Pot-au-feu.
- 3 lbs. of lean beef, cut into dice.
- 1 sliced and fried onion.
- 2 carrots, cut into small squares.
- 2 turnips, ditto.
- 1 bunch of sweet herbs, minced.
- 2 potatoes, parboiled and sliced.
- Pepper and salt.
- 3 quarts of water.
Put on the beef in two quarts of water and cook slowly until it is tender, and the water reduced to one quart. Put the vegetables—except the potatoes—on in boiling water. Cook ten minutes; throw away the water and cover with a quart of cold. Add the potatoes; pepper and salt and cook gently half an hour. Put in the meat and the quart of gravy and simmer ten minutes more, with the minced herbs. Then pour out. This is only a family soup, but is a good one when properly cooked.
Boiled Leg of Mutton.
Do not have the shank too long, nor cut it so short as to make the leg “chunky.” The meat will look cleaner and less sodden if you boil it in a piece of mosquito net or tarlatan, sewed about it somewhat tightly. Put on in boiling salted water, plenty of it, and cook fifteen minutes to the pound. Unwrap and lay upon a hot dish. Butter all over, and sprinkle lightly with salt. Twist frilled paper about the end of the shank.
Caper Sauce.
Take out a cupful of the liquor in which the mutton was boiled (putting away the rest for soup), strain, heat, and skim; stir in two tablespoonfuls of butter rubbed in a teaspoonful of flour; pepper, boil up, pour upon a beaten egg; return to the fire and stir for a minute; add two dozen capers or nasturtium-seed, and pour into a sauce-boat. Pass, of course, with the mutton.
Potatoes à la Lyonnaise.
Parboil the potatoes, and cut into dice. Chop a small onion and mince a tablespoonful of parsley. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter or excellent dripping into a frying-pan, and when hot, stir in potatoes, onion, and parsley. Shake and toss until all are hissing hot, but do not let them brown. Shake off the fat in a hot colander, and serve in a deep dish.
Stewed Pie-Plant.
Skin and wash the stalks, and cut into half inch lengths. Stew tender in a little water, with a handful of seedless raisins. Sweeten to taste. Eat cold with meat.
Peach Lèche Crèma.
- 1 can of peaches.
- Yolks of 3 eggs and whites of four.
- 3 cups of milk.
- ½ cup of powdered sugar.
- 2 tablespoonfuls of corn-starch.
- 1 tablespoonful of melted butter.
Scald the milk; stir in the corn-starch wet with cold milk, and cook, still stirring, until it begins to thicken. Take from the fire, and beat in the butter, then the whipped yolks, two whites and sugar. Whisk to a light cream. Drain the syrup from the peaches; lay them in the bottom of a bake-dish, and pour the mixture gently over them. Bake in a quick oven ten minutes, then spread with a méringue of four whites whisked stiff with a little sugar. Shut up in the oven until this is slightly tinged. Eat warm with sauce, or cold with cream.