with the beef and cook in oven twenty minutes. Then cut the meat in
slices one and one-half inch thick. On top of each slice place a few of
the mushrooms and a little of the gravy, and set back in the oven five
minutes to keep hot. Serve the slices on a chop plate, forming a circle,
and filling in the center with peas.
BLANKETED HAM WITH SWEET POTATOES AND APPLES.
Cut off the fat close to the edge of a slice of ham one-half inch thick.
Put fat through meat chopper, spread on top of ham, then sprinkle
one-half cup of brown sugar and wine-glass of sherry over it. Peel and
quarter four large sweet potatoes and four large apples. Put ham in oven
in covered roasting pan. After it has cooked a quarter of an hour add
apples and sweet potatoes. Now cook all of it three-quarters of an hour.
This makes a delicious and savory dish, and is so substantial that
little else is required for a meal.
BROWN STEW.
Thirty-five-cent beef off the shoulder; cut in pieces, cover with water
and stew two hours until tender. Add one tablespoonful butter, and
thicken with flour. Cook until brown.
CHICKEN CROQUETTE.
One-half pound chicken or veal, chopped very fine; season with one-half
teaspoonful salt, one-half teaspoonful celery salt, one-fourth
teaspoonful onion juice, one teaspoonful chopped parsley, one
teaspoonful lemon juice, one saltspoonful white pepper, one-fourth
saltspoonful cayenne. Mix with enough cream sauce to be easily handled;
let cool, then shape into rolls. Roll on fine bread crumbs, dip in
beaten egg, then roll in bread crumbs and fry in smoking-hot fat, drain
on tissue paper. Boil meat in three quarts hot water, cold for soup,
season with one teaspoonful salt, four grains pepper.
CHICKEN CROQUETTES.
Two pair sweetbreads, boiled and chopped fine, one teacupful boiled
chicken chopped (use nothing but the white meat), one teacupful boiled
bread and milk, pretty stiff; one-half pound butter, salt and pepper to
taste, mold in shape, roll in cracker crumbs, beaten egg, and again in
cracker crumbs, and fry in boiling lard.
Chicken Croquette Remarks.
Prepare meat and seasoning first. Put flour in hot butter dry, two
tablespoonfuls cold water in the egg. Boil meat very slowly, until very
tender. Make a hole in the flour when pouring in any liquid. Drop bread
into hot fat, count forty slowly, until brown, fat then at proper heat.
Cut a large potato in the hot grease; it takes out impurities.
CROQUETTES.
Cold turkey, chicken, veal or lamb, chopped fine; add one-fourth as much
bread crumbs as meat; salt, pepper and herbs to taste; then to one cup
of the mixture one well-beaten egg. Make in small balls egg-shaped, and
fry in boiling lard.
FRICATELLI.
Chop raw fresh pork very fine, add salt and pepper and two small onions
chopped fine, half as much stale bread as there is meat, soaked until
soft, two eggs; mix all well together, make into oblong patties, and fry
as you would oysters or other patties. A nice breakfast dish. Serve with
sliced lemon.
HAM TOAST.
One-fourth pound of either boiled or fried ham; chop it fine, mix with
the yolks of two eggs well beaten; one tablespoonful butter, enough
cream or milk to make it soft, a little pepper; stir this over the fire
until it thickens, dip toast into hot salted water for just an instant,
spread with melted butter, then turn over the ham mixture. Dried beef
may be substituted, adding, if fancied, a little chopped onion or
parsley.
HUNGARIAN GOULASH.
Slice a peeled onion and cook it until brown in three tablespoonfuls of
fat tried out of salt pork; take out the onion and turn in one and
one-half pound lean uncooked veal cut into inch cubes. Stir and cook the
meat until slightly browned, then, rejecting the fat, if there be any in
the pan, place the meat in a casserole; add about a pint of broth or
boiling water, a teaspoonful pepper, cover the dish and set to cook in
the oven. In the meantime add more fat to the pan; when hot, brown in it
a dozen balls cut from pared potatoes and a dozen small onions; when the
onions are well browned, add to the casserole, and after the meat has
been cooking an hour, add a teaspoonful salt and the potatoes, and if
desired two tablespoonfuls flour mixed to a thin paste with cold water.
