scrape out the pulp carefully, saving all milk that runs. The corn
should be full, but not the least hard--if it has reached the dough
state, the grains will keep shape. Beat three eggs very light, with half
a teaspoonful salt, a tablespoonful sugar, plenty of black pepper, and
paprika, half a cup of very soft butter, and half a cup sweet cream. Add
the corn pulp and milk, stir well together--if too thick, thin with a
little milk. Pour into a pudding dish, cover and bake ten minutes, then
uncover, and bake until done.
_Fried Corn_: Fry crisp, half-pound streaky bacon, take up, and put into
the fat, bubbling hot, eight large ears of corn cut from the cob, and
seasoned with salt and black pepper. Add also the corn-milk, stir well
together for five minutes, then put an asbestos mat under the skillet
and let stand till the corn forms a thick brown crust over the bottom.
Pour out, loosen this crust with a knife, lay on top the corn, lay on
also the crisp bacon, and serve very hot. A famous breakfast dish down
south all through "Roas'in' ear time." That is to say, from July to
October.
_Hulled Corn_: Known otherwise as lye hominy, and samp. Put a pint of
clean strong wood ashes into half a gallon of water, boil twenty
minutes--or until the water feels slippery. Let settle, drain off the
clear lye, and pour it upon as much white flint corn, shelled and
picked, as it will cover. Let stand until the hulls on the grains slip
under pressure--commonly twelve to twenty-four hours. Drain off lye,
cover with cold water, rubbing and scrubbing the grains between the
hands, till all are free of husks. Soak them in clear water, changing
it every few hours till no taste of lye remains. Then boil slowly in
three times its bulk of water, adding a little salt, but not much, until
very tender. A grain should mash between finger and thumb. Fill up as
the water boils away, and take care not to scorch. Cool uncovered, and
keep cool. To cook, dip out a dishful, fry it in bubbling bacon fat as
directed for corn. Or warm in a double boiler, and serve with butter and
sugar or cream and sugar, as a cereal. Use also as a vegetable the same
as rice or green corn. Hominy pudding, baked brown, and highly seasoned,
helps out a scant dinner wonderfully, as corn is the most heating of
grains, as well as one of the most nutritious.
_Steamed Potatoes_: Wash clean a dozen well-grown new potatoes, steam
until a fork will pierce, dry in heat five minutes, then peel, and throw
into a skillet, with a heaping tablespoonful of butter, well-rolled in
flour, half a pint of rich milk, ten drops onion juice, salt and pepper
to taste, and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley. The sauce must be
bubbling when the potatoes are put in. Toss them in it for five minutes,
put in deep dish and pour the gravy over. Serve very hot.
_Candied Sweet Potatoes_: Boil medium potatoes of even size, till a fork
will pierce--steaming is better though a bit more trouble--throw in cold
water for a minute, peel, and brush over with soft butter, then lay
separately in a wide skillet, with an inch of very rich syrup over the
bottom and set over slow fire. Turn the potatoes often in the syrup,
letting it coat all sides. Keep turning them until candied and a little
brown. If wanted very rich put butter and lemon juice in the syrup when
making it. Blade mace also flavors it very well.
_Tipsy Potatoes_: Choose rather large potatoes, peel, and cut across
into round slices about half an inch thick. Pack these in a baking dish
with plenty of sugar, and butter, mace, yellow lemon peel, pounded
cloves, and a single pepper corn. Add half a cup boiling water, cover
and bake till a fork pierces, then uncover, add a glass of rum, and
keep hot, but not too hot, until serving time. Or you can use half a
pint of claret, instead of the boiling water. Still another way, is to
mix a glass of sherry with a spoonful of cream, and add it to the dish
five minutes before it goes to table. Sweet cider can take the place of
wine. So can lemon or orange juice. But to my thinking, the Demon Rum,
or his elder brother whiskey, is best of all.
_Left-over Sweet Potatoes_: Peel, slice thick, dip in melted butter,
roll in sugar well seasoned with grated lemon peel, and nutmeg, lay in a
pan so as not to touch and make very hot in the oven. This last estate
is always better than the first.
_Potato Balls_: Mash boiled or baked sweet potatoes smooth, seasoning
them well with salt, pepper, cinnamon, a little nutmeg, and melted
butter. Bind with a well-beaten egg, flour the hands, and roll the
mashed potato into balls the size of large walnuts. Roll the balls in
fine crumbs or sifted cornmeal, drop in deep hot fat, fry crisp, drain,
and use as a garnish to roast pork, roast fowl, or broiled ham.
