"Yes; they make every thing taste well: now crevettes, what you call shrimps, how good they are with onions!"
"How! onions with shrimps!—what an odd combination! Tell me how to dress this curious dish."
"When the shrimps are boiled, shell them, take a pint or a quart, according to your family; make a rout, adding pepper; jump (sautez) them in it, adding, as they warm, minced parsley; when quite hot, take them off the fire, and stir round among them a good spoonful of sour cream. Pois de prud'homme and pois mange-tout are dressed the same, leaving out the flour and pepper."
"I don't know what pois you mean."
"The prud'hommes, when they first come in, are like lupin-pods, and contain little square white beans. You do not shell them till they are quite old, and then they are good also, but
not nearly so good or so wholesome as in the green pods. The pois tirer or mange-touts are just like every other pea—only as you can eat the pods, you have them full three weeks before the others are ready, and a few handfuls make a good dish: you must take the string off both, as you do with kidney-beans, unless when young."
"I suppose you eat the white dry beans which are to be bought at the French shop here."
"No, never: they don't agree with me, nor indeed are they very digestible for any but strong workers."
"How should they be dressed?"
"Steeped from five to twelve hours; boiled till tender; then jumped with butter and parsley in a pan after draining well; and milk and an egg stirred in them off the fire, or what is much better, a little sour cream or thick buttermilk. They eat well with roast mutton, and are much more delicate than the red beans, which, however, I have never seen sold in this country."