a thorough tasty brown sauce, as Nos. 16 or 18 in recipes given; pour
it over the beans, warm all thoroughly through, and serve decorated
with sippets of fried bread and slices of lemon.
7. Haricot Bean Currie.
Boil the beans as in previous recipe; cut up an onion and two beads of
garlic; fry in three ounces of butter with twenty-four cloves a nice
brown. Add one tablespoon of best currie powder, one cup of tomato
pulp, a stick of cinnamon, a blade of mace, the peel of half a lemon
grated, salt to taste; put in your beans, and let them simmer very
gently for half an hour, taking great care they do not burn. Serve with
a separate dish of rice.
8. Haricot Bean Pudding.
Get one pint of dried green haricots, boil till quite soft; mash them
up thoroughly with a fork. Add three ounces of butter, pepper and salt
to taste, one teaspoon of chopped parsley, one teaspoon of chopped
onion; mix well. Add a well-beaten egg; well butter a plain mould; put
the mixture in and steam for one hour. Turn out on to a dish, paper and
decorate with parsley and small sliced tomatoes.
9. Plain Boiled Rice.
In boiling rice as it should be done, observe the following directions,
and success is bound to follow:--(1) Use the best rice only. (2) Do
not be afraid of plenty of water, four quarts to one pound. (3) Put in
the rice as the water comes to the boil, having put in a good teaspoon
of salt before you add the rice. (4) Watch carefully the _moment_ the
rice is soft, drain _at once_ and set before the fire to steam for
about half an hour or more; by this means your rice will be grain from
grain separate, and look most appetising. These remarks apply to the
cooking of rice in every form, when it is required dry, and to eat with
savouries.
10. Yellow Rice.
Never throw away the water in which kedgrees or yellow rice have been
boiled. They make delicious soups on meat days, with the addition of
a little Armour's Beef Extract, as the stock is already flavoured and
thickened; or it will make a delicious mullagatawny soup with the
addition of currie powder, and made according to recipe No. 9 (Soups),
without the herrings, and using the liquor instead. This applies
equally to the water in which haricot beans and peas have been boiled.
It always makes good stock for soup.
Boil in the water you put on for your rice one large onion whole,
three beads of garlic whole, twenty-four cloves, the seeds of twelve
cardamoms, three bay-leaves, two sticks of cinnamon, two blades of
mace, and a pennyworth of saffron, one heaped up teaspoon of salt. Let
these come to the boil, and then add one pound of the best rice. Watch
carefully. Taste it from time to time. The moment the rice is soft
drain at once, and set before the fire to steam. Before serving remove
the onion, garlic, bay-leaves, cinnamon, and mace, but _not_ the cloves
and cardamoms. Decorate with onions fried crisp and brown, sultanas
fried, and almonds blanched and fried. This is very nice.
11. Kedgree.
Put on some water with all the flavourings of the previous recipe, omit
the saffron. When it comes to the boil add half a pound of pink lentils
that have been well washed. When these change colour and get yellow,
which will take about five minutes, add half a pound of best rice; stir
well, and watch carefully. The moment the rice is done enough drain at
once, and set before the fire to steam. Remove the spices, etc., as
before, and decorate in the same way.
12. Another Kedgree.
Do some rice as yellow rice recipe. Add to it some flaked smoked
haddock, and one teaspoon of herbs as for veal stuffing, and two ounces
of butter. Mix well loosely with a fork. Serve hot, and decorate with
hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters, and onions fried crisp and brown.
13. Another Kedgree.
The same as No. 11. Add to it four hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, two
ounces of butter. Mix well lightly with a fork, and serve, decorated in
the usual way with fried onions brown and crisp and fried almonds.
14. Tomato Rice.
Cut up an onion into thin rings, chop two beads of garlic, also two
bay-leaves; fry this in three ounces of butter with twenty-four cloves
a nice pale yellow. Now add one cup of tomato pulp, salt and Nepaul
pepper to taste, a few drops of tarragon vinegar. Stir well; let it
simmer for about twenty minutes; strain, and pour the sauce over some
cold rice you may have by you; cover up, and warm thoroughly through.
