1._What to Eat, How to Serve it

Green-Pea Soup.

Roast Shoulder of Veal.

Boiled Potatoes. Asparagus with Eggs.

Cherry Dumplings.

_Green-Pea Soup._—One quart shelled pease cooked until tender, one

quart milk, two tablespoonfuls butter, one teaspoonful sugar, one

tablespoonful flour, salt to taste. Press the pease, after they have

been boiled and drained, through a colander; put them back on the fire,

and stir into them the milk, boiling hot, thickened with the butter and

flour and seasoned with the sugar and salt. Boil up once, and serve.

_Asparagus with Eggs._—One bunch asparagus, two hard-boiled eggs, one

cup white sauce. Boil the asparagus until tender; cut the stalks into

inch lengths, rejecting the hard woody portions; chop the hard-boiled

eggs coarsely, and stir with the asparagus into the white sauce, which

must be boiling hot. Serve at once.

_Cherry Dumplings._—Make a biscuit crust of two cups of flour, a

tablespoonful of butter rubbed into it, a little salt, a teaspoonful

of baking-powder, and milk enough to make a soft dough. Roll out into

a sheet a quarter of an inch thick, and cut into squares about three

inches across. Stone the cherries; put a spoonful into the centre of

each square of paste; sprinkle with sugar, fold the edges across, and

pinch them together. Lay them with the pinched edges downward in a pan,

and bake to a light brown. Eat with a hard sauce made as directed in

the preceding chapter.

Fish Chowder.

Broiled Lamb Chops. Raw Tomatoes.

Young Onions Stewed.

Strawberry Méringue.

_Fish Chowder._—Two pounds fresh fish, two good-sized potatoes, one

cup milk, a quarter of a pound of salt pork, one onion minced, one

tablespoonful chopped parsley, enough boiling water to cover all the

ingredients after they are in the pot. Cut up the fish, the pork, and

the potatoes (which should have been peeled and parboiled) into pieces

less than an inch square. Place in a pot or saucepan first a layer of

pork, then one of fish strewn with onions and parsley, then one of

potatoes; repeat the layers in this order until all the materials are

used. Pour in the water, cover closely, and let it cook slowly a full

hour. Split and butter half a dozen Boston crackers; let them soak in

the cupful of milk over the fire for five minutes; take them out, and

lay them in the tureen, and pour the chowder over them. Pass lemon with

it.

This chowder is even better the second day than the first, although

there is rarely much left over.

_Strawberry Méringue._—Line a pie-dish with puff paste, bake this

carefully, and then place in it a thick layer of hulled strawberries;

rather small ones are best for this purpose. Sprinkle them with

powdered sugar, and heap over them a méringue made of the whites of

four eggs whipped stiff with half a cup of powdered sugar. Just before

putting it in stir lightly into it a cupful of the berries. Set the

pie-plate containing the méringue in the oven long enough to brown

delicately, and eat when perfectly cold.

Asparagus Soup.

Boiled Chicken. Green Pease.

Summer Squash.

Raspberry Pudding.

_Asparagus Soup._—Boil a bunch of asparagus until it is very tender.

When done, cut off the green tips, and put them aside, and rub the

stalks in a colander, getting all of them through that you can. Heat

four cups of milk in a double boiler, add the strained asparagus to

this, and thicken with a tablespoonful of butter rubbed in one of

flour. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add the asparagus tops

(which should have been kept hot), and serve.

_Raspberry Pudding._—Two cups raspberries (red or black), three cups

flour, three eggs, two cups milk, one tablespoonful butter, two

teaspoonfuls baking-powder, saltspoonful salt. Beat the eggs very

light, and mix with the butter, melted, and the milk. Stir into this

the flour sifted with the salt and baking-powder, taking care that

the batter does not lump. Dredge the berries with flour, add them to

the pudding, and boil this in a plain pudding mould, set in a pot of

boiling water, for three hours. Take care that the water does not come

over the top of the mould. Serve with hard sauce.

Egg Soup.

Roast Lamb. Mint Sauce.

Beets. Succotash. Green Pease.

Melons.

_Egg Soup._—One quart milk, four eggs, one onion sliced, one

tablespoonful flour, one tablespoonful butter, salt and pepper to

taste. Heat the milk to scalding in a double boiler with the onion.

Thicken the milk with the flour and butter, and season to taste. Poach

the eggs in boiling water, lay them in the bottom of the tureen, and

strain the soup upon them. Simple and nutritious.

_Mint Sauce._—Four tablespoonfuls vinegar, one tablespoonful mint

chopped very fine, one tablespoonful white sugar, a very little salt

and pepper. Pour the vinegar upon the sugar and mint, and let them

stand in a cool place a full hour before using. Add the salt and pepper

just before sending to table.

