Shrimps And Mayonnaise

"Shell half a pint of fresh shrimps; chop them slightly. Make some good thin buttered toast, and cut it into squares. Prepare a rich mayonnaise sauce; beat up the yolk of a raw egg (or, you remember, a hard one would do as well); into it drop gradually two tablespoonfuls of salad oil, one of vinegar, a teaspoonful of castor sugar, a mustard-spoonful of made mustard, and a tablespoonful of cream.

"Put in the shrimps, mix well, and pour it over the toast Garnish with well-washed watercress."

Veal Cutlets And Macaroni

"Isobel, we will have veal cutlets and macaroni to-day. Order me about three pounds of the best end of the neck; see that the butcher chops the bones well.

"Get the macaroni; break it into pieces four inches long; put it into hot water; let it come to a boil; pull the saucepan back; let it simmer for thirty minutes; pour in a teacupful of quite cold water. That is the correct way to cook macaroni. Bellini's chef (an Italian) told me it saves it from pulping, which spoils it. Add a pinch of salt. Now I want to collect all the jelly from the bottoms of the dripping jars, and put it into a clean saucepan. When it comes to a boil, strain; replace in the pan; thicken with a little flour mixed with a tablespoonful of ketchup, and salt to taste. Strain the macaroni dry, and drop it into the gravy.

"In the meantime, I will cook the cutlets; then all will be ready together. You see, Isobel, I have shaped the cutlets, egged, and covered them with fine bread crumbs; now I will fry them in some good dripping till of a nice brown colour. You can now drain, and lay them on a hot dish. Sprinkle the picked leaves of thyme over them, and add the juice from a lemon.

" Garnish with slices of lemon, cut into shapely pieces, with tufts of parsley here and there. The macaroni is now ready to dish. Put it into the square white china dish; pour the gravy over; then very slighty scatter with coralline pepper.

"This last item does not add much to the flavour, Isobel, but it makes the dish look pretty, which in many cases constitutes the virtue of the dish."

Princely Pancakes

"Beat two fresh eggs well. In a second basin mix a tea-cupful of flour with a pint of milk. Be sure, Isobel, to dry the flour for a moment before the fire, as it will then mix much more easily, as well as being lighter. To the flour and milk add a pinch of salt and wineglassful of ale; pass it through a sieve into a clean basin, so that there may not be a single lump. Now put in the beaten eggs, and stir the whole for a quarter of an hour. Get me the round frying-pan; see that it is thoroughly clean; into it put enough lard to grease the pan; then pour in the batter, a small teacupful at a time.

"When browned on one side, turn the pancakes carefully. Lay on to a hot dish, roll and screen with castor sugar. Send them to table as soon after they are cooked as possible, or they will taste sodden, no matter how well they have been made. Serve with a dish of half lemons."