and pepper; sprinkle it with finely chopped parsley, drops of
lemon-juice, and some little bits of butter. Set it in the oven
long enough to soften the butter. A steak done in this way may be
made quite attractive by garnishing it with hot mashed and seasoned
potatoes which have been squeezed through a potato-strainer. A
colander may be used in lieu of a strainer. The potato loses some
of its heat in the process, so care must be taken to have the dish
very hot or to place it in the oven until it becomes so.
A steak may always be garnished with parsley, water-cress, or
slices of lemon.
CHICKEN
(BROILED)
For broiling, select a young chicken--one from three to eight
months old. Singe it. Split it down the back, and free it from all
refuse, such as pin-feathers, lungs, kidneys, oil-bag, windpipe,
and crop (the latter is sometimes left in when the chicken is
drawn). Wash it quickly in cold water, fold it in a clean cloth
kept for the purpose, and clap gently between the hands until all
the water is absorbed. Separate the joints--the _lower joint of the
leg_ and the _upper joint of the wing_--by cutting the flesh on the
under side and severing the white tough tendons. Soften some butter
until it runs, then dip the chicken into it, season it with salt
and pepper, dredge with flour, and broil it in a wire broiler for
from fifteen to twenty minutes, according to the size.
The same principle holds in broiling chicken as in steak. The
first part of the process should be done in a high temperature to
coagulate the juices of the outer layers, and the last part very
slowly. Care must be taken that it is thoroughly done at the thick
joints of the wing and leg. Serve hot.
=To Buy a Chicken.= The best chickens have yellow skin, but one may
be deceived if guided by this alone, for _fowls_ often have yellow
skin also. The flexibility of the end of the breast-bone is always
a sure means of deciding as to the age of the bird. If it be soft,
easily bent, and if it feels like cartilage, the chicken is young.
Sometimes dealers break the bone for the purpose of deceiving
buyers, but it does not take a great deal of intelligence to decide
between a broken bone and one that is easily bent. If the bone
be hard and firm, it is an indication of age. For broiling, of
course, the chicken should be young, the flesh of good color and
well nourished, and, as in the buying of beef, one may rely upon
the judgment of a good dealer. The way in which chickens are fed
has much to do with the flavor of the meat.
BIRDS
Various kinds of birds, such as squab, partridge, plover, snipe,
pheasant, etc., are particularly appropriate food for the sick,
partly because we associate them with the dainty things of life,
but more on account of the valuable nutrient properties which
they contain. They are especially rich in salts (particularly the
phosphates), which are so much needed by a system exhausted by
disease.
Birds which feed mostly on grains, such as the partridge and the
pheasant, will bear transportation, and will keep, in cold weather,
a long time. Birds with dark flesh, which live mostly on animal
food, decay quickly.
A general rule for the cooking of game is this: that with white
flesh should be well done, that with dark should be rare, and
usually is only properly cooked when served so, as in the case of
woodcock, duck, and snipe.
=When in Season.= Some birds, such as reed-birds, partridge, and
plover, have a season which varies slightly in different parts of
the country, according to the game laws of different States. In
Maryland, the following birds may be found in market according to
the time stated:
Squabs All the year.
Partridge November 1--December 25.
Snipe September--December.
Plover September--November.
Pheasants October--January.
Woodcock August--February.
Rice- or reed-birds September--Middle October.
Field-larks Summer and early autumn.
Grouse (prairie-hen) All the year.
Pigeons All the year.
The cleansing and preparation of birds is in general carried out in
the same manner as with chickens. When there is any variation from
this, it will be mentioned under the rule for each.
SQUABS
Squabs are young domestic pigeons. The Philadelphia market supplies
nearly all of those used in the eastern part of the United States.
Remove the feathers, and all pin-feathers; cut off the head and
legs, and split the bird down the back carefully with a sharp
knife. Lift out carefully the contents of the body, which are
contained in a little sac or delicate membrane; they should be
taken out without breaking. Do not forget the windpipe, crop,
lungs, and kidneys. Wash, and prepare the squab in the same manner
that chicken is done, except the dipping in butter and dredging
with flour; this may be omitted, as squabs are generally fat and do
not require it. Broil from twelve to fifteen minutes, according to
the size of the bird and the intensity of the fire. It should be
well done. Serve on hot buttered toast.
PARTRIDGE
The partridge is a white-fleshed bird. It may be broiled or
roasted.
=To Broil.= Follow the same rule as that given for squab, except
dip in melted butter and dredge with flour.
=To Roast.= Prepare in the same manner as for broiling, except dip
in butter and dredge twice. Do not forget the salt and pepper. Then
skewer the body so that it will resemble a whole bird, and look as
if it had not been split down the back. Spread a teaspoon of butter
on the breast, and bake it in a hot oven for twenty to thirty
minutes. Partridge done in this way is delicious, for the butter
enriches the meat, which is naturally dry. It should be served well
done, not rare, on hot buttered toast, with currant jelly.
The season for partridges is in most States during the last part
of the autumn, and generally the laws in regard to them are rigid.
Nevertheless, they can be bought from the middle of October until
May, or the beginning of warm weather. The partridge is a bird that
keeps well, bears transportation, and is sent from one part of the
country to another, many coming from the West when the season is
over in the Eastern States. It is a medium-sized bird, with mottled
brown feathers, which are black at the ends, especially those on
the back, and mottled brown and silver-gray on the breast.
SNIPE
Snipe may be both prepared and cooked as partridges are--that is,
broiled and roasted. The snipe has rich, dark meat, and therefore
will not need to be dipped in butter for either broiling or
roasting. It is about the same size as a squab, but as it is to be
cooked rare (it is more tender and of nicer flavor so), ten minutes
is sufficient time for broiling, and from twelve to fifteen
minutes for roasting in a hot oven. Serve it with currant jelly on
hot buttered toast.
The snipe has a long bill, from two to two and a half inches in
length. It is about the size of a squab, with dark, almost black,
wing-feathers tipped with white, and the feathers of the back are
intermingled with flecks of golden brown. The under sides of the
wings are pearl-gray, and the breast is white.
PHEASANTS
Pheasants may be broiled or roasted. As the meat is dry, they
should be well rubbed with soft butter and dredged with flour. It
is a good way, after putting on the salt and pepper, to dip the
bird into melted butter, then dredge it with flour, then lay on
soft butter and dredge a second time; or, when it is skewered and
ready for the oven, it may be spread thickly over the breast with
softened butter. Care must be taken that the very thick portion of
the breast be cooked through, as pheasant should be well done, and
from one half to three quarters of an hour will be necessary for
this.
WOODCOCK
The woodcock is about the size of a partridge, with mottled dark
brown and gray feathers, except on the breast, where they are a
sort of light salmon brown. It has a long slender beak, somewhat
like that of a snipe.
Prepare woodcock like squab, only do not cut off the head, as the
brain is considered a dainty by epicures. Remove the skin from the
head, and tie or skewer it back against the body. Use salt and
pepper for seasoning, but neither flour nor butter, as the woodcock
has dark, rich flesh. Broil from eight to ten minutes. Serve rare
on toast.
REED-BIRDS
Reed-birds are to be prepared after the general rule for dressing
birds. Although they are sometimes cooked whole, it is better to
draw them. Split them down the back, remove the contents of the
body, and after washing and wiping them, string three or four on a
skewer, pulling it through their sides, so that they shall appear
whole. Roast in a shallow pan in a hot oven, from _eight_ to _ten_
minutes; or, before roasting, wrap each one in a very thin slice of
fat pork and pin it on with a skewer (wire).
=Broiled.= Prepare as for roasting, except peel off the skin,
taking the feathers with it. Broil from two to four minutes. Serve
on toast.
It is a good plan to skin all small birds.
The reed-bird is the bobolink of New England, the reed-bird of
Pennsylvania, and the rice-bird of the Carolinas.
GROUSE
The grouse or prairie-hen is in season all the year, but is at its
best during the fall and winter.
=To Prepare.= Clean, wash, and wipe it. Lard the breast, or fasten
to it with slender skewers a thin slice of salt pork. Grouse has
dry flesh, consequently it will be improved by rubbing softened
butter over it, as well as by using pork. Sprinkle on a little
salt, dredge it with flour, and cook in a quick oven for thirty
minutes.
Grouse are also very nice potted. After they are made ready for
cooking, fry a little fat pork and some chopped onion together in a
large deep spider for a few minutes, then lay in the grouse, cover
the spider, and fry until the outside of each bird is somewhat
browned, or for twenty minutes, slowly. Then put them into a
granite-ware kettle and stew until tender, which will take from
one to two hours. When they are done, lift them out, thicken the
liquid slightly with flour, and season it with salt and pepper for
a gravy. Serve the grouse on a deep platter with the gravy poured
around, or simply season the liquid and cook tiny dumplings in it,
which may be served around the birds. Then thicken the liquid and
pour over. The amount of onion to be fried with the pork should not
exceed half a teaspoon for each bird, and of pork the proportion of
a cubic inch to a bird is enough.
_Pigeons_ potted according to these directions for grouse are
excellent.
FIELD-LARKS
Field-larks and robins may be prepared and cooked in exactly the
same way that reed-birds are done. Robins are good in autumn.
VENISON
Venison is in season during the late autumn and winter. When "hung"
for a proper length of time, it is the most easily digested of all
meats. For this reason it is a favorite with epicures who eat late
suppers. According to Dr. Beaumont it is digested in _one hour and
thirty-five minutes_.[38]
Steaks may be taken either from the loin or the round. Broil them
according to the rule for beefsteak, and serve very hot with a
slice of lemon or a little claret poured over.
Venison will not please an epicure unless it is hot and rare when
served. To accomplish this in a perfectly satisfactory manner, it
has become the fashion in families to have the broiling done on the
table, in a chafing-dish, each person attending to his own steak,
and cooking it according to his particular fancy.
MUTTON
A good piece of meat freed from refuse,--that is, indigestible
portions such as bone, etc.,--if neatly prepared and _properly
cooked_, is practically entirely digested. If carelessly handled
and cooked so that its juices are evaporated, and its natural
flavors undeveloped or destroyed, there will be more or less waste
in the process of digestion.
Mutton requires more care in cooking than beef, or, in other
words, it is more easily spoiled in that process; but when done
with due consideration, it is a most acceptable meat. A thick,
carefully broiled, hot, juicy mutton chop just from the coals
is a very delicious morsel. The same piece with the adjectives
reversed,--that is, done without thought, perhaps raw in the
middle, charred on the outside, and cold,--is far from being
acceptable to even a healthy person.
Just inside of the outer skin of the sheep there is a thick, tough
membrane enveloping the whole animal; the peculiar flavor called
"woolly," which makes mutton disagreeable to many, is given to the
meat largely by this covering. It is supposed that the oil from
the wool strikes through. An important point in the preparation of
the meat for cooking is the removal of this skin, for otherwise
the unpleasant taste will be very strong, and the chop or roast
consequently far from as delicate as it might be.
The value of mutton as a nutrient is practically the same as that
of beef, as may be seen by comparing the following table with that
of beef previously given.
As material for muscle 21
As heat-giver 14
As food for brain and nervous system 2
Water 63
DIGESTIBILITY OF MUTTON
Hours. Minutes.
Broiled 3
Boiled 3
Roasted 3 15
MUTTON CHOPS
For the same reason that is given in the rule for beefsteak, mutton
chops should be thick. When the fat is abundant and little lines of
fat run through the flesh, it is an indication of a good quality of
meat.
To prepare the chops for broiling, cut away the tough outside skin,
trim off a part of the fat, but not all, and any portion of the
spinal cord which may be attached. Broil in the same manner that
steak is done--that is, close to the glowing coals--for about one
minute, turning often, and at a distance from them for the rest of
the time, which should be from _four_ to _six_ minutes for a chop
an _inch thick_.
Mutton, like beef, should be served rare. Season chops with salt
and pepper, but no butter, as the meat is rich in fat and does not
require it. Tomato-sauce is an old-fashioned accompaniment of a
chop, and may or may not be served with it. For breakfast it is
better omitted.
CHOPS, PAN-BROILED
Chops are fairly good pan-broiled. The same principle is to be
followed as in cooking over coals--that is, a high degree of heat
at first, to sear over the outside before the juices escape, and
a low temperature afterward; therefore heat the pan or spider
_exceedingly_ hot (use no fat), drop in the chop, count ten and
turn, count again and turn again for about one minute, then draw
the pan to the side or back of the stove and finish slowly. A chop
one inch thick will be perfectly done in from _five_ to _seven_
minutes. If the pan is hot enough at first, there will be no loss
of juice or flavor. Season and serve in the same manner as broiled
chops.
FRENCH CHOPS
Trim a chop until there is nothing left but the round muscle at the
thick end, with a little fat about it. Cut away all the meat from
the bone, which will then look like a handle with a neat morsel at
one end. Broil.
CHOPS IN PAPER
Spread a piece of paper evenly and thickly with butter. Lay upon
it a nicely trimmed chop, and double the paper with the edges
together. Fold and crease these edges on the three sides; then
fold and crease again, so that the butter cannot run out. These
folds should be _half an inch_ wide. It will be necessary to have
the sheet of paper (note-paper or thick brown paper will do)
considerably more than twice as large as the chop. Broil over
coals, not too near, turning often so that the temperature shall
not get so high as to ignite the paper. A chop broiled in this way
is basted in the butter and its own juices, and is very delicate.
Be careful not to let the paper ignite, and yet do not have it
so far from the coals that the meat will not cook. This is best
accomplished by holding the broiler near the coals and turning
often: that is, about once in twenty seconds. There is no danger
that the paper will catch fire if the broiler is turned often
enough. A chop three quarters of an inch thick will cook in _five_
minutes, one an inch thick in _eight_. Should the paper catch fire,
it need not destroy the chop. Take it out, put it into a fresh
paper, and try again. The chop should be served very hot, seasoned
with salt and pepper.
