MILDRED'S DAY
"I HELPED to make the cunning little biscuits, Uncle Bob," explained
Mildred at dinner.
"You did?" said Bob, feigning astonishment. "You rolled them out with a
rolling pin, I suppose, and----"
"Oh, no, Uncle Bob! You ought never to use a rolling pin, Aunt Bettina
says!" said Mildred in a horrified tone, as if she had been cooking for
the First Families for a score of years. "Good cooks always pat down the
dough--they never roll it out."
"Well, what do you do first? Stir up the dough with a spoon?"
"No, indeed; you use a knife. Then you pat the dough down, and cut out
the dear little biscuits with a biscuit cutter."
"And put them side by side in a nicely buttered pan? I know how!"
"But you don't butter the pan," said Mildred triumphantly. "Or flour it,
either. Aunt Bettina says that lots of people think the pan has to be
buttered or floured, but they're wrong. It's lots better to put the
biscuits into a nice clean pan."
"But don't they stick to it, and burn?"
"No, indeed! They don't burn a bit! Look at these!" said Mildred,
delighted to find the opportunity to impart some of her newly acquired
knowledge.
"Well, what else did you help Aunt Bettina to make?"
"These nice stuffed onions. It was fun to make them, even though I don't
like onions. I ground up the dry bread that Aunt Bettina keeps in the
jar by the stove."
"Well, you can tell Mother Polly that Aunt Bettina will make a good cook
of you yet!"
For dinner that night they had:
Rolled Stuffed Steak Potatoes au Gratin
Stuffed Onions
Sour Cream Biscuits Currant Jelly
Sliced Bananas Cream
Coffee
BETTINA'S RECIPES
(All measurements are level)
=Stuffed Onions= (Four portions)
4 onions
1/2 C-bread crumbs
1 T-tomato pulp
1 T-butter
1 t-parsley
1 T-pimento
1 egg-yolk
1/4 C-cooked celery
1/2 t-salt
Wash and peel the onions. Cook for ten minutes in boiling water. Rinse
with cold water to make them firm. Push out the centers. Place the
onions in a well-buttered baking pan and fill each onion with filling.
Place in a moderate oven for twenty minutes.
=Filling=
Mix the crumbs, tomato pulp, butter, parsley, pimento, salt, egg yolks
and celery. Cook for one minute. Fill each onion case carefully with the
mixture. Then pour the following sauce about the onions before placing
them in the oven:
=White Sauce= (Four portions)
2 T-butter
2 T-flour
1/4 t-salt
1/6 t-paprika
1 C-milk
Melt the butter, add the flour, salt and paprika. Mix well, add the
milk, and cook for one minute.
=Sour Cream Biscuits= (Four portions)
2 C-flour
1/2 t-salt
3 t-baking powder
3 T-fat
1/4 t-soda
2/3 C-sour milk
Mix the flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in the fat with a knife. Add
the soda to the milk, and when the effervescing ceases, add slowly to
the dry ingredients. (All the milk may not be needed.) When a soft dough
is formed, toss onto a floured board. Pat into shape, cut with a biscuit
cutter, and place side by side on a tin pan or baking sheet. Bake
fifteen minutes in a moderately hot oven.