Little French dinners

Pigeons de Bordeaux Rôtis (Boast Bordeaux Pigeons). — Bard the pigeons — that is to say, tie a very thin slice of fat bacon over the breast of each bird — and roast them for about fifteen minutes, basting them the whole time with butter. When done, remove the string and skewers and serve the pigeons with or without the pieces of bacon and with fried potato chips and a salad composed as follows : Wash two or three heads of French lettuce, dry them thoroughly, cut off the stalk so as to free the leaves, which break into convenient pieces and cut the hearts into four quarters. Pour over the salad three tablespoonfuls of oil in which has been dissolved some pepper and salt to taste and then add one of tarragon vinegar. " Work " the salad thoroughly, and sprinkle chopped tarragon on the surface. Œufs à la Neige au Citron (Snow Eggs with Lemon). — Whisk the whites of five eggs to a very stiff froth ; put a quart of milk sweetened to taste in a large shallow stewpan ; when it boils drop in the white of egg in pieces the size of an egg shaped with a dessertspoon. Take them out and put them on a sieve to drain as they are done. A few seconds will cook them. When all the white of egg has been used, Little French Dinners. 33 strain the milk and add to it the yolks of seven eggs with the grated rind of five lemons, and more sugar to taste if necessary. Mix well, pour into a double saucepan, and stir on the fire till the custard is sufficiently thick. When cold pour it into a dish, and lay the " snow eggs " carefully on the top. MENU.— XII. BISQUE DE CREVETTES. QUEUE DE BOEUF À LA MODE. CANETONS AUX NAVETS. OMELETTE AUX POINTES D'ASPERGES. ST. HONORS AUX GROSEILLES. Bisque de Crevettes (Shrimp Soup).— Shell two pints of shrimps, reserve the meat from the tails, and put half of the heads and skins in a saucepan, with three pints of water, a squeeze of a lemon, a wineglassful of Chablis, two onions, a carrot (sliced), a bay-leaf, parsley, thyme, etc., pepper and salt, and the bones and trimmings of any white fish. Let the whole boil up, skim it, and let it simmer for an hour and a half. In the meantime take some of the remaining shells of the shrimps and pound them in a mortar with an ounce of butter and pass them through a hair sieve. When the fish stock is ready, strain it on to a white roux; in another saucepan, let it boil up, then add the shrimp butter, mix well together, and colour the soup with a little carmine if necessary. Lastly, add the picked shrimps, and serve with small croutons of fried bread handed round on a plate. D 34 Little French Dinners. Queue de Boeuf à la Mode (Ox-tail a la Mode). — Take two small ox-tails, disjoint them, and divide them into convenient sized pieces. Trim them neatly and put them into a stewpan just large enough to hold them with a pint and a quarter of cold water, two carrots, two onions, and a turnip, cut in small dice, two or three cloves, a blade of mace, a sprig of parsley, and pepper and salt. Bring quickly to the boil, then let the whole simmer very slowly indeed for six hours with the lid of the saucepan on ; skim carefully, and when wanted strain off the liquid, add to it two teaspoonfuls of arrowroot and a little colouring, return it to the saucepan, shake well, let the whole get thoroughly hot, and serve at once with mashed potatoes.