yolk of egg. Pepper and salt to taste.

Stew the celery and onion in the water for 5 to 6 hours, pulp it through a sieve, add ¾ pint milk and the seasoning and let it boil once. Draw it to the side of the fire and add the yolk beaten up in 1 gill cold milk; stir, but do not let it boil, and serve when hot.

Haricot Soup. Time—4½ hours.

1 pint haricot beans, 1 pint milk, 2 quarts water, 1 onion; pepper and salt to taste.

8 Soak the beans in water all night. Next morning put them in a saucepan with the water, pepper, salt, and sliced onion. Boil gently 4 hours. Then mash all through a sieve into a basin, stir in the milk, and return to the saucepan to get hot.

Potato Soup. Time—1½ hour.

1 lb. potatoes (weighed after they are peeled), ½ oz. butter, 1 onion, 1 pint hot water, ½ pint milk; salt and pepper to taste.

Cut up the potatoes, put them in a stew-pan with the butter and the onion cut in slices. Stir over the fire for 5 minutes. Add the water, and simmer for 1 hour. Pass all through a sieve, and return to the stew-pan. Add the milk, salt, and pepper, and serve when hot.

Barley Soup. Time—4 hours.

2 quarts water or pot-liquor, ¼ lb. pearl barley, 2 onions, 2 carrots, a little chopped parsley; salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the vegetables, put them with the other ingredients into a saucepan, and simmer gently for 3 or 4 hours.

Brown Onion Soup. Time—1½ hour.

3 onions, 1 oz. dripping, 1 teaspoonful flour, 1½ pint water or pot-liquor; pepper, salt and soy to taste.

Skin the onions, cut them into small dice, heat the dripping, and throw in the onions, shaking them about over the fire till they are golden brown (they must be coloured very slowly or some pieces will get too dark). When they are brown stir in the flour carefully, and add the water or pot-liquor. Simmer for an hour, then rub through a sieve, return to the saucepan, add a little soy, pepper and salt to taste, and boil for 3 minutes before serving.

If these directions are carefully followed this soup is equal to one made from good stock.

1 quart water or pot-liquor, 1½ lb. carrots, 4 onions, 2 oz. dripping; salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the vegetables, slice them, then fry them in the dripping. Add the water or pot-liquor, salt and pepper. Boil till the vegetables are tender, then pulp through a sieve into a basin. Heat again and serve with fried bread.

Lentil Soup. Time—3 or 4 hours.

5 pints water, 1 pint red lentils, 1 onion, 3 sticks of celery or some celery seed, 1 oz. dripping; pepper and salt to taste.

The lentils must be soaked all night in cold water. Melt the dripping in a saucepan, fry the lentils, sliced onion, and celery cut in small pieces. Stir over the fire for 5 minutes. Then add the water and boil gently, stirring occasionally, till the lentils are quite soft. Pass all through a sieve, return to the saucepan, add the pepper and salt, and heat again.

Pea Soup. Time—2½ hours.

1 pint split peas, 2 onions, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 3 sticks celery, 2 quarts water or pot-liquor; salt and pepper to taste. Bones or trimmings from meat are a great improvement.

Soak the peas over-night; next morning put them on in the cold water or pot-liquor. Bring to the boil, and then add the prepared vegetables, bones, and seasoning. Skim well, and boil for 1½ hour, stirring occasionally. Remove the bones, and pulp the soup through a sieve. Heat it again, and serve with dried mint and fried bread.

Spinach Soup. Time—2 hours.

3 lbs. spinach, 1 quart water or stock, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tablespoonful flour.

Wash the spinach in several waters, strip off the leaves and place them in a saucepan of cold water with a little salt, and boil till tender (about ½ hour). Pulp through a hair sieve with the water in which it was boiled; boil it up again in a clean stew-pan, thicken carefully with the flour, cook for 10 minutes, and serve with poached eggs.

1 quart water or pot-liquor, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 2 potatoes, 2 onions, 3 sticks celery, a few sifted herbs, 1 oz. dripping, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 teaspoonful mustard; salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the vegetables, cut them into slices, fry them in the dripping, add the water or pot-liquor, the salt, pepper, and herbs. Boil till quite tender, mix the flour and mustard to a cream with the cold water, and add to the soup. Simmer for half an hour longer and then serve.

Fresh fish may be known by its stiffness, firmness, bright eyes, and bright red gills.

The cheaper kinds of fish, such as herrings, mackerel, haddocks, and plaice, contain more nourishment than most of the more expensive kinds. All fish must be thoroughly cleansed in salt and water, two waters at least being allowed. It must then be very carefully dried in a coarse cloth kept specially for this purpose.

To Bake Fish.

Clean and dry the fish very thoroughly, put it on a baking tin, greased with a little oil or butter, sprinkling pepper and salt over it. Cover with a well-greased sheet of paper, bake from 10 minutes to ½ an hour, according to the size of the fish. Remove the paper, and serve the fish with chopped parsley and the strained liquor from the tin.

To Boil Fish.

When the fish is thoroughly cleaned, put it on a strainer or dish, place it in a saucepan with boiling water sufficient to cover it, some salt and a tablespoonful of vinegar. Simmer gently till the skin begins to crack.

Some of the liquor in which the fish was boiled can be used for making a sauce.

Clean and dry the fish thoroughly, split it open, flour it, sprinkle with chopped parsley, pepper, and salt. Grease a gridiron with oil or butter, and broil the fish over or in front of a very clear fire from 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle with small pieces of butter before serving. Before broiling mackerel or herrings lay them in a mixture of salad oil and tarragon vinegar for an hour.

Hints on Frying.

This method of cooking fish requires the utmost care. It is most important that the fish should be very carefully dried, and that the oil should be at the right temperature. To test this throw in a small piece of bread, and if it brown in less than a minute the oil has reached the correct heat. When the oil is perfectly still, and a blue smoke rises, the temperature may also be considered right. The fish must be well covered in oil, and the pieces must not come in contact with one another.

To Fry Fish.

Clean the fish, then cut it as required, and dry it very thoroughly. Beat up an egg, mix some flour, pepper and salt on a plate, dip the fish first into this seasoning, then into the egg, and when the oil has reached the right temperature, fry the fish a golden brown. Place it on soft paper on a basket lid to drain. When the oil has cooled, strain it, pour it into a jar, cover it and it will be ready for use another time. It can be used again for fish only.

To economise the eggs mix a little water with them.

To utilise any scraps of fried fish, heat them in melted butter ( page 40 ), flavoured to taste.

To Steam Fish.

Fish should rather be steamed than boiled, for though more time is required the result is more satisfactory. If a fish-kettle is not to hand, place a pie-dish upside down in a large saucepan, and put the fish on it. Let boiling water always reach half way up the dish, so that the fish cooks in the steam. Add more boiling water when required.

6 large anchovies, 1 hard boiled egg, 2 oz. butter, a little pepper.

Pound all together and pass through a sieve.

Savoury Cod. Time—½ hour.

1 or more lbs. of fresh cod, 1 tablespoonful vinegar, 1 dessertspoonful flour, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, ½ teaspoonful salt, ¼ teaspoonful pepper, 1 oz. butter, 1 egg.

Clean the fish and dry it, then cut it into nice sized pieces. Boil as directed ( page 10 ), then cover and keep hot. Put the flour into a basin, and add pepper, salt, and butter (melted); mix well, and make into a paste with the vinegar. Stir this into ½ pint of the liquor in which the fish has been boiled, and cook 3 minutes, stirring continually. While this sauce cools beat up an egg; then stir it carefully into the sauce, add the chopped parsley, and pour it over the fish. If preferred the egg may be boiled hard and chopped.

Baked Haddock. Time—¾ hour.

1 haddock, 2 tablespoonfuls bread crumbs, 1 dessertspoonful chopped parsley, 1 teaspoonful chopped herbs, 1 egg (well beaten); 2 oz. butter or 1 tablespoonful oil; pepper and salt to taste.

Wash and dry the fish well. Mix nearly all the bread crumbs with the herbs, parsley, pepper, salt, half the egg, and ½ oz. of butter. Stuff the stomach of the fish with this mixture, and sew or skewer it up. Egg and bread-crumb the fish, place it on a greased tin in the shape of an S, with the oil and pieces of butter; bake for half-an-hour, basting it frequently. Take out the cotton with which the fish was sewn before serving.

Dried Haddock. Time—20 minutes.

Place the dried haddock in a frying-pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then take out the haddock, place it on a dish in the oven, with bits of butter over it, for 5 minutes, and then serve.

1 plaice, 1 onion, 4 tomatoes, 2 tablespoonfuls oil, 1 lb. potatoes, pepper and salt to taste, the juice of a lemon, chopped parsley.

Slice the onion and tomatoes, heat them in a tin with the oil, salt and pepper. Wash the plaice and dry it well, put it in the tin, season it, dredge it with flour, and baste it with the oil. Parboil the potatoes and put them round the plaice to get brown. When dishing up, squeeze the lemon-juice over the plaice and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

Haddocks may also be cooked in this way.

Soused Herrings. Time—½ hour.

3 herrings, ½ pint vinegar, 2 bay-leaves, whole peppers, salt, and cloves to taste.

Split and halve the herrings, roll and tie them up. Place them in a pie-dish, half cover with vinegar, add whole peppers, salt, cloves, and bay-leaves, and bake in a slow oven until they feel soft (about 20 minutes).

Sole à la Maître d’Hôtel. Time—½ hour.

1 sole filleted, 1 oz. butter, ¾ oz. flour, juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper to taste, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, ½ pint water, ½ gill cream.

Put the bones and fins of the sole into a saucepan with the water, and put it on to boil. Place the fillets folded loosely on a greased tin, and sprinkle them with lemon-juice, pepper and salt. Cover with a greased paper, and cook in a moderate oven, about 6 minutes. Melt the butter in a clean saucepan, drop the flour in gradually, and mix well. Add the fish liquor and boil 10 minutes. Then add salt, pepper, cream, lemon-juice, and parsley. Arrange the fillets on a dish with the sauce poured over them.

Sole au Gratin. Time—½ hour.

1 sole, ½ shalot, 4 mushrooms, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, juice of a lemon, 1 oz. butter, raspings (see page x .); salt and pepper to taste.

Skin the sole, cut off the fins and nick it on both sides with a knife, dry it well. Chop the shalot, mushrooms and parsley, mix them together, and sprinkle half of them on to a dish. Lay the sole on this seasoning, and sprinkle 14 the rest of it over the sole. Squeeze lemon-juice over, sprinkle with salt, pepper and raspings. Put little bits of butter on the fish, bake in a moderate oven for 10 minutes.

Soles Stewed with Tomatoes. Time—¾ hour.

A pair of soles, 1 small onion, 2 tablespoonfuls oil, or 2 oz. butter, 4 tomatoes, the juice of 1 lemon, pepper, salt, a little cayenne and nutmeg.

Heat the oil or butter in a stew-pan, add chopped onion, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. When the onion is tender, put in the soles, slice the tomatoes on to them, cook for 20 minutes, or ½ hour if the soles are large. Take out the soles carefully, put them on a hot dish, rub the liquor through a sieve, add the lemon-juice, and a very little cayenne and nutmeg, return to the saucepan to get hot, and pour over the soles.

Gurnets and shad may also be cooked in this way, and can be eaten hot or cold.

Brown Stewed Fish.
(Salmon and other rich fish.) Time—1 hour.

For 4 Mackerel or Herrings.

¾ pint porter, 2 Spanish onions, ground ginger, nutmeg, allspice, ground cloves, pepper and salt to taste, juice of three lemons, 1 dessertspoonful vinegar, ½ lb. real black treacle.

Stew a crust of bread and the onions in the porter. When tender, take out the crust, and put in the fish with the spice, lemon-juice, vinegar, pepper and salt. When the fish is nearly cooked, add the treacle gradually, cook 3 minutes, and serve cold with slices of lemon between bunches of scraped horse-radish.

Brown Stewed Fish.
(Fresh Water Fish, etc.) Time—40 minutes.

2 to 3 lbs. fish, ½ pint water, 1 onion, 1 tablespoonful oil, 1 tablespoonful vinegar, two-pennyworth ginger-bread, one-pennyworth golden syrup, 1 lemon; pepper and salt to taste.

15 Peel and cut up the onion, brown it in the oil, put it in the stew-pan with the fish and water, and cook for half an hour. Soak the ginger-bread in the golden syrup and vinegar; when soft, beat it up and add the lemon-juice, pepper and salt. Ten minutes before the fish is ready, pour this sauce on to it, and tilt the stew-pan well backwards and forwards. Serve cold.

White Stewed Fish with Balls. Time—1½ hour.

3 lbs. fish, 2 small onions, 2 tablespoonfuls sweet oil, 1 pint cold water, nutmeg and ginger, pepper and salt to taste, a pinch of powdered saffron, juice of 3 lemons, 1 tablespoonful flour, 2 eggs; ( for the balls ) a piece of cod’s-liver, chopped parsley, bread-crumbs.

Chop the onions, stew till tender in the oil in a stew-pan, take out one-third for balls, add the fish and water, season with salt, pepper, ginger and nutmeg. When the liquor boils, place the balls (see below) on the top of the fish and cook ¼ hour, then draw the stew-pan to the side of the fire. Mix the flour to a smooth paste with a little cold water in a separate basin, add the lemon-juice, 1 whole egg and 1 yolk beaten, the saffron, and mix all well together. Take a pint of the fish-liquor from the stew-pan, add this gradually to the contents of the basin, stirring all the time. When thoroughly mixed, pour it back into the stew pan, from which must previously be taken some of the fish-liquor, if there seem too much. Tilt the stew-pan backwards and forwards till the sauce has thickened sufficiently. Serve hot or cold, with the sauce poured over the fish and balls, and garnish with parsley and slices of lemon.

To make the balls : Chop the cod’s-liver very fine; add the remainder of the onion chopped fine, parsley, white of egg beaten, pepper, salt, nutmeg, ginger, and sufficient bread-crumbs to make them the right stiffness.

Curried Fish. Time—1 hour.

1 lb. cold cooked fish, 1 apple or stick of rhubarb, 2 oz. butter, 2 onions, 1 pint water or fish liquor, 1 tablespoonful curry powder, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 teaspoonful lemon-juice or vinegar; salt and pepper to taste.

Peel and cut up the onions and apple, or rhubarb; fry till brown in hot butter. Add the curry powder, flour, salt and pepper, and stir the water or fish-liquor in gradually; boil this all up and simmer gently for half-an-hour, then add the lemon-juice or vinegar; strain, and return to the saucepan with the fish cut into neat pieces to get thoroughly hot. Serve the curry in a border of boiled rice (see page 35 ).

A Fish Cake. Time—1 hour.

½ lb. cold cooked fish, 2 oz. bread-crumbs, 1 onion, ½ oz. butter; pepper and salt to taste; ½ gill milk or fish-liquor, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 egg, raspings (see page x .).

