So many things in this part of Margaret's book call for white sauce, or cream sauce, that the rule for that came first of all.
White or Cream Sauce
1 tablespoonful of butter. 1 tablespoonful of flour. 1 cup hot milk or cream, one-third teaspoonful of salt.
Melt the butter, and when it bubbles put in the flour, shaking the saucepan as you do so, and rub till smooth. Put in the hot milk, a little at a time, and stir and cook without boiling till all is smooth and free from lumps. Add the salt, and, if you choose, a little pepper.
Cream sauce is made exactly as is white sauce, but cream is used in place of milk. What is called thick white sauce is made by taking two tablespoonfuls of butter and two of flour, and only one cup of milk.
Creamed Oysters
1 pint oysters. 1 large cup of cream sauce.
Make the sauce of cream if you have it, and if not use a very heaping tablespoonful of butter in the white sauce. Keep this hot.
Drain off the oyster-juice and wash the oysters by holding them under the cold-water faucet. Strain the juice and put the oysters back in it, and put them on the fire and let them just simmer till the edges of the oysters curl; then drain them from the juice again and drop them in the sauce, and add a little more salt (celery-salt is nice if you have it), and just a tiny bit of cayenne pepper. You can serve the oysters on squares of buttered toast, or put them in a large dish, with sifted bread-crumbs over the top and tiny bits of butter, and brown in the oven. Or you can put them in small dishes as they are, and put a sprig of parsley in each dish.
Panned Oysters
Take the oysters from their juice, strain it, wash the oysters, and put them back in. Put them in a saucepan with a little salt,—about half a teaspoonful to a pint of oysters,—and a little pepper, and a piece of butter as large as the end of your thumb. Let them simmer till the edges curl, just as before, and put them on squares of hot buttered toast.
Scalloped Oysters
1 pint of oysters. 12 large crackers, or 1 cup of bread-crumbs. 1/2 cup of milk. The strained oyster-juice.
Butter a deep baking-dish. Roll the crackers, or make the bread-crumbs of even size; some people like one better than the other, and you can try both ways. Put a layer of crumbs in the dish, then a layer of oysters, washed, then a sprinkling of salt and pepper and a few bits of butter. Then another layer of crumbs, oysters, and seasoning, till the dish is full, with crumbs on the top. Mix the milk and oyster-juice and pour slowly over. Then cover the top with bits of butter, and bake in the oven till brown—about half an hour.
You can put these oysters into small dishes, just as you did the creamed oysters, or into large scallop-shells, and bake them only ten or fifteen minutes. In serving, put a small sprig of parsley into each.
Pigs in Blankets
These were great fun to make, and Margaret often begged to get them ready for company.
15 large oysters. 15 very thin slices of bacon.
Sprinkle each oyster with a very little salt and pepper. Trim the rind from the bacon and wrap each oyster in one slice, pinning this ``blanket'' tightly on the back with a tiny Japanese wooden toothpick. Have ready a hot frying-pan, and lay in five oysters, and cook till the bacon is brown and the edges of the oysters curl, turning each over once. Put these on a hot plate in the oven with the door open, and cook five more, and so on. Put them on a long, narrow platter, with slices of lemon and sprigs of parsley around. Or you can put each one on a strip of toast which you have dipped in the gravy in the pan; this is the better way. This dish must be eaten very hot, or it will not be good.
Creamed Fish
2 cups of cold fish. 1 cup of white sauce.
Pick any cold fish left from dinner into even bits, taking out all the bones and skin, and mix with the hot white sauce. Stir until smooth, and add a small half-teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
You can put this in a buttered baking-dish and cover the top with crumbs and bits of butter, and brown in the oven, or you can put it in small dishes and brown also, or you can serve it just as is, in little dishes.
Creamed Lobster
1 lobster, or the meat from 1 can. 1 large cup of white or cream sauce.
Take the lobster out of the shell and clean it; Bridget will have to show you how the first time. Or, if you are using canned lobster, pour away all the juice and pick out the bits of shell, and find the black string which is apt to be there, and throw it away. Cut the meat in pieces as large as the end of your finger, and heat it in the sauce till it steams. Put in a small half-teaspoonful of salt, a pinch of cayenne, and a squeeze of lemon. Do not put this in a large dish, but in small ones, buttered well, and serve at once. Stand a little claw up in each dish.
Creamed Salmon
1 can salmon. 1 cup of white sauce.
Prepare this dish exactly as you did the plain creamed white fish. Take it out of the can, remove all the juice, bones, and fat, and put in the white sauce, and cook a moment till smooth. Add a small half-teaspoonful of salt, a little pepper, and a squeeze of lemon, and put in a baking-dish and brown, or serve as it is, in small dishes.
Scalloped Lobster or Salmon
1 can of fish, or 1 pint. 1 large cup of cracker or bread crumbs. 1 large cup of white sauce.
Prepare this dish almost as you did the scalloped oysters. Take out all the bones and skin and juice from the fish; butter a baking-dish, put in a layer of fish, then salt and pepper, then a layer of crumbs and butter, and a layer of white sauce, then fish, seasoning, crumbs and butter again, and have the crumbs on top. Dot over with butter and brown in the oven, or serve in small dishes.
Crab Meat in Shells
You can buy very nice, fresh crab meat in tins, and the shells also. A very delicious dish is made by mixing a cup of rich cream sauce with the crab meat, seasoning it well with salt and pepper and putting in the crab-shells; cover with crumbs, dot with butter, and brown in the oven. This is a nice thing to have for a company luncheon.
Creamed Chicken or Turkey
2 cups of cold chicken. 1 large cup of white or creamed sauce. 1/2 teaspoonful of chopped parsley. Salt and pepper.
Pick the chicken or turkey off the bones and cut into small bits before you measure it. Heat it in the sauce till very hot, but do not let it boil, and add the seasoning,—about half a teaspoonful of salt, and a tiny bit of cayenne, or as much celery-salt in the place of the common kind. Put in a large buttered dish and serve, or in small dishes, either with crumbs on top or not.
A nice addition to this dish is half a green pepper, the seeds taken out, chopped very fine indeed, and mixed with the white meat; the contrast of colors is pretty and the taste improved.
Scalloped Eggs
6 hard-boiled eggs. 1 cup cream or white sauce. 1 cup fine bread-crumbs. Salt and pepper.
Cook the eggs twenty minutes, and while they are cooking make the white sauce, and butter one large or six small dishes. Peel the eggs and cut them into bits as large as the end of your finger. Put a layer of bread-crumbs on the bottom of the dish, then a layer of egg, then a sprinkling of salt, pepper, and bits of butter, then a layer of white sauce. Then more crumbs, egg, and seasoning, till the dish is full, with crumbs on top. Put bits of butter over all and brown in the oven.
