The spirit of cookery

We have selected from more than a hundred French recipes for preparations of eggs which may be useful for Lenten fare, or for days of maigre, about forty somewhat curious dishes ; they are mostly obsolete or of rare execution even in France, and of no applicability in .this country. We therefore abstain from giving even their definitions in detail. Some are omelettes with ragouts over them ; others are omelettes with additions in their substance ; some are sweet dishes by additions, e.g., of macroons or ratafias. The great omelette will survive all these trials. CHAPTER LIV. PREPARATIONS OF MILK AND CHEESE. It is believed that the cream and milk industry of Devonshire is of Phoenician origin, and connected with the potteries developed in that county by these ancient mariners and colonists. The Syrian earthenware pans on brick hearths, which were formerly essential for the production of the clotted cream, have only 'lately been supplanted by metal pans. The best Devonshire clotted cream, which is of a yellow colour, from the distribution of small drops of yellow oiled butter, is in our time yielded by milk from .Jersey shorthorn cows. Strain new milk iuto a large pan, and let it remain unmoved for twenty-four hours ; then place the pan over a slow fire, and heat it up very slowly without ever allowing it to reach or even come near to the boiling-point. Under these conditions the cream forms a thick membranous mass at the top, the fat-globules being enveloped in membranes of caseine, which are constantly formed on the surface under the influence of the oxygen of the air. To prevent boiling, the pan may be put into a waterbath ; if heated on the hearth, which takes several hours, the point at which the heat of the milk approaches the boiling temperature will be indicated by the rising of bubbles ; then the pan must be removed from the fire and placed in the dairy for twenty-four hours, after which the clotted cream may be taken off. It may be transformed into so-called Devonshire short butter by stirring. Yourt or yaourt, Greek (jiayourti, is a preparation of milk made by Levantine nations, and corresponds to the English curds and whey ; but while the latter is produced by means of rennet, yourt is produced by a peculiar ferment, the nature of which is not known. The first yourt may be produced by warming a basin of milk to blood-heat, immersing in it a portion of the inner or woolly part (the composite flowers) of the artichoke, and letting it stand in a warm place. After twelve hours the milk will be found transformed into a remarkable curd of excellent taste ; if the milk was good no whey is separated, but if it be broken into and allowed to stand whey separates. To avoid the separation of whey, Greek cooks concentrate the milk before setting it for yourt. Now, if of this curd a little be placed in new warm milk, and if this be kept in a warm corner, it will transform this milk again into yourt, and thus you may produce and keep yourt throughout the season. The production of this curd by the inner flowers of the artichoke was known to the ancient Greeks, and we have produced the dish after a notice contained in the works of Aristotle.