STEWED OR STEAMED CHICKEN
Cut a nicely cleaned chicken into nine pieces. (Do not separate the meat from the breast-bone until it has been cooked.) Put in a cook pot and partly cover with boiling water. Add one small onion and a sprig of parsley, and let simmer about 1½ hours, or until tender. If an old fowl it will take about one hour longer. Add salt and pepper. Strain the broth, if very fat, remove a part from broth. After separating the white meat from the breast-bone, put all the meat on a platter. Add ¼ cup of sweet milk to the strained broth, thicken with a couple tablespoonfuls of flour, mixed smooth with a little cold water. Let come to a boil, and add one teaspoonful of chopped parsley. Pour the chicken gravy over the platter containing the meat, or serve it in a separate bowl. Or you may quickly brown the pieces of stewed chicken which have been sprinkled with flour in a pan containing a little sweet drippings or butter. Should the chicken not be a very fat one, add yolk of one egg to the gravy.
Or, instead of stewing the chicken, place in the upper compartment of a steamer, and steam until tender and serve. The day following that on which stewed or steamed chicken was served, small undesirable left-over pieces of the chicken were added (after being picked from the bones) to the gravy remaining from the day before, heated thoroughly and poured hot over a platter containing small baking powder biscuits broken in half or slices of toasted bread, which is economical, extending the meat flavor.
VEGETABLES—WHITE POTATOES
Potatoes are one of the most valuable of vegetables. White potatoes, after being pared, should be put in a stew-pan over the fire with a little boiling water, but not enough to cover them. The water should be kept boiling continuously. About thirty minutes from the time they commence boiling will be the time required for cooking potatoes of ordinary size. It spoils potatoes to have the water stop boiling even for a short time. Add half a teaspoonful of salt to the potatoes when partly boiled and when cooked sufficiently drain the water from them atonceand sprinkle a little salt over the dry potatoes. Close the lid of the stew-pantightly, give it a quick shake, when the potatoes will he found dry and flaky. Mash fine with a potato masher, adding a tablespoonful of butter and a couple tablespoonfuls of milk. Let stand a minute on the hot range to heat the milk, then beat all together with a fork until creamy. Add more salt if necessary. That is quite important, as potatoes require considerable salt. Cover the potatoes with a cloth. Never allow to stand with the lid of the stew-pan over them, as it will draw moisture. Serve white potatoes as soon as possible after being cooked, as they are not appetizing when allowed to stand any length of time.
BAKED POTATOES
All young housewives may not know "that there is more real food value in potatoes baked 'in their jackets' than is found in preparing this well-known tuber in any other way." The secret of a good baked potato lies in having a hot oven, but not too hot. Scrub good sized potatoes, or, for a change, they may be pared before baking, place in a hot oven, and bake about 45 minutes, when they should be a snowy, flaky mass inside the skins, palatable and wholesome. When fully baked they should fed soft to the touch when pressed. Take from oven, pinch one end of potato to break the skin to allow the gas to escape. Always break open a baked potato. Never cut with a knife.
Medium-sized potatoes, pared, cut in half lengthwise, and baked in a hot oven 25 to 40 minutes, until the outside of the potato is a light brown, make a pleasant change from boiled potatoes. When baked the proper length of time and served at once, the inside of potato should be light and flaky. The housewife should occasionally serve rice or macaroni and omit potatoes from the bill of fare, especially in the spring of the year.
Potatoes should always be served as soon as baked, if possible. Potatoes may be baked in less than a half hour in a gas oven.
VARIOUS WAYS OF USING SMALL POTATOES
Early in the season when small, early potatoes are more plentiful and cheaper than large ones, the young housewife willbe able to give her family a change, while practicing economy, as there are various ways of using small potatoes to advantage.
