“If you had not had mutton so lately, I would suggest Irish stew; but what do you say to a pot-roast of beef,—or, to be finer, we will call it ‘braised beef’?” “My dear, we have nothing but mutton and beef, so an Irish stew will be very good; and I certainly want to know how to make it well.” “Still, I advise the small pot-roast to-morrow and an Irish stew later.” “Very well, either will be good. Now what meat shall I get for it?” “Three pounds of _thick_ flank—of beef.” The butcher handed out a thin piece nearly all fat. “No, no, that is not the part; have you not the flank with a broad piece of lean running through it?” asked Molly. The butcher now produced a piece of meat about four inches thick, three of which were lean. “That is it.” It was ten cents a pound. By Molly’s direction Mrs. Lennox got also half a pound of fat bacon, and her expenditure was:— Lamb’s liver .10 Bacon .07 Beef .30 —— .47 “Now we have meat for two days, for about what I have always paid for one.” “And you’ll have something for breakfast, you’ll find.” “The great thing will be the variation of our old routine, and the money-saving; but can’t you just _tell_ me how they should be cooked, instead of coming yourself?” “Yes, I will write out the recipes and send Marta with them.” “And the apple pudding.” “Ah, yes, you have suet in the house? Well, make a crust exactly as you did for the pot-pie; roll it out half an inch thick. Grease a bowl well and lay the paste in it, letting what is to spare hang over the sides; fill it with pared and cored apples cut small, and put over them two table-spoonfuls of sugar and a little water. Wet the border of the paste and gather up the overhanging sides, pinching them all together, so that there is no chance for juice to escape. Then dip the centre of a cloth in boiling water, flour it and put it over the pudding, tie it firmly with string just under the flare of the bowl, so that it will not slip up; bring the four corners of the cloth up over the top of the pudding and tie them. “Before you begin to make the pudding, set a pot, that is large enough to boil it in, on the stove, half full of water; when it is fast boiling, put the pudding in and let it boil up quickly again, and boil for an hour and a half without stopping.” “But I suppose the water must not cover over the top of it.” “Oh, indeed, yes; so long as the water _boils_ there is no danger of its getting into the pudding. As soon as it stops it begins to soak; that is why so many boiled puddings are heavy and soggy.” “Well, I never knew that. I knew they were often heavy, but not why. I rather supposed it was because they were boiled in too much water, and so it got into them.” They had talked along the quiet village streets, until Molly’s door was reached, and half an hour afterwards Marta ran across the road with the two following recipes:—