Cover a greased cake-tin with raspings; melt the butter in a saucepan; fry the minced onions and parsley in the butter; mince the fish and stir into the fried onion and parsley. Remove the saucepan from the fire, stir in the bread-crumbs, the milk or liquor, the beaten egg and seasoning; pour all into the cake-tin and bake in a moderate oven three-quarters of an hour. Turn out and serve with melted butter (see page 40 ).

Fish Cakes. Time—½ hour.

1 lb. cold cooked fish, ½ lb. potatoes, 2 oz butter, 2 eggs; pepper and salt to taste.

Use any remains of cold fish, or boil some fish as on page 10 . Cold potatoes may also be used instead of boiling fresh ones. Mash the potatoes, add the pieces of fish broken up small, the yolk of one egg, the butter melted, and salt and pepper to taste. Form the mixture into balls with a tablespoon, flatten them into cakes 17 brush over with beaten egg, toss them in bread-crumbs, and fry in oil. This mixture may also be made into a large fish-cake, by putting it into a greased tin and baking it in the oven about ¼ hour.

Fish Pie. Time—20 minutes.

Cold cooked fish of any kind, bread-crumbs, 2 oz. butter; pepper and salt to taste, fish-liquor or water.

Butter a pie-dish, sprinkle on it a layer of bread-crumbs, then a layer of fish broken up into pieces; some pepper, salt, and bits of butter; cover this with more bread-crumbs and bits of butter; pour on a little fish-liquor or water, and bake 10 minutes.

Fish Quenelles. Time—¾ hour.

1 teacupful bread-crumbs, ½ gill milk or cream, 1 teacupful cold cooked fish, 1 oz. fresh butter, 1 egg; salt and pepper to taste.

Soak the bread-crumbs in the milk, pound the fish, melt the butter, beat up the egg, yolk and white separately, mix all together, season to taste; ¾ fill six small buttered moulds with the mixture and steam for ½ hour; turn out and serve with white or lemon sauce (see page 39 ).

Fish Soufflée. Time—½ hour.

½ lb. cold cooked fish, 2 eggs, 2 oz. butter, pepper and salt to taste; anchovy sauce if liked.

Pound up the fish, melt the butter, add it to the fish with the beaten yolks of eggs and seasoning. Beat up the whites of eggs to a stiff froth, add them lightly to the other mixture in a pie-dish and bake in a quick oven about 20 minutes.

Halibut Crême. Time—¾ hour.

1 lb. cold cooked fish (halibut preferred), 2 oz. butter, 1½ oz. flour, ½ pint milk, 1 oz. grated cheese; pepper, salt and nutmeg to taste.

Remove the skin and bone from the fish, mash it up with a fork, then place it in a vegetable dish; melt the butter in a small saucepan, stir in the flour carefully, then add the milk by degrees. When it boils remove from the fire 18 add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg, spread this mixture over the fish and sprinkle with grated cheese, or if preferred with bread-crumbs. Bake in the oven till brown.

Kedgeree. Time—¾ hour.

½ lb. boiled fish, ¼ lb. boiled rice, 2 eggs, 2 oz. butter, salt, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg to taste.

Boil the eggs hard, break the fish into small pieces, chop the white of egg and grate the yolks. When the boiled rice is dry, melt the butter in a stew-pan and add the rice, fish, white of egg, cayenne pepper, grated nutmeg, and salt. Mix well and serve on a hot dish, with the grated yolks sprinkled over.

Good meat should be firm to the touch, adhere closely to the bones, be streaked with fat, and should have a slight but not unpleasant odour.

Meat becomes much more tender if it can be hung a day or two before it is cooked.

To Bake Meat.

Baking closely resembles roasting. It is more economical, as the joint loses less weight, and if carefully attended to cannot be distinguished from roast meat. A double tin which holds hot water should be used, so that the steam from the water may prevent the dripping from burning. Place the meat on a trivet in the tin, flour the meat, sprinkle it with salt, put it in the hottest part of the oven for the first few minutes, then remove it to a cooler part, baste well, and turn it over occasionally. (For time and gravy see Roast Meat.)

To Boil Meat.

Weigh the meat, allow twenty minutes to each pound, and twenty minutes extra for dishing up. Put the meat into boiling water, boil five minutes, then draw the saucepan to the side of the fire, and simmer; keep the meat well covered with water; serve with a teacupful of its own liquor. Never throw away the liquor in which meat has been boiled; it makes excellent soup.

Have a bright and clear fire; weigh the meat, allow twenty minutes to each pound, and twenty minutes extra for dishing up; flour the joint well, and sprinkle it with salt; let it roast quickly the first ten minutes, then put it farther from the fire, and let it cook more slowly, basting often; flour occasionally. When dishing up, pour the dripping out of the pan, and set it aside. Add one pint or more of boiling water to the brown lumps under the dripping, and put it in the hottest part of the oven. Pour this gravy over the meat and serve.

Beef à la Mode. Time—5 hours.

3 lbs. lean brisket, 1 quart water, ½ gill vinegar, 4 Spanish onions, 2 oz. mustard seed, 1 oz. long pepper, ½ teaspoonful ground ginger; salt to taste; a thickening of flour, sugar, and browning.

Put the beef on in cold water, bring it to the boil, then simmer for three hours, reducing the water to one pint. Add the vinegar, onions, and other ingredients. Stew in the oven (if possible) for two hours, but if the saucepan is too large for the oven, let the meat continue to simmer on the stove. Half an hour before serving, thicken the gravy with flour, sugar, and browning (see page x .).

Smoked Beef.

Soak over-night in cold water; next morning place it in cold water, and simmer till quite tender, reckoning ½ hour to the pound.

Beef Steak. Time—20 minutes.

Heat the gridiron, put in the steak, turn the gridiron four times at intervals of 2 minutes, then eight times at intervals of 1 minute. Sprinkle with pepper and salt, and serve on a hot plate.

Chops are done in the same way, turning the gridiron twice at intervals of 2 minutes, and six times at intervals of 1 minute.

To make steak tender: beat it well, and rub into it a small pinch of carbonate of soda.

1½ lb. beef steak, ¾ lb. flour, ¼ lb. clarified dripping, 1 teaspoonful salt, ½ teaspoonful pepper.

Beat the steak well, cut it up into neat pieces. Mix 1 tablespoonful flour, salt, and pepper on a plate, and dip each piece of meat into the mixture. Put the pieces in a stew-pan, cover with cold water, and simmer gently about ½ hour, then turn the meat and gravy into a pie-dish.

Put the flour into a large basin with half a saltspoonful of salt, rub the dripping into it, and add by degrees enough cold water to make a stiff paste. Flour a board, roll the pastry out rather larger than the pie-dish, about one-third of an inch thick, cut a strip off, wet the edge of the dish, place the strip round it, wet the strip, and press the rest of the pastry on to it, trimming off the rough edges with a sharp knife. Make a hole in the top of the pie to allow the steam to escape whilst baking; ornament the top and edges and brush over with beaten egg. Bake for ¾ hour, putting it into the hottest part of the oven for a few minutes, then remove it to a cooler part.

Beef Steak Pudding. Time—3½ hours.

1 lb. beef, 4 oz. suet, ¾ lb. flour, 1½ gill water, 1 teaspoonful baking-powder; salt and pepper to taste.

Put on a large saucepan of water to boil. Mix on a plate 1 dessertspoonful of flour, some pepper and salt. Beat the steak well, cut it into slices, dip each piece in the mixture, and roll it up. Put the flour, baking-powder, salt, and suet chopped fine, into a basin, and mix to a stiff paste with cold water. Cut off one-third for the top. Grease a basin well, line it with the paste, put in the meat with a little water or gravy, wet the edges, press the top on. Tie a pudding cloth, dipped in boiling water and dredged with flour, over the basin, place it in the saucepan of boiling water, and boil 2½ hours.

Stewed Shin of Beef (with Dumplings). Time—2½ hours.

1 lb. shin of beef, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 turnips, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, 2 oz. dripping or suet; pepper and salt to taste.

21 Prepare the carrots and turnips and boil them quickly 20 minutes in 1 quart of water. Cut the meat into pieces, fry a light brown in the dripping, then place the pieces in a saucepan. Peel and slice the onions, fry them in the same dripping, then stir in carefully 2 tablespoonfuls of flour to brown. Add the carrots and turnips to the meat, pour the water in which they were boiled into the frying-pan to brown; then add it with the onions, pepper and salt to the meat, etc, and stew slowly 1½ hour.

Dumplings. —½ lb. flour, 2 oz. dripping, 1 teaspoonful baking-powder, 1 teaspoonful salt.

Shred the fat fine and rub it into the flour with the baking-powder and salt. Mix with lukewarm water to a stiff paste. Cut into eight pieces, and roll lightly into dumplings on a floured board. Throw them into a saucepan of boiling water, and boil till they rise to the surface (20 minutes). Add them to the stew 10 minutes before serving.

Beef Stewed with French Beans. Time—3 hours.

5 lbs. lean brisket, 2 lbs. French beans, 4 good-sized onions, 1 pint water, 1 gill vinegar, 1 tablespoonful flour, 2 tablespoonfuls dark moist sugar; pepper and salt to taste.

Stew the beef 3 hours in the water. String the beans, cut them in halves, peel and cut up the onions, and add all to the beef at the end of the first hour. About 10 minutes before serving skim off all the fat; mix smoothly in a separate basin the flour, sugar, vinegar, pepper and salt, and add the mixture to the stew.

Beef Stewed with Haricot Beans. Time—5 hours.

3 lbs. lean brisket, 1 onion, 1 tablespoonful moist sugar, 1 oz. dripping, ¾ pint haricot beans, ¾ pint cold water, 1 tablespoonful flour; pepper, salt and ground ginger to taste.

The beans must be put in soak over-night.

Chop the onion fine, fry in the dripping, add the flour, seasoning, sugar, beans and water. Stew the meat and vegetables, etc., very gently 4 or 5 hours.

1 set brains, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoonfuls bread-crumbs; pepper and salt.

Wash the brains in vinegar and water, then put them into boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. Drain them, chop them, and put them into a basin with 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, pepper, salt and 1 egg. Add sufficient bread-crumbs to make them into a stiff paste (not exceeding two tablespoonfuls). Form into flat, round cakes, dip into egg and bread-crumbs and fry.

Brazilian Stew. Time—3 hours.

1 lb. beef, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, herbs, pepper and salt to taste, ½ gill vinegar.

Cut the meat into neat pieces, dip each piece in the vinegar, and pack closely in a saucepan. Sprinkle with pepper and salt. Cut the vegetables into slices, and put them with the herbs into the saucepan. Close the lid, and steam 2½ hours, stirring occasionally.

Braised Beef. Time—3 hours.

5 lbs. topside, ½ lb. smoked beef, 3 oz. dripping, 1 medium-sized onion, 1 small carrot, 1 turnip, 3 to 4 sticks celery, 1 pint water, a few whole peppers and allspice, 1 tablespoonful vinegar, 1 tablespoonful flour; salt to taste.

Melt the dripping, cut up the smoked beef into thin wedge-like strips and insert them into the meat with a knife. Brown both sides of the meat in the dripping, add the vegetables, seasoning and water, and let all stew very slowly for 2½ hours. ¼ hour before serving, take out the meat, keep it hot; mix the flour, vinegar and 1 tablespoonful water to a paste, pour it into the stew-pan and thicken it, strain gravy over meat and serve.

To Clarify Dripping.

Pour the dripping from the pan into a basin of cold water. When cool lift off the cake of clarified dripping, scrape away the sediment from the bottom, and wipe dry.

To Clarify Fat.

Cut up any scraps of cooked or uncooked fat into small pieces, place in a saucepan, add just sufficient cold 23 water to cover them, stir often, and simmer with the lid off till nothing is left of the pieces of fat but brownish scraps. Strain into a basin, and when cold, a hard white cake will be formed, which will keep good some time. This fat makes excellent pastry, and can be used for frying.

Irish Stew. Time—2 hours.

1½ lb. breast or scrag of mutton, 2 lbs. of potatoes, 1 pint water, 3 onions, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 teaspoonful salt, ½ teaspoonful pepper.

Cut the meat into neat pieces, removing some of the fat, peel and slice the potatoes and onions. Mix the flour, pepper and salt on a plate, and dip each piece of meat into this mixture. Put a layer of potatoes at the bottom of the saucepan, then one of meat, then one of onion, covering with a layer of potatoes. Pour the water over the whole and stew slowly, or bake in the oven 1½ hour, stirring occasionally.

Liver. Time—½ hour.

½ lb. liver, 1 gill water, 2 tablespoonfuls flour, 2 oz. dripping; pepper and salt to taste.

Cut the liver into slices about one-third of an inch thick. Dip each piece into one tablespoonful flour mixed with pepper and salt, and fry in hot fat. Take out the liver, put it on a hot dish. Mix one tablespoonful flour carefully with the water in a separate basin. Add this gradually to the contents of the frying-pan; let it boil and thicken. Pour it over the liver and serve.

Liver Fritters. Time—½ hour.

½ lb. liver, 1 shalot, sage, bread-crumbs, 1 slice cold smoked beef (if liked), 1 oz. suet; pepper and salt to taste.

Scrape the liver, chop the suet and shalot and mix all well together with the bread-crumbs and seasoning till the mixture is firm enough to roll into balls. Flatten into cakes, dip in egg and bread-crumbs and fry a golden brown in hot fat or oil.

Sausage meat can also be made into fritters, but should be dipped in batter ( page 43 ) instead of egg and bread-crumbs.

5 lbs. leg of mutton, ¼ lb. smoked beef, 1½ pint stock or water, 1 lb. Brussels sprouts, 3 carrots, 1 turnip, 1 onion, 3 sticks celery, a little thyme and parsley; pepper and salt to taste.

Place the mutton in a stew-pan on a layer of slices of smoked beef, add some pepper and salt, the stock or water, and simmer gently 3½ hours (in the oven, if possible). Prepare and cut up the vegetables, and add all the ingredients, except the sprouts, to the meat 1 hour before serving. Boil the sprouts separately and add them when serving. Thicken and brown the gravy if liked.

Mutton Cutlets. Time—½ hour.

4 lbs. best end of a neck of mutton, 1 egg, bread-crumbs; pepper and salt to taste.

Saw off the upper rib bones, leaving the bones which will form the cutlets about three inches long. Cut off each cutlet, trim neatly, scraping off the fat. Dip each one in the egg, which has been well beaten, sprinkle with bread-crumbs, and fry a golden brown in hot fat or oil. Arrange on a hot dish round mashed potatoes or other vegetables.

The pieces cut off in preparing the cutlets should be used for Irish stew, toad-in-the hole, or any other small dish.

Haricot Mutton. Time—2½ hours.

1 lb. scrag of mutton, ¾ pint water or stock, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, 1 oz. dripping, ½ oz. flour; pepper and salt to taste.

