fried—upon it, and are thereby made comparatively wholesome. Set the
griddle at the side of the range to heat gradually at least one hour
before you begin to bake the cakes. If heated suddenly it is liable
to crack. Clean with dry salt, then wipe with a clean cloth and it is
ready for use. _Never_ allow a drop of grease to touch it.
If you have an iron griddle, lubricate with a bit of salt pork, leaving
just enough grease on the surface to prevent sticking. The popular
prejudice against griddle-cakes is founded mainly upon the fact that
dough or batter soaked in grease is abhorrent to dietetic ethics.
Soapstone and iron griddles alike need tempering or seasoning in order
to do their work well. They are seldom “just right” at the first trial.
Give them time and handle them patiently.
Buckwheat cakes (No. 1)
Mix together a quart of buckwheat flour, four tablespoonfuls of yeast,
a handful of Indian meal, two tablespoonfuls of New Orleans molasses,
a teaspoonful of salt and enough water to make a thin batter. Beat
hard and set to rise in the warm kitchen. A pint of this may be left
over in the morning after the baking of the cakes and used as a sponge
the following night, the flour, etc., being added. If the batter seems
sour, add a very little baking-soda. This batter may be kept in a stone
crock for a week or longer.
Buckwheat cakes (No. 2)
One cup of milk and same of boiling water; two tablespoonfuls of
molasses; half cake of compressed yeast dissolved in warm water;
one-half teaspoonful of salt; two cups of buckwheat flour, or enough
for a good batter.
Beat five minutes, and set in a warm place to rise. In the morning beat
hard for one minute; if it be sour, add a little soda, and let it rise
near the fire for half an hour before baking.
Quick buckwheat cakes
Two cups of buckwheat and half a cup of corn-meal; two cups of warm
milk and half a cup of warm water; two tablespoonfuls of molasses, two
teaspoonfuls of baking-powder; one even teaspoonful of salt.
Mix milk, water and molasses together. Sift meal and flour three times
with the baking-powder and salt. Make a hole in the center of the
flour, stir in the milk and water quickly and lightly until you have a
good batter—not too stiff—and bake.
Sour milk buckwheat cakes
Make as in preceding recipe, substituting loppered milk or buttermilk
for sweet, and a rounded teaspoonful of baking-soda for the
baking-powder.
Whole wheat griddle-cakes
Sift a quart of whole wheat flour, a teaspoonful of baking-powder and
one of salt well together. Stir into this a tablespoonful of melted
butter, a tablespoonful of sugar, two beaten eggs and two cupfuls of
milk. Beat all together and bake upon a soapstone griddle.
Lizzie’s flannel cakes
Two cups of flour; two cups of sweet milk; one egg; one teaspoonful of
baking-powder; a generous pinch of salt. Beat the egg very light; add
the milk and, lastly, with just enough beating to mix all together, the
flour, sifted twice with salt and baking-powder. Bake at once.
After several years trial of this simple recipe, I can recommend it
unhesitatingly as the best, cheapest and most wholesome way I know for
preparing breakfast cakes. The excellence of the cakes depends upon
quick mixing and baking. A soapstone griddle, which is never greased,
should be used.
Waffles may be made in the same way mixed a little thinner by using
less flour.
Huckleberry griddle-cakes
(Contributed)
To one cup of milk add one-half teaspoonful of salt, one teaspoonful
of baking-powder, one tablespoonful of sugar and two well beaten eggs.
Add sufficient flour to make a batter. Stir into this one pint of
huckleberries rolled in flour. Fry on hot griddle. Butter them hot and
serve.
Feather griddle-cakes
Add to a pint of water and milk a teaspoonful of salt, a half-teacupful
of yeast and flour enough to make a batter. Let stand all night. In the
morning add one cupful of thick sour milk, two eggs well beaten, one
level tablespoonful of butter, one level teaspoonful of soda and flour
enough to make the consistency of pancake batter. Let stand twenty
minutes and then bake.
