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579 chapters
THE CENTURY COOK BOOK
THE CENTURY COOK BOOK
BY This book contains directions for cooking in its various branches, from the simplest forms to high-class dishes and ornamental pieces; a group of New England dishes furnished by Susan Coolidge; and a few receipts of distinctively Southern dishes. It gives also the etiquette of dinner entertainments—how to serve dinners—table decorations, and many items relative to household affairs. “NOW GOOD DIGESTION WAIT ON APPETITE AND HEALTH ON BOTH” — Macbeth NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1901 Copyright, 189
55 minute read
APHORISMS—BRILLAT-SAVARIN.
APHORISMS—BRILLAT-SAVARIN.
Les animaux se repaissent; l’homme mange; l’homme d’esprit seul sait manger. Dis moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es. Le Créateur, en obligeant l’homme à manger pour vivre, l’y invite par l’appêtit et l’en récompense par le plaisir. La table est le seul endroit où l’on ne s’ennuie jamais pendant la première heure. La découverte d’un mets nouveau fait plus pour le bonheur du genre humain que la découverte d’une étoile. L’ordre des comestibles est des plus substantiels aux plus légers.
48 minute read
PREFACE
PREFACE
In France various honors are awarded to cooks. Accomplished chefs de cuisine are by compliment called cordon-bleu , which is an ancient and princely order. A successful culinary production takes the name of the inventor, and by it his fame often lasts longer than that of many men who have achieved positions in the learned professions. Cooking is there esteemed a service of especial merit, hence France ranks all nations in gastronomy. Although definite honors are not conferred on cooks elsewhere,
3 minute read
Part I
Part I
“To feed were best at home; From thence, the sauce to meat is ceremony, Meeting were bare without it.”— Shakspere A dinner party may be considered as holding the highest rank among entertainments. In no other social function is etiquette so strictly observed. There are prescribed rules for the form of the invitation, the manner of assigning each guest his place at the table, the manner of serving the dinner, etc.; and when these rules are followed there need be no embarrassments. The Company. It
19 minute read
MANNER OF SERVING DINNERS
MANNER OF SERVING DINNERS
The custom of serving dinner à la Russe (dishes passed) has supplanted the form known as the English style, where the joints are carved on the table. This is for good reason, as the host cannot well fulfil his social part if he has to do the carving; therefore, unless on very informal occasions, when the number of servants may be insufficient, the carving is done on the side-table, or the garnished dishes are cut in the kitchen. The portions, whether carved or otherwise, are placed on dishes to
7 minute read
LAYING THE TABLE
LAYING THE TABLE
The Table. A round or square table five feet across is a convenient size for ordinary use, giving ample room for six people, and leaving space for decoration. Large round tops are made to fit over extension-tables, which will seat from twelve to twenty or more people; and when the size of the room will permit, this is the pleasantest form of table for entertainments, and best lends itself to decorative effects, giving to each person a complete picture of the table and of the company assembled. T
8 minute read
TABLE DECORATION
TABLE DECORATION
There is wide range for individual taste and artistic arrangement in table decoration, which is limited only by the resources at one’s command. Pleasing effects of color are perhaps the first consideration. Of late it has been a fashion to have one prevailing color. In many cases this is very suitable as well as complimentary to the guests entertained. For instance, a white dinner to a bride, pink to young people, red to a Harvard company, or yellow to those with Princeton affiliations. The sche
15 minute read
MENU OF THE “AL FRESCO” DINNER
MENU OF THE “AL FRESCO” DINNER
Soup Cream of Celery (colored green). Fish Brook Trout, Butter Sauce. Entrée Mushrooms on Crusts. Roast Saddle of Venison. Wild plum sauce. Saratoga potatoes. Green peas served in fontage cups. Salpicon of Fruits au Rhum. Game and Salad Quails in nests of Purée of Chestnuts. English Walnuts and Celery mixed with green Mayonnaise in cups of molded tomato jelly. Cheese Small balls of Cream-cheese, colored green to imitate bird’s eggs, in nests of shredded Lettuce. Hot Entremet Individual Nut Puddi
54 minute read
COURSES
COURSES
The order of the dinner service is soup, fish, flesh, fowl. These may be supplemented to any extent with entremets and entrées. Mets are the principal dishes. Entremets, the dishes served between the mets. Entrées, dishes which are served between any of the courses. First Course. I. Course. Canapés of caviare, small bits of anchovy toast, or in their season muskmelons, are sometimes served as the first course, but ordinarily oysters or clams on the half shell is the first dish presented. The sma
5 minute read
THE HOME DINNER
THE HOME DINNER
At the every-day or family dinner there will naturally be less elaboration in the decoration of the table, and fewer courses, than when the dinner is an occasion of entertainment, but so far as the appointments reach they should be observed with the same precision and care. The dinner has always something of a ceremonious character, being the time when the family all meet with the leisure to enjoy one another’s society after the labors of the day are done. It is well, therefore, to attend to the
2 minute read
SERVING THE INFORMAL DINNER
SERVING THE INFORMAL DINNER
In laying the table for an informal dinner, where the carving is to be done on the table, a napkin to protect the cloth is spread at the carver’s place. Very pretty fancy pieces are made for this use, but an ordinary dinner napkin will do. This is not removed until the table is cleared for the dessert. When the carving is done on the table, the soup and dessert are usually served by the lady of the house, and the salad is also dressed on the table, and then passed. So far as the service will all
2 minute read
LUNCHEON
LUNCHEON
The luncheon service does not differ materially from that of dinner. Lighter dishes are usually served, entrées taking the place of joints and roasts, and the soup or bouillon is served in cups instead of soup plates. Grape fruit, or a fruit salad, is often an acceptable first course. When the table has a handsome and polished surface the cloth may be left off if desired and a fancy square take its place. In this case small squares may also be used under the plates to protect the table and in su
3 minute read
THE FIVE O’CLOCK TEA
THE FIVE O’CLOCK TEA
A cup of tea at this time of the afternoon is usually gratefully accepted, and one is disappointed if it is made so badly that it is not drinkable. The young lady who presides at the tea table at an afternoon reception has sometimes a difficult task if the tea is not prepared with a bag (as directed on page 550 ), but for the unceremonious social cup of tea with the friend who drops in at this hour it is easy to have it just right. After the proper preparation of the tea (as directed on page 549
2 minute read
A HOMILY ON COOKING
A HOMILY ON COOKING
It is a trite saying that a thing worth doing at all is worth doing well, but, from the inefficiency of the large number of domestics who hold the office of cook, and from the acceptance of careless work by so many families, it would seem that the truism is not regarded in reference to cooking. Since it is upon the kitchen that the health and comfort of the family so greatly depend, is it not a duty, and would it not be a pleasure, for the mistress of every house to understand the science of coo
3 minute read
COOKING AS A PLEASURE AND AN ACCOMPLISHMENT
COOKING AS A PLEASURE AND AN ACCOMPLISHMENT
The common sayings about waste in American kitchens, dyspeptic results of American cooking, etc., reflect the opinion held by other nations of our culinary art, and though the judgment may be too severe, it has been pronounced, and should remind us of our shortcomings. It seems, however, as though a new era were now dawning. Cooking-schools are established in large cities, cooking lectures are given everywhere and are well attended. The nutritive values of different foods and the chemistry of co
2 minute read
TO TRAIN A GREEN COOK
TO TRAIN A GREEN COOK
If one is obliged to accept the service of inexperienced cooks, or of women who claim to be plain cooks, but in reality know nothing of the right ways of preparing anything, it is often necessary to do more or less teaching or supervising. Often it would be found easier to begin at the beginning, and teach an entirely green girl who has intelligence and a desire to learn, than it is to correct careless habits or bad methods already formed. A formula for teaching a green cook is given below for t
6 minute read
ECONOMICAL LIVING
ECONOMICAL LIVING
A very pleasant book called “$10.00 Enough” explains how a family of two lived well on that sum per week, including house rent and wages of one servant. Mrs. Rorer says $2.00 per head a week is a liberal allowance. Articles are published giving directions for living on ten cents a day; also of dinners for six people costing twenty-five cents. In examining these formulæ it is evident that in order to accomplish this very small cost of living, one must first understand the comparative values of fo
8 minute read
WASTEFULNESS
WASTEFULNESS
As a rule the family life of America does not represent opulence, yet it has become a familiar saying that a French family could live on what an American family throws away. Again, it is said that in American kitchens half the provisions are spoiled and the other half wasted. There is no need to-day of being open to such accusations. At small expense a woman can have the benefit of lessons in cooking-schools, and should not be accepted as a cook until she has some knowledge of the duties, and is
1 minute read
HOW TO UTILIZE WHAT SOME COOKS THROW AWAY
HOW TO UTILIZE WHAT SOME COOKS THROW AWAY
Bread. Trim such pieces of cut bread as will do for toast into uniform shape and serve at the next breakfast. Smaller pieces cut into croûtons (page 81 ) for garnishing or for soup. Save unshapely pieces for bread pudding, Brown Betty, or stuffings. Save every scrap of bread for crumbs, to use for breading croquettes, chops, scallop dishes, etc. It is well to have two kinds of crumbs, using the white ones for the outside of fried articles, as they give a better color. To prepare the crumbs, sepa
8 minute read
EMERGENCIES
EMERGENCIES
There is to-day such a variety of well-preserved foods that a store-closet provided with these articles may be almost the equivalent of a full larder. With such a resource the housekeeper can meet without embarrassment the emergencies that may arise in any household, however well ordered. In the country, where tradespeople are difficult to reach, it will be especially useful at such times. The articles sealed in glass jars seem the most wholesome, and are sometimes so well preserved as to be a v
3 minute read
THINGS TO REMEMBER
THINGS TO REMEMBER
Eggs. A dash of salt added to the whites of eggs makes them whip better. Not a speck of the yolk must get into the whites which are to be whipped. Fold the whipped whites into any mixture rather than stir them in, as the latter method breaks the air cells. Break eggs one at a time into a saucer, so any can be rejected if necessary and the mixture not be spoiled. Add a tablespoonful of water to an egg used for crumbing in order to remove the stringiness. Use a double boiler for milk. Milk. Milk i
7 minute read
CARE OF UTENSILS
CARE OF UTENSILS
A very essential thing in doing nice cooking is to have clean utensils. The pans of a careless cook are encrusted outside and frequently inside with dry, hard grease, which ordinary washing will not remove; the broilers are black with burned grease, and the ovens are in the same state. If one sees this condition of things, or finds a woman putting a saucepan on the hot coals, one needs no further commentary on her work. The saying “You can judge a workman by his tools” is very true in this case.
5 minute read
BOILING
BOILING
Simmering. There is an erroneous impression that articles cook faster when the water is boiling violently, but this is not the case; the ebullition is caused by the escaping steam, which is lost heat, and the water at this time is at 212° (except in high elevations), however fast or slow it may be boiling. If, however, a little sugar or salt is added to the water it increases its density, and the heat rises to 224° before the steam escapes. The heat can be raised also by covering the pot and con
24 minute read
BAKING
BAKING
Asbestos paper. The baking of many articles is a more important matter than the mixing. There are no definite tests for ovens, therefore one has to learn by experience and careful watching the capabilities or faults of the ovens used. A common trouble is from not having them thoroughly cleaned of the ashes which settle under the ovens and prevent the heat reaching the bottom part. It is usual to have them hotter on the fire side. In this case it is necessary to turn frequently the articles being
1 minute read
ROASTING
ROASTING
Roasting is done before the fire, and should not be confused with baking, which is done in the oven. Roasted meats have a distinctly better flavor than baked ones. The latter are likely to taste of smoke unless the oven is frequently opened for basting, as few of them are sufficiently ventilated to free them of smoke and steam. Baking is the method generally employed in small households, but where the grate of the range is sufficiently large, and the front can be exposed, it will be found no mor
51 minute read
BROILING
BROILING
Meat cooked by broiling is exposed to a greater heat than in any other manner of cooking, and to prevent its burning, requires constant watching. Meats for broiling are cut thin, and much surface is exposed, therefore they must be at once exposed to intense heat to sear the surface and retain the juices. Frequent turning not only prevents burning, but gives slower cooking and also prevents the grease dripping into the fire, making a smoke which destroys the flavor of the meat. The rule for broil
1 minute read
BRAISING
BRAISING
Meat cooked by braising is shut in a closely-covered pot with a few slices of salt pork (laid under the meat to prevent its sticking to the pot), a mixture of vegetables, cut into dice, a little soup stock or water, and a bouquet of herbs, and cooked slowly in the confined steam. This method of cooking tough or dry meats makes them tender and of good flavor. Braised dishes are much esteemed....
20 minute read
FRICASSEEING
FRICASSEEING
Meat cooked in this way is first sautéd to keep in its juices, then stewed until tender and served in a white or brown gravy, made from the liquor in the pot in which the meat is stewed. Toasted bread and sometimes dumplings are served with it. In the latter case it is called a pot-pie....
16 minute read
SAUTÉING
SAUTÉING
A little fat is put in a shallow pan; when this is hot, the articles to be cooked are laid in and browned on both sides. This manner of cooking is by many miscalled frying, and is largely responsible for the disrepute of frying, as sautéd articles are likely to be greasy and indigestible....
15 minute read
FRYING
FRYING
Frying is cooking by immersion in very hot fat. The success of frying depends upon the fat being sufficiently hot, and enough fat being used to completely cover the articles cooked in it. A kettle for frying should be kept for that purpose alone, and started with enough fat to fill it two thirds full. Olive-oil, lard, cottolene, drippings, or any mixture of them, serve the purpose. When properly used but little fat is consumed, and the pot can be easily replenished with the right quantity for it
3 minute read
TO CLARIFY FAT
TO CLARIFY FAT
Bubbling fat. When fat becomes discolored and unfit for use, stir into it when melted one half teaspoonful of baking soda and a quart of water. Let it boil for a little time, take off the scum that rises, and set the pot aside until cold. Remove the cake of grease, scrape off all the impurities, put it again on the fire, where it will melt but will not be agitated, and let it remain undisturbed until all the water has evaporated and the remaining impurities have settled to the bottom; then pour
32 minute read
TO TRY OUT SUET AND OTHER FATS
TO TRY OUT SUET AND OTHER FATS
Cut the fat into pieces, place it in a shallow pan over moderate heat until the fat is melted, then strain it through a cloth. There will be no odor from the fat if not placed where it becomes too hot. All kinds of fats are good for frying except mutton fat, turkey fat, and fat from smoked meats; these can be used for making soap, as directed on page 259 ....
22 minute read
TO PREPARE ARTICLES FOR FRYING BY COVERING THEM WITH EGG AND CRUMBS
TO PREPARE ARTICLES FOR FRYING BY COVERING THEM WITH EGG AND CRUMBS
The Crumbs. All scraps of bread should be saved for crumbs, as directed on page 51 , the crusts being separated from the white part, then dried, rolled, and sifted. The brown crumbs are good for the first coating, the white ones for the outside, as they give better color. Where a very delicate color is wanted, bread grated from a stale loaf or rubbed through a coarse sieve gives better results; the fresh crumbs need not be very fine. Cracker crumbs give a smooth surface and are better for oyster
1 minute read
LARDING
LARDING
Cutting lardoons. Larding is simply drawing small pieces of salt pork through the surface of meat. It is easily done, and so much improves lean, dry pieces of meat as to well repay the trouble. The pork for larding is best cut lengthwise with the rind, and that nearest the rind is the firmest. Cut it into slices, one quarter inch thick, and then into strips one quarter inch wide and two inches long. The lardoons can be made firmer by placing them on ice, but ordinarily this is not necessary. The
51 minute read
BONING
BONING
Cutting the meat free from the bones, leaving the meat whole, is called boning. This is easily done with a sharp-pointed knife, and requires but little practice to accomplish successfully. Fowls. Directions for boning fowls are given on page 181 . Boned fowls are usually made into galantine, but they are also good when stuffed and pressed into natural shape, or to imitate a duck or a rabbit and served hot. Meats. The butcher will remove the bones from joints of meat when requested. Boned meats m
40 minute read
MEASURING
MEASURING
Measuring-cup. Exact measurements are an important factor in the success of cooking, therefore a definite understanding of what a cupful or a spoonful means is requisite. A cupful means one half pint. A tin cup holding this amount is as necessary as a quart measure in every kitchen. They can be bought for ten cents apiece in any house-furnishing store. A spoonful of butter, lard, sugar, or flour means a rounding spoonful, as much rising above the spoon as is held in the bowl. A spoonful of salt
56 minute read
STIRRING AND BEATING
STIRRING AND BEATING
These two methods should not be confused. The object of stirring is to mix the materials. The spoon is held on the bottom of the dish, and the materials rubbed and pressed together as much as possible. It is not essential to always stir one way. The object of beating is to get air into the mixture to make it lighter, which is done by continuously lifting it up in the same way; therefore a beaten mixture must not be stirred, or the imprisoned bubbles of air will be broken and the result of the be
27 minute read
HOW TO STONE OLIVES
HOW TO STONE OLIVES
With a sharp-pointed knife cut through the olive to the stone on the blossom end and pare off the meat, turning the olive around three times, keeping the knife at not too sharp an angle close to the stone. The meat will then be in one curled piece, which can be pressed into its original shape again....
16 minute read
HOW TO CUT BACON
HOW TO CUT BACON
Place the bacon on a board with the rind down. With a very sharp knife slice the bacon very thin down to the rind, but do not try to cut through it. When enough slices are cut, run the knife under, keeping it close to the rind, and the slices will be free....
19 minute read
CARAMEL
CARAMEL
Caramel is used to color soup, gravies, etc., and serves also as a flavoring for desserts. It must be used with care for coloring, as it also sweetens. The flavor of caramel depends upon the degree to which the sugar is cooked before the water is added. It grows stronger as it becomes browner. Put one half cupful of granulated sugar and two tablespoonfuls of water into a granite-ware saucepan, stir until the sugar has melted, then let it cook without stirring until it has turned dark brown, but
32 minute read
TO MAKE ROUX
TO MAKE ROUX
Put one tablespoonful of butter into a saucepan. When it bubbles add one tablespoonful of flour and let them cook together for a few minutes, stirring all the time. If it is to be used as thickening for a white sauce or soup, do not let it color. If for brown soup or sauce, let it become brown. This amount is sufficient to thicken one cupful of milk or of stock, to make a sauce, or to thicken one pint or more of soup. Roux can be prepared and kept in jars ready for use. The proportion of equal q
47 minute read
TO MARINATE
TO MARINATE
Make a mixture in the proportion of three tablespoonfuls of vinegar to two of oil, one teaspoonful of salt, one quarter teaspoonful of pepper, one bay-leaf, one teaspoonful onion juice, and a sprig of parsley. Put it on a flat dish and lay any cooked or raw meat in the marinade for an hour or more before using, turning the pieces often. Enough flavor is absorbed to much improve meats or fish to be used for salads, fish to be fried or boiled, and other cases given in receipts. The onion juice may
27 minute read
SALPICON
SALPICON
A salpicon is a mixture of cooked meats, which are cut into dice and combined with a sauce, mushrooms, and truffles. Chicken, sweetbreads, and tongue mixed with mushrooms and truffles and moistened with a Béchamel sauce, is a combination often used. Salpicon is used in timbales, patties, and vol-au-vent. A mixture of fruits seasoned with sugar and wine is also called a salpicon....
17 minute read
SEASONING AND FLAVORING.
SEASONING AND FLAVORING.
Condiments. The savoriness of a dish can often be much enhanced by adding a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, of mushroom or tomato catsup, of kitchen bouquet, by a few celery seeds, a bay-leaf, or a sprig of some dried herb. A little tarragon vinegar or a few capers will often much improve a salad. Almonds. A half dozen chopped almonds will greatly improve a bread pudding or any other simple dessert. Orange peel. A few shreds of candied orange peel will give a delicious flavor to puddings, sau
1 minute read
CROÛTONS AND CROUSTADES
CROÛTONS AND CROUSTADES
Croûtons or crusts are used in pea, bean, and all cream soups, for garnishing all kinds of stewed dishes, and for any dish with which toast would be acceptable. When cut large and filled they are called croustades. To make croûtons or croustades, cut bread into the desired shape and sauté the pieces in hot butter, or dip them in melted butter and toast them carefully in the oven, turning frequently, so they will be evenly colored; or they may be fried in smoking-hot fat. They should be crisp and
2 minute read
CHARTREUSE
CHARTREUSE
Chartreuse is a liqueur made by the monks of the French monastery of Grande Chartreuse; but a class of dishes has also been given this name, where two or more foods are used one of which conceals the others. The story goes that on fast days the monks were thus able to indulge in forbidden food, and savory viands were hidden under cabbage or other severely plain articles. Chartreuses are made by lining a mold with rice, a vegetable, or a forcemeat, and filling the center with a different food. Tw
16 minute read
COMMON STOCK (POT-AU-FEU)
COMMON STOCK (POT-AU-FEU)
For this stock pieces of fresh or cooked meat are used, also all odds and ends, chicken bones, gravies, cooked or raw vegetables, etc. Water in which fish or vegetables (excepting cabbage or potatoes) have been boiled may or may not be used. They are put together cold and are simmered for five or six hours, then strained through a colander into an earthen bowl and left to cool uncovered. Clear soup should not be attempted with this stock, but it is good to combine with vegetables for vegetable s
31 minute read
BEEF OR BROWN STOCK
BEEF OR BROWN STOCK
Rub with a wet cloth the outside of the shin of beef, which has been well broken by the butcher. Take the meat from the bones and cut it into small pieces. Put aside a half pound of the meat. Place the rest of the meat and the bones in a perfectly clean pot with the cold water, and let it stand fifteen to twenty minutes, or until the water is red; then place them on the fire and let them come slowly to the simmering point. Meanwhile, place in a sauté-pan some of the marrow from the bones, or a t
1 minute read
FOR MACARONI, NOODLE, VERMICELLI, VEGETABLE OR PRINTANIÈRE, JULIENNE, TAPIOCA, AND CROÛTE-AU-POT SOUPS,
FOR MACARONI, NOODLE, VERMICELLI, VEGETABLE OR PRINTANIÈRE, JULIENNE, TAPIOCA, AND CROÛTE-AU-POT SOUPS,
Take as much of the beef stock as will be needed, allowing one half pint for each person, remove all the grease, heat it, and season to taste. Just before serving add any of the above articles, which must have been boiled separately. The soup will then have the name of the ingredient used. Julienne. Julienne does not differ from the vegetable soup except in the form given the vegetables. For julienne, the outside or deep yellow of the carrot, turnip, and celery are cut, with a knife which comes
2 minute read
THICKENING FOR SOUPS
THICKENING FOR SOUPS
Roux (see page 79 ) makes the best thickening for soups which are not clear, using brown or white roux according to the color of the soup. Thin the roux with a little soup, so it will be smooth before adding it to the soup kettle. Roux added to pea, bean, and potato soups prevents their separating. A thickening of eggs is made as follows: Beat two or three yolks and dilute them with a half a cupful of cream or milk or cold soup. Stir in a few spoonfuls of the hot soup to warm it. Remove the soup
50 minute read
GARNISHES FOR SOUPS
GARNISHES FOR SOUPS
A CUSTARD TO SERVE WITH CONSOMMÉ Beat the eggs well, but not to a froth. Add one third of a teaspoonful of salt and one half cupful of clear beef stock. Pour the mixture into a small pan or flat dish, so it will be about one half inch deep. Set the pan into another one containing hot water and place them in a very moderate oven, so that the custard will set without bubbles and without browning on top. Let the custard become perfectly cold. Without removing it from the pan, cut it into cubes one
4 minute read
BROTHS
BROTHS
Clean the fowl carefully; wash it with a wet cloth; cut it into pieces and remove the fat. Place the joints in a saucepan with a quart of water to each pound of fowl. Let it simmer until the meat is tender; then remove the breast; after four hours take it off and strain it through a sieve. Let the soup stand until the grease rises; then carefully remove it, and put the soup again in the saucepan; add the breast of the chicken, cut into dice, and the half cupful of rice; salt and pepper to taste,
1 minute read
SOUPS
SOUPS
(3 PINTS. TIME, 5 HOURS) Take three pounds of beef cut from the lower part of round, remove all the fat, and chop the meat to a fine mince. Place the chopped meat in a saucepan with three quarts of cold water, and let it stand one hour; then put it on the fire, cover, and let it come slowly to the boiling-point, taking off any scum that rises. Then place it where it will only simmer. After it has simmered for four hours add the vegetables cut into dice, and the spices, and let it simmer one hour
10 minute read
CREAM SOUPS
CREAM SOUPS
(A VERY SIMPLE SOUP QUICKLY MADE) Slice two or three large onions; fry them in a tablespoonful of butter or drippings until they are soft and red, then add three tablespoonfuls of flour, and stir until it is a little cooked. To this add slowly a pint of boiling water, stirring all the time, so it will be smooth. Boil and mash three good-sized potatoes. Add to them slowly a quart of scalded milk, stirring well so it will be smooth. Add the potato and milk mixture to the onion mixture. Season with
6 minute read
CHOWDERS
CHOWDERS
Cut the potatoes into dice, cut the pork into small pieces, and put it with the sliced onion into a frying pan, and fry until a light brown. Put into a kettle a layer of potatoes, then a layer of onions and pork, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chopped parsley. Repeat this until all the potatoes, pork, onions, and parsley are in. Pour over them the grease from the pan in which the pork and onions were fried. Add one pint of water, cover, and let simmer twenty minutes. Scald the milk in a dou
7 minute read
TO BOIL FISH
TO BOIL FISH
Add one teaspoonful of salt and one tablespoonful of vinegar to every two quarts of water, and use sufficient water to entirely cover the fish. The salt and vinegar serve to whiten and harden, as well as to season the meat. A bay-leaf and soup vegetables in the water improve the flavor of cod and some other fish. The fish must not be put into cold water, as that extracts the flavor; nor into boiling water, as that breaks the skin and gives it a ragged appearance. Lower the fish gradually into wa
1 minute read
FISH
FISH
Court bouillon is used for boiling fresh-water fish or others which are without much flavor. It may be prepared beforehand, and used several times, or the vegetables may be added at the time the fish is boiled. After the fish is carefully washed and dried, put in the stuffing, and sew up the opening with a trussing needle; then cut three gashes in each side of the fish, and lay a lardoon of salt pork in each cut. Next, run a trussing needle, holding a double white cotton cord, through the head,
24 minute read
SHELL-FISH, LOBSTERS, CRABS
SHELL-FISH, LOBSTERS, CRABS
Oysters are out of season during the months of May, June, July, and August. The rule is to use oysters only in the months that have the letter r in the name. How to serve on half-shell. When served raw, the small varieties are the best. They are left on the deep half of the shell. Six are allowed for each person. They should be arranged regularly on the plate around a little ice broken fine, the valve side toward the center of plate, and in the center of the circle a quarter of a lemon. A few sp
20 minute read
TO ROAST BEEF
TO ROAST BEEF
Time for cooking rib roast rare eight to ten minutes per pound; time for cooking rolled roast rare, ten to twelve minutes per pound. To roast beef on a spit before the fire is unquestionably the best method of cooking it; but as few kitchens are equipped for roasting meats, baking them in the oven is generally practised, and has come to be called roasting. Beef should be well streaked with fat, and have a bright-red color. Place the meat to be baked on a rack which will raise it a little above t
1 minute read
YORKSHIRE PUDDING
YORKSHIRE PUDDING
Put two cupfuls of flour into a bowl, and mix in one half a teaspoonful of salt. Beat up three eggs, and stir them into the flour; then add two cupfuls of milk. Stir until the mixture is smooth, then turn it into a pan containing a little of the drippings from the roast beef. Let the batter be only one inch deep in the pan. Bake thirty to forty minutes. Cut the pudding in squares, and place it around the roast beef....
