How to serve.Spaghetti is a small and more delicate form of macaroni. It is boiled until tender in salted water and is combined with cheese and with sauces the same as macaroni, and is usually left long. It makes a good garnish.
How to serve.Spaghetti is a small and more delicate form of macaroni. It is boiled until tender in salted water and is combined with cheese and with sauces the same as macaroni, and is usually left long. It makes a good garnish.
Take as much macaroni as will half fill the dish in which it is to be served. Break it into pieces two and a half to three inches long. Put it into salted boiling water, and boil twelve to fifteen minutes, or until the macaroni is perfectly soft. Shake the saucepan frequently to prevent the macaroni from adhering to the bottom. Turn it into a colander to drain; then put it into a pudding-dish with butter, salt, and grated cheese. If much cheese is liked, it may be put into the dish in two layers, alternating the seasoning with the macaroni. Cover it with milk, and bake until the milk is absorbed and the top browned. A tablespoonful or more of melted butter should be used to a half pound of macaroni. The macaroni called “Mezzani,” which is a name designating size, not quality, is the preferable kind for macaroni dishes made with cheese.
Boil the macaroni as directed above. Drain it in a colander; then return it to the saucepan with butter and grated cheese. Toss over the fire until the butter is absorbed and the cheese melted. Serve at once before the cheese has time to harden.
A mixture of Parmesan and of Swiss cheese is often liked; the former strings when melted; the latter becomes liquid.
Boil the macaroni as directed above; drain it in a colander; then return it to the saucepan, and mix it with tomato sauce, with cream sauce, or with Béchamel sauce; toss until they are well mixed; serve in a vegetable dish or as a garnish.
Mix boiled macaroni with minced chicken or any meat, and moisten with white or brown sauce. The meat should be minced very fine. This makes a good luncheon dish.
(FROM MRS. MASPERO.)
Put the macaroni into salted boiling water, and cook it twelve to fifteen minutes, or until it is tender. Do not let the water boil violently, as this breaks the macaroni. When it is cooked, drain off all the water, and cover the hot macaroni with grated cheese (Parmesan and Gruyère mixed). With two forks mix lightly the cheese with the macaroni. Turn it into the hot serving-dish, and pour over it the sauce given below. Serve at once.
Put into a saucepan one and a halftablespoonfuls of butter. Add a small onion chopped fine and a half clove of garlic. Cook until all are browned; then add three tablespoonfuls of water in which the macaroni was boiled, and a teaspoonful of beef extract. Add, also, three or four soaked mushrooms, and let it simmer for five minutes.
This amount of sauce is enough for a pound of macaroni.
The mushrooms given in this receipt are the dried cèpes, which can be bought by the pound at Italian groceries. They are the best, after the fresh mushrooms, to use for sauces. They should not be cooked longer than five minutes to give their best flavor.
(MRS. MASPERO.)
Make a sauce as directed for No. 1, using in place of the beef extract a cupful of chopped round of beef, and a cupful of tomatoes.
(MRS. MASPERO.)
When roasting an upper round of beef stick into it six cloves, a clove of garlic, and a few lardoons of pork. Sprinkle it well with salt and pepper. After the beef is roasted, turn the juice from the pan over the macaroni and cheese.
(MRS. MASPERO.)
Make a cornmeal mush; boil it for a long time, until it is firm and hard. Cut it in slices or leave it in one piece. Pour over it sauce No. 1 given above.
(MRS. MASPERO.)
Boil rice until tender, but not soft. The Italian rice must be used, as it does not get soft like the Carolina rice; when the rice is done, drain off the water and steam it dry; then add, while the rice is still on the fire, some mixed grated Parmesan and Swiss cheese. Turn them together lightly until the cheese has softened, then put it into the hot serving-dish, and cover with sauce No. 1 given above.
Oatmealis ground in different grades of coarseness, and some brands are partly cooked before they are put up for sale; therefore the time for cooking varies, and it is better to observe the directions given on the packages. Oatmeal requires to be cooked until very soft, but should not be mushy. The ordinary rule is to put a cupful of meal into a quart of salted boiling water (a teaspoonful of salt), and let it cookin double boiler the required time. It is well to keep the pan covered until the oatmeal is cooked, then remove the cover and let the moisture evaporate until the oatmeal is of the right consistency. It should be moist enough to drop but not run from the spoon. It should be lightly stirred occasionally to prevent its sticking to the pan, but carefully so as not to break the grains.If carefully cooked, the sides of the pan will not be covered with burned oatmeal, and so wasted.Oatmeal is very good cold, and in summer is better served in that way. It can be turned into fancy molds or into small cups to cool, and will then hold the form and make an ornamental dish.