Rice griddle-cakes
Scald one pint of milk and let stand until cold. Then add one-half cake
of compressed yeast, one teaspoonful of salt, one cup of boiled rice
and about one and one-half cups of flour. Beat continuously for three
minutes. Cover and let stand in warm place till morning. In the morning
beat two eggs separately until they are very light. Add first the yolks
and then the whites. Mix thoroughly and let stand fifteen minutes and
then bake on hot griddle.
Peas griddle-cakes
Take two cups of cooked green peas and rub through a strainer. Pour
into this one cup of boiling milk. Add a teaspoonful of butter and one
of sugar and one of salt. When cold add one egg beaten till light and
one cup of flour into which has been sifted three level teaspoonfuls of
baking-powder. Fry on a soapstone griddle.
French pancakes
To the yolks of three eggs add one cup of milk, one-half teaspoonful
of salt and one teaspoonful of sugar. Pour one-third of this mixture
on one-half cup of flour and stir to a smooth paste; then add
the remainder of the mixture and beat well. To this add one-half
teaspoonful of salad oil. Pour enough of the batter into a hot buttered
frying-pan to cover the pan. When brown turn and brown the other side.
Spread with butter and jelly, roll up and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Sour milk griddle-cakes
Into a quart of loppered milk stir a quart of flour, a teaspoonful of
salt and two beaten eggs. Mix thoroughly, then add as much flour as
will be needed to make a good batter. Last of all, add a teaspoonful of
baking soda dissolved in a tablespoonful of hot water. Bake at once on
a very hot griddle.
Stale bread griddle-cakes
Let two cupfuls of dry bread crumbs soak for an hour in a quart of
milk. Into this beat a tablespoonful, each, of molasses and melted
butter, a teaspoonful of salt and three well-beaten eggs. When
thoroughly mixed, add half a cupful of flour which has been sifted with
a half teaspoonful of baking-powder. Bake on a soapstone griddle if
possible.
Hominy griddle-cakes
One cup of cold boiled hominy beaten to a smooth paste with a
tablespoonful of melted butter, then whipped light with the yolks of
the eggs; two eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately; one cup of
milk; one tablespoonful of flour sifted twice, with an even teaspoonful
of baking-powder and a teaspoonful of salt; one tablespoonful of
molasses. Stir molasses into the milk, add to the hominy, butter and
yolks; lastly, put in prepared flour and the whites of the eggs.
Sweet corn griddle-cakes
One cup of sweet corn fresh or canned, chopped fine and run through
a vegetable press; one cup of hot milk; one tablespoonful, each, of
butter and sugar; half teaspoonful of salt; one cup of flour sifted
twice with a rounded teaspoonful of baking-powder and a little salt;
two eggs. Mix as you would hominy cakes.
Corn-meal and graham griddle-cakes
Two cups of corn-meal and one cup of graham flour. The flour should be
sifted three times with one even teaspoonful of baking-powder and a
little salt. One quart of scalding milk. One tablespoonful of butter
and the same of molasses, stirred to a cream. One even teaspoonful of
salt. Two eggs—whites and yolks beaten separately.
Scald the meal with the milk, beat in butter and molasses and let it
cool to blood warmth before adding the beaten yolks and the prepared
flour alternately with the stiffened whites. If too stiff, thin with
cold milk. Beat hard and bake. Wholesome and palatable if properly
made.
Graham griddle-cakes
Two cups of graham flour; two tablespoonfuls of butter, or one of
butter and one of cottolene or other fat; one of molasses; three cups
of milk; four eggs; one teaspoonful of baking-powder and twice as much
salt sifted twice with the flour; half a cup of white flour mixed
thoroughly with the brown. Stir shortening and molasses to a cream,
beat in the yolks of the eggs, then the milk, a little at a time,
lastly the mixed flour alternately with the whites of the eggs. The
batter should be like thick cream before you bake it.
