Cut one or two slices of bread half-inch thick, and toast it on both sides and well butter it. Take half-pound of good Cheddar cheese, cut it up in very thin slices, and put in a stewpan, with two tablespoonfuls of thick cream, a teaspoonful of mixed mustard, and a little pepper. Stir all these over the fire till the mixture is like cream; cut the toast in square pieces and place on a hot dish, and pour the cheese mixture all over them, and brown quickly with a red-hot salamander.
PLAIN DRESSED LOBSTER
Lay the lobster out flat, with the back up. Get a knife into the middle of the head and cut right down the middle of the lobster. Break the claws from the body and crack the shell, also cut the body away from the head. Stick the head up in the middle of the dish; place the two halves of the body round it, and the claws each side. Decorate with parsley. Vinegar must be handed with it.
VEAL LOAF
1½ lbs. of veal and
2 strips of bacon, chopped together.
½ cup of bread-crumbs.
1 beaten egg.
½ teaspoonful of grated nutmeg.
½ teaspoonful of black pepper.
1½ teaspoonfuls of salt.
Bake three hours.
Chop the meat all together; then put everything in a dish and stir in the egg, beaten without separating, and mix very well. Press it into a bread-pan and put in the oven for three hours by the clock.
Every half-hour pour over it a tablespoonful hot water and butter mixed. You can put a tablespoonful of butter into a cup of water, and keep it on the back of the stove ready all the time. After the meat has baked two hours, put a piece of heavy brown paper over the top, and keep it there till the meat is done, or it may get too brown. This is to slice cold; it is very nice for a picnic.
PRESSED CHICKEN
This was one of the things Margaret liked to make for Sunday-night supper. Have a good-sized chicken cut up. Put it in a saucepan and cover with cold water, and cook very slowly and gently, till the meat falls off the bones. When it begins to grow tender, put in a half-teaspoonful of salt. Take it out, and cut it up in nice, even pieces, and put all the bones back into the saucepan, and let them cook till there is only about a pint and half of broth. Add a little more salt, and a sprinkling of pepper, and strain this through a jelly bag. Mix it with the chicken, and put them both into a mould, and when cold put it on ice over night. After it has stood for an hour, put a weight on it, to make it firm. Slice with a very sharp knife, and put on a dish with parsley all round. This is a nice luncheon dish for a summer day, as well as a supper dish.