For the benefit of those who are sometimes unable to procure the fresh

herb, it may be stated that the dried mint sold in bottles is an

excellent substitute.

Cheese Soup.

Beef _à la Mode_.

Fried Cucumbers. Cauliflower. Green Corn.

Fresh Fruit.

_Cheese Soup._—One egg; a half-cupful grated cheese; one onion;

two cups milk; two cups veal, chicken, or other white stock; one

tablespoonful flour; one tablespoonful butter; pepper and salt to

taste. Heat the milk and stock with the onion. Remove the latter, and

thicken the liquid with the butter and flour rubbed smooth together.

Stir in the cheese, pour a little of the soup on the egg beaten light,

add this to the soup in the pot, season, and serve immediately. It is a

good plan to put a tiny pinch of soda into the milk before adding the

cheese.

_Beef à la Mode._—Select a good piece of beef from the round, and

"plug" it thickly with beef suet or with strips of fat salt pork. Make

other incisions into which to crowd a force-meat made of finely chopped

salt pork mixed with twice the bulk of bread-crumbs, and seasoned with

herbs, allspice, onion, and vinegar. Fasten the meat securely in shape

with a stout band of cotton cloth, lay it in a pot, pour over it three

cups of boiling water, cover closely, and cook slowly for three hours,

or until tender. Turn the meat once. Thicken the gravy left in the pot

with browned flour, and pass with the meat.

This piece of meat will be as good cold as it is hot, and makes a

welcome _pièce de résistance_ upon which to rely for lunch or tea.

_Fried Cucumbers._—Peel the cucumbers; slice them lengthwise, making

about four slices of a cucumber of ordinary size. Lay them in salt and

water for an hour, take out, drain, and dry. Dip first in beaten egg,

then in cracker-crumbs, and fry as you would egg-plant.

Boiled Cod. Egg Sauce.

Lima Beans. Mashed Potatoes.

Tomatoes. Mayonnaise Dressing.

Baked Peach Pudding.

_Baked Peach Pudding._—Two cups flour, one cup milk, one egg, one

teaspoonful baking-powder, one tablespoonful butter, saltspoonful salt,

eight medium-sized peaches, peeled and stoned. Beat the egg with the

milk, stir in the butter, melted, and the flour sifted with the salt

and baking-powder. Place the peaches in the bottom of a pudding dish,

sprinkle them well with sugar, pour the batter over them, bake the

pudding in a quick oven, and eat it before it has time to fall. Serve

either hard or liquid sauce with it.

FAMILY DINNERS FOR AUTUMN

Cauliflower Soup.

Roast Beef.

Baked Tomatoes and Corn. Boiled Sweet Potatoes.

Fried Egg-Plant.

Cocoanut Custards.

_Cauliflower Soup._—Cut a medium-sized cauliflower into small clusters,

chop all except two bunches, and put all on the fire in four cups of

boiling water with a minced onion and a couple of sprigs of parsley;

cook until tender. Remove the unchopped bunches, and lay them aside,

while you rub the chopped and boiled portion through a colander; return

what comes through the sieve to the stove. Have ready in a double

boiler a pint of scalding milk; thicken this with a tablespoonful of

butter rubbed smooth with an equal quantity of flour, and then mix

with the strained cauliflower. Season to taste, drop in the reserved

clusters cut into small bits, and serve the soup immediately.

_Baked Tomatoes and Corn._—Cut a slice from the top of each of several

large firm tomatoes; scoop out about two thirds of the pulp, taking

care not to break the sides; fill the cavities thus left with green

corn, boiled, cut from the cob, and chopped fine with a little butter,

pepper, and salt; arrange the tomatoes thus stuffed in a baking-dish,

put a few bits of butter here and there between them, and bake half

an hour. If you have a half-cupful of good gravy, pour this over them

instead of putting the butter between them.

_Fried Egg-Plant._—Peel and cut the egg-plant into slices less than

half an inch thick an hour before it is to be cooked; lay the slices in

salted iced water, with a plate over them to keep them from floating.

Just before dinner wipe each slice dry, lay it in beaten egg, and then

roll it in salted and peppered cracker-crumbs. Have ready lard or

really good dripping in a frying-pan, and fry the slices brown.

_Cocoanut Custards._—Three eggs, three cups milk, half-cup sugar, half

a cocoanut grated, one teaspoonful vanilla. Heat the milk to boiling;

pour it upon the beaten eggs and sugar; return to the fire, and cook

the custard until it thickens. When it reaches the right consistency

take it from the stove, and when it has partially cooled stir in the

vanilla and cocoanut. Fill small cups with this, set them in a pan of

boiling water in the oven, and bake until set.