LAMB CHOPS
Lamb chops are very delicate and tender. They may be known by the
lighter color of the flesh as compared with mutton chops, and by
the whiteness of the fat. Prepare and broil them in the same way
that mutton chops are broiled, except that they are to be _well
done_ instead of rare, and to accomplish this longer cooking by
about three minutes will be required: for a chop an inch thick,
from _eight_ to _ten_ minutes, instead of from four to six as for
mutton.
STEWS
CHICKEN STEW
1 Cup of chicken meat.
1 Teaspoon of chopped onion.
2 Tablespoons of white turnip.
1 Saltspoon of curry-powder.
½ Teaspoon of salt.
A little white pepper.
1 Tablespoon of rice.
Left-over broiled chicken or the cuttings from a cold roast will
do for this dish. Divide the meat into small pieces, excluding all
skin, gristle, tendons, and bone. Boil the bones and scraps, in
water enough to cover them, for an hour. Then strain the liquor,
skim off the fat, and put into it the chicken, onion, turnip (which
should be cut in small cubes), curry-powder, salt, pepper, and
rice. Simmer all together for an hour. Serve. The vegetables and
curry flavor the meat, and a most easily digested and palatable
dish is the result.
Potatoes may be substituted for the rice, and celery-salt,
bay-leaves, or sweet marjoram for the curry. If herbs be used, tie
them in a bag and drop it into the stew, of course removing it
before carrying the dish to the table.
The above rule will make enough stew for two persons. By
multiplying each item in it, any amount may be made.
BEEF STEW
Use for beef stew either cold beefsteak, the portions left from a
roast, or uncooked meat.
1 Cup of beef cut into small pieces.
1 Teaspoon of minced onion.
2 Tablespoons of turnip.
2 Tablespoons of carrot.
½ Teaspoon of salt.
½ Cup of cut potatoes.
A little black pepper.
If beefsteak is selected, free it from fat, gristle, and bone, and
cut it into small pieces. Fry the onion, carrot, and turnip (which
should be cut into small cubes) in a little butter, slowly, until
they are brown. Add them to the meat, cover it with water, and
simmer for one hour. Then skim off the fat, put in the potatoes
(cut in half-inch cubes) and the salt and pepper. Boil for half an
hour more. Serve in a covered dish with croutons.
The vegetables are fried partly to give the desirable brown color
to the stew, and partly because their flavor is finer done that
way. A beefsteak stew is a very savory and satisfactory dish. If
fresh, uncooked meat is used, cut it into small pieces and fry it
in a hot buttered pan for a few minutes, to brown the outside and
thus obtain the agreeable flavor that is developed in all meats by
a high temperature. Simmer two and a half hours before putting in
the potatoes.
When the left-over portions of a roast are used, the meat should
be freed from all gristle, bone, and fat; these may be boiled
separately for additional broth.
MUTTON STEW
Exactly the same rule may be followed for mutton stew as for beef.
Do not forget to trim the meat carefully. Use only clear pieces
of the lean. If a roast is used and there are bones, boil them in
water with the scraps for additional broth. Mutton stew is good
made with pearl-barley instead of potatoes, in the proportion of
one teaspoon of grain to a cup of meat; it should be put in at the
beginning of the cooking. A half teaspoon of chopped parsley is a
nice addition, or a few tablespoons of stewed and strained tomato.
SWEETBREADS
Sweetbreads are the pancreatic glands of the calf. They are good
while the animal lives on milk, but change their nature when it
begins to eat grass and hay, and are then no longer useful for
food. The gland consists of two parts, the long, slender portion
called the "neck" sweetbread, and the round, thick part known as
the "heart" sweetbread. These are sometimes sold separately, but
they should be together. Among epicures sweetbreads are considered
a dainty, and are certainly a most acceptable form of food for the
sick.
=To Prepare.= As soon as sweetbreads come from market, they should
be cleaned and parboiled. Cut off any refuse,--such as pipes, fat,
and all bruised portions,--and wash them quickly in cold water.
Pour into a saucepan some boiling water, salt it, and add a little
lemon-juice or vinegar (not more than a teaspoon to a pint of
water); boil the sweetbreads in this for fifteen minutes if they
are to be creamed, broiled, or baked, or again cooked in any way;
but if they are to be served plain with peas, they should remain
on twenty-five or thirty minutes. When done, drain off the water
and set them aside to cool. Sweetbreads must always be parboiled as
soon as possible after being taken from the animal, as they decay
quickly. Sweetbreads may be made white by soaking them in cold
water for half an hour; the flavor, however, is said to be injured
by so doing.
CREAMED SWEETBREADS
Make a _cream sauce_ with a cup of sweet cream, a tablespoon of
flour, and half a tablespoon of butter. Then cut a sweetbread
into half-inch cubes, salt it slightly, and sprinkle on a little
white pepper. Mix equal quantities of it and the cream sauce
together, put the mixture into individual porcelain patty-dishes or
scallop-dishes, sprinkle the top with buttered crumbs, and bake on
the grate in a hot oven for ten minutes. This will give sufficient
time to finish the cooking of the parboiled sweetbread without
hardening it.
The sauce may be made quite acceptably with milk, by using a
tablespoon of butter instead of half that quantity. This is a good
way to prepare sweetbreads, and one particularly desirable for the
sick. They will be tender and delicate if care is taken not to
overcook them in either the boiling or the baking.
FRICASSEED SWEETBREADS
Cut a parboiled sweetbread into half-inch cubes. Then make a sauce
with half a teaspoon of flour, a teaspoon of butter, three fourths
of a cup of strong chicken broth, and one fourth of a cup of sweet
cream. Heat the broth. Cook the flour in the butter, letting
the two simmer together until brown, then add the hot broth, a
little at a time, stirring constantly, and last put in the cream.
Season the sauce with a bit of salt, a little black pepper, half a
teaspoon of lemon-juice, and a speck of curry-powder. Roll the cut
sweetbread into it, simmer for five minutes, and serve on sippets,
or on squares of dry toast in a covered dish. The chicken broth
may be made by boiling the bones and cuttings of a roast, and milk
may be substituted for the cream.
SWEETBREADS WITH PEAS
A favorite way of serving sweetbreads is with fresh peas. They
should be boiled in salted water and arranged in the middle of a
platter with the peas (cooked and seasoned) around them. Serve them
with a cream sauce. Or the peas may be piled in the middle of a
platter, the sweetbreads arranged as a border, and the sauce poured
around the whole. Sweetbreads larded and baked may also be served
in this way.
FISH
Fish fresh from the lakes or sea is excellent food. The point of
freshness is a very important one, for all kinds spoil quickly,
and, unless you can be quite sure how long they have been out of
the water, it is better to find some other food for your invalid.
Some shell-fish, such as crabs and lobsters, are especially
dangerous, and should not be eaten by either sick or well, unless
they are _known_ to be in perfect condition. For the sick they had
better not be used at all.
"The flesh of good fresh fish is _firm_ and _hard_, and will rise
at once when pressed with the finger. If the eyes be dull or
sunken, the gills pale, and the flesh soft and flabby, the fish is
not fresh." (Mrs. Lincoln.)
Fish with red blood, such for instance as _salmon_, are highly
nutritious but not easily digested, partly because of the amount of
fat distributed through the flesh. _Herring_ and _mackerel_ belong
to this class. White fish, such as _cod_, _haddock_, _turbot_,
_halibut_, and _flounder_, contain comparatively little fat, and
that mostly in the liver. They are easy of digestion, and possess a
delicate flavor. When in season and just from their native element,
these fish are delicious, and make excellent food for the sick, on
account of the ease with which they are digested.
=To Prepare.= If fish be brought from market with the scales on,
as is usually the case, it is a very easy matter to remove them.
A large sheet of brown paper, or a newspaper, and a knife not very
sharp, are all that are necessary. Spread the paper on the table,
lay the fish upon it, and then with the blade of the knife held
_parallel_ with the body of the fish, or nearly so, not at right
angles to it, push off the scales. They will come off easily, and
will not fly unless you turn the edge of the knife too much. Should
this happen, the paper will catch the scales, and when the fish is
finished all the refuse can be rolled up in the paper and burned.
After removing the scales, cut off the head, fins, and tail. Make
a slit on the under side, and take out the contents of the cavity,
clearing out everything that is not flesh. Then wash the fish
quickly in a stream of cold water, wipe it, and set it in a cool
place (a refrigerator if you have it) until it is required for
cooking. Do not lay it directly on ice, for the juices of the fish
are dissolved by the water which is formed as the ice melts, and
its delicate flavor is thus impaired.
WHEN IN SEASON
Cod All the year.
Haddock All the year.
Cusk Winter.
Halibut All the year.
Flounders All the year.
Salmon May to September.
Shad Spring.
Bluefish June to October.
Whitefish Winter.
Swordfish July to September.
Smelts September to March.
Perch Spring and summer.
Mackerel April to October.
Oysters September to May.
Clams All the year.
BROILED FISH
Small fish, such as perch, scrod (young cod), etc., are excellent
broiled. After the fish is cleaned, washed out, and wiped, split
it lengthwise if it be thick, sprinkle on salt and pepper, squeeze
over it some drops of lemon-juice, dip it in melted butter, and
broil over clear coals, quickly at first and then very slowly,
allowing ten minutes for each inch of thickness. Serve with butter
cream.
=To Make Butter Cream.= Cream some butter in a cup or bowl, season
it with salt, Cayenne pepper, lemon-juice, and vinegar. A teaspoon
of butter is enough for an ordinary small fish such as a perch, and
to season it a speck of cayenne, a speck of salt, and a teaspoon of
vinegar and lemon-juice (half of each), will be good proportions.
Spread it on the fish, and let it melt and run over it, or serve
it separately in a little ball on a glass butter-plate. A nice
addition to the butter is a little finely minced parsley, or
chopped pickle, such as cucumbers or olives, or the three mixed, if
they are at hand.
CREAMED FISH
To make creamed fish, any white fish which flakes easily may be
used. Cusk, cod, and haddock are especially recommended. Cook the
fish fifteen or twenty minutes by gentle boiling. Then remove the
flesh carefully from the bones, letting it separate into flakes;
season it with pepper and salt, and a few drops of lemon-juice
sprinkled over. For every pint of prepared fish make a rich cream
sauce with four tablespoons of butter, two of flour, and a pint
of milk in which a small slice of onion has been boiled. Pour
the sauce over the seasoned fish, rolling them together gently so
that the flakes may not be broken, arrange on a platter, sprinkle
the top with buttered crumbs, and bake in a hot oven from twenty
minutes to half an hour. A speck of cayenne is a good addition to
make to the sauce. This is a delicious and wholesome dish. The
butter is so thoroughly incorporated with the flour of the sauce
that it becomes one of the few very easily digested forms of cooked
fat.
BOILED FISH
Select any white fish--fresh cod for instance. Prepare it according
to the directions given for cleaning fish, put it into a wire
vegetable-basket, drop the basket into a dish of boiling salted
water, and let it simmer for from fifteen minutes to three quarters
of an hour according to the size of the fish (a cod weighing three
pounds will require cooking a half hour). Do not allow it to boil
rapidly at any time, or it will break. When it is done lift it out
of the basket and serve it at once with drawn butter made in the
following manner:
Put two tablespoons of butter and one of flour into a saucepan; let
them simmer together for two minutes (count the time); then add,
a little at a time, a pint of boiling water or of chicken broth,
stirring constantly. This will give a smooth cream-like sauce which
will be enough for two pounds of fish. Season it with parsley,
grated yolks of hard-boiled eggs, a few drops of lemon-juice, a bit
each of cayenne and mustard, and a few drops of onion-juice.
CUSTARDS, CREAMS, PUDDINGS, AND BLANC-MANGE
SOFT CUSTARD
(BOILED)
Soft custard is a nutritious dish made of yolk of egg and milk. It
is frequently used as a sauce for puddings, but is very good, eaten
by itself, for one who is confined to light or liquid diet.
1 Pint of milk.
Yolks of two eggs.
2 Tablespoons of sugar.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
Put the milk into a saucepan, and set it on the stove to boil.
Beat together the yolks of the eggs, the salt, and the sugar, in
a bowl, and when the milk just reaches the boiling-point, pour it
in slowly, stirring until all is mixed. Return it to the saucepan
without delay, and cook for _three minutes_, meanwhile stirring
it slowly. Carefully endeavor not to either overcook or undercook
the custard, for if it is not cooked enough, it will have a raw,
unpleasant, "eggy" taste, and if it is cooked too much, it will
have the appearance of being curdled. If there is no unnecessary
delay in pouring the milk into the egg so that not much of its
heat is lost, and if it is returned immediately to the fire, three
minutes' exposure to the heat will usually be long enough, but of
course the time will vary according to the condition of the fire
and the kind of pan used. When done, strain it at once into a cool
dish, and flavor it with a teaspoon of vanilla. Soft custard may
also be flavored with sherry wine, almond extract, cinnamon-bark,
caramel, and nutmeg. It should be of a smooth and even consistency,
and as thick as rich cream.
BAKED CUSTARD
(IN CUPS)
1 Pint of milk.
2 Eggs.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
2 Tablespoons of sugar.
½ Square inch of cinnamon-bark.
Put the cinnamon and milk together in a saucepan, and set on the
stove to heat. Break the eggs into a bowl, add the salt and sugar,
and beat them until well mixed, but not light. When the milk boils,
pour it on the beaten egg, stir slowly for a minute to dissolve
the sugar, and then strain it into custard-cups. Place the cups in
a deep iron baking-pan, and pour _boiling_ water around, until it
reaches almost to their tops. Bake in a hot oven twenty minutes.
The blue baking-cups which are small at the bottom and widen toward
the top are good ones to use. They bear the fire well, and are
pretty enough to serve.
By baking the custards in a dish of boiling water, the temperature
cannot rise higher than 212° Fahr., and there is less danger of
hardening the albumen in the more exposed portions before the
middle is cooked enough, than if water is not used. The top is
sacrificed--somewhat overcooked--for the sake of the pretty brown
color which they should always have. Custards, when done, should be
of a perfectly smooth, even, velvety consistence throughout, not
curdled or wheyey.
