seasoned with white pepper and salt, and bake gently till very tender. Serve up, having browned the head with a salamander, put the mince under it, and the brains round it, with rashers, of broiled bacon.

To stew Lamb's Head.

In order to stew a lamb's head, wash and pick it very clean. Lay it in water for an hour, take out the brains, and with a sharp knife carefully extract the bones and the tongue; but be careful to avoid breaking the meat. Then take out the eyes. Take two pounds of veal and two pounds of beef suet, a very little thyme, a good piece of lemon peel minced, part of a nutmeg grated, and two anchovies. Having chop. ped all these well together, grate two stale rolls, and mix all with the yolks of four eggs. Save enough of this meat to make about twenty balls. Take half a pint of fresh mushrooms, clean peeled and washed, the yolks of six eggs chop ped, half a pint of oysters clean washed, or pickled cockles. Mix all together; but first stew your oysters, and put to them two quarts Of gravy, with a blade or two of mace. Tie the head with packthread, cover it close, and let it stew two hours. While this is doing, beat up the brains with some lemon peel cut fine, a little chopped parsley, a little grated nutmeg, and the yolk of an egg. Fry the brains in little cakes, in boiling dripping, and fry the balls, and keep them both hot. Take half an ounce of truffles and morels, and strain the gravy the head was stewed in. Put to it the truffles and morels, and a few mushrooms, and boil all together; then put in the rest of the brains that are not fried, and stew them together for a minute or two. Pour this over the head, lay the fried brains and balls round it, and garnish with lemon.

Lamb's Sweetbreads.

Blanch them, and put them a little while into cold water. Then put tnem into a stew-pan, with a ladlefnl of broth, some pepper and salt, a small bunch of small onions, and a blade of mace; stir in a bit of butter and flour, and stew half an hour. Have ready two or three eggs well beaten in cream, with a little minced parsley, and a few grates of nutmeg. Put in some boiled asparagus tops to the other things. Do not let it

boil after the cream is in: but make it hot, and stir it well all the while. Take great care it does not curdle. Young French beans or peas may be added, first boiled of a beautiful colour.

Hashed Lamb and broiled Blade-bone.

Cut the blade-bone from the shoulder of lamb, leaving a little meat upon it; score, pepper, and salt it; put it on a tartdish; pour over it a little oiled butter, and put it into the oven to warm through: cut the other part of the meat into neat collops; put a little coulis sauce into a stew-pan; make it hot, and add a little mushroom catsup, and half a spoonful of eschalot vinegar: put in the collops, set them by the side of a stove to get hot, but do not let them boil: take the blade-bone out of the oven; put it on a gridiron to brown, and put the hash on the dish, and the blade-bone on the middle of the dish.

Fricasseed Lambstones.

Skin and wash, then dry and flour them; fry of a beautiful brown, in hog's lard. Lay them on a sieve before the fire till you have made the following sauce: Thicken almost half a pint of veal-gravy, with a bit of flour and butter, ami then add to it a slice of lemon, a large spoonful of mushroom catsup, a tea-spoonful of lemon-pickle, a grate of nutmeg, and the yolk of an egg beaten well in two large spoonfuls of thick cream. Put this over the fire, and stir it well till it is hot, and looks white; but do not let it boil, or it will curdle. Then put in the fry, and shake it about near the fire for a minute or two. Serve in a very hot dish and cover.

Fricassee of Lambstones and Sweetbreads.

Have ready some lambstones blanched, parboiled, and sliced. Flour two or three sweetbreads: if very thick, cut them in two. Fry all together, with a few large oysters, of a fine yellow brown. Pour the butter off; and add a pint of good gravy, some asparagus tops about an inch long, a little nutmeg, pepper and salt, two shalots shred fine, and a glass of white wine. Simmer ten minutes; then put a little of the gravy to the yolks of three eggs well beaaten, and by degrees

mix the whole. Turn the gravy back into the pan, and stir it till of a fine thickness without boiling. Garnish with lemon.

Lami*' Rumps and Ears, brown.

Scald an equal number of each very clean; take a pint of veal stock, in which braise them till half done: take up the rumps, and having brushed them over with yolk of egg, strew with grated bread, and broil gently: stew the ears till the liquor is nearly reduced, and having now added coulis, stew till tender, and serve with the rumps round the ears and

sauce.

Lambs' Rumps and Ears, white.

Proceed as above directed; and when they are tender, and the liquor is nearly reduced, add a lcason of eggs, and

serve.

