Books and My Food: With Literary Quotations and Original Recipes for Every ..

'And» Frances, lass, I brought some cresses in: Just wash them, toast the bacon, break some eggs." — Jean Ingelow ("Poems"). BACON may be very delicately prepared for an invalid (or a well person!) by chilling in iced- water before broiling over a brisk fire. When partly cooked remove quickly from the fire, plunge the pieces again in icedwater, shake the water off and return to the broiler. Serve very hot, with cresses fresh from the brook and you have a dainty rural breakfast. MARCH 24TH "I eat my apples, relish what is ripe." — Robert Browning (" Ferishtah's Fancies"). INTO a tablespoonful of hot butter stir two tablespoonfuls of flour, and when it begins to thicken pour in two cupfuls of scalded milk in which has been dissolved a quarter of a teaspoonful of soda; stir for two minutes and add the yolks of four eggs, beaten light; then stir in six large pippins, pared and grated, and, when they have been well mixed, the whites of the eggs, beaten stiff. Half fill buttered custard or popover cups, set in a pan of hot water and bake in a quick oven until they puff up and are sufficiently brown. Open the oven door and let them dry for a couple of minutes. Brandy or lemon-sauce should be served with them. MARCH 2STH "There were ruddy, brown-faced, broad-girthed Spanish onions, shining in the fatness of their growth like Spanish fnars.''— Charles Dickens ("Christmas Carol"). PEEL and parboil Spanish onions for a few minutes; drain and let them stand till quite cold. Take out the centre from each and stuff with a mixture of finely chopped cold meat, ham, chicken or veal, and one-third as much fine bread-crumbs. Season with salt, paprika, and bits of butter. Set the onions close together in a dish with a little stock, or gravy. Sprinkle well with bread-crumbs and bake about half an hour. MARCH 26th "Patties of lobster and almonds mixed." — Charles Reade ("The Cloister and the Hearth")* FILL puff paste patty shells with a mixture compounded of two cupfuls of lobster cut in small pieces and a half cupful of blanched and chopped almonds, stirred into two cupfuls of cream, to which has been added the beaten yolks of two eggs and a glass of sherry. Let the cream, eggs, and wine cook together in a sauce-pan over boiling water until the cream begins to thicken ; season with half a teaspoonful of salt and a little paprika, add the lobster and nuts, boil, then fill the patty shells. Almond-meal may be used to thicken the cream, in place of the nuts. MARCH 27TH "My good old Aunt, who never parted from me at the end of a holiday without stuffing a sweetmeat or some nice thing into my pocket, had dismissed me one evening with a smoking plum-cake fresh from the oven." — Charles Lamb ("Essays of Elia"). « 4 SMOKING plum-cake," such as boys like, is no more than a soft ginger-bread with raisins stirred in. Make as follows: Mix A a batter of one cupful of butter, one cupful of New Orleans molasses, one cupful of sugar, one cupful of sour milk or buttermilk, one teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a little boiling water, a tablespoonful of ground ginger, a teaspoonful of cinnamon, two eggs and about five cupfuls of flour; reserve one cupful of flour to dredge two cupfuls of seeded raisins to be added at the last. Bake in a moderate oven, thirty to forty minutes. MARCH 28th "Gerard took out his pudding and found it delicious." — Charles Reade ("l^e Cloister and the Hearth"). G