294 THE HOUSEHOLD, 



Oyster Loaf. — Cut a ronnd piece five inches across from tli« top of & 

 nicely-baked round loaf of bread; remove the crumbs, leaving the crust 

 half an inch thick; make a rich oyster stew and put it in the loaf in layei-s, 

 sprinkled with bread crumbs; place the cover over the top, cover the loaf 

 with the beaten yelk of an egg and put it in the oven to glaze; serve very hot. 



Sauce Piqwante for Fisli.—Make a brown sauce by frying a chopped 

 onion in a little butter, adding a large teaspoouful of flour and a tumbler of 

 stock. Simmer a little, strain, and put in a teaspoouful of vinegar, one of 

 chopped cucumber pickle, and one of capers. 



Fisli Sauce.- Take half a pint of milk and cream together, two eggs, 

 well beaten, salt, a little pepper, and the juice of half a lemon; jnit it over 

 the fire, and stir it constantly until it begins to thicken. 



Vegetables. 

 Boiling Potatoes. — To boil a potato well requires more attention than 

 is usually given. They shoiild be well washed and left standing in cold 

 water an hour or two, to remove the black liquor with which they are im- 

 pregnated, and a brackish taste they would otherwise have. They should 

 not be pared before boiling; they lose much of the starch by so doing, and 

 are made insipid. Put them into a kettle of clear cold water, with a little 

 salt, cover closely, and boil rapidly, using no more water than will just cover 

 them, as they produce a considerable quantity of fluid themselves while 

 boiling, and too much water will make them heavy. As soon as just done 

 instantly pour off rtio M'ater, set them back on the range, and leave the cover 

 off the saucei^an till the steam has evaporated. They will then, if a good 

 kind, be dry and mealy. This is an Irish receipt, and a good one. 



Snap Bean i ami Po<atoe5 — Snap some beans and parboil them; then 

 pour into a colander and let the water drain off. Take several potatoes, 

 peel, and cut into small pieces; put into a saucepan a spoonful of lard and 

 an onion cut up small, the potatoes, and last, the snap beans. If you have 

 any beef broth, pour just enough into the skillet to cover the beans; if not, 

 use boiling water; season with salt and pepper; let it boil till the potatoes 

 are done. Should there be any broth, pour it off; add a piece of butter the 

 size of a walnut and dredge a little flour over the beans; mix thoroughly by 

 stining, and let it simmer a few miniites longer, then remove from the fire. 



To Cook Asparagufl. — Scrape the stalks till they are clean; throw them 

 into a pan of cold water, tie them up in bundles of about a quarter of a 

 hundred each; cutoff the stalks at the bottom all of a length, leaving enough 

 to serve as a handle for the green part; put them into a stew pan of boiling 

 water, with a handful of salt in it. Let it boil and skim it. When they are 

 tender at the .stalk, which will bo in from twenty to thirty minutes, they are 

 done enough. Watch the exact time of tlieir becoming tender; take them 

 up that instant. While the asparagus is boiling, toast a slice of bread about 

 half an inch thick; brown it delicately on both sides; dip it lightly in the 

 liquor the asparagus was boiled in, and lay it in the middle of a dish; melt 

 some butter, but do not put it over them. Serve with butter. 



Asparagus AvltU Egg*i. — Tlxis dainty luncheon-dish is made of what- 

 ever asparagus may be left over from the previous day. Supposing thero 



