Do not wash or soak it. Break it when necessary and put into perfectly
boiling salted water, 8 parts water to 1 of macaroni. Stir as soon as
it is put into the water and often, until it begins to roll up, from
the rapid boiling. Keep over a hot fire where it will continue to
roll in boiling until well swollen and nearly done, then set back to
simmer slowly. When perfectly tender (which will be in from ½ to 1
hour according to the size, age and quality, the better quality taking
longer) turn into a colander and when drained, turn cold water over it,
or, let it stand in cold water until ready to use.
Vermicelli and the other small varieties for soup require only twice
their bulk of water, and some of them require 10 m. only for cooking.
They will usually just absorb the water.
When preferred, macaroni may be cooked in just the amount of liquid it
will absorb, which will be about 4 times its bulk. It may be cooked
sometimes in a rich consommé, sometimes in milk in a double boiler,
or in milk and water. It is often partly cooked in water, drained and
finished in milk.
The “traditional” way of cooking spaghetti is to put the ends into
water and coil it around in the kettle as it softens, cooking in full
lengths and eating it the same, but the propriety of this method is
questionable. In the first place, its sauce is apt to spatter in the
effort to introduce the coil into the mouth, and mastication is sure to
be incomplete.
The measurements of macaroni vary according to the size. For a large
open variety, a cup and a half will be required where it would take
only a cup of a small kind, or of the ordinary pipe-stem macaroni
broken into inch lengths.
There is nothing that gives such character to macaroni as to cook a
little garlic with it, a very little for some tastes, not more than ½ a
clove to each cupful, less even, if the macaroni is not to be drained
and the cloves are large. We seldom cook any preparation of macaroni
without it, and people wonder why our macaroni has such a good taste.
Not enough should be used to give a positive garlic flavor.
Pine nuts and sour cream give the cheese flavor. A good quality of
macaroni is good without any sauce, just cooked in salted water and
eaten slowly with nuts; but it may be served with any desired, tasty
sauce. The mushroom sauces, Italian or Boundary Castle are especially
delightful with it, but many others are excellent, olive and nut
butter, old-fashioned milk gravy, lentil gravy, a good cream sauce,
cream of tomato sauce, or any of the nice, meaty flavored sauces, or
parsley butter.
Sometimes return macaroni to the fire after draining, and add a little
butter, with or without chopped parsley, for those who use butter, or a
little milk and butter or a few spoonfuls of cream. Then another time,
put this cream or butter macaroni into a vegetable dish and pour a few
hot stewed tomatoes over it.
=Baked Macaroni in Cream Sauce=
1-1½ cup macaroni, according to size
2 small onions
1-2 small cloves of garlic
1 qt. water
1½-2 teaspns. salt
_Sauce_:--
1½ tablespn. oil
1½ tablespn. flour
1 large pt. milk
salt, crumbs
chopped parsley
Make cream sauce in the usual way with the oil, flour, salt and milk
and pour into baking dish, turn into it the macaroni which has been
cooked in the salted water with sliced onion and garlic until tender
and the water absorbed, and press down into the sauce; sprinkle with
crumbs and parsley and bake in moderate oven until bubbling and
delicately browned. If preferred, ¼ cup of flour may be used in the
sauce.
Make enough of this dish for two days, and another day stir salted
tomato into what is left and bake as before for Macaroni in Tomato
Sauce.
=Macaroni--Pine Nuts=
Add ½ cup of pine nut butter or meal to the sauce in the preceding
recipe (by mixing a little of the sauce with it) and sprinkle with
chopped meats and crumbs.
=Macaroni--Corn=
¾-1 cup macaroni
3 cups boiling water
1-1½ teaspn. salt
1 small onion
½-1 small clove of garlic if wished
1 cup canned, or stewed fresh corn
_Sauce_:--
1 cup rich milk or thin cream
½ tablespn. flour
½ teaspn. salt
Add corn and cooked macaroni to sauce, turn all into baking dish,
sprinkle with crumbs and pour a little melted butter over if sauce is
made with milk. Brown in oven.
=Browned Macaroni and Granella=
1 cup macaroni, ¾-1 cup granella, 3 cups rich milk (more if necessary).
Dry and delicately brown macaroni in oven and cook the same as
unbrowned. Put into baking dish in layers with granella, turn milk,
slightly salted, over and heat in moderate oven. It should be quite
moist when done. Unless the milk is about one-fourth cream, there may
be a little oil or butter poured over the top.
=Macaroni--Tomato and Onion=
Simmer onion in oil or butter, add stewed tomatoes and salt; simmer a
few minutes and add cooked macaroni; set back where it will heat slowly
for a short time and serve.
Tomatoes, onions and macaroni may be put into baking dish in layers,
with a sprinkling of pine nut meal; with tomatoes, crumbs and chopped
nuts on top, and baked.
=Vermicelli--Asparagus=
Cook vermicelli in salted water, drain, spread on platter, lay stalks
of cooked asparagus on it and pour egg cream sauce over. Cut asparagus
into inch lengths if preferred.
=Macaroni in Milk=
Heat 1 qt. of milk in inner cup of double boiler, add 1 cup of macaroni
and cook until tender, perhaps for 2 hrs. Serve plain as side dish or
for luncheon or supper. It may also be served with stewed raisins, with
or without cream.
=★ Cream Mold of Macaroni=
Cook ½ cup of macaroni with or without a few slices of onion and a
suspicion of garlic, in 2 cups of water with ½ tablespn. of butter
until tender and well dried out; drain, add ⅔ cup milk, 1 large egg and
salt. Turn into well buttered mold and bake covered in pan of water in
moderate oven until egg is set, ¾-1 hour. Serve with Boundary Castle or
any suitable sauce.
=★ Macaroni--Sour Cream=
2-3 cups macaroni
1 pt. sour cream (or sour milk with butter or oil)
1 teaspn. salt
1 egg
Add beaten egg and salt to cream and pour over cooked macaroni in
baking dish; sprinkle with crumbs and bake until egg is set.
Rice may be used in place of macaroni, tomato also may be added
sometimes with chopped onion; a delicate flavoring of sage gives
another variety.