Cut the mutton into neat pieces, fry them brown in the dripping, then take them out and brown the flour carefully. Stir in the water or stock, and put back the meat. Cut the vegetables into dice, and add them with the seasoning. Skim well and simmer 2 hours.

Pillau. Time—2½ hours.

1 lb. mutton, 3 tomatoes, 1 teacupful rice, 1 quart water; salt to taste.

25 Cut up some pieces of raw fat mutton, add a little water, cover the stew-pan, and place on a slow fire. The meat must consume the water and stew till it becomes a light brown colour. Wash the tomatoes, put them into a stew-pan without water, and stew them soft over a slow fire. Strain the pulp through a sieve and add sufficient water to make 1½ pint of liquor. This must be thrown into the stew-pan over the mutton; add salt and boil it up. Wash and dry the rice well, throw it into the stew-pan, let it boil 5 minutes, and then simmer ½ hour.

Poor Man’s Goose. Time—1½ hour.

4 lbs. bola. Stuffing. —1 onion, 1 teaspoonful sage, a small piece of soaked bread, 1 oz. suet; pepper and salt to taste.

Make holes in the meat with a skewer, and fill them up with the stuffing, made as follows: Chop the suet and onion fine, squeeze the bread dry, and mix all together with the sage, pepper and salt. Flour the meat and roast it (see p. 19). Serve with baked potatoes.

Sausage Rolls. Time—1 hour.

4 sausages, ½ lb. flour, ¼ lb. dripping, 1 egg.

Skin the sausages, make flaky pastry ( page 41 ), after the final rolling, cut the pastry into 4, place a sausage in the centre of each piece of pastry, egg half-way round the edges, fold over, press the edges together, trim neatly, place on a greased baking-tin, brush over with beaten egg and bake in a hot oven about ½ hour.

Sausage and Rice. Time—¾ hour.

½ lb. choriza (sausage), ¼ lb. rice, 1 pint boiling water, a pinch of saffron.

Wash and drain the rice well, put it in a saucepan with the saffron and boiling water. Skin the sausage, place it on the top of the rice, and simmer very gently till the rice swells and soaks up all the water. Serve the sausage in a ring of rice. Sausage cooked alone should simmer about 20 minutes.

1 sheep’s head, 3 onions, 3 turnips, a small bunch parsley, 1 tablespoonful pearl barley, 2 teaspoonfuls salt, ½ teaspoonful pepper, sufficient cold water to cover the head, ½ oz. flour, 1 oz. dripping.

Soak the head for one hour in lukewarm water. Then remove the tongue, brains, and all the thin soft bones from the inside of the head. Tie it together put it in a saucepan, cover with water, adding the salt, and bring it slowly to the boil; take off the scum. Prepare the vegetables, wash the barley, and add all to the head. Let the whole simmer gently for 3 hours. About ½ hour before it is done, tie the brains in a little piece of muslin, and throw them into the saucepan. Boil the tongue separately. When done, place the head on a hot dish. Mash the turnips with a little dripping, pepper and salt, form into little balls, and place round the dish alternately with the carrots. Halve the tongue, and lay it across the head. Pour over all a sauce made of the flour browned in the dripping, half a pint of the stock in which the head has been boiled, the brains, slightly chopped, and a little finely-chopped parsley. The broth may be used as it is, or made into a soup of any kind.

Roast Sheeps’ Hearts. Time—¾ hour.

2 sheeps’ hearts, 2 oz. dripping. Stuffing —2 oz. suet, 1 tablespoonful herbs, 2 tablespoonfuls bread-crumbs, rind of 1 lemon grated, 1 egg; pepper and salt to taste.

Put the hearts into boiling water for a few minutes. Meanwhile make the stuffing as follows:—Chop the suet, mix with the herbs, bread-crumbs, lemon-rind, pepper, salt and beaten egg. Take the hearts out of the water, dry them, stuff them, skewer them up, flour them, put them in a saucepan with a little dripping, baste occasionally, and turn them over. When done pour a little stock into the saucepan, stir it well, boil it up, and pour over the hearts.

Stewed Steak. Time—2½ hours.

1 lb. beef steak, 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 turnip, ½ saltspoonful salt, ¼ saltspoonful pepper, 1 dessertspoonful chopped parsley, 2 oz. dripping, 1 dessertspoonful flour.

27 Melt the dripping, cut the steak into 3 pieces, and fry them. Then take out the meat, cut the onion and carrot into thin slices, the turnip into thick blocks, and fry these in the dripping. When they are browned, lay the meat on top of them, add the seasoning and ½ pint of warm water. Close the lid and simmer 2 hours. Thicken with the flour ¼ hour before serving; add the chopped parsley at the last minute.

Smoked or Salt Tongue.

Smoked tongues must be soaked over-night in cold water. Salt tongues do not require this. Tongues must be placed in boiling water and simmered till tender, then skinned and replaced in the liquor to get hot again.

Toad-in-the-Hole. Time—¾ hour.

½ lb. scraps of cooked or uncooked meat, 3 gills water, ½ lb. flour, salt, 2 eggs.

Grease a pie-dish or baking-tin; lay the pieces of meat in it; make a batter by stirring the water gradually into the flour and salt, beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat all together, pressing out any lumps against the sides of the basin, let it stand two hours if possible, then pour it over the meat and bake in a quick oven about ½ hour.

Stewed Knuckle of Veal. Time—2¼ hours.

4 lbs. knuckle of veal, ¼ lb. rice, 1 onion, 1 teaspoonful salt, ¼ teaspoonful pepper, 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley, 3 pints water, 1 oz. flour, juice of 1 lemon.

Simmer the veal for 2 hours in the salt and water. After it has simmered 1 hour add the onion, peeled and cut up, and the rice well washed. Simmer again for 1 hour, add the flour mixed to a cream with the lemon-juice, then add the chopped parsley, cook for 10 minutes, and serve the meat in the middle of the rice and gravy.

Breast of Veal or Mutton Stuffed. Time—2 hours.

Cut breast in half and stuff; or bone, stuff and roll round. Bake for 1½ hour, basting well.

Forcemeat : 2 oz. smoked beef, ¼ lb. suet, rind of ½ lemon, 1 teaspoonful chopped herbs, and parsley, salt, cayenne and pounded mace to taste, 4 oz. bread-crumbs, and 1 egg.

28 Shred the smoked beef, chop the suet, lemon-rind, and herbs, mincing all very finely. Add seasoning to taste, and mix well with the bread-crumbs before wetting with the egg. Work all together and use.

Curry. Time—1¼ hour.

1 lb. pieces of cold cooked meat, 2 oz. clarified dripping, 1 apple, 1 onion, 1 dessertspoonful curry powder, 1 dessertspoonful flour; salt and pepper to taste; ½ pint cold water.

Peel and cut up the onion and apple, and cut the meat into neat slices; fry the vegetables brown in the dripping, add the curry powder, flour, salt and pepper, and stir the water into it gradually. Let it boil, and then simmer for ½ hour with the lid off. Add the meat, heat it through, but do not let it boil. Serve in a ring of boiled rice (see page 35 ).

Hash. Time—2 hours.

1 lb. cold cooked meat and bones, 2 onions, 1 carrot, a small bunch of herbs, ½ oz. dripping, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 dessertspoonful ketchup, 1 saltspoonful salt, ½ saltspoonful pepper.

Chop the bones of the meat into small pieces, and put them into a saucepan with enough cold water to cover them. Add to them the herbs, chopped onion, and the carrot, washed, scraped and cut into slices. Simmer 1½ hour, strain, and add the seasoning. Cut the other onion into thin slices, fry it brown in the dripping, add it to the stock, and thicken with the flour. Stir well till it boils, then add the ketchup, the meat cut into neat slices, and heat thoroughly without boiling. Serve with small pieces of toast, or in a ring of mashed potatoes.

1 lb. cold cooked mutton, 1 large onion, 1 oz. dripping, 1 pint of stock or pot-liquor, 1 tablespoonful sauce of any kind, ¼ lb. macaroni; pepper and salt to taste.

Fry (in a saucepan) some slices of mutton (underdone is best) in the dripping, with the onion cut in pieces, then add the stock or pot-liquor, Worcester, Harvey or other sauce, pepper, salt and macaroni. Simmer for 2 hours and serve.

Meat Croquettes. Time—1 hour.

¼ lb. cold meat; pepper and salt to taste; ½ lb. cold boiled potatoes, ¼ lb. flour, 2 oz. dripping, bread-crumbs or vermicelli, 1 egg.

Rub the potatoes through a sieve, add the flour and salt and rub in the dripping. Mix to a stiff paste with cold water, roll it out and cut in into rounds. Put a little chopped meat in each round, egg half the round, press the edges together and nick them. Roll each croquette first in egg and then in bread-crumbs or vermicelli, and fry in boiling fat or oil.

Cold Meat Patties. Time—1 hour.

½ lb. cold cooked meat, ¾ lb. flour, ¼ lb. dripping, 1 teaspoonful baking-powder, pepper and salt to taste, ½ teaspoonful mixed herbs, 1 gill stock or gravy.

Rub the fat into the flour, add the baking-powder, mix to a stiff paste with a little cold water, roll it out ¼ inch thick, and cut 24 rounds. Grease 12 patty pans, and line them with 12 rounds of paste. Mince the cold meat, season with pepper, salt, and half a teaspoonful mixed herbs, moisten with stock or gravy. Fill the patty pans with the mixture, press on the remaining 12 rounds of paste, trim the edges neatly, decorate, brush over with beaten egg, and bake ½ hour.

Potato Pie. Time—1 hour.

1 lb. cold cooked meat, 1½ lb. boiled potatoes, 1 oz. dripping, 1 tablespoonful gravy or water, ½ teaspoonful herbs or 1 onion, 1 teaspoonful salt, ¼ teaspoonful pepper.

30 Cut the meat into small pieces, or mince it, sprinkle with the seasoning and put in a pie-dish, add the water or gravy. Melt the dripping, add to it the mashed potatoes, pepper and salt, stir well and spread over the meat to form a crust. Smooth neatly with a knife dipped in hot water, and mark with a fork. Bake in a hot oven about ¾ hour.

Potato Surprise. Time—½ hour.

2 oz. lean cooked mutton, 1 potato, pepper and salt.

Choose a large potato, parboil it without peeling, cut a small piece off the end and scoop out the inside. Mince the meat fine, flavour with pepper and salt, mix with a little gravy and fill the potato. Cork up the end with the piece cut off and bake about 20 minutes.

Ragout of Beef. Time—2½ hours.

1 lb. pieces of beef, raw or cooked, ½ pint cold water, 3 large onions, 1 teaspoonful salt, ¼ teaspoonful pepper, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, ½ teaspoonful chopped herbs, ½ oz. rice or pearl barley.

Peel and cut the onions into rings, cut the pieces of meat into squares, put them in a stew-pan, add all the other ingredients and then the water. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.

Rissoles. Time—¾ hour.

½ lb. cold cooked meat, ½ gill stock or gravy, 1 dessertspoonful flour, 1 oz. dripping, ½ teaspoonful mixed herbs, or 1 slice cold smoked beef, ½ teaspoonful chopped parsley, pepper and salt to taste, 1 egg, bread-crumbs.

Melt the dripping, stir in the flour and stock, the seasoning, and lastly the meat, chopped fine. Heat thoroughly, then turn on to a plate to cool; form into balls, dip into egg and bread-crumbs, and fry a golden brown in hot fat or oil.

Salt Meat Salad. Time—¼ hour.

Cut up into neat pieces any scraps of cold salt meat. To a small quantity, add 1 tablespoonful capers, 1 tablespoonful mustard pickles, and small pieces of watercress chopped fine. Mix well together, heap on to a dish and garnish, if liked, with the white and yolk of a hard boiled egg rubbed through a sieve, strips of beetroot and small bunches of watercress.

1 lb. cold mutton, ½ lb. potatoes, 1 lb. tomatoes, 1 gill stock, ½ onion, pepper and salt to taste.

Cut the meat into neat pieces, add the potatoes and onion sliced, and cover with sliced tomato. Add the stock and seasoning, make a short crust (see page 41 ) and bake about ½ hour.

Stuffed Tomatoes.

2 lbs. round tomatoes, 2 oz. chopped smoked beef, 1 chopped shalot, 2 to 3 mushrooms, 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley, 1 tablespoonful bread-crumbs.

Cut a small piece off the top of each tomato and squeeze them slightly. Mix the other ingredients over the fire for a few minutes, then stuff each tomato with some of the mixture, replace the top pieces, sprinkle with bread-crumbs and bake 10 minutes.

Stuffed Vegetable Marrow. Time—½ hour.

1 marrow, 1 lb. cold meat, pepper and salt to taste, ½ teaspoonful herbs, ½ gill stock or gravy.

Cut a small piece off the end of the marrow, scoop out the seeds, and replace them with the meat, chopped fine and seasoned, and moistened with stock. Cork up the end with the piece cut off, roll up in a pudding cloth, cover with boiling water, and cook about twenty minutes. Serve with gravy. This dish may also be baked, but must be basted occasionally with dripping.

Walnut Stew. Time—2 hours.

Proceed as for Hash ( page 28 ), but when heating the meat, add 2 pickled walnuts cut up small, and a little of the liquor, and garnish with 6 or 8 walnuts instead of toast.

Hints on Preparing Vegetables.

1. Vegetables keep best on a stone floor.

2. All green vegetables should be laid in cold salt and water for 1 hour before they are cooked. This draws out all the insects they contain. Carrots should be scraped, then cut up and thrown into cold water till they are cooked. Turnips must be peeled thickly, then cut up and thrown into cold water till they are cooked. Onions must be peeled, then, as a rule, sliced or chopped.

3. Green vegetables should be thrown into boiling water with a little salt and small piece of soda, boiled quickly for a few minutes and then simmered until tender.

4. A crust of bread should be boiled with cabbages, greens, etc. This takes off the disagreeable smell.

5. Vegetables must never be left over-night in saucepans, for a poison would be produced.

6. All the waste part of vegetables should be dried under the grate, then burnt at once, never thrown into the dust-bin . By this means all unwholesome smells are avoided.

Baked Beetroot. Time—3 hours.

Boil a large beetroot about 2 hours, be careful not to pierce it. When cold mash it very smooth, add a little dripping, pepper, salt and stock. Place in a greased basin and bake for 1 hour.

Broad Beans. Time—¾ hour.

Shell, wash and drain them. Throw into cold water with a little salt and a bunch of parsley. Boil until soft (20 to 30 minutes), then drain them. Serve either with melted butter or gravy.

French Beans. Time—¾ hour.

String the beans, cut each slantwise into 2 or 3 pieces, wash them well in cold salt and water, drain them, and throw them into boiling water with a little salt and a small piece of soda in it. Let them boil very fast with the lid off, until tender. Drain the water off and serve.

33 French beans, à la maître d’hôtel are boiled as above, then rinsed in cold water, dried and put into a stew-pan on the fire with a little dripping, chopped parsley, pepper, salt, nutmeg and lemon-juice, till thoroughly heated through.

