follows: One teaspoonful Worcestershire sauce, one teaspoonful vinegar,
one teaspoonful made mustard, tablespoonful melted butter. Let the meat
lie in this for an hour. Then dip each slice in a frying batter made
as directed in recipe for "ham fritters," and fry in deep fat. Or the
deviled meat may simply be boiled over a clear fire. In either case
serve very hot.
_Hot Loaf Bread._—Set a loaf of French bread in the steamer for fifteen
minutes, then in a hot oven for five minutes. Serve wrapped in a
napkin, and cut on the table.
7.
Caviare Toast. Cold Meat.
Baked Potatoes.
Strawberries, unhulled.
_Caviare Toast._—Buy the Russian caviare, which comes in small tin
cans. Cut your bread into neat squares or rounds, removing the crusts;
toast and butter it, spread it with the caviare, and set it in the oven
five minutes before serving.
8.
Scalloped Cod. Oatmeal Gems.
Boiled Potatoes.
Guava Jelly and Crackers.
_Scalloped Cod._—Two cupfuls picked codfish, one cupful drawn butter
(with an egg beaten in it), one teaspoonful minced sour pickle, one
tablespoonful Worcestershire sauce, fine bread-crumbs. Have the drawn
butter hot, stir the fish into it, add the pickle and sauce, pour into
a buttered baking-dish, sprinkle with crumbs, dot with bits of butter,
and bake.
_Oatmeal Gems._—Two cups of the finest oatmeal, two cups milk,
two eggs, one tablespoonful butter, one tablespoonful sugar, one
saltspoonful salt.
9.
Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus. Bread and Butter.
Cheese Biscuit.
Lettuce Salad.
_Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus._—Six eggs, one tablespoonful butter,
two tablespoonfuls milk, salt and pepper to taste, green tips of a
bunch of asparagus boiled tender. Put the butter and the milk into a
frying-pan, break the eggs into this, and stir until they begin to
thicken; put in the asparagus tops, season, and remove to a hot dish.
_Cheese Biscuit._—One cup grated cheese, one cup flour, one egg, pinch
of salt, dash of Cayenne. Mix all together, roll into a sheet, cut into
rounds, and bake to a light brown.
10.
Lobster Croquettes. Graham Bread.
Saratoga Potatoes.
Strawberries and Cream.
_Lobster Croquettes._—Meat of one large boiled lobster, half pint white
sauce, two eggs, juice of a lemon, salt and Cayenne to taste. Mince
the meat fine, stir it into the white sauce, add the eggs well beaten,
and, last, the lemon juice. Turn out on a plate to cool. When perfectly
cold, form into small croquettes with the hands, roll in beaten egg,
then in fine cracker crumbs, and fry in deep fat.
FAMILY LUNCHES FOR SUMMER
In hot weather a comfortable room is essential to the enjoyment of a
meal. The _salle à manger_ must be cleared of food, the soiled dishes
removed, all crumbs brushed up, and the flies beaten out the moment
breakfast is over, if the apartment is to be pleasant at noon. If
blinds and doors are kept closed, the room may be deliciously cool and
fresh by lunch-time.
With such surroundings, good digestion is much more prone to wait on
appetite than in a stuffy, fly-infested room, where neither heat nor
light is excluded. Among the pleasantest recollections of at least one
woman are those connected with the lunches she has eaten in midsummer
in a certain city dining-room, where the subdued light, the daintily
arranged table, the carefully prepared and seasonable food, and the
noiseless serving inclined one to feel that there were many worse
fates than being obliged to spend the summer in town.
1.
Anchovy Toast. Chicken Salad.
Bread-and-Butter.
Berries and Cream.
Iced Tea.
_Anchovy Toast._—Spread crustless slices of toast first with butter,
then with anchovy paste. Set in the oven five minutes, and send to
table.
_Chicken Salad._—Cut into small neat pieces half the contents of a can
of boned chicken or part of a cold boiled or roast chicken. Mix this
with half as much celery, if you can get it; if not, arrange it in the
midst of crisp lettuce leaves. Stir into it a French dressing of two
tablespoonfuls of oil, as much vinegar, and a little pepper and salt,
and pour over it a mayonnaise dressing.
