Dried sprats should be put into a basin, and boiling water poured over them; they may then be skinned and served, and this will be found a much better way than boiling them.
SPRATS, Fried in Batter.
Ingredients.—2 eggs, flour, bread-crumbs; seasoning of salt and pepper to taste. Mode.—Wipe the sprats, and dip them in a batter made of the above ingredients. Fry of a nice brown, serve very hot, and garnish with fried parsley. Sprats may be baked like herrings.
SPROUTS, to Boil Young.
Ingredients.—To each ½ gallon of water allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt; a very small piece of soda. Mode.—Pick away all the dead leaves, and wash the greens well in cold water; drain them in a colander, and put them into fast-boiling water, with salt and soda in the above proportion. Keep them boiling quickly, with the lid uncovered, until tender; and the moment they are done, take them up, or their colour will be spoiled; when well drained, serve. The great art in cooking greens properly, and to have them a good colour, is to put them into plenty of fast-boiling water, to let them boil very quickly, and to take them up the moment they become tender. Time.—Brocoli sprouts, 10 to 12 minutes; young greens, 10 to 12 minutes; sprouts, 12 minutes, after the water boils. Seasonable.—Sprouts of various kinds may be had all the year.
STEW, Irish.
Ingredients.—3 lbs. of the loin or neck of mutton, 5 lbs. of potatoes, 5 large onions, pepper and salt to taste, rather more than 1 pint of water. Mode.—Trim off some of the fat of the above quantity of loin or neck of mutton, and cut it into chops of a moderate thickness. Pare and halve the potatoes, and cut the onions into thick slices. Put a layer of potatoes at the bottom of a stewpan, then a layer of mutton and onions, and season with pepper and salt; proceed in this manner until the stewpan is full, taking care to have plenty of vegetables at the top. Pour in the water, and let it stew very gently for 2½ hours, keeping the lid of the stewpan closely shut the whole time, and occasionally shaking the preparation to prevent its burning. Time.—2½ hours. Average cost, for this quantity, 2s. 8d. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable.—Suitable for a winter dish.
STEW, Irish.
Ingredients.—2 or 3 lbs. of the breast of mutton, 1½ pint of water, salt and pepper to taste, 4 lbs. of potatoes, 4 large onions. Mode.—Put the mutton into a stewpan with the water and a little salt, and let it stew gently for an hour; cut the meat into small pieces, skim the fat from the gravy, and pare and slice the potatoes and onions. Put all the ingredients into the stewpan, in layers, first a layer of vegetables, then one of meat, and sprinkle seasoning of pepper and salt between each layer; cover closely, and let the whole stew very gently for 1 hour, or rather more, shaking it frequently to prevent its burning. Time.—Rather more than 2 hours. Average cost, 1s. 6d. Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable.—Suitable for a winter dish.
Note.—Irish stew may be prepared in the same manner as above, but baked in a jar instead of boiled. About 2 hours or rather more in a moderate oven will be sufficient time to bake it.