Practical household cookery

Select six firm tomatoes of equal size and ripeness. Put them in boiling water for two minutes, in order to help the removal of the skin; when peeled, cut them across in halves, remove the seeds, and place them in a sauté-pan, well spread with salad oil, by the side of the fire. Meanwhile chop very finely an onion, half a handful of parsley, six large fresh mushrooms, and two anchovies; fry these for five minutes in a stewpan with about an ounce of scraped fat bacon, season with salt, pepper and chopped thyme, and moisten with either good gravy or Espagnole sauce; then put this stuffing over the twelve halves of tomatoes. Sprinkle some fine raspings over, set the sauté-pan over a brisk fire for about five minutes, then in a hot oven for seven or eight minutes or till they are properly baked, after which dish carefully without breaking, and serve. 780. GRILLED TOMATOES. Remove the stalks of six ripe tomatoes, cut them across in halves, and set them (skin downward) on a clear fire to grill seven or eight minutes, according to size. Move them gently over the bare of the grill, without however, turning them. When cooked, season each half with salt and pepper. dish them on buttered toast, previously made for that purpose, and serve Note, — ^Tomatoes are also made into salad. Remarks on Mushrooms. Mushrooms should be soaked in water with a little salt and vinegar, then washed in plain water and wiped dry before cooking, and as a safeguard against poisoning, should be cooked with a peeled onion. If the onion remains white, the mushrooms are good ; but if the onion becomes black or even slightly coloured, they are poisonous, and should at once be destroyed. A piece of silver thrown with the mushrooms when being cooked will also answer the same purpose, and be distinguished by the same process. 781. MUSHROOMS AU ORATIN. Select a dozen large mushrooms; cut the stalks and remove the skin; place the mushrooms (the hollow part upwards) in a well buttered sauté-pan; fill them with a similar preparation to that for stuffed tomatoes, but substitute the cut stalks chopped fine for mushrooms; strew some fine raspings over them, and put the saute-pan in the hot oven to gratinate for about a quarter of an hour, then dish them up in a pyramidal form, and serve with some good gravy apart. 782. MUSHROOMS A LA BORDELAISE. Clean and trim the mushrooms as in the foregoing, put them in a frying-pan with some salad oil and a clove or two of garlic chopped very fine; fry over a moderate fire for ten or twelve minutes, and season with salt, pepper, and a little chopped parsley. Wlien done, squeeze the juice of half a lemon, dish up the mushrooms and serve. 788. MUSHROOMS A LA MILANAISE. Select, dean, and trim some nice mushrooms, marinade them for an hour in a little oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper; after which wipe and flour them ; then pass them in the yolks of eggs well heaten and mixed with some grated Parmesan cheese, seasoned with salt, pepper, and allspice, and fry in hutter and oil, previously made hot in a frying-pan for that purpose When of a nice brown colour and crisp, dish up and serve. Remarks on Onions. The qualities and virtue of the onion are great and they will never be too much known or appreciated. Tlie onion is the most wholesome of all vegetables, and is at the same time a safeguard against many ailments. Whenever and wherever a person is suffering from any infectious fever, let a peeled onion be kept on a plate in the room of the patient. No one will ever catch the disease, provided the said onion be replaced every day by one freshly peeled, as then it will have absorbed the whole of the poisonous atmosphere of the room, and become black.