Veal Soup.

Stewed Lamb _à la Jardinière_.

Creamed Potatoes.

Sliced Peach Pie.

_Veal Soup._—Two pounds lean veal from the leg (cut into small pieces),

a few veal bones well broken, two quarts cold water, one onion, two

stalks celery, a little parsley, two tablespoonfuls rice, salt and

pepper to taste. Slice the onions, and fry them in the soup-pot to a

good brown in a little dripping; put the meat in on them, and when this

has browned add the veal bones, the celery, the parsley, and water.

Let all simmer gently for several hours. Set the soup aside with the

meat in it until cool; skim, strain, and return to the pot, with the

raw rice and the seasoning. Let the soup cook slowly until the rice is

tender, and then serve. Pass grated cheese with this soup.

_Stewed Lamb à la Jardinière._—Select a good-sized breast of lamb, and

lay it in a saucepan; pour over it enough cold water to nearly cover

it, and put a closely fitting lid on the pot. While it is simmering

gently, parboil half a cupful of string or Lima beans, half a cupful of

green pease (fresh or canned), two small carrots cut into neat, thin

slices, and a few clusters of cauliflower. When the lamb is nearly

done, lay these vegetables on it; put with them two tomatoes sliced,

and cook about fifteen minutes. In serving this dish arrange the

vegetables around the meat, and pour over them the gravy, which should

be thickened with browned flour after the meat and vegetables have been

taken from it.

_Sliced Peach Pie._—Line a pie-plate with a good paste, and cover it

with peaches, sliced, but not peeled; sprinkle thickly with sugar, and

bake in a steady oven. There must be no top crust, but a méringue may

be added when the pie is nearly done, and lightly browned. This pie is

very good.

Tomato Soup _Maigre_.

Baked White-Fish.

Mashed Potatoes. Fried Oyster-Plant.

Rice-and-Pear Pudding.

_Tomato Soup Maigre._—Fry a sliced onion brown in butter or good

dripping in the bottom of the soup-pot; pour in the chopped contents

of a can of tomatoes and two cups of boiling water; stew until tender,

rub through a colander, return to the fire; add a half-cupful of boiled

rice; thicken with a tablespoonful of butter rubbed smooth with one of

flour; boil up, and serve.

_Baked White-Fish._—Select a good-sized fish, and stuff it with a

dressing of bread-crumbs well seasoned and moistened with a little

melted butter. Sew the fish up carefully; pour a cupful of boiling

water over it after it is laid in the dripping-pan, and bake (covered)

for an hour, basting several times with butter. Remove the threads

before sending to table.

_Rice-and-Pear Pudding._—Three cups boiled rice, two eggs, one cup

sugar, one cup milk, stewed or canned pears. Stir the beaten eggs, the

sugar, and the milk into the rice; put a layer of this in the bottom

of a pudding mould, and cover this with a stratum of pears; follow

this with more rice, then more pears, and continue thus until all the

materials are used; set the mould in boiling water, and boil for an

hour. Eat the pudding with a hot custard sauce.

Potato Purée.

Beef's Heart, Stuffed. Stewed Sweet-Potatoes.

Scalloped Squash.

Méringued Apples.

_Potato Purée._—Two cups mashed potato, one onion, four cups boiling

water, one stalk celery, one cup milk, one teaspoonful butter, one

tablespoonful flour, pepper and salt to taste. Cook the potato, onion,

and celery in the water for half an hour; rub through a colander,

return to the fire; add the milk, thicken, and season.

_Méringued Apples._—Eight fine large apples, peeled, cored, and

quartered; two tablespoonfuls butter, juice of a large lemon, one cup

white sugar, nutmeg to taste, whites of three eggs, half-cup powdered

sugar. Heat the butter, sugar, lemon juice, and nutmeg in a double

boiler; drop the quartered apples into this, and let them cook until

tender; take them out and lay in a glass dish, cover with a méringue

made of the whites of the eggs and the powdered sugar, and pass the

syrup from the apples in a little pitcher, with the méringued fruit.

Julienne Soup.

Irish Stew.

Creamed Carrots. Stewed Corn.

Peach-and-Tapioca Pudding.

_Peach-and-Tapioca Pudding._—One small cupful tapioca, one can peaches,

half-cup sugar. Soak the tapioca overnight in three cupfuls of water;

the next day arrange the canned peaches in a dish, pouring over them

about a cupful of the liquor from the can; sprinkle them well with

sugar, pour the tapioca on them, and bake until this is clear. Eat hot

with hard sauce.