_Bananas_: Bananas are far too unfamiliar in the kitchen. They can be
cooked fifty ways--and in each be found excellent. The very best way I
have yet found, is to peel, slice in half, lengthwise, lay in a dish
with a cover, shake sugar over, add a little mace, lemon juice, lemon
peel, and melted butter, then bake until soft--seven to fifteen minutes
in a hot oven, according to the quantity in the dish. Or peel and slice,
leave unseasoned, and lay in the pan bacon has been cooked in, first
pouring away most of the fat. Cook five minutes in a hot oven, and send
to table with hot bread, crisp bacon and coffee for breakfast. A thick
slice of banana, along with a thick slice of tart apple, both very
lightly seasoned, makes a fine stuffing for squabs. Half a banana
delicately baked, and laid on a well-browned chop adds to looks and
flavor.
_Baking Vegetables_: Paper bags taught me the ease and value of cooking
vegetables in the oven rather than on top the stove. Less care is
required, less water, rather less heat. Peas and lima beans, for
example, after shelling, should be well washed, put in a pan with salt,
seasoning and a little water, covered close, and baked in a hot oven
half an hour to an hour. Green corn is never so well cooked, outside a
paper bag, as by laying it on a rack in a covered pan, putting a little
water underneath, covering close and setting the pan for nine minutes in
a hot oven. It is sweeter and richer than even when put in cold unsalted
water, brought to a boil, cooked one minute, then taken up. But however
heat is applied, long cooking ruins it. Cook till the milk is set--not a
second longer. Green peas should have several tender mint leaves put in
with them, also sugar in proportion of a teaspoonful to half a pint of
shelled peas. Lima beans are better flavored if the butter is put with
them along with the water. Use only enough to make steam--say two
tablespoonfuls to a fair-sized pan. Spinach and beet greens also bake
well, but require more water. Leave out salt, adding it after draining
and chopping them. They take twenty to thirty minutes, according to age.
All manner of fruits, berries in especial, cook finely in the oven. Put
in earthen or agate ware, with sugar, spices and a little water, cover
close and cook half to three quarters of an hour, according to bulk.
Uncover then--if done take up, if not let cook uncovered as long as
needed. Set the baking dishes always on rack or a grid-shelf, never on
the oven bottom nor solid metal. Thus the danger of burning is
minimized, also the need of stirring.
For _cauliflower au gratin_, cut the head into florets, lay them
compactly in the baking dish, add a little water, with salt, pepper and
butter. Bake covered until tender, then shake over the grated cheese,
and set back in the oven three to five minutes. Tomatoes, peeled and
whole except for cutting out the eyes, baked in a dish with a liberal
seasoning of salt, pepper, and butter, a strewing of sugar and a little
onion juice, look and taste wholly unlike stewed tomatoes, common or
garden variety.
_Boiling with Bacon_: Get a pound of streaky bacon, cut square if
possible, scrape and wash clean, put on in plenty of water, with a young
onion, a little thyme and parsley, bring to a quick boil, throw in cold
water, skim the pot clean, then let stand simmering for two to three
hours. Add to it either greens--mustard, turnip, or dandelion or field
salad, well washed and picked, let cook till very tender, then skim out,
drain in a colander, lay in a hot dish with the square of bacon on top.
Here is the foundation of a hearty and wholesome meal. The bacon by long
boiling is in a measure emulsified, and calculated to nourish the most
delicate stomach rather than to upset it. Serve two thin slices of it
with each helping of greens. You should have plenty of Cayenne vinegar,
very hot and sharp, hot corn bread, and cider or beer, to go along with
it.
String beans, known to the south country as snaps, never come fully to
their own, unless thus cooked with bacon. Even pork does not answer,
though that is far and away better than boiling and buttering or
flooding with milk sauces. It is the same with cabbage. Wash well, halve
or quarter, boil until very tender, drain and serve. Better cook as many
as the pot will hold and the bacon season, since fried cabbage, which is
chopped fine, and tossed in bacon fat with a seasoning of pepper, salt
and vinegar, helps out wonderfully for either breakfast, luncheon or
supper. Never throw away proper pot-liquor--it is a good and cheap
substitute for soup on cold days. Heat, and drop into it crisp
bread-crusts--if they are corn bread crusts made very brown, all the
better. Pioneer folk throve on pot-liquor to such an extent they had a
saying that it was sinful to have too much--pot-liquor and buttermilk at
the same meal.
