Candied Murella Cherries For Garnish

"I also want you to take a tablespoonful of cherries from the cherry brandy; lay them on a cloth. Make a fruit glace by letting a pound of sugar simmer in a coffee-cupful of water, till it cracks if thrown into cold water. While it is boiling, do not stain it, Isobel.

"Remove from the fire; when nearly cold, stick the cherries on a knitting pin, immerse them in the glace, then set on a plate near the fire to harden. Keep them in a glass bottle to use as garnish."

A Breast Of Veal Forced And Larded

"As to-morrow is Mothering Sunday, we will have a breast of veal forced and larded.

"First make a forcemeat for the veal (page 44). See, Isobel, my knife is very sharp, and I run it between the meat and the bones; stuff the forcemeat into the crevice, and sew up the end with white worsted to keep it safe. Now, you see, I shall blanch it, by dipping the meat two or three times into boiling water. Now dry it, and lard with fat bacon, lightly dust it with fine flour, and spice mixed. Now it is quite ready to be put into a jar at eleven to-morrow morning; it will be cooked at two o'clock.

"Lay slices of bacon and a minced shallot, season with pepper and fine allspice, then lay the meat larded side downwards in the jar.

"Put thin slices of bacon over it, another minced shallot, a cluster of mixed sweet herbs, a rasher of ham, and again season with pepper, salt, and fine spice. Put on the lid of the jar, and set in the oven.

"When thoroughly heated, pour in a gill of any sort of rich sweet stock; cover the whole with two well-washed heads of lettuce.

"When the meat is ready, place it on a hot dish; while you mince the lettuce, ham, and bacon, I will strain the liquor into a clean saucepan, and thicken it with a dessertspoonful of flour mixed, with a little cold stock. When it boils, add the minced lettuce, ham, and bacon; pour the whole around the meat. Garnish well with slices of lemon and tufts of parsley, set here and there. Serve with half lemons."

At this time Isobel told me that she must be leaving me, so I promised to write down a certain number of hints and instructions to help her in cooking by-and-by.

I also gave her recipes for the preparation of cutlets, cakes, Colourings for gravies, a few invalid dishes, and many that I have tried myself. They were as follows: Hints for the Housewife.

Whether servant or mistress, you should always remember that no matter how good the spread, you should be nattily and tastefully dressed, according to your position, or the meal loses half its charm.

There is hardly anything in a larder that need be wasted, even by the most inexperienced people. I fear that many servants and wealthy mistresses will hereafter be called to account for much waste.

Liquor from all boiled articles, dripping from roast meats, are all capable of being re-used. The former should be boiled, salted, strained, and put into clean stone or crock vessels till required for soups or gravies; the latter into clean galley or jam-pots. Beef dripping is better for frying meat than any other, as it stands the heat better than butter or lard.

When dripping is no longer fit for pastry, it should be boiled in a pot of water, with a pinch of borax, or a tea-spoonful of Condy's Fluid, poured into a stone vessel to get cool, then it can be used for frying fish,

No matter how good the cook may be, she must be very careful to use plenty of fat in frying, so that the article may be perfectly covered. A wire basket is the best thing to use in the frying of cutlets, etc. The fish must be placed in this basket and plunged into any shallow stew-pan containing heated fat; thus done they will never burn, but will brown very well. Fish, egged and screened with bread crumbs, will cook in ten minutes, and requires no turning or attention; but be very careful to drain it on kitchen paper before dishing for the table. Very many people cannot bear hashes, stews, or cold meat.