_Scotch barley broth_ is considered best when made with a sheep's head, the wool from which has been singed off with a red-hot iron. This operation requires great care, as every particle of the wool should be removed, and yet no impression should be made on the skin. When singed the head should be soaked in water all night. In the morning it is scraped and washed, and then it is split open, and the brains taken out. Some persons rub the brains over the skin of the head to remove the blackness; but others do not like either the broth or the head unless both are black. When properly prepared it is put into a kettle with some turnips and carrots cut small, some onions, and some salt; and a gallon of water should be added, in which a teacupful of Scotch or pearl barley has been boiled slowly for half an hour. The whole should then be boiled very gently for two or three hours, or longer, in a close kettle. When served the soup should not be strained, but only the head should be taken out and served on a separate dish, and the broth should be sent to table with the barley and vegetables in it. The meat on the head should be quite tender and thoroughly done. If the taste of the head be disliked, the soup may be made by adding to the stewed barley, the vegetables, and three pounds of the lean end of a neck of mutton, instead of the head. A pint of green peas may also be added, if in season. _A Scotch hotch-potch._ Take equal quantities of fresh beef and mutton, a pound and a half of each to three pints of water; chop them finely, and let them simmer gently in a stew-pan. When the meat is tender, season with salt and pepper, and add a peck of green peas, three or four or more carrots, two cauliflowers, a few onions, and any other vegetable that may be in season, cutting them small, and dredging them with flour. The whole should stew gradually till the vegetables are tender, when it should be served without straining. In the winter, when other vegetables are scarce, potatoes may be substituted for some of them; but carrots should always be most abundant. _For an Irish stew._ Take four pounds of potatoes, and a pound and a half of meat, with a few onions, and one carrot, which will make a good stew for six or seven persons. The meat must be cut into small pieces; if it is half mutton it will be all the better; add about three pints of water. When the greater portion of the potatoes are in pulp, it will be done. Season it with salt and pepper. _The English national dishes_ are, I suppose, roast beef and plum pudding. I need not tell you how to roast your beef, but I may give you a receipt for a pudding under it, as I think puddings of that kind are peculiar to England.