Oatmealis ground in different grades of coarseness, and some brands are partly cooked before they are put up for sale; therefore the time for cooking varies, and it is better to observe the directions given on the packages. Oatmeal requires to be cooked until very soft, but should not be mushy. The ordinary rule is to put a cupful of meal into a quart of salted boiling water (a teaspoonful of salt), and let it cookin double boiler the required time. It is well to keep the pan covered until the oatmeal is cooked, then remove the cover and let the moisture evaporate until the oatmeal is of the right consistency. It should be moist enough to drop but not run from the spoon. It should be lightly stirred occasionally to prevent its sticking to the pan, but carefully so as not to break the grains.
If carefully cooked, the sides of the pan will not be covered with burned oatmeal, and so wasted.
Oatmeal is very good cold, and in summer is better served in that way. It can be turned into fancy molds or into small cups to cool, and will then hold the form and make an ornamental dish.
Add to three cupfuls of water a half teaspoonful of salt; when it boils add a half cupful of cracked wheat, and let it cook uncovered until the water is nearly evaporated; then add three cupfuls of hot milk; cover and cook until the wheat is soft; then uncover and cook to the right consistency. It should be quite moist. Stir it carefully from time to time while it is cooking, but with care not to break the grains.
Turn into molds to harden, and serve cold with sugar and milk.
Sprinkle with the hand a pint of cornmeal into rapidly boiling salted water, stirring all the time. Cook for half an hour; or mix the cornmeal with a pint of milk and teaspoonful of salt and turn it slowly into a quart of boiling water; cook for half an hour, stirring constantly. This may be eaten cold or hot, with milk, with butter and sugar, or with syrup. When cold it can be cut into slices and browned on both sides in a sauté-pan, and used as a vegetable dish, or as a breakfast dish, and may be eaten with syrup.
(SUPPLIED BY SUSAN COOLIDGE)
Manyof the receipts in this little “group” have never before appeared in print. They are copies from old grandmother and great-grandmother receipt-books, tested by generations of use, and become, at this time, traditional in the families to which they belong. They are now given to the public as examples of the simple but dainty cooking of a by-gone day, which, while differing in many points from the methods of our own time, in its way is no less delicious.
Manyof the receipts in this little “group” have never before appeared in print. They are copies from old grandmother and great-grandmother receipt-books, tested by generations of use, and become, at this time, traditional in the families to which they belong. They are now given to the public as examples of the simple but dainty cooking of a by-gone day, which, while differing in many points from the methods of our own time, in its way is no less delicious.
Soak one quart of split peas in lukewarm water for three hours. Pour off the water and boil the peas in three and a half quarts of salted water till they are thoroughly soft. Rub through a colander, and throw away whatever does not pass through. This will keep several days.
Take out the quantity needed for dinner (allowing a generous quart to three persons); boil in it a small piece of pork, onion, and a little white pepper and salt; strain and serve very hot, with small cubes of fried bread dropped into the tureen.
Boil on the back of the range for twelve hours; rub through a colander and set away to cool.
This should make soup for two dinners for a family of six. When served, add a glass of wine to each tureenful, two or three slices of lemon, and cubes of bread fried in butter.
Boil a quart of clams in their own liquor till they are tender; then chop them fine and return to the broth.
Stir together until smooth two tablespoonfuls of butter and one and a half of flour, and with them thicken the soup. Add very carefully a pint of milk, stirring to avoid curdling, and add two tablespoonfuls of butter, with pepper and salt, after taking the mixture from the fire.
Cut one half pound of salt pork into slices, and fry them brown; chop two small onions, and cook them with the pork. Stew separately a quart of tomatoes, canned or fresh, and a quart of sliced potatoes. When all are done, put them together with one quart of clams and their juice. Add three pints of water, salt, pepper, a little thyme, a very little flour for thickening, and a handful of small whole crackers. Stew all together for half an hour, and serve very hot.
