8 MORE POT-POURRI 



of flattery that ran through dozens of the letters was 

 expressive of the writers' regret that they had not 

 written ^Pot-Pourris' of their own, proving the general 

 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 ex- 

 travagant directions for making consommd 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 estab- 

 lishments, 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 gen- 

 erally 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 

 ' Cornhill,' 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 