First, new potatoes, if about the size of marbles, may be scraped, boiled in salted water, and served with a thin cream dressing, sprinkled liberally with chopped parsley, or the boiled potatoes, while still hot, may be quickly browned in a pan containing a couple tablespoonfuls of hot drippings or butter. They are much better prepared in this manner if the potatoes are put in the hot fat while still warm. Or the small boiled potatoes may be cut in thin slices, browned in a couple tablespoonfuls of butter or drippings and two eggs beaten together stirred over the potatoes a few minutes before they are ready to serve. The small potatoes may also be scraped and dropped in hot, deep fat and fried like fritters.
When possible, the small potatoes should be well cleansed with a vegetable brush and boiled without paring. They may then be easily skinned after they are cooked. Some of the more important ingredients are lost when potatoes are pared, and it is also more economical to boil them before paring. The cold boiled potatoes may be cut up and used for potato salad, or thinly sliced after being skinned and placed in a baking dish alternately with a cream sauce consisting of milk, butter and flour, and seasoned with salt and pepper, having the first and last layer cream sauce. Sprinkle bread crumbs liberally over the top, dot with hits of butter and bake in a moderate oven about 20 minutes until the top is nicely browned. Serve in the dish in which they were baked.
Or peel one-half dozen medium-sized raw potatoes, cut into small, narrow strips about ⅓ inch wide, dry on a napkin and fry in very hot, deep fat about six minutes, then lift from fat, drain, sprinkle salt over and serve hot. These are a nice accompaniment to broiled steak.
Peel and slice, or cut in dice, 6 or 8 cold boiled potatoes, cut into in a stew-pan with 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, salt and pepper to season, heat all together, shaking pan occasionally. Add ½ cup of cream, sprinkle a small teaspoonful of parsley over and serve hot. Instead of slicing or dicing cold boiled potatoes (in the usual manner) to be fried, if they be cut in lengthwise sections like an orange (one potato should make about 8 pieces) and fried quickly in enough hot fat to prevent burning, they can scarcely be distinguished from raw potatoes cut in the same manner and fried in deep fat, and are much easier to prepare. They should be served at once.
Another manner of preparing potatoes is to slice raw potatoes as thinly as possible on a "slaw-cutter," place in a fry-pan with a couple of tablespoonfuls of a mixture of butter and sweet drippings. Watch carefully, as they should be fried quickly over a hot fire, turning frequently. When brown, serve at once.
Rawsweetpotatoes cut about as thick as half a section of an orange, fried in a couple tablespoonfuls of a mixture of sweet drippings and butter, prove a change, occasionally.
SCALLOPED POTATOES
In a baking dish place layers of pared, thinly sliced, raw white potatoes. Season with a very little salt and pepper and scatter over small bits of butter. A very little finely minced onion or parsley may be added if liked. To 1 quart of the sliced potatoes use a scant half pint of milk, which should almost cover the potatoes. Either sift over the top 1 tablespoon of flour or 2 tablespoons of fine, dried bread crumbs and bits of butter; place in hot oven and bake about ¾ of an hour, until top is browned nicely and potatoes are cooked through. Old potatoes are particularly good prepared in this manner.
CANDIED SWEET POTATOES
Place in an agate pudding dish 6 pared and halved (lengthwise) raw sweet potatoes. Scatter over them three tablespoons of sugar, 2 large tablespoons of butter cut in small bits, and about ½ a cup (good measure) of water. Stand in a hot oven and bake about ¾ of an hour. Baste frequently with the syrup formed in the bottom of the dish. The potatoes when baked should look clear and the syrup should be as thick as molasses. Serve in the dish in which they were baked. Should the oven of the range not be very hot, the dish containing the potatoes may be placed on top the range and cooked about 25 minutes before placing in oven to finish baking.
SWEET POTATO CROQUETTES
To 1 pint of hot mashed potatoes, or cold boiled ones may be used, squeezed through a fruit press; add 1 tablespoon of butter, pinch of salt, 2 eggs, whites beaten separately. When cool, form into small cone-shapes, dip in bread crumbs, then into egg, then into crumbs again, and fry in deep fat. Drain on paper and serve on platter garnished with parsley.