Eggs in Double Cream
This is a rule Margaret's Pretty Aunt got in Paris, and it is a very nice one. Have half a pint of very thick cream—the kind you use to whip; the French call this double cream. Cook six eggs hard and cut them into bits. Butter a baking-dish, or small dishes, and put in a layer of egg, then a layer of cream, then a sprinkling of salt, and one of paprika, which is sweet red pepper. Put one thin layer of fine, sifted crumbs on top with butter, and brown in the oven. Or you can put the eggs and cream together and heat them, and serve on thin pieces of buttered toast, with one extra egg put through the ricer over the whole.
Creamed Eggs in Toast
Make small pieces of nice toast and dip each one in white sauce. Boil hard four eggs, and cut in even slices and cover the toast, and then spread the rest of the white sauce over all in a thin layer.
Devilled Eggs
6 eggs. 2 saltspoonfuls of dry mustard. 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. 1 saltspoonful of cayenne pepper. 1 teaspoonful of olive-oil or cream. 1 large tablespoonful of chopped ham. 1/2 teaspoonful of vinegar.
Boil the eggs hard for twenty minutes, and put them in cold water at once to get perfectly cold so they will not turn dark. Then peel, cut in halves and take out the yolks. Put these in a bowl, and rub in the seasoning, but you can leave out the ham if you like. With a small teaspoon, put the mixture back into the eggs and smooth them over with a knife.
If you do not serve these eggs with cold meat it is best to lay them on lettuce when you send them to the table.
Eggs in Beds
Chop a cup of nice cold meat, and season with a little salt, pepper and chopped parsley. Add enough stock or hot water just to wet it, and cook till rather dry. Put this in buttered baking-dishes, filling each half-full, and on top of each gently slip from a cup one egg. Sprinkle over with salt and pepper, and put in the oven till firm.
Shepherd's Pie
This was a dish Margaret used to make on wash-day and house-cleaning day, and such times when everybody was busy and no one wanted to stop and go to market to buy anything for luncheon.
1 cup of chopped meat. 1 cup of boiling water. 1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley. 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. 1 teaspoonful of lemon juice, or 1/2 teaspoonful Worcestershire sauce. Butter the size of a hickory-nut. 2 cups hot mashed potato.
If the potato is cold, put half a cup of hot milk in it, beat it up well, and stand it on the back of the stove. Then mix all the other things with the meat, and put it in the frying-pan and let it cook till it seems rather dry. Butter a baking-dish, and cover the sides and bottom with a layer of potato an inch thick. Put the meat in the centre and cover it over with potato and smooth it. Put bits of butter all over the top, and brown it in the oven. Serve with this a dish of chow-chow, or one of small cucumber pickles.
Chicken Hash
1 cup of cold chicken, cut in small, even pieces. 1/2 cup chicken stock, or hot water. 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley. 1/2 teaspoonful salt. A pinch of pepper. Butter the size of a hickory-nut.
Put the chicken stock,—which is the water the chicken was cooked in, or chicken broth,—or, if there is none, the hot water, into the frying-pan, and mix in the chicken and seasoning, and cook and stir till it is rather dry. Serve as it is, or on squares of buttered toast. You can make any cold meat into hash this way, having it different every time. Sometimes you can put in the chopped green pepper, as before, or a slice of chopped onion, or a cup of hot, seasoned peas; or, leave out half the soup or water, and put in a cup of stewed tomato.
Broiled Sardines
These little fish are really not broiled at all, but that is the name of the nice and easy dish. Take a box of large sardines and drain off all the oil, and lay them on heavy brown paper while you make four slices of toast. Trim off the edges and cut them into strips, laying them in a row on a hot platter. Put the sardines into the oven and make them very hot, and lay one on each strip of toast and sprinkle them with lemon juice, and put sliced lemon and sprigs of parsley all around.
Cheese Fondu
This was a recipe the Pretty Aunt put in Margaret's book out of the one she had made at cooking school.
1 cup fresh bread-crumbs. 2 cups grated cheese. 1 cup of milk. 1 bit of soda as large as a pea. 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. 1 pinch of red pepper. 1 teaspoonful of butter. 2 eggs.
Put the butter in a saucepan to heat while you beat the eggs light without separating them; let these stand while you stir everything else into the pan, beginning with the milk; cook this five minutes, stirring all the time, and then put in the eggs and cook three minutes more. Put six large crackers on a hot platter and pour the whole over them, and send at once to the table to be eaten very hot. Sometimes Margaret made three or four slices of toast before she began the fondu, and used those in place of the crackers, and the dish was just as nice.
Easy Welsh Rarebit
2 cups of rich cheese, grated. Yolks of two eggs. 1/2 cup of milk. 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. Saltspoonful of cayenne.
Make three nice slices of toast, cut off the crusts, and cut each piece in two. Butter these, and very quickly dip each one in boiling water, being careful not to soak them. Put these on a hot platter in the oven. Put the milk in a saucepan over the fire, being careful not to have one that is too hot, only moderate, and when it boils up put in the cheese and stir without stopping, until the cheese all melts and it looks smooth. Then put in the beaten yolks of the eggs and the seasoning, and pour at once over the toast and serve very hot. Many people like a saltspoonful of dry mustard mixed in with the pepper. You can also serve this rarebit on toasted and buttered crackers.
Scalloped Cheese
6 slices of bread. 3/4 of a pound of cheese. 2 eggs. 1 tablespoonful of butter. 1 cup of cream. 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. 1/2 teaspoonful of dry mustard. 1/4 teaspoonful of paprika.
Butter the bread and cut it into strips, and line the bottom and sides of a baking-dish with it. Then beat the eggs very light without separating them, and mix everything with them; put in the dish and bake half an hour, and serve at once.
Veal Loaf
1 1/2 pounds of veal and 2 strips of salt pork, chopped together. 1/2 cup of bread-crumbs. 1 beaten egg. 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg. 1/2 teaspoonful of black pepper. 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of salt. Bake three hours.
Have the butcher chop the meat all together for you; then put everything together in a dish and stir in the egg, beaten without separating, and mix very well. Press it into a bread-pan and put in the oven for three hours by the clock.
Every half-hour pour over it a tablespoonful hot water and butter mixed; you can put a tablespoonful of butter into a cup of water, and keep it on the back of the stove ready all the time; after the meat has baked two hours, put in a piece of heavy brown paper over the top, and keep it there till it is done, or it may get too brown. This is to slice cold; it is very nice for a picnic.
Pressed Chicken
This was one of the things Margaret liked to make for Sunday night supper. Have a good-sized chicken cut up, and wipe each piece with a clean, damp cloth. Put them in a kettle or deep saucepan and cover with cold water, and cook very slowly and gently, covered, till the meat falls off the bones. When it begins to grow tender, put in a half teaspoonful of salt. Take it out, and cut it up in nice, even pieces, and put all the bones back into the kettle, and let them cook till there is only about a pint and a half of broth. Add a little more salt, and a sprinkling of pepper, and strain this through a jelly bag. Mix it with the chicken, and put them both into a bread tin, and when cold put on ice over night. After it has stood for an hour, put a weight on it, to make it firm. Slice with a very sharp knife, and put on a platter with parsley all around. This is a nice luncheon dish for a summer day, as well as a supper dish.
