The Hotel St. Francis cook book

Stewed prunes. Wash well one pound of prunes, and soak in cold water for two hours. Put on fire in same water, add a small piece of cinnamon stick, the peel of a quarter of a lemon, and two ounces of sugar, and cook on slow fire until soft. It will require about one hour. If an earthern pot with cover is used, put in bake oven for about two hours. The flavor will be better. Malta Vita. Serve with powdered sugar, and cream, separate. Hors d'oeuvres varies. (Appetisers assorted). Hors d'oeuvres are different delicacies, and, except in rare instances, are served cold. They consist of caviar, pickled oysters, Lyon sausages, any kind of fish salad, pate de foie gras, smoked salmon, smoked goose breast, and many others. From one dish to two dozen kinds may be served, allowing the guests to make a selection. Each kind should be served on a separate platter, or silver bowl. Caviar. Leave the caviar three hours on ice. Serve in a glass dish. For each person have a round platter with napkin, a lettuce leaf filled with fine chopped onion and a quarter of a lemon. Thin dry toast and sweet butter separate. Pate de foie gras. (Goose liver patty.) Obtainable in cans or terrines, of different sizes. Remove the fat, which is put on top as a preservative, and with a soup spoon, which has been dipped in hot water, cut the paste in thin slices, and serve on lettuce leaves on a napkin. Garnish with meat jelly and parsley in branches. Let the pate de foie gras stand in ice box a few hours before opening and serving. Lyon sausage. A kind of imported beef sausage. Slice thin. Stuffed eggs. Cut hard boiled eggs in two, either way. Mix the yolks with equal parts of sweet butter and pass through a sieve. Add salt, paprika, a little anchovy paste, and some chives. Mix well, and fill the halved eggs. Or the yolks may be mixed with butter, and some poppy or celery seeds, etc. Also with any kind of puree, such as puree of tomatoes, regalia, chicken, etc. If the filling is put in a pastry bag with a star mould in the bottom, to squeeze it through, the eggs can be filled in an attractive and novel manner. Serve very cold. Sardines. Serve cold with quartered lemons, on lettuce leaves. Sliced tomatoes. Have the tomatoes very cold. Peel and slice, and serve on lettuce leaves, with French dressing. To peel, put tomatoes in hot water for ten seconds, and peel immediately. Baked apples Grapefruit with cherries Boiled eggs Steak and kidney pie Toast Cream cheese Coffee Maryland beaten biscuits Consomme Madrilene Ripe California olives Sand dabs, meuniere Butterball duck with currant jelly Fried hominy French endive salad Asparagus, Hollandaise Fancy ice cream Assorted cakes Coffee Grapefruit with cherries. Cut the grapefruit in two pieces. Split some maraschino cherries and decorate. Pour a little maraschino on top. Steak and kidney pie. Use individual pie dishes. A slice of raw sirloin steak one-half inch thick, cut in two. Two lamb kidneys cut in two. Salt, pepper, and roll in flour, put in pie dish and cover with a little cold water. Cover with piecrust dough and bake in oven for about eighteen minutes. Serve in the dishes in which they were baked, on napkins. Butterball duck. Roast in hot oven for about twelve minutes.