cut out a circular piece from the top of each to form cups. Chop, fine,
the pieces of onion; add an equal measure of cold, cooked ham, salt and
pepper to season, one-fourth a cup, each, of fine, soft crumbs and
melted butter and mix thoroughly. Season the inside of the cups with
salt, then stuff with the prepared mixture. Bake slowly about half an
hour, basting with melted butter. Serve decorated with celery tips.
Oyster-and-Onion Puree
Steam one pound of white onions, and when tender sift through a
colander. Cook one quart of oysters in their liquor until the gills
separate; strain, and chop the oysters in a chopping bowl. Return the
liquor to the saucepan, and cook with three tablespoonfuls of flour and
three tablespoonfuls of softened butter, rubbed together, stirring
constantly until well thickened and smooth. Season with one teaspoonful
and one-half of salt and one-half a teaspoonful of pepper. Sift into the
onion-pulp one-fourth a cup of flour, and stir until blended; add
one-fourth a teaspoonful of celery seed and one bayleaf, and mix with
the thickened oyster liquor. Stir until the whole comes to a boil and
the puree is thick as porridge. Add the chopped oysters and one pint of
thin cream, let heat through, and serve with oysterettes, saltines or
other plain crackers.
Salmon a la Creole
Clean and scale a small salmon, stuff with one-half a loaf of stale
bread moistened with hot water, seasoned with one-fourth a cup of
butter, salt and pepper to taste, and one-half a cup of capers. Mix all
well, and bind with one beaten egg. Place the salmon on the rack of a
baking-pan in a very hot oven, cover with thin slices of bacon, and let
cook until done. Serve on a bed of chopped fresh mushrooms, cooked in a
little bouillon, and garnish the dish with small fresh tomatoes.
Brother Jonathan
Make a mush of yellow cornmeal, and mould in cylindrical moulds, such as
baking powder boxes or brown bread moulds. Let stand until next day, and
cut into slices. Arrange the slices on a large porcelain pie-plate in
pyramidal form, sprinkling each layer with some sharp, hard cheese,
grated, and seasoned with a very little red pepper. Sift buttered crumbs
freely over the whole; brown in a hot oven, and serve as a vegetable
with fish, with sour grape jelly melted and poured over it.
Plymouth Succotash
Boil, separately, one chicken and four pounds of corned beef. The next
day remove meat and fat from both kettles of liquid, combine liquids,
season with salt (if needed) and pepper; when boiling add five quarts of
hulled corn; remove to slow fire and let simmer three hours. Have ready
three pints of New York pea beans that have been soaked twelve hours,
boiled until soft and strained through a sieve; add to soup (for
thickening). Boil one yellow turnip (or two white turnips), and six
potatoes; when done add to succotash. This recipe makes eight quarts.
[Illustration: PLYMOUTH SUCCOTASH]
[Illustration: NEW ENGLAND SALAD]
New England Salad
Dress flowerets of cold, cooked cauliflower with oil, salt, pepper and
vinegar. From cold, cooked beets remove the top and center portions to
make beet cups. Arrange the prepared cauliflower to fill cups, pour over
boiled salad dressing and arrange a heart of celery in each filled
beet-cup.
Guinea Chickens
Clean and truss two guinea chickens; place on a bed of sliced, uncooked
carrots, potatoes and celery, arranged in the bottom of a casserole--(a
large bean-pot serves as well). Sprinkle the chicks with salt and pour
over them melted butter; set the cover in place. Bake in a moderate oven
one hour and one-quarter, basting every fifteen minutes with melted
butter. Add no water to the casserole.
[Illustration: GUINEA CHICKENS]
Rib Roast of Beef with Yorkshire Pudding
Place a rib roast of beef on a rack in a dripping pan; dredge with flour
and sear over the outside in a hot oven, then add salt and pepper and
drippings and let cook at a low temperature until done, basting every
ten minutes. Remove to a platter and serve with Yorkshire pudding.
