DISHES MADE WITHOUT
MEAT

[6]

There is undoubtedly a great and growing liking for maigre dishes, not only amongst those people who eat them from religious motives, but amongst the general public. Nowadays at most of the smart restaurants vegetable and cereal dishes are a feature of almost every meal, and at private houses no luncheon and few dinner menus are considered complete unless a vegetable or cereal dish is included.

But apart from fashion the value of these dishes is great; they are good for the health and good for the pocket of the housekeeper, provided they are ordered with discretion.

In the country, where vegetables are plentiful and money is not, I have often noticed that sufficient use is not made of vegetables, while where fresh green food is a luxury its place is not taken—as it should be—by such food stuffs as rice, macaroni, haricot beans and corn.

[8]As the housekeeper whose weekly income is limited knows only too well, there often comes a day when the supply of meat falls short. Then comes the question, can it be eked out in a presentable manner or must more be bought and the desired cost exceeded. Now the woman who caters carefully will realize how such inexpensive materials as rice or macaroni, potatoes or cabbage may be pressed into service.

For example, the only available meat dish for luncheon is a hot pot of mutton and the party is suddenly augmented. Add to the menu a dish of macaroni au jus, or a rissole or corn curry, and supplement the homely pudding with a little cheese savoury, and what more can any one desire?

Then if the meat for a veal and ham pie is scarcely sufficient add a liberal quantity of partly cooked macaroni cut into short lengths, while should the quantity of minced mutton available seem sadly little, add an ample border of savoury rice or an extra dish of potato and cheese balls. If rissoles are required add to them by means of mashed potato or rice.

Then never allow small quantities of cooked vegetables left over from lunch or dinner to be thrown away. Place them on clean plates in the larder; they will prove useful additions to the next day’s bill of fare.

For example, you have two or three young[9] carrots, a cupful of peas, even a smaller quantity of broad beans. Slice the carrots and arrange all three vegetables in china shells, mask with mayonnaise sauce, sprinkle with coralline pepper, and serve with cold meat, or reheat them by steaming, place them in a hot fireproof dish, cover with boiling hot maître d’hôtel sauce, and garnish with rolls of bacon, and serve as a luncheon dish; or add a little onion and use for a vegetable curry, and serve surrounded by well-boiled rice; or reheat, mix with parsley and butter sauce, cover with mashed potato, score the top and brown in the oven, and serve for luncheon in the guise of vegetable pie.

If some new potatoes are left over, slice, fry, and serve with or without bacon for breakfast; while should you have some old boiled potatoes to use up they may be mashed and employed in half a score of ways; incorporated with cabbage, pepper, salt, and a little butter, formed into cakes, and fried to serve with bacon, grilled chicken or ham, for instance.

Thus the clever housekeeper economizes and yet does not allow her economies to be apparent.

Before passing on to the recipes which are the raison d’être of this little volume, I would say a word on the treatment of vegetables.

It is the habit of gardeners to pick fruit, vegetables, etc., in the morning, and to bring in the day’s supply at about eleven o’clock, and on[10] Saturday to provide sufficient for two days’ consumption. Except in the case of strawberries (which should be gathered, if possible, on the day on which they are to be eaten) and asparagus (which is infinitely better when cut just before the time for cooking), there is no objection to this plan, provided the garden produce is stored in the best manner. Carrots and turnips, leeks and onions should be placed in wire racks; and lettuces should be arranged root-end downmost in a shallow pan of fresh water. Cabbages and cauliflower may be treated likewise. Parsley should be placed in water as if it were a flower—not soused head over heels in that liquid. Whether the stalk-end of a cucumber should be placed in water, or whether the vegetable should be left dry in a cool, airy place, is a moot point. I do not feel competent to say which course should be followed, but my cook, who is clever at cooking vegetables, opines that cucumbers should not be placed in water; and, in any case, that they should not be kept long when cut.

Mustard-and-cress should be arranged in a shallow pan of water.

Peas and broad beans should not be shelled unnecessarily long before eating, and if it is necessary to keep them they should be placed in a wire rack in a cool, well-ventilated place.

All vegetables should be eaten while young, or they lose considerably in flavour. When French[11] or runner beans are quite young it is better merely to remove the strings and to cook them whole; but when old age approaches they are more palatable when sliced.

When boiling vegetables remember that all fresh vegetables should be plunged into boiling salted water, the proportions being 1 tablespoonful of salt to 1 gallon of water.

Dried vegetables should be placed in lukewarm water.

A piece of sugar put into the water in which green vegetables are cooked helps to bring out the flavour.

Leave the cover off the pan in which vegetables are cooked, or, at all events, leave it half off, so that the steam can escape easily.

Do not allow vegetables to stay in the water in which they are boiled, but drain them at once, pressing out all the water possible.

Green vegetables take on an average about 20 minutes to cook, though 10 minutes is often long enough for young peas, while cabbages sometimes take nearly an hour.

The best way of cooking peas is as follows:—Shell a pint of peas and place them in a jar with a closely-fitting lid, put in with them a saltspoonful[12] of salt, a tablespoonful of butter, a teaspoonful of powdered white sugar, a sprig of mint and a shake of black pepper. Cover the jar closely and place it in a saucepan of boiling water. Boil briskly, until done, which should be in ½ an hour to ¾ of an hour.

Cook the peas as in the preceding recipe, and just before serving pour over them a small quantity of Béchamel sauce.

Peas with Butter

Having cooked the peas either by the method described above or having boiled them in the ordinary way, drain off the water and shake the peas to dry them well, return them to the hot dry pan they were cooked in, and at the last moment before serving throw in a pat of butter, let this just melt, and serve.

À la Crême de Fromage (Hot)

Cook the beans in the usual way by throwing them in boiling salted water in which a teaspoonful[13] of sugar has been placed. If young, cook them whole, only removing the spines and pointed end, or if stock can be used, place them in a pan which has been buttered, sprinkle them with salt, and just cover them with stock. When tender place them on a hot dish, make a white sauce with ½ oz. of butter and ½ oz. of flour mixed with ½ pint of the stock in which the beans have been cooked, add a good pinch of salt and stir well, adding one well-beaten egg and two tablespoonsful of finely-grated cheese. Do not let the sauce boil after the egg has been added or it will curdle. Pour round the beans and serve.

French beans can also be served with Béchamel sauce or quite plainly with a small quantity of butter melted and run over them, with a shake of pepper and salt, or again with a plain melted butter sauce.

Flageolets are the beans of the kidney bean, French bean, etc., and when shelled and cooked in various ways are excellent eating. They should be boiled in the same way as peas, simply omitting the sprig of mint, and can be served in various ways.

Having boiled and drained the beans, place a pat of butter in the saucepan just before serving.

[14]

Make a butter by mixing 1 oz. of butter, the juice of ½ a lemon, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, a pinch of salt and pepper, mix well and form into a pat. When the beans are cooked and drained, place this with them, shake and serve.

(With Cheese Sauce)

Follow the directions for French beans, substituting flageolets, and boiling in the ordinary way.

Boil a cabbage, cut it in 8 pieces, then place it in 1 pint of cheese sauce, make it thoroughly hot, and serve with the sauce poured over it.

Drain a boiled cabbage, cut it up small, put it into a saucepan with 1 oz. of butter, 1 gill of cream, and a seasoning of pepper and salt, stir it all together over the fire till thoroughly hot, then turn it out on to a hot dish, and serve with fried croûtons.

[15]

can be served in various ways. For au beurre after boiling, drain well, taking great care to squeeze every drop of water possible from the sprouts, return to the pan and toss in butter, and dust with pepper and salt.

Follow the above recipe, substituting maître d’hôtel butter for ordinary butter.

Blanch the sprouts, by dipping them in boiling water and letting them remain in it for a few minutes. Remove them and drain well, placing them in a pan with just enough stock to cover them. Simmer until tender, drain and serve.

Choose very young nettles, and wash them well in two or three waters; chop them up very fine, and put them into a stewpan with a little water, and steam until quite tender. Meanwhile toast as many slices of bread as required, trim these neatly, lay them on a hot dish, drain the nettles well, serve on the hot toast, dusted with pepper and salt, and serve with a beurre fondue sauce, made as follows:—Put 2 oz. of butter into[16] a clean saucepan with ½ a teaspoonful of salt, and half as much pepper, and 1 dessertspoonful of lemon juice; stir these all together over the fire until half melted, take it off the fire and continue stirring until the butter is all dissolved.

Wash the shoots and young leaves of nettles very thoroughly in slightly salted water, dry well and mince very finely. Put this into a stewpan with 1 tablespoonful of finely-chopped onion, a suspicion of brown sugar, season with pepper and salt to taste, pour in a little stock or water, and stew gently at the side of the fire until quite tender; then mix together 1 oz. of butter and 1 teaspoonful of salt, till perfectly smooth, add this to the nettles, with ½ a tablespoonful of thick cream or new milk, stir it all well together till quite hot, and serve on slices of hot toast. If liked, the onion may be omitted, when the nettles are treated exactly like spinach.

