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

A more expensive but very pretty garnish can be made by placing plovers’ eggs round the edge of the salad. In ; addition to this a few stoned olives | should always be added to every mayon- ! naise salad (see Olives, to Stone). In j England it is a very common custom to | place slices of cucumber round the bases ! of salads. In the case of salmon salad j this is certainly an agreeable addition. With all kinds of salads made with meat I think a very great improvement is to place thin slices of pickled gherkins ' round the base of the salad. This is invariably the custom abroad, but it is not so common in England. In ornamenting mayonnaise salad, when it is possible, the last addition should be a few small crayfish. A small crayfish placed on the top, and one in each corner, making five in all, makes a very pretty garnish, and is especially suitable for lobster salads of all kinds. Mayonnaise sauce is also the base of several other sauces, one of the nicest of which is known as Tartar sauce, a very excellent accompaniment to grilled salmon, fried eels, etc. Take two or three tablespoonfuls of mayonnaise sauce, say three tablespoonfuls, add to this a piece of shalot about the size of the thumb down to the first joint, chopped fine, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, a teaspoonful of anchovy sauce, and a teaspoonful of French mustard, flavoured with tarragon, or if that cannot be obtained, add a little ordinary mustard. This sauce should be kept in a cool place. When cooks wish to make what may be termed fancy salads, they should bear in mind that mayonnaise sauce is easily coloured by the addition of ordinary vegetable colouring matter. (See Vegetable Colouring.) By this means you can have yellow mayonnaise, red mayonnaise, green mayonnaise, etc. However, the plain mayonnaise sauce itself, when properly ornamented, 5s, I think, the best form of serving it up. MEAT, EXTRACT OF.— See Extbact oe Meat. MEAT LOZENGES.— Meat lozenges are a very convenient form of having con centrated nourishment always at hand. They will be found particularly useful to persons with somewhat delicate stomachs who indulge in walking tours. They are also often used by invalids who are apt at times, owing to sleeplessness at night, to feel exhausted. A few meat lozenges placed in the mouth afford great relief. MEATS, POTTED. — Potted meats and fish are extremely convenient forms of having nice-looking breakfast or luncheon dishes always ready at a moment’s notice. The majority of tinned meats are also very convenient for cooking purposes, as they assist the cook in making forcemeat. The following potted meats and fish are supplied by Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell : — Anchovy paste (which can be obtained in fancy pots, in bottles, in glass jars, and in tins), bloater paste (which is also supplied in tins, pots, jars, and fancy pots), devilled ham, French anchovy paste, potted beef, potted ham, potted tongue, potted ham and tongue, potted Strasburg meats, etc., also pate au diallc, potted game, potted lobster, potted salmon, potted shrimps, potted Oxford brawn, etc. A description of all these will he found under their respective headings. METZ FRUITS. — A very varied assortment of crystallised fruits are now supplied in boxes, and known as Metz fruits. These boxes contain quantities varying from a quarter of a pound to two pounds.