powder, one large slice of onion, one large cupful of stock, salt and
pepper to taste. Cut the onion fine, and fry brown in the butter. Add
the flour and curry powder. Stir for one minute, add the stock and
season with the salt and pepper. Simmer five minutes; then strain and
serve. This sauce can be served with a broil or _sauté_ of meat or
fish.
TO BROWN BUTTER.
Put a lump of butter into a hot frying pan and toss it about until it
browns. Stir brown flour into it until it is smooth and begins to
boil. Use it for coloring gravies, and sauces for meats.
TO BROWN FLOUR.
Spread flour upon a tin pie-plate, set it upon the stove or in a
_very_ hot oven, and stir continually, after it begins to color, until
it is brown all through.
Keep it always on hand; put away in glass jars covered closely. It is
excellent for coloring and thickening many dishes.
TO MAKE MUSTARD.
Boil some vinegar; take four spoonfuls of mustard, half of a
teaspoonful of sugar, a saltspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of
melted butter; mix well.
FRENCH MUSTARD.
Three tablespoonfuls of mustard, one tablespoonful of granulated
sugar, well worked together, then beat in an egg until it is smooth;
add one teacupful of vinegar, a little at a time, working it all
smooth; then set on the stove and cook three or four minutes, stirring
all the time; when cool, add one tablespoonful of the best olive oil,
taking care to get it all thoroughly worked in and smooth. You will
find this very nice. _Mrs. D. Riegel_.
KITCHEN PEPPER.
Mix one ounce of ground ginger, half an ounce each of black pepper,
ground cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, one teaspoonful of ground
cloves, and six ounces of salt. Keep in a tightly corked bottle. _The
Caterer_.
PREPARED COCOANUT. (For Pies, Puddings, etc.)
To prepare cocoanut for future use, first cut a hole through the meat
at one of the holes in the end, draw off the milk, then loosen the
meat by pounding the nut well on all sides. Crack the nut and take out
the meat, and place the pieces of meat in a cool open oven over night,
or for a few hours, to dry; then grate it. If there is more grated
than is needed for present use, sprinkle it with sugar, and spread out
in a cool dry place. When dry enough put away in dry cans or bottles.
Will keep for weeks.
SPICES.
Ginger is the root of a shrub first known in Asia, and now cultivated
in the West Indies and Sierra Leone. The stem grows three or four feet
high and dies every year. There are two varieties of ginger--the white
and black--caused by taking more or less care in selecting and
preparing the roots, which are always dug in winter, when the stems
are withered. The white is the best.
_Cinnamon_ is the inner bark of a beautiful tree, a native of Ceylon,
that grows from twenty to thirty feet in height and lives to be
centuries old.
_Cloves_.--Native to the Molucca Islands, and so called from
resemblance to a nail (_clavis_). The East Indians call them
"changkek" from the Chinese "techengkia" (fragrant nails). They grow
on a straight, smooth-barked tree, about forty feet high. Cloves are
not fruits, but blossoms, gathered before they are quite unfolded.
_Allspice_.--A berry so called because it combines the flavor of
several spices--grows abundantly on the allspice or bayberry tree;
native of South America and the West Indies. A single tree has been
known to produce one hundred and fifty pounds of berries. They are
purple when ripe.
_Black pepper_ is made by grinding the dried berry of a climbing vine,
native to the East Indies. White pepper is obtained from the same
berries, freed from their husk or rind. Red or cayenne pepper is
obtained by grinding the scarlet pod or seed-vessel of a tropical
plant that is now cultivated in all parts of the world.
_Nutmeg_ is the kernel of a small, smooth, pear-shaped fruit that
grows on a tree in the Molucca Islands, and other parts of the East.
The trees commence bearing in the seventh year, and continue fruitful
until they are seventy or eighty years old. Around the nutmeg or
kernel is a bright, brown shell. This shell has a soft, scarlet
covering, which, when flattened out and dried, is known as mace. The
best nutmegs are solid, and emit oil when pricked with a pin.
HERBS FOR WINTER.
To prepare herbs for winter use, such as sage, summer savory, thyme,
mint or any of the sweet herbs, they should be gathered fresh in their
season, or procure them from the market. Examine them well, throwing
out all poor sprigs; then wash and shake them; tie into small bundles,
and tie over the bundles a piece of netting or old lace (to keep off
the dust); hang up in a warm, dry place, the leaves downward. In a few
days the herb will be thoroughly dry and brittle. Or you may place
them in a cool oven and let them remain in it until perfectly dry.
