Marion Harland's Cookery For Beginners - free ebook by Marion Harland

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Marion Harland's Cookery For Beginners

Marion Harland

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109 chapters

MARION HARLAND’S COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS

MARION HARLAND’S COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS

A SERIES OF FAMILIAR LESSONS FOR YOUNG HOUSEKEEPERS BY THE Author of “Common Sense in the Household,” “The Dinner Year Book,” “The Cottage Kitchen,” etc. BOSTON D. LOTHROP COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1884, by D. Lothrop &amp; Co. ————— Copyright, 1893, by D. Lothrop Company....

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COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS.

COOKERY FOR BEGINNERS.

THE question is often asked, “What is the most important branch of culinary knowledge? What the chief requisite in supplying the table well and healthfully?” The experienced housewife cannot hesitate as to the reply. Beyond doubt, the ability to make good bread. No one need rise hungry from a table on which is plenty of light, sweet bread, white or brown, and good butter. For the latter item many of us are dependent upon market and grocery. It is hardly just to hold the cook responsible for impe

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HOME-MADE YEAST.

HOME-MADE YEAST.

Four large mealy potatoes, peeled. Two quarts of cold water. One teacupful of loose, dry hops, or , half a cake of the pressed hops put up by the Shakers and sold by druggists. Two tablespoonfuls of white sugar. Four tablespoonfuls of flour. Half a cupful lively yeast, or a yeast-cake dissolved in a little warm water. Put water, potatoes, and the hops tied up in a bit of coarse muslin, over the fire in a clean pot or kettle. Boil until the potatoes break apart when a fork is stuck into them. Unl

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THE FIRST LOAF.

THE FIRST LOAF.

One quart and a cupful of sifted flour (a half pint cup) One even teaspoonful dry salt. Two full cups of blood-warm water. Five tablespoonfuls of yeast (good ones). Sift the flour and salt together into a wooden or stoneware bowl. Make a hole in the middle and pour in the yeast, then a cupful of the water. With clean hands begin to work down the flour into the liquid, and as it stiffens add the rest of the water. When the dough is all wet dust your fingers with dry flour, and rub off the paste i

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Bread Sponge.

Bread Sponge.

Three potatoes of fair size, peeled and boiled mealy. Five tablespoonfuls of yeast. One tablespoonful of white sugar. One tablespoonful of butter. Three cups of lukewarm water in which the potatoes were boiled—strained through a coarse cloth. One heaping cup of sifted flour. Put the potatoes into a large bowl or tray and mash them to powder with a potato beetle, or a wooden spoon. While still hot, mix in the sugar and butter, beating all to a lumpless cream. Add a few spoonfuls at a time, the po

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Graham Bread.

Graham Bread.

One quart of Graham flour, one cup of white flour. One half cup of Indian meal. One half cup of molasses. Two teaspoonfuls of salt. Soda, the size of a pea. Half the quantity of sponge given in preceding receipt. Warm water for rinsing bowl—about half a cup. Put the brown or Graham flour unsifted into the bread-bowl. Sift into it white flour, meal and salt, and stir up well while dry. Into the “crater” dug out in the middle, pour the sponge, warm water, the molasses, and soda dissolved in hot wa

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Tea-Rolls.

Tea-Rolls.

After mixing your bread in the morning either with sponge or with yeast, divide the kneaded dough into two portions. Mould one into a round ball, and set aside for a loaf as already directed. Make a hole in the middle of the other batch and pour into it a tablespoonful of butter, just melted, but not hot. Close the dough over it, dust your hands and kneading-board with flour and work in the shortening until the dough is elastic and ceases to be sticky. Put it into a floured bowl, cover with a cl

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Graham Rolls

Graham Rolls

Are made by treating the dough mixed for Graham bread as above and following the foregoing receipt in every section, but allowing more time for rising and baking. They are even better when cold than hot....

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Breakfast Biscuit.

Breakfast Biscuit.

Two cups of fresh milk slightly warmed. One quart and a cup of flour sifted. Five tablespoonfuls of yeast. One even tablespoonful of white sugar. One even teaspoonful of salt. Bit of soda as large as a pea, dissolved in hot water. One tablespoonful of butter, just melted, not hot. Yolk of one egg beaten light. Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl, hollow the heap in the centre and pour in the milk, working down the flour into the liquid with a spoon or your hands until it is thoroughly mel

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English Muffins.

English Muffins.

One quart of sifted flour. Two cups of lukewarm water. Half a cup of yeast. One tablespoonful of butter melted, but not hot. One teaspoonful of salt sifted with the flour. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, make a hole in the middle and pour in yeast and warm water. Stir down the flour gradually into the liquid, and when all is in, beat hard with a wooden spoon. Should the mixture be too stiff for this, add a little more water. It should be about half as thick as bread-dough. Beat for five min

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Crumpets.

Crumpets.

Two cups of lukewarm milk. Two thirds of a cup of lukewarm water. One quart of sifted flour. One tablespoonful of white sugar. Half a teaspoonful of salt. Two tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Half a cupful of yeast. Soda the size of a pea, dissolved in a teaspoonful of boiling water. Mix milk, yeast, water, sugar and salted flour as directed in former receipt. Beat hard, and set to rise over night. In the morning work in the butter and soda, beat up for one whole minute until the mixture is ligh

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Quick Muffins.

Quick Muffins.

One quart of sifted flour. One tablespoonful of salt. Three cups lukewarm milk. Two eggs. One tablespoonful of melted butter. Two teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Sift flour, baking-powder and salt twice through the sieve, to make sure these are well mixed together. Beat the eggs very light. (By all means have a Dover Egg-Beater for this purpose. It whips eggs to a lovely froth with less labor and in less time than any other yet invented.) Stir melted butter, eggs and milk together in a large bowl

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Sally Lunn. (The “Genuine Article.”)

Sally Lunn. (The “Genuine Article.”)

One quart of sifted flour. One cup of warm milk. One of warm water. Four large tablespoonfuls of yeast. Two tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Four eggs. One tablespoonful of salt sifted with the flour. Soda the size of a pea, dissolved in a teaspoonful of boiling water. Beat the eggs steadily four minutes. Have ready in a bowl the warmed milk, water, melted butter and soda. Into this stir the salted flour, cupful by cupful, until all is in. Beat smooth from lumps and add the yeast. The eggs shoul

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Quick Biscuits.