Three pounds of fresh codfish well boiled and the bones carefully removed. Two onions chopped fine and fried with half a pound of salt pork, cut into small dice. Six potatoes cut small, a pint of water, a little salt and white pepper. Stew for twenty minutes, thicken slightly with a little flour; add a pint and a half of milk, and let all boil up once, stirring thoroughly. Put a handful of oyster crackers into a hot tureen, and pour the mixture over them.
Take thirty large oysters (about three pints); wash them in their own liquor. Add to one pint of milk three tablespoonfuls of the oyster liquor, well strained, a very little mace, and a bit of butter about the size of an English walnut, and make the mixture scalding hot. Rub two tablespoonfuls of flour perfectly smooth with a little of the milk; pour in and stir until the whole is thick. Then drop in the oysters; cook five minutes or so, till they are well plumped out, and add a little salt, white pepper, and a tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce. Serve on a platter on slices of buttered toast.
Make a pint or more of white sauce, with flour, butter, and hot milk, carefully stirred till smooth and thick. Pick to fine bits two quarts of cold boiled codfish, and add one pint of oysters chopped fine. Fill a well-buttered pudding-dish with alternate layers of the fish and oysters and white sauce, sprinkling a little salt over the layers of cod. Cover the top of the dish with fine bread-crumbs and small bits of butter; baste with a little cold water, and bake till the top is browned.
Three pints of oysters; a quart of sifted bread-crumbs. Place a layer of crumbs in the bottom of a rather deep baking-dish, then a layer of oysters, and sprinkle with salt and white pepper. Repeat the process till the dish is filled. Cover the top with crumbs and a layer of soft bread broken into bits and placed round the edge of a circle of small oyster crackers. Wet the whole with half a pint of soup stock and a quarter of a cup of oyster liquor. Cover the top generously with butter cut into fine bits. Pour over the whole a glass of sherry, and bake an hour.
Scald the oysters in their own liquor, with a little water added, till they are plump. Skim them out, and drop into a bowl of cold water; rinse well and put them in glass jars.
Scald an equal quantity of the liquor and vinegar with whole peppers, mace, and salt, and when perfectly cold fill the jars up with it. These will keep two or three weeks.
Drain a quart of large oysters from their liquor, and place them in a covered saucepan with a quarter of a pound of good butter. Set them on the back of the range, and let them simmer gently till the oysters are well plumped out.
Put the oyster liquor in another saucepan with three tablespoonfuls of powdered cracker, and a little pepper. When the oysters are done, remove them from the butter with a fork, and place them on toasted crackers on a hot platter. Add the butter in which they have been cooked to the oyster broth. Let it boil up once. Stir in half a pint of cream, and pour over the oysters.
Cut a boiled lobster weighing four pounds into small pieces. Thicken a half pint of milk with a teaspoonful of flour and a tablespoonful of butter; add a teaspoonful of dry mustard, and a little salt and pepper. Stew the lobster in this till it is quite tender, and lastly add a tablespoonful of vinegar.
MAINE
Soak over night three quarters of a pound of boneless codfish.
In the morning shred the fish (uncooked) very carefully with a silver fork till it is fine. Add to it a dozen potatoes of medium size, freshly boiled, mashed, and rubbed through a sieve, two beaten eggs, a tablespoonful of butter, a little hot milk or cream, and a sprinkling of white pepper.
Mold into round balls, and drop into very hot fat.
Shred two thirds of a bowlful of salt codfish, wash it several times with fresh water, drain off the water, and put it into a saucepan with a pint of sweet cream and half a pint of sweet milk. Let it come nearly, but not quite, to the boiling point. Beat together one egg, a tablespoonful of flour, and two tablespoonfuls of sweet milk; add it to the fish, and stir continually until it is done. Put the mixture in a hot dish, and add a large spoonful of butter, stirring it thoroughly.
Put into the chafing-dish four or five tablespoonfuls of the oyster liquor; add salt, white pepper, and a tablespoonful of butter, and stir till it is scalding hot. Drop the oysters in, a dozen at a time, and cook till they are plump and tender; then skim out and place on slices of hot buttered toast; add more oysters as required.
One half pint of rice; one pint of stock; one half can of tomato. Soak the rice in cold water for an hour. Pour off the water, and put the rice, with the stock and one quarter of a white onion, in a double boiler. Stew till the rice absorbs the stock.
Stew the tomato thoroughly, and season with butter, salt, and pepper. Mix it with the rice.
