the old-time, over-hearty meal of several courses, there came into
fashion the simple meal of fruit, cereal and eggs. This is to be
commended, if the egg, or its substitute in food value, is not omitted.
Too often a sloppy cereal is washed down rapidly with a cup of coffee
and called sufficient. Sometimes the ready-to-eat cereal and the milk
bottle left at the kitchen door include the entire preparation for the
morning meal.
The adaptability of this quick breakfast, and its ease of preparation,
keep it in favor, but filling the stomach with a cereal, from which
some of its best elements have been taken, means, for women folks at
home, placing the coffee pot on the range to warm up the cup that will
stop that "gone" feeling so common after a near-breakfast. The man at
work might once have found solace in a glass of beer; now, perhaps, he
smokes an extra cigarette. It is well understood that children grow
listless and dull before noon, when an insufficient breakfast is eaten.
One who has breakfast leisurely at nine o'clock may be satisfied with a
roll and a cup of hot drink, but a commuter with a trip ahead to office
or shop, and the farmer who must make an early start in the day, cannot
rely on light, quickly digested food in the morning. Their energy and
working capacity will slow down long before noon.
Objection is sometimes made to a good, sustaining breakfast because of a
distaste for food in the morning. In such a case, look to the quality or
quantity of the night meal; it may be too heavy or indigestible.
Between a breakfast with warmed-over meats, and one without meat,
especially if eggs are substituted, the choice should be given to the
latter. Twice-cooked meats, however pleasing they may be to the palate,
are not easy to digest. They serve merely as a way to use left-overs,
which good management will keep to the minimum.
When selecting fruits for breakfast, the fact must not be overlooked
that the starch of cereals and acid fruits, like a sour orange, often
disagree. When apples are plentiful nothing is better than this fruit
when baked, but in cities the banana frequently costs less and it stands
at the head of all fruits in food value. When perfectly ripe it has
about 12 per cent of sugar, but as it is picked green, the fruit sold in
the markets is often but partially ripe and is more easily assimilated,
if baked like the apple; it then becomes a valuable breakfast food.
It is a common mistake in a meatless breakfast to use too large a
proportion of cereal. While the standard cereal foods, when dry, are
from two-thirds to three-quarters starch, with the balance made up of a
little protein, fat, water, fibre and a trace of mineral matter, it
should not be forgotten that while cooking they absorb several times
their bulk of water, which reduces the food value of the product.
Oatmeal and corn meal are best adapted for winter use because they
contain a little more fat than wheat or rice, which are suitable for
summer diet.
Eggs are the most available substitute for meat at breakfast and it is
doubtful economy to omit them, except in times of extreme high prices.
They are not essential in all desserts and saving in their use should
begin at that point. Eggs may be cooked in many ways so that they need
never become a monotonous fare. All kinds of fish are an excellent
substitute for meat, and, as prepared for the table, nearly equal beef
and mutton, in the amount of protein, which is the element missed in a
non-meat diet, unless it be carefully planned.
Breakfasts without Meat
The following are adapted to different seasons and the beverage may be
selected to suit the taste.
1. Strawberries, eggs baked in ramekins, oatmeal muffins.
2. Fruit, cheese omelet, rice griddle cakes.
3. Oranges, codfish balls, wheat muffins.
4. Oatmeal, baked bananas, scrambled eggs, rice muffins.
5. Cereal, hashed browned potatoes, date gems.
6. Oranges, soft boiled eggs, lyonnaise potatoes, dry toast.
7. Cereal with dates, whole wheat muffins, orange marmalade.
8. Stewed prunes, French omelet, creamed potatoes, dry toast.
9. Grapefruit, broiled salt codfish, baked potatoes, corn muffins.
10. Fresh pineapple, broiled fresh mackerel, creamed potatoes, French
bread.
11. Sliced bananas, omelet with peas, rusked bread.
Breakfasts with Meat
1. Fresh apple sauce, pork chops, stewed potatoes, graham muffins.
2. Dried peaches, stewed, broiled honeycomb tripe, escalloped potatoes,
reheated rolls.
3. Fruits, minced mutton, potato puffs, rice griddle cakes, lemon syrup.
4. Baked apples, baked sausages, hashed potatoes, corn cakes.
5. Baked rhubarb and raisins, ham omelet, bread-crumb griddle cakes,
caramel syrup.
