MARCH.
First Week. Sunday.
Mushroom Soup.
- 3 lbs. of knuckle of veal, well cracked.
- 1 onion.
- Bunch of parsley.
- A slice of ham, or some ham or salt-pork bones.
- 1 can of French mushrooms.
- 1 tablespoonful of butter.
- 2 tablespoonfuls of flour.
- 2 beaten eggs.
- Pepper and salt.
- 1 cup of milk.
- 4 quarts of cold water.
Crack the bones and mince the meat, onion, and parsley. Cover with the water, and boil gently three hours, or until the stock has diminished one-half. Strain, season, boil up and skim. Add the mushrooms, drained from the can liquor, and sliced. Stew twenty minutes; put in the milk, the flour, wet up in cold water, and when it thickens, beat a cupful into the whipped eggs. Stir into this the butter, return to the soup, let it almost boil, and pour out.
To the lovers of mushrooms this is a delicious soup.
Roast Ducks.
Draw, clean and wash a pair of ducks. Stuff one only with a dressing made of bread-crumbs, the hard-boiled yolk of an egg, a little minced sage and onion. Rub the inside of the other with melted butter, pepper and salt. Many do not like the taste of onion and sage, while others do not enjoy roast duck without the flavor of these condiments. Put the fowls into the dripping-pan, pour a cup of boiling water over them, and roast about an hour, basting frequently. At the last, dredge with flour, and baste with butter; then brown. Chop the giblets fine, pour the fat from the top of the gravy in the dripping-pan, thicken with browned flour that which is left, and stir in the giblets.
Green Peas
Have, from time immemorial, been the adjunct of roast ducks. As the best substitute to be had at this season, open a can of preserved green peas—the French cans are best; let them stand an hour to get rid of the airless taste that is apt to cling to canned vegetables; pour off the liquor; cook twenty minutes in boiling water, a little salt; drain dry, and stir up in them a teaspoonful of butter, with pepper to your liking.