Yorkshire Pudding
Sift together one cup and a half of flour, and one-third a teaspoonful
of salt; gradually add one cup and one-half of milk, so as to form a
smooth batter; then add three eggs, which have been beaten until thick
and light; turn into a small, hot dripping pan, the inside of which has
been brushed over with roast beef drippings; when well risen in the pan,
baste with the hot roast beef drippings. Bake about twenty minutes. Cut
into squares and serve around the roast.
Apple Mint Jelly for Roast Lamb
Cut the apples in quarters, removing imperfections. Barely cover with
boiling water, put on a cover and let cook, undisturbed, until soft
throughout. Turn into a bag to drain. For a quart of this apple juice
set one and one-half pounds of sugar on shallow dishes in the oven to
heat. Set the juice over the fire with the leaves from a bunch of mint;
let cook twenty minutes, then strain into a clean saucepan. Heat to the
boiling point, add the hot sugar and let boil till the syrup, when
tested, jellies slightly on a cold dish. Tint with green color-paste
very delicately. Have ready three to five custard cups on a cloth in a
pan of boiling water. Let the glasses be filled with the water; pour out
the water and turn in the jelly. When cooled a little remove to table.
(English recipe.)
Marinaded Cutlets
Cut a pound of the best end of neck of mutton into cutlets, allowing two
cutlets for each bone, beat them with a cutlet bat and trim them
neatly. Let them soak for an hour in a marinade made by mixing six
tablespoonfuls of red wine vinegar, one tablespoonful of olive oil, half
a teaspoonful of salt, six bruised peppercorns, a minced onion, a sprig
of thyme, and a bayleaf. At the end of the hour drain the cutlets, and
dredge them with flour to dry them. Brush over each one with beaten egg,
and roll it in bread-crumbs; repeat the egging and breadcrumbing a
second time, and, if possible, leave them for an hour for the crumbs to
dry on. Half fill a deep pan with frying-fat, and when it is heated, so
as to give off a pale blue vapor, place the cutlets carefully in the
pan, and when they float on top of the fat and are of a rich brown
color, they are sufficiently cooked, and must be taken from the fat and
drained on kitchen paper before being served _en couronne_, or on a
mound of mashed potatoes, green peas, French beans, or Brussels sprouts.
[Illustration: RIB ROAST WITH YORKSHIRE PUDDING]
Veal cutlets, fillets of beef, fillets of white fish, or cutlets of cod
or hake, are excellent when prepared by the same method. (English
recipe.)
Thanksgiving Corn Cake
Sift together two cups of corn meal, two cups of white flour, four
_heaping_ teaspoonfuls of baking powder, one LEVEL teaspoonful of soda,
one teaspoonful of salt, and one-half a cup of sugar. Add one cup of
sour milk (gradually), three-fourths cup of sour cream, four eggs and
one-third a cup of melted butter.
[Illustration: THANKSGIVING CORN CAKE]
Thanksgiving Pudding
Beat the yolks of four eggs; add one pint of soft bread crumbs, one cup
of sugar, the grated rind of a lemon, one teaspoonful of salt, and one
cup of large table raisins from which the seeds have been removed; mix
all together thoroughly, then add one quart of rich milk. Bake in a very
moderate oven until firm in the center. When the pudding has cooled
somewhat, beat the whites of four eggs dry; beat in half a cup of sugar
and spread or pipe the meringue over the pudding; dredge with granulated
sugar and let cook in a very moderate oven about fifteen minutes; the
oven should be of such heat that the meringue does not color until the
last few minutes of cooking.
Coffee Fruit Punch
Add one-half a cup of fine-ground coffee to one cup of cold water, bring
very slowly to a boil, and let simmer for ten minutes. Strain, allow
grounds to settle, decant, and add one cup of sugar. Mix one-half a cup
of sifted strawberry preserve with the juice of two lemons, the juice of
three oranges and the grated rind of one, and half a cup of pineapple
juice. Let the whole stand together for half an hour; then strain, add
the coffee, a quart or more of Vichy, or any preferred sparkling water,
and serve in tall glasses filled one-third full with shaved ice; garnish
each with a thin strip of candied angelica.
[Illustration: SWEET CIDER FRAPPE]
Sweet Cider Frappe
Make a syrup by boiling one cup of sugar and two cups of water fifteen
minutes; add one quart of sweet cider and one-half a cup of lemon juice;
when cool freeze--using equal parts of ice and salt. Serve with roast
turkey or roast pork.
