economically served thus, as cold jjuddings, &c., of which there is not enough to hand round, can be neatly arranged in small dishes and placed on the table. Lunch in economical houses has to be more or less a made-up meal, or waste becomes a necessity. Where there are children, it will, of course, be the nursery dinner, and it will be found a good plan to begin with well-made soup or broth. Nothing is more nourishing than well-made mutton broth with plenty of rice or barley in it, and the meat stewed down into the soup. This, with an honest milky pudding eaten with stewed fruit, is as whole- some a dinner as it is possible to give. Of course, if Indian bairns are fed upon curry and caviare, their taste for simple dishes will become impaired, but there really is no reason why they should be so fed. Servants in India are particularly careless in serving up cold viands ; having a contempt for them, and considering them as, in reality, the sweeper’s perquisites. So it is no unusual thing to see puddings served up again as they left the table, and pies with dusty, half-dried smears of gravy clinging to the sides of the pie-dish. This should never be passed over ; but both cook and khitinutgar taught that everything, even down to the salt in the salt-cellars, must be neat, clean, and pleasant to look at, as well as to taste. Heavy luncheons or tiffins have much to answer for in India. It is a fact scarcely denied, that people at home invariably eat more on Sundays, because they have nothing else to do ; so in the hot weather out here people seem to eat simply because it passes the time. It is no unusual thing to see a meal of four or five distinct courses placed on the table, when one light entree and a dressed vegetable would be ample. Even when guests are invited to tiffin, there is no reason why they shoidd be tempted to over-eat themselves, as they too often are, by the ludicrously heavy style of the ordinary luncheon ])arty in India. If the object of such parties is, as it should be, to have a really pleasant time for sociable conversation between lunch and afternoon tea, stufling the guests into a semi-torpid state certainly does not conduce to success. Yet if the memi be large and long, it is almost impossible for a luncheon guest to°persist in refusal without making himself remarkable. He has no 48 The Complete Indian refuge, and, like the wedding guest, must accept his fate, although he knows the result to be that — sadder and a wiser man He’ll rise the morrow’s morn.” Afternoon teas are, as it were, outclassed by tennis parties, and as these latter are a form of entertainment suitable to tlie limited purses of most people, a few hints may be given as to the refreshments required, &c. To begin with tea and coffee. It will be found best to have at least two teapots, and not to put more than three teaspoonfuls of tea in each. Anything more tasteless or injurious than tea which has been “stood strong” and then watered down cannot be imagined. Cream should invariably be given, and for this purpose the milk must not be boiled ; even in hot weather milk will stand for twelve hours in a wide- mouthed jar placed in an earthen vessel of water, especially if a little carbonate of soda be dissolved in the milk, while boracic acid will keep it sweet for days. Lump sugar costs very little more than grain sugar, and looks infinitely nicer.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

economically served thus, as cold puddings, &c., of which there is not enough to hand round, can be neatly arranged in small dishes and placed on the table. Lunch in economical houses has to be more or less a made-up meal, or waste becomes a necessity. Where there are children, it will, of course, be the nursery dinner, and it will be found a good plan to begin with well-made soup or broth. Nothing is more nourishing than well-made mutton broth with plenty of rice or barley in it, and the meat stewed down into the soup. This, with an honest milky pudding eaten with stewed fruit, is as wholesome a dinner as it is possible to give. Of course, if Indian bairns are fed upon curry and caviare, their taste for simple dishes will become impaired, but there really is no reason why they should be so fed. Servants in India are particularly careless in serving up cold viands ; having a contempt for them, and considering them as, in reality, the sweeper’s perquisites. So it is no unusual thing to see puddings served up again as they left the table, and pies with dusty, half-dried smears of gravy clinging to the sides of the pie-dish. This should never be passed over ; but both cook and khitinutgar taught that everything, even down to the salt in the salt-cellars, must be neat, clean, and pleasant to look at, as well as to taste. Heavy luncheons or tiffins have much to answer for in India. It is a fact scarcely denied, that people at home invariably eat more on Sundays, because they have nothing else to do ; so in the hot weather out here people seem to eat simply because it passes the time. It is no unusual thing to see a meal of four or five distinct courses placed on the table, when one light entree and a dressed vegetable would be ample. Even when guests are invited to tiffin, there is no reason why they should be tempted to over-eat themselves, as they too often are, by the ludicrously heavy style of the ordinary luncheon party in India. If the object of such parties is, as it should be, to have a really pleasant time for sociable conversation between lunch and afternoon tea, stufling the guests into a semi-torpid state certainly does not conduce to success. Yet if the memi be large and long, it is almost impossible for a luncheon guest to persist in refusal without making himself remarkable. He has no 48 The Complete Indian refuge, and, like the wedding guest, must accept his fate, although he knows the result to be that — sadder and a wiser man He’ll rise the morrow’s morn.” Afternoon teas are, as it were, outclassed by tennis parties, and as these latter are a form of entertainment suitable to tlie limited purses of most people, a few hints may be given as to the refreshments required, &c. To begin with tea and coffee. It will be found best to have at least two teapots, and not to put more than three teaspoonfuls of tea in each. Anything more tasteless or injurious than tea which has been “stood strong” and then watered down cannot be imagined. Cream should invariably be given, and for this purpose the milk must not be boiled ; even in hot weather milk will stand for twelve hours in a widemouthed jar placed in an earthen vessel of water, especially if a little carbonate of soda be dissolved in the milk, while boracic acid will keep it sweet for days. Lump sugar costs very little more than grain sugar, and looks infinitely nicer.

The complete Indian housekeeper & cook