Then pick off all the leaves and the tender tops of the stems; put
them in a clean, large-mouthed bottle that is perfectly dry. When
wanted for use, rub fine, and sift through a sieve. It is much better
to put them in bottles as soon as dried, as long exposure to the air
causes them to lose strength and flavor.
MEATS AND THEIR ACCOMPANIMENTS.
With roast beef: tomato sauce, grated horse-radish, mustard, cranberry
sauce, pickles.
With roast pork: apple sauce, cranberry sauce.
With roast veal: tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, onion sauce and
cranberry sauce. Horse-radish and lemons are good.
With roast mutton: currant jelly, caper sauce.
With boiled mutton: onion sauce, caper sauce.
With boiled fowls: bread sauce, onion sauce, lemon sauce, cranberry
sauce, jellies. Also cream sauce. With roast lamb: mint sauce.
With roast turkey: cranberry sauce, currant jelly. With boiled turkey:
oyster sauce.
With venison or wild ducks: cranberry sauce, currant jelly, or currant
jelly warmed with port wine.
With roast goose: apple sauce, cranberry sauce, grape or currant
jelly.
With boiled fresh mackerel: stewed gooseberries.
With boiled blue fish: white cream sauce, lemon sauce.
With broiled shad: mushroom sauce, parsley or egg sauce.
With fresh salmon: green peas, cream sauce.
Pickles are good with all roast meats, and in fact are suitable
accompaniments to all kinds of meats in general.
Spinach is the proper accompaniment to veal; green peas to lamb. Lemon
juice makes a very grateful addition to nearly all the insipid members
of the fish kingdom. Slices of lemon cut into very small dice and
stirred into drawn butter and allowed to come to the boiling point,
served with fowls, is a fine accompaniment.
VEGETABLES APPROPRIATE TO DIFFERENT DISHES.
Potatoes are good with all meats. With fowls they are nicest mashed.
Sweet potatoes are most appropriate with roast meats, as also are
onions, winter squash, cucumbers and asparagus.
Carrots, parsnips, turnips, greens and cabbage are generally eaten
with boiled meat, and corn, beets, peas and beans are appropriate to
either boiled or roasted meat. Mashed turnip is good with roast pork
and with boiled meats. Tomatoes are good with almost every kind of
meats, especially with roasts.
WARM DISHES FOR BREAKFAST.
The following of hot breakfast dishes may be of assistance in knowing
what to provide for the comfortable meal called breakfast.
Broiled beefsteak, broiled chops, broiled chicken, broiled fish,
broiled quail on toast, fried pork tenderloins, fried pig's feet,
fried oysters, fried clams, fried liver and bacon, fried chops, fried
pork, ham and eggs fried, veal cutlets breaded, sausages, fricasseed
tripe, fricasseed kidneys, turkey or chicken hash, corn beef hash,
beef croquettes, codfish balls, creamed codfish, stewed meats on
toast, poached eggs on toast, omelettes, eggs boiled plain, and eggs
cooked in any of the various styles.
VEGETABLES FOR BREAKFAST.
Potatoes in any of the various modes of cooking, also stewed tomatoes,
stewed corn, raw radishes, cucumbers sliced, tomatoes sliced raw,
water cress, lettuce.
To be included with the breakfast dishes: oatmeal mush, cracked wheat,
hominy or corn-meal mush, these with cream, milk and sugar or syrup.
Then numberless varieties of bread can be selected, in form of rolls,
fritters, muffins, waffles, corn-cakes, griddle-cakes, etc., etc.
For beverages, coffee, chocolate and cocoa, or tea if one prefers it;
these are all suitable for the breakfast table.
When obtainable always have a vase of choice flowers on the breakfast
table; also some fresh fruit, if convenient.
SALADS.
Everything in the make-up of a salad should be of the freshest
material, the vegetables crisp and fresh, the oil or butter the very
best, meats, fowl and fish well cooked, pure cider or white wine
vinegar--in fact, every ingredient first class, to insure success.
The vegetables used in salad are: Beet-root, onions, potatoes,
cabbage, lettuce, celery, cucumbers, lentils, haricots, winter cress,
peas, French beans, radish, cauliflower--all these may be used
judiciously in salad, if properly seasoned, according to the following
directions.
Chervil is a delicious salad herb, invariably found in all salads
prepared by a French _gourmet_. No man can be a true epicure who is
unfamiliar with this excellent herb. It may be procured from the
vegetable stands at Fulton and Washington markets the year round. Its
leaves resemble parsley, but are more divided, and a few of them added
to a breakfast salad give a delightful flavor.
