this
mixture, and brown them in the oven. Glaze them over with butter melted
and grated Parmesan; return one minute to the hottest part of the oven.
Serve very hot.

_Tomato Jelly._--Two pounds of tomatoes, half a grain of red pepper, and
two small shallots. Place them in a stewpan and boil till quite soft.
Melt half an ounce of gelatine in as little white stock as possible;
add this to the tomatoes, and strain; if not perfectly clear, clarify
with white of egg in the usual way. Mould, and serve with chopped aspic
round it. A little grated Parmesan may be sometimes sprinkled over it
for a change.

_Tomato Souffle._--Prepare some tomato pulp, taking care to boil it down
if too liquid; stir in the yolks of three eggs, then the whites well
beaten; salt to taste. Fill either a large souffle case or several small
ones. Bake in a hot oven till it rises very high and is set in the
centre; serve instantly.

_Spinach Fritters._--Boil the spinach till it is quite tender; drain,
press, and mince it fine; add half the quantity of grated stale bread,
one grate of nutmeg, and a _small_ teaspoonful of sugar; add a gill of
cream and as many eggs as will make a batter, beating the whites
separately; pepper and salt to taste. Drop a little from a spoon into
boiling lard; if it separates, add a little more crumb of bread; when
they rise to the surface of the fat they are done. Drain them, and serve
very quickly, or they will fall.

XXIII.

JELLIES.

In this country culinary skill seems to run to sweet rather than to
savory cooking; very few housekeepers but make excellent preserves and
cakes, yet the list of sweet dishes manufactured at home is very
limited; as soon as anything not in this category is required the
caterer is applied to, and he has his list of water-ices, cream-ices,
and meringues, with very little variation; sometimes, indeed, a new name
appears on the list, but it turns out to be some old friend with a new
garnish, or put in a different mould and given an alluring name. There
are many delicious sweet dishes not difficult to make when once the
processes of making jelly and of freezing are understood (and very many
who do not pretend to be good cooks are expert at these two things),
and others which do not require even that ability. To put a sweet dish
on the table, however, in perfection, especially if it be an iced one,
requires the utmost care and skill; the slightest carelessness in
packing a frozen pu