_Mayonnaise Dressing._—Into a bowl set in an outer vessel of cold or
iced water place the yolk of an egg. Be careful that no vestige of the
white gets in. Begin whipping in salad oil drop by drop with a Dover
egg-beater, beating for nearly a minute after each addition. After
ten minutes, add two or three drops at a time, and when the dressing
once begins to thicken, the quantity can be increased even more. If
too thick, add a little vinegar to thin it. A pint of oil can be used
to every egg. When done, season with salt and white pepper. Just
before serving, stir into it the whipped white of an egg. The bowl,
egg-beater, and materials must all be very cold, and the dressing when
made must be kept on ice until used.
2.
Eggs _à la Crème_.
Raw Tomatoes. Rice Crumpets.
Sliced Peaches.
_Eggs à la Crème._—Eight eggs boiled hard, one cup white sauce,
two tablespoonfuls fine crumbs, tablespoonful butter. Slice six of
the eggs, and put them in a pudding-dish with the white sauce. Rub
the yolks of the other two eggs through a sieve, mix them with the
bread-crumbs, and sprinkle them over the top of the dish. Put bits of
butter here and there, garnish the dish around the sides with points
of buttered toast and the extra whites of the eggs cut in rings, and
set the dish in the oven until browned on top.
_Rice Crumpets._—One cup rice, two cups flour, one cup milk, one
tablespoonful butter, one tablespoonful sugar; quarter of a yeast-cake,
dissolved in warm water; pinch of salt. Set to rise early in the
morning. When light, fill muffin-pans; let them stand fifteen minutes,
and bake.
3.
Deviled Chicken.
French Rolls. Broiled Tomatoes.
Berries.
_Deviled Chicken._—Select a young and tender chicken, score it with a
knife, rub it well with the sauce described in the last chapter (see
"Deviled Mutton"), and broil over a clear fire.
_Broiled Tomatoes._—Slice, but do not peel, fresh tomatoes. Broil them
on a toaster over the fire; remove to a hot dish; put a little butter,
pepper, and salt on each one, and let them stand a minute before
serving.
4.
Poached Eggs, with Anchovy Toast.
Sardines.
Boston Brown-Bread. Water-cress.
Nutmeg Melons.
_Poached Eggs, with Anchovy Toast._—Prepare slices of anchovy toast as
already described, and lay on each slice a poached egg. Pour over all a
cup of drawn butter in which has been stirred a teaspoonful of chopped
parsley.
_Boston Brown-Bread._—Put a loaf of Boston brown-bread into the inner
vessel of a double boiler, and boiling water in the outer vessel, and
steam the bread until it is hot through.
5.
Game _Pâté_. Cold Tongue, sliced.
Bread-and-Butter. Radishes.
Hot Crackers.
Cream Cheese.
_Game Pâté._—Several varieties of game _pâtés_ are put up by French and
American companies, and all are admirable for summer lunches or teas.
6.
Fried Pickerel. New Potatoes.
Brown-Bread.
Celery and Radish Salad.
_Fried Pickerel._—These fish are very delicious when perfectly fresh.
Each fish should be rolled in flour and fried quickly in hot dripping.
Take them out of the pan as soon as done.
_Celery and Radish Salad._—Cut the celery into inch lengths, and
toss it up with a French dressing. Heap it in a bowl, and arrange
half-peeled radishes around the mound. Pour over all a mayonnaise
dressing prepared according to the directions already given. The
combination of the cool celery and the pungent radishes will be found
very pleasing.
7.
Jellied Tongue. Fried Bananas.
Asparagus Biscuit.
Peaches and Cream.
_Jellied Tongue._—One cup of the liquor in which the tongue was
cooked, two cups good stock or gravy of any meat except mutton,
half-box of gelatine, one gill cold water, one cup boiling water, two
tablespoonfuls vinegar, one glass sherry, a cold boiled tongue, sliced.
Soak the gelatine in the cold water for two hours. Pour over it the
boiling water, the stock or gravy, and the tongue liquor, heated.