Sauté in butter to a light color jointed chicken, slightly parboiled, or slices of cold cooked chicken or turkey. Make a hole in the rice and tomato, put in the chicken and an ounce of butter, and stew all together for twenty minutes. Serve on a platter in a smooth mound, the red rice surrounding the fowl.
Scale the fish, cut off the heads and tails, and divide them into four pieces.
Chop four or five small onions, and sprinkle a layer on the bottom of a stone jar; on this place a layer of fish, packingclosely. Spice with black and cayenne pepper, cloves, allspice, whole peppers, and a little more onion. Then add another layer of fish, and so on till the jar is full. Arrange the roe on top, spice highly, and fill the jar with the strongest vinegar procurable. Place thick folds of paper on the jar under the cover, and bake for twelve hours. The vinegar will dissolve the bones, and the fish can be sliced for a tea-table relish.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Soak a pint of small white beans over night.
In the morning pour off the water, pour on a pint of cold water, and set at the back of the range to simmer slowly for three quarters of an hour.
Place the beans in a bean-pot with half a pound of scored salt pork in the middle, half a teaspoonful of dry mustard, salt, white pepper, and a half pint of white sugar. Add water from time to time, as it grows dry, and bake twelve hours.
See captionBEAN POT.
Have the mutton cut very neatly and carefully into slices.
Add to a half pint of gravy or stock a little white pepper, a quarter of a teaspoonful of dry mustard, a quarter of a teaspoonful of curry powder, and three large tablespoonfuls of currant jelly. When this is scalding hot, add a glass of sherry. Have ready a hot platter with slices of toast. Put the sliced mutton into the sauce long enough to heat through, but not to cook for a moment. Take the slices out with a fork, and place them on the toast; last of all pour the boiling gravy over all, and serve instantly. This preparation will be found delicious—it robs the second-day-of-the-mutton of its terrors.
If a round of corned beef is to be eaten cold, as is often the case, it should be carefully and slowly boiled, and left in the pot till the next day. The soaking in the water in which it hasbeen boiled has the effect of making the beef delightfully delicate and tender, and a little less salt in its flavor. No one who has tried this method will be content with any other.
If the beef is to be served hot, what is left can be reheated, and left to cool for the next day’s use in the liquor.
CONNECTICUT
Three pounds of lean rump steak cut thick. Cut it into strips three inches long, and an inch wide. Put it to stew in enough boiling water to not quite cover the meat, and simmer very slowly for half an hour. Add a tablespoonful of parsley chopped fine, a large teaspoonful of sweet thyme, half a teaspoonful of white pepper, and a quarter of a pint of sliced onions. Stew together till the meat is perfectly tender. Rub smooth a tablespoonful of corn starch, and stir it with the gravy until it becomes of the consistency of cream; add a little salt and a tablespoonful of Worcestershire sauce. Place the meat in a deep pudding-dish with alternate layers of cold ham sliced thin and sliced hard-boiled eggs—seven or eight eggs will be required. Add a little grated nutmeg; cover with paste, and bake half an hour.
Take a two-pound can of Richardson & Robbins’s compressed chicken; remove the skin, and cut the chicken into small dice.
Add twice as much celery cut into small pieces, salt to taste, and marinate the whole with a mixture of three tablespoonfuls of vinegar to nine of oil. Have it very cold, and just before serving pour over it a Mayonnaise made by the following receipt. This quantity is enough for twenty-five persons.
Rub together in a china bowl a large tablespoonful of butter, four tablespoonfuls of vinegar, a half teaspoonful of salt, and a half teaspoonful of dry mustard.
Place the bowl in a saucepan full of boiling water over a spirit lamp, or on the range. Stir the mixture carefully till very hot, to prevent the butter from oiling. When hot add two well-beaten eggs; stir till thick, then pour in a half pint of cream, stir, remove from the fire, and allow it to get perfectly cold.
Cold sweet-breads are excellent served with this cream Mayonnaise.
Break a dozen stems of large macaroni into pieces four inches long, and stew carefully, till tender, in consommé or white soup stock.
Place in a dish layers of the macaroni sprinkled with salt, pepper, and of Gruyère cheese grated fine. Cover the top with a thick layer of grated cheese, on that a layer of fine bread-crumbs, and on that bits of butter cut fine. Bake just long enough to brown the top thoroughly.