VARIOUS BREAKFAST BREADS OF INDIAN MEAL
Corn bread made of northern meal
Two cupfuls of corn-meal; one cupful of flour; two and a half cupfuls
of milk; three eggs; a tablespoonful, each, of butter and white sugar;
one teaspoonful of salt; two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
Melt the butter and stir it into the eggs, which should have been
beaten very light, and after sifting the salt, sugar and baking-powder
with the meal and flour, put in the milk, eggs and butter. Beat hard
and bake for half an hour in a greased pan in a steady oven.
Corn bread made of southern meal
Beat two eggs light; stir half a cupful of cold boiled rice into a pint
of milk and add to the eggs, rice and milk a tablespoonful of melted
butter. Sift a teaspoonful of salt into two cups of Indian meal; stir
all together and bake in shallow pans. Eat hot.
This is the Southern batter bread, or “egg bread.”
Indian meal crumpets
Heat a quart of milk to scalding and pour it gradually upon two
full cups of corn-meal. When thoroughly mixed, stir into this a
tablespoonful of granulated sugar and a quarter of a yeast-cake
dissolved in a little warm milk. Cover the bowl or batter with a clean
cloth and set to rise. Early in the morning add a tablespoonful of
melted cottolene or other fat and beat hard for a moment before pouring
the batter into muffin-tins. Set near the range for twenty minutes and
bake.
Steamed corn loaf
Mix together in a bowl a pint of corn-meal and a half-pint of flour.
Make a hole in the center of the mixture and pour into this three large
cupfuls of sour milk. Beat hard and stir in a tablespoonful of melted
butter, two tablespoonfuls of sugar and a teaspoonful of baking-soda
dissolved in a tablespoonful of boiling water. Beat for several
minutes, turn into a greased mold with a tightly-fitting cover and
steam for two hours. Turn out upon a platter, set in the oven for five
minutes, and send to the table.
Sour milk corn bread
Mix together in a bowl three cups of corn-meal and one cup of graham
flour. Stir in a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of sugar, a
tablespoonful of melted butter and three cups of sour milk. Now beat in
three eggs, whipped light, and a small teaspoonful of soda dissolved in
a little boiling water. Beat for five minutes, then pour into a greased
mold with a funnel in the center. Bake for an hour, or until a straw
comes out clean from the thickest part of the loaf.
Sour milk corn-meal griddle-cakes
One-half cup of white corn-meal and the same of flour; one and a half
cups of loppered milk or buttermilk; one tablespoonful of molasses and
the same of melted butter; one rounded teaspoonful of soda and half as
much salt sifted twice with flour and meal; one egg beaten very light.
Beat molasses and butter to a cream; add the milk, the egg, lastly the
prepared meal and flour. Beat hard one minute.
Buttermilk corn bread
Two cups of buttermilk; three well-beaten eggs; two scant cups of
Indian meal (white); one rounded teaspoonful of soda; one tablespoonful
of sugar.
Beat the eggs separately, sift the soda twice through the meal and add
one teaspoonful of salt. Beat the ingredients well together, adding the
whites last of all. Bake in a moderate oven in muffin-rings, with a
large spoonful of the batter to each, and cook to a golden brown.
Dinah’s corn bread
Sift two cups of corn-meal twice with an even teaspoonful of soda and
as much salt. Beat two eggs very light. Mix one teaspoonful of sugar
in three cups of buttermilk or loppered milk, add the eggs and a
tablespoonful of melted butter, lastly, the prepared flour. Have ready
three well-greased deep jelly-cake tins (warmed), divide the batter
between them and bake in a quick oven. Eat hot.
Corn-meal gems
Sift together a half-cup of flour, a cup of Indian meal, a teaspoonful
of baking-powder and a half-teaspoonful of salt; into a pint of milk
whip three beaten eggs, a tablespoonful of melted cottolene or other
fat and two tablespoonfuls of granulated sugar. Make a hole in the meal
and flour mixture and gradually pour the liquid into this, beating
steadily. Beat hard for about five minutes, pour into greased and
heated gem pans and bake in a good oven. Remove from the tins and send
immediately to the table.
