but how much waste is there in the poorest families! In fire, to make hot tea, the loss of time, injury to the health, with all the waste that follows it, would be greatly done away, were more attention paid to diet, cleanliness, exercise in the open air, and ventilation of houses, than to hot food.

Therefore let mothers, at least, be counselled never to give their children warm food. Why not let them have their pap cold as well as their bread and milk?

The stomach is debilitated by heat, and irritated by fermentation, by which the juices are loaded with a corrupt mass of gross and slimy humours.

Russian Cold Soups.

These soups are made of rich gravy or Russian sherbets, well seasoned; their style is acid and refreshing. Slices of salted cucumber and salad herbs are put into them; they may be made of fish or vegetable soups. There are many varieties of them, so that the cook may make them as various as our own, and excessively well flavoured, as they must be strong enough to jelly, unless they are iced.

They are refreshing in summer, and do not weaken or relax the stomach before eating solid meat.

Russian cold Soup, as served at Paris to the Emperor Alexander by his own Cook.

A large handful of spinach, nicely cleaned and minced small, a cucumber cut in very small squares, twenty small onions cut in very small fillets, a little fennel picked into small branches, with allspice and salt in fine powder; all these ingredients were put into two bottles of Russian liquor (one of which resembled white lemonade, and tasted of mint; the other red and bitter, and had a medicated taste), well mixed and iced.

The service in which this soup was served was for twelve covers; at which was also served in the first course twenty-four plates of oysters, and twelve lemons, which

were invariably served* every day; and it may be, perhaps, as well here to mention, that after dressed beef, which appears to have been the standing dish at the Emperor's table, there always followed a cold entrée, and then fish, to which another cold entrée succeeded, and to it roast meats, which were all cut up and served, intermixed, on one dish, such as veal, fowl, and game.

This style was intermixed with the French at the emperor's table; and whoever examines the bills of fare while he resided at Paris, will be astonished at their moderation; but it is worthy of remark still to be held out, that all depends upon the dressings.

Persian Cold Soup.

Make a sherbet with the juice of any fruit; if not acid, acidulate it with some other, such as lemons, tamarinds, verjuice, &c., sweeten and add a little orange-flower or rose-water. These sherbets may be made in every variety. Boil fine starch or rice till it becomes of the consistency of paste; this paste must be highly flavoured by the juice of some fruit different from the sherbet; drop the starch from the point of a small spoon into cold water; the drops will take a pear-shape, and will harden so as not to stick together; they must be no larger than

a small pea: take up these drops with a perforated

spoon, and thicken the sherbet with them; spices may be added at pleasure. These sherbets are the first dish at a Persian table, and eaten with spoons as soup, and are very gratifying to the stomach. I insert them, as they are healthy, and appropriate to public breakfasts and suppers in hot weather: the drops are beautiful, of a different colour from the sherbets.

Cold Persian Pillau, a very favourite Dish.

Prepare rice as for any other pillau, season with sugar and spices, dish and let it cool; prepare cream or milk

These are mentioned, that foreigners may be served in their own style; as it is painful for many to be entirely cut off from their usual habits of living; besides, the stomach and constitution revolt for some time against innovations.

with almonds, season it with rose or orange-flower water, sweeten and pour it over the rice.

This is a simple, elegant preparation of rice, and an excellent nourishing food for weak stomachs. Cold pillaus are also made savoury with curry, saffron, &c.

Turkish Mince.

Mince hard eggs, white meat, and suet, in equal quantities, season with sweet herbs and spices, mix it with boiled chopped lettuce, bread crums, a little butter, and a raw egg or two; dip lettuce, vine, or cabbage-leaves into boiling water, roll up the mince in them, and fry them of a nice light brown, or bake them in a quick oven, buttering them from a buttering pan, which is a better method than laying on bits; when rolled up for frying, fix the leaves with a little egg: meat may be used instead of egg.

Turkish Yaugh, with Onions or Apricots.

