Round the Table

Ingredients

• one tablespoonful of olive oil
• five tablespoonfuls of cold water
• three tablespoonfuls of flour
• two tablespoonfuls of dissolved butter
• two tablespoonfuls of salad oil
• two ounces of butter in a pint of water
• a pinch of salt
• a tablespoonful
• a small pinch of salt
• a pint of water
• two eggs
• two whites of egg whisked into a froth
• two eggs beaten up into a froth
• two eggs are beaten up
• two table- spoonfuls of milk
• salt
• vinegar

Directions

1. Innumerable dishes, both savoury and sweet, owe their raison d’etre entirely to hatter. By means of it most kinds of vegetable and fruit can be made into savoury or sweet fritters. Bemains of flesh, fowl, and fish can be turned into dainty morsels, and in some cases inviting entrees can also be served at first hand in a coating of batter. Lastly, several entremets sucres, as, for instance, pancakes, are composed of nothing but batter.

2. The forms of the batter itself, as may be imagined, are many, and they vary according to the use for which it is required. Frying, of course, is the mode of cooking these preparations, and to be a master hand at this is indispensable to insure success in the pi’oduction of any dish of which batter is an element.

3. What it is intended to now expound is how to make batter, and how to compound various cunning dishes which will be found as effective and tasteful as they are inexpensive and simple.

4. First as to mixing the batter ; my favourite form is this :

5. 1. Beat up the yolks of two eggs with two tablespoon- fuls of brandy or rum, one tablespoonful of olive oil, and four or five tablespoonfuls of cold water. Incorpoi-ate with this mixture three tablespoonfuls of flour and a pinch of salt. Take great care to make it into a smooth paste, and to keep on beating it for at least ten minutes. If the batter be too thick, more water is to be added, to make

6. it of the desired consistency. At the time of using stir into it quickly and thoroughly the whites of two eggs, beaten into a stiff froth.

7. There are other forms, which in their way are not devoid of merit — viz. :

8. 2. Beat up equal parts of salad oil and brandy, say a tablespoonful of each, add the yolk of an egg, and incor- porate with this sufficient flour to make a thickish paste, which you afterwards thin to the requisite consistency by the addition of water ; at the time of using add the white of an egg beaten up into a froth.

9. 3. Equal parts of milk and of vinegar and water, with sufficient flour to make a batter, and a pinch of salt, are thoroughly mixed and well beaten.

10. 4. Beat up two tablespoonfuls of dissolved butter with the yolks of two eggs and a pinch of salt and some warm water ; add to this as much flour as will make the batter of the required consistency. Keep on beating the mixture till it is perfectly smooth, and then at the time of using add one or two whites of egg whisked into a froth.

11. 5. Mix thoroughly two tablespoonfuls of salad oil, the same quantity of water, a pinch of salt, and enough flour to make a thick paste, then gradually thin it by adding water, and at the time of using it add the whites of two eggs beaten up into a froth.

12. 6. The yolks of two eggs are beaten up with two table- spoonfuls of milk ; to this is added a small pinch of salt and two tablespoonfuls of dissolved butter, then enough flour to make a thickish paste, which must be well beaten, and then thinned, by the addition of milk, to the desired consistency ; the whites of the eggs beaten up into a froth being added at the end.

13. 7. Melt two ounces of butter in a pint of water, add a pinch of salt, and, removing the saucepan from the fire,