within a few hours after they are drawn from the river, frying is a
most popular method of preparing them. Some cooks there rid the fish
of all suspicion of an oily taste by holding it up by the gills and
pouring a pint or so of boiling water over it. After the shower-bath
it is immediately laid in ice water to keep the flesh firm. Then have
the shad split down the back, and cut each half of the fish into four
pieces. Wash quickly and wipe dry. Roll in beaten egg and cracker
crumbs, lay the pieces, side by side, on a platter and set in the
ice-box for two hours. Fry to a golden brown in deep, boiling cottolene
or other fat. Drain all the grease off in a colander; arrange the fish
in neat order on a folded napkin laid in the bottom of a fish platter.
Garnish with slices of lemon and sprigs of parsley. Serve Bechamel
sauce with the fish.
Shad croquettes
Flake the remains of yesterday’s fish into bits with a silver fork.
There should be about a cupful of the picked fish. Cook together a
tablespoonful of flour and one of butter and pour upon them a cup of
milk. Stir to a thick sauce; pour this gradually upon the beaten yolks
of two eggs, mix well, add the flaked fish, season to taste, and turn
upon a platter to cool and stiffen. When the mixture is cold and firm
form it into small croquettes and roll these, first in cracker dust,
then in beaten egg, and once again in cracker dust. Set aside in a cool
place for two hours, and fry in deep boiling cottolene or other fat
brought slowly to the boil. Serve with sliced lemon.
Scalloped shad
Pick cold shad into bits, removing skin and bones. Put two
tablespoonfuls of butter into a frying-pan and fry a sliced onion in
this. Remove the onion, stir in a tablespoonful of browned flour, and,
when this is blended with the butter, pour upon it slowly a cup of
clear beef-stock. Stir to a smooth sauce, season with pepper and salt,
a very little kitchen bouquet, and a half-cup of tomato liquor. When
smooth and as thick as cream, add the fish, stir and toss for a moment
and remove from the fire. Turn into scallop shells, sprinkle with
crumbs and bake, covered, for twenty minutes; then uncover and brown.
Broiled shad roes
Parboil the roes in salted water as soon as they are taken from the
fish. Cook ten minutes and leave in ice water until cold and firm.
“Marinade” them in bath of lemon juice and salad oil for one hour. Wipe
lightly and broil to a nice brown, turning several times. Pass with
lemon sauce.
Fried shad roes
Parboil as directed, let them get chilled in ice water, wipe dry, roll
in beaten egg and salted cracker crumbs and fry in deep hot cottolene
or other fat heated gradually to the boiling point before the roes go
in.
Scallops of shad roes
Parboil and blanch. When perfectly cold break up and pass through a
colander or vegetable press. Season with lemon juice, kitchen bouquet,
paprika and salt. Have ready a cup of rich drawn butter. Stir the roes
into it, beat up well, pour into scallop shells or pâté-pans, sift fine
crumbs over the top and bake quickly upon the upper grating of the oven.
Shad roe croquettes
Proceed as with the scallops, except that you make the drawn
butter rather thicker, and add a well-beaten egg, together with a
tablespoonful of fine crumbs, to give the croquettes consistency. Let
the mixture get perfectly cold; mold into croquettes, roll in egg and
cracker crumbs and leave on the ice over night. In the morning renew
the crumbs and fry in deep hissing cottolene or other fat which has
been brought gradually to the boil.
Fried smelts with lemon sauce
Clean, wash and dry the smelts. Roll in salted and peppered flour, and
leave in a cold place for an hour to get firm. Fry in deep cottolene or
other fat to a light brown, laying each in a hot colander as you take
it from the pan, to drain off the grease. Serve in a hot dish. A pretty
way of serving them is to fringe several thicknesses of white tissue
paper at both ends, and lay in the bottom of the dish, the fringe
showing beyond the heap of fish. Serve with—
Lemon sauce
Heat (not melt) three tablespoonfuls of butter until you can beat it
to a cream. Whip into it the strained juice of one large or two small
lemons, with a heaping tablespoonful of finely-minced parsley. It
should be like a light-green cream when done. Fill with this mixture
the halves of lemons, from which all the pulp and inner skin have been
scraped, and garnish the dish of smelts with them, serving one of the
“cups” with each portion of fish.
Fried trout
Clean, wipe inside and out, pepper and salt; roll in egg and cracker
crumbs and fry in deep, hot cottolene or other fat, always recollecting
to heat this gradually to boiling point before the fish go in.
Or, having cleaned and dried them, roll in salted and peppered meal;
then fry.
