rner.

When prepared as directed, make three pounds of lard _very hot_ in a
deep frying-kettle,[119-*] place three of the patties on a fine wire
frying-basket, and fry brown. The fat should be excessively hot, as the
patties, being full of cold custard, will not burn, and will rapidly
cool it. They should be a delicate brown in six or seven minutes. Let
the fat come back to the original intense heat before putting in the
other patties. When they are fried, remove the centre you marked with
the smaller cutter with a sharp thin knife and small teaspoon, leaving
the sides about half an inch thick. They are now ready to fill. If the
patties are just right, the inside you remove should be of a
custard-like texture, _not_ like sopped bread: indeed, in eating them,
the bread should not be easily detected. These patties are very
delicious filled with any of the usual fillings, or, for dessert, with
stiff preserve. They have no covers, consequently the filling should be
piled high without allowing the sauce to run over, and garnished with
parsley or water-cress.

_Sweetbread Patties._--Soak two very white sweetbreads in salt and water
one hour; parboil for twenty minutes; then let them cool; remove the
skin, fat, and gristle; cut them into half-inch dice, and lay them aside
while you prepare the following sauce: Put a gill of strong white stock
into a small saucepan with a gill of mushroom liquor (and a dozen small
mushrooms cut in four if approved) to boil. In another saucepan cook an
ounce of flour and one of butter together, stirring till they bubble;
pour the two gills of stock quickly to it, and stir till smooth. Season
with half a teaspoonful of salt and very little pepper; lay in the
sweetbreads, and let them stew twenty minutes. Strain them off from the
sauce, which boil down (stirring constantly to prevent burning) till
very thick; then add a gill of thick fresh cream. The sauce should now
be thick enough to mask the spoon _very heavily_; pour it over the
sweetbreads, and stir together. This is now ready for filling the
patties. If mushrooms are not liked they may be omitted, the liquor
replaced by a gill of stock and a teaspoonful of white wine.

_Oyster Patties._--Take a dozen and a half Blue Points, scald them in
their own liquor, but do not leave them a moment after they reach the
boiling-point; strain the liquor from them; cut each oyster in four. Put
a tablespoonful of flour and one of butter into a small saucep