A year's cookery

to simmer gently for twenty minutes or half an hour to “ throw up the grease,” as it is called, which grease must be carefully removed as it rises. The roux may be mixed with either hot or cold liquor. If cold, it should be stirred till it boils ; if hot, the roux should be moistened with a little of the liquor off the fire, then poured into the remainder, and stirred till it boils. The sauce or soup thickened with it will only acquire its proper consistency after it has been stirred and boiled. No good cook should be without this roux in the house ; and therefore it is understood that when the quantity made is finished, it shall be renewed without further reminder. If unfortunately it should happen that it is all used, and a little is wanted for immediate use, melt half an ounce of butter over the fire, and mix smoothly with it (with a wooden spoon) a table-spoonful of flour. Stir it quickly over a gentle fire for three minutes, moisten it gradually with the liquid to be thickened, and boil it, stirring it all the time. This quantity will be sufficient for a pint of stock. Gravy thickened with raw flour is liable to have a puddingy taste. 5. Soak some hominy in cold water (February 10th). Breakfast. Baked Soles. Sausages with. Fried Bread. Hot Buttered Toast. Dry Toast. Muffins. Marmalade. Boiled Hominy. January 7th Luncheon. Remains of Cod, Scalloped. Toad in the Hole. Dinner. Oyster Soup, made of the Fish Stock. Boiled Rabbits with Onion Sauce. Fried Bacon. Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts. Vermicelli Pudding. Cheese. Marketing. For the Day.— One dozen large Oysters, or if this will not be afforded, one tin of Oysters ; one-pennyworth of Parsley. ( See January 3rd.) Potatoes, Brussels Sprouts. For To-morrow.— One tin Bovill’s Potted -Grouse. This potted grouse is most delicious in flavour; it will, however, have a better appearance if it is taken out of the small tin in which it is sold, and is pressed into two or more of the small j ars usually used for preparations of this kind, then covered with clarified butter. If this is done it will serve for two or three breakfasts, and will look and taste well to the last. If it is pressed into one jar it should be turned into a fresh one after it has once been used, and should be sent to table with the jar covered with a paper frill, and the meat garnished with parsley. Half a Pig’s Head, and two Pig’s Feet for brawn. (See Marketing, January 6th.) The pork-butcher should be asked to cut away the cheek, that it may be pickled separately, leaving the rest of the head for brawn. Rolls (September 4th). Breakfast. — Baked Soles. — Scrape the soles, but do not skin them, roll them in a soft cloth for awhile to dry them thoroughly, and brush them over on the white side with dissolved butter Cover them with prepared bread-crumbs, lay them white side uppermost in a baking-tin in which a little butter has been dissolved, and bake them in a brisk oven. They will be done enough in about twenty minutes. . They should be brown on the top, and if they are not the tin containing them must be held before the fire for a minute or two. Prepared in this way the soles will not require any sauce.