Cassell's dictionary of cookery

White Cakes (simple recipe). — Rub an ounce of butter into half a pound of dried and sifted flour. Add a small pinch of salt, four table-spoonfuls of powdered white sugar, half a tea-spoonful of caraway-seeds, one egg, and as much milk as will make a smooth light paste. Roll it out a quarter of an inch thick, cut it into shapes, and bake these on baking-tins in a quick oven. Time to bake the cakes, ten to fifteen minutes. Probable cost, 4d. for this quantity. White Cup Cakes.— Take as much fresh butter as will fiU one cup, as much powdered white sugar as will fiU two cups, and as much flour as will fill three cups. Beat the butter to cream, add the powdered sugar and the flour. Whisk the whites of eight eggs to froth, and add them gradually to the mixture, together with a table-spoonful of powdered saleratus dissolved in a little hot water, a table-spoonful of rose water, and as much milk or cream as will make the batter of the consistency of poundcake batter. Butter some small tins, three parts fill them with the mixture, and bake in a well-heated oven. The yolks of the eggs may of course be used for other purposes. Time to bake the cakes, according to size. Probable cost, 2s. 4d. for this quantity. White Fish and Sauce.— Take three pints of veal stock ; put it into a saucepan with the heads and fins of five haddocks, four onions, a bunch of parsley, three inches of thin lemonrind, and a little salt and cayenne. Simmer the liquor for an hour, strain it, and put with it a dessert-spoonful of strained lemon -juice and a large wine-glassful of Light wine, Mince the tiesh of a lobster or crab. Thicken the sauce with a little white thickening, skim carefully add a little cream and, if liked, the well-beaten yolk of an egg, and stir the mince into it. Boil the haddocks, put them on a dish, garnish with forcemeat balls, and pour the sauce over them. The forcemeat may be made as follows : — Tear the flesh of a small boiled haddock into flakes. Mix with it an equal quantity of bread-crumbs, and add a small proportion of chopped parsley. Rub a little butter into the mixture, and season with pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg. Bind it together with egg, form it into balls, and fry these in hot fat to a light brown colour. Time, altogether, two hours. White Kidney Bean. — The haricot blanc, or white kidney bean, deserves to be introduced more generally into our kitchens. There are various methods of dressing these beans, but the best is to have them softened in the gravy of a leg of mutton ; they are then a good substitute for potatoes. They are nearly as good dressed with oil or butter, and Napoleon was exceedingly fond of them dressed as a salad. Of course we allude here to the bean which, in full maturity, is taken from the pod, and eaten in winter. In England we eat the pod itself (in summer) split, and served with roast mutton and venison. The mature bean, however, makes an excellent dish. — Br. Doran.