To test them after they have been cooking twenty minutes, dip a
pointed knife into water, and plunge it into the middle of the
custard. If it comes out clean, the custard is done; if milky,
it is not cooked enough, and should be put into the oven for
five minutes longer. Do not try every one unless the cups are of
different sizes, and make a small, narrow slit, so that their
appearance will not be too much injured. This mixture may also be
baked in a pudding-dish. Baked custards may be flavored with a
variety of substances, among the best of which are grated nutmeg,
almond extract, vanilla, and caramel.
=To Make Caramel.= Boil together one cup of sugar and one third of
a cup of water until the color is a rich reddish brown, then add
one cup of water, and bottle for use. Two tablespoons of this syrup
will be required to flavor a pint of custard.
FRENCH CUSTARD
Make a custard mixture according to the above rule, omitting the
cinnamon. Put into the bottom of the custard-cups in which it is to
be baked, a teaspoon of raspberry jam. Then with a tunnel pour the
custard in slowly. Bake twenty minutes. The jam, if firm, will not
mix with the custard. It imparts a nice flavor to the whole, and
is an interesting dish to many, who wonder how the jam can be kept
from dissolving.
RENNET CUSTARD OR SLIP
Put into a glass pudding-dish a pint of milk, a tablespoon of
sugar, and a teaspoon of rennet. Stir to dissolve the sugar,
cover it and place it on the stove-hearth, or any warm place,
to heat sufficiently for the rennet to act upon the casein of
the milk--that is, to about 98° Fahr. As soon as it is "set," or
becomes solid, remove to a cool place, so that the separation of
the casein shall not go too far and whey appear. When it is cool,
serve it in glass dishes. Rennet custard may be flavored with
nutmeg grated over the surface, or by stirring in with the rennet
a teaspoon of vanilla, or of rose-water, or a tablespoon of wine.
When brandy is added, it is called _junket_.
Liquid rennet is an extract of the inner lining of the stomach
of the calf. It has the power of freeing the albuminous part
of milk from its solution,--in other words, of coagulating
it. Rennet custard is not of course strictly a custard; it is
also called slip, and in Cape Cod it bears the graphic name of
"Gap-and-swallow."
EGG CREAM
2 Eggs.
2 Tablespoons of sugar.
Juice and grated rind of half a lemon.
Separate the yolks of the eggs from the whites, and beat them with
the sugar in a bowl until both are well mixed. Then put in the
lemon-juice and rind, and place the bowl in a dish of boiling water
on the fire. Stir slowly until the mixture begins to thicken; then
add the beaten whites of the eggs and stir for two minutes, or
until the whole resembles _very thick_ cream; then remove it from
the fire, pour into a small pudding-dish, and set it away to cool.
Serve in small pretty china cups, or small glass dishes, for a
mid-afternoon lunch or for tea.
VELVET CREAM
¼ Box of gelatine.
¼ Cup of cold water.
¼ Cup of sherry wine.
1 Teaspoon of lemon-juice.
½ Cup of sugar.
1¼ Cups of creamy milk, or
1½ Cups of sweet cream.
Soak the gelatine in the cold water in a bowl for half an hour;
then pour in the wine, and set the bowl in a dish of boiling water
on the fire. When the gelatine is dissolved, put in the lemon-juice
and sugar, stir for a minute to dissolve the sugar, and then strain
it through a fine wire strainer into a granite or other metal
pan. Set the pan in a dish of ice and water to cool. As soon as
it begins to thicken, or is about the consistency of molasses on
a warm day, turn in the cream and stir regularly and constantly
until it begins to thicken. Before it is quite as hard as it will
become, turn it into a glass or pretty china dish, in which it may
be served, and set it away in the refrigerator or back in the dish
of ice and water until perfectly firm. Serve it in small glass or
china dishes, with sweet cream poured over. This cream should be of
a perfectly smooth, even consistency, hence the name "velvet cream."
COFFEE CREAM
¼ Box of gelatine.
¼ Cup of cold water.
½ Cup of strong coffee.
½ Cup of sugar.
1½ Cups of sweet cream, or
1¼ Cups of creamy milk.
Soak the gelatine in the cold water for half an hour. Then pour on
the coffee, boiling hot, to dissolve it; add the sugar, stir until
it is dissolved, and strain the liquid into a granite pan. Set it
in iced water to cool; when it has become so, and is beginning to
thicken, or is about the consistency of syrup or a little thinner,
pour in the cream; stir regularly and evenly for about ten minutes,
or until it is thick, but not hard; then turn it into a glass dish
while it is still slightly soft, and it will settle into a smooth,
even mass. It may be returned to the iced water, or put into a
refrigerator, to stiffen.
Coffee cream is similar to velvet cream and the process is exactly
the same for both. They are delicious creams, very nutritious, and
to be recommended for their excellent nourishing properties and
flavors.
=To Make the Coffee.= Mix two tablespoons of ground fresh Java, or
Java and Mocha coffee mixed, with a little cold water and raw egg
(either white or yolk) in a coffee-pot. Stir it to thoroughly mix
the egg and coffee. Pour in a cup of boiling water, and set it to
boil for five minutes. Then move the pot to a less hot part of the
stove, where the coffee will barely simmer, for ten minutes, when
it will be ready for use.
CHOCOLATE CREAM
2 Tablespoons of sugar.
½ Ounce (½ square) of Baker's chocolate.
1 Pint of cream.
Whites of four eggs.
Cook the sugar, chocolate, and cream (sweet cream or, if that
cannot be had, rich milk) together in a double boiler until the
chocolate is perfectly dissolved. It will require occasional
stirring, and should be, when done, entirely free from specks or
flakes of chocolate. Then stir in, pouring slowly, the well-beaten
whites of the eggs while the cream is still on the stove. Cook
for three minutes, or until the albumen is coagulated, but not
hardened. It should look creamy and smooth, not curdled. Turn into
a pudding-dish and cool.
TAPIOCA CREAM
¼ Cup of granulated tapioca.
¼ Cup of cold water.
1 Pint of milk.
3 Tablespoons of sugar.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
2 Eggs.
After the tapioca is picked over and washed, put it into a double
boiler with the cold water, and let it stand until the water is
absorbed. Then pour in the pint of milk, and cook until each grain
is transparent and soft. It will take an hour. At this point, beat
the eggs, sugar, and salt together until very light, and pour them
slowly into the hot pudding, at the same time stirring rapidly, so
that the two will be perfectly mixed. After the egg is in, continue
to stir for about three minutes, or long enough to cook the egg as
it is done in soft custard. The pudding should have the appearance
of cream, as the name indicates, with flecks of tapioca all through
it. Turn it into a china dish. Serve either hot or cold.
RICE CREAM
2 Tablespoons of rice.
2 Cups of milk.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
2 Tablespoons of sugar.
2 Eggs.
Cleanse the rice by washing it several times in cold water; cook
it in a double boiler with the milk until the grains will mash.
Three hours will generally be required to do this. Should the milk
evaporate, restore the amount lost. When the rice is perfectly
soft, press it through a coarse soup-strainer or colander into a
saucepan, return it to the fire, and while it is heating beat the
eggs, sugar, and salt together until very light. When the rice
boils, pour the egg in rather slowly, stirring lightly with a spoon
for three or four minutes, or until it coagulates and the whole is
like a thick, soft pudding; then remove from the fire, and pour it
into a pretty dish. By omitting the yolks and using the whites of
the eggs only, a delicate white cream is obtained.
PEACH FOAM
(DELICIOUS)
Peel and cut into small pieces three or four choice and very ripe
peaches (White Heaths are good), so that when done there will be a
cupful. Put them into a bowl, with half a cup of powdered sugar,
and the white of one egg. Beat with a fork for _half an hour_,
when it will be a thick, perfectly smooth, velvety cream, with
a delightful peach flavor, and may be eaten _ad libitum_ by an
invalid.
SNOW PUDDING
¼ Box of gelatine.
¼ Cup of cold water.
1 Cup of boiling water.
1 Cup of sugar.
¼ Cup of lemon-juice.
Whites of three eggs.[39]
_For the sauce_:
Yolks of two eggs.
2 Tablespoons of sugar.
½ Saltspoon of salt.
1 Pint of milk.
½ Teaspoon of vanilla.
Divide a box of gelatine into fourths by notching one of the
upright edges. Cut off one fourth of the box for a measure, which
can afterward be used as a cover. When taking out a fourth, be sure
to pack the measure as closely as it was packed in the box. Soak
the gelatine in the cold water for half an hour. Then pour on the
boiling water, add the sugar and lemon-juice, stir for a minute,
and strain through a fine wire strainer into a granite pan; place
the pan in iced water to cool. Meanwhile beat the eggs as light as
possible, and as soon as the gelatine mixture begins to thicken,
or is about as thick as honey, turn in the eggs, and stir slowly
and regularly, with the back of the bowl of the spoon against the
bottom of the pan, until the egg is mixed completely with the
gelatine and the whole nearly stiff. Just before it becomes firm
turn it into a melon-mold, and return it to the iced water to
harden. It should be perfectly white, _literally_, like snow.
With the materials for the sauce make a soft custard, cool it, and
serve with the pudding either in a pitcher, or poured around it in
an ice-cream dish, or other shallow pudding-dish.
PRINCESS PUDDING
¼ Box of gelatine.
¼ Cup of cold water.
¾ Cup of boiling water.
1 Cup of sugar.
½ Cup of white wine (sherry).
Juice of one lemon.
Whites of three eggs.
_For the sauce_:
1 Pint of milk.
Yolks of two eggs.
3 Tablespoons of sugar.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
1 Teaspoon of rose-water.
The process is exactly the same as for _snow pudding_, and it is
served in the same manner, with the soft custard for a sauce.
Ordinary sherry wine may be used, although white sherry is better.
CORN-STARCH PUDDING
1½ Tablespoons of corn-starch.
1 Tablespoon of sugar.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
2 Tablespoons of cold water.
1 Pint of milk.
Put the milk on the stove to heat. Mix in a saucepan the
corn-starch, sugar, and salt with the cold water, and when the milk
has just begun to boil pour it in, slowly at first, stirring all
the while. The corn-starch should become thick at once, when it may
be poured into a clean double boiler and cooked thirty minutes. The
time should be faithfully kept, as corn-starch is an unpalatable
and indigestible substance unless thoroughly cooked. See to it that
the water in the under boiler _actually boils_ during the thirty
minutes. At the end of that time beat one egg very light, and stir
it in, pouring slowly, so that it may be mixed all through the hot
pudding and puff it up. Then cook for one minute, turn it into a
china pudding-dish, or into individual molds, and cool. Serve with
cream.
Corn-starch pudding should have a tender consistency and a sweet
and wholesome taste. The difficulty with many is that they are not
thoroughly cooked, and are too stiff and hard when cool. When you
find this to be the case, lessen the amount of corn-starch used.
The proportion in this recipe may always be relied upon.
Other similar puddings may be made by substituting in the above
recipe arrowroot, flour, or farina for the corn-starch.
BARLEY PUDDING
2 Tablespoons of Robinson's barley flour.
1 Tablespoon of sugar.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
1 Cup of water (boiling).
½ Cup of rich milk.
Whites of three eggs.
Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a saucepan with a little cold
water. When smooth and free from lumps pour in the boiling water,
slowly stirring meanwhile to keep it smooth; then set it on the
fire to simmer for ten minutes, continuing the stirring until it is
thick. To prevent burning, draw the pan to the side of the stove,
unless the fire is very slow, for barley is a grain which sticks
and burns easily. At the end of the ten minutes put in the milk,
and strain all into a clean saucepan, through a coarse strainer, to
make the consistency even. Beat the whites of the eggs until light
but not stiff, and stir, not beat, them into the pudding, making it
thoroughly smooth before returning it to the fire. Cook for five
minutes, stirring and folding the pudding lightly until the egg
is coagulated. Then pour it into a china pudding-dish. Serve cold
with sweet cream. This is good for one who is just beginning to eat
solid food.
CREAM-OF-RICE PUDDING
1 Quart of milk.
½ Cup of rice.
2 Tablespoons of sugar.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
Put the milk, rice, sugar, and salt together in a pudding-dish,
stir until the sugar is dissolved, then place the dish in a pan
of water, and bake in a slow oven for three hours, cutting in the
crust which forms on the top once during the time. Should the
pudding become dry, pour over it a little more milk, but this will
not happen unless the fire is too hot. When done it ought to be
creamy inside, with the grains of rice almost dissolved in the
milk. The long exposure to heat changes both the sugar and the
starch, and gives them an agreeable flavor.
FRUIT TAPIOCA
Wash half a cup of tapioca, put it into a double boiler with a pint
of water, and cook until the grains are soft and transparent. If
granulated tapioca is used, one hour is sufficient time. Then add
to it half a cup of grape or currant jelly, and mix until the jelly
is dissolved; turn it into a pudding-dish. Serve cold, with sugar
and cream. Any well-flavored fruit jelly may be used instead of the
grape or currant.
TAPIOCA JELLY
½ Cup of tapioca.
2 Cups of water.
½ Cup of sugar.
Juice and grated rind of half a lemon.
¼ Cup of sherry wine, or
¼ Cup of brandy (French).
Pick over and wash the tapioca. Put it into a double boiler
with the water, and cook it for one hour, or until the grains
are transparent and soft. Then add to it the sugar, juice and
grated rind of the lemon, the sherry and the brandy, mixing
them thoroughly. Press all through a wire strainer into a glass
pudding-dish, and set it in a cool place to become a jelly. It
should be served cold, and with cream.
ORANGE LAYERS
4 Oranges.
3 Bananas.
1 Cup of sugar.
⅓ Cup of water.
1 Cup of claret wine.
Peel the oranges, slice them in thin slices, and remove the seeds.
Peel and slice the bananas. Arrange both in alternate layers in a
glass dish. Make a syrup of the sugar and water by boiling them
together, without stirring, for ten minutes; then add the wine, and
remove at once from the fire; cool it, and pour it over the fruit.
In half an hour it will be ready to serve.
