two of sugar, add six egg-yolks beaten light, then add alternately one
cup sour milk with teaspoon soda dissolved in it, and three cups sifted
flour. Fold in egg-whites stiffly beaten then add half cake Baker's
chocolate melted, and three teaspoonfuls vanilla. Stir hard a minute,
pour in deep, well greased pan, and bake in moderate oven.
_Coffee Cake_: (Mrs. R. Heim.) Beat together until light, one egg, one
cup sugar, butter the size of a large egg. Add alternately one cup milk,
and two cups flour with two teaspoonfuls baking powder sifted in it.
Put in pan, and sprinkle thickly all over top with sugar and powdered
cinnamon. Bake rather quickly but do not scorch.
_Fig Pudding_: (Mrs. R. Heim.) One pound figs, half pound suet, six
eggs, two cups sugar, three cups biscuit crumbs. Run figs, suet and
crumbs through grinder, beat eggs very light, add other ingredients,
beat again, and steam or boil in buttered mold, tied in well scalded
bag, four hours. Serve hot with this sauce. Beat to a light cream, one
cup butter with two cups sugar. Add two eggs very well beaten, then
gradually two tablespoons vinegar and one of vanilla. Cook a long time
in double boiler, stirring constantly, or it will not be smooth. Keep
hot until served.
_Thin Ginger Snaps_: (Mrs. R. Heim.) Mix a cup of melted lard well
through two of molasses, add a pinch of salt, spices to taste, and
enough flour to make a soft batter. Drop by small spoonfuls on a
well-greased baking sheet, and cook in quick oven.
_Measure Pound Cake_: (Leslie Fox.) Cream well together, one cup butter,
one and three-quarter cups sugar, when very light, drop in an egg-yolk
unbeaten, beat hard, put in another yolk, beat again hard, then another,
and repeat the hard beating. When very light add alternately two and
one-half cups flour, and one cup milk, mix well, then add half a cup
flour sifted three times with three even teaspoonfuls baking powder.
Follow this with the egg-whites beaten stiff. Flavor with brandy--a
tablespoonful and a half. Bake in a moderate oven about an hour. Serve
with any approved pudding sauce, or use as other cake. Nearly as good as
the pound cake of our grandmothers.
_Kisses_: (Mrs. R. Heim.) Add to four fresh egg-whites unbeaten, a tiny
pinch of salt, two teaspoonfuls water, and three cups fine sugar. Beat
hard for at least half an hour--until the mixture is smooth and stiff.
Drop from point of spoon upon buttered paper, and harden in an oven cool
enough not to color.
[Illustration: _Meat, Poultry, Game, Eggs_]
_Barbecued Lamb_: The middle piece, known to butchers as "the bracelet,"
is best for barbecuing. Have it split down the backbone, and the
rib-ends neatly trimmed, also the ribs proper, broken about midway, but
not quite through. Wash clean, wipe dry, rub over well with salt, then
prick in tiny gashes with a sharp-pointed knife, and rub in well black
pepper, paprika, a very little dry mustard, then dash lightly with
tabasco. Put a low rack in the bottom of a deep narrowish pan, set the
meat upon it, letting only the backbone and rib-ends touch the rack.
This puts it in a sort of Gothic arch. Keep it so throughout the
cooking. Put a cupful of water underneath--it must not touch the meat.
Have the oven very hot, but not scorching--should it scorch in the least
turn another pan over the meat for the first hour of cooking. Add more
water as the first boils away, but do not baste the meat--the water is
merely to keep it from getting too hard. Roast till the fat is crisped
and brown throughout, the lean very tender. Take up on a broad, hot
dish, and in serving cut along the ribs, so as to let each portion
include the whole length of them, as well as part of the backbone. Serve
with a sauce, of melted butter, mixed with equal quantity of strong
vinegar, boiling hot, made thick with red and black pepper, minced
cucumber pickle, and a bare dash of onion juice. This is as near an
approach to a real barbecue, which is cooked over live coals in the
bottom of a trench, as a civilized kitchen can supply.
The middling of a pig weighing less than a hundred pounds, well
scraped, washed clean, and likewise roasted on a rack after seasoning it
well, makes a fine dish. The sauce for it should include minced green
peppers, instead of cucumbers. If you happen to have a pepper mango, cut
it fine, and let it stand in the hot sauce ten minutes before serving.
