Trim the cutlets, and season with salt and pepper. Dip in beaten egg and in bread crumbs, and fry in boiling fat. If three-quarters of an inch thick, they will be done rare in six minutes, and well done in ten. Arrange in the centre of a hot dish, and pour tomato sauce around them. One pint of sauce is enough for two pounds of cutlets.
Stewed Steak with Oysters.
Two pounds of rump steak, one pint of oysters, one table-spoonful of lemon juice, three of butter, one of flour, salt, pepper, one cupful of water. Wash the oysters in the water, and drain into a stew-pan. Put this liquor on to heat. As soon as it comes to a boil, skim, and set back. Put the butter in a frying-pan, and when hot, put in the steak. Cook ten minutes. Take up the steak, and stir the flour into the butter remaining in the pan. Stir until a dark brown. Add the oyster liquor, and boil one minute. Season with salt and pepper. Put back the steak, cover the pan, and simmer half an hour; then add the oysters and lemon juice. Boil one minute. Serve on a hot dish with points of toast for a garnish.
Rice Borders.
These are prepared in two ways. The first is to boil the rice as for a vegetable, and, with a spoon, heap it lightly around the edge of the fricassee, ragout, etc. The second method is a little more difficult. Put one cupful of rice on to boil in three cupfuls of cold water. When it has been boiling half an hour, add two table-spoonfuls of butter and one heaping teaspoonful of salt. Set back where it will just simmer, and cook one hour longer. Mash very fine with a spoon, add two well-beaten eggs, and stir for three minutes. Butter a plain border mould, and fill with the rice. Place in the heater for ten minutes. Turn upon a hot dish. Fill the centre with a fricassee, salmis or blanquette, and serve hot. A mould with a border two inches high and wide, and having a space in the centre five and a half inches wide and eleven long, is pretty and convenient for rice and potato borders, and also for jelly borders, with which to decorate salads, boned chicken, creams, etc.
Potato Border.
Six potatoes, three eggs, one table-spoonful of butter, one of salt, half a cupful of boiling milk. Pare, boil and mash the potatoes. When fine and light, add the butter, salt and pepper and two well-beaten eggs. Butter the border mould and pack the potato in it. Let this stand on the kitchen table ten minutes; then turn out on a dish and brush over with one well-beaten egg. Brown in the oven. Fill the centre with a curry, fricassee, salmis or blanquette.
To Make a Crôustade.
The bread for the crôustade must not be too light, and should be at least three days old. If the loaf is round, it can be carved into the form of a vase, or if long, into the shape of a boat. Have a very sharp knife, and cut slowly and carefully, leaving the surface as smooth as possible. There are two methods by which it can be browned: one is to plunge it into a deep pot of boiling fat for about one minute; the other is to butter the entire surface of the bread and put it into a hot oven, being careful not to let it burn. Care must be taken that the inside is as brown as the outside; if not, the sauce will soak through the crôustade and spoil it. Creamed oysters, stewed lobster, chicken, or any kind of meat that is served in a sauce, can be served in the crôustade,
Cheese Soufflé.