Fig-and-Cranberry Pie
Chop one-half a pound of figs and cook until tender in a pint of water.
Add a pint of cranberries, and cook until they pop. Mix one cup of sugar
with four tablespoonfuls of flour and stir into the fig-and-cranberry
mixture; let boil, remove from fire, and stir in two tablespoonfuls of
butter and the juice of one-half a lemon. Put into a pastry shell,
arrange strips of paste in a basket pattern over the top, and bake until
these are browned.
Dry Deviled Parsnips
Wash and scrape--not pare--three large parsnips; cut in halves,
lengthwise, and place, cut side uppermost, on the grate of a rather hot
oven to bake for thirty to forty minutes, or until soft and lightly
browned. Soften one-half a cup of butter, without melting it, and rub
into it the following mixture: Two teaspoonfuls of salt, four
tablespoonfuls of dry mustard, one-half a teaspoonful of cayenne, one
teaspoonful of white pepper, and flour enough to stiffen the paste. When
the parsnips are cooked make four slanting cuts in each of the halves,
and fill each with as much of the paste as it will hold. Spread over the
flat side with the remainder of the paste, arrange on the serving dish,
sift fine buttered crumbs over them, and place under the gas flame, or
on the upper rack of an oven until crumbs are brown.
King's Pudding With Apple-Jelly Sauce
Soak, over-night, one-half a cup of well-washed rice, and cook in one
pint of milk in double boiler until very tender. Mix this with three
cups of apple sauce, well-sweetened and flavored with cinnamon. Add the
beaten yolks of two eggs, one ounce, each, of candied citron and orange
peel, very fine-chopped, and one-half a cup of raisins. Add, the last
thing, the whites of the eggs, beaten to the stiffest possible froth.
Line a deep dish with a good, plain paste, pour in the pudding, bake
until both paste and pudding top are brown, invert on serving dish and
pour the sauce over it.
Apple-Jelly Sauce
Beat one-half a cup of apple jelly until it is like a smooth batter;
gradually add two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, the juice of one
lemon and one-half the grated rind, and a few gratings of nutmeg. Set
into a saucepan of boiling water until ready to use, then beat well and
pour over the pudding.
[Illustration: CRANBERRY TART]
Cranberry Tart
Spread a round of paste over an inverted pie plate, prick the paste with
a fork eight times. Bake to a delicate brown. Remove the paste from the
plate, wash the plate and set the pastry inside. When cold fill with a
cold, cooked cranberry filling and cover the filling with a top pastry
crust, made by cutting paste to a paper pattern and baking in a pan.
Arrange tart just before serving.
Cooked Cranberry Filling
Mix together three level tablespoonfuls of cornstarch, three-fourths a
teaspoonful of salt and one cup and one-half of sugar; pour on one cup
and one-half of boiling water and stir until boiling, then add one-third
a cup of molasses, two teaspoonfuls of butter and three cups of
cranberries, chopped fine. Let simmer fifteen minutes.
Pumpkin Fanchonettes
Mix together one cup and a half of dry, sifted pumpkin, half a cup of
sugar, two eggs, two tablespoonfuls of molasses, one tablespoonful of
ginger, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, one teaspoonful of
cinnamon, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt, and one cup of rich milk.
Pour into small tins lined with pastry, and bake about twenty-five
minutes. Serve cold; just before serving decorate with whipped cream.
[Illustration: PUMPKIN FANCHONETTES]
Pilgrim Cookies
Let soak overnight one cup of seedless raisins, then drain and dry on a
cloth. Cream one-third a cup of butter; beat in one cup of brown sugar,
one tablespoonful of milk, and two eggs, beaten light. Add the raisins,
and one cup of flour, sifted with one-half a teaspoonful, each, of
nutmeg and cinnamon and two teaspoonfuls and one-half of baking powder.
When thoroughly mixed, add one-half a cup of graham flour, unsifted, and
one-half a cup of bran, unsifted.
