Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

For this pudding there will be required three-quarters of a pound of suet, chopped fine, one pound of sugar, one pound of grated stale bread, one pound of stoned raisins, one pound of currants, half a pint of milk, a gill of brandy, a nutmeg, half a teaspoonful of cinnamon, half a teaspoonful of mace, the rind and juice of a lemon, a teaspoonful of salt, and nine eggs. Mix all the ingredients except the eggs, which should be beaten until light, and then added. Carefully butter two two-quart melon moulds, and pour the mixture into them. Steam for five hours. At serving-time turn out on a flat dish, and pour half a gill of brandy or rum over the puddings. Stick a twig of holly into the top of each, and as the dishes are on the way to the table, say just at the dining-room door, set fire to the liquor, so that the puddings may be brought in blazing. Serve with brandy sauce. This kind of pudding may be made several weeks before using. If it be made in advance, it should be steamed for an hour and a half on the day on which it is to form a part of the dinner. French Pancakes. The ingredients of these cakes are : eight eggs, one pint of milk, half a pint of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, one table-spoonful of melted butter, two table-spoonfuls of sugar, and the grated yellow rind of a lemon. Put in a bowl the flour, sugar, salt, and grated rind. Separate the yolks of the eggs from the whites, and beat the latter to a stiff froth. Now add the yolks, and beat for a minute longer. Add the milk to the eggs. Next pour about one-third of this mixture on the flour and other ingredients, and beat until light and smooth ; then add the remainder of the egg-and-milk mixture. Finally, add the melted butter. Heat and butter a frying-pan, and pour into it a thin layer of the batter. Cook until a rich brown on one side ; then spread over the cake a teaspoonful of melted currant jelly. Roll up the cake, and turn it out on a hot dish. Cook six cakes in this manner, and send them to the table. Continue cooking and serving until all the batter is used. The fire must be very bright to get perfect pancakes. Any kind of jelly may be used; or a light sprinkling of sugar and nutmeg may be substituted for jelly. These pancakes may be served as an entree or for dessert. German Fritters. Use some stale brioche (see chapter entitled " Special Articles"), cut in strips three inches long, one inch wide, and half an inch thick. With one dozen such pieces use also a cupful of sugar, a cupful of water, the grated rind of one orange and the juice of two, two eggs, and some fine bread crumbs. Boil the sugar, grated orange rind, and water together for ten minutes ; then add the orange juice. Pour this syrup, by spoonfuls, over the strips of brioche. When all of it has been absorbed, beat the eggs in a soup-plate. Dip the strips of brioche in the egg, and then roll them in bread crumbs. Fry in fat for two minutes; then drain, and serve very hot. The syrup may be flavored with any fruit or spice one likes, or a gill of wine may be added to it. Stale sponge cake may be used instead of brioche, but great care must be taken to prevent it from breaking after being soaked in the syrup. Peach Fritters a la Dauphine.