Haricot Beans. Time—6 hours.

1 pint haricot beans, 1 tablespoonful vinegar, 1 teaspoonful brown sugar; pepper and salt to taste.

Soak the beans over-night. Next day boil them for 5 or 6 hours in plenty of water. One hour before serving, mix the vinegar, sugar, pepper and salt well together, pour away some of the water from the beans, and add the mixture to them.

Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Greens, and Savoys. Time—1½ hour.

Cut off the faded outside leaves and hard part of the stalk, and wash the vegetables well. Cook in plenty of boiling water, with a tablespoonful of salt to every half-gallon. If the water is very hard, add sufficient carbonate of soda to cover a threepenny piece. Boil with the lid off till the stalk is soft.

Stewed Carrots. Time—½ hour.

Scrape carrots carefully and cut in thick pieces. Place them in sufficient water to cover them and stew till tender. Then evaporate water till only half remains. Add a little dripping, flour and pepper and toss carrots gently in pan till they are coated with their own juice, and serve.

Stewed Celery. Time—¾ hour.

Boil some heads of celery, cut into pieces about 2 inches long, in some good stock, add salt, pepper, and a little lemon-juice. Thicken the stock with flour and serve.

Colcannon. Time—¼ hour

Equal quantities of cooked cabbage and potatoes, chopped, mixed together, seasoned with pepper and salt, and fried in a little dripping.

Shell and pick them over, wash them in cold water, drain them. Throw them into boiling water, add a teaspoonful brown sugar, a little mint and salt. Boil until quite tender, drain off the water, and serve in a hot dish with the mint.

Dried Green Peas. Time—4 hours.

Soak over-night; next morning put them in a jar in the oven with plenty of water, salt and a spoonful of sugar. Stew gently for 3 or 4 hours, until quite tender. A pinch of carbonate of soda may be added to the water, to improve the colour of the peas. Serve either with gravy, or a little butter, pepper and salt.

Jerusalem Artichokes. Time—½ hour.

Peel and wash them, place in cold water with a little salt and lemon-juice, and cook till soft. They can be served either with gravy or butter sauce.

Baked Potatoes. Time—1½ hour.

Choose potatoes of equal size. Brush them very clean, drop them into a basin of cold salt and water, then dry them. Place them on a baking sheet, and bake in a moderate oven. When a fork will pierce them easily they are baked. The skins should never be eaten.

Another way. —Brush the potatoes, peel them very thin, parboil them, then brown them under the meat.

Boiled Potatoes. Time—¾ hour.

Potatoes should be well brushed, dropped into a basin of cold salt and water, and when a saucepan of water boils they should be placed in it. When a fork will pierce them easily, they are done. The water must then be strained off, the saucepan drawn to the side of the fire, a clean cloth folded over the top of the saucepan, and the lid pressed down on to it. This dries the potatoes, and makes them a good colour. They should be held in a cloth and peeled, then re-heated for a minute. New potatoes , if well brushed or scraped, do not require peeling.

Brush the potatoes, peel them very thin, slice them, dry them, and fry them a light brown in hot fat.

Mashed Potatoes. Time—1 hour.

Boil the potatoes, mash them through a sieve, or beat them with a fork. Add a little dripping or butter, and brown in the oven.

Boiled Rice. Time—½ hour.

½ lb. rice, ¼ teaspoonful salt, 4 quarts boiling water.

Well wash the rice in cold water, then put it into the boiling water with the salt, and let it boil fast 15 to 20 minutes. When it is quite tender, strain it into a colander, turn the cold water tap on to it for 2 or 3 seconds. Then place it in a dry saucepan by the side of the fire, with the lid half on, to dry and get hot. Shake it occasionally to prevent it burning, and serve.

Spanish Onions. Time—¾ hour.

Wash them, throw them into boiling water with their skins on , and boil until tender. Remove the outer skin. Serve with pepper, salt, gravy or butter.

Turnip Tops or Spinach. Time—¾ hour.

2 lbs. turnip tops, 2 oz. clarified fat, pepper and salt.

Wash well in several waters, strip off the leaves and place them in a saucepan of cold water with a little salt, and boil till tender. Strain and squeeze them as much as possible, chop very fine on a board, put back in the saucepan with the dripping, pepper and salt, and mix well till thoroughly hot. Serve decorated with hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters.

Fried Vegetable Marrow. Time—¾ hour.

1 vegetable marrow, 2 oz. flour, ½ gill tepid water, 1 dessertspoonful salad oil, salt, white of 1 egg.

36 Put the flour into a basin with a pinch of salt, add the oil and tepid water gradually, then the white of egg, well beaten. Peel the marrow, put it into boiling water, and boil until tender. Cut it into slices, remove the seeds, dip each piece in the batter, and fry in hot fat or oil a golden brown.

Bean Salad. Time—¾ hour.

1 lb. cold boiled French beans, or 1 lb. cold boiled haricot beans, 2 tablespoonfuls salad oil, 3 tablespoonfuls vinegar, ½ teaspoonful ground ginger; pepper and salt to taste.

Boil the beans, strain and allow them to get cold (haricot beans must be soaked 12 hours before boiling). Mix the ginger, pepper, salt, oil and vinegar carefully together, and pour this dressing over the beans. Cauliflowers and cabbages can also be treated this way.

German Celery or Celeriac. Time—1 hour.

1 root German celery, ½ gill white wine vinegar; pepper and salt to taste.

Wash the celery well, and boil it off cold; peel it, cut it into rather thick slices, pour the vinegar over it, and sprinkle with pepper and salt.

Lettuce Salad. Time—½ hour.

1 lettuce, ¼ beetroot, 1 bunch cress, ½ bunch radishes, 1 egg, pepper and salt to taste, ¼ teaspoonful made mustard, 2 tablespoonfuls salad oil, 3 tablespoonfuls vinegar.

Wash the lettuce thoroughly, pull it to pieces with the fingers, dry it in a coarse cloth. Wash the radishes, halve them; wash and pick the cress. Boil the egg hard, cut the white into pieces, and mix it with the salading. Pass the yolk through a sieve, and mix carefully with it the pepper, salt, mustard, oil and vinegar. This dressing should be poured over the salad and very thoroughly mixed with it. Ornament with small pieces of beetroot.

If preferred, use 3 tablespoonfuls of oil to 2 of vinegar.

1 quart onions, 1 pint vinegar, ⅛ oz. peppercorns, salt and water, ½ oz. ginger.

Peel the onions, and when some water with plenty of salt in it is boiling pour it over them, and let them remain in it 24 hours. Keep them close covered till all the steam has evaporated. After 24 hours wipe them dry. Boil the vinegar, pepper, and ginger together, and pour this over the onions. Cover tightly, and keep them several weeks before using.

Potato Salad. Time—¾ hour.

8 large waxy potatoes, 1 small onion or shalot, 2 tablespoonfuls chopped parsley, 1 yolk of egg, 1 gill of salad oil, 2 tablespoonfuls vinegar, pepper and salt to taste, 1 lettuce.

Boil the potatoes off cold, slice them into a salad bowl, and sprinkle the chopped onion, parsley, and seasoning over them. Beat up the yolk, and stir the oil and vinegar gradually into it. Pour this dressing over the potatoes; mix with a fork, and garnish with lettuce.

Red Cabbage, Pickled.

1 red cabbage, 1 quart vinegar, whole peppers, whole ginger (bruised), whole allspice, cloves, 6 slices beetroot, salt.

Shred the cabbage very fine, spread it over some flat surface, sprinkle with salt, and leave 24 hours, then rub the cabbage in a clean cloth. Add the spice, tied up in a muslin bag, to the vinegar, and let it come to the boil. Meanwhile, place the cabbage in a jar which has a cover, with the slices of beetroot on top. When the vinegar boils, pour it over the cabbage, and cover close when it has become quite cold. This pickle will be ready for use in a few days.

Russian Salad. Time—1½ hour.

Take equal quantities of carrots, turnips, French beans, haricot beans, cauliflower, green peas, potatoes, beetroot, and celery, or any other vegetables that may be in season. Boil till tender: the carrots and turnips together, the French beans and green peas together, the haricot beans (which must have been soaked over-night), cauliflower 38 and potatoes all separately. When cold, cut all the vegetables into neat pieces. Mix all well together, with some Mayonnaise sauce (see page 40 ), turn into a basin or mould. When required, turn the salad on to a dish, and pour Mayonnaise sauce over it.

Salad Cream. Time—20 minutes.

1 tablespoonful raw mustard, 2 tablespoonfuls salad oil (¼ lb. brown sugar, if liked), a few drops anchovy sauce, a few drops soy or Worcester sauce, 1 egg, ½ pint vinegar.

Mix the mustard quite smooth with the oil, add the sugar, the anchovy and Worcester sauces. Beat up the egg thoroughly, and add it and the vinegar to the other ingredients. Beat all well together for 10 minutes. Pour it into a bottle; it will keep well some time in a cool place.

Almond Milk. Time—¾ hour.

¼ lb. ground almonds, 1 pint water.

Put the ground almonds in a saucepan with the water, and stew slowly about ¾ hour, stirring occasionally. Strain the milk through a piece of muslin.

Bread Sauce. Time—½ hour.

1 roll (stale), ½ pint clear stock; pepper, salt, ground mace to taste.

Soak the crumb of the roll in water, then strain away the water thoroughly; beat the bread to a cream, put it in a saucepan with the stock and seasoning. Bring it to the boil, then stir 2 or 3 minutes longer.

Caper Sauce (for Boiled Mutton). Time—½ hour.

½ pint liquor, 1 tablespoonful flour, pepper, salt, 3 teaspoonfuls chopped capers.

Boil ½ pint of the liquor in which the meat has been cooked, then stir the flour in carefully (as on page ix. , hint 2). Add the seasoning and capers. If required for fish , this sauce must be made with fish-liquor or milk, instead of the liquor from the meat.

1 dessertspoonful cornflour, 2 tablespoonfuls milk, ½ pint fish-liquor, 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley; salt to taste.

Mix the cornflour to a smooth paste with the milk, then add the fish-liquor; stir over the fire till the sauce boils, then add the chopped parsley and salt.

Clarified Sugar. Time—¼ hour.

¼ lb. lump sugar, 1 gill water, egg-shells.

Put the sugar into the cold water with the egg-shells, and stir frequently over the fire till all the sugar is dissolved and a thick syrup formed; strain well and boil up again.

Egg Sauce.

2 hard-boiled eggs, 1 oz. butter, ½ oz. flour, 1½ gill milk, pepper and salt.

Melt the butter in a stew-pan, mix in the flour, and add the milk, and cook 3 minutes after it boils, stirring it all the time. Add the finely chopped whites of eggs, pepper and salt. The sieved yolk to be used for decorating.

German Sauce. Time—¼ hour.

2 yolks of eggs, 1 wineglassful brandy, 1 dessertspoonful castor sugar.

Put the yolks into a stew-pan with the brandy and sugar; whisk this over the fire until it becomes a thick froth; do not let it boil, or the eggs will curdle.

Jam or Marmalade Sauce. Time—¼ hour.

1 gill water, 2 oz. lump sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls jam or marmalade, a few drops of lemon-juice.

Reduce the sugar and water by boiling to half the quantity, add the lemon-juice and jam, and heat all thoroughly.

Lemon Sauce. Time—¼ hour.

2 tablespoonfuls flour, 1 or 2 eggs, ½ pint boiling water, juice of 1 lemon.

Mix the flour, lemon-juice and eggs together, stir in the water; stir over the fire till the sauce has thickened. Add salt or sugar as required.

1 yolk of egg, pepper and salt to taste, 1 gill sweet oil, tarragon vinegar.

Beat up yolk and seasoning; drop in the oil very gradually, stirring all the time, so that the paste gradually thickens. Mix to a thick cream with tarragon vinegar.

Tartare Sauce is made by the addition of 1 dessertspoonful chopped capers, 1 teaspoonful finely chopped parsley, 1 teaspoonful made mustard, or a pinch of cayenne.

Melted Butter. Time—20 minutes.

1 oz. butter, ½ oz. flour, 1½ gill cold water.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour gradually, then add the water, stirring all the time; let it boil well and thicken.

Anchovy sauce or chopped parsley can be added to taste.

Mint Sauce. Time—½ hour.

3 dessertspoonfuls chopped mint, 2 dessertspoonfuls brown sugar, 1 teacupful vinegar.

Wash the mint, pick it from the stalk, and chop it fine; dissolve the sugar in the vinegar, then add the chopped mint.

Onion Sauce. Time—1 hour.

3 onions, ½ pint liquor, 1 oz. flour, 1 oz. dripping, pepper and salt.

Peel the onions, chop them up, boil till tender with a little salt, strain them; place them in a saucepan with the liquor, the flour and dripping mixed to a paste, the pepper and salt; stir well till the sauce is quite thick.

Piquant or Sharp Sauce.

½ gill vinegar, ½ pint white stock or pot-liquor, 1 oz. dripping, ¾ oz. flour, 1 shalot, 1 gherkin. Pepper and salt.

Melt the dripping in a stew-pan, add the vegetables cut up small, and fry them brown, then add the vinegar and boil. Stir in the flour and stock and cook 3 minutes after it boils. Add the seasoning, strain and serve.

Hints on Making Pastry.

1. Have everything particularly clean and dry.

2. Pass the flour through a wire sieve, and rub in the butter or fat with the tips of the fingers only.

3. Keep everything cool. Always mix the paste with cold water. To prevent hot hands wash them in hot water.

4. Roll out a short crust once only. If baking-powder be used, make and bake the pastry as quickly as possible.

5. Test the oven by placing a small piece of bread on the shelf. If it brown in half a minute the heat is correct.

6. Bake in the hottest part of the oven for the first five minutes, then remove to a cooler part.

7. Warm jam separately, and place it in the tart at the last minute. To keep the shape of the tart, place a piece of bread in the centre whilst baking.

Pastry.—Short Crusts.

1 lb. flour to ¾ lb. butter or fat, or 1 lb. flour to ½ lb. butter or fat, and the yolk of one egg; or 1 lb. flour to ½ lb. butter or fat, and 1 teaspoonful baking-powder; or 1 lb. flour to ¼ lb. butter or fat, and 1 teaspoonful baking-powder.

Flaky Pastry.

½ lb. flour, ¼ lb. butter or fat.

Divide the fat into three equal portions, rub one part into the flour in the usual way, add a pinch of salt and mix to a stiff paste with cold water. Roll out into a long narrow strip, rolling backwards and forwards only . Spread the second portion of fat evenly over the paste, fold into three and turn with the rough edges towards you. Roll out again and proceed in the same way. Fold over and roll to required shape.

Rough Puff Paste.

1 lb. flour to ¾ lb. butter or fat, or 1 lb. flour to ½ lb. butter or fat.

42 Break the butter or fat into the flour in lumps, and mix to a paste with a little cold water. Roll out, fold in three, turn the rough edges towards you, and roll out again. Do this four or six times till the paste is no longer streaky.

