Kidneys Sautes

Like many other articles of diet, kidneys within the last ten years have been doubled in price, and are so scarce as to be regarded as luxuries. The method of cooking them generally in use is extravagant, and renders them tasteless and indigestible. Kidneys should never be cooked rapidly, and those persons who cannot eat them slightly underdone should forego them. One kidney dressed as directed in the following recipe will go as far as two cooked in the ordinary manner - an instance, if one were needed, of the economy of well-prepared food.

Choose fine large kidneys, skin and cut them the round way into thin slices, each kidney should yield from ten to twelve slices. Have ready a tablespoonful of flour highly seasoned with pepper and salt and well mixed together, dip each piece of kidney in it. Cut some neat thin squares of streaked bacon, fry them very slowly in a little butter: when done, put them on the dish for serving, and keep hot whilst you saute the kidneys, which put into the fat the bacon was cooked in. Take care the fire is very slow, and that the kidneys cook gently; if done fast they will be hard and indigestible. In about a minute the gravy will begin to rise on the upper side, then turn the kidneys and let them finish cooking slowly; when they are done, as they will be in three to four minutes, the gravy will again begin to rise on the side which is uppermost. Put the kidneys on the dish with the bacon, and pour over them a spoonful or two of plain beef gravy, or water thickened with a little flour, boiled and mixed with the fat and gravy from the kidneys in the frying-pan. If there is too much fat in the pan, pour it away before boiling up the gravy. Serve the kidneys on a hot-water dish.

Rolled Mackerel

Clean the fish, always being careful that the brown substance adhering somewhat closely to the back-bone near the head, and which causes the bitterness often so unpleasant in this fish, is removed.

Take off the head, hold the fish in the left hand, and with the thumb and finger of the right press the backbone to loosen it, then lay it flat on the board and remove the bone, which will come out whole, leaving none behind. Split the fish in half, lay on each piece half the roe (it should be soft), sprinkle over it equally and lightly pepper and salt, and flour, then roll up each piece tightly, tail outwards, and put them in a deep baking-dish, setting them close together, by which means they will keep rolled until cooked. Pour over them a pickle made of vinegar and a fourth part of water, pepper and salt, cover them with a plate, and put to bake in a slow oven for two hours. When done, dish up the fish carefully, strain the sauce over them, and garnish with fennel. They are excellent eaten cold; should be turned in the liquor every day, and they will keep a week.

Boiled Bacon

To boil good mild bacon or ham, put it, after having well washed and scraped it, into hot water, and allow it to boil gently until done. A piece of the back and ribs weighing three pounds will take about an hour and a half. When done, take the pot off the fire, put a cloth under the lid to keep in the steam, and allow the bacon to get cool in the liquor. Remove the skin, and either at once sift raspings over the top, or let the bacon cool and glaze it.

An inexpensive glaze may be made by dissolving an ounce of Nelson's gelatine in half-a-gill of boiling water, and then adding enough colouring to make it a rich brown. Brush over the ham or bacon with this glaze, and, if liked, ornament it with vermicelli stars. Throw the vermicelli into boiling water, and let it boil rapidly for two minutes, then drain it, take each star on the point of a skewer and drop it on to the glaze before it is set. The vermicelli can, if preferred, be used for decorating without boiling it.