Quick Biscuits.

One quart of sifted flour. Two heaping tablespoonfuls of sweet, firm lard. Two cups of new milk (warm from the cow if you can get it.) Two tablespoonfuls of baking powder. One teaspoonful of salt. Sift salt, flour, and baking-powder twice into a bowl or tray. With a clean sharp chopping-knife work the lard into this, turning and chopping until no lumps are left. Into a hollow in the middle pour the milk, working the flour downward until you have a soft, wet mass, using the chopper for this purpo

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Griddle Cakes.

Griddle Cakes.

IN making these, let quickness be the first, second and third rules. Beat briskly and thoroughly; mix just as you are ready to send the cakes to the table (except when yeast is used), bake, turn, and serve promptly. Have all your materials on the table, measured and ready to your hand. The griddle must be perfectly clean and wiped off with a dry cloth just before you lay it on the stove. Heat it gradually at one side of the stove or range, and when it is warm grease with a bit of fat salt pork s

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Sour-milk Cakes.

Sour-milk Cakes.

One quart of “loppered,” or of buttermilk. Three cups of sifted flour. One cup of Indian meal. One “rounded” teaspoonful of soda free from lumps. One teaspoonful of salt. Two tablespoonfuls of molasses. Sift flour, salt and meal into a bowl. In another mix the milk, molasses and soda. Stir these last to a foam, and pour into the hollow in the middle of the flour. Work down the flour into the liquid with a wooden spoon until you have a batter, and beat hard with upward strokes, two minutes. Bake

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Hominy Cakes.

Hominy Cakes.

Two cups of fine hominy boiled and cold. (Take the tough skin from the top before mixing in the batter.) One heaping cup of sifted flour. One quart of milk. Three eggs beaten very light. One tablespoonful of molasses. One teaspoonful of salt. Rub the hominy with the back of a wooden spoon until all the lumps are broken up. Wet it little by little with the milk and molasses, working it smooth as you go on. Sift flour and salt together, and put in next. Beat for a whole minute before adding the wh

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Graham Cakes.

Graham Cakes.

Two cups of Graham flour. One of sifted white. One heaping tablespoonful of Indian meal. Three cups of buttermilk, or loppered milk. One rounded teaspoonful of soda. Two tablespoonfuls of molasses. One teaspoonful of salt sifted with the flour. Two eggs whipped very light. One tablespoonful melted butter. One tablespoonful melted butter. Put Graham and salted white flour into a bowl with the Indian meal. Stir up in another milk, molasses, soda and melted butter, and while foaming pour into the h

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Boiled Eggs.

Boiled Eggs.

Select the cleanest eggs, wash them well, and lay them in lukewarm water for five minutes. Have ready on the fire a saucepan of water on a fast boil, and in quantity sufficient to cover the eggs entirely. Into this put one egg at a time with a spoon, depositing each gently on the bottom, and quickly. Four minutes boils an egg thoroughly, if one likes the white set and the yolk heated to the centre. Five minutes makes the white firm and sets the yolk. Ten minutes boils both hard. Take up the eggs

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Custard Eggs.

Custard Eggs.

Put the washed eggs in a saucepan of cold water and let them just come to a boil, then take them up. Or, lay them in a hot tin pail, cover them with boiling water, put the top on the pail and leave them on the kitchen table for five minutes. Drain off the water, pour on more boiling hot and replace the top. Wrap a hot towel about the pail, and leave it four minutes before dishing the eggs. They will be like a soft custard throughout, and more digestible than if cooked in any other way....

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Poached, or Dropped Eggs.

Poached, or Dropped Eggs.

Into a clean frying-pan, pour plenty of boiling water, and a teaspoonful of salt. Let it boil steadily, not violently. Wipe a cup dry, break an egg into it, and pour, very cautiously and quickly, on the surface of the water. Avoid spreading or breaking it. It will sink to the bottom for an instant, but if the water is boiling hot, will rise soon and be cooked in about three and a half minutes. Do not put more than three into the pan at one time, or they will run into one another. Take them up wi

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Eggs on Toast.

Eggs on Toast.

Cut out with a sharp-edged tumbler or a cake cutter as many round slices of stale bread as there are eggs to be cooked. Toast these nicely, butter thinly; cover the bottom of a heated dish with them, and pour on each a tablespoonful of boiling water. Set in the plate-warmer or an open oven while you poach eggs as directed in the last receipt. Lay each when done on a round of toast, pepper, salt and butter, and serve....

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Eggs on Savory Toast.

Eggs on Savory Toast.

Toast rounds of stale bread as directed in preceding receipt, but instead of moistening them with hot water, pour upon them, as they lie in the dish, two tablespoonfuls of boiling gravy to each slice. A half-cupful of gravy left over from yesterday’s roast or stew skimmed free of fat, heated, thinned with a very little boiling water, well-seasoned, then strained and boiled up quickly, makes this a tempting dish. Poach as many eggs as you have rounds of toast, and lay on these, with pepper, salt

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Scrambled or Stirred Eggs.

Scrambled or Stirred Eggs.

Nine eggs. One tablespoonful of butter. Half a teaspoonful of salt. A little pepper. Half a teaspoonful of chopped parsley very fine. Break the eggs altogether in a bowl. Put the butter in a clean frying-pan and set it on the range. As it melts, add pepper, salt and parsley. When it hisses, pour in the eggs, and begin at once to stir them, scraping the bottom of the pan from the sides toward the centre, until you have a soft, moist mass just firm enough not to run over the bottom of the heated d

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Bacon and Eggs.

Bacon and Eggs.

Fry as many slices of ham, or what is known as breakfast-bacon, as there are eggs to be cooked. Have the clean frying-pan warm, but not hot, when the meat goes in. Turn the slices as they brown. When done, take the pan over to the sink or table, remove the meat to a hot dish and set where it will keep warm. Strain the grease left in the pan through a bit of tarlatan or coarse muslin into a cup. Wipe the frying-pan clean, pour in the strained fat and return to the fire. If there is not enough to

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Baked Eggs.

Baked Eggs.

