Fifty dinners

gentle simmering • in fish broth for five-and-twenty minutes is necessary after the boiling point has nearly been reached, as scallops require more cooking“^ ing than oysters. Then drain and cool. Use some of the broth to moisten as much of bread-crumb as there is of scallops : with the rest make a white sauce. Cut up the scallops, lay them in a wellbuttered fireproof dish (or in shells) with the crumbs, moisten with the sauce, strew a layer of fine raspings over the surface, and put in a moderate oven. Bake till thoroughly heated, brown the surface, and serve. Choose two pounds of a neck of mutton, or breast if not too fat, or the blade-bone of a shoulder ; take off the outer skin and trim the piece of meat 3. Stewed _ two-inch pieces with the bone attached 7)lUttOU With turnips. to them. In the case of a shoulder, cut it across, sawing through the bone. Put these with two ounces of butter into a stewpan, seasoning with a saltspoonful of salt, and half one of pepper ; now fry over a moderately fast fire for a quarter of an hour so that the juices of the meat may be retained. Do not let the butter burn, and do not overcrowd the pan, the pieces must be kept apart from each other ; for this purpose it is better to fry them in relays of a few at a time. Next dredge over the meat an ounce of flour, and brown for four minutes, add a quart of broth or water, warm, stir till it boils, then drain the contents of the stewpan through a sieve into a basin. Rinse the stewpan, put back the meat, take the fat off the broth, and pour it in also, add five ounces of onion cut up and a bouquet garni. Simmer very BANANA FRITTERS. gently now for one hour, making good the loss by evaporation with a gill or so of broth. Separately prepare one pound of turnips, cutting them as you do apples for a tart, and frying them in an ounce of butter till lightly browned. These should be added to the stew during the last quarter of an hour’s cooking. When done, take out the pieces of meat, arrange them on a hot dish, put the pieces of turnip round them, strain the gravy, skim, and pour it over them. Dubois observes that the flavour of the ragout is improved by passing the point of a knife into it that has been previously thrust into a clove of garlic. Cook half a pound of green haricots flageolets in boiling salted water with half an ounce of butter ; when tender drain them, and with half a pint of their cutsson make a white sauce, beans in using half an ounce of butter and half an the Dutch ounce of flour ; when ready, take off the fire, stir in the yolk of an egg and a dessert-spoonful of finely minced parsley. Warm up the beans in this and serve. The addition of a little liqueur or brandy is a great improvement to banana fritters ; indeed all who have tried pineapple fritters with rum will not hesitate to apply the same test to this fruit, The rum or liqueur should be poured over the sliced bananas like a marinade an hour before they are cooked ; a dessert-spoonful will suffice. The batter (page 10) sliould not be too thick, and do not forget to have the bath of fat hot enough. Drain