ituting any kind of jelly or preserves for the oysters.

82. =How to Cook Macaroni.=--This is one of the most wholesome and
economical of foods, and can be varied so as to give a succession of
palatable dishes at a very small cost. The imported macaroni can be
bought at Italian stores for about fifteen cents a pound; and that
quantity when boiled yields nearly three times its bulk, if it has been
manufactured for any length of time. In cooking it is generally combined
with meat gravy, tomato sauce, and cheese; Gruyere and Parmesan cheese,
which are the kinds most used by foreign cooks, can be readily obtained
at any large grocery, the price of the former being about thirty-five
cents per pound, and the latter varying from forty to eighty cents,
according to the commercial spirit of the vendor; the trade price quoted
on grocers' trade lists being thirty-eight cents per pound, for prime
quality. This cheese is of a greenish color, a little salt in taste and
flavored with delicate herbs; the nearest domestic variety is
sage-cheese, which may be used when Parmesan can not be obtained. If in
heating Parmesan cheese it appears oily, it is from the lack of
moisture, and this can be supplied by adding a few tablespoonfuls of
broth, and stirring it over the fire for a minute. When more macaroni
has been boiled than is used, it can be kept perfectly good by laying it
in fresh water, which must be changed every day. There are several forms
of Italian paste, but the composition is almost identical, all being
made from the interior part of the finest wheat grown on the
Mediterranean shores: the largest tubes, about the size of a lead
pencil, are called _macaroni_; the second variety, as large as a common
pipe-stem, is termed _mazzini_; and the smallest is _spaghetti_, or
threads; _vermicelli_ comes to market in the form of small coils or
hanks of fine yellowish threads; and _Italian paste_ appears in small
letters, and various fanciful shapes. Macaroni is generally known as a
rather luxurious dish among the wealthy; but it should become one of the
chief foods of the people, for it contains more gluten, or the
nutritious portion of wheat, than bread.

83. =Macaroni with Bechamel Sauce.=--Heat three quarts of water,
containing three tablespoonfuls of salt, to the boiling point; boil half
a pound of _macaroni_ in it until it is tender enough to pierce easily
with the finger nail; then drain it in a colander, and wash it well in
cold w