It will not do to keep this dish long, as the fruit shrinks and
loses its freshness. One fourth of an inch is the proper thickness
for the slices of orange, and one sixth or one eighth for the
bananas.
ORANGE BASKETS
From the end opposite the stem end of an orange cut out sections in
such a way as to form a basket with a handle.
The body of the basket should be _more_ than _half_ the orange.
With a knife and spoon cut and scrape out all the pulp from the
inside. Fill the baskets with blocks of orange jelly, or with
raspberries, strawberries, or other fruits. They are pleasing to
children, and are pretty for luncheon or tea. The edges may be
scalloped, and diamonds or rounds cut out of the sides, if one has
time.
IRISH MOSS BLANC-MANGE
Irish moss, or carrageen, is a sea moss which grows abundantly
along the shores of Europe and America. After gathering, it is
dried and bleached in the sun, and then packed for market. It is
exceedingly rich in an easily digested vegetable jelly, and is also
valuable for food because of its mineral constituents.
=To Prepare.=
⅓ Cup of dry moss.
1 Quart of milk.
¼ Cup of sugar.
Soak the moss for half an hour in warm water, to soften it and
to loosen the sand which is dried and entangled in it. Wash each
piece separately under a stream of cold water. Its weight (that
of the water) will carry down the sand. Then put the moss in a
pudding-bag, and cook it in a double boiler in the quart of milk
for one hour. At the end of that time lift out the bag, squeeze
it a little, throw away the moss, and put the bag to soak in cold
water. Add the sugar to the mixture, strain it into molds, and
set in a cool place to harden. It will form a tender jelly-like
pudding, which has an agreeable taste, resembling the odor of the
sea, which many like. Serve it with cream, and with or without pink
sugar.[40]
This blanc-mange may also be made without sugar if it is desirable
to have an unsweetened dessert.
PINK BLANC-MANGE
Make a pudding according to the above rule. Color it, just before
straining, with three or four drops of carmine, barely enough
to give a delicate shell pink, for if it is very dark it is not
attractive.
Carmine for use in cooking is made by mixing one ounce of No. 40
carmine (which may be obtained of a druggist) with three ounces of
boiling water and one ounce of ammonia. It should be bottled, and
will keep indefinitely. It is useful for coloring ice-cream, cake,
and puddings.
SALADS
Salads are of two classes: the plain salads, consisting of green
herbs or vegetables, such as lettuce, endive, water-cress,
cucumber, etc., dressed or seasoned with salt, pepper, oil and
vinegar, or oil and lemon-juice; and the so-called meat salads,
which consist of one or more green vegetables, with an admixture
of fish, lobster, crab, fowl, or game. A salad of whichever kind
should be cool, delicate, and prepared by a gentle hand. Ordinary
servants do not enough appreciate the "niceties" to make acceptable
salads. The lettuce, cress, or whatever green is used, should be
thoroughly washed, but not crushed, broken, or roughly handled,
drained in a wire basket, dried in a napkin, and then torn with the
fingers, _not cut_. Of course, cucumbers, beet-root, olives, etc.,
are exceptions.
The dressing for salads, whether simply oil and vinegar, or a
mayonnaise, should be mixed with a wooden spoon, and an intelligent
mind. As for the seasonings, the Spanish maxim which reads as
follows is a good guide: "Be a miser with vinegar, a counselor
with salt, and a spendthrift with oil." Let the oil be of the
first quality of genuine olive-oil. In nearly all the large cities
one may get fine oil by searching for it. Once found, there is no
longer any difficulty, so long as the brand does not deteriorate.
To vary and flavor the salads of vegetables _only_, use the fine
herbs when in season, for instance balm, mint, parsley, cress,
and sorrel, chopped or minced, and scattered through the salad.
Unless the vinegar is known to be pure cider or wine vinegar,
use lemon-juice. Theodore Child says: "Lemon-juice is the most
delicate and deliciously perfumed acid that nature has given the
cook."
FRENCH DRESSING
French dressing is a mixture of fine olive-oil, vinegar or
lemon-juice, or both, salt, Cayenne pepper, and onion-juice. The
following proportions will make enough for one head of lettuce:
1 Tablespoon of oil.
A bit of cayenne.
½ Saltspoon of salt.
4 Drops of onion-juice.
1 Teaspoon of lemon-juice.
1 Teaspoon of vinegar.
Mix all together well. This dressing may be used with lettuce,
tomatoes, cold meat, potato salad, and to marinate chicken,
lobster, and crab when they are to be used for salads.
MAYONNAISE DRESSING
½ Saltspoon of salt.
2 Saltspoons of mustard.
2 Saltspoons of sugar.
¼ Saltspoon of cayenne.
Yolk of one egg.
½ Cup of olive-oil.
2 Tablespoons of lemon-juice.
1 Tablespoon of vinegar.
1 Tablespoon of thick sweet cream.
These proportions may be multiplied or divided to make larger or
smaller quantities. Put the first five ingredients together in
a bowl, and mix them well; then add the oil one drop at a time,
stirring constantly with a wooden paddle or spoon "round and
round," not back and forth. After dropping and stirring for ten
minutes, the mixture will become stiff and difficult to turn. At
this point stir in a little of the vinegar or lemon-juice. Then
drop in more oil, and stir until it again becomes stiff. Continue
putting in oil and the acids until all are used, when you should
have a thick, smooth cream which, when taken up on the end of the
spoon, will keep its shape and not "run." It will take from twenty
minutes to half an hour to make it. Last stir in the cream.
Should the dressing "break," or appear as if curdled, it may
sometimes be restored to smoothness by beating with a Dover
egg-beater, or by adding more egg and stirring for a while without
adding oil. If these expedients fail, begin all over again, adding
the spoiled dressing to a new one. However, a mayonnaise dressing
will not go wrong except in the hands of a careless worker. The
only points to be observed are to put the oil in _slowly_, and to
stir _constantly_ and _rapidly_. The sweet cream is a valuable
addition, giving the mayonnaise a delicate, satisfying flavor.
LETTUCE SALAD
Prepare a head of lettuce by washing each leaf separately in a
stream of water, tearing off any portion that is bruised or brown,
and looking carefully for little green creatures that may be lodged
in the creases; they are not easily seen. Then drain the lettuce
on a fresh towel or napkin, for if the leaves are very wet the
dressing will not cling to them. Next tear it to pieces with the
fingers, rejecting the large part of the midrib, put it into a
deep bowl, pour on a French dressing, and toss it with a wooden
salad-spoon and fork until all the lettuce seems oiled. Serve
immediately.
Mayonnaise dressing may be used instead of the French dressing in
this salad.
TOMATO SALAD
Wash in cold water and wipe some fair, ripe tomatoes. Cut them in
slices one third of an inch thick. Do not peel them. Arrange some
clean white lettuce leaves on a silver or china platter, with two
large leaves at either end, their stems toward the middle, and two
small ones at the sides. Lay on them the slices of tomato, with
their edges overlapping each other. Serve with this salad French
dressing.
CHICKEN SALAD
Prepare a nice chicken (one not too young) by boiling it until
tender. Then set it away in its own broth to cool. (It is a good
plan to boil the chicken the day before it is intended for use.)
Meanwhile make a mayonnaise dressing. When the chicken has become
cold, take it from the broth, and cut it as nearly as possible
into half-inch cubes, rejecting all skin, tendons, cords, and
bones. Season it with salt and pepper. Tear into small pieces with
the fingers some tender, well-cleaned lettuce, and then mix equal
quantities of chicken and lettuce with a part of the dressing;
arrange it in a shallow salad-bowl, and spread the remainder of the
mayonnaise over the top. The yolk of egg hard-boiled and pressed
through a wire strainer with the back of a spoon, so that it falls
in little crinkled pieces all over the top, makes a pretty garnish.
Celery tops, the tiny inside leaves of lettuce, and parsley may be
used singly or together for a border.
Chicken salad is usually made with celery instead of lettuce, but
the latter is better for an invalid, although tender, delicate
celery may be used. Serve a very small quantity, for chicken salad
is a concentrated food, and should not be eaten in large amounts
by either the convalescent or the well. The chicken, lettuce, and
dressing may all be prepared beforehand, but on no account should
they be mixed together until just before serving.
POTATO SALAD
For this salad fresh boiled potatoes, red sugar-beets, and French
dressing are needed. The potatoes and beets should be cooked in
salted water purposely for the salad, and allowed to become just
cool. Cold potatoes left over from the last meal may be used,
but they are not nice. When the potatoes are cool, cut them into
thin slices, season with a little more salt and a bit of white
pepper; cut the beets also in thin slices, and mix the two in the
proportions of one third beets to two thirds potatoes, with the
dressing, or arrange them in alternate layers in a salad-bowl, with
the dressing poured over each layer as it is made.
A more dainty way, and one which a person of cultivated taste will
appreciate (as it really makes a perceptible difference in the
flavor of the salad), is to mix the lemon-juice, vinegar, salt, and
pepper together without the oil, and pour it over the different
layers as they are laid, and then add the oil by itself. The acids
penetrate and season the vegetables, and the oil is left on the
outside of each piece.
POTATO SALAD WITH OLIVES
Make a potato salad according to the foregoing rule, except
substitute chopped olives for the beets, in the proportion of one
eighth olives by measure to seven eighths potato.
CELERY SALAD
"One of the finest salads to be eaten, either alone or with game,
especially partridges or wild duck, is a mixture of celery,
beet-root, and corn-salad. Water-cresses will make a poor
substitute when broken into small tufts.
"The beets are cut into slices one sixteenth of an inch thick; the
celery, which must be young and tender and thoroughly white, should
be cut into pieces an inch long, and then sliced lengthwise into
two or three pieces. (N. B.--Select only the tender inside branches
of celery.) This salad will require plenty of oil, and more acid
than a lettuce salad, because of the sweetness and absorbent nature
of the beet-root. The general seasoning, too, must be rather high,
because the flavors of the celery and the beet are pronounced."
("Delicate Feasting," by Theodore Child.)
There are many kinds of salads, but they are all based upon the
principles stated in these rules. Green herbs or vegetables treated
with French or mayonnaise dressing, either by themselves or with
meats, form the foundations of all salads.
ICE-CREAM, SHERBETS, AND ICES
For patients suffering with fevers, and for use in very warm
weather, good ice-cream and sherbet are most acceptable. They
should, however, be used with great care, particularly if the
illness be due to disturbance of digestion, for they lower the
temperature of the stomach and often cause such disorders as lead
to severe illness. Even if this does not happen, they, in order
to be raised to a temperature at which digestion will take place,
absorb heat from the body, and a person reduced by illness cannot
afford to needlessly part with any form of energy.
Sherbet in its literal sense means a _cool drink_. It is of
oriental origin, but in this country it has come to mean a frozen
mixture of fruit, or fruit-juice, water and sugar. There is a
distinction made, however, between water-ice and sherbet. Sherbet
has, in addition to the fruit-juice and water, either sugar-syrup,
white of egg, or gelatine, to give it sufficient viscousness to
entangle and hold air when beaten in a freezer, so that sherbets
(unless colored by the fruit used) will be white and opaque like
snow. Water-ices, on the contrary, are made without the white of
egg, syrup, or gelatine, do not entangle air, and are translucent
and what might be called "watery." Both are delicious when made
with fresh, ripe fruit, and both may be enriched by the addition of
sweet cream if desired.
=Freezers.= Of the various kinds of freezers perhaps the "Improved
White Mountain Freezer" is, everything considered, as good as any.
It is strong and freezes quickly when the salt and ice are properly
proportioned.
It is well to study the gearing before attempting to use a freezer.
The different parts should be taken apart and put together until
it is understood how the machine works. See that the paddles in
the can do not interfere with each other, and that the crank turns
easily. Then put all together again, fasten down the crank-bar
across the top of the can, and have everything in readiness before
packing the freezer with salt and ice. The object in using the salt
is to get a greater degree of cold than could be obtained with the
ice alone. The affinity of salt for water is very great--so great,
that it will break down the structure of ice in its eagerness for
it. Heat is involved in this process of melting, and will be drawn
from surrounding objects, from the can, the bucket, the cream, and
even the ice itself. The more rapid the union of salt and ice, the
more heat is absorbed, consequently the greater is the degree of
cold and the quicker the mixture to be frozen will become solid.
_Water_ is converted into steam by a certain amount of heat. _Ice_
is transformed into _water_ by the same agency, and in the case of
the ice-cream freezer heat is drawn from whatever comes in contact
with the ice that is warmer than itself. If the melting of the
ice can be hastened in any way, the abstraction of heat will be
correspondingly greater; hence the use of salt, which is so eager
for water that it takes it even in the form of ice. Now it will be
easily seen that if the ice is in small pieces, and there is the
proper amount of salt for each piece, union between the two will be
immediate, the amount of heat used will be very great, consequently
the degree of cold will be great. Cold is only a less degree of
heat.
Ordinary liquid mixtures that contain a large percentage of water
become solid when reduced to a temperature of 32° Fahr.
=To Pack an Ice-Cream Freezer.= Break a quantity of ice into small
pieces by pounding it in an ice-bag (a bag made of canvas or very
strong cloth) with a wooden mallet. The ice should be about as
fine as small rock-salt. Put into the bucket, around the tin can
which is to hold the cream, alternate layers of the pounded ice
and salt in the proportions of two thirds ice to one third salt (a
quart cup may be used for measuring). Should it happen that you
have "coarse-fine" salt, put all the ice into the freezer first,
and then the salt on top of it, as it will quickly work down to
the bottom. When the packing is complete unfasten the cross-bar
and lift off the cover of the can carefully, so that no salt
shall get inside; then put in the mixture to be frozen, replace
the cover, and fasten the bar. Let it stand till the mixture is
thoroughly chilled, then turn _steadily_ but not _very_ fast for
about ten minutes, or until the turning becomes difficult; that is
an indication that the contents of the can are freezing. Continue
turning for a few minutes longer, to give the cream a fine and even
consistency; then take out the paddle, drain off the water through
the hole in the side of the bucket, fill in all about the can with
coarse ice, and cover it with a thick wet cloth or towel. Let it
stand for half an hour to become firm, when it is ready to serve.
