Banquets of the nations

Make a " paste royal " by putting four ounces of butter into a stewpan with a large glassful of water, two ounces of beet sugar, and a bit of lemon peel. When the butter is nearly melted shake some dry flour to it through a fine sieve. Take out the lemon peel, and with your hand put in as much more flour as the boiling liquid will take, stirring briskly with a wooden spoon till it comes easily from the sides of the stewpan. Put it in another pan, let it cool, break an egg into it, and stir it well to mix, add afterwards three or four eggs till the paste becomes tenacious and ropy. Roll out very thin and cut some rounds with a cutter about two or three inches in diameter, on which put a half-inch layer of almond paste, and fire in a slow oven. When cold, decorate the top of each with whipped cream. Almond Paste. Skin and pound to a pulp one pound of sweet almonds, adding two teaspoonfuls of orange flour water to prevent oiling. Stir in a pound of fine castor sugar, a few drops of lemon essence, and make into a paste with the yolks of twelve eggs. Lody Tryflane. (Truffle Ice.) Clean and peel four fresh black truffles ; let their trimmings infuse in five gills of boiling milk ; ten minutes after pass the infusion through a fine sieve, and with it six yolks of eggs and ten ounces of sugar ; stir on the fire till it thickens. When cooled, freeze it in an icemachine. Mince the truffles and plunge them into a little boiling syrup ; immediately take the stewpan off the fire, and let the truffles cool in the syrup ; then drain, pound, and pass them through a sieve. Mix the syrup in this " puree,'' which dilute with a little of the previously prepared ice, thus cooling it effectually. Pour it gradually into the ice, mixing thoroughly, and freeze again till quite firm. When about to serve, dish it in a rock shape on a folded napkin. If a pint of whipped cream is added before the second freezing, the ice will be much enhanced. LXVII.— PORTUGAL Menu Desenjaatioos (Appetisers) Sopa Secca (Dry Soup) Carne Cosida com Hortalica (Boiled Beef, Vegetables, etc.) Arroz do Forno (Savoury Rice) Pescada Cosida (Boiled Hake) Leitao assado Frangos assados na Grelha (Fillet of Pork in Garlic) (Stewed Fowls) Vitella assada (Roast Veal) Arroz doce Rabanadas Sonhos (Sweet Rice) (Bread Fritters) (Angel's Dreams) Caremelo Copardo (Caramel Cream) Salada de Alface e Queijo (Salad and Cheese) Fructa (Fruit) PORTUGAL Sopa Secca. (Dry Soup.) Take a good large piece of the shin of beef, also ribs, a couple of pigs' ears, and any rough bones. Boil for several hours, skimming very carefully. Let it get cold, and remove the fat. Put on again with some cleaned vegetables of all kinds, a couple of chickens, a bit of ham, and a nice juicy bit of meat cut in pieces, a sliced sausage, and pepper and salt to taste. When all cooked, remove the meat and vegetables (place these neatly on a dish and keep warm, so that they may be eaten afterwards). Strain the stock into another pot, along with some slices of bread and a bunch of sweet herbs in A'hich mint is very pronounced. Boil quickly for ten minutes ; remove the herbs, and put the stock and bread into a wide tureen, which place in the oven till browned.