APRIL 81 



here, they found ox-tails were thrown away and were very 

 cheap. They immediately utilised them, and made the 

 excellent ox-tail soup which we use in England to this 

 day. The black cooks of America, I am told, never spoil 

 good materials, and they cook good things excellently. 

 The English have a peculiar gift for taking the taste out 

 of the best materials that are to be found in the world. 

 A few terrible tricks of the trade are answerable for a 

 good deal of this iron pots and spoons; soda thrown 

 into many things ; water poured over roasted meat for 

 gravy ; soups cleared with the white of eggs. This will 

 spoil the best soup in the world, not only taking away all 

 flavour of meat and vegetables, but supplying a taste 

 that is not unlike the smell of a dirty cloth. Of late, in 

 the effort to keep pace with foreign cooking, things 

 in England have grown too messy, and I sometimes 

 regret the real Old English dishes of my childhood. The 

 system of trying to make one thing look like another is 

 very objectionable, I think, and wanting in good taste. 

 But I must return to my maigre receipts. The details can 

 be found in ' Dainty Dishes.' 



Vol-au-vent au Maigre. Make a high Vol-au-vent 

 crust. Prepare some quenelles made of fish any white 

 fish would do (lemon-soles, whiting, haddock, gurnet, &c.) ; 

 some white bottled mushrooms preserved in salt, not 

 vinegar (this is most important) ; some small pieces of 

 boiled fish. Mix these together in a white sauce made of 

 butter, flour (slightly cooked first, but not coloured) ; then 

 add the milk, warm the whole together, and pour it into 

 the crust. 



A rather nice cake for luncheon can be made as 

 follows : Take three eggs, put them into the scale and 

 weigh against them three equal parts of flour, sugar, and 

 butter. Then break the eggs and put the yelks into a 

 basin, melt the butter, add the flour and sugar, and mix 



G 



