To prepare baked smelts à la Mentone: Spread in a large and narrow baking-dish some fish forcemeat half an inch thick, have two dozen large, fresh, well-cleaned smelts, lay them down in a row on the forcemeat, season with salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg, pour over a thick white Italian sauce, sprinkle some bread crumbs on them, put a small pat of butter on each one and bake for half an hour in a pretty hot oven, then squeeze the juice of a lemon over and serve in a baking-dish.

To make potato balls à la Rouenaise: Boil the potatoes and rub them fine, then roll each ball in white of egg, lay them on a floured table, roll into shape of a pigeon's egg, dip them in melted butter, and fry a light brown in clear hot grease. Sprinkle fine salt over and serve in a folded napkin.

To prepare braised ribs of beef: Have a small set of three ribs cut short, cook it as beef à la mode, that is, stew it with spices and vegetables, dish it up with carrots, turnips, and onions, pour the reduced gravy over.

To prepare Brussels sprouts, demi-glacé: Trim and wash the sprouts, soak them in boiling salted water about thirty minutes, cool them in cold water, and drain them. Put six ounces of butter in a large frying-pan, melt it and put the sprouts in it, season with salt and pepper, fry on a brisk fire until thoroughly hot, serve in a dish with a rich drawn-butter sauce with chopped parsley.

A diplomatic supper was once served at the White House, of which the following menu is an accurate report:—

Salmon with green sauce.
Cold boned turkey, with truffles.
Pâtés of game, truffled.
Ham cooked in Madeira sauce.
Aspic of chicken.
Pâté de foie gras.
Salads of chicken and lobster in forms, surrounded by jelly.
Pickled oysters. Sandwiches.
Scalloped oysters.
Stewed terrapin.
Chicken and lobster croquettes.
Chocolat à la crème. Coffee.
Dessert:
Ices.Fancy meringue baskets filled with cream.
Pancakes. Large cakes.
Fancy jellies. Charlotte Russe.
Fruits.
Cake.Wafers.Nougat.

One could have satisfied an appetite with all this.

General Grant was probably the most fêted American who ever visited Europe. He was entertained by every monarch and by many most distinguished citizens. The Duke of Wellington opened the famous Waterloo Room in Apsley House in his honour, and toasted him as the first soldier of the age. But it is improbable that he ever had a better dinner than the following:—

It was given to him in New York, in 1880, at the Hotel Brunswick. It was for ten people only, in a private parlour, arranged as a dining-room en suite with the Venetian parlour. The room was in rich olive and bronze tints. The buffet glittered with crystal, and Venetian glass. On the side tables were arranged the coffee service and other accessories. The whole room was filled with flowers, the chandelier hung with smilax, dotted with carnations. The table was arranged with roses, heliotrope, and carnations, the deep purple and green grapes hanging over gold dishes. The dinner service was of white porcelain with heliotrope border, the glass of iridescent crystal. The furnishing of the Venetian parlour, the rich carvings, the suits of armour, the antique chairs were all mediæval; the dinner was modern and American:—

Oysters.
Soup, Consommé Royale.
Fish:
Fried smelts, sauce Tartare.
Releves:
Boned capon.
Entrées:
Sweetbreads, braisé, Quails, à la Perigord.
Sorbet au kirsch.
Game.
Broiled woodcock, Canvas-back duck.
Terrapin.
Vegetables:
Cauliflower,Spinach, Artichokes,French peas.
Dessert:
Biscuits Diplomatiques, Frozen pudding,
Meringue Chantilly, Assorted cakes.
Fruit.Coffee.Cigars.
Liqueurs.