Unless the gravy is highly seasoned, it is a good plan to boil a bay
leaf, a sprig of parsley, a slice of onion, and a few sweet herbs in a
cup of water, and then to strain this, and pour it over the gelatine
instead of using the plain boiling water. Flavor the jelly with the
vinegar, the sherry, pepper, and salt, if the last is needed. Strain
all through a cloth. When the jelly begins to harden, pour a little
into a brick-shaped mould or tin pan with straight sides, first wetting
the mould with cold water. Arrange slices of tongue on this. Pour in
more jelly, then place another layer of tongue, and continue thus until
the supply of both is exhausted, making jelly the last layer. Set the
mould on ice until the jelly is hard; turn it out and slice on the
table. This sounds like a fussy dish, but it is less trouble than
appears at first.
_Asparagus Biscuit._—Scoop out the inside of stale biscuit, leaving
side walls and the foundation of crust. Set these hollow shells in
the oven until dried. Boil asparagus tender in salted water, cut off
the tops, mince and season them, and stir them into a cupful of drawn
butter. Fill the hot shells with the mixture, and send to table.
8.
Baked Chicken Omelet. Corn Croquettes.
Brown Bread.
Strawberry Short-Cake.
Iced Coffee.
_Baked Chicken Omelet._—Into one cupful of white sauce, made as
previously directed, stir a cupful of chicken, minced fine and seasoned
to taste. Beat two eggs light, yolks and white separately. Add the
yolks to the chicken mixture; last, stir in the whites lightly, pour
into a buttered pudding dish, and bake in a quick oven.
_Corn Croquettes._—To two cupfuls of green corn, chopped, add one
well-beaten egg, a teaspoonful of butter, one of sugar, salt to taste,
and just enough flour to hold the ingredients together. Form into
croquettes with floured hands, and fry in deep fat.
9.
Pickled Lambs' Tongues. Egg Salad.
Boiled Corn-Bread.
Loppered Milk.
_Egg Salad._—Slice hard-boiled eggs, arrange them upon crisp lettuce
leaves, and pour over all a mayonnaise dressing.
_Boiled Corn-Bread._—Two cups sour milk, one cup warm water, one
tablespoonful lard, one tablespoonful molasses, one teaspoonful soda,
one cup flour, two cups corn-meal. Mix the ingredients, beating well;
pour into a Boston brown-bread mould with a tight top; set in a pot of
water; boil two hours, and turn out.
10.
Welsh Rabbit. Cold Corned Ham.
Sliced Cucumbers.
Rolls.
Hot Oatmeal Crackers. Cream Cheese.
_Welsh Rabbit._—One egg, half-cup milk, one cup grated cheese; salt,
Cayenne, and made mustard to taste; squares of stale bread toasted and
buttered. Heat the milk in a double boiler, melt the grated cheese in
this, season, add the egg, and pour the mixture over the toast. If the
rabbit seems too thin, add more cheese or a few fine bread-crumbs.
FAMILY LUNCHES FOR AUTUMN
1.
Sweetbread Pâtés. Raised Corn-meal Muffins.
Fried Potatoes.
Jelly Toast.
_Sweetbread Pâtés._—Scald and blanch a pair of sweetbreads; remove bits
of skin and gristle; chop rather coarsely, and stir into a cupful of
white sauce; season to taste. Have ready pastry shells made hot in the
oven, and fill them with the sweetbreads. Send very hot to table. A few
mushrooms chopped with the sweetbreads are a pleasant addition.
_Raised Corn-meal Muffins._—Two cups milk, two cups corn-meal, one
tablespoonful white sugar, one tablespoonful lard, quarter yeast-cake.
Heat the milk to boiling, and pour it upon the meal. While this is
warm, beat in all the other ingredients except the lard. Let it rise
six hours. Add the lard. Fill muffin tins, and let the batter rise
twenty minutes before baking.
_Jelly Toast._—Cut stale bread into neat rounds or squares; fry each
slice in boiling deep fat; spread it thickly with some fruit jelly, and
serve very hot.
2.
Deviled Ham. Sliced Potatoes.
Rye Biscuit.
Crackers and Cheese.
_Deviled Ham._—Cut cold boiled corned or smoked ham into rather thick
slices, rub well with a sauce made as described on page 134 for
"Deviled Mutton," and broil the ham over a clear fire.
