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Edgings to Dishes

Of these there is a great variety. We give such as are in general use for made dishes; for instance, rice, mashed potato, all kinds of pastry edgings, peeled new round potatoes, sippets of fried bread, hard-boiled eggs, small cucumbers, tomatoes, sliced beetroot, and lemon, with the white of egg beaten to a froth and dropped on each slice of lemon, and then powdered over with cayenne pepper. Then, for sweet dishes, there is an almost endless variety, but the most elegant are preserved fruits and cream beaten to a froth, and coloured either green or red. It would be impossible to give a recipe for every kind of garniture, nor is it necessary. A good cook will use her own judgment and taste, but perhaps for the inexperienced it would be wise to say what edgings best suit certain dishes; for instance, hashes of all kinds may be garnished with sippets of fried bread cut into fanciful shapes, mashed potatoes, and even rice, though the latter is more generally used for curries. Mushrooms are a most appropriate edging to stewed beef, and hard boiled eggs for calf's head en tortue, or stewed soles; beetroot and parsley are excellent as a garnish for cold meat, and thin strips of beetroot laid crosswise on the breast of a boiled fowl give an excellent finish.