ENTERTAINING ONE’S FRIENDS.
In a small house entertaining one’s friends is too often a most arduous
and tiresome business, because we will one and all of us attempt to do a
great deal too much, and appear to be able to afford all kinds of
luxuries that we cannot possibly manage, and I strongly advise any young
bride with small means and a smaller _ménage_ to confine herself
entirely to afternoon teas, which require no waiting and cost extremely
little, and to refuse on her part to go out to large dinners, which she
cannot return, and for which she can neither afford the necessary dress,
gloves, flowers, nor cabs, asking her friends to invite her to simpler
entertainments boldly, and giving her reasons, which, of course, will be
received kindly and in good faith by her friends. I am convinced that
this absurd striving after society is at the bottom of the falseness of
most of our English entertainments, and I trust some day to see
‘parties’ on a much broader and more satisfactory basis than they are at
present, and I therefore beg all young householders to pause before they
begin the same old round of costly gaiety, and to consider if they at
least cannot bring about a better state of things. I have often in
different houses seen with amazement how invitations are issued, and
wondered if I am the only person who is thus taken behind the scenes and
shown how hollow such invitations often are. Surely I must be, or else
the great crushes I read of would never come off, and the dinners I hear
about would lack guests, for I have rarely heard invitations talked over
without listening to some such conversation as this: ‘Ask the Joneses,
Gertrude.’ ‘Oh no, mother! she _is_ such a dowdy, and their last garden
party was maddening.’ ‘I can’t help it, my dear. I went to their party,
and we must pay them back. And then there are the Brownes; don’t forget
the _e_--ridiculous creatures! It’s astonishing how some people creep
up and others go down.’ ‘And he is dreadful, mother;’ and, in fact, I
could go on for pages, while other pages could be occupied with
descriptions of how the invitation is received at the Joneses’ and the
Brownes’, who all go expecting to be bored or starved, and who return
home to comment spitefully on an entertainment which, if successful,
carries in their minds the donors half-way to the Bankruptcy Court, and,
if a failure, is the cause of a good deal of violent abuse and unkind
sneers levelled at their hosts. And then the conversation at these
entertainments: ‘Have you seen the So-and-so’s lately?’ ‘Oh no; they
never go anywhere now. Didn’t you hear about her and So-and-so?’ But
really, when it comes to the talk I overhear at balls, dinners,
at-homes, or in the Park, I lose my temper, and so will turn at once to
other matters altogether.
Afternoon teas, tennis-parties, and little dinners are all possible to
the young housekeeper, but the little dinners to be inexpensive must be
in the winter, and for them I have written out half a dozen menus which
may be of use in the ordinary household, with the ordinary plain cook of
the period, whose wages are about 20_l._ These will be found at the end
of the chapter, but to insure even such a modest dinner as one of these
makes being a success the mistress must see herself that her glass and
silver are spotless, the table well laid, and the flowers charmingly
arranged by herself.
The very last fashion (which, however, may change next week, but is
worth mentioning because of its simpleness and sense) for table
arrangements is to have no dessert whatever on the table, which has a
piece of embroidery in the centre of the cloth, and then in the middle
of this place a large flat wide-open wicker basket, which you should
cover entirely with moss; border it with ivy or berberis leaves, and
stand any flowers you may be able to procure in such a way that they
appear growing; low groups of flowers are arranged in vases all over the
table with growing ferns in pots, and, in fact, the table is made to
look as much like a bank of flowers as possible. Candles with shades to
match the prevailing hue of the flowers should stand on the table, and
the dessert should be handed round after dinner, and should consist of
one dish of good fruit and one of French sweetmeats, thus simplifying
matters very much indeed.
Flowers should never be mixed; daffodils and brown leaves look lovely
together, so do scarlet geraniums and white azaleas, pink azaleas, and
brown leaves; wisteria and laburnum, Maréchal Niel roses and lilacs, are
all good contrasts, but clumps of yellow tulips, or narcissi or roses,
all one colour, are undoubtedly more fashionable than even the small
contrasts just spoken of, while Salviati glass is beautiful on a table,
and the specimen glasses of that make hold flowers far better than
anything else: and should flowers be scarce the centrepiece could be
all brown ivy and mosses and evergreens, with just a few flowers in the
Salviati glasses only.
But neither food nor flowers, nor, indeed, anything else, will make a
party successful if the mistress does not make a good hostess, and exert
herself to see her quests are happy. She should take care the right
people meet, and nothing should induce her to refrain from introducing
her guests; this is a most ridiculous practice, and is simply laziness.
