Vegetable Marrow Soup. Put two small vegetable marrows, quartered and cored, into a stewpan with an ounce of butter, an onion, a little pepper and salt, and half a pint of stock. Boil gently until done, then rub them through a sieve, and mix the purée with half a pint of new milk or cream, a quart of good white stock, and two lumps of sugar. Let all get hot together, without boiling. One or two yolks of egg give richness to the soup; they should be beaten for a minute and stirred in with a little milk or cream, just before the soup is finished, but it must never boil after the addition of the eggs. Fried bread should be served with this soup. Salmon Cutlets. The cutlets may be taken from the tail-end of a large fish, and should be about half an inch thick. Dissolve a little butter and dip each piece in it. When it is set, brush the cutlets over with yolk of egg and dip each piece on both sides in very finely sifted bread-crumbs, highly seasoned with pepper and salt. They will be best fried in the wire basket with plenty of fat, but may be perfectly well done in the frying-pan with a small piece of butter, turning them on one side as soon as brown on the other. Arrange the cutlets neatly on a dish, and pour round a sauce made as follows:-Take a cupful of rich brown gravy, thicken it with butter and flour, and warm up in it some small pieces of hot pickle, such as gherkins or cucumbers. If preferred, a tablespoonful of Prince Alfred's sauce (see page 254) or any other piquant sauce may be substituted. Boned Shoulder of Lamb. Saw off the shank and carefully remove the blade-bone of the shoulder, chop up a few mushrooms, previously stewed in butter, and put them in the cavity, sprinkle pepper and salt over, roll the shoulder up tightly, and secure it with string. Roast, and when done, serve with mushrooms stewed either in butter or gravy. Braised Duck. Take a small duck, and before trussing as for roasting place inside it two onions chopped fine; if sliced and placed between two plates in the oven for ten minutes it will take off the strength, and enable you to chop them without inconvenience. Mix them with a dessertspoonful of sage, chopped very fine, a tablespoonful of breadcrumbs, and pepper and salt. Fasten up the duck securely, so that none of the seasoning can escape. Put an ounce of butter into a stewpan, and fry the duck until a nice brown. Then put in the stewpan as much good gravy as will half cover the duck, with an onion cut in slices. Simmer very gently for three-quarters of an hour. Take up the duck and keep it warm, whilst you strain and take the grease off the gravy, which boil sharply over the fire until reduced to half the original quantity. Return the duck to the gravy and let it stand, just below the simmering point, for a quarter of an hour. Take it up and serve with the purée of peas, either tastefully arranged round the dish or separately. Plain boiled peas may be used, but the purée is very convenient if they are not in the finest condition. Purée of Peas. Shell half a peck of peas, boil them with an onion, a little mint, and plenty of salt in the usual manner. When done, drain them and rub them through a sieve, add an ounce of butter, a tablespoonful of sifted sugar, and, if requisite, a little more salt. Put the purée into a stewpan with a spoonful of cream or milk, and stir it over the fire for five minutes. A little spinach boiled with the peas improves the colour. Orange Pudding. A quarter of a pound of bread-crumbs, a quarter of a pound of suet, two ounces of flour, quarter of a pound of sifted loaf-sugar, a quarter of a pound of orange marmalade. Mix with one egg, and put the pudding into a buttered basin or mould. Steam for three hours. For sauce, boil a dessertspoonful of marmalade in a quarter of a pint of water for ten minutes, strain it, make it boiling hot, and stir into it a teaspoonful of corn-flour and one of flour mixed smooth in a tablespoonful of cold water. Sweeten with about an ounce of lump-sugar, and add a pinch of citric acid. Let it simmer until thickened, then stir in half an ounce of butter, and pour round the base of the pudding the moment before serving. Snow. Make a custard as for strawberry soufflé. When cold, put it in a glass dish, and lay the snow on it as you make it. Beat the whites of the eggs to a very strong froth with Have in a frying-pan and put on it a table- ́ a tablespoonful of sifted sugar. half a pint of milk and water, spoonful of the froth at a time. Let it simmer until set, then take up with a fish-slice and pile up on the custard. It should present a very pretty rocky appearance, and look like real snow. If you choose a few preserved cherries may be used for ornament. |