Break enough maccaroni into bits one and a half or two inches long to half-fill a pie-dish. Put it into salted boiling water, and boil for twelve or fifteen minutes until perfectly soft. Shake the sauce-pan often, or the maccaroni will stick to the bottom. Drain it well, then put it into the dish with butter, salt, and grated cheese. Fill the dish with milk, so as to cover the maccaroni, and bake until the milk is absorbed and the top browned. For every half-pound of maccaroni one and a half tablespoonfuls of melted butter must be used. Middle-sized maccaroni is the best for this dish.
Maccaroni ‘au Gratin.’
Take three-quarters of a pound of blanched maccaroni (see p. [3]). Make a good white sauce, mix in plenty of grated Parmesan cheese, and add salt and pepper to taste. Place the maccaroni and sauce in a dish, and bake in a moderate oven until browned.
Maccaroni ‘all’ Italiana.’
Prepare three-quarters of a pound of fresh maccaroni as in ‘alla Crema.’ Then place it in a sauce-pan with a gill of Vellutata sauce (see Sauces, p. [127]), to which add a little Marsala, and a quarter of a pound of grated Parmesan cheese. Add very little salt, some pepper and nutmeg, and cook slowly for ten minutes, tossing frequently. Serve on a hot dish with grated Parmesan cheese separately.
Maccaroni ‘al Latte.’
Parboil three-quarters pound of long maccaroni in salted water, then drain it well. Put half an ounce of flour and two ounces of butter into a sauce-pan and stir them well; when they begin to colour, pour one and a quarter to one and a half pints of milk in gradually, and boil for ten minutes. Then put in the maccaroni and one ounce of grated Gruyère cheese, stand the sauce-pan on the edge of the fire to simmer, and let the maccaroni absorb the milk. When cooked, add one and a half ounces more butter and one and a half ounces of grated Parmesan cheese, put the maccaroni into a baking dish and cover it with grated bread-crumbs. Place it in an oven and serve when browned.
Maccaroni ‘alla Napolitana.’
Boil and prepare three-quarters of a pound of maccaroni as in ‘alla Crema.’ Drain, and put it in a sauce-pan with half a pint of sauce ‘Suprema,’ half a pint of Tomato sauce (see Sauces, pp. [125], [126]), a quarter of a pound of grated Parmesan cheese, two truffles, six mushrooms, and half an ounce of tongue, all cut up into small pieces. Cook over a sharp fire for ten minutes, tossing well all the time, and serve hot.