Fried perch and other pan-fish
Cook as directed in last recipe. It is always well to have the fish on
ice for an hour or more after they are egged and breaded, or rolled in
meal.
Fish cutlets
Mince cold boiled or baked salmon, haddock, cod, or any other
firm-fleshed fish. Season to taste and mix well with a little rich
drawn butter, made quite thick with corn starch. Spread upon a broad
platter, and, when stiff, cut into the desired shape with a tin “form.”
Roll in fine crumbs, then in egg and in cracker crumbs again; leave on
the ice to get firm, and fry in deep, boiling cottolene or other fat
which has been heated slowly.
Lobster and crab cutlets
Are made in the same way.
Salmon steaks
Have the steaks cut nearly an inch thick. Wipe with a damp cloth and
lay in salad oil for an hour. Drain and put upon a gridiron over a
clear fire. Broil slowly, rubbing with butter from time to time.
They will take at least twenty minutes to cook, and must be watched
carefully that they do not scorch. When done, put upon each steak a
generous lump of butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Salmon loaf
Flake cold boiled salmon and moisten it with a gill of cream, a
half-gill of milk and two beaten eggs. Stir in a handful of fine
crumbs, the juice of half a lemon, a tablespoonful of butter, salt and
pepper to taste, and a tablespoonful of minced parsley. Mix thoroughly,
turn into a greased pudding-dish, and bake in a steady oven for about
three-quarters of an hour, then turn out upon a hot platter. Serve with
a white sauce. You may also boil this in a covered mold.
Salmon croquettes
With a silver fork flake the contents of a can of salmon, or two pounds
of fresh salmon, into bits—removing all pieces of skin and bone—and
season to taste with salt, pepper and a few drops of lemon juice. Cook
together a tablespoonful, each, of butter and flour, and when they
bubble pour upon them a cup of milk. Stir to a smooth, white sauce, add
slowly a raw egg, then turn in the salmon mixed with two tablespoonfuls
of fine crumbs. When the salmon is heated remove from the fire and set
aside to cool. When cold, form into croquettes, roll these in beaten
egg and cracker crumbs and set in the ice-box for an hour before
frying in deep, boiling cottolene or other fat, which has been heated
gradually.
Scalloped salmon
With a silver fork pick into bits the contents of a can of salmon,
rejecting all particles of skin and bone. Make a sauce of a half-pint
of milk, thickened with a white roux, and turn the salmon into this.
Stir and toss over the fire until smoking-hot; season to taste, put
into a greased pudding-dish. Strew thickly with crumbs, dot with bits
of butter and bake for twenty minutes.
Broiled haddock
Haddock is not popular among “good livers” in the United States. For
some reason it is ranked as a second-hand and plebeian fish. Yet it can
be made good although cheap.
Clean, wash and wipe well, and gash the back with a sharp knife. Then
“marinade” as you would his patrician brethren: i. e., cover him with
salad oil and vinegar, or lemon juice, and let him lie in the bath for
an hour. Wipe and broil, turning when half done. Transfer to a hot
dish, anoint with butter, lemon and chopped parsley, and send to table.
Haddock fillets
Two pounds of what the cooks call “the thick of the fish” will make
four fillets, about four inches long by two wide. Skin each piece with
a sharp knife; trim into shape and leave in a marinade of oil and
vinegar with a tablespoonful of minced chives, or, if you have none, a
tablespoonful of onion juice. Let the fillets lie there for an hour.
Then drain well, roll in a good batter, afterward in fine crumbs, and
fry in deep, boiling cottolene or other fat. Drain upon hot tissue
paper, and send to table very hot. Send around tomato sauce with it.
Halibut fillets
May be cooked in the same way.
Broiled halibut steak
Rub well with salad oil and lemon juice on both sides, wipe, and broil
over a clear fire, turning three times. Pepper and salt, lay upon a hot
dish and butter well. Send Bearnaise sauce around with it. (See Sauces.)
Fried halibut steaks
Marinade for an hour; drain, roll in salted flour, then in beaten egg,
lastly in salted and peppered crumbs. Leave on ice for an hour, and fry
in clarified dripping, or in cottolene or other fat.
[Illustration: FRIED PERCH
FRIED SMELTS
HALIBUT STEAK
FISH]
Fried pickerel with cream sauce
Clean, wash and wipe dry. Roll in white cornmeal or in flour, and lay
aside in a cold place while you fry slices of fat salt pork quickly
almost to a crisp. Strain the fat and return to the pan; lay in the
fish and brown, turning once. When done, remove to a heated, covered
dish and keep hot over boiling water. To the fat left in the pan
add a tablespoonful of butter and a little boiling water; boil up
and stir in a tablespoonful of flour. When it begins to bubble add
four tablespoonfuls of cream with a tiny pinch of soda. Stir until
smoking-hot, and strain over the fish.
