Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Garnish, Cucumber.— Peel the cucumber and slice it ; keep scooping out the seeds as it is cut down. Put a piece of butter the size of a large egg into a saucepan, with two tablespoonfuls of lemon-juice, a little salt and pepper, and a lump of sugar. Let the ingredients stew slowly until sufficiently cooked, then strain off the butter, pour over them a little good white sauce, and serve with steak, cutlets, &c. Time to stew, twenty minutes. Probable cost, Is. Sufficient, one moderate-sized cucumber, with half a pint of sauce, for two pounds of cutlets. Garnish, Cucumber, for Salmon — Pickle two or three pounds of salmon, or more, if required. Season rather highly. Drain off the liquor, place the salmon on a dish, and cover it completely with two or three layers of thin slices of fresh cucumber, from which the rind has been taken. Time, twenty minutes to slice the cucumber. Probable cost, 6d. each. Sufficient, one good-sized cucumber for three pounds of salmon. Garnish for Poidtry, Game, &c.— Put a quarter of a pound of fresh butter into a stewpan, and, when it is hot, fry in it equal quantities of lean ham and kidney, either mutton or veal, cutting the meat into thin slices of equal size. Mince a little parsley, strew it over these slices, add pepper and salt, and squeeze in the juice of a lemon. When lightly browned on both sides, pour the meat and the gravy round the poultry, &c., which it is intended to garnish. Time, a quarter of an hour. Probable cost, mutton kidneys, 2d. each. Sufficient, four kidneys for one large fowl. Garnish, Fowls' Livers.— Blanch the liver of the fowl, and partly boil it. Cut the bitter part away, and mince it very finely. Make half a pint of good melted butter. Let it boil, then put with it the minced liver, a tea-spoonful of chopped lemon-rind, and the I juice of the lemon. Where poultry is plentiful, and expense no object, three or four livers may be stewed in the savoury stock, strained, and placed whole, or in halves, round the dish. Time, a quarter of an hour to boil the liver. Sufficient, half a pint for one good-sized fowl. I Garnish, Fried Bread for.— Cut the I crumb of a stale loaf into slices, about a quarter of an inch in thickness. Stamp them out into pretty shapes with an ordinary pastry cutter, j and fry them in hot butter, or lard, until lightly browned on both sides. Drain them from the fat, and put them round the dish they are intended to garnish. If they will not keep in their places, brush the under side with white of egg, mixed with a little flour. Time, two or three minutes to frj-. Garnish, Green Peas for.— Boil some young green peas until tender. Drain them until quite dry, then put them into a saucepan with a small lump of butter, a table-spoonful of white sauce, a little salt and pepper, and a saltspoonful of moist sugar. Shake them over the fire for a few minutes, and pile them in the middle of a dish of cutlets. Time, fifteen minutes to boil the peas, five or ten minutes to shake them over the fire. Probable cost, 8d. per peck. Sufficient for six or seven persons.