For a little home dinner.

Bouillon.

Sole frite a la Colbert.

Bouilli a la Milanaise.

Topinambours aux ceufs farcis.

Demoiselles d'honneur.

Fromage, hors d'oeuvres.

Dessert.

1. - This soup is to be made from the joint, in the foreign manner, a la pot-au-feu, so purchase a nice piece of the ribs of beef, weighing about five pounds, with two carrots, a turnip, a handful of French beans, a large Bombay onion, half a head of celery (leaves and all), two leeks, and a bunch of parsley. When the joint comes home, detach the meat from the bones en masse, roll it up compactly, and tie it firmly with a string. - See that your soup kettle is thoroughly clean, put in the bones (chopped up) first, and place your bundle of meat above them, pouring in cold water enough to cover the top of the meat - with one and a half ounce of salt and nothing else. Ramasamy throws in all his vegetables to begin with, which is an utterly erroneous proceeding. Now set the pot near the fire, and let the contents come as slowly as possible to the boil, skimming off every atom of scum as it rises, and adding from time to time a little cold water to retard ebulli-tion, and encourage the rising of the scum. Keep the vessel open throughout the operations, otherwise the soup will not be bright and clear. This having been completed, and the pot boiling with a clean surface, you may cast in your vegetables (the carrots first, followed by the turnip) all nicely washed, trimmed, and cut up. In addition, you must give the soup a tea-spoonful of caramel (burnt sugar colouring), a dessert-spoonful of sugar, a dozen pepper corns, and a bag containing mixed sweet herbs (a tea-spoonful of each). These additions will stop the boiling you will find, so watch the vessel narrowly, and as soon as boiling begins again, ease off the fire, and let the contents of the kettle simmer till the vegetables are nicely done. Now take the kettle from the fire, remove the vegetables and put the meat broth and bone back on a low fire to simmer slowly until you find that the first is nice and tender, - done in fact. The time of this will depend upon the size of the meat and the accuracy of the simmering : from two to three hours is the ordinary period. As soon as the meat is done, the soup is ready also : keeping the meat overdoing will not give you a fraction more strength in the broth. So strain it from the meat, and set it to cool. Place the meat and vegetables separately on dishes. When the broth is cold, take off any fat that may have risen to its surface, and return the liquor to the sauce-pan. Cut up some of the vegetables into nice pieces and place them in the soup tureen, let the contents of your saucepan come almost to the boil, and pour them over the vegetables. It will be a bright clear soup, with a capital flavour : a dessert-spoonful of Madeira and a dried leaf or two of tarragon will improve it. The colour will depend upon the amount of caramel you put into the pot. A nice golden yellow is easily obtained.

Bouillon.

2. - Make an incision along the back-bone on the upper side of the sole, from and up to within an inch of the head and tail; slip a knife under the flesh on each side of the cut, and loosen it from the bones; then egg and bread-crumb the fish with finely sifted crumbs, and fry-it in plenty of fat, with the side bearing the incision uppermost. The edges of this will curl outwards in the process of frying, and the opening thus made should be filled at the time of serving with plenty of maitre d'hotel butter, the sole being sprinkled with fine salt. While the fish is being drained in front of the fire, the back-bone may be removed carefully, but this is not essential.

3. - After draining the rolled rib meat mentioned in No. 1, and letting it get cold, place it on a dish that will stand the oven, brush it over with egg, and dredge over it a coating of very finely grated dry cheese, and bread-crumbs, in equal proportions : set it in the oven to heat thoroughly, and brown the outside of the crumbs with a hot iron used salamander fashion. When ready, put the meat on a dish, and trim round it a circle of hot maccaroni freshly boiled, drained, and tossed in melted butter : over which pour a breakfast-cupful of rich tomato puree, with two table-spoonfuls of grated Parmesan or Gruyere, and serve. If you are careful not to over-do the boiling of the meat as previously noted, you will find this dish, - all details being carefully carried out, - a very eatable one. A nice thick brown gravy made with butter, flour, and some of the bouillon, flavoured with a spoonful of Marsala and a tea-spoonful of red currant jelly, should go round in a boat. This is also a nice way of serving a fowl. The broth being thickened a la poulette for sauce, and the vegetables worked through the sieve a la puree.

4. - Boil four eggs hard, put them into a basin of cold water; when cold, cut them in halves crosswise with a dessert-knife dipped in melted butter. Slice off a piece from each rounded end, so that the halves will sit upright, and prepare the yolks as laid down at page 238. Boil four large Jerusalem artichokes : when just done, and not overdone mind, lift them out of the water, and let them get cold : out of each artichoke, trim with a silver dessert-knife, two thick flat slices each capable of holding a half egg, butter the eight slices, lay them upon a flat silver dish well buttered, and set half an egg upon each of them : put on the top of each egg a little pat of anchovy butter, set the dish in the oven till the steam rises freely, and serve piping hot. If you can pour some melted merit re d'hotel, or prawn butter over them, the dish becomes quite worth serving at a dinner party.

Fried sole a la Colbert.

Bouilli.

5. - These you will remember as the charming friends we met at Richmond : - Line six tartlet tins with puff paste, and fill the patties with this mixture : - Beat half pound sugar with yolks of six eggs in a basin, and pound together in a mortar two ounces of blanched sweet almonds, three bitter ones, two table-spoonfuls of orange flower water, the juice of four limes, and two potatoes (mealy ones) boiled, drained, and passed through a hair sieve. Mix the eggs, sugar, and almond paste. Turn a quart of milk to curd, crumble it, and beat it up with four ounces of good butter till quite smooth, then mix it thoroughly with the eggs, almonds, etc, adding a glass of brandy; and one of maraschino. Bake till thoroughly hot in a moderate oven, and serve with finely sifted sugar dusted over them.

Curds: - The richer recipes for cheese-cakes are composed, it will generally be found, with curds, with the method of making which some of my readers may be unacquainted. A little lump of alum put into cold milk, and Jerusalem artichokes with stuffed eggs.

"Maids of Honour." then set on the fire, will turn milk to a curd as quickly as anything, or two tea-spoonfuls of preserved 'rennet' will turn a quart of milk; the homely way, however, is to boil a pint of water in a stew-pan, to beat two eggs up with a pint of milk, and to add the mixture to the boiling water, with the juice of a couple of limes. As the curd rises it should be skimmed of, and laid upon a sieve to drain. When dry, it is ready.

Lobster pilao a la Turque.

Choose the firm pieces of a lobster from the tin, trim them neatly, set them in a buttered saute-pan and warm them thoroughly.. Arrange the pieces in a circle in a hot silver dish filling the centre with riz a la Turque (page 246), Pour some of the following sauce over the pieces of lobster, but not over the rice, and serve. Cut up a sweet onion, or half a dozen shalots, and throw the pieces into a small stew-pan with two ounces of butter. Fry till the onions begin to take color, then stir in a table-spoonful of good curry powder or paste; cook this for five minutes, then add a pint of plain gravy; let the contents of the pan simmer now for a quarter of an hour while you make a coffee cupful of lait d'amandes in this way: - Blanch and peel a quarter of a pound of sweet almonds with one bitter one; pound them in a mortar with a little milk; when well pounded, pour some boiling water upon them; stir well, and then squeeze the milk through muslin. Stir this into the sauce, adding the yolks of two eggs, off the fire, before serving.