To Bake Puddings.

All puddings containing starch, such as rice, sago, macaroni, etc., must be baked slowly in a moderate oven, so that the starch globules may have time to swell, burst, and absorb the milk. Custards must also bake very slowly. Puddings containing flour must bake longer than those made with bread, etc.

To Boil Puddings.

1. Always place these puddings in boiling water; keep them well covered, and on the boil, adding more boiling water as required.

2. All puddings containing flour must boil longer than those made with bread, etc.

3. Puddings boiled in basins must boil longer than those put only in cloths.

4. The basin must always be quite full, and must be tied up in a cloth which has been dredged with flour.

To Steam Puddings.

1. Puddings cooked in this way are lighter than those that are boiled, but take longer to cook.

2. The water in the saucepan must only reach half-way up the basin, and must simmer all the time. More boiling water must be added when required.

3. The basin need not be quite full.

Almond Pudding. Time—1 hour.

8 eggs, 8 oz. castor sugar, 8 oz. ground almonds.

Beat the yolks and whites separately—the whites to a stiff froth—then whisk them together, and stir in gradually the sugar, and ground almonds. Beat well for 20 minutes, then pour the mixture into well-greased shallow dishes, and bake in a moderate oven. If a knife when inserted come out clean, the puddings are done.

1 lb. apples, 2 oz. brown sugar, ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoonful cold water, rind and juice of a lemon.

Wash the apples (if an apple corer be handy core them), notch them across the top, place them in a Yorkshire pudding tin, with the sugar, lemon-rind, lemon-juice, water, and cinnamon. Bake till tender; serve hot or cold. For Apple Snow , pass through a sieve and beat in lightly whites of 2 eggs and 3 oz. castor sugar, then pile roughly on a dish, and decorate to taste.

Baked Apple Dumplings. Time—1 hour.

½ lb. flour, 4 oz. dripping, ½ teaspoonful baking-powder, 4 apples, cloves or lemon-rind, 2 oz. brown sugar.

Peel and core the apples, and fill the centre of each with moist sugar and 2 cloves or 2 pieces lemon-rind. Rub the dripping into the flour, add the baking-powder and enough cold water to form a stiff paste, divide it into four, and roll each piece out. Place an apple in the centre of each piece of paste, and work it well round the apple. Grease a tin, place the dumplings on it, and bake about ¼ hour.

Apple Fritters. Time—2¾ hours.

3 large apples (½ wineglassful brandy, if liked), 2 oz. powdered loaf sugar. Batter —4 tablespoonfuls flour, 1 tablespoonful salad oil, a pinch of salt, tepid water, white of 1 egg.

Peel and core 3 large apples, cut them into slices half an inch thick, put them in a dish with the sugar and brandy, cover with another dish, and leave them 2 hours.

Batter. —In a separate basin mix the flour with the oil, salt, and sufficient tepid water to make a batter the thickness of cream, avoiding lumps. Cover the basin, and let the batter stand 2 hours. Then add the well-beaten white of egg to the batter, dry the slices of apple on a cloth, dip each piece in the batter, so that it is quite covered, and fry in hot fat or oil. Serve with powdered sugar.

1 lb. apples, 1 oz. brown sugar, 4 eggs, 1 gill water, 1 oz. ground almonds.

Beat the eggs well, add the water, sugar and almonds. Peel the apples, core them, place them in a pie-dish which has been thoroughly greased and sugared, pour the custard over them, and bake about ½ hour.

Apple Jelly. Time—3 hours.

1 lb. apples, 1 lb. brown sugar, 1 gill water, juice and peel of 1 lemon.

Peel and core the apples, put them into a stew-pan with the sugar, water, juice of the lemon, and the peel chopped fine. Boil over a slow fire, stirring occasionally, until quite stiff and of a deep brown colour. Dip a small mould into cold water, put the jelly in, and let it set. Turn out when cold.

Bread Pudding. Time—1¾ hour.

½ lb. scraps of bread, 2 oz. suet, 1 oz. candied peel, ¼ lb. currants, raisins, or sultanas, ¼ lb. brown sugar, 1 egg.

Soak the scraps of bread in cold water, then squeeze very dry, put into a basin and beat out the lumps; chop the suet fine, clean the fruit, shred the peel, and beat the egg. Mix all the dry ingredients, then add the egg and a little water, if required. Grease and sugar a pie-dish or tin, fill with the mixture, and bake about 1 hour.

If preferred, the fruit and peel can be replaced by chocolate, or ground ginger and golden syrup. Bread-crumbs can be used instead of soaked bread if liked.

Cocoanut Pudding. Time—1¼ hour.

1 lb. soaked bread, ¼ lb. grated or desiccated cocoanut, 2 oz. ground almonds, 4 tablespoonfuls brown sugar, 3 eggs.

When the bread has been thoroughly soaked, squeeze it very dry, and beat out all the lumps. Mix the dry ingredients well together, then add the eggs well beaten. Grease and sugar a pie-dish, fill with the mixture, and bake about three-quarters of an hour. Turn out on to a hot dish.

1 lb. French plums, ½ pint water, ½ lb. lump dust, ½ oz. vegetable isinglass, rind of ½ lemon.

Soak the plums over-night. Next morning stew them gently with the water and sugar for 1 hour or longer till quite tender; pour the juice off on to the isinglass to dissolve it. Stone the plums and pulp them through a wire sieve. Crack the stones, blanch and pound the kernels, add them with the strips of lemon peel and the isinglass to the plums, mix and pour into a wetted mould.

Eve Pudding. Time—2½ hours.

1 lb. suet, ¼ lb. currants, ¼ lb. brown sugar, ¼ lb. chopped apples, ¼ lb. bread-crumbs, 2 eggs.

Chop the suet fine, wash and dry the currants, mix with the sugar, chopped apples, bread-crumbs, and eggs well beaten. Grease a mould, pour in the mixture, and boil or steam two hours. The eggs may be left out.

Fig Pudding. Time—4½ hours.

½ lb. dried figs, ¼ lb. brown sugar, ¼ lb. suet or dripping, 5 oz. flour, 5 oz. bread-crumbs, a pinch of salt and mixed spice, 2 eggs, 1 tablespoonful golden syrup.

Cut the figs up small, chop the suet and mix all the dry ingredients together, add the golden syrup and beaten eggs, turn into a greased basin; dredge a pudding cloth with flour, tie it over the basin and boil for 3 to 4 hours.

For Date Pudding proceed in the same manner, but omit the golden syrup.

Fruit Pie. Time—1 hour.

6 oz. flour, 2 oz. clarified fat or dripping, 1 lb. fruit, ½ teaspoonful baking-powder, 2 oz. brown sugar.

Prepare the fruit, and half fill the pie-dish with it; add the sugar, then the remainder of the fruit, and a little water. Rub the fat into the flour, add the baking-powder, salt, and sufficient water to make a stiff paste. Roll this out to the shape of the dish, but larger; cut off a strip, wet the edge of the dish, put the strip round it, wet the strip, and press the rest of the pastry on to it. Trim neatly, ornament, and bake about ½ hour. When half done brush over with cold water.

½ lb. flour, 3 oz. suet, 1 lb. fruit, 2 oz. brown sugar, salt.

Chop the suet fine, add the salt; rub these well into the flour; mix with cold water to a stiff paste. Cut off one-third of the paste for the top; roll out the remainder into a round, twice the size of the top of the basin. Grease the basin very thoroughly, line it with the paste, cut up the fruit, and half fill the basin with it, add the sugar and a little water, then the remainder of the fruit. Roll out the top piece, wet the edges of the paste, put on the top, press the edges together. Dredge a pudding cloth and tie it over the basin. Boil in plenty of water about 1½ hour.

Baked Fruit Pudding must be made the same way, but the basin must be sugared as well as greased. Bake about ¾ hour.

Gooseberry Jelly. Time—1½ hour.

1 quart green gooseberries, 1 quart cold water, ½ lb. brown sugar, 1 oz. vegetable isinglass.

Stew the gooseberries in the water with ¼ lb. sugar, allow them to get cold, then heat them again, this process gives the juice a pink colour. Dissolve the isinglass in a little water, add to it ¼ lb. sugar and place it in the juice of the fruit, which should have been carefully strained and cleared; mix all gently together, pour into a wetted mould, and serve when cold.

Homœopathic Pudding. Time—½ hour.

1 lb. black currants, bread, ½ lb. brown sugar, ½ pint water.

Stew the currants with the sugar and water, when soft pour them boiling into a pudding basin, which has been lined with slices of bread, about half an inch thick. Cover the basin with a plate, on which place a heavy weight. Turn out when cold; the bread should then have become soaked with juice.

Stewed Fruit.

Cherries, currants, raspberries or plums, white sugar, water.

47 All these fruits require picking, and washing in cold water. Place the fruit in the stew-pan with the sugar and sufficient water to cover it, and simmer till tender. Cherries, red currants and raspberries stewed together and poured over a slice of bread or a penny sponge cake, make a delicious summer sweet.

Lemon Creams. Time—½ hour.

1 pint water, 4 eggs, rind and juice of 2 lemons, 2 oz. loaf sugar.

Add the sugar and lemon-rinds to the water, and when this boils, strain away the rinds, add the lemon-juice and pour on to the eggs, which have been well beaten. Place this mixture in a jar, stand it in a saucepan of boiling water, and stir till it begins to thicken.

Lemon Dumplings. Time—1¼ hour.

½ lb. bread-crumbs, ¼ lb. chopped suet, ¼ lb. brown sugar, 2 eggs, grated rind and juice of one large lemon.

Mix all the dry ingredients well together, then add the lemon-juice, and eggs well beaten. Grease small cups, fill them with the mixture, cover with greased paper, and steam 1 hour, or bake ½ hour. Serve with sweet sauce.

Madeira Cake Pudding. Time—2½ hours.

3 eggs, weight of the eggs in flour, dripping, and castor sugar; nutmeg, and lemon-rind.

Rub the dripping into the flour, add the sugar, well-beaten eggs, and flavouring, and beat all well together. Ornament the top of a greased mould with slices of candied peel, put in the mixture, and steam for 2 hours.

Serve with lemon sauce (see page 39 ).

Marmalade Pudding. Time—2½ hours.

¼ lb. bread-crumbs, ¼ lb. suet or dripping, 2 oz. candied peel, 1 lemon, 1 egg, 3 tablespoonfuls marmalade.

Chop the suet very fine (or rub the dripping into the bread-crumbs), shred the candied peel, grate the rind of the lemon. Put all the dry ingredients into a basin, and mix with them the marmalade and egg. Grease a basin or mould well, fill with the mixture, cover with greased paper, and steam 2 hours. Serve with marmalade sauce (see page 39 ).

½ lb. suet, ½ lb. sultanas, ½ lb. raisins, ½ lb. currants, ½ lb. brown sugar, ½ lb. apples, ½ lb. candied peel, grated rind of 1 lemon, 2 oz. ratafias soaked in brandy.

Stone and chop the raisins, wash and dry the currants, chop all the other ingredients, mix them well together, and cover close for a month.

Pancakes.

4 oz. flour, 1 egg, ½ pint water, fat or oil, salt, sugar.

Put the flour into a basin, beat the egg, add it with a little of the water to the flour. Beat it well, then add the remainder of the water, and let the batter stand. Melt a small piece of fat, or heat the oil, in a frying-pan the size of the pancake required; pour in just enough batter to cover the bottom, and fry it a light brown on both sides, either tossing it, or turning it with a fork. Sprinkle each pancake with lemon-juice and castor sugar, and serve on a hot dish.

Stewed Pears. Time—5 hours.

6 large pears, ½ lb. brown sugar, ½ pint water, rind of 1 lemon, a few cloves.

Peel the pears, cut them in halves, and core them. Lay them in a stew-pan with the sugar, water, lemon-rind, and cloves. Cover tightly, first with brown paper, then with lid of stew-pan. Stew gently 4 or 5 hours.

Pears can also be stewed in a stone jar in the oven, but must always be well covered up.

Economical Plum Pudding. Time—11 hours.

1 lb. raisins, ½ lb. currants, ½ lb. suet, ½ lb. flour, ¼ lb. bread-crumbs, 2 oz. brown sugar, ¼ lb. almonds, ¼ lb. candied peel, grated rind of 1 lemon, ¼ of a nutmeg grated, ½ teaspoonful mixed spice, golden syrup and beer from ¼ pint upwards.

Stone the raisins, wash and dry the currants, shred the suet fine, prepare the bread-crumbs, chop the candied peel, blanch and chop the almonds. Mix these all well together with the flour, sugar, grated lemon-rind and nutmeg, mixed spice, and enough golden syrup and beer to form a stiff mixture. Boil in basins or moulds for ten hours.

½ lb. flour, ½ lb. carrots, ½ lb. potatoes, ½ lb. suet, ½ lb. currants, ½ lb. raisins or sultanas, 2 oz. candied peel, ¼ lb. golden syrup.

Peel the potatoes, scrape the carrots, boil both till tender, then mash them. Add to these the flour, currants, raisins or sultanas, suet and peel chopped fine, and lastly the golden syrup. Boil in a greased basin for 3 hours.

Silk Pudding. Time—5 hours.

1 lb. red currants, ½ lb. raspberries, ¼ lb. tapioca, 1 teacupful water, ¼ lb. castor sugar.

Soak the tapioca in the water over-night, next morning stew all gently together for at least 4 to 5 hours. Turn into a wetted mould and serve cold.

Any other fresh fruit can be used.

Stewed Prunes. Time—2 hours.

1 lb. prunes, ½ lb. white sugar, ½ pint water, stick cinnamon or lemon-rind to taste.

Soak the prunes over-night in cold water. Next morning put them in a stew-pan with the sugar, water and flavouring, and stew slowly about 2 hours.

Stewed Rhubarb and Rhubarb Fool. Time—1½ hour.

Rhubarb, lemon-rind, loaf sugar.

Wash the rhubarb, peel it, cut into pieces about three inches long, put it with the sugar, lemon-rind and enough water to cover it, either in a stew-pan, or in an earthenware jar in the oven, for about 1 hour. If liked, it may then be passed through a sieve, and well mixed with the beaten yolk of an egg, while the white should be beaten to a stiff froth, and used to ornament the dish.

Gooseberry Fool can be made the same way.

Roly Poly or Suet Pudding. Time—2 hours.

¾ lb. flour, ¼ lb. suet, ½ lb. jam, ½ teaspoonful baking-powder, ¼ teaspoonful salt.

50 Chop the suet fine, rub it well into the flour, add the salt, baking-powder, and sufficient cold water to make a stiff paste. Turn on to a floured board, roll into a long thin piece, spread with jam, not too near the edge, roll up, pressing the edges together. Dredge a pudding cloth with flour, place the pudding on it with the join downwards, roll up in the cloth, and tie up the ends. Place in boiling water, and boil about 1½ hour.

Suet Pudding is made the same way, the jam being left out, or replaced by treacle, currants, or sultanas.