When you have bits of cold meat which you cannot slice, and yet which you wish to serve in some nice way, make this rule, which sounds difficult, but is really very easy:
Meat Soufflé
1 cup of white sauce. 1 cup of chopped meat. 2 eggs. Teaspoonful of chopped parsley. Half a teaspoonful minced onion.
Put the parsley and onion in the meat, and mix with the white sauce. Beat the yolks of the eggs and stir in, and cook one minute, and then cool. Beat the whites of the eggs and fold in, and bake half an hour, or a little more, in a deep, buttered baking-dish. You must serve this immediately, or it will fall.
Cold Meats
Of course, like other people, Margaret's mother often had cold meat for luncheon or supper, and one of the things her cook-book told her was how to make it look nice when it came on the table.
Always trim off all bits of skin and ragged pieces from the meat, and remove the cold fat, except on ham, and then you must trim it to a rather narrow edge. If you have a rather small dish for a large family, put slices of hard boiled eggs around the edge, or make devilled eggs, and put those around in halves. Sometimes you can cut lettuce in very narrow ribbons by holding several leaves in your hand at once, folding them lengthwise, and using a pair of scissors. Sometimes a dozen pimolas may be sliced across and put about the meat, especially if it is cold chicken or turkey. Always use parsley with meat, cold or hot. Saratoga potatoes make a good border for lamb or roast beef, and cold peas mixed with mayonnaise are always delicious with either chicken or lamb. If only the dish looks pretty, it is almost certain to taste well.
Sliced Meat with Gravy
When there are a few slices left from a roast, put them in a frying-pan with some of the gravy left also, and heat; serve with parsley around.
If there is not gravy, take a little boiling water, add a little salt, pepper, and half-teaspoonful of minced onion, and as much chopped parsley. Lay in the meat in the frying-pan, cover, and let it simmer, turning occasionally. A few drops of Kitchen Bouquet will improve this; it is a brown sauce which comes in small bottles.
Some of the things Margaret made for breakfast she made for lunch or supper, too, such as frizzled beef, and scalloped eggs and omelettes. She had some vegetables besides, such as—
Baked Tomatoes
6 large tomatoes. 1 cup bread-crumbs. 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. 1 tablespoonful of butter. 1 slice of onion.
Put the butter in the frying-pan, and when it bubbles put in the bread-crumbs, the salt and onion, with a dusting of pepper, and stir till the crumbs are a little brown and the onion is all cooked; then take out the onion and throw it away. Wipe the tomatoes with a clean wet cloth, and cut out the stem and a round hole or little well in the middle; fill this with the crumbs, piling them up well on top; put them in a baking-dish and stand them in a hot oven; mix a cup of hot water with a tablespoonful of butter, and every little while take out the baking-dish and wet the tomatoes on top. Cook them about half an hour, or till the skins get wrinkled all over. Serve them in the dish they are cooked in, if you like, or put each one on a small plate, pour some of the juice in the baking-dish over it, and stick a sprig of parsley in the top.
Stuffed Potatoes
Wash six large potatoes and scrub them with a little brush, till they are a nice clean light brown, and bake them for half an hour in a hot oven; or, if they are quite large, bake them till they are soft and puffy. Cut off one end from each and take out the inside with a teaspoon, holding the potato in a towel as you do so, for it will be very hot. Mix well this potato with two tablespoonfuls of rich milk or cream, a half-teaspoonful of salt and just as much butter, and put this back into the shells. Stand the potatoes side by side in a pan close together, the open ends up, till they are browned.
The Other Aunt said Margaret could never, never make salads, but her mother said they were the easiest thing of all to learn, so she did put them in just the same; she bought a tin of olive oil from the Italian grocery, because it was better and cheaper than bottled oil, and she gave Margaret one important direction, ``When you make salads, always have everything very cold,'' and after that the rules were easy to follow, and the salads were as nice as could be.
French Dressing
3 tablespoonfuls of oil. 1/2 teaspoonful lemon juice or vinegar. 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. 3 shakes of pepper.
Stir together till all is well mixed.
Many people prefer this dressing without pepper and with a saltspoonful of sugar in its place; you can try it both ways.
Tomato and Lettuce Salad
Peel four tomatoes; you can do this most easily by pouring boiling water over them and skinning them when they wrinkle, but you must drain off all the water afterward, and let them get firm in the ice-box; wash the lettuce and gently pat it dry with a clean cloth; slice the tomatoes thin, pour off the juice, and arrange four slices on each plate of lettuce, or mix them together in the large bowl, and pour the dressing over.
Egg Salad
Cut up six hard-boiled eggs into quarters, lay them on lettuce, and pour the dressing over. Or pass a dish of them with cold meat.
Fish Salad
Pick up cold fish and pour the dressing over it, and put two sliced hard-boiled eggs around it; a few tips of celery, nice white ones, are pretty around the whole.
Cauliflower Salad
Take cold boiled cauliflower and pick it up into nice pieces; pour the dressing over, and put on the ice till you need it.
String Bean Salad
Take cold string beans, either the green ones or the yellow, pour the dressing over, put on ice, and serve on lettuce. Any cold vegetables can be used besides these, especially asparagus, while lettuce alone is best of all.
Pineapple Salad
Put large bits of picked-up pineapple on white lettuce, and pour the dressing over.
Orange or Grapefruit Salad
Peel three oranges or one grapefruit, and scrape off all the white lining of the skin. Divide it into sections, or ``quarters,'' and with the scissors cut off the thin edge; turn down the transparent sides and cut these off, too, scraping the pulp carefully, so as not to waste it. Take out all the seeds; lay the pieces on lettuce, and pour the dressing over. White grapes, cut in halves, with the seeds taken out, are nice mixed with this, and pineapple, grapes, and oranges, with a little banana, are delicious.
Mayonnaise
Yolk of 1 egg. 1/2 cup of olive-oil. 1 tablespoonful of lemon juice or vinegar. 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. Pinch of red pepper.
