Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

and bring it to the boil. Cast into it one pinch — that is, the eighth of an ounce — of salt, and then dredge in the oatmeal with one hand whilst you stir well with the other hand, using a wooden spoon. Let the porridge simmer for forty minutes, by which time the oatmeal should have absorbed the water and be swollen and soft. Send the porridge into the breakfast-room in its saucepan, set it over a lamp, stir in enough cold milk till air bubbles begin to rise on the surface, and then turn the porridge into very hot soup-plates. Hand salt only. Hot milk can be used if liked, but boiled and unboiled milk vary in taste. By Wyvern's plan a properly hot porridge is certain in a couple of minutes. The proportions given will yield two large portions or three small portions. If the oatmeal absorbs the water too quickly in the cooking additional hot water should be stirred in. Some oatmeals are more floury than others, and as much as a pint of water may be needed for two ounces. \_Wyvern.'] A Scotch porridge-stick, for stirring Oatmeal Porridge, is like a thin rollingpin. Hold the stick in your right hand and dredge the oatmeal in with your left hand. Add the oatmeal by degrees till the porridge is thick enough not to fly over the edge of the saucepan when stirred, and beat it well with the porridge-stick. Scotch people like milk and cream with porridge ; some even add ale and brown sugar. But Oatmeal Porridge when properly made is most wholesome if it is eaten only with salt. CHAPTER XXI. SOME FOREIGN RECIPES. [Inserted by Request.] Italian Chestnut Soup.— (Old Recipe.)— Mince finely two small onions, one carrot, two leeks, and a quarter of a stick of celery. Fry all brown in butter, season with salt, and stew in a quart of stock for one hour. Take three or four dozen chestnuts according to size, peel off the first shell, put them in a chestnutpan, and stir them about till they are sufficiently cooked for the second shell to be removed. Stew them for half an hour in half the prepared liquor. Set apart the whole chestnuts to garnish the soup. Chop the remainder and strain through a sieve with the liquor they have been stewed in. Add the rest of the stock, simmer over a slow fire for six or seven minutes, place the whole chestnuts in the tureen and pour the soup over. Italian Chestnut Stew. — Mince finely two small onions and a sprig of rosemary, and fry them brown in butter. Add two pounds of meat or chicken or turkey cut into small pieces, half a pint of red Italian wine vinegar (this is often considered more delicate than French vinegar), a pint and a half of stock with three ounces of tomato conserve dissolved in it, and a pinch of salt. Stew over a slow fire for forty minutes. Add three or four dozen chestnuts prepared as for the soup in the last recipe, stew all over a slow fire for an hour and a quarter, adding more stock if necessary. Dish with the meat in the centre, and the chestnuts arranged round it. Italian Frittura. — This is made of veal cutlets, calf’s brains, liver, and sweetbreads, all cut into pieces of the same size, with any kind of vegetables cut up. Boil the meat and vegetables 55° SOME FOREIGN RECIPES