Practical home cookery

First of all, cut up about six heads of celery and put them into boiling water, and allow them to boil for about ten minutes ; strain them off, and throw them into cold water, and then drain and dry the pieces ; next place them in a stew-pan, with about two ounces of butter and a little grated nutmeg, and allow them to dissolve slowly in the butter, but take care that the celery does not brown ; when quite soft and tender, fill up the stewpan with some good white stock that has been flavoured with some savoury herbs, such as marjoram, basil, and lemon-thyme ; let the whole boil up, and then send it all through a wire sieve with a wooden spoon. Should the sauce not be thick enough, a little arrowroot may be added to it to thicken it ; add also a little boiling milk, and a small lump of white sugar. Of course, when cream can be obtained it is far preferable to the milk. Another great advantage of having cream is that the sauce will look much whiter than when milk is used. The sauce may also be thickened with white roux — that is, butter and flour mixed together and baked, but not allowed to turn colour. Celery sauce will be found to be by far the best accompaniment to a boiled turkey, which at one season of the year seems to have that monopoly of one end of the table that the sirloin of beef seems to have of the other. CHAPTER XVI. Regularly the season comes round in which our Saviour’s- birth is celebrated, and though more than nineteen centuries have passed away, still the clarion voice rings as fresh as ever in our ears — “ Goodwill toward men.” From the highest to the lowest the sacred charm still works its magic spell. What child was ever sent to bed before its time, no matter what the crime, on Christmas Day ? Oh, if we could only embed in our hearts throughout the year one half the charity that for very shame seems forced on us on this great festival, how far happier should we be ! It is not, however, now my province to dwell upon the sacred character of the day, yet the whole subject is so deep, so unfathomable, that, like a still phosphorescent sea, the slightest touch is instantly surrounded by a halo of glory, faintly and dimly revealing to finite minds the infinite brightness that is hidden in its breast, and I cannot bear to enter into the practical details of the day’s festivities without some slight allusion in honour of the Author and Founder of the feast. Now — the higher duties of the season being of course left out of the question — Christmas Day without its dinner would be like the play of ” Hamlet ” with the part of Hamlet omitted. A genuine Christmas dinner, too, reveals our real national taste, and proves to ourselves and all the world that we have not yet acquired a French one. I wonder if it is possible for a statistician to calculate how many huge sirloins of beef J 145 and immense turkeys are consumed on Christmas Day. Such substantial fare — so unkickshawlike. Nor must we forget the goose of humbler life. Were it possible to calculate the exact amount of gratification given by mere eating, it would probably be found that the aristocratic sirloin and turkey fail to compare with the goose and sage and onion — we may add, especially the sage and onion.