Fried catfish
Skin and clean; lay the fish in very cold water for a few minutes, then
wipe them dry. Dredge thoroughly with flour, or roll them first in
beaten egg, then in cracker crumbs, and fry to a delicate brown.
Fried frogs’ legs
Have them carefully skinned, wash well, wipe perfectly dry, roll in
cracker or bread crumbs, dip in well-beaten egg, then roll again in the
crumbs and fry in butter to a golden brown.
Fricassee of frogs’ legs
Skin and wash well, drain; lay in boiling water for five minutes.
Put over the fire in enough warm milk to cover them and simmer until
tender. Then drain, and lay in a hot dish, buttering well. In another
saucepan make drawn butter, using milk instead of water; season with
salt, paprika and minced parsley, with a dash of lemon juice; remove
from the fire and stir in two well-beaten eggs. Cook one minute,
stirring all the time, and take from the range. Pour over the frogs’
legs, cover, and set over hot water for a few minutes before serving.
They will be found delicious.
Stewed frogs’ legs
Skin and lay in a marinade of lemon juice and salad oil, with a dash of
onion juice or of minced chives, for one hour. Heat two tablespoonfuls
of butter in a saucepan, add a teaspoonful of minced onion, one minced
tomato and one green pepper chopped fine. Cook for five minutes. Add
the frogs’ legs, cover closely and cook ten minutes. Add a little
browned flour and cook until tender. Season and serve.
Clams on toast
Chop a dozen clams and boil them for five minutes in their liquor;
drain, and add to them two tablespoonfuls of fine crumbs, a
tablespoonful of butter, salt and pepper to taste, and a gill of milk
in which a heaping teaspoonful of cornstarch has been dissolved. Stir
constantly over the fire until the mixture boils, then add a gill of
cream; stir for a moment longer and pour upon the toast.
Deviled clams
Slice an onion and fry it to a light brown in a large spoonful of
butter. Strain out the onion and put the hot butter back upon the
fire. Chop two large (peeled) tomatoes fine, season with salt, half a
teaspoonful of sugar, a good dash of paprika and the same of nutmeg.
Stir into the hissing butter; stir for three minutes, and add a
teaspoonful of butter rolled in half as much flour. Have ready the
clams, drained and chopped fine, and mix them with the butter and
tomatoes. Fill buttered scallop-shells, or clam-shells, or a buttered
pudding-dish with the mixture; sift fine-crushed cracker over all,
dropping tiny dabs of butter on top, and cook until delicately browned.
Fried clams
Drain the clams and dry them by laying them on a soft napkin. Season
with a dust of paprika. Beat two eggs light in a soup-plate and have
ready in another deep plate an abundance of cracker crumbs. Dip each
clam in the egg, and then in the crumbs, until thoroughly coated. Lay
side by side on a large platter and set in a cold place for an hour.
Fry in deep, boiling cottolene or other fat to a golden brown, drain
in a colander, then transfer to a hot platter. Garnish with slices of
lemon and sprigs of parsley.
Clam scallop
Drain the liquor from two cupfuls of soft clams and set aside while you
chop the clams fine. Moisten two cupfuls of cracker crumbs with equal
parts of clam liquor and milk, season with paprika and a tablespoonful
of melted butter, and lastly, add three beaten eggs, and the chopped
clams. Mix thoroughly, and turn into a greased pudding-dish. Bake until
brown and serve from the dish in which the scallop was cooked.
Clam fritters
Make a batter of a pint of flour sifted twice with an even teaspoonful
of baking-powder and half as much salt; one cup of milk, half a cup
of clam liquor and two well-beaten eggs. Chop two dozen soft clams
fine; season with salt and pepper, add to the batter, and drop by the
tablespoonful into deep, boiling cottolene or other fat which has
been heated slowly. They are made more digestible and, to my taste,
more palatable by cooking the batter, as you do griddle-cakes, upon a
soapstone griddle.
Fried scallops
Parboil in hot salted water for five minutes; drain and set them upon
ice to get cold and firm. Roll them in salted flour, next in beaten
egg, then in fine crumbs. Set on ice for half an hour and fry in deep,
boiling cottolene or other fat, which has been gradually heated to the
boil.
