Allied Cookery: British, French, Italian, Belgian, Russian

sauce, then Béchamel sauce, and continue in this way until the baking-dish is full, having for the top layer the Béchamel sauce. Put the dish into a moderate oven, and bake until a golden brown. FRIED BREAD WITH RAISINS (Italian) Take some rather stale bread, cut it into slices, removing the crust. Fry the bread in lard, and then arrange it on a platter; meanwhile prepare the raisins as follows: Take a small saucepan and put into it 2 tablespoons of raisins, a slice of raw ham chopped into small pieces, and a leaf of sage, also chopped up, 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar, and 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Put these ingredients on the fire, and as soon as you have a syrup pour the raisins on the pieces of fried bread, and the sauce around. POLENTA CROQUETTES (Italian) Boil 1/2 cup of corn-meal, and before removing from the fire add a piece of butter and a little grated cheese and mix well. Take it then by spoonfuls and spread it on a marble-top table. These spoonfuls should form little balls about the size of a hen's egg. On each of these croquettes place a very thin slice of Gruyère cheese, so that the cheese will adhere to the corn-meal. Then allow them to cool, and when cold dip into egg; then into bread-crumbs, and fry in boiling lard. RICE WITH MUSHROOMS (Italian) Five or six mushrooms and 3/4 of a cup of rice. Chop up a little onion, parsley, celery, and carrot together, and put them on the fire with 2 tablespoons of good olive-oil. When this sauce is coloured, add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, thinned with hot water. Season with salt and pepper. Cut the mushrooms into small pieces, and add them to the sauce. Cook for 20 minutes over a medium fire. Put on one side and prepare the rice as follows: Fry the rice with a lump of butter until dry; then add hot water, a little at a time, and boil gently. When the rice is half cooked (after about 10 minutes) add the