This eBook was prepared by Stewart A. Levin.
A LITTLE COOK-BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL
by
CAROLINE FRENCH BENTON
Author of ``Gala Day Luncheons''
Boston, The Page Company, Publishers
Copyright, 1905
by Dana Estes & Company
For
Katherine, Monica and Betty
Three Little Girls
Who Love To Do
``Little Girl Cooking''
Thanks are due to the editor of Good Housekeeping for
permission to reproduce the greater part of this book
from that magazine.
INTRODUCTION
Once upon a time there was a little girl named Margaret, and she
wanted to cook, so she went into the kitchen and tried and tried,
but she could not understand the cook-books, and she made dreadful
messes, and spoiled her frocks and burned her fingers till she just
had to cry.
One day she went to her grandmother and her mother and her Pretty
Aunt and her Other Aunt, who were all sitting sewing, and asked
them to tell here about cooking.
``What is a roux,'' she said, ``and what's a mousse and what's an
entrée? What are timbales and sautés and ingredients, and how do
you mix 'em and how long do you bake 'em? Won't somebody please
tell me all about it?''
And her Pretty Aunt said, ``See the flour all over that new frock!''
and her mother said, ``Dear child, you are not old enough to cooks
yet;'' and her grandmother said, ``Just wait a year or two, and
I'll teach you myself;'' and the Other Aunt said, ``Some day you
shall go to cooking-school and learn everything; you know little
girls can't cook.''
But Margaret said, ``I don't want to wait till I'm big; I want to
cook now; and I don't want to do cooking-school cooking, but little
girl cooking, all by myself.''
So she kept on trying to learn, but she burned her fingers and
spoiled her dresses worse than ever, and her messes were so bad
they had to be thrown out, every one of them; and she cried and cried.
And then one day her grandmother said, ``It's a shame that child
should not learn to cook if she really wants to so much;'' and her
mother said ``Yes, it is a shame, and she shall learn! Let's get
her a small table and some tins and aprons, and make a little
cook-book all her own out of the old ones we wrote for ourselves
long ago,--just the plain, easy things anybody can make.'' And both
her aunts said, ``Do! We will help, and perhaps we might put in
just a few cooking-school things beside.''
It was not long after this that Margaret had a birthday, and she
was taken to the kitchen to get her presents, which she thought
the funniest thing in the world. There they all were, in the
middle of the room: first her father's present, a little table
with a white oilcloth cover and casters, which would push right
under the big table when it was not being used. Over a chair her
grandmother's present, three nice gingham aprons, with sleeves and
ruffled bibs. On the little table the presents of the aunties,
shiny new tins and saucepans, and cups to measure with, and spoons,
and a toasting-fork, and ever so many things; and then on one corner
of the table, all by itself, was her mother's present, her own
little cook-book, with her own name on it, and that was best of all.
When Margaret had looked at everything, she set out in a row the big
bowl and the middle-sized bowl and the little wee bowl, and put the
scalloped patty-pans around them, and the real egg-beater in front of
all, just like a picture, and then she read a page in her cook-book, and
began to believe it was all true. So she danced for joy, and put on a
gingham apron and began to cook that very minute, and before another
birthday she had cooked every single thing in the book.
This is Margaret's cook-book.
PART I.
THE THINGS MARGARET MADE FOR BREAKFAST
A LITTLE COOK BOOK FOR A LITTLE GIRL
CEREALS
1 quart of boiling water.
4 tablespoonfuls of cereal.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
When you are to use a cereal made of oats or wheat, always begin
to cook it the night before, even if it says on the package that
it is not necessary. Put a quart of boiling water in the outside
of the double boiler, and another quart in the inside, and in this
last mix the salt and cereal. Put the boiler on the back of the
kitchen range, where it will be hardly cook at all, and let it
stand all night. If the fire is to go out, put it on so that it
will cook for two hours first. In the morning, if the water in
the outside of the boiler is cold, fill it up hot, and boil hard
for an hour without stirring the cereal. Then turn it out in a
hot dish, and send it to the table with a pitcher of cream.
The rather soft, smooth cereals, such as farina and cream of rice,
are to be measured in just the same way, but they need not be cooked
overnight; only put on in a double boiler in the morning for an hour.
Margaret's mother was very particular to have all cereals cooked a
long time, because they are difficult to digest if they are only
partly cooked, even though they look and taste as though they were done.
Corn-meal Mush
1 quart of boiling water.
1 teaspoon of salt.
4 tablespoons of corn-meal.
Be sure the water is boiling very hard when you are ready; then
put in the salt, and pour slowly from your hand the corn-meal,
stirring all the time till there is not one lump. Boil this half
an hour, and serve with cream. Some like a handful of nice plump
raisins stirred in, too. It is better to use yellow corn-meal in
winter and white in summer.