Wash some watercress well, getting rid of all faded or discoloured parts, then put it on in plenty of boiling salted water, and boil it till almost cooked; lift it out, and drain on a sieve or colander to get rid of as much water as possible.[17] Meanwhile melt about 1½oz. of butter in a pan, put the watercress on in this, sprinkle it lightly with flour, and stir it all together over the fire for about 10 minutes, then add about 2 gills of good stock, season with pepper and salt; cook it for 10 minutes longer, stirring it continuously, rub it through a sieve and serve very hot, garnished with quartered hard-boiled eggs, and fried croûtons.

Treat exactly as in the previous recipe.

Proceed as for watercress or lettuce.

Clean and soak the cauliflower in salt and water for 1 hour, then plunge it into boiling water, returning it again to cold water. After this put it in a pan of boiling water slightly salted (½ oz. of salt to 1 gallon of water) and boil it until tender, 20 to 25 minutes. In the meantime make ½ pint of tomato purée by the following recipe, and when the cauliflower is cooked place it on a hot dish, pour the purée over it, sift some finely-grated brown crumbs over it and serve.

[18]

Six smallish tomatoes. Cut them into slices and place them in an enamelled saucepan, add 1 oz. of butter, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and a tiny pinch of cayenne. Pour over one pint of stock. Boil until quite soft, and then pass through a sieve, add 1 oz. of anchovy essence, thicken with ½ oz. of butter and ½ oz. of flour previously mixed together in another pan with some of the tomato mixture. Stir over the fire until the sauce thickens, and it is then ready for use.

Break a cooked cauliflower up into neat pieces, dip these in frying batter till well covered, and fry in boiling fat. Drain them well, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and coralline pepper. Serve at once on a napkin.

This is an excellent way of serving cauliflower which has been left over.

Boil the cauliflower as before, place it in a fireproof dish, pour over it an ample quantity of cheese sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese and brown crumbs and bake until slightly brown on the top. For cheese sauce see the recipe for French beans à la crême de fromage (page 12).

[19]

Boil the cauliflower, place in a fireproof dish. Cover with delicate onion sauce (Soubise sauce, p. 47), sprinkle with brown crumbs and make very hot in the oven.

Take 1 lb. of spinach leaves, pick and wash them well, and after this blanch them by plunging them for 5 or 6 minutes in boiling water, drain them and place them in cold water, remove, press, and strain, to get rid of as much moisture as possible. Chop them up, place in a stewpan a pinch of salt and sugar, ½ oz. of butter and ¼ oz. of flour, and after stirring this for a few minutes add the spinach. Stir for 5 minutes then add ¼ pint of milk, stir for a few minutes longer, and then add ½ pint of milk, stirring steadily until the liquid is almost dried up. Remove from the pan and pass through a sieve, then return to the fire and add a small pat of butter and keep very hot. Have ready the required number of pastry patty cases. Quickly make some buttered egg, place some of the spinach in each case, with a spoonful of buttered egg on the top, and serve at once very hot.

Prepare the spinach as in the preceding recipe.[20] Bake six small tomatoes carefully in the oven with a piece of butter on each. When ready arrange the spinach in a dish in the form of a border, place the tomatoes in the centre and serve.

Wash the spinach in six or seven waters, so as to prevent its being gritty; put it in a saucepan on the fire, with a very little water and salt; when done strain very dry and chop it up very fine. Warm 2 oz. of butter in a stewpan, put the spinach in, stir till the moisture quite evaporates, then add a very little salt, a tiny pinch of sugar (a very little nutmeg, if liked), a pinch of flour, and 1 large tablespoonful of cream, and let the whole simmer for a quarter of an hour. Then put through a sieve and keep hot. In the meantime, fry in fat some bread cut into fingers, about 2½ in. long and ½ in. square, and plant them in little rows all over the spinach when dished.

Spinach cooked thus is delicious and a very different matter from the stringy green mass generally served.

Cook as in the previous recipe for spinach.

Almost any greens, including cabbage and Brussels-sprouts, are excellent when served thus.

[21]

Asparagus is really almost at its best served plain boiled with oiled butter; but when it first comes in, the big kind, which is best for boiling, is rather expensive, and few people seem to know how good the more “grasslike” kind is if treated properly.

Although every one will at once say they know how asparagus should be boiled, yet it is a melancholy fact that it is not by any means an invariable rule to find this vegetable properly treated. If, however, the following directions are carried out the result is certainly worth the little extra trouble. Cut the stalks of a bundle of fresh asparagus evenly and tie them up into a bunch, put them upright into a pan just large enough to hold them comfortably and with boiling water to within about 3 in. of the tops. Keep them on the fire for from 30 to 40 minutes, then lift them out, drain well, remove the string, and dish them on a neatly folded napkin or square of toast. Treated in this way, the heads are not so apt to come off, and the stalks, instead of being tough, are quite tender and eatable. Excellent asparagus cookers are now made, but if one of these is not to hand its lack will not be felt if the instructions[22] already given are observed. Asparagus should be served with

which is made as follows:—Put 2 oz. of fresh butter into a pan with 1 saltspoonful of salt, ½ a saltspoonful of pepper, and ½ a tablespoonful of lemon juice; stir this over the fire with a clean wooden spoon till the butter has rather more than half melted; then lift it off the fire, and continue the stirring until the butter is entirely melted, when it will have a creamy taste, quite different from the ordinary oiled butter.

Cut the young, green, small asparagus diagonally into equal lengths (like French beans), and toss these lightly in bacon fat; when slightly crisped, season with white pepper, salt, minced parsley, and chervil, and add a little stock; simmer gently till cooked. Now add a spoonful or so of good beef or mutton gravy, and serve. The great secret of this dish is only to put in enough stock in the first instance to cook the asparagus, for it should all be absorbed by the time you add the gravy.

Steam the sprue, or small asparagus, in boiling[23] salted water (see p. 21), cut into lengths as above, and let them dry in a well-heated napkin, in a warm place, to keep hot. Meanwhile stir together some fresh butter, the yolk of 1 or more eggs, a spoonful of vinegar, a dust of salt, and some freshly-ground black pepper; stand the pan containing this in another pan half-full of boiling water, and stir it over the fire till thoroughly blended. Place the asparagus in the dish, pour the sauce over it, and serve.

For this the large asparagus is required. When cooked lay on ice or keep in an ice cave. Serve in an entrée dish and hand very cold mayonnaise sauce.

A favourite kitchen superstition is that which forbids the use of left-over potatoes. For many dishes cooked potato is required. Why then cook fresh potatoes for the purpose and thereby waste time and money?

The sensible cook keeps all left-over potato, and makes use of it in some of the ways here described.

Take 1 lb. of cold cooked potato and place in a mortar. Mash it until all the lumps have disappeared, add a pat of butter and enough milk or cream to make the potato soft, and of the right consistency to form into balls, add a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a very small[25] quantity of chives (if liked), mix well and form into balls. Coat them with egg, roll them in finely-grated breadcrumbs, fry a golden brown, drain and serve.

Having washed and peeled the number of potatoes required, cut them into very thin slices and as much the same size as possible. Place them in cold water for ½ hour, then drain them and dry on a soft clean cloth. Have ready a fireproof dish with a closely-fitting lid, butter the bottom and sides of it, and place a layer of potatoes in it, laying them to overlap each other, and also to stand round the sides, place on these a layer of soft butter, and a sprinkling of salt, and continue in this way until the dish is full, ending with a layer of butter. Place the lid on firmly, and place the dish in a moderate (350 deg.) oven for ¾ of an hour.

Follow the previous recipe, the only difference being that grated cheese should be sprinkled between each layer of potato in addition to the butter.

(A Method of Using up left-over new Potatoes)

Put into a pan from ½ to 1 oz. of butter, add a[26] good dessertspoonful of flour, some parsley and minced chives, with salt, pepper, and a dust of nutmeg to taste; when the whole is smoothly blended, pour in sufficient single cream or new milk, and stir it all together till it boils up, then add as many cold, cooked new potatoes as you want, and allow them to heat thoroughly in the sauce without actually boiling, which would break them; serve with a dust of coralline pepper.

Well butter a gratin dish, and dust it liberally with minced parsley, white and coralline pepper, and, if liked, a little grated Parmesan; cover this with a layer of thinly sliced, cold, cooked new potatoes, moistening them as you do so with a little cream, milk, or, failing either of these, a little oiled butter, dusting the whole with minced parsley, pepper, salt, and a very little cheese; repeat these layers till the dish is full, finishing with a very light sprinkling of fine white breadcrumbs, a little spice, grated cheese, and, lastly, some tiny morsels of fresh butter, and bake till the surface is nicely covered.

Take any cold potato and cabbage, mash it smoothly together, adding beaten egg, white[27] sauce, or melted butter to moisten. Flavour rather highly with pepper, add a little salt. Form into round cakes, flour, and bake or fry.

Have ready some curry sauce with which to moisten the mashed potato, and proceed as before.