Salmon Soup.

Mutton Chops.

Baked Onions. Stuffed Egg-Plant.

Cream Rice Pudding.

_Salmon Soup._—One can salmon, one cup bread-crumbs, one quart water,

two cups milk, one teaspoonful butter, pepper and salt to taste. Pick

to pieces the contents of a can of salmon, removing the bones, bits of

skin, etc.; put over the fire with the water and seasoning, and cook

half an hour; stir in the butter, the milk, and the crumbs, and serve.

Pass sliced lemon with this.

_Stuffed Egg-Plant._—Boil an egg-plant thirty minutes, cut it in half,

and scrape out the inside; mash this up with two tablespoonfuls of

butter, and pepper and salt to taste; fill the two halves of the shell,

sprinkle with crumbs, and brown in the oven.

_Cream Rice Pudding._—Three cups milk, three tablespoonfuls rice, one

cupful sugar, one teaspoonful vanilla. Wash the rice, put it with the

milk, sugar, and flavoring into a pan, and bake in a slow oven for

three or four hours. Every time a crust forms on top, stir it in, until

just before taking it from the oven. Eat cold.

FAMILY DINNERS FOR WINTER

Turnip Purée.

Roast Turkey.

Fried Parsnips. Browned Onions.

Mashed Potatoes.

Orange Roly-Poly.

_Turnip Purée._—Eight turnips, one onion, one stalk celery, four cups

water, two cups milk, one tablespoonful butter, one tablespoonful

flour, pepper and salt to taste. Peel and cut up the turnips, and put

them over the fire with the onion in the four cups of water; let them

cook until tender, and then rub them through the colander, and put them

back on the fire. Cook the butter and flour together in a saucepan; add

the milk, stir into the turnip, season to taste, and serve.

_Browned Onions._—Peel rather small onions, and boil them until tender;

drain off the water, and pour over the onions a cupful of soup or

gravy; let the onions simmer in this for ten minutes; then take them

out, and keep them hot while you thicken the gravy with browned flour.

Pour over the onions just before sending to the table.

_Orange Roly-Poly._—Two cups flour, one and a half cups milk, one

tablespoonful butter, one tablespoonful lard, two teaspoonfuls

baking-powder, one saltspoonful salt, four fair-sized sweet oranges,

half-cup sugar. Sift the baking-powder and the salt with the flour; rub

the butter and lard into it; add the milk, and roll out the dough into

a sheet about half as wide as it is long; spread this with the oranges

peeled, sliced, and seeded; sprinkle these with sugar; roll up the

dough with the fruit inside, pinching the ends together, that the juice

may not run out; tie the pudding up in a cloth, allowing it room to

swell; drop it into a pot of boiling water, and boil it steadily for an

hour and a half; remove from the cloth, and lay on a hot dish. Eat with

hard sauce flavored with lemon.

Turkey Soup.

Roast Pork. Apple-Sauce.

Boiled Potatoes. Stewed Tomatoes.

Chocolate Custards.

_Turkey Soup._—Break up the carcass of the cold turkey after all the

meat has been cut from it, and put it, with bits of skin and gristle

and the stuffing, over the fire in enough water to cover it; cook

gently for several hours, and then let the soup get cold on the bones;

strain it off, skim it, and put it back on the fire. Have ready in a

saucepan two cupfuls of milk, thickened with a tablespoonful of butter

and two of flour; stir this into the turkey liquor, boil up, and serve.

_Chocolate Custards._—Four cups milk, four eggs, one cup sugar, four

tablespoonfuls grated chocolate, two teaspoonfuls vanilla. Put the

chocolate over the fire in a double boiler with part of the milk, and

let it cook until smooth; add the rest of the milk, and, when this is

hot, pour it upon the sugar mixed with the beaten yolks of the eggs.

Return to the stove, and cook until the custard begins to thicken;

when cool, pour into glasses or small cups, and heap on the top of each

a méringue made of the whites of the eggs whipped stiff with a little

powdered sugar.

Oyster Soup.

Broiled Steak.

Baked Cabbage. Fried Potatoes.

Cup Puddings.

_Oyster Soup._—One quart oysters, two cups milk, one egg, one

tablespoonful butter, pepper and salt to taste. Strain the liquor from

the oysters, and bring it to the boiling-point in one vessel while the

milk is heating in another; drop the oysters into the scalding liquor,

and leave them there until they begin to crimp. Stir the butter into

the milk, and pour this upon the beaten egg; turn this in with the

oysters; cook together one minute, and serve immediately. Some persons

like a pinch of ground mace added to oyster soup.