Put the yolk of the egg into a very cold bowl; it is better to put the bowl, the egg, the oil, and the beater all on the ice a half-hour before you need them, for then the mayonnaise comes quicker. With a Dover egg-beater beat till the yolk is very light indeed; then have some one else begin to put in the oil, one drop at a time, till the mayonnaise becomes so thick it is difficult to turn the beater; then put in a drop or two of lemon or vinegar, and this will thin it so you can use the oil again; keep on doing this till you have nearly a cup of the dressing; if you need more oil than the rule calls for, use it, and toward the last add it two or three drops at a time. When you have enough, and it is stiff enough, put in the pepper and salt and it is done. Never use mustard except with lobster, as this will spoil the taste. Some salads, especially fruit and vegetable, need very thick mayonnaise, and then it is better to make it with lemon juice, while a fish salad, or one to use with meats, may be thinner, and then the vinegar will do; the lemon juice makes it thick. Always taste it before using it, to see if it is just right, and, if not, put in more salt, or whatever it needs. You will soon learn. Most people think mayonnaise is very difficult to make, but, really, it is as easy as baking potatoes, after you have once learned how. Every salad given before is just as nice with mayonnaise as with French dressing, and you can try each one both ways; then there are these, which are better with mayonnaise.
Chicken Salad
1 cup of chicken cut in large bits. 1/2 cup of celery, cut up and then dried. 2 hard-boiled eggs, cut into good-sized pieces. 6 olives, stoned and cut up. 1/2 cup mayonnaise.
Mix all very lightly together, as stirring will make the salad mussy; put on lettuce.
Lobster Salad
1 cup of lobster, cut in large bits. 2 hard-boiled eggs, cut in pieces. 1/2 teaspoonful of dry mustard, stirred in. 1/2 cup of mayonnaise.
Mix and put on lettuce.
Celery Salad
2 heads of celery. 3 hard-boiled eggs (or else 1 cup of English walnuts). 1/2 cup very stiff mayonnaise.
Wash, wipe, and cut the celery into pieces as large as the first joint of your little finger, and then rub it in a clean towel till it is as dry as can be. Cut up the eggs, sprinkle all with salt, and add the mayonnaise and lay on lettuce. Or mix the celery and the walnuts and mayonnaise; either salad is nice.
Celery and Apple Salad
2 sweet apples. 1 head of celery. 1/2 cup of English walnuts, broken up. 1/2 cup mayonnaise.
Peel the apples and cut into very small bits; chop the celery and press in a towel; chop or break up the walnuts, but save two halves for each person besides the half-cupful you put in the salad. Mix all together, lay on white hearts of lettuce on plates, and then put the walnuts on top, two on each plate.
Cabbage Salad
1/2 a small cabbage. 1 cup very stiff mayonnaise. 1 teaspoonful celery-seed.
Cut the cabbage in four pieces and cut out the hard core; slice the rest very fine on the cutter you use for Saratoga potatoes; mix with the mayonnaise and put in the salad-dish; sprinkle over with celery-seed, when you wish it to be very nice, but it will do without this last touch.
Cabbage Salad in Green Peppers
Wipe green peppers and cut off the small end of each. Take out the seed and the stem; fill each pepper with the cabbage salad, letting it stand out at the top; put each one on a plate on a leaf of lettuce.
Stuffed Tomato Salad
1 cup of cut-up celery. 1/2 cup of English walnuts. 6 small, round tomatoes. 1/2 cup of mayonnaise.
Peel the tomatoes and scoop out as much of the inside as you can, after cutting a round hole in the stem end; make a salad with the celery, the cut-up walnuts, and the mayonnaise, and fill the tomatoes, letting it stand up well on top. Serve on plates, each one on a leaf of lettuce.
Potato Salad
3 cold boiled potatoes. 3 hard-boiled eggs. 1/2 cup English walnuts. 12 olives.
Break up the walnuts, saving a dozen halves unbroken. Cut the potatoes and eggs into bits of even size, as large as the tip of your finger; stone the olives and cut them up, too; mix them together in a bowl, but do not stir them much, or you will break the potatoes; sprinkle well with French dressing, and put on the ice; when it is lunch or supper time, mix quickly, only once, with stiff mayonnaise, and put on lettuce; this is a delicious salad to have with cold meats.
Margaret's mother liked to have gingerbread or cookies for lunch often, so those things came next in the cook-book.
Gingerbread
1 cup molasses. 1 egg. 1 teaspoonful of soda. 1 teaspoonful of ginger. 1 tablespoonful melted butter. 1/2 cup of milk. 2 cups of flour.
Beat the eggs without separating, but very light; put the soda into the molasses, put them in the milk, with the ginger and butter, then one cup of flour, measure in a medium-sized cup and only level, then the egg, and last the rest of the flour. Bake in a buttered biscuit-tin. For a change, sometimes add a teaspoonful of cloves and cinnamon, mixed, to this, and a cup of chopped almonds. Or, when the gingerbread is ready for the oven drop over halves of almonds.
Soft Gingerbread, to Be Eaten Hot
1 cup of molasses. 1/2 cup boiling water. 1/4 cup melted butter. 1 1/2 cups flour. 3/4 teaspoonful soda. 1 teaspoonful ginger. 1/2 teaspoonful salt.
Put the soda in the molasses and beat it well in a good-sized bowl, then put in the melted butter, ginger, salt, and flour, and beat again, and add last the water, very hot indeed. Have a buttered tin ready, and put it at once in the oven; when half-baked, it is well to put a piece of paper over it, as all gingerbread burns easily.
You can add cloves and cinnamon to this rule, and sometimes you can make it and serve it hot as a pudding, with a sauce of sugar and water, thickened and flavored.
Ginger Cookies
1/2 cup butter. 1 cup molasses. 1/2 cup brown sugar. 1 teaspoonful ginger. 1 tablespoonful mixed cinnamon and cloves. 1 teaspoonful soda, dissolved in a tablespoonful of water. Flour enough to make it so stiff you cannot stir it with a spoon.
Melt the molasses and butter together on the stove, and then take the saucepan off and add the rest of the things in the recipe, and turn the dough out on a floured board and roll it very thin, and cut in circles with a biscuit-cutter. Put a little flour on the bottom of four shallow pans, lift the cookies with the cake-turner and lay them in, and put them in the oven. They will bake very quickly, so you must watch them. When you want these to be extra nice, put a teaspoonful of mixed cinnamon and cloves in them and sprinkle the tops with sugar.
Grandmother's Sugar Cookies
1 cup of butter. 2 cups of sugar. 2 eggs. 1 cup of milk. 2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. 1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla. Flour enough to roll out easily.
Rub the butter and sugar to a cream; put in the milk, then the eggs beaten together lightly, then two cups of flour, into which you have sifted the baking-powder; then the vanilla. Take a bit of this and put it on the floured board and see if it ``rolls out easily,'' and, if it does not, but is soft and sticky, put in a handful more of flour. These cookies must not be any stiffer than you can help, or they will not be good, so try not to use any more flour than you must.
They usually had tea for luncheon or supper at Margaret's house, but sometimes they had chocolate instead, so these things came next in the cook-book.
Tea
1/2 teaspoonful of black tea for each person. 1/2 teaspoonful for the pot. Boiling water.
