Remove the crust from a fresh loaf of French bread. Gash the loaf at the ends and pull apart into halves; then cut the halves and pull apart into quarters. Repeat until the pieces are about the thickness of breadsticks. Put on a rack in a dripping-pan, and dry out the moisture in a slow oven; then brown delicately. Keep in a dry place (a tin box is suitable) and reheat in the oven before serving.
How to Give Rolls and Bread a Glossy, Brown Crust.
A short time before removing from the oven, brush over the top of each loaf or roll with beaten yolk of egg, diluted with a little milk, or with a little sugar dissolved in milk, or with thin starch.
Chou Paste.
Put a saucepan with half a cup of butter and one cup of boiling water over the fire. When the mixture boils, beat into it one cup of flour. When the dough cleaves from the sides of the saucepan, turn into a bowl and beat in, one at a time, three large or four small eggs.
To Boil Salted Meats: Ham, Tongue, Etc.
Cover the meat with cold water and bring the water slowly to the boiling-point; let boil five minutes, then slightly bubble until the meat is tender.
To Boil Chicken, Lamb and Other Fresh Meat.
Cover the meat with boiling water, let boil rapidly five minutes, then keep the water just below the boiling-point, or just "quivering" at one side of the saucepan, until the meat is tender. When the meat is about half cooked, add a teaspoonful of salt for each quart of water.