24 minute read
BRAISED BEEF
BRAISED BEEF
Take one half cupful of salt pork, one half cupful each of carrot, turnip, onion, and celery, all cut into dice. Mix them together and spread them on a baking pan, reserving one half cupful for the top of the meat. On the bed of vegetables place a piece of beef cut from the upper or under side of the round, weighing five or six pounds. Dredge it with flour. Place it in hot oven to brown for twenty to twenty-five minutes. Then add two cupfuls of stock or water; a bouquet of herbs, consisting of p
1 minute read
BEEF À LA MODE
BEEF À LA MODE
Use six or seven pounds of the upper round of beef for this dish. (It is very good cold when properly cooked.) The success depends upon very slow cooking. The vegetables give it a distinctive flavor. Make several deep incisions into the meat with a thin, sharp knife, or with a steel. Press into them lardoons of salt pork about half an inch square, and two or three inches long. This is called daubing, and the butcher will ordinarily do it if requested. Put trimmings of pork, or two tablespoonfuls
1 minute read
BOUILLI
BOUILLI
This dish is prepared usually from the meat used in making soup. Take a piece from the lower side of round; trim, and tie it into good shape; place it in the soup pot with cold water, allowing one quart of water to each pound of meat. Let it come slowly to the boiling point, and then let it simmer for four hours. After it has cooked two hours add a whole carrot, onion, and turnip, parsley, celery, six peppercorns, three cloves, one teaspoonful of salt. The meat will be tender if cooked very slow
45 minute read
FILLET OF BEEF
FILLET OF BEEF
Time, thirty minutes in hot oven. The fillet is the tenderloin of beef, and is taken from the underside of the sirloin cut. Remove, taking care not to make the meat ragged, the sinewy skin and the muscle from the top, and most of the fat from the other side. Fold the thin end under, trim it into good shape. Lard it plentifully, letting the whole upper surface be perforated with fine lardoons. Place in a small baking pan thin slices of larding pork, over the pork place a layer of chopped onion, c
1 minute read
HOW TO BUY A FILLET
HOW TO BUY A FILLET
A profitable way to obtain a fillet is to buy a large cut of the sirloin, remove the tenderloin, and have the top cut into two or more roasting pieces. Beef will keep for some time, and the butcher will hold it until called for. In this way it will cost twenty-two to twenty-five cents per pound, while, if bought by itself, it would be from eighty cents to one dollar per pound. For a moderate sized family it may seem too much beef to buy at one time; but it is the one kind of meat that can be ser
50 minute read
COLD ROAST BEEF
COLD ROAST BEEF
Roasted and braised beef are both quite as good cold as hot, and in summer are sometimes preferable cold. Serve with cold beef a vegetable salad when it is used for dinner. Make the salad of string beans, asparagus, or a macédoine of vegetables. For a supper dish, the rolled rib roast can be made very attractive by garnishing it with aspic jelly cut into fancy forms. Place a large star of the jelly on top, and small timbale forms of jellied vegetables, and broken jelly on the dish around the mea
35 minute read
SCALLOPED MEAT
SCALLOPED MEAT
Spread in a baking dish alternate layers of bread-crumbs, meat chopped very fine, a sprinkling of chopped parsley and onion, pepper and salt. When the dish is nearly full, pour over enough white sauce to moisten it well; cover with crumbs and bits of butter. Set in oven until browned. Soup stock or tomatoes may also be used for moistening a scallop. If uncooked meat is used, it will require longer cooking (one hour in slow oven), and more liquid used, so that it will not get too dry. The coarse
32 minute read
HAMBURG STEAKS
HAMBURG STEAKS
Chop one pound of lean raw meat very fine, remove all the fiber possible. To the mince add Form it into small balls, and flatten; dredge them with flour, and sauté them in butter. Place them on a hot dish, and spread with maître d’hôtel butter; or make a thick brown sauce by adding a tablespoonful of flour to the butter used in the sauté pan. Let it brown; then add slowly a little soup stock. Season with salt and pepper, and lemon juice, or Worcestershire sauce. Drop a teaspoonful of sauce on ea
1 minute read
BEEF PIE
BEEF PIE
Lay in a pie dish a few thin slices of onion; then a layer of cold cooked beef cut very thin. Dredge with a little flour, pepper, and salt; fill the dish with these articles in alternate layers, and add any cold gravy there may be at hand. Scald and peel enough tomatoes to cover the top of the dish; have them of uniform size, and place them close together. Spread over them some bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and bits of butter. Place the dish in the oven, and cook until the tomatoes are tender. Mut
30 minute read
WARMED-OVER BEEF (CHAFING-DISH)
WARMED-OVER BEEF (CHAFING-DISH)
Cut the beef into small thin slices, and trim off the fat. Put into a stew pan one tablespoonful of butter, and one tablespoonful of flour. When cooked, and a little browned, add slowly one cupful of stock, one teaspoonful each of Worcestershire sauce and mushroom catsup. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the slices of beef, and let them become thoroughly hot. Then place in the center of a hot dish, and pour the sauce over them. Garnish with croûtons, and serve with it farina balls (see
42 minute read
INSIDE FLANK
INSIDE FLANK
Take the piece of meat called the inside flank; wipe it clean with a wet cloth; carefully remove the skin and fat and lay it flat on a board; moisten three quarters of a cupful of crumbs with stock; add one teaspoonful of salt, one quarter teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful onion juice or one half onion chopped fine, one tablespoonful chopped parsley. Spread this mixture on the meat evenly; then roll and tie it with white twine; turn in the ends to make it even and shapely. Cut into dice an
1 minute read
RAGOUT OF BEEF
RAGOUT OF BEEF
Cut two pounds of the upper round of beef into inch squares; dredge them with salt and pepper, and roll them in flour. Put into a saucepan some butter and some drippings, or a little suet, and let it try out, using enough only to cover the bottom of the saucepan; when the grease is hot, turn in the pieces of meat, and let them cook until well browned on all sides. Watch, and turn them as soon as browned; then draw the meat to one side of the pan, and add a tablespoonful of flour; let the flour b
49 minute read
BEEFSTEAK
BEEFSTEAK
Some one has said, “There is as much difference between beefsteaks as between faces; and a man of taste can find as much variety in a dinner at the Beefsteak Club as at the most plentifully-served table in town.” The difference between a thick and a thin steak is particularly marked—the former seems like an altogether different dish from the latter. Thickness. Some may like their steak well done, but it is not a taste to be commended. A perfect steak should be cut one and a half inches thick, an
7 minute read
MUTTON
MUTTON
The cuts and cooking of Mutton. Mutton should be hung for some days before being used. The leg may be either boiled or roasted; the saddle always roasted; the shoulder boned, stuffed and roasted; the chops broiled, and the neck stewed. Except where it is stewed, mutton should be cooked rare. Mrs. Brugière recommends pounding the leg of mutton before cooking it. The roasted leg or the saddle are the only forms of mutton permissible to serve at a ceremonious dinner. The strong taste of mutton is i
10 minute read
VEAL
VEAL
The flesh of veal should be pink and firm, the bones hard. If it has a blue tinge and is flabby, it has been killed too young, and is unwholesome. Like lamb, it must be used while perfectly fresh and be thoroughly cooked. It contains less nourishment than other kinds of meat; also, having less flavor, it requires more seasoning. Veal is frequently used as a substitute for chicken. It can be made into croquettes and salads very acceptably. The fillet is cut from the upper part of the leg, and sho
13 minute read
PORK
PORK
Salt pork and bacon should be kept always at hand; the former for larding, spreading in thin slices over baked meats, poultry, and birds, and various other uses as directed in many receipts. Bacon is an appetizing accompaniment to many breakfast dishes. Fresh pork is used only in cold weather, and must be thoroughly cooked. The roasting pieces are the leg, loin, spare-rib, and shoulder. If the skin is left on cut it through in lines both ways, forming small squares. Put a cupful of water in the
4 minute read
CHICKENS
CHICKENS
To judge the age of a chicken, touch the end of the breastbone. If it is still cartilaginous, and bends easily from side to side, the meat of the chicken will be tender. If the cartilage has hardened to bone, the bird is over a year old, and should be used only for the purposes which fowls serve. The skin of the chicken should be firm, smooth and white; the feet soft, the legs smooth and yellow, the spurs small, the eyes bright and full, the comb red. On young chickens there are pin-feathers; on
23 minute read
TURKEY
TURKEY
The rules given for dressing and cooking chickens apply also to turkeys. Turkey can be substituted for chicken in any of the receipts given. A young turkey will have smooth black legs and white skin. General Directions. Fifteen minutes to the pound is the time allowed for roasting or boiling a young turkey; for an old one more time will be required. They should have slow cooking and frequent basting. After a turkey is trussed, wet the skin; dredge it well with salt and pepper, and then with a th
3 minute read
GAME
GAME
Carefully pick, singe, and wipe the outside. Draw them, leaving on the head, so as to distinguish them from ordinary game. Cut an opening at the neck, and through it draw the head and neck, letting the head emerge at the back between the drumsticks, and tie it securely in place. Do not wash the inside. If carefully drawn they will not need it. Cut off the wings at the second joint. Truss the ducks neatly. Sprinkle with salt and pepper inside, and a teaspoonful of currant jelly may also be put in
7 minute read
BOILED POTATOES
BOILED POTATOES
Wash the potatoes well; take off only a thin paring, and drop them at once into cold water to prevent their discoloring. Have them of uniform size, or cut the larger ones into pieces the size of the small ones, so they will all be cooked at the same time, for after a potato is cooked it rapidly absorbs water and becomes soggy. If the potatoes are old or withered, put them on to cook in cold water; if fresh and firm, put them into boiling salted water, and boil slowly about thirty minutes, or unt
54 minute read
MASHED POTATOES
MASHED POTATOES
After the potatoes are boiled and dried as directed above, mash them at once over the fire and in the same pot in which they were boiled, so that they will lose no heat. Season them with salt, butter, and cream or milk; heat the milk and butter together; add them slowly, and beat the potatoes well with a fork or an egg-beater until they are very light and white. Turn them into a hot dish. Do not smooth the top....
23 minute read
POTATO CAKES
POTATO CAKES
Mashed potato left over may be used for cakes. Add an egg to a cupful and a half of potato and beat them well together until light; form it into cakes or balls; roll them in flour and sauté in butter, or spread the mixture in a layer one inch thick; cut it into strips or squares and sauté; or put it into a well-buttered border mold; cover with greased paper, and bake for half an hour in a moderate oven. Let it stand in the mold for ten minutes; then turn onto a dish, and fill the center with any
33 minute read
POTATO ROSES
POTATO ROSES
To two cupfuls of well-seasoned mashed potatoes, add the yolks of two eggs and white of one, and beat them well together. Place it in a pastry bag with a tube having a star-shaped opening (see illustration ), and press it through. As the potato comes from the tube, guide it in a circle, winding it around until it comes to a point. The little piles of potato will resemble roses. Touch them lightly with a brush dipped in egg, and place a bit of butter on each one. Put them in the oven a moment to
37 minute read
POTATO CROQUETTES
POTATO CROQUETTES
To two cupfuls of well-seasoned mashed potatoes add the beaten yolks of two eggs, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, one and a half tablespoonfuls of butter (if none has been used in seasoning), a dash of cayenne and nutmeg; stir over the fire until the potato leaves the sides of the pan. When cold, form it into small croquettes, roll them in egg and bread-crumbs and fry them in hot fat to an amber color. Serve on a napkin (see frying croquettes, page 294 ). The croquette mixture may be made in
30 minute read
POTATO BALLS
POTATO BALLS
With a potato scoop (see illustration ) cut balls out of peeled raw potatoes, and drop them in cold water for half an hour. Put them into salted boiling water and boil for fifteen minutes, or until tender; drain off the water; cover with a cloth and let stand on the back of the range until dry. Serve them on a napkin, or pour over them white sauce, and sprinkle with parsley, or use them as a garnish. The pieces of potato left from cutting the balls can be boiled and mashed, so there is no waste.
27 minute read
POTATO OMELET
POTATO OMELET
Cut cold boiled potatoes into dice a quarter of an inch square; mix them with enough white sauce to well moisten them. Place a tablespoonful of butter in a frying-pan; when the butter is hot, put in the potatoes and sauté them until browned on the bottom, loosen them from the pan, and turn them like an omelet onto a flat dish; or this preparation may be put in a baking-dish, sprinkled with crumbs and grated cheese, then put in the oven to brown, and served in the same dish....
25 minute read
CREAMED POTATOES
CREAMED POTATOES
Cut cold boiled potatoes that are a little underdone into dice or into slices one eighth of an inch thick. Put them in a saucepan with enough milk or cream to cover them, and cook until the potatoes have absorbed nearly all the milk; then to every two cupfuls of potato add one tablespoonful of butter, one half teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, and, just before serving, a teaspoonful of parsley chopped very fine; or a white sauce may be made, using cream, if convenient, and the potatoes plac
32 minute read
BROILED POTATOES
BROILED POTATOES
Peel and cut the potatoes lengthwise into slices one quarter of an inch thick. Broil them on both sides over moderate heat until tender; spread each slice with butter, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve very hot. Or, use cold boiled potatoes. Dip each slice in melted butter; sprinkle with pepper and salt and broil three minutes on each side....
17 minute read
BAKED POTATOES
BAKED POTATOES
Select large potatoes of uniform size and shape. Wash and scrub them with a brush. Bake them in a hot oven about an hour, or until soft; press them to see if done, but do not pierce them with a fork; when soft break the skin in one place, and serve at once on a napkin. They become watery if kept....
17 minute read
STUFFED POTATOES
STUFFED POTATOES
Select potatoes of equal size and shape, wash and scrub them well and bake them. While they are still hot cut a piece off the top of each, and with a spoon scoop out the potato, leaving the skin unbroken. Mash and season the potato, using a little hot milk and beating it well to make it light. Fill the potato skins with the mashed potato, letting it rise a little above the top of the skin. Place a piece of butter on the top of each, and put them in the oven to get well heated and slightly brown
43 minute read
LYONNAISE POTATOES
LYONNAISE POTATOES
Put one and a half tablespoonfuls of butter in a frying-pan. When melted add a scant tablespoonful of chopped onion; let it slightly color, then add two cupfuls of cold boiled potatoes cut into dice. Stir until the potato has absorbed all the butter, and become slightly browned; then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley. Mix well, and serve very hot....
18 minute read
FRIED POTATOES
FRIED POTATOES
Cold boiled potatoes are sliced, then put into a sauté-pan with butter, and cooked until browned on both sides. If rolled in flour they will form a crisp crust. Raw potatoes are sliced or cut into any shape, and put into cold water for half an hour. They are then well dried on a napkin, and immersed in hot fat until done. Too many must not be put in the basket at once, as it cools the fat (see frying, page 72 ). Fry them to an amber color; then drain, and place them on a paper in the oven until
33 minute read
FRIED POTATO BALLS AND STRAWS
FRIED POTATO BALLS AND STRAWS
To make balls use a potato scoop; press it well into the potato before turning it. To make straws cut the potato into slices lengthwise, and then into strips, making each one about one eighth of an inch thick. Slices or strips cut with a fluted knife are good forms for fried potatoes. Fry the potatoes in hot fat, using a basket. Fancy fried potatoes are used to garnish any broiled meat dish. There are many kinds of cutters to give different shapes to potatoes....
25 minute read
SARATOGA POTATOES
SARATOGA POTATOES
Cut the potatoes with a plane into slices as thin as paper if possible. Let them soak in cold water for a little time to wash out the starch; then put them into fresh water with a piece of ice to thoroughly chill them. Drain a few of the slices at a time, dry them on a napkin; put them in a frying basket and immerse them in smoking-hot fat. Keep them separated, and remove as soon as slightly colored. Turn them into a colander to drain, and sprinkle them with salt. When the second lot are fried t
43 minute read
PUFFED OR SOUFFLÉ POTATOES
PUFFED OR SOUFFLÉ POTATOES
Peel the potatoes; cut the sides square, and trim off the corners, so as to give an oval shape. With one even cut slice them one eighth of an inch thick the length of the potato; they must be all the same size and shape. Soak them in cold water for half an hour; dry them on a napkin, and fry them in fat which is only moderately hot until they are soft, but not colored. Remove and place them on a sieve to drain and cool. Then immerse them in hot fat, when they will puff into balls. Toss the baske
40 minute read
SWEET POTATOES
SWEET POTATOES
Wash and scrub the potatoes; put them in boiling water, and cook until they can be pierced with a fork; then pour off the water. Cover the pot with a cloth, and draw it to the side of the range to let the potatoes steam for ten minutes. Peel them before serving....
15 minute read
SWEET POTATO PURÉE
SWEET POTATO PURÉE
Mash thoroughly the boiled potatoes, and season them well with salt, pepper, and butter; add enough hot milk to moisten them. Serve it the same as mashed white potato; or put it in a pudding-dish, brush the top with egg, and brown it in the oven. Serve with it a tomato sauce, and use as a luncheon dish. Either boiled or baked potatoes may be used....
19 minute read
STEWED TOMATOES
STEWED TOMATOES
If fresh tomatoes are used remove the skins by placing them in boiling water a few minutes; they will then peel off easily. Cut them in pieces, and stew in a granite-ware saucepan until tender. To one quart of tomatoes add one teaspoonful each of salt and sugar, one quarter teaspoonful of pepper, and a tablespoonful of butter. Thicken with a teaspoonful of cornstarch wet in cold water, or with one half cupful of cracker or bread-crumbs....
21 minute read
SCALLOPED TOMATOES
SCALLOPED TOMATOES
Season a can of tomatoes with one teaspoonful of salt, and one quarter teaspoonful of pepper. Spread a shallow baking dish with a thin layer of bread-crumbs; pour in the tomatoes, sprinkle over them a tablespoonful of sugar, and a few drops of onion juice. Cover the top with a cupful of bread-crumbs which have been moistened with a tablespoonful of melted butter. Bake in a hot oven for fifteen minutes. Serve in the same dish....
21 minute read
STUFFED TOMATOES
STUFFED TOMATOES
Select large, firm tomatoes; do not remove the skins; cut a small slice off the stem end, and scoop out the inside. Fill them with a stuffing made as follows: Put one tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan; when hot add one tablespoonful of onion chopped fine. Let it color slightly; then add three quarters of a cupful of any minced meat, chicken, or livers, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, one cupful of bread-crumbs, the pulp taken from the tomatoes, one teaspoonful of salt, one quarter teas
1 minute read
ROASTED TOMATOES
ROASTED TOMATOES
Peel the tomatoes; cut a piece off the top, and remove a little of the pulp. Put a piece of butter or a few drops of oil in each one; dust with salt and pepper, replace the top, sprinkle it with crumbs, pepper, and salt. Put a small piece of butter or a little oil on each one, and place on a slice of bread. Bake in oven fifteen to twenty minutes....
21 minute read
BROILED TOMATOES
BROILED TOMATOES
Cut the tomatoes horizontally in two; leave the skins on. Place them on a broiler with the skin side down; dust with salt and pepper, and broil, without turning, over a moderate fire fifteen to twenty minutes, or until tender. Lay them on a hot dish, and spread each piece with either butter, oil, maître d’hôtel sauce, hot Mayonnaise or Béarnaise; or the tomatoes may be cut into thick slices, covered with oil, and then broiled, turning frequently....
22 minute read
TOMATO FARCI
TOMATO FARCI
Cut the tomatoes in halves; place them in a frying-pan, the open side down, in one half inch deep of hot fat. Move them about until they are cooked a little tender. Then lift them carefully without breaking, and place them side by side in a baking-dish. Pour a little sweet oil around them; sprinkle with chopped garlic, and parsley, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Bake in hot oven fifteen to twenty minutes. Serve in same dish....
22 minute read
GREEN PEAS
GREEN PEAS
The flavor of peas, and also the time required for cooking them, depends very much upon their freshness. Put them into salted boiling water, and do not cover the saucepan; boil ten to twenty minutes, or until soft enough to be easily mashed. Drain off the water, and season with pepper, salt, and butter. Mix in the seasoning carefully with a fork, so as not to break the peas. Sometimes a little sugar improves them. Use plenty of water in boiling, and do not let them be overcooked, as this is as b
40 minute read
PURÉE OF PEAS
PURÉE OF PEAS
Boil the peas until very tender; mash and press them through a sieve. Place them again in the saucepan, and stir into them enough hot milk, pepper and salt, to well moisten and season them; add also some butter, and a very little sugar. Dried peas may be used in this way, but require soaking and long boiling. The purée makes a pretty garnish pressed through a pastry bag like potato roses (see page 202 ), or into a fancy border around a dish....
31 minute read
STRING BEANS
STRING BEANS
Remove carefully all the strings; cut the beans into one-quarter inch pieces, laying a number together, and cutting them at one time; or cut each bean lengthwise into four strips, and lay them evenly together. Place them in salted boiling water, and boil uncovered until tender; drain off the water, and season with salt, pepper, and butter, or mix with them just enough white sauce (page 277 ) to coat them well....
21 minute read
FLAGEOLETS
FLAGEOLETS
If the dried beans are used soak them several hours in cold water; then throw them into salted boiling water, and boil until tender, but not soft enough to break. Use plenty of water in boiling them, and drain well. Season with butter, salt, and pepper. If cooked right the beans will be glossy. They are good also as a purée, the same as purée of peas (see page 209 )....
20 minute read
SPINACH
SPINACH
Put a half peck of spinach into cold water to freshen; pick it over carefully, removing all the wilted and yellow leaves. Pass it through five changes of water to free it from grit. Put it in a saucepan; enough water will cling to it for the cooking. Cover the saucepan; stir occasionally so it does not burn. After fifteen minutes add a tablespoonful of salt, and cook five minutes longer; then turn it into a colander to drain; when it is dry chop it very fine. Put into a saucepan one and a half t
1 minute read
SPINACH SOUFFLÉ
SPINACH SOUFFLÉ
Take a cupful of spinach which has been prepared as directed above (any that is left over can be utilized in this way); mix with it the beaten yolk of an egg, and stir it over the fire until the egg is set. Let it cool. When ready to serve stir into it lightly the well-beaten whites of three eggs. Fill individual china cups or buttered paper boxes half full, and place them in a hot oven for ten to fifteen minutes. Serve at once. Like any soufflé, it will fall if not sufficiently baked, or if not
28 minute read
CHARTREUSE OF SPINACH OR OF CABBAGE
CHARTREUSE OF SPINACH OR OF CABBAGE
Boil a large carrot and turnip; cut them into slices lengthwise three eighths of an inch thick, then into strips of the same width. Butter well a tin basin, with slightly flaring sides, or a plain mold. Ornament the bottom with hard-boiled egg, or with fancy pieces of the vegetables. Around the sides of the mold place close together alternate strips of the carrot and turnip. If the mold is well buttered they will easily hold in place. Fill the center with spinach or with seasoned chopped cabbage
58 minute read
ASPARAGUS
ASPARAGUS
Scrape the stalks; let them stand in cold water for half an hour; tie them again into a bundle and make them uniform in length; put them into salted boiling water and cook about twenty minutes or until tender, but not so soft as to be limp. Place the asparagus on buttered toast and remove the string. Serve with the asparagus, but separately, plain melted butter, a white, or a Hollandaise sauce. Cold boiled asparagus is served as a salad with plain French dressing (see page 375 ) or with cold Béa
26 minute read
CABBAGE
CABBAGE
Cabbage. Four vegetables are the result of the cabbage plant by cultivation. As the rose changes its character under the hand of the floriculturist, so it is with cabbage at the hand of the gardener. First is the cabbage, which is the leafy bud that stores up food for a flower the next year. Cauliflower. Second, the cauliflower, which is a cluster (corymb) of forced cabbage flowers. Brussels sprouts. Third, Brussels sprouts. The leaves are picked off, and small buds form along the stem; and four
13 minute read
RECEIPTS FOR MACARONI AND CEREALS
RECEIPTS FOR MACARONI AND CEREALS
Wash the rice well, and drain it. It must be washed in several waters, and until the floury coating, which is usually on rice, is all removed. This flour makes it pasty, and holds the grains together. Have a large saucepan of salted boiling water. Place it on the hottest part of the range, so it will boil violently. Sprinkle in the rice slowly, so as not to stop the boiling, and let it cook for fifteen to twenty minutes uncovered. At the end of fifteen minutes take out a few grains. If they are
3 minute read
MACARONI
MACARONI
General directions. The best macaroni is smooth, has a fine, close grain and clear yellow color. It is made of flour and water only, and when cooked needs the seasoning of a good sauce. It is generally mixed with cheese, but tomato, cream, or Béchamel sauces make at good combination. When macaroni is to be boiled in long pieces to be used for timbales, hold the pieces in a bunch, and lower them gradually into hot water. They will quickly soften, and can be turned into a circle in the saucepan. T
4 minute read
CEREALS
CEREALS
Oatmeal is ground in different grades of coarseness, and some brands are partly cooked before they are put up for sale; therefore the time for cooking varies, and it is better to observe the directions given on the packages. Oatmeal requires to be cooked until very soft, but should not be mushy. The ordinary rule is to put a cupful of meal into a quart of salted boiling water (a teaspoonful of salt), and let it cook in double boiler the required time. It is well to keep the pan covered until the
2 minute read
SPLIT PEA SOUP
SPLIT PEA SOUP
Soak one quart of split peas in lukewarm water for three hours. Pour off the water and boil the peas in three and a half quarts of salted water till they are thoroughly soft. Rub through a colander, and throw away whatever does not pass through. This will keep several days. Take out the quantity needed for dinner (allowing a generous quart to three persons); boil in it a small piece of pork, onion, and a little white pepper and salt; strain and serve very hot, with small cubes of fried bread dro
27 minute read
BLACK BEAN SOUP
BLACK BEAN SOUP
Boil on the back of the range for twelve hours; rub through a colander and set away to cool. This should make soup for two dinners for a family of six. When served, add a glass of wine to each tureenful, two or three slices of lemon, and cubes of bread fried in butter....
16 minute read
CLAM SOUP
CLAM SOUP
Boil a quart of clams in their own liquor till they are tender; then chop them fine and return to the broth. Stir together until smooth two tablespoonfuls of butter and one and a half of flour, and with them thicken the soup. Add very carefully a pint of milk, stirring to avoid curdling, and add two tablespoonfuls of butter, with pepper and salt, after taking the mixture from the fire....
20 minute read
CLAM CHOWDER
CLAM CHOWDER
Cut one half pound of salt pork into slices, and fry them brown; chop two small onions, and cook them with the pork. Stew separately a quart of tomatoes, canned or fresh, and a quart of sliced potatoes. When all are done, put them together with one quart of clams and their juice. Add three pints of water, salt, pepper, a little thyme, a very little flour for thickening, and a handful of small whole crackers. Stew all together for half an hour, and serve very hot....
24 minute read
FISH CHOWDER
FISH CHOWDER
Three pounds of fresh codfish well boiled and the bones carefully removed. Two onions chopped fine and fried with half a pound of salt pork, cut into small dice. Six potatoes cut small, a pint of water, a little salt and white pepper. Stew for twenty minutes, thicken slightly with a little flour; add a pint and a half of milk, and let all boil up once, stirring thoroughly. Put a handful of oyster crackers into a hot tureen, and pour the mixture over them....
24 minute read
BROWNED OYSTERS
BROWNED OYSTERS
Take thirty large oysters (about three pints); wash them in their own liquor. Add to one pint of milk three tablespoonfuls of the oyster liquor, well strained, a very little mace, and a bit of butter about the size of an English walnut, and make the mixture scalding hot. Rub two tablespoonfuls of flour perfectly smooth with a little of the milk; pour in and stir until the whole is thick. Then drop in the oysters; cook five minutes or so, till they are well plumped out, and add a little salt, whi
30 minute read
FISH AND OYSTERS
FISH AND OYSTERS
Make a pint or more of white sauce, with flour, butter, and hot milk, carefully stirred till smooth and thick. Pick to fine bits two quarts of cold boiled codfish, and add one pint of oysters chopped fine. Fill a well-buttered pudding-dish with alternate layers of the fish and oysters and white sauce, sprinkling a little salt over the layers of cod. Cover the top of the dish with fine bread-crumbs and small bits of butter; baste with a little cold water, and bake till the top is browned....
25 minute read
SCALLOPED OYSTERS
SCALLOPED OYSTERS
Three pints of oysters; a quart of sifted bread-crumbs. Place a layer of crumbs in the bottom of a rather deep baking-dish, then a layer of oysters, and sprinkle with salt and white pepper. Repeat the process till the dish is filled. Cover the top with crumbs and a layer of soft bread broken into bits and placed round the edge of a circle of small oyster crackers. Wet the whole with half a pint of soup stock and a quarter of a cup of oyster liquor. Cover the top generously with butter cut into f
30 minute read
PICKLED OYSTERS
PICKLED OYSTERS
Scald the oysters in their own liquor, with a little water added, till they are plump. Skim them out, and drop into a bowl of cold water; rinse well and put them in glass jars. Scald an equal quantity of the liquor and vinegar with whole peppers, mace, and salt, and when perfectly cold fill the jars up with it. These will keep two or three weeks....
19 minute read
FRICASSEED OYSTERS
FRICASSEED OYSTERS
Drain a quart of large oysters from their liquor, and place them in a covered saucepan with a quarter of a pound of good butter. Set them on the back of the range, and let them simmer gently till the oysters are well plumped out. Put the oyster liquor in another saucepan with three tablespoonfuls of powdered cracker, and a little pepper. When the oysters are done, remove them from the butter with a fork, and place them on toasted crackers on a hot platter. Add the butter in which they have been
32 minute read
STEWED LOBSTER
STEWED LOBSTER
Cut a boiled lobster weighing four pounds into small pieces. Thicken a half pint of milk with a teaspoonful of flour and a tablespoonful of butter; add a teaspoonful of dry mustard, and a little salt and pepper. Stew the lobster in this till it is quite tender, and lastly add a tablespoonful of vinegar....
15 minute read
FISH BALLS
FISH BALLS
MAINE Soak over night three quarters of a pound of boneless codfish. In the morning shred the fish (uncooked) very carefully with a silver fork till it is fine. Add to it a dozen potatoes of medium size, freshly boiled, mashed, and rubbed through a sieve, two beaten eggs, a tablespoonful of butter, a little hot milk or cream, and a sprinkling of white pepper. Mold into round balls, and drop into very hot fat....
21 minute read
CODFISH AND CREAM
CODFISH AND CREAM
Shred two thirds of a bowlful of salt codfish, wash it several times with fresh water, drain off the water, and put it into a saucepan with a pint of sweet cream and half a pint of sweet milk. Let it come nearly, but not quite, to the boiling point. Beat together one egg, a tablespoonful of flour, and two tablespoonfuls of sweet milk; add it to the fish, and stir continually until it is done. Put the mixture in a hot dish, and add a large spoonful of butter, stirring it thoroughly....
27 minute read
OYSTERS ON A CHAFING-DISH
OYSTERS ON A CHAFING-DISH
Put into the chafing-dish four or five tablespoonfuls of the oyster liquor; add salt, white pepper, and a tablespoonful of butter, and stir till it is scalding hot. Drop the oysters in, a dozen at a time, and cook till they are plump and tender; then skim out and place on slices of hot buttered toast; add more oysters as required....
