This recipe may be reduced for a small dish of fritters as follows :- two ordinary eggs, one table-spoonful of brandy, a dessert-spoonful of salad oil, two or three table-spoonfuls of water, and one and a half table-spoonful of flour. For sweet fritters, use sugar instead of salt.

Another good batter is made thus :- Beat up equal parts of salad oil, and brandy, - say, a table-spoonful of each; add the yolk of an egg, and incorporate with this, sufficient flour to make a thick paste, which you thin to the required consistency by the addition of water, reserving the whipped white of the egg to finish with.

I have more than once alluded to "beignets" in previous chapters, and receipts for several will be found amongst my menus. The kramousky* is, I think, the prince of all savoury fritters, and is susceptible of being composed in many delicious ways. The oyster, pounded shell fish, minced fish of any kind, sweet-breads (when you can get them) or any delicately composed mince of fowl, or of meat, with tongue or ham, can be thus turned to an artistic account. Whatever your salpicon, or minced composition, may be made of, the specialties of the kramoushy are the little jacket of fat bacon in which it is enveloped, and the batter in which it is dipped. The bacon should be previously cooked, and cut into thin slices, two and a half inches long, and one and a half deep : two oysters, or a heaped up tea-spoonful of any salpicon, should be laid in the centre of each : the bacon must then be folded over it very neatly, and kept ready for the dipping process, which must be carried out cautiously. The frying should be conducted as already described.

If you wish to make kramoushys of chicken, turkey, or game, you should mince the meat coarsely, the pieces being-cut like little dice, bind the mince with the yolks of a couple of eggs or more, according to the quantity of the mince, and stir into it, in a sauce-pan on the fire, a little richly made veloute; let this get quite cold, and firm, then divide it into little portions and fill your bacon slices. Minced truffles, and mushrooms, are, of course, undeniable improvements to any salpicon.

* Generally written 'Kromesky,' 'or cromesqui.' I have adopted a different spelling having been assured by a friend whose authority is unimpeachable that the dish is of Russian origin, and its name "Kra-mousky."

A fish kramousky is easily accomplished : you need only mince the fish, stir into it, in a sauce-pan on the fire, a few spoonfuls of well made white sauce, add a little seasoning, with the yolk of an egg when off the fire, and set it to cool.

In like manner, tinned lobster, tinned oysters, and any tinned fish, can thus be successfully treated. In using them, however, it is necessary to wash, and drain them from the liquid of the tin. The sauce should be made very carefully, so that it may freshen up the fish as much as possible.

An oyster, plainly dipped in the batter I have given you, and fried secundum artem, is perhaps as dainty a morsel as can be presented to the jaded appetite of an Anglo-Indian. Drain the oysters from their liquor in the tin, wipe them, and set them, en marinade all the day in a soup plate, with the juice of three limes, an onion sliced some whole peppers, and a few cloves; turn them occasionally till they are wanted for the friture-pan. Oyster fritters thus treated, form an excellent garnish, and may be served with boiled or fried fish, or a dish of filets de baeuf.

Here is a super-excellent idea of the " G. C.'s" :- Split each oyster open, almost as wide, comparatively speaking, as you do a kidney, and insert therein a little of the following composition :- toss on the fire in butter, with pepper, salt and a spoonful of rich brown sauce, a dessertspoonful each of minced mushroom, shallot, and truffle; thicken this with the yolks of two eggs, give it the juice of a lime, and let it get cold. After putting a small allowance of this in each oyster, shut the sides together, dip it in the batter, and fry immediately.

I have already indicated the vegetables which make good fritters, and here repeat my high opinion of that method of treating them,

Try this:- pound a dish of boiled prawns in a mortar with some butter, and weak gravy; when quite worked to a puree, incorporate it with the hatter, and drop the mixture by dessert-spoonfuls at a time, into your friture-pan: let the fritters cook till they turn a rich golden colour, and are as crisp as biscuits, then drain, and serve them on a napkin, with crisply fried parsley.

If you omit the prawn puree, and simply fry spoonfuls of the plain batter, you will have beignets, or (as Rama-samy hath it) "pan-cake fritters," which may be either sent up as a savoury entremets, to be eaten with butter, pepper, and salt; or as a sweet one, when they must be dusted over with powdered sugar, and sprinkled with lime juice. In the latter case, a spoonful of brandy or liqueur shaken over the fritters improves their general effect.

All fruit fritters can be cooked in the batter I have described. Peaches, apricots, pears, and apples make delicious fritters, the pine-apple is equally amenable to the fri-fure-pan; whilst oranges and our lowly plantain are not to be despised. For the four former fruits we must look to the tin; those that come to us from America are specially to be recommended. Pine-apples, when in season, can be procured in the market; if out of season, the American tinned slices are capital substitutes. Oranges can be used in their season, and the plantain is a perennial friend. Whatever fruit be chosen, let it be set en marinade in liqueur, brandy, or rum. Delicate fruits require liqueur, the pine-apple is better associated with rum, the plantain and orange are thankful for either rum or brandy. A wineglass is enough. The fruit, sliced, and prepared for the "beignet" should be laid in a soup-plate, dusted over with sugar, and sprinkled with the brandy, or liqueur. After an hour, the slices should be turned over, basted again, and this should be repeated during the afternoon, until they are required by the cook, The brandy or liqueur you use for the marinade should be mixed in the batter. Orange quarters and slices of ripe plantain may be used raw, but the slices of pine-apple must be stewed till tender.

I cannot do better than wind up this chapter with a recipe for beignets souffles:-

"Put about a pint of water in a sauce-pan with a pinch of salt, a piece of butter the size of an egg, a table-spoonful of sugar, and the rasped peel of three lemons - when the whole boils, throw in gradually sufficient flour to form a thick paste, then let it remain ten minutes, and work into it, off the fire, two eggs complete, and the yolks only of two more, the whites of which you reserve for whisking to a froth: add the froth, let it rest awhile, and then proceed to fry by dropping pieces of it the size of a walnut into boiling fat. The paste will swell in the process of frying, and if the fat be sufficiently heated hollow balls of a fine golden colour will be produced. Serve them piled upon a dish, with a plentiful dusting of powdered white sugar." (G. C.)

In this country it will be better to use a few drops of lemon essence than the rasped peel of a lime; and any essence, such as vanilla, ratafia, almond, etc., may be used as a change.

If you omit the lemon and the sugar, and stir in with the flour a good allowance of finely grated Parmesan, you will achieve a "beignet souffle au Parmesan" a truly toothsome savoury entremets; and if you cook them plainly, without cheese, and only seasoned with pepper and salt, you will have a beignet which, when eaten with salt, pepper, mustard, and fresh butter, forms a savoury entremets not to be despised.