of a couple of kidneys, or some bacon, or a spitful of larks
in a Dutch oven before the fire ; but I was not a bad
hand at making sauces ; and, above all, I was proficient
in the preparation of hash, which — don't be shocked — I
have cooked scores of times in our drawing-room on the
first floor of Number something. Regent's Quadrant, when
William IV. was KiuGf.
34 THE TIIOBOITQH GOOD COOK.
The way of it was this: — We often had a roast leg of
mutton on Sunday. Monday avc ate it cold ; Tuesday Avas
hash-day. My mother used to be away every day from
eleven till four, giving lessons in Italian singing to the
nobility and gentry, but before she went out on hash-days
I was put through my paces in the initial stages of hash-
, making. When she saw me carefully occupied in cutting
the cold mutton into thin slices, seasoning them with salt
and pepper, and dredging a little flour over them, she would
give me a kiss and depart on her daily toil. I let the
sliced mutton rest till noon, and read my book. Then
I proceeded to cook in a stew-pan a finely minced onion,
lubricated with a bit of butter, moistened with half a pint
of beef gravy stock, or with some " glaze." The flavouring-
was sometimes a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup✪ Hash, or quite
as often some burnt onions, which, however, I carefidly
removed from the stew-pan when the sauce Avas cooked.
Then my slices of nnitton Avcnt into a large stCAv-pan,
Avhich I simmered — oh, so gently — till the flour Avith Avhich
I dredged the meat had thickened the sauce ; then I
drcAV tlie steAv-]5an on to the hob, and left it there, still
gently, gently cooking in its various juices ; and then I
read my book till my mother came home. MeauAvhile,
her maid had laid the table for us tAvo — for all my brothers
and sisters Avere aAvay from home during seA'eral years of
my childhood. AVhen my parent arrived, she took the
steAV-pan from the hob, and put it on the fire to give it
that final boil up Avhich I Avas too small and too inex-
perienced to impart to it. It is only the hand of the master
or mistress-cook that is skilful enough to administer that
final boil up ; but I had not been Avasting my time, for I
had carefully toasted some bread, and cut the sippets to
.be placed round the hash, Avlien it Avas poured into a
hot dish, to be heartily and gratefully partaken of by
the poor AvidoAved gentlcAVoman and your humble servant.
CHATS ABOUT COOKERY. 35
This is why I have always been interested in hash,
and have ventured to tell von somcthino' about it in
my Cookery Book.
Old-Fashioned Puddings.
Page 28 · 1 recipe record on this page
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AI-modernized reading of the original text
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of a couple of kidneys, or some bacon, or a spitful of larks
in a Dutch oven before the fire ; but I was not a bad
hand at making sauces ; and, above all, I was proficient
in the preparation of hash, which — don't be shocked — I
have cooked scores of times in our drawing-room on the
first floor of Number something. Regent's Quadrant, when
William IV. was KiuGf.
34 THE TIIOBOITQH GOOD COOK.
The way of it was this: — We often had a roast leg of
mutton on Sunday. Monday avc ate it cold ; Tuesday Avas
hash-day. My mother used to be away every day from
eleven till four, giving lessons in Italian singing to the
nobility and gentry, but before she went out on hash-days
I was put through my paces in the initial stages of hash-
, making. When she saw me carefully occupied in cutting
the cold mutton into thin slices, seasoning them with salt
and pepper, and dredging a little flour over them, she would
give me a kiss and depart on her daily toil. I let the
sliced mutton rest till noon, and read my book. Then
I proceeded to cook in a stew-pan a finely minced onion,
lubricated with a bit of butter, moistened with half a pint
of beef gravy stock, or with some " glaze." The flavouring-
was sometimes a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup, or quite
as often some burnt onions, which, however, I carefidly
removed from the stew-pan when the sauce Avas cooked.
Then my slices of nnitton Avcnt into a large stCAv-pan,
Avhich I simmered — oh, so gently — till the flour Avith Avhich
I dredged the meat had thickened the sauce ; then I
drcAV tlie steAv-]5an on to the hob, and left it there, still
gently, gently cooking in its various juices ; and then I
read my book till my mother came home. MeauAvhile,
her maid had laid the table for us tAvo — for all my brothers
and sisters Avere aAvay from home during seA'eral years of
my childhood. AVhen my parent arrived, she took the
steAV-pan from the hob, and put it on the fire to give it
that final boil up Avhich I Avas too small and too inex-
perienced to impart to it. It is only the hand of the master
or mistress-cook that is skilful enough to administer that
final boil up ; but I had not been Avasting my time, for I
had carefully toasted some bread, and cut the sippets to
.be placed round the hash, Avlien it Avas poured into a
hot dish, to be heartily and gratefully partaken of by
the poor AvidoAved gentlcAVoman and your humble servant.
CHATS ABOUT COOKERY. 35
This is why I have always been interested in hash,
and have ventured to tell von somcthino' about it in
my Cookery Book.
Old-Fashioned Puddings.