18 minute read
PILAU
PILAU
One half pint of rice; one pint of stock; one half can of tomato. Soak the rice in cold water for an hour. Pour off the water, and put the rice, with the stock and one quarter of a white onion, in a double boiler. Stew till the rice absorbs the stock. Stew the tomato thoroughly, and season with butter, salt, and pepper. Mix it with the rice. Sauté in butter to a light color jointed chicken, slightly parboiled, or slices of cold cooked chicken or turkey. Make a hole in the rice and tomato, put in
35 minute read
SPICED SHAD
SPICED SHAD
Scale the fish, cut off the heads and tails, and divide them into four pieces. Chop four or five small onions, and sprinkle a layer on the bottom of a stone jar; on this place a layer of fish, packing closely. Spice with black and cayenne pepper, cloves, allspice, whole peppers, and a little more onion. Then add another layer of fish, and so on till the jar is full. Arrange the roe on top, spice highly, and fill the jar with the strongest vinegar procurable. Place thick folds of paper on the jar
33 minute read
PORK AND BEANS
PORK AND BEANS
NEW HAMPSHIRE Soak a pint of small white beans over night. In the morning pour off the water, pour on a pint of cold water, and set at the back of the range to simmer slowly for three quarters of an hour. Place the beans in a bean-pot with half a pound of scored salt pork in the middle, half a teaspoonful of dry mustard, salt, white pepper, and a half pint of white sugar. Add water from time to time, as it grows dry, and bake twelve hours....
28 minute read
A RÉCHAUFFÉ OF COLD MUTTON
A RÉCHAUFFÉ OF COLD MUTTON
Have the mutton cut very neatly and carefully into slices. Add to a half pint of gravy or stock a little white pepper, a quarter of a teaspoonful of dry mustard, a quarter of a teaspoonful of curry powder, and three large tablespoonfuls of currant jelly. When this is scalding hot, add a glass of sherry. Have ready a hot platter with slices of toast. Put the sliced mutton into the sauce long enough to heat through, but not to cook for a moment. Take the slices out with a fork, and place them on t
35 minute read
CORNED BEEF
CORNED BEEF
If a round of corned beef is to be eaten cold, as is often the case, it should be carefully and slowly boiled, and left in the pot till the next day. The soaking in the water in which it has been boiled has the effect of making the beef delightfully delicate and tender, and a little less salt in its flavor. No one who has tried this method will be content with any other. If the beef is to be served hot, what is left can be reheated, and left to cool for the next day’s use in the liquor....
29 minute read
A BEEFSTEAK PIE
A BEEFSTEAK PIE
CONNECTICUT Three pounds of lean rump steak cut thick. Cut it into strips three inches long, and an inch wide. Put it to stew in enough boiling water to not quite cover the meat, and simmer very slowly for half an hour. Add a tablespoonful of parsley chopped fine, a large teaspoonful of sweet thyme, half a teaspoonful of white pepper, and a quarter of a pint of sliced onions. Stew together till the meat is perfectly tender. Rub smooth a tablespoonful of corn starch, and stir it with the gravy un
41 minute read
EASY CHICKEN SALAD
EASY CHICKEN SALAD
Take a two-pound can of Richardson & Robbins’s compressed chicken; remove the skin, and cut the chicken into small dice. Add twice as much celery cut into small pieces, salt to taste, and marinate the whole with a mixture of three tablespoonfuls of vinegar to nine of oil. Have it very cold, and just before serving pour over it a Mayonnaise made by the following receipt. This quantity is enough for twenty-five persons....
21 minute read
CREAM DRESSING
CREAM DRESSING
Rub together in a china bowl a large tablespoonful of butter, four tablespoonfuls of vinegar, a half teaspoonful of salt, and a half teaspoonful of dry mustard. Place the bowl in a saucepan full of boiling water over a spirit lamp, or on the range. Stir the mixture carefully till very hot, to prevent the butter from oiling. When hot add two well-beaten eggs; stir till thick, then pour in a half pint of cream, stir, remove from the fire, and allow it to get perfectly cold. Cold sweet-breads are e
27 minute read
MACARONI À L’ALBI
MACARONI À L’ALBI
Break a dozen stems of large macaroni into pieces four inches long, and stew carefully, till tender, in consommé or white soup stock. Place in a dish layers of the macaroni sprinkled with salt, pepper, and of Gruyère cheese grated fine. Cover the top with a thick layer of grated cheese, on that a layer of fine bread-crumbs, and on that bits of butter cut fine. Bake just long enough to brown the top thoroughly....
22 minute read
CORN PUDDING
CORN PUDDING
Scrape with a knife two dozen ears of green corn, cutting each row through the middle. Add one pint of milk, half a pound of butter, three eggs, the whites and yolks beaten separately, a little salt, and white pepper. Stir the yolks into the milk and corn, pour into a baking-dish, stir in the whites, and bake an hour and a half....
18 minute read
THIN INDIAN BREAD
THIN INDIAN BREAD
VERMONT Mix together two cupfuls of meal, a tablespoonful of lard, and a teaspoonful of salt; scald with boiling water. Thin it with a large cupful of cold milk and two well-beaten eggs. Spread thin on a large buttered pan, and bake till brown in an oven only moderately hot....
15 minute read
GRAHAM GEMS
GRAHAM GEMS
Place on top of the range a frame of “iron-clad” gem-pans to get very hot. Stir the milk and meal together lightly, not trying to make the batter very smooth. Drop a bit of butter into each hot pan, and while it sizzles pour in the batter, and instantly set in the oven; bake twenty minutes. The heat raises the batter to lightness, and the butter gives a savory crust to the little cakes....
21 minute read
COLONIAL HOE-CAKES
COLONIAL HOE-CAKES
CONNECTICUT Stir Indian meal and water together into a thickish paste. Spread thickly on a new wooden spade, or on the top of a new barrel, and set on end before an open fire to slowly toast, turning the cake when the outer side is brown. No preparation of Indian meal has quite the flavor of this....
16 minute read
RHODE ISLAND JOHNNY-CAKE
RHODE ISLAND JOHNNY-CAKE
For this, Rhode Island meal, ground between stones, is required. Take one pint of meal and one teaspoonful of salt, and scald thoroughly with boiling water till it is a stiff, smooth batter. Thin with cold milk till about the consistency of sponge-cake batter, and drop in tablespoonfuls on a hot buttered griddle. When the under side is brown, turn the cakes and brown the other side. Eat with butter....
20 minute read
BOSTON BROWN BREAD
BOSTON BROWN BREAD
One pint of yellow cornmeal, scalded with a small quantity of boiling water, just enough to wet it thoroughly. Let it stand ten minutes. Then add enough cold water to make a soft batter. Add one quarter pint of brewer’s yeast, one quarter pint of molasses, one pint of rye meal, one half teaspoonful of salt, and one saltspoonful of soda. Beat it well together, and set it to rise over night. When light, stir it thoroughly, put it into a buttered tin, sprinkle a little flour over the top, and set i
31 minute read
CREAM OATMEAL
CREAM OATMEAL
Boil oatmeal for an hour as for breakfast use. Rub it through a fine sieve, add a little milk, and cook it very slowly in a double boiler for half an hour longer. When perfectly smooth, add a little salt and cream. This is the most delicate preparation of oatmeal that an invalid can take....
16 minute read
SQUASH PIES
SQUASH PIES
Pare and cut into pieces a Hubbard squash, and steam it till, thoroughly soft; then rub it through a coarse sieve. To a quart of the squash, which should be as thick and dry as chestnuts when prepared for stuffing, add three quarters of a pint, heaping full, of granulated sugar, the peel and juice of a large lemon, half a nutmeg grated, a tablespoonful of powdered ginger, about as much powdered cinnamon, a small teaspoonful of salt, six drops of rose-water, half a pint of cream, and four beaten
42 minute read
PUMPKIN PIES (About Four Pounds)
PUMPKIN PIES (About Four Pounds)
MASSACHUSETTS Pare a small pumpkin, about four pounds, and take out the seeds. Steam till soft, and strain through a colander. Beat in three eggs, three tablespoonfuls of molasses, two tablespoonfuls of ground cinnamon, one of ginger, two teaspoonfuls of salt, and two quarts of hot milk. If more sweetening is needed add a little sugar. Bake with an under crust only. This receipt will make five pies....
20 minute read
EASY PIE-CRUST
EASY PIE-CRUST
Three quarters of a pint of lard, three quarters of a pint of butter, three quarters of a pint of iced water with a teaspoonful of salt dissolved in it, a pint and a half of flour sifted twice through a fine sieve. Put the lard and flour into a bowl (leaving out a little flour for rolling), and very lightly rub them together with the tips of your fingers. Pour in the salted water, and stir with a knife till the flour and lard are well mixed. Pour out onto the paste-board (over which a very littl
1 minute read
A BAKED INDIAN PUDDING
A BAKED INDIAN PUDDING
Boil one quart of the milk; add to it molasses, butter, salt, and spice, and lastly the meal stirred smooth with a little cold milk; scald the whole together, and turn into a well-buttered baking-dish. When it begins to crust over, stir it all up from the bottom, and add a pint of cold milk. Repeat the process every half hour, or oftener if the pudding browns too fast, till the five pints are used; then let it bake till done—six hours in all. Serve hot with a sauce of grated or granulated maple
30 minute read
ORANGE INDIAN PUDDING
ORANGE INDIAN PUDDING
Put four heaping tablespoonfuls of Indian meal in a bowl, and mix in half a pint of molasses and a teaspoonful of salt. Boil three pints of milk; pour it scalding hot on the meal, stirring carefully till perfectly smooth and free from lumps. Butter a deep pudding-dish; cover the bottom thickly with fragments of dried orange-peel; pour in the mixture, and, last of all, pour gently over the top a tumblerful of cold milk. Bake four hours and a half in a hot oven. Eat with thick cream....
25 minute read
BLUEBERRY PUDDING
BLUEBERRY PUDDING
RHODE ISLAND Line a deep pudding-dish with slices of buttered bread. Fill this with alternate layers of whortleberries or blueberries, and granulated sugar. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over the whole. Cover the top with slices of bread buttered on both sides. Place a plate over the dish, and bake for an hour and a half, setting the dish in a pan of hot water. Take the pudding from the oven, spread over the top a meringue of white of egg beaten lightly with sugar in the proportion of a tablespoo
34 minute read
A PEACH PUDDING
A PEACH PUDDING
Line the bottom of a deep pudding-dish with thick slices of stale sponge cake soaked in sherry. Fill the dish with fresh peaches, sliced, and well sprinkled with sugar. Spread over the top a meringue similar to that described for whortleberry pudding, and leave it in the oven just long enough to brown. Set the dish on the ice, and serve very cold. It is eaten with cream....
20 minute read
LEMON RICE PUDDING
LEMON RICE PUDDING
Boil a half pint of rice in a quart of milk till very soft. Add to it while hot the yolks of three eggs, three large tablespoonfuls of sugar, the grated rind of two lemons, and a little salt. If too thick, add a little cold milk. It should be a little thicker than a boiled custard. Turn it into a pudding-dish. Beat the whites of the eggs very stiff with eight tablespoonfuls of sugar and the juice of the two lemons, and brown the top delicately in the oven. Set on ice and eat very cold....
28 minute read
BERMUDA PUDDING
BERMUDA PUDDING
Weigh two eggs, and allow the same weight in sugar and flour, and the weight of one egg in butter. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs beaten to a froth, and lastly the flour, in which half a teaspoonful of Royal Baking Powder has been mixed. Stir till perfectly smooth; then add a heaping tablespoonful of orange marmalade; pour into a buttered mold; cover with buttered paper, and steam gently for an hour and a half. Serve with wine sauce....
24 minute read
RICE AND ORANGE-MARMALADE PUDDING
RICE AND ORANGE-MARMALADE PUDDING
Simmer a quarter of a pint of rice in a quart of milk till it is very soft and thick. Add a teaspoonful of salt, four tablespoonfuls of sugar, a little cream, and let all cool together a few minutes. Pour into a pudding-dish and bake till set. Spread over the pudding a thick layer of orange marmalade, and over that a meringue, and return to the oven till the top is lightly browned. Serve it cold....
22 minute read
PRUNE JELLY, WITH ALMONDS
PRUNE JELLY, WITH ALMONDS
One pound of prunes. One half box of Coxe’s gelatine. Soak the prunes over night, and stew till tender in the water in which they have soaked. Remove the stones, and sweeten to taste. Dissolve the gelatine in a little hot water, and add to the prunes while hot. Lastly, add the juice of a lemon and two tablespoonfuls of blanched almonds. Pour the jelly into molds and set it on the ice to harden. Eat with cream....
23 minute read
CLARIFIED APPLES
CLARIFIED APPLES
Melt two cupfuls of crushed sugar over the fire, adding a little water to keep it from burning, and dropping in a few bits of lemon-peel. Pare eight large greening apples, and slice them very thin. Have a saucepan full of boiling water ready, and into this put the apples and let them cook till they are parboiled, but not soft enough to break. Skim them out, and drop them into the boiling syrup, shaking them continually over a slow fire till they are done. If properly prepared the slices will be
27 minute read
LEMON ICE
LEMON ICE
One quart of milk. One tumblerful of sugar. Mix the two, and half freeze in an ice cream freezer. Then add the juice and pulp of four large lemons; stir thoroughly, and freeze firm. This is the simplest and cheapest of frozen preparations, and for use in the country, where materials are hard to come by, it is invaluable....
17 minute read
APPLE SAUCE
APPLE SAUCE
Pare, core, and quarter enough Baldwin or greening apples to fill a small stoneware jar. Add three quarters of a pint of sugar and a quarter of a pint of water; cover tightly. Set this in the oven of the range as soon as the last meal of the day—dinner or supper, as it may be—is served, and let it remain till breakfast next morning. The long, slow cooking gives the apples a deep red color and a flavor quite different from other preparations....
24 minute read
CRANBERRY JELLY
CRANBERRY JELLY
Stew four quarts of cranberries in a porcelain kettle with water enough to float them, till they are thoroughly soft and broken. Rub them through a coarse sieve. Allow to each pint of the marmalade-like mixture resulting a pound of sugar. Put the fruit on the fire till it boils hard. Stir in the sugar, and as soon as it jellies, which will be in a few minutes, remove from the fire and pour into glasses. The advantage of this preparation of cranberries is that it keeps perfectly for six weeks or
29 minute read
HARTFORD ELECTION CAKE
HARTFORD ELECTION CAKE
At noon, or early in the afternoon, begin making this cake. Cream the butter and sugar, add a quart of lukewarm milk, half of the flour, and either a half pint of brewer’s yeast or a cake and a half of compressed yeast. Beat the mixture well, cover the pan with a thick towel, and set it in a warm place to rise. At night, when it is very light, add the flour, spices, and eggs. Set the pan in a moderately warm place for a second rising. Early next morning add the fruit, the wine, the grated peel o
49 minute read
INSTANTANEOUS FROSTING
INSTANTANEOUS FROSTING
To the white of an unbeaten egg add a cupful and a quarter of pulverized sugar, and stir until smooth. Add three drops of rose-water, ten of vanilla, and the juice of half a lemon. It will at once become very white, and will harden in five or six minutes....
16 minute read
DISTINCTIVELY SOUTHERN DISHES
DISTINCTIVELY SOUTHERN DISHES
The dishes in which the South excel, and which may be called distinctive to that section, are those made of cornmeal, of gumbo or okra, and those seasoned with sassafras powder or twigs. The Cornmeal. The cornmeal used in the South is white and coarse-grained (it is called there water-ground), and gives quite a different result from that which is finer in grain and yellow in color, which is usually sold at the North. The Hoe. The hoe used for baking corn-cakes is an article made for the purpose,
4 minute read
Part II VERY INEXPENSIVE DISHES
Part II VERY INEXPENSIVE DISHES
Cost of living. The following receipts are furnished by a lady who for many years solved the problem of providing nourishment for a family of three persons upon a very small income. The average expenditure each day for three meals did not exceed twenty cents per capita , or four dollars and twenty cents a week for the family; and great care was taken to secure for this sum the greatest possible amount of nourishment. In families where meat is not considered a daily necessity, this price might be
11 minute read
PART III MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS
PART III MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS
The subject of bacteria in foods has of late become a matter of careful scientific study, and the fact has been established that milk is one of the most subtle of disease-carriers. Hence every careful mother, before giving it to her children, subjects it to the sterilizing process, which is simply raising it to the degree of heat which destroys the germs. It is found, however, that this does not kill the spores or seeds of the bacilli, and so the operation is but a partially successful expedient
6 minute read
BOILED EGGS
BOILED EGGS
Soft-boiled eggs should have the albumen creamy, not hard. To obtain this, slow heat is required. Hence receipt No. 1 is recommended. No. 2 gives a soft egg, but the time is difficult to determine exactly. No. 3 gives satisfactory results. To have eggs hard boil them for twenty-five minutes. The yolks will then be dry and mealy. When done, place them in cold water for fifteen minutes. Then roll them lightly on the table to crush the shells, which can then be peeled off easily, leaving the surfac
30 minute read
No. 1
No. 1
Place the eggs in warm water to heat the shells so they will not crack when put into boiling water. Let the water in the saucepan boil violently; put in the eggs carefully, and when the water again bubbles, remove it from the fire; cover and let the eggs remain in it for five minutes....
15 minute read
POACHED EGGS, No. 1
POACHED EGGS, No. 1
The white of a poached egg should be a white, translucent, jelly-like mass. To obtain this result, which makes it an easily digested food, it must cook very slowly, the water never reaching the boiling-point. Place in a shallow pan as many muffin-rings as you have eggs to poach. Turn in enough boiling water to just cover the rings; add a little salt. When the water boils, draw the pan to the side of the range, and break an egg into each ring. It should take at least ten to fifteen minutes to coo
50 minute read
FRENCH POACHED EGGS, No. 2
FRENCH POACHED EGGS, No. 2
These eggs, when properly cooked, are in the shape of balls, and are used for fancy egg-dishes. Have in a deep saucepan a generous amount of water; add a little salt and vinegar; the salt to raise the heat of the water, the vinegar to harden the white of the egg. When the water is violently boiling, crack the shell of the egg, and holding it close to the water, drop the contents quickly on the point of greatest ebullition. The egg should drop all at once, not drain into the water. The mass will
42 minute read
POACHED EGG, No. 3
POACHED EGG, No. 3
Add a dash of salt to the white of an egg and whip it to a froth. Place this in a deep saucer or cup, and place in the cen ter the whole unbroken yolk. Set the dish in a pan of boiling water; cover and let cook for two minutes. This is a good way to serve an egg to an invalid....
23 minute read
SCRAMBLED EGGS
SCRAMBLED EGGS
Beat the eggs lightly with a fork, just enough to break them. To four eggs add two tablespoonfuls of milk, one half teaspoonful of salt, and a dash of pepper. Put into a very clean frying-pan one half tablespoonful of butter. When it begins to bubble, turn in the eggs, and stir them constantly over a slow fire until they begin to set; then remove them from the fire and continue to stir until they are of the right consistency. The heat of the pan will be sufficient to finish the cooking, and ther
1 minute read
PLAIN FRENCH OMELET
PLAIN FRENCH OMELET
An omelet is the most difficult to prepare of any egg dish. It requires some practice to give it the right shape (which is high in the center and pointed at the ends), to have it soft in side, to give it a smooth, slightly browned surface, a texture like scrambled eggs, and to have everything perfect. The first essential is to have a perfectly clean and smooth pan. It is difficult to make a smooth omelet in a pan used for other purposes; so it is well to have one kept for this use alone. The Fre
1 minute read
VARIATIONS OF THE OMELET
VARIATIONS OF THE OMELET
No. 1. Sprinkle a little parsley, chopped fine, over the top. No. 2. Turn tomato, Béchamel or mushroom sauce on the dish around the omelet; sprinkle the top with chopped mushrooms, if that sauce is used. Garnish with pointed croûtons. No. 3. Green omelet. Mix chopped parsley with the egg mixture before cooking the omelet, and do not brown the surface. No. 4. Aux Fines Herbes. Chop parsley, chives, chervil, and tarragon very fine. Mix them with the egg mixture before cooking. When the omelet is t
47 minute read
BEATEN OMELET
BEATEN OMELET
Beat very light the yolks and whites of three eggs separately. Season the yolks with salt and pepper and one tablespoonful of milk; then fold in lightly the whipped whites. Put a half teaspoonful of butter in a hot frying or omelet pan. Let it run over the bottom and sides of the pan, but do not let it brown. Turn in the egg mixture, spread it lightly and evenly over the pan, and let it cook until it forms a very light crust on the bottom; then place it in the oven about three minutes, or until
44 minute read
SHIRRED EGGS
SHIRRED EGGS
(SUR LE PLAT ... AU MIROIR ... COCOTTE.) For this dish (sur le plat) individual china dishes are generally used, although a dish holding several eggs will do. Butter the dishes; break into each one an egg; sprinkle a little salt on the whites, but not on the yolks. Place them on the shelf of the oven so the heat will be greatest on top; baste the yolks several times while baking with a little hot butter. This will give them a glaze. As soon as the glaze appears remove them from the oven, and if
1 minute read
MOLDED EGGS
MOLDED EGGS
(À LA POLIGNAC) Butter well some individual timbale molds; chop some parsley very fine, and powder the inside of the buttered molds with it. To do this, place a teaspoonful of the parsley in a buttered mold, cover it with the hand and shake it well; then invert the mold, and strike it on the table to free it of all that is loose. Break into each mold an egg, letting it go in slowly from the side so no air bubbles will be held, as they make holes and uneven surface in the cooked egg. Sprinkle the
52 minute read
MOLDED HAM AND EGGS
MOLDED HAM AND EGGS
Mince some boiled ham very fine. Moisten it with white sauce and raw egg, just enough to make a consistent paste. Line individual buttered timbale molds with a thin layer of the ham paste. Break an egg in the center of each one, and poach them in the oven eight to ten minutes, as directed for eggs à la Polignac. Place a little white or Béchamel sauce on the serving dish; turn the eggs onto it, and put a spoonful of sauce on the top of each one, letting it run over, and partly mask them, as the c
37 minute read
POACHED EGGS WITH ANCHOVY
POACHED EGGS WITH ANCHOVY
(AN ENTRÉE FOR LUNCHEON) Cut bread into circles and toast them; spread them lightly first with anchovy paste, then with a layer of ham or tongue chopped very fine, seasoned well, and a little moistened with stock or white sauce. Cover the top with whipped white of egg; place a raw yolk in the center of each one. Bake them in the oven for one minute, or just long enough to well heat the egg....
22 minute read
POACHED EGG WITH TOMATO
POACHED EGG WITH TOMATO
Cut bread into slices three quarters of an inch thick, then into circles. With a smaller cutter cut half way through the bread, and remove the center, leaving a form like a patty case. Fry them in hot fat to an amber color; fill the centers with well seasoned tomato purée, and place on the top of each one a French poached egg....
19 minute read
EGGS À LA VILLEROI
EGGS À LA VILLEROI
This dish is served as an entrée for luncheon, and is a particularly good as well as mysterious dish, for having a soft egg inside a croquette seems a difficult thing to get. Poach the eggs French style (page 263 ), using care to have them round and just firm enough to hold in shape. Lift them carefully on a strainer, and place them on the bottom of an inverted pan, leaving a space between them. When they are cold trim them, carefully removing any ragged ends of white, and wipe them dry. Make a
1 minute read
EGGS À LA BOURGUINONNE
EGGS À LA BOURGUINONNE
Poach eggs in the French style, letting them be as soft as possible. Butter a flat baking-dish; sprinkle it with bread crumbs and grated cheese. Place on them carefully the poached eggs. Cover them with Béchamel or Allemande sauce (see page 279 ), and sprinkle over the top grated Parmesan cheese. Place in a hot oven to melt the cheese, and lightly brown the top....
19 minute read
EGGS À L’AURORE
EGGS À L’AURORE
Take six hard-boiled eggs, and press the yolks through a colander. Cut the whites into half-inch dice, mix them with a well-reduced white or Béchamel sauce, and turn them into a flat baking-dish. Cover the top with the mashed yolks, dot it with small bits of butter, and place in a hot oven for a few minutes to heat, but not brown. This may be served in individual cups or shells if desired. Chopped mushrooms mixed with the sauce makes a good variation of the dish. Another way of serving it is to
53 minute read
GOLDEN CREAM TOAST
GOLDEN CREAM TOAST
Cut bread into even pieces; toast and butter the pieces, and moisten them with hot water. Boil six eggs hard. Separate the whites from the yolks; chop the whites, and press the yolks through a colander or sieve. Make a white sauce, using one tablespoonful each of butter and flour cooked together, and then add a cupful of cream or milk. When it is well thickened add the chopped whites, and season with pepper and salt. Spread this mixture on the slices of toast, and cover the top with the mashed y
30 minute read
CURRIED EGGS
CURRIED EGGS
Boil the eggs hard; remove the shells carefully as directed (page 262 ), and drop them in hot water to keep warm until ready to use. Mold some boiled rice into a form resembling a nest. Have the rice boiled so each grain is distinct (see page 222 ). Place it on the hot shelf to keep warm. Place a teaspoonful of chopped onion in a saucepan with a tablespoonful of butter, and cook until the onion is a light yellow, but not brown. Add an even tablespoonful of corn starch, mixed with a half tablespo
1 minute read
STUFFED EGGS No. 1
STUFFED EGGS No. 1
Cut hard-boiled eggs in two lengthwise. Take out carefully the yolks, mash them, and mix them with some chicken or other meat minced fine. Season the mixture with pepper and salt. Moisten it with a little of any kind of sauce or gravy, and add a little raw egg. Chopped truffles and mushrooms may be added to the stuffing if convenient. Fill the spaces in the whites of the eggs with the mixture; smooth it even with the top; rub a little raw white of egg over the pieces, and press two halves togeth
37 minute read
STUFFED EGGS No. 2
STUFFED EGGS No. 2
Cut hard-boiled eggs in halves. Take out the yolks, leaving two cup-shaped pieces. Mix the yolks with an equal quantity of softened bread; season with salt, pepper, and parsley. Add a little raw egg to bind the mixture, and fill the spaces from which the yolks were taken. Round it on top to give the appearance of a whole yolk. Cut a little slice off the bottom of the egg, so it will stand firm. Place them in the oven just long enough to heat, and serve standing, on a dish covered with white sauc
27 minute read
EGG CROQUETTES
EGG CROQUETTES
Cut some hard-boiled eggs into quarter-inch dice. Mix with them some chopped mushrooms. Stir them carefully into a well-reduced Béchamel or white sauce made as directed for croquettes (page 293 ). Turn the mixture onto a cold dish to cool and stiffen. Mold into croquettes, and fry in hot fat. See directions for croquettes (page 293 )....
17 minute read
OTHER WAYS OF SERVING HARD-BOILED EGGS
OTHER WAYS OF SERVING HARD-BOILED EGGS
(LUNCHEON DISHES) No. 1. Cut hard-boiled eggs in two lengthwise. Arrange them symmetrically on a flat dish, and pour over them a giblet sauce made of chicken or turkey gravy. No. 2. Cut hard-boiled eggs into quarters. Make a ring form of boiled rice; fill the center with the eggs; pour over them some Béchamel sauce. Sprinkle the whole with bread-crumbs and grated cheese. Moisten the top with melted butter, and place in the oven to brown. Serve on the dish in which they are browned....
25 minute read
TOMATOES STUFFED WITH EGGS
TOMATOES STUFFED WITH EGGS
Select round tomatoes of uniform size; remove the skins. Cut a slice off the tops, and take out the seeds and soft pulp. Drop into each one a raw egg, and replace the cover. Set the tomatoes into a buttered pan or into a baking-dish which can be sent to the table, and place in the oven for about ten minutes, or until the egg has set. Serve on the same dish and with a brown or a Béchamel sauce....
24 minute read
EGGS À LA REINE
EGGS À LA REINE
DOWN TOWN CLUB Make croustades, three inches in diameter and half an inch thick, from stale American bread. Dip them in good melted butter, put them on a pan in the oven until they are a nice light-brown color; then take out the center of each croustade and fill with foie gras. On the top of each put a poached egg; then pour over a cream sauce, sprinkle with truffles chopped fine, and serve immediately....
22 minute read
EGGS LIVINGSTON
EGGS LIVINGSTON
DOWN TOWN CLUB. (FOR SIX PERSONS) Take twelve raw eggs, half a pint of rich cream; beat well together, add salt and pepper. Put the mixture in a flat saucepan well buttered, and scramble; then add three quarters of a pint of well-cooked tomato meat and three truffles hashed (not too fine). Dress on toast covered with pâté de foie gras. Serve very hot....
