Sirloin Of Beef

A very good joint for a middle class family is the sirloin. About eight pounds will provide for three different meals. The thin end can be put into spiced vinegar till required; it will keep good till the following week. Then cut out the fillet, that is, the under part of the meat. This makes a handsome breakfast, luncheon or dinner dish.

Cover it in heated butter, and cook quickly before a good clear fire, and turn when done, dust it with pepper and salt. Cut small notches on the top, pop on a little piece of butter, dust with a pinch of finely minced parsley; dish hot, and by the time it is served it should swim in its own gravy. No made gravy should be served with this joint.

The fillet is considered by many to be the epicure's bit.

There still remains a good roast, which looks well on the table. It should be cut by putting the point of the knife to the bones, and then carving straight down to the fat on narrow; on no account should it be cut crosswise.

If the fillet is not required at once, put it into a little vinegar. Wash off the vinegar before cooking, this will keep it quite fresh, and will make it eat more tenderly. Garnish the meat with scraped horseradish.

Horseradish Sauce

Should be served with beef. Scrape the horseradish as finely as possible, then throw it into a mixture of vinegar sweetened with sugar, and well seasoned with made mustard. Then stir in by degrees, half a gill of cream. If the latter ingredient be added very slowly, it will not turn. Serve the sauce in a glass dish.

Leg Of Mutton

In ordering a leg of mutton ask that it be from a wether. The butcher may try to give you one dressed like a wether by screwing up the fat while the flesh is still warm. You should also see that the leg is short and plump, not a long thin one; the meat of the former goes further, and there is less bone.

In ail kinds of plucks or inside meat, always buy from a good butcher. I mean such things as fry, liver, heart, and head. There is little demand for such parts; they can therefore be bought very cheaply, and at a good shop you can rely upon it there will be little fear of any disease.

Among the many things I have told you, Isobel, there is still another subject on which I must touch; that is the preparing of proper nourishment and little delicacies for invalids.

You will find through life that good nursing helps the doctor immensely. No matter how clever the physician may be, his efforts are futile, unless the patient is wisely, and carefully nursed.

Unless expressly forbidden by the doctor, an invalid should be given a little nourishment at least every hour; as the disease, whatever it may be, uses up the energy and strength of the sufferer. Think of the parched lips during the night hours, if there be nothing to cool and moisten them.

Some of the recipes may seem to many a little strange, but I know they are good, and always feel that I would never lose a patient where the recovery depended upon good nursing and the maintainance of the strength. For instance, in bronchitis, which is often fatal, the system must be kept up, for the constant linseed poultices used are most weakening.