Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Use for six persons half a dozen eggs, one table-spoonful of flour, three of butter, one pint of milk, three drops of onion juice, and some salt and pepper. Boil the eggs for twenty minutes, and then drop them into cold water. Remove the shells, and after cutting an even slice from each end of the egg, cut the eggs in two. Take out the yolks, and mash them until light and smooth ; then add one-fourth of a teaspoonful of pepper, half a teaspoonful of salt, one table-spoonful of butter, four of milk, and the onion juice. When these ingredients have been well mixed, heap the mixture in the shape of domes in the halves of the whites. Set the whites in a tin plate or pan, and put them into the oven for six minutes. During this cooking make a sauce. Put the remaining table-spoonful of butter into a small frying-pan, and when it gets hot, add the flour. Stir until smooth and frothy, being careful not to brown ; then gradually add the milk. Season with salt and pepper, and boil up once. When the eggs have been cooked sufficiently, arrange them on a warm dish, pour the sauce around them, and garnish with parsley. Bechamel, tomato, or curry sauce may be used in place of the cream sauce recommended. * Eggs in Cases. If provision is to be made for six persons, use half a dozen eggs, a table-spoonful of butter, one-third of a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, three table-spoonfuls of fine dry bread crumbs, one teaspoonful of salt, and onefourth of a teaspoonful of pepper. You will also need half a dozen paper cases. In large cities these may be bought, in a variety of shapes, of first-class confectioners ; but it is not a difficult matter to make them if they cannot easily be obtained. They should be formed of stiff white paper, and have a length of about three inches, a width of two inches, and a depth of an inch and a half. Butter the cases, using a little extra butter for the purpose. Put two-thirds of the table-spoonful of butter into a small frying-pan, and when it gets hot, stir in the crumbs. Stir over a hot fire until the crumbs get brown and crisp, being careful not to let them become scorched ; then take from the fire, and add to them the salt and pepper and the chopped parsley. Deposit this mixture in equal parts in the six paper cases. Break an egg. into each case, and put the remaining butter, broken into bits, upon the eggs. Set the cases in a tin pan, and bake for five minutes in a moderate oven. Serve on a fringed napkin. Small china soufflé dishes may be used for these eggs. OMELETS. In no form in which eggs are cooked are they more acceptable than in an omelet. Nothing can be simpler than the preparation of an omelet when all the conditions are right, yet few succeed in cooking this simple dish to perfection. There must be a very hot fire ; and a smooth, light pan, with a long handle, also is required. The eggs should be beaten only enough to break them well ; there should never be much froth. If the eggs be beaten light, the omelet will be dry and tasteless. A perfect omelet usually is soft and creamy. There are a few exceptions to this rule : rum, jelly, or fruit omelets should be made rather light.