1. OXTAIL Soup.

JANUARY 9

'Good silence is near holiness.'

2. MUTTON PIE A LA PERIGORD.

3. POTATOES AND BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 4. ROAST CHEESE.

1. Oxtail Soup.-Cut up 2 fresh oxtails, separating them at the joints; wash, and put in a stewpan with 1 oz. of butter and 2 slices of ham; cut into slices 3 onions, 1 leek, 2 turnips, 2 carrots, I head of celery, and add them, with 12 whole peppercorns, a bay-leaf, I bunch of savoury herbs, and 4 cloves; put in pint of water and stir it over a sharp fire till the juices are drawn. Fill up the stewpan with 2 quarts and 1 pints of water, and when boiling, add 1 table-spoonful of salt. Skim well, and simmer till the tails are tender (about four hours). Take them out, skim and strain the soup, thicken with flour, and flavour with port wine and ketchup. Put back the tails, simmer for five minutes, and serve. If the tails are not quite fresh, the soup will be milky.

2. Mutton Pie à la Perigord.-Cut the fat off half a dozen mutton chops, and season them with pepper and salt. Line the bottom of a pie-dish with paste about the tenth of an inch thick ; put 5 peeled truffles in the centre, and arrange the chops, with thin rashers of bacon between them, round the dish; 2 oz. of butter cut into thin slices are placed at the top, anda tea-cupful of veal stock poured in. Cover with paste, and bake for three hours in a slow oven; make a small orifice in the top crust, and pour in a couple of glasses of brown sherry or Madeira. The top of the pie can be rendered ornamental if desired, and glazed with egg.

3. Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts.-Clean the sprouts from insects, wash thoroughly, and pick off any dead or discoloured leaves; put them in a saucepan of boiling water (to each gallon of water put a large tablespoonful of salt and a little soda); keep the lid off and boil quickly over a brisk fire till tender, which will be about twelve minutes. Serve with melted butter quickly, as the vegetable soon cools.

4. Roast Cheese.-Grate 3 oz. of fat Cheshire cheese; mix it with the yolks of 2 eggs, 4 oz. of grated bread, and 3 oz. of butter; beat the whole well in a mortar, with a dessert-spoonful of mustard, and a little salt and pepper. Toast some bread, cut it into proper pieces; lay the paste as above thick upon 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.

JANUARY 10.

"To choose time is to save time; and an unseasonable motion is but beating

1. WHITE Soup.

2. CORNED SHOULDER OF
MUTTON.

the air.'-BACON.

3. MASHED POTATOES.

4. BROCCOLI.

5. NESSELRODE PUDDING.

1. White Soup.-Take 1 quart of veal broth, and flavour it with nutmeg, lemon-peel, bay-leaf, etc., to the taste preferred. Strain very carefully into a stewpan, and let it boil; then put in 1 oz. of sago, and boil gently for twenty minutes. Skim well. Take the yolks of 4 eggs; beat well; add to them a gill of cream or milk; take the stewpan off the fire; stir in the eggs and cream quickly, and serve.

Note.-Care must be taken not to allow the eggs to boil, or the soup will be curdled and spoilt.

2. Corned Shoulder of Mutton.-A shoulder of mutton, not too fat, well powdered with salt for four days, boiled, and sent to table with plenty of onion sauce, is the thing.

5. Nesselrode Pudding.-Put a pint of new milk, 1 oz. best isinglass, 2 inches of stick vanilla, 5 oz. loaf sugar, into an enamelled saucepan, and boil gently for ten minutes. Beat the yolks of 6 fresh eggs into the milk while hot, but not boiling; stir over the fire till at boiling heat, then strain into a basin. Cut into inch squares 4 oz. preserved pineapple, 1 oz. of angelica, 2 oz. of candied apricots without stones, 2 oz. of candied cherries, 2 oz. of orange peel, and 1 oz. of ginger; pour over the fruit a wine-glassful of either Curaçoa, brandy, or Maraschino, and let it stand half an hour. Beat a pint of double cream to froth, stir it into the custard when nearly cold, put in the fruit, and stir it rapidly for five minutes. Rinse a mould in cold water; put in the pudding, and place it in a pan on and surrounded by rough ice. Stir till it begins to set, to prevent the fruit sinking to the bottom. Let it remain till quite firm, turn it on a glass dish, and serve immediately.