Fried Corn-meal Mush
Make the corn-meal mush the day before you need it, and when it
has cooked half an hour put it in a bread-tin and smooth it over;
stand away overnight to harden. In the morning turn it out and
slice it in pieces half an inch thick. Put two tablespoons of
lard or nice drippings in the frying-pan, and make it very hot.
Dip each piece of mush into a pan of flour, and shake off all
except a coating of this. Put the pieces, a few at a time, into
the hot fat, and cook till they are brown; have ready a heavy brown
paper on a flat dish in the oven, and as you take out the mush lay
it on this, so that the paper will absorb the grease. When all
are cooked put the pieces on a hot platter, and have a pitcher of
maple syrup ready to send to the table with them.
Another way to cook corn-meal mush is to have a kettle of hot fat ready,
and after flouring the pieces drop them into the fat and cook like
doughnuts. The pieces have to be rather smaller to cook in this way
than in the other.
Boiled Rice
1 cup of rice.
2 cups of boiling water.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
Pick the rice over, taking out all the bits of brown husk; fill
the outside of the double boiler with hot water, and put in the
rice, salt, and water, and cook forty minutes, but do not stir it.
Then take off the cover from the boiler, and very gently, without
stirring, turn over the rice with a fork; put the dish in the oven
without the cover, and let it stand and dry for ten minutes. Then
turn it from the boiler into a hot dish, and cover. Have cream
to eat on it. If any rice is left over from breakfast, use it the
next morning as--
Fried Rice
Press it into a pan, just as you did the mush, and let it stand
overnight; the next morning slice it, dip it in flour, and fry,
either in the pan or in the deep fat in the kettle, just as you
did the mush.
Farina Croquettes
When farina has been left from breakfast, take it while still warm
and beat into a pint of it the beaten yolks of two eggs. Let it
then get cold, and at luncheon-time make it into round balls;
dip each one first into the beaten yolk of an egg mixed with a
tablespoonful of cold water, and then into smooth, sifted bread-crumbs;
have ready a kettle of very hot fat, and drop in three at a time,
or, if you have a wire basket, put three in this and sink into the
fat till they are brown. Serve in a pyramid, on a napkin, and pass
scraped maple sugar with them.
Margaret's mother used to have no cereal at breakfast sometimes, and
have these croquettes as a last course instead, and every one liked them
very much.
Rice Croquettes
1 cup of milk.
Yolk of one egg.
1/4 cup of rice.
1 large tablespoonful of powdered sugar.
Small half-teaspoonful of salt.
1/2 cup of raisins and currants, mixed.
1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla.
Wash the rice and put in a double boiler with the milk, salt and
sugar and cook till very thick; beat the yolks of the eggs and
stir into the rice, and beat till smooth. Sprinkle the washed
raisins and currants with flour, and roll them in it and mix these in,
and last the vanilla. Turn out on a platter, and let all get very
cold. Then make into pyramids, dip in the yolk of an egg mixed
with a tablespoonful of water, and then into sifted bread-crumbs,
and fry in a deep kettle of boiling fat, using a wire basket.
As you take these from the fat, put them on paper in the oven with
the door open. When all are done, put them on a hot platter and
sift powdered sugar over them, and put a bit of red jelly on top
of each. This is a nice dessert for luncheon. All white cereals
may be made into croquettes; if they are for breakfast, do not
sweeten them, but for luncheon use the rule just given, with or
without raisins and currants.
Hominy
Cook this just as you did the rice, drying it in the oven; serve
one morning plain, as cereal, with cream, and then next morning fried,
with maple syrup, after the rest of the meal. Fried hominy is
always nice to put around a dish of fried chicken or roast game,
and it looks especially well if, instead of being sliced, it is
cut out into fancy shapes with a cooky-cutter.
After Margaret had learned to cook all kinds of cereals, she went on
to the next thing in her cook-book.
EGGS
Soft Boiled
Put six eggs in a baking-dish and cover them with boiling water;
put a cover on and let them stand where they will keep hot, but
not cook, for ten minutes, or, if the family likes them well done,
twelve minutes. They will be perfectly cooked, but not tough,
soft and creamy all the way through.
Another way to cook them is this:
Put the eggs in a kettle of cold water on the stove, and the moment
the water boils take them up, and they will be just done. An easy
way to take them up all at once is to put them in a wire basket,
and sink this under the water. A good way to serve boiled eggs
is to crumple up a fresh napkin in a deep dish, which has been made
very hot, and lay the eggs in the folds of the napkin; this prevents
their breaking, and keeps them warm.
Poached Eggs
Take a pan which is not more than three inches deep, and put in
as many muffin-rings as you wish to cook eggs. Pour in boiling
water till the rings are half covered, and scatter half a teaspoonful
of salt in the water. Let it boil up once, and then draw the pan
to the edge of the stove, where the water will not boil again.
