Culinary jottings

Another method Riz a la Milanaise, is to parboil the rice for five minutes, and then to fry it in butter with a shred onion until it begins to take colour. After that to add stock without tomato, but coloured with saffron. When the rice is cooked, the gravy may be thickened with flour, and the whole served hot with grated Parmesan. Some, in this case, add the stock by degrees, allowing the rice to drink it up as it were. As this process is conducted, the grains gradually distend, and when ready to burst are fit to serve. No thickened gravy is served with this, — the true risotto of Italy, — but a pat of butter is melted among the grains, while Parmesan is liberally dusted over them. Riz a la menagere : — For this excellent plat., wash and blanch six ounces of rice in boiling water for five minutes, using a roomy stew-pan; cool and drain it on a sieve. Weigh a quarter of a pound of the best streaky bacon, dip it into scalding water for a couple of minutes, and then cut it into inch dice. Fry these in a stew-pan till they turn yellow, add the rice, and a pint and a half of broth, with a salt-spoonful of pepper. Simmer for twenty minutes, stirring the rice every now and then to prevent its catching at the bottom of the pan. IS'ow take it off the fire, and add half a pint of tomato puree or sauce. Mix thoroughly, and put the rice on a dish. Garnish with sausages, curls of fried bacon, croquettes of fish, or any savoury mixture you like, worked into small shapes, and fried a golden yellow. A little consideration of these recipes will, I think, show what a useful article of food rice may be made. In selecting a recipe remember that raw rice of a good quality swells to four times its original bulk when boiled. It therefore requires plenty of water when undergoing that process. Carolina rice takes even a deeper bath than Patna. Two quarts of water to six ounces is a good proportion for the latter, and an extra pint for the same weight of the former. The dash of lime or lemon juice produces whiteness. The immediate checking of ebullition as soon as the grains are tender causes that disintegration of the grains which is a sine qua non in well boiled rice. Indian corn (maïs) may be dressed with tomato pulp and grated cheese in the style of maccaroni à l'italienne, or riz à la Napolitaine. The "fondue," or "cheese soufflé," is the dish par excellence of which, when successfully made, the good cook has just cause to be proud. It requires the most delicate management, and an atom will ruin the undertaking, for with all soufflés, to fall short of perfection means failure. Practice and experience go a long way towards turning out this piece de residance satisfactorily, it is nevertheless one of those things in which the best hand may occasionally err ; so, for a dinner party, beware of placing too great confidence in it, have another dish ready to go round in case the fondue fail to " come off," and do not enter it in your menu. Here is the best recipe I ever read for this dish : — ■