a little cayenne pepper and some salt, and enough
aromatic mixed herbs to cover a sixpence✪ Forcemeat for Larks (these herbs
are composed of white peppercorns, cloves, one portion ;
marjoram, basil, thyme, nutmeg, mace, half a portion ;
dried bay-leaves, a quarter of a portion ; well pounded
and sifted, and put by in a stoppered bottle for use).
Chop the whole very finely, and put it by in a small
stew-pan to keep hot till wanted. Place a dessert-
spoonful of this rich forcemeat at the bottom of each
paper case. The paper cases should have the chill
taken off them by being placed before the fire for a
minute. Then place a small roast lark on the top of
each case.
Larks take only about ten minutes or a quarter of
an hour to roast, according to their size, and ought to
be eaten directly they are cooked. The cases should
be placed in a silver dish, with parsley between them.
This is a very savoury dish, and at the same time a
very cheap substitute for game for a dozen people.
Should there be no mixed herbs ready, a little nutmeg
and mace will be found to flavour the forcemeat suffi-
ciently for ordinary purposes.
Of course, in comparing the above two dinners, we
have purposely taken rather extreme cases. What we
would impress upon housekeepers is that many of
these pretty, savoury httle dishes, though they may
give considerable trouble, are nevertheless very cheap.
By simply looking ahead for a day or two, and a little
industry on the part of others in the house than the
cook only, a dinner often may be given combining
elegance with strict economy.
CHAPTER VIII.
HOW TO GIVE A NICE LITTLE SUPPER.
The Christmas season is essentially one for parties —
Christmas parties — those happy gatherings where old
and young meet together for mutual enjoyment, and
where the presence of children forms an excuse for
grown-up people to enjoy a round game, or look on
at feats of legerdemain with as much enjoyment as a
middle-aged, grave-faced Frenchman feels when going
slowly round on horseback on a roundabout. Perhaps
if we were all of us at times more childlike we should
be none the worse for it, especially in this high-strung,
tear-away age. But I must leave off moralising, or else
you, like the children at the party, will be thinking
what a long time they are about the supper, which,
after all, is the event of the evening.
As we have said, the party is a mixed one, and
therefore we must manage our supper on the principle
of meat for strong men, as well as milk for babes.
Judging by my own experience, there are few occa-
sions on which I have felt more decidedly hungry than
after a Christmas party. Really, to see some good-
tempered persons hard at work amusing children, after
perhaps having had a hurried early dinner, is quite
enough to arouse pity. They have indeed earned their
supper.
There are, perhaps, few opportunities for exercising
taste better than a cold supper, where every dish is
placed on the table at once. It would, however, be
impossible to enter into the detail of the arrangements
72
HOW TO GIVE A SUPPER.
73
of the table without knowing with tolerable accuracy
the resources of the establishment. For instance,
where there are plenty of silver dishes, as well as cut-
glass ones, to arrange a table handsomely would be
far easier than where there are neither.
Page 37 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1906. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
a little cayenne pepper and some salt, and enough aromatic mixed herbs to cover a sixpence (these herbs are composed of white peppercorns, cloves, one portion ; marjoram, basil, thyme, nutmeg, mace, half a portion ; dried bay-leaves, a quarter of a portion ; well pounded and sifted, and put by in a stoppered bottle for use). Chop the whole very finely, and put it by in a small stew-pan to keep hot till wanted. Place a dessertspoonful of this rich forcemeat at the bottom of each paper case. The paper cases should have the chill taken off them by being placed before the fire for a minute. Then place a small roast lark on the top of each case.
Larks take only about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour to roast, according to their size, and ought to be eaten directly they are cooked. The cases should be placed in a silver dish, with parsley between them. This is a very savoury dish, and at the same time a very cheap substitute for game for a dozen people. Should there be no mixed herbs ready, a little nutmeg and mace will be found to flavour the forcemeat sufficiently for ordinary purposes.
Of course, in comparing the above two dinners, we have purposely taken rather extreme cases. What we would impress upon housekeepers is that many of these pretty, savoury little dishes, though they may give considerable trouble, are nevertheless very cheap. By simply looking ahead for a day or two, and a little industry on the part of others in the house than the cook only, a dinner often may be given combining elegance with strict economy.
CHAPTER VIII.
HOW TO GIVE A NICE LITTLE SUPPER.
The Christmas season is essentially one for parties — Christmas parties — those happy gatherings where old and young meet together for mutual enjoyment, and where the presence of children forms an excuse for grown-up people to enjoy a round game, or look on at feats of legerdemain with as much enjoyment as a middle-aged, grave-faced Frenchman feels when going slowly round on horseback on a roundabout. Perhaps if we were all of us at times more childlike we should be none the worse for it, especially in this high-strung, tear-away age. But I must leave off moralising, or else you, like the children at the party, will be thinking what a long time they are about the supper, which, after all, is the event of the evening.
As we have said, the party is a mixed one, and therefore we must manage our supper on the principle of meat for strong men, as well as milk for babes.
Judging by my own experience, there are few occasions on which I have felt more decidedly hungry than after a Christmas party. Really, to see some good-tempered persons hard at work amusing children, after perhaps having had a hurried early dinner, is quite enough to arouse pity. They have indeed earned their supper.
There are, perhaps, few opportunities for exercising taste better than a cold supper, where every dish is placed on the table at once. It would, however, be impossible to enter into the detail of the arrangements
of the table without knowing with tolerable accuracy the resources of the establishment. For instance, where there are plenty of silver dishes, as well as cutglass ones, to arrange a table handsomely would be far easier than where there are neither.
Records on this page
Forcemeat for Larks