Put a tablespoonful of butter in a pie-plate, and set in the oven until it melts and begins to smoke. Take it to the table and break six eggs one by one into a cup, pouring each in turn into the melted butter carefully. Sprinkle with pepper and salt, put a tiny bit of butter on each and set in the oven to bake until the eggs are “set”—that is, when the whites are firm and the yolks skimmed over, but not hard. Four minutes in a quick oven should do this. Send to table at once. If you have a few s

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Scalloped Eggs.

Scalloped Eggs.

Six eggs. Half a cupful of nice gravy skimmed and strained. Chicken, turkey, game and veal gravy are especially good for this purpose. Clear soup may also be used. Half a cupful of pounded cracker or fine dry bread-crumbs. Pepper and salt. Pour the gravy into a pie-plate and let it get warm before putting in the eggs as in last receipt. Pepper, salt and strew cracker crumbs evenly over them. Bake five minutes. Serve in the pie-plate....

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Dropped Eggs with White Sauce.

Dropped Eggs with White Sauce.

Drop or poach the eggs; put them on a hot, flat dish and pour over them this sauce boiling hot. In a saucepan put half a cupful of boiling water. Two or three large spoonfuls of nice strained gravy. A little pepper. A quarter teaspoonful of salt. When this boils stir in a heaping teaspoonful of flour wet up smoothly with a little cold water to keep it from lumping. Stir and boil one minute and add a tablespoonful of butter. Stir steadily two minutes longer, add, if you like, a little minced pars

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Omelette.

Omelette.

Six eggs. Four teaspoonfuls of cream. Half a teaspoonful salt. A little pepper. Two tablespoonfuls of butter. Whip whites and yolks together for four minutes in a bowl with the “Dover” egg beater. They should be thick and smooth before you beat in cream, salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a clean frying-pan, set on one side of the stove where it will keep warm but not scorch. Pour the beaten mixture into it and remove to a place where the fire is hotter. As it “sets,” slip a broad knife careful

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Beefsteak.

Beefsteak.

Never wash a steak unless it has fallen in the dirt or met with other accident. In this case cleanse quickly in cold water and wipe perfectly dry before cooking. Have a clear hot fire and do not uncover that part of the stove above it until you have adjusted the steak on the broiler. If you use the ordinary iron gridiron, lay the meat on it the instant it goes over the fire, but have it already warm and rub the bars with a bit of fresh suet. When the meat has lain over the coals two minutes and

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Mutton or Lamb Chops.

Mutton or Lamb Chops.

Cut off most of the fat and all the skin. A clean bone an inch in length will project from the smaller end when you have pared away the tallow and skin which would have cooked into rankness and leather. Put as many chops on the broiler as it will conveniently hold, and broil as you would beefsteak. Cut into the largest to see if it is done. If it is, lay the chops on a heated dish set over a pot of boiling water; butter, pepper and salt them, and cover them up while you cook the rest. Serve as s

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Broiled Ham.

Broiled Ham.

Cut even slices from a cold boiled Ferris &amp; Co.’s “Trade Mark” ham. Divide these into oblong pieces about an inch and a half in width, and broil quickly over clear coals until a delicate brown touches the slices here and there. Lay in order on a hot dish. Broiled ham is appetizing, and should be accompanied by dry toast, lightly buttered....

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Larded Liver.

Larded Liver.

THE butcher will slice the liver, or show you how to do it. When it is cut up, lay it in cold water in which has been stirred a teaspoonful of salt. This will draw out the blood. Cut fat, raw salt pork into strips a finger long and a quarter of an inch thick and wide. In half an hour’s time take the liver from the water, spread it out on a clean dry cloth, lay another cloth over the slices and pat gently to dry them thoroughly. Make holes an inch apart in the liver with a pen-knife or sharp skew

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Veal Cutlets (Breaded).

Veal Cutlets (Breaded).

Whip two eggs light and pour them into a pie-plate. Turn the cutlets, one by one, over in this until every part is coated. In another dish spread evenly a cupful of rolled or pounded cracker, very fine and dry. Turn the “egged” cutlets over in this to encrust them well. Meanwhile four large spoonfuls of sweet lard or nice beef-dripping must be melting in a clean frying-pan at one side of the range. When the cutlets are all breaded, move the pan directly over the fire. As the fat begins a lively

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Sausage Cakes.

Sausage Cakes.

Break off bits of sausage meat of equal size, roll them in the palms of clean hands into balls and pat them into flat cakes. Arrange them in a frying-pan and cook (not too fast) in their own fat, turning them twice until they are nicely and evenly browned. The time allowed for frying them depends on the size of the cakes. If they are not large, fifteen minutes should be enough. Serve on a hot dish, without gravy....

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Smothered Sausages.

Smothered Sausages.

Prick “link” sausages—that is, those done up in skins, in fifteen or twenty places, with a large needle; put them in a clean frying-pan in which is a half a teacup full of hot water. Roll the sausages over in this several times and cover closely . If you have not the lid of a pot or of a tin-pail that fits the frying-pan, use a pie-dish turned upside down. Set the pan where the water will bubble slowly, for ten minutes. Lift the cover then, and roll the sausages over again two or three times, to

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Fish Balls.

Fish Balls.

Soak a pound of cod-fish all night in cold water. Change it in the morning, and cover with lukewarm water for three hours more. Wash it, scraping off the salt and fat; put it into a sauce-pan, cover it well with water just blood-warm, and let it simmer—that is, not quite boil, two hours. Take it up, pick out the bones and remove the skin, and set the fish aside to cool. When perfectly cold chop it fine in a wooden tray. Have ready, for a cupful of minced fish, nearly two cupfuls of potato boiled

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A Breakfast Stew (very nice).

A Breakfast Stew (very nice).

Two pounds of lean beef. (The “second best cuts” may be used here.) A quarter of a medium-sized onion. A tablespoonful of browned flour. Half a teaspoonful each of minced parsley, summer savory, and sweet marjoram. As much allspice as will lie on a silver dime. One teaspoonful of Halford sauce. One saltspoonful of made mustard. One saltspoonful of pepper. Strained juice of half a lemon. Strained juice of half a lemon. Cut the meat into pieces an inch square. Put it with the chopped onion into a

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Hash.

Hash.