18 minute read
SPANISH OMELET
SPANISH OMELET
Make a plain French omelet, using four eggs (see page 264 ). Just before it is done place in the center a veal kidney, which has been well soaked, then cut into half-inch dice and sautéd until tender in a tablespoonful of butter. Do not cook the kidney too long or it will toughen. Fold the omelet and turn it onto a dish. Pour around the omelet a tomato sauce (see page 285 ). Spread over the top of the omelet a sweet green pepper, which has been boiled until tender and then cut into narrow strips
4 minute read
GLAZE
GLAZE
Glaze is much used in high-class cooking. It gives to meats a smooth and polished surface. Cold meats to be garnished for suppers are much improved in appearance by being glazed. Glaze is also added to sauces to give them richness and flavor. To make glaze: Take good consommé of beef (or a white stock, when it is to be used for fowls or white meat), clear it, and reduce it to one quarter (or one quart of stock to one cupful). It will quickly boil down in an open saucepan and become like a thick
36 minute read
ROUX FOR SAUCES
ROUX FOR SAUCES
One tablespoonful of butter; one tablespoonful of flour. Roux is used for thickening, giving body to sauces, etc. It is made by cooking together an equal quantity of butter and flour for about five minutes, or until the flour has lost the raw taste. When the roux is cooked, draw the saucepan to a cooler part of the range, and add the liquor (stock or milk) slowly, in the proportion of one cupful of liquor to one tablespoonful each of butter and flour, and stir until smooth. If the roux is for wh
55 minute read
WHITE SAUCE
WHITE SAUCE
Put one tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan. When it bubbles add one tablespoonful of flour, and cook, stirring constantly, for five minutes, but do not let it color; draw it to a cooler part of the range and add very slowly, stirring all the time, one cupful of cold milk, and stir until perfectly smooth and a little thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Most of the white sauces are simple variations from this sauce. Water may be used instead of milk, and it is then called drawn-butter sauce
1 minute read
WHITE SAUCE FOR FISH
WHITE SAUCE FOR FISH
Make a white sauce, using with the milk two tablespoonfuls of the water in which the fish is boiled. Boil in the water with the fish five cloves, three bay-leaves, one onion, eight peppercorns, and two tablespoonfuls of salt. This will give flavor to the fish and to the sauce....
15 minute read
OYSTER SAUCE
OYSTER SAUCE
(BOILED FISH OR FOWLS) Scald the oysters in their own liquor until the edges curl. Make a white sauce using oyster-liquor instead of milk, or use half milk and half oyster-liquor. Add the oysters just before serving. One dozen oysters are enough for one pint of sauce....
13 minute read
VELOUTÉ AND ALLEMANDE SAUCES
VELOUTÉ AND ALLEMANDE SAUCES
(FISH AND VEGETABLES) Make a white sauce (page 277 ), using chicken or veal stock instead of milk. Allemande. Remove the Velouté from the fire; add two yolks beaten with one half cupful of cream or milk, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and a dash of nutmeg. Put on the fire a moment to thicken, but do not let it boil. Continue to stir for some moments after removing from the fire....
21 minute read
BÉCHAMEL SAUCE
BÉCHAMEL SAUCE
Make a white sauce, using for liquor one half each of rich white stock and milk, or use stock alone. A slice of onion, car rot and turnip should be fried in the butter before the flour is added. A richer Béchamel is made by adding a little cream and chopped mushrooms....
15 minute read
POULETTE SAUCE
POULETTE SAUCE
(FOR CHICKEN-BREASTS, SWEETBREADS, AND OTHER ENTRÉES) Take a pint of white sauce made with chicken or veal stock instead of milk. Beat four yolks with a cupful of cream. Remove the sauce from the fire, and add it slowly to the eggs and cream, stirring all the time. Put it again on the fire a moment to thicken; but do not let it boil, or it will curdle. Add one tablespoonful of butter slowly, a small piece at a time, the juice of half a lemon, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and a dash of nut
38 minute read
VILLEROI
VILLEROI
(TO USE FOR EGGS VILLEROI, AND FOR COATING COLD MEATS THAT ARE TO BE HEATED AGAIN) Put in a saucepan one tablespoonful of butter and a slice of onion; fry for a few moments, but not brown. Remove the onion, and add two tablespoonfuls of flour; cook but do not brown the flour. Dilute with two cupfuls of stock, and boil, stirring constantly until the sauce is very thick. Season with one half teaspoonful of salt, one quarter teaspoonful of pepper, a dash each of cayenne and nutmeg; remove from the
59 minute read
HOLLANDAISE
HOLLANDAISE
(BOILED FISH, ASPARAGUS, CAULIFLOWER) In a saucepan or bowl rub to a cream one half cupful of butter; add the yolks of four eggs, and beat well together; then the juice of half a lemon, one half teaspoonful of salt, and a dash of cayenne; then add slowly one cupful of hot water; mix well, and set it into a saucepan of hot water. Stir constantly until the sauce becomes like a thick cream. Do not let it boil. Remove from the fire, and continue to stir for a few minutes. It should be creamy and con
33 minute read
CHAUDFROID SAUCE
CHAUDFROID SAUCE
(FOR COVERING COLD CHICKEN OR MEATS WHICH ARE TO BE SERVED COLD) Put two tablespoonfuls of butter into a saucepan; when it bubbles add two tablespoonfuls of flour. Let it cook well, but not brown; stir all the time. Add two cupfuls of chicken or of veal stock, and stir until it is well thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Then add a half box, or one ounce, of gelatine which has soaked an hour in a half cupful of cold water. Stir until the gelatine has dissolved. Strain the sauce, and let it j
1 minute read
BROWN SAUCE
BROWN SAUCE
Put a tablespoonful of chopped onion and a tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan on the fire. Let them both become brown; then add a tablespoonful of flour, and brown that also. Stir all the time. Add a cupful of beef or brown stock, and cook until the sauce is a little thickened. Season with pepper and salt. Strain it to remove the onion. A sauce poivrade is made by adding to the brown sauce, at the same time that the stock is put in, a cupful of claret, two cloves, a bay-leaf, a little thyme a
34 minute read
ESPAGNOLE
ESPAGNOLE
(CHOPS, CUTLETS, CROQUETTES, AND SEASONING FOR OTHER SAUCES) Soak the gelatine in a half cupful of stock. Put the butter in a saucepan; when hot add the chopped vegetables and ham, and let them brown; then add the flour, and let that brown. Stir constantly so it will not burn. When well browned add slowly the stock, then the herbs, spices, salt, and pepper, and let cook for five minutes. Cover the saucepan. Set it into a larger one containing hot water. Draw it to the side of the range to simmer
47 minute read
CHAMPAGNE SAUCE (HAM)
CHAMPAGNE SAUCE (HAM)
Put in a saucepan one cupful of champagne, two cloves, six peppercorns, one bay-leaf, one teaspoonful of sugar. Let them infuse for five minutes over the fire; then add a cupful of Espagnole or of brown sauce, and a little mushroom liquor if convenient. Let it simmer for ten minutes and strain. Any white wine may be used instead of champagne....
18 minute read
PIQUANTE SAUCE
PIQUANTE SAUCE
(BAKED FISH, ROAST AND BROILED MEATS) Put the butter in a saucepan, and when it begins to brown add the flour, and stir until it is well browned, but do not let it burn. Draw to a cooler place on the range, and slowly add the stock, stirring constantly, add salt and cayenne, and let simmer for ten minutes. In another saucepan boil the vinegar, onion, and sugar rapidly for five minutes; then add it to the sauce, and at the same time add the capers, pickle and tarragon vinegar. Stir well, and let
36 minute read
HORSERADISH SAUCE
HORSERADISH SAUCE
(ROAST OR BOILED BEEF) Mix together two tablespoonfuls of soft white crumbs of bread and two tablespoonfuls of grated horseradish. Cover them with cream or milk, and let soak for two hours. Then rub them through a sieve, and add one quarter teaspoonful of salt, one quarter teaspoonful of sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of vinegar. Enough milk should be used to give it the consistency of cream. This sauce will keep in a cool place for several days....
22 minute read
CURRY SAUCE
CURRY SAUCE
(FOR EGGS, CHICKEN, ETC.) Put a tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan. When it bubbles add a teaspoonful of onion-juice, and a tablespoonful of curry powder mixed with two tablespoonfuls of flour. Let it cook a few minutes, and add slowly two cupfuls of milk. Stir constantly....
14 minute read
OLIVE SAUCE
OLIVE SAUCE
(DUCKS) Put the butter in a saucepan; when it bubbles add the chopped onion and carrot and let them brown; then the flour and let that brown. Then add slowly the stock; season with salt, pepper and one clove; let simmer for twenty minutes and strain. Stone the olives, leaving the meat in one piece; boil them in a little water for half an hour. Add the cooked olives to the strained sauce, and cook for five minutes; or, dilute a cupful of Espagnole sauce with a cupful of brown stock, and add the c
37 minute read
TOMATO SAUCE
TOMATO SAUCE
(MEATS, CROQUETTES AND ENTRÉES) Put one tablespoonful of butter in a saucepan; add the chopped onion and carrot, and let slightly brown; add the flour and cook five minutes, stirring constantly. Then add the tomatoes, cloves, bay-leaf, salt and pepper. Cook slowly for half an hour, or until the tomatoes are soft and reduced to right con sistency. Then add a tablespoonful of butter (a small piece at a time to prevent an oily line); strain; add more salt and pepper if necessary....
23 minute read
MUSHROOM SAUCE
MUSHROOM SAUCE
(USING CANNED MUSHROOMS) Make a brown roux, using one tablespoonful each of butter and of flour; add a cupful of stock and a half cupful of liquor from the can of mushrooms. Cook for five minutes, stirring all the time; then add one can of drained mushrooms, a teaspoonful of lemon-juice, a half teaspoonful of salt and a quarter teaspoonful of pepper. Let the mushrooms become well heated; then remove from the fire and stir in the yolk of one raw egg rubbed with a teaspoonful of butter. Stir the h
50 minute read
MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL SAUCE
MAÎTRE D’HÔTEL SAUCE
(BROILED FISH AND STEAKS) Rub the butter to a cream; add salt, pepper, and parsley chopped very fine; then the lemon-juice slowly. Spread it on broiled meat or fish; let the heat of the meat melt the butter. The dish must not be put in the oven after the sauce is spread, or the parsley will lose its freshness and color. This sauce, which greatly improves as well as garnishes broiled meat, can be mixed and kept for some time in a cool place. Soften a little before using so it will spread evenly,
29 minute read
MINT SAUCE
MINT SAUCE
(SPRING LAMB) 1 bunch of mint; 1 tablespoonful of sugar; ¾ cupful of vinegar. Rinse the mint in cold water; chop it very fine. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar; add the mint and let stand for an hour, to infuse before using. If the vinegar is too strong, dilute it with cold water. If the sauce is wanted hot, heat the vinegar and sugar, and stir in the chopped mint just before serving....
21 minute read
BREAD SAUCE
BREAD SAUCE
(PARTRIDGES, QUAIL, GROUSE) Sift two cupfuls of dry bread-crumbs. Put on the fire a pint of milk and a small onion sliced. When the milk is scalded remove the onion, and add enough of the fine crumbs to thicken it. Season with a tablespoonful of butter, a half teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper and of nutmeg. Put the coarse crumbs into a pan with a tablespoonful of butter and sauté them a light brown, stirring all the time; add a dash of paprica; serve the fried crumbs on the dish with the ga
29 minute read
CRANBERRY SAUCE
CRANBERRY SAUCE
(ROAST TURKEY, CHICKEN, MUTTON) Pick over the berries carefully and wash in cold water. Put them in a porcelain-lined or granite-ware saucepan, with enough water to cover them. Cook until tender; then add the sugar, and remove as soon as the sugar is dissolved. It may be served hot or cold. If thoroughly cooked the skins improve the sauce. If strained and put in a mold to cool, it becomes a jelly. If the berries are carefully selected, and boiled slowly without being stirred, they will retain th
27 minute read
APPLE SAUCE
APPLE SAUCE
(GOOSE AND PORK) Peel, quarter, and core six tart apples. Put them in a porcelain-lined or granite-ware saucepan, and cover with water. Boil until tender, then press them through a colander; add a teaspoonful of butter, a dash of nutmeg or cinnamon, and sweeten to taste. When used with meats apple sauce should be tart....
15 minute read
BÉARNAISE
BÉARNAISE
This is a very good sauce to use either hot or cold with meats and fish. It is very like Mayonnaise. Beat the yolks; add the oil and water; stand the bowl in boiling water and stir until the eggs thicken; remove and add salt, pepper, and vinegar. It should be creamy and of the consistency of Mayonnaise. A few chopped capers, olives, and gherkins make it a good Tartare sauce; and a little tomato purée will make it a red Mayonnaise to use with cold boiled fish....
24 minute read
MAYONNAISE
MAYONNAISE
Let the oil and egg be thoroughly chilled before beginning to make Mayonnaise. In summer it is well to stand the soup -plate in which the dressing is being mixed in a dish of cracked ice; stir constantly with a silver fork or a wooden spoon. Have the yolk entirely free from any white of the egg; add drop by drop the oil. The success depends on adding the oil slowly at first. It is well to spend half the time in incorporating the first two spoonfuls of oil; after that it can be added in larger qu
1 minute read
GREEN MAYONNAISE
GREEN MAYONNAISE
Take some green herbs, such as chervil, tarragon, chives, parsley, a leaf of spinach, lettuce or watercress, and pound them in a mortar with a little lemon-juice. Express the juice and add it to the Mayonnaise. It is then called Ravigote sauce. Mashed green peas may be used to give color and also more consistency to the sauce when it is to be used to cover cold fish. A little vegetable green coloring can be added if the color is not sufficiently deep, but a delicate color is preferable....
25 minute read
JELLY MAYONNAISE
JELLY MAYONNAISE
Instead of yolks of eggs, use aspic jelly as a medium to hold the oil; mix the sauce the same as the ordinary Mayonnaise. Or, to a cupful of aspic jelly (see page 321 ) or chicken aspic add a cupful of oil, one tablespoonful of vinegar (one half being tarragon if convenient), a few drops of lemon-juice, salt, pepper, and cayenne; stir together all at once, the jelly being warmed enough to be liquid. Place it on ice and stir until it begins to set; keep it in a cool place. This jelly softens easi
42 minute read
MAYONNAISE WITH ARROWROOT
MAYONNAISE WITH ARROWROOT
Smooth a tablespoonful of arrowroot in cold water; stir it over the fire until it becomes smooth, clear and firm like starch; when a little cooled, add salt, pepper, mustard, and two or three yolks, and beat until smooth; when cold add oil as in regular Mayonnaise. This mixture will not curdle....
15 minute read
TARTARE
TARTARE
(FISH AND COLD MEATS) To a cupful of Mayonnaise made with mustard, add one tablespoonful of capers, three olives, and two gherkins, all chopped very fine; also the juice expressed from some pounded green herbs, as in green Mayonnaise or Ravigote (see above ); or chop the herbs fine and mix them in the dressing. A good Tartare sauce can be made by using tarragon vinegar and a little onion-juice when mixing the Mayonnaise, and adding parsley and capers, both chopped very fine, just before serving
25 minute read
AGRA DOLCE
AGRA DOLCE
(SOUR SWEET) (AN ITALIAN SAUCE USED WITH VENISON, SWEETBREADS, CALF’S-HEAD, AND MUTTON) Mix together two heaping tablespoonfuls of brown sugar, one quarter bar of grated chocolate, one tablespoonful each of shredded candied orange and lemon-peel, ten blanched almonds shredded, one half cupful of currants, and one cupful of vinegar. Let them soak for two hours. Then pour it over the cooked meat, and simmer for ten minutes. This receipt was obtained in Florence, where it is a well-known and favori
23 minute read
BEURRE NOIR OR BROWN BUTTER SAUCE
BEURRE NOIR OR BROWN BUTTER SAUCE
(EGGS, CALF’S HEAD, CALF’S BRAINS, FISH) Put a quarter of a pound of butter in a saucepan and let it cook slowly until it has browned, then add three tablespoonfuls of hot vinegar, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and a dash of pepper and of salt. Entrées are the dishes served between any of the regular courses. Croquettes are simply minced meat mixed with a thick sauce, then rolled into shape and fried. Any kind of cooked meat, fish, shell-fish, hard-boiled eggs, and some kinds of vegetabl
56 minute read
CROQUETTES
CROQUETTES
This simple machine minces meat very fine, and is useful in making croquettes, forcemeat for stuffings, etc. Where meat having much fiber is put in the chopper, it soon becomes clogged. The end piece can then be taken off, and the fiber clinging to it, which stops the holes, be removed. In making timbales the meat put through the chopper in this way, and then pounded, will sometimes do without being passed through a sieve....
27 minute read
SAUCE FOR CROQUETTE MIXTURE
SAUCE FOR CROQUETTE MIXTURE
(To this amount of sauce add two cupfuls of meat.) Put the cream or milk in a double boiler and scald it. Rub the butter and flour together. Take this paste on a spoon and stir it in the scalding milk until it is dissolved from the spoon, and the sauce has become thickened and consistent. Add the seasoning; then remove from the fire and stir in a beaten egg (the egg may be omitted if desired). Place it again on the fire for a minute to cook the egg, but do not let it boil, and add two cupfuls of
50 minute read
TO MOLD CROQUETTES
TO MOLD CROQUETTES
Take a tablespoonful of the mixture (this will make a croquette of the right size; large ones are likely to crack open in frying); roll it lightly between the hands into a ball. Have a plentiful supply of bread-crumbs spread evenly on a board; roll the ball lightly on the crumbs into the shape of a cylinder, and flatten each end by dropping it lightly on the board; put it in the egg (to each egg add one tablespoonful of water, and beat together), and with a spoon moisten the croquette completely
1 minute read
TO FRY CROQUETTES
TO FRY CROQUETTES
Let the fat become smoking hot; then test it with a piece of bread. If the bread colors while you count forty (twenty seconds), it is right. It is well to put the frying-pot on the fire an hour before it is needed, so it will be hot, and ready to be raised quickly to the right degree. After dipping the frying-basket in the fat to grease it, lay in it four croquettes so that they do not touch one another, and immerse them in the fat. Cook only long enough to attain a delicate color. Let them drai
54 minute read
MATERIALS USED FOR CROQUETTES
MATERIALS USED FOR CROQUETTES
Chop the chicken very fine, using the white meat alone, or the dark meat alone, or both together. Season with salt, pepper, onion-juice, and lemon-juice. Chopped mushrooms, sweetbreads, calf’s brains, tongue, ham or truffles are used with chicken, and a combination of two or more of them much improves the quality of the croquettes. Veal is often mixed with chicken, or is used alone as a substitute for chicken. Season in same manner and make the same combinations. Cut the boiled sweetbreads into
1 minute read
TIMBALES
TIMBALES
General directions. Timbales are forms of pastry or of forcemeat filled with salpicon. They are made in individual, border, or cylinder molds. The receipts below give the rules for making the pastry, forcemeat, and salpicon, and the combinations. For forcemeat, the raw meat is used, and may be used alone or mixed with panada: in the latter case it is called Quenelle forcemeat. Cut the meat or fish in pieces (excepting chicken, which is scraped), and pound it in a mortar to separate the flesh fro
51 minute read
TRUFFLES
TRUFFLES
Truffles can be bought in tins, and as very little is used at a time they are not as expensive as at first appears. To preserve truffles left over in an opened can, drain them from the liquor and roll them in melted paraffine or in melted suet. With the air-tight covering which either of these things gives, the truffles can be kept in the refrigerator for an indefinite time....
20 minute read
CREAM CHICKEN FORCEMEAT
CREAM CHICKEN FORCEMEAT
Cut the breast from a chicken or turkey, also the white meat from the wings; remove the skin and fat, and with a knife scrape the meat so as to free it from the sinews. Place the scraped meat in a mortar and pound it to a paste; incorporate into it gradually, while pounding, the white of an egg; this will moisten it a little so it will pass more easily through the sieve. After it is thoroughly macerated, take a little at a time and with the pestle or spoon rub it through a sieve; it passes throu
1 minute read
CREAM FORCEMEAT, No. 2.
CREAM FORCEMEAT, No. 2.
To one half pound of meat pulp add five ounces of butter, one whole egg, and four yolks, or the whites alone of four eggs if used with white meat; beat very thoroughly together; pass again through the sieve; place on ice and beat in slowly one pint of whipped cream—three quarters of a cupful of cream will make about the right amount after being whipped....
19 minute read
FISH CREAM FORCEMEAT
FISH CREAM FORCEMEAT
Scrape, pound, and pass through a sieve one pound of firm white fish. Put the pulp in a bowl, season with salt, pepper and cayenne; whip into it the whites of two eggs, and add slowly, beating all the time, about one and a half cupfuls of cream. Poach a small piece to see if right: if too thick add more cream, if too thin add more white of egg. A pretty decoration for fish timbale, especially when made of salmon, is lobster coral, dried and pounded to powder, and sprinkled on the buttered mold.
36 minute read
QUENELLE FORCEMEAT
QUENELLE FORCEMEAT
To one cupful of meat-pulp, after it is rubbed through the sieve, add one half cupful of panada, one quarter cupful of butter, yolks of three eggs, salt, pepper, and dash of nutmeg. Stir well together and pass again through the sieve. Place on ice and add slowly one cupful of cream. Try by poaching a small piece to see if it is of the right consistency. A good white sauce or tomato purée may be substituted for the cream in some cases. This forcemeat is used the same as cream forcemeat....
26 minute read
TO MOLD AND COOK TIMBALES
TO MOLD AND COOK TIMBALES
Rub the mold well with butter; ornament it with truffle, tongue, ham, or hard-boiled egg. Cut the truffle, or other article used for the decoration, in very thin slices and stamp it into fancy shapes with a cutter, or cut it with a knife. Arrange the pieces in some design on the mold; they will stay in place if the mold is well buttered. Put in the forcemeat carefully with a knife, press it well against the sides to force out any air-bubbles, and have a care not to displace the decoration. If th
1 minute read
SALPICON
SALPICON
Cooked veal, chicken, game, sweetbreads, calf’s brains, livers, fish, oysters, lobster, mushrooms, truffles, tongue, etc., when cut into dice and mixed with a rich sauce is called salpicon. It is used for filling timbales, vol-au-vent, patties, croustades, etc. It may also be served in paper boxes, or shells, or fontage cups. It may be made of one kind of meat, but is usually a mixture of two or more, with mushrooms and truffles. The meats are cut into small dice and warmed with a sauce which go
39 minute read
FONTAGE CUPS
FONTAGE CUPS
(USED FOR OYSTER-CRABS, SALPICON, CREAMED SWEETBREADS, ETC.) Make a batter of one half cupful of flour, yolk of one egg, one quarter teaspoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of salad oil, and enough milk or water to make the batter thin. Let it stand for an hour or two. Beat it well together, and have the batter very smooth; strain it if there are any lumps. Have a pot of hot fat; place the fontage iron in the fat until it is thoroughly hot, then dip it in the batter, and hold it there a moment un
46 minute read
PAIN DE VOLAILLE
PAIN DE VOLAILLE
Make a chicken cream forcemeat (see page 297 ). Butter individual timbale molds, decorate them with truffles, fill with forcemeat, and poach ten to fifteen minutes in slow oven. Serve with an Allemande sauce. Or, line the molds with forcemeat; fill them with salpicon made of the dark meat of the chicken and mushrooms; mix with Espagnole or a good brown sauce; cover the top well with forcemeat, and poach as directed. Or, use a charlotte russe mold; line it a half inch thick with forcemeat, and us
37 minute read
QUENELLES
QUENELLES
These are quenelle forcemeat formed into small balls, the balls rolled in flour and poached, then used in salpicon; or, with two tablespoons, the forcemeat may be molded into egg-shaped pieces, poached in hot salted (not boiling) water, and ranged on a socle; or they may be placed on a dish in a circle. The two latter forms of quenelles are served with a sauce as an entrée. Fish quenelles with tomato sauce make a very good dish. Large quenelles for decorating dishes may be made by molding the fo
39 minute read
CELESTINES À LA MAINTENON
CELESTINES À LA MAINTENON
Take some quenelle forcemeat (see page 298 ). Add to it a little juice from a can of truffles, one truffle chopped fine, two tablespoonfuls of mushrooms chopped fine, and a few bits of ham, or tongue. Mix well together, and stir in enough cream to make it quite soft. Butter some cutlet molds, or some rings. Fill them with the mixture; smooth them with a knife, and place them on the bottom of a large saucepan. Pour enough boiling water to cover them carefully on the sides of the pan, so it will g
58 minute read
BOUDINS ROUENNAIS
BOUDINS ROUENNAIS
Line well-buttered individual molds with a cream forcemeat made of veal or chicken; fill the center with a forcemeat made of duck or any game. Cover the top with a white forcemeat, and smooth it off even with the mold. Poach them for ten minutes. Unmold, and let them cool; then cover with egg and fresh bread-crumbs, and fry in hot fat to an amber color. Serve with them an Espagnole or a brown sauce....
21 minute read
MACARONI TIMBALE
MACARONI TIMBALE
Cook until tender in salted water long pieces of spaghetti, or fine macaroni. Put it into the water slowly, and it can then be turned so it will not break. Lay the pieces straight on a napkin to cool. Butter well a dome-shaped mold. Wind the spaghetti around the mold, holding it in place, as you proceed, with a layer of forcemeat. Fill the center with boiled macaroni and cheese, mixed with a well-reduced Béchamel sauce; or fill the timbale with a salpicon of sweetbreads and mushrooms. Make the l
44 minute read
HONEYCOMB TIMBALE
HONEYCOMB TIMBALE
(A VERY SIMPLE LUNCHEON DISH) Boil in salted water large-sized macaroni. When cold cut it into pieces one quarter of an inch long, making rings. Butter a plain dome-shaped mold, and cover it with the rings. Fill the mold with minced uncooked chicken, turkey, or veal, mixed with cream sauce. Add three or four eggs to the creamed mince just before putting it into the mold. Unless the eggs are added, it will not have stiffness enough to hold in shape. Cover the mold with a greased paper. Place it i
1 minute read
A SIMPLE TIMBALE OF HALIBUT
A SIMPLE TIMBALE OF HALIBUT
Take a half pound of uncooked halibut. Cut it into fine pieces, pound it in a mortar, and pass it through a sieve. Mix a cupful of white bread-crumbs with a half cupful of milk, and stir until it makes a smooth paste; remove it from the fire, add the fish pulp, a half teaspoonful of salt, and a dash of paprica. Then beat in lightly, a little at a time, the whipped whites of five eggs. Fill buttered timbale molds with the mixture, and place them in a pan of hot water in a moderate oven for twenty
38 minute read
PASTRY TIMBALE
PASTRY TIMBALE
Make a paste, using to one pound of flour three quarters of a pound of butter, four yolks, one half teaspoonful of salt, and one and a half cups of water. Work it well, roll it one quarter of an inch thick, cover, and set it aside for one hour. Butter a timbale-mold, and line it with the paste. If ornamentation is wanted, cut some noodle paste into fancy forms. Arrange the pieces in some design on the bottom and sides of the mold, and brush them with a little water before putting in the paste. W
1 minute read
POTATO AND FISH TIMBALE
POTATO AND FISH TIMBALE
(FOR LUNCHEON OR BREAKFAST) Butter a plain mold. Sprinkle it with white bread-crumbs. Fill it with mashed potato which has been seasoned and mixed with two or more egg yolks and some grated cheese. Bake it for forty minutes in a moderate oven. With a pointed knife cut around the top one and a half inches from the edges; lift off the piece, and with a spoon scoop out the potato, leaving a lining one and a half inches thick. Brush the inside with egg, and place it again in the oven to dry and brow
42 minute read
VOL AU VENT
VOL AU VENT
Prepare a puff paste (see page 458 ). Roll it one and a half inches thick. Cut a circle six to six and a half inches in diameter, using as guide a pie-tin or cardboard, if a regular cutter is not at hand. Place it with care on a baking-tin, and cut a smaller circle around the top, one and a half inches from the edge, and two thirds through the paste. Paint over the top with yolk of egg, and bake it in a hot oven for thirty minutes. Do not open the oven door for the first fifteen minutes. When ba
43 minute read
RISSOLES
RISSOLES
Roll puff paste one eighth of an inch thick. Place on it at intervals of three inches from the edge and five inches apart, a teaspoonful of salpicon, or of creamed minced meat. Moisten with a wet brush the paste, and fold it over the balls of meat. With the finger press the paste together lightly around the meat, inclosing it like a small pie. Then with a patty or biscuit-cutter stamp out the rissoles in shape of half-circles, the ball of meat being on the straight side, and a border of paste an
33 minute read
TO PREPARE SWEETBREADS
TO PREPARE SWEETBREADS
Soak the sweetbreads in cold water for an hour or more. Change the water several times, so that all the blood will be extracted, and leave the sweetbreads very white. Put them on the fire in cold water, and simmer (not boil) for twenty minutes. Then immerse them again in cold water. This is to parboil and blanch them. Remove all the pipes, strings, and fibers it is possible to do without breaking the sweetbreads to pieces. When half cold tie each one in a piece of cheese-cloth, drawing it tightl
36 minute read
BRAISED SWEETBREADS
BRAISED SWEETBREADS
Place in a baking-pan a bed of vegetables cut in small dice, and a few pieces of salt pork. Lay parboiled sweetbreads on it. Add enough water or stock to cover the vegetables. Close the pan tight, and cook for forty to forty-five minutes. Uncover the pan the last fifteen minutes to let the sweetbreads brown. Paint them with glaze. Strain the liquor from the pan; thicken it with a brown roux, and serve it on the dish under the sweetbreads....
23 minute read
CHAUDFROID OF SWEETBREADS
CHAUDFROID OF SWEETBREADS
Simmer the sweetbreads until cooked; blanch and tie them in cloth as directed above, or place them in muffin-rings under pressure until cold; cover them with a Chaudfroid sauce (see page 281 ). Place fancy bits of truffle on the top lightly, and when the sauce has set, paint it over with liquid aspic. Arrange them on a socle or on a mound of salad, and serve with them a Mayonnaise sauce and lettuce....