Serve decorated with bright West Indian pickles.
15. Cheese Pillau.
Boil some rice, with all the flavouring as for "yellow rice." Remove
the spices, etc. Add two ounces of butter and three ounces of grated
Parmesan cheese, Nepaul pepper and salt to taste. Mix all lightly with
a fork. Dish garnished with watercress.
16. Rice Savoury.
Any cold rice you may have by you may do for this dish. Well beat up
two eggs with a little milk; mix with one small onion chopped, one
small bead of garlic, one teaspoon of chopped parsley, one teaspoon
mixed of lemon thyme, tarragon and chervil, Nepaul pepper and salt to
taste. Mix all well together. Put it into a plain mould well buttered;
put it in the oven till well set. Turn out on to a paper. Garnish with
tufts of parsley and small red tomatoes.
N.B.--Rice can be cooked any colour, by simply adding a harmless
vegetable colouring to the water in which it is boiled, and thus it
looks very pretty served with stewed fruits, etc., as it makes the
simplest thing look appetising and nice. Any cook with very little
ingenuity could turn out any number of pretty and tasty dishes of rice
alone; it has the advantage of being nutritious and digestible, and is
about the most economical thing there is in the market.
17. Macaroni Savoury.
Boil as much macaroni as you require, in salt and water. When tender,
drain, and put it aside.
Cut up an onion into very thin rings, chop two beads of garlic small,
fry in three ounces of butter with twenty-four cloves a pale yellow,
then add one cup of tomato pulp; stir well; the grated rind of half
a lemon, Nepaul pepper and salt to taste, a few drops of tarragon
vinegar; pour over the macaroni, and warm thoroughly through. This is a
delicious and most digestible dish. Garnish with watercress in bunches
round the dish, and serve.
18. Macaroni Cheese.
Boil some macaroni plain. Put it in a well-buttered pie dish thus--a
layer of macaroni, a layer of grated Parmesan cheese, a sprinkling
of mustard and salt, till the dish is full on the top, sprinkle the
cheese. Beat up three eggs well in one pint of milk, pour it over the
macaroni, and well cover it. Put a few dabs of butter over it here and
there, and put it in the oven, and bake a bright golden brown. Serve,
decorated with a nice frill round the dish.
19. Curried Macaroni.
Boil some macaroni. Put it aside. Cut up an onion into thin rings, chop
up two beads of garlic, fry in three ounces of butter with twenty-four
cloves a delicate brown. Now add one tablespoon of best currie powder,
one cup of tomato pulp, the grated rind of half a lemon, and the
strained juice of half a lemon, salt to taste. Pour the sauce over the
macaroni, and serve thoroughly hot.
20. Macaroni Savoury.
Boil some macaroni, cut it into short lengths of about two inches long,
well beat up three eggs. Mix with them one teaspoon of chopped onion,
one teaspoon of herbs as for veal stuffing, one teaspoon of chopped
parsley, Nepaul pepper and salt to taste. Mix it thoroughly with one
cup of milk, and stir it well into the macaroni. Pour it into a pie
dish, put a few dabs of butter over the top here and there, and bake a
nice brown.
N.B.--Vermicelli answers all the same purpose as macaroni. Some like it
better and think it more delicate; both are cheap and nutritious, and
both are capable of manipulation in a great many ways.
_VEGETABLES IN VARIOUS WAYS._
1. Potato Baskets.
Get some nice long kidney potatoes, peel them very thin, cut them in
half, then cut off a small piece at each end, so that the potato will
stand like a cup, scoop out the inside neatly, leaving a thin wall of
potato. Make it nice and smooth outside and in. Fry these in a bath of
boiling fat a nice golden brown. Now take them out and stand them up
like cups, fill each one with a farce of fish, or lentils, or mushrooms
as desired, and sprinkle over the top some chopped parsley. This is a
novel and pretty dish.