A hostess is bound to see all her guests are amused, and this can only
be done by personally noticing who is talking to whom, and whether all
the people present have some one with whom to converse.
This absence of introductions makes conversation almost a lost art, and
has made the ordinary ‘society’ nothing more or less than a bore and a
trouble; while, as the ambition of most people is to know more folks
than their neighbours and to go to more balls in one night than our
foremothers used to see in their lifetimes, entertaining has become a
farce and bids fair to die of its own immensity.
Therefore, as these are undoubtedly hard times, and many people are not
‘entertaining’ at all because they cannot now afford to outdo their
neighbours, let me beg any young beginner to start well and simply,
confining herself to those friends she really wishes to see, and to
giving parties that are not above her modest means, and that do not
entail hiring extra help, who smash her crockery and cost a month’s
wages for a few hours’ work, and agitate her so by their vagaries that
she cannot talk sensibly to her neighbour; and let her furthermore ask
people sometimes who cannot ask her again, but who can talk amusingly,
and she will, I am sure, have much more out of her little dinners than
most people do out of a whole London season’s fatigue and expense, both
of which often ruin the health and the future of many a girl, who traces
back to the severe ‘pleasures’ of town the lassitude and suffering that
render the latter half of a woman’s life all too often hours of
suffering and sorrow; for she has used up in the year or two of her
girlhood all the strength and health that should have sustained her all
through her days, and repents at leisure the stupidity and culpable
weakness of the mother who allowed her to sacrifice the possessions for
a lifetime in a few months.
To enable our young housekeeper to manage so that her housekeeping bills
will not overwhelm her after one of her little dinners, I have appended
to each of the menus the exact cost of each, and I strongly advise any
one to whom economy is an object to use New Zealand lamb or mutton. If
properly warmed through and gently thawed close to the fire before
putting it down to roast, the meat is simply delicious and as good as
the best English; but it must be treated carefully, or else it will not
be nice, but when properly thawed no one can tell it from English meat,
and I think housekeepers would be a little astonished if they knew how
often the ‘best English’ meat of the butcher’s book was really and truly
the New Zealand meat they speak of with such horror.
MENU NO. I.
White Soup.
Soles, Sauce Maître d’hôtel.
Stuffed Pigeons.
Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding.
Wild Duck.
Mince Pies.
French Pancakes.
Cauliflower au gratin.
Dessert.
_White Soup._--A quart and a pint of milk, a dozen fine potatoes, piece
of butter size of a walnut, two onions, salt and pepper to taste.
_Simmer_ all together for two hours, then rub through fine hair sieve,
add two tablespoonfuls of sago, and bring all gradually to a boil. Serve
very hot, with dice of bread fried. Cost of soup for six persons, 1_s._
_Fried Soles._--A fine pair at 3_s._ Garnish with lemon and parsley, fry
in _lard_; serve with melted butter, with fine chopped parsley in,
flavoured with lemon. Cost, 3_s._ 6_d._
_Stuffed Pigeons._--Three pigeons at 10_d._ each. Bone them; make a
stuffing of thyme, parsley, crumbs of bread, small piece of ham, a
couple of mushrooms, one egg, salt and pepper to taste; chop altogether
and mix with egg; stuff pigeons and sew them up; put them into a
saucepan, with a small piece of bacon and any stock that may be in the
digester. Stew for half an hour, take them out, divide them into neat
portions, and put them in a hot dish ready for serving. Add a
teaspoonful of flour mixed with water to thicken the gravy they are
stewed in, and strain it through a sieve on the pigeons; then serve.
_Outside_ cost, 3_s._ 6_d._
_Rolled Ribs of Beef._--Six pounds, the bones from which can be used for
stock for the gravy for the pigeons. The beef is rolled by the butcher
ready for roasting. Serve with horse-radish neatly arranged about it,
mashed potatoes, stewed celery; and Yorkshire pudding--half a pint of
milk, six large tablespoonfuls of flour, three eggs, and a tablespoonful
of salt. Put the flour into a basin with the salt, and stir gradually to
this enough milk to make it into a stiff batter; when quite smooth add
the rest of the milk, and the eggs well beaten; beat well together, and
then pour into a shallow tin which has been rubbed with beef dripping;
bake an hour in the oven, and then put under the meat for half an hour.
Meat, 6 lbs. of New Zealand at 10_d._, 5_s._; pudding, 6_d._;
vegetables, 1_s._--6_s._ 6_d._
_Wild Duck_, 4_s._ 6_d._--Plainly roasted; served with cayenne pepper,
lemons cut in halves, and fried potatoes. 5_s._
_Mince Pies._--Make some good puff paste by allowing one pound of butter
to each pound of flour; line small patty pans and bake; fill with
mincemeat (which can be bought ready-made and excellent for 10_d._ a
jar, which is sufficient for a dozen pies), cover with thin paste, and
put into a brisk oven for twenty-five minutes; serve with sifted sugar
over them.