_Fruit Desserts_: Fruits have affinities the same as human beings.
Witness the excellent agreement of grape fruit and rum. Nothing else,
not the finest liqueur, so brings out the flavor. But there are other
fruits which, conjoined to the grape fruit, make it more than ever
delicious. Strawberries for example. They must be fine and ripe. Wash
well, pick, wash again, halve if very large, and mix well in a bowl with
grape fruit pulp, freed of skin and seed, and broken to berry size. Add
sugar in layers, then pour over a tumbler of rum, let stand six hours on
ice, and serve with or without cream.
Strawberries mixed with ripe fresh pineapple, cut to berry size, and
well sweetened, are worthy of sherry, the best in the cellar, and rather
dry than sweet. Mixed with thin sliced oranges and bananas, use sound
claret--but do not put it on until just before serving--let the mixed
fruits stand only in sugar. Strawberries alone, go very well with claret
and sugar--adding cream if you like. Cream, lightly sweetened, flavored
with sherry or rum, or a liqueur, and whipped, gives the last touch of
perfection to a dessert of mixed fruit, or to wine jelly, or a cup of
after-dinner coffee, or afternoon chocolate.
A peach's first choice is brandy--it must be real, therefore costly.
Good whiskey answers, so does rum fairly. A good liqueur is better.
Sherry blends well if the fruit is very ripe and juicy. Peel and slice
six hours before serving, pack down in sugar, add the liqueur, and let
stand on ice until needed. Peaches cut small, mixed with California
grapes, skinned and seeded, also with grape fruit pulp broken small, and
drowned in sherry syrup, are surprisingly good. Make the sherry syrup by
three parts filling a glass jar with the best lump sugar, pouring on it
rather more wine than will cover it, adding the strained juice of a
lemon, or orange, a few shreds of yellow peel, and a blade of mace, then
setting in sunshine until the sugar dissolves. It should be almost like
honey--no other sweetening is needed. A spoonful in after-dinner coffee
makes it another beverage--just as a syrup made in the same way from
rum, sugar and lemon juice, glorifies afternoon tea.
White grapes halved and seeded mixed with bananas cut small, and orange
pulp, well sweetened and topped with whipped cream, either natural or
"laced" with sherry, make another easy dessert. Serve in tall footed
glasses, set on your finest doilies in your prettiest plates. Lay a
flower or a gay candy upon the plate--it adds enormously to the festive
effect and very little to the trouble.
A spoonful of rich wine jelly, laid upon any sort of fresh fruit, to my
thinking, makes it much better. Cream can be added also--but I do not
care for it--indeed do not taste it, nor things creamed. Ripe, juicy
cherries, pitted and mixed equally with banana cubes, then sweetened,
make a dessert my soul loves to recall. Not caring to eat them I never
make ice cream, frozen puddings, _mousses_, sherbets, nor many of the
gelatine desserts. Hence I have experimented rather widely in the
kingdom of fruits. This book is throughout very largely a record of
experience--I hope it may have the more value through being special
rather than universal.
_Sandwiches_: In sandwich making mind your _S's_. That is to say, have
your knife sharp, your bread stale, your butter soft. Moreover the
bread must be specially made--fine grained, firm, not crumbly, nor
ragged. Cut off crusts for ordinary sandwiches--but if shaping them with
cutters let it stay. Then you can cut to the paper-thinness
requisite--otherwise that is impossible. Work at a roomy table spread
with a clean old tablecloth over which put sheets of clean, thick paper.
Do your cutting on the papered surface--thus you save either turning
your knife edges against a platter or sorely gashing even an old cloth.
Keep fancy cutters all together and ready to your hand. Shape one kind
of sandwiches all the same--thus you distinguish them easily. Make as
many as your paper space will hold, before stamping out any--this saves
time and strength. Clear away the fragments from one making, before
beginning another sort, thus avoiding possible taints and confusion. Lay
your made sandwiches on a platter under a dry cloth with a double damp
one on top of it. They will not dry out, and it is much easier than
wrapping in oiled paper.
The nearer fillings approach the consistency of soft butter, the
better. In making sardine sandwiches, boil the eggs hard, mash the yolks
smooth while hot, softening them with either butter or salad
dressing--French dressing of course. It is best made with lemon juice
and very sharp vinegar for such use. Work into the eggs, the sardines
freed of skin and bone after draining well, and mashed as fine as
possible. A little of their oil may be added if the flavor is liked. But
lemon juice is better. Rub the mixture smooth with the back of a stout
wooden spoon, and pack close in a bowl so it shall not harden.
