Banquets of the nations

three carrots and four onions, parsley, thyme, and salt, FRANCE (North) chopped mushroom, but no lemon or acid of any kind. Let the meat sweat but not brown, and prick it to let the juices flow. When the knuckle is done, skim the sauce, strain through a sieve, boil it again till well reduced, and thicken with flour and cream to a proper consistency — rather thick than otherwise, as it can easily be thinned. Now skim and boil it once more, stirring and lifting it in a spoon, and letting it fall continually, to make it smooth and fine ; do this till it is cool. BOEUF a la Mode. (Braised Beef.) Take two pounds of sirloin or fillet of beef. Cut in slices three inches long, two broad, and half-an-inch thick. Lard the pieces with good fat bacon, place them in a long-shaped pot along with three pigs' ears, eight small onions, half a sliced carrot if large, a bunch of parsley, one bay-leaf, a sprig of thyme, and a clove stuck in one of the onions, one glass of sherry, one of water, and four ounces of well-mixed bacon cut in inch squares. Cover the pan so that no steam can escape, and place it in a moderate oven for four hours. Place meat on dish, surround with the vegetables, skim and drain the gravy, and pour over the meat. Sorbet aux Liqueurs. (Iced Punch.) Put in a freezing-pot one quart of peach-water ice, a bottle of dry champagne, two wineglassfuls of noyau, and the strained juice of four oranges. Colour it a delicate pink with a few drops of cochineal, and flavour with essence of vanilla. Work the mixture till nearly frozen, then add gradually three whites of eggs whipped in three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar ; work all together quickly till smooth, and serve in glasses. Cream-of Noyau. Take a quart of spirits sixty-two over proof, and add to it twenty drops of oil of bitter almonds and six drops of oil of orange. Mix well and add a quart of syrup, and strain till clear. Canard Sauvage a la Presse. (Roast Wild Duck Pressed.) Take a good fat wild duck, clean out thoroughly and roast in a quick oven ; see that it is rather under than quite done, as you want as much juice from the bird as possible. Put it on a portable hot plate and cover carefully so as to keep it hot whilst being conveyed to the service table in the dining-room. Cut the breast off in thin slices and place them in a warm covered silver ashet, with a lighted spirit lamp underneath. Remove the joints and place them with the carcase in an electroplated silver press (much the same as a large screw lemon squeezer, only bigger and stronger), and thoroughly squeeze all the moisture out on to another hot silver ashet. which place on top of a lighted spirit lamp and mix in half a teacupful of sauce made as follows : — FRANCE (North) Port Wine Sauce.