Entrees made easy

Prepare some mince as for rissoles, have ready some very thin slices of fat bacon, and put a little of the mixture on each of these ; roll up the bacon, taking care to close the ends well, dip each in frying batter, and fry a golden brown in plenty of boiling fat. Drain well, and serve garnished with fried parsley. Croquettes (Hot). For these have ready some short paste rolled out very thin, cut it into small squares, and on each put a spoonful of mince as for rissoles, wet the edges of the paste, fold over, and press together, then fry plain, or egged and dipped in vermicelli, and drained well. Serve garnished with fried parsley. Cornish Pasties (Hot). Properly speaking, these should be made from uncooked meat, but really the remains of a steak does capitally. Cut up \ lb. of boiled potatoes into small squares, and cut up £ lb. of steak to the same size, blanch an onion, cut it into small shreds, and mix these together with a fork. Have ready some short paste about \ inch thick, and divided into fair-sized pieces ; lay some of the mixture on each of these, moisten the edges, fold over, press well together, and bake in a fairly quick oven, till the pastry is cooked. Meat Scallops (Hot). Butter some china or silver shells, and put into these some mince, moistened with any good sauce ; sprinkle the top with breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, grated cheese, minced parsley, and, if liked, minced chives. Bake till the crumbs are nicely browned. Potato Ragout (Hot). Parboil a small onion, and chop it up finely with 2 oz. of any cooked meat and 1 oz. of ham ; mix this with 3 oz. mashed potato, 1 teaspoonful of mixed herbs, the yolks of 2 eggs, and pepper and salt to taste. When thoroughly mixed, stir in the stiffly whipped whites of the eggs, drop the mixture by spoonsful into boiling fat, and fry a golden brown. Drain well, and serve piled up on a napkin. Roman Pie made with Beef (Hot). Chop up into small pieces the remains of cooked beef, and add to this half the quantity of macaroni cut into small pieces, and some lean cooked bacon. Season well with pepper and salt, and add enough brown sauce (previously slightly flavoured with onion) to moisten it nicely. Meanwhile, butter a small basin, sprinkle it with finely broken vermicelli, and line it with a short crust. Fill up with the cold meat, cover with more paste, and bake in a fairly quick oven for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked. Turn out on to a hot dish, and serve surrounded with either thick tomato sauce or clear brown gravy. CHAPTER VII Cold entrees are most useful, as they really involve but little trouble, and can be prepared some time before they are wanted, thus leaving the cook free to attend entirely to the hot dishes. Again, too, they are very much appreciated in hot weather, when one does not care to see a great deal of hot meat, besides in many cases being a most useful way of using up scraps in a really dainty form. Before using salad of any kind for these dishes always wash it well, and allow it to remain in cold water for a minute or two, after which dry it carefully in a cloth. Always break up lettuce, as it is much nicer, if possible, that no knife should touch it. Although Chaufroix, properly speaking, should