Little French dinners

very slowly for about two hours. Pass the chestnut puree through a hair sieve, return it to the saucepan, let it boil up, add more salt if necessary, and serve with small croutons of bread (fried in boiling fat) handed on a plate. Cost : chestnuts, 4|d. ; milk, 4d. ; vegetables and slice of bread, l£d. ; total, lOd. Filets de Merlans a la Meuniere (Fillets of Whiting) . — Take the fillets of two good-sized whitings, cut each fillet in half, thus making eight pieces. Sprinkle them on both sides with white pepper and salt and lay them side by side in a well-buttered tin, cover them with a buttered paper and place them in a moderate oven to cook for about ten minutes. When cooked, take out the fillets of fish carefully, sprinkle some finely chopped parsley over them and serve at once. A lemon cut in half should be handed at the same time. Cost : two whitings, 8d. ; butter, parsley, and lemon, 2|d. ; total, 10d. Palais de Boeuf a la Robert (Ox Palates) . — Wash the palates in two or three waters, and put them into a saucepan half full of cold water ; let them boil up once or twice, then drain off the water and skin them. Put them into a clean saucepan with just enough cold water to cover them ; add one or two carrots, a turnip, an onion, a little parsley, and pepper and salt to taste, and let them simmer for six hours. Then strain off the liquor into a basin, press the palates between two dishes, with a heavy weight on the top of them, and let them remain there for twelve hours. When they are wanted, cut them out with a sharp cutter into rounds about two inches in diameter, and make the following sauce : Chop up one or two onions, dredge them with flour, and fry them in butter till they are a nice brown colour, add about half a pint of the liquor in which the ox palates were cooked, season with pepper and salt, and let the sauce boil up two or three times. Then put in the ox palates, draw the saucepan to the side of the fire, and let them simmer for a 80 Little French Dinners. short time, and just before serving add to the sauce a teaspoonful of French mustard. Cost : Two ox palates, Is. ; vegetables, etc., 2d. ; butter, Id. ; total, Is. 3d. Carre de Mouton Boti (Roast Neck of Mutton).— Take a piece of the best end of a neck of mutton, weighing about four pounds, trim the joint very neatly, and cut off the scrag end, seeing that the butcher has cut the bones very short and separated the joints and also removed the chine. Proceed to roast the joint, baste it frequently, and. when done, serve with its own gravy, having thoroughly freed it from fat. Mash the potatoes with a little butter and milk, place them on a tin, shape them with a fork, and brown them in the oven. The Brussels sprouts should be boiled, then thoroughly drained and tossed in a little butter with pepper and salt. Cost : Neck of mutton, 3s. 4d. ; Brussels sprouts, 3d.; butter, Id.; potatoes, etc., 2|d. ; total, 3s. 10|d.