2. Potato Balls.
Boil some potatoes, pass them through a sieve. Mix with them some
butter, pepper and salt, form into good sized balls with the hand, put
them on a buttered tin, brush over them a well beaten egg, and put them
in the oven till they are a nice brown colour.
3. Mashed Potatoes.
Mash some potatoes with butter, pepper and salt. Now well grease a
plain pudding mould, fill your potatoes into it to get moulded, warm
one minute, and turn out on to a dish, brush it over with well beaten
egg, and then well sprinkle with fine bread crumbs, put on little dabs
of butter all over it, and bake in the oven a bright golden colour.
Garnish with parsley.
4. Potato Snow.
Boil some potatoes, mash them with butter, pepper and salt, pass them
through a wire sieve in the dish in which they are to be served. They
must not be disturbed afterwards, as the light look would be gone, and
so the dish get spoiled.
5. Potato Rings.
Well wash and thinly peel some nice large potatoes, cut them in slices,
then take a nice cutter and stamp them out quite round, and then a
smaller cutter to stamp out the centre so as to form a ring. Fry these
rings a golden brown in a bath of fat, drain them in a sieve. Serve
neatly dished and garnished with parsley. The centres need not be
wasted, but fried for another dish.
6. Potato Pie.
Parboil some potatoes, slice them, put them in a pie dish thus--a layer
of potatoes, then sliced onions and tomatoes, a few cloves, pepper and
salt, and a spoonful of water, and so on till the dish is full. Cover
with a light crust, and bake a golden brown, ornament with a frill
round the dish, and serve.
7. Mixed Vegetable Pie.
Parboil some potatoes, carrots, turnips, some green cabbage,
cauliflower. Cut the former into nice slices, the cauliflower into nice
bunches, so, too, the cabbage. Now put them in a pie dish thus--a layer
of the vegetable mixture, then some sliced onions and tomatoes and a
few cloves and a spoonful of water, pepper and salt to taste; fill up
the dish thus. Cover with a nice light crust and bake a golden brown;
ornament as before.
8. Stewed Onions White.
Parboil some onions (Spanish), put them aside. Have ready some white
butter sauce, as recipe No. 1, and put your onions into it, and finish
cooking them in the sauce. Serve with a sprinkling of pepper and salt
over them.
9. Stewed Onions Brown.
Parboil some onions as before. Have ready a good brown sauce, as recipe
No. 14, put your onions in, and let them finish cooking in the sauce.
If liked, a sprinkling of chopped parsley may be put over the onions
before serving.
10. Farced Cucumbers Stewed.
Parboil some small cucumbers, scoop out the inside with care, taking
care the outsides are not injured. Stuff these with a lentil farce, as
recipe No. 1 for lentil moulds. Have ready some good brown sauce as
recipe No. 14, and finish cooking your cucumbers in it. Dish neatly,
and pour the sauce round.
11. Cucumbers on Toast.
Boil some cucumbers (small ones) till tender. Lay them neatly on
pieces of toast, pour over them a white butter sauce, as recipe No. 1.
Sprinkle over with pepper and salt, and serve hot.
12. Stewed Vegetable Marrow.
Get some small marrows, peel them, scoop out the inside carefully,
stuff them with a farce thus--boil some onions, mash them with a fork.
Add one cup of fine bread crumbs, some chopped sage to taste, two
ounces of butter, pepper and salt. Mix well, and stuff the marrows. Now
steam the marrows till nearly done. Have ready some good brown sauce,
as recipe No. 14, finish cooking your marrows in that. Dish neatly, and
pour the sauce round them. A separate boat of apple sauce to eat with
them is liked by some.
13. Marrows on Toast.
Peel and cut into quarters some nice young marrows. Put the pieces into
a jar with some butter, pepper and salt. Cover the jar close, and put
it into the oven. Let the marrows cook in their own steam. When done
place them on nicely cut pieces of buttered toast; sprinkle over them
pepper and salt. These are really delicious.