Have ready some well-flavoured mushrooms stewed in white sauce (the mushrooms cut into small pieces). Make some smoothed mashed potato and add to it a beaten yolk of egg. Form balls of the potato. Hollow out a place in each, fill with the mushroom mixture. Cover with more potato, egg, crumb, fry and serve very hot.

Mash 1 lb. of well-boiled potatoes with the same quantity of boiled mashed carrot, pass through a fine wire sieve, mix all well together with warm milk, and a lump of butter; place in a buttered mould, and set in a hot oven for 10 minutes, turn out on a hot dish, and brown in the oven.

[28]

Wash and peel the artichokes and place them in cold salted water, then put them in a pan full of boiling salted water. Boil for 20 minutes. (If the artichokes are old they should be put into cold water, which must be brought to the boil and kept so until they are cooked.) Take the artichokes out and drain them, cut into pieces, then place them in a fireproof dish, covering them with a good white sauce. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Place in a moderate oven, and bake about 10 to 15 minutes until of a golden brown.

Cook as in the previous recipe, but omit the cheese and bake in shells which have been buttered and sprinkled with brown crumbs. Sprinkle the artichoke mixture with crumbs also, place a little butter on the top and brown as before.

See page 48.

Cook as before; slice, fry in boiling fat. Drain and leave till cold. Fry, drain, and serve very hot.

[29]

Boil 1 lb. of artichokes until quite tender, then pass them through a sieve. Make a custard with ½ pint of milk and the yolks of four eggs, pepper and salt. Whisk up the white of 1 egg, and whisk this into the custard, mix it with the artichoke and place all in a well-buttered mould and steam for an hour. Serve hot with anchovy sauce, or set the mould on ice, and when quite cold turn it out on to a dish and serve with iced mayonnaise of hollandaise sauce.

Boil 8 artichokes and cut them into slices, place them in a fireproof dish. Hard boil 4 eggs. When cold shell them and chop them up, place the eggs on the top of the sliced artichokes, and pour over the whole a good white sauce flavoured with Parmesan cheese. Dust over with breadcrumbs and make thoroughly hot in the oven.

Prepare the green artichokes by cutting off the leaves close down to the fond and trim off any that may adhere, cut off the stalk as closely as possible. Plunge the artichoke bottoms into boiling salted water, and leave them for five minutes, then[30] take them out and remove the choke. Place in boiling water and boil them until tender. When cooked take them out, drain them, and put them through a sieve, season with pepper and salt, moistening the whole with enough white sauce to make a purée. Have ready some pastry patty cases, ready cooked, fill each with the mixture, and serve very hot.

Boil the artichoke bottoms in the manner described above, mash them and season with pepper and salt, adding a little cream and butter, place some of the mixture in china shells or small fireproof dishes, grate some cheese over each, and bake in the oven until a golden brown.

Take the cooked artichoke bottoms and fill with mashed potato flavoured with cheese. Brown in the oven and serve with cheese sauce.

Fill the artichoke bottoms with cream of cheese (see page 71), and serve on buttered toast very hot.

[31]

Peel the mushrooms and cut off their stalks, and place them in a buttered fireproof dish. Peel the stalks and wash them, add the peelings, dry them and cut them up. Make a sauce with 1 oz. of butter, and when melted add ½ oz. of flour, stirring into it ½ pint of milk. Stir well, bring to the boil, and then throw in the chopped stalks, a dessertspoonful of finely-chopped parsley, a teaspoonful of finely-chopped onion, a dusting of pepper, and ½ a teaspoonful of salt. Simmer the sauce until it thickens, strain and add some browning. Pour the sauce over the mushrooms, sprinkle some browned breadcrumbs over the whole, and bake in a quick oven for 10 minutes.

Cut some rounds of bread about ¾ of an inch thick and scoop them out rather thinner in the centre, fry until a golden brown, drain, and keep hot. Place the required number of mushrooms on a greased baking-tin with a piece of butter in each, and place in the oven to cook. In the meantime mince one or two mushrooms and place them in a pan with a small quantity of good brown sauce. When cooked place a spoonful on each croûte, and a whole mushroom on the top of each. Serve very hot.

[32]

Make the necessary number of round croûtons of lightly-fried bread, and choose a like number of mushrooms the same size as the croûtons. Peel the mushrooms, rinse them in warm water, to remove any grit, and remove the stalks. Place them on a greased baking sheet, stalk side uppermost. Put some small pieces of butter on each mushroom and a little pepper and salt. Cover with buttered paper and cook in a moderate oven for 10 to 20 minutes. Serve a mushroom on each croûton, and on each mushroom place a cooked bloater roe curled round.

Boil the aubergines until tender (25 to 30 minutes), and then half them lengthwise. Scoop out the pulp carefully, sieve it, and mix it with some fine brown crumbs (about a dessertspoonful to each half-pint), pepper, salt, and some oiled butter. Fill the skins with this mixture, sprinkle with crumbs and oiled butter, and bake in a moderate oven until browned.

Take four tomatoes as nearly the same size as possible, and a slice off the top of each. Scoop[33] out the middle of the tomato as much as possible, leaving the frames for cases. These set on one side. Work the pulp through a sieve, and mix into it a heaped-up tablespoonful of finely-grated breadcrumbs, add the yolks of 2 eggs, and mix well. Fill the tomato cases, heaping the mixture up, grate a layer of cheese over them, place on a buttered baking dish and bake for 10 minutes.

Slice a good-sized onion thinly, blanch it, and fry in fat till lightly browned. Take 1 lb. of ripe tomatoes, skin and cut in slices. Place a layer of onions in the bottom of the pie dish with a good seasoning of salt and pepper, then a layer of tomatoes, with white breadcrumbs scattered over and a few pieces of butter, and so on until the dish is almost full. Have ready some well-mashed potatoes, and spread thickly over so as to form a crust, and bake until brown.

Whip ½ pint of cream until stiff, season it with celery salt and pepper. Add 3 oz. of grated cheese, then whisk in by degrees ¼ pint of cool but liquid aspic jelly, which has been flavoured with tarragon vinegar. Continue to whisk until the mixture begins to stiffen. Previously peel[34] and halve some small round tomatoes, and remove the seeds from the halves when cut open, and drain for a little. Place each piece of tomato, when filled, on a cheese biscuit, and ornament it round the edge with a piping of cheese cream. Garnish the dish with cress, and put a tiny bunch into the middle of the cream with which the tomatoes are filled.

Cut some slices of bread 2½ in. in diameter, and ⅛ in. thick. Soak in milk and then fry a pale colour. Spread when cold with grated cheese and butter made into a paste. Dip some small tomatoes into hot water, skin them and put one on each piece of bread, placing some finely-minced parsley and grated Parmesan on each.

Peel the vegetable marrow and strain it without removing the seeds. When three-parts cooked, take it out of the pan and cut it into neat pieces, as much one size as possible, remove the seeds, dip each piece of marrow into batter and fry until a golden brown in boiling fat.

[35]

Whip two eggs and mix them with about two tablespoonsful of flour. This is generally sufficient to make a stiff batter. Then add by degrees ⅓ of a pint of milk, salt and pepper, cover and put by for an hour or two. Be sure that the article to be fried is quite dry before being dipped in the batter.

Boil the salsify for 50 minutes, then place in a mortar and mash to a pulp, add a few drops of anchovy essence and some milk or cream, to make it the consistency of a thick custard. Place the mixture in buttered shells, sprinkle some finely-grated breadcrumbs over it, place a piece of butter on each and brown in the oven.

1½ lb. salsify, 2 oz. beef dripping, lemon juice. Wash and lightly scrape the salsify roots and put them in cold water. Put the dripping, a little salt, and the lemon juice in a saucepan with enough water to cover the salsify. When it boils put in the roots and let them simmer gently until they are tender. This will take 30 to 40 minutes. Do not cover the pan. When tender drain off the[36] water and cut the roots into pieces about 2½ in. long. Sprinkle the salsify with a little pepper, oil, and vinegar, and then dip the pieces into batter. Fry in boiling fat until a golden brown, then take out, drain and serve.

Blanch some small, young carrots, as much of a size as possible, dry them well, and if necessary, trim them evenly; put them into a pan, with just enough stock to cover, and a lump of loaf sugar; boil them up sharply till the stock is reduced to a glaze, then add to this 1½ oz. of butter and a seasoning of salt, and stir them in this till the liquid is all absorbed, and the carrots are quite glazed with the butter.

Take about 12 young carrots, blanch them in scalding water, and rub them well. Then put them into a stewpan with about 1 oz. of butter, a saltspoonful of castor sugar, some finely-minced parsley, a seasoning of pepper and salt, and sufficient water to cover them liberally; simmer the carrots in this for about 15 to 20 minutes, when they should be quite tender, shaking them once or twice in the process.[37] Remove the pan from the fire, and stir in the yolk of 1 egg beaten up with 2 spoonsful of cream or new milk, and serve very hot.

