Hors d’CEuvres, however, do not give much trouble to the cook, for they are all ready prepared when bought, and need only to be delicately sliced, freed, if necessary, from oil, and tastefully garnished with little bunches of cress or parsley. If a variety is liked the Hors d’CEuvres are generally placed in a special dish divided into compartments. But a simpler and better way is to cut a small canape of stale bread, and after spreading it with some suitable fancy butter, to arrange upon it strips of filleted anchovy and olive, or fish-roe and gherkin or capsicum, or any similar combination. Garnish with powdered yolk of egg or ham. Only a mouthful is required, and only a couple of savoury morsels which harmonise well with each other should be used. The canapes should be quite small ; either oblongs two inches long and one and a half broad, or little rounds the size of a five-shilling piece. Either white or brown bread can be used, but it must be stale and cut very thin. Place one canape in each plate. The fashionable and elaborate canapes designed in variegated patterns of six or seven colours, and offering six or seven different flavours, should be strictly avoided. Instead of using canapes of bread the Hors d’CEuvres can be served in little pastry saucers baked in oval patty-pans two and a half inches long, and filled with raw rice till cold. Or little hollow croustades may be used. For these : Cut out of stale bread pieces two inches square, and half an inch thick ; in the centre of each stamp with a pastry cutter a circle an inch and a half across, pressing the cutter down quite a quarter of an inch deep. Fry a pale golden colour in butter, drain, dry, and when the croustades are cold pick out the hollow marked by the cutter, using the point of a small, sharp knife. Either of these cases is suitable for olives farcies, or turned olives. TOASTS AND SAVOURIES. Savouries are much more appreciated and much more care- fully prepared than they used to be. Sir Henry Thompson observes in Food and Feeding, page 185, that “ the palate must TOASTS AND SAVOURIES 5io “ be rendered dean — prepared to rest — by the delicate savoury “ morsel which terminates the menu." Savouries can be served in infinite variety, and in this way a cook, by the exercise of a little forethought, can turn many fragments into tempting morsels — fragments which a stupid person would look on as altogether useless. I wonld again uige that variety of colour should he avoided. Savouries are made to eat and not to look at, to gratify the palate and not to startle the eye by gaudy colours which can hut cause a thought of the amount of fingering required to produce them. Toasts are amongst the most useful of Savouries. The great point is to serve them as hot as possible. If toast is used it must he very carefully made, not scorched and not smoked, hut evenly browned all over. Such toast must he served the moment the savoury mixture is spread upon it, or it will become spongy. Many people who have good teeth prefer crisp slices of bread three inches long by two broad, or rounds of bread three inches across, fried in good butter to a bright golden tint. Whether the bread is toasted or fried it must be served without waiting a moment. The mixture should be previously pre- pared, kept hot, spread on the toast the instant it is ready, and sent to table at once.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Hors d’CEuvres, however, do not give much trouble to the cook, for they are all ready prepared when bought, and need only to be delicately sliced, freed, if necessary, from oil, and tastefully garnished with little bunches of cress or parsley. If a variety is liked the Hors d’CEuvres are generally placed in a special dish divided into compartments. But a simpler and better way is to cut a small canape of stale bread, and after spreading it with some suitable fancy butter, to arrange upon it strips of filleted anchovy and olive, or fish-roe and gherkin or capsicum, or any similar combination. Garnish with powdered yolk of egg or ham. Only a mouthful is required, and only a couple of savoury morsels which harmonise well with each other should be used. The canapes should be quite small ; either oblongs two inches long and one and a half broad, or little rounds the size of a five-shilling piece. Either white or brown bread can be used, but it must be stale and cut very thin. Place one canape in each plate. The fashionable and elaborate canapes designed in variegated patterns of six or seven colours, and offering six or seven different flavours, should be strictly avoided. Instead of using canapes of bread the Hors d’CEuvres can be served in little pastry saucers baked in oval patty-pans two and a half inches long, and filled with raw rice till cold. Or little hollow croustades may be used. For these : Cut out of stale bread pieces two inches square, and half an inch thick ; in the centre of each stamp with a pastry cutter a circle an inch and a half across, pressing the cutter down quite a quarter of an inch deep. Fry a pale golden colour in butter, drain, dry, and when the croustades are cold pick out the hollow marked by the cutter, using the point of a small, sharp knife. Either of these cases is suitable for olives farcies, or turned olives. Savouries are much more appreciated and much more carefully prepared than they used to be. Sir Henry Thompson observes in Food and Feeding, page 185, that “ the palate must 5io “ be rendered dean — prepared to rest — by the delicate savoury “ morsel which terminates the menu." Savouries can be served in infinite variety, and in this way a cook, by the exercise of a little forethought, can turn many fragments into tempting morsels — fragments which a stupid person would look on as altogether useless. I would again urge that variety of colour should be avoided. Savouries are made to eat and not to look at, to gratify the palate and not to startle the eye by gaudy colours which can but cause a thought of the amount of fingering required to produce them. Toasts are amongst the most useful of Savouries. The great point is to serve them as hot as possible. If toast is used it must be very carefully made, not scorched and not smoked, but evenly browned all over. Such toast must be served the moment the savoury mixture is spread upon it, or it will become spongy. Many people who have good teeth prefer crisp slices of bread three inches long by two broad, or rounds of bread three inches across, fried in good butter to a bright golden tint. Whether the bread is toasted or fried it must be served without waiting a moment. The mixture should be previously prepared, kept hot, spread on the toast the instant it is ready, and sent to table at once.

Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book