_French Pancakes._--Take two eggs, and their weight in sugar, flour, and
butter; mix well together; add quarter of a teacupful of milk; mix well
together; bake in saucer for twenty minutes, filling each saucer only
half full; take out; spread small quantity of jam, then fold over; dust
sifted sugar over the top, and serve very hot. Cost, 8_d._
_Cauliflower au gratin._--Fine cauliflower nicely boiled; then grate a
quarter of a pound of cheese over it, and place small atoms of butter
about the top of it; add a little cayenne and salt to taste; put in the
oven to brown, and serve very hot. Cost altogether, about 8_d._
_Complete cost of dinner._--Soup, 1_s._; fish, 3_s._ 6_d._; entrée,
3_s._ 6_d._; beef, 6_s._ 6_d._; game, 5_s._; mince pies, 1_s._ 6_d._;
pancakes, 8_d._; cheese, 8_d._--1_l._ 2_s._ 4_d._
MENU NO. II.
Clear Soup.
Turbot, Lobster Sauce.
Cutlets à la Réforme.
Turkey, Stuffed Chestnuts.
Teal.
Éclairs.
Pears in Jelly.
Prince Albert’s Pudding.
Cheese Fondu.
Dessert.
_Clear Soup._--Sixpennyworth of bones, three carrots, three onions,
sprig of thyme, two sprigs of parsley, one blade of mace, a dozen
peppercorns, head of celery. Simmer whole day in three quarts of water,
let it stand all night, remove fat in the morning, boil it again next
day, let it come to boiling point, throw in the whites and shells of two
eggs, whip it altogether when it boils, remove from fire, then skim it,
and pass it through a jelly-bag; put a little macedoine in the bottom of
a hot tureen and pour soup over, add a glass of sherry and serve.
Outside cost, 1_s._
_Half a Turbot._--Tinned lobster, cut in dice, put into melted butter,
and flavoured with anchovy. Turbot, about 3_s._; sauce, 9_d._
_Cutlets à la Réforme._--Three pounds of the loin of pork cut into
cutlets and fried; make about a gill of melted butter, add to it two
tablespoonfuls of the liquor from a bottle of piccalilly and six or
eight pieces of the pickle cut small. When very hot put on your dish,
arrange cutlets in round, and put the pickle-sauce in the middle.
Outside cost, 3_s._
_Small Turkey._--Stuffed with ordinary stuffing, with about two dozen
chestnuts boiled soft and added to the stuffing, sausages, bread-sauce,
Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes. Turkey, 6_s._; stuffing &c., 2_s._
more; outside cost, 8_s._
Three teal at 1_s._ each, plainly roasted, and sent in on slices of
toast; lemons and cayenne pepper. 3_s._ 6_d._
_Eclairs._--Bought at any confectioner’s at 2_d._ each. 1_s._
_Pears in Jelly._--Six stewing pears, 2 oz. sugar, 2 oz. butter, one
pint water, half an ounce gelatine soaked in water; stew the pears until
they are soft, turn out into a basin, and add the gelatine when hot;
place pears when _comparatively_ cold round buttered mould, pour in
syrup, turn out when set, serve cold. 8_d._
_Prince Albert’s Pudding._--Quarter of a pound of bread-crumbs, quarter
of a pound of butter, 2 oz. sugar, two tablespoonfuls of raspberry jam,
two eggs, mixed thoroughly, placed in mould, and boiled for two hours
and a half; serve hot with sifted sugar over. Outside cost, 1_s._
_Cheese Fondu._--Two eggs, the weight of one in Cheddar cheese, the
weight of one in butter; pepper and salt to taste, separate the yolks
from the whites of the eggs, beat the former in a basin, and grate the
cheese, break the butter into small pieces, add it to the other
ingredients with pepper and salt, beat all together thoroughly, well
whisk the whites of the eggs, stir them lightly in, and bake the fondu
in a small cake tin, which should be only half filled, as the cheese
will rise very much; pin a napkin round the tin and serve very hot and
quickly, as if allowed to stand long it would be quite spoiled. Average
cost, 5_d._
Soup, 1_s._; fish, 3_s._ 9_d._; cutlets, 3_s._; turkey, 6_s._; teal,
3_s._ 6_d._; éclairs, 1_s._; pears, 8_d._; pudding, 1_s._--cheese,
5_d._--1_l._ 0_s._ 4_d._
MENU NO. III.
