Banquets of the nations

Slice one large carrot and one large Spanish onion, put them in a pan in which you have heated a good bit of butter, fry till a good brown, and put all in a pot with two quarts of water. Now add six ounces soaked green (German) lentils, two cleaned potatoes cut in halves, one sliced carrot, one sliced turnip, a head of celery, half a dessertspoonful brown sugar. Boil for three hours and rub through a sieve. Brown two tablespoonfuls of oatmeal and one of flour, smooth with a cupful of the stock, add a teaspoonful ground Jamaica pepper and a couple of spoonfuls of good mushroom ketchup. Again boil for three minutes, and serve with crisp toast or fried crotons. Cream Soup. With a round cutter about the size of a pea, shape half a gill each of carrot and cucumber. Cook these in boiling water till quite tender, but not too soft. Boil one quart of milk with half a pound of butter beans previously soaked for six or eight hours, a large sliced onion, half a carrot, an ounce of parsley, a bunch of sweet herbs, a teaspoonful of salt, and some pepper. When well boiled pass through a sieve into a clean pot. Add an ounce of flour, two ounces of butter well kneaded before putting it in, and stir until it thickens ; then whip a couple of eggs in half a pint of cream, which stir into the soup, along with a teaspoonful of castor sugar, being careful to bring it just to the boil and no more, otherwise it will curdle. Now add the cooked vegetables and a spoonful of chopped tarragon, heat, and serve with crotons of bread fried in butter or nut oil. White Fillets a la Horly. Put half a pint of milk on to boil and thicken with rather more than one ounce of ground rice to make a little stiffer than for rice mould. Add a lump of butter, salt, a little grated onion, and a pinch of nutmeg, let all cook together for ten minutes, stirring frequently. Put three boiled potatoes through masher, and whilst hot add it to the rice or it will not set well. Pour it into dish, and when cold and stiff cut into fillet-shaped slices, roll in egg and white bread crumbs ; fry and serve with tomato or parsley sauce. The mixture must be stiff, for the frying softens the rice again a little. The oil or nutoline for frying must be beyond boiling point, and the cutlets will then be quite crisp and free from any oily flavour. Tomato Sauce. Scald, peel, and slice, one pound tomatoes ; also slice one carrot, one turnip, one onion, and fry all together in one and a half ounces of nut butter for ten minutes. Add a quarter pint water, a few peppercorns, half a teaspoonful of salt, and stew gently for half an hour. Strain into a small enamelled saucepan, put in two ounces of flour and half an ounce nut butter. Mix all together and stir over a moderate heat until it boils. Cutlets Norman.