If it is desirable to keep the ice-cream for a length of time, it
may be done by packing the freezer closely with ice and salt, and
covering it with wet cloths. Or, the ice-cream may be taken from
the can, packed in molds of fanciful shapes, sealed at the edges
with melted tallow, and repacked in ice and salt.
PHILADELPHIA ICE-CREAM
The so-called Philadelphia ice-cream is pure, sweet cream,
sweetened with sugar, and flavored. For a small quantity use the
following:
¾ Cup of sugar.
1 Teaspoon of vanilla.
1 Tablespoon of brandy.
1 pint of scalded sweet cream.
Mix and freeze. The whites of two eggs beaten stiff is a valuable
addition to this cream.
ROYAL ICE-CREAM
1 Tablespoon of flour.
1½ Cups of sugar.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
1 Pint of milk.
2 Eggs.
1 Pint of sweet cream.
1 Tablespoon of vanilla.
½ Teaspoon of almond.
½ Cup of sherry wine, or
¼ Cup of brandy.
Heat the milk until it boils; meanwhile mix the flour, sugar,
and salt in a little cold water, and when the milk reaches the
boiling-point pour it in; stir it for a minute over the fire in
a saucepan, and then turn it into a double boiler and cook it
for twenty minutes. At the end of this time beat the eggs very
light, and pour them into the boiling mixture slowly, stirring
it rapidly; continue stirring, after all the egg is in, for from
one to two minutes; then strain the mixture into a dish and set it
aside to cool. Last, add the cream and flavorings, and freeze. This
makes a rich and delicious cream. It may be colored with carmine a
pretty pink, or with spinach a delicate green.
ICE-CREAM WITH AN IMPROVISED FREEZER
Make the Philadelphia ice-cream mixture, or half of it, dividing
each ingredient exactly. Put it into a small tin can (the Dutch
cocoa-cans are convenient) with a closely fitting cover. Place it
in the middle of a deep dish, and surround it with alternate layers
of ice and salt, in the same manner as for ordinary freezing,
and cover it closely; then lay wet cloths on the top and set it
in a cool place. It will become solid in from one to two hours,
according to the amount of mixture to be frozen. It is well to cut
in the thick layer on the sides of the can once or twice during the
freezing. If the cream which you have to use is thick enough to
whip, do so; the result, when frozen, will be a very dainty dish.
This is a convenient way of making a little ice-cream for one
person.
FROZEN CUSTARD
1 Pint of milk.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
1¼ Cups of sugar.
Yolks of three eggs.
1 Pint of milk or cream.
1 Teaspoon of rose-water.
2 Tablespoons of wine or brandy.
Make a soft custard with the first four ingredients, according to
the rule on page 195. When done, strain it into a granite-ware pan
and let it cool. Then add the flavoring and the remaining pint of
milk or cream, and freeze.
LEMON SHERBET WITH GELATINE
1 Tablespoon of gelatine.
1 Pint of boiling water.
1 Cup of sugar
⅓ Cup of lemon-juice.
1 Tablespoon of brandy.
Soak the gelatine (Plymouth Rock or Nelson's) in a little
cold water for _half an hour_. Then pour over it the boiling
water, stirring until the gelatine is dissolved; add the sugar,
lemon-juice, and brandy, and strain all through a fine wire
strainer. Freeze.
Nelson's gelatine and the Plymouth Rock or phosphated gelatine
are the best to use for sherbets and water-ices, because they
have a delicate flavor, and lack the strong, fishy taste which
characterizes some kinds. The phosphated gelatine should, however,
never be used except when a slight acidity will do no harm. Avoid
it for all dishes made with cream or milk, as it will curdle them.
The directions on the packages advise neutralizing the acid with
soda; but, as there is no means of determining the amount of acid
in a given quantity, it is not a process that recommends itself to
an intelligent person.
Phosphated gelatine may, however, be used in sherbets even when
milk or cream forms a part of them, for when it is added to a
slightly acid mixture which has a low temperature, or is partially
frozen, curdling does not take place.
LEMON SHERBET WITH SUGAR SYRUP
1 Pint of boiling water.
1 Cup of sugar.
⅓ Cup of lemon-juice.
Boil the water and sugar together without stirring for twenty
minutes. You will thus obtain a thin sugar syrup, which, however,
has enough viscousness to entangle and hold air when beaten. As
soon as it is cool, add the lemon-juice, strain, and freeze it.
This makes a snow-white sherbet of very delicate flavor. Lemon
sherbet may also be made with water, sugar, lemon-juice, and the
whites of eggs well beaten, instead of with gelatine or syrup.
ORANGE SHERBET
1 Tablespoon of gelatine.
1 Cup of boiling water.
1 Cup of sugar.
1 Cup of orange-juice.
Juice of one lemon.
2 Tablespoons of brandy.
Soak the gelatine in just enough cold water to moisten it, for half
an hour. Then pour over it the cup of boiling water, and put in the
other ingredients in the order in which they are written; when the
sugar is dissolved, strain all through a fine wire strainer, and
freeze it.
=To get Orange-juice.= Peel the oranges, cut them in small pieces,
quarters or eighths, put them into a jelly-bag or napkin, and press
out the juice with the hand. By this means the oil of the rind,
which has a disagreeable flavor, is excluded.
APRICOT ICE
1 Quart of apricots.
1 Quart of water.
½ Quart of sugar.
3 Tablespoons of brandy.
Either fresh or canned apricots may be used for this ice. If fresh
ones are chosen, wash and wipe them carefully, cut them into small
pieces, mash them with a potato-masher until broken and soft, and
add the water, sugar, and brandy; then freeze. The treatment is
the same if canned fruit be used. This ice may be made without the
brandy, but it is a valuable addition, especially for the sick.
Peaches, strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, and in fact any
soft, well-flavored fruit may be made into water-ice by following
exactly the above rule, except, of course, substituting the
different kinds of fruits for the apricots, and possibly varying
the sugar. If pineapple is selected, it should be chopped quite
fine, and quickly, so that the knife will not discolor it. Peaches
should be pared, and strawberries and raspberries carefully washed.
All of these ices are delicious, and most wholesome and grateful
in very warm weather, or for feverish conditions when fruit is
allowed. If there is a question about seeds, as might be the case
in using strawberries, strain the fruit through a coarse wire
strainer after it is mashed; it is advisable to do this always in
making strawberry, raspberry, or pineapple ice.
COOKED FRUITS
BAKED TART APPLES
Select fair, sound, tart apples. Wash and wipe them, and cut out
the cores with an apple-corer, being careful to remove everything
that is not clear pulp. Sometimes the tough husk which surrounds
the seeds extends farther than the instrument will reach with
once cutting; this can be detected by looking into the apple, and
removing with the point of the corer anything that remains. If
there are dark blotches or battered places on the outside of the
apple, cut them off. Everything of that kind is valueless as food,
and injures the flavor of that which is good.
When they are prepared place the apples in an earthen baking dish
(granite-ware will do), put a teaspoon of sugar and half an inch of
dried lemon-peel, or fresh peel cut very thin, into each hole, pour
boiling water into the dish until it is an inch deep, and bake in a
moderately hot oven; when the skins begin to shrink and the apples
are perfectly soft all the way through, they are done; then take
them from the oven, arrange them in a glass dish, and pour around
them the syrupy juice that is left.
The time for baking varies, according to the species of apple, from
half an hour to two hours. They should be basted once or twice
during the time with the water which is around them. It will nearly
all evaporate while they are baking. If the apples are Baldwins,
or Greenings, or any others of fine flavor, the lemon-peel may
be omitted. Stick cinnamon may be used instead of lemon-peel for
apples which are not quite sour.
BAKED SWEET APPLES
Prepare sweet apples according to the foregoing rule, except use
a fourth of a square inch of cinnamon instead of the lemon-peel,
and half a teaspoon of sugar for each apple. Sweet apples require
two or three hours' baking. They should be cooked until perfectly
soft, and until the juice which oozes out becomes gelatinous. Serve
cold with sweet cream. Cooked apples are an excellent addition to a
diet. They contain acids and salts of great value.
STEWED APPLES
Pare and quarter three slightly sour apples. Put them into a
saucepan with a cup of water and two tablespoons of sugar, and stew
gently until they are soft, but not broken. Each piece should be
whole, but soft and tender. A tablespoon of lemon-juice put in just
before they are taken from the fire is a good addition to make if
the apples are poor in flavor; or, lemon-peel may be used, and also
cinnamon and cloves.
APPLE COMPOTE
Wash and wipe some fair, well-flavored apples (not sweet). Core
them with an apple-corer (not a knife), being careful not to leave
in any of the hulls, which sometimes penetrate far into the fruit;
pare them evenly, so that they will be smooth and of good shape.
Then boil them gently, in water enough to just reach their tops,
with a square inch or two of thin lemon-peel, and a teaspoon of
sugar for each apple, until they are soft, but not broken, watching
them carefully toward the last part of the cooking, lest they go to
pieces. When done lift them out into a glass dish, reduce the water
by further boiling until it is somewhat syrupy, and set it aside
to cool. Fill the holes with apple, grape, or any bright-colored
jelly, and when the syrup is cold pour it over and around the
apples.
STEWED PRUNES
1 Pint of prunes.
1½ Pints of water.
¼ Cup of sugar.
2 Tablespoons of lemon-juice.
Soak the prunes in warm water for fifteen minutes, to soften the
dust and dirt on the outside. Then wash them carefully with the
fingers, rejecting those that feel granular (they are worm-eaten);
stew them gently in the sugar and water in a covered saucepan
for two hours. Just before taking them from the fire put in
the lemon-juice. They should be plump, soft, and tender to the
stone. As the water evaporates the amount should be restored, so
that there will be as much at the end as at the beginning of the
cooking. French prunes may not require quite so long time for
cooking as most ordinary kinds.
CRANBERRY SAUCE AND JELLY
Pick out the soft and decayed ones from a quantity of Cape
cranberries; measure a pint, and put with it _half_ the bulk of
sugar, and _one fourth_ the bulk of water. Stew the berries ten
minutes without stirring, counting the time from the moment when
they are actually bubbling. Done in this way, the skins will be
tender, and the juice on cooling will form a delicate jelly. Or,
the fruit may be pressed through a soup-strainer and the whole made
into jelly.
GRAPE SAUCE
Take any small quantity of grapes. Wash them by dipping each
bunch several times in water, unless you know that they have been
gathered and handled by clean hands. Separate the skins from the
pulps by squeezing each grape between the fingers and thumb. Cook
the pulps about five minutes, or until soft and broken. Cook the
skins for the same length of time in a separate saucepan, then
press the pulps through a strainer into them, until there is
nothing left but the seeds. Measure the mixture, and for each
measure, pint or cup, as the case may be, add half a measure of
sugar, and simmer for five minutes. Many invalids who cannot eat
grapes uncooked, on account of the seeds, may take them stewed in
this way. More or less than the above amount of sugar may be used,
according to the requirements of the individual.
GRAPE JELLY
Separate the pulps from the skins of a quantity of washed grapes.
Cook each separately for a few minutes, and slowly, so as not to
evaporate the juice. Press the pulps through a soup-strainer,
mashing them if they are not broken, until there is nothing left
but the seeds; strain into this the juice from the skins, mashing
and squeezing out all that is possible. Measure the mixture, and
for every cup add a cup of sugar. Put all into a granite-ware
saucepan and boil slowly for ten or twelve minutes.
The time required for cooking depends upon the condition of the
grapes. If they are very ripe, and it is late in the season, ten
minutes is sufficient time to obtain a fine, delicate jelly; but if
it is early in the autumn, and the fruit has not been as thoroughly
changed by nature as late in the season, twelve or fifteen minutes
will be required to obtain the same result. Even less than ten
minutes' cooking will sometimes cause the pectin of the fruit to
dissolve, which, on cooling, forms the jelly. The time required
will always be variable, according to the condition of the fruit,
so it is well to ascertain by experiment what number of minutes
gives the desired result.
Another and important point to notice in making fruit jellies is,
that if the fruit be cooked longer than is necessary to dissolve
the jelly-forming substance, that is the pectin, the natural flavor
of the fruit is more or less injured; consequently, if grapes which
require only ten minutes' boiling are boiled for fifteen, the
flavor is inferior to what it would be if they were exposed for the
lesser time.
It is impossible to give a rule which shall at all times apply to
the making of fruit jellies, on account of the always variable
condition of the fruit. But in general, grapes, cranberries,
currants, and similar fruits require a short time, while apples,
crab-apples, lemons, and oranges will take from one and a half
to three hours. One is therefore obliged to test the jelly at
intervals by taking out a little on a saucer to cool. If it becomes
firm quickly, the mixture is cooked enough; if not, one may get an
idea, from the consistency which it has, what further cooking will
be necessary.
APPLE JELLY
Wash and wipe good tart apples. Cut them in quarters or, better,
eighths, but do not pare them. Stew them in half their bulk of
water,--that is, if you have four quarts of cut apples, put in two
quarts of water,--until the skins as well as the pulp are perfectly
soft. No definite time can be given, because that depends upon
the kind and ripeness of the fruit. When done, turn them into a
jelly-bag and drain until the juice is all out. Measure it, and
for each cup add a cup of sugar, one clove, and one square inch
of thin lemon-peel. Simmer gently for half an hour, then test it,
to see how near the jellying-point it is, by taking out a little
into a cool saucer. With some kinds of apples it will be done in
that time, with others it will take an hour or more longer. When a
little becomes firm on cooling, remove the whole immediately from
the fire, skim it, and strain it into jars or tumblers which have
been thoroughly washed in soap and water, and have been standing in
boiling water for some minutes.
When the jelly is cool, pour over the surface a thin coating of
melted paraffin, let it harden, then pour in another; for, as the
first hardens, it may crack or shrink from the sides and leave
spaces where ferments may enter; in other words, the jars need to
be made air-tight--not that the air does mischief, but because it
contains the organisms which, on entering the jelly, cause by their
growth the various fermentative changes known to occur in fruits.