Hare Soup.
Filleted Soles à la Maître d’hôtel.
Mutton Cutlets.
Sirloin of Beef.
Ptarmigan.
Peaches, whipped cream.
Cabinet Pudding.
Toasted Cheese.
Dessert.
_Hare Soup._--Sprig of thyme, sprig of parsley, three onions, three
carrots, two turnips, one head celery, twelve peppercorns, half a dozen
cloves, three quarts of water, sixpennyworth of bones, a small hare cut
up into joints; simmer all together for about three hours. Take out the
meat of the hare and put bones back. Keep the soup simmering the whole
day, set aside at night; skim off fat next morning. When wanted thicken
with one tablespoonful of flour mixed with a little of the stock; put in
meat, rub all through sieve into a _hot_ tureen; serve with dice of
fried bread. Cost, 5_s._
_Soles._--Three small soles, filleted, plain boiled, each piece rolled
and placed on a small skewer, which is removed when the fish is sent to
table, served covered with sauce made as follows:--Half a pint of milk,
tablespoonful of flour, mixed to smooth paste with a little milk, piece
of butter size of walnut, salt and pepper to taste, two teaspoonfuls of
parsley, teaspoonful of lemon juice. Average cost, 2_s._ 9_d._
_Mutton Cutlets._--Two pounds best end of the neck of mutton (New
Zealand, 6½_d._ per lb.) cut thin, egged and bread-crumbed, fried in
boiling lard to a light brown, arranged in a crown with fried parsley in
centre, fried in same lard. 1_s._ 6_d._
Six pounds of the sirloin, at 10_d._, nicely roasted, and sent to table
garnished with horse-radish, Brussels sprouts, and fried potatoes;
Yorkshire pudding, as per receipt in menu. 6_s._ 6_d._, outside cost.
_Ptarmigan._--Plainly roasted, sent in on to toast, basted _well_ with
dripping, or else they are very dry, bread-sauce, with a very little
cayenne pepper added, mashed potatoes. About 4_s._
Tin of American peaches, sweetened to taste, arranged round cream,
sixpennyworth whipped well, any whites of eggs can be added; flavour
with four drops essence of vanille; the cream must be heaped up in the
centre of the peaches. Tin of peaches, 10½_d._; cream, 6_d._; extras,
3_d._ Average cost, 1_s._ 7½_d._
_Cabinet Pudding._--Four sponge-cakes, 2 oz. raisins, currants, and
sultanas mixed, small piece of lemon-peel, nutmeg to taste, two eggs,
sufficient milk to soak cakes, 1 oz. sugar, teacupful of milk, in which
the two eggs should be beaten and poured over the sponge-cakes; set all
to soak for an hour; place the currants &c. first in a buttered mould,
then slices of sponge-cake, then more currants, and then sponge-cakes,
until the mould is three parts full; then mix eggs, milk, sugar, and
nutmeg all together, beat well, pour it over the pudding, set it for an
hour to swell, then tie tightly down, boil for two hours and a half;
serve very hot with melted butter poured over, flavoured with two
tablespoonfuls of brandy and a little sugar. 9_d._
_Toasted Cheese._--Grate a quarter of a pound of cheese on lightly
toasted bread, pepper and salt to taste, tiny piece of butter on each
square; put in the oven for a few moments to melt cheese, add cayenne,
serve very hot. Cost about 9_d._
Soup, 5_s._; fish, 2_s._ 9_d._; cutlets, 1_s._ 6_d._; beef, 6_s._ 6_d._;
ptarmigan, 4_s._; peaches, 1_s._ 7½_d._; pudding, 9_d._; cheese,
9_d._--1_l._ 2_s._ 10½_d._
MENU NO. IV.
Carrot Soup.
Cutlets of Cod. Anchovy Sauce.
Curried Kidneys.
Rolled Loin of Mutton, stuffed.
Boiled Pheasant, Celery Sauce.
Plum Pudding, Brandy Sauce.
Chocolate Cream.
Cheese Soufflés.
Dessert.