14. Stewed Cabbage Stalks.
Get good thick stalks; cut away all the outside, till you come to the
tender part inside; cut these into two-inch lengths. Parboil them in a
little salt and water, and then finish cooking them, in either a white
sauce as No. 1 recipe, or brown as No. 14 recipe. Either way they are
truly delicious, and by far the best part of the cabbage in flavour and
goodness.
15. Spinach with Eggs.
Well pick and wash some spinach; put it in a pan with only the water
that is in the leaves; let it boil till quite tender. Mash it with
a fork with a little butter, pepper and salt. Put some on pieces of
neatly cut buttered toast, then on each piece lay a well poached egg.
Sprinkle over with pepper and salt, and serve.
16. Spinach Indian Way.
Wash and cook some spinach as before. Put it aside. Cut up an onion
into rings, and fry in two ounces of butter a pale yellow. Put in your
spinach; stir well: add Nepaul pepper and salt to taste. This may be
eaten on toast, or with plain boiled rice.
17. Farced Parsnips.
Parboil some nice young parsnips. Scoop out the inside, and stuff with
a farce of fish made thus--boil a salt haddock, remove all skin and
bone, pound the flesh in a mortar. Add one teaspoon of herbs as for
veal stuffing, Nepaul pepper to taste, a small cup of bread crumbs,
some butter and a teaspoon of chopped onions; bind the whole with well
beaten eggs, and stuff your parsnips. Now finish cooking by steaming
them. Serve neatly on a dish, and pour over them either a brown sauce
as No. 14, or white as No. 1, whichever is liked best.
18. Farced Carrots.
Parboil some nice sized carrots. Scoop out the inside, and stuff with
a farce as for lentil moulds, recipe No. 1. Finish cooking by steaming
them, and then pour over a tomato sauce, as recipe No. 15, and serve.
19. Vegetable Stew.
Cut up an onion into rings, chop two beads of garlic, and fry in three
ounces of butter with twenty-four cloves; let it get a nice golden
colour. Now add sliced potatoes, carrots, turnips, parsnips, and pour
over all one pint of water, two tablespoons of mushroom ketchup, salt
and Nepaul pepper to taste. Cook till the vegetables are quite tender,
and serve.
This is quite as nice as Irish stew with meat in it.
20. Farced Tomatoes.
Scoop out the middle of the tomato with great care. Put into it a farce
made thus--one small cup of bread crumbs, one teaspoon of herbs as for
veal stuffing, two ounces of butter, pepper and salt to taste; bind
with the yolk of one or two well beaten eggs. Stuff your tomatoes, put
a little dab of butter on the top of each, sprinkle with pepper and
salt, and bake in the oven till soft. Dish neatly; sprinkle over them
some chopped green parsley. These may be served on pieces of fried
bread. They are very nice served thus.
21. Mushroom and Olive Stew.
Make a nice brown sauce as recipe No. 14. Add to it some turned olives,
and some nice button mushrooms. Garnish the dish with fried sippets of
bread and chopped green parsley.
22. Mushrooms on Toast.
Well pick and clean some mushrooms, fry in about four ounces of butter,
with pepper and salt to taste. Cook till the mushrooms get quite black.
Serve on neatly cut pieces of toast; heap them one on the other, and
garnish with tufts of parsley.
23. Celery Stew.
Cut up some nice tender stalks of celery into three-inch pieces,
parboil in milk, then put it into a sauce as recipe No. 1, and finish
cooking thus--add the grated rind of half a lemon, the grate of a
nutmeg, Nepaul pepper and salt to taste. Lay this on nicely trimmed
slices of toast, and serve. The celery may be stewed in a brown sauce,
as per recipe No. 14, instead of the white; it is nice either way.
24. Sea-Kale Stew.
Serve the same as celery, or plain boil, and pour over a good white
butter sauce, in which a little cream has been mixed, to make it extra
rich.