6. Melon or berries, broiled ham, shirred eggs, creamed potatoes.
7. Oranges, broiled beef cakes, French fried potatoes, toast.
8. Steamed rice, sliced tomatoes, bacon and eggs, rye muffins.
9. Berries, broiled chicken with cream sauce, fried potato cakes,
muffins.
10. Cereal with syrup, scalded tomatoes with melted butter, baked hash,
dry toast.
11. Melon, veal cutlet, cream sauce, baked potatoes, corn bread.
Some Recipes for Preparing Poultry
By Kurt Heppe
Fowls should be divided into four classes, according to their uses. The
uses are controlled by the age of the fowl.
What is suitable for one dish is not suitable for others. In fowls the
age of the bird controls the use to which it can be put. This is
something the caterer and the housewife must remember.
A young bird can be distinguished from an old one by the pliability of
the tip of the breastbone. When this tip bends under pressure, then the
bird is young. If it is hard and unyielding, then it is old.
Very old birds are used for soup and for fricassee.
Medium-aged birds are used for roasts.
Spring chickens are used for broilers and for sauteed dishes.
Very young chicks are used for frying in deep fat; for this purpose they
are dipped in a thin batter, or else in flour, and in eggs mixed with
milk and afterward in breadcrumbs. These chicks, and also spring
chickens, are used for casserole dishes and for cocottes (covered
earthen ware containers, in which the fowls are roasted in the oven).
The liver of fowls is used in different ways; it makes an excellent
dish. It is best when sauteed with black butter. Some of the fine French
ragouts consist mostly of chicken livers.
With omelettes they make an incomparable garnish.
In very high-class establishments the wings and breast are often
separated from the carcass of the fowl and served in manifold ways.
Sometimes the entire fowl is freed of bones, without destroying the
appearance of the bird. These latter dishes are best adapted for
casserole service and for cold jellied offerings.
Capons are castrated male fowls. They fatten readily and their flesh
remains juicy and tender, owing to the indolence of the birds. The meat
of animals is tenderest when the animal is kept inactive. For this
reason stall-feeding is often resorted to. When the animal has no
opportunity to exercise its muscles the latter degenerate, and
nourishment, instead of being converted into energy, is turned into fat.
Range birds and animals are naturally tough; this is especially true of
the muscles.
Large supply houses now regularly basket their fowls for about two weeks
before putting them on the market. During this time they are fed on
grain soaked in milk. This produces a white, juicy flesh.
When a bird is to be roasted it should be trussed. This is done by
forcing the legs back against the body (after placing the bird on its
back); a string is then tied across the bird's body, holding the legs
down. The wings are best set firmly against the breast by sticking a
wooden skewer through the joint and into the bony part of the carcass,
where the skewer will hold against the bones.
In preparing birds for the oven their breasts should be protected by
slices of bacon. Otherwise they will shrivel and dry before the birds
are cooked.
For broiling, the birds are cut through in the back, in such a manner
that they quasi-hinge in the breast; they are then flattened so they
will lie evenly in a double broiling iron; for this purpose the heavy
backbone is removed.
Stuffed Poularde
After trussing the bird rub it with lemon so it will keep of good color;
now cover the breast with thin slices of bacon (these can be tied on).
The poularde is put into a deep, thick saucepan and cooked with butter
and aromatics in the oven. When it is nearly done it is moistened with
poultry stock. If this stock reduces too fast, then it must be renewed.
It is finally added to the sauce.
These fowls may be stuffed with a pilaff of rice. This is prepared as
follows: Half an onion is chopped and fried in two ounces of butter.
Before it acquires color half a pound of Carolina rice is added. This is
stirred over the fire until the rice has partly taken up the butter;
then it is moistened with consomme (one quart); and covered and cooked
in a moderate oven for fifteen minutes. It is now combined with a little
cream, a quarter a pound of dice of goose liver and some dice of
truffles.
The rice should not be entirely cooked by the time it is stuffed into
the bird; the cooking is completed inside the bird. The cream is added
to provide moisture for the rice to take up.
Instead of cream one may use consomme, and the truffles and fat liver
may be left out, if too expensive.
The bird is served with a suitable sauce.
The best sauce for this purpose is Sauce Supreme, and is prepared as
follows: Put two pints of clear poultry stock and some mushroom-liquor
into a saute-pan. Reduce two-thirds.
While this is going on prepare some poultry veloute by bringing some
butter in a pan to bubble, and adding some flour. This is brought to a
boil while stirring constantly. The flour must not be allowed to color.