_Carrot Soup._--Three pints of stock, made of threepennyworth of bones
cracked, and put in about two quarts of water; add three carrots, three
onions, and a head of celery, a little thyme and parsley. Simmer the
whole day; allow the fat to rise during the night, removing every scrap
of it the next morning, when proceed as follows:--Put two onions and one
turnip into the stock and simmer for three hours; then scrape and cut
thin six large carrots; strain the soup on them, and stew altogether
until soft enough to pass through a hair sieve; then boil all together
once more, and add seasoning to taste; add cayenne. The soup should be
red, and about the consistency of pease soup. Serve hot with fried dice
of bread. Outside cost, 1_s._
_Cutlets of Cod._--About 4 lbs. of cod, at 4_d._, cut into large
cutlets; fry them, having previously covered them with egg and
bread-crumbs. Serve with plain melted butter, flavoured nicely with
anchovy. Cost, 1_s._ 8_d._
_Curried Kidneys._--Three nice-sized kidneys, cut and skinned and put
into any stock; one apple, one onion. Thicken all with a teaspoonful of
flour and a teaspoonful of curry powder; small piece of butter, pepper,
and salt. Stew for half an hour; add plain boiled rice, carefully done,
and serve very hot. Average cost, 10_d._
Six pounds of loin of mutton at 9_d._ a pound--New Zealand, bone, and
then prepare a stuffing with thyme, parsley, bread-crumbs, and about 2
oz. of suet, all chopped very fine; add salt and pepper to taste, mix
with one egg. Put this thickly inside the mutton; roll it, and secure
with skewers. Serve with currant jelly (3½_d._ a pot), mashed
potatoes, and nice cauliflower. Outside cost, 6_s._
_Boiled Pheasant._--One quite sufficient for six people, plain boiled,
and covered with celery sauce, made as follows:--Half a pint of milk,
two teaspoonfuls of flour mixed to a smooth paste with a little milk.
Stew one head of celery in the milk until tender, then add a piece of
butter size of a walnut, and pepper and salt to taste. Pass all through
fine sieve into a hot tureen, and then serve. Pheasant, 2_s._ 6_d._;
sauce, 6_d._
_Plum Pudding._--Three-quarters of a pound of raisins, ¾ lb. of
currants, ¼ lb. of mixed peel, ¼ lb. and half a ¼ lb. of
bread-crumbs, same quantity of suet, four eggs, half a wineglassful of
brandy. Stone and cut the raisins in halves, do not chop them; wash and
dry the currants, and mince the suet finely; cut the candied peel into
thin slices and grate the bread very fine. Mix these dry ingredients
well, then moisten with the eggs (which should be well beaten) and the
brandy; stir well, and press the pudding into a buttered mould, tie it
down tightly with a floured cloth, and boil for five or six hours. Cost,
2_s._ Special sauce.--Two ounces of butter beaten to a cream, 2 oz. of
sugar, three parts of a glass of sherry and brandy mixed, beaten all
together to a stiff paste. Cost, 10_d._
_Chocolate Cream._--One and a half ounce of grated chocolate, 2 oz. of
sugar, ¾ of a pint of cream, ¾ oz. of Nelson’s gelatine, and the
yolks of three eggs. (N.B.--If the whites of the eggs are added to the
cream, and all well mixed, less cream can be used.) Beat the yolks of
the eggs well, put them in a basin with the grated chocolate, the sugar,
and rather more than half the cream, stir all together, pour into a jug,
set jug in a saucepan of boiling water, and stir all one way until the
mixture thickens, but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle; strain
all into a basin, stir in the gelatine and the other portion of cream,
which should be well whipped; then pour into a mould which has been
previously oiled with the very purest salad oil; turn out when cold.
Outside cost, 2_s._
_Cheese Soufflés._--Quarter of a pound of cheese grated, two
tablespoonfuls of flour, piece of butter size of walnut, two eggs, half
a teacupful of milk, cayenne and salt to taste; mix well together, and
put in a saucepan over fire for about five minutes, stirring all the
time to prevent burning; drop a tablespoonful of the mixture into
buttered patty-pans; put in a steamer until set; then take them out and
put on a sieve to cool; cover with egg and bread-crumb, and fry in
boiling lard; serve hot. Cost, about 8_d._ Half this quantity sufficient
for six people.
_Cost of Dinner._--Soup, 1_s._; fish, 1_s._ 8_d._; curried kidneys,
10_d._; meat, 6_s._; game, 3_s._; pudding and sauce, 2_s._ 10_d._;
cream, 2_s._; cheese, 4_d._--17_s._ 9_d._
MENU NO. V.
Mulligatawny Soup.
Cod and Oyster Sauce.
Croquettes of Chicken.
Leg of Mutton à la Bretonne.
Pheasants.
Méringues à la crême.
Turrets.
Cheese Straws.
Dessert.