22 minute read
CALF’S BRAINS
CALF’S BRAINS
Soak the brains for an hour in cold water; then simmer in water containing a tablespoonful of vinegar for twenty minutes; an onion, thyme, bay-leaf, salt and peppercorns in the water also will improve the flavor of the brains; place again in cold water to blanch; remove the skin and fibres, and cook by any of the receipts given for sweetbreads. The boiled brains may also be served with any of the following sauces poured over them: a plain white sauce; a white sauce with chopped mushrooms; a whit
38 minute read
MARINADE OF BRAINS
MARINADE OF BRAINS
Boil the brains; remove the skin and veins; cut them into pieces the size of half an egg; let them stand an hour in a marinade of oil, vinegar, onion, pepper and salt; then wipe and dip them into fritter batter and fry in hot fat. Arrange them on a napkin and serve with tomato sauce....
16 minute read
CALF’S HEAD À LA VINAIGRETTE
CALF’S HEAD À LA VINAIGRETTE
Place pieces of hot boiled calf’s head in the center of a dish; split the tongue in two and lay it across two sides of the dish, and the brains on the opposite sides; garnish with parsley and serve with a Vinaigrette sauce, or with a Piquante sauce. Vinaigrette Sauce ( Cold ): Three tablespoonfuls of oil, one tablespoonful of vinegar, one teaspoonful each of grated onion, chopped parsley, and capers, one saltspoonful each of salt and pepper....
23 minute read
FALSE TERRAPIN
FALSE TERRAPIN
Cut boiled calf’s head (see page 175 ) into pieces one inch square; break into pieces the boiled brains. Make a brown roux; add to it water in which the calf’s head was boiled, in the same proportion as for white sauce; season with salt, pepper, and cayenne, and add a cupful of cream; then put in the pieces of meat, three or four chopped hard-boiled eggs, a few small egg balls, and a glass of sherry; serve very hot; there should be a half more sauce than meat....
25 minute read
CALF’S HEAD À LA POULETTE
CALF’S HEAD À LA POULETTE
Cut boiled calf’s head into pieces one inch square; heat them in hot water; drain and pile them in the center of a hot dish; sprinkle over them a few small egg balls, and pour over the whole a Poulette sauce, using for the sauce water in which the calf’s head was boiled in the place of chicken stock....
18 minute read
OYSTER CASES
OYSTER CASES
Line buttered paper cases, or china individual cups, with a layer of fish quenelle forcemeat (page 298 ), or with the fish preparation given in receipt for fish pudding (page 123 ); scald some oysters in their own liquor until the gills curl; cut each oyster into four pieces and fill the center of the cup with them; pour over them a tablespoonful of Béchamel sauce, made with oyster-liquor in place of stock; cover the top with forcemeat, brush it over with butter and bake in a moderate oven for f
35 minute read
LIVER LOAF, OR FALSE PÂTÉ DE FOIE GRAS
LIVER LOAF, OR FALSE PÂTÉ DE FOIE GRAS
Cut a calf’s liver in pieces; pound it in a mortar and press it through a sieve; add to one cupful of liver pulp one quarter cupful of flour panada, one teaspoonful each of butter and salt; one half teaspoonful of pepper; dash each of cayenne and of nutmeg and allspice, and two eggs. Mix well together and pass it again through the sieve. Put the mixture into a well-buttered pint mold; place it in a pan of hot water in the oven for forty-five minutes or more. An ice-cream brick-mold makes a loaf
1 minute read
CHICKEN LIVERS
CHICKEN LIVERS
Cut the gall carefully off the livers; dry them with a cloth and cut them in two or more pieces. Place them in a frying-pan with a tablespoonful of butter, and sauté until cooked, or about five minutes. Turn them often, so they will not burn, and dredge them with a little flour; add one cupful of Espagnole, or of brown sauce, and one half cupful of Madeira; season with salt and pepper and let simmer slowly for ten minutes. If the color is not dark enough, add a few drops of caramel or of kitchen
31 minute read
STUFFED MUSHROOMS
STUFFED MUSHROOMS
Take off the stalks from one pound of fresh mushrooms, peel the cups, using a silver knife, and drop them into cold water to keep them white (if exposed to the air they discolor). If they have to stand for some time put a little lemon-juice in the water; scrape the stalks, chop them and put them into a saucepan with one tablespoonful of butter and one half onion sliced; cook slowly for ten minutes, then add one tablespoonful of flour and cook that five minutes; add one cupful of stock and one ha
41 minute read
CHICKEN PURÉE
CHICKEN PURÉE
Chop cooked chicken very fine; pound it to as much of a paste as possible; season with salt and pepper; mix it with half its quantity of Chaudfroid sauce (see page 281 ). Coat a mold with jelly (see page 323 ), and fill it with the mixture, which must be cold and beginning to set; when it has hardened, turn it onto a dish; garnish with lettuce and serve with it a Mayonnaise or a Béarnaise sauce. Game may be used in the same way. Ornamented individual timbale cups may also be used for molding the
28 minute read
OYSTER-CRABS
OYSTER-CRABS
Put into a saucepan two tablespoonfuls of butter and a gill of water, one teaspoonful of lemon-juice, a little salt and white pepper. When the liquid is warm, put a few of the crabs in at a time and cook until they begin to whiten, then skim them out and keep them in a warm place until all are cooked. The liquid must only simmer; if it is too hot the crabs will break open. The crabs should be just moistened with the sauce in which they are cooked. Serve in croustades, or in fontage cups (see pag
28 minute read
ENTRÉE OF OYSTER-CRABS
ENTRÉE OF OYSTER-CRABS
Use for this entrée individual shirred-egg dishes. Cut slices of bread one inch thick; with a biscuit-cutter stamp it into circles one inch smaller than the egg dish, and with a smaller cutter stamp out the center, making rings of the bread one inch thick, one inch wide, and one inch smaller than the egg dishes. Place the bread rings in the dishes and moisten them with cream; fill the space outside the rings with oyster-crabs cooked as directed above; spread one layer of crabs in the center of e
35 minute read
TERRAPIN, FROGS’ LEGS
TERRAPIN, FROGS’ LEGS
Counts. Terrapin measuring six inches or more across the bottom shell are called “counts.” The largest do not exceed ten inches; the average size is seven inches, and weight three to five pounds. The counts vary in price from seventeen to eighty dollars a dozen, according to size and weight. Diamond backs. The terrapin which are most esteemed, and which command the highest price, are the “Diamond Back,” from the Chesapeake Bay. Probably it is the wild celery of this region which gives the especi
4 minute read
MUSHROOMS
MUSHROOMS
(SEE ALSO PAGE 45 ) When one has learned to distinguish a few varieties of the edible fungi, a delicious acquisition to the menu will be enjoyed. The author will not assume the responsibility of instructing how to distinguish the esculent mushrooms. There are books and colored charts which give explicit and reliable descriptions, and with these one can easily learn to know a few of them. Accidents are usually the result of carelessness or recklessness, many of the poisonous mushrooms being so at
10 minute read
ASPIC
ASPIC
Put the chicken, beef, and veal in a pot. Cover them well with cold water, and let simmer for five or six hours, with the pot covered closely. An hour before removing from the fire, add the carrot cut into dice, the cloves, and bay-leaf. Fry in butter the onions and celery (cut into pieces) to a dark brown, and add them to the stock at the same time. Remove from the fire, strain, and add one half package of gelatine (which has been soaked for an hour in one cupful of water) and one cupful of she
41 minute read
TO CLEAR ASPIC
TO CLEAR ASPIC
Remove all the grease from the top of the jelly, and wipe it off with a cloth wet in hot water, so every particle of grease will be removed. Stir into the cold jelly the beaten whites and the shells of three eggs (do not froth the egg). Put it on the fire, and continue to stir until it boils. Let it boil for five minutes; then strain it through a double cloth. If not perfectly clear, strain it a second time. Let the jelly drain through the cloth without pressure....
26 minute read
QUICK ASPIC
QUICK ASPIC
Put into a saucepan one and a half cupfuls of cold water, a tablespoonful each of chopped carrot and celery, a slice of onion, sprig of parsley, one bay-leaf, and three cloves; add also one teaspoonful of beef extract (obtained in jars) dissolved in one cupful of hot water. Cover, and let simmer for half an hour; then add one half box of Cox’s gelatine, which has been soaked in one half cupful of cold water for one hour. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved. Season with salt and pepper. A tables
1 minute read
CHICKEN ASPIC OR JELLY
CHICKEN ASPIC OR JELLY
Boil a fowl as directed for chicken stock (page 100 ), or boil a chicken or knuckle of veal, as directed for white stock (page 99 ). Let the stock cool, take off the grease, then clarify the stock. If veal has been used, no gelatine will be needed. If chicken only has been used in making the stock, add to each quart of hot clarified stock three quarters of a box of Cox’s gelatine which has been soaked one hour in a half cupful of cold water. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved. This will make a
31 minute read
ASPIC CROÛTONS
ASPIC CROÛTONS
When jelly is to be used for garnishing, pour it into a square shallow pan one and a half inches deep. When it has thoroughly set, turn it onto a slightly dampened napkin spread on a board in a cool place. Dip a knife into hot water. Wipe it dry, and cut the jelly in strips the same width as the thickness of the jelly, then cut it straight across, making squares, or diagonally across, making diamonds, or into triangles. These croûtons will stand upright, and can be used for borders. If it is to
43 minute read
TO CHOP JELLY
TO CHOP JELLY
Place the jelly on a cold plate, and with a knife cut it very slowly until it is of the right size. The chopped jelly is used to cover the top of meats, or to place like a wreath around it on the dish. It may be either fine or coarse, but each piece should be separate and distinct, and can be kept so if cut slowly in a cool place, and not allowed to become warm....
22 minute read
TO MOLD JELLY
TO MOLD JELLY
(SEE ILLUSTRATIONS ) Where the mold is to be only coated with jelly, first paste a piece of paper over the top of the mold; when it is firm, cut an opening in the paper, and pour in some cold, but liquid, jelly; and turn the mold on ice slowly, so that every part may be coated. Pour off any of the jelly that has not adhered to the sides; remove the paper, and lay in the material which is to fill the center of the mold. This method is employed where only a thin coating of jelly is required. Where
1 minute read
TO UNMOLD JELLY
TO UNMOLD JELLY
Dip the mold quickly into warm (not hot) water; wipe it dry, place the dish over the top of the mold, and turn them over together. If the jelly fails to slip out, rub the mold with a cloth wrung out of hot water. It takes only a low degree of heat to melt jelly, and if too much is used the fine points and edges will be destroyed. Do not unmold jelly until it is time to serve it. Do not shake the mold in trying to get it free, or the jelly is liable to break....
28 minute read
TO ORNAMENT MOLDS
TO ORNAMENT MOLDS
Lay whatever fancy pieces are used for the decoration carefully in place on the bottom of the mold. With a spoon add only enough jelly to moisten them; if too much is used, the pieces will float out of place. Let the jelly harden and fix the decoration; then add as much as will make a layer one half inch thick; let that set; then place the material which is to fill the center. If it is a bird, or anything in one piece, add a little jelly to fix it in place; then fill up the mold. If the material
1 minute read
DOUBLE MOLDS
DOUBLE MOLDS
For salads, and also in many cases for sweet jellies, it is easier to use a double mold. If one is not at hand two Charlotte Russe molds may be substituted, or any two molds or tins of the same shape, one of which is an inch smaller than the other. Place the larger one on ice, and pour into it enough jelly to make a layer on the bottom the same thickness as the width of space between the two molds. When it is set, place the smaller mold, filled with ice, on it; and fill the space between the two
1 minute read
DECORATIONS FOR MEAT JELLY
DECORATIONS FOR MEAT JELLY
Cut a hard-boiled egg into slices one eighth of an inch thick. With a pastry-bag tube or a small round vegetable-cutter stamp circles from the yolk. Cut the white strips diagonally, so they form diamond-shaped pieces. Lay a round piece of yolk in the mold, and the white pieces around it to simulate a daisy; place small pieces of parsley beside it, and use the stem of parsley for the stem of the daisy. This decoration fits very well in a Charlotte Russe mold, or in individual molds. Make two or t
1 minute read
SOCLES
SOCLES
Socles are stands on which to raise birds, chops, or other articles above the dish to give them a better appearance, and allow more garnishing. They are also used as supports against which to rest larger pieces of meat, fish, tongue, etc., to keep them in place. Elaborate socles of various shapes are made of tallow by caterers, but these are not practicable for ordinary cooks to undertake, and they are also in questionable taste. The simple supports given below are easily made, and well repay th
1 minute read
RICE SOCLE OR CASSEROLE
RICE SOCLE OR CASSEROLE
Boil rice with three times its quantity of water, and a little butter, until it is very soft; then mash or pound it in a mortar until it becomes a smooth, elastic paste. Press the paste into a plain buttered mold or pan of the size desired for the socle, and place a weight on it so it will be compact and firm when cold. Unmold, and with a pointed knife, a turnip cut wedge-shape, and a butter-stamp, mold the sides to fancy form. Brush it over with yolk of egg, and place a moment in the oven to br
41 minute read
POTATO CASSEROLE
POTATO CASSEROLE
To a quart of seasoned mashed potato add four or six egg yolks. Stir it over the fire to dry it well; then with the hands or a knife mold it into a hollow cylinder or into a cup-shaped form; brush it over with yolk of egg, and place it a moment in the oven to brown. Fill the center just before serving with any minced meat, or with birds, chops, sweetbreads, or any creamed dish. The casserole may also be formed by pressing the potato into a mold which opens (see illustration ), or any mold with f
33 minute read
A POTATO SUPPORT FOR HOT MEATS
A POTATO SUPPORT FOR HOT MEATS
Add slowly to two cupfuls of well-mashed sweet or white potato, beating all the time over the fire, one cupful of hot milk, a tablespoonful of butter, one quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper, a teaspoonful of salt, and lastly, three beaten eggs. Butter well a plain mold of the shape desired; sprinkle over it as many bread-crumbs as will stick to the butter; turn in the purée of potatoes, place the mold in a pan of water, and bake for thirty minutes. Turn the molded potato in the centre of a dish,
30 minute read
CROUSTADES OF BREAD
CROUSTADES OF BREAD
Take a loaf of bread two days old, which was baked in a round or a square tin; pare off the crust, and carve it with a sharp-pointed knife into vase or cup-shape. Fry it in hot fat to gold color. Paint the inside with white of egg to prevent its soaking up the sauce of the filling. Fill with mushrooms, chicken livers, creamed chicken or any salpicon. Do not put the filling in until ready to serve, and heat the croustade before adding it....
24 minute read
CHAFING-DISH COOKING
CHAFING-DISH COOKING
The chafing-dish, although a time-honored utensil, has recently had a renaissance. To-day it is not more valued for the convenience than for the fun of it. Amateurs and epicures alike find pleasure in brewing and stewing over the alcohol lamp; in preparing a luncheon dish, or a novelty for “tea;” but, best of all, at the midnight hour the chafing-dish does its best though most disastrous service, for matutinal headaches have been called the desserts, and just deserts of late suppers. Kind of cha
3 minute read
PANNED OYSTERS
PANNED OYSTERS
For twenty-five oysters, put in a chafing-dish one tablespoonful of butter. When it is melted, add the juice of half a lemon and one teaspoonful of chopped parsley. Then add the oysters, which should be well drained. Cook, stirring carefully, until they are plump and the gills a little frilled—no longer. Season with salt and pepper, and serve at once on toast. The oysters exude enough juice to soften the toast. Or let the butter brown in the chafing-dish, then add the oysters and cook until plum
45 minute read
OYSTER STEW
OYSTER STEW
Put a tablespoonful of butter in the chafing-dish; add a heaping tablespoonful of flour, and cook a few minutes, stirring all the time so it will not color. Add a cupful of milk slowly and stir until it begins to thicken; then add the oyster liquor (have the liquor strained so it will be free from pieces of shell), and lastly the oysters; season with salt and pepper and a little celery salt if liked. As soon as the edges of the oysters curl they are done, and the cooking must be arrested, or the
27 minute read
BARBECUE OF FISH
BARBECUE OF FISH
Marinate one pound of any cold boiled white fish in one tablespoonful of oil, one tablespoonful of vinegar, one slice of onion, pepper and salt. Leave the fish in as large pieces as possible. Put in a chafing-dish three tablespoonfuls of tomato catsup, three tablespoonfuls of sherry, three tablespoonfuls of butter. Put the butter in first, and when melted add the catsup and wine and then the fish. Baste the fish with the liquor until it is thoroughly heated, and it is then ready to serve. Thin s
29 minute read
EGGS WITH TOMATOES
EGGS WITH TOMATOES
Put into the chafing-dish a cupful of canned tomatoes, and cook until they begin to soften; then season with one tablespoonful of butter, salt and pepper to taste. Add two beaten eggs, and stir constantly until they begin to thicken. Then extinguish the flame, and the heat of the dish will be sufficient to complete the cooking. Stir constantly until they are of the consistency of scrambled eggs. Serve at once, or they will separate....
21 minute read
TOMATOES AND RICE
TOMATOES AND RICE
Put into a chafing-dish a half cupful of tomatoes; add a bay-leaf, a few drops of onion-juice, pepper and salt to taste. Let them cook until tender, then remove the bay-leaf and stir in as much boiled rice as can be well coated and moistened with the tomatoes. Serve with cracker biscuits....
15 minute read
CREAMED DISHES
CREAMED DISHES
(EGGS, CHICKEN, OR VEAL) Use the double pan with water. Make a white sauce by putting in the chafing-dish one tablespoonful of butter; let it bubble, then stir in one tablespoonful of flour; let it cook a few minutes, but not brown; then add a cupful of milk slowly, stirring all the time until it is a little thickened. Season with pepper and salt. Lay in carefully thick slices of hard-boiled egg. As soon as they are heated, place them on slices of toast softened with hot water, and pour the thic
1 minute read
DISHES À LA NEWBURG
DISHES À LA NEWBURG
These are favorite chafing-dish preparations, and may be made of lobster, crabs, shrimps, soft-shelled clams, chicken, or cold boiled halibut. Lobster: Take the meat of one boiled lobster, put it in a chafing-dish with a tablespoonful of butter, a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of cayenne or of paprica. Stir lightly with a fork for three minutes, or until the lobster is well heated; then add a wineglassful of sherry or of Madeira, cook for another three minutes, and then add the beaten yolks of thr
46 minute read
CHICKEN LIVERS WITH MADEIRA
CHICKEN LIVERS WITH MADEIRA
Put a tablespoonful of butter in the chafing-dish; add the livers cut into pieces; cook them directly over the flame, turn ing them constantly, and dredge them while cooking with a tablespoonful of flour. It will take about five minutes to cook them; add a cupful of stock, and a few drops of kitchen bouquet. Then place the pan in the double pan containing water already hot; add to the livers a half cupful of Madeira and a few stoned olives; season with salt, pepper, and paprica after the wine is
29 minute read
CRAB TOAST
CRAB TOAST
Put into the chafing-dish a tablespoonful of butter; when it is melted, add a tablespoonful of chopped celery, a teaspoonful of flour, a half cupful of cream or milk, and a canful of crab meat. Stir until the moisture is nearly evaporated; add a tablespoonful of sherry, salt and pepper, and paprica to taste; spread on toasted biscuits, or on thin slices of toast....
18 minute read
SMELTS À LA TOULOUSE
SMELTS À LA TOULOUSE
Cut down the back of the smelts, and remove the bone; close the fish, and lay them in the chafing-dish with the wine and mushroom liquor taken from the can. Cook until done, which will take five or six minutes. Remove and place the smelts on a hot dish. Mix with the liquor in which they were boiled one cupful of stock; rub together the butter and flour, and stir this in also, leaving it on the spoon until by stirring it is dissolved. (This method prevents its getting lumpy.) Then add the chopped
38 minute read
MEATS
MEATS
Put a tablespoonful of butter in a chafing-dish. When it is very hot, lay in a piece of venison steak; let it cook a minute on both sides. Use spoons for turning the meat, so as not to pierce it. When the surfaces are seared, add a glassful of currant jelly, and baste the venison constantly with the liquid jelly until cooked rare. Extinguish the flame, and cut and serve the meat from the chafing-dish. Lay a slice of mutton cut from the leg into a hot chafing-dish; turn it constantly, using two s
1 minute read
FONDUE
FONDUE
Savarin gives this receipt, which he says is taken from the papers of a Swiss bailiff. He says: “It is a dish of Swiss ori gin, is healthy, savory, appetizing, quickly made, and, moreover, is always ready to present to unexpected guests.” He relates an anecdote of the sixteenth century of a M. de Madot, newly appointed Bishop of Belley, who at a feast given in honor of his arrival, mistaking the fondue for cream, eat it with a spoon instead of a fork. This caused so much comment that the next da
1 minute read
PINEAPPLE CANAPÉS
PINEAPPLE CANAPÉS
Split in two some square sponge-cakes, which can be bought at the baker’s for two cents each. Put a little butter in the chafing-dish. When it is hot put in the slices of cake, and brown them a little on both sides. Lay the slices on a plate, and spread each one with a layer of canned chopped pineapple. Turn the juice from the can into the chafing-dish. Moisten a teaspoonful of arrowroot with cold water, stir it slowly into the hot juice, and continue to stir until it becomes thickened and clear
40 minute read
CHOCOLATE MADE WITH CONDENSED MILK
CHOCOLATE MADE WITH CONDENSED MILK
Fill the cups to be used about one third full of condensed milk; add a heaping teaspoonful of instantaneous chocolate, which is chocolate ground to a fine powder. Mix them well together; then fill the cup with boiling water, and stir until the chocolate and milk are dissolved. No sugar is needed, as the milk is sweetened to preserve it. The yeast plant. Yeast is a minute plant, and like other plants must have the right conditions of heat, moisture, and nourishment in order to live or to nourish.
1 minute read
DICK BENNET’S RECEIPT FOR YEAST
DICK BENNET’S RECEIPT FOR YEAST
Peel nine good-sized potatoes, and boil them with a large handful of loose hops tied in a thin muslin bag. Use enough water to cover them well. When the potatoes are tender strain off the water. Mash the potatoes, return them to the water in which they were boiled, and mix them well together. Add two tablespoonfuls of flour, one half cupful of granulated sugar, and one tablespoonful of salt. Cook it for a few minutes, adding sufficient flour to make a thin batter. Set it aside until lukewarm; th
40 minute read
YEAST RECEIPT No. 2
YEAST RECEIPT No. 2
Mix these together, and add enough water to make a batter as thick as that used for griddle cakes. Pour two quarts of boiling water on as many hops as one can hold in the hand. Let them boil for five minutes. Strain off the water, and while hot add it to the batter. When it is lukewarm add a cupful of yeast, or a yeast cake. Let it stand several hours in a warm place until it rises, or the top is covered with bubbles. Then place in glass preserve jars, and keep in a cool place. Use a granite-war
33 minute read
WHAT TO DO WHEN YEAST IS NOT OBTAINABLE TO START THE FERMENTATION IN MAKING YEAST
WHAT TO DO WHEN YEAST IS NOT OBTAINABLE TO START THE FERMENTATION IN MAKING YEAST
Mix a thin batter of flour and water, and let it stand in a warm place until it is full of bubbles. This ferment has only half the strength of yeast, so double the amount must be used....
15 minute read
PROPORTIONS OF RAISING MATERIALS TO USE, AND OTHER ITEMS
PROPORTIONS OF RAISING MATERIALS TO USE, AND OTHER ITEMS
One cake of compressed yeast is equal to one cupful of liquid yeast. Baking-powder is a mixture of soda, cream of tartar, and cornstarch, or rice flour. Use one level teaspoonful of baking-powder to each cupful of flour. Use one even teaspoonful of soda and two full teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar to a quart of flour. When sour milk is used, take one even teaspoonful of soda to a pint of milk, and omit the cream of tartar. When molasses is used, omit the cream of tartar, and use one teaspoonful
57 minute read
GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING BREAD
GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING BREAD
Time required for making bread. Bread is often mixed the night before it is to be baked, and left to rise from eight to ten hours; but the whole process of bread-making, from the mixing to the serving, can be done in two and a half hours if sufficient yeast is used. In hot weather it is desirable to complete the work in a short time, in order to prevent fermentation or souring, which occurs if left too long a time. Four hours and a half is ample time for the whole process, using the ordinary amo
12 minute read
RECEIPT FOR ONE LOAF OF BREAD OR ONE PAN OF BISCUITS TO BE MADE IN TWO HOURS
RECEIPT FOR ONE LOAF OF BREAD OR ONE PAN OF BISCUITS TO BE MADE IN TWO HOURS
Make a sponge; let it stand in a warm place in a pan of warm water until full of bubbles; then add the flour, knead it for twenty minutes, mold into loaf, and let it rise in the baking-pan until double in size, and bake....
17 minute read
BREAD MADE WITH BAKING-POWDER
BREAD MADE WITH BAKING-POWDER
Add to four quarts of flour a teaspoonful of salt and six teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Sift them three times so as to thoroughly mix them, and then add slowly a quart of cold water, or enough to make a dough of the right consistency. Mold it quickly into four loaves, and put at once into a moderate oven for one and a quarter hours....
19 minute read
BREAD MADE OF WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR
BREAD MADE OF WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR
Dissolve a yeast cake in two tablespoonfuls of tepid water. Put into a bowl a pint of milk; add to it a pint of boiling water, and let it stand until it is lukewarm; then add the dissolved yeast, a teaspoonful of salt, and enough whole wheat flour to make a thick batter. The batter should drop, but not run off the spoon. Beat this batter with a spoon for fifteen minutes. It becomes quite soft and liquid by beating. Add enough more flour to make a dough; turn it onto the board and knead it a few
38 minute read
GRAHAM BREAD
GRAHAM BREAD
Dissolve a half teaspoonful of soda in a cupful of lukewarm water. Put a tablespoonful of butter into a tablespoonful and a half of molasses, and let them warm until the butter is melted. Add to it the dissolved soda and water, and a half teaspoonful of salt. Stir this mixture into a cupful of light white bread sponge, and add enough Graham flour to make a stiff batter, or very thin dough. Turn into a greased pan. Let it rise until even with the top of the pan, and bake in a moderate oven an hou
38 minute read
GLUTEN BREAD
GLUTEN BREAD
Pour a pint of boiling water into a pint of milk; add a teaspoonful of butter and a teaspoonful of salt. Let it stand until it is lukewarm; then add a well-beaten egg, a quarter of a yeast-cake dissolved, and enough gluten to make a soft batter. Cover and stand in a warm place to rise; then add enough gluten to make a soft dough, and knead it well. Form it into four loaves, and let rise again. Bake for one hour. Gluten bread requires less yeast and less time to rise than ordinary bread....
27 minute read
BOSTON BROWN BREAD
BOSTON BROWN BREAD
Mix well the flour, meal, and salt; add to them the boiling water. Mix the sweet milk and molasses together, and add them to the scalded meal. Dissolve the soda in the sour milk, and add it last. Turn the mixture into a covered cylindrical mold or into a covered pail, and steam it for three hours; then uncover and bake in the oven for half an hour. Slices of this bread toasted, buttered, and covered with cream make a good breakfast or luncheon dish....
24 minute read
TOAST
TOAST
Cut the bread in even slices one quarter of an inch thick. Cut off the crust and trim the pieces into even and uniform shape. There is no waste in this, as the scraps of bread can be dried and crumbed. If the bread is fresh, let it dry a few minutes in the oven. Place it on a wire toaster, and turn often until well dried through; then hold it over the coals a minute to take an even golden color. Toast requires careful watching, or it will burn or be unevenly colored. Toast should not be served u
50 minute read
MILK TOAST
MILK TOAST
Make a dry toast; spread it with butter, and sprinkle it with salt. Place it in the dish in which it is to be served, and pour over it a little boiling water; cover it, and place in the oven a few minutes to steam and soak up the water. It should have enough water to entirely soften it, but not lose its shape. Put one teaspoonful of butter in a saucepan. When it bubbles, stir in a teaspoonful of flour, and let it cook a minute without coloring. Add slowly, stirring all the time, one cupful of mi
44 minute read
PANADA
PANADA
Split Bent’s water biscuits in two; sprinkle salt or sugar between them, and place together again; or, use two large soda biscuits, or pilot bread, or Passover bread. Place them in the dish in which they will be served; pour over enough boiling water to cover them. Cover the dish, and place it in the open oven, or on the hot shelf, until the biscuits have become soft like jelly; pour off any water that has not been absorbed, using care not to break the biscuits. Sprinkle again with salt or sugar
29 minute read
PULLED BREAD
PULLED BREAD
Break off irregular pieces of the crumb of fresh bread, and dry it in a very slow oven until lightly colored. The inside of fresh biscuits left over can be treated in this way, and will keep an indefinite time. They should be heated in the oven when served, and are good with chocolate, or coffee, or bouillon. The crusts of the biscuits may be used as cups for creamed meats or vegetables, or for eggs....
21 minute read
BREAD FRITTERS
BREAD FRITTERS
Take pieces of raised bread-dough the size of an egg, drop them into smoking hot fat, and fry to a gold color, the same as doughnuts. Drain and serve on a napkin for breakfast, or sprinkle them with powdered sugar and ground cinnamon mixed, and serve them for luncheon....