Brown the onions in a stew-pan with butter, cut three pounds of lamb into steaks, and add them; cover very close, and leave it ten minutes. Prepare the following spices: cayenne, black pepper, cloves, and cinnamon; mix and rub them together into a fine powder, put it into the sauce with a little salt, shake and cover it very close, and leave it to simmer for an hour; add two table-spoonfuls of vinegar, let it incorporate, and serve it hot.

The same dish may be dressed with apricots (which are kept in dried cakes), without the onions. Slices of sheep's tails, which are very fine in the East (the fat being a rich gristly jelly), are often dressed in this way. Serve boiled rice with either.

Turkish Sherbets.

Extract by pressure or infusion the rich juice and fine perfume of any of the odoriferous flowers or fruits; mix them in any number and quantity to taste.

When these essences, extracts, or infusions are prepared, they may be immediately used, by mixing in proper proportions of sugar, or syrup and water, some

acid fruit, such as lemon, pomegranate, tamarind, &c., are added to raise the flavour, but not to overpower the perfume, or taste of what the sherbet is made.

These sherbets are very healthy, having all that is exhilarating, with the additional refreshing and cooling qualities so requisite in hot countries, and free from fermentation, which is destructive in certain degrees to health, however satisfying for the moment.

Those that are to be prepared for store, must be filtered and evaporated in a bain-marie, oven, or finished in the sun.

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These preparations are beautifully clear, and much more delicate than if they were preserved with sugar. very nice way of using this clear fruit, is by reducing it to the finest powder, and mixing it with triple-refined sugar, prepared in the same way. It is then mixed into water, according to taste; or, before it is reduced to powder, sprinkle it with these essences and cochineal, or any other, to suit the colour of the perfumes, and allow it to dry, that is, if the prepared fruit will not yield enough of colour alone: but a trial of it ought first to be made in sugar, which ought not to be too dark, but such as will give a fine rich tinge to the water.

Almond and Nut Beverages.

Dry and clear the nuts from the skins, and blanch the almonds; make them very crisp in the mouth of the oven, preserving them perfectly white, and reduce them into fine powder with triple-refined sugar, and serve it in a crystal basin along with iced water.

This may also be perfumed or acidulated by drying any essence or colours into the sugar, before it is pounded.

Fruit and Flower Vinegar Sherbets.

Steep either in sufficient quantity in white wine or distilled vinegar, till it has imbibed as much as it will take of the odour (the flowers may be renewed two or three times) or juice. Filter it, and add as much syrup as will sweeten it, which will be half and half; or distil and bottle it without sugar.

Cossack Method of pickling Sturgeon.

Cut small sturgeon in junks of the same length as the thickness, which may be from four to five inches; rub them well with salt, and let them drain from them for some hours: the head and thin part of the tail are not packed. The draining must be carefully attended to, as much depends upon the cleansing of the fish; and the weather must be taken into consideration, as in hot weather the fish will cleanse quicker, and if not attended to, might spoil. Tie every piece of fish with a thread, f mat, but if that cannot be had, with pack-thread, and boil it in equal parts of vinegar and water, with a pretty large quantity of black pepper, till completely cooked. Skim the oil very nicely off. Let it cool so that all the fat may be taken away. The pot is then set upon the fire to melt the jelly; the fish is taken out and wiped dry; more vinegar and pepper are added, and the jelly is boiled up very strong, or it is strengthened with isinglass, or skins, carcasses, or bones of other fish. Pack the sturgeon in small casks, and pour over the hot jelly. When it is completely cooled, clarified melted mutton fat is poured over, and the cask is then made up. A hole is pierced in the head, and more fat is poured in: it is then knocked on the side with a hammer till it will hold no more: when the fat is quite frozen, the hole is stopped by a peg.

All fish may be prepared in this manner; but it will be necessary to have gelatine sometimes made from other fish. Sturgeon is salted as meat, and forms a great article of commerce in the south of Russia.

Yahourt.

Put at sunset three pints of new milk into a stewpan, set it on the fire till it boils; let it boil three minutes; take it off the fire; let it cool in the same pan or vessel till you can but just bear to hold your finger in it. Take then rather more than a large table-spoonful of common cheese-curd, from which the whey has been drained; put it into a basin, and dilute it with a tea-cupful of the warm milk. Pour this curd so diluted into the milk, gently