_Mulligatawny Soup._--Three pints of stock, made by taking
threepennyworth of bones, breaking them small, and putting them to
simmer on one side of the fire for the whole of the day before it is
required, with three carrots, three onions, one head of celery, and one
clove, and a small piece of bacon; stand all night in larder; remove fat
next morning. Boil a rabbit, cut it in dice, and fry; then add it, with
a small amount of lemon juice and two tablespoonfuls of curry powder
mixed smooth with stock separately, to the stock. Serve very hot, with
plain boiled rice on separate dish. Cost of soup, 2_s._ 4_d._--rabbit,
1_s._ 6_d._; bones, 3_d._; vegetables, 3_d._; rice, 1_d._; bacon, 1_d._;
curry powder, 2_d._
Three pounds of cod at 6_d._ a pound, plain boiled; eight oysters cut in
half for sauce, which is made of the liquor of the oysters; teacupful of
milk, piece of butter size of walnut, salt, and two teaspoonfuls of
flour. Cod, 1_s._ 6_d._; oysters, 8_d._; milk, butter, &c., 3_d._--2_s._
5_d._
_Croquettes of Chicken._--Take the two legs of a nicely cooked chicken
(the bones of which can be added to those for soup); mince the meat
small, then pound smooth in a mortar. Make a sauce with a piece of
butter size of a walnut, one onion chopped fine and browned, and half a
teacupful of milk; when at boiling point add one teaspoonful of flour,
mixed smooth with milk, salt, and pepper to taste, add the yolks of two
eggs, then put in the chicken and stir all together until thoroughly
mixed, remove from fire; when cold make up the mixture into croquettes,
cover with egg and bread-crumbs, and fry in dripping from leg of mutton;
serve very hot garnished with parsley. Any remains of cold chicken will
do for this dish. Portion of chicken, 9_d._; eggs (3), 2½_d._,
sometimes 3_d._; total cost, 1_s._ 2½_d._
_Leg of Mutton à la Bretonne._--Choose a leg of Welsh mutton about 6
lbs. in weight, get four cloves of garlic, make an incision with the
point of a knife in four different parts round the knuckle and place the
garlic in it, hang it up for a day or two, and then roast it for an hour
and a half. Take a quart of French haricots and place them in a saucepan
with half a gallon of water. Add salt, half an ounce of butter, and set
them to simmer until tender, when the liquor must be poured into a
basin. Keep the haricots hot, peel and cut two large onions into thin
slices, put some of the fat from the dripping-pan into the fryingpan,
put in the onions, and fry a light brown. Add them to the haricots, with
the fat &c. that the mutton has produced in roasting, season with salt
and pepper, toss them about a little, and serve very hot on a large dish
on which the mutton is put, garnished with a frill. Serve with mashed
potatoes, Brussels sprouts, currant jelly. Cost, with best Welsh mutton,
8_s._; with New Zealand, _just as good_, 5_s._
_Roasted Pheasant_, 2_s._ 6_d._--Plainly and nicely roasted, sent in on
a bed of bread-crumbs made from crusts and pieces of bread dried in the
oven and rolled small with the rolling-pin. Potatoes plainly boiled and
rubbed through a sieve, with a very small piece of butter. 2_s._ 9_d._
_Méringues._--Use the three whites of the eggs the yolks of which you
have used for the croquettes; whisk them to a stiff froth, and with a
wooden spoon stir in quickly a quarter and half a quarter of a pound of
white sifted sugar. Put some boards in the oven thick enough to prevent
the bottom of the méringues from acquiring too much colour. Cut some
strips of paper about two inches wide, put this on the board, and drop a
tablespoonful at a time of the mixture on paper, giving them as nearly
as possible the shape of an egg, keeping each méringue about two inches
apart. Strew over some sifted sugar, and bake in a moderate oven for
half an hour. As soon as they begin to colour remove them; take each
slip of paper by the two ends and turn it gently on the table, and with
a small spoon take out the soft part. Spread some clean paper, turn the
méringues upside down, and put them into the oven to harden; then fill
with whipped cream just flavoured with vanilla and sweetened with sugar;
put two halves together and serve. Threepennyworth of cream is _quite_
enough for six people, so this dish would cost about 4_d._, as the eggs
were charged for in the croquettes. 4_d._
_Turret Puddings._--Take two eggs, add their weight in flour, sugar, and
butter; beat the eggs thoroughly first, then add sugar and flour and the
butter melted; beat all together to a cream; fill small tins, bake for
twenty minutes; add sauce, made from milk, two teaspoonfuls of flour,
and a tablespoonful of brandy; serve hot. Outside cost, 1_s._
_Cheese Straws._--Two ounces of butter, 2 oz. of flour, 2 oz. of
bread-crumbs, 2 oz. of cheese grated, half a small saltspoon of mixed
salt and cayenne; mix all together to a paste, and roll it out a quarter
of an inch in thickness; cut it into narrow strips, lay them on a sheet
of paper, and bake for a few minutes; arrange them in a pyramid on a
napkin, and serve hot. Cost, 6_d._
_General cost of dinner._--Soup, 2_s._ 4_d._; fish, 2_s._ 5_d._; entrée,
1_s._ 2½_d._; mutton, 8_s._; game, 2_s._ 9_d._; sweets (2), 1_s._
4_d._; cheese, 6_d._--18_s._ 6½_d._ Very excellent thick cream can be
had from the Gloucester Dairy Company, Gloucester, who send 16 oz. for
1_s._ postage paid. This is invaluable for méringues. The Gloucester
Dairy Company’s little Gloucester cheeses for 2_s._ 6_d._ are also very
useful for dinner-parties.
