Mode of American Stew. — Fry two large Spanish onions in butter✪ Lentil Soup. Mince the beef without any fat, and mix with the onions ; if it is getting dry pour in a Httle Liebig mixture, but it ought not to have gravy ; the meat only requires to be warmed through and served very hot. It is a dish that the cook cannot leave, as it will burn. This is equally good done with the remains of salt beef N.B. — Surprise may be felt at seeing apparently so much butter used in the foregoing recipes. The experience of the writer of this dietary is that if dripping is used it spoils the dish, and it is not eaten ; but very little butter is required, and a cheap dish is made palatable, consequently eaten, and consequently digested. Soyer says this, and he is right. The quantity of butter we use per week, including the small pieces required for cookery, is 2\ lbs. for five people. We always have five o'clock tea in the drawing-room, and at least three times a week people drop in, and therefore more bread- and-butter is required ; but we find this quantity of butter is enough. It is not mentioned in the menus that cheese is always on the able for supper, and a little butter. We use not quite f lb. of tea per week, and about i lb. of coffee per fortnight, and 2 packets of Cadbury's essence of cocoa. We do not make the cocoa according to the directions outside, but thus : i:^ teaspoonsful of cocoa to every half-pint of milk. First mix the cocoa with a little milk until it is a smooth paste, then gradually add the rest of the milk. Put it in an enamelled saucepan kept for the purpose, and allow it to come to boiling point. Then pour it into a cocoa pot, and it is ready. If properly made, this is almost equal to a cup of chocolate. There is always sufficient fat from the various joints, which makes enough dripping for puddings ; it must always first be purified. W^e scarcely ever have to order suet ; a properly made crust of dripping is preferable to chopped suet, and more digestible. Yeatman's baking powder is mixed with every crust. There is a saucepan on purpose for boiling bones, and we often have thick jelly from the bones ; pork and veal make the best ; and HOMELY FARE. 527 that gives sufficient jelly for the minces, galantines, and stewed cutlets, &c. Many people think it extravagant to use eggs in cooker}^ ; the writer differs from them ; if one or two eggs help to make an eatable dish, it is an economy ; however dear eggs, milk, or butter may be, they are always cheaper than the cheapest meat. \\Tiere people can eat their food anyhow^ of course it would be an ex- travagance to use eggs ; but if dishes are badly prepared, and not eaten, there is daily waste, besides the doctor's bill. Things cannot be done in the way we have them unless the mistress personally superintends. The writer is in her kitchen every day from ten until half-past eleven, and prepares everything, but she never stands over the fire cooking, nor does anything to spoil her hands. Everything in the way of preparation can be done with a knife and fork, and gloves can be worn in the winter. There is a thick oak board about 1 1 inches square for cutting up meat, which is much more convenient than a dish.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Mode of American Stew. — Fry two large Spanish onions in butter. Mince the beef without any fat, and mix with the onions ; if it is getting dry pour in a Httle Liebig mixture, but it ought not to have gravy ; the meat only requires to be warmed through and served very hot. It is a dish that the cook cannot leave, as it will burn. This is equally good done with the remains of salt beef N.B. — Surprise may be felt at seeing apparently so much butter used in the foregoing recipes. The experience of the writer of this dietary is that if dripping is used it spoils the dish, and it is not eaten ; but very little butter is required, and a cheap dish is made palatable, consequently eaten, and consequently digested. Soyer says this, and he is right. The quantity of butter we use per week, including the small pieces required for cookery, is 2\ lbs. for five people. We always have five o'clock tea in the drawing-room, and at least three times a week people drop in, and therefore more breadand-butter is required ; but we find this quantity of butter is enough. It is not mentioned in the menus that cheese is always on the table for supper, and a little butter. We use not quite f lb. of tea per week, and about i lb. of coffee per fortnight, and 2 packets of Cadbury's essence of cocoa. We do not make the cocoa according to the directions outside, but thus : i:^ teaspoonsful of cocoa to every half-pint of milk. First mix the cocoa with a little milk until it is a smooth paste, then gradually add the rest of the milk. Put it in an enamelled saucepan kept for the purpose, and allow it to come to boiling point. Then pour it into a cocoa pot, and it is ready. If properly made, this is almost equal to a cup of chocolate. There is always sufficient fat from the various joints, which makes enough dripping for puddings ; it must always first be purified. W^e scarcely ever have to order suet ; a properly made crust of dripping is preferable to chopped suet, and more digestible. Yeatman's baking powder is mixed with every crust. There is a saucepan on purpose for boiling bones, and we often have thick jelly from the bones ; pork and veal make the best ; and that gives sufficient jelly for the minces, galantines, and stewed cutlets, &c. Many people think it extravagant to use eggs in cookery ; the writer differs from them ; if one or two eggs help to make an eatable dish, it is an economy ; however dear eggs, milk, or butter may be, they are always cheaper than the cheapest meat. Where people can eat their food anyhow of course it would be an extravagance to use eggs ; but if dishes are badly prepared, and not eaten, there is daily waste, besides the doctor's bill. Things cannot be done in the way we have them unless the mistress personally superintends. The writer is in her kitchen every day from ten until half-past eleven, and prepares everything, but she never stands over the fire cooking, nor does anything to spoil her hands. Everything in the way of preparation can be done with a knife and fork, and gloves can be worn in the winter. There is a thick oak board about 1 1 inches square for cutting up meat, which is much more convenient than a dish.

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