Fill the kettle half-full of fresh, cold water, because you cannot make good tea with water which has been once heated. When it is very hot, fill the china teapot and put it where it will keep warm. When the water boils very hard, empty out the teapot, put in the tea, and put on the boiling water; do not stand it on the stove, as too many people do, but send it right to the table; it will be ready as soon as it is time to pour it—about three minutes. If you are making tea for only one person, you will need a teaspoonful of tea, as you will see by the rule, and two small cups of water will be enough. If for more, put in a half-teaspoonful for each person, and one cup of water more.
Iced Tea
Put in a deep pitcher one teaspoonful of dry tea for each person and two over. Pour on a cup of boiling water for each person, and cover the pitcher and let it stand five minutes. Then stir well, strain and pour while still hot on large pieces of ice. Put in a glass pitcher and serve a bowl of cracked ice, a lemon, sliced thin, and a bowl of powdered sugar with it. Pour it into glasses instead of cups.
Lemonade
Sometimes in the afternoon Margaret's aunts had tea and cakes or wafers, and in summer they often had iced tea or lemonade. This is the way Margaret made lemonade:
Squeeze four lemons, and add ten teaspoonfuls of powdered sugar; stir till it dissolves. Add six glasses of water, and strain. Pour in a glass pitcher, and serve with glasses filled half-full of cracked ice. If you want this very nice, put a little shredded pineapple with the lemons. Sometimes the juice of red raspberries is liked, also.
Lemonade with Grape-juice
Make the lemonade as before, and add half as much bottled grape-juice, but do not put in any other fruit. Serve with plenty of ice, in small glasses.
Chocolate
2 cups boiling water. 2 cups of boiling milk. 4 teaspoonfuls grated chocolate. 4 teaspoonfuls of sugar.
Scrape the chocolate off the bar, mix it with the boiling water, and stir till it dissolves; mix the milk and sugar in them and boil for one minute. If you wish to have it nicer, put a small teaspoonful of vanilla in the chocolate-pot, and pour the hot chocolate in on it when it is done, and have a little bowl of whipped cream to send to the table with it, so that one spoonful may be put on top of each cup.
Cocoa
6 teaspoonfuls of cocoa. 1 1/2 cups of boiling water. 1 1/2 cups of boiling milk. 1 tablespoonful powdered sugar.
Put the cocoa into the boiling water and stir till it dissolves, then put in the boiling milk and boil hard two minutes, stirring it all the time; take from the fire and put in the sugar and stir again. If you like it quite sweet, you may have to use more sugar.
At first, of course, Margaret could not get dinner all alone; indeed, it took her almost a year to learn how to cook everything needed,—soup, vegetables, meat, salad, and dessert; but at first she helped Bridget, and each day she cooked something. Then she began to arrange very easy dinners when Bridget was out, such as cream soup, beefsteak or veal cutlet, with potatoes and one vegetable, and a plain lettuce salad, with a cold dessert made in the morning. The first time she really did every single thing alone, Margaret's father gave her a dollar; he said it was a ``tip'' for the best dinner he ever ate.
The soups in the little cook-book began with those made of milk and vegetables, because they were so easy to make, and, when one was learned, all were made in the same way. First there was—
The General Rule
1 pint of fresh vegetable, cut up in small pieces, or one can. 1 pint of boiling water. 1 pint of hot milk. 1 tablespoonful of flour. 1 tablespoonful of butter. 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. 3 shakes of pepper.
After the vegetable is washed and cut in very small pieces, put it in the pint of water and cook it for twenty minutes. Or, if you use a canned vegetable, cook it ten minutes. While it is cooking, make the rule for white sauce as before: Melt one tablespoonful of butter, and when it bubbles put in one tablespoonful of flour, with the salt and pepper; shake well, and rub till smooth and thick with the hot milk. Take the vegetable from the fire and press it through the wire sieve, letting the water go through, too; mix with the sauce and strain again, and it is done.
Almost all soups are better for one very thin slice of onion cooked with the vegetable. When you want a cream soup very nice indeed, whip a cup of cream and put in the hot soup-tureen, and pour the soup in on it, beating it a little, till it is all foamy.
Cream of Corn
1 pint of fresh grated corn, or one can. 1 pint of water. 1 pint of hot milk. 1 tablespoonful of flour. 1 tablespoonful of butter. 1/2 teaspoonful of salt. 3 shakes of pepper. 1 thin slice of onion.
Cook the corn with the water; make the white sauce with the milk; strain the corn and water through the sieve, pressing well, and add the milk and strain again.
Cream of Green Peas
1 pint of peas, or one can. Milk, water, and seasoning, as before; mix by the general rule.
In winter-time you can make a nice soup by taking dried peas, soaking them overnight, and using them as you would fresh.
All pea soup should have dropped in it just before serving what are called croutons; that is, small, even cubes of bread toasted to a nice brown in the oven, or put in a frying-pan with a tiny bit of butter, and browned.
Cream of Lima Beans
1 pint of fresh or canned beans, or those which have been soaked.
Use milk, water, thickening, and seasoning as before. Add a slice of onion, as these beans have little taste, and beat the yolk of an egg and stir in quickly, after you have taken the soup from the fire, just before you strain it for the second time.
Cream of Potato
This is one of the best and most delicate soups.
5 freshly boiled potatoes. 1 slice of onion. 1 quart of hot milk. 1 small teaspoonful of salt. 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley.
This soup has no water in it, because that which has had potatoes boiled in it is always spoiled for anything else and must always be thrown away. This is why you must take a quart of milk instead of a pint. There is no thickening in the soup, because the potatoes will thicken it themselves. Put the parsley in at the very last, after the soup is in the tureen.
The yolk of an egg beaten and put in before the second straining is nice sometimes in this soup, but not necessary.
Cream of Almonds
This was what Margaret called a Dinner-party Soup, because it seemed almost too good for every day, but, as her mother explained, almonds cost no more than canned tomatoes or peas, and the family can have the soup as well as guests, provided one has plenty of cream.
1 cup of chopped almonds. 1 quart of thin cream. Small half-teaspoonful of salt.
Get ten cents' worth of Jordan almonds, and put them in boiling water for one minute; then pour off the water and put on cold, till they are well chilled. Turn this off, and push the almonds out of their skins, one by one. If they stick, it is because they were not in the hot water long enough, and you must put them back into it, and then into the cold. Chop them while the cream heats in the double boiler, and then put them in with the salt, and simmer ten minutes and then strain.
This soup is especially delicious if whipped cream is either mixed with it at the end, or served on top.
You can also make good almond soup by using the regular rule; cooking the chopped nuts in a pint of water, adding the thickened pint of milk and seasoning, and straining twice. Then, after it is in the tureen, you must put in the egg-beater and whip well, to make it light.
Cream of Spinach
1 pint cold cooked spinach. 1 quart of milk.
Heat the spinach, using a little of the quart of milk with it, and press through the sieve; thicken the rest of the milk, and the seasoning, and strain again. It is better to use cayenne pepper instead of black with spinach.
Cream of Tomato Soup, Called Tomato Bisque.
