As a general rule, our native cooks, assisted I dare say by the butler, are much given to the ornamentation of their side-dishes. Now, whilst fully prepared to pander as much as possible to the " lust of the eye," I warn you to be careful lest these efforts to make things look pretty be overdone. Slices of raw cucumber should be severely interdicted, for they impart an inky flavour to the entree round which they may be trimmed; and funny devices cut out of vegetables, and dotted about a dish, should be forbidden, for they suggest to the hypercritical mind an idea that perhaps fingers have been busily employed in arranging them. Pray do not permit your cook to garnish a croquette with a raw spring onion, — the green stem stripped and curled, and the bulb thrust into the croquette. I have actually seen this done, and once upon a time barely escaped eating tlie onion., which would have been a sad catastrophe, seeing that I had a most agreeable companion by my side. Let the arrangement of your entrees err on the side of simplicity rather than otherwise. To look effective, entrees should be arranged well above the level of silver dish upon which they are served. To attain this end, the French c/ie/ prepares a socle or founda- tion which he makes out of a solid block of bread, or 76 CULINARY JOTTINGS FOR MADRAS. ground-rice moulded : socles for cold entrees are even some- times made of melted wax candle consolidated with bees' wax. A flat socle for ordinary hot entrees is easily made with rice, which should be boiled, pounded, and then moulded with a wooden spoon into an oval or round block according to the shape of the dish. When moulded, it should be bmshed over with Q^g and colored in the oven. For cold entrees, spread the block over with fresh buttei-. Having thus obtained a firm foundation, the entree itself becomes, as it were, a superstructure erected upon the socle. Nothing looks more slovenly than an entree arranged on the level of the dish itself. Dishes that require careful helping ought certainly never to be handed round at a dinner party. I have observed that ladies frequently refuse an entree on account of the difficulty of helping themselves. A fair patroness of mine whose menage is worthy of her artistic skill, tells me that she has made up her mind (and rightly, say I,) never to permit her admirable mayonnaise d, la Gouffe to be handed round to her guests again. One person, she says, would take a little of the aspic, the next some of the salad, the third — engaged, perhaps, in pleasant chatter, with a pair of bright eyes full upon him — might absently secure a fragment of the garnish ! and so on, all in heart-rending ignorance of the science and care bestowed upon the dish. In any circumstances I strongly recommend that all iced entrees be helped from the side table, with a portion of the sauce upon each plate, and passed round to your guests without delay. For, in a climate as warm as this, speedy helping at the side table will prevent the possible contingency of liquefaction. Indeed all entrees might be thus served with manifest advantage. The menu card in front of yon tells you what is coming, and in this way you would be spared, at all events, the unpleasantness of having ENTREES—CONCL UDED. 77

AI-modernized reading of the original text

As a general rule, our native cooks, assisted I dare say by the butler, are much given to the ornamentation of their side-dishes. Now, whilst fully prepared to pander as much as possible to the " lust of the eye," I warn you to be careful lest these efforts to make things look pretty be overdone. Slices of raw cucumber should be severely interdicted, for they impart an inky flavour to the entree round which they may be trimmed; and funny devices cut out of vegetables, and dotted about a dish, should be forbidden, for they suggest to the hypercritical mind an idea that perhaps fingers have been busily employed in arranging them. Pray do not permit your cook to garnish a croquette with a raw spring onion, — the green stem stripped and curled, and the bulb thrust into the croquette. I have actually seen this done, and once upon a time barely escaped eating tlie onion., which would have been a sad catastrophe, seeing that I had a most agreeable companion by my side. Let the arrangement of your entrees err on the side of simplicity rather than otherwise. To look effective, entrees should be arranged well above the level of silver dish upon which they are served. To attain this end, the French c/ie/ prepares a socle or foundation which he makes out of a solid block of bread, or ground-rice moulded : socles for cold entrees are even sometimes made of melted wax candle consolidated with bees' wax. A flat socle for ordinary hot entrees is easily made with rice, which should be boiled, pounded, and then moulded with a wooden spoon into an oval or round block according to the shape of the dish. When moulded, it should be brushed over with Q^g and colored in the oven. For cold entrees, spread the block over with fresh buttei-. Having thus obtained a firm foundation, the entree itself becomes, as it were, a superstructure erected upon the socle. Nothing looks more slovenly than an entree arranged on the level of the dish itself. Dishes that require careful helping ought certainly never to be handed round at a dinner party. I have observed that ladies frequently refuse an entree on account of the difficulty of helping themselves. A fair patroness of mine whose menage is worthy of her artistic skill, tells me that she has made up her mind (and rightly, say I,) never to permit her admirable mayonnaise d, la Gouffe to be handed round to her guests again. One person, she says, would take a little of the aspic, the next some of the salad, the third — engaged, perhaps, in pleasant chatter, with a pair of bright eyes full upon him — might absently secure a fragment of the garnish ! and so on, all in heart-rending ignorance of the science and care bestowed upon the dish. In any circumstances I strongly recommend that all iced entrees be helped from the side table, with a portion of the sauce upon each plate, and passed round to your guests without delay. For, in a climate as warm as this, speedy helping at the side table will prevent the possible contingency of liquefaction. Indeed all entrees might be thus served with manifest advantage. The menu card in front of yon tells you what is coming, and in this way you would be spared, at all events, the unpleasantness of having ENTREES—CONCLUDED.

Culinary jottings