Scrape with a knife two dozen ears of green corn, cutting each row through the middle. Add one pint of milk, half a pound of butter, three eggs, the whites and yolks beaten separately, a little salt, and white pepper. Stir the yolks into the milk and corn, pour into a baking-dish, stir in the whites, and bake an hour and a half.
VERMONT
Mix together two cupfuls of meal, a tablespoonful of lard, and a teaspoonful of salt; scald with boiling water. Thin it with a large cupful of cold milk and two well-beaten eggs. Spread thin on a large buttered pan, and bake till brown in an oven only moderately hot.
Place on top of the range a frame of “iron-clad” gem-pans to get very hot. Stir the milk and meal together lightly, not trying to make the batter very smooth. Drop a bit of butter into each hot pan, and while it sizzles pour in the batter, and instantly set in the oven; bake twenty minutes. The heat raises the batter to lightness, and the butter gives a savory crust to the little cakes.
CONNECTICUT
Stir Indian meal and water together into a thickish paste. Spread thickly on a new wooden spade, or on the top of a new barrel, and set on end before an open fire to slowly toast, turning the cake when the outer side is brown. No preparation of Indian meal has quite the flavor of this.
For this, Rhode Island meal, ground between stones, is required. Take one pint of meal and one teaspoonful of salt, and scald thoroughly with boiling water till it is a stiff, smooth batter. Thin with cold milk till about the consistency of sponge-cake batter, and drop in tablespoonfuls on a hot buttered griddle. When the under side is brown, turn the cakes and brown the other side. Eat with butter.
One pint of yellow cornmeal, scalded with a small quantity of boiling water, just enough to wet it thoroughly. Let it stand ten minutes. Then add enough cold water to make a soft batter. Add one quarter pint of brewer’s yeast, one quarter pint of molasses, one pint of rye meal, one half teaspoonful of salt, and one saltspoonful of soda. Beat it well together, and set it torise over night. When light, stir it thoroughly, put it into a buttered tin, sprinkle a little flour over the top, and set it to rise again. Bake about two hours. It is excellent cut into slices and toasted.
CONNECTICUT
A pint of cornmeal, thoroughly scalded with hot water. Rub into it a dessertspoonful of butter, two eggs beaten very light, a wineglassful of cream or milk, and a little salt. Butter a tin pan, and drop the mixture from a spoon upon it. Bake in a moderate oven.
Boil oatmeal for an hour as for breakfast use. Rub it through a fine sieve, add a little milk, and cook it very slowly in a double boiler for half an hour longer. When perfectly smooth, add a little salt and cream.
This is the most delicate preparation of oatmeal that an invalid can take.
Prepare a thin mush of Indian meal, water, and salt, and boil till smooth. Drop this batter into iron-clad pans, made very hot and buttered, and bake till brown.
Pare and cut into pieces a Hubbard squash, and steam it till, thoroughly soft; then rub it through a coarse sieve.
To a quart of the squash, which should be as thick and dry as chestnuts when prepared for stuffing, add three quarters of a pint, heaping full, of granulated sugar, the peel and juice of a large lemon, half a nutmeg grated, a tablespoonful of powdered ginger, about as much powdered cinnamon, a small teaspoonful of salt, six drops of rose-water, half a pint of cream, and four beaten eggs. Stir thoroughly, and add about three pints of scalded milk. The mixture should be tasted, and a little more sugar, or lemon, or spice added if required.
Line a deep tin pie-dish with paste, lay a narrow strip around the edge, and fill the dish with the mixture. Bake till the filling is set. This quantity will make four pies.
MASSACHUSETTS
Pare a small pumpkin, about four pounds, and take out the seeds. Steam till soft, and strain through a colander.
Beat in three eggs, three tablespoonfuls of molasses, two tablespoonfuls of ground cinnamon, one of ginger, two teaspoonfuls of salt, and two quarts of hot milk. If more sweetening is needed add a little sugar. Bake with an under crust only. This receipt will make five pies.
Three quarters of a pint of lard, three quarters of a pint of butter, three quarters of a pint of iced water with a teaspoonful of salt dissolved in it, a pint and a half of flour sifted twice through a fine sieve.