_Beefsteak with Bacon and Onions_: Fry crisp a pound of streaky bacon,
take up and keep warm. Make the fat bubble all over, lay in it a steak,
wiped clean, seasoned with salt and pepper, and dredged lightly with
flour. Sear it well on both sides--take from the fat, lay on broiler,
and cook for ten minutes, turning once. Serve thus if you like it
rare--if contrariwise you want it well done, set the steak on a rack or
broiler in a hot oven, and let it cook there for fifteen to twenty
minutes, according to thickness. Meantime dredge more flour into the
fat, let it brown a minute, then lay in large, mild onions thinly
sliced. Fry to a light brown, and serve around the steak. Serve the
gravy separately, adding to it just before taking up, a little hot
water, and shaking the pan well. This may be varied by frying with the
onions or instead of them, sliced tomatoes, and green peppers finely
shredded. Or cut large, very meaty tomatoes, unpeeled, into thick
slices, pour off the gravy, lay them in the hot, greasy pan, season well
with pepper and salt, and cook five minutes, turning them and seasoning
the other side. Lay the bacon on the tomatoes--otherwise put it around
the steak outside the onions.
_Boned Fresh Ham_: It had better not be too big--ten pounds is about the
limit. Have the bone removed, but do not throw it away. Instead break it
in pieces and boil them three hours in water to barely cover. Wipe the
ham well inside and out, rub the inside over lightly with butter, season
with salt and pepper, and pour in a little vinegar. Rub salt well over
the outside and let stand on ice several hours. Make a stuffing of
grated breadcrumbs, with minced pork fat, a sprig of celery chopped
fine, half an apple, also chopped fine, salt, pepper, paprika, a pinch
of sage in powder, and the least shred of thyme and lemon peel. A
chestnut stuffing can be used, or one whose foundation is grated sweet
potato. Fill the bone cavity, firmly but not too full, skewer or sew
together the cut edges, and tie around twice with narrow tape. Turn
over, score the skin well, rub it with soft butter or bacon fat, dredge
lightly with flour, then with black and red pepper, also lightly with
sugar, and lay on a low rack in a pan. Fill in sweet cider, or sound
claret till it stands halfway up to the ham, cover with a close-fitting
upper pan, and put into a hot oven. Cook for two hours, lifting the pan
now and then, and basting the meat. Uncover, and make very, very crisp.
Serve on a hot dish, with candied sweet potatoes laid around. Add
boiling water to the liquor in the pan, shake it well about, and pour
into a gravy boat. Or pour off the grease, add a sprinkle of flour, let
it brown on top the stove, and put to it the strained liquor the bone
was boiled in. Cook three minutes, and serve in the gravy boat. If the
bone liquor is not used this way, make it the foundation of pea or
cabbage soup. In carving cut through and through so as to serve the
stuffing with each portion.
_Roast Beef_: Scrape and wash clean, wipe dry, sear cut sides well,
either in bubbling fat, or under gas flame, set on a small rack in a
deep pan, sprinkle well with salt and pepper, dredge on flour scantly,
pour water underneath till it stands half an inch deep, cover close, set
in a hot oven and cook until tender. Basting will not be needed until
the pan is uncovered--then add a little more water, boiling hot, baste
thoroughly, return to oven, and brown. If you like, add sliced tomatoes,
minced onions, shredded green peppers, carrots cut small, and very
tender green peas after uncovering--they will cook while the meat is
browning, and can be served all together in a separate dish.
_Pot Roast_: Wash and dry, then brown lightly all over in hot bacon fat,
and lay upon a small rack in the bottom of a deep pot, seasoning well
with salt, pepper, and paprika. Pour on a little Cayenne, vinegar, add a
spoonful of hot fat, then pour in enough boiling water to come half way
up the meat, cover tight, and simmer until tender. An hour before
serving time, put any sort of vegetables approved, or at hand, carrots,
sliced, peas, string beans, lima beans, potatoes in thick slices, into
the browning fat, let them cook five to ten minutes, sprinkling them
well with salt and pepper, then skim out of the fat, and add to the pot,
along with a cupful more boiling water. Simmer until the water is all
gone, and the meat is brown. Take up, lay vegetables around the meat, or
make a bed of them for it, add a little more hot water to the pot, stir
well over the fire till it takes up the meat essence, then pour it over
meat and vegetables, else serve in a gravy boat.
_Leg of Mutton in Blanket_: Make deep, narrow gashes in the thick end of
a clean leg of mutton, crowd into them a mixed seasoning, salt, red and
black pepper, minced onion, a little dry mustard, and powdered herbs.
