Frenchbeans "sautes."

The tomato.

Avoid overcooking.

Macaroni as a Food.

Yet this is the form in which tomato is most frequently served at foreign tables. Certainly, Talleyrand's well - known caution, "Point de sele" applies no less forcibly sometimes to professional cooks, than as a maxim for diplomatists.

It is to be lamented that so little use is made in our country of the Italian pastes, especially of macaroni in all its forms; and that rice, largely used as it is, is not so well cooked, and therefore not so highly appreciated among the upper and middle classes as it deserves to be.

The mention of macaroni conveys to nineteen out of twenty Englishmen, as it does also to our cooks, the idea of an indigestible mess, containing much toasted cheese and butter, well peppered and over-baked, which is sometimes served at the end of dinner as a "savoury" to complete the repast. In this form it ought rarely if ever to appear. Macaroni is, in fact, an aliment containing much nutritious matter when made from selected growths of hard wheat containing more gluten than the average grain used for bread. Such was the original practice when it was first produced, and doubtless still continues to be so for pastes of the best quality. The cheapest are probably made with ordinary wheat, and form therefore a good staple diet, especially if treated according to the methods given below. Most people, especially in summer, will find it a good substitute for the tough fibres of meat, particularly at lunch or midday meals, when their employments demand continuous attention during the whole of a long afternoon. To dine or to eat a heavy meal in the middle of the day is, for busy men, a great mistake: one nevertheless which is extremely common, and often productive of discomfort, to say the least. Macaroni might, with advantage to the public, and especially to those who are closely occupied between breakfast and dinner, be prepared at the restaurants as a staple dish, in two or three forms, since, if properly cooked, it sustains the power without taxing too much the digestion, or rendering the individual heavy, sleepy, and incompetent afterwards. Two or three of the best and simplest forms of serving it are embodied in the following receipts, which are the result of several experiments by different methods: Put four ounces of good macaroni (Genoa or Naples), as little broken as possible, into a saucepan with three or four pints of boiling water. Boil five minutes, not longer. Then pour off all the water, and place the macaroni in a stewpan with a pint of good stock made from beef or veal, or both (or from a well-furnished stock-pot), adding a saltspoon of salt and half that quantity of pepper, and let it simmer at the corner of the fire until the macaroni is tender, not soft and flabby. The time necessarily varies, according to the kind and size of the macaroni, e.g. fifty or sixty minutes for the best.

Macaroni.

Valuable form of food.

An excellent lunch for the busy.

Author's receipt for macaroni cooked in stock; "macaroni au jus."

Au jus and a l'Italienne.

Genoese, from thirty-five to forty-five minutes for Neapolitan. Its condition, however, should be tested by trying a small piece. Most of the stock is absorbed by the macaroni by this time; but that which remains, probably a fourth part of the original quantity, may be strengthened, if necessary, by half a teaspoonful of the genuine Liebig's Extract of Meat, and should be thickened by adding a little baked flour or brown roux (see p. 152).

The contents of the saucepan should be served on a hot dish, or a shallow vegetable dish, or in a white metal bowl, in any case with a cover. It may be also appropriately and agreeably garnished sometimes with tomato sauce. The foregoing constitutes macaroni au jus in the simplest form.

For those who can easily digest cheese and butter, an ounce of grated Parmesan, and perhaps half an ounce of good English cheese, may be added, gradually stirring well during the latter half of the process, towards the end of which a little pat of butter may be added, with a sprinkle of Parmesan over the dish when filled, before serving. The macaroni ought now to "spin" well, that is, delicate threads should extend from one portion to another when moved. Lastly, hot tomato sauce may be poured over it, or be supplied separately, since some prefer the macaroni without this addition. Serve on a hot dish provided with a cover. It is now a dish of macaroni a I'ltalienne.

If there is only a weak stock, chiefly made from bones, etc., in the stock - pot, use it, but add a rather larger portion of the Liebig's Extract. In such case, a little flour of lentils, well boiled to thicken the stock with, would be a suitable addition. The Liebig's Extract should never be added until the end of the process, and merely be well stirred in immediately after removing from the fire to serve. If, instead of stock, milk is used, an agreeable change may be made; and this form constitutes macaroni au maigre, the foregoing receipts being au gras. To prepare this, boil four ounces as before five minutes; drain and place in a stewpan with a pint of milk, simmering as above directed until sufficiently tender. Serve hot. Any milk remaining unabsorbed by the macaroni may be thickened with baked flour (white) or with a white roux. Flavour with a little cinnamon or vanilla, or otherwise to taste, and sweeten with sugar or saccharin, if desired. For those who prefer a savoury dish, and can take cheese and butter, a tablespoonful of grated Parmesan, and a small pat of the latter, should be gradually added, stirring it in during the latter part of the simmering process, according to the directions just given for macaroni a Italienne.

Another for "macaroni a I'ltalienne."

Of rice, the modes of cooking are endless, and yet few dishes are adopted here besides the well-known pudding with milk and sugar, with or without eggs; the moulds of boiled rice, variously treated, to be eaten with fruit; and rice rarely well prepared, for service with a curry. There is also no doubt that the boiled fowl and rice,poulet au riz, usually regarded as a convalescent's dish, might be easily rendered sufficiently attractive to merit the attention of others. As examples of nutritious, and at the same time very palatable savoury dishes, I will offer two examples, which might well be familiar dishes, at all events, on our breakfast and luncheon tables, viz. the risotto a la Milanaise and the pilau of the East. Varieties of the latter are common among all the populations dwelling adjacent to the Mediterranean, from Spain to the Levant. A dish of boiled rice being in some sort the culinary analogue in the vegetable kingdom, of veal and poultry in the animal, furnishing an insipid but wholesome basis, is well fitted to be the vehicle for producing innumerable flavours and odours, and even colours at the table, saffron, for example, and fruit juices; and is thus capable of furnishing various dishes, according to the treatment, and to the materials for addition, obtainable in different districts. As an example of this, I shall first describe the process of preparing that agreeable form, "red rice," to serve as a vegetable with boiled fowl, veal, or a mince, etc. Having washed about four ounces of Patna rice, put it into a saucepan containing a quart of boiling water with a little salt; stir with a wooden spoon, and in about ten to fifteen minutes ascertain if the rice has lost all hardness without being soft and the grains adhering. If so, empty the contents over a colander, and let all the water drain off; then return the rice to the hot saucepan, add a small pat of butter, about two or three tablespoonfuls of stock, and two of good Italian tomato sauce.* The saucepan is now to be put on a part of the hot plate, but not over the fire, and the contents should be merely kept stirring or "lifted" with the prongs of a silver fork for five minutes, so as to mix well and keep the rice grains separate, and prevent any portion being caught. Serve in a hot vegetable dish. Not only an excellent and appetizing garnish, it is also a delight to the eye. To make risotto a la Milanaise for two persons. - Put two ounces of fresh butter, with an onion chopped very fine, into a stewpan, and fry until the onion has a pale gold colour. Then add six ounces of well-washed Patna rice, with a very little powdered saffron, stirring it constantly for about two minutes with a wooden spoon, so that it does not stick to the stewpan; after this two minutes' cooking, add about a pint of good stock very gradually; let it simmer gently, stirring very frequently, till the rice is just soft; before it is quite finished, add an atom or two of grated nutmeg and an ounce or more, according to taste, of grated Parmesan cheese; after this, cook, stirring well for two or three minutes; then remove from the fire, set the stewpan on the hot plate, add a little more butter, cover for a few minutes, and serve. The quantity of stock or beef-tea can be varied according as the risotto is preferred thick or otherwise.

The same with milk "au maigre."