Do not wash the macaroni. Throw it, broken into convenient pieces, into boiling water which is well salted; stir or shake it frequently, to prevent its adhering to the bottom of the stew-pan. The moment it is quite tender (no longer), pour it into a colander, and shake off all the water. In the mean time, melt a lump of butter the size of a large egg (two ounces) to half a pound of macaroni, in a cup on the fire, and grate a handful (four ounces) of cheese. Now, when the macaroni is well drained, place a little of it in the bottom of the dish in which it is to be served; pour over it some of the melted butter, and sprinkle over that a little grated cheese. Continue alternate layers of the three ingredients until all the macaroni is used, leaving butter and cheese on the top. Put the dish into the oven, and let it remain three or four minutes, or long enough for the macaroni to soak the butter and cheese; then take it out; brown the top with a salamander or hot kitchen-shovel, when it will be ready to be served. Aim to have it done just the moment of serving, otherwise the cheese will cool and harden.[D] It requires about twenty minutes to boil macaroni.

Macaroni and Welsh Rare-bit.

When the macaroni is cooked as in the preceding receipt, arrange it in the centre of a large hot platter; brown the top with the salamander; place around it, as a garnish, little diamonds of Welsh rare-bits (see page 264). This is a nice dish to serve in place of cheese.

Macaroni, with Sweet-breads.

Parboil, egg, bread-crumb, and sautÉ the sweet-breads. Place them in the centre of a large hot platter; arrange macaroni (cooked with cheese) around it, and brown the top with the salamander.

Macaroni, with Tomato-sauce.

Sauce.—Put butter size of an egg into a saucepan; when it is at the boiling-point, throw in an onion (minced), two sprigs of parsley (chopped fine), and a little pepper. Let it cook five or eight minutes; then throw in a heaping table-spoonful of flour and a little broth from the stock-pot (if there be no broth, use a little boiling water). Stir this well, and let it cook five or eight minutes longer. Now pour in about a coffee-cupful of tomatoes which have been stewed and strained through a colander or sieve, and stir all together.

Boil half a pound of macaroni tender in well-salted boiling water or in stock, and drain it in the colander. Place alternate layers of the macaroni and the sauce on a hot dish, pouring the sauce over the top; put the dish into the oven two or three minutes to soak the sauce. Serve immediately.

This sauce is simple and very nice. I change it from the receipt of the “London Cooking-teacher,” which requires a few additions. His sauce is as follows: Cut a carrot and an onion into little dice, and prepare a bouquet, i. e., tie a little parsley, thyme, and a bay leaf together. Put into a stew-pan some butter (size of a large egg); when it is hot, throw into it the vegetables, bouquet, and three or four whole peppers; let them cook for eight or ten minutes. Then mix in a heaping table-spoonful of flour, and a little of the pot-au-feu broth; boil this eight or ten minutes longer; then add a cupful of cooked and strained tomatoes. Stir all together.

Macaroni au Gratin (New York Cooking-school).

Ingredients: Half a pound of macaroni, four ounces of cheese, two ounces of butter, three-quarters of a cupful of Bechamel sauce.

Boil the macaroni as described in “macaroni with cheese.” When well drained, pour over it nearly all of the sauce and the grated cheese; toss it in the saucepan, mixing it well together without breaking the macaroni; put it into a gratin dish; pour first the remainder of the sauce over the top, then the remainder of the cheese, and over this sprinkle a table-spoonful of cracker-dust and dots of butter. Put it into a very hot oven ten minutes, coloring the top.

Crackers, with Cheese.

Soak in boiling water round crackers split in two, three inches in diameter and three-quarters of an inch high (I do not know the name). Take them out carefully, so as not to break them; make layers of these slices in a little gratin dish or a deep baking-dish, each slice buttered, spread with a little made mustard, and sprinkled with pepper, salt, and plenty of grated cheese. When all is prepared, bake them in a hot oven for ten minutes.