Curried scallops
Stew the scallops in just enough oyster liquor to cover them. (Your
fish merchant will give you all the oyster liquor you want and be glad
to get rid of it.) Bring gradually to the boil, after which cook two
minutes. Have ready in another vessel a roux made by stirring into a
great spoonful of hissing hot butter a tablespoonful of white flour
and a teaspoonful of curry powder. Add to these, when smooth and all
a-bubble, the hot liquor from the scallops, a little at a time, keeping
the spoon busy until all is in. Lastly, put in the scallops; boil one
minute and serve. Garnish with rice croquettes, serving these instead
of plain boiled rice. Send around sliced lemons with this dish. The
lovers of scallops will enjoy it.
Soft-shelled crabs
Remove the fringe, or loose shell, from each side of the crab, and
the sandbag; then cut off the eyes. Wash the crabs well, dry and
sprinkle with salt and pepper and roll in flour. Fry in butter, turning
frequently. When nicely browned they are done.
Creamed codfish
Flake cold boiled cod into bits with a silver fork. Cook together a
tablespoonful of flour and one of butter, and pour upon them a cup of
milk. Season to taste and, when smooth, stir in the flaked fish. Stir
and toss until very hot, add salt and pepper and serve.
Fish-balls
If salt cod be used, shred it finely and soak six hours. Boil half an
hour and let it cool. Mash potatoes to a cream; allow half as much
potato as you have fish. Mix and heat by setting in a pan of boiling
water over the fire, stirring frequently. When hot, beat in an egg,
whip the mixture smooth; let the paste get cold, make into cakes
or balls, roll in flour and set on ice. Of course, this should be
done over night. In the morning fry in deep boiling beef dripping,
clarified, or in cottolene or other fat. Cold fresh cod makes delicious
“balls.” Proceed as with the salt, leaving out the soaking, and salting
to taste.
Boiled salt mackerel
Wash and go all over the fish with a stiff whisk to dislodge salt
crystals. Put on to soak in warm water, exchanging this three hours
later for warmer, and leave all night. In the morning cover with hot
water and set at the side of the range. Half an hour before breakfast
drain and put into boiling water to which a tablespoonful of vinegar
has been added, and boil gently for twenty-five minutes. Drain and lay
upon a hot dish. Cover with a white sauce into which a finely-chopped
boiled egg has been stirred, and serve. You may substitute tomato sauce
for white, if you like. It is very nice when milk is used instead of
water in boiling it.
Broiled salt mackerel
Soak and proceed as in the last recipe. Early in the morning take the
fish from the hot water, cover with ice-cold water for five minutes;
wipe dry, “marinade” in olive oil and lemon juice for half an hour,
drain and broil. Serve with sauce tartare.
Fried eels
Skin, clean well, taking especial heed of the fat, which must be
removed to the last bit. Cut into short pieces, marinade in salad oil
and vinegar for an hour; roll, first in salted flour, then in beaten
egg, then in rolled cracker, and fry in deep, boiling cottolene or
other fat. Drain, dish and garnish with parsley and lemon.
Stewed eels
Skin and clean; cut into short lengths, lay in cold water for half an
hour; then put over the fire in cold water, just enough to cover them,
and cook slowly for half an hour, or more, according to their size. A
large eel may require an hour to make it tender. Turn off the water,
cover the eels with a good white sauce seasoned with paprika, onion
juice, salt and minced parsley; simmer five minutes and serve.
Roe herring (smoked)
Soak over night when you have washed it well. In the morning lay in hot
water for half an hour, then in ice-cold water for ten minutes, wipe
dry and grill on a gridiron over a clear fire. It is most appetizing.
Pass corn bread with it.
Finnan haddie
Wash the fish thoroughly, leave in cold water for three-quarters of an
hour, then lay in scalding water for five minutes. Wipe very dry, rub
butter and lemon juice well into the fiber of the fish and broil over a
clear fire for fifteen minutes. Serve with a hot butter sauce, or with
sauce tartare.
Broiled smoked salmon
Wash a piece of smoked salmon in several waters, and soak it for an
hour. Cover with lukewarm water in a saucepan and simmer for twenty
minutes. Drain and wipe very dry, then broil on a buttered gridiron
until browned on both sides. Transfer to a hot dish, rub with butter,
sprinkle lightly with pepper and minced parsley, garnish with sliced
lemon, and serve.
Fried smoked salmon
Wash, soak and parboil the salmon as in the former recipe. Wipe very
dry, roll in egg and cracker dust, and set in a cold place for an hour
before frying in hot salad oil or in cottolene or other fat. Serve with
sauce tartare.
FAMILIAR TALK
WHERE WE EAT
“We eat to live; we do not live to eat,” is a time-stained saying.
It is almost invariably uttered complacently, and seldom in absolute
sincerity. There is something wrong, physically, with the man who
“does not care what he eats.” There is a twist in the moral make-up of
the woman who finds catering for the appetites of those she loves “a
wretched bore, don’t you know?”