Take a cup, break one egg in it, and gently slide this into a ring,
and so on till all are full. While they are cooking, take some
toast and cut it into round pieces with the biscuit cutter; wet
these a very little with boiling water, and butter them. When the
eggs have cooked twelve minutes, take a cake-turner and slip it
under one egg with its ring, and lift the two together on to a
piece of toast, and then take off the ring; and so on with all
the eggs. Shake a very little salt and pepper over the dish,
and put parsley around the edge. Sometimes a little chopped
parsley is nice to put over the eggs, too.
Poached Eggs with Potted Ham
Make the rounds of toast and poach the eggs as before. Make a
white sauce in this way: melt a tablespoonful of butter, and when
it bubbles put in a tablespoonful of flour; shake well, and add a
cup of hot milk and a small half-teaspoonful of salt; cook till
smooth. Moisten each round of toast with a very little boiling
water, and spread with some of the potted ham which comes in little
tin cans; lay a poached egg on each round, and put a teaspoonful of
white sauce on each egg.
If you have no potted ham in the house, but have plain boiled ham,
put this through the meat-chopper till you have half a cupful, put in
a heaping teaspoonful of the sauce, a saltspoonful of dry mustard,
and a pinch of red pepper, and it will do just as well.
Scrambled Eggs
4 eggs.
2 tablespoonfuls of milk.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
Put the eggs in a bowl and stir till they are well mixed; add the
milk and salt. Make the frying-pan very hot, and put a tablespoonful
of butter in it; when it melts, shake it well from side to side,
till all the bottom of the pan is covered. Put in the eggs and
stir them, scraping them off the bottom of the pan until they begin
to get a little firm; then draw the pan to the edge of the stove,
and scrape up from the bottom all the time till the whole looks alike,
creamy and firm, but not hard. Put them in a hot, covered dish.
Scrambled Eggs with Parsley
Chop enough parsley to make a teaspoonful, and mince half as
much onion. Put the onion in the butter when you heat the pan,
and cook the eggs in it; when you are nearly ready to take the eggs
off the fire, put in the parsley.
After Margaret had learned to make these perfectly, she began to
mix other things with the eggs.
Scrambled Eggs with Tomato
When Margaret found a cupful of tomato in the refrigerator, she
would take that, add a half-teaspoonful of salt, two shakes of
pepper, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and simmer it all
on the fire for five minutes; then she would cook half a teaspoonful
of minced onion in the butter in the hot frying-pan as before,
and turn in the eggs, and when they were beginning to grow firm, put
in the tomato. In summer-time she often cut up two fresh tomatoes
and stewed them down to a cupful, instead of using the canned.
Scrambled Eggs with Chicken
Chop fine a cup of cold chicken, or any light-colored meat, and
heat it with a tablespoonful of water, a half-teaspoonful of salt,
two shakes of pepper, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
Cook a half-teaspoonful of minced onion in the butter you put in
the hot frying-pan, and turn in the eggs, and when they set mix in
the chicken.
Sometimes Margaret used both the tomato filling and the chicken in
the eggs, when she wanted to make a large dish.
Creamed Eggs
Cook six eggs twenty minutes, and while they are on the fire make
a cup of white sauce, as before: one tablespoonful of butter,
melted, one of flour, one cup of hot milk, a little salt; cook
till smooth. Peel the eggs and cut the whites into pieces as large as
the tip of your finger, and put the yolks through the potato-ricer.
Mix the eggs white with the sauce, and put in a hot dish, with the
yellow yolks over the top. Or, put the whites on pieces of toast,
which you have dipped in part of the white sauce, and put the yolks
on top, and serve on a small platter.
Another nice way to cream eggs is this: Cook them till hard,
and cut them all up into bits. Make the white sauce, and into it
stir the beaten yolk of one egg, just after taking it from the fire.
Mix the eggs with this, and put in a hot dish or on toast.
You can sprinkle grated cheese over this sometimes, for a change.
Creamed Eggs in Baking-Dishes
Cut six hard-boiled eggs up into bits, mix with a cup of white sauce,
and put in small baking-dishes which you have buttered. Cover over
with fine, sifted bread-crumbs, and dot with bits of butter, about
four to each dish, and brown in the oven. Stick a bit of parsley
in the top of each, and put each dish on a plate, to serve.
Birds' Nests
Sometimes when she wanted something very pretty for breakfast,
Margaret used this rule:
Open six eggs, putting the whites together in one large bowl, and
the yolks in six cups on the kitchen table. Beat the whites till
they are stiff, putting in half a teaspoonful of salt just at the
last. Divide the whites, putting them into six patty-pans, or small
baking-dishes. Make a little hole or nest in the middle of each,
and slip one yolk carefully from the cup into the place. Sprinkle
a little salt and pepper over them, and put a bit of butter on top,
and put the dishes into a pan and set in the oven till the egg-whites
are a little brown.