Now, gradually, add some poultry-stock, stirring all the while with a
whisk. Salt, pepper and nutmeg are added. This is simmered on the side
of the fire, and then strained.
Now add one pint of this veloute to the supreme sauce; reduce the whole
on an open fire, while constantly stirring. Gradually add half a pint of
good cream and finish with a little butter.
Sauteed Chicken
Young chickens should be used for this purpose. Feel the breast bone; if
it bends beneath pressure the bird is right.
Empty, singe and clean, and disjoint the bird. This is done by cutting
the skin at the joints and loosening the bones with a knife.
The wings are cut off in such manner that each holds half of the breast;
the pinions are entirely cut off; the different pieces are seasoned with
salt and pepper; now heat some clarified butter in a saute-pan; when it
is very hot insert the pieces of chicken and let them color quickly;
turn them over, from time to time, so as to get a uniform color; cover
the utensil and put it in a fairly hot oven. The legs are cooked for
about ten minutes more than the breast and wings. The latter are kept
hot separately.
When all pieces are done, they are dished on a platter and kept hot in
the oven; the pan is now moistened with mushroom-liquor, or chicken
stock, and again put on the fire; only a very little moistening is put
in the pan. As soon as it boils swing it around the pan and then add to
it, gradually, the sauce that is to be served. This swinging in the pan
dissolves the flavor, which solidifies in the bottom of the pan; it
greatly improves the sauce.
A simple sauce for sauteed chicken is nut butter, that is, butter
browned in the pan. This may be varied by flavoring it with a crushed
garlic-clove. An addition of fine herbs will further improve it. A dark
tomato sauce may also be served.
A good garnish for sauteed chicken is large dice of boletus mushrooms,
sauteed in garlic butter; also dice of raw potatoes sauteed in clarified
butter, and again fresh tomatoes cut up and sauteed in butter.
Egg-plants are also excellent for a garnish.
Sauteed chicken may be baked and served in the cocotte.
Poulet en Casserole Bourgeoise
The chicken is trussed; the breast is covered with strips of bacon and
put into a deep, thick saucepan. It is colored in the oven, and when
nearly done is transferred to a casserole. It is now moistened with some
chicken-stock and a little white wine. This moistening is used in the
basting, and after being freed of fat, added to the sauce.
A few minutes before the fowl is done bouquets of fresh vegetables are
added to the chicken, in individual heaps, and the chicken is then
served, either with a sauce, or else with an addition of butter. It
should be carved in sight of the guests.
Chicken Pie
A fowl is cooked (boiled) with flavoring vegetables until done, and is
then cut up as for fricassee; the pieces are seasoned with salt and
pepper and sprinkled with chopped onions, a few mushroom-buttons and
some chopped parsley. The pieces are now put into a pie-dish, legs
undermost, some thinly-sliced bacon is added and some potatoes
Parisienne (spooned with the special potato spoon). The pie-dish is now
filled two-thirds with chicken veloute (chicken-stock thickened with
flour and egg-yolks), and a pie crust is laid over all, pressed to the
edges of the dish and trimmed off. The crust is slit open (so the steam
can escape), it should be painted with egg-yolk, and be baked for one
and a half hours in a moderate oven.
Supreme de Volaille Jeanette
Of a poached cold fowl the supremes (boneless wing and breast in one
piece) are loosened and trimmed to oval shape. They are covered with
white chaudfroid sauce, by putting the pieces on a wire tray and pouring
the sauce over while still liquid. They are decorated with tarragon
leaves.
In a square, flat pan a half-inch layer of aspic is laid. On this slices
of goose liver are superimposed (after having been trimmed to the shape
of the supremes); the supremes are now put on top of the fat liver, and
then covered with half-melted chicken jelly.
When thoroughly cooled and ready to serve, a square piece is cut out of
the now solid jelly around the supremes. The supreme is thus served
incrusted in a square block of thick jelly; the dish is decorated with
greens.
Polly's Thanksgiving Party
By Ella Shannon Bowles
The idea for the party came to Polly one night as she was washing the
dinner dishes, and that very evening she waved away the boys' objection
that Thanksgiving was a family affair pure and simple.
"I'm not planning to have any one in for dinner," she said, "though
there's nothing that would suit me better, if the apartment boasted a
larger dining room. But there are three girls in my Sunday School class
that can't possibly go home this year, and I've no doubt you boys could
find somebody that won't be invited anywhere. Thanksgiving is such a
cheerless place in a boarding house! If we ask a few young people in for
a party in the evening, it will liven things up a bit for them, and I
think it will be pretty good fun for us, don't you?"
