40. Tomatoes and Parsley. — Slice any numher of tomatoes in a fire-proof china dish. Put in layers with plenty of minced parsley between ; j)epper, salt. Cover with browned bread-crumbs. Baste with butter, and bake. Housekeeper and Cook 289 41. Tomatoes h la Provengale.— Proceed as before, but make the farce with 2 units of chopped bacon or ham, ^ of chopped parsley and onions, 2 units chopped mushrooms, and 2 of yolk ot egg. riu the tomatoes, and stew in a pan with 3 units of salad oil✪ Tomatoes à la Provençale. 42. Tomato Custards.— Proceed as before, hut use the pulp removed to make a good thick tomato purc% adding, ot course, flavouring of onion or garlic, red pepper, &c. For every 2 units tomato pulp add 1 of yolk of egg. Fill the tomatoes with the mixture ; grate a little cheese✪ Tomato Custards over Uie top, and hake on a buttered tin. A little cream may he added if procurable. 43. Tomato Souflld.— One slice of bread soaked in 3 units table- spoons of milk and beaten to a paste. Nine units raw pulp of lipe tomatoes, i of butter, 1 of grated cheese, onion juice, red pepper, and salt to"taste. Then add 2 units yolk and 3 of white of egg well whisked, and sprinkle grated cheese over. Bake in a souffle dish. Tins quantity does for three people. 44. Vegetable Oysters.— Boil native brinjals^ till three parts done ; cut in slices, and punch into rounds the size of an oyster. Pickle for five minutes in vinegar. Beat 2 units yolk of egg with 1 of cream and 1 of milk ; add plenty of black pepper a,nd salt, and a taste of nutmeg✪ Vegetable Oysters. Pour over the sliced hrivjals, which should be drained from the vinegar, stir gently, put into scallop shells, and strew fried bread-crumbs on the top. It is hardly to be distin- guished from scalloped oysters. T CHAPTER XXXI SALADS “Thank you, I never eat salads, except at my own house,” was the inadvertent reply of a gourmet to his hostess. In India, at any rate, the habit is a safe one \ for anything more appalling than the usual mess of flabby shreds mixed with mustard and vinegar, and decorated lavishly with hard-boiled and beetroot, cannot be imagined. Yet nothing is more simple than salad-making. First, the gardener should have orders fiot to wash the lettuce. A washed lettuce is a spoiled lettuce. Secondly, lettuces should never be eaten the day they are cut, but the next. On being brought in from the garden, they should be cut with a sharp knife about one- fourth of their length from the top, so as to cut across the leaves, and just expose the white heart. They should then be stood upright, roots up, cut leaves down, in about one inch of water. The leaves will suck up the water, and become Avonderfully crisp and juicy. The great Soyer never used a lettuce until it had stood two days in this fashion, and his salads were the wonder of all who ate them.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

40. Tomatoes and Parsley. — Slice any number of tomatoes in a fire-proof china dish. Put in layers with plenty of minced parsley between; pepper, salt. Cover with browned bread-crumbs. Baste with butter, and bake. Housekeeper and Cook 289 41. Tomatoes à la Provençale.— Proceed as before, but make the farce with 2 units of chopped bacon or ham, ^ of chopped parsley and onions, 2 units chopped mushrooms, and 2 of yolk of egg. Fill the tomatoes, and stew in a pan with 3 units of salad oil. 42. Tomato Custards.— Proceed as before, but use the pulp removed to make a good thick tomato puree, adding, ot course, flavouring of onion or garlic, red pepper, &c. For every 2 units tomato pulp add 1 of yolk of egg. Fill the tomatoes with the mixture; grate a little cheese over the top, and bake on a buttered tin. A little cream may he added if procurable. 43. Tomato Soufflé.— One slice of bread soaked in 3 units tablespoons of milk and beaten to a paste. Nine units raw pulp of ripe tomatoes, i of butter, 1 of grated cheese, onion juice, red pepper, and salt to taste. Then add 2 units yolk and 3 of white of egg well whisked, and sprinkle grated cheese over. Bake in a souffle dish. Tins quantity does for three people. 44. Vegetable Oysters.— Boil native brinjals till three parts done ; cut in slices, and punch into rounds the size of an oyster. Pickle for five minutes in vinegar. Beat 2 units yolk of egg with 1 of cream and 1 of milk ; add plenty of black pepper a,nd salt, and a taste of nutmeg. Pour over the sliced brinjals, which should be drained from the vinegar, stir gently, put into scallop shells, and strew fried bread-crumbs on the top. It is hardly to be distinguished from scalloped oysters. T CHAPTER XXXI SALADS “Thank you, I never eat salads, except at my own house,” was the inadvertent reply of a gourmet to his hostess. In India, at any rate, the habit is a safe one \ for anything more appalling than the usual mess of flabby shreds mixed with mustard and vinegar, and decorated lavishly with hard-boiled and beetroot, cannot be imagined. Yet nothing is more simple than salad-making. First, the gardener should have orders fiot to wash the lettuce. A washed lettuce is a spoiled lettuce. Secondly, lettuces should never be eaten the day they are cut, but the next. On being brought in from the garden, they should be cut with a sharp knife about onefourth of their length from the top, so as to cut across the leaves, and just expose the white heart. They should then be stood upright, roots up, cut leaves down, in about one inch of water. The leaves will suck up the water, and become Avonderfully crisp and juicy. The great Soyer never used a lettuce until it had stood two days in this fashion, and his salads were the wonder of all who ate them.

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