The Dinner Year-Book

The Dinner Year-Book is a book by Marion Harland. A section headed Familiar Talk with the Reader quotes a correspondent who writes that one of the most serious perplexities of the correspondent's every-day life is the daily recurring question, What shall we have for dinner? The menu for Fourth Week, Tuesday, names Crust Soup, Mock Pigeons with Mushroom Sauce, Baked Potatoes, Cabbage Sprouts and Eggs, Mixed Pickles and Bread and Raisin Pudding.

The recipe for Crust Soup calls for 1 quart of dry crusts, the more stale the better if sweet, 2 cups of yesterday's soup, 2 cups of boiling water and 1 onion, among other things. The entry for Third Week, Monday, names Sago Soup, Lamb Pudding, Stewed Corn, Potatoes au Naturel, Cabbage Salad, Grapes, Pears, and Bananas, and Tea à la Russe, Crackers and Cheese. The directions for Cranberry Sauce say to wash and pick over the cranberries and to cook them in a tin or porcelain vessel, allowing a teacupful of water to each quart.