Omelette
Making an omelette seems rather a difficult thing for a little girl,
but Margaret made hers in a very easy way. Her rule said:
Break four eggs separately. Beat the whites till they are stiff,
and then wash and wipe dry the egg-beater, and beat the yolks till
they foam, and then put in half a teaspoonful of salt. Pour the
yolks over the whites, and mix gently with a large spoon. Have a
cake-griddle hot, with a piece of butter melted on it and spread
over the whole surface; pour the eggs on and let them cook for
a moment. The take a cake-turner and slip under an edge, and look
to see if the middle is getting brown, because the color comes there
first. When it is a nice even color, slip the turner well under,
and turn the omelette half over, covering one part with the other,
and then slip the whole off on a hot platter. Bridget had to show
Margaret how to manage this the first time, but after that she could
do it alone.
Spanish Omelette
1 cup of cooked tomato.
1 green pepper.
1 slice of onion.
1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
1 teaspoonful salt.
3 shakes of pepper.
Cut the green pepper in half and take out all the seeds; mix with
the tomato, and cook all together with the seasoning for five minutes.
Make an omelette by the last rule while the tomato is cooking, and
when it is done, just before you fold it over, put in the tomato.
Omelette with Mushrooms
Take a can of mushrooms and slice half of them into thin pieces.
Make a cup of very rich white sauce, using cream instead of milk,
and cook the mushrooms in it for one minute. Make the omelette as
before, and spread with the sauce when you turn it over.
Omelette with Mushrooms and Olives
This was a very delicious dish, and Margaret only made it for
company. She prepared the mushrooms just as in the rule above,
and added twelve olives, cut into small pieces, and spread the
omelette with the whole when she turned it.
Eggs Baked in Little Dishes
Margaret's mother had some pretty little dishes with handles,
brown on the outside and white inside. These Margaret buttered,
and put one egg in each, sprinkling with salt, pepper, and butter,
with a little parsley. She put the dishes in the oven till the eggs
were firm, and served them in the small dishes, one on each plate.
Eggs with Cheese
6 eggs.
2 heaping tablespoonfuls Parmesan cheese.
1/2 teaspoonful salt.
Pinch of red pepper.
Beat the eggs without separating till light and foamy, and then
add the cheese, salt, and pepper. Put a tablespoonful of butter in
the frying-pan, and when it is hot put in the eggs, and stir till
smooth and firm. Serve on small pieces of buttered toast.
Parmesan cheese is very nice to use in cooking; it comes in bottles,
all ready grated to use.
Eggs with Bacon
Take some bacon and put in a hot frying-pan, and cook till it crisps.
Then lift it out on a hot dish and put in the oven. Break six eggs
in separate cups, and slide them carefully into the fat left in the
pan, and let them cook till they are rather firm and the bottom is
brown. Then take a cake-turner and take them out carefully, and put
in the middle of the dish, and arrange the bacon all around, with
parsley on the edge.
Ham and Eggs, Moulded
Take small, deep tins, such as are used for timbales, and butter
them. Make one cup of white sauce; take a cup of cold boiled
ham which has been put through the meat-chopper, and mix with a
tablespoonful of white sauce and one egg, slightly beaten. Press
this like a lining into the tins, and then gently drop a raw egg
in the centre of each. Stand them in a pan of boiling water in the
oven till the eggs are firm,--about ten minutes,--and turn out
on a round platter. Put around them the rest of the white sauce.
You can stand the little moulds on circles of toast if you wish.
This rule was given Margaret by her Pretty Aunt, who got it at
cooking-school; it sounded harder than it really was, and after
trying it once Margaret often used it.
FISH
One day some small, cunning little fish came home from market, and
Margaret felt sure they must be meant for her to cook. They were
called smelts, and, on looking, she found a rule for cooking them,
just as she had expected.
Fried Smelts
Put a deep kettle on the fire, with two cups of lard in it, to
get it very hot. Wipe each smelt inside and out with a clean wet
cloth, and then with a dry one. Have a saucer of flour mixed
with a teaspoonful of salt, and another saucer of milk. Put the
tail of each smelt through its gills--that is, the opening near
its mouth. Then roll the smelts first in milk and then in flour,
and shake off any lumps. Throw a bit of bread into the fat in the
kettle, and see if it turns brown quickly; it does if the fat is
hot enough, but if not you must wait. Put four smelts in the wire
basket, and stand it in the fat, so that the fish are entirely
covered, for only half a minute, or till you can count thirty.
As you take them out of the kettle, lay them on heavy brown paper
on a pan in the oven, to drain and keep hot, and leave the door
open till all are done. Lay a folded napkin on a long, narrow
platter, and arrange the fishes in two rows, with slices of lemon
and parsley on the sides.
