BISCUITS. SPONGE CAKE. WINE CAKES. 67

Abernethy biscuits may be made by adding caraway seeds and a very little sugar to the above.

For a Sponge-cake. Take half a pound of flour, three quarters of a pound of lump sugar powdered, and seven eggs, leaving out three of the whites; beat all well together, and add the rind of a lemon grated on some of the sugar before it is pounded. Bake in a mould, and in a quick oven.

For Naples biscuits. Put a quarter of a pint of water, two spoonfuls of orange-flower water, and half a pound of fine sugar into a saucepan, and let it boil till the sugar be melted; then pour it upon four eggs well beaten, stirring the whole as fast as possible while the syrup is poured in. Continue beating it well till cold; then stir in half a pound of flour. Make clean white paper into moulds of the proper size for the biscuits, pour the batter into them, and put them on tins to bake; sift fine sugar on, and set them in a brisk oven, taking great care that they are not scorched.

For Wine cakes. Mix two pounds of flour, one pound of sugar, and one ounce of caraway seeds, with four eggs, and a few spoonfuls of water to make a stiff paste; roll it thin, cut the cakes in any shape, and bake them on floured tins. While baking, boil half a pound of sugar in half a pint of water to a thin syrup; and, while both are hot, dip each cake into it. Put them into the oven on tins,

to dry for a short time; and when the oven is cool put them in again, and let them remain in four or five hours.

For a Pound cake. Take two pounds of flour, one pound of butter, one pound of sugar, one pound of currants, a little cream, lemon-peel, mace, and cinnamon; first rub the butter in the flour, then put in the cream, a little yeast, and five eggs, and set it to rise; when risen enough add the other ingredients. Bake in a tin lined with paper well buttered.

For Ratafia drops.

Blanch and beat four ounces of bitter and two ounces of sweet almonds with a little rose-water, a pound of sifted sugar, the whites of two eggs well beaten, and a tablespoonful of flour. Drop this mixture so as to form balls about the size of a nutmeg, and bake them on wafer paper.

For Macaroons. Blanch four ounces of sweet almonds, and pound them with four spoonfuls of orange-flower water; whisk the whites of four eggs to a froth, then mix them, and a pound of sugar sifted, with the almonds, to a paste; and, laying a sheet of wafer-paper on a tin, put the paste on in different moulds, or cut into little cakes, the shape of macaroons.

Gâteau d'Avranches. Grate one pound of loaf sugar to a fine powder, and add it to the yolks of fourteen eggs. Beat them well together for half

an hour, and then add the juice of two lemons, some orange-flower water, and half a pound of potato flour. In the mean time another person must beat the whites of the fourteen eggs for half an hour or more till they look like snow, as, should any liquid remain, it will spoil the cake completely. Put this snow to the yolks, and beat the whole together for ten minutes; then pour the whole quickly into a mould that has been well buttered before the fire, and put it directly into an oven, which must be hot, but not quite so much so as for bread; three quarters of an hour will bake it.

For Gingerbread. Put into a Maslin kettle half a pound of fresh butter and three quarters of a pound of treacle, and keep them on the fire, stirring them together, till they are melted and thoroughly incorporated. In the mean time mix half a pound of moist sugar with two pounds of flour and three quarters of an ounce of ginger, and pour the treacle and butter quite hot on the flour, sugar, and ginger; work the whole well together, and when almost cold roll the paste out, and cut it into cakes. Bake them in rather a slow oven. If it is wished to have the gingerbread very rich, only half the quantity of flour must be used; and the paste, which is rolled very thin, is cut into squares. This kind of gingerbread is called Parliament.

LETTER V.

IMPROMPTU COOKERY. SOUPS. POULTRY. — PIGEONS. GAME. SALADS OF COLD MEAT AND POTATOES. - -MODES OF DRESSING POTATOES AND CARROTS. SAUCES. OMELETTES, CREAMS, AND SIDE DISHES. MISCELLANEOUS COOKERY.-NATIONAL COOKERY. THE FRENCH POT-AUFEU. ITALIAN MACARONI. — GERMAN SAUER KRAUT. — POLISH BARSCH. SPANISH OLLA PODRIDA AND PUCHERO. - SCOTCH HAGGIS, BARLEY BROTH, AND HOTCH-POTCH. ENGLISH PLUM-PUDDING.

THE anxiety you express to see my promised hints on cookery has induced me to send them to you without waiting till I had finished all that I have to say of the servants' offices of your house; and you will observe that I shall first confine myself to what may be styled Impromptu Cookery, or cookery for the country, in contradistinction to cookery in towns; my principal aim being to enable you to have a nice little dinner ready in a short time on any emergency, without keeping an expensive table in ordinary. I have already advised you always to have a supply of salted meat in the house; but this is not enough, as a single dish of meat with vegetables and pudding, though quite sufficient as far as regards

mere eating, does not form such a dinner as your husband would like to see on his table, if he were to bring a friend home unexpectedly. If, however, you are able to give them a well-flavoured soup, and two or three nicely cooked made-dishes to support the joint, (or pièce de résistance, as the French call it,) you have at once a dinner that is not expensive, and yet gives an air of elegance and refinement to the table.

I suspect indeed it would be a good plan to have several dishes on your table every day, whether you have company or not. It is not more expensive; for made dishes, by employing more vegetable matter, actually save the consumption of solid meat and it is certainly more wholesome, as the stomach will more easily digest food of several kinds than a dinner taken from a single dish. The French know this perfectly well; and hence, however heartily a Frenchman may eat, he is scarcely ever troubled with indigestion, while many English people find indigestion the misery of their lives. "The Frenchman," says a writer on Domestic Economy, "begins his dinner with light soup, and successively disposes of his four dishes and his dessert. The whole quantity that he has eaten is, however, much less than the Englishman's meal from his single joint, and he experiences no inconvenience. In eating of a number of dishes, a little of each, the imagination