Put the lard and flour into a bowl (leaving out a little flour for rolling), and very lightly rub them together with the tips of your fingers. Pour in the salted water, and stir with a knife till the flour and lard are well mixed. Pour out onto the paste-board (over which a very little flour should be sifted), and beat the mixture with a rolling pin, doubling and folding, and putting the dry particles in the middle, till the whole becomes a smooth, firm paste.
Roll this into a narrow oblong, as far as possible rolling from you. Divide the butter, which should be very cold and hard, into three parts, and put one third on the paste with a knife, cutting it into little bits. Fold the sheet of paste over into a roll, and again roll out into an oblong. Add the second third of butter in the same way. Roll once more, put on the last third of butter, again fold into a roll, and cut the paste in two, putting one half on top of the other half.
Cut portions off from the end of the double roll, and with them line the pie dishes, rolling them very thin. This quantity of paste will make four or five pies. Care should be taken not to increase the quantity of flour. The pie-crust will be found tender and delicate, though not so elegant as puff-paste; and to make it ready for use in the pie-dishes should not take more than a quarter of an hour.
CONNECTICUT
Scald the milk, and pour it over the meal; add the other ingredients. Put the pudding into a mold or bag, and boil four hours.
Hot maple molasses and butter are eaten with this pudding.
Boil one quart of the milk; add to it molasses, butter, salt, and spice, and lastly the meal stirred smooth with a little cold milk; scald the whole together, and turn into a well-buttered baking-dish. When it begins to crust over, stir it all up from the bottom, and add a pint of cold milk. Repeat the process every half hour, or oftener if the pudding browns too fast, till the five pints are used; then let it bake till done—six hours in all. Serve hot with a sauce of grated or granulated maple sugar stirred into rich cream, and kept very cold till needed.
CONNECTICUT
Put four heaping tablespoonfuls of Indian meal in a bowl, and mix in half a pint of molasses and a teaspoonful of salt. Boil three pints of milk; pour it scalding hot on the meal, stirring carefully till perfectly smooth and free from lumps. Butter a deep pudding-dish; cover the bottom thickly with fragments of dried orange-peel; pour in the mixture, and, last of all, pour gently over the top a tumblerful of cold milk. Bake four hours and a half in a hot oven. Eat with thick cream.
RHODE ISLAND
Line a deep pudding-dish with slices of buttered bread. Fill this with alternate layers of whortleberries or blueberries, and granulated sugar. Squeeze the juice of a lemon over the whole. Cover the top with slices of bread buttered on both sides. Place a plate over the dish, and bake for an hour and a half, setting the dish in a pan of hot water.
Take the pudding from the oven, spread over the top a meringue of white of egg beaten lightly with sugar in the proportion of a tablespoonful of sugar to one egg, and return it to the oven just long enough to lightly brown the meringue. The pudding should be eaten hot with hard wine sauce.
Line the bottom of a deep pudding-dish with thick slices of stale sponge cake soaked in sherry. Fill the dish with fresh peaches, sliced, and well sprinkled with sugar. Spread over the top a meringue similar to that described for whortleberry pudding, and leave it in the oven just long enough to brown.
Set the dish on the ice, and serve very cold. It is eaten with cream.
Fill a deep pudding-dish with alternate layers of buttered bread and sour cherries, stoned, and stewed with sugar.
Pack the dish in ice, and half freeze the mixture, which will become a semi-jelly. It is eaten with thick cream.
Boil a half pint of rice in a quart of milk till very soft. Add to it while hot the yolks of three eggs, three large tablespoonfuls of sugar, the grated rind of two lemons, and a little salt. If too thick, add a little cold milk. It should be a little thicker than a boiled custard. Turn it into a pudding-dish.
Beat the whites of the eggs very stiff with eight tablespoonfuls of sugar and the juice of the two lemons, and brown the top delicately in the oven. Set on ice and eat very cold.
Weigh two eggs, and allow the same weight in sugar and flour, and the weight of one egg in butter. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs beaten to a froth, and lastly the flour, in which half a teaspoonful of Royal Baking Powder has been mixed. Stir till perfectly smooth; then add a heaping tablespoonful of orange marmalade; pour into a buttered mold; cover with buttered paper, and steam gently for an hour and a half. Serve with wine sauce.
Simmer a quarter of a pint of rice in a quart of milk till it is very soft and thick. Add a teaspoonful of salt, four tablespoonfuls of sugar, a little cream, and let all cool together a few minutes. Pour into a pudding-dish and bake till set.