Next in importance to the “house-place” in the estimation of the wise
and tender mother of the home comes the dining-room where, three times
a day, she has her brood under the wings of her comforting, provident
and nourishing love. Whatever may be said as to the merits of the “food
products” that fly at the masthead of the company the motto—“Tell me
what you eat, and I will tell you what you are”—there is a potent grain
of truth in the legend.
So much of a man’s temper and morals during the day depends upon what
he has had for breakfast that the mother may well give serious thought
to the composition of the meal. So much depends upon where and how
he eats his breakfast, that the wonder grows in the philosophic mind
that the eating-room and the appurtenances thereof are a third-rate
consideration with so many otherwise excellent managers.
The housemother who can let sunshine into the morning meeting-place
of the family scores an important point in favor of the success of
her pious scheme. Since this can not always be, her aim should be to
simulate the blessed sunbeams as far as she can. Walls of pale buff,
the flash of a gilt frame here, and a bit of bright drapery there;
yellow silk sash curtains, and, on the sideboard, the glitter of
silver and glass will go far to relieve the depressing influence of an
apartment where the sun never falls.
Thanks to the ingenious florist whose name is preserved in the “Wardian
case,” it is quite possible to have a window-garden in the dining-room
on the shady side of the house. A stanch framework of wood, filled
in with glass on the sides and on the hinged top, with a zinc-lined
bottom on which are spread first a layer of broken flower-pots or other
crockery, mixed with charcoal, and on this a stratum, two inches deep,
of garden mold, supply the foundation for the undertaking.
Stock with ferns, tradescantia, English and German ivy, fill the spaces
between the roots with moss, water well, and close. Your gardening
is done for the season, except that, once a day—say while you are at
breakfast—the lid is raised a little way to admit a supply of air, and
once in a fortnight it would be well to water the plants. Shield from
the sun, which, striking through the closed glass, would scald the
succulent greenery that will soon fill the case. Hang the canary’s cage
above it for an added touch of cheer.
Always have flowers upon the family table. A pot of ivy, a geranium,
a fern borrowed from some other room at meal times, will serve the
desired end if you can not afford cut flowers in winter. If you have
no window plants, manage to get a vase of evergreen sprays—something
to lift the gracious ceremonial of eating together above the sordid
commonplace. If you “eat to live,” let that living be comely and
pleasant.
There is no excuse nowadays for setting a table with coarse, thick
stoneware, even when there is no “company” (hateful phrase!) present.
Graceful designs may be had in ware so cheap as to be within the reach
of any woman who can spread a table of her own.
In the matter of napery, modern fashion comes benevolently to the
help of the poor in purse. Have the top of your table polished with
a mixture of raw linseed oil and turpentine—three parts of oil, one
of turpentine—rubbed in long and well. Then set for breakfast and for
luncheon with a linen square—embroidered or simply hemstitched—laid
diagonally to the table corners, in the middle, with doilies of
the same under the plates; a carving-cloth before the master of the
house, and a tray-cloth before the mistress. The effect is pleasing
and decorative, the more agreeable to the housewifely eye because the
weekly wash is materially lessened thereby.
If your table has not a polished top, you would better have for
breakfast and luncheon one of the pretty colored lunch-cloths with
napkins to match, which come in divers patterns and at varying prices.
If your china-closets are insufficient to hold all your china, and
especially if the walls of the room are ungracefully bare, run a shelf
a foot wide near the ceiling and set in graceful array upon it some of
your pretty and odd pieces. The device elevates them to the dignity
of a bric-a-brac, relieves the burdened closet shelves and produces a
frieze-like effect that will further detract from the business-like
look of the apartment.
Tax your ingenuity in every way to make the place tempting to eye and
to thought, as well as to appetite. A place where one is disposed to
linger over one’s meals for social converse and social enjoyment,
instead of bolting food in hungry silence, preparatory to bolting from
the place he calls “home,” through custom and courtesy, to return not
until the approach of the next feeding time.
Since the dining-room chairs are higher than those in the sitting-room
and parlor, women of medium height sit with their feet barely touching
the floor, and short women dangle their toes helplessly and painfully,
the weight of the lower limbs depending from the weary spine.
Provide for each of the shorter sex a footstool or hassock, and reap
your reward in the shallowed lines in brow and cheek, the happier light
in the eyes, the cheerful ring in the voice.
BREAKFAST MEATS
BREAKFAST BACON
Mrs. Mary J. Lincoln—than whom there is not a more trustworthy
authority upon everything pertaining to cookery—says in a sprightly
chapter upon breakfast bacon: