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[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic
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[Illustration: Cover]
[Illustration: Dedication:
A book for all girls who love to help Mother.
Jane Eayre Fryer]
[Illustration: Mary Frances took the hint, and turned Toaster carefully
over.]
[Illustration: Title]
THE MARY FRANCES COOK BOOK
OR ADVENTURES AMONG THE KITCHEN PEOPLE
By JANE EAYRE FRYER
Full page illustrations by
MARGARET G. HAYS
Other illustrations by
JANE ALLEN BOYER
Copyright, 1912, by
JANE EAYRE FRYER
[Illustration]
DEAR GIRLS:
This book tells the story of Mary Frances, a little girl whose great
ambition was to help her mother. So anxious was she to do this that even
the humble Kitchen People became her teachers and instructors. They
talked to her, a thing never heard of before; helped her over the hard
places, and explained mysterious secrets she could never otherwise have
understood. They wove around a simple little book of recipes her mother
had made for her the spell of Fairyland; they led her through a series
of delightful adventures such as never happened to any girl before, in
which she lived for three whole happy weeks, and out of which she
emerged no longer a little girl, but a real little woman.
Some very wise people would call this a story book, some a manual
training book, and others a cookery book, but Mary Frances knows better;
she knows that it is a Book within a Book that introduced her to Aunty
Rolling Pin and a lot of other dear, dear friends, such as no little
girl ever had before, and whom she now wishes to introduce for the first
time to all other little girls. (I know that she gained their consent to
do this because she told me so.)
In the hope that Mary Frances' wish may be realized, this record of her
adventures is sent out to the girls of America with the best wishes of
THE AUTHOR.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: CONTENTS]
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE KITCHEN PEOPLE 11
II. TOASTER MAN 14
III. MARY FRANCES' MOTHER 24
IV. MARY FRANCES WARNS THE KITCHEN FOLKS 27
V. AUNT MARIA 30
VI. JACKET-BOILED POTATOES 33
VII. THE POT-AND-KETTLE FIGHT 40
VIII. THE POTATO LUNCH 46
IX. MARY FRANCES GETS BREAKFAST 56
X. THE BREAKFAST BURNS UP 65
XI. A JOKE ON AUNT MARIA 70
XII. THE TRAMP 75
XIII. COMPANY TO LUNCH 83
XIV. A PATENT DISH-WASHING 91
XV. THIMBLE BISCUITS 94
XVI. THE DOLLS' KITCHEN PARTY 104
XVII. THE SICK NEIGHBOR 110
[Illustration: COOK BOOK]
XVIII. A MAN'S LUNCH 116
XIX. POOR BLUE PITCHER 127
XX. MARY FRANCES GIVES A COOKING LESSON 131
XXI. THE PICNIC 135
XXII. THE CANDY PULL 139
XXIII. GETTING READY FOR A PARTY 144
XXIV. THE TEA PARTY 154
XXV. MARY FRANCES GETS DINNER 159
XXVI. MOTHER'S SURPRISE. "GOOD-BYE, LITTLE MISS" 173
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
LIST OF RECIPES
PAGE
1. PLAIN TOAST 15
2. BUTTERED TOAST 19
3. MILK TOAST 20
4. JACKET-BOILED POTATOES 35
5. BAKED POTATOES 46
6. BOILED POTATOES 47
7. MASHED POTATOES 47
8. POTATO SOUP 49
9. BOILED EGGS 60
10. HARD-BOILED EGGS 61
11. COFFEE 63
12. TEA 76
13. OMELET 77
14. WHITE SAUCE 84
15. BAKED APPLES 86
16. THIMBLE BISCUITS 97
17. BAKING POWDER BISCUITS 98
18. COCOA 102
19. GINGERBREAD COOKIES 108
20. SOFT CUSTARD 111
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
21. STEAMED RICE 111
22. BOILED RICE 112
23. POACHED EGGS 114
24. RICE PUDDING 117
25. BOILED MUTTON 118
26. SAUCE FOR BOILED MUTTON 119
27. APPLE SNOW 127
28. STUFFED EGGS 136
29. PICKANINNY FUDGE 141
30. WALNUT KISSES 142
31. SPONGE CAKE 145
32. DREAM CAKE 150
33. QUEEN OF HEARTS TARTS 160
34. PASTRY 160
35. SALAD DRESSING 166
36. CREAMED NEW CABBAGE 167
37. BREAD PUDDING 167
38. BANANA BREAD PUDDING 168
39. HARD SAUCE 168
40. PAN-BROILED BEEFSTEAK 169
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: The Kitchen People]
Tea Kettle
Sauce Pan
Boiler Pan
Big Iron Pot
Pie Plate & Tea Pot
Coffee Pot
Mantel Clock & Blue Pitcher
Auntie Rolling Pin
Toaster Man
Baking Dish & Potato Masher
Platter & Ladle
Yellow Bowl & Measuring Cup
Frying Pan
Basket
Perforated Skimmer & Can Opener
Round & Square Cake Tins
Iron Griddle & Little Pitcher
Fork Knife & Spoon
CHAPTER I
THE KITCHEN PEOPLE
ALL the Kitchen People were terribly excited.
