Banquets of the nations

Clean some roots and cut in slices ; boil till tender. Put them in another pot with stock, some soy, a pinch of sugar, a little brandy, and a thin slice of green ginger. Stew for 20 minutes, and serve portions on flat saucers. If tinned roots are used they are done the same way, only they do not require to be boiled. Yebi No Tempura. (Crayfish Fritters.) Pound the flesh of some crayfish, and mix into it some breadcrumbs, a little soy, and the yolks of eggs sufficient to make a paste. Cook this lightly, and, when it comes freely from the spoon, lay it to the one side. In a pot put a point of garlic and a little sauce similar to Bechamel sauce ; reduce it, then add a few tablespoonfuls of mushroom liquor and a little very thick cream. Cook till thick, then put in two tablespoonfuls of cooked mushrooms, the same quantity of crayfish (both cut up into very small dice), and a little crayfish cullis. When thoroughly mixed take it off the fire, and stir in the crayfish farce which you first of all made. Pour the whole mixture into a dish to cool. When quite cold take small portions and shape them like corks, which dip into egg and breadcrumbs. Fry in boiling oil, and serve portions on small flat saucers. Donburi. (Soup with fowl, bamboo sprouts, chestnuts, etc.) Make a good strong broth from the giblets of some fowls, some carrots, fried sliced onions, and any other vegetables handy. Strain the stock and free it of all fat. Put the stock into another pot along with some chestnuts which have been roasted, peeled, and cut in quarters, cooked bamboo-shoots in small pieces, button mushrooms, small balls (quenelles) of fowl, a good grate of horse-radish, a little soy, and sugar. Cook very slowly for half an hour, and serve portions in small bowls. Nasu no Shinyaki. (Egg Plant.) Take small round plants and cut each into four slices ; thrust a thin slip of bamboo through the pieces, and rub them with oil, and roast until the face is baked to a slightly yellowish colour. Mix some miso . (miso is extract of beans and wheat) with sugar, sake, mirin, and a small portion of Japanese sauce (soy). Paste the mixture on the cooked pieces, and then serve two pieces on a plate without taking out the small sticks of bamboo. Chawan Mushi. (Steamed Eggs, Fish, etc..) Take two pounds of meat of any kind of firm fish ; when free of bones and skin cut in half-inch pieces, and cook in plenty of salt water, with the addition of the skin and bones of the fish. Lay the pieces of fish to the one side, and save the stock after being strained. Boil a good lobster, cut the meat into small pieces, and lay to the one side. Save the liquor after being strained. Boil a quarter pound of macaroni in some white stock till tender but not pulpy ; cut it into quarter-inch pieces, and lay to the one side. (When boiling the lobster put in a good handful of fine herbs with a good dash of brandy, and, of course, some pepper and salt.)