The object then will be to exclude all micro-organisms.
There are other ways of sealing jelly than by the use of paraffin,
as, for instance, with paper soaked in alcohol, or coated with oil;
but paraffin, if properly used, is a sure, easy, and economical
means.
A wad of sterilized cotton batting, packed into the mouth of the
jar or tumbler, like a stopper, is sometimes employed, but it is
not as effectual as the paraffin; for that, being poured in hot,
sterilizes the surface of the jelly, thus killing any organisms
that may have lodged upon it during the cooling. Organisms cannot
go through batting; but, though it may be properly sterilized,
it cannot be packed over the jelly until it has become firm,
and during the time ferments may have settled upon it. Paraffin
is a most satisfactory means of preserving jelly, and the only
precaution necessary in using it is to put on two layers, the
second one two or three hours after the first, or when all
contraction has ceased.
BREAD
The two most practicable methods of making bread are with yeast,
and with cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda.
Yeast is a micro-organism--an exceedingly minute form of plant
life--which by its growth produces carbonic acid and alcohol. When
this growth takes place in a mass of flour dough, the carbonic acid
generated, in its effort to escape, puffs it up, but, owing to the
viscous nature of the gluten, it is entangled and held within. Each
little bubble of gas occupies a certain space. When the bread is
baked, the walls around these spaces harden in the heat, and thus
we get the porous loaf.
Barley, rye, and some other grains would be very useful for bread
if it were not that they lack sufficient gluten to entangle enough
carbonic acid to render bread made from them light.
Good bread cannot be made without good flour. There are two kinds
usually to be found in market, namely _bread_ flour, and _pastry_
flour. The former is prepared in such a way that it contains more
gluten than the latter. In making Pastry, or St. Louis flour, as it
is sometimes called, the grain is crushed in such a manner that the
starch, being most easily broken, becomes finer than the gluten,
and in the process of bolting some of the latter is lost. For
pastry and cake this kind is best. Lacking gluten, bread made from
it is more tender, whiter, but less nutritious than that made from
so-called _bread_ flour.
New Process, or bread flour may be distinguished by the "feel,"
which is slightly granular rather than powdery, by its yellow
color, and by the fact that it does not "cake" when squeezed in the
hand; while St. Louis is white, powdery, and will "cake."
The best method to pursue in buying flour is, first, to find a good
dealer, upon whose advice you may rely. Next, take a sample of the
flour recommended and, with a recipe which you have _proved_ to be
correct, try some; if the first loaf of bread is not satisfactory,
try another, and then another, until you are confident that the
fault lies in the flour, and not in the method of making. Finally,
having found a brand of flour from which you can make yellow-white
instead of snow-white bread, which has a nutty, sweet flavor, which
in mixing absorbs much liquid, and does not "run" after you think
you have got it stiff enough, and which feels puffy and elastic to
the hand after molding, keep it; it is probably good.
Often the same flour is sold in different sections of the country
under different names, so that it is impossible to recommend any
special brand. Each buyer must ascertain for herself which brands
in her locality are best. It is just as easy to have good bread as
poor. It only requires a _little_ care and a _little_ intelligence
on the part of the housekeeper.
Having found a brand of good flour, next give your attention to
yeast. In these days, when excellent compressed yeasts may be found
in all markets, it is well to use them, bearing in mind that they
_are_ compressed, and that a very small quantity contains a great
many yeast cells, and will raise bread as well, if not better, than
a large amount.
Home-made liquid yeast is exceedingly easy to prepare. It simply
requires a mixture of water and some material in which the plant
cells will rapidly grow. Grated raw potato, cooked by pouring on
boiling water, flour, and sugar form an excellent food for their
propagation. A recipe for yeast will be given later.
Now we have come to the consideration of what will take place when
the two, flour and yeast, are made into dough. According to some
accounts of the subject, the yeast begins to act first upon the
starch, converting it into sugar (glucose C_{6}H_{12}O_{6}). While
this is taking place there is no _apparent_ change, for nothing
else is formed except the glucose, or sugar. Then this sugar is
changed into alcohol and carbonic acid; the latter, owing to its
diffusive nature, endeavors to escape, but becomes entangled in the
viscous mass and swells it to several times its original bulk.
This has been the accepted explanation; it is now, however,
believed not to be correct. It is thought, and I believe
demonstrated, that the yeast plant lives upon sugar; that it has
not the power to act directly upon starch, but that it is capable
of _producing_ a substance which acts upon starch to convert it
into sugar.
The production of the carbonic acid is the end of desirable
chemical change, and when it has been carried to a sufficient
degree to fill the dough with bubbles, it should be stopped.
Kneading bread is for the purpose of distributing the gas and
breaking up the large bubbles into small ones, to give the loaf a
fine grain. One will immediately see that kneading before the bread
is raised is a more or less useless task. Kneading is a process
which should be done gently, by handling the dough with great
tenderness; for if it is pressed hard against the molding-board,
the bubbles will be worked out through the surface, and the loaf
consequently less porous than if all the gas is kept in it.
The best temperature for the raising of bread (in other words,
for the growing of yeast) during the first part of the process is
from 70° to 75° Fahr. It may touch 80° without harm, but 90° is
the limit. Above that acetic fermentation is liable to occur, and
the bread becomes sour. When the bread is made into loaves, it
may be placed in a very warm temperature, to rise quickly if it
is intended for immediate baking. Besides killing the yeast, the
object sought in baking is to form a sheath of cooked dough all
over the outside, for a skeleton or support for the inside mass
while it is cooking. Baking also expands the carbonic acid, and
volatilizes the alcohol. The latter is lost.
A good temperature in which to begin the baking of bread is 400°
Fahr. This may gradually decrease to not lower than 250°, and the
time, for a good-sized brick loaf, is one hour. If it is a large
loaf, increase the time by a quarter or a half hour.
"The expansion of water or ice into 1700 times its volume of steam,
is sometimes taken advantage of in making snow bread, water gems,
etc. It plays a part in the lightening of pastry and crackers. Air
at 70° Fahr. expands to about twice its volume at the temperature
of a hot oven, so that if air is entangled in a mass of dough
it gives a certain lightness when the whole is baked. This is
the cause of the sponginess of cakes made with eggs. The viscous
albumen catches the air and holds it."[41]
There are other means of obtaining carbonic acid to lighten
bread, besides by the growing of yeast. The most convenient,
perhaps the most valuable, method is by causing cream of tartar
and bicarbonate of soda to unite chemically. (The products of
the union are carbonic acid and Rochelle salts.) The advantage of
using these over everything else yet tried is, that they do not
unite when brought in contact except in the presence of water and
a certain degree of heat. Rochelle salts, taken in such minute
quantities as it occurs in bread made in this way, is not harmful.
Cream of tartar bread, if _perfectly_ made, is more nutritious than
fermented bread, for none of the constituents of the flour are
lost, as when yeast is used.[42]
The difficulty of obtaining good cream of tartar is very great. It
is said to be more extensively adulterated than any other substance
used for food. Moreover, in the practice of bread-making the cream
of tartar and soda are generally mixed in the proportion of two to
one--that is, two teaspoons of cream of tartar to every teaspoon
of soda; but this is not the _exact_ proportion in which they
neutralize each other, so that under ordinary circumstances there
is an excess of soda in the bread.
To be exact they should always be combined by weight, as is done
in making baking-powders, the proportion being 84 parts of soda
to 188 of cream of tartar, or, reducing to lower terms, as 21 to
47--a little less than half as much soda as cream of tartar. For
practical use in cooking there are no scales known to the author
for the purpose of weighing these materials, so the proportion
will have to be approximated with teaspoons, and a fairly accurate
result for bread-making may be obtained most easily by measuring a
teaspoon of each in exactly the same manner, and then taking off a
little from the soda.
With good materials, care in measuring them, and a hot oven to set
the bread before the gas escapes, cream of tartar biscuits are both
wholesome and palatable.
LIQUID YEAST
(HOME-MADE WITH GRATED POTATO)
1 Medium-sized potato.
1 Tablespoon of sugar.
1 Tablespoon of flour.
1 Teaspoon of salt.
1½ Pints of boiling water.
⅕ of a two-cent cake of Fleischmann's yeast.
First see that there is a supply of boiling water. Then put the
salt, sugar, and flour together in a mixing-bowl. Wash and peel the
potato, and grate it quickly into the bowl, covering it now and
then with the flour to prevent discoloring. As soon as the potato
is all grated, pour in the boiling water and stir. It will form
into a somewhat thick paste at once. Set it aside to cool. Then
dissolve the yeast in a little cold water, add it, and set the
mixture to rise in a temperature of 70° to 80° Fahr.
In a short time bubbles will begin to appear; these are carbonic
acid, showing that the alcoholic stage of the fermentation has
begun. In six or eight hours the whole will be a mass of yeast
cells, which have grown in the nutrient liquid. It is then ready
for use. It should be bottled in wide-mouthed glass or earthen
jars, and kept in a cool place. It will remain good for two weeks.
At the end of that time make a fresh supply.
Yeast is an organism--a microscopic form of plant life--which grows
by a species of budding with great rapidity when it finds lodgment
in material suitable for its food. The dissolved compressed yeast
is like seed, which, when put into a fruitful soil, grows so long
as sustenance lasts.
WATER BREAD
1 Pint of boiling water.
1 Tablespoon of sugar.
1 Teaspoon of salt.
1 Tablespoon of butter.
⅓ Cup of liquid yeast, or
⅕ of a two-cent cake of Fleischmann's yeast.
Enough sifted flour to make a stiff dough.
Put the sugar, salt, and butter with the boiling water into a
mixing-bowl or bread-pan. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the
water lukewarm, then add the yeast (if compressed, it should be
dissolved in a little water). Last, stir in the flour until a dough
stiff enough to mold easily is made. Mold it for a minute or two
to give it shape and to more thoroughly mix the ingredients, and
then set it to rise in a room warm enough to be comfortable to live
in--that is, having a temperature of 70° Fahr. It should remain in
this temperature for eight hours. Cover it closely, that the top
may not dry.
It is often convenient to let bread rise over night. There is no
objection to this, provided the bread is mixed late in the evening,
and baked early the next morning. Care must be taken, however, that
the room in which it is left is warm enough to insure rising in the
time given. On the other hand, if allowed to rise too long, or at
too high a temperature, the fermentation is carried so far that an
acid is produced, and the dough becomes sour.
Eight hours at 70° Fahr. is a good rule to keep in mind. During the
time of raising the dough should double itself in bulk. If this
does not happen, or it does not appear to have risen at all, either
the yeast was not good, or the temperature was too low.
When the bread has risen sufficiently, cut it down, and knead it
for five minutes on a bread-board, to distribute the gas and break
the large bubbles, so that the bread may have an even grain; then
shape it into a loaf, put it into an oiled baking-pan, and let it
rise quickly in a warm place, until it again doubles itself. The
amount of dough indicated in the rule will make one large loaf,
or a medium-sized loaf and some biscuit. Multiply the rule by two
if you want two loaves. Bake the bread in an oven which is hot at
first, but gradually decreases in temperature, for an hour and a
quarter. If you have an oven thermometer use it.[43]
MILK BREAD
1 Pint of _scalded_ milk.
1 Tablespoon of sugar.
1 Teaspoon of salt.
⅓ Cup of liquid yeast, or
⅕ Cake of Fleischmann's yeast.
Measure the milk after scalding, but otherwise proceed exactly as
in the making of water bread.
STICKS
1 Cup of _scalded_ milk.
½ Teaspoon of salt.
1 Tablespoon of sugar.
2 Tablespoons of butter.
⅕ Cake of yeast, or
¼ Cup of liquid yeast.
White of one egg.
Flour enough to make a slightly soft dough.
Dissolve the salt and sugar, and soften the butter in the hot
milk, which must be measured _after_ heating. When it is cooled to
lukewarmness, put in the yeast (which, if compressed, should be
dissolved in a little cold water), the beaten white of the egg,
and flour enough to make a dough _slightly_ softer than that for
ordinary bread. Let it rise overnight, or until light. Then cut
it into small pieces, shape the pieces into balls, and roll and
stretch them into tiny slender sticks, from ten to twelve inches
long, about half an inch thick in the middle, and tapering toward
each end. Place them, two inches apart, in shallow, buttered pans,
and put them in a warm place for an hour to rise; then bake them
in a moderate oven fifteen or twenty minutes, or until they are a
golden brown. Sticks are good at any time; they are especially nice
served with soup, or for lunch, with cocoa or tea.
This dough may also be made into tiny loaves for tea-rolls.
RUSK
1 Tablespoon of sugar.
½ Teaspoon of salt.
1 Cup of _scalded_ milk.
¼ Cup of liquid yeast, or
⅙ Cake of compressed yeast.
Flour enough to make a soft dough.
Mix the above ingredients together, and let the dough rise
overnight in the usual time given to bread. Then beat one-fourth
of a cup of butter, one-fourth of a cup of sugar, and one egg
together, and work the mixture into the dough, adding a little more
flour to make it stiff enough to mold. Set it to rise a second
time; then shape it into rolls or tiny loaves, allow them to rise
again until quite light, or for an hour in a warm place, and bake
like bread.
DRIED RUSK
Cut the rusk when cold into thin slices, dry them slowly in the
oven, and then brown them a delicate golden color.
Dried rusk is exceedingly easy of digestion, and makes a delicious
lunch with a glass of warm milk or a cup of tea.
GRAHAM BREAD
1 Pint of milk.
2 Tablespoons of sugar.
1 Teaspoon of salt.
⅕ Cake of compressed yeast.
2 Cups of white flour.
Enough Graham flour to make a dough.
Scald some milk, and from it measure a pint; to this add the sugar
and salt. While it is cooling sift some Graham flour, being careful
to exclude the chaff or outside silicious covering of the grain,
but _nothing else_. When the milk has become lukewarm, put in the
yeast, which has previously been dissolved in a little cold water,
and the white flour (sifted), with enough of the Graham to make a
dough which shall be stiff, but yet not stiff enough to mold. Mix
thoroughly, and shape it with a spoon into a round mass in the
dish. After this follow the same directions as for water bread,
letting it rise the same time, and baking it in the same manner.
