Breakfasts, luncheons, and ball suppers

Plum Pudding, Plum Pudding Sauce. CHAPTER V. HUNTING LUNCHEONS, In hunting countries the Author has frequently heard the remarks : “ What can we take with us for lunch ; Which sandwich is the best ; Should it be made of bread or toast ; or, What is the best meat to use ? ” He can also hear others exclaiming : “ What is the man thinking of ? we don’t want to eat out hunting ; We can’t be bothered by carrying packages ; We hate our saddles turned into pack-saddles,” etc. Wait, my friends, until the clock of some neighbouring village strikes two, and you see a friend produce a pie full of jelly, or a cutlet covered with aspic, made by the receipts given in this book. The Author’s experience is that hunting makes people as hungry as other sports, unless one happens to fall into a real good forty minutes, then he admits that thirst pre- dominates over hunger ; as, however, such lucky days only come perhaps half-a-dozen times in the year, hunger, as a general rule, predominates over thirst, and for this reason he has thought it advisable to give to this subject some consideration. The result of his consideration is this : first, that of -• all abominations sandwiches, whether made of bread or toast, are the greatest ; the outsides get dry as sawdust, the insides frequently moist, the butter having melted and the meat become sodden. Second, pies he has seen, but tJuy have generally been made of minced meat, and so close that there is no room for meat-jelly, etc., and con- sequently dry and bad. He has lived in a hunting 40 HUNTING LUNCHEONS. country some years, and could count on his fingers the few who have had eatable things in their cases. He remembers it being reported that a certain young gentle- man (which at the time afforded much amusement to the “ Coffee-housers ”) lunched on meat-jelly, which he ate with a silver spoon. It has often struck him that a little of this jelly applied to the scoffers’ dry sandwiches or pies would have been a godsend. Such being the case, he has come to the conclusion that the only good things to take are either good meat pies, full of jelly, cold cutlets, or slices of galantines, or rolls the size of the case filled with fish or chicken salad. There is no difficulty whatever in the matter. The Author recommends that the hunting luncheon-case, if a hunting-case is carried, should have a division, one side for the pie or cold cutlets, the other for bread, cake, or plum pudding. The tins in which these pies can be made should be the size of the case, and can be obtained from Messrs. Adams’, in the Haymarket, of Monsieur Beguinot’s (of St. James’ Street) design, and his receipt for making them is given in Chapter XVII., and he will,if required, send the pies by post ready made. Messrs. Farrow & Jackson, of the Haymarket, have made some of these hunting-cases, so they can be obtained from them in any size if ordered.