Part 4

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

EGG AND FORCEMEAT CROUSTADES

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

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

EGG FRITTERS

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

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

EGG PATTIES

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

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

EGGS POACHED AND FRIED WITH TOMATOES

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

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

EGGS POACHED AND FRIED WITH VEGETABLE MARROW

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

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

EGGS POACHED WITH TOMATO SAUCE

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

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

EGGS IN POTATOES

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

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

EGGS AND RICE

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

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

EGG RISSOLES

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

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

FRENCH BEAN SALAD

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

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

FRICASSEE OF EGGS

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

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

GREEN PEA CUTLETS

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

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

MACARONI PIE

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

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

MACARONI RISSOLES

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

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

MOCK OYSTER CAKES

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

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

MUSHROOM CUTLETS WITH PURÉE OF LETTUCE