POTATO CHIPS
Aunt Sarah's way of making particularly fine potato chips: She pared six large white potatoes, one at a time. As she wished to slice them to fry, she rinsed the potatoes, rolled them on a clean cloth to dry them. She sliced the potatoes thinly on a "slaw" cutter. She patted the sliced potatoes between old linen napkins, until all moisture was absorbed, then dropped them into hot fat, consisting of two-thirds lard and one-third suet. Place only one layer of potatoes at a time in the fat. The chips quickly turn light brown; then remove with a perforated skimmer to a colander lined with coarse brown paper, to absorb any remaining fat. Should the fat be the right temperature, the chips will be entirely free from grease. Dust salt over the chips while hot. Sheneverallowed chips to stand in salt water, as many cooks do. She usually made potato chips when frying doughnuts, and always fried potato chips first; after frying doughnuts in the fat fry several large slices of potato in it, as the potato clarifies it. Six large, thinly sliced potatoes will make about five quarts of potato chips when fried and may be kept several weeks in a dry place. The potato chips may be re-heated by placing in a hot oven a few minutes before serving.
FRIED EGGPLANT
Pare the egg-plant, cut in slices one-half inch thick, sprinkle salt on slices; let stand under heavy weight several hours. Wipe slices dry with a napkin and dip in a mixture of white of one egg, and one tablespoon of water, then dip them in fine rolled bread crumbs and fry a rich brown in deep fat. Drain and serve. Catsup should always be served with eggplant.
BAKED "STUFFED PEPPERS"
Place a fry-pan on stove containing about two tablespoonfuls of butter, add a couple of finely chopped sweet peppers and a finely minced small onion. Let all simmer on stove. Measure the chopped pepper and add an equal amount of finely crumbled bread. Season with salt and pepper and fill (well-washed) peppers from which the stem and seeds have been removed. Stand the peppers in a bake dish containing a small amount of water. Place in a hot oven about twenty-five minutes, or until peppers are tender. Serve hot.
CHILI (AS PREPARED IN NEW MEXICO)
Place hot peppers (well-washed) from which seeds have been removed into a bake dish containing a very little hot water. Stand in a hot oven until tender and skins turn a yellow brown, turning them over occasionally. Remove the outside skin, chop fine, add a small quantity of finely minced onion, pepper and salt and enough vinegar to moisten. If sweet peppers are used add a pinch of cayenne pepper. Serve as a relish in place of pickles or chow-chow. This recipe was given Marry by a friend who had lived in Mexico. The outside skin of the peppers may be more readily removed if upon being removed from the oven the peppers are sprinkled with water, then covered with a cloth and allowed to steam a short time.
BAKED CABBAGE
A half head of cabbage was cut into small pieces and cooked in hot salted water until cabbage was tender. The water was drained from the boiled cabbage, which was placed in an agate pudding dish alternately with cream sauce composed of one cup of milk; one small tablespoonful of flour, 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, seasoned with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a few crumbs and place bits of the butter over top. Bake in oven about 25 minutes and serve hot. This dish is almost equal to cauliflower in flavor, especially if after the cabbage has cooked ten or fifteen minutes the water is drained from it and fresh substituted. And it is said, "Cauliflower is only cabbage with a college education."
CRIMSON CREAMED BEETS
Cut all except two inches from the tops of beets. Scrub thoroughly with a vegetable brush, then pour scalding water over beets. When perfectly cleansed, place in a cook-pot, partly cover with boiling water, stand on range and when beets have cooked tender remove outside skin. Strain and stand aside one cup of water in which beets were boiled, which should be dark wine color. When beets are to be served to the one cup of strained beet juice add one tablespoonful of sugar, one-fourth cup of notvery sharpvinegar. Add one teaspoon of butter. Thicken this liquid with one and one-fourth tablespoonfuls of a mixture of corn starch and flour. When cooked to the consistency of cream add the quartered beets, season with pepper and salt, stand on back part of range a few minutes, serve hot. To three cups of the quartered beets use one and one-half cups of cream dressing.
