The cook at Norfolk Square and Jane both worked hard all the day before and everything turned out very well. To ensure the pheasants and the tongue being well glazed and looking nice, Jane made some good glaze and brought it with her. This she did by making a pint of good beef-tea and boiling it rapidly down to a thick syrup. The pheasants and the tongue had each two coats brushed on and were then suitably ornamented, the tongue with a pretty design in creamed butter put on with a forcer and slices of notched cucumber laid round the dish. The tongue was a smoked one and was soaked for twenty-four hours before being cooked. Jane made all the puff pastry for the patties and the pigeon pie; the cook made the soup, cooked the pheasants and the tongue and prepared the inside of the pie under her supervision. She also prepared the moulds for the creams and jellies. Here are the recipes for the soup, patties, creams, and jellies. The quantity made consisted of two quarts of soup, two dozen patties, two creams (quart moulds), two jellies (ditto), and two pies.

Ox-Tail Soup.

Ingredients.—One ox-tail, one carrot, one turnip, two onions, two sticks of celery, two tomatoes, four mushrooms, bay-leaf, blade of mace, a bunch of herbs, twelve peppercorns, two teaspoonfuls of salt, two quarts of stock, two ounces of butter, three ounces of brown thickening.

Method.—Cut the ox-tail into joints and blanch it. Fry it well in the butter, add the vegetables washed and sliced, the mace, herbs, salt, and the stock, and simmer four hours. Strain and pick out the pieces of meat; take off the fat and return to the saucepan. Thicken with three ounces of brown thickening. Put in the pieces of ox-tail and the soup is ready.

Puff Pastry.

Ingredients.—Two pounds of Vienna flour, two pounds of butter, lemon juice, water to mix, two yolks of eggs.

Method.—Rub the flour through a hair sieve; wash the butter and rub one-third into the flour. Turn this on to the paste-board and make a well in the middle. Beat the yolks of two eggs with a gill of water and a little lemon juice and mix into the flour, adding more water if necessary until you have a flexible dough. Roll out to a strip, shape the butter to a third the size of the dough and lay it on; fold the dough over and roll out; repeat this and put it away to cool. Roll out again and repeat this four times. Roll out, cut as required, and use. For patties, cut into rounds with a cutter about the size of a wine-glass and mark it at the top with a smaller cutter. Bake in a very hot oven a pale golden brown, and when baked lift off the lid and scoop out the inside; fill with the required mixture and put on the lid again.

Mixture for Oyster Patties.—Strain the liquor from two dozen oysters and put it to boil for ten minutes with a blade of mace, three peppercorns, a little lemon rind, and some salt; strain and mix with a gill of cream. Work half an ounce of butter with as much cornflour as it will take up, stir it into the liquor and boil up over the fire; cut the oysters in small pieces, put them into the sauce and heat gently for a few minutes without letting it boil again.

Pistachio Cream.