JANUARY 11.

"The wise and prudent conquer difficulties by daring to attempt them.'-Rowe.

1. HAUNCH OF MUTTON.

2. STEWED CELERY.

3. MASHED POTATOES.

4. BROCCOLI.

5. MARMALADE PUDDING.

1. Haunch of Mutton.-Order a haunch of South Devon mutton that has been kept some days, and let the butcher trim it for dressing; rub

it well with a coarse cloth, and dredge it with flour; tie it in large sheets of white paper, spread thickly with sweet dripping. Have a good fire; hang it near for the first half hour, then at a distance; roast slowly till done; baste constantly; if liked well done, it will take eighteen minutes to the lb. ; if not, from ten to fourteen minutes. Take off the paper twenty minutes before serving; dredge slightly with baked flour, and baste with 2 oz. of dissolved butter; pour off the dripping; add a tea-cupful of boiling water and a salt-spoonful of salt to the dripped gravy, and pour it into a hot well-dish; put the haunch on, broad side uppermost, and serve at once. Have red currant jelly on a glass

dish.

2. Stewed Celery.-Celery is in season from October to April. To each gallon of water put 1 large table-spoonful salt; thoroughly wash and trim 6 heads of celery, and boil them: if large heads, they take about twenty-five minutes; smaller ones, quarter of an hour to twenty minutes, to be tender. Put pint of cream in a stewpan with a blade of pounded mace; shake it over the fire till the cream thickens; dish the celery, pour over the sauce, and serve.

5. Marmalade Pudding.-Mix lb. suet, finely chopped, with do. bread-crumbs in a basin, lb. marmalade, and do. sugar; stir well together; beat 4 eggs to a froth, and gradually mix well with the ingredients; put in a mould or buttered basin; tie down with floured cloth, and boil for two hours. When turned out, strew fine sifted sugar over the top. This pudding will look very pretty if stoned raisins are tastefully arranged before the mixture is poured in.

JANUARY 12.

'God causes the good woman's purpose to prosper.'

I. BAKED Soles.

2. SCOTCH Brose.

3. VEGETABLES.
4. CRULLARS.

1. Baked Soles.-Clean the sole, and lay in a cloth to dry as if for frying. Take it from the cloth, and rub it over with softened but not liquid butter; then dip the fish in a beaten egg, and draw it through bread-crumbs till well covered; let it remain a little while, then put on a few more crumbs; put a little butter in a flat dish or baking tin, and allow it to melt; place the fish in it, and bake it in a moderate oven. It will take about twenty minutes. If not nicely browned in the oven, use a salamander, or if you have not one, make the kitchen shovel red hot and carefully brown it. Send to table on a napkin, and

garnish with sliced lemon and fried parsley. Anchovy sauce or plain butter can be served if approved, but the fish is excellent without either.

2. Scotch Broth.-Take a neck of mutton, with the fat raised from off the best end. Cut off the scrag end, and divide it into several pieces to make the broth. Let it boil gently a couple of hours, skimming well. Then add sliced carrots, onions, turnips, celery, a sprig of parsley, pepper and salt, a tea-spoonful of split peas, and six tablespoonfuls of pearl barley, both previously steeped in tepid water.

4. Crullars.-Rub 6 oz. of butter with ground nutmeg to taste into lb. of sifted sugar; beat 4 eggs, whites and yolks separately; add 1 lbs. of flour, and make into a light paste; roll it into a sheet half an inch thick, cut it into long narrow strips, twist them into fanciful forms, and fry them of a light brown in lard. Care must be taken to put them into the lard when boiling, and a deep pan full of the fat be used, or the crullars will be greasy.