Swiss Fritters. Time—½ hour.

1 French roll, 1 egg, a little nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar.

Cut the crumb of the roll into square slices half an inch thick. Beat up the egg, mix the nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar with it and soak the slices of roll in the mixture. Fry in hot oil till they become a golden brown, drain on paper, serve with clarified sugar or jam.

Swiss Roll. Time—½ hour.

3 eggs, ½ teacupful castor sugar, ½ teacupful flour, 1 teaspoonful baking-powder, jam.

Beat the sugar and yolks of the eggs well together, then add the flour gradually, then the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth and lastly the baking-powder. Grease a baking-tin well , pour the mixture into it and bake in rather a quick oven about 10 minutes. Sugar a pastry board, loosen the edges of the cake with a knife and turn it on to the board. Spread the cake with jam and roll it up.

Treacle and Ginger Pudding. Time—2¼ hours.

¼ lb. flour, 2 oz. suet, 1 good teaspoonful ground ginger, 1 teaspoonful baking powder, 1 teacupful golden syrup, 1 egg, 1 oz. candied peel.

Chop the suet fine, put it into a basin with the flour, peel, ginger and baking-powder. Beat up the egg, mix the treacle with it, and stir into the mixture in the basin, adding more treacle if the pudding is not moist enough. Grease a basin or mould well, put the pudding into it, and cover with a greased paper. Steam for 2 hours. Serve with lemon sauce (see page 39 ) to which some preserved ginger has been added.

¾ lb. flour, ¼ lb. dripping, ½ lb. golden syrup, 1 oz. ground ginger, 2 oz. bread-crumbs.

Rub the dripping into the flour and mix to a stiff paste with cold water, roll out very thin, and line a greased pie-dish with it. Cover with golden syrup as for a roly poly pudding, sprinkle with ginger and bread-crumbs, and continue alternate layers of paste and golden syrup, etc., till the dish is full, finishing with paste. Bake in a moderate oven, and turn out on to a hot dish.

Yorkshire Pudding. Time—¾ hour.

½ lb. flour, 1 pint water, 3 eggs, salt.

Make a batter as for pancakes (see page 48 ). Let it stand 2 hours, then pour into a greased tin and bake about ½ hour.

Batter Pudding is made the same way, but must be steamed for two hours in a greased basin or mould, instead of being baked, and must be served with a sweet sauce.

Bread-and-Butter Pudding. Time—¾ hour.

6 slices bread-and-butter, ½ oz. butter, 1 oz. currants, 1 oz. sultanas, 1 oz. candied peel, 2 oz. brown sugar, 1 egg, ½ pint milk; nutmeg or cinnamon to taste.

Butter a pie-dish, lay the slices of bread-and-butter in it, sprinkle the currants, sultanas and candied peel between each slice. Beat the egg, add to it the sugar and milk, stir well together, and pour over the bread-and-butter. Put little bits of butter over the top, and grate some nutmeg over. Bake in a moderate oven about ½ hour.

A good pudding can be made with bread-and-jam instead of bread-and-butter, leaving out the currants, sultanas and candied peel.

Apples in Custard

See page 44 , but use milk instead of water.

1½ tablespoonful cornflour, 1 tablespoonful sugar, 1 dessertspoonful cocoa, 1 pint milk.

Mix the dry ingredients well together with a little cold milk, then boil the rest of the milk, and add gradually, stirring all the time to prevent lumps. Boil all for 10 minutes, stirring well all the time. Dip a basin or mould in cold water, pour the mixture into it, and let it stand till cold. Turn out carefully.

Cocoanut Custard. Time—½ hour.

2 sponge cakes, 1 egg, 1 gill milk, 2 oz. grated or desiccated cocoanut, 1 teaspoonful castor sugar.

Butter a small pie-dish, cut the sponge cakes in slices, make two layers of them, strewing cocoanut between. Beat up the yolk of the egg with the milk, pour it over the sponge cakes, and strew the rest of the cocoanut over. Beat the white of the egg to a stiff froth, add the castor sugar, and spread over the pudding. Bake in a moderate oven till the white of egg has become a pale brown.

Boiled Custards. Time—½ hour.

1 pint milk, 3 eggs, 1 bay leaf or ½ vanilla bean, 6 lumps sugar.

Put the milk on to boil with the vanilla bean and sugar in it; meanwhile beat up the eggs, taking out the treads (little white lumps). Pour the boiling milk on to the eggs. Pour the mixture into a jug, stand this in a saucepan of boiling water over the fire, and stir the custard till it has thickened.

Custard Pudding. Time—1¼ hour.

3 eggs, 1 pint milk, bay leaf or vanilla.

Beat up the eggs, taking out the treads (little white lumps). Pour the milk over the eggs, sweeten and flavour to taste, place in a greased pie-dish, and bake about 1 hour. If liked, a penny sponge cake cut in halves may be placed in the bottom of the pie-dish.

2 eggs, their weight in flour, weight of one egg in castor sugar, 3 oz. butter, 1 tablespoonful jam, small ½-teaspoonful carbonate of soda, 1 oz. glacé cherries or candied peel.

Butter a pudding-mould and ornament it with the cherries or candied peel. Cream the butter and sugar together, add the well-beaten eggs, mix the carbonate of soda and flour together and stir into the other ingredients; lastly add the jam and mix all together. Pour into the prepared mould and cover with a sheet of greased paper. Steam for 2 hours and serve hot with a sweet sauce over it.

Macaroni Pudding. Time—1 hour.

¼ lb. Naples macaroni, 2 oz. brown sugar, flavouring to taste, 1 pint milk, 1 egg, salt.

Break up the macaroni into small pieces, throw them into boiling water with plenty of salt. Boil about ½ hour, strain off the water, and put the macaroni into a greased pie-dish. Beat up the egg, add the sugar, flavouring and milk. Pour this on to the macaroni, mix all together, and bake about 25 minutes.

New Year Tartlets. Time—1 hour.

Enough rough puff pastry to line twelve patty-pans, 3 tablespoonfuls jam, 2 eggs, weight of 1 egg in butter, sugar and flour, ½ teaspoonful baking-powder, few drops flavouring.

Icing. —½ lb. loaf sugar, 1 gill water, few drops rose-water.

Line the patty-pans with pastry, put into each a little jam without stones; cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs, then the flour, baking-powder and flavouring, beat for 10 minutes. Place a layer of this mixture over the jam, bake in a hot oven from 15 to 20 minutes. Boil the loaf sugar with the water for 10 minutes, add the rose-water, turn into a basin, and when cool stir the syrup round and round until it looks milky white. Spread it over the top of the tartlets, smooth it flat with a knife dipped in hot water, then put the tartlets in a cool oven for a few minutes for the icing to harden.

See page 48 , but use milk instead of water.

Queen of Puddings. Time—2½ hours.

3 oz. bread-crumbs, 4 oz. castor sugar, 1 oz. butter, ½ pint milk, 1 lemon, jam, 2 yolks, 3 whites of egg.

Beat the yolks of the eggs well, and add to them the bread-crumbs, 2 oz. sugar, the butter melted, milk and grated lemon-peel. Fill a pie-dish three-parts full with these ingredients and bake 1 hour. When nearly cold, spread a layer of jam on the top; beat the whites of the eggs to a very stiff froth, add 2 oz. sugar and the lemon-juice, pour over the top of the jam, and slightly brown it in a cool oven. Serve hot or cold.

Rice Pudding. Time—2¼ hours.

1½ oz. rice, 1 pint milk, 1 tablespoonful brown sugar, 1 oz. butter, grated nutmeg or cinnamon to taste.

Grease a pie-dish, wash the rice and put it into the dish with the sugar. Pour 3 gills of milk over it, sprinkle the top with the nutmeg or cinnamon and small pieces of butter, and bake in a moderate oven about 2 hours. Add the remaining gill of milk by degrees, as the rice swells.

Tapioca and Sago Puddings are made in the same way, but the grain should be soaked in cold water first.

Sweet Omelet. Time—10 minutes.

2 yolks of eggs, 2 or 3 whites of eggs, 1 dessertspoonful castor sugar, flavouring, ½ oz. butter.

Cream the yolks with the sugar, then add the whites beaten to a stiff froth, melt the butter in a small frying-pan. Add the flavouring (vanilla, lemon, etc.) to the eggs, mix well, pour into the frying-pan, cook for 2 to 3 minutes, double it and shake it off on to a hot plate. While the omelet is cooking, pass a knife round the edges of it and shake the pan to keep it from sticking.

Cheap Trifle. Time—½ hour.

3 sponge cakes, jam, juice of 1 lemon, ½ pint of milk, 1 egg, 1 dessertspoonful cornflour, 1 oz. loaf sugar.

55 Cut the sponge cakes in halves, spread them with jam, place them on a dish and sprinkle the lemon juice over them (sherry may be used if preferred). Put the milk and sugar on to boil, beat the egg and cornflour up together, and pour the boiling milk on to them; then stir the mixture over the fire till it thickens, but do not let it boil. When the custard is thick enough, pour it over the sponge cakes, and set the dish aside to cool. Decorate if liked with preserved fruit.

Yorkshire Pudding.

This can be made with milk instead of water, as on page 51 , and eaten with sugar or treacle. The same applies to Batter Pudding .

Cauliflower au Gratin. Time—¾ hour.

1 cauliflower, 1 oz. butter, 1 oz. flour, 1 gill water, 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls cream or ½ pint milk, 2 oz. grated cheese; pepper, salt, and a little cayenne to taste.

Boil the cauliflower, remove all the green leaves, put it in a pudding-basin which has been greased and sprinkled with raspings, with the flower upwards, and press it into shape. Melt the butter, mix the flour in smoothly, add the water and stir well over the fire for 5 minutes, then add the cream or milk, the seasoning and half the grated cheese, and heat the sauce. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower, and sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top. Brown it in a quick oven.

Chocolate. Time—½ hour.

4 oz. chocolate, 2 gills water, 1 pint milk.

Grate the chocolate, put it in the saucepan with the water, set it on the fire and stir with a wooden spoon till the mixture becomes rather thick, then work it very quickly for a few minutes with the spoon. Stir in the boiling milk gradually and serve.

2 teaspoonfuls cocoa, 1 teaspoonful cold water or milk, 1 teacupful boiling water or milk.

Mix the cocoa to a smooth paste with the cold water, pour the boiling water gradually over it, and boil it for 3 minutes.

Cocoa Nibs. Time—6 hours.

½ lb. cocoa nibs, 2 quarts water.

Crush the nibs with a rolling pin, then place them in a saucepan with the cold water, and bring to the boil. Draw to the side of the fire, and simmer gently about 5 hours, occasionally skimming off the oil which rises to the top. Strain, add about an equal quantity of milk, re-heat and serve.

Coffee in a Jug.

1 pint boiling water, 2 heaped tablespoonfuls ground coffee.

Scald a jug, which has a lid, with hot water, then put in the coffee, and pour the boiling water on to it. Put on the lid, and let the coffee draw 5 minutes close to the fire. Clear it, by pouring a little into a cup and pouring it back 3 times, or by adding a small teacupful of cold water. Then let the jug stand 10 minutes in a hot place, where it will almost simmer. Serve with boiling milk, and sugar to taste.

Coffee in a Coffee-Pot.

Scald the coffee-pot with hot water. Put the coffee in above the strainer, pour the boiling water over it very gradually, and while it is running through, place the pot where it will keep very hot. As soon as all the water has run through, serve with boiling milk, and sugar to taste. Use 1 heaped teaspoonful for each person and 1 extra.

Coddled Eggs. Time—5 minutes.

Eggs should not be boiled , because this process hardens the outside quickly, before cooking the yolk thoroughly. Carefully put the egg into boiling water with a spoon, place the saucepan near the fire, where the water cannot boil, but is near to boiling point. Take it out after 5 minutes.

57 Hard-boiled Eggs : Place the eggs in a saucepan in cold water, bring to the boil and let them cook 12 minutes; then put them immediately into a basin of cold water to keep them a good colour.

Fried Eggs. Time—10 minutes.

2 eggs, 1 oz. butter; pepper and salt to taste.

Make the butter hot in a frying-pan, break the eggs into a cup and slip them carefully in without breaking the yolks, and fry 3 or 4 minutes. Take them out with a slice and serve hot.

Poached Eggs. Time—10 minutes.

1 egg, buttered toast, salt, ½ pint water, 1 teaspoonful vinegar.

Put the water with salt and vinegar into a shallow saucepan where the water cannot boil, but is near to boiling point. Break the egg into a cup, and slip it gently into the water. Let it remain till the white is set. Take it out carefully with a small slice, trim the edges, and place it on a piece of buttered toast, with pepper and salt to taste.

Savoury Eggs. Time—½ hour.

4 eggs, 1 oz. butter, ½ teaspoonful anchovy sauce, a little cayenne pepper.

Boil the eggs hard, when cold shell them, halve them, take out the yolks. Beat the yolks up smooth with the butter, anchovy sauce and pinch of cayenne. Fill the white halves with this paste, cut off the ends, stand each half on a round of bread-and-butter, and ornament with cress or parsley.

Another Way. —4 hard-boiled eggs, 1 oz. butter, 1 teaspoonful chopped tarragon, beetroot cut into fancy shapes, mustard and cress.

Halve the eggs, take out the yolks, mix these smoothly with the butter and tarragon. Fill the whites with the mixture, ornament with beetroot, and arrange on a dish with the cress round.

¼ peck peas, 1 dessertspoonful oil, 1 small onion, 1 teacupful boiling water, 2 lumps sugar, a little fresh mint, 3 eggs; salt and pepper to taste.

Fry the onion in the oil, with some salt and pepper. Pick the peas over carefully, wash and drain them, put them in the saucepan with the oil and onion, add the water, sugar and mint. Cook till the peas are tender (about ½ hour), then break the eggs into a cup, and slip them carefully on to the peas. Cook till they are set, and dish up.

Stirred or Buttered Eggs. Time—10 minutes.

2 eggs, 1 oz. butter, salt and pepper to taste, 2 slices hot buttered toast.

Break the eggs into a small stew-pan, add the salt, pepper and butter. Put the stew-pan over a moderate fire, and stir with a wooden spoon, keeping every particle in motion, until the whole has become a smooth and delicate thickish paste. Pour the eggs on to the toast, and serve at once.

Hominy. Time—3¼ hours.

The day before it is required, place half a teacupful of hominy in a basin with 1 pint of water and a good pinch of salt. Put it in a moderate oven to soak for 3 hours, adding more water if required. Next morning warm it up with about ½ pint of milk, and add sugar to taste.

Macaroni Cheese—¾ hour.

¼ lb. macaroni, ½ pint milk, 3 oz. grated cheese, 1 oz. butter, ½ oz. flour; salt and a little cayenne pepper to taste.

