Fifty dinners

Large smelts must be selected for this dish. Lay them (one for each guest) on a cold slab, and, handling them very carefully, cut off their heads and tails, open them as you would a mackerel for grilling, and take out their back-bones and the roes entire, saving the latter ; brush a thin coating of well-beaten egg over the opened fish, and sprinkle over that a slight seasoning of salt and pepper, with about a teaspoonful for each smelt of finely minced parsley and mushroom. Now fold the fish in their previous shape before opening them, enveloping the seasoning. With the roes proceed as follows : — Put half an ounce of butter in a small sauté-pan, melt it over a low fire, put in the roes, fry them gently for a couple of minutes, season them with pepper and salt, and turn the contents of the pan upon a plate, to be used later on. To prepare the smelts only a short time is required. Have ready a lightly fried croiite for each of them, then butter a baking-dish, lay the fish in it with a few spoonfuls of broth made from their trimmings ; put it into the oven for seven or eight minutes, then take it out, spread butter on the croutes, arrange the roes on them, put a smelt over each of them, return the dish to the oven for three minutes, pour a tablespoonful of mattre d' hotel sauce over each of them, and serve as hot as possible. A pheasant may be cooked “ h la casserole ” as effectively as a fowl. Truss the bird as for roasting, but shorten the legs at the joint so that it may go easily into the casserole, which should be of 3. Pheasant earthenware, as sold at 119, New Bond casserole. Street. After trussing, prepare this seasoning : — Three teaspoonfuls of salt, one of powdered herbs (thyme, marjoram, and rosemary), and one of newly ground black pepper ; bruise with this mixture a piece of garlic the size of a pea, and then rub the seasoning into the cavity of the pheasant. Next put an ounce and a half of fresh butter into the casserole, melt this over the fire, and brown the bird slightly in it, then cover the vessel and set it in the oven, continually basting the bird with spoonfuls of strong broth, half a pint of which should be specially prepared, and covering carefully after each basting. When done — it will take about three-quarters of an hour — the breast will be found beautifully brown. It is usual to show the bird at table in the casserole before taking it out for carving. Bread sauce may accompany, fried potatoes, and an orange salad made as follows ; — Peel and divide two or three oranges into as many natural quarterings as they will yield ; next, using a sharply-pointed knife, make an incision in each piece of orange and squeeze out the pips, lay the pieces in a salad-bowl, pour over them just sufficient salad oil to lubricate them, dust over with newly-ground black pepper and salt, sprinkle with finely-minced tarragon and shallot, and finish with a teaspoonful of the finest French or Italian red-wine vinegar, or a tablespoonful of light claret which may often be used instead of vinegar in salads. Serve as cold as possible. SPAGHETTI WITH LIVER AND MUSHROOMS. 59