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Milk Coffee, or Cafe Au Lait

Cafe au lait--the favourite beverage at the breakfast-tables of our Continental neighbours-is the most simple of preparations, and yet is so badly made in most English households that it has become a national reproach. A very little care will enable the mistress of a family to have as good coffee on her table as can be procured in Paris. To have coffee in perfection it should be roasted and ground just before it is used; the former is not always practicable, but the grinding can easily be performed daily by the aid of a small handmill, which is an indispensable article in every kitchen. Do not use cheap coffee. Mocha is the best. No coffee-pot answers better than an earthenware coffee-pot with three strainers. Place the ground coffee under the top strainer, and above the two others; now replace the top one, and pour over quite boiling water in the proportion of three cupfuls of water to one cupful of the powder. When it bubbles up through the strainer, close the lid, and as soon as the whole of the water has passed through, the coffee is made. Boil the milk, and pour into the cups in the proportion of half coffee and half milk. Sweeten with crushed sugar-candy, or loaf sugar, as moist sugar destroys the delicate aroma of the coffee. Sufficient, an ounce of coffee to three-quarters of a pint of water. (See also COFFEE, BREAKFAST.)