Put the macaroni with one teaspoonful salt into boiling water and boil till tender, about 20 minutes; take it out, cut it up into lengths of about 2 inches, and throw the water away; melt the butter, stir in the flour, add the milk and seasoning. Boil well, put in the macaroni, let it cool a little, then add half the cheese. Place in a pie-dish, sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and bake 10 minutes.

Mushrooms. Time—¾ hour.

½ lb. mushrooms, ½ pint milk, 1 oz. butter, 1 tablespoonful flour, 1 tablespoonful mushroom ketchup, pepper and salt to taste.

59 Wash and peel the mushrooms and cut them into pieces. Stew them about ½ hour in the milk, add the flour, the butter melted, ketchup, pepper and salt, and serve on toast.

Another Way. —Peel the mushrooms, put them in a pie-dish with 1 oz. butter, pepper and salt, and bake about 20 minutes.

Risotto.

1½ pint water, ¼ lb. Carolina rice, 1 gill tomato purée, 2 oz. grated cheese, salt and pepper to taste, 1 oz. butter.

Bring the water to the boil in a large stew-pan, shower the rice in, replace the lid without stirring the rice and put it where it will keep boiling for ½ hour. Then mix the tomato purée and butter into it and 1 oz. of the cheese, season with pepper and salt, and serve very hot with cheese sprinkled over the top.

Porridge. Time—45 minutes.

2 oz. coarse oatmeal, ¼ teaspoonful salt, 1 pint water, milk and sugar.

When the water boils fast, add the salt, then sprinkle in the oatmeal. Boil gently 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Then let it simmer 30 minutes more, stirring often. Turn into hot soup-plates, and serve with milk and sugar, or with golden syrup.

Salmagundy. Time—½ hour.

1 Dutch herring, 1 onion, ½ pint vinegar, a little allspice, ginger, and pepper.

Wash the herring, remove the flesh from the bones, lay it in a dish, and put a few slices of onion on it. Boil the vinegar with the spice, and when cold, pour it over the herring.

Savoury Omelet. Time—10 minutes.

2 eggs, 1 oz. butter, a pinch of salt and of pepper, ½ teaspoonful chopped parsley, ½ teaspoonful chopped herbs.

Melt the butter in a small frying-pan, beat up the eggs in a basin with the parsley, herbs, pepper and salt. Pour the mixture into the pan, allow it to cook for 2 or 3 minutes; double it and shake it off on to a hot plate. While the omelet is cooking, pass a knife round the edges of it, and shake the pan to keep it from sticking.

Scald the tea-pot. Allow 1 teaspoonful of tea to each person, and one extra. When the water boils, pour off the water with which the pot was scalded, put in the tea, and pour boiling water over it. Let it draw 3 minutes. Tea should never be allowed to remain on the leaves. If not drunk as soon as it is drawn, it should be poured off into another hot tea-pot, or into a hot jug, which should stand in hot water.

Toast.

Cut a slice of stale bread about ⅓ inch thick. Dry each side ½ minute before the fire, then toast quickly before a clear fire. Put small pieces of butter all over the slice of toast, and when these are melted, smooth them over it. This will leave the toast deliciously crisp, as none of the surface will have been scraped off.

Fried Tomatoes. Time—15 minutes.

1 lb. tomatoes, 2 oz. butter.

Cut the tomatoes in halves. Heat the butter in the frying-pan, and fry the tomatoes till tender. Place them on a hot dish, and pour the liquor over them.

Welsh Rarebit. Time—10 minutes.

1 oz. grated cheese, 1 oz. butter, 1 teaspoonful made mustard, 2 slices buttered toast.

Melt the cheese, butter, and mustard together in a stew-pan, stirring well with a wooden spoon; pour over the hot buttered toast. Serve very hot.

African Shoots or Shrewsbury Biscuits. Time—½ hour.

¼ lb. butter, ¼ lb. castor sugar, ½ lb. flour, 1 egg, a few drops flavouring (essence of lemon, vanilla, &c.).

61 Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add to them the flavouring and the egg, well beaten, mix all well together, then stir the flour in smoothly. Pass the paste through a biscuit-forcer on to a greased tin, or turn it on to a floured board, roll it out as thin as possible, and cut it into rounds with a cutter or tumbler. Place the biscuits on a greased tin, and bake 20 minutes.

Bola. Time—2½ hours.

Crust : 1 lb. dough, ½ lb. butter, 1 oz. brown sugar. Inside : 4 oz. ground almonds, ½ oz. ground cinnamon, ½ lb. brown sugar, ½ lb. candied peel, 1 egg.

Shred the peel, and mix in the sugar, spice, almonds, and egg. Rub the butter well into the dough, sweeten it, roll it out thin, cut off a strip, and line the inside of a greased tin with it. Spread the inside mixture smoothly over the remainder of the dough with a knife, roll up like a roly-poly pudding; cut it into four pieces, and fill the tin, placing the cut ends upwards. Bake about ¼ hour in a hot oven, then 1¼ hour in a cooler part of the oven. When nearly baked, make holes, and pour in clarified sugar.

Bread. Time—4 hours.

3½ lbs. flour, 1 oz. yeast, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 teaspoonful castor sugar, 1½ pint tepid water.

Put the yeast and sugar into a basin, and cream them together with a wooden spoon till liquid, then add the tepid water. Pass the flour through a sieve, put it in a large basin, make a well in the centre, pour in the yeast and water, work in a little flour from the sides, cover with paper, and set it in a warm place (on the fender) to rise 20 minutes. Then work in the remainder of the flour with the hand, till the dough is smooth, and set to rise 2 hours. Then turn on to a floured board, and knead for a ¼ hour. Divide the dough into two pieces. For tin loaves, flour the tins, put in the dough, prick the top, and set to rise once more ¼ hour. For cottage loaves, cut each piece again into two, one piece twice as large as the other, form into balls with the hand, put the small one on the top of the large one, and make a hole in the top with the finger. Bake in the hottest part of the oven ¼ hour, then remove to a cooler part for 1½ hour. If the loaf sound hollow when tapped, it is done.

½ lb. flour, good teaspoonful of baking-powder, a good pinch of salt.

Mix the powder with the flour, then add sufficient water to make a dough, knead for 5 minutes, and bake 15 minutes in a quick oven.

Buns. Time—3¼ hours.

1 pint milk, 1 oz. yeast, ½ lb. flour, 1 teaspoonful castor sugar.

Rub the flour through a sieve, cream the yeast and sugar together and add lukewarm milk. Strain this mixture into the flour, and beat well. Cover the basin with paper and set in a warm place (on the fender) to rise for 1 hour.

In another basin put : 1¼ lb. flour, ¼ lb. butter, 2 oz. candied peel, 2 eggs, ¼ lb. sultanas or currants, ¼ lb. sugar.

When the sponge in the first basin has risen, beat in all the dry ingredients from the second basin with 2 eggs. Thoroughly mix and beat them for about 5 minutes. Set this sponge to rise again for about 1½ hour. Then shape the mixture into buns and bake on a greased tin for ½ hour. When cooked and while still hot, brush them over with a little milk and sugar to glaze them.

Butter Cakes. Time—½ hour.

¾ lb. flour, ½ lb. butter, ½ lb. brown sugar; cinnamon to taste; 2 eggs.

Rub the butter into the flour, add the sugar and cinnamon; beat up the eggs, and form the whole into a paste; roll out rather thin, cut into rounds with a cutter or a tumbler, and bake till crisp on a greased tin.

Candied Peel Drops. Time—¾ hour.

½ lb. flour, 3 oz. butter, 3 oz. brown sugar, 3 oz. candied peel, 1 egg, ½ teaspoonful baking-powder, ½ gill milk.

Pass the flour through a sieve, rub in the butter, add the sugar, the peel cut up fine, and the baking-powder. Beat up the egg with the milk, and mix with the flour to a stiff paste. With two forks drop small pieces on to a greased tin, and bake about ¼ hour.

2 oz. grated chocolate, 3 or 4 oz. fine flour, 6 eggs, 6 oz. sifted sugar, a few drops vanilla; raspings.

Beat the yolks of the eggs with the vanilla, whisk the whites to a stiff froth, drop the yolks slowly into the whites, beating all the time; then add gradually the sugar, chocolate, and lastly the flour, and only beat till they are well-mixed. Grease a cake-tin, sprinkle it with raspings (see page x .), turn the mixture into it, and bake at once in a well-heated oven for 1 hour; turn the cake on to a sieve, and stand on its side to cool.

Cocoanut Drops. Time—20 minutes.

1 tablespoonful sifted sugar, white of 1 egg, 1 grated cocoanut, a few drops of rose-water.

Beat the white of an egg to a stiff froth, then add the sugar, rose-water, and sufficient cocoanut to form a thick paste. Shape into little sugar-loaves, and bake a few minutes till crisp outside. The cocoanut may be replaced by grated chocolate .

Cornflour Cake. Time—1 hour.

2 oz. flour, ¼ lb. cornflour, ¼ lb. castor sugar, 2 oz. butter, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoonful baking-powder.

Beat the butter to a cream, add the sugar, and mix well; add the eggs, and beat all well together; stir in lightly the flour, cornflour, and baking-powder and beat all well for 5 minutes. Half-fill a greased cake-tin with the mixture, and place it at once in a hot oven to bake for ½ hour. Turn the cake on to a sieve, and stand on its side to cool.

Dough Cake. Time—1¼ hour.

1 lb. dough, ¼ lb. sugar, ¼ lb. currants or sultanas, 2 oz. butter, 1 oz. candied peel, 1 egg.

Wash and dry the currants, chop the peel, then mix these well into the dough; beat the egg, add the butter to it, and beat all the ingredients well together. Grease a tin, turn the mixture into it, and bake about 40 minutes.

¼ lb. butter, ¼ lb. brown sugar, ½ lb. flour, 2 eggs, ¼ lb. loaf sugar, crushed.

Pass the flour through a sieve, rub in the butter, then add the brown sugar and 1 whole egg, well beaten. Roll out ¼ inch thick, cut rings, brush over with egg, toss in the crushed sugar, and bake on a greased tin about ¼ hour in a quick oven.

Lemon Cheese-cake Mixture. Time—¼ hour.

3 eggs, 2 oz. butter, 6 oz. castor sugar, rind of one and juice of 2 lemons.

Beat up the eggs, add to them the sugar, lemon-juice and rind; melt the butter in a saucepan, add the other ingredients to it, and simmer gently till the mixture thickens, stirring all the time. This mixture can be used like jam, and will keep some time.

Oatmeal Biscuits. Time—¾ hour.

5 oz. flour, 7 oz. oatmeal, 1 oz. castor sugar, 3 oz. butter, ¼ teaspoonful baking-powder, 1 egg.

Melt the butter, mix the flour, sugar, oatmeal, and baking-powder, together; stir in the melted butter. Break the egg into a teacup, beat it up with a little water, and stir it into the other ingredients to form a paste. Turn the paste on to a board, and roll it out very thin, cut it into rounds with a cutter or tumbler, place the biscuits on a greased tin and bake 20 minutes.

Orange Cake. Time—1 hour.

The weight of 2 eggs in butter, sugar and flour; part of the juice and all the rind of 1 orange and a little baking-powder.

Cream the butter and sugar together about 5 minutes, add the orange-peel and 1 egg, and part of the flour. Use part of the juice for the cake, and the rest for the icing. Stir in the juice and baking-powder, add the rest of the ingredients, grease and sugar the tin, fill it ⅓ and bake ½ hour.

Icing , 1 tablespoonful water to ¼ lb. best icing sugar and orange juice. Stand this in a cup of warm water, and when liquid pour over the cake.

½ lb. flour, 1 tablespoonful of baking-powder, salt, 2 oz. currants, milk.

Wash and dry the currants, mix the dry ingredients well together, add sufficient milk to make a stiff paste, then knead well on a floured board. Form into shapes, brush over with milk, flour a tin, and bake in a hot oven ½ hour. If the rolls sound hollow when tapped, they are done.

Scones. Time—¾ hour.

1 lb. flour, ½ pint milk, 3 oz. butter, 3 teaspoonfuls baking-powder, 1 oz. sugar.

Rub the butter into the flour, add the baking-powder and sugar, and form into a smooth paste with lukewarm milk. Roll the paste out 1½ inch thick, cut it into triangles, and bake on a greased tin ½ hour. When half done, brush over with milk.

Spanish Biscuits. Time—½ hour.

1 lb. flour, 3 oz. sifted sugar, 1 tablespoonful baking-powder, 3 dessertspoonfuls salad oil, 1 dessertspoonful orange-flower water. Enough cold water to make it into a stiff paste.

Mix the ingredients, break off small pieces, shape them into rings, notching out all round with a sharp knife, place them on a hot tin and bake them in a hot oven.

Spice Cakes. Time—½ hour.

6 oz. flour, 4 oz. castor sugar, 1 oz. butter, 1 teaspoonful baking-powder, 1 teaspoonful nutmeg or cinnamon, ½ gill water, 1 egg.

Whisk the egg and sugar to a stiff batter, and add the water. Mix the flour, baking-powder and spice together, and stir lightly into the batter, then add the butter melted. Half fill small greased patty-pans, and bake in a sharp oven.

Vinegar Cake. Time—2 hours.

½ lb. flour, 2 oz. butter, ¼ lb. brown sugar, ¼ lb. currants, ¼ teaspoonful carbonate of soda, 1 dessertspoonful vinegar, 1 gill milk, ½ teaspoonful baking-powder, 1 teaspoonful cinnamon.

66 Mix the flour and butter together, then add the sugar, currants (washed and dried), cinnamon, and baking-powder. Mix together smoothly in a basin the carbonate of soda and the milk, then add the vinegar, and while it is effervescing, mix it quickly with the dry ingredients. Turn all into a greased cake-tin, and bake in a moderate oven about 1½ hour.

Yorkshire Tea Cakes. Time—2 hours.

¾ lb. flour, 1½ gill milk, 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful castor sugar, 1 oz. German yeast, 1 oz. butter, salt.

Pass the flour through a sieve, and add a pinch of salt. Melt the butter in a stew-pan, add the milk, and let it become lukewarm. Cream the yeast with the castor sugar, add the milk, butter and egg, mix well, then strain into the middle of the flour, work in all the flour from the sides, then turn on to a floured board, and knead with the hand. Cut into two pieces, place in floured tins, cover and leave in a warm place to rise 1 hour. Bake from 20 to 30 minutes in a hot oven.

Chocolate Caramels. Time—¾ hour.

½ lb. grated chocolate, 1 breakfastcupful brown sugar, ¾ breakfastcupful milk, 1 oz. butter, 2 dessertspoonfuls golden syrup.

Stir all the ingredients over the fire until thick (from 20 to 30 minutes). When a little of the mixture, poured into cold water, becomes crisp and hard, the caramels are ready. Pour the mixture on to well-greased dishes, mark it into squares, and cut up as soon as possible.

Cocoanut Candy. Time—1 hour.

1 large cocoanut, 1 tablespoonful cocoanut milk, 1 lb. brown sugar.