Let cook in all about two hours. Serve from the casserole.
JELLIED VEAL.
A knuckle of veal, with the bone chopped; cover it with cold water and
boil till the meat drops from the bone, pass the meat through a chopper;
let the liquor continue boiling, as there must not be too much when you
return it to the meat to cook a few minutes longer, adding pepper and
salt to taste. Before removing from the fire, add quickly one egg. It is
nice poured into individual molds.
LAMB AND RICE.
Cut lean lamb from the neck into small pieces. Put on in cold water and
bring to a boil. Simmer for one and a half or two hours. Put in salt as
desired soon after putting on to cook. When done add freshly boiled rice
and simmer till the rice has absorbed the seasoning from the meat.
LIVER AND BACON.
Fry bacon till crisp. Then dip liver in the flour and fry until brown on
both sides. Remove from skillet and cook in the skillet for a few
minutes a chopped onion and a bunch of parsley. Then put back the liver
and bacon, cover all with water and let simmer about one hour.
MEAT SOUFFLE.
Make one cup of cream sauce and season with chopped parsley and onion
juice. Stir one cup chopped meat (chicken, fresh tongue, veal or lamb)
into the sauce. When hot, add the beaten yolks of two eggs, cook one
minute, and then set away to cool. When cool, stir in the whites, beaten
stiff. Bake in a buttered dish about twenty minutes and serve
immediately. If for lunch, serve with a mushroom sauce.
MEAT STEW.
Get five pounds of a cheap cut of beef. Cut into little pieces, taking
off the fat. Try out the fat, brown the meat in it, and when well
browned, cover with boiling water, boil five minutes, then cook in lower
temperature until the meat is done. During the last hour of cooking add
two-thirds cup of turnips and the same amount of carrots cut in small
cubes, one-half an onion chopped fine, salt and pepper. About fifteen
minutes before taking up put in four cups of potatoes cut in small
pieces. Use one-quarter cup of flour for thickening and put in dumplings
made as follows:
Mix and sift two cups flour, four teaspoonfuls baking powder, one-half
teaspoonful salt. Work in two teaspoonfuls butter, add gradually
two-thirds cup milk. Roll to one-half inch thick, and cut out with
biscuit cutter.
POT ROAST.
Thirty-five-cent beef off the shoulder. Sear all over in hot fat, cover
with water, add two cloves, one onion, one bay leaf, cover and cook
slowly two and one-half hours. For gravy, thicken the liquor with flour.
POT ROAST. (Old Style.)
Take a piece of fresh beef, about five or six pounds, not too fat. Put
into a pot with just enough water to cover it. Set over a _slow_ fire
and let stew an hour, then add salt and pepper. Stew until tender,
putting in a little onion if liked. Let nearly all the water boil away.
When thoroughly tender take the meat out and pour the gravy in a bowl.
Put a large lump of butter in the pot, dredge the meat with flour and
return it to the pot to brown, turning it often to prevent burning. Skim
fat from gravy poured off of meat; pour gravy in with the meat and stir
in a large spoonful of flour; wet with a little water; let boil ten or
fifteen minutes and pour into gravy dish. Try sometimes cooking in this
way a piece of beef which has been placed in spiced pickle for two or
three days.
RAGOUT OF BEEF.
Cut two pounds of the upper round of beef into inch squares, dredge them
with salt and pepper and roll them in flour. Put into a saucepan some
butter and some drippings, or a little suet, and let it fry out, using
enough only to cover the bottom of the saucepan; when the grease is hot,
turn in the pieces of meat and let them cook until well browned on all
sides; watch and turn them as soon as browned, then draw the meat to one
side of the pan and add a tablespoonful of flour; let the flour brown,
and add a cupful of stock or water, and stir it until it comes to a
boiling point; then add a teaspoonful of salt, one-half teaspoonful
pepper, one-half teaspoonful kitchen bouquet, one carrot cut into
blocks, and one teaspoonful onion; cover the saucepan, and let it
simmer, not boil, for an hour. Serve a border of rice around the ragout.