Fish-balls
One morning there was quite a good deal of cold mashed potato
in the ice-box, so Margaret decided to have fish-balls for
breakfast. Her rule said: Take a box of prepared codfish and
put it in a colander and pour a quart of boiling water through
it, stirring it as you do so. Let it drain while you heat two
cups of mashed potato in a double boiler, with half a cup of hot
milk, beating and stirring till it is smooth. Squeeze the water
from the codfish and mix with the potato. Beat one egg without
separating it, and put this in, too, with a very little pepper,
and beat it all well. Turn it out on a floured board, and make
into small balls, rolling each one in flour as it is done, and
brushing off most of the flour afterward. Have ready a kettle of
hot lard, just as for smelts, and drop in three or four of the
balls at one time, and cook till light brown. Lift them out on
a paper in the oven, and let them keep hot while you cook the rest.
Serve with parsley on a hot platter.
Creamed Codfish
Pour boiling water over a package of prepared codfish in the
colander and drain it. Heat a frying-pan, and, while you are
waiting, beat the yolk of an egg. Squeeze the water from the
fish. Put one tablespoonful of butter in a hot pan, and when it
bubbles put in two tablespoonfuls of flour, and stir and rub till
all is smooth. Pour in slowly a pint of hot milk, and mix well,
rubbing in the flour and butter till there is not a single lump.
Then stir in the fish with a little pepper, and when it boils
put in the egg. Stir it all up once, and it is done. Put in a
hot covered dish, or on slices of buttered toast.
Salt Mackerel
This was a dish Margaret's grandmother liked so much that they had
it every little while, even though it was old-fashioned.
Put the mackerel into a large pan of cold water with the skin
up, and soak it all one afternoon and night, changing the water
four times. In the morning put it in a pan on the fire with enough
water to cover it, and drop in a slice of onion, minced fine, a
teaspoonful of vinegar, and a sprig of parsley. Simmer it twenty
minutes,--that is, let it just bubble slowly,--and while it
is cooking make a cup of white sauce as before: one tablespoonful
of butter, melted, one tablespoonful of flour, one cup of hot milk,
a little salt. Cook till smooth. Take up the fish and pour off
all the water; place it on a hot platter and pour the sauce over it.
MEATS
When it came to cooking meat for breakfast, Margaret thought she
had better take first what looked easiest, so she chose--
Corned Beef Hash
1 pint of chopped corned beef.
1 pint of cold boiled potatoes.
1 cup of clear soup, or one cup of cold water.
1 tablespoonful of butter.
1 teaspoonful of finely minced onion.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
3 shakes of pepper.
Mix all together. Have a hot frying-pan, and in it put a
tablespoonful of butter or nice fat, and when it bubbles shake it
all around the pan. Put in the hash and cook it till dry, stirring
it often and scraping it from the bottom of the pan. When none of
the soup or water runs out when you lift a spoonful, and when it
seems steaming hot, you can send it to the table in a hot dish,
with parsley around it. Or you can let it cook without stirring
till there is a nice brown crust on the bottom, when you can
double it over as you would an omelette. Or you can make a pyramid
of the hash in the middle of a round platter, and put poached eggs
in a circle around it.
Many people like one small cold boiled beet cut up fine in corned
beef hash, and sometimes for a change you can put this in before
you put it in the frying-pan.
Broiled Bacon
Margaret's mother believed there was only one very nice way to
cook bacon. It was like this: Slice the bacon very, very thin,
and cut off the rind. Put the slices close together in a wire
broiler, and lay this over a shallow pan in a very hot oven for
about three minutes. If it is brown on top, then you can turn the
broiler over, but if not, wait a moment longer. When both sides
are toasted, lay it on a hot platter and put sprigs of parsley
around. This is much nicer than bacon cooked in the frying-pan
or over coals, for it is neither greasy nor smoky, but pink and
light brown, and crisp and delicious, and good for sick people
and little children and everybody.
Broiled Chops
Wipe off the chops with a clean wet cloth and trim off the edges;
if very fat cut rather close to the meat. Rub the wire broiler
with some of the fat, so that the chops will not stick. Lay in
the chops and put over a clear, red fire without flame, and toast
one side first and then the other; do this till they are brown.
Lay on a hot platter, and dust both sides with salt and a tiny bit
of pepper. Put bits of lemon and parsley around, and send to the
table hot.
Panned Chops
If the fire is not clear so that you cannot broil the chops, you
must pan them. Take a frying-pan and make it very hot indeed; then
lay in the chops, which you have wiped and trimmed, and cook one
side very quickly, and then the other, and after that let them cook
more slowly. When they are done,--you can tell by picking open
a little place in one with a fork and looking on the inside,--put
them on a platter as before, with pepper and salt. If they are
at all greasy, put on brown paper in the oven first, to drain,
leaving the door of the oven open. Be careful not to let them
get cold.
