Practical household cookery

Onions are good for a cold, cooked as well as raw ; they can be served as a vegetable, and are constantly in request for culinary purposes. Garlic is also a safeguard against cholera, by keeping a clove in the mouth as you would a lozenge for cough. 784. STEWED ONIONS. Peel four Spanish onions of equal size, and boil them for a quarter of an hour in plain water; drain .and put them in a saute-pan, previously spread with fresh butter : moisten with a good pint of broth, and season with salt, pepper, and a dessert-spoonful of pounded sugar. Put them in a hot oven to bake for about twenty minutes, taking care to baste them often when nearly done, set the pan over a brisk fire, roll the onions in their liquor, and when well glazed, dish up, pour the remainder of the glaze over, and serve. Note. — Onions can also be served stewed in milk. Proceed as above, but substitute a quart of milk for the broth. 786. REMARKS ON SALADS AND SALAD DRESSING. Man eats nearly everything, either cooked or uncooked, and foremost among the latter are herbs and roots, prepared for food with special condiments and ingredients, and called salad. The raw materials used in France and Italy for salads are numerous and varied : for instance, celeriac, radishes, rampion, beetroot-bulb, and the potent onion; the stems and leaf-stalks of asparagus, celery, purslane and artichokes ; the leaves of lettuce, endive, cress, dandelion, and chicory; the flowers of the bitter pungent nasturtium, and the fruits and seed-pods of cucumbers, capsicums, tomatoes, beans, peas, and the like; as a matter of fact, there are more things in earth and field capable of salad treatment than the somewhat prejudiced English gastronomic philosophy ever dreamt of. There is an art in dressing a salad really well, as no ingredient should be more prominent in its taste than the other. There must be neither too much of it nor too much in it, but just enough of each. Although many men of high social positions have won honour and distinction in salad making, the gift of preparing such tasty delicacies is essentially womanly. To her delicate fingers must be left the care of washing the loaves separately and drying them by affectionate pressure in a white cloth ; let her reach the acme of perfection by rubbing the mystic " chapon '' or crust of bread with the fragrant clove of garlic. Let her dry the salad-bowl, and put the pepper in with moderation and the salt to taste ; then, like one of the five wise virgins, she will have her olive oil to hand, to pour in two and a half tablespoonfuls to each one of French vinegar, together with a touch of mustard ; and if to these are added half a teaspoonful of chopped tarragon or chervil, and the whole be properly stirred and blended with a wooden spoon and fork, she will have concocted the best salad dressing desirable, and will only have to add, when required, the carefully-wiped leaves and ''chapon" and toss them about, to bid them absorb the magic mixture. In addition to the above-mentioned herbs, plain boiled potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, beetroot, haricot beans, truffles, and any kind of cold cooked fish, lobster, crab, and eggs, are also made into salads. Let the potatoes, carrots, beetroot, truffles, and eggs be thinly sliced, and the cauliflowers cut into small heads ; substitute chopped onion for garlic, or omit it altogether if not agreeable, and spread a teaspoonful of finely-chopped parsley. 787. REMARKS ON SANDWICHES AND CANAPES. Sandwiches are made with ham, beef, chicken, pickled tongue, smoked salmon and herrings, tinned sardines and anchovies (fish as well as paste), caviare, hard-boiled eggs, salad, Tratercress, or mustard cress. With respect to meat sand-