Culinary jottings

satisfied that the cabbage is thoroughly clean, either steam the quarters, or plunge them into boiling hot-water, and after boiling for a quarter of an hour, take them out and drain them. Now, mince a thick slice of bacon, and a little shallot, parsley, marjoram, and thyme, with a pinch of sugar, and pepper and salt to taste ; put all in a stew-pan, and set it on the fire. As soon as the bacon melts, lay your cabbage quarters in it, and pour round them sufficient gravy to half cover them. Let this simmer gently till the cabbage is done. Then lift out the quarters, place them in a hot dish, and cover them up. Strain the gravy, thicken it with flour and butter, and pour it over the cabbage. The better your gravy in this case, the better the result. If, therefore, you can spare some turkey bones, or scraps of game, ham, or tongue to assist your ordinary stock, your entremets will be all the nicer. 2. Another good way, choux an sauce blanche, may be described as follows : — Half -boil your cabbage, take it out, and drain it. Divide it into quarters. Make a nicely flavoured sauce blanche (adding a little cream if you can spare it) place the quarters in this, complete their cooking therein, and serve, jDouring the sauce over them. 3. Cabbages may be cooked with rice, and gravy (chou au riz) : — Par-boil the cabbage, cut it up into pieces the size of an egg, and put them with an equal quantity of half -boiled rice, into as much gravy as will cover them, simmer till done, then serve. Do not put in more gravy than is absolutely necessary, or the dish will turn out more like a pot age than an entremets. Grated cheese should be handed round with this. 4. A novel dish, Feuilles de chou farcies, is recommended by a good authority which may be described in this way : — Boil the head of cabbage till the leaves become pliant : take it from the water, gently detach a number of leaves whole, and dry them on a clean cloth. Have ready some pounded quenelle meat of chicken and ham, or tongue with an anchovy, or any artistic mixture of savoury meats bound with an egg. Arrange a dessert-spoonful of this on a cabbage leaf, which roll carefully up in the form of a sausage : wrap two or three more leaves round this, and tie them up with white tape. Make six, or eight of these, and simmer them gently in some good brown gravy till the leaves are done. Now, pick out your rolls, untie the tapes, dispose them tastefully in the hot dish ready for them, thicken the gravy and pour it over them : sippets of crisply fried bacon will form an appropriate garnish : serve. A little cooked cabbage cut small, forms an agreeable addition to a pot-au-feu, and should always accompany potage croute au pot. A recipe for perdrix aux choux will be found in the menus. Brussels sprouts (Choux de Bruxelles) are susceptible of delicate treatment : they can be cooked according to recipe number two just given for cabbage, au sauce blanche, and also (after having been boiled) in the following methods : — • 1. — "À la maître d'hôtel": — tossed in butter in a saucepan, with some minced parsley and the juice of a lime sprinkled over them, and salt and pepper to taste.