8 MORE POT-POURRI 



truth of how easy everything is if we only take the 

 trouble to do it. 



The cooking receipts caused panic in some minds and 

 indignation in others. One poor bachelor told his house- 

 keeper to try the receipt in ' Pot-Pourri ' for making a soup. 

 She happened to hit upon the French chefs extravagant 

 directions for making consomm& and, horrified by the 

 numberless pounds of beef recommended, said : ' Really, 

 sir, it would be far cheaper to have down a quantity 

 of tinned soups from the Stores ! ' Another careful 

 mistress of her own house complained very much of 

 different meats amounting to six pounds being used 

 for one pie. But in her case the household consisted of 

 one thin brother and two thinner maids. My receipts, of 

 course, were jumbled together for big and little establish- 

 ments, to be used at the discretion of the housewife. A 

 French lady writes that I make a mistake in thinking 

 that it is usual in France to baste chickens with butter, 

 and that they are much better done with the fat of. 

 bacon, or suet, or even common lard. I myself generally 

 roast chickens with butter, and find that people like them 

 very much. But of course only fresh butter must be 

 used ; never that horror called ' cooking butter.' It is 

 true that basting them with the fat of good bacon does 

 make them a better colour. 



In a most humorous article from that delightful 

 writer of the ' Pages from a Private Diary ' in the ' Corn- 

 hill ' there were several funny allusions to my book. I 

 quote the following as a specimen : ' While " doing" my 

 Michaelmas accounts this morning, I found that the 

 butter book (for we use Tom's dairy) was half as much 

 again as last quarter, and the reason given by the respon- 

 sible Eugenia is that Mrs. Earle protests against economy 

 in butter. On referring to the passage I find that she 

 suggests instead an economy in meat, and I pointed this 