_Sliced Potatoes._—Cut six boiled potatoes into neat slices, warm them
in a steamer, transfer to a dish, and put on them a tablespoonful
of butter and a teaspoonful of chopped parsley. Let them stand five
minutes before serving.
_Rye Biscuit._—Two cups rye flour, one cup white flour, one and a
half cups milk, one tablespoonful sugar, one tablespoonful lard, one
tablespoonful butter, two teaspoonfuls baking-powder, saltspoonful
salt. Rub the shortening into the flour after sifting the salt and
baking-powder with it; add the sugar and the milk; roll the dough out
quickly, and bake the biscuit in a brisk oven.
3.
Bouillon.
Cold Chicken Pie. Potato Salad.
Cold Bread.
Gingerbread. Cocoa.
_Cold Chicken Pie._—Stew a grown chicken until tender, putting it on
in cold water, and cooking very slowly; arrange the pieces in a deep
pudding dish, laying in with them two hard-boiled eggs cut into slices;
pour over all a cupful of the gravy, which should be well seasoned;
cover the pie with a pastry crust, and bake in a moderate oven. Add to
two cups of the remaining gravy a quarter-box of gelatine soaked in
a little cold water, a small glassful of sherry, and a tablespoonful
of vinegar; when the pie is done, pour this gravy into it through an
opening which should have been left in the top. Make this pie the day
before it is to be eaten. It is an excellent dish for Sunday lunch or
tea.
_Potato Salad._—Slice cold boiled potatoes; with three cups of these
mix one sliced beet, one onion braised, and three or four stalks of
celery; pour over them four tablespoonfuls of salad oil and three of
vinegar, with pepper and salt to taste. Let all stand in a cold place
at least an hour before serving.
_Gingerbread._—Two cups milk, half-cup sugar, half-cup molasses, one
teaspoonful ground ginger, one teaspoonful cinnamon, one tablespoonful
butter, two teaspoonfuls baking-powder; flour enough to make a good
batter. Beat hard, and bake in a steady oven.
4.
Apples and Bacon. Brown-Bread Toast.
Canned Peach Short-Cake.
_Brown-Bread Toast._—Cut stale Boston brown-bread into slices, and
toast, taking care not to scorch it. Butter rather liberally, and send
hot to table.
_Canned Peach Short-Cake._—Make a short-cake according to previous
directions; cover canned peaches with sugar, and stew them gently for
half an hour in the syrup thus made; lay the sliced peaches between the
layers of short-cake, and pour the syrup over each piece after it is
split and buttered.
5.
Broiled Blue-Fish. Baked Potatoes.
Cold Bread.
Corn-meal Griddle-Cakes.
Maple Syrup.
_Corn-meal Griddle-Cakes._—Two cups corn-meal, one cup flour, one cup
boiling water, one tablespoonful lard, one tablespoonful molasses, two
cups sour milk, one teaspoonful soda, saltspoonful salt. Scald the
corn-meal; add the shortening, the milk and soda, the molasses, and the
salted flour. Beat hard.
6.
Meat Loaf. Baked Tomatoes.
Fried Bread.
Hot Cake.
_Meat Loaf._—Two pounds raw or under-done beef or veal, minced fine;
quarter-pound ham, also minced; two eggs; half-cup fine bread-crumbs;
one tablespoonful melted butter; pepper, salt, chopped onion, and herbs
for seasoning to taste. Work all the ingredients well together, and
press closely into a brick-shaped tin. Cover this, set it in a pan
of boiling water, and bake an hour and a half, taking care that the
boiling water does not cook away. Turn out and slice when cold.
_Fried Bread._—Beat one egg into a cup of milk; soak in this slices of
stale bread from which the crust has been trimmed. Cook on a griddle,
as you would cakes.
_Hot Cake._—One cup buttermilk, two eggs, three tablespoonfuls butter,
one and a half cups sugar, half teaspoonful soda, flour for a good
batter (about two heaping cupfuls). Bake in a loaf, and eat warm.
7.
Broiled Smelts. Hashed Potatoes.
Raised Muffins.
Cerealine Fritters.
