Sheep's Head Soup

This recipe is cheap and good, and is especially suitable for the family table and for the poor.

If a sheep's head is bought without tongue or brains the cost of the soup will be reduced, or, if bought whole, the latter should be reserved to make breakfast dishes.

Having most thoroughly washed and cleansed the head, boil it for five minutes in two quarts of water with a little salt. Drain away this water, and thus perfect cleanliness will be ensured. Put the head on again with three gallons of cold water, half a pound of bacon, four pounds of onions, two pounds of carrots, one pound of turnips, one clove of garlic, a large teaspoonful of black pepper, two large tablespoonfuls of salt. Let the bacon and vegetables be cut up small, and boil altogether for two hours, or until the head is tender, which take up, and having carefully removed every particle of bone, chop the meat small and return to the soup. Mix one pound of flour or of oatmeal smooth in a quart of cold water; let the soup boil up, stir in the thickening, let it boil for five minutes if you use flour, and for fifteen minutes for oatmeal. Add salt and pepper to taste. A little celery is a great improvement to the soup, as is also chopped parsley added at the same time as the thickening.

Rissolettes Of Beef Or Mutton

Mince the meat very fine, taking care it is free from skin and gristle, add to it about a fourth of its weight in bread crumbs. Mix them with an onion boiled until perfectly tender, a few drops of essence of anchovy, pepper and salt, and sufficient egg to make it all into a stiff paste. Roll into egg-shaped balls, dip each in egg and bread-crumbs, and fry very gently. One egg, if well beaten, will suffice both to mix and egg the outside of a dozen rissolettes of moderate size. Make a little gravy of the water the onion was boiled in and the trimmings of the meat, and when the rissolettes are done pour the fat from the frying-pan, in which let the gravy boil up, then thicken with a little flour and water. A few drops of vinegar or any sharp sauce may be added with advantage, season with pepper and salt, and pour the gravy round the rissolettes.

If convenient to fry the rissolettes in the wire basket and with hot fat as for croquettes, it is better to do so.

Beatrice Pudding

Soak a quarter of a pound of light bread in half a pint of new milk, add an ounce of very fresh beef kidney suet, shred as finely as possible. Boil, stirring vigorously until this becomes firm, take it off the fire, stir in the beaten yolks of two eggs, and put the pudding into a buttered tart dish. Bake in a moderate oven for half an hour, then spread over the top of the pudding, which should not more than half fill the dish, a layer of orange marmalade. Whisk the whites of two eggs to a firm froth, mix lightly with them a quarter of a pound of the finest sifted sugar, spread this meringue mixture over the marmalade, put the pudding again into the oven, which must be slow, and let it remain until the top is a light golden brown.