_Chervil Vinegar_.--A few drops of this vinegar added to fish sauces
or salads is excellent, and well repays the little trouble taken in
its preparation. Half fill a bottle with fresh or dry chervil leaves;
fill the bottle with good vinegar and heat it gently by placing it in
warm water, which bring to boiling point; remove from the fire; when
cool cork, and in two weeks it will be ready for use.
MAYONNAISE DRESSING.
Put the yolks of four fresh raw eggs, with two hard-boiled ones, into
a cold bowl. Rub these as smooth as possible before introducing the
oil; a good measure of oil is a tablespoonful to each yolk of raw egg.
All the art consists in introducing the oil by degrees, a few drops at
a time. You can never make a good salad without taking plenty of time.
When the oil is well mixed, and assumes the appearance of jelly, put
in two heaping teaspoonfuls of dry table salt, one of pepper and one
of made mustard. Never put in salt and pepper before this stage of the
process, because the salt and pepper would coagulate the albumen of
the eggs, and you could not get the dressing smooth. Two
tablespoonfuls of vinegar added gradually.
The _Mayonnaise_ should be the thickness of thick cream when finished,
but if it looks like curdling when mixing it, set in the ice-box or in
a _cold_ place for about forty minutes or an hour, then mix it again.
It is a good idea to place it in a pan of cracked ice while mixing.
For lobster salad, use the _coral_, mashed and pressed through a
sieve, then add to the above.
Salad dressing should be kept in a separate bowl in a cold, place, and
not mixed with the salad until the moment it is to be served, or it
may lose its crispness and freshness.
DRESSING FOR COLD SLAW. (Cabbage Salad.)
Beat up two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of sugar, add a piece of
butter the size of half an egg, a teaspoonful of mustard, a little
pepper, and lastly a teacup of vinegar. Put all of these ingredients
into a dish over the fire and cook like a soft custard. Some think it
improved by adding half a cupful of thick sweet cream to this
dressing; in that case use less vinegar. Either way is very fine.
SALAD CREAM DRESSING. No. 1.
One cup fresh cream, one spoonful fine flour, the whites of two eggs
beaten stiff, three spoonfuls of vinegar, two spoonfuls of salad oil
or soft butter, two spoonfuls of powdered sugar, one teaspoonful salt,
one-half teaspoonful pepper, one teaspoonful of made mustard. Heat
cream almost to boiling; stir in the flour, previously wet with cold
milk; boil two minutes, stirring all the time; add sugar and take from
fire. When half cold, beat in whipped whites of egg; set aside to
cool. When quite cold, whip in the oil or butter, pepper, mustard and
salt; if the salad is ready, add vinegar and pour at once over it.
CREAM DRESSING. No. 2.
Two tablespoonfuls of whipped sweet cream, two of sugar and four of
vinegar; beat well and pour over the cabbage, previously cut very fine
and seasoned with salt.
FRENCH SALAD DRESSING.
Mix one saltspoon of pepper with one of salt; add three tablespoonfuls
of olive oil and one even tablespoonful of onion scraped fine; then
one tablespoonful of vinegar; when well mixed, pour the mixture over
your salad and stir all till well mingled.
The merit of a salad is that it should be cool, fresh and crisp. For
vegetables use only the delicate white stalks of celery, the small
heart-leaves of lettuce; or tenderest stalks and leaves of the white
cabbage. Keep the vegetable portion crisp and fresh until the time for
serving, when add the meat. For chicken and fish salads use the
"Mayonnaise dressing." For simple vegetable salads the French dressing
is most appropriate, using onion rather than garlic.
MIXED SUMMER SALAD.
Three heads of lettuce, two teaspoonfuls of green mustard leaves, a
handful of water cresses, five tender radishes, one cucumber, three
hard-boiled eggs, two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, one teaspoonful of
salt, one teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful of made mustard, one
teacupful of vinegar, half a teacupful of oil.
Mix all well together, and serve with a lump of ice in the middle.
"_Common Sense in the Household_."
CHICKEN SALAD.
Boil the fowls tender and remove all the fat, gristle and skin; mince
the meat in small pieces, but do not hash it. To one chicken put twice
and a half its weight in celery, cut in pieces of about one-quarter of
an inch; mix thoroughly and set it in a cool place--the ice chest.
In the meantime prepare a "Mayonnaise dressing," and when ready for
the table pour this dressing over the chicken and celery, tossing and
mixing it thoroughly. Set it in a cool place until ready to serve.
Garnish with celery tips, or cold hard-boiled eggs, lettuce leaves,
from the heart, cold boiled beets or capers, olives.
Crisp cabbage is a good substitute for celery; when celery is not to
be had use celery vinegar in the dressing. Turkey makes a fine salad.