BUTTERED BEETS
Wash young beets, cut off tops. Boil one hour or until tender, one tablespoonful of sugar having been added to the water in which beets were boiled. Rub off skins, cut in quarters, strew over them one tablespoon of butter cut in small pieces, stand in oven just long enough for the butter to melt. Or cut the beets in slices one-fourth of an inch thick and while still warm place in a bowl and pour over them half a cup of hot vinegar and water to which had been added one tablespoonful of sugar, a pinch of salt and pepper; serve cold.
PICKLED MANGELWURZEL
A vegetable in taste, similar to very sweet, red beets in shape, greatly resembling carrots. Wash the mangelwurzel and place in a stew-pan with boiling water and cook until tender (allow about an inch of top to remain when preparing to cook). Skin the mangelwurzel, slice and pour over the following, which has been heated in a stew-pan over the fire: One cup of vinegar and water combined, one tablespoonful of sugar, one teaspoonful of salt, a dust of pepper. Stand aside until cold then serve. Orserve hot like buttered beets. Some "Bucks County" farmers raise mangelwurzel simply to feed to their cattle, but Aunt Sarah preferred them when young and tender to beets, and always raised them for her table.
GERMAN STEAMED CABBAGE
Cut one-half head of cabbage fine on a slaw cutter. Place in a stew-pan over fire, with about four tablespoonfuls of water, one tablespoonful of butter, a couple tablespoonfuls of flour, one teaspoonful of sugar and a pinch of salt. Cover and steam twenty minutes. Then add three tablespoons of vinegar. Stir in one beaten egg. Cover and let stand where it will keep hot until ready to serve.
BEAN "SNITZEL"
Place in a pan on the range one tablespoon of diced, smoked bacon, fry a few minutes, watch closely it does not scorch. Add one tablespoonful of sweet lard, when hot, add four thinly sliced, medium-sized onions and four chopped tomatoes and 1½ quarts of string beans, cut in inch lengths. Season with salt and a pinch of red pepper. Simmer all together three hours. After cooking one hour add about one cup of hot water, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, add a little more water if necessary; when beans are tender and ready to serve there should be a small quantity of liquid, resembling tomato sauce, with the beans.
BOILED SPINACH
Wash one-half peck of spinach thoroughly through a half dozen waters, until free from sand. Place in a stew-pan containing a small quantity ofboilingwater and one teaspoon of butter. Cook until tender, drain, chop fine. Place a large tablespoonful of butter in stew-pan and when hot add chopped spinach, season with salt and pepper; serve in a warmed dish, garnished with either chopped or sliced hard boiled eggs. A German cook, noted for the fine flavor of her cooked spinach and green peas, said her secret consisted in adding a teaspoon of butter to the vegetables while cooking.
FRIED ONIONS AND POTATOES
Another way of utilizing left-over cold boiled potatoes particularly relished by "Pennsylvania Germans," whose liking for the humble onion is proverbial, is to fry onions with potatoes in a fry-pan containing a couple tablespoonfuls of sweet drippings and butter; when heated place a half dozen thinly sliced cold boiled potatoes, half the quantity of thinly sliced raw onions, well seasoned with pepper and salt, cover and steam for ten or fifteen minutes, when uncover and fry until light brown; serve at once. Or the thinly-sliced onions, after skins have been removed, may be sliced thinly across the onion, placed in a fry-pan and partly covered with boiling water; stand on hot range and steam, closely covered, about fifteen minutes, or until onions are tender, then drain off water, should any remain, add a small tablespoonful of butter, salt and pepper to season, fry quickly a light brown; pan should be uncovered. Serve at once with liver or bacon. Onions are considered more wholesome prepared in this manner than if fried.