Pimento cheese needs to be softened with French dressing, until like
creamed butter. The finer the pimento is ground the better. Spread
evenly upon the buttered bread, lay other buttered bread upon it, and
pile square. When the pile gets high enough, cut through into triangles
or finger shapes, and lay under the damp cloth. Slice Swiss cheese very
thin with a sharp knife, season lightly with salt and paprika, and lay
between the buttered slices. Lettuce dressed with oil and lemon juice
and lightly sprinkled with Parmesan cheese makes a refreshing afternoon
sandwich. Ham needs to be ground fine--it must be boiled well of
course--seasoned lightly with made mustard, pepper, and lemon juice,
softened a bit with clear oil or butter, and spread thin. Tongue must be
treated the same way, else boiled very, very tender, skinned before
slicing, and sliced paper-thin. Rounds of it inside shaped sandwiches
are likely to surprise--and please--masculine palates.
For the shaped sandwich--leaf or star, or heart, or crescent, is the
happy home, generally, of all the fifty-seven varieties of fancy
sandwich fillings, sweet and sour, mushy and squshy, which make an
honest mouthful of natural flavor, a thing of joy. Yet this is not
saying novelty in sandwiches is undesirable. Contrariwise it is welcome
as summer rain. In witness, here is a filling from the far Philippines,
which albeit I have not tried it out yet, sounds to me enticing, and has
further the vouching of a cook most excellent. Grate fine as much Edam
or pineapple cheese as requisite, season well with paprika, add a few
grains of black pepper, wet with sherry to the consistency of cream, and
spread between buttered bread. If it is nut bread so much the better.
Nut bread is made thus.
_Nut Bread for Sandwiches_: (Mrs. Petre.) Beat two eggs very light, with
a scant teaspoonful salt, half cup sugar, and two cups milk. Sift four
cups flour twice with four teaspoonfuls baking powder. Mix with eggs and
milk, stir smooth, add one cup nuts finely chopped, let raise for twenty
minutes, in a double pan, and bake in a moderately quick oven. Do not
try to slice until perfectly cold--better wait till next day, keeping
the bread where it will not dry out. Slice very thin, after buttering.
Makes sandwiches of special excellence with any sort of good filling.
[Illustration: _Pickles, Preserves, Coffee, Tea, Chocolate_]
_Brine for Pickling_: Use rain water if possible and regular picking
salt--it is coarse and much stronger than cooking salt. Lacking rain
water, soften other water by dissolving in it the day beforehand, a
pinch of washing soda--this neutralizes largely the mineral contents.
Put over the fire in a deep, clean kettle, bring to a boil, put in
salt--a pint to the gallon of water is the usual proportion. Boil and
skim, add a pinch of saltpeter and tablespoonful of sugar for each pint
of salt--the pinches must not be large. Add also six whole cloves for
each gallon. Take from fire, let cool, drop in an egg--it should float
to show the size of a quarter of a dollar. Otherwise the brine needs
more salt. Dissolve a pint extra in as little water as suffices, and add
to the brine, then test again. Put the brine when cold into a clean,
roomy vessel, a keg or barrel, else a big stone crock. It should not
quite half fill it. Provide a heading that will float upon it, also a
light weight to keep the heading on the pickles when put in, and hold
them under the brine. Unless so held the uppermost rot, and spoil the
lot. Mold will gather around the head in spite of the cloves, but less
than without them. Whenever you put in fresh pickles, take out the head,
wash and scald, dry, and return to place.
Anything edible will make pickle--still there are many things better
kept out of the brine. Cabbage and cauliflower for example do not need
it--green tomatoes, onions, and Jerusalem artichokes are likewise taboo.
The artichokes make good pickle, but it must be made all at once. Cut
anything intended for the brine with a bit of stalk, and without
bruising the stalk. Cucumbers should be small, and even in size,
gherkins about half grown, string beans, three parts grown, crook-neck
squash very small and tender, green peppers for mangoes, full grown but
not turning, muskmelons for other mangoes three parts grown. Wash clean
or wipe with a damp cloth. Cut pickles in early morning, so they may be
fresh and crisp. Never put in any wilted bit--thereby you invite decay.
Watermelon rind makes fine pickle, sweet and sour--also citron, queen of
all home made preserves. It must be fairly thick, sound and unbruised.