After the dough has risen, although it is soft, it can be _shaped
into a loaf_ on the bread-board, but not molded.
CREAM-OF-TARTAR BISCUIT
First, attend to the fire; see that you have a clear, steady one,
such as will give a hot oven by the time the biscuits are ready for
baking. Then sift some flour, and measure a quart. Into it put two
teaspoons of cream of tartar, and one of soda, the latter to be
measured exactly like the teaspoons of cream of tartar, and then
a very little taken off. This is a more accurate way of getting a
scanted teaspoon than by taking some on the spoon and guessing at
it. Add one teaspoon of salt, and sift all together four times,
then with the fingers rub into the flour one spoon of butter.
At this point, if it has not been already done, get the
baking-pans, rolling-pin, board, dredging-box, and cutter ready for
use. Then with a knife stir into the flour enough milk to make a
soft dough. Do this as quickly as convenient, and without any delay
mold the dough just enough to shape it; roll it out, cut it into
biscuits, and put them immediately into the oven, where they should
bake for thirty minutes.
=Pocket-Books.= Work or knead together the pieces that are left
after making cream-of-tartar biscuit (or make a dough on purpose),
roll it out very thin, cut it into rounds, brush them over with
milk or melted butter, fold once so as to make a half-moon shape,
and you will have "pocket-books."
=Twin Biscuit.= Roll out some dough very thin, cut it into very
small rounds, and place one on top of another, with butter between.
Iced water may be substituted for milk in the above rule. In
baking, however, the oven should be unusually hot, so as to take
advantage of the expansion of the water. Also, baking-powder may be
substituted for the cream of tartar and soda, using a fourth more
of the baking-powder than of the two together.
SNOW-CAKES
½ Tablespoon of butter.
1 Tablespoon of sugar.
Whites of two eggs.
1½ Cups of flour.
1 Saltspoon of salt.
1½ Teaspoons of baking-powder.
1 Cup of milk.
Measure each of the ingredients carefully, then sift the flour,
salt, and baking-powder together four times. Cream the butter and
sugar with a little of the milk, then add the whites of the eggs
well beaten, the rest of the milk, and last the flour. Bake this
batter in hot buttered gem-pans from twenty minutes to half an
hour. These cakes are delicious eaten hot for lunch or tea. This
mixture may also be baked in small, round earthen cups.
GRAHAM GEMS
1 Cup of milk.
½ Teaspoon of salt.
½ Cup of white flour.
1 Cup of Graham flour.
2 Tablespoons of sugar.
1 Teaspoon of cream of tartar.
½ Teaspoon of soda (_slightly_ scanted).
1 Tablespoon of melted butter.
Sift and measure the Graham flour, add the cream of tartar, soda,
and white flour, and sift again. Mix the milk, salt, and sugar
together, and stir it into the flour; last, put in the melted
butter, beat for a minute, and then drop a spoonful in each
division of a roll gem-pan, which should be well buttered, and
made very hot on the top of the stove. Bake in a hot oven from
twenty-five minutes to half an hour. Serve hot.
OATMEAL MUFFINS
2¼ Cups of flour.
2 Teaspoons of baking-powder.
1 Teaspoon of salt.
2 Tablespoons of sugar.
1 Egg.
1 Cup of milk.
1 Cup of cooked oatmeal.
1 Tablespoon of butter melted.
Sift the flour and baking-powder together twice. Beat the egg very
light, stir into it the salt, sugar, and milk, then add the flour,
and last the oatmeal and butter; beat for half a minute, and bake
immediately in gem-pans or muffin-rings in a hot oven for half an
hour.
N. B.--The oatmeal should not be cooked to a soft, thin mush, but
should be rather dry; so, in preparing it, use less water than for
porridge. These cakes are to be eaten hot.
GLUTEN BREAD
Gluten flour is prepared in such a way that much of the starch
of the grain is excluded. It is frequently required for persons
suffering with diabetes, who cannot digest either sugar or starch.
It should be made with flour, water, yeast, and salt only. Do not
use milk for mixing, as it contains sugar.
One pint of water, one half teaspoon of salt, one fifth of a cake
of yeast, one tablespoon of butter, and enough flour to make the
usual bread dough will be required. Otherwise the process is
exactly the same as for ordinary bread.
BAKING-POWDER
Baking-powder is a mixture of cream of tartar, bicarbonate of soda,
and arrowroot. The latter is used to keep the two chemicals dry,
and thus prevent the slow union which would otherwise take place.
Sometimes tartaric acid is used instead of cream of tartar. The
following rule may be relied upon:
Tartaric acid 2 oz. by weight.
Bicarbonate of soda 3 " " "
Arrowroot 3 " " "
Mix and sift together thoroughly. Keep in a dry place, in a
wide-mouthed bottle.
CAKE
Cake of the simpler kinds, especially sponge cake, is frequently
given to the sick. Good sponge cake, served with sweet cream or a
glass of milk, is an excellent lunch for an invalid. Some of the
plain kinds of butter cakes--those made with a little butter--such
as white, feather, and similar varieties, are excellent food.
Consider for a moment what they contain: eggs, milk, butter, sugar,
and flour--five of the most valuable of all our food products. Yet
there are those who pride themselves upon not eating cake, which
idiosyncrasy can only be explained in one of two ways: either the
cake which they have had has not been properly made, or else it has
been so good that, during a lapse of judgment, they have eaten too
much.
The dark fruit cakes should be avoided by both sick and well, on
account of the indigestible nature of the dried fruits used in
them, and also because they are often compact and close-grained,
not light.
There is a custom prevalent in many kitchens of using what is
called "cooking" butter--that is, butter which is off taste or
rancid--for cake. It is but poor economy, even if it can merit
that name at all. If you have no other butter for cake, don't make
any. Sweet butter and fresh--not "store"--eggs are _absolutely
necessary_. Also, a dainty worker to mix the ingredients with
accuracy and care, and to oil the pan in which the cake is to
be baked, so that the outside shall not taste of fat. Many an
otherwise nice cake has been spoiled by oiling the pan in which
it was baked with dirty or rancid grease. Use a very little sweet
butter or olive-oil.
THE PROCESS OF CAKE MAKING
All ordinary cakes are made in much the same way as to the order in
which their ingredients are mixed. First the butter and sugar are
creamed together, then the yolks of the eggs are beaten and added,
with the milk, to the butter and sugar; then the flour, into which
the cream of tartar and soda have been well mixed by sifting them
together several times, is put in; and last, the beaten whites of
the eggs.
=Care in Baking.= For sponge cake made with baking-powder, or
soda and cream of tartar, an oven moderately heated will be
required--that is, one of 300° Fahr., or one which will _slightly_
brown a loaf in twenty minutes.
For sponge cake made without raising material, such as the
old-fashioned kind, in which only eggs, sugar, and flour are used,
a slow oven is necessary.
For butter cakes a temperature somewhere between 350° and 380° will
not fail.
The baking of cake is the most difficult part of the process, on
account of the constantly variable condition of ovens in common
iron stoves, and because it is more easily spoiled than bread and
other foods usually cooked in an oven. One is obliged to exercise a
new judgment every time cake is made. Even thermometers are only a
partial help, for if an oven has a temperature of 300° Fahr. at a
certain time, there is no means of being sure what the temperature
will be half an hour from then. However, by giving attention and
some practice to it, one may gain considerable skill in managing
fires. Should the cake be cooking too fast, and arranging the stove
dampers does not lessen the heat, a piece of buttered paper laid
over the top will protect it, and will not stick. Layer, or thin
cakes, require a hotter oven than loaves.
Pans for baking cake should be lined with buttered paper (the
buttered side up), letting it overlap the sides for about an inch
to assist in lifting out the cake. An earthenware bowl and a wooden
spoon should be used for mixing.
Get everything ready before beginning to mix cake, the oven first
of all. Bake as soon as possible after the flour is in, for
carbonic acid begins to be formed as soon as the soda and cream of
tartar come in contact with the liquid, and some of it will escape
unless the mixture is baked at once. Do not stop to scrape every
bit from the bowl; that can be attended to afterward, and a little
patty-cake made of what is left.
INVALID'S SPONGE CAKE
2 Cups of pastry flour measured after sifting.
1 Teaspoon of cream of tartar.
½ Teaspoon of soda (slightly scanted).
4 Eggs.
1½ Cups of powdered sugar.
½ Cup of water.
2 Tablespoons of lemon-juice.
Get everything ready before beginning to make the cake; oil the
pan, or oil paper and line the pan with it; measure the flour,
cream of tartar, and soda, and sift them together four times;
measure the sugar, water, and lemon-juice, and separate the yolks
from the whites of the eggs. Beat the whites of the eggs with half
the sugar until they are very light. Then beat the yolks very
light, or until they become lemon-colored, add the remaining half
of the sugar and beat again, and then a little of the water if it
is difficult to turn the egg-beater. When the sugar is well mixed,
add the remainder of the water, the lemon-juice, and the flour.
Beat for a few seconds, but not long, as all mixtures that have
cream of tartar and soda should be baked as quickly as possible.
Last of all _fold_ in (not beat) the whites of the eggs lightly,
so as not to break out the air which has been entangled by the
beating, as it helps to make the cake light.
Bake in a moderate oven from forty-five to fifty minutes, or until
the cake shrinks a little from the pan.
FEATHER CAKE
¼ Cup of butter.
1 Cup of sugar.
2 Eggs.
1½ Cups of pastry flour.
½ Teaspoon of soda (slightly scanted).
1 Teaspoon of cream of tartar.
A little grated nutmeg.
1 Teaspoon of vanilla.
See first of all that you have a proper fire. Measure
the ingredients, and get everything ready before
beginning--mixing-bowl, pans, etc. Use a wooden cake spoon, with
slits in the bowl, for mixing. Line the pans with buttered paper.
Then cream the butter, adding to it half the sugar and half the
milk, the latter very slowly; separate the yolks of the eggs from
the whites, and beat them with the remaining sugar; when they are
very light add the rest of the milk. Beat the whites until stiff.
Now mix the creamed butter and yolks together with the flavoring,
then stir in the flour, and last the whites, which are to be cut
and folded in, _not beaten_. Bake it in shallow pans in a moderate
oven forty minutes, or about that time. When the cake begins to
shrink a little from the sides of the pan, there is no doubt that
it is cooked enough. This recipe may be used for a variety of plain
cakes.
=For Chocolate Cake.= Melt and stir into the above mixture two
ounces of Baker's chocolate, or two teaspoons of cocoa wet in a
little warm water.
=For Rose Cake.= Color the feather cake mixture with six drops of
carmine.
LAYER CAKE
Oil three layer cake pans, or pie-plates. Make the feather cake
mixture, and divide it into three portions. Bake one white, color
another pink with three or four drops of carmine, and the third
brown with an ounce of melted chocolate. Bake in a hot oven for
fifteen minutes. When cool, join the layers with White Mountain
frosting, and frost the top of the last layer. Any of the fillings
given under the head of "Cake Filling" may also be used.
When chocolate is used in cake, it is not necessary to grate it or
even to break it into small pieces. It contains a large proportion
of fat which liquefies at a low temperature, consequently it is
necessary only to heat it slowly to reduce it to the liquid state.
CARMINE FOR COLORING
The following rule for making liquid carmine for coloring cake,
ice-cream, blanc-mange, etc., will be found useful:
1 Ounce of No. 40 carmine.
3 Ounces of boiling water.
1 Ounce of ammonia.
Bottle for use. It will keep indefinitely.
WHITE CAKE
1 Tablespoon of butter.
1 Cup of sugar (powdered).
1¼ Cups of pastry flour.
½ Teaspoon of soda.
1 Teaspoon of cream of tartar.
Whites of four eggs.
¼ Teaspoon of almond extract, or
1 Teaspoon of rose-water.
Proceed, as with all cake mixtures, by getting everything ready
before beginning to mix any of the ingredients, not forgetting the
fire. Then cream the butter with the sugar, and add the milk to it
slowly, so that the cream shall not break. Beat the whites of the
eggs very stiff. Then to the butter, sugar, etc., add the flour,
with which the cream of tartar and soda have been sifted at least
four times, and the flavoring; last, fold in the whites of the
eggs, and bake in a round loaf for an hour and a quarter or an hour
and a half in a _slow_ oven.
DREAM CAKE
Make a white cake mixture. Bake it in shallow layer-cake pans, in
a moderate, not slow, oven. Join them with a caramel filling, and
frost the top with the same, or use White Mountain frosting instead
of the caramel, flavored with rose-water, and left either white, or
colored a delicate shell pink with carmine.
CAKE FILLING AND FROSTING
WHITE MOUNTAIN FROSTING
Boil together, _without stirring_, one cup of granulated sugar with
one third of a cup of boiling water, for eight or ten minutes. When
the sugar has been boiling five minutes, beat the white of one egg
until it is very light. Then test the sugar mixture by letting
a little run off the side of a spoon. If in falling it forms a
delicate thread, it is just at the point to stop the boiling. When
it has reached this point, pour it at once into the beaten egg in
a small stream, stirring the egg constantly to keep it smooth.
Continue stirring for two or three minutes until it begins to
thicken, then spread it either between layer cakes for filling, or
use it for frosting.
CARAMEL FILLING
1 Cup of brown sugar.
¼ Cup of sweet cream.
1 Teaspoon of butter.
Boil all together until it threads, stirring it slowly as it boils.
It will take about eight minutes. Use either for frosting or
filling.
CHOCOLATE ICING
½ Cup of sugar.
4 Tablespoons of water.
2 Eggs.
1 Ounce of chocolate, or
1 Tablespoon of Dutch cocoa.
1 Teaspoon of vanilla.
Boil the sugar, water, and chocolate together, two minutes, to
render the chocolate smooth. Then add the beaten eggs. Cook two
minutes more, stirring slowly and gently. Add the vanilla just as
it is taken from the fire, and use at once, as it becomes firm
quickly. It is good either for icing cakes or for filling.
