Serving Au Gratin

(1) Dishes served au gratin, meats, fish, vegetables, etc., in a sauce, are always cooked in advance and are usually, though this is not essential, warm when the mixture that is to produce the au gratin effect is applied. For a single dish holding about a quart, or a pint of material in individual dishes, one cup of cracker crumbs and one-third a cup of melted butter are needed. Mix the butter with a silver fork evenly through the crumbs, then spread over the top of the preparation in the dishes. Set into the oven long enough to brown the crumbs. Then serve at once. The temperature of the oven should be adapted to the temperature of the mixture covered with the crumbs. If the mixture be hot when the crumbs are spread, the oven should be quite hot; but if the preparation has been standing some time, a cooler oven is essential that the whole may be heated through before the crumbs become browned.

(2) Cooked macaroni, noodles, gnocchi, etc., with or without sauce, are covered with cracker crumbs, grated cheese and melted butter. The cheese and crumbs are stirred into the melted butter, and the whole is sprinkled over the dish. The oven should not be too hot. Use one cup of crumbs and one jbup of grated cheese to one-third a cup of melted butter.

Hard Shell Crabs Au Gratin

1 pint of crab meat

1 slice of onion, chopped fine

¼ cup of butter

¼ cup of flour

1 cup of fresh mushrooms

1 tablespoonful of butter

1 cup of chicken or veal broth 1 cup (or less) of cream ½ teaspoonful of salt ½ teaspoonful of paprika 1 cup of cracker crumbs 1/3 cup of melted butter

Soak the crabs half an hour in water to which two or three tablespoonfuls of salt have been added. Scrub and let simmer in boiling water fifteen minutes. When cold, remove the flesh from the shells. Wash the shells, and retain them for use. Discard the lungs. Pick out all the flesh. There should be a full pint; if there be less, cut down the quantity of stock or cream as the mixture should be quite consistent. Saute the onion in the butter until softened and yellowed, then add the flour and seasonings; add the stock and cream and stir until boiling. Peel the caps and discard the peelings with the stems of the mushrooms. Break the caps in pieces, saute in the tablespoonful of butter and add to the sauce with the crab-meat. Use the mixture to fill the shells. Cover with the crumbs and butter mixed together. Let brown in the oven. The shells will keep in better position, while in the oven, if they be set into muffin rings or small cake-tins. Serve on a bed of parsley or on individual plates covered with paper doilies.

Oysters A La Mornay

Allow two oysters for each half shell or one service. Poach the oysters in their own broth. To serve eight prepare a generous cup of Mornay sauce. Put a scant tablespoonful of sauce in each shell and on this dispose two of the poached oysters; cover with a tablespoonful of the sauce, sprinkle with grated cheese and melted butter, and glaze in a very hot oven. Serve at once. Use the deep part of the shell; before filling these set them on a shallow pan of salt, that they may stand level during cooking. Tq serve set on hot folded napkins laid on individual plates.