A year's cookery

Dinner. — Boiled Brill (January 9th) ; Neapolitan Sauce (February 8th). Beef -steak Pudding. — Put the meat, with only a small allowance of fat, on a board, trim away the skin, and cut it into neat slices convenient for serving. Flour the pieces well, and season each one with pepper and salt. If mushrooms are used, they should have the stems cut away and be skinned, and, if large, be cut into neat pieces, then rinsed quickly in cold water, drained, and laid between the folds of a soft cloth to dry. If oysters are used, they should be put into a stewpan, with their liquor, and barely brought to the boil. The liquor should then be strained from them to be mixed with the gravy from the pudding, and the beards and hard parts of the oysters should be cut away. Parsley or shallot should be finely chopped. To make Suet Crust for Meat Puddings , Poly-poly Puddings , Fruit Dumplings , dc. — Weigh one pound of flour, and also six, eight, or ten ounces of suet, whichever is approved. Very good suet crust may be made with six ounces of suet if a tea-spoonful of baking-powder is also introduced. Of course the larger the quan¬ tity of suet used the richer will be the pastry. Trim away all the skin and chop the suet (March 14th). Mix it with the flour, add a pinch of salt and baking-powder, if it is to be used ; then mix in thoroughly enough cold water to make a still paste. Sprinkle flour on the board and on the rolling-pin, to keep the paste from sticking. Take one-third of the pastry and set it aside for the cover. Choose a pudding-basin that will hold about three pints (one with a rim is to be preferred). Boll the pastry till it is twice the size of the top of the pudding and about a third of an inch thick. Line the basin with the paste, and with a floured knife trim it evenly with the edge of the basin. Put in the meat, with the kidney, mushrooms, oysters, or whatever is to be used, and pour in with it a small cupful of gravy or water, and wet the edge of the basin with cold water. Lay on the cover and press the edges well together. Wring a pudding-cloth out of boiling water, flour it well, lay it over the top of the basin, and tie it on firmly round the rim. Turn the corners back and pin them over the top, plunge the pudding into boiling water, and keep it boiling until done enough. This pudding, which will be a goodsized one, will take four hours to boil ; a smaller pudding will need three hours and a half. When taken up, and before at¬ tempting to turn the pudding out, hold the bottom of the basin in cold water for half a minute, put a dish on the top, and turn the basin gently over. These instructions may be followed in making all kinds of boiled fruit dumplings, substituting, of course, fruit and sugar for the meat and gravy. Potatoes (April 12th) ; Custard Blancmange (August 4th). Almond Syrup. — Make a syrup by boiling together loaf sugar and water, and flavour it by adding two or three drops of essence of almonds. Cheese (June 8th). Things that must not be Forgotten. 1. If any beef-steak pudding is left, carefully preserve it ; it will be excellent warmed up for luncheon to-morrow. 2. Pickle the mackerel bought this morning (August 28th). 3. Turn and rub the beef in the brine. June 26th. Breakfast. Luncheon. Dinner. Pickled Mackerel. Potted Hare. Hot Buttered Toast. Dry Toast.