Two-and-two Indian meal muffins
One full cup, each, of Indian meal and white flour; two cups of milk;
two eggs; two tablespoonfuls of melted butter; two teaspoonfuls of
sugar; two even teaspoonfuls of baking-powder; two saltspoonfuls of
salt. Sift meal and flour together three times with baking-powder and
salt. Add beaten yolks to the milk, then the butter and sugar beaten
together, lastly the prepared flour and meal. If too stiff thin with
milk. Bake in hot muffin-tins or in gem pans.
Johnny-cakes
(Contributed)
Sift with two-thirds of a cup of flour, one tablespoonful of sugar, two
teaspoonfuls of baking-powder and one teaspoonful of salt. Pour two
cups of boiling milk over two cups of cornmeal and when cool add two
tablespoonfuls of melted butter, the yolks of two eggs well beaten and
the sifted flour. Beat the mixture and just before putting in the oven
add the whites of two eggs whipped light and dry. Bake in a shallow pan
and serve hot.
Corn pone
(Contributed)
Mix with cold water one quart of sifted corn-meal, one teaspoonful of
salt and one tablespoonful of melted butter. Mold into oval cakes with
the hands. Bake in a hot oven in well-greased pans. The crust should be
brown.
Hominy cake
(Contributed)
Take one cupful of hot boiled hominy, add one teaspoonful of salt and
yolks of two well-beaten eggs. Add slowly one cupful of milk, one
cupful of corn-meal and the whipped whites of two eggs. Bake in a flat
tin in a hot oven twenty or thirty minutes.
Corn waffles
(Contributed)
Sift together one cup of white flour, one cup of corn-meal, two
teaspoonfuls of baking-powder and one-half teaspoonful of salt. Beat
the yolks of three eggs until thick, add one and a fourth cups of
milk and stir into the flour mixture. Then add one tablespoonful of
melted butter and the whites of three eggs beaten stiff. Bake on a hot
waffle-iron and serve with caramel sauce.
DIVERS KINDS OF TOAST
Buttered toast
Cut the crusts from thin slices of stale bread and toast them over a
clear fire to a delicate brown; spread lightly with butter and pile
upon a hot plate; keep in the open oven until sent to the table.
German toast
Pare the slices and cut into strips twice as wide as your middle finger
and about as long. Toast quickly on both sides, butter lightly and
serve very hot.
Baked milk toast
Trim off the crust from slices nearly half an inch thick; toast to a
uniform light brown. Have on the range a pan of boiling water, salted.
As you remove each slice from the toaster dip quickly into the boiling
water and lay in a well-buttered pudding dish; buttering the toast
while smoking hot and salting each slice. When all the soaked toast is
packed into place, cover with scalding milk in which has been melted a
tablespoonful of butter. Cover closely and bake fifteen minutes.
This is so far superior to the usual insipid preparation of milk toast
that no one who has eaten the first can enjoy the poor parody.
Cream toast
Toast, and proceed as in last recipe, but dipping each slice in hot
salted milk instead of water, and when in the dish covering with a
mixture one-third milk, two-thirds cream, made very hot. Add a pinch of
soda to the cream to prevent curdling.
Cream toast, baked, is delicious and nutritious. Either of these dishes
can be made of graham bread.
Fried toast
Cut rather thick slices of stale bread round with a cake cutter; spread
upon a platter and pour over them a mixture of one cup of milk with
an egg beaten into it, then salted slightly. Turn the slices until
saturated, drain carefully and fry as you would doughnuts in deep
hot cottolene or other fat, turning when half done. Lay scrambled or
poached eggs or a nice mince upon them for breakfast.
