The thorough good cook

brown in a little butter and flour ; put this into the stewpan with the gravy, stew gently twenty minutes, and strain ; lay the mince in the stew-pan, pour over it the strained gravy' ; add a dessertspoonful of walnut catsup, or any preferred sauce, with seasoning ; simmer until the meat is hot through. Serve with sippets round the dish, and with a poached egg in the centre of the mince, if you like. 32, Bacon Fraise. Beat eight eggs into a batter, with a little cream and flour ; fry thin slices of bacon, and dip them in it ; then lay them in a frying-pan, and pour a little batter over them ; when one side is done, turn and pour more butter over them. When both sides are of a good colour, lay them on a dish and serve hot. 33. Beans and Bacon. Windsor beans should be served young, and fresh gathered. Boil them in salt and water ; when done, drain them, and lay the bacon over the beans without any sauce. The bacon should be fat, and nicely boiled. Send up separately, in a sauce-boat, chopped parsley in melted butter. Beans are likewise an excellent garnish to a ham ; serve them plain around it. Duffin beans are a very good substitute for Windsor, only skin them before boiling. 34. Feas and Bacon. Cut half a pound of bacon or ham into dice, and parboil them ; put some butter into a saucepan, and fry the bacon in it to a brown colour. Put a quart of green peas into a deep dish, with a piece of butter the size of a walnut ; roll them with the hand, and pour over them some water, in which leave them for twenty minutes, that they may become tender; drain them in a colander, put them into a stew-pan, and gently cook them on the fire. While very green, moisten them with broth gravy, and add the pieces of bacon or ham, a bunch of parsley and chives ; let them just boil together, and then finish the cooking over a mild fire ; skim off the fat, put in a little sugar if they be too salt, and serve. Or the peas may be dressed much more simply by stewing the bacon in the butter, adding the peas, moistening them with water, and letting them cook with a bunch of herbs and seasoning. 35. York Ham with Spinach (Jambon d'Yorck auz :^pinards). Scrape and trim the ham, and put it in a large pan or pot with enough cold water to make it swim. Add a couple of carrots, onions, celery, a dozen cloves, mace, thyme, and bay-leaves, and boil the ham very slowly indeed for about four or five hours, according to size and weight; and when it is done, allow it to become cold in its own liquor. When cold, remove the rind by gently slipping the ends of the fingers of both hands under the skin of the round, thick end of the ham, and by this means detach it gradually Avithout displacing any of the fat. Trim the surface of the fat smoothly with a knife. When wanted hot, place it in a baking-dish covered with a greased paper ; add just enough of its own liquor to reach up to the edge of the fat, bake it for about half an hour, glaze, and garnish with spinach. Some cooks are allowed to boil the ham in champagne. This process is to me simply senseless. The alcohol necessarily evaporates in the boiling, and the saccharine residuum may be easily (and cheaply) replaced by a little sugar. There is no harm, however, in serving a champagne sauce Avith the dish.