ROAST BEEF.
Clean roast by wiping with a wet cloth. Place on a rack in oven, add
suet to baste with. Cook a six-pound round roast an hour and twenty
minutes; a three-rib roast one and one-half hour. Use no water.
ROUND STEAK.
Cover round steak with raw, chopped onions and bacon. Roll and tie. Put
into deep kettle, sear or brown. Cover with water and pot roast for two
hours. Boil down and thicken the gravy.
SMOTHERED OR POT-ROASTED BEEF.
Take four or five pounds of the middle of the rump, the flank or the
round. Wipe with a clean, wet cloth and sear all over by placing in a
hot frying pan and turning until all the surface is browned. Put it in a
kettle with one-half pint of water, and place it where it will keep just
below boiling point. Add just enough water now and then to keep meat
from burning. Have close-fitting cover to keep in the steam. Cook until
very tender. Serve hot or cold.
SPANISH STEAK.
Get round steak one and one-fourth inch thick. Cook the same as veal
cutlets, only instead of using soup stock use one cup strained tomato
juice and a little onion; a few mushrooms add to the flavor.
TURKEY DRESSING.
Cut crust off a loaf of bread, cut loaf in small bits, season with salt,
pepper, sage, tablespoonful melted butter; beat one egg, add cup of milk
and wet dressing.
VEAL BIRD.
Make a dressing of bread crumbs, melted butter, salt, pepper, and, if
desired, a little sage. Cut veal cutlets into pieces about the size of
palm of hand. Put a spoonful of dressing into each piece, roll, and
fasten with a toothpick. Put in a pan with a cup of hot water or stock,
cover and bake. Arrange around a platter or chop plate. Fill center with
a pound of peas. This is delicious cooked in a fireless cooker.
VEAL CUTLETS.
Get a thick cutlet, one and a half inch thick, second cut with little
round bone; have it scored on both sides. Then chop it all over on both
sides with the edge of a china plate, until the meat is very ragged.
Salt and pepper it, and rub flour into both sides until it will hold no
more. Put two heaping tablespoonfuls of butter in a skillet and when hot
put in the cutlet. Brown on both sides a golden brown, then add one cup
of soup stock, or one cup boiling water, pouring it into the skillet.
Let simmer one hour.
VEAL LOAF.
Three pounds of raw veal chopped very fine, butter size of an egg, three
eggs, three tablespoonfuls cream or milk. Mix the eggs and cream
together. Mix with the veal four pounded crackers, one teaspoonful
black pepper, one large tablespoonful salt, one large teaspoonful sage.
Mix well together and form into a loaf. Bake two and one-half hours,
basting with butter and water while baking. Serve cut in thin slices.
VEAL LOAF.
Three pounds of veal chopped fine, one-half pound salt or fresh pork,
one cup powdered crackers, one cup water, two eggs, three teaspoonfuls
salt, three teaspoonfuls sage, one teaspoonful pepper. Bake in rather
quick oven.
VEAL PIE.
Crust for veal or chicken pie, two teacups flour, two teaspoonfuls
baking powder, one teaspoonful salt, two tablespoonfuls shortening; beat
one egg and fill the teacup with milk, add to flour. Boil veal in cold
water until quite tender, keep out a quart of the broth after it is
cooked. When two-thirds done put in the salt.
Gravy for Pie.
Two tablespoonfuls melted butter, three tablespoonfuls flour; mix well,
add salt and pepper, one cup cream, slightly warm; stir in the quart of
broth after thickening is added. Cook about fifteen minutes, stir, but
do not boil. Put meat and gravy in baking dish, cover with dough and
bake twenty minutes.