Tomato toast
Prepare precisely as directed in recipe for baked milk toast, but pour
over the pile of slices in the dish a rich strained tomato sauce,
lifting the toast with a fork, that the sauce may get at each piece.
Cover and bake. Serve in the dish as an accompaniment to chops, omelet
or hash.
Anchovy toast
Cut stale bread into strips an inch and a half wide and three inches
long; toast, butter and spread with anchovy paste, as a foundation for
scrambled or poached eggs.
Sardine toast
(Contributed)
Butter rounds of toast and set in the oven to brown. Drain the oil from
a box of sardines and flake with a silver fork. Put into a saucepan one
tablespoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of lemon juice and one-half
teaspoonful of onion juice. Stir until hot and then add the flaked
sardines. Stir until the fish is hot. Spread on the hot rounds of bread
and serve at once.
Cheese custard toast
(Contributed)
Sprinkle hot toasted bread with grated cheese. Set in the oven until
the cheese melts. Take out and arrange in layers in a pudding dish and
pour over it an unsweetened custard. Put in a moderate oven until the
custard is done. Serve at once.
Oyster toast
(Contributed)
Put twelve oysters into a saucepan with their own liquor and
one-quarter teaspoonful of white pepper, one glass of milk and two
cloves. Boil for three minutes. Mix one ounce of butter with one-half
ounce of flour; put this in a pan and stir well. Add one teaspoonful
of lemon juice and, when boiling, pour the mixture over the toast and
serve.
Mushroom toast
(Contributed)
Cut the stems of mushrooms fine and stew in a little milk. Slice, in
quarters, the tops. Cook five minutes in plenty of butter. Then add
cream enough to make a sauce; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Let the
stems simmer until tender, adding some cream, if needed. There should
be sauce enough to moisten the toast. Pour on toast and serve.
Ham toast
(Contributed)
Mince the lean of two slices of cooked ham very finely. Beat the yolks
of two eggs, mix with the ham, adding enough cream or stock to make it
soft. Keep it on the fire long enough to warm through, stirring all the
time. Have ready some buttered toast cut in rounds. Lay the ham mixture
neatly on each piece.
EGGS
“The following method of determining the age of eggs is practised in
the markets of Paris. About six ounces of common cooking salt is put
into a large glass, which is then filled with water. When the salt is
in solution an egg is dropped into the glass. If the egg is only one
day old, it immediately sinks to the bottom; if any older it does not
reach the bottom of the glass. If three days old, it sinks only just
below the surface. From five days upwards it floats; the older it is
the more it protrudes out of the water.”—_German Newspaper._
Boiled eggs (No. 1)
Be sure the water is at a rapid boil. Wash the eggs in warm water,
leaving them in it just long enough to take off the chill. If you put
them on to boil while cold you must allow twenty seconds for the shells
to get warm. Boil steadily three minutes and a half, take out, wrap in
a warmed napkin and send immediately to table.
Boiled eggs (No. 2)
Wash in warm water; lay in boiling water and remove the saucepan
promptly from the fire to the side of the range where it will hold the
heat, but can not possibly boil. Cover closely and leave thus for seven
or eight minutes, according to the size of the eggs. It will be of a
custard-like consistency all through, and be far more digestible than
when the white is firm and the yolk soft.
Poached eggs
Add a little vinegar to the water in which you poach eggs, to prevent
the whites from spreading. Breaking each one into a shallow cup about a
quarter of an hour before it is to be cooked is also a good plan.
[Illustration: OMELET
BAKED EGGS
EGGS]
Be sure the water is boiling and free from specks. If you have no
egg-poacher, use a clean frying-pan. Fill with boiling water; draw to
the side of the range, slip the eggs, one by one, upon the surface, set
carefully back over the fire and boil gently three minutes, or until
the whites are firm. Take up with a flat perforated spoon, lay upon
rounds of buttered toast, trim off ragged edges and dust lightly with
salt and white pepper. Celery salt gives a pleasant flavor to poached
eggs, and some relish a drop of onion juice upon each.