_Raised Muffins._—Two eggs, two cups milk, one tablespoonful butter,
one tablespoonful sugar, half yeast-cake, saltspoonful salt. Make
a sponge in the early morning, omitting the eggs; at lunch-time add
these, well beaten, and bake the muffins in a quick oven.
_Cerealine Fritters._—One and a half cups cerealine, two cups milk,
saltspoonful salt. Cook the cerealine in the milk, beat it up light,
and set it aside to cool in a shallow pan; cut it into squares or
rounds when cold, and fry in deep fat; sprinkle with powdered sugar,
and put a spoonful of jelly on top of each just before sending to table.
8.
Stewed Kidneys. Potatoes _au Gratin_.
Plain Muffins.
Sliced Oranges.
_Stewed Kidneys._—Soak two kidneys in salt and water half an hour;
take out the core, and cut the remainder into small pieces. Brown a
tablespoonful of butter and one of flour together with a quarter of an
onion sliced; lay the pieces of kidney in this, and let them cook five
minutes. Add a cup of good gravy; or, if this is lacking, half a cup of
boiling water. Let the kidneys simmer in this ten minutes; take out,
and serve on slices of toast, pouring the gravy over and around them.
_Potatoes au Gratin._—Two cupfuls of raw potatoes cut into dice,
half-cup fine bread-crumbs, two tablespoonfuls butter. Let the potato
dice lie in cold water several hours, drain them, season with salt and
pepper, and put them in a well-greased pan; dot them thickly with bits
of butter, sprinkle them with the crumbs, and add more butter. Bake,
covered, for half an hour; uncover, and brown.
_Plain Muffins._—One egg, two cups milk, one tablespoonful lard,
saltspoonful salt, half yeast-cake, flour for batter. Set them early in
the morning, and let them rise until noon.
9.
Toasted Bacon. Poached Eggs.
Buttered Toast.
Quick Crullers. Cream Cheese.
_Quick Crullers._—One and a half cups sugar, one cup butter, four eggs,
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste, flour for a stiff dough; roll out, and
cut into fancy shapes, and fry in deep fat.
10.
Creamed Lobster. Thin Bread-and-Butter.
Salad of Cold Lamb.
Crackers and Cheese.
_Creamed Lobster._—One cup milk, half-cup cream, meat of a large
lobster, two tablespoonfuls butter, one tablespoonful flour, salt and
Cayenne pepper to taste, juice of a lemon. Heat the milk to boiling,
and thicken with the flour and butter. Mince the lobster with a sharp
knife; never chop it. Stir it into the milk, and let it become well
heated; add to it the raw cream, stir up once, and take from the fire;
season, add the lemon juice, and serve in small silver or china shells.
11.
A Fish "Left-Over." Stewed Potatoes.
Rice Cakes.
Roast Spanish Chestnuts.
_A Fish "Left-Over."_—The remains of any cold boiled, broiled, fried,
or baked fish; three hard-boiled eggs, if you have only a half-cupful
of fish (two eggs if there is more fish); one cup white sauce. Flake
the fish, chop the eggs, heat both in the white sauce, season to taste,
and serve either on toast or without it.
_Rice Cakes._—One egg, one cup flour, one and a half cups cold boiled
rice, saltspoonful salt, three cups milk. If this amount of milk thins
the batter too much, add more flour.
_Roast Spanish Chestnuts._—Cut a bit off of each, and roast them in the
oven. Peel, and eat with butter and salt.
FAMILY LUNCHES FOR WINTER
1.
Curried Oysters. Rice Croquettes.
Cold Slaw.
Crackers and Cheese.
_Curried Oysters._—Heat to boiling the liquor from one quart of
oysters; lay the oysters in it, and let them simmer just long enough to
plump them. Take them out with a skimmer, put them where they will keep
hot, and thicken the liquor by adding to it a tablespoonful of butter
rubbed smooth with two of browned flour. Into this stir a teaspoonful
of curry-powder wet up in a little cold water. Salt and pepper to
taste, squeeze in the juice of a lemon, return the oysters to the
sauce, and serve.
_Rice Croquettes._—Two cups cold boiled rice, one well-beaten egg, one
teaspoonful butter, one teaspoonful sugar, salt to taste. Work the
butter, egg, salt, and sugar into the rice, make into croquettes with
the floured hands, and fry in deep fat.