Liver and Bacon
Buy half a pound of calf's liver and half a pound of bacon. Cut
the liver in thin slices and pour boiling water over it, and then
wipe each slice dry. Slice the bacon very thin and cut off the
rind; put this in a hot frying-pan and cook very quickly, turning
it once or twice. Just as soon as it is brown take it out and lay
it on brown paper in the oven in a pan. Take a saucer of flour and
mix in it a teaspoonful of salt and a very little pepper; dip the
slices of liver in this, one at a time, and shake them free of lumps.
Lay them in the hot fat of the bacon in the pan and fry till brown.
Have a hot platter ready, and lay the slices of liver in a nice
row on it, and then put one slice of bacon on each slice of liver.
Put parsley all around, and sometimes use slices of lemon, too,
for a change.
Liver and Bacon on Skewers
Get from the butcher half a dozen small wooden skewers, and
prepare the liver and bacon as you did for frying, scalding,
dipping the liver in flour, and taking the rind off the bacon.
Make three slices of toast, cut into strips, and put in the oven
to keep hot. Cut up both liver and bacon into pieces the size
of a fifty-cent piece and put them on the skewers, first one of
the liver and then one of the bacon, and so on, about six of each.
Put these in the hot frying-pan and turn them over till they are
brown. Then lay one skewer on each strip of toast, and put lemon
and parsley around. You can also put large oysters on the skewers
with pieces of bacon, and cook in the same way.
Broiled Steak
See that the fire is clear and red, without flames. Trim off
most of the fat from the steak, and rub the wires of the broiler
with it and heat it over the coals. Then put in the meat and
turn over and over as it cooks, and be careful not to let it take
fire. When brown, put it on a hot platter, dust over with salt
and a very little pepper, and dot it with tiny lumps of butter.
Put parsley around. Steak ought to be pink inside; not brown
and not red. Put a fork in as you did with the chops, and twist
in a little, and you can see when it gets the right color.
Steak with Bananas
Peel one banana and slice in round pieces, and while the steak
is cooking fry them in a little hot butter till they are brown.
After the meat is on the platter, lay these pieces over it,
arranging them prettily, and put the parsley around as before.
Bananas are very nice with steak.
Frizzled Dried Beef
Take half a pound of dried beef, shaved very thin. Chop it fine
and pull out the strings. Put a large tablespoonful of butter in
the frying-pan, and when it bubbles put in the meat. Stir till it
begins to get brown, and then sprinkle in one tablespoonful of flour
and stir again, and then put in one cup of hot milk. Shake in a
little pepper, but no salt. As soon as it boils up once, it is
done, and you can put it in a hot covered dish. If you like a
change, stir in sometimes two beaten eggs in the milk instead of
using it plain.
Veal Cutlet
Wipe off the meat with a clean wet cloth, and then with one that is
dry. Dust it over with salt, pepper, and flour. Put a tablespoonful
of nice dripping in a hot frying-pan, and let it heat till it smokes
a little. Lay in the meat and cook till brown, turning it over twice
as it cooks. Look in the inside and see if it is brown, for cutlet
must not be eaten red or pink inside. Put in a hot oven and cover it
up while you make the gravy, by putting one tablespoonful of flour
into the hot fat in the pan, stirring it till it is brown. Then
put in a cup of boiling water, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a
very little pepper; put this through the wire sieve, pressing it
with a spoon, and turn over the meat. Put parsley around the cutlet,
and send hot to the table.
Margaret's father said he could not possibly manage without
potatoes for breakfast, so sometimes Margaret let Bridget cook
the cereal and meat, while she made something nice out of the
cold potatoes she found in the cupboard.
Creamed Potatoes
Cut cold boiled potatoes into pieces as large as the end of your
finger; put them into a pan on the back of the stove with enough
milk to cover them, and let them stand till they have drunk up all
the milk; perhaps they will slowly cook a little as they do this,
but that will do no harm. In another saucepan or in the frying-pan
put a tablespoonful of butter, and when it bubbles put in a
tablespoonful of flour, and stir till they melt together; then
put in two cups of hot milk, and stir till it is all smooth. Put
in one teaspoonful of salt, and last the potatoes, but stir them
only once while they cook, for fear of breaking them. Add one
teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and put them in a hot covered dish.
You can make another sort of potatoes when you have finished
creaming them in this way, by putting a layer of them in a deep
buttered baking-dish, with a layer of white sauce over the top,
and break-crumbs and bits of butter for a crust. Brown well in a
hot oven. When you do this, remember to make the sauce with three
cups of milk and two tablespoonfuls of flour and two of butter,
and then you will have enough for everything.
