Now take the cold Indian meal and cut it into squares about two inches across. Take a baking-dish of medium depth, butter well, then put in a layer of squares of Indian meal close together, to entirely cover the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle over it grated cheese; then pour on the top enough meat sauce to cover the layer (about 2 tablespoons), then on the top of this add a layer of Béchamel sauce. Then put another layer of the squares of Indian meal, sprinkle with grated cheese as before, add meat sauce, then Béchamel sauce, and continue in this way until the baking-dish is full, having for the top layer the Béchamel sauce. Put the dish into a moderate oven, and bake until a golden brown.
FRIED BREAD WITH RAISINS
(Italian)
Take some rather stale bread, cut it into slices, removing the crust. Fry the bread in lard, and then arrange it on a platter; meanwhile prepare the raisins as follows: Take a small saucepan and put into it 2 tablespoons of raisins, a slice of raw ham chopped into small pieces, and a leaf of sage, also chopped up, 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar, and 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Put these ingredients on the fire, and as soon as you have a syrup pour the raisins on the pieces of fried bread, and the sauce around.
POLENTA CROQUETTES
(Italian)
Boil ½ cup of corn-meal, and before removing from the fire add a piece of butter and a little grated cheese and mix well. Take it then by spoonfuls and spread it on a marble-top table. These spoonfuls should form little balls about the size of a hen's egg. On each of these croquettes place a very thin slice of Gruyère cheese, so that the cheese will adhere to the corn-meal. Then allow them to cool, and when cold dip into egg; then into bread-crumbs, and fry in boiling lard.