In the end Polly had her way, and just a week before Thanksgiving, she
sent invitations to three girls and to two boys whom Rupert and Harry
suggested.
Polly searched the shops for a card of two-eyed white buttons of the
size of ten cent pieces. She carefully sewed a button on the upper part
of a correspondence card, added eyebrows, nose and mouth with India ink,
copied a body and cap from Palmer Cox's "Brownie Book," painted the
drawing brown, and behold, a saucy brownie grinned at her from the
invitation. Underneath the picture, she carefully printed a jingle.
"This Thanksgiving Brownie brings a message so gay,
To visit our house on Thanksgiving Day,
To help celebrate with all kinds of good cheer
The 'feast of the harvest' at the end of the year."
The boys took a walk into the country on Thanksgiving morning and came
laden with sprays of high-bush cranberries. These, with the bunches of
chrysanthemums which they bought, and Polly's fern and palm, gave the
small living room a festive appearance.
Assisted by her brothers, Polly served the dinner early. After clearing
the dining room table, she placed a pumpkin jack-o-lantern in the
center, and arranged around it piles of apples, grapes, and oranges.
After the guests had been introduced to each other, Polly passed each
one a paper plate containing a picture, cut and jumbled into small
pieces, and a tiny paper of paste and a toothpick. Each girl and boy was
asked to put the "pi" together and paste it on the inside of the plate.
When arranged, the pictures were found to be of Thanksgiving flavor.
"Priscilla at the Wheel," "The Pilgrims Going to Church," "The First
Thanksgiving," and others of the same type. To the person making his
"pi" first a small and delicious mince pie was awarded.
Pencils and paper were then passed. On one slip was written, "What I
have to be thankful for," on the other, "Why I am thankful for it." The
slips were collected, mixed up, and distributed again. Each guest was
asked to read the first slip handed him with the answer. The result
caused much laughter.
This was followed by a modification of the famous "donkey game." Polly
had painted a huge picture of a bronze turkey, but minus the tail, and
this was pinned to the wall. Real turkey feathers with pins carefully
thrust through the quills were handed about, and each guest was
blindfolded and turned about in turn. To the one who successfully pinned
a feather in the tail was given a turkey-shaped box of candy, and the
consolation prize was a copy of "Chicken-licken."
A pumpkin-hunt came next. Tiny yellow and green cardboard pumpkins were
concealed about the apartment. The yellow pumpkins counted five and the
green two points. At the end of the search a small pumpkin scooped out,
and filled with small maple sugar hearts, was presented to the guest
having the highest score, and a toy book of, "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin
Eater" was awarded to the unfortunate holding the lowest score.
Polly had determined to keep the refreshments very simple. The day
before Thanksgiving she made an easy salad dressing by beating two eggs,
adding one-half a cup of cider vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of sugar,
one teaspoonful of mustard and one-half a teaspoonful of salt, and a
tablespoonful of melted butter. She placed the ingredients in a bowl,
set in a dish of water on the front of the stove, and when they
thickened she removed it from the fire and thinned with cream. To make
sandwiches, she mixed the dressing with minced turkey, added half a
fine-chopped pepper, and spread the mixture between dainty slices of
bread.
The sugared doughnuts she made by beating two eggs, adding one cup of
sugar, one cup of sour milk, three tablespoonfuls of melted butter and
flour, sifted with one-half a teaspoonful of soda and two teaspoonfuls
of baking powder, to make the mixture thick enough to roll without
sticking to the moulding board. They were cut with a small cutter, fried
in deep, hot fat, and sugared plentifully.
Rupert contributed "Corn Popped in a Kettle." A large spoonful of lard
and a teaspoonful of salt were placed in the bottom of a large kettle
over a hot fire. A cup of shelled popcorn was added and stirred briskly
with a mixing spoon. When the kernels began to pop, the kettle was
covered and shaken rapidly, back and forth, until filled with fluffy,
white popcorn.
With the fruit and "grape-juice lemonade," the sandwiches, doughnuts and
popcorn made a pleasing "spread," Polly felt. She served everything on
paper plates and used paper napkins, decorated with Thanksgiving
designs.
To Make a Tiny House
Oh, Little House, if thou a home would'st be
Teach me thy lore, be all in all to me.
Show me the way to find the charm
That lies in every humble rite and daily task within thy walls.
Then not alone for thee, but for the universe itself,
Shall I have lived and glorified my home.
