How we cook in Tennessee ..

Bechamel Sauce. — Put three tablespoonfuls of butter in a saucepan; add three tablespoonfuls of sifted flour, quarter of a teaspoonful of nutmeg, ten pepper-corns, a teaspoonful of salt; beat all well together; then add to this three slices of onion, two slices of carrot, two sprigs of parsley, two of thyme, a bay leaf and half a dozen mushrooms cut up. Moisten the whole with a pint of stock or water and a cup of sweet cream. Set it on the stove and cook slowly for half of an hour, watching closely that it does not burn; then strain through a sieve. Most excellent with roast veal, meats and fish. — St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans. MEATS. "I pray you, 0 excellent wife ! cumber not yourself and me to get a curiously rich dinner for this man and woman who have just alighted at our gate * * * These things, if they are desirous of them, they can get for a few shillings at any village inn; but rather let that stranger see, if he will, in your looks, accents, and behavior, your heart and earnestness, your thought and will, that which he cannot buy at any price in any city, and which he may travel miles and dine sparely and sleep hardly to behold. ' ' — Emerson. Meats should be put in boiling water to set the juices. Cold water should only be used for corned meats and soups. Ham should boil twenty minutes to the pound, corned beef twenty minutes, mutton about fifteen minutes. Should the meat be tough add a little vinegar to the water. CARVING MEATS. Meats, as a rule, should be carved in thin slices so as to include lean and fat, and always, when practicable, across the grain. GARNISHES. These are very necessary in ornamenting all dishes, as they make them more appetizing and more attractive. For sardines, raw oysters, boiled fowl, turkey, fish, roast veal, steaks, salads, use lemon slices cut very. thin. For cold meats, salads, poultry, steaks, fish, chops and cutlets, use parsley and celery tops, or lettuce can be used with a very pleasing effect. For cold corned beef sliced, gherkins or large pickles cut crosswise. Watercresses may be used for fowls. For scalloped oysters use parsley, celery tops or lettuce. Cold ham sliced thin, cold hard boiled eggs sliced; cut in fancy shapes, different colored vegetables are used around almost any dish of meat or fish. Balls made of boiled rice, with a little jelly on each, are very attractive around a plate of cold meat. On a roast of sirloin of beef use potato croquettes or Saratoga chips. To Boil a Ham. — Put on ham boiler half full water, put the ham in, skin side up. Time the ham when the water begins to boil; keep the pot boiling constantly for four hours if it is a ten or twelve pound ham. If water boils out, add more boiling water from tea kettle. Skin the ham while hot, cover it over with brown sugar and bake till a light brown — about half hour. Never cut ham until it is cold. — Mrs. H. R. Lancaster. Boiled Ham. — While ham is boiling add one cup molasses and one tablespoon black pepper. When it is done, remove the skin, and spread on a paste made of one egg, two tablespoons sugar, half teaspoon mustard, salt and pepper; stick a few cloves about in it, put in oven and bake brown, about half hour. — Mrs. I. B. Tigrett.