EGGS
Eggs should be kept in cool places. If a recipe calls for just the white
of an egg, the yolk may be kept from hardening by putting in a cup of
cold water. Eggs may be cooked soft in two ways: Pour boiling water over
the egg and cover them from five to ten minutes. Second method: Put eggs
into cold water, and when water bubbles they are cooked.
BAKED EGGS.
Twelve hard-boiled eggs, one-half pint cream, butter size of an egg, one
teaspoonful fine chopped parsley, one tablespoonful flour, salt and
pepper. Mix cream, butter, flour and parsley. Cook till thick. Slice
eggs, after each layer of eggs one of bread crumbs; cover with sauce,
then bread crumbs, and bake till brown.
CHEESE OMELET.
Four eggs, four tablespoonfuls cold water, one-fourth teaspoonful salt,
three level tablespoonfuls grated cheese, two level tablespoonfuls
melted butter. Put butter in saucepan, separate whites from yolks. For
omelet do not beat yolks too long, only until lemon color. To yolks add
water and salt. Beat whites and pour yolks over whites; fold and cut
with a spoon. _Do not beat._ Pour in saucepan, loosen with a knife
around edges, cook until it sets. Sprinkle grated cheese on top and put
in oven for two or three minutes. Serve very hot. Old English dairy
cheese is the best.
EGG CUTLETS.
Heaping tablespoonful of butter. When hot, stir in two heaping
tablespoonfuls flour, one-half pint of milk, and stir until smooth and
well cooked; chop three hard-boiled eggs, and stir in after taking from
the fire. Season with salt, pepper and one-half teaspoonful of onion
juice; also add parsley. Put away until cold, mold and roll in cracker
crumbs, and fry in abundance of hot fat. This may be used for meat
croquettes, substituting chopped meat, cooked, for eggs.
EGGS SHIRRED IN TOMATOES.
Cut circular pieces out from the stem end of round tomato and remove
part of the pulp. Season with salt and pepper; also with onion, juice
and parsley, if liked. Break an egg into each tomato and put in a slow
oven until each egg is set. Serve on hot buttered toast.
POACHED EGGS.
Partly fill a shallow pan with boiling water. Break eggs singly into a
saucer, sliding each as broken into the boiling water. Keep pan where
water will not quite boil. With a spoon baste the water over the yolk
until it is covered thinly with white. Remove each egg with a skimmer,
trim off ragged edges, and serve on buttered toast.
SHIRRED EGGS.
Shirred eggs are a pleasant change from the usual boiled eggs for
breakfast. Drop each egg carefully into a buttered ramikin, season with
pepper, salt and a small lump of butter. Set ramikin in a shallow pan
filled with water, place in moderate oven and cook until whites are
firm.
SOFT BOILED, OR STEAMED EGGS.
Put the desired number of eggs into a kettle and cover with boiling
water. Cover the kettle and let stand ten minutes. Drain off the water,
put eggs into a bowl, cover again with boiling water and send to the
table.
VEGETABLES
"Perhaps if we could penetrate Nature's secrets we should find that
what we call weeds are more essential to the well-being of the
world than the most precious fruit or grain."--Hawthorne.
The simplest methods of cooking and serving vegetables are generally the
best. The most common method of cooking them is in boiling water. All
green vegetables, bulbs and tubers should be crisp and firm when put on
to cook, and should, of course, be thoroughly cleaned before being
cooked.
Almost all vegetables may be served in the form of salad. Our most
common green salad plant is lettuce; celery is next, but endive, chicory
and dandelion, with many others, may be used to advantage in this way,
and furnish pleasing variety to the menu.
Nearly all vegetables are good canned, and if care is taken in preparing
and canning, it is possible to have fresh-tasting fruits and vegetables
through all seasons.
Thorough sterilization is necessary in canning or preserving. In the
first place, use good jars. Glass jars will be found the most
satisfactory. Those with glass top and rubber ring held in place by a
wire spring are the cheapest in the long run, although the initial
expense may be somewhat high. Never use defective rubbers, as vegetables
often spoil after being sterilized, because of bad rubbers.