STEAMED ASPARAGUS (FINE)
Wash asparagus and cut off about an inch of the tough ends, scrape off thin skin. Place pieces of asparagus tips (all in one direction) in the top part of perforated section of a double boiler. Fill lower part of steamer with hot water and steam about three-quarters of an hour or less time, until tender. The fine flavor of the vegetable is retained when steamed. When cooked tender turn out on a hot platter and pour cream sauce over the tips, or the cream sauce may be served separately, or the asparagus may be served on freshly toasted slices of bread, over which the cream sauce should be poured.
"PASTURE" MUSHROOMS
All the members of the Landis family unanimously agreed in declaring the dish "Frau Schmidt" taught Sarah Landis to prepare from the delicious edible Fungi, known as "Pasture" mushrooms (gathered by Professor Schmidt from rich, wind-swept pastures early in the fall of the year until the coming of frost) were good enough to tickle the palate of an epicure.
Sarah Landis was very particular to usenoneunless pronouncededible mushrooms, and not poisonous toad-stools, by Professor Schmidt, who was a recognized authority. Said the Professor, "The edible variety may be easily recognized by one having a knowledge of the vegetable. The cap may be readily peeled, and the flesh of the 'Pasture' mushroom, when cut or broken, changes in color to a pale rose pink, and they possess many other distinctive features, easily recognized, when one has made a study of them."
The following is the manner in which the mushrooms were prepared by Frau Schmidt:
STEAMED MUSHROOMS.
One-half pound or about twenty-four small mushrooms were peeled, washed carefully in cold water, placed in a small stew-pan containing two generous tablespoonfuls of butter, covered closely and allowed to simmer or steam for twenty minutes in butter and liquid, drawn from the mushrooms by steaming, then uncover and allow liquid in sauce-pan and mushrooms to cook about ten minutes longer, then sprinkle two teaspoonfuls of flour over the mushrooms, brown a minute, stir into this ½ cup of milk, or enough to make a sauce the consistency of cream, season well with salt and pepper to taste. Have ready prepared six crisply toasted and buttered slices of stale bread. Place four mushrooms and a couple of tablespoonfuls of the mushroom sauce on each slice of bread and serve hot. The combination of toast and mushrooms results in a particularly fine flavor.
STEWED TOMATOES
Scald ripe tomatoes by pouring boiling water over them and allowing them to stand a few minutes. Skin them and cut in small pieces. Place in a stew-pan with 1 tablespoonful of butter, seasonwellwith pepper and salt, cook about 25 minutes, add ½ teaspoonful of sugar and thicken with 1 teaspoonful of flour mixed smooth with a little water. Let cook a few minutes, then serve. If tomatoes are very tart a small pinch of baking soda, added when cooked, will counteract acidity.
SWEET CORN
Sweet corn on the cob should be cooked as soon as possible after taking it from stalk, as after being removed it soon loses its sweetness. Do not remove the husk until it is to be boiled. Place corn in a kettle of rapidly boiling water, not salted; rather add a pinch of sugar if corn is not as sweet as liked. Cover the kettle to prevent steam escaping. Do not use alarge quantity of water. Corn is sweeter if steamed. Boil from ten to fifteen minutes. If corn is not cooked in that time, it should be used uncooked for corn fritters, as corn ifnotyoung and tender may be grated and from it excellent corn fritters may be made.
FRIED TOMATOES WITH CREAM SAUCE
Cut large, solid, ripe tomatoes in half-inch slices; one ordinary tomato makes 3 slices. Dredge thickly with flour. Fry several slices of bacon in an iron pan, take bacon from pan when fried and put in warming oven. Lay the well-floured slices of tomatoes in hot bacon fat and one tablespoon of butter and fry brown on both sides. Serve on hot platter with bacon. Or fry slices of well floured tomato in pan containing just enough butter and drippings to keep them from sticking to the bottom of pan, over a hot fire. Fry quickly, browning on each side. Season with salt and pepper. If the tomatoes are very sour, sprinkle avery littlesugar over them before frying. When brown, lift the tomatoes carefully from pan and place in a circle around the inside edge of a warm chop plate, add a lump of butter to the pan and a small half cup of sweet milk. Let come to a boil, thicken with a little flour mixed smoothly with a little cold milk, and cook until the consistency of thick cream. Season with salt and pour in centre of chop plate, surrounded with fried slices of tomatoes. Dust pepper over top and serve hot.