4 large tomatoes, cut up, or 1/2 can, with 1/2 cup of water. 2 slices of onion. 2 sprigs of parsley. 1 teaspoonful of sugar. 1/2 teaspoonful salt. 1/4 teaspoonful soda. 1 quart of milk. 1 tablespoonful butter. 1 tablespoonful flour.
Cook the tomatoes with the onion, parsley, sugar, and salt for twenty minutes. Mix in the soda and stir well; the soda prevents the milk from curdling. Make the milk and flour and butter into white sauce as usual; strain the tomato, mix the two, and strain again.
Sometimes add a stalk of celery to the other seasoning as it cooks.
Cream of Clams
1 dozen hard clams, or one bunch of soft ones. 1 quart of rich milk. 1 tablespoonful butter. 1 tablespoonful flour. 3 shakes of pepper.
Chop the clams and drain off the juice and add as much water; cook till the scum rises, and skim this off. Drop in the clams and cook three minutes. Heat the milk and thicken as usual; put in the clams and juice, cook for one minute, and strain.
Notice that there is no salt in this soup. A cup of cream, whipped, either put on top or stirred in, is very nice.
Oyster Soup
1 pint oysters. 1/2 pint water. 1 quart rich milk. 1/2 teaspoonful salt.
Drain off the oyster juice, add the water, boil it for one minute, and skim it well. Heat the milk and mix it with this; drop in the oysters and cook one minute, or till the edges begin to curl, and it is done. This soup is not thickened at all; but if you like you may add two tablespoonfuls of finely powdered and sifted cracker-crumbs.
Meat Soup or Bouillon Made from Extract
This Margaret made from beef extract, before she learned to use the fresh beef.
2 teaspoonfuls of extract, or 2 capsules. 1 quart of boiling water. 1/2 an onion, sliced. 1 stalk of celery. 1/2 teaspoonful salt. 2 shakes of pepper. 2 sprays of parsley.
Simmer this for twenty minutes, strain, and pour over six thin slices of lemon, one for each plate. Serve with hot crackers.
Cream Bouillon
Make this same soup, and pour it over a half-pint of thick cream, well whipped. Do not put any lemon in it. Serve with hot crackers.
Meat Soups
You can make meat soup, or stock, out of almost any kind of meat, cooked or raw, with bones or without. Many cooks never buy fresh meat for it, and others think they must always have it. It is best to learn both ways.
Plain Meat Soup
1 shin of beef. 5 quarts of water. 1 small tablespoonful of salt. 1 head celery, cut up. 1 onion. 1 carrot. 1 turnip. 1 sprig of parsley. 2 bay-leaves. 6 whole cloves.
Wipe the meat and cut off all the bone. Put the bone in a clean kettle first, and then the meat on top, and pour in the water; cover, and let this stand on the back of the stove an hour, then draw it forward and let it cook. This will bring scum on the water in half an hour, and you must carefully pour in a cup of cold water and skim off everything which rises to the top. Cover the kettle tightly, and cook very slowly indeed for four hours; then put in the cut up vegetables and cook one hour more, always just simmering, not boiling hard. Then it is done, and you can put in the salt, and strain the soup first through a heavy wire sieve, and then through a flannel bag, and set it away to get cold, and you will have a strong, clear, delicious stock, which you can put many things in to have variety.
Clear Vegetable Soup
Slice one carrot, turnip, and one potato, and cut them either into small, even strips, or into tiny cubes, or take a vegetable cutter and cut out fancy shapes. Simmer them about twenty minutes. Meanwhile, take a pint of soup stock and a cup of water and heat them. Sprinkle a little salt over the vegetables and drain them; put them in the soup-tureen and pour the hot soup over.
Split Pea Soup
1 pint split peas. 1 1/2 quarts of boiling water. 1 quart of soup stock. 1 small teaspoonful of salt. 3 shakes of pepper.
Wash the peas in cold water and throw away those which float, as they are bad. Soak them overnight, and in the morning pour away the water on them and cover them with a quart of the boiling water in the rule, and cook an hour and a half. Put in the rest of the water and the stock, and press the whole through a sieve, and, after washing and wiping the kettle, put the soup back to heat, adding the salt and pepper.
Tomato Soup
1 can tomatoes, or 1 quart of fresh stewed ones. 1 pint of stock. (You can use water instead in this soup, if necessary.) 1/4 teaspoonful soda. 1 tablespoonful of butter. 2 tablespoonfuls of flour. 1 teaspoonful of sugar. 1 small onion, cut up. 1 sprig of parsley. 1 bay-leaf. 1 small teaspoonful of salt. 3 shakes of pepper.
Put the tomatoes into a saucepan with the parsley, onion, bay-leaf, and stock, or water, and cook fifteen minutes, and then strain through a sieve. Wash the saucepan and put the tomatoes back in it, and put on to boil again; melt the butter, rub smooth with the flour, and put into the soup while it boils, and stir till it is perfectly smooth. Then add the sugar, salt, and pepper and soda, and strain into the hot tureen. Serve croutons with this soup.
Soup Made with Cooked Meats
Put all the bones, bits of meat, and vegetables which are in the refrigerator into one large kettle on the back of the fire, and simmer all day in enough boiling water to cover it all, adding more water as this cooks away. Skim carefully from time to time. If there are not many vegetables to go in, put parsley and onion in their place. At night strain through the sieve, then through the flannel, and cool.
This stock is never clear as is that made from fresh meat, but it is almost as good for thick soups, such as pea, or tomato.
Chicken or Turkey Soup
Break up the bones and cover with cold water; add a slice of onion, a bay-leaf, and a sprig of parsley, and cook all day, adding water when necessary, and skimming. Cool, take off the grease, heat again, and strain. Serve with small, even squares of chicken meat in it, or a little cooked rice and salt. Many people like a small pinch of cinnamon in turkey soup.
Mashed Potatoes
6 large potatoes. 1/2 cup hot milk. Butter the size of a hickory-nut. 3 teaspoonfuls salt. 3 shakes of pepper.
Peel and boil the potatoes till tender; then turn off the water and stand them on the back of the stove with a cover half over them, where they will keep hot while they get dry and floury, but do not let them burn; shake the saucepan every little while. Heat the milk with the butter, salt, and pepper in it; mash the potatoes well, either with the wooden potato-masher or with a wire one, and put in the milk little by little. When they are all free from lumps, put them through the potato-ricer, or pile them lightly in the tureen as they are. Do not smooth them over the top.
Sweet Potatoes
If they are large, scrub them well and bake in a hot oven for about forty minutes. If they are small, make them into—
Creamed Sweet Potatoes
Boil the potatoes, skin them, and cut them up in small slices. Make a cup of cream sauce, mix with them, and put them in the oven for half an hour.
Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
Boil six potatoes in well-salted water till they are tender; skin them, slice them thin, and put a layer of them in a buttered baking-dish; sprinkle with brown sugar, and put on more potatoes and more sugar till the dish is full. Bake for three-quarters of an hour.
Beets
Wash the beets but do not peel them. Boil them gently for three-quarters of an hour, or till they can be pierced easily with a straw. Then skin them and slice in a hot dish, dusting each layer with a little salt, pepper, and melted butter. Those which are left over may have a little vinegar poured over them, to make them into pickles for luncheon.
Once Margaret made something very nice by a recipe her Pretty Aunt put in her book. It was called—
Stuffed Beets
1 can French peas. 6 medium-sized beets.
Boil the beets as before and skin them, but leave them whole. Heat the peas after the juice has been turned off, and season them with salt and pepper. Cut off the stem end of each beet so it will stand steadily, and scoop a round place in the other end; sprinkle each beet with salt and pepper, and put a tiny bit of butter down in this little well, and then fill it high with the peas it will hold.
Creamed Cabbage
1 small cabbage. 1 cup cream sauce.
Take off the outside leaves of the cabbage; cut it up in four pieces, and cut out the hard core and lay it in cold, salted water for half an hour. Then wipe it dry and slice it, not too fine, and put it in a saucepan; cover it with boiling water with a teaspoonful of salt in it, and boil hard for fifteen minutes without any cover. While it is cooking, make a cup of cream sauce. Take up the cabbage, press it in the colander with a plate till all the water is out; put it in a hot covered dish, sprinkle well with salt, and pour the cream sauce over. This will not have any unpleasant odor in cooking, and it will be so tender and easy to digest that even a little girl may have two helpings.
If you like it to look green, put a tiny bit of soda in the water when you cook it.
Lima Beans
Shell them and cook like peas; pour over them a half-cup of cream sauce, if you like this better than having them dry.
Peas
Shell them and drop them into a saucepan of boiling water, into which you have put a teaspoonful of salt and one of sugar. Boil them till they are tender, from fifteen minutes, if they are fresh from the garden, to half an hour or more, if they have stood in the grocer's for a day or two. When they are done they will have little dents in their sides, and you can easily mash two or three with a fork on a plate. Then drain off the water, put in three shakes of pepper, more salt if they do not taste just right, and a piece of butter the size of a hickory-nut, and shake them till the butter melts; serve in a hot covered dish.
String Beans
Pull off the strings and cut off the ends; hold three or four beans in your hand and cut them into long, very narrow strips, not into square pieces. Then cook them exactly as you did the peas.
Stewed Tomatoes
6 large tomatoes. 1 teaspoonful of salt. 1 teaspoonful of sugar. 1 pinch soda. 3 shakes of pepper. Butter as large as an English walnut.
Peel and cut the tomatoes up small, saving the juice; put together in a saucepan with the seasoning, the soda mixed in a teaspoonful of water before it is put in. Simmer twenty minutes, stirring till it is smooth, and last put in half a cup of bread or cracker crumbs, or a cup of toast, cut into small bits. Serve in a hot, covered dish.
Asparagus
Untie the bunch, scrape the stalks clean, and put it in cold water for half an hour. Tie the bunch again, and cut enough off the white ends to make all the pieces the same length. Stand them in boiling water in a porcelain kettle, and cook gently for about twenty minutes. Lay on a platter on squares of buttered toast, and pour over the toast and the tips of the asparagus a cup of cream sauce. Or do not put it on toast, but pour melted butter over the tips after it is on the platter. To make it delicious, mix the juice of a lemon with the butter.
Sometimes put a little grated cheese on the ends last of all.
Onions
Peel off the outside skin and cook them in boiling, salted water till they are tender; drain them, put them in a baking-dish, and pour over them a tablespoonful of melted butter, three shakes of pepper, and a sprinkling of salt, and put in the oven and brown a very little. Or, cover them with a cup of white sauce instead of the melted butter, and sprinkle with salt and pepper, but do not put in the oven.
Corn
Strip off the husks and silk, and put in a kettle of boiling water and boil hard for fifteen minutes; do not salt the water, as salt makes corn tough. Put a napkin on a platter with one end hanging over the end; lay the corn on and fold the end of the napkin over to keep it warm.
Canned Corn
Turn the corn into the colander and pour water through it a moment. Heat a cup of milk with a tablespoonful of butter, a teaspoonful of salt, and three shakes of pepper, and mix with the corn and cook for two minutes. Or, put in a buttered baking-dish and brown in the oven. Many people never wash corn; it is better to do so.
Sometimes Margaret had boiled rice for dinner in place of potatoes, and then she looked back at the recipe she used when she cooked it for breakfast, and made it in just the same way. Very often in winter she had—
Macaroni
6 long pieces of macaroni. 1 cup white sauce. 1/2 pound of cheese. Paprika and salt.
Break up the macaroni into small pieces, and boil fifteen minutes in salted water, shaking the dish often. Pour off the water and hold the dish under the cold-water faucet until all the paste is washed off the outside of the macaroni, which will take only a minute if you turn it over once or twice. Butter a baking-dish, put in a layer of macaroni, a good sprinkle of salt, then a very little white sauce, and a layer of grated cheese, sprinkled over with a tiny dusting of paprika, or sweet red pepper, if you have it; only use a tiny bit. Then cover with a thin layer of white sauce, and so on till the dish is full, with the last layer of white sauce covered with an extra thick one of cheese. Bake till brown.
Margaret's mother got this rule in Paris, and she though it a very nice one.
After the soup, meat, and vegetables at dinner came the salad; for this Margaret almost always had lettuce, with French dressing, as mayonnaise seemed too heavy for dinner. Sometimes she had nice watercress; once in a long time she had celery with mayonnaise.
Corn-starch Pudding
1 pint of milk. 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of corn-starch. 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar. Whites of three eggs. 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla.
Beat the whites of the eggs very stiff. Mix the corn-starch with half a cup of the milk, and stir till it melts. Mix the rest of the milk and the sugar, and put them on the fire in the double boiler. When it bubbles, stir up the corn-starch and milk well, and stir them in and cook and stir till it gets as thick as oatmeal mush; then turn in the eggs and stir them lightly, and cook for a minute more. Take it off the stove, mix in the vanilla, and put in a mould to cool. When dinner is ready, turn it out on a platter and put small bits of red jelly around it, or pieces of preserved ginger, or a pretty circle of preserved peaches, or preserved pineapple. Have a pitcher of cream to pass with it, or have a nice bowl of whipped cream. If you have a ring-mould, let it harden in that, and have the whipped cream piled in the centre after it is on the platter, and put the jelly or preserves around last.
Chocolate Corn-starch Pudding
Use the same rule as before, but put in one more tablespoonful of sugar. Then shave thin two squares of Baker's chocolate, and stir in over the teakettle till it melts, and stir it in very thoroughly before you put in the eggs. Instead of pouring this into one large mould, put it in egg-cups to harden; turn these out carefully, each on a separate plate, and put a spoonful of whipped cream by each one.