Peel about 1 lb. of young turnips, wash them well, cut into quarters, and put them on in salted water; bring this sharply to the boil, then place them in a well-buttered small frying or sauté pan, sprinkle them liberally with castor sugar, and directly the turnips begin to colour pour a little stock in, and season with pepper and salt, and a little more sugar if liked; let them stew slowly till quite tender, and serve them with the sauce poured over them.

Peel about 1 lb. of young, fresh turnips, wash them well, trim into olive or pear shapes; put them on in cold, salted water, and bring them sharply to the boil; then drain them, rinse in cold water, and dry them in a clean napkin. Have ready some velouté (i.e. melted butter made with 1 oz. of butter, 1½ oz. of flour, and about ¾ pint of vegetable stock instead of water), drop the turnips into this, and cook them till ready, very gently, for about 20 to 25 minutes according to size. When ready lift them out, and keep[38] hot. Add a spoonful of castor sugar to the liquor, boil it up sharply, and just before serving stir in the yolk of an egg and a little piece of butter cut up small; do not let the sauce reboil after adding these; season to taste with pepper and salt, pour the sauce on to the turnips, and serve very hot.

Blanch (by placing in boiling water) 1 lb. of onions, then divide them into quarters and boil in milk and water until tender. Cut them up, moisten them with some of the liquid in which they were boiled, mash them smoothly, add a cupful of cream, or one of milk enriched with the yolk of an egg, pepper and salt. Place the purée in a fireproof dish, which has been buttered, strew some grated cheese over, and sprinkle a little melted butter over all. Bake until hot throughout, and until the top is coloured.

It is worthy of note that where grated cheese is mentioned, it is quite unnecessary to buy Parmesan for the purpose. Any dry ends of cheese, grated, will serve.

Cook some celery slowly in equal parts of milk and water, seasoned with salt and pepper; when[39] cooked, lift out, cut it up, and place a layer of it in a fireproof dish, seasoning with salt and pepper, and moistening with some béchamel or any good white sauce, and continue these layers until the dish is full, taking care to raise it up in the centre; strew it rather thickly with grated Parmesan cheese; moisten it with some oiled butter, and put it into the oven for 10 minutes, to colour nicely.

Thoroughly wash three heads of celery, remove the leaves, and cut into 4 inch lengths, then put in a stewpan with ½ a pint of stock and a seasoning of pepper and salt. Simmer gently for a quarter of an hour. Let the celery cool, then take it out, dip it in egg and breadcrumb, and fry in butter. Serve very hot, and hand tomato sauce with it.

For the following vegetable dishes, see

Of all the cereals none, I think, yields a better result than corn—known to some people as green, and to others as Indian corn or maize. Freshly cut, boiled, and eaten with salt, pepper, and oiled butter, it is delicious; but every one, alas, does not grow it, and many folk have to be content with the tinned corn, which, nevertheless, is excellent. It may be bought in tins of two sizes, and is quite inexpensive.

Open a small tin of corn and strain off the liquid, and then simmer the corn until tender, but not “mashy,” in 3 tablespoonsful of milk, ½ oz. of butter, pepper and salt. About 10 minutes will suffice for the cooking.

[42]

Have ready the buttered egg, and pile it in the centre of a hot fireproof dish, surround with the cooked corn and garnish with small circles of fried bread.

Prepare the egg and corn as before, stir them together and serve very hot on buttered toast.

Spread the cooked corn flat on a hot fireproof dish, and arrange the poached eggs neatly on it, and serve very hot.

Cook the corn as before, and have ready a delicate white sauce as below. Heat a fireproof dish, butter it, and sprinkle with fine brown crumbs. Heat the corn in the sauce, and place it in the dish, cover with grated cheese and crumbs, and bake for 20 minutes in a hot oven.

Melt 2 oz. of fresh butter, and sprinkle into it 1½ oz. of dry sifted flour. Stir until the sauce[43] will leave a clean place in the pan when lifted in the spoon. Add quite gradually ½ pint of milk, stirring all the time. Bring to the boil, and cook for 10 minutes. Season with salt and white pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Half water and half milk or stock may be used instead of all milk, and a spoonful or two of cream added just at the last is an improvement. If a

is required add a piled-up tablespoonful of finely-grated cheese, stirring it in well so that it shall be smooth.

Prepare as before, using tomato sauce instead of white sauce.

Take 6 small tomatoes, slice them and place in a pan with 1 oz. of butter, salt and pepper, and 1 pint of stock and water, or milk and water. Boil until soft, sieve, and thicken with 1 oz. of white roux (flour and butter cooked until smooth, as described in “White Sauce”). Stir until smooth and very hot.

[44]

½ tin of corn, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoonsful of flour, 1 tablespoonful finely-chopped parsley, seasoning to taste. Drain the corn into a bowl; stir in the flour carefully, add the parsley, season, and lastly, well beat the eggs, and stir those in. Have ready some boiling fat in a frying-pan, into which the batter should be dropped in dessertspoonsful. Drain on kitchen paper, and serve at once on a hot dish.

Take the cooked corn and beat it in white, cheese, or tomato sauce, and then leave until cold. Form into rissoles, egg and crumb and fry. Serve very hot, garnished with fried parsley.

Prepare the omelette as usual, and have ready some corn heated in white sauce. Just before serving the omelette spread the inner portion with the hot corn.

Prepare the corn as before, and heat in a good curry sauce. Pile in the centre of a hot dish and surround with boiled rice garnished with sieved yolk of egg.

[45]

Slice an onion and ½ a small apple finely, and fry them in 2 oz. of clarified dripping or butter. Stir in ½ a dessertspoonful of curry powder and the same of flour. Salt to taste. Add ¼ pint of stock or milk, cook gently for 30 minutes, then put all through a sieve, add a few drops of lemon juice, and reheat.

(A Chili dish)

Grate some fresh green corn, add a little sugar and red pepper.

Fry this slightly in clarified dripping. Arrange two leaves from the sugar-corn, the broad part lapping over the other. Fill this with about a tablespoonful of the mixture, then fold it up neatly in the leaves, tying it with a thin strip from another, and bake.

When the fresh corn is not in season, the corn in tins will answer the same purpose if cooked and passed through a wire sieve and wrapped in vine leaves.

Cook the corn, mix it into the cheese cream, and serve very hot on buttered toast. For the Cheese Cream see page 71.

The serving of these recipes may be varied:[46] for instance, instead of sending corn au gratin to table in one large dish, bake and serve it in small brown or green earthen pipkins, one to each person, or in the centre of a croûton of fried bread.

It is worth noting, too, that haricot beans may be substituted for corn in any of these recipes. They should be soaked for 2 to 4 hours, and then boiled in stock or water for 3 hours.

Haricot beans must be soaked for quite 12 hours in cold water, then put into a pan with cold water slightly salted, (½ oz. of salt to 1 gallon of water,) brought slowly to the boil, then drawn aside and simmered for about 2 hours.

Boil the beans as directed and serve with a covering of sauce à la Milanaise, which should be made in the following manner: Scald 4 onions for 5 minutes in boiling water, then dry them and cut them up, place them in a saucepan with a pinch of sugar, 1 oz. of butter, and a saltspoonful of salt. Boil a tablespoonful of rice, and when cooked add it to the onion; moisten with ½ pint of milk or water, cook slowly, stirring occasionally;[47] when the onions are soft add 1 tablespoonful of finely-grated cheese. Mix well and pass through a sieve, add to this ½ pint of white sauce, mix thoroughly, repeat and pour over the beans.

Cook the beans as before and serve covered with tomato purée (see page 18.)

Cook the haricots as before and serve with onion sauce poured over and croûtons of fried bread arranged round.

Take 2 large onions, peel them and put them in boiling water for 5 minutes. Strain, slice, and place in a pan with 1 oz. of clarified dripping and stew until tender. Lift the pan from the fire and stir in ½ pint of melted butter sauce. Let it boil, stir for about 7 to 10 minutes, and then rub through a hair sieve.

Soak the lentils for at least 12 hours in cold water. Then drain and place them in a pan with[48] cold salted water (1 gallon of water to ½ oz. of salt), bring them to the boil, then draw aside the pan and simmer, until the lentils are quite soft, about 1 hour. After having been cooked like this they can be served in any of the methods advised, for haricot beans or plain, save for the addition of a pat of butter melting among them, a sprinkling of chopped parsley, and a shake of pepper and salt.

Cook the lentils as before and serve with plenty of curried sauce poured over. For the curry sauce see page 45.

There is no nicer way of serving such vegetables as cabbage, spinach, artichokes, or celery, than in the form of a soufflé, which may appear as an entrée or second course dish, or as a vegetable to accompany meat or poultry.

Savoury soufflés of rice and of macaroni are also delicious, and although all soufflés require care in the cooking, a cook of moderate abilities will soon master the art of making these delicious dishes.

