Soyer's standard cookery

Wash a lettuce, trim off the outside leaves, tie with tape and blanch for a few minutes in boiling water, and allow to drain. When cool, split each with a sharp knife down one side, carefully remove a small portion of the heart, and proceed to stuff them with a savory mince made as for rissoles, and bound with an egg. Then bring the severed edges of the leaves together so that the lettuces assume their former shape, tie them up again, and braise very gently with soup, vegetables and good stock for an hour, and serve with the stock thickened and poured over them. Macaroni Cutlets. Boil four ounces of macaroni until quite tender, drain well and allow to cool. Then cut up into small pieces and mix with about a quarter of a pint of stiff white sauce, which has been flavored with a piece of onion, a small blade of mace, and salt and pepper. Add a dessertspoonful of lean bacon (finely minced), and half a beaten egg, and spread the mixture on a plate. When it is cold, take up a small portion at a time and form it on a floured board into the shape of small cutlets. Dip them into beaten egg, cover with fine breadcrumbs and fry them until lightly browned all over. Serve very hot. BREAKFAST DISHES. The following breakfast dishes will form a pleasant variation in the ordinary bill of fare for the morning meal. Œufs Aux Tomates. Butter a bag thickly. Put into it half a pint of thick tomato catsup and a lump of butter the size of a walnut. Cook in a hot oven for ten minutes. Cut a square from the center of the bag and break in, one by one, four eggs. Cook for three to four minutes. Dish up. Cut away the top of the bag only and serve at once. (350° Fahr.). Œufs à la Béchamel. Boil four eggs hard. Throw them into cold water. Shell them, cut each in halves. Grease a bag thickly. Put in the eggs. Add a little cream, pepper, and salt to taste, and a tiny dust of powdered mace. Make hot gently for five minutes, and serve on squares of lightly buttered toast. Merluche Fumée à la Milanaise. Take a pound of filleted dried haddock. Dust lightly with black pepper. Grease a bag. Put in the fillets of haddock. Pour over them the contents of half a bottle of tomato catsup. Cook for eighteen minutes; dish upon a very hot dish, and serve with plenty of well buttered toast handed separately. Kippered Mackerel Fines Herbes. Place the fillets of mackerel in a deep, clean dish. Just cover them with boiling water. Leave for an instant. Take out and dry. Dust well with coarse black pepper and put on top of each fillet half a teaspoonful of minced chives and parsley (or finely-minced onion failing chives), and a bit of butter the size of a small walnut. Grease a bag, put in the fillets, and cook for twenty minutes in a hot oven (350° Fahr.). Take out and serve with brown bread and butter. Maréchal de Homard Aux Œufs.