Lamb's Bits.

Skin the stones, and split them; then lay them on a dry cloth with the sweetbreads and the liver, and dredge them well with flour. Fry them in lard or butter till they are of a light brown, and then lay them in a sieve to drain. Fry a good quantity of parsley, lay your bits on the dish, the parsley in lumps over them, and pour round them melted butter.

Lambs' Feet, with Asparagus Peas.

It will take twelve lambs' feet to make a dish; they are scalded by the butcher; take the worm from between the hoof first, then loosen the skin and gristle from the shank bone, then put them on in cold water, let them boil until the shank bone will draw out without breaking the skin, then put them into a stew-pan, peel two lemons, cut them in slices, and put them over the lambs' feet to keep them white, add about half a pint of good stock, cover the feet over with slices of bacon, and paper over that; set the stew-pan on the stove to simmer very gently for half an hour, or until they are quite tender; when done put them aside till wanted: put the asparagus peas into a stew-pan with a little stock, put it on the stove to boil till reduced nearly to a glaze, add a little beshemell, and a little cream if not white enough; take the lambs' feet up, and lay them

on a clean cloth, then put them round the dish, put a little beshemell over the feet, and the asparagus peas in the middle: garnish either with paste or croutons.

A very nice Dish.

Take the best end of a neck of lamb, cut it into steaks, and chop each bone so short as to make the steaks almost round. Egg, and strew with crumbs, herbs, and seasoning; fry them of the finest brown; mash some potatoes with a little butter and cream, and put them into the middle of the dish raised high. Then place the edge of one steak on another with the small bone upward, all round the potatoes.

N. B. Directions for making pies of the different meats are given under the general head of savoury pies.

FISH.

Observations on dressing Fish.

THERE is no branch of cookery that requires greater nicety than the dressing of fish, and at the same time none for which so little instruction can be given. In the boiling of fish a minute or two only make3 a material difference. Done to a moment, it will come to table in its best state; if this point be at all exceeded it will be breaking to pieces, the pure flavour almost gone, and the fish, consequently, rendered indifferent food, if not absolutely spoiled as such. While, on the other hand, if it be underdone, it is uneatable.

A quick observation and constant practice are the only means of instruction to be relied on, to dress fish thoroughly well. Whatever is said here, therefore, upon this subject, must be considered as mere outline, not at all as meant for defined rules. Such, to be of real use, must be too tediously minute, either for a writer to undertake, or a reader to look The variations of size and kinds of fish are so nume

over.

rous, and make so essential a difference, where the time must be computed to a moment, that positive directions must be endless, or they could not be applicable.

The best way of dressing fish, and the wholeeomest manner of eating it, is to broil it; the next best, to boil it; and frying it, the worst.

If the fishmonger does not clean the fish, it is seldom very nicely done; but those in great towns wash it beyond what is necessary for cleaning, and by perpetual watering diminish the flavour. Those who know how to purchase fish may, by taking more at a time than they want for one day, often get it cheap and such kinds as will pot or pickle, or keep by being sprinkled with salt and hung up, or by being fried will serve for stewing the next day, may then be bought with advantage.

Fresh-water fish has often a muddy smell and taste, to take off which, soak it in strong salt and water alter it is nicely cleaned; or if of a size to bear it, scald it in the same; then dry and dress it.

When fish is to be fried or broiled, it must be wrapped in a nice soft cloth after it is well cleaned and washed.--When perfectly dry, wet with an egg, if for frying, and sprinkle the finest crumbs of bread over it; if done a second time with the egg and bread, the fish will look much better: then having a thick-bottomed frying-pan on the fire, with a large quantity of lard or dripping boiling hot, plunge the fish into it, and let it fry middlingly quick, till the colour is of a fine brown yellow, and it is judged ready. If it is done enough before it has Obtained a proper degree of colour, the cook should draw the pan to the side of the fire; carefully take it up, and either

upwards, and to be kept for

place it on a large sieve turned that purpose only, or on the under side of a dish to drain; and if wanted very nice, a sheet of cap paper must be put to receive the fish, which should look a beautiful colour, and all the crumbs appear distinct; the fish being free from all grease. The same dripping, with a little fresh, will serve a second time. Butter gives a bad colour; oil fries of the finest colour for those who will allow of the expense.

If fish is to be broiled, it must be seasoned, floured, and put on a gridiron that is very clean; which, when hot, should be rubbed with a bit of suet, to prevent the fish from sticking.