Brush all over with melted butter, or soft bacon fat, then sprinkle
lightly with salt, set on a rack in a roasting pan, and pop into a very
hot oven. Let it brown--then rub over it any tart jelly melted in a
little hot water, and envelop it in a crust of flour and water, made
very stiff, and rolled half an inch thick. Pinch the edges tight
together, lay back in the pan, cover it, and bake in a hot oven. Take
up, break the blanket carefully on top, lift out the meat, and pour the
gravy from the envelop into a small sauce pan, add to it either hot
claret, or a spoonful of tart jelly, along with tabasco or Worcester
sauce, boil up, and serve in a boat. Tomato or walnut catsup may be used
for flavoring. Indeed one sometimes finds opportunity a close second to
inspiration.
_The Preparation of Poultry and Game_: Pick carefully, draw and singe
every manner of poultry and feathered game, wash clean, quickly, in cold
water, never hot, drain, then wipe as dry as possible with a soft,
thick, damp cloth--it takes up moisture cleaner than a dry one. Keep
very cold and away from smells until ready to cook. Tilt roasting fowls,
so they may drain, if liquid gathers. Before stuffing rub over the
whole inside lightly with soft butter or bacon fat, pepper it scantly,
and rub on a very little salt. Grease and season the outside after
stuffing is done,--never before it. If game is shot-torn, soak for ten
minutes in weak salt water after plucking, rinse in cold salt water,
wipe dry and drain.
Furred game, as rabbits, squirrels, possums, ought to be drawn before it
is cold, if you would have the finest flavor. This is especially
necessary with possums--which should be bought alive, and fattened for
several weeks in a clean cage, feeding them on bread, milk, apples,
potatoes, cabbage leaves, and grass. This makes them tender and much
more delicate in flavor. Kill by dislocating the neck with a quick,
upward jerk, then cut the throat and hang to bleed. Roll after dampening
fur well in very hot embers--then scrape the same as a pig, draw, and
hang to cool. Divide the skin of rabbits and squirrels around the
middle, and pull off each half, the same as a kid glove. Thus no hairs
stick on the clean flesh. Draw very quickly, wipe lightly with a damp
cloth, and hang where it is cool and airy for at least an hour.
_Roast Turkey_: Make a stuffing of stale bread. Cut the crusts from a
small loaf, grate the crumb, brown crusts crisp, crush, sift and mix
well with the gratings. Shred finely through it four ounces fresh suet,
and a lump of butter the size of an egg. Add a tiny heart of celery cut
small, half a tart apple also cut fine, two dozen fat raisins, seeded,
halved, and soaked for twelve hours in whiskey to cover, salt, pepper,
and paprika to taste. Mix well, stuff the turkey but not too tight. Put
a handful in the crop space, and fasten the skin neatly over. Truss your
turkey firmly, rub all over with soft fat, then sprinkle with salt and
pepper, and set upon a rack in a deep roasting pan, pour half an inch of
water in the bottom, cover tight, put in a hot oven, and roast for an
hour, then slack heat and finish. The turkey will brown thus covered,
and be tenderer and sweeter than if crisped uncovered. The pan will
hold gravy better than can be made otherwise.
Roast chickens or capons in exactly the same way. Geese need to be
roasted more slowly and to have a seasoning of sage, onion, and tart
apple in the stuffing, instead of raisins. The dry stuffing takes up the
juices of the fowl, and is much more flavorous, and less pasty than that
which is wet before use.
_Guinea Hen in Casserole_: Stick six cloves in a cored and pared apple,
thrust a heart of celery in the core space, then fit it inside a guinea
hen, buttered, salted and peppered inside. Pack in grated bread
crumbs--all there is space for. Truss, grease, season, set in a hot
oven, and brown lightly all over, then lay in a casserole on a bed of
sliced carrots, young green peas, shredded green peppers, sliced
tomatoes and tiny onions, parboiled for five minutes. Add a large lump
of butter, rolled in flour, a cup of hot water or weak broth, cover
close, and cook an hour in a hot oven. Serve on the vegetables, bedded
firmly, with tart jelly melted to barely run, splashed over the breast.
_Chickens in Blankets_: Take young fat chickens about three pounds
weight, dress as for roasting, put inside each a peeled sweet potato,
and a small lump of butter, after greasing and seasoning inside and out.
Lay on low rack in deep pan, brown lightly in oven, then fit close over
each a round of good short crust, rolled a quarter-inch thick. Return to
oven--when crust is a rich brown the chickens will be done. Serve crust
with each portion--thereby recalling a glorified chicken pie.
_Fried Chicken_: Cut into joints two tender young chickens, wipe the
pieces dry, season with salt and pepper, red and black, then set on ice.