A clothes boiler makes a good container to use in sterilizing. A false
bottom made of wire netting cut to fit or strips of wood may be used, as
the jars will break if set flat on the bottom of the boiler.
Select vegetables that have not begun to harden or decay. Always can as
soon as possible after gathering. Some vegetables are best cooked
before putting in jars; among these are beets, pumpkins and turnips, but
most of them may be packed while raw in jars and cooked as follows:
Pack jar full, adding salt as desired, fill with cold water to the top
of the jar. Put the rubber on the jar and place the glass top on, but do
not press down the spring at the side of the jar. Put as many jars in
the boiler as it will hold without crowding. Pour into the boiler enough
water (cold) to prevent it from going dry during the boiling. Put the
cover on the boiler and bring the water to a boil and keep it boiling
for an hour. (Hour and a half for half-gallon jars.) At the end of this
time remove the boiler cover, and let the steam escape. Press down the
spring on each jar, which clamps on the top, and no outside air can
enter.
On the next day raise the spring at the side of the jar and boil as on
the first day, clamping on the top as before at the end of operation.
Repeat this on the third day. All meats, fruits and vegetables are
sterilized on this principle.
Never subject jars to a draft of cold air when removing them from the
boiler, as this will be likely to crack them. If, after sterilization
seems complete, any jars spoil, increase the time of boiling.
ASPARAGUS.
Cut the tender part into short pieces. Cover with boiling water, and
boil until done. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with most of
juice; or, if preferred, serve with a cream dressing.
BEETS.
Wash the beets carefully without breaking the skin. Cover with boiling
water and boil until tender. Take from the boiling water and drop into
cold. Rub off the skin, cut in thin slices and serve at once with salt
and butter.
CINCINNATI BAKED BEANS.
Measure beans (marrowfat are best), put them in cold water and parboil
fifteen minutes and drain; use the Boston bean pot. For three pints of
dried beans add three level teaspoonfuls salt, one-quarter pound pickled
pork cut fine, six tablespoonfuls New Orleans molasses or six
tablespoonfuls of C sugar, one tablespoonful standard mustard. Mix the
above well and put in a three-quart bean pot, and fill within one inch
of top with boiling water. May be kept in oven several days, but must
never be allowed to get dry, adding boiling water as needed.
CORN.
Cook ears of corn five minutes in boiling water. Then cut through the
center of each row of grains and press the grains from the hulls with
the back of a knife. Put corn in saucepan and season with butter, salt,
pepper and sugar. Add enough hot milk to moisten, and cook ten minutes.
When succotash is desired, add to a pint of corn cooked as above the
same amount of cooked and seasoned shelled beans.
CORN PUDDING.
One dozen ears of corn, two eggs, one kitchen spoonful butter, one-half
teaspoonful salt, one tablespoonful sugar.
CORN PUDDING.
To one can of corn, one pint milk, three eggs, two tablespoonful melted
butter, one tablespoonful white sugar, pepper and salt to taste. Beat
the eggs very light, add sugar and butter rubbed together; stir hard.
Next the corn and seasoning, finally the milk; beat hard, bake in
buttered dish one-half hour, covered; then lift top and brown. Serve in
baking dish.
CREAMED CAULIFLOWER.
One pint cooked cauliflower, one pint milk, one teaspoonful salt,
one-third teaspoonful pepper, one tablespoonful butter, one-half
teaspoonful flour, three slices toasted bread. Break cooked cauliflower
into branches and season with half of the salt and pepper. Put butter
in a saucepan on the fire. When hot add flour and stir until frothy and
smooth. Add gradually the milk, constantly stirring. When sauce boils
add the salt, pepper and cauliflower. Cook ten minutes and serve very
hot on the slices of toast.
GREEN STUFFED PEPPERS.
Clean out peppers and stuff with rice or potatoes, and meat. Moisten
with hot water, standing on end in baking dish. Cover and bake until
almost done, then remove cover and brown. Cheese or tomatoes may be used
instead of meat.
HASHED BROWN POTATOES.
