My mother's cook book

Cut the bacon into thin strips two inches long and onethird of an inch in thickness, and when the sweet-breads have been taken from the water and dried thoroughly in a towel, thread the strips of bacon into a larding needle and lard the sweet-breads thickly, making a deep, long stitch as the flesh of the sweet-bread is so apt to break. When larded, place the sweet-bread into a stewing-pan and 'pour over it the stock, boiling hot. Cook them slowly for half an hour, when they must be put into a slightly greased baking tin, set into a hot oven, and baked for fifteen minutes. While the sweet-breads are cooking, stir into the stock in the saucepan half an ounce of the flour, add to it the caramel, aud let all cook for two minutes, when it should be seasoned with the pepper and salt. When the sweet-breads have baked the fifteen minutes, take them from the oven and putting them upon a small, hot platter, pour around them the sauce from the pan and gamiih with the lemon, sliced. Vol-au-Vent of Sweet-breads. — Six ounces of flour, six ounces of butter, yolk of one egg, one teaspoonful of lemon-juice, one-half gill of cold water, one gill of milk, one-half teaspoonful of salt, one-half saltspoonful of pepper, one grain of cayenne, one pair of sweet-breads. First put the flour upon a. mixing board, make a little well in the centre thereof, and drop into it the egg and half of the lemon-juice, adding by degrees the cold water, kneading all meantime firmly together and when kneaded, roll out thinly. Into the centre of the rolled paste put five ounces of the butter, fold the edges together until the butter is covered, and, flouring a rolling-pin, roll out as thinly as possible. Fold the crust now into three layers and roll out again and ,repeat this process of folding and rolling seven times, when it should be put into the ice-box and left long enough to become chilled through and firm. Take the sweet-breads, first thoroughly washing them, and putting them into a saucepan, cover with cold water and bringing the water to the boiling point; allow them to boil in it for five minutes, when they should be again thrown into cold water, rewashed, and cut into small , pieces. Now put the butter and milk into a saucepan over the fire and when the milk boils, put into the pan also the pieces of sweet-bread, season them with the cayenne pepper and salt, and let all simmer slowly for three-quarters'' of an hour. When the crust has become cool ^nd firm in the icebox, take it out and placing it upon the mixing board roll it out to about a third of an inch in thickness. Cut out two vol-au-vent with the vol-au-vent cutter, or a biscuft [illustration: CHAUD-FROID OF CHICKEN] 8S cutter if the first be not convenient, cut in each a smaller circle, about one inch from the edges, half way through the crust, and placing both upon a baking tin, bake in a hot quick oven for twenty minutes. When done remove the crust from the inner circle by slipping in a knife-blade and splitting it asunder, scrape out the centre of the vol-au-vent in order to make a hollow in which to pack the sweet-breads, put into each equal parts of the sweet-bread, sprinkle over the meat the remainder of the lemon-juice, cover over it the little baked circle previously split out, garnish with fresh sprigs of parsley and send to table in a hot napkin. Notes — The difficulty in making the vol-au-vent paste lies in its becoming heated in rolling and the butter, which is used in excessive proportion, running in consequence. This may be prevented by putting it to cool between rollings and taking a little longer time for its preparation. It is really pufif-paste that is used for the vol-au-vent and the crust should rise in baking at least three inches.