Rid cold corned or roast beef of fat, skin and gristle, and mince it in a wooden tray with a sharp chopper until the largest piece is not more than an eighth of an inch square. With two cupfuls of this mix a cupful of mashed potato rubbed smooth with a potato beater or wooden spoon. Season well with pepper and salt if the beef be fresh, if corned use the salt sparingly and pepper well. Set a clean frying-pan on the stove with a cupful of beef gravy in it from which you have skimmed all the fat.

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Hash Cakes.

Hash Cakes.

Having prepared the hash as above set it aside until cold, when mould into flat cakes as you would sausage meat, and roll in flour. Heat nice beef-dripping to a boil in a frying-pan, lay in the cakes, and fry to a light brown on both sides....

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Beef Croquettes.

Beef Croquettes.

You can make these of the cold hash by moulding it into rolls about three and a half inches long, and rather more than an inch in diameter. Roll these over and over on a floured dish or board to get them smooth and regular in shape; flatten the ends by setting each upright on the floury dish, and put enough dripping in the pan to cover them as they lie on their sides in it. It should be very hot before they go in. Roll over carefully in the fat as they brown, not to spoil the shape. Do not put t

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A Mutton Stew.

A Mutton Stew.

Cut slices of cold mutton half an inch thick, trim away fat and skin and divide the lean meat into neat squares about an inch across. Drop a piece of onion as large as a hickory-nut in a cupful of water and boil fifteen minutes. Strain the water through a bit of muslin, squeezing the onion hard to extract the flavor. Allow this cupful of water to two cupfuls of meat. If you have less mutton use less water; if more increase the quantity of liquid. Pour the water into a clean saucepan and when it

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Minced Mutton on Toast.

Minced Mutton on Toast.

Trim off skin and fat from slices of cold mutton and mince in a chopping-tray. Season with pepper and salt. Into a clean frying-pan, pour a cupful of mutton-gravy which has been skimmed well, mixed with a little hot water and strained through a bit of coarse muslin. When this boils, wet a teaspoonful of browned flour with three tablespoonfuls of cold water, and a teaspoonful of tomato or walnut catsup, or half a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce. Rub out all the lumps and stir into the gravy i

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Devilled Mutton.

Devilled Mutton.

Cut even slices of cold mutton, not too fat. Stir together and melt in a clean frying-pan two tablespoonfuls of butter and one of currant or grape jelly. When it hisses lay in the mutton and heat slowly—turning several times—for five minutes, or until the slices are soft and very hot, but not until they begin to crisp. Take out the meat, lay on a warmed dish, cover and set over boiling water. To the butter and jelly left in the pan add three tablespoonfuls of vinegar. A small teaspoonful of made

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Chicken Croquettes.

Chicken Croquettes.

One cup of cold chicken, minced fine. One quarter cup of pounded cracker. One teaspoonful of cornstarch, wet up in a little cold water. One egg. One tablespoonful of butter. Half a tablespoonful of salt. A good pinch of pepper. Half a cupful of boiling water. Mix minced chicken and crumbs together in a bowl with salt and pepper. Put the boiling water in a clean saucepan, add the butter and set over the fire. When the butter is melted stir in the wet corn starch. Boil and stir until it thickens.

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Soup Stock.

Soup Stock.

Two pounds coarse lean beef, chopped almost as fine as sausage-meat. One pound of lean veal—also chopped. Two pounds of bones (beef, veal, or mutton) cracked in several places. Half an onion chopped. Two or three stalks of celery, when you can get it. Five quarts of cold water. Meat and bones should be raw, but if you have bones left from underdone beef or mutton, you may crack and add them. Put all the ingredients (no salt or pepper) in a large clean pot, cover it closely and set at one side of

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Clear Soup with Sago or Tapioca.

Clear Soup with Sago or Tapioca.

Soak half a cup of German sago or pearl tapioca four hours in a large cup of cold water. An hour before dinner put a quart of your soup-stock on the stove and bring quickly almost to a boil. When it is hot, stir in the raw white and the shell of an egg, and, stirring frequently to prevent the egg from catching on the bottom of the pot, boil fast ten minutes. Take off and strain through a clean thick cloth, wrung out in hot water and laid like a lining in your colander. Do not squeeze the cloth,

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Julienne Soup.

Julienne Soup.

One quarter of a firm white cabbage, shred as for cold slaw. One small turnip, peeled and cut into thin dice. One carrot, peeled and cut into strips like inch-long straws. One teaspoonful of onion shred fine. Three raw tomatoes, peeled and cut into bits. One tablespoonful of minced parsley, and, if you can get it, three stalks of celery cut into thin slices. Use a sharp knife for this work and bruise the vegetables as little as possible. When all are prepared, put them in hot water enough to cov

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White Chicken Soup (Delicious).

White Chicken Soup (Delicious).

A tough fowl can be converted into very delicious dishes by boiling it first for soup and mincing it, when cold, for croquettes. In boiling it, allow a quart of cold water for each pound of chicken, and set it where it will heat very slowly. If the fowl be quite old do not let it reach a boil under two hours, then boil very gently four hours longer. Throw in a tablespoonful of salt when you take it from the fire, turn chicken and liquor into a bowl and set in a cold place all night. Next day ski

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Chicken and Rice Soup

Chicken and Rice Soup

Is made as white chicken soup, but with the addition of four tablespoonfuls of rice, boiled soft, and added to the chicken liquor at the same time with the parsley. Then proceed as directed, with milk, eggs, etc....

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Tomato Soup.

Tomato Soup.

Add a quart of raw tomatoes, peeled and sliced, or a can of stewed tomatoes, and half a small onion to a quart of stock, and stew slowly one hour. Strain and rub through a colander and set again over the fire. Stir in a tablespoonful of butter cut up and rubbed into a tablespoonful of flour. A tablespoonful of cornstarch wet up with cold water. Season to taste with pepper and salt, boil once more and pour out. Bean Soup. Soak one pint of dried beans all night in lukewarm water. In the morning ad

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A Soup Maigre (without Meat).

A Soup Maigre (without Meat).

Twelve mealy potatoes, peeled and sliced. One quart of tomatoes—canned or fresh. One half of an onion. Two stalks of celery. One tablespoonful of minced parsley. Four tablespoonfuls of butter, cut up and rolled in flour. One tablespoonful of cornstarch wet and dissolved in cold water. One lump of white sugar. Three quarts of cold water will be needed. Three quarts of cold water will be needed. Parboil the sliced potatoes fifteen minutes in enough hot water to cover them well. Drain this off and

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Roast Beef.

