The housekeeper's guide to preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, &c

Proceed as follows Boil the macaroni in water — or, still better, stock — till it is tender ; dram it, and place it in a dish. Then slice up an onion, chop it somewhat finely, and fry the chopped onion in a clean frying-pan in a little butter. The onion must be fried till it is just on the point of turning brown, when it should be taken out of the frying-pan. The frying-pan should correspond to that used for making omelets ; it must not be burnt, otherwise the butter will turn dark, and appear like “nut-brown butter,” or, as it is sometimes called, “black butter.” The onions should be fried tender, but the butter should be kept the same colour as the sauce. Now pour the contents of the frying-pan over the macaroni already boiled tender. Add a little pepper ana salt, and toss it lightly together. Some grated Parmesan or Other cheese can then be added to the dish according to fancy ; but this dish of macaroni, with only onion, pepper, salt, and butter, will be found very palatable and very satisfying, and, if served as a course by itself before meat, a great saving will be effected ; and, in the case of the majority of healthy persons, a more wholesome meal will be obtained than if they dined off meat alone. Probably in England most of us every day eat more meat than is good for us, especially those who are well-todo in the world. An Irish navvy who rises at five in the morning HOUSEKEPER and works throughout the day, lives chiefly on plain bread-and-butter or bread-and-dripping. How many of us are there who cannot but envy the navvy his strength and also his appetite ? Macaroni is, to all intents and purposes, the same thing as bread so far as its nourishing properties are concerned, but it is bread in a far more agreeable form than can be obtained in this country. Another very nice form of serving macaroni is as follows : — Boil the macaroni in some plain water or some milk till it is tender, then add a good spoonful of food white sauce or some good meltedutter. Toss the whole lightly together with a couple of forks ; add to it a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and the juice of half a lemon. Grated cheese can now be added as before. Macaroni, after being boiled tender in water, can be served up -with a little cream or milk, but cream is far superior to milk. When cream is used it is usual to surround the dish of macaroni with some small pieces of pastry, cut out in the shape of flowers. When the cheese is added it is generally best to toss the macaroni lightly together in the stewpan over the fire till the cheese approaches melting, so that when the macaroni is separated stick from stick the cheese is seen to hang in the form of threads like cobwebs. In all cases of serving macaroni I would remind housekeepers of the importance of cutting it up into pieces ; the limit of length should not be more than three inches. Those who have been in Italy and have seen the poor men eat the dish of macaroni will remember that it has a tendency to hang from the mouth, and has to be shovelled in, in a sort of continuous stream, from the plate to the mouth without any cessation. The most common form of serving macaroni in this country is that of macaroni cheese. The macaroni should be first boiled tender in water— or, still better, in milk.