This is a delicious way of serving tomatoes. Or slices of the fried tomatoes may be served on slices of crisply toasted bread over which place a couple tablespoons of the cream dressing.
BAKED "STUFFED TOMATOES"
Wash a half dozen ripe red tomatoes. Cut the top from eachand remove about the half of the inside of tomato. Sprinkle a very tiny pinch of sugar in each. This small quantity of sugar is not noticed, but counteracts the acidity of the tomato. To one and one-half cups of soft bread crumbs add one small finely minced onion and season highly with salt and pepper, also add one teaspoon of chopped parsley. Mix all together and fill the tomatoes with the mixture. Place a small bit of butter on each tomato. Place in a bake dish containing a half cup of water, a piece of butter, one teaspoonful of sugar, a sprig of parsley and pepper and salt to season. Stand in a hot oven and bake from 25 to 30 minutes. The centres which were removed from tomatoes may be utilized in various ways.
CANNED TOMATOES—FRIED
Place in a bowl a half pint of canned tomatoes, one-fourth teaspoon of sugar and season with salt and pepper. Add about four tablespoonfuls of flour sifted with one-half teaspoon of baking powder and one tablespoon of butter. Use only flour enough to hold the mixture together when fried. Drop spoonfuls some distance apart in a fry-pan containing several tablespoons of hot lard, butter, suet or drippings. Fry on both sides and serve hot. In winter, when the housewife is unable to obtain fresh tomatoes, she will find this dish a good substitute to serve occasionally.
"BUCKS COUNTY" BAKED BEANS
Put one quart of small soup beans to soak over night in cold water to cover. In the morning drain the beans, cover with boiling water, add one tablespoonful of molasses and cook until tender, but not too soft. Drain. Do not use this water. Put the beans in an earthen bake dish. In the centre of the bake dish place one pound of clean, scored smoked bacon, and pour over the beans the water in which the bacon had been simmering for an hour. Add water, if not enough, to almost cover the beans, salt and pepper to taste. Place in oven and bake about three hours, or until beans are tender and a rich brown on top. Add more hot water if beans bake dry, until the last half hour, then allow the water to cook away.
Serve stewed tomatoes, baked apples or apple sauce as an accompaniment to baked beans. This is not a recipe for "Boston Baked Beans." Just a "plain country recipe," but it will be found very satisfactory.
If part of a dish of beans remain after a meal, re-heat the day following in "tomato sauce." Aunt Sarah always baked a pan of corn bread or Johnny cake, to serve hot with baked beans.
When the housewife serves a dish of baked beans at a meal, serve also a quart of stewed tomatoes. The day following a "tomato sauce" may be quickly prepared by adding a well-cooked carrot and an onion to the "left-over" tomatoes. Press all through a coarse sieve, adding a little water if too thick; re-heat beans in this; serve hot. A delicious "cream of tomato soup" may be prepared by substituting milk or cream to which a small pinch of baking soda has been added, omitting the beans.
COOKED HOMINY
Wash one cup of hominy through several waters. (The grains should resemble kernels of corn.) Cover with cold water and stand in a cool place over night. In the morning, drain. Place the hominy in an agate pudding dish holding 2 quarts, cover with boiling water, add more water as the grains swell and water boils away, and 1 teaspoonful of salt. The hominy should be placed on the range to cook early in the morning on the day it is to be served and continue cooking slowly until late afternoon, when all the water should have been absorbed and each grain should be large, white and flaky. The dish should be about three-quarters full.