_Cold Slaw._—Shred half a fine white cabbage, and pour over it a
dressing made as follows: Four tablespoonfuls vinegar, half-cup milk,
one tablespoonful butter, one tablespoonful sugar, one egg, pepper and
salt. Beat the egg; stir the melted butter, the milk, salt, pepper,
and sugar into this. Put the vinegar boiling hot into it, a little at
a time. Pour the sauce over the cabbage, and let it become ice-cold
before serving.
2.
Turkey Hash. Fried Potatoes.
Milk Toast.
Macaroons. Cocoa.
_Turkey Hash._—Remove the meat from the bones of a turkey, and cut it
into neat bits; stir two cups of this into two cups of white sauce;
season to taste. Make the stuffing of the turkey into neat cakes, fry
them, and arrange them on the dish around the hash.
_Macaroons._—One and a half cups powdered sugar, whites of two eggs,
six ounces almond paste. Beat the whites very stiff; add the sugar and
the almond paste, the latter chopped fine. Make into balls with the
fingers, and bake in very well greased pans in a moderate oven. Take
out when they are a delicate brown, but do not remove them from the
pans until they are perfectly cold. These little cakes are so delicious
and so easily made that it is strange they are not more generally
manufactured at home.
3.
Jellied Chicken. Hominy Croquettes.
Toasted Muffins.
Orange Cake.
_Jellied Chicken._—Cut up a chicken as for fricassee, and stew until
the meat slips from the bones. Take out the chicken, and cut it into
neat pieces when it has become cold. Let the gravy simmer half an hour
with an onion sliced, a small bunch of parsley, a couple of stalks of
celery, and a bay-leaf. Strain it, and return it to the fire with the
white and freshly broken shell of an egg. Let it boil up, and strain
it again, this time through a cloth. While still hot pour three cups
of this liquor upon a half-box of gelatine which has soaked an hour
in one cupful of cold water. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved, and
add a glass of pale sherry and a couple of tablespoonfuls of vinegar.
Pour part of this jelly into a wet mould, and when it begins to form
lay in slices of hard-boiled egg and pieces of the chicken. More jelly
follows, and more chicken, until all are used up. Turn out when the
jelly is perfectly firm.
_Hominy Croquettes._—Make as directed for rice croquettes, using hominy
instead of rice.
_Toasted Muffins._—Split and toast English muffins, and butter them on
the inside.
_Orange Cake._—Two cups sugar, half cup butter, four eggs, three
cups flour, one cup cold water, one large or two small oranges, two
teaspoonfuls baking-powder. Work the butter and sugar together; add the
yolks of the eggs, the juice and grated peel of the orange, the water,
the whites, and the flour with the baking-powder. Bake in small cakes.
If you like, reserve one of the whites of the eggs, and make an orange
icing by beating with this a cup of powdered sugar and a little orange
juice.
4.
Cold Ham. Celery Salad.
Batter Muffins.
Baked Apples with Cream.
_Batter Muffins._—Two cups flour, two cups milk, two tablespoonfuls
butter, three eggs, the whites and yolks beaten separately; one heaping
teaspoonful baking-powder, saltspoonful salt. Put in the whites last of
all, and bake the muffins in a quick oven.
5.
Baked Sausages. Stuffed Potatoes.
Toasted Crackers. Cheese. Olives.
_Baked Sausages._—Make small cakes of sausage-meat, or prick the
sausages, if you use those in skins, before putting them into the
baking-pan. Bake until they are of a good brown. Take them out and
thicken the fat left in the pan with a tablespoonful of flour, add a
small cup of milk, boil up, and pour over the sausages in the dish.
6.
Broiled Oysters. Thin Bread-and-Butter.
Cold Chicken.
Raised Waffles.
_Raised Waffles._—One egg, two cups flour, two cups milk, one
tablespoonful butter, saltspoonful salt, half yeast cake. Set a sponge
early in the morning, and just before baking at noon beat in the butter
and egg.
7.
Beefsteak. Baked Sweet Potatoes.
Lunch Cakes. Chocolate.