Spread over the pudding a thick layer of orange marmalade, and over that a meringue, and return to the oven till the top is lightly browned. Serve it cold.
This is a genuine New England dainty, dear to the hearts of children. Mix half a pint of the best molasses with a tablespoonful of flour, and add the juice of a large lemon, and the rind and pulp chopped fine. Bake with an under and an upper crust.
One pound of prunes. One half box of Coxe’s gelatine. Soak the prunes over night, and stew till tender in the water in which they have soaked. Remove the stones, and sweeten to taste.
Dissolve the gelatine in a little hot water, and add to the prunes while hot. Lastly, add the juice of a lemon and two tablespoonfuls of blanched almonds. Pour the jelly into molds and set it on the ice to harden. Eat with cream.
Melt two cupfuls of crushed sugar over the fire, adding a little water to keep it from burning, and dropping in a few bits of lemon-peel.
Pare eight large greening apples, and slice them very thin. Have a saucepan full of boiling water ready, and into this put the apples and let them cook till they are parboiled, but not soft enough to break. Skim them out, and drop them into the boiling syrup, shaking them continually over a slow fire till they are done. If properly prepared the slices will be almost transparent.
One quart of milk. One tumblerful of sugar. Mix the two, and half freeze in an ice cream freezer. Then add the juice and pulp of four large lemons; stir thoroughly, and freeze firm. This is the simplest and cheapest of frozen preparations, and for use in the country, where materials are hard to come by, it is invaluable.
Pare, core, and quarter enough Baldwin or greening apples to fill a small stoneware jar. Add three quarters of a pint of sugar and a quarter of a pint of water; cover tightly. Set thisin the oven of the range as soon as the last meal of the day—dinner or supper, as it may be—is served, and let it remain till breakfast next morning. The long, slow cooking gives the apples a deep red color and a flavor quite different from other preparations.
Prick hard baking pears with a fork in half a dozen places, and with them fill a small stoneware jar. Add half a pint of sugar, half a pint of water, and a heaping teaspoonful of molasses. Cover tightly, and bake all night as directed above.
Stew four quarts of cranberries in a porcelain kettle with water enough to float them, till they are thoroughly soft and broken. Rub them through a coarse sieve. Allow to each pint of the marmalade-like mixture resulting a pound of sugar. Put the fruit on the fire till it boils hard. Stir in the sugar, and as soon as it jellies, which will be in a few minutes, remove from the fire and pour into glasses. The advantage of this preparation of cranberries is that it keeps perfectly for six weeks or two months, losing nothing in quality or flavor during the time.
At noon, or early in the afternoon, begin making this cake. Cream the butter and sugar, add a quart of lukewarm milk, half of the flour, and either a half pint of brewer’s yeast or a cake and a half of compressed yeast. Beat the mixture well, cover the pan with a thick towel, and set it in a warm place to rise.
At night, when it is very light, add the flour, spices, and eggs. Set the pan in a moderately warm place for a secondrising. Early next morning add the fruit, the wine, the grated peel of a lemon, and half a teaspoonful of extract of rose. Pour into pans lined with buttered paper. Let them stand an hour or until light. This receipt makes seven loaves, which require to bake from an hour to an hour and a half, according to oven.
A half teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little warm water, and stirred into the batter just before it is put into the pans, is an improvement.
To the white of an unbeaten egg add a cupful and a quarter of pulverized sugar, and stir until smooth. Add three drops of rose-water, ten of vanilla, and the juice of half a lemon. It will at once become very white, and will harden in five or six minutes.
Thedishes in which the South excel, and which may be called distinctive to that section, are those made of cornmeal, of gumbo or okra, and those seasoned with sassafras powder or twigs.The Cornmeal.The cornmeal used in the South is white and coarse-grained (it is called there water-ground), and gives quite a different result from that which is finer in grain and yellow in color, which is usually sold at the North.The Hoe.The hoe used for baking corn-cakes is an article made for the purpose, and not the garden implement usually associated with the name.
Thedishes in which the South excel, and which may be called distinctive to that section, are those made of cornmeal, of gumbo or okra, and those seasoned with sassafras powder or twigs.The Cornmeal.The cornmeal used in the South is white and coarse-grained (it is called there water-ground), and gives quite a different result from that which is finer in grain and yellow in color, which is usually sold at the North.The Hoe.The hoe used for baking corn-cakes is an article made for the purpose, and not the garden implement usually associated with the name.
