In foreign kitchens

The English city kitchen is even more depressing than the American basement, and the burning of soft coal makes an eternal conflict with saucepans. Everything which touches the fire is black and sticky and not to be handled, and yet the average cook clings obstinately to his open grate, which has every fault a kitchen fire could possibly possess, and sniffs suspiciously at the new ranges and the American kitchen stoves gradually making their way into England. Even with the grates, however, good cookery is possible, and is found now and then ; but the American settles definitely at last that, aside from perfect meat, America has the advantage in every point. What it is quite worth while to add to our list is the array of potted meats and certain pasties and special dishes, and these are given in full detail, often from the manuscript pages which embalmed them, and which smell still of the lavender and rosemary which generation after generation has laid between the spotless linen in whose folds the book has rested. CHOICE DISHES FROM ENGLAND. Potting in General. — The essential points in any potting, whether of meats, game, or fish, are that the portion should be cooked to the utmost point of tenderness, pounded to a paste, and mingled with enough of the gravy for flavor, while not so much as to soften, or prevent its keeping. Any cold meat or fish can be potted, but it is easier to do enough at once for several small jars. Whatever is used must be freed from all skin and gristle, chopped fine, and then pounded to a paste, which after seasoning and packing in jars is again heated. In a cool place they may be kept a fortnight or even longer. Potted Beef. — Two pounds of lean beef, freed from fat and gristle. Put it In a small covered stone jar; set it in a saucepan of boiling water and let it boil four hours. Remove the beef, cool it, chop fine, and then pound smooth in a mortar Season this paste with a teaspoonful each of salt and made mustard, a saltspoonful of pepper, and a pinch of cayenne. Add also a saltspoonful of powdered clove, if liked. Add the gravy that ran out, and half a teacupful of melted butter. Pack in small stone or earthen jars; place them in a steamer and steam for one hour. Then press the meat in each down firmly and cover with a thin layer of melted hot butter. With remains of cold roast, boiled, or braised beef, proceed in the same way. Potted Chicken or Pigeons. — To each pound of the cooked meat allow quarter of a pound of melted butter, half a teaspoonful each of white pepper and powdered mace, one teaspoonful of salt, and a pinch of cayenne. Proceed as with the beef, and add, if liked, two or three slices of cold boiled ham with the fat. Jugged Hare or Babbit. — This is a delicious method, requiring one hare or fat rabbit. one pound of lean beef, one onion stuck with six cloves, half a pound of butter, one lemon, half a pint of sherry or port wine, half a teaspoonful of pepper, two teaspoonfuls of salt, a pinch of cayenne. Wash the hare, cut in pieces, dredge with flour, and fry in the butter, which must boil when they are put in. In the mean time, the beef should have been chopped and treated as for beeftea. Lay the pieces of hare in a stone jar; add the onion, the lemon peeled to the pulp and then cut in half, and the juice of the beef. Cover the jar; set in a kettle of boiling water and boil two hours, or till the hare is very tender. Just before it is served pour in the wine, and add one tablespoonful of corn-starch dissolved in cold water. Let all boil for five minutes, then serve with redcurrant jelly. Small forcemeat balls are usually added half an hour before it is done. If the hare is old, four hours* boiling will be none too much.