[49]

Have ready about ½ lb. of any carefully made and well-flavoured vegetable purée—spinach, cabbage, turnip tops, Brussels-sprouts, carrot, turnip (or both mixed) artichoke, tomato, or celery. Then put 1 gill of water and 1 oz. of butter into a pan with a pinch of salt. Directly this comes to the boil, stir in 1 oz. of flour, stirring it well with a wooden spoon for 2 or 3 minutes, put in the purée, and just remove the pan for a little, add the yolks of 2 eggs, 1 at a time, and 1 whole egg, and finally the whites of 2 eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Have ready a papered soufflé dish, fill it three-quarters of the way up, bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes, and serve at once, first removing the paper and wiping the dish.

The purée may be prepared at any time, but the eggs should only be added just before the soufflé is to be baked. The dish (china or tin) in which the soufflé is baked must be well greased and a greased paper tied round. The mixture rises so strenuously that if the dish is 3 parts full (and it should be to look well when served), the paper is required to prevent the mixture from falling over, as it rises just above the edges of the dish. When baking the soufflé do not bang the oven door, and open it very gently, and, by degrees when taking the soufflé out. If kept waiting the soufflé will fall and become tough. So with these[50] dishes the diners must wait for the soufflé rather than the soufflé for the diners.

This is merely the vegetable boiled in water or stock, and then put through a sieve so that it forms a preparation resembling a very thick custard. Spinach à la crême (page 20) and purée of watercress, lettuce, and turnip tops (pages 16 and 17) are excellent foundations for soufflés. Such vegetables as artichokes and celery should be treated as follows:—

Wash some celery well, and remove all the outside parts, cut up ½ lb., put it on in cold, salted water, bring this to the boil, take out the celery and drain. Put the celery into a pan with 1½ gills of milk, half a bayleaf, a blade of mace, a slice of onion, and boil it all till tender, then sieve the celery, and it is ready for the soufflé.

Wash 2 oz. of rice and then place it in ¾ of a pint of boiling stock (fish or vegetable stock), and cook until the rice swells and is soft without being pulpy. Drain it and let it cool, and then[51] stir into it 1 oz. of fresh butter, 2 or 3 tablespoonsful of tomato purée, salt and pepper the beaten yolks of 2 eggs and then the frothed whites. Bake in a soufflé dish prepared as already described.

Proceed as before, but use stewed mushrooms instead of the tomato purée.

Proceed exactly as for Savoury Rice Soufflé but add 2 oz. of grated cheese.

Proceed as for Rice Soufflé, using about the same bulk of cooked macaroni (cut into half inch lengths) as of cooked rice.

To Boil.—Macaroni or spaghetti should be boiled in the same way as rice, namely, thrown into boiling salted water, and should never under any circumstances be soaked or placed in cold water previously. They should be tested occasionally with a fork, and when tender a teacupful of cold water should be thrown into the pan to stop the boiling, the pan should then be lifted from the fire, the macaroni or spaghetti drained of all liquid and returned to the hot dry pan and kept hot until wanted. The time for boiling is from 20 to 30 minutes. The following dishes can be made of either preparation:—

[53]

Boil 3 oz. of macaroni in the manner described above, and after it has been returned to the pan in which it was boiled, stir into it 2 oz. of Parmesan cheese finely grated and 1 oz. of butter. The cheese should be stirred in half at a time and well shaken amongst the macaroni. Season with black pepper and salt and serve at once very hot.

Follow the preceding recipe for boiling the macaroni, and having returned it to the pan, stir into it 1 oz. of cheese finely grated, 1 oz. of butter, and then ½ pint of tomato purée (see page 18). Mix well and serve very hot piled on a dish.

Boil the macaroni by the directions given above, then mix into it 1 oz. of grated cheese and 1 oz. of butter, stir well and place the mixture neatly in a fireproof dish, sprinkle over it ½ oz. of grated cheese and the same amount of dried breadcrumbs. Melt ½ oz. of butter and pour it over the whole. Place in the oven (until a light brown colour) for 10 minutes, then serve.

Butter a fireproof dish and in it place 3 oz. of[54] macaroni previously boiled, dust it with pepper and salt. Make a good white sauce and add to it 2 oz. of grated cheese. Pour this all over the macaroni and sprinkle the top with grated cheese and a few dried breadcrumbs. Place in the oven and cook until a golden brown and serve in the dish in which it is cooked.

Boil 3 oz. of macaroni for 10 minutes, drain off the water and pour into the pan ½ to ¾ pint of brown stock, simmer the macaroni until tender, pour off the stock; but should the macaroni have absorbed it all, take enough to moisten the whole, thicken it in the usual way, and add browning to colour it. Place the macaroni on a hot dish—it should be kept hot in the pan while the sauce is making; pour the gravy over it and serve.

Boil 2 oz. of macaroni and drain it well. Put 2 oz. of butter into a thoroughly warmed pie dish, put the macaroni on top of this, and mix it all well together with two forks, sprinkling in at the same time freshly-grated cheese and coralline pepper. When thoroughly mixed and the butter all absorbed, sprinkle it with more pepper and cheese, and serve at once.

[55]

Break some macaroni up into inch pieces, rinse it well; put 2 oz. of butter into a fireproof dish, put the macaroni in, and pour enough milk over it to thoroughly cover it, stirring it now and again. When three-quarters cooked, lift it out, and put it into another dish, seasoning it well with pepper and salt, and pour over it ½ pint of good brown gravy, then put it back in the oven again and leave it till cooked. When ready lay some poached eggs on it, sprinkle liberally with Parmesan cheese, coralline pepper, and serve.

4 oz. macaroni, 4 oz. grated cheese, 1 oz. flour, ½ oz. flour, ½ pint of milk, 1 teaspoonful French mustard, breadcrumbs, 1 egg, cayenne and salt. Boil the macaroni in water until it is quite tender, then cut it into pieces of half an inch in length. Melt the butter in a stewpan, add the flour gradually, stirring until there are no lumps, add the milk and stir over the fire until the sauce thickens. Mix the macaroni, cheese, mustard, pinch of cayenne and salt to taste, with the sauce, then turn out on to a plate and leave until cold. Form into cutlets or small rolls, roll in breadcrumbs, then dip in beaten egg, and again roll in crumbs. Fry the cutlets in boiling fat until they are a golden brown colour, then[56] serve with a garnish of fried parsley. If the mixture is formed into cutlet shape place a small piece of raw macaroni at the thin end to represent the bone.

Cook the macaroni until quite tender, then cut it into small pieces; meanwhile flake ½ lb. of cooked fish, free from shin and bones, and make a good stock from the bones and trimmings of the fish. Melt 1 oz. of butter, stir into this ½ oz. of flour, strain in ½ pint of the fish stock, and bring it all to the boil; then put in the fish and macaroni, season to taste with salt and pepper, turn into a buttered fireproof dish, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Remove the stalks of the tomatoes, cut each one into four pieces, then put them into a saucepan with a little water, a bayleaf, and a sprig of basil, and season with pepper and salt to taste; now boil till thoroughly done, when you turn them out on to a hair sieve, allowing them to stand for a minute or so, in order that all the water may drain off and be thrown away; then pass the tomatoes through a sieve with a wooden spoon, heat up the pulp well with a good lump of butter, and then dress the previously-boiled[57] macaroni with this, and plenty of grated Parmesan, or any good, strongly flavoured cheese which will grate well.

Boil 2 oz. of macaroni till tender, drain well and cut into small pieces, then pound it with 2 eggs, 8 oz. of grated Parmesan cheese, 4 oz. mutton suet, and season to taste with pepper and salt; steam in a basin or mould for 70 minutes. Turn out and serve with tomato or any other savoury sauce to taste. 2 beaten yolks of egg may be substituted for the suet.

Cook 4 oz. of spaghetti as previously directed, drain it and place half of it in a pie dish, grate 2 oz. of cheese (a good cooking one should be chosen), and sprinkle some of it over the spaghetti, slice 4 or 5 small tomatoes and place them on the bed of macaroni, sprinkling them with cheese, pepper and salt, and finish with the remainder of the macaroni, placing the rest of the cheese on the top. Pour carefully over this ½ pint of milk and cover the dish with a plate or small dish, cook in a moderate oven. A fireproof dish with a fitting cover would be useful for this dish, but if not procurable a pie dish can quite well be used.

[58]

Cut 4 or 5 tomatoes of the same size into halves and place them in a baking-tin with a small piece of butter on each and dust them with black pepper and nutmeg. Bake from 15 to 20 minutes. Have ready 6 oz. of macaroni boiled and hot, place this in a circle on a hot dish, arrange the tomatoes inside this and pour over the spaghetti a rich cheese sauce. Serve very hot.

Make a curry sauce by slicing 2 small onions and frying them in butter until a light brown, add to them 2 teaspoonsful of curry powder and a tablespoonful of lemon juice or rather less of vinegar, a tablespoonful of sugar, a pinch of salt and two raw apples chopped very finely, stir in 1½ pints of water and simmer until the ingredients have become a pulp. Place ½ lb. of spaghetti in boiling water, and when partly cooked remove it, drain, and finish cooking it in the sauce. Serve very hot.

