Sheep’s Head Soup.
- 1 sheep’s head, dressed with the skin on.
- 2 onions.
- 2 carrots.
- Bunch of parsley.
- Crumbs and egg for force-meat balls.
- 1 tablespoonful of corn-starch.
- Pepper and salt.
- Dripping.
- 4 quarts of cold water.
You will probably have to coax your butcher to dress the head properly, but the head itself he will be willing to give you, as almost worthless in his eyes. Be sure it is quite clean, even to the mouth. Soak it in tepid water, one hour—then put into a pot with the vegetables, sliced, the chopped herbs and the cold water. Cook gently four hours. Strain off the soup, rubbing the vegetables through the sieve; let it get almost cool, that you may remove the fat from the top, and put back over the fire with pepper and salt. Chop the brains and mix them into a paste with an equal quantity of crumbs; also pepper, salt, and raw egg, with enough flour to enable you to roll into little balls. Fry these to a nice brown, drain in a colander, and put into your tureen. Skim the boiling soup and stir in the corn-starch wet with half a cup of milk, then the tongue, skinned and cut into dice. Boil once and pour into the tureen.
Roast Beef.
Put into your dripping-pan; pour a cupful of boiling water over it, and roast, basting often, allowing a quarter of an hour to the pound. Towards the last, pepper and salt, dredge with flour, and baste once well with butter. If you send made gravy to the table, take off all the “top-grease,” thicken the brown juice in the dripping-pan with browned flour, boil up, and pour out into a boat.
Fried Potatoes.
Cut peeled potatoes into long strips, not too thin. Lay in cold water one hour, dry between two towels, and fry in boiling fat, a little salt, to a light brown. Drain and dish upon a napkin.
Spinach upon Toast.
Wash well. Cook twenty minutes in boiling, salted water. Drain and chop very fine. Put a tablespoonful of butter into a saucepan with a teaspoonful of sugar, a pinch of nutmeg, and pepper and salt. Stir in the spinach, and beat smooth while it heats. At the last add a tablespoonful of cream, or two of milk. Pour upon crustless slices of buttered toast laid upon a flat dish.
Asparagus with Eggs.
Boil a bunch of asparagus twenty minutes; cut off the tender tops and lay in a deep pie-plate, buttering, salting, and peppering well. Beat four eggs just enough to break up the yolks, add a tablespoonful of melted butter, with pepper and salt, and pour upon the asparagus. Bake eight minutes in a quick oven, and serve immediately.
Corn-Starch Blanc-Mange with Preserves.
- 1 quart of milk.
- 4 tablespoonfuls of corn-starch wet in cold water.
- 3 beaten eggs.
- 1 cup of sugar.
- Grated peel of half a lemon.
- 1 saltspoonful of salt.
Scald the milk in a farina-kettle; stir in corn-starch, lemon, and salt, and cook five minutes. Pour this upon the beaten eggs and sugar, return to the fire and stir two minutes more. Pour into a wet mould and set in a cold place for four or five hours. Turn out upon a broad glass dish, and pour rich, sweet preserves about the base.
In helping it out, put a spoonful of preserve upon each share of blanc-mange.