Hashed Browned Potatoes
Chop four cold potatoes fine, and add one teaspoonful of salt
and a very little pepper. Put a tablespoonful of butter in the
frying-pan, and turn it so it runs all over; when it bubbles
put in the potatoes, and smooth them evenly over the pan. Cook
till they are brown and crusty on the bottom; then put in a
teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and fold over like an omelette.
Saratoga Potatoes
Wash and pare four potatoes, and rub them on the potato-slicer
till they are in thin pieces; put them in ice-water for fifteen
minutes. Heat two cups of lard very hot, till when you drop in
a bit of bread it browns at once. Wipe the potatoes dry and drop
in a handful. Have a skimmer ready, and as soon as they brown
take them out and lay on brown paper in the oven, and put in
another handful.
Potato Cakes
Take two cups of mashed potato, and mix well with the beaten yolk
of one egg, and make into small flat cakes; dip each into flour.
Heat two tablespoonfuls of nice dripping, and when it is hot lay
in the cakes and brown, turning each with the cake-turner as it
gets crusty on the bottom.
Fried Sweet Potatoes
Take six cold boiled sweet-potatoes, slice them and lay in hot
dripping in the frying-pan till brown. These are especially nice
with veal cutlets.
Toast
Toast is very difficult for grown people to make, because they
have made it wrong all their lives, but it is easy for little
girls to learn to make, because they can make it right from the
first.
Cut bread that is at least two days old into slices a quarter
of an inch thick. If you are going to make only a slice or two,
take the toasting-fork, but if you want a plateful, take the wire
broiler. Be sure the fire is red, without any flames. Move the
slices of bread back and forth across the coals, but do not let
them brown; do both sides this way, and then brown first one and
then the other afterward. Trim off the edges, butter a little
quickly, and send to the table hot. Baker's bread makes the
best toast.
Milk Toast
Put one pint of milk on in a double boiler and let it heat.
Melt one tablespoonful of butter, and when it bubbles stir in
one small tablespoonful of corn-starch, and when these are
rubbed smooth, put in one-third of the milk. Cook and stir
till even, without lumps, and then put in the rest of the milk
and stir well; add half a teaspoonful of salt, and put on the
back of the stove. Make six slices of toast; put one slice in
the dish and put a spoonful of the white sauce over it, then
put in another and another spoonful, and so on till all are in,
and pour the sauce that is left over all. If you want this
extra nice, do not take quite so much butter, and use a pint of
cream instead of the milk.
Baking-powder Biscuit
Margaret's Other Aunt said little girls could never, never
make biscuit, but this little girl really did, by this rule:
1 pint sifted flour.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
4 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
3/4 cup of milk.
1 tablespoonful of butter.
Put the salt and baking-powder in the flour and sift well, and
then rub the butter in with a spoon. Little by little put in the
milk, mixing all the time, and then lift out the dough on a floured
board and roll it out lightly, just once, till it is one inch thick.
Flour your hands and mould the little balls as quickly as you can,
and put them close together in a shallow pan that has had a little
flour shaken over the bottom, and bake in a hot oven about twenty
minutes, or till the biscuits are brown. If you handle the dough much,
the biscuits will be tough, so you must work fast.
Grandmother's Corn Bread
1 1/2 cups of milk.
1 cup sifted yellow corn-meal.
1 tablespoonful melted butter.
1 teaspoonful sugar.
1 teaspoonful baking-powder.
2 eggs.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
Scald the milk--that is, let it boil up just once--and pour it
over the corn-meal. Let this cool while you are separating and
beating the eggs; let these wait while you mix the corn-meal, the
butter, salt, baking-powder, and sugar, and then the yolks; add
the whites last, very lightly. Bake in a buttered biscuit-tin in
a hot oven for about half an hour.
Because grandmother's corn bread was a little old-fashioned,
Margaret's Other Aunt put in another recipe, which made a corn
bread quite like cake, and most delicious.
Perfect Corn Bread
1 large cup of yellow corn-meal.
1 small cup of flour.
1/2 cup of sugar.
2 eggs.
2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
3 tablespoonfuls of butter.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
Flour to a thin batter.
Mix the sugar and butter and rub to a cream; add the yolks of the
eggs, well beaten, and then half a cup of milk; then put in the
baking-powder mixed in the flour and the salt, and then part of the
corn-meal, and a little more milk; next fold in the beaten whites
of the eggs, and if it still is not like ``a thin batter,'' put in
a little more milk. Then bake in a buttered biscuit-tin till brown,
cut in squares and serve hot. This is particularly good eaten with
hot maple syrup.
Popovers
Put the muffin-tins or iron gem-pans in the oven to get very hot,
while you mix these popovers.
2 eggs.
2 cups of milk.
2 cups of flour.
1 small teaspoonful of salt.