"I see my finish!" puffed Tea Kettle from his perch on the stove.
"That's slang!" snapped Sauce Pan, who sat near by.
"Slang or no slang," said Tea Kettle, "I'll melt if somebody doesn't
come fill me soon."
"Where's the cook? Where's the mistress?" asked Boiler Pan.
"Why, the cook's left--left this morning and the mistress's sick. What's
that I smell burning?"
"That's the potatoes in the oven," said Toaster.
"Oh, my lid!" cried Tea Kettle holding his nose. "Pour on water! Quick!"
"Whew!" exclaimed Coffee Pot.
"Whew!" cried Pie Plate.
"Whew!" clanged Big Iron Pot.
[Illustration: "Oh, my lid!"]
"Whew!" mimicked Sauce Pan. "Whew!--That won't help! If you say Whew!
to an oven door, will it open?--Somebody open the door!"
"Good idea, Saucy!" exclaimed Tea Kettle. "You might try it yourself!"
"Owoooh! O-w-o-o-o-h!" strained little Sauce Pan at the heavy door.
"O-w-o-o-o-h! I can't-t budge it! Cauch! Cawc! Ochee!" he coughed. "What
smoke! Somebody else come try!"
"Get out of the way, then," said Big Iron Pot, making heavily toward the
stove.
"Knew your arms were too short," laughed Tea Kettle, seeing Iron Pot
couldn't reach the knob.
"Well, they're as long as yours," said Iron Pot angrily.
"Kick it open!" sug-gest-ed Sauce Pan. "Everybody allowed one kick!"
"First go!" exclaimed Iron Pot.
Whack! came a muffled sound. Then, "Oh, my poor feet! Oh! Oh!"
"What's the matter?" asked Sauce Pan.
"Nothing," said Big Iron Pot, hopping around on one little leg, and
holding the other with his hands. "Only I wish you'd had 'First go!'"
[Illustration: "I wish you'd had 'First go!'"]
[Illustration]
"Well," declared Tea Kettle, "unless help comes soon, we may as well
give up all hope of rescue. This is dreadful!"
"Listen, then," ticked Mantel Clock, who didn't mind the smoke. "I know
a secret: the dear little girl----"
"Oh, yes, we know!" cried the Kitchen People.
"Well!" asked Mantel Clock, "what do you know?"
"The little girl--that there is a little girl----"
"Is that all you know?" demanded Mantel Clock. "Now, when people
interrupt----"
"Just dying to tell," said Sauce Pan in a loud whisper.
"Please, please, tell us the secret," begged the Kitchen People.
"Well," Mantel Clock ran on, "the dear little girl that lives in our
house is going to learn to cook. What d'you say if we all turn in and
help her?"
"Goody-goody!" Aunty Rolling Pin laughed so she nearly rolled off the
table.
Just then the kitchen door-knob turned, and every one of the Kitchen
People was as quiet as a
[Illustration]