Boil about one quart potatoes, drain and sprinkle with one teaspoonful
salt and a little pepper. Add one teaspoonful chopped parsley and a few
drops of onion juice, brown one heaping tablespoonful butter, add one
tablespoonful flour and gradually one cup hot water. Salt and pepper to
taste. Add potatoes, and cook about five minutes, or until they have
absorbed nearly all the sauce. Butter a saute pan, add the potatoes and
cook until light brown. Turn over like an omelet. Potatoes must not be
chopped until cold.
HASHED TURNIPS.
Chop boiled turnips into large pieces. Put in saucepan, and for a pint
and a half of turnips add a teaspoonful of pepper, a tablespoonful of
butter and four tablespoonfuls of water. Cook over a hot fire until
seasoning is absorbed.
HOME-MADE NOODLES.
(_Serve as a Vegetable with Stewed Chicken or Veal._)
Four eggs, one tablespoonful cream, one teaspoonful salt, flour enough
to make a stiff dough; roll out very thin and let dry an hour or longer;
roll up and cut into fine strips; put into a kettle of boiling water,
salted, boil ten minutes; cut a few noodles an inch wide and fry brown
in butter to place on top. Serve with plenty of gravy.
KALE CANNON.
(Old Irish Dish.)
Take ten or twelve good-sized potatoes, peel and boil in salt water, add
a large bunch of parsley previously washed and drained, and a pinch of
baking soda. When the parsley is done, which will be in ten or fifteen
minutes, take it up and lay it in a plate, drain it well and chop it,
leaving out the stems. Chop fine one onion; when the potatoes are cooked
place them at the back of the stove with a cloth and the lid over them;
mash them, adding the onions as quickly as possible as the hot potatoes
cook it, add a little pepper and salt and about one-half cup of hot milk
with a lump of butter melted in it. Mix all together, serve with a
little butter with each helping. This is sometimes made with kale, hence
its name.
LYONNAISE POTATOES.
One pint cold potatoes cut in dice and seasoned with salt and pepper.
Fry one scant tablespoonful of onion in one heaping tablespoonful of
butter, add the potatoes, stir with a fork until the potatoes absorb the
butter, add one teaspoonful chopped parsley. Three pints of boiling
water, one-half teaspoonful salt. All vegetables should be put in
boiling water.
MOCK ASPARAGUS.
Cut the tops from several bunches of young, green onions, leaving the
stalks about the length of asparagus; trim the roots, wash and tie in
bundles like asparagus. Cook until tender, drain off water, sprinkle
with cheese and pour over ends a little melted butter. Onions are very
delicate prepared in this way.
MUSHROOM SPAGHETTI.
Boil spaghetti in salt water one-half hour, drain, cover with soup
stock, add one can of tomatoes, salt, pepper to taste. One can
mushrooms. Boil all these ingredients well together, turn into a hot
dish. Pass grated Parmesan cheese, to sprinkle over each portion. Fresh
mushrooms turned in butter may be used instead of canned ones.
NEW ENGLAND SWEET POTATOES.
Put a layer of boiled, peeled and sliced sweet potatoes in a greased
baking dish, sprinkle with brown sugar and dot with butter. Cover with
another layer of potatoes and another of sugar, and so on until the dish
is full. The last thing, pour over a cup of boiling water. Bake in a
medium oven for one-half hour.
OKRA.
This vegetable grows in almost every state in the Union and is used
extensively in soups. When young it is good boiled in salted water until
tender, drained, and heated for five minutes with cream, butter, salt
and pepper.
BAKED ONIONS.
Cover a number of large onions with boiling water and boil twenty
minutes. Drain off water and make small hole in center of each onion.
Fill hole with well-seasoned mashed potatoes. Add salt, pepper and
butter, and milk to cover. Bake about one-half hour.
PARSNIPS.
Wash and scrape until clean, and cook until tender. When cooked, put
into hot dish, sprinkle with salt and add bits of butter. Serve at
once.
PEAS AND CARROTS.