Beat the eggs very lightly without separating them. Pour the milk
in and beat again. Sift the salt and flour together, pour over
the eggs and milk into it, and beat quickly with a spoon till it
is foamy. Strain through a wire sieve, and take the hot pans out of
the oven and fill each one-half full; bake just twenty-five minutes.
Cooking-school Muffins
2 cups sifted flour.
2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
1 cup of milk.
2 eggs.
1 large teaspoonful of melted butter.
Mix the flour, salt, and baking-powder, and sift. Beat the yolks of
the eggs, put in the butter with them and the milk, then the flour,
and last the stiff whites of the eggs. Have the muffin-tins hot,
pour in the batter, and bake fifteen or twenty minutes. These must
be eaten at once or they will fall.
There was one little recipe in Margaret's book which she thought
must be meant for the smallest girl who ever tried to cook,
it was so easy. But the little muffins were good enough for grown
people to like. This was it:
Barneys
4 cups of whole wheat flour.
3 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
Enough water to make it seem like cake batter.
Drop with a spoon into hot buttered muffin-pans, and bake
in a hot oven about fifteen minutes.
Bridget had to show Margaret what was meant by a ``cake batter,''
but after she had seen once just how thick that was, she could
always tell in a minute when she had put in water enough.
Griddle-cakes
2 eggs.
1 cup of milk.
1 1/2 cups flour.
2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
Put the eggs in a bowl without separating them, and beat them
with a spoon till light. Put in the milk, then the flour mixed
with the salt, and last the baking-powder all alone. Bake on a hot,
buttered griddle. This seems a queer rule, but it makes delicious
cakes, especially if eaten with sugar and thick cream.
Flannel Cakes
1 tablespoonful of butter.
1 tablespoonful of sugar.
2 eggs.
2 cupfuls of flour.
1 teaspoonful of baking-powder.
Milk enough to make a smooth, rather thin batter.
Rub the butter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs, beaten together
lightly, then the flour, in which you have mixed the baking-powder,
and then the milk. It is easy to know when you have the batter
just right, for you can put a tiny bit on the griddle and make a
little cake; if it rises high and is thick, put more milk in the
batter; if it is too thin, it will run about on the griddle, and you
must add more flour; but it is better not to thin it too much,
but to add more milk if the batter is too thick.
Sweet Corn Griddle-cakes
These ought to be made of fresh sweet corn, but you can make them
in winter out of canned grated corn, or canned corn rubbed through
a colander.
1 quart grated corn.
1 cup of flour.
1 cup of milk.
1 tablespoonful melted butter.
4 eggs.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
Beat the eggs separately, and put the yolks into the corn;
then add the milk, then the flour, then the salt, and beat well.
Last of all, fold in the whites and bake on a hot griddle.
Waffles
2 cups of flour.
1 teaspoonful baking powder.
1 1/2 cups of milk.
1 tablespoonful butter.
1/2 teaspoonful of salt.
3 eggs, beaten separately.
Mix the flour, baking-powder, and salt; put the beaten egg yolks
in the milk, and add the melted butter, the flour and last the
beaten whites of the eggs. Make the waffle-iron very hot, and
grease it very thoroughly on both sides by tying a little rag
to a clean stick and dipping in melted butter. Put in some
batter on one side, filling the iron about half-full, and close
the iron, putting this side down over the fire; when it has cooked
for about two minutes, turn the iron over without opening it,
and cook the other side. When you think it is done, open it a
little and look to see if it is brown; if not, keep it over the
coals till it is. Take out the waffle, cut in four pieces, and
pile on a plate in the oven, while you again grease the iron
and cook another. Serve very hot and crisp, with maple syrup
or powdered sugar and thick cream.
Some people like honey on their waffles. You might try all
these things in turn.
Last of all the things Margaret learned to make for breakfast
came coffee, and this she could make in two ways; sometimes she
made it this first way, and sometimes the other, which is called
French coffee.
Coffee
First be sure your coffee-pot is shining clean; look in the spout
and in all the cracks, and wipe them out carefully, for you cannot
make good coffee except in a perfectly clean pot. Then get three
heaping tablespoonfuls of ground coffee, and one tablespoonful of
cold water, and one tablespoonful of white of egg. Mix the egg with
the coffee and water thoroughly, and put in the pot. Pour in one
quart of boiling water, and let it boil up once. Then stir down
the grounds which come to the top, put in two tablespoonfuls of
cold water, and let it stand for a minute on the back of the stove,
and then strain it into the silver pot for the table. This pot
must be made very hot, by filling it with boiling water and letting
it stand on the kitchen table while the coffee is boiling. If
this rule makes coffee stronger than the family like it, take
less coffee, and if it is not strong enough, take more coffee.
French Coffee
Get one of the pots which are made so the coffee will drip through;
put three tablespoonfuls of very finely powdered coffee in this,
and pour in a quart of boiling water. When it is all dripped through,
it is ready to put in the hot silver pot.