The handy dictionary of cookery

Wash them well in cold water ; rub off the skins ; place them in cold water until required to be cooked. Have ready a pan of boiling water. Add about a teaspoonful of salt to a quart • of water. Put in the potatoes ; boil them briskly about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour till done. Drain off the water, cover them with a cloth, and leave them near the fire to dry. Serve hot with a little butter over them in the vegetable dish. Nutritious Blanc Mang’e. Melt three-quarters of an ounce of gelatine in half a pint of milk; do not allow it to boil or it will curdle. Put into another pan half a pint of milk, two ounces of veal suet, and a piece of lemon rind ; simmer it very slowly twenty minutes. Strain, and add the melted gelatine, also a tablespoonful of sugar. Stir frequently till cold. Oat Cakes. Put into a basin two handfuls of meal, half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt ; mix them well together. Then take some warm water, melt in it a small piece of dripping the size of a nut, add just enough water to make a stiff paste, form it into one lump, lift upon a floured board, roll it out very thinly, cut into shapes, and bake on a girdle. Oatmeal Biscuits. Place in a bowl seven ounces of flour, three ounces of oatmeal, three ounces of sugar, and a quarter of a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda ; mix all well together. Beat an egg with a tablespoonful of cold water; melt three ounces of lard or butter ; mix all well together, form into one lump ; roll it out on a floured board very thinly ; cut it into rounds with a floured tumbler or cutter. Bake on a greased tin twenty minutes. Oatmeal Drink. This may be made either with milk or water in the following proportions ; — One ounce of oatmeal to three pints of water or two pints of milk and one ounce of sugar ; mix the oatmeal with the cold milk or water. Simmer fifteen minutes ; strain and serve cold. Onion Sauce. Take two Spanish onions ; remove the skins, put them in a basin with half a teaspoon ful of salt, a piece of washing soda the size of a pea; pour over them some boiling water; cover the top of the basin with a plate; allow it to stand ten minutes. This draws out the greenness which produces indigestion. When this is done put the onions in fresh clean boiling water and boil them half an hour ; remove them from the water ; chop them up finely ; put them into three-quarters of a pint of milk at once to preserve the colour. Melt in a saucepan one ounce of butter ; stir into it half an ounce of flour, and the milk and onions. Stir to boiling; boil two minutes, adding half a saltspoonful of pepper, a saltspoonful of salt ; it is then ready to serve. Onion Soup. Skin and scald two large onions (see Onions) ; dry them, cut them into thin slices ; fry them in two ounces of hot fat till a pale yellow colour, then stir in one ounce and a half of flour. Next add three pints of cold water or stock ; stir to boiling, then add half a teaspoonful of salt and a quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper. Simmer twenty minutes, stirring constantly. It may be passed through a sieve or not according to taste. Pour it into the tureen upon one ounce of grated cheese. Onions.