_Ruth Merton._
Home Ideas and Economies
Contributions to this department will be gladly received. Accepted items
will be paid for at reasonable rates.
Vegetable Tarts and Pies
Elizabeth Goose of Boston bestowed a great blessing upon American
posterity when she induced her good man, Thomas Fleet, to publish, in
1719, "The Mother Goose Melodies," many of which rhymes dated back to a
similar publication printed in London two hundred years before. Is it
strange that, with this ancestral nursery training, the cry against the
use of pastry goes unheeded, when as children, we, too, have sung to us,
over and over, the songs of tarts and pies?
The word tart comes from the Latin word _tortus_, because tarts were
originally in twisted shapes, and every country seems to have adopted
them into their national menus. That they were toothsome in those early
days is shown in these same nursery rhymes, and, that tarts seemed to
have been relished by royalty and considered worthy of theft is evinced
in the rhymes,
"The Queen of Hearts she made some tarts."
and,
"Little King Boggen he built a fine hall,
Pie-crust and pastry-crust that was the wall."
Again this ancient lore speaks of "Five and twenty blackbirds baked in a
pie," and, too, there was that child wonder, "Little Jack Horner" who,
with the same unerring instinct of a water wizard with a willow twig,
could, by the sole means of his thumb, locate and extricate, upon the
tip of the same, a plum from the Christmas pie.
American tarts and pies are in a class of their own. Pies were very
closely allied to pioneer, and the Colonial housewife of early days was
forced to concoct fillings out of sweetened vegetables, such as squash,
sweet potatoes, and even some were made of vinegar. Yet the children
still doted on these tempting tarts, pies and turnovers, for were they
not trotted in babyhood on a
"Cock horse to Banbury Cross,
To see what Tommy can buy:
A penny white loaf, a penny white cake,
And a two-penny apple pie."
The next time you have a few varieties of vegetables left over, or wish
a dainty luncheon side dish, try making a tray of vegetable tarts with
various fillings, and they will prove as fascinating to choose from as a
tray of French pastries.
While I have worked out these modern recipes in tempting ways of serving
left-overs using common vegetables, I will lay all pastry honors to our
fore-mothers, who passed on to us the art of pie-making. Proof as to the
harmlessness of pies in diet is shown in the fine constitution of our
American doughboy, who is certainly a great credit to the heritage of
pastry handed down by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
The moral of this discourse is that, "The child is father of the man,"
and men dote on pies.
Potato Tarts a la Gratin
Line round muffin pans with pastry circles as for other preserve tarts,
and fill with the following:
Dice cold-boiled potatoes, season with salt and pepper, moisten with
white sauce, made of two tablespoonfuls of flour, two tablespoonfuls of
lard, one cup of milk, one-half a teaspoonful salt. Mix with this
grated cheese. Fill the shells and sprinkle grated cheese on top. Bake a
light brown.
Baked Onion Dumplings
Parboil medium-sized onions in salted water. Cut half way down in
quarters, add salt, butter, and pepper. Place each on a square of
biscuit dough or pastry, rolled thin. Bring together opposite corners,
twist, and place in a moderate oven to bake the onion tender. Serve with
white sauce.
Fresh Tomato Tart Salad
With a round cooky cutter make rounds of pastry. Cut an equal number
with the doughnut cutter. Prick, sprinkle lightly with grated cheese and
bake a light brown. Place a plain shell on a crisp lettuce leaf, add a
slice of tomato, not larger, on top. Then pour on a little mayonnaise
and place on top the tart shell with a hole in the center. Serve at
once.
Green Tomato Mince Pie
One peck of green tomatoes, put through a food chopper. Boil, drain and
add as much water as juice drained out. Scald and drain again. Add water
as before, scald and redrain. This time add half as much water, then the
following:--
3 pounds brown sugar
2 pounds raisins
2 tablespoonfuls nutmeg
2 tablespoonfuls cinnamon
2 tablespoonfuls cloves
2 tablespoonfuls allspice
2 tablespoonfuls salt
Boil all together, and add one cup of vinegar. Cook till thick as
desired. Put in jars and seal.
To one pint of this mixture add one cup of chopped apple and the juice
and rind, grated or ground. Sweeten to taste, fill crust and bake as the
usual mince pie.
Evaporated apples may be used, but grind before soaking and do not cook.
These pies will not harm children, and are very inexpensive, as compared
to those made of mincemeat.
Plum Tomato Preserves Turnovers