25. Stewed Green Peas.
Shell your peas, and put them into a jar. Add two ounces of butter, a
little pepper and salt, and one saltspoon of sugar; cover close, and
put into the oven to cook in their own steam. When quite done, turn
out into a dish, pour over them a good brown sauce, as No. 14, add a
teaspoon of chopped green mint, and serve.
26. Stewed French Beans.
Get some tender French beans, cut them in two or three pieces each
across, _not_ lengthways, cook the same as peas in a jar, omitting the
sugar. Turn out on a dish, and pour over them a brown parsley sauce, as
recipe No. 18.
27. French Beans on Toast.
Get some very young French beans, put them in whole in a jar, with
butter, pepper and salt, and a mite of soda to preserve the colour.
Cook them as in previous recipe. Turn them out when done, and lay on
neatly cut slices of well buttered toast. Sprinkle over with pepper and
salt, and serve very hot.
28. Stewed Broad Beans.
Well boil some broad beans in salt and water; take off the skins, and
pour over the beans a parsley and butter sauce, as recipe No. 3. These
may be served on toast, and thus make a substantial dish, and very nice.
29. Jerusalem Artichokes on Toast.
Peel very carefully and trim nicely; throw them into cold water as
you peel them, or they will get discoloured. Boil in salt and water
till quite soft; drain; mash them with a fork till quite smooth, with
butter, pepper and salt. Put the artichokes thickly on nicely cut
pieces of buttered toast, and sprinkle with pepper and salt, and serve.
This is simply delicious, though simple.
30. Egg Plant Savoury.
Cut up some egg plants into quarters; put them into a jar, with butter,
pepper and salt; cover close, and put in the oven. When done, take them
out, mash them smooth with a fork. Add two hard-boiled eggs chopped
fine, and a few bread crumbs, fill the mixture with little scallop
shells, brush over the top of each with well beaten egg, sprinkle on
some fine bread crumbs, put a little dab of butter on each, and just
put in the oven to brown. Serve them in the shells, neatly dished.
_SALADS IN VARIOUS WAYS._
These are very little understood in this country. Almost any vegetable
cold can be made into a most appetising salad. By this means you have
really delicious dishes, and there is no waste of cold vegetables or
fish. I will give a few which, though known, are very seldom used, and
I want to impress the fact in the minds of my readers that salads are
healthy and economical, and generally liked by young and old, and the
very little trouble they take in preparation is well repaid by the
result.
1. Potato Salad.
Mash up any cold potatoes you may have, mix them with any cold fish.
Add a tablespoon of best olive oil, some caper vinegar, and a few
chopped capers, one teaspoon of chopped onions, one bead of garlic
chopped very small, the grated rind of a small lemon, the juice of half
a lemon strained, salt and Nepaul pepper to taste; mix thoroughly.
Serve it in a glass dish neatly piled up, smooth with a fork. Sprinkle
over the whole some chopped hard-boiled egg, and arrange pretty West
Indian pickles over it for decoration.
2. Plain Potato Salad.
Cut up any cold potatoes in slices, mix with them a teaspoon of chopped
onion, a teaspoon of chopped parsley, and pour over it equal quantities
of best olive oil and vinegar that has been well mixed with a little
pepper and salt.
3. Mixed Vegetable Salad.
Cold carrots, turnips, potatoes, green peas, French beans, beet-root,
celery, cauliflower, etc. Cut the carrots, turnips, potatoes, etc.,
with a nice fancy vegetable cutter; mix in the green peas, the French
beans cut up in two or three pieces each, the cauliflower in neat
little branches. Mix with them a teaspoon of chopped onion, a teaspoon
of chopped parsley; mix equal quantities of vinegar and best olive oil,
with pepper and salt to taste; toss all lightly up together. Ornament
with lettuce and watercress in bunches.
N.B.--German lentils, green peas, French beans, broad beans, all make a
good salad by themselves with equal quantities of oil and vinegar, and
pepper and salt. No cold vegetable is out of place.
