French Potage.
- 2 lbs. lean beef.
- 2 lbs. of lean veal.
- ¼ lb. of lean ham.
- 1 sliced onion.
- Chopped sweet herbs.
- 12 large prunes.
- Pepper and salt.
- 2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
- 2 tablespoonfuls soaked granulated tapioca.
- 5 quarts of water.
Put the veal, cut into strips, and the sliced onion, into a soup-pot with the butter, and simmer, stirring constantly, until they are coated with a brown glaze. They must not scorch. Now pour in one quart of boiling water; cover, and stew half an hour. Check the boil suddenly with a gallon of cold water, and put in beef, ham, and herbs. Cover again, and boil gently three hours. Take out the strips of veal, beef, and ham, when you have strained off the water, and pulp the onion. Set aside half the stock, highly seasoned, with the meat in it, for to-morrow. Skim the fat from the rest, season, and put back over the fire with the prunes, stoned, and cut into thirds, after being well washed. Simmer half an hour, put in the tapioca; cook until this is clear, and pour out.
Beef à la Mode.
For full and explicit directions concerning this dish please refer—to spare me work, time, and space—to Sunday, Second Week in May.
Macaroni with Tomato Sauce.
Break half a pound of macaroni into inch-lengths, and cook twenty minutes in boiling salted water. Meantime, take a cup of broth from your soup; strain, boil, and skim it, and slice into it four ripe tomatoes. Stew tender, and strain through net or tarlatan, into a saucepan. Season well; stir into it a great spoonful of butter rolled in flour. Simmer five minutes; put the macaroni into a deep dish, sprinkling grated cheese over each layer, and pour the hot sauce over it, opening the mass with a fork, to let it reach the lower layers.
Lima Beans.
Shell, lay in cold water fifteen minutes, and cook from twenty-five to thirty minutes in salt boiling water. Drain well; season with pepper, salt, and butter.
Fried Cucumbers.
Pare, cut into lengthwise slices, more than a quarter of an inch thick, and lay for half an hour in ice-water. Wipe each piece dry; sprinkle with pepper and salt, and dredge with flour. Fry to a light brown in good dripping or butter. Drain well, and serve hot.
Lemon Trifle.
- 1 large sliced sponge cake.
- 1 quart of milk.
- 3 eggs.
- 5 heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar.
- 1 teaspoonful extract of lemon.
- 1 lemon—all the juice and half the rind finely grated.
Heat the milk, stir in four tablespoonfuls of sugar into the beaten yolks and pour the hot milk upon it, by degrees, stirring well. Return to the custard-kettle, and stir until it begins to thicken. Flavor, and pour, quite hot, upon the sliced cake laid in the bottom of a deep dish. If the dish be of glass, roll it in hot water before cake and custard go in. Put a heavy saucer on the cake to keep it from rising, and let it cool. When perfectly cold, heap upon it a méringue of the beaten whites, whipped up with the other tablespoonful of sugar, the lemon-juice and rind. Set on ice until wanted.