Sift a quart of white cornmeal, add a teaspoonful of salt; pour on enough cold water to make a mixture which will squeeze easily through the fingers. Work it to a soft dough. Mold it into oblong cakes an inch thick at the ends, and a little thicker in the center. Slap them down on the pan, and press them a little. These cakes, they say, must show the marks of the fingers. The pan must be hot, and sprinkled with the bran sifted from the meal. Bake in a hot oven for about twenty minutes.
Make the same mixture as for pone. Spread it on the greased hoe, or a griddle, making a round cake one quarter inch thick. Bake it on the top of the range, turning and baking it brown on both sides.
Use for these cakes, if possible, coarse water-ground white meal. Add to a quart of meal a teaspoonful of salt; pour over it enough boiling water to make it a soft dough; add also a little milk to make it brown better. Let it stand an hour or longer, then work it together with the hand. Form it into little cakes an inch thick, and bake on a greased griddle till browned on both sides. Serve very hot. They are split and spread with butter when eaten.
Mix a teaspoonful of salt with a cupful of white cornmeal. Scald it with just enough boiling water to dampen it; then add enough cold milk to enable you to mold it. Stir it well together, and form it into cakes three quarters of an inch thick in the middle and oblong in shape. Use a tablespoonful of dough for each cake. Bake them on a greased pan in a hot oven for twenty-five minutes.
Add a teaspoonful of salt and tablespoonful of butter to a quart of flour. Rub them together, then add a cupful of milk, and, if necessary, a little water, making a stiff dough. Place the dough on a firm table or block, and beat it with a mallet or rolling-pin for fully half an hour, or until it becomes brittle. Spread it half an inch thick; cut it into small circles, and prick each one with a fork. Bake them in a hot oven about twenty minutes.
Mix a tablespoonful of butter with two cupfuls of hot boiled hominy or of rice; add two or three well-beaten eggs, and then add slowly two cupfuls of milk, and lastly a cupful of white cornmeal and a dash of salt. Turn the mixture, which should be of the consistency of pancake batter, into a deep dish, andbake about an hour. Serve it with a spoon from the same dish in which it is baked.
Wash the rice thoroughly through several waters, using the hand. Put it into a saucepan with a pint of water and a half teaspoonful of salt to each cupful of rice. Let it boil covered until the water has boiled away; then draw it to the side of the range, open the cover a little, and let it steam until thoroughly dry. Do not touch the rice while it is cooking. This receipt is furnished by a Southern negro cook.
(A NEW ORLEANS DISH)
Wash well the outside of a fowl (see page180), and cut it into pieces. Cut the veal and the ham into small pieces, and dredge all of them well with flour.
Put the onions, sliced, into a pot or large saucepan with one tablespoonful of fat or drippings, and fry until brown; then add the pieces of chicken, veal, and ham. Turn them often, so all will brown evenly; this will take about twenty minutes. When the meat is browned, add two quarts of hot water; cover the pot, and let simmer for two hours. After the first hour add the salt, pepper, thyme, marjoram, and tomatoes. At the end of two hours, if the meat is tender, add the oysters and the oyster juice, and let remain on the fire only long enough to ruffle the gills of the oysters. Take from the fire, and add two tablespoonfuls of sassafras powder, and stir until a littlethickened (do not add the sassafras until the pot is removed from the fire).
Serve in a meat-dish with a border of boiled rice. This is a dish much used in the South. It may be served as a chowder, with the meat and liquor together, or may be served separately, using the liquor as a soup.
Powdered sassafras leaves may be obtained at the grocer’s.
Cut a chicken into pieces; roll the pieces in flour; put them into a pot with a few slices of salt pork and one sliced onion. Sauté them a light brown; then add four quarts of hot water, and simmer it until the chicken is nearly cooked; then add two slices of boiled ham, two quarts of sliced okra, one half can of tomatoes, and one pod of red pepper. Continue to cook until everything is tender. Season with salt and pepper, and just before serving stir in one teaspoonful of sassafras powder. If sassafras twigs can be had they are better than the powder, and should be added with the vegetables.
This is a favorite Southern dish. It resembles a chowder, and is so hearty as to almost constitute a dinner in itself.