A half hour before serving the hominy, at a six o'clock dinner, add a generous tablespoonful of butter and about ¾ of a cup of hot milk and stand on back of range until served. This is a remarkably cheap, wholesome and appetizing dish if served properly and is easily prepared.
GRATED "PARSNIP CAKES"
Scrape, then grate enough raw parsnips to fill two cups, putin a bowl and add the yolk of one egg, pinch of salt, 1 tablespoonful of milk, 1 tablespoonful of flour, lastly add the stiffly-beaten white of egg.
Form into small round cakes, dust with flour and fry brown on both sides in a pan containing a tablespoonful of butter and one of drippings. Or these may be crumbed and fried in deep fat. These are much finer flavored than if parsnips had been cooked before being fried.
TO MAKE "SAUER KRAUT"
Cut heads of cabbage in half, after trimming off outside leaves. Cut out centres or hearts, cut cabbage fine on a regular old-fashioned cabbage cutter, which has a square box on top of cutter to hold the pieces of cabbage when being pushed back and forth over the cutter. If not possible to procure this, use small slaw cutter for the purpose.
Partly fill a large pan with the cut cabbage, and mix enough salt, with the hands, through the cut cabbage to be palatable when tasted, no more. This was the rule taught Aunt Sarah by her Grandmother, and always followed by her. Then put the salted cabbage into a wooden cask or small tub to the depth of several inches. Pound the cabbage down well with a long-handled, heavy, wooden mallet, something like a very large wooden potato masher. Then mix another panful of finely cut cabbage, lightly salted, into the tub and pound down well, as before. Continue in this manner until the tub is partly filled with cabbage, pounding down well at the last until the liquid formed by the cabbage and salt rises above the cabbage. Cover the kraut with a layer of large, clean cabbage or grape leaves, then cover top with a clean piece of muslin cloth, place a round, clean board on top and put a well-scrubbed, heavy stone on the board to weight it down. Stand the tub in a warm place several days, to ferment. When fermentation begins, the liquor rises over the top of the board. Remove the scrum which rises to top, in about six days, and stand in a cool part of the cellar after washing stone and cloth with cold water, return to top of kraut and in two weeks the sauer kraut will be ready to use. Should the sauer kraut require extra liquid at any time, add one quart of water in which has beendissolved two teaspoonfuls of salt. Squeeze the sauer kraut quite dry when taking it from the brine to cook. Boil about two quarts of the sauer kraut several hours with a piece of fresh pork and a little water until the pork is thoroughly cooked through, when the sauer kraut should be cooked tender.
Some prefer "frankfurters" cooked with the kraut instead of pork, and others do not care for the German dish without the accompaniment of drop dumplings. Serve mashed potatoes and simple dessert with sauer kraut.
Aunt Sarah taught Mary to save the hearts of the cabbage usually thrown aside when making sauer kraut. The hearts were trimmed all one size, like small triangles. She cooked them in salted water until tender, drained them and served with a cream dressing, and they had much the flavor of a dish of cauliflower.
Frau Schmidt always placed several tart apples among her sauer kraut when making it, and thought it improved the flavor of the kraut; gave it a "winey" flavor, obtained in no other manner. A sour apple, cored and cooked with sauer kraut is considered by some cooks an improvement. The apple, of course, is not eatable. Aunt Sarahneverplaced apples with her sauer kraut.
DUMPLINGS TO SERVE WITH SAUER KRAUT
For these dumplings, 1 egg was broken into a bowl and well beaten. Then a pinch of salt was added and ½ cup of sweet milk. Enough flour was added to make a soft dough, and one tablespoonful of baking powder was sifted with a very little flour into the batter, then a little more flour was added to make the dough the right consistency. Form the dough into small balls, handling as little as possible. Drop on top of the hot cooked "sauer kraut" in cook-pot on range and boil, closely covered, about 20 minutes.
Aunt Sarah taught Mary to cook green vegetables, peas, spinach, etc., in a stew-panuncovered, if she wished them to retain their natural color. Also, that old potatoes may be freshened by being allowed to stand a short time in cold water before being cooked, but they should not stand too long a time in cold water, as it draws the starch from them and causes them to be tasteless, and to lose part of their nourishing qualities.
Also that one teaspoonful of salt will usually season one quartof vegetables, to be put in when the vegetables begin to cook. Cauliflower, cabbage, lettuce and watercress should stand in a pan containing water and a little vinegar for a half hour. This will cause insects to drop to the bottom of the pan.
Changing the water on cabbage and onions when partly cooked will improve their flavor.
PARSLEY DRIED TO PRESERVE ITS GREEN COLOR
Young housewives possessing a bed of parsley in their kitchen gardens, wishing to preserve it for use during the winter, may like to know how Aunt Sarah taught Mary to dry it in a manner to preserve its bright green color.
She washed the parsley in cold water and while still moist placed it on agate pans and dried itquicklyin avery hotoven. Watch carefully as it scorches easily. Place the parsley when dried, in tin cans covered to exclude the dust.
TIME REQUIRED TO COOK VEGETABLES
Bake good-sized potatoes in oven about 45 minutes. Smaller potatoes require less time to bake.
Boil ordinary sized potatoes 25 to 30 minutes.
Steamasparagus from 30 to 40 minutes.
Boil young beets about 60 minutes or longer.
Old beets, two hours, or until tender.
Green corn on cob about 10 or 15 minutes.
Cauliflower, 30 minutes.
Cabbage, 30 to 40 minutes.
Turnips and carrots, 40 minutes.
String beans, 60 minutes to 2 hours.
Lima beans, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Onions about 1 hour.
Squash about 30 minutes.
Parsnips, 30 to 40 minutes.
Sweet potatoes, good size, 40 minutes.
Spinach, 25 minutes.
Tomatoes, 25 minutes.
Salt should be added to the water when boiling potatoes, carrots, cabbage, parsnips, turnips and onions, even if liquid in which they were boiled is drained from them after being cooked, before being seasoned. Add a small pinch of baking soda to the water in which string beans are boiled, and they will cook tender in less time. Especially should this be done if the beans are not young and tender.
COMMON "CREAM SAUCE"
Young housekeepers will be surprised to learn of the various attractive, appetizing dishes which may be prepared by combining them with a "cream sauce." After cooking vegetables until tender in salted water, they should be drained and served with a cream sauce poured over. The art of making a smooth, creamy sauce of the proper consistency is easily acquired. A good rule for "common cream sauce" is 1 cup of milk, water, or meat broth, thickened with 1 tablespoonful to 1½ tablespoonfuls of flour, or a combination of flour and cornstarch. Mix flour, or cornstarch, with a small quantity of cold milk or water, to a smooth paste, before adding it to liquid; add, usually, one tablespoonful of butter. Place the mixture in a saucepan and cook until the consistency of cream, add ½ teaspoonful of salt just before removing from the fire, and dust pepper over when serving. When mixing gravy to serve with roast beef or veal, omit butter. For a thick sauce use either 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of flour and the same amount of butter. This thick sauce may be used to mix with meat for croquettes in the proportion of 1 cup of sauce to 2 cups of chopped cold roast lamb, beef, veal or chicken. Should a richer sauce be desired, add 1 or more yolks of eggs to the cream sauce. Some of the numerous dishes which might be served by the young housewife to vary the daily bill of fare by the addition of "cream sauce," are: Small, new potatoes, cauliflower, onions, cabbage asparagus tips, thinly sliced carrots, celery, mushrooms, fish, oysters, chicken, veal and sweetbreads. All of these, when coked, may be served on slices of toasted bread, or served in Pattie-cases, with cream sauce, or served simply with cream sauce.