Roast Beef.

Have a steady, moderate fire in the stove-grate. Increase the heat when the meat is thoroughly warmed. Lay the beef, skin side uppermost, in a clean baking-pan, and dash all over it two cups of boiling water in which a teaspoonful of salt has been dissolved. This sears the surface slightly, and keeps in the juices. Shut the oven door, and do not open again for twenty minutes. Then, with a ladle or iron spoon dip up the salted water and pour it over the top of the meat, wetting every part again a

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Gravy (brown).

Gravy (brown).

Set the pan in which the meat was roasted, on the range when the beef has been removed to a dish. Scrape toward the centre the browned flour from sides and bottom and dust in a little more from your dredger as you stir. If the water has boiled away until the bottom of the pan is exposed, add a little, boiling hot , directly from the teakettle and stir until the gravy is of the consistency of rich cream. Pepper to taste and pour into a gravy boat. While I give these directions, I may remark that

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Roast Mutton.

Roast Mutton.

Cook exactly as you would beef: but if you wish a made gravy, pour it first from the baking-pan into a bowl and set in cold water five minutes, or until the fat has risen to the top. Skim off all of this that you can remove without disturbing the dregs. It is “mutton-tallow”—very good for chapped hands, but not for human stomachs. Return the gravy to the fire, thicken, add boiling water, if needed, and stir until smooth. Always send currant, or grape jelly, around with mutton and lamb....

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Roast Lamb.

Roast Lamb.

Cook two minutes less in the pound than you would mutton. Instead of gravy, you can send in with it, if you choose...

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Mint Sauce.

Mint Sauce.

To two tablespoonfuls of chopped mint, add a tablespoonful of white sugar and nearly two thirds of a cup of vinegar. Let them stand together ten minutes in a cool place before sending to table....

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Roast Veal

Roast Veal

Must be cooked twice as long as beef or mutton, and very well basted, the flesh being fibrous and dry. To the made gravy add two teaspoonfuls of stewed and strained tomato, or one tablespoonful of tomato catsup, and cook one minute before pouring into the gravy-boat....

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Roast Turkey, Chicken or Duck.

Roast Turkey, Chicken or Duck.

It would not be possible for me to write such directions as would enable you to prepare a fowl for cooking. Yet I advise you to learn how to draw and dress poultry. Watch the process closely, if you have opportunity, or else ask some experienced friend to instruct you. For the present we will suppose that our fowl is ready for the roasting pan. Lay it in tenderly, breast uppermost, pour a bountiful cup of boiling water, slightly salted, over it, if it be a chicken or duck, two cupfuls, if a turk

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Fricasseed Chicken.

Fricasseed Chicken.

Cut up a full-grown fowl into joints, dividing the back and breast into two pieces each. Lay these in cold water, slightly salted, for half an hour. Wipe dry with a clean cloth. In the bottom of a pot scatter a handful of chopped fat salt pork, with half a teaspoonful of minced onion. On this lay the pieces of chicken. Sprinkle a double handful of pork on the top with another half teaspoonful of onion, pour in carefully, enough cold water to cover all, fit on a close top, and set the pot where i

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Smothered Chicken.

Smothered Chicken.

The chicken must be split down the back as for broiling, washed well and wiped dry. Lay it, breast upward, in a baking pan; pour in two cups of boiling water, in which has been dissolved a heaping tablespoonful of butter, and cover with another pan turned upside down and fitting exactly the edges of the lower one. Cook slowly half an hour, lift the cover and baste plentifully with the butter water in the pan; cover again and leave for twenty minutes more. Baste again, and yet once more in anothe

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Boiled Corn Beef.

Boiled Corn Beef.

Lay in clean cold water for five or six hours when you have washed off all the salt. Wipe and put it into a pot and cover deep in cold water. Boil gently twenty-five minutes per pound. When done, take the pot from the fire and set in the sink with the meat in it, while you make the sauce. Strain a large cupful of the liquor into a saucepan and set it over the fire. Wet a tablespoonful of flour up with cold water, and when the liquor boils, stir it in with a great spoonful of butter. Beat it smoo

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Boiled Mutton.

Boiled Mutton.

Sew up the leg of mutton in a stout piece of mosquito net or of “cheese cloth;” lay it in a pot and cover several inches deep with boiling water. Throw in a tablespoonful of salt, and cook twelve minutes to the pound. Take up the cloth with the meat in it and dip in very cold water. Remove the bag and dish the meat. Before taking up the mutton, make your sauce, using as a base a cupful of the liquor dipped from the pot. Proceed with this as you did with the drawn butter sauce for the corned beef

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Potatoes (boiled).

Potatoes (boiled).

Pare them thin with a sharp knife. The starch or meal lies, in greatest quantities, nearest to the skin. Lay in clean cold water for one hour, if the potatoes are newly gathered. Old potatoes should be left in the water for several hours. If very old, they will be the better for soaking all night. New potatoes require half an hour for boiling, and the skins are rubbed off with a coarse cloth before they are cooked. Those stored for winter use should be boiled forty-five minutes. Wipe each dry be

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Mashed Potatoes.

Mashed Potatoes.

Boil as directed in last receipt, and when the potatoes have been dried off, remove the pot to the sink, or table, break and whip them into powder with a four-tined fork, or a split spoon. When fine, add a great spoonful of butter, whipped in thoroughly, salting to taste as you go on. Have ready a cup of milk almost boiling, and beat in until the potato is soft and smooth. Heap in a deep dish for the table....

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Onions (boiled).

Onions (boiled).

Remove the outer layers until you reach the sleek, silvery, crisp skins. Cook in plenty of boiling, salted water, until tender. Forty minutes should be sufficient, unless the onions are very old and large. Turn off all the water; add a cupful from the tea-kettle with one of warm milk and stew gently ten minutes. Heat, meanwhile, in a saucepan, half a cupful of milk with a large tablespoonful of butter. Drain the onions in a hot clean colander, turn them into a heated deep dish, salt and pepper l

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Tomatoes (stewed).

Tomatoes (stewed).

