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

"That girl, sir, makes the best veal-and-ham pie in England, and I think I can promise ye a glass of punch of the right flavor." — Thackeray ("Pendennis"). FOR plain veal-and-ham pie cut two pounds of lean veal into small pieces, cover with cold water, add a cupful of boiled ham, chopped very fine, two onions, minced; pepper and salt to taste ; stew slowly for two hours. At the end of that time thicken the gravy with two tablespoonfuls of flour, blended with a tablespoonful of butter. Pour into a deep baking dish and cover with a crust of biscuit dough, rolled thin. Bake twenty minutes in a hot oven. AUGUST 19TH "How my cheeks grew red as tomatoes." — Robert Browning ("A Likeness")- CUT large, fair tomatoes in rather thick slices; do not peel, as the skin is needed to preserve the shape of the slices. Season with salt and pepper, dip in beaten eggs and cracker crumbs and fry in butter, turning till brown on both sides. Lift carefully on to a hot platter, stir into the pan a scant tablespoonful of browned flour and three or four chopped olives. Pour over the tomatoes and serve. AUGUST 20TH "And one day my wife spied him with his mouth smeared all over with our jam-pudding." — Thackeray ("Contributions to Punch"). SPREAD slices of bread from which the crusts have been cut, with plenty of butter and jam. Put them in a buttered pudding dish and cover with a custard, made of a quart of scalded milk, five eggs, and a teacupful of sugar. When the bread has soaked up the custard put in another layer and repeat the process until the dish is full. Bake half an hour in a slow oven. Eat with lemon sauce. AUGUST 2IST ''Treat here, ye shepherds blithe I your damsels sweet, For pies and cheese-cakes are for damsels meet" —Gay. BUTTER a deep plate and cover with a plain pie crust dough; put into it a mixture made by beating together a cupful of cottage (or pot) cheese and stirring into it two tablespoonfuls of sugar beaten up with the yolks of four eggs ; add a cupful of dried currants and half a cupful of blanched and chopped almonds, and, finally, the whipped whites of the eggs. Bake in a moderate oven for twenty-five to thirty minutes. AUGUST 22D ''Like a forked radish, with a head fantastically carved upon it" — Shakespeare ("Henry IV."). THE white leaves of chicory mixed with thin slices of young radishes and ornamented with the whole radishes as " fantastically carved " as you may choose, make a delicious midsummer salad, dressed either with a French dressing or mayonnaise. AUGUST 23D '"Veil,' said Sam, 'this is comin' it rayther powerful, this is. I never heard a biled leg o' mutton called a swarry afore. I wonder wot the)r'd call a roast one.'" — Charles Dickens ("Pickwick Papers"). REMOVE the fat from the leg of mutton to be boiled, and put it into fast boiling water. After fifteen minutes move to a place on the range where it will only simmer. Allow twelve minutes for each pound if you wish it cooked rare, fifteen minutes if well done. Serve with a white or butter sauce, to which half a cup of capers has been added, or, a very good substitute, an equal quantity of chopped gherkins. AUGUST 24TH Soup, fish, — shall I have three sorts of fish? I will; they are cheap in this market."— Charles Reade ("Peg Wofl&ngton").