To Boil.—Place the rice in a pan of fast boiling water and be careful to choose one large enough for it. 1 to 1½ oz. of rice should be cooked in a quart pan, which should be three-parts full of water, and have ½ a teaspoonful of salt and a few drops of lemon juice in it, the latter to preserve the whiteness of the rice. Stir occasionally. Boil the rice for 10 to 15 minutes, but test it at the former time by pressing it between the finger and thumb. When the grains feel soft remove the saucepan from the fire at once and drain off the water; return the rice to the pan and set it on the corner of the stove to dry, shaking it occasionally. Some grains of rice will always stick to the pan, and to remove these put a small pat of butter in the pan, and as this melts the grains will fall away. The rice[60] will take quite 10 minutes to dry and should never be served until the moisture has been got rid of and the grains separated. Remember always that rice swells very much in the cooking process, hence the necessity of the large pan and amount of water required. Carolina rice swells more than Patna and so requires rather more water than the latter. If the rice is boiled too slowly or for too long a time the result will be a sticky mass. A good plan is to pour in a pint of cold water when the rice is sufficiently cooked. This stops the boiling at once and helps to separate the grains; if put close to the stove when the rice is first put into the pan, the cook will be able to throw it into the pan the moment the rice is tender. If the rice is to be served with meat in place of a vegetable, the rice should only be partly cooked and the water all drained off, and then ½ pint to 1 pint of stock put in the pan. This should be simmered until quite cooked, drained and served.

Another method of boiling rice, though totally different to the foregoing, is equally successful. Place the rice in cold water and allow it to come to the boil. After boiling for a few minutes and when the grains are tender when pressed between the finger and thumb, throw in a jugful of cold water, remove the pan from the fire, and pour both rice and water on to a wire sieve, shake well, and when the water has run away sufficiently,[61] place the sieve with the rice upon it in the oven to thoroughly dry it. The grains will fall away from each other and the rice is ready for use.

Rice is even better as a vegetable if it is cooked some time before being wanted, covered over, and reheated in the oven before use; the grains are drier than when only cooked and served at once.

Served as a vegetable

Boil ½ lb. of rice as directed, and when it is thoroughly dried fry it in 1 oz. of butter until slightly browned. Dust with pepper and salt and serve piled in a dish.

Proceed as for Fried Rice, but mix in a pinch of curry powder with the hot liquid butter.

Boil the rice in the manner described on page 60, and to 4 oz. when cooked and drained, stir in 1 oz. of butter, dust with salt and pepper and stir well, mixing thoroughly; add sufficient tomato sauce to moisten the whole, and add[62] 2 oz. of finely-grated cheese. Mix well and serve very hot.

Fry 3 oz. of chopped onion in 2 oz. of butter or clarified dripping until of a golden brown colour, then add 6 oz. of rice, stir without stopping for 2 or 3 minutes, add by degrees 1 pint of stock, stir occasionally and simmer gently until the rice is just soft, add a very small amount of grated nutmeg and 1½ oz. of grated cheese before the rice is cooked; after this stir and cook for 3 or 4 minutes until the rice is quite soft. Take off the pan, add a small pat of butter, stir well and serve very hot.

Place in a saucepan ½ pint of milk, a small teacupful of raw rice, 4 small Portugal onions, 6 good-sized tomatoes, these latter ingredients chopped finely, pepper and salt to taste. Boil all together until soft, stirring occasionally, and just before serving stir in 1½ oz. of finely-grated cheese.

Chop half an onion very finely and fry it in ½ oz. of butter. Place 4 oz. of rice in a saucepan[63] with ½ pint of stock, add the onion and cook until the stock is absorbed. Stir in 1 oz. of grated Parmesan cheese, pepper and salt to taste. Make very hot and serve.

Boil in the ordinary way separately equal quantities of rice and cabbage. The latter cut into small pieces before they are quite cooked, remove them from their respective pans and place them together in a stewpan with just as much stock as will cover them, simmer until quite cooked (probable time, 5 minutes), and serve with a covering of grated cheese.

Boil 3 oz. of rice in ½ pint of milk, season with pepper and salt; butter a pie dish, lay in a layer of rice, sprinkle this with 1 oz. of grated cheese, add the rest of the rice, sprinkle with another ounce of cheese, dot some small pieces of butter all over the top; bake in a quick oven till nicely browned on the top.

Boil 4 oz. of rice in cold water, taking care to let it absorb all the liquid; to this add 1 tablespoonful of finely-grated cheese, 1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley, 1 oz. of finely-grated brown[64] breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoonful of tomato sauce, pepper and salt to taste; bind all the ingredients with the yolks of 2 eggs, mixing thoroughly, form into balls, brush over with white of egg, roll in breadcrumbs and fry a golden brown.

Fry an onion, finely-sliced, in butter with a few shrimps or pieces of lobster, stir into it 1 dessertspoonful of mustard. When thoroughly hot, add a teacupful of rice previously boiled and dried and a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan cheese. Stir and serve very hot on rounds of buttered toast or fried croûtons.

Simmer 2 tablespoonsful of rice in 1 pint of milk until nearly cooked, then add 1 oz. of finely-grated cheese, ½ oz. of butter, 1 teaspoonful of made mustard, a pinch of salt and a dust of cayenne pepper. Mix all together and pour into a buttered pie dish, sprinkle ½ oz. of finely-grated cheese on the top and bake in a moderate oven for ½ hour.

Slice down some good, rich cheese rather thinly, into a delicately clean stewpan, with some morsels of butter, and 2 or 3 spoonsful of porter, good ale, or new milk as you please, according to the quantity of the cheese; flavour to taste with freshly-ground black pepper and English mustard. Stir it all till thoroughly melted, pour it over hot buttered toast, browning the surface if you like with a hot shovel, and serve at once.

This requires careful watching, because if it be in the least over-cooked it will be leathery.

Add a few drops of vinegar and a finely-minced[66] pickled gherkin to cheese treated as above, and serve very hot.

Cut some slices of good, rich cheese about a third of an inch thick, season lightly with freshly-ground black pepper, and a drop or two of tarragon vinegar; then place them between two slices of brown bread and butter; trim these neatly, and set them in the oven, serving them directly the bread is toasted.

Mix 4½ oz. of breadcrumbs, 4 oz. of Parmesan cheese, 2 oz. of butter, ½ a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper and salt, and 2 eggs; pound these all thoroughly in a mortar, bind them with a well-beaten egg, shape into balls about the size of a walnut, egg and breadcrumb them, and fry a golden brown in plenty of boiling fat. Drain well, and serve at once very hot, garnished with parsley.

Take a flat fireproof dish and put into it the yolks of 2 eggs, a small pat of butter, some spice, and a tablespoonful of finely-grated Parmesan[67] cheese. Stir over the stove. Then break into it five or six eggs and sprinkle the whole with grated cheese. Brown and serve.

Put 1 pint of water into a pan with 1 oz. of butter when quite hot, dredge in 4 oz. of flour, and pepper and salt to taste, draw to one side and when cooled a little add the yolks of 4 eggs and 4 oz. of grated cheese. Have ready a pan of boiling fat, take the mixture up in tablespoonsful, drop in and fry a golden brown. Serve very hot.

Take 2 oz. of flour, 1½ oz. of Parmesan cheese, 1 oz. of butter and the yolk of 1 egg. Make a pastry of the above ingredients and roll out thin. Then with a crinkled round cutter cut out double the number of rounds you require to use and bake a light brown. Allow them to become cold. Mix some grated cheese with a little whipped cream to a nice thick consistency, season with salt and cayenne pepper, pile lightly on the rounds of pastry. (Some of the rounds must be cut into halves before baking to provide the wings for the butterflies.) Dip the crinkled edges of the halves into carmine to colour them, and arrange them as[68] wings on the rounds of pastry. Put a piece of stalk of parsley to form each antennae; also arrange or ornament the back of each butterfly with a little of the green leaf of the parsley.

Place 1 pint of milk in a saucepan and let it become hot, then pour it on to 1 tablespoonful of ground rice previously mixed with a little cold milk, return to the pan and stir until the mixture thickens. Remove the pan from the fire and add 4 oz. of finely-grated cheese, a pinch of salt and cayenne, the yolks of 2 eggs, and 2 oz. of butter. Mix all well together and then add the beaten whites of the eggs. Butter a pie dish and pour the mixture into it, and bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top before serving.

Place 1 oz. of butter in a pan with ½ pint of water; when boiling add 3 oz. of flour. Stir over the fire until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan quite clean. Remove the pan from the fire and when slightly cool add the yolks of 3 eggs and the whites of 2, cayenne and salt to taste. Stir in 2 oz. of grated Parmesan cheese, and place the mixture on a plate to cool. Take a small[69] piece of the mixture in a spoon and drop it in hot fat and fry a golden brown; continue this until it is used up. Serve on a dish paper garnished with parsley and sprinkled with grated cheese.

Line some patty pans with puff pastry and fill them three-parts full with the following mixture. Place 2 oz. of finely-grated breadcrumbs in a basin and mix into them 1 raw egg and a tablespoonful of milk; then add 2 tablespoonsful of finely-grated cheese and 2 teaspoonsful of butter, 1 teaspoonful of made mustard, ½ a teaspoonful of salt and the same of pepper. Mix very well. Place the patties in the oven and bake until a pale brown. The mixture will swell slightly in baking. Serve very hot.

Take ½ lb. of rich toasting cheese, slice it, place it on a soup plate. Cover it with flap mushrooms—on each mushroom a nut of butter and a dust of pepper and salt. Cover with another soup plate and bake in a moderate oven for half an hour. Dish up on buttered toast.

Put 2 oz. of finely-grated cheese into a basin[70] and add to it 2 well-beaten eggs and ¾ pint of milk. Trim the edge of a pie dish with cheese pastry and pour in the mixture. Place 2 or 3 pieces of butter on the top and bake in a quick oven (400 deg.) for 20 minutes.

Take 6 rounds of bread ¾ inch thick and about the size of a five shilling piece, fry them a golden brown colour, sprinkle over them a dust of dry mustard, a layer of grated cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Place them in a quick oven until the cheese is cooked, then place a spoonful of hot rice on each, garnish with capers and serve very hot.

Grate 2 oz. of cheese and mix it smoothly in a basin with a dessertspoonful of mustard, the same of anchovy sauce, a shake of cayenne, a pinch of salt, a dessertspoonful of anchovy vinegar, a tablespoonful of fresh butter and the yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs. Mix this until it is a smooth paste, then spread it on rounds of buttered white or brown bread. Chop the whites of the eggs finely or press them through a sieve on to the paste. Serve cold.

Grate finely 3½ oz. of cheese and mix it with[71] 1 egg, add ¼ pint of boiling milk, pour the mixture into small fireproof dishes and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot in the dishes.

Line the required number of patty pans with puff pastry. Boil 1 oz. of macaroni in just as much water as it will absorb. When soft cut it into tiny pieces, mix with it 1 oz. of finely-grated cheese, a pinch of salt, a pinch of cayenne, and bind the mixture with a little cream or cheese sauce. Bake for 10 minutes.

Stew ½ lb. of tomatoes in butter until tender with onion cut up finely, put them through a sieve, adding a small quantity of cream, or milk if the former is not procurable. Replace the tomato in the pan and add to it enough grated cheese to make it like a thick cream, season with pepper and place a little of the mixture in croûtons of fried bread. Serve very hot.

Make some squares of hot buttered toast, place on a hot dish and keep hot. Melt ½ lb. of cheese in a little saucepan with 1 oz. of butter and 3 tablespoonsful of cream (or milk), pepper[72] and salt. When of the consistency of very thick custard pour it over the toast and serve.

For the following Cheese Dishes, see

10s. a Head for House Books:—

The Single-Handed Cook:—

Break two eggs into a basin, season with salt, pepper, minced parsley, and chives, etc., and beat these all together for about 1 minute. Melt 1 oz. of butter in an absolutely clean pan (it is best to keep a pan on purpose for omelettes), and when this smokes, pour in the eggs, and do not touch them for a few seconds, till the liquid has set a little at the bottom of the pan; tilt the pan a trifle to one side, and if there is a small puff of steam, lift the edge up carefully with a knife to allow as much of the liquid as possible to run underneath; repeat this till there is no more egg liquid left, and the top just set, slip a knife under the omelette, fold it over, and slip it at once on to a hot dish, and serve immediately. This can be varied, of course, to any extent, by, just before folding it over, slipping in any kind of vegetable[74] mixture, such as mushrooms, chopped up and previously lightly fried in a little butter.

To 4 eggs add 2 tablespoonsful of very smoothly mashed potato, add a tablespoonful of cream, a small piece of butter, pepper and salt, whip all together and then fry as before.

Place between the omelette a few green peas, made very hot, and tossed in butter, salt and pepper.

Fold the omelette over a few cooked asparagus tops, which have been made hot.

Make an ordinary omelette, and before serving pour this mixture into it. Take two or three tomatoes and cut them into pieces, cut an onion into very thin slices, melt a tablespoonful of butter into a saucepan and place the onion in it. Cook them, but do not brown, add pepper, salt and the pieces of tomato. Stir all together for 10[75] minutes, take out the mixture, pass it through a sieve, and return to the pan, thoroughly reheat and it is ready for use.

Add an heaped-up tablespoonful of grated cheese to the ordinary omelette mixture, sprinkling some over it just before serving.

Heat some cooked French beans in butter and place them between a plain omelette.

Recipes for omelette made with flour, anchovy, cheese, mushroom, and sardine omelettes will be found in Savouries Simplified, by Mrs. C. S. Peel.

There are, of course, many varieties of curry. The recipe for one of worth is given in my 10s. a Head Cookery Book, and I here add another, but before giving detailed recipes let us deal with the broad rules for curry making, the most important of all being—

Do not attempt to make curry in a hurry.

2 hours is the least in which you can make a vegetable curry worthy of the name, and it is far wiser to allow 3 or 4 hours.

[76]Do not ask your cook to make curry on a day when she is very busy with other matters, for it will take an hour or more of undivided attention as well as a certain amount of attention throughout the time of cooking.

There is, however, no reason that curry should not be made the day before it is wanted, for it improves by keeping, and by being reheated.

Weigh 5 oz. of butter (or if economy must be studied, 3 oz. of clarified dripping, and 2 oz. of butter). Choose four medium-sized onions, and chop them very fine. Melt the butter in a stewpan and add the onions and cook them until they are of a deep golden brown, stirring often. Meanwhile, put 1 tablespoonful of curry powder in a saucer in the oven for 10 minutes, then mix it to a smooth paste with a little cream, or if this cannot be allowed, some milk, and add it to the onion mixture, and stir well. Cook slowly, stirring frequently for 2 hours in all. During this time the onions will become quite pulpy, and the butter like oil, and the colour of the mixture will slowly deepen to a rich mustard yellow. While this “ghee,” as it is called, is cooking, take 1 small vegetable marrow, cut in squares; ½ lb. of French beans, strung and broken in half; 2 large tomatoes, quartered; ½ a small[77] cucumber, peeled and sliced; 1 small apple, peeled and cored and sliced; ½ a small carrot, sliced. Boil the vegetables as usual, cooking the larger and firmer longer than those of a more delicate kind. Make the curry mixture given above, and add the vegetables during the last ½ hour of cooking. Serve with a border of rice.

This recipe does not make a sloppy curry, but one in which the solid ingredients are coated with the thick sauce.

Other dishes, not properly curries though flavoured with curry powder, are often termed curry. They provide a quick and easy method of serving various materials. For these a curry sauce is needed.

Chop an onion and a few slices of apple finely and fry them in 2 oz. of clarified dripping or butter. Stir in ½ a dessertspoonful of curry powder and the same of flour. Salt to taste. Add ¼ pint of stock or milk, cook gently for 30 minutes, then put all through a sieve, add a few drops of lemon juice, and reheat.

Take all the outer leaves off a young cabbage and boil it until it is half cooked. Drain it and[78] chop it finely, place it in a pan with some curry sauce and simmer it gently for 1 hour. Serve in a border of boiled rice.

Slice some hot boiled potatoes and pour over them a curry sauce.

Boil the quantity of macaroni required until tender, drain it and cut it into pieces 1 inch in length. Place it in the curry sauce already described for 10 minutes, and serve in a rice border.

Take the cooked lentils (see page 47) and heat them in curry sauce. Serve very hot in a border of rice.

Proceed as for Lentil Curry.

The English salad is not as a rule a success, and undoubtedly the chief fault in its making lies in the inferior quality of the oil used.

Provided with good oil the next point of importance in a green salad is the condition of the material. If the lettuces, endive, cress or watercress are faded the salad is ruined. The lettuce, etc., should of course be freshly cut, if possible, but where this is not feasible it should be chosen with care, and at once put into water—not soused into a basin, but placed with its root only in water—as if it were a flower—in a cool place. In this way a lettuce will keep in perfect condition for two or three days, if needs be. Cress and endive should be treated likewise. Let us now consider the making of

Choose crisp lettuces, cut off the stalk and remove the outer leaves (when well washed these may be used for lettuce purée), tear the lettuce in[80] pieces (on no account cut it), and wash it in a bowl of cold water. Place it in a clean cloth and swing it round until dry. This method of drying by centrifugal force gets rid of the moisture and does not bruise the lettuce.

Now rub the salad bowl very thoroughly with a slice of onion, and if the flavour is liked place half a small peeled onion in the centre of the bowl. Mix in the bowl 1 dessertspoonful of the best wine vinegar and 2 tablespoonsful of oil, and add a little salt and a good dusting of freshly-ground black pepper. Stir the lettuce round lightly in the mixture and serve. This quantity of oil and vinegar is sufficient for about 2 medium lettuces, but only experience teaches the exact quantity to use. The lettuce should not be swimming in the mixture: the leaves should merely be coated with it, and no remains of it should be left at the bottom of the bowl when the salad is mixed.

