A year's cookery

Dinner. — Skate with Brown Butter Sauce (February 12th); Boiled Aitchbone of Beef (February 23rd); Mashed Turnips (September 30th) ; Carrots (July 6th) ; Potatoes (April 7tli) ; Apple Gateau (September 24th) ; Cheese (June 8th). Things that must not be Forgotten. 1. Partially prepare the rice and barley porridge for breakfast (Note 6, June 15th). 2. Turn and rub the pork in the pickle. 3. Boil the piece of ham that remains (Note 4, May 27th). 4. See Note 1, February 17th. 5. It is wise to make the plum puddings and mince-meat earlv in December, as suet is very dear at Christmas time. Good plum t Puddings will keep for twelve months. Many housekeepers make alf a dozen puddings, boil these, and hang them up till wanted. The quantities here given will make a good pudding for about a dozen persons. If five or six puddings are to be made the quantities will of course need to be proportionately increased. Christmas Plum Pudding. — Take some stale crumb of bread, and rub it through a wire sieve until there are three-quarters of a pound of bread crumbs ; put these into a bowl, with a quarter of a pound of hour and a tea-spoonful of salt, add three-quarters of a pound of the chopped suet, and also a pound and a half of muscatel raisins, half a pound of currants (Note 4, December 7th), picked and dried, six ounces of candied peel (orange, citron, and lemon mixed), six or eight bitter almonds blanched and pounded, and a table-spoonful of moist sugar. Prepare the raisins by cutting each one in halves and removing the pips, and the candied peel by slicing it very thinly. Mix these dry ingredients thoroughly. Whisk eight good eggs well, stir them into the pudding, and add a wine-glassful of brandy. A little milk may be putin also if required, but the pudding should be barely moistened, or it will be heavy. Take a new stout pudding cloth that has been boiled in water ; wring it dry, flour it, and tie the pudding securely in it, leaving room for it to swell. Plunge the pudding into boiling water, and keep plenty of water boiling round it for eight hours. When it is necessary to add water, take care that it is boiling. After taking up the pudding hang it in the cloth in which it was boiled. If placed on a dish it will probably be heavy. To make the pudding ready for use boil it for a couple of hours till hot through. It should stand five minutes after being taken out of the water before it is turned out. For a cheaper, but very good plum pudding, see Cottage Plum Pudding (June 6th). The plainer pudding will be best made when it is wanted. To make mince-meat for pies, see December 23rd. 6. Put a cupful of haricot beans to soak all night in cold water. December 10th. Breakfast. Iiuneheon. Dinner. Devilled Eggs. Cow Heel with Parsley Crecy Soup. Boiled Ham. Sauce. Cold Beef. Rolls. Apples and Tapioca. Potato Salad. Dry Toast. Brown and White Bread and Butter. Marmalade. Rice and Barley Porridge. Mutton Chops Stewed. Haricot Beans. Cheese. Marketing. For the Day.— Cow Heel ordered yesterday; two or three pounds of Mutton Chops from the best end of the loin ; Potatoes ; Apples. For To-morrow.— A dried Haddock ; Watercress. Breakfast. — Devilled Eggs (February 27th) ; Ham boiled yester¬ day • Bolls (September 4th) ; Bice and Barley Porridge (June 15th).