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Polenta Frite

Fried mush can be used to good advantage in many dishes that usually have toast, or fried bread or fried potato garnishes, but in the guileless form of the common breakfast fried mush, it is open to the same objection that Brillat-Savarin brings against the potato; he says: "I never take any. I think nothing of the potato unless as a stop-gap in times of great scarcity. It is, to my taste, most insipid." Therefore resort should be had to the gastronome's expedient in many similar cases; slice the mush thin, cut the shapes small, and mix minced cheese with the cracker meal to bread it with. The proportion of cheese is about one cupful, finely minced, to three cupfuls of cracker meal, but it must depend upon the quality of the cheese. Needs extra care in frying, as it soon acquires a deep color.

Polenta, a 1'Italienne.

A cake of buttered mush, with cheese baked on the top. 1 quart of water. 6 ounces of yellow corn meal. 2 ounces of butter. 4 ounces of cheese, minced. Level teaspoonful of salt and pepper mixed. Half cupful of cracker meal.

Brush the inside of a small saucepan slightly with melted butter, and make mush with the water and meal in the usual way, letting it cook with a lid on, in its own steam, on the furthest corner of the range, about 2 hours. Then stir in half the butter and the pepper and salt. It should be a stiff, well-cooked mush. Spread the other ounce of butter on the baking pan bottom--a 2 qt., bright, shallow milk-pan is best--sift half the cracker meal on that, then place the mush by spoonfuls so as to smooth it over at last without disturbing the under crust. When leveled over, strew on the minced cheese, sift rest of cracker meal on top, and bake in a brisk oven half an hour, or till nicely browned at top and bottom. This is a good dish for lunch. May be served like macaroni and cheese, or macaroni cake. Is best baked en caisse, that is, in little paper cases.

When the cheese furnished is too dry to melt in the oven, moisten the top with the back of a spoon dipped in melted butter. When too rich and melting, use less, and more cracker meal.