LOBSTER SALAD. No. 1.
Prepare a sauce with the _coral_ of a fine, new lobster, boiled fresh
for about half an hour. Pound and rub it smooth, and mix very
gradually with a dressing made from the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs,
a tablespoonful of made mustard, three of salad oil, two of vinegar,
one of white powdered sugar, a small teaspoonful of salt, as much
black pepper, a pinch of cayenne and yolks of two fresh eggs. Next
fill your salad bowl with some shred lettuce, the better part of two
leaving the small curled centre to garnish your dish with. Mingle with
this the flesh of your lobster, torn, broken or cut into bits seasoned
with salt and pepper and a small portion of the dressing. Pour over
the whole the rest of the dressing; put your lettuce-hearts down the
centre and arrange upon the sides slices of hard-boiled eggs.
LOBSTER SALAD. No. 2.
Using canned lobsters, take a can, skim off all the oil on the
surface, and chop the meat up coarsely on a flat dish. Prepare the
same way six heads of celery; mix a teaspoonful of mustard into a
smooth paste with a little vinegar; add yolks of two fresh eggs; a
tablespoonful of butter, creamed, a small teaspoonful of salt, the
same of pepper, a quarter of a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, a gill
of vinegar, and the mashed yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Mix a small
portion of the dressing with the celery and meat, and turn the
remainder over all. Garnish with the green tops of celery and a
hard-boiled egg, cut into thin rings.
FISH SALAD.
Take a fresh white fish or trout, boil and chop it, but not too fine;
put with the same quantity of chopped cabbage, celery or lettuce;
season the same as chicken salad. Garnish with the tender leaves of
the heart of lettuce.
OYSTER SALAD.
Drain the liquor from a quart of fresh oysters. Put them in hot
vinegar enough to cover them placed over the fire; let them remain
until _plump_, but not cooked; then drop them immediately in cold
water, drain off, and mix with them two pickled cucumbers cut fine,
also a quart of celery cut in dice pieces, some seasoning of salt and
pepper. Mix all well together, tossing up with a silver fork. Pour
over the whole a "Mayonnaise dressing." Garnish with celery tips and
slices of hard-boiled eggs arranged tastefully.
DUTCH SALAD.
Wash, split and bone a dozen anchovies, and roll each one up; wash,
split and bone one herring, and cut it up into small pieces; cut up
into dice an equal quantity of Bologna or Lyons sausage, or of smoked
ham and sausages; also, an equal quantity of the breast of cold roast
fowl, or veal; add likewise, always in the same quantity, and cut into
dice, beet-roots, pickled cucumbers, cold boiled potatoes cut in
larger dice, and in quantity according to taste, but at least thrice
as much potato as anything else; add a tablespoohful of capers, the
yolks and whites of some hard-boiled eggs, minced separately, and a
dozen stoned olives; mix all the ingredients well together, reserving
the olives and anchovies to ornament the top of the bowl; beat up
together oil and Tarragon vinegar with white pepper and French mustard
to taste; pour this over the salad and serve.
HAM SALAD.
Take cold boiled ham, fat and lean together, chop it until it is
thoroughly mixed and the pieces are about the size of peas; then add
to this an equal quantity of celery cut fine, if celery is out of
season, lettuce may be substituted. Line a dish thickly with lettuce
leaves and fill with the chopped ham and celery. Make a dressing the
same as for cold slaw and turn over the whole. Very fine.
CRAB SALAD.
Boil three dozen hard-shell crabs twenty-five minutes; drain and let
them cool gradually; remove the upper shell and the tail, break the
remainder apart and pick out the meat carefully. The large claws
should not be forgotten, for they contain a dainty morsel, and the
creamy fat attached to the upper shell should not be overlooked. Line
a salad bowl with the small white leaves of two heads of lettuce, add
the crab meat, pour over it a "Mayonnaise" garnish with crab claws,
hard-boiled eggs and little mounds of cress leaves, which may be mixed
with the salad when served.
COLD SLAW.
Select the finest head of bleached cabbage--that is to say one of the
finest and most compact of the more delicate varieties; cut up enough
into shreds to fill a large vegetable dish or salad bowl--that to be
regulated by the size of the cabbage and the quantity required; shave
very fine and after that chop up, the more thoroughly the better. Put
this into a dish in which it is to be served, after seasoning it well
with salt and pepper. Turn over it a dressing made as for cold slaw;
mix it well and garnish with slices of hard-boiled eggs.
PLAIN COLD SLAW.
Slice cabbage very fine; season with salt, pepper and a little sugar;
pour over vinegar and mix thoroughly. It is nice served in the centre
of a platter with fried oysters around it.