MENU NO. VI.
Almond Soup.
Salmon, Caper Sauce.
Beef Olives.
Grilled Mushrooms.
Saddle of Mutton.
Widgeon.
Tipsy Cake.
College Pudding.
Apple Jelly.
Macaroni Cheese.
Dessert.
_White Soup._--Two pounds of veal, two quarts of water, one onion,
quarter of a pint of cream, an ounce of butter, two dozen sweet almonds
pounded to paste, salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Boil the veal,
water, and onion slowly all the previous day, take off all the fat,
strain, add other ingredients, thicken with one pennyworth of arrowroot,
and serve very hot. 2_s._ 10_d._
_Salmon._--Three pounds, nicely boiled, plain melted butter; add a small
amount of liquor from a bottle of capers, a teaspoonful of the capers
chopped fine, and half a teaspoonful of lemon juice. Fish, 7_s._ 6_d._;
sauce, 6_d._
_Beef Olives._--One pound of beefsteak, cut in squares about three
inches and half an inch thick, chopped thyme and parsley, pepper and
salt sprinkled over the beef, roll each piece, place on small skewer,
stew in stock for an hour, thicken stock with a little flour and butter,
pour over the olives, and serve very hot. 1_s._ 2_d._
_Grilled Mushrooms._--Wipe a dozen mushrooms carefully, place on tin in
front of fire with a small piece of butter, salt and pepper to taste on
each, have ready twelve little pieces of toasted bread, and when done
put a mushroom on each piece; serve very hot. Outside cost, 2_s._ 6_d._
_Small Saddle of Mutton_ (_about 8 lbs._).--Currant jelly, potatoes put
through sieve after well boiling, stewed celery covered with melted
butter, currant jelly. Outside cost of all, 10_s._
_Widgeon._--Plainly roasted, sent in very hot with their own gravy,
lemon juice, and cayenne; potato shavings--potatoes to be cut in thin
strips, fried a light brown in boiling lard, then placed on blotting
paper to remove grease, placed in _hot_ vegetable dish and served. 3_s._
_Tipsy Cake._--Take a sixpenny Madeira cake, cut it in three rounds,
spread the rounds with raspberry jam, scoop out the middle of the top
slices, soak it in a quarter of a pint of sherry until tender; fill up
centre with preserved fruit, and cover with whipped cream. Outside cost,
2_s._
_College Pudding._--Butter a shape, stick it all round with split
raisins, line with brown cut from a sally lunn, cut the rest in slices,
and put it with a few ratifias and macaroons into the mould; beat two
eggs in enough milk to cover the pudding; add a tablespoonful of sugar,
cover it with a buttered paper and a cloth; boil it for an hour. Cost,
1_s._
_Apple Shape._--Two pounds of apples, boiled to a pulp in half a
teacupful of water, juice of one lemon, two ounces of sugar, half an
ounce of gelatine, soaked in quarter of a pint of water; mix well
together, and rub together through a hair sieve whilst hot; butter a
mould, pour in, leave until cold. Serve with custard made as
follows:--Quarter of a pint of milk, one egg, teaspoonful of corn-flour,
sugar to taste; bring the milk to boiling point, and add other
ingredients; stir until thick, remove from fire, set to cool; when cold
pour it over the shape. 10_d._
_Macaroni Cheese._--Quarter of a pound of macaroni, two ounces of
butter, three ounces of Cheddar cheese, pepper and salt to taste, half a
pint of milk, one pint of water, bread-crumbs. Boil the macaroni until
tender in the milk and water, sprinkle cheese and some of the butter
among it, then season with the pepper, and cover all with finely grated
bread-crumbs. Warm the rest of the butter and pour it over the
bread-crumbs; brown it before a fire, and serve very hot. Cost, 9_d._
Soup, 2_s._ 10_d._; fish, 8_s._; beef olives, 1_s._ 2_d._; mushrooms,
2_s._ 6_d._; mutton, 10_s._; widgeon, 3_s._; sweets, 3_s._ 10_d._;
cheese, 10_d._ Total cost, 1_l._ 12_s._ 2_d._
* * * * *
I think the receipts given above would form the nucleus for any amount
of moderate entertainment, but I may speak of two capital books which
would assist any young housekeeper, and which have done me so much good
I should be ungrateful not to mention them. One is Mrs. de Salis’s
‘Entrées à la Mode,’ published by Longmans at 1_s._ 6_d._, and the other
is Mrs. Beeton’s ‘Household Management,’ a 7_s._ 6_d._ book, but one no
mistress of a household should ever think of being without.
