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

TO prepare a knuckle of veal, cut all the meat from the bone, which should have been broken in several places. Put the bones in a pint of cold water and bring slowly to the boiling point. Remove the sinews from the meat which you have cut off. Put a tablespoonful of butter in the bottom of a kettle and let it melt. Dredge flour, salt, and pepper over the pieces of veal and put them in the kettle to brown, stirring them for four or five minutes till they are delicately colored. Add a small carrot, one onion, and a bit of parsley. Pour over the browned veal the bones and the water in which they have been cooking, which should be boiling hot by this time. Cover closely and allow to simmer about three hours. When it is done remove the veal and vegetables, take out the bones, thicken the gravy with a tablespoonful of flour, taste and see if more seasoning is desirable. If you have mushrooms, two tablespoonfuls, cut in pieces, will be an addition. Pour over the veal and serve. APRIL 4TH "Give me a piece of marchpane." — ^Shakespease ("Romeo and Juliet"). BLANCH a pound of Jordan almonds and pound them in a mortar almost to a powder, add to them three-quarters of a pound of confectioners' sugar and stir in a few drops of orange-flavor water ; beat all together until it becomes a good paste; dust a little fine sugar on the rolling-board and roll the paste, shaping it as you please ; ice by brushing with fine sugar wet with rose-water or orange-water, and bake in a moderate oven. APRIL STH '' ' Very astonishing indeed 1 Strange thingl ' Turning the dumplings round, rejoined me King.** — ^WOLCOTT. DUMPLINGS to serve with veal stew will be beautifully tender and light if the following directions are observed. Mix one pint of flour, half a teaspoonful of salt, two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder and a teacupful of milk into a soft dough. Pull off bits of the dough and drop into the stew while it is boiling. Cover the stew-pan f • tight and do not uncover for ten minutes, when the dumplings should be done. Then serve immediately. APRIL 6th "Quite ready for the fowl and mashed potatoes. Sir?"— Chakles Dickens ("The Haunted Man"). THE flavor of a baked potato is always superior to that of the boiled Friend-of-the-Irishman. A touch of elegance is added by cutting oflf the tops of the potatoes after they are baked, scooping out the inside, beating it up with butter, salt and cream, until smooth and light, returning it to the shells, and browning in the oven. APRIL 7TH '' A pat6 of fruit conserved after a receipt devised by Gerard Moore's 'grand'mere' . . . completed the dinner." — Charlotte Bronte ("Shirley"). CHOP a small teacupful each of apple, orange, candied lemon-peel, and Sultana raisins. Add a wineglass of sherry, half a teaspoonful of powdered cloves, a tablespoonful of brandy, and a teacupful of sugar. Fill patty-shells of thin puff-paste and bake half an hour in a moderate oven. APRIL 8th "How sweet the butter our own hands have churned!" — Chasles Reade ("It Is Never Too Late To Mend"). THE small modem churns that come for "making butter while you wait" solve all difficulties in the way of having the fresh, sweet butter so much liked by many people, but no one need be deterred from having it by the lack of a chum, as the largest sized egg-beaters and a kitchen-bowl answer admirably. The cream needs to be heavy and it comes more quickly if it is near but not at the souring point. Beat briskly past the whipped-cream stage and the butter soon comes. No better butter can be made than has been produced with a bowl and a wooden paddle. APRIL grn "He heard the bacon sputter on the fork, And heard his mother's step across the floor.** — ^Jean Ingelow ("Poems").