The Rattle Snake melon has a good rind for such uses. The finer flavored
and thinner-rinded varieties that come to market, are rarely worth
cutting up. The cutting up is a bit tedious. The rind must be cut in
strips rather more than an inch wide and three to five inches long, then
trimmed on each side, free of green outer skin, and all trace of the
soft inside. There will remain less than half an inch thickness of firm
pale green tissue with potentialities of delight--if you know how to
bring them out.
Firm clingstone peaches not fully ripe, can be put in the brine--they
had better, however, be pickled without it. For whatever is put in, and
saved by salt, must be freed of the salt by long soaking before it is
fit to eat. The soaking process is the same for everything--take from
brine, wash clean in tepid water, put to soak in cold water with
something on top to hold the pickles down. Change water twice the first
day, afterward every day, until it has not the least salt taste.
You can make pickle by soaking in brine three days, then washing clean,
putting over the fire in clear water, bringing to scalding heat, then
pouring off the water, covering with vinegar, and bringing just to a
boil. Drain away this vinegar, which has served its turn, pack down the
pickles in a jar, seasoning them well with mixed spices, whole, not in
powder, covering with fresh, hot vinegar, letting cool uncovered, then
tieing down, and keep dark and cool.
_Watermelon Rind Pickle_: Scald the soaked rind in strong ginger tea,
let stand two minutes barely simmering, then skim out, lay in another
kettle, putting in equal quantities of cloves, mace, alspice, and
cinnamon, half as much grated nutmeg, the same of whole pepper corns,
several pods of Cayenne pepper, white mustard and celery seed, covering
with cider vinegar, the only sort that will keep pickles well, bringing
just to the boil, then putting down hot in jars, tying down after
cooling, and setting in a dark, cool, airy place.
For sweet pickle, prepare and season, then to each pint of vinegar put
one and a half pounds of sugar, boil together one minute, stirring well,
and skimming clean, then pour over rind and spices, keep hot for ten
minutes without boiling, then put into jars. If wanted only a little
sweet, use but half a pound of sugar.
_Mangoes_: Either green peppers or young melons will serve as a
foundation--epicures rather preferring the peppers. After making
thoroughly fresh, cut out the stems from the peppers, removing and
throwing away the seed but saving the stems. Cut a section from the
side of each melon, and remove everything inside. Fit back stems,
sections, etc., then pack in a kettle in layers with fresh grape leaves
between, add a bit of alum as big as the thumb's end, cover all with
strong, cold vinegar, bring to a boil, and simmer gently for twenty
minutes. Let stand in vinegar two or three days, throwing away the
leaves. Take out, rinse and drain. To stuff four dozen, bruise, soak,
cut small and dry, half a pound of race ginger, add half a pint each
black and white mustard seed, mace, allspice, Turmeric, black pepper,
each half an ounce, beat all together to a rather fine powder, add a
dash of garlic, and mix smooth in half a cup of salad oil. Chop very
fine a small head of firm but tender cabbage, three fine hearts of
celery, half a dozen small pickled cucumbers, half a pint small onions,
a large, sweet red pepper, finely shredded, add a teaspoonful sugar, a
tablespoonful of brandy, or dry sherry, the mixed spices, work all well
together, stuff the mangoes neatly, sew up with soft thread or tie about
with very narrow tape, pack down in stone jars, cover with the best
cold vinegar, pour a film of salad oil on top, tie down and let stand
two months. If wanted sweetish, add moist sugar to the vinegar, a pound
to the gallon. Mangoes are for men in the general--and men like things
hot and sour.
_Walnut Pickle_: Gather white walnuts in June--they must be tender
enough to cut with the finger nail. Wash, drain and pack down in jars
smothered in salt. Let stand a fortnight, drain off the resultant brine
then, scald the nuts in strong vinegar, let stand hot, but not boiling,
for twenty minutes, then drain, and pack in jars, putting between the
layers, a mixture of cloves, alspice, black and red pepper, in equal
quantity, with half as much mace, nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger. Strew in
a very little salt, and a little more sugar. Mix mustard and celery seed
in a cup of salad oil, and add to the jars, after the nuts are in. Scald
strong cider vinegar, skim clean, let cool, pour over the prepared nuts,
film with oil on top. Leave open for two days--if the vinegar sinks
through absorption, fill up the jars. Paste paper over mouths, tie down
securely, and set in a cool place until next year. It takes twelve
months for pickled walnuts fully to "find themselves."