CREAM FILLING
Make a cream sauce with one cup of milk, a tablespoon of butter,
and a tablespoon of flour. Beat one egg with half a cup of sugar,
and stir it into the sauce slowly. Cook for two minutes, or until
the egg is done. It should look like a thick smooth cream. Flavor
it with a piece of cinnamon bark boiled in the milk, or with
vanilla or almond. Use this cream for filling, for layer cakes, or
split a thin sponge cake in two, and spread it between the halves.
DIET LISTS OR MENUS FOR THE SICK
Diet for the sick may be divided into three kinds: Liquid, Light,
and Convalescent's or Invalid's Diet.
Liquid diet consists entirely of liquids, of which milk is the
most valuable. The meat broths (those made with beef, chicken, and
mutton), oyster and clam broth, albumen water, eggs in the form
of egg-nog, egg cream, and mulled wine, and tea and coffee are
excellent. To this list may be added, as the patient shows signs of
recovery, soft custards, and jellies made with wine, lemon, coffee,
or orange-juice, which quickly become liquid when eaten.
A patient is given liquid diet during times of severe and dangerous
illness. Usually the amount of food and intervals at which it is to
be given are prescribed by the physician.
The following table may be of assistance to those who are without
such aid:
LIQUID DIET
No. 1
8 A. M. Hot milk ¾ of a cup
10 A. M. Hot coffee with cream and
a little sugar ½ of a cup
12 M. Beef-juice 2 tablespoons
2 P. M. Warm milk ¾ of a cup
4 P. M. Wine whey ½ of a cup
6 P. M. Hot milk ¾ of a cup
8 P. M. Hot cocoa ¾ of a cup
No. 2
8 A. M. Hot milk ¾ of a cup
10 A. M. Chicken broth ¾ of a cup
12 M. Egg-nog ½ tumbler
2 P. M. Milk ¾ of a cup
4 P. M. Hot tea with cream and sugar ¾ of a cup
6 P. M. Chicken broth ¼ of a cup
8 P. M. Hot milk ¾ of a cup
No. 3
8 A. M. Hot milk ¾ of a cup
10 A. M. Beef broth ¾ of a cup
12 M. Beef-juice 2 tablespoons
2 P. M. Milk, either warm or cold ¾ of a cup
4 P. M. Oyster broth with milk ¾ of a cup
6 P. M. Hot milk ¾ of a cup
8 P. M. Hot cocoa ¾ of a cup
No. 4
8 A. M. Hot cocoa ¾ of a cup
10 A. M. Hot milk ¾ of a cup
12 M. Beef-juice, warm or cold ¾ of a cup
2 P. M. Beef broth, hot ¾ of a cup
4 P. M. Wine jelly 2 tablespoons
6 P. M. Hot cocoa ¾ of a cup
8 P. M. Hot milk ¾ of a cup
No. 5
8 A. M. Hot milk ¾ of a cup
10 A. M. Coffee with cream and sugar ½ of a cup
12 M. Hot beef broth ¾ of a cup
2 P. M. Orange jelly 3 tablespoons
4 P. M. Mulled wine ¾ of a cup
6 P. M. Warm or cold soft custard ½ of a cup
8 P. M. Warm cocoa ¾ of a cup
If nourishment is to be given throughout the night, either hot or
warm milk or cocoa is good. They are soothing and sometimes induce
sleep. Tea and wine whey should be avoided at night, unless, of
course, the patient needs stimulating, in which case use the wine
only, for tea often causes wakefulness.
The whites of eggs beaten and strained, and mixed with finely
crushed ice, is a valuable form of food for a typhoid fever
patient. Toast-water and cracker tea are good in all feverish
conditions. Milk may be varied by making it into milk-punch, with
a very little sugar (a scanty teaspoon) and a tablespoon of brandy
or sherry to each tumbler, or it may be made with a few drops of
vanilla, instead of the brandy or sherry.
LIGHT DIET
Light diet consists of everything included in liquid diet, and in
addition fruits, such as grapes and oranges; porridge of granum or
farina; soft-cooked or poached eggs; dry, water, milk, and cream
toast; the _maigre_ soups, such as celery and mock-bisque, and
chicken; delicate puddings, coffee and velvet cream, and baked
custards, with perhaps for dinner a meat ball, a small bit of
beefsteak or roast beef, and a baked potato.
Jellies made with gelatine, especially when flavored with wine, are
a very valuable form of food with which to make the transition from
liquid to light diet. They are palatable, nutritious, and, being in
solid form, are satisfying to the minds of those who think they are
not getting much to eat when fed on liquids alone.
The change from liquid to light diet should be made gradually,
adding one kind of solid food at a time. Perhaps after the jellies
a bit of water or milk toast, then an egg, then a little soup or
pudding, until, as strength is gained, the person is able to take
anything in the list, and finally is able to eat almost any kind of
nutritious and well-prepared food.
FIRST DAY.
_Breakfast._
Poached Egg on Toast. Cocoa.
_Lunch._
Milk-punch.
_Dinner._
Raw Oysters. Cream-crackers. Port Wine.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Hot Beef Broth.
_Supper._
Milk Toast. Wine Jelly. Tea.
SECOND DAY.
_Breakfast._
Soft-cooked Egg. Milk Toast.
Coffee with Sugar and Cream.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Soft Custard.
_Dinner._
Cream-of-celery Soup. Sippets.
A little Barley Pudding, with Cream. Sherry Wine.
_Lunch._
Milk-punch.
_Supper._
Water Toast, Buttered. Wine Jelly. Tea.
THIRD DAY.
_Breakfast._
Scrambled Egg. Cream Toast. Cocoa.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Hot Chicken Broth.
_Dinner._
Chicken Panada. Bread. Port Wine.
A little Tapioca Cream.
_Lunch._
An Egg-nog.
_Supper._
Buttered Dry Toast. Baked Sweet Apples and Cream.
Tea.
FOURTH DAY.
_Breakfast._
An Orange.
Farina Mush, with Cream and Sugar.
Poached Egg on Toast. Baked Potato. Cocoa.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Hot Soft Custard.
_Dinner._
Potato Soup. Croutons.
A small Piece of Beefsteak. Creamed Potatoes.
Baked Custard. Coffee.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Chicken Broth, with Rice.
_Supper._
Raw Oysters. Banquet Crackers.
Graham Bread, Toasted. Wine Jelly. Tea.
FIFTH DAY.
_Breakfast._
An Orange.
Coffee. Mush of Wheat Germ, with Cream and Sugar.
Broiled Mutton Chop. Toast.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Mulled Wine.
_Dinner._
Chicken Soup. Bread.
Creamed Sweetbreads. Duchess Potato.
Snow Pudding. Cocoa.
_Lunch._
Siphon Soda, with Coffee Syrup and Cream.
_Supper._
Buttered Dry Toast. Orange Jelly.
Sponge Cake and Cream. Tea.
CONVALESCENT'S DIET
Convalescent's diet includes the liquid and light diets, and, in
addition, all easily digested and nutritious food. For meats,
game, especially venison and birds, beef, mutton, and chicken may
be given, but never either pork or veal. They are difficult of
digestion. Eggs in all ways, soft-cooked, scrambled, poached, and
as omelets, well-baked potatoes, creamed potatoes, celery, snow
pudding, cream of rice pudding, and tapioca cream, jellies, both
those made from gelatine and fruits, Graham bread, Graham gems,
rusk, and, in fact, any well-made bread, and good cake.
A convalescent may use for drinks plenty of good milk, cocoa,
_carefully made_ tea and coffee, occasionally good wine, and the
different mineral and drinking waters. Some foods to be avoided are
pastry, dark or badly made cakes, pork, veal, any highly seasoned
meat dish made with gravy, all kinds of fried food, sausages, heavy
puddings, badly made bread, lobsters and crabs.
SPRING
No. 1
_Breakfast._
An Orange.
Porridge of Wheat Flakes, with Cream and Sugar.
Omelet, with Broiled Ham.
Coffee. Hot Graham Gems and Butter.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Hot Beef Broth. A Cream-cracker.
_Dinner._
Chicken Soup. Creamed Fish.
Mashed Potato. Snow Pudding.
White Cake. Tea.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Hot Milk.
_Supper._
Broiled Squab on Toast. Creamed Potatoes.
Bread and Butter. Jelly.
Cocoa.
No. 2
_Breakfast._
An Orange.
Farina Porridge, with Cream and Sugar.
French Chops (Mutton). Baked Potato.
Cream Toast of Graham Bread.
Cocoa.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Cracker Gruel.
_Dinner._
Mock-bisque Soup. Sticks.
Roast Beef. French Peas. Mashed Potato.
Bread and Butter.
Baked Cup Custard. Coffee or Claret.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Hot Bouillon.
_Supper._
Scrambled Eggs. Creamed Potatoes.
Water Toast, with Apple Compote.
Feather Cake. Tea.
SUMMER
No. 1
_Breakfast._
Blackberries.
Farina Porridge, with Cream and Sugar.
Broiled Steak. Baked Potatoes.
Dry Toast. Cocoa.
_Lunch._
1 Tumbler of Kumiss.
_Dinner._
Potato Soup made with New Potatoes.
Baked Fish. Mashed Potatoes. Peas.
Chicken Salad. Lemon Jelly.
Tea.
_Lunch._
Soda-water, with Vanilla Syrup and Cream.
_Supper._
Cold Broiled Chicken. Bread and Butter.
Blueberries. White Cake.
Cocoa.
No. 2
_Breakfast._
Blueberries.
Broiled Perch. Baked Potatoes.
Hot Snow Cakes, with Butter.
Coffee.
_Lunch._
Milk-punch.
_Dinner._
Broiled French Chop. Duchess Potato.
Peas. Tomato Salad.
Tapioca Cream. Wine Jelly.
Lemonade.
_Lunch._
Egg-nog.
_Supper._
Hot Water Toast, Buttered. Berries.
Omelet, with Parsley.
Tea. Soft Custard in Cups.
AUTUMN
No. 1
_Breakfast._
Oatmeal Mush, with Cream and Sugar.
Broiled Steak. Baked Potatoes.
Oatmeal Muffins, Hot, with Butter.
Coffee.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Hot Beef Broth. A Banquet Cracker.
_Dinner._
Celery Soup. Sippets. Roast Pheasant, with Jelly.
Potatoes. Stewed Mushrooms.
Velvet Cream. Cocoa.
_Lunch._
A thin Sandwich of Bread and Butter. Tea.
_Supper._
Raw Oysters. Cream Toast. Baked Apples.
Rusk. Tea.
No. 2
_Breakfast._
Cantaloup.
Farina Porridge, with Cream and Sugar.
Broiled Mutton Chop. Baked Potatoes.
Dry Toast. Coffee.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Hot Chicken Broth.
_Dinner._
Oyster Soup. Sticks.
Roast Beef. Creamed Potatoes.
Celery Salad.
Coffee Cream. Tea.
_Lunch._
A Cup of Hot Oatmeal Gruel.
_Supper._
Poached Egg on Toast. Cocoa.
Graham Bread and Butter. Sponge Cake.
WINTER
No. 1
_Breakfast._
An Orange.
Oatmeal Porridge, with Cream and Sugar. Coffee.
Broiled Steak. Baked Potato. Cream Toast.
_Lunch._
Egg-nog.
_Dinner._
Celery Soup. Croutons.
Roast Chicken. Creamed Onions. Duchess Potato.
Lettuce Salad (plain). Velvet Cream. Coffee.
_Lunch._
Cocoa Cordial. Sponge Cake.
_Supper._
Fancy Roast of Oysters. Dry Toast.
Chocolate, with Whipped Cream. Orange Jelly.
No. 2
_Breakfast._
An Orange.
Wheat Germ, with Cream and Sugar.
Broiled Partridge. Dry Toast. Coffee.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Hot Chicken Broth.
_Dinner._
Consommé. Bread.
Roast Beef. Mashed Potatoes.
Tomato Salad.
Cream of Rice Pudding. Coffee.
_Lunch._
1 Cup of Mulled Wine.
_Supper._
Venison Steak, with Port Wine Sauce.
Toast. Sponge Cake, with Sweet Cream.
Cocoa.
SERVING
If cooking be a science, then serving is an art. It perhaps more
closely resembles painting than any other, for a well-spread
table should be a picture, and each separate dish a choice bit
in the landscape. The invalid's tray should be a dainty Dresden
water-color of delicate hues and harmonious tints.
It is not easy to give definite directions in regard to serving,
for it involves so much of good taste in so many directions, and
depends so largely upon the individual and the circumstances. It
requires intelligent study, a cultivated habit of thought, and the
appreciation of symmetry, and the harmony of colors; to do it well
one must ever judge anew and arrange again, for no two meals are
exactly alike in all their details.
Of course, the most important thing in serving is the thing to
be served. A badly prepared or unwholesome dish, no matter how
beautifully it may be presented, is worthless--perhaps even worse,
for it may prove a positive source of evil. An indifferently
done steak, served on a silver platter, is less acceptable than
one perfectly cooked on plain china, or a bit of burned toast on
Dresden ware than a daintily browned piece on a common white plate.
Put the force, therefore, of your efforts on securing that which
is wholesome in itself, adapted to the needs of the patient, and
perfectly cooked; then serve it in the most attractive manner at
your command.
Good serving is a necessity for the sick. It should never be
regarded as simply ornamental. When a person has the hunger of
health, colors and dishes are not of great account; but when one is
ill, or exhausted with fatigue, sometimes a pretty color, a dainty
cup, or beauty of arrangement makes all the difference, and one is
tempted to eat when otherwise the food would remain untouched.
Simplicity should rule at all times the arrangement of an invalid's
tray. Anything like display is entirely out of place. Japanned
trays of oval shape are the ones in general use. When one is
fortunate enough to possess a silver tray, the dishes may be placed
directly upon it, or on a doily, which covers the center of it.
All other trays should be completely covered with a dainty snowy
napkin, or tray-cloth.