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Calf's Tail Soup.

This soup will be a novelty to many persons; and indeed the fact of calves possessing tails has been much overlooked by epicures and cooks, whilst the butchers, finding no general demand for the tails, have usually left them as perquisites for the men who collected the skins. One is inclined to envy those who have had the long and undisturbed enjoyment of these delicious morceaux.

It will probably be necessary to order the tails a day or two before they are wanted; two will be sufficient for soup for six persons, and the cost should be very small. Having divided the tails into handsome pieces, in the same manner as that of an ox, dip them in milk, then in flour highly seasoned with pepper and salt, fry them until a delicate brown, and then stew for about two hours, or until perfectly tender, in a pint of well-seasoned stock with an onion, carrot, and turnip; this liquor, when the fat has been removed, to be added to a good gravy soup, or one made as follows: Cut a pound and a half of beef from the neck into dice, fry in a little butter until brown, with a few bacon bones on which there is very little meat,

slice four onions and fry them also a nice golden colour. Upon the care with which this preliminary process is carried on will depend the excellence of the soup. Cut up a carrot and turnip and put with the meat, &c., into the soup-pot, with three pints of water, stock, or the liquor in which any fresh meat, fowl, or rabbit has been boiled; put a little water into the frying-pan, let it boil up in order that none of the colouring matter may be lost, add it to the soup, and, having skimmed, let it simmer gently for four hours. Half an hour before the soup is finished, put in a small piece of celery, or a good pinch of celeryseed tied in muslin. When done, strain the soup and press the meat and vegetables well with the back of a spoon, so as to extract all the moisture from them. Let the soup stand until cool enough to remove every particle of fat; when about to serve, let it boil, and stir in a dessertspoonful of Brown and Polson's corn-flour, and one of flour mixed smooth in cold water; if salt or pepper is required, add it, put in the pieces of tail with the liquor in which they were stewed, let all get hot together, and

serve.

It is very usual to despise soup-meat as having had all the nourishment drawn out of it; but this is a great mistake, as in the fibre lies the chief strength. The meat and vegetables from which soup has been made should on no account be thrown away. If properly treated, an excellent meal for the family may be made. One good way

of serving it is, to place the meat and vegetables in a deep pie-dish, with a little gravy or butter sauce, season, and then put on a cover of mashed potatoes. Bake until hot through. Or, have ready some boiled potatoes, cut them into slices, also a well-cooked onion or two, put them with the soup-meat and vegetables, with enough broth or plain butter sauce to moisten them; let them simmer together for ten minutes, and serve.

Turbot à la Reine.

Choose about three pounds of the tail of a fine fresh turbot; rub it over with vinegar, pepper, and salt, and let it lie for two or three hours; then remove the, bone, and put in its place the following stuffing:-Soak the crumb of a French roll in cold milk, squeeze it as dry as possible, put it in a stewpan with an ounce of butter, the yolk of an egg, a pinch of salt, and a grain of cayenne-pepper; work the mixture over the fire until it is smooth and compact, then take about half its weight in preserved lobster and mix together into a paste. If more convenient, a dessertspoonful of Burgess's essence of anchovy may be substituted for the lobster. After putting in the stuffing sew up the fish, place it black side downwards in a wellbuttered tin baking-dish with a quarter of a pint of Sauterne or other wine of the same character-sherry will not do a teaspoonful of vinegar and ditto of essence of

anchovy, a pinch of pepper and salt, and an ounce of fresh butter. Bake for about an hour, basting the fish frequently with the liquor, taking care it does not become the least brown.

Have ready a good white sauce, made as follows:-Mix a tablespoonful of fine flour in two of cold milk; have ready a quarter of a pint of boiling milk which has been reduced from half a pint by slowly boiling, and mix it with the thickening; stir over the fire until a proper consistency; break in two ounces of fine fresh butter and the yolk of an egg, keep stirring five minutes longer, and then strain into the sauce the liquor in which the fish was cooked; perform this last part of the operation carefully, stirring briskly all the time. If you will afford them, a few oysters will be a great improvement to the sauce. Put the turbot on its dish, pour the sauce over, and serve.

If it is not convenient to use wine for cooking the turbot, substitute the given quantity of good white stock, with the juice of a lemon; or the bone taken out of the fish may be boiled and gravy made that will answer well for the purpose. A very small turbot may be cooked whole in this manner, and a brill is also very good.

Fillet of Beef.

Except in the shape of fillet steak,' fillet of beef is little used and less appreciated in England, whilst in France it

is much sought for, and esteemed as the most tender and digestible morceau in the whole ox. English people condemn it as tasteless; if it is, it is the fault of the cook.

Properly speaking, a fillet of beef includes the whole under-cut of the sirloin and rump; but as joints are cut with us, it is not possible to obtain it in one piece, therefore the under-cut of the rump alone must be bought. From a fine rump of beef the fillet will weigh about four pounds; if charged as it usually is at steak price, it should have no skirt and little suet, and will be found an economical dish. Get the meat the day before you require to cook it, rub in a dessertspoonful of vinegar, very lightly pepper and salt, and hang in a cool place until wanted, then rub in a teaspoonful of the finest salad oil-huile d'Aix is best-and roast it slowly. It should be rather underdone. Have ready a nice rich brown gravy, the thickness of cream, and baste the fillet with it before the fire ten minutes before serving. Put it on a dish with the fat side uppermost-the carver will cut slices filletwise.

Roasted artichokes may either be served in the gravy as a garnish to the fillet, or separately.

If the cook understands larding it is a great improvement, or, as a substitute, a thick slice of fat bacon fastened over the under-side of the fillet during roasting will be found good.