Fry a pound of streaky bacon in a deep skillet, take out when crisp,
roll chicken in flour, dip in beaten egg, then roll again, and lay in
the fat, which must be bubbling hot, but not scorching. Cook, turning
often, to a rich brown, take out, then pile in a pan, set the pan over
another with boiling water in the bottom, and put all in a very hot
oven for fifteen minutes. This cooks the chicken through and through
without making it hard. The pieces must not touch in frying so there
will be two skilletfuls. When all the chicken is fried, and in the oven,
dredge in more flour, stir it well through the fat, then add a cup of
cream, stirring hard all the time, and letting it barely simmer--boiling
curdles it. Or if you want a full-cream gravy, pour off the fat, stir
the cream in double quantity in the skillet to take up the flavors, then
pour it in a double boiler, add pepper, salt, minced celery, a little
onion juice, and one at a time, lumps of butter, rolled well in flour.
Cook until thick and rich, and serve in a gravy boat.
_Smothered Chicken_: Get two pound broilers fat and tender, have them
split down the back, make clean, season by buttering inside and out,
sprinkling with salt, pepper and paprika, and dredging with flour. Lay
breasts down, upon a low rack in a deep pan, cover with slices of
streaky bacon, shingling the slices well. Dredge with pepper and flour,
lay in sliced tomatoes, shredded green peppers, and a few small
parboiled onions. Add lumps of butter rolled in flour, dotting them all
about the bacon. Pour in enough water to barely reach the top of the
rack, cover the pan close, and cook in a hot oven, about an hour.
Uncover after three-quarters of an hour, add a half-cup more water--this
is for the gravy. Cover again, and finish cooking. The chickens should
be brown all over but meltingly tender. Take up on a hot dish, breaking
the bacon slices as little as possible. Serve the vegetables separate,
also the gravy from the pan. The vegetables can be omitted, and
smothered chicken still be a dish to rejoice an epicure.
_Glorified Chicken Croquets_: (Mrs. G. H. Patch.) Boil a large-size
tender young chicken till the meat almost drops from the bones. Boil
likewise tender, in salt water, one pound either sweetbreads or calf
brains. Pick up the chicken and grind the meat fine, then mash it well
together with the brains or sweetbreads, and season to taste. Put into a
double boiler half-pint cream, tablespoonful butter, two tablespoonfuls
flour, one tablespoonful parsley chopped fine, one teaspoonful onion
juice, one teaspoonful salt, black and Cayenne pepper to taste. Cook
smooth, stirring hard, let thicken, then add the meat, and mix
thoroughly. Let cool, shape into croquets, dip in egg, roll in cracker
crumbs, and fry quickly in deep hot fat.
_Chicken-Turkey Hash_: Cut the meat small, freeing of skin and gristle.
If there is rich gravy left, put it into a skillet, and cook tender in
it, half a dozen sliced tomatoes, three shredded green peppers, a small
sliced onion, and a cupful of raw potato cubes. Lacking gravy, cook in
butter or bacon fat, and season to taste--gravy requires less seasoning
than plain fat. Add the meat, pour in a cup of boiling water, stir all
well together, and cook for five minutes. Serve in a hot dish lined with
thin toast. Fine for breakfast, or a very late supper.
_Rabbit or Squirrel Smothered_: Leave whole, rub over with fat, season
highly, lay in a pan or skillet, with slices of bacon, add a cup of hot
water, cover close, set over the fire, and simmer until tender.
Uncover, and brown in the gravy, adding a little Cayenne vinegar at the
very last.
_Rabbit or Squirrel Barbecued_: Leave whole, skewer flat, grease all
over, lay on rack in pan, and roast in hot oven, basting every five
minutes with hot salt water. When crisp, take up and serve with the
sauce directed for barbecued lamb.
_Quail_: Smother quail the same as rabbits. I like them better halved,
and fried crisp and quickly, in deep hot bacon fat. But to make the most
of them, a pie's the thing. The crust must be rich and rolled a
quarter-inch thick. Put in the birds whole, seasoning them well inside
and out, with salt and black pepper. Put in also generous lumps of
butter rolled in flour, slices of fat bacon, strips of crust an inch
wide and three inches long, a little minced onion, celery or shredded
green pepper if the flavors are approved, and a tiny pod of Cayenne
pepper. Pour in cold water till it stands half way up the birds. Be sure
the cover-crust is plenty big--pinch it down tight, prick and make a
cross-cut at the center into which a tubelet of paper must be thrust to
prevent the gravy's boiling over. Bake three-quarters of an hour, in a
hot oven. Take up, and serve very hot. A gill of hot cream poured in
through a funnel after taking up suits some palates--mine is not among
them. Other folks like a wineglass of sherry made very hot.
