Banquets of the nations

If the dinner is for a small party, the sopa secca ought to be put into small bowls, and, after it is browned, served in the bowls. Carne Cosida com Hortalica. (Boiled Beef, Vegetables, etc.) Take the meats and vegetables in which the sopa secca has been made, and arrange them neatly on a dish ; reduce some of the stock to a semi-glaze, and pour over. Arroz no Forno. (Savoury Rice.) Take half a pint of stock cullis, and put into it a little chopped parsley, thyme, and a tomato. Boil for ten minutes, then strain it into another pot, and add three 5°3 teacupfuls of Italian cullis, one teacupful of rice which has been thoroughly washed and dried, a teaspoonful of lemon juice, salt and pepper ; boil for three minutes. Pour into a baking dish and put into a hot oven to finish cooking. When sufficiently cooked, the rice will have absorbed all the liquid and have formed a brown crust on top. Good gravies and sauces can take the place of cullis. Pescada Cosida. (Boiled Hake.) Cut a large hake into nicely shaped pieces, make some good stock with the bones and odd bits, adding a couple of onions cut in quarters, a large carrot, a celery root, a large bunch of parsley, some pepper, salt, and fine herbs ; strain and reduce it. Place the fish in this, along with some quartered peaches, two or three halved tomatoes, some cooked chick beans (small white ones will do), and stew gently. When cooked, place the fish on a dish, and surround with the beans, tomatoes, onions, carrot in neat pieces, the peaches, and some hard-boiled eggs cut in four. Pour a little of the cleared stock over, reduce the rest of the stock, and serve in a separate sauce-boat, along with potatoes. Cod, ling, halibut, and turbot may be cooked the same way. Leitao assado. (Fillet of Pork in Garlic.) Cut some lean pork into pieces about the size of a five-shilling piece ; rub them with salt, and pack in a deep earthenware jar ; bruise a few cloves of garlic, which spread on the pork, along with some whole pepper, 5°4 PORTUGAL bay leaves, and fresh herbs ; and cover with cold vinegar ; press it down with a weight. After lying for a week, take as much as you want, drain it from the vinegar, and fry it in a frying-pan without any fat, turning frequently and watching very carefully in case of burning. They will take an hour to fry and colour properly. Serve each piece on a croton along with slices of orange. Francos assados na Grelha. (Stewed Fowls.) Clean a fowl, open the back from one end to the other with a sharp knife, having previously cut the feet off at the second joint ; make an incision in the skin, and pass the bone through to fix it internally; lay the fowl on the table breast down, beat it as flat as possible with a chopper, take out the breast bone, and also the rough part of the interior of the back, especially if a large or old fowl ; after you have it in a nice shape, season all over with a teaspoonful of salt, half the same cpiantity of pepper, and a small ground onion; put it on a gridiron over a slow fire, turning it every five minutes until done. Put it very hot in the centre of a dish. Garnish with cut gherkins, beetroot, and olives ; [pour a cold sharp sauce on these ; thus the fowl is hot and the sauce cold. Sharp Sauce. (Cold.)