Put ripe tomatoes into a pan, pour boiling water directly from the kettle, upon them, and cover closely for five minutes. The skins will then come off easily. When all are peeled, cut them up, throwing away the unripe parts and the cores, and put them into a clean saucepan with half a teaspoonful of salt. Stew twenty minutes before adding a heaping tablespoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of white sugar (for a dozen large tomatoes) and a little pepper. Stew gently fifteen minutes, and serve....

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Scalloped Tomatoes.

Scalloped Tomatoes.

Scald, skin, and cut each crosswise, into two or three pieces. Just melt a teaspoonful of butter in a pie-plate, or pudding-dish, and put into this a layer of tomatoes. Lay a bit of butter on each slice, sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper, and white sugar, and cover with fine dry cracker, or bread crumbs. Fill the dish with alternate layers of tomato crumbs, having a thick coating of crumbs on the top, and sticking tiny “dabs” of butter all over it. Bake, covered, half an hour. Take off the tin

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Beets.

Beets.

Wash well, taking care not to scratch the skin, as they will “bleed” while in cooking if this is cut or broken. Cook in boiling water an hour and a half if young, three, four or five hours as their age increases. Drain, scrape off the skins, slice quickly with a sharp knife; put into a vegetable dish, and pour over them a half a cupful of vinegar, with two tablespoonfuls of butter, heated to boiling, and a little salt and pepper. Let them stand three minutes covered in a warm place before servin

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Green Peas.

Green Peas.

Shell and leave in very cold water fifteen minutes. Cook in plenty of boiling, salted water. They should be done in half an hour. Shake gently in a hot colander to get rid of the water; turn into a heated deep dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and stir in fast and lightly with a fork , two tablespoonfuls of butter. Eat while hot....

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String Beans.

String Beans.

Do not cook these at all unless you are willing to take the trouble of “stringing” them. With a small sharp knife cut off the stem and blossom-tips, then trim away the tough fibres from the sides carefully, and cut each bean into inch-lengths. Lay in cold water for half an hour. Cook one hour in salted boiling water, or until the beans are tender. Drain, butter and season as you would peas. String beans half-trimmed and cut into slovenly, unequal lengths are a vulgar-looking, unpopular dish. Pre

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Squash.

Squash.

Pare, quarter, take out the seeds, and lay in cold water for half an hour. Boil in hot salted water thirty minutes for summer squash; twice as long if the “Hubbard” or other varieties of winter squash are used. Take up piece by piece, and squeeze gently in a clean cloth, put back into the empty dried pot, and mash quickly and smoothly with a wooden spoon. Stir in a heaping tablespoonful of butter for one large squash, or two small ones. Season with pepper and salt; heat and stir until smoking ho

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Cauliflower.

Cauliflower.

Trim off leaves and cut the stalk short. Lay in ice-cold water for half an hour. Tie it up in a bit of white netting. Put into a clean pot, cover deep with salted boiling water. Boil steadily, not hard, one hour and ten minutes. Before taking it from the fire, put a cupful of boiling water in a saucepan. Wet a heaping teaspoonful of corn-starch with cold water, and stir into the boiling until it thickens. Then add two tablespoonfuls of butter, and when this is well stirred in, the strained juice

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Egg Plant.

Egg Plant.

Slice it crosswise, and about an inch thick; lay in strong salt water for one hour with a plate on the topmost slice to keep it under the brine. This will draw out the bitter taste. Put a cupful of pounded crackers into a flat dish and season with salt and pepper. Beat the yolks of two eggs in a shallow bowl. Wipe each slice of the egg plant dry , dip it in the egg, and roll it over and over in the crumbs. Have ready heated in a frying-pan, some sweet lard, and fry the vegetables in it to a fine

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Spinach.

Spinach.

Wash very carefully, leaf by leaf, to get rid of sand and dust. Lay in very cold water until you are ready to cook it. Boil forty-five minutes; drain in a colander and chop fine in a wooden tray. Beat then three great tablespoonfuls of butter (this for a peck of spinach), a teaspoonful of white sugar, and half as much salt, with a little pepper. Whip all to a soft green mass and return to the empty pot. As you stir it over the fire add a cupful of rich milk—cream, if you have it—whip up hard and

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Boiled Custard.

Boiled Custard.

This is the base of so many nice “fancy dishes,” and is itself so excellent and popular that we may properly lay the knowledge how to prepare it properly as the foundation-stone of dessert making. One quart of fresh, sweet milk. Five eggs. One cup of sugar. One quarter teaspoonful of salt. One teaspoonful of essence of vanilla, lemon or bitter almond. Heat the milk to a boil in a farina kettle, or in a tin pail set in a pot of boiling water. In warm weather put a bit of soda no larger than a pea

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Cup Custard.

Cup Custard.

Fill small glasses nearly to the top with cold custard. Whip the whites of three eggs stiff. Beat in three teaspoonfuls of bright-colored jelly-currant, if you have it. Heap a tablespoon of this méringue on the surface of each glassful. Set in a cold place until it goes to table. Floating Island. Fill a glass bowl almost to the top with cold boiled custard and cover with a méringue made as in last receipt. Do not whip in the jelly so thoroughly as to color the frothed whites. It is a prettier di

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Frosted Custard.

Frosted Custard.

Make a nice custard; let it get perfectly cold, and pile on it, instead of the whipped egg, a large cupful of grated cocoanut, sprinkling it on carefully, not to disturb the custard. Eat with sponge cake....

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Blanc-mange.

Blanc-mange.

Like custard, this is the base—the central idea, or fact—of numberless elegant compounds, and is delightful in its simplest form. One package of Cooper’s gelatine. Three pints of fresh, sweet milk. One even cupful of white sugar. One half teaspoonful of salt. One teaspoonful of vanilla or other essence. Soda as large as a pea, put into the milk. Soak the gelatine three hours in a cupful of cold water. Then heat the milk (salted) in a farina kettle. When it is scalding, stir in without taking the

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Chocolate Custard.

Chocolate Custard.

Five minutes before taking the custard from the fire, add to it three heaping tablespoonful of grated Baker’s chocolate rubbed to a paste with a little cold milk. Stir until the mixture is of a rich coffee color. Turn out, and when cold, flavor with vanilla and put into glasses. Whip the whites of three eggs to a smooth méringue , beat in three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, and heap upon the brown mixture....

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Chocolate Blanc-mange.

Chocolate Blanc-mange.