Cocoanut Corn-starch Pudding
Make the first rule; before you put in the eggs, stir in a cup of grated cocoanut, with an extra spoonful of sugar, or a cup of that which comes in packages without more sugar, as it is already sweetened. Serve in a large mould, or in small ones, with cream.
Baked Custard
2 cups milk. Yolks of two eggs. 2 tablespoonfuls of sugar. A little nutmeg.
Beat the eggs till they are light; mix the milk and sugar till the sugar melts; put the two together, and put it into a nice baking-dish, or into small cups, and dust the nutmeg over the tops. Bake till the top is brown, and till when you put a knife-blade into the custard it comes out clean.
Cocoanut Custard
Add a cup of cocoanut to this rule and bake it in one dish, stirring it up two or three times from the bottom, but, after it begins to brown, leaving it alone to finish. Do not put any nutmeg on it.
Tapioca Pudding
2 tablespoonfuls tapioca. Yolks of two eggs. 1/2 cup of sugar. 1 quart of milk.
Put the tapioca into a small half-cup of water and let it stand one hour. Then drain it and put it in the milk in the double boiler, and cook and stir it till the tapioca looks clear, like glass. Beat the eggs and mix the sugar with them, and beat again till both are light, and put them with the milk and tapioca and cook three minutes, stirring all the time. Then take it off the fire and add a saltspoonful of salt and a half-teaspoonful of vanilla, and let it get perfectly cold.
Floating Island
1 pint milk. 3 eggs. One-third cup of sugar.
Put the milk on the stove to heat in a good-sized pan. Beat the whites of the eggs very stiff, and as soon as the milk scalds,—that is, gets a little wrinkled on top,—drop spoonfuls of the egg on to it in little islands; let them stand there to cook just one minute, and then with the skimmer take them off and lay them on a plate. Put the milk where it will keep hot but not boil while you beat the yolks of the eggs stiff, mixing in the sugar and beating that, too. Pour the milk into the bowl of egg, a little at a time, beating all the while, and then put it in the double boiler and cook till it is as thick as cream. Take it off the fire, stir in a saltspoonful of salt and half a teaspoonful of vanilla, and set it away to cool. When it is dinner-time, strain the custard into a pretty dish and slip the whites off the top, one by one. If you like, you can dot them over with very tiny specks of red jelly.
Cake and Custard
Make a plain boiled custard, just as before, with—
1 pint of milk. Yolks of three eggs. One-third cup of sugar. 1 saltspoonful of salt. 1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla.
Beat the eggs and sugar, add the hot milk, and cook till creamy, put in the salt and vanilla, and cool. Then cut stale cake into strips, or split lady-fingers into halves, and spread with jam. Put them on the sides and bottom of a flat glass dish, and gently pour the custard over.
Brown Betty
Peel, core, and slice six apples. Butter a baking-dish and sprinkle the inside all over with fine bread-crumbs. Then take six very thin slices of buttered bread and line the sides and bottom of the dish. Put a layer of apples an inch thick, a thin layer of brown sugar, six bits of butter, and a dusting of cinnamon, another layer of crumbs, another of apples and sugar, and so on till the dish is full, with crumbs and butter on top, and three tablespoonfuls of molasses poured over. Bake this one hour, and have hard sauce to eat with it.
Lemon Pudding
1 cup of sugar. 4 eggs. 2 lemons. 1 pint of milk. 1 tablespoonful of sugar. 2 tablespoonfuls of corn-starch. 1 pinch of salt.
Wet the corn-starch with half a cup of the milk, and heat what is left. Stir up the corn-starch well, and when the milk is hot put it in and stir; then boil five minutes, stirring all the time. Melt the butter, and put that in with a pinch of salt, and cool it. Beat the yolks of the eggs, and add the sugar, the juice of both lemons, and the grated rind of one, pour into the milk, and stir well; put in a buttered baking-dish and bake till slightly brown. Take it out of the oven; beat the whites of two eggs with a tablespoonful of granulated sugar, and pile lightly on top, and put in the oven again till it is just brown. This is a very nice rule.
Rice Pudding with Raisins
1 quart of milk. 2 tablespoonfuls of rice. One-third cup of sugar. 1/2 cup seeded raisins.
Wash the rice and the raisins and stir everything together till the sugar dissolves. Then put it in a baking-dish in the oven. Every little while open the door and see if a light brown crust is forming on top, and, if it is, stir the pudding all up from the bottom and push down the crust. Keep on doing this till the rice swells and makes the milk all thick and creamy, which it will after about an hour. Then let the pudding cook, and when it is a nice deep brown take it out and let it get very cold.
Bread Pudding
2 cups of milk. 1 cup soft bread-crumbs. 1 tablespoonful of sugar. 2 egg yolks. 1 egg white. 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla. 1 saltspoonful of salt.
Crumb the bread evenly and soak in the milk till soft. Beat it till smooth, and put in the beaten yolks of the eggs, the sugar, vanilla, and salt, and last the beaten white of the egg. Put it in a buttered pudding-dish, and stand this in a pan of hot water in the oven for fifteen minutes. Take it out and spread its top with jam, and cover with the beaten white of the other egg, with one tablespoonful of granulated sugar put in it, and brown in the oven. You can eat this as it is, or with cream, and you may serve it either hot or cold.
Sometimes you can put a cup of washed raisins into the bread-crumbs and milk, and mix in the other things; sometimes you can put in a cup of chopped almonds, or a little preserved ginger. Orange marmalade is especially nice on bread pudding.
Orange Pudding
Make just like Lemon Pudding, but use three oranges instead of two lemons.
Cabinet Pudding
1 pint of milk. Yolks of three eggs. 3 tablespoonfuls of sugar. 1 saltspoonful of salt.
Beat the eggs, add the sugar, and stir them into the milk, which must be very hot but not boiling; stir till it thickens, and then take it from the fire. Put a layer of washed raisins in the bottom of a mould, then a layer of slices of stale cake or lady-fingers, then more raisins around the edge of the mould, and more cake, till the mould is full. Pour the custard over very slowly, so the cake will soak well, and bake in a pan of water in the oven for an hour. This pudding is to be eaten hot, with any sauce you like, such as Foamy Sauce.
Cut-up figs are nice to use with the raisins, and chopped nuts are a delicious addition, dropped between the layers of the cake.
Cottage Pudding
1 egg. 1/2 cup of sugar. 1/2 cup of milk. 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. 1 cup of flour. 1 tablespoonful of butter.
Beat the yolk of the egg light, add the sugar and butter mixed, then put in the milk, the flour, the whites of the eggs beaten stiff, and last of all the baking-powder, and stir it up well. Put in a greased pan and bake nearly half an hour. If you want this very nice, put in half a cup of chopped figs, mixed with part of the flour.