Puffs (Talmouses).—Put into a stewpan 3 oz. butter with 1½ gill milk, stir them together over the fire with a wooden spoon. Directly it boils gradually add 3 oz. flour, and continue stirring until it separates from the sides of the pan, forming a ball of paste, then add by degrees 6 beaten eggs, ½ lb. Parmesan cheese, and ¼ lb. Gruyère, or the whole quantity may be Parmesan if more convenient. Season well with salt, pepper, and a very little cayenne. When thoroughly mixed, make the paste up into little balls no larger than a pigeon’s egg, and fry them in hot lard; it must not be boiling, or they will be too dark a colour; they take a very short time to fry, and should be a light golden brown. Let them drain on paper for a minute or two before the fire, and serve in pyramid on a folded napkin garnished with parsley. Half this quantity would be enough for a small dish. Another way: Equal weight of eggs, butter, fresh breadcrumbs, and grated cheese; mix the dry ingredients together, seasoning rather highly with pepper and salt and a little cayenne. Put them into a mortar with the butter, the yolks of all and the whites of half the number of eggs, and pound them together until thoroughly mixed. Make up into small balls, egg and breadcrumb them, and fry in hot, but not boiling, lard as before. To be similarly drained and served. Two eggs and their weight of other ingredients make a small dish.
Ramakins.—(a) 2 eggs, 2 spoonfuls flour, 2 oz. melted butter, 2 oz. grated cheese. Mix all well together, and bake for ¼ hour.
(b) 3 oz. toasting cheese, 4 oz. good Cheshire cheese, 2 oz. butter, and the yolks of 3 eggs; pound altogether very fine in a mortar; boil a fresh roll in thin cream, or good milk, only give it one boil up, then mix the whites of the eggs with the roll, and all the other ingredients in a basin, and beat it very well with a fork; then put it into paper cases, or one large one, and bake in a Dutch oven. The mixture will be good if made overnight, which is sometimes a convenience. (F. R. A.)
(c) ¼ lb. Cheshire cheese, ¼ lb. Parmesan, ¼ lb. fresh butter, 4 eggs, the crumb of a small roll, pepper, salt, and mace to taste. Boil the crumb of the roll in milk for 5 minutes, strain, and put into a mortar; add the cheese, which should be finely scraped, the butter, the yolks of the eggs, and seasoning, and pound these ingredients well together. Whisk the whites of the eggs, mix them with the paste, and put it into small saucers, half filled. Bake 10-12 minutes. (W. C. D.)
Roasted.—Grate 3 oz. fat Cheshire cheese, mix with it the yolks of 2 eggs, 4 oz. grated bread, and 3 oz. butter; beat the whole well in a mortar, with 1 dessertspoonful mustard, and a little salt and pepper. Toast some bread, cut it into proper pieces, lay the paste as above thick upon them; put them into a Dutch oven, covered with a dish, till hot through, remove the dish, and let the cheese brown a little; serve as hot as possible.
Sandwiches.—(a) Take 2 oz. grated cheese, 2 oz. pounded ham, 1 teaspoonful mixed mustard, a very small quantity of cayenne pepper and salt; mix all together with the beaten-up yolk of an egg. Spread the mixture between thin slices of bread, and fry in boiling lard or butter.
(b) Cut some slices of bread a day old, ⅛ in. thick, and some very thin slices of Gruyère cheese. Pick the leaves of a quantity of watercress, and mince them as fine as you can, then dry them in a cloth, mince them still more, and dry them again; then knead them with as much fresh butter as they will take up, adding a very little salt and white pepper; butter the slices of bread with this mixture, put the slices of Gruyère between 2 slices of bread, press them lightly, cut out the sandwiches into the shape of Savoy biscuits, and serve immediately.
Scallop.—Soak a small teacupful of stale breadcrumbs in fresh milk; beat into this one large egg, a teaspoonful of melted butter, and 3 oz. grated cheese, pepper and salt to taste. Strew sifted crumbs over the top, and bake till it is of a delicate brown.
Soufflé.—(a) Take 6 oz. grated cheese, 2 eggs, 1 oz. butter, a small teacupful of milk, and beat up all together in a basin; then put them in a small baking dish and bake a light brown. (H. E. C.)
(b) In a medium-sized round-bottomed saucepan, melt 1 oz. butter, add 1 oz. flour, and ¼ pint milk, 3 oz. grated Parmesan, salt, cayenne or pepper to taste, and boil well. Then stir in the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs, and beat the mixture thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Whip the whites of 3 or 4 eggs to the stiffest froth, and stir very lightly but thoroughly into the saucepan. Bake immediately in a very hot oven for 20 minutes, and serve at once in the dish in which it is cooked. The mixture can also be steamed for the same time or rather longer, or it can be baked for 5 minutes in paper cases. If it is baked as a whole, use earthenware made thoroughly hot before the soufflé is put in. Pretty red pans can be bought quite suitable to send to table, and as the great difficulty with soufflés is to get them to table before they cool and sink, it is very advantageous to have some pan that retains heat longer than the tin commonly used. The pan or tin must be well greased. Fresh-grated Parmesan is the best cheese for the purpose, or sometimes Gruyère for a change, but any dry well-flavoured cheese can be used. (E. A. B.)