Broiled procerus.—Remove the scales and stalks from the agarics, and broil lightly on both sides over a clear fire for a few minutes; arrange them on a dish over freshly made, well-buttered toast; sprinkle with pepper and salt and put a small piece of butter on each; set before a brisk fire to melt the butter, and serve quickly. Bacon toasted over mushrooms improves the flavor and saves the butter.

Agarics delicately stewed.—Remove the stalks and scales from the young half-grown agarics, and throw each one as you do so into a basin of fresh water slightly acidulated with the juice of a lemon or a little good vinegar. When all are prepared, remove them from the water and put them in a stewpan with a very small piece of fresh butter. Sprinkle with pepper and salt and add a little lemon juice; cover up closely and stew for half an hour; then add a spoonful of flour with sufficient cream or cream and milk, till the whole has the thickness of cream. Season to taste, and stew again until the agarics are perfectly tender. Remove all the butter from the surface and serve in a hot dish garnished with slices of lemon. A little mace or nutmeg or catsup may be added, but some think that spice spoils the flavor.

Cottager's procerus pie.—Cut fresh agarics in small pieces; pepper, salt, and place them on small shreds of bacon, in the bottom of a pie dish; then put in a layer of mashed potatoes, and so fill the dish, layer by layer, with a cover of mashed potatoes for the crust. Bake well for half an hour and brown before a quick fire.

A la provencale.—Steep for two hours in some salt, pepper, and a little garlic; then toss them into a small stewpan over a brisk fire with parsley chopped and a little lemon juice.

Agaric catsup.—Place the agarics of as large a size as you can procure, layer by layer, in a deep pan, sprinkling each layer as it is put in with a little salt. Then next day stir them several times well so as to mash and extract their juice. On the third day strain off the liquor, measure and boil for ten minutes, and then to every pint of liquor add half an ounce of black pepper, a quarter of an ounce of bruised ginger root, a blade of mace, a clove or two, and a teaspoonful of mustard seed. Boil again for half an hour; put in two or three bay leaves and set aside until quite cold. Pass through a strainer and bottle; cork well and dip salt on the gills. Lay them top downwards on a gridiron over a moderate fire for five or six minutes at the most.

To stew mushrooms.—Trim and rub clean half a pint of large button mushrooms. Put into a stewpan 2 ounces of butter; shake it over a fire until thoroughly melted; put in the mushrooms, a teaspoonful of salt, half as much pepper, and a blade of mace pounded; stew until the mushrooms are tender, then serve on a hot dish. This is usually a breakfast dish.

Mushrooms À la crÊme.—Trim and rub half a pint of button mushrooms; dissolve in a stewpan 2 ounces of butter rolled in flour; put in the mushrooms, a bunch of parsley, a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful each of white pepper and of powdered sugar; shake the pan for ten minutes; then beat up the yolks of two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of cream, and add by degrees to the mushrooms; in two or three minutes you can serve them in sauce.

Mushrooms on toast.—Put a pint of mushrooms into a stewpan with two ounces of butter rolled in flour; add a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of white pepper, a blade of powdered mace, and a half a teaspoonful of grated lemon; stew until the butter is all absorbed; then serve on toast as soon as the mushrooms are tender.

APPENDIX B.