one before the breast-bone forms hard. The bone should be scarcely stronger than gristle if the bird be young enough. Roast, and do not stuff the duck- ling, let the basting be frequent, and froth the breast up nicely to finish with : serve, accompanied by green peas, and cook the potatoes according to any of the recipes given at page 136. N. B. — If your cook have a habit, as some have, of serv- ing the giblets of the duck in the gravy round the bird, put an end to it forthwith ; — it is one of those quaint relics of barbarism which still cling to certain Indian kitchens. 4. — This vegetable, known as the " snake vegetable," cut into convenient lengths, boiled, drain- gfavj? *" ^ ° "^ ^'^ ^ ^ '"^ cd, its seeds removed, and the pieces finally heated up in a good brown gravy, is well worth trying when vegetables are as scarce as 468 MENU FOR A LITTLE HOME DINNER. they always are in the hot weather. A dust of grated cheese over each piece may be given without fear. 5. — Take a quarter of a pound of finely grated bread- crumbs, half a pound of minced dried Fig puddiug. r . i. £ figs, three ounces ot sugar, six ounces of chopped suet, and a little gi\ated nutmeg. Mix a tea- spoonful of Yeatman's baking powder with an ounce of flour, add this to the other ingredients with four eggs well beaten, moisten with a little milk✪ Fig Pudding sufficiently to form a firm paste, turn the mixtui-e into a buttered mould, and boil for three hours. Lime sauce. — Put three table-spoonfuls of sugar into a sauce-pan with a breakfast-cupful of water, and the very finely peeled rind of a lime, simmer for twenty minutes, then add the juice of two limes and a liqueur glass of any liqueur, brandy, or rum, strain and serve. A drop or two of cochineal✪ Lime Sauce will improve the colour of the sauce. Nougat Blanch a pound of almonds, and cut each lengthwise into thin narrow pieces, lay them on a dish in front of the fire, or in the oven (with the door open), to get perfectly dry ; melt in a sugar boiler Jib. of loaf sugar ; when the sugar is a rich brown, put in the almonds, mix them well but carefully together, and you will have a soft paste, which will harden when cold. Dip some small moulds into some very hot-water, slightly but thoroughly oil them with melted butter✪ Nougat ; put some of the mixture in one of them, and with the handle of a tea-spoon previously but- tered, spread it out so as completely to line the mould ; trim the edges, and when cold, turn out the nougat. Having made a number of cases in the same way, serve them with whipped cream or sweetmeats inside each. The nougat should be very thin. Any kind of mould, MENU FOR A LITTLE HOME DINNER. 469 large or small, may be used, and many fanciful devices may be worked with, tliis composition. The almond should be cut smaller for intricate designs, and in all cases the work must be done quickly, for the sugar soon becomes too stiff to be spread into position.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

one before the breast-bone forms hard. The bone should be scarcely stronger than gristle if the bird be young enough. Roast, and do not stuff the duckling, let the basting be frequent, and froth the breast up nicely to finish with : serve, accompanied by green peas, and cook the potatoes according to any of the recipes given at page 136. N. B. — If your cook have a habit, as some have, of serving the giblets of the duck in the gravy round the bird, put an end to it forthwith ; — it is one of those quaint relics of barbarism which still cling to certain Indian kitchens. 4. — This vegetable, known as the " snake vegetable," cut into convenient lengths, boiled, drained, its *" ^ ° "^ ^'^ ^ ^ '"^ cd, its seeds removed, and the pieces finally heated up in a good brown gravy, is well worth trying when vegetables are as scarce as they always are in the hot weather. A dust of grated cheese over each piece may be given without fear. 5. — Take a quarter of a pound of finely grated breadcrumbs, half a pound of minced dried Fig puddiug. r . i. £ figs, three ounces ot sugar, six ounces of chopped suet, and a little grated nutmeg. Mix a teaspoonful of Yeatman's baking powder with an ounce of flour, add this to the other ingredients with four eggs well beaten, moisten with a little milk sufficiently to form a firm paste, turn the mixtui-e into a buttered mould, and boil for three hours. Lime sauce. — Put three table-spoonfuls of sugar into a sauce-pan with a breakfast-cupful of water, and the very finely peeled rind of a lime, simmer for twenty minutes, then add the juice of two limes and a liqueur glass of any liqueur, brandy, or rum, strain and serve. A drop or two of cochineal will improve the colour of the sauce. Nougat Blanch a pound of almonds, and cut each lengthwise into thin narrow pieces, lay them on a dish in front of the fire, or in the oven (with the door open), to get perfectly dry ; melt in a sugar boiler Jib. of loaf sugar ; when the sugar is a rich brown, put in the almonds, mix them well but carefully together, and you will have a soft paste, which will harden when cold. Dip some small moulds into some very hot-water, slightly but thoroughly oil them with melted butter ; put some of the mixture in one of them, and with the handle of a tea-spoon previously buttered, spread it out so as completely to line the mould ; trim the edges, and when cold, turn out the nougat. Having made a number of cases in the same way, serve them with whipped cream or sweetmeats inside each. The nougat should be very thin. Any kind of mould, large or small, may be used, and many fanciful devices may be worked with, this composition. The almond should be cut smaller for intricate designs, and in all cases the work must be done quickly, for the sugar soon becomes too stiff to be spread into position.

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