The thorough good cook

pepper, and sliced onions. When they have lain in this a sufficient time, take them out and press them dry in a cloth : put them into a saucepan with butter, smooth sauce (p. 347), and stock, if your ragout is to be white, with Spanish sauce (p. 347) without butter and nutmeg— if brown ; add a bunch of sweet herbs. When done, thicken with yolks of eggs ; put in a little lemon-juice, and serve. 19. Another Ragout of Cucumbers. The cucumbers must be pared, the inside taken out, and then cut in pieces ; lay these in a dish singly, with half a teaspoonful of vinegar and a little salt, for two hours, turning them frequently; by this means the juice, which is so cold to the stomach, will be drawn out of them ; then press them in a cloth, and put them in a saucepan Avith some butter ; shake them over the fire ; add a pinch of flour, and moisten them with vegetable broth ; let them simmer on a slow fire till they are done enough, then put in a thickening of yolks of eggs and a little milk ; set them on the fire again, but not to boil. 20. "Steward's" Potatoes (^ la Maitre d'Hdtel). Boil the potatoes ; before they are quite done take them up, place them aside, and let them get cold ; cut them in slices of a moderate thickness ; put into a stew-pan a lump of fresh butter and a teaspoonful of flour; let the butter boil, and add a teacupful of broth ; boil again and add the potatoes, which you have covered with parsley, chopped fine, and seasoned with pepper and salt; stew them five minutes, remove them from the fire, and beat up the yolk of one egg with a tablespoonful of water and a little lemon-juice. The sauce will set ; then dish up the potatoes and serve. 21. Potato Stuffing. Cut lip raw potatoes into little dice ; drain them dry, and put them in a stew-pan with butter, shredded onion or shallot, also parsley, salt and pepper, and a grate of nutmeg, if approved. Cover the stew-pan close and let steam, shaking it now and then. The potatoes must not be suffered to get soft enough to mash. Have some sausages fried, and Avhen cold take off the skins and cut them into thin little slices. Mix these with the potatoes ; or, instead of sausages, mince fine the raw liver of a goose, or some pig's liver, and stir it among the potatoes a few minutes before the stuffing is used. 22. Potato Pudding. Boil two pounds of potatoes, pound them fine in a mortar, and beat in half a pound of melted butter; boil half an hour ; pour melted butter over, with a glass of white wine or the juice of an orange, and throw sugar all over the pudding and dish. 23. Potato Cake. Pare half a pound of steamed or Avell-boiled dry potatoes and pound them in a mortar ; add butter and milk in which sugar has been dissolved ; when the potatoes are well-beaten and mixed, set the paste on the fire and boil it ; stir it into a basin to cool ; then put to it the yolks of eight eggs, a sufficient quantity of sugar, the whites of four eggs beaten to a snow, and two spoonfuls of orange-flower water. Take a mould, butter the inside well, sprinkle the sides over with bread-crumbs, and pour in the above preparation ; bake till nicely coloured, when it may be turned on to a dish. Serve with some sauce. 24. Potato Souffle.