The chief faults of the average salad, next to the use of inferior oil and flabby lettuce, are the excess of dressing, the excess of vinegar, and the use of pepper which is not freshly ground. A salad prepared in the manner described is as different as chalk is from cheese from the salad which is generally put before one, and no more difficult to make. Salads of endive, corn, Batavian lettuce, or cress, should be made in just the same manner.

[81]For orange salad and orange and cherry salad a similar dressing is used, and I notice how these fruit salads are growing in favour.

simply consists of the sections of oranges free from pith and skin, string and pips, arranged in a bowl and dressed with oil and vinegar.

consists of glacé cherries arranged in the centre of the bowl surrounded by sections of oranges, and dressed with the same mixture.

Another excellent salad, not very generally known, consists of sliced apple and shred celery; it is known as

and is dressed with mayonnaise sauce, or with whipped cream flavoured with salt and pepper. This

is newer than mayonnaise, and is generally appreciated. Another delicious salad on which it is used is

[82]

This is made of Brazil nuts broken into pieces, shred celery, and tiny dice of bread and butter. This salad is equally good if dressed with cream or with mayonnaise sauce.

As mayonnaise is generally spoiled by too overpowering a use of vinegar, I give here an excellent recipe in which the special oil and vinegar already mentioned are employed.

To make mayonnaise sauce, first rinse the basin in very cold water, and make the sauce in a cool place, if possible keeping the basin on ice while you mix the sauce. See that the oil is perfectly good, and add it drop by drop. This is important, otherwise the sauce may curdle. Use the very best vinegar, as a very little of this will suffice and prevent the sauce from becoming thin. Put the yolks of 2 raw eggs in a basin, and add to them a pinch of salt, ½ a saltspoonful of white pepper, and ½ a teaspoonful of French and English mustard in the dry state, and a tiny pinch of cayenne. Work these together, then stir in drop by drop 3 gills of olive oil. When quite thick add ½ a teaspoonful of lemon juice, and 2 dessertspoonsful of the best vinegar drop[83] by drop, and set in a cool place, or on ice, until required. In case the sauce curdles the yolk of another egg must be beaten up, and the curdled sauce added to it little by little.

Mix 1 saltspoonful of salt and a good pinch of black pepper with 1 tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar. Stir until the salt has dissolved, then add drop by drop 3 tablespoonsful of olive oil.

The other dressings generally used are sauce tartare, salad dressing and sauce vinaigrette, for which I give the following excellent recipes:—

Chop 1 shallot very fine, with ½ a tablespoonful of chervil, the same of tarragon, and 12 capers, also finely minced. Place these ingredients in a bowl and add ½ a teaspoonful of mustard powder (English), the yolks of 2 raw eggs, and drop by drop 1 teaspoonful of vinegar; then a pinch of salt and ⅓ the quantity of pepper. Pour in by degrees, stirring all the time, a teacupful of oil. If too thick add drop by drop a little more vinegar, and if too salt a little more mustard and oil.

[84]

Beat the hard-boiled yolk of 2 eggs with 1 teaspoonful of dry mustard. When smooth add by slow degrees 8 dessertspoonsful of oil, 5 of vinegar, 1½ of sugar, and ½ a teacupful of cream. Beat together with a silver spoon until smooth. If bottled this dressing will keep for some days.

Mince very finely 1 shallot, 2 good sprigs of parsley and the same quantity of chervil and chives. Place with them about 1 tablespoonful of salt, 1 teaspoonful of fresh black pepper and 3 tablespoonsful of vinegar. Stir well together, add by degrees, stirring all the time, 4 tablespoonsful of oil.

In salads where chives, onion or garlic are mentioned, it is best, unless the taste of those about to partake of the dish is known, to omit them, and either to rub the salad bowl with onion or garlic or to prepare what is called a chapon:—

Cut a neat square of crust from a French loaf, sprinkle it with salt and rub it with raw onion or with a clove of garlic. Put this at the bottom of the salad bowl, place the salad on it and mix thoroughly. Serve immediately.

[85]

Boil or steam the marrow, drain, and when cold cut into neat pieces, place in a salad bowl with a dressing of oil and vinegar.

Boil the number of Japanese artichokes required for 5 minutes, and when cold place in a salad bowl with slices of cold boiled beetroot and celery. Cover with mayonnaise sauce. Garnish with beetroot and celery.

Boil the beans whole, drain them, and dry them on a cloth, when quite cold place them in a bowl and pour over them some salad oil, shake some black pepper over them and a small amount of salt, then drop over them a few drops of the best wine vinegar, and if liked a sprinkling of very finely-minced tarragon and chives.

Take the stalks from lettuces running to seed, and tie them in bundles, cutting them more or less the same size. Place in a saucepan and boil until tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Take out and[86] drain them, and allow them to get quite cold. Then cut up into slices of the same size, place in a salad bowl and cover with mayonnaise sauce.

Crack some Brazil nuts and cut the kernels into 3 or 4 pieces. Take an equal quantity of crisp cleanly-washed and shred celery. Mix together and dress with mayonnaise sauce. Pile in the centre of the salad bowl and garnish with sliced tomato or beetroot.

Scald and then boil one or two large onions till soft. When cold, slice the onion, mix it with shred celery and sliced beetroot. Dress with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

which is simply ⅔ celery to ⅓ walnuts tossed in mayonnaise sauce.

Cut up some beetroot into shapes, add to this a little chopped celery, some turnip, carrot,[87] potato, all cooked and cut into dice; pour some mayonnaise over it all, mix well, and garnish with bunches of cress. If liked, a French vinaigrette dressing may be used instead of the mayonnaise.

Cut in thin slices a few small cold steamed potatoes, 1 small beetroot boiled, 1 small carrot, a few cold peas or French beans, 1 little pickled cabbage, 1 sardine filleted and chopped fine. Mix all well together. Rub the salad bowl with onion. For the dressing take a teaspoonful each of raw mustard and salt, a little coralline pepper, a pinch of curry powder, ½ a wineglass of sherry and the same of Lucca oil. Mix all well together and pour over the salad.

Soak the haricots for 6 or 8 hours and then boil them until tender. Leave until cold. Pile them in the centre of a salad bowl and surround with shred tomato or beetroot and some shred celery. Cover with whipped cream flavoured with salt and white pepper. If liked dip the haricot in oil and vinegar in addition to the cream. Decorate the cream with a little coralline pepper, and[88] arrange the beetroot so that it makes a red border to the white pyramid of cream.

Take some cold boiled roots of celeriac, some cold potatoes and beetroot. In the middle of the salad bowl make a heap of endive and blanched celery stalks, frizzed, in short lengths. Surround with the vegetables sliced. Pour over the whole a good mayonnaise sauce.

Pound and press through a sieve 4 large anchovies (no bones), boil 6 eggs hard, halve them and neatly remove the yolks, which pound to a paste with butter, the powdered anchovies, ¼ teaspoonful of mace, a little pepper. Mix well, and roughly fill the egg cases. Fill almost to the top the salad bowl with finely-shred lettuce, endive, cooked beetroot, sliced (very thin) artichoke (cooked), and finally add some cucumber ribbons. Then arrange with care the egg baskets and pour round, but not over the halved eggs, the following dressing (imperial mayonnaise):—Put into a basin ½ pint of aspic, and add 1 tablespoonful of olive oil, 2 teaspoonsful of vinegar, and a trifle of salt and pepper. Beat with an egg whisk until all the ingredients are well blended.[89] Set the salad in a pan of ice water if possible, or in a very cold place until served.

Wash some fresh crisp celery and use only the inner sticks. Cut it in ½ inch lengths, place in a salad bowl which has been rubbed with onion and dress with mayonnaise sauce. Decorate with a little chopped truffle.

This is a way of using cold cooked asparagus with mousseline sauce. Put ½ gill of new milk into a pan with the yolks of 4 eggs, and 3 crushed long peppercorns; place this all in a bainmarie, or larger stewpan, half filled with boiling water, and whisk it all together well for a few minutes; now add 1 oz. of butter, adding it bit by bit, and only putting in another piece when the first is thoroughly melted and worked in. Season it as you whisk with a dust of salt and nutmeg, and a tiny squeeze of lemon juice at the last. When it is finished this sauce should look like frothed cream.

Another salad which is suitable for hot weather is

[90]

For this proceed exactly as for a plain lettuce salad, but add a ring of fresh tomato, peeled, and not too thinly sliced.

Other nice salads are—

Take 6 ripe, sound tomatoes, wipe them, and place them in boiling water for a minute; drain, peel, let them cool, quarter them (this should be done while they are in the salad bowl, so that the juice is not wasted); add a teaspoonful of finely-chopped chives or a chapon; dress with oil and vinegar.

Proceed as before, but to each tomato add ½ a hard-boiled egg, quartered, and dress with mayonnaise sauce.

For the following salads see

[92]

Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London.