Every one more or less knows how to make salads from lettuce, endive,
watercress, radishes, mustard and cress, etc., etc.; so it would be
useless to enter into that in this little book. I will, however, give
directions for a few simple salad sauces that I find generally approved
of.
4. Salad Sauce No. 1.
Boil some eggs hard, two or three will be enough, take out the yolks,
bruise them with the back of a spoon quite smooth, add a teaspoon of
made mustard. Mix well, then add two tablespoons of olive oil, a little
at a time, till well mixed, then two tablespoons of vinegar, stirring
all the while. Lastly, a few drops of tarragon vinegar, a few drops of
garlic vinegar, a salt spoon of castor sugar, and salt to taste. Some
like a spoonful of anchovy sauce added; this is, of course, a matter of
taste.
5. Sauce No. 2.
Break in the yolks of three eggs into a basin, stir with a wooden
spoon, with two tablespoons of olive oil, but a drop at a time only
till the egg gets thick; then mix in two tablespoons of vinegar
gradually, a few drops of tarragon, a few drops of garlic, a spoonful
of made mustard, and, lastly, two tablespoons of cream, but this must
be mixed with great care so that it does not curdle. Salt to taste.
6. Sauce No. 3.
One potato passed through a sieve, the hard-boiled yolk of one egg
rubbed smooth, two tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of
vinegar, a few drops of tarragon vinegar, a few drops of garlic
vinegar, and a few drops of Chili vinegar; mix all well and smoothly.
Add salt to taste.
N.B.--All salads should have a dash of onion and garlic, but very
judiciously mixed. The difference in the flavour of the salads is very
great.
Green salads may be mixed with lobsters, anchovies, sardines, and any
kind of cold fish.
_PUDDINGS AND SWEETS._
I find the generality of ordinary puddings are dreadfully insipid. It
is not at all necessary that this should be the case. And flavouring is
cheap enough. Appearance, too, is a great thing. The sense of sight,
smell, and taste can easily enough be gratified with very little
trouble. And when one takes into consideration that our health depends
on the way in which our food is prepared, it becomes an actual matter
of duty to take the necessary trouble to prepare it properly, and
bringing both intelligence and taste to bear on the subject.
1. Currant and Apple Tart.
Make a nice short crust of Coombs' Eureka Flour, thus--half a pound of
flour, three ounces of butter, one egg well beaten, a pinch of salt,
and one teaspoon of castor sugar. Make it into a nice dough with milk.
Put in a pie dish one layer of dry currants well washed and picked,
a little grated lemon peel, and a few drops of lemon juice, then a
spoonful of treacle and a few very fine bread crumbs, then a layer of
sliced fresh apples, and again the currants, and so on till the dish is
full. Cover with the paste rolled thin, and ornament prettily on the
top with the paste nicely cut out, etc., etc. Bake a nice golden brown,
and when a little cool sprinkle castor sugar over the top. Serve with a
nice custard or cream.
2. Cabul Cassalettes.
Put half a pound of dried apricots to soak for about four hours, pour
the water in which they have been soaked into an enamel saucepan,
about a cupful. Add half a pound of sugar, a little grated lemon peel,
and the juice of half a lemon. Let it get into a syrup, then add the
fruit, and let it simmer gently for one hour. Make a nice puff paste of
Coombs' Eureka Flour, roll out thin, and line some nice shaped patty
pans, well greased, with the paste; prick it with a fork to prevent
it blistering. Put it in a quick oven and bake a pretty golden brown,
turn out of the pans, and fill the cases with the apricot stew; then
_well_ whip some cream very stiff, put it smoothly over the top of
each, so that it looks like white foam, and then sprinkle over all
either crushed crystallised violets or chopped pistachio nuts. Both are
pretty, or do half with the violets and half with the nuts. Arrange
them neatly in a glass dish, with a dish paper under. These are very
pretty, and very delicious, and simple to make.
3. Fried Almond Rings.