300 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
hind legs are taken, skinned, and the claws twisted together, 
in which form they resemble appetizing little lamb cutlets. “ It 
is absolutely impossible,” says a French gourmet, “to bring 
on an indigestion by Frogs, no matter what quantity you eat.” 
The edible portions should first be thrown into plenty of fresh 
cold water to blanch ; next they should be drained, and dried ; 
then put to soak awhile in white of eggs (well beaten up); now 
powder them over with flour, and finally fry them in plenty of 
fine olive oil until they are crisp as “the Whitebait of the 
Minister, that treasure of the sea,”’ and until the bones have 
become changed into something so rich and strange, that they 
melt in the mouth. Add a lemon, red pepper, brown bread, 
and butter, to complete the “ loaves and fishes ” illusion, and 
say if a “ fricasee de grenouilles’” be not much easier to eat than 
to pronounce, and a species of “ small deer ”’ by no means to be 
abandoned to poor Tom. You can devil them, too, if you like, 
and they make a tip-top curry, or they fry well in batter, or 
you may stew them in butter, and white wine, with parsley, 
and garlic enough to swear by, chopped up fine. But no matter 
how they be cooked, they are very pretty eating, and make a 
delicious entrée, more tender than the youngest chicken, and 
still with a flavour, and a velvety texture all their own. The 
Frog which is eaten lives chiefly on insects, so that really for 
the table it is considerably cleaner than the pig. There is a 
painful French proverb, ‘‘ IJ n’y a pas de grenouille qui ne trouve 
son crapaud,” and it has a dreadful double-edged explanation. 
It means “ there is no girl so ugly that she cannot find a more 
repulsive husband.’’ We have rhymed this saying in a much 
prettier way, as “ Froggy would a wooing go,” when “ a lily-white 
duck came and gobbled him up; etc.” But ugly, or not, Froggy 
eats well, as we shall all probably acknowledge some day. In 
seeking for Frogs the French peasants often meet with toads, 
which they do not reject, but prepare them in a similar manner. 
As for the rest of the Frog’s body (besides the legs), and the skin, 
so sticky, and slimy, what is done therewith 2 Why, they make 
turtle-soup of the same! Yes, the savoury mock turtle over 
which gourmands lick their lips, has for its chief foundation the 
amphibians which haunt the marshes and fields of Luxembourg. 
_ In Kitchen Physic we have explicitly told how the flesh of Frogs 
1s good against coughs, and such as are hectick. Broths made 
thereirom are restorative, and anti-scorbutic, being prescribed 