[Illustration: PILGRIM COOKIES]
Pyramid Birthday Cake
Bake any good layer cake or other simple cake mixture in one or two thin
sheets, in a large pan. When done cut into as many graduated circles as
the child is years old. Ice each circle, top and sides, with any good
cake icing, either white or tinted, and lay one above the other with
layers of jelly or preserves between slices. Around each layer arrange a
decoration of fresh or candied fruits of bright colors, glaceed nuts,
candied rose petals or violets, bits of angelica, or any other effective
decoration. Let the cake stand on a handsomely decorated dish, and small
flags be inserted in the topmost layer.
[Illustration: FRUIT AND MELONS]
Stirred Brown Bread
Measure three cups of graham flour into a large mixing-bowl; add one cup
of bran, and sift on to these one cup and one-half of white flour, to
which one and one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt has been added. Stir
together until mixed. Dissolve one teaspoonful of baking soda in a
tablespoonful of hot water, and add to two cups of buttermilk. Melt two
tablespoonfuls of butter and one of any preferred substitute, mix with
one-half a cup of molasses, stir into the buttermilk, and add all to the
dry ingredients, stirring vigorously. Lastly, add one-half a compressed
yeast cake to the batter, and stir again until the yeast is thoroughly
incorporated with the batter, which should be very stiff. Place in a
greased bread pan, cover, set in a warm place until batter has risen to
top of pan or doubled in bulk. Bake one hour in an oven with gradually
increasing heat. This bread keeps fresh for a long time, and is
particularly good sliced thin for sandwiches.
Swedish Pancakes With Aigre-Doux Sauce
Beat, until light, the yolks of six eggs; add one-half a teaspoonful of
salt, one teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in one tablespoonful of
vinegar, then two cups of sifted flour, alternately, with the beaten
whites of the eggs, and if necessary add enough milk to make a thin
batter. Pour a small ladleful at a time on the griddle; spread each
cake, when cooked, with raspberry jam, roll up like a jelly roll, pile
on a hot platter, dust over with powdered sugar, and serve with each one
a spoonful of Aigre-Doux Sauce.
Aigre-Doux Sauce
Add to two cups of sour cream the juice and fine-grated rind of one
large lemon. Stir in enough sugar just to develop a sweet taste,
one-half a cup or more, and beat hard and long with a Dover beater until
the sauce is quite light.
Sauteed Cucumbers and Tomatoes
Pare four large cucumbers and cut in quarter-inch slices; season by
sprinkling with salt and pepper, then dip in beaten egg, and afterwards
in fine, sifted crumbs. Proceed in the same manner with two firm
tomatoes, removing the skin by dipping first into boiling water, then
into cold, and rubbing the skin off. The tomatoes should be cut in
half-inch slices. Heat a large spider until very hot; add two or more
tablespoonfuls of dripping or other fat, and saute in this, first the
cucumbers, then the tomatoes, turning the slices when browned on one
side, and cooking until crisped. Serve in a hot vegetable dish.
Skirt Steak, with Raisin Sauce
Make a rich stuffing by chopping together three-fourths a pound of
veal, one-half a pound of ham, and an ounce of beef suet or other fat.
Add the grated rind of a small lemon, and a teaspoonful of dried, mixed
herbs, or of kitchen bouquet, two beaten eggs, a grate of nutmeg, and
one cup of cream. Cook all together over hot water until mixture is the
consistency of custard; thicken further with fine bread crumbs, and let
cool. Divide a two-pound skirt steak into halves, crosswise, spread the
stuffing over both parts, roll up each one and tie. Let steam for half
an hour, then put into a hot oven to finish cooking and brown. Serve
with Raisin Sauce.
Raisin Sauce for Skirt Steak
Add one-half a cup of seeded raisins to one pint of cold water, set over
fire, bring slowly to a boil and let simmer, gently, for fifteen
minutes. Blend two tablespoonfuls of flour with one-half a teaspoonful
of salt and one-fourth a teaspoonful of white pepper, and stir this into
two scant tablespoonfuls of melted butter or butter substitute; add to
the raisins and water, and let boil, keeping stirred, for three minutes.
