The recipes were as follows:—
Hashed Lamb.—The remains of ragout of lamb, freed from bone, chopped with the vegetables, the gravy, and a tea-spoonful of butter and one of Worcestershire sauce added; the whole made boiling hot, and served on fried bread.
Soufflé Bread.—Two eggs, two table-spoonfuls of flour, in which half a tea-spoonful of baking-powder is sifted; beat yolks and a table-spoonful of butter, melted, together, then add flour and just milk enough to make a very thick batter; add a pinch of salt and a tea-spoonful of sugar; whip whites of eggs to a firm froth, and stir gently in. Have ready a small iron spider (or earthen pan is still better), made hot, with a dessert-spoonful of butter also hot, but not so hot as for frying; pour the mixture, which should be like sponge-cake batter, into the pan, cover with a lid or tin plate, and set it back of the stove if the fire is good—if slow, it may be quite forward. When well risen, almost like omelet soufflé, set it in the oven five minutes to brown the top; if the oven is cool, you may very carefully turn it, so as not to deaden it; serve when done, under side uppermost. It should be a fine golden brown.
Soufflé bread may be baked in a thick tin, with rather more butter than enough to grease it, but the oven must be very hot indeed, and it should be covered till thoroughly puffed up, then allowed to brown.
Tomato Cream Soup.—Put six ripe tomatoes on to stew; when done, boil one pint of milk in a double boiler, mix two tea-spoonfuls (large) of flour with very little milk till smooth, then stir it into the boiling milk; cook ten minutes. To the tomato put a salt-spoonful, scant, of soda, stir well, then rub through a strainer fine enough to keep back seeds; add a dessert-spoonful of butter to the milk, stirring well, then the tomato, and serve immediately.
Breast of Lamb Roasted.—Take out the bones with a small, sharp knife; put them on to boil with a piece of carrot and a slice of onion, a pint of water and a bay leaf; boil for two hours till reduced to less than half. Roll the breast (it may be seasoned with pepper, salt and chopped parsley before rolling) and skewer it, then brush it over with egg and roll in cracker crumbs; bake in a good oven an hour and a half, basting often. It should be very well browned, but not burnt. When done take it up, put a dessert-spoonful of butter in the pan, which set on the stove, then add a scant one of flour; let them brown together, stirring the while; strain to it the gravy from the bones, stirring quickly to prevent lumps, season to taste, add a tea-spoonful of lemon juice or vinegar, and pour round the meat.
Chicken Croquettes.—Half a box of boned chicken, or half a chicken; chop it fine, flavor with a few mushrooms, or a little oyster liquor, or oysters chopped, or a very little ham, or simply a piece of onion as large as a hazel-nut, scalded and chopped very fine, and a tea-spoonful of finely chopped parsley. In flavoring this (and other dishes) take advantage of what may be in the house suitable. Put a table-spoonful of butter in a small saucepan with a table-spoonful of flour, stir till they bubble, then put into a half-pint measure a gill of strong stock made from bones (Molly had bruised up the bones from the shoulder of lamb and boiled them down) and, if you have it, a gill of cream or milk (unless you have oyster or mushroom liquor, when half a gill of cream), and fill up with either of them (the liquid, of whatever kind, must be just half a pint to this quantity); pour this on the butter and flour, and stir till it forms a thick, smooth sauce; boil five minutes, season highly, and then mix the chicken with it; stir together, and pour it out on a plate, and put it to get quite cold and firm. If no stock is used, an egg must be stirred into the sauce, moving it a few seconds from the fire before adding it, or it will curdle. When it is cold and stiff, put plenty of cracker meal on a board, beat an egg with a table-spoonful of water, cut the chicken mixture into strips, roll it between the hands into shapes like wine corks, no larger, put each one into the egg, then into the cracker meal, taking care the egg has covered every part and the meal coats it thoroughly. As each is done, lay it on a plate of cracker meal. They may be prepared an hour or two before they are needed. To fry them, the fat must be so hot that bread dropped into it will color well in thirty seconds; arrange a few at a time in a frying basket, set it in the hot fat; two minutes will make them golden brown; if left longer, or made too large, they will burst.
Rissoles.—Take a little fine paste,—any trimmings will do,—roll it as thin as paper, cut it into squares three inches by four, lay on each a strip as thick as your finger of the chicken mixture, and roll up, wetting the edges of the paste and pressing together, so that there will be no oozing out; egg and crumb the same as croquettes, and fry four minutes.
Chicken Fritters.—Make some good batter thus: a cup of flour sifted; melt a table-spoonful of butter in a scant cup of warm water, which pour by degrees to the flour, making a batter thick enough to mask the back of a spoon dipped in it; salt to taste; add, the last thing, the white of an egg well beaten. Make the chicken mixture into balls the size of small walnuts, flatten a little, dip into the batter, and drop from the spoon into very hot fat, the same as croquettes.
Peach Pudding.—A cup of flour, one tea-spoonful of baking-powder sifted in it; make into a very thick batter with three parts of a cup of milk, beat two eggs very light with a quarter cup of sugar, add a pinch of salt, mix, and then stir in as many cut-up peaches as you can; butter a bowl thoroughly, nearly fill with the mixture, tie a cloth over it, and plunge into fast boiling water; boil one hour, taking care that ebullition never ceases while the pudding is in the saucepan, or it will be soggy. Serve with cream, or soft custard, or hard sauce.