[Illustration: CHEESE SALAD IN MOLDS LINED WITH STRIPS OF PIMENTO]
Line each "flute" in small fluted molds with narrow strips of pimento. For this recipe six or seven molds will be needed. Beat one cup of cream, one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of salt and paprika till firm. Soften half a level tablespoonful of gelatine in about one-eighth a cup of cold water; dissolve by setting the dish in warm water. To the dissolved gelatine add half a cup, generous measure, of grated cheese of any variety. Stir until cool, then fold into the cream. Use this mixture to fill the molds. When cold and firm unmold and serve with a plain lettuce salad. French or mayonnaise dressing may be used with the lettuce. Bread or crackers should also be provided. Hot pulled bread or toasted crackers are excellent. As the pimentos flavor the dish strongly, nothing that does not harmonize with them should be presented at the same time. If the pimento prove objectionable--they sometimes cause flatulency--strips of uncooked tomato may be substituted.
Sift together two and one-half cups of pastry flour, a teaspoonful of baking powder and half a teaspoonful of salt; work in half a cup of shortening, then stir in cold water as is needed to make a paste. Knead slightly on a floured board; cut off half the paste for the lower rounds.
Roll the other half of the paste into a rectangular sheet, dot one half with tiny bits of butter, fold the unbuttered paste over the other, dot half of this with bits of butter, fold as before, dot one half with butter, fold as before, then roll out into a thin sheet for the upper rounds. The paste may be chilled to advantage before rolling. In pastry making a magic cover may be used more successfully than a marble slab.
Cut choice pears in halves, lengthwise; remove the skin and the seed cavity. Cook tender in a little sugar and water. Cut into small bits enough French candied fruits to half fill the cavities in the pears. Mix the fruit with apricot, peach or apple marmalade and use to fill the open spaces in the pears. For a dozen halves of pears, scald one pint of rich milk; sift together, several times, three-fourths a cup, each, of sugar and flour, dilute with some of the hot milk and stir until smooth and return to the rest of the milk; stir the whole until thick and smooth, cover and let cook fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally. Beat the yolks of five eggs; add one-fourth a cup of sugar and half a teaspoonful of salt and beat again, then stir into the hot mixture; continue stirring until the egg is cooked, then fold in the whites of five eggs, beaten dry, continuing the cooking and folding until the white is set or cooked. Flavor with a teaspoonful of vanilla extract. Turn part of this cream into an au gratin dish (sometimes called cocotte and sometimes Welsh rabbit dish). Dispose the pears in the cream, cover with the rest of the cream, sprinkle the whole with dried and pulverized macaroons, mixed with melted butter. Set the dish into the oven to brown the crumbs. Serve hot in the dish.