National viands à la mode

Put the terrapin into boiling water for five minutes, then take out and remove the skin from the sides. Put back and boil until you can crush the claws between your fingers ; then take them out and place them on their backs ; remove the bottom shell, and take care to preserve all pieces ; remove gall and sand bags. Cut up all the balance and put into a saucepan, adding a little water, and seasoning with salt and tobacco. Stew till done. Make a paste of two ounces of butter, the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs, one dessertspoonful of flour ; add paste to stew while hot and one wineglass each of cream and sherry. Trout. ( Philadelphia) Cleanse the fish as usual, split them open, and keep them apart with small skewers, and place a piece of fat bacon the size of a walnut inside, keeping it there by means of the skewers ; cook them over a charcoal fire quickly, and place a piece of toasted bread under them as they cook. When done send them to table with the toast under them and with good lobster sauce ; lemon and butter sauce is also very good with them. Virginia Pudding One pint of corn meal mash. While yet warm put into it half a teacupful of butter, six wellbeaten eggs, and a pint of milk sweetened with half a pound of sugar. Season highly with the juice and grated rind of a lemon, and bake in puff paste. Serve warm, not hot, with a little fine sugar sprinkled over the tops. Water-Melon Rinds Pickled. (Harpur's Bazaar) Peel the rinds evenly with a sharp knife ; trim off every trace of the pink flesh ; then cut the strips of rind into small pieces two or three inches long and place them in a large earthen dish ; sprinkle them lightly and evenly with salt. Cover the dish and let it stand over night ; drain off the water in the morning, rinse the rinds in cold water and cook them in a steamer till a broom splint will readily pierce them. When the rinds are tender take them out carefully and put them into a stone jar. Take a quart of good cider vinegar, two pounds of sugar, half an ounce of stick cinnamon broken into inch pieces, and half a teaspoonful each of cloves and blades of mace. Boil the vinegar, sugar, and spices together quickly for half an hour, skimming off the froth, and pour the pickle boiling hot over the rinds. Press the rinds down under the pickle by means of a plate, fasten the cover on, and tie a cloth over the whole. These pickles will be ready for use in two weeks. Bean Dish. (Mexican) Wash the beans and put them in an earthen pot, and let them cook till they are soft, over a slow fire. When sufficiently boiled ladle the beans into a pipkin in which lard is boiling, and into which a few shreds of onions have been thrown, and stir and crush with a wooden spoon until they are as stiff as jam. They are served in a long roll, with grated cheese sprinkled upon them, and on the same plate leaves of young lettuce, then slices of radish, and one or two squares of tortilla dough fried in lard to a crisp, brittle brownness. Canvas-Back Ducks Roasted. (Mexican, Delmonico)