1/2 teaspoonful of vinegar.

Boil the eggs hard for twenty minutes, and put them in cold water at once to get perfectly cold so they will not turn dark. Then peel, cut in halves and take out the yolks. Put these in a bowl, and rub in the seasoning, but you can leave out the ham if you like.

With a small teaspoon, put the mixture back into the eggs and smooth them over with a knife.

If you do not serve these eggs with cold meat it is best to lay them on lettuce when you send them to the table.

Eggs in Beds

Chop a cup of nice cold meat, and season with a little salt, pepper and chopped parsley. Add enough stock or hot water just to wet it, and cook till rather dry. Put this in b.u.t.tered baking-dishes, filling each half-full, and on top of each gently slip from a cup one egg.

Sprinkle over with salt and pepper, and put in the oven till firm.

Shepherd"s Pie

This was a dish Margaret used to make on wash-day and house-cleaning day, and such times when everybody was busy and no one wanted to stop and go to market to buy anything for luncheon.

1 cup of chopped meat.

1 cup of boiling water.

1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley.

1/2 teaspoonful of salt.

1 teaspoonful of lemon juice, or 1/2 teaspoonful Worcestershire sauce.

b.u.t.ter the size of a hickory-nut.

2 cups hot mashed potato.

If the potato is cold, put half a cup of hot milk in it, beat it up well, and stand it on the back of the stove. Then mix all the other things with the meat, and put it in the frying-pan and let it cook till it seems rather dry. b.u.t.ter a baking-dish, and cover the sides and bottom with a layer of potato an inch thick. Put the meat in the centre and cover it over with potato and smooth it.

Put bits of b.u.t.ter all over the top, and brown it in the oven.

Serve with this a dish of chow-chow, or one of small cuc.u.mber pickles.

Chicken Hash

1 cup of cold chicken, cut in small, even pieces.

1/2 cup chicken stock, or hot water.

1 teaspoonful chopped parsley.

1/2 teaspoonful salt.

A pinch of pepper.

b.u.t.ter the size of a hickory-nut.

Put the chicken stock,--which is the water the chicken was cooked in, or chicken broth,--or, if there is none, the hot water, into the frying-pan, and mix in the chicken and seasoning, and cook and stir till it is rather dry. Serve as it is, or on squares of b.u.t.tered toast. You can make any cold meat into hash this way, having it different every time. Sometimes you can put in the chopped green pepper, as before, or a slice of chopped onion, or a cup of hot, seasoned peas; or, leave out half the soup or water, and put in a cup of stewed tomato.

Broiled Sardines

These little fish are really not broiled at all, but that is the name of the nice and easy dish. Take a box of large sardines and drain off all the oil, and lay them on heavy brown paper while you make four slices of toast. Trim off the edges and cut them into strips, laying them in a row on a hot platter. Put the sardines into the oven and make them very hot, and lay one on each strip of toast and sprinkle them with lemon juice, and put sliced lemon and sprigs of parsley all around.

Cheese Fondu

This was a recipe the Pretty Aunt put in Margaret"s book out of the one she had made at cooking school.

1 cup fresh bread-crumbs.

2 cups grated cheese.

1 cup of milk.

1 bit of soda as large as a pea.

1/2 teaspoonful of salt.

1 pinch of red pepper.

1 teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter.

2 eggs.

Put the b.u.t.ter in a saucepan to heat while you beat the eggs light without separating them; let these stand while you stir everything else into the pan, beginning with the milk; cook this five minutes, stirring all the time, and then put in the eggs and cook three minutes more. Put six large crackers on a hot platter and pour the whole over them, and send at once to the table to be eaten very hot.

Sometimes Margaret made three or four slices of toast before she began the fondu, and used those in place of the crackers, and the dish was just as nice.

Easy Welsh Rarebit

2 cups of rich cheese, grated.

Yolks of two eggs.

1/2 cup of milk.

1/2 teaspoonful of salt.

Saltspoonful of cayenne.

Make three nice slices of toast, cut off the crusts, and cut each piece in two. b.u.t.ter these, and very quickly dip each one in boiling water, being careful not to soak them. Put these on a hot platter in the oven. Put the milk in a saucepan over the fire, being careful not to have one that is too hot, only moderate, and when it boils up put in the cheese and stir without stopping, until the cheese all melts and it looks smooth. Then put in the beaten yolks of the eggs and the seasoning, and pour at once over the toast and serve very hot. Many people like a saltspoonful of dry mustard mixed in with the pepper. You can also serve this rarebit on toasted and b.u.t.tered crackers.

Scalloped Cheese

6 slices of bread.

3/4 of a pound of cheese.

2 eggs.

1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.

1 cup of cream.

1/2 teaspoonful of salt.

1/2 teaspoonful of dry mustard.

1/4 teaspoonful of paprika.

b.u.t.ter the bread and cut it into strips, and line the bottom and sides of a baking-dish with it. Then beat the eggs very light without separating them, and mix everything with them; put in the dish and bake half an hour, and serve at once.

Veal Loaf

1 1/2 pounds of veal and 2 strips of salt pork, chopped together.

1/2 cup of bread-crumbs.

1 beaten egg.

1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg.

1/2 teaspoonful of black pepper.

1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of salt.

Bake three hours.