Paper-bag cookery

If color and thick sauce are desired, mix a quarter of a teaspoonful of arrowroot with the vegetable, and a little burnt-sugar coloring. When you open the bag, remove the sweetbread gently. Place on dish. Remove tomatoes, mushrooms, etc., and place round it. Put the whole of the contents of the bag (juice included) in a strainer and press with a wooden spoon into a clean, hot basin standing in boiling water, then pour the gravy thus obtained over the sweetbread. Sweetbreads. — Blanch a very fresh sweetbread by putting in a stewpan in cold water. Let it come slowly to the boil, but not quite to boil. Take the sweetbread from the stewpan and place at once in cold water. Turn a plate upside down, put the sweetbread on top, then put another plate, the right way up, on the top of the sweetbread to obtain pressure. Place a weight on top, and leave it for 30 minutes or so. Then trim your sweetbread by removing the external skin, etc. Lard it if desired, but this is not absolutely necessary. Put a very thin slice of larding bacon on both sides of the sweetbread. Season to taste. Then take a paper-bag and butter it at the bottom; place inside it the sweetbread with a little of the trimmings from the sweetbread round it. Seal bag and put on broiler. Allow 20 minutes in hot oven. If a thick sauce is desired, roll the sweetbread well in flour before cooking. For invalids who do not wish any grease, put the juice in an odd dish and dust a little pepper on top. This will absorb all the fat, leaving the rich gravy. Curry of Beef, Veal, or Poultry. — Cut up the meat in small pieces, add two very finely chopped peeled onions, one teaspoonful of Madras curry paste or curry powder, one peeled and chopped apple, half a teaspoonful of sugar, a little lemon juice, a little bouquet of herbs tied up. Add one teaspoonful of flour, half a tumblerful of boiling milk, and a banana and tomato if liked. Mix together. Place in the paper-bag and then on broiler at once. Allow 45 minutes in a hot oven. Rice to be boiled and served separately. Entree of Chicken. — Cut up a chicken in pieces, dust with salt and pepper. Add one tablespoonful of flour, tomato or mushroom (if desired), or a little tomato ketchup. Add a small chopped onion, according to taste, and a little bunch of bay leaf, parsley, and thyme. Place all in the middle of the bag. Add three tablespoonfuls of water, stock, or wine, according to taste. A little chopped ham or bacon (if desired) will add to the flavor. Seal bag up and place on broiler, and allow 45 minutes in hot oven. Any other poultry treated in the same way will give the same satisfactory result. The seasoning and garnish can be left to the taste of the cook. The viands will not spoil if left a little longer than 45 minutes. Veal and Ham Pie.— Make a paste in the ordinary way. Prepare the meat as usual, and put in the middle of the paste, which should be rolled to the thickness of about an eighth of an inch. Moisten the four corners and fold to cover the meat. Place in the paper-bag, seal up, put on broiler in a moderate oven. For a i lb. pie allow 45 minutes ; 3 lbs., 1 hour; 6 lbs., il/2 hours; 10 lbs., 2 hours.