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

—Thackeray ("Poems"). HALF roast a duck; put it into a stew-pan with a pint of beef gravy, a couple of leaves of sage and a leaf of mint cut small, pepper and salt and an onion (minced). Simmer fifteen minutes and skim. Add one quart of green peas. Cover closely and cook half an hour longer. Put in a piece of butter and a couple of tablespoonfuls of flour, boil through and serve in one dish. JUNE 1ST "I know where wild strawberries abound." — Charlotte Brontë ("Shirley"). STRAWBERRIES are too delicate to brandy acceptably, but an old English way to preserve them is to fill a pint jar with the berries, sifting through them three heaping tablespoonfuls of granulated sugar and pour in as much Madeira or sherry as the jar will hold. The wild strawberries, with their rich flavor, are particularly good for this. JUNE 2D "After all, Gandrin, when we lose the love-letters, it is some consolation that UUiances de carpes and saucis de foie gras are still left to fill up the void in our hearts." — Lord Lytton ("Parisians"). AMERICAN hearts must be consoled by the roe of shad instead of the roe of carp. The most delicious way of cooking this delicacy is to fry it, but for those who rebel against fried food the following method may be recommended. Make a thick brown sauce by cooking butter and flour together in equal quantities until a rich brown, then adding a pint of cream or milk and salt and pepper. Boil the shad roes ten minutes, then place in a baking-dish, pour the sauce over them, and bake for three-quarters of an hour in a moderate oven. Garnish with parsley and hard boiled egg. JUNE 3D "There was a delicate fricassee of sweetbread and some asparagus brought in at first, and good Mr. Woodhouse, not thinking the asparagus quite boiled enough sent it all away again." — Jane Austen ("Emma"). FOR a delicious fricassee put a teaspoonful of butter into a chafing-dish pan. Fry to a delicate brown three nicely cleaned sweetbreads cut in small pieces. Add half a pint of chicken broth, a teaspoonful of flour, a tablespoonful of finely chopped celery, a dash of cayenne pepper, a teaspoonful of salt, and half a teacupful of asparagus tips previously boiled tender. JUNE 4TH "They tempt me, your beans there: spare a plate." — Robert Browning ("The Bean Feast"). THE stringed beans of what may be called the cooking of commerce are seldom tempting, but the following method of preparing them can be recommended to the most fastidious " bean-feaster." String the beans carefully, slit them lengthwise into thin strips. Salt and cook them until nearly tender, then pour off the water, and replace it with a cupful of white stock or of milk in which a tablespoonful of butter, blended with as much flour, has been stirred. Finish cooking and serve at once. JUNE 5TH "My heart sank with our claret-flask." — Robert Browning. FOR claret-cup dilute a quart of good claret with a pint of icewater; add a large cup of granulated sugar, the juice of three lemons and one orange. Half an hour before serving put into it half a dozen long sprigs of fresh mint and a cucumber sliced lengthwise, half a dozen slices of a small orange, the same of lemon, and, if in season, a few strawberries or raspberries, and two or three pieces of sliced pineapple. Serve ice cold. This is an orthodox rule but the cucumber may be omitted with profit for many tastes. t JUNE 6th "Hark, the quick whistling pelt of the olives." — Browning ("The Englishmen in Italy"). RIPE olives minced and stirred into scrambled eggs add a delectable flavor to a simple dish. The eggs should be cooked very rare. JUNE 7TH "We'll have a dozen of bones well charged with marrow." — Cartwright.