(Our French scholars will say that this should be termed “ Brun-mange .”) Mix with the soaked gelatine four heaping tablespoonfuls of Baker’s chocolate, grated, and stir into the scalding milk, and treat as above directed. In straining, squeeze the bag hard to extract all the coloring matter. Flavor with vanilla....

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Coffee Blanc-mange.

Coffee Blanc-mange.

Soak the gelatine in a cupful of strong, clear black coffee, instead of the cold water, and proceed as with plain blanc-mange, using no other flavoring than the coffee....

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Tea Blanc-mange

Tea Blanc-mange

Is made in the same way by substituting for the water very strong, mixed tea. Eat with powdered sugar and cream....

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Pineapple Trifle.

Pineapple Trifle.

One package of gelatine. Two cups of white sugar. One small pineapple, peeled and cut into bits. One-half teaspoonful of nutmeg. Juice and grated peel of a lemon. Three cups of boiling water. Whites of four eggs. Soak the gelatine four hours in a cup of cold water. Put into a bowl with the sugar, nutmeg, lemon-juice, and rind and minced pineapple. Put into a bowl with the sugar, nutmeg, lemon-juice, and rind and minced pineapple. Rub the fruit hard into the mixture with a wooden spoon, and let a

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A Simple Susan.

A Simple Susan.

Two cups of fine, dry bread crumbs. Three cups of chopped apple. One cup of sugar. One teaspoonful of mace, and half as much allspice. Two teaspoonfuls of butter. One tablespoonful of salt. Butter a pudding-dish and cover the bottom with crumbs. Lay on these a thick layer of minced apple, sprinkled lightly with salt and spices—more heavily with sugar. Stick bits of butter over all. Then more crumbs, going on in this order until all the ingredients are used up. The top layer should be crumbs. Cov

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Sauce for the Above.

Sauce for the Above.

Two cupfuls of powdered sugar. Two tablespoonfuls of butter. Half teaspoonful of mace or nutmeg. Juice (strained) of a lemon. Two tablespoonfuls of boiling water. Melt the butter with the hot water and beat in, with egg whisk or “Dover,” the sugar, a little at a time, until the sauce is like a cream. Add lemon juice and nutmeg, mould into a mound on a glass dish, or a deep plate, and set in a cold place until it is firm. This is a good “hard sauce” for any hot pudding....

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Cottage Pudding.

Cottage Pudding.

Two eggs. One cup of milk. One cup of sugar. One tablespoonful of butter. Three cups of prepared flour. If you have not the prepared, use family flour with two tablespoonfuls of baking powder, sifted twice with it. One tablespoonful of salt. Put the sugar in a bowl, warm the butter slightly, but do not melt it, and rub it with a wooden spoon into the sugar until they are thoroughly mixed together. Beat the eggs light in another bowl, stir in the sugar and butter, then the milk, the salt, and las

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A Good Cup-cake.

A Good Cup-cake.

One cup of butter. Two cups of sugar—powdered. Four eggs. One cup of sweet milk. One teaspoonful of vanilla. One half-teaspoonful of mace. Three cups of prepared flour, or the same quantity of family-flour with one even teaspoonful of soda and two of cream-tartar, sifted twice with it. Two teaspoonfuls of baking powder will serve the same end. Mix as directed in “Practical Preliminaries,” and bake in small tins....

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Jelly-cake

Jelly-cake

Is made by mixing the above cup-cake, leaving out the flavoring, and baking it in “jelly-cake tins,” turning these out when almost cold by running a knife around the edges, and spreading all but that intended for the top with a thick coating of fruit-jelly. Sift white sugar over the upper one or frost it....

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Cream-cake.

Cream-cake.

Mix a cup-cake without spice or other flavoring, bake in jelly-cake tins, and when cold spread between the layers this filling: One egg. One cup of milk. One half cup of sugar. Two rounded teaspoonfuls of corn-starch. One teaspoonful of vanilla or other essence. Scald the milk in a farina-kettle; wet the cornstarch with a little cold milk and stir into that over the fire until it thickens. Have the egg ready whipped light into a bowl; beat it in the sugar; pour the thick hot milk upon this, grad

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Cocoanut-cake.

Cocoanut-cake.

Mix and bake as for jelly-cake, flavoring with rose-water. Whip the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth. Add one cup of powdered sugar, and two thirds of a grated cocoanut. When the cakes are cold, spread between the layers. To the remaining third of the cocoanut add four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, and cover the top of the cake with it....

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Apple-cake.

Apple-cake.

Mix and bake as for jelly-cake, flavoring the dough with essence of bitter almond. Beat one egg light in a bowl, and into it a cup of sugar. Add to this the strained juice and grated rind of a lemon. Peel and grate three fine pippins or other ripe, tart apples directly into this mixture, stirring each well in before adding another. When all are in, put into a farina-kettle and stir over the fire until the apple-custard is boiling hot and quite thick. Cool and spread between the cakes. A nice and

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Chocolate-cake.

Chocolate-cake.

Mix and bake as for jelly-cake, flavoring with vanilla. For filling, whip the whites of three eggs stiff; stir in one cup and a half of sugar and four tablespoonfuls of Baker’s Vanilla Chocolate, grated. Beat hard for two minutes and spread between the layers and on the top of the cake....

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White Cup-cake.

White Cup-cake.

One cup of butter. Two cups of powdered sugar. Three cups of prepared flour. One cup of sweet milk. Whites of five eggs. One teaspoonful of essence of bitter almond. Cream butter and sugar; add milk and beat hard before putting in the whites of the eggs. Stir in flavoring and, lightly and quickly, the prepared flour. Bake in small tins....

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Frosting for Cake.

Frosting for Cake.

Whites of three eggs. Three cups of powdered sugar. Strained juice of a lemon. Put the whites into a cold bowl and add the sugar at once, stirring it in thoroughly. Then whip with your egg-beater until the mixture is stiff and white, adding lemon-juice as you go on. Spread thickly over the cake, and set in the sun, or in a warm room to dry....

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White Lemon Cake.

White Lemon Cake.

Make “white cup-cake,” bake in jelly cake-tins and let it get cold. Prepare a frosting as above directed, but use the juice of two lemons and the grated peel of one. Spread this mixture between the cakes and on the top....

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Sponge Cake.