HOT SLAW.
Cut the cabbage as for cold slaw; put it into a stewpan and set it on
the top of the stove for half an hour, or till hot all through; do not
let it boil. Then make a dressing the same as for cold slaw, and,
while hot, pour it over the hot cabbage. Stir it until well mixed and
the cabbage looks coddled. Serve immediately.
TOMATO SALAD.
Peel and slice twelve good, sound, fresh tomatoes; the slices about a
quarter of an inch thick. Set them on the ice or in a refrigerator
while you make the dressing. Make the same as "Mayonnaise," or you may
use "Cream dressing." Take one head of the broad-leaved variety of
lettuce, wash, and arrange them neatly around the sides of a salad
bowl. Place the cold, sliced tomatoes in the centre. Pour over the
dressing and serve.
ENDIVE.
This ought to be nicely blanched and crisp, and is the most wholesome
of all salads. Take two, cut away the root, remove the dark green
leaves, and pick off all the rest; wash and drain well, add a few
chives. Dress with "Mayonnaise dressing."
Endive is extensively cultivated for the adulteration of coffee; is
also a fine relish, and has broad leaves. Endive is of the same nature
as chicory, the leaves being curly.
CELERY SALAD.
Prepare the dressing the same as for tomato salad; cut the celery into
bits half an inch long, and season. Serve at once before the vinegar
injures the crispness of the vegetables.
LETTUCE SALAD.
Take the yolks of three hard-boiled eggs, and salt and mustard to
taste; mash it fine; make a paste by adding a dessertspoonful of olive
oil or melted butter (use butter always when it is difficult to get
_fresh_ oil); mix thoroughly, and then dilute by adding _gradually_ a
teacupful of vinegar, and pour over the lettuce. Garnish by _slicing_
another egg and laying over the lettuce. This is sufficient for a
moderate-sized dish of lettuce.
POTATO SALAD, HOT.
Pare six or eight large potatoes, and boil till done, and slice thin
while hot; peel and cut up three large onions into small bits and mix
with the potatoes; cut up some breakfast bacon into small bits,
sufficient to fill a teacup and fry it a light brown; remove the meat,
and into the grease stir three tablespoonfuls of vinegar, making a
sour gravy, which with the bacon pour over the potato and onion; mix
lightly. To be eaten when hot.
POTATO SALAD, COLD.
Chop cold boiled potatoes fine, with enough raw onions to season
nicely; make a dressing as for lettuce salad, and pour over it.
BEAN SALAD.
String young beans; break into half-inch pieces or leave whole; wash
and cook soft in salt water; drain well; add finely chopped onions,
pepper, salt and vinegar; when cool, add olive oil or melted butter.
TO DRESS CUCUMBERS RAW.
They should be as fresh from the vine as possible, few vegetables
being more unwholesome when long gathered. As soon as they are brought
in lay them in cold water. Just before they are to go to the table
take them out, pare them and slice them into a pan of fresh cold
water. When they are all sliced, transfer them to a deep dish; season
them with a little salt and black pepper, and pour over them some of
the best vinegar. You may mix with them a small quantity of sliced
onions, not to be eaten, but to communicate a slight flavor of onion
to the vinegar.
CELERY UNDRESSED.
Celery is sometimes sent to the table without dressing. Scrape the
outside stalks, and cut off the green tops and the roots; lay it in
cold water until near the time to serve, then change the water, in
which let it stand three or four minutes; split the stalks in three,
with a sharp knife, being careful not to break them, and serve in
goblet-shaped salad glasses.
To crisp celery, let it lie in ice-water two hours before serving; to
fringe the stalks, stick several coarse needles into a cork, and draw
the stalk half way from the top through the needles several times and
lay in the refrigerator to curl and crisp.
RADISHES.
All the varieties are generally served in the same manner, by scraping
and placing on the table in glasses containing some cold water to keep
them fresh looking.
PEPPERGRASS AND CRESS.
These are used mostly as an appetizer, served simply with salt.
Cresses are occasionally used in making salad.
HORSE-RADISH.
Horse-radish is an agreeable relish, and has a particularly fresh
taste in the spring; is scraped fine or grated, and set on the table
in a small covered cup; much that is bottled and sold as horse-radish
is adulterated with grated turnip.
LETTUCE.
Wash each leaf separately, breaking them from the head; crisp in
ice-water and serve the leaves whole, to be prepared at table,
providing hard-boiled eggs cut in halves or slices, oil and other
ingredients, to be mixed at table to individual taste.
CATSUPS.
TOMATO CATSUP. No. 1.