Practical home cookery

When lobsters are cheap, the cost of these pretty little red cutlets varies from one penny to three-halfpence each. I once made twenty from a lobster that cost one shilling and sixpence. There are many ignorant people, who on seeing such a dish would imagine that it must be a very extravagant one ; and yet these same persons would think nothing of having a dish of six or eight ordinary mutton cutlets handed round as an entree, costing at least sixpence each. Besides, there is no comparison in the appearance of the two dishes. There are, perhaps, few entrees more invariably passed by at dinner parties than mutton cutlets, unless dressed ones, which, especially when truffles are used, are very expensive, A dish of bright-red lobster cutlets, neatly arranged in a silver dish, with a pile of crisp fried parsley in the centre, always looks nice ; and if economy is very much thought of, a few bread-crumbs added to the mass before moulding will increase the dish ; but we don’t recommend the method — we wish to be practical ; and the probable result of the suggestion to the cook is that the cutlets will be spoilt, and the cook will have the best claw for her supper, served au naturel — i.e. with the vinegar aforesaid. It seems very dreadful, when one comes to think about it, but how horribly dependent we all are upon our servants, and, as a rule, how far less regard have they to economy than we have ourselves ! This is probably owing to early education — for instance, the girl who in childhood has been accustomed to see her mother buy coals by the apronful. Yes, gentle reader, such is the fact, which you may see for yourself any day in some of the poorer neighbourhoods in London. I recollect a case once in which the apron-strings gave way, thereby causing the coal-cellar to make a sudden and unexpected appearance on the pavement, and calling forth the exclamation of : “ Drat the thing ! ” Yet this very girl, who, as we have said, has been used to see her mother lay in coals in this fashion, when she goes out to service is so overcome by the inexhaustible supply, as it seems to her, in a cellar containing several tons, that from sheer thoughtlessness she is extravagant to a degree. In most houses the ashes are thrown up far more often in the dining-room than in the kitchen. Another and ofttimes a more terrible difficulty that young housekeepers have to contend with, is the impenetrable stupidity of the women in her employ. I recollect a most amusing case that occurred many years ago in a house at Woolwich. An elderly lady — one of the good old sort, not above occasional interference in domestic matters — had personally superintended the preparation of that somewhat nasty creature in the raw state, a hare for jugging. The richest of gravy had been prepared, the joints of the hare had been neatly browned in a frying-pan without being cooked. Cloves, port wine, etc. — nothing had been forgotten, and the whole had been placed in a large jug, and only required being put to simmer gently in some boiling water. Now, the elderly lady wisely thought that the copper would be as safe a place as any wherein to stand the jug, the water reaching about half-way up, this method having the additional advantage of leaving more room on the kitchen fire, besides obviating the risk of its being upset by the saucepan — if the jug