Sponge Cake.

Do not attempt this until you have had some practice in the management of ovens, and let your first trial be with what are sometimes termed “snow-balls,”—that is, small sponge cakes, frosted. Put six eggs into a scale and ascertain their weight exactly . Allow for the sponge cake the weight of the eggs in sugar, and half their weight in flour. Grate the yellow peel from a lemon and squeeze the juice upon it. Let it stand ten minutes, and strain through coarse muslin, pressing out every drop. Bea

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Nice Gingerbread.

Nice Gingerbread.

Three eggs. One cup of sugar. One cup each of molasses, “loppered” or buttermilk, and of butter. One tablespoonful of ground ginger, a teaspoonful of cinnamon, and half as much allspice. Four and a half full cups of sifted flour. One teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a tablespoonful of boiling water. Put butter, molasses, sugar and spice in a bowl, set in a pan of hot water and stir with a wooden spoon until they are like brown cream. Take from the water and add the milk. Beat yolks and whites to

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Sugar Cookies.

Sugar Cookies.

Two cups of sugar. One cup of butter. Three eggs, whites and yolks beaten together. About three cups of flour sifted with one teaspoonful of baking powder. One teaspoonful of nutmeg, and half this quantity of cloves. Cream butter and sugar, beat in the whipped eggs and spice; add a handful at a time the flour, working it in until the dough is stiff enough to roll out. Flour your hands well and sprinkle flour over a pastry-board. Make a ball of the dough, and lay it on the board. Rub your rolling

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Ginger Snaps.

Ginger Snaps.

Two cups of molasses. One cup of sugar. One cup of butter. Five cups of flour. One heaping teaspoonful of ground ginger, and the same quantity of allspice. Stir molasses, sugar and butter together in a bowl set in hot water, until very light. Mix in spices and flour, and roll out as directed in last receipt, but in a thinner sheet. Cut into small cakes and bake quickly. All cakes in the composition of which molasses is used, are more apt to burn than others. Watch your ginger snaps well, but ope

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Lemon or Orange Jelly.

Lemon or Orange Jelly.

One package of gelatine soaked in two cups of cold water. Two and a half cups of sugar. Juice of four lemons and grated peel of two (same of oranges). Three cups of boiling water. A quarter-teaspoonful powdered cinnamon. Soak the gelatine two hours; add lemon juice, grated peel, sugar and spice, and leave for one hour. Pour on the boiling water, stir until dissolved, and strain through double flannel. Do not shake or squeeze, but let the jelly filter clearly through it into a bowl or pitcher set

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Ribbon Jelly.

Ribbon Jelly.

Take one third currant jelly, one third lemon jelly, and as much plain blanc-mange. ( See Desserts. ) When all are cold and begin to form, wet a mould, pour in about a fourth of the red jelly and set on the ice to harden; keep the rest in a warm room, or near the fire. So soon as the jelly is firm in the bottom of the mould, add carefully some of the white blanc-mange, and return the mould to the ice. When this will bear the weight of more jelly, add a little of the lemon, and when this forms, a

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Buttercup Jelly.

Buttercup Jelly.

One half package of gelatine soaked in half a cup of cold water for two hours. Three eggs. One pint of milk. One heaping cup of sugar. One teaspoonful of vanilla. Bit of soda the size of a pea stirred into the milk. Heat the milk to scalding in a farina-kettle and stir in the soaked gelatine until the latter is dissolved, and strain through a coarse cloth. Beat the yolks of the eggs light, add the sugar and pour the boiling mixture gradually upon it, stirring all the time. Return to the farina-k

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Whipped Cream.

Whipped Cream.

I have been assured by those who have made the experiment, that excellent whipped cream can be produced, and very quickly, by the use of our incomparable Dover Egg-beater. I have never tried this, but my pupils may, if they have not a syllabub-churn. Put a pint of rich, sweet cream in a pail or other wide-mouthed vessel with straight sides, and set in ice while you whip or churn it. As the frothing cream rises to the top, remove it carefully with a spoon and lay it in a perfectly clean and cold

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Swan’s Down Cream.

Swan’s Down Cream.

One pint of whipped cream. Whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff froth. One cup of powdered sugar. One teaspoonful essence bitter almond. Just before you are ready to send the dish to table, beat whipped cream, frothed whites, sugar and flavoring together in a bowl set deep in cracked ice. Heap in a glass dish and leave in the ice until it is to be eaten. Send sponge cake around with it....

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Jellied Oranges.

Jellied Oranges.

Cut a small round piece from the blossom end of each of six or eight oranges, and scoop out the pulp very carefully, so as not to widen the hole, or tear the inside of the fruit. Use your fingers and a small teaspoon for this purpose until the oranges are empty and clean. Lay them then in very cold water while you prepare with the pulp and juice you have taken out, and the grated peel of another orange, half the quantity of orange-jelly called for by the receipt for lemon jelly. When it is quite

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Ambrosia.

Ambrosia.

Peel fine, sweet oranges, and cut into small pieces, extracting the seeds. Put a layer in a glass dish and sprinkle well with sugar. In this scatter a thick coating of grated cocoanut, strewing this also with powdered sugar. Over the cocoanut lay thin slices of bananas, peeled and cut crosswise. Fill the dish in this order, the top being covered with banana. A nice dessert for Sundays and warm afternoons when one dreads the heat of the stove....

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How to make Coffee and Tea.

How to make Coffee and Tea.

If you wish to have really strong coffee, allow a cup of freshly-ground coffee to a quart of boiling water. Put the coffee in a bowl and wet with half a cup of cold water. Stir in the white and shell of a raw egg, and turn into a clean, newly-scalded coffee-boiler. Shut down the top and shake hard up and down half a dozen times before pouring in the boiling water. Set where it will boil hard, but not run over, for twenty minutes, draw to the side of the range and check the boil suddenly by pouri

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Tea.

Tea.

First rule. The water should boil. Second rule. The water in which the tea is steeped, must be boiling. Third rule. The water used for filling the pot must be boiling. I speak within bounds when I say that I could tell on the fingers of my two hands the tables at which I have drunk really good, hot, fresh tea. Sometimes it is made with boiling water, then allowed to simmer on the range or hob until the decoction is rank, reedy and bitter. Sometimes too little tea is put in, and the beverage, whi

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