rumb it all over, taking care to keep in good shape. Do
all the same way, then put into a frying-pan a quarter of a pound of
lard or dripping, let it get hot, and put in the pieces, and saute (or
as we call it "_fry_") them a fine yellow brown. Serve very hot with a
border of mashed potatoes, or any garniture you fancy. Sauce piquant, or
not, as you please.

The above can be made with any kind of meat, poultry, game, fish, or
even vegetables; hard eggs, or potatoes, may be introduced in small
quantities, and they may be fried instead of sauteed (frying in the
French and strict sense, meaning as I need hardly say, entire immersion
in very hot fat). To _fry_ them you require at least two pounds of fat
in your pan.

Oysters or lobsters prepared as above are excellent.

Boileau says, "_Un diner rechauffe ne valut jamais rien_." But I think a
good French cook of the present day would make him alter his opinion.

Indeed Savarin quotes a friend of his own, a notable gourmand, who
considered spinach cooked on Monday only reached perfection the
following Saturday, having each day of the week been warmed up with
butter, and each day gaining succulence and a more marrowy consistency.

The only trouble I find in relation to this part of my present task is
the difficulty of knowing when to leave off. There are so many ways of
warming meats to advantage--and in every one way there is the suggestion
for another--that I suffer from an _embarras de richesse_, and have had
difficulty in selecting. Dozens come to my mind, blanquettes, patties,
curries, as I write; but as this is not, I have said, to be a recipe
book, I forbear. Of one thing I am quite sure: when women once know how
to make nice dishes of cold meat they will live well where they now live
badly, and for less money; and "hash" will be relegated to its proper
place as an occasional and acceptable dish.

CHAPTER XII.

ON FRIANDISES.

"Le role du gourmand finit avec l'entremets, et celui du friand
commence au dessert."--_Grimod de la Reyniere._

AMERICAN ladies, as a rule, excel in cake making and preserving, and I
feel that on that head I have very little to teach; indeed, were they as
accomplished in all branches of cooking as in making dainty sweet dishes
this book would be uncalled for.

Yet, notwithstanding their undoubted taste and ability in making
"_friandises_," it seems to me a few recipes borrowed from what the
French call _la grande cuisin