Cut the cocoanut into small thin strips about half an inch long. Boil with the sugar and the milk from the nut, stirring all the time. Drop a little on to a wet board, and if it be sufficiently cooked, it will harden. When ready, form the mixture into round cakes with a tablespoon, and drop them on to a wet board as fast as possible.

1¼ lb. ginger lee seed, 1 lb. castor sugar, 1 lb. honey, ¼ lb. almonds.

Blanch the almonds and ginger lee seed the day before they are required. Pick the seed over well, put it into the oven until it is a light brown. Mix the sugar and honey well together, put them in a saucepan on the fire, let them remain till clear (about 20 minutes). Drop in the ginger lee seed and almonds, and stir well. Drop a spoonful on to a plate to see if it sets; when ready, thoroughly wet a board and rolling pin, roll out the mixture about one inch thick, cut it up, and put on a dish to cool.

Toffee. Time—½ hour.

1 lb. brown sugar, ½ lb. butter, ½ gill water, 1 dessertspoonful vinegar (2 oz. almonds, if liked).

Melt the sugar and butter together, then add the water and vinegar, and stir over a slow fire, till a little of the mixture, poured into cold water, becomes quite crisp and hard. Blanch the almonds, cut them up, sprinkle them into the toffee at the last moment, then pour it on to well-greased dishes, mark it into squares, and cut up as soon as possible.

Cup of Arrowroot. Time—¼ hour.

1 dessertspoonful arrowroot, 1 pint milk.

Boil the milk, and meanwhile mix the arrowroot to a smooth paste with a little cold milk, then pour the boiling milk on to it and stir till smooth. If not thick enough, return it to the saucepan and stir for 2 or 3 minutes over the fire. Serve with sugar or salt.

A cup of cornflour can be made in the same way.

Barley Water. Time—20 minutes.

2 dessertspoonfuls prepared barley, 1 pint milk or water.

Put the barley into a basin and mix to a smooth paste with a little cold milk or water, then add to it gradually the boiling milk or water, stirring carefully with a wooden spoon all the time. Boil 10 minutes, stir continually and avoid lumps. Sweeten, and if made with water serve with lemon-juice.

Scrape a small piece of very lean gravy beef, put it in a tumbler, add a pinch of salt, and just cover with cold water. Let it stand 1½ hour, then strain, and add 2 or 3 drops of lemon-juice to turn it brown, if permitted by the doctor.

Beef Tea (strongest). Time—2 hours.

1 pint of water to 1 lb. gravy beef.

Cut the beef into pieces about half an inch square, removing all fat and skin, and soak for 1 hour in the water. Then add 1 teaspoonful of salt, and place in a covered jar, which must stand in a saucepan of boiling water for 1 hour. Keep the saucepan well filled, and the water boiling, but be careful not to let it enter the jar. Strain and serve.

Whole Beef Tea. Time—2½ hours.

½ lb. gravy beef to 1 pint water.

Cut the beef into pieces ½ inch square, removing all the skin and fat, and let the beef soak in ½ pint cold water. When the juices have been extracted (the pieces should soak all night) take out the beef and place it in a jar with the remainder of the cold water. Let this simmer 2 hours, then add the liquor to the cold raw juice, take out the pieces of meat, pound them, return them to the liquor, and heat all together. Flavour with green celery stalk, or a little Worcester sauce.

Calf’s Foot Jelly.

1 calf’s foot, 2 quarts water, rind of 1 and juice of 3 lemons, ¼ lb. loaf sugar, 3 whites and shells of eggs, spice.

Cut the foot into 3 pieces, put them in a saucepan and add the cold water, simmer gently 8 hours then strain into a basin. When the jelly is cold, carefully skim off the fat, dip a clean cloth into boiling water, and wipe any remaining fat off the surface with the cloth. Melt the jelly in a saucepan, then add the sugar, lemon-juice, and rind, whites of eggs well beaten, the shells and spice. Whisk over the fire till the jelly boils, then simmer, with the lid off 20 minutes. Fix a cloth, thoroughly rinsed in boiling water, on to a chair (as for clearing soup, see page 2 ), strain the jelly through it, and cover with a blanket while it is running through. Pour into a mould, which has been rinsed in cold water.

1 fowl, ½ lemon, mace; pepper and salt to taste.

Boil enough water to well cover the fowl, add salt, pepper and mace. Rub the fowl with the lemon-juice, put it into the saucepan. Boil gently 1½ hour. Serve with lemon sauce (see page 39 ), and if liked, garnish with slices of tongue, smoked beef, or worsht.

Chicken Broth.

Cut up an old fowl, cover with water, and stew it with 2 onions till it goes to pieces. Season with pepper and salt, skim well, strain, and serve very hot with sippets of toast.

Chickens’ necks stewed in the same way make very good broth.

To Roast a Chicken. Time—1 hour.

1 fowl (smoked beef fat). Stuffing : 1 tablespoonful chopped suet, 1 tablespoonful bread-crumbs, ½ tablespoonful chopped parsley, ½ tablespoonful chopped herbs, grated nutmeg, pepper and salt to taste, grated lemon-rind, 1 egg.

Dry the fowl well; prepare the stuffing as below, put it in at the breast, and sew or skewer it up. (If liked, lard the fowl with the smoked beef fat.) Rub with a little pepper and salt, dredge lightly with flour, and leave a little while. Then put a piece of greased paper over the breast, and put down to roast. Remove the paper ¼ hour before the fowl is done.

For the stuffing : Chop the suet and parsley fine, add to them the bread-crumbs, herbs, pepper, and salt, nutmeg, lemon-rind, and lastly the egg, well beaten. Mix all well together.

Cornflour Blanc-mange. Time—20 minutes.

2 tablespoonfuls cornflour, 1 pint milk, 1 tablespoonful loaf sugar, stick cinnamon.

Put the sugar, cinnamon, and nearly all the milk, in a saucepan to boil. Meanwhile mix the cornflour in a basin to a smooth paste, with the remainder of the milk. When the milk boils, add to it the cornflour, return all to the saucepan, and boil quickly 3 minutes, stirring all the time. Dip a mould in cold water, pour in the cornflour after the cinnamon has been taken out. When cold turn out, and serve with jam.

2 dessertspoonfuls oatmeal (fine or Scotch), 2 tablespoonfuls milk, ½ saltspoonful salt, 3 gills boiling water.

Mix the oatmeal and salt to a smooth paste with the milk. When the water boils add it gradually, stirring all the time. Let it stand ½ minute, then pour it into the saucepan, letting the grits remain in the basin. Stir the gruel till it boils, then simmer 10 minutes more if fine, ½ hour more if Scotch oatmeal. Sweeten to taste.

Lait de Poule. Time—10 minutes.

1 gill boiling water, ¾ wineglassful sherry, 1 egg, (nutmeg if liked), sugar.

Beat up the egg, pour the nearly boiling water over it, add the sherry and nutmeg, and sweeten. This drink is very good for a cold, when no milk is handy.

Lemonade.

2 lemons, 1 quart water; loaf sugar to taste.

Shave off the yellow rind of the lemon, place the sugar in a jug, put the rind in a strainer, and pour 1 pint of boiling water over it on to the sugar. Squeeze the lemons through a strainer, add to them 1 pint of cold water, then mix all together.

Mutton Broth.

This broth is made just like that on page 5 , but no rice or barley should be thrown in. The broth should be strained through a sieve, and served with sippets of toast. Special care should be taken to have it entirely free from fat.

Toast Water.

Toast a crust of bread carefully all over, but do not burn it black. Fill a jug with boiling water, then put in the toast. A bright liquid the colour of sherry will be the result.

Batter Pudding. Time—1 hour.

1 teacupful motza meal, 1 pint milk, 2 eggs, 3 oz. brown sugar, 2 oz. butter, rind of 1 lemon (tablespoonful rum, if liked).

71 Mix the meal into a batter with the milk and eggs, add the sugar, butter (melted), grated rind of lemon, and rum. Pour the mixture into a greased basin or mould, and boil for 1 hour, or bake ½ hour.

Cocoanut Custard. Time—½ hour.

See page 52 , but use prelatoes instead of sponge cakes.

To Fry Fish.

See page 11 , but use motza meal instead of flour.

To Stew Fish.

See page 15 , but use motza meal instead of flour.

Grimslichs. Time—¾ hour.

2 motzas, ¼ lb. motza meal.

Inside : 2 oz. ground almonds, 2 oz. raisins, 2 oz. sultanas, ¼ lb. currants, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ¼ lb. brown sugar, 2 eggs.

Mix the fruit, sugar, spice, almonds together with 1 egg. Soak the motzas till quite soft, squeeze very dry, make into a crust with the meal and the other egg. Shape a piece of this into an oval on the hand, place some of the inside mixture on it, cover with a top piece, shape carefully, and sprinkle with meal. Fry in hot fat or oil. Serve with clarified sugar.

Motza Kleis. Time—¾ hour.

2 motzas, ½ lb. motza meal, 3 oz. suet, 1 tablespoonful chopped parsley, 2 chopped onions, 2 eggs, marjoram, pepper and salt to taste.

Soak the motzas in cold water till they are soft, then squeeze them very dry. Chop the onions, brown them with a few drops of oil. Add them to the motza, with the suet chopped fine, nearly all the meal, parsley, marjoram, pepper, salt, and lastly, the eggs well beaten. Roll into balls with the remainder of the meal, and throw into the boiling soup ½ hour before serving.

Motza Pudding (baked).

2 motzas, 2 tablespoonfuls meal, 2 oz. dripping, ½ lb. dried fruit, 2 eggs, 2 oz. brown sugar, spice to taste.

72 Soak the motzas in cold water, then squeeze them very dry. Prepare the fruit, mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the eggs, well beaten. Grease a pie-dish well, sugar it, fill it with the mixture, and bake about ½ hour. Serve with clarified sugar (see page 39 ).

Boiled motza pudding is made in the same way, but chopped suet must be used instead of the dripping.

Potato Pastry. Time—1 hour.

¼ lb. cold boiled potatoes, 2 oz. potato flour, 2 oz. dripping, a pinch of salt, a very little water.

Mash the potatoes through a sieve, then add the salt and potato flour, and rub in the fat. Mix to a paste with a very little cold water. Proceed as in fruit pie, page 45 .

This paste may be used for meat pie, tartlets, &c., and will be found very light.

Potato Pudding. Time 1¼ hour.

3 large mealy potatoes, 1 oz. butter, ½ gill milk, 3 eggs, 1 tablespoonful brown sugar; nutmeg and salt to taste.

Boil the potatoes, mash them smooth with the milk, butter, well-beaten eggs, sugar, nutmeg, and salt. Bake in a greased dish ½ hour, and serve hot.

Sassafras.

Sassafras, aniseed, stick liquorice.

Tie up the liquorice and aniseed in a muslin bag, put this in a jug with the sassafras, and pour boiling water over it.

Swiss Roll. Time—½ hour.

1½ oz. potato flour, 2 oz. castor sugar, 3 eggs, lemon cheese-cake mixture (see page 64 ).

See page 50 , but use 1½ oz. potato flour or 3 oz. motza meal instead of flour, and lemon cheese-cake mixture instead of jam.

Lightning Cakes.

2 oz. butter, 2 oz. castor sugar, 2 oz. potato flour, 1 oz. ground almonds, 1 egg.

Cream the butter and sugar together, add the egg, well beaten, the potato flour, and ground almonds.

Grease a tin liberally, spread the mixture smoothly on it with a knife, bake in a quick oven 5 minutes, and cut into shapes while hot.

FORMATION OF COOKERY CLASSES.

In these few pages it is our object to give, as clearly and concisely as possible, directions for the formation and conduct of the Jewish Cookery Classes which are now increasing among us. Several years’ experience at the Bayswater Jewish Schools and at the Portuguese Jews’ Schools has enabled us to ascertain accurately the cost of starting and maintaining such a class, and we have endeavoured to give a clear statement of the necessary expenditure, together with a list of the requisite utensils.

“In schools in which the Inspector reports that special and appropriate provision is made for the practical teaching of cookery, a grant of four shillings is made on account of any girl (over twelve years of age before the conclusion of the course) who has attended not less than forty hours during the school year at the cookery class, and is presented for examination in the elementary subjects in any Standard.” ^[2] —(New Code of Regulations, 1882.)

A class-room can easily be adapted as the kitchen by the introduction of a good-sized cupboard and a simple open range. A kitchen table should be procured with screw legs, so that it can conveniently be taken to pieces, and removed after the lesson.

Two or three demonstration lessons, at which a large number of girls may attend, given at the commencement of the course, will enable the girls to set about the practice lessons with some degree of facility. No demonstration should last longer than an hour and a half, so that the teacher may secure the entire attention of the pupils. These lessons will afford an opportunity for dwelling on the value of foods, both from an economical and medical point of view.

74 The practice lessons should last two hours, so that there may be plenty of time for the pupils to thoroughly cleanse and put away every article used, scrub the floor and table and tidy the hearth. In these two hours the luncheon hour might easily be included.

The number of girls at a practice lesson should never exceed twelve, and they should work two together at one board. They should be shown how to weigh carefully each ingredient, and should themselves regulate, by a clock, the cooking of their own dishes. Perfect order must be maintained, and it is very necessary that neatness should be insisted on throughout every stage, and that special attention should be paid to personal cleanliness. The girls should be made to read through the recipe to be prepared, and to collect all the ingredients required before they actually commence to cook.

It is desirable that the various processes should be carried on with the simplest means, so that every girl may be fairly expected to find in her own home all such utensils as are employed during the lesson. It is, therefore, better to avoid the expense of a mincing-machine, knife-machine, and other labour-saving appliances.

REQUISITE UTENSILS, WITH APPROXIMATE COST, FOR CLASS OF SIX GIRLS.

Saucepans should always be filled immediately after use, with hot water and soda. When they have stood some time, they must be scoured well, inside and out, with silver sand, well rinsed in hot water, and thoroughly dried in front of the fire. The lids must be wiped, and hung up separately.

Frying-pans should never be washed, but should be wiped thoroughly clean with soft paper immediately after use.

Tin vessels must be thoroughly washed in hot water, dried, lightly covered with whiting, and then rubbed bright with wash-leather.

Kitchen tables must be washed over with a wet cloth, sprinkled with silver sand, and thoroughly scrubbed, the way of the grain, with hot water and soda. All the sand must then be carefully wiped off with a damp cloth. Should the table be very greasy, damp fuller’s earth must be used instead of sand.

Pastry boards and wooden utensils must be washed over with a wet cloth, sprinkled with crushed soda and boiling water, then scrubbed well, the way of the grain, and dried with a cloth.

Knives must be placed in a jug, and covered with hot water as far as the haft, then wiped quite dry, cleaned with bath brick on a wooden board placed in a slanting position. When quite bright, the dust must be wiped off with a dry cloth.

The prongs of forks must be cleaned with a piece of rag dipped in bath brick.

Plates and dishes must be washed in hot water and soda, then rinsed in cold water, and left in the plate-rack to dry.