Remove from fire and add the juice of one-half a lemon or two
tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
Boudin Blanc
Cook a dozen small onions, sliced, in a saucepan with one cup of sweet
leaf-lard. While cooking put through the meat chopper one-half a pound,
each, of fresh pork and the dark and white meat of a fowl or chicken.
Add to saucepan containing onions and lard, and stir in enough fine
bread crumbs to make the whole the consistency of a soft dough. Add
seasoning of salt and pepper with a spoonful of mixed dried herbs.
Lastly, add one cup of sweet cream and three well-beaten eggs, and stir
the whole until the eggs are set. Stuff this into pig entrails, making
links six inches long. Keep stored in a cool place, and cook like
sausage. Or the boudin may be packed into jars, and sliced or cut into
dice and sauteed when cold.
Seasonable Menus for Week in November
SUNDAY
Breakfast
Oranges
Corn Flakes with Hot Milk
Codfish Balls
Buttered Toast
Marmalade
Coffee
Dinner
Roast Leg of Lamb
Mashed Potatoes
Spinach with Egg
Creamed Turnips
Celery Salad
Date Souffle
Coffee
Supper
Oyster Stew
Crackers
Lettuce-and-Peanut Butter Sandwiches
Soft Gingerbread
Cocoa
MONDAY
Breakfast
Malt Breakfast Food, Top Milk
Scrambled Eggs with Tomato
Graham Muffins
Coffee
Luncheon
Potage Parmentier
Savory Hash, Meat and Potatoes
Tea Tarts
Russian Tea
Dinner
Planked Steak, Parkerhouse Style
Head Lettuce
King's Pudding, with Apple Jelly Sauce
Black Coffee
TUESDAY
Breakfast
Dates
Gluten Grits, Cream
Baked Potatoes
Bacon
Graham Toast, Butter
Coffee
Luncheon
Salmon a la Creole
Pulled Bread
Sweet Potato Croquettes
Pears in Syrup
Milk or Tea
Dinner
Stuffed Leg of Pork
Mashed Potatoes
Apple Sauce
Fig-and-Cranberry Pie
Coffee
WEDNESDAY
Breakfast
Winter Pears
Wheatena, Milk
Pork-and-Potato Hash
Raised Pancakes, Syrup
Coffee
Luncheon
Oyster-and-Onion Puree
Crusty Rolls
Apple-and-Nut Salad
Cocoa
Dinner
Skirt Steak with Raisin Sauce
Dry Deviled Parsnips
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Cherry Pie
Coffee
THURSDAY
Breakfast
Cream of Wheat, Cream
Tomato Omelet
Stirred Brown Bread
Coffee
Luncheon
Potato-and-Peanut Sausages
Cabbage-and-Celery Salad, with Cheese
Strawberry Gelatine Jelly
Tea
Dinner
Boiled Tongue
Steamed Potatoes
Creamed Carrots
Brussels Sprouts
Apple Pie a la Mode
Coffee
FRIDAY
Breakfast
Grapefruit
Cracked Wheat, Milk
Creamed Finnan Haddie
Hashed Brown Potatoes
Popovers
Coffee
Luncheon
Frumenty with Cream
Escaloped Chipped Beef and Potatoes
Chocolate Layer Cake
Cafe au Lait
Dinner
Halibut Steaks
Brother Jonathan
Creamed Cabbage
Chow-Chow
Apricot Puffs with Custard Sauce
Coffee
SATURDAY
Breakfast
Gravenstein Apples
Quaker Oats, Milk
Scrambled Eggs with Bacon
Steamed Brown Bread
Coffee
Luncheon
Puree of Baked Beans
Castilian Salad (Pineapple, Nuts, Apples, Grapes, Celery)
Swedish Pancakes with Aigre-Doux Sauce
Chocolate
Dinner
Veal Stew
Browned Sweet Potatoes
Lima Beans in Tomato Sauce
Leaf Lettuce with Fr. Dressing
Brown Betty with Foamy Sauce
Coffee
Menus for Thanksgiving Dinners
I
_Three-Course Dinner for Small Family in Servantless House_
Roast Chicken, stuffed with Chopped Celery and Oysters
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Boiled Onions
Salad
(Fine chopped apples and nuts in red apple cups)
Cream Dressing
Mince or Squash Pie a la mode
Sweet Cider
Coffee
II
_A Simple Company Dinner of Six Courses_
Celery
Clam Bouillon, Saltines
Ripe Olives
Roast, Chestnut-Stuffed Turkey, Giblet Sauce
Buttered Asparagus
Glazed Sweet Potatoes
Moulded Cranberry Jelly
Chicken Salad in Salad Rolls
Thanksgiving Pudding
Hard Sauce
Chocolate Ice Cream
Strawberry Sauce
Assorted Fruit
Coffee
III
_A Formal Company Dinner. Eight Courses_
Curled Celery
Oyster Soup, Bread Sticks
Radish Rosettes
Turbans of Flounder
Hollandaise Sauce
Potato Straws
Olives
Crusty Rolls
Salted Nuts
Capon a la Creme
(Stuffing of Potatoes, Mushrooms, Chestnuts, etc.)
