These form one of the principal ingredients to summer salads; they
should be blanched, and be eaten young. They are seldom served in any
other way, but may be stewed and sent to table in a good brown gravy
flavoured with lemon-juice. In preparing them for a salad, carefully
wash them free from dirt, pick off all the decayed and outer leaves,
and dry them thoroughly by shaking them in a cloth. Cut off the stalks,
and either halve or cut the lettuces into small pieces. The manner
of cutting them up entirely depends on the salad for which they are
intended. In France, the lettuces are sometimes merely wiped with
a cloth and not washed, the cooks there declaring that the act of
washing them injuriously affects the pleasant crispness of the plant:
in this case scrupulous attention must be paid to each leaf, and the
grit thoroughly wiped away. _Average cost_, when cheapest, 1_d._ each.
_Sufficient._—Allow 2 lettuces for 4 or 5 persons. _Seasonable_ from
March to the end of August, but may be had all the year.
LEVERET, to Dress a.
_Ingredients._—2 leverets, butter, flour. _Mode._—Leverets should be
trussed in the same manner as a hare, but they do not require stuffing.
Roast them before a clear fire, and keep them well basted all the time
they are cooking. A few minutes before serving, dredge them lightly
with flour, and froth them nicely. Serve with plain gravy in the dish,
and send to table red-currant jelly with them. _Time._—½ to ¾ hour.
_Average cost_, in full season, 4_s._ each. _Sufficient_ for 5 or 6
persons. _Seasonable_ from May to August, but cheapest in July and
August.
LIAISON OF EGGS, for Thickening Sauces.
_Ingredients._—The yolks of 3 eggs, 8 tablespoonfuls of milk or cream.
_Mode._—Beat up the yolks of the eggs, to which add the milk, and
strain the whole through a hair-sieve. When the liaison is being added
to the sauce it is intended to thicken, care must be exercised to keep
stirring it during the whole time, or, otherwise, the eggs will curdle.
It should only just simmer, but not boil.