Eggs poached in milk
Proceed as with those poached in water, using boiling milk instead.
When done, transfer to slices of hot buttered toast laid upon a platter
and pour over all a white sauce—plain drawn butter, or butter drawn in
stock of some kind. Chicken stock is particularly good for this.
Scrambled eggs
Have a tablespoonful of butter hissing hot in the frying-pan. Break six
eggs into a bowl; add, without breaking the eggs, two tablespoonfuls
of cream, or, if you have none, of milk in which half a teaspoonful of
corn-starch has been wet; add pepper, salt, and a little finely minced
parsley; turn all into the pan, and stir incessantly in all directions,
until you have a creamy mass.
Turn out upon buttered toast or into a hot water dish and serve before
the mass hardens.
Scrambled eggs in cups
With a rather large tin “shape” cut round out of slices of stale bread
an inch thick. With a small “shape” cut more than half through these
rounds and dig out the crumb carefully, leaving bottom and sides a
quarter of an inch thick. Set in a pan on the upper grating of the oven
to crisp. When of a delicate brown, butter the insides and edges of
the “cups” and leave in the oven three minutes longer. Arrange on a
dish and fill with scrambled eggs prepared as in the last recipe.
Fried eggs
Fry slices of bacon quickly, take out the meat and keep it hot; strain
the fat that ran from them, add a tablespoonful of cottolene or other
fat or dripping, bring to a boil and break into the pan as many eggs as
you need. Slip a spatula under each, as soon as it is fairly “set” and
reverse it dexterously if you like “turned” eggs.
Trim ragged and discolored edges, arrange in the center of a hot
platter and lay the bacon about them.
Fried eggs with brown sauce
Put a good lump of butter into the frying-pan, and when it hisses
sharply, cook the eggs as directed in the last recipe. When done, dish
and keep them hot over boiling water. Now put two more tablespoonfuls
of butter into the pan; fry brown, then add one tablespoonful of
vinegar and a little onion juice with pepper and salt. Boil the whole
together for two minutes, pour it over the eggs, and serve.
Deviled eggs
Boil six eggs hard, cut carefully in half, and take out the yolks. Rub
these to a paste with two tablespoonfuls of melted butter, one-half
teaspoonful of Chili sauce, and a saltspoonful, each, of salt, pepper
and French mustard. Form this mixture into balls that will fit into
the halved whites. Set these halves on end on a hot platter, put a
yolk-ball in each, and keep hot while you make the sauce to pour about
them. To make this, cook together a teaspoonful of butter and one of
flour, and pour over them a half pint of hot milk with a pinch of
soda stirred in it. When this sauce is thick and smooth, add to it
one beaten egg and a tablespoonful of finely minced parsley. Remove
immediately from the fire and pour around the eggs.
Mince of tongue and eggs
Boil a fresh calf’s tongue, let it get cold, and mince fine. Heat
a half-pint of soup stock, and cook together in a frying-pan a
tablespoonful of butter and one of browned flour. On this pour the hot
soup stock, and cook until you have a thick, brown sauce. Into this
turn the chopped tongue, and toss and stir until smoking hot. Season
with a teaspoonful of tomato catsup, a teaspoonful of onion juice, salt
and pepper. Have ready slices of toast on a heated platter, pour the
hot mixture over these; put a poached egg in the center of each slice
of toast, and serve.
Kidneys are delicious cooked in this way.
Mince of ham and eggs
Prepare as above, but using cold boiled and minced ham in place of the
tongue. A mixture of cold liver and ham is very palatable.
Savory eggs
Dissolve a pinch of soda in a cup of cream and heat the cream. In
another vessel heat a pint of stock. Turn into the stock six beaten
eggs, season to taste with salt, pepper and minced parsley; cook until
the eggs begin to thicken, stirring all the time; add the cream and
serve on slices of lightly buttered toast.
A curry of eggs