Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

If the large Southern terrapin be used, let the fish lie in cold water for half an hour; then drop it into boiling water, and cook for ten minutes. Pour off the water, and after covering the terrapin with fresh cold water for a minute, take it up and with a towel rub the nails and black skin from the legs. Wash carefully, and place in a stew-pan with boiling water enough to cover. Cook until the flesh is tender, which will be until the joints of the legs can be broken with a slight pressure. The shell also will separate easily. Take the terrapin from the water and let it cool a little. Place it on its back, with the head away from you. Loosen and remove the under shell. The liver, gall-bladder, and sand-bag will be found near the head ; the gall-bladder attached to the left side of the liver. Take out this bladder, as you would from a chicken ; also take out the sand-bag. Now cut off the head and throw it away. All that remains is to be used. Take out the eggs, and remove a slight film that surrounds them ; then drop them into cold water. Cut all the meat very fine; the intestines finer than any other part. Save the water that collects in the shells. The terrapin will now be ready for use in a stew or in other ways. v ' , : Terrapin White Stew. For six persons use two large terrapins, three tablespoonfuls of butter, one pint of cream, two gills of sherry or Madeira, one gill of water, the yolks of six hard-boiled eggs, half a lemon, two level teaspoonfuls of salt, one-tenth of a teaspoonful each of cayenne, white pepper, ground mace, and allspice. Put the fine-cut terrapin in a stew-pan with the water, butter, the juices that have collected in the shells, and the salt, pepper, and spice. Simmer for fifteen minutes. Mash the yolks of the eggs very fine, and gradually mix the cream with them. Add this mixture and the sherry, terrapin, eggs, and the lemon, cut in thin slices, to the stew. Stir until the stew has become thoroughly heated, but do not let it boil. Serve at once. Small silver-plated saucepans that hold about a gill and a half are used for serving terrapin stew. One kind is shaped like a terrapin; the other is round, with a straight handle and tight-fitting cover. When terrapin is served in these miniature stew-pans, it" is, of course, sure to be hot, — a great consideration as regards this dish. Terrapin Brown Stew. Use two large terrapins, a generous half-cupful of butter, one pint of the water in which the terrapins were boiled, two heaping table-spoonfuls of flour, half a pint of wine, two teaspoonfuls of salt, one-eighth of a teaspoonful each of cayenne, white pepper, ground mace, and allspice, half a lemon, sliced thin. Put the terrapin water and meat of the terrapins on to boil. Put the butter in a saucepan, and heat it until it begins to turn brown; then add the flour, and stir the mixture until it becomes dark brown. Take it from the fire, and when it has cooled a little, pour on it gradually the water from the terrapins. Stir the liquid over the fire until perfectly smooth; then pour it over the terrapins. Add the salt and pepper, and simmer for ten minutes. Now add the spice, lemon, and wine. Let the stew get very hot, without boiling; then serve without delay. Terrapin au Gratin.