JANUARY 13.

The true philosopher's stone is to have means, and not to spend injudiciously.'

1. MULLIGATAWNY SOUP.

2. BOILED TURKEY AND SAUSAGES. 3. CELERY SAUCE.

4. PLUM-PUDDING.

5. CUSTARDS IN GLASSES (BRIGHT'S VEGETABLE ARE THE BEST).

1. Mulligatawny Soup.-Parboil, in 2 quarts of water, a couple of fowls or rabbits; cut the meat off the bones, put these and the livers into the water; add a couple of shalots chopped fine, 2 tea-spoonfuls of powdered mace and salt, and a salt-spoonful of soluble Cayenne pepper; let the bones, etc., boil for an hour and a quarter over a slow fire. Cut 4 moderate-sized onions into thin slices, and fry them with the meat in fresh butter till they are properly browned. When the broth has been on the time directed, skim it carefully, strain it through a fine sieve, and put in the meat and onion, and let all simmer for five-andtwenty minutes; rub together a table-spoonful of fine flour, and an equal quantity of curry powder; stir these by degrees, and after ten minutes more slow simmering, the soup will be ready for table.

2. Boiled Turkey and Sausages.-Carefully pluck the bird, and singe the hair with lighted paper, being careful not to burn or blacken the skin. Then draw it, and wipe the inside clean. Cut off the legs at the first joints, and draw the sinews; then pull down the skin, and push the legs inside. Cut off the head close to the body, leaving the skin

long; then draw out the crop. Make a stuffing of suet, bread-crumbs, and parsley, chopped fine; add pepper, salt, lemon-peel, and a little nutmeg, and then mix with two eggs, well beaten, and sufficient milk (if required) to wet the whole. The stuffing is to be placed lightly in the breast, so as to leave room for swelling; and the skin is then drawn over it, and sewn neatly across the back. Place the liver in one wing, and the gizzard in the other; turn the wing on to the back, and fix them with a skewer. Have ready a deep kettle of boiling water; put in the bird, let the water boil two minutes, and then reduce the temperature. A turkey, according to its size and age, will take from an hour and a half to two hours and a half; but if very large and old, three hours. Be careful not to let it boil fast, and to keep the turkey covered by adding hot water from time to time. When done, place breast upwards, on a large hot dish, and pour a little sauce over it.

3. Celery Sauce-for boiled turkey. Wash and cut into small pieces. 2 heads of fine white celery; put it into 1 pints of new milk, and simmer (about an hour) till quite tender. Then rub it through a fine sieve, beat the yolks of 4 eggs with a gill of thick cream; mix all together, stir over a gentle fire for five or six minutes till the sauce thickens; put the fowl on a hot dish, pour pint over the breast, and put the rest in a sauce tureen.

4. Plum-pudding. A good plum-pudding without any eggs. Mix well together 6 oz. currants, do. raisins, lb. flour,

lb. brown sugar, lb., and mashed

lb. chopped suet. Have ready, of mashed carrot potatoeslb.; stir them with the currants, etc. ; then add 1 oz. candied citron, do. of candied lemon-peel, and 1 table-spoonful of treacle. Do not put any liquid whatever in, or it will spoil it. If put in a basin, do not fill it, as it must have room to swell; if in a cloth, tie it loosely, and boil it for four hours. It is better to mix this pudding the day before. Serve with brandy sauce.

JANUARY 14.

'Her worth shines forth the brightest, who in hope
Always confides: The abjeci soul despairs.'-EURIPIDES.

1. COCK-A-LEEKIE. 2. BROCCOLI.

3. MASHED POTATOES.

4. REGENT'S PUDDING AND SAUCE.

1. Cock-a-leekie.-Boil from 4 to 6 lbs. of good shin beef, well broken, till the liquor is very good. Strain it, and put it to a capon or large fowl trussed as for boiling; and when it boils, half the quantity of