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Nouilles

Nouilles are made of delicate pastry, cut up into ribands and various shapes, and used as a substitute for vermicelli and macaroni, either in making fritters or puddings, or for serving with cheese, or in soup. They are made as follows. Take half a pound of fine flour, put it on the pastry-board, make a hole in the centre, and in this put two eggs. Add a pinch of salt, half an ounce of butter, and a tea-spoonful of cold water, and mix all together into a very firm, smooth paste. Leave it a little while to dry, then roll it out as thin as possible, and cut it into thin bands an inch and a quarter in width. Dredge a little flour upon these, and lay four or five of them one above another, then cut them through into thin shreds, something like vermicelli; shake them well, to prevent their sticking together, and spread them out to dry. Nouilles cannot be made without a straight rolling-pin and smooth pastry-board. When wanted for use, drop them gradually into boiling water, stirring gently with a wooden spoon to keep them from getting lumpy. Let them boil from six to twenty minutes, then take them up with a strainer, drain them well, and spread them out on a coarse cloth. Besides thread-like nouilles, a few may be made the size and shape of scarlet-runner beans, or small birds'-eggs, or they may be cut broad like macaroni. If thoroughly dried, they will keep any length of time stored in tin canisters. Probable cost, 3d. for this quantity.