then they should be placed
on ice until quite firm. When ready, cut small pieces of the mixture,
make them into shapes as nearly resembling a French chop as you can,
using a very little cracker meal should they stick to your hands. Have
before you a large dish of cracker meal and the yolks of two eggs beaten
with two small tablespoonfuls of water, cover each cutlet thoroughly
with egg, then with meal, gently patting them to make the meal adhere;
insert anything you please to represent the bone (turkey ribs may be
boiled white and kept for this purpose). Cutlets require to be dropped
into very hot fat, and taken up within two minutes. Consult directions
for frying in former chapter.

Sweetbread croquettes are simply made into cork or pear shapes, never
large, instead of cutlets. When the white meat of chicken replaces half
the sweetbread, they are called Cutlets, or Croquettes, a la Reine.

Make no attempt to mould croquettes or cutlets until the mixture is firm
enough to cut; then handle very quickly, make into proper forms, finish
them either as cutlets or what you wish, and let them remain in a cold
place for an hour or two before cooking; this last direction may not be
always possible, and to an expert is not necessary, but when time can be
given the amateur should always plan to do it.

But though in experienced hands it is possible (though not so easy) to
make croquettes and fry them as soon as breaded, do not be led to
believe that you can dispense with putting the mixture on the ice the
first time. I remember a young lady who was very proud of her croquettes
telling me she never found it necessary to chill the mixture; she could
secure perfect shape without. I asked to see the process, and decided in
my own mind that she must go widely from the directions, and have her
material as stiff as hash; but I found she solved the difficulty in a
different way: she simply worked in quantities of cracker meal, using it
like flour. Of course the croquettes were spoiled, although it was true
they kept their shape, and I do not think the young lady realized at all
that she was changing and impoverishing the preparation altogether.

_Braised Sweetbreads._--Take a pair of sweetbreads, lay in salt and
water for an hour, then blanch. Press slightly between two dishes; when
cold, remove all skin, fat, and gristle; cut up very fine a small
carrot, a turnip, and an onion; put them in a stewpan with the
sweetbreads, pour over the