_Wild Duck_: If likely to be fishy, soak an hour in vinegar and water
made very salt, and roast with an onion inside stuck very full of
cloves. Season inside and out, rub over with fat or butter, and roast in
quick heat, to the degree required. Ducks or geese mild in flavor should
be roasted with a tart apple stuck with cloves inside, also a mild
onion. Rub over with fat, season with salt and pepper inside and out,
and strew inside lightly a small pinch of powdered sage. A good sauce
for them is made by browning half a cup of grated bread crumbs in a
tablespoonful of butter, adding to it a spoonful of tart jelly, a
wineglass of claret, a tablespoonful of tomato catsup, with seasoning
to taste of salt and pepper.
_Possum Roasted_: Chill thoroughly after scraping and drawing. Save all
the inside fat, let it soak in weak salt water until cooking time, then
rinse it well, and partly try it out in the pan before putting in the
possum. Unless he is huge, leave him whole, skewering him flat, and
laying him skin side up in the pan. Set in a hot oven and cook until
crisply tender, taking care there is no scorching. Roast a dozen good
sized sweet potatoes--in ashes if possible, if not, bake them covered in
a deep pan. Peel when done, and lay while hot around the possum, turning
them over and over in the abundant gravy. He should have been lightly
salted when hung up, and fully seasoned, with salt, pepper, and a trifle
of mustard, when put down to cook. Dish him in a big platter, lay the
potatoes, which should be partly browned, around him, add a little
boiling water to the pan, shake well around, and pour the gravy over
everything. Hot corn bread, strong black coffee, or else sharp cider,
and very hot sharp pickles are the things to serve with him.
_Eggs_: Eggs demand an introductory paragraph. As everybody knows, there
are eggs and eggs. An egg new-laid has a tiny air-space at each end,
betwixt the shell and the silken lining membrane. If left lying, this
confined air changes its locality--leaves the ends for the upmost side
of the shell. Shells are porous--through them the white evaporates--thus
the air bubble on top gets bigger and bigger. By the size of it you can
judge fairly the egg's age--unless it has been kept in cold storage or
in water-glass. By boiling hard, throwing in cold water and peeling
intact, you can see for yourself if a fresh egg so-called is truly
fresh. If fresh there will be no perceptible marring of its oval--but if
it shows a shrinkage, and especially if the yolk is so near the shell it
shows through the cooked white, there is proof positive that the egg is
not new-laid--though it may be perfectly wholesome.
Eggs kept in clean cool space do not deteriorate under a month. Even
after that, thus well kept, they answer for cake making, puddings and so
on. But they have an ungodly affinity for taints of almost every kind.
Hence keep them away from such things as onions, salt fish, things in
brine generally, or any strong ill odors.
Duck eggs are bigger than hen eggs--eight of them being the equivalent
to ten. Goose eggs run almost two for one. Turkey eggs, rarely used in
cookery, are still excellent eating, much better flavored than duck
eggs, which are often rather rank. Here as otherwheres, food is the
determining factor. Guinea eggs, in spite of being so much smaller, are
equal in raising power and in richness to hen eggs. Indeed, they are the
best of all eggs for eating--rich, yet delicate. The only approach to
them is the quail egg--we called it always a partridge egg--but only
special favorites of the gods have any chance of ever tasting them.
Quail nest frequently in wheat fields--at harvest, the uncovered nests
yielded choice spoil. Daddy claimed the lion's share of it for "my white
chilluns." Often he came with his big hat-crown running over full of
the delicate white ovals. Mormonism must prevail in quail
circles--sometimes there were forty eggs in a nest. It would have been
vandalism of the worst to eat them, only it was no use leaving them bare
to the sun, as the birds abandoned them unless they had begun brooding.
In that case the mother sat so tight, occasionally the reaper, passing
over, took off her head. More commonly she flew away just in time,
whirring up between the mules, with a great pretense of lameness. If the
nest by good luck was discovered in time, grain was left standing about
it. Nobody grudged the yard or so of wheat lost for the sake of sport.
Partridge eggs were boiled hard, and eaten out of hand--they were much
too thin-shelled for roasting, in spite of having a very tough lining
membrane. With guinea eggs there was quite another story. They have
shells extra thick and hard--hence were laid plentifully in hot ashes,
heaped over with live coals and left as long as our patience held out.
When Mammy pulled them out, it was maddening to see her test them. She
laid a short broom straw delicately on each egg. If it whirled round,
the egg was done--if contrariwise it fell off, it had to go back in the
embers. She had no thought of letting us eat eggs not cooked till the
yolk was mealy. To this day I am firmly of opinion she was wise--and
right. Eggs roasted as she roasted them have a flavor wholly beyond and
apart from those cooked in any other way.