_Baked Cabbage._—Wash and quarter a small cabbage; put it on in plenty

of boiling water, and let it boil furiously (_uncovered_) for twenty

minutes. By doing this, and having a cup of vinegar on the stove at

the same time, you do away with the disagreeable odor which usually

accompanies the cooking of cabbage. Drain it when done, and chop it

fine; add to it a tablespoonful of butter, one egg beaten light, a

scant half cupful of milk, and pepper and salt to taste. Bake in a

pudding dish to a good brown.

_Cup Puddings._—One cup sugar, two tablespoonfuls butter, one cup milk,

two eggs, two cups flour, two small teaspoonfuls baking-powder, one

saltspoonful salt. Beat the yolks of the eggs light, and mix with the

creamed butter and sugar; add the milk and the flour, mixed well with

the salt and baking-powder; bake in small cups or deep patty-pans, and

serve one to each person. Eat with either hard or liquid sauce.

Corned-Beef Soup.

Stewed Rabbits.

Baked Corn. Fried Sweet Potatoes.

Plain Fruit Pudding.

_Corned-Beef Soup._—Heat to boiling with a sliced onion three cups of

the liquor in which a piece of corned-beef was boiled; just before it

begins to bubble drop into it the freshly broken shell of an egg, boil

up once, and strain. Put the cleared soup back on the fire, and when

it boils again add to it two cups of milk in which have been dissolved

two tablespoonfuls of flour; pour a little of this on a beaten egg, and

return all to the fire for a minute before serving.

_Baked Corn._—Two cups canned corn chopped fine, one egg, half-cupful

milk, one tablespoonful butter, pepper and salt to taste. Beat the egg

light, stir this and the milk into the corn, season, and bake in a

buttered pudding dish until firm.

_Plain Fruit Pudding._—One cup molasses, one cup milk, one and a half

cups flour, quarter-cup seeded raisins, quarter-cup currants washed

and dried, quarter-cup shredded citron, one cup suet, one saltspoonful

salt, one small teaspoonful soda. Chop the suet into the flour, first

mixing the latter with the salt and soda; add the milk and molasses,

and beat thoroughly; dredge the fruit and stir it into the pudding;

boil in a brown-bread mould two hours and a half. Serve hard sauce with

it.

Roast Duck.

Canned Green Pease. Boiled Potatoes.

Lettuce.

Crackers and Cheese.

Lemon Tarts.

_Canned Green Pease._—Turn the pease from the can into a colander;

pour over them several quarts of cold water, so as to rinse the pease

thoroughly from the liquor in which they were canned; after this, pour

as much boiling water over them, and set the colander over a pot of

boiling water, covering the pease; let them steam there until heated

through, dish, and put on them a couple of teaspoonfuls of butter, and

pepper and salt to taste.

_Lemon Tarts._—Line small patty-pans with a good puff paste, and

fill them with the following mixture: Half-cup butter, one cup

granulated sugar, three eggs, juice and grated rind of a lemon, two

tablespoonfuls brandy, nutmeg to taste. Beat the yolks into the

creamed butter and sugar; add the lemon, spice, brandy, and whites;

bake in a steady oven, and eat when cold.

Black Bean Soup.

Halibut Steak.

Browned Potato. Scalloped Cauliflower.

Coffee Jelly.

_Black Bean Soup._—Two cups black beans, six cups cold water, one

onion, two sprays parsley, four or five cloves, one teaspoonful mixed

thyme and sweet-marjoram, one quart corned-beef liquor. Pick the beans

over carefully, wash them, and put them in soak in the cold water; let

them stand all night, and in the morning transfer them to the soup

kettle. Put with them the onion, herbs, and cloves, and simmer all

together gently until the beans are soft; rub them through a colander,

return to the fire, add the corned-beef liquor, and boil for an hour;

pour the soup on two hard-boiled eggs, quartered, and a few thin slices

of lemon, laid in the tureen.

_Scalloped Cauliflower._—Boil the cauliflower tender; tie it in a

piece of net before putting it in the boiling water; cut the clusters

apart, and arrange them, stems downward, in a pudding dish; pour a cup

of drawn butter over them, season with pepper and salt, sprinkle with

fine bread or cracker crumbs, and bake until of a good brown.

_Coffee Jelly._—Two cups clear strong coffee, one cup sugar, one cup

boiling water, half-cup cold water, half-box gelatine. Let the gelatine

soak in the cold water an hour; stir the sugar into it, and pour over

both the boiling water and the hot coffee; strain into a mould. When

cold, turn out in a glass dish, and serve with whipped cream.

WHAT SHALL WE EAT?