Mashed Potatoes
Green Pea Timbales
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Cider Frappe
Venison Steaks
Currant Jelly Sauce
Baked Parsnips
Apple-and-Grape Salad
Macaroon Pudding
Frozen Mince Pie
Hot Chocolate Sauce
Glaceed Walnuts
Fruit
Black Coffee
IV
_Elaborate Formal Dinner. Ten Courses_
Fruit Cocktail
Oysters on Half-shell
Brown Bread-and-Butter Sandwiches
Quartered Lemons
Clear Bouillon, Oysterettes
Radishes
Celery
Boiled Halibut
Potato Balls in Parsley Sauce
Sweet Pickles
Cauliflower au Gratin
Braised Turkey or Capon
Bread Stuffing
Giblet Gravy
Duchesse Potatoes
Spinach
Crystallized Ginger
Salted Pecans
Pineapple Fritters, Lemon Sauce
Granite of Cider and Apples
Cutlets of Duck, with Chopped Celery
Orange Salad
Pumpkin Pie
Raisin and Cranberry Tarts
Chocolate Parfait
Almond Cakes
Nuts
Raisins
Bonbons
Candied Orange Peel
Black Coffee
Concerning Breakfasts
By Alice E. Whitaker
A certain Englishman who breakfasted with the Washington family in 1794
wrote of the occasion: "Mrs. Washington, herself, made tea and coffee
for us. On the table were two small plates of sliced tongue and dry
toast, bread and butter, but no broiled fish, as is the general custom."
However sparing the mistress of Mt. Vernon might have been, it was the
usual custom in old times to eat a hearty breakfast of meat or fish and
potato, hot biscuits, doughnuts, griddle cakes and sometimes even pie
was added. A section of hot mince pie was always considered a fitting
ending to the winter morning meal in New England, at least.
When Charles Dickens was in the United States, in 1842, he stopped at
the old Tremont house in Boston. In his "American Notes," which followed
his visit to this country, he wrote critically of the American
breakfast, as follows: "And breakfast would have been no breakfast
unless the principal dish were a deformed beefsteak with a great flat
bone in the center, swimming in hot butter and sprinkled with the very
blackest of pepper."
For a time my household included a colored cook, who, according to local
custom, went to her own home every night. Invariably before leaving she
came to me with the short and abrupt question, "What's for?" This
experience taught me the difficulty of planning breakfasts off hand.
More than one beginner in housekeeping wonders whether a light breakfast
of little but a roll and coffee is more healthful than one of several
courses. It is an old American idea that luncheon or supper may be
light, dinner varied and heavier, but breakfast must be wholesome and
nourishing. This is based on the belief that it is natural for man and
beast to wake up in the morning with a desire for food and unnatural to
try to do the hardest work of the day with but a pretence at eating.
About twenty years ago there was much talk of the alleged healthfulness
of going without breakfast entirely. For a time this plan was the object
of much discussion and experiment by medical and scientific men and
workers in general. The late Edward Everett Hale was a strong opponent
to abstinence from breakfast by brain workers, while those who labored
with hand and muscle looked with little favor on the morning fast.
Finally the no-breakfast idea went the way of most fads in food.