being really minced (hachée, or chopped), and not
torn and reduced to a stringy pulp, as is all but
invariably the case if entrusted to the ordinary
cook's mincing machine. Choose your meat, what-
ever it may be, and remember, if thriftily inclined,
that the more kinds of meat used the merrier.
Remove all skin, sinew, gristle, and a good deal of
the fat, and chop it up as finely as possible with a
sharp chopping knife; add to it a fifth of the
quantity of meat, of sausage meat, and half as much
breadcrumbs as you have sausage meat, seasoning it
with pepper, salt, and a little parsley. Now put into
a pan a nice piece of butter, according to the amount
of meat you have, and, as soon as this melts, lay in a
finely chopped shallot or a small onion, and let it
brown delicately, keeping it stirred in the process.
(Be careful your pan does not rest flat on the coals, or
its contents will certainly catch.) Then turn into it
the meat, etc., sprinkle it with a teaspoonful of fine
flour, and keep it well stirred over the fire for five
minutes, at all events (more if you have a rather large
quantity of meat), then pour into it from half a gill
of good stock upwards, according to quantity, and
let it cook very gently over a slow fire for half an
hour, when you add a tiny squeeze of lemon juice,
and serve garnished with fried croutons, plain or
spread with savoury butter. This may be varied by
serving it in a wall of potato, either nicely mashed
and browned, or served in the form of potato snow.
Or, again, a little curry powder may be fried with
the mince, the mince being prepared exactly as before,
plus the curry powder, and served in a wall of rice;