Though naturally invalids’ cooking does not come in properly when one
should be thinking of nothing but pleasant matters, cooking reminds me
of a valuable piece of information given to me by a friend, and at the
risk of being called to order I must just give one hint in regard to
beef-tea, the making of which is often very wasteful and tiring to an
invalid’s patience, and which can be made most successfully by taking a
nice juicy beefsteak and cutting off all the superfluous fat; then this
should be salted and peppered to taste, and floured on both sides; then
the bottom of a stew-pan should be covered with just enough water to
keep the meat from sticking, and the meat should be allowed to stew by
the side of the fire from one hour and a quarter, according to size. The
gravy is excellent rich beef-tea, while the steak itself is beautifully
tender and fit to be sent to table. One or two allspice berries put in
with the meat give a flavour of wine, and thus we have good pleasant
beef-tea for an invalid and luncheon for ourselves, with none of the
waste that often accompanies the making of what is all too often a
tasteless, greasy, and disagreeable compound.
Another dish for a convalescent is made by treating a chop in the same
way as a steak as regards the pepper, salt, and flour. It is then put on
a plate with a tablespoonful of water, covered with another plate
exactly the same size, and put into a slow oven for more than an hour.
When cooked, the top plate should be turned down to the bottom, so the
chop is hot to the last, and has not been disturbed, and is so tender
and thoroughly cooked it does not need masticating, and it is also so
nice that many clergymen are glad to find this ready for them after
leaving church, instead of the orthodox cold supper. It literally cooks
itself, and is therefore no trouble on Sundays; while for a country
doctor, whose hours are uncertain, and who all too often subsists on
either sodden or scorched-up food, it is a perfect dish, and should be
recollected by all those good housewives who are often enough at their
wits’ end to find something nice for the bread-winner when he returns
home after a long and fatiguing drive over country roads and open moors.
So, that I may not be utterly condemned for dragging in my invalids, I
will just mention that a very nice dish for a small evening party is
made by simply grating raw chestnuts up very finely into a dish, and
covering them thickly with whipped cream, sweetened and flavoured to
taste; while tins of American peaches, placed in a deep dish and
sweetened to taste and covered with good whipped cream, are also things
most useful to the country housewife, who is often called upon to
provide a good _extra_ dish in a hurry, despite her distance from shops
and the impossibility of getting anything decent in her village; while
Edwards’ desiccated soup is an excellent ‘standby’ in any country house,
for with its aid soup is always forthcoming; and with soup and a
pretty-looking sweet the simplest dinner may be made to pass off with
sufficient _éclat_ to satisfy a guest who may have been cajoled into
sharing pot-luck, despite the fact that the nearest butcher is four
miles off and that it is not the game season--a species of entertaining
most trying to any one, especially in the country, but which even there
can be faced with equanimity if we have sense, a few tinned provisions
in our store-cupboards, and a cook who does not become flurried and who
has her stockpot always going. A very good dinner can be extemporised by
adding some of Edwards’ desiccated soup to the ordinary soup; a
side-dish can be made from poached eggs on spinach, from tinned lobsters
made into cutlets, from any remains of cold meat made into croquettes;
while pancakes and tinned peaches and cream add sufficient variety to
whatever had been prepared for the late dinner, which can be
furthermore supplemented and helped out by some of the cooked cheese
prepared in one of the ways given in the menu receipts; but a welcome
must be forthcoming too, else no amount of dinner will make the
unexpected guest feel as if he were being entertained.
One last hint: always, unless you live in London, keep two or three new
toothbrushes and a clean brush and comb in the house; then, should your
guest be willing to remain until the next morning unexpectedly, you will
even be ready for that emergency, and will not have one tiny flaw left
to be found in your simple but most complete system of entertaining.