14 minute read
BREAD ROLLS
BREAD ROLLS
For one panful of biscuits take as much raised bread-dough as will make one loaf of bread. Use any kind of bread-dough, but if no shortening has been used, add a tablespoonful of butter to this amount of dough. Add also more flour to make a stiffer dough than for bread. Work it for ten minutes so as to give it a finer grain. Cut it into pieces half the size of an egg, roll them into balls, and place in a pan some distance apart. If enough space is given, each roll will be covered with crust, whi
1 minute read
CRESCENTS
CRESCENTS
Add to bread-dough a little more sugar, and enough flour to make a stiff dough. Roll it to one eighth inch thickness. Cut it into strips six inches wide, and then into sharp triangles. Roll them up, commencing at the base; the point of the triangle will then come in the middle of the roll. Turn the points around into the shape of crescents. Place on tins to rise for half an hour, brush the tops with water, and bake until lightly colored. When taken from the oven brush the tops with thin boiled c
30 minute read
BRAIDS AND TWISTS
BRAIDS AND TWISTS
Take any bread- or biscuit-dough. Roll it one inch thick, and cut it into strips one inch wide. Roll the strips on the board to make them round. Brush the strips with butter. Braid or twist the strips together, making them pointed at the ends, and broad in the middle. Let them rise a little, but not so much as to lose shape, and bake in a quick oven. Glaze the tops the same as directed above for crescents....
23 minute read
LUNCHEON AND TEA ROLLS
LUNCHEON AND TEA ROLLS
Boil the milk, dissolve in it the sugar and salt, and add the butter to melt it. When this mixture becomes tepid, add the beaten whites of the eggs and the yeast, dissolved in two tablespoonfuls of water; then stir in the flour, and knead it for twenty to thirty minutes; cover it well, and put it aside in a warm place free from draughts to rise over night. If to be used for breakfast, mold the rolls to any shape desired; let them rise to more than double their size, and bake for thirty minutes.
51 minute read
PARKER HOUSE ROLLS
PARKER HOUSE ROLLS
Put the salt into the flour, and work in the shortening thoroughly. Dissolve the yeast in one cupful of warm water. Scald the milk, and dissolve the sugar in it after it is taken off the fire. When the milk is lukewarm, mix the yeast with it. Make a hollow in the center of the flour, and pour into it the milk and yeast mixture. Sprinkle a little of the flour over the top. Cover the pan well, and leave it to rise. If this sponge is set at five o’clock, at ten o’clock stir the whole together thoro
1 minute read
TEA BISCUITS MADE WITH BAKING POWDER
TEA BISCUITS MADE WITH BAKING POWDER
Add the salt and baking-powder to the flour and sift them. Rub in the butter well. With a fork stir in lightly and quickly sufficient milk to make a soft dough. The dough must be only just stiff enough to roll. Flour the board well, turn the dough onto it, and lightly roll it to a half inch thickness. Cut it into small circles, brush the tops with milk, and bake in a quick oven for twenty to thirty minutes....
24 minute read
BISCUITS MADE WITH SOUR MILK
BISCUITS MADE WITH SOUR MILK
Mix the soda and the salt with the flour, and sift them several times so they will be thoroughly mixed. Rub in the butter evenly. Stir in lightly with a fork enough sour milk to make a dough just stiff enough to roll. The dough can be left very soft if the board is well floured and the rolling-pin is used very lightly, patting the dough rather than rolling it. Roll it out quickly an inch thick. Cut it into small rounds. Bake in a quick oven twenty to thirty minutes. The dough can be rolled half
42 minute read
CORN BREAD No. 1
CORN BREAD No. 1
Mix the flour, meal, salt, and baking-powder together thoroughly. Beat together the eggs and sugar; add the butter, then the flour mixture, and lastly mix in quickly the milk and turn into a flat pan to bake. Sour milk can be used instead of sweet milk, in which case a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a quarter of a cupful of hot water is used, and baking-powder is omitted....
20 minute read
CORN BREAD No. 2
CORN BREAD No. 2
Scald the milk and pour it onto the sifted meal. Let it cool, then add the melted butter, salt, sugar, baking-powder, and yolks of the eggs. Stir it quickly and thoroughly together, and lastly fold in the whites of the eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Bake in a flat pan in a hot oven for thirty minutes....
17 minute read
PUFFS OR POP-OVERS
PUFFS OR POP-OVERS
Mix the salt with the flour. Mix the beaten yolks with the milk, and add them slowly to the flour to make a smooth batter. Lastly fold in the whipped whites. Put the batter at once into hot greased gem-pans, filling them half full, and put into a hot oven for thirty minutes. Serve at once, as they fall as soon as the heat is lost....
19 minute read
GRAHAM GEMS
GRAHAM GEMS
Mix the dry ingredients together; beat the eggs separately. Mix the milk with the salt and sugar; add the water, then the flour, and lastly fold in the whipped whites, and put at once into very hot greased gem-pans, filling them half full. Bake in a hot oven thirty minutes....
14 minute read
CORN GEMS
CORN GEMS
(MADE OF CORN FLOUR) Break the yolks of the eggs; add to them milk, salt, and melted butter; mix them well together, then add the two kinds of flour. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth; when they are ready, add the baking-powder to the flour mixture and then fold in lightly the whipped whites. Turn at once into warm gem-pans, a tablespoonful of batter into each one, and bake in a hot oven for fifteen minutes. This receipt can be used for any kind of flour....
25 minute read
MUFFINS No. 1
MUFFINS No. 1
Mix thoroughly the baking-powder and salt with the flour. Stir the milk and yolks together; add the butter, melted; then the flour, and lastly fold in the whipped whites. Turn into hot gem-pans, and bake at once in a very hot oven for fifteen to twenty minutes. Serve immediately....
14 minute read
RAISED MUFFINS
RAISED MUFFINS
Scald the milk, and add the butter, sugar and salt. When it has become lukewarm, add the yeast dissolved in a quarter cupful of lukewarm water. Stir in enough flour to make a drop batter, cover it well, place it in a warm place free from draughts, and let rise over night. In the morning stir it down, grease some muffin-rings, place them on a hot greased griddle, fill the rings half full of batter. It will rise to the top. Turn the muffins with a pancake turner and bake them on both sides until a
36 minute read
WAFFLES
WAFFLES
Mix the flour, baking-powder, and salt thoroughly together. Mix the yolks with the milk; then the melted butter, the flour, and lastly the beaten whites. Have the waffle-iron very clean; let it be thoroughly heated on both sides. Rub it over with a piece of salt pork, or with a piece of butter tied in a clean rag. Close the iron, and turn it so the grease will cover every part. Put enough batter into each section of the iron to fill it two-thirds full. Shut the iron, and cook the waffles a minut
32 minute read
HOMINY CAKE
HOMINY CAKE
Stir into one cupful of boiled hominy while it is still hot a teaspoonful of butter, one saltspoonful of salt, and the yolks of two eggs well beaten; add slowly a cupful of milk, and then a half cupful of fine cornmeal; lastly, fold in the whipped whites of two eggs. Bake in a flat tin in a hot oven for twenty to thirty minutes. Cold boiled hominy left over can be used for this dish by heating it with enough water to moisten it....
24 minute read
OAT CAKE
OAT CAKE
Mix oatmeal, which is ground fine, with a little salt and enough water to make a stiff dough. Roll it on a floured board to one eighth inch thickness, and bake it in one sheet in a slow oven without browning, until dry and hard. It should be gray in color. When done, break it into irregular pieces. This is a Scotch dish, and in Scotland is made with a fine oat flour, which is difficult to obtain in this country....
23 minute read
BREAD STICKS
BREAD STICKS
Any bread-dough may be used, though that with shortening is preferred. After it is kneaded enough to be elastic, cut it into pieces half the size of an egg, roll it on the board into a stick the size of a pencil and a foot long. Lay the strips on a floured baking-tin or sheet. Let them rise a very little, and bake in a moderate oven, so they will dry without browning. Serve them with bouillon or soups, or with tea....
23 minute read
RUSKS
RUSKS
Make a sponge (see directions at head of chapter), using the milk, salt, and yeast. When it is full of bubbles, add the butter, sugar, and well-beaten eggs. Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead it for twenty minutes. Let it rise to double its bulk; then mold it into balls the size of half an egg. Place them rather close together in a baking-tin, and let them rise until very light. When they are ready to go into the oven, brush over the tops with sugar dissolved in milk, and sprinkle
40 minute read
BATH BUNS
BATH BUNS
Mix the salt, sugar, and grated nutmeg with the flour. Scald the milk and melt the butter in it. Dissolve the yeast in a quarter cupful of lukewarm water. When the scalded milk has become lukewarm, add to it the dissolved yeast and the eggs, which have been well beaten, the yolks and whites separately; then add the flour. Use more flour than given in the receipt, if necessary, but keep the dough as soft as possible. Knead it on a board for twenty minutes. Let it rise over night in a warm place,
1 minute read
COFFEE CAKE
COFFEE CAKE
Take two cupfuls of bread sponge, add one egg well beaten, a half cupful of sugar, a tablespoonful of butter, and a cupful of tepid water. Mix them well together, then add enough flour to make a thin dough. Let it rise until double in size. Turn it on a board, and roll it out an inch thick. Place it in a baking-tin, cutting it to fit the tin, and let it rise again until light. Just before placing it in the oven, spread over the top an egg beaten with a teaspoonful of sugar. Sprinkle over this so
47 minute read
BRIOCHE
BRIOCHE
Brioche is a kind of light bun mixture much used in France. It has many uses, and is much esteemed. It will not be found difficult or troublesome to make after the first trial. The paste once made can be used for plain brioche cakes, buns, rings, baba, savarins, fruit timbales (see page 406 ), cabinet puddings, etc. Dissolve the yeast-cake in a quarter of a cupful of lukewarm water. Stir it so it will be thoroughly mixed, then add enough flour to make a very soft ball of paste. Drop this ball in
1 minute read
TO MAKE A BRIOCHE ROLL WITH HEAD
TO MAKE A BRIOCHE ROLL WITH HEAD
Take up carefully a little of the paste, and turn it into a ball about three inches in diameter; flatten it a little on top, and with a knife open a little place on top, and lay a small ball of paste into it. Let it rise to double its size, and bake in a moderate oven for twenty to thirty minutes. If a glazed top is wanted, brush it over with egg yolk diluted one half with water, before putting it in the oven. Serve hot or perfectly fresh....
27 minute read
TO MAKE A BRIOCHE CROWN OR RING
TO MAKE A BRIOCHE CROWN OR RING
Roll the paste into a ball, roll it down to a thickness of half an inch, keeping the form round. Cut it several times through the middle, and twist the paste into a rope-like ring. Let it rise, brush the top with egg, and bake in a well-heated oven for about half an hour....
17 minute read
BRIOCHE FOR TIMBALE, OR CABINET PUDDINGS
BRIOCHE FOR TIMBALE, OR CABINET PUDDINGS
When the brioche is to be used for timbales, or cabinet puddings, turn the paste into a cylindrical mold, filling it half full. Let it rise to the top of the mold, and bake in a hot oven for about half an hour....
14 minute read
PANCAKES
PANCAKES
The batter for pancakes should be smooth, and thin enough to run freely when turned onto the griddle. In order to have all the cakes of the same size an equal quantity of batter must be used for each cake. It should be poured steadily at one point, so the batter will flow evenly in all directions, making the cake perfectly round. An iron spoonful of batter makes a cake of good size; but if a larger one is wanted, use a ladle or cup; for if the batter is put on the hot griddle by separate spoonfu
1 minute read
PLAIN PANCAKES
PLAIN PANCAKES
Stir two cupfuls of milk into two beaten eggs; add enough flour to make a thin batter. Add a half teaspoonful of salt and a heaping teaspoonful of baking-powder. Sour milk can be used, in which case omit the baking-powder and add a half teaspoonful of soda. The baking-powder or soda should not be put in until just before beginning to bake the cakes. The cakes will be lighter and better if the eggs are beaten separately, and the whipped whites added the last thing....
24 minute read
BREAD PANCAKES
BREAD PANCAKES
Soak stale bread in hot water until moistened; press out the water. To two cupfuls of softened bread, add two beaten eggs, a teaspoonful of salt, a half cupful of flour, and enough milk to make a thin, smooth batter; add, the last thing, a teaspoonful of baking-powder, or use soda if sour milk has been used in the batter....
17 minute read
CORNMEAL PANCAKES
CORNMEAL PANCAKES
Pour a little boiling water on a cupful of cornmeal, and let it stand half an hour. Add a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of sugar, one egg and two cupfuls of flour. Add enough milk to make a smooth batter, and a teaspoonful of baking-powder just before baking. Instead of white flour rye meal may be used: one cupful of rye to one of cornmeal, a tablespoonful of molasses instead of the sugar, and soda in place of baking-powder....
22 minute read
BUCKWHEAT CAKES
BUCKWHEAT CAKES
Scald a cupful of yellow meal in a quart of boiling milk. Add a half teaspoonful of salt; when cold add a quarter of a compressed yeast-cake, and enough buckwheat flour to make a soft batter. Beat it well together. Let it rise over night. In the morning stir in a tablespoonful of molasses and a teaspoonful of soda. Although the above method is the old and better way, these cakes can be made in the morning, and baking-powder used instead of yeast; in which case divide the batter, and add the baki
27 minute read
SANDWICHES AND CANAPÉS
SANDWICHES AND CANAPÉS
Sandwiches are usually the chief reliance for cold lunches, and are always acceptable if well made and attractively served. Where they are to be kept some time, as in traveling, they should be wrapped in oiled or paraffin paper, for this will keep them perfectly fresh. Sandwiches may be made of white, Graham, or brown bread, or of fresh rolls, and may be filled with any kind of meat, with fish, with salads, with eggs, with jams, or with chopped nuts. Shapes. They may be cut into any shapes, the
5 minute read
EGG SANDWICHES
EGG SANDWICHES
No. 1. Cut hard-boiled eggs into slices; sprinkle with salt and pepper plentifully, and spread the bread with butter mixed with chopped parsley. No. 2. Lay the sliced eggs between crisp lettuce leaves, and spread the bread with butter, then with Mayonnaise. No. 3. Chop the hard-boiled eggs fine. Mix with Mayonnaise and spread on the buttered bread, or mix them with well-seasoned white sauce....
18 minute read
SALAD SANDWICHES
SALAD SANDWICHES
No. 1. Lay a crisp lettuce leaf sprinkled with salt between buttered thin slices of bread; or spread the bread with Mayonnaise, then with lettuce or with water-cress. No. 2. Chop chicken and celery together fine; mix it with French or with Mayonnaise dressing. No. 3. Chop lobster meat; mix it with any dressing; cut lettuce into ribbons; cover the bread with the lettuce; then a layer of lobster; then with lettuce again. No. 4. Mix chopped olives with Mayonnaise; serve with afternoon tea....
23 minute read
CHEESE SANDWICHES
CHEESE SANDWICHES
No. 1. Cut American cheese in slices one-eighth of an inch thick, or about the same thickness as the bread. Sprinkle it with salt, and have the bread well buttered. No. 2. Cut Gruyère cheese in thin slices. Lay it on the bread, sprinkle it with salt and pepper; then add French mustard. No. 3. Grate any cheese. Rub it to a paste with butter, and spread the bread; dust with salt and pepper. Cut into strips and serve with salad. No. 4. Mock Crab. Rub to a smooth paste one tablespoonful of butter, t
34 minute read
SWEET SANDWICHES
SWEET SANDWICHES
No. 1. For Æsthetic Sandwiches, see chapter “Five O’clock Tea,” page 33 . No. 2. Spread thin slices of bread with any jam, or with fruit jelly, or with any preserved fruit, or with chopped canned fruit. Cut them into circles, or roll them as directed above. No. 3. Spread very thin buttered slices of Boston brown bread with chopped walnuts, or with chopped almonds, or with both mixed, or with salted nuts chopped....
21 minute read
CANAPÉS
CANAPÉS
Canapés are slices of bread toasted or fried in hot fat, or dipped in butter, and browned in the oven. The slices are then covered with some seasoned mixture. They are served hot, and make a good first course for luncheon. The bread is cut a quarter of an inch thick, then into circles two and a half inches in diameter, or into strips four inches long and two inches wide. They are sometimes used cold, and are arranged fancifully with different-colored meats, pickles, eggs, etc....
24 minute read
CHEESE CANAPÉS
CHEESE CANAPÉS
Cut bread into slices one quarter inch thick, four inches long and two inches wide. Spread it with butter, and sprinkle it with salt and cayenne or paprica. Cover the top with grated American cheese, or with grated Parmesan cheese, and bake in the oven until the cheese is softened. Serve at once, before the cheese hardens....
16 minute read
HAM CANAPÉS
HAM CANAPÉS
Cut bread into slices a quarter inch thick, then with a small biscuit-cutter into circles; fry them in hot fat, or sauté them in butter. Pound some chopped ham to a paste; moisten it with cream or milk. Spread it on the fried bread; dust with cayenne, sprinkle the top with grated Parmesan cheese, and place in a hot oven until a little browned....
18 minute read
CANAPÉ LORENZO
CANAPÉ LORENZO
Put in a saucepan one tablespoonful of butter, and fry in it one slice of onion chopped fine, but do not brown; then add one tablespoonful of flour and cook, but do not brown; add the stock slowly, and when smooth add the cooked crab meat. Season highly with salt, pepper, and cayenne, and let simmer for six or eight minutes. Put into another saucepan one tablespoonful of butter; when melted, add one tablespoonful of flour and cook, but not brown; then add the milk and stir in the cheese, and let
50 minute read
CHEESE AND CHEESE DISHES
CHEESE AND CHEESE DISHES
Varieties. Among the best cheeses are Stilton, Cheshire, Camembert, Gorgonzola, Rocquefort, Edam, Gruyère, and Parmesan. The Parmesan is a high-flavored, hard Italian cheese, and is mostly used grated for cooking. Our American dairy cheeses are much esteemed, and are largely exported to foreign markets; but as they have no distinctive names, it is difficult to find a second time any one that is particularly liked. The Pineapple cheese is the only one that differs radically from the other so-call
1 minute read
CHEESE SOUFFLÉ
CHEESE SOUFFLÉ
Put into a saucepan the butter; when it is melted stir in the flour and let it cook a minute (but not color), stirring all the time; add one half cupful of milk slowly and stir till smooth, then add salt and cayenne. Remove from the fire and add, stirring constantly, the beaten yolks of three eggs and the cupful of grated American or Parmesan cheese. Replace it on the fire, and stir until the cheese is melted and the paste smooth and consistent (do not cook too long, or the butter will separate)
52 minute read
CRACKERS AND CHEESE
CRACKERS AND CHEESE
Split in two some Bent’s water biscuits; moisten them with hot water and pour over each piece a little melted butter and French mustard; then spread with a thick layer of grated cheese; sprinkle with paprica or cayenne. Place them in a hot oven until the cheese is soft and creamy....
15 minute read
CHEESE CANAPÉS
CHEESE CANAPÉS
Cut bread into slices one half inch thick; stamp them with a biscuit cutter into circles; then, moving the cutter to one side, cut them into crescent form; or, if preferred, cut the bread into strips three inches long and one and one half inches wide; sauté them in a little butter on both sides to an amber color. Cover them with a thick layer of grated cheese; sprinkle with salt, pepper, and dash of cayenne. Fifteen minutes before the time to serve, place them in the oven to soften the cheese. S
42 minute read
WELSH RABBIT
WELSH RABBIT
Grate or cut into small pieces fresh American cheese. Place it in a saucepan or chafing-dish with three quarters of the ale. Stir until it is entirely melted; then season with the mustard, salt, and pepper, and pour it over the slices of hot toast, cut in triangles or circles. Everything must be very hot, and it must be served at once, as the cheese quickly hardens. Some use a scant teaspoonful of butter (more will not unite), a few drops of onion-juice, and the beaten yolks of two eggs, added j
42 minute read
CHEESE STRAWS
CHEESE STRAWS
Mix with one cupful of flour one half cupful of grated Parmesan cheese, a dash of cayenne, one half teaspoonful of salt, and the yolk of one egg; then add enough water to make a paste sufficiently consistent to roll. Place it on a board and roll to one quarter inch thickness. Cut it into narrow strips and roll so each piece will be the size and length of a lead pencil. Place them in a baking-tin and press each end on the pan so they will not contract. Bake to a light brown in a moderate oven. Se
32 minute read
CHEESE STRAWS No. 2
CHEESE STRAWS No. 2
Take bits of puff paste; roll them to one half inch thickness; cut them into strips one inch wide and three inches long; sprinkle them with grated cheese and bake; or, the pastry may be rolled to one quarter inch thickness; then spread with cheese, doubled over, and then cut into strips, leaving the cheese between two layers of paste....
18 minute read
CHEESE PATTIES
CHEESE PATTIES
Make some small round croustades as directed (page 82 ). Dip them in butter and toast them in the oven to a delicate color. Fill the centers with a mixture of two ounces of grated cheese, one half tablespoonful of butter, one tablespoonful of milk, a little salt and pepper. Place the croustades again in the oven to melt the cheese. Serve very hot....
18 minute read
COTTAGE CHEESE
COTTAGE CHEESE
Place a panful of milk which has soured enough to become thick, or clabbered, over a pan of hot water. Let it heat slowly until the whey has separated from the curd; do not let it boil, or the curd will become tough; then strain it through a cloth and press out all the whey; stir into the curd enough butter, cream, and salt to make it a little moist and of good flavor. Work it well with a spoon until it becomes fine grained and consistent, then mold it into balls of any size desired....
27 minute read
FONDUE
FONDUE
See page 335 . Drying the salad. Nearly all the meats, vegetables, and fruits may be served as salads. The essential thing is to have the salad fresh and cold; and if green, to have the leaves crisp and dry. If any water is left on leaves, the dressing will not adhere to them, but will run to the bottom of the dish, and both the salad and the dressing will be poor. All greens should be carefully washed in cold water to free them from dust and insects, and to make them crisp. After they have stoo
2 minute read
MAYONNAISE
MAYONNAISE
The receipts for Mayonnaise are given on pages 288-290 . White Mayonnaise, instead of that having the color of the eggs, is the fancy of to-day. The yolks will whiten by being stirred before the oil is added, and lemon-juice, used instead of vinegar, also serves to whiten the dressing; so it is not always necessary to add whipped cream, although the cream gives a very delicate and delicious Mayonnaise. The jelly Mayonnaise is used for molded salads, and will be found very good, as well as useful
27 minute read
FRENCH DRESSING
FRENCH DRESSING
This dressing is the most simple, and the best one to use with green salads for dinner. The proportions are one table spoonful of vinegar to three of oil, one half teaspoonful of salt, and one quarter teaspoonful of pepper. Mix the salt and pepper with the oil; then stir in slowly the vinegar, and it will become white and a little thickened, like an emulsion. Some like a dash of paprica or red pepper. When intended for lettuce salad it is much improved by using a little tarragon vinegar with the
33 minute read
LETTUCE SALAD
LETTUCE SALAD
Use only the tender leaves. Let them stand half an hour in cold water to become crisp. Rub the inside of the salad bowl lightly with an onion. Wipe the lettuce leaves perfectly dry without bruising them, and arrange them in the bowl in circles, the heart leaves in the center. Sprinkle over them a teaspoonful of mixed tarragon, parsley, and chives, chopped fine; pour over the French dressing, and toss them lightly together. French lettuce salads always have chopped herbs mixed with them, and they
41 minute read
WATER-CRESS AND APPLES
WATER-CRESS AND APPLES
Prepare the water-cress the same as lettuce, letting it become crisp in cold water, then drying it thoroughly. Mix it with French dressing. A few thin slices of sour apple with water-cress makes a good salad to serve with ducks. A chopped hard-boiled egg sprinkled over the top of water-cress is a good garnish, and improves the salad....
21 minute read
CELERY SALAD
CELERY SALAD
Wash and scrape the tender stalks of celery, cut them into one quarter inch pieces, or into straws two inches long, or cut them in pieces one and a half inches long, and slice them in small strips nearly to the end; place them in ice-water for a few minutes to curl them. Mix the celery with either French or Mayonnaise dressing, and garnish with lettuce leaves or celery tops....
20 minute read
CUCUMBER SALAD TO SERVE WITH FISH
CUCUMBER SALAD TO SERVE WITH FISH
Peel the cucumbers, and place them in cold water to become crisp. Do not use salt in the water, as is sometimes recommended, as it wilts and makes them indigestible. Cut the cucumbers in two lengthwise, and lay them, with the flat side down, on the dish on which they are to be served. Slice them without destroying their shape, and pour on them a French dressing....
28 minute read
STRING-BEAN SALAD
STRING-BEAN SALAD
Cut each bean in four strips lengthwise; lay them evenly together and boil in salted water until tender. Remove them carefully and drain. When they are cold and ready to serve, pile them on a flat dish, trim the ends even, and pour over them slowly a French dressing. Garnish with parsley, white chicory leaves or nasturtium leaves....
18 minute read
CAULIFLOWER SALAD
CAULIFLOWER SALAD
Break the vegetable into flowerets; season with salt, pepper, and a little vinegar and oil. Pile them in a pyramid on a dish, and pour over them a white Mayonnaise. Arrange around the base a border of carrots or beets, cut into dice or fancy shapes, to give a line of color. Place a floweret of cauliflower on the top of the pyramid....
18 minute read
MACÉDOINE SALAD
MACÉDOINE SALAD
This salad is composed of a mixture of vegetables. The vegetables are boiled separately; the large ones are then cut into dice of equal size. The salad is more attractive when the vegetables are cut with fancy cutters or with a small potato-scoop. Peas, flageolets, string beans, flowerets of cauliflower, beets, celery roots, asparagus points, carrots, and turnips—all, or as many as convenient, may be used. Mix them lightly with French dressing or with Mayonnaise. If the latter, marinate them fir
29 minute read
POTATO SALAD
POTATO SALAD
Boil the potatoes with the skins on; when cold remove the skins and cut them into slices three eighths inch thick, or into dice three quarters inch thick, or cut the potatoes into balls with a scoop; sprinkle them with a little grated onion and parsley, chopped very fine. Turn over them a French dressing. They will absorb a great deal. Toss them lightly together, but do not break the potatoes, which are very tender. A Mayonnaise dressing is also very good with marinated potatoes. A mixture of be
37 minute read
COLD SLAW
COLD SLAW
Shred a firm cabbage very fine. Mix it with a French dressing, using an extra quantity of salt, or put into a bowl the yolks of three eggs, one half cupful of vinegar (if it is very strong di lute it with water), one tablespoonful of butter, one half teaspoonful each of mustard and pepper, and one teaspoonful each of sugar and salt. Beat them together, place the bowl in a pan of boiling water, and stir until it becomes a little thickened. Pour this while hot over the cabbage, and set it away to
27 minute read
HOT SLAW
HOT SLAW
Place shredded cabbage in a saucepan with enough salted boiling water to cover it. Boil it until tender, but not so long as to lose shape; turn it onto a sieve and drain it well in a warm place. Pour over the drained cabbage a hot Béarnaise sauce. Cabbage salads are good to serve with fried oysters, meat fritters, or chops. The boiled cabbage, cold, may be used with French dressing....
20 minute read
No. 1.
No. 1.
Select tomatoes of the same size and shape; peel, and place them on ice until ready to use; then cut each one in two and place on each piece a teaspoonful of Mayonnaise. Dress them on a bed of lettuce leaves; or, slice the tomatoes without breaking their form, place each one on a leaf of lettuce, cover the tomato with Mayonnaise, and sprinkle over a little parsley chopped fine; or scoop out a little of the center from the stem end and fill it with dressing. An attractive salad is made of the sma
37 minute read
No. 2. STUFFED TOMATOES
No. 2. STUFFED TOMATOES
Select round tomatoes of equal size; peel and scoop from the stem end a part of the center. Place them on ice until ready to serve; then fill them with celery cut fine and mixed with Mayonnaise. Let it rise above the top of the tomato. Put a little Mayonnaise on small lettuce leaves, and place a stuffed tomato on the dressing in the center of each leaf. Arrange them in a circle on a flat dish. Tomatoes may be stuffed in the same way with chopped veal, celery and veal or chicken, celery and sweet
36 minute read
No. 4. MOLDED TOMATOES
No. 4. MOLDED TOMATOES
Select small round tomatoes. Stuff them in any way directed above, but do not let the filling project beyond the opening. Place individual molds on ice. Small cups will do; pour in one eighth of an inch of clear aspic or chicken aspic (see page 323 ); when it has set, place in each one a tomato, the whole side down; add enough jelly to fix the tomato without floating it. When that has set, add enough more to entirely cover it (see Fancy Molding, page 323 ). Turn each molded tomato onto the plate
33 minute read
No. 5. TOMATO JELLY
No. 5. TOMATO JELLY
Boil together the tomatoes, spices, and onion until the tomato is soft; then add the soaked gelatine, and stir until the gelatine is dissolved; then strain and pour it into a border or ring-shaped mold to set. Serve with the center of the jelly-ring filled with celery cut into pieces, into straws, or curled, and mixed with Mayonnaise. Form outside the ring a wreath of shredded lettuce. This jelly may also be molded in a solid piece and surrounded by the celery. (See illustration opposite page 38
34 minute read
EGG SALAD No. 1
EGG SALAD No. 1
Cut hard-boiled eggs (see page 262 ) into thick slices or into quarters. Use a sharp knife so the cuts will be clean. Arrange each portion on a leaf of lettuce partly covered with Mayonnaise, and arrange the lettuce in a circle on a flat dish, the stem of the leaf toward the center of the dish. Place a bunch of nasturtium flowers or a bunch of white chicory leaves in the middle. (See illustration .)...
