bean pudding is to rub the beans through the wire sieve, leaving the strings behind, flavouring the pudding with a few savoury herbs, a little sugar, pepper, and salt, and, if liked, a suspicion of garlic; add one or two well-beaten-up eggs, and put the mixture in a round pudding-basin, and bake it till it sets.  This can be turned out on the centre of a dish, and a few young French beans placed round the base to ornament it, in conjunction with some pieces of fried bread cut into pretty shapes.

BROCOLI.—­Trim the outer leaves off a brocoli, and cut off the stalk even, so that it will stand upright.  Soak the brocoli in salt and water for some time, in order to get rid of any insects.  Throw the brocoli into boiling water that has been salted, and boil till it is tender, the probable time for young brocoli being about a quarter of an hour.  It should be served on a dish with the flower part uppermost; and butter sauce, sauce Allemande, or Dutch sauce can be served separately, or poured over the surface.

When several heads of brocoli are served at once, it is important to cut the stalks flat, as directed, before boiling.  After they have been thoroughly drained upside down, they should be placed on the dish, flower part uppermost, and placed together as much as possible to look like one large brocoli.  If sauce is poured over them, the sauce should be sufficiently thick to be spread, and every part of the flower should be covered.  Half a teaspoonful of chopped blanched parsley may be sprinkled over the top, and improves the appearance of the dish.

N.B.—­We would particularly call attention to the importance of draining brocoli and cauliflower very thoroughly, especially when any sauce is served with the brocoli.  When the dish is cut into, nothing looks more disagreeable than to see the white sauce running off the brocoli into green water at the bottom of the dish.

BROCOLI GREENS.—­The outside leaves of brocoli should not be thrown away, but eaten.  Too often they are trimmed off at the greengrocer’s or at the market, and, we presume, utilised for the purpose of feeding cattle.  They can be boiled exactly like white cabbages, and are equal to them, if not superior, in flavour.  To boil them, see CABBAGE, WHITE, LARGE.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS.—­These must be first washed in cold water and all the little pieces of decayed leaves trimmed away.  Throw them into boiling salted water; the water must be kept boiling the whole time, without a lid on the saucepan, and if the quantity of water be sufficiently large not to be taken off the boil by the sprouts being thrown in they will be sent to table of a far brighter green colour than otherwise.  In order to ensure this, throw in the sprouts a few at a time, picking out the big ones to throw in first.  Sprouts, as soon as they are tender—­probable time a quarter of an hour—­should be drained and served quickly.  When served as a dish by themselves, after being drained off, they can be placed in a stew-pan with a little butter, pepper, salt, nutmeg, and lemon-juice.  They can then be served with toasted or fried bread.