Make a sauce by melting 1 tablespoon of butter and thickening it with 1 tablespoon of flour, and then adding, 1 tablespoon at a time, enough of the water the leeks were cooked in (about 1 cup) to make the sauce of the right consistency; season with pepper and salt, drain the leeks, and serve the sauce over them. MUSHROOMS Mushrooms should only be used when perfectly fresh and firm; in peeling them take a small knife, and, holding the delicate fringe at the edge of the mushroom between the edge of the knife and the thumb, peel the paper-like skin off, pulling it toward the centre of the mushroom. The stems should be cut or broken off without breaking the cup, and if sound should be scraped and used. When the mushrooms are white and small and freshly picked they can be quickly washed and used without peeling. STEWED MUSHROOMS Peel about 1 pound of mushrooms, put them in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of butter, 1 saltspoon of pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 cup of milk, into which 1 tablespoon of flour has been mixed; cover and let cook for five or six minutes, then add 1 cup of cream, stir all well together, replace the cover, and let cook gently for ten minutes. These mushrooms can also be cooked and served in an Italian casserole. GERMAN STEWED MUSHROOMS Peel 1 pound of mushrooms and put them in a saucepan, sprinkle with the juice of 1 lemon, add 1 cup of milk, cover, and let simmer gently for ten minutes. Thicken with 1 heaping teaspoon of flour dissolved in a little milk, and add 1 tablespoon of butter and a grating of nutmeg, and let simmer gently for ten minutes more before serving. Instead of lemon juice and milk a cup of sour cream is often used in Germany, and is an acceptable substitute. MUSHROOM AND CHESTNUT RAGOUT Use an equal quantity of peeled mushrooms and boiled Italian chestnuts, and heat in a rich brown sauce. Serve, garnished with toast, or in cases, or use in a deep pie with a top crust of biscuit dough. MUSHROOMS NEWBURG Peel 1 pound of mushrooms, cover them with 2 cups of milk, and let them simmer gently for ten minutes. Lift the mushrooms out with a strainer, and make a sauce of the milk by adding 1 tablespoon of flour, 1 tablespoon of butter, the beaten yolks of 2 eggs, 1 wineglass of sherry, and some salt and paprika. When the sauce thickens replace the mushrooms in it, let them heat for two minutes, and serve on toast or in patty cases. BAKED MUSHROOMS ON TOAST Select as many large mushrooms as are required, and, after peeling them, lay each one, cup upward, on rounds of toast which, after toasting, have been dampened by being plunged quickly into hot water; place the toast with the mushrooms upon it into a shallow buttered pan, put a little bit of butter in the cup of each mushroom, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover with another pan the same size, and let cook eight or ten minutes. Serve at once, with a garnish of parsley or watercress. GRILLED MUSHROOMS