Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/1200

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The dish in which these are served should be covered with a lace-edged paper. The fruit should be separated into branches suitable for serving, piled high in the centre of the dish, and the almonds blanched and scattered over. To prepare the almonds, place in cold water, bring to boil, skin and use as required.

These are much appreciated after the sweet course. They are prepared by tossing blanched almonds in hot oil or butter, the process of which is fully described in previous recipe.

These should be well rubbed with a clean soft cloth, and arranged in a dish, piled high in the centre, with green leaves between the layers. The inferior fruit should form the bottom layer, with the bright-coloured ones on the top. Oranges may be arranged and garnished in the same manner.

The beautiful colouring of these fruits when good and ripe renders anything more than a few green leaves for garnish necessary. These, when possible, should be vine leaves, otherwise the more delicate kinds of ferns are suitable. The fruit looks best when arranged a little from the edge of the stand and piled pyramidically.

Bananas look best when mixed with other fruits, and possibly the best effect is produced by arranging them with a series of arches over a single layer of apples or oranges, a fine apple or orange being piled in the centre where the points of the bananas meet.

Red and white currants may be mixed with good effect; they should be be piled in alternate layers to form a pyramid. Gooseberries should also be piled high, but need no other arrangement.