30 minute read
No. 2
No. 2
Cut hard-boiled eggs in two, making the cut one third from the pointed end. Remove the yolks without breaking the whites; mash them and mix with chicken, chopped fine, and enough Mayonnaise to bind them. Fill the large half of the egg with the mixture, rounding it on top like a whole yolk. Invert the small pieces of white. Cut the pointed ends of both pieces flat, and stick them together with raw white of egg. Place the vase- shaped eggs on a flat dish, and fill the spaces with shredded lettuce.
36 minute read
ORANGE SALAD
ORANGE SALAD
Use for this salad sour oranges; if these cannot be obtained, strain over sweet oranges after they are sliced a little lemon-juice. Cut the oranges in thick slices, remove the seeds carefully, arrange them in rows, and turn over them a dressing made of one tablespoonful of lemon-juice to three of oil, with salt, and cayenne, or paprica to taste. Serve with game. Grape fruit may be used the same way, and walnut meats used with either....
22 minute read
CHICKEN SALAD
CHICKEN SALAD
Cut cold cooked chicken into dice one half inch square, or into pieces of any shape, but not too small. Use only the white meat, if very particular as to appearance, but the dark meat is also good. Veal is sometimes substituted for chicken. Wash and scrape the tender stalks of celery. Cut them into small pieces, and dry them well. Use two thirds as much celery as chicken. Marinate the chicken as directed at the head of chapter. Keep it in a cold place until ready to serve; then mix with it the c
45 minute read
LOBSTER SALAD
LOBSTER SALAD
Cut the boiled lobster into one inch pieces or larger. Marinate it, and keep in a cool place until ready to serve; then mix with it lightly a little Mayonnaise. Place it in the salad bowl; smooth the top, leaving it high in the center. Mask it with a thick covering of Mayonnaise. Sprinkle over it the powdered coral of the lobster. Place on top the heart of a head of lettuce, and around the salad a thick border of crisp lettuce-leaves, carefully selected. Shad roe, canned salmon, or any firm whit
30 minute read
OYSTER SALAD
OYSTER SALAD
Scald the oysters in their own liquor until plump and frilled. Drain, and let them get very cold and dry. If large oysters, cut each one with a silver knife into four pieces. Just before serving mix them with Mayonnaise or Tartare sauce, and serve each portion on a leaf of lettuce. Celery may be mixed with oysters, and served the same way....
18 minute read
BOUILLI SALAD
BOUILLI SALAD
Cut beef that has been boiled for soup into half-inch dice. Marinate it, using a little grated onion with the marinade. Mix it lightly with some cold boiled potatoes cut into half-inch dice, and some parsley chopped fine. Pour over it a French dressing, or Mayonnaise. Garnish with hard-boiled eggs and lettuce....
15 minute read
RUSSIAN SALAD
RUSSIAN SALAD
Fill the outside of a double mold with clear aspic jelly (see page 321 ), and the center with a macédoine of vegetables, or with celery, or with any one vegetable. Marinate the vegetables; then mix them with Mayonnaise made with jelly instead of eggs (see page 290 ). Cover the top with jelly so the vegetables will be completely enclosed (see directions for double molding, page 325 ). Turn the form of salad on a flat dish, and garnish with shredded lettuce....
41 minute read
INDIVIDUAL RUSSIAN SALADS
INDIVIDUAL RUSSIAN SALADS
Ornament the bottom of small timbale-molds with carrot cut into fancy shape in the center, and a row of green peas around the edge. Add enough clear aspic or chicken jelly to fix them, then fill the mold with jelly; when it has hardened, scoop out carefully with a hot spoon some of the jelly from the center, and fill the space at once with a macédoine of vegetables mixed with jelly Mayonnaise as above. Serve each form on a leaf of lettuce. Pass Mayonnaise separately. Note. —Molds of salad in asp
54 minute read
ASPIC OF PÂTÉ EN BELLEVUE
ASPIC OF PÂTÉ EN BELLEVUE
Ornament the bottom of individual timbale molds with a daisy design made of hard-boiled egg as directed, page 326 ; fix it with a little jelly; then add a layer of jelly one quarter inch thick, and a layer of pâté de foie gras alternately until the mold is full. Any forcemeat may be used in the same way. Turn the molds onto a flat dish and surround them with shredded lettuce, or place them on an ornamented socle. Pass Mayonnaise. (See illustration facing page 328 .)...
36 minute read
CHICKEN ASPIC WITH WALNUTS
CHICKEN ASPIC WITH WALNUTS
Make a clear chicken consommé (see page 100 ). To one and one half cupfuls of the consommé add one half box of Cox’s gelatine soaked for one half hour in one half cupful of cold water. Ornament the bottom of a quart Charlotte mold with a daisy design with leaf, as given page 326 . Add a layer of jelly one quarter inch thick, and then fill the outside of double mold with jelly. (See double molding, page 325 .) Fill the center with one and a half cupfuls of celery cut rather fine, and one half cup
46 minute read
BIRD’S-NEST SALAD
BIRD’S-NEST SALAD
Rub a little green coloring paste into cream cheese, giving it a delicate color like birds’ eggs. Roll it into balls the size of birds’ eggs, using the back or smooth side of butter-pats. Arrange on a flat dish some small well-crimped lettuce leaves; group them to look like nests, moisten them with French dressing, and place five of the cheese balls in each nest of leaves. The cheese balls may be varied by flecking them with black, white, or red pepper. The nests may be made of shredded lettuce
28 minute read
UTENSILS
UTENSILS
Illustration No. 1, Egg-beaters.—No. 1, Dover beater; Nos. 2 and 3, Wire Whips; No. 4, Daisy beater. Illustration No. 2, Jelly Molds.—No. 1, Two Charlotte Russe molds to use for double molding; No. 2, cylindrical mold for Charlottes, Bavarians, cornstarch, etc.; Nos. 3 and 4, ring molds. Illustration No. 3.—No. 1, jelly mold packed in ice ready to be filled; No. 2, smaller mold to fit inside for double molding. Illustration No. 4.—Pastry bag and tubes. Illustration No. 5.—Paper for filtering fru
13 minute read
MATERIALS
MATERIALS
Gelatine. Cooper’s gelatine costs eight cents a box, holding two ounces. Unless perfectly transparent jelly, without clarifying, is required, it serves as well as the more expensive brands. Cox’s gelatine costs fifteen cents a box, containing one and one half ounces. It is clear, and needs only to be strained to make a transparent jelly. Isinglass comes in thin sheets, is very clear, and makes a brilliant jelly. It costs ten cents an ounce, and there are eight and one half sheets of the white, t
2 minute read
FLAVORS
FLAVORS
Vanilla has long held first place in American cooking as flavoring, but is no longer highly esteemed, and by many it is considered injurious. The essences of fruits, flowers, and nuts are preferable. They cost twenty cents per bottle of two ounces. Liqueurs. Cordials or liqueurs give by far the most delicate and pleasant flavor to jellies, creams, and many other desserts. They are rich syrups of different flavors, and contain only enough spirits to preserve them. Maraschino has the flavor of bit
3 minute read
COLORING
COLORING
Vegetable coloring pastes, which are entirely harmless, can be obtained for twenty-five cents a bottle. The green and the red, or carmine, are the colors generally used for icings, creams and jellies. The orange is used for orange-cake icing and candies. Very little should be used, as the colors should be delicate. To guard against using too much it is well to dilute it with a little water and add only a few drops at a time to the mixture. The various shades of red to pink are obtained by using
33 minute read
GARNISHING
GARNISHING
To decorate cold sweet dishes, use fancy cakes, icings, fruits either fresh, candied, compote or glacé; jellies or blanc-mange molded, or made into a layer and then cut into fancy shapes. Spun sugar (see page 515 ) makes a fine decoration, and can be formed into nests, wreaths, balls, or simply spread irregularly over a dish. Candied California fruits. The candied California fruits are very useful and beautiful for both cold and hot desserts. They cost sixty to eighty cents a pound, and are not
2 minute read
THE STORE-CLOSET
THE STORE-CLOSET
Garnishing and flavoring. The various articles needed for garnishing, flavoring, etc., should be kept in glass preserve jars, and labeled. The store-closet, once furnished with the requisites for fancy dishes, will tempt the ordinary cook to a higher class of work, and contribute to the desirable end of presenting dishes that please both sight and taste, and so raise the standard of every-day cooking. It is very easy to garnish a dish or decorate a mold, and the habit once formed will lead to mo
24 minute read
CUSTARDS
CUSTARDS
Boiled custard is the basis of many puddings, ice-creams and sauces. It requires care to get it just right, for the cooking must be arrested at the right point; a moment too soon leaves it too thin, a moment too long curdles and spoils it. It should have the consistency of thick cream, and be perfectly smooth. It is safer to make it in a double boiler. Bring the milk to the scalding-point without boiling; then take from the fire, and pour it slowly into the eggs and sugar, which have been beaten
1 minute read
FLOATING ISLAND
FLOATING ISLAND
Whip the whites of two or three eggs very stiff; add a tablespoonful of powdered sugar (see page 389 ) to each egg; flavor with essence of almond, and add a few chopped almonds. Turn it into an oiled pudding-mold which has a fancy top; cover and place it in a saucepan of boiling water to poach for twenty minutes. Leave enough room in the mold for the meringue to swell. Let it stand in the mold until cold; it will contract and leave the sides. When ready to serve, unmold the meringue and place it
33 minute read
BAKED CUSTARD
BAKED CUSTARD
Use the same proportions as for boiled custard. Beat the eggs, sugar, and salt together to a cream; stir in the scalded milk; turn into a pudding-dish or into cups; grate a little nutmeg over the top; stand it in a pan of hot water, and bake in a moderate oven until firm in the center. Test by running a knife into the custard. If it comes out clean, it is done; if milky, it needs longer cooking; but it must be carefully watched, for it will separate if cooked too long. A custard, to be smooth an
36 minute read
CARAMEL CUSTARD
CARAMEL CUSTARD
Put a cupful of granulated sugar into a small saucepan with a tablespoonful of water; stir until melted; then let it cook until a light brown color (see caramel, page 78 ). Turn one half the caramel into a well-buttered mold which has straight sides and flat top, and let it get cold. Into the rest of the caramel turn a half cupful of hot water, and let it stand on the side of the range until the caramel is dissolved. This is for the sauce. Stir four yolks and two whole eggs, with three tablespoo
1 minute read
CHOCOLATE CREAM CUSTARD
CHOCOLATE CREAM CUSTARD
Use the same proportions as for caramel custard. Add one and one half ounces of melted chocolate (see page 388 ). Strain it into a buttered mold, and bake slowly the same as caramel custard. Unmold when cold, and serve with or without whipped cream. Both the caramel and the chocolate cream custards may be baked in individual timbale-molds, if preferred....
18 minute read
RENNET CUSTARD
RENNET CUSTARD
Sweeten and flavor the milk; heat it until lukewarm; then turn it into the glass dish in which it is to be served. Add to each quart of milk a tablespoonful of liquid rennet (which comes prepared for custards), and mix it thoroughly. Let it stand where it will remain lukewarm until a firm curd is formed; then remove carefully to a cold place. If jarred the whey is likely to separate. Brandy or rum make the best flavoring for this custard, but any flavoring may be used. It may be served without s
32 minute read
CORN-STARCH PUDDINGS
CORN-STARCH PUDDINGS
Beat the eggs to a stiff froth. Dissolve the corn-starch in a little of the cold milk. Stir the sugar into the rest of the milk, and place it on the fire. When it begins to boil, add the dissolved corn-starch. Stir constantly for a few moments. When it becomes well thickened, stir in the beaten whites of the eggs, and let it remain a little longer to cook the eggs. Remove from the fire; flavor with vanilla, and turn it into a mold. 397-* This pudding is quickly and easily made. It gives about a
2 minute read
CORN-STARCH CHOCOLATES
CORN-STARCH CHOCOLATES
(VERY SIMPLE, AND QUICKLY MADE) Scald a pint of milk and four tablespoonfuls of sugar; add an ounce of chocolate shaved thin, so it will dissolve quickly; then add two heaping tablespoonfuls of corn-starch which has been diluted with a little of the cold milk. Stir over the fire until the mixture is thickened, add a half teaspoonful of vanilla, and turn it into small cups to cool and harden. Unmold the forms when ready to serve, and use sweetened milk for a sauce. By using a little less corn-sta
30 minute read
BLANC-MANGE, OR WHITE JELLY
BLANC-MANGE, OR WHITE JELLY
Scald three cupfuls of milk with the sugar; then add and dissolve in it the gelatine, which has soaked for one half hour in a half cupful of milk. Remove from the fire, add the flavoring, and strain into a mold. Blanc-mange may be flavored with any of the liqueurs, and it may have incorporated with it, when stiffened enough to hold them suspended, chopped nuts or fruits, or raisins, currants, and citron....
21 minute read
PLUM PUDDING JELLY
PLUM PUDDING JELLY
Dissolve the sugar in the milk, and put it in a double boiler to scald. Melt the chocolate on a dry pan; then add a few spoonfuls of the milk to make it smooth, and add it to the scalded milk. Remove from the fire, and add the soaked gelatine. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved; then strain it into a bowl. When it begins to set, or is firm enough to hold the fruit in place, stir in the fruit, which must have stood in warm water a little while to soften. Flavor with one half teaspoonful of vani
41 minute read
BAVARIAN CREAMS
BAVARIAN CREAMS
General remarks about. Bavarian creams are very wholesome, light, and delicious desserts. They are easily made, and are inexpensive, as one pint of cream is sufficient to make a quart and a half of bavarian. They are subject to so many variations that they may be often presented without seeming to be the same dish. Bavarian creams may be used for Charlotte Russe. General Rules. —Have the cream cold; then whipped, and drained (see whipping cream ), and do not add the whipped cream to the gelatine
5 minute read
CHARLOTTE RUSSE
CHARLOTTE RUSSE
Forms. Charlotte Russe is simply a cream mixture, molded, with cake on the outside. It is easily made and always liked. Charlotte pans are oval, but any plain, round mold, or a kitchen basin with sides not too slanting, or individual molds may be used. General directions. First place on the bottom of the pan an oiled paper which is cut to fit it neatly; then arrange lady-fingers evenly around the sides, or instead of lady-fingers use strips of layer sponge cake, No. 1 (page 466 ), or of Genoese
8 minute read
WHIPPED CREAM
WHIPPED CREAM
General directions. One half pint of double or very rich cream costs ten cents, and may be diluted one half, giving a pint of cream as called for in the receipts. Cream should be placed on the ice for several hours before it is whipped. Temperature. It is essential to have it very cold, otherwise it will not whip well; and also, if rich cream, it will form particles of butter. If not lower than 60° it will all go to butter. Place the bowl containing the cream in a larger bowl containing cracked
3 minute read
USES FOR STALE CAKE
USES FOR STALE CAKE
With a biscuit-cutter, cut slices of stale cake or bread into circles. Moisten them with sherry, maraschino, or merely with a little hot water. Chop some fresh or canned pineapple into small pieces, and pile it on the cakes. With a knife press each one into the form of a cone or small pyramid. Place them in a shallow tin close together, but not touching. Put the pineapple liquor into a saucepan, and thicken it with arrowroot (which has first been wet with water), using a teaspoonful to a cupful
1 minute read
SWEET JELLIES
SWEET JELLIES
With different flavors, colors, and combinations, a great variety of attractive desserts can be made with gelatine. They are inexpensive, require no skill, and the work is accomplished in a very few minutes. Points to observe in making jellies. Points to Observe in Making Jellies. —Have jellies perfectly transparent and brilliant. Use the right proportions, so the jelly will hold its form, but not be too solid. Mold the jelly carefully. Dissolving. Dissolving. —Gelatine should be soaked in cold
16 minute read
SOUFFLÉS
SOUFFLÉS
General remarks. The preparation of soufflés is exceedingly simple, the only difficulty being in serving them soon enough, as they fall very quickly when removed from the heat. They must go directly from the oven to the table, and if the dining-room is far removed from the kitchen the soufflé should be covered with a hot pan until it reaches the door. The plain omelet soufflé is the most difficult. Those made with a cooked foundation do not fall as quickly, but they also must be served at once.
47 minute read
OMELET SOUFFLÉ
OMELET SOUFFLÉ
Whip the whites of the eggs, with a pinch of salt added to them, to a very dry stiff froth. Beat to a cream the yolks and the sugar, then add the lemon. Fold in the beaten whites lightly (do not stir) and turn the mixture into a slightly oiled pudding-dish. If preferred, turn a part of it onto a flat dish, and with a knife shape it into a mound with a depression in the center. Put the rest into a pastry-bag, and press it out through a large tube, into lines and dots over the mound; sprinkle it w
39 minute read
VANILLA SOUFFLÉ
VANILLA SOUFFLÉ
Put the milk into a double boiler with the salt; when it is scalded add the butter and flour, which have been rubbed together. Stir for ten minutes to cook the flour and form a smooth paste; then turn it onto the yolks of the eggs, which, with the sugar added, have been beaten to a cream. Mix thoroughly, flavor, and set away to cool; rub a little butter over the top, so that no crust will form. Just before time to serve, fold into it lightly the whites of the eggs, which have been beaten to a st
59 minute read
CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉ
CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉ
Melt the butter in a small saucepan; stir into it the flour and let it cook a minute, but not brown, then add slowly the milk and stir until smooth and a little thickened; remove it from the fire and turn it slowly onto the yolks and sugar, which have been beaten to a cream; mix thoroughly and add the melted chocolate (see page 388 ); stir for a few minutes, then set it away to cool; rub a little butter over the top so a crust will not form. When ready to serve, stir the mixture well to make it
1 minute read
PRUNE SOUFFLÉ
PRUNE SOUFFLÉ
Beat the yolks of the eggs and the sugar to a cream, add the vanilla, and mix them with the prunes, the prunes having been stewed, drained, the stones removed, and each prune cut into four pieces. When ready to serve fold in lightly the whites of the eggs, which have been whipped to a stiff froth, a dash of salt having been added to the whites before whipping them. Turn it into a pudding-dish and bake in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. Serve it as soon as it is taken from the oven. A few cho
33 minute read
APPLE SOUFFLÉ
APPLE SOUFFLÉ
Boil some peeled and cored apples until tender; press them through a colander; season to taste with butter, sugar, and vanilla. Place the purée in a granite-ware saucepan and let it cook until quite dry and firm. To one and one quarter cupfuls of the hot reduced apple purée add the whites of four eggs, whipped very stiff and sweetened with three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar. Mix the purée and meringue lightly and quickly together and turn it into a pudding-dish; smooth the top into a mound s
33 minute read
FARINA PUDDING
FARINA PUDDING
This is a very wholesome, delicate pudding, and is especially recommended. The receipt gives an amount sufficient for six people. Put the milk and lemon-zest into a double boiler; when it reaches the boiling-point stir in the farina and cook for five minutes; then remove from the fire and turn it onto the yolks and sugar, which have been beaten together until light; stir all the time. Let it become cool but not stiff; when ready to bake it, fold in lightly the whites of the eggs beaten to a stif
45 minute read
SWEET OMELETS
SWEET OMELETS
These desserts are quickly made, are always liked, and serve well in emergencies. Beat the yolks of the eggs with the sugar to a cream; add the grated zest of the rind and the orange juice; then fold in lightly the beaten whites of the eggs. Have a clean, smooth omelet or frying-pan; put in a teaspoonful of butter, rubbing it around the sides as well as bottom of the pan. When the butter bubbles, turn in the omelet mixture and spread it evenly. Do not shake the pan. Let it cook until it is a del
2 minute read
FRITTERS
FRITTERS
With fritter batter a number of good desserts are made, which, if properly fried, will be entirely free from grease, and perfectly wholesome. For clam or oyster fritters use one tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and the liquor of the clams or oysters instead of water. Stir the salt into the egg-yolks; add slowly the oil, then the brandy and the sugar; the brandy may be omitted if desired, and if so, use two tablespoonfuls of oil instead of one. When well mixed st
3 minute read
DESSERTS MADE OF APPLES
DESSERTS MADE OF APPLES
Fill a pudding-dish half full of apple purée or sauce, well seasoned with butter, sugar, and nutmeg. Pour over it a batter made of one and a half cupfuls of flour mixed with two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, one half teaspoonful of salt, and a tablespoonful of chopped suet or of lard. Moisten it with about three quarters of a cupful of milk, or enough to make a thick batter. It should not be as stiff as for biscuits. Cook in a steamer about three quarters of an hour, and serve at once w
6 minute read
RICE PUDDINGS
RICE PUDDINGS
In a pudding-dish holding a quart, put two heaping tablespoonfuls of well-washed rice; fill the dish with milk, and add a half teaspoonful of salt. Let it cook in the oven for half an hour, stirring it two or three times. Take it out and add two tablespoonfuls of sugar and a scant teaspoonful of vanilla; also a half cupful of stoned raisins if desired. Grate nutmeg over the top; return the dish to the oven and cook slowly for two hours or more; as the milk boils down, lift the skin at the side a
1 minute read
BREAD PUDDINGS
BREAD PUDDINGS
Soak the bread in the milk until softened; then beat it until smooth and add the rest of the ingredients excepting the white of egg. Turn it into a pudding-dish, place this in a pan of hot water, and bake in a slow oven fifteen to twenty minutes, or only long enough to set the custard without its separating. Cover the top with a layer of jam or with tart jelly, and place in the center a ball of meringue made with the white of one egg; dust with sugar, place in the oven a moment to brown the meri
1 minute read
CAKE PUDDINGS
CAKE PUDDINGS
Mix the baking-powder with the flour and sift them. Rub the butter and sugar together to a cream and beat into it the egg; then add the milk, in which the salt has been dissolved. Add the flour; beat well together and turn into a cake-tin having a tube in the center. Bake about twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Turn it onto a flat dish, leaving it bottom side up. The chocolate sauce given below is recommended, but any other sauce may be served with it. Chocolate sauce: Melt three ounces or
7 minute read
CUSTARDS
CUSTARDS
This is the same as caramel custard (page 396 ), except that it is served hot. Butter well a flat mold or basin, ornament the bottom with a few candied cherries and angelica, pour over them caramel which is not browned deeper than an amber color, and do not use enough to float the fruits. Let it cool before adding the custard mixture. When it is baked, let the mold stand in the hot water until the moment of serving. Put the milk into a double boiler with the salt and a piece of cinnamon or lemon
1 minute read
SHORT CAKES
SHORT CAKES
Sift the baking-powder and salt with the flour, rub in the shortening; then with a fork stir in lightly and quickly sufficient milk to make a soft dough—too soft to roll. Turn it into a greased tin, and bake in a hot oven for thirty minutes. Watch to see that it rises evenly. Unmold, and leaving it inverted, cut a circle around the top, within one inch of the edge; lift off the circle of crust, and with a fork pick out the crumb from the center, leaving about three quarters of an inch of biscuit
3 minute read
PUDDING SAUCES
PUDDING SAUCES
Pudding sauces are quickly made. They call for but few materials, and, like other sauces, often give the whole character to the dish. Serving the same pudding with a different sauce, makes it a different dish; therefore it is well to vary as much as possible the combinations. Farina pudding can be served with almost any of the sauces given below. Cake, cornstarch, rice, apple, or bread puddings can also be served with almost any sauce, if the flavorings are the same, or such as go well together.
7 minute read
PIES
PIES
PLAIN PASTRY FOR PIES This quantity gives enough for three or four pies. Cottolene makes good pastry. The shortening may be mixed, but the flavor is better where butter alone is used. The richness of pastry depends upon the amount of shortening used. Sift the salt and flour together, reserving a little flour for the board. With a knife, cut the butter into the flour. Add the water a little at a time, and mix it in lightly with the knife; turn it onto the board, and roll it twice—that is, after i
1 minute read
PASTRY FOR TARTS OR OPEN PIES
PASTRY FOR TARTS OR OPEN PIES
Sift the flour, salt, and sugar together. Cut in the butter as directed above. Mix in the beaten yolks, then enough water to make a paste which is not very stiff; roll it two or three times, then wrap it in a cloth, or cover it closely, and put it in the ice-box for an hour. This gives enough paste for four small tart pies like those shown in illustration....
21 minute read
TART PIES
TART PIES
(APRICOT, PLUM, APPLE, BERRY) Roll the paste one eighth of an inch thick, lay it on a deep pie-dish; let it shrink all it will, and use as little pressure as possible in fitting it to the tin. Cut the paste an inch larger than the dish, and fold it under, giving a high twisted edge. Prick the paste on the bottom in several places with a fork. Lay over it a thin paper, and fill the tart with rice, dried peas, beans, cornmeal, or any dry material convenient. Brush the edge with egg, and bake it in
2 minute read
ORANGE PIE
ORANGE PIE
Beat the yolks and the sugar together; add the flour, the milk, and the grated rind and juice of the orange. Place it on the fire in a double boiler, and stir until it is a little thickened; then pour it into an open or tart pie, and bake thirty minutes. The crust of the pie should be brushed with white of egg before adding the thickened mixture. The tart crust may be first baked, as directed above, if preferred. Cover the top with meringue made with the whites of the eggs and sweetened with thr
38 minute read
A PLAIN APPLE PIE
A PLAIN APPLE PIE
Fill a pie with apples sliced thin, using enough to make the pie at least an inch thick when done. Add a little water to the apples, and cover with a top crust which is a little richer than the under one. This is done by rolling out a part of the same paste, covering it with bits of butter, folding it together, and rolling it again, repeating the operation two or three times. Cut a few slits in the paste to let out the steam while cooking. Brush the top with beaten yolk of egg. When the pie is b
43 minute read
PUMPKIN PIE
PUMPKIN PIE
Cut a pumpkin into small pieces; remove the soft part and seeds. Cover and cook it slowly in its own steam until tender; then remove the cover and reduce it almost to dryness, using care that it does not burn. Press it through a colander. To two and one half cupfuls of pulp add two cupfuls of milk, one teaspoonful each of salt, butter, cinnamon, and ginger, one tablespoonful of molasses, two eggs, and sugar to taste. Add the beaten eggs last and after the mixture is cold. Pour it into an open cr
35 minute read
MINCE PIE MIXTURE
MINCE PIE MIXTURE
Mix the meat and suet together; then add all the dry ingredients and then the liquids. Pack in an earthen jar. It should stand several days before using, and will keep an indefinite time. The pies should be made of good puff paste for the upper crust and tart paste for the under one, the edge having three layers as directed on page 451 . The filling of mince meat should be one and a half inches thick. Paint the top crust with egg and trace with a pointed knife some simple design on it, cutting t
37 minute read
CREAM PIE
CREAM PIE
Sift the flour and baking-powder together; beat the yolks and sugar together; add the flour and lastly the whipped whites of the eggs. Bake this cake mixture in two layers, and place between them when cold, and just before serving, a thick layer of whipped cream. Have the top piece covered with a boiled icing, or use between the cakes a cream filling made as follows: Scald the milk; turn it onto the beaten egg; return it to the fire; add the flour moistened with a little milk, and the sugar, and
32 minute read
COCOANUT PIE
COCOANUT PIE
Line a tin basin which is two inches deep with pie paste, and bake it as directed for tart pies (page 452 ). Make a custard of one pint of milk, three egg-yolks, three tablespoonfuls of sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of corn-starch. Scald the milk and turn it onto the yolks and sugar beaten together; return it to the fire; add the corn-starch moistened with cold milk, and stir until well thickened; add one half teaspoonful of vanilla, and the whites of two eggs whipped to a froth; cook one minute
54 minute read
CRANBERRY PIE
CRANBERRY PIE
Chop one cupful of cranberries and a half cupful of seeded raisins together into small pieces; add to them a cupful of sugar, a half cupful of water, a tablespoonful of flour, and a teaspoonful of vanilla. Bake with an upper and under crust. This resembles cherry pie....
14 minute read
WASHINGTON PIE
WASHINGTON PIE
Make two round layer cakes, of sponge or of Genoese cake; spread between them a layer of pastry cream or of chocolate filling. Dust the top with powdered sugar in crossed lines to imitate strips of pastry. Pastry Cream —Boil with a pint of milk or water five tablespoonfuls of sugar; add two tablespoonfuls of corn-starch, the yolks of five eggs, and a tablespoonful of butter; stir until thickened, add flavoring, and when partly cool spread it on the cake. Chocolate Filling —Mix a half cupful of m
39 minute read
PUFF-PASTE
PUFF-PASTE
It is a mistake to consider the making of puff-paste too difficult for any but an experienced cook to undertake. No one need hesitate to attempt it, and if the few simple rules are strictly observed there will be success. The materials are few and inexpensive, and within the compass of the most moderate household. If light, good pastry can be substituted for the sodden crust of the ordinary pie, it will be found not only more palatable, but far more digestible and wholesome. Confections of puff-
13 minute read
RULES
RULES
If baking-powder or cream of tartar is used, sift it with the flour. Mix in an earthen bowl with a wooden spoon. Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately. Grease the tins with lard, as butter blackens. For some cakes it is better to line the pans with paper. Fruit. When fruit is used, roll it in flour, and add it the last thing. If the fruit is wanted in layers, add it while the mixture is being poured into the tins. Salt. Add one quarter teaspoonful of salt to all cakes. Sugary crust. I
1 minute read
HOW TO BEAT EGGS
HOW TO BEAT EGGS
Whites. Place the whites on a flat dish, being careful that not a particle of the yolk gets in. Add a pinch of salt, and with a daisy beater held flat whip the whites with an upward motion to a stiff, dry froth. It will take but a very few minutes if the eggs are fresh and cold. Yolks. Put the yolks in an earthen bowl, and with a wooden or silver spoon beat them until a lemon color. If sugar is used add it at this time, and stir until the whole becomes light and creamy....
29 minute read
HOW TO LINE TINS WITH PAPER
HOW TO LINE TINS WITH PAPER
Turn the tin bottom side up, lay over it the paper, and crease the circle for the bottom. Cut the paper in several places down to the circular mark, fold it around the pan, and cut away the paper that doubles over. Grease the paper, and fit it neatly inside the pan, leaving an inch of paper rising above the edge....
21 minute read
HOW TO GREASE PANS
HOW TO GREASE PANS
Flouring tins. Warm the pan, and with a brush spread evenly the lard or cottolene. For flat tins to be used for small cakes, brush them lightly with oil; then with a paper or cloth rub them dry, and sprinkle with flour. Jar them so the flour will completely cover them; then turn over the tins, and strike them against the table. All the superfluous flour will fall, leaving the tins lightly coated with flour. This will give a clean surface to the bottom of the cake....
25 minute read
HOW TO BAKE CAKE
HOW TO BAKE CAKE
Rising. The oven should be only moderately hot at first, so that the cake can get heated through, and can rise before forming a crust; the heat should then be increased, so that when the cake has been in the oven one half the time required for baking a light crust will be formed. It should rise evenly, and be smooth on top. When it rises in a cone in the center it is because the oven is too hot, and a crust has formed on the edges before it has had time to rise. Sometimes it rises on one side, s
1 minute read
MIXING CAKE MADE WITH BUTTER
MIXING CAKE MADE WITH BUTTER
Rub the butter until it is light and smooth. Add the sugar, and stir until creamy. If there is too much sugar to mix with the butter, beat one half with the yolks of the eggs. Add the beaten yolks to the creamed butter and sugar. (If only a little butter is used melt it, and add it to the yolks and sugar.) Next add the flavoring, and then the milk and flour alternately, until all are in. Beat the batter a few minutes to give it fine grain; then fold in the whipped whites of the eggs lightly. If
36 minute read
SPONGE-CAKE No. 2
SPONGE-CAKE No. 2
Weigh any number of eggs; take the same weight of sugar and one half the weight of flour; the grated rind and juice of one lemon to five eggs. For mixing this cake, see the directions given above ; the mixture should be very light and spongy, great care being used not to break down the whipped whites. The oven should be moderate at first, and the heat increased after a time. The cake must not be moved or jarred while baking. The time will be forty to fifty minutes, according to size of loaf. Use
38 minute read
SPONGE-CAKE No. 3
SPONGE-CAKE No. 3
Beat the yolks and sugar together for at least half an hour. It will not be right unless thoroughly beaten; add the lemon, then the whites beaten very stiff, and the flour last; sprinkle the top with sugar. Put it at once into a moderate oven. This is a moist cake and has a thick crust....
16 minute read
WHITE SPONGE, OR ANGEL CAKE
WHITE SPONGE, OR ANGEL CAKE
Put the cream of tartar into the flour and sift it five or six times; sift the sugar twice. Put a pinch of salt with the whites of the eggs and whip them very stiff; add the sugar to the whipped whites, placing it on the end of the platter and gradually beating it in from below; add the flour in the same way, and lastly add the flavoring. Do not stop beating after the mixing is begun, and keep the mixture light. Bake it in a perfectly bright ungreased pan, or one lined with paper; a pan with a t
1 minute read
GENOESE CAKE
GENOESE CAKE
Three eggs, and the same weight of butter, of sugar, and of flour. Beat the butter and sugar together until very light and creamy; add one saltspoonful of salt and flavoring (one half teaspoonful of vanilla or almond, or one table spoonful of brandy); then add the eggs one at a time and beat each one well before adding the next. Beat the mixture for fifteen to twenty minutes; then stir in lightly the sifted flour and turn it into a pan, filling it three quarters full. This cake can be used for l
31 minute read
JELLY ROLLS
JELLY ROLLS
Make a layer of Genoese, or of sponge-cake No. 1. Put the mixture on the layer tins in spoonfuls, placing it around the edges; then with a broad knife smooth it over toward the middle, making it as even as possible. Another way is to press it through a pastry bag in lines onto the tins. The layers should be only one half inch thick when baked, and the crust should not be hard. As soon as it is removed from the oven, and before it has had time to cool, cut off the hard edges, spread it with curra
36 minute read
LAYER CAKES: CHOCOLATE, VANILLA, COFFEE
LAYER CAKES: CHOCOLATE, VANILLA, COFFEE
Bake Genoese or sponge-cake No. 1 (one half the receipt will give three layers) in round layer tins, using three for each cake; when baked spread two of them with filling and pile them one on the other. Trim the outside with a sharp knife so it will show a white even edge instead of crust. Cover the top with a soft royal icing made of confectioners’ sugar and flavored the same as the filling....
22 minute read
CREAM FILLING
CREAM FILLING
Beat well together the yolks of five eggs, one half cupful of sugar, and one heaping tablespoonful of cornstarch; dilute it with two cupfuls of boiling milk, and stir it over the fire until thickened; then remove, add the flavoring, and let it cool. If coffee flavoring is wanted, use one half black coffee and one half milk. If chocolate, melt three or four ounces and add it to the custard....
20 minute read
ORANGE CAKE
ORANGE CAKE
Cream the butter; add the sugar, and beat for ten minutes; add the milk, and then add alternately the whipped eggs and the flour, the baking-powder having been sifted with the flour; add the lemon-juice last, and mix all lightly. Bake in layer tins; spread the layers with orange filling and frost the top with royal icing flavored with orange-juice and a little lemon....
18 minute read
ORANGE FILLING
ORANGE FILLING
Beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth. Boil one and one quarter cupfuls of sugar with one half cupful of water to the small ball (see page 512 ). Pour the boiling sugar in a very fine stream onto the whipped whites, beating hard all the time. Add the grated rind and juice of one orange and continue to beat until it is cold and the sugar is stiffened enough to place between the cakes without running....
23 minute read
PISTACHIO CAKE
PISTACHIO CAKE
Make three layers of cake after the receipt given for orange cake. Make a cream filling as directed for layer cakes. Flavor it with orange-flower water and a little bitter almond, to give the flavor of pistachio (see page 391 ), and color it a delicate green. Frost the top with a soft royal icing (page 484 ) made of confectioners’ sugar; color it a delicate light green and sprinkle the top with chopped pistachio nuts. This cake is rather soft and creamy, and should not be cut before going on the
27 minute read
PLAIN CUP CAKE
PLAIN CUP CAKE
Beat the butter and sugar to a cream; add the beaten yolks; then add slowly the water and three quarters of the flour. Beat it a long time until very smooth and light; then add the lemon and the rest of the flour in which the baking-powder is mixed; beat well together, and lastly add the whipped whites of the eggs. Bake in gem-pans, putting a tablespoonful of the mixture into each pan. Raisins may be added to this cake, or two ounces of melted chocolate may be used instead of the lemon-juice, ma
1 minute read
GOLD-AND-SILVER CAKE
GOLD-AND-SILVER CAKE
Use the receipt given for plain cup cake. Divide the materials; use the whites of the eggs with one part, the yolks and one whole egg with the other. Bake in separate tins; cut before serving; arrange the slices with the two colors alternating on a lace paper....
14 minute read
MARBLE CAKE
MARBLE CAKE
Make a mixture as directed for plain cup cake; divide it into three parts; color one with carmine, another with melted choco late (one ounce), and leave the third one white. Do this quickly, so the baking-powder will not lose its force before going into the oven. Pour the mixtures into a tin, alternating the colors twice; they will run together and make a mottled cake....
18 minute read
POUND-CAKE
POUND-CAKE
Use one pound each of butter, sugar, and flour; ten eggs; one quarter teaspoonful of mace and one half cupful of brandy. Mix as directed for butter-cake mixtures. Divide it into two loaves and bake in tins lined with paper forty to fifty minutes in a moderate oven. This cake may be filled with sliced citron and raisins if desired, or may have nuts mixed with it, making a nut cake, or some nuts may be sprinkled over the top before it goes in the oven....
24 minute read
WHITE CAKE
WHITE CAKE
Sift the soda with the flour three times; cream the butter and add the flour to it; whip the eggs to a stiff froth and add the sugar, then beat them gradually into the butter and flour, and add the lemon-juice. When it is thoroughly mixed and smooth put it into a biscuit or flat tin, so it will make a layer one and a half inches thick when done. Bake it in a moderate oven; while it is still warm spread it with royal icing (see page 483 ). Before the icing fully hardens, mark two lines down the l
59 minute read
PLAIN FRUIT CAKE
PLAIN FRUIT CAKE
Mix the materials in the order given, beating well each one before the next is added; add part of the flour and the milk at the same time, then the rest of the flour. Flour the fruit and add it last. More fruit can be used if desired. This will make one large or a dozen small cakes. Bake in a moderate oven about one hour if in one cake....
20 minute read
BROD TORTE
BROD TORTE
Put into a bowl the bread-crumbs, dried and pounded fine, the citron and almonds both chopped fine, the spices and lemon- rind and the chocolate grated fine; mix them thoroughly and evenly together. In a second bowl put the yolks of the nine eggs and whites of five with one and one half cupfuls of sugar. Beat them until quite stiff. In a third bowl put the whites of four eggs; beat them to a stiff froth; then stir in the remaining cupful of sugar. Now gradually and lightly mix the dry ingredient
1 minute read
FRUIT CAKE
FRUIT CAKE
Mix the fruit together and flour it; mix the spices with the sugar. Cream the butter and sugar; add the beaten yolks, then the whipped whites and the brandy, then the flour, and lastly the fruit. Put the mixture in two large tins lined with double paper, and bake in a moderate oven for three hours. If preferred, add the sliced citron in layers as the mixture is poured into the pans. One pound of chopped almonds may be substituted for one of the pounds of currants. This cake will keep any length
30 minute read
CREAM CAKES AND ÉCLAIRS
CREAM CAKES AND ÉCLAIRS
These are made of cooked paste, and are very easy to prepare. The cream cakes differ from the éclairs only in form and in not being iced. Put the water, sugar, salt, and butter in a saucepan on the fire. When the butter is melted remove; add to it the flour, and beat until it is a smooth paste; return it to the fire, and stir vigorously until the paste leaves the sides of the pan; then remove; let it partly cool, and then add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one for some time before adding
2 minute read
FANCY SMALL CAKES
FANCY SMALL CAKES
Add a half saltspoonful of salt to the whites of three eggs; beat them, and add gradually, while whipping, three quarters of a cupful of powdered sugar. Continue to beat until the mixture is smooth and firm enough to hold its shape without spreading when dropped in a ball; add the flavoring of lemon-juice or any essence. Place the meringue in a pastry-bag and press it through a tube into balls of the size desired onto strips of paper laid on a board that will fit the oven. With a wet knife flatt
7 minute read
JUMBLES, COOKIES, AND PLAIN CAKES
JUMBLES, COOKIES, AND PLAIN CAKES
Beat to a cream one cupful of butter with two cupfuls of sugar. Add three eggs, the yolks and whites beaten separately; then the flavoring. Stir in lightly enough flour to make a paste just firm enough to roll thin. Cut it into circles, and with a smaller cutter stamp out a small circle in the middle, leaving the jumbles in rings. Place them in a floured pan, brush the tops with white of egg, and sprinkle with pounded loaf sugar. The sugar should be in small lumps. Bake in a moderate oven to a l
3 minute read
ICING AND DECORATING CAKES
ICING AND DECORATING CAKES
Place the white of an egg in a bowl or plate. Add a little lemon-juice or other flavoring, and a few drops of water. Stir in powdered sugar until it is of the right consistency to spread. While the cake is still warm pile the icing on the center of the cake, and with a wet knife smooth it over the top and sides of the cake. It will settle into a smooth and glossy surface. If the icing is prepared before the cake is ready, cover it with a wet cloth, as it quickly hardens. If it becomes too stiff
4 minute read
GARNISHING CAKES
GARNISHING CAKES
The simplest of all garnishings is to sprinkle the cake with powdered sugar; strips of paper can be laid over the cake before it is dusted, so as to give lines or squares of white over the top; In lines or squares. stencils for this purpose are easily cut, giving circles or diamonds. Almonds, walnuts, or pistachio nuts. Brush the cake with white of egg and then sprinkle with nuts chopped or sliced fine; or the cake may be lightly coated with a red jelly or jam, and then sprinkled with chopped nu
2 minute read
TO DECORATE IN DESIGNS
TO DECORATE IN DESIGNS
Place royal icing in a pastry bag having a tube with small opening. Press the icing through slowly, following any design one may have in view. Points may be pricked in the flat icing at regular intervals as a guide. It requires some practice to acquire the facility for making very elaborate designs, but straight lines, dots, and circles around the cake are easy to make, and with these a great variety of combinations can be made. Tubes of various-shaped openings are made to give different forms t
10 minute read
CLASSIFICATION OF ICE-CREAMS
CLASSIFICATION OF ICE-CREAMS
Parfaits, biscuits, and mousses are whipped cream, with or without eggs, frozen without stirring. Water-ices are fruit-juices sweetened with sugar syrup, stirred while freezing. Punches and sherbets are water-ices with liquors mixed with them either before or after they are frozen. Fancy creams. These creams, in different degrees of richness and with different flavorings, give an infinite variety, and their combinations and forms of molding give all the fancy ices....
19 minute read
GENERAL RULES FOR MAKING ICE-CREAMS—TO PREPARE ICE-CREAM MIXTURES
GENERAL RULES FOR MAKING ICE-CREAMS—TO PREPARE ICE-CREAM MIXTURES
The cream. Unless the cream is to be whipped it should be scalded, as it then gives a smoother and better ice; otherwise it has a raw taste. It is scalded as soon as the water in the outside kettle boils. If the cream is too much cooked it will not increase in bulk when stirred, therefore do not boil the cream. When whipped cream is used it should be very cold, whipped to a stiff, firm froth with a wire whip, and the liquid which drains from it should not be used. (See whipping cream, page 408 .
8 minute read
RECEIPTS FOR ICE-CREAMS AND ICES
RECEIPTS FOR ICE-CREAMS AND ICES
If the cream is very rich dilute it with a little milk, or the ice-cream will be too rich, and also it may form fine particles of butter while being stirred. Put the cream and the sugar into a double boiler and scald them; when they are cold add the flavoring. If a vanilla bean is used it should be infused with the cream when it is scalded. Freeze and pack as directed in general directions, page 490 . Note. —Plain vanilla ice-cream is very good served with hot chocolate sauce. Page 447 . Scald t
11 minute read
PARFAITS
PARFAITS
This class of ice-creams is very easily made, as they are not stirred while freezing. The yolks of eggs are cooked with sugar syrup to a thick smooth cream, then flavored and beaten until cold and light, and mixed with drained whipped cream. They are then simply put into a mold and packed in ice and salt for three or four hours, according to size of mold. They are not solid like the custard ice-creams, but have a sponge-like texture. They should not be frozen too hard. It is because they have no
6 minute read
MOUSSES
MOUSSES
Whip a pint of cream very stiff; turn it onto a sieve to drain for a few minutes so it will be entirely dry. Return it to the bowl and whip into it lightly four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar and a tablespoonful of curaçao, of noyau, of kirsch, or of very black coffee, or a teaspoonful of any flavoring extract, or an ounce of chocolate, melted, and diluted with a little milk or cream, and flavor with a few drops of vanilla. When a liqueur is used for flavoring less sugar is needed than with co
1 minute read
WATER-ICES
WATER-ICES
Water-ices are made of fruit-juice sweetened with sugar syrup. Sugar may be used, but the result is better with syrup. The liquid mixture should register 20° on the syrup gauge, but if one is not at hand, it can be sweetened to taste. A good way of preparing it is to make a syrup of 32° and add enough fruit juice to dilute it to 20°. Freeze the same as ice-cream, and pack in salt and ice. The ices will not get so hard as creams. The following method may also be used: Boil a quart of water and tw
49 minute read
PUNCHES AND SHERBETS
PUNCHES AND SHERBETS
Serving. These ices are served in glasses after the joint or last entrée, and before the game. A quart is enough for twelve portions. Liquors. Punches differ from sherbets only in having a little Italian meringue added to them just before serving. They are simply water-ices with liquors added. Roman Punch has a cupful or two gills of rum added to a quart of lemon-ice. Punches having other names are made in the same way, but have other liquors or mixtures of liquors. These may be kirsch, kirsch a
1 minute read
BOILING SUGAR AND MAKING CANDIES
BOILING SUGAR AND MAKING CANDIES
To boil sugar is one of the niceties of cooking, but as the uses of boiled sugar in fancy cooking are so various, it is worth some practice to acquire the requisite skill. With the ordinary ways of testing, it requires much experience to tell the exact point at which to arrest the cooking, and on this the success depends. The stages named “thread,” “blow,” “ball,” etc., give the different degrees required for different purposes. It passes quickly from one to the other and needs careful watching
22 minute read
NOUGAT No. 1 (For Bonbons)
NOUGAT No. 1 (For Bonbons)
Blanch one cupful of almonds. Chop them and place them in the oven to dry. They must be watched that they do not brown. Put into a saucepan two and a half cupfuls of powdered sugar and a tablespoonful of lemon-juice. Place it on the fire and stir with a wooden spoon until it is melted and slightly colored. Let it stand a few minutes so it will be thoroughly melted and not grainy, then turn in the hot almonds, mix them together quickly, not stirring long enough to grain the sugar, and turn it ont
47 minute read
NOUGAT No. 2 (For Molding)
NOUGAT No. 2 (For Molding)
Put two cupfuls of granulated sugar into a saucepan with a half cupful of water. Let it boil to the crack (310°) without stirring (see boiling sugar, page 511 ), add a few drops of lemon-juice, and then turn in a half cupful of hot chopped blanched almonds which have been dried in the oven. Mix them together, stirring only enough to mix them and not grain the sugar. Pour it on an oiled marble slab, and press it as thin as an eighth of an inch or less. Cut the sheet of nougat into pieces of the r
1 minute read
NOUGAT No. 3 (Soft White Nougat)
NOUGAT No. 3 (Soft White Nougat)
Put into a saucepan the whites of three eggs whipped to a stiff froth; beat into them one pound of heated strained honey, then add a pound of sugar cooked to the ball, 236°. Continue beating until it attains 290°. A little of the mixture cooled in water will then crumble between the fingers. At this stage add a pound of sugar cooked to the crack, 310°, a pound of whole blanched almonds, and a few pistachio nuts. Pour the mixture into a dish lined with wafers, making the nougat one inch thick. Co
43 minute read
NOUGAT No. 4 (Bonbons)
NOUGAT No. 4 (Bonbons)
Blanch, chop, and dry without coloring one cupful of almonds. Melt one cupful of powdered sugar with one teaspoonful of lemon-juice, stirring all the time. When it is thoroughly melted and a delicate color, turn in the hot almonds. Mix them together and turn into an oiled tin. Press down the nougat evenly, leaving it an inch thick. Cut it in inch squares before it becomes hard. This nougat has only enough sugar to bind the nuts together....
22 minute read
BURNT ALMONDS
BURNT ALMONDS
Put a cupful of brown sugar into a saucepan with a very little water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Let it boil a minute, then throw in a half cupful of almonds and stir over the fire until the sugar granulates and is a little browned. When the nuts are well coated, and before they get into one mass, turn them out and separate any that have stuck together....
20 minute read
SUGARED ALMONDS
SUGARED ALMONDS
Put a cupful of granulated sugar in a saucepan with a little water. Stir until it is dissolved, then let it cook to the ball stage without touching except to test. Turn in a half cupful of blanched almonds and stir off the fire until the nuts are well covered with the granulated sugar, but turn them out before they become one mass. Boil another cupful of sugar to the ball, turn in the coated almonds and stir again in the same way, giving them a second coating of sugar, but not leaving them in th
42 minute read
MARRONS GLACÉ (Candied Chestnuts)
MARRONS GLACÉ (Candied Chestnuts)
Remove the shells from a dozen or more French chestnuts. Cover them with boiling water and let them stand a few minutes until the skins can be removed. Put them again in hot water and simmer slowly until the nuts are tender, but not soft. Put a cupful of sugar and a cupful of water in a saucepan and stir until dissolved. Add the boiled chestnuts and let them cook in the syrup until they look clear, then turn them onto a sieve, using care not to break the nuts, and let them cool. Return the strai
58 minute read
MARSHMALLOWS
MARSHMALLOWS
Soak four ounces of gum arabic in a cupful of water until it is dissolved. Strain it to take out any black specks that may be in the gum. Put the dissolved gum arabic into a saucepan with a half pound of powdered sugar. Place the saucepan in a second pan containing boiling water. Stir until the mixture becomes thick and white. When it begins to thicken, test it by dropping a little into cold water. When it will form a firm ball remove it from the fire, and stir into it the whites of three eggs w
1 minute read
CARAMELS
CARAMELS
Put into a saucepan a half cupful each of molasses, of white sugar and of brown sugar, a cupful of grated chocolate, and a cupful of cream or milk. Stir the mixture constantly over the fire until it reaches the hard-ball stage, then add a teaspoonful of vanilla and turn it onto an oiled slab between iron bars, or into a greased tin, having the paste an inch thick. Mark it in inch squares and cut before it is quite cold. Wrap each piece in paraffin paper. Put into a saucepan one cupful of sugar a
52 minute read
BONBONS OF FONDANT
BONBONS OF FONDANT
Take several small portions of fondant and color each one a different shade Do this by dipping a wooden toothpick into the coloring matter and then touching it to the paste. The colors are strong, and care must be used not to get too much on the fondant, for the candies should be delicate in color. For orange balls, color and flavor with orange-juice; for pistachio, color green and flavor with orange-flower water and then with bitter almond (see page 391 ); for pink, color with carmine and flavo
4 minute read
CANDIES MADE FROM SUGAR BOILED TO THE CRACK OR THE CARAMEL
CANDIES MADE FROM SUGAR BOILED TO THE CRACK OR THE CARAMEL
Boil a cupful of sugar to the hard-ball. Remove it from the fire; add a half teaspoonful of essence of peppermint and stir it just enough to mix in the flavoring and cloud the sugar. Drop it into starch molds or upon an oiled slab, letting four drops of the candy fall in exactly the same spot; it will then spread round and even. These drops should be translucent or a little white. Unless care is used the candy will grain before the drops are molded; therefore it is better to pour it from the spo
16 minute read
SALPICON OF FRUIT PUNCH
SALPICON OF FRUIT PUNCH
This is served in glasses, in place of and in the same way as frozen punch after the roast. Cut a pineapple into small dice; remove the bitter skin carefully from the segments of three shaddocks and cut them into pieces. Cut in two and remove the seeds from a pound of white grapes; mix the fruit together. Put a cupful of rum and a cupful of sugar into a saucepan on the fire and let them come to the boiling point, then pour them over the fruit and let stand until cold. The rum will not penetrate
38 minute read
JELLIED FRUIT
JELLIED FRUIT
Cut the pulp of two oranges into small pieces; cut two bananas into dice; cut half a dozen candied cherries into quarters; chop a dozen blanched almonds. Mix all lightly together and turn them into a bowl or a china mold. Soak a half ounce of gelatine in a half cupful of cold water for an hour; dissolve it in a cupful of boiling water; add a half cupful of sugar and stir over the fire until dissolved; then add the juice of half a lemon, the juice which has drained from the fruit, and a tablespoo
44 minute read
FRUIT JUICES
FRUIT JUICES
The juice of oranges, strawberries, currants, or any fruit makes a delicious first course for luncheon in summer time or the fruit season, when prepared as directed below. It is served cold in small glasses and eaten with a spoon. Take a quart of fruit-juice; this will require about a dozen oranges, or two quarts of strawberries or other juicy fruit; strain it through filter paper to make it clear (see page 415 ); put it in an earthenware or porcelain-lined saucepan on the fire, and as soon as i
44 minute read
COMPOTES
COMPOTES
For plain desserts. Compotes are fresh fruits stewed. They are good served with cake as a plain dessert. In combination with rice or other molded cereals they are a very wholesome sweet for children. Serving. Make a syrup of 28° (see page 513 ). When it is boiling drop the fruit in, a few pieces at a time, so it will not get broken or crushed. Let it cook until tender, but still firm enough to hold its form. Remove it carefully with a skimmer. Arrange the pieces in regular order, overlapping, or
38 minute read
APPLE COMPOTE
APPLE COMPOTE
Pare and core the apples; leave them whole, or cut them into halves, quarters, or thick round slices. Boil them until tender, and finish as directed above. Have a few slices of lemon in the syrup and serve them with the fruit. Pieces of cinnamon and cloves boiled with the fruit give a good flavor. For jellied apples boil down the syrup to the jelly point. When partly cooled pour it slowly with a spoon over the apples, so enough will adhere to give them a glaze. The center of the apples may be fi
29 minute read
COMPOTE OF ORANGES
COMPOTE OF ORANGES
Peel the oranges down to the pulp, using a sharp knife. Cut them in two crosswise. Remove with a pointed knife the core and seeds from the center. Boil them, one or two at a time, until tender, in a syrup with a little lemon-juice added, and be careful to keep them in good shape. Boil the syrup down until it threads, and pour it over the oranges piled in a glass dish. A candied cherry in the center of each one gives a pretty garnish. Orange compote is good served plain, or with whipped cream, wi
35 minute read
PRESERVING AND CANNING
PRESERVING AND CANNING
Sterilizing the fruit. The success of preserving and canning depends upon heating the fruit until all germs are destroyed, then sealing it air-tight while still scalding hot. In this way no new germs of ferment or mold can reach the fruit. Patent jars are generally used, and must be put into scalding water before being filled to prevent their breaking, and also to sterilize them. The preserve must be put into them scalding hot, a spoon-handle run down the sides to liberate any bubbles of air, th
6 minute read
CANNING
CANNING
Proportions. Canning does not differ from preserving, except in the amount of sugar used. A quarter of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit is the rule, but none at all need be used, as the fruit will keep just as well with out it if it is thoroughly sterilized by heat and immediately sealed. Fruits that require sugar when eaten fresh need sugar in like proportion when canned. The fruit may be boiled in a syrup of 14°, which is made of one pound of sugar to a quart of water, and bottled the same
4 minute read
JELLIES
JELLIES
To make clear jelly use only the perfect fruit. Pick it over carefully and remove the stems. Place it in a porcelain-lined kettle and crush it enough to give a little juice so it will not burn. Cook it slowly until the fruit is soft, then turn it into a heavy cloth and press out all the juice. Strain the juice several times if necessary, to make it clear. Passing it through filter paper is recommended. Measure the juice, and to each pint allow a pound of sugar. Put the sugar in the oven to heat,
5 minute read
FILTERED WATER
FILTERED WATER
Boiling the water. It is a recognized fact that many diseases are contracted through drinking impure water, yet many are so careless as not to take the simple means of removing this danger. It only requires boiling the water to destroy the germs. This, however, does not remove the foreign matter, such as decayed vegetable growth and other substances, therefore it is well to filter as well as to boil water. Many good filters are made which are cheap and easy to clean. The Gate City Stone Filter i
4 minute read
TEA
TEA
Scald the pot and immediately put into it the tea-leaves. When the water boils hard, pour upon the tea-leaves the required quantity of water. Shut down the cover of the tea-pot and let it stand just five minutes before serving. Proportions. To give the proportions of tea and water is impossible, as such different degrees of strength are demanded. One teaspoonful of tea to a pint of water, steeped five minutes, makes a weak tea. Two teaspoonfuls give the color of mahogany, if an English breakfast
2 minute read
COFFEE
COFFEE
It is generally understood that tea becomes air-drawn if not kept closely covered. It is also desirable to keep coffee in the same way. ⅔ Java, ⅓ Mocha. Mandhaling coffee, which is grown by the Dutch government on the island of Sumatra, is considered the finest coffee in the world. The finest Mocha which comes to this market contains twenty per cent. of “Long Bean.” The best-known mark of this coffee in New York is H. L. O. G. A favorite mixture is two thirds Mandhaling to one third Mocha. The o
8 minute read
KOUMISS
KOUMISS
Koumiss, which is simply fermented milk, can easily be made at home after the receipt given below, and can then be had sweet and is much more palatable than the acid koumiss sold at pharmacies. It is a valuable drink or diet for invalids with weak digestion, or for dyspeptics. For making koumiss it is necessary to have strong bottles (champagne bottles are best), and they must be scrupulously clean. Driving the corks. A corking machine is requisite for driving in the corks. This is placed over t
2 minute read
Chapter XXVII WINES
Chapter XXVII WINES
The temperance movement has made great advance since the days when it was not considered etiquette for a man to leave the table sober, and also from recent times when men lingered at the table after the ladies had withdrawn, to partake of strong liquors with their cigars. To